By Al-Ahed News
Marking the National Day for the Palestinian Woman, al-Ahed News highlights the numbers of Palestinian female detainees behind ‘Israeli’ occupation bars.
Filed under: "Israel", Palestine, Palestinian people | Tagged: Arab women, Palestinian detainees, Palestinian female prisoners | Comments Off on Palestinian Women Behind ‘Israeli’ Bars
May 17, 2021
TEHRAN – As Israel continues to pummel Palestinian civilians in Gaza with airstrikes and cracks down on their compatriots in the West Bank and the Green Line zone, the internationally recognized leader of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is being caught between a rock and a hard place.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PNA, is going through one of his worst experiences as the leader of the Palestinian people. On the one hand, his perennially extended hands to the Israelis for appeasement talks have gotten him nothing. Israel continues to brazenly push away any meaningful solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict while shamelessly pursuing state-sanctioned racist policies such as expanding settlement programs and evicting Palestinians from their ancestral homes.
On the other hand, the Palestinian people, groaning under the weight of Israeli hubris, are turning their back on the PNA and its leader. They saw Mahmoud Abbas unable to do anything when the Israeli regime showed disrespect for democratic trappings by preventing the PNA from holding the long-awaited elections in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Mahmoud Abbas also failed to prevent the Israeli inhumane and racist decision to evict a number of Palestinian families from their ancestral homes in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and replace them with extremist Jews, a move that caused an international outcry and eventually provoked Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to strike back at Israel.
And when Israel began its campaign of air raids against civilians in Gaza Abbas also failed to organize an international diplomatic pressure campaign against Israel to stop it from continuing its killing spree in the coastal strip. This was despite the fact that public opinion in the West was overwhelmingly in favor of Palestine because Israel’s behavior in Gaza is untenable. At the end of the day, no one can come to understand why Israel should demolish a tower hosting international correspondents and raze to the ground residential towers.
The image of children and women being taken out of rubble weighed heavy on the conscience of humanity.
As Israel pounded Gaza with rockets and artillery shells, several leaders and diplomats in the region and beyond began a flurry of diplomatic efforts to put pressure on Israel to stop its disregard for international law and human rights.
Abbas, however, was almost absent from these efforts. He hit the headlines only when he, all of a sudden, spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden, who is widely seen as complicit in the Israeli atrocities because he stopped short of putting real pressure on the Israeli regime. In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even boasted that Biden supports the Israeli crimes against Gaza. This happened at a time when even Biden’s fellow Democrats believe that Israel is an “apartheid” regime.
“Apartheid states aren’t democracies,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet that garnered more than 310,000 likes.
Recent developments in Palestine, especially in the West Bank and in Arab cities inside Israel, showed how irrelevant Abbas became. Jibril Rajoub, a Palestinian leader close to Abbas, admitted his boss’s isolation by saying that no Arab leaders called Abbas since the latest round of Israeli violence began.
Abbas faces growing criticism from Palestinian intellectuals to keep up with the people he claims to represent. For example, the Palestinians were in favor of holding the election even after Israel banned Palestinians residing in occupied East Jerusalem from participating in the election. But some Palestinian voices believe that the PNA should have gone forward with its decision to hold the election.
“The excuse of Jerusalem [PNA] to justify the postponement of the Palestinian election is a flimsy one, and the strongest image we had hoped to see was stolen from us, which is a picture of an Israeli soldier confiscating an election box or a soldier arresting voters for voting in elections,” Said Azmi Bishara, a prominent Palestinian intellectual and former member of the Knesset, said in a recent interview with Al-Araby Television.
Others have long criticized the PNA for continuing what came to be known as “security coordination” with Israel, a type of cooperation mainly aimed at boosting Israel’s security at the expense of the Palestinian struggle for basic human rights.
Filed under: Nazi Israel, Palestine, Palestinian people, Ramallah Traitors, Uprooted Palestinians | Tagged: Apartheid Israel, Arab women, Children of Gaza, Palestinian President Abbas, PNA, Security Coordination | 1 Comment »
Jamila al-Shanti became the first woman to be elected to the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas. The bureau is the highest political decision-making body of the movement.
Al-Shanti, a Palestinian refugee from the Jabaliya Refugee Camp in Gaza, was elected on Sunday, March 14, as part of the movement’s ongoing elections, which are also expected, aside from selecting a new political bureau, to yield a new leader.
The vote has been taking place over the course of months in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Palestinians in diaspora and within Israeli prisons.
Senior Hamas official Suheil Al-Hindi was quoted as saying that the election of al-Shanti by the rank and file of the movement is a testament to the fact that “the Hamas movement respects Palestinian women, their struggle, heroism, and sacrifices”.
Al-Shanti was quoted by the Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV channel as saying that the presence of women in the Hamas leadership shall prove to be a valuable contribution to the movement’s future.
“As a (Palestinian) women’s movement, we haven’t been officially in the Hamas political bureau before, but we have participated in the organization and in decision making during the preceding period,” al-Shanti said.
But becoming direct participants in decision making as part of the actual top leadership is a gamechanger. “This means that Palestinian women have an identity and power (that can be expressed directly) on the Palestinian political scene, and their effective participation has made them worthy of being in any position,” according to al-Shanti.
Al-Shanti, who holds a Ph.D. in English, was among several women who were elected in 2006 as part of the Hamas electoral list.
Born in 1957, al-Shanti was always active in the Palestinian women’s movement in Gaza and has founded the Hamas women’s organization.
Filed under: Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians | Tagged: Arab women, Besieged Gaza Strip., Hamas Resistance movement, Occupied W Bank | Comments Off on Jamila Al-Shanti Becomes First Woman in Hamas’ Top Political Bureau
ينعتوني بـ»العاهرة» ويتمادون
يصفقون لـ»عهري» وعلى خاصرة ألمي يثملون
يرتشفون نشوى الذل وعليّ يتلهّفون
إن كُنتُم تروني «عاهرة» فقولوا عني ما تشاؤون
أنا «عاهرة « منذ مئة عام
منذ أن دفنتم رجولتكم وانتشلتم الذل سيفاً
حينما الوطن بعتم
وتقاعستم عن الحق
وبتم للجق والقيل والقال
صفات بلا فحوى الرجال..
عندما زاولتم مهنة الدجال
ونسيتم بأنكم رجال..
نعم أنا «عاهرة» منذ نعومة أظافري
منذ أن كانت أمي تشقى قبل الفجر
لعجن عجينة الأمل..
منذ أن كانت أختي تقصّ ضفائرها
لا تعي ما قاله ذاك الفتى المغوار في الحي..
منذ أن كان أبي يهتف لذاك السياسيّ في النهار
ويجلس في الليل يعدُّ ليرات الدَّين..
لا بل أنا «عاهرة» منذ أخبروا أمي أنت حامل بأنثى..
وكاد وجهها الكظيم يلامس الأرض
ولمَ لا وهي تحمل في أحشائها «عاهرة»..
ومنذ أن تلفظت بواء الحياة
تعلّمت «العهر» بتلك الصفات..
أتنعتونني بـ»العاهرة» لكوني
أحمل كتبي وأسير عكس المسير..
وأضيء شمعة لأنير مجلسي
وأترك لكم ذاك الضوء المثير..
وتتهامسون من حولي
يا لَـ»عهرها» تُدرك من الحياة الكثير..
تتبجّحون بالرجولة وتلصقون «العهر» في أسمائي..
ولكم ولعزّتكم وكرامتكم
كرّست ورسخت حياتي..
يا لَـ»عهركم» لا بل يا لَخبثكم
فـ»العهر» عفواً شرفي وأخلاقي..
فأنا «العاهرة» التي أنشدت البطولات..
وسجلت في التاريخ أساطير التضحيات..
أنا التي ما رضيت الذل يوماً
وتتلمذت على يد أمهاتي «العاهرات»..
أنا التي تألمت
وبكت
وضحكت
وأطعمت
وأشربت
وسهرت
وربت
وحضنت
وحملت
فأنا التي أنجبت رجالاً
لكنما ببغيهم
باتو «أشباه رجال»
لينعتوني بـ»العاهرة»
ويجرّدوني من ألف باء الحياة…
Filed under: Levant, Palestine | Tagged: Arab Treason, Arab women, Great Syria, Semi-men, Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) | Comments Off on العاهرة..
Filed under: Amnesty International, Dictatorship, Free Press, House of Saud, HRW, Political Correctness, Religous Correctness, Wahabism At Work | Tagged: "Arab Spring", Activism, AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), Political arrests, Political Correctness | Comments Off on Who is Israa al-Ghomgham?
*Marinella Correggia
Internationalist 360°
The oriental fable “Appointment in Samarra”, of the soldier rushing away from his destiny of death while indeed rushing into this very destiny (it is the theme of the song Samarcanda by Roberto Vecchioni) seems well suited to what Om Ahmad is telling us. Robust, flowered scarf on her head and black dress, sitting on the cushions that serve as a sofa in the bare apartment rented in Masaken Barzeh district, she explains that her husband, an auto mechanic, and their three sons lived in Douma, the most Islamist area of Eastern Ghouta. “Over five years ago, while several formations of musallahin – armed Islamist groups – were coming to the area, we closed the house and came here to Damascus, where we had friends”.Her second child Rabee, now sixteen, is in a wheelchair. “One day, three years ago, he and my husband were in the mechanical workshop…. when it was hit by a missile that targeted Damascus, starting right from the area that we had left behind.” Rabee’s father died in the explosion, and the boy’s mangled legs had to be amputated.
Since then, they have survived with public and private aid and some work Ahmed, the first son, was able to find. Rabee is going to wear his artificial legs. With the prosthesis he can walk, but only the aided of a walker: the amputation occurred above the knees.
Ahmed shows us on the mobile phone their home in Douma and tells us “we were told it is now destroyed”, while his mother adds: “I have only one wish now: that my child can have the best prostheses”. It is probably the dream of 30,000 amputees of the war in Syria.
But what think the women who remained throughout in Douma, as they have lived the last months of bitter clashes between the Syrian army on one side and the other Islamist configurations? Where do they live now, because so many bombed buildings are uninhabitable? Our visit to Douma with Sulaf Maki, who is a young Syrian-Sudanese film student engaged in interviewing women around the country, was too brief. We could not speak to the dark figures on the streets under a scorching sun, in black robes that covered their face, head, neck, shoulders, sometimes the eyes.
Even the few nurses at a hospital did not want to talk, perhaps frightened by the camera. Perhaps many husbands and children of these mute figures were fighting with the Islamists. But now the government has reclaimed the area, and no one would admit this. Whoever is left would have agreed to lay down their arms in the so-called reconciliation agreement. Nevertheless, differences and mistrust remain.
Samar is among those 150,000-200,000 inhabitants (the million and a half before the war) to have never moved from eastern Ghouta, a large agricultural area. She lives in the town of Kafarbatna and is the wife of a farmer whose land has continued to produce fruit and vegetables and legumes during the war, while paying heavy bribes to the armed groups. Samar remembers the risks of the last months of the war: “There, there, they destroyed that building just across the street, it was occupied by musallahin, the air force bombed it. That day I had taken refuge in the basement, but we did not want to leave.” The Islamist groups that she calls “terrorist occupiers” left the population. “Once they left, it was discovered that they had warehouses full of food and medical aid that had arrived from outside Ghouta.” Now the people of the area and in the camps of the displaced have the same narrative, opposed to those who denounced a siege and indiscriminate shelling by the Syrian government. But in war the narrative is polarized.
For the video interview, Samar has worn the niqab, which leaves only the eyes visible. It is obvious to compare her to the woman behind the camera, Sulaf, who wears the hijab to cover the head and neck, over trousers and jacket, but who is entirely secular. “I wear the veil only because my mother forces me. But when I will be financially independent, I will remove it.”
Sulaf disapproves of both the “Saudi-style” of the Douma women (but we saw one also in a street of Damascus!) and of those girls in Damascus who put the hijab on hyper-adherent T-shirts with padded underwear and leggings. Funny combinations! Also some women who do not even do Ramadan (religious fasting from dawn to dusk, one month a year) wear the hijab and long black overcoats (in summer). Like Sarah el Hawi, baker in the Jaramana district of Damascus. She tells us that her family left the Deir ez-Zor area years ago to escape the arriving Islamist groups.
The same is true for women from liberal political groups: Rabab Sweid of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and in the Rock al din neighborhood in the Damascus heights, along with five thousand Palestinians who fled Yarmouk camp over the years, long controlled first by Islamists and then by the Islamic state cells. “But it seems indiscreet to talk of her clothes. Perhaps she needs to be accepted in a traditional community,” notes the young agrarian economist, Dima Hasan, who in her spare time is a volunteer with the displaced people. Twenty-nine, black hair and modest clothing, Dima lives alone in Damascus, in a basement in Bab Tuma neighborhood, populated by many Christians. “I was born and raised in the region of Tartous, in a seaside village; my first and basically only contact with the Islamists were the missiles launched from Ghouta and Jobar against Damascus and my area here; they targeted us from 2012 until a few months ago.”
But Dima is lucky. The war has impacted so many other women. Hayat Awad is the mother of a conscript killed years ago in Daraa. She lives in Homs. She accompanies us to the Khalidia neighborhood destroyed by the fighting, street dust on the black shirt and pants of her prolonged grief. We arrive in the street Share Zon, where the Jabour family returned home. They had left in February 2012, “because this building is on the corner of the so-called path of death, a kind of boundary between the Syria Army and the jihadists. See there the carcass of a tank exploded two days after our escape,” explained Norma and her daughter Victoria. The Jabour, for years displaced in the countryside, are now in the house of their grandparents, and are rebuilding the top of the house while camped on the ground floor. The roof is thankfully sound. They remember how suddenly the coexistence between Christian and Muslim neighbors was shattered. “Our house was later occupied by the musallahin, hence they were shooting at the army.” But now the family members are optimistic. Victoria studies pharmacy: “Syria was and will return to be a great producer of medicines with a good health service.”
The strength of women doggedly remaining in Syria is also seen in Naham, a medicine student recruit in a pediatric hospital because “at least 30% of the country’s doctors went abroad and those who are left must care for everyone.”
And what to say of Bushra Jawed, from Iraq’s Nasiriyah? Alone, in 2007, she left Iraq caught between the anvil of the US occupation and the hammer of growing Al Qaeda terrorism. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis indeed found refuge in the then quiet Damascus, in the Jaramana district where Bushra opened a small restaurant. After 2011, “this neighborhood has been targeted by terrorist missiles, I have seen people die,” she says calmly.
Meantime, in the narrow road, a tanker supplies water to the buildings.
The road to normality is still long.
*First Appeared in Italisn in La Provincia and Ora Pro Siria
English Translation by Marinella Corregia and Alexandra Valiente
Filed under: Al Qaeda, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Douma, Eastern Ghouta, ISIL, Syrian Arab Army SAA | Comments Off on The Women of Syria and Their Daily Resistance
It’s a strange world we live in, to be sure. You wouldn’t think NBC News and Hassan Nasrallah would ever, in a million years, find any common ground.
But in the video above we see the Secretary General of Hezbollah paying tribute to 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi, referring to her slap of an Israeli soldier as a “bold and courageous stand” against the occupation of her village and homeland.
And perhaps almost as amazing is an article published just yesterday by NBC News under the headline Slap heard ‘round the world: Ahed Tamimi becomes symbol of Palestinian resistance . So yes, even NBC News is now referring to young Ahed’s heroic act as the “slap heard round the world”–a term I first coined back on December 21, just two days after her arrest.
And just in case the Zionist trolls start bombarding NBC with complaints, I grabbed a screenshot of the headline as it appeared on the mainstream news network’s website. Here it is:
Written by F. Brinley Bruton and Lawahez Jabari, the article notes that Ahed’s trial, which has been postponed something like three or four times now as she has languished in an Israeli prison, is scheduled, finally, to resume today. And it also says Ahed has become a role model to other Palestinians, particularly to the youth. And included is a quote to that effect from a Palestinian teen who lives in East Jerusalem:
Sineen Amereh, 16, a Palestinian resident of Arab-majority east Jerusalem, has no doubt about Tamimi’s importance to her people’s struggle against the occupation, as well as to the role of girls in that resistance.
“She’s a perfect idol for all girls her age — nobody before has done something like that,” said Amereh, an 11th grader. “If we weren’t brave, then the Israeli soldiers would think we’re weak, think we will just give up.”
Amereh says she and others are scared of soldiers like the ones Tamimi faced, but her fellow teen’s actions have given her confidence to stand up to injustice.
“Everyone is afraid, but we will keep fighting because it is not easy to give up on your land, on your home,” said Amereh.
Stunningly, the writers also allude, albeit in a somewhat ambiguous manner, to Israeli ethnic cleansing.
It is commonly felt by Arabs in east Jerusalem and the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war with Syria, Jordan and Egypt — that Israel is deliberately driving Palestinians from their homes. From 1967 to 2016, some 200 Jewish settlements housing around 600,000 people were built on occupied land, according to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. There are some 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israeli checkpoints limit the movement of Palestinians, and many cannot get to land that they say is legally theirs but lies near Jewish communities. Meanwhile, a process to create an independent Palestinian state as part of a “two-state solution” has foundered.
Admittedly, the article also quotes an Israeli Knesset member who says some nasty things, with Bruton and Jabari crediting her as “an expert on female and child Palestinian suicide bombers,” but then they go on to note what seems to be growing support for Ahed, even among prominent figures in the US:
She’s also garnered the support of a series of public figures in the U.S., including the N.F.L.’s Michael Bennett, the academic Cornel West, and the actors Danny Glover and Rosario Dawson, who signed a petition calling for her release.
The comedian Sarah Silverman provoked praise as well as outrage when she said on Twitter that Jewish people had “to stand up EVEN when — ESPECIALLY when — the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government.”
They also note the rise to prominence of Ahed’s father, Bassem Tamimi, who, as I reported a few days ago, just made an appearance last week on a Washington D.C. public television station:
Amnesty International has called Bassem Tamimi a prisoner of conscience, while the European Union has labeled him a human rights defender.
Ahed’s cousin, 11-year-old Jana Tamimi, who goes by the name “Jana Jihad,” also gets a mention–along with the information that she has hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook.
Ahed’s younger cousin Janna, 11, does not stay at home. She calls herself the world’s youngest journalist and has some 275,000 followers on Facebook, where she goes by the name Janna Jihad. She’s been active since the age of 6 or 7.
Janna speaks English with an American accent, and finishes many of her statements with, “So yeah.”
“I wanted to be the voice of the Palestinian children and send their message to all the world,” Janna said. “Let this world know about our suffering our feelings, our parents getting killed, our sisters and brothers getting injured and arrested.”
And the article even includes Jana’s picture:
So how to explain something of this sort being published by a staid and stalwart of the mainstream such as NBC News? My guess is that it has a lot to do with evaporating support for Israel among liberal US Jews like Sarah Silverman–Jews normally thought of as “progressive except for Israel,” who, as we approach the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, are, somewhat belatedly, beginning to find the policies of apartheid and endless occupation to grotesque to stomach.
By the way, you can access Jana Jihad’s Facebook page here. The NBC report mentions that she has 275,000 followers. Perhaps we can boost that number up to a million.
It’s a strange world we live in, to be sure. You wouldn’t think NBC News and Hassan Nasrallah would ever, in a million years, find any common ground.
But in the video above we see the Secretary General of Hezbollah paying tribute to 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi, referring to her slap of an Israeli soldier as a “bold and courageous stand” against the occupation of her village and homeland.
And perhaps almost as amazing is an article published just yesterday by NBC News under the headline Slap heard ‘round the world: Ahed Tamimi becomes symbol of Palestinian resistance . So yes, even NBC News is now referring to young Ahed’s heroic act as the “slap heard round the world”–a term I first coined back on December 21, just two days after her arrest.
And just in case the Zionist trolls start bombarding NBC with complaints, I grabbed a screenshot of the headline as it appeared on the mainstream news network’s website. Here it is:
Written by F. Brinley Bruton and Lawahez Jabari, the article notes that Ahed’s trial, which has been postponed something like three or four times now as she has languished in an Israeli prison, is scheduled, finally, to resume today. And it also says Ahed has become a role model to other Palestinians, particularly to the youth. And included is a quote to that effect from a Palestinian teen who lives in East Jerusalem:
Sineen Amereh, 16, a Palestinian resident of Arab-majority east Jerusalem, has no doubt about Tamimi’s importance to her people’s struggle against the occupation, as well as to the role of girls in that resistance.
“She’s a perfect idol for all girls her age — nobody before has done something like that,” said Amereh, an 11th grader. “If we weren’t brave, then the Israeli soldiers would think we’re weak, think we will just give up.”
Amereh says she and others are scared of soldiers like the ones Tamimi faced, but her fellow teen’s actions have given her confidence to stand up to injustice.
“Everyone is afraid, but we will keep fighting because it is not easy to give up on your land, on your home,” said Amereh.
Stunningly, the writers also allude, albeit in a somewhat ambiguous manner, to Israeli ethnic cleansing.
It is commonly felt by Arabs in east Jerusalem and the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war with Syria, Jordan and Egypt — that Israel is deliberately driving Palestinians from their homes. From 1967 to 2016, some 200 Jewish settlements housing around 600,000 people were built on occupied land, according to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. There are some 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israeli checkpoints limit the movement of Palestinians, and many cannot get to land that they say is legally theirs but lies near Jewish communities. Meanwhile, a process to create an independent Palestinian state as part of a “two-state solution” has foundered.
Admittedly, the article also quotes an Israeli Knesset member who says some nasty things, with Bruton and Jabari crediting her as “an expert on female and child Palestinian suicide bombers,” but then they go on to note what seems to be growing support for Ahed, even among prominent figures in the US:
She’s also garnered the support of a series of public figures in the U.S., including the N.F.L.’s Michael Bennett, the academic Cornel West, and the actors Danny Glover and Rosario Dawson, who signed a petition calling for her release.
The comedian Sarah Silverman provoked praise as well as outrage when she said on Twitter that Jewish people had “to stand up EVEN when — ESPECIALLY when — the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government.”
They also note the rise to prominence of Ahed’s father, Bassem Tamimi, who, as I reported a few days ago, just made an appearance last week on a Washington D.C. public television station:
Amnesty International has called Bassem Tamimi a prisoner of conscience, while the European Union has labeled him a human rights defender.
Ahed’s cousin, 11-year-old Jana Tamimi, who goes by the name “Jana Jihad,” also gets a mention–along with the information that she has hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook.
Ahed’s younger cousin Janna, 11, does not stay at home. She calls herself the world’s youngest journalist and has some 275,000 followers on Facebook, where she goes by the name Janna Jihad. She’s been active since the age of 6 or 7.
Janna speaks English with an American accent, and finishes many of her statements with, “So yeah.”
“I wanted to be the voice of the Palestinian children and send their message to all the world,” Janna said. “Let this world know about our suffering our feelings, our parents getting killed, our sisters and brothers getting injured and arrested.”
And the article even includes Jana’s picture:
So how to explain something of this sort being published by a staid and stalwart of the mainstream such as NBC News? My guess is that it has a lot to do with evaporating support for Israel among liberal US Jews like Sarah Silverman–Jews normally thought of as “progressive except for Israel,” who, as we approach the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, are, somewhat belatedly, beginning to find the policies of apartheid and endless occupation to grotesque to stomach.
By the way, you can access Jana Jihad’s Facebook page here. The NBC report mentions that she has 275,000 followers. Perhaps we can boost that number up to a million.
Filed under: Amnesty International, Lebanon Islamic Resistance - Hezbollah, Martyrdom, Palestine | Tagged: Ahed Tamimi, Arab women, Checkpoints, Children of Palestinian, First Intifada, Israeli Settlements and settlers, Nakba and ROR, Occupied W Bank, Palestinian Prisoners, Palestinian Resistance factions, Popular Resistance, Richard Edmondson, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah | Comments Off on Hassan Nasrallah Pays Tribute to Ahed Tamimi; NBC News Calls it the ‘Slap Heard ‘Round the World’
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (6:00 P.M.) – On Saturday, Nibal Madhat Badr became the first ever woman to assume the rank of Brigadier General in the Syrian Armed Forces.
This comes just one day after the president’s brother Maher Al-Assad was appointed to Major General ahead of a coming Daraa offensive.
Although female Syrians have served in the armed forces for decades, they are now being integrated on a larger scale to beef up the military’s capabilities. For instance, a batch of all-female police officers graduated in Damascus two days ago.
Another picture of Nibal Madhat Badr after assuming her new rank:
Chris Tomson | AMN
It is not yet known what battlefield the SAA will deploy Brigadier General Badr to.
Filed under: War on Syria | Tagged: Arab women, Syrian Arab Army SAA | Comments Off on Syrian Army appoints first woman to become high-ranking general
South Front is reporting that the US-led Coalition has set up a second military base near the Syria-Iraq border. Apparently, the US Coalition, now aligned with the Kurds, is seeking to establish control over the entire border region before the advancing Syrian Arab Army can get there.
The US-led coalition has set up a new military base in Al-Zkuf, 70 km north-east of Al-Tanf near the Syrian-Iraqi border. According to the US-led coalition, the aim of the base is to fight ISIS.
The report, which you can access here, goes on to state that “the real purpose of new US-led coalition base in Al-Zkuf is to prevent the SAA advance aimed at reaching the Syrian-Iraqi border.”
An interesting aspect to all this is that while the SAA is advancing toward the border from the north and west, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which South Front identifies as being “part of the Iraqi Armed Forces,” are moving toward the border from the south and east. According to a report here, the PMU’s goal is “to secure the entire border with Syria.” This won’t be an easy task. The border is 373 miles long, but PMU forces have had some major successes in Nineveh Province where they have seized from ISIS control the city of Al-Baaj and several other nearby villages.
The thing to keep in mind here is that the SAA and the PMU are essentially making common cause–that being the defeat of ISIS–and that they may be on the verge of an outright alliance with one another.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayyad is said to have relayed a “verbal message” from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The message is said to have proposed a “joint cooperation” effort “to fight terrorism in both countries and to secure the border between the two countries.” That is, at least, according to a report here. In the writer’s view, this sets the stage for a “proxy clash” between Iran and the US. By the way, Al-Abadi, it should be remembered, is Shiite, and an analyst at Al-Arabiya, the Saudi-funded news agency, seems convinced (or at least has convinced himself) that the PMU is in reality being led by Iranian forces.
And just as it seeks to halt the Syrian government’s advance to the border, the US Coalition is also said to be opposing the PMU efforts to secure the border from the Iraqi side. The irony here is that the US, which has set itself up as the global hegemon, is seeking to deny control of the border to the two sovereign nations which lie on either side of it.
As mentioned above, the US has now formed a close alliance with the Kurds, or at any rate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. Interestingly, the Chinese news agency Xinhua is reporting that the SDF has warned the PMU against attempting to cross into Kurdish areas on the Syrian side of the border.
The new base at Al-Zkuf is the second US Coalition military base along the border. Previously the coalition had set up a base at the Syrian town of Al-Tanf, from which it has been training the so-called moderate rebels of the Free Syrian Army.
***
The following is a very interesting documentary about Syrian women recently posted. It includes interviews with women from different walks of life–university students, artists, even a segment on a woman coach of a boy’s soccer team. All of it is quite informative, but especially interesting, in my opinion, are the comments from women who managed to escape from ISIS-held areas of the country. Some of these women, as you will see, in addition to falling under the control of ISIS, also had contact with the Free Syrian Army. And if you’re of the opinion that the FSA must surely be “moderates,” otherwise why would the US be supporting them, you might change your mind after viewing this.
Filed under: IRAQ, Levant, The Islamic Republic of Iran, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, FSA, IPM, ISIL, Moderate Terrorist, Richard Edmondson, Syrian Arab Army SAA, Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF], Torture | Comments Off on Major Battle Looming at Syria-Iraq Border? US Coalition Sets Up New Base
The Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch condemned the U.N.’s election of Saudi Arabia, “the world’s most misogynistic regime,” to a 2018-2022 term on its Commission on the Status of Women, the U.N. agency “exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd.”
“Every Saudi woman,” said Neuer, “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars.”
“I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal,” tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.
Yet the fundamentalist monarchy is now one of 45 countries that, according to the U.N., will play an instrumental role in “promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the U.S. forced an election, to China’s chagrin.
Saudi Arabia was also recently re-elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council where it enjoys the right to vote on, influence and oversee numerous mechanisms, resolutions and initiatives affecting the rights of women worldwide, including:
The latest ECOSOC vote is reported in a U.N. press release:
Commission on the Status of Women: The Council elected by secret ballot 13 members to four-year terms, beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s sixty-third session in 2018 and expiring at the close of the sixty-sixth session in 2022: Algeria, Comoros, Congo, Ghana and Kenya (African States); Iraq, Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan (Asia-Pacific States); and Ecuador, Haiti and Nicaragua (Latin American and Caribbean States).
The only good news: thanks to the U.S. calling a vote — breaking with the Obama Administration policy which in 2014 allowed Iran to be elected by acclamation — Saudi Arabia was not elected by acclamation, but instead received the least votes of any other country: 47 out of 54 votes cast, even though there was no competition given that there was an equal amount of competitors for available seats.
Here were the results of the elections, with all 54 ECOSOC members voting:
African States
Algeria: 54
Comoros: 53
Congo: 53
Ghana: 53
Kenya: 53
Asian & Pacific States
Iraq: 54
Japan: 53
Republic of Korea: 54
Saudi Arabia: 47
Turkmenistan: 53
Latin American States
Ecuador: 54
Haiti: 54
Nicaragua: 52
*
It was a secret ballot, but the math tells us that at least 15 of the following democratic member states of the U.N. Economic and Social Council voted to elect Saudi Arabia to the U.N.’s women’s rights commission:
Filed under: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, Human Rights, UN, USA, Wahabism At Work | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women | Comments Off on No Joke: U.N. Elects Saudi Arabia to Women’s Rights Commission, For 2018-2022 Term
Syrian War Report – April 11, 2017
Voiceover by Harold Hoover
The US does not rule out the possibility to conduct new missile strikes on Syria, White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said at a news conference on Monday. “The sight of people being gassed and blown away by barrel bombs ensures that if we see this kind of action again, we hold open the possibility of future action,” Spicer stated, adding that “Not just Syria, but the world saw a president who is going to act decisively.”
US Defense Secretary James Mattis claimed that the US missile strike on the Sha’irat military airfield led to the destruction of 20% of the Syrian Air Force’s aircraft.
Mattis added that the Syrian government “lost the ability to refuel or rearm aircraft at Sha’irat airfield and at this point, use of the runway is of idle military interest.”
Unfortunately, the mad dog forgot to check some videos on Youtube, which reveal the air base to be operational and Syrian warplanes using it to conduct airstrikes on militants. The destruction of 20% of the aircraft also appears to be an overestimation.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media continued their propaganda campaign against the Iranian-Syrian-Russian alliance. Now, some anonymous US official told Fox News that, “a Russian-operated drone flew over a hospital in Syria as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.” According to the media, the presence of the drone couldn’t have been a coincidence. Investigation is not required when an anonymous US official is always near to provide such hard evidence of any allegations.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies retook the town of Maardes and the village of Iskandariyah from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) in northern Hamma. Then, government forces launched an advance on Souran.
In the Palmyra countryside, the SAA captured the Al Taj hill, a number of points in the Mazburad Mountain, and the Syriatel tower.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured the villages of Abbad and Ayid Qabir which had been controlled by ISIS in the province of Raqqah.
Both of the villages are located near the important ISIS-held town of Tabqa. Tabqa and the Tabqa dam are important ISIS defense sites in the western countryside of Raqqah. The SDF successfully isolated them and is now readying to storm them.
Meanwhile, the US Special Forces and their proxies repelled an ISIS attack at al Tanf in southern Syria. From 20 to 30 ISIS members had attacked the US-led forces after a VBIED attack. All terrorists were killed in the clashes according to the US Central Command.
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Filed under: Al Qaeda, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Russia, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, The Islamic Republic of Iran, US Foreign Policy, USA, Vladimir Putin, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Donald Trump, ISIL, regime change, Syrian Arab Army SAA, The Axis of Resistance, Wars for Israel | Comments Off on U.S. Ready For More Syria Strikes
Hadiyeh Khalaf Abbas was elected as the Speaker of the People’s Assembly uncontested at the first ordinary round of the second legislative term held on Monday.
Abbas is the first woman to have held this position since 1919, when the first national parliament was formed- called the Syrian National Congress.
However in 2003, a woman was elected as the Secretary of the Assembly’s Office. Inaam Abbas represented the workers and farmers’ sector for Tartous province.
The 1953 Syrian constitution was the first to give the right of suffrage to women. The Syrian women were thus among the few women in the Arab countries to first be given the right to vote and run for legislative councils.
In the first legislative term of the People’s Assembly (1973-1977), there were only five women out of 186 members. This number rose to 31 women out of 250 members in the first legislative term of 2012-2016.
Hadiyeh Khalaf Abbas was born in 1958 in Deir Ezzor. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from Aleppo University. She held positions at the National Union of Syrian Students (Deir Ezzor-Raqqa branch) and she was a member of leadership of Deir Ezzor branch of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party (1988-1998).
Abbas was elected as a member of the People’s Assembly of the 8th legislative term (2003-2007) and has been a member of the Assembly’s National Reconciliation Committee representing Deir Ezzor.
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Source: Agencies |
06-06-2016 – 16:14 Last updated 06-06-2016 – 16:14 |
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Filed under: Democracy, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Syrian opposition | Comments Off on Hadiyeh Khalaf Abbas elected as First Woman Speaker of People’s Assembly
“We declare our right on this earth…to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” ~ Malcolm X
Yesterday Parliamentary elections were held in Syria. 7000 polling booths were opened across the country. 11, 341 candidates were proposed from across Syria with 250 to be elected to Parliament, including a number of female candidates.
Candidates were spread out as follows: 988 in Damascus, 817 in Damascus countryside, Aleppo 1437, in Aleppo regions 1048, In Idleb 386, in Homs 1800, Hama 700, Lattakia 1653, Tartous 634, Deir Ezzor 311, Hasaka 546, Raqqa 197, Daraa 321, Sweida 263 and in Quneitra 240
Voting centres opened at 7.30 am and were obliged to extend their sessions by five hours to accommodate the high turn out of voters.
Some of the women candidates in Syrian Parliamentary elections.
“The voting centers include over 2,000 centers in Damascus, 17 in Deir Ezzor, 1,047 in Lattakia, 661 in Homs, 347 in Sweida, 741 in Hama, 368 in Hasaka, 816 in Tartous, and 347 in Sweida are receiving voters.
It should be noted that voting centers were opened in Damascus, Damascus Countryside, Hama, Lattakia, Aleppo, Tartous, Hasaka, and Deir Ezzor to receive voters staying in these provinces who are originally from other areas, namely the provinces of Idleb, Raqqa, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, and Daraa.” ~ SANA
Students from Damascus University queueing to vote: SANA
So contrary to spurious claims from western governments and media, efforts were made to open the voting to all Syrian civilians including those who have fled terrorists held areas. We must also bear in mind that over 90% of IDPs [Internally displaced persons] have fled to Government controlled areas, thus further discrediting claims that these elections are non representative.
For a full photo report on the Syrian elections: Peoples Assembly Elections 2016
On an equally positive note, of course ignored in the western and gulf media, 1.7 million of these internally displaced refugees have been able to return home thanks not only to the SAA liberation of whole swathes of Syrian villages and towns from US NATO terrorist occupation but also due to the Syrian Governments laudable efforts to rebuild and restore infrastructure in these areas.
Small government loans are being given to impoverished families to enable them to re-establish their lives torn apart by the illegal war of aggression that has been waged against Syria by the US, NATO, GCC and Israel for the last five years.
It is guaranteed that none of these initiatives will be reported in the mainstream media, including the Syrian Higher Committee for Relief’s efforts to facilitate the delivery of Humanitarian aid to the remaining terrorist held civilian areas in Syria.
As Professor Tim Anderson [who is in Syria to observe the elections as indeed he was in 2014] said:
“Syrian democracy needs no outside approval. Repeated outside demands that ‘Assad must go’, or that a Washington-approved executive ‘transition government’ be formed, have become meaningless, since the military tide turned in the embattled country’s favour.”
The Syrian elections proceeded according to the Syrian constitution and law. We see this being enforced in Aleppo for example where it was decided that violations of the voting process had taken place and a re-election was called for.
UNSC [Security Council] resolution 2254 stated clearly that Syria’s future is in the hands of the Syrians and the Syrians are proving that they are doing just that with little fuss but a lot of enthusiasm and determination to deny foreign intervention in their sovereign affairs.
The Syrian “Dictator” goes to Vote
Now lets have a look at the President that western governments and their media minions would have us believe to be a bloodthirsty, butchering dictator as he and his wife Asma head for the polling booths with no security in sight.
Compare this if you will, to the protests being held across Britain demanding that David Cameron aka “Dodgy Dave” resign over the Panama papers scandal, the subsequent police clamp down and the manhandling of protestors.
Perhaps even more laughable in the face of the UK Government’s own deteriorating human rights record at home and abroad, is their statement on the Syrian elections:
Britain said Damascus’ decision to go ahead with the elections in the war-torn nation, where hundreds of thousands cannot take part, shows “how divorced (the government) is from reality.”
With homelessness and child poverty reaching Victorian levels in Britain, legal cases pending for criminal arms sales to the genocidal Saudi coalition conducting wholesale slaughter of Yemeni civilians, and recent reports on the British government clandestine assassination programmes, one would be justified in saying the British government has not only divorced itself from reality but from Humanity in every feasible way.
“Reprieve highlights the fact that Britain conspired in a US-inspired Kill List soon after 9/11. It says quite categorically that “Starting in 2002, working closely with the Americans, Britain had played a leading role in the euphemistic Joint Prioritized Effective List. As with Yemen, the JPEL Kill List was not even limited to a war zone – it spanned over into Pakistan, which was an ally, not an enemy at war.”
What this effectively means is that not only has Britain brought back the death penalty it has done so without public or parliamentary consultation, and carried out these deadly deeds regularly without even a basic trial.” ~ Britain’s Secret Assassination Programme
France takes the hippocritic oath.
France has also hit the deck with cries of illegitimacy regarding the Syrian elections.
“The idea that there could be elections is not just provocative but totally unrealistic. It would be proof that there are no negotiations or discussions [in Geneva].”~ Francois Hollande
This statement comes from the man who crossed an executioners palm with silver to secure a multi billion dollar arms deal with Qatar.
In this photo Hollande is presenting France’s most prestigious award, the Legion D’Honneur to Saudi interior minister, Muhammed Bin Nayef. Bin Nayef is personally responsible for choosing who of the many prisoners in Saudi jails is eligible for execution or crucifixion without trial and usually on trumped up charges.
So one is once more justified to ask, which leg is Hollande standing on when he denigrates Syrian elections while commending one of the world’s most renowned terrorists on his efforts to combat…terrorism.
The award for hypocrisy goes to..
US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said that the US “would view those elections as not legitimate in the sense that they don’t represent… the will of the Syrian people.
“So, to hold parliamentary elections now, given the current circumstances, given the current conditions in the country, we believe is at best premature and not representative of the Syrian people,” Toner said.
Early last week Toner said that “a political process that reflects the desires and will of the Syrian people is what should ultimately decide the future leadership and the future government of Syria.” ~ RT
Here is the answer of the Syrian people to Mr Toner’s comments:
Mohammed Ali of Press TV reports from Damascus
Conclusions
The US, NATO, GCC and Israeli agenda has careered into the brick wall of Syrian resistance, integrity and unity. The will of the Syrian people is being listened to by the Syrian government.
Ideologically and spiritually the Syrian people believe in their political and military victory. The Syrian people have said “no” time and time again to foreign intervention. They have endured crippling economic sanctions, invasions by proxy terrorist armies, occupation by mass murderers funded and armed by the US and NATO alliance but their resilience will ensure their self determination against all odds.
To achieve their objectives in Syria, the US and NATO are reliant upon mercenaries, terrorists, rapists and felons who have no vested interest in victory other than lining their own pockets with drugs and oil revenue.
The US and NATO agenda in Syria has no basis in law or even sound ideology, it is based upon pure greed and power sustained by corruption and inhumanity. It shall fail and Syria will emerge unbowed, stronger and ultimately victorious. The Syrian people have redrawn the geopolitical map with strength of will alone. This is the will you should be respecting Mr Toner, there is no other.
“The Syrian people are engaged in a war that has been going on for five years, through which terrorism managed to shed innocent blood and destroy much infrastructure, but it failed in achieving the primary goal it was assigned, which is destroying the principle structure in Syria, meaning the social structure of the national identity.” ~ President Bashar al Assad.
Author Vanessa Beeley is a contributor to 21WIRE, and since 2011, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East reporting on events there – as a independent researcher, writer, photographer and peace activist. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and a volunteer with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. See more of her work at her blog The Wall Will Fall.
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Democracy, France, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, United Kingdom UK, US-led NATO Alliance, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Elections, ISIL, Syrian Resistance, The Zio-temporary entity | Comments Off on Syria Elections 2016: US-NATO’s Failed Attempt to Deny the Will of the Syrian People
That post focused on one of Nabi Saleh’s younger residents, Ahmed Tamimi, but Manal Tamimi, as you can see, is a bit older. Moreover, she has a nice habit of documenting events in Occupied Palestine, and particularly in her home village, on her Twitter page. In the video below, you can see her discussing the role of women in the Palestinian resistance.
So my question is–why would the Israelis arrest a woman like this, and on International Women’s Day, of all days of the year? Is it an expression of contempt? Are they trying to send a message? And could the news item below possibly have something to do with it?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209080#.Vt-DjvkrKUk
It seems the Israelis are mad at the UN again and throwing another tantrum. Let’s hope Ms. Tamimi is freed and that she makes it safely back to her home and family.
Filed under: Nazi Israel, Palestine | Tagged: Activism, Arab women, First Intifada, Life under occupation, Nonviolence, Occupation Terrorism, Occupied W Bank, Palestinian Prisoners, Palestinians rights | Comments Off on Israelis Arrest Prominent Palestinian Activist on International Women’s Day
February 19, 2016 (Ulson Gunnar – NEO) – The fireball from this week’s blast in Ankara had barely begun to fade before the world begun bracing itself for the predictable accusation that Syria’s Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) were behind the blast. This is because Turkey has developed a transparently cynical strategy of staging blasts throughout its territory and behind to stoke fears, justify condemnation and retaliation and demonize not only it own enemies, but those of its partners in NATO and particularly, those of the United States.
Syria’s YPG was the obvious target of this blast and the barrage of accusations and threats that quickly followed because it is the YPG together with Syrian and Russian forces that now threaten to finally foil the US-NATO-GCC proxy by closing the Afrin-Jarabulus corridor, and specifically, the pivotal city of Azaz, located in Syria right along the Syrian-Turkish border.
For years Azaz has served as a nexus for foreign-backed militant operations not only in northern Syria, but as a logistical hub supplying terrorist operations all throughout the country. Its seizure by either Syria’s Kurdish YPG or the SAA (Syrian Arab Army) would effectively hobble US-NATO-GCC’s proxy war, at least in the north.
Tripping in a Tangled Web of Treachery
Over the past week, Turkey has been shelling Syrian territory, concentrating its firepower on a southwest road leading to the city of Azaz. Kurdish YPG forces have been advancing up the road, lined on both sides by small farmers and accompanying civilian houses in a bid to liberate the city long-held by both IS (Islamic State) and Al Qaeda affiliates including Jabhat al Nusra (a US State Department listed foreign terrorist organization).
Despite the bombardment, the fate of US-NATO-GCC backed terrorists held up there is inevitably doomed. Just after the blast and amid threats by Ankara to retaliate not only against the YPG, but he Syrian government itself, some 500 terrorists described as “Islamists” by the London Guardian crossed over the Turkish border and headed to Azaz as reinforcements.
Keen readers will notice the term “Islamist” is often used as a somewhat more ambiguous label to avoid accurately describing the fighters as either Al Qaeda affiliates or IS itself. Together with continued artillery fire from Turkey, what the world now sees is NATO openly fighting a combined arms battle against Syria alongside Al Qaeda shock troops.
Ankara’s threats against the YPG and the Syrian government is particularly ironic. The Washington Post in its report “Turkey accuses a Syrian Kurd of bombing Ankara and vows to retaliate,” claims:
[Turkish Prime Minister] Davutoglu said he also held embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible because Assad and his government have acknowledged on a number of occasions that they provide arms to the YPG.
However, this logic quickly breaks down when one considers the United States has also acknowledged on a number of occasions that it provided not only arms to the YPG, but also aircover.
Perhaps the United States and their junior partners in Ankara believe the public has forgotten such headlines as that in the Wall Street Journal, “U.S. Airdrops Weapons and Supplies to Besieged Syrian Kurds in Kobani,” which reported:
The U.S. dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State extremists in the embattled city of Kobani, U.S. officials said Sunday. Three U.S. C-130 cargo planes began dropping the weapons and supplies, provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq, on Sunday, the officials said. Over several hours, the U.S. dropped 27 bundles of small arms, ammunition and supplies.
The London Guardian’s “US-led air strikes hit key Isis targets amid battle with Kurdish forces,” points out that:
US-led coalition jets struck Islamic State positions in north-east Syria for the second day in a row on Saturday, in an area where the militants are battling Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official and a group monitoring the war said.
Despite the “logic” underpinning Ankara’s accusations and threats against both the YPG and Damascus, none should expect similar threats or retaliations to materialize against the United States, who has maintained a military presence for decades inside Turkey, itself a NATO member since the conclusion of the Second World War.
Instead, what we see is the total breakdown in the US-NATO-GCC narrative used to carry this conflict onward since 2011. The battle along Syria’s border is clearly not about any threat the YPG or the Syrian government pose to Turkey or any other NATO or GGC member. Instead, the battle along the border is clearly about the imminent strangulation of US-NATO-GCC supply lines that have fed what is now clearly appearing to be a foreign invasion, not a “civil war.”
When Syria’s borders are closed, and the “civil war” evaporates, it will be proof-positive of the ploy these foreign powers have attempted to play against Syria, and will ultimately derail similar conspiracies being organized and arrayed against other nations across the entire planet.
For the people of Turkey, with yet another blast tearing through their capital and spilling the blood of their brothers and sisters, once again coincidentally times to break a geopolitical impasse their current government faces amid its schemes abroad, they are surely taking stock of the increasing price they have so far paid for this conflict, and extrapolating the debt they will incur should it be allowed to continue on even a day further.
Ulson Gunnar, a New York-based geopolitical analyst and writer especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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Filed under: Al Qaeda, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), House of Saud, kurds, Turkey, USA, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, ISIL, neo-Ottoman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian Arab Army SAA, YPG | Comments Off on Ankara Blast: Catastrophe of Convenience
Defending their country from foreign-backed terrorists? Or propping up a brutal dictator who “kills his own people”? You decide.
The Syrian peace talks were set to begin tomorrow, but according to a Reuters report released earlier today, the talks have been “derailed” by an announcement from the “Syrian opposition” that they intend withdrawing. One opposition group says it will “certainly” not be in Geneva on Friday, while another says it might be in the city but would not attend the talks, so it’s hard to say really for sure what’s going to happen.
What seems clear, though, is that the West is applying a great deal of pressure for terrorists to be seated at the table, while Syria, Russia, and Iran are equally resisting that pressure. Why foreign-backed mercenaries should be included in discussions to determine Syria’s future is of course a question no one has adequately addressed.
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Russia, The Islamic Republic of Iran, War on Syria | Tagged: Arab women, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Nusra Front), ISIL, Mercenaries, Moderate Terrorist, Richard Edmondson, Syria National Dialogue, Syrian Resistance, Wars for Israel | Comments Off on Female Syrian Army Recruits Undergo Training
Palestinian political prisoners © google images
Since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians were detained by Israeli occupation forces, including over 15,000 women. During the First Intifada at least 3000 women were detained and during Al-Aqsa Intifada more than 900 women were locked up behind Zionist bars. Palestinians are subjected to raids by the Israeli occupation forces, whether day or night raids, to their houses, villages, refugee camps or towns, and subjected to kidnappings at checkpoints or workplaces. Sometimes those detained are released after a few days, after a few weeks or remain in detention indefinitely. These kidnapping and detention take place in violation of international laws and conventions, whereby the treatment of Palestinian female prisoners during arrest, interrogation and detention is a clear breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, in particular Articles relating to the protection of civilian prisoners at the time of war, particularly Article 32, Article 76, Article 49 and Article 27.
In average, the Zionist entity kidnaps and detains 5-8 Palestinian women and girls monthly for various reasons and periods. Often, Palestinian female prisoners are accused of being involved in or supporting Palestinian resistance, or as a means to pressure their wanted relatives to hand themselves in or in order to obtain confessions from their imprisoned relatives. Additionally, the Israeli occupation Prison Service (IPS) uses psychological and physical torture as a means to extract confessions and information from the Palestinian prisoners, including women. For example, interrogators deprive Palestinian female prisoners of sleep for long periods during interrogation, which may last from 20 to 120 days, and they are tied to plastic or wooden seats in interrogation cells as a means to achieve physical pressure. Additionally, Palestinian female prisoners are subjected to various forms of psychological torture; including verbal harassment, insulting religious and national beliefs of the prisoners, uttering obscenities in front of them during the investigation, threats of sexual assault and rape to force Palestinian women to surrender and submit confessions.
Additionally, Palestinian female political prisoners, like their male comrades, are held under inhumane conditions in cells that are overcrowded, dirty, humid, cold in winter and hot in summer, and lack ventilation and the basic needs for living. They also suffer from various punishments, ranging from malnutrition, medical negligence, to denial of family visits and isolation.
There are currently around 7000 Palestinian political prisoners and detainees held captive in 22 Israeli jails and detention centres, including 53 women, 430 children, 252 of whom from occupied Jerusalem (including 16 below the age of 12). Additionally, there are currently 540 administrative detainees held captive without charge or trial, including 3 women, 9 minors (3 from occupied Jerusalem and 9 from the occupied West Bank), and 2 MPs (Hasan Yousif and Mohammad An-Natsheh). Palestinian women, men, children and elderly are kidnapped either from their homes, at checkpoints, or during day and night raids. Some of those detained were released later, some kept in captivity, others deported from occupied Jerusalem for weeks or months. According to a recent report of the Prisoners Affairs Committee, 6830 Palestinian were detained in 2015, an increase of 12.7% from 2014, 76.3% from 2013, 77.5% from2012 and 106% from 2011. 60% of the detentions were registered in the occupied West Bank and 34.5% in occupied Jerusalem.
These were distributed as follows: January: 400 detentions, February: 335, March: 390, April: 420, May: 372, June: 375, July: 345, August: 420, September: 488, October: 1550, November: 920, December: 815. There was also an increase in the detention of women and minors, whereby 2179 minors and 225 women were detained. There is a registered increase in the number of administrative detentions, which are detentions without charge or trial. In 2015, 650 administrative detention orders were issued, including new and renewed orders for 3-6 months, raising the number of administrative detainees to 540, including 3 women.
Since October 2015, the Zionist entity started issuing administrative detention orders to Palestinian Jerusalemites, whereby 31 Palestinian Jerusalemites are currently held without charge or trial in administrative detention, including 3 minors. Since the beginning of the current Al-Quds Intifada in October 2015, 3285 Palestinians were detained, an average of 35-40 detentions per day, including 1500 children, making 45.7% of those detained, 90 women, and many sick and former prisoners. Many were beaten during arrest, others were shot deliberately before arrest.
During the months October – November 2015, 2500 cases of detention were registered, including 1200 children, and 350 administrative detention orders, and at least 30 Palestinians were charged with “incitement to violence” on Facebook. Alone in occupied Jerusalem, 800 detention cases were registered, half of which were children.
In average, 100-120 women and girls are detained monthly by Israeli occupation forces, some remain in detention, while others are released after hours or days on bail to under house arrest or are “deported” from their homes and towns for certain periods of time. Since the beginning of 2015, at least 27 women and girls were detained, who are first degree relatives of Palestinian political prisoners, 7 of whom are still in detention. Since the beginning of the current Al-Quds Intifada, there has been a significant increase in the number of women and girls detained by the IOF. Most of these detainees were arrested after Israeli occupation soldiers or Zionist colonists claimed that the women “carried knives and planned to stab Israelis”.
Early December 2015, it was reported that the IPS in Damon prison opened a new section for Palestinian female political prisoners due to overcrowding in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). 15 Palestinian female political detainees were transferred from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to the new section in Damon, none of whom are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. On 22.12.2015, 3 female administrative detainees were also transferred to Damon. Currently, there are 53 Palestinian women and girls held captive in inhuman conditions in the Zionist jails and detention centres HaSharon, Ramleh and Damon; distributed as follows:
– 8 of from Jerusalem, 3 from Palestinian areas occupied in 1948, 38 from the West Bank (Hebron: 16, Ramallah: 6, Bethlehem: 6, Jenin: 4, Nablus: 4, Tulkarim: 1, Tubas: 1, Qalqilya: 1), 2 from Gaza (1 born in occupied Haifa), 1 unknown.
– 13 minors under the age of 18.
– 14 mothers.
– 8 were detained after being shot by Israeli occupation soldiers.
– 3 in administrative detention.
– 6 former detainees.
Palestinian female political prisoners held captive by the Zionist entity:
Palestinian political prisoner Lina Jarbouni
1. Lina Ahmad Saleh Jarbouni: 40 years old, from Arabet Al-Boutof in Al-Jaleel, held captive in Israeli jails since 18.04.2002.
Lina was born on 11.01.1974 among 9 sisters and 8 brothers. She received her primary and secondary education in the village school, and received her high school degree in 1992. The economic situation of her family prevented her from pursuing university education, so she was forced to work in a sewing workshop. On the early hours of 18.04.2002, more than 30 Israeli army vehicles surrounded her family house, and Israeli occupation soldiers kidnapped her and her brother Sa’id. Both were taken handcuffed and blindfolded to Al-Jalameh detention centre. She remained 30 days in interrogation cells, and was subjected to various forms of psychological torture such as insults, isolation and sleep deprivation.
During this time, her sister Lames was also arrested, to pressure Lina into confessing, but she remained steadfast. Lina was charged with “contacting the enemy”, providing assistance for resistance operations, and membership in Hamas, and sentenced by the District Court in the city of Haifa to 17 years in jail. Despite her suffering in Israeli captivity, she is in high spirits and has a strong character, and was mandated by Palestinian female prisoners to represent them and be their spokeswoman. Lina loves reading and was known in her family as a “book warm”, and because she speaks fluent Hebrew, she has a central role in teaching female prisoners Hebrew.
Lina comes from a family known for its sacrifices and contribution to the Palestinian resistance: her grandfather Haj Ali was one of the resistance fighters during the revolution of 1936, as well as through the Nakba of 1948, her father was imprisoned several times by the Zionist entity on political issues, and her uncle Omar was killed in Lebanon fighting Israeli occupation soldiers when they invaded Lebanon in 1982. She is currently held in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) and suffers from various diseases, such as permanent headache, swelling in the feet and infections in the gallbladder, which cause her severe cramps and pain. She underwent surgery, and her gallbladder was completely removed by laser. Consequently, she is in need of medical follow-up, but suffers from deliberate medical negligence. It is worth mentioning that the IPS repeatedly refused to release her, as she has spent two-thirds of her sentence.
Palestinian political prisoner Muna Qa’dan
2. Muna Hussein Qa’dan: 43 years old, from ‘Arrabeh in Jenin governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 12.11.2012.
Muna was born on 25.09.1971 and has 4 sisters and 3 brothers. She is a former prisoner and was detained five times and spent a total of 3 years in Israeli captivity: Her first detention was in 1999, where she was subjected to harsh interrogation in Al-Jalameh integration centre, and went on a hunger strike for a month before being released. Another time, she went on hunger strike for 16 days to protest her isolation, after which she was released from isolation. In 2003, Muna was kidnapped again from her home, and was held in Al-Jalameh interrogation centre for 45 days, after which she was sentenced to 17 months captivity in HaSaron prison (Tel Mond). Here, her health problems began, as she started suffering from ulcers and blood pressure problems. She was also detained on 02.08.2007 and released on 20.06.2008, detained again on 31.05.2011 at a military checkpoint, spent several months in captivity before being released on 18.11.2011 in the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and the Zionist entity.
Her last detention was on 12.11.2012, when a huge Israeli occupation force raided her parent’s house at midnight, searched the house and destroyed its property, confiscated her computer and before kidnapping her. She is still held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), and is accused of running a charity society in Jenin, which provides support and help to orphans. Muna was subjected to over 30 court sessions, and her detention was renewed over 19 times. Israeli military courts deliberately postponed issuing a verdict to increase the psychological and physical pressure caused by the transport of prisoners in the “Posta” (prisoners’ transportation truck) to courts and back. In average, she is taken once a month to court in a 12-hour journey as a punishment. During such “journeys”,
Palestinian prisoners are not allowed to eat or drink, and are hand and leg shackled. Eventually, on 31.03.2015, Muna was sentenced by an Israeli military court, which cancelled her release in the prisoner swap deal. She received 70 months imprisonment, despite an agreement between her lawyer and the Israeli general prosecutor on a sentence of maximum 36 months. She was also sentenced to 24 months suspended sentence for 5 years from the date of her release, and a 30,000 NIS fine. Muna, currently the second longest serving Palestinian female prisoner, suffers from chronic ache in stomach and joints and blood pressure problems, and doesn’t receive proper treatment. She is deprived of family visits since her detention.
During her captivity, Muna lost her mother and was not allowed to say farewell to her. She also got engaged to Palestinian political prisoner Ibrahim Ighbariyyeh, who received 3 life sentences and 10 years. Her brother Tariq is an administrative detainee, but she is not allowed any communication with her fiancé or brother. On 04.05.2015, and following a petition submitted by her lawyer, Muna was allowed to meet with her fiancé. It is worth mentioning that Muna was enrolled at Al-Quds Open University, had a few credits left before graduation, but her studies were interrupted several times due to being detained.
Palestinian political prisoner Fathiyyeh Khanfar
3. Fathiyyeh Abdel Fattah Khanfar: 65 years old, from Silet Al-Thahir in Jenin governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 03.02.2013.
Fathiyyeh is mother of 7. She was detained on 03.02.2013 while visiting her son Rami Khanfar in An-Naqab prison, who is sentenced to 15 years in Israeli captivity.
Fathiyyeh was detained for 18 days, after which she was placed under house arrest under the supervision of a bailor in occupied Rahat and fined 30,000 NIS. She remained under house arrest for 9 months before being released and returned to her home in October 2013.
She was re-arrested on 25.07.2015, and sentenced to 11 months in jail after 21 court sessions on charges of allegedly attempting to smuggle a mobile SIM card to her imprisoned son. She suffers from arthritis, asthma back pain, pain in the legs, infections in the trachea. Fathiyyeh is held captive in Neve Tirza prison (Ramleh), and is isolated in a cell in the section of Israeli criminals. Her situation is especially difficult because she is old and sick. Her cell is small, dirty and infested with insects, with no drinking water or electrical utilities for cooking, where she sleeps on a very thin mattress placed on the concrete floor, and she is isolated from the outside world and denied visits from and contact with family members. The Israeli criminals in the nearby cells shout loudly all the time and insult her.
Palestinian political prisoner Dunia Wakid
4. Dunia Wakid: 38 years old, from Tulkarim refugee camp, held captive in Israeli jails since 27.05.2013.
Dunia worked in a jewellery shop, before being kidnapped from her house by Israeli occupation soldiers in a night raid on 27.05.2013. She was denied to see any lawyers until 16.06.2013, and was sentenced to 42 months in jail on 02.02.2014 on charges of trying to smuggle money and mobile phones to Palestinian political prisoners. Her fiancé Mohammad Wakid is currently serving a prison sentence of 29 years. She is not allowed any communication with him, and she is subjected to medical negligence as she suffers from diabetes and asthma. Two of Dunia’s brothers were killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Palestinian political prisoner Wi’am Asidah
5. Wi’am Jaber ‘Asidah: 22 years old, from Tel in Nablus governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 11.11.2013.
She is a student of Business and Administration at An-Najah University.
She was arrested on 11.11.2013 at Za’tara military checkpoint, whereby Israeli occupation soldiers beat her to the ground, handcuffed her before taking her to interrogation cells. Wi’am was accused of possessing a knife and attempting to stab an occupation soldier, and sentenced on 24.04.2014 to 32 months imprisonment, a fine of 5000 NIS and 16 months suspended sentence.
She is currently held in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Her brother ‘Asem ‘Asidah was killed by Israeli occupation forces, he uncle was sentenced to 27 years in Israeli captivity. Wi’am is deprived of family visits.
6. Falasteen Fareed Najem: 28 years old, from Nablus, held captive in Israeli jails since 20.11.2013.
Falasteen is a former prisoner; was first arrested on 15.02.2006, sentenced to 16 months jail, and was released on 14.06.2007, and arrested again on 20.11.2013, accused of possessing a knife and trying to stab an occupation soldier, which is the ready excuse to kidnap Palestinian women, whereby 80% of female prisoners are accused of this. She was sentenced on 05.01.2015 to 48 months imprisonment, a fine of 3000 NIS and 24 months suspended sentence for five years.
In one report, Falasteen talks about her experience with the “Posta”: “It is a journey of slow death; an iron structure with iron chairs and walls, smell of vomit is everywhere, and there is no toilet or ventilation despite the fact that the journey in the “Posta” lasts hours and the weekly “journey” for some prisoners… It is very cold, seats are very close to each other to the point of causing pain to the knee, joints and back.
The prisoner cannot sit in a comfortable position, because of the restrictions and hand and leg shackles. She also remembers the waiting rooms at the Ofer prison before the court session: “My court session ends in the morning hours, but they keep me held in the dirty waiting rooms until the end of all trials, i.e. at around 17:00, to send me back to HaSharon…. These rooms are as dirty as a dumpsite; there are insects and cockroaches, the smell of humidity is stark, there is lack of air and sun, you cannot use the toilet, even if you need it urgently, because of its dirtiness and the filth is beyond description.”
Palestinian political prisoner Shireen Issawi
7. Shireen Issawi: 34 years old from Jerusalem, held captive in Israeli jails since 06.03.2014.
Shireen is a human rights lawyer and an advocate for the rights of Palestinian political prisoner. She was also the spokesperson for her brother Samer Issawi during his 270-day hunger strike. Shireen participated in monitoring and documenting Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinian prisoners. She is herself a former prisoner; she was arrested for the first time in 2010 and imprisoned for a year, in addition to being barred from legal practice for three years, a ruling that was extended in 2013 for another two years. On 06.03.2014, Shireen was kidnapped with her brothers Medhat and Shadi by Israeli occupation soldiers from her family house and was held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Shireen and Medhat were accused of smuggling funds to Palestinian prisoners. On 22.04.2015, Shireen and 5 other prisoners were punished and isolated in their cells for 4 days and denied family visits for a month; they were accused by the IPS of singing and waving a Palestinian flag while the sirens were on for the dead Israeli occupation soldiers. It was also reported that on 03.05.2015, Shireen and another 4 Palestinian detainees were isolated for a week after an Israeli jailor claimed that the Palestinian female detainees pushed her. Following protest from the other Palestinian female political detainees, the other 4 were returned back to the wing of Palestinian political prisoners, but with the same isolation conditions for a week. The next day, Shireen was transferred to isolation in Neve Tirza (Ramleh). Her cell was small, very hot, smelly, without windows, and had a tap that is connected to a douche in the ceiling, when the tap was turned on, the whole floor become wet. She was held in isolation until 13.05.2015, to be isolated again on 25.05.2015 for a week after being accused of sending a letter to Palestinian media. Shireen reported that during her trial on 12.10.15, Nachshon occupation forces threatened her by saying that she “deserved a bullet in the head instead of jail”, and that “this land is the land of the Israelis and Palestinians have to leave it”. Early December 2015, it was reported that the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Shireen, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these detainees are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
8. Thuraya Kamal Taha Al-Bazar: 21 years old, from Beit Ilu in Ramallah governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 26.07.2014.
Thuraya is a student of Media and Technology at Al-Quds Open University. She was arrested on 26.07.2014 in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, and 12.02.2015 was on sentenced to 22 months imprisonment. She is held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond).
Palestinian political prisoner Ihsan Dababseh
9. Ihsan Hasan Abdel Fattah Dababseh:28 years old, from Nuba in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 13.10.2014.
Ihsan is a former prisoner: she was arrested the first time on 11.12.2007 and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on charges of membership in Islamic Jihad, and was released on 06.09.2009. On 13.10.2014, she was arrested for the second time, and is still waiting to be sentenced. Israeli occupation soldiers raided her house several times, sent her 4 summons and threatened to blow up her house of she didn’t come to interrogation centre. She went with her mother to detention centre and was detained and her personal computer was confiscated, while her mother told to leave. During her first arrest at “Etzion”, Israeli occupation soldiers filmed her while handcuffed and her eyes blindfolded. They were dancing and singing around her, while pushing, humiliating and harassing her. She recalls in an interview: “They handcuffed and blindfolded me, and threw me into a military jeep. After a while, I was thrown at the yard of the Etzion detention centre in front of criminals. It was very cold and raining, and I was left under rain for a while…. After some time, I started hearing loud music and felt that someone was trying to touch me. I tried to keep close to the wall, but it was useless. One occupation soldier brought a bottle of wine and offered me a drink, which I refused, so he continued to harass me… After a few moments, they began attacking me like rabid dogs, and began beating me with their rifle butts and their feet. One of the soldiers beat my head against the iron military jeep until I fainted… I regained conscience to find myself in front of a female doctor wearing military dress, and after a configurable medical examination, I was taken to the interrogation cell, and there began the journey of torment and humiliation.”… “The officer who began interrogating me was called Peran; he began threatening to demolish my family’s house and arrest my brothers.
The interrogation continued two hours, and afterwards I was taken blindfolded to another interrogation centre, I think it was the Russian Compound. There were three interrogators, and the minute I entered the room, they started insulting me and saying curses I don’t want to repeat. One of the interrogators was pulling my hair, and all the time I was handcuffed. This lasted till eleven o’clock at night, and afterwards they transferred me to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), where I was charged with attempting to stab an occupation soldier and the membership in the Islamic Jihad.” She concluded: “I will never rest until the occupation soldiers are punished judicially in order to be a warning to anyone tempted to insult or humiliate any Palestinian prisoner.” Ihsan was subjected to various punishments, including isolation for a week with another 4 fellow
Palestinian female detainees and were denied family visits on charges of raising the Palestinian flag in the prison yard on the anniversary of the Nakba. Ihsan was brought to court 10 times, but without any verdict and her next court session is due on 12.01.2016. It was also reported that on 03.05.2015, Ihsan and another 4 Palestinian detainees were isolated for a week after an Israeli jailor claimed that the Palestinian female detainees pushed her. Following protest from the other Palestinian female political detainees, they were returned back to the wing of Palestinian political prisoners, but with the same isolation conditions for a week, with the exception of Shireen Issawi, who was transferred to isolation in Neve Tirza (Ramleh). Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Ihsan, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. On 04.12.2015, Ihsan started a hunger strike to protest her transfer to Damon prison, which she ended on 19.12.2015 following promises from the IPS to return her to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 12.01.2016 after her trial. During her hunger strike, she was denied lawyer and family visits. Ihsan suffers from pains in the stomach and joints.
10. Yasmin Tayseer Sha’ban: 32 years old, from Al-Jalameh in Jenin governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 03.11.2014.
Yasmin is a mother of four. She was kidnapped from her home on 03.11.2014, and underwent five days in interrogation at Al-Jalameh Detention Centre, during which she was tortured; she was left to stand on a chair tied with chains for long periods, and was threatened with the arrest of her husband and children. She described the interrogation cells as “very bad, with rough walls, and dirty mattresses, high humidity and lack of hot water”. She was denied to meet any lawyers, and was transferred to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 09.11.2014. Israeli interrogators alleged that Yasmin was planning to carry out a resistance operation together with another 4 young men from Tulkarim governorate. She suffers from thyroid problems and shortness of breath and asthma and is in need of regular medical follow-up. On 22.04.2015, Yasmin and 5 other prisoners were punished and isolated in their cells for 4 days and denied family visits for a month; they were accused by the IPS of singing and waving a Palestinian flag while the sirens were on for the dead Israeli occupation soldiers. Also, it was also reported that on 03.05.2015, Yasmin and another 4 Palestinian detainees were isolated for a week after an Israeli jailor claimed that the Palestinian female detainees pushed her. Following protest from the other Palestinian female political detainees, they were returned back to the wing of Palestinian political prisoners, but with the same isolation conditions for a week, with the exception of Shireen Issawi, who was transferred to isolation in Neve Tirza (Ramleh).
Palestinian political prisoner Amal Al-Sa’dah
11. Amal Ahmad Al-Sa’dah: from Halhoul in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 16.07.2015.
Amal was detained on 18.11.2014 while visiting her brother Mohammad in jail, who is serving a 17 year sentence, after which she was released on conditions of a 12,000 NIS fine and imposing house arrest on her in Kisifyeh in Bir As-Sabis’ with a bailor who is holder of Israeli ID, and depriving her from visiting her brother Mohammad, who is held captive in Israeli jails. After 6 months under house arrest, Amal’s house arrest order was cancelled and she was returned to Halhoul, on condition of appearing before the district court in Bir As-Sabi’. After five court sessions, she was sentenced on 16.07.2015 to 14 months imprisonment on charges of trying to smuggle a mobile SIM card to her imprisoned brother Mohammad. The court also added 18 months imprisonment to her brother Mohammad who is serving a 17 years sentence since 2005. It is worth mentioning that Amal suffers from a number of diseases, including diabetes. She is currently held in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond).
12. Hala Msallam Abu Sall: 17 years old, from Al-Arroub refugee camp in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 28.11.2014.
Hala was arrested on 28.11.2014 by Israeli occupation forces after she refused to be searched at an Israeli military checkpoint near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron. She was forcibly searched by the Israeli occupation soldiers under threat of guns, and was accused of possessing a knife. Hala was subjected to a harsh interrogation, tortured and coerced into confessing that she “intended to stab the occupation soldiers”. Her court sessions were postponed 9 times. On 27.11.2015, she ended her first year in Israeli captivity and is still not charged.
Palestinian political prisoner Amal Taqatqa
13. Amal Ahmad Taqatqa: 20 years old, from Beit Fajjar in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 01.12.2014.
On 01.12.2014, Amal was on her way to Hebron to buy clothes for her wedding. She was shot with 5 live bullets by Israeli occupation soldiers near the “Gush Etzion” colony block after a colonist claimed that she tried to stab him. She was seriously injured in the chest, her left hand, her left waist and her left leg, and her legs were chained to the bed in Hadasa Hospital. Amal was subjected to interrogation while in hospital, and was told by Israeli interrogators that there was no need for her confession, as evidence was available from cameras at the scene; evidence they never provided. On 19.12.2014, and despite denying the accusation and the lack of evidence, Amal was accused of “attempted stabbing”. She was transferred to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 30.12.2014. Her family’s house was raided and her father arrested. Despite various cameras being present at the “Gush Etzion” junction, no evidence was ever provided by the Israeli occupation forces that Amal tried to stab the colonist till this day. While in hospital, she woke up one night to find a colonist pulling her hair and beating her in the face several times. On 01.12.2015, Amal entered her second year is Israeli captivity and is not sentenced yet. She is still in need of medical care, and suffers from medical negligence by the IPS. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Amal, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Haniya Naser
14. Haniya Munir Ali Naser: 23 years old, from Deir Qaddis in Ramallah governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 10.12.2014.
Haniya is a former prisoner, arrested on 12.09.2011 at Ni’lin military checkpoint. Israeli occupation soldiers claimed that Haniya possessed a knife, and she was sentenced to 38 months and a fine of 2000 NIS. She was released on 18.12.2011 in the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and the Zionist entity. On the dawn of 10.12.2014, Haniya’s house was raided and searched by Israeli occupation forces, and she was kidnapped and held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Her release in the prisoner swap deal was cancelled and her original sentence was re-imposed by a special Israeli military court on 30.04.2015, and she was returned to prison to finish her original sentence. On 03.05.2015, Haniya and another 4 Palestinian detainees were isolated for a week after an Israeli jailor claimed that the Palestinian female detainees pushed her. Following protest from the other Palestinian female political detainees, they were returned back to the wing of Palestinian political prisoners, but with the same isolation conditions for a week, with the exception of Shireen Issawi, who was transferred to isolation in Neve Tirza (Ramleh). She is member of the Media Support Team for Palestinian Prisoners, and her brother Naser is also held captive by the Zionist entity. On 10.12.2015, Haniya entered her second year in Israeli captivity.
Palestinian political prisoner Khalida Jarrar
15. Khalida Jarrar: 52 years old, from Ramallah, held captive in Israeli jail since 02.04.2015.
Khalida is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for the Abu Ali Mustapha bloc, a prominent political and civil society figure, the head of the Prisoner’s Issues in the PLC, and mother of two. On 20.08.2014, Israeli occupation forces issued a “deportation order” in an attempt to displace Khalida from her home in Ramallah to Jericho. She rejected the order and received huge popular support. On 02.04.2015, Israeli occupation forces raided her home in Ramallah, destroyed the main door, searched the house and confiscated 2 laptops and a mobile phone, before kidnapping Khalida. She as subjected to a 4-hour interrogation at Ofer military camp, where Khalida refused to talk, take water or food. She was later transferred to HaSharon priosn (Tel Mond). Khalida was initially sentenced to administrative detention for 6 months, which was replaced with detention after one month and two days, following international pressure. Her detention was extended on 28.05.2015 until the end of legal proceedings, based on 12 charges against her that are related to her advocacy work for the freedom of Palestinian political prisoners. Her trial was delayed several times deliberately due to lack of evidence and witnesses against her. On 06.12.2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Khalida, a democratically elected MP, to 15 months imprisonment, on 2 charges, namely; “membership in an illegal organization and incitement”. She was also fined 10,000 NIS and given a suspended sentence of 12 months wihin a five year period. Her imprisonment is an attempt to terrorize Palestinians and target leaders. Khalida suffers from health problems, whereby the journey in the “Posta” is extremely exhausting for her. In a testimony to her lawyer, Khalida noted that on 05.12.2015 at 02:00 in the morning she was transferred to Neve Tirza (Ramleh) prison on her way to Ofer prison for the court session, and stayed there till 04:00. She was left waiting inside the “Posta” until 07:00 before reaching Ofer at 08:00. She described the condition in the waiting room: “The waiting room is a very cold refrigerator, and the seats are made of concrete, and the toilet was flooding in the room.” With her were female detainees Dina Misleh, Abeer A-Qadi, Su’ad Izreqat, and Sabreen Sanad, who suffers from back pains. She added: “After the court session ended in “Ofer”, I was transferred to “HaSharon” prison at 19:00, stayed for two hours in the “Posta”, and arrived at the prison after midnight. During the journey, the Palestinian female political detainees were placed with Israeli criminal prisoners, who were insulting the detainees and calling them “terrorists”. When we reached HaSharon, the temperature was zero. The entire journey to the court and back in the “Posta” took 10 hours, a tortured journey, great suffering. A number of detainees give up going for court hearings because of the cruel and inhumane conditions during the journey.” Khalida added that the IPS has tightened its measures against Palestinian political detainees, where they are hand- and leg-shackled during transfer from room to room, or during lawyer and family visits. It is worth mentioning that Khalida is banned by Israeli occupation military from travelling outside occupied Palestine. Full profile of Khalida Jarrar, Khalida Jarrar resource page on Samidoun.
Palestinian political prisoner ‘Alia Al-Abbasi
16. ‘Alia Ali Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Al-‘Abassi: 51 years old, from Silwan in Jerusalem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 15.04.2015.
‘Alia is a mother of six. She was arrested on 02.01.2012 and released on 22.02.2012 under condition of house arrest and a fine of 7500 NIS. ‘Alia was charges with “carrying a knife and attempting to stab an occupation soldier” at a military checkpoint in Shu’fat, and was sentenced on 19.06.2014 to 40 months imprisonment, reduced to 26 months and a fine on condition that she turn herself in to the detention centre on 15.04.2015, which she did. The next day, she was transferred first to Neve Tirza Prison (Ramle) and later to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). She suffers from various health problems, such as Asthma, problems with the spinal column, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, and is denied medical treatment. She is mother of Palestinian political prisoner Issa ‘Abbasi, serving a 20-year sentence in Nafha prison. Since her detention, ‘Abla is not allowed to see her son Issa, who went on hunger strike 6 months ago demanding to be allowed to see his mother, and ended his hunger strike following promises of the IPS to allow him to meet his mother. As usual, the IPS did not comply with it promises, forcing Issa to start another hunger strike on 15.12.2015.
Palestinian political prisoner Ibtisam Hamarsheh
17. Ibtisam Yousif Taha Hamarsheh:60 years old, from Ya’bad in Jenin governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 23.07.2015.
Ibtisam was detained on 26.05.2015 during a visit to her imprisoned son Ali in Gilboa prison. She was accused of attempted smuggling of a mobile phone to her son. On 02.07.2015, the court ordered her release on conditions of paying a fine of 30,000 NIS, a bail of 10,000 NIS by a third party and house arrest at her sister’s house in Um Al-Fahim until the finalization of the court procedures for her trial. On 23.07.2015, the Israeli military court in occupied Tiberias sentenced Ibtisam to 6 months imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 NIS. She suffers from poor health due heart and blood pressure problems, and underwent an operation a few days following her detention, and was denied visits while in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond).
Palestinian political prisoner Sabrin Abu Sharar
18. Sabrin Abu Sharar: 25 years old, from Dura in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 07.06.2015.
Sabrin was born on 27.11.1990, and graduated from medical school in Egypt in 2014. She is a trainee doctor at Alia hospital in occupied Hebron. She was kidnapped from her family home by Israeli occupation forces on 07.06.2015 and taken to interrogation cells in Asqalan prison. Sabrin was subjected to physical and psychological torture, including pressure, threats and humiliation during the harsh interrogation, which lasted from 08:00 till 23:00 every day, whereby the interrogators took turns in interrogating with her, while they were screaming, shouting, calling her names and threatening her.
The cell was small and narrow, not bigger than 1.5m x 2m, dirty and smelly, with little ventilation, and the toilet was inside the small cell. Sabrin also reports that the journey in the “Posta” is another form of torture; the harsh journey starts at 03:00 in the early morning and lasts up to 8 hours. In a testimony to her lawyer, Sabrin described the suffering of the Palestinian female detainees during the journey to the courts in the “Posta”. She was transferred to court on 10.12.2015 from Damon prison and the journey lasted 5 days back and forth, because the “Posta” stopped several times in several locations. She described travelling in the “Posta” like hell, with iron chairs that are very cold and difficult to sit on. Palestinian detainees are held in narrow cages, their hands and legs tied during the journey, causing pain in the joints and back. She added: “On Sunday 13.12.2015, I had a court session in Ofer prison.
I was transferred on Thursday 10.12.2015 in the morning from Damon prison to Ramleh checkpoint. From there, and following a long wait, we exchanged “Postas” and were transferred to HaSharon, where we arrived at midday Thursday, and stayed there till Sunday 13.12.2015, then I was transferred at 03:00 in the morning from HaSharon to Ramleh checkpoint, and there I waited for the “Posta” several hours. At 8:30, we arrived to Ofer court. I remained in the waiting room for hours for my court session, after which I was returned to the waiting room until 18:00. Afterwards, I was transferred to Ramleh checkpoint and there we waited in the “Posta” for 3 hours. I was transferred to HaSharon, where we arrived at 23:00. I slept and on the next day, Monday 14.12.2015, at around 09:00, I was transferred to Jalameh prison, and there we waited for about 2 hours to change “Postas”. Afterwards I was transferred to Damon prison, where we arrived in the afternoon of Monday. The trip to Ofer court lasted 5 days in very harsh conditions.” Sabrin added that the Nachshon forces in charge of transferring prisoners attack the Palestinian detainees and don’t allow them to eat or use the toilet. The waiting room in Ofer is even worse, being very cold, with baton chairs, and detainees are left to wait for long hours before and after the court sessions. She said that Israeli criminal prisoners are transferred with Palestinian political detainees in the “Posta”, and they insult them all the way and attack them, and that some detainees prefer not to go to court because of the “Posta” journey. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Sabrin, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. Sabrin is one of 5 Palestinian doctors currently held captive in Israeli jails.
19. Maysoun Mousa Mahmoud Al-Jabali: 19 years old, from Shawawreh in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 29.06.2015.
Maysoun is a university student. She was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers on 29.06.2015 for carrying out a resistance operation and stabbing an occupation soldier near “Rachel’s Tomb” military checkpoint in Bethlehem. Maysoun was brutally beaten by the Israeli occupation soldiers, who kicked her and beat her with sticks and rifle butts, before being transferred to the detention centre. She is currently held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Her family house was also searched, its contents ransacked and her parents were threatened with the demolition of their house. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Maysoun, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Rawan Abu Matar
20. Rawan Abu Matar Ziadeh: 22 years old, from Beit Illo from Ramallah governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 16.07.2015.
Rawan was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers on 16.07.2015 outside “Mahliel” illegal Zionist colony in Ramallah governorate. The occupation soldiers forced Rawan to the ground, and handcuffed her before taking her to interrogation.
Rawan was accused of carrying out a resistance operation and stabbing an occupation soldier near a military checkpoint outside the illegal Zionist colony. She was held captive in HaSharon prison, until early December 2015, when the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Rawan, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Najwan Odeh
21. Najwan Mohammad Ayman Odeh: 34 years old, from Al-Bireh in Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 07.09.2015.
Najwan is an employee in the Palestine Office of Qatar Charity in Al-Bireh, and also works as a presenter at Nisa’ FM radio station in Ramallah. She was kidnapped by Israeli occupation soldiers on the morning of 07.09.2015 after raiding her house in Sateh Marhaba in Al-Bireh. Her house was ransacked by the IOF, the entrance door broken, contents destroyed and several PCs were confiscated, and she was taken to interrogation on accusation of “transferring money to hostile organizations, membership in a hostile organization, and working for a hostile organization”. Najwan’s court session was postponed 10 times, and her family wasn’t allowed to visit her, and only saw her in court and were able to exchange few words with her before occupation soldiers prevented them from talking to her. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Najwan, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
22. Asma’ Fahid Saied Hamdan: 19 years old from occupied Nazareth, held captive in Israeli jails since 05.10.2015.
Asma’ is a student of medical secretarial work, and was detained on 05.10.2015 during a protest stand against the human rights violations and brutality of the Israeli occupation forces. She told her lawyer that was held in the interrogation centre in Nazareth from 17:30 till 02:30, before being transferred to Al-Jalameh interrogation centre. At Al-Jalameh, Asma’ was strip-searched by a female soldier and interrogated for 10 days. She was subjected to torture, insults and threats during interrogation and she was isolated from the outside world. The cell she was held captive in was very narrow, dirty and smelly, and although it was very cold, she was allowed only one mattress and one blanket. Asma’ was charged with “incitement and threatening the state security” on her Facebook page and allegedly sending text messages to her family expressing the unity of the Palestinian people against the aggression on Al-Aqsa, and on 13.10.2015 received an administrative detention order for 3 months, later reduced to 2, making the first Palestinian female from Palestinian areas occupied in 1948 to receive an administrative detention order in many years. After hearing her sentence, she asked the judge why Israelis who incite against Arabs on Facebook are never detained, and told the judge that their laws are racist. She was held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), and on 22.12.2015, was transferred to Damon prison.
Palestinian political prisoner Shuruq Dwayyat
23. Shuruq Salah Ibrahim Dwayyat: 18 years old, from Sur Bahir in occupied Jerusalem, held captive in Israeli jails since 07.10.2015
Shuruq is a first-year student of History and Geography at Bethlehem University. On 07.10.2015, while walking in Al-Wad Street in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, Shuruq was shot deliberately and in cold blood by a Jewish colonist from a short distance after he tried to remove her head cover (hijab), and she pushed him away. She was shot 4 bullets in the chest, neck and shoulder, injuring a main vein in her shoulder, and was left bleeding on the street for at least two hours, while Israeli occupation soldiers shouted at her and insulted her. She was later transferred to Hadasa hospital to receive treatment, where she was tied to the hospital bed and denied family visits. Shuruq underwent an operation to plant a vein in her shoulder, after which she was taken on a wheelchair to interrogation cells in Al-Maskubiyyeh detention centre (the Russian Compound), where she was held for 4 hours and was insulted and threatened by the interrogators to be taken to an unknown place and to demolish her family house. She was accused to attempting to stab the Zionist colonists who attacked her. After interrogation, and only 3 days following her arrest, Shuruq was taken to HaSharon (Tel Mond) jail in the “Posta”, although she recently underwent an operation and needed medical assistant; she was unable to stand or walk, was in pain, and one time fell on the ground, but the Israeli occupation solders laughed at her. The “Posta” was smelly, without any ventilation, and the journey from Al-Maskubiyyeh to HaSharon (Tel Mond) lasted 8 hours. She was brought in front of an Israeli military court on 13.10.2015, but the trial was postponed. She looked very tired as a result of her injury. Additionally, and clearly a collective punishment to Shuruq’s family, Israeli occupation authorities issued a demolition order for the house of Shuruq’s brother under the pretext of building without a permit. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Shuruq, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Isra Ja’abees
24. Isra’ Mohammad Ja’abees: 31 years old, from Jabal Al-Mukabbir in Jerusalem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 11.10.2015.
Isra’ is a mother of 8 year-old Mu’tasim. On the morning of 11.10.2015, Isra’ was on her way to work coming from Jericho, where she has a second home, when her car caught fire due to an electrical short circuit that caused the airbag to explode. As her car stopped at the Z’ayem Israeli military checkpoint, and despite seeing the car catch fire, Israeli occupation soldiers rushed to shoot at Isra’. She received treatment at Hadasa hospital for the severe burns in her upper body, shoulders and face. Israeli occupation forces claim that Isra’ attempted to carry put a resistance operation, which eyewitnesses deny and insist that it was a car malfunction and that the car did not explode. She is denied family visits and only her lawyer is allowed to see her. Israeli occupation forces informed Isra’s family of their intention to demolish her house. On 23.12.2015, Isra’ was transferred from Hadasa Hospital to Ramleh prison hospital, despite her need for intensive medical treatment.
Palestinian political prisoner Dareen Tatour
25. Dareen Tawfiq Tatour: 33 years old, from occupied Reneh, held captive in Israeli jails since 11.10.2015.
Dareen is an activist and a poet. On 11.10.2015, Israeli occupation soldiers detained Dareen after raiding her house. She was accused of “incitement to violence” on social media through posting photos on her Facebook page, including a picture of Isra’ Abed and commenting on the photos: “I will be the next martyr”. She was also accused of posting a video of herself reciting a poem with pictures of Palestinian resistance operations. The Israeli central court in occupied Nazareth decided to release Dareen and place her under house arrest, but the military prosecutor objected and appealed the decision. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Dareen, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet. Dareen suffers from bad health conditions.
Palestinian political prisoner Marah Bakeer
26. Marah Jawdat Bakeer: 16 years old, from Beit Hanina in Jerusalem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 12.10.2015.
Marah left Abdallah Bin Al-Hussein School in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem after the end of the school day on 12.10.2015, and was waiting for the bus to go home like every day, when Zionist colonists shouted at her and claimed that she attacked them. Israeli occupation soldiers immediately shot her several times; 10 bullets according to various reports, in the upper body and in the left leg and arm causing fractures in both and shrapnel in the face. She was left to bleed for some time, before being taken to Hadasa hospital for treatment, where she stayed for 24 days while hand and leg tied to the hospital bed, and underwent 2 operations. Despite her need for medical treatment, Marah was transferred to Asqalan prison, as HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) refused to take her in due to over-crowding. Marah was held captive, together with Jihan ‘Ereqat and Instabraq Nur, in a cell in Asqalan prison; the three minors told lawyers that the cell was small, dirty and that they suffered from allergies because the cell was infested with insects and cockroaches, and the lack of hygiene material such as shampoo, in addition to bad food and a delay in providing drinking water. They also complained from the various raids of the IPS, the searches, humiliation and racist ridicule by Israeli occupation soldiers, and asked to be transferred to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to be with other Palestinian female political prisoners. On 22.11.2015, the three minors Marah, Jihan ‘Ereqat and Istabqar Nur were transferred from Asqalan prison to an isolation cell in Neve Tirze (Ramle) for Israeli female prisoners held on criminal charges. They suffered from abuse, bad food quality and quantity, dirty cell, the day and night raids of the IPS, they couldn’t sleep because of the shouting coming from the section of Israeli criminal prisoners, and weren’t allowed family visits since their detention. During lawyer visits, the three minors were hand- and leg-cuffed. On 29.11.2015, the IPS issued a decision to transfer the three minors to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Both Marah and Istabraq Nur were transferred from Neve Tirze (Ramle) to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 02.12.2015, while Jihan ‘Ereqat was kept captive at Neve Tirze (Ramle). Marah suffers from 80% disability in her hand and can’t move it due to the damage caused to the nerves, and her detention was renewed till 29.12.2015.
Palestinian political prisoner Nisreen Hassan
27. Nisreen Hassan Abdallah Hassan: 40 years old, from occupied Haifa, held captive in Israeli jails since 18.10.2015.
Nisreen is from occupied Haifa, and is married to a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip. She is mother to seven children, the youngest of whom is 10 years old. Nisreen was detained at Beit Hanoun Israeli military checkpoint on 18.10.2015, and has since been held in detention. Israeli occupation forces accuse Nisreen of membership in Kataeb Al-Mujahideen in Gaza Strip, and collecting information in 2013 and 2014 on governmental buildings and other sensitive locations in occupied Haifa for the benefit of the Palestinian resistance. Her trial was postponed 5 times under the pretext of “completing the interrogation”. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Nisreen, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. It is worth mentioning that Nisreen suffers from cervical cancer.
Palestinian political prisoner Istabraq Nur
28. Istabraq Ahmad Nur: 15 years old, from Madama in Nablus governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 21.10.2015.
Istabraq comes from a family of 11 and is a student in the 9th grade at Madama Girls School. She was detained on the early morning of 21.10.2015, after being shot in the right hand and foot by Israeli occupation forces near the illegal Zionist colony “Yitzhar”. Israeli occupation soldiers claimed that Istabraq attempted to sneak into the Zionist colony to carry out a resistance operation. She lost conscience as a result of the injury and only awoke in the ambulance. Istabraq spent 3 days receiving treatment at Shneider hospital, before being transferred between jails, which refused to take her in due to over-crowding, to finally end up in Asqalan prison together with Jihan ‘Ereqatand Marah Bakeer.
The three girls were held in isolation in Asqalan prison, where they were held in a small and narrow cell that was dirty, infested with insects and cockroaches, high humidity and lacked basic needs for living. The cell was close to the section of Israeli criminal prisoners, who often shouted and insulted the three Palestinian minors. When first transferred to Asqalan, the three minors were left several days without blankets and suffered from the harsh cold, lack of winter clothing, the food was of bad quality and they were not allowed to go regularly to the yard. Istabraq was brought to Salim military court several time, and one time she was beaten by an Israeli occupation policewoman during the court session. On the way to Asqalan prison, one of the Israeli policewomen removed the bandages from her hand although not fully recovered, as she still needs treatment, and since her transfer to Asqalan, she’d been suffering from deliberate medical negligence. On 22.11.2015, the three minors Istabraq, Jihan ‘Ereqat and Marah Bakeer were transferred from Asqalan prison to an isolation cell in Neve Tirze (Ramle) prison for Israeli female prisoners held on criminal charges. When transferred, they were searched naked and in an insulting manner.
They suffered from abuse, bad food quality and quantity, dirty cell, the day and night raids of the IPS, they couldn’t sleep because of the shouting coming from the section of Israeli criminal prisoners, and weren’t allowed family visits since their detention. During lawyer visits, the three minors were hand- and leg-cuffed. On 29.11.2015, it was reported that the IPS issued a decision to transfer the three minors to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Both Istabraq and Marah Bakeer were transferred from Neve Tirze (Ramle) to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 02.12.2015, while Jihan ‘Ereqat was kept captive at Neve Tirze (Ramle).
29. Jihan Hatem Abdel Aziz ‘Ereqat: 17 years old, from Abu Dees in Jerusalem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 27.10.2015.
Jihan is a high school pupil. On 27.10.2015, she was detained with her sister Nour near the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Hebron on claims of possessing a knife. Nour was released later and Jihan was taken to the Maskubiyyeh detention centre (Russian Compound) for interrogation, after which she was transferred to Asqalan prison. Jihan was isolated, together with Marah Bkeer and Instabraq Nur, in a cell in Asqalan prison. The cell was small, dirty, infested with insects and cockroaches. They complained from the bad food and the lack of drinking water. They also suffered from the various raids of the IPS, the searches, humiliation and racist ridicule by Israeli occupation soldiers. In a testimony to her lawyer, Jihan described the conditions of their arrest in Asqalan: “There was no ventilation in the cell as it lacked windows, and we didn’t know day from the night. Water was seeping from the ceiling on the mattresses, and the insects caused us skin rashes. We used to sleep hungry due to the bad quality and quantity of the food, and the Jewish criminal prisoners held in the same section used to annoy us all the time with their shouting and cursing us, insulting us and calling us “terrorists”, in addition to the lack of any privacy because of the cameras monitoring everything in the cells, and even the toilets.” They asked to be transferred to HaSharon (Tel Mond) to be with other Palestinian female political prisoners. On 22.11.2015, the three minors Jiahn, Istabraq Nur and Marah Bakeer were transferred from Asqalan prison to an isolation cell in Neve Tirze (Ramleh) for Israeli female prisoners held on criminal charges. When transferred, they were searched naked and in an insulting manner. They suffered from abuse, bad food quality and quantity, dirty cell, the day and night raids of the IPS, they couldn’t sleep because of the shouting coming from the section of Israeli criminal prisoners, and weren’t allowed family visits since their detention. During lawyer visits, the three minors were hand- and leg-cuffed. On 29.11.2015, the IPS issued a decision to transfer the three minors to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Both Istabraq Nur and Marah Bakeer were transferred from Neve Tirze (Ramle) to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) on 02.12.2015, while Jihan was kept captive at Neve Tirze (Ramle).
Palestinian political prisoner Jurin Qadah
30. Jurin Saied Qadah: 19 years old, from Shuqba in Ramallah governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 28.10.2015.
Jurin is a second-year Media student at Birzeit University. On 28.10.2015 at 03:00 am, Israeli occupation forces raided Jurin’s family house, searched the house, beat her and kidnapped her, because she wrote the following sentence on her Facebook page: “If I ever leave, cover me with your prayers for me”. Jurin was subjected to a degrading treatment during the harsh interrogation, and she fainted during the transfer to Ofer military court because of extreme fatigue and the length of the journey in the “Posta” from the prison to the court. On 02.11.2015, Jurin received an administrative detention order of 3 months renewable; making her the second Palestinian woman in years to receive an administrative detention order. Jurin was held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), where she was subjected to harassments, and in one incident, a female occupation soldier beat Jurin, causing her bruises in her foot. On 22.12.2015, she was transferred to Damon prison.
31. Hilweh Mohammad ‘Elayan Hamamreh: 25 years old, from Husan in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 08.11.2015.
Hilweh is married and has 1 year-old daughter. She was shot and severely injured in stomach and lg by Israeli occupation soldiers on 08.11.2015 in the abdomen and leg after carrying out a resistance operation in which she slightly injured an Israeli security guard outside the Zionist colony “Beitar Ilit”. Hilweh was transferred to the intensive care unit at Hadasa hospital due to her critical condition. She underwent several operations in the stomach, and parts of her kidney, intestines, pancreas and spleen were removed as the bullet that hit her in the left side of the abdomen was the explosive type. On 22.11.2015, Ofer military court extended the detention of Hilweh under the pretext of “incomplete interrogation”, and on 23.12.2015, the IPS transferred her from Hadasa Hospital to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), although she is still in need of medical care for her injury.
Palestinian political prisoner Samya Mashahreh
32. Samya Mashahreh: 30 years old, from Jabal Al-Mukabir in Jerusalem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 08.11.2015.
Samya is mother of two girls and one boy, and is wife of Palestinian prisoner Fahmi Mashahreh who is serving a 20-time life sentence. She was detained and her two children, 13 year-old Obeidah and 2 year-old Aziza, on 08.11.2015, while visiting her husband in Eshel prison, and were taken to Bir As-Sabi’ police station. Her children were sent to her parents, while her detention was repeatedly extended. She is held captive on charges of “trying to smuggle a mobile phone to her husband, disrupting the work of the police and helping a terrorist organization”. She is currently held captive in Neve Tirza prison (Ramleh). It is worth mentioning that her second daughter Aziza, born in 2003, was conceived after samples of her father’s sperm were smuggled out of prison.
33. Abeer “Amira” Ali Ahmad Hmeidat Al-Qadi: 43 years old, from Sourif in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 16.11.2015.
At 20:00 on 16.11.2015, more than 30 military vehicles of the Israeli occupation forces raided Abeer’s house in Sourif in an attempt to kidnap her son, whom they didn’t find. They shouted at the residents, insulted them, and ransacked the house for 3 hours before kidnapping Abeer while handcuffed. Israeli occupation soldiers also beat Abeer’s husband Ahmad, when he tried to prevent the soldiers from stealing money and other possessions from the house, whereby they took 65,000 NIS. She suffers from various health problems, including Asthma, and underwent an operation 5 years earlier to remove a tumour. Abeer is held captive in Asqalan interrogation centre and denied family visits.
Palestinian political prisoner Dunya Misleh
34. Dunia Ali Misleh: 19 years old from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 16.11.2015.
Dunia is a student at Palestine Ahliya University in Bethlehem and is active in the Progressive Student Labour Front at the university. On 16.11.2015, Israeli occupation forces conducted a dawn raid on Dheisheh refugee camp, during which several houses were raided, accompanied with firing live bullets, gas and sound canisters at the houses and the Palestinian protesters who came out to defend confront the IOF and defend the refugee camp. 4 young men were injured with live bullets and Dunia was detained. Dunia’s house was raided, its main entrance forced open and it was thoroughly searched. It is suspected that Dunia is detained on accusation of incitement on Facebook, as she received a phone call weeks before her detention from someone claiming to be from the Israeli intelligence and threatening her over her Facebook activity. Her court session was postponed several times.
35. Lynn Haitham Tawfiq Al-Heeh: 18 years old, from Sourif in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 18.11.2015.
Lynn was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers on 18.11.2015, as she tried to cross the “container” Israeli military checkpoint at the entrance to Al-Shuhada Street in the Old City of occupied Hebron. She was taken to the Israeli occupation police centre for interrogation, and was accused of trying to cross the military checkpoint.
36. Tamara Mohammad Ahmad Shreiteh: 27 years old, from Yatta on Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 21.11.2015.
Tamara is a mother of 4 children. She was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers on 21.11.2015 near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of occupied Hebron under the pretext of “possessing a kitchen knife”. Tamara was beaten by the occupation soldiers before being taken to the occupation police station in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque for interrogation. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Tamara, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Nourhan Awwad
37. Nourhan Ibrahim Awwad: 14 years old, from Qalandia refugee camp, held captive in Israeli jails since 23.11.2015.
On 23.11.2015, Nourhan and her 16 year-old cousin Hadeel were on their way to school, when they were harassed and threatened by Zionist colonists. They tried to defend themselves with a little scissor they had, at which point Israeli occupation policemen shot at the two minors, whereby Hadeel was martyred and Nourhan was hit with 10 bullets and critically injured in the liver, hand and the foot. She was also subjected to severe beating and insults. She is accused of “stabbing Zionist colonists”. On 27.11.2015, it was reported that Nourhan told interrogators that: “I did not intend to stab anyone, but when I heard them say “terrorist, terrorist” I pulled out a scissor to protect myself.” A video appeared that shows Israeli occupation policemen shoot at Nourhan although she was lying on the ground motionless.
Nourhan was transferred from hospital to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond), although she was still in need of medical treatment. When her mother visited her in hospital on 21.12.2015, she noted that her daughter still suffered from severe pain in the stomach, was unable to walk, and the only treatment she received from the “prison doctor” was pain painkillers that don’t do much to stop the pain. Only Nourhan’s mother was allowed to visit her, and only for 45 minutes and to see her and talk to her from behind glass. The family demanded to bring in a doctor on their own expenses, but the prison administration refused, and prohibited any visits from the family lawyer and the ICRC doctor.
Palestinian political prisoner Sana’Al-Hafi
38. Sana’ Mohammad Hussein Al-Hafi: 43 years old, from Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, held captive in Israeli jails since 25.11.2015.
Sana’ is a mother of 7 children. On 26.05.2015, she was detained at Erez checkpoint while in her way back to Gaza from visiting her family in ‘Am’ari refugee camp near Ramallah and receiving treatment in the West Bank, as she suffers from poor health. Her court sessions were postponed several times, and she was transferred from Asqalan to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond).
She was released under conditions of house arrest in occupied Jerusalem and a fine of 20,000 NIS. Sana’ was detained again on 25.11.2015 and held captive in HaShaon prison (Tel Mond), awaiting her court trial. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Sana’, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding. None of these prisoners are sentenced yet, and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them.
Palestinian political prisoner Mariam Sawafta
39. Mariam Arafat Sawafta: 21 years old, from Tubas, held captive in Israeli jails since 28.11.2015.
Mariam is originally from Tubas, but is married and resides in the Jordan Valley. On the morning of 28.11.2015, Israeli occupation soldiers detained Mariam at Al-Hamra military checkpoint in Jericho governorate on accusation of “attempting to stab an occupation soldier”. Early December 2015, the IPS transferred 15 Palestinian female political detainees, including Mariam, from HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to Damon prison because of overcrowding and they were not allowed to take their personal belongings with them. None of these prisoners are sentenced.
40. Nada Ahmad Yousif Saqer Shusheh: 52 years old, from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 29.11.2015.
Israeli occupation soldiers detained Nada on the morning of 29.11.2015 when she went to visit her two imprisoned sons Hamzeh and Mohammad Abdallah Shusheh in An-Naqab prison. She was detained at Ath-Thahriyyeh military checkpoint and accused by Israeli occupation soldiers of carrying a “knife”, which her brother says was a pair of small scissors for trimming the nails that she always keeps in her handbag. Nada was taken to interrogation in the police station in “Kiryat Arba” Zionist colony. Despite a court order from the Ofer military court on 03.12.2015 to release Nada on condition of a 5000 NIS fine, the Israeli Prosecution appealed the decision. It is worth mention that Nada fainted during the court session due to fatigue and bad health.
Palestinian political prisoner Sabreen Sanad
41. Sabreen Mujahid Sanad: 14 years old, from Artas in Bethlehem governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 01.12.2015.
Sabreen is the youngest among her siblings. On 01.12.2015, and while on her way to school, she was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers at a military checkpoint in the south of Bethlehem. Sabreen was blindfolded and taken to interrogation, where she was accused of “attempted stabbing”. A video that was posted on social media networks clearly shows Israeli occupation soldiers throwing a knife in front of a scared and shivery girl. Her father said that there is no settlement or Israeli military bus station near their village, and that it was clear in the video how scared and confused his daughter was, and that the occupation soldiers wanted to frame her. Sabreen was taken to Ezion detention centre, before being transferred to HaShaon prison (Tel Mond). On 03.12.2015, Ofer military court decided to release Sabreen on condition of a 4000 NIS fine, and allowing for a 72-hour period for the Israeli prosecution to appeal the decision. Nonetheless, she remains captive and is held in Neve Tirze prison (Ramleh) with Jihan ‘Ereqat and Niveen ‘Alqam.
Palestinian political prisoner Diana Rajabi
42. Diana Ismael Ar-Rajabi: 15 years old, from Hebron, held captive in Israeli jails since 02.12.2015.
iana was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers at a military checkpoint near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron on 02.12.2015. She was blindfolded and taken to interrogation, and was accused of “attempting to stab Israeli occupation soldiers”. Despite a court order from Ofer to release Diana on conditions, the Israeli prosecutor appealed and she was kept in detention. On 17.12.2015, Ofer military court referred Diana to the Israeli occupation “Behaviour Officer”.
43. ‘Abla Abdel Wahid Al-‘Adam: 45 years old, from Beit Ula in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 02.12.2015.
‘Abla is a mother of 9 children, the eldest is 28 years old and the youngest 3 years old. She was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers after being shot in the head and right eye near the container checkpoint in Hebron. She was kidnapped by Israeli occupation soldiers from a Red Crescent ambulance while receiving treatment.. ‘Abla is still in critical condition and is held in the Intensive Care Unit at Hadasa Hospital. Israeli occupation forces accuse ‘Abla of “attempted stabbing”. On 24.12.2015, the Ofer military court extended her detention in absentia for another 8 days, under the pretext of continuing the interrogation and legal procedures.
Palestinian political prisoner Su’ad Izreqat
44. Su’ad Abdel-Karim Omar Izreqat: 28 years old, from Tfuh in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 03.12.2015.
Su’ad’s is a former political prisoner and was detained on 08.04.2008, and was accused of planning a martyrdom operation and was sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment. She was freed on 07.07.2009 in the prisoner swap deal. During her arrest, she was denied family visits. Months later Su’ad was married to Mohammad Izreqat, only to live with him six months, as he was killed by a Zionist colonist who ran him over on 10.05.2010. On 03.12.2015, Israeli occupation forces raided her family house, and interrogated with her brother, while the women and children of the family were kept outside the house in the cold. The Israeli occupation officer in charge asked to bring Su’ad in for interrogation, when her brothers and mother tried to prevent her arrest, they were attacked by the occupation soldiers and beaten, before Su’ad was kidnapped while handcuffed and blindfolded. She was transferred to Ramleh (Neve Tirze), where she was held in isolation close to the cells of Israeli criminals. Despite her various demands, the IPS refused to transfer her to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond) to be with other Palestinian female political prisoners. Five days after her arrest, Su’ad received an administrative detention order for 4 months without charge. She went on an open hunger strike to protest her re-arrest, the harsh treatment she was subjected to during and after her arrest and to demand a transfer to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). She ended the hunger strike on 17.12.2015 following promises from the IPS to transfer her to HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). She is in a bad physical and psychological condition due to harsh detention conditions, and is in need of a gastroscopy operation. It is worth mentioning that Su’ad enrolled at Hebron Polytechnic University at the Department of Businesses Administration before her arrest. On 22.12.2015, Su’ad was transferred to Damon prison.
Palestinian political prison Lama Bakri
45. Lama Munther Hafith Al-Bakri: 15 years old, from Hebron, held captive in Israeli jails since 13.12.2015.
Lama was detained by Israeli occupation forces on 14.12.2015, after being shot in left leg with live bullets near “Kiryat Arba” Zionist colony.
She was accused of “attempted stabbing” of Israeli occupation soldiers. She is currently held in Hadasa Hospital, tied to the hospital bed.
Her parent’s house was raided by the IOF the next day and Israeli occupation soldiers took measurement to blow up the house.
Palestinian political prison Haifa Abu Rmeileh
46. Haifa Makrum Abu Rmeileh: 37 years old, from Arroub refugee camp in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 14.12.2015.
Haifa is a mother of 6 children, the youngest of whom is 2 years old. She works as headmistress at Beit Al-Maqdisi School in occupied Hebron, and is a social and human rights activist. At 01:00 of the early morning of 14.12.2015,
Israeli occupation soldiers raided Haifa’s house in the Hawooz area in occupied Hebron, held her children in one room, her husband in another and searched the house before kidnapping Haifa, while handcuffed, in the rain and the cold. Her house was raided by the Isreali occupation forces two weeks earlier and its contents were destroyed.
Palestinian political prison Asma’ Qadah
47. Asma’ Abdel Hakim Qadah: 21 years old, from Nablus, held captive in Israeli jails since 19.12.2015.
Asma’ is from Nablus and is a fourth year student of English Literature at Birzeit University, and is head of the Cultural Committee of the Student Council at the University. On the morning of 19.12.2015, she was detained at Zaatarah military checkpoint while on her way from Nablus to Birzeit University. She was dragged out of a taxi at the checkpoint, despite the efforts of the taxi driver to prevent the arrest, and taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. On 22.12.2015, Asma’ received a 3-month administrative detention order from the Ofer military court in absentia while held captive in HaSharon prison (Tel Mond). Asma’s father Abdel Hakim Qadah is a former prisoner and is currently held captive in the Petah Tikva detention centre since 2 months. It is speculated that Asma’s detention is to place pressure on her father and to pressure him to confess. It is worth mentioning that Asma’s final exams are due in January 2015. According to various sources, in the last 5 years, Israeli occupation forces detained around 500 male and female students from Birzeit University, including 17 students since the beginning of October 2015.
48. Madeline Mohammad Taleb Hrezat: 16 years old, from Yatta in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 21.12.2015.
Madlene was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers near the “Zeef” junction east of Yatta. Eyewitnesses report that Israeli occupation soldiers handcuffed Madeline and placed a knife by her side. She was taken to an interrogation centre in “Kiryat Arba” Zionist colony, and is accused of “attempted stabbing of an occupation soldier”. On 24.12.2015, the Ofer military court extended her detention under the pretext of continuing the interrogation and legal procedures, despite a previous court order to release her on conditions.
49. Dalal Mu’ammar Mahmoud Al-Qemari: 23 years old, from Yatta, held captive in Israeli jails since 23.12.2015.
Dalal was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers at the entrance to Yatta on 23.12.2015. On 24.12.2015, the Ofer military court extended Dalal’s detention till Monday 28.12.2015, under the pretext of continuing the interrogation and legal procedures.
50. Kariman Akram Sweidan: 14 years old, from ‘Azzoun in Qalqilya governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 27.12.2015.
Kariman was detained by Israeli occupation forces on 27.12.2015 and accused of “attempted stabbing”. On 28.12.2015, Israeli occupation authorities to extend the detention of Kariman until Tuesday, where she will have a court session in Salim military court.
51. Maha Shihdeh Shattat: 16 years old, from At-Thahriyyeh in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 27.12.2015.
Maha was detained by Israeli occupation forces on 27.12.2015 near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of occupied Hebron. She was taken for interrogation and is accused of “possessing a knife and attempted stabbing”.
52. Amrat Zama’reh: 16 years old, from Halhoul in Hebron governorate, held captive in Israeli jails since 27.12.2015.
Maha was detained by Israeli occupation forces on 27.12.2015 near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of occupied Hebron. She was taken for interrogation and is accused of “possessing a knife and attempted stabbing”.
53. Unknown: a Palestinian girl was detained by Israeli occupation forces at Jaba’ checkpoint, north east occupied Jerusalem, and was taken to an unknown location. Eyewitnesses say that the girl was on her way to Jaba’ village when Israeli occupation soldiers sitting in a military jeep called her to come closer, she was scared and complied, after which the occupation soldiers took her in the military jeep and left.
In addition to Palestinian female prisoner in Israeli jails, the Zionist entity imprisons the bodies of 8 Palestinian female martyrs:
1. Martyr Dalal Said Mohammad Al-Mughrabi, martyred on 11.03.1978.
2. Martyr Darin Mohammad Abu Eisheh, from Jenin, martyred on 17.02.2002.
3. Martyr Wafa‘ Ali Khalil Idris, from Al-Am’ari refugee camp, Ramallah, martyred on 21.02.2002.
4. Martyr Hanadi Tayseer Abdel Malik Jradat, from Jenin, martyred on 04.10.2003.
5. Martyr Ashraqat Taha Ahmad Qatanani, from Askar refugee camp, martyred on 22.11.2015.
Freedom for ALL Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Dungeons
Sources:
http://www.assra48.com
http://www.waed.ps
http://www.samidoun.ca
http://www.addameer.org
http://www.freedom.ps
http://www.wofpp.org
http://www.ahrarwledna.com
Filed under: Jerusalem, Nazi Israel, Palestine | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, Children of Palestinian, First Intifada, Palestinian Prisoners, Palestinians rights, reham alhelsi | Comments Off on Palestinian Female Political Prisoners and Detainees: Ongoing Resistance Behind Zionist Bars
This column was written for the Unz Review:
The “news” that Israel and Turkey are systematically violating international law is hardly news at all. After all, we all know that Turkey has been regularly bombing the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, that Turkey still illegally occupies northern Cyprus just like the Israelis have been bombing Syria and Lebanon for decades and that they are still illegally occupying Palestine. The interesting development this week is that France, the UK and Germany have all officially decided to join these rogue states and act just like the Turks and Israelis by illegally intervening in Syria – in direct violation of international law – supposedly to fight Daesh. And even though Daesh is the official enemy, it “just so happens” that Syrian army positions were bombed by the USAF while the Israelis bombed Hezbollah missile depots. Apparently, the “Assad must go” policy is still the order of the day. In a way, one could argue that the West has now (re-)affirmed the principle that “might makes right” and that threats and violence are still the only “policy” of of the Empire in lieu of a legal, negotiated, policy. The problem with that is that the “other side” strongly feels that surrendering to the Empire’s demands is simply not an option.
The Russian warning:
In reality this has been going on for years. From the decision to bomb Serbia to the recent decision by the IMF to bail out the Ukraine in direct violation of IMF rules (which, apparently, shall now be re-written), the AngloZionist Empire has now been violating its own so-called “rules” and “principles” for decades against the background of a quasi-general indifference to the end of the international world order agreed upon after WWII. The big difference today is that the Empire’s reckless arrogance has now brought it in direct contact with the Russian Armed Forces which, apparently, are not willing to accept that kind of thuggery and who will fight back if attacked: in his annual address to expanded meeting of the Russian Federation Defense Ministry Board Putin has clearly indicated that the fact that Russia chose not to strike back at Turkey was a one time exception saying:
I want to warn those who might again try to organize any kind of provocation against our troops: we have taken additional measures to ensure the security of Russian troops and air base. It is reinforced by new air force squadrons and air defenses. All our strike aircraft are now flying with fighter cover. I order you to act very extreme resolve. Any targets that threaten Russia’s group or our terrestrial infrastructure is to be immediately destroyed.
What Putin is doing here is warning Turkey and, really all of NATO and the Empire that next time Russia will shoot back, immediately. This also shows that the authority shoot back has now been given to the Russian forces in Syria and that no top-level decision will have to be requested to return fire. It is true that this is not a first. The RAF was also given similar order in October already, but since the notion of antiquated Tornados shooting down a SU-30SM is rather far fetched (even if the British press insist that their 1970s-era aircraft are “and are capable of blasting any aircraft out of the sky”), the capability of the SU-30SMs and even the SU-34s to shoot down Western 4th generation aircraft is not in doubt. The Russians have the resolve and the means.
But will the West take the Russian warnings seriously?
The Israeli counter example:
The contrast between the NATO countries and Israel could, in this case, not be bigger. Bibi Netanyahu, by far the most intelligent actor in the AngloZionist Empire, immediately traveled to Moscow to sit down with his Russian counterparts to hammer out some kind of deal which would allow the Russians and Israelis to pursue their objectives without risking a shootout. When the first Russian Air Force incursion into the Israeli airspace occurred the Israelis handled it as a completely harmless event. Israeli Defense Minister Ya’alon declared:
“There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immediately resolved and the Russian plane returned towards Syria. It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan. Russian planes do not intend to attack us, which is why we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs”.
Later, an Ya’alon aide, General (res.) Amos Gilad, stated at a weekly event in Tel Aviv that Russian planes have occasionally crossed into Israeli airspace – but that the “very close cooperation between Russia and Israel” vis-a-vis operations in and around Syria had prevented any misunderstandings.
The counterpart on Russia side was just as obvious, if not officially admitted: when the Israelis bombed a Hezbollah weapons depot near Damascus the Russians “looked the other way”. Considering that almost at the same time Hezbollah operatives were risking their lives to rescue a downed Russian airman, this kind of deal is of less than exemplary morality, but Hezbollah people are also realists: just look at the way they put up with Assad even while he was torturing people for the CIA (the infamous “rendition” program) or when Imad Mughniyeh was murdered with obvious complicity of high-ranking members of the Assad regime). The leaders of Hezbollah understand what is happening here: like it or not, but Russia and Israel do have a “special relationship” which, while hardly a love fest, does include a unique combination of hard realism, often bordering on cynicism, and a mutual recognition that neither side wants an overt conflict. In this case, the Israelis were told in no uncertain terms that the Russian intervention to save the Syria from Daesh was not negotiable, but that Russia does not intend to protect Hezbollah from Israeli actions as long as these actions do not threaten the Russian objectives in Syria. Being a realist, Netanyahu took the deal.
Though there was some confusion about this, it is my understanding that while the Russians have deployed S-400 in Syria, there is also some evidence that the Syrians were finally given at least some S-300 batteries and that they might have used them against the Israelis on at least one occasion. What is absolutely certain is that under international law the Syrians will have the right to shoot at any US, French, German, Turkish or other aircraft flying in Syrian airspace and that if that happens the countries in violation of international law will not have a legitimate self-defense argument to make. By extension, this also means that Russia does also have the right to shoot down any aircraft or land or sea based weapons system targeting Russian aircraft. Unfortunately, western politicians and propagandists (aka “journalists”) are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid ever even mentioning these facts. And if somebody dares to actually ask the right question, western officials have a fit. This is exactly what happened recently between RT reporter Gayane Chichakyan and State Department spokesman John Kirby. See for yourself:
The Iranian warning:
Russia is not the only country which has been repeatedly warning the West about the dangers of remaining stuck in a “Assad must go” policy: Iran has also repeated such warnings. The latest one came directly from the foreign policy advisor to the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati, who openly stated that Bashar al-Assad is Syria’s lawful president and that “Iran considers him as its redline”. Velayati also said that “only Syrian people, who elected Assad, are entitled to decide the future of their country (…) and no foreign country will be allowed to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs”. Furthermore, another senior Iranian official, Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani, said that“Russia does not need prior agreement to use Iranian airspace to bomb sites in Syria” – in other words, such an agreement has already been negotiated. Considering that Larijani and Velayati are amongst the most influential and authoritative officials in Iran, one can only conclude that the Iranians are openly declaring that they are fully backing the Russian efforts in Syria. And that, in turn, means that Iran will send as many “boots on the ground” as needed to prevent Daesh from taking Damascus. This is the other crucial factor which the West is desperately trying not to think about.
The western narrative currently tries to show that it is Russia (and only Russia) which is keeping Assad in power. But this is completely false. The reality is that both Hezbollah and Iran are fully committed to preventing Daesh from overthrowing the Syrian government and their commitment has gone way further than words: Hezbollah has send hundreds of its best fighters to Syria and Iran has committed thousands of soldiers, mostly of the al-Quds Brigade, to the war in Syria. What this level of determination shows is that, just like Russia, Iran and Hezbollah have concluded that their vital, existential, interests are at risk and that they have no choice than to take the fight to Daesh. I believe that this assessment is absolutely correct.
So this is the key question here: do the deep state elites which run the US Empire understand that neither Russia, nor Iran or Hezbollah believe that they can back down and accept a Daesh victory in Syria? Do the western leader realize that Russia, Iran and Hezbollah cannot let the Empire overthrow Assad? Is there anybody out there who does not realize that the “Assad must go policy” implies a war against Russia, Iran and Hezbollah? The only way to avoid a war is to finally give up, even if that is initially denied publicly, on the “Assad must go” policy.
The Saker
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Filed under: Al Qaeda, House of Saud, Lebanon Islamic Resistance - Hezbollah, Russia, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, The Islamic Republic of Iran, USA, Vladimir Putin, War on Syria | Tagged: AngloZionist Empire, Arab women, ISIL, regime change, Syrian Arab Army SAA, The Zio-temporary entity | Comments Off on Week Ten of the Russian Intervention in Syria: the “Assad must go” policy leads to war with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=13.264006&lon=44.480896&z=9&m=bh&search=Al-Lahj%20Yemen
(FNA)- The Hadi loyalists and their allies from the Saudi-led Coalition suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and their popular committees near the Yemeni city of Ta’iz on Wednesday.
According to a battlefield journalist that is embedded with the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard, the latter and the Houthis carried out a powerful attack on the defensive positions of the Hadi loyalists at Mount Hayd Al-Baqr, resulting in the popular resistance forces taking full control of this site that overlooks the villages of Dabeen and Juraybah, which are located between Ta’iz and Al-Lahj in southern Yemen.
In addition to their success at Mount Hayd Al-Baqr, the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and the Houthis imposed full control over the Al-‘Arous Camp’s main entrance and the nearby village of Al-Shaqab after killing several enemy combatants from the Saudi-led Coalition forces.
As a result of their success in southern Yemen, the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and the Houthis have cutoff the last loyalist supply line to Ta’iz; this leaves the latter with only two choices: fight their way out or surrender to the popular resistance forces.
SOURCES: Fars News Submitted by Cem Ertür War Press Info Network at: https://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/yemeni-cutoff-saudi/ ~
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
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UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 