New plans to breach Israel’s naval blockade
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) While the aftermath of Israel’s apology to Turkey for the Mavi Marmara incident continues to unfold, a pro-Palestinian group says its activists will soon stage a provocation aimed at ending the Israeli naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.
But unlike past attempts in which activists, including the May 2010 Turkish flotilla militans, tried to enter the Gaza Strip from international waters, this time activists will try to draw attention to the Palestinian cause by defying Israeli restrictions which prevent Gazans from fishing more than three nautical miles off the Gazan shore.
The Gaza’s Ark Flotilla Freedom Coalition’s effort will include both Palestinians and internationals.
“Gaza’s Ark is the evolution of the flotilla movement. We’ve moved away from sailing into Gaza with aid. We now focus on sailing trade out, because it’s quite clear that if the Palestinians were able to trade, their dependence on aid would be diminished quite significantly,” Michael Coleman, a member of Free Gaza Australia and the steering committee for Gaza’s Ark, told the Inter Press Service on Wednesday.
Israel implemented a naval blockade over the Gaza Strip after the area was taken over by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas in 2007 (although it officially announced the measure only in 2009). Israel says it is acting in self-defense to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons, and the United Nations has deemed the blockade legal.
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Extensive terror network uncovered near Bethlehem (JNS.org)
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police, broke up an extensive terror network in the village of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem over the course of January and February, Israel Hayom reported.
The detained suspects were members of Tanzim, a terrorist group affiliated with the Fatah movement. The detainees allegedly took part in series of shooting and firebomb attacks on the Migdal Oz community in the Gush Etzion area. No one was wounded in the attacks.
During questioning, the suspects admitted to conducting the attacks and said they had planned to carry out additional shooting attacks in the Gush Etzion area, which were thwarted by their arrests.
The suspects were found in possession of six improvised weapons and a fake explosive device.
The Shin Bet said more than 30 suspects had been detained as part of the investigation. Among the leaders of the network were Rafat Mohammad Isa Takatka, 32, Rafat Mahmoud Musa Hian, 31, and Anas Halami Taleb Takatka, 24.
Charges filed against the suspects include shooting toward a person, throwing an incendiary object, manufacturing weapons and membership in an illegal organization. According to the Shin Bet, there has recently been a significant rise in terrorist activity in Beit Fajjar. So far, more than 50 Beit Fajjar residents have been arrested as part of anti-terror efforts.
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Christian leaders call for prayer, pilgrimage for Holy Week
(JNS.org) Jerusalem’s Christian leaders have called on the world’s Christians to make pilgrimages to Israel and to pray for the region’s Christians in a joint statement issued during the Christian Holy Week.
The leaders instructed Christians to “walk with the living stones of this land, following in the footsteps of the Risen Christ,” Catholic World News reported.
The Christian leaders also called on the world to pray for the safety of Mideast Christians amid the region’s growing instability as a result of the uprisings in the Arab world and increasing Islamic fundamentalism.
“We especially pray for Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and all those places suffering political upheaval,” they said.
They Christian leaders called for special prayers for “all violence and oppression, for prisoners, for those who live without security, fugitives, and refugees, especially those here in our land.”
Thousands of Christian pilgrims are expected to arrive in Jerusalem this week to celebrate the Christian holidays of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, in accordance with the to the Western Gregorian calendar. Eastern Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter in early May.
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Palestinian Authority to require permission for foreign journalists
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) issued an order this week forbidding foreign journalists from working in its territories within the West Bank unless the journalists get advance permission from the Palestinian Ministry of Information. Foreign members of the press who ignore this order can be arrested, as can any Palestinian journalists who assist foreign journalists to operate without this permission.
“The Palestinian security forces are entitled to arrest any person who enters the State of Palestine without permission,” said Jihad Qawassmeh, member of the Palestinian Journalist’s Syndicate, according to the Gatestone Institute.
Although the new ruling affects all foreign journalists who want to work in the PA-controlled West Bank, it also comes in retaliation against Israel, based on Palestinian journalists’ complaints that they are not being granted press credentials by the Israeli Government Press Office to work inside Israel.
But the Palestinian Journalist’s Syndicate has already been banning its members from meeting with Israeli colleagues, thereby opposing themselves to normal professional relations between Palestinian and Israeli journalists. Some Palestinian journalists who defied this ban were expelled from the syndicate.
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Burgas investigation yields more evidence implicating Hezbollah (JNS.org) Bulgaria has uncovered more evidence showing that the terrorist organization Hezbollah was behind the July 2012 attack on a tour bus carrying Israelis in Burgas. Five Israelis and their bus driver were killed in the attack.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Marin Raikov said his country plans to present the new evidence to the European Union in order to convince EU nations to add Hezbollah to their list of terrorist groups. Some EU governments have feared adding the group to the list because they believe such a move may increase tensions in the Middle East.
Bulgaria “will continue the investigation,” Raikov said from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Israel National News reported.
“We will continue to work on this very seriously, very actively. We will provide the needed evidence,” he said.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org