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Bulldozers begin Ariel barrier Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers have halted work on the most controversial section of Israel's West Bank security barrier. Protesters threw stones at bulldozers attempting to begin work levelling land near the Ariel settlement bloc, deep in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers responded by firing tear gas. Palestinians say the barrier is designed to grab their land, but Israel says it is to prevent suicide bombings. Israel and the US had previously agreed to postpone work on the barrier around Ariel, near the village of Iskaka. Hundreds of protesters were involved in the clashes, which saw a bulldozer's windscreen shattered but there were no reports of injuries. The arrival of bulldozers came just hours after US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said late on Tuesday that the section of the barrier enclosing the Ariel enclave was problematic. "It's a problem to the extent that it prejudges final borders, that it confiscates Palestinian property, or that it imposes further hardship on the Palestinian people," Mr Boucher said. The Ariel settlement bloc is one of the largest of the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories. Under international law all settlements in what is considered occupied territory are illegal. A United Nations report has condemned the barrier as illegal and tantamount to "an unlawful act of annexation". Part wall and part fence, the barrier, if completed, will run for 640km (397 miles) through the West Bank. 'Promise' Israel's Haaretz newspaper has reported that the land seizures around Ariel uphold a promise given by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which clinched the latter's support for the Gaza disengagement plan. Mr Sharon, the newspaper said, promised that the separation fence in the Ariel area would be completed before the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was finished. Land seizure orders are reportedly expected for areas around two other settlements built deep in the northern West Bank, Emmanuel and Kedumin. The US administration has not opposed the barrier in principle but has called for it to run close to the Green Line, the internationally accepted demarcation line between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli government is committed to building a barrier around Ariel and nearby settlements. No official decision has been made to link this to the parts of the barrier that run closer to the Green Line. An Israeli military spokesperson told BBC News Online "the security fence around Ariel is being built in accordance with the understandings with the US government". Palestinians say that Israel plans to link the Ariel barrier to larger West Bank barrier, effectively annexing large parts of territory - and some of its most fertile land - to Israel.
Quote from: Don Rizzle on May 10, 2006, 03:16:12 AMiraq would just get annexed by iranThat would be a great solution. If Iran and the majority of Iraqi's are pleased with it, then why shouldn't they do it?
iraq would just get annexed by iran
why not build your security wall on your own land? then it wouldn't be a land grab, instead all your doing is making sure your illegal settlements stay jewish, demolishing palestinian towns in the process, there is absolutly no justification. why do u think they want to blow ur guys up look at what your doing to them! look at the death tolls who died more? certainly not israeli's! you turned what is left of palestine into a large prison and continue to take more and more.
Quote from: Don Rizzle on June 22, 2004, 11:02:59 AMwhy not build your security wall on your own land? then it wouldn't be a land grab, instead all your doing is making sure your illegal settlements stay jewish, demolishing palestinian towns in the process, there is absolutly no justification. why do u think they want to blow ur guys up look at what your doing to them! look at the death tolls who died more? certainly not israeli's! you turned what is left of palestine into a large prison and continue to take more and more.a prison is 4 walls...not 1 or 2.....it's kind of easy to escape a 2 wall prison
It just emuses me and enoyes me at the same time, How people eat up any radiculous Land grab theory the pro palestinian propoganda spreads, just to justefy their next suicide bombing...
Mid-East coverage baffles Britons UK television news coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is confusing viewers and favouring the Israeli position, a new report says. The study, by the Media Group at Scotland's Glasgow University, found Israelis were quoted more than twice as much as Palestinians in reports. It said that news programmes did not provide enough information about the conflict's history and origins. Many viewers were also not even sure who was "occupying" whose territory. Language differences Researchers focused on the BBC One and ITV News channels' coverage from the beginning of the current Palestinian intifada, examining more than 200 programmes and interviewing more than 800 people, including several prominent BBC correspondents. They found that, in addition to "a preponderance of official Israeli perspectives", US politicians who support Israel were "very strongly featured" in news programmes, appearing more than politicians from any other country and twice as much as those from Britain. The report takes issue with a tendency in the media to present the problem as "starting" with Palestinian action, while Israelis were seen to be "responding" with actions that were explained and contextualised. "There was very little discussion of the nature of the relationship between the two sides - that one [the Palestinians] was subject to military control by the other [Israel]," the report says. Researchers also found a strong emphasis on Israeli casualties on the news despite the number of Palestinian deaths being considerably greater. And the differences in language used by journalists for both sides were also noted. "Words such as 'atrocity', 'brutal murder', 'mass murder', 'savage cold blooded killing', 'lynching' and 'slaughter' were used about Israeli deaths but not Palestinian," the report said. "The word 'terrorist' was used to describe Palestinians by journalists but when an Israeli group was reported as trying to bomb a Palestinian school, they were referred to as 'extremists' or 'vigilantes'." 'Breaking news' culture The survey also showed that the average British person knew little about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many people in Britain think the Palestinians are occupying Israeli territory and not the other way round and some think Palestinians are refugees from Afghanistan, despite extensive media coverage of the conflict. Sometimes the why and how of a story are more important than the story itself BBC News Online reader Paul Serwinski Several journalists interviewed for the report blamed lack of time and the difficulties of reporting such a controversial topic for the dearth of adequate background explanation, while others pointed to intimidation of journalists by both sides. Many BBC News Online readers blamed the "breaking news" culture for reducing news to sound bites instead of offering comprehensive coverage of one of the world's most covered but least understood conflicts. "The history is the missing aspect in all coverage today," said BBC News Online reader Rakesh Jain from the US. "This results in the people being susceptible to 15-second television sound bites and they totally misread the reasons for the problems." While UK reader Douglas Shaw picked up a point suggested in the report, that there is a tendency among journalists to present Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as vulnerable communities, rather than having a key military and strategic function. "The BBC could choose to describe all Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as being 'illegal'," Mr Shaw wrote. "This would be a small step forward in helping public understanding." History lessons Senior BBC news executive Mark Damazer denies any suggestion of anti-Palestinian bias in the corporation's coverage of the conflict, but concedes that because of the "grammar" of TV news important context is often left out. People watch the news night after night and at the end of the day they have no understanding what the conflict is all about Greg Philo, Glasgow University "Sometimes important points of history get lost amidst the welter of coverage," he told BBC World Service's Newshour programme. But he said correspondents and editors were aware of the risks and take their responsibility "very seriously" to sketch in the missing context over time. And as far as the language of news is concerned, he said there was no evidence that the BBC had been "cowed" into being pro-Israeli. "When BBC correspondents have to describe the West Bank and Gaza Strip they don't say 'disputed' territory, they say the territories are 'occupied'." But Glasgow University's Greg Philo that told the same programme that the facts speak for themselves. "You can't have a history lesson each time you do the news, but the problem is 80% of the population rely on television news for their information about the world," he said. "They watch the news night after night and at the end of the day they have no understanding what the conflict is all about."
the truth of the matter is most Israelis want to kick the arabs out anyway plus keep the settlements which are continualy being built. my honest opinion israel should never of existed, if a jewish state should be anywhere we should have given you half of germany, we were wrong to give you part of palestine. but since we did israel should be confind to what we gave you.