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| Israel in a positive light |
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PA daily credits Israeli hospital's good treatment of Palestinians
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Source:
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 6, 2013
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"[PA] Minister of Health, Hani Abdeen visited the [Israeli] Hadassah Hospital yesterday [May 5, 2013]. This is the first visit by a Palestinian minister to one of the most important Israeli hospitals, according to the hospital's announcement.
Minister Abdeen who was accompanied by a delegation that included senior officials of the ministry and of the PA, met with the Director of Ein Karem Hadassah Hospital, Yuval Weiss. He [the minister] visited Palestinian patients being treated in the hospital, and he distributed gifts. [Hospital director] Weiss said: 'We relate to patients without regard to nationality and religion. We treat Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other nationalities without bias, and 30% of the patients who are children are Palestinians.'
He went on to say: 'We've begun cooperating with the Palestinians. We now train teams of physicians from the hospital in Beit Jala in the southern West Bank, to treat cancer among children. We have about 60 Palestinian medical interns and specialist physicians who will be returning to the [Palestinian] Authority areas to carry out their work.'"
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PA daily prints positive article about "settler and peace activist"
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Source:
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Mar. 5, 2013
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The PA daily published the following positive article on its front page about Rabbi Menachem Froman and his efforts to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Headline: "Settler and peace activist Rabbi Menachem Froman has passed away"
"Yesterday, well-known Israeli Rabbi Menachem Froman, who maintained friendships with Palestinian officials, passed away at the age of 68 after a long battle with the [cancer] disease - as reported by the Israeli media.
Menachem Froman was born in 1945 in Mandatory Palestine. He was the Rabbi of the Tekoa settlement located in the southern part of the occupied West Bank and worked vigorously towards a peaceful solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Rabbi Froman, the Jewish and Muslim spiritual leaders are the most appropriate people to find a solution which will lead to peace, since this conflict has a religious nature.
Based on this view, he maintained ties with PLO leaders, specifically with historical leader Yasser Arafat, and also met with leaders of the Hamas movement.
Froman is the founder of the peace movement, Land of Peace, whose members are both settlers and Palestinians. He criticized the violations committed by the most extreme settlers against Palestinian targets, and visited a few vandalized mosques to express solidarity.
Rabbi Froman used to stress that he is willing to live in a Palestinian state in the event that Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be evacuated.
Froman, who fell ill with a type of cancer, hoped to 'be capable of contributing to peace until his final breath.'"
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Note: The article was originally published by Agence France-Presse. |
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Positive report in official PA daily: Settlers "interested in making peace"
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Source:
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 5, 2012
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Headline: "Some settlers are 'interested in making peace' with the Palestinians"
"A Palestinian, Muhammad Saad, recently received permission from the occupation army (i.e., Israeli Defense Forces) to construct apartment [buildings] in the Khirbat Zakaria village in the occupied West Bank. [This happened] with the help of Eliaz Cohen, a settler from Kfar Etzion (i.e., Kibbutz Kfar Etzion).
Cohen, a poet who would like to see dialogue between settlers and Palestinians, explained: 'For three years he [Saad] and I have been struggling together to succeed in this matter.' As opposed to the vast majority of settlers, Cohen thinks that peace will be achieved through mutual recognition of each party's rights to the land itself... He added: 'I think that it is possible to have two national entities in the same location, whether in confederation or in two [separate] states. But neither will lose its historic rights to this land, to which both nations are tied.'
In 2010, [Cohen's] friend Nahum Pachenik founded the 'Land of Peace' movement (Eretz HaShalom in Hebrew), to which a small number of settlers belong. It promotes religious, social, and economic cooperation with Palestinians. Pachenik, a father of four who lives in the Etzion Bloc, explained: 'Peace is crucial for us.' This man has a beard and [wears] a traditional kippah (Jewish skullcap) and sandals just like the typical extremist settler who is far from any dialogue with Palestinians. However, [Pachenik, who is] the son of a rabbi [and] who has lived in settlements since the day he was born and doesn't think he'd be able to live anywhere else, says: 'I'm tied to this land, and [here] I'll stay. But the Palestinians are here too, and I have to learn to live with them.' ...
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Note: To view full article, click "full article."< |
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Israel can’t be blamed for everything, including problems with water supply
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Source:
Al-Quds, Aug. 13, 2012
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Headline: "The suffering of water cuts and 'air prices'"
"The questions posed to the Water Department and the relevant officials are: Why is the water supply to many neighborhoods and areas cut off for lengthy periods, while other neighborhoods have water all the time? Does the Water Department not possess the technical know-how to deal with the problem of an unfair allocation of water, with the problem of leaks of great quantities of water, or with the problem of contamination following periods of water stoppage? The answer that most citizens receive, when they submit a complaint to the Water Department in Ramallah, is that the Israeli company is responsible for the stoppages. However, this answer does not explain how the Israeli company could be responsible for a water stoppage in certain places, while other places enjoy a constant water supply; likewise, it fails to explain who is responsible for the other problems facing citizens… It is true that Israel controls all the water sources in the occupied lands, and it is also true that the Israeli occupation has a part in limiting the quantities of water that reach the Palestinians, while water flows freely to the settlements inside Israel. However, the occupation cannot be blamed every time for every failure and shortcoming, since it is not responsible for the unfair allocation of the water, for water pollution, for citizens having to pay 'air prices' because of [faulty] water meters (according to the writer, the meters turn at maximum speed owing to the infiltration of air into the water pipes, such that the water bills do not reflect actual water use. – Ed.), for delays in repairing faults, or for most problems that could be fixed if the existing failures and faults that cause citizens great suffering, were dealt with."
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Red Cross spokeswoman: Israel never prevented Red Cross from visiting Palestinian prisoners
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Source:
Palestinian TV (Fatah), Oct. 26, 2011
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PA TV’s morning broadcast Good Morning, Palestine interviewed Red Cross spokeswoman Nadia Debsi about the role of the Red Cross in times of crisis and conflict.
PA TV host: “[The Red Cross] visits the prisoners in the occupation's prisons (i.e., Israeli prisons). However, when they [Israel] prevent Red Cross teams from visiting prisoners, what is your position on this? Do you make it public? We haven't heard. In the past, we heard clearly and explicitly that a Red Cross lawyer was prevented from visiting prisoners as part of the [Israeli]attack that they [the prisoners] face…”
Red Cross spokeswoman: “To make things clear, as far as I know, no Red Cross visits have been prevented. I’ve received no word at all that [Israel] ever prevented us [from visiting].”
Host: “Are the prison gates open to you at all times?”
Red Cross spokeswoman: “We have an agreement with the Israeli side just as we have an agreement with the Palestinian side concerning prison visits. That is, there is an agreement between the [Israel] Prison Service and the Red Cross… Red Cross representatives of course visit everyone held in Israeli prisons, and we return to visit these prisons, especially people currently in solitary confinement. We visit them every two months, and especially the places where they hold young people. For example, the Ofer Prison. We visit [those places] more frequently because young people are there, and [because of] the special protection given to young people and minors in detention.”
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Released Palestinian prisoner says prisoners "lack nothing" in Israeli prisons
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Source:
Palestinian TV (Fatah), June 24, 2010
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An interview from PA TV with a former Palestinian prisoner on the very day he was released contradicts the PA libels claiming torture:
PA TV host: “What can you tell us about the younger people? Just today you were released from Megiddo prison.”
Released prisoner: “The situation of the younger people in Megiddo is good. They lack nothing. Their situation is good.”
Host: “How can it be that they lack nothing?”
Prisoner: “They lack nothing. Their situation is really fine, good.”
Host: “They lack nothing? Not even freedom?”
Prisoner: “No. Freedom – yes. Allah willing, there will be freedom.”
Host: “How long were you in prison?”
Prisoner: “Two years.”
Host: “And you say that they lack nothing?”
Prisoner: “I don’t know.”
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Note: The Red Cross visits Palestinian prisoners regularly and has neither documented nor accused Israel of any of these recurring PA accusations. |
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Palestinian boy says Israeli soldiers show restraint during the Intifada
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Source:
Palestinian TV (Fatah), Dec. 18, 2002
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Ahmad Zaghbar, Palestinian boy: "We saw the tank. We all attacked the tank. A soldier started shooting. There were soldiers who shot and those who didn't."
TV Host: "Are there soldiers who hesitate to shoot?"
Ahmad: "There are many soldiers who hesitate. A tank was there, when I carried the flag without fear. I thought I was going to be a Martyr. I cried 'Allah Akbar' and went on, but the shooting was not at me. It was at the flag."
Host: "How do you know [that the soldiers] hesitate?"
Ahmad: "There are some soldiers who feel that this boy is like his son. You can feel he has humanity. He has humanity."
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