Gaza family that lost 29 relatives drops lawsuit against Israel

A Gaza family that lost 29 relatives to Operation Cast Lead, which also left 45 family members injured and their home destroyed, on Tuesday asked that a lawsuit that had been filed in their name for NIS 851 million be withdrawn. The lawsuit names Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as respondents.

The suit was filed in the Nazareth District Court by attorney Mohammed Fukra on behalf of the Samouni family.

However, family members told Haaretz on Tuesday that they had not signed power of attorney over to Fukra, and that they are being represented by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza.

In response to a question from Haaretz, the human rights group said it had no connection with Fukra, and that at the family's request it would on Wednesday be initiating action to stop the suit. A relative, Salah Samouni, confirmed that he had been in telephone contact with Fukra and had sent him a fax with details of the deaths of 29 family members and their names. Fukra could not be reached by press time for comment.

The Samouni family live in a number of metal shacks and concrete buildings in Gaza City's Zeitun neighborhood. Most of those injured or killed were hit when two shells fired by Israel Defense Forces on Monday, January 5, hit one of the houses where soldiers had ordered the family to gather.

Masia Samouni, 19, told Haaretz Tuesday night that on Sunday morning, January 4, after the first shell hit her house, the whole family gathered in the stairwell of a concrete house. When the soldiers arrived, they demanded that everyone move to a neighboring house.

Later, the family was once more to yet another house. Masia said that between 90-100 people were crowded in one room from Sunday morning to Monday morning with no food, water or other supplies. At 6 A.M., on Monday, January 5, a few male relatives went to bring an uncle who lived in a shack next to the concrete house. Masia said the men were all shot, and one was killed. A shell then hit the house, and another fell nearby, killing seven more Samouni family members. Masia Samouni's husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law were all killed, and her baby daughter was injured. Masia and some of her relatives managed to flee, but the more seriously injured remained in the ruins of the house. The Red Cross received the IDF's permission to evacuate them four days later.

Source: Haaretz - Amira Hass

Gaza: situation at border crossings ‘intolerable,’ Ban says

A lasting ceasefire was urgently needed to keep Gaza crossings open, which will allow the Palestinian economy to recover, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

In a message to a UN seminar on assistance to the Palestinian people in Cairo, Mr. Ban called for a “proper and durable” end of hostilities to “allow for a return of calm” to Gaza and southern Israel.

“The situation at the crossings is intolerable,” he said, stressing the need for Israel to ease the closure.

The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza remains unchanged, according to an update from the office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.

Last week, more than 700 trucks loaded with food, cleaning supplies, medicine and other supplies entered the area, up from fewer than 600 truckloads the previous week.

The update pointed to problems, including livestock, vehicles and construction materials not being allowed to enter Gaza, as well as two shipments of UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) t-shirts bound for 50 schools in disadvantaged areas being denied entry.

In another instance over 700 packets of washing powder, part of a non-governmental organization’s hygiene kits, were not allowed into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing for missing an ‘environmental certificate,’ even though an identical load was granted entry the week earlier.

Only one-quarter of Gazans’ cooking gas needs are being met, and just over two-thirds of the industrial gas needed to operate the power plant are being allowed in.

The Humanitarian Coordinator also pointed to the need for a dependable influx of cash to resuscitate Gaza’s private sector and prevent aid dependence.

On top of the almost $10 million in cash aid that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has recently made available, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will begin meting out cash next to refugee families whose homes were either destroyed or damaged by the recent hostilities.

The funds are intended to support them until construction materials are allowed in and repairs can proceed. In the meantime, UNICEF has been repairing school windows using nylon sheets.

In his address today to the Cairo seminar, the Secretary-General also stressed the need for Palestinian reconciliation to further reconstruction and development in Gaza.

“I strongly urge Palestinians to find unity and common ground,” according to the message delivered by Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner-General for UNRWA.

The support of the region’s leaders will be essential for any future agreements, Mr. Ban said, also voicing hope that the new Israeli Government will respect earlier commitments, take part in political negotiations and reach a peace accord with the Palestinians.

“Only a permanent negotiated political settlement, which ends the occupation, can provide a sustainable solution to the economic and humanitarian problems of the Palestinian people and lasting security for Israel.”

Source: United Nations

Gaza family sues Israel over deaths

A Palestinian family is suing Ehud Olmert, Israel's outgoing prime minister, and other government officials over the deaths of their relatives during the recent assault on Gaza.

The al-Samouni family, which saw 29 of its members killed in the conflict, filed the case in Jerusalem on Tuesday, seeking $200m in damages for "criminal negligence".

More than 1,300 Palestinians died during Israel's three-week war last December and January, one-third of them children.

The al-Samounis say Israeli soldiers raided their homes in the middle of the conflict, and moved the extended family together into one house.

According to the survivors' accounts, partly corroborated by the International Red Cross and the United Nations, shells and missiles fired by the Israeli military hit the house the following day, leaving 29 people dead.

"This was a barbaric action. They said that there was resistance here, and I don't know what. But there was no resistance," Naela al-Samouni, one of the survivors, said.

Homeless family

Two months after the attack, the remaining al-Samounis live in a makeshift tent amid the rubble of their former home.

Tuesday's lawsuit names Olmert and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, as defendants, and accuses the Israeli military of "criminal negligence" for killing innocent civilians.

Mohammad Fukra, a Palestinian Israeli attorney, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the al-Samouni family, saying the family had the right to sue Israel and its officials.

Israeli courts in the past have, however, rejected claims from Palestinians harmed in conflicts.

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, has claimed the Palestinian group Hamas was responsible for the deaths, saying the group used civilians as human shields.

Israel undertook the Gaza offensive with the purported aim of stopping rocket fire from the territory into southern Israel.

Source: Al Jazeera

Netanyahu's pre-election vow to Syria: Israel won't provoke war

Even before last month's elections, Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message to Syria promising that a government under him would "not provoke war" and would be interested in "seriously and genuinely exploring" a peace process.

Likud officials met with senior Syrian figures in January in Washington to prepare the ground for further exchanges after Israel's next government takes office, Likud sources said.

The officials, however, did not express any willingness to make concessions or withdraw from the Golan Heights, as Syrian President Bashar Assad says is necessary.

The two sides agreed that the meetings may result in the resumption of negotiations with American mediation to be held after the Israeli government forms.

In his message, Netanyahu expressed a willingness to solve the Shaba Farms question and the issue of the village of Ghajar on the Israel-Lebanese border.

The meeting with the Syrians was held following an American initiative. Americans, including some affiliated with the Obama administration, are closely following the process.

The Syrians were represented by "a Syrian citizen of the highest stature in his country," according to the Israeli sources.

The Likud officials updated Netanyahu immediately following their return to Israel, several days before the elections.

Assad, meanwhile, has said in recent months his government would be willing to negotiate with any government in Israel.

On Monday, Assad told Al Khalij, a daily published in the United Arab Emirates, that all Israeli governments are similar and Syria will negotiate with whomever represents Israel. But Assad was skeptical about Israeli governments, whether right or left. He said "one is bad and the other is worse - the right is right and the left is right, the right kills Arabs and the left kills Arabs."

Similar exchanges are also being held by Likud officials with Palestinians, Likud sources say. They hope to massively boost the Palestinian economy and set the stage for calm and peace.

Source: Haaretz