Palestine-Mandate

The caption reads: “An Israeli soldier delivers blindfolded Palestinian prisoners to a military base near the northern Gaza Strip”.

FIrst of all, we need to know where these Palestinians were taken prisoner:  Was it in Gaza?  Was it in the West Bank? Or, was it in Israel itself?

Then, we need to know where is the military base?

To detain Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory and take them outside of that territory — as in this case, to Israel — would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

The caption also says: “An Israeli negotiator was due to travel to Egypt on Thursday in a bid to speed up indirect negotiations with the Hamas movement for the release of a soldier the Islamists have held for two years”

Apparently, either the photographer and/or the caption writer were aware of the irony of Israel continuing to “detain” Palestinians while the Israelis themselves are utterly preoccupied with the return of one IDF soldier (Gilad Shalit) who was captured at Kerem Shalom and held captive for the past two years inside Gaza, and with the issue of the return of two soldiers (or their bodies) who were captured by Hizballah in a disputed area along Israel’s northern border just after Shalit was seized near Gaza.

The Hizballah action, which triggered a massive Israeli military response — now known as the Second Lebanon War — was aimed at taking the pressure off Gaza and increasing the pressure on Israel, both to change its policies, and to negotiate for the release of its captured men.

This photo w.as taken apparently today for AFP by David Buimovitch

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Sunday that “Israeli sources stated that the Israeli authorities will intensify security measures across the West Bank from Monday until the Annapolis conference is over. Israel radio announced that thousands of Israeli troops will be deployed across the West Bank, specifically in the densely populated areas. Border guards will also be deployed in force along the borders with the Palestinian Territories. Israeli police sources told Israeli radio that the Israeli authorities are worried that bombing operations may take place inside Israel in an attempt to derail the US-sponsored conference due to begin on Tuesday. However, the sources said there was no specific intelligence that such attacks were being planned”.   The Ma’an news agency report is here.

A few short hours later, there was apparently “specific intelligence”. Haaretz reported that “Jerusalem police are on high alert Sunday afternoon after receiving a tip according to which two terrorists were en route to Jerusalem in order to carry out an attack in the city ahead of Tuesday’s Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. Authorities suggest the terrorists may be passing through Jerusalem to attack a target in the center of the country, as suicide bombers have done in the past. It remains unclear whether the suspected terrorists have already managed to enter the city. In response to the latest developments, Magen David Adom director-general Eli Bin announced that the alert level in Jerusalem is now at ‘Gimmel’, or stage three, while the alert level in the Dan, Yarkon, and Ayalon districts in the center of the country have been raised to ‘Bet’, or level two. Security forces have erected checkpoints in northern Jerusalem and on Highway 1, the main highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There has been significant movement of ambulances and rescue services on the city’s streets and police helicopters have also been spotted over the capital. Authorities have also deployed the Police Special Anti-Terror Unit in northern Jerusalem.  The Narkiss Bridge, which stretches over the French Hill junction and which leads to Jewish neighborhoods in the northern part of the city, including Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov, has been closed to traffic in both directions”.  The Haaretz reports that Israeli intelligence believes two terrorists are going to carry out a pre-Annapolis attack is posted here.

The caption of this AFP photo reads: “Israeli soldiers of the Golani infantry unit guard a blindfolded Palestinian detainee near the Israeli kibbutz of Kisufim, who was arrested after a day-long operation in the Gaza Strip”. In other words, this blindfolded person was seized inside the Gaza Strip, which almost the entire world regards as occupied territory, and taken inside Israel.

Here are some of the Israel soldiers, leaving Gaza.