*All 12 factions agreed, except Hamas members, on the need to have proportional representation for the parliament and presidential elections in addition to the Palestinian National Council and in the Diaspora. * DFLP leader: Hamas obstructing unity talks in Cairo Published yesterday (updated) 10/02/2013 14:13 Secretary general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Nayef Hawatmeh (MaanImages/File) BETHLEHEM (Maan) -- Palestinian factions held a late-night meeting to discuss reconciliation but little was achieved, according to the secretary general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Nayef Hawatmeh said the meeting lasted until dawn Saturday but ended without reaching "tangible results." "Everything is still hanging in the air. We haven't reached tangible results that will result in actual changes to end the split" between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Hawatmeh said. Fatah and Hamas officials are meeting in Cairo to discuss the composition of a unity government and hammer out the details of a long-stalled 2011 reconciliation agreement. A joint government to oversee fresh elections and reunite the West Bank and Gaza is a key component of the deal. The last proposal for a joint government, in February 2012, soon fell apart after Hamas officials in Gaza refused to accept that Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas take the prime minister position. According to Hawatmeh, this time Hamas is rejecting previously agreed elections rules. All 12 factions agreed, except Hamas members, on the need to have proportional representation for the parliament and presidential elections in addition to the Palestinian National Council and in the Diaspora. Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, he said, insisted on the Islamic movement's previous opposition to such a system. It prefers a system prior to President Mahmoud Abbas' 2009 decree changing the law to a proportional system. The 2009 decree removed a percentage of seats reserved for each governorate. Hawatmeh described Hamas' position on elections as "dangerous." ------------------------------------------------ http://972mag.com/30-palestinians-killed-last-week-in-syria/65775/ By Noam Sheizaf <http://972mag.com/author/noams/> |Published February 10, 2013 30 Palestinians killed last week in Syria *Five members of the same family were killed in Yarmouk, along with at least seven other people. Despite the bloodshed, Jordan continues to refuse to allow Palestinians among the Syrian refugees it accepts.* <http://972mag.com/30-palestinians-killed-last-week-in-syria/65775/photo-12/> Syrian refugee camp (photo: Roee Ruttenberg) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued a press release on Sunday expressing grave concern over the rising number of Palestinian casualties in the Syrian civil war. According to credible sources, an estimated total of 30 Palestinians were killed in the last week. Twelve of the casualties including five members of the same family were from Yarmouk refugee camp. Maan News Agency reported<http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=563848> that a high-level PLO delegation arrived in Syria today to discuss the situation of the Palestinians in the country. The delegation intends to talk to members of the Syrian regime and representatives from Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Back in November, the PLO estimated the number of Palestinians who died in the war at 600, but since then there have been dozens more casualties. The situation is so confused that its impossible to give a confirmed figure of casualties, Christopher Gunness a spokesperson for UNRWA, told +972 today. Half a million Palestinian refugees lived in Syria prior to the war. At least 20,000 Palestinians were able to flee the country to Lebanon, but the Jordanian government continues to send Palestinian refugees back, claiming that they are not affected by the conflict in the same way (the real reason probably has to do with Jordanian fears for the stability of the regime). In November, the Economist<http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21566708-syrias-palestinian-refugees-are-being-both-thumped-and-cold-shouldered-stateless> estimated that only 1,700 Palestinians were allowed by Jordan into the country. According to reports, there are no Palestinians in the Zaatari<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaatari_refugee_camp> refugee camp, located in the north of Jordan. A press release by UNRWA on Sunday stated that: UNRWA deplores the unrelenting armed conflict in Syria and the extreme suffering it is inflicting on civilians, including Palestine refugees. In recent statements, the Agency has highlighted the crisis of large numbers compelled to leave the refugee camps in Rif Damascus to seek safety elsewhere, and the plight of those who remain in the camps. These Palestine refugees are unable to move safely, are subject to severe movement restrictions and face escalating threats from shelling and armed clashes. Poverty and deprivation are increasing in the Palestinian community, exacerbating vulnerabilities that existed prior to the Syria conflict, and lack of access to food and essential services continues to cause serious distress. These developments have left the Palestine refugee community, alongside their Syrian neighbours, profoundly traumatized and fearful of the future. The UN estimates that about 5,000 people are fleeing Syria every day. Since the conflict began, 787,000 people were registered as refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Palestinians are at high risk in this conflict due to their special position in the region. Refugees by their nature are already among the most vulnerable people in any society, says Mr. Gunness, and in a situation like in Syria clearly they are more vulnerable. ----------------------------------------------------- [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]Click for more photos<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=0> SNIPER IN ALEPPO, SYRIA A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.*Photo: Alessio Romenzi* - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=0> - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=1> - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=2> - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=3> - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=4> - [image: A former English teacher has turned sniper in Aleppo, Syria. Her comrades have nicknamed her 'Guevara' but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as 'the female sniper'.]<http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/sniper-in-aleppo-syria-20130208-2e3e2.html?selectedImage=5> I will avenge my children's blood, says female sniper Ruth Sherlock Published: February 9, 2013 - 3:00AM ALEPPO, Syria: Her fame has spread throughout Aleppo. Her comrades have nicknamed her ''Guevara'', but to many of the city's residents she is known simply as ''the female sniper''. Standing stock still, her finger suspended over the trigger, she stares through the sight of her Dragunov rifle. Her view framed by the jagged concrete edges of the fist-sized hole cut into the wall of her hideout on one of the most dangerous front lines in Aleppo, Guevara, named after the Marxist revolutionary, watches the enemy - government soldiers - moving along the other side of the street. ''I like fighting,'' she says. ''When I see that one of my friends in my katiba [rebel brigade] has been killed, I feel that I have to hold a weapon and take my revenge.'' Dressed in green khaki trousers, a grey jumper dress, tight-fitting hijab and a camouflage combat jacket, Guevara, 36, cleans and loads her gun, sitting in a half-demolished building. Despite the war, her eyebrows are perfectly plucked, and she wears blusher and a little eyeliner, small leather boots with heels, and a gold bracelet. A female fighter in Syria's conservative Muslim society is rare, often considered improper. But Guevara commands the respect of her fellow fighters - some 30 men and boys, some as young as 16. It is not easy to be a sniper, she explains. ''You have to be quick, careful and smart not to let them shoot you. And you need to be patient. I wait for hours at a time.'' Through her peephole, she sees soldiers less than 200 metres away, mingling among the civilians trying to continue their livelihoods despite the war. ''The civilians go home in the late afternoon. When the streets clear it is a very good chance to shoot the soldiers. I think I have killed soldiers. ''You can never be 100 per cent sure that they are dead, but I have hit them at least four or five times.'' Her tone is dogmatic, almost fanatical: ''It makes you feel good. Whenever I hit one I shout, 'Yes!''' A former English teacher, she had children, a boy aged seven and a girl aged 10, but they were killed in an air strike that demolished their home months ago. ''My boy used to be frightened of the bombs, and ask me what was happening. I said, 'I promise that I am going to defend your future'. Now, I will not forget my children's blood and I promise to take revenge.'' A Syrian of Palestinian origin, Guevara learned how to fire a gun in Lebanon, in a military training camp run by the Palestinian militant faction Hamas. In Syria, she has long fought for her cause: ''When I was a student in Aleppo University - years before the uprising began - we created an underground opposition newspaper. ''We formed a political party for Palestinians and held secret, underground meetings to discuss how to overthrow Bashar al-Assad's regime.'' They took part in the protests that began in March 2011, bought video cameras and filmed the suppression. She left her first husband for not being sufficiently ''revolutionary''. When her second, the commander of her brigade, refused to let her fight with him on the front line, she threatened to leave him too. ''I said, 'I have the strength to hold a gun, so why can't I fight?''' He trained her in the art of sniping. The uprising has not been without its nightmares. At night sometimes, she admitted, she wakes up crying, at her personal loss and the horrors she has witnessed. ''I have seen more than 100 bodies in the last few months. ''So many people were killed in shelling and air strikes. And I have had many near misses. Once a bomb exploded nearby, wounding people who I was with in a car and I thought, 'Oh my God, death is near'.'' *Telegraph, London* *This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/world/i-will-avenge-my-childrens-blood-says-female-sniper-20130208-2e3qa.html * [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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