FlotillaHyves1
  • Front Page
  • Home
  • UNRWA & Refugees
    • UNRWA & Refugees 2019 >
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2018
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2017
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2016
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2015
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2014
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2013
      • UNRWA & Refugees 2012
  • Palestinian Education
    • Palestinian Education 2019 >
      • Palestinian Education 2018
      • Palestinian Education 2017
      • Palestinian Education 2016
      • Palestinian Education 2015
      • Palestinian Education 2014
      • Palestinian Education 2013
      • Palestinian Education 2012
  • Palestinian Economy
    • Palestinian Economy 2019 >
      • Palestinian Economy 2018
      • Palestinian Economy 2017
      • Palestinian Economy 2016
      • Palestinian Economy 2015
      • Palestinian Economy 2014
      • Palestinian Economy 2013
      • Palestinian Economy 2012
  • Palestinian water
    • Palestinian water 2019 >
      • Palestinian water 2018
      • Palestinian water 2017
      • Palestinian water 2016
      • Palestinian water 2015
      • Palestinian water 2014
      • Palestinian water 2013
      • Palestinian water 2012
  • Palestinian Gas
    • Palestinian Gas 2019 >
      • Palestinian Gas 2018
      • Palestinian Gas 2016/17
      • Palestinian Gas 2015
  • Internet
    • Internet 2019 >
      • Internet 2018
      • Internet 2017
      • Internet 2016
      • Internet 2015
      • Internet 2014
      • Internet 2013
      • Internet 2012
  • Fire in and across Palestine
    • Fire in and across Palestine 2019 >
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2018
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2017
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2016
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2015
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2014
      • Fire in and across Palestine 2013
  • Palestinian New Buildings
    • Palestinian New Buildings 2019 >
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2018
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2017
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2016
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2015
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2014
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2013
      • Palestinian New Buildings 2012
  • Boycott Israel
    • Boycott Israel 2019 >
      • Boycott Israel 2018
      • Boycott Israel 2017
      • Boycott Israel 2016
      • Boycott Israel 2015
      • Boycott Israel 2014
      • Boycott Israel 2013
      • Boycott Israel 2012
  • New Weapons
    • New Weapons 2019 >
      • New Weapons 2018
      • New Weapons 2017
      • New Weapons 2016
      • New Weapons 2015
      • New Weapons 2014
      • New Weapons 2013
  • Jews vs Zionism
    • Jews vs Zionism 2018 >
      • Jews vs Zionism 2017
      • Jews vs Zionism 2016
      • Jews vs Zionism 2015
      • Jews vs Zionism 2014
      • Jews vs Zionism 2013
      • Jews vs Zionism 2012
  • Breaking the Silence
    • Breaking the Silence
    • Breaking the Silence 2018
    • Breaking the Silence 2017
    • Breaking the Silence 2016
    • Breaking the Silence 2015
    • Breaking the Silence 2014
  • Church
    • Church 2019 >
      • Church 2018
      • Church 2017
      • Church 2016
      • Church 2015
      • Church 2014
      • Church 2013
      • Church 2012
  • US America
    • US America 2019 >
      • US America 2018
      • US America 2017
      • US America 2016
      • US America 2015
      • US America 2014
      • US America 2013
      • US-America 2012
  • Saudi Arabia
    • Saudi Arabia 2019 >
      • Saudi Arabia 2018
      • Saudi Arabia 2017
  • Syria
    • Syria 2019 >
      • Syria 2018
      • Syria 2017
      • Syria 2016
      • Syria 2015
      • Syria 2014
      • Syria 2013
      • Syria 2012 >
        • Syria 2012 nov
        • Syria 2012 oct
        • Syria 2012 sept
  • Egypt
    • Egypt 2019 >
      • Egypt 2018
      • Egypt 2017
      • Egypt 2016
      • Egypt 2015
      • Egypt 2014
      • Egypt 2013
  • Lebanon
    • Lebanon 2019 >
      • Lebanon 2018
      • Lebanon 2017
      • Lebanon 2016
      • Lebanon 2015
      • Lebanon 2014
      • Lebanon 2013
      • Lebanon 2012
  • Jordan
    • Jordan 2019 >
      • Jordan 2018
      • Jordan 2017
      • Jordan 2016
      • Jordan 2015
  • Iran
    • Iran 2019 >
      • Iran 2018
      • Iran 2017
      • Iran 2016
      • Iran 2015
      • Iran 2014
      • Iran 2013
      • Iran 2012
  • Iraq
    • Iraq 2019
  • Yemen
  • Turkey
    • Turkey 2019 >
      • Turkey 2018
      • Turkey 2017
      • Turkey 2016
      • Turkey 2015
      • Turkey 2014
      • Turkey 2013
      • Turkey 2012
  • Freedom Flotilla
    • Freedom Flotilla 2017-18 >
      • Freedom Flotilla 2016
      • Freedom Flotilla 2015
  • Mavi Marmara
    • Mavi Marmara 2015 >
      • Mavi Marmara 2014
      • Mavi Marmara 2013
      • Mavi Marmara 2012
      • Mavi Marmara 2011
  • UK-Britain
    • UK-Britain 2019 >
      • UK-Britain 2018
      • UK-Britain 2017
      • UK-Britain 2016
      • UK-Britain 2015
      • UK-Britain 2014
      • UK-Britain 2013
      • UK-Britain 2012
  • The Netherlands
    • The Netherlands 2018 >
      • The Netherlands 2017
      • The Netherlands 2016
      • The Netherlands 2015
      • The Netherlands 2014
      • The Netherlands 2013
      • The Netherlands 2012
  • Anti Semitism?
    • Anti Semitism? 2019 >
      • Anti Semitism? 2018
      • Anti Semitism? 2017
      • Anti Semitism? 2016
      • Anti Semitism? 2015
      • Anti Semitism? 2014
  • "Nice" Rabbis
    • "Nice" Rabbis 2019 >
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2018
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2017
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2016
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2015
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2014
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2013
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2012
      • "Nice" Rabbis 2009
  • Pictures/names of martyrs
8 apr 2014
Dutch priest who saw Syria as home shot dead in Homs
Picture
Dutch priest Frans van der Lugt, who gained renown for his insistence on staying in Syria's besieged city of Homs, has been shot dead by a masked gunman.

The motive for his murder was unclear, although Syria's main opposition bloc and President Bashar Assad's regime traded blame for the killing.

Van der Lugt, 75, had become a well-known figure in the Old City of Homs, respected by many for his solidarity with residents of the rebel-held area under a government siege for nearly two years.

He refused to leave despite constant shelling and dwindling supplies, insisting Syria was his home and he wanted to be with the country's citizens in their time of need.

"I can confirm that he's been killed," Jan Stuyt, secretary of the Dutch Jesuit Order, told AFP by phone.

"A man came into his house, took him outside and shot him twice in the head. In the street in front of his house," he said, adding that the priest would be buried in Syria "according to his wishes."

'Guard wounded'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the shooting death Monday of a well-known Dutch priest in Syria as an "inhumane act of violence."

Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief "demands that warring parties and their supporters ensure that civilians are protected, regardless of their religion, community or ethnic affiliation."

The opposition National Council said a "masked gunman" wounded Van der Lugt's guard from the rebel Free Syrian Army when he stormed the priest's Jesuit monastery and killed him.

Van der Lugt spent nearly five decades in Syria, and told AFP in February that he considered the country to be his home.

"The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration, and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties," he said.

He stayed on even as some 1,400 people were evacuated during a UN-supervised operation that began on Feb. 7 and also saw limited supplies of food brought into the city.

Government forces have besieged Homs's Old City for nearly two years, leaving those unable to leave in increasingly dire circumstances.

"The faces of people you see in the street are weak and yellow. Their bodies are weakened and have lost their strength," Van der Lugt said before the UN operation.

"What should we do, die of hunger?"

The siege and shelling whittled away the Old City's population, including a Christian community that shrunk from tens of thousands to just 66, according to the Dutch priest.

Father Frans arrived in Syria in 1966 after spending two years in Lebanon studying Arabic.

He lived in a Jesuit monastery, where he ministered remaining Christians and tried to help poor families -- Muslims and Christians alike.

"I don't see people as Muslims or Christian, I see a human being first and foremost," he told AFP two months ago.

'Man of peace'

The Vatican praised Van der Lugt as a "man of peace," and expressed "great pain" over his death.

"This is the death of a man of peace, who showed great courage in remaining loyal to the Syrian people despite an extremely risky and difficult situation," spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

"In this moment of great pain, we also express our great pride and gratitude at having had a brother who was so close to the suffering."

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans mourned the priest on his Facebook page.

"The man that's brought nothing but good in Homs, who became a Syrian among Syrians and refused to leave his people in the lurch, even when things became life-threatening, has been murdered in a cowardly manner," he said.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was "saddened" by the news of Van der Lugt's death and commended him for having "worked to mitigate the immense suffering in the city."

The office of Ahmad Jarba, president of the opposition National Council, condemned the murder "in the strongest terms."

It said the Assad regime was "ultimately responsible for this crime, as the only beneficiary of Father Frans's death."

Assad himself was quoted on Monday as saying the "project of political Islam has failed" in Syria, where more than 150,000 people have been killed in a three-year conflict with rebels that have come to be dominated by Islamists, ranging from moderates to radicals.

State news agency SANA said the priest's assassination was the work of "armed terrorist groups," the regime's term for rebels.

11 jan 2014
(Israel) summons Dutch ambassador over divestment
Picture
The company logo sits on the gate of the head office of PGGM, in Zeist, Netherlands, Jan. 8, 2014

(Israel) summoned the Dutch ambassador after PGGM of the Netherlands, one of the world's largest pension asset managers, divested from Israeli banks over their financing of settlements, AP reported. Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement Friday that it had asked Ambassador Caspar Veldkamp for a "clarification."

A ministry official said to Veldkamp that the decisions being made to boycott Israel are not acceptable and are based on "false claims." He said he expected the Dutch government to express an unequivocal stance against any boycotts.

"As of today, Israel is in an unstable and delicate political place than what it was in 1948," a high-ranking Israeli official told Ynet. "Netanyahu's actions are bringing upon us sanctions and boycotts."

“Netanyahu himself is also quite troubled with these issues and continues to address them. Just recently he worked fiercely to prevent the removal of Israel from the prestigious Horizon 2020 project,” according to Ynet.

On Wednesday, PGGM said it divested from five Israeli banks because they are involved in financing construction in colonial Jewish settlements.

Some 550,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas occupied by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war, and which the Palestinian negotiators demand for a future state.

Israeli finance minister Yair Lapid lately warned about the serious impact of growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel.

“The world seems to be losing patience with us,” Lapid told Ynet on 10 January.

In mid-December, the full membership of the American Studies Association (ASA) with its 5,000 members has voted by a two-to-one margin to endorse an academic boycott of Israel, The Electronic Intifada reported.

The vote was seen as an historic milestone in the Palestinian campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), particularly in the United States, where university administrations have forcefully opposed student and faculty initiatives of this kind.

8 jan 2014
Dutch Pension Fund Boycotts Israeli Banks
Picture
The Largest Dutch pension fund, PGGM, has decided to divest millions of Euros from five Israeli banks which offer financing for settlement construction.

PGGM’s decision to withdraw all its investments from the Israeli banks was based on  the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2004, which said that settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal and violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

PGGM is the largest pension fund manager in the Netherlands, managing around 150 billion euros.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is gaining momentum around the world and  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a ”strategic threat” to Israel and its settlementpolicy.

Ashrawi: Dutch boycott reminds Israel 'it isn't above the law'

A decision by the largest pension fund management company in the Netherlands to withdraw all investments from Israel's five largest banks "made Israel realize that it isn't above the law," a PLO official said Wednesday.

Executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told Ma'an that the Dutch decision was influenced by the European Union's boycott of Israeli settlements, which the EU views as illegal.

Ashrawi said she was glad that civil society organizations and government institutions in Europe had begun to take practical measures, instead of merely releasing condemnation statements as in the past.

The Dutch pension fund management company PGGM withdrew its funds from Israel's five largest banks on Jan. 1, according to Israeli media.

Haaretz reported that the company's investments in Israeli banks only amount to "a few tens of millions of euros," but that its decision threatens to damage the banks' image, influencing other European companies to take similar action.
7 jan 2014
United Arab Emirates Boycotts Israeli Soccer Player
Picture
The Boycott-movement is gaining momentum around the world. This week the Israeli soccer player Dan Mori could not join his Dutch team, Vitesse, on a training camp in Abu Dhabi due to the boycott.

”Yesterday, hours before leaving, the team received a message that I would not be able to enter Dubai. The club still planned for me to fly there, hoping to use connections once we were there to make sure I was allowed to enter, but this morning they told us that I would be arrested upon entry”, says Mori, who now will have to stay in the Netherlands, training with the reserve squad. 

The Dutch parlamentarian Geert Wilders, who also is an outspoken critic of Islam, criticesed the club for going to Abu Dabi without the Israeli defender.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions -movement (BDS) calls for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including dismantling the wall and colonies; an end to Israel’s system of racial discrimination against its Palestinian citizens; and the UN-sanctioned and inherent right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes of origin.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.