Israel said to ease restrictions on Gaza Fishing and Farming

by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller

Reuters    Translate This Article

24 November 2012

Brought to our attention by www.globalgoodnews.com

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel eased restrictions on Gaza fishermen on Saturday, further implementing a three-day-old truce brokered by Egypt after a week of fierce fighting, Palestinian officials said. 

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children headed back to school for the first time in 10 days, in another indication normal life was returning after cross-border violence in which 166 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. 

A statement from the office of Hamas Islamist Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Egypt had notified them that 'Israel has allowed Palestinian fishermen to fish in Gaza's waters at a distance of six miles (6.9 km), up from three miles (4.8 km)'. 

Israel had no immediate comment. 

A text of the truce deal agreed on Wednesday calls on Israel to ease curbs on the coastal Gaza territory, which it has largely blockaded since Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, took power there in 2007. 

The sides had disagreed on exactly when and how the restrictions would actually be lifted. 

Israel had formally barred Gaza fishermen from heading more than three miles out into the Mediterranean Sea for about three years, its gunboats often enforcing the rule. It said its blockade was a measure to prevent weapons smuggling. 

Murad Al-Issi, a member of a local fishermens' group, told Reuters his colleagues had already ventured out to the six-mile limit on Saturday, undisturbed by Israel. 

'The Israeli army naval boat which used to fire and torch Palestinian boats that sailed beyond a three-mile distance watched without doing anything to prevent them,' Issi said. 

Palestinians say the Israeli restrictions had hampered the amount and variety of fish they could catch. 

'This is a good step,' Issi said, adding it would be best to be permitted double the distance. 

In another apparent Israeli step to ease restrictions, Palestinian farmers tended land along the testy frontier with the Jewish state without incident, a day after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man at a border fence. 

Palestinians denounced the shooting as a violation of the ceasefire and Egypt intervened to restore calm. 

On Saturday, a Reuters photographer saw farmers in the Khan Younis area working close to the Israeli frontier fence. 

Hamas security officials were on patrol and Israeli soldiers looked on without interfering, but for a brief verbal exchange between one soldier and a Hamas guard, witnesses said. 

The Israeli military had no immediate comment. 

Israel had barred Palestinians from coming within 300 metres of the border since 2009, citing security concerns. 

© Copyright 2012 Reuters 

Mr, S.N. Goenka, Teacher of Vipassana Meditation

Mr. Goenka is a teacher of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of the late Sayagyi U Ba Khin of Burma (Myanmar).

Although Indian by descent, Mr. Goenka was born and raised in Burma. While living in Burma he had the good fortune to come into contact with U Ba Khin, and to learn the technique of Vipassana from him. After receiving training from his teacher for fourteen years, Mr. Goenka settled in India and began teaching Vipassana in 1969. In a country still sharply divided by differences of caste and religion, the courses offered by Mr. Goenka have attracted thousands of people from every part of society. In addition, many people from countries around the world have come to join courses in Vipassana meditation.

Mr. Goenka has taught tens of thousands of people in more than 300 courses in India and in other countries, East and West. In 1982 he began to appoint assistant teachers to help him to meet the growing demand for courses. Meditation centres have been established under his guidance in India, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Nepal and other countries.

The technique which S. N.Goenka teaches represents a tradition that is traced back to the Buddha. The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal. In the same tradition, Mr. Goenka's approach is totally non-sectarian. For this reason, his teaching has a profound appeal to people of all backgrounds, of every religion and no religion, and from every part of the world.

Mr. Goenka was the recepient one of the prestigious Padma Awards from the President of India for 2012. This award is the highest civilian award given by the Indian Government.

Learn more about Vipassana Meditation visit www.dhamma.org

Fragility and the Evolution of Our Humanity with Xavier Le Pichon

Xavier Le Pichon, one of the world's leading geophysicists, helped create the field of plate tectonics. A devout Catholic and spiritual thinker, he raised his family in intentional communities centered around people with mental disabilities. He shares his rare perspective on the meaning of humanity — a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems. Le Pichon has come to think of caring attention to weakness as an essential quality that allowed humanity to evolve.

Previous Broadcasts of Fragility and the Evolution of Our Humanity with Xavier Le Pichon

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For more inspiring stories of humanity www.onbeing.org with Krista Tippet

The Anemone, Pink Anemonefish and little Anemone Shrimp

Photograph by Mike Ricciardi

This Month in Photo of the Day: 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest Images

This is a photo of a "family" of pink anemonefish in and around their host anemone. If you look closely you can also see the small anemone shrimp (tiny white eyes) in and around the anemone.

What inspired us about this particular photo is the community that this anemone has. As a living organism, the anemone has two other species living with it in peaceful cohabitation creating a diverse as the photographer mentions, "a family". Beautiful.