TO DAY in PALESTINE

============================================

Tweet

Follow @PalestinePlus

Land. property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Israel orders demolition of 8 Palestinian villages, claims need for IDF training land

Haaretz 23 July by Amira Hass — ...The residents of the targeted villages will be moved to the town of Yatta and its environs ; the state claims, based on information it obtained from local informers, that most of these people have permanent homes in that area. The state will allow the residents to work their lands and graze their flocks there when the IDF is not training — on weekends and Jewish holidays – and during two other periods of one month each during the year ... The villages slated for demolition are the larger villages in the region : Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba, which have a total of 1,500 residents. The villages to be spared are Tuba, Mufaqara, Sarura and Megheir al-Abeid, which have a total of 300 residents. The IDF and the Civil Administration regard all of them as squatters in Firing Zone 918, even though the villages have existed since at least the 1830s. [Reader reaction is mostly negative. For example : "This is the Israeli way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first deportations from the Warsaw ghetto"]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-orders-demolition-of-8-palestinian-villages-claims-need-for-idf-training-land.premium-1.453015

Foundation : Graves exhumed in Majdal Sadiq

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 July — Israeli authorities have destroyed and exhumed dozens of graves in a village in central Israel, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said Monday. A delegation from the foundation visited Majdal Sadiq and found skeletal remains scattered near the cemetery and bulldozed graves. The foundation blamed the Ras al-Ein municipality and Israel’s Ministry of Housing for the damage, and said Israeli authorities were razing the area to construct apartments and roads.
Majdal Sadiq’s Palestinian residents fled in 1948 under attack by Israeli forces during fighting to establish the state of Israel.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507006

Zahalka demands a halt to excavations at cemetery
JAFFA (PIC) 23 July — An Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Jamal Zahalka, has denounced excavations made by the University of Tel Aviv at the cemetery of the village of Sheikh Mons in Jaffa. In a letter sent to the rector of Tel Aviv University, the MK called for "an immediate halt to all excavations in the cemetery". He described the excavations as a desecration of the sanctity of the dead and a dangerous provocation to the religious, national, and humanitarian sentiments of the Arab and Muslim people. The Israeli company Shikun and Binui is carrying out huge excavations at the cemetery of the village of Sheikh Mons, destroyed in 1948, to pave the way for building student hostels and a shopping mall.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel destroys Umayyad palaces next to Al Aqsa Mosque
MEMO 23 July — Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage has revealed that Israel has stepped-up its plans to destroy the Umayyad Caliphate palaces south of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israelis have also extended a network of bridges and stairs around the archaeological area adjacent to Al-Aqsa, aiming at the transformation of the entire area to provide service facilities for the so-called Third Temple. The foundation asserted that "if and when Israel’s works in the Umayyad palaces are completed, this will result in the Judaisation of the entire region south of Al-Aqsa mosque under the pretext of the "Torah Park". This is linked by an underground tunnel with the entrance of the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood in Silwan.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4024-israel-destroys-umayyad-palaces-next-to-al-aqsa-mosque

Jewish settlers establish outpost of five houses near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 22 July — A number of Jewish settlers set up on Saturday evening five prefabricated houses in Umm Hamdeen Hill near Khader town in Bethlehem province. Head of the land defense committee in Khader town Ahmed Salah said about 20 Jewish settlers inhabited the houses in an attempt to establish a new settlement outpost on this Hill, which is located a few meters away from the Palestinian homes in Al-Rukba neighborhood. Salah added that the settlers provided the houses with utilities under intensive military guard. He noted the Hill land that was seized by those settlers is owned by Palestinian citizens from the families of Mousa and Salah in Artas village and it is cultivated with vine, olive and almond trees. The owners of this land declared their determination to defend their property and not to allow the settlers to annex it to Efrat settlement, which extends from the far southern part of Bethlehem to its far east.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Israel asks court to delay settlement’s removal
JERUSALEM (Daily Star) 22 July — Israel’s government on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to delay the evacuation of an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost by a month, its latest attempt to put off a potential clash with extremist settlers. No court decision was announced. The Migron outpost, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) north of Jerusalem, was built on privately owned Palestinian land, a practice the court outlawed decades ago...
The Israeli court has ordered the Migron outpost dismantled by Aug. 1, but the state asked to delay the operation until Aug. 30, citing the concerns of senior military commander Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon that carrying out the eviction during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could set off clashes between settlers and Palestinians.
Three Supreme Court Justices heard the state’s arguments Sunday and recessed for deliberations. It was not clear when they will issue their ruling.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-22/181519-israel-asks-court-to-delay-settlements-removal.ashx

Sources claim Israeli authority demolished illegal house in a settlement, Hebron
PNN 23 July — On Monday, 23th July, Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahranot published on its website that sources from the Israeli police and border guard claimed that Israeli authorities demolished a house illegally constructed in the settlement outpost, south of Hebron. The same sources also said that the Israeli police and border guard prevented settlers from reaching the settlements surround that area, and arrested a 12 years old settler who tried to attack the policemen.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2253-sources-claims-israeli-authority-demolishes-illegal-house-in-a-settlement-hebron

Palestinian diaspora discover their roots
ArabNews 18 July — The participants gather outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city for a group photo. They look like any group of college students visiting Jerusalem on a summer trip. The photographer counts to three. "Free Palestine !" they yell in unison, and laugh. The 41 delegates, half of them Christian and half of them Muslim, all between the ages of 18 and 25, are here on a two-week trip called "Know Thy Heritage." Most are from the US, but a few are from Australia, Canada, England and France. All but seven are women, says Rateb Rabie, president and founder of the sponsoring group. "This is good because they are the ones who are going to raise the children, and this will help them understand their roots," he said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?q=palestinian-diaspora-discover-their-roots

Apartheid Safari
ISM 21 July by Markus Fitzgerald — Saturday evening, around 6pm, a group of illegal Israeli settlers move through the Old City of Palestinian Al Khalil (Hebron). They are both surrounded and fortified by Israeli soldiers. On paper, this tour through is a supposed "ultimate family experience in Israel". In reality however, families should be steering clear. This tour is living proof that apartheid is not something of the past. ’Settler tours’ are guided tours throughout the Old City of Hebron, where settlers can take a walk – enforced by soldiers and police armed to the teeth. At given places, the guide tells stories about historical circumstances in and around Hebron, more or less based on biased historical views.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/07/apartheid-safari/

Israeli human rights lawyer : Occupation is not temporary
972mag 23 July by Sari Bashi — A segregated street in Hebron. Palestinian are allowed only on the left side (photo : activestills.org) — The recent government-sanctioned Levy Report on settlement outposts unmasks the comfortable lie that Israeli government lawyers have told the courts and the rest of the world for decades, namely that Israel’s presence in the West Bank is temporary and measures designating Palestinian land and natural resources for Israeli use are motivated by security concerns ... To be sure, official declarations denying Israel’s occupation of the territory captured in 1967 are not new, but thus far, they have been limited to the Gaza Strip, as this spring’s Opinio Juris symposium highlighted. This latest report, the work of a committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, is further reaching. Its recommendations have yet to be considered by the Israeli government.
http://972mag.com/israeli-human-rights-lawyer-occupation-is-not-temporary/51594/

Violence / Raids / Arrests / Provocations

PCHR Weekly Report on human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12-18 July 2012)
19 July (full report) — IOF opened fire at areas in the Gaza Strip. Two members of the Palestinian resistance were killed and two others were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip. IOF used force to disperse peaceful protest organized by Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. 3 Palestinian civilians were wounded. IOF arrested 7 international and Israeli human rights defenders, including a journalist. IOF conducted 54 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and two limited ones into the Gaza Strip ... IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. IOF ordered the demolition of two houses in ‘Azzoun village, east of Qalqilya. IOF demolished 3 agricultural rooms and a well in Hebron. Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian shepherd north of Ramallah.
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8660

IOF kidnap five Palestinians including children in J’lem and Al Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 23 July — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped at dawn Monday five Palestinians including three children from the occupied cities of Jerusalem and Al-Khalil and took them handcuffed and blindfolded to an unknown destination.
Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that troops from the police and border guards kidnapped in Silwan district, south of the Aqsa Mosque, two brothers under age 18, Mohamed and Amer Zeidan, during a violent raid on their house.
The IOF also kidnapped a 20-year-old young man called Ahmed Obeid from Issawiya district in Jerusalem and took him to an unknown destination.
In Al-Khalil city, the IOF kidnapped a child named Saqer Mohamed, 13, from Beit Awa town and another man from Al-Khalil city during raids on their houses.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers arrested 59 Palestinians last week
RAMALLAH (PIC) 22 July — The Palestinian Center for Defending Detainees (PCDD) affirmed that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had arrested 59 Palestinians in West Bank cities and villages last week. PCDD, which released a statement on Saturday, affirmed that most of the 59 Palestinians arrested were from the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil. It added that among the arrested was Wafa Shamasnah, a prisoner’s wife from Qalqilia, and the MP for the city of Ramallah Ahmed Mubarak.
The human rights center stated that the occupation forces have released during the same week about 18 prisoners, including the chairman of Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Aziz Dweik.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli settler activity continues
IMEMC 23 July — Israeli settlers seized Palestinian land in several areas around the West Bank on Sunday and Monday according to WAFA news.
On Sunday, near the village of Yatta south of Hebron, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Susiya seized Palestinian land and placed a power generator there in advance of plans to expand the settlement in the area.
The head of the village council, Aref Daraghmeh, in al-Maleh near Tubas in the Jordan Valley told WAFA news that Israeli settlers confiscated over 12 acres of Palestinian land and began to farm it on Monday.
And in al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the popular committee against settlements said that Israeli settlers dug a nearly 100-foot long escarpment, destroyed about 50 grape trees and opened an unpaved road to another illegally seized plot of land. Salah explained that all of this is in preparation for settlement expansion and that infrastructure construction has already begun.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63945

Foundation : Israelis, soldiers tour Al-Aqsa Mosque
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 July — Dozens of Jewish worshipers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque guarded by Israeli soldiers on Monday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said. Around 58 Jewish worshipers and 28 Israeli soldiers toured the mosque, the foundation said in a statement. Such visits are provocative, particularly in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the group added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507022

Palestinian shepherd injured in blast of Israel ordnance
JORDAN VALLEY (PIC) 23 July — An Israeli army ordnance blasted in a Palestinian shepherd in the Jordan Valley on Sunday severely injuring him, eyewitnesses said. They said that the incident took place near Mehola settlement in the Tobas province in the northern Jordan Valley. The sources said that Abdulqader Daraghme was hospitalized in stable condition. They pointed out that a number of shepherds were killed or suffered permanent disability in similar incidents in the same area.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

New Israeli law prevents Palestinians taking legal action against security forces
MEMO 20 July — A new law passed by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has been criticised for making it impossible for Palestinians to take legal action against members of the Israeli security forces. Knesset member Mohammed Baraka of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality said that the new law "legitimises crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians". Furthermore, alleged Mr Baraka, this is the prelude to Israel committing even more illegal acts against the people of the occupied West Bank "without being held accountable" ... Baraka mentioned the tragedy of a Palestinian girl from the Gaza Strip who was paralysed when her family car was hit by an Israeli rocket that killed a number of her relatives. "Why should she not have the right to seek compensation from those who carried out that attack ?" he asked. Fellow MK Dov Khenin called the law "unethical, just as the occupation is unethical". In his speech in the Knesset, Khenin said that it is "a certificate of political stupidity for those who proposed it". The reason, he claimed, is that this law "closes the door for the Palestinians to use the Israeli judiciary but that will not stop them ; they will go the European and International judiciary instead."
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4019-new-israeli-law-prevents-palestinians-taking-legal-action-against-security-forces

Defying the occupation with a camcorder / Amira Hass
Haaretz 23 July — Armed with a camera, Neriman Tamimi not only documented soldiers searching her home but also gave them a piece of her mind — Eight or nine of those who "carry the burden," to use the jargon of the recent public discourse on military service in Israel, burst into the house in the middle of the night. Their weapons pointed, they wear camouflage helmets, backpacks with walkie-talkies, and streaks of paint on their faces. In the house : parents, four children (two boys, two girls ), a grandmother (paralyzed after a stroke ), and two friends.
t’s an almost nightly routine in the unoccupied West Bank. During the night between Monday and Tuesday last week, at around 1:30 A.M., more than 100 soldiers raided (yet again) homes in the small village of Nabi Saleh, home to the extended Tamimi family. For the last three years, residents of the village have been protesting the theft of its spring, a theft that benefits the Jewish settlers of Halamish. Dogs accompanied some of the soldiers when they broke into some homes. In some houses, soldiers took photos of the people they just woke up. In all the homes, the soldiers wrote down the names and ID numbers of the people they found...
Neriman : Come here to scare the children. Go back to Tel Aviv. If you were a man you wouldn’t have come with your weapon. But you’re a coward. Think you’re a man. Coward. (With their weapons still pointed, the soldiers keep wandering around the house, opening closets, looking into drawers ).
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/defying-the-occupation-with-a-camcorder.premium-1.452880

Chronic uncertainty : The trauma of childhood under occupation
972mag 22 July by Vicky Hosker — Fear of night raids and imprisonment loom large in the imagination of almost every Palestinian child. Reports on specific cases of violence and abuse fail to capture the epidemic of instability Palestinian children face daily ... Eight-year-old Sahar is originally from Gaza. Born blind and with learning difficulties, she was given permission to attend a special school in the West Bank in the wake of Cast Lead. Her hair is kept short, given her tendency to yank it out ; her arms and legs are usually covered with scratches and bite marks. One evening she took a pair of scissors and dug them into her ears. Her language problems make it difficult to pinpoint what drives her self-harm, but this time she was clear enough : "Bombs in ears." That week had been full of wedding parties, with the usual celebratory fireworks, a sound Sahar cannot stand. For her the world has all the stability of Krakatoa (and the same tendency to intermittently erupt). This sense of unpredictability is shared by seventeen-year-old Ruwaida, who has transformed the wall of her bedroom in the Aida refugee camp into a mural. The sun blazes in a cloudless sky and a tree arches protectively over her bed. She suffers night terrors about soldiers bursting through the walls.
http://972mag.com/chronic-uncertainty-the-trauma-of-childhood-under-occupation/51626/

Detention / Hunger strikes / Court actions

Hunger strike ends for Akram Rikhawi after 102 days
Ramallah (Addameer) 23 July — Following a visit today by Addameer lawyer Mona Neddaf, Addameer can confirm that Palestinian hunger striker Akram Rikhawi has ended his hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service. Akram ended his hunger strike yesterday evening after 102 days. As part of the agreement Akram will be released on 25 January 2013, which is six months prior to his original release date. Addameer’s lawyer visited Akram in Ramleh prison, where he remains in critical condition. It was agreed that upon his release he will return to his home in the Gaza Strip.
Addameer’s lawyer also visited Hassan Safadi, who is on his 33rd day of hunger strike. Hassan’s health continues to deteriorate with recent tests indicating that he has developed kidney stones as a result of his hunger strike. He remains extremely weak and is currently taking only water and vitamins.
http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=498

2nd group of Gaza families visit relatives in Israel jail
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 July — ...A bus carrying 52 people set out from the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City to the Erez crossing, before family members were transferred to Nafha prison facility, Gaza-based prisoners group Waed said. The Palestinian liaison department said only 33 out of a group of 57 family members were allowed to continue their journey by Israeli authorities ... In 2007, Israel started limiting what it considers privileges for Hamas and Gaza prisoners in a bid to put pressure on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza until last fall. The visitors issue was one of the key demands of the hundreds of prisoners who went on a hunger strike in the spring.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506829

Safadi continues his hunger strike ’until freedom or martyrdom’
NABLUS (PIC) 22 July — Hassan Safadi, who went on hunger strike a month ago in Israeli custody, has called on the Palestinian people and factions and official and popular organizations to pressure the occupation to end his detention. The prisoner said in a letter that despite the weight he lost he is still determined to continue defending his dignity till achieving freedom. He stressed that he went again on hunger strike protesting the Israeli decision to renew his administrative detention by six months in blatant violation of the agreement between the prisoners’ hunger strike committee and Israeli officials, noting that he ended a 73-day hunger strike on May 14 after Israel promised not to renew his detention without charge or trial.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Hamas-affiliated university students end hunger strike
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 23 July — Six Hamas-affiliated students said Sunday that they had ended a 3-week hunger strike at Hebron University after the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority pledged not to pursue them over their political activities on campus...
The students began a sit-in protest over a month ago, along with seven other students affiliated with Islamic Jihad, after three students were detained by PA forces. Three weeks ago, eight of the students escalated the protest to a hunger-strike. The Islamic Jihad students ended their protest last week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506822

Akram Rikhawi and the saga of Palestinian hunger strikes / Richard Falk
ISM posted 17 July — The persistence of Palestinian hunger strikes shocks me for two reasons : that these extreme expressions of moral freedom alert all who choose to expose their consciousness to such realities of the severely abusive arrest, detention, and interrogation procedures that many Palestinians living under Israeli occupation must endure ; that the world’s media, foreign governments, the UN, the Arab League barely acknowledge such events, which if they occurred in other countries would generate outpourings of outrage and sympathy, and depending on the geopolitical calculus, hypocritical calls for the application of the ’responsibility to protect’ norm.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/07/akram-rikhawi-and-the-saga-of-palestinian-hunger-strikes/

Tension in Ofer jail after failure of talks with jailers
RAMALLAH (PIC) 23 July — Some kind of tension is taking place in Ofer jail after the failure of talks between representatives of the Palestinian prisoners and the prison administration, according to the lawyer of the prisoner society Jawad Bolus. Bolus said the Israeli administration of Ofer jail refused to respond to four main demands made by the prisoners regarding the family visits and the ongoing suppression. Prisoner Shadi Shallaldah, one of the representatives, told the lawyer that the main issue is related to the suffering of families who are forced to wait for long hours at military checkpoints and exposed to humiliating search especially at Ofer crossing.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

IPS military unit breaks into Ashkelon prison
RAMALLAH (PIC) 22 July — Israeli Dror unit, specialized in repressing prisoners, stormed room 11 in ward 3 in Ashkelon prison on the first day of Ramadan and savagely searched the prisoners’ belongings. Human rights sources quoted prisoner Rabee Rabee as saying that the inspection process lasted for eight hours in a row on Friday. He said that the Israeli prison service’s Dror unit damaged and destroyed the prisoners’ belongings including electrical appliances, and moved the prisoners to other cells. The prisoners’ room was totally damaged and destroyed, the prisoner affirmed.
On the other hand, Rabee stated that a meeting was held between the prison director and the prisoners’ representatives who protested against the provocative inspection policy. "During the meeting, attended by the prisoners’ representatives, Nasser Abu Hamid and Ziad Bazaz, the prison director agreed to re-allow children visits up to the age of eight during the holy month of Ramadan," Rabii stated.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel refuses to investigate death of slain Palestinian protester from Bil‘in
PCSS 18 July — Jawaher Abu Rahmah from the West Bank village of Bil‘in died of cardiac arrest caused by inhalation of excessive amounts of tear gas. The Israeli High Court laid the onus of collecting evidence to justify an investigation on the family, instead of police. Israeli High Court judges ruled today that the family of the late Jawaher Abu Rahmah and the Bil’in Popular Committee should submit documents and testimonies indicating that Abu Rahmah’s death was caused by tear-gas inhalation to the Israeli Judge Advocate General (JAG) until September 1st. The Justices ordered to reconsider his decision to not launch an investigation of the incident ... Instead of immediately ordering an investigation into the circumstances of her death, the Israeli Army held only an operational debriefing. According to the petitioners, the operational debriefing is a tool to derive operational lessons, but is not a tool meant to collect evidence or establish personal responsibility, and therefore cannot substitute a criminal investigation. The findings of the debriefing are confidential, and it is not known what investigative activity was carried out, who was interviewed or which documents were made available to the investigators. However, we do know that not a single civilian eyewitness was questioned, not one medical professional was interviewed, and apparently no medical documents were made available to the investigators.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/07/israel-refuses-to-investigate-death-of-slain-palestinian-protester-from-bilin/

Gaza

Palestinians still need visa to enter Egypt : Airport source
AhramOnline (Egypt) 23 July — A source at Cairo International Airport denies news reports that Egypt has started allowing Palestinians free entry into the country — Earlier on Monday, the Associated Press news agency quoted Egyptian Airport officials saying that Egypt has started allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision would mean Palestinians can freely leave Gaza, says AP, pointing out that the decision also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. But the Cairo airport source told Ahram Online otherwise.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/0/48480/Egypt/0/Palestinians-still-need-visa-to-enter-Egypt-Airpor.aspx

No major change for Palestinians in Gaza entering Egypt
AhramOnline (Egypt) 23 July — Political and security officials said today that Cairo is planning to facilitate and not to entirely remove the set of rules that regulate the entry of Palestinians in Gaza into Egypt. According to one of these sources the plan is to move towards increasing the number of people allowed to cross at Rafah and to expand the definition of ’humanitarian cases’ who are entitled to a faster and easier entry into Egypt. The same source said that there are plans, soon to be implemented, to upgrade the performance of passport control at Rafah to reduce the hardship that Palestinians have always long pointed to...
During a recent meeting in Cairo, President Mohamed Morsi promised Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal that regulations would be put in place to facilitate the entry of Palestinians ’for visits only’ into Egypt."There are no plans that we are aware of to allow Palestinians to enter Egypt in significant numbers for long stay permits," said a security official.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/48492/Egypt/Politics-/No-major-change-for-Palestinians-in-Gaza-entering-.aspx

PA, Hamas govt to meet in Cairo over Gaza electricity troubles
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 July — A top Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader said Sunday that a technical committee composed of officials from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip will meet in Cairo to discuss alleviating a fuel crisis in Gaza. Talal Abu Tharifeh said the committee would discuss solutions with Egyptian authorities with the aim of increasing the electricity from an Egyptian line into the besieged territory.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506739

Gaza tunnels : Heavy traffic in Ramadan
Al Akhbar 23 July — The number of passengers travelling through the tunnels of Gaza has been rapidly increasing during Ramadan. A travel ticket from and to Gaza can cost between $30 and $300. The term "travel ticket" suggests transportation by plane, train, or ship. But because the people of the besieged Gaza Strip are banned and deprived from such forms of transportation, the ticket actually grants you passage to be smuggled from and to Gaza through underground tunnels.These tunnels, which have become the only outlet for the strip’s residents, all lead to Egypt.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/gaza-tunnels-heavy-traffic-ramadan

In light of the conversion of two Palestinian Christians to Islam, PCHR emphasizes the right to freedom of thought and religion

19 July — The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has followed the consequences of the conversion of 2 Palestinian Christians from Gaza to Islam during the current week. PCHR has also followed the different declarations and allegations regarding this incident that may affect the Palestinian social fabric.

On Wednesday, 11 July 2012, PCHR received a complaint from the family of Hiba Abu Dawood (31). Based on this complaint, Abu Dawood left with her 3 female children to an unknown location. She then sent a SMS to her husband telling him that she had converted to Islam. On Sunday, 15 July 2012, PCHR received another similar complaint from the family of Ramez al-Amash. Al-Amashhad left a letter for his family in their house telling them that he converted to Islam and asking them to accept his decision.

PCHR had paid a great deal of attention to these 2 complaints and made intense investigations to ensure that Abu Dawood and al-Amash converted to Islam under their own free will without any coercion...
PCHR : 1- Stresses, after meeting with Abu Dawood and al-Amash, that they converted to Islam under their own free will without any coercion of any type ; and 2- Stresses the right to freedom of thought and religion, in accordance with Article 18 of the Palestinian Basic Law and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8664

AP Jerusalem bureau stands by false report of ’forced conversions’ in Gaza
Elect. Int. 23 July by Ali Abunimah — The Associated Press Jerusalem bureau is standing by a baseless report that Christians in Gaza have been forced to convert to Islam, even after the agency’s own reporter acknowledged the claims weren’t true, as The Electronic Intifada reported. Dan Perry, the AP Jerusalem bureau chief, wrote to me in an email this morning : "The story does not contain errors, grave or otherwise, and there will be no correction. We are attempting a follow up story on this complex issue."
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/ap-jerusalem-bureau-stands-false-report-forced-conversions-gaza

British woman announces her conversion to Islam in Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 22 July — Anne William Kennedy, a British citizen, announced on Saturday her conversion to Islam during a press conference held at the headquarters of the Palestine Scholars Association in Gaza City, amid intensive media coverage.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

First time in Gaza : Female civil defense volunteers
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 July — The General Directorate of Civil Defense in Khan Younis has sponsored a course this week that is expected to include 37 female trainees — a first in the conservative Palestinian enclave. The head of civil defense in the Gaza Strip, Yusef al-Zahhar, and his deputy Said al-Saudi, will join the women and other officials as part of the course.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506638

Gaza youth broadcast on new TV station
Gaza (GulfNews) 22 July — Programmes produced by children for children — A new TV and radio station was launched in the Gaza Strip recently tutoring the young population of children in the Gaza Strip that makes up about 60 per cent of the 1.5 million people who are living in desperate and hard conditions. The multimedia station was founded by the young journalists club, an independent Palestinian non-governmental organisation broadcasting children’s programmes over the radio and via the internet. The presenters of the TV channel are all young children between the ages of 9-15 providing talk shows discussing life, dreams and ambitions of the children in the Gaza Strip.
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/gaza-youth-broadcast-on-new-tv-station-1.1052239

Gaza Palestinians fleeing Damascus arrive in Cairo
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 July — About 100 Palestinians residing in Damascus have arrived in Cairo en route to the Gaza Strip, as violence between the regime of Bashar Assad and rebel fighters intensifies, Egyptian officials said Sunday. The Palestinian embassy in Cairo is liaising with Egyptian authorities to allow the Palestinians into Egypt after they left Syria without applying for visas due to the unstable situation. The Palestinians are not registered as refugees in Syria, but rather Gaza residents living there.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506579

Armed men harass protest by children in Gaza City
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 July — Armed men harassed a protest held by children in Gaza City on Saturday, Ma‘an’s correspondent said. Children in the residential area of Burj al-Saadeh had been protesting against a nearby printing center, which they say causes pollution, noise and dangerous gases. Unidentified gunmen physically harassed the children, lightly injuring Khalil al-Wazir and Musa al-Wazir.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506527

Political / Economic / Diplomatic News

Zahhar : Hamas will not separate Gaza from the West Bank
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 July — Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar on Sunday denied media reports that the Islamist group is considering declaring the Gaza Strip a separate entity from the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank. "Such news is being disseminated by the enemies of Hamas seeking to maintain the siege on Gaza," Zahhar told Ma‘an. "This issue hasn’t been addressed officially within Hamas, but some people posed it privately on their own," he added.
The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Sunday that Hamas was considering declaring Gaza a separate entity from the PA-controlled West Bank. According to the report, Hamas officials said Egypt would back the move, which would also see improved trade ties between both parties. Mahmoud Zahhar said the issue was not discussed with the Egyptians at all, adding that recent Hamas delegation meetings with the Egyptian leadership were positive.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506656

EU move to upgrade relations with Israel
Guardian 22 July — Wide-ranging boost to bilateral relations undermines Brussels over West Bank, say critics — The EU will offer Israel upgraded trade and diplomatic relations in more than 60 areas at a high-level meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, just weeks after European foreign ministers warned that Israeli policies in the West Bank "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible". In advance of the annual EU-Israel Association Council on Tuesday meeting, a diplomatic source shared with the Guardian details of the package of benefits that will be offered to Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister. The EU will widen its relationship with Jerusalem on a range of areas including migration, energy and agriculture. It will remove obstacles impeding Israel’s access to European government-controlled markets and enhance Israel’s co-operation with nine EU agencies, including Europol and the European Space Agency..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/23/israel-eu

Palestinian officials silenced by fear of Obama ’reprisals’, says Washington Post reporter
Elect. Int. 23 July by Ali Abunimah — Are Palestinian Authority officials afraid of "reprisals" from the Obama administration if they criticize US policy ? It would seem so, according to a Washington Post reporter. On 14 July, The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson wrote a lengthy analysis headlined "Where Obama failed on forging peace in the Middle East." MJ Rosenberg pithily summed it up on his blog : Obama was naive. Too insensitive to Israel, Netanyahu and the Holocaust. Plus, he ignored sage advice of Dennis Ross, Abe Foxman & other Jewish organizational wise men. And he used word "occupation.”"
On Twitter, I took Wilson to task for another reason – the reliance on Israel lobby sources and the absence of Palestinian perspectives, asking Wilson via Twitter, "I’d really like an explanation for why you think it’s ok to completely ignore and exclude Palestinians. Don’t they matter ?"
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinian-officials-silenced-fear-obama-reprisals-says-washington-post-reporter

Mashaal meets prominent Islamic leaders in Cairo
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 July — Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal met with several prominent Islamic leaders in Cairo on Saturday, a statement from his office said. Mashaal met with the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Badie, and the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506576

Arab League backs plan to seek UN General Assembly recognition of Palestine, but no date set
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) 22 July — The Arab League on Sunday backed a Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a state of Palestine, but stopped short of setting a date for the bid, Palestinian officials said. Instead, Arab League representatives meeting in Doha asked a committee to prepare the U.N. appeal and report back on Sept. 5, said Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by phone from Doha. Timing is crucial, with a U.N. bid before November potentially disrupting the U.S. presidential race.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/arab-league-backs-plan-to-seek-un-general-assembly-recognition-of-palestine-but-no-date-set/2012/07/22/gJQAInsg2W_story.html

Former British ambassador to Israel expresses doubt on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Haaretz 23 July by Akiva Eldar — In an op-ed in a British magazine, former envoy to Israel and Saudi Arabia lays down ten reasons the chances of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement are slim.
Tom Philips, one of the most influential western diplomats to serve in the Middle East in recent years, suggests that the European Union rethink its aid to the Palestinian Authority, so as to place the whole burden of responsibility for the occupation on Israel – a load the Israeli public is not likely to succeed in carrying.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-british-ambassador-to-israel-expresses-doubts-on-israeli-palestinian-conflict-1.453117

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Gisha presents : Strawberries for sale
This week we are asking Israelis to devote two minutes of their day to a worthy cause. We know that many others are also asking for two minutes for a multitude of worthy causes, but trust us, these will be two minutes well spent. Each day we are asking people to send a letter to a different individual who can play a role in allowing sale of goods from Gaza in the West Bank. Why ? Let’s start at the beginning With the exception of two shipments of date bar snacks, for the past five years there has been a complete ban on the sale of Gaza-made products in the West Bank and Israel. This ban has had a dramatic impact on Gaza’s economy, which, like any other economy, depends on commerce for its survival and development. Before the closure, about 85% of the goods shipped out of Gaza were sold in the West Bank and Israel. Now that this is no longer possible, commerce out of Gaza has all but ground to a halt and months can go by without a single truck leaving the Strip.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2012/07/opening-post/

Charges against pro-Palestinian protesters dismissed
ABC News (Australia) 23 July — A Melbourne magistrate has thrown out a case by police against a large group of protesters who clashed with officers last year. Sixteen people were arrested and charged at the pro-Palestinian protest outside Israeli-owned chocolate shop Max Brenner in the city last July. Some members of the group clashed with police and were charged with assault and trespass. After a three-week hearing Magistrate Simon Garnett today ruled the protest was not unlawful and did not pose a threat to public safety. He said those involved were exercising their human and political rights in pursuit of free speech.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-23/charges-against-pro-palestinian-protesters-dismissed/4148238?section=vic

Israeli Racism / Discrimination / Exclusion of women

Shin Bet crackdown on Israeli Arab unrest in Nazareth, Golan / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 22 July — I reported a few days ago on a series of secret Shin Bet arrests of Arab minorities in different communities inside Israel and the occupied Golan. Because the arrests were under gag and my Israeli sources could obtain limited information, until now I couldn’t report in greater depth about the nature of the charges and the context to the arrests. Thanks to a staffer for an intrepid human rights NGO, I can now do so. When I last posted, I had the least information of all the detainees, about Abdul Basset Zo’abi. It turns out he is from Nazareth. In the past few days, two other members of his family, Abdul Majid Zo’abi and Abdullah Zo’abi were also arrested under gag.
These detentions were related to provocative Kahanist rallies held there last Sunday by Baruch Marzel and MK Michael Ben Ari (who also managed to stir up religious hostility this week from Christians by tearing up, Terry Jones-like, a New Testament sent to him by an evangelical Christian). The ostensible purpose of the rally by the Jewish terror supporters was to “encourage” Israeli Palestinians to enlist in the IDF. This occurs in the backdrop of extraordinary domestic tension regarding reform of the current law that exempts most Haredim and Palestinian citizens from serving. Marzel and his goons planned on rallying at the Nazareth home of Palestinian MK Haneen Zo’abi, a leader of the Israeli Palestinian nationalist movement. This was another bit of provocation on their part. To give you a sense of their audacity, this is a voice message sent to 10,000 Nazareth households by the miscreants :
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/07/22/shin-bet-crackdown-on-israeli-arab-minorities-in-nazareth-golan/

Zionist extremist groups threaten to kill MK Tibi
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 July — A Zionist group launched an incitement campaign against Ahmed Tibi, the head of the "Arab Bloc for Change" in the Israeli Knesset, after he tore photos of rabbi Meir Kahane in response to tearing the Bible by MK Michael Ben Ari. The incitement campaign against Tibi, which had been launched by the Zionist group "Kach" and the followers of Baruch Marzel, reached the extent of the threat of murder, in addition to publishing insulting pictures on Facebook, comparing Tibi and all Muslims with pigs, under the banner of "Kahane was right."
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Knesset bill would deny migrants right to appeal deportation
Haaretz 23 July — Migrants who are denied residency in Israel would be forced to leave the country before appealing the government’s decision to deport them, according to an Interior Ministry-sponsored bill put out yesterday. In an explanatory note, the ministry acknowledged it was seeking to reduce the number of appeals.
The bill, which aid workers say circumvents judicial review, is one of two recent legislative proposals that seem intended to push out migrants whose legal status in Israel is in question. The second bill states that illegal immigrants would face six months in jail or a fine of at least NIS 29,000 for sending money to their families, or anywhere else, outside of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/knesset-bill-would-deny-migrants-right-to-appeal-deportation.premium-1.452850

Women’s images removed from ad promoting Israeli film in Jerusalem
Haaretz 23 July — As a result of the exclusion, some protesters have threatened to boycott the movie, which opened Thursday — Two actresses have been axed from advertisements for the Israeli movie "The Dealers," displayed on billboards in Jerusalem - just months after hundreds of people participated in rallies in the capital to protest the exclusion of women from the public domain. Other ads for the film - a comedy about friends from Jerusalem looking for a way to make money - feature four men and two women.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/women-s-images-removed-from-ad-promoting-israeli-film-in-jerusalem.premium-1.452866

Refugees

Lurking danger : Palestinian refugees in Syria
Press TV 23 July — "The flames are quickly approaching Yarmouk (as) someone is trying to drag the Palestinians into the fire," commented Palestinian observer Rashad Abu Shawar (as cited in Israeli Jerusalem Post, July 20). Yarmouk is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. Its inhabitants make up nearly a quarter of Syria’s entire refugee population of nearly 500,000. Despite the persistence of memory and the insistence on their right of return to Palestine, the Palestinian community in Syria is, on the whole, like any other ordinary community. Of course, ’ordinariness’ is not always a term that suits misfortunate Palestinian refugees in Arab countries ... Palestinian refugees in Syria also cannot expect to exist outside a paradigm of danger and unpredictability. Their brethren in Lebanon learned the same lesson years ago. Palestinians in Kuwait were also victimized on a large scale in 1991, along with other communities accused of being sympathetic to Saddam Hussein. True to form, the small Palestinian community in Iraq also received its share of maltreatment following the US invasion in 2003.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/252343.html

Palestinian student in Syria comes top in high school exams
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 July — A Palestinian student in Syria has scored the highest test results in nationwide high school exams, a Ma‘an correspondent said Monday. Ola Majed Amoura, originally form Haifa, obtained 100 percent in her high school science exams. Amoura lives in al-Sheikh refugee camp located west of the Syrian capital Damascus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506898

Other news

After 500 Syrian soldiers enter demilitarized zone near border, Israel complains to UN
Haaretz 22 July — Israel files official complaint to the UN after Syrian security forces came near the Golan Heights border, violating agreement signed in 1974 — Syrian army forces crossed the demilitarized zone near the border with Israel in the Golan Heights last week, a highly unusual incident, on what is considered a quiet border ... The Syrian soldiers entered the demilitarized zone last Thursday. The Syrian forces entered the area near the Syrian village of Jubata Al Khashab, a few kilometers east of the Israeli Druze village of Mas’ada in the northern part of the Golan Heights. It seems that the soldiers’ entrance to the demilitarized zone was a result of the fighting with the rebel army.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/after-500-syrian-soldiers-enter-demilitarized-zone-near-border-israel-complains-to-un.premium-1.452811

Blast rocks Egypt’s gas pipeline to Jordan, Israel
CAIRO (Reuters) 21 July — An explosion on Sunday rocked the Egyptian pipeline built to carry natural gas to Israel and Jordan, the 15th time it has been attacked since the start of the uprising in early 2011 that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. The blast occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning at al-Tuwail, east of the coastal Sinai town of al-Arish, at a point before the pipeline splits into separate branches to Israel and Jordan, security officials and witnesses said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/22/us-egypt-pipeline-idUSBRE86L00T20120722

BBC’s Olympics webpage omits Israel’s capital
Ynet 20 July — Israel’s profile on BBC’s official Olympics webpage describes Jerusalem as ’seat of government’ ; stresses ’most foreign embassies reside in Tel Aviv.’ Page lists east J’lem as PA’s capital
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4258329,00.html

Analysis / Opinion / Reviews / Human interest

What a university in Ariel means for Arabs in Israel / Susan Drinan
Ma‘an 20 July — In August 2010 Israel’s Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced a special 500 million shekel budget to improve higher education access for Arab and Haredi communities. In the almost two years since their announcement, the only academic college located in an Arab community — Nazareth Academic Institute — has seen none of those funds, nor any of the standard public funding awarded to other academic colleges in the region. Over the past week, both Steinitz and Sa’ar have thrown their support behind Ariel College’s bid for university status, including a pledge of 50 million shekels in additional higher education funding to make the shift feasible, while NAI continues to wait. All of which begs the question : What does it say to Arab citizens of Israel that a settlement university will likely be approved and funded before any public investment in the only Arab college ?
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506203

Israel plans to revive ailing Jordan River
Reuters 19 July — The River Jordan is neither deep nor wide these days. The Biblical river, which has inspired countless spirituals and folk songs, is just a narrow stream in many parts — polluted and stagnant. But that’s about to change. Thanks to desalination and wastewater recycling, there is more fresh water to go around and the Jordan will slowly be returned to its former glory ... "It’s five percent of what once flowed," said Ben Ari, who is one of the rehabilitation project leaders. "You can easily walk across without getting your head wet." Almost all the water that feeds the river is diverted by Syria, Jordan and Israel before it reaches the south, he explained. But for the first time, Israel — which is two-thirds arid and has battled drought since its establishment 64 years ago — has a water surplus ... The Israeli government has chosen to use this bounty to rehabilitate the country’s rivers. The Jordan tops the list. [How about supplying Palestinian villages instead ? Many are desperate for water.]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-israel-environment-jordanriver-idUSBRE86I0KA20120719

West Bank : Nablus turns to Good Samaritans
Bloomberg 21 July by Michael Luongo — In Nablus, being a Good Samaritan is something locals take literally. That’s because some are. I’m on Mount Gerizim, meeting Samaritan Museum Director Husney Kahen. He’s wearing a long traditional robe and rounded hat, his gray eyes shimmering. "People don’t believe that Samaritans exist, that it is a story in the Bible," he says. "People are surprised to find that there are actually such people." Until visiting the West Bank city of Nablus, once a center of violence during the second intifada, the Palestinian uprising against Israel that broke out in December 2000, I also thought Samaritans were a fable. Their religion mirrors Judaism, though Samaritans believe Mount Gerizim, rather than Jerusalem, was where the Temple Mount existed and Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/343410/nablus-turns-to-good-samaritans

Refugees display mosaic art after revival workshops
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 July — Palestinian refugees in Bethlehem opened an exhibition of mosaic art on Sunday, following workshops teaching the ancient craft. Palestinian painter Mujahed Khallaf is conducting mosaic workshops in refugee camps across the West Bank hoping to revive the art in Palestine.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=505512

Film reviews

Arafat documentary paints intimate portrait of late leader
[with trailer] RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 19 July — He has been called a terrorist, a freedom fighter and the founding father of the Palestinian nation — and in Richard Symons’ and Joanna Natasegara’s documentary, he becomes a husband, father and friend as well. The first film in a twelve-part series on leadership, The Price of Kings, the documentary spans Arafat’s long history as a leader of the Palestinians, beginning with his time as a student in Cairo through his final days in Paris. "I think you get that rare insight into the humanity of the leader," said Symons last week in an interview with Ma‘an. "It shows you stuff you haven’t thought of before, seen before, or heard before."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=505679

No happy ending : film documents the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah
[with trailer] 972mag 22 July by Lisa Goldman — My Neighborhood — Just Vision’s latest film is a moving snapshot of the Palestinian plight with Israeli settlement policies in an East Jerusalem neighborhood – and the Israeli Jews that raised awareness about the issue by protesting there. While there is no happy ending, the movie introduces audiences to some of the Palestinians and Israelis who found themselves taking part in a common struggle.
http://972mag.com/my-neighborhood-a-documentary-about-non-violent-protest-in-east-jerusalem/51593/

Drama meets daily life in Palestinian film
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 22 July — Brazen and in broad daylight, "Israeli infantry" plunge deep into the Palestinian city of Ramallah, hoisting a flag atop a makeshift checkpoint. A motley crowd of children, veiled ladies and young men in jeans chant defiantly in the summer sun at the soldiers clad in olive drab and facing them with rifles. A clash looms. "Cut !" Director Rashid Masharawi steps into the fray, his cargo shorts and straw sun hat breaking the illusion created by the actors and production company at the set of feature-length film Palestine Stereo ... With a budget of $1.5 million, Palestine Stereo is set to be one of the most expensive films yet produced by Palestinians, and aims to transcend stale news reports and use art to convey the mindset of a people steeped in 45 years of Israeli occupation. "It’s the story of every Palestinian, loving this land, but pressured into thinking about leaving it. At the same time it’s not all sadness. There’s hope, a love story, and thoughts for the future," said Masharawi, who was raised in a Gaza refugee camp ... The tale follows two brothers, shocked by a deadly Israeli raid on their refugee camp home into thinking about emigrating. Scrounging up the cash needed for their flight by working as audio engineers, they are exposed to the full pageant of West Bank life, in which fact and film overlap uncannily.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506953
— 
www.TheHeadlines.org
www.Mondoweiss.net