TODAY in PALESTINE

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Land theft / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

Bearing the cross of colonization : the Via Dolorosa today

PLO NAD Easter 2013 —... The Via Dolorosa (Latin : ’way of suffering’) begins in the old Muslim Quarter of the city and ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There are 14 stations marking the path which Jesus Christ took before his crucifixion. Each of the 14 stations along the Via Dolorosa is marked with a plaque. Israeli settlers have another way of marking the "Via Dolorosa" : through their settlement activity. There are eight stations that can easily be recognized by the presence of illegal Israeli settlements, tens of surveillance cameras and Israeli flags hanging above them. These houses originally belonged to Palestinian families who have been evicted by Israeli settlers supported by the Israeli state. For example ... The third station is where a Palestinian Christian family was evicted from their home by former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. At station 5 a heavily protected settlement located over Palestinian homes and shops has changed the landscape of the station, where it is believed by Christians that Jesus fell the first time on his way to the crucifixion. At Station 9 there is a settlement located over the Souq (market) going to Al Aqsa compound, visible from the Coptic neighborhood, while at stations 11, 12, 13 and 14 (Holy Sepulcher) one finds the Moristan settlement, known previously as "Saint John". This confiscation of property led to the forced eviction and displacement of an estimated 44 Palestinian families. Settlers have also attempted to take over a monastery located in front of the Holy Sepulcher.
link to english.pnn.ps

PHOTOS : Palestinian Christians protest permit regime during Palm Sunday procession

Activestills 25 Mar — During the annual Palm Sunday procession, Palestinian Christians protest permits delayed and denied during the Easter season — In the annual Palm Sunday procession, Palestinian Christians carry signs naming their West Bank communities, all of which are cut off from Jerusalem by the Israeli separation barrier, requiring their residents to obtain special permits to enter, March 24, 2013. Such restrictions have dramatically reduced the number of Palestinians able to participate in religious traditions of any faith in Jerusalem.
link to 972mag.com

IOA starts construction of 114 new housing units in Bethlehem village

BETHLEHEM (PIC) 25 Mar — Bulldozers of the Israeli occupation authority have started preparing for the building of 114 new housing units on land in Khader village, in Bethlehem district. Ahmed Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee against settlement, told Quds Press on Monday that the bulldozers started working in leveling land in Batin Al-Masi mountain two days ago. He said that the IOA decided to turn the 500 dunum settlement outpost on that mountain into a full-fledged settlement after building the 114 units that would be added to the 50 caravans already installed there since 2000. He said that the land is owned by the Salah family but the land owners are banned from approaching it for years.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel to seize land near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 26 Mar — Israeli occupation authorities Tuesday issued a military order to take over tens of dunums of land that belong to Palestinian people of the village of Nahhalin, near Bethlehem, for the benefit of building 70 new housing units for Jewish settlers, a local official told WAFA. Deputy Head of the village’s council Jamal Najajreh said that the lands are filled with olive trees, and are estimated [to be] tens of dunums (1 dunum = 100 square meters [or 1/4 acre]), located to the west of the village, close to the illegal Jewish settlement of Bitar Ellit. He added that this plan of building 70 housing units along with public buildings, as announced by the Israeli authorities, "aims to link the nearby illegal settlements Bitar Ellit and Jv’ot to each other, which will tighten the closure on the village and deprive a number of the village’s families of their sources of living."
link to english.wafa.ps

Palestinian landowner suffers repeated settler attacks

Al-Monitor 25 mar by Linah Alsaafin — Khaled Daraghmeh always insists that the youth and visitors who volunteer to work on his property every week fill their bags with the herbs and fruit grown on his land. "The almonds at this time of year are very good," Khaled says, also known as Abu Jamal. He calls his son Mo’men to show the guests the best almond tree. "The lemon trees are never bare — see the yellow lemons ? In the summer, they change color to green but in both cases they are still delicious." Abu Jamal is from the village Deir il-Lubban that lies just off the main road between Ramallah and Nablus. His family has owned an ancient stone building, referred to as the khan, for many generations. The family also owns the land that the khan resides on, more than 22 square kilometers (8.5 square miles) of it. It is this land, and the khan itself, which have proved to be the thorn stuck in the throats of Jewish settlers. Lubban al-Sharqiyyeh is surrounded by six illegal settlements, and Abu Jamal’s parcel of land lies between one settlement established on the village’s land called Ma’ale Labuneh, preventing it from being linked to the other settlements such as Eli and Shilo, which extend from the Jordan Valley to the Green Line.
link to www.al-monitor.com

The lie of ’state lands’ : Whitewashing the confiscation of Palestinian land

972mag 26 Mar by Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz — The outpost of Derekh Avot, sitting on stolen Palestinian land, will soon be whitewashed and its lands will magically turn into “state lands” which will be delivered to the settlers — A letter from the Officer of the Legal Advisor of the Commander, Judea and Samaria Area — the name the IDF attached to the West Bank — arrived recently at Yesh Din’s offices. The letter said that soon, the Custodian of Government Property intends to announce the lands on which the outpost of Derekh Avot is located as Public Lands (commonly known as “state land”). It further said — feel free to snicker — that prior to making the decision, the Custodian will hold a hearing, in which our clients, the owners of the land, may make their claims to it. Derekh Avot, notes Peace Now (Hebrew), is one of 16 outposts built partly on stolen Palestinian land (this is a good place to give a shout out to Hagit Ofran, who excels at the Sisyphean and thankless job of documenting the creeping annexation of the West Bank). Among the residents of the outpost you may note settler legend and convicted felon Ze’ev Hever (under his original name, Ze’ev Friedman, he was convicted of planting a bomb under the car of a Palestinian leader)...
link to 972mag.com

Al-Aqsa

Sheikh : Israel tightening grip on Al-Aqsa Mosque

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — The director of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday warned that Israel is tightening restrictions on the Muslim holy site in Jerusalem. Sheikh Najih Bkeirat told Ma‘an that Israeli forces seized the keys to the Moroccan Gate to allow extremist Jewish settlers access the compound. Israel has imposed strict restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the mosque and delivered military orders banning several citizens, clerics and dignitaries from Al-Aqsa, Bkeirat said. Bkeirat was banned from Al-Aqsa Mosque in October. "Thirty-five days after I was appointed director of al-Aqsa Mosque, I was banned from the mosque despite the fact that the appointment was made by a Jordanian ministry. (The Israelis) failed to prevent the decision so they denied me access to the mosque." Israeli authorities claimed Bkeirat’s presence posed a threat to Israeli security and said secret reports proved he impeded the work of Israeli police in the compound, the sheikh said.
link to www.maannews.net

Group : Far right MK calls for Jewish prayers at Al-Aqsa compound
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — A far-right Israeli Knesset member has called on Jewish worshipers to pray at the Al-Aqsa compound on Wednesday for the Passover holiday, according to a local group. The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said Tuesday that Likud’s Moshe Feiglin posted a call on his Facebook page for Israelis to pray at the Jerusalem compound. He also posted pictures of himself at the sensitive Jerusalem holy site, according to the foundation. The group called on Palestinian worshipers and students to gather at the mosque to protect it.
In early March, Feiglin attempted to enter the 7th century mosque but was stopped by Al-Aqsa guards and students, the Al-Aqsa Foundation said. The controversial Likud MK has stated in the past that Palestinians in Israel should be relocated and that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.
link to www.maannews.net

AFEH : Israelis set up candlestick inside al-Aqsa
[photo] OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 26 Mar — An organization concerned with Israeli violations against Islamic sanctities revealed that Jewish settlers erected a candlestick [menorah] made of paper inside the al-Aqsa Mosque [meaning compound ? building itself ?]. Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Endowment and Heritage stated in a press release on Monday that a group of Israeli settlers have set up a candlestick made of paper in the eastern corner of al-Aqsa mosque to perform their Talmudic rituals. The Jerusalemite Foundation warned against the seriousness of this incident, saying that the occupation aimed through such practices to impose a fait accompli at al-Aqsa Mosque.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli forces arrest Jerusalemites for foiling settlers’ attempt to storm Aqsa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 Mar — Israeli occupation forces stormed and searched a number of homes in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday before taking away two young men. Jerusalemite human rights sources said that Hamza Khalaf and Mohammed Asila were taken from their homes after accusing them [of] foiling Jewish settlers’ attempt to sneak into the Aqsa mosque on Saturday evening. Three settlers tried to infiltrate into the holy site through Mutahara gate but Aqsa guards, aided by worshipers, aborted the attempt.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Settlers enter Al-Aqsa compound, foundation says
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — A group of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Monday and performed religious rituals under heavy Israeli guard, a local foundation said. Settlers accompanied by dozens of Israeli security forces entered the holy site early Monday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said. Israeli forces prevented Palestinian students from entering the area while settlers prayed at the site.
link to www.maannews.net

Violence / Raids / Attacks / Illegal arrests

During funeral procession, army fires gas bombs at school students in Hebron
IMEMC 27 Mar — Hebron, Tuesday March 26 2113, Palestinian medical sources reported that several female school students have been treated for the effects of teargas inhalation after Israeli soldiers fired gas bombs at them as they participated in a funeral north of Hebron city ...
Also in Hebron, the army kidnapped one Palestinian, identified as Amro Jaber, east of Hebron and took him to a nearby interrogation facility.
The soldiers also installed several roadblocks leading to different Palestinian towns near Hebron, stopped dozens of vehicles and inspected the ID cards of dozens of Palestinians.
In related news, soldiers fired several rounds of live ammunition in Bab Al-Zawiya area, in the center of Hebron City.
Local sources reported that it remains unclear why the army opened fire as no clashes or confrontations were taking place in the area before or during the incident.
link to www.imemc.org

Settlers attack vendors in Al-Khalil market
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 26 Mar — Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian vendors near Bab Al-Zawiya in Al-Khalil [or Hebron] city afternoon Monday and damaged their merchandise before fleeing the scene. Groups of Palestinian youths threw stones and empty bottles at the fleeing settlers, who fled to Shuhada street in downtown Al-Khalil under Israeli military protection. Locals said that Israeli occupation forces shielded the settlers and fired teargas and rubber bullets at the young men then chased them through the alleys. They said that the IOF closed off the area. No casualties or arrests were reported in the incident.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers positioned in vicinity of Ya‘bad school beat up citizens
JENIN (PIC) 26 Mar — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) set up a roadblock in the vicinity of a secondary school for boys in Ya‘bad village, south of Jenin, on Tuesday morning. Local sources said that the soldiers were provoking students and obstructing movement of civilians. They said that soldiers manning the barrier, at the main entrance to Ya‘bad, were searching all passing vehicles and questioning citizens, which created a traffic jam. Locals said that the soldiers detained a vehicle and ordered all its four passengers out and beat them up.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Soldiers stormed Beit Ommar in the night
PSP 26 Mar — On March 24th at two o’clock in the morning a large force of approximately 40 soldiers and Israeli occupation intelligence officers stormed the village of Beit Ommar. In the centre of town close to the member of the popular committee Ahmed Abu Hashem’s family home, seven military vehicles surrounded the area. The army searched a large region in the centre of the village between civilian homes while also occupying alleyways and agricultural land. The soldiers brought with them search dogs to smell for anything incriminating, presumably the soldier were looking for weapons they believe are hidden somewhere in the village. The Hashem family reported that they think the search is directly linked to the continuous accusation and detainment by the Israeli intelligence of members of the Hashem family. The family is made up of peaceful nonviolent activists that have been continuously attacked and harassed because they are believed to be harbouring weapons. In the past few months the Hashem family home has been raided twice by the Israeli soldiers, one time the soldier arrested Ahmed’s son. The soldiers patrolled the streets for several hours and fired tear gas and shock grenades throughout the search...
link to palestinesolidarityproject.org

Just one of the many - 16 just in the 24 hours ending at 8 am 26 March
Israeli forces set up temporary checkpoint in Jenin village
JENIN (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Israeli military forces set up a temporary checkpoint in the Jenin village of Ya‘bad on Tuesday, locals said. Israeli forces prevented villagers from leaving or entering the area for two hours and searched several Palestinian vehicles, witnesses told Ma‘an. Locals say that Israeli forces in nearby Dotan checkpoint have been impeding the movement of villagers over the past few days by frequently stopping cars and checking ID cards.
link to www.maannews.net

Extremist Israelis attack a Jerusalemite boy
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 26 Mar — The Information Center of Wadi Hilweh in Silwan warned of the escalated settlers’ attacks on the residents of the city of Jerusalem, amid the inaction of the Israeli police. The center recorded in a statement on Monday evening six attacks carried out by groups of settlers and Jewish extremists against Jerusalemites from Silwan and the Old City of Jerusalem, during the last week, between the 16th and the 25th March. The last of these attacks took place on Monday, when four Jewish extremists abused 16-year-old Mansour Abu Madi, from the village of Silwan, while heading to school in the morning, at the Mughrabi Gate. While the boy was defending himself, the settlers called policemen, who arrived and arrested him. Abu Madi pointed out that he was held in the police station in Salah al-Din Street for more than three hours for interrogation. Now he is under house arrest for ten days, he is only allowed to leave for school accompanied by his father.
The Information Center in Wadi Hiweh pointed out that on March 20 a 9-year-old Jerusalemite child was attacked, as two Jewish extremists throw a piece of glass at him from a close distance, causing him a deep wound in the face. [article goes on to detail other attacks]
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli policemen round up 96 Palestinian workers
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 Mar — Israeli policemen arrested 96 Palestinian workers on Monday at the pretext of not having permits to work in 1948 occupied Palestine. A Hebrew website said that the arrests were made in line with a campaign waged by police to search for such workers. The site said that the police opened investigation with 16 Israelis for hiring Palestinian workers without obtaining permits. [See how effective the Wall is as a security measure- thousands of Palestinian workers manage to get around, over or through it. But then security isn’t the real reason for the Wall.]
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli forces detain 5 in arrest raids
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — Israeli forces detained five people overnight Monday, locals and Israel’s army said. In Nablus, Israeli soldiers arrested Omar Sawalmeh, 21, and Qais Abu Juneid, 22, witnesses told Ma‘an. Awad Hassan, 15, was arrested in Ramallah and Muhammad Abu al-Haiaja, 20, was detained in Jenin, locals said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that five people were detained overnight, two in Nablus, two in Hebron and one in Jenin.
link to www.maannews.net

Army arrests minor near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 25 Mar — The Israeli army arrested early Monday a 15-year-old minor from the Ramallah area village of Dura al-Qare‘ after raiding his family home, according to the Prisoner’s Club. Soldiers have also arrested a 20-year-old Palestinian from the town of Yamoun, west of Jenin, after a pre-dawn raid at his home, Palestinian security sources said. Two other Palestinians in their early 20s were arrested at Balata refugee camp in Nablus during an Israeli army raid of the camp. The army had on Sunday arrested Abdul Aziz Noufal, a journalist from Hebron, while working on a story about settlers in Tel Rumeida area of the city. The army arrested also a Palestinian resident of Tel Rumeida for cooperating with Noufal in the story.
link to english.wafa.ps

Army kidnaps three Palestinians in Hebron
IMEMC 27 Mar — Israeli military sources reported, Tuesday evening, that the army kidnapped three Palestinian youths in Tal Romeida, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and claimed that the three obtained weapons and opened fire at Israeli targets. The Palestine News Network (PNN) reported that the three are being interrogated for "opening fire at soldiers manning a roadblock in Hebron," and that [they] are allegedly arms dealers, according to the army.
link to www.imemc.org

PA security forces arrest 8 Hamas members
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — Palestinian Authority security forces arrested eight Hamas affiliates across the West Bank over the past 24 hours, a statement from the Islamist group said. Hamas members were detained in Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus, the group said.
link to www.maannews.net

PA security forces arrest 2 Hamas members
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Palestinian Authority security forces arrested two Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Tuesday, the Islamist group said in a statement. The two unidentified members were arrested in Tubas and Salfit, Hamas added, without providing further details.
link to www.maannews.net

Prisoners / Hunger strikers / Court actions

Physician says heart beat of striking prisoner dropped
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 25 Mar — An Israeli physician at Kaplan hospital, where striking prisoner Samer Essawi is getting treatment, warned that his heartbeat has dropped significantly and his blood sugar was also down, according to Fawaz Shalloudi, an attorney with the Prisoner’s Club. Essawi, 33, from East Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike since August 1 protesting his re-arrest after his released in the October 2011 prisoners’ exchange. If reconvicted, he will return to prison to serve the 20 years left in his sentence at the time of release. Shalloudi said Essawi’s condition is now very critical. An Israeli military court had postponed Essawi’s hearing that was scheduled for Thursday to May 9, prompting Essawi to complain that the court is trying to break his fast.
link to english.wafa.ps

IOA blocks travel of Issawi’s mother
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 Mar — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) blocked the travel of detained hunger striker Samer Al-Issawi’s mother for the second time. The detainee’s sister Shireen said that her mother was on her way to Tunisia to take part in a conference for supporting prisoners. She said that the IOA fears that her mother would convey the issue of her son Samer to the world. Shireen, a lawyer, said that the IOA also fears that her mother would expose the brutality of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people especially the prisoners.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Resistance burns bright in hunger striker’s village
Jerusalem (EI) 26 Mar by Maath Musleh — For the past few months, the village of Issawiyeh has been under attack. The Israeli military has tried to break the spirit of resistance in this small place, north of Jerusalem, which is home to the hunger striker Samer Issawi. Yet the people of Issawiyeh have kept on demonstrating their solidarity with him and other Palestinian prisoners ... Issawi’s arrest was not the only thing that prompted residents of the village to act. Long before that, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality had been actively confiscating land owned by residents of Issawiyeh. Hundreds of dunums have been seized in the past year for the benefit of two planned projects : a ’national park’ and a dump for solid waste (a dunum is 1,000 square meters). Issawiyeh is a hot spot in Jerusalem. The protests in the village have nearly always led to heavy clashes with the Israeli forces. Nightly raids and arrests have been a regular occurrence.
link to electronicintifada.net

Prisoner Hroub continues his hunger strike for the 36th day in a row
NABLUS (PIC) 26 Mar — The prisoner Yunis Hroub continues his hunger strike for the 36th day in a row protesting at his administrative detention since last July, PPS confirmed, adding that he refused the IPS’ offer to deport him in return for his release.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Argentinian activist on hunger strike in support of Palestinian prisoners
GAZA (PIC) 25 Mar — An Argentinian activist declared an open hunger strike for a whole month in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails. Faisal Sergio Tapia is a human rights defender and president and ambassador of the International Committee of Islamic Human Rights.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli court nixes appeal against administrative detention of Basem Za‘arir
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 25 Mar — The Palestinian prisoners center for studies said an Israeli court rejected the appeal filed by the lawyer of lawmaker Basem Za‘arir against his administrative detention for six months.The center stated that the Israeli occupation forces re-kidnapped MP Za‘arir in November 2012 after Gaza war among many other lawmakers and ordered his detention administratively for six months. Since then, the Israeli courts have declined any appeal filed against his detention and insisted on keeping him in custody in Negev prison.
An Israeli court also approved the detention of senior Hamas official Ra‘fat Nasif administratively for six months after he was kidnapped last February.
In a related context, member of the Palestinian captive movement in Israeli jails Mohamed Sabha said that the captive movement received promises from senior Israeli jailers to respond to its demands and end the solitary confinement of Dirar Abu Sisi and Awad Al-Sa‘idi. For his part, director of Ahrar center for prisoner studies Fouad Al-Khafsh confirmed the news and said the prison administrations pledged to end the isolation of Awad Al-Sa‘idi soon after his current term, which was extended for six more months, ends. They also pledged to end the isolation of Dirar Abu Sisi once a prison sentence is officially issued against him next April.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Ahrar Center calls for the release of journalist Walid Khaled
NABLUS (PIC) 26 Mar — Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights called on the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Reporters Without Borders Organization, and international human rights organizations to intervene immediately to check on the health and detention conditions of the prisoner journalist Walid Khaled. The prisoner Walid Khaled, 41, from the town of Sakaka [Iskaka ?] south of Salfit, was arrested on March 10, 2013 where he was prevented from meeting his lawyer since that time, Fuad al-Khuffash, the director of the center, stated, expressing his worries with regard to the prisoner’s health condition especially with the Israeli blackout on his situation.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Imam released after 2 months in Israeli detention
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Israeli forces released a Palestinian Imam from prison on Monday after two months in administrative detention, a prisoners group said. The center for detainee studies said in a statement that Sheikh Riyad Walwil, 58, was released on short notice to prevent relatives form organizing celebrations. Walwil worked as an Imam in Qalqiliya and was detained several months ago during an arrest campaign against Hamas affiliates, the center added.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel releases Palestinian activists detained in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) — Israel released three Palestinian activists on Sunday after detaining them during a protest in Hebron last week. Issa Amro, Badi Dweik and Muhammad Zghayer were released on bail by Ofer military court. They were arrested on Wednesday after wearing masks of Martin Luther King and US President Barack Obama and demonstrating through Hebron’s Old City. "We will continue resisting the Israeli occupation until settlers give up, and we will not accept any other results. People of Hebron are able to take this challenge and make it succeed," Badi Dweik said Sunday ... Issa Amro, coordinator of activist group Youth Against Settlements, said last week that he was hoping that the first black president of the United States would be more fair with Palestinians...
Meanwhile, Palestinian journalist Abdul Aziz Nofal was detained on Sunday while filming with a crew from Al-Jazeera in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron. The Palestinian liaison department has been on contact with Israel’s DCO to release them, Brigadier Nader Hajji told Ma‘an. The Israeli DCO demanded 1,000 shekels ($274) to release them, which the Palestinian side refused to pay. Israeli authorities must give journalists complete freedom to report, Hajji added.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel ’tried to banish me for 28 years,’ says hunger striker Ayman Sharawna
Gaza City (EI) 25 Mar by Joe Catron — Ayman Sharawna needed the help of two friends, one supporting him on each side, to walk into the living room of his new apartment overlooking the Gaza seaport on Saturday. But if the physical effects of his eight-month hunger strike were visible, Sharawna projected an air of victory when he spoke with activists who had gathered to welcome him. "My hunger strike secured two things," he said. "First, it won my release, my freedom. Second, it prevented the arrest of other prisoners who were released in the Shalit deal [the prisoner exchange in October 2011]." Sharawna’s hunger strike ended on 17 March with an agreement in which Israel banished him to Gaza from his home in the West Bank city of Hebron for 10 years.
link to electronicintifada.net

PHOTOS : Gaza welcomes freed Palestinian detainee, former hunger striker Ayman Sharawna
AIC 26 March — Hundreds rallied outside the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza Strip headquarters Monday morning to welcome former Palestinian detainee and long-term hunger striker Ayman Sharawna ... Sharawna’s hunger strike ended on March 17 in a deal that saw Israel force him into the Gaza Strip for a term of ten years. Human rights organizations condemned his displacement as a war crime. "Israel is treating Gaza as the back prison for the occupied Palestinian territories by these practices," said Sahar Francis, executive director of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
link to www.alternativenews.org

Gaza siege

3 workers injured in Gaza tunnel explosion
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Three workers were injured Tuesday when a gas canister exploded in a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border, a Gaza official said. Civil defense spokesman Muhammad al-Mathana told Ma‘an that a fire broke out after a gas canister being transferred to Gaza exploded. Three workers suffered serious burns and were taken to a hospital in Gaza, al-Mathana added. In January, al-Mezan Center for Human Rights urged the Gaza government to implement better safety measures and assess the benefits of the network as a whole, saying 232 people had been killed in collapsing tunnels. "Most of the people who work in tunnels are from very low-income backgrounds and have been forced to undertake this kind of work to provide for their families under the difficult socio-economic conditions caused by the Israeli siege on Gaza," the group said.
link to www.maannews.net

IOF troops fire at southern Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS (PIC) 26 Mar — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at Palestinian land to the east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday morning. A field observer said that IOF soldiers in an army jeep mounted a hilltop to the east of Sreij gate east of Khan Younis and opened fire at Palestinian farmland. No casualties were reported by medical sources.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Khudari : 2000 truck-loads are held in Israeli ports
GAZA (PIC) 26 Mar — MP Jamal al-Khudari, the head of the Popular Committee against the Siege, said that more than two thousand truck-loads are held in Israeli stores and ports and at Karm Abu Salem crossing due to the occupation siege. Khudari said in a press statement on Tuesday that the closure of the Karm Abu Salem crossing, for the sixth consecutive day, is causing the traders and businessmen severe financial losses.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Protests in Gaza against the reduction of UNRWA services
GAZA (PIC) 25 Mar — Dozens of Palestinian refugees protested in Jabaliya camp northern Gaza strip against the meeting of Robert Kerner, director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, with representative of Palestinian families and against the organization’s shortage of services. The protesters chanted angry slogans, condemning UNRWA new policy that affects poor families, calling for increasing UNRWA services. The Agency’s new policy of reduction caused anger among the residents who receive aid from the UNRWA, estimated at about 21 thousand families. UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi has declared on Thursday that most of donor countries will not provide financial support for the agency in the next phase.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

UNRWA to implement job creation program in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Over 10,000 of the poorest refugees in Gaza will benefit from a job placement program set to be initiated in April, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said this week. "Through this new system, an average six-member family will have the opportunity to nearly double their income over two years, as compared to the old cash assistance scheme", Robert Turner, Director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, said. Under the current system, in a 24 month period, a six-member family receives $480 in cash assistance. The same family will now be able to secure an income of up to $900 during the same period through the Job Creation Program, UNRWA said.
link to www.maannews.net

WWI cemetery in crowded Gaza serves as park for locals
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — A cemetery by definition is a tract of land specifically designated as a burial ground, where bodies are interred and identified by tombstones so relatives can visit their loved ones. Not so in the crowded Gaza Strip, where some cemeteries serve a completely different purpose. Gaza City, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, is home to five cemeteries dating back to World War 1, known locally to Gazans as "Cemeteries of the English." The largest of these cemeteries is around 20,000 square meters and serves as a park for locals due to its grassy areas full of colorful flowers and orderly tombstones. At the southern entrance there is a five-meter high monument coated in marble. The cemetery received its local name from the fact that the majority of those buried in the colorful garden area were British soldiers killed fighting armies of the Ottoman empire during World War I ... "Some of the visitors use the cemetery as a place for entertainment and play, though the people in charge of the cemetery confirm it is not a park despite the fact that it is open for everybody," the cemetery guard told Ma‘an. Students also use the cemetery as a quiet place to study and prepare for their university or school work. "I come to the cemetery when we have power cuts at home, so I can finish my homework," Shihab Khalid from Nuseirat refugee camp said.
link to www.maannews.net

Activism / Solidarity / BDS — and the opposition

Videos : Palestinian football icons speak out against European championship taking place in Israel
EI 25 Mar by Adri Nieuwhof — Palestinian football star Mahmoud Sarsak called on international football associations UEFA and FIFA to cancel the European Under-21 championship set to take place in Israel later this year during a 22 March protest outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Paris. Israel detained the Palestinian national side player for three years without charge or trial. He was released after a three-month hunger strike in protest of his detention. Sarsak was 22 when he was arrested. The video is subtitled in French. Here follows my translation from French : ... One week earlier, Palestine’s first ever women’s captain Honey Thaljieh spoke at a sport conference 2013 in Doha, Qatar. In the video above she comments on her nomination as the latest “Champion for Peace” on 2013 International Women’s Day.
link to electronicintifada.net

Crushing defeat for Israel lobby as anti-boycott litigation fails in UK
EI 26 Mar by Asa Winstanley — A British judge comprehensively dismissed a high-profile legal attack on the University and College Union, it emerged on Monday. The case was brought after democratic union bodies discussed boycotts of Israel. An Employment Tribunal ruled the claim of "institutional anti-Semitism," brought by union member and Academic Friends of Israel director Ronnie Fraser, was dismissed on all counts. The ruling is a dramatic and comprehensive defeat for the Israeli "lawfare" strategy, and may even have backfired for its proponents who today descended into acrimonious internal back-biting.
link to electronicintifada.net

Arizona’s border walls ’resemble Palestine’, says student activist
EI 25 Mar by Gabriel Schivone — An important decision was made at this weekend’s 20th annual conference of Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan (MEChA), the largest association of Latin@ youth in North America. The conference voted by a large majority to work with Students for Justice in Palestine and similar groups "until the Palestinian people are liberated." Danya Mustafa, a national organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine visited the University of California - San Diego for the conference as part of SJP’s growing partnership with MEChA. Here is part two of a conversation I conducted with Mustafa (see part one). Gabriel Schivone : Arizona’s ban on ethnic studies, which targeted and eliminated the only K-12 [kindergarten to twelfth grade] Mexican-American studies program in the US, outlaws public school programs that "advocate ethnic solidarity" — except for "instruction of the Holocaust, any other instance of genocide, or the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on ethnicity, race or class." Any district failing to comply with the ban faces economic sanctions on their state funding.
link to electronicintifada.net

Anti-Palestinian groups’ advice to campus activists raises serious ethical questions
EI 25 Mar by Abraham Greenhouse — ...From the Israel on Campus Coalition’s advice to offer ’financial support’ to student government members and AIPAC’s use of free trips and other tactics to ’take over’ student governments entirely, to the David Project’s recommendations on how to ’co-opt’ campus minority groups and manipulate academic review mechanisms to censure faculty critical of Israel, to Hillel’s directive that its staff should seek ’inside information’ from campus administration and police, anti-Palestinian advocacy groups are encouraging extremely problematic conduct. Following the advice described here has the potential to land anti-Palestinian organizers, as well as other parties, in serious trouble : ethically, legally, and otherwise.
link to electronicintifada.net

Political and economic developments

PA says it needs $1.4 billion to meet budget
RAMALLAH (AFP) 26 Mar — The Palestinian Authority was on Tuesday debating a draft budget amounting to $3.9 billion, of which it said $1.4 billion would have to come from foreign financing ... Total 2013 expenditure, including on development, would amount to almost $3.9 billion, the Palestinian draft budget said. The government’s recurring deficit would be just over $1.0 billion, and its total deficit stands at $1.4 billion. Of $350 million to be spent on "development," $300 million would need to come from abroad, according to the draft. The draft will be discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday by the government, and will have to be approved by president Mahmud Abbas by March 31. The Palestinian Authority’s gross debt stands at $3.8 billion.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel restores tax transfers to Palestinian Authority
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 25 Mar — Israel said on Monday it would restart regular monthly tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, restoring vital funding days after US President Barack Obama called for confidence-building steps toward peace. Israel began withholding the money - about $100 million in tax revenues it collects each month on behalf of the Authority - in November after President Mahmoud Abbas secured de facto UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. The cut-off was a blow to Abbas who urgently needed the cash to pay public sector salaries at a time of growing financial strain. Officials had warned of possible unrest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank if wage arrears were not covered. Under international pressure, Israel made a transfer in January and again in February, but said at the time decisions on whether to continue would be made on a month-by-month basis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Monday said he had instructed Finance Minister Yair Lapid "to resume the transfers". A spokesman for Netanyahu said that meant regular monthly payments would be made from now on.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas arrives in Doha for Arab League summit
DOHA, Qatar (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — President Mahmoud Abbas arrived Monday in Doha to attend an Arab League summit, where regional leaders are expected to approve financial support to Palestine ... If approved, the Islamic Development Bank will start a Jerusalem Fund to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support the holy city. Qatar has already pledged $500 million to the Gaza Strip, a similar amount to the sum pledged by the US to the Palestinian Authority. The Arab League is expected to pledge between $500 million and $1 billion to Palestine, although officials expressed concern the pledges would not be followed through.
link to www.maannews.net

Qatar emir calls for $1 billion Jerusalem Fund at Arab summit
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Mar — Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani called for a $1 billion fund for Palestinians in Jerusalem during the opening session of the Arab Summit on Tuesday, which was dominated by events in Syria. The Qatari emir made the proposal during his opening speech and offered to contribute $250 million to the fund, without providing further details. He also suggested an Arab summit in Cairo to implement Palestinian reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
link to www.maannews.net

Sheikh Hamad : The Palestinian cause is the number one Arab issue
DOHA (PIC) 26 Mar — Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the chairman of the current Arab summit, stated on Tuesday that the Palestinian cause is the number one Arab issue and its solution is the key to peace and stability in the Middle East.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Official : US to bring Arab states into peace push
AP 25 Mar — American efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations increase, as delegation of Arab League is expected to visit Washington next week — The US is seeking to bring Arab countries into efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that broke down more than four years ago, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. However, gaps are wide on the terms of renewing talks. The Palestinians say Israel must freeze settlement building on lands it captured in 1967 before any negotiations can resume. Israel says the issue of settlements can be addressed in negotiations. During a visit to the region last week, President Barack Obama sided with the Israeli view. It is not clear how the US can bring the Palestinians back to the table without a settlement freeze.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Israeli lawyer files charges against President Abbas
MEMO 25 Mar — An Israeli lawyer, Mordechai Tzivin, has filed charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Abbas and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on the grounds of committing crimes against humanity. The case is the first of its kinds against the Palestinian political leadership. The move comes in the wake of threats by the PA to bring charges against Israel in the ICC, especially after Palestine became a UN observer state. The Israeli newspaper "Maarev" reported that the lawyer wrote in his request to the ICC, "I have reliable information that confirms Mahmoud Abbas, along with senior officials in the PA and Hamas, have committed "war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, I ask the court to open an investigation".
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com

Hamas to aid Egypt inquiry into killing of soldiers
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Mar — The Hamas government in Gaza is ready to cooperate with an Egyptian investigation into the killing of 16 soldiers near the Gaza border last August. Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement Monday that Hamas is committed to non-intervention into Egypt’s internal affairs and will cooperate with Egyptian authorities to find the perpetrators of last year’s attack. Egypt has previously indicated that some of the gunmen who killed the 16 soldiers had crossed into Egypt via tunnels below the border with Gaza. Egyptian magazine Al-Ahram Al-Arabi published a report on Thursday accusing Hamas leaders of being involved in the attack, a charge strenuously denied by Hamas officials.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel, Turkey begin Gaza raid compensation talks
ANKARA (AFP) 25 Mar — Israel and Turkey began talks Monday on compensation for the families of victims of a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, for which Tel Aviv apologized last week, ending a near three-year diplomatic rift.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel to pay Turkey tens of millions over Gaza flotilla deaths, sources say
Haaretz 26 Mar by Zvi Bar’el — Israel will transfer the amount to a humanitarian fund set up by Turkish government to compensate for deaths of Turkish activists on Mavi Marmara in 2010 ; Turkish diplomat says U.S. pressuring Erdogan not to visit Gaza, West Bank ... Kadri Gursel of the newspaper Milliyet wrote Monday that Erdogan agreed to an apology that referred to the deaths of Turkish civilians aboard the Gaza flotilla vessel as "an operational error," as he agreed to a softened apology saying that Israel would commit to easing the conditions of the blockade on the Gaza Strip, instead of a text that demands the lifting of the blockade.
link to www.haaretz.com

Other news

Women demand protection under law
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 25 Mar – Dozens of women protested Tuesday outside Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s Ramallah office demanding the adaptation for laws that would protect them against violence and crime. Woman’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) member, Lubna Ashqar, told Wafa that they want a law that "can ensure dignity and justice for all the women of Palestine." She said the protest, which was held by the Palestinian NGO Forum for the Elimination of Violence against Women, demanded from President Mahmoud Abbas and lawmakers to include deterrent penalties in a new law that would provide protection for all Palestinian women. She recalled that at least four women in Palestine had been killed for "honor reasons" since the beginning of this year, adding that the society’s perspective here tends to blame the women as the reason, not as the victim.
link to english.wafa.ps

Jerusalem mayor vows to battle women’s exclusion
Ynet 25 Mar — Mayor Nir Bareket pledges to eradicate phenomenon of women excluded from public sphere after music festival held in Old City sees several cases of women being asked not to perform
link to www.ynetnews.com

World Bank study : Digital economy brings job opportunities to Palestinians
WASHINGTON (WAFA) 26 Mar — The digital economy can leap geographic obstacles and bring new employment opportunities to Palestinians in the area of micro-work, Tuesday said a press release regarding the findings of a new World Bank study. This study explores the feasibility of micro-work as a path to job creation for Palestinian youth and women who can become digitally mobile economic actors using relatively basic digital infrastructure. "Palestinian youth are increasingly becoming tech-savvy so the potential for IT based forms of economic engagement, which can cross virtual borders, can be an exciting leap forward," said Mariam Sherman, World Bank country director.
link to english.wafa.ps

European and Palestinian youths launch volunteer initiative
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 25 Mar — The European Union and Young Entrepreneurs Palestine launched a new youth initiative, "Yalla Shabab," that includes several activities in partnership with Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Gaza such as lectures at Palestinian universities about the current affairs, volunteer days, cultural activities, and a reporting competition on water issues for young Palestinian journalists, an EU press release said Monday ... On Friday, around 100 Palestinian and European young volunteers joined the youth of Beit Surik village southeast of Jerusalem in painting the elementary school at their village. The volunteers painted classrooms inside the school and the walls of adjacent playground. This activity was the first in a series of activities that will be implemented in the next two months in other locations across the West Bank and Gaza.
link to english.wafa.ps

Welfare Association to lay corner stone of Palestinian museum
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 26 Mar – The welfare association announced Tuesday its plan to lay the cornerstone of the Palestinian museum in Birzait in April 11, under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Omar Al-Qattan, head of Palestinian museum’s work team. He said that this project, considered the first of its kind in Palestine and one of the cooperation’s most important projects, is expected to be built on an area of 40 dunums near Birzait University. He added that the Palestinian Museum will be a unique cultural project and is being developed to become the primary and most authoritative source of knowledge and new thinking about Palestinian history, culture and contemporary life, throughout researches, educational tours and exhibitions.
link to english.wafa.ps

Analysis / Opinion / Reviews / Human interest

Dheisheh camp ’university’ questions what it means to be a refugee / Daryl Meador
Dheisheh refugee camp (EI) 26 Mar — "When we speak about homeland, we always speak about the past. I think this is wrong, because our homeland is the future," said Aysar al-Saife, a 24-year-old resident of Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Al-Saife is one of 12 active participants in Campus in Camps, a new two-year program for young residents of the refugee camps in the southern West Bank who are eager to rethink their representation and identity as Palestinian refugees. Campus in Camps was officially born in January 2012. The initiative was developed by architect and urban design specialists Allessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal, both of whom were also founders of the Decolonizing Architecture Artist Residency. The initiative was developed from an interest in exceptional nature of the camps ; despite harsh conditions, they have developed into relatively autonomous social and political spaces. Based on this, they began to ask, how can the camps be re-represented, divorced from past conceptions, without normalizing the status of the refugees as being in exile ?
link to electronicintifada.net

Ramallah Journal : A tour puts a city in reach and at arm’s length
NY Times 25 Mar by Jodi Rudoren — RAMALLAH, West Bank — ...These four Israelis were among about four dozen who made an unusual recent pilgrimage to Ramallah, one of several Palestinian cities that have been officially off-limits to most Israeli citizens for more than a decade. To make the trip, organized by the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, they needed special permits from both the Palestinian Authority and the Israel Defense Forces. The outing occurred before President Obama’s visit to the region, but it could almost have been a response to one of the memorable lines in his Jerusalem speech : "Put yourself in their shoes," Mr. Obama urged his Israeli audience, referring to the Palestinians. "Look at the world through their eyes." Doing so has become more difficult. With the peace process at a standstill and Israel’s separation barrier and network of checkpoints long a fixture of the landscape, contacts between the two peoples have dwindled. Fewer Palestinians work inside Israel. Dialogue groups have broken up. Camps connecting children are harder to find. The communities increasingly function as if in alternate universes ... But when the Israel Palestine Center announced this year that it would take Israelis on Saturday tours of Ramallah, the current center of Palestinian government and cultural life, 150 people signed up in 24 hours. "Israelis crave to meet Palestinians and to go to the West Bank," said Goldie Orlan, who is managing the project, which also takes Israelis to Jericho and Bethlehem. "They just want to walk the streets and talk to normal people about their daily lives." But they had to settle for walking through a sales center at Rawabi, a city-to-be of high-rises and homeowners’ associations being erected in the empty hills. As for talking, it was mostly to their guide, Husam Jubran, whose liberal mix of opinion with fact led some to describe it as a "propaganda tour." [what a shame that the Israeli gov’t frightens Israelis so, when anyone not dressed as a settler or soldier would be perfectly safe in the West Bank. But of course the demonization of Palestinians serves the government’s purposes]
link to www.nytimes.com

Recipes, not rockets : Cookbook offers new lens on Gaza
(US) National Public Radio 20 Mar by Emily Harris — When you think about the Gaza Strip, do you think "organic farming" ? How about "family dairy" ? Would you expect California pistachios to flavor made-in-Gaza baklava ? Have you heard that Hamas has a 10-year plan to develop sustainable local agriculture ? A new cookbook, The Gaza Kitchen, weaves little-known stories of Gaza food and farming among Palestinian home-cooking recipes. It highlights flavors particular to Gaza — both the crowded, skinny, famous strip of land pinned between Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean, and the more extensive, southeastern Gaza District of historic Palestine that existed before the first major Arab-Israeli war in 1948. "Cumin, garlic and chilis are kind of the quintessential trio of the cuisine," co-author Laila El-Haddad, a Gazan now living in Maryland, tells The Salt.
link to www.npr.org

Taking freekah back / Rana Abdulla
PCC 5 Mar — I want to tell you a story about freekeh. It’s a story that links the past and the present both for me and for the Palestinian people. The aroma of freekeh is embedded in our memories like a song in our hearts. Freekeh also pronounced "free-cheh" by peasants who harvest it ; and urban Palestinians pronounce it "freekeh", while a Palestinian in Gaza pronounces it "freekah". The story of freekeh symbolizes a wider Palestinian cause and struggle, since it tells about what has come to be known as "food appropriation." "Food appropriation" is the process by which Israelis have imitated Palestinian culinary culture, re-branding traditional Palestinian dishes as Israeli ‘new foods’ without giving any recognition to their origins. In treating freekeh as their own, Israelis have taken it over so to speak, and now some people even think that freekeh is an Israeli food, but this is not the case.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/pcc-cpc-palestinian-canadian-congress-congr%C3%A8s-palestino-canadien/taking-freekeh-back-rana-abdulla/10151351145186657
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