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Violence / Detentions / Incursions — West Bank / Jerusalem

List of 181 Palestinians and 21 Israelis killed since October 1st
IMEMC 22 Feb by Celine Hagbard — The following is a list of names of all Palestinians shot and killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, including one in the Negev, in the period between October 1st, 2015 and February 21st, 2016, as confirmed by the Palestinian Health Ministry. [Note that this list does not include those killed in tunnel collapses, or those who died because of the lack of safe heating or electricity, or one man killed by Egypt - all in Gaza]
http://www.imemc.org/article/75027

Israeli soldiers kill 15-year-old Palestinian near Beita checkpoint
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Feb — Israeli forces on Sunday killed a 15-year-old Palestinian after he allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma‘an that a Palestinian attempted to stab a soldier near the Beita checkpoint in the northern West Bank, and that Israeli forces then fired at the man. The Palestinian was declared dead on the scene, she added, saying that no Israelis were wounded. An eyewitness told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers stationed at the Beita checkpoint fired more than 10 rounds at a young Palestinian who was carrying a knife and walking towards them. The teenager was identified to Ma‘an as Qusay Diab Abu al-Rub, 15, from the village of Qabatiya near Jenin. A photo reportedly taken at the scene and shared on social media by the Gaza-based Shehab News Agency showed a youth lying on the ground with what looked like a bullet wound to the face. Palestinian Red Crescent spokeswoman Errab Foqoha said a Red Crescent ambulance happened to be nearby at the time of the shooting, but was prevented from accessing the scene. [IMEMC : He was a cousin of Ahmad Awad Abu ar-Rob, 16, who was killed in November.]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770383

Funeral held for Palestinian shot after attempted car attack
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — Mourners marched on Saturday in the funeral of a 20-year-old Palestinian shot dead the day before after attempting to ram his car into Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank village of Silwad. Locals told Ma‘an that Silwad residents were joined by Palestinians from neighboring villages for the burial of Abed Raed Abdullah Hamad. The funeral procession began from Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. Hamad’s body was taken via ambulance to his family home in Silwad northeast of the city, where relatives bade him a final goodbye. Hamad was then laid to rest in the village cemetery following funeral prayers. Hamad’s mother told reporters during the funeral that he had driven her to a relative’s home before he carried out the attack. “Before he left he kissed my hand and asked me to pray for him,” the mother said. “Minutes after he left, I heard gunshots and I could feel that something wrong happened to Abed,” she added. Another of the mother’s sons is currently serving a 17-year sentence in Israeli prison, locals said. Hamad was one of three Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces on Friday. Another was shot after stabbing two Israeli officers occupied East Jerusalem while the third Palestinian was shot dead during clashes.An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that Hamad had “attempted to ram his vehicle into soldiers” stationed in the area "during violent riots.” The military forces responded with live fire, killing him on site, the spokesperson said. No Israelis were injured in the incident.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770373

Including a child, four Palestinians injured in Silwad
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Feb — Palestinian medical sources have reported, on Saturday evening, that one child was hit with a gas bomb in his face, and three Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets and many suffered the effects of teargas inhalation, after Israeli soldiers invaded Silwad town, east of Ramallah. Clashes took place in the town, especially following the funeral ceremony of ’Aabed Hamed, 20, who was killed by Israeli army fire, on Friday. The soldiers fired many gas bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets and live rounds during clashes with local youths, who hurled stones and empty bottles on them, after the army invaded their town. Medical sources said a child was injured after a soldier hurled a gas grenade at him, directly hitting him in the face, wounding him, and causing him to suffer severe effects of tear gas inhalation. The sources added that three Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets, and many others suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75021

Israel forces detain Palestinian in Hebron, assault father
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — Israeli forces assaulted a Palestinian man in his fifties after detaining his son in the Old City of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, locals said. Locals told Ma‘an that 20-year-old Izzat Ishaq Jabir was walking through the Jabir area of the Old City before Israeli soldiers stopped him and took him into custody. Jabir’s father, Ishaq, was notified of the detention and assaulted by soldiers who forced him to leave the area when he approached them to inquire about his son, locals said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770371

Israeli police detain youth accused of attempted stabbing in Jerusalem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian youth on Saturday evening in occupied East Jerusalem after he allegedly tried to stab Israeli police officers who were searching him. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri told Ma‘an that Israeli border police approached a young man who was “moving suspiciously” near Damascus Gate in the Old City. According to Al-Samri, the youth, identified as an 18-year-old Palestinian from the village of Qatanna, attempted to take out a knife and stab the officers as they searched him. The Israeli officers subdued the young man and then detained him. The spokeswoman said no injuries were reported in the incident.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770377

Israeli forces detain Palestinian girl allegedly planning stab attack
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Feb — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank on Sunday morning after she allegedly planned to carry out a stabbing attack. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri told Ma‘an that a 17-year-old girl was detained at the Zaatara checkpoint in the district of Nablus after Israeli troops saw her holding a knife. The girl then admitted that she had planned to try to stab an Israeli soldier, al-Samri added. Palestinian security sources identified the girl to Ma‘an as Sajeda Nizam Mahmoud from the village of Qusra south of Nablus.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770381

Young Palestinian teen detained near Hebron after alleged attempted attack
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Feb — Israeli forces detained on Sunday a young Palestinian teenager near Hebron in the occupied West Bank after he allegedly tried to carry out a stabbing attack, the Israeli army said. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that Israeli forces “thwarted a stabbing attack” east of Hebron near the village of Bani Naim. Israeli media reported that the Palestinian boy was 14 years old. The spokesperson said she could not confirm the information. However, the spokesperson said there were no injuries in the incident. This marked the second detention of a Palestinian minor for an alleged stabbing attempt on Sunday morning.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770382

Jerusalem : Arrests ... preventing a cultural event ... removing Islamic banners and Palestinian flags
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 22 Feb — . .. Silwan : The occupation forces raided Hosh Abu Tayeh in Ein Al-Lozeh in Silwan since the early morning hours and removed Islamic banners and Palestinian flags. During the raid, the forces randomly fired sound grenades and tear-gas canisters. In the afternoon hours, the forces raided the neighborhood again and removed the rest of the banners and flags and also searched vehicles. Occupation forces also raided the neighborhood of Bi’er Ayoub and randomly fired rubber bullets, tear-gas canisters and sound grenades. Municipality crews also raided the neighborhoods of Silwan and carried out a tour. Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the occupation forces raided the neighborhood of Al-Thori in Silwan and randomly fired sound grenades ; they arrested 15-year old Raed Abdel Razzak Siam.
Esawyeh : Occupation forces raided on Saturday afternoon the village of Esawyeh in a provocative way and randomly fired tear-gas canisters. The raid lasted for two hours in which they were deployed in streets of the village and obstructed the movement of locals.
Preventing a cultural event Occupation forces raided on Saturday the headquarters of Burj Al-Laqlaq in the neighborhood of Bab Hutta in the Old City of Jerusalem and prevented a cultural event celebrating a book by Dr. Msallam Mahameed from being held. The forces handed the director of the club, Muntaser Dkeidek, an order signed by the Minister of Internal Security, Gil’ad Ardan, to prevent holding the event under the pretext of being sponsored by the Palestinian Authority ; they also handed him a call for interrogations.
http://silwanic.net/?p=67342

Israeli soldiers expel Beit Ummar family from their field at gunpoint
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — Israeli soldiers on Saturday expelled Palestinian farmers at gunpoint from their private agricultural land in the outskirts of the town of Beit Ummar in the southern occupied West Bank, locals said. Muhammad Abd al-Hamid Sleibi and his family were pruning trees in their field in Wadi Abu al-Reish area when Israeli soldiers approached them, local activist and committee spokesman Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma‘an. The soldiers pointed their guns at Sleibi and his family members, forcing them to take their things and leave their land. Sleibi told Awad he had previously obtained an order from Israel’s High Court allowing him full access to his land, but Israeli Civil Administration officers who arrived with the armed soldiers told Sleibi that only one person could stay on the land at a time. Sleibi then left alongside his family members, who he said fled the area “fearing for their lives.” . . . Over 4,000 dunams (988 acres) of private Palestinian land in Beit Ummar has been reappropriated for the construction of illegal Israeli settlements and bypass roads. Such confiscation has taken a heavy toll on the community, 60 percent of which make their livelihood working in agriculture.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770372

Army kidnaps 17 Palestinians in the West Bank
IMEMC 21 Feb — The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported, Sunday, that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped, overnight and on Sunday, at least 17 Palestinians in different parts of the occupied West Bank, and that among that kidnapped are two teenage girls. The PPS said that the soldiers kidnapped five Palestinians in the Hebron district, in the southern part of the West Bank, after invading their homes, and violently searching them. They have been identified as Mohammad Tareq Tamimi, 29, Osama Abu al-Jadayel, 65, Sharif Zoheir al-Ja’ba, 26, Hamza Jihad Ghatasha, 22, and Khaldoun Noureddin al-Mahareeq, 27. The army also invaded Husan and Beit Fajjar towns, south of Bethlehem, searched homes and kidnapped Ehab Ziad Abu Yabes, 16, Mohammad Ibrahim Thawabta, 20, and his brother Nour, 17. In occupied Jerusalem, the soldiers kidnapped a former political prisoner, identified as Mohammad al-Ja‘ba, 26, in addition to a teenage girl identified as Abeer al-Masri, in Bab al-‘Amoud area. On Sunday before noon, the soldiers invaded ath-Thoury neighborhood in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, searched many homes, and kidnapped three Palestinians identified as Ahmad Ghorab, Tha’er Salhab and Mahmoud Salhab. In Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, the soldiers kidnapped Nasser Sa‘adi, 18, while Ahmad Hamed Jom’a, 32, was kidnapped in Tulkarem, and Dia’ Yasser ash-Shanti, 19, was kidnapped from the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah. The PPS also said that the soldiers also kidnapped Sajida Nitham Hasan, 17, from Qusra village, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, after stopping her on the Za‘tara military roadblock, south of the city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75026

Army kidnaps three Palestinians in Hebron
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Feb — Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Sunday at dawn, the southern West Bank district of Hebron, searched homes and kidnapped two Palestinians, while a third Palestinian was kidnapped on the Container roadblock, south of Jerusalem. Several Israeli military vehicles invaded Hebron city, searched a few homes, and kidnapped a veterinarian, identified as Mohammad Tareq Tamimi, 29, before taking him to an unknown destination. The soldiers also invaded the Sammoa‘ town, south of Hebron, violently searched homes and kidnapped Osama Abu al-Jadayel, 26. In addition, soldiers stationed on the Container roadblock have kidnapped a young man, identified as Sharif Zoheir al-Ja‘ba, 26, from Hebron, while heading to the al-Karama Border Terminal, on his way to Jordan. The soldiers also summoned Majed al-Haymouni for interrogation in the Gosh Etzion military and security base, north of Jerusalem. In related news, the soldiers invaded the towns of ath-Thaheriyya, Sammoa‘ and Ethna, in the Hebron district, and installed a roadblock on the main entrance of the al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, stopped and searched dozens of cars, and examined the ID cards of many Palestinians.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75022

Soldiers kidnap two Palestinians in Bethlehem and Jenin
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Feb — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday at dawn, several Palestinian communities in the West Bank districts of Bethlehem and Jenin, searched many homes and kidnapped two Palestinians. Media sources in Bethlehem said the soldiers invaded Beit Fajjar town, south of the city, searched a few homes, and kidnapped Mohammad Samir Deeriyya, 19, and took him to the Etzion military base. In Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the soldiers invaded Jaba‘ town, south of the city, searched and ransacked at least two homes, and interrogated the families. The soldiers also kidnapped Saber Jarboa‘, from Jenin city, while crossing the Za’tara military roadblock. In addition, the soldiers invaded the home of Ammar Hammouri, who was kidnapped by the army several days ago, in addition to the home of a young man identified as Nimir Alawna, but he was not at home during the invasion.
Furthermore, the soldiers invaded the home of Qussai Thiab Abu ar-Rob, 17, who was killed by the army, on Sunday, February 21, near the Beita village junction, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Jenin Governor, Kamal Abu ar-Rob, said the soldiers interrogated Qussai’s family and violently searched their home, and that the soldiers closed all roads leading to the village with sand hills, completely isolating it, and prevented the residents from entering or leaving it. He added that the soldiers conducted extensive military searches of homes, photographed many of them, and interrogated the families, including the families of Faisal Abu Omar Kamil and Saleh Zeidan Kamil.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75028

Prisoners / Court actions

Israeli forces raid hospital where hunger-striker al-Qiq is detained
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — Israeli special forces accompanied by police dogs raided the Afula hospital where Palestinian hunger-striker Muhammad al-Qiq is currently being detained on Saturday, a Palestinian Authority official said.cHanan al-Khatib, a lawyer for the PA Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, said the sudden raid came after al-Qiq suffered from spasms and seizures several hours earlier, causing panic among doctors who rushed to al-Qiq’s room and evacuated it. The purpose of the raid remained unclear on Saturday evening, but al-Khatib said the raid sent out the message that Israeli authorities were aware that "Muhammad could die at any moment." Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian Prisoners Society leader Qadura Fares told Ma‘an that Palestinian officials were involved in talks to reach a compromise with Israeli authorities regarding al-Qiq that would be accepted by the Palestinian journalist and his family by Sunday. The raid comes a day after the Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said Israeli intelligence services had refused to allow al-Qiq’s family to visit him during his hunger strike, in contradiction to an earlier ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court. Al-Qiq, a 33-year-old father of two, went on hunger strike in late November to protest his administrative detention — internment without trial or charge. He has since gone without food for 88 days, and has been in critical condition for weeks. Israel has negotiated in cases of hunger strikes launched by Palestinian prisoners in the past out of fear that prisoners’ death could spark unrest in the occupied Palestinian territory, but the territory has already seen months of unrest.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770378

Deadline passes in negotiation to save hunger striker
EI 21 Feb by Charlotte Silver — Lawyers from the Palestinian Prisoners Club gave Israel a hard deadline on Sunday night to accept an offer from Muhammad al-Qiq to be transferred to al-Makassed hospital, a Palestinian medical facility in occupied East Jerusalem. There, the gravely ill journalist would have ended his hunger strike on condition that Israel promised not to renew his administrative detention order. For 89 days, the 33-year-old al-Qiq has consumed nothing but water to protest his detention without charge or trial. For most of that time, al-Qiq has been held at an Israeli hospital in the north of present-day Israel. The Palestinian Prisoners Club announced in a press release that it had given Israel until 9 pm on Sunday night to respond to the offer. The group said that if Israel failed to respond, it would reveal previously undisclosed details of al-Qiq’s case at a press conference on Monday. The club also threatened to cease representing al-Qiq, stating that “Israel alone bears the responsibility” for his life. But as the deadline passed, Israel had not responded, and the Palestinian Prisoners Club announced it had informed Israel that it had “ceased following up on the case.”
 Police dogs - Israeli special forces and police dogs have been placed outside Muhammad al-Qiq’s hospital room at HaEmek hospital in Afula. Al-Qiq’s wife, Fahya Shalash, and lawyers believe the bolstered security presence means Israel is preparing for his imminent death.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/deadline-passes-negotiation-save-hunger-striker

Israeli extremist who called Christians ’blood-sucking vampires’ faces criminal investigation
Haaretz 21 Feb by Sharon Pulwer — Prosecutors have given police the green light to pursue a criminal investigation for suspected incitement against Bentzi Gopstein, head of the anti-gentile extremist group Lehava, for an article he wrote in December comparing Christians to “vampires” and demanding they be deported. The December 17 article, which also called on the authorities to block public celebrations of Christmas, appeared on the Kooker website. After it appeared, the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center contacted the prosecution and asked it to order an investigation into Gopstein for alleged incitement and insulting religious sensibilities. When a violation touches on issues of freedom of expression, the prosecution must vet the complaint before police can investigate. Haaretz has learned that the Reform center was recently told by the prosecution that the case had been forwarded to the police . . .
Gopstein has been under police scrutiny since 2012, when a covert police investigation was launched against him for racist incitement, one that became public when Gopstein and other Lehava activists were arrested in December 2014 after activists torched the Hand in Hand Bilingual School in Jerusalem. The findings of the investigation were given to prosecutors in May 2015, but the case has neither been closed nor have charges been filed.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.704619

Suspending the medical insurance of the injured prisoner Isra’ Ja‘abees
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 20 Feb — The occupation authorities suspended the medical insurance of the 31-year old Jerusalemite prisoner Isra’ Ja‘abees who is accused of attempting to kill a policeman by blowing up a propane gas cylinder last October. Ja’abees’ family explained that the occupation authorities suspended the medical insurance of Isra’ Ja‘abees since the 7th of the current month. The family found out about the matter after following up with the medical center where she is registered.The family pointed out that they headed to the medical center on Tuesday to bring some documents for Isra’ that her lawyer requested after submitting a request to conditionally release her due to her medical condition. The medical center’s director informed them that the medical insurance of Isra’ has been suspended by the “social security” without giving any explanations to the center’s administration.
Ja’abees was arrested on 11/10/2015 after suffering critical burns of first and third degrees in the face, hands, back and chest after a propane gas cylinder exploded in her car. The occupation authorities claimed that she attempted to kill a policeman by blowing up the cylinder while her family denied the charges. The family explained that Isra’ was preparing her house in Jerusalem to obtain a Jerusalemite ID for her son Mutasem and she was transferring her items in her personal vehicle. On the day of the incident, she was inside her car and had the gas cylinder and a television which the Israeli police did not say anything about. The medical insurance of Ja’abees was suspended while she really needs it as she is currently using a wheelchair since she is unable to walk long distances on her feet. She also needs surgery on her nose, eye and two fingers in addition to other surgeries and treatment for the burns she suffered. She remained in the hospital for three months and was then transferred to Hasharon prison.
http://silwanic.net/?p=67303

And it’s not only prisoners who are losing their insurance :
IOA cuts health insurance services of Jerusalem sit-inners
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 Feb — Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA) cut the services of national and health insurances of over 50 Jerusalemite sit-inners including children and elderly people. The Jerusalemite woman Aydah al-Masri, one of the blacklisted sit-inners by Israeli forces and barred from entering the Aqsa Mosque, told the PIC reporter that Israeli authorities canceled her and her husband’s national and health insurances despite that her husband is a diabetes patient. “They justified that by claiming that we do not reside in Jerusalem and asked us for official documents that prove paying of taxes and bills dating back to very long years,” Masri said. Another blacklisted Jerusalemite woman, Dalal al-Hashlamoun, told the PIC that Israeli forces stopped her national and health insurance despite paying all of the taxes and bills. She added that the Israeli authorities ordered her lawyer to pay a retroactive payment estimated at 79 thousand shekels for the insurance until the present day. “The Israeli insurance company has been procrastinating for two months regardless of submitting all needed documents”, she pointed out. The cut of insurance services affected the Jerusalemite families badly as there are elderly people with the need of regular medical follow up for chronic diseases in addition to the need of others to undergo unaffordable surgeries, the families underlined.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76945

Punitive demolitions

IDF raid homes of Rami Levi supermarket attackers
JPost 20 Feb by Tovah Lazaroff — On Friday, Palestinian sources said the IDF raided the homes of the two 14-year-old boys who carried out Thursday’s stabbing attack at a Rami Levy supermarket, and notified the families of Ayham Sabbah and Omar Al-Rimmawi, who are from the Ramallah suburb of Betunia, that their residences would be demolished. The Palestinian Prisoners Commission said its lawyer, Akram Ajwa, had visited the two boys who are being treated in Israeli hospitals in Jerusalem. Ajwa said the Ofer Military Court is expected to hold a session on Sunday to order the two remanded into custody, but that the boys, who are reported to be in serious but stable condition after being shot during the attack, would not be present.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/IDF-raid-homes-of-Rami-Levy-supermarket-attackers-445558

Gaza

IOF targets Palestinian farmers in central Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 22 Feb — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stationed at the “Camera” site to the east of Juhr al-Dik town in Central Gaza Strip on Sunday opened its machinegun fire at Palestinian farmers in the town with no casualties reported. The Israeli heavy shooting forced Gazan farmers to leave their farms. The shooting coincided with unusual movement of Israeli forces inside the Gaza border line in addition to intensive flying of drones, according to local sources.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76941

7 Palestinians injured during Gaza clashes
GAZA,(PIC) 19 Feb — At least seven Palestinian youths were injured Friday evening after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened fire at them on the borders of Gaza. A spokesman for the Health Ministry affirmed that four youths were injured [in the] north of Gaza ; three of them were shot with live rounds while the fourth suffered a rubber bullet injury. Three other young men suffered live shot injuries in Sheja‘eya neighborhood [in the] east of Gaza.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76906

Explosive device detonates in Gaza Strip, no casualties
GAZA (Ma‘an) 21 Feb — An explosive device detonated south of the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday in the southern Gaza Strip without causing injuries, witnesses said. Local sources told Ma‘an that the device exploded in a vacant area in the Talaat Qleibo area, causing no injuries or material damage. Witnesses said no group had claimed responsibility for the explosion. Two days earlier, an explosion targeted the house of Hisham Salim, the secretary-general of the Islamist al-Sabirin movement, in Gaza City, damaging it as well as several neighboring homes.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770380

Women’s unemployment reaches ’astronomical’ levels in Gaza, group says
GAZA (Ma‘an) 20 Feb — The unemployment among women in the Gaza Strip has reached more than 60 percent, a women’s organization said on Saturday. Fida Abu Darbi, the executive officer for the Association Of Women’s Work Committees, said the unemployment of women in Gaza had reached "astronomical" levels at 63.3 percent. Abu Darbi’s comments were made during a seminar organized by the association, titled "Unemployment among female graduates" in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. The Association’s head in Gaza, Arij al-Atrash, said unemployment was the biggest issue facing the Palestinian economy in Gaza, as the crippling Israeli blockade on the enclave has severely limited opportunities for job creation. The UN has warned that unless current trends are altered, Gaza could become uninhabitable for residents in just five years. "The social, health and security-related ramifications of the high population density and overcrowding are among the factors that may render Gaza unlivable by 2020," the UN’s development agency said last year.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770376

Attempted smuggling of multicopter drones into Gaza thwarted
Ynet 21 Feb by Yoav Zitun — Security personnel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing have thwarted, with the help of the Shin Bet, an attempt to smuggle multicopter drones into the Gaza Strip. The Border Authority stopped an Israeli truck transporting a shipment of toys, where it found several multicopter drones with high-quality cameras, which the Shin Bet suspects were meant to be used to gather intelligence on the IDF.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4768869,00.html

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers

Israel demolishes sole elementary school in Jerusalem Bedouin community
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 21 Feb – Israeli bulldozers predawn Sunday demolished an elementary school and seized all its contents in Abu al-Nawwar Bedouin community, east of Jerusalem, according to one of the Bedouin locals. Local Abu ’Imad al-Jahalin told WAFA that around 30 Israeli military vehicles, accompanied by over 130 soldiers, stormed the Bedouin community during the predawn hours, and proceeded to demolish Abu al-Nawwar elementary school, comprising six classrooms for first and second graders, and seized all of its contents, including students’ desks and chairs. He noted that the school, which was built through European funding, is the sole elementary school in the community. He added that Israeli occupation aims to empty the community of its indigenous Palestinian population for the benefit of settlement expansion, including its ’E1’ settlement plan.
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=FbnmgTa30224820021aFbnmgT

Palestinian villagers tilled their land so well, Israel is now confiscating it from them
[with map] Haaretz 19 Feb by Nir Hasson — The separation barrier will cut residents of Al-Walaja from their lands by the end of the year ; the beauty of the terraces they cultivated for decades was used as one of the main reasons for announcing the area a national park — Two weeks ago, soldiers hung posters in the village of Al-Walaja, south of Jerusalem : “Notice of intent to acquire rights to the land and purchase ownership of the land required for public purposes.” In translation to non-legalese, these are orders to confiscate Palestinian land for the purpose of continuing building the West Bank separation barrier near the village. According to the work plans, the construction of the barrier is scheduled to be concluded by the end of this year. The notice does not explain where exactly the additional land will be confiscated from. A resident who wishes to find out has to go to the Israel Land Authority offices in Jerusalem. The problem is that the vast majority of the residents of Al-Walaja are unable to enter Jerusalem, because they are residents of the territories without Israeli work permits. That’s but one example of the Kafkaesque story that has made up the lives of the village’s residents in recent years. As part of the absurdity, Al-Wajala’s terraces were cultivated for many years by the local Palestinian farmers. Now they’re one of the reasons for declaring the area around the village a national park – which, along with the separation barrier, threatens to keep the farmers away from the very terraces they nurtured . . . A few weeks before the notices were posted in the village, the Antiquities Authority, Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Jerusalem Development Authority published a tender for “preservation and development work” in Ein Haniya, north of the village. Ostensibly there is no connection between the notice about the barrier and the tender. In the eyes of the residents of the small farming village, though, there’s a very clear connection : They see the barrier, a national park and appropriation of the Ein Haniya spring as a tourist attraction for Israelis as part of a larger plan to expel them from the area. (Continued)
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.704255

Israel dramatically ramping up demolitions of Palestinian homes in West Bank
Haaretz 21 Feb by Amira Hass — Israel has razed over 200 EU-funded buildings in the West Bank in the past two years. This year alone around 480 people, including 220 children, have been left homeless — Since the beginning of this year, especially in early February, Israel’s Civil Administration has significantly increased the pace of Palestinian home demolitions in the West Bank’s Area C under full Israeli control (about 60 percent of the West Bank). It has demolished 293 homes in just six weeks, compared with 447 for all of 2015. The average has surged to 49 from nine per week. The demolitions have left more than 480 Palestinians, including 220 children, homeless. At the settlement subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, headed by Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi), MKs have openly pressured Civil Administration officials to step up the demolitions and evict Palestinian communities from Area C. Over the years, they have accused the administration of being powerless or deliberate foot dragging. They have especially complained about European aid to Palestinian construction in these areas, and demanded that the authorities destroy buildings that international organizations, particularly European ones, have donated . . .According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has destroyed almost as many European-funded structures in 2016 (104) as it did in all of 2015 (108). The buildings are mostly for hygiene, agriculture, solar panels and prefab living quarters. One European organization calculated that the demolition rate had increased 230 percent over last year, and 689 percent for European-funded buildings. [Long article detailing the treatment of Khirbet Tana, eight more Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, and Zawahreh]
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.704391

IOF razes ‘Araqib village for the 94th time
BEERSHEBA (PIC) 19 Feb — Israeli bulldozers demolished Thursday afternoon the ‘Araqib village in the Negev to the south of 1948 occupied Palestine for the 94th time since 2010. The activist Salim al-‘Araqib revealed that “Israeli military bulldozers escorted by police forces demolished the village again and left us homeless”. The demolition of ‘Araqib village along with many other areas in the Negev is part of the Israeli plan to expel more than 120 thousand Palestinians from their homes to establish new Jewish settlements on the ruins of the so-called unrecognized 51 Palestinian villages.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76900

Settlers uproot saplings in Sarra village in Nablus
NABLUS (PIC) 19 Feb — Israeli settlers Thursday afternoon uprooted and stole dozens of seedlings in Sarra village to the south of Nablus city in the northern West Bank. The activist Bashar al-Qaryouti told the PIC reporter that settlers of Shilo settlement uprooted almost 30 almond seedlings in a land property, in Ras Emwais area, which belong to Mohammad Mousa. Qaryouti said that settlers Wednesday evening put sand berms and greenhouses along the southern street of the village and prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their lands. The settlers previously took over the land from which they stole the saplings. Palestinian owners of the confiscated lands filed complaints with the Israeli Supreme Court and appealed to international institutions before they managed to retrieve their lots two weeks ago.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76902

Palestinian refugees - Syria

US contributes $47.7 million to UNRWA
NEW YORK (PIC) 20 Feb — The United States is contributing US$47.7 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in response to the Agency’s 2016 Syria Regional Crisis Emergency Appeal, the UN agency declared on Saturday. Of the total contribution, US$37.5 million will support the Agency’s emergency response activities inside Syria, where 450,000 Palestine refugees are estimated to remain. Over 60 per cent of Palestine refugees in Syria are internally displaced and an estimated 95 per cent are reliant on UNRWA for humanitarian assistance. This includes tens of thousands who are trapped in areas of active conflict, with extremely constrained access to humanitarian assistance. US$10.2 million will go towards the Agency’s emergency interventions in Lebanon and Jordan. The vast majority of PRS in Lebanon and Jordan live a precarious, marginalized existence, unable to regularize their legal status or access civil registration procedures and basic social services. They are largely dependent on UNRWA for basic subsistence needs, including food and shelter, as well as basic education and health care. In 2016, UNRWA is appealing for US$414 million to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of Palestine refugees affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76913

Other news

Abbas, Kerry meet in Jordan to discuss latest developments
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Feb — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met on Sunday with United States Secretary of State John Kerry in the Jordanian capital of Amman, according to official Palestinian news agency Wafa. Wafa reported that Abbas called on Kerry to pressure Israel to release hunger striking Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq and to return the remains of Palestinians held by Israeli authorities after being shot dead during the latest wave of upheaval. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said the Palestinian president also spoke with Kerry about his ongoing efforts to organize international powers to come together for a peace conference and in calling on the UN Security Council to condemn illegal Israeli settlement expansion, the statement added. Rdeina also said Abbas updated Kerry on the latest initiatives for a Palestinian unity government with Hamas, after delegations from the Palestinian Authority and Hamas met in Doha earlier this month. Rdeina added that Kerry assured Abbas the United States would exert enough efforts to insure the viability of a two-state solution, so as to maintain security and stability in the region.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770385

General strike in public schools in the West Bank
WEST BANK (PIC) 22 Feb — Palestinian government-run schools in the West Bank suspended work following teachers’ decision to stop the teaching process and to continue striking and taking escalatory steps in spite of the decision made by the ministry of education and teachers’ union to continue work in all schools of the West Bank as normal. One of the striking teachers told the PIC reporter that teachers in the West Bank refused the resolution of the ministry and the union of teachers since it ignores their demands. He said that teachers are determined to continue their strike until their demands are achieved. They are demanding the resignation of Ahmad Suhwail, head of the union, and the government’s fulfillment of its duties towards teachers. “Making a new contract with Suhwail by the ministry regardless of the demands of teachers calling for his resignation outraged teachers and increased tension in this regard”, the teacher pointed out.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=76942

Photos : Algerians salute Palestinian football team
ADN 20 Feb by Mohammed Asad — Palestinians in the Gaza Strip watch on big screens a friendly football (soccer) match between the Palestinian Football Team and Algeria’s Olympic Football team played in Algeria. For the first time in football, tens of thousands of Algerians saluted the Palestinian Football Team and cheered for Gaza and Israeli occupied Jerusalem. Palestinians waved Palestinian flags in Gaza as large screens displayed the soccer match in public locations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
http://thearabdailynews.com/2016/02/20/algerians-salute-palestinian-football-team/

Is Facebook officially recognizing the Palestinian Nakba ?
JPost 20 Feb — Is Facebook making a political statement about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by citing the name of an Arab village that existed in modern-day Tel Aviv before 1948 ? An Israeli Facebook user wondered the same thing this week when she posted a notice indicating that the social network has appended the name “Al Mas’Udiya” to Tel Aviv whenever she wanted to indicate her location. Oare Gat’s post went viral quickly, generating nearly 800 likes and hundreds of shares in just two days. “Without categorizing myself, I’m considered a left-winger, but what is this I see and nobody is commenting on this ?” she wrote. “Facebook, as it usually does, offers us the option of tagging pictures with the location of where they were taken. I see that whenever I want to tag something as Tel Aviv, I also get the option ‘Al Mas-Udiya, Tel Aviv, Israel’.” “After checking on Google, I realized that Facebook changed its policy and has added ‘Al Mas-Udiya’ to Tel Aviv because that was the name of the Arab village that existed here in the 1930s and 40s,” she wrote. According to Wikipedia, Al Mas’Udiya was a village whose population in 1945 stood at 850 inhabitants.
"It sounds like a joke,” Gat wrote. “Seventy-one years after the fact, they change the name of the place because 850 people of a certain religious and national background live here. Just unbelievable.” “From now on, any visitor that comes to Tel Aviv will appear on Facebook as if he or she was first in Al Mas’Udiya,” she wrote.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Is-Facebook-recognizing-the-Palestinian-Nakba-445545

Classified : Politicizing the Nakba in Israel’s state archives
+972mag 19 Feb by Lisa Goldman — Documents that have already been cited in history books are being re-classified in the State Archives — Israeli state archive documents that were de-classified in the 1980s have been re-classified in recent years, according to a recently hired assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s Center for Jewish Studies. Shay Hazkani, who was Israel Channel 10′s military correspondent from 2004-8 and will soon complete his doctorate at New York University, discusses the background and politics of the state’s decision to re-classify various documents in an interview for the Ottoman History Podcast. In the interview, which was recorded in July 2014 (I came across it recently by chance), Hazkani estimates that about one-third of documents that were de-classified in the 1980s have been re-classified starting from the late 1990s, when the archives were digitized. These reclassified documents were used extensively by prominent “new historians” like Benny Morris (“Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem”), Avi Shlaim (“The Iron Wall”), Hillel Cohen (“Good Arabs” and “1929″) and Ilan Pappe (“Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”) and cited in their books. But even though these books certainly exist in the public domain, and they do cite original documents in the Israeli state archives that note orders given to the nascent Israeli army to expel Palestinians during the 1948 war, the government of Israel continues to promote its official narrative — that the Palestinians left of their own accord. Hence the government and, more specifically, the security establishment attempts to control the discourse by re-classifying these documents. The 25-minute interview is embedded below and well worth your time.
http://972mag.com/classified-politicizing-the-nakba-in-israels-state-archives/117216/

Don’t be so fast to praise the good IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot
Haaretz 19 Feb by Gideon Levy — It’s said that this Golani veteran is a modest, amiable, decent and honest guy. His performance is also commended. He has even taken the Jewish Awareness branch out of the military rabbinate. In his few statements he conveys moderation and independent thinking, which balances the ministers above him. He saw the opportunities in the nuclear agreement with Iran, he understands there is no military answer to the knife uprising. He objects to imposing a siege on the West Bank, supports increasing the work permits for Palestinians and refrains from making populist statements about terror attacks. Eisenkot indeed deserves praise for all these stands. In spite of this, Eisenkot is responsible for the army’s sinking to one of the most horrific moral nadirs. Under the command of this people’s hero and media pet, the IDF is waging an ugly, despicable hunting campaign consisting of a series of daily executions. It’s been a long time since the army displayed such wild, lawless and violent conduct, which could be stopped with a single order. But the order isn’t being given. On Wednesday, Eisenkot made this sensible, worthy statement : “I don’t want soldiers emptying magazines on girls with scissors.” But hardly a day goes by, in which soldiers don’t empty magazines on youths. This is a policy – to kill, kill and kill. No taking prisoners, no arrest procedures, no rules of engagement. Every knife or scissors wielder, every stone or firebomb thrower and every car rammer – or anyone who is seen to resemble one – must die. Never has there been such a thing in the history of the brutal, savage Israeli occupation. In the Gaza Strip they’ve killed many more, of course. In the West Bank the IDF also rampaged more in the second intifada. But never have there been such wholesale executions, when armed soldiers are faced with young boys and girls, few of whom pose any danger to life. That good, nice man, Eisenkot, knows there’s another way. That almost every young girl holding a pair of scissors can be stopped without killing her. That only cowardly soldiers kill children as a first resort. Eisenkot knows that if he only issues the order, the number of Palestinians who are killed will plunge drastically, without endangering the life of a single Israeli. He also knows that every Palestinian killed produces more assailants. Eisenkot knows that his army is now sowing hatred the likes of which hasn’t been known in the occupied territories. But it’s doubtful if he knows what damage he’s bequeathing to a new generation of Israelis. Never have there been such pictures of girls dying on the road, with nobody approaching them. (Continued — another source here)
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.704004
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