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Land, resources theft / Ethnic cleansing

TO DAY in PALESTINE

Lundi, 18 juin 2012 - 7h03 AM

Monday 18 June 2012

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Plunder of Palestinian natural resources is ’corporate war crime’, manual explains

By Adri Nieuwhof — WhoProfits, a research project of the Coalition of Women for Peace, has documented corporate plunder of natural resources in the occupied West Bank. For example, Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava’s extraction of mud from the occupied Palestinian Dead Sea and HeidelbergCement and Cemex’s role in operating quarries in the West Bank. HeidelbergCement and Cemex headquarters are based in Germany and Mexico, respectively.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/plunder-palestinian-natural-resources-corporate-war-crime-manual-explains

Rare photograph reveals ancient Jerusalem mosque destroyed in 1967
Haaretz 15 June — A 1931 photograph taken from a German zeppelin has helped solve a mystery about the fate of one of Jerusalem’s oldest Islamic schools. The photograph revealed that the school, or madrassa, was located where the Western Wall Plaza is now. But the remains of the building were dismantled by the Israel Antiquities Authority, which did not realize its importance ... A few days after the Six-Day War, Israel destroyed the Mughrabi quarter to build the Western Wall Plaza. The destruction included the mosque - one of only three or four remaining from the time of Saladin ... As a result of this case, Kedar has been leading efforts to make the antiquities authority more aware of remains from the Islamic period, which are often destroyed while earlier remains are being sought.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/rare-photograph-reveals-ancient-jerusalem-mosque-destroyed-in-1967.premium-1.436593

Hamas asks UNESCO to reject Israeli moves against Nativity Church
BEIRUT (PIC) 14 June — Hamas urged the UNESCO-affiliated World Heritage Committee not to heed Israeli attempts not to include the Church of Nativity on the list of international heritage under the name of Palestine. Hamas, in a press release on Thursday, said that Israel was trying to wipe out Islamic and Christian landmarks in occupied Jerusalem and to isolate the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem with its racist, separation wall. The Israeli violations should be rejected by UNESCO, and the Church of Nativity should be listed as Palestinian heritage, Hamas said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Friday: Susiya village to protest demolition orders
PNN 15 June — On Friday, June 15th at 6pm the Palestinian communities of the south Hebron hills, joined by Israeli and international activists, will be holding a protest in Susiya village. The demonstrators will protest the demolition orders that were delivered by the Israeli civil administration for 42 structures and houses in the village, and the systematic displacement of Palestinians living in South Hebron Hills area.
Background: On Monday, 11th of June, the Israeli Civil Administration delivered demolition orders for 42 structures to the people of Susiya, a village in the South Hebron Hills, threatening the existence of the village itself. Beginning in the 1980s, the Israeli occupying powers have targeted this area by establishing Jewish settlements and outposts. Since 1994, fifty-eight demolition orders have been issued to the surrounding Palestinian villages.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/1942-friday-susiya-village-to-protest-demolition-orders

The Land Reseach Center launches its project "Defense of the Palestinians’ Rights to Housing and Land in Areas Classified ’C’"
PNN 14 June — On June 12, 2012, LRC launched a new project entitled "Defense of the Palestinians’ rights to housing and land in areas classified ’C’" in Cooperation with the NGOs Development Center – NDC; the project is part of the Good Governance and Human Rights program funded by the Danish, Swedish, Swiss, and Dutch Governments and targeting the towns and villages in north west Hebron (Surif, Ad Deir, Idhna, Kharas, Nuba, Beit Ula, Tarqumiya, and Hatta).
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/1919-the-land-research-center-launches-its-project-qdefense-of-the-palestinians-rights-to-housing-and-land-in-areas-classified-cq

South Hebron Hills village of Al Mufaqarah continues campaign to exist
PNN 13 June — ...Al Mufaqarah is home to approximately 150 Palestinians, who have made a living farming the land and raising sheep for over 200 years. The four adjacent Jewish settlements and outposts have created a particularly dire set of consequences for the rural village. Locals lack running water and electricity and have suffered from settler violence since the 1990’s when Israel began its attempts to annex the land. Last November, Israeli forces demolished several families’ homes, a cattle shed, a building that housed a generator and the village mosque. The R-Exist Campaign has made the goal of building one house per week every Saturday, but the last two weeks have seen the incursion of the IOF and the Israeli District Coordination Office in every aspect of the building. Locals seeking to transport building materials have been forced to smuggle them in through neighboring villages and soldiers and police have visited and monitored the village consistently ... Currently, the third home is still under construction. After Israeli forces stopped the construction of the new mosque last Saturday, leaders are organizing plans for how they will continue the campaign and finish all 15 homes.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/1915-south-hebron-hills-village-of-al-mufaqarah-continues-campaign-to-exist

Aerial photograph reveals another house in Ulpana Hill sits on Palestinian land
Haaretz 15 June by Akiva Eldar — An aerial photograph of the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El reveals that aside from the five houses to be relocated, part of a sixth house also sits on the land belonging to a Palestinian, and it too will have to be relocated. The civil administration confirmed that the sixth house has also been issued a demolition warrant, along with five caravans constructed illegally on Dora al-Qara’s lands near the Beit El settlement. The aerial photograph was taken by Dror Etkes, a prominent anti-settlement activist.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/aerial-photograph-reveals-another-house-in-ulpana-hill-sits-on-palestinian-land-1.436597?localLinksEnabled=false

100,000-strong Zionist youth brigade join settler opposition to Ulpana eviction
Mondoweiss 15 June by Allison Deger — Israel’s largest Zionist youth group has joined the battle over the Ulpana settlement and called for a mass uprising against state regulation over Jewish expansion in the West Bank. Danny Hirschberg, the leader of the far right brigade, Bnei Akiva, called for the group’s 100,000 members to "take to the streets and make your voices heard." "No more destruction of homes and settlements in the Land of Israel," said Hirschberg in a statement reported by Ynet News. Continuing, "No more injustice, immorality, and lack of democracy in the State of Israel. No more fanning the flames of divisiveness and hatred in the Jewish people." Hirschberg goes on to say the state has "no reason" to evict the settlers, despite Palestinian landowners already proving valid ownership to an Israeli court.
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/100000-strong-zionist-youth-brigade-join-settler-opposition-to-ulpana-eviction.html

Jewish settlers won’t go quietly as eviction looms
BEIT EL (Reuters) 15 June — The clock is ticking for 30 Jewish settler families in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s Supreme Court has said their homes sit on privately owned Palestinian land and as an eviction deadline draws near, they say they will not go quietly. "They will have to drag me out of here," said Yoel Fattal, 28, who lives with his wife and three young children in one of the five apartment blocs the government must tear down by July 1, on the Ulpana hill in the settlement of Beit El...
The anti-settlement group Peace Now says roughly 9,000 homes were built on land listed as owned by Palestinians. The fate of some of those houses is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is yet to rule on a number of ongoing cases.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495557

Somehow Israel expects the removal of a tiny number of illegal buildings to distract the world from the theft of nearly all of the West Bank, not to mention Mandate Palestine:
Israel orders demolition of West Bank structure built by Defense Ministry
Haaretz 14 June by Nir Hasson — The Civil Administration issued demolition orders for structures built on private Palestinian land near the separation barrier in Jerusalem. However, the orders were never put into effect ... The land in the area belongs to Palestinians, although they are prevented from tending to it as they live on the other side of the border. Thus, over the past three years, a portable ultra-Orthodox school was built in the area. Near the school is a large work site established in order to maintain the separation barrier. The area includes a number of structures, a market and a parking lot for bulldozer, all of which were built without permits on private Palestinian land ... Dror Etkes, a left-wing activist, revealed the illegal building through a series of aerial photographs.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-orders-demolition-of-west-bank-structures-built-by-defense-ministry.premium-1.436367?localLinksEnabled=false

IDF base would have to be turned over to settlement to make room for new homes
Haaretz 14 June — An Israel Defense Forces base and a nearby Border Police base would have to be turned over to the settlement of Beit El in order to fulfill Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to build 300 new apartments there, a Defense Ministry document states.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-base-would-have-to-be-turned-over-to-settlement-to-make-room-for-new-homes-1.436253?localLinksEnabled=false

Gaza blockade

UN: Israeli forces killed 2,300 in Gaza under blockade
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 June — Israeli forces have killed nearly 2,300 Palestinians and injured 7,700 in Gaza over the last five years, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday. Some 27 percent of the fatalities in Gaza were women and children, the UN agency said in a report highlighting the effects of Israel’s blockade. The land, sea and air blockade of Gaza entered its sixth year on Thursday. Under the blockade, exports have dropped to less than 3 percent of 2006 levels ... Israel’s naval blockade has undermined the livelihood of 35,000 fishermen, and farmers have lost around 75,000 tons of produce each year due to Israeli restrictions along Gaza’s land border, it added. [Fast Facts from UN/OCHA on Gaza blockade]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495477

WHO: Gaza closure compromises right to health
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 14 June — The World Health Organization on Thursday said the closure of Gaza compromises the right to health and called on Israel to lift the blockade. The health system in Gaza cannot function effectively under Israel’s blockade, which entered its sixth year on Thursday, a WHO report said. During Israel’s 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008, 15 out of 27 hospitals were damaged as well as 43 clinics. The Erez checkpoint, the main humanitarian access route for the critically ill, closes daily at 2:30 p.m. and all weekend. Outside opening hours, access requires lengthy coordination and can delay emergency treatment by at least two hours. Gaza has run out of 42 percent of essential medicines, affecting oncology treatment, surgeries and dialysis. Israel does not allow the Health Ministry in Gaza to send medical equipment for repair. Drug and fuel shortages have increased the need for referrals outside Gaza, funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. "The 5 most frequent reasons for referrals are for cardiovascular, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, or neurosurgery treatment," WHO says.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495415

A warning against Israeli attempts to create a buffer zone along the Gaza border
GAZA (PIC) 14 June — A Palestinian human rights organization warned against the disastrous effects of the Israeli attempts to declare a buffer zone north-east of the Gaza Strip, depriving the Palestinian farmers from their land and crops. The occupation forces broke into Southeast Salq Valley in central Gaza, on Tuesday, accompanied by ten bulldozers, and eight tanks under intense fire. Mizan Human Rights Center condemned in statement on Wednesday the sweep of agricultural lands in east Salq Valley village in the Gaza Strip ... The center condemned the continuing daily attacks by the occupation forces in the border areas, or what is known as restricted access areas, pointing out that the occupation forces are aiming, through bulldozing operations to create a distance of about 1500 meters along the border gradually, at the expense of the Gaza Strip residents.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Fuel crisis in Gaza - cutting off life
Al Akhbar 14 June by Ruqaya Izzidien — The hum of the domestic jungle disappears in a flash. Fridges and televisions shut off instantly and the streets fall eerily dark. Gaza rarely falls silent naturally, but during the nightly blackouts, it becomes soundless – at least temporarily. The silence is invariably broken by an overhead F-16, a drone or — as has occurred several times in the last month — an airstrike. Since February, Palestinians in Gaza have been experiencing the worst fuel crisis to hit the territory in living memory. In April, Gaza’s only electricity plant shut down three of their four generators. Last week, a vital fuel delivery from Qatar was held up for several days. Meanwhile the electricity plant’s final generator puttered out of service. At its peak, it could only supply a maximum four hours of electricity a day. Although Gaza has received the long-awaited fuel delivery, extensive blackouts still grip the territory and many fear that the damage has already been done.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/fuel-crisis-gaza-cutting-life

Think of others: In Gaza’s darkness, Mahmoud Darwish’s words provide inspiration
EI 10 June by Shahd Abusalama — ...I put my headphones in my ears to listen to Sameeh Shuqair’s song “Think of Others,” trying to cover the horrible noise of generators that already took over the region. Think of Others is originally a poem written by my favorite Palestinian poet and my teacher of life and humanity, Mahmoud Darwish ... While listening to the beautiful lyrics of Think Of Others, my thoughts were for our political prisoners in the Israeli jails. I translated its lyrics not only for you to share with me the joy of the song, but also to demand you to listen to our detainee’s appeals to think of them. As you fix your breakfast, think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. / As you fight in your wars, think of others. Don’t forget those who desperately demand peace. / As you pay your water bill, think of others who drink the clouds’ rain. / As you return home, your home, think of others. Don’t forget those who live in tents....
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/shahd-abusalama/think-others-gazas-darkness-mahmoud-darwishs-words-provide-inspiration

Egypt allows Qatari fuel into Israel terminal
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 14 June — Egyptian authorities continued to allow Qatari fuel into Gaza via the al-Oja crossing on Thursday. Omar Hadhud, a Palestinian representative at the crossing, said Egyptian authorities allowed eight truckloads of fuel — around 400,000 liters — across the Israeli side. Earlier Egyptian officials had accused Israel of delaying shipments, while Palestinians said Cairo was responsible for the delay.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495430

Haniyeh calls for prosecution of Israeli leaders for Mavi Marmara attack
MEMO 14 June — Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the elected Palestinian government in Gaza, has called on the international community to read Israel’s report on the Mavi Marmara attack carefully before prosecuting the government officials responsible ... Haniyeh was speaking to reporters during the opening ceremony of new units at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday. "The Israeli report about the attack on the Mavi Marmara is clear evidence that what was committed by its soldiers is a ’humanitarian crime’," said the Prime Minister. He insisted that Israel must respond to the Turkish government’s demands concerning the rights of those killed by the commandos and compensation for their families as well as lifting the siege on Gaza.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3879-haniyeh-calls-for-prosecution-of-israeli-leaders-for-mavi-marmara-attack

Is head of Turkey charity IHH that sponsored Mavi Marmara really being probed for Al-Qaida funding?
EI 15 June by Ali Abunimah — Israeli media report this morning that Bülent Yildirim, the head of the Turkish charity IHH is under investigation by Turkish authorities for transferring funds to Al-Qaida. But there are good reasons to be very skeptical about these reports ... The original Habertürk report on which the Israeli press relies appears here. But the report by Hilal Öztürk and Bülent Ceyhan does not provide a named source for the information about the alleged investigation... On Twitter, however, Bülent Ceyhan, one of the journalists who wrote the report, subsequently stated that "the Attorney General and the Istanbul Police have denied such an investigation" ... Whatever is really going on, there are a couple of factors that raise additional suspicions about the report.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/head-turkey-charity-ihh-sponsored-mavi-marmara-really-being-probed-al-qaida

Violence / Raids / Arrests

Three fishermen kidnapped in Gaza
IMEMC 15 June — The Israeli Navy kidnapped, late on Thursday evening, three Palestinian fishermen, while in Palestinian territorial waters, close to the Gaza shore, the Palestinian Fishermen Syndicate reported. The Syndicate said that an Israeli Navy chased the fishermen’s boat and fired several rounds of live ammunition before boarding it, and kidnapping the fishermen. The three were taken to an unknown destination, while the boat was towed and confiscated.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63737

Medics: 2 hurt in Khan Younis shelling
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 June — Israeli shelling east of Khan Younis injured two Palestinians on Thursday, medical officials in the southern Gaza Strip said. Medical official Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma‘an that two Palestinians were moderately injured during the shelling east of the Al-Qarara area in Khan Younis.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495444

Raids and arrests in Jenin and Tubas
JININ (PIC) 14 June — Israeli occupation forces launched, on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, several raids and arrests in Jenin and Tubas, resulting in arresting and interrogating dozens of citizens, and raiding about twenty houses. Local sources said that the Israeli occupation soldiers stormed and raided homes randomly at dawn in Romana village west of Jenin where they raided and searched about 12 houses using police dogs, damaging its contents and detaining several citizens and then they transferred them to Salem military camp for five hours to investigate about the wanted’s places...
Meanwhile, the occupation forces broke into Tarsala settlement, south of Jenin, and were deployed around it in order to protect the settlers who stormed it and stayed there all night. Sources confirmed that the settlers chanted hymns and anti-Arab chants throughout the night and performed rituals until the morning hours.
Meanwhile, the occupation forces stormed Al-Faraa camp at night in Tubas and raided a number of houses and shops. Local sources reported that the IOF have arrested Musa Ahmed Abdel Gawad, 15, and Mohamed Abdul Rahman Al Bisharat, 21, and that occupation troops were deployed on the streets and set up a barrier near the center of Salah Khalaf at the entrance of the camp.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli forces arrest several Palestinians in West Bank, Jerusalem
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 14 June — Israeli forces Thursday arrested three Palestinians in the West Bank and a number of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, according to local sources. Head of the Daghameen clan Khader Musleh told WAFA Israeli forces stormed the town of Samou‘, south of Hebron, searched several homes and arrested a 95-year-old man. He said soldiers ransacked the house, mixing foods and recently harvested crops of wheat and barley together.
Forces also arrested two Palestinian teenagers age 16 and 17 after raiding their family homes in the village of Taqou‘, east of Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, a large police force and intelligence officers conducted since the early morning hours a raid and arrest campaign throughout the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan to arrest what it called "wanted" Palestinians for participating in activities against settlers and forces in the area. Sources said Israeli police assaulted several families during the raid.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20055

Army kidnaps several residents in Ramallah
IMEMC 15 June — Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Friday at dawn, several Palestinians in the central West Bank district of Ramallah. Some of the kidnapped residents are former political prisoners who were previously kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel. The Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies and Human Rights, identified some of the kidnapped residents as Khaled Abu al-Baha’ (a former political prisoner), his brother Morad who works at the Palestinian Legislative Council office in Ramallah, in addition to the Imam of the Betunia mosque who was kidnapped and violently attacked after the army surrounded the mosque.
Soldiers also invaded Ni‘lin village, one of the villages that are active in nonviolent resistance against the Annexation Wall and Settlements, and kidnapped Yousef Abu Srour, the brother of detainee Abdul-Qaher Srour, and also broke into the home of Mos’ab Srour, a local teacher who was not at home, and the home of former political prisoner, Shukri al-Khawaja. Al-Khawaja was not kidnapped, but his home was searched and ransacked.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63736

Issa Amro, coordinator of Youth against Settlements, arrested at border on way to speaking tour
PSCC 15 June — Issa Amro, Coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, was stopped last night by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge. He was arrested and taken to Hebron police station, where he was interrogated for hours on suspicion of involvement in organizing the women’s action that took place in Hebron last Wednesday, at the segregated Shuhada Street. Amro, was traveling to Italy for a speaking tour organized by the Italian Peace Association to meet Members of the Italian Parliament and Senate, and municipality representatives from different Italian cities.
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/issa-amro-coordinator-of-youth-against-settlements-arrested-at-border-on-way-to-speaking-tour.html

But they can still invade homes with dogs in the middle of the night? See video Israeli defends dog attack on 99yr old Palestinian [in bed]
Dogs won’t take part in protest dispersals
[with video] Ynet 15 June — Dogs belonging to the IDF’s Canine Unit Oketz will no longer be used in protests following an incident where a dog that was unleashed by one of the soldiers bit and injured a Palestinian. An inquiry revealed that the combatant failed to follow procedure by not putting a muzzle on the dog’s mouth. As a result, the dog bit the protester in his upper torso. It took the soldiers several minutes to control the dog. [See original ISM article about dog bite incident in Kafr Qaddoum]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4242740,00.html

Israeli authorities arrest director of Jerusalem branch of PPA
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 14 June — Israeli occupation soldiers arrested Nasser Qaws, the director of the Jerusalem branch of the Palestinian prisoner’s association, on Wednesday. The PPA said in a statement that the soldiers accompanied by intelligence agents broke into Qaws’s home while he was not there and searched it. They told his sister to telephone him and ask him to get back home, which she did, the statement explained, adding that the soldiers arrested Qaws as soon as he returned home. It noted that the family members quarreled with the soldiers, while handcuffing him, and the soldiers beat the women and forced them back into the house. [He had participated in a protest supporting the hunger strikers just this past Monday]
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Israeli forces arrest vice president of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Society
PNN 14 June — On Wednesday, 13th June, a special force of the Israeli army arrested 28-year-old activist Mahmoud Abdul Rahman al-Haj, the vice president of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees society in Bethlehem. The society said in a press release that a special force of Israeli army broke into the house of al-Haj and severely beat his brother Khader who was in his store. The soldiers searched the house before they assaulted Mahmoud and arrested him. They also attacked and detained his mother and his family members inside their house.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/1936-israeli-forces-arrest-vice-president-of-detainees-and-ex-detainees-society

Report: Israel arrests ex-soldier living in Bethlehem
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 15 June — A former Israeli soldier was arrested recently by Palestinian Authority forces [at Israel’s request] after living in a Bethlehem refugee camp for the past three weeks, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. "I wanted to prove that it’s possible to live with Palestinians, as long as you are not coming off as an enemy," Andrey Pshenichnikov, 24, was quoted as saying by Haaretz. Pshenichnikov moved to Bethlehem three months ago and was working as a waiter and construction worker ... PA forces arrested Pshenichnikov on Israel’s request, and he was forced to sign a document agreeing not to enter Palestinian Authority controlled areas, Haaretz said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495607

Report: Israeli army concerned by Gaza sniper
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 15 June — Israel’s military is concerned about a Palestinian sniper operating from Gaza’s border, the Israeli news site Walla reported Friday. Israeli army officials believe a professional sniper is responsible for three incidents of gunfire targeting Israeli farmers and soldiers on foot patrol in recent days, Walla said. A senior officer in Israel’s Gaza battalion told Walla the rogue sniper was not thought to be affiliated to Hamas. Hamas forces are also patrolling the border searching for the sniper, the officer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495539

Border Guard wins military’s sniper’s title
Ynet 15 June — The Border Guard’s Mistaarvim Unit has won the IDF’s sharpshooters championship, held Thursday. The Mistaarvim ("Arabized") Unit is an elite counter-terrorism force whose members serve in various IDF divisions. [and dress up as Palestinians - sometimes female ones - in order to infiltrate Palestinian towns and events for various purposes]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4242813,00.html

Hunger strikers / Prisoners

Family awaits news on al-Sarsak ruling
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 June — Soccer player Mahmoud al-Sarsak entered his 89th day of hunger strike in an Israeli jail on Friday as his father continued to demand the right to visit his son. Al-Sarsak’s brother Emad told Ma‘an that Israeli judges were scheduled to meet Thursday to consider whether to grant al-Sarsak’s father permission to visit him in jail. The family does not know the outcome of the review but hopes Israel will issue a decision in the coming days.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495626

FIFA urgently calls for Sarsak’s release
PARIS (PIC) 14 June — The International Federation of Football Associations, FIFA, condemned Israel illegal detention of the Palestinian footballer Sarsak who has gone on an open hunger strike since three months. It also called for his release and safety for all Palestinian footballers, insisting to be legally treated. FIFA president Sepp Blatter "expressed grave concern" regarding the incarceration of the international football player Mahmoud Sarsak. A statement on the organization’s website said that "the reports FIFA received state that in apparent violation of their integrity and human rights and without the apparent right of a due process (trial), several Palestine football players have allegedly been illegally detained by Israeli authorities."
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Mass demo planned for Scotland Euro clash
Scotsman 15 June — A HIGH-profile European qualifying match in the Capital is set to be targeted by hundreds of protesters over the alleged detention of Palestinian football players. Campaigners are set to gather at Tynecastle Stadium as Scotland play Israel in a women’s Euro qualifier on Saturday. Organisers said that the demonstration would be mounted both outside the stadium and on the terraces during Saturday’s game. They refused to rule out the possibility of direct action such as a pitch invasion.
http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/edinburgh/mass-demo-planned-for-scotland-euro-clash-1-2355741

Nearly three months without food as Israel looks away
Independent blog 14 June by Richard Sudan — Akram Rikhawi, one of many Palestinian political prisoners said to be held by the Israeli government, without charge and without seeing a trial, today will enter his 64th day on hunger strike. 64 days without food. As he does, 25 year old former Palestinian national team footballer Mahmoud Sarsak enters his 88th day on hunger strike, the longest any detainee has gone through such an ordeal in an Israeli jail. That’s nearly 3 months without food ... While most of the Football World is focusing on the European competition right now, there have been some statements of support for Mahmoud Sarsak at least ... But it is hard to imagine the same outpouring of sympathy for Sarsak, or any of the hunger strikers, equal to the outpouring of concern that was shown when footballer Patrice Muamba’s life hung in the balance recently following his collapse on the pitch. If these alleged human rights abuses were taking place anywhere else there would simply be a greater level of attention paid to them. It is not hard to see what evokes such desperation.
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/14/nearly-three-months-without-food-as-israel-looks-away/

Palestinians released in Shalit prisoner swap face challenges
13 June By Amjad Samhan Al Arabiya Ramallah — As soon as the doyen of Palestinian prisoners Nael al-Barghouti was set free by the Isreali authorities, he and a group of his single friends began to look for eligible spouses in an attempt to start leading a normal life spent after decades behind bars. "I spent 34 years in jail," Barghouti told Al Arabiya. "I could have had lots of children during that time. But this is our destiny and now I am starting a new life." Barghouti married a recently-released prisoner and his story encouraged many other prisoners to follow suit, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/13/220392.html

Released prisoner appeals to PA for medical help
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 June — A former prisoner on Thursday appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to provide medical treatment after he was shot by Israeli forces. Motaz Muhammad Obeido, 32, says Israeli soldiers shot him at close range with a dumdum bullet, which fragments on impact, on Oct. 11, 2011. Obeido suffers paralysis in his left leg and ruptures to his stomach and intestine ... He told Ma‘an that Palestinian doctors said they could not treat him and he needed surgery abroad. Obeido has been detained four times by Israel and spent five years in an Israeli jail. He has three daughters and says he receives no financial help from the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495356

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Women challenge segregation of Hebron street in direct action; 7 arrested
972mag 15 June By Noa Shaindlinger — A group of Israeli and international female activists joined Palestinian women on Wednesday in a direct action in Hebron to protest the ongoing ban on Palestinian freedom of movement on Shuhada street. The street, which was once the lively commercial centre of Hebron, was closed off to Palestinian vehicular traffic after the 1994 massacre of 29 Muslims in the Ibrahimi Mosque by Baruch Goldstein. Since 2001, Palestinian pedestrians were barred from the street, turning it into a Jewish-only zone. We arrived to Hebron just before 2pm, to be led by Issa Amro, a coordinator from Youth Against Settlements, to a previously undisclosed location, which would be our gathering point. We ended up at an apartment facing Shuhada Street, whose residents are forced to use a side entrance from an alley off the old city’s market. The lady of the house, an elderly woman who turned out to be a refugee from Jaffa, greeted us warmly, and led everyone to her parlor. [see arrest of Amro on Thursday night, in another section of this newslist]
http://972mag.com/women-challenge-segregation-of-hebron-street-in-direct-action-7-arrested/48392/

The Electronic Intifada weekly podcast — 14 June 2012
This week on The Electronic Intifada podcast, Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak remains on hunger strike for nearly 90 days, determined to continue until he dies or Israel frees him; we’ll have the latest update from Sahar Francis of the Palestinian prisoner support organization Addameer; also, Africans fear more violence as Israeli Knesset members incite racism, including a minister who says that Israel “belongs to the white man”; Gaza farmers rush to grow wheat under fear of Israeli fire, while a farmer in the West Bank refuses to allow settlers to take over his land; Israeli politicians call for a campaign to pay Palestinian families $10,000 to leave Nazareth forever; and news from the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/electronic-intifada-weekly-podcast-14-june-2012

IJV Canada endorses United Church Working Group call to boycott settlement products
IMEMC 15 June — Independent Jewish Voices-Canada (IJV) today issued a response endorsing the recommendations of the United Church of Canada’s Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy (WGIP). Key WGIP recommendations IJV supports include:
(1) Non-violent actions to end the Israeli occupation, including economic boycott of products produced in the settlements, and consideration of divestment from companies profiting from or supporting the occupation;
http://www.imemc.org/article/63734

How clever of the occupier to get Europe to pay for the infrastructure it is itself legally responsible for
European-funded project reconnects three villages
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 14 June — The European Union (EU) and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing inaugurated Wednesday a 4.5 kilometer road connecting the villages of Qaryout, Talfeet and Jaloud in the Nablus district, according to an EU press release ... The EU is also working on a number of other infrastructure projects in the area of Nablus, the most prominent of which is the construction of the Muqata compound in Nablus city and the rehabilitation of Khan Al-Wakalat site in the Old City of Nablus.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20056

Racism

Haaretz editorial: Israel must end discrimination against Arab college graduates
15 June — Walid bin Karim, a young architect looking for work at an architecture firm owned by Jews, is the star of a new ad by the Government Advertising Bureau. The spot encourages the employment of Arab college graduates. “What’s wrong with an Israeli Arab in your office?” asks the ad. It provides the answer: Nothing’s wrong. But Israeli Arabs, who make up 22 percent of the population, suffer from exclusion and discrimination. Nowhere does this discrimination stand out more than among college graduates. Only 1.3 percent of Arabs who graduate in high-tech fields find work in their specialties, despite claims by high-tech leaders that they are desperate for workers.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-must-end-discrimination-against-arab-college-graduates-1.436533

A world away, rightist Zionist youth decry racism in Israel / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 14 June — Recent remarks by Israeli officials have been so racist, that even the Likud-affiliated youth movement in Australia sent out a letter in protest — What’s left of Israel’s good name, will not survive this government. Day by day, public officials disgrace themselves and their country, doing their high-decibel best to prove the contentions of Israel’s worst enemies. Fascism? Start with a look at the past year’s legislative agenda. Ethnic cleansing? Count the Palestinians stripped of their residency rights, a quarter million in all. Apartheid? Look under: Compensation for five illegal settler houses. Or under: Occupation forever. Zionism is Racism? The very public statements of two legislators in Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud – both of them entrusted with fostering Israel’s image here and abroad – terming African refugees and migrants as a whole, a "cancer" and a "plague." .
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/a-world-away-rightist-zionist-youths-decry-racism-in-israel.premium-1.436419

Illegal migrants offered more time to leave voluntarily
Ynet 15 June — The Immigration Authority announced Friday that it would extend the time period allotted for South Sudanese migrants in Israel to leave voluntarily in exchange for €1,000 in compensation. The window was supposed to have closed Thursday, and the authority did not specify how long it would remain open. The authority’s announcement came on the heels of a meeting Thursday between Interior Ministry Eli Yishai and a delegation from South Sudan in which the South Sudanese requested more time for their citizens to leave freely ... According to figures from the Immigration Authority, some 300 South Sudanese have thus far requested to leave Israel voluntarily. Organizations dedicated to aiding the community, however, say that this isn’t "voluntary," but rather a forced deportation.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4242847,00.html

The affable face of evil / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 14 June — There is just one thought that should disturb this masked ball: What if we were in their place? — Israeli evil wears many faces these days. There are the rude, the crude and the thuggish, who still manage to generate some heat: When MK Miri Regev goes off on one of her jingoist, gutter-talk rampages - "the ’infiltrators’ are a cancer" - some people are still shocked ... But there are also the pleasant, polished, eloquent politicians. Wrapped in shiny cellophane, their evil is even more despicable and diabolical, and it barely registers a protest ... Last week, for example, the cabinet approved a bill he is sponsoring that would impose a five-year prison term and a half-million shekel fine on anyone who dares to assist, shelter or employ migrants without authorization. Few legislative initiatives in Israel can match this one in vileness. Few countries would dare to pass it. You aided some poor migrant, put him up for a night, gave him a lift (!)? Go directly to jail. Regev’s evil pales in comparison, Danon’s wickedness and his ultra-nationalism shrivel up into nothing. And we won’t say a word about the historical associations of such a law.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-affable-face-of-evil.premium-1.436291

Influx of African migrants to Israel continues despite recent crackdown
Haaretz 14 June — 305 African migrants have entered Israel through border with Egypt since the beginning of the operation, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the operation.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/influx-of-african-migrants-to-israel-continues-despite-recent-crackdown.premium-1.436379?localLinksEnabled=false

Political news

Erekat: Abbas to demand release of pre-Oslo prisoners
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 June — President Mahmoud Abbas will demand the release of 123 long-term prisoners before agreeing to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Friday ... Erekat also said Abbas may meet with Israel’s deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz although no date has been set. On Thursday, Mofaz called on for the immediate renewal of peace talks between Abbas and Netanyahu, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Meanwhile, Fatah official Nabil Shaath said the Palestinian Authority did not have faith in the Israeli government to follow through with its declarations. Israel can not even implement court orders to remove an illegal outpost by the Beit El settlement near Ramallah, let alone resolve the issue of settlements in its entirety, he told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495572

Quartet envoys meet amid Palestinian criticism
AFP 15 June — Envoys from the Middle East Quartet met in Brussels on Friday amid calls from the Palestinians to step up action to halt continuing Israeli settlement activity. Officials from the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia gathered "to consult as they routinely do over the phone as well", said a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. But on the eve of the meeting chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called on the group "to restore credibility and relevance to its role" by taking firm action to stop Israeli settlement construction. "Since the Quartet was created, the Israeli settler population in the occupied Palestinian territory increased by one fifth," he said in a statement.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/quartet-envoys-meet-amid-palestinian-criticism-113521367.html

Palestine’s Abbas meets Gul, Erdogan
TurkishPress 15 June — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was yesterday received by President Abdullah Gul at the presidential mansion in Istanbul’s Tarabya neighborhood. Reportedly, Abbas briefed Gul about the latest situation in Palestine, and the two leaders also exchanged views on the recent developments in Syria and Egypt. Afterwards, Abbas met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday at the Prime Ministry Office in Dolmabahce, Istanbul in a meeting which lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes and which was closed to the press.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=382581#.T9uMmsWuWSo

Palestinians concerned cause no longer on agenda
[start at minute 1:00] Al Jazeera 15 June — At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC conference this week, it was Iran, not Palestine that dominated proceedings. World leaders may be looking elsewhere, but the clashes at Israeli checkpoints are on the rise. Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike in Israeli detention centres, and a growing sense of impotence and frustration is fuelling talk of a third intifada.The Palestinian Liberation Organisation executive are finalizing a letter, listening all the ways, over the last 20 years, that they say Israel has blocked peaceful progress. They will deliver it first, out of courtesy, to the Israeli government, and then circulate it to the international community. Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan reports from the Occupied West Bank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9cZSca4Lq4

Security portfolio hinders Palestinian reconciliation
MEMO 15 June — The moves towards national reconciliation between the two main Palestinian movements of Fatah and Hamas are deadlocked because of complications arising out of the security portfolio, special sources have revealed. The proposed merger of the security services in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is one of the core issues still awaiting a satisfactory resolution, as is security cooperation between a unified national government and the Israel occupation authorities. These are the complications which the factional delegations have been unable to resolve.
The issue of political detainees is cited as another reason for the failure of the process to bring an end to the internal division which started in 2007. Activists claim that the number of such detainees being held by both groups actually increased across the West Bank during the reconciliation talks.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3886-security-portfolio-hinders-palestinian-reconciliation

The dismissed teachers stage a sit-in in Ramallah
RAMALLAH (PIC) 15 June — Dozens of teachers who were dismissed from their jobs on Thursday morning staged a sit in outside the High Court of Justice in Ramallah, protesting the court’s decision to postpone indefinitely the examination of their case ... The teachers, who were dismissed because of their political affiliation, called on the Court to follow up their case and issue an equitable decision rather than delay it. They have accused the Court of rejected their demands as a response to the PA security services’ pressures, insisting that they will continue their sit-in till achieving their demands.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Armed clashes between PA Security and Fatah elements in West Bank refugee camp
MEMO 15 June — ...According to local sources in Balata, the violence erupted around midnight on Thursday after a security force affiliated to the Palestinian Authority attempted to carry out a number of arrests in the camp ... The clashes came shortly after the conclusion of a meeting between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of the security services in Ramallah. Abbas apparently confirmed his rejection of any armed groups in the occupied Palestinian territories, on the grounds that "there is no legitimacy to any weapons but those of the Palestinian security services whose job is to maintain the security and the safety of the citizens." In Balata camp itself, Fatah members circulated a signed statement condemning the PA’s security services and claiming that they have "deviated from the direction of those who have been fighting throughout the years of the intifada." The statement accused the PA’s actions of being part of the "the wheel of treason being moved by American schemes and hands." Why, the signatories asked, do the security services tackle the freedom fighters and demonstrate good faith towards the Israeli occupation?
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3883-armed-clashes-between-pa-security-and-fatah-elements-in-west-bank-refugee-camp

Other news

Fifteen-year-old Palestinian refugee wins top prize in WHO art competition
UNRWA 13 June — ...More than 1000 schoolchildren from 14 countries across the Eastern Mediterranean region submitted drawings on the World Health Day theme for 2012: “Ageing and health: good health adds life to years.” Out of submissions from her age group, Sundus ranked first. A student at UNRWA’s Basic School for Girls in Arroub, Sundus was thrilled to receive the award. Her art, she explains, was inspired by her life growing up in a refugee camp. "My drawing was of an elderly man, in the form of a rooted tree, as a source of life branching its fruit onto the community."
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1372&utm_source=UNRWA&utm_medium=UN

Mother opens up about living with HIV in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 June — A 50-year-old mother told reporters on Thursday about living as an HIV-positive woman in the Gaza Strip. Umm Muhammad, speaking at a training workshop for journalists organized by the United Nations Development Program, said she contracted HIV from her husband. "I got the virus from my husband," she said, explaining that he was contracted it from having unsafe sex while working in Israel ... Umm Mohammad’s husband died four months after he was diagnosed with AIDS and she was left to provide for their nine children ... The Palestinian Ministry of Health has registered 65 cases of AIDS in the West Bank and Gaza, most of whom have died. The figure is likely to be much higher due to the social stigma of the disease.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495436

Former addicts say Gaza clinic helps them stay clean
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 June — As the Gaza Strip faces a growing drug problem, two former addicts told Ma‘an how they overcame their addiction at a small rehab clinic in northern Gaza. The UN recorded a dramatic rise in the recreational use of prescription drugs smuggled through tunnels from Egypt after Israel’s devastating 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495344

Lebanese army clashed with Palestinians; one dead
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) 15 June — A Palestinian man was killed on Friday in clashes between the Lebanese army and Palestinian residents of a refugee camp in north Lebanon, security sources and camp leaders said. A security source said at least four Palestinians were hurt but a refugee camp leader said the count was much higher with around 23 Palestinians wounded.
Residents were still seething after the fighting stopped, and many were throwing stones and blocking roads near the camp, which is close to the northern port city of Tripoli. Soldiers responded by surrounding parts of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, which was devastated in 2007 when the Lebanese army fought militants there.
http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-army-clashes-palestinians-one-dead-172230525.html

Iran detains suspects behind assassinations of nuclear scientists, report says
Haaretz 14 June — Semi-official Fars news agency cites Iranian Intelligence Ministry as reporting the arrest, withholding other details; Iran has accused Israel, U.S. of the killings.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/iran-detains-suspects-behind-assassinations-of-nuclear-scientists-report-says-1.436444?localLinksEnabled=false

Analysis / Opinion

Sheldon Adelson could buy Bibi a very effective October Surprise
14 June — The Internet is abuzz today with Sheldon Adelson’s announcement that he has already donated $10 million to Mitt Romney’s SuperPAC and plans to provide limitless donations to defeat Obama ... But the attention is mostly focused on the sheer numbers he’s talking about, not what it suggests that Adelson — who already spent buckets of money to try to defeat Mitt in the primary — has now promised limitless donations to defeat Obama.
This is about Likud trying to decide the American elections. Adelson doesn’t hide the fact that this donation is about Israel as much as it is Obama’s "socialism."
http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/06/14/sheldon-adelson-will-buy-a-very-effective-october-surprise/

The business of remaking Arab-American identity
Al Jazeera 15 June by Khaled A Beydoun — Do Arab-Americans have anything to gain by achieving minority status, or should they remain categorised as ’Caucasian’? — Washington, DC - In January 2012, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s (ADC) Legal Director, Abed Ayoub, filed a petition with the United States Department of Commerce calling for Arab Americans to qualify for "disadvantaged minority" status. This petition would grant Arab-American businessmen and women access to coveted government contracts. Ayoub’s intervention with Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) not only challenged the governmental designation of Arab-Americans as "Caucasian", but also marked a critical impasse with the internal debate among Arab-American communities and institutions regarding which racial road to walk down: integration into whiteness, or pursuing de jure minority status.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/06/2012610114257813921.html

The war of lies / Uri Avnery
9 June — Thirty years ago this week, the Israeli army crossed into Lebanon and started the most stupid war in Israel’s history. It lasted for 18 years. About 1500 Israeli soldiers and untold numbers of Lebanese and Palestinians were killed ... From beginning to end (if it has ended yet) it was a war of deceit and deception, falsehoods and fabrications. The lies started with the official name: "Operation Peace in Galilee." If one asks Israelis now, 99.99% of them will say with all sincerity: "“We had no choice. They launched katyushas at the Galilee from Lebanon every day. We had to stop them." .. The simple fact is that for 11 months before the war, not a single shot was fired across the Israeli-Lebanese border. A cease-fire was in force and the Palestinians on the other side of the border kept it scrupulously. To everybody’s surprise, Yasser Arafat succeeded in imposing it on all the radical Palestinian factions, too ... The lie "they shot at us every day" has taken such a hold on the public mind that it is nowadays useless to dispute it.

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1339170910
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