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Map: Segregated roads: the infrastructure of apartheid
http://stopthewall.org/segregated-roads-infrastructure-apartheid

Hundreds protest plan to demolish Palestinian village
[with video, photos] 972mag 22 June by Mairav Zonszein — Over 500 Israelis and Palestinians from near and far gathered in Susya (southern West Bank) on Friday to protest the Israeli authorities’ plan to demolish the entire Palestinian village. Despite being a peaceful and nonviolent demonstration, the army fired stun grenades, tear gas, and threatened to use skunk water. One protester was injured in the head by a stun grenade and required stitches ... The relatively large turnout of support for the tiny Palestinian village was the result of successful coordination between Palestinian individuals and committees from all over the West Bank, including Ma‘sara, Hebron, Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Bil‘in. Abdullah Abu Rahmah, leader of the grassroots, unarmed Palestinian resistance movement to Israel’s security barrier in Bil‘in, was there. Several Israeli anti-occupation activist groups – among them Ta‘ayush, Combatants for Peace, Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah and Rabbis for Human Rights - organized six buses from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem bringing about 300 Israeli protesters.
http://972mag.com/hundreds-protest-plan-to-demolish-palestinian-village/49098/

MSM take on it:
Hundreds protest at Palestinian hamlet set for razing
AFP 22 June — Hundreds of Palestinians and peace activists on Friday held a protest at the West Bank village Susiya, which Israel has recently served demolition orders. An AFP correspondent said over 500 people demonstrated at the site, located in the southernmost part of the West Bank, carrying signs against the evacuation and demolition of the 50 structures comprising the hamlet. The Israeli army and border police were present in large numbers, the correspondent reported, adding there were minor clashes between the sides. However, there were no injuries caused or no arrests were made.
A spokesman for Israel’s Civil Administration, the military body that governs areas of the West Bank under full Israeli control, said residents of Susiya hamlet had received the demolition orders last week. The orders were the result of a petition by the right-wing Regavim organisation to the Supreme Court, which argued the structures were built without a permit and therefore illegal. Permits for Palestinians to build in the West Bank are extremely rare and the Israeli authorities routinely issue demolition orders for houses and other structures built without their approval.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/hundreds-protest-palestinian-hamlet-set-razing-170038700.html

Beit Ommar residents receive seven new demolition orders
PSP 21 June — On June 18th the Israeli Civil Administration issued a new round of demolition orders for structures built on privately-owned Palestinian land in Beit Ommar, including five homes and two wells ... One of the condemned wells, owned by farmer Ibrahim Arar, was built just four months ago. The well, which cost him over $15,000 of his savings, enabled him to irrigate his fields and is crucial for maintaining his trees. If carried out, the demolitions will threaten both his plants and his source of income. These demolition orders mark the sixteenth attempt by Israel to expel the residents of Beit Ommar from their lands: Beit Ommar has received 15 demolition orders prior to the June 18th orders. Over the past six months, settlers in Karmei Tzur have built over three hundred new houses while Palestinians are forbidden from building any new structures on their own land.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/06/21/beit-ommar-residents-receive-seven-new-demolition-orders/

IOF soldiers raze houses, animal enclosures in Al-Khalil village
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 20 June — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) razed a number of houses and animal enclosures in Rahwa hamlet near Dhaheria town, south of Al-Khalil, at noon Wednesday, locals told the PIC. They said that IOF soldiers escorted bulldozers that knocked down two houses made of asbestos in addition to a number of tents and animal enclosures and other installations.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Photos: Tractors and water tanks confiscated in Al Maleh
JVS 21 June — On the morning on 21st June 2012 the Occupation forces have once again came to the Bedouin community of Al Maleh and are confiscating water tanks and tractors. More information to follow.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=446:

State seeks High Court extension on Givat Assaf
Ynet 22 June — Government requests another extension on eviction of illegal West Bank outpost in order to review ’new data’ at Ministerial committee on settlements ... The eviction was originally set to take place in July 2012, but the new request sets February 2013 as the first possible date.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4245958,00.html

Beit El land deal was based on forged documents, probe finds
Haaretz 22 June — According to documents the wives of head of the Beit El yeshiva and of a National Union MK bought land together from a dead Palestinian.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/beit-el-land-deal-was-based-on-forged-documents-probe-finds-1.440308

Israel settlers agree to leave West Bank enclave
AP 21 June — Israel’s government said Thursday that 30 Jewish families have consented to leave an unauthorized West Bank settler outpost, suggesting their court-ordered evacuation could proceed peacefully ... The Israeli Supreme Court gave the government until July 1 to dismantle the Ulpana enclave, which was built on privately held Palestinian land. Israel considers such construction illegal, while authorizing construction elsewhere on West Bank lands the Palestinians claim for a future state. The five apartment buildings where the settlers live are to be uprooted and moved to a site nearby. The government said in a statement that it would ask the court for three months to move the buildings.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/21/israel-settlers-agree-to-leave-west-bank-enclave/

Ahead of West Bank outpost evacuations, the IDF gets some help from the police
Haaretz 22 June — The police’s operations chief, Nissim Mor, met this week with his counterpart in the Israel Defense Forces, Yaakov Ayish, to work out a deal. The main item they discussed was the evacuation of neighborhoods in disputed areas of the West Bank. One flash point, of course, is the Beit El settlement’s Ulpana neighborhood; it’s unclear whether an agreement with the local residents will be honored or whether newcomers will try to settle there. Another flash point is the settlement of Migron. The IDF is the sovereign power in the territories; the police operate there as assistants. Within the Green Line, the lines of authority are the opposite, as is the case in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which Israel has annexed. But in other places, the lines are unclear; for example, police roadblocks near the border, or areas closed off by an IDF regional commander. Drawing conclusions from past pullouts, the IDF would like to fob off responsibility for uprooting settlers to the police. No thanks, the police say.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/ahead-of-west-bank-outpost-evacuations-the-idf-gets-some-help-from-the-police.premium-1.440404

Settlers demand to cancel lecture by Att. Michael Sfard
AIC 22 June — Yehuda Eliyahu of the settlers association "Regavim" sent a letter to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, Friday, asking him to immediately cancel a lecture on "Innovations in Land Law" by attorney Michael Sfard, scheduled for an upcoming in-service seminar for state attorneys. According to Regavim association Attorney Sfard is unfit for the lecture because he represents human rights organizations.
http://alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/news-updates/4627-settlers-demand-to-cancel-lecture-by-att-michael-sfard-.html

Violence / Raids / Arrests / Provocations

PCHR Weekly Report: 10 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers this week [14-20 June]
IMEMC 22 June — ...Israeli settlement activities: In the West Bank, on 17 June 2012, two Palestinians were killed by an Israeli settler south of Hebron ... On 17 June 2012, a number of Israeli settlers from “Qidoumim” settlement, northeast of Qalqilya, set fire to an area of agricultural land in Kufor Qaddoum village ... On 18 June 2012, Israeli forces handed notices ordering the demolition of four houses in Sha‘ab al-Sair area near ’Karmi Tsur’ settlement in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron ... On 19 June 2012, Israeli settlers set fire to Zaid Ben Hareth Mosque in Jaba‘ village, northeast of Jerusalem.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank: Israeli forces conducted 54 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 17 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children....Full Report
http://www.imemc.org/article/63774

IOF soldiers engage in clashes with civilians in Al-Khalil village
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 21 June — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed Doura village in Al-Khalil on Thursday and engaged in violent clashes with civilians, eyewitnesses said. They told the PIC reporter that a number of IOF jeeps stormed the city from three axes as military ambulances escorted by a patrol stationed near a building in Abu Hilal area. The witnesses said that the IOF jeeps roamed the village streets and fired teargas canisters and metal bullets at the villagers who tried to confront them.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Hundreds of settlers break into Yussef’s Tomb performing Talmudic rituals
NABLUS (PIC) 21 June — Eyewitnesses said that 15 military vehicles stormed the eastern part of Nablus, and headed towards Yussef’s tomb to secure the entry of buses and cars carrying hundreds of Jewish settlers who came to perform religious Talmudic rituals. The sources affirmed that the occupation forces fired stun grenades and tear gas against Palestinian houses in the area. They continued in their rituals till the morning hours, using loudspeakers and loud music during their prayers, caused great nuisance to the residents who threw stones and empty bottles as a response to their provocation.
It should be noted that the Israeli settlers have repeatedly stormed the Tomb which was an Islamic mosque built over a tomb of an Islamic Sheikh named Youssef Dweikat from the town of Balata. It was seized by Israeli settlers just after the occupation of the West Bank in 1967 under the pretext that it contains Tomb of Prophet Youssef.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa draws fire
RAMALLAH (ArabNews) 23 June — Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch of rightist Israel Beiteinu party, who made headlines last week for racist remarks about Arabs, paid a visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday, prompting condemnation from Palestinian religious leaders. According to Aharonovitch’s media adviser, Tal Harel, he went to Islam’s third holiest site to review police deployments in the flashpoint area. He said the visit was a routine tour of the site, lasting some two hours. “The intention of the visit was to see how the police would deploy in case of an emergency,” Tal Harel said.
During the visit, Aharonovitch entered the mosque, which sits in a complex in the Old City known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif. Aharonovitch said the visit was coordinated with Muslim authorities, a remark contradicted by the city’s leading cleric. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein responded angrily, calling the tour a "provocative entry to the holy site, which may complicate the sensitive situation."
http://www.arabnews.com/node/325641

Jihad proposes formation of popular committees to protect mosques
RAMALLAH (PIC) 20 June — Islamic Jihad movement has proposed the formation of popular committees to protect mosques in face of Jewish settlers’ attacks. Jihad, in a statement on Tuesday, described the latest arson attack on Jaba‘ mosque near Ramallah as a "crime", and the latest incident in a series of attacks on the Palestinian people and their holy shrines.
The movement charged that the settlers’ attacks were protected by the Israeli occupation forces, and hence held the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for such aggressions.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli soldier fires gun to terrorize nine-year-old boy
[with video] Elect. Int. 21 June by Adri Nieuwhof — An Israeli soldier fired at a bag to terrorize a nine-year-old Palestinian after the boy was unable to open it, according to a new report. Defence for Children International (DCI) in Palestine has published the report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children. The report - which covers the period of October 2002 to May 2012 – was submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 4 June ... The video above illustrates the behavior of Israeli soldiers and settlers towards Palestinian children. It was made in 2009 and tells the story of 16-year-old Jameel from occupied Hebron. Jameel testifies about his arrest by Israeli soldiers while he accompanied two electricians to his home. Jameel was beaten by the soldiers and taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a checkpoint nearby. He was forced to stand near the checkpoint while a group of 40 to 50 settlers threw stones and brutally beat him. When the soldier in command appeared, he released Jameel. However, he threatened Jameel not to talk about what had happened; otherwise he would personally kill Jameel.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/israeli-soldier-fires-gun-terrorize-nine-year-old-boy

Palestinian from Jaffa badly wounded in blade attack by Jewish fanatics
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 21 June — Extremist Jewish settlers on Thursday morning stabbed a Palestinian young man from Jaffa city causing him a serious injury. A Palestinian source said the Palestinian young man was stabbed by three Jewish settlers while he was working inside his shop in Rishon Lezion city. The source added that the young man was badly wounded in the upper part of his body and was transferred to Asaf Harofeh hospital. The Israeli occupation police claimed in a press release that that a group of Jews quarreled with the owner of the store and stabbed the young man before they fled the scene.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

The IOF arrest 16 citizens in occupied West Bank
RAMALLAH/GAZA,(PIC) 21 June — IOF troops arrested at dawn on Thursday, 16 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Local sources in West Bank said that Israeli Occupation Forces have stormed Al-Khalil and Ramallah and Jenin, where they carried out search and raid campaigns that affected dozens of homes before arresting several citizens.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Occupation arrests three Palestinians in Al-Khalil and Bethlehem
RAMALLAH (PIC) 22 June — Occupation forces arrested two boys at dawn on Friday after raiding their homes in the town of Beit Ommar and Arrub camp north of Al-Khalil in the West Bank, while the third citizen was arrested at a military checkpoint west of Bethlehem in the West Bank.
The occupation forces raided at dawn the towns of Bani Naim and Dora where they deployed in the neighborhoods for several hours.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

PA security arrest 4 Hamas supporters
OCCUPIED WEST BANK (PIC) 20 June — The PA Preventive Security arrested four supporters of Hamas in Al-Khalil and Tubas, including two students affiliated with the Islamic bloc, while the occupation detained an ex-prisoner in PA jails in Tulkarm. Sources from the Islamic bloc at Al-Khalil University stated that the Preventive Security arrested the bloc’s spokesman at the University, Ala al-Zakazik, from Surif town north of al-Khalil, noting that Ala is a liberated captive from occupation jails and was previously detained by PA’s apparatuses during the election campaign of the students’ blocks at the university and was then released thanks to the intervention of the Freedoms Committee ... In addition, the preventive security also arrested another student in the technical college of Arroub, Alaa Yousef Halaiqa who is an ex-prisoner in the Israeli jails, after raiding his home in the east of al-Shouyoukh town, his family stated. Meanwhile, the PA General Intelligence arrested, in Surif town north of al-Khalil, the youth Bahaa Eddin Yousef Ar’ar, a liberated captive who served four years in occupation jails.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Gaza

Medics: 1 killed as Israel bombs Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — An Israeli airstrike on Friday killed one man in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. Israel warplanes bombed an area east of al-Bureij camp, signaling an end to an Egyptian-brokered truce reached Wednesday. Qassem Abdullah Ahmad, 24, was killed and two people were injured in the strike, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said ... In Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees said the man killed in the attack belonged to their group.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497745

Israeli forces detain 6 fishermen off Gaza coast
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 June — Israeli forces detained six fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, a local official said. Mahfouz al-Kabariti, Chairman of the Palestinian Association for Fishing and Marine Sports, said in a statement that Israeli troops detained six fishermen from three boats near Beit Lahiya ... The incident was Israel’s 14th attack on fishermen over the last month, Kabariti said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497354

Hamas says ready for truce
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 20 June — Hamas’ military wing said on Wednesday it was ready to sign up to an Egyptian-brokered truce to end cross-border fighting after Israeli air strikes killed eight Palestinians in three days. In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades said: "Responding to the Egyptian efforts, we and the armed resistance announce our commitment to stop this round of confrontation as long as the occupation stops this aggression." Israel had no immediate comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497263

Islamic Jihad ’committed to truce’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 June — Islamic Jihad is committed to a truce with Israel in the interests of the Palestinian people, politburo member Sheikh Nafeth Azzam said Thursday. Islamic Jihad’s military wing the Al-Quds Brigades did not announce any rocket fire into Israel in the recent escalation in violence, although two of its members were killed in an Israeli airstrike on northern Gaza on Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497585

Militant groups claim rocket fire despite truce talk
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 June — Nine rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, Israel’s army said ... No damage or injuries were reported. Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, fired eight rockets at Israel before midnight on Wednesday, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The Popular Resistance Committee’s military wing, the Nasser al-Salah al-Din Brigades, said it had fired three missiles at southern Israel overnight, but said it will commit to a truce as long as Israel does. A lesser-known Gaza-based faction, the al-Mujahedin Brigades, also claimed responsibility for rocket fire overnight Wednesday, as did the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, the Jihad Jibril Brigades, Ma‘an’s correspondent said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497344

PFLP brigades ’fired 8 rockets into Israel’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 June — Militants in Gaza said they fired eight rockets into Israel on Thursday afternoon, after Hamas’ military wing agreed to a truce overnight Wednesday ... Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire at civilians from a military tower in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. No injuries were reported ... Israel had no immediate comment. It customarily avoids responding whenever intermediaries reach an accord with Gaza militants as Israel refuses to recognize them citing the Islamists’ refusal to acknowledge Israel’s existence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497497

Remembering Mamoun, killed by an Israeli missile as he played football
Elect. Int. 22 June by Rami Almeghari — "I can never forget his image with blood all over his little body and both his legs badly injured," Umm Mamoun Hassouna told The Electronic Intifada as she sat at a relative’s house in Gaza City. "I am a preacher [for women] at a local mosque and used to preach against harming innocent Israeli children, women or the elderly, and even cutting down a tree," she said. "After I have seen my son killed by an Israeli warplane in front of my eyes, I wonder what my only son did against Israel [for them to] kill him," Umm Mamoun added. Thirteen-year-old Mamoun Zuhdi al-Dam was killed on Wednesday, 20 June, during an Israeli attack on Gaza ... At approximately 3pm, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at members of a Palestinian family who were having a picnic behind the campus of the University College of Applied Sciences in the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa. As a result, Mamoun al-Dam was killed. His blind father, Muhammad Zuhdi al-Dam, 67, was wounded by shrapnel to the head and the neck.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/remembering-mamoun-killed-israeli-missile-he-played-football/11434

2 killed, many injured by collapse of bombed-out buildings in Gaza
GAZA (WAFA) 21 June– Two Palestinians were killed and more than 15 injured on Thursday as the bombed-out buildings by Israeli warplanes collapsed while residents were checking what was left of their properties in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza, according to medical sources. Sources at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya said the site collapsed killing Mohammad al-Khaldi, 23, and Thaer al-Baik, 32, and injuring more than 15 Palestinians.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20116

Brigades: 2 Hamas militants die inspecting bombed tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 June — Two Hamas militants died Thursday after inhaling gas in a tunnel bombed by Israel two days earlier, the Al-Qassam Brigades said. Thaer al-Bik, 30, and Muhammad al-Khalidi, 26, on Thursday went to inspect a tunnel in northern Gaza that was damaged Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike, the brigades said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497454

12 injured in tunnel accident
IMEMC 21 June — Palestinian medical sources reported that twelve residents were wounded, on Thursday before noon, after a siege-busting tunnel collapsed, east of the Sheikh Zayed area in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Quds Net News Agency reported that twelve residents were rescued from the rubble and transferred to Kamal Adwan Hospital suffering moderate injuries. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in similar tunnel incidents, and more than 800 have been injured since 2006.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63770

Israeli gunboats ’shell Gaza beach’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — Israeli gunboats shelled a beach in northern Gaza late Thursday night, witnesses said. The shelling caused two explosions but not injuries were reported, a Ma‘an correspondent said.
The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it fired four rockets from Gaza on Friday. An Israeli army spokeswoman said two rockets landed in southern Israel, causing no injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497690

Collective wedding of seriously injured Palestinians in Gaza
MEMO 22 June — EXCLUSIVE PICTURES The collective wedding of 50 seriously injured Palestinians has been held in the Gaza Strip. Sponsored by an Italian charity, the event took place on Thursday under the heading of "The victory of the will". All of the grooms who took part are Palestinians who have suffered terrible injuries sustained during Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip. Some of them have serious problems such as paralysis, blindness and amputated limbs. A spokesman for the organising charity and other speakers said that the celebration is a form of defiance of Israel’s punitive measures against the besieged territory.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/3913-collective-wedding-of-seriously-injured-palestinians-in-gaza

A child killed and 5 others wounded due to the accidental landing of homemade rockets on their houses when Palestinian resistance groups launched rockets on Israeli targets
PCHR 21 June — The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is deeply concerned about the killing of Hadeel Haddad, and the wounding of five others, as 5 home-made rockets have landed on 4 houses and an empty area of land in several parts of the Gaza Strip in the past few days. PCHR calls upon the government in Gaza to seriously investigate these incidents, and to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of civilian life and the safety of their property. According to investigations conducted by PCHR and testimony from eyewitnesses, at approximately 07:30 on Tuesday, 19 June 2012, Hadeel Ahmed Sa‘eed al-Haddad (1.5) was struck in the head by shrapnel while she was standing in the entrance of the house of her grandfather...
In Deir al-Balah, at approximately 08:00 on Wednesday, 20 June 2012, a home-made rocket exploded in the vicinity of land belonging to Abu Khattab family on Salah al-Deen Street, south of Deir al-Balah. As a result of the explosion, Yahia Mohammed Abu Khattab’s (16) left shoulder was wounded by shrapnel...
In Rafah, at approximately 20:30 on Tuesday, 19 June 2012, a home-made rocket landed on the house of Suleiman Abed Rabbu Abu Shabab, in al-Nasser village, southwest of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. As a result, the house sustained damage and its 15 residents were terrified...
Previously, at approximately 21:50 on Monday, 18 June 2012, a home-made rocket landed on the house of ‘Azzam Yusef Hamad on al-Qurman Street, east of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. As a result, 3 of Hamad’s children were wounded
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8561

Amid growing poverty, payment card provides dignity, nutrition for some Gaza families
Gaza City (EI) 19 June by Rami Almeghari — Aida Abu Jabal and Fadel Abuelatta were among the customers shopping at al-Ailat grocery store in the Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City around midday on a recent Monday. It was a perfectly ordinary scene, except that instead of paying for their purchases with cash, they were using their blue Sahtein payment cards. Sahtein — an Arabic expression equivalent to ’bon appetit’ or ’to your health’ — is the name of a card scheme funded by the UN’s World Food Program and administered by the UK-based development organization Oxfam along with the Palestinian group Ma’an Development Center. "This card has been very beneficial for the past six months. Prior to receiving it, I used to line up in a long queue to get a sack of flour for my five children," Abu Jabal told The Electronic Intifada as she packed eggs, yogurt, lentils and rice into her bag. "But now, I come every week to this grocery store to buy a variety of things, as you see."
http://electronicintifada.net/content/amid-growing-poverty-payment-card-provides-dignity-nutrition-some-gaza-families/11411

Al-Wafa aid convoy arrives to Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 21 June — Al-Wafa 2 aid convoy arrived to the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing, on Wednesday evening, received by several senior government officials and representatives of civil society. Sources at Rafah crossing affirmed that the convoy, organized by the Charitable Association for Supporting Palestinian People (ABSPP) in Italy, includes 23 solidarity activists from Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Mohammed Hanoun, the convoy’s coordinator stated that the convoy came to complete the Al-Wafa 1 vital projects that were launched from the European continent from 27 February until 2 March to the Gaza Strip, under the European Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Palestinian.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Latest health hazard in Gaza: water that’s not fit to drink
Brisbane Times 23 June — TOO contaminated to drink and never in continuous supply because of the hours-long daily power shortages, the water in Gaza is causing widespread, chronic health problems and contributing to high rates of child mortality. One of the most densely populated places in the world - its population of 1.6 million people crowds more than 4545 inhabitants per square kilometre - Gaza is in the grip of a water crisis that will affect the health of its residents for years, a new report warns.http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/latest-health-hazard-in-gaza-water-thats-not-fit-to-drink-20120622-20tj0.html

Mysterious policy seeks meaningful explanation for long-term commitment
Gisha — Gaza Gateway 21 June — It was just this week that we discovered that the National Security Council’s plan for easing the closure was never raised for discussion by the cabinet, and we now learn of another instance where an important policy has never came up for public debate. An officer involved in coordination with the Palestinian Authority told the Jewish Chronicle that the purpose of the separation policy is to "stop Hamas from infiltrating the West Bank". The officer added that, "The two ways of preventing Hamas personnel and ideology from entering [the West Bank] are not allowing commercial ties or movement of civilians". How does banning the sale of strawberries prevent Hamas from infiltrating the West Bank or how does separating families and forbidding students from travelling stop ideology from being disseminated, especially given this is the age of the internet? This is the third explanation we have heard so far justifying the separation policy and yet still, there has been no public debate about this policy and the impact it has on the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2012/06/mysterious-policy-seeks-meaningful-explanation-for-long-term-commitment/

Hunger strikes / Detention / Court actions

Outrage as Israel breaks prisoner agreement
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 June — Prisoner rights group Addameer on Thursday said it was outraged by Israel’s decision to renew the administrative detention of a former hunger striker. Hassan Safadi ended a 71-day hunger strike on May 14 after Israel promised not to renew his detention without charge or trial. Israel’s decision to renew Safadi’s administrative detention by six months "is a blatant violation of the agreement between the prisoners’ hunger strike committee and Israeli officials," Addameer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=497473

Palestinian who went 71 days without food restarts hunger strike after Israel breaches deal to free him
Elec. Int. 21 June by Ali Abunimah — Hassan Safadi, who ended a 71 day hunger strike on 14 May, restarted his hunger strike today after Israel blatantly breached a deal to free him from so-called “administrative detention” in which he is held without charge or trial. Prisoners’ rights group Addameer issued the following urgent release a short time ago: Urgent: Hunger striker’s administrative detention order renewed in violation of recent agreement.
Note: following publication of this press release, Addameer lawyer Fares Ziad phoned after visiting Hadarim prison and confirmed that Hassan Safadi has re-launched his hunger strike and is currently being held in solitary confinement in Hadarim.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinian-who-went-71-days-without-food-restarts-hunger-strike-after-israel

Another Palestinian political prisoner near death as the ’battle of the stomachs’ rages
Mondoweiss 21 June by Ira Glunts — ...Akram Rikhawi, who has been on a hunger-strike for 71 days, is in imminent danger of death. Rikhawi is requesting that the Israeli Prison Service release him on humanitarian grounds due to declining health. Rikhawi, who has long suffered from asthma and diabetes, has been in an Israeli prison since 2004. The Palestinian prisoner rights organization, Addameer, is demanding that Rikhawi be immediately admitted to a civilian hospital so that he may receive the appropriate care. According to a June 20th posting on the Addameer web site: Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) reiterate their grave concern for Akram Rikhawi...
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/another-palestinian-political-prisoner-near-death-as-the-battle-of-the-stomachs-rages.html

Political detainees go on hunger strike to demand their release from PA jails
RAMALLAH (PIC) 21 June — The families of five political prisoners being held by the Palestinian Authority intelligence agency in Jericho city said their sons went on indefinite hunger strike on Wednesday morning to demand their release. According to the families, Mohamed Al-Atrash, Mohamed Abu Hadid, Othman Qawasmi and Moatassem Natsheh from Al-Khalil city and Islam Hamed from Ramallah city all received release orders from courts more than one year ago, but the PA intelligence agency still refuses to release them from Jericho jail...
In another incident, a number of families in Al-Khalil city accused the PA preventive security of maltreating their relatives and fabricating charges against them. Samar Dweik, the wife of political prisoner Ghassan Karja, said she was able to attend the court hearing of her husband on Wednesday morning and was shocked to see him in a poor health condition. Ghassan Karja and 30 others citizens affiliated with Hamas Movement were kidnapped earlier this month by the PA security apparatuses in Halhoul town north of Al-Khalil.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Ofer military court renews administrative detention of MP Salhab
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 20 June — The Israeli military court in Ofer on Wednesday agreed to the military prosecutor’s request for renewing the administrative detention of MP Azzam Salhab. Family of the lawmaker told the PIC that the Israeli intelligence officer in Al-Khalil had demanded a two-month extension of Salhab’s administrative custody. The Israeli occupation forces detained Salhab, from Al-Khalil, on 2/3/2011 after storming his home, and his custody, without charge, was renewed for four times.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOA extends administrative detention of journalist
NABLUS (PIC) 21 June — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has extended the administrative detention of the journalist and blogger Amin Abu Warda for four months. Lawyer Mohammed Abed said that the renewal of the detention was for the last time as agreed upon in an arrangement with the Israeli military prosecution. Abu Warda, who was supposed to be released by end of this month, would be released by the end of October.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Occupation renews administrative detention of Abu Ras
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 June — The Israeli military court at the Ofer military detention center west of Ramallah renewed the administrative detention of Walid Abu Ras the Finance and Administration Manager for the Health Work Committees (HWC) for the third time running.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Abu Zuhri denounces American attempt to question Barghouthi
GAZA (PIC) 21 June — Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, has condemned the attempt by American officials to question detained commander of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, Abdullah Al-Barghouthi. Abu Zuhri, in a press release on Thursday, denounced the American interrogators who tried to assault and insult Barghouthi in his Israeli jail. He also hailed Barghouthi for refusing to cooperate with the American interrogators. The spokesman described the American attempt as a serious development in the American intervention alongside Israel against Palestinian resistance.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Health of prisoner Alaa Hassouna badly deteriorated
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 21 June — The Palestinian prisoner center confirmed the serious deterioration of the prisoner Alaa Hassouna’s health, detained since 2004, in light of the deliberate medical neglect by the Ramla Prison administration where he is serving an 8-year sentence ... he underwent a heart surgery in 2007. The prisoner needs regular medical checkups every six months, "Assaf Harofe" hospital doctors said, however the Israeli prison administration refused to do so and did not provide medical care for him.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

A prisoner in Gilboa suffering from Mediterranean Fever
RAMALLAH (PIC) 22 June — The prisoner Alaa Adib Abdul-Jabbar Shuraitah was suffering from symptoms of Familial Mediterranean Fever, Tadamon Foundation for Human Rights revealed. According to Ahmed Betawi, a researcher at Tadamon Foundation, the prisoner Shuraitah (33 years) has been suffering from Familial Mediterranean fever that is causing him chest pain attacks, abdominal pain, joints pain, usually accompanied with fever, in addition to skin reactions. He pointed out that if prisoner Shuraitah is not be provided with an urgent and effective treatment, he might start suffering other complications as hepatomegaly (enlargement of the liver) and acute kidney inflammation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Ofer court passes suspended sentence against female student.
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 21 June — The Israeli military court in Ofer on Wednesday passed a four-month suspended sentence against Islam Bashiti, university student from Beit Ola village to the north of Al-Khalil. Islam’s family told the PIC reporter that the sentence was suspended for five years, adding that they should pay a fine of 7000 shekels in order for their daughter to be released from custody. Israeli occupation forces arrested Islam, 22, from her home on 18/4/2012. She is a student at Polytechnic Palestine.
The same court had also passed a suspended sentenced against Palestinian activist Muhanad Al-Haymoni for nine months. The sentence was suspended for one year. The court also sentenced his brother Muaz to four months along with a 5000 shekels fine.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Herak Shababi Solidarity actions in Wadi Qana
[photos] 21 June — Around 160 Palestinian youths attended a day of voluntary activities in Wadi Qana, a valley in the Salfit district. Stop the Wall called for this activity in order to carry out environmental and agricultural work for the benefit of the Palestinian citizens and the surrounding landscape. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) closed the valley to prevent more volunteers from reaching the valley. They also tried to stop the work by volunteers who had already entered the valley
Wadi Qana, located close to the village of Deir Istiya, was one of the first areas in the West Bank to be ethnically cleansed of Palestinians after the Occupation began in 1967. Considered one of the most beautiful spots in Palestine, it has had its nature devastated and polluted by the Israeli settlement project. Once famous for its lush nature, eleven natural springs and fertile agricultural land, the valley spans around 10,000 dunams planted predominantly with citrus trees. Today, however, Wadi Qana is almost completely isolated by the Wall and is surrounded by 9 settlements with a total population of over ten thousand settlers. Most of its springs are unusable because of the pollution caused by the untreated waste and sewage water that is pumped into the land and water reserves from these settlements.
http://stopthewall.org/2012/06/21/herak-shababi-solidarity-actions-wadi-qana

Youth solidarity actions - Al Walaja
[photos] 21 June — A group of more than 60 Palestinian youths participated in a trip to the village of al Walaja, to the west of Bethlehem, on Friday 15th June 2012 in order to reach out to the local community and to enhance the Palestinian presence in the area which has experienced much land confiscation, settler violence and repression by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) over the years ... The activities commenced at the Cremisan Monastery from where the group walked towards the village, through an area of outstanding natural beauty, full of a wide variety of fruit trees and much other greenery. The view of the horizon, however, was a grim reminder of the Israeli occupation, as the settlement of Gilo can be seen in the distance ... When a famous quote of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, is recalled "the old will die, the young will forget", the importance of such projects as this is drawn into sharp relief. The effect of the arrival of such a large group of Palestinian youths entering the area immediately resulted in a heightened presence of the IOF, and as they walked to the Hanieh spring, they found soldiers blocking their path. Settlers could be seen in the distance relaxing at the spring which has been an essential natural resource for Palestinians living in the area for generations.
http://stopthewall.org/2012/06/21/youth-solidarity-actions-al-walaja

Existence is Resistance: continued settlement expansion in Beit Ommar
PSP 21 June — The appropriation of land from Palestinians in Beit Ommar began in 1984, when the Israeli state authorized the creation of the settlement Karmei Tzur on over 250 dunams (over sixty acres) of Palestinian farmland. Palestinians had used this area to grow plums and grapes, and with the construction of the settlement, Beit Ommar farmers lost both their land and their source of income. Palestinians in Beit Ommar and throughout the West Bank lost even more land in 2006 with the construction of the so -called “Security Fence” which allowed settlers to annex a further 600 dunams (over 150 acres) of Palestinian land and cut off many more Palestinians from their lands ... most Palestinians are allowed to cross the barrier only twice a year to plow and harvest their produce, while many are prevented from visiting their farms at all ... Even where the separation barrier does not divide Palestinians from their farms, they are often blocked from visiting or working their land by settlers and soldiers who routinely harass, beat, and even kill Palestinians as they tend their crops ... In response to these confiscations and human rights abuses, the Popular Committee of Beit Ommar together with the Center for Freedom and Justice launched an agricultural project in order to support Palestinian farmers. So far this ongoing project, funded by local and international donations, has helped Beit Ommar residents build three greenhouses and plant over 1,000 olive and fruit trees.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/06/21/existence-is-resistance-continued-settlement-expansion-in-beit-ommar/

Bienvenue en Palestine / Welcome to Palestine
From Sam Bahour: Please join the new Welcome to Palestine mission that will take place from 24 to 31 August 2012. This time visitors will try to arrive in the West Bank through Jordan and the land crossing. Translated: Since Israeli officials said publicly last April (see video on this site) that we had been blocked because we wanted to go through the Tel Aviv airport to get to the West Bank although the appropriate route, according to them, would have been via Jordan and the Allenby Bridge, we decided to take them at their word.
http://bienvenuepalestine.com/

BDS Roundup: Zakir Hussain cancels performances in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Elect. Int. 19 June by Nora — In this week’s roundup of news from the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement: Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain cancels his performances following appeals by BDS campaigners in India and Palestine; boycott activists in the Middle East urge Cirque du Soleil to cancel their show in Israel; Punks Against Apartheid appeal to the Red Hot Chili Peppers not to cross the picket line; Gaza families demand that the British Queen remove a blood diamond display in Tower of London; and student activists in Gaza seek to expand their solidarity and strategies with international students.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/bds-roundup-zakir-hussain-cancels-performances-tel-aviv-and-jerusalem

The Electronic Intifada Weekly Podcast — 21 June 2012
This week on The Electronic Intifada podcast, Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak ends his epic three-month hunger strike after Israel agrees to free him next month, but other Palestinian prisoners remain on months-long hunger strikes, we’ll have up-to-date reports; also, Palestinians in Lebanon rise up in protest at military murder of a young refugee in Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, we’ll speak to our correspondent Moe Ali Nayel in Beirut; amid growing poverty, a new payment card provides dignity and essential nutrition to thousands of Gaza families hit hardest by the ongoing Israeli blockade; Israel uses the ongoing investigation of last year’s murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis as a pretext to arrest and harass his colleagues at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin; and news from the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/electronic-intifada-weekly-podcast-21-june-2012

It’s not just TIAA-CREF — leading Wall Street firm drops Caterpillar from ’socially responsible’ investment list / Adam Horowitz
Mondoweiss 21 June — More major news on the Caterpillar divestment front. One of Wall Street’s leading investment advisers has stripped Caterpillar from its recommended list of "socially-responsible" companies — apparently because of Caterpillar’s service to the Israeli occupation. The news comes from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation ... According to the MSCI website, the World Socially Responsible Index "eliminates all companies in the parent index that are involved in nuclear power, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, military weapons, civilian firearms, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and adult entertainment."
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/its-not-just-tiaa-cref-leading-wall-street-adviser-drops-caterpillar-from-socially-responsible-investment-index.html

BDS victory: TIAA-CREF drops Caterpillar from social choice funds
Mondoweiss 21 June by Adam Horowitz — The We Divest Campaign sent out the following press release: June 21, 2012- Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed Caterpillar, Inc. from its Social Choice Funds portfolio. As of May 1, 2012, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF’s website valued Social Choice Funds shares in Caterpillar at $72,943,861. Today it is zero.
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/bds-victory-tiaa-cref-drops-caterpillar-from-social-choice-funds.html

Norway’s pension fund divests from Israel’s largest real estate firm
Elect. Int. 19 June by Michael Deas — Norway’s finance ministry has excluded Shikun & Binui from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the largest pension fund in Europe, over its construction of illegal Israeli colonies in East Jerusalem. Analysts have described the company as Israel’s largest real estate business. The Norwegian government has previously divested from Israeli military company Elbit, as well as Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus, two other construction companies involved in building illegal settlements. The two divestment announcements followed large international campaigns.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-deas/norways-pension-fund-divests-israels-largest-real-estate-firm

Scots parliament urged to end grant to controversial Israel firm
PNN 21 June — A Palestinian human rights group launched a campaign today, Thursday 21st June, to get MSPs’ support to end a £200,000 Scottish Enterprise grant to the UK branch of a controversial Israeli water cooler company. Israel’s Eden Springs is accused of breaching international law by operating and sourcing its water in the Golan area of Syria, land illegally occupied by Israel since 1967. The firm has recently expanded into Europe, operating in this country as Eden Springs UK.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/1991-scots-parliament-urged-to-end-grant-to-controversial-israel-firm

Italy funds restoration of Crusade multi-function hall
SABASTIYA (NABLUS), June 21, 2012 (WAFA)- The project "renovation and management of a [Crusader-era] multi-function hall" in Sabastiya, a village northwest of Nablus was presented to the local population and guests from the international community, a press release issued by the Italian Consulate General in Jerusalem said on Thursday. The project was funded by the Italian Government and the Consulate General of Italy in Jerusalem through the Palestinian Municipalities Support Program (PMSP) in partnership with Lombardy Region, Associazione di Terra Santa (ATS) and the Jericho Mosaic Center, it said ... The new conference hall will host conferences and conventions of international organizations and will be completed by July ... Since the re-launching of the PMSP activities in 2008, 11 projects in the cultural heritage and tourism sector have been implemented for a total amount of approximately 3.8 million Euros; 6 projects were implemented in Bethlehem, one in Hebron, two projects in East Jerusalem, one project in Tulkarem municipality and another project in Sabastiya municipality ... In Hebron, the rehabilitation of the Turkish bath in the Old City as a visitor center will start soon, it said.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20114

New "Green Israel" ads on CNN greenwash sewage of occupation and apartheid
[with video] Elect. Int. 22 June by Ali Abunimah — The Israeli government is launching a new international propaganda campaign, featuring ads on CNN International, that seeks to brand Israel as a haven of green technologies and environmentalism. But don’t expect the campaign to talk about the environmental catastrophes brought about by Israeli occupation and apartheid.
The campaign, which includes sponsorship of CNN International’s world weather bulletins, is being launched to coincide with the UN’s Rio +20 Summit on Sustainable Development.
Some of the things the Green Israel ad campaign is unlikely to talk about: ...Because of Israeli discrimination, Palestinians face severe shortages of water, a report from Amnesty International found. The fact that 95 percent of Gaza’s water is unfit for human consumption due to Israel’s siege and military attacks, and the use of desalination technology as a means to further isolate Gaza. The frequent contamination of Palestinian villages by flows of raw sewage from Israeli settlements; The systematic destruction of trees to facilitate settler takeover of land, such as in Wadi Qana, an area of rare natural beauty that is now also awash in settler sewage. The threat of destruction of the West Bank village of Battir’s ancient irrigation and ecosystem by Israel’s colonization and apartheid wall – which has led to an emergency application to UNESCO to try to save the area.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-green-israel-ads-cnn-greenwash-sewage-occupation-and-apartheid

Israeli Racism / Sexism / Discrimination

World Refugee Week: a community deported, in pictures
972mag 22 June - Text by Yotam Gidron — Refugees and their supporters in Tel Aviv mark World Refugee Day on Friday. But amidst what is meant to be a celebratory event hangs a strong sense of unease, as Israel tightens its immigration policies, threatening to deport those who seek protection and to jail the ones it cannot expel. Last week, Israel began aggressive efforts to deport the entire South Sudanese community, which had enjoyed protection from deportation until now. Activestills documented the weeks leading up to their expulsion.
http://972mag.com/world-refugee-week-a-community-deported-in-pictures/49006/

Haredi men throw rocks at ’immodest’ woman and her baby in Beit Shemesh
Haaretz 21 June — Ultra-Orthodox Jews threw rocks on Wednesday in Beit Shemesh at a woman who was about to take her baby out of her car. Two women, also ultra-Orthodox, helped the woman and her 7-month-old infant to safety in a nearby store. No one was injured during the incident, but the car’s windows were damaged. Vered Daniel, 34, lives in a nearby community. She had come to buy baby products at a store where she is a regular customer, near the ultra-Orthodox part of town. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/haredi-men-throw-rocks-at-immodest-woman-and-her-baby-in-beit-shemesh.premium-1.440001?localLinksEnabled=false

Political / Diplomatic news

Chief Palestinian negotiator denies meeting Israeli official in America
MEMO 21 June — Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has denied meeting Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister while on a visit to Washington. He said that the issue of Palestine-Israel negotiations are still off the agenda.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/3909-chief-palestinian-negotiator-denies-meeting-israeli-official-in-america

Palestinians and the Egyptian elections
MEMO 22 June by Dr. Daud Abdullah — For the moment everything is on hold in Palestine. In the West Bank, as well as the Gaza Strip, there is a tense wait to see how things unfold in Egypt. Reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas are at a virtual standstill. Negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government are also frozen, despite claims by the latter that they will restart soon. The only constant in the equation are the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, an apparent overreach based on an expectancy that the soft coup in Egypt has been completed and the old order will be restored. To many Palestinians, this is the worst case scenario, that it will revive Egypt’s collaboration with Israel and lead to a reinforcement of the Gaza siege. These misgivings have been more or less shaped by the perception that Ahmad Shafiq was one of the staunchest supporters of Israel within the discredited Mubarak inner circle.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/commentary-and-analysis/3914-palestinians-and-the-egyptian-elections

Shafiq to be named president on Sunday, claim govt sources
Jadaliyya 22 June by Dina Ezzat — Egypt’s electoral body is set to announce Ahmed Shafiq as the country’s new president on Sunday evening, several government sources claimed. Western diplomats in Cairo also said they have heard similar predictions from Cabinet members over the last three days. A source in the current government said that Shafiq will be declared victor with 50.7 percent of the vote, in an outcome that is likely to be strongly disputed by the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohamed Mursi. Mursi’s campaign has previously shrugged off Shafiq’s claims of a victory, insisting they have compiled strong evidence to the contrary.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6149/shafiq-to-be-named-president-on-sunday-claim-govt-

Israeli embassy in Cairo ’remains homeless’
MEMO 21 June — Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it has been unable to find a new location for its embassy in Cairo, describing the diplomatic staff there as "homeless". The embassy was shut down last September after it was stormed by Egyptian demonstrators demanding an end to the Camp David peace agreement between the two countries. In a statement, the ministry said that it has been looking, without success, for a "more secure" location for its embassy ... the statement pointed out that due to the growing popular demands to cancel the bilateral peace treaty and close the embassy altogether, "no one in Egypt is ready to rent offices to the Israeli government for this purpose".
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/3908-israeli-embassy-in-cairo-remains-qhomelessq

British Consul General says Palestinian division must end
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 June —€“ British Consul General in Jerusalem Vincent Fean said on Wednesday that the division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip must end for the good of the Palestinian people.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20108

Other news

WATCH: Campaign video incites against Arab Americans
972mag 21 June by Mairav Zonszein — The campaign to get American citizens in Israel to vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections claims it is nonpartisan, despite its candid agenda of electing the most ‘pro-Israel’ president, its refusal to divulge its donors and a campaign manager clearly identified with the right. A newly released video inciting against Arab-Americans makes it even more difficult to believe they are neutral. As some readers may have noticed, I have been following a campaign called “iVoteIsrael,” which is essentially a well-funded nonprofit initiative lobbying American citizens living in Israel to vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
http://972mag.com/watch-campaign-video-incites-against-arab-americans/48925/

Hefer Valley synagogue defaced
Ynet 22 June — Graffiti praising the Prophet Muhammad were found on the walls of a synagogue in Moshav Maor in the Hefer Valley, on Thursday. The police have launched an investigation ... Ilan Sade, head of the Menashe Regional Council, denounced the vandalism, saying that the council will help the police find the perpetrators. "The council is home to Jews and Arabs, secular people and religious people. We cherish coexistence and mutual respect and we will ensure they continue." [US ABC News quotes police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld as saying the graffiti read, "There is no god but God"]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4245879,00.html

Soldier steals $1,000 from Turkish infiltrator
Ynet 21 June — An IDF reservist who was convicted of stealing $1,000 from a Turkish infiltrator who crossed Israel’s border with Egypt has been sentenced to six months of community service ... Judge Lt. Col. Maya Goldschmidt ordered the defendant to return the money and stated that stealing from an infiltrator who crossed the border is particularly serious crime.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4245797,00.html

Analysis / Opinion / Reviews

Film explores striking parallels between South African, Israeli apartheid / Abraham Greenhouse
EI 22 June — Roadmap to Apartheid, a feature-length documentary by filmmakers Ana Nogueira (a white South African) and Eron Davidson (a Jewish Israeli), is an extremely ambitious project that is largely successful in achieving the difficult goals it sets for itself. Not only is Roadmap the first documentary to offer an in-depth exploration of parallels between the South African and Israeli forms of apartheid, but it presents the material in such a way as to serve as a fairly comprehensive and accessible introduction for audiences with no prior exposure to the issue ... The sheer breadth of the aspects of Israeli and South African apartheid that the film explores and compares will likely exceed the expectations of many viewers. The filmmakers cover nearly everything: siege mentality colonialism, forced migration, checkpoints, passes, foreign natives, present absentees, partition and proxy rule, bombing and boycotts, bulldozers and Bantustans.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/film-explores-striking-parallels-between-south-african-israeli-apartheid/11433

’5 Broken Cameras’ — Can West Bank film change Israel? / Dan Ephron
Daily Beast 22 June — Unprovoked beatings and shootings — just miles from Tel Aviv. A look at the Palestinian documentary that aims to show Israelis what really happens on the other side of the divide ... The personal stories of Burnat, his son Gibreel, and a few other characters intersect with the harshness of Israel’s military rule in a storyline that manages to avoid sanctimony—the tiresome undertone of nearly all narratives here. But even with the film’s emphasis on plot over polemics and its almost dispassionate narration (in Arabic with subtitles), one gets the feeling that Israelis will not want to watch this movie. After so many failed attempts at peacemaking and so much bloodshed, most just aren’t in the mood for films about the occupation—a reality that, sadly, diminishes their impact.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/22/5-broken-cameras-can-west-bank-film-change-israel.html

Taking it out on Palestinians — Israeli-style
Al Akhbar (Lebanon) 22 June by Ibrahim al-Amin — Nobody following the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon can ignore the attempts being made to exploit the country’s Palestinian refugee camps. The camps are deeply affected by what is happening in Syria, as is the rest of Lebanon. Moreover, the political and security situation within them is such that no central authority can claim to be in control. A plethora of Islamist groups have been increasingly active in them. They have also been receiving growing numbers of ’Arab fighters’ who have been arriving at the camps in Lebanon, as elsewhere in the country, in connection with developments in Syria. While the Palestinians are expected to prevent the camps from erupting, and the Lebanese are supposed to work with them to prevent tensions flaring in their vicinities, none of the above justifies the new refrain we are hearing these days.
Political groups and security agencies, Lebanese and non-Lebanese, are rooting for the Palestinians to be subjected, once again, to bloody punishment. Over the course of the past three decades, the Palestinian refugees have been turned into Lebanon’s whipping boys.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/taking-it-out-palestiniansisraeli-style

Reflection of the struggle: Excentrik explores his Palestinian-American identity on new album / Alexander Billet
EI 19 June — ...Born Tarik Kazaleh, Excentrik is Palestinian-American. Though both of his parents were born in the US, his grandparents, aunts and uncles were born in Palestine. Kazaleh tells me in an interview that much of his life has been characterized by a search for where exactly the American ends and the Palestinian begins, or vice versa. “The name Now Here Nowhere is a reflection of that struggle — either in Palestine or the States I’ve felt a strange duality of identity, personally and musically,” Kazaleh says. As he was recording the album, even he was sometimes struck by how seamlessly the music of the West blended with Middle Eastern and Arab sounds.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/reflection-struggle-excentrik-explores-his-palestinian-american-identity-new-album/11420

Israel is not a Jewish state: On the destruction of Susya and the expulsion of South Sudanese / Moriel Rothman
HuffPost 20 June — ...Israel is not a Jewish state. Yes: Israel is a state in which people who are Jews are given more rights and privileges than people who are not Jews (let alone the Israeli-controlled West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the majority of non-Jews are barely given rights and privileges at all). Yes: Israel is a state in which archaic, hyper-masculine and exclusionary readings of Jewish texts are wielded against women and non-Orthodox Jews, as well as against non-Jews. But Israel is not a Jewish state in any value-based — or valuable — way. The Torah, the backbone of the Jewish people and religion, has a wide range of commandments and imperatives, some chauvinistic and some universalistic, some peaceful and some violent, some which contradict others. However, the most repeated commandment in the Torah, appearing in different forms 37 times, is the imperative to "love the stranger," for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. In addition to this religious dictate, Jews over history and throughout the centuries have learned in the most difficult — and sometimes horrific — ways what it means to be a stranger.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moriel-rothman/israel-is-not-a-jewish-state_b_1603422.html

A Jewish heart vs a Jewish state — choose the first, or we will lose both / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 21 June — How did we reach the point when the Jewish state — the state that runs on tank treads and blindness to occupation and acceptance of monopolistic, corrupt, klal yisrael-hating Orthodoxy — takes precedence over the Jewish heart? ... And who am I to say what’s Jewish about things like justice for non-Jews? Just a Jew. Nothing more, but unwilling to be seen as less. Just a Jew who’s had his fill of talk of Jewish survival through deportation, occupation, and belligerence. Not a pacifist. But a strong believer in true self-defense. We’re beginning to see that there’s a limit to the extent that this country can survive its own survival mechanisms.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/a-jewish-heart-vs-a-jewish-state-choose-the-first-or-we-will-lose-both.premium-1.440283

Liberal Israelis, it’s time to fight back / Carlo Strenger
Haaretz 22 June — Many in Israel are worried about the rise of Islamic regimes in our region. We should be no less worried by the theocratic tendencies in our own midst. We are at the point where influential figures like leading settler Benny Katzover and influential national-religious Rabbi Elyakim Levanon say openly that Israel’s democracy needs to give way to the rule of Jewish law. We have gotten used to the spectacle of secular politicians cowering before religious authorities just for the sake of getting their votes. This is rooted in the original sin of Israeli politics: the lack of a complete separation of state and religion ... I believe that it is time for Israel’s liberal seculars to learn from Dawkins and Hitchens, counterattack and show that our position is intellectually and morally better than that of our latter-day theocrats. We must show that modern science is vastly superior to any alternative attempt to understand the universe. We must not be afraid to say out loud that archeology shows that the famed kingdom of David and Solomon was nothing but a small tribal state with no relevance to running a modern state.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/liberal-israelis-its-time-to-fight-back.premium-1.440493#