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NAKBA permanente en Palestine

TO DAY in PALESTINE

Jeudi, 27 septembre 2012 - 6h37 AM

jeudi 27 septembre 2012

Le défi permanent à la communauté internationale et le mépris pour ses institutions.
La violation permanente du droit iternational et des conventions (entre-autres) de Genève.
Un danger permanent pour la paix dans le monde.

Michel Flament

Coordinateur

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Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Intolerance of other religions

Israeli forces work on Palestinian land for settlers’ use

JERICHO, Sept 26 (WAFA) – Israeli forces have been working on large areas of land in the Jordan Valley near the villages of Jiftlik and Aqraba as a prelude to take over the land and hand it over to Jewish settlers to plant it, local sources said Wednesday. They told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers protected by soldiers began awhile ago razing and preparing around 2000 dunums of private Palestinian land to be later planted by settlers with palm trees and vegetables ... Residents said the Israeli measures are proof that the intentions behind taking over the land is for their own economic and personal benefits and not for security reasons as they claim.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20746

West Jerusalem : Jewish streets with Arab houses
MIFTAH 26 Sept by Melkam Lidet — ...if the two-state solution was to come into effect, west Jerusalem would be the Jewish Israeli side and east Jerusalem would be the Arab Palestinian center. But taking part in a walking tour of some of the most expensive neighborhoods of west Jerusalem last Friday taught me differently : west Jerusalem was home to Palestine’s most affluent Christian and Muslim Arabs before the 1948 war ... Walking on these streets and stopping by some of the houses to listening to the stories of the people that built, furnished, lived and raised families in these houses as recounted in their own journals and memoirs, I realized how the neighborhoods that now look peaceful were battle grounds in the wake of the Nakba. I tried to imagine the fear and terror that drove Palestinians out of their houses : news of the Deir Yassin massacre and the constant patrolling of the Haganah and the Lehi in their neighborhoods warning or forcing them to leave ... What I find appalling is not only the injustice in writing Palestinians off their land, property, history and identity at the wake of the Nakba in the name of Zionism, but the absence of any kind of acknowledgement of this injustice.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25303&CategoryId=13

Israeli forces ’stop volunteers cleaning ancient Muslim cemetery’
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — A group of volunteers say Israeli forces prevented them from cleaning areas of the Bab al-Rahmah cemetery in the eastern part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday. Volunteers from East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood say they were removing weeds and bushes from the northern part of the cemetery when Israeli forces arrived and stopped them cleaning the rest of the cemetery, leading to a heated argument. The Israeli officers threatened to call in special forces, and detained 19-year-old volunteer Said Rukn. They also confiscated the ID cards of several other volunteers.
An Israeli court has prohibited burials in the southern part of the ancient cemetery, where the bodies of Prophet Mohammad’s companions are believed to be buried.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523810

On occasion of Yom Kippur, dozens of settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
PNN — On Tuesday 25th September, around 80 settlers broke into al-Aqsa mosque from Bab al-Magharbeh gate and performed their religious rituals on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, while Israeli forces banned dozens of Muslims, whose ages are less than 45, from entering the mosque. Thousands of Israelis also performed their religious and Thilmod rituals at the al-Buraq Wall (the Wailing Wall) area, west of al-Aqsa mosque...
Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage assured that the al-Aqsa mosque, which has the estimated area of 144 acres, its buildings, yards and walls is an Islamic mosque and for Muslims only, adding that the al-Buraq wall is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/2746-on-occasion-of-jewish-holiday-of-yom-kippur-dozens-of-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-mosque

Jordanian monarch tells UN that transgressions against Al-Aqsa are unacceptable
MEMO 26 Sept — In his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan warned Israel about its "religious transgressions" against Al-Aqsa Mosque. He stressed that attempts to erase the Arab, Muslim or Christian identity of Jerusalem "will not be tolerated". The King reminded the General Assembly that Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Noble sanctuary - Al-Haram Al-Sharif - in East Jerusalem is under his kingdom’s custodianship and is protected by international law as occupied territory. Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third holiest site
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4369-jordanian-monarch-tells-un-that-transgressions-against-al-aqsa-are-unacceptable

Water authority asks US to help Area C development
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — The head of the Palestinian water authority met Tuesday with the USAID regional advisor for water policy in Ramallah, and asked for support in projects planned for Area C. Shaddad al-Attili’s meeting with Mark Peter followed a summer-long drought in the occupied West Bank, and the director urged the US to support vital projects like water purification initiatives. Al-Attili briefed his guest on problems in getting licenses from Israeli authorities for water infrastructure, particularly in Area C. He called on the US to assist the Palestinians on this issue. He also expressed appreciation for US efforts supporting water infrastructure. Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli control, holds the largest amount of natural resources, agricultural land, and land reserves in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523518

West Bank university puts Israeli policies to the test
ARIEL, West Bank (Reuters) 26 Sept — An Israeli government move to upgrade Ariel University Center in the occupied West Bank to a full-fledged university has put the 30-year-old school at the center of a debate at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict : how the settlements will figure in defining a future Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523702

Restriction of movement

For Palestinian workers, the enemy is the hope
MIFTAH 26 Sept by Jillian Kestler-D’Amours — Hassan Hader’s application for a permit to work in Israel has been rejected four times. Now waiting to hear back from the Israeli authorities on his latest attempt, the 52-year-old father of five said he has no choice but to keep applying. “I wasn’t even given a reason why my application was rejected,” said Hader, who worked at a quarry in the industrial zone of Ma’ale Adumim, one of Israel’s largest illegal West Bank settlements, for nearly 20 years before losing his job last year. Hader lives in Ramallah and holds a West Bank-only ID card. He told IPS that he has no viable job opportunities in the Palestinian labour market. With his family’s savings slowly running out after over a year without work, he said that getting a permit to work in Israel is his only option.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25300&CategoryId=5

15,000 Palestinians paralyzed due to Yom Kippur
PNN — On Wednesday 26th September, Israeli occupation forces imposed movement restrictions on Palestinians from Jenin, due to Yom Kippur Jewish holidays. Citizens of Barta‘a, Um al-Rayhan and Thaher Maleh villages denounced the orders of the Israeli soldiers that state on preventing Palestinians from moving in or out of their villages in Jenin governorate during the Jewish festivals which ends on Thursday 27th September.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/2755-15-000-palestinians-paralyzed-due-to-yom-kippur

Coffee in Tel Aviv / Yazan Abu Jbara
MEMO 26 Sept — ...Allowed to visit Palestine in August 2008, August 2009 and September 2010, I was denied entry in August 2011, shortly after some press coverage about the initiative. Despite a public pledge by Israel’s Deputy Ambassador, Alon Roth Snir, in front of Bristol University postgraduate students and prominent academics such as Dr Vernon Hewitt, Dr Ryerson Christie and Professor Jutta Weldes to guarantee my re-entry, I was again refused permission to enter Palestine in June 2012. The process was humiliating. Israeli security asked why I had to come to Israel when this was not my home. One of the officers told me, "Neither you nor your sons nor your grandsons will enter Israel ; go and be a tourist in Thailand or London. They say London, is the city of love, no ?" They also asked if I regarded myself as British or Palestinian, continuing : "This is the home of Israel, and Israel decides who enters its home ; you decide who enters your home don’t you ?" I believe this whole process is designed to engender a feeling of powerlessness and is intended to create despair.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/4363-coffee-in-tel-aviv

Israeli violence / raids / attacks / illegal arrests

Dozens of settlers assault Palestinian farmer
[photos] RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — Dozens of settlers from Migron outpost assaulted a farmer on Wednesday north of Jerusalem, leaving him with multiple injuries, local officials said. "Dozens of settlers chased the farmer, Abed al-Kareem Maikel Abu Ali, 57, for about 500 meters and beat him with iron bars, stones and sticks," activist Saed Allah Khaled Abu Ali told Ma‘an. Four farmers had gone to check their lands near Mikhmas village after reports that settlers had cut down around 150 olive trees, village council official Muhammad Kanan said. The farmers were attacked as they arrived at their land, with 30 settlers lying in wait ... Israeli soldiers were present in the area but reportedly did not intervene ... "After a lot of pressure, an ambulance was able to take the farmer, and just one hour later, we were surprised to find out that the ambulance was stopped at Jaba checkpoint," [Abu Ali] said. Hours later having been allowed through, the ambulance was then stopped at Hizma checkpoint and forbidden to pass. An ambulance from the Red Crescent took the injured farmer and he was transferred to a Jerusalem hospital, Abu Ali said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523723

Israeli forces detain 2 Palestinians ’attacked by settler mob’
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — Israeli forces on Wednesday detained two Palestinians who were attacked by a mob of settlers south of Nablus, locals said. Iyad Rashdan and Muhammad Allan were picking olives in fields of Einabus village when a group of settlers attacked them. Israeli forces arrived and detained the two Palestinians, locals told Ma‘an ... Earlier dozens of settlers from Migron outpost assaulted a farmer north of Jerusalem, leaving him with multiple injuries, local officials said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523845

Israeli occupation arrests Palestinians at a checkpoint in Hebron
PNN — On Wednesday 26th September, Israeli occupation forces raided at dawn, several villages and neighborhoods in Hebron, south of the West Bank and set several military checkpoints at the main entrances of the governorate ... Local sources said that the soldiers stopped Mohammad Saed Ahmad Amro from Durah village in Hebron, while passing through al-Hamrah military checkpoint. Amro was detained and interrogated on spot for more than two hours, and then he was transferred to an Israeli detention center.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2754-israeli-occupation-arrests-palestinians-at-a-checkpoint-hebron

Israeli occupation arrests 5 Palestinians, released prisoners included
PNN — On Tuesday 25th September, Israeli occupation forces arrested at dawn, five Palestinians after they raided their houses in Deir Samet village, west of Hebron in the West Bank. Local sources said that soldiers from the Israeli army raided the village at 2 AM and arrested three released prisoners : Mussa Ali Hassan al-Adam, 32, and Iyad Mahmoud Mohammad al-Hroub, 31, who spent seven years in jail. The soldiers also arrested Iyad’s brother, Mohammad, 36, who spent four and a half years in jails. The soldiers arrested Majdi Awda al-Hroub, 27, after they raided his house in the village.
The Israeli soldiers deliberately harassed the village’s citizens ; forced them out of their houses, threw stones at the houses and interrogated the detainees and their families before they transferred them to an unknown location.
The occupation forces also arrested Mohammad Saed Mohammad Saed, 18, from Ein Beit Ma’ refugee camp in Nablus.
Security sources said that the Israeli forces stormed Nablus governorate at dawn, and broke into several houses in al-Ein and aj-Jabal al-Shamali areas.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2744-israeli-occupation-arrests-5-palestinians-released-prisoners-included

Israeli occupation detains Palestinians in Jenin
PNN — On Tuesday 25th September, Israeli occupation forces detained Palestinians at a military checkpoint at the entrance of Zabouba village, raided Rummanah and al-Taybeh villages in Jenin. Local sources said that Israeli forces detained Basel Mohammad Jamal Jabareen, 32, from al-Taybeh village and Ahmad Abdallah Abu Taleb, 30, from Zabouba village, took them to Salim military camp and interrogated them for hours. Israeli forces raided Jabareen house in al-Taybeh village searched it before detaining him.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2745-israeli-occupation-detains-palestinians-in-jenin

Nablus olive harvest to start Oct. 9 in restricted areas
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 25 Sept — The olive harvest will start on Oct. 9 in restricted areas of Nablus, a PA official said Tuesday. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that the Nablus governorate had informed farmers about the decision. The set date will enable farmers and local committees to better organize against potential settler attacks, as many restricted access areas lie adjacent to settlements. Settler attacks often increase around the time of the olive harvest season as settlers target olive trees and agricultural land. Last October, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees organized groups of volunteers to protect West Bank farmers from attacks by settlers during the olive harvest. Volunteers also helped farmers to harvest groves behind Israel’s separation wall, as Palestinians must apply for permits from the Israeli military authorities to secure access to their land. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs reported that over 2,500 olive trees were destroyed in September 2011, and 7,500 throughout 2011.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523323

Family of Cast Lead victims wins ’compromise, not compensation’ from Israel
EI 26 Sept by Rami Almeghari — Adela Shurrab lost two of her brothers when Israel attacked them in January 2009. She recently heard that an Israeli court had agreed that her family should be paid $108,000. “If this were hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars, it wouldn’t compensate our great loss,” Adela said. Her brothers, 28-year-old Kassab and 18-year-old Abbas, were driving between their farm and home in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza. They were ordered from their car and shot by Israeli soldiers, who were detaining several other men in a nearby house. Kassab died instantly ; Abbas was shot in the knee and bled for a long time. Abbas died the following day after the Israeli troops denied him access to medical attention. Their father was also in the car. He was wounded in the attack but survived. The attack took place at a time when Israel was supposedly observing a truce, in order to allow the delivery of essential supplies to Gaza. With the help of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the Shurrab family filed a law suit against the Israeli military.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/family-cast-lead-victims-wins-compromise-not-compensation-israel/11708

Gaza blockade

Man killed, 2 injured in Rafah tunnel collapse
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — A man was killed and two others injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border collapsed on Wednesday, medical officials said. Suleiman Ramadan al-Masri, 20, died and two men were moderately wounded when the Rafah tunnel collapsed, spokesman of Gaza health ministry Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma‘an ... Last Saturday, Muhammad Ramadan Abu Armaneh, 33, died when a Rafah tunnel collapsed on him. In early September, Talib Udwan, 24, was killed in a similar incident. Medics say over 160 Palestinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523588

Boy’s death ignites rare anti-Hamas protests in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 26 Sept — At least 500 protesters in the Gaza Strip have called for the overthrow of the ruling Hamas government in a rare demonstration triggered by the death of a three-year-old boy in a fire during a power outage. Protesters in the Bureij refugee camp, where the boy’s family live, called for Hamas to be toppled and chanted "The people want to down the regime" late on Tuesday night ... Demonstrators took to the streets as the boy’s body was being moved to a hospital, saying they were protesting against the incompetent way Hamas ruled Gaza. Anger spilled over after the boy died and his infant sister suffered critical burns when a candle lit amid a power outage burnt their house down ... Taher al-Nono, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, said the death of Baghdadi’s son was a message to Egypt that it had to speed up its promised efforts to help solve the power crisis in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523726

PCHR submits memorandum to the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
PNN — On Monday 24 September the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has made a written submission, in the form of a Memorandum, to the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, which draws attention to issue of the internal displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli actions ... From the end of ’Operation Cast Lead’ until June 2012, 153 persons have been displaced from the ’buffer zone’ of the Gaza Strip as a result of 351 attacks by Israel on civilian homes. This includes the displacement of 24 families and 83 children. In the Gaza Strip forced internal displacement can be caused by tank shelling, air strikes, bulldozing and shooting by Israel’s forces. From ’Operation Cast Lead’ until the end of June 2012, Israel carried out 346 aerial bombings and 12 bulldozing incidents that resulted in the internal displacement of Gazan civilians. In addition to the damage and destruction of homes, the tank shelling and shooting incites fear in the population. From ’Operation Cast Lead’ until the end of June 2012, Israel carried out 142 tank shellings and 255 shooting incidents in the ’buffer zone’ of the Gaza Strip.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2743-pchr-submits-memorandum-to-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-internally-displaced-persons

Rafah crossing to open Friday in both directions
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza Strip will reopen Friday, a local official said Wednesday. "The Egyptian side has informed us that the crossing would be open Friday in both directions," general director of the crossings in the Hamas’ interior ministry Mahir Abu Sabha told Ma‘an. He added that only limited numbers of passengers will be leaving as priority will be given to students, holders of foreign passports, residents of other countries and patients.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523759

OIC report highlights plight of orphans in Gaza
MEMO 26 Sept — The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has highlighted the plight of the growing number of orphans in the Gaza Strip. The situation has been noted in the OIC’s latest monthly report as part of a monitoring process of the overall humanitarian situation in the besieged territory. There are now more than 16,000 children registered as orphans in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4364-oic-report-highlights-plight-of-orphans-in-gaza

Qatar pledges millions in aid for Gaza rebuilding
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Sept — Qatar is planning to provide half a billion dollars in assistance to the Gaza Strip over the coming three years to rebuild infrastructure destroyed in Israeli attacks ... During Cast Lead some 3,500 homes were completely destroyed, UN agencies say. Rebuilding efforts have been hampered by Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has limited the import of construction materials.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523487

Hunger strikers / Other prisoner news

Video : Palestine : Starved of attention
Al Jazeera Listening Post 22 Sept — ...when around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails went on hunger strike a few months back, coverage was conspicuous by its absence ... Palestinians have been lectured on the merits of non-violent protest for years. But it seems reporters are not nearly as interested in covering that story. It took a long time of going without food for the prisoners’ peaceful protest to make headlines. In this feature, Listening Post looks at the complexities of the Palestinian cause and asks : Are the non-violent forms of protest that Palestinians have been urged to use, just not visual enough for the picture-hungry media ?
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/09/2012921133237248424.html

Lawyer : Sharawna almost blind after 88-day hunger strike
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) 26 Sept — Ayman Sharawna is almost totally blind and suffering from severe kidney problems and partial memory loss after 88 days on hunger strike in an Israeli jail, rights groups said Wednesday. Sharawna, 37, has lost vision in his left eye and 80 percent of vision in his right eye, a lawyer who visited him on Monday said. Fares Ziad, a lawyer for the prisoner rights group Addameer, added that Sharawna had refused water for five days after Israeli authorities refused to release him, losing seven kilograms during the escalated strike. The Israeli Prison Service has denied Sharawna medical treatment, insisting he could only receive medication for severe back pain if he ended his strike, Addameer said in a statement ... Sharawna, a father of nine, is being held without charge. He was rearrested on Jan. 31 for unknown reasons after his release in the Oct. 2011 prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523802

MPs participate in a protest in solidarity with prisoners
BIREH (PIC) 26 Sept — A delegation of MPs participated, on Tuesday in a sit-in organized in front of the headquarters of the Red Cross in Bireh city to support the prisoners, and the hunger-striking captives Sharawna and Issawi. The protest was attended by Dr. Nasser Abdul Jawad, MP for Salfit, Dr Ayman Daraghmeh, MP for Tubas, Ahmed Attoun, MP for Jerusalem deported to Ramallah, and Dr. Mariam Saleh, MP for Ramallah. The MPs stressed during the protest on their firm rejection of the policy of obliging the Palestinian Prisoner to choose between being deported from his homeland or remaining in Israeli occupation prisons for an indefinite period of time without charge or trial.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

PA : 7 prisoners held under order canceling amnesty
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — Seven Palestinian detainees released in last year’s prisoner swap deal are being held by Israel under a military order claiming their amnesty has been revoked, a report by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners Affairs said Wednesday ... The prisoners rights group Addameer says Israel has detained a number of prisoners released in the deal by invoking a relatively new provision of Military Order 1651. The provision allows a special military committee to cancel amnesty for a prisoner based on secret information, usually without presenting any new charges.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523635

Human rights center condemns the arrest of mother of two prisoners
GAZA (PIC) 26 Sept — The Palestine Prisoners Studies Center condemned the arrest of the mother of the two prisoners Murad and Ahmed, Haja Siham Nimer, 52, from the town of Sur Baher south of Jerusalem, under the pretext of her intention to smuggle a mobile phone to her son Ahmed.
The Center said that the occupation had no difficulty in creating justifications for the arrest of the Palestinian people, where it justified the arrest of the mother Nimer by smuggling a cell phone to her son who is now in prison since a year and a half, the same justification is used by the occupation continually to arrest the prisoners’ families, and to prevent their visits for months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Rights group accuses PA of interrogating detainees about municipal elections
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 Sept — Director of Al-Haq human rights group Sha’wan Jabbarin said the Palestinian security apparatuses in the West Bank questioned Hamas detainees during its recent arrest campaign about their intentions to participate in the coming municipal elections.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Attacks on freedom of the press by Israel and the PA

MADA monitors Israeli violations of media freedoms in OPT during August 2012
PNN 24 Sept — Media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories continued to deteriorate during August 2012, with new violations recorded against journalists who were simply pursuing their professional work. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) monitored serious violations committed by Israeli forces through the targeting of journalists with gas bombs, detention and beatings, particularly the attack on French Agency photographer Jaafar Ishtayeh, which left him with a broken hand.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2733-mada-monitors-israeli-violations-of-media-freedoms-in-opt-during-august-2012

MADA calls for release of journalist Walid Khalid
PNN 24 Sept — The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has condemned the arrest of Walid Khalid, West Bank office director of the newspaper "Felestenn", at his home in Skaka village, Salfit, by the [PA’s] Preventative Security Service, on Tuesday 18 September 2012. MADA Center calls for Mr Khalid’s release and for an end to the practice of security service personnel arresting journalists in the West Bank and Gaza. This is the most common violation of media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories and incidents have escalated this year. In the first six months of 2012, MADA monitored nine instances of journalists being arrested. Over the last four years, MADA has recorded a total of 113 such cases.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2725-mada-calls-for-release-of-journalist-walid-khalid

Quds Press demands Ramallah authority to release its reporter
LONDON (PIC) 26 Sept — Quds Press International news agency expressed deep concern about its reporter in Nablus, Mohammed Anwar Mona, after being arrested by Ramallah authority’s Preventive Security Apparatus, last Sunday. The London-based news agency denounced in a statement this oppressive step which it said that it represents a flagrant and unjustified assault on the freedom of press.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Refugees

Group : 6 Palestinians killed in Syria
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — Six Palestinians were killed in Syria on Wednesday, a local group said, with some of the bodies showing signs of torture. The coordinating committee of Yarmouk refugee camp told Ma‘an that four Palestinians were killed at a security checkpoint near the city of Aleppo. Their bodies were found on the street and showed indications of an execution style killing, according to the group. Two other Palestinians were shot dead in their Damascus homes, it said. Hussein al-Masri, Muhammad al-Jadaa, Hikmat Darbas al-Nayrab and Hassan Salameh, all from Nayrab refugee camp, were named as those killed in Aleppo.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523658

Syrian conflict makes Palestinians into both refugees and combatants
MIFTAH 25 Sept by By Nicholas Blanford — Omar Hassan was just three years old when he and his family were forced to leave their home in northern Palestine during the creation of Israel , making a home as stateless refugees in a camp in Syria. Now, six decades on, Mr. Hassan is on the move again, fleeing the violence that has engulfed his neighborhood in Sitt Zeynab outside Damascus for the cramped but peaceful conditions of the Bourj ash-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon. “In Sitt Zeynab, we had no problems until two months ago, then life became unbearable with a lot of shelling and fighting,” says Hassan, an employee of an airline company in Syria. “Bombs were falling just 150 meters from my home.” Hassan’s plight illustrates how the estimated 500,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria and the various political factions that represent them have been sucked into the vortex of Syria’s 18-month war – and how they have responded in different ways.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25296&CategoryId=5

Political developments, other news

Morsi demands Palestinian rights, says Israeli settlement building is shameful
AP 26 Sept — Egypt’s new President Mohammed Morsi is making his debut on the global stage at the United Nations, celebrating himself as the nation’s first democratically elected leader who was swept into office after what he called a "great, peaceful revolution." Morsi, an Islamist and key figure in the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood, said in the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that the first issue for the world body should be certifying the rights of the Palestinian people.
http://news.yahoo.com/morsi-demands-palestinian-rights-says-israeli-settlement-building-165151088.html

Hamdan : Mashaal carefully studied his decision to give up his post
BEIRUT (PIC) 26 Sept — Hamas’s foreign relations official Osama Hamdan said head of the political bureau Khaled Mashaal’s decision not to accept his candidacy for the presidency of the Movement was taken after in-depth consideration. In a press release, Hamdan categorically denied the claims saying that Mashaal took his decision in this regard as a result of internal disputes. He affirmed that senior Hamas leaders tried diligently to dissuade Mashaal from his decision, especially in light of the events in the region, but he insisted on not accepting the renewal of his post. The Hamas official added that Mashaal told Hamas leaders during a recent meeting that his decision was taken after in-depth study of the reality of the Movement, the Palestinian cause and the region with the intention of making way for the new blood in the Movement.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Dahlan : Abbas should submit draft resolution at UN
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Sept — President Mahmoud Abbas should submit a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly instead of a bid asking for recognition as a non-member state, ousted Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan said Wednesday. "A year has passed since the first bid was submitted to the UN Security Council in September 2011, and the PA has missed an opportunity to submit another bid to the General Assembly last year despite the Palestinian, Arab and international support," Dahlan said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523784

Leftist Israeli party proposes peace plan to supersede Oslo
MEMO 26 Sept — Meretz, the Israeli left-wing party, has announced a five-year peace plan with the Palestinians to replace the Oslo agreement. Under the plan, Israel would help Palestine to be accepted as the 194th member state of the UN and be the first to recognise it.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4365-leftist-israeli-party-proposes-peace-plan-to-supersede-oslo

Bardawil denies Israeli allegations about al-Zahar
GAZA (PIC) 26 Sept — Dr. Salah Bardawil, Hamas spokesman, asserted that what were published by "DEBKAfile Website" about the visit of leader Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar to Tehran "are pure lies by Israeli military intelligence, aimed at paving the public opinion for more Zionist aggression on Gaza and fabricating justifications for targeting its leading figures." Israeli Debkafile website claimed on Saturday that "Mahmoud al-Zahar accompanied by the deputy commander of its military arm, Marwan Issa, spent the second week of September in Beirut and Tehran finalizing and signing protocols covering a binding commitment by Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip to join Iran, Syria and Hezbollah in a war on Israel".
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/

France grants €10M aid to PA budget
JERUSALEM, Sept 25 (WAFA) - France announced Sunday the forthcoming disbursement of 10 million euro aid to the Palestinian Authority’s budget and called for the lifting of Israeli restrictions on Area C and Gaza, said a statement by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday ... This amount is the second part of the French budgetary aid to PA for the year 2012, after the 10 million aid announced by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to Paris last June.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20735

Parents protest overcrowded classrooms in Bethlehem school
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 Sept — Dozens of parents withdrew their children from a girls’ school near Bethlehem on Tuesday in protest at overcrowded classrooms. The school, in Battir, is run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Parents say there are 48 children in each class, and students must wear name badges as teachers cannot learn all their names ... Battir village council member Mahmud Arab told Ma‘an that UNRWA had repeatedly rejected parents’ demands to increase the number of teachers at the school and reduce class sizes ... He said if UNRWA could not manage the school then the Palestinian Authority should take over.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=523303

American court orders BBC to hand over Yasser Arafat documentary footage
MIFTAH 25 Sept by Cahal Milmo — The BBC has been ordered by an American court to surrender unused footage filmed for a documentary about former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to American victims of suicide bombings in Israel. In a ruling which raises questions about the ability of the American justice system to seize material held by media organisations outside the United States, a judge in New York said the Corporation was obliged to hand over outtakes from interviews with two Palestinian fighters. It now has until 1 October to lodge a further appeal or produce the material along with a sworn statement from a BBC employee confirming its authenticity. The Corporation said yesterday it was still considering the ruling.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25295&CategoryId=5

Analysis / Opinion / Human interest

Debunking the racism behind the two-state solution / Haidar Eid
Ma‘an 24 Sept — ...This article, on the contrary, maintains that the two-state solution under present conditions denies the possibility of real coexistence based on equality. This is because both the Geneva document and the Oslo accords accept the Zionist consensus and, for the first time in the history of the conflict, seek to legitimize Israel as a Jewish state in historic Palestine. In both of these documents, therefore, Israel would appear to have been confirmed as the "state of all the Jews" and never "the state of all of its citizens". The logic of separation implicit in these documents implies some fundamental contradictions and begs certain serious questions. The Accord and the Initiative have legitimated apartheid. Both documents include a language that is, euphemistically, reminiscent of the series of laws known collectively as the Group Areas Act which forced the relocation of millions of non-white South Africans into racially-specific ghettos. It was created to split racial groups up into different residential areas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=522430

Anti-Muslim films, cartoons, and my Gaza neighbor / Ramzy Baroud
MIFTAH 26 Sept — A neighbour of mine of many years ago from a Gaza refugee camp was a sacrilegious person par excellence ... When life would push Ghassan beyond his ability to cope, he would go into his courtyard and begin to shout, shrieking most imaginative profanities against everything sacred ... But when Israeli soldiers dragged Ghassan out of his house and ordered him to curse Allah and to insult the Prophet Mohammad — otherwise they would have beaten him senseless — he obstinately refused. It is not that the man would not compromise, for he had already walked on all fours, barked like a dog and spit grudgingly at a poster of Yasser Arafat. But Allah and the prophet is where he drew the line. Ghassan retold the story many times, even long after the scars on his face healed and his broken arm was once again useful ... Insulting Islamic symbols often represents that breaking point for many Muslims ... Asking Muslims to become more ’tolerant’ as their most sacred symbols are being desecrated, while the smoke of NATO bombs continues to fill the Afghani-Pakistani horizon is not much different from demanding an unemployed, broken and despairing man to sit on all fours, bark like a dog and repeat slurs targeting Prophet Mohammad.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25298&CategoryId=5

A day in the life ... ’The King of Sous’ / Melkam Lidet
MIFTAH 19 Sept — One of the first things I noticed on my very first day in Ramallah was old and young men, walking around the main Manara square, wearing a flamboyant red and golden costume, carrying a golden flask on their backs and selling a dark brown liquid which at that brief moment I thought was coffee. My curiosity grew even more when I once approached one of them and asked for a cup of coffee and was disappointed to learn that what he was selling wasn’t coffee but kharub or carob juice. And that is when my curiosity peaked and I decided to profile this kharub seller (with translation help from a Palestinian friend). We made our way down to the center of Ramallah and spotted the golden flask shining from the late afternoon sun. That’s how my friend and I met “Abu Samra”, one of Ramallah’s “Kings of Sous”. “King of Sous” is the general name given to the men who sell carob or almond juice in the street, wearing that fancy costume. He says he’s worked as a “king of sous” for about 10 years now without counting his childhood days when he used to accompany his father the “King Senior”.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25274&CategoryId=13
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