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NAKBA (catastrophe) permanente en Palestine

TO DAY in PALESTINE

Jeudi, 11 octobre 2012 - 8h27 AM

jeudi 11 octobre 2012

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Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

Israel issues stop-work orders on 5 homes near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli forces on Wednesday issued orders to villagers to stop construction on their homes near Bethlehem, a local official said. Israeli soldiers accompanied by officials from Israel’s civil administration distributed the orders in Nahhalin, village council chief Osama Shakarneh told Ma‘an. Nahhalin, west of Bethlehem, is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527780

al-Mufaqarah resists

ISM 9 Oct — At one in the afternoon on Monday, the 8th of October, we received a call in Arabic : "We have big problems. Can you come ?" Two calls later and we were on our way. We reached al-Tawani in a service taxi. Along with two volunteers from Operation Dove, we walked up the hill to al-Mufaqarah. Al-Mufaqarah is a beautiful village with about a dozen families, some brick houses, some tents, and some prefabricated dwellings provided by the United Nations. As soon as it got dark, we realized that there is no electricity. We heard a generator supplying power for the evening, and we remember that just a year ago they were putting poles up with the purpose to bring electricity here from the grid. The army demolished these poles however, and now this village is again a target. This time, the occupation forces are setting their sights on the construction of a mosque and a school. On Monday morning, a jeep from the Israeli occupation forces arrived with an order to stop any construction work ... Perhaps in the future, Israeli occupation forces will demolish the mosque ; it has happened before in this village. But for now, al-Mufaraqah has a victory. The village shows great determination and will not give up !
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/10/al-ufaqarah-resists/

Occupation, imprisonment of refugees defiles Israeli identity

972mag 10 Oct by Moriel Rothman — Scenario One. Imagine : You wake up in a place that is not familiar. You are disoriented : this is not your home. And then, it floods over you like a wave : your home was destroyed. So was your brother’s home. And your parents’ home. And the place that you worked. And your children’s school. And your entire village. And the entire village next to yours. And five more. Scenario One could be a description of a part of the Nakba, the Arabic word for ’catastrophe’, which is used to describe the traumas and expulsions Palestinians underwent in 1948. Or, it could be a description of what will happen next month in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, in what will be known as "Firing Zone 918," should the Israeli government have its way. Over 1,500 Palestinians face expulsion. Over 8 villages face demolition. Over 30% of Area C in the West Bank is defined as "Firing Zones." Palestinians can build freely in less than 1% of Area C.
http://972mag.com/occupation-imprisonment-of-refugees-defile-israeli-identity/57541/

A tour in Aboud ... a microcosm of Palestine’s reality under occupation
PNN 0 Oct — PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department issued in a press release an invitation to join a tour of the village of Aboud, north of Ramallah, on Monday 15th October organized by The Palestinian Government Media Center in cooperation with the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Negotiation Affairs Department. The tour will shed light on the challenges facing Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season. Minister of Agriculture Walid Assaf will participate in the tour, accompanied by the Government’s spokeswoman Nour Odeh and representatives of the village council as well as Church representatives in Aboud.
Why Aboud — Aboud is one of dozens of Palestinian villages situated mostly in areas designated as C in the interim agreements. Already, 39% of Aboud lands were seized by Israeli settlements, the illegal wall and bypass roads. In addition, at least 8000 olive trees were either isolated or uprooted by the settlement regime.. Aboud is also home to a nature reserve called the "Valley of Lemons" that is under threat of confiscation.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/2844-a-tour-in-aboud-a-microcosm-of-palestines-reality-under-occupation

"There is DNA from the mosque arsonist — but it’s impossible to charge him"
Kibush/Walla ! News 7 Oct — In a special interview, Major General Amos Yaakov, commander of the Samaria and Judea district, tells of the effort invested in the fight against ’price tag’ actions, and exposes that in at least four cases, the identity of the mosque arsonists is known — but they are free. "We know, in at least four cases of mosque arson, who are the perpetrators. We even got a DNA match from a matchbox near one of the mosques set on fire – but it appears this is insufficient for charges." These sensational details of the investigation are exposed by Commander of the Samaria and Judea district of the police, Major General Amos Yaakov, in a special interview with Walla ! News for the Sukkot holiday.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=55047

Committee : Settlers destroy 250 olive trees near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Settlers destroyed over 250 olive trees in a Ramallah village on Wednesday, a local agricultural committee said. Jewish extremists from nearby Shilo settlement entered the area and cut down the trees in al-Mughayyir village, the committee added.
On Tuesday, Jewish extremists cut down over 120 olive trees on private Palestinian land in Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527716

Settlers uproot 300 olive trees near Ramallah
RAMALLAH Oct 10 (WAFA) – Jewish settlers, late Tuesday night, uprooted around 300 olive trees in al-Mughir village, northeast of Ramallah, which is surrounded by several settlements, according to a local source. Head of the village council Faraj al-Nasaan told WAFA that settlers from the illegal settlement of Adi Ad, built illegally on private-owned Palestinian land northeast of Ramallah, uprooted around 300 olive trees in al-Mughir and Turmusaya villages’ land located between settlements, despite prior coordination with the Israeli side to allow residents to pick their olive trees starting from October 15th. He said the two villages have been constantly targeted by settlers’ attacks and that residents have filed more than 200 complaints to the Israeli police, however, none were investigated.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20834

Video : Israeli settlers stealing olives
Hebron Human Rights Press / Youth against Settlements 10 Oct
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IC3w0vs0cA

Two Palestinians injured after being attacked by settlers near Nablus
IMEMC 11 Oct — Palestinian medical sources reported that two Palestinians were injured, on Wednesday evening, after being attacked by several extremist Israeli settlers in Burin village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.The settlers attacked several Palestinians, including women, who were harvesting their olive trees in the village. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that residents Bashir Omran, 22, Mohammad Ayyad, 23, were hospitalized at the Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus suffering various cuts and bruises. The army arrived at the scene and clashed with the villages instead of removing the settlers, local sources reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64375

Settlers storm evacuated settlement, harass residents

JENIN Oct 10 (WAFA) – Tens of Jewish settlers Wednesday stormed the evacuated Tarsala settlement outpost, south of Jenin, under Israeli forces protection, according to security sources. They told WAFA that 14 Israeli vehicles carrying settlers stormed the evacuated settlement, patrolled their vehicles along the Jenin-Nablus road, harassed residents and insulted them with improper words.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20832

Palestinian ’stabs settler’ in West Bank
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — An Israeli man suffered moderate injuries Wednesday after a Palestinian stabbed him near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, officials said. Israeli and Palestinian officials identified the attacker as a young Palestinian man, but they gave conflicting accounts of the events surrounding the incident. An Israeli police official said authorities were treating the stabbing as "a terrorist incident," while a Palestinian medic said the suspect himself had been attacked. Red Crescent official Abdul-Halim Jaafra, citing witnesses, said a mob of 15 settlers attacked Hamzah Zaoul, 22, at the entrance of Husan village, his hometown.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527925

IOA prevents the liberated Wael Abu Jalboush’s family from going for Hajj
JININ (PIC) 10 Oct — Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) prevented the liberated prisoner Wael Kamel Abu Jalboush’s family from going to the pilgrimage (Hajj). They were returned from the Krama bridge and prevented from completing their way to perform Hajj. Sources told PIC that the IOA refused to let the liberated prisoner’s father Kamel Ahmed Abu Jalboush, 84, and his mother Nasra Said Abu Jalboush, 74, to travel after holding both of them for two hours at Karama bridge and forced them to return to their village, south of Jenin, on the pretext of security prevention claiming that their son was liberated in al-Ahrar exchange deal.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7QSeAwNVJE%2fUdgDDsCejRFMkMTG0KECal38tNevHza4aO3kqFyzLVysTQoKI0xZUf2FMBg%2bnYEWapyP6ym7VYnlJKW6OZ3hF2%2fC50B1od%2bCs%3d

West Bank : Violence / Raids / Illegal arrests

Israeli forces attack Palestinian funeral, injuring many
HEBRON Oct 10 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday attacked a Palestinian funeral in Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron, injuring several Palestinians, according to a local activist. The coordinator of the popular committee against settlements and the Apartheid Wall, Mohammad Awad, told WAFA that Israeli forces stationed near the town’s cemetery and its main entrance attacked the funeral, firing tear gas canisters and acoustic bombs at the Palestinians, causing several suffocation cases among them. The injured were treated at the scene.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20836

Israeli forces attack hospitalised man
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 9 Oct — A Palestinian man was attacked by Israeli forces outside Makassed Hospital in Al-Tur on Saturday, 6 October. Hani Abu al-Hawa was already heavily injured from an earlier beating by Israeli forces, and was treated in the emergency room of Hadasa Hospital in Assawiye for facial injuries. Witnesses report that Hawa was accused by Israeli forces of throwing a bottle at them while he was standing across the road from the Makassed Hospital. He was still recovering from an attack at Hadasa Hospital, when Israeli forces attacked him inside the emergency room, beating his face until his nose bled. Hawa’s brother Wael Abu al-Hawa stated that his brother remains in hospital and is under arrest there. http://silwanic.net/?p=29608

Three Silwan men arrested at Hizme checkpoint after soccer match
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 9 Oct — Three Palestinian youth from Silwan were arrested by Israeli forces at Hizme checkpoint on Thursday, October 4. Ahmad Najib (22), Reyad al-A’war (22), and Ashraf Shweki (18) were on their way home to Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of Silwan from a soccer game when they were stopped at the checkpoint. Officers claimed that their ID cards were not clear and required further investigation before taking the men off the bus they were traveling on and placing them under arrest.
http://silwanic.net/?p=29599

Israeli police arrest seven Jerusalemites
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 10 Oct — Israeli occupation police rounded up seven Jerusalemites in Silwan town south of the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem including three children. Jerusalemite sources said that the Israeli police stormed the town on Tuesday evening and took away the young men including a 16-year-old and two 15-year-old kids. They said that the policemen stormed Silwan, the Old City, and Suwana suburb before taking away the Jerusalemites to interrogation centers west of the city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7xJZ%2b7Hy6pgtZmd2hd1zP%2bqZ2zAhIFmDJD4icvaVmCFvxLDYgcwaj9aOfT5Q%2bxlxjFm9Nbbtkmuj5kOhtLXtb%2fwz96RQHPehhD0ghPqNBcvE%3d

Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian, search houses in Hebron
PNN — On Wednesday 10th October, Israeli occupation forces arrested a Palestinian from the village of Durah, and searched several houses south of Hebron. Local and security sources said that Israeli occupation forces raided Durah village and arrested Ahmad al-Awawdeh, 52, and transferred them to an unknown location.
Israeli forces raided several neighbourhoods in Hebron, set several military checkpoints at the main entrances of Hebron villages ; Sa‘ir, Halhoul, Yatta and Ethna, stopped the Palestinians’ vehicles and checked their IDs.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2847-israeli-forces-arrest-a-palestinian-search-houses-in-hebron

IOF raid homes south of Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 10 Oct — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed at dawn Wednesday Kherisa village in Yatta town south of Al-Khalil city and violently raided a number of houses. According to Rateb Al-Jabour, an anti-settlement activist, Israeli troops raided and ransacked some houses belonging to Shawahin family and smashed their doors and windows. Jabour said during one of the raids, the soldiers forced citizen Najeh Shawahin and his family including children to leave the house before they went on the rampage through it and destroyed its furniture.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kS5yyOkQLibxvvhBioQLEQADOP1N3ivJ%2f60DoxacmJ8lp4AYkQqQY9KEbjx4oC%2fzx%2fQr5HQ8LJ%2fsiHO7%2frsyfBiILs1WuwBxVZ5lG%2bDBe1M%3d

IOF soldiers storm houses of Hamas leader, relatives of deported prisoners
JENIN, (PIC)— Israeli occupation forces (IOF) broke into the home of Hamas leader Abdulbaset Al-Haj in Jalkamos village to the east of Jenin after midnight Tuesday. Sources close to the family told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers stormed the house at one am Wednesday and threatened Haj against resuming his social activity or else face detention anew. They said that Haj refused the threat ... Haj was released only three weeks ago after 16 months of administrative detention, without trial or charge.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers stormed the homes of two freed captives in the [2011] Wafa Al-Ahrar deal in the same village. The soldiers told their relatives that their houses would be blown up in the event any of them entered 1948 occupied land. The soldiers also threatened to liquidate the liberated prisoners who were deported to Gaza on their release.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hBnxmchWodSGYBK4%2bn%2biTYCfYsdARQlnAyYwyNqmV9gbNhxqZ2ec8V%2bZmuY%2bfIeFlbZEqDtP7WtIro%2fqRxqyDICJrNt9EnCKgJ0AE42i82A%3d

Israeli forces arrest 3 overnight
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli forces arrested three people overnight Tuesday, an army spokeswoman said. One person was detained in Nabi Saleh, one in Dura, and one in Sarda.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527682

PA security apparatuses arrest seven members of Hamas
WEST BANK (PIC) 10 Oct — PA security apparatuses arrested seven supporters and cadres of Hamas in Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem and al-Khalil, and raided a Hamas leader’s house in Bethlehem and summoned him, reported local sources in the West Bank on Wednesday...
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7H5MEpPfgRi%2bylG6nJ07z%2fA%2bE30dp2%2bAm4XJlz4Mp3tZ1WfhshLFher6BhRmRE78uu2FT5GXpSMPCVKmAtcVF1DrvQuuCtxPt3kooQBZPyP0%3d

Israeli occupation interrogates released prisoner Khader Adnan
PNN — On Wednesday 10th October, Israeli occupation forces raided at dawn a bakery where the released prisoner Khader Adnan works in after his release in the village of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the West Bank. The forces interrogated Adnan and took some pictures for him before leaving the place.
It’s worth noting that Khader Adnan, 33, is a leader and spokesman of the Islamic Jihad movement, and the first prisoner that launched a hunger strike which lasted for 66 days. He encouraged and urged other Palestinian prisoners to follow his path in the strikes. He was released after several months of being under administrative detention ; without a charge or trial.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/prisoners/2854-israeli-occupation-interrogates-released-prisoner-khader-adnan

Detainees / Courts

IDF may reinstitute Arabic translations in West Bank military courts
Haaretz 10 Oct by Amira Hass — Palestinian attorneys say lack of Arabic translation harms their clients’ right to due process ; since Oslo Accords, IDF has phased out translation of court documents into Arabic — The IDF is willing to resume its one-time habit of translating into Arabic the indictments it submits to military courts in the West Bank, but insists there is no need or duty to translate other documents, such as verdicts or court transcripts ... At present, all documents handed to the prosecution and defense are in Hebrew. Simultaneous translators are still present at the courts, but their duties include other tasks such as maintaining silence and order in the courts, making sure there are security guards, preventing people from entering or leaving the court during trials and helping the judge control the proceedings. Moreover, for various reasons, the translations, when they were supplied, were often unclear to the accused, the families and their attorneys.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-may-reinstitute-arabic-translations-in-west-bank-military-courts.premium-1.469132

Israeli occupation refuses the appeal of journalist Amer Abu Arfa
AL-KHALIL, GAZA (PIC) 10 Oct — Ofer Military court rejected, on Tuesday, the appeal against the decision to extend the administrative detention of the journalist Amir Abdul Halim Abu Arafa.Human rights sources, which attended the court hearing, reported that the judge questioned the journalist about what he was exposed to in PA’s prisons, and that after the journalist talked about his suffering and the torture to which he had been exposed there, the Israeli judge told him : "Stay in our prisons it would be better for you !" The administrative detention of journalist Abu Arafa has been extended for the third time respectively. He has been detained since 14 months, without charge and without even being interrogated.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7DHj9MLAhE9EZBm04suB3eU0cj2zN%2f1375x6Lv5FNORapgMR2mBjfmEeHyW7gZEfLrRGeiu2zg2GPGSZFUecH75NnkFnXI9N4MyJXYPCJq4M%3d

Two political prisoners in Salfit continue their hunger strike for the 15th day
SALFIT (PIC) 10 Oct ...Sources close to the detainees’ families said : "Their sons Saad Youssef Marei, 24, and Suhaib Ahmed Marei, 35, have continued their strike for the 15th day, in protest at the decision of the Magistrate’s Court in Salfit to extend their detention, for the second time, for 15 additional days, after serving 15 days of detention, already, without charge or legal justification." Saad, a liberated prisoner from Israeli occupation jails, had previously served nine and a half months in the prisons of the security apparatuses, while Suhaib, had been previously arrested for three months by PA’s apparatuses, without charge or trial. The two political prisoners are from the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7iDYrOqZfl0pByjfcV25Tlv5YoAekEEsbE0CfOPz8hyzsPqcHPqbJ8RcIZt2KzAT0npiDwQnmV0iNhmvuwrBHTtGsl5RYyrvbOF6s1GggaLA%3d

10th suspect indicted in attack against Arab teen
JPost 10 Oct — The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office indicted a tenth suspect in the beating of 17-year-old Jamal Julani in downtown Jerusalem two months ago in the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday. Indictments were brought in two Jerusalem courts last month against nine other suspects connected with the mob attack against the Arab teenager. The charges include aggravated assault and battery, racial incitement and inciting violence. Nine of the suspects are minors, and two of those are girls. The only adult is 19- year-old Shimon Siman-Tov, a Jerusalem resident. The latest suspect is also a minor.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=287279&R=R1

Hussam : Female prisoners in Sharon suffer harsh detention conditions
PNN — On Tuesday 9th October, Hussam Association for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners revealed that the Palestinian female prisoners in Sharon Israeli prison suffer from very harsh and critical detention conditions. The association also revealed that the prisoners are subjected to verbal and physical abuse by the Israeli criminal prisoners, near their section in the same prison, which create a permanent state of tension and anxiety impacted negatively on Palestinian prisoners’ psychological conditions.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/prisoners/2841-hussam-female-prisoners-in-sharon-suffer-harsh-detention-conditions

Gaza : Violence / Blockade

Occupied Lives : No child should have to go through this

PCHR 10 Oct — On Sunday, 07 October 2012, at approximately 5.30pm, Israel’s forces launched 2 missiles targeting 2 men on a motorbike as they were passing by Taha Hussain Elementary School in the Al-Brazil neighborhood of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Subsequently, 1 of the targeted men died of shrapnel wounds, while the other had one of his legs amputated, according to medical sources. 8 civilian bystanders, including 4 children and 1 woman, were also wounded in the attack. Israel’s forces often use airstrikes for extrajudicial execution of suspected members of armed groups in densely-populated areas of the Gaza Strip. Israel refers to these as "targeted killings". However, on many occasions such attacks also injure and kill civilians who are in the vicinity of the target. Sabrin Al-Maqousi (23), and her 2 children, Bisan (1 month) and Nassim (2), were wounded in the attack. Her cousin, Jehad Al-Qatrous (27), was also wounded in the same attack. Sabrin lives in Jabalia but she was with her children, visiting her family in Rafah, when the attack happened. She recalls : "My son Nassim was sitting at the entrance of the house when the missiles were launched. I rushed to bring him inside and found that he had already been injured by shrapnel. He just kept saying, ’There is some blood on me, there is some blood on me.’ Some people came and put him in a car to take him to hospital. I was trying to calm my other baby down when I noticed that she was also bleeding from her head..."
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8883

Israel launches airstrikes on north Gaza, no injuries
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israel launched an airstrike overnight Tuesday on the northern Gaza Strip, Ma‘an’s correspondent said. The strike targeted Beit Lahiya and caused material damage to several homes, with no injuries reported. [IMEMC : Several children suffered anxiety attacks.] Israel’s army said it targeted a "terror tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip," and identified direct hits. Four rockets were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight, a military spokeswoman said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527615

Israeli warplanes stage mock raids on Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 10 Oct — Israeli warplanes launched a series of mock raids on a number of areas in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. A local source told Quds Press that Israeli F-16s flew at low altitudes over the coastal enclave and broke the sound barrier causing loud sounds of explosions.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7HQeqSRTC%2bEQdRN%2fmdE4Rx%2f7L%2bZibMBeywuO8DDi8WZteyZ6vt1CSOvvkW0kFMv0GJHRGyqG97vRPHM478pSwuvtI5Ttnqi7F0AD6lRrMmGs%3d

Hamas military wing : 3 rockets fired at Israeli military vehicles
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Hamas’ military wing, the Izz Addin Al-Qassam Brigades, on Wednesday claimed that it fired three rockets at Israeli military vehicles east of Rafah, a statement said. Four bulldozers and three tanks had reportedly entered a border area by Sufa crossing, east of Rafah, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The brigades said they launched three rockets at the vehicles, causing them to withdraw.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527666

Israeli warplanes hit Gaza after rocket attacks
Occupied Jerusalem (AFP) 11 Oct — The Israeli Air Force early Thursday morning launched a strike against what a spokeswoman called "a terror activity site" in the northern Gaza strip, which she said was in response to earlier rocket attacks on Israel. Palestinian officials in Gaza said the target was a training camp of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and said there were no casualties. The Israeli strike came several hours after Gaza fighters fired two rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday evening in the latest of a wave of tit-for-tat fire across the border. Israeli police told AFP that nobody was injured.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/10/11/243059.html

Egypt holding talks to prevent further escalation in Gaza
IMEMC 10 Oct — The Quds Net News Agency reported Wednesday that the newly elected Egyptian leadership is holding talks with different armed groups in Gaza to instate a truce and prevent further escalation with Israel. A senior Egyptian source told the Quds Net that Egypt contacted the Israeli side and informed the government of Benjamin Netanyahu that Egypt is completely against an Israeli military offensive against Gaza, and held Netanyahu personally responsible for further escalation. http://www.imemc.org/article/64369

Egypt seizes fuel en route to Gaza
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Police in north Sinai on Wednesday detained two suspected smugglers and seized 3,000 liters of fuel destined for the Gaza Strip, Egyptian security officials said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527732

First batch of Gaza pilgrims leaves for Makkah
GAZA (PIC) 10 Oct — The first batch of Gaza pilgrims on Tuesday evening left the Strip en route to the Egyptian airport of Al-Arish before flying to Saudi Arabia at dawn to perform hajj rituals. Palestinian minister of religious affairs Ismail Radwan, who personally supervised the departure of the first batch, told journalists at Rafah border crossing that this batch comprised 165 pilgrims and would be followed by others in the coming few days ... The number of Gaza pilgrims this year is 2,750 Palestinians
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ymu3AjIRJC3c5i4YiYv1vqgvVUIspKjlhFtoSV6qK%2fjjyTB%2biOLfAFiE0R3hj9YDpJab7qmeB7BG%2bGMQKANhPQcLnUz%2bM79M9gptz0f7eho%3d

In Gaza, everything stops at night, including the wind
16 Minutes to Palestine 9 Oct — “One Occupied Gazan Summer” is a three-part personal narrative by Mariam I. who explores her thoughts and retraces her steps during her most recent visit to the Gaza Strip ... Everything stops at night, including the wind, and the humidity feels like a heavy soggy blanket trying to suffocate you. As uncomfortable as the heat was, it became a thousand times more unbearable when you tried to sleep. We searched for all kinds of solutions. We tried sleeping on different balconies of the house hoping a cool breeze would find us, but then we would wake up covered with mosquito bites and sticky from the heavy humidity. We tried sleeping on the cold, hard tile, but we would wake up queasy and with unimaginable neck pain. Sleeping became an impossible chore when the power was out.
http://smpalestine.com/2012/10/09/in-gaza-everything-stops-at-night-including-the-wind/

Refugees

Lebanon-OPT : Hidden health crisis facing Palestinian refugees

JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) 9 Oct — New research has uncovered the hidden health toll that refugee life in Lebanon has taken on more than 400,000 Palestinians. UK medical journal The Lancet has published a series of abstracts drawn from a meeting of public health researchers, The Lancet-Palestine Health Alliance, in Beirut in March 2012 ... While much of the research investigates the negative physical and mental health impacts of living in the occupied Palestinian territory, several studies also explore the health and well-being of Palestinians living in Lebanon, which has hosted Palestinian refugees for more than 60 years. Poor living conditions According to one of the studies, by researchers from the American University of Beirut, "discriminatory laws and decades of marginalization" have left Palestinian refugees in Lebanon socially, politically and economically disadvantaged. Over half of them live in increasingly overcrowded camps, where "the provision of housing, water, electricity, refuse and other services are inadequate and contribute to poor health". Out of 2,500 households surveyed, 42 percent had water leaking from their walls or roofs....
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96487/LEBANON-OPT-Hidden-health-crisis-facing-Palestinian-refugees

Becoming ’celebrity chefs’ in the West Bank
Bethlehem, West Bank (Al Jazeera) 9 Oct — Women in Aida refugee camp are supplementing family incomes by teaching foreigners how to cook local delicacies — ... Everyone in the camp knows Islam, not just because she hails from a family of martyrs, but also because she is a bit of a celebrity chef. Every other Saturday, Islam hosts small groups of visiting foreigners, beckoning them to knead dough and guiding them through the art of cooking ... Before Israel built the separation wall in Bethlehem in 2002, Islam’s husband used to work in Israel, earning about 200 NIS (approximately $51) a day. These days, and with a 43 per cent unemployment rate plaguing the dilapidated camp, her husband is lucky to get 50 NIS for odd construction jobs. The camp itself grew to a population of 5,000 registered refugees, up from 2,000 in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, forcing thousands in villages surrounding Jerusalem and Hebron to seek refuge in Aida.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/201210983040478301.html

Political / Economic News

Erekat : Israeli elections could be cause for concern
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Early Israeli elections may lead to increased violations against Palestinians, PLO official Saeb Erekat said Wednesday. "We fear that the campaign for Israeli elections could be accompanied by more attacks on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, the expansion of settlements, and the Judaization of Jerusalem, all of which amount to war crimes," Erekat told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527756

Minimum wage ’to benefit 300,000 workers’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — The Palestinian Authority minister of labor on Wednesday defended the newly announced minimum wage, which workers say has been set too low. Ahmad Majdalani said the PA was aware the wage was not high enough. The cabinet on Tuesday approved a national wage committee’s proposal to set the minimum monthly salary at 1,450 shekels ($375), which is lower than the national poverty line ... Palestinian workers union chief Haydar Ibrahim said negotiators on the wage committee had taken 16 months to reach an agreement. "If there was no occupation, we wouldn’t have accepted the terms of agreement because the economic conditions would have been much better," he added. Mahmoud Ziyada, secretary-general of independent Palestinian trade unions, also endorsed the new law.
On Tuesday, several unions led a protest outside the cabinet meeting in Ramallah urging the government not to approve the wage committee’s proposal. Hundreds of protesters accused the government of humiliating workers, shouting : "High prices and low wages is the government’s policy." Shaher Saad, head of the General Federation of Trade Unions, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic’s definition of the national poverty line should have been taken into account when deciding the minimum wage.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527909

Zakarneh : Union to consider general strike if PA does not cooperate
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Head of the government employees union Bassam Zakarneh said Tuesday that the group is considering open strike action if the Palestinian Authority does not cooperate with them ... A meeting will be held next Tuesday to decide on what course of action to take, Zakarneh added. In September, public sector workers delivered several demands to the Palestinian Authority asking for their wages be paid as soon as possible, to receive better pensions, and for banks stop exploiting civil servants through hidden charges.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527614

ALWANE Palestine demands increasing women leaders in public sector
PNN 9 Oct — ALWANE Palestine launched its new initiative under the slogan, "Partners in Building and Leadership", which aims to establish public sector policies that could increase the representation of women in leadership positions ... The "Partners in Building and Leadership" initiative focuses on the public sector, especially in key ministries such as the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs and Planning, all of which show a lower than average percentage of women in leadership positions as observed through a number of studies and reports.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/2828-alwane-palestine-demands-increasing-women-leaders-in-public-sector

Anti-corruption commission pursues PLO theft
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — The Palestinian Authority’s anti-corruption commission is working to retrieve PLO-owned land registered to individual PLO leaders, commission chief Rafiq Natsha said Wednesday. So far in 2012, the commission has recovered around 400 dunums of PLO-owned land, Natsha told Ma‘an. In the past, the PLO’s land was registered as the private property of PLO leaders, some of whom have voluntarily approached the commission to return it, Natsha told Ma‘an. Other PLO leaders are claiming they own the land and have refused to return it, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527951

Chief justice ’won’t accept interference’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — The head of the Palestinian high court said Tuesday that he would not accept interference, after controversy erupted over a proposal to appoint the justice minister with an attorney general role. Farid al-Jallad said the High Judicial Council was not behind reports in the media about a dispute between it and President Mahmoud Abbas over the appointment of Ali Muhanna.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527475

Gaza factions ’coordinating response’ to Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Hamas is coordinating with other Palestinian factions in Gaza to respond to Israeli aggression, Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar said Wednesday. Palestinian factions operating in Gaza are nationally committed, he said ... Ahmad al-Mudallal, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, has confirmed that coordination between his movement and Hamas is at its best both politically and militarily.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527866

Israeli racism

Arab unemployment higher than previously thought
JPost 10 Oct — The share of Arabs among all unemployed Israelis is around 30 percent, which is twice that of earlier estimates ... "There is still a lot of discrimination, unfortunately, against Israeli-Arabs. For example, if an Arab is a graduate of university, and doesn’t get a job in his field, the statistics say he’s unemployed, but we know that’s not the full story, and that 40 percent of Arab academic graduates don’t get work in their own professions," Yashiv said.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=287179&R=R1

Police close case of alleged racist attack by cops
Ynet 9 Oct — The Police Internal Investigations Department on Tuesday decided against indicting police officers who allegedly assaulted several youths of Ethiopian descent and leveled racist slurs at them. The story of Jajao Bimero, 27, went viral in the social media this past summer ; the Hebrew University student filed a complaint with the police, claiming that several cops repeatedly shot him with a Taser gun and told him to "go back to Africa" after he left a club in Haifa early on April 4.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4290225,00.html

Medics by day, security guards by night
Ynet 9 Oct — Paramedics at holding facility for teen infiltrators made to fill in for IPS guards due to personnel shortage ; warn situation places youths as risk ... "It’s impossible to act both as a medical officer and a security team. This decision puts the teens’s health at risk," a paramedic raging against the decision told Ynet on Tuesday ... The Matan facility currently holds dozens of teenaged infiltrators and refugees, who have arrived in Israel without their parents.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4289968,00.html

Opinion / Analysis / Other news

East Jerusalem hospitals seek international accreditation
JERUSALEM Oct 9 (WAFA) - The East Jerusalem hospitals are undertaking a mock survey started Monday and for two weeks for the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, in preparation for an actual JCI survey scheduled for mid-2013, according to a press release by the local office of the World Health Organization. The JCI mock survey will cover five facilities ... The East Jerusalem hospitals serve as the main centers for specialized care within the Palestinian health system. Patients needing services and procedures that are not available in the West Bank and Gaza are referred for treatment in the EJHN facilities by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Over half of the EJHN workload comes from referred patients from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20827

A rabbi’s path to Palestinian solidarity
Truthout 10 Oct by Mark Karlin — Any discussion of Israel’s political and military actions is likely to evoke emotional reactions among Jews that can split friendships and families. It’s a core issue that drills down deep into tribal and religious identity, the invocation of the Holocaust, ongoing bloodshed between Arabs and Jews, and a fear of re-emergent anti-Semitism. Rabbi Brant Rosen, a congregational rabbi in Evanston, Illinois and co-chair of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, takes on these volatile issues of Jewish faith, values and the traditional homeland narrative of Israel in a new book : Wrestling in the Daylight : A Rabbi’s Path to Palestinian Solidarity.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12009-a-rabbis-path-to-palestinian-solidarity

Meet the multilingual hip-hop outfit born in a bomb shelter
Haaretz 10 Oct — A few years ago, shortly after coming together as the hip-group System Ali, some of its members gave a workshop in a school in Jaffa, their hometown. They were shocked to find "No talking in Arabic or Russian in the classroom" written on the blackboard. "This was a school where 90 percent of the pupils are Palestinians born in Jaffa or immigrants from the former Soviet Union," said group member Neta Weiner. "It really showed how people are being systematically and forcibly silenced here." As a result of the incident, the fight against silencing and racism became System Ali’s raison d’être.
http://www.haaretz.com/culture/meet-the-multilingual-hip-hop-outfit-born-in-a-bomb-shelter.premium-1.469031

Christian Zionists back Israel’s risky policy decisions
Counterpunch 8 Oct — Christian Zionists increasingly act as if they were religious Jews until the End. They refer to the year 5773 ; many have changed their day of Sabbath from Sunday to Saturday ; some have made aliyah through the use of suspect Jewish ancestry, or are on indefinitely renewed tourist visas ; they donate millions of dollars indirectly to settlements activity and provide various IDF battalions military equipment ; their national allegiance is seemingly stronger to Israel than America, as illustrated by their condemnation of US policy that criticizes Israel because Israeli policy is understood as God sanctioned and therefore infallible ; and they make pilgrimages to Israel less to celebrate Christ and more to "witness the incoming" of Jews to Israel.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/08/christian-zionists-back-israels-risky-policy-decisions/

Palestinian people will never give up RoR
First deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Dr. Ahmed Bahar has asserted that the Palestinian people would never give up the right of return for millions of its refugees.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

‘No more Israel’
Henry KISSINGER. Former secretary of state. Current savant of the state of the world. Do not argue with Mr. Kissinger’s know-how. He already knows how. Middle East horror. Democratic party dissing Jerusalem. DC’s anti-Israel mentality. Obama, busy raising re-election funds, no time for beleaguered Netanyahu. The Oval Office attitude versus the Red Line. Iran’s oath to destroy our only friend in that part of the world. Reported to me, Henry Kissinger has stated — and I quote the statement word for word : “In 10 years, there will be no more Israel.” I repeat : “In 10 years, there will be no more Israel.”
link to www.nypost.com

Palestinians : Lost in representation
We look at the Russell Tribunal’s plans to hold the US and UN accountable for alleged Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
link to www.youtube.com

Russell Tribunal conclusion : U.S. facilitates Israeli immunity and impunity / Alex Kane
After two long days of expert testimony, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine wrapped up Sunday night (see Ethan Heitner’s reports and sketches of the days here and here). Then yesterday, the tribunal’s jury presented its findings to a United Nations committee—findings that Israel “has achieved a status of immunity and impunity by [its] complete disregard for the norms and standards of international law facilitated by the US.”
link to mondoweiss.net

Raja Shehadeh : ’Every aspect of Palestinian life is affected by the occupation’ - video
Palestinian writer and lawyer Raja Shehadeh talks about his experience of growing up in the West Bank. Shehadeh discusses the day-to-day hardships of living under Israeli occupation and reflects on episodes from his journal Occupation Diaries, as well as considering the effects of the Arab spring on the region as a whole.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Palestinians Cannot Be Relegated to Margins of Own Liberation Struggle
Anna Baltzer is National Organizer at the US Campaign. She gave this talk at an event entitled "The Jewish American Relationship with Israel at the Crossroads." Thank you so much to OR Books, Vera List Center, Adam Shatz, and the others who organized this event. It’s an honor to be here. I’m excited to be here and by the topic of this event because I believe we are at a crossroads, not just in terms of Jewish American feelings towards Israel — as Dr. Finkelstein has meticulously documented in his book — but also the place of Jewish voices in the movement. There is no question that there is a monumental shift happening among American Jews, with increasing numbers coming out against Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies against the Palestinian people. This is largely a generational shift, driven by young people, who have become allies to the cause even as their parents repeat the same tired arguments they did decades ago about Israel’s moral superiority and lack of a partner for peace.
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org

Arab Spring "will not be complete unless Palestinians get their rights"
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has said that the Arab Spring "will not become a complete reality unless democracy applies to Israel and the Palestinian people get their rights back." Speaking during his tour of Uruguay, Suleiman asked what democracy the Western world is referring to constantly when 145 countries, including his hosts in Montevideo, support UN recognition for Palestine but it is still blocked. "There is an entire people in the Middle East," said Suleiman, "the Arab Palestinian people who lost their land and haven’t got a state yet." He pointed out that Lebanon’s instability arises in part from the fact that Palestinian refugees have not had their right to return to their homeland turned into a reality. "That is the basis of the turmoil in the region," he added.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com

Women, Education & Revolution in Palestine : An Interview with Rula Jebreal
There is little tolerance for corrupt, broken regimes in the Middle East these days. Templates that have governed Arab countries and dictated women’s behavior in society are changing. The voices of Arab women are no longer kept in jars, and are being heard loud and clear in Tahrir Square alongside men that come from all parts of society. They range from the poorest farmer to a young Google executive, all of whom share the same need for freedom. Egyptian women were once told to go home and raise presidents, but not run for president. This thinking only encouraged more women to join the non-violent Egyptian revolution. But what changes can Palestinians, especially women, bring to their situation ? Politicians and men in Palestine can no longer stamp their name on wheat fields, olive groves and agreements that serve their personal agendas. Three generations of Palestinians have inherited tents of exile, displaced emotions, and a reputation of being terrorists who treat their women poorly.
link to muftah.org

No Justice at Qalandiya, Tamar Fleishman
’This is what’s on the agenda now at Qalandiya’, a Palestinian man rightly said. For over two weeks the place has been burning. On the week of the 12th anniversary of the start of the El-Aqsa Intifada, on the day of the murder of the child Muhammad A-Dura, during the days that mark the October 2000 Events, the situation at Qalandiya seems to be on the verge of explosion. I talked about the symbolism of these dates with a friend that in a comradely gesture offered me help by handing a cloth soaked with alcohol, so as to ease the burning sensation from the gas fumes. He said he thought the youngsters weren’t aware of this coincidence. I don’t know, but I saw their faces and they were raging and their body language spoke of determination and they acted with defiance when throwing stones at the checkpoint which is the symbol of occupation.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Citing Zionist desire for ‘complete domination,’ young JFK called for ‘independent’ Jerusalem / Philip Weiss
As a young man, Jack Kennedy was largely sympathetic to the Arabs in Palestine but called for dividing the land and keeping Jerusalem independent. This is the thrust of a "Dear Dad" letter about the Palestine problem written by Kennedy at 22 to his father Joseph, who was then the ambassador to Britain. It was 1939, and Kennedy’s father had sent the Harvard undergrad to the Middle East to tell him what was going on. (Thanks to As’ad Abu Khalil for picking it up. I wonder when Chris Matthews will get to it.)
link to mondoweiss.net

Israel’s abuse of anti-Semitism tackled head-on in new memoir
Antony Lerman has incurred the wrath of influential Zionists for challenging their bigotry.
link to electronicintifada.net
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