Appel de Strasbourg

TODAY in PALESTINE

2015-08-11T08:07:13Z

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Violence / Attacks / Suppression of protests / Detentions

Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian after alleged stabbing attack

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli forces on Sunday shot dead a Palestinian man after he allegedly took part in a stabbing attack that left an Israeli civilian lightly injured in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that "a group of Palestinian assailants" attacked and lightly injured the Israeli near Ofer checkpoint on Route 443, southwest of Ramallah. Israeli news site Ynet reported that the 26-year-old Israeli was filling his car at a gas station when the attack took place. The army spokeswoman said that Israeli soldiers then opened fire on the Palestinian "suspects." She had no immediate information on whether warning shots were fired, but said that Israeli forces opened fire "to prevent the suspect from escaping." She confirmed that one of the Palestinians died of his wounds. [AFP : Police said that the alleged assailant, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Khirbet al-Misbah, died of a leg wound shortly after the attack.] The Israeli, who was wounded in the shoulder, was evacuated to hospital for treatment, she said. It was not confirmed whether the Israeli was a settler living in the occupied West Bank. The highway, Route 443, is reportedly used by many Israelis as a major artery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, despite cutting through the occupied West Bank for several kilometers. The Israeli army later said they believed that three more Palestinians were involved in the attack, and soldiers were searching the area. The Palestinian man's death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces across the occupied Palestinian territories to at least 23 since the beginning of the year, according to UN figures. The UN reported that in the same period, Israeli forces also injured 1,149 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and 52 in the Gaza Strip.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766946

Suspicious object near Israeli military site explodes, injures child

HEBRON (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A 10-year-old Palestinian child was seriously injured in an explosive accident on Sunday in Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestinian police said in a statement. The statement said that the 10-year-old boy was playing with a suspicious object he found near an Israeli military site in Hebron before the explosion. The object detonated in the child's face, burning and causing serious wounds to his face, hands and body. It is unknown exactly what kind of ordnance caused the explosion.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766938

Settler runs over Palestinian child in Jenin
JENIN (PIC) 7 Aug — A Palestinian 12-year-old child suffered moderate injuries after an Israeli settler deliberately ran him over near Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin. Medics said that the child was transferred to hospital as he suffers differed injuries all over his body. The hit-and-run attack comes just one week after right-wing Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the nearby town of Duma
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72917

Israeli forces suppress march over West Bank church settlement plans
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 8 Aug — Israeli forces on Saturday suppressed a Palestinian march protesting Israeli plans to turn a southern West Bank church compound into a settlement outpost, as well as other Israeli "crimes," locals said. Rateb al-Jbour, a coordinator for popular committees in southern Hebron, said that Israeli forces suppressed the march near al-Arrub refugee camp while it was making its way from the town of Beit Ummar towards the church compound, known as Beit al-Baraka. The 38-dunam compound has been in the spotlight since Israeli media reported in May that in 2012 the site was secretly purchased by an American millionaire, Irving Moskowitz, with the intention of turning it into a settlement outpost. Jbour said that as the march approached the main entrance of al-Arrub college, Israeli soldiers assaulted protesters with the butts of their rifles, leaving several of them bruised.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766928

Thousands mourn death of arson victim Saad Dawabsha
NABLUS (Ma‘an) — Thousands of Palestinians on Saturday attended the funeral of Saad Dawabsha, who died early Saturday morning from wounds sustained during an arson attack in the village of Duma near Nablus last month. Israeli settlers are believed to be responsible for the arson attack on July 31, which also killed Dawabsha's 18-month-old son, Ali, and critically injured his wife, Riham, and their four-year-old son, Ahmad. The march started from Duma village and ended more than three kilometers (1.9 miles) away at the Duma cemetery, where he was laid to rest. During the march mourners chanted calls for revenge for the death of Dawabsha and his 18-month-old son. Many Palestinian officials, members of the Fatah Central Committee, and representatives of other Palestinian national parties participated in the funeral, raising Palestinian flags and the flags of Palestinian political parties. The Palestinian Authority filed a report on settler violence with the International Criminal Court on Aug. 3 in response to the arson attack. PA sources insisted that Dawabsha's autopsy was complete and that all legal and medical procedures needed for the submission of the arson case's file at the ICC had been taken. Dawabsha's wife and son remain in critical condition at Tel HaShomer hospital in Israel. Earlier on Saturday Israeli settlers attacked another home in Duma village, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, although none made it inside the home.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766927

Palestinians bury second victim as accusations fly
DUMA, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - The father of a Palestinian toddler killed in a firebomb attack by Jewish extremists last week died from his burns Saturday, and relatives at his funeral denounced Israel for complicity in settler violence. Thousands of mourners, many waving Palestinian flags, turned out to lay Saad Dawabsha to rest as his flag-draped body was carried by an honour guard of Palestinian security forces. "It's a crime committed by the settlers but with the agreement of the (Israeli) occupation," relative Anwar Dawabsha told AFP. "It isn't possible that Israel with all its army and its intelligence services still has no information on this attack," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated Saturday evening a pledge to hunt down the killers . . . But Israeli Arab MP Zouheir Bahloul was unimpressed by the pace of the investigation. "A week has passed and, apart from a few showcase arrests, the security forces have no clue or idea who set this terrible fire," Bahloul, of the main opposition Zionist Union party, said in a statement . . . Dawabsha's wife, Riham, and four-year-old son Ahmed are still fighting for their lives in another Israeli hospital, near Tel Aviv. However, a doctor said Ahmed was showing some encouraging signs. "He is conscious at the moment, communicating with relatives," Marina Rubinstein told the radio. "Yesterday he was licking ice lollies and was pleased with that." "His condition is still serious," she added. "He faces a large number of operations and a very long period of hospitalisation." . . .- 'Confront the occupation' - "Nothing will stop these murderous settler attacks and... we cannot wait until they come into our villages and our homes," Hossam Badran, spokesman of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, wrote on Facebook from his base in Qatar Saturday. "Our people in the West Bank have only one choice : that of open and comprehensive confrontation against the occupation."
http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-urges-confrontation-israel-second-arson-death-092533290.html

Former Shin Bet chief : Lawless State of Judea is forming in the West Bank
I24News 8 Aug — Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin on Friday warned that a societal rift in Israeli has led to the creation of a hard-line Jewish settler state alongside Israel and criticized the government's handling of West Bank extremists following a terror attack by suspected Jewish terrorists. "Alongside the State of Israel, a de facto State of Judea is being formed," Diskin wrote in a in a sharply worded Facebook post warning of a potentially irreversible situation. "In the State of Judea there are different standards, different value systems, different attitudes towards democracy, and there are two legal systems," he asserted. "In the State of Judea, law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews. In the State of Judea, anarchistic, anti-state, violent, and racist ideologies are forming over the years, and they are treated tolerantly by the Israeli legal and judicial system. " Judea is a “nation of Jewish law, of terror, of hatred against the other, or racism. Today, even the rabbis who gave birth to these delusional ideologies have become too moderate and soft in the eyes of some of their flock,” Diskin wrote. The recent push by lawmakers to have the so-called “price tag” attacks be declared illegal was essentially too little too late, Diskin asserted. The main problem in this situation, he said, was the religious Zionist concept of “holiness of the land,” instead of “holiness of the people.” According to Diksin, this means that believers are willing take whatever steps deemed necessary to defend the land, even at the expense of the people. “There is nothing more dangerous to the national security than that,” he said. According to the former security service chief, "the Hilltop Youth (hard-line, extremist settlers) are setting the tone within Religious Zionism. Anyone who thinks we are only talking about a few dozen of delusional youths is making a big mistake. In the State of Judea, there are many hundreds of youths supporting messianic and/or anarchistic, anti-state ideologies." . . . .
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/81327-150808-former-shin-bet-chief-lawless-state-of-judea-is-forming-in-the-west-bank

Catholic churches file complaint against chief extremist
IMEMC/Agencies 8 Aug — The heads of Catholic churches, Friday, filed a complaint against the chief of extremist Jewish group Lehava for advocating the burning of churches. According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches. The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel's sovereignty or control.” The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice. The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem. Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered : “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not ? Idol worship must be destroyed. It's simply yes — what's the question ?”
http://www.imemc.org/article/72562

Vatican representatives demand Israel charge Jewish extremist leader with incitement
Haaretz 9 Aug by Jack Khoury — The Vatican's Custody of the Holy Land demanded the attorney general and state prosecutor charge the leader of the far-right Israeli group Lehava, Benzi Gopstein, with incitement for calling for churches in Israel to be torched. An indictment was necessary "out of consideration of the public interest and of the present danger to churches and Christian communities in the country, and the real concern of further harm to them as a result of this incitement," the Custody's representative, Attorney Farid Joubran, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan. The Custody is an institution of the Franciscan Order in charge of tending to Christian shrines in Israel and in the West Bank. Its head is appointed with the approval of the Pope and the Holy See. The Custody also criticized Weinstein for not presenting charges following an investigation into the group, conducted by Israeli security authorities. "This procrastination could be interpreted by someone as flaccidity by law enforcement officials, if not a seal of approval for the racist provocation from Lehava. "This isn't a time for procrastination, delays and helplessness ! This is a time for determined and uncompromising action by law enforcement authorities under your leadership. The writing is on the wall, and a cost to human life, with consequences which cannot be foretold, isn't a question of if but of when," the letter read.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670371

Israel jails two more far-right Jews without trial
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 9 Aug by Dan Williams — Israel jailed two suspected Jewish militants without trial on Sunday, the second time the measure has been used to detain Israeli citizens since the lethal torching of a Palestinian home. Meir Ettinger and Eviatar Slonim, were placed in "administrative detention" for six months, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement. A third man, Mordechai Meyer, was similarly detained on Tuesday. Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians in administrative detention. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved using the measure for Israeli citizens after an arson attack in the West Bank on July 31 killed a Palestinian toddler and his father. Israel defends its use of detention without trial, saying it is needed to stem violence and allow for further investigation in cases where there is insufficient evidence to prosecute, or where going to court would risk exposing secret informants. Yaalon accused Ettinger and Slonim of "involvement in activity by an extremist Jewish group". Meyer had been involved in "recent terrorist attacks as part of a Jewish terror group," Yaalon said. No specific incidents were mentioned. Honenu, a group of Israeli lawyers representing the three detainees, condemned the use of detention without trial. "Right now there are three detentions. In the coming days it could be 30, and we could end up with 300," one of the lawyers, Aaron Roze, told Israel Radio. "These orders endanger the entire justice system."
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-jails-two-more-far-jews-without-trial-102712543.html

Israel cracks down on Jewish extremists with new arrests
JERUSALEM (AP) 9 Aug by Daniel Estrin — . . . Israeli authorities also carried out arrest raids Sunday in two West Bank settlement outposts. Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri would not say whether the arrests were linked to the arson attack. The arrests, carried out by a nationalist crime unit, were connected to "a number of events that occurred recently" in the West Bank, she said. Authorities said one of the raided outposts was Adei Ad, close to the Palestinian village of Duma, where the arson attack took place. In January, Jewish settlers near Adei Ad threw stones at U.S. consular vehicles carrying visiting American officials. Authorities would not name the other outpost raided, but Israeli media identified it as Baladim. Both outposts — small, isolated Jewish settlements built without government authorization — are located in an area known for its hard-line settler population.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-carries-interrogations-settlement-outposts-070536948.html

Prisoners

Rights group : Israeli doctors refusing to force-feed hunger striker
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli hospital doctors on Sunday refused to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days, an international rights group said. Physicians for Human Rights Israel tweeted on Sunday afternoon : "Hunger striker Muhammad Allan's hospital doctors refuse to treat him against his will." The rights group could not be reached for further comment and the claim could not be verified. Israeli authorities on Saturday declared their intention to force feed prisoner Muhammed Allaan, who on Sunday marked his 56th day on hunger strike. If carried out, it would be the first case since the adoption last month of a new Israeli law permitting the practice. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Allaan, who has been held without trial since November, was "at immediate risk" of death after fasting for 50 days. Allaan's attorney Jamil al-Khatib said he had informed Allaan of Israel's plans to force feed him, but said that it had not changed "his intention to continue his strike." He added that Allaan was placed in intensive hospital care when his body became unable to absorb drinking water. Palestinian health minister warned Saturday that the force feeding procedure itself would endanger Allaan's life.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766944

Palestinian hunger striker moved to Israeli medical center
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Israeli authorities on Monday transferred hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Allan to a medical center in southern Israel, raising fears that the detainee is due to be force fed by Israel, official news agency Wafa reported. Allan, who has been on hunger strike for 57 days, was previously being held at Soroka hospital in Beersheba. On Sunday, Israeli hospital doctors refused to force feed Allan, an international rights group said. Physicians for Human Rights Israel tweeted : "Hunger striker Muhammad Allan's hospital doctors refuse to treat him against his will." The rights group could not be reached for further comment and the claim could not be verified. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Allan, who has been held without trial since November, was "at immediate risk" of death after refusing food for 50 days. Allan's attorney Jamil al-Khatib told AFP on Saturday that Israeli judicial officials "informed me of the intention to proceed with the force feeding of Mr Allan."
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766954

UN slams force-feeding of hunger strikers as human rights 'violation'
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — The UN on Saturday strongly condemned a new Israeli law allowing prisoners to be force-fed, a day after Israeli authorities declared their intention to use the procedure on a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days. The UN said in a statement that "the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental human right" that the new Israeli law violated. The Israeli Knesset passed the law on July 30. While it does not specifically mention Palestinians, Israel's Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the legislation was necessary since "hunger strikes of terrorists in prisons have become a means to threaten Israel." . . . The UN statement was jointly signed by the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid in Palestine, Robert Piper, the head of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' office in Palestine, James Turpin, and Dr. Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organization's office in Palestine.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766937

Some 180 Palestinian prisoners end hunger strike after one day
Haaretz 10 Aug b Jack Khoury & Shirly Seidler — Some 180 Palestinian security prisoners have ended a hunger strike launched on Saturday to protest their conditions, the Israel Prison Service and the Palestinian Prisoners Society confirmed Sunday. The Israeli agency said the hunger strikers, most of whom are in the Nafha and Rimon prisons, had resumed eating unconditionally, and that no deal had been made. But prisoner society chairman Qadura Fares told Haaretz that the strike was halted because the prison service agreed to return 120 prisoners to the wing of Nafha where they were previously held and made concessions over searches and other issues. Fares said the prisoners would evaluate the deal's implementation and could resume the strike after two weeks if progress was unsatisfactory. Earlier Sunday, the organization said more prisoners would join the strike because talks between the prisoners and the prison service were fruitless. The strike included only prisoners from Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hamas and Islamic Jihad did not join in.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670406

Medical negligence worsens health of two prisoners in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 9 Aug – The health condition of two Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Eshel prison have deteriorated due to the ongoing medical negligence by the Israeli prison authorities, according to the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs (CPA). CPA said prisoner Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 32, from the Gaza Strip recently had a minor heart attack, and developed a condition of arteriosclerosis (stiffness of the arteries), kidney stones, and blood pressure. Despite of this, the only medical treatment he received so far was OTC painkillers ; he told a CPA attorney who was allowed to visit him. Abu Mustafa has been in prison since 2003 and is sentenced to serve 13 years in jail. Another prisoner, Hamdallah Sarma, 40, from Ramallah has been suffering from an increasingly worsening health. He has been experiencing recurrent headaches, for which he only receives painkillers. A few days ago, Sarma was shot an injection in his thigh with an unknown content. Meanwhile, CPA said the recent heat wave badly affected Palestinian prisoners in Nafha, Rimon, Naqab, and Eshel prisons in Israel. It said since these prisons are located in Naqab desert, the atmosphere there was extraordinarily hot with temperatures reaching some 48 degrees Celsius.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29055

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Judaization

Israeli army demolishes 260th structure in the West Bank in 2015
Haaretz 8 Aug by Amira Hass — For the IDF bulldozers, it was just another day at the office. For Rashid Dabak, 61, it was the demolition of his modest home — Rashid Dabak's tin shack, which was torn down on Wednesday morning in the Jordan Valley village of ‘Aqaba, was the 260th Palestinian structure that Israel has demolished in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.
The bulldozer smashed the concrete blocks, roof and tin walls, including a kitchenette and bathroom, with a few crushing blows, before continuing on down the village streets. Along with another bulldozer it destroyed six more structures in the village : the home of Khaled Subih's family ; a livestock shelter ; an empty hatchery ; and three agricultural shacks. In East Jerusalem, the municipality has demolished 49 buildings since the beginning of 2015, according to figures provided by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. At around 6 A.M., the bulldozers – accompanied by Israeli military jeeps – appeared on the road to ‘Aqaba. Soldiers ordered Dabak, his wife and son to leave their small home, which is surrounded by a fruit orchard. The soldiers prevented other villagers from approaching. Laborers – some villagers say they were Thai – emptied the house's modest contents and then the bulldozer struck. “What does it matter if the laborers are Thai, Arab or Israeli ?” said Dabak. “The order is the same.” . . . Dabak was born in the village 61 years ago. In 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, it declared the spot a closed military area. Ever since, it has banned any construction there. Before the occupation, some 600 people lived in ‘Aqaba, a few in stone houses but most of them in tents. They made their living off the land, as farmers. The military training with live fire damaged the crops and gradually drove them to nearby villages and towns . . . Over the years, six ‘Aqaba villagers were killed due to the army's live-fire training activities. According to B'Tselem, two were shot dead by soldiers and four, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed when dud ammunition suddenly exploded. At least 38 villagers were wounded in similar circumstances. . . Haj Sami Sadek, the head of the village council, was wounded in 1971 while he was working in the field, hit by three bullets fired by Israeli soldiers. He was 16. Half of his body was paralyzed and he moves around in a wheelchair. “Maybe the Israelis can explain this to me,” asked Sadek for the millionth time. “Do only settlers experience natural growth while we Palestinians don't ?” Following a petition to the High Court of Justice in 1999, the army promised not to hold live-fire exercises inside the village. However, the High Court, in its concern for the rule of law, didn't agree to revoke the demolition orders in a 2008 ruling. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670189

Israeli army orders Palestinians to halt work on water tanks in Hebron village
HEBRON (WAFA) 9 Aug – Israeli forces ordered the village council of Khellet al-Mayyeh, a locale to the east of Yatta, south of Hebron, to stop the construction work on two water tanks funded by the European Union, Sunday reported a local activist. Coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlements, Rateb Jabour, told WAFA that soldiers handed head the head of Yatta village council, Khaled Abu Humaid, a notice ordering them to stop the construction works on two 1700 cubic meters water tanks. The order cited ‘unpermitted construction' as a pretext. Meanwhile, soldiers photographed a number of water wells belonging to several locals in the southern part of the locale. The same soldiers photographed sheds, tents, and other water wells in the village of Umm al-Khair to the east of Yatta.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29060

Israeli Jewish organization issues evacuation notices in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A lawyer representing a right-wing Israeli Jewish organization on Sunday issued evacuation notices for three Palestinian homes in the Batn al-Hawa area in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The lawyer, representing Ateret Cohanim, told the Sarhan family that the land on which the three houses were built allegedly belongs to Jewish settlers. The Silwan-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that the Sarhan family was given 30 days to respond to the claims in court. Ateret Cohanim, an organization aiming to create a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian communities, claims that the land on which the Sarhan family lives belonged to three Jewish men from Yemen who lived there before 1948. The chief of a local committee representing the Batn al-Hawa area, Zuheir al-Rajabi, said the Sarhan family has been living in the property for more than 80 years. The land and the houses, he said, belong to Ali Sarhan, his son Muhammad and another family member, Muhammad Mahir Sarhan. Each home measures 80 square meters (861 square feet).
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766935

Israeli settlers set fire to large swaths of land near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli settlers on Sunday set fire to hundreds of acres of land surrounding the village of Burin in southern Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, a PA official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Bracha set fire to land east and west of Burin, which then spread across hundreds of acres. Daghlas said settlers from the illegal Yizhar settlement separately set fire to another area to the south of Burin, with the blaze rapidly spreading to the southern village of Einabus. The Palestinian Civil Defense said it was trying to reach the fires to put them out. They said that it was too early to determine the scale of the damage. Locals said that clashes later broke out between Palestinian residents of Burin and Israeli forces, who reportedly arrived claiming that Palestinians had thrown stones at settlers on roads near Burin.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766941

Right-wing Jews wave Israeli flags outside Al-Aqsa compound
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Right-wing Jewish Israelis on Sunday waved Israeli flags outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound's Chain Gate, witnesses told Ma‘an. A group of “settlers” crowded outside the Chain Gate and waved Israeli flags under the protection of Israeli police and special forces officers, the witnesses said. Witnesses added that Muslim worshipers shouted "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great," in response. Separately, more than 30 right-wing Jews toured the mosque compound after they entered through the Moroccan Gate on Sunday. Dozens of Muslim worshipers crowded around one of the Jewish visitors to prevent him from performing Jewish rituals. Last week, right-wing Jewish groups urged Israelis on social media to organize provocative activities in the area, such as storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in large groups.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766936

Gaza

Israeli navy again fires on Gaza fishermen
IMEMC/Agencies 9 Aug — Israeli naval boats, Sunday, opened machine gunfire on Palestinian fishing boats offshore the city of Gaza, according to WAFA correspondents. Israeli naval boats opened machine gun fire on fishing boats sailing within the unilaterally imposed six-nautical-mile fishing zone offshore al-Sudaniyya area, to the northwest of Gaza city. No injuries were reported among the fishermen, who were forced to leave the sea for fear of being arrested, injured, or killed. This attack on fishermen came only a day after Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian minor to the east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Sources said that Palestinian Maher Shtat, 14, was hit with a live bullet fired by Israeli forces stationed at watchtowers at the borderline to the north of the strip. Shtat was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.
https://www.imemc.org/article/72576

'Thousands with humanitarian cases stuck in Gaza'
Al Jazeera 9 Aug — About 20,000 people with "humanitarian cases" are stranded in Gaza, waiting for the opening of the Rafah crossing between the besieged Palestinian strip and Egypt, the Gaza-based interior ministry has said. Ministry spokesperson Iyad al-Bazem said on Saturday that the closure of the crossing by Egyptian authorities also threatens the lives of hundreds of people with health problems - including people suffering cancer or heart conditions, or who need urgent surgeries. In a press release, al-Bazem also said that there were thousands of students and employees who usually working abroad who remain stuck in Gaza. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to assess the difficult humanitarian conditions in Gaza and open the Rafah crossing urgently to save what can be saved," he said. According to Palestinian border official Khaled al-Shaer, the Gaza-based government was informed by Egypt that the border crossing will be opened on September 7 and 8 to allow Palestinians planning to perform Hajj to travel to Saudi Arabia. Al-Shaer told Anadolu news agency that Palestinians stuck in Egypt will also be allowed to return to Gaza on those days.
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/20-000-gaza-humanitarian-cases-egypts-mercy-204049489.html

Gaza infant mortality rises for first time in 53 years : UN
JERUSALEM (AFP) 9 Aug — The infant mortality rate in Gaza has risen for the first time in more than half a century, a new study by the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees says. "The number of babies dying before the age of one has consistently gone down over the last decades in Gaza, from 127 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 20.2 in 2008. At the last count, in 2013, it had risen to 22.4 per 1,000 live births," a statement from the UNRWA relief agency released at the weekend said. "Every five years UNRWA conducts a survey of infant mortality across the region, and the 2013 results were released this week," it said, adding that because of the data it would conduct a new Gaza-specific survey this year. It said that neonatal mortality in Gaza, the number of babies who die before four weeks old, rose from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2008 to 20.3 in 2013. The statement quoted Akihiro Seita, director of the agency's health programme, as saying that the sudden upswing was unprecedented in the Middle East. "When the 2013 results from Gaza were first uncovered, UNRWA was alarmed by the apparent increase. So we worked with external independent research groups to examine the data, to ensure the increase could be confirmed," he said. "That is why it took us so long to release these latest figures." He suggested that Israel's blockade of the coastal strip, where close to 45 percent of the population is under 14 years old, could be a contributing factor. "It is hard to know the exact causes behind the increase in both neonatal and infant mortality rates, but I fear it is part of a wider trend," he said. "We are very concerned about the impact of the long-term blockade ; on health facilities, supplies of medicines and bringing equipment in to Gaza."
http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-infant-mortality-rises-first-time-53-years-165415385.html

'Tel Aviv beach' in Paris sparks outrage a year after Gaza slaughter
EI 7 Aug by Ali Abunimah — Palestine solidarity activists in France are expressing outrage that a “Tel Aviv beach” is being created in Paris to promote Israel. For a few hours on 13 August, a section of river bank in the French capital near the Pont d'Arcole, will be turned into “Tel Aviv sur Seine” (Tel Aviv on the Seine), complete with falafel stands and “Israeli nightlife.” According to Coolisraël, a website that markets Israel to a French-speaking audience, the propaganda event is a joint project of the Paris and Tel Aviv municipal governments. Tel Aviv sur Seine will be held at “Paris Plage,” a simulated beach the city sets up in the summer. Lionel Choukroun, director of Agence Culturelle, the company that is producing the event, says the idea is “to give Parisians and tourists the Tel Aviv experience without having to go anywhere.” The Israeli embassy in Paris is heavily promoting Tel Aviv sur Seine on its Facebook page and Twitter accounts. - Beach massacre - In August last year, Israel was in the midst of its 51-day attack on Gaza, dropping the equivalent of an atomic bomb on the besieged territory, killing more than 2,200 people including 551 children and causing utter devastation. While people were partying on Tel Aviv beaches, Palestinian children were being slaughtered by Israeli shells a few miles away on Gaza's beach. A year later, Israeli bombs are still causing horror in Gaza. On Wednesday, leftover Israeli ordnance exploded, ripping through a house near Rafah. Four members of the Abu Nukira family were killed by the blast ; dozens more Palestinians were injured. - “Festive” - The Paris municipality is sending a form response to citizens who email Mayor Anne Hidalgo to express outrage at Tel Aviv sur Seine. The city's response, a copy of which was seen by The Electronic Intifada, states : “This festive day, open to all, underscores the strong cultural and high-tech ties between Paris and [Tel Aviv].”. . . .
ttps ://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/tel-aviv-beach-paris-sparks-outrage-year-after-gaza-slaughter

Wartime journalism : Mohammed Omer on Gaza
AIC 9 Aug by Richard Falk — . . . All of which brings me to Mohammed Omer's extraordinary Shell-Shocked : On the Ground under Israel's Gaza Assault, published by Or Books (New York & London) in 2015.The book consists of dispatches from the war zone by a young prize-winning journalist who has been telling the world about the Gaza ordeal for almost ten years, since his early 20s. Omer's prior reporting earned him the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2007, recognizing the excellence of his reportage on Gaza (‘a voice for the voiceless'). After receiving the award in The Netherlands, Omer on his return home received a brutal reception at the Gaza border by Israeli security guards, being beaten so severely as to endure serious injury that required specialized surgery. With the help of a Dutch diplomat and medical treatment Omer restored his health while studying in overseas universities, yet opting to return to Gaza rather than to enjoy a life abroad as an honored exile. Omer wrote this book while doing his best during the 51 day war of 2014, what Israelis called Operation Protective Edge, to tell the world about the war from the perspective of those enduring it, that is, the civilian population of Gaza. Shell-Shocked raises many issues worthy of commentary, but here I will limit myself to issues bearing on the style and ethics of professional journalism. In essence, Omer does not have the option of detachment from the ordeal of war in the manner of the liberal journalists who I describe above as covering the Vietnam war, as an instance of failure for American foreign policy. Omer by choice and circumstances refused to be detached, but that does not mean that he cannot be trusted. On the contrary. As Omer explains, “. . .I'm a journalist, and I owe it to my people and the Israeli people to get to the truth. I choose to stay in Palestine, my beloved home, with my wife, son, mother, father, siblings. I am not willing to let Israel or Zionism exterminate me.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/aicoment/969-wartime-journalism-mohammed-omer-on-gaza

The forgotten massacre of German citizens in Gaza
EI 7 Aug by Emran Feroz — Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to “stand by the side of Israel” as it attacked Gaza during the summer of 2014. Her solidarity with the aggressor included remaining silent as a family of her fellow citizens were massacred. Ibrahim Kilani had lived in Germany for 20 years before moving back to Gaza. He, his wife, Taghreed, and their five children were killed when Israel shelled an apartment where they had sought refuge in Gaza City. Ramsis Kilani is a son of Ibrahim from his previous marriage, living in the German city of Siegen. Unable to attend Ibrahim's funeral because of the siege on Gaza, Ramsis has tried to keep his father's memory alive by campaigning against Israel's crimes. Ramsis spoke to Emran Feroz. Emran Feroz : One year has passed since your father was killed. Can you summarize what you have experienced since then ? Ramsis Kilani : My life has changed a lot. Especially before going to sleep, I cannot stop thinking about what has happened. Not only do I think about my father, who I had not been able to see for years before his death, as I never managed to get into Gaza and he never managed to get out. I think about my half-siblings whose voices and laughter I had heard on the telephone, who told me they loved me, but who I had never encountered in their short lives. . . EF : . . .Can you describe how the debate on Palestine is conducted in Germany ? And how does it affect someone with Palestinian roots ? RK : The debate in Germany is obviously strongly influenced by historical issues. The Holocaust has had a deep impact on Germans, whose grandparents or great-grandparents may have committed atrocities or were at least passively complicit. For many, the solution now is to stand in non-reflective solidarity with the State of Israel, which they think represents all Jews. This solidarity is interpreted as a sort of redemption for the genocide against millions of Jews by the Nazis. Arabs and especially Palestinians are certainly among the most hated people in Germany. I, for example, have been called an anti-Semite because of my father's background countless times. The German support for the Israeli government is totally irrational. It is an illogical attempt to erase crimes and injustice by supporting crimes and injustice. . . .
https://electronicintifada.net/content/forgotten-massacre-german-citizens-gaza/14754

For each day of the Gaza war, these Jewish women are fasting
JERUSALEM (The Forward) 9 Aug by Rachel Tzvia Back — . . . We are in the Women Wage Peace protest tent, situated one block from the Israeli Prime Minister's residence, where women are fasting in shifts for 50 days – the 50 days of last year's horrific war in Gaza. Every day, new women join the protest, fasting in shifts of 25 or 50 hours. We are demanding that our government enter immediately into renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to precipitate a political resolution to this bloody conflict. We are protesting the terrible senselessness of last summer's war, and our government's refusal to do everything in its power to prevent the next war. We are protesting the profound failure of our politicians to provide us with a viable future in this land . . . The next morning, as our own fast nears its end, four young boys hover at the edge of the tent. One of them, dressed in a black t-shirt, is clearly looking for a fight and calls out to us : “Traitors !” To the four of us from the Galilee, these boys look like the religious counterparts of our own sons. Our energy level is low at this point, but we rise from our seats to talk with them. The boy wants only to argue, to shout and quote biblical verses to us. But beside him is a dark-haired boy in a red t-shirt, and he seems to want something else ; he is listening, or trying to listen, to what we are saying about the possibility of peace. The black t-shirt boy shouts that his red t-shirt friend lost his brother in last summer's war, as though proving the errors in our protest with that terrible news. Our gazes turn wholly toward the quiet red t-shirt boy ; we ask his name and learn it is Noam. My friend Merav tells him her own son is named Noam, and the two of them move off to the side to talk. I too step aside, with the Proverbs verse about darchei noam suddenly echoing in my mind : the ways of our faith are pleasant, we are told, and “all its paths are peace.” This young Noam who buried his brother a year ago is looking for that peace, I think. As are we all.
http://forward.com/opinion/318809/for-each-day-of-the-gaza-war-these-jewish-women-are-fasting/

Other news

Bethlehem festival celebrates diversity of culture and faith
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 8 Aug by Anna Kokko — At the end of Star Street in the Old City of Bethlehem, turquoise metal doors that are usually locked have been set wide open. In a cave-like interior, a group of women sits in the dim light on brightly colored pillows and sofas, discussing what it means to live as a woman in Palestinian society. “Last year, our morning workshops were almost empty. But now we had about twenty women, who all left the panel inspired,” says Daniele Abilas, a project coordinator at Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian peace-building organization that has for the third year in a row organized Bethlehem's hugely successful community festival, Bet Lahem Live. The three-day festival combines music and theater with workshops on spirituality and social responsibility, with performers and speakers coming from all over the world. This year's themes culminate in faith, justice, and culture. All the events are held along Star Street, a traditional pilgrimage route for Christians. One of the main goals of the festival was to engage the local community. “Before the festival, we formed a Star Street Committee for people living on the street. It was the locals' initiative to have bingo and backgammon at the event, for example,” Abilas says. The organizers hope to get about 30,00 visitors this year, double the turnout for last summer's festival. Abilas says they expect the majority, about 70 percent, to be locals — not just from Bethlehem but also from other cities in the West Bank as well as Palestinians living in Israel. - 'The real Palestine' - Across the street from the women's panel, another group of visitors has gathered around a burning candle. Ari Pliskin, an American Buddhist practitioner and minister at the Zen Peacemaker Order, kneels in front of the candle and bows to mark the start of a meditation.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766926

Report : Iran calls off Hamas visit to Tehran following Saudi rapprochement
I24News 9 Aug — Iran called off a planned visit by a Hamas delegation to the Islamic Republic following Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal's visit to Saudi Arabia last month, the Huffington Post's Arabic edition reported Saturday. Citing sources, the report said a senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards expressed to a Hamas official that Meshaal's visit to Riyadh was unacceptable. The unnamed Iranian official condemned the visit and asked why the Hamas chief had been so quick to accept the Saudi invitation while having not yet responded to an open invitation from the Iranian leadership for over four years. The Hamas representative responded that the visit to Saudi Arabia was not intended to be "against Iran," but rather arose as a reflection of the group's openness to all nations. According to the report, the Iranian official stated that the Saudis were attempting to bring about a rapprochement with Hamas in a bid to exert greater influence in the Middle East following the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers. The meeting between the Iranian and Hamas officials was described as "stormy." Last month, Meshaal and other top officials from the Palestinian militant group met with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and senior Saudi leaders, in a rare meeting between the two sides
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/81479-150809-report-iran-calls-off-hamas-visit-to-tehran-following-saudi-rapprochement

PLO official visits Iran to discuss bilateral relations
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday sent an envoy to Iran in an attempt to improve bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic. Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Ma‘an that the arrangements had been in place for some time and pre-dated recent talks in the country about the nuclear deal with the United States. The PLO official met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and agreed to set-up a "high-profile" joint committee to arrange consultations on political issues, and commercial and educational exchange. The two officials also discussed possible Iranian support in efforts to implement political reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766951

Turkey grants Palestinian refugees 'protection card'
ANKARA (PIC) 7 Aug — The Turkish Interior Ministry has decided to give the same privileges for Palestinian refugees as well as their Syrian ones who fled from the ongoing bloody events in their country, rights group said. The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria (AGPS) revealed that the decision grants Palestinian refugees a temporary “protection card” which guarantees their basic human rights. The protection card also allows Palestinian refugees to take advantage of all services provided to the Syrian refugees. The Turkish authorities said that 351 Palestinian refugees have registered themselves in the immigration department ; however their real number is expected to be higher than declared. The AGPS pointed out that the decision did not include cancelling visa application for Palestinians refugees as their entry from Syria requires a visa. Although Palestinian refugees from Syria are, like Syrian citizens, under temporary protection, the visa-free entry clauses Turkey applies to Syrian citizens are not valid for Palestinian refugees.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72916

Excusive : Uproar in Arab town of Sakhnin forces Netanyahu to cancel visit
I24News 8 Aug by Mohammad Khateeb — The residents of the western Galilee Arab city of Sakhnin were surprised to see large forces of police arriving in their town earlier this week, searching their homes without any warning or explanation and securing the southern part of the city, mainly its Doha soccer stadium. i24news has learned that the unusual police presence was due to a planned visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his plan to attend next Monday's opening ceremony of a new medical center in Sakhnin. The Mayor of Sakhnin, Mazen Ganaim, confirmed the report to i24news, adding that the visit was canceled without further explanation. "The PM's Office first said that Netanyahu would participate in the ceremony but called us again after a few days to cancel," he said. An official in the municipality, who asked to remain anonymous, told i24news that the real reason for Netanyahu's going back on his promise to attend the ceremony was the strong objection by city residents . . . The Arab residents of Sakhnin still remember Netanyahu's controversial remarks during March 17 election day, when the prime minister has made a last-ditch attempt to rally his supporters as the country went to the polls, with a warning that a high turnout of Israeli Arab voters could threaten his party's hold on power.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/81259-150807-exclusive-uproar-in-arab-town-of-sakhnin-forces-netanyahu-to-cancel-visit

Palestinians say high-profile football playoff shelved
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 9 Aug — A football match scheduled for Sunday that had been seen as a symbolic step towards Palestinian unity has been postponed indefinitely over a dispute with Israeli officials, the Palestinian Football Association said. Following Thursday's goalless draw in Gaza between Al-Ahli from the West Bank city of Hebron and Gaza's Shejaiya — their first match in 15 years — a second leg was planned for Sunday in Hebron. West Bank and Gaza Strip teams play in separate leagues, in which Al-Ahli and Shejaiya emerged as champions. The winner will be eligible to represent Palestine in international competitions. But the Gaza Strip . . . and the West Bank are separated by 60 kilometres (40 miles) of Israeli territory and Gazans are subject to rigorous border restrictions. Israel asked four of Shejaiya's 37-member delegation to submit to security interviews as a condition of leaving the territory. The Palestinian Football Association, chaired by former West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub, and Shejaiya club categorically refused . . . "An athlete can enter and exit Gaza without security interference, according to the rules of FIFA," [Jibril Rajoub] said, referring to football's world governing body. . . .
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/palestinians-high-profile-football-playoff-shelved-163831527--sow.html

Israel's culture minister told state funding can't be withheld over content of work
Haaretz 9 Aug by Revital Hovel — Attorney general's deputies spell out limits of Miri Regev's powers, but she's still considering changes to funding criteria, and the law, for 2016 — The attorney general's deputies have instructed Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev that the content of artistic works must not be taken into consideration when deciding funding for cultural institutions. After she became culture minister in May, Regev (Likud) announced that she intended to change the criteria for government support for cultural institutions. This was partly because of the Arab play “A Parallel Time,” performed at the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa and inspired by the story of a Palestinian serving a life sentence for murder. Regev had ordered that state support for the theater be frozen. However, in response to a request from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Deputy Attorney Generals Orit Koren and Dina Zilber said on Sunday that Regev is not legally allowed to change funding criteria based on the content of the work.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.670342

Israel charges Swede with spying for Lebanon's Hezbollah
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 9 Aug — Israel charged a Swede of Palestinian descent on Sunday with spying for Hezbollah, saying the Lebanese guerrilla group had tasked him with gathering information on Israeli military facilities that might be attacked in a future war. The suspect, Khalil Hizran, was arrested on July 21 after flying into Tel Aviv, and confessed under interrogation to working for Hezbollah, Israel's Shin Bet security service said after a gag order on the case was lifted. According to a Shin Bet statement, Hizran planned to gather information on military sites in Israel, a mission it deemed "proof that Hezbollah is preparing for the next war with Israel and is marking out a 'target bank'". Hizran's Israeli lawyer, Leah Tsemel, denied the charges. Speaking to Reuters, she said Hizran had met with Hezbollah members during visits to Lebanon, where he was born to Palestinian refugees and from which he had emigrated to Sweden. "But he refused any request to harm Israel's security," Tsemel said. Hizran made a previous visit to Israel in 2009.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-charges-swede-spying-lebanons-hezbollah-083117565.html

Home demolitions, airport harassment : Israelis' lack of humanism / Amira Hass
Haaretz 10 Aug — In the West Bank village of ‘Aqaba, the Israeli authorities once more demolished homes and structures. What's their connection to American Palestinians who were denied entry to Israel/Palestine ? — Sometimes, a single sentence from an interviewee immediately glows as bright as a firefly. This time it was the words of Rashid Dabak, standing next to the pile of rubble that only two hours earlier had been his home in the small West Bank village of ‘Aqaba. The Civil Administration demolished his tin shack because the Israel Defense Forces had declared the area a firing zone. What about Palestinians living there ? Let them disappear. Dabak, 61, concluded, “The problem with Israelis is that they suffer from a weak sense of humanism.” He made his diagnosis with sadness and compassion. His observation reminded me of the border control officers who, three weeks ago, had forbidden a 70-year-old man born in Jerusalem from entering the country because “Israel is for the Jews.” When George Khoury didn't understand why, as an American citizen, he was not allowed to enter via Ben-Gurion International Airport, the officer told him, “Why are you denying that you're a Palestinian ?” Khoury answered that he was a proud Palestinian, but he also had an American passport the officer must honor. The response was : “How do you want me to honor your American passport ? Do you want me to kiss it, to hug it, or to worship it ?” . . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.670366
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TODAY in PALESTINE

2015-05-28T06:03:35Z

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Violence / Attacks / Raids / Harassment / Arrests - West Bank & Jerusalem

A night of violence in West Jerusalem

+972 blog 25 May by Aviv Tatarsky — For years now young Palestinian men have found themselves the targets of groups of Jewish youths roaming the streets of West Jerusalem on weekend nights. As warm weather returns, so are the attacks. One such attack raises the question : who are the police protecting ? — Thursday night, Zion Square, West Jerusalem. Summer is officially here, and the area that was quite empty during the winter is bustling with thousands of people enjoying a night out. Among them are some Palestinians who have come to partake in “Israelization” — or, at least, that's how some people have begun describing Palestinians who blend into “Israeli” parts of Jerusalem, adopting modes of behavior that we usually ascribe to ourselves. At least one of the Palestinians seems — I don't know, I didn't see — to have taken his Israelization one step too far, by chatting up a Jewish girl. Maybe he made her laugh, maybe she almost gave him her phone number. Maybe, as is often the case with guys, he didn't understand he was not wanted. I have no idea. What I do know is that Israelis don't want this Israelization. The Palestinian guy runs frantically past me, and a few seconds later, a bunch of Jews are chasing him. The attempted lynching of Jamal Julani immediately comes to mind, an assault that began with such a chase exactly here three years ago. I start running after them.
http://972mag.com/a-night-of-violence-in-west-jerusalem/107054/

Israeli forces chase, shoot 4 Palestinians near Qalqilia
JENIN (WAFA) 26 May — Four Palestinian workers Tuesday were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets in an Israeli army chase near the village of ‘Azzun ‘Atma, near Qalqilya, according to security sources. Sources informed WAFA that Israeli forces chased down and shot in the head four workers with rubber-coated steel bullets, while they were heading to their workplaces. The four were identified as Hani Zakarna from Qabatiya, brothers Walid and Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Ghannam. They were all transferred to hospital for treatment. Their medical condition remains unknown until the moment.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=28574

Jerusalem child injured after being rammed by a settler's car
IMEMC/Agencies 27 May — Palestinian medical sources have reported that a child was injured after being struck by an Israeli settler's car, in Ras al-‘Amoud area in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem. The sources said the child, Hani Eskafi, 15 years of age, suffered various cuts and bruises when the car struck him while riding his bicycle and apparently drove away. The incident took place near Ma'ale ha-Zeitim illegal settlement, in Ras al-‘Amoud area ; medics provided the child with the needed first aid and moved him to Hadassah Hospital. Paramedic Hani Zeidani said the child suffered various cuts and bruises, and that settlement guards told the family they managed to obtain the information of the driver. The guards did not provide further information to the family, and told them they needed to file a complaint with the police ... There have been hundreds of "hit and run" incidents that largely went uninvestigated by the Israeli authorities, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, even though many of those incidents have led to fatalities.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71718

Video : Israeli soldiers shoot 10-year-old
Warning - Graphic - Video shows the moment when Yahiya Sami al-Amudi, 10, was shot by Israeli occupation soldiers, he was walking near a checkpoint by the East Jerusalem refugee camp, when the incident happened [on 21 May]
https://www.facebook.com/falastinews/videos/vb.285988994937588/387057698164050/?type=2&theater

WATCH : IDF soldiers threaten Palestinian child with false arrest
+972 mag 26 May by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man — Israeli soldiers have been filmed harassing the boy's family in recent weeks, using their home as a photo set, raiding it for no apparent reason — Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian city of Hebron threatened to arrest a 14-year-old Palestinian boy simply for being in the vicinity of people throwing stones last month. In a video released by Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem in recent days, Israeli soldiers can be seen detaining the child, Maher Abu Haya, near his family home on April 6, 2015. In the video, the soldiers argue with the child's father. At first the soldiers claim that Maher was running away from them with other Palestinian youths who were throwing stones. Quickly, the soldiers change their story and admit that Maher wasn't running away at all. “Next time, he'll pay for it,” one of the soldiers says in Hebrew. “He'll have a big mess.” Whenever stones are thrown, a soldier claims, Maher is nearby. The soldier doesn't seem to comprehend that there might be other reasons than throwing stones for a 14 year old to be standing outside his own home. “Every time somebody's throwing rocks we see this kid,” an English-speaking soldier says. “If I see his face again — I don't care if I see him throw rocks or not, he's gonna go with us.” “He's going to go with me and he's going to be tied up all night,” the soldier continues threatening Maher's father. “And he's gonna get punished and you're going to need to pay to take him back.”
http://972mag.com/watch-idf-soldiers-threaten-palestinian-child-with-false-arrest/107067/

Violations against female Palestinian journalists triple since 2010
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 May — Violations against female Palestinian journalists by Israeli military forces and Palestinian security forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have tripled since 2010, a local media group said Tuesday. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) documented 103 violations — 66 committed by Israel's military — between Jan. 2010 and April 2015. Forty-four were physical attacks, with one journalist killed, while there were also reports of detention, intimidation, confiscation of equipment, and the destruction of homes. Palestinian security forces committed 36 media violations over the same period, with eight incidents of physical attacks and the remainder related to measures preventing access for coverage and threats of arrest. The number of incidents recorded in 2014 represent an "unprecedented jump" in violations, MADA's general director Mousa Rimawi said, nearly tripling from years prior. While physical attacks and interference by Israeli forces dominated the violations, the report also documented instances of female journalists being threatened with rape and murder [by ?] social media users ... Female journalists make up around a third of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Eighty percent of Palestinian journalists both male and female said they work under self-censorship, according to a 2014 report by MADA. Such self-censorship arises largely from pressures exerted by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the report said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765623

PA security officers stab teenager to death in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 25 May — Two members of the Palestinian Authority security forces on Monday killed a teenager during a fight in Nablus, officials said. Security officials said Muhammad Ahmad Hashayka, 16, died from stab wounds sustained during a fight with two security officers in the village of Taluza. The teenager died shortly after arriving at al-Najah Hospital. The security officers, who were not identified, handed themselves in to police, who have opened an investigation into the incident. No further details about the circumstances of the teenager's death were available and it is not clear whether the suspects were on duty at the time. [According to IMEMC, this event was part of a clan dispute ; more information needed]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765604

Ten Palestinians injured near Jenin
IMEMC/Agencies 26 May — Palestinian medical sources have reported that ten residents, including children, have been injured when Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Jaba‘ town, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin. A number of military vehicles invaded the town, broke into and searched a few homes, and interrogated several families. Soldiers also searched old caves in the town, and around it. The invasion led to clashes with local youths, who hurled stones on the invading vehicles, while the soldiers fired several rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and concussion grenades. At least ten Palestinians, including children, suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, and received treatment by local medics. On Monday at night, the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO) managed to secure the release of a Palestinian child, identified as ‘Odai Saleh Mansour, 14, a few hours after Israeli soldiers kidnapped him.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71713

Israel detains 20 Palestinians in East Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor 26 May — Israeli police detained 20 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem in the past 24 hours, a Palestinian NGO said today. "Since Monday, over 20 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, mostly children, have been detained," Nasser Qous of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said in a statement. According to Qous, the detainees have already appeared before Israeli courts, which remanded most of them in custody. The remainder, he said, were ordered to pay fines or bail in order to be released. East Jerusalem has recently witnessed clashes between Palestinian residents and Israelis coming to the holy city over the past two days to mark the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Since Sunday morning, tension has been running high around the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex. The tension comes against the backdrop of calls by several Jewish organisations for supporters to enter the holy site en masse to commemorate the holiday.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/18838-israel-detains-20-palestinians-in-east-jerusalem

Bethlehem : Soldiers kidnap a Palestinian
IMEMC/Agencies 26 May — Israeli soldiers kidnapped, Monday, a Palestinian from the northern West Bank city of Jenin, after stopping him on a roadblock east of Bethlehem ... Eyewitnesses said the soldiers installed a sudden roadblock near the main entrance of Teqou ‘ village, east of Bethlehem, searched cars, and kidnapped one Palestinian. The kidnapped Palestinian, identified as Mohammad Mahmoud al-Qadery, 27 years of age, is from Bir al-Basha, near Jenin ; he was heading to his work in Hebron.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71711

Israeli forces detain 23 Palestinian men overnight
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) – Israeli forces carried out multiple detention raids overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday morning across the West Bank arresting 23 Palestinians. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that the 23 were detained for "illegal activity" but had no further information regarding the reasons for detention. The raids come as UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) reported Monday that Israeli forces have conducted a weekly average of 86 search and arrest operations this year, up from 75 a week in 2014 ... The Palestinian Prisoner's Society released information regarding 10 detentions made in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, as well as Hebron in the south. The PPS reported in the town of Ya‘abad in Jenin Israeli forces detained Abdullah Said Amarnah, 22, Muhamad Abdullah al-Suri, 25, and Muhammad Abdullah Ghanayim, 24. Three others, Abd al-Rahim Hamadnah, Mahmoud Yasin and Barra Jarara were detained in the village of Asira al-Shamaliyya near Nablus. Eyhab Marwan al-Karaki, 22, Anas Hashlamoun, 24, and Khalid Kafrawi, 22 were detained from Hebron, while Ahmad Kheir Muhammad Salman, 22, was detained in Tulkarem city.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765638

Gaza

Israeli Navy fire wounds Palestinian fisherman off Gaza coast
Haaretz 25 May by Jack Khoury — A Palestinian fisherman was wounded on Monday morning after an Israeli military ship opened fire off the Gaza coast. Medical officials and fishermen in Gaza said that an Israel Navy vessel opened fire at fishermen's boats off the northern Gaza Strip. Nizar Ayyash, chairman of the Gaza fishermen association, said that the wounded man, 26-year-old Mohammed Bachar, was taken to a Gaza hospital for treatment. No information was given on the type and extent of his injury, but it seems it was not life-threatening. Palestinians say that Israel was not following an agreement it reached with Hamas after the summer's Gaza war, allowing them to sail up to a range of six nautical miles (Just over 11 kilometers) from the Gaza coast.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.657965

2 Gaza fisherman shot, injured by Israeli navy
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 May — Two Palestinian fishermen were shot and injured by Israeli navy forces off the coast of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, a local union said. Nizar Ayyash, speaker of the fishermen's union in Gaza, told Ma‘an that Muhammad Ziad Bakr, 26, was taken to hospital for treatment after he was shot by Israeli forces. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that a fishing vessel deviated from the designated fishing zone and after warning shots were fired, forces fired at the lower extremities of a fisherman. A direct hit was confirmed, she added. Some hours later, Imad Muhsin Bakir, 26, was shot and injured in the same area and evacuated to Shifa hospital in Gaza City for treatment.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765601

Egyptian navy shoots, injures Gaza fisherman
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 May — Egyptian naval forces late Monday opened fire on a Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip, injuring a fisherman from Rafah. Palestinian sources identified the fisherman as Muhammad al-Bardawil ... Last week, a Gazan fishing boat was damaged when Egyptian gunboats fired on it, although no injuries were reported. Egypt upholds an Israeli military blockade on Gaza, keeping borders largely closed and limiting imports, exports, and the freedom of movement of its residents.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765613

Egypt opens Rafah crossing with Gaza for 48 hours
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 26 May — Egypt reopened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza for two days from Tuesday, Palestinian border officials said, for the first time since March. Maher Abu Sabha, director of border crossings in the Gaza Strip, said traffic was permitted into Gaza only, to allow the return of Palestinians stranded in Egypt. "I travelled on March 10 for eye treatment for my son, but we got stuck," Ahmed Al-Hato told AFP. "I just needed seven days, but they closed the crossing," he said. Egypt closed the crossing, the only access point to the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, after a bombing in the Sinai Peninsula in October killed 30 of its soldiers. It has since temporarily reopened the crossing several times.
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-opens-rafah-crossing-gaza-48-hours-142328427.html

Egypt military destroyed 521 Gaza tunnels : report
Press TV 25 May — The Egyptian army has destroyed 521 entry points to tunnels under the border with the Gaza Strip, which has been subject to an Israeli blockade for the past eight years, a report says. According to military spokesperson Mohamed Samir, the border guards had demolished the tunnel openings over the past six months, Turkey's Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. Samir added that some of the tunnels had railroad tracks and communication rooms. Back in April, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued a decree, rendering the digging or using of border tunnels punishable by a life term.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/25/412849/Egypt-Gaza-tunnels-Hamas-Sinai--

Israel 'refusing' to repair disconnected Gaza electricity grid
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 May — Gaza's electricity distributor has accused Israel of refusing to repair a 12 megawatt grid supplying power to Gaza City that became disconnected in Israeli-controlled territory on Thursday. The Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation said in a statement on Tuesday that the loss of the al-Qubba electricity grid was having a serious effect on the power supply to Gaza City, which has suffered an insufficient supply for years. The statement said that Gazan technicians would need to enter Israeli territory to repair the disconnection, requiring special permission from the Israeli military, but this has so far been denied. The statement said that Israeli authorities were neither allowing Gazan technicians in, nor was the Israeli electricity company making any efforts to repair the damage. Gaza currently receives electricity from the Israeli electricity grid, the Egyptian electric company, and from a power station inside Gaza. However, these supply lines fall far short of the Gazan population's needs. While they provide 230 MW of electricity, it has been estimated that Gaza requires 350 to 450 MW.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765614

IAF strikes Gaza targets in response to rocket fire
Ynet 27 May by Matan Tzuri et al. — The Israel Air Force struck four targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning in response to rocket fire at southern Israel the previous night, IDF spokesman said. The IAF strike targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, and accurate hits were identified, the army said. "If there is no calm in Israel, the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price for it, one that causes anyone who chooses to challenge us to regret it," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said. Code red sirens sounded in Ashdod and Lachish near Kiryat Gat in southern Israel Tuesday evening just after 9 pm. An IDF Spokesperson confirmed that one rocket fired from Gaza had landed near Gan Yavne. Police said that there were no reports of damages, but one 15-year-old arrived at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon suffering from shock. Tuesday's attack was the first time since last year's 50-day Operation Protective Edge in Gaza that a medium-range Grad rocket was fired into Israeli territory. Defense establishment sources said the rocket was likely fired by an errant Palestinian faction, but Ya'alon stressed, "Hamas is responsible" for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4661655,00.html

Protesters close bank branches in Gaza for hours
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 May — Dozens of protesters on Tuesday morning demonstrated outside branches of Bank of Palestine across the Gaza Strip, preventing employees from entering the buildings on time, witnesses said. Demonstrators have been protesting for weeks against a decision by the bank to refuse money transfers from abroad to charitable organizations. Participants say they are widows, orphans and family members of Palestinians killed by Israel who benefit from such organizations. The demonstrators carried posters urging Bank of Palestine to end the blocks imposed on the accounts currently barring them from receiving humanitarian support. "Save the orphans of Gaza," read one large poster signed by the "Union of Those Aggrieved by Bank of Palestine." Shortly after the demonstration, the organizers announced that they would suspend their protest until next week to give mediators time to work out a compromise.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765616

Hamas executed Palestinians during Israel war : Amnesty
JERUSALEM (AFP) 27 May — The Islamist group Hamas used its 2014 Gaza war with Israel to "settle scores" with rival Palestinians, executing at least 23 in possible war crimes, Amnesty International said Wednesday. A report by the London-based rights group detailed the "brutal campaign of abductions, torture and unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of 'collaborating' with Israel" by Hamas, de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip enclave. The report details the "extrajudicial execution of at least 23 Palestinians and the arrest and torture of dozens of others". "It is absolutely appalling that, while Israeli forces were inflicting massive death and destruction upon the people in Gaza, Hamas forces took the opportunity to ruthlessly settle scores, carrying out a series of unlawful killings and other grave abuses," Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther said.
http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-executed-palestinians-during-israel-war-amnesty-012450438.html

Gaza families visit relatives jailed in Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 May — Sixty-one Palestinians from the Gaza Strip crossed into Israel to visit relatives in Israel's Ramon prison on Monday. Among the visitors were 11 children, according to a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City Suheir Zaqut. She added that 37 prisoners in Ramon will be visited. The ICRC "Family Visits Program" for Gazans was suspended by Israeli authorities in June 2007 when Hamas came to power in the coastal enclave. All communication between Gazan prisoners and the outside world was effectively cut off, prisoners' rights group Addameer reported, and during a Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in April 2012, one of the prisoners' key demands was that the program be reinstated. Israel agreed to resume the visits on the conclusion of the hunger strike, although Addameer has reported that many Gaza prisoners have not been allowed to receive visitors. There were 375 Gazans in Israeli jails as of April 1, 2015, according to Addameer.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765602

Officials say Turkey continues to fulfill Gaza aid pledge
ANKARA (Videonews) 25 May – Turkey is continuing to help in the reconstruction of Gaza following Israel's devastating military offensive last summer, the Turkish Prime Ministry Office of Public Diplomacy said. Officials added that Turkey has provided $76.3 million to Gaza in 2014 and aid will reach $200 million by 2017 ... Turkey had promised to provide $200 million during the 2015-2017 term to support the reconstruction of Gaza and the sustainable development of Palestine. Turkey also said the aid will be carried out on a project basis and step by step. “If the Turkish Republic makes a promise, that promise will be fulfilled,” Serdar Cam, head of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), told Anadolu Agency. “Our statesman's promise does not hang in the air.”
http://news.videonews.us/officials-say-turkey-continues-fulfil-gaza-aid-pledge-2519191.html

F-16 rockets do not end the hopes of Gaza's youth
Middle East Monitor 25 May — EXCLUSIVE IMAGES & VIDEO — Yosef Al-Hissi, 23, from Jabalia Refugee Camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, was a footballer before he was hit by a missile from an Israeli F16 fighter jet and lost his leg during last year's offensive on Gaza. Despite his appalling injuries, he did not lose hope of continuing his friendship with a ball, but it is now as a basketball player [in a wheelchair] that he is starring in the camp's Al-Basma Club. In the midst of Israel's 2014 offensive, Al-Hissi was a happy young man as he went to bed with F16s and drones roaring overhead. He woke, not to find his brother Ali and sister Hala sleeping in the next beds, but to doctors trying to stop the bleeding cuts and bruises all over his body ... "I was happy in the hope that the war would end in a day or two and I could go back to playing football with my friends," he says. In the hospital, though, the doctors told Yosef that he had lost his leg and he might be there for a long time. "I was stunned at that moment. Both my hands were bandaged to the degree that I was unable to stretch down to feel whether my leg was there or not." ... The Palestinian ministry if health said that there are 70,000 disabled people in the Gaza Strip, making up 4.5 per cent of the population. According to a recent ministry report, 13 per cent of the people wounded in last summer's offensive are disabled due to "new and strange" Israeli munitions that seem to target and sever limbs. "The rehabilitation of these people will take a long time," the report says. "Artificial limbs cost between $1,000 to $4,000 each." The ministry has had to halt financial support for those needing artificial limbs because of the continuous Israeli siege and lack of resources, in addition to the ban on the equipment needed for this purpose.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/18823-f16-rockets-do-not-end-the-hopes-of-gazas-youth

Breaking the glass ceiling : Gaza women open their own businesses
The Media Line 26 May — 'Women need to become economically independent,' says successful Palestinian businesswoman Maram Ganem, who owns Gaza's first fast-food place and a large upscale restaurant in Gaza City — ... Fathia Abu Amer lives in the Gaza neighborhood of Saja‘iyya. In her fifties, she runs a successful business from her home, selling colorful dresses for young girls to wear in wedding celebrations. She stores her clothes in a small warehouse with rows of white, red, and purple dresses neatly arranged on one side and quilts, baby blankets and tablecloths along the other wall. Fathia said she started to realize her life-long ambition when she took her first loan in 1995. Fathia travels regularly to Egypt to buy clothes and sell them in Gaza and has become a sales representative for a long list of traders in Egypt and Gaza.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4660778,00.html

Conflict in Gaza is all part of Israel's indirect system of control over Palestine / Yehuda Shaul
New Statesman 26 May — 2014's Operation Protective Edge was just the latest in a long list of operations used by the IDF to “cut the grass” in the region — Eleven years ago I was discharged from my military service as a combatant with the Nahal Brigade of the Israel Defence Force (IDF). After my release I founded the organisation Breaking the Silence together with several friends. Since then, I have spoken with hundreds of soldiers who described their military service in the territories. I never came across such lenient rules of engagement as those described by dozens of soldiers and officers who took part in 2014's Operation Protective Edge. Their testimonies describe how the IDF conducted itself and can explain to a large extent why there were such fatal results. But the testimonies from Protective Edge do not tell the whole story. They do not recount that last summer's operation was only the latest in a series of operations conducted by the IDF in recent years in Gaza. (Warm Winter in 2008, Cast Lead at the start of 2009, Pillar of Defense in 2012, and Protective Edge in 2014). They also neglect to explain why it is apparent that it is only a matter of time until the next operation. This succession of operations in Gaza is an expression of a strategy nicknamed by senior IDF officers as “cutting the grass”. Those who advocate for this strategy describe it as a necessary response to the terror threats facing Israel. These officers present the strategy as a defensive tool designed to undermine terror groups' ability to threaten Israel's security. They claim that because the threats facing Israel are constant and can never be completely averted, Israel must periodically and cyclically “cut” terror organisations' capabilities and disrupt their readiness for combat. An operation every two or three years is an expression of cold and calculated logic, not whimsy ... In effect, the “grass cutting” policy is but another component of Israel's system of control over the Palestinian population, both in Gaza and the West Bank. In order to preserve its control, Israel continuously operates to ensure Palestinians remain weak and vulnerable. As a soldier, I took part in countless operations aimed at “lowering the heads” of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. Many other soldiers have and continue to do the same....
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/05/conflict-gaza-part-israel-s-indirect-system-control-over-palestinians

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Residency / Restrictions on movement

Israeli forces demolish house in Silwan neighborhood
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 27 May – Excavators escorted by Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian house in Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday morning. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers along with inspectors from the Jerusalem municipality stormed Wadi Qaddum area in Silwan in the early morning and blockaded the area before excavators razed a newly built apartment. Wednesday's demolition comes as Silwan neighborhood residents face increasing pressures from the Israeli government to leave the area. Last week Israeli forces flattened a massive three-story building allegedly built without a licence, as well as three stores in the Ein al-Luzah area of Silwan without prior notice. Several demolition orders were also distributed in the area. Silwan is one of many Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem witness to an influx of Israeli settlers at the cost of ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes and eviction of Palestinian families ... The homeowners or an Israeli police spokesperson have not responded for comment on Wednesday morning's demolition, however witnesses said the owners had finished the apartment only a few days ago and were preparing to move in shortly.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765635

IOA threatens to seize furniture of house in Beit Safafa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 26 May — Israeli civil servants escorted by policemen on Monday stormed and searched the house of Mohamed Salah and his family for the fifth consecutive time and assaulted his kids in Beit Safafa neighborhood, south of occupied Jerusalem. Salah told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Israeli policemen physically assaulted his kids during the raid while he was at work and demanded his family to pay 2,000 shekels in order to cancel measures to confiscate the furniture of the house because of his failure to pay debts amounting to 20,000 shekels. He said that the raid was the fifth since the beginning of the current month as part of an Israeli plan to force his family to leave its house in Ras Beit Safafa in order to expand a settlement outpost. Salah had received about one week ago a notice from the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) in Jerusalem ordering him to pay 22,000 shekels and threatening to confiscate the furniture inside the house.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71839

Israel to demolish electricity grid, water well in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 May — The Israeli authorities delivered a demolition order to an electricity grid and a water well in the western Hebron village of al-Kum on Monday. Local Ismail al-Rujoub said that Israeli forces stormed the village and delivered the orders for an electricity grid of 800 meters owned by the al-Yassiriya municipality that currently provides power to a village neighborhood of 10 houses. Al-Rujoub said that the case required legal expertise to be solved. The Israeli authorities also delivered a demolition order for a water well with a 450 cubic meter capacity belonging to Muhammad Abd al-Hafith al-Rujoub. Al-Rujoub added that this was the second time in a row he had received a demolition order for the well.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765609

West Bank village wakes up to no water
Activestills 26 May Text and photos by : Ahmad al-Bazz — The municipal council of Qarawat Bani Hassan was not warned that their water supply was going to be nearly shut off for days, and attempts to get answers from Israel, through the Palestinian Authority, did not bear any fruit — Last Wednesday, without any prior warning, the majority of houses in the West Bank village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, near Salfit, woke up to find that they had no running water. Municipal workers checked the village's main water valve, located on Road 505, a few meters from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Ma'ale Israel. “We discovered that the main water valve was almost shut off, [and locked in place] with a lock and chain in order to limit our portion of water and prevent anyone from increasing it,” said Hosam Asem, the manager of Qarawat Bani Hassan municipal council ... According to the municipal council, the supply of water for each villager has now been reduced to about two liters per day, as all of the neighboring Palestinian villages now receive a total of 97 cubic meters per hour. The four surrounding Israeli settlements, Barkan, Revava, Kiryat Netafim and Ma'ale Israel were reportedly not affected by the crisis.
http://972mag.com/west-bank-village-wakes-up-to-no-water/107069/

Bethlehem .... Settlers burn farmlands
IMEMC/Agencies 26 May — ...a number of Israeli extremists set fire to nearly 10 dunams (2.47 acres) of Palestinian agricultural lands in the al-Kaneesa area, in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem. Local firefighters managed to contain the fire before it spread further.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71711

IDF transferred private Palestinian land to settlement, state reveals
Haaretz 26 May by Chaim Levinson — Government response to High Court petition shows that hundreds of square meters belonging to the Samsara family were mistakenly declared state lands in 1983 and transferred to the Shim'a settlement for its expansion — In the 1990s, the Civil Administration transferred the land to the World Zionist Organization, who outlined a plan for the expansion of the Shim'a settlement, which was then authorized in 1999. This past year, the services of the Amana organization – which develops settlements in the West Bank – were retained by the Mount Hebron Regional Council to lead the project's construction. Before breaking ground, the Civilian Administration returned to the area and surveyed the territory again, discovering that the Samsaras' land was mistakenly included in the area initially declared state lands. However, to rectify the error, the Civil Administration only sent out a letter informing the parties of the change, but failed to make sure no construction was being conducted on the land – a scenario that soon played out as work began. The land's owners petitioned the top court together with Rabbis for Human Rights' lawyer Kamer Mashraqi Assad, demanding a halt to construction ... Last week, High Court Justice Anat Baron rejected the demand for temporary injunction halting the construction, citing the fact that work in the area had been stopped voluntarily and there was no need for the courts to intervene.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.658139

Ramallah district road opened after 15 years of closure
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 May — The Israeli authorities on Monday reopened a West Bank road between Ramallah and the eastern village of Beitin that has been closed 15 years. Beitin residents have been forced to take a route to Ramallah almost 20 kilometers long since 2000, even though the village lies just three kilometers from Ramallah. Only private cars will be allowed to use the reopened road, while taxis, buses and trucks will be banned. The road will also be used by Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements of Beit El and Psagot. Director of the local PA liaison office, Nadir Hajji, said that "long negotiations with the Israeli liaison office" had been required to convince the Israelis to reopen the road. The Israeli Civil Administration reportedly described its reopening as a "good will gesture" to the PA. They had previously informed the Beitin municipality that they would only agree to open the road if it underwent improvements to make it more usable. The road's inauguration on Monday morning took place after the road had been leveled and repaved with asphalt.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765603

Large West Bank traffic jams as settlers take part in bike race
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 May — Heavy traffic jams were reported along the main road between Hebron and Bethlehem on Monday as a settler bicycle race took place in the area. TV crews from Ma‘an satellite said the 30-minute drive between the two cities took three hours as Israeli forces closed a main exit from Hebron connecting to Route 60 as settlers from Kiryat Arba took part in a race. The exits to Halhul and Beit Ummar, both north of Hebron, were also closed.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765606

Israel revokes Jerusalem residency status of prisoner's wife
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 May — Israeli authorities have revoked the residency status of a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem after having lived in the city for 23 years, less than two weeks after her husband was sentenced to nine months in an Israeli prison over activity on Facebook. The Israeli Ministry of the Interior refused 43-year-old Muna Abdullah al-Shalabi's "family unification" application citing "security" reasons. Her husband, Omar al-Shalabi, is the former secretary-general of Fatah in Jerusalem, and was earlier this month sentenced to nine months in an Israeli prison for allegedly inciting anti-Jewish violence and supporting "terror" in posts and comments on Facebook. Muna al-Shalabi said that her ban from Jerusalem had been enacted to exert further pressure on her husband. Israelis authorities claim that she was given the chance to defend her application in February but that she did not come forward, leading them to refuse it. However, al-Shalabi denied that she had been given any earlier opportunity to challenge the ban, saying that she had not received any orders from the Ministry of the Interior before the most recent one. She has been living in the al-Suwwana neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem since she married her Jerusalem-resident husband 23 years ago. Until the ban, she had been allowed to live in East Jerusalem through the "family unification" application process....
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765605

Prisoners / Court actions

Palestinian parliament speaker sentenced to year in prison
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 May — An Israeli court on Monday sentenced Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Aziz Dweik to 12 months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 6,000 shekels. The Ahrar Center for Prisoner Studies said 14 hearings were held for Dweik since his arrest on June 16, 2014, after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens near Hebron. The prosecutor had sought a sentence of 14 months for Dweik. [PIC : Israel is now detaining 12 Palestinian MPs]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765612

Despite deteriorating health, Adnan ongoing with his hunger strike
IMEMC 26 May — The head of the Palestinian Detainees' Committee Issa Qaraqe' warned of serious complications, and life-threatening health setbacks, as detainee Khader Adnan continues his hunger strike for the 23rd consecutive day. Qaraqe' said Adnan, held in solitary in the Ramla Israeli Prison Clinic, is refusing even vitamins or any sort of treatment, and that he is only drinking water. He suffered a serious weight loss, severe headache, and sharp pain in his joints and abdomen areas, in addition to general weakness, and fatigue. Qaraqe' held Israel and its Prison Authority responsible for the life and well-being of the detainee, and said Adnan is demanding an end to his illegal, arbitrary Administrative Detention, without charges, in direct violations of all international, legal and humanitarian laws and treaties ... Israel is holding captive around 500 Palestinians under Administrative Detention orders ; some were taken prisoner years ago and never faced charges.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71715

Israel releases Hamas official Dirar Hamdana
NABLUS (PIC) 2 May — Israeli jailers last night released senior Hamas official Sheikh Dirar Hamdana, one of the exiles to Lebanon's Marj al-Zohour camp in 1992, after spending 27 months in prison. Osama, the son of Sheikh Hamdana, told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that the Israeli administration of the Negev jail released his father on Monday night at al-Daheriya checkpoint south of al-Khalil. Scores of citizens and relatives gave him a warm reception near the checkpoint and took him in a vehicular procession to his home in Asira ash-Shamaliya town, north of Nablus city.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71840

Palestinian refugees - Syria

Jihadists, Palestinians battle in Syria refugee camp
DAMASCUS (AFP) 26 May - Islamic State group jihadists in Syria are trying to retake positions they lost in previous fighting in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday. "There is intermittent fighting between Palestinian factions and IS and Al-Nusra Front which are trying to retake positions in the centre of Yarmuk," Khaled Abdel Majid, head of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front which is close to Syria's regime, told AFP. When jihadists from the two groups entered Yarmuk on April 1, they took 60 percent of the camp before pulling back into around 40 percent. They currently have a presence in the south near the Damascus district of Al-Hajar al-Aswad. Abdel Majid said Palestinian groups control 40 percent of the camp, in its north, and that some 20 percent makes up the front line. He said Syrian regime aircraft have bombarded Al-Hajar al-Aswad, which is jihadist-held. A security source in Damascus said only that in Yarmuk the fighting "stops and then starts again". Chris Gunness, the spokesman for UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, expressed alarm at the reports of fighting.
http://news.yahoo.com/jihadists-palestinians-battle-syria-refugee-camp-165054789.html

Other news

Palestinians dismiss reported Netanyahu initiative
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 May — Palestinians on Tuesday angrily dismissed reported remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would like to negotiate the future annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday quoted "an Israeli source" briefed on last week's meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as saying that Netanyahu wants to resume talks with the Palestinians, with his goal being to reach understandings on the borders of settlement blocs that Israel would annex under any peace agreement. "The prime minister explained that in this way, it would be clear what parts of the West Bank Israel could continue building in," the newspaper reported. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP the concept was "completely unacceptable .” “Netanyahu's proposal to discuss the borders of settlement blocs is an attempt to legitimise the settlements," he said. "The borders that should be set are the borders of the internationally recognised state of Palestine based on 1967 borders. Settlements should be stopped instead of being legitimised." Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the plan attributed to Netanyahu was "a disingenuous and manipulative exercise in political and legal deception."
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-dismiss-reported-netanyahu-initiative-130057125.html

UN warns of 'deteriorating' Palestinian situation
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 May — A UN body has issued a grave warning about the deteriorating political and security situation across the occupied Palestinian territories, pointing to a "lack of political horizon," in a report released Monday. The report was prepared by the UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) for the Middle East peace process ahead of the bi-annual meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee that coordinates international donor support for the Palestinians. It said that the untenable "status quo" in the occupied territories will "inexorably lead to the continued erosion of living conditions for Palestinians and for Israelis alike and will undermine the security and stability of all." The report noted "grave concerns" about divisions in the Palestinian political leadership, but also said that "there is no immediate prospect that a return to negotiations with the Palestinians will be an immediate priority of the new Israeli administration." UNSCO called on the Israeli government to take credible steps to affirm its commitment to the two-state solution, including a freeze on settlement activity and opening Gaza's border crossings. "2014 saw the highest number ever of tenders for settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank for ten years," the report said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765621

Border guards fired but not prosecuted for stealing from Palestinians
Times of Israel 26 May by Judah Ari Gross — Five border security guards were fired for stealing from Palestinians traveling through a crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. But despite multiple incidents over an extended period of time, the authority did not hand the case over to police, according to a Tuesday report. The Israel Airports Authority — which, in addition to monitoring Israel's civilian airports, also manages its land-to-land border terminals — began investigating allegations that the contract workers were robbing Palestinians crossing through the Allenby Bridge in February. Upon being presented with the results, the workers admitted to stealing personal items, Ynet news reported. “It seems that since it deals with Palestinians, the authority did not think it was so serious,” an anonymous source at the crossing said. Thousands of Palestinians pass over the Allenby Bridge, which is controlled by Israel, each day and undergo a security check before being allowed through. The five security personnel used that as an opportunity to steal tobacco and other small personal items that the travelers put in the X-ray machine, they admitted.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/border-guards-fired-but-not-prosecuted-for-stealing-from-palestinians/

Unprecedented demonstration in Jerusalem due to Israeli discrimination against Christian schools
PNN 26 May — Office of Christian Schools in occupied Palestine — On Wednesday, the 27th of May 2015, at 11:00 AM, an unprecedented demonstration will be held in the plaza in front of the Lev Ram building in Jerusalem (Ministry of Education headquarters) by the Christian Schools in Israel protesting on the discriminatory policy of the Ministry of Education towards their schools. Participants in the demonstration will include clergymen (Bishops, Priests, Nuns, and Pastors) in addition to parents of children in Christian schools throughout the country. The Christian schools in Israel consist of more than 30,000 students, almost equally divided between Christians and non-Christians. Most of these schools were Palestinian, and began operating years before the establishment of Israel. They were built and developed through donations from abroad. They provided and still providing the general Arab community with quality education that has resulted in the high achievements of the Christian schools. This high quality education is displayed, among other things, in the number of Christian schools listed at the top of the Ministry of Education's published categories. While achieving high academic results, they also teach their students Christian doctrine and instruct them according to the Christian values of loving others, forgiveness and tolerance. These schools belong to the "recognized but not public" classification of schools in the Ministry of Education and receive partial funding from the Ministry. The rest of their funding comes from fees that are collected from the parents. For years, the Ministry of Education has been consistently cutting the budget of Christian schools (45% in the last 10 years). This has forced the Christian schools to raise the service fees that are collected from the parents to a level that has become a heavy burden on the parents, especially for parents from the Arab sector where the average family income is well known to be lower than the national average. Last year the Ministry of Education issued new regulations that even limited the ability of Christian schools to collect fees from the parents. The combination of these two things, substantial budget cuts and limiting allowable fees, is actually viewed as a death penalty for these schools....
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/9736-unprecedented-demonstration-in-jerusalem-due-to-israeli-discrimination-against-christian-schools

European journalists and media activists explore the West Bank
[with video] BETHLEHEM (PNN) 26 May — A group of journalists and media activists from Palestine and Europe today finished a 10 days educational tour around the occupied West Bank.The purpose of the tour, led by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee as part of the Beyond Walls-project, was to develop a way in which journalists and media activists can help local Palestinian communities spread information about their daily struggles under the Israeli occupation. Stories that usually fail to reach the mainstream media. The group visited the villages of Kufr Qaddum, Nabi Saleh and Bil‘in. In Kufr Qaddum, the Mayor explained how the villagers face daily problems with being cut off from their lands. Ever since the IOF closed the main road that leads to the village, the inhabitants have had no choice but to drive a half hour detour when entering or leaving the village. The group walked along the road in which the protests against the occupation takes place each Friday in the village. There was still a distinct smell in the air of chemical skunk water that the Israeli forces use against the villagers, and the remains of burned tires. Later in the afternoon, the group visited a young man, who was slowly healing after being shot in his leg during one of the protests.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/tv/9735-european-journalists-and-media-activists-explore-the-occupied-west-bank

New museum to honor Palestinian history, culture
RAMALLAH (Al-Monitor) 25 May — The Palestinian Museum became a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) on May 11, making it the first Palestinian establishment of its kind to join the council of more than 32,000 museums — a powerful show of support for the museum's future activities. The Palestinian Museum's cornerstone was laid April 11, 2013, funded by the nonprofit Welfare Association. It sits on about 40 acres in Birzeit, near Ramallah. Once complete, the museum will be the largest institution dedicated to conserving Palestine's heritage, history and national culture, as well as presenting these aspects of Palestinian culture to the world through modern technology. The museum is located on a hill near Birzeit University. Designed by an Irish architecture firm, the museum is modern with a distinguished, civilized facade. The architectural style is derived from historic Palestinian agricultural terraces that divided land with stone walls to prevent erosion and conserve rainwater. Several gardens, orchards and original Palestinian flora surround the museum.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/05/palestine-israel-museum-heritage-nakba-old-photographs.html

Game for ancient grain : Palestinians find freekeh again
NPR 26 May by Danielle Cheslow — In early May, Nasser Abufarha drove through the rural farmlands around Jenin in the northern West Bank and noticed the timeless features of village life. Young boys harvested cauliflower bigger than their heads, a sun-beaten old man passed on foot with a hoe propped against his shoulder and middle-aged women strolled to their modest homes on a path between waving wheat fields. But there was one new element, says Abufarha, a Palestinian-American businessman and the founder of the largest fair trade exporter for Palestinian produce. On plateaus overlooking a patchwork valley of farmland, men wrapped head to toe in flameproof clothing furiously raked piles of wheat into the air and fired propane blowtorches at the grains. They were burning the husks of wheat harvested three weeks early to yield a roasted grain called freekeh. While the chaff turns black, the young green wheat kernels inside take on a smoky, nutty flavor. Freekeh is one of the Middle East's famed "ancient grains" — it's been cultivated in the region for more than four millennia. The word comes from the Arabic word meaning "to rub," which is how farmers stripped away the burnt husk from the green grain in the age before heavy machinery combines. Traditionally, Palestinians have used it to thicken soups eaten on Ramadan and as stuffing for chickens. But in the last several decades, many Palestinians opted for cheaper, imported rice for main dishes. Now, Abufarha says this version of wheat is coming back.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/26/408760209/game-for-ancient-grain-palestinians-find-freekeh-again

Tense talks on Israel expulsion vote at FIFA
ZURICH (AFP) 26 May — FIFA leaders on Tuesday stepped up efforts to head off a vote called by Palestine to expel Israel from football's world body claiming unfair treatment of its players. "Negotiations are still going on but they are very complicated," a top FIFA official told AFP. "There may not be a solution until the final hours," added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has held talks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a bid to prevent the politically charged vote at a FIFA congress on Friday. FIFA would not discuss the talks. But a spokeswoman for the governing body said "only Palestine can withdraw the demand to suspend Israel from the agenda." Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub has so far refused to withdraw the motion that will require the backing of three quarters of the 209 member federations to pass.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tense-talks-israel-expulsion-vote-fifa-111635874--sow.html

Sources : US Justice Dept to bring corruption charges against FIFA officials
WASHINGTON (CNN) 27 May by Evan Perez & Shimon Prokupecz — The U.S. Justice Department plans to announce corruption charges against senior officials at FIFA, the world's soccer governing body, law enforcement officials say. Up to 14 people are expected to be charged Wednesday based on an indictment in federal court in New York. Arrests were being made overnight in Zurich, where members of the scandal-plagued organization were gathering for an election Friday that could give its leader Sepp Blatter a fifth term. Blatter isn't among those being charged, the officials say. But he was among those investigated, and officials say that part of the probe continues. Current and officials seen as close to Blatter are expected to be among those who face indictments.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/27/football/fifa-corruption-charges-justice-department/index.html

Israel asking US for 50% increase in next defense package
WASHINGTON (JTA) 26 May — Israel reportedly wants the US to increase its annual defense assistance package by half, to an average $4.5 billion. Defense News reported this weekend that Israel and US officials have in recent months begun negotiations on the next 10-year aid package. The previous package, negotiated by the George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert governments in 2007, averaged $3 billion of assistance each year, for a total of $30 billion, from 2007-2017. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants that to increase to $42-45 billion over the 2018-2028 period, Defense News reported, adding that President Barack Obama during his March 2013 visit to Israel “endorsed in principle” that range. Defense News quoted “US and Israeli experts” as saying that the amount would be separate from any package the United States offered Israel as compensation for the Iran nuclear deal now being negotiated between Iran and the major powers. Like the defense assistance package currently in place, it is also separate from the $1.2 billion in materiel the United States stores in Israel and which under certain conditions is available for Israeli use, and from the approximately $500 million in US funds provided to Israeli anti-missile development each year.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-asking-us-for-50-increase-in-next-defense-package/

Erdoğan opens 'Saladin' airport in Turkey's restive southeast
ISTANBUL (AFP) 26 May — President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday opened a new airport in a restive eastern province dogged by a Kurdish separatist insurgency, naming the facility for a celebrated Muslim medieval leader of Kurdish origin. Erdoğan inaugurated the airport in Yuksekova in Hakkari province, close to the border with Iran and Iraq, alongside Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a joint appearance ahead of June 7 elections. They announced the airport would be named for Selahaddin Eyyubi to remember the 12th century founder of the Ayyubid dynasty who led Muslim resistance against Christian crusaders in the Middle East who sought to control Jerusalem. Of Kurdish origin, he is known simply as Saladin and in Arabic as Salah ad-Din. "We are naming this airport Selahaddin Eyyubi to send a message of solidarity and brotherhood and to say that Jerusalem belongs to Kurds, Turks, Arabs and Muslims forever."
http://news.yahoo.com/erdogan-opens-saladin-airport-turkeys-restive-southeast-163818949.html
—

TODAY in PALESTINE

2015-05-14T14:33:00Z

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Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restrictions on movement

Israeli forces demolish mosque in Bedouin Negev village

BEERSHEBA (Ma‘an) 12 May — Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished a mosque under construction in the Bedouin village of Wadi al-Niam near Beersheba, locals said. Heavily guarded bulldozers entered the village accompanied by dozens of Israeli police officers from the southern command and demolished the foundation of the mosque. Labbad Abu Affash, a local committee chief, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces demolish part of a home or other structure in the village every week. In some cases, families demolish their own houses to avoid paying the heavy fines imposed by Israel. "There has been a vicious crackdown against our village in an attempt to force us to move to the town of Shaqib al-Salam instead of recognizing our village which is home to 14,000," Abu Affash said. Wadi al-Niam is not recognized by the Israeli state and so lacks all basic services such as water. A toxic dump and military firing zone have also been built in the area where the community lives. It is among some 40 Negev villages that Israeli authorities have deemed unrecognized, arguing that the 53,000 Palestinian Bedouins living in them cannot prove land ownership. Some 100 homes in unrecognized villages have been demolished since the beginning of 2015, while Israeli authorities have issued demolition notices to hundreds of others..

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765365

Israel to demolish electricity grid in Nablus-area village
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 May — The Israeli civil administration issued an order Wednesday to completely demolish an electricity grid near the Qasra village in southern Nablus, 48 hours after the village council was delivered demolition orders, a monitor says. In addition to the ordered demolition of the electricity grid, demolition notices were given for a home and water well in the village belonging to Said Mimr Said and Abd al-Hamid Youssef Khrewish, Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an. All demolition orders were given until May 15. Israeli authorities regularly demolish Palestinian structures under the pretext that owners have failed to acquire the proper building permits.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765390

Israeli forces issue demolition order in Bethlehem-area village
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 May — Israeli forces on Wednesday delivered a demolition order for a Palestinian agricultural structure located inside of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, local officials said. Head of the Khallet Sakariya village council, Muhammad Ibrahim Atallah, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces issued the order to demolish a 60-meter-square metal structure used as a sheep barn. The barn belongs to Muhammad Ahmad Ismail.
A month ago, Israeli forces delivered two demolition orders to Tayseer Muhammad Ahmad Saad and Khalil Muhammad Mahmoud Saad for their homes. Over 30 residents in the small village have received demolition warrants, Atallah said, adding that villagers are gradually leaving because Israel's military forces do not allow any new construction. Around 150 villagers have left since 2007, with the population now standing at 500.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765383

Village council appeals land confiscation from 40 years ago
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 11 May — The ‘Anata village council in eastern Jerusalem district on Monday presented an appeal to the Israeli High Court via the Yesh Din-Volunteers for Human Rights organization to cancel confiscation orders issued by Israel 40 years ago that seized the lands on which Maale Adumim settlement is built. The appeal alleged that while Israel used part of the confiscated lands to build the settlement, the vast majority — close to 30,000 dunams — had not been used and remain empty within the Maale Adumim borders. The illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim lies within the so-called E1 corridor, a large swath of land cutting through the occupied West Bank which Israeli authorities have stated their intention to annex.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765351

The reality exposed by Bedouin women armed with cameras
Haaretz 13 May by Vered Lee — Mahadia Abu-Joda, 53, a mother of 13 and resident of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Za'arura, cradles a red digital camera in her hand. “The first time in my life that I held a camera and prepared to take a picture, about a year and a half ago, I held it upside down and in the wrong direction,” she says through the hijab that conceals her hair and frames her face. Abu-Joda's photographs appear in one of the four recently published photography books that document life in four unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev from a feminine point of view : ... Abu-Joda was born in Gaza. At the age of 16 she married and moved to Za'arura, which is east of the town of Kseifa and today numbers about 2,600 residents. “About two years ago they demolished our home,” she says when asked why she started to photograph. “We didn't have a place to sleep. I was among the ruins of the house with all my children. It was cold and rainy. I didn't know what to explain to the children. I myself didn't understand why the government did that to me. I didn't know how to protect them. I was in despair. At the time a young girl passed and told me about the human rights project, explaining that we could learn our basic rights and preserve them by means of the camera and photography. Many of the women didn't understand what she wanted and asked how it would help to photograph ruins. I was immediately attracted. I wanted to document the injustice done to me, I wanted to show everyone the situation in which we live.” Today Abu-Joda lives with her family in a hut made of patched sheets of iron and tin. “We haven't been able to build a new house yet,” she says.
http://www.haaretz.com/life/arts-leisure/.premium-1.656191

Israeli colonialism, plain and simple / Amira Hass
Haaretz 11 May — In two court decisions involving shoving Palestinians off their land, Supreme Court justices have confirmed what Israel's critics are saying : that Israel has been a colonialist entity since 1948 — There is a straight line connecting the Palestinian village of Sussia in the southern West Bank and Atir/Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin community in the Negev. This was highlighted last week by the justices of the Supreme Court. These are two communities of Palestinians that the Jewish state expelled from their homes and land decades ago, and whose families have lived ever since in “unrecognized” villages in shameful humanitarian conditions, forced on them by the Israeli government. One community settled on its agricultural land and the other in an area that the government moved them to during the early years of the state, when the Arabs citizens were under military rule. These are two Palestinian communities that Israel is depriving of their planning rights. Instead, it demands of them to crowd in the pales of settlement it has allotted to them, so Jews can fulfill and rejoice and thrive in their new and expanding suburban fantasies ... Next to the tin shacks of today's Palestinian Sussia (after the army expelled the residents of their ancient village in 1986 and turned it into an archaeological site where Jews could celebrate), Jewish Susya now wallows in its greenery and abundance. After all, it has to grow and doesn't want to see Arabs living in shacks and buying water at exorbitant prices from tanker trucks.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.655812

A tragically unexceptional story of life and death under occupation
+972 blog 12 May by Sam Bahour — Three decades ago the Israeli military government canceled my sister-in-law's Palestinian residency because she studied abroad for ‘too long.' Now, Israel is denying her one last visit with her dying father. But my family will not allow her case, like thousands before it, to be buried in silence — My father-in-law, Mughira Barghouty, is dying. At age 91, his health has severely deteriorated over the last six months. He has three daughters : Sawsan, Serene and my wife, Abeer. Serene and Abeer live in Ramallah and have become full-time caregivers to their now bedridden father. Sawsan lives in Amman, Jordan. Of late, Mughira has repeated a single request : to touch his daughter Sawsan's hand one last time. It was about to happen on the last day of April. Sawsan got all the way to the Israel border crossing, Israeli tourist visa in hand, but she was denied entry and told to go back to Amman. The family is crushed, but not surprised ... Several months back, understanding that his health was failing, Mughira made a simple request : he wants to touch the hand of his third daughter, who lives in Amman, to bid her farewell. We immediately passed on the message to Sawsan. Sawsan acted without delay. As a Jordanian citizen, she applied for an Israeli tourist visa — the only way a Palestinian citizen of Jordan can reach Palestine ... Sawsan's first application was submitted on September 23, 2014. She was notified it was denied in December 2014. So she started all over again, submitting a second application on March 2, 2015, paying the 50 JD (US $70) application fee again. She was notified on April 29, 2015 that her Israeli tourist visa was issued. She packed her bags in a hurry and headed out the following morning to the Jordan Border Crossing (near the city of Bisan, which Israel calls Beit She'an) to Israel (90 km from Amman) with a group in the travel agent's bus ... Eventually an Israeli official came and advised Sawsan that she was being denied entry into Israel. Her bus was told to continue on to Israel without her. The Israeli official brought her two copies of a form written in Hebrew and English ; she is fluent in neither. The states two reasons for the denial of entry : 1) “Prevention of illegal immigration considerations” ; and, 2) “Public security or public safety or public order considerations.” ....
http://972mag.com/a-tragically-unexceptional-story-of-life-and-death-under-occupation/106675/

Gaza

Palestinian driver injured by Egyptian gunfire at Gaza crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an/AFP) 11 May — A Palestinian driver was shot by gunfire from Egypt as he was driving a truck into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday, Gaza officials said. "A 27-year-old driver who was working at the Kerem Shalom crossing was seriously wounded on Monday morning by shots which were fired from the Egyptian side of the border," health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said. The incident took place as the driver was on his way to the nearby border city of Rafah after leaving the terminal, which is used for transporting commercial goods between Gaza and Israel and is very close to the Egyptian border. The Hamas-run interior ministry condemned the shooting, demanding that the authorities in Egypt hold "an urgent inquiry". The source of the fire was not immediately clear, but Egypt has been fighting a dogged insurgency in Sinai that took hold after the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with militants killing scores of police and soldiers. There have been past incidents of Egyptian border soldiers opening fire on Palestinians. In January, Egyptian soldiers shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian from the border. The Egyptian army accuses Hamas of supporting the anti-regime militants in the northern Sinai, although Hamas strenuously denies the allegations.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765346

Israeli army carries out operations around Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 May — The Israeli military carried out several activities across the Gaze Strip Monday, with fighter jets conducting practice runs in the coastal enclave's north, military bulldozers crossing into al-Shuja‘iyeh, and border soldiers firing on farmers east of Khan Younis. A Ma‘an reporter said that Israeli F16 fighter jets carried out practice runs over the northern Gaza Strip Monday morning, adding that the sound of the warplanes could be heard across the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli military bulldozers crossed into al-Shuja'iyeh neighborhood east of Gaza City under armed escort. Locals said that the bulldozers passed through the east of the war-devastated neighborhood with sporadic fire from Israeli forces, although no injuries were reported. Much of al-Shuja‘iyeh remains in ruin after Israeli forces heavily shelled the densely populated neighborhood during last summer's Israeli offensive. In Khan Younis Israeli forces deployed on the borders east of al-Qarrara town opened fire on Palestinian farmers. No injuries were reported. Separately, Israeli naval forces released two Gazan fishermen who were detained on Saturday while out at sea.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765341

PCHR-Gaza : Israeli buffer zone policies typically enforced with live fire
[with map] PCHR/PNN 11 May — Following disengagement from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, Israel unilaterally and illegally established a so-called "buffer zone", an area prohibited to Palestinians along the land and sea borders of the Gaza Strip. The precise area designated by Israel as a "buffer zone" is not clear and this Israeli policy is typically enforced with live fire ... Dimensions On land, inside Palestinian territory : Distance from the border fence, up to which access is permitted : · Second Intifada (2000) : 150 metres · According to Israel (2010) : 300 metres 22 November 2012 : unclear parameters 21 March 2013 : 300 metres In reality, attacks against civilians take place anywhere up to approximately 1.5 kilometres inside the border fence. This constitutes approximately 17% of the total territory of the Gaza Strip ... Impact On land Approximately 27,000 dunums, 35% of the Gaza Strip's agricultural land, can only be accessed under high personal risk, as Israeli attacks may result in injury or death of civilians. · 95% of the restricted area is arable land. · After the evacuation of settlements (2005) and 'Operation Cast Lead' (2008-2009), the majority of Palestinian families living in the border areas abandoned their land and homes. At sea · Palestinians are completely prevented from accessing 85% of the Palestinian maritime areas recognised in the 1994 Gaza Jericho Agreement....
http://www.imemc.org/article/71548

Israeli forces burn wheat crops in Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 12 May — Israeli occupation forces have reportedly opened fire at Palestinian farms in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, burning a large amount of wheat crops. No casualties were reported, as the farmers fled the region two days ago, after a limited Israeli incursion. Along the previous two weeks, Palestinian farmers, whose farms lie near the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip, have been reporting Israeli occupation opening fire at them. Medical sources also reported that several farmers were wounded during the same time. Farmers in the central area of the Strip told Days of Palestine that Israeli military activities in the area caused the burning of their wheat crops along the eastern borders. “From Monday morning until Tuesday morning, we have been hearing Israeli occupation forces firing bullets and watching them firing light bombs above our farms near the borders,” Hani Ali said. “At the same time, we heard sounds of sonic booms and saw fighter jets flying in the skies,” he further stated, adding, “I expect these activities were military drills.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/71553

Israeli attacks on fishermen in the Gaza Sea
Report from Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 11 May — Israeli Naval forces continued to carry out attacks on Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip during the reporting period[1] (01-30 April 2015), including 15 shooting incidents and a shelling incident that resulted in wounding a Palestinian fisherman while sailing off Beit Lahia shore in addition to the damaging of a fishing boat and fishing nets. The Israeli naval forces have not complied with the ceasefire agreement concluded between Israel and Palestinian armed groups under Egyptian auspices on 26 August 2014. This agreement includes allowing Palestinian fishermen to sail within 6 nautical miles in the Gaza Sea. According to PCHR's investigations, all attacks took place within the distance of six nautical miles, which proves that Israeli forces' policies aim to tighten restrictions on the Gaza Strip's fishermen and their livelihoods. In a serious development, on 07 March 2015, the Israeli naval forces declared via loudspeakers that the allowed fishing area was reduced to four nautical miles and warned Palestinian fishermen from approaching this area along the Gaza Sea. The Fishermen Syndicate in the Gaza Strip declared suspension of fishing in Gaza waters for three days in protest against the Israeli Naval forces' decision.
http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/israeli-attacks-fishermen-gaza-sea-0

Hamas civil servants go on strike in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 May — Civil servants hired by the Gaza Strip's de facto Hamas leaders went on strike across all Gazan ministries and public institutions except schools on Tuesday. The employees have not been regularly paid since the unity government came together in June last year, although even before that Hamas struggled to pay their salaries regularly. A committee representing the unpaid civil servants issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that the strike came in response to the unity government's "recklessness" towards the employees' rights. It accused the unity government of acting fraudulently and said ministers were "completely void of any practical steps towards the inclusion of former employees." The statement added that schools had been exempted from the strike due to students' final exams. The employees' status has been one of the major points of dispute between Hamas and the unity government since the government of politically-independent technocrats was formed last year....
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765360

ICC urges Israel to give material for preliminary Gaza probe
UNITED NATIONS (AP) 12 May — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned Israel Tuesday that if it doesn't provide reliable information for her preliminary probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories she may be forced to decide whether to launch a full-scale investigation based on Palestinian allegations. Fatou Bensouda said in an interview with The Associated Press that she hasn't received any information yet from either side regarding last summer's Gaza war and urged Israel and the Palestinians to provide information to her. The Palestinians accepted the court's jurisdiction in mid-January and officially joined the ICC on April 1 in hopes of prosecuting Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict so they are certain to provide Bensouda with information. Israel, however, has denounced the Palestinian action as "scandalous," with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that it turns the ICC "into part of the problem and not part of the solution." Bensouda said her office is "making attempts" to contact the Israelis and to reach out to the Palestinians. "If I don't have the information that I'm requesting," she said, "I will be forced to find it from elsewhere, or I may perhaps be forced to just go with just one side of the story. That is why I think it's in the best interest of both sides to provide my office with information."
http://news.yahoo.com/icc-urges-israel-material-preliminary-gaza-probe-052212816.html

Red Cross : Gazans still missing since 'Protective Edge' assault
IMEMC/Agencies 13 May — 15 Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip reported the disappearance of their sons in the summer-long Israeli offensive on the region which took place in 2014, the International Red Cross spokeswoman said on Wednesday. According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, Sohair Zaqout said, in a press statement, that the Red Cross has received complaints from 29 families who lost their sons ; 15 of them were found, while the other 14 are still missing. She explained that the search process was done with the competent authorities in Gaza, and the Israeli occupation. Statistics collected by the Euro-Mediterranean Observer of Human Rights reveal that more than two thousand were killed in the 2014 Israeli offensive, 530 of whom were children, while 302 were women.
http://www.imemc.org/article/71571

Palestinian Red Crescent Society health care worker lost seven family members during Gaza's summer violence
IFRC 13 May by Hanne Sorine Sorensen — Anwar Mohamed Abu Suliman was working with the Palestine Red Crescent Society's Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in the northern part of Gaza during the violence of summer 2014 when he was told his neighbourhood in his home town of Rafah had been attacked. “I received the news when the National Society's branch in the North was under attack, so the situation was chaotic. I tried to make phone calls and get news about my family, but I couldn't get any detailed information. Eventually, I was told that five houses in my neighbourhood had been attacked almost simultaneously at 3:15 am,” says Anwar, 40, who has been working with the Palestine Red Crescent Society for 15 years ... Anwar lost a total of seven family members during that night ; two sisters in law and five nephews and nieces were killed. Six other nieces and nephews of Anwar were also wounded and so was one of his brothers. “We didn't expect an attack and no warning was given before two rockets destroyed the house. We have no weapons and we were not involved in the fighting,” says Anwar as he walks into the totally destroyed house and picks up children's pink shoes from the rubble.
http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/middle-east-and-north-africa/palestine/palestine-red-crescent-society-health-care-worker-lost-seven-family-members-during-the-gaza-summer-violence--68640/

Gazan jailed for 15 years for 'collaborating with Israel'
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 May — A military court in the Gaza Strip on Monday sentenced a Palestinian man to 15 years in prison for alleged collaboration with Israel. The man, identified only as 'J. Gh,' was detained several years ago for allegedly providing Israel with information on locations of Palestinians working with Hamas. In August last year, 18 suspected collaborators were killed by Hamas when the group announced a crackdown on Palestinians alleged to be working with Israel. Seven of the men were shot dead outside of a mosque while wearing black bags on their heads. Information passed to Israel's security services by Palestinian collaborators is often used to make arrests and assassinate high-profile political and militant figures. Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death. However all execution orders must be approved by the president before they can be carried out. Hamas no longer recognizes the legitimacy of incumbent Mahmoud Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765345

Gaza's honey production slows to a trickle
GAZA CITY (Al-Monitor) 11 May — Beekeepers in Gaza are currently experiencing a low in honey production due to the latest Israeli war on Gaza, during which the Israeli army destroyed vast agricultural lands — Muhannad Hamid waits an entire year for the honey harvest season, which falls annually between April 20 and May 10. During this period, Hamid makes the most profit from honey collection. However, this year, it seems he won't make any profits, as production has decreased compared with previous years. Hamid, 42, owns several beehives in the town of Beit Hanoun on the northern border of the Gaza Strip. These beehives are his family's only source of livelihood.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/05/gaza-honey-production-beekeepers-shortfall-agriculture.html

Halt in passport process restricts Palestinian movement
GAZA CITY 12 May by Mohammed Othman — Some students and people seeking treatment in Gaza are unable to travel as they wait for their passports to be issued or renewed, while the Ministry of Interior slowly works on sorting out the procedure — In February, Suleiman al-Dali, a student, lost a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree in engineering in Turkey after the Interior Ministry in the West Bank stopped issuing passports to residents of the Gaza Strip that month. Dali, who has a diploma in interior design from the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, had waited a long time and endured various hardships before being accepted into the Turkish program after fulfilling all the requirements.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/05/palestine-gaza-passports-halt-issue-renew-interior-ministry.html

Gaza engineer seeks solution to water woes in territory
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AFP) 13 May by Adel Zaanoun — With Gaza's supply of drinking water expected to dry up by 2020, a Palestinian engineer is pioneering a machine to make seawater potable for residents of the coastal territory. Diaa Abu Assi, a 29-year-old father-of-two, has spent much of his spare time in the past 18 months developing the system, which he hopes will be instrumental in saving lives in the besieged enclave. “In five years, there will be no drinkable water in Gaza. Water shortages are a real threat to life in Gaza. The only solution is to filter water from the Mediterranean,” Abu Assi says. Funded by Gaza's Islamic University – which is linked with the enclave's rulers Hamas – in cooperation with an Omani research organization, the project uses nanotechnology to reduce the salinity in seawater to a drinkable level.
https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-13/297756-gaza-engineer-seeks-solution-to-water-woes-in-territory.ashx

Germany announces $41 million to Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 May — Germany announced Tuesday a $41 million contribution to the UNRWA shelter assistance program in Gaza. With a total contribution of $93 million to UNRWA programs in Gaza to date, Germany is currently the second largest supporter of the UNRWA response to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the 2014 conflict. The funding comes as UNRWA has reportedly received enough in donor pledges to rebuild 200 of the 9,161 Palestine refugee homes that have been assessed as totally destroyed. Director of UNRWA in Gaza Robert Turner praised the move by Germany saying, "More than eight months after the summer 2014 conflict ended, the situation in Gaza remains desperate and the people of Gaza urgently need other donors to follow the excellent example set by Germany."
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765389

Egyptian army kills 4 militants in Rafah
CAIRO (Ma‘an) 12 May — Egyptian military sources said four militants were killed by the Egyptian army in [Egyptian] Rafah Tuesday. Sources told Ma‘an that four militants allegedly belonging to the Sinai Province group were trying to smuggle guns on five donkeys when they were spotted by Egyptian army. The militants then ran into a farm where they were surrounded for around an hour. An exchange of fire between the militants and the army ensued and the four militants were killed. Sinai Province, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has staged some of the deadliest attacks against Egypt's security forces since the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765377

Violence / Raids / Clashes / Arrests

Israeli police break arm of elderly Palestinian woman
QALQILIYA, (PIC) 14 May — Israeli occupation cops on Wednesday broke the arm of a Palestinian elderly woman after having detained her for 24 hours on her way back home to Qalqiliya from Jordan. A PIC correspondent quoted the woman's son as stating : “Israeli policemen broke my mother's arm after they aggressively shoved her into a patrol of their own.” The casualty, identified as 60-year-old Yusra Mohamed Qatesh, headed to Jordan to renew her passport as part of routine procedures to arrange a Umrah (pilgrimage) trip, the son added. He said the family was shocked as they caught sight of the Israeli intelligence officers cracking down on his mother at the Karama overpass and seizing her for over 12 hours. The Israeli cops dragged the lady to an investigation center in Jerusalem's Ma'aleh Adumim settlement, where she has been kept in remand until six a.m. on Wednesday. The elderly civilian was verbally and physically assaulted by an Israeli female soldier and two cops who forced her into an Israeli army jeep in an attempt to transfer her to al-Mascoubiya investigation center. “You are a dirty Palestinian” and “We will throw you next to dirty Palestinian women !” were kinds of insults which the casualty firmly rebuffed, moments before the soldiers beat her up, paying no heed to her age or gender. The mother was rushed to a local hospital in Occupied Jerusalem to be treated for the inflicted fractures. She was released shortly afterwards.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71645

Clashes at dawn during IOF campaign in Balata refugee camp
NABLUS (PIC) 13 May — Violent clashes broke out at dawn Wednesday between Palestinian young men and Israeli soldiers in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that a large number of Israeli troops aboard patrol vehicles stormed after midnight the eastern area of Nablus and deployed themselves in the vicinity of Balata refugee camp, Amman street and Joseph's Tomb. During the events, the invading troops intensively fired tear gas grenades at Palestinian homes near Balata refugee camp, causing many residents to suffer suffocation.
In another incident, the Israeli occupation forces (PIC) threatened to kill the students of Madama high school if they dared to leave during the school hours. Local sources affirmed that the IOF made their threat to kill the students during a raid at dawn on homes in the town. They said that invading troops asked one of the residents to tell the principal of the high school in the town that any student leaving during the school hours would be shot dead.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71636

Israeli troops storm northern West Bank village
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 12 May — Israeli forces stormed the northern West Bank village of Ramin in eastern Tulkarem Monday night, with soldiers questioning locals and ransacking homes, locals told Ma‘an. "As night started to fall, more than 10 Israeli military vehicles stormed the village from the south, before soldiers roamed the streets and ransacked several houses," one witness said. The Israeli troops questioned locals walking on the street, he said, adding that they were physically rough with some of them. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an that they did not know why the Israeli troops had raided Ramin. No injuries or arrests were reported.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765357

Israeli forces block off all entrances to Bethlehem town
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 13 May – Israeli forces Wednesday blocked off all entrances leading to the town of Taqou‘, east of Bethlehem, preventing residents' movement in and out of the area, according to a local official. Head of the town's municipality, Taysir Abu Mfreh, informed WAFA that Israeli forces deployed and set up surprise flying checkpoints at all entrances leading to the town, preventing residents' movement ... Meanwhile, Israeli forces attacked school students in the early morning hours, spurring confrontations with residents ; forces fired tear gas bombs and stun grenades towards residents, however, no injuries were reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=28486

Jewish man stabbed near West Bank settlement
i24News 11 May — Victim lightly wounded, transferred to Jerusalem hospital — A 19-year-old teenager was stabbed and lightly wounded in his back by an unknown assailant, described by eyewitnesses as a Palestinian man, at the Mishor Adumim junction, near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The victim was transferred to a hospital in nearby Jerusalem. The police is operating under the presumption that the assailant had nationalist motives. Earlier in April, a 16-year-old Palestinian was arrested in the West Bank following a failed attempt to stab an Israeli soldier at a roadblock near Hebron. The suspect, who charged at the Israel Defense Forces soldier brandishing a knife, was wrestled to the ground and disarmed. He was then transferred to a police station for investigation. No IDF soldiers were injured in the incident.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/70756-150511-man-stabbed-near-west-bank-settlement

Palestinian worker falls, dies on Jerusalem construction site
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 13 May – A Palestinian worker died Wednesday morning in a construction site in West Jerusalem, according to Palestinian security sources. The sources identified the victim as 23-year-old Ahmad Azmi al-Jundi from the southern West Bank city of Yatta south of Hebron. He died after falling from a high level at the site. Israeli police spokesperson told Ma‘an they were investigating the incident. In 2014 the number of West Bank Palestinians working in Israel doubled in the last four years to about 92,000, according to Israeli news source Haaretz. Over 30 percent of those working in Israel work without a permit, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and are often subject to harsh working conditions with few protections.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765380

Palestinian worker plunges to his death in Tel Aviv
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 May — A Palestinian laborer fell to his death while working in Tel Aviv in Israel on Wednesday. Mohammad Salim Salama Azaar, 24, from Qablan village south of Nablus, died instantly after falling from a height while installing windows on a building in Tel Aviv, Qablan village council head Hisham al-Azaar told Ma‘an. He was taken to Abu Kabir forensic institute for examination and his body is expected to be delivered to his parents on Thursday.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765397

Israel arrests 12 Palestinians in West Bank
WEST BANK (WAFA) 11 May – At least 12 Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli army on Monday during predawn and night raids across the West Bank districts, according to media sources. Most of the arrests concentrated in al-Jalazoun refugee camp, north of Ramallah, where five local residents were arrested by the Israeli army during a predawn raid, according to Quds News Network, the largest youth-run news network in Palestine. Meanwhile, forces arrested a Palestinian at a flying checkpoint set up at the western entrance of the town of Silwad to the east of Ramallah. He was identified as Haytham Ayyad, 25 ... Army forces also arrested two other Palestinians in al-‘Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, in addition to two others in Qalqilia and Bethlehem. The detainees' names were not revealed by the source. An army force also broke into Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, and arrested a local resident, identified as Mohammad Zahran. In the meantime, the army stormed the towns of Qabatia and Shuhada in Jenin district, in northern West Bank, and notified three local residents to appear for interrogation before the Israeli intelligence. Faiz Mohammad, 23, from the village of Tura al-Gharbiyya to the southwest of Jenin, was also arrested at a gate in the Apartheid Wall, built illegally on Palestinian land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=28470

Israeli forces detain Palestinian in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 12 May — Israeli forces deployed near the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron detained a Palestinian on Tuesday claiming he was carrying a knife. Locals identified the detainee as Imad Saadi Suleiman al-Taraweh and said he had been heading to the Ibrahimi mosque to pray. The Ibrahimi Mosque, which is believed to be the burial place of the prophet Abraham, is of religious significance to both Muslims and Jews, and has historically been a flashpoint between Palestinians and Israelis. Last month, a Palestinian man was shot dead at the mosque after he stabbed an Israeli soldier. The incident reportedly took place while Israeli soldiers were preventing Palestinians from accessing the mosque, and came a week after settlers raised the Israeli flag over the mosque. The mosque is also the site where Brooklyn-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians in 1994, in an act that many settlers still celebrate.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765369

Israeli forces detain Palestinian youth in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 May — Israeli forces on Wednesday detained a Palestinian youth from Nablus and assaulted two others after accusing them of possessing a knife. Palestinian security officials told Ma‘an that four youths were detained in the Jabal al-Tur area and their vehicle searched. Jihad Ahmad Ruhi Akka, 18, was detained and taken to the Huwwara military office south of Nablus after a sharp object was found in the car.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765386

IOF rounds up six Palestinians in West Bank
WEST BANK, (PIC) 13 May — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) rounded up six Palestinian men after storming their homes in different locations in the occupied West Bank at dawn on Wednesday. Hebrew sources revealed that the Israeli forces launched at dawn hours an arrest campaign which led to the detention of six Palestinians who were taken to investigation centers. Neither reasons of arrest nor detainees' identities were announced. The sources pointed out that the arrested Palestinians include young men from al-Khader town near Bethlehem who got arrested for alleged charges of stone throwing at IOF soldiers and settlers.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71638

PA intelligence kidnaps students from homes in Al-Khalil
Al-KHALIL 13 May — Security forces from the Palestinian Authority intelligence apparatus at dawn Wednesday raided a number of homes belonging to students from the Islamic bloc at Polytechnic University in al-Khalil [Hebron] and kidnapped some of them. According to the Facebook page of Hudaifah Abu Sarhan, head of the student council at the university, the PA intelligence forces stormed at dawn the house of student Obadah al-Hashlamoun, member of the student congress in al-Khalil, and arrested him. The intelligence also kidnapped the father of another student named Alaa al-Haroub in order to pressure him to turn himself in after not finding him at home. A student identified as Hatem al-Junaidi was also kidnapped from his home in al-Khalil, while another one was phoned and asked to turn himself in. Abu Sarhan has appealed to the university presidency to assume its responsibilities towards its students and protect them. The Islamic bloc, Hamas's student wing, and the Fatah-affiliated student bloc had won the same number of seats in the council election at Polytechnic University, but the former was eligible to form the council after entering into an alliance with the Palestinian left, which won one seat.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71631

Armed men fire at presidential vehicle near Nablus camp
NABLUS (Ma'an) — Armed men opened fire at the Palestinian president's guards while in their vehicle in the al-Quds Street near Balata refugee camp outside of Nablus late Tuesday. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an that a presidential guard, ranked as major and from the Asira al-Shamaliya village, was driving the vehicle at the time. The vehicle was hit with seven bullets before the armed men fled the area. No injuries were reported. Sources told Ma‘an that security services formed a committee to investigate the details of the incident. Altercations between residents of the Balata refugee camp and Palestinian security forces have been on the rise, most recently following a security campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority in February 2015.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765387

Nakba / Right of return

Palestinians mark 67th Nakba anniversary in Ramallah festival
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 13 May — Thousands of Palestinians commemorated Wednesday the 67th anniversary of the Nakba and renewed their demands to return to their cities, villages and lands that they were forced to leave in 1948. During a festival in Ramallah,crowds set off from Yasser Arafat's tomb toward Yasser Arafat square holding Palestinian flags, black flags and signs reading the names of destroyed Palestinian towns and villages. The march was headed by a military musical group. Governor of the Ramallah and al-Bieh district Laila Ghannam said in a speech on behalf of the president that Jerusalem must return to its people despite Israel's plans to "Judaize" it. Ghannam added that Palestinian people still carry the keys to the homes they were displaced from despite the 67 years that passed. PLO executive committee member Zakariya al-Agha said that the Nakba had imposed a reality of suffering that is still ongoing. Al-Agha said that 67 years proved that the Palestinian people will not forget and that they have the historic and legal right of return to their homes that they were displaced from in 1948.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765395

On Nakba Day — help stop the ongoing Nakba
SALEM, Occupied Palestine (ISM, Huwarra Team) 7 May — The farmers and shepherds of Salem, near Nablus, are asking for you help. They are being beaten, humiliated and pushed off their land. They are asking you to join them on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th to help them save their harvest. In the village of Salem, near Nablus, the wheat is ready for harvesting. Once the crop has been collected, the sheep and goats will graze on the leftovers in the field and the shepherds will then milk them in order to make cheese and butter. The animal's droppings are dispersed on the land ; a perfect cycle is created. However, Israeli occupation forces have forbidden the farmers from harvesting the wheat and forbidden the shepherds from crossing the road that cuts through their land, dividing it in two. See report written by the International Women's Peace Service here. Harassment happens on a daily basis and many of the shepherds can recount life-threatening stories. This is the case with Rabih, for instance. Only five days ago, as he was taking his sheep out to graze and was accompanied by his young nephew who was going out into the fields to work for the first time in his life ; Israeli soldiers arrived. They pointed their guns to his brother's head, threw his nephew to the ground and attacked Rabih with the butt of an M16 rifle. They ordered Rabih to take his clothes off. When Rabih refused they beat him and took him away blindfolded and handcuffed and threw him out hours later in the middle of the countryside. “I am getting used to being humiliated”.
Shepherds and farmers are asking for a large number of people to accompany them on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th May. From early in the morning, they will attempt to work a part of their land to the east of Salem that the occupation forces are preventing them from using. A call out will be made on the mosque's megaphone to gather as many people from the village as possible.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/05/on-nakba-day-help-stop-the-ongoing-nakba/

Day of return to Igzem village in Negev next Friday
NEGEV (PIC) 13 May — The Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands decided to organize a procession of 20 buses next Friday to transport Arab citizens from different occupied villages and towns in the Negev to the ethnically-cleansed village of Igzem.
About one thousand citizens are expected to participate in the day of return to Igzem, according to the organizers. The event will take place at the invitation of Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement, who urged last Friday during a sermon in the Lakiya village the Arab citizens of the Negev to take part in the procession to Igzem.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=71629

iNakba app shows two sides of Israel's war story
KABRI, Western Galilee (Haaretz) 13 May by Judy Maltz — Visitors touring the battlegrounds of Israel's War of Independence can now also learn how Palestinians experienced these events. A guide to the ultimate dual-narrative tour — A group of young families survey the impressive memorial to the soldiers ambushed near the kibbutz of Yehiam during the War of Independence in 1948. Their guide relays the story of the 47 brave Jewish fighters killed while delivering supplies to the under-siege kibbutz. Their convoy, he recounts, was targeted by Arab villagers hiding out in the Muslim cemetery just a few dozen meters away. The grounds of the Yehiam Convoy Memorial contain some of the original armored vehicles that came under attack on March 27, 1948 ; a plaque bearing the names of the fallen soldiers ; and a map showing the area as it looked back then, dotted with Arab villages. Until a year ago, visitors curious about what transpired at this site 67 years ago would have relied on the Jewish-Israeli version of events – the one spelled out on the visitor information signs and monuments scattered on the premises, not to mention official government and Israel Defense Forces websites. Now, though, a mobile application called iNakba provides relatively simple access to the other side of the story as well. Not only at this particular site, but also at many other flash points of the first big Jewish-Arab war – known by Israelis as the War of Independence, while the Palestinians term what happened to them when the State of Israel was founded as the Nakba (or “catastrophe”). Nakba Day is marked annually on May 15, a day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli Independence Day.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.656276

Palestine Remembered
[This site is a gold mine of information about the Nakba and what happened to the Palestinian villages depopulated and usually razed by the new state of Israel. There is a page for almost every village, with many photos available, before and after the destruction or takeover of the village.]
www.palestineremembered.com

By repressing memories of the Nakba, Israel helps them grow stronger / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 14 May — The State of Israel should be bowing its head tomorrow. It should be bowing its head out of solidarity and empathy for the pain of a fifth of its citizens and to take responsibility for their tragedy ; to bow its head in apology for what happened. Tomorrow, May 15 – the date of the declaration of the State of Israel – is Nakba Day, the anniversary of the Palestinian people's catastrophe ; a day to commemorate its fallen, its lost villages and land. One needn't be a Palestinian to identify with their pain ; you can be an Israeli Jew, or even a Zionist, and respect those for whom your Independence Day marks their tragedy. Nor is there any need to accept the Palestinian historical narrative in order to recognize that the native people suffered a terrible calamity. One can respect the other's pain, about which there is no historical doubt, and, if we want to be honest and brave, one can also ask if the State of Israel has ever atoned for what it did, whether deliberately or accidentally, with forethought or lacking choice, in 1948. Has it ever abandoned the policy that caused the Nakba ? Isn't it the same policy of dispossession, occupation, oppression, destruction, and expulsion that continues to this day, 67 years after 1948, and 48 years after 1967 ? Nakba Day ought to be a national commemoration, even if it involves a minority, the same way Mimouna, the Saharna, and Sigd (an official holiday by law) are marked, even though they are the traditions of minority groups. There should be sirens and memorial services in the state's Arab communities and special television broadcasts for everyone ... But the truth is that there is no greater proof of Israel's insecurity about the justness of its cause than the battle waged to forbid marking the Nakba ... Israel started to battle the Nakba immediately after it occurred ; it did not allow the refugees to return to their homes and lands and confiscated their abandoned property. It destroyed nearly all of their 418 villages out of foresight, covered them with trees planted by the Jewish National Fund and prevented any mention of their existence. The primitive concept was that one could erase the memory of a people with trees and suppress its pain and consciousness with laws and force. This country of monuments forbade any monument to their tragedy. This country of commemoration days and wallowing in grief forbade them to mourn.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.656327

US issues warning to citizens ahead of Nakba Day
Haaretz 13 May — The U.S. Consulate urged its citizens to exercise caution ahead of Nakba Day on Friday, citing "the possibility of demonstrations within Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza." In a statement issued Wednesday, the consulate said that some Nakba Day demonstrations in the past "have become violent," and urged U.S. citizens to "be aware of [their] surroundings at all times, monitor the media, and avoid demonstrations and other crowds as events can turn violent without warning." The consulate also recommended U.S. citizens "traveling to or residing in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza enroll in the Department of State's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). " During last year's Nakba Day, two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli Border Police near Ramallah, prompting an investigation and claims that Israeli soldiers used live bullets.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.656281

Prisoners / Court actions

Israel sentences Palestinian to 9 months for Facebook posts
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 12 May — The former secretary-general of Fatah in Jerusalem has been sentenced to nine months in an Israeli prison for activity on social media. The Israeli magistrate's court in Jerusalem handed the sentence to Omar al-Shalabi after he was convicted of inciting anti-Jewish violence and supporting "terror" in posts and comments on Facebook. Al-Shalabi was one of eight Palestinian men detained in December 2014 in East Jerusalem under the same charges. Their indictment said that Israeli intelligence had monitored the men's Facebook postings since last June, after three Israeli settlers were kidnapped and killed in the occupied West Bank. The intelligence said that their online comments had raised tensions across Jerusalem and encouraged acts of "terrorism." They cited in particular postings on the murder of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped and killed by a group of Jewish extremists in July, as well as on a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israeli military and civilians that mostly took place in occupied East Jerusalem. The indictment included details of the Facebook postings such the number of "likes," "shares" and "comments" by friends on Facebook ... Separately in April, Israeli police arrested a 17-year-old for a week for a posting on Facebook ... Israelis on social media routinely and openly incite violence against Palestinians, especially during heightened periods of tensions such as this summer's military offensive on Gaza, but none have yet faced prosecution. In recent months, the Palestinian Authority has also arrested Palestinians over postings on Facebook.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765364

Israeli racism

WATCH : Racism-filled march curbs Palestinian movement in Jerusalem
+972 mag 12 May by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man — High Court dismisses petition to re-route the ‘Jerusalem Day' march away from the Muslim Quarter, but tells police it expects them to act against the type of racist incitement for which the ‘March of the Flags' is notorious — Two Jerusalem-based NGOs on Monday lost a legal battle to keep Israel's hyper-nationalist, racist and often violent “March of the Flags” Jerusalem Day procession from passing through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City later this week ... The NGOs launched a campaign earlier this month to try and stop the march from passing through the Muslim Quarter. Each year, while permitting the nationalist march to proceed, police ban Palestinian residents from their own streets outside their homes and businesses — ostensibly in order to protect them from “March of the Flags” participants ... Palestinian shopkeepers are told to shutter their stalls and stores ahead of the march. [very much reminiscent of the Orange Parades in Belfast, Northern Ireland]
http://972mag.com/watch-racism-filled-march-curbs-palestinian-movement-in-jerusalem/106667/

6 crazy things Israel has done to maintain racial purity
Alternet 12 May by Zaid Jilani — Israel bills itself as the Middle East's only democracy, but it is increasingly clear that this label depends a lot on how you define the Middle East, and how you define democracy. Perhaps the sharpest dissonance between the description of Israel as a liberal democracy and its actual policies is the drive for racial purity. Israel insists on being the historic homeland for the world's Jews, something few would disagree with. But it also insists on being a Jewish-majority country, at all costs. In order to maintain its Jewish majority, it must demonize non-Jews, particularly Muslims and Christian Arabs, as “demographic threats." Here are five [six] crazy things the Israeli government or the Israeli people have done to maintain this racial makeup. 1. No-Sex Contracts : In 2003, an Israeli company importing Chinese workers required them to sign a contract agreeing not to marry or have sex with any Israelis. No legal action was taken against the company, as Israel has no laws protecting workers from such demands. 2. Birth Control Without Consent : For years, the Israeli government was injecting Ethiopian Jewish immigrants with birth control, “often without their knowledge or consent.” When the practice was exposed in 2013, it was ordered to be halted. 3. Deporting Non-Jews : Anyone in the world with Jewish lineage can move to Israel and claim citizenship. But if you're not Jewish, things can be dicey. Many refugees from African conflicts have fled to Israel to claim asylum. Israel has locked many of them into massive camps in the desert. It has granted asylum to 0.07% of those seeking it, deporting many others....
http://www.alternet.org/world/6-crazy-things-israel-has-done-maintain-racial-purity

Ethiopian Jews hold fresh protest in Israel : police
JERUSALEM (AFP) 12 May — Hundreds of Israeli Ethiopian Jews joined activists in the northern coastal city of Haifa on Tuesday to protest against alleged racism, a police spokeswoman said. The demonstration passed peacefully under the watch of dozens of police officers, according to the spokeswoman. Ethiopian Jews in Israel have staged several rallies against alleged police brutality and racism in recent weeks and some gatherings have turned violent as they clashed with security forces. One protester in Haifa interviewed by public television said Tuesday's demonstration was "intended to ensure that members of our community aren't judged solely on the colour of their skin by Israeli society". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met members of Israel's Ethiopian community this month in a bid to ease tensions after a video emerged showing two policemen beating a uniformed Israeli [army] officer of Ethiopian origin.
http://news.yahoo.com/ethiopian-jews-hold-fresh-protest-israel-police-203128334.html

Officer who beat Ethiopian Israeli soldier dismissed from police force
JERUSALEM (JTA) 13 May — The Israeli police officer who was caught on video beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier was fired. Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino made the announcement Wednesday at Netanya Academic College, the Hebrew-language Ynet news website reported. The dismissal comes two days after a dismissal hearing with police officials. “He had a lot of arguments, and we had an in-depth discussion on this issue, along with the legal counsel, the discipline department, the attorney general and head of human resources. After the hearing, everyone decided that he should be dismissed from the police,” Danino said. It is not known what will happen to a second police officer seen in the video, Ynet reported.
http://www.jta.org/2015/05/13/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/officer-who-beat-ethiopian-israeli-soldier-dismissed-from-police-force-2

Ethiopians call for integration, not isolation, in Israeli army
Haaretz 13 May by Gili Cohen and Noa Shpigel — Leaders of the Ethiopian immigrant protest movement say it's time for the Israel Defense Forces to stop its special programs for integrating young people of Ethiopian origin and should instead train them in regular courses, saying distinctive treatment increases their isolation from other Israelis. “It doesn't seem logical to me that the army says, ‘we'll make you a separate course,'” said Genato Mengistu, one of the leaders of the recent Ethiopian protests. “We don't need these favors, loosen up. People were born here ; the language they know is Hebrew ; they aren't aliens for you to experiment on and then show off. Why don't they have a special course just for French immigrants ? “How long can they keep on saying that integration is slow and it takes time ?” he continued. “We are here in Israel almost 30 years. There was always racism and it will remain, the question is if you leverage it negatively or positively.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.656348

Other news

Palestinians say they number 12.1 m people worldwide
JERUSALEM (AFP) 12 May — The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday it has recorded a population of 12.1 million people, of whom 4.6 million live in the occupied territories and the remainder abroad. The figures show that at the end of 2014, 2.8 million Palestinians lived in the West Bank and 1.8 million in the Gaza Strip. In the impoverished Gaza enclave, the population of 4.9 people per square kilometre makes its density one of the world's highest. Of the 4.6 million people in the Palestinian territories, 43.1 percent are refugees. The balance of 7.5 million Palestinians live in exile, the majority in 31 UN-installed refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. UNRWA, the world body's aid agency for Palestinian refugees, has 5.49 million people registered on its books. The figures were announced ahead of Friday's 67th anniversary of the "Nakba", or "catastrophe" in Arabic, the day when Palestinians mourn Israel's establishment in 1948. In a statement, the head of the statistics bureau said that in 1948, "1.4 million Palestinians lived in 1,300 towns and localities in historic Palestine". After the war that followed Israel's creation, "Israel took control of 774 towns and villages, destroyed 531 and committed 70 killings and massacres in which 15,000 people died", she said. Some 154,000 Palestinians decided to remain on their land after that conflict, and their Arab Israeli descendants now number nearly a million and a half. Other figures made public by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel NGO show that Palestinians make up 37 percent of the population of Jerusalem. The eastern part of the holy city was captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community. Of the Palestinians in east Jerusalem, 75 percent live below the poverty line and the homes of almost 40 percent are threatened with destruction because they lack building permits from Israeli authorities.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-number-12-1-mn-people-worldwide-190703531.html

Israel steps up diplomatic action as fears grow over FIFA suspension
Haaretz 13 May by Barak Ravid — Israel's Foreign Ministry has been waging a worldwide campaign in recent weeks aimed at foiling a Palestinian attempt to get Israel suspended from FIFA, soccer's international governing body. The Israeli campaign has included talks with sports ministers and heads of soccer federations in more than 100 countries, supplying incriminating information on Palestinian soccer players who have supposedly been involved in terrorist activity, and attempts to blacken the name of the Palestinian soccer federation's chairman, Jibril Rajoub. Crunch time comes on May 29, when representatives of soccer federations from more than 200 countries will gather in Zurich for the annual FIFA Congress. Item 15.1 on the agenda is the “Proposal by the Palestinian Football Association for the suspension of the Israel Football Association,” the culmination of a two-year drive spearheaded by Rajoub ... First, he alleges that Israel is restricting the travel of Palestinian soccer players abroad and between the West Bank and Gaza. It also limits the entry of soccer teams from Arab countries into the West Bank, damages Palestinian soccer facilities and imposes limitations on the transfer of equipment from overseas to Palestinian teams, he claims. Secondly, Israel allows five teams from its settlements to play as part of its soccer federation, despite Palestinian arguments that they come from occupied territory over which the federation has no authority. Rajoub demands that these teams stop playing. Thirdly, Rajoub demands that Israel take significant action against displays of racism at soccer matches held in Israel, especially at games played by Beitar Jerusalem. His fourth argument is that the Teddy Stadium, in which Beitar plays, is beyond the 1967 “green line,” so that international games played there should be prohibited. (The final of the European Under-21 tournament was held there in 2013.)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.656254

West Bank electricity grid to be connected to Jordan
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an)13 May — The occupied West Bank's electricity grid will be connected to Jordan as part of an initiative to interconnect power usage in the Arab world, the head of the Palestinian Power and Natural Resources Authority said Wednesday. Head of the PA body, Omar Kittanah, said that electricity grids in Jericho have already been connected to those in Jordan as part of the Eight Country Interconnection Project, which includes Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine, and is expected to be completed over the next three years. The most recent project phase, submitted by the Palestinian Power and Natural Resources Authority and approved by Palestinian cabinet ministers Tuesday, will seek to build a high tension line feeding Jordan with enough capacity to power the entire West Bank in the coming few years. A separate line will eventually be built to send electricity from the West Bank to the Eight Country Grid via Jordan in the future, pending Palestine's access to power sources, Kittanah said. The PA has started to look for funding for the Jordan-Palestine connection, which is expected to cost around $100 million. Given that member states have special funds for supporting economic and development projects, funding the project will not be difficult to obtain, Kittanah said. The connection will improve the quality of electricity in the West Bank while also reducing the price, he added. Kittanah said Gaza's power lines will be connected to Egypt as part of the Eight Country Grid Interconnection, with funding for the connection already secured. Bids for the project in Gaza were allegedly offered in 2011, but "political conditions have so far prevented progress," Kittanah told Ma‘an. Israel will not likely interfere with the grid expansion as lines have already been built between Jordan and Jericho, the PA official said. Expansion of the grid project comes as Palestinian dependence on Israeli electricity has been an ongoing point of contention between the two parties for years....
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765382

Vatican recognizes state of Palestine in new treaty
VATICAN CITY (AP) 13 May — The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects. The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, is both deeply symbolic and makes explicit that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine. The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state and had referred to the Palestine state since. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state, giving the Vatican's former signs of recognition an unambiguous confirmation in a formal, bilateral treaty. "Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi....
http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-recognizes-state-palestine-treaty-134319446.html

Obama : Palestinians deserve an end to the occupation
Ynetnews 13 May — US President Barack Obama gave an interview on Tuesday with Asharq al-Awsat, an Arabic international newspaper based in London. "I will never give up on the hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians," said Obama, "Palestinians deserve an end to the occupation and the daily indignities that come with it. That's why we've worked so hard over the years for a two-state solution and to develop innovative ways to address Israel's security and Palestinian sovereignty needs." Obama's comments came prior to a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in which he is due to sit with key leaders of six Arab nations from the Middle East. While his hope remains, Obama said, "It's no secret that we now have a very difficult path forward. As a result, the United States is taking a hard look at our approach to the conflict," suggesting that the EU is not alone in considering policy adjustments with Israel. "Addressing the lasting impact in Gaza of last summer's conflict should also be central to any effort," concluded Obama. "Ultimately, the parties will need to address not just Gaza's immediate humanitarian and reconstruction needs, but also core challenges to Gaza's future within a two-state context, including reinvigorating Gaza's connection with the West Bank and reestablishing strong commercial links with Israel and the global economy."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4656800,00.html

Teen beaten by Israeli police meets at White House as he prepares to return to Jerusalem
CNN 11 May by Jake Tapper — As the debate about excessive police force against unarmed civilians rages throughout the U.S., the Obama administration is involving itself again in the case of an American teen severely beaten by members of the police force of Israel, a U.S. ally with whom there already exist increased tension. CNN has learned that White House National Security Council staffers recently took the unusual step of meeting in the West Wing with Tariq Khdeir, the Tampa teenager of Palestinian descent beaten unconscious by Israeli police last summer during a protest in East Jerusalem ... "The U.S. government has remained closely engaged with Tariq and his family since his return from Jerusalem," a White House official confirms to CNN. "As part of the follow-up on pending issues related to his case, National Security Council staff met with the Abu Khdeirs recently." The meeting, which took place April 15, came as Tariq and his family [were] preparing to return this summer to visit other relatives in the Shu‘afat neighborhood of Jerusalem ; they sought assurances from the White House that there would be no Israeli retaliation against Tariq, who is now 16. Tariq's mother Suha told CNN that Tariq "has changed" and may now have PTSD because of the beating, which was captured on cell phone video ... White House officials, she said "didn't guarantee anything." ... Behind the scenes, Obama administration officials continually voice frustration if not anger at incidents involving Israeli police or soldiers using force against U.S. citizens such as Tariq. "We are working with the Israeli authorities and expect to receive a meaningful answer from the investigation into the American citizen's death in Silwad in October," a senior administration official told CNN, referring to Orwa Hammad, 14, a Palestinian-American killed by Israeli Defense Forces on Oct. 24 ... Based on numerous conversations with administration officials on background, there is a widespread belief within the Obama administration that the Israeli government does not take these incidents against American citizens with the seriousness U.S. officials believe they merit....[includes video of Tariq describing his beating. His cousin Mohammed Abu Khdeir had earlier been burned alive by 'Jewish extremists']
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/11/politics/teen-beaten-israeli-police-white-house/

Israeli general sees common interests with Hamas
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 12 May — Israel and Hamas share common interests, and the Palestinian Islamists must stay in power in the Gaza Strip to prevent the enclave descending into chaos, an Israeli general was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Major-General Sami Turgeman, who as commander of Israel's forces outside Gaza had a leading role in last year's war with Hamas, cast the group in a pragmatic light in remarks reported in the top-selling Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. By doing so, he appeared to take a softer public line toward Hamas than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has likened the movement to Islamic State insurgents sweeping Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the region. Speaking to the heads of Israeli villages on the Gaza periphery on Monday, Turgeman said Hamas seeks stability and "does not want global jihad" — a term Israel uses to describe Islamic State, al Qaeda and their off-shoots. "Israel and Hamas have shared interests, including in the current situation, which is quiet and calm and growth and prosperity," said the general. With neither side apparently interested in renewed conflict for now, an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that halted fighting in the 50-day conflict last July and August has largely held. "There is no substitute for Hamas as sovereign in the Strip. The substitute is the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and chaotic rule ... and then the security situation would be much more problematic," Turgeman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-general-sees-common-interests-hamas-081852435.html

West Bank settlers optimistic over new Israeli government
JERUSALEM (AP) 13 May — As the new Israeli government prepares to take office, the West Bank settler movement appears poised to wield influence perhaps like never before. After squeezing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in coalition negotiations, the pro-settler Jewish Home party has gained control over several powerful government ministries — putting it in position to push forward with an agenda that includes nationalist school studies, money for settlement construction and an assault on a judiciary it believes to be too liberal. This ambitious plan seems sure to raise tensions at home and speed up a seemingly inevitable clash with the international community, which is still eager to promote the establishment of a Palestinian state ... But among the settlers themselves, there is widespread expectation that the government will remove restraints on construction and push for aggressive expansion, said Yigal Dilmoni, the spokesman for the Yesha Council, an umbrella settler lobby. "There is a pretty permanent reality in Judea and Samaria, one that is almost irreversible," he said, referring to the West Bank by the biblical names favored by nationalist Israelis. "We are optimistic but not power drunk. ... We are not looking to fight, but the world cannot dictate something that Israeli democracy voted against." More than 350,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and 200,000 more in east Jerusalem — alongside more than 2 million Palestinians who, unlike the settlers, cannot vote in Israeli elections. The Palestinians want these areas — captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — included in their future state, and say the ever-growing population of settlers could make it impossible to divide the territory. The international community regularly denounces Israeli settlement of occupied lands as illegal or illegitimate.
http://news.yahoo.com/west-bank-settlers-optimistic-over-israeli-government-181616477.html

Israel looks to justify future strikes on civilian areas
BEIRUT (Daily Star) 14 May by Nicholas Blanford — Israel has warned once again that civilian areas of south Lebanon could be heavily bombed in the next war with Hezbollah, blaming any future destruction on the party for its alleged construction of military facilities in towns and villages. The Israeli military showed the New York Times satellite images of southern Lebanese villages that claim to pinpoint specific Hezbollah military positions among the buildings such as command posts, rocket-launching sites and bunker entrances. The small hilltop village of Mhaibib alone contains 25 separate facilities and nearby Shaqra, a much larger village, boasts 400 military sites, according to the Israeli army ... It is not the first time that the Israeli military has used information technology to rattle sabers on Hezbollah's alleged military preparations in south Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/May-14/297901-israel-looks-to-justify-future-strikes-on-civilian-areas-in-south.ashx
—

www.TheHeadlines.org

www.Mondoweiss.net

La Nakba, un crime fondateur qui se poursuit tous les jours

2014-07-07T15:58:44Z

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NAKBA

Les Palestiniens parlent de « catastrophe » pour désigner le gigantesque nettoyage ethnique prémédité de 1948 : 800000 Palestinien-ne-s ont été expulsé-e-s de leur propre pays. Aujourd'hui, les travaux convergents de nombreux/ses historien-ne-s (lire entre autres Ilan Pappé et Sandrine Mansour-Mérien) permettent de réécrire ce qui s'est passé. Répondre aux mensonges sur la Nakba, c'est essentiel pour imaginer une paix fondée sur le refus du colonialisme et l'égalité des droits.

Les mensonges fondateurs

La Palestine n'était pas une « terre sans peuple pour un peuple sans terre ». Il y avait un peuple palestinien, essentiellement descendant des Judéens de l'Antiquité successivement convertis au christianisme et à l'islam, d'où une majorité de Musulman-e-s et des minorités chrétiennes ou juives. Globalement, ces communautés vivaient en bonne entente et se sont opposées au projet « d'État juif » dès que les sionistes ont commencé à le mettre en œuvre. « Les Arabes sont partis d'eux-mêmes ». Ce mensonge vise à occulter le fait que l'idée du « transfert » (la déportation des Palestinien-ne-s au-delà du Jourdain) faisait consensus dans la direction sioniste depuis le début des années 30. Le plan « Dalet » (la lettre D en hébreu) avait programmé le nettoyage qui a eu lieu. Le projet était bien la conquête de toute la Palestine et l'expulsion des autochtones. Aujourd'hui les politiciens israéliens parlent de « terminer la guerre de 1948 » et à l'époque Ben Gourion s'était excusé de ne pas avoir tout conquis en expliquant que c'était partie remise.
Dans ce processus, les milices d'extrême droite (l'Irgoun de Menahem Begin et le Lehi ou groupe Stern d'Yitzhak Shamir) et la future armée israélienne (la Haganah et le Palmach) ont joué des rôles complémentaires : les milices massacraient comme elles l'ont fait à Deir Yassin le 9 avril 1948 et l'armée faisait le service après vente en occupant le terrain et en s'assurant que les survivant-e-s ne reviendraient pas. Deir Yassin n'existe plus. À la place, il y a un « nouveau quartier » de Jérusalem-Ouest (Givat Shaul). C'est en partie sur ce territoire qu'a été construit Yad Vashem, le musée de la Shoah. Et le tunnel routier qui passe sous Givat Shaul porte le nom de l'assassin (Menahem Begin).

L'ONU

Pour certain-e-s, la solution est simple : il suffirait de faire respecter les décisions de l'ONU. Et pourtant : quelle légitimité peut avoir le vote par l'ONU du « Plan de partage de la Palestine » en 1947 ? Pourquoi a-t-on fait payer aux Palestiniens un crime bien européen : l'antisémitisme et le génocide nazi, alors que l'Occident refusait d'accueillir les rescapés du génocide ? De quel droit ce plan a-t-il donné au futur État juif 54% du territoire (la partie la plus riche) alors que les Juifs formaient 35% de la population ? Dans ce pseudo partage, les Palestiniens représentaient 40% de la population du futur État juif alors qu'il n'y avait que 2% de Juifs dans le futur État palestinien. On peut imputer à cette décision de l'ONU la moitié du nettoyage ethnique de 1948 : quand la guerre éclate officiellement contre les pays arabes voisins le 15 mai 1948, 375000 Palestinien-ne-s habitant « l'État juif » offert par l'ONU ont déjà été expulsés. L'ONU a avalisé les conquêtes militaires d'Israël passé en 1948 de 54% à 78% du territoire palestinien. L'ONU a reconnu Israël par un vote où plusieurs petits pays ont été achetés. L'ONU a supervisé les différents accords d'armistice dans lesquels le retour des expulsés dans leurs foyers était prévu. Les deux premiers actes du nouvel État d'Israël ont été d'interdire ce retour et de détruire plusieurs centaines de villages palestiniens dans le but d'effacer jusqu'à la mémoire de la Palestine. La lâcheté de l'ONU à cette époque ne s'est jamais démentie. Israël n'a jamais eu à subir la moindre sanction. L'ONU a créé l'UNRWA pour les réfugiés palestiniens en perpétuant une situation qui aurait dû n'être que provisoire et globalement l'UNRWA s'est très mal acquittée de son rôle, faute de moyens et de volonté politique. Il y a aujourd'hui 4,5 millions de personnes qui ont la carte de l'UNRWA. Nier leur droit au retour, c'est nier le crime de 1948, ce droit est imprescriptible.

La Nakba comme « réparation » de l'antisémitisme et du génocide ?

Cette idée dont les dirigeants israéliens se sont beaucoup servis est fausse : toutes les institutions du futur État d'Israël qui ont fortement contribué à expulser les Palestinien-ne-s de leur propre pays sont antérieures de plusieurs décennies à l'apparition du fascisme, à Auschwitz ou à la Nakba : la « banque coloniale juive » date de 1899, le KKL (ou Fonds National Juif) qui a accaparé par tous les moyens les terres palestiniennes date de 1901. La Histadrout (le syndicat qui défend le « travail juif », article 1 de ses statuts) date de 1920, la Haganah (l'armée) de 1921 et l'Agence Juive de 1929. Bien avant le génocide, ces institutions ont combattu le peuple palestinien pour pouvoir un jour l'expulser et elles ont joué un grand rôle dans la répression de l'insurrection palestinienne de 1936. Les dirigeants sionistes qui ont fondé Israël n'ont pas grand-chose à voir avec la destruction des Juifs d'Europe. Simplement, leur projet qui était a priori irréalisable et qui a été pendant très longtemps très minoritaire chez les Juifs a été rendu possible après le génocide avec la complicité de toutes les grandes puissances. Pire, certains futurs dirigeants israéliens qui participent à la Nakba ont été des terroristes collabos qui assassinaient des soldats britanniques alors que le génocide nazi battait son plein. C'est le cas d'Yitzhak Shamir qui sera plus tard Premier ministre israélien.

L'attitude des dirigeants arabes.

Elle a été globalement lamentable en 1948. Les pays qui sont rentrés en guerre le 15 mai 1948 ont combattu pour leurs propres intérêts sans aucune unité et sans aucun souci pour les Palestiniens. Le déséquilibre des forces était évident en faveur des sionistes. La seule force militaire capable de s'opposer à eux était la légion arabe jordanienne (formée et équipée par le colonisateur britannique). Elle était liée par un accord de partage de la Palestine avec les dirigeants sionistes et ne s'est battue que parce que cet accord a été violé avec la conquête de villes ou villages palestiniens sur l'axe Tel-Aviv/Jérusalem. Au moment des armistices de 1948-49, il n'y a pas eu d'État palestinien : l'Égypte a annexé Gaza et la Jordanie s'est emparée de Jérusalem-Est et de la Cisjordanie. Les réfugiés palestiniens ont été très mal accueillis par les « pays frères », notamment au Liban. Les violences qu'ils subiront plus tard (le massacre de « Septembre Noir » en Jordanie, ceux des camps de Sabra et Chatila ou Tell-el-Zaatar au Liban, l'armée syrienne expulsant l'OLP du Proche-Orient) trouvent leur origine dans ce qui s'est passé au moment de la Nakba.

Le nettoyage ethnique de 1948 est tout aussi illégitime que la conquête de 1967. Il n'y a pas de différence de nature entre les Palestiniens jetés à la mer à Jaffa en 1948 (voir le film d'Eyal Sivan, « Jaffa, la mécanique de l'Orange ») et la colonisation du centre historique d'Hébron après 1967.

Le projet politique sioniste mis en oeuvre pendant la Nakba se poursuit tous les jours avec le blocus de Gaza, la « judaïsation » de Jérusalem-Est, les destructions de villages bédouins ou l'emprisonnement arbitraire de milliers de Palestinien-ne-s.
Faire la paix, c'est « réparer » le crime de 1948 comme l'exige l'appel palestinien au BDS (boycott, désinvestissement, sanctions) de 2005 : 1) fin de l'occupation, de la colonisation, du blocus de Gaza, destruction du mur, libération des prisonniers, 2) égalité des droits, 3) droit au retour des réfugiés.

Pierre Stambul

TODAY in PALESTINE

2014-06-29T15:07:00Z

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Israeli forces shoot Palestinian teen in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 June — A Palestinian teenager was shot by Israeli forces in the Hajar al-Deek area near the border in the northern central Gaza Strip on Thursday evening. Spokesman for the Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma‘an that an unnamed 17-year-old was shot in the foot while he was collecting gravel near the border. He was taken to Shifa hospital with moderate injuries, al-Qidra added ... Many people in the besieged coastal enclave collect small stones in order to make gravel for concrete, because the import of concrete is forbidden by the Israeli economic blockade ... Israeli forces frequently shoot at farmers and other civilians inside the Gaza Strip if they approach large swathes of land near the border that the Israeli military has deemed off-limits to Palestinians. The "security buffer zone" extends between 500 meters and 1500 meters into the Strip, effectively turning local farms into no-go zones. According to UNOCHA, 17 percent of Gaza's total land area and 35 percent of its agricultural land were within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 Gazans.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708195

6 Palestinians wounded as Israeli tanks fire into Gaza after explosion

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 27 June — Six Palestinians were injured on Friday morning after Israeli tanks fired into the southern Gaza Strip from the border, medical officials said. Spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma‘an that five Palestinians including a pregnant woman and an 11-year-old boy were injured by the artillery fire, and were taken to the Algerian Hospital in Abasan al-Kabeera southeast of Khan Younis. Al-Qidra added that the sixth victim, a 27-year-old, was taken to the Gaza European Hospital with broken fingers suffered as a result of the attack. Eyewitnesses said that the tank fire damaged the Hoda and Taqwa mosques in the area as well as a number of nearby homes. The Israeli military confirmed the attack in a statement, saying that the tank fire came in response to an explosion targeting Israeli forces "operating adjacent to the security fence" in the area. "The force responded with tank fire towards lookout posts used to guide the attack against the forces," the military said. It added that no Israeli forces had been wounded in the initial explosion.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708223

2 Palestinians killed after missiles hit car in Gaza's al-Shati camp

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 27 June - Two Palestinians were killed and two others wounded on Friday afternoon after Israel's air force bombed a car traveling near al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. A Ma‘an reporter said that an Israeli plane targeted a black Kia vehicle with two missiles, killing Muhammad al-Fasih and Usama al-Hassumi. Ashraf al-Qidra, the Gaza spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, said the bodies of the two men, who were residents of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, were taken to Shifa medical center. The killing is the first targeted assassination by Israel since the formation of the Palestinian national unity government at the beginning of June. The two were apparently affiliated with the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. The Popular Resistance Committees is a Gaza-based militant group that opposes negotiations with Israel and frequently fires rockets from Gaza. It has no connection to the local popular resistance committees against the separation wall that exist throughout the West Bank. Israel's army said it targeted the "terror operatives" due to their involvement in launching rockets at Israel over the past week.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708279

Israeli warplanes target Gaza after rocket, mortar attacks

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 28 June — Israel's army launched airstrikes on southern and central Gaza early Saturday after projectiles fired from the coastal enclave landed in the Negev desert, Palestinians and security officials said. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage. In an emailed statement, the Israeli military said that its aircraft targeted two "terror activity sites and a weapon manufacturing facility in the central Gaza Strip and a weapon storage facility in the southern Gaza Strip." The statement added : "Direct hits were confirmed." Earlier, militants in Gaza fired eight projectiles into southern Israel including two mortar shells, the army said. Three rockets landed in the Eshkol regional council and another hit Hof Ashkelon regional council, it said. The country's anti-rocket Iron Dome system intercepted two rockets, an army spokeswoman told Ma‘an ...
The strike came amid increased tensions in the region as an Israeli military campaign across the West Bank entered its second week. The campaign, the largest deployment since the early 2000s, has left eight Palestinians dead, more than 130 wounded, and more than 560 detained. It has included near-nightly airstrikes on Gaza as Israeli forces pound the besieged enclave in response to rocket attacks by militants angry about the West Bank offensive.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708331

PA health minister to ship 20 truckloads of medicine to Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 June — The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health will ship 20 truckloads of medicine and medical equipment to Gaza this week, a minister said. Jawad Awwad, minister of health, said all preparations to ship the cargo have been finalized to ease the "suffering of our people." Spokesman for Gaza's health ministry Ashraf al-Qidra said the shipment comes as health conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate as a result of shortages. Several hospitals have had to cancel all non-emergency surgeries due to a lack of medical equipment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707771

Fuel shipped to Gaza to avert energy crisis
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 June — Gaza's sole power plant kept running Wednesday after diesel fuel was allowed to enter the Strip via Israel, a day after the power authority warned it would shut down, a Gaza official said. Raed Fattouh, who is in charge of the coordination of goods entering Gaza, told Ma‘n that more than 400 truckloads of goods were shipped in on Wednesday, including diesel fuel to run the power plant. Gasoline and humanitarian aid was also shipped into the coastal enclave, Fattouh said. He added that two truckloads of cement were shipped in to be used for UN-funded projects. An agreement was reached Tuesday to import 250,000 liters of synthetic diesel for the Gaza power generation station, the deputy head of the energy authority in Gaza said. Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told Ma‘an that the fuel aims to continue the supply of electricity for eight hours daily. He added that this amount is enough for one day, explaining that there are other suggestions to reduce the taxes on diesel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707789

Gazans feel pinch of Brother's Keeper

Deutsche Welle 25 June by Kate Shuttleworth — In the wake of a major clampdown on Palestinians following an alleged Hamas kidnapping of three Israelis, the usually bustling streets of Gaza City are quiet in what is normally the busiest week leading up to Ramadan. Fareq Nassar, 37, sells produce in Zwaya market, one of the main markets in Gaza City. He empties his pocket showing just 140 shekels (30 euros), the sum total of money he has left this week. "At this time of year people are usually elbowing each other to just get into and through the market. Last year I was making around 2,000 shekels in a week,” he says. An eerie quiet Gazans have been tentative about leaving their homes and walking around the streets. Their reasoning is twofold — they are nervous about Israeli airstrikes that have killed 18 Palestinians in Gaza so far and the worsening economic situation since the interim unity government was sworn in.

http://www.dw.de/gazans-feel-pinch-of-brothers-keeper/a-17735273

Sweden to investigate Israel's attack on Gaza-bound ships

Gaza's Ark 27 June — Israel has attacked several Gaza-bound ships over the last few years. Swedish prosecutor Henrik Attorps has launched an investigation into suspected criminal offenses ranging from aggravated assault, aggravated unlawful threats, theft, and other crimes under international law. "We have grounds to believe that such crimes were committed," the office of the public prosecutor said in a statement. More details here. This shows that efforts to challenge the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade of Gaza are of vital importance. They are crucial in bringing the world's attention to Israeli atrocities – even though that is not happening fast enough. The Swedish investigation follows action by a Turkish court which issued arrest warrants for Israeli senior officers over their role in ordering the 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara while bound for Gaza. The matter has also been referred to the International Criminal Court. This news comes as we are rebuilding Gaza's Ark and repairing the damage caused by the cowardly attack on it that occurred when we were almost ready to sail. This news also encourages us to persevere despite the difficulties and the challenges.We continue to count on your support to finish the building of Gaza's Ark and sail it out of Gaza as a new challenge to the unjustified blockade. Please help us continue this important work :

http://www.gazaark.org/donate/

http://www.gazaark.org/2014/06/27/sweden-to-investigate-israels-attacks-on-gaza-bound-ships/#more-11821

Seven years on, the EU can't give up its Gaza million-dollar sleeping beauty

Haaretz 26 June by Matthew Kalman — The EU's Gaza Strip farce abides : EUBAM mission is on standby, but its funds are flowing — Each year, the EU pumps nearly a million euros into EUBAM Rafah, its eight remaining staff – four locals and four foreign officials – and two offices. It was established in 2005 to monitor the operations of the Rafah border crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, under a U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. At its height, it employed 81 staff from 16 different countries. But the mission ceased to operate in June 2007, when Hamas seized control of Gaza in a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority. EUBAM still employs three Palestinian staff in Gaza, but EU monitors haven't been anywhere near the border crossing in seven years. Instead, the mission "has remained on standby, awaiting a political solution and ready to re-engage at very short notice," according EU spokespeople. In other words, they are doing nothing except spending nearly a million euros of EU taxpayers' cash each year on a project that ceased to perform any useful function seven years ago.

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/the-lighthouse/.premium-1.601532

Violence / Attacks / Raids / Suppression of protests / Illegal arrests — West Bank

Palestinian shot Friday succumbs to wounds

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 June — Mustafa Husni Aslan, 22, was pronounced dead from wounds he sustained during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Qalandiya refugee camp on Friday [20 June], medical sources said. Aslan was shot in the head and then moved to Ramallah Public Hospital before being moved to Hadassah hospital in Ein Karem upon his family's request. Aslan was previously declared "clinically dead" Friday, before he was pronounced dead Wednesday. He was initially pronounced dead on Friday, the day he was shot, which caused shock and confusion among people in Qalandiya refugee camp. It later became clear, however, that he had not passed away at that time. The funeral of Aslan will take place Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707843

78-year-old woman dies of heart attack during Israeli raid

HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 June — An elderly Palestinian woman died early Thursday after suffering a heart attack during a raid by Israeli soldiers in al-‘Arrub refugee camp north of Hebron. Fatima Ismail Issa Rushdi, 78, was evacuated to al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron after she suffered a heart attack. "Fatima arrived at the emergency department suffering from a sudden heart and lung failure. Doctors tried to resuscitate her twice but there was no response and she was pronounced dead," Dr. Ashraf Zghayyar told Ma‘an. The Israeli raid on the camp started after midnight on Wednesday following a power cut. Soldiers ransacked several homes and handed summons orders to several young men, demanding that they go to an Israeli military center for interrogation. Youths in the camp clashed with Israeli forces during the raids, with soldiers firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets, injuring 9 youths ... Red Crescent volunteers told Ma‘an that they evacuated over 20 families from their homes after Israeli soldiers fired excessive amounts of tear gas.
Israeli forces detained 13-year-old Sufyan Jaafar Abu Arqub and 14-year-old Jaafar Taha in Dura, while soldiers detained Amir al-Qasrawi in Hebron and confiscated his computer and a security camera installed outside his home.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707937

Sick Palestinian elderly [woman] delayed at Israeli checkpoint, dies before reaching hospital

NABLUS (WAFA) 25 June – A sick Palestinian elderly [woman] who was on her way to hospital for sharp chest pains died Wednesday after being delayed by Israeli forces at a checkpoint erected by the Israeli troops at the eastern entrance of Beit Dajan, a village to the east of Nablus. Amneh Haj-Muhammad, 62, suffered from acute chest pain, and, as a result, she was rushed in a taxi by her husband and children to the National Hospital in Nablus. However, the taxi was stopped by the soldiers at the entrance of the village for more than half an hour, leading to her death before she could reach the public hospital in Nablus, said Radwan Haj-Muhammad, a member of Amneh's family.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=25620

Israeli forces shoot and injure Palestinian near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 June — [Wednesday] A Palestinian teenager was shot and injured by Israeli forces during clashes in Kharsa south of Hebron. Younis al-Rjoub, 18, was shot in the abdomen and taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, medical sources said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707877

Woman, child hurt as Israeli police attack worshipers in al-Aqsa

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 June — Two Palestinians were injured on Wednesday morning after Israeli officers beat worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as they protested the presence of a tour group of Israeli settlers. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli officers attacked protesters with clubs and rifle butts after they began protesting against the group of around 30 settlers, who were escorted by a large contingent of heavily armed Israeli police as they entered through the Moroccan Gate. 12-year-old Muslih Nasser Shehadah and an unidentified Palestinian woman were injured during the police assault, and were taken to a medical clinic inside the Al-Aqsa compound for treatment. Ziad Srour, a doctor who works in the compound's Arab Medical Center-affiliated clinic, told Ma'an that the boy was beaten on his back and was taken to a hospital for tests and X-rays to check if his kidney has been hurt. The woman, meanwhile, was injured in the jaw and was also taken to the hospital for X-rays.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707714

Israeli forces shoot, injure Palestinian at Hebron checkpoint

HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 June — Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian man early Thursday before taking him into custody in the town of al-Samu‘, south of Hebron, locals said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers shot 44-year-old Ismail Ahmad al-Hawamda in the foot at a checkpoint in the town. He received treatment at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. Israeli forces claim that soldiers stopped al-Hawamda at a checkpoint and opened fire after he tried to run away.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707940

10 hurt as Israeli settlers, soldiers attack Hebron family

HEBRON (Ma‘an) 27 June — Israeli settlers accompanied by soldiers early Friday raided a Palestinian home in Hebron and assaulted ten members of a family, who were mostly children, before soldiers detained ten other individuals from the house. Settlers from the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron attacked houses belonging to the al-Jaabari family in al-Ras neighborhood of central Hebron while they were escorted by a large number of soldiers. The family told Ma‘an that "soldiers tried to kill the innocent children with a dagger, and when the family fought back they detained some of them." The injured were taken to Hebron Public Hospital in ambulances and private cars. Most of the those wounded in the assault were children ... Their injuries were reported as light and moderate. Israeli forces also detained 10 individuals from the family during the assault ... An Israeli army spokeswoman said that a "clash" had ocurred between the settlers and Palestinians in which "mutual rock-hurling took place." She added that when Israeli soldiers arrived to "disperse the riot, Palestinians started throwing rocks and tried to seize their weapons." She said that two soldiers were injured by Palestinians, while eight Palestinians were detained by the soldiers in the course of the riot. No Israeli settlers were detained, however.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708242

3 injured as Israeli forces raid Balata camp

NABLUS (Ma‘an) 27 June — Three Palestinians were injured early Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Balata refugee camp near Nablus. Israeli forces raided the camp just east of Nablus, leading to clashes as local youths protested the incursion. Israeli soldiers shot live fire and rubber-coated steel bullets at the youths, injuring three. Palestinian medical sources said that Ahmad Hashash, 23, was hit in his left foot, Muhammad Khader Abdo, 20, was hit in his right hand, and Muhammad Dweikat, 20, was hit with a rubber-coated bullet in his left eye. The three were then taken for treatment to Rafidia Public hospital in Nablus, where their injuries were described as "moderate."
Israeli forces also raided the Nablus-area villages of Salem, ‘Aqraba and Qabalan overnight, invading several houses. No detentions, however, were reported during those raids.
The home of Hamas official Ahmad al-Hajj ‘Ali, in al-‘Ein refugee camp, also known as ‘Ein Beit al Ma or Refugee Camp No. 1, in western Nablus, was also raided overnight, for the third time since the beginning of an Israeli arrest campaign three weeks ago.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708241

Photo Essay : Israeli night raids terrorize families of ‘Azza Refugee Camp

Mondoweiss 25 June by Sheren Khalel & Matthew Vickery — It feels as though the whole of the refugee camp has taken an inward breath. Every member of the camp is silent — only murmured voices of Hebrew can be heard through the dark, narrow alleyways. Every light has been turned off, but the quiet is tense instead of peaceful. The only movement is the periodic head peeking through curtains straining to stealthy check out of a window to see which way the soldiers are coming. This is ‘Azza refugee camp in Bethlehem at 3am. Two blocks down the street, the scene at ‘Aida refugee camp is much the same. Refugee camps across the occupied West Bank have experienced these raids and arrests in the middle of the night regularly over the past two weeks as part of the Israeli army's crackdown on the Palestinian population in the wake of the disappearance of three Israeli settlers.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/terrorize-families-refugee.html

Israeli forces 'assault' 17-year-old Palestinian

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 27 June — Israeli forces detained a 17-year-old Palestinian after assaulting and injuring him in his head, face and hands, a Palestinian Prisoner's Society lawyer said. PPS lawyer Anan Khader, who visited the detainee, Taher Ziad Taher Aqraa, at Huwwara detention center, said that Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters at Aqraa while he was watering his family's plants in Qalqiliya, assaulted him with the butts of their rifles and boots, and hit him in the head, face and body. The lawyer added that Aqraa was moved near a settlement for treatment and would later be taken for interrogation. The director of the PPS highlighted that these assaults against Palestinians and especially minors are “barbarian” and that Israel does not respect laws or the rights of children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708277

Israeli forces suppress marches in Ramallah, Bethlehem
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 27 June — Israeli forces attacked a weekly Nabi Salih weekly march against the occupation and settlements on Friday. The march set off from al-Shuhadaa square in the center of the village. Dozens of Palestinians, foreigners and activists participated in the march. Protesters repeated slogans against the occupation, settlements and "international silence," and they called for national unity. Clashes erupted after the Israeli forces suppressed the march using tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets. Youths threw rocks at soldiers. Dozens choked on tear gas and some were injured with rubber-coated bullets, and randomly fired tear-gas canisters set fire to nearby lands. Israeli forces had shut the entrances of the village early Friday with dozens of soldiers inside declaring it a military zone.
During a weekly march in Bil‘in in Ramallah, meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians and foreigners were injured and choked on tear gas when Israeli forces suppressed the march ...
Another weekly march was attacked by Israeli forces in al-Ma‘asara village in Bethlehem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=708289
Israel names two prime suspects in teens' abduction
Ynet 26 June by Yoav Zitun — Amar Abu-Eisha, 33, and Marwan Kawasmeh, 29, from Hebron, Palestinian terrorists who previously served time in Israeli prisons, are the two main suspects in the abduction of the three Israeli teens - Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, it was cleared for publication on Thursday, two weeks after the teens had been taken. The Shin Bet said in a statement both Hamas men, believed to have played a central role in the kidnapping, had been wanted and at large since the kidnappings, adding that several other Palestinians suspected of involvement in the abductions were being questioned. Hamas officials in Hebron confirmed the two suspects were members, and said IDF troops have targeted the men's homes since the beginning of the operation. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety, said the brothers and wives of the two men had been taken into custody, though the women have since been released. A senior Palestinian intelligence official said the two suspects are believed to be hiding and that Palestinian security forces were also searching for them. He said the fact that the two men have been missing since the kidnapping is "clear evidence they have links with the abduction." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suspects were only part of the group behind the kidnappings and reiterated his call on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to abrogate a unity pact with Hamas, a group that holds power in the Gaza Strip and calls for Israel's destruction.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4535115,00.html

Family of Hamas suspect denies allegations
IMEMC 27 June by Chris Carlson — Omar Abu Eisha, the father of one of the suspects accused by Israel of taking part in the alleged abduction of three Israeli settlers, has denied that his son was involved. This week, Israel claimed Marwan al-Qawasmeh, 29, and Amer Abu Eisha, 33, to be the two main suspects behind the incident, with reports from Shin Bet saying that the two had been jailed previously for taking part in "terrorist activity on behalf of Hamas." Speaking to Ma‘an, Omar denied the allegations and said that his family is worried that Amer has been detained and, furthermore, is being tortured by Israeli security forces. "I have not yet grasped that Amer and Marwan could kidnap three settlers from the most dangerous security square in Etzion. These are Israeli fabrications, whose goal could be is to strike Hamas in the West Bank and strike the national reconciliation," he said, adding that he was with his son at a social event on the night in question but that, later on that evening, he could not find Amer and that he has been missing ever since. The family of Marwan al-Qawasmeh has foregone comment on the subject.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68254

Israeli forces detain 17 in overnight raids
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 June — Israeli forces detained 17 Palestinians overnight Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, Israel's army and locals said. Israeli forces detained Thair Shihada Abu Sabha and Ali Murr in Yatta after raiding several homes. Ashraf al-Shawahin was injured by shrapnel after Israeli forces used explosives to open the door of his home. He received treatment at the Red Crescent hospital in Hebron. Six Palestinians were assaulted during the raids, a local official said, including a physically handicapped 13-year-old boy. A local official said ex-prisoner Ibrahim Ayish Mahmoud Sabarneh, 27, Muhammad Hussein Muhammad al-Tit, 18, and high school student Hassan Adam Salem Khalil, 17, were detained in Beit Ummar. Nineteen Palestinians have been detained in Beit Ummar since June 14, including 14 minors, the official added. In Hebron, Israeli soldiers detained Saad Omar abu Aisha and two brothers, Abdallah and Omar Imad Nairoukh.
Locals reported that Israeli forces damaged a mosque in the village of Haska near Halhul. Witnesses said that soldiers removed carpets and tiles from the mosque.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707700
Prisoners / Court actions

Palestinian prisoner enters 119th day on hunger strike
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 June — Palestinian prisoner Ayman Tbeish is suffering serious health complications as he enters the 119th day of a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that Tbeish began hunger strike action on Feb. 28 and is suffering from heart, kidney and stomach problems. He is also suffering from numbness in his limbs and visual impairment. Tbeish went on a 105 day hunger strike in 2013 that ended in an agreement which Israel later broke by issuing new administrative detention orders against him.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707987

23 Palestinian members of parliament in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 June — Twenty-three Palestinian lawmakers are currently being held in Israeli jails, a majority of whom have been detained in the last two weeks during the Israeli arrest campaign across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said on Wednesday. Eleven of the 23 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were detained prior to the campaign, the first of whom was Marwan Barghouthi in 2002. The two most recently detained lawmakers were taken on Tuesday night during a raid in Bethlehem. [list follows]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707782

Israel sentences 5 Palestinian teens to 2 years in jail
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 June — An Israeli court sentenced five Palestinian teenagers to up to two years in prison on Wednesday, family members said. Families of the teens told Ma‘an an Israeli judge convicted the teens of "throwing a Molotov cocktail in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood (of East Jerusalem), and throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles, injuring an Israeli child." ... A 2013 report by Defense for Children International — Palestine said that "any Palestinian 12 years and older who throws an object, including a stone, at traffic or at a moving vehicle with the intent of causing harm to the vehicle or its passengers could face up to a 20 year sentence under Israeli Military Order 1651." ... The report noted that "Israeli settlers are rarely prosecuted for stone-throwing and impunity persists throughout the West Bank for acts of settler violence."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707748

Gaza mothers face another Ramadan without their imprisoned sons
GAZA CITY (The Electronic Intifada) 27 June by Rami Almeghari — Najat al-Agha, known as Um Diya, is in her sixties and shows up every week outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City. Every Monday, mothers, fathers, wives and children of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons gather there to demand the freedom of their loved ones. There are currently more than five thousand Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including hundreds in administrative detention — held without charge or trial by Israeli military court orders ... Visibly emotional, Um Diya spoke about the agony of her sons' absence. “I am a mother and I have two other grown children, in addition to the ones who are in detention,” she said. “However, over the last long years, I can't ever remember feeling happy.” “Every year during Ramadan, when family members gather around for a meal, I stay silent and sad for a few hours before breaking my fast,” she said ... Um Rami Anbar, in her late fifties, also comes to the weekly protest to call for the release of her son Rami. She said that he was “kidnapped” by Israeli forces in 2002 at a checkpoint in the center of the Gaza Strip. Accused of “armed action against Israeli forces,” he was sentenced to eighteen years. “Rami left behind a wife and a daughter,” his mother said. “I see the six remaining years of his sentence as a nightmare, as if they are sixty years. I have high blood pressure and diabetes. I cannot be sure I will see my son again.”
http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-mothers-face-another-ramadan-without-their-imprisoned-sons/13505
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

WATCH : Living in the shadow of the Prawer Plan
Israeli Sociel TV 26 June — Following a series of high-profile protests that seemingly ended one iteration of the Prawer Plan, nobody — especially those who would be most affected — knows where the plan to displace tens of thousands of Bedouin Israelis stands today. Social TV visits two unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, Al-Araqib and Alsira, to see how people live under the threat of displacement.
http://972mag.com/watch-still-living-in-the-shadow-of-the-prawer-plan/92550/

Israel demolishes mosque walls in Jerusalem's Shu‘fat camp
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 26 June — Israeli forces on Thursday demolished the walls of a mosque under construction in Shu‘fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, a camp spokesman said. Israeli soldiers escorted a bulldozer from Jerusalem's municipality to the camp and destroyed the foundation of the mosque. Shufat is the only Palestinian refugee camp within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and is administered by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. In December 2011, Israeli authorities instated at the entrance of the camp a checkpoint which limits the access of Shufat's 45,000 residents to the rest of Jerusalem. Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707948

Israeli forces seize contents of Jenin village shop, two arrested
JENIN (WAFA) 26 June – Israeli forces Thursday raided several Palestinian-owned shops in Bata‘a Ash-Sahrqiya located behind the wall to the south of Jenin, provoking residents and leading to clashes, said security sources. Forces raided Bata‘a Ash-Sahrqiya, where they raided and ransacked several stores and seized the contents of a shoe store. Clashes erupted following the raid on the shops ; soldiers fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades toward residents, causing several locals to suffer from tear gas inhalation. Forces also arrested two Palestinians, including a resident of Silet Al-Harithiyya.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=25634

The return of punitive home demolitions
972mag 24 June by Michael Omer-Man —Israel orders the demolition of the family home of a man who has only been charged, and not convicted, of murder. A government official says the policy is being reinstated to ‘level the playing field' with Palestinians, while human rights groups say the practice only harms innocents. The Israeli government announced that it will return to demolishing the family homes of Palestinians suspected and convicted of involvement in terrorism and other violence. The first demolition order was issued against the family home of a man accused of murdering an off-duty police officer and wounding his family earlier this year. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem was quick to point out that the policy harms only innocents and not the accused. Thirteen people, including eight children, none of whom have been accused of or charged with any crime, live in the home slated to be demolished. The order must be approved by an Israeli court.
http://972mag.com/the-return-of-punitive-home-demolitions/92503/

Soldiers demolish home of Hamas leader near Ramallah
IMEMC/Agencies 20 June — Several Israeli military vehicles invaded, on Friday at dawn [June 20 2014] the ‘Aroura village, north of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and demolished the home of Hamas political leader, member of its political Bureau, Saleh al-'Arouri. Local sources said a number of military vehicles and armored bulldozers invaded the village and handed the family a military order against their home. The soldiers invaded the property and ransacked it. Al-'Arouri currently resides in Turkey. The source said the military helicopters also participated in the invasion, while several Israeli paratroopers were observed landed there.
Dozens of soldiers were deployed in the streets before breaking into and searching dozens of homes. The army also cut the village's power supply, prior to the invasion.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68164

In photos : Generations of Palestinian exile
The Electronic Intifada 27 June by Anne Paq — There are more than five million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations, making up the largest group of refugees in the world. The Palestinian refugee advocacy group BADIL estimates there are an additional 2.7 million unregistered Palestinian refugees, making up 66 percent of the Palestinian population worldwide. They have been waiting more than sixty years to exercise their right to return since their first mass forced displacement with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist forces in 1948, what Palestinians call the Nakba or catastrophe, during the establishment of the State of Israel ... With the conviction that the right of return is not a side issue but is at the core of the so-called conflict, this series depicts a Palestinian refugee child with a grandparent, a first-generation refugee. Through it I hope to emphasize not only the duration of the plight of Palestinian refugees, but also to visualize the extraordinary bond and solidarity that Palestinian refugees share across generations, preserving their dignity and determination during the long wait and fight for justice.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/photos-generations-palestinian-exile/13506

Other news

Hundreds protest in Umm al-Fahm against IDF operation
Ynet 27 June by Hassan Shaalan — Hundreds of Umm al-Fahm locals took to the streets Friday to protest the actions of the IDF in Operation Brother's Keeper over the last two weeks. Security forces were sent to the area including some 400 riot police in order to keep the peace. Protestors threw rocks at the police who responded with stun grenades which dispersed a part crowd that had gathered on highway 65. The crowd reconvened however, in the main street at the center of Umm al-Fahm [a mostly 'Arab' city in the Haifa district] where they continued to protest. Five were lightly wounded at during the protest and were taken for medical care at a local clinic. Police officials reported that the protest had not been authorized by the court ... MK Mohammad Barakeh took part in the protests as did a member of the High Committee of Israeli Arabs Raja Aghbariya.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4535329,00.html

Soldier reports own abduction in prank call to authorities
Ynet 26 June by Yoav Zitun and Ra'anan Ben Tzur — Roadblocks set up in central Israel, police helicopter begins search ; soldier who claimed to be kidnapped found safely on bus — As thousands of soldiers continued the search for three abducted Israeli teens Tuesday, sources in the command center at the Kiryah military base in Tel Aviv called the police at 6:00pm to report that yet another teenager, an IDF soldier, had possibly just been kidnapped. In the end, the report proved to be nothing more than an ill-timed joke ... In another incident almost a week ago, a soldier in southern Israel called the police and reported that she had been kidnapped. Police were able to trace the call to a military base and passed on the information to military police who are now investigating the incident.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534374,00.html

French government warns against business with settlements
IMEMC 26 June with Chris Carlson — France has advised its citizens and companies against doing business with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to the Electronic Intifada : Firms were warned that they could face legal action tied to “land, water, mineral and other natural resources” as well as “reputational risks.” Such a move could have implications for the Israeli economy far beyond activities limited to Israeli settlements themselves, EI reports. Israeli daily Haaretz stated that the notice was published on the website of the French Foreign Ministry, and as part of a broader document of recommendations for French people traveling to Israel : “Due to the fact that the settlements are illegal in international law, the performance of financial activity in the settlements such as money transfers, investments, acquisition of property, provision of supplies or the performance of any other economic activities that benefit the settlements involves risks,” the statement translates. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) has welcomed the move ; Spain, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Luxembourg are reportedly expected to follow suit in the coming days.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68235

Spain, Italy warn citizens against doing business with settlements
Haaretz 27 June by Barak Ravid — Nations join France, U.K. and Germany in advising against legal and financial risks — According to the announcements made by Spain and Italy, the European Union and its member states do not recognize Israeli rule in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which were conquered in 1967, and regard the settlements as illegal in international law. For this reason, the announcements stated, private companies doing business, transferring funds, investing money, signing contracts, buying land or receiving tourist services from companies in the settlements would be taking legal and financial risks. “The current situation could lead to disputes over land, water, quarries or natural resources that were acquired or in which money was invested,” read the statement from the Spanish Foreign Ministry. “Companies must take into account that [financial activity in the settlements] is liable to lead to their involvement in breaking international law and violating human rights.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.601631
UN experts trace Klos C arms ship to Iran
Reuters 28 June — Shipment of arms seized by Israel in March originated from Iran, UN panel says ; weapons were being sent to Sudan, not Gaza — A UN expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the UN arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday ... Despite Israel's public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza – an allegation that Gaza's governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication – the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan ... "According to Israeli officials, the rockets were produced in Syria by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC)," they said. "No markings were identified on the rockets during the Panel's inspection that would have allowed confirmation of the Syrian origin of the rockets.""One expert notes that the Syrian origin of the rockets cannot be independently established and neither can the movement of the rockets from Syria to Iran," the report added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4535391,00.html

Palestine to move on with oil plan in West Bank despite Israeli objections
RAMALLAH (Xinhua) 25 June — The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) decided that it will carry forward an oil exploration plan in the West Bank despite Israel's rejections, a senior Palestinian government official said on Wednesday. Mohamed Mustafa, deputy prime minister and the minister of economy, said the Israeli government sent an official letter to the PNA two days ago, expressing its oppositions against any unilateral Palestinian actions concerning oil exploration. He told Xinhua that Palestine's decision is in line with the Oslo peace accords signed in 1993, which stipulates that the PNA is required to coordinate with Israel only when projects are inaugurated. "We are still in the state of planning...for the project of oil exploration," he said, adding that "once we are ready, we will follow the needed measures." The PNA began in March last year to search for oil fields in the West Bank. It has already presented tenders to several international oil companies, while bids are expected to be submitted by the end of June. In case the project succeeds and oil is produced, this would help end the subordination of the Palestinian economy to Israel " and would help the Palestinians in building an independent and powerful economy," Mustafa said. Earlier, Palestinian officials accused Israel of seizing a field that contains fuel reserves of around 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 1.82 cubic meters of natural gas to west of Ramallah. They also said that 80 percent of the field is in the West Bank, where Israel confiscates 800 barrels every day. Israel has not officially responded to the allegations.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140625/palestine-move-oil-plan-west-bank-despite-israeli-objections
FM Lieberman meets with Kerry, tells him regional peace deal needed
Ynet 26 June by Attila Somfalvi — After thanking US for supporting kidnapped teens' search, Lieberman says peace with Palestinians not possible under current conditions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534998,00.html

Palestinian exports to Israel on the rise
Al-Monitor 24 June Palestinian exports to Israel shot up from $450 million in 2007 to $640 million in 2012, according to figures published last week [June 17] by the Bank of Israel Research Department. And while these figures represent a 42% increase, the amounts involved account for but a small percentage of the total [foreign] trade of Israel. Be that as it may, the sales to the Israeli market are of the highest importance to the Palestinian economy, as 81% of its exports are channeled to Israel ... According to estimates, quarry building stones and concrete products make up about half of the Palestinian exports to Israel. This can be primarily attributed to the quality of the Palestinian building stone, which is considered first-class by international standards ... Another notable sector of Palestinian exports is the food industry, whose products are targeted first and foremost at the Arab community in Israel ... The most interesting aspect concerns the Palestinian furniture industry. At the western entrance to Nablus, nearly 100 furniture stores are scattered. According to one of the furniture manufacturers in the city, a living room sofa that he sells in Nablus for 3,000 shekels [about $870] is offered for sale in Israel at double the price, and is sometimes marketed under an Italian label. It turns out that in this case, the fear of Israeli customers apprehensive of traveling to Nablus has its price — 3,000 shekels.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2014/06/palestinian-export-israel-rise-west-bank-building-stones.html
NZ mall ousts Israelis for aggressive selling to woman, 82
Ynet 26 June —Israelis selling Dead Sea beauty products reportedly escorted elderly woman to ATM so she could empty her bank account, handing over total of $5,000 ... The incident sparked concern over possibly aggressive and manipulative marketing strategies used by young Israeli sales staff who can be found in many shopping centers in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, the US and other countries ... This is not the first time that such stories have emerged ; a report Thursday claimed that a man suffering from short-term memory loss was charged 12 times for a total amount of $13,000 by an Israeli saleswoman who media called "attractive" ... The New Zealand news agency also reported that a man suffering from autism had been sold $4,000 worth of products in just 30 minutes at a Dead Sea products stand.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4535031,00.html

'SpongeBob SquarePants' Krusty Krab restaurant to open in West Bank
Los Angeles Times 26 June by Jenn Harris — Fans of the "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoon may dream of joining the happy sponge in an underwater adventure, but a new restaurant opening in the West Bank may soon give people a real taste of Bikini Bottom City. Krusty Krab, an eatery modeled after the restaurant where SpongeBob and his neighbor Squidward Tentacles work on the show, is slated to open in Ramallah, reported the International Business Times. The exterior of the building is a faithful representation of its cartoon model, complete with a lobster trap-shaped structure with nets on the windows and five flags strewn across the roof. Mr. Krabs even makes an appearance outside the building. A Facebook page for the restaurant shows it's still under construction and currently looking for employees.
http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-sponge-bob-square-pants-krusty-krab-restaurant-west-bank-20140626-story.html
Analysis / Opinion / Interview

Palestinians blame PA for Israeli crackdown in West Bank / Ahmad Melhem
RAMALLAH (Al-Monitor) 25 June — The Israeli military response in the West Bank following the kidnapping of three settlers has raised serious fears of a popular revolt in the occupied territories — Since June 13, there hasn't been one quiet night in the West Bank, which has seen repeated Israeli incursions following the announcement of the disappearance of three Hebron settlers. The Israeli military operation dubbed “cleaning the stables” has so far resulted in the martyrdom of six Palestinians, the arrest of 560 others and the closure of dozens of educational, media and relief institutions ... The military campaign is no longer about finding the settlers. It is now an all-out war to eradicate Hamas and blow up the national unity government, which Israel rejected ... But amid its military campaign, the occupation authorities have started fearing possible negative implications of the operation on the PA and the possibility of an explosion, after the escalation of public anger toward it ...Popular anger caused dozens of youths to attack the headquarters of the Palestinian police in downtown Ramallah. They destroyed seven police vehicles at dawn on June 22. Afterward, violent confrontations broke out and Palestinian security forces fired live bullets on the youths, wounding three. Also, a Palestinian police officer was briefly kidnapped in the Qalandia refugee camp. Political analyst Jihad Harb said that Israel is trying to provoke the Palestinians. “Israel has a plan to destroy the infrastructure of the Palestinian people, using any event as a pretext, to separate the West Bank from Gaza and put an end to the national reconciliation government and rearrest former prisoners. … Israel is provoking the Palestinians with arrests raiding cities and houses, and destroying them, in addition to trying to impose a rift between the people and the [Palestinian] Authority along the lines of what happened in Ramallah, all that to tense up the internal atmosphere,” he told Al-Monitor.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/israel-west-bank-military-operation-draws-back-kidnapped.html
The end of the hunger strike and mounting pressure on the PA / Noam Sheizaf
972mag 26 June — The PA's lack of support for hunger striking prisoners, together with its security coordination with Israel during ‘Operation Brother's Keeper,' are further deteriorating its credibility among Palestinians — Reports on a deal that would end the hunger strike by some 70 Palestinians prisoners broke in the Hebrew media on Tuesday night and has been confirmed in the two days that passed since. According to Ynet News, the prisoners will return to eat, and in return, some punitive measures that Israeli Prison Service placed on them, such as separation from each other and fines, will be cancelled. Assuming that there are no other articles to the agreement – and according to the PA's minister for prisoners, there aren't – this is a complete victory for the Israeli government and the tough line it has maintained throughout the strike. It's not only that the strike ended without any achievements for the hunger strikers, one can't imagine a similar protest breaking out in the coming months, or even years ... The hunger strike included roughly 100 prisoners, and around 70 of them were and still are hospitalized. Some stopped eating for over two months, sustaining themselves only on water and minerals. This was a tremendous human effort, carried out simultaneously by dozens of people, and under the toughest of conditions. The prisoners were handcuffed to — and isolated in — their hospital beds. I think that the strike failed for three main reasons : the line the Israeli government took, which made it clear the government would let prisoners die (or force-feed them, a procedure which also puts the prisoner's life at risk) ; the kidnapping of three Israeli teens in the West Bank, which took the media's attention away from the strike and removed whatever willingness to compromise Israel might have had ; and the lack of support for the prisoners from the Palestinian Authority.
http://972mag.com/the-end-of-the-hunger-strike-and-mounting-pressure-on-the-pa/92554/

Twilight Zone : The Palestinian teen whose death went unnoticed by Israel / Gideon Levy & Alex Levac
Haaretz 26 June — Mohammed Dudin, 15, was shot to death by IDF troops using live fire during Operation Brother's Keeper. No one took responsibility for the killing and no one called his killers terrorists — He was a boy of 15. His mother did not appear this week before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, his sisters did not issue a heartrending public letter, no mass prayers were organized in his honor, nor was a memorial assembly held. No one accused the soldiers who killed him with live fire of perpetrating brutal terrorism, no one took responsibility for his killing. Naturally no one apologized : Israel ignored his death. But Mohammed Dudin, too, was a boy – the word Israelis are using to describe the three abducted Kfar Etzion yeshiva students. Only his family weeps for him now. The expression on his father's face bespeaks the agony and grief of one whose world has collapsed, a world that even beforehand was squalid and grueling.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.601500

'Our goal is to have our freedom' : Interview with Iyad Burnat on popular resistance in Bil‘in / Douglas Kerr
Mondoweiss 27 June —KERR : How did the non-violent popular resistance to the Occupation first start in Bil‘in ? BURNAT : It is now 9 years, in December, 2004, since we started non-violent resistance, when the Israeli bulldozers started to destroy the land, the olive trees of the farmers. All of the people go outside without any organizing to try to stop the bulldozers from destroying their land. Bil‘in is a small village.1900 people live in Bil‘in. The land of Bil‘in is 4000 dunams (almost 1000 acres). The Israeli government confiscated 2,300 dunams from this land. This land is full of olive trees. It is the life of the farmers in the village, and most of the people in the village are farmers. This land is their life. We started our non-violent struggle in Bil‘in when we saw these bulldozers destroying the olive trees, and we continued. During this time, between December and February, 2005, there was a demonstration every day. So we organized ourselves and we formed the Popular Committee in the village to lead these people, the farmers, in these actions and demonstrations ...KERR : So the resistance has moved beyond the land of Bil‘in to the Wall in general ?BURNAT : Yes. KERR : You have been doing this for a long time ; what keeps the movement active for so long ? BURNAT : Look, this is important ! The important thing in non-violent struggle is to continue.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/freedom-interview-resistance.html

Hunt for missing Israeli boys stirs up familiar recriminations / Peter Beaumont
DURA, West Bank (The Guardian) 26 June — Two weeks since teenagers vanished, huge search has raised questions over how much operation is aimed at crushing Hamas — Not far from Gush Etzion junction, where three Israeli teenagers – Naftali Frankel, Gilad Sha'ar and Eyal Yifrah – were kidnapped a fortnight ago is a large white plastic banner displaying the boys' faces. It is an image that has become ubiquitous in Israel in the past two weeks. Further into the southern West Bank, in the village of Dura, outside Hebron, there hangs a different poster, with another boy's face. He is not much younger than two of the missing Israelis – 15-year-old Mohammed Dudeen – who was shot through the heart after climbing out of his bedroom window to join a stone-throwing demonstration against a raid in his village by Israeli soldiers looking for the missing teenagers. Dudeen is one of five Palestinians killed during the Israeli army's massive manhunt, a search that has seen hundreds arrested and the whole city of Hebron put under military closure, with most entrances to the city sealed off, stopping day workers and business people from entering and leaving. Amid strong indications that the military operation in its current form might be winding down, the past two weeks have posed as many questions as they have answered. No one has claimed responsibility, although Israel blames Hamas, which has been threatening to kidnap Israelis to trade for prisoners. Last night Israel identified two alleged Hamas members as the central suspects in the abduction. The Shin Bet security service said Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha are Hamas activists based in Hebron. But with no word on the fate of the missing boys, a familiar cycle of recriminations has begun, with the kidnapping becoming as much about the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as about an effort to find them ... While many of those who have been arrested are figures associated with Hamas, politically or otherwise, and have spent time in Israeli prisons, some of the targets have been surprising. The Israeli army has raided universities and media offices, including This Week in Palestine, a dairy and a Coca-Cola plant, swamping Palestinian towns and villages in numbers unprecedented in recent years ... What is not clear is what this larger part of the operation – separate from the hunt from the missing teens – is designed to achieve.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/26/hunt-missing-israeli-boys-recriminations
Kidnapping highlights Israelis' surrender to settlers / Akiva Eldar
Al-Monitor 23 June — ... It is natural that at this crucial time all attention is focused on the efforts being mounted to find the kidnapped boys, and one's heart goes out to the anxious families. Nonetheless, one must also wonder how it is that secular Israelis willing to divide Jerusalem and cede Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount for the sake of peace could be dragged along for years by a small nationalistic minority from clash to clash. How is it that men and women who voted in droves for a party that ran on a ticket rejecting religious coercion are bowing their heads in the face of nationalistic, messianic coercion ? On the one hand, a significant majority of Israeli citizens will not risk traveling through the occupied territories in their car or on public transportation. On the other, they feel responsible for the fate of the people who raise their children in the very heart of the territories and behave like lords of the land there. To fully understand the mindset of the hard-core settlers — as opposed to the majority of settlers, who moved to the territories in search of an affordable “quality of life” — it is worth reading the impressions of the American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg during a visit to Hebron 10 years ago. In an extensive piece in The New Yorker, Goldberg describes a conversation with Anat Cohen, a resident of the Jewish quarter of Hebron. “I asked her how she could let her son play amid the barbed wire and soldiers and barricades, and with snipers in the hills above. ‘Hebron is ours,' she said. ‘Why shouldn't he play ?' ‘Because he could get killed,' I said. ‘There's a bullet out there for each one of us,' she said. 'But you can always die. At least his death here would sanctify God's name.'”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/kidnapping-left-settlers-nationalism-etzion-katif.html
Despite reconciliation deal, Hamas controls Gaza / Hazem Balousha
GAZA CITY (Al-Monitor) 23 June — After seven years in power, Hamas has handed over its government in Gaza to the unity government headed by Rami Hamdallah in accordance with the reconciliation agreement signed with its political rival Fatah. However, the movement did not waive its security control of the Gaza Strip. The crisis caused by the security agencies of the former Hamas government, after they closed Gaza's banks for several days and prevented government workers from making any financial transactions, has showed the strength of the security services and their ability to maintain control on the ground in the coastal strip. The security services continue to control the border crossings such as the semi-closed Rafah border crossing that links the Gaza Strip to Egypt as well as the Erez crossing between Gaza from Israel and the West Bank. This situation forces travelers and visitors to register twice upon their arrival to the Palestinian side, once in the Palestinian Liaison Office of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and again at the security checkpoint of the previous Hamas government. Hamas is also in control of the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing ... A source in the Hamas leadership explained that the movement would not give up control over the Gaza Strip with such ease and speed, and that its influence will continue despite the formation of a national consensus government and the handing over of official ministries. “Hamas is not ready to expose its political project to risk and to hand over the power that it has built over seven years just because of an agreement on a government whose ability to survive is yet to be revealed,” the source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/gaza-hamas-still-in-control-unity-government.html
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Assassinats ciblés à Gaza : deux Palestiniens tués dans un raid aérien israélien sur une voiture

2014-06-28T14:56:40Z

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Deux Palestiniens ont été tués vendredi dans un raid aérien israélien à Gaza, près de la maison de l'ex-chef du gouvernement du Hamas islamiste dans le territoire palestinien, Ismaïl Haniyeh, a-t-on appris de sources médicales.

« Les restes de deux martyrs tués dans un raid sioniste contre une voiture sont arrivés à l'hôpital Al-Chifa de Gaza », a précisé à l'AFP un porte-parole des services d'urgences de Gaza, Achraf al-Qoudra.

Il a identifié les deux victimes comme Oussama al-Hassoumi, 29 ans, de Beit Lahia, dans le nord de la bande de Gaza et Mohammad Fassih, 24 ans, de la ville de Gaza.

L'armée israélienne a confirmé le raid dans un communiqué, affirmant que les deux hommes « étaient impliqués dans les tirs de roquettes sur Israël au cours de la semaine », ajoutant qu'"ils « préparaient d'autres attaques contre Israël et ses citoyens ».

Le ministre israélien de la Défense Moshé Yaalon a pour sa part assuré dans un communiqué qu'Israël « réagira d'une main ferme à tout tir vers son territoire et à toute attaque visant des civils ou des soldats israéliens, comme nous l'avons fait aujourd'hui ». « Nous considérons le Hamas comme responsable de tout ce qui se passe dans la bande de Gaza et nous lui conseillons de ne pas mettre notre patience et notre détermination à l'épreuve », a ajouté le ministre.

Le raid a visé une voiture dans le camp de réfugiés de Chati, près de la maison de M. Haniyeh, selon des témoins.

Dans la matinée cinq Palestiniens dont un enfant avaient été blessés par des tirs de chars israéliens dans la région de Khan Younès, dans le sud de la bande de Gaza, à la suite de l'explosion d'un engin près de la frontière.

Un autre raid aérien israélien le 11 juin avait coûté la vie à un membre d'un groupe salafiste radical et à un enfant.

La tension est montée à la frontière entre la bande de Gaza et Israël à la suite de l'enlèvement le 12 juin de trois jeunes Israéliens (colons réservistes, ndlr) dans le sud de la Cisjordanie occupée, où l'armée israélienne a lancé une vaste opération pour les retrouver.

Cinq Palestiniens ont été tués par des soldats israéliens pendant cette opération et près de 400 arrêtés, en grande majorité des membres du Hamas, dont les forces de sécurité contrôlent Gaza et auquel Israël impute le rapt, qui n'a pas fait l'objet de revendication jugée sérieuse.

Au cours de ces opérations de recherche menées en Cisjordanie, 2.100 bâtiments ont été perquisitionnés par l'armée israélienne, selon une porte-parole militaire.

Plusieurs centaines d'Arabes de 48 ont manifesté vendredi dans la localité d'Oum al-Faham dans le nord d'Israël pour protester contre ces mesures répressives, a indiqué la télévision publique.

Les manifestants ont bloqué une route et lancé des pierres contre les policiers qui ont répliqué en tirant des grenades lacrymogènes et assourdissantes sans procéder à des arrestations.

Selon la télévision, le ministre des Affaires étrangères Avigdor Lieberman, chef d'Israël Beiteinu, un parti ultra-nationaliste a accusé les manifestants d'avoir exprimé leur soutien à l'enlèvement des trois jeunes Israéliens (colons réservistes, ndlr) et proposé qu'ils soient traités « comme des terroristes ».

Vendredi soir, cinq roquettes tirées par les Palestiniens à partir de la bande de Gaza ont atteint le territoire israélien, sans faire ni victime ni dégât, a annoncé une porte-parole de l'armée.

Deux des roquettes ont été détruites en vol par « Iron Dome », un système d'interception, a ajouté la porte-parole.

Source : ASSAWRA avec les agences de presse

Les soldats et les colons juifs envahissent Ras Khalil

2014-06-26T08:49:10Z

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Des autobus apportant les dizaines de soldats ont pris d'assaut, le mercredi 25/6, la région de Ras Goura à Hébron, dans le sud de la Cisjordanie occupée, alors que les colons extrémistes ont envahi la région de Nabi Younès, sous prétexte d'accomplir des rituels religieux.
Des témoins oculaires ont déclaré que plus de 6 bus apportant des dizaines de soldats israéliens accompagnés par plusieurs blindés militaires ont pris d'assaut Ras Goura, à Al-khalil, dans le cadre des actions de raids et d'inspections dans la ville, depuis deux semaines, sous prétexte de rechercher les trois soldats disparus dans la ville.

Des sources locales ont déclaré qu'un groupe de colons extrémistes ont envahi la région de Nabi Younis, à Halhoul, sous prétexte d'accomplir des rituels religieux près de la mosquée de Nabi Younès dans le village, où ils se sont infiltrés dans les heures de l'aube.
La province d'Al-khalil s'expose à de vastes opérations militaires, y compris la prise d'assaut des maisons et l'explosion des portes, les arrestations et les raids, en plus de la répression des citoyens et la fermeture des entrées principales.

Source : IRIB

TODAY in PalestiNE

2014-06-26T06:02:59Z

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Prisoners / Hunger strikes / Court actions

Palestinian detainees reach deal to end hunger strike

Haaretz 25 June by Jack Khoury — Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons ended a two-month-long hunger strike overnight Tuesday after a deal was struck with the Israel Prison Service. The details of the deal, it was agreed by the sides, will only be made public after the hunger strikers receive treatment and their condition stabilizes. Sources in the Palestinian Prisoners Club told Haaretz that Israel has agreed to some of their terms and said that a press conference will be held on the matter on Wednesday. On April 24, Palestinians under administrative detention in Israeli jails launched a hunger strike demanding that Israel end the practice of holding Palestinians in prison without a trial. Initially some 125 detainees took part in the strike, though their numbers recently decreased to 80. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners who are not under administrative detention also joined the protest. All in all, Israel Prison Service confirmed earlier this month that 290 prisoners and detainees were on hunger strike at the time.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.601002

Palestinian prisoners halt hunger strike for Ramadan fast

Ynet 25 June by Elior Levy and Ra'anan Ben Tzur — Sixty-three Palestinian prisoners have suspended the hunger strike which they have observed in Israeli jails since late April, one of their lawyers said Tuesday night. "The strikers, who have reached an agreement with the Israeli prison authorities, have decided to suspend their action with the approach of (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan," lawyer Abu Snena said. Palestinian minister Shawki Aleessa announced the ending of the strike, and the announcement will be passed on to all security detainees that have been hospitalized as a consequence. A senior military official, however, said Wednesday morning that "not everyone stopped striking." According to the Palestinians, the end of the hunger strike is conditioned in the Israel Prisoners Service canceling the fines imposed on striking detainees, and moving them back to their cell blocks. Despite that, there will be no change in the administrative detention policy. The Israel Prisons Service confirmed the end of the strike, but refused to elaborate on the agreements reached. The Prisons Service said the 75 hunger striking detainees who have been hospitalized will remain in the hospital for the time being for monitoring.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534282,00.html

Prisoner release deal is no longer possible, Lieberman says

Ynet 24 June by Attila Somfalvi —Foreign minister tells Ynet he will no longer allow Yisrael Beiteinu ministers to vote in favor of any deal to release prisoners — A prisoner release deal with the Palestinians, such as the ones freed in the Shalit deal and those freed as a gesture to restart peace talks, will no longer be possible, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Ynet on Tuesday. "I voted against the Shalit deal and that says it all about how I feel about it, both then and now. I think we should all learn the lesson as quickly as possible and it is obvious that no deal - not as a gesture, not as a prisoner swap and other types - is possible anymore," Lieberman said.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534054,00.html

Israel 'doubles' administrative detainees during arrest campaign

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June by Charlie Hoyle — Israel's military has fast-tracked over 100 administrative detention orders during a mass arrest campaign launched 10 days ago, a Palestinian prisoners group said Monday, nearly doubling the number of Palestinians held without charge. As of Monday, 104 administrative detention orders have been confirmed by the Addameer prisoner rights group, with the number set to increase significantly over the coming days. The group had documented 77 administrative detention orders as of last Thursday, with 27 more confirmed on Monday, an advocacy coordinator told Ma‘an. Most of the orders, lasting between three to six months, were issued by a judge at Ofer military court on the recommendations of the Israeli Shin Bet, with the majority of detainees affiliated to Hamas and Islamic Jihad...

Addameer said the systematic use of administrative detention in the ongoing arrest campaign is "alarming" given the number of prisoners on hunger strike to protest the policy. Issuing administrative detention orders "en-masse" since the disappearance of the three youths is "in direct violation of the strict parameters established by international law," the group said, urging the international community to immediately condemn the "arbitrary arrest and detention campaign." ... Hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners have posed a constant challenge over the past two years to Israel's policy of detention without trial, with not a single day passing since 2011 when a Palestinian prisoner has not been on hunger strike.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707113

Group names 21 prisoners sentenced to administrative detention

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 June — The Palestinian Prisoner's Society on Tuesday released a list of 21 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to administrative detention. The group said in a statement that a total of 143 Palestinians have been sentenced to detention without trial as part of a mass arrest operation in the occupied West Bank. [List of detainees and their sentences follows]

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707459

Red Cross warns Israeli doctors against force-feeding prisoners

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 June — The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday warned doctors in Israel against force-feeding hunger-striking prisoners, saying they could face international prosecution. Dr. Raid Abu Rabbi, an official of the Red Cross, said that “any doctor who force-feeds prisoners will be violating medical ethics, and in Israel and abroad this doctor could be arrested.” A law to allow force-feeding prisoners was set to be approved on Monday. However, the Israeli minister of finance threatened to call off the bill and voting was postponed until the coming week.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707175

Comptroller : Detainees let go in middle of West Bank without means to get home

Jerusalem Post 24 June by Ben Hartman & Yonah Jeremy Bob — Detainees released in middle of night from police stations often forced to hitchhike home, report finds — In a time when the hitchhiking phenomenon is being scrutinized, a man under arrest at a police station in the West Bank was released without the means to get home, at night, with few options for getting home other than hitchhiking, according to a report released Tuesday by the State Comptroller on Tuesday. The police misconduct was one of a number of examples presented in the report on complaints filed against public bodies, one of the comptroller's areas of responsibility.

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Comptroller-Detainees-let-go-in-middle-of-West-Bank-without-means-to-get-home-360377

Israeli court extends detention of al-Issawi until June 29

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 June — An Israeli military court on Tuesday extended the detention of former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi until June 29, a prisoners group said. Lawyer Mufid al-Hajj from the Palestinian Prisoners Society told Ma‘an that al-Issawi would appeal against the decision. Israeli forces on Monday re-arrested al-Issawi from his house in al-Issawiya village in East Jerusalem. Issawi was released from Israeli jail last December as part of an agreement in which he ended a 266-day hunger strike, during which time he became an international cause célèbre who focused attention on the plight of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707449

Israel seeks re-incarceration of seven Jerusalemites freed in Shalit swap

Haaretz 24 June by Nir Hasson — Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein issued a request Tuesday morning to re-incarcerate all seven Palestinian prisoners from Jerusalem who were released in the 2011 swap for captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. The seven were taken into custody over the last week within the framework of Israel's Opperation Brother's Keeper. The request submitted to the ministerial committee overseeing the release of security prisoners at the Haifa District Court states that each one of the prisoners has violated his terms of release and must be returned to jail to serve his original sentence. All the requests are based on confidential information submitted to the court without the presence of the prisoners' lawyers. The Jerusalem residents released in the Shalit deal were released in a legal process separate from those arrested and tried in the West Bank. The Jerusalemites, who have permanent residency status in Israel, were released by presidential pardon. Within that context, each one signed an agreement stating that he was prohibited from "being affiliated with a terror organization or illegal association of any kind ; to not be involved or support or assist any act of terror or violence." They were also barred from entering the West Bank or flying abroad for a period of three years.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600866

Land, property, resources theft & destruction

Hamdallah : Israel prevents oil extraction in West Bank

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said that Israel has officially requested that the PA stop their appeal to the UN for extracting oil and petroleum from northern West Bank areas. Hamdallah told Ma‘an that “the Israeli coordinator of government affairs officially requested that the oil extraction from Rantis and Qalqiliya stop and called it a one-side procedure.” “There are 160 million oil barrels in Rantis and Qaliqiliya. Nevertheless Israel rejected what was agreed upon with the US secretary of state on the possibility of extracting gas from the Gaza Strip,” Hamdallah added.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707172

South Hebron Hills : Pressure on Firing Zone 918 residents continues

Christian Peacemaker Teams 23 June — On 15 May 2014, Israeli courts extended the mediation process between the Israeli army and the villages within Firing Zone 918 for another three months. The Israeli army wants to use this area for training. Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organizations have condemned its bid to expel the villagers a violation of international law, which forbids forced transfer of the indigenous population of an occupied territory unless the occupying power is safeguarding them from an immediate danger. During the previous period of mediation, the court allowed rehabilitation of damage done by storms, as well as access to the area by international humanitarian organizations. As a result, some development was possible in the area, specifically to the schools in al-Fakheit and Jinba. At the same time, as revealed in an article published on Ha'aretz, army officials admitted using firing zones as a way to deter the growth of Palestinian communities in Area C and to expel Palestinians from where they have lived since before the occupation of the West Bank in 1967. Since 8 June, the Israeli military has conducted exercises in close proximity to, and on one occasion, inside the village of Jinba. Some weeks before, the army drove armored vehicles over Palestinian fields close to Jinba and Mirkez, damaging their harvest. Residents of Jinba told CPT that they received a "solution" to the current legal battle from the Israeli army via their lawyers at the beginning of June. The army asked that all of the Palestinian residents voluntarily leave the area for thirty months so that the Israeli military could conduct its exercises. After that, the Palestinians could return to their homes. The villagers refused the offer, affirming they would not have anywhere to go with all their livestock. Even if the army allowed them back, no one would care for their crops and flocks for that thirty months. The army is not asking Israeli settlers in the area to leave Firing Zone 918.

http://cpt.org/cptnet/2014/06/23/south-hebron-hills-pressure-firing-zone-918-residents-continues

For first time, Israel compensating Palestinians over settlers' land grab

Haaretz 25 June by Chaim Levinson — In an unprecedented step, the state will pay 300,000 shekels ($87,500) in compensation to Palestinians who own land upon which the unauthorized West Bank outpost of Amona was built. The Palestinian land owners will be compensated for the lost revenues from their fields for the first time since reaching a compromise agreement with the state. The Palestinians had filed a civil suit against the state for not enforcing the law after the settlers took over their land for the unauthorized building at Amona. It is a precedent-setting agreement ... The landowners said they plan on establishing a fund with the money to finance legal support for Palestinians whose lands have been taken over by Israelis. In the compromise agreement, the plaintiffs continue to insist on their demand that the entire outpost be evacuated, as was requested in the petition to the High Court of Justice. The state is scheduled to notify the court within 30 days if it will continue its suit against Amona, in which it is demanding the settlement pay the state back for the compensation paid to the Palestinian landowners.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.601026
Army invades agricultural lands near Hebron
IMEMC 24 June by Chris Carlson — On Tuesday, Israeli army bulldozers razed a privately owned Palestinian ranch in the village of Hassaka, north of Hebron, according to local sources. Coordinator of the anti-settlement committee Rateb Jabour told WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency that the bulldozers razed a 30-dunam area of land (just over 7 acres) which was partially covered with greenhouses and planted with vegetables. The land belongs to several residents of the village, collectively. In the Bethlehem district, Israelis also destroyed privately owned Palestinian farmland, the head of the Nahhalin village council, Ibrahim Shakarneh, told WAFA news. He stated that settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Beitar Illit, protected by Israeli soldiers, chopped down grapevines and olive trees there. The army additionally prohibited landowners from accessing the area, sealing it off as the settlers chopped down the trees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68218

Army to demolish stores near Jenin
IMEMC/Agencies 24 June by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday, Barta‘a Palestinian village, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and handed military orders for the destruction of more than ten stores. Member of the Barta‘a Village Council, Tawfiq Kabaha, stated that dozens of soldiers, and members of the Civil Administration Office, run by the military in the occupied territories, invaded the Industrial Area in the village, and handed the orders. Soldiers also conducted searches of various homes and property in the village, causing damage. The invasion is one of dozens of invasions carried out in the village in the last two months, and the army handed out orders against more than 21 homes and industrial structures. Also on Tuesday, soldiers invaded the Hasaka village, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and drained water wells used by the residents for their homes and lands.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68214

Israeli forces detain man, confiscate tractor near Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 June — Israeli forces raided a Jenin-area village and detained a man after confiscating his tractor, security sources told Ma‘an. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an Israeli soldiers entered Bir al-Basha and searched dozens of houses before detaining Sharif Hussein Ghawadrah, 50. Israeli forces also confiscated Ghawadrah's tractor, the sources said, without providing further details.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707352
Settlers vandalize 12 Palestinian cars in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Settlers vandalized 12 Palestinian vehicles and a school bus in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Monday, locals said. Owners of the vehicles told Ma‘an that three masked settlers raided the al-Ashqariya neighborhood at 3 a.m. and punctured tires on 12 cars. The settlers also sprayed "Death to Arabs" and "Revenge" on a school bus and another private vehicle. Local resident Mahmoud Shanak told Ma‘an that this is the first incident of its kind in al-Ashqariya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707029

UNESCO adopts decision to protect Jerusalem's heritage
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — The Palestinian minister of foreign affairs said Monday that the UNESCO world heritage committee adopted a resolution to protect the walls and heritage of Jerusalem. During the committee's 83rd session being held in Qatar, 12 countries voted for the resolution, one country against it, and eight countries abstained from voting, Riyadh al-Malki said. He praised the resolution and thanked the Arab and Jordanian efforts that helped get it passed. “Despite the occupation's attempts to remove the Palestinian existence from Jerusalem, and attempts to deform history and demography, Jerusalem will remain the capital of world heritage, and the capital of the state of Palestine,” he added.
On Friday UNESCO granted endangered World Heritage status to ancient terraces in the West Bank that are under threat from the Israeli separation barrier ... The Palestinians won membership in UNESCO in October 2011 and quickly moved to submit a number of sites for recognition, including an emergency application for Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity which was approved in June the following year, despite Israeli objections.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707226
Violence / Raids / Illegal arrests

Two Palestinian youths injured in grenade attack by Jewish settlers
RAMALLAH (PIC) 24 June — Two Palestinian young men suffered from severe suffocation and minor paralysis last night when an atypical smoke grenade thrown by an extremist Jewish settler fell inside their car near Deir Ibzi‘ village, west of Ramallah. Local sources said an Israeli settler from Talmon settlement chased a Palestinian passenger vehicle traveling on the public road that leads to towns and villages of west Ramallah. The smoke that emitted from the grenade caused the two young passengers to suffer from severe suffocation and made their limbs feel numb for a while. The injured young men rushed to Israeli soldiers posted at a nearby military checkpoint and reported what happened to them, but the soldiers ignored their complaint and forced them to leave the area.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/
Palestinian prisoners 'assaulted' before being detained
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 June — A Palestinian Prisoner's Society lawyer reported Monday from Palestinian detainees at Etzion detention center that many of them were assaulted and beaten before they were detained. Prisoner Faraj Ghaith, 57, told the lawyer that three settlers raided his house, assaulted him and his family before the Israeli police detained him and his two sons Ahmad and Omar. Ghaith lives near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Jaclyn Fararjeh said that bruises were still clear on the prisoners' bodies. Prisoner Ashraf al-Jaaidi, 30, from Bethlehem, said that he threw up blood since he was detained, and that he was beaten with butts of the riffles when he was detained from his house in Duheisha refugee camp last Friday. Farajeh highlighted that al-Jaaidi requested to be examined by a doctor but the prison service refused.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707089
Israeli forces detain 8 in Hebron, Nablus
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 June — Israeli forces detained late Monday eight Palestinians from Hebron and Nablus, raided dozens of houses in several West Bank districts and interrogated dozens of residents, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707364
Army kidnaps three Palestinians in Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies by Saed Bannoura — [Tuesday at dawn, June 24 2014] Israeli soldiers kidnapped three Palestinians in the West Bank district of Bethlehem, and shot and injured two more Palestinians. Palestinian security sources said the army invaded Harmala village, east of Bethlehem, broke into and violently searched several homes, and kidnapped two Palestinians ... Dozens of soldiers also invaded the al-‘Azza refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, searched and ransacked dozens of homes, while one Palestinian was mauled by army dogs that attacked him, as the soldiers searched his property. The wounded Palestinian, identified as Khalil Kayed an-Nashash, was moved to the Beit Jala governmental hospital, suffering moderate injuries. In related news, soldiers invaded ‘Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, also searched several homes, and kidnapped a Palestinian identified as Hussein Saleh Abu Aker, 25. Furthermore, soldiers invaded ‘Arraba town, south of the northern west Bank city of Jenin, kidnapped one Palestinian, and stole large sums of cash. The WAFA News Agency has reported that dozens of soldiers invaded the town, and broke into the home of Mustafa Sheebany, before kidnapping his brother Najeeb. The soldiers violently searched the property, causing excessive property damage, and stole 5,000 NIS, WAFA added.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68213

Israeli forces seize Palestinian in Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 June — Special Israeli forces seized a bodyguard of Wasfi Qabha, a Palestinian official, on Tuesday from his shop in the center of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an that special Israeli forces drove a bus with Palestinian plates to the center of Jenin and detained Mahdi Hassan al-Hifawi, 38, from his electrical appliances shop. Sources added that al-Hifawi was a special escort for a former minister of prisoners.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707509
Including two legislators, four Hamas officials kidnapped in Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies by Saed Bannoura — [Wednesday at dawn, June 25 2014] Israeli soldiers invaded the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped two legislators, members of the Change and Reform Bloc of Hamas, and two other political leaders of the movement. Local sources said the army kidnapped legislators Khaled Tafesh and Anwar Zboun, after breaking into their homes, and violently searching them. The soldiers also kidnapped Ghassan Hermas and Hasan al-Wardiyyat, both political leaders of Hamas, and also invaded and searched several homes in al-Karkafa area, in the center of Bethlehem city, causing property damage.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68224

Israeli forces detain 4 children in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 June — Israeli police on Wednesday afternoon detained four Palestinian children from the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli forces detained the four children, aged 10-14, while they were flying a kite. One of them was identified as Ayman Hashima. Another was Taha Hashima, and the two others were yet to be identified. They were all led to the Chain Gate police station.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707529

529 arrests reported during the last ten days
RAMALLAH (PIC) 24 June — 529 Palestinians have been detained since Israel started its arbitrary mass arrest campaign throughout the occupied West Bank on Thursday evening 12th June 2014. 61 arrests were carried out on Monday in different parts of occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), 179 arrests were carried out in al-Khalil [Hebron], while 87 arrests were reported in Nablus. 75 Palestinians were also detained in Bethlehem, while 52 detainees were documented in Jenin. 49 Palestinians were detained in Ramallah, while 36 from Jerusalem were detained and 23 others in Tulkarem, and 13 Palestinian citizens were arrested in Qalqiliya. 7 arrests were reported in Tubas, and 7 others in Salfit, while one Palestinian was detained in Jericho.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel re-arrests one in six Palestinians released to West Bank in Shalit deal
Haaretz 23 June by Gili Cohen — Security services officials assert dozens of former prisoners have violated release conditions, but one ex-prisoner says Israel using kidnapping as excuse for roundup — Israeli security services figures indicate that 55 Palestinians who had been released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have been arrested since the start of Operation Brother's Keeper. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity asserts that most of the detainees are Hamas members. Since the 2011 prisoner swap, Israel has re-arrested 131 of the 824 Palestinians released to the West Bank. Most of the 76 arrested before Operation Brother's Keeper were suspected of violating their release conditions, such as returning to terrorist activities, failing to report monthly to the government coordination office in the territories or illegally entering Israel. One of the prisoners released in the Shalit deal, Luay Najih Nofal, who spent 11 years in an Israeli jail, was released Saturday after being re-arrested during Brother's Keeper. He told Channel 2 in an interview Sunday night that the apprehension was a reaction, arresting people in the name of being careful ,,, "I don't imagine that someone tied to the Shalit deal would be involved in these things. A person spent years in jail serving a sentence. It would be crazy (to return to terror), because then he would return for a life sentence."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600572
IDF scales back West Bank operation against Hamas, shifts focus to intelligence
Haaretz 24 June by Gili Cohen & Amos Harel — The Israel Defense Forces significantly scaled back its operations against Hamas in the West Bank on Tuesday and began removing temporary checkpoints set up inside Hebron. However, infantry units are continuing to scan large swaths of territory northwest of Hebron in an effort to find the kidnapped teens and their abductors. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that "A large part of the operation against Hamas has been exhausted." Twelve days after the kidnapping of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrah from a hitchhiking spot in Gush Etzion, the main focus of Operation Brother's Keeper is now shifting to intelligence gathering and searches ... The defense establishment is troubled by the increase in the number of Palestinian casualties and the possibility that the confrontations will spill over into the month of Ramadan, which starts in less than a week. It seems most of the Hamas activists on the lists prepared by the IDF and Shin Bet security service for arrest have already been taken in.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600940
Gaza under dual blockade

Two Gazans wounded in new wave of Israeli airstrikes
GAZA (PIC) 25 June — Two Palestinian young men on Tuesday evening suffered shrapnel injuries in a renewed spate of Israeli aerial attacks on the Gaza Strip. A medical source in Gaza told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that two young men working for the naval police suffered moderate wounds in different areas of their bodies in an Israeli air raid in Al-Nuseirat district. The air raid in Nuseirat district caused considerable damage to a municipal park and a naval police headquarters located in a beach area. Israeli warplanes also bombed a resistance site belonging to Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad as well as a cultivated land belonging to Al-Masri family in Beit Lahia district, north of Gaza. Another airstrike targeted an abandoned farm in Al-Manara neighborhood to the southeast of Ma‘an area in Khan Younis.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/
Israeli warplanes strike 5 Gaza targets
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 June — Israeli warplanes struck multiple targets across the Gaza Strip late Tuesday, with no injuries reported. Israel's army said it targeted "5 concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza, one terror activity site in central Gaza, and a weapon manufacturing facility in southern Gaza" in response to rocket fire. Earlier, five rockets were fired from Gaza, Israel's military said, with two intercepted, two falling in Gaza and one landing in an open area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707589
Explosion kills Palestian girl in Beit Lahiya
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 June — A young [3-year-old ?] Palestinian girl died and three family members suffered injuries late Tuesday in an explosion in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said four people including two children arrived at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The two children were in critical condition. Residents in the area said they believed the explosion was caused by a homemade rocket.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707588
Gaza power plant 'to shut down' as Qatar-donated fuel runs out
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June 11:18 — The Gaza Strip's sole power plant is expected to shut down Tuesday after the last shipment of Qatar-donated fuel runs out, Gaza's power authority said. Fathi Sheikh Khalil, the deputy chairperson of Gaza's power authority, said that the plant would run out of fuel Tuesday. Gaza will then depend on 140 megawatts of electricity from Israel and 20 megawatts from Egypt, only a third of the electricity needed to power the Strip, Khalil said. He said the Gaza power authority had contacted the newly-formed national consensus government seeking a solution to the power crisis, but that nothing had been done so far. Qatar had in March agreed to continue to donate money to fuel Gaza's power plant for three months.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707338
250,000 liters of fuel to be sent to Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June 23:53 — An agreement has been reached to import 250,000 liters of synthetic diesel for the Gaza power generation station, the deputy head of the energy authority in Gaza said Tuesday. Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told Ma‘an that the fuel, to be delivered Wednesday, aims to continue the supply of electricity for eight hours daily. He added that this amount is enough for one day, explaining that there are other suggestions to reduce the taxes on diesel in place. Khalil had earlier said that donated Qatari fuel would run out on Tuesday, and that the power generation would stop if an alternative was not found.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707578

Severe shortage in medicines, medical equipment in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June — The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza says a serious crisis is expected to affect the health sector in the coastal enclave as many types of medicines and medical equipment have run out and other types are running out. Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement Tuesday that 122 types of basic medicines completely ran out and 91 types would run out in a few weeks. Furthermore, 471 types of medical equipment and disposables have run out completely and some 85 types will run out in a few weeks, added al-Qidra. He highlighted that Gaza fuel crisis has affected hospitals and medical centers. During daily power cuts, Gaza hospitals use diesel-run generators to produce electricity. Gaza public hospitals, says al-Qidra, consume 8,000 liters of diesel a day and they now have only 20 percent of the average reserve. In addition, ambulances and other vehicles of the ministry consume about 22,000 liters of diesel and 12,000 liters of gasoline a month. Under these conditions, he added that fuel reserves will run out in a few days. As a result, the ministry of health decided to cancel surgical operations which are not urgent and to reduce about 50 percent of ambulance travel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707405

Gaza employees go on strike Thursday
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June — Workers in the former Gaza government will have a full strike in all government institutions in protest of being left out of the unity agreement, the director of the civil service workers union in Gaza said. Mohammad Siyam said all the doors of the government's institutions and offices will be closed as an escalation in response to Tuesday's cabinet meeting, which did not address the former employees or the electricity issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707552

Israeli naval boats open fire on Palestinian fishermen offshore Gaza
GAZA (WAFA) 24 June — Israeli naval boats opened fire Tuesday on Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of As-Sudaniya to the northwest of Gaza, according to WAFA correspondent. Israeli naval boats opened gunfire on several Palestinian fishing boats fishing within the six nautical miles allowed fishing zone, forcing fishermen to return to the shore. No injuries were reported among them.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=25598
Witnesses : Israel military vehicles enter Gaza neighborhood
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israeli military vehicles entered a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City on Monday, witnesses told Ma‘an. Locals said soldiers in the vehicles scanned land belonging to residents in the al-Shajaiya neighborhood and "fired shots," without causing injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707079

Palestinian refugees in Syria

Palestinians unable to return to Syria camp despite truce
DAMASCUS (AFP) 23 June - Convinced they would be able to return to Yarmuk in southern Damascus after a truce and ceasefire, Palestinians went to the embattled camp's entrance Monday but their wait was in vain. "I heard about the deal so I bought food because I thought I could go home, but (the regime forces) did not let me go because armed men still haven't left," said a 30-year-old woman clutching a bowl of eggs. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been laying siege to Yarmuk since last year. Yarmuk is now devastated, and only around 40,000 people remain of the 150,000 Palestinian and Syrian people who lived at the camp before the conflict erupted in March 2011. On Saturday evening, an agreement was struck under which rebel fighters were to vacate the camp, according to Anwar Abdel Hadi, political director of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Syria. "The armed men will pull out of the camp, checkpoints will be dismantled and rubble removed. Repairs will be made before people are to return," said Abdel Hadi. But even though the guns had fallen silent on Monday, it was clear that the agreement had never taken effect a day after it was supposed to.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-unable-return-syria-camp-despite-truce-222139647.html
In Pictures : Life and death in Yarmouk
Middle East Eye 24 June by Laila Benallal — "We want our freedom back" ; "We want these crimes against us to stop" ; "I haven't seen my parents in more than a year, I don't have any idea where they are or if they are still alive" ; "We are going from place to place, from camp to camp ; this is a second Nakba ! (catastrophe)" ; "We want to get out of this cage." These were the type of harrowing accounts of life in the Yarmouk camp heard by photographer Laila Benallal during a visit there before this week's ceasefire. About 18,000 Palestinians have been besieged in the camp since last July, with starvation claiming an estimated 100 lives ... Laila was there with a group of volunteers from several European countries to witness first-hand the immense suffering of the Yarmouk residents and how vital the support of two European NGOS, Help Syria Through the Winter and Al Wafaa Campaign, has been to the camp.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pictures-life-and-death-yarmouk/1135611274
Other news

Mashaal : We cannot deny or confirm the kidnapping of settlers
GAZA (PIC) 24 June — Head of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Mashaal stated that his Movement has no clear information about the disappearance of the three Israeli soldiers 10 days ago, refusing to confirm nor deny responsibility for their kidnapping. "Blessed are the hands of those who have kidnapped the three settlers because our prisoners have to be freed from the occupation's jails," Mashaal stated in televised remarks to Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Monday evening. Mashaal ruled out that the kidnap incident is an Israeli fabrication aimed at justifying the escalation of its violations and crimes against the Palestinian people, stressing that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu does not need pretexts for his aggression against the Palestinians. He said that the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem are armed and unlawful combatants violating the international through living in occupied lands and committing daily attacks and crimes against the Palestinian civilians and their property. Mashaal also denied Israeli claims that he had given Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas the green light to carry out the kidnap operation during his last speech, affirming that Hamas is a large Movement and every one of its members knows his job well and how to accomplish his duties.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel : Policeman killed in April shot by freed Shalit deal prisoner
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June — Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency said Monday that it had identified two Palestinians responsible for the April shooting that killed an Israeli policeman and injured two others, Israeli media reported. Israeli forces arrested Ziad Awad, 42, and his 18-year-old son, on May 7 and they were charged in a military court on Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Monday that he ordered Awad's family home demolished, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. Ziad is a former prisoner who was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal. Israeli police officer Baruch Mizrahi was shot dead while he was driving near Hebron in the southern West Bank on April 14. His wife and son were also injured in the shooting.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707125

Charging of released Hamas activist ups heat on PM
Haaretz 24 June by Amos Harel — The revelation that a prisoner released in the Shalit deal murdered police officer Baruch Mizrahi helps the right-wing pressure Netanyahu to be tough with the Palestinians ... The right's argument goes like this : Netanyahu released terrorists responsible for the murders of hundreds of Israelis, knowing that many of them would return to terrorist activity. Mizrahi, who was murdered while driving with his family to a Passover seder in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, is just the first victim of this rash decision. There will be more in the future. Therefore, the prime minister must not display any further weakness toward the Palestinians. Thus the demand for harsh decisions made previously : the refusal to release the Israeli Arab prisoners in the final stage of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent peace initiative, the bill sponsored by Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi) to ban pardons for terrorist killers and the force-feeding bill meant to be applied to the hunger-striking security detainees.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600776
Bedouin trackers hunting for clues to kidnapped boys
BEIT KAHIL, West Bank (NY Times) 23 June by Jodi Rudoren — Maj. Mohammed Mazarib of the Israel Defense Forces ducked into an old stone hut on a hillside above a riverbed here Monday afternoon, quickly determining that footprints inside belonged to soldiers who had beat him there. He nonetheless drew his rifle and shone its spotlight into a hole on the far side of the hut, then grabbed a stick to poke around. Nothing but animal droppings — a wolf, he decided. More than a hundred years ago, the cave within a cave was probably used as a cool spot to store food. Now it was one of hundreds of holes Major Mazarib and his men checked and rechecked for any trace of the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped on June 12 from a hitchhiking post about 15 miles away. “In every corner and in every room and tunnel that I go into, I see them in front of my eyes,” Major Mazarib, 37, commander of the southern West Bank's specialized tracking unit, said in Hebrew. “As long as there are three missing, we're going to keep going.”Major Mazarib and his 50 trackers, all Bedouin citizens who serve voluntarily in the Israeli military, were among perhaps 1,000 troops who converged Monday around the village of Beit Kahil
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/world/middleeast/bedouin-trackers-hunting-for-clues-to-kidnapped-boys.html
IDF building suppressive fire posts along the Syria border
Ynet 24 June by Yoav Zitun — After numerous instances of fire spillover from Syria, the most recent of which ended with the death of a 13-year-old boy, the IDF is building "assault stations" in the Golan Heights - suppressive fire posts along the border with Syria that would offer quick response to any attack against Israel ... Similar posts have already been built along the Gaza border to coordinate between different military elements in case of an attack against IDF troops. The coordination between the division, the Air Force and others elements allows for a relatively quick response to suppress the attackers.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4533914,00.html
West Bank refugee children tell Governor Deval Patrick : 'Don't be a partner with Israel in killing us'
Mondoweiss 23 June by Nancy Murray — When he learned from Massachusetts residents with West Bank ties that Governor Deval Patrick was leading a large trade delegation to Israel last month with water as a key focus, 15-year-old Ahmad had a message for the Governor. “I don't know what kind of work you are doing with Israel over water but I'll tell you that you are supporting the occupation and violating human rights. Do you know that Israel steals most of the water and leaves almost nothing for us ? Do you know that we don't have enough water to take showers in the summer, to clean the house, to clean our clothes, and sometimes we don't have enough water or clean water to drink because Israel doesn't care about us. “We are not asking you to help us with water but at least don't be a partner with Israel in killing us. Maybe you should come to visit us while you are in Israel to see for yourself.” Ahmad, whose full name is being withheld from this post for fear of retaliation by the Israeli army, is one of several Palestinian refugee children who have written to Governor Deval Patrick describing the struggles of their families to get sufficient water to meet their basic needs. Those letters are being delivered to the Governor by members of the Boston Alliance for Water Justice
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/children-governor-partner.html

Reports

Report : Growing up between Israeli settlements and soldiers
Ramallah (Defence for Children International Palestine) 19 June — A new report published by DCI-Palestine brings to light the devastating impact on Palestinian children of growing up near increasingly violent Israeli settlements and Israeli military outposts. The report, Growing Up between Israeli Settlements and Soldiers, details the experiences of children and their families living in villages and towns hemmed in by expanding and often violent settler communities. It finds that attacks on schools, assaults on individual homes, and the physical abuse of children are occurring throughout the West Bank as a result of close proximity to settlements and military outposts ... Stationed throughout the West Bank, Israeli soldiers, police and private security firms protect settler populations at the expense of Palestinian civilians. Unlike Israeli civilians living across the Green Line, Israel's pre-1967 boundary with the West Bank, many settlers carry government-issued arms. In this hyper-militarized environment, disproportionate physical and psychological violence is inflicted on Palestinian children. In the small village of Sinjil to the north of Ramallah, seven-year-old Eman's family continues to suffer from the devastating effects of an attack by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Shilo, who set fire to the family home in the middle of the night. While near the Ahiya outpost, five-year-old Farah was beaten with a rock during an hour-long settler attack on his family home. In the divided city of Hebron, settlers grabbed seven-year-old Marwa as she walked home from school, held her down and set her hair on fire. Sadly, they are not alone : other children face similar trauma. Schools such as the Urif Secondary School near the Yitzhar settlement and the UNRWA school near the settlement of Beit El experience regular attacks from soldiers who fire rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters into their schoolyards. These anecdotes of settler and military violence across the West Bank in recent years serve as a window into the innumerable injustices Palestinian children face. Recent statistics by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that more than 2,100 settler attacks have occurred since 2006, 399 of which took place in 2013 alone ... DCI-Palestine estimates that the Israeli military has detained over 8,000 children since 2000. Since 2008, there have been at least 170 Palestinian children in Israeli detention at any given time. Almost more alarming than the fact that 1,405 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2000 is the climate of impunity that makes such violence possible.
http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/report-growing-between-israeli-settlements-and-soldiers-0
—

Ils ont tué Mohammed Doudine, 14 ans

2014-06-20T08:33:59Z

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Un adolescent palestinien a été tué par balle au cours d'une opération de l'armée israélienne près d'Hébron, dans le sud de la Cisjordanie, ont indiqué vendredi des sources hospitalière et sécuritaire palestiniennes.

Un autre Palestinien se trouvait dans un état critique vendredi matin après avoir été blessé à la tête lors de violents affrontements avec des soldats dans le camp de réfugiés de Qalandia, près de Jérusalem, selon des sources palestiniennes.
Selon l'armée israélienne, un soldat légèrement blessé à Qalandia par une grenade lancée par des manifestants. Elle a eu recours à des tirs à balles réelles, selon un communiqué.

Mohammed Doudine, 14 ans, a été tué par balle lors d'affrontements après que des soldats soient entrés dans le village de Doura, au sud d'Hébron, dans le cadre de leur opération de ratissage pour retrouver trois Israéliens (colons réservistes, ndlr) disparus il y a huit jours, selon les sources.

L'armée, qui concentre ses recherches dans cette zone, a déclaré qu'elle était entrée à Doura pour interpeller « un terroriste ». Les soldats ont tiré à balles réelles sur des Palestiniens qui lançaient des pierres et des cocktails Molotov, a-t-elle précisé.
L'adolescent a été atteint mortellement à la poitrine et est décédé dans un hôpital d'Hébron.

Un autre jeune Palestinien avait été tué par balle lundi matin, dans des circonstances similaires, dans le camp de réfugiés de Jalazone, près de Ramallah.
L'armée a confirmé avoir opéré dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi à Doura ainsi que dans d'autres agglomérations et camps de réfugiés palestiniens en Cisjordanie occupée. Elle a fait état de « confrontations sporadiques » au cours de ces interventions.
Les soldats ont arrêté 25 Palestiniens avant l'aube et perquisitionné quelques 200 bâtiments, a précisé un communiqué. Ils ont aussi fouillé et saisi du matériel dans neuf institutions caritatives du Hamas.

Selon l'armée, environ 330 suspects palestiniens, dont 240 personnes affiliées au Hamas, sont détenus depuis le 12 juin.

L'armée israélienne a lancé son plus important déploiement en Cisjordanie depuis la fin de la deuxième Intifada en 2005 afin de tenter de localiser trois jeunes Israéliens (colons réservistes, ndlr) enlevés depuis plus d'une semaine.

Les étudiants Eyal Yifrach, 19 ans, Naftali Frenkel, 16 ans, et Gilad Shaer, 16 ans, ont disparu près du Goush Etzion, un bloc de colonies situé en zone entièrement sous contrôle israélien en Cisjordanie occupée.

Israël a accusé le Hamas d'être responsable de l'enlèvement.

Les autorités israéliennes ont limité l'accès pour la prière du vendredi à l'esplanade des Mosquées, dans la Vieille ville de Jérusalem, de crainte de heurts.

Par ailleurs, Israël a lancé avant l'aube quatre raids aériens sur la bande de Gaza, contrôlée sur le plan sécuritaire par le Hamas, en réponse à des tirs de roquettes sur le sud d'Israël, faisant trois blessés palestiniens, selon des témoins.

ASSAWRA avec les agences de presse)

La route vers l'école devenue « route de la mort »

2014-06-19T09:03:14Z

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Photo : CPI

Al-Khalil – CPI

Des écoliers, encore enfants, empruntent le chemin entre les arbres, les arbustes et les sources d'eau confisquées par les occupants sionistes, afin d'arriver à leur école, dans le village d'Al-Tawani, au sud de la ville d'Al-Khalil, le village de la dignité et de la résistance.

De partout, filles et garçons ont choisi l'école mixte de ce village tant aimé, bien qu'il souffre des agissements des colons sionistes. Ils défient toutes les difficultés, la peur et la terreur.

Plus de vingt élèves, filles et garçons, subissent la « route de la mort », les conditions difficiles, le manque de sécurité, les agressions de l'occupation sioniste et ses colons.

Notre Centre Palestinien d'Information (CPI) a accompagné les écoliers et un certain nombre de leurs instituteurs, sur leur chemin de l'école vers leur maison, le dernier jour de l'école.

Le problème, c'est que nous n'avons pas de voitures, pour ne pas subir les agressions des occupants sionistes et de leurs colons et leur armée. Nous vivions un état permanent de terreur. « C'est une vie humiliante », dit un instituteur.

La vie est dure pour les élèves de l'école d'Al-Tawani. La vie les a obligés à emprunter la « route de la mort », dit Amjad Robï au correspondant de notre Centre Palestinien d'Information (CPI). Aucune sécurité et aucun transport n'existent sur cette longue route cassée. Les Palestiniens sont le sujet des agressions des colons sionistes protégés par leur armée.

Saber Al-Hirini, président du conseil des services de l'est de Yatta, attire l'attention sur le fait que les élèves habitent loin du village et souffrent des agissements des colons et des forces sionistes d'occupation.

Sur le terrain de cinquante hectares du village d'Al-Tawani habitent environ six cent personnes. Dans son école, plus de cent cinquante élèves, filles et garçons, font leurs études. Le village est convoité par les occupants, car il n'est pas loin des territoires occupés en 1948 et d'un certain nombre de colons, comme Maoun et Kermaël. Les occupants n'ont pas réussi à fermer l'école, à chasser ses élèves et ses instituteurs.

L'activiste Nabil Younes dit que les écoliers habitant les zones proches des territoires occupés en 1948 sont toujours le sujet d'agressions à répétition de la part des colons sionistes. Les enfants sont le sujet d'attaques, de frappes et d'insultes.

Dans le village d'Al-Tawani, les occupants sionistes mènent une politique pour chasser les Palestiniens : agressions, frappes, arrestations, déracinements d'arbres, poursuites d'élèves, quotidiennement. En revanche, ils laissent le champ libre aux colons sionistes pour pratiquer toute sorte d'agressions contre les écoliers.

Notons que les élèves restent sans protection et que l'histoire de la route de la mort va vers l'inconnu.