and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Beit Ummar: Israel to demolish shops
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 2 May — Two Beit Ummar residents received demolition warnings from Israel’s Civil Administration on Monday. Local officials said the orders stated that shops and sheds had been built too close to the main road in the town … Awad said the owners were given one week to appeal the decision or face demolition crews. He said Sabir Zamil Abu Maria’s small stone factory and spare car parts shop were both covered in one order, while a second order was handed to Ahmad Hmeid Abu Maria and covered a tools shed he used for farming equipment … The area near the main road past Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron, has also recently been the site of Israeli construction. Troops have erected a fence between the town and the thoroughfare.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384045
Dawn raid in Silwan takes 5 young men, one woman
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 2 May — Israeli forces raided Silwan this morning, arresting six. Those seized were: Mohammed Abbasi (25), Thaer Abbasi (23), Yusuf Abbasi (17), Uday Sawalha (18), Ammar Zaton (22) and the young woman Suad Shiwkhi (24). The Abbasi brothers Mohammed Abbasi were arrested from their home in Ein Aluza district at 4am this morning. Both had been released from prison on only March 16 this year, following more than 3 months in detention. This morning’s arrest was the second for Suad Shiwkhi, who was imprisoned for 18 months in 2007-8.
http://silwanic.net/?p=15326
Official: Israeli troops block villagers from crops
TUBAS (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli troops blocked villagers from collecting their crops in the area of Al-Malih village on Monday, a local official said. The village council head, Aref Daraghmeh, told Ma‘an that Israeli military vehicles barred villagers from accessing their land to collect their produce, and damaged a large quantity of crops in the area, which lies in the northern West Bank district of Tubas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384103
Michigan Peace Team: Visiting Bedouins in the Jordan Valley
JVS 27 Apr — After a short visit to Jericho we were met by a member of the Jordan Valley Solidarity Group who acted as a guide to help us understand the problems the Bedouin people are facing due to the military occupation of their ancient land and the ethnic cleansing tactics of the State of Israel. Two generations ago, there were 300,000 Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley. That number is now down to 56,000 — one sixth the population. First we stopped by the dried-up Al A‘uja spring that used to provide water to much of the southern Jordan Valley. It is dried up because Israel has drilled deep wells and stolen the water. Israel provides the water only to the illegal Israeli settlements. Only in the winter does the spring now provide a tiny bit of water. The Bedouin are forced to buy water from Israel in large tanks at exorbitant prices.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=254:michigan-peace-team–visiting-bedouins-in-the-jordan-valley-&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Siege / Restriction of movement/ Humanitarian issues
Cut off from health care
BEIT JALA (IRIN) 2 May — Fuad Ahmed Jabo’s mother was 70 when she died of a heart attack at their home in the Palestinian village of Tantour in Beit Jala, between Israeli-controlled Jerusalem and the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. They had called a Palestinian ambulance but delays at the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Tantour held it up. The Israeli ambulance services told Jabo that because his house fell inside a militarized zone, they would not be able to help. With time running out, Jabo and his nephew decided to carry her to hospital. They had gone just 200m when she died. “It would have taken two minutes for an ambulance to get here from Jerusalem. It used to take me three minutes to get to Bethlehem but since the wall was finished, it takes at least half an hour,” Jabo, 50, told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92627
Video: No end to inhuman separation of Palestinian families
PressTV 2 May — 13 year-old Mohammad Ebayyat lives with his father in Gaza. He hasn’t seen his mother and his siblings for 2 years, because they can’t travel to Gaza under the Israeli policy.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177761.html
Gaza: Kerem Shalom crossing partly open
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli authorities will allow limited quantities of goods into the besieged Gaza Strip through Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday, Palestinian officials said … A UN report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that imports for the last week of April were at less than 40 percent of pre-siege levels, and down 30 percent from the 2011 average.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383854
Unity
Hamas official: Interim prime minister to come from Gaza
Ynet 2 May — Hamas senior official Mahmoud al-Zahar said that according to the Palestinian reconciliation agreement reached between his organization and the Fatah, the prime minister of the interim government will be from the Gaza Strip, but not a member of Hamas. Al-Zahar noted that there was a need for a representative from the Gaza Strip, because both the Palestinian president and the chairman of the legislative council are residents of the West Bank.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063209,00.html
Differences emerge before Palestinian unity deal
CAIRO (AP) 2 May — Serious disagreements over control of security forces and other key issues emerged in statements Monday by officials of the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements, two days before they were due to sign an accord to end their bitter four-year rift. Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Hamas would not relinquish control of its security forces and would maintain its rule over Gaza even after the unity accord takes effect. That ran counter to the Fatah view that there would be a single authority with control of all the weapons in the West Bank and Gaza.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110502/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_reconciliation
PLC to avoid controversy to pave way for reconciliation
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 2 May — The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) will avoid discussions on controversial topics between Fatah and Hamas for the sake of a national unity deal expected to be signed this week in Cairo, said PLC deputy speaker Hassan Khreisheh. He expected that the presiding committee in the PLC would ask Abbas to start a temporary legislative body for one year beginning next week so that the PLC can start operating as stipulated in the initial Hamas-Fatah unity deal.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
PA to hold municipal elections despite reconciliation deal
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 2 May — The Palestinian Authority’s Central Elections Committee has said it will go ahead with preparations for municipal elections set to be held in the next few months despite the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal which was designed to restructure how elections would be held. The CEC said it has not received new decisions by the government in Ramallah to halt preparations for the elections planned months back.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Misha‘al meets intelligence officials ahead of reconciliation deal in Cairo
CAIRO, (PIC) 2 May — Hamas politburo chief Khalid Misha‘al met noon Monday with the Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID) Murad Muwafi and several other intelligence officials. Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Resheq told the PIC that the parties discussed the situation and developments in Palestine and ways to enhance the people’s survival as well as the regional situation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Faction leaders leave for Cairo
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — Delegates from Palestinian factions in Gaza left the coastal enclave Monday through the Rafah crossing en route to Cairo for meetings ahead of the signing of a reconciliation agreement. The delegates are expected in Cairo on Monday afternoon, where they will join Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader in exile Khalid Masha‘al, who arrived earlier in the week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383942
Israel bans PFLP leader from Cairo meetings
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli authorities banned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Abdul Rahim Malouh from attending reconciliation meetings in Cairo, officials said Monday. Malouh was appointed to head the PFLP delegation in talks ahead of the signing of a surprise agreement to reconcile Hamas and Fatah and reunite the Palestinian territories. Israeli forces refused to grant him permission to leave the West Bank so he will be replaced by Dr Maher Al-Taher, a PFLP official in Syria, the leftist party said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384113
Independent figures depart for Egypt ahead of unity deal signing
GAZA, (PIC) 2 May — Independent figures left the Gaza Strip for Cairo Monday morning to attend the signing of the Palestinian unity agreement due to be signed by Hamas and Fatah on Wednesday … “All [Palestinian] forces and national and Islamic factions will head out today carrying the dreams of the Palestinians and demanding the restoration of unity in the land and an end to the split,” Yasser al-Wadia, the general coordinator for independent figures, said in a press statement. Wadia confirmed that implementation of the deal will begin as soon as it is signed.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
MADA: Unity could improve freedom of expression
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 May — Reconciliation between rival political parties Hamas and Fatah “brings hopes for improved freedom of expression in the Palestine territories,” the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms said Sunday. Center director Mousa Rimawi said media freedom had deteriorated under the national division, and welcomed the announcement of a reconciliation agreement, to be signed on Wednesday in Cairo.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383832
EU socialists call unity ‘brave step’ toward recognition
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Ma‘an) 2 May — The Party of European Socialists and the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament issued a joint statement Sunday welcoming Palestinian unity as a “brave step” on the path to recognition of statehood by the EU. PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen voiced “support [for] the Palestinian reconciliation agreement and call for the recognition of the unity government.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383934
South Africa supports Palestinian unity efforts
PRETORIA, South Africa (Ma‘an) — The government of South Africa is looking at the pending Palestinian unity deal “in a very positive light,” a statement from the country’s Department of International Relations said Monday. “The Government and people of South Africa understand the importance of national reconciliation, unity and the restoration of human dignity,” the statement said,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383948
Video – Lia Tarachansky: Jerusalem reacts to Hamas-Fatah unity
2 May — Israelis on the Western side of the city and Palestinians on the Eastern side discuss the reconciliation plans between formerly rivaling Palestinian parties.
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2011-05-02/lia-tarachansky-jerusalem-reacts-to-hamas-fatah-unity/
Detention
5 detained overnight by Israeli forces
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli force detained five Palestinians overnight, the military confirmed, including a 48-year-old man from the ‘Asira village north of Nablus … Mu‘ath Muhammad Mahmud Sawalha was taken from his home after an early morning raid Monday, security sources said, noting that his computer, mobile phone and other electronics were confiscated during a search. The man has been detained dozens of times in the past years, local officials said, condemning the overnight invasion.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383902
IOF soldiers raid Shu‘fat, round up West Bankers
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 2 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up five Palestinian citizens from Bethlehem and Nablus at dawn Monday and earlier on Sunday evening stormed the Shu‘fat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem. Local sources said that IOF soldiers arrested four young men in Husan village, Bethlehem district, and one in Assira Al-Shamalia, Nablus district. They noted that the detention was preceded by violent search of the detainees’ homes. Meanwhile, IOF troops stormed the Shu‘fat refugee camp on Sunday evening and fired teargas canisters at residential quarters.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israel extends detention of Palestinian without charge or trial
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli authorities on Monday renewed the administrative detention of a 29-year-old prisoner from Gaza, the Hussam detainees’ society said. Raed Abu Mughsib was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 2003, but he was not released after serving the sentence. Israeli authorities have held him in administrative detention – without trial or charge – since 2009 … Detainees can spend years in Israeli prisons without ever knowing what they are accused of. Their lawyers are not told what the charges are, undermining their ability to defend their clients.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384144
Report: Egypt releases 2 Palestinian detainees
CAIRO (Ma‘an) 1 May — Egyptian authorities have released two Palestinian members of a Hezbollah-affiliated cell, Arabic media reported Sunday. The men were detained during the rule of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383609
Islamic Jihad accuses PA of detaining members
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) — Leadership from the Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem are accusing Palestinian Authority security forces of detaining group members for political reasons, official sources told Ma‘an. Members of the movement in the village of Attil have been held by police for three days, sources said, and have been prohibited from seeing either family or legal counsel … Officials within the movement said factions meeting in Cairo to end the political division should stand against political detentions. Islamic Jihad does not take part in Palestinian elections, but works as a social movement and is generally aligned with Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383850
Haneyya calls for end to West Bank political arrests as unity deal culminates
GAZA, (PIC) 2 May — Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya has called for a halt on West Bank political arrests as the national rift is about to end in national reconciliation … The statements came as Palestinian Authority security agencies continue an arrest campaign targeting Hamas’s men in the West Bank. Chief security officials in the West Bank have openly rejected the reconciliation deal and vowed to continue arresting Hamas’s men. Several men were summoned Monday for questioning in Nablus in the north. Two were arrested in Nablus and Bethlehem including a university lecturer. Both of the men were previously detained by Israeli security services
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Oppressing West Bank Palestinian children / Stephen Lendman
2 May — Under military occupation, Palestinian children are treated like adults. Each year, about 700 are arrested, brutally interrogated, and prosecuted in military courts, denying them justice. Since 2000 alone, over 7,000 have been brutalized. On January 31, 2011, 222 Palestinian children were imprisoned, 34 aged 12 – 15. Some at times are 10 or younger. At age 16, they’re considered adults in violation of international law … Heading to school, another 16-year old youth was arrested for not having his ID card. Afterward, he was beaten, sent to Etzion detention camp, handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten again brutally to get him to confess to stone-throwing and reveal names of other children with him at the time. During interrogation, his head was immersed in cold water, then hot, then the toilet.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/05/oppressing-west-bank-palestinian.html
Racism / Discrimination
Concerns remain over defanged admission panel law
Haaretz 2 May — The controversial law that allows small towns to screen applicants for residency is set to take effect within the next few days; admissions committees are only to be allowed to operate in small communities in the Galilee and the Negev … Civil rights activists are concerned, however, that restrictions stipulated in the law regarding which communities can choose their members may not be enforced … It turns out, however, that screening committees that existed in towns before the law was passed may still be allowed to operate, even if these towns do not fit the criteria stipulated in the law.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/concerns-remain-over-defanged-admission-panel-law-1.359244
Other news
US prods Israel over intended freeze of Palestinian tax money
Haaretz 2 May — Senior U.S. officials ask Israel to clarify Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz’s statement indicating that Israel will withhold funds from the PA due to reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas; PM office says ‘no decision has been reached in matter’.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-prods-israel-over-intended-freeze-of-palestinian-tax-money-1.359242
Hamas, PA weigh up bin Laden killing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May– Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned the US assassination of Al-Qa‘eda leader Osama bin Laden on Monday, while a Palestinian Authority spokesman said the death helped the cause of peace. Speaking to reporters in Gaza City, Haniyeh said the assassination was an extension of an American policy that “depends on killing.” Haniyeh said he condemned bin Laden’s killing “despite the difference in interpretations between us,” without elaborating further … Haniyeh said he hoped the soul of bin Laden, who orchestrated the September 11 attacks on New York City among others, would “rest in peace,” and condemned the death of an Arab and Muslim.
Palestinian political analysts said the Hamas leader’s comments were addressed to Salafi Muslim groups in the Gaza Strip, who have been at odds with the Islamic movement over its policies in the coastal strip, resulting in a number of gun battles between the groups.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384090
Fatah, Hamas to mark Nakba in joint event
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — For the first time in five years, rival parties Fatah and Hamas will form a joint committee to prepare commemoration events for Nakba Memorial Day, which remembers the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 … Commemoration of the expulsion has been banned by law in Israel, which celebrates Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday. PLO Executive Committee member and head of the refugees’ affairs department Zakariyya Al-Agha called the joint planning of Nakba Day events “a historic decision.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383915
Bracing for Nakba Day in Israel and Palestine
PalMon 2 May –As the Israeli military has announced it will increase troop deployment in the Occupied West Bank for the approaching Nakba Day, Palestinian schools and communities prepare for their first ‘illegalized’ commemoration of the day that marks the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes to make way for the creation of Israel.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1786
Barenboim to conduct ‘peace concert’ in Gaza
JERUSALEM (AFP) 2 May — Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will on Tuesday lead an orchestra of European musicians in a peace concert in Gaza, in the first-ever performance there by such a prestigious international ensemble.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110502/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansgazamusicbarenboim_20110502181527
Right worried Israel will pay price for bin Laden
JPost 2 May — MK Eldad: No doubt Obama is greater threat to Israel than Osama was; Kara suggests marking every Yom Hashoah by killing an int’l terrorist … They warned that Israel could be targeted by Islamic fundamentalist groups avenging bin Laden’s death and suggested that US President Barack Obama could use the assassination as an excuse to pressure Israel. “Israel will need to take action to prevent Obama from appeasing the Muslim world at our expense,” National Union MK Aryeh Eldad said
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=218880
Analysis / Opinion
Palestinian reconciliation may lead to Israel’s Palestinian separation / Amira Hass
Haaretz 2 May — Back in February, Egyptian diplomats predicted that Egypt would help bring about an internal Palestinian rapprochement, but what good is reconciliation if Palestinians from Gaza still won’t be able to travel to the West Bank?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/palestinian-reconciliation-may-lead-to-israel-s-palestinian-separation-1.359276
Our freedom is now closer / Dr. Azzam Tamimi
Guardian 2 May — When, at the start of this year, Palestinians around the world marked the anniversary of the 2008-09 Israeli war on Gaza, few could see any hope. The Gaza Strip was still under siege, Palestinian reconciliation seemed out of reach, the Arabs were useless and the US unable, or unwilling, to broker a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestine National Authority (PNA).Then came the Arab popular revolutions, and the mood among Palestinians switched from desperation to euphoria.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/02/palestinian-freedom-arab-unrest-egypt
Bassem Tamimi: Our destiny is to resist / Max Blumenthal
EI 2 May — With his wife, Nariman, and his brother, Naji, Tamimi has been at the center of Nabi Saleh’s popular resistance against the occupation since its inception in 2009. The village’s unarmed struggle has brought hundreds of Israelis and international activists to participate each Friday in boisterous and theatrical demonstrations that invariably encounter harsh Israeli violence, including the use of live ammunition against children. While other villages involved in the popular struggle have seen their ranks winnowed out by a harsh regime of repression and imprisonment, Nabi Saleh’s protests continue unabated, irking the army and frustrating the settlers of Halamish, who intend to expand their illegal colony further onto Nabi Saleh’s land.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/bassem-tamimi-our-destiny-resist/9894
Panic from the houses of Congress and AIPAC? / Franklin Lamb
PalChron 1 May — On April 13, 2011, more than a dozen Israel ‘First, last and always’ US congressional leaders from both houses of Congress held an urgent conference call organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their purpose was to discuss how best to promote Israel during next month’s US visit by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and more importantly how to confront the rapidly changing Middle East political landscape. One consensus was that no one saw it coming and that it was dangerous for Israel.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16831
American PR man for Israel goes after B’Tselem / Joseph Dana
Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, has a piece in Commentary this month about B’tselem, a major Israeli human rights organization working in the Occupied Palestinian territories. Pollak, an American Jew of the extreme right persuasion, is known for his close connections with Israeli politicians and his unwavering dedication for attacking Israeli leftists. His piece on B’tselem is an expected mix of NGO Monitor attacks which rely on guilt by association and taking statements out of context to paint B’tselem as a radical organization disconnected to Israeli society with no allegiance to the Jewish state. He even has the audacity to title his piece ‘The B’tselem Witch Trials.’
http://josephdana.com/2011/05/noah-pollak-takes-on-btselem/
U.S.
US court case: Is Jerusalem part of Israel?
AP 2 May – Supreme Court to discuss whether American born in Jerusalem can have Israel listed as birthplace on passport despite US policy not recognizing city as belonging to Israel
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063533,00.html
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