‘I cried as the dog bit my chest and begged the soldier to help me but he didn’t move till he’d finished filming me on his cellphone’

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers

Israel approves new West Bank settler homes, anti-settlement group says
22 May -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the construction of 294 housing units in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said in a statement. Barak also approved the construction of housing for the elderly and a commercial center in the settlement of Efrat. According to the statement, the construction will start as soon as the local municipality issues the construction permit. "This construction might create facts on the ground that will make the price of peace much higher for Israel. Only after an agreement that will set final and agreed upon borders, should Israel be allowed to build in the `Blocs,`" the organization said.
link to en.europeonline-magazine.eu

60 East Jerusalem Jewish homes to be dedicated
JPost 22 May -- Five MKs, Barkat, Sephardi Chief Rabbi all slated to attend ceremony at Ma’aleh Hazeitim in Ras al-Amud -- Sixty new apartments from the second stage of a Jewish neighborhood in the middle of Ras al-Amud in southeastern Jerusalem will be dedicated on Wednesday ... Ateret Cohanim, which oversees Ma’aleh Hazeitim as well as other Jewish projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods, denied there was any connection between the ceremony and the prime minister’s trip to Washington
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=221756&R=R2

Israel plans to seize 140,000 dunums of Dead Sea land
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 21 May -- Israeli occupation authorities have declared a new project aimed at seizing 140,000 dunums of land in the receding Dead Sea to be used for the interest of Jewish settlers. Israel's government property official has submitted 12 petitions for land along the Dead Sea, some of those lands being under water, to take control of it and declare it state property.  The official has claimed that the land was left as the sea has been depleting since 1946. He has also requested lands currently under the sea that are expected to dry out. Attorney Gayath Nasser, hired to defend the Palestinian villages adjacent to the Dead Sea, has objected to the petition saying that there is no security reason for the government to directly register such a large amount of land, and that the project is not in the interest of the local Palestinians....
Meanwhile, settlers in Ariel, which was erected in Salfit province, have continued to pollute the local environment with waste water, which has seeped several kilometers into the valleys and surrounding soil. Locals in Bruqin have complained that waste water from Ariel has seeped through waterways adjacent to the illegal West Bank settlement.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

NGO to Barak: Demolish illegal Majdal Shams buildings
JPost 22 May -- Following the aftermath of last Sunday’s Nakba Day events, on Thursday Israeli lands protection group Regavim sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the heads of the enforcement agencies, calling on them to demolish illegal buildings in Majdal Shams that Regavim claims were used by the Syrian protesters. The letter ... said Regavim inspectors identified 13 buildings located 20-50 meters from the Israel-Syria border, which were built without proper permits and enabled the Syrian protesters to cross the border undetected by the IDF outpost located near the village.[Israel-Syria border? The border between Syrian land occupied by Israel and that not occupied...]
link to www.jpost.com

Salfit women say stoned by settler youth
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Town officials from Salfit reported Sunday that a group of women returning home were assaulted by a group of 15 settlers harassing Palestinians near the Kfar Tappuah settlement. The women, from the village of Iskaka, were on the main road between Za‘atara and Yasuf, head of the local women's society told Ma‘an, when a group of settlers chased them, throwing stones and causing panic as the group sought shelter. Ahlam Adnan Hareb said the settlers followed the women for about 250 meters, causing them to fear for their lives.
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinians hurt in clash with settlers in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Clashes near Hebron in the occupied West Bank injured eight Palestinians on Saturday, medics said. Israeli forces fired tear gas amid the confrontations with settlers in the Old City of Hebron, medical officials said. Eight Palestinians including four children were taken by ambulance to the local government hospital for treatment, said Nasser Qabajaeh, the head of the Red Crescent's operations room in Hebron. Onlookers said settlers threw stones and the army fired tear-gas canisters and stun grenades.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli settlers dump sewage in Palestinian town
IMEMC 22 May -- Sewage and wastewater from the Israeli settlement of Ariel, the largest settlement in the West Bank, has polluted the Palestinian village of Bruqin, which sits adjacent to the settlement ... Palestinians have also accused a number of Israeli settlements of purposely directing wastewater and raw sewage onto their farmland and homes, in an attempt to contaminate the property and render it uninhabitable, thus forcing the Palestinian residents to leave. In the current incident, the sewage was directed from Ariel settlement directly toward the land of Bruqin village, and has contaminated farmland and groundwater in an area of several kilometers around the village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61288

Jewish settlers break into mosque in Hebron
Pal. Tel. 22 May -- Dozens of Jewish settlers attacked yesterday the mosque of Khalid Bin Al-Walid in the south part of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Witnesses told SAFA News Agency that a number of settlers who were celebrating their holiday stormed the mosque and threw stones at the prayers there, inflicting limited damage but no casualties. Israeli forces intensified their security procedures to provide protection for settlers in that area. It's noteworthy that the mosque located near the illegal settlement of 'Kiryat Arba' was reportedly attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers . Today, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians from Hebron after raiding their homes. The detainees were identified as Fayez Al-Rajbi, 45, and Abdel Fatah Abu Esnaina, 38.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/9234-jewish-settlers-break-into-mosque-in-hebron.html

Fire at field near Kiryat Arba, Hebron
ISM 22 May -- On Thursday May 19 a part of the field of Abd al Kareim al Jabari in Western Hebron, where International Solidarity Movement activists have been present for the past ten days, was set on fire. Settler children started to throw stones at the ISM activists as soon as they arrived at the farm on Thursday. At 3.40 PM, when the activists were helping the farmer on the land, smoke appeared from another part of the field which is just below a kindergarten in the illegal settlement of Givat Ha’avot ... The Israeli military, border police and police arrived and straight away requested proof of identity from the ISM activists, a B’tselem activist and one of the daughters of the family. Abd al Kareim al Jabari was told that a man from the illegal settlement claimed that he had seen the ISM activists setting fire to the field! This accusation was apparently confirmed by a settler guard from Kiryat Arba.
link to palsolidarity.org

IOF soldiers ransack village, fire tear gas inside homes in Al -Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 22 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas into citizens homes in the Old City of Al-Khalil on Saturday night and earlier wreaked havoc in a nearby village. Witnesses said that Jewish settlers during a march in the Old City threw stones at Palestinian homes and burnt Palestinian flags and banners while shouting racial slurs. They said that soldiers escorting the march fired teargas and sonic bombs at the Palestinians who retaliated to the settlers’ provocations. The locals said that Palestinian ambulance vehicles carried 8 Palestinians to local clinics to be treated for gas inhalation including four children.
Meanwhile, an Israeli border police patrol stormed the village of Qalqas southeast of Al-Khalil city escorting an officer of the civil administration and military bulldozers. They closed the main road in the village and blocked hundreds from heading to their fields. Local sources said that the soldiers demolished a sheep pen at the entrance of the village at the pretext of being built without permit and ploughed and destroyed ten dunums of cultivated land.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2BcO

Israeli police continue to intimidate Al-Bustan protest tent
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 May -- An Israeli police unit visited the Al-Bustan protest tent on 18 May, entering the tent and photographing its insides. The unit quickly withdrew thereafter. Residents of Al-Bustan state that they have become accustomed to such intimidation methods by police. The protest tent was erected in Al-Bustan almost 3 years ago as a symbol of resistance and steadfastness against Israeli plans to demolish Al-Bustan district entirely. The Jerusalem Municipality, together with Elad, plans to establish a "biblical garden" in the region, adjoining the City of David archaeological site in Wadi Hilweh
link to silwanic.net

9 Palestinians injured in IOF attack on Nablus village
NABLUS, (PIC) 21 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) used rubber bullets and teargas to attack Palestinian citizens in Asira Al-Qabaliya village south of Nablus city on Friday night wounding nine of them, locals reported. They said that the IOF soldiers stormed the village after confrontations between Jewish settlers from the nearby Yitzhar settlement, who attacked the village, and villagers. The sources affirmed that the soldiers protected the settlers instead of curbing their attacks, adding that the injured were treated on the field.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Video: 'Eid' - at Umm al-Kheir, fighting demolitions with art
Villages Group 21 May -- Thirty years ago, these [Bedouin] families have had the misfortune of the Israeli settlement Carmel settling right on top of their lands and living quarters. The continued expansion of Carmel means continued demolitions and evictions for Umm-Al-Kheir...In the meanwhile, young people ...erected (with the help of Israeli and international volunteers) a new tent which they designate to become a center for many educational, artistic and other activities ... The last chance left of overturning or postponing the demolition of our homes is the appeal submitted recently by the lawyer representing us to Israel’s High Court of Justice ... Among the structures facing demolition is the home of Eid Hathelin, a local artist. You can see Eid, his family and his work in the final extended version of David Massey’s unique video 'Eid'. ...If you are willing to help the people of Umm al-Kheir in this new endeavor, or would like additional details, please contact Ehud Krinis at ksehud”at”gmail.
link to villagesgroup.wordpress.com

High Court to state: Demolish Amona outpost in six months
JPost 19 May --   The High Court of Justice on Wednesday gave the state six months to schedule the demolition of the Amona outpost, located on the outskirts of the Ofra settlement in the Binyamin region. Built around 1995, Amona is one of the oldest outposts in the West Bank. It is best known, however, for the clashes that took place there on February 1, 2006, when the army and the police demolished nine permanent homes that were built there without proper permits. Some 200 soldiers, police, settlers and activists were injured when protesters took a stand inside the homes, and refused to leave until they were forcibly evacuated. In spite of the clashes, the outpost remained intact.
link to www.jpost.com

Israeli army

Israeli army imposes curfew on Madama
ISM 21 May -- On Thursday May 19, the Israeli army invaded Madama with many jeeps, and imposed a curfew lasting from 21:30 to 4:00am. During this time a man called Hani Muhammad Nassar was arrested and tortured inside a jeep for 3 hours. Whilst being interviewed Hani said: "The army came when I was visiting my aunt at her house. When they entered the house and found me they asked about the reason of being at the house. I answered that I was visiting my aunt, but they did not believe me, so they held all of the family outside with Abu Firas’s family, the neighbor of his aunt, for 2 hours, through which they asked me about my ID which I did not have at the moment, so they asked me to call my family to bring it to me which I did." After two hours Hani was taken alone to an unknown place where he was blind-folded and had his hands tied behind his back, he was interrogated here for half an hour. He adds: "They insulted me with obscene words and kept beating me on my neck with their palms and kicking me all over my body. A soldier raised me suddenly and let my head strike the ceiling of the jeep. At the end they kicked me out the jeep shouting with obscene words." In addition, five houses were broken into and checked during the curfew and the army shot bullets in the air to intimidate the villagers.
link to palsolidarity.org

Army dogs wage war on Palestinian workers
HEBRON (AFP) 17 May -- Palestinians desperate for work in Israel will go to extremes to sneak past the West Bank barrier, but now they face a new hurdle -- army attack dogs sent to sniff them out ... [The army] It said troops had been working with dogs in Ramadin on the southern tip of the West Bank where the barrier had been purposely damaged "to permit the passage of terrorists into Israel" but argued that the use of dogs "limits bodily injuries and obviates the use of other measures." But Palestinian laborers tell a different story ... Mohammed Abu Qaeud, 20, was also injured by a military dog in an incident which he claims was filmed by one of the soldiers on his mobile phone. "It was about 6:00 am and I was several meters away from the wall when a dog savagely attacked me and bit my arms and my chest," he told AFP. "I felt indescribable pain and tried to get rid of the dog but I couldn't because it was very fierce. I cried and begged the soldiers to help me but they didn't move until he finished filming." After the attack, the soldiers took him and his friend to a nearby army camp where they interrogated them until the afternoon, he says. "Only afterward could I go to hospital where they kept me in overnight." Israeli human rights group B'Tselem is skeptical about the army's claim that the dogs are targeting militants bent on infiltrating Israel, citing three cases in which dogs were set on unarmed Palestinians trying to cross into Israel to find casual work. In one case, they stopped the worker then released him on the spot, B'Tselem's Sarit Michaeli told AFP, saying it would not have been the case if he was a suspected militant.
link to www.maannews.net

Detention

IOF soldiers arrest 3 Palestinians
JENIN, (PIC) 22 May -- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinians in the West Bank at dawn Sunday after storming a number of districts, local sources reported. An IOF spokesman said that the detainees were suspected of launching attacks against Israeli targets and that they would be interrogated by intelligence. Local sources said that Israeli troops broke into and searched homes after forcing the inhabitants out of them at gunpoint. Local sources in Kufr Ra‘ee village, south of Jenin, said that the soldiers rounded up two young men and interrogated them.They said that the soldiers used flare bombs until dawn while searching open ground in the village.
In Bethlehem, an IOF unit stormed a number of homes and ordered two Palestinians to appear before the intelligence officer in Etzion south of the city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO

Free Bassem and Naji Tamimi
PSCC 18 May -- While Abdallah Abu Rahmah is finally out of Israeli prisons, a new wave of repression is underway in the West Bank, and more protest leaders have been rounded up as Israel once more is set to suppress civil resistance to the Occupation. We need your help to stand by them. Recently, two leading protest organizers have been put behind bars. Naji and Bassem Tamimi from the village of Nabi Saleh were jailed on equally dubious grounds to Abdallah Abu Rahmah. They were arrested based on confessions from teenagers who were themselves seized in midnight raids, denied legal counsel, and beaten. This is not justice. We must raise our voices again to secure their quick release ... Please consider making a donation towards Bassem and Naji Tamimi’s legal defense and/or use the templates in the following links to send an email to your Minister of Foreign Affairs and ask that your government acts for their release.
link to palsolidarity.org

Gaza

Thousands refused passports in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Demonstrators gathered in Gaza City on Saturday to protest the Palestinian Authority's refusal to grant passports to 30,000 Gaza residents. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have have been unable to get passports issued by the Fatah-led PA, residents say, because of factional tensions, despite the recent reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. ... Patients needing medical care abroad, students and hajj pilgrims are among the rejected applicants. Osama Fuad Abu Askar, of Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, joined Saturday's protest in Gaza City's Unknown Soldier square. He has been trying to get a passport for four years. "I lost my legs in 2004 during Israeli shelling and since 2007 I have been trying to get a passport so I can travel abroad and get prosthetic limbs. As a disabled man, how can I be a threat?" he asked.
link to www.maannews.net

Gaza: Palestinian man killed by IDF
Ynet 21 May -- Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday reported that a man was shot to death by the IDF near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City. According to the report, the Red Cross coordinated with Israel the arrival of a medical team on the scene. An IDF spokesman said the troops opened fire at a suspect who entered a restricted zone near the border fence [update from Ma‘an: the man killed was Ibrahim Mohammad Faraj, 17, from An-Nuseirat refugee camp] ...
Last Saturday, 78-year-old Ahmad Matar was shot to death by IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip after he approached the border fence.
link to www.ynetnews.com

IOF shooting kills teen, wounds another
BREIJ, (PIC)-- A Palestinian teen was killed at dawn Saturday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at him east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. The IOF command announced that its forces spotted the Palestinian while crawling toward the security fence and shot at him. Local sources earlier said that the IOF troops opened intensive fire at agricultural land in the same area. Spokesman for the medical services Adham Abu Salmiya told the PIC that ambulance teams retrieved the body of a 17-year-old youth from the area. Local sources identified the martyr as Ibrahim Farajallah from Nusseirat refugee camp.
Another Palestinian man was wounded on Friday after the IOF troops opened fire at worshipers offering prayers in the buffer zone east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. Local sources told the PIC that tens of citizens carried Palestinian flags and called for implementing the right of return for Palestinian refugees and for removing the buffer zone. They said that the IOF soldiers fired at them and injured the man.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Gaza: No end to hardship and despair
International Committee of the Red Cross 20 May Interview -- Mathilde De Riedmatten, deputy head of the ICRC's sub-delegation in Gaza, talks about the situation in the coastal enclave and about how ordinary Gazans manage to carry on with their daily lives ... Israel eased the closure in June 2010. Has that had a positive effect on the lives of ordinary people in Gaza? The restriction on the movement of people out of Gaza remains unchanged ... The entry of goods into Gaza is also still highly restricted, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of the particular items allowed. Long delays are frequent. Some goods that are allowed in are so expensive that their availability hardly matters to the vast majority of the population, who could never afford them. Although there has been media coverage of the export of certain cash crops such as carnations and strawberries, the actual level of exports from the Gaza Strip remains close to zero. Imports of construction supplies and raw materials are still mostly banned, even though they are vital to the territory's infrastructure and economic recovery.
link to www.icrc.org

Gaza aid vessel gets supplies from Egypt
21 May -- Fresh rations and water have been provided to the MV Finch passengers and crew. Perdana Global Peace Foundation spokesman Shamsul Azhar thanked the Egyptian authorities for their assistance, saying supplies were currently sufficient. The ship, also known as the Spirit of Rachel Corrie, has been at anchor for the past four days while waiting to berth at the El-Arish Port in Egypt ... When asked about a media report on Thursday that the ship was ordered to leave the port's waiting area, Shamsul said there had been a lot of confusion. "It's not that they didn't let us berth. It's just that there are certain procedures they have to follow," he said ... The MV Finch is carrying 7.5km of PVC pipes to help repair Gaza's devastated sewerage system ... Bernama reports from El-Arish that Matthias Chang, 61, leader of the Malaysian humanitarian aid mission has gone on hunger strike since yesterday to protest against the refusal of the authorities to allow the ship to enter port.
link to thestar.com.my

MV Finch still stranded, water supply running out
EL-ARISH, May 22 (BERNAMA) -- The humanitarian aid-bearing cargo ship, MV Finch [ or Rachel Corrie], has been stranded for a week now outside El-Arish Port in Egyptian waters and those onboard will know tomorrow whether the cargo can be unloaded and transported by land to Gaza. Bernama reporter Faizal Hassan who is on board the ship, informed the Malaysian national news agency's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur via SMS that the situation was getting critical as the port authorities had not sent medical aid and clean water to the ship ... Chang said a possibility was that the people on board the ship could be sent back to their respective countries, while the cargo could be handed over to such organisations as the Red Crescent Society to be delivered to the people of Gaza. [Leader Matthias] Chang is still on a hunger strike which has entered the third day, in protest against the delay in granting permission for the ship to berth at El-Arish Port after week of waiting outside it.
link to www.bernama.com

Turkey warns Israel over new Gaza flotilla
ANKARA (AFP) 21 May -- Turkey on Saturday warned Israel against another act of bloodshed in international waters after activists announced plans to send a new aid flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip. "It should be known that Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on NTV television. "Those who believe Turkey should take certain steps to stop (the new flotilla) must first warn Israel not to repeat the human tragedy it caused last year," he said.
link to www.google.com

UNRWA: Palestinian refugees' health still at risk
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 21 May -- The UN agency for Palestinian refugees faces "paramount and overwhelming" challenges in providing health care services, according to its annual report released Saturday. Despite progress in key areas -- including a reduction in infant mortality -- Palestinian refugees face increasing health risks including a rise in non-communicable diseases, UNRWA said.
link to www.maannews.net

Goods: Needs vs supply Apr 17-May 14
Gaza Gateway 16 May - chart
link to www.gazagateway.org

Gaza film students use Internet to break the blockade
Gaza TV 22 May -- Since March, for just a few hours every Thursday, a group of students in Gaza has been able to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been in place since 2007. Their tools haven’t been boats or tunnels, or anything that can be intercepted at the border, but technology. Through Skype, this group of eight between the ages of 18 and 21 have been taking part in a filmmaking programme, with lectures and workshops that would normally be experienced face-to-face in a classroom instead given through a computer screen. The project, organised by the Doha Film Institute in co-operation with Al Fakhoora, an international organisation helping provide educational facilities and rights to Palestinian students, will give the students the knowledge and resources to shoot two short films, and should help establish an educational programme that will see many more follow in their footsteps.
link to gazatvnews.com

West Bank contractors to help Gaza reconstruction
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Some 100 businessmen from the West Bank will visit Gaza on Tuesday to push forward plans to reconstruct the coastal enclave. Contractors' union chief Osama Ikheil said the plans included building bomb shelters in schools and homes to protect children and families from Israel's frequent raids on the Gaza Strip. "That is part of the reconstruction plans to try and prepare for Israeli offensives," Ikheil said.
link to www.maannews.net

Single Gaza crossing to open for limited goods
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Israel will allow 290-300 truckloads of goods and humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Israeli officials informed Palestinian liaison officers.
link to www.maannews.net

Activism / Solidarity

Israel army suppresses peaceful demonstration in ‘Iraq Burin
(photos) ISM 21 May -- Around 80 Palestinians and international activists held a peaceful demonstration today in the village of ‘Iraq Burin to protest the theft of village land for settlement construction ... They were immediately met with a barrage of tear gas from the Israeli forces. ... ‘Iraq Burin is a small village 8 km southwest of Nablus. The illegal settlement of Bracha is located about one mile southeast of the village, and is situated on around 100 dunams (25 acres) of village land, as well as more land from surrounding villages. As with other settlements, it is not just the actual land of the settlement that is a problem, but also the land near it There is a swathe of “off-limits” land around the village that farmers are often prevented from using due to its close proximity to the settlement, leaving them with less land to graze sheep on or harvest from.
link to palsolidarity.org

Ni‘lin marks 3rd anniversary of non-violent protests
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 May -- The West Bank village of Ni‘lin on Friday marked its third anniversary of weekly non-violent demonstrations against Israel's wall. Since 2008, Israeli forces have killed five Palestinians demonstrating in Ni‘lin to protest Israel's confiscation of one third of the village's land. Hundreds have been injured and detained from the village as soldiers violently shut down the rallies, at times using live ammunition. In June 2008, the village was held under siege by the Israeli military and over the summer Israeli forces shot and killed a 10-year-old boy, Ahmed Moussa. At Ahmed's funeral, Israeli soldiers shot 18-year-old Yousif Amira in the head with rubber-coated steel bullets. He fell into a coma and died in hospital....
link to www.maannews.net

Video: Nabi Saleh is the Palestinian Arab Spring / Joseph Dana
972mag 21 May -- Why is it that Palestinians are the only people in the Middle East seemingly not allowed to throw stones at a military regime which oppresses and controls them? Why are Palestinians branded as violent when they use the same tactics which the Egyptian and Tunisian protesters used during their historic revolutions? This question has been stuck in my mind since Obama’s recent speech on the Middle East. On Friday, the Palestinian ‘Arab Spring’ was on display in Nabi Saleh. Watch the video. What do we see here? You will notice that the demonstration in Nabi Saleh, a small village west of Ramallah, began with no stones and only chants. The army quickly attacked the demonstrators with tear gas and sound bombs resulting in the outbreak of clashes between stone throwing youth from the village and soldiers. Do these youth have a right to throw stones at an invading army?
link to 972mag.com

In Photos: Non-violence resistance in the West Bank
21 May.   12 photos.
link to www.maannews.net

HRW demands Israel investigate 'Nakba Day' deaths
JPost 21 May -- Human Rights Watch decries IDF's use of live bullets; says there is no proof that border protesters were armed or fired on troops ... "Because Israeli investigations into alleged serious wrongdoing by its armed forces have a poor record for accountability, the United Nations should monitor any Israeli investigations into the 15 deaths to determine whether they comply with international standards," Human Rights Watch said. "There needs to be a credible, criminal investigation, and where there is evidence that crimes took place, prosecutions and appropriate punishment."
link to www.jpost.com

Green Palestine marks Nakba Day
ISM 19 May -- With the creation of Israel in 1948, four hundred and eighteen Palestinian villages were wiped out and destroyed, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people from homes they had lived in for generations. This year on May 17, in further commemoration of the Nakba (the Catastrophe), the ISM joined the Palestinian organisation Green Palestine in planting olive trees in the village of Al Tayba, near Jenin in the north of the West Bank. After each tree was planted a laminated tag with the name of each individual village was tied to a branch ... ISM talked with Arwad, one of the organizers of the event. What has been the aim of today? To tell the young people that these 418 villages existed. The Palestinian people are patient enough to wait to go back home. We chose Al Tayba as it is next to the 1948 border, the wall has split this village so half of it is in Palestine and the other half is in Israel, leaving families cut off from each other.
link to palsolidarity.org

On June 5th support the Palestinian refugees' right to return
ISM 22 May -- Today the seven million Palestinian refugees are the world’s largest group of refugees, comprising one-third of the total refugee population. Their right to return to their homes, and to receive compensation for the damages inflicted on them, are enshrined in international law ... The Preparatory Commission for the Right to Return, a nonpartisan coordinating body, has requested that supporters of the Palestinian liberation struggle also take action on June 5, by staging rallies, marches, and protests throughout the world demanding Palestinian refugees’ right to return. "The May 15 marches were not an isolated incident, but were rather a declaration of the foundation of a new stage of struggle in the history of the Palestinian cause, entitled: 'The refugees’ right to return to their homes'," a statement by the Commission says. For the first time ever, the Palestinians have switched from commemorating their displacement with statements, festivals, and speeches, to actual attempts to return to their homes. The scene of refugees marching from all directions towards their homeland of Palestine sent a powerful message to the entire world that the refugees are determined to return to their homes however long it may take; and that 63 years were not enough to kill their dream of return; and that the new generations born in forced exile who have never seen their homeland are no less attached than their grandparents and fathers who witnessed the Nakba.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18474/

Refugee 'return rallies' planned for June
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Masses of Palestinian refugees will march to Israel's borders and ceasefire lines again on June 5, organizers of the May 15 "return rally" said. On Sunday, 14 protesters were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of refugees trying to return to their land in Israel ... The committee organizing the "return rallies" said Saturday that the May 15 protests were "just the beginning." In a statement, the group called on all Palestinian refugees living in exile to march peacefully to the borders of historic Palestine on June 5. The date marks the anniversary of the 1967 war, when Israel occupied southern Lebanon, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. Thousands of refugees will march to the ceasefire lines in the West Bank and Gaza as well as borders with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, the committee said. "The Israeli occupation should remain on alert because rallies will not stop until Palestinian refugees return to Haifa, Haffa, Al-Majdal, Bi'r As-Sab‘ [Beersheba] and all occupied Palestinian towns," the statement added. The group urged Palestinian lawyers to file legal proceedings against Israeli officials for the killing of non-violent demonstrators on Nakba Day.
link to www.maannews.net

Arab group: Prepare for 2nd round of protest
Ynet 21 May -- Organizing committee of 'return procession to Palestine' announces new round of anti-Israel protest set for June 5, marking outbreak of Six-Day War. Organizers call Palestinians living abroad to fly to Israel; urge protesters to bear no arms, only carry Palestinian flags ... The organizers stressed that they are not calling for a third intifada, and insisted that protesters do not carry arms. According to the statement, the organizers urged protesters to avoid violence and only carry Palestinian flags.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Euro campaign asks for international protection for Freedom Flotilla 2
BRUSSELS, (PIC) 22 May -- The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza has called for world protection for the humanitarian aid fleet that is expected to set sail to the Strip by end of June. The campaign said in a press release that the Israeli threats against the fleet were in violation of the international law and doctrines. It pointed out that Israeli navy boats fired at a Malaysian ship at international waters last week while en route to Gaza carrying relief material, warning that the same scenario could be pursued against the Freedom Flotilla 2.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Nakba Day in Gaza
(with video) ISM 18 May -- ...Today marked 63 years of dispossession, 63 years of ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians marched north from Beit Hanoun to the wall; thousands of Palestinians marched toward their homes. As we approached the wall the Israeli army barked out its hello. A tank began to fire over the crowd and into the sand dunes lining the road. The Israeli bulldozers had already thoroughly destroyed anything that was once on this land, outside of threatening the crowd there was nothing to accomplish by this shooting ... Soon the stream of wounded began. From the front of the crowd men and boys carried by their friends, by whoever was standing near them when they were shot. They came in a steady stream; you could hear the tak tak tak of the Israeli rifles echo against the calm sky. In the West Bank, the soldiers are usually stationed on a hill, first comes the tear gas, and then come the bullets, usually rubber at first, later the live ammunition. In Gaza there are no pretenses, first the tanks fire their cannons, then the soldiers safe in their concrete tower start to shoot live ammunition into the crowd ... A boy next to me is shot in the leg. You can see that his leg is shattered even through his pants. When they pick him up to carry him to ambulance his leg hangs as if in two pieces. He doesn’t scream, he doesn’t say anything, but you can see the fear and pain in his face. He seems to be about 14. What were the soldiers thinking? That this young boy, 100 meters from their concrete tower was somehow a threat to them?
link to palsolidarity.org

Because of his support for Palestinians, his Facebook page is deleted
MADRID, (PIC)-- The management of the social networking website Facebook has deleted the official page of Brazilian footballer Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, who plays for the Spanish club Real Madrid only days after expressing his support for the Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s violence towards Palestinian children. He wrote on his page a few days ago that he sympathises with the Palestinians and that he wished the violence practiced against them by the Israeli occupation to stop and for peace to prevail all over the world. His page was deleted without prior warning and without explanation as to why it was deleted.[ An official page for him is up today, but with no mention of Palestinians. According to the Wikipedia page on him, "On 15 May 2011, Marcelo's Facebook page was shut after he posted a picture supporting Palestinian Intifada."]
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

With love and respect from the bottom of my heart to my Italian family / Rawa‘ Ahmed
Since the day I heard about the Italian convoy that is coming to Gaza I was longing to meet Vittorio’s friends, and dreaming of the day they would arrive in Gaza. The 12th of May was the arrival day. It was a long day because some friends and I had to wait for the convoy in their apartment in Gaza as we did not have permission to welcome them at the Rafah crossing or even to invite them to our homes. Words cannot express how happy I was when I met those great people. They are one of my great sources of inspiration. Their love to Gaza is just wonderful – they taught me how to love my land, to stick by my principles, to fight longer seeking freedom and to stay stronger: "stay human."
link to palsolidarity.org

Move over AIPAC flashmob - Union Station, Washington DC
20 May (to the tune of Hava Nagila) -- AIPAC is meeting / We have a greeting / Cuz they're not speaking / For any of us // Justice is dying / AIPAC is lying / Lies we're not buying / No No No! // AIPAC doesn't speak for me / Apartheid's not my cup of tea / Palestine to Tripoli / We want democracy // Buying Congress with their cash / All opposing views they bash / Can't have them talking trash / No No No!
link to www.youtube.com

Video: Envisage with London Rhymes with Palestine
uploaded 19 May -- This video features live performances at key London landmarks serving to juxtapose the proposition that all are equal and entitled to live in freedom. With this in mind and to help combat Israeli Apartheid and Occupation of Palestine we are urging the public to invoke their consumer powers and to Boycott Israeli products and companies that profit from the violation of Palestinians.
link to www.youtube.com

Political / Diplomatic / International

PA to proceed with UN recognition bid
AP 21 May -- Fatah official Nabil Shaath says quest for recognition of Palestinian state will move forward regardless of Obama's objection; claims Netanyahu's statement proves he is not a partner for peace
link to www.ynetnews.com

Amr urges caution over UN statehood bid
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 May -- PLO central council member Nabil Amr on Friday urged Palestinian leaders to exercise caution in their bid to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state. Amr said the Palestinian leadership should hold intensive political discussions with the US administration and Mideast Quartet members. He said it was not in Palestinians' interests to isolate themselves from the political process, and that Palestinian leaders should "leave provoking the US to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman."
link to www.maannews.net

Detained Hamas leader calls for suspending talks with Fatah
IMEMC 22 May -- Rafat Nassif, a detained political leader of the Hamas movement, called for suspending all talks and coordination with the Fateh movement for what he called "the ongoing political arrests and interrogation" of Hamas members, conducted by members of the security forces of Fateh movement in the West Bank. The statements of Nassif came from his prison cell at a local Palestinian prison.
link to www.imemc.org

8 PLO factions to boycott technocrat government
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 May-- Eight Palestinian factions affiliated with the PLO will not nominate candidates for the government of technocrats proposed in a unity deal signed two and a half weeks ago in Cairo. The factions are protesting what is being called a "bilateral monopoly" between Fatah and Hamas in discussions over the unity government intended to end years of fractured politics in the occupied Palestinian territories.
link to www.maannews.net

Hamas: Obama will not force Israel recognition
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 May -- Hams spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri slammed Sunday US President Barack Obama's speech to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, saying a call to the party to recognize Israel would go unanswered.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas to visit Jordan
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 May -- President Mahmoud Abbas will leave for Jordan Saturday to discuss US President Barack Obama's Mideast policy speech with King Abdullah II ... Abdullah is expected to update Abbas on his recent meetings with Obama in Washington. Abbas may visit other Arab leaders for urgent talks on Obama's speech and to coordinate Palestinians' response to developments in the region, an official from his office said.
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinians seek Arab consultation on Obama speech
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) 21 May  – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Arab League Saturday to convene a discussion of President Barack Obama's vision for peace with Israel, a Palestinian official said. The meeting would likely take place at month's end, the official said. Abbas has previously consulted with the Arab League on crafting Palestinian strategy vis-à-vis Israel, with which negotiations have been stalled since last year.
link to news.yahoo.com

Obama restates '67 stance after 'misrepresentation'
WASHINGTON (AFP) 22 May -- US President Barack Obama on Sunday forcefully defended his call for an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on their pre-1967 frontiers, suggesting Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu had misrepresented him ... "There was nothing particularly original in my proposal," Obama told an estimated 10,000 delegations to the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. "This basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous US administrations." ... Obama said his position has "been misrepresented several times," adding that mutually agreed swaps means that Israel would not be returning to the pre-1967 lines, but rather that the lines would form the basis for talks.
link to www.maannews.net

Obama's AIPAC speech welcomed across Israel's political spectrum
Haaretz 22 May -- Members of Netanyahu's ruling Likud Party MKs say U.S. President's remarks prompted by PM's forceful stand, while Palestinian leadership express mixed reactions.
link to www.haaretz.com

Hail the spin doctors
Ynet 22 May WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama came to AIPAC to smooth all the feathers ruffled by his Mideast policy speech last week. Thursday's address focused on the Arab Spring and was meant for the Arab world – it did not focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But that was not something that Obama could ignore altogether. He chose to address the subject in a general manner, using wording Arab ears would not find discordant; but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strong reaction stole the show, stirring headlines away from the political and economical reforms the US offered Arab nation and its anti-Assad statements. The White House's well-oiled spin machine was in full throttle over the weekend. After three tension-filled days, Obama took the stage in front of 10,000 AIPAC members. The initially upset, suspicious crowd left the Washington conference hall happy and relaxed, after hearing Obama reaffirm the United States' commitment to Israel's security and its political interests
link to www.ynetnews.com

Other news

Jerusalem police close alleged Hamas office
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Jerusalem police said on Sunday that they had closed an East Jerusalem community center, adding that detentions would likely be made because the organization had violated a closure order. Police spokeswoman Luba Simmari said detectives closed the premises of the Heritage Committee in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz, which she accused of being affiliated with Hamas, the Islamist political party which controls the government in the Gaza Strip. The party runs hundreds of community organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. "It is the intention of the police to arrest suspects responsible for reopening it," she told AFP. "It was run by Hamas... Hamas is forbidden to work in East Jerusalem." Neighbors said that the two-story building was also used for prayers. An eyewitness said that police welded its doors shut. Israel considers Hamas a "terrorist organization" and prohibits any activities run by the party to take place in territory it controls. The Palestinian Authority is also prohibited from carrying out official activities.
link to www.maannews.net

Police still deem TA incident 'hit and run'
Ynet 22 May -- Investigators find it difficult to prove Arab truck driver who killed one person, injured 17 acted on nationalistic motives. 'He could have killed thousands of other Jews but didn't,' says lawyer -- A week after an Arab truck driver went on a rampage on the streets of southern Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring 17, the police are still defining the incident as a "hit and run". The driver, Issa Islam from Kfar Kassem, was questioned on suspicion of murder, sabotage and dangerous driving, but the police are being cautious about declaring the incident a terror attack ... On Monday, the police are expected to ask the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court to extend the suspect's remand once again.
link to www.ynetnews.com

VIDEO - Khaled Al Sabawi: Keeping Palestine cool: a different kind of underground movement
uploaded 22 May -- "What is za purpose of your visit to Izrael?" This is the welcoming question that is asked by Israeli border security to anyone that travels to the Palestinian territories. For this Palestinian, it is to bring green energy to Palestine. Recognizing Palestine's grave energy crisis, Khaled Al Sabawi takes you on his quest to "keep Palestine cool" using geothermal energy.
link to www.youtube.com

VIDEOS: Friendlystranger's weekly collection
20 May
link to www.dailykos.com

'62.5% of Israeli Arabs see Jews as foreign imprint'
JPost 19 May -- Over 62 percent of the Arab citizens of Israel believe Jews are a foreign imprint on the Middle East and are destined to be replaced by Palestinians, and a similar proportion believe that Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state, according to a nationwide survey scheduled for release on Sunday. The 2010 Arab Jewish Relations Survey, compiled by Prof. Sami Smoocha in collaboration with the Jewish-Arab Center at the University of Haifa, presents what its authors describe as a worrying decline in relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel over the past decade.
link to www.jpost.com

'Temporary road to Rawabi could become permanent obstacle'
JPost 19 May -- Defense sources say route would not become permanent; MK Eldad warns against putting Palestinian vehicles too close to Jewish residences. The Knesset’s Land of Israel Lobby warned on Wednesday that plans for a temporary trucking route to the Palestinian city of Rawabi in the Binyamin region of the West Bank could lay the groundwork for a permanent road. Defense sources rejected the claim, explaining that a civil administration committee debated on Tuesday the possibility of creating a temporary trucking route to Rawabi that would go through Area C, which is under full Israeli control.
link to www.jpost.com

Masked Palestinians shoot dead West Bank man suspected of spying for Israel
Reuters 21 May -- Victim of the shooting was identified as Omar Helwan, 32, of Beit Dajan village near Nablus; he had previously been held in a Palestinian prison on charges of working as an Israeli agent.[Ma‘an gives his name as Omar Hussein Abu Haloun.]
link to www.haaretz.com

Egypt border guards shoot migrant at Israel border
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Egyptian border guards shot and injured an Eritrean woman Saturday as she tried to cross into Israel without a permit, Egyptian security sources and medics said. Security officials told Ma‘an that the woman attempted to cross the border two kilometers south of Kerem Shalom crossing. The undocumented migrant ignored border guard's warnings to stop, and forces shot her twice in the knee, officials said.
link to www.maannews.net

New program in Israeli schools has students 'adopting' graves from 1948 war
Haaretz 22 May -- Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar is expected to unveil a new school program in which seventh- to 12th-graders will "adopt" monuments and graves from the War of Independence in an attempt to "bring young people closer to Israel's history." But the concept has its critics. Prof. Avner Ben-Amos of Tel Aviv University, a specialist on commemoration in the Israeli education system, says the program "tries to anchor young peoples' identity in a cult of the dead, emphasizing bereavement and the victim."
link to www.haaretz.com

Analysis / Opinion / Culture / Human interest

Reflections on Nakba Day from the Palestinian diaspora / Mahdi Sabbagh
+978mag 22 May -- This Nakba day, unlike previous Nakba days, constituted a regional, synchronized act of awakening: an act of defiance and non-violent protest, self-consciously playing on the psyche of both Israelis and Palestinians. For the general Israeli public, the protests created a symbolic yet very real ‘threat’ to the Israeli bubble: daunting natives coming in from ‘enemy’ territories from every direction, flooding Israel with fear and anxiety. For the entire Palestinian population the protests represented a re-birth; a renewal in their ability to be actors and not merely victims, a comforting signal that the Palestinian plight has not come to a halt.
link to 972mag.com

What do Israeli think of 1967 borders with swaps? / Dahlia Scheindlin
+978mag 22 May -- ...The notion of  a Palestinian state has always essentially been conceptualized around the 1967 occupied territories, and the peace negotiations of the last two decades have essentially focused on this. Mr. Obama himself clarified this boldly and precisely in his speech at AIPAC today. Whether or not American Presidents have said it, the Israeli public could not have been surprised -- as the notion has been on the table very explicitly over the last decade. Further, numerous polls have tested various formulations. Below is a selection of data -- chosen at random, from readily available sources, over the last decade ... The bottom line is that the notion of a Palestinian  state based on the1967 borders, with adjustments, has never been shown to drag down support for a comprehensive agreement -- were the leaders of this region serious enough to reach one.
link to 972mag.com

Haaretz editorial: Today's borders are the indefensible ones
22 May -- Netanyahu is lying to the Israeli public and leading the U.S. administration astray when he portrays Israel's current borders as defensible. The occupation of the West Bank, the planting of more settlements on the rocky hilltops, control of the Jordan Valley or the construction of thousands of homes in East Jerusalem do not remove the Iranian threat, prevent the firing of Qassam rockets or end Hezbollah's willingness to fire missiles at Israel. Borders themselves do not guarantee security. But borders that are recognized by the international community give a country the legitimacy to defend its sovereignty. Israel has no such borders, and more and more countries are finding it difficult to defend Israel's position, which seeks to persuade others that occupation is a means of defense.
link to www.haaretz.com

Obama speech mired in Zionist rhetoric / James M. Wall
21 May -- Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu returned to Washington this weekend for his annual love fest with AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is holding its annual Policy Committee meeting Sunday through Tuesday. President Obama followed up his speech to his Arab Spring presentation at the State Department, Thursday, by reiterating his comments on Israel at the AIPAC conference Sunday morning.
the President was playing with a very bad hand.He is a man locked into the rhetoric of the past, honed over decades by Israeli propagandists and Israel’s many friends in the US. The President is a terrific orator. But his rhetoric in this speech needs a careful exegesis to bring out its blatant contradictions. It is not easy to please Israel’s many friends in the US while attempting, rather desperately, to balance the suffering and the hopes of Israel and the Palestinians. He did not succeed.
http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/obama-speech-mired-in-zionist-rhetoric/

'Netanyahu, Obama share little chemistry'
[priceless photo] Ynet 21 May -- Tense White House meeting between US president, Israeli PM makes headlines in British, American newspapers. Wall Street Journal calls leaders' photo-op 'most undiplomatic moments of international diplomacy ever offered for cameras'
link to www.ynetnews.com

Conditions for viable Palestinian statehood / Shir Hever
AIC 19 May -- The prospect of an independent Palestinian state is quickly becoming a tangible reality, but one must examine the differences between independence on paper only, as opposed to real sovereignty. Once the declarations and ceremonies are over, what will determine whether the new Palestinian state will be able to meet its obligations towards its population will not be statements of recognition by the international community, but the economic, political and military realities on the ground.
link to www.alternativenews.org

Ameer Makoul: One year of imprisonment
AIC 19 May -- Ameer Makhoul is the General Director of Ittijah- Union of Arab Community-Based Organizations in Palestine 48 and president of the Committee for the Defense of Political Freedoms of Palestinians 48 -- A year has passed since my imprisonment. My share has been more modest compared to other prisoners who are about to enter their fourth decade in Israeli prisons. It’s true, one should not differentiate between the sentences the same way we should not differentiate between the fighters for freedom ... Speaking on behalf of prisoners’ movement, I wish to allude to the dangers of the so-called security coordination between Israel and any Palestinian or Arab party. The victims of such coordination are, first and foremost, the fighters and prisoners of the freedom of Palestine and the Arab peoples. We call on the Arab peoples to stop the complicity of some Arab regimes with Israel on the so-called security-coordination level by launching an Arab and Palestinian campaign for this cause ...
link to www.alternativenews.org

The Atlantic has not heard of the joint struggle in the West Bank? (updated) / Joseph Dana
972mag 20 May -- Something caught my eye when looking through photos on The Atlantic of the Nakba day demonstrations which engulfed the West Banks and Israel’s border areas last Sunday. Image 16, reprinted below, carries the following caption: Two Palestinian men struggle after being overcome by tear gas fired during clashes with the Israeli police on May 15, 2011 at Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah, West Bank. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) Actually one of the men is an Israeli from Tel Aviv named Jonathan Pollak. I suppose The Atlantic was not aware that Israeli supporters joined the Nakba demonstrations throughout the West Bank on Sunday. Maybe the editors have not heard of the Israelis that have gone to jail or been injured resisting their country’s repression of unarmed Palestinian demonstrations. Perhaps they should have a look at the definitive account of the joint struggle and the new Israeli left which Noam Sheizaf and I wrote for the Nation in March 2011. I think that the photo is much stronger seeing an Israeli and a Palestinian side by side suffering from Israeli tear gas…don’t you?
link to 972mag.com

Israel prepares to confront historical shifts / Pierre Klonchendler
JERUSALEM, May 17, 2011 (IPS) - Back in August 2000, just weeks after the failed Camp David peace summit and weeks before the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifadah uprising, Marwan Barghouthi, leader of the Fatah armed forces, laid out his alternative strategy for ending the Israeli occupation. Haranguing a crowd of frustrated Palestinians, he declared: "We shall march with our people to the Israeli checkpoints and settlement gates and proclaim from there that we're defending our borders with our bodies." By "our borders", Barghouthi meant the ceasefire lines that prevailed between the end of the 1948 Israeli-Arab war and the 1967 war ... while Barghouti himself languishes in an Israeli jail, serving a life sentence for his alleged role in the Intifadah, his strategy might have been adopted after all.
link to ipsnews.net

63 years later, Palestine / Reham Alhelsi
18 May -- 63 years later, Palestine, I see you waiting, with a tear that refuses to come down, waiting for the return of your child … waiting for the return of the son, the return of the daughter… waiting for the child who refused to remain inactive, refused to watch while your blood is being shed… waiting for the child who refused to remain occupied, refused to remain oppressed … I see you waiting for your child… and when he/she does return, carried on the shoulders of the comrades, you watch your children celebrate another Palestinian wedding ... 63 years later, Palestine, I see you there, sitting on the hilltops of Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron and Al-Jalil, watching us, waiting for us to rise, waiting for us to wipe away your tear, waiting for us to heal your wounds. I feel ashamed, for we are busy with everything else except defending you. I feel ashamed, for we are busy with everything else except freeing you from your usurper. I feel ashamed, for we are busy with everything else, everything… except you. We congratulate ourselves on the few protests carried out once a week and leave you to fend for yourself the rest of the week …
link to avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com

Around the world, film festivals put focus on Palestine
EI 20 May -- As Palestinians across the world commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba -- the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland in 1947-48 -- activists in North America and the UK launched another season of local film festivals that illustrate and emphasize the Palestinian experience. Danya Qato, a founding member of the annual festival in Chicago, told "The Electronic Intifada that "the very idea of holding a festival called the Palestine film festival is really important."
link to electronicintifada.net

Lebanon: Cameras for kids initiative in Palestinian refugee camps
BEIRUT, 18 May 2011 (IRIN) - A Beirut-based NGO is training children in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps to take photographs of camp life in the belief that the exercise is cathartic for the children, will benefit the camps financially and lead some of the trainees to work professionally as photographers. The idea of getting children to photograph camp life struck Ramzi Haidar after a visit to a Palestinian refugee camp, and led him to start the Zakira project. "Kids are kids, they are the same everywhere,” he said. “They have the same needs, regardless of whether they are Iraqi, Palestinian, Lebanese or something else. And, if they go through war or other difficult experiences, they need to express what they have seen."
link to www.irinnews.org

Music runs into walls / Ray Smith
RAMALLAH, May 14, 2011 (IPS) - In the West Bank, dissident voices questioning the Palestinian Authority's increasingly authoritarian rule have become rare. But a young musician in Ramallah refuses to hold his tongue.
link to ipsnews.net

West Bank bed and breakfast offers life on the front line
HEBRON, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 22 May – Mohammed Saadeq has had rocks, bleach and even dead rats thrown at his home but so far it hasn't put off visitors from coming to stay at his small B&B in Hebron's Old City. It's an adventurous move in an area that is hardly a tourist haven, located in the middle of a tightly controlled Israeli enclave called H2, where 400 hardline Jewish settlers live in the middle of a local population of 6,000. But since the tiny bed-and-breakfast opened its doors just two months ago, its two rooms have been fully booked, bringing the Saadeq family a welcome source of income in an area where 76 percent of the population live under the poverty line.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110522/lf_afp/lifestyleisraelpalestinianssettlerhebron_20110522184816

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