and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
New buildings in Mehola settlement
JVS 23 May — For few days now, Mehola settlement, in the Northern Jordan Valley, builds new houses. Mehola is located at the junction between the ‘Road 90’ and ‘Alon Road’, made to isolate the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank. Mehola was the first settlement established in the Jordan Valley, in 1968. Today, the children of Mehola founders continue to build. Some of them build inside Mehola, others, build in an outpost just beside Mehola that, if legalized by the Israeli government, could become a part of Mehola, creating a very large colony. The northern Jordan Valley is now occupied by four major settlements (Mehola, Rotem, Maskkiyot and Shdemot Mehola) and Mehola outpost. Each one of these settlements builds new houses and expend on a regular basis in order to constitute a big single colony that would control the all area. The Palestinian communities that are now surrounded by all those colonies, struggle on an everyday basis to stay on their land, as they face house demolitions, denial of access to water, education and health.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271:new-buildings-in-mehola-settlement&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Settlers set up new outposts
Ynet 23 May – Rightist activists attempted to set up a new farm in the contentious E1 area, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, in an apparent bid to provoke and embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently in Washington. Meanwhile, another outpost was set up in the Binyamin region in the West Bank. Ynet learned that settlers were planning to set up yet another outpost in the Hebron region. Several dozen members of the so-called “Hilltop Youth,” accompanied by Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari and rightist activists Itamar Ben Gvir, Baruch Marzel and Meir Bratler established the farm near Maale Adumim under the slogan “We’re all E1.” Riot police who prepared for their arrival allowed the activists to reach the site but prevented one of them from positioning a caravan in the area. During the encounter, rightist activists cursed Arabs who were riding their horses nearby … Meanwhile, hilltop youth Aryeh Bloomberg asked to convey a personal message to US President Barack Obama: “I too am an American citizen, but before that, I’m Jewish. This land is mine because it was given to us by God; it says so in the Torah.” “Obama, you have no right to tell us what to do,” Bloomberg said. “Deal with your own country.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072939,00.html
Settlers try to set up new West Bank outposts during Netanyahu’s US visit
Haaretz 23 May — Palestinians and the international community, including the United States, have long objected to the E-1 plan on the grounds that it would cut the West Bank in two and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the area.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/settlers-try-to-set-up-new-west-bank-outpost-during-netanyahu-s-u-s-visit-1.363598
Settlers fabricate nonexistent ‘eternal rights’ / Yossi Gurvitz
+972mag 23 May — Why settlers lie and claim that an article of the UN charter grants “eternal rights” to Jews in Palestine — A bunch of senior settlers – Gershon Messica, Boaz Ha’etzni, Benni Katzover, Ariel mayor Ron Nahman, and others – have boldly gone where no nutjob has gone before. They sent a threatening letter to the General Secretary of the UN, Ban Ki Moon (Hebrew), stiffly informing him that if he would not stop his odious custom of noting facts and referring to the West Bank as an occupied territory, they will sue him an international court, and demand damages. Whatever for? Well, the NRG article breathlessly informs that Moon’s statements contradict Article 80 of the UN Charter of 1945, known colloquially as the “Eretz Israel article,” which, claim the settlers, lays down the “judicial rights of the Jewish people for Eretz Israel as eternal rights, which cannot be abrogated without the agreement of the Jewish people.” This seemed rather strange. I mean, if such an article existed, I’m pretty certain I’d have heard of it by now.
http://972mag.com/settlers-fabricate-non-existent-%E2%80%9Ceternal-rights%E2%80%9D/
Israeli forces install fence around Qalqiliya village
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 23 May — Israeli forces began to install a barbed-wire fence on Monday around a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, saying it was meant to prevent stone throwing. Residents of Izbat At-Tabib, located east of Qalqiliya, awoke to the sounds of construction, and were told that lands made inaccessible by the construction were being confiscated for the construction of a buffer area between the village and the settler road that passes to its north … Bayan Tabib, president of the village’s council, said the construction and confiscations came without warning, and effectively caged in residents. “This was an arbitrary decision meant to isolate the village and part of the Israeli effort to take it over. Israeli forces have threatened more than once to displace our people,” he said. The village is located about 1.5 kilometers from two settlement blocs, one of which extends some 22 kilometers into the occupied West Bank.
Izbat At-Tabib is the second Palestinian population center that has been fenced in under the pretext of preventing stone throwing. In March, the town of Beit Ummar was fenced in from one side, and three homes and workshops demolished.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390349
IOF seal off Sheikh Jarrah suburb as settlers attack Palestinian children
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 23 May — The Israeli occupation troops sealed-off Sunday the Sheikh Jarrah suburb in the occupied city of Jerusalem after extremist Israeli settlers went on the rampage in the area and attacked Palestinian children and women. The Quds Press agency quoted Palestinian journalist Rasem Abdul Wahid, a resident of the suburb, as saying that a number of extremist Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian children in the suburb prompting strong clashes by hands with Palestinian families who rushed to save their children. He added that one of the settlers who had occupied part of the house of Palestinian citizen Refqa Al-Kurd unleashed his dog to terrorize and assault Palestinian children and women. The IOF troops, he explained, arrived to the suburb and sealed it but instead of expelling the Israeli attackers, they arrested a number of Palestinian minors alleging they attacked the settlers.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Israel attacks Izbat Tabib, resumes annexation
PalMon 23 May — Israeli bulldozers are moving right now on Izbat Tabib in order to build a so-called security fence through the small, ancestral village farms. “The army started working and we are standing, about twenty, with people from International Solidarity Movement and the village. We want to stop them if we can,” said the mayor Bayan Al Tabib. “We are fighting with them and we want stop them if we can, by our bodies.” Ten kilometers east of Qalqiliya, Izbat Tabib’s privately owned land was the scene two weeks ago of a violent confrontation: three activists were beaten and one 60-year old woman’s wrists were broken by Israeli soldiers. Located in Area C, the 45 homes of the village are under direct Israeli military control. Almost half of their historic lands have already been lost to the annexation wall.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1826
Right to education under attack in Beit Ommar
PalMon 23 May — In a direct affront to Palestinians’ basic right to education, Israeli Occupation Forces threaten university students with arrest during their final exam week if they do not cease demonstrations outside the illegal settlement, Karmei Tsur.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1824
Detention / Court actions
Israel detains mother of senior Hamas official
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 23 May — Israeli forces arrested Monday morning the mother of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri after raiding her home in Aroura village near Ramallah. Soldiers surrounded the Arouri residence in the village and then tampered with the contents inside while searching the premises, Salama al-Arouri told the Palestinian Information Center. He added that they notified Arouri’s mother A’isha, 70, that an arrest warrant had been issued against her. The soldiers brutally apprehended her when she expressed refusal to respond. Arouri said his mother suffers from several illnesses and is unable to walk without the help of others. He held Israel liable for harm caused to her. Arouri’s son Asim was arrested a few days back for questioning. The Hamas politburo member spent a total of 18 years in Israeli prisons before Israel exiled him to Syria last year.
It was not the first incident where Israel abducted the mothers of activists, said Fuad al-Khuffash, Ahrar center director. A year back, Rabi‘a Bilal was arrested to pressure her sons during interrogations. Israel also arrested the mother and wife of Yahya Ayyash, who was wanted and on the run.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Israeli court sentences teen to 6 months
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 May — Israel’s military judges on Monday issued a six-month jail sentence to a teenager from Bil‘in village near Ramallah. Amjad Ayed Abu Rahma, 15, was sentenced at Ofer military court near Ramallah, local activists said. He was detained in January for participating in Bil‘in’s weekly non-violent protests against the separation wall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390272
British parliamentarians take on treatment of teens in Israeli military court / Amira Hass
Haaretz 23 May — Israel’s West Bank military court was debated in two sessions of the House of Lords, with a focus on the issue of the detention and sentencing conditions for Palestinian minors by the Israeli military … Lord Alf Dubs made the following statement to the House of Lords on May 4: “My Lords, I recently visited the West Bank; it was my first time there … In the court we visited we saw a 14 year-old and a 15-year-old, one of them in tears, both looking absolutely bewildered. What shocked me as much as anything was to see that these young persons – children – had chains or shackles around their ankles while sitting in court … When being interrogated these young people do not have the security of video recordings, lawyers or parents present … “The court proceedings are in Hebrew, with translations of a doubtful quality. The verdicts are mostly based on uncorroborated confession evidence…” … But perhaps Lord Dubs himself, of Britain’s Labor Party, would interest our legislators. At the age of six he was one of 669 mostly Jewish children that British citizens evacuated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/british-parlimentarians-take-on-treatment-of-teens-in-israeli-military-court-1.363436
IOA extends solitary confinement of captive Hamid for six more months
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)- The administration of the Israeli Ramle prison has decided Sunday to extend the solitary confinement of Palestinian captive Ibrahim Hamid for six more months without giving reasons for the extension. Hamid, 46, was arrested in 2006 and remained in isolation. The IOA denied him family visit him since then. He is a father of two children Salma and Ali. According to Palestinian records, there were around 37 Palestinian captives are still incarcerated in isolation, many of them for years now.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7uSdxPWD9%2bXdZgoVAaIlt4gtf8NX5lKpooKh4DNCFYDQmZ2GN%2fUI%2fYJvtpytNg5CLvNJynMxStfM0EcpLHwX7REszAudm4pViToRPLnBjkrI%3d
Detention extended for Silwan man accused of participation in clashes
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 23 May — Silwan resident Sa‘id Sarhan, 34, was arrested during a large-scale dawn raid on his home on 19 May. Sarhan faces allegations of participation in recent clashes in Silwan that erupted in response to Israeli settlement policies and house demolitions. Israeli forces infiltrated the Sarhan premises by using ladders to climb the outer walls of the property. They forced their way into the house, searching for specific items of clothing they claim Sarhan was wearing during confrontations with Israeli forces and will prove his alleged guilt. Sarhan was then detained. Sarhan’s wife was also summoned for investigation. Sarhan’s detention has now been extended until Tuesday 24 May, when he is scheduled to appear before the Magistrates Court for the second time in less than a week.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16861
PA security nabs man over failure to respond to summons
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 23 May — PA security agencies arrested Sunday night former captive in Israeli occupation jails, Muhannad Abdo al-Heimoni, 24, after he declared refusal to respond to a summons earlier. Locals reported that the force took him to security headquarters at gunpoint and released him after three hours of interrogation. They also confiscated his ID and bank cards. Heimoni said in interview that part of the interrogation revolved around a Facebook page protesting the continued summonses by West Bank security agencies.
West Bank intelligence arrested the same day noon ex-captive Abdurrahman Hindiyya from Nablus. He refused to respond to a summons as well.
Separately, the Islamic Jihad has confirmed that the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence service has notified ten of the group’s men that they must appear at police headquarters.
Fatah, which controls the West Bank, had agreed to release all political prisoners as a condition for a historic deal with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israel police to compensate man blinded in intifada NIS 810,000
Haaretz 23 May — Haifa Court rules in favor of Nazareth man, who claims Israel police shot two rubber bullets into his face while he was walking home from work in October 2000.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-to-compensate-man-blinded-in-intifada-nis-810-000-1.363599
Gaza – under siege for 1440 days now
Man killed in Rafah tunnel collapse
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 May — A Palestinian man was killed and another sustained injuries Monday morning when a smuggling tunnel collapsed over them in the southern Gaza Strip. Gaza’s emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya identified the victim as 32-year-old Muhammad Mustafa An-Najjar. Abu Salmiya said a second man was critically injured in the same tunnel accident under the border between Egypt and Gaza
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390180
Malaysia aid ship ends sea attempt to Gaza
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) 23 May — A Malaysian aid ship attempting to land in Gaza after being warned off by Israeli naval forces last week has been forced to abort its mission after engine trouble, activists said. Matthias Chang, who is heading the mission for the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, told AFP on Monday that the MV Finch was now stuck six nautical miles from Egypt’s El-Arish port. “At about 5:30pm local time (0330 GMT), our vessel developed engine trouble and we lost our steering capability, so we had to stop our attempt to reach Gaza by sea,” he said. “However, the Egyptian foreign minister has given his assurance that we will be allowed to unload our humanitarian cargo and that it will be taken by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency into Gaza,” Chang said, adding that Egypt is bound by international law to lead the vessel to safety.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110523/wl_asia_afp/malaysiaisraelegyptpalestiniansconflictgaza
Gaza’s children mark first anniversary of Freedom Flotilla raid
MEMO 23 May — Palestinian children have launched paper aeroplanes into the skies above Gaza’s small port to commemorate the first anniversary of the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla on 31st May last year. The children held Palestinian and Turkish flags in a symbolic gesture to the countries taking part in the flotilla and carried banners with the photographs and names of the men who were killed in the massacre. The residents of Gaza are following closely the latest developments regarding Freedom Flotilla 2, due to set sail from Turkey closer to the anniversary, and are anticipating its arrival eagerly as it attempts to break the siege. Formal preparations to receive Freedom Flotilla 2 in Gaza are nearing completion
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2386-gazas-children-mark-first-anniversary-of-freedom-flotilla-raid
UNRWA strikers enraged after being ‘blackmailed’
GAZA (PIC) 23 May — UNRWA’s “blackmail” and threats to dock strikers for the two days of work they missed for protests “will only increase the staff’s determination to defend their cause and rights,” said a statement released Sunday night by the UNRWA labor union …All UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip went on strike on Wednesday and Thursday after the administration dismissed three men who were exonerated of various charges by the Palestinian courts. In a related development, a teacher at an UNRWA school in Gaza has filed a claim against UNRWA after he was dismissed from his job unfairly.He was reported to have been fired for alleged political activity “outside of UNRWA’s framework.”
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Gaza crossing partially open
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 May — Israeli authorities decided to open the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday to allow limited aid into the coastal enclave. Palestinian liaison official, Raed Fattouh, said Israel would allow approximately 300 truckloads into Gaza, including 20 new cars. Of these, 82 truckloads would bring cement and iron into the coastal enclave for projects funded by the German Development Agency and UNRWA. Limited quantities of domestic gas will be pumped via the same crossing, Fattouh said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390176
Gaza police say bomber caught outside supermarket
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 May — Gaza police on Monday arrested a man they said was attempting to plant an explosive device outside a supermarket in Gaza City. An official from the investigations department said officers received a tip and were able to catch the man in action, but identified the alleged bomber only as H.M. Police said an investigation had been opened
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390252
Unity
Abbas backs unity with Hamas
AFP/Ynet 23 May — Palestinian president responds to Obama’s AIPAC speech, in which he said Fatah-Hamas truce ‘poses obstacle to peace’, by saying ‘Hamas is part of Palestinian society, will take part in democratic game as opposition’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072485,00.html
Abbas: I will navigate Palestinian gov’t
Ynet 23 May — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that both Israel and the United States fail to understand the true meaning of the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation. Abbas’ comments followed US President Barack Obama’s statement that Israel will not be able to negotiate with Hamas as long as it is dedicated to its annihilation. The future Palestinian government, he said, “Will be neither a Fatah government nor a Hamas one. It will operate according to my policy and strategies. “Speaking in a press conference in Amman, following a meeting with King Abdulla II of Jordan, Abbas said that the Palestinian factions were aiming to create a technocracy — a government comprised of independent individuals, who will not include any PLO delegates.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072849,00.html
Egypt: Obama misreading unity deal
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 May — Egypt will counter any external pressure that could endanger the progress of the Palestinian unity process, Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority Yasser Othman said Monday after the US president raised concerns.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390271
PFLP: No candidate chosen to lead new government
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 May — The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Monday denied media reports that PLO factions had agreed on a candidate to lead the interim government. As part of the Palestinian unity deal signed in Cairo earlier this month, PLO parties agreed to form a transitional government of technocrats to prepare for national elections. But factions have not tackled the issue of who will head the new government “at all” in meetings since the signing of the reconciliation agreement, PFLP said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390410
PLO factions to convene in Gaza City
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 May — Palestinian factions will meet in Gaza City on Tuesday to discuss ways to ensure that all parties participate in the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo earlier this month. The factions, operating under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization, will meet at the office of the Arab Liberation Front,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390196
Fatah, Hamas make progress on accord: Russian FM
MOSCOW (AFP) 23 May — Russia said on Monday that rival Palestinian leaders from Fatah and Hamas had further bridged their differences and made progress on the details of a new Palestinian reconciliation accord. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced after talks with visiting Palestinian delegations that Fatah and Hamas representatives had put their names on a new statement detailing the agreement signed in Cairo in early May.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110523/wl_mideast_afp/russiapalestiniansdiplomacy
Political / Diplomatic / International
Obama’s ‘Jewish state’ reference jars Palestinians
AP 23 May — JERUSALEM — U.S.-Israel tension over Barack Obama’s endorsement of Israel’s pre-1967 borders is obscuring a flip side of the Middle East coin: The past days’ speeches by the U.S. president contained difficult challenges for the Palestinians as well … Most difficult for Palestinians is Obama’s call to recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, essentially requiring the Palestinians to accept that most refugees will be denied the “right of return” to what is now Israel. Perhaps for this reason, the Palestinians have remained largely quiet about the substance of Obama’s speeches, seemingly content to watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clash with the U.S. administration over Israel’s future borders. “It’s really premature to jump into any of these details,” said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, when asked by The Associated Press about the demands Obama made of the Palestinians.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110523/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_mideast_jewish_state
Hamas: Let’s discuss 1948 lines
Mahmoud al-Zahar says US president’s plan for Mideast peace similar to that of George Bush. ‘Obama wants to place us within 22% of area of Palestine,’ he says, while Islamic Jihad calls Obama ‘helpless before Zionist lobby’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072740,00.html
Quartet, EU back Obama plan
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 May — Members of the Middle East Quartet and the EU’s foreign policy chief came out in full support of statements made by US President Barack Obama this week, urging Israel and Palestine back into direct talks. The Quartet members, including the US, EU, UN and Russia, issued a statement saying all were “in full agreement about the urgent need to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390191
AIPAC chief: Obama should not be even-handed toward Israel and Palestinians
Haaretz 23 May — AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr said Monday that U.S. President Barack Obama should not take an even-handed approach to the Middle East conflict, as it puts Israel at a disadvantage … “In a world which is demonstrably on the side of the Palestinians and Arabs – where Israel stands virtually alone – the United States has a special role to play,” said the AIPAC director.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/aipac-chief-obama-should-not-be-even-handed-toward-israel-and-palestinians-1.363579
The reader’s guide to peace talks
Ynet 23 May — US President Barack Obama’s Mideast vision uses basic terms which are part of the negotiation’s lingo. Ynet offers a quick guide to the glossary [Ynet’s interpretation, that is]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072671,00.html
Report: Netanyahu phones Egypt’s Tantawi
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 May — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Egypt’s military ruler Muhammad Hussein Tantawi last week, for the first time since the army council took power after Hosni Mubarak was toppled, Israeli media reported Monday. Netanyahu’s office did not give any details of the discussion, Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported, noting that the reported conversation took place ten days after Israeli ministry of defense official Amos Gilad visited Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390321
Report: Fayyad hospitalized after heart attack
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 May — Prime Minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad suffered a heart attack while visiting the US and is recovering in hospital, a spokesman told The Associated Press late Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390497
Shalit family to Congress: Freeze PA funds
Ynet 23 May — Gilad Shalit’s family calls US senators to urge Obama to stop PA, Hamas funds pending his release. ‘The PA is directly responsible for Gilad’s well-being, has clear duty to locate him,’ they wrote
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072890,00.html
Report: Russia warned Israel before expelling attaché
Ynet 23 May — Moscow paper reports Israel received three warnings that Colonel Leiderman was violating Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations before Russia expelled him. In response, Israel vowed he would observe diplomatic law
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072583,00.html
Other news
Sports center to reclaim Hebron Old City
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 23 May — Deep in Hebron’s divided Old City, a sports club will open in June offering residents access to a swimming pool, gymnasium and sports courts, in an effort to bring residents back into the area. Home to 700 Israeli settlers, protected by 1,500 Israeli soldiers and police, the outdoor life of Hebron’s Old City has been stifled for years. Violent assaults from settlers who took over homes in the area drove out shoppers from the once-busy souk, and whole streets were closed down to Palestinians as settlers moved in. With the help of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, and the French sporting federation Fédération Sportive et Gymnique du Travail, groups in Hebron alongside the municipality prepared to open the Tareq Bin Ziad Sports Club. The building — in an area of the city center under Israeli control and amid settler housing — will offer 1,000 square meters of sports space, with a swimming pool, wrestling hall, sauna and steam room to 5,000 young men and women living in the Old City.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390041
Filipina mother of Israeli toddler to be deported despite ministry promises
Haaretz 23 May — Evelyn Belseng had a son with her Israeli husband, who passed away shortly after; she is set to be deported despite declarations by Interior Minister Eli Yishai that she would be allowed to stay.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/filipina-mother-of-israeli-toddler-to-be-deported-despite-ministry-promises-1.363411
Analysis / Opinion
Prepare to be awed!
Friday Lunch Club 23 May — click on The Palestine-Israel border! for an interactive map
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2011/05/prepare-to-be-awed.html
Video — Omar Barghouti: Self-determination, ethical decolonisation and resistance
Toward a Secular Democratic State in Historic Palestine. Omar Barghouti – Introduction by Gilbert Achcar
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/05/omar-barghouti-self-determination.html
Obama to Palestinians: Eh, colonization happens / Yousef Munayyer
23 May — (from Obama’s AIPAC speech) “That’s what mutually agreed-upon swaps means. It is a well-known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation. It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years. It allows the parties themselves to take account of those changes, including the new demographic realities on the ground, and the needs of both sides.” It is hard to tell what is most disturbing about this. There is of course the near vomit-inducing reality that an American President is repeating the narrative of a foreign Prime Minister before a room full of lobbyists who are lobbying for that very Prime Minister’s interests. Then there is the narrative itself. To reduce the conscious and calculated process of colonization in the occupied Palestinian territory, illegal under international law, to the equivalent of moss growing on a tree for a few decades is not only ludicrous and offensive but it is the whitewashing of a crime which Palestinians have been the direct victims of. 500,000 Israelis did not fall to sleep in on one side of the Green Line in places like Tel Aviv only to wake up on the other side in places Kiryat Arba, Ariel, Har Homa and Pisgat Ze’ev. Colonization is not a passive natural process that happens over time, as described by the Israeli Prime Minister before being repeated by the American President. It is a violent and state-driven process which involves breaking international law, dispossessing land owners through the use of force and monopolizing the natural resources of another people.
http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/05/obama-to-palestinians-eh-colonization.html
Netanyahu’s bizarre response to Obama’s Palestinian proposal / Peter Beinart
DailyBeast New York 23 May — President Obama’s parameters for a new round of Mideast peace talks were designed to head off U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state based strictly on 1967 borders—which would be catastrophic for Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu’s immediate rejection of the plan suggests he has no grasp of the real world. A sailor throws a drowning man a life preserver. How dare you, screams the man. Because of you, people are going to think I can’t swim. That about sums up the relationship between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20110523/ts_dailybeast/14280_benjaminnetanyahusbizarreresponsetoobamasproposalfornegotiationswithpalestinians_1
The Israeli reality that Obama doesn’t understand / Merav Michaeli
Haaretz 23 May — “President Obama doesn’t understand the reality,” according to “associates” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke after the meeting between the two leaders … You can’t blame him: It really is impossible to understand this reality. It’s impossible to understand why a country and a people continue to refuse to do the right thing, something that could have been done a long while back, and prefer to continue to bang their heads against the wall until blood flows, with absolutely no logic, literally amok, like someone who has gone insane. It’s hard to understand a reality in which a prime minister sits and, contrary to all logic and every code of conduct, arrogantly lectures his host, the president of the United States. It’s hard to understand a reality in which a day before their scheduled meeting, a prime minister responds to the speech of the U.S. president, who is about to host him, with an announcement that is as good as spitting in his face. So President Obama, here is the reality: The reality is that in the prime minister’s own reality show, he is “the leader of a persecuted people” and he likes being “the leader of a persecuted people.” That is why no reality in the world has ever convinced our leaders to stop being a persecuted nation.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-israeli-reality-that-obama-doesn-t-understand-1.363442
Rightists cause a near-riot during Abdallah Abu Rahmah speech in Paris / Joseph Dana
972mag 22 May — Ethnic violence in France usually causes headlines during Muslim riots on the outskirts of Paris. But on May 5th it was a different story. Far right “pro Israel” activists disrupted a speech by Bil’in’s Abdallah Abu Rahmah and Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS)activist Ronnie Barkan. Members of a Paris based Jewish group claming to be an off shoot of the Jewish Defensive League interrupted Abu Rahmah’s speech with incitement to violence against the Palestinian people. French police were able to intervene and stop any outbreak of physical violence. The second video can’t be embedded in the post, please follow the link to view it
http://972mag.com/rightists-cause-a-near-riot-during-abdallah-abu-rahmah-speech-in-paris/
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