and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Settlers
Jerusalem
Israeli settlers attempt takeover of Jerusalem home
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 June — A Beit Safafa family said several members were brutally beaten by Israeli settlers on Wednesday morning, in an attack that was said to have lasted four hours starting just after midnight. The Zawahra family lives adjacent to an Israeli settler outpost known as Giv’at Hamtous, located in a Palestinian home confiscated through a court process which observers said used spurious documents showing ownership. Akram Zawahra told Ma‘an that shortly after midnight a group of settlers from the home forcibly entered the Zawahra building in what he described as an attempt to take over the home and expand the settlement. The man’s 27-year-old brother was stabbed and later run over by the settlers, causing severe bleeding and a break to his right leg. He was taken to the Makassed Hospital and then was transferred to the Hadassah Hospital for surgery, his brother said. Three other members of the family, including Akram, his wife Alaa and son Farouq were also injured, he said, noting the home sustained damages during the family’s attempt to keep he settlers out. Police arrived at the home hours after the attack began, Akram said, detaining him and three sons, who were all taken to the local police station and interrogated he said. An Israeli police spokesman said he had no knowledge of the incident. Akram said police remain in the home, which is being held pending a review by officers and border police. The neighborhood of Beit Safafa is located within the West Bank, on the eastern side of the 1967 borders, but was illegally annexed as part of Israel’s municipality of Jerusalem in the 1980s.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398929
Video: Children without Jerusalem ID
AIC 22 June — The application for a Jerusalem identification card for seven-month-old Silwan resident Nouralden Abbassi was recently rejected by the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The Ministry argued that because Nouralden’s father Issa is in jail — and he is the only parent who hold Jerusalem residency rights, as Nouralden’s mother has a West Bank only ID — the family should wait until Issa is released (10 years from now) to apply for an ID card. Without an ID card, Nouralden will be unable to go to public school in Jerusalem, receive health insurance and services, and travel freely.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3676-aic-video-children-without-jerusalem-id
Jerusalem baby denied rights by Israeli apartheid / Jillian Kestler-D-Amours
EI 22 June — Smiling and wide-eyed, seven-month-old Nouralden Issa Abbassi is happily getting passed between the arms of his mother, grandmother and uncle in the living room of the Abbassi family home in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. But while the family appears carefree, the reality is that Israel’s decision to deny Nouralden a Jerusalem identification card — and by extension block his right to access public health services and education — has left everyone anxious and concerned for the future.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/jerusalem-baby-denied-rights-israeli-apartheid/10099
Jerusalemite MP Attoun: We will stay in Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 June– Jerusalemite MP Ahmed Attoun has said that the Israeli decision to revoke their residence in Jerusalem and to exile them from their native city was a political decision par excellence with no legal justification. Attoun told the PIC in an interview on Wednesday that he along with MP Mohammed Totah and former Jerusalem minister Khaled Abu Arafa chose to stage a sit-in at the Red Cross headquarters in Jerusalem to abort the Israeli policy of banishing Palestinian national leaders and cadres. He said that the Israeli occupation authority was planning to banish 315 Jerusalemite figures from the holy city but delayed the step following their sit-in.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Night clashes in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 June — Israeli occupation forces fired rubber bullets and gas canisters at Palestinian young men in Silwan town, south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, who responded throwing stones at the soldiers. The clashes on Tuesday night started when an Israeli patrol got near to the sit-in tent in the Bustan suburb and the young men threw stones and empty bottles on it, local sources said, adding that the soldiers summoned reinforcements and fired stun grenades and gas bombs at the youth. The sources said that an Israeli special unit tried to sneak into the Bustan suburb through the northern entrance but was forced to retreat because of the violent confrontations.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2B
Elsewhere
10 wood-coal workshops demolished near Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 22 June — Israeli bulldozers began to remove Wednesday several wood-coal workshops in the Jenin-area town of Barta‘a Ash-Sharqiya, located inside the Green Line but separated from its neighbors by Israel’s separation wall. Along with the destruction of the workshops, Israeli forces confiscated a number of the heavy machinery and industrial equipment on the site, owners said … “They were taken down under pretext that the smoke affects the nearby settlement and that those workshops are not licensed,” Qabha said, estimating damages in the tens of millions of shekels … The demolitions caused fires to break out on some of the properties, Qabaha said and blazed for hours before Palestinian fire crews were permitted access to the area. He added that the tractors of workshop owners Jamal Sharif Amarnah and Yasser Uthman Qabha were confiscated without cause.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398867
Roadblock in Al Jab‘a replaced by gate; Palestinians still shut out
PSP 21 June — In 2002, Israeli military created the illegal roadblock to prevent the villagers of Surif and the villagers of Al Jab‘a to commute back and forth by car. The roadblock consisted of dirt, large stones, at least five massive boulders, and more than nine 2-5 ton concrete slabs and blocks. Presently, Palestinians seeking to reach their village from the neighboring village are forced to approach the barrier by car, unload their goods and crops over the roadblock, and repack them into a car located on the other side of the barrier. While this restriction is extremely difficult to navigate, there are multiple other problems. The barrier is built at the junction of a Palestinian road and a settler-only road leading towards the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, and in the opposite direction towards Bethlehem, Hebron or Jerusalem. This road leads towards many settlements, and it is partially for this reason that Palestinians are prevented from crossing it via car.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/06/21/roadblock-in-al-jaba-replaced-by-gate-palestinians-still-shut-out/
Artas: Roof destroyed on Palestinian farmer’s summer home
CPTnet 20 June — On 17 May 2011, vandals, whom local Palestinians assumed to be settlers from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, destroyed the roof on an agricultural home belonging to the family of Mohammed Saleh Abu Swai. In the summer, Palestinian farmers often sleep in stone houses out in their fields. Abu Swai had come out to his olive orchard two days earlier to fertilize his trees and put the roof on the house. When he returned, he saw that the planks he had laid across his house were broken and up-ended. … Mohammed’s entire family of eleven often stays in his small home located in the middle of the olive orchard. Before this latest destruction of the roof, the military had confiscated much of Mohammed’s land, declaring it state land.
http://cpt.org/cptnet/2011/06/20/artas-roof-destroyed-palestinian-farmer%E2%80%99s-summer-home
Negev land reform to be reviewed
Ynet 22 June — The Negev land reform, which would have seen the Bedouins receive hundreds of thousands of acres of land, will undergo another review and may even be pulled altogether, Ynet learned Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Yaakov Amidror, head of the National Security Council to reexamine the issue
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4085788,00.html
The truth behind another Israeli expulsion trick / Amira Hass
Haaretz 22 June — The artificial division between Areas A, B and C was supposed to be erased from the map, and dropped from the discourse, in 1999. Instead, Israel has sanctified and perpetuated it … what about Area B? Why does Israel insist that drug and weapons trafficking should flourish in an area several dozen meters away from Ma’aleh Adumim and some three kilometers from the Judea and Samaria District police headquarters – both of which sites, as is often forgotten, are violating international law due to their location on the land reserves of Palestinian villages? … Some say the drugs and weapons dealers are collaborators, or potential collaborators, with Israel. This is why the Shin Bet and IDF are not allowing the Palestinian police to take action against them and why, according to them, Israeli security forces immediately find out about any Palestinian attempt to capture them. Some find here a strategic goal: The worse this intolerable situation gets in neighborhoods that are so close to the annexed Jerusalem, the greater the likelihood that the residents will leave and head over to Area A. In other words, it’s just another expulsion trick. Listen to the Palestinians. The subjugated excel at analyzing the implications of their ruler’s actions. And if the Palestinians are wrong, then why will the IDF not let the Palestinian police operate freely?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-truth-behind-another-israeli-expulsion-trick-1.369007
B’Tselem: Sharp increase in home demolitions
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 22 June — In the first six months of 2011, a report from the Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Wednesday, Israeli forces have demolished more homes than in the 12 months of the year before. “Last week alone, 33 residential structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley and southern Hebron hills,” the report said, and cataloged the displacement of 706 individuals, including 341 minors. The report noted that the figures released included only residential structures, and not the dozens of animal shelters, water wells, storage and business structures that were also forcibly taken down.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398937
Human Rights Watch – Israel: Halt home demolitions
Jerusalem 21 June – Israel should end discriminatory policies that have forcibly displaced hundreds of West Bank Palestinian residents from their homes, Human Rights Watch said today. In demolition operations on June 14 and 21, 2011, Israeli authorities displaced more than a hundred residents of three West Bank communities, including women and children, destroying their homes and other structures. Israeli authorities should compensate the residents and provide them with housing, Human Rights Watch said… [see also HRW’s extensive documentation in the report Separate and Unequal ]
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/06/21/israel-halt-home-demolitions
Ben Gurion University invites NGO to enter classrooms, promote Jewish-only settlement in Galilee, Negev
AIC 22 June — Ben Gurion University gave permission to Ayalim, a Zionist and Jewish-only association, to appear before classes in order to encourage Jewish students to settle in the Naqab (Negev) and Galilee, areas with substantial Palestinian and Bedouin-Palestinian populations. University lecturers protest racism
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3673-ben-gurion-university-invites-ngo-to-enter-classrooms-promote-jewish-only-settlement-in-galilee-negev
Activism
Bil‘in demonstrators to take down the Wall
BPC 22 June — After nearly six years of weekly protests, the army began dismantling the Wall in Bil‘in this week … The Bil‘in Popular Committee has declared Friday the 24th to be the last day of the old path of the Barrier on village’s lands, and the beginning of the struggle against the new path. A mass demonstration will march on the Barrier to dismantle it and access the lands sequestered behind it.
https://www.popularstruggle.org/content/bilin-demonstrors-take-down-wall
We will not be uprooted — tree planting in Fasayel, occupied Jordan Valley
JVS 22 June — The community of Fasayal invites you to join them this coming Saturday at 5pm as they put down new roots in the wake of last week’s brutal attempts to ethnically cleanse them from their village. As many of you know, the Israeli Occupation Forces came to the village of Fasayel last Tuesday and demolished 18 homes and 6 other structures. Families in Fasayal have been without shelter, electricity or other basic amenities for nearly a week now, and have received no meaningful support … NGOs with the capacity to provide immediate relief for these families have failed to do so.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=293:we-will-not-be-uprooted-tree-planting-in-fasayel-occupied-jordan-valley&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Israeli forces
Airstrike hits central Gaza overnight
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 22 June — The Israeli military reported Wednesday morning the launch of an airstrike on the central Gaza Strip overnight. The air force targeted a “terror tunnel,” which it said could have been used “to infiltrate into Israel and execute terror attacks.” Medics have not reported injuries. The military said that the strike, the first since early April, was “in response to two Qassam rockets that hit the Eshkol regional council” overnight. Eshkol borders Gaza from the center to the south. The military did not specify where the projectiles landed, and no group in Gaza has claimed to have launched any attack against Israel as of press time.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398733
Israeli army invades multiple towns in the West Bank, resulting in one arrest
IMEMC 22 June — …On Wednesday morning four Palestinian towns: Beit Sahour, Hebron, Jenin and Nablus were invaded by the Israeli military. In Beit Sahour two flying checkpoints were set up, stopping cars and checking IDs. Three armed Israeli military vehicles surrounded Al-Quds Open University, but left without making any arrests. Israeli military forces prevented a Palestinian journalist from taking photographs during the raid.
Israeli forces executed similar military operations in Hebron, searching homes and abducting one civilian. Israeli military forces also performed several paratrooper drills near Doura. Further north, they invaded Nablus and Jenin; however, there were no arrests reported in those areas. An Israeli military spokesman described Wednesday’s military actions as ‘routine’. [‘Cutting the grass’, as Ethan Bronner quoted an Israeli commander as calling them in 2009]
http://www.imemc.org/article/61520
Israeli forces set up flying checkpoints in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 June — Two flying checkpoints were installed by Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem on Wednesday morning, stopping cars and checking ID cards of drivers two kilometers south of the Nativity Church. An Israeli military spokesman said the checkpoints were “routine military activity,” despite a 2009 decision which handed total civil and security control to Palestinian forces in Bethlehem, Nablus and Qalqiliya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398835
Gaza
Gaza adjusts to new crossing rules
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — Crossings officials at Rafah announced that Gaza residents who signed up for travel via the terminal during the second week of June could expect to travel Wednesday, appealing to residents to respect the crossings rules. Head of police department on the crossing Salamah Barakah said that the regular crossing schedule was resuming after a pause Tuesday, which was set aside as a day for pilgrims crossing en route to Saudi Arabia to perform the ‘Umrah pilgrimage. Registration for crossings, the official added, had been closed temporarily, as the thousands applying for passage were processed and allowed through Rafah into Egypt. The ministry said Tuesday that numbers were being curtailed because of Egyptian caps set for maximum daily travelers. He said the interior ministry would announce when the registration process was re-initiated. Once names were being accepted for registration, the official added, the ministry would likely open offices in several districts of Gaza to facilitate the process. Registration offices are expected in Rafah, Khan Younis, as well as in Gaza City and a second office in the north.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398786
Gaza children stage sit-in at Rafah crossing demanding its permanent opening
RAFAH (PIC) 22 June — Dozens of Palestinian children hoisting Egyptian and national flags rallied in front of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday demanding its permanent opening. They carried placards asking the Egyptian ruling military council and foreign ministry to live up to promises and open the terminal without further delay. The children also carried flowers and gave them to Egyptian soldiers manning the border point.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Gazan Formula student team denied UK visas
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June – The British embassy in Amman, Jordan denied Palestinian students visas to UK to compete in the 2011 Formula Student in London. Sources told Ma‘an the denial was due to the fact that the Palestinian Formula Student team did not have an official financer during its stay in London. Formula Student is a student engineering competition to be held in London July 14-17. The contest challenges youngsters from around the world to design, build and race a single-seat racing car from scratch. The source, who spoke to Ma‘an without revealing identity, said the students were shocked especially that they have spent a whole year designing the Formula 1-style car despite all hardships. Students in an UNRWA-run school in the Gaza Strip have built a Formula 1-style race car from mainly recycled parts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398993
Gaza family exiled to Syria and Libya looks back / Rami Almeghari
EI 21 June — Abdelhai al-Khaldi, known as Abu Mahmoud, and his wife Umm Mahmoud are an elderly Palestinian couple who live in a rented apartment in the northern Gaza Strip neighborhood of al-Saftawi. The two had lived in Libya for about 28 years, before returning to Gaza in 1995 along with their eight now adult children … Soon after the [1967] war, al-Khaldi told The Electronic Intifada at his home, “I decided to head for Jordan to complete my education. Upon arriving at the Allenby Bridge between the West Bank and east Jordan, the Israeli authorities seized my [Egyptian-issued] Palestinian ID card along with those of three bus loads of others.” From 1967 and up until the early 1990s, it was relatively easy for Palestinians to travel from Gaza to other parts of Palestine, including the West Bank, a freedom that is unimaginable today as Gaza remains under tight siege. But for the many thousands whose IDs were confiscated by the Israeli authorities, returning home once they had left became all but impossible.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-family-exiled-syria-and-libya-looks-back/10095
Video: Making sand out of ruins
B’Tselem June — Over the past year, B’Tselem has documented eleven cases in which soldiers fired at and wounded Palestinian civilians working in areas near the perimeter fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. In these eleven cases, the gunfire struck civilians who, because of the lack of jobs in the Strip, were compelled to earn a living by collecting building materials for recycling.
http://www.btselem.org/video/2010/06/making-sand-out-ruins
340 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza via Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — Israeli authorities gave permission for 340 truckloads of goods to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after inspecting the pack lists and determining the type and quantity of goods were in line with the Israeli policy of siege on the area. Raed Fattouh, Palestinian liaison official at the crossings, said the goods included eight truckloads of iron pipes for German Development Agency projects, 18 truckloads of cement for various international organizations and 50 truckloads of aggregate for UNRWA-funded projects. [maybe this will fool the world into thinking the flotilla is unnecessary, or so Israel hopes]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398736
Saudis give $70m for Palestinian housing in Gaza
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) 22 June — A U.N. agency aiding Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia is contributing $70 million for new housing units in the Gaza Strip. Israel has authorized construction of the 1,200 new homes and 18 badly needed schools in Gaza, in what would be one of the largest housing projects in the seaside territory in years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110622/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_saudi_palestinians
Flotillas
Savvy flotilla prep in full swing at Athens / Mya Guarnieri
ATHENS, Greece (Ma‘an) 22 June — Non-violence training and anti-sabotage measures are in place for the volunteers, activists and media arriving in Athens as the Freedom Flotilla II prepares to sail to Gaza. In hopes of preventing sabotage which organizers said docked two boats from the 2010 flotilla, the ships for the June voyage have been moored in undisclosed locations, and press members have been asked not to release photographs of the vessels. Upon arrival, those registered to sail to Gaza and attempt to break the Israeli blockade will participate in seminars designed by flotilla organizers on how to handle expected confrontations with Israeli forces when the boats approach the Gaza shore.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398931
Israel’s UN ambassador warns UN chief over planned Gaza flotilla
Haaretz 22 June — Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor calls on international community to do ‘everything in their ability’ to prevent the upcoming Gaza aid flotilla, which is set to sail later this month.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-un-ambassador-warns-un-chief-over-planned-gaza-flotilla-1.369112
Detention
Israeli forces detain Abu Asab
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 June — Israeli forces detained on Tuesday morning the head of Jerusalem detainees’ committee Amjad Abu Asab from Al-Suwaneh in Jerusalem and took him to Al-Maskubieh military camp. In a statement received by Ma‘an the detainees’ center said that the troops detained Abu Asab after raiding his house and taking his computer and cell phone. A detainees’ center lawyer said that Abu Asab is banned from seeing any lawyer until next Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398571
Former child prisoners from Holy Land visit London schools
ICN 22 June — A group of Palestinian schoolchildren are currently on an exchange visit to London. Several of the young teenagers have experienced being in prison, and having their homes broken into by the Israeli Army. La Sainte Union and Maria Fidelis are among the nine schools hosting the visit … Last night three young people (pictured) spoke at a meeting in Kentish Town library about their experiences of having their homes broken into in the early hours of the morning and being arrested themselves, or seeing their brothers, as young as 13, being handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away for interrogation. In each case the boys report being repeatedly beaten and kept awake for hours under bright lights.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=18472
4 on hunger strike in Israel’s Ramon prison
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 June — The Ramallah Prisoners Society said Wednesday that four Palestinians detained in Israel’s Ramon prison had begun a hunger strike earlier in the week, demanding to be let out of their cells. The strike, which was said to have begun Saturday, was initiated after prison guards in Ramon had refused to allow the men out of their cells for showers, exercise or sunlight from the time they were transferred to the institution on June 13.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398862
Palestinian girl seeks father’s release from Israeli jail
RAMALLAH (Arab News) 22 June: The daughter of jailed Palestinian prisoner Atif Wraidat on Tuesday urged the international human rights organizations to pressure Israel to release her father. “My father is dying and we are dying with him every day,” the nine-year-old Karin said during a joint press conference with Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Issa Qaraqi‘ and the head of Palestinian Prisoners Club (Nadi Al-Asir) Qaddoura Faris in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Wraidat’s hunger strike entered the 11th day on Tuesday. He went on hunger strike to protest his solitary confinement in the Israeli prison of Asqalan (Shikma). Karin said her father has been “suffering from several diseases,” adding that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) “barred him from receiving proper medical treatment.”
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article459094.ece
Detainee marks 32 years in Israeli prison
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — The Ministry of Prisoners Affairs in Gaza marked Wednesday the 32nd year in prison of a Ramallah native, commenting in a statement that Fakhri Asfour Al-Barghouti, at 57, is the second oldest Palestinian in Israeli custody. Al-Barghoughi was detained in 1978 and sentenced to a life term in prison, on charges of assisting in the organization of the killing of an Israeli soldier. He has two children, who the ministry said he got to know in prison, after they were detained by Israeli forces after the millennium.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398790
Fatah, Hamas exchange names of political appointees
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — Ashraf Jom‘a, member of the Fatah delegation in Cairo, said Wednesday that Hamas and Fatah exchanged lists of names of affiliates they consider to be political detainees, during a meeting one week earlier. The official said that the exchange was progress on the unity agreement, which stipulated that a committee be formed to deal with the lists, and determine in a fair manner which individuals were held for political reasons and should be released.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398912
Political / Diplomatic / International
EU convenes Quartet over peace process
BELGIUM, Brussels (Ma‘an) 22 June — The Middle East Quartet will meet under EU chairmanship Friday, and will be asked to formulate a framework agreement for peace talks, which will persuade Israeli and Palestinian negotiators back to the table.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398782
US envoy Ross: Bold steps must be taken to keep Israel Jewish and democratic
Haaretz 22 June …Speaking at the Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, Ross said the greatest danger Israel faces today is sitting aside and waiting for something to happen. In order to stop the delegitimization of Israel in the world, Ross said that Israel must return to the negotiating table.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-envoy-ross-bold-steps-must-be-taken-to-keep-israel-jewish-and-democratic-1.369093
Palestinian official: Violent uprising not planned
SFEX 22 June — …”Israel was established by a U.N. resolution in 1947. I think our right is to go to the U.N. and ask them to implement the other birth certificate for the other state,” said Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub. Rajoub, a former head of Palestinian security, indicated to the Israeli audience that the Palestinians will not insist on a physical right of return for refugees and their descendants from the war that followed Israel’s creation — millions of people — and will not seek a violent third uprising. He said violence was “not on our schedule.” … “We are not looking to make a drastic demographic change in the society of the state of Israel,” Rajoub said.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/06/palestinian-official-violent-uprising-not-planned
GOP senators urge suspending aid to PA
JJ 2 June — Republican senators urged President Obama to suspend U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas recognizes Israel and renounces terrorism. Republican Sens. John Boozman (Ark.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.), in association with the Zionist Organization of America, organized a letter to the president signed by 16 U.S. senators.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/gop_senators_urge_suspending_aid_to_pa_20110622/
Loh: Abbas, Mash‘al to meet within days
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 June — President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader-in-exile Khalid Mash‘al will meet in the next few days, Fatah national relations official Diab Al-Loh announced. Postponing the meeting was because of some changes that occurred on the president’s agenda, Al-Loh said Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398664
Mishaal confers with Turkish FM, other officials
ISTANBUL (PIC) 22 June — Hamas political bureau chairman Khaled Mishaal conferred in Istanbul on Wednesday with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and other officials soon after his arrival. A senior diplomat told the AFP that Mishaal discussed with the Turkish officials the Palestinian reconciliation agreement and Palestinian and regional developments. He said that the Hamas leader would leave Turkey later today. The NTV station said that Mishaal’s visit coincides with that of PA chief and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas to Turkey. However, there is no scheduled meeting between the two, it added.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Fayyad: I will not obstruct unity deal
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 June — Prime Minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad assured Tuesday evening that he “can’t and won’t be an obstacle to Palestinian reconciliation.” Following speculation he would publicly refuse the post of prime minister in the new transitional unity government being negotiated by Hamas and Fatah, his words fell short of the declaration, saying “I shall support to the best of my abilities any candidate Palestinian parties agree upon.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398744
Iran likely opening of embassy in Gaza, lawful
ABNA 22 June — Dean of the Faculty of Law in Tehran University welcomed the idea of Iran’s establishing a diplomatic office in Gaza, saying that it was fully legal for Iran to establish an embassy in Gaza … He noted however that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were under Israeli siege, making it difficult for Iran to establish a diplomatic office there.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=248716
Other news
Egypt-Israel gas deal exposed
Al Jazeera 22 June — An Egyptian government document obtained by Al Jazeera shows the origins of the controversial natural gas deal between Egypt and Israel. The document (pdf) is printed on Egyptian petroleum ministry letterhead and dated January 26, 2004. It empowers East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) to export Egyptian gas “in the Mediterranean region and Europe.” It specifically mentions the Israeli Electric Company as a customer.
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/06/2011621172857174355.html
MKs to Pollard: We’re sorry
Ynet 22 June — Knesset members send letter to Jonathan Pollard to express condolences over his father’s death, apologize for failure to secure his release … Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Pollard affair in a video posted on YouTube where he replied to questions from Israeli citizens. “What happened with Pollard is a tragedy. The State of Israel erred and should not have used agents in the US,” Netanyahu said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4085954,00.html
Nationwide emergency drill peaks
Ynet 22 June — Week-long Home Front Command emergency exercise to reach pinnacle point with two nationwide air raid sirens, drills simulating simultaneous mass-casualty events
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4085537,00.html
Erez Efrati says mistook his victim for ‘terrorist’
Ynet 22 June — Former IDF chief bodyguard convicted of attempted sodomy spins yet another story, claims he thought woman he attacked was a ‘terrorist’ causing him to ‘revert to military mode’ [Oh, so that’s what he did in the army?]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4085658,00.html
US takes on illegal Israeli kiosk workers
US authorities have decided to take a stand against the popular phenomenon of foreigners, mostly Israelis, working illegally in kiosks and stands located in American shopping malls. The US Consulate in Tel Aviv published a YouTube video to discourage young Israelis fresh out of their army service from coming to work illegally across America by telling the tales of those captured by US authorities, questioned and deported from country.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4085720,00.html
Analysis / Opinion
Political art at its worst / Sam Bahour
PalChron 21 June — For anyone closely following the Palestinian-Israeli issue, nothing is more insulting than the world’s political players peddling another peace initiative, crusaded as the ultimate formula to extract the conflict from its current abyss … The collective global memory seems to be in deep amnesia. We have been here before — at a point where half-baked initiatives and resolutions, non-compliant with international law and absent of any sense of historical justice, were touted as “the right formula.”
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16932
Palestinian Gandhis Part III: Activism begins at home / Yousef Munayyer
22 June — The third installment in our “Palestinian Gandhi” series highlights the work of longtime Palestinian activist Mona Al-Farra. Al-Farra, a life-long Gaza resident, is interviewed below. Pam Bailey provides this introduction: …A physician by training and a human and women’s rights activist by practice, she is a native Gazan, born in Khan Younis, in the southern stretch of the Strip. Mona was transformed into an activist at the young age of 13, during the 1967 (“Six Day”) war. She and her family hid in the basement of their home for about five days, then came face to face with Israelis for the first time – but as occupiers. From that day on, she joined the demonstrations protesting the occupation. The war had another effect – it decided her career. Mona decided to go to medical school because of what she saw during the war
http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/06/palestinian-gandhis-part-iii-activism.html
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