and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Anxiety and fear are the lasting wounds of extremist attack on 11-year-old boy
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 3 June — An 11-year old boy attacked by Israeli extremists on Jerusalem Day, 1 June suffers from severe anxiety following the assault, Silwanic has learnt. Ahmed Abu Maizar had completed an exam and was leaving school with friends minutes before he was accosted by a gang of right-wing extremists near Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Abu Maizar, who holds dual American citizenship and returned to Jerusalem two years ago, says he that was attacked immediately and without provocation. “A punch came at me out of nowhere as I walked along the street,” he told Silwanic. “My mouth was full of blood and I felt dizzy … The police managed to track down the settler responsible, and brought him to the station. “He still had my blood on his hands,” said Abu Maizar … Abu Maizar’s mother told Silwanic that her son has become very afraid of leaving the house alone since the attack.
http://silwanic.net/?p=17802
The war on Silwan’s children
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 3 June — Targeting of Palestinian children by Israeli settlers and armed forces has increased in recent days. Undercover units in particular have been involved in the abduction of children from their homes and playgrounds, some of whom are then brought before Israeli courts and accused of crimes they didn’t commit. False witnesses have testified in some cases … Over 25 Palestinians, most of them minors, have been arrested in Silwan in recent days. Detainees’ families have been denied entry to the interrogation of their children by police, despite the fact that both international and Israeli law rules this illegal. Children as young as 6 years old have been arrested, intimidated and beaten by Israeli forces.
http://silwanic.net/?p=17800
Family gassed as home is hit with gas grenade
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 3 June — Israeli forces fired multiple tear gas grenades inside a Palestinian home in Baten al-Hawa district amidst clashes that swept through Silwan today. The entire Abu Ramuz family was at home at the time of the attack, all of them suffering severe asphyxiation due to gas inhalation. Several young children were amongst the injured.
http://silwanic.net/?p=17828
Israeli forces storm Al-Bustan protest tent, clashes erupt
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 3 June — Undercover Israeli forces infiltrated the Al-Bustan protest tent after Friday prayers today, attempting to arrest children present. The officers were prevented from doing so when confronted by the congregation … A 9-year-old child was assaulted and arrested outside the City of David settlement in Wadi Hilweh district. An Israeli military jeep attempted to run over a group of paramedics and Al-Bustan Popular Committee member Fakhri Abu Diab at the checkpoint outside the settlement.
http://silwanic.net/?p=17825
3 hurt in clash with settlers
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 2 June — Three Palestinians were injured Thursday in clashes after settlers set fire to farmland west of Nablus. Ghassan Doughlas, a Palestinian Authority official in the northern West Bank, said the Palestinians’ injuries were moderate. Settlers blocked a road between Nablus and Qalqiliya and prevented Palestinians from crossing it, he said. As‘ad At-Taweel, 15, Adnan At-Taweel, 35, and Awad At-Taweel, 40, were hospitalized, medics said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393387
Clashes during raid on village near Salfit
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 3 June — Israeli settlers raided a village near Salfit on Wednesday, and soldiers fired live bullets and gas canisters at residents of Yasuf who clashed with the settlers, onlookers said. Abed Ar-Rahman Saleh, head of the village council, said the settlers tried to damage farmland. Four Israeli military jeeps accompanied the settlers and installed a checkpoint, where they checked the IDs of those passing through and fired tear gas canisters at youths who threw stones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393457
Settlers attack Palestinian villagers in Nablus and Ramallah districts
NABLUS, RAMALLAH, (PIC) 3 June — …Hebrew sources said that dozens of settlers from Havat Gilad, which is built on confiscated Palestinian land belonging to the villagers of Kasra and neighbouring villages, attacked Palestinian homes at a late hour Thursday resulting in the injury of two Palestinians who were taken to hospital for treatment. Local sources said that the IOF intervened to protect the settlers and arrested three Palestinian youth who clashed with the attacking settlers. Meanwhile, fanatic Jewish settlers carried out provocative acts on Friday morning in the village of Deir Nitham to the northwest of the southern West Bank city of Ramallah. Locals said that a large number of settlers from Hamlish settlement close to the village are roaming the streets and fields of the village and are provoking the Palestinian villagers by writing racist graffiti and hanging Israeli flags on trees.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Top West Bank police officer: We avoided faceoff with settlers fearing political pressure
Haaretz 3 June — Senior Judea and Samaria District Police officer says decision not to use force in deployment to raze house in illegal outpost of Alei Ain Wednesday made out of concern over political backlash against police.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/top-west-bank-police-officer-we-avoided-faceoff-with-settlers-fearing-political-pressure-1.365622
Activism / Solidarity
Ni‘lin marks anniversary of protester’s death
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 June — Anti-wall protesters in Ni‘lin on Friday marked the second anniversary of the killing of an activist at a demonstration in the village. In June 2009, Israeli soldiers shot Aqel Srour in the chest with live ammunition. He was pronounced dead on arrival to hospital. He was the fifth Ni‘lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces since 2008, when the village began protesting the separation wall. The wall confiscates around one-third of Ni‘lin’s land. Hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis and foreign nationals joined Friday’s demonstration…
Activists in Bil‘in, near Ramallah, said a journalist was injured at the village’s weekly protest. TV correspondent Khaled Mansra was hit in the leg with a tear gas canister, a statement from Bil’in’s popular committee said. The committee said protesters destroyed several meters of the electronic fence, which cuts villagers off from 60 percent of their land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393499
Tear gas fired at West Bank protest
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 June — Israeli forces fired tear gas to disperse Palestinian protesters at an anti-wall demonstration Friday in the central West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, activists said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393454
Popular Committee member harassed, served in midnight military incursion
PSP 3 June — At 2:00 am on Friday, June 3rd, Israeli military forces entered Beit Ommar and made their way to the home of Popular Committee member and PSP coordinator Mousa Abu Maria. When they could not immediately find him, the soldiers woke Abu Maria’s neighbor to direct them. The man refused, but the soldiers took him along anyways until they found the correct door. When Abu Maria opened the door, the soldiers demanded that he strip off his clothes. Abu Maria refused, but the soldiers insisted until he complied. After checking him, the soldiers pushed in and demanded to see his identification card. Abu Maria provided it to them. The soldiers began to hassle Abu Maria, identifying him as “the one who organizes protests every week.” Abu Maria responded that he did not see the problem with that, and again questioned the soldiers’ presence in his village and home. Finally, the soldiers served Abu Maria with a document requiring his presence at a meeting with the head of security in Gush Etzion in three days’ time.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/06/03/popular-committee-member-harassed-served-in-midnight-military-incursion/
Gaza – under siege for 1451 days now
Independents contact Egypt to contain Rafah crisis
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 June — A coalition of independent figures are holding talks with Egypt to overcome obstacles preventing Palestinians from crossing at the Rafah terminal between Egypt and Gaza. The group is asking people to be patient while the Egyptian side resumes operations via the crossing as planned, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the week excluding Fridays and holidays … Representative of Palestine in Cairo Mohammad Arafat said the situation was being handled delicately, following Egyptian insistence that all efforts already made came in the face of immense pressure from Israel and the United States.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393371
Gaza: 13 children return from treatment in Slovenia
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 June — The children were treated under a rehabilitation project initiated by Slovenia’s President Danilo Turk shortly after Israel’s 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip, launched in December 2008. Under the program, children who lost limbs in the attack receive prosthetic limbs at Ljubljana’s Institute for Rehabilitation. Child amputees constantly outgrow their prosthetic limbs and need regular re-fittings. Doctors from Gaza have received specialist training at the Slovenian institute. On Thursday, 14 [more] children left Gaza for treatment in Slovenia.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393504
Israeli navy forces Gazan fishermen to cast nets inland
National 3 June — Bassam El-Najjar once made his living from the seas off Gaza’s coast. For two decades he set out each morning to catch tuna, sardines and mackerel from the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Not any longer. Now El-Najjar drops his nets into a large fish pool dug in the earth of a 0.5 hectare farm near Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip. “The sea is closed,” he says, scooping a handful of pellets and scattering them across the water. Freshwater tilapia come to the surface, swallowing the feed … The pool, which he shares with his brother, produced 350 kilograms of fish this season. However, says El-Najjar, “if the sea was open in front of me, sometimes I could catch that in a day.” From the northern city of Akka near the Lebanese border to Rafah’s port on the edge of Sinai, the sea has been a source of sustenance for Palestinians along this coast for centuries. Many Gazans are descendants of traditional fishing families … Ten years ago, Gaza’s fishermen ventured 20 nautical miles (nm) from shore, as guaranteed under the Oslo Accords.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/israeli-navy-forces-gazan-fishermen-to-cast-nets-inland
Palestinian fishergirl takes up her father’s trade
National 11 May — The distant rumble of gunfire is a familiar interruption to the calm in one of Gaza City’s pleasant beachside hotels. Out at sea, Israeli gunships patrol the Mediterranean, ensuring that Palestinian fishermen don’t stray from a three-mile coastal zone. Sometimes, they shoot to reinforce the point. For Madeleine Kulab, a diminutive 17-year-old Palestinian, the gunships are a daily nuisance. The main breadwinner in a family of six, she goes out every day to bring in a dwindling catch, depleted by overfishing and increasing restrictions … “My daughter,” the Israelis call to her, making out the hijab-clad fishergirl, “get away from here!” “They waste our time by doing this, forcing us to run away all the time,” mutters Madeleine, who bows to local tradition by wearing a modest fawn-coloured smock and a lilac headdress.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/palestinian-fishergirl-takes-up-her-fathers-trade
Gaza border closed
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) – Israeli authorities decided to close the Kerem Shalom border Friday and Saturday [for the Mideast weekend]. Palestinian official Raed Fattuh said the Israeli side would close the border as usual and reopen in Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393408
Detention
Occupation campaign against Palestinian leadership continues
MEMO 2 June — Israel’s occupation forces launched this week an aggressive campaign of arrests targeting a number of Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, particularly members of the Change and Reform Bloc within the Palestinian Legislative Council. Most notably, the Deputy and Former Minister for Transport and Communications, Abdel Rahman Zeidan of Tulkaram and the Deputy for Hebron, Nizar Ramadan, were both detained … Israel is currently holding 16 Palestinian legislatures in detention; 13 of them are from the Change and Reform bloc.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2426-occupation-campaign-against-palestinian-leadership-continues
Israel releases Hamas leader suffering from cancer
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 3 June — Israel has released a Hamas leader from Ofer military detention center because he has cancer, the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs in Gaza said Thursday … Rajoub, from Hebron in the southern West Bank, had spent over 14 years in Israeli detention. The Hamas leader heads the Dura society for orphans. He was among hundreds of Hamas leaders deported to Lebanon by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393341
Rajoub: There are at least 14 dying captives at Ramlah prisont
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 3 June — Yaser al-Rajoub, who was freed from an Israeli occupation jail on Thursday evening, called on human rights organisations to intervene to pressure occupation authorities to free 14 other dying captives at Ramlah prison. Rajoub said, in a statement on Friday, that he saw those captives during his stay at the Ramlah prison from which he was released, stressing that many of those captives are suffering extreme pain and some of them have already ended up in wheelchairs because of their illnesses and lack of medical attention. He said that the sick captives at Ramlah prison suffer kidney problems, diabetes and cancer, among other conditions
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
NAM ministers express concerns about 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons
MEMO 3 June – The final declaration of the Non-Aligned Movements’ Ministerial Conference and Commemorative Meeting on Arab and Palestinian prisoners, which was held in Indonesia and attended by 120 countries, emphasised the impact that the prisoners’ issue has on Palestinian society and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The statement read; “this issue is a central one and a practical and effective benchmark in the construction of a just peace in the region.”
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2432-nam-ministers-express-concerns-about-6000-palestinians-in-israeli-prisons
Palestinian official: Israel, Hamas close to reaching Shalit deal
Haaretz 2 June — Comment by Palestinian envoy to Russia comes amid Hamas reports that the group’s military wing chief Ahmed al-Jabari was in Cairo for Shalit talks.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-official-israel-hamas-close-to-reaching-shalit-deal-1.365604
Naksa Day
Lebanon bans protests at Israel border
TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) 3 June — Lebanon has banned all demonstrations near the Israeli border as the Palestinians gear up to mark 44 years since the seizure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six Day War, a security official told AFP on Friday. “The army has taken the decision to ban any demonstration south of the Litani [river] and particularly at the border,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The army will not allow anyone to approach the border.” … Ahead of Sunday’s anniversary, the Israeli army deployed extra troops along the Lebanese border as well as along the ceasefire lines in the occupied Golan Heights.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393529
March to Lebanon-Israel border canceled
AP 3 June — Palestinian organizers in Lebanon who had planned a march to the border with Israel early next week say they have canceled it. The organizers say that Sunday’s planned march marking the 1967 Arab-Israeli war’s anniversary would be replaced by strikes across all 12 of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. On May 15, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who marched to Israel’s borders with Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. Six people were killed in Lebanon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4077926,00.html
Islamic Jihad holds rally to mark Naksa
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 June — Islamic Jihad supporters held a rally in southern Gaza on Friday to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the Naksa. The Naksa, or ‘setback’, refers to the mass dispossession of Palestinians after the Six Day War of 1967, when Israel’s army occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Demonstrators gathered in Khan Younis after Friday prayers to demand the right to return.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393525
War crimes
Israel accused after boys burned by mystery canister
[with video] Guardian 3 June — Military experts say unidentified devices found in West Bank may have contained outlawed white phosphorus – The Israeli army has been accused of leaving dangerous munitions near Palestinian homes after two boys were seriously burnt when they picked up a mysterious silver canister which exuded toxic white fumes. A second canister, discovered nearby less than a week later, was destroyed by the army in a controlled explosion. The army does not deny leaving the devices, but would not identify them and suggested they were left over after training exercises. But the area where they were found does not feature on an army map of designated training areas and the canisters appeared new and unweathered.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/03/israel-palestinians-west-bank-canister
Politics / Diplomacy / International
Hamas resolves internal feud over talks with Israel
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 June — Hamas has resolved an internal dispute over a speech delivered by Khaled Mashaal in Cairo last month at the signing of a Palestinian unity deal, the party said Thursday. After a two-day meeting in Damascus, Hamas officials affirmed in a statement that Mashaal’s remarks indeed represented the party’s position on the sensitive issue of negotiations with Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393441
Juppe: Paris Mideast peace conference ‘has a chance’
TEL AVIV (AFP) 3 June — French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday that a proposed a Middle East peace conference in Paris next month had “a chance” of taking place.Winding up a 36-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories he met Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Tzipi Livni in Tel Aviv before leaving for home … Earlier on Friday in Jerusalem Juppe met the parents of a Palestinian with French nationality who has been in an Israeli jail for six years over a plot to kill a right-wing Israeli rabbi. The rare gesture by France’s top diplomat came the day after he met the parents of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Palestinian militants in June 2006 and has been held somewhere in Gaza ever since.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393527
French peace plan would require Palestinian recognition of Jewish state
Haaretz 3 June — Peace initiative proposed by French FM Alain Juppe incorporates the position that the goal of negotiations is ‘two states for two peoples,’ not just ‘a two-state solution.’ … This approach is significantly closer to Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as “the nation state of the Jewish people.” Contrary to the international community’s former position, the proposal does not stipulate that Jerusalem would be the capital of both states, but only that the Jerusalem issue would be solved via negotiations.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/french-peace-plan-would-require-palestinian-recognition-of-jewish-state-1.365621
Ex-Mossad chief in eye of storm, again
Ynet 3 June — Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan is in the eye of yet another storm: After stirring controversy by saying that a strike on Iran should only be considered as the last resort, the former head of the Israeli intelligence community said Israel should pursue a peace plan based on the Saudi Peace Initiative.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4077816,00.html
Rahm Emanuel: US does not expect Israel to return to 1967 borders
Haaretz 3 June — U.S. President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff and current Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, attempted to assuage Israeli fears that the U.S. administration expects Israel to return to 1967 borders, clarifying that this was never Obama’s policy, in an op-ed for the Washington Post on Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/rahm-emanuel-u-s-does-not-expect-israel-to-return-to-1967-borders-1.365705
US to offer Turkey role in Mideast talks if it stops Gaza flotilla
Haaretz 3 June — Turkish daily Hurriyet reports U.S. mulling to offer Ankara to host major Israeli-Palestinian peace talks if it mends its ties with Israel and prevents upcoming Gaza-bound flotilla.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-to-offer-turkey-role-in-mideast-talks-if-it-stops-gaza-flotilla-1.365819
Other news
Stars mistaken for enemy aircraft
Ynet 3 June — The security forces’ fear of an infiltration of hostile elements into Israel appears to be so deep, that air traffic controllers recently sent two warplanes and two assault helicopters towards suspicious lights in the sky, which turned out to be… stars.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4077929,00.html
Israel’s largest underground water source discovered near Jerusalem convention center
Haaretz 1 June — A cave discovered during excavation work by Israel Railways in Jerusalem contains the largest and most impressive underground water sources ever discovered in Israel, scholars say … The surveyors said that during their initial exploration, they found water flowing through the cave from northwest to southeast … The cave also has hydrological significance because it is part of the mountain aquifer, an underground reservoir into which rainwater flows from the surface, and that extends all along Israel’s central mountain range, Frumkin says.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-s-largest-underground-water-source-discovered-near-jerusalem-convention-center-1.365216
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
My Gaza refugee camp revisited / Ramzy Baroud
Ma‘an 3 June — “Do you remember Mahmoud?” asked Abu Nidal, my neighbor from nearly 20 years ago, when I lived in Gaza. “Yes, of course, I do,” I answered. I remembered him as yet another trouble-making child among the Nuseirat refugee camp’s numerous rabble-rousers. He was defined by a stream of snot that never seemed to dry. Although loud at times, he had always been helpful and pleasant. But now, unlike so many others who emerged from the camp’s rusty doors and narrow alleyways to greet me after my long absence, Mahmoud was nowhere to be seen. “He is in heaven now,” said Abu Nidal. His voice, which had been so cheerful about my arrival, suddenly became muffled. The years of hurt over the loss of his son had culminated into one moment. He paused and wiped tears.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=393486
Video: The general’s son
Miko Peled is a peace activist who dares to say in public what others still choose to deny. Born in Jerusalem in 1961 into a well known Zionist family, his grandfather, Dr. Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. His Father, Matti Peled, was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Sinai. Miko’s unlikely opinions reflect his father’s legacy. General Peled was a war hero turned peacemaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ZfnpN4Dfc
A UN Secretary General vs. Freedom Flotilla 2 / Richard Falk
AJ 2 June — …In light of these surrounding circumstances, including the failure of Israel to live up to its announced promise after the attack in 2010 to lift the blockade, it shocks our moral and legal sensibilities that the UN Secretary General should be using the authority of his office to persuade member governments to do their best to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2. Ban Ki-moon shamelessly does not even balance such a call, purportedly to prevent the recurrence of violence, by at least sending an equivalent message to Israel insisting that the blockade end and that no force be used in relation to humanitarian initiatives of the sort being planned.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116182039243894.html
