and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Israeli Supreme Court to convene Tuesday over Jerusalem MPs’ banishment case
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 July — The exile-threatened Jerusalem MPs said the Israeli Supreme Court will convene Tuesday to hear their banishment case, amid escalated Israeli action to rid Jerusalem of its Palestinian population and take full control of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the entire city. In a statement, the MPs, who have been seeking asylum at the local Red Cross headquarters after they were ordered out of Jerusalem for over a year, called for lawyers, rights groups, media, and all interested parties to attend the hearing scheduled for 9am, in order to further promote their cause.
In a separate development, on Sunday, the Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and the Director-General of the Israeli Antiquities Authority Shuka Dorfman took a ‘suspicious” tour of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem backed by heavy military and police reinforcements, Al-Aqsa Foundation has reported. The move signaled that Israel has ”something in store” against the mosque, Al-Aqsa Foundation warned.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Negev desert tribes under threat of expulsion
Ibrahim Husseini, Press TV, Araqib 25 July — This week, to mark the one year anniversary of the first mass demolition, volunteers joined the people of Araqeeb in building homes and planting olive trees to demonstrate their resolve to hold on to their land. 15 villages await the same fate of this razed village of Araqeeb, but the Bedouins vow to resist Israel’s attempts to expel them from their land and warn that Israel’s actions amount to ethnic cleansing. [Interviews with Arab MK Talab el-Sane‘e, tribal leader Abu Sayah al-Touri, activists]
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190762.html
IOA decides to raze mosque in Bruqin town
SALFIT (PIC) 25 July — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) ordered for the second time the demolition of Ali Bin Abu Talib Mosque in Bruqin town, west of Salfit city, at the pretext of unlicensed construction. Head of the municipal council in Bruqin Ikrimah Samara said he had received a similar order earlier last month, affirming that the IOA still refuses to approve its suggested structural layout of the town … Two months ago in the same town, the IOA demolished a school for girls whose construction was funded by USAID, although it was licensed and legal.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Palestinian well under threat of demolition
Occupation Magazine 26 July — I write to you on behalf of my company – MADICO, a Palestinian family owned business specialized in the production of Medjoul Dates and located in the occupied Palestinian territories, in Jericho. The reason i write is to ask for your support – or that of someone who might be able to help on the following issue. The Israeli authorities have issued our company with a warning, yesterday morning, to demolish the water well from which we water all of our Palm trees. This decision means destroying 4000 Date Palm trees, 35 jobs and 35 Palestinian families. This although the well is in area A. Also, we started all the required procedures weeks ago and on time, in order to renew the already existing license from both the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities. The Israeli authorities have given us 3 days, starting yesterday, to submit all the necessary documents to stop the destruction of the well, but since the three days happen to be a Thursday, Friday (Palestinian weekend) and a Saturday (Palestinian and Israeli weekend), we find it very difficult to reach anyone or do anything about it. This means that the well might be destroyed on Sunday morning…. Maisa Almanasreh [not dated]
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=47856
Demolished house rebuilt in Al-Walajeh
Al-Walajeh (PNN) 25 July — People gathered in Al-Walajeh village near Bethlehem Saturday night to celebrate the rebuilding of a family’s home that was destroyed by the Israeli army seven years ago … After Awad presented the key to the owner, Attalah Abu Rizeq, people got to look around the newly-built five-room house with a magnificent view of the valley below. Construction on the home began in May and was recently completed by volunteers from the British NGO Amos Trust. The family of seven had been living in a one-bedroom apartment in a refugee camp since their home was demolished … The new home already has a demolition order on it, said Al-Fararja, but they will come back to rebuild it no matter how many times it is destroyed. Sooner or later either us or Israel will have to give up, said Awad, it won’t be us.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10505&Itemid=56
The nightmare of love across Israel’s wall
JERUSALEM (AFP) 25 July — When Sana, who comes from the West Bank city of Hebron, married her Jerusalem-born husband Mohammed 13 years ago, she never imagined their union would lead to a life of fear and hiding … Hassan Jabareen, the founder of Arab-Israeli rights group Adalah, says the situation for people in Sana’s position has worsened dramatically since 2003. “A law was passed that prevents Israeli citizens from living as a family if they marry Palestinians from the occupied territories or citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria or Lebanon,” he explained … The legislation affects two groups: Arab-Israelis married to Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza, and Jerusalem residents who marry spouses without permission to live in the city. In a 2006 report, Israeli rights group B’Tselem found that Israel had refused to process more than 120,000 requests for family reunification. The group accused Israel of using the policy “to prevent the further increase of the Arab population in Israel in order to preserve the Jewish character of the state.” For Sana, the policy has meant missing both happy and sad family moments, including when her mother became sick with the cancer that would eventually kill her.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408155
Settlers
Jewish settlers torch tens of dunums of Palestinian land
NABLUS (PIC) 25 July — Jewish settlers set on fire tens of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land in Surra village, west of Nablus city, on Monday. Israeli occupation forces, for their part, fired teargas and stun grenades at activists who came to protect the farmers, eyewitnesses said, adding that the activists were Jews.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Gaza
‘No excuse to refuse Gaza aid convoy’
PressTV 25 July — The Scottish-to-Gaza aid convoy had received legal permission from all venues to enter Gaza but was rejected entrance at the Rafah crossing, says an activist. An interview with Dr. Hasan Nowarah, peace activist for Justice for Palestine, and member of the Scottish aid convoy
http://www.youtube.com/user/PressTVGlobalNews#p/u/0/RQKNj2zhtZ4
IOF troops comb area in central Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 25 July — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced 400 meters in central Gaza Strip at dawn Monday and leveled and combed [raked?] the area, local sources said. They pointed out that the incursion was near to the Maghazi refugee camp and was accompanied by heavy gunfire, but no casualties were reported. The IOF troops regularly raid Gaza northern and eastern border areas, bulldoze citizens’ land, and fire at farms and neighborhoods in the process.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Gaza families demand right to visit prisoners / Eva Bartlett
EI 25 July — …Gaza families want Israel to respect their right — enshrined in international humanitarian law — to visit their imprisoned family members. This right was taken from Gaza’s families in 2007, after Israeli tank gunner Gilad Shalit was taken by Palestinian resistance fighters from an area along the Gaza-Israel boundary where he was on active duty … “We can’t send letters, we can’t see him, we can’t talk to him,” says Umm Ahmed of her 32-year-old son. Ahmed Abu Ghazi was imprisoned four years ago and sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison. “Because we have no connection with him, every Monday we go to the Red Cross. But nothing changes. Last week we slept outside the Red Cross, waiting for them to help us talk to our sons and daughters,” Umm Ahmed says. “While our sons are in prison, their parents might die without seeing them again.”
http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-families-demand-right-visit-prisoners/10207
Senior IDF officer: Iron Dome averted Israeli offensive on Gaza
Haaretz 25 July — IAF colonel says deployment of the missile defense system this year allowed Israeli leaders to have more options when dealing with the cross-border escalation with Gaza in April … Colonel Shahar Shohat said Iron Dome’s success in intercepting rockets fired from Gaza toward Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon allowed Israeli leaders to have a broader decision space and ultimately decide not to launch another offensive such as Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/senior-idf-officer-iron-dome-averted-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-1.375219
Israeli sources: Arab Spring let Palestinians ramp up Gaza arms smuggling
Haaretz MESS Report — The revolutions in the Arab world, especially the Egyptian security forces’ diminished control in the Sinai, have allowed the Palestinians to exponentially increase their weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip, senior defense officials say. In the past few months, Hamas has acquired improved high-trajectory rockets, ready-made explosive devices, anti-tank missiles and possibly anti-aircraft missiles, the sources told Haaretz. Anti-aircraft missiles could impinge on the unchallenged freedom of Israeli planes and helicopters over Gaza’s skies.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/israeli-sources-arab-spring-let-palestinians-ramp-up-gaza-arms-smuggling-1.375067
80% of Gaza families rely on food aid
PressTV 25 July — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says more than 80 percent of households in the impoverished Gaza Strip rely on food assistance … “We are trying to help those in need. The livelihood of families that do not have income is very difficult. The international community did not help end the siege, so we do this with the help of kind people,” said Adel Rezeq of the Cooperation Without Borders Association. The Cooperation Without Borders Association, which is financed by some locals in the community, provides poor families including the disabled and sick people in Gaza with humanitarian aid.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190644.html
International community to Gaza’s kids: You can’t be free but you can be in the Guinness Book of World Records / Henry Norr
The children of Gaza are on a roll, as far as the Guinness Book of World Records goes. A few days ago, as part of the fifth annual Summer Games organized by UNRWA, 5,922 Gaza kids set a world record for creating the largest-ever hand painting – a 5,620-square-metre mosaic of handprints. Last week 2,011 of them set a world record for the largest number of soccer balls dribbled simultaneously … It’s all very inspiring – further proof of the remarkable resilience the Palestinians have demonstrated for decades. Or, to put it another way, their determination to stay human, in the face of a world that blesses Israel’s denial of their humanity … As the photo below shows, the very governments that have supported and assisted Israel in imposing these conditions boast about their generosity in supporting the Summer Games. Talk about adding insult to injury!
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/international-community-to-gazas-kids-you-cant-be-free-but-you-can-be-in-the-guinness-book-of-world-records.html
Who is the real oppressor of Gaza women’s rights? / Yasmeen El Khoudary
EI 22 July — …The story of our life: the White Man (and Woman) come to Palestine to teach us about our rights, while supporting the very entity that is continuously depriving us of them. In Gaza, add to that blaming the deprivation on the local government, and taking the burden off the real cause of this deprivation: Israel’s siege and occupation … For instance, a few months ago, a ‘unique’ story was covered by several major news agencies that described the harshness of the Hamas regime in Gaza by stating that women in Gaza are not allowed to ride motorcycles … Did any of these media agencies care to ask even as few as ten women in Gaza what they thought of the ‘right’ to drive motorcycles? No, because they know that these women, who really have no time to spare on such needless matters, would have ridiculed them. The women would be more willing to discuss real issues that matter to them, such as women in Israeli jails, poverty, lack of adequate health care, lack of education and job opportunities that are mainly attributable to the Israeli occupation. Instead, international media decide to focus on mundane, yet ‘attractive’ issues that affect very few women in Gaza, but that do a good job in ruining the image of Gaza and of Hamas. Real issues do not matter. Put aside issues that are caused by the occupation — we already know those, we are told. Tell us about problems caused by the Hamas government.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/who-real-oppressor-gaza-womens-rights/10203
Freedom Flotilla II
Video: Activists on board US aid boat to Gaza return
PressTV 25 July — Months of preparation, weeks in limbo and as charged as ever, the passengers of the US boat to Gaza have returned from the flotilla in high spirits. Passengers aboard the Audacity of Hope, a name shared with President Barack Obama’s memoir, recounted their experience aboard the ship as they were held in Greek ports for days on end without the support of the U.S. embassy … Retired CIA officer and boat passenger Ray McGovern discussed information he received from a White House source regarding the U.S. government’s stance on its citizens participating in the flotilla.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190655.html
Otherwise occupied: What lies behind the mask / Amira Hass
Haaretz 25 July — You’ll never know what the omniscient narrator doesn’t want you to know about the Israeli commandos’ takeover of the Dignité al-Karama — Among the things the omniscient narrator omitted was the soldier, apparently the commander, who did not aim his weapon at the activists onboard the Dignité al-Karama. I do not recall if he was carrying a weapon. He probably was. But when his commando boat with its 15 soldiers, weapons drawn and faces covered, approached the yacht, he raised one hand for a few seconds. I could hear the hand’s reassuring words, in Hebrew: There is nothing to worry about. True, the aimed rifles signal violence. And the black masks are ugly and frightening, and the activists will soon be drenched by water cannons, but the orders are not to injure anyone … From up close, the black masks ceased to be frightening and only prompted the question: What are the Israeli naval commandos worried about that they conceal their soldiers’ faces?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/otherwise-occupied-what-lies-behind-the-mask-1.375089
Stay human – the story of Freedom Flotilla 2 – from the Kayaktivists’ perspective / Michael
23 July — …So let me set the scene we have all spent the last 6 to 12 months working and preparing to sail in uncertain water, to put it lightly. We have now just finished four days of training, that involved discussing some pretty heavy scenarios — how we would be boarded — where you wanted to be during the boarding — how long you were prepared to stay in detention before signing the Israeli deportation order admitting you ‘acted illegally’, i.e. that the siege of Gaza and the collective punishment they is enforce is legal. While I know answering these questions pre the event only gave an indication of how you would like to carry it, but speaking personally, it help me solidify a process I had started months before. So you getting the picture, we were up for it, were ready to roll — then we got our first paper cut.
http://occupiedterritories.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/stay-human-the-story-of-freedom-flotilla-2-from-the-kayaktivists-perspective/
Media
VIDEO: The Ritual
Columbia Journalism Review 25 July — A video examination of Israel’s photojournalism apparatus in East Jerusalem and the West Bank — Israel has long been at the epicenter of photojournalism datelines. Today, even during a period of relative calm, the major Western wires — AP, Reuters, AFP, EPA — all have permanent bureaus in the country (population: 7.7 million) and the Palestinian territories. Add in newspapers and broadcast networks, not to mention news services from the Middle East, China, and Russia, and you have a media apparatus for images that rivals any other conflict on the planet. In the absence of any sustained conflict, packs of photojournalists and freelance photographers have taken to covering the so-called “Friday demonstrations” staged weekly by Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank against settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier. Each Friday, Israeli Defence Forces and border police routinely trade tear gas for stones with Palestinian youth, thereby presenting photographers with opportunities for dramatic images. Easily accessible by taxi and safer than an actual conflict zone, these demonstrations have become training grounds (some might say battling grounds) for young conflict photographers.
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_ritual.php
Attacks on press freedom in oPt increase in first half of 2011
Ramallah (PNN) 25 July — The Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedom (MADA) has just disclosed its 6-months report on the situation of the press in the occupied Palestinian territories … From January to June 2011, MADA has monitored 113 violations on the freedom of the press, which is already a higher number of attacks than the observed in previous years. (MADA registered 98 attacks on press freedom in 2010; and 87 in 2009). Out of them, 68 have been committed by the Palestinian Security Services, and 45 by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), being for the first time in over three years that the security services of the West Bank and Gaza outnumber IOF violence against journalists.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10507&Itemid=63
Online debate over Palestinian statehood
Al Jazeera Stream 21 July — In the run-up to a possible UN vote on Palestinian statehood, political jockeying has spilled over into social media … On Twitter, supporters of Palestinian statehood are tweeting using the hashtag #StateofPalestine. User @HamzehLattouf wrote, “My name is Mahzeh and I demand #StateofPalestine to be from the river to the sea!” Egyptian activist Wael Ghomin tweeted, “My name is Wael Ghonim & I strongly demand the recognition of Palestine as an independent country. #StateofPalestine”. On Facebook, multiple pages have been launched in support of the upcoming potential bid. One page, entitled “10 Million signatures for a Palestinian State on September” is collecting signatures to an online petition. Another titled “Support Palestine” has garnered over 8,000 ‘likes’. The Israeli perspective is not going unrepresented in social media either.
http://stream.aljazeera.com/node/10754
The battle over Palestinian statehood moves to YouTube
dpa 25 July — The Palestinians’ chief negotiator and Israel’s deputy foreign minister have been quarreling over an Israeli video posted on YouTube, exchanging angry statements to the media. The presentation by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, posted on the video-sharing website last week, argues that the West Bank is not occupied, but disputed territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/the-battlefield-over-palestinian-statehood-moves-to-youtube-1.375188
Detention
VIDEO: Release of Ashraf al-Khatib from Ofer military prison, 20 July 2011
by Haitham al-Khatib. Nice to see such happiness for a change!
Background: 22 November 2010 | Haitham al-Khatib, Bil’in Popular Committee: On Sunday morning, 30-year-old activist Ashraf al-Khatib turned himself in to Ofer Military Prison after weeks of military and Shebak harassment to his family and the village. The military had been searching for him due to his involvement in weekly demonstrations against the wall and occupation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Dg9t8naaU&feature=digest_mon
Women prisoners tell their stories in ‘Suspended Lives’ / Charlotte Silver
EI 22 July — Thirty-six large photographs depicting former Palestinian women prisoners and their families were hung in Ramallah’s Al Mahatta Gallery earlier this month, accompanied by the photographed subjects’ words inked in Arabic on the gallery’s steel-grey walls. The recorded voices of the former prisoners, interspersed with a haunting melody played on a cello, echoed throughout the small, subterranean gallery. Suspended Lives, a photography exhibition that profiles ten women and their incarceration in Israeli prisons, is part of the UN Women’s project “Palestinian Female Prisoners in Israeli Prison,” which aims to uphold and advocate for the rights of Palestinian female prisoners.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/women-prisoners-tell-their-stories-suspended-lives/10202
62 detainees barred from study
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 July — Israel’s Ashkelon prison has released new rules prohibiting 62 detainees from continuing their studies, the Palestinian detainees center reported Monday. In a statement, the center condemned the new policy that Israel’s prison service has initiated in recent weeks to put pressure on Hamas over a possible prisoner exchange deal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408365
Baraka: Hamas committed to freeing all Palestinian prisoners
BEIRUT (PIC) 25 July — The representative of Hamas in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, has affirmed that his movement was committed to freeing all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli occupation jails with all means available. Baraka, in a statement posted on Hamas’s website on Sunday, said that Hamas prioritizes the question of prisoners in its capacity as its central issue. He said that capturing the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was proof that the movement and its armed wing were working on all tracks to secure the freedom of the Palestinian prisoners.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Political / Diplomatic / International news
Former Israeli diplomats in Washington: 1967 borders are defensible
Haaretz 25 July — A group of former Israeli army officials and diplomats visited Washington Monday, claiming that a peace agreement with the Palestinians is urgent in spite of, and because of, regional turmoil, and that contrary to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims, the 1967 borders are, in fact, defensible. The group visited the White House on Monday and met with the National Security Council Director for Middle East and North Africa Steven Simon, and were to have meetings later in the evening with acting Middle East envoy David Hale and officials at the Pentagon.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-israeli-diplomats-in-washington-1967-borders-are-defensible-1.375235
Israel looking into revoking Oslo accords in response to Palestinian UN bid
Haaretz 25 July — Prime Minister’s Bureau confirmed that the National Security Council is discussing alternatives ahead of September, and would present them to the political echelon for a decision when it is done.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-looking-into-revoking-oslo-accords-in-response-to-palestinian-un-bid-1.375060
Palestinians say Israel’s threat to call off Oslo peace accords ‘not surprising’
RAMALLAH/GAZA (Xinhua) 25 July — The Palestinians said they were not surprised when Israel on Monday threatened to call off Oslo peace accords signed between them in 1993, as Islamic Hamas movement said the Israeli step will be “good news for the Palestinian people.” Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua that the Israeli plan to annul Oslo accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 “was not surprising, because Israel had already annulled it and there is no need for threats to call it off.” … Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, had on Monday said that if Israel executes its threats and annuls Oslo peace accords, it will be pleasant news for the Palestinians. Hamas had opposed the agreement, and carried out several attacks to topple the deal.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/25/c_131008501.htm
Abbas requests Arab League meeting to discuss PA financial crisis
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 25 July — President Mahmoud Abbas requested, in a phone call with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby, a meeting of the Arab League representatives to discuss the acute financial crisis of the Palestinian Authority. The meeting will be attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and headed by Deputy Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Helli, due to el-Araby’s travel outside Egypt.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16793
Release of Palmer report postponed
Ynet 24 July — Jerusalem sources told Ynet Sunday that the Release of the UN’s Palmer report, probing the raid on the first Gaza flotilla, has been postponed to mid-August. The move is said to be in an effort to allow Israel and Turkey more time to reach a compromise as to its phrasing.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4099497,00.html
Turkey threatens diplomatic action pending Israel apology for Gaza flotilla raid
Haaretz 25 July — The Turkish government has formulated a back-up plan that it has threatened to execute should Israel continue to refuse to apologize for the commando raid that killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists aboard the Gaza-bound ship Mavi Marmara in May 2010. This plan includes further downgrading relations with Israel which are already on shaky grounds, according to a report on Monday in the Turkish paper Hurriyet Daily News.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-threatens-diplomatic-action-pending-israel-apology-for-gaza-flotilla-raid-1.375164
Israeli official proposes exchange deal with Egypt
NAZARETH (PIC) 25 July — A senior Israeli official has proposed releasing a number of Egyptian prisoners in return for the freedom of Israeli convicted spy Odeh Tarabin. Ayyub Qarra, the deputy minister for Negev and Galilee development, said that Israel should utilize the arrest of Egyptian infiltrators last week, including three children, to exchange them for Tarabin, who has been in Egyptian jails for the past 11 years. Hebrew media quoted Qarra as voicing that proposal during a visit to the Negev on Sunday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Report: Discord within Fatah over Dahlan scandal
LONDON (Ma‘an) — The court case against ousted Fatah figure Mohammed Dahlan spurred ‘regional sensitivity’ inside Fatah because Dahlan was one of the main representatives of Fatah in Gaza. The majority of Fatah cadres in the Gaza Strip rejected the decision to expel Dahlan while others who are close to him have been arrested in the West Bank, the London-based daily Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408347
Other news
Thailand scrape win, but second leg hope for Palestine still remains
Buri Ram (PNN) 25 July — Thailand recorded a narrow 1:0 win over Palestine at the weekend in the first leg of the Asian World Cup second qualifying round at the l-Mobile stadium, Buri Ram, Thailand. The slender score line leaves much hope for Palestine’s chances of progressing to the next round, with the second leg being played in Al-Ram, Ramallah this Thursday.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10503&Itemid=1
PNN exposes military delegation meeting with community leaders in Bethlehem
Bethlehem/PNN exclusive 25 July — Sources told PNN that an Israeli military delegation from the Army’s Civil Administration visited the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday morning, and met with religious leaders and businessmen to study ways they can liaise with each other and reduce restrictions imposed by the military on the city … Sources told PNN that the visit was organised by the French as they are involved in building the industrial zone in Bethlehem, but the army has created obstacles to it. The industrial zone near Bethlehem is a Palestinian-French co-operation project and lies in close proximity to Israeli settlements and so the army refuses to allow the opening of a road to the new industrial zone.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10504&Itemid=61
Army: Israel nabs boat smuggling arms on Dead Sea
JERUSALEM (AFP) 25 July — The Israeli military and police on Monday captured a boat on the Dead Sea which was trying to smuggle weapons from Jordan, and detained two Palestinians on board, officials said … Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP the boat had come from Jordan and said the two men on board were Bedouin, although he did not say whether they were of Jordanian or Palestinian origin … It was not the first time the army has stopped a boat containing weapons on the Dead Sea, although such attempts are very rare.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408194
Netanyahu cancels Poland visit as housing protests take Israel by storm
Haaretz 15 July — Activists block roads in Jerusalem, Haifa and Be’er Sheva; new initiative calls for a general strike on August 1 to protest high housing prices.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-cancels-poland-visit-as-housing-protests-take-israel-by-storm-1.375185
Analysis / Opinion
Blame politics for the Israeli housing crisis / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 25 July — Do the young people who marched Saturday night from Habima Square need to ask where we, their parents, were when the politicians sold the country out from under them? … Well, my dear Daphni Leef, one of the organizers of the housing protest, it’s not just Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his wild and irresponsible policy, who brought us to this point. It’s also us, your fathers and mothers, who stood on the sidelines … For the past 44 years we have sent our children, and soon our grandchildren, to protect with their bodies a piece of land that is not our own … Because Israel holds on to Yitzhar and Kiryat Arba, at the heart of the occupied territories, it spends more money on security, roads and public relations than it does on housing, education and health. The Haaretz report on the cost of settlements, published in September 2003, showed that the excessive civilian cost of the settlements is at least NIS 2.5 billion annually. The cost of extending the separation fence because of the settlements is expected to cost more than NIS 3 billion. The average military cost of using the Israel Defense Forces to hold the territory stands at NIS 2.5 billion per year.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/blame-politics-for-the-israeli-housing-crisis-1.375094
Israeli left’s awakening too little, too late / Raja Shehadeh
EI 25 July — The strong reaction by left-wing Israelis to the recently passed “boycott law” must have astounded many in the country’s right-wing government and made them wonder why such a strong reaction now. The controversial law penalizes anyone who calls for an economic, academic or cultural boycott of Israel or its West Bank settlements … Now that it has become accepted throughout the world that the presence of Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands occupied in 1967 constitutes the most serious obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state, the left in Israel seems to have woken up from its long slumber. As part of their struggle against the boycott law they have submitted a challenge against its constitutionality to the Israeli high court.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-lefts-awakening-too-little-too-late/10206
The grumpy diplomats of the rogue state / Ilan Pappe
Ei 22 July — The Israeli ambassador to Spain, Raphael Schutz, has just finished his term in Madrid. In an op-ed in Haaretz’s Hebrew edition he summarized what he termed as a very dismal stay and seemed genuinely relieved to leave. This kind of complaint now seems to be the standard farewell letter of all Israeli ambassadors in Western Europe … The civil society struggle in support of Palestinian rights in key European countries has been successful. With few resources, sometimes dependent on the work of very small groups of committed individuals, and aided lately by its biggest asset — the present government of Israel — this campaign has indeed made life quite hellish for every Israeli diplomat in that part of the world.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/grumpy-diplomats-rogue-state/10201
This sick glee in the face of a terrorist attack / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 25 July — Many Israelis find ‘educational’ value in horrifying attacks, as long as they happen to others — Following the terrorist attack in Norway, before the Israeli media had to reluctantly admit it was actually carried out by a Norwegian neo-Nazi (and yesterday 7th Eye, a news watchdog, noted the media, aside from Haaretz, kept its readers in the dark about the killers’ pro-Israeli agenda), the comment section on the internet sites was filled not with expressions of horror and sadness, but with virulent attacks on Muslims and Islam, and a strange and awful sort of glee … But where did the glee come from? It is not new … Much of it stems from the feeling that “now, after a terrorist attack, they will understand how we live, and we’ll see how they’ll deal with it; let’s see them preach to us after suffering a suicide attack.” This sort of sentiment is not at all limited to right-wingers
http://972mag.com/israelis%E2%80%99-perverse-support-of-terrorism/
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