and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
UN OCHA: Settlements expand, while Area C is bulldozed
RAMALLAH (IRIN) 17 Aug — Each year, hundreds of Palestinians in Area C have their homes demolished by the Israeli authorities because they are unable to obtain permits for their buildings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Area C covers 60 percent of the West Bank with a Palestinian population of about 150,000. Israel retains military authority and full control over building and planning in Area C: as much as 70 percent of it is inaccessible to Palestinians, classified as Israeli settlement areas, firing zones, or nature reserves. In the remaining 30 percent there are a number of other restrictions that reduce the possibility for Palestinians to obtain a building permit, reports OCHA. In practice, Palestinian construction is normally permitted only within the boundaries of a plan approved by the Israeli Civil Administration, which covers less than 1 percent of Area C, much of which is already built-up, according to OCHA. Many Palestinians living in Area C are left with no choice other than to build without a permit.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=93522
Neve Daniel municipality secretly expanding settlement by night
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Aug — The municipal council of the Israeli Neve Daniel settlement west of Bethlehem has been taking advantage of the Ramadan season to expand the illegal settlement founded on the land of the nearby Palestinian village of Al-Khadr. As Palestinian Muslims break fast at sunset, the municipality brings out its bulldozers to carry out wide-ranging excavations on a 300-dunum (1 Dunum= 1000 square meters) area known as Ayn al-Qissis throughout the night. The night digging has been going on for four days in an area barren of a Palestinian population, said Ahmed Salah, the coordinator for the local anti-settlement committee. He added that a number of local farmers related that when they go to tend to their farms, they have spotted damage caused by bulldozers. They said they have not seen related activity during the daytime.Salah confirmed that a delegation from the anti-settlement committee later investigated and found that digging was actually taking place, and that roads were being etched bridging between the area and Neve Daniel. The bulldozers dug in a way that blocked farmers from having access to their land
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7mZfB%2fSFRZVKQFyaC3UFJnvL8HpqDMjtCELzLzfdqTkGZEO0NxLdon%2fzN9ra6zNvw5PI%2bgXd9FGcdDIrQQHn0WsiFB%2bgSa1%2bOBbtCFPwN0HE%3d
EU condemns ongoing closure of East Jerusalem institutions
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — The EU released a statement Wednesday condemning a decision by Israel to extend the closure of the Orient House and Chamber of Commerce in East Jerusalem. “The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah deeply regret the recent Israeli decision extending once again the closure order against the Orient House and the Chamber of Commerce of East Jerusalem,” a statement said. “These institutions have now been closed for ten years. The EU firmly believes that these institutions should be allowed to re-open and resume their operations as focal points for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, as required under the Roadmap.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413946
Israel-Palestinian conflict writ large on road signs
BBC 16 Aug — The increasingly heated dispute over place names in Israel underlies a much greater political struggle, the BBC’s Yolande Knell explains from Jerusalem — “Where are you going?” asked the friendly, but slightly over-familiar, Jewish-Israeli boy sitting next to me on the plane from London. “I work in Jerusalem,” I replied. His smile instantly turned to a scowl. “It’s not Jerusalem,” he said. “It’s Yerushalayim” … Ms Hotovely has introduced a bill that would require different neighbourhoods to be identified by their Hebrew names only – on signposts, official documents and in state media. She sees it as part of the wider battle for Jerusalem – which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital. Names are “very powerful symbols” she tells me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14515035
IOF troops deploy in Silwan to search for weapons, find nothing
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Aug — Israeli troops and special forces backed by choppers stormed the Silwan town, south of occupied Jerusalem, on Wednesday and were deployed in Batn Al-Hawa and Ein Bir Ayub suburbs, local sources said. They said that tension ran high in the town as they feared a wave of demolition of local homes in the process. Fakhri Abu Diab, a member of the committee defending the land of Silwan, said that Israeli soldiers occupied rooftops of Palestinian homes in Silwan and deployed large numbers of forces at the entrances to the town and inside its suburbs. The Israeli army command claimed that the operation was meant to search for weapons but did not declare finding any. Local sources in Bustan suburb reported that the soldiers barged into the sit-in tent pitched to protest land and property confiscation on part of the Israeli occupation authority and used hounds in searching homes in the company of intelligence elements.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7W%2bCDBsFHf0a3bm5xs1%2bO8%2fMZnnZEFHPjmqaT9qCEZWxo7faozhr217OuZtGCiwspFtU%2fT28IpcOZuiI4e9TXyk6%2baRfKQ%2bZdsRcmY5OBWpk%3d
PA condemns conference hosted by hard-line rabbi
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — The Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli government on Wednesday for allowing a conference hosted by a hard-line Rabbi to take place Tuesday in the Pisgat Zeev settlement in East Jerusalem. “The Israeli authorities’ ongoing and consistent tolerance towards hate speech and incitement against Palestinians leads to actions,” director of the PA’s media center Ghassan Khatib said Wednesday. The conference was hosted by Rabbi Yitzshak Shapiro, a co-author of the notoriously racist “King’s Torah”, and called for halting construction of a Palestinian school in between Pisgat Zeev and Nabi Taakov settlements in East Jerusalem, as well as preventing Jewish girls from dating Arab men. In addition, the conference demanded that the Jerusalem light railway project should be banned from passing through Palestinian neighborhoods, a PA statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413931
Jerusalem’s long-awaited light railway splits opinion / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 17 Aug — Some critics say project’s completion is latest example of tightening Israeli grip on Arab east of city — After a decade of disruption, missed deadlines, bust budgets and a clamour of criticism, the first passengers will on Friday step aboard the sleek silver carriages of Jerusalem‘s long-awaited light railway. The project’s many critics include those who believe that, in a city with a long history of bombings, the new light railway is vulnerable to attack. There are others who claim it is the latest example of the tightening Israeli grip on the Arab east of the city, part of an attempt to create an indivisible Jerusalem.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/17/jerusalem-light-railway-opinion
I watch as Jewish settlements engulf East Jerusalem / Anees of Jerusalem
Maps.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/08/i-watch-as-jewish-settlements-engulf-east-jerusalem.html
Israel threatens 384 Jerusalemite figures with exile
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 18 Aug — Palestinian lawmakers and activists in the occupied city of Jerusalem revealed Israeli intents to exile 384 Jerusalemite figures at the pretext of their activities against the occupation in the holy city. The Israeli intelligence summoned lately those figures at different times and threatened them with expulsion from Jerusalem next September if they did not change their positions and stop their political activities against the occupation. Foreign diplomats and human rights activists in the holy city affirmed that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) prepared a list of 384 noted names from Jerusalem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7c%2frN5hkCUl5LfuVH%2fPFH2UDwFPvTJsh5x%2bZmYTpR3BFwLVLb1y3jrDov95XH5sU8zMZcxYKqhKuTy77tU6rzobNdhTi3CBuq5SgaGaJRpt0%3d
One man’s stand against an Israeli settlement / Matthew Kalman
Independent 18 Aug — Matthew Kalman reports from Jerusalem on a Palestinian farmer’s extraordinary story — Said Ayid was born under the British Mandate, grew up in Jordan, raised his eight children under Israeli occupation and now lives on the edge of a sprawling new Israeli neighbourhood under the token protection of the Palestinian Authority. But throughout those 73 years he has not moved an inch. Two weeks ago, the Israeli government announced the addition of 930 new units in Har Homa, the new neighbourhood built in the past decade on the adjacent hillside south of Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967. That number might have been higher, but Mr Ayid’s tiny farm is the next parcel in line and he refuses to sell.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/one-mans-stand-against-an-israeli-settlement-2339644.html
Occupy, colonize, exploit: the economic uses of the separation barrier
Occ. Pal. 19 Aug — In the occupied territories people are divided into two groups — masters and natives. The masters in the settlements have a certain law, Israeli, and they are subject to Israeli courts — outside of Israel. They are an enclave floating over the occupied West Bank. So what happens when the Palestinian natives work for the masters in the settlements? Ostensibly, Israeli labor laws — such as they are — should apply to them: they must pay the minimum wage and respect some rights. But the employing masters in the settlements don’t want that: a native is a native, and his price — the price of a native. 90 NIS (=$25) a day, 120 NIS ($34) a day: that’s how much is paid for hard work in the Solor gas industries factory. And the natives work. They work with hazardous materials – they work with bromide but without gas masks; in the paint department they work without ventilation and with deafening noise — and they pay for this with serious damage to their health. All this has been documented by our friends in “Kav L’Oved” who have been accompanying the worker’s struggles for their rights here and in other settlements in the West Bank for years. On October 19, 2010, the workers went on strike.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/occupy-colonize-exploit-the-economic-uses-of-the-separation-barrier/
Israeli forces
PCHR weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory 11-17 August
18 Aug — IOF killed two Palestinians, including a mentally disabled child in the Gaza Strip.
4 Palestinians, including a child, were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian child was injured by the explosion of a suspicious object in the West Bank. Israeli warplanes bombarded a number of targets in the Gaza Strip. IOF continued to attack Palestinian fishermen and fishing boats in the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian fisherman was wounded in the northern Gaza Strip. IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. Dozens of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 10 Palestinian civilians.
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7655
Al Khalil (Hebron): Two goats killed after Israeli soldiers attack Palestinian shepherd in Bani Na‘im
[photos] Christian Peacemaker Teams 15 Aug — At 6:30 p.m. on 14 August 2011, Israeli soldiers attacked a Palestinian shepherd and his two sons in Bani Na‘im, east of Hebron, chasing the shepherd off his land and causing the death of two goats. Noah Al-Rajabi, the shepherd, told international observers from Christian Peacemaker Teams that he was milking his goats with his nine and eleven-year-old sons when six Israeli army jeeps pulled over on the nearby road. Soldiers exited the Jeeps and ordered Al-Rajabi to come speak with them. When Al-Rajabi replied that he was unable to do so because he was busy milking his goats, the soldiers approached him, yelling threats and firing live ammunition. Al-Rajabi fled the area to safety. However, the soldiers’ aggressive actions caused Al-Rajabi’s goats to panic and run towards their pen. In the confusion, two goats were trampled and killed. After Al-Rajabi escaped, the soldiers approached his two sons and asked where their father was. When the children replied that their father had left the area, the soldiers threatened to come back in the night to arrest their father. Israeli settlers and soldiers frequently harass the Al-Rajabi family. Earlier on 14 August, the Israeli military erected a new tent near the family’s property. One week earlier, settlers stole a goat and a horse from the family. The animals were later returned, but the thieves had painted the horse.
http://cpt.org/cptnet/2011/08/15/al-khalil-hebron-two-goats-killed-after-israeli-soldiers-attack-palestinian-shephe
IOF launches arrest sweep, burns farmland in Jenin vicinity
JENIN (PIC) 17 Aug — Israeli occupation forces launched wide-ranging arrest sweeps around the West Bank city of Jenin, and burned dozens of dunams of farmland west of the city. Witnesses said several patrols raided Kafr Rai village south of Jenin and deployed throughout the streets. The home of 16-year-old Bilal Nabil Jawabira, 16, was searched in the operation. The sources added the soldiers set up ambushes in the local cemetery, in the olive groves, and on the rooftops of nearby homes. IOF troops raided several other villages in the area with patrols that went on until early morning without report of arrest.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers set fire to dozens of dunums (1 Dunum= 1000 square meters, 1/4 acre) of olive groves and almond fields causing heavy damage in the village of East Barta‘a in the southern region of Jenin governorate. Locals said troops posted at the Barta‘a checkpoint stopped fire vehicles from Jenin’s civil defense service from arriving to fight the blaze.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vTmZDG2w%2f13DwP2Sh28ryNlGBynJZ5vkJoCwDD%2fT3GqyCY4qMtQ38Lflix0OABCuHqxoNWjdbLBdC2aWLoqNFrhPCvmVzMi%2bourpIU%2fTc2w%3d
Israeli guards fire at Palestinian farmers in Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 17 Aug — Israeli guards at Beit Ein settlement, constructed on Palestinian land belonging to Beit Ummar, a village north of Hebron, Wednesday shot at Palestinian farmers to drive them out of their land adjacent to the settlement. Spokesman of the National Committee against the Wall and Settlements, Mohammad Awad, said that Beit Ein security guards fired at Palestinian farmers who were working in their land near to the settlement. In a related matter, witnesses said that Israeli soldiers stationed at Beit Ummar’s entrance destroyed Palestinians’ vehicles which were present at the site.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17026
75-year-old woman shot in Johr al-Dik
ISM 16 Aug — Selma Al Sawarka, or Um Ahmad, is an active woman, a mother of seven, and a grandmother of 35, who has never quit working. August 10, 2011 dawned like most days do for her; she went out to graze her family’s goats. She took her neighbor with her, 15 year old Keefa Al Bahabsa. They went to the same land they usually go to. At 9:30 that morning they saw an Israeli tank and an Israeli jeep near the border. Not an uncommon sight. The tank and jeep left. About 30 minutes later, the jeep returned, three soldiers got out, and opened fire on Um Ahmed and Keefa. Um Ahmed was shot in the leg, Keefa fled to get help. The soldiers also shot ten of the families’ goats. Um Ahmed is used to being shot at by the Israelis as her land is only 600 meters from the border. Usually, she says, the soldiers shoot around her, or into the air, trying to drive her from her land; she doesn’t know why today was different, why they shot directly at her, why they shot her in the leg. Her scarf also has bullet holes in it; only through the grace of God is she still here.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/19809/
Palestinian hit by Israel police jeep dies
JERUSALEM (AFP) 17 Aug — A Palestinian pedestrian was killed overnight when an Israeli border police jeep hit him in an East Jerusalem suburb, the man’s family and a border police spokesman told AFP on Wednesday. The victim, 38-year-old Amin Talab Dabash, was hit by the jeep as it drove through an area near the Jewish settlement neighborhood of Har Homa in annexed East Jerusalem. Border police spokesman Shai Hachimi told AFP that Dabash died in a traffic accident in a badly-lit area … Hachimi said an investigation had been opened. The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds said an ambulance rushed to the scene but Dabash died almost immediately. At his funeral, which was held overnight in the Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher, Dabash’s relatives accused the border police of having deliberately killed him, though they gave no specific details. Around 1,000 people attended the funeral, chanting slogans against Israel and waving Palestinian flags and the yellow banner of Fatah, the political movement headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413927
Amid row over IDF funding, military to redirect budget to weapons development
Haaretz 17 Aug — The wave of social protests sweeping Israel pushed the treasury into a clash with the military over spending this week. The Finance Ministry demanded cuts to career army staffing levels. The Defense Ministry on Tuesday published an unusually harsh response to these demands. The statement reads “Treasury officials have proved that they don’t understand economics, society or defense … The statement adds that the IDF five-year plan, now in the approval process, already includes reducing the number of career army personnel by 5 percent. The goal is not to reduce defense spending, but to use the savings for other purposes, particularly developing and acquiring new weapons, as the 2007 Brodet Commission on defense spending recommended.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/amid-row-over-idf-funding-military-to-redirect-budget-to-weapons-development-1.378978
Eilat and Gaza attacks
Coordinated attacks in south kill 8
[good summary of events so far and more — an Israeli point of view of course] Haaretz 19 Aug 00:50 — Eight Israelis were killed and 30 more wounded during a well-planned terror attack along the Israeli-Egyptian border Thursday. The attack was planned in the Gaza Strip by the Popular Resistance Committees and perpetrated by terrorists who crossed from Gaza into Sinai via smuggling tunnels. They then traveled some 200 kilometers to reach an area of the border protected only by a tattered wire fence, about 15 kilometers north of Eilat. Israeli forces killed five of the terrorists, and Egyptian soldiers reportedly killed two more. But the Israel Defense Forces estimates that 15 to 20 participated in the attack, meaning most escaped. IDF officials believe the goal of the attack was to kidnap a soldier. The IDF had previously responded to warnings of a planned attack, beefing up its forces in the area.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/coordinated-attacks-in-south-kill-8-1.379428
Hamas denies responsibility for attack near Eilat
GAZA (PIC) 18 Aug 18:55 — Hamas denied responsibility for the attack on two Israeli buses, carrying soldiers, near Eilat on Thursday morning that left seven killed and 20 others wounded. The movement said in a statement that it was not her policy to use lands of other countries to launch attacks on Israeli targets. Israel said that the attackers came from Gaza via the Egyptian territory. Hamas, however, said that it would be at the forefront of defenders of Gaza in the event Israel ventured to attack it as threatened by its war minister Ehud Barak.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7qryFMTVYkqphQKhBlf%2bAS2ZDe8bD937QGhIejRe43tddKwDZfWgTllqL5q3OGjEaMsWeP1jlsR%2ffQAUHyCQZqwNUuyLo7CnEnm5owQRkiBg%3d
Egypt closes Rafah crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Aug 18:58 — The interior ministry in the Gaza Strip said Thursday that Egyptian authorities have closed the Rafah crossing amid a sharp increase in violence in Gaza and southern Israel. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414226
Army bombards Rafah killing six Palestinians; child killed in Gaza City
IMEMC 18 Aug 20:51 — Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Thursday evening that six Palestinians, including a senior resistance leader, and a child, were killed when the Israeli Air Force fired missiles into a home in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. A child was also killed and five residents were injured when the army bombarded Gaza City. The sources stated that the Israeli Air Force fired a missile at the house of one of the leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees in Al Sho’outh neighborhood in Rafah, killing six Palestinians. Three of them are leaders of the Popular Resistance committees, while one of the three was identified as Awad An-Nairab, the Secretary-General of the Committees. Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Emergency and Medical Services in Gaza, reported that the bodies of four of the slain residents were severely mutilated due to the blast, and that one of them is a 2-year-old child. Besides An-Nairab, the slain residents were identified as Imad Hammad, leader of the Salah Ed-Deen Brigades, Khaled Shaath, and his son Malak, 2 years old, Imad Nassr, and Khaled Al Masry. In another Israeli military escalation, a 13-year-old child was killed, and 18 other civilians were injured when the army bombarded several areas in northern Gaza and in Gaza City. The child was identified as Mahmoud Abu Samra. [Photo of Mahmoud in school] Children and women were among the wounded; they were all moved to the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61854
Video of Gazans carrying victims to ambulances amid fire and wreckage from bombing 18 Aug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdPLmjA3pL4&feature=channel_video_title
Initial photos of the bombing in Gaza tonight
uploaded about 5am 19 Aug — Muaz Khaled — These photos of the Israeli bombing of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip — 1 child was killed more than 15 injured
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.143940412361477.36940.100002365566031
Victims of Israeli strike on Gaza – in pictures
[WARNING: graphic!] Uruknet 18 Aug — Six Palestinians were killed and two injured on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike, targeting a house in Al- Shauth, a neighborhood in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses. Medical sources said that six Palestinians arrived to Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital dead; bodies of four of them were torn into pieces.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=80602
Egypt: Israeli rocket kills 3 policemen
EILAT, Israel (AFP) 19 Aug 03:52 — Three Egyptian policemen have been killed after an Israeli plane fired a rocket near the border at militants it was tracking following earlier attacks, security officials said Thursday. Egypt’s official MENA news agency quoted a military official as saying that two policemen were killed when the Israeli aircraft opened fire near the Rafah border town with the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Security officials said the incident took place south of Rafah, along the border with Israel. They identified the Israeli aircraft as an Apache gunship that had been tracking the militants who attacked two buses, a civilian car and a military jeep in the coastal city of Eilat hours earlier.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414315
Israeli airstrikes kill 7 across Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 19 Aug 05:08 — Renewed airstrikes across the Gaza Strip late Thursday killed a Palestinian teenager and injured more than a dozen others amid an escalation in violence that left some 20 people dead throughout the day. Just after midnight Friday, Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids targeting Gaza City, the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, and Khan Younis in the south … A Palestinian was also missing in the Rafah tunnel area, medics said. Elsewhere, Apache helicopters fired at least two missiles toward a Palestinian military site in the town of Beit Lahiya and a missile near Khan Younis landed in an open area and caused no injuries or damage. A Ma‘an correspondent described a “state of panic” across Gaza as Israel renewed bombings just hours after an airstrike killed six Palestinians in Rafah, near Egypt’s border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414215
Israel knew attack coming up, expected kidnapping attempt
IMEMC 19 Aug 07:46 — An initial investigation carried out by the Israeli army on the armed attack that targeting a bus loaded with Israeli soldiers, close to the border with Egypt, in the Israeli coastal city of Eilat, revealed that information regarding an attack was available before it took place, but pointed out a possible kidnapping attempt, not a shooting. Seven Palestinians, including children, and seven Egyptian officers were killed by Israeli bombardment.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61855
One Israeli seriously hurt as Gaza rocket hits Ashdod
JERUSALEM (AFP) 19 Aug 09:35 — Two Israelis were injured, one seriously, when a Grad rocket fired by militants in Gaza slammed into the coastal town of Ashdod in southern Israel early on Friday, police said. “One person was seriously wounded in the attack, and another person was lightly hurt,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP, saying two rockets had hit the town. The second caused no damage or injuries, she said. The Israeli military confirmed the strike saying a school and a synagogue had been damaged in the attack. “Two rockets fired at the city of Ashdod caused damage and injuries at a synagogue and school,” a statement said. The latest firings raised to 12 the total number of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel since midnight, the military said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Aug-19/One-Israeli-seriously-hurt-as-Gaza-rocket-hits-Ashdod.ashx
Who is the Palestinian group blamed for the attacks?
Reuters 19 Aug 07:45 — The PRC is an umbrella group that draws together former armed activists of different factions. It was formed in the Gaza Strip in 2000 at start of a Palestinian uprising for statehood. It counted numerous former security men from the Palestinian Authority’s various security agencies among its ranks, including many disaffected members of Fatah, which has since renounced violence against Israel. It operates independently from the Islamist rulers of Gaza, Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/who-is-the-palestinian-group-blamed-for-the-attacks-1.379509
Legendary anti-terror sniper killed
Ynet 18 Aug — Most veteran sniper in police’s elite anti-terror unit killed in Thursday’s terror offensive in south; Pascal Avrahami, 49-year-old father of three who moved to Israel from France in 1977, hit by terrorist fire near border
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4110959,00.html
Egypt military crackdown nets Sinai ‘Islamist militants’
CAIRO (AFP) 18 Aug — An Egyptian security chief said on Thursday a military operation in Sinai against militants uncovered a bomb-making factory and netted 20 wanted men, including Palestinians and radical Islamists … An Israeli army commander said Thursday that four of the men behind the attacks in Israel were killed by Israeli and Egyptian fire in Egypt’s territory, but the Egyptians have denied the attack was staged from Sinai.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414283
Israeli social justice campaigners cancel weekend protests after attacks in south
Reuters 18 Aug – Israel’s student union on Thursday called off planned weekend demonstrations against the high cost of living after a series of terror attacks in the south left seven people dead. “There were meant to be protests throughout the country, with a central rally in Jerusalem, and we decided given the events to cancel them,” union head Itzik Shmueli told Army Radio following the attacks near Israel’s border with Egypt.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-social-justice-campaigners-cancel-weekend-protests-after-attacks-in-south-1.379376
Why Israel ought not to attack Gaza / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 18 Aug — A terrorist attack in Israel has claimed seven victims. Barak plans a large-scale attack on Gaza. We shouldn’t do it — Seven Israelis were killed earlier today in a terror attack in the south of Israel, near Eilat. As these words are written, IAF fighters are circling in the skies of Gaza, and reports just came in of an airstrike in Rafah that claimed three lives. We still don’t know who is responsible for the attack, but Defense Minister Ehud Barak has already found the guilty parties, the residents of the Gaza Strip. Borrowing the language of the settler pogromchiks, he actually promised a ‘price tag’ operation (Hebrew). In Gaza, people are already huddling in shelters, and following the tweets from there, you can feel the despair, the terror, the feeling of ‘not again’. We are all familiar with this circle: Attack, terrorist attack, attack, terrorist attack, attack, major terrorist attack, major operation, terrorist attack, attack and so on and so forth. Maybe we should, for once, break the circle? Here are a few reasons why:
http://972mag.com/why-israel-ought-not-to-attack-gaza/
Other Gaza
IOF kills disabled teen in central Gaza
IMEMC 18 Aug — On Tuesday evening, 16 August 2011, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian child from al-Nussairat refugee camp, who was 400 meters from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The victim’s family told a PCHR field worker that their child had a mental disability. The victim was in an area that had not been explicitly declared as prohibited. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 18:00 on Tuesday, 16 August 2011, Israeli soldiers stationed at the border northeast of Deir al-Balah opened fire at a Palestinian, who was nearly 400 meters from the border. As a result, he was wounded by 10 bullets in his head and chest. He was left wounded without being offered any first aid. After coordination was made with IOF, at approximately 19:20, medical crews were able to retrieve the body, which was then transferred to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. After four hours later, the child was identified as Sa’d Abdul Rahim Mahmoud al-Majdalwai, 17, from al-Nussairat refugee camp. He was hit by 10 live bullets mostly to the head.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61850
Fuel, medicine ‘crisis’ in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Muhammad Al-Kashef, a health ministry official in Gaza, warned Tuesday of a crisis hitting the sector as medicine shortages have plagued the enclave for two months. Al-Kashef said the ministry of health in Ramallah is largely responsible for the crisis after excluding Gaza from its legal share or 40 percent of supplies like medications and other consumables. In the past three years, he said, Gaza has received about 30 percent of the overall budget for health services. In 2011, however, the crisis reached a peak despite advanced warning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413666
Hamas official: Party not moving headquarters to Cairo
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — A senior Hamas leader said Wednesday that the party has no intention of moving its headquarters in exile from Damascus to Cairo. Salah Bardaweil rubbished reports that the recent visit to Egypt by exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal was to discuss moving the party’s offices to Cairo.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413970
Hamas imposes new restrictions on aid workers
JERUSALEM (AP) 16 Aug — Palestinian rights groups are condemning new orders by Gaza’s Hamas rulers that employees of civil society groups register with authorities before traveling for work outside the Gaza Strip. Gaza rights activist Hamdi Shakoura says the move is meant to restrict the freedoms of non-governmental groups. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights also issued a statement Tuesday criticizing the new orders after meeting with a network of aid groups in Gaza. Hamas’ Deputy Interior Minister Kamel Abu Madi says employees must register with authorities two weeks before leaving and explain why they are traveling. They must also identify their hosts and list the names and details of all participants in any program they will attend.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110816/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_hamas_aid_groups
Al-Qassam field leader ‘dies of accident injuries’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — A field leader of Hamas’ armed wing died on Wednesday, the group said in a statement, noting he succumbed to wounds sustained in an unspecified accident days earlier. A statement from the Al-Qassam Brigades named the man as Mahmoud As-Safadi, from the Ad-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, but did not give details as to the nature of the activity he had been involved with when he was injured. On Tuesday, several people were injured as Israeli forces fired at a group of people in the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources said. One week earlier an Al-Qassam fighter was killed in an unexplained Rafah explosion.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413817
Gaza gov’t: Israel raids intentionally heighten tensions
GAZA (PIC) 17 Aug — The Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip has said that it was interested in maintaining calm in the Strip, charging Israel with deliberately escalating military attacks. The foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday evening that it exerted strenuous efforts and reached national consensus on maintaining calm and stability in the Strip. However, the continued Israeli raids, which focus on civilians, display that Israel was not interested in calm and was fueling tension, the statement said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7tjnOUI0UHYB1eivcZpY%2bzwJ0RXD84SCt%2faAaLCl9KiuUWy3EC7ikUvCAfujvdqyXzzFSJ0I1GOXAub28I%2f6uexnF5nC7FEg4zfG72IUtqYA%3d
Gaza man killed in Libya
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A 26-year-old man from Khan Younis was killed early Monday during clashes between the Libyan military and opposition groups in the Libyan city of Sabha. Haytham Zayed Hussein Isleih was living as an immigrant in Benghazi, his relatives told Ma‘an … The Palestinian general consul in Alexandria said Tuesday that over 2,000 Palestinians have returned to the Gaza Strip from Libya as a consequence of the unrest there. The number of Palestinians living in Libya before the uprising was estimated at between 25,000 and 40,000 with most having lived there for decades, according to the Palestinian government in Ramallah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413201
Designation of Army of Islam leader Mumtaz Dughmush
US Dept of State 16 Aug — The Secretary of State has designated Gaza-based Army of Islam leader Mumtaz Dughmush under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. As a result of the designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Dughmush has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him. This action will help stem the flow of financial and other assistance to this terrorist. This past May the Secretary of State designated the Army of Islam as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/08/170593.htm
Gaza’s lifeguards fight sea and siege / Eva Bartlett
InGaza 17 Aug — In the face of the siege, Gaza’s lifeguards have created their own rescue equipment — …”Most people don’t have the chance to take swimming lessons here. If they had money, they could learn, but most don’t have enough money to feed their families, let alone spend on swimming lessons,” says Basha. This, says Abu Assam Masharawi, another lifeguard at Basha’s station, is the main cause of swimming accidents in Gaza. “When we see people who obviously can’t swim, we call them in close to the shore. No one has drowned this year during life guard hours.” However there have been at least three drowning incidents in the Gaza Strip this year. “The danger is swimming after hours. Some people prefer to swim at night, like women who come together to swim when men aren’t around, or people who swim after work,” says Masharawi.
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/gazas-lifeguards-fight-sea-and-siege/
VIDEO: In Gaza, poverty forces children to choose between survival and school
17 Aug — UNICEF correspondent Catherine Weibel reports on children in Gaza who risk their lives to feed their families and help them survive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncGnZ36Y_zM&feature=youtube_gdata
JTA and the IDF: Making men out of boys in Gaza / Yousef Munayyer
18 Aug — Before the attacks in Eilat refocused the mainstream media’s attention on the Gaza Strip (negatively of course) Gaza continued to face the regular violence inherent in siege and occupation. One incident occurring this week involved a Palestinian who was shot 10 times in the chest and head in by Israeli soldiers for entering an Israeli declared ‘buffer zone’ … After an investigation, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza found the following: … In short, Israeli soldiers shot a defenseless 17 year old mentally disabled refugee boy. If anyone was paying attention, this highlights the cruel nature of occupation and siege. The JTA had a, well, slightly different take (emphasis mine): …The man, 22, approached the border on Tuesday night between Israel and Gaza where, according to the Israel Defense Forces, terrorists often plant bombs or attack Israeli patrols … JTA referenced the IDF, added 5 years to the boy’s age, made no mention of the absurd number of times he was shot and instead used language to insinuate he was likely a threat to armed soldiers on the other side of a border. Were any Palestinian sources checked with? Does it even matter? Boys made into men. Victims made into perpetrators. Truth is the first casualty. Another day in Gaza.
http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/08/jta-idf-making-men-out-of-boys-in-gaza.html
Repression by PA / Hamas
PA takes satirical TV series off the air
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — A Ramadan TV series that became notorious for its criticism of Palestinian Authority officials has been discontinued on the PA-run Palestine TV, Attorney General Ahmad Al-Mughni said Tuesday evening. Al-Mughni told Ma‘an that the decision had been made to stop broadcasts of Watan Ala Watar [Homeland on a Thread] after Tuesday’s episode because “it is full of mistakes, is meaningless and is a waste of time for people to watch.” The serial, aired during the holy month of Ramadan when broadcasters compete for captive audiences with soap operas and special series, had been praised the year earlier as an emblem of PA’s ability to tolerate self-criticism.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413748
Ban on Palestinian show condemned as blow to freedom
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 18 Aug — A decision by the Palestinian prosecutor general to ban a comedy TV show because of complaints from people targeted by its jokes jeopardizes basic freedoms, the show’s producer and broadcaster said on Wednesday. The order to halt the broadcast of “A Nation on a String” was based on a complaint lodged by the chief of the Palestinian police, the head of an anti-corruption authority and the president of the doctors’ union. They said the show, in its third season, belittled the security forces, judiciary and the medical profession, was defamatory and “did not deliver constructive messages,” according to the text of the complaint printed in local media. “This is shameful for Palestinian democracy,” said Emad Farrajine, who wrote the show and performs in it.
http://news.yahoo.com/ban-palestinian-show-condemned-blow-freedom-120356250.html
Hamas disperses anti-Assad protest in Gaza
Haaretz 17 Aug –Protest was meant to show solidarity with Palestinian refugees who have fled their homes due to Syrian government’s violent crackdown on demonstrators — Hamas police forces in the Gaza Strip dispersed a protest on Tuesday night against the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protesters. Hamas’ official justification for dispersing the protest, which was attended by 150 people, was that organizers had not received a permit to hold it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/hamas-disperses-anti-assad-protest-in-gaza-1.379129?localLinksEnabled=false
Assad puts Hamas in a corner over Syrian assault
by Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) 17 Aug — Syria’s crackdown on government opponents has deeply embarrassed the Palestinian group Hamas, which is anxious not to anger its backers in Damascus while at the same time hoping not to alienate its supporters at home. President Bashar al-Assad’s five-month purge of protesters has gathered pace since the start of August, causing thousands of Palestinians to flee a refugee camp in the city of Latakia this week as Syrian security forces attacked the area. Ordinary Palestinians watching from a distance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been swift to denounce the violence, but the Islamist group Hamas has itself said nothing and tried to prevent public displays of anti-Syrian sentiment.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-palestinians-syria-hamastre20110817,0,3544749.story?track=rss
Hamas bans Gaza students from studying in US
Haaretz 17 Aug — Hamas has banned eight teenage students with scholarships to study in the United States -from leaving the territory, a Palestinian rights group said Wednesday. The move appeared to be part of an intensified Hamas campaign against independent groups that they view as a challenge to their rule and against activities that believe promote a Western lifestyle. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the eight students were granted AMIDEAST scholarships, a program that educates talented teenagers from the Middle East and North Africa for a year in the Unites States. At the end of the year, students return to their home countries to finish their education … Hamas would not confirm the order, much as it has in the past with similar orders travel bans on Gaza residents.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/hamas-bans-gaza-students-from-studying-in-u-s-1.379169
Rights group: Hamas ban on study abroad students ‘illegal’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Aug — The Palestinian Center for Human Rights denounced Wednesday the decision by Hamas to ban Gaza scholarship students from studying in the United States … “This Decision means also that a number of our best students will be deprived of benefiting from scholarships to study abroad while we are in a dire need to communicate with the outside world, break the isolation and blockade imposed on our people and develop our capacities,” PCHR added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413988
Detention / Court actions
Detainees ministry: Israel threatens ‘mistreatment’ in prisons
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — Palestinians in Israeli jails have been threatened with worsening prison conditions, beginning at the start of September, the Ministry of Detainees in Ramallah said Wednesday. The Israeli Prison Administration informed Palestinian representatives in jail that “mistreatment” would begin at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, according to the PA ministry’s description of a letter received from the prisoners. Palestinian detainees minister Issa Qaraqe said Israel’s prison authority told the detainees that a new set of procedures would be introduced to “exacerbate their miserable conditions.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413856
Israeli authority isolates lawmaker Marwan Barghouti in solitary confinement for indefinite period
BETHELEHEM (WAFA) 17 Aug — The Israeli authority Wednesday informed the jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti of its decision to isolate him in solitary confinement for an undetermined period, according to Issa Qaraqi, Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs. Qaraqi told WAFA that this decision was made responding to high-level Israeli officials’ request, under the pretext of “Marwan’s latest statements,” in which he called for massive rallies to support the Palestinian move … Marwan Barghouti, who is a member of Fatah Central Council and the Legislative Council, was arrested in 2002 and two years later was sentenced to five life terms for his role in several deadly anti-Israeli attacks, although he denied all the charges against him and said he never supported attacks on civilians inside Israel. But even from his prison cell, Barghouti has remained an important Palestinian political figure.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17034
Detainees ministry: Israel targeting relatives of prisoners
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Aug — Israeli authorities are targeting the families of Palestinian detainees in order to deter them from visiting, the Ministry of Detainees in Gaza said Wednesday. In recent months there has been an increase in procedures such as searching female relatives, confiscating goods brought to detainees, verbal insults and destroying visit permits, detainees ministry spokesman Riyad Al-Ashqar told Ma‘an. The wife of one detainee was also detained on suspicion of smuggling mobile phones into the prison. Suha Abu Munshar was transferred to trial on Thursday, Al-Ashqar said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414030
Shin Bet accused of exceeding its authority in Mer-Khamis murder / Amira Hass
Haaretz 18 Aug — Lawyers: Murder not classified as security crime, therefore Shin Bet has, by law, no authority to investigate … The Shin Bet began investigating almost four months after the murder, once it became clear that the Palestinian Authority was making no progress. Though Mer-Khamis worked in Jenin and the murder took place there, he was an Israeli citizen … Relatives and friends of Mer-Khamis said they are pleased that efforts are being made to find the murderer, but deplore the methods being used by the Shin Bet, which violate the suspects’ rights. For instance, Saadi and Naghnaghiye have been barred from meeting their lawyers ever since they were arrested two weeks ago. Ben-Natan said such draconian measures are rarely taken in ordinary criminal investigations
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/shin-bet-accused-of-exceeding-its-authority-in-mer-khamis-murder-case-1.379205
Israel arrests Hamas leader in West Bank
NABLUS (PIC) 18 Aug — Israel occupation forces arrested Wednesday Hamas leader Awadullah Ishtyeh, 44, at a random checkpoint between the West Bank cities of Qalqilya and Nablus. An Israeli army patrol stopped Ishtyeh’s car at a checkpoint near Kedumim settlement as he was returning from one of his in-laws’ houses in Qalqilya to break fast, Ishtyeh’s family told our correspondent in Nablus,
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7SL1LGR7OO0p%2b3x6ldLP2kZufPHB0HWy7jWBpzF8iMmTzdDUw98YBiURaOcfKI3hkTfJkQmbzXTPz6faE6MFkL3%2bBKclM%2bTt07z4ssSD5EjM%3d
IOA extends detention of Hamas spokesman for seventh time
NABLUS (PIC) 16 Aug — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has extended the administrative detention, without charge, of Hamas leader Adnan Asfoor, 47, for the seventh consecutive time on Monday. The Israeli military court in Ofer could not file an indictment against Asfoor, who has been held in the Negev desert prison for the past 30 months. Asfoor was the spokesman for Hamas in Nablus and was previously arrested on more than one occasion. He also worked as a coordinator of inter-Palestinian dialog.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s77He2A5xWuDBUP%2bmJ9oMIqkaes2RX1N93rcyUP1%2baAHjQKP9gLheHmoYRhiTimdi6mGtvd8S0DVPl2W1EY2PVL27eES1clAQfwJmtZ5GaM8M%3d
PA security arrests 10 Hamas supporters in West Bank
NABLUS (PIC) 18 Aug — Some ten of Hamas’s supporters in the West Bank have been arrested in the past few days as the Palestinian Authority security forces continue to breach the unity deal signed by parties governing the mending Palestinian territories. On Sunday, PA intelligence in Nablus governorate arrested three men in Aqraba and one in Awarta after they refused to respond to inconvenient summonses. Another man who served time in Israeli custody was also nabbed in Tulkarem. In Ramallah governorate, the security agencies arrested the son of Palestinian legislator Mahmoud Musleh as well as one other man. In addition, two men were nabbed in Al-Khalil just a week after they were released from Israeli custody. The arrests also targeted local reporters. Reporter and director of a local television network Ahmed Mohammed al-Halayka, 25, was released on Wednesday after he was arrested and one of the channel’s crews were banned from filming a day earlier.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s78HZy%2f%2bm4fIWnJWOI8sO6R2cCW9TToobiVM08Lhwh3uqxWK8oRKTpkeKQQ4%2fy99MkVFPXcfTB57zlhLUqErBi6iNf4t4LFUZExgcxwcNzfxQ%3d
PA preventive security detains son of Hamas MP
RAMALLAH (PIC) 17 Aug — Elements of PA preventive security apparatus in the West Bank detained Mustafa the son of Hamas MP Mahmoud Musleh on Wednesday, eyewitnesses reported. They said that the security agents took Mustafa from his mini market in El-Bireh and detained him in their Ramallah headquarters
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7PVzIUc57E8zikAUCLTQL1Hqz0UZSRKEBuGZN4nKNW9ZvuqSQ8aJBxcm0Sz%2f2h4qirdBd7F0nvBPKpepugUtfjfC4sdEk%2bGlXJbCxNXSe2h0%3d
Hamas slams claims of Fatah’s inability to release political prisoners
GAZA (PIC) 18 Aug — The Hamas Movement deplored Amin Maqboul, the secretary-general of Fatah’s revolutionary council, for his remarks about his movement’s inability release the political prisoners from Hamas as “unacceptable and surprising.” Maqboul had stated that Fatah faction, which signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas a few months ago, was not able to release Hamas cadres from West Bank jails as it was agreed upon between the two sides in Cairo, claiming that this issue is up to Mahmoud Abbas and his security apparatuses.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7l0EH8tSX8fyELVdeFjAmdLVjQpd0tMGlVnEZyYS7PwcnOB2N7wVLh0jo7NqveyDHN2LPJRU2ZJ%2bfO4ONlKoPPHYUraV2InNzRD8RVHAMmb8%3d
Islamic Jihad: Gaza govt seized operative
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Aug — The military wing of Islamic Jihad said on Thursday that one of its members had been detained by Gaza’s internal security forces. The Al-Quds Brigades demanded the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip release their affiliate
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414080
Bethlehem mother dies without seeing jailed son
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 18 Aug – The mother of a Palestinian detainee died Wednesday without seeing her son, who is jailed in Israel. Amjad Taqatqa’s son Amjad from the Beit Fajjar village near Bethlehem is serving six life terms in an Israeli detention center. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414197
Samaritan marks 8th year in Israeli prison
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — A Samaritan detainee from the West Bank marked his eighth year in Israel jail on Wednesday. Nader Mamdouh, 32, from Nablus, is being treated as a Palestinian and not a Samaritan, his parents told Ma‘an. Samaritans, who number just 700 in two communities in the West Bank and Israel, and derive from an ancient branch of Judaism, have historically received special status from Israeli authorities. Mamdouh’s parents told Ma‘an that Nader had been transferred between a number of Israeli jails and was suffering immensely. He was living in Al-Ain refugee camp in Nablus when he was detained in 2004. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for affiliation with the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and for taking part in operations against Israeli troops. The Palestinian detainees center said Mamdouh’s parents, who live in the Samaritan community on Jerzim mountain overlooking Nablus, are frequently harassed by Israeli forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413859
Israeli forces arrest ex-prisoner from Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — The Israeli army arrested a man on Tuesday night in the village of Kafr Rai, west of Jenin. Belal Nabil Saed Theyab was arrested as Israeli forces raided his home and searched the property, his family told Ma‘an. Thayab had spent seven years in Israeli jails for being affiliated with militant organization Islamic Jihad.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413878
Prisoner seeks freedom ahead of four-month death sentence
NABLUS (PIC) 16 Aug — Palestinian prisoner Zakariyya Dawud Issa, 43, has been informed that his 16-year prison sentence would end earlier than he had expected, but unless serious action is taken, he would never live to see the outside world again. Doctors in the Israeli Soroka Medical Center say Issa would not live to see more than four more months because of cancer, a legal expert from the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights reported. As described by doctors, Issa’s condition is “hopeless”, and there is no hope for treatment, as the cancer has spread throughout his body … Because the cancer has reached his brain, he has trouble speaking and has forgotten everything apart from his first name. The ISFHR lawyer said it was the worst condition he has seen in his life … The ISFHR said it would contact rights groups as well as Arab members of the Israeli Knesset in an endeavor to unify efforts to see that Issa gets released and is able to once again see his family before he dies.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7jFuFW2TwBu3JP12mlfHfbCEjnoL0OYRGEGFnfkPtqyPH5bL37%2fFZqpm4GKsZL706iPsOxVSdLkBFzG32WSxOnEJPo6fukprFx%2bWI8rQAMBw%3d
Deportation appeal should end in Salah’s favor in coming weeks
LONDON (PIC) 17 Aug — Supporters of Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in Israel, have become more and more confident that his deportation case would end in his favor within the next few weeks. “After being reassured on the developments of the case, we have become more confident that it would soon end in Sheikh Salah’s favor, and that will be in the next few weeks,” said Mohammed Hamdan, chairman of the European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree), during a recent visit to Salah. The organization, based in Oslo, has taken on the Salah case, since he was first arrested in London in June under what was claimed to be a travel ban.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7sxXiLg2XkDbiQhDZ9zzJi839sgpAWaF0gVljG%2fz0GzGzcHE9YJ7s4%2flhneSXb%2focndcx6xz6sIkML4ad%2f7FSoyAWz05DMYTw4d21e03ER98%3d
Woman found guilty of stabbing soldier
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an)17 Aug — Israel’s Ofer military court handed down a 20-year sentence to a Ramallah woman on Wednesday, who was accused of stabbing an Israeli guard at a Ramallah military checkpoint three years earlier. Sumoud Hasan Karaja, now 23, from the Ramallah-area village of Saffa, was detained during a home raid two days after a guard at Israel’s Qalandiya military checkpoint was found moderately wounded by stab wounds to the abdomen. According the Ramallah Palestinian Prisoners organisation, the court will not take into account the three years Karaja has already spent in custody.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413825
Al Jazeera demands Israel free bureau chief
DOHA (AFP) 17 Aug — Al-Jazeera television demanded Wednesday that Israel “immediately” release the Palestinian head of its Kabul bureau, who was arrested on charges of belonging to the militant Hamas. “Al-Jazeera network reiterates its demand that Israeli authorities immediately release our journalist Samer Allawi,” the Qatar-based broadcaster said in a statement. It said that Israeli authorities had arrested Allawi on August 10 “without reason while on vacation with his family” in the West Bank, where it said he regularly spent his annual vacation in his hometown.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/August/middleeast_August422.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Hamas chief’s visit to Cairo could signal imminent decision on Shalit deal
Haaretz 17 Aug — Hamas’ political chief Khaled Meshal left Cairo last night following a visit thought to be connected to indirect talks on a deal for the release of captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit … Earlier yesterday the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported that the purpose of Meshal’s Cairo visit was the talks with Israel. Meshal’s appearance on the stage may point to some measure of progress in the negotiations and perhaps even an imminent decision over a prisoner-swap deal. Up until now Hamas’ military chief Ahmed al-Ja’abari had led the negotiating team for the organization
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hamas-chief-s-visit-to-cairo-could-signal-imminent-decision-on-shalit-deal-1.378975
Shalit deal stalled
PNN 18 Aug — An Egyptian official involved in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, has declared that a thrd round of talks has ended with no conclusions found. Speaking to al-Hayat, the official stated that both sides were too insistent on their demands and had a refusal to make compromises. Thus the talks stalled and broke down and a new date for renewal of talks was not set.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10606&Itemid=56
Racism
Video: Racism rampant within Israeli society / Antony Loewenstein
19 Aug — anti-Arab sentiment in Israel
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2011/08/19/racism-rampant-within-israeli-society/
Activism
Video: The sorrows of Ni‘lin: Five shot dead in resisting the apartheid wall
Ni‘lin Sons 17 Aug – Ni‘lin is paying a heavy price for its fight against the Israeli occupation. Since July 2008, Ni‘lin is mourning its dead. Yousef Ahmad Younis Amera (17) and Ahmed Husam Yusef Mousa (10) were assassinated by the armed forces of occupation. Arafat Rateb Kawaje (22), was shot in the back
and killed on December 28th while taking part in a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza. Mohammed Kasim Khawaje (18), Akil Yousef Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital. Today, Saeed Amireh and Muhammed Amireh who were eyewitnesses at that time talk on behalf of Ni‘lin popular committee and explain how exactly the brutal murdering of the five martyrs happened on the ground.
http://www.nilin-village.org/2011/08/17/the-sorrows-of-nilin-five-shot-dead-in-resisting-the-apartheid-wall-16-8-2011/
Refugees
Syria: Palestinian refugees flee port city camp
TEL AVIV (IRIN) 17 Aug — Syria should allow humanitarian access to Palestinian refugees living in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia following reports that violence has forced thousands of them to flee a camp in the area. “It is almost impossible to get information out of Syria at the moment. We have no idea where these people are,” said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency which helps Palestinian refugees across the Middle East (UNRWA). “A forgotten population has now become a disappeared population,” Gunness told IRIN on 16 August. “We have no idea where the women and children have gone. This is why we are pushing the Syrian government for immediate access to the camp to assess the situation there and resume services.” At least 5,000 Palestinian refugees have fled their camp situated in Latakia’s El Ramel district, according to UNRWA.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=93517
Fatah official: Syrian violence to Palestinians ‘unacceptable’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — Syrian authorities’ targeting of a Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia is “unacceptable and unethical,” Fatah central committee member Tawfik At-Tirawi said Tuesday. Thousand of refugees from the Ramel camp were reported to have fled from their homes on Monday after Syrian started heavy shelling of the area, drawing widespread condemnation from Palestinian officials and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Activists listed Palestinians among those killed in the violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413766
Palestinian groups denounce UNRWA statement
DAMASCUS (Xinhua) 16 Aug — Damascus-based Palestinian groups denounced a statement issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) claiming that a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria’s Mediterranean city of Latakia was shelled by gunboats. In a statement obtained by Xinhua, the groups said the UNRWA account came in the context of present attempts aiming at “encroaching upon the Syrian and Palestinian stands.” The groups urged the UN body “not to indulge the Palestinians in the regretful events in Syria,” stressing that all the Palestinian people and its institutions “confirm their keenness about Syria’s security and stability.” [clearly they are fearful for their precarious position in Syria]
http://english.people.com.cn/90777/90854/7571458.html
Aid efforts begin for Palestinians pushed from Syria refugee camp/ Ali Abunimah
EI blog 18 Aug — Aid efforts have begun for some of the thousands of Palestinians forced to flee from a refugee camp in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia earlier this week.On Monday, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, reported that about half of the 10,000 residents had left the camp and that several had been killed. Today, UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness confirmed that some of the displaced had now been located and aid efforts are under way, but the whereabouts of thousands more were still known. Gunness said: UNRWA has mobilized a small team from staff living in Latakia, has established a temporary office outside the camp, and started to provide assistance to approximately 400 displaced families (roughly 2000 individuals), but it expects these numbers to increase in the next day or two. The Syrian authorities are cooperating http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/aid-efforts-begin-palestinians-pushed-syria-refugee-camp
The ‘forgotten population’ needs a solution / Joharah Baker
Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) 17 Aug — Whenever I discuss politics, I am always sure to insist that the Palestinians still and always will retain the right of return for its refugees. Never has this feeling been stronger than this week, as the Palestinian refugee population in Al Ramel, Syria were made to relive the horrors of 60 years ago, displaced and forgotten … This is not the first, and it will probably not be the last non-Palestinian conflict that Palestinians are forced into. Lebanon and Libya are just two countries where Palestinians have been thrust into the center of strife that is not necessarily theirs. The reason for this is simple: they are not home and for their host countries, they are not wanted.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/middle-east/77-middle-east/9884-the-forgotten-population-needs-a-solution.html
Political / Diplomatic / International
World powers condemn Israeli settlement move
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 17 Aug — The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations attacked on Tuesday, Israel’s move to expand a West Bank settlement, calling it a threat to peace efforts. The latest public condemnation of Israel came amid intense efforts by Tony Blair, the envoy of the diplomatic Quartet, to get Palestinians and Israelis back into direct talks, diplomats reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413746
Israel to recruit 70 countries to vote against recognizing Palestine, says Israeli official
TEL AVIV (WAFA) 17 Aug — Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, said Wednesday that Israel is working on recruiting 60-70 important countries to vote against the Palestinian quest to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian independent state based on the 1967 borders. In a speech addressing 150 Jewish leaders worldwide to recruit them to support the Israeli efforts to prevent the recognition of the Palestinian state, Ayalon, who is also a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu, said “the Palestinians are a majority in the United Nations (UN) and we are trying to recruit the most important countries so that they do not vote according to their conscience, but for the security and stability in the Middle East.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17036
Nine Security Council members support Palestine’s UN bid, says Abbas
BEIRUT (WAFA) 18 Aug — President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday said Palestine was able to get the support of nine out of 15 United Nations Security Council members for the Palestinian move to get UN recognition in September. Abbas told reporters before leaving Lebanon that he rejected an offer to get an observer status similar to the Vatican at the UN, saying “we want to obtain full membership.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17046
Bosnian Serbs oppose Palestinian UN bid
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Aug — Bosnian Serb representatives announced Wednesday that they oppose Sarajevo’s decision to support the PA in seeking UN recognition for a Palestinian state. President Mahmoud Abbas visited Bosnia last week to seek its support in recognizing a Palestinian state at the UN in September … Bosnia is one of 10 non-permanent current members of the Security Council. The tripartite presidency of Bosnia controls the country’s foreign policy and any decision relating to the UN needs the approval of the three parties of Bosnia which are Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. The Bosnian and Croatian members have announced their support for a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414088
Lebanon upgrades Palestinian delegation to embassy
BEIRUT (AFP) 17 Aug — Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas hoisted the flag of “the state of Palestine” in Beirut on Wednesday as he inaugurated the Palestinian embassy in Beirut. The ceremony, which saw the Palestinian delegation upgraded to an embassy, was attended by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and top Palestinian officials, including top PA official Saeb Erekat and intelligence chief Maged Faraj.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413982
Hamas divided on UN bid for recognition
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas leader Ismail Radwan sees the Palestinian Authority’s decision to go to the UN in September to seek recognition of statehood as just the latest in a series of unilateral decisions [by Fatah]. … Izzat Resheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, meanwhile, saw the move as aimed to mobilize support and international recognition of the Palestinians’ rights to freedom and statehood. He stressed, however, that such moves should be part of an agreed upon national strategy that guarantees Palestinian rights, according to a report by the Palestinian Information Center.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413687
Ashrawi: UN responsible for Palestinian state
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Aug — PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Tuesday that the United Nations was the proper place for questions of Palestinian self-determination, following a meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. “As the body charged with upholding international law,” Palestinians hold the UN responsible for the establishment of their state, Ashrawi said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413737
Shaath: Netanyahu wants to kill Palestinian UN bid by military escalations
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 18 Aug — Fatah Commissioner of International Relations Nabil Shaath, said on Thursday that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to abort the Palestinians’ efforts to gain UN recognition and export Israel’s internal crisis, by the military escalations.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17049
Palestine to chair next Arab League session
CAIRO (WAFA) 18 Aug – Palestine will chair the next Arab League session, scheduled for September 13 and 14 and which will meet at the level of foreign ministers, said an Arab League statement Thursday.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17043
Turkey ‘plans diplomatic assault’ after Israel refuses apology
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 18 Aug — Turkey plans to launch a diplomatic and legal assault on Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to apologize for the 2010 raid on the Gaza aid flotilla, Israeli media said. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper says Turkey now intends to implement “Plan B”, which will include a campaign in UN institutions, with an emphasis on the International Court of Justice. Turkey also plans to encourage the families of the nine victims to file suits against senior Israeli figures in European courts and reduce the level of ties with Israel, according to the report citing foreign ministry sources.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414007
Gaza factional fighting scars taint reconciliation efforts
GAZA CITY (AFP) 18 Aug — Palestinian Musa Abu Jarrad shrugs off any notion of reconciling with the Hamas group he blames for the death of his son, a Fatah member, in 2007 factional fighting in Gaza … Abu Jarrad lost his son Bahaa, 36, in fighting that erupted between members of the rival political groups a year after Hamas won a surprise electoral victory. His anger and wish for revenge is shared by many grieving families, even as Hamas and Fatah seek to implement a unity deal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414023
Palestinian power broker fighting for his political life
The National 18 Aug — JERUSALEM // Some view him as a ruthless opportunist, others a convenient scapegoat for his superiors. But one thing is certain: Mohammed Dahlan, once considered the charismatic odds-on-favourite to succeed Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinians, is fighting for his political life. Colleagues in the Fatah faction that now runs the West Bank expelled him from the group in June. They have accused him of everything from corruption to building his own private militia … Majid Shihade, a professor at the Abu-Lughod Institute for International Studies at the West Bank’s Birzeit University, believes Mr Dahlan’s undoing represents a significant victory for Mr Abbas after years of his Fatah colleagues jockeying against him. “It’s a consolidation of Abbas’s power within Fatah and the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “Dahlan went too far and started operating outside the PA.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/former-palestinian-power-broker-fighting-for-political-survival
Israel’s embassy in Turkey might not have new ambassador
Ynet 17 Aug – Turkey-Israel ties reach new low: As Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy prepares to complete his term in two weeks, Jerusalem is concerned that Turkey will refuse to approve a replacement ambassador due to the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two nations. The timing proves problematic as well, as Levy’s term ends only a week after the UN’s Palmer Report on the 2010 Gaza-bound flotilla incident is set to be released. The findings of the report are expected to support some of Israel’s positions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4110098,00.html
Report: Israel PM ‘snubs Clinton’ over Turkey apology
JERUSALEM (AFP) 17 Aug — Israel has rejected a US request to apologize to Turkey over its 2010 commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. Unsourced reports by Israel’s two main radio stations said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday with a direct request that he make an apology — but he turned her down.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413929
Other news
Umm al-Fahm protest: ‘Barak a war criminal’
Ynet 17 Aug — Surprise visit by defense minister prompts outrage among Arab city’s residents who hold him accountable for deaths of 13 Arab-Israelis in October 2000
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4110420,00.html
Video: Palestinian workers strike
AIC 18 Aug — 35 Palestinian workers in the Salit quarry in Mishor Adumim in the West Bank are on strike since June 16, 2011, demanding a collective bargaining agreement. The workers are organized by the Maan workers organized by the Workers Advice Center (WAC-MAAN). If signed, this will be the first collective agreement between Palestinian workers and an Israeli employer.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3754-aic-video-palestinian-workers-strike-
Japan donates $7.7 million in aid to Palestinian refugees
dpa 17 Aug — Japanese ambassador to Jordan signs agreement with UNRWA, says donation to be utilized for purchase of urgently-needed staple foods.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/japan-donates-7-7-million-dollars-in-aid-to-palestinian-refugees-1.379168
Judge stays deportation of 4-year-old born to foreign workers
The 4-year-old child born to foreign workers in Israel who was set to be deported last night was removed from the plane with her mother just moments before it took off, after the child’s father rushed to the airport with a court order staying the deportation. Judge Shaul Manheim issued the temporary order, staying the deportation until a special hearing can be held on Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/judge-stays-deportation-of-4-year-old-born-to-foreign-workers-in-israel-1.378969
Iron Dome sees Israel ramp up, Raytheon partnership for US market
Defense Industry Daily 17 Aug — On August 16, 2011, Rafael and Raytheon announced a partnership to market the Iron Dome system in the United States. This rocket interception system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is now deployed in Israel to protect civilian population from rockets, mortar and 155 mm artillery fired by Hamas. It has an all-weather range of up to 70 km (43.5 miles).
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/iron-dome-deployment-exports-07039/
Analysis / Opinion
When it comes to Israel and Turkey, stupidity is also a strategic asset / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 17 Aug – Israel is set on showing the world that it will not surrender to Turkey’s demand for an apology, but is simultaneously foiling the opportunity to use it as an ally in face of Syria and Iran — “Honor is a strategic asset,” so went the explanation Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon gave as to why Israel must not apologize to Turkey. More than anything, Ya’alon fears that an Israeli apology will cause the Turkish prime minister to declare before the entire Middle East that Turkey brought Israel to its knees. Honor is indeed a strategic asset, but it is also an asset that can be offset by stupidity.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/when-it-comes-to-israel-and-turkey-stupidity-is-also-a-strategic-asset-1.379160
Palestine reflection: the clarity of 13-year-olds / Mel Southworth
Christian Peacemaker Teams 18 Aug — A couple months ago, I gave a presentation to a grade eight English class, on the work of CPT and the Israel/Palestine conflict. I tried to describe the situation there in a way they could relate to using the following scenario: One year ago, a boy brought a knife to school and immediately after the incident, the principal released a statement to the media that he would increase security measures at the school. Days later, the school administration decreed that all boys must go through a newly installed metal detector before they could enter the school building. Today, the screening process can take up to three hours; school starts at eight o’clock. Girls do not have to go through the detector; they can enter through the back. The administration also mandated that boys and girls must attend separate classes and if a girl is suspicious of a boy, she is allowed to request that a teacher search him for weapons. During the discussion time that followed the role-play, all the students agreed that it was unfair for the school administration to make all boys go through a metal detector because of one incident. One boy said that penalizing all boys was stereotyping. Another boy said that he probably wouldn’t go to school anymore if he had to get up three hours early….
http://cpt.org/cptnet/2011/08/17/palestine-reflection-clarity-thirteen-year-olds
‘Price tag’ campaign a pattern more than a phenomenon
ISM 15 Aug — The so called ‘price tag’ campaign is regarded to be a product of the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, yet the price tag to Israeli occupation and fanatical land grabbing is much more a general concept, aligned with the policy and practice of Israel let alone its illegal settlements. The ‘price tag’ campaign, after all, is the settler pursuit to claim as much indigenous land while terrorizing Palestinians with arson, gunfire, vandalizing, and other forms of harassment resulting in even death. While Israelis may domestically see a difference between illegal settlers and the State, the Palestinian who loses self-autonomy and land ownership by military or by fanatical settlers never was able to tell the difference between what seems to be a mutual sharing of a national agenda.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/19796/
Al Khalil (Hebron): Vacations from the Occupation / Paulette Schroeder
When an unexpected surprise — like a small, fragile flower pushing itself through a cement block — occurs, I feel a certain bliss, a moment of awe, an instant vacation. For a moment, all is well. Some such moments I have felt working in Hebron for the last three years include the following: A Palestinian hearing the call to prayer, unfolding his prayer rug on the street, kneeling to pray; An Israeli soldier offering coffee to the Palestinian street cleaner; A full-grown sheep managing to go successfully through the checkpoint turnstile; A ‘flotilla’ of kites flying overhead, one of them dressed in a Palestinian flag;. A sick camel coming into my neighborhood to receive medicine; A day at the checkpoints with no ID checks; A shopkeeper leaving his shop unattended to take me to another shop to find what I need; A small child kissing my hand, and then raising my hand to his/her forehead as a sign of honor; Two young men after an hour of detention coming back to thank us for our presence at the checkpoint; A shepherd offering hospitality after settlers stole his donkey.
http://cpt.org/cptnet/2011/08/15/al-khalil-hebron-vacations-occupation
Analysis: Solution for Jerusalem / Daoud Kuttab
Ma‘an 11 Aug — Chambers of commerce in some Palestinian cities held elections over the past few weeks and municipal elections are planned for October. One Palestinian city that will not see any local elections just happens to be Palestine’s capital in waiting. For the past 44 years, East Jerusalem has been prevented from carrying out any activity that might represent any sort of local government. Israel’s unilateral annexation of occupied East Jerusalem and the forced municipal unity with Israeli West Jerusalem has left the holy city in limbo. Palestinians rejected the annexation and unification of the city, and have boycotted municipal elections since 1967. A number of US-Israeli-Palestinian agreements give the PLO permission to hold offices in East Jerusalem and stipulate that Israel should not close down existing Palestinian organizations and institutions. But Israel has been ignoring these understandings and effectively ensured that Palestinians in the city remain leaderless. In addition to banning East Jerusalem municipal elections, Israel closed down the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, the Orient House and many other Palestinian institutions. Any public event Palestinians consider holding in East Jerusalem is quickly dubbed a ‘Palestinian Authority’ event and therefore illegal, according to Israel’s draconian emergency laws.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=412389
Jerusalem Old City restoration shows gateway to the past
Ynet 17 Aug — Project reveals hidden secrets at Jaffa, Damascus gates, puts new spin on an old legend … Israel Antiquities Authority architect Avi Mashiah, who led the project together with architects Tamar Nativ and Yuval Avraham, said: “There are two stories here. On the one hand, there is the most magnificent of the gates, and on the other, signs of changes over the years. When you strengthen one story you weaken another. In the end, we decided there was no reason to preserve mistakes and to try to restore the [Damascus] gate to its appearance in 1538.” That decision required the production of reconstructed elements closely resembling the originals. “Auditions” were held to choose the right stonemason. The winner was a Palestinian stonemason from the village of Hizma, north of Jerusalem, who did the best job of copying the Ottoman originals.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-old-city-renovation-shows-gateway-to-the-past-1.378976
Israel’s former Soviet immigrants transform adopted country / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 17 Aug — Russian-speaking Jews who arrived over the past 20 years have integrated little, but influenced everything from culture to politics — … “It was a very different type of immigration,” said Lily Galili, an Israeli journalist writing a book about the impact of the tidal wave from the former Soviet Union. “They didn’t want to integrate. They wanted to lead. They changed the nature of the country.”Nowhere is this more apparent than in Israeli politics, particularly in the rise of Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s Moldova-born foreign minister, and his far-right party, Yisrael Beiteinu.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/17/israel-soviet-immigrants-transform-country
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