and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land theft / Ethnic cleansing
Netanyahu examining future borders of a Palestinian state
Haaretz 30 Aug — Ehud Olmert’s map adviser, Colonel (res.) Danny Terza, steering the current prime minister; Terza considered one of leading experts on issues of Palestinian state borders .Terza [is] a 52-year-old resident of the Kfar Adumim settlement….
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-examining-possible-future-borders-of-a-palestinian-state-1.381422
Google Street View comes to Israel but won’t reveal its plans for the occupied territories / Benjamin Doherty
The unique problem for Google Street View in Israel is where is Israel? According to the JTA, “Google reportedly plans to photograph only Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa”. Whether this includes parts of Jerusalem occupied by Israel in 1967 is not clear. In other reports, representatives of Google Israel refused to say where they intend to operate.
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/benjamin-doherty/google-street-view-comes-israel-wont-reveal-its-plans-occupied-territories
Video: Halhul and settlements
AIC video (2:22 min.) 30 Aug — Saeed Madia of the Halhul Popular Committee – The Palestinian town of Halul counts 20,000 residents and sits in the southern portion of the occupied West Bank. Much of the village’s lands have been annexed to build the nearby Jewish-only settlement of Karmei Tzur, and Palestinian farmers continue to have their work impeded by the presence of Israeli settlers and the Israeli military. The settlement is between Halhul and Beit Ommar.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/hebron/3788-aic-video-halhul-and-settlements
Israeli court rejects Al-Walaja’s appeal against wall / Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
EI 29 Aug — For Sheerin al-Araj, the Israeli plan for the occupied West Bank village of al-Walaja is clear: make daily life impossible for its Palestinian residents in an effort to force them off their ancestral lands and empty the village entirely.. They cannot afford [to displace] people by force, in front of cameras with little children and women crying and screaming. So they have to do it more strategically. And the way to do it is by making life impossible for us, and making life impossible is actually building a wall, building a settlement, [building] a gate where we will all be hostage to one 18-year-old [Israeli soldier who] will decide for us when to leave and when to come in,” al-Araj, a member of the Walaja Village Council, explained.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-court-rejects-al-walajas-appeal-against-wall/10328
Settlers
VIDEO: Turning tables: ‘Israel illegal occupier if Palestine recognized’
Russia Today 30 Aug — ‘Every settlement is basically a military base’ — The Israeli Defence Force is reportedly preparing settlers for the mass uprising of Palestinians, expected after the UN votes on a Palestinian statehood in September. The preparations include handing out tear gas and stun grenades to civilians. Military resistance to Palestinians will only bring international sanctions on Israel after Palestine is recognised in September’s vote. That’s the view of Jeff Halper, a political activist and co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa-PLgtbp_M&feature=feedu
Israeli military arms settlers in preparation for Palestinian protests / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 30 Aug –The Israeli military is arming and training West Bank settlers in preparation for mass protests by Palestinians that it expects to erupt around the time that the UN is asked to recognise a Palestinian state, according to a leaked document. Teargas and stun grenades are being distributed and training sessions held with settlement security teams, according to the document obtained by Haaretz.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/30/israeli-military-arms-settlers-protests
Jewish settlers attack Qasra village and damage hundreds of olive trees
NABLUS, (PIC)– …Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file in the northern West Bank, said in a press statement that settlers from the Aish Kodesh settlement outpost attacked the village and started inflicting damage to fields planted with olive trees. He pointed out that this was the second attack by the settlers on the village in 48 hours, as the settlers attacked the village two days earlier and damaged dozens of olive trees before the villages confronted them and chased them away. Local sources also said that settlers Monday night uprooted 270 olive saplings from villagers’ fields at the edge of the village and that the settlers’ attacks increased since evening hours.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2BcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2Bi1s7IBBA3GJgtcCZI4lQTOeTBBYyggdLMuts8w0J0Aj4BNCeC8aDfQTEDuxW6sRajJD07nez0J7tE%2FaiggWzILZ3uOJa4OT%2F9BD0VwtyGkivWAc%3D
Israeli forces
Israeli occupation closes August with one demonstrator shot in Ni‘lin
Ni‘lin Village 29 Aug — For more than three weeks Ni‘lin village has been witnessing several brutal midnight invasions and raids of local houses. But this time it’s different. The raids are not for arresting people, but instead just for training and getting ready to suppress the popular struggle uprising next September in different villages of the West Bank such as Ni‘lin, Bil‘in, Nabi Saleh, Ma‘sarah and Beit Ommar.
The Israeli army is adding new units of soldiers who are in the army reserve, training them to get ready for this event. The recent night raids into the West Bank village of Ni‘lin over the past three weeks, as well as comments made in Israeli media, attest that a new type of gas has been developed for next September which causes the diarrhea. Demonstrators in Ni‘lin on 26 August reported a new type of gas being used by military in the last peaceful demonstration.
http://www.nilin-village.org/2011/08/29/israeli-occupation-closes-august-with-one-demonstrator-shot-in-ni%E2%80%99lin/
Border tension – Egypt/Gaza/Israel
IDF remains on high alert in south
Ynet 30 Aug — IDF forces stationed in the southern sector and on the Israel-Egypt border remained on high alert Monday night, as military intelligence indicated a viable terror threat in the area. The southern sector, and especially the area adjacent to the border, has been virtually flooded with military forces, deployed in a manner defined by one security source as “unprecedented.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115486,00.html
Report: Israel sends 2 warships to Egyptian border
News agencies 30 Aug — The Israeli Navy (INF) has decided to boost its presence and patrols near Israel’s maritime border with Egypt due to a viable terror threat in the area.
Israeli security sources told the Associated Press on Tuesday that two additional warships have been dispatched to Israel’s Red Sea border with Egypt. Another source stressed that the operation was routine, telling Reuters that “two naval craft have been sent to the Red Sea. This is not unusual.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115781,00.html
Report: Egyptian forces raid Jihad cells in Sinai
Ynet 30 Aug — Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm quoted Egyptian security sources as saying that forces continue to raid terrorist strongholds in Sinai as part of a special operation on the event of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The operation includes some 1,500 soldiers as well as tanks and armored vehicles … The newspaper noted that Egyptian security forces have raised the level of alert for fear of acts of violence during the holiday. They are scanning the border areas of Rafah, El-Arish and Sheikh Zweid, working alongside Bedouin tribal leaders who are trying to convince the [Islamic] Jihad operatives to abandon violence.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115617,00.html
Gaza
VIDEO: Gazan students restricted from study abroad
Al Jazeera 30 Aug — A group of Palestinian students who have won scholarships to study abroad should be getting ready for the new experience. Instead, they are stuck at home in Gaza because their government will not let them leave. Al Jazeera’s Stafanie Dekker reports from Gaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS0Due6Dn-0&feature=player_embedded
Miles of Smiles and Africa 1 convoys reach Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 30 Aug — Miles of Smiles and Africa 1 aid convoys reached the Gaza Strip on Monday evening through the Rafah border crossing. The higher committee for receiving delegations in Gaza said that Miles of Smiles5 from Europe which was dubbed the “border martyrs” to honour the Egyptian soldiers killed by the IOF, and Africa 1 convoy arrived at the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing at sunset (time for iftar) on Monday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hjxQCSuwUpzWhVnnWLTjqWksyqlCvFxeVnlA3opeOya6o7FQ8QvbB8cu70dwRErZqvEfSQyEK%2fOhABnuZJ26bKWf%2fu7HK2LyInDEQUja8tY%3d
Gaza NGOs express ‘horror’ at new Hamas travel restrictions on Palestinians / Amira Hass
Haaretz 30 Aug — Anyone leaving Gaza in the framework of NGO activity must now provide details of the trip to the government — The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip recently imposed new travel restrictions on Palestinians active in non-governmental organizations in what the Palestinian NGO Network regards as another Hamas attempt to control and hamper them.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gaza-ngos-express-horror-at-new-hamas-travel-restrictions-on-palestinians-1.381428
Hamas journal: Mashaal to discuss Shalit deal in Cairo
Ynet 30 Aug — Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal will arrive in Cairo next weekend together with fellow officials to discuss a prisoner exchange deal, Hamas journal al-Risala reported Tuesday. A Palestinian source told the paper that the delegation members will be briefed by the Egyptians on recent talks between Egypt and Israel regarding a prisoner exchange deal which will see Gilad Shalit released. Meanwhile, prominent US Muslim figures, including two congressmen, have sent a letter to Mashaal calling him to release the captive IDF soldier.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115565,00.html
The loneliness of Gaza’s long-distance runner / Donald Macintyre
The Independent 30 Aug — Nader al-Masri is battling the stopwatch – and Israel’s blockade – to secure his Olympic dream — As the sun sinks slowly behind the stands of the Yarmouk Stadium, it feels a fraction cooler after a day of blistering August heat. Which is just as well, as it is Ramadan and Nader al-Masri, 31, has not eaten or drunk anything since before dawn and will not do so until dusk, still a couple of hours away. Before that, this quiet, slightly built man will have completed 25 circuits of the stadium in around 45 minutes, concealing the arduousness of the task by his straight-backed but graceful, easy running style.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-loneliness-of-gazas-longdistance-runner-2345882.html
Detention
Trial of West Bank organizer Bassem Tamimi to resume Sunday
PSCC/ISM 30 Aug — After telling the judge that he does not recognize the legitimacy of the court and of military law during his arraignment on June 5th, Bassem Tamimi’s trial is expected to open this coming Sunday, when prosecution witnesses will take the stand for the first time. On June 14th, the EU has expressed its concern over Tamimi’s incarceration in a statement given during the 17th session of the UN’s Human Rights Council. Tamimi is incarcerated since late march and the coming hearing, after more than 5 months of imprisonment, is the first in which the allegations will actually be discussed in court. Proceedings in the case have been prolonged after prosecution witnesses did not bother to show up to a previous hearing on June 27th
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/20016/
Child arrests: Mohmad Ibrahim Abu Maria
PSP 29 Aug — The past year has seen a rapid increase in child arrests in Beit Ommar, as the Israeli army escalates this tactic of occupation. Last week, PSP visited the family home of one of these children. Mohmad Ibrahim Abu Maria is a 16-year-old high school student from Beit Ommar. His case is one which sounds all too familiar in Palestine. Seven months ago, the Israeli army arrested him from the passenger’s seat of his father’s car. He is still in jail today, and has yet to be tried for any offence. Mohmad’s father, Ibrahim Abu Maria, told us more about his story.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/08/29/mohmad-ibrahim-abu-maria/
Palestinians call for investigation into high incidence of illness in Israeli jails
MEMO 30 Aug — …The Palestinian Centre for Defending Detainees stated that hundreds of detainees develop serious and chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, pleurisy, kidney failure, back pain, persistent headaches and ulcers while in Israeli prisons. These are all exacerbated by the apparently deliberate Israeli policy of medical neglect and lack of adequate treatment. The PCDD added that Israeli prisons lack specialist doctors and Palestinian detainees are given nothing but pain killers.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2769-palestinians-call-for-investigation-into-high-incidence-of-illness-in-israeli-jails
Interview sheds light on Israel prison-colonial complex
ISM 29 Aug — …We were keen to know about what kind of treatment the recent detainees could expect, and [Bardran Jabbal] seemed to be the perfect person to speak to, considering he has spent 20 years in Israeli prisons over the course of his life as have each of his sons, under the British mandate laws that allow people to be arrested without any evidence or charge for up to six months, a sentence which can be renewed at any time … Discussing what conditions the prisoners could expect to face, he told us [because of] that human rights organizations’ pressuring since the 80s, the torture has shifted more to psychological methods. One example he provided was when they produced a fake document from the International Red Cross Society saying that his wife had died and that his five children were now living on their own. They wanted him to sign it to “hand custody over to their grandparents.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/20012/
Israeli court extends remand of Palestinian responsible for Tel Aviv attack
Haaretz 30 Aug — The Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday extended the remand of the Palestinian man suspected of carrying out the recent terror attack in Tel Aviv, which left eight people wounded. The court extended the man’s remand by 10 days, despite the police’s request that it will be extended by 15 days. The Petah Tikva court has imposed a gag order on the entire investigation, and the court hearing was held behind closed doors. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-court-extends-remand-of-palestinian-responsible-for-tel-aviv-terror-attack-1.381578
Cairo called to oversee reconciliation after Ramadan prisoner deal breached
RAMALLAH (PIC) 28 Aug — The families of the West Bank political prisoners committee have released an important report documenting statistics on the West Bank security services in Ramadan as the holy month comes to a close. Officials from Hamas and Fatah met in Cairo before Ramadan when promises were made to release all political prisoners in the occupied territories before Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the month. However, arrests across the entire West Bank continued even after those agreements were made. In conjunction with an arrest campaign by the Israeli occupation authorities, the sweeps saw the detention of more than 150 of Hamas’s supporters.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2bBNA3kXTXBXaCH0%2bffEGgkYp8fMhp57K1tqCAYyU9N9zG2I3beI0kFXvYd9yfY%2b4himIKoIk%2frzsgHRbiOZ%2fZWRCBAPBfHufTSwiz%2bygGzI%3d
Refugees
Palestinians in Jordan refugee camp long to return / John Ridley
EI 30 Aug — The market is busy, shop and stall owners are shouting to advertise their wares to the crowds on the street; food and essential goods only … The sense of community is apparent, everyone has a purpose, many stop to welcome me, or just shake hands and say “hello.” But just beyond the bustling market lays the reality of Baqaa. Mahmood, my guide, explains — “Four generations of refugees have grown up with little hope of escaping poverty, let alone reaching their true potential; despite their hardships the community remains strong.”
http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinians-jordan-refugee-camp-long-return/10330
BDS
Swedish chain kicks out drink machines made in Israeli settlements
EI 29 Aug Stephanie Westbrook — …Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Israeli maker of home carbonation devices, Sodastream, took a direct hit when the Coop supermarket chain announced on 19 July that it would stop all purchases of its products due to the company’s activity in illegal Israeli settlements. This marked another important victory for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, as Sweden is Sodastream’s largest market, with an estimated one in five households owning a Sodastream product.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/swedish-chain-kicks-out-drink-machines-made-israeli-settlements/10327
Discrimination
Rights activist: Israeli government should finance couples forced to wed abroad
Haaretz 30 Aug — …”Some 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union are not recognized as Jews according to the halakha and are denied the right to marry in Israel,” says Alex Tentzer, an activist for civil marriages in the Russian-speaking community … “Until there’s a law in Israel stipulating that everyone can get married here, the trip abroad must be financed by the state. If the state denies people their civil rights, it must pay up,” he says.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/rights-activist-israeli-government-should-finance-couples-forced-to-wed-abroad-1.381430?
Statehood bid
House bill to cut funds to pro-Palestine UN groups
WASHINGTON (AP) 30 Aug – The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is asking Congress to block U.S. funds for any United Nations entity that supports giving Palestine an elevated status at the U.N. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., in legislation unveiled Tuesday, also would ban U.S. contributions to the U.N. Human Rights Council and an anti-racism conference seen as a platform for anti-Israel rhetoric … The bill, with 57 cosponsors, comes forth as the U.N. General Assembly prepares to vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood regardless of the outcome of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. In an op-ed in the Miami Herald on Sunday, Ros-Lehtinen said her bill follows the example of George H.W. Bush, who in 1989 succeeded in stopping the U.N. from recognizing a Palestinian state by threatening to cut off U.S. financial support.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110830/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_un
Israel warned against sending Peres to UN vote on Palestinian state
Haaretz 30 Aug — Sending President Shimon Peres to the United Nations General Assembly for the vote on Palestinian statehood in September will only harm Israel’s interests and give more weight to the Palestinian move, pro-Israeli diplomats in New York warned Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-warned-against-sending-peres-to-un-vote-on-palestinian-state-1.381605
St. Vincent and the Grenadines recognizes Palestinian state
IMEMC 30 Aug — The Palestinian Mission at the United Nations received, on Monday evening, a letter from the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines officially recognizing an independent Palestinian State.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61912
Other political / diplomatic / international news
Palestinian medical group headed to Libya to help treat wounded
Ramallah (Pal Telegraph) 29 Aug – President Mahmoud Abbas is going to send a medical delegation to Libya to contribute to alleviating the suffering of the Libyan people and to treat the wounded, Monday said official sources. Minister of Health Fathi Abu Mughli said Abbas issued instructions to send a medical team specialized in disaster treatment to Benghazi after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday. He said that he will personally head the team, which will include a staff of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrators from the ministry of health, to contribute to ease the Libyan people’s suffering in the hard times they are going through. He stressed that in spite of the Palestinian Authority’s critical economic situation in Palestine and its negative effects on the medical sector, the medical delegation will nevertheless carry take with it medical equipment, medicine and supplies.[including those rightfully belonging to Gaza, by any chance?]
http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/middle-east/77-middle-east/10001-palestinian-medical-group-headed-to-libya-to-help-treat-wounded.html
Egyptians demonstrate outside the Israeli embassy on Eid day
CAIRO (PIC) 30 Aug — Dozens of Egyptians demonstrated on the first day of Eid outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protest the flying of the Israeli flag on the embassy after it was removed by a protester a few days ago. The demonstrators reiterated their demands to expel the Israeli ambassador, close the embassy and retaliate to the killing of Egyptian soldiers by the IOF. They said that the fact that it was Eid day did not stop them from demonstrating for the lives of the soldiers who were killed and chanted to this effect.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2f6y8vSclkp242pMhFrVHNJ7dmnU8ed8ZYtyFJIwhvVO6yew9k%2fseqZZYas63dV5cLBmI2d7wmrG3IiW8NLoYluvu%2bMA8ftdP%2bOYK7JdZvFw%3d
WikiLeaks: Special treatment gives Israeli mobsters free access to US soil / Ali Abunimah
EI blog 28 Aug — Known Israeli organized crime bosses are able to travel freely to the United States, unlike counterparts from Italy, China and Central America, because the State Department has failed to apply US law to them. It appears that at least one prominent Israeli crime family member was able to reach the United States with a specific intent to commit murder, as a result of this exemption. This revelation comes in a May 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv titled “Israel: A Promised Land for Organized Crime?”
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/special-treatment-gives-israeli-mobsters-free-access-us-soil-wikileaks
Other news
In photos: Al Quds Day at Qalandia
Pal. Monitor 29 Aug — Photos by Michele Monni and Silvia Boarini. Written by Michelle Monni. On the last Friday of Ramadan (the holy month for Muslims), around 100 members of the “Olive Revolution” movement gathered at Qalandiya checkpoint to protest against the severe restrictions for Palestinians who wish to reach Jerusalem. Most Palestinians in attendance wanted to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for Islam. Protesters, and those who were refused to get through, decided to pray in front of the soldiers standing at the entrance of the checkpoint. Following prayers, participants started singing for the freedom of the Palestinian people and against the Israeli occupation. After a short while, the IDF shot tear-gas canisters and sound bombs to disperse the demonstration.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1617
In photos: Ramadan in the Old City of Jerusalem
Pal. Monitor 30 Aug — Photos taken by Silvia Boarini through Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, in and around the Old City of Al Quds, Jerusalem.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1630
Analysis / Opinion
Israel’s image won’t improve without policy changes / Gary Wexler
Forward 29 Aug — Sexy Photo Shoots Amount to Marketing Mission Impossible — …The unfortunate truth, though, is that “Israel,” associated with anything except hi-tech and security products, is proving to be an increasing liability, especially when it is identified with mass consumer goods. Even with all the efforts of Camera, the Israel Project, the Jewish Federations and all the other organizations that blast my email inbox daily with defensive statements, Israel is increasingly emerging as the world’s pariah nation. Yet, as strange as it may sound coming from a marketer with an advertising background, who has represented hundreds of Jewish organizations worldwide, I have arrived at the conclusion that the solution will not be found in branding, marketing, public relations or the writings of political pundits.
http://forward.com/articles/141862/
The OECD has lost 4 million Palestinians / Shir Hever
JNews blog 26 Aug — The OECD’s recent report on the statistics of Israel shows that the Israeli government succeeded in manipulating the organization into accepting Israel’s perspective – according to which Palestinians simply do not exist.
http://www.jnews.org.uk/commentary/the-oecd-has-lost-4-million-palestinians
