and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers
‘Price Tag’ reaches IDF base
Ynet 7 Sept — Ynet learned Wednesday that anonymous vandals broke into a military base in the Binyamin region, cut the cables of IDF jeeps, damaged vehicle tires and spray painted them with the words “Ramat Migron”. At least 11 vehicles were damaged.The price tag actions came in response to the demolition of structures in the Migron outpost earlier this week. A military official estimated that it would have been nearly impossible to penetrate the base without being exposed and believes that soldiers cooperated and even took part in the price tag acts.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4119057,00.html
Settlers vandalize an Israeli military base
IMEMC 7 Sept — The Yesha Council of Settlements, the central body representing Israeli settlers in the West Bank, condemned the “price tag” operation carried out by a group of Israeli settlers at an Israeli Military base on Wednesday. The council called on the government to crack down on what they called “marginal group”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61968
IDF chief: Price tag vandals – extremist criminals
Ynet 7 Sept — The precedential “price tag” activity that targeted an IDF base in the West Bank has caused a stir in the military, prompting IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz to call the vandals “extremist criminals,” and promise that they are to be apprehended soon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4119418,00.html
Yitzhak settlers violently crash Burin wedding, military watches
ISM West Bank, 6 Sept — While villagers were celebrating a wedding in the small village of Burin, Israeli arsonists from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar seized the opportunity to set ablaze olive groves, destroying over 200 olive trees … A number of villagers who were at the wedding left and started to make their way towards their olive groves, yet were stopped by Israeli military … “The settlers were masked, and one settler had a video camera and was filming the event,” said Ghassan, a local of Burin. As the illegal settlers stood to watch the trees burning, they were joined by a second group of settlers from a neighboring outposts. 5 families lost a total of over 200 trees due to this particular instance. Over 4000 olive trees have been uprooted or burnt by the illegal settlers from Yitzhar, which was erected in 1984. This follows suit with the “price tag campaign” Yitzhar has famously coined
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20071/
Bethlehem University professor, student attacked by rampant settlers
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 7 Sept — …a university press release published Wednesday … said that while traveling between the Palestinian villages of Al-Lubban and Turmos Aya, near the Israeli settlements of Ofarim and Bet Ariye along the Nablus-Ramallah road in the West Bank, Prof. Adwan Adwan, a faculty member in the Arabic Department at Bethlehem University, was the victim of a violent attack by some 20 Israeli settlers who threw rocks in his face, injuring his head, shoulder, and stomach. His car was blocked by a pile of burning tires when he quickly came under what he said felt like a well-orchestrated ambush. On the same day and further along the same road, near the settlement of Shiloh in the Palestinian Territory, Yara Odeh, a Bethlehem University master’s degree student, was the victim of a violent attack by some Israeli settlers. Odeh found herself stuck in what appeared to be a traffic jam caused by Israeli settlers pelting cars with rocks. With the road blocked, she escaped from her car through the passenger door and ran toward nearby Israeli soldiers, calling for help. She reports being refused help and being told to return to her car.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17270
Locals: Settlers hurl rocks at cars near Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 6 Sept 22:41 — A group of Israeli settlers hurled rocks at a number of Palestinian cars driving along the Qalqiliya-Nablus road on Tuesday, locals said. Fatah member in Qalqiliya Riyad Abu Hamda said he was heading back to Nablus when a group of four or five settlers threw rocks at his car, smashing his windshield. He said settlers were throwing rocks at every car passing through the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418088
Jewish rabbis condemn mosque arson
NABLUS (WAFA) 6 Sept — Jewish rabbis condemned on Tuesday the arson of Al-Noreen mosque in Qusra, southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. A number of rabbis visited the village to inspect the damage caused by the arson after Jewish settlers set sections of the mosque on fire on Monday. The rabbis met with village residents and expressed their condemnation of the act
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17249
Watch: Settler rabbi speaks out against mosque arson
JPost 7 Sept. – An unlikely meet in the West Bank: Settler rabbi and peace activist Menachem Froman on Tuesday called for the arsonists of the mosque in Qusara to be expelled from Israel. Rabbi Froman, a resident of the Tekoa settlement, along with his colleagues from the Eretz Shalom movement, visited the Arab village in an attempt to quell tensions following Monday’s alleged “price tag” vandalism act. Speaking by the desecrated mosque, Rabbi Froman said that both mosques and synagogues are considered Houses of God and that it is a sin to damage either. Froman and the Eretz Shalom activists received a mixed reception by the upset Palestinian residents of the village. [quite odd to hear the rabbi shout “Allahu Akbar”, but also odd to hear him say “We the Jews have come to this land in order to bring peace.”]
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=237020
Land, property, resource theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Civil Administration head orders end to demolition of Palestinian structures
B’Tselem 6 Sept — According to media reports, the head of the Civil Administration, Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, has ordered an end to the demolition of Palestinian structures built without a permit. The order applies in Area C, some 60% of West Bank land where Israel is responsible for civil affairs, and is pending approval of Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. Almoz gave achieving “equality of enforcement” as the reason for the order, and noted that the Civil Administration was “very far” from enforcing the law in settlements and outposts where structures were built without permits … B’Tselem rejects the false symmetry created by comparing Palestinian building in the West Bank and Israeli building in the settlements. Israel is obliged, under international humanitarian law, to enable Palestinian communities to build and develop according to their needs. It is not allowed to damage their property, including private and public structures. At the same time, international law forbids Israel to build settlements on the land it has occupied.
http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20110906_almoz_stops_demolition_of_palestinian_structures
Arabs make the desert bloom / Oudeh Basharat
Haaretz 6 Sept — …I wonder if anyone would need to invest in a fantasy film, even if it’s in 3-D, if a nonfiction film can be produced with flesh, blood and tears. In every corner of the Negev one can see, just like in the movie “Avatar,” how a brutal and cold-hearted machine is fighting against the beauty of human nature. Every Arab village must be subdued and confined to a minimum amount of land because a “Jewish character” must be bestowed upon every grain of sand so that this “redeemed” land, in Zionist terminology, speaks only Hebrew. But in the ultimate of ironies, there is no better manifestation of the Zionist concept of making the desert bloom than the unrecognized Arab villages of the Negev – vibrant islands in a sea of gold, in the middle of nothing whatsoever. The Negev has more than a million dunams of land, but it’s only the Arab land, less than 5 percent of that expanse, that the government covets.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/arabs-make-the-desert-bloom-1.382764
Wasteland in Walajeh: Israeli military destruction of farmland
[photos] ISM 7 Sept — On September 5th bulldozers protected by dozens of soldiers arrived at 4 AM and uprooted 50 olive trees that date back at least 100 years. The bulldozers also destroyed 18 almond trees, 27 pine trees, and 8 fruit trees. The destruction took place in an area of over 1 square mile and was declared a closed military zone, prohibiting media coverage of the devastating operation. Mohammed Al-Atrash (Abu Wajih), the elderly farmer who owned the trees, will receive no compensation for his loss.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20079/
Gaza
Airstrike kills PRC militant in southern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 Sept 21:31 — An Israeli airstrike late Tuesday killed a member of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees and injured three others east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medics said. Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said aircraft fired a missile toward a group of people killing a Palestinian and injuring two children and an elderly man. They were taken to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades said in a statement that Khaled Samhud, 23, the leader of the artillery unit in the brigades, died during Israeli airstrikes targeting members of the group. The PRC armed wing added that its forces targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Kissufim border area and claimed responsibility for firing a rocket toward Israeli military vehicles. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire as aircraft flew above eastern Khan Younis.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418135
Israeli warplanes target central Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 Sept 22:44 — Israeli warplanes raided an open area west of Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip overnight Monday, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The Israeli army said in a statement that “in response to rocket fire from Gaza at Israel last night, IAF aircraft targeted a weapons manufacturing site in the central Gaza Strip overnight.” A hit was confirmed, the statement added. Israeli radio said that projectiles had been fired at the Shaar HaNegev regional council in southern Israel. The shelling in Gaza caused a fire to break out which fire fighters managed to extinguish. No injuries have been reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417938
Rocket fired from Gaza hits Israel
AFP 7 Sept — A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the southern Israeli Shaar Hanegev region on Wednesday, causing no damage or casualties, the Israeli military told AFP. Overnight on Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike in Gaza, killing a militant and wounding a father and his two sons, Palestinian medical sources and a militant group in the territory said.
http://news.yahoo.com/rocket-fired-gaza-hits-israel-155247480.html
6 injured in Gaza refugee camp explosion
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Sept — Six people were injured on Tuesday evening in an explosion at a home in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, medics said. They were taken to the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Police said they have opened an investigation into the cause of the blast. The incident happened at a militant’s home, local sources said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418182
Turkish prime minister says he might visit Gaza
ANKARA (AFP) 6 Sept 13:04 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday he might visit Gaza, adding that no final decision had been made yet. “We are talking with the Egyptians on this matter (…) A trip to Gaza is not finalized yet,” Erdoğan, who is due to visit Egypt next week, told reporters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418019
Today we planted in Gaza’s buffer zone
ISM Gaza 6 Sept — Today, like every Tuesday in Beit Hanoun, we marched into the buffer zone to protest it and the illegal Israeli occupation. In many ways it was the same as every Tuesday. We gathered at the Agricultural College, we marched down the road that leads to the buffer zone, we sang, and we chanted. What was different this week? The demonstration was bigger than it has been in a long time, Ramadan is over, and the people are newly energized. Also people were more afraid than they had been in a long time. Israel has just finished its latest round of heavy violence on Gaza. We were worried that Israel would fire on us, we are always afraid of this.
Something else was different though. When we reached the buffer zone it was newly plowed. If you didn’t know better you might have thought that the buffer zone, the zone of death, had disappeared and that farmers had been to their land and readied it for planting. This wasn’t true though. The buffer zone is still there. The land had been bulldozed by Israel, not to prepare it for planting but instead to make sure that nothing lives in the buffer zone. Neither plants nor people indigenous to the land were allowed to grow here.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20076/
Israeli forces
‘Hebron raids reminiscent of intifada’
Ynet 7 Sept — Caught off guard? Hebron’s Palestinian residents were stunned to learn Wednesday of the nature or the extensive raids carried out by Israeli security forces in the West Bank city and its surroundings over the past few weeks. Earlier, it was revealed that a joint Shin Bet, IDF and police operation uncovered widespread terror infrastructure in the West Bank and identified 13 Hamas terror cells. Dozens of Hamas operatives were arrested during the operation, including the perpetrator of the attack on Jerusalem’s International Convention Center in March; and a would-be suicide bomber, who planned an attack in the city’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood [E. Jerusalem settlement]. The raids were described by Palestinian sources as the most extensive operation in the area since the al-Aqsa Intifada. “Many of those arrested were Hamas members, but they belong to the movement’s politburo,” Issa Amar, a member of Hebron’s Popular Committees said. The Palestinians claimed that an IDF raid carried out in mid-August resulted in over 100 arrests of men living in Hebron and the surrounding villages … Amar was adamant that unlike past raids, which targeted Hamas military operatives, the majority of those arrested in August’s operation were simply “politically affiliated with Hamas.” The Palestinian Authority was quick to condemn the raids, which Palestinian sources said were meant to “make up for the Israeli intelligence’s failures regarding the terror attacks near Eilat.” … Hamas made a strategic decision to maintain a lull in the West Bank and the Strip. They know that Netanyahu will use anything they do in the West Bank as an excuse to attack Gaza,” [Amar said]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4119415,00.html
IDF releases mentally disabled Palestinian miles from home, relative says
Haaretz 7 Sept — Early in the day, two members of the Saliman family from the village of Al Hadida went out to herd sheep near the Ro’i settlement. They were accompanied by the mentally disabled man, a 20-year-old who cannot speak and is also physically handicapped. Israeli soldiers approached in a jeep and told the Palestinians they could not remain in the area. The three boarded the vehicle, which headed toward the valley’s main road. The three were not interrogated; the soldiers left each in a different location. According to one family member, who gave his name as Riyad, the mentally disabled man was left several kilometers from home. He could not explain his plight to anyone he met … At 10 P.M., 10 hours after leaving the jeep, the Palestinian was found by PA police wandering near the Ain Bidan wells.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-releases-mentally-disabled-palestinian-miles-from-home-relative-says-1.382957
Israeli army escorts 1,200 Israelis into Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 7 Sept — Dozens of Israeli military jeeps entered the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Tuesday to escort Israelis visiting a holy site in the city, witnesses and the army said. An Israeli military spokesman said the army was protecting around 1,200 Israelis in a coordinated visit to the site believed to be Joseph’s tomb in Nablus. Visits to the tomb are usually coordinated by the army and Palestinian Authority security forces. Under the Oslo accords, the city of Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418193
Israeli crimes on the high seas
Statement for USS Liberty memorial service
ISM Gaza 7 Sept — This statement was submitted for tonight’s memorial service off the coast of the Gaza Strip. We join Larry Toenjes, Joe and Sherrie Wagner, Rusty Glenn, and all supporters of the s/v Liberty in remembering the deaths of 34 USS Liberty servicemen killed by the State of Israel on June 8, 1967, and the wounding of 174 more. As crew members of the Oliva, a civilian craft monitoring Israeli naval crimes against fishermen off the coast of Gaza, and as observers on board Palestinian fishing trawlers, we have observed, and at times endured, Israel’s unprovoked use of live gunfire, water cannons, and other military aggression against peaceful vessels. These violent attacks often produce lethal results..
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20088/
Texans in 39-foot boat sailed 8,000 miles, to hold memorial for American sailors killed by Israel
CNI 7 Sept — A retired college professor who has sailed approximately 8,000 miles to the eastern Mediterranean has now arrived at his destination: the exact location where Israeli forces tried to sink a US Navy ship in 1967, killing or injuring over 200 American servicemen. Larry Toenjes, 74 years old, is planning to hold a memorial service for those killed on board the ship, the USS Liberty. Israel shelled and torpedoed the ship, an electronics surveillance ship, in an attack that lasted as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor. UPDATE: Memorial to be held 5pm Eastern Time Thursday, Sept. 8 and will be streamed on the CNI website live.
http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/component/k2/item/718-texans-in-39-foot-boat-expected-to-arrive-off-coast-of-gaza-on-tuesday-to-honor-uss-liberty.html
Mavi Marmara lawyers pursue criminal complaints against Israelis, declare UN report ‘null and void’
EI blog 6 Sept – Ali Abunimah — Lawyers representing the victims of the Israeli military attack on the Mavi Marmara have affirmed that they are pursuing legal action against the perpetrators, including individual Israeli soldiers. The statement signed by Attorney Ramazan Aritürk says: “We have the ID information of some of the Israeli soldiers who carried out the May 31 attacks and we have been filing criminal complaints against them in local and international courts including the ICC [International Criminal Court] and we will exert utmost effort to ensure that they receive the necessary punishment.”
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/mavi-marmara-lawyers-pursue-criminal-complaints-against-israelis-declare-un-report
Detention – PA
PA security kidnaps son of prisoner, Hamas official Abul Heija
JENIN (PIC) 7 Sept — Security forces from the Palestinian authority (PA) on Monday violently raided the house of senior Hamas official and prisoner in Israeli jails Jamal Abul Heija and kidnapped his 18-year old son Hamza … The preventive security agency kidnapped Hamza last month after he responded to a summons for interrogation and was released a week later on bail. All four sons of Hamas official Abul Heija have been kidnapped many times by the PA security agencies in the context of their cooperation with the Israeli occupation.
https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/pa-security-kidnaps-son-of-prisoner-hamas-official-abul-heija/
Hamas denounces preventive security storming of released MP’s home
RAMALLAH (PIC) 7 Sept — …A statement by the lawmakers on Wednesday said that the preventive security agents broke into the home of Sheikh Yousef and confiscated the green banners and flags of Hamas in blatant violation of his immunity and in violation of the reconciliation atmosphere.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7NCH0GoSGZBY3pnIstsOjH%2bG38sNPfV6Smmh2QQmx6mPbMe9yDEoLBS4SwPiEwvD1FXhmWvuyeK6DnVayB8DZsI2HZZv7GELcAsdp32kIql8%3d
Refugees
Lebanese, Palestinian actors take part in UNRWA project
BEIRUT (Daily Star) 7 Sept — After a visit to Beirut’s Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp Tuesday, a group of Lebanese and Palestinian actors are pledging to present a new and more honest portrayal of the country’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps. “Through plays and movies, people throughout Lebanon will know the reality of the Palestinian refugee camps,” said Jean Kassis, who heads Lebanon’s Actors Union … Walking in the camp’s narrow streets, Kassis told The Daily Star that most Lebanese have a misconception of the situation inside Palestinian camps.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Sep-07/148108-lebanese-palestinian-actors-take-part-in-unrwa-project.ashx
‘Return’ plan for al-Bared: Displacing the displaced / Qasem Qasem
Al Akhbar 5 Sept — Rumors about the fate of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp began to circulate following its destruction by the Lebanese army in 2007. WikiLeaks documents now reveal that one of the options secretly discussed was to relocate the camp’s residents to the West Bank, possibly the newly constructed Rawabi urban complex.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/%E2%80%9Creturn%E2%80%9D-plan-al-bared-displacing-displaced
Away from the UN debate, Palestinian [refugee] camp is on edge / Tom Perry
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) 7 Sept — Once again, it can be easier to find a rifle than a job in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin … The scene of heavy fighting in 2002 during the last Intifada, or uprising, Jenin camp today challenges the picture of a West Bank prospering under the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Western-backed and internationally funded government. Young men who fought in the last uprising have since emerged from Israeli prisons to bleak prospects. Their local standing as heroes has not helped them to find work. They hold the PA responsible and say their anger is growing … The camp’s 16,000 people, mostly descendants of Palestinians dispossessed when Israel was created in 1948, live with memories of a violent past and little hope for a better future.
http://news.yahoo.com/away-u-n-debate-palestinian-camp-edge-141904286.html
Racism
Haaretz editorial: Admit them, and now
Ner Etzion students, who have been sentenced to remain at home until some school deigns to admit them, will carry the memory of this rejection as a formative experience of their attempt to be accepted into Israeli society — Even today, six days after the start of the crisis surrounding the Ner Etzion school in Petah Tikva, dozens of students of Ethiopian origin do not know where they will be studying this year.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/admit-them-and-now-1.382983
Statehood bid
Palestinians: US prevention of statehood bid shows disdain for Arabs
Reuters 7 Sept — …Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said U.S. policy now appeared confined to one point: stopping the Palestinians from embarking on their diplomatic initiative at the United Nations. “The subject is not settlements, or Palestinian independence or the rights of the Palestinian people, or halting the criminal violations perpetrated by the settlers against the Palestinian people,” he said. “All this is being ignored and the only issue has become the issue of us not going to the United Nations,” he told Voice of Palestine radio.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-u-s-prevention-of-statehood-bid-shows-disdain-for-arabs-1.383105
Palestinians deploy Obama speech in UN campaign
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 7 Sept — President Barack Obama is an unlikely participant in a Palestinian campaign to drum up support for a bid to win U.N. recognition of their statehood — a diplomatic move opposed by both his administration and Israel. But as part of an official media campaign begun this week, Palestinians have pulled from the archive some words spoken by Obama during the 2010 U.N. General Assembly, in which he alluded to the prospect of a Palestinian state joining the world body. “When we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that can lead to a new member of the United Nations, an independent, sovereign state of Palestine living in peace with Israel,” Obama says in his 2010 speech.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110907/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_obama
Egyptian-Spanish coordination to support Palestinian bid, says Egyptian official
CAIRO (WAFA) 7 Sept — The Egyptian Foreign Ministry Wednesday announced an Egyptian-Spanish coordination to support the Palestinian bid to gain full United Nations membership of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders later this month … [Spanish Foreign Minister] Yáñez-Barnuevo stressed his country’s support of the Palestinian bid and its willingness to urge more European countries to support it as well, said Roshdy.[Egyptian Foreign Minister] Amr welcomed the Spanish stance and stressed that Egypt has harnessed all its diplomatic power to rally the largest possible support for recognizing the Palestinian state
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17258
Demonstrators call on PA to face off US pressure
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 7 Sept — A number of Palestinians demonstrated at Manara Square in the center of Ramallah Wednesday in protest against United States pressure on the Palestinian Authority to foil its bid to get United Nations recognition. The demonstration coincided with a visit by US peace envoy, David Hale, to Ramallah for a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the UN bid. The protesters, organized by the Palestinian People’s Party, held slogans that express their resentment of the US pressure
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17267
French Mideast envoy fired for opposing Palestinian UN bid
Haaretz 7 Sept — Valerie Hoffenberg says while she is in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state, she continues to believe that the only way to do achieve this is ‘through bilateral negotiations.’
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/french-mideast-envoy-fired-for-opposing-palestinian-un-bid-1.382960
Analysis: The UN bid through the eyes of a Palestinian refugee / Nizar El Laz
Ma‘an 6 Sept — Palestinian refugees in Lebanon living in and outside the camps have always dreamt of being a part of the state of Palestine … The major and primary concern a refugee like myself has, faced with the formulation and declaration of the state of Palestine, is the drastic dilemma which will soon face the six million refugees around the world; leaving them with a state that shares the same name as their place of origin but to which they neither legally or physically belong to … Countries around the globe are recognizing the state of Palestine within the borders of the June 4, 1967, but where does this leave the 7.5 million Palestinian outside the 1967 territories including the approximate 1.4 million Arab Israelis? How will they be represented? Will they be naturalized in their hosting countries? How will their host countries treat them?
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417919
Israel isolated ahead of UN vote on Palestinians
JERUSALEM (AP) 7 Sept — Rising tensions with some of its closest and most important allies have left Israel increasingly isolated ahead of a momentous vote on Palestinian independence at the United Nations. Troubles with Turkey, Egypt and even the U.S. are adding to Israel’s headaches ahead of the vote, which is shaping up to be a global expression of discontent against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110907/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_isolated_israel
Egypt – Israel
A new wall for Israel, in Cairo / Issandr el Amranio
[photo] The Arabist 4 Sept – First there was the West Bank wall, then the Gaza wall, then the Israeli-Egyptian wall in Sinai — and now the Egyptian government is building a wall outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protect it from protests.
http://www.arabist.net/blog/2011/9/4/a-new-wall-for-israel-in-cairo.html
Photoblog – Graffiti: Bringing down Israel’s embassy wall in Cairo / Maggie Osama
Al Akhbar — Pro-Palestinian activists turned the 100 meters long and three meters high wall surrounding Israel’s embassy in Cairo into a site of creative protest. The wall was erected by the Egyptian army last Saturday. The wall replaced an iron fence smashed by protesters last month. The military junta claimed that it was set up to protect public property and not the embassy in particular. Activists sprayed the wall with pro-Palestine, anti-SCAF and anti-Zionist messages such as “No to reconciliation”, ” We will not forget Deir Yassin”, “No to Israel”, “Bethlehem,” and finally “the Liberation of Palestine starts with the liberation of Egypt”, amid shouts of encouragement by passers-by and cars’ drivers. Some of them decided to participate in the event.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/photoblogs/graffiti-bringing-down-israels-embassy-wall-cairo
Turkey – Israel
Turkey confirms total suspension of defense industry ties with Israel
Haaretz 6 Sept — Turkish PM’s remarks follow top Israeli official’s indication that ties are still in effect, and a day after BOI chief Fischer warned of the potential negative effect Israel’s economy could suffer as a result of trade rift with Ankara.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-confirms-total-suspension-of-defense-industry-ties-with-israel-1.382874
Turkey: Israel not keeping to defense deals
(AP) 7 Sept –Ankara’s PM Erdoğan says Jerusalem failing to meet defense contracts obligations … Asked to comment on Turkey’s decision to suspend defense industry deals, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters that Israel was not keeping to the terms of defense agreements, accusing it of not returning drones that Turkey had bought from Israel and sent back for maintenance.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4119370,00.html
Turkey PM accuses Israel of lacking ‘trade ethics’ in military deal
ANKARA (AFP)7 Sept — Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel on Wednesday of lacking “trade ethics” in military bilateral contracts. “Israel has shown no loyalty to our bilateral agreements in the defence industry area,” Erdoğan told reporters, referring to a military agreement on the purchase of Israeli drones by Turkey.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418376
Turkish charter airlines cancel weekly Israel flights
Haaretz 7 Sept — Turkish charter airlines yesterday began to cut back weekly flights on routes to and from Israel against the backdrop of the crisis in relations between the two counties and the rise in canceled reservations for travel to Turkey. Meanwhile, El Al Israel Airlines has contingency plans that would address the possibility that Turkey would bar the Israeli carrier from overflying Turkish territory, Haaretz has learned.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/turkish-charter-airlines-cancel-weekly-israel-flights-1.382959
Turkey warns of more sanctions against Israel
AP 6 Sept — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey said today his nation’s navy will step up its surveillance of the eastern Mediterranean Sea since Israel has refused to apologise for last year’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla there. Erdoğan also said his government may impose more sanctions against Israel since it has refused to apologise for the attack on the flotilla. …. Speaking before Erdoğan’s threat of more sanctions, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “Israel and Turkey are the two strongest nations in the Middle East and in many respects, the most important…” … Erdoğan did not say what the next round of sanctions could include.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-warns-of-more-sanctions-against-israel-2350095.html
US alarmed at Israeli-Turkish breakdown in ties
AP 6 Sept — State Department says top US diplomats working to ‘de-escalate’ crisis between Ankara and Jerusalem
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4118810,00.html
Turkey set to sign military pact with Egypt after cutting trade ties with Israel / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 7 Sept — The alliance is not intended as ‘revenge’ against Israel; Erdoğan’s intention is to extend Turkey’s influence to areas it has not reached in past decades … Under former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt rejected Turkish overtures; Mubarak viewed Erdoğan as an interloper in regions that were under Egypt’s, and Saudi Arabia’s, influence. The new Egyptian government, however, seems eager to develop economic and strategic ties with Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/turkey-set-to-sign-military-pact-with-egypt-after-cutting-trade-ties-with-israel-1.382955
Livni to CNNTürk: If Turkey wants peace it can’t be with Hamas
Haaretz 7 Sept — In the first interview with an Israeli leader by a Turkish-based media outlet since the crisis with Ankara worsened, Tzipi Livni has told CNNTürk that the time has come for the two countries to talk about the future rather than the past. Turkey, unlike Hamas, wants peace, she said, and if Turkey wants to be part of the peace camp, it can’t be with Hamas. Israel, too, has a sense of national pride, the opposition leader said yesterday
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/livni-to-cnnturk-if-turkey-wants-peace-it-can-t-be-with-hamas-1.382961
Israel – US
Likud defends Netanyahu after report Gates called him ‘ungrateful’
Haaretz 6 Sept 13:18 — PM’s party also accuses Livni’s Kadima of ‘bowing to international pressure’ on Israel, after opposition leader says quotes attributed to former U.S. defense secretary proves ‘Netanyahu’s danger to Israel’.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/likud-defends-netanyahu-after-report-gates-called-him-ungrateful-1.382875
Israeli official: Gates-Netanyahu tensions led to serious 2-month crisis with US / Barak Ravid
Haaretz 7 Sept 01:07 — An embarrassing incident between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July 2010 led to a serious, two-month crisis between the Pentagon and the Israeli defense establishment, according to a senior Israeli official. The official said that Gates was deeply insulted by a number of claims against him Netanyahu aired in a meeting regarding the supposed breaching of bilateral agreements regarding the sale of U.S. arms to Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. The tense meeting in 2010, a similar incident in March 2011 and other incidents are behind the former U.S. defense secretary’s anger and frustration with Netanyahu that found expression in an article yesterday by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg on a Bloomberg news website.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-official-gates-netanyahu-tensions-led-to-serious-2-month-crisis-with-u-s-1.382956
US scientist pleads guilty to espionage
VOA 7 Sept — A U.S. space scientist has pleaded guilty to attempted espionage for trying to sell classified information to a U.S. federal agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. The Department of Justice said Wednesday that Stewart David Nozette entered his plea Wednesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. Federal officials and Nozette’s lawyers agreed to a 13-year prison sentence in exchange for the plea.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Scientist-Pleads-Guilty-to-Espionage-129402253.html
Other news
Jerusalem schools refuse to teach Israeli-revised textbooks
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 7 Sept — Principals and teachers of occupied East Jerusalem schools Wednesday refused to teach Palestinian textbooks that have been revised and altered by the Israeli Ministry of Education, according to a Palestinian official. Samir Jibril, a Palestinian Authority official in charge of Jerusalem education, said that 90% of the Palestinian students in Jerusalem bought the Palestinian version of the textbooks, which will be copied and distributed among the rest of the students … The Israeli government revised Palestinian textbooks and removed poems by Palestinian poet Haroun Hashim Rashid, terminology relating to the Palestinian Intifada and any reference of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine….
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17264
Kuwait grants PA $50 million
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 7 Sept — Kuwait announced on Wednesday that it decided to grant the Palestinian Authority $50 million in budget support … The grant is expected to make it possible for the Palestinian government to pay salaries to its employees. It had announced on Tuesday that it may be able to pay only half of August salary as a result of its financial crisis caused by failure of donor countries to provide needed funds.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17268
Germany to boycott UN anti-racism conference
dpa 3 Sept — German FM announced Friday that Germany will not attend anti-racism conference in New York later this month; decision explained as “an expression of our special responsibility for Israel.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/germany-to-boycott-un-anti-racism-conference-1.382280
French Fair Trade activist denied entry to Israel
IMEMC 7 Sept — Michel Besson, director of the “Andines” Cooperative, which develops Fair Trade cooperation with Palestine, was arrested Monday morning on his arrival at the airport in Tel Aviv … Besson is denied entry to Palestine and is awaiting deportation, according to his lawyer Gabi Laski … On her part Christine Sanguiñeda, Policy Officer Sustainable Development & International Solidarity, [said],”This act endangers the work of economic development through fair trade which is developing between France and Palestine.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/61966
Opinion / Analysis / Human interest
Gaza siege chokes Israel diplomatically / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 7 Sept — The crisis with Turkey is just the latest example of Gaza’s ability to cause Israel enormous diplomatic damage from within the fence surrounding the Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/gaza-siege-chokes-israel-diplomatically-1.382984
Elusive line defines lives in Israel and the West Bank / Isabel Kershner
BARTA‘A, West Bank (NY Times) 6 Sept — For decades Israel has tried to erase from public consciousness the Green Line, the pre-1967 boundary with the West Bank at the heart of stalled negotiations for a Palestinian state … Yet a recent journey along the line, from the northernmost Jalama checkpoint to the tiny villages of Al Ghuwein and Sansana in the arid hills of the south, shows that despite attempts to blur it physically, Israel has carefully preserved the line in legal and administrative terms, and it defines lives on both sides … “The wall is eating up the village [Walajeh],” said Khaled Abu Tin, 45, another resident. “If the wall was the final border of a state, that would be one thing,” he said. “But here they change plans every year. You do not know where you are.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/world/middleeast/07borders.html?_r=1
Hamas regime needs the Gaza blockade / Amira Hass
Haaretz 7 Sept — The prohibitions and Hamas’ deterrent tactics must not be taken lightly just because the number of people affected is small — How embarrassing. While solidarity activists are planning new protests against the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government is adding to limitations on Palestinians’ freedom of movement. One might justifiably ask: What are a few high school students Hamas refuses to allow to travel to the United States to study as opposed to 1.5 million Palestinians imprisoned by Israel in Gaza? Who cares about a few Fatah activists who have been banned from leaving the Gaza Strip?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/hamas-regime-needs-the-gaza-blockade-1.382987
September Journey Part 6 – our reason for living / Yuval Ben-Ami
[many photos] Staying on the move in Israel and the Palestinian Territories through a month of trial. And today: From grandma’s house to the Tulkarem PLO headquarters … I make it back to the checkpoint and there am stopped, not because anyone suspects I’ve been to illegal Tulkarem, but because I am on foot. It turns out no pedestrian traffic is allowed. An Arab speaker awaiting inspection in a lane designated for Palestinian-Israelis (Jewish Israelis pass un-inspected) invites me into his car. After a long wait we are approved and head towards the sunset. His name is Samir, and he turns out to be a self-made Palestinian Israeli. Samir was born in Tulkarem, then met a girl from Taibe while working in an Israeli potato-packing plant. They married and moved there and he received a coveted blue ID. His parents, however, remain beyond the wall. “I pass here a hundred times a day,” he says.
http://972mag.com/the-september-journey-part-6-our-reasons-for-living/
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