Netanyahu orders evacuation of Israel embassy in Jordan, fearing violent protests
Haaretz 14 Sept …Protocol stipulates that all employees return to Israel every weekend, with the exclusion of one diplomatic representative as well as a security team. On Wednesday, however, it was affirmed that Israel had decided to vacate its Jordanian embassy a day earlier than scheduled, following fears of violent protests outside the embassy building, expected to take place on Thursday and throughout the weekend.
Jordanian protesters demand closing of US Embassy
AP 14 Sept — AMMAN, Jordan – Demonstrators have demanded the closing of the U.S. Embassy in Jordan over Wikileaks cables suggesting covert U.S. plans to turn Jordan into a home for Palestinians. It was a rare anti-American demonstration in Jordan, a close ally of the U.S.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Deportation
Israel demolishes West Bank water infrastructure
TUBAS (Ma‘an) 13 Sept — …Palestinian farmer Muwaffaq Abdul-Raziq said troops demolished his well in Khirbet Atuf, near Tubas. The well cost him 750,000 shekels (around $202,000) to construct, he said, adding that he had obtained a license to build it. The well was expected to pump enough water to irrigate around 700 dunums of farmland, Abdul-Raziq said. He appealed to the Palestinian Authority to protect farmers in the Jordan Valley from Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces destroyed two Palestinian wells on the outskirts of An-Nassariya, a village northeast of Nablus, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said. The wells were recently dug by Palestinians. Israeli rights group B’Tselem said another two wells were destroyed at the same village last week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419716
West Bank villagers’ daily battle with Israel over water / David Hearst
Guardian 14 Sept –…the inhabitants of al-Amniyr, at-Tuwani and the other villages that comprise Susiya, are faced with a catch-22. If they comply with the law they cannot build cisterns and collect even the rainwater. But if they fail to use their land agriculturally, they lose it anyway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/14/west-bank-villagers-battle-water
Israeli military continue to target water wells in the West Bank
IMEMC/Agencies 14 Sept — An Israeli military force invaded Al-Far‘a area in the eastern part of the West Bank near Tubas near the Jordan Vally. The military took photographs of the existing water aquifers in the area, and informed the residents that they will come back to destroy the aquifers. Hussein Al-Hmud, head of the village council of Al-Far‘a said that destroying the aquifers will harm most of the residents who highly depend on these water resources for their agriculture which is their only source of income. In addition destroying the water resources will deprive all the region from its main source of drinking water which will cause a serious problem in the area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62019
Israeli army demolish two buildings in Beit Ommar area
[photos] PSP 13 Sept — In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israeli army bulldozers demolished two buildings, one home in Beit Ommar, and one car parts shop in the neighbouring Al Rub refugee camp. In Beit Ommar, a army bulldozer demolished a house which was under construction near the Route 60 highway, which runs past the entrance to the town. The building’s owner, Fayiz Nasr Khalyir, 47, had planned to house his family, including six children, in the new home. Fayiz had already spent 30,000 NIS on building the home.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/09/13/israeli-army-demolish-two-buildings-in-beit-ommar-area/
Land owners prevented from farming by Israeli soldiers / Nigel O’Connor
[photos] Pal. Monitor 12 Sept — A Palestinian man was hospitalized yesterday following his arrest by Israeli police. He and other Palestinian landowners were attempted to farm their land near the Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur. Farmers from Beit Ummar were clearing land to ready it for planting when an estimated 20 Israeli military personnel ordered them to leave. A British man was also arrested after he continued working with the farmers. There were clashes between settlers and the Israeli military as Karmei Tsur residents attempted to breach the community’s boundary to attack the Palestinians. The crowd of men and boys grew boisterous as their numbers swelled and shouted at the soldiers in Hebrew to stop the Palestinians from working because it was the Jewish Sabbath … The land had not been worked since 2005 after settler violence had increased following the second Intifada. With the recent construction of a children’s playground on his land, by Karmei Tsur settlers, Riyad said he feared the settlement would attempt to claim the adjoining area in order to expand the community.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1790
Israeli police arrest a senior Fatah leader from Jerusalem
IMEMC 14 Sept — Israeli police arrested Adnan Gheith from Jerusalem, hours after his return to his house after being deported for eight months. Gheith is a senior Fatah leader in Jerusalem and was deported from Jerusalem last January, by an Israeli military order.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62017
Israel to forcibly evict Bedouins from West Bank / Amira Hass
Haaretz 14 Sept — The Civil Administration is expected to begin forcefully moving Bedouin in the West Bank to a permanent location as part of a plan to remove all the Bedouin in Area C (under both Israel’s civilian and military aegis) from lands they have been living on for decades. The plan will eventually relocate Bedouin living in other areas of the West Bank. According to various calculations, some 27,000 Bedouin live in the West Bank, mostly in Area C … The plan to move the Bedouin to permanent locations about which Haaretz learned from Bedouin sources in the area and from diplomats and international aid groups, was made without consulting them.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-to-forcibly-evict-bedouins-from-west-bank-1.384290
‘The worst day in a Beduin’s life’
JPost 13 Sept — For Khalil Alamour and many of his Beduin brethren, the cabinet’s approval on Sunday of a plan to resettle and provide economic development assistance to tens of thousands of villagers was nothing less than “the worst day in a Beduin’s life.”
“I hope that the government won’t carry out this bad plan,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. “The people here feel really bad that the government is eliminating their existence, their culture, their way of living. This is the worst day in a Beduin’s life.”
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237730&R=R2
Settlers
PA: Settlers attack two Palestinians in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinians on Tuesday evening in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement attacked Iyad Sanakreh and Salah Sanakrah, from Balata refugee camp. They were taken to Rafedia Hospital with serious injuries, Doughlas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419968
Settlers assault workers and hit a boy with car in the West Bank
IMEMC 14 Sept — Israeli settlers from the settlement of Itamar, near the West Bank city of Nablus assaulted three Palestinian workers Wednesday morning. The workers are from the town of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem and suffered moderate wounds and bruises in different parts of their bodies. The settlers also set fire to their car before they left them in the street.
In Hebron, a Palestinian boy suffered moderate wounds when hit by a settler car near in the city. The boy was moved to the hospital for medical treatment.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62018
Village forms night watch to prevent ‘Price Tag’ attacks
Ynet 13 Sept — Palestinian village where mosque was torched forms group to patrol the town at night in search of settlers
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121779,00.html
Settlers burn ISM tent in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah
AIC 14 Sept — At about 2am on Monday, 11 September, settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah burnt to the ground an International Solidarity Movement tent that had been established to monitor and prevent settler violence in the neighborhood. The tent, which thankfully was empty at the time it was torched, had been located in the front yard of the al-Kurd family home since March 2011. The Al-Kurd family, who have lived on the property since 1956, reside in the back section of their home while a constantly rotating cast of Orthodox Jewish young men occupy the front extension of their home. This is due to an Israeli court ruling that forbids the Al-Kurd family from living in their home extension, which they built with their own hands in 2000. Since it was occupied with settlers in 2008, the al-Kurd family has been forced to endure an uneasy, tense and potentially violent co-existence with settlers in their own home.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3821-settlers-burn-ism-tent-in-east-jerusalems-sheikh-jarrah-
Sheikh Jarrah in need of more international presence
[photos] ISM 13 Sept — In the early hours of September 12th, local illegal settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, torched and destroyed a protest tent … Due to a lack of volunteers, no internationals inhabited the tent on the night of the incident. Mohamed, a local, stated, “If there was somebody in the tent last night, it would not have happened. They would not dare. Maybe they try to insult, but they would not dare. They don’t like the tent, with or without volunteers. They hate this kind of symbol.” … This is not the only case of harassment perpetrated by settlers in Sheikh Jarrah — abusive behavior typical of local settlers have included violent verbal incitement, sexual harassment, spitting, throwing rocks, provoking their dogs to attack, and throwing fecal matter into the protest tent.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20152/
‘Price tag’ gangs threaten Israel government’s authority / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 14 Sept — A Jewish authority has taken shape on the West Bank, and its goal is to replace the state as a sovereign authority, and eventually also perhaps to supplant the authority of the IDF … We are not talking about the Yesha Council, which “bows down” to government authorities, but rather the creation of a new insanity that will sponsor terror organizations under its wing … Statements published by the headquarters for the “rescue of the Jewish people and the land of Israel” indicate that hundreds of settler representatives were present at the founding conference of this new Jewish Authority, which was held at the Nofim settlement.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/price-tag-gangs-threaten-israel-government-s-authority-1.384325
‘I dream that the settlers surround me’ – 10-year-old boy haunted by attack
[photos] Pal. Monitor 12 Sept — “I dream that the settlers surround me. Then they catch me and try to choke me,” says 10-year old Bassam Hathaleen. He sits at his father’s side in the small bedouin village of Sawhla al-Sharkwa. Since the settler attack one and a half weeks ago, on August 27th, he has had trouble sleeping and often wakes in the night with nightmares. On the morning of August 27th, Bassam remembers, “I [had fallen] asleep under a tree and woke up when a man hit me three times on the head and once on the shoulder.” Bassam reveals three lines of stitches on his head. He remembers a crowd of masked settlers, he estimated around 14, watching him in silence while one of them beat him with a metal bar. The settlers also stole five sheep and killed three, he says. Following the incident, Israeli forces arrested ten settlers from Migron, of whom Bassam could clearly identify two as assailants.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1741
Israeli forces – checkpoints, raids, arrests
Israeli army sets up checkpoints in some West Bank areas
IMEMC 13 Sept — Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers blocked the western and southern entrances of Jenin and stopped passengers and interrogated them. Troops also thoroughly searched passengers cars and documents which cause people to queue for long hours.
In addition, eyewitnesses said Israeli military patrolled the eastern part of the West Bank looking for water wells, claimed to be unauthorized. Israel does not allow the Palestinians to dig for water wells and aquifers as part of its attempt to keep control over water resources in the region.
In the meantime, troops setup a military checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem and stopped vehicles in the late hours of Monday night. Palestinian sources said that Israeli troops arrested four Palestinians, three from Beit Fajjar and one from Hebron.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62012
Locals: Israeli forces detain 3 near Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — Israeli forces detained three Palestinians at dawn Wednesday near Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank, locals told Ma‘an. Locals said Israeli soldiers raided Azzun village and detained Naer Abu Haniyeh, 14, Abdul Rahman Radwan, 15, and Muhammad Radwan, 20. Soldiers also handed summons to three residents to appear at Israeli intelligence, locals said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420116
BDS
Australian parliament debate erupts over BDS
Ynet 13 Sept — Coalition, opposition senators in Australian parliament up in arms over efforts to denounce pro-Palestinian BDS movement. Debate deteriorates to comparisons Nazi boycott on Jewish businesses
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121906,00.html
Racism / Discrimination
Ethiopian group files petition over school-less children
JPost 14 Sept — Citing discrimination and violations of a previous court order, Ethiopian legal rights organization Tebeka filed a High Court of Justice petition on Tuesday against the Education Ministry and the Petah Tikva municipality demanding immediate action be taken to find suitable learning frameworks for roughly 180 Ethiopian Israeli schoolchildren who have yet to be integrated into the education system in the city.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237867&R=R2
Israel’s High Court orders Jewish Galilee town to accept Arab couple
Haaretz 14 Sept — An Israeli Arab couple from Sakhnin won a six-year battle yesterday to build a home in the Galilee community of Rakefet when the High Court of Justice ordered its community association and the Israel Lands Administration to provide them with a plot of land within 90 days. The couple, Fatina and Ahmed Zabeidat, had been rejected twice by the Rakefet community association in their bid to move to the Jewish Misgav area village but they were told that they were not compatible with the life of the community.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-s-high-court-orders-jewish-galilee-town-to-accept-arab-couple-1.384296
Not school time yet for Bedouin girls / Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
ABU TULUL, Negev Desert (IPS) 12 Sept — For mother of five Shimaa al-Aasam, providing her children with the opportunity to complete their education despite a severe lack of classrooms in their Bedouin community is of prime importance. “It’s a tragedy. Learning is the most important thing in the world,” al-Aasam, a resident of the Bedouin village of Abu Tulul in the Negev desert, told IPS. “If they continue their studies, they can go so much further in their lives.” Approximately 12,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in the area of Abu Tulul. Presently, 2,600 students attend three schools in the area, from elementary through junior high school levels. Abu Tulul students previously attended high school in the nearby Bedouin town Segev Shalom, but they are no longer welcomed there due to lack of space. Al-Aasam says that because there is no high school in Abu Tulul, most of the children — especially the girls, who are discouraged from traveling far distances to get to school — are forced to stop their studies after grade nine … Abu Tulul is one of eight Bedouin villages that were granted recognised status by the Israeli government in 2003 as part of the Abu Basma Regional Council. Despite recognition on paper, however, Abu Tulul continues to suffer from the problems prevalent in unrecognised Bedouin villages throughout the Negev region, incluing a lack of running water, electricity, paved roads, adequate healthcare and educational facilities, and other services normally provided by the state.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105062
Children of Qalandiya: Occupation starts here / Tamar Fleishman
Pal. Chron. 11 Sept — I wanted to write about Mahmud, the thirteen-year-old boy that ever since his return from Ofer prison is the first of the children who hurry to greet me on my arrival. Perhaps this is because finally someone has taken an interest in his fate. It isn’t often that someone expresses interest and concern for the children of Qalandiya. More than often people make demands of them, reject them and abuse them … Mahmud said that there were eight people sharing his cell, people of all ages, that the youngest was a boy of ten from Jalazone refugee camp who was serving three months, he said that he himself, Mahmud, wasn’t beaten in prison, he was just taken in for interrogation, that he denied having anything to do with the stones that were thrown and that the investigators demanded that he give them names.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17099
Legal proceedings, I/P and international
Palestinian petitions Court to probe daughter’s death
JPost 12 Sept — Subhiye Abu Rahma, the mother of a woman Palestinians claim died after inhaling tear gas during a West Bank demonstration last December, petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday to order a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death. The petitioners claim Jawaher Abu Rahma died after breathing a cloud of tear gas fired by the IDF during a demonstration against the West Bank security barrier in Bil’in, 12 km. west of Ramallah.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237595&R=R2
Head of Islamic movement in Israel to sue UK government over deportation order
Haaretz 14 Sept –Sheikh Ra‘ad Salah, leader of the northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, is planning to sue the British government for detaining and ordering him deported in June, his lawyers announced Wednesday. Moreover, Salah’s lawyers said that he will not leave the country until the court “discloses the internal reasons that pushed for the adoption of this procedure” against him.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/head-of-islamic-movement-in-israel-to-sue-u-k-government-over-deportation-order-1.384459
Fogel family murderer gets 5 life sentences
Ynet 13 Sept — Itamar massacre: Hakim Awad, 18, tells Samaria Military Court he has no regrets, says he murdered five members of Fogel family ‘over the occupation.’ Defense attorney: Defendant as much a victim as Fogel family was … During the court hearing, Awad claimed that Israeli security forces tied up and killed two men from his village. “I am 18 and in my teenage years. Not any young man of this age thinks about murder, only a Palestinian man whose land was taken. This is what the state does to me every day. When I want to leave my village I have to undergo a search which always involves beatings.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121856,00.html
Noam Shalit testifies against Hamas in French court
Ynet 13 Sept — Father of captive soldier Gilad Shalit goes before Paris’ Criminal Court against ‘Hamas heads responsible for abduction’ … Shalit was summoned to testify after filing a complaint with the court against his son’s capturers, whom he alleges to be Hamas leaders. In the complaint, Shalit said that the circumstances surrounding his son’s imprisonment violate French laws. The captive soldier holds a French citizenship in addition to his Israeli one.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121678,00.html
Iran tries 2 people charged with spying for Israel
Agencies 14 Sept — Tehran court begins proceedings against two alleged Iranian Mossad agents. Men said to have confessed
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121554,00.html
Egypt extends detention of alleged Israel spy Ilan Grapel by 45 days
Haaretz 14 Sept — A U.S. request for Grapel to be released during the investigation was denied by an Egyptian court, Al-Ahram reports.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-extends-detention-of-alleged-israel-spy-ilan-grapel-by-45-days-1.384383
Gaza
UN experts say Israel’s blockade of Gaza illegal
GENEVA (Reuters) 13 Sept — Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a U.N. body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate U.N. probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship … A panel of five independent U.N. rights experts reporting to the U.N. Human Rights Council rejected that conclusion, saying the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.” The four-year blockade deprived 1.6 million Palestinians living in the enclave of fundamental rights, they said.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110913/wl_nm/us_un_gaza_rights
Refugees
UNRWA needs $36 million for Gaza’s emergency programs
RAMALLAH (ArabNews) 13 Sept — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on Tuesday renewed its appeal for urgently needed $ 36 million for emergency assistance in Gaza Strip … Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman, said in a press statement that UN “programs in Gaza face a critical funding situation. These programs are separate from the agency’s regular education, health and relief activities, and are specifically tailored to address the most urgent humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable refugees in Gaza.”
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article501307.ece
The State of Palestine never forgets its own / Joharah Baker
Uruknet 12 Sept — In just over a week’s time, the Palestinians will have made their request to the United Nations to recognize them as a state. Part of this bid is to guarantee that international law is applied to the Palestinians, including laws that guarantee the right of refugees to return to their homes or be compensated for the years of exile and loss of property. Also, before week’s end, the Palestinians will commemorate an event not entirely disconnected with their UN move. Actually, it is very relevant and is the perfect example of why refugees must not be forgotten. Sabra and Shatilla, the two Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon that were the scene of one of the most horrific massacres in Palestinian history, will be remembered and honored by us all, followed by that harrowing vow of “never again.” Between September 16 and 18, some 800 to 2,000 people were estimated to have been murdered in the camps by Lebanese Phalangist forces in a 62-hour rampage of rape, murder and terror under the watchful eye and directives of the occupying Israeli army. Dozens of Palestinian men were never accounted for after being taken away and never seen again.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=81370
Hasbara
Ayalon airs ‘hasbara’ YouTube video on peace process
JPost 14 Sept — Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Tuesday released a YouTube video entitled “The Truth About the Peace Process,” in which he seeks to demonstrate “that the reason there is no successful peace process is because of decades of Palestinian and Arab recalcitrance.” … Ayalon said that he decided to release the video after seeing the “vast success” of a previous YouTube video he released two months ago entitled “The Truth About the West Bank,” in which he attempted to “show the truth about Israel’s rights in the West Bank.”
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=237893&R=R1
Statehood bid
US, Europe in Mideast peace push before UN showdown
(Reuters) 14 Sept — U.S. envoys raced on Wednesday to try to revive Middle East peace talks and avert a Palestinian bid for United Nations membership, but a U.N. official said it was probably too late to stop the move opposed by Israel and the United States.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/09/14/idINIndia-59340620110914
Fatah official: Palestinians will go to UN by September 23 / Amira Hass
Haaretz 14 Sept — The Palestinians plan to submit a formal request for full United Nations membership to the Security Council by September 23, despite the United States’ opposition and Europe’s reservations, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will refer to this request in his speech to the General Assembly on that date, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/fatah-official-palestinians-will-go-to-un-by-september-23-1.384294
Hamas opposes tactical Palestinian statehood bid
DPA 14 Sept — The Islamist Hamas movement said Wednesday that President Mahmoud Abbas’ plan to approach the United Nations for recognition of Palestinian statehood was a “tactical” move, part of a negotiations process, and therefore could not be backed … Al-Bardaweel told the workshop that the consequence of getting the UN to recognize a Palestinian state would also be recognition of Israel’s boundaries. “Going to the UN draws the borders of Israel, which was established on stolen lands and still has no borders,” he said. Abbas’ UN bid, he explained, would mean that the Palestinian state would exist only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war, and not in all of historic Palestine, as Hamas wants.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-opposes-tactical-palestinian-statehood-bid-at-un-1.384466
Gazans have mixed feelings over Abbas UN bid
Reuters 14 Sept — GAZA CITY (Reuters) — President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state is not generating much enthusiasm in the isolated Gaza Strip, where internal political divisions run deep. The Islamist Hamas movement, which seized the territory from forces loyal to Abbas’ Fatah party in 2007, sees the move as an exercise in futility in a quest for statehood. Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip seem to agree with that assessment and are asking why the mainstream Palestinian leadership, based in the West Bank, did not first tackle problems holding up implementation of a unity deal with Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420141
Jordan prefers talks for Palestinian state
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) 14 Sept — Jordan’s foreign minister says his country supports a Palestinian drive for recognition at the U.N. but prefers negotiations toward creation of a Palestinian state …Jordan hosts nearly 2 million Palestinian refugees, slightly more than in the West Bank and Gaza. It is also the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem. A future Palestinian state would border on Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-prefers-talks-palestinian-state-141854293.html
PA medics to be in ‘state of emergency’ during UN bid
JPost 14 Sept — …the PA medical services in the West Bank announced a “state of emergency” as of September 21 in anticipation of violent confrontations with Israel. All medical teams and ambulances were instructed to report to work on that day and to be on high alert for the next few days as the PA formally asks the UN to recognize a Palestinian state. Earlier this week, the ruling Fatah faction urged Palestinians to take to the streets next week to voice their support for the statehood bid at the UN. However, Fatah stopped short of calling for confrontations with Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?ID=237859&R=R1
Briefing: The Palestinian bid for statehood
RAMALLAH (IRIN) 13 Sept — …The precise mechanics of how the proposal will be lodged and which body – the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, or both – will vote on it, remain unclear. An adviser to Abbas said he was not sure what the process would look like … Abbas says the Palestinians chose September for three reasons: 1. Successful completion of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s ambitious two-year state-building plan, including Palestinian Authority (PA) reforms and institution-building in preparation for statehood; 2. US President Barack Obama’s statement at the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2010 in which he hoped a Palestinian state would have arisen by September 2011; 3. Support for establishing a Palestinian state by this date among the Quartet (UN, USA, European Union and Russia).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=93709
PLO official: Palestinians, Israelis must be totally separated
Haaretz 14 Sept — …Maen Areikat, PLO Ambassador to the United States, made the comment just as the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, was preparing to offer up Palestinian statehood to a vote in the United Nations General Assembly later this month.Answering a question about the legal status of a Jewish minority in the future state, Areikat apparently rejected the issue, saying: “I believe, I still believe that as a first step we need to be totally separated,” adding “I think we can contemplate these issues in the future. After the experience of the last 44 years, of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it will be in the best interest that the two peoples should be separated,” Areikat added. Former U.S. National Security Council official Elliot Abrams responded to the Palestinian official’s comment, saying to USA Today that the Palestinian demand was “a despicable form of anti-Semitism,” adding: “No civilized country would act this way.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/plo-official-palestinians-israelis-must-be-totally-separated-1.384493
Poll shows US-EU differences on how to solve Mideast conflict
Haaretz 14 Sept — Annual Transatlantic Trends also shows vast majority of Americans support pushing Palestinians into resolving Mideast conflict, compared to only 7% of Turks … According to the annual Transatlantic Trends poll, published by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Italian foundation Compagnia di San Paolo, 38% of EU respondents said Israel should be pushed toward a peace deal, with 55% of Americans favoring pressuring the Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/poll-shows-u-s-eu-differences-on-how-to-solve-mideast-conflict-1.384462
Turkey – Israel
Scant demand grounds Turkish charter flights to and from Israel
Haaretz 13 Sept — Turkish charter airlines have suspended flights to and from Israel, Haaretz has learned. From tomorrow, there will be no more charter flights between Ben-Gurion International Airport and Antalya due to economic considerations. The Tel Aviv-Antalya route is used mainly by Israeli vacationers. Turkish Airlines will continue its schedule of regular flights between Ben-Gurion and Istanbul, a route that primarily serves passengers transiting through Turkey to other destinations.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/scant-demand-grounds-turkish-charter-flights-to-and-from-israel-1.384100
Turkey mulls introducing visas for Israelis
JPost 14 Sept — All indications are that the Turkish government will end the policy of “free entry” for Israelis, further chilling relations between the countries.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=237902&R=R1
Turkish hackers attack Anglo-run Israeli startup
JPost 13 Sept — Web site pages replaced by demands for Israeli apology to Turkey; “Israel is not a superior country…we will teach them this.”
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237823&R=R2
Report: IHH to send Marmara on humanitarian mission to Somalia
Ynet 13 Sept — The Turkish Islamist movement IHH has announced its intention to dispatch the Mavi Marmara vessel, which took part in the Gaza flotilla in May 2010, on a humanitarian mission to Somalia due to the drought in the region, the official Turkish news agency reported.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121693,00.html
Turkish PM Erdogan hailed as hero on Cairo visit
CAIRO (AFP) 14 Sept — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a rock star welcome in Cairo where activists, women and the media gushed over the region’s new “hero” over his pro-Palestinian stand and his virulent criticism of Israel. Erdogan, who on Tuesday kicked off a three-nation Arab Spring tour in Egypt, threw his weight behind Palestinian statehood during a keynote speech at the Arab League, bolstering his image as a regional leader. His visit comes as activists who overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February are increasingly angry at their own leadership for backtracking on promises of reform.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420263
Other news
Freedom Theatre premieres ‘Waiting for Godot’ / Joseph Dana
14 Sept — …Jenin’s Freedom Theatre Company, whose spirited performance of Beckett’s seminal work opened this weekend at Ramallah’s National Theatre, has been anything but resigned to giving up on a theatre project which has garnered a boast of international attention since the murder of its creative director Juliano Mer Khamis last April. One can’t think of a better suited play than Beckett’s existential work for the graduate students of the Freedom Theatre given the rough events of the company over the past six months.
http://josephdana.com/jenin%E2%80%99s-freedom-theatre-premieres-waiting-for-godot/3883
Israel’s cluster bombs continue to kill and maim in Lebanon / Dalila Mahdawi
EI 14 Sept — KFAR JOZ, south Lebanon (IPS) – Even in the summer heat, the hills of south Lebanon are an impressive sight — a patchwork of green, brown and red fields interrupted only by sleepy villages, rock formations and dirt tracks. Most residents here have traditionally depended on agriculture to provide for their families. But instead of sowing crops or herding their flocks through the grassy terrain, for the last five years locals have viewed the surrounding hills with caution. Lurking in these fields are hundreds of thousands of cluster munitions, silently waiting to claim their next victim.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-cluster-bombs-continue-kill-and-maim-lebanon/10376
Israel school America in the art of television
Haaretz 14 Sept — …The ‘green-lighting’ of programs such as HBO drama In Treatment (‘BeTipul’), or Showtime’s highly-anticipated thriller Homeland (‘Hatufim’), which are almost entirely derived from the Hebrew originals, signal a consumer-based need for a new brand of ingenuity, as well as Israel’s growing influence on American entertainment and pop culture.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-schools-america-in-the-art-of-television-1.384399
Media monitor calls for broadcaster’s suspension
JPost 14 Sept — Israel Radio’s Yaron Enosh slammed soldiers who walked out of event because women were singing … The dismissal, Enosh continued, hit him after his second daughter had been conscripted into the army following a year’s preparatory training.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237873&R=R2
Israeli archaeologists unearth Islamic-period fortress
JERUSALEM (Xinhua) 13 Sept — Israeli archaeologists announced Tuesday they have discovered the remains of an early Islamic fortress and Roman-style bathhouse at a dig along the country’s southern Mediterranean coastline.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-09/14/c_131136792.htm
Google Street View to start snapping Israel in 3-D
JPost 13 Sept — Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa will be the first three cities mapped out using the new technology. Afterwards, Google Maps will expand to include smaller cities, as well as a concerted effort to map holy sites, archaeological sites, historical sites and natural wonders such as the Kinneret and Maktesh Ramon.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237736&R=R2
Musawa and Relief International successfully delivered 150 mobile legal clinics regarding the Palestinian Labor Law target[ing] approximately 1100 female worker[s] in the West Bank
Uruknet 8 Sept — The mobile legal clinics [are] predominantly aimed at providing adequate legal support to the beneficiaries in employment and economic cases … Five Lawyers from earlier stage were contracted to conduct field visits to targeted districts and villages. These field visits aimed at assisting the local workers in cases where they feel their economic and employment rights have been violated.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=81259
Analysis / Opinion
US-Saudi Arabia: Agreeing on less and less / Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON (IPS) 14 Sept — Accumulating strains between the United States and Saudi Arabia are steadily weakening one of the world’s longest lasting and most effective bilateral alliances, according to observers here.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105103
Syrian uprising forces Hamas to consider relocating
AlMasryAlyoum 13 Sept — With governments and political entities across the Arab world beginning to reconsider their alliances in light of the tumultuous political situation in the region, Hamas, the political party that controls the Gaza Strip and resistance movement against Israel, is no exception.The Syrian government has long hosted the Hamas’ political bureau, including its head, Khaled Meshaal. But with the Syrian uprising showing no signs of abating, Hamas has found itself in a predicament
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/495196
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks: Al Jazeera deletes from its website content that disturbs the US government
Cable 2005-10-20 ArabCrunch 11 Sept — …A confidential US cables from US embassy in Doha, Qatar where Aljazeera head quarter is located and was published recently on Wikileaks, reveals that Al Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Khanfar has agreed to US government request to delete and altar website content that “disturb” the US government … In the meeting US government officials raised the question of an Al Jazeera website piece published listed under the heading “Special Coverage”, and containing “Live Testimony Concerning Tal Afar”. “The site opens to an image of bloody sheets of paper riddled with bullet holes. Viewers click on the bullet holes to access testimony from ten alleged “eye witnesses” who described recent military operations in Tal Afar.” Khanfar said said that in accordance with an earlier promise to US government officials, he had taken a look at the piece and had two images removed (two injured children in hospital beds, and a woman with serious facial injury.)
http://arabcrunch.com/2011/09/wikileaks-al-jazeera-deletes-its-website-content-that-disturbs-the-us-government.html
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