PA: Settlers torch Nablus mosque
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 5 Sept — Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to a mosque near Nablus area in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said … PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas confirmed the incident and urged the international Quartet … to pressure Israel to stop such attacks. “This is not the first time settlers attack mosques,” he said, adding that it was the 25th attack on Muslim or Christian places of worship since 2010, and the second such attack in Nablus this year …
Separately, witnesses said dozens of settlers gathered to throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar settlement between Huwwara and Nablus on Monday morning.
5 Sept. ’11: Suspected ‘price tag’ attack in Qusra following demolition of houses in Migron outpost
B’Tselem 5 Sept — This morning, Palestinians from Qusra, a village south of Nablus, discovered that the village mosque had been torched with burning tyres. On the first floor of the mosque, the tyres left burn marks and windows were shattered. A Star of David and the writing “Muhammad is a pig” and “Aley ‘Ayin and Migron = social justice” were scrawled on the walls … According to media reports from this morning, the torching was discovered several hours after Israeli police forces demolished three permanent structures in the nearby Migron outpost. In recent years, settlers have carried out violent acts under the slogan “price tag.” These are acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and Israeli security forces. They generally follow actions by Israeli authorities that are perceived as harming the settlement enterprise, or follow Palestinian violence against settlers … These incidents are part of a clear pattern and can therefore be predicted. The security forces must prepare in advance in a way that will enable them to prevent harm to Palestinians. Israel is obligated to protect Palestinians and their property. This legal obligation has been reiterated in high court rulings and is not a good will gesture.
Israel demolishes three illegal houses in West Bank outpost; six arrested
Haaretz 5 Sept — Demolition takes place after Supreme Court reverses 12-hour delay; the buildings were ordered to be destroyed by the Court earlier this year, following petition issued by a Israeli human rights organization — .A force of approximately one thousand police officers demolished three buildings early Monday morning in the West Bank settlement outpost Migron, 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem. Around 200 settlers assembled and tried to make their way to the structures, hoping to stop the bulldozers in their tracks. Six youths were arrested.
Barghouthi: Settlers could commit massacres
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi on Monday warned of a conspiracy between the Israeli government and Jewish settlers to attack Palestinians ahead of the upcoming bid for UN membership. Barghouthi told Ma’an that Monday’s attack on a mosque in the northern West Bank was “a very dangerous development” and noted it was not an isolated incident … Hebrew-language graffiti reading “Mohammad is a pig” and the star of David were sprayed on the building.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers flood olive orchards with sewage
IMEMC 5 Sept — …On Monday at noon, settlers of the Beitar Illit illegal settlement, south west of Bethlehem, flooded with sewage water Palestinian olive orchards that belong to residents of Nahhalin village, near Bethlehem. Osama Shakarna, head of the Nahhalin Village Council, stated that the settlers flooded more than 40 Dunams planted with more than 2500 Olive. The sewage water reached Ein Fares natural spring used by the shepherds as the source of water for their herds.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61946
Kiryat Arba settlers attack Palestinians home in Hebron
Hebron (WAFA) 5 Sept — A group of settlers from Kiryat Arba settlement attacked on Monday the home of a Palestinian resident in Al Baqa‘a area, east of Hebron, according to the local resident. Ata Jabber said that settlers attacked his home and family of six members and threatened to throw them out of their home and seize their land under the claim that it was an Israeli land. Jabber’s house was taken by the Israeli occupation forces in 2000 for 36 days by military order. He filed several complaints and lawsuits against the occupation and settlers. He has been suffering from settlers’ harassment and aggression from the occupation forces for the last 11 years in a bid to force him out of his home.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17231
Report: Settlers attack Bethlehem university lecturer
NABLUS (Ma‘an) — A lecturer at Bethlehem university was injured Monday evening after being attacked by settlers on the Ramallah-Nablus road. Dr Adwan Adwan, 41, told Ma‘an that he was on route to Zawata village in Nablus when settlers attacked his car with stones.
He suffered injuries to his head and hand and went to the nearest hospital for treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417906
Settlers outfitted with military training, equipment thanks to US tax deductible donations
AIC 5 Sept — While last week’s item about the Israeli military arming settlers in preparation for September made the international news, it is not new. All settlements have a ‘rapid response team’ armed by the Israeli military – and private, tax-deductible donations from their American supporters. Mikaela Levin investigates … So who are these settlers in the frontline of an eventual Israeli armed reaction to possible Palestinian protests? They are normally part of groups called Rapid Response Teams, at least one of which exists in each settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory. Some of the teams are connected to the electric fence system, so they can react immediately to a breach in the military designed perimeter of their settlement. They are supposed to withdraw when Israeli soldiers arrive at the scene. These first-response “guards” are volunteer civilians, mostly army reservists under the command of a chief security officer, who is a public servant and the official link with the Israeli military.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3796-settlers-outfitted-with-military-training-equipment-thanks-to-us-tax-deductible-donations
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Negev Bedouin to ask UN for help to quash Israeli transfer plan
Haaretz 5 Sept — Cabinet delays vote on plan to move thousands to recognized Negev towns — Representatives of Negev Bedouin will turn to the international community in an effort to keep the Israeli cabinet from approving a plan that would involve demolishing or moving some of their communities …The plan calls for relocating between 20,000 and 30,000 Bedouin residents of unrecognized villages in the Negev to existing Bedouin communities such as Rahat, Kseifa and Hura. These communities would be expanded to accommodate the new inhabitants. At a press conference in Be’er Sheva Sunday, representatives of human rights organizations and Bedouin rights activists announced their opposition to the plan
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/negev-bedouin-to-ask-un-for-help-to-quash-israeli-transfer-plan-1.382548
Urgent Action: Save the Khan al Ahmar school!
The Palestinian-Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar (Jerusalem periphery) is fighting for survival. The 180-strong community faces the threat of imminent displacement if the Israeli authorities demolish their homes and school as planned. This may well destroy the community, one of 20 in the area, who have become victims of creeping settlement expansion and ethnic cleansing. Write Israeli Minister of Defense Barak to demand he refrains from pursuing the demolition of the Khan al Ahmar School. The land the community lives on has been slated for the expansion of settlements in the Ma’ale Adumim municipal area, in the Jerusalem periphery, despite the community’s decades’ long presence. [More here]
http://www.icahd.org/?p=7578
Over one million Palestinian students back to school
JERICHO (WAFA) 4 Sept — More than one million Palestinian students Sunday started the new school year across the West Bank and Gaza. Schools in Arab Bedouin communities in Area C in the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel, fight to remain open to children’s return to school, noted United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In a statement, UNICEF special representative to the Occupied Territory, Jean Gough, called to provide education and protection to Bedouins children, the most vulnerable communities in Area C … Gough explained that children of Kaabneh, Bedouin site near Jericho, live in makeshift encampments in the middle of a desert landscape: the village was never linked to the main road, forcing children and teachers to walk long distances under the heat to reach the school, which is a mere handful of containers which are sometimes shared between several classes due to lack of space; sanitation facilities are run-down.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17209
Army surrounds Bethlehem village, uproots olive trees for Wall
IMEMC 5 Sept — Local sources reported Monday that Israeli soldiers are currently surrounding the Al Walaja Village, near Bethlehem, and are uprooting dozens of Olive trees in order to construct a section of the illegal Annexation Wall in the area … Adel Al Atrash, deputy head of the Al Walaja Village Council, stated that the army uprooted, so far, more than 50 trees in the area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61946
Fifty dunams for NIS 1 per year / Amira Hass
Haaretz 2 Sept – That’s how much land a Civil Administration employee received in the West Bank — An officer in the Civil Administration who lives in the settlement of Reihan was given a 25-year lease on 50 dunams in the northern West Bank by the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, at a price of one shekel per year. This information surfaced during a petition to the High Court of Justice filed by a Palestinian who claims ownership of around 16 dunams of the land. The 50 dunams in question are among the 3,500 dunams that the Civil Administration’s custodian of abandoned and government property transferred in 1994 to the WZO, which in turn granted Reihan permission to use it. But these are the land reserves of Palestinian villages in the area.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/fifty-dunams-for-nis-1-per-year-1.382044
VIDEO: Displacement
from ActiveStillsVideos – Palestinian testimony, beautiful photos and short video clips. Since 1948 over 1,150,000 Palestinians have been displaced. “I’m afraid of the night. I can feel the settlers coming.” “We live in a place where we don’t plan for the future. We live day by day and hope our children’s future will be better than ours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrlw-uQJG_s
Israeli police close Khaledi School in O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 5 Sept — The Israeli police on Sunday closed the old building of Ahmed Al-Khaledi school in occupied Jerusalem for one extendable month on allegation it is utilized for activities by Hamas Movement. The Israeli police chief said in a written decision that after he was personally convinced that the building in Abu Tor neighborhood known as Ahmed Al-Khaledi school was used for activities by Hamas … For his part, Sheikh Khalil Al-Ghazawi, head of Al-Najat institution’s board of trustees, said … the building is used as a kindergarten and was also supposed to be a high school for girls and a cultural center for the residents.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/israeli-police-close-khaledi-school-in-o-jerusalem/
Barakat plans to implement al-Bustan demolitions in election bid
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) — Silwanic has learnt that Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat intends to demolish parts of al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan in the lead up to city elections. The demolitions will form part of the overall City of David plan that will see the establishment of “biblical gardens” aimed at Jewish tourism over large areas of Palestinian-majority Silwan. Palestinian residents of Silwan have long suffered under the coalition of the Jerusalem Municipality and Elad settler association in their bid to dominate the strategically significant area of Silwan.
http://silwanic.net/?p=19778
Local children kidnapped by Israeli authorities in settler jeep
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 5 Sept — An undercover Israeli unit driving a settler jeep arrested two children playing on one of the hills in Silwan today. The two youngsters were taken without warning by the unit as they stopped the jeep, grabbed the children and drove off. The kidnapping is the latest in an ever-lengthening record of tight cooperation between Israeli authorities and local settler security.
http://silwanic.net/?p=19775
Israeli forces
August 2011: 30 Palestinians killed, some 400 arrested in Israeli operations
NABLUS (PIC) 4 Sept — The International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights has released a report documenting that 30 Palestinians died and almost 400 were arrested last month in Israeli occupation operations in the occupied Palestinian territories … While only three of those killed were from the West Bank, two of them in their early twenties, a total of 27 Palestinians were killed in mortar attacks and air strikes targeting the Gaza Strip that month. Five of them were under 18 years of age. During August, Israeli forces arrested more than 380 Palestinians, including 44 minors, in addition to dozens of Palestinian workers arrested beyond the green line. What made that month exceptional was that Israel launched one of the widest ranging arrest campaigns in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil in years, and it also carried out sweeps in Bethlehem, Jerusalem’s Silwan district, Tulkarem, Salfit, Ramallah, and Al-Beira.
https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/august-2011-30-palestinians-killed-some-400-arrested-in-israeli-operations/
Israeli surveillance plane circles Beit Ommar
PSP 5 Sept — Saturday 3rd September: At around 11am, residents of Beit Ommar witnessed an unmanned Israeli surveillance plane enter the village, and fly at a very low altitude over areas of the town. The plane appeared only a few hours before the town’s weekly protest against the illegal settlement of Karmei Tsur, and circled low over buildings where Palestinian and international activists were gathering. Unmanned planes such as the one spotted over Beit Ommar are often used in order to gather photographic evidence and intelligence on Palestinian villages and popular resistance activities. This is the first time such measures have been used against Beit Ommar’s peaceful protests. After circling several times, the plane left in the direction of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/09/05/isreali-surveillance-plane-circles-beit-ommar/
Gaza
Egypt denies conducting operations to destroy Gaza tunnels
dpa 5 Sept – Egypt denied on Monday that it was undertaking drilling operations along the Gaza-Egypt border to destroy and seal a number of smuggling tunnels delivering supplies to Gaza. The governor of North Sinai, General Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said there was no campaign intended to destroy the tunnels, adding that, if there were a plan, “residents in Gaza would be informed in order to protect the lives of Palestinians that work in the tunnels.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-denies-conducting-operations-to-destroy-gaza-tunnels-1.382705
Video: Gaza schoolchildren plagued by siege
PressTV 5 Sept — Hamas Deputy Minister of Education Mohammed Abu Shkeir says Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip has caused troubles for school children in the enclave, Press TV reported. “There are about 400,000 school children in Gaza schools, including governmental, UN-run, and private schools,” he told Press TV. “There are shortcomings in classrooms and students have to study in two shifts due to lack of schools, which is a direct result to the blockade,” the Hamas official added. Tel Aviv’s restrictions on importing construction material into Gaza has forced schools to place students in cramped rooms and cut the class time by third.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197469.html
Egyptian forces arrest 3 Palestinians in north Sinai
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 5 Sept — Egyptian authorities arrested three Palestinians on Monday in north Sinai. Matouq Atallah and brothers Mahmoud and Maher al-Qumeiz were reportedly smuggling goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, Egyptian forces said. Atallah, 37, was previously known to Egyptian security for smuggling livestock into the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417878
Detention
Israel arrests hundreds of Palestinians in August
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 5 Sept — The Israeli authorities arrested hundreds of Palestinians across the West Bank during August, Monday said Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqi. He said that Israel arrested 443 Palestinians, most of them minors. Qaraqi said the Israeli authorities prohibited family visits to prisoners in almost 1500 cases, most of them prisoners from the Gaza Strip who have not seen their families for five years. The prisoners’ minister believes the steep rise in number of arrests in August is related to Palestinian plans to get United Nation recognition and membership of a Palestinian state.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17221
UFree discuss in Gaza internationalizing Israel’s persecution of Palestinian MPs
GAZA (PIC) 5 Sept – Palestinian MP Mushir al-Masri, who heads the international Free PLC members committee, has met with head of the European network to support the Palestinian prisoners (UFree) Mohammed Hamdan to discuss ways to internationalize the issue of Israel’s continued detention of Palestinian MPs. Meeting also with MP Rami Abdo, who chairs the Council for European Palestinian Relations, at PLC headquarters in Gaza on Sunday evening, the parties agreed that Israel is intent on systematically disposing of Palestine’s legislature, whether through detention or exile.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/ufree-discuss-in-gaza-internationalizing-israel%E2%80%99s-persecution-of-palestinian-mps/
IOF soldiers storm Nablus, round up six citizens
NABLUS (PIC) 5 Sept – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed a Nablus village and Askar refugee camp at dawn Monday and rounded up six citizens, five of them Hamas supporters, the international Tadamun institution said.
Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with the institution, said that the IOF soldiers rounded up three young men in ‘Askar refugee camp to the east of Nablus city, two of them brothers, and the third a father of three children.
He said that the soldiers then stormed ‘Asira al-Qibliya village, north of Nablus city, and detained two brothers, both university students.
Beitawi said that a sixth Palestinian, from ‘Awarta village to the east of Nablus, was apprehended at Hawara detention center where he was summoned for interrogation.
In Jenin, IOF soldiers stormed the home of Osama Najm in Siris village, south of the city, on Monday and handed him an interrogation summons to the headquarters of the civil administration at Salem army camp. Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers wreaked havoc inside the man’s home
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/iof-soldiers-storm-nablus-round-up-six-citizens/
IOF soldiers arrest 3 citizens, wound 4 in Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinians in Samu‘ village, south of Al-Khalil city, at dawn Monday, local sources said. They said that two of the detainees were brothers.
The IOF soldiers also stormed a house in Doura village, also to the south of Al-Khalil, as eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that IOF bulldozers installed sand barriers closing the road between Doura and Bani Na‘im village.
Meanwhile, locals reported that four Palestinian workers were wounded during a chase by IOF troops east of Yatta, Al-Khalil, adding that all four of them were hospitalized with one suffering a broken hip.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/iof-soldiers-arrest-3-citizens-wound-4-in-al-khalil/
Israeli court fines, sentences Palestinian youth to 10 years
QALQILYA (WAFA) 4 Sept — The Salem Israeli military court Sunday sentenced Mohammad Abu Hanyyeh, 19, to 10 years in prison on charges of resisting the Israeli occupation, according to Abu Hanyyeh’s family. In addition to the 10 years sentence, the court fined Abu Hannyeh, a resident of the West Bank town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, 2000 Israeli shekels (almost $600).
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17210
Israel prevents Palestinian from receiving cancer treatment
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — Israeli authorities prevented a Palestinian from leaving to Jordan for medical treatment for cancer, the patient’s family said. Zakariya Dawoud Issa, 43, was sent back from the Allenby border crossing in an ambulance after Israeli authorities refused to allow him to cross into Jordan. Issa, from Al-Khader near Bethlehem, was released from an Israeli prison in August due to his critical condition. The Palestinian Authority civil affairs administration had received permission from Israel authorities to send Issa for treatment in Jordan but he was turned back at the border. Minister of Detainee Affairs Issa Qaraqe said Israel had tried to kill Issa twice, first by delaying his release and now by procrastinating over his treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417793
Press freedom
Rallies held outside Ofer prison as Palestinian reporters kept behind bars
RAMALLAH (PIC) 5 Sept — Dozens joined a sit-in Monday noon outside of the Israeli Ofer prison near Ramallah/Baituniya in the occupied West Bank as Israeli occupation authorities continue to hold four Palestinian reporters. Among the protesters were Palestinian and foreign reporters, senior officials from Palestinian factions, representatives from the Palestinian Prisoner Society, rights groups, and news syndicates.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/rallies-held-outside-ofer-prison-as-palestinian-reporters-kept-behind-bars/
Racism
Jewish Agency: We discriminated against North Africans
Haaretz 2 Sept — “Harsh remarks against official and unofficial discrimination in all matters related to immigrants from North Africa were heard at a conference of people from North African countries” on the morning of August 28, 1949, Haaretz reported 62 years ago.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/jewish-agency-we-discriminated-against-north-africans-1.382046
Statehood bid
Fatah official: 140 countries to recognize Palestinian state
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 Sept — Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said Sunday that he expects 140 countries to recognize and vote for a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly’s 66th meeting, due to be held on September 23. During a press conference held Sunday at Fatah’s foreign relations commission, Shaath stated that the focus in coming days is to increase the number of countries recognizing Palestine to secure membership as the world’s 194th state. At present, 125 countries recognize Palestine, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417667
‘Palestine 194’ campaign gets underway in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 Sept — A national Palestinian campaign to support the September UN bid for statehood organized its first activity in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, organizers said. Groups of children traveled in a vehicle from the southern Gaza Strip to the Erez crossing in the north, waving Palestinians flags and chanting slogans in support of statehood.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417639
PA launches multi-language radio propaganda campaign
Ynet 5 Sept — PA national radio to air messages aiming to gain support for statehood bid in 26 languages, including Hebrew, Russian … The campaign is intended for audiences worldwide … The PA expressed hope that the initiative will reach Israeli listeners as well, which is why some of the jingles were recorded in Hebrew and Russian. “The Russian message targets the million Israelis who immigrated from Commonwealth of Independent States, inviting them to recognize a Palestinian state with 1967 borders. The establishment of the state will stabilize the region,” Zaki said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4118055,00.html
Abbas: PA will return to talks regardless of UN outcome
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) — …Speaking Sunday at a meeting of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council in Ramallah, Abbas said: “Regardless of the results that we will get at the UN, we will return to negotiations to solve all final status issues, such as prisoners and detainees.” … Abbas noted that the PLO is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people worldwide and heading to the UN does not signal the end of the organization. The PLO will remain the guardian of Palestinian rights until the establishment of an independent state and the end of Israeli occupation, he concluded.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417867
New Palestinian strategy to avoid US veto at UN
Ramallah – A. Zarzar – PNN – 5 Sept — Fatah’s leadership is re-wording the proposal for a Palestinian State to submit to the United Nations this September. The new version is designed so that those countries which have been more reluctant to accept a Palestinian state will be more likely support Palestine’s bid for recognition, or at least abstain from voting. Instead of posing the recognition of Palestine within the 1967 borders, the new draft asks for a state with permanent borders to be determined in later negotiations with Israel. The new borders would be based on the borders of 1967, but with more flexibility than the original draft proposed.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10642&Itemid=56
Palestinians keeping options open on UN
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) 5 Sept — The Palestinians have yet to decide how they will press their statehood agenda at the United Nations this month, a Palestinian official said, indicating less certainty than had previously been signalled on details of the plan. Hanan Ashrawi, a leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the U.N. initiative was a step towards “breaking Israel’s power hold over us and the American monopoly over peacemaking”. She also warned of “hysterical” Israeli responses to the diplomatic move, adding that reports of the Israeli army training Jewish settlers to confront possible Palestinian protests was a step “that could blow up in all our faces”.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE7842CX20110905
PA slams Israeli escalation
IMEMC 5 Sept — The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank denounced the Israeli military escalation and settlement construction, describing the Israeli violations as an attempt to foil the Palestinian initiative to seek international recognition and full membership at the United Nations this month. Nabil Abu Rodeina, spokesperson of the Palestinian Presidency, stated that Israel is escalating its assaults to pressure the P.A into withdrawing its UN initiative.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61947
Abbas met Israel’s Barak — Palestinian official
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) 5 Sept — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak last week, Palestinian officials said on Monday, his first publicly declared meeting with an Israeli government official for almost a year. Abbas told members of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council that Barak had requested the meeting in Jordan to discuss the possibility of resuming negotiations which broke down a year ago because of a row over Jewish settlement expansion. “The meeting did not produce any result,” a Fatah official who heard him speak told Reuters
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/abbas-met-israels-barak-palestinian-official-144646768.html
Turkey – Israel
Foreign ministry officials admit Turkey citizens routinely humiliated at Israel’s airport
Haaretz 5 Sept — Dozens of Israelis say they were humiliated at Istanbul airport, forced to strip to their underwear on Monday; Foreign Ministry officials say humiliation of Turkish citizens happens on regular basis in Israel … The officials also said that almost every Turkish citizen who arrives at Ben-Gurion airport undergoes a routine procedure of extensive, humiliating examinations that also includes undressing to one’s underwear. “Turkish citizens are always separated from the rest of the passengers at the airport,” said a Foreign Ministry official.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/foreign-ministry-officials-admit-turkey-citizens-routinely-humiliated-at-israel-s-airport-1.382663
Davutoğlu says flotilla issue not just between Israel and Turkey
Today’s Zaman 4 Sept — Firmly opposing the portrayal of the recent escalation of the crisis between Turkey and Israel solely as a bilateral affair which must be resolved between the two countries, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has warned that when dealing with Israel’s lethal 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed, the international community should not ignore the fact that Israel’s repeated breaches of international law and ethics lie at the core of the issue.
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=255723
Israel angry over Erdoğan’s plans to visit Gaza
Gaza, (Pal. Telegraph) 5 Sept — Israel warned on Monday that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s considered visit to Gaza Strip would be a diplomatic mistake. Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials saying that Erdogan’s visit would affect Turkey’s relations with the US. Adding that the move would also weaken Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, presumably because a trip to Hamas-controlled Gaza would challenge him as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/10057-israel-angry-over-erdogans-plans-to-visit-gaza.html
Greece, Israel improve cooperation on security
Today’s Zaman 5 Sept — Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis on Sunday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on security cooperation with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, the Greek Defense Ministry has announced. The defense memorandum, which focuses on security concerns and defense cooperation between the countries, was signed during Beglitis’ visit to Israel … Beglitis, however, noted that the memorandum of cooperation was not signed under the influence of the current condition between Turkey and Israel, in words that aimed at refuting claims that Greece was exploiting the tension between Israel and Turkey.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-255812-greece-israel-improve-cooperation-on-security.html
Political / Diplomatic / International
Lebanon tells UN Israeli maritime borders threaten peace
[with map] Beirut (Daily Star) 5 Sept — Lebanon warned the United Nations on Monday that Israel’s proposed sea border threatens peace and security, as tensions rise between the neighbours over offshore oil and gas reserves … “[Israel’s demarcation violates Lebanon’s] regional waters and economic zone and misappropriates around 860 square kilometers, consequently placing international peace and security in danger,” [Foreign Minister Adnan] Mansour said in his letter.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Sep-05/147933-lebanon-tells-un-israeli-maritime-borders-threaten-peace.ashx
Waqf minister: Palestinian sheikh arrested in Cairo released
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — A Palestinian sheikh detained in Cairo was released on Sunday, the Palestinian Authority Waqf minister told Ma‘an. Abdul Aziz Odeh was detained at Cairo’s international airport on Saturday after returning from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, his family said … The reason for his arrest is unknown.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417584
Other news
Defense establishment to simulate strike on nuclear facility
Ynet 4 Sept — The defense establishment will hold a special emergency drill this week, simulating an enemy strike on Israel’s nuclear facility. “Operation Fernando” will aim to test the defense establishment’s readiness for the worst case scenario — a missile strike on the facility itself or its immediate surroundings, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4117520,00.html
IDF Home Front Command: Likelihood of all-out Middle East war increasing
Haaretz 5 Sept — Home Front Command chief says Middle East regional war could include use of weapons of mass destruction; warns that Arab Spring may turn into ‘Radical Islamic Winter’.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-home-front-command-likelihood-of-all-out-middle-east-war-increasing-1.382728
Officials accuse Israeli PM of withholding information that could have prevented attack
IMEMC 4 Sept — At a hearing on Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister were accused of ordering Israel’s top intelligence officials not to share warnings and information that could have been used to prevent the shooting attack on an Israeli bus and car by Egyptian suspects on August 18th in which five Israeli civilians and three soldiers were killed.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61940
Analysis / Opinion
In occupied West Bank, Jews and Arabs see different sides of justice / Amira Hass
Haaretz 5 Sept — The Israeli justice system in the occupied territories treats similar crimes committed by Jews and Arabs differently – impunity toward settlers, harsh repercussions for Arabs. 1. There is a law in Israel. It is the Dromi Law, named for the farmer Shai Dromi who in January 2007 shot to death Khaled el-Atrash, a Bedouin who broke into his farm in the Negev at night. In June 2008, a law was passed that “a person will not bear criminal responsibility for an act that was required immediately in order to curb someone who breaks in, or tries to break in, in order to commit a crime.” The district court acquitted Dromi of manslaughter … 2. There is a judge in Israel. He is Colonel-Lieutenant Netanel Benishu, who is deputy president of the military appeals court in the occupied West Bank. He heard the case of three members of the Bedouin Ka’abneh family, who were arrested on July 19th of this year after Israelis attacked their tent encampment on the lands of the village of Mukhmas east of Ramallah….
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/in-occupied-west-bank-jews-and-arabs-see-different-sides-of-justice-1.382656
Palmer Report’s fatal flaws / Julie Webb-Pullman
Palestine Chronicle 2 Sept — The most fundamental fault of the Palmer Report on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident is its one-eyed view of security. The second is its exceeding of the Terms of Reference (TOR) … While Israel, and lazy mainstream media, touts the Palmer Report as finding Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal, a closer reading shows no such thing.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17076
Turkish red alert / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 5 Sept — The crisis in relations with Turkey is a red alert of the attacks we’re in for on the diplomatic, security and economic fronts, affecting the lives of 450,000 protesters, demanding social justice … When Turkey called its ambassador home, it showed the way for the ambassadors of Egypt and Jordan in Israel, and that’s just the beginning. After the United Nations fulfills the Palestinians’ request for a state, the Palestinians won’t be able to consider themselves a temporary entity called the “Palestinian Authority.” How will the French react to Israel’s refusal to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return from an official visit to Paris with a passport from independent Palestine? … The young people from Rothschild Boulevard should keep their tents handy. They will need them soon, when they’re sent to guard their brethren, the settlers. Those who don’t want to deal with the occupation today will be dealt with by the occupation tomorrow. And if protesters don’t have the time to address marginal issues like universal justice, they should ask their economists how much the looming international crisis will cost us.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/turkish-red-alert-1.382564
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