As Israeli violence spreads across Israel/Palestine, Shin Bet worries it will soon target law enforcement

Settlers uproot dozens of olive trees near Nablus
IMEMC 1 Oct — A group of extremist armed Israeli settlers uprooted on Saturday dozens of Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Clashes were reported; soldiers fired gas bombs at the protesters leading to a number of injuries. Armed settlers uprooted more than 45 olive trees that belong to the residents of Al Khalla and Qattan Al Soura villages, south of Madama.

Locals: Settlers burn olive trees in Ramallah villages
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — Israeli settlers vandalized orchards in two Ramallah-district villages late Saturday, locals told Ma‘an. Settlers uprooted olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers and set fire to the groves in the central West Bank villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham, witnesses said. Shortly after the settlers left, Israeli forces prevented the farmers from accessing their fields to put out the fire, locals told a Ma‘an reporter.

Shin Bet: Threat of settler violence against Israeli officials rising in West Bank / Amos Harel
Haaretz 3 Oct — Officials say right-wing extremists no longer need ‘trigger’ to take action, while targets of violence widening; extremists also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials … Shin Bet officials believe that the acts of violence are being carried out by a few dozen individuals who are being supported by a circle of a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say.

PA: Settler violence ‘not random’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 Oct — Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are “condoned and supported by the Israeli government,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday. Over 500 olive trees were burned and uprooted on Saturday night, in settler attacks on villages near Nablus and Hebron, a government statement said.
Khatib said the incidents followed an intensification of violence by Israeli settlers on Palestinians, adding that the Israeli government’s “failure to act shows its disregard for applying the rule of law to the settlers. There have been no reported cases of Israeli settlers being held accountable for these crimes,” Khatib said, listing settler destruction of 3,000 olive trees and grape vines, burning of 83 dunums and flooding of 40 dunums of agricultural land in the West Bank in September.

Mosque set alight in Galilee village
JERUSALEM (AFP) 3 Oct — A mosque in northern Israel was set on fire overnight Sunday in a suspected ‘price tag’ attack as village residents clashed with police on Monday, a spokesman said. A number of suspects entered the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria and set fire to it, causing heavy damage to the carpets and walls, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP. On the outside of the mosque were scrawled the words “price tag” and “revenge” in Hebrew, Rosenfeld said.
[from Ynet: “This is not the first “price tag” operation in northern Israel. In June 2010, hate slogans were spray-painted on a mosque in the heart of Ibtin near Kiryat Tivon.”]

Video: Police to bolster security around mosques nationwide
Ynet 3 Oct — …Police Operations Division Chief Nissim Mor ordered the department to augment patrols around mosques and other Muslim holy sites for fear that they could become targets of similar hostile “price tag” acts. Special task forces are also to be established to deal with “price tag” incidents and riots. Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino instructed the forces to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards rioters and violators of the law, while continuing to communicate with local authorities to restore public order …
Residents of the village who gathered near the burnt mosque on Monday afternoon expressed anger at the hostile act. “More than 300 people who live in the village serve in the army,” one resident said. Many cast blame on Safed residents, headed by the city’s chief rabbi, Shmuel Eliyahu, for enflaming the tension.

Barak: Mosque attack harms Israel’s world reputation
JPost 3 Oct — Defense Minister Ehud Barak condemned the arson attack at a mosque in the northern town of Tuba Zangria Monday, saying that it hurts Israel’s reputation in the world. The suspected “price tag” attack, Barak said, is a “criminal act that harms the State of Israel.”

And more news from Today in Palestine:

Land, property theft & destruction / Apartheid / Restriction of movement

Palestinian home in danger of collapse due to Israeli digging in Silwan
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 3 Oct — A Palestinian building in Wadi Helwa area, in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, suffers from serious cracks in its walls which could lead to its collapse as a result of the Israeli digging of tunnels under the neighborhood to connect it to the old city, Monday said a member of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan, Fakhri Abu Diab … Abu Diab said an Israeli engineer visited the building and was astonished when he saw its state, saying immediately that its foundations must be reinforced.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17625

Israeli bulldozers raze agricultural land in Walaja
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 3 Oct – Israeli bulldozers Monday razed agricultural land in Walaja, a village southwest of Bethlehem, said local sources. Saleh Khalifa, head of the village council, said a large unit of Israeli soldiers accompanied bulldozers which broke into the village at dawn and closed the area under restricted security measures. The bulldozers destroyed around 100 olive, fig and almond trees and razed large areas of land to continue building the Apartheid Wall, Khalifa added.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17621

State to sanction Shvut Rachel outpost
Ynet 3 Oct — Shvut Rachel, an outpost located 30 miles north of Jerusalem in the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, is on its way to becoming a full-fledged settlement, Ynet learned on Monday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4130681,00.html

Water: One law for Palestinians, quite another for settlers
IOA 3 Oct — Every day, throughout the sections of the West Bank exclusively under Israel’s control (Area C), rain water harvesting cisterns face administrative demolition orders from the Israeli Civil Administration due to the lack of building permits. Cisterns are vital to the livelihoods of marginalized Palestinian rural and herder communities in the West Bank who rely on them to provide water for livestock, crops and sometimes for domestic water usage in the absence of an adequate network connection. Since 2009, a total of 44 cisterns and rainwater collection structures in Area C have been demolished, twenty of them between January and July of 2011.
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2011-10-03/water-one-law-for-palestinians-quite-another-for-settlers/

Border crossing with Jordan closed for Jewish holiday
JERICHO (WAFA) 3 Oct – The Palestinian borders authority said Monday that al-Karama (Allenby) bridge crossing with Jordan will be closed on Saturday due to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) holiday. It said in a statement that the crossing will open on Friday for just one hour, between 8 and 9 in the morning.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17628

Islamic sites in danger

Peres: Galilee mosque arson shameful for the state of Israel
Haaretz 3 Oct — The president noted the importance of the time in which the attack took place, the Ten Days of Atonement between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). “This is a time for reflection, in which we should condemn such acts among us,” Peres said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/peres-galilee-mosque-arson-shameful-for-the-state-of-israel-1.387874

Israeli police arrest four Palestinian worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 3 Oct — Israeli police, accompanying an extremist Jewish group, Monday arrested four Palestinian worshipers for protesting against the entrance of the extremists to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Successive groups of Jewish extremists, accompanied by Israeli police, entered the mosque compound and began roaming the courtyard and facilities provocatively.  A group of Palestinian worshipers opposed their entry and responded by chanting religious words, when Israeli police interfered and arrested four Palestinian worshipers.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17623

Settlers

Agricultural committees: Protect olive harvest from settlers
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 Oct — The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees announced on Monday an upcoming campaign to protect West Bank farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers during the olive harvest season. Noting a recent escalation in attacks on Palestinian lands and farmers, the agricultural support organization said it will organize groups of volunteers to accompany workers picking olives during the season.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425595

Footage & testimonies! Israel activists report about the attempted lynching of Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by Anata settlers with Israeli police collaboration
2. A new (third) and longer clip from the attack was posted on Youtube today: 3. A new report – translated testimonies: a. Background, as reported by activists: For four years Yasin Abu Saleh el-Rifai and his wife Iman are fighting an almost doomed battle to save their land. The plot has belonged to his family, the el-Rifai family, for generations and it is his land, by inheritance. His grandfather`s tomb is situated there too. The impressive structure of the tomb still stands, but the settlers have desecrated it, removing the bones from the tomb and destroyed the any remains in order to eliminate the evidence. Unfortunately for him, and for many other residents of Anata, some of them members of his family, an Israeli settlement by the name of Anatot (aka Almon) was built on their land in 1982.
Link to Occupierd Palestine

Policeman identified among settlers attacking protesters / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 3 Oct — One of the attackers in Anatot was identified as Yossi Ben Arush, a police investigator residing in the settlement. Police: If someone complains, Internal Affairs will investigate
http://972mag.com/policeman-involved-in-attacking-activists-identified/24591/

Rocks falling from the sky
NewProfile 2 Oct – Settler Attack in the Valley behind the Village of Dura Al Kara –Saturday October 1st in the Valley behind the village of Dura al Kara, a group of twenty locals, internationals, men, women and children, experienced rocks falling from the sky. Except, it was not. It was a group of five teenage settlers from Beit Eil. They were directly above us and threw stones in the size of a fist down upon us. We took cover. Which place was safe, we had no idea. Luckily we had made some rain and shade covering, otherwise who knows what would have happened. Three young army men came ten minutes later. We wondered how they had heard what happened. They were snide. They told us there are cameras. Where, we asked? Then you can know who came? Apparently the cameras are not good enough to recognize faces. Apparently. Three hours later, our camera was good enough to get images of their faces.
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/982e753764695d39

Gaza

Medics: Teenager shot by soldiers near Gaza City
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian teenager southeast of Gaza City on Monday, medics and an Israeli army spokeswoman said.  Spokesman for Gaza’s ambulance and emergency committee Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma‘an that a 16-year-old boy was shot in his left leg while collecting scrap metal in the Juhor ad-Dik area southeast of Gaza City. The victim was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where medics said his injuries were moderate.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425601

Medics: Man dies in Gaza tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — A young man was electrocuted on Sunday morning in a Rafah smuggling tunnel. Medics told Ma‘an that Bilal Islim, 25, died at 7.30 a.m. from an electric shock sustained while working in one of the tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425291

Rafah crossing closed Thursday as Egypt commemorates 1973 war
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 Oct — Egyptian authorities announced Monday that the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip would be closed Thursday as the country commemorates the 1973 war with Israel. The interior ministry of the Gaza government advised passengers that there would be limited opening times at the crossing between October 6-10, a statement said. The 1973 war, known as the Yom Kippur or October War, was fought between Egypt, Syria and Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425556

Report: Egypt authorities detain fuel smugglers at Gaza border
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — Egyptian authorities on Saturday detained three men attempting to smuggle fuel into the Gaza Strip via underground tunnels, Egyptian media said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425055

Video: Lack of construction material in Gaza
PressTV 2 Oct — Israel’s 22-day war largely singled out residential neighborhoods, destroyed thousands of homes, hundreds of factories and 80 official buildings in the strip.
In an international donors’ conference for the reconstruction of Gaza held in Egypt in March 2009, 4.5 billion US dollars was raised but up until now none of that money has been forthcoming. One year after Israel eased its Gaza blockade under international pressure following the attack on the Freedom Flotilla only a few reconstruction projects run by the UN receive required materials. In this edition of the show we will look into Gaza’s construction problems after Israel’s 22-day war.
http://www.presstv.ir/Program/202493.html

Hamas leadership condemns dismissal of UNRWA staff
GAZA (KUNA) 2 Oct — The dismissed Palestinian government in Gaza expressed on Sunday concern at lay-off of Palestinian staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The spokesman of the Hamas administration, Taher Al-Nounou, charged in a statement that political considerations were behind the dismissal of a number of the employees … Meanwhile, the federation of Arab employees in the UNRWA declared plans for holding a series of escalatory activities against the international agency during this week to protest the recent measures against the Palestinian workers in Gaza. A sit-in will be held at the headquarters of the agency, it said, adding that up to 8,000 Palestinian teachers would take part in the protest.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2193803&Language=en

The continuing conflict between Hamas and UNRWA / Ola Attallah
Gaza (Islam Online) 3 Oct — Palestinian political analysts described the conflicts taking place between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and Hamas as a “hidden war” between the two.  This conflict has been taking place for over five years with regards to who has authority to manage Gaza’s affairs. The conflicts between Hamas and UNRWA never seem to subside; whenever the tension between the two over an issue ends, another begins.
http://www.islamonline.net/cs/ContentServer/IslamOnline/IslamOnline/en/IOLArticle_C/1278409071268/1278406708816/IOLArticle_C

Gaza’s children find sustenance in trash picking / Shaima Mustafa
IslamOnline 2 Oct — As the sun rises, Ahmed, 15, escorts his three siblings to landfills.  There, they spend long hours searching through the trash for anything they can sell, use, or even eat.  By their side, dozens of children, teens, and women are partaking in the same ‘activity’. This scene is not from a television series or a movie, it is a real-life scene; a scene that has repeating itself for years, especially after the siege had been imposed on Gaza. Despite the bitterness and cruelty of this scenery, it is a rather normal event for dozens of Gazan children; in their eyes, piles of trash are piles [of] treasure. At the tip of the landfill was Khaled, 13, who was busy searching through the trash.  After repeated requests, he agreed to speak to ‘Islam Online’.
http://www.islamonline.net/cs/ContentServer/IslamOnline/IslamOnline/en/IOLArticle_C/1278409066644/1278406708816/IOLArticle_C

Detention

Thousands rally for prisoners in Israeli jails
NABLUS (AFP) 3 Oct — Thousands of people in the West Bank and Gaza staged demonstrations on Monday in solidarity with Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in Israeli jails. The rallies were held as inmates saw through the seventh consecutive day of a hunger strike to protest against worsening conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425809

Detainees from Ashkelon prison join hunger strike
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — Head of the Palestinian Detainees Center Qaddoura Fares said Sunday that 20 detainees in Ashkelon prison will join a hunger strike being carried out by prisoners in Israeli jails.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425340

Ofer prisoners begin gradual hunger strike
RAMALLAH, October 2, 2011 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC) Sunday said that the general struggle committee for prisoners in the Israeli Ofer prison has decided to go on a gradual hunger strike in line with the struggle move undertaken in the rest of the central prisons, according to a PPC press release.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17615

IOA arrests Palestinian woman in bid to pressure brother
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 3 Oct — The Israeli occupation authorities arrested Sunday evening a 20-year-old woman from Beit Fajjar, eight kilometers south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, in an apparent bid to pressure her brother into confession.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Israeli police arrest a mentally disabled woman from Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 3 Oct — Israeli occupation police arrested a mentally disabled Palestinian woman east of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday claiming she had explosive material in her possession. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli policemen cordoned off Wadi Al-Juz suburb and installed many barriers at its entrances before summoning sappers to defuse the alleged explosives… Inhabitants in the suburb tried to convince the soldiers that the woman suffered from mental disability and psychological disorders but the soldiers won’t listen to them and fired in the air to disperse the crowd, the witnesses said.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/israeli-police-arrest-a-mentally-disabled-woman-from-jerusalem/

Report: German mediator visits Cairo to renew Shalit deal
Ynet 3 Oct — Al-Ahram reports Gerhard Conrad in Egypt to promote prisoner-exchange agreement following pending release of Ilan Grapel on Tuesday
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4130669,00.html

Activism / Solidarity

Press release: South Hebron Hills communities march to celebrate solidarity and nonviolence’s power
[photos] At-Tuwani (Operation Dove) –  On the 25th of September, more than one hundred people from different communities of the South Hebron Hills walked on a peace march to celebrate the power of nonviolence and the resilient spirit of the people of the South Hebron Hills. They were renewing their commitment to a popular struggle to end the occupation and affirming a life of dignity and equal opportunity. Schoolchildren, elders, students, farmers, shepherds, teachers, men and women chanted and marched from At-Tuwani to Um Faggarah and then further south to the dwelling of Khallet At-Taba which in the past years, have endured the demolition of homes, outhouses and other structures by the Israeli army but is still inhabited by six families.
http://www.operationdove.org/?p=620

Fire engines donated to West Bank
BBC 3 Oct — A team of Scottish firefighters have left on a 2,500 mile journey to deliver two fire engines to Palestinians on the West Bank. The engines, which have been retired from service, have been bought by the Fire Brigades Union and will be given to the fire department in Nablus.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-15148774

Cyclists gear up for Gaza project
DUBAI (The National) 1 Oct — A small team of cyclists yesterday cranked up their preparations for a 350 kilometre ride to raise awareness for Gaza with a practice run through Dubai’s desert outskirts. The nine-strong team will this month take part in Cycling4Gaza, a youth-led initiative that was founded after the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2009 to raise funds for education and healthcare projects.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/cyclists-gear-up-for-gaza-project

War criminals

Livni to travel to London
Ynet 2 Oct — For first time since Britain issued warrant for her arrest for alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, opposition chairwoman to visit UK … The news came two weeks after British legislators amended the law that allowed arrest warrants to be issued against Israeli officials, making Livni’s trip possible.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4130070,00.html

Statehood bid

Israel and Palestinian Authority argue over Quartet timetable
DQ 2 Oct — Israel on Sunday accepted a timetable laid out by international mediators to resume Mideast peace talks, but the Palestinian Authority immediately dismissed the statement as an exercise in deception.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15432062,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

US defence chief warns on Palestinian aid block
AFP 3 Oct — Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday criticised US lawmakers for blocking $200 million in aid for the Palestinian territories at a “critical” moment in the region. “The (US) administration opposes withholding those funds from the Palestinians,” he said. “This is a critical time. This is no time to withhold those funds,” Panetta told reporters at a news conference with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-defence-chief-warns-palestinian-aid-block-144915392.html

Behind aid cut to Palestinian Authority, more than meets the eye / Alex Kane
Mondoweiss 3 Oct — Friedman: U.S. direct assistance to the PA for FY2011, which amounted to $200 million, is already out the door. Congress can’t do anything to block funding that has already been spent, although some members of Congress are threatening to cut off this funding in 2012 to punish the Palestinian Authority for going to the UN …
Although Friedman also reports that Congress is currently “blocking $150 million in funding for security assistance to the PA,” it’s likely that funding will be restored.  Security aid to the PA is the biggest reason why the West Bank has not flared up in revolt against the occupation yet.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that, which is why he has been lobbying Congress to keep that aid flowing.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/behind-aid-cut-to-palestinian-authority-more-than-meets-the-eye.html

Arab League official calls US Congress more dangerous than Israel’s Knesset
MEMO 3 Oct — A senior official at the Arab League has called the US Congress “more dangerous than the Knesset” because of its stand on the Palestine-Israel conflict. Ambassador Mohamed Sobeih, the Arab League’s Assistant Secretary General for Palestine Affairs, was speaking to journalists when he added that the organisation rejects Washington’s antagonism towards the Palestinians and their move for UN recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2891-arab-league-official-calls-us-congress-more-dangerous-than-israels-knesset

Erekat says US cannot ‘blackmail’ PA over UN bid
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — Senior PLO official Saeb Erekat said on Sunday that US threats to withdraw aid to Palestinians over the bid for UN membership were “unacceptable” … Palestinians’ right to self determination is “non-negotiable,” he said, slamming US pressure via financial sanctions … Erekat told reporters in Cairo “we appreciate US aid, but to be blackmailed and bargained with over our right to self-determination, on Jerusalem, and on our Arab and Islamic identity is unacceptable.”.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425506

Report: Ashton tells Abbas no cut in EU aid
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 Oct — EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told President Mahmoud Abbas that the EU would not cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Palestine’s bid for UN membership, media reports said on Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425541

Panetta urges Israel, Palestinians to negotiate
TEL AVIV (Reuters) 3 Oct – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday called for “bold action” from Israeli and Palestinian leaders to achieve peace after cautioning that Israel was becoming increasingly isolated in the Middle East … Speaking to reporters on his flight to Israel, Panetta said he would reaffirm U.S. security commitments to Israel and try to help it improve its increasingly chilly relations with Turkey and Egypt. “It’s pretty clear, at this dramatic time in the Middle East when there have been so many changes, that it is not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that is what has happened,” Panetta said.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111003/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_panetta

Hamas leader urges Abbas to discuss failure of talks
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) updated 2 Oct  — Senior Hamas leader Ahmad Bahar on Saturday urged President Mahmoud Abbas to talk openly about “the negotiation path with brought Palestinians to an impasse.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425179

Israel to demand adjustment of Quartet Mideast peace plan, official says
Haaretz 2 Oct — Despite Netanyahu’s acceptance Quartet statement, top minister says Jerusalem will demand several changes in the document, insist on freeze of Palestinian UN membership bid at the Security Council.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-to-demand-adjustment-of-quartet-mideast-peace-plan-official-says-1.387736

Israeli approval of Quartet statement is new maneuver, says Abed Rabbo
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 3 Oct — Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Monday considered the Israeli approval of the Quartet statement on Sunday a “new maneuver.”  “It is a new maneuver to buy time and deceive international public opinion while it continues its settlement activities on the ground,” said Abed Rabbo to Voice of Palestine radio.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17620

Israel: Settlement in Jerusalem not up for negotiations
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM,(PIC) 2 Oct — Israeli deputy prime minister Silvan Shalom said settlement construction in Jerusalem was not negotiable and that the city has always been outside of any settlement freeze decisions, despite opposition by various groups. With regard to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians, Shalom told Israeli Radio on Sunday that all pending issues must be debated in parallel but not in the order proposed by international Quartet, whereas he said borders and security should be tackled in the first stage of talks.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Palestinian lawyers affirm essential role of PLO at UN
Ma‘an 1 Oct — As the Security Council considers Palestine’s application for full membership of the United Nations, Palestinian lawyers, jurists and legal scholars have signed a joint statement expressing concern over the bid’s implications for Palestinians’ rights: The recent initiative of the Palestinian leadership at the UN has far reaching legal implications on all segments of the Palestinian people in historic Palestine and in the shatat (Diaspora).
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425080

Abbas to visit Colombia for UN bid talks
BOGOTA (AFP) 2 Oct — President Mahmoud Abbas will visit UN Security Council member Colombia on October 11 to discuss his bid for UN member state status, President Juan Manuel Santos said …Santos said the visit by Abbas would not help sway him to change his opposition to the Palestinian bid for full UN recognition, saying a Palestinian state should only be recognized through a negotiated solution with Israel. Colombia has said it would abstain in any Security Council vote.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425271

Tourists in Taybeh Oktoberfest support Palestine
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 2 Oct — From all over the world, tourists came to the Palestinian Christian town of Taybeh, famous for its beer that bears its name, east of Ramallah, to participate in  the annual Oktoberfest. Some of them volunteering and some only to have fun; they all agreed on one thing, Palestinian right to statehood.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17618

Political / Diplomatic / International news

Haneyya: Reconciliation only choice after peace talks exhausted
GAZA, TEHRAN (PIC) 3 Oct — Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya said the sole option for the Palestinians is to follow through with the reconciliation deal signed in May as the peace process with Israel has been exhausted. In a video link from Gaza he spoke at the international conference to support the Palestinian uprising in the Iranian capital Tehran, Haneyya called for launching talks including all Palestinian factions on a strategy that pairs between resistance, politics and diplomacy.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/haneyya-reconciliation-only-choice-after-peace-talks-exhausted/

Abbas hosts talks on reconciliation in Ramallah
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Oct — President Mahmoud Abbas met Thursday with three Hamas members at his headquarters in Ramallah, officials said. Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, the former deputy prime minister, Samir Abu Ayasheh and Ali al-Sartawi discussed with Abbas efforts for reconciliation and the subsequent steps of the UN bid for membership, informed sources said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425007

Hamas: No agreement to meet Fatah
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) updated 2 Oct — Hamas denied Saturday any agreement to meet with Fatah to resume reconciliation talks, as had been announced. Hamas leader Ismail al-Ashkar said Friday that there had never been an agreement to meet with Fatah, despite statements from party official Azzam al-Ahmad.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425009

Resheq: Hamas making frequent contact in follow-up of reconciliation
TEHRAN (PIC)– Hamas senior politburo member Izzat al-Resheq confirmed that his party is still making frequent contact with Fatah in the framework of implementing the reconciliation deal. Resheq blamed Fatah for the delay, saying that it was holding off such terms as who would assume the prime ministry until after the request for statehood at the UN.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/resheq-hamas-making-frequent-contact-in-follow-up-of-reconciliation/

Abbas seeks early polls to end internal split
ArabNews 2 Oct — RAMALLAH: A senior Fatah official on Sunday said that President Mahmoud Abbas will soon propose to Hamas movement to hold early presidential and parliamentary elections in bid to end internal split in Palestinian territories.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article510266.ece

Netanyahu’s office: There is no Israel-Germany diplomatic crisis
Haaretz 2 Oct — The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday denied that a diplomatic crisis has erupted between Israel and Germany over Israel’s approval last week of new construction in Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line. Instead the PM’s staff blamed the Israeli media for misrepresenting the facts of the affair.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-s-office-there-is-no-israel-germany-diplomatic-crisis-1.387635

Egyptian official reportedly admits ‘Grapel no spy’
Ynet 2 Oct — Al-Hayat quotes senior Egyptian official as saying US defense secretary will take Ilan Grapel back home later this week ‘in exchange for financial benefits’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4129599,00.html

France 2 bureau chief rebuffs critics over Abbas article
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 Oct — French-Israeli journalist Charles Enderlin told Ma‘an on Sunday that he was used to being attacked by extremists, after his article published in France caused a stir for its support of President Mahmoud Abbas. In an interview with Ma‘an, the head of French TV station France 2’s Jerusalem office said he also received many positive reactions from Jewish professionals to the Sept. 23 article in French newspaper Liberation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425289

Other news

Zoabi calls for October riots to be taught in schools
JPost 3 Oct — MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) requested on Sunday from Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the October 2000 Israeli-Arab riots be taught in schools, following Saturday’s protests by thousands of Israeli Arabs in Sakhnin. “The Ministry of Education is denying the reality of Arabs in the state,” Zoabi said.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=240292&R=R2

26% increase in housing in Palestinian territory since 2007
RAMALLAH, October 2, 2011 (WAFA) –  The number of housing units in the Palestinian Territory in 2011 is expected to reach 884,385 units with an increase of about 26% compared to 2007, Sunday said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). In a press release on the occasion of Arab Housing Day, PCBS said that 0.9% of households in the Palestinian Territory live in a villa, 48% live in a house and 50% live in an apartment. The percentage of households living in owned housing units in the Palestinian Territory is 84%: 82% in the West Bank and 87% in the Gaza Strip.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17610

For Yasser Arafat look-alike, impersonating him isn’t just a job
LATimes 2 Oct — Salem Smeirat doesn’t get many paid gigs impersonating Yasser Arafat, but he likes to dress up as the late Palestinian leader at public events for the adoration.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arafat-lookalike-20111003,0,3135497.story

Video: Celebrating Oktoberfest on the West Bank
AP 3 Oct — Beer festivals aren’t usually associated with the West Bank, but that didn’t stop people from flocking to the Taybeh Beer Festival, where locals and tourists enjoyed locally-made beer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/video/raw-video-celebrating-oktoberfest-on-the-west-bank/article2188759/

Poet Taha Muhammad dies in Nazareth
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 Oct — Celebrated poet Taha Muhammad Ali died in Nazareth on Sunday aged 80 years old. Muhammad Ali was born in Saffuriya village, north of Nazareth, in 1931. He fled to Lebanon with his family in 1948 when the village was captured by the Israeli army … His poetry followed the experiences of Palestinians living in Israel, and Palestinian refugees around the world. They were translated into several languages, including English and Hebrew.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425811

Palestinian theatre suffers loss of director Abu Salem
RAMALLAH (MEO) 2 Oct — Francois Abu Salem, a French actor and director and long-time West Bank resident, has died at the age of 60 in the city of Ramallah, Palestinian security forces said … A fluent Arabic speaker who decided to take an Arabic surname, Abu Salem was the co-founder of the El-Hakawati Theatre Company, which later grew into the Palestinian National Theatre, in east Jerusalem. He was best known as a theatre director and also adapted plays by renowned authors including Dario Fo and Bertolt Brecht for a Palestinian audience.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=48344

Israeli author allowed Israeli ID with no religion listed
IMEMC 2 Oct — An 81-year old Israeli intellectual has been allowed by an Israeli court to register a new identity card that does not list a religion – an anomaly in Israel, where all citizens are categorized on Israeli-issued ID cards by their religion. Israeli passports list the nationality of each citizen as either ‘Jewish’ or ‘Arab’.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62166

Analysis / Opinion

VIDEO: Occupation through some unusual Israel eyes
JSF 2 Oct — [Machsom Watch, Rabbis for Human Rights, Breaking the Silence, settlers, others.  Not just talking heads.  Worth watching]
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupation-through-some-unusual-israeli.html

Resistance and revolution as lived daily experience: An interview with Leila Khaled (Part 4)
Jadaliyya 3 Oct — After a brief training period in Jordan in 1969, I found myself in Lebanon meeting with Dr. Wadi Haddad. He asked me if I was ready to die. I replied that I was and asked why. He then told me that the real question is whether I was willing to spend the rest of my life in jail. I once again replied that I was and asked why. He then asked if I was ready to hijack a plane
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2801/resistance-and-revolution-as-lived-daily-experienc

In the name of the grandson / Neri Livneh
Haaretz 3 Oct — What would happen if hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of citizens really did rush to the Interior Ministry to register as without religion? Will we become a state without a religion instead of a Jewish state? … From the moment Kaniuk learned of the judge’s ruling on the eve of Rosh Hashanah until the news was reported in the newspapers, several outstanding Jews (in their own opinion), residents of the West Bank settlement of Anatot, managed to demonstrate how easily Judaism can be turned into a loaded pistol aimed at the goyim, when they went out, as is their custom, to enhance the joy of the holiday by engaging in a pogrom against Palestinians and the peace activists who came to their assistance.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/in-the-name-of-the-grandson-1.387789

A call to establish a national memorial day for slain Arab citizens / Issa Edward Boursheh
978mag 2 Oct — Israel’s Amadou Diallo and Stephen Biko are the 13 Arab Israelis shot and killed in October 2000 by the Israeli National Police. October 1 must be an Israeli national memory day for the victims. Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of October 2000 events in which Rami, Ahmad, Mohammad, Mosleh, Asil, Alaa, Walid, Emad, Eyad, Mohammad, Ramez, Omar and Wissam were killed by Israel National Police. Thirteen people are dead and zero have been found guilty.
http://972mag.com/establish-a-national-memorial-day-for-slain-arab-citizens/24475/

Israeli press complicit in dehumanization of Palestinian victims / Sarit Topaz
972mag 3 Oct — Muatasam and Ali were shot to death by the IDF at the start of Ramadan. The Israeli press glossed over the story. In writing about them here, the author attempts to restores a bit of humanity to the faceless Palestinians killed by the army … The Qalandia Refugee Camp and the villages of Ni’lin and Beit Umar received a particularly warm holiday greeting. Two people were killed on the first day of the holy month: Muatasam Adwan and Ali Khalifa. News sites in Israel dedicated less than 400 words to the reports on their deaths. The item was filed under “Military And Security” news. Both on the Ynet and NRG news portals, the casualties remained anonymous: no name, no face, no life story. The former mentioned “Palestinian youths,” the latter only “Palestinians.” The two were thus stripped of their subjectivities, of their life stories, of their agonized families. When we strip someone of his subjectivity, we feel no moral responsibility for him. That’s how the boundaries of our apathy are drawn in one stroke: no need to mourn for them, they are not “our kind,” they are “Palestinian.”
http://972mag.com/israeli-press-complicit-in-dehumanization-of-palestinian-victims/24538/

Collective unconsciousness / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 3 Oct — Mutual recognition of historical rights and religious beliefs of Palestinians and Israelis is key for peace; failure to recognize the other side’s myths nurtures the ‘no partner for dialogue’ attitude and leads to a dead end … The flip side of the Jewish belief that Jerusalem is all ours, and only ours – including the historical “Holy Basin,” the Old City and the Palestinian villages that Israel annexed of its own accord – is a complete lack of awareness regarding the Muslim attachment to Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/collective-unconsciousness-1.387785

Will the US Congress kill the two-state solution? / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 2 Oct — By effectively freezing $200 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority, Congress members are surpassing the efforts of hard-line Israeli politicians — Why would an Israeli prime minister mount the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to rebut a historic address over Palestinian statehood, only to sound like a man running for Congress in a Tea Party district? …  Netanyahu may much prefer that the House be the one to kill off the two state-solution, rather than shoulder the responsibility for doing so himself. .
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/will-the-u-s-congress-kill-the-two-state-solution-1.387676

Palestine statehood – why Nigeria’s vote counts / Disu Kamor
The Moment 3 Oct — AS non-permanent member of the 15-member body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Nigeria will cast a vote on Palestinians’ bid to have a nation of their own … Although the Obama Administration has promised a rogue veto once the voting is in favour of the Palestinians, the US and Israel have been putting enormous lobbying resources and crude pressure on the members of the UNSC, including  Nigeria, to prevent the need and shame of using the veto. At this crucial time, the Nigerian government, the Nigerian media and Nigerian people must do the right thing, we must remember the glorious roles we played in supporting the victims of the racist policy of Apartheid in South Africa, examine our conscience and do the right thing again.
http://www.momentng.com/en/news/4275/palestine-statehood-why-nigerias-vote-counts–.html

The Shin Bet scandal that never died / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 2 Oct — There are some scandals that refuse to die, either because they are never fully investigated or because those responsible for them never paid the price they should have. The Bus 300 affair of 1984, involving the murder by Shin Bet security service officers of two bus hijackers who had already been apprehended when they were killed – and the subsequent cover-up of the act – falls into the second category. Almost everything was clear at the time, but nonetheless, the case refuses to die because most of those responsible for it were never punished.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-shin-bet-scandal-that-never-died-1.387594

Why Israel can’t be a ‘Jewish state’ / Sari Nusseibeh
AJ 30 Sept — The Israeli demand to be recognised as a “Jewish state” by the Palestinians is an inherently problematic concept … So, rather than demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a “Jewish State” as such – adding “beyond chutzpah” to insult and injury – we offer the suggestion that Israeli leaders ask instead that Palestinians recognise Israel (proper) as a civil, democratic, and pluralistic state whose official religion is Judaism, and whose majority is Jewish. Many states (including Israel’s neighbours Jordan and Egypt, and countries such as Greece) have their official religion as Christianity or Islam (but grant equal civil rights to all citizens) and there is no reason why Israeli Jews should not want the religion of their state to be officially Jewish.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/201192614417586774.html

Leaked documents explain events at Al Jazeera
MEMO 3 Oct — There has been a cascade of rumours about the shock resignation of Al Jazeera’s Wadah Khanfar. While some point to diplomatic reports of a power struggle between Islamists and secular liberals, others suggest that the former Director General had become too close to the Americans. The WikiLeaks cables, however, give a vivid insight into what was happening behind the scenes at the media giant, confirming a tussle between elements identified as ‘Islamist’ or ‘radicals’ on the one hand and ‘liberals’ on the other. There was, though, no suggestion that Khanfar had entered into a cosy relationship with the Americans. On the contrary, the 420 documents published by WikiLeaks suggest that it was an uneasy and, at times, unpleasant relationship.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/2889-leaked-documents-explain-events-at-al-jazeera