General strike in Bedouin Arab villages in Galilee
GALILEE (WAFA) 4 Oct — Arab Bedouin villages in the Galilee, north of Israel, Tuesday observed a general strike to protest Monday’s arson of a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariyya, according to local sources. Schools and businesses joined in the general strike. Hundreds of Arabs and religious leaders arrived in the Galilee village in a show of solidarity and to condemn what they described as a criminal act.
Confusion, sorrow over Tuba Zanghariya mosque arson
JPost 5 Oct — …”What I can’t understand is why us? Why of all places would they come here?” asked resident Dr. Muhammad al-Haib, in a plaza outside the scorched entryway of the al-Noor mosque. In a common sentiment expressed Tuesday, al-Haib said the people of the village are “completely Israeli” and see themselves as having a shared fate with their Jewish neighbors in the surrounding towns. Al-Haib said the villagers celebrate Independence Day and do not identify with the “Nakba,” the Palestinian day that mourns the founding of the State of Israel … Al-Haib, who serves as the Education Ministry’s national director for education in the Bedouin sector, described the village as completely cut off from the greater Arab sector in Israel, with the closest Arab villages over half an hour away, much farther than Rosh Pina, only a couple kilometers away.
Video: 4 Tuba Zangaria residents arrested for vandalism
Ynet 4 Oct — Four residents of the Tuba Zangaria village were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of torching a regional council building and vandalizing a community center and a clinic in the village a day after a mosque was set on fire there. Large police forces searched homes, meeting resistance from residents. “The police are making a big mistake by arresting people while we are still shocked from the mosque arson,” one resident told Ynet. “By doing this they are provoking additional riots that will have adverse outcomes for the village. The police have to get out of here.”
Israeli police arrest 16 Arabs in Galilee
GALILEE (WAFA) 5 Oct — Israeli police arrested 16 Israeli Arabs from Tuba-Zangariya, a Bedouin-Arab village in the Upper Galilee, in the wake of protests against the arson of a mosque Monday, according to local Israeli media.
Shin Bet slaps gag order on Safed mosque burning investigation / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 5 Oct — An Israeli journalist has told me there is a gag order concerning any reporting on the Shin Bet’s investigation into the mosque burning in the Israeli Palestinian village, Tuba-Zangariyye [ طوبا زنجرية] , just outside Safed. This is the fifth or sixth mosque arson attack in recent past and no charges have been brought in any cases.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land theft / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Restriction of movement / Exile
Israeli court decides to release parliamentarian ‘on condition that he is deported’
MEMO 5 Oct –An Israeli court has decided to release Jerusalem parliamentarian Ahmed Abu Atoun on condition that he is deported from his own country. The prosecution, meanwhile, asked for time to appeal against the decision on the grounds that Atoun “is dangerous for the security of Israel, even if he gets deported”. The court’s verdict included the release of Atoun on bail of 50,000 shekels, on the condition that he signs a pledge not to enter Jerusalem without obtaining a permit from Israeli authorities first unless Israel’s Supreme Court allows him to do so. Mr Atoun rejected the court’s decision and refused to sign such a pledge and so he will remain in detention until the end of the case.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2897-israeli-court-decides-to-release-parliamentarian-qon-condition-that-he-is-deportedq
Demolitions: Israel annexing more land in Kufr ad-Dik and Salfit
ISM 4 Oct — On Tuesday around 11am the Israeli army carried out demolitions in the West Bank towns of Beit Ula and Kufr ad-Dik, destroying homes, animal pens, wells and hundreds of trees. Yousef Muhammed Turshan sat amongst the rubble that used to be the home for him, his wife, and 5 children. “This is our only home, I don’t know where we will sleep tonight. They destroyed the building that held the sheep and now they have gone missing. This is my children’s future they are destroying.” The Tursham family lost the tent they lived in as well as 2 brick rooms, an animal pen, and a water cistern. Their land was one of 3 sites demolished in Beit Ula … Another farmer from a site in Beit Ula showed the wasteland that had just a few hours ago, been full of hundreds of olive and fruit trees. “I have cared for this land where they destroyed for years, checking every plant every day…”
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/demolitions-israel-annexing-more-land-in-kufr-ad-dik-and-salfit/
Avigail/Jibrin and Um-Nir, or: Ta’ayush/Sisyphus / David Shulman
1 Oct — … Anyway, we’re here to excavate, again, a big cistern, the one I helped dig out from under earth and rocks last year — so I have a personal stake in this matter, and I take what happened as a personal affront. The story of Um-Nir is complicated and unhappy; I’ve told it before. Let’s just say that a large Palestinian family came back here, across the road from Palestinian Susya, after years of exile in Yata; that they rebuilt the site with its goat-pens and stone walls and tents and cisterns, with our help; and that the Civil Administration, in its wisdom, brought its bulldozers to raze Um-Nir to the ground and to stop up the wells with boulders, chunks of twisted iron, and earth. They also drove out all members of the family, wounding one old grandmother seriously in the process … Here we are again. “What are the chances,” someone asks, “that once we’ve dug it out the Civil Administration will come back and fill it up again with more rocks and iron and cement?” “Close to 100%,” someone else replies. We’re not nurturing any illusions.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=48922
Photo of the Day: 4-year-old Bedouin girl in Al Hadidya, Palestine
Atlantic 4 Oct — Somoud and her family have faced eviction, Israeli bulldozers, and now U.S. Congressmen that want to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority — Somoud is four years old. She is holding her sick sheep, waiting for it to be treated. Somoud was born into the Palestinian herding community of al Hadidya, one of the Bedouin groups eking out a living in the dusty Jordan Valley.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/photo-of-the-day-4-year-old-bedouin-girl-in-al-hadidya-palestine/246131/
A land divided: Gate closures for Salim’s olive harvest
ISM 3 Oct — As Palestinians in Salim began the first day of their annual olive harvest this morning, October 2nd, Israeli Occupation Forces locked the gate which gives those living in Salim access to their olive trees. The gate was unlocked at 7:00am to allow farmers to reach their trees, but shortly afterward, soldiers locked the gate for purported ‘security reasons’ around 9:00am according to many reports. When passing shortly after 8:00am, four ISM volunteers reported no problems with two soldiers guarding the gate. Sporadically throughout the day, the gate was opened a few times to allow access to the olive trees or village center. From 9:00am until 5:00pm, there was only a possibility for those living in Salim to reach their land through the single entrance/exit.
The village itself is divided — the settler-only road has carved the land in two and beyond the road lies the majority of the olive trees which are adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement, Elon Moreh … This morning marked the first of four [!] allotted days Palestinians in Salim for the olive harvest. Before the Intifada, Salim’s farmers could spend a month properly picking the olives.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/a-land-divided-gate-closures-for-salims-olive-harvest-by-iof/
Gaza: Planting in something dead
ISM Gaza 5 Oct — Around Gaza is a 300 meter ‘buffer zone’, a no go zone, a land of death. Gaza is not just a prison, it is a shrinking prison. Every time that Israel expands this zone, Gaza gets a little smaller. Every Tuesday, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative and the International Solidarity Movement march into the buffer zone to challenge the occupation and the theft of Palestinian land. Today, we also marched in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strike in the jails of the occupation. What could be more logical than one group of prisoners marching in support of another group of prisoners?
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/gaza-planting-in-something-dead/
Film trailer: New AIC film: Sheik Jarrah
AIC 4 Oct — In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Israeli NGOs and state authorities have worked more than a decade to evict 550 Palestinian residents from their homes in order to build a Jewish settlement, rationalizing that prior to 1948 there was a Jewish neighborhood in the same location. Sheikh Jarrah brings the stories of local residents, themselves Palestinian refugees, the owner of the land and Israeli solidarity activists, who struggle against this eviction which is part of the ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem. This new AIC film will be available in November 2011.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3833-new-aic-film-sheikh-jarrah-
Anatot attack
Anatot pogrom victims suffered sexual abuse / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 4 Oct — …But what Idan Landau has done [Hebrew] is to focus very specifically on the level of sexual violence meted out to the female protesters by the settlers. But not just by the male settlers, by the female settlers specifically. I’ve read about the violence of which settlers are capable for years. That’s nothing new. But what Idan has collected in his blog post is new. Here is my translation (pardon the strong language which is in the original Hebrew) along with links to the original Hebrew eyewitness sources.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/10/04/eyewitness-to-anatot-pogrom-attest-to-sexual-abuse/
Israel police turned a blind eye to a lynching / Eyal Raz
Haaretz 4 Oct — What happened Friday afternoon at the entrance to the settlement of Anatot was a pogrom, a lynching. Media outlets that don’t see fit to report a pogrom of this magnitude are partners in the policy, or the sins of omission, of abandonment … “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor,” Desmond Tutu once wrote. This story begins with blood, but its point is the abandonment. For that is what will enable more blood to be shed in the future. And anyone who doesn’t cry out against it is a party to it.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-police-turned-a-blind-eye-to-a-lynching-1.387997
The settlement of Anatot – background to last week’s mob attack / Dror Etkes
SJS 5 Oct — The settlers of Anatot grew accustomed to the idea that any and all private Palestinian land around the settlement, belongs not to the Palestinians, but to them. As such, they have no intention to allow an ‘Arab’ and his friends to work on land that has been nationalized for the sake of the settlement expansion … Anatot was settled by people (mostly from Jerusalem) seeking to enhance their housing situation, to fulfill the dream of owning a house with a garden. These settlers were not necessarily identified with the hardcore religious right … The takeaway is clear: the idea of ’quality of life settlers’ is a fiction. The violence that these same dozens of Anatot residents enacted last week would have made the extreme/radical outpost settlers proud.
http://www.en.justjlm.org/619
Settler violence in a time of security / Larry Derfner
972mag 5 Oct — Right-wing violence in Israel is always provoked by something, we’ve been told … This is a popular notion in this country. So why has settler violence been going through the roof again, most recently in Sunday night’s ‘price tag’ torching of a mosque in the Galilee Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria? Life for Jews in Israel and the West Bank has never been safer than it’s been for the last few years. Palestinian security forces have been working with the Shin Bet and Israeli army to shut down terror, to throw Hamasniks in jail, to even keep big protest rallies from taking place. Meanwhile, the peace process couldn’t be deader. The Israeli government could hardly be more right-wing. The administration in Washington could hardly be more craven, while Congress has become indistinguishable from the Yesha Council.
http://972mag.com/settler-violence-in-a-time-of-security/24660/
Israeli ex-officials: ‘Price tag’ attacks could start intifada
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 5 Oct — Following a recent increase in ‘Price tag’ attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region … By spreading a yearlong trail of torched mosques and vehicles from occupied territory into Israel, the elusive militants now threaten not only peacemaking with Palestinians but an already strained coexistence between Israel’s Jewish and minority Palestinian citizens.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426477
Other settler news
Settler rams vehicle into a Palestinian youth
IMEMC 5 Oct — An Israeli settler hit a Palestinian youth with his car on Wednesday morning in al-Froosh village southeast of the West Bank city of Nablus, and fled the scene, the Ma‘an news agency reported. Palestinian local sources said that the youth, Nasser Abu al-Kabbash, 20, was trying to cross the main street near the village when the settler, driving a white car, struck him and continued without stopping. According to these sources, the youth was transferred to the nearby Al Rafidia Hospital for treatment of his injuries, described as mild. This is the second time in the past 24 hours that settlers have run over Palestinian residents; two sisters were struck and injured in al-Huwarra village south of Nablus on Tuesday morning.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62190
Pioneer of Israeli settler movement Hanan Porat dies at 67
Haaretz 4 Oct — Hanan Porat, one of the first leaders of the Israeli settler movement, died Monday of cancer at the age of 67. Porat, a former lawmaker, was a founder of the now-defunct movement Gush Emunim (Hebrew for “the bloc of the faithful”) a messianic movement committed to settling land Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. Movement disciples believe God promised the West Bank to the Jewish people, and they set out to cement Israeli sovereignty there by creating a large-scale civilian presence.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/pioneer-of-israeli-settler-movement-hanan-porat-dies-at-67-1.388108
Gaza
Bracing for UN bid fallout in Gaza
GAZA CITY (IRIN) 4 Oct — As reports come in that the USA may be preparing to cut a substantial portion of the aid it gives to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the Palestinian statehood bid is successful, people in the occupied Palestinian territory are bracing for possible consequences. Still branded a “terrorist” organization by the Quartet (European Union, UN, US and Russia), the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip is developing programmes to assist the poorest families as the threat of sanctions by Israel and/or the USA looms. “We are seeking alternative aid to Gaza from Arab nations,” said Omar Al-Derbi, assistant deputy social affairs minister in Gaza. A new programme under the ministry to begin in October pairs Gaza families in need directly with families from Gulf countries.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93879
Teachers protest at UNRWA headquarters
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — Thousands of teachers on Wednesday protested at UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City over the dismissal of a union official, a Ma‘an correspondent reported. The Local Staff Union called for the general strike on Wednesday, the second such action in a week, to protest at UNRWA’s suspension of the head of the union, Suhail al-Hindi. Hamas sources said the UN agency had accused Hindi of meeting with Hamas political officials.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426281
Report: Israel lifts Gaza export ban to avert holiday ‘crisis’
TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — Israeli officials will temporarily lift a ban on agricultural exports from the Gaza Strip to allow the entry of palm fronds used to mark a Jewish holiday, a newspaper report said Wednesday. Maariv, a Hebrew-language Israeli daily, said the defense ministry agreed to allow 100,000 lulavs to enter Israel from Gaza on a “one-time basis” ahead of Sukkot, which starts next week. Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized importing the lulavs from Gaza in order to avert a “crisis” caused by Egypt’s refusal this year to approve the sale of the fronds, Maariv reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426506
Egypt closes Rafah crossing for holiday
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — Egyptian authorities have decided to close the Rafah border crossing on Thursday for Egypt’s October 6 national holiday, according to the interior ministry in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426500
Reporters without Borders: Hamas restricts foreign reporters’ access to Gaza
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 5 Oct — Reporters Without Borders expressed worries that the Hamas interior ministry’s adoption of new rules for foreign journalists will restrict their access to the Gaza Strip, said a press release on Wednesday. It said that under the new rules, adopted on September 25, every foreign journalist wanting to visit the Gaza Strip will have to apply in advance to the interior ministry in Gaza, and processing the application could take several days.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17654
Egypt to increase electricity supply to Gaza Strip
CAIRO (WAFA) 4 Oct — Egypt will increase its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip following the approval by Egyptian Minister of Electricity, Hassan Younis, to raise the power supply from 17 to 22 megawatts, Tuesday reported Egyptian local media. Al Gomhoria newspaper featured a statement by the Canal Company for Electricity distribution, saying the Palestinian request for a supply increase was approved and will be met this month
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17633
Monetary authority: 50 million shekels allowed into Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — The Palestinian Monetary Authority was able to get 50 million shekels into the Gaza Strip through coordination with the concerned sides, it said Wednesday. This has reduced the severity of the monetary crisis affecting salaries of public sector employees. The authority said it would continue its efforts to reduce the crisis.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426460
Army: Gaza rockets land in southern Israel
TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 4 Oct — Militants in Gaza fired two rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday causing no damage or injuries, an Israeli army spokeswoman said. Meanwhile, soldiers detonated five explosive device near the border in the central Gaza Strip, the army said in a statement…
On Tuesday morning, witnesses said several military jeeps and bulldozers entered al-Qarara north of Khan Younis and started leveling agricultural land as helicopters hovered overhead firing randomly at homes. An army spokeswoman did not confirm or deny the incident but said there had been military activity in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426132
Prison hunger strike
Former prisoners join hunger strike
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — Former detainees in Nablus started a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity with prisoners in Israel who are striking for the ninth consecutive day, a prisoners’ society said. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said former detainee and activist Sahar Abdo, who lives in Israel, has also joined the hunger strike.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426224
IPA starts new measures to punish detainees
IMEMC 5 Oct — Israeli Maariv reported on Wednesday morning that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPA) has started a series of measures to increase pressure on the Palestinian detainees in an attempt to break their open-ended hunger strike. The new measures include depriving the detainees of education, reducing the number of TV channels permitted, and withholding certain types of food formerly allowed … The Qatar-based news agency, Al Jazeera, was taken off the list.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62188
Massive protest held in Hebron in support of political detainees
IMEMC 5 Oct — Thousands of Palestinians held a protest in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in solidarity with the political prisoners held by Israel in several prisons and detention camp, and called for their release. The protest was organized by different factions, youth groups, organizations and the families of the detainees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62186
Hebron in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike for rights
ISM 3 Oct — …On Tuesday the 27th of September, an open-ended hunger strike was initiated until the fulfillment of 9 demands by Palestinian prisoners, which include the right to family visits, end to the use of isolation as a punishment against detainees, and profiteering of Israeli prisons from financial penalties charged against prisoners. Approximately 3000 prisoners are taking part in the strike including all the different political fractions from eight different prisons. On Sunday solidarity tents with the prisoners were positioned in the center of all the main cities in the Palestinian occupied territories
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/hebron-in-solidarity-with-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-for-rights/
Nablus joins West Bank and Gaza in support of prisoner strike
ISM 3 Oct — …One female protester, who declined to give her name, said that she was protesting to support the prisoners on hunger strike. “I have a son in prison, he is serving a life sentence as he was a fighter with the PFLP. He has been on a hunger strike for seven days and he is in solitary confinement, but I have not been allowed to see him.” Tahani Al-Shati’s husband has served 11 years of an 18 year sentence for being a fighter in the PFLP. She said, “I am worried about my husband as I heard today that he has been taken to an isolation cell because he began a hunger strike. Me and my children are very upset about this so I came to protest and to be in the struggle with the families of other prisoners.” Bassam Gyias and Wafa Gyias were protesting to show support for their son Hassan who has served 3 ½ years of a 5 year sentence and began a hunger strike last week in protest at prison conditions. Yesterday, Hassan was transferred to an unknown location, along with 27 other prisoners affiliated to the PFLP.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/nablus-joins-west-bank-and-gaza-in-support-of-prisoner-strike/
Detention / Court action
Following criticism, IDF raises age for Palestinians to be tried as minors
Haaretz 5 Oct –The Israel Defense Forces last week upped the age for suspects to be tried as minors from age 15 to up to 18. The move comes following criticism by human rights groups of the IDF’s treatment of minor suspects. According to human rights groups, more than 700 minors are arrested and brought to court each year. Israeli law considers teens as minors up to age 18, as opposed to military law in the territories, which regarded suspects as minors only up to age 15 … On Tuesday, the IDF announced that young suspects would also be placed in separate detention from adults. The new rule also means that the parents of suspects up to the age of 18, not up to the age of 15, will be informed of their detention and that the minor suspects will be apprised of their right to consult an attorney before their interrogation … Baumgarten-Sharon [of B’Tselem] said military law still makes it possible to deprive minors of their rights when it comes to security offenses. The IDF and the Shin Bet security service still arrest minors in the middle of the night and the new rules only require parents to be informed of the arrest of their minor child, whereas in Israel proper, a parent is allowed to accompany a minor child during the arrest.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/following-criticism-idf-raises-age-for-palestinians-to-be-tried-as-minors-to-18-1.388197
5 Oct. ’11: Army raises minority age of Palestinians to 18, as in Israel; violation of minors’ rights continues
B’Tselem — The amendment raises the age of minority from 16 to 18. B’Tselem welcomes this amendment, which aptly conforms the age of minority in the West Bank to the customary age around the world, including in Israel. However, it does not deal with the grave infringement of Palestinian minors’ rights, as Israeli authorities have not, thus far, respected the rights of Palestinians under the age of 16. B’Tselem’s report No Minor Matter revealed how the authorities breach the rights of Palestinian minors suspected of stone- throwing at all stages of the process: arrest, interrogation, trial, and imprisonment.
http://www.btselem.org/legislation/20111005_minority_age_changed
Youth arrested over cereal
ISM 5 Oct — On 2 October in Al Khalil (Hebron), the Israeli army and police arrested 2 Palestinian children based on petty, unfounded accusations whilst allowing settlers to employ violence with complete impunity. 13-year-old Khaled Abu Snaeneh and 15-year-old Said Abu Aisha were arrested and detained for over 4 hours at Kiryat Arba police station. At 2:45 soldiers came to the Abu Aisha house in Tel Rumeida to investigate a complaint made by settlers that Palestinians had stolen some boxes of expired cereal from their backyard. A group of around 30 settlers gathered around the house shouting at both the Palestinian residents and the police and army. Under pressure from the gradually increasing number of settlers surrounding the house Israeli police made the decision to arrest the two young boys, solely on the evidence of being accused by the settlers. Ibrahim Abu Aisha explained that the boys arrested had not taken the cereal as they were working at the time the incident took place.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/youth-arrested-over-cereal/
Israeli forces detain 11 in overnight raids
QALQILIA (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — A military spokeswoman told Ma‘an that soldiers entered villages near Qalqiliya, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron overnight and detained 11 people, who were taken for “security questioning.” … Fatah spokesman in Qalqiliya Murad Eshtewi said troops detained a number of young men from Kafr Qaddum in September to suppress the weekly demonstration against the army’s closure of the main entrance to the village. Eshtewi added that Palestinians had the right to demonstrate peacefully for their rights.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426231
Army kidnaps two Palestinian youths in south Nablus, invades a village in east Tulkarem
On Wednesday morning, Israeli army personnel kidnapped two Palestinian youths from Qablan and ‘Urata village in the southern part of the West Bank city of Nablus, after breaking into their houses, the Ma’an News Agency reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62192
Israel court censures police for overzealous interrogation of Palestinian teen
Haaretz 5 Oct — In an unusual step, a juvenile court judge in Jerusalem has taken the police to task for its handling of the interrogation of an East Jerusalem teenager charged with throwing stones. A gag order on publication of the details of the boy’s case, which ended in his acquittal several weeks ago, has only now been lifted. The case arose out of a 2009 incident in which stones were thrown at an Egged bus not far from the boy’s home.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-court-censures-police-for-overzealous-interrogation-of-palestinian-teen-1.388196
Army: Teenager admits murdering settler family
JERUSALEM (AFP) 5 Oct — A 19-year-old has confessed before an Israeli military tribunal to his involvement in the murder of a family of five Israeli settlers this year, the army said on Tuesday. An army statement said Amjad Awwad confessed to the the March 11 slayings in the West Bank settlement of Itamar … Amjad’s cousin Hakim Awwad, 18, was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences last month for the murders. According to the charge sheet, the cousins, from the village of Awarta, acted of their own free will although both are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426242
Court postpones final decision in Salah deportation appeal
LONDON (PIC) 4 Oct — A UK immigration court postponed Monday the final ruling on a deportation appeal filed by Palestinian political leader Raed Salah.
Link to Palestinian Information Center
Report: German mediator has not arrived in Egypt for Shalit swap talks
Haaretz 5 Oct — Palestinian sources tell Al-Hayat that Gerhard Conrad has finished his role as mediator for Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange deal and will not return to Egypt … An Egyptian source told the London-based Al-Hayat that previous reports on Conrad’s visit were erroneous.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-german-mediator-has-not-arrived-in-egypt-for-shalit-swap-talks-1.388286
Israeli racism / discrimination
Court to hear 3 claims of institutionalized discrimination
JPost 5 Oct — The High Court of Justice is set to hear three separate petitions on Wednesday filed by rights groups over what they claim are various instances of institutionalized discrimination against Arab Israelis. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Justices Eliezer Rivlin and Miriam Naor will hear the petitions, which involve issues as varied as racial profiling in airports, lack of Arab representation on the Israel Land Council, and the “Nakba Law.”
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=240568&R=R2
Journalists ask Israel to tone down security checks on Arab media
Haaretz 5 Oct — Statement comes after Al Jazeera cameraman invited to interview President Shimon Peres was told to remove his pants during a security check — The Foreign Press Association published an open letter on Tuesday demanding that Israeli authorities immediately cease “racist” security procedures for Arab journalists, calling them “an assault on human dignity and a blight upon the state of Israel.”
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/journalists-ask-israel-to-tone-down-security-checks-on-arab-media-1.388199
Recognition of Palestine
Palestinians near UNESCO membership
Paris (Reuters) 5 Oct — Palestinians moved a step closer to full membership of the U.N. cultural agency on Wednesday when its board decided to let 193 member countries vote on admission this month. The latest move in a Palestinian quest for statehood recognition drew a swift rebuke from U.S. and Israeli envoys and a cool response from France … Kay Granger, Chairwoman of the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, said U.S. funding for UNESCO could be cut if full membership was granted.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111005/wl_nm/us_palestinians_unesco
Abbas pursues drive for Palestinian recognition
STRASBOURG, France (AFP) 5 Oct — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Strasbourg Wednesday to address parliamentarians from Council of Europe states, pursuing his drive for UN recognition. Abbas, who will address the council’s parliamentary assembly Thursday, was buoyed by the body’s decision to grant the Palestinian National Council “Partner for Democracy Status.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/October/middleeast_October99.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Al-Malki: PA to use all means to gain UN vote
AMMAN, Jordan (Ma‘an) 5 Oct — The foreign minister in the West Bank government said Wednesday that Palestine will work by all legitimate means to garner votes in favor of UN membership. “We won’t surrender for the status quo, we’ll even speak repeatedly with the countries that announced they would vote against the application and we’ll convince them with our just cause,” Riyad al-Malki told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426446
Experts to meet Friday on Palestinian UN bid
UNITED NATIONS (AP) 4 Oct — The Security Council is moving ahead with its review of the Palestinian bid for U.N. membership while Mideast mediators are preparing a fresh attempt to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table … Nigeria’s U.N. Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu, the council president for October, told reporters that experts on the council committee reviewing the Palestinian application will meet Friday for the first time. Over the weekend, Mideast mediators from the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia — known as the Quartet — will meet in Brussels, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. They have been trying to revive long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111004/ap_on_re_us/un_un_mideast
Palestinians say will work with Blair
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 5 Oct –A senior Palestinian official on Wednesday added his voice to calls for the replacement of international Middle East envoy Tony Blair, but the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it would carry on cooperating with the former British leader.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111005/wl_nm/us_palestinians_quartet_blair
US aid freeze threatens Palestinian state projects
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 4 Oct – Economic and humanitarian projects deemed vital for peace in the Middle East are threatened by a freeze on $200 million in aid by U.S. Congress members opposed to a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, Palestinians and Western diplomats say. They say the freeze, on money approved for the Palestinians this year, mixes politics with practical efforts to build peace with Israel and establish a Palestinian state.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-aid-freeze-threatens-palestine-state-projects-140718443.html
US: There is still money in PA pipeline
Ynet 4 Oct — …the US government is continuing in its efforts to convince congress to release funds currently “stuck” in various congress committees due to anger on the side of pro-Israeli legislators over the Fatah-Hamas unity deal and the Palestinian Authority persistence over the UN unilateral statehood bid in spite of US opposition. US government officials tried to explain the dangers of withholding funds from the Palestinian Authority and the consequences expected in the West Bank if law enforcement officials do not receive their salaries, a move that could give Hamas the opening it needs to take over in the West Bank.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4130812,00.html
Peaceful protest to boost Palestinian statehood bid
AFP 4 Oct — Faced with tough opposition to their UN membership bid, the Palestinians hope their case will be bolstered by a strictly non-violent protest campaign, officials say. In the run-up to September’s historic request for the United Nations to grant membership to a Palestinian state, Mahmud Abbas and his leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah repeatedly stressed their commitment to non-violence and insistence on keeping demonstrations away from flashpoint areas.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/peaceful-protest-boost-palestinian-statehood-bid-160528558.html
Palestinian protesters accost US diplomats during West Bank visit
AP 4 Oct — Following Congress cut of PA aid funds, Palestinian protesters urge boycott of U.S. products, saying Washington ‘cannot blackmail us with your money’. — A small crowd of Palestinian protesters accosted an American diplomatic delegation visiting the West Bank Tuesday, blocking a convoy of vehicles, chanting “shame on you” and hurling a shoe … a deeply insulting gesture in Arab culture.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-protesters-accost-u-s-diplomats-during-west-bank-visit-1.388173
Palestinian National Council granted observer status at European assembly
Haaretz 4 Oct — Partial membership of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) means PA has two years to renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-national-council-granted-observer-status-at-european-assembly-1.388118
Political / Diplomatic / International news
Palestine joins Agatir free trade agreement
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 Oct — Minister of Economy Hassan Abu Libdeh on Monday confirmed that Palestine has joined the Agatir free trade agreement. Signatories to the agreement Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan agreed to Palestine’s membership in New York on Sept. 26. Abu Libdeh said joining the group would allow Palestinian industry to benefit from production input from other members and allow producers to export to Europe.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426013
Egypt supports Palestinian conditions for the resumption of negotiations with Israel
MEMO 3 Oct — Egypt’s Foreign Minister has confirmed that his country supports the Palestinian Authority’s conditions for the resumption of negotiations with the Israeli government based on “clear parameters and an end to settlement building and expansion”. Negotiations, said Mohamed Amr, must also have a clear time-frame and international sponsorship.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2893-egypt-supports-palestinian-conditions-for-the-resumption-of-negotiations-with-israel
Egypt: Sinai is 100% secure
AFP 5 Oct — Egyptian military ruler Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi said Wednesday that the security in the Sinai Peninsula was “100% under control,” a day after a US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Cairo to strengthen its security in the region.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4131877,00.html
US defense secretary fails to secure Egypt release of accused Israeli spy
AP 4 Oct — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he urged Egyptian leaders to release a U.S.-born man being held for allegedly being an Israeli spy, but the former U.S. spymaster did not win the man’s release during a two-day stay in Egypt. Egypt has accused Ilan Grapel, 27, of being a Mossad agent — a claim Israel denies. And his detention since June has escalated criticism of Egypt’s military, which took over rule of the country after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-defense-secretary-fails-to-secure-egypt-release-of-accused-israeli-spy-1.388166
Panetta denies Cairo trip was aimed at prisoner swap
CAIRO (PIC) 5 Oct — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has denied that his trip to Cairo was essentially aimed at clinching a prisoner swap for Ilan Grapel, a suspected Israeli spy who was captured in Egypt.
Link to Palestinian Information Center
Turkey PM: Israel a nuclear threat to Middle East
AP 5 Oct — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel is a threat to the Middle East region for having a nuclear weapon. Erdogan spoke during a trip to South Africa. His comments were carried by Turkey’s Anatolia news agency.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/turkey-pm-israel-a-nuclear-threat-to-middle-east-1.388330
Assad: Syria will shower Tel Aviv with rockets if attacked by foreign powers
Haaretz 4 Oct — Iranian news agency quotes remarks made by Syrian president during August meeting with Turkish FM; Assad: It will take Damascus 6 hours to mobilize against Israel — Syria will strike Israel and “set fire” to the Middle East if foreign forces choose to launch a military strike on the protest-ridden country, the Iranian news agency Fars quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/assad-syria-will-shower-tel-aviv-with-rockets-if-attacked-by-foreign-powers-1.388135
Russia, China thwart anti-Syria UN Security Council resolution
Haaretz/Reuters 5 Oct — U.S. ‘outraged’ over veto of resolution, calls for Security Council to adopt ‘tough, targeted sanctions’ on Syria — Russia and China thwarted a Security Council proposal to condemn Syria and to mount pressure on the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad with economic sanctions. Nine Security Council members, including the United States, United Kingdom, and France, voted for the proposal, while four members abstained.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/russia-china-thwart-anti-syria-un-security-council-resolution-1.388267
Arab Spring sparks sharp fall in foreign investment
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AFP) 4 Oct — The flow of foreign direct investment into the Arab world is expected to slump by 17 percent in 2011, with countries that saw popular uprisings worst hit, a pan-Arab organization said on Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426169
Minister: Israeli bombing killed captives in Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters) 5 Oct — Israeli bombardments killed two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah began a war in 2006 and whose bodies were returned to Israel two years later, a Lebanese minister said on Wednesday. Hezbollah handed over the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a prisoner exchange but never said how they died.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426239
Other news
Public salaries to be paid Wednesday, says official
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 4 Oct — The Palestinian government will pay full salaries on Wednesday for the month of September to its 150,000 employees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said Bassam Zakarneh, head of the Palestinian Public Employees Union, on Tuesday … The PA will pay full salaries to its employees after Saudi Arabia granted it $200 million in budget support last month.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17638
Video: West Bank keffiyeh factory finds Internet lifeline
AFP 5 Oct — Joudeh Hirbawi isn’t sure why young Palestinians don’t want to wear the iconic black-and-white keffiyeh scarves his factory makes. But he’s found another way to stay afloat. Duration: 02:09
http://ph.omg.yaoho.com/video/custom-22986945/west-bank-keffiyeh-factory-finds-internet-lifeline-26829395.html
8 soldiers go AWOL over cleanup duty
Ynet 5 Oct – Eight Paratroopers Brigade soldiers are facing dereliction of duty charges for abandoning their post, Ynet learned Wednesday. The soldiers, who serve in the Paratroopers’ 890th Airborne Battalion, are accused of leaving one of the unit’s Hebron outposts on Tuesday without permission. The reason: They were asked to clean it
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4131408,00.html
High Court rejects cadet’s petition over woman’s singing
Ynet 5 Oct — Judges claim petition filed by Yoel Glickman, who was dismissed from an officers’ course after refusing to listen to a female soldier sing during a military event, is an internal military matter, should not be reviewed by court … In their decision, the judges noted that the IDF is reviewing the issue of female singers, and that it is expected to submit its recommendations soon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4131833,00.html
Israeli orchestra drops female singer after pressure from Orthodox subscribers
Haaretz 5 Oct — Bowing to pressure from religious subscribers, the Ashdod-based Israel Andalusian Orchestra has removed a concert from its subscription series featuring a female singer … Many observant Orthodox Jewish men refrain from listening to women sing, as a violation of Jewish religious law, halakha.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-orchestra-drops-female-singer-after-pressure-from-orthodox-subscribers-1.388195
Court to rule on legality of Israeli ultra-Orthodox ‘Taliban sect’
Haaretz 5 Oct — In a precedent-setting move, an Israeli court is expected to decide next week whether it is legal to belong to the extreme ultra-Orthodox group Lev Tahor, known as “the Taliban sect.” A decision reached this week by a family court in Rishon Letzion indicates that a ruling on Lev Tahor’s legality is imminent. The decision follows what appears to be the conclusion of an international family drama involving two sisters from Beit Shemesh who belong to the Taliban sect. The two were forcibly returned to Israel on Sunday under an order issued by the court. The sisters, 13 and 15, were en route to a Lev Tahor village located on the outskirts of Montreal, Canada.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/court-to-rule-on-legality-of-israeli-ultra-orthodox-taliban-sect-1.388187
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