OCHA Report: “Home Demolitions Doubled in 2011”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories (OCHA) reported that Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes have doubled in 20111 comparing to the figures of 2010.
While attention is focused on the Palestinian Authority’s UN recognition initiative, Israel is quietly taking hugely significant steps to transfer 30,000 Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab (Negev) desert from their ancestral lands.
Two Residents, Activist ,Wounded As Army Attack Nonviolent Protest Near Hebron
Two Palestinians women and one international peace activist were injured after the Israeli army during attacked a nonviolent protest against settlements and the Annexation Wall in the southern West Bank village of Yatta north Hebron on Friday, Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported.
On Friday, dozens of demonstrators were asphyxiated by tear gas during the weekly march organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in.
Demonstration against land confiscation for new bypass road in Beit Ommar
Friday September 30. : Residents of Beit Ommar demonstrated against recent received land confiscation orders. 800 dumums of Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land will be taken by the Israelies for a 8km bypass road, starting from Gush Etzion. The settlers have already built a watch tower on a hill top in the area – the first step to establish a new settlement. The road to the planned settlement on Halhoul land will go through Beit Ommar and Shwoukh land and join in on the route 60 by Halhoul.
Friday prayers held on land mapped out for separation barrier
In a step aimed at demonstrating the Palestinians’ right to the land, locals in Shuafat refugee camp held Friday prayers this week on land planned to be used by the Israeli apartheid barrier .
link to Palestine Information Center
Sakhnin; Thousands Mark 11th Anniversary Of Al Aqsa Intifada
Responding to a decision by the Arab Higher follow-up committee in the 1948 territories, thousands of Arabs, Palestinians, participated in a ceremony commemorating the 11th anniversary of the Al Aqsa Intifada.
Three cousins die in Gaza tunnel collapse
Shortly after 5:00 pm on Sunday, September 25, three Palestinians died when sewage leaking from an Egyptian pipeline caused a tunnel connecting the Egyptian and Palestinian sides of the Rafah border, in which they were working, to collapse. It was the second time that the pipeline, which pumps sewage east into the Sinai, had sprung a leak in the area. The three, all cousins, lived in the south of the Gaza Strip. Feras Ahmed Al-Shaer, 18 years old, lived in Khan Younis with his parents, one brother, and seven sisters. He was completing his last year of high school. Fady Mostafa Al-Shaer, also 18, lived in Rafah with his parents, four brothers, and two sisters. He had decided to work in the tunnels to help support his family, which lived in two rooms. Anwer Eid Al-Shaer, age 22, lived in Rafah and needed money to finish his final year of studies at Al-Quds Open University.
Tunisian delegation visit Karama hospital in Gaza
A Tunisian delegation visiting the Gaza Strip paid a visit to the Karama Hospital to see for themselves the services provided to patients by the hospital.
Detention / Court actions
Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs, Issa Qaraqe’, stated Friday that around Twenty-five Palestinian detainees in solitary confinement at the Nafha. Ramon, Al Ramla and Asqalan Israeli detention facilities declared an open-ended hunger strike.
Arabs outraged over ban on October riots studies
Education Ministry warns schools in Arab sector against organizing political activity in classrooms. Many parents respond by keeping kids at home.
Following the convictions of the students known as the “Irvine 11” this past week, over thirty chapters nationwide of Students for Justice in Palestine have signed on to a message of support for the Irvine 11. The students were arrested in February 2010 and charged with “conspiracy to disrupt a public meeting” and “disruption of a public meeting,” after interrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren.
Statehood Bid
The Palestinian leadership yesterday accused the US Congress of inflicting “collective punishment” upon its people by holding up almost $200m in aid earmarked for the West Bank and Gaza by the Obama administration.
Mishaal: liberation first, then state declaration
In an address in Iranian capital Tehran to an international conference, Hamas political leader Khalid Mishaal said that Palestinian lands should be liberated first, then a state can be announced.
Reuters – Iran’s supreme leader rejected the Palestinians’ U.N. statehood bid on Saturday, saying any deal that accepted the existence of Israel would leave a “cancerous tumor” forever threatening the security of the Middle East.
Egypt accuses Quartet of encouraging Israeli settlements
The Egyptian Foreign Minister has condemned Israel’s latest settlement plans and blamed the Middle East Quartet for “encouraging” the Israelis. Speaking in Washington, Muhammad Amr said that the settlements remain illegal in international law and Israel’s move is “treachery” towards the international community. Palestinians deny attempt to oust Blair as Middle East envoyThe Palestinian Authority has denied it plans to make a formal request to remove Tony Blair from his position as a Middle East envoy.
Political / Diplomatic / International
Palestinian leaders renew attack on Tony Blair over Israel
Middle East envoy accused of ‘parroting’ Israeli demands during negotiations. The Palestinian leadership has stepped up its attack on Tony Blair in his role as envoy of the Middle East Quartet, saying that his “parroting” of Israeli demands casts doubt on his credibility. Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, confirmed that Palestinian leaders had discussed whether to make a formal request to the Quartet that Blair be removed from his position, but had decided against such a move. ”Everyone had reservations about Blair’s performance, but we don’t want to embarrass him any more,” Shaath said. “If you want to do it, you wait until things have quietened down.”
Biden: Pollard pardon over my dead body
US Vice President Biden meets with rabbis in Florida, says US President Barack Obama was considering clemency for convicted Jewish spy ‘but I told him over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time’.
UK government conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism in Salah trial
UN chief criticises “harsh” prison terms for medical workers who treated protesters during March uprising.
Updated at 1:28 p.m. EDT, Sept. 30, 2011 At least 22 Iraqis were killed and 61 more were wounded in new attacks, including one that targeted mourners at a funeral in Hilla. This is the second day in a row that dozens have been killed or wounded in violence.
If you watch one of Anwar al-Awlaki’s hundreds of YouTube videos, the first thing that strikes you is the American accent in which he delivers his exhortations to jihad, a residue of his childhood in New Mexico.
Yemenis Say They Have Bigger Problems Than Al Qaeda
Most Yemenis had only a faint sense of why the United States considered Anwar al-Awlaki a highly significant target. If anything, Yemenis thought his death would only increase their woes.
Awlaki death rekindles legal debate on targeting Americans
The slaying of two Americans renews questions about whether killing U.S. citizens is legal under rules of war or constitutes an extrajudicial execution in violation of U.S. and international law. The killing of two Americans by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen has reignited a debate about whether targeting U.S. citizens — even terrorists — is legal under the rules of war or constitutes an extrajudicial execution that ignores their rights.
Inside Story – Egypt: Reclaiming the revolution
Military rulers in Egypt are under mounting pressure as thousands take to Tahrir Square demanding political change. Joining Inside Story are: Ramy el-Swissy, Dina Zakaria, and Omar Ashour.
Friends and family of Troy Davis honour 42-year-old put to death despite pleas of innocence.
United Steelworkers announce support for ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest
The United Steelworkers, North America’s largest industrial union, announced on Friday that it supported the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protest that began in lower Manhattan and has slowly spread to other cities across the United States. The protesters have pledged to occupy Wall Street until something is done about corporate greed and corporate influence on the U.S. government. They have been camped out in New York’s old Liberty Plaza since September 17.
More than 750 turn out for ‘Occupy Los Angeles’ protest
Several hundred protesters gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles on Saturday to show solidarity with the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters in lower Manhattan. The demonstrators marched from Pershing Square to City Hall, where they plan to camp out indefinitely. LA Weekly estimated there were at least 750 people participating in the protest. They chanted slogans such as, “Hey hey, ho ho! Wall Street greed has got to go!” and “The people united will never be defeated.”
‘Occupy LA’ Protest Underway At City Hall (PHOTOS)
Fox host: Occupy Wall Street protestors are ‘dirty’ and useless
If a tea party group has a protest, Fox News is very happy to present coverage for that event. But if a protest has anything to do with “liberal views,” the network certainly doesn’t share the eager glee. In the midst of a Hannity segment Friday evening that criticized and mocked the Occupy Wall Street protests,The Five co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle denigrated the now two week protestors as being virtually useless. “It’s Woodstock meets burning man meets people with absolutely no purpose or focus in life,” she said. “They have nothing but free time to be down there, they make up a slogan or cause as they go along, and they’re just looking to go out there and dirty the streets. And they really don’t have any idea of what they’re doing there.” WATCH: Video from Fox News, which appeared on September 30, 2011.
Forget the distractions; the realities of Israel’s Occupation demand its end
Tons of paper, gigabytes of email and hours of talking heads on TV, led up to the psycho-political drama of the unknown territory that was the application for UN recognition of a Palestinian state. The high-level rhetoric and the contradictory legal opinions; the sad, expected Obama betrayal of the Palestinians; the heavy arm-twisting of the Palestinian leadership; the shameless speech of Prime Minister Netanyahu to the UN; all were distractions from the realities of the Israeli Occupation, which demand a change in the world’s consciousness of Palestine today.
We, in the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), stand steadfast against the proposal for Palestinian statehood recognition based on 1967 borders that was presented to the United Nations this September by the Palestinian official leadership. We believe and affirm that the statehood declaration only seeks the completion of the normalization process, which began with faulty peace agreements. The initiative does not recognize nor address that our people continue to live within a settler colonial regime premised on the ethnic cleansing of our land and subordination and exploitation of our people.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/palestinian-youth-movement-statehood-bid-harmful-struggle?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Sullivan on Obama’s ‘capitulation’ at the UN
The explanation for the humiliation of Obama at the UN, where he gave the kind of speech a junior congressman might give at an AIPAC break-out session, is pretty simple. Obama was checkmated. Netanyahu and the GOP recognized immediately that the Cairo speech could have opened up a whole new chapter in America’s relationship with the Arab and further Muslim world. And so they, in active collaboration, did all they could to stop it in its tracks. They succeeded in handing Obama the clearest defeat of his first term.
A Palestinian-American view of the US veto
The Palestinians have been suffering for decades at the hands of one of the most brutal military occupations in the modern world. They are dehumanised on a daily basis, their civil and human rights are violated and their land is stolen; any attempt at self defence is considered to be an act of terrorism by the occupiers and their backers.
`Awlaki and Salih
So US killed `Awlaki. I read the statement by the US government: it is unmistakable in expressing gratitude to the forces of `Ali `Abdullah Salih. It all but paid tribute to the Salih regime. It is certain that Salih delivered `Awlaki in return for continued US support. The Yemeni regime is killing around 30 people a day, and the US government yesterday issued a statement criticizing repression in…Iran. I kid you not.
Israel … plans to uproot 30,000 Bedouin
And 27,000 more in the West Bank: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-to-forcibly-evict-bedouins-from-west-bank-1.384290
Watch the Negev, should the West Bank settlements be annulled, the Negev is the site of relocation. Pressure on the Bedu will increase exponentially.
And all the news that comes out of Israel now is bad. All self destructive as if Israel is the person long suspected to be an alcoholic who is now on 2 bottles of Jack a day , all pretence gone, seen hanging out at the bus stop by everyone, refusing all offers of help by those who care and want to stop the disease before it kills the patient.
>> Speaking with Haaretz, one minister who participated in those meetings said that Israel’s answer to newly offered roadmap for peace amounted to a “yes, but” and that Israeli officials would present several qualifications concerning points included in the plan.
Also commenting on Israel’s announcement on Sunday, Palestinian official Saeb Erakat told the French AFP news agency that Netanyahu’s statement was an “an exercise in deceiving the international community.”
“If he accepts the Quartet statement then he must announce a halt to settlement activity, including natural growth, and accept the principle of the 1967 borders because this is what was clearly demanded by the Quartet statement.” <<
Nothing new here, still in the deception game; yes, but.
>> German Chancellor Angela Merkel took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly to task Friday over last week’s decision to approve 1,100 housing units in Gilo, precipitating an unprecedented diplomatic crisis.
Senior German officials told their Israeli counterparts that Merkel was “furious” and “does not believe a word [Netanyahu] says.”
Germany may now reconsider and support upgrading the PA’s status to that of a non-member state in the UN General Assembly. << (haaretz)
Time will tell, but wouldn't that be something!