Israeli High Court allows prisoner swap to go ahead; prisoners hunger strike suspended

High Court sanctions Shalit deal
Ynet 17 Oct 23:01 — The High Court of Justice rejected the petitions filed by four bereaved families against the Shalit deal, saying that it saw no room to intervene in the government’s decision.  The petitions were filed as part of a 48-hour window afforded by the Justice Ministry to members of the public who wished to contest the swap.

Palestinian prisoners’ terms of release
AJ 16 Oct — … Two hundred and nineteen prisoners will return to their respective homes in the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Israel and Jordan after their release, without and restriction of movement. “They will have to sign a declaration that he or she will not be involved in terrorist activities any more, but after that, there is no monitoring,” Emi Talmor, director of the Israeli justice ministry’s pardons department, told Al Jazeera. Terms for the remaining 258 are categorised under two different types of release: “security arrangement” and “relocation”.
Fifty-five prisoners, who will be sent to the occupied West Bank or the East Jerusalem, will be subject to a “security arrangement”, which restricts their freedom of movement, Talmor said. “For example, if they live in Ramallah, they will not be allowed in Nablus or wherever because their terms limit them to the area of Ramallah … “And if I’m not mistaken, they will have to register once every other month.” …
Two hundred and three detainees would be “relocated” or deported “abroad” or to the Gaza Strip. Eighteen of them would be deported for three years, which means they can go home after that.

Barghouti: Prisoners were not consulted over swap deal
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — Detained Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said Sunday that Hamas did not consult detainees over its prisoner swap deal with Israel. Several prominent political leaders, including Barghouti, were left out of the deal … In a statement relayed by his lawyer Elias Sabagh, Barghouti said he had learned of the deal from media reports. Prison leaders — including Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine secretary-general Ahmad Saadat — were not involved in negotiations, Barghouti said. Further, prisoners who will be exiled under the agreement were not informed of the decision.

Prisoners suspend hunger strike
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 Oct 19:55 – Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on hunger strike for three weeks Monday suspended their strike after reaching an agreement with the prison administration to end the solitary confinement punishment, according to Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqi.

Saadat moved to Al-Ramla prison hospital
Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe‘, stated that detained secretary-general of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Saadat, was moved to the Al Ramla Prison hospital due to health complications following 20 days of hunger strike … Saadat, 53, leads the strike of PFLP detainees, declared by the end of September, along with leaders of the resistance, including leaders of the Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas, along with leaders of other groups and factions. He had been in solitary confinement since 2009, and an Israeli court also stripped his family the right to visit him since then; he also suffers from several health conditions.

Shalit is returning to a state in psychosis / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 16 Oct — …And no one ever told it, with courage and with honesty: Shalit is the unavoidable price of a state that chooses to live by the sword forever. No one ever asked it: Why is it permissible to negotiate with Hamas over the fate of a single soldier yet prohibited to do so over the fate of two bleeding peoples? Instead, Israeli society now wraps itself in a self-righteous cloak of self-praise: How concerned we are about the fate of a single soldier. And what about the fates of many soldiers, of an entire army, an entire people?

And more news from Today in Palestine:

Prison hunger strike

Palestinian prisoners enter 20th day of hunger strike
GAZA (WAFA) 16 Oct — Thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails Sunday entered their 20th day of their open-ended hunger strike to protest their worsening detention conditions, said a statement by Prisoners Center for Studies (PCS). According to PCS, the prisoners’ average weight loss has reached 12 kilograms each, while their health conditions continue to deteriorate. A number of prisoners were transferred to the prisons’ clinics for treatment.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17773

Prisoners group: Israel to end isolation policy
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Oct — Israeli authorities told Palestinian prisoners they will end solitary confinement in jails with the exception of three Hamas-affiliated detainees, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Saturday. Qadura Fares told Ma’an Israeli prison officers said they will completely end the policy of isolation cells, a key demand of a prisoners hunger strike that entered its 19th day on Saturday … The prison administration will seek approval from Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet. Officers in Israel’s Ramon prison told detainees that the Shin Bet agreed to end isolation bar three Hamas cadres, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429369

IOA isolates detained Palestinian MP
TULKAREM (PIC) 17 Oct — The Israeli occupation authority transferred detained Palestinian MP Abdulrahman Zeidan from Megiddo jail to an isolation cell in Shatta jail. A statement by the office of Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank said that the transfer was a surprise step, apparently in a bid to abort the prisoners’ hunger strike that has been ongoing for the past three weeks. Zeidan was arrested in his home in Tulkarem last June in a fresh wave of arrests targeting Hamas MPs in the West Bank.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Union head: Public sector strike for detainees on Monday
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — Union chief Bassam Zakarneh announced a general strike of public sector employees on Monday to support Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429798

PLO warns of explosions in Israeli prisons
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 Oct — The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warned of an explosion in Israeli jails if health conditions of Palestinian prisoners continue to deteriorate, according to a statement published on Monday
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17783

Prisoner swap

[Magistrate] Court rejects appeal against released prisoners
TEL AVIV (WAFA) 17 Oct — An Israeli Magistrate court rejected on Monday an appeal to stop deportation against three Palestinian prisoners included in the prisoners exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, said Israeli reports. Itamar Mandel, who filed the appeal against Musa Wazwaz, Mohammed Joulani and Shakib Awani, demanded that they should pay him 1.5 million Israeli shekels in compensation after being convicted of killing his daughter in a military operation.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17787

Timeline of events for Israel-Hamas prisoner swap
AP 17 Oct — The elaborate, multi-staged swap of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Sgt. Gilad Schalit will begin Tuesday morning as early as 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT). Schalit will be handed to Egyptians and possibly Red Cross personnel in Gaza. He will leave Gaza for Egypt’s Sinai via the Rafah crossing. Once in Sinai, the Egyptians or Red Cross will confirm he is alive and well. Then Israel will release 27 female Palestinian prisoners.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/timeline-events-israel-hamas-prisoner-swap-14754166

IDF declares Gaza crossings ‘closed military zones’ on eve of Shalit swap
Haaretz 17 Oct –Senior IDF Commander Tal Rosso signed an order Monday, declaring the area which includes the Ketziot prison in southern Israel, as well as all border crossings into the Gaza Strip a “closed military zone” in the lead up to the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal, set to take place on Tuesday. The zones will be closed to all except residents of the local towns, and will include all routes through which Palestinian prisoners are slated to be transferred and expelled to other countries, as well as the route through which Shalit will be brought back to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-declares-gaza-crossings-closed-military-zones-on-eve-of-shalit-swap-1.390431

A delegation led by Mishaal travels to Cairo to welcome freed captives
DAMASCUS (PIC) 17 Oct — A Hamas delegation led by the political bureau chief, Khaled Mishaal, will arrive Monday at Cairo to welcome Palestinian captives due to be released from Israeli occupation jails, according to the prisoner-exchange deal … The source confirmed to PIC that the captives will be freed on Tuesday morning at 11:00 am.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Homecoming for prisoners planned at Muqata
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 Oct – A homecoming celebration is planned on Tuesday for the released prisoners at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, the Muqata‘a, according to officials. The prisoners who will arrive in the West Bank through the Beitunia checkpoint, southwest of Ramallah, will be taken in buses from Ofer military camp, where they will be gathered, to the Muqata for the celebration. They are expected to arrive in the Muqata at 10 in the morning.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17788

Resheq: Turkey, Jordan, Syria to receive exiled prisoners
BEIRUT (PIC) 17 Oct — Turkey, Jordan, and Syria have expressed readiness to host the 40 Palestinian prisoners who will be freed from Israeli jails on condition of being banished outside Palestine, political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Al-Resheq revealed. He said in a press statement on Monday that preparations would be finalized within the next two days for hosting those ex-prisoners in those countries.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Syria, Qatar, Turkey said willing to take prisoners deported in Shalit deal
Haaretz 17 Oct — Hamas’ deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said Monday that three countries have agreed to absorb the Palestinian prisoners who are to be deported after their release as part of the prisoner exchange for abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, according to a report in London-based Arab daily Al-Hayat. Abu Marzouk specifically named Qatar and Turkey as countries willing to take in the prisoners, while Al-Hayat reported that Syria was the third unnamed state on the list.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/syria-qatar-turkey-said-willing-to-take-prisoners-deported-in-shalit-deal-1.390400

Prisoners Society: 9 female detainees not included in deal
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — The Palestinian prisoners society on Sunday released the names of 9 female detainees it said are not included in the prisoner exchange set to take place on Tuesday. Suad Ahmad Abdul Raouf, Lina Ahmad al-Jarbuni, Khadija Kayed Abu Ayesh, Muna Amna, Bushra al-Tawil, Feda Abu Suneineh, Haniyeh Nasser, Rani Halasa and Worood Qassem will not be released along with the 27 other female detainees, according to the society. The names include all three Palestinian female detainees born in Israel, and two women from Ramallah, according to lists by the prisoners society. However it also names at least one woman — Muna Amna — who appears on an Israeli list of those slated for release. Ma‘an could not independently verify the prisoners’ society list.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429752

Israel published list of prisoners as steps for release begin
JERUSALEM (AFP) 16 Oct — Israel on Sunday published the official list of 477 Palestinian prisoners to be released on Tuesday and took the first steps to releasing detainees … The list of 450 Palestinian men and 27 women was published by the justice ministry on the website of the Israel Prisons Service, to give the public 48 hours to lodge any legal appeals against the deal which will see the return of Shalit, who has spent more than five years in captivity … As soon as the list was published, Israel’s main radio and television stations began running through the long list of deadly attacks [some of]  the prisoners named on the list were convicted of.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429594

Israel moves hundreds of prisoners near swap site
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 16 Oct — Israel bused some 430 Palestinian prisoners under heavy guard to a holding facility in the Negev desert on Sunday in preparation for them to be exchanged on Tuesday for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, officials said … Forty-seven further Palestinians slated for release on Tuesday were moved to a holding cell in central Israel on Sunday … “Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, or someone in Gaza goes nuts, it appears the deal will go through in two days,” Yaakov Amidror, national security adviser for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Army Radio.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429847

Israel president begins process of formally pardoning Palestinians
JERUSALEM (Arab News) 16 Oct — Israel’s president on Saturday began the process of formally pardoning hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who are to be exchanged for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for five years. A spokeswoman for President Shimon Peres said he received the files of hundreds of prisoners set for release in the first phase of the deal and has 48 hours to sign the pardons. The swap will likely happen Tuesday.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article518859.ece

Family of slain Shalit captor appeals for his body
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — The family of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in 2006 on Sunday appealed for the return of his body. In a statement, relatives of Muhammad Azmi Farawneh said he was involved in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and that they hoped his body would be returned as part of a deal to release the soldier.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429765

Gaza militant’s wife awaits release of husband she hardly knows
LATimes blog 16 Oct — REPORTING FROM SHIJAEYA, GAZA STRIP — She was still practically a newlywed when Raeda Omjamal watched Israeli security forces arrest her husband, Rawhi Mushtaha, and sentence him to 124 years in prison. Israel called him a murderer for his role in helping to run Hamas’ military operations. In Gaza, he was hailed as a freedom fighter and hero … Omjamal was 23 years old, a freshly transplanted Palestinian refugee from Jordan who only met her husband two months before their wedding. They had another six months after the marriage.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/10/gaza-militants-wife-awaits-release-of-husband-she-no-longer-knows.html

In Hebron, a family waits to unite
PNN 18 Oct — Nothing makes Amal al-Awawdeh happier than the release of her father Ahmed. She was born while he was in a prison — now 12 and living in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, she’s only seen him behind iron bars and glass partitions. She’s never felt his kiss on her forehead. When she heard his name was part of the Shalit prisoner exchange due to begin tomorrow, her joy radiated. Finally, she will have a father like the rest of her friends.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10764&Itemid=68

Opinion/Analysis on the swap

Poll: 79% in favor of Shalit deal
Ynet 17 Oct — Yedioth Ahronoth-Dahaf Institute survey shows Israelis support prisoner swap despite heavy price, are happy and excited ahead of its implementation but fear its consequences. Women more supportive of deal than men
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4135847,00.html

Prisoner exchange, symmetry, and Israel’s siege of Gaza / Michael Warschawski
AIC 17 Oct — The Palestinian political prisoners, women and men, who will be freed are all freedom fighters who fulfilled their political and moral duty in the struggle against the Israeli colonial occupation. Gilad Shalit, on the other hand, was a soldier, and a soldier in Israel’s colonial occupation army, which violates international law on a daily basis and regularly commits war crimes. In two days we can celebrate the return home of 1037 Palestinian political prisoners and the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. For the thousands of Palestinian families who will soon meet their loved ones I’m happy, and for the Shalit family I’m also happy. However, beyond happiness over the release, there exists no symmetry
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/blogs/michael-warschawski/3850-prisoner-exchange-symmetry-and-israels-siege-of-gaza-

Prepare to release the next Shalit / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 17 Oct — To salve their consciences, and/or to calm their right-wing voters, various ministers and MKs are drawing up a bill that will presumably be dubbed the “Shalit Law.” Its main purpose will be to reduce the motivation of terror groups to kidnap Israelis. In the case of an abduction, the bill is intended to set a price tag for retrieving Israeli prisoners of war/kidnap victims that is based on the 2008 Shamgar Committee recommendations, which were not made public. According to unofficial sources, the panel included a recommendation that Israel not release more than one Palestinian prisoner for each Israeli POW/kidnap victim. If this policy had been in place today, captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be returning in a coffin (in exchange for how many Palestinian prisoners? ). Passing such a law will be a death sentence for the next Shalit.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/prepare-to-release-the-next-shalit-1.390349

Analysis: Hamas success may push Abbas further down UN path
(Reuters) 17 Oct — The huge Palestinian prisoner release won by Hamas in exchange for a lone Israeli soldier has drawn praise from those in the Middle East who believe violence is the only way to deal with Israel, unsettling President Mahmoud Abbas’ camp and chipping away at what faith is left in his strategy of negotiating peace. To shore up his domestic credibility, Abbas may now feel he has to escalate the diplomatic offensive he is waging for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, raising the prospect of more tension with the United States and Israel.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/us-palestinians-israel-strategy-idUSTRE79G4L120111017

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

East Jerusalem Jewish housing plan clears hurdle
JERUSALEM (AP) 17 Oct — A plan for settling thousands more Jews in a strategic part of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has quietly cleared a key bureaucratic hurdle, threatening to cut a link between Jerusalem and the West Bank and endanger already slim peace prospects. The proposed Givat Hamatos development would complete a Jewish band around a part of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital, complicating any future partition of the city … The new building plan drew condemnation over the weekend from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_settling_jerusalem

Israel to grab 950 acres of Palestinian land for illegal settlement plan
MEMO 17 Oct — A Palestinian expert has warned that the Israeli government intends to grab nearly a thousand acres of land in south Jerusalem and Bethlehem to implement its recently announced illegal settlement plan for the southern West Bank. Khalil Al-Tufkaji, a cartographer and expert on Israeli settlements at the Orient House institution, said on Sunday that, “The settlement scheme announced by the [Israeli] occupation to build a Jewish neighbourhood in south Jerusalem will take 950 acres of Palestinian land in the area, including land named as ‘absentee property and state land’, and other land belonging to the Orthodox Church.”
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2949-israel-to-grab-950-acres-of-palestinian-land-for-illegal-settlement-plan

New Israeli excavations in Wadi al-Hilwa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Oct — The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) said that Elad settler organisation started new excavations in Wadi al-Helwa neighbourhood of Silwan to the south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem with a plan to take over an old well and Judaize it. The well is planned to become part of the tunnel network that is being dug under the Aqsa Mosque and around it. The excavations are managed by the Israeli antiquities authority.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Municipality: Israel closes only landfill in Al-Bireh
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — …An order from the administration — Israel’s military body ruling the West Bank — told al-Bireh municipality it will close the waste disposal site on Dec. 15 for environmental reasons … Dr. Iyad Daraghmeh, the municipality’s chief of health, warned an “environmental disaster will befall the region,” as the site was the only available landfill in the central West Bank town … Israeli authorities seized the landfill site in the early days of the second intifada, officials said, and only reopened it for Palestinian use after a 2005 ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court which gave Palestinians access for a few hours each day. The landfill site is also used by Israeli settlements surrounding al-Bireh, the municipality said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429651

Now Israel is stealing Palestinian … waste / Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss 17 Oct — First they took the houses. Then they took the lands. Then they took the sh-t. I heard this story when I was in East Jerusalem earlier this month and couldn’t believe it.  It was explained to me that Israel has several sewage processing plants that turn sewage into water for agricultural use. The plants take Palestinian sewage and are supposed to return the water to the Palestinians in the West Bank. But they don’t return all of what they get. Now I’m back, here’s the documentation.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/now-israel-is-stealing-palestinian-waste.html

Israel forcibly removes flags from East Jerusalem village preparing to receive released political prisoners
AIC 17 Oct — In the early morning hours of Monday (17 October), Israeli border police entered the East Jerusalem village of Issawiya and removed all Palestinian, Fatah and Hamas flags hung in anticipation of tomorrow’s release of two village residents from prison as part of the Gilad Shalit deal. Palestinian political prisoners and residents of Issawiya scheduled to be released from prison tomorrow are Samer Issawiyi, who has served 9.5 years in jail and Khaled Muheise, who has been imprisoned 26 years.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3849-israel-forcibly-removes-flags-from-east-jerusalem-village-preparing-to-receive-released-political-prisoners-

Jewish extremists storm the Aqsa Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC)  16 Oct — Groups of Jewish extremist settlers stormed the Aqsa Mosque on Sunday through the Bab al-Magharbeh gate under the protection of IOF troops and made provocative tours of the holy site, according to local sources. The sources added that IOF troops at the gates of the Mosque barred students attending religious circles at the mosque from entering, allowing only those over 50 years of age to enter.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Exile

Rights groups: Exile of prisoners ‘a war crime’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Oct — Israel’s exile of prisoners to the Gaza Strip and abroad is a serious war crime, rights groups said Monday … In a joint statement Monday, prisoner rights group Addameer and legal rights organization Al-Haq highlighted that while the deal was cause for celebration for 1,028 families, aspects of the exchange were “fundamentally at odds with international law.” Unlawful deportation or transfer breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention and “qualifies as one of the most serious war crimes,” the groups said. The protections of the Fourth Geneva Convention are inviolable, even if prisoners consent to exile and even though Hamas negotiated the deal, the statement said, pointing to the “stark asymmetry in power” between the Palestinian and Israeli parties. Addameer director Sahar Francis noted that Israel has hermetically sealed off Gaza from the West Bank, and that exile to the blockaded coastal enclave “in many cases can be seen as a second prison sentence.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=430174

Jerusalem prisoners’ families prepare for homecoming, exile / Maysa Abu Ghazala
PNN 17 Oct — The Shalit exchange includes 45 East Jerusalemites, three of them women, but only twelve of whom will return to their homes in the city. The others will be exiled either to the Gaza Strip or to one of three countries ….as part of the exchange conditions.
The Family of Fouad al-Razem: After spending most of his adult life — 31 years — in prison, 54-year-old Fouad al-Razem became known as “the dean of prisoners” and was passed over by more than 20 prisoner exchanges between Israel and Arab states. He was born on December 9, 1957 and raised in the Silwan district of East Jerusalem … Foaud’s sister, Umm Nidal, says she fears Israel will turn back on its word at the last moment and keep Fouad in prison — the exact thing happened in 1985, when Fouad had gotten as far as his seat on the bus to the outside only to have the prison administrator change his mind, telling him to get off the bus and go back to prison where he would spend the rest of his life.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10761&Itemid=56

Soldier and settler violence against Palestinians / Closures / Restriction of movement

Burin: Zionist soldiers and colonists collaborate against harvesting
ISM 17 Oct — The Israeli military conducted arrests, mistreated detainees and continued to prevent villagers from picking olives in certain areas of Burin, near Nablus, yesterday on October 16 2011.  International activists have been prevented by the military from attending olive harvests during the past two days in some areas and settlers harassed and threw stones at villagers picking olives in Burin today. Two villagers from Burin were detained yesterday whilst picking olives.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/burin-zionist-soldiers-and-colonists-collaborate-against-harvesting/

Army closes down school in Hebron’s Old City
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — Israeli forces closed down a school [Qurtuba] in Hebron’s old city for the fourth day in a row on Sunday, a local official said. Sameeh Abu Zakiye, an official in the Department of Education in Hebron, said that soldiers gave students orders to evict the building before forcibly removing them from the property, official news agency Wafa reported. The school’s janitor was also detained after being accused of attacking Israeli soldiers, Abu Zakiya said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429699

VIDEO: Gas bomb attacks on the students
PALMEDIA – HEBRON 16 Oct : AMER ABDEEN Israeli occupying forces closed on Sunday, School of Cordoba [Qurtuba] mixed in Shuhada Street in Hebron, and prevented students from entering the school through the gate for them and forced them to enter through the gate electronic and this was rejected by the school administration and teachers. as the occupation soldiers and so-called “border guards” the attack on students and teachers and disperse them by force and drove them to the areas under Palestinian control in the door of the corner and fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters to shut down the school. and held the occupation forces deal marks the school Nahil Abu Eisha, preventing them from access to school and then was released, by firing tear gas and stun grenades and wounded a number of citizens suffocation as well as the use of sirens and disturbing sound to disperse the students and citizens of the entrance to the school from the door of the corner. [Google Translate]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=249055985146114

Teachers of Qurtuba School continue their protest
IMEMC 17 Oct — The teachers of Qurtuba School are still protesting in front of the military checkpoint at the entrance to Martyrs Street, in the middle of the West Bank city of Hebron, the Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported on Monday … WAFA also reported that a number of international activists and students’ parents are protesting in solidarity with the teachers. However, the army forced them to flee the scene, demanding that they bring an official paper that permits them to protest, which can be obtained from the Israeli Military Liaison Office.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62303

Local committee: Military closes entrances to Hebron village
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 15 Oct — Israeli forces on Friday night closed all entrances to the village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron, a local committee said. Popular committee spokesman Muhammad Awad said the army prevented an ambulance from passing through the entrance to the village. Concrete blocs were used to block the entrances, he said. The ambulance crew were en route to attend to a sick man in the village but were not allowed through despite pleading with Israeli soldiers, Awad said. No reason was given for the closure. Beit Ummar Mayor Nasri Sabarneh condemned the actions of the army, calling it revenge for encouraging solidarity marches with the hunger strike in Israeli jails.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429419

Factory owner: Israeli forces seized stone blocks for closure
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — Israeli forces raided a stone factory in Beit Ummar late on Saturday, the owner told Ma‘an. Soldiers accompanied by bulldozers confiscated ten large stone slabs for use blocking entrances to the Hebron-district village, Issam Abu Ayyash told Ma‘an. Israeli forces threatened him when he tried to intervene, Abu Ayyash said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429620

Illegal Jewish settlers continue attacks against Christian and Muslim places of worship / Samira Quraishy
MEMO 17 Oct — In early September, illegal Jewish settlers set fire to the ground floor of Al-Nurain Mosque in the occupied West Bank village of Qasra to the south of Nablus. This was not an isolated act of violence, but one of many incidents which have seen Muslim and Christian places of worship and religious artefacts attacked and destroyed by right-wing extremist settlers. … Since 2010, there have been 27 documented attacks on mosques in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem carried out by Israeli settlers, the Israeli occupational forces and, sometimes, both together. There have also been 3 documented attacks on churches in the occupied Palestinian territories
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/2951-illegal-jewish-settlers-continue-attacks-against-christian-and-muslim-places-of-worship

Gaza

PRC leader: Israel must lift Gaza siege
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Oct — Israel must lift its siege on Gaza with the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the Popular Resistance Committee secretary-general said Monday. “Israel has no excuses now to keep the siege over Gaza after the release of Shalit,” Zuher al-Qeisi told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=430199

Sewage floods Gaza City homes
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — Gaza City municipal teams worked for 24 hours to stem the flow of sewage flooding homes in the city’s eastern sector, a press statement said. Faulty sewage lines burst and poured into homes on Friday, sparking the rescue mission, it said. Workers face difficulties upgrading the sewage network because materials and machines necessary for the work are blocked by Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip, it added, calling on assistance from human rights organizations to help end the closure.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429427

Honeymoon in Gaza
ISM Gaza 16 Oct — I had just finished off a plate of homemade bread knaffe yesterday with a family in the south of Gaza, when we got the call: farmers in Beit Hanoun, a village in the north of the Gaza Strip, requested that ISM volunteers accompany them to pick olives near the buffer zone. The buffer zone … Today, this unilaterally-imposed 300 meter buffer zone extends all around the sliver of land that is the Gaza strip, to the north, east, and south, an effective kill zone for all who dare enter it. (To the west is the sea, also patrolled by the Israeli navy) … In this area of Beit Hanoun where we were picking what was now the barren buffer zone, ten years ago been filled with orchards of lemon, orange, grapefruit and olive trees.  There were also greenhouses of tomato, eggplant and cantaloupe.  Saber pointed all around, explaining what was where and how there was no clean water.  I couldn’t imagine it.  It was like pointing to the Sahara desert and saying, “imagine these sand dunes are jungle.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/honeymoon-in-gaza/

Gaza women struggle to survive economically, says UN study
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 15 Oct — A UN Women report discussed the varying coping strategies Gaza women have employed to compensate for their household’s income collapse under the combined impact of Israeli siege, internal political strife, military destruction and ongoing economic blockade, authors of the report said on Monday.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17782

Gaza pilgrims depart for Mecca
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Oct — Over 300 pilgrims left Gaza for Mecca on Friday night, to take part in Eid al-Adha celebrations in the holy city, the director of Palestinian Airlines said. The first group, which left Gaza via the Rafah crossing to take two Palestinian Airlines jets from the northern Sinai town El-Arish, will be followed by pilgrims from the West Bank later in the month.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429243

To Gaza by way of the rabbit hole, also known as Erez Crossing / Karl Vick
TIME GlobalSpin blog 16 Oct — …The tunnel is no more. The new walkway to Gaza has a roof but no walls, a pedestrian way open to the air through cyclone fencing. The views are both desolate and arresting.  On the left, a brown plain stretching toward the Israeli kibbutzim hunkered against the homemade rockets still occasionally fired by Palestinian militants.   To the right, atop the towering concrete wall that reaches over the dunes toward the sea, a remote control turret for a massive machine gun, looming robotic and fearsome. And on both sides, rubble. Broken concrete is the defining feature of what the journalist Mitchell Prothero called “this wretched cornice.” … But what was this the rubble of? “It was the Erez Industrial Zone,” a Gazan reminded me.  Exactly.  For three decades, Erez was where Israeli companies employed thousands of Gazans at a sprawling industrial park, a buffer zone where interests overlapped. Then it was ordered abandoned and broken to bits, both to deny militants cover and because no one could imagine it opening again.
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/10/16/to-gaza-by-way-of-the-rabbit-hole-also-known-as-erez-crossing/

Detention

Soldiers arrest 2 in Nablus village
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 16 Oct — Israeli forces on Sunday detained two people from the village of Beita, south Nablus, witnesses and the Israeli army said. Villagers told Ma‘an that soldiers entered Beita at dawn on Sunday and raided the homes of Jihad Ahmad Dweikat, 23, and Odai Ibrahim Ash-Shunar, 18. Both were detained. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the men were taken for routine security questioning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429615

Army kidnaps 6 Palestinian residents in the West Bank
IMEMC 17 Oct — Local media sources stated that the army invaded the village of Betta, near the West Bank city of Nablus, and kidnapped two residents .They were identified as Jihad Dwikat and ‘Adi Shanar. The army also detained Mohammad Kharboosh, 23, a resident of the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Further to this, the Israeli Military launched an incursion into the village of ‘Uga, in the city of Jericho , and detained Hatem Khaled, Hussien Sabbah and ‘Abdullah Qablawi.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62301

PA Security arrest two freed captives and raid the home of a Hamas leader
WEST BANK (PIC) 16 Oct — PA security arrested two freed captives in al-Khalil and raided the home of Ahmad Dawlat in Nablus. They told a family of a captive who is expected to be released that they are not allowed to celebrate. In al-Khalil district, the preventive security arrested Tawfiq al-Qawasmi and Mahmoud Abu Skheidem from their homes on Saturday evening, both of them freed captives. They also raided the home of freed captive Fahd al-Qawasmi, but he was not at home.
In Nablus, the preventive security agents besieged the home of Hamas leader and former captive in occupation jails Ahmad Dawlat at midnight Saturday. They raided and ransacked the house and confiscated his computer and personal documents.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Solidarity

Pro-Palestinian student group holds first national conference
JTA 17 Oct — A loosely knit collection of student pro-Palestinian chapters gathered for its first national conference. The three-day conference at Columbia University ended Sunday. Titled “Students Confronting Apartheid,” the conference was restricted to members of Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the more active pro-Palestinian campus groups … According to the conference website, the event focused on developing coordination between student groups supporting the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign and building skill sets for activists.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/pro-palestinian_student_group_holds_first_national_conference_20111017/

Refugees

Despite newfound ‘friends’, Lebanon’s Palestinians require UN action to obtain civil rights / Franklin Lamb
UrukNet 16 Oct — Jalil Refugee Camp is located about 90 km east of Beirut near Baalbek in the Bekaa valley and is home to approximately 8000 of the World’s most destitute Palestinian refugees … When this observer visited the camp last week with a colleague from the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign to discuss the possibility of an American ex-pat Palestinian building a factory near the camp that could employ 400 Palestinians, I was initially surprised by what I saw written on the Kastall Secondary School blackboard. I presumed a teacher had written the words, “Haram, 425 and no benefit to anyone!!” … it referred to the 425 days since Lebanon’s Parliament on August 17, 2010 claimed it had “partially” granted the right to work to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Of course it did not do any such thing
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=82345

Israeli racism, discrimination

Israel’s social change mustn’t come at expense of its Arab citizens / Mohammad Darawshe & Amnon Be’eri Sulitzeanu
Haaretz 16 Oct — In Arab society, the employment rates are much lower than those in Jewish society. Gaps in the investment in education and the lack of employment areas, public transportation and childcare day centers, are just a few of the factors that make it difficult for Arab citizens to fit into the work market — It was hard to imagine the Trajtenberg Committee recommendations being any less generous to the Arab community, but now it seems that even the little the committee recommended is likely to disappear.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-social-change-mustn-t-come-at-expense-of-its-arab-citizens-1.390153

Despite High Court ruling, gender segregation in Israel only expanding / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 16 Oct — The police will not prevent segregation in Jerusalem this year – instead, the Chief of Police will even join in — The High Court of Justice (HCJ), no doubt with a stern visage, ruled today (Hebrew) that gender segregation in the streets of the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighbourhood of Mea Shearim is no longer to be tolerated – starting next year. But despite a rather similar decision of the Court last year, which the police does not enforce, the segregation continues unabated …One should note that the judges did not order the police to end the segregation, which reaches extraordinary levels during the Sukkot Holiday – right now. Gender segregation is a relatively new phenomenon in Jewish life: It’s been with us for about a decade, possibly a few years more. Strict ultra-Orthodox, particularly Hassidic Jews, claim the very presence of women (or girls, often very young girls) is disturbing to them, as it fills them with impure thoughts. Segregation takes basically two forms:
http://972mag.com/gender-segregation-expands-in-israel/25558/

Extrajudicial assassination

Israeli soldiers should kill terrorists ‘in their beds’ following Shalit deal, former IDF rabbi says
Haaretz 17 Oct — …former Chief Military Rabbi Avihai Rontzki said in an interview to Arutz Sheva that IDF soldiers should no longer arrest terror suspects, instead urging them to “kill them in their beds.” “A lot of cases shouldn’t even reach court,” Rontzki said, saying that the army should instead rely on the “wisdom of commanders and fighters.” Avihai Rontzki says can understand bereaved family members who would want to avenge Palestinian prisoners released in the prisoner swap agreement, adding ‘a normal country would destroy them.’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-soldiers-should-kill-terrorists-in-their-beds-following-shalit-deal-former-idf-rabbi-says-1.390461

Israeli TV analyst: Aruri should be liquidated soon
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 16 Oct — An Israeli TV 2nd channel analyst has called for the liquidation of Hamas leader Saleh Al-Aruri immediately. The news commentator was speaking in a TV program on Saturday night dealing with four Hamas leaders who were primarily involved in the indirect negotiations leading to the prisoners exchange deal with Israel. He said that the Israeli deportation of Aruri outside Palestine was a big mistake
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Political / Diplomatic / International

Poll: Palestinian bid to UN a good move
NABLUS (WAFA) 17 Oct — A recent poll conducted by An-Najah National University Monday showed that 77% of Palestinians believe the Palestinian application for statehood membership to the United Nations is a good move and serves the Palestinian cause, compared to 19.1% who believe otherwise … The survey was carried out between October 13 and 15
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17780

Israel-Palestinian mediators to miss first deadline
WASHINGTON (AP) 17 Oct — The U.S. and other Mideast mediators won’t be able to revive direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by the end of this weekend, missing the first deadline in a plan to reach a two-state agreement by the end of next year and sidestep a contentious U.N. vote over Palestinian statehood without defined borders, U.S. officials said Monday. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the “quartet” of Mideast mediators will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials next week [Oct 26],
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111017/ap_on_re_us/us_us_mideast

Jordan, Hamas premiers discuss Shalit prisoner deal in rare contact
DPA 16 Oct — Jordan official news agency reports rare telephone conversation; Jordan closed down Hamas office in 1999, since then has recognized PA as sole representative of Palestinian people.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/jordan-hamas-premiers-discuss-shalit-prisoner-swap-deal-in-rare-contact-1.390271

IDF forms elite unit to monitor unsteady border with Egypt
Haaretz 17 Oct — …In the Israel Defense Forces they do not talk openly about the identity of the enemy Rimon fighters are training to confront. And not only because of security of information orders and political and diplomatic sensitivities. In the rapidly changing reality of Israel’s southern border, it’s not even clear whom they will be facing in the near future. Palestinian terror organizations? Bedouin smugglers? Infiltrators? The Egyptian army?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/idf-forms-elite-unit-to-monitor-unsteady-border-with-egypt-1.390356

Egypt official: Prisoner swap with Israel for suspected spy to follow Shalit deal
Reuters 17 Oct — Egypt expects to swap U.S.-Israeli dual national Ilan Grapel, detained in June on spying charges, for Egyptian prisoners held in Israel, an Egyptian security source said on Monday. The swap would take place after Israel completes a separate prisoner exchange with Hamas involving Gilad Shalit, but the two cases are not linked, the source told Reuters.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-official-prisoner-swap-with-israel-for-suspected-spy-to-follow-shalit-deal-1.390440

Analysis / Opinion

The global intifada / Jamal Juma
StoptheWall 16 Oct — …The first time an international activist came up to me and sincerely thanked me for a speech in which I had promised that we as Palestinians would never give up our struggle until we have reached liberation and justice, I was surprised. Now I have learned to understand the importance of our struggle for the rest of the world and the responsibility that necessarily follows. As long as Palestine resists, there is hope for more than our own people.
http://stopthewall.org/2011/10/16/global-intifada

Israel lobby empowers Palestinian solidarity / Kristen Szremski
AJ 15 Oct — The ADL report targets pro-Palestinian student groups and warns college presidents they could lose funding for protests — The Anti-Defamation League is at it again. On Wednesday, October 13, the ADL issued its latest report on student activism, trying this time to reframe all work in support of Palestinian human rights as being “anti-Israel” … it accuses SJP chapters of fomenting “anti-Israel” programming on their respective campuses, while charging AMP facilitates the growth and deve­­­­lopment of these students’ groups. All of this combines to create an atmosphere in which Jewish students feel “insecure and unsafe”, the ADL claims.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/20111015122150127325.html

Video: Rabbis for Palestine – A one-state solution for all
ICH 11 Oct — Rabbis for Palestine, in conversation with Harry Fear.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29362.htm

Haaretz editorial: Free press in Israel is in danger
16 Oct — Right-wing Knesset members who are working to destroy the democratic component of Israel’s definition as a “Jewish and democratic state” have set themselves a new target: Silencing the free press through the threat of libel suits that would jeopardize the economic foundations of the media outlets.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/free-press-in-israel-is-in-danger-1.390154

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