Medics: 2 women injured after hit-and-run involving settler car
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Two women from the northern West Bank were injured on Tuesday morning in a hit-and-run incident involving an Israeli settler car, medics said. The women were hit as they crossed the main road of Huwwara village, south Nablus. Ahlam Bilal Hamad, 19, and her sister Saja, 18, suffered mild injuries in the incident. A settler driving a Subaru pickup truck fled the scene, Palestinian medical sources said. The Nablus area has witnessed a surge in settler attacks over the last month, including village raids, attacks on property and the vandalism of two mosques. On Sept. 5, settlers torched a mosque and spray-painted anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David in the village of Qusra, south of Huwwara.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property theft & destruction / Apartheid / Restriction of movement
Jailed Legislator Rejects Deportation Plea Bargain
Detained legislator Ahmad Attoun, of Jerusalem, rejected an Israeli Court offer of expulsion from Jerusalem in exchange for his release. He also refused to sign a document stating that he will not return to the city.
Closing The Ibrahim Mosque for Muslims and Opening it to Israeli Settlers
Israeli Military forces closed the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank today, October 4th, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Army Demolishes a House and Cowshed, Bulldozes Olive Orchard in Hebron
The Israeli army demolished a house and cowshed, bulldozed an olive orchard, and confiscated two caravans in the village of Beit Ola, northwest of the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported on Tuesday.
Confrontations sparked in many neighborhoods of Silwan in the middle strict security measures taken by Israeli police in the occasion of Hebrew new year . The Israeli Forces closed streets to secure thousands of Jews march in Silwan.
The Israeli forces imposed a complete closure over the entrances of Wadi hilweh after midday noon time . The Participating settlers’ herds in the annual march and the settlement’s blocks were guarded heavily by the Israeli forces until the last moment of the sunset when the Last Israeli soldier withdrew from the Neighborhood. This annual march takes place in Wadi hilewh in the occasion of The Hebrew New Year. The march participants used dirty language cursed the Palestinians and called for expelling Palestinians from there. homeland. Many children randomly went out of their houses with flags logoed by ” I love you Silwan” and the Palestinian Flags , then the settlers tried to assault them under justifying this by they are having a Jewish Feast and those naughty children have no right to be there “ according to one of the Jew Extremist.” You are the master of the international terrorism, How Much do you pay them to practice terrorism “ one of the settler shouted. The Israeli police tried to stop the music coming out from Wadi Hilweh Information center in Silwan justifying this by bothering the march participants . One of the participating settler said “You are bothering our ears so go to hell”
http://silwanic.net/?p=20780
Senior Israeli Police Officer Brutally Assaulted Activists in Anatot Pogrom
In Hebrew, it’s called a “lynch.” No, not necessarily stringing a rope over a tree and hanging you. Closer perhaps in meaning to “pogrom.” But “lynch” gives you an idea of what it was like for those brave Israeli peace activists who tried to help a poor Palestinian farmer from having his land stolen from him by yet another Israeli settlement. And that’s what any reasonable Israeli who cares about the mass hooliganism that occurred in the settlement of Anatot is calling it (in Hebrew), a “lynch.”
Through a telephone call with Silwanic site , eye witnesses declared that they heard the sound of strong explosion in the middle of Silwan time and there are tense Israeli troops spreading in many neighborhoods in Silwan and there , the situation is charged with tension.
Another day, another act of extreme “price tag” violence. It’s all getting to be terrifyingly, horrifyingly routine. Early this morning, suspected Jewish extremists — or heck, let’s just call them what they are, suspected Jewish terrorists – set a mosque on fire on fire in Tuba Zangaria, a Bedouin village in the northern Galilee. The blaze caused “serious damage” to the mosque, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The New York Times, and destroyed copies of the Koran as well as walls and rugs. The arsonists also took the time to spray-paint a message in Hebrew on the outside walls of the mosque: the words “Price Tag,” “Revenge” and “Palmer.” “Palmer,” it is believed, is a reference to Asher Palmer, a settler from Hebron who was killed last week in a car crash that Israeli police have labeled a terrorist attack — though what the people of a small Bedouin village in northern Israeli have to do with the death of an Israeli settler near Kiryat Arba remains utterly perplexing.
Bedouin town whose mosque fell prey to ‘price tag’ arson sees clashes between residents, police; protesters stone security forces, block town’s entrance.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4130766,00.html
The death throes of Greater Israel
Above is more video from the settler attack on Israeli leftists from over the weekend. Notice the acquiescence (and participation?) of the police. Watching this I can only believe that the pure fury the settlers display towards the activists is a sign that they know their world is crumbling around them. The activists represent a reality the settlers know to be true – the era of Israeli impunity is coming to an end and their days are numbered. Their illegal and immoral crusade to colonize all of historic Palestine is increasingly being exposed and rejected. The world is watching and has deemed their presence, and worldview, illegitimate. I suspect we’ll see many more videos like this, with increasing violence. Those who believe in Greater Israel will fight until the end. The death throes of an idea can be a very dangerous time.
Earlier today Adam posted the stark video from the settler attacks last Friday on demonstrators protesting theft of Palestinian lands at the Anatot settlement in occupied Palestine (a version with English subtitles is above). Over the weekend I spoke with one of the Israel activists who was targeted in the attacks. The activist declined to be identified and provided this insight.
The Israeli troops kidnapped a youth from al Harah al Wasta in Silwan while passing by an Israeli military Jeep and the identity of the youth is still unknown. This is in a continuous policy of arresting people even if they don’t participate in the clashes in Silwan Town according to a resident in Al Hara Al Wasta.
Four Children from the neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh and Wadi Al Rababeh were summoned by the Israeli authorities The kids ages are between 8-11 yrs . The Israeli Intelligence doesn’t slacken to arrest children and minors and interrogating them in arbitrary ways . This is according to testimonies taken by kids who were interrogated by the Israeli Authorities.
Raids in Ashkelon, Nafha prisons as thousands join hunger strike
Special units raided cells in the Israeli Ashkelon and Nafha prisons as thousands of Palestinian prisoners have joined a seven day hunger strike.
link to Palestine Information Center
Israel escalates violations against Palestinian prisoners in its jails
EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons have embarked on a hunger strike in protest over poor conditions of detention and ill-treatment. Yesterday, Israeli prison authorities took action against a number of the hunger strikers placing them in solitary confinement. There currently over 6,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2894-israel-escalates-violations-against-palestinian-prisoners-in-its-jails
Activities Launched To Support The Striking Detainees
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention facilities started an open-ended hunger strike a week ago, after a Prison Service crack-down to punish the detainees while at the same time starting a campaign aimed at influencing world public opinion regarding prison conditions.
Sabra Camp Braces for Winter Floods
Yearly floods plague residents of the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. Locals must fend for themselves while government attempts to stem the crisis regularly fail. With winter approaching, there are no signs within Sabra Palestinian refugee camp of precautionary measures to counter the flooding that occurs each year. Sabra residents and street vendors call the yearly flood caused by heavy winter rains ‘the river.’ Sabra is geographically lower than its surrounding areas, making it a perennial location of flooding. The nearby Abu Sahl neighborhood, which is on higher ground, forces rainwater to flow into Sabra’s main square, where it joins waters coming from the Ard Jalloul neighborhood in the west. Flood waters from Beirut’s Sports City complex gather at the butcher-market street, where water levels reach their height. A final tributary passes Hursh Sabra (Rihab Station) through the main street of Shatila camp.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Swedes call for academic boycott of Israel
More than 200 students, professors and lecturers across Sweden have signed on to a growing academic boycott call demanding that Swedish universities not participate in any academic cooperation with Israeli educational institutions. They also called on the Swedish government to “act [towards] the cessation of the [European Union’s] research support to Israel.”
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/nora/swedes-call-academic-boycott-israel
In Coincidence with the Hebrew New year The Jerusalem Municipality is conducting a cleanliness campaign using its Lorries and vehicles in the neighborhood of Wadi hilweh in Silwan As usual, this campaign was focused on the areas of settlement blocks and the streets that are used by tourists . The vehicles emptied the rubbish containers The Neighborhoods and streets of Silwan are considered neglected and left in an awful situation especially after the Israeli Supreme Court concluded the illegality of part of renovation work in streets of Silwan . As a revenge measure of Jerusalem Municipality according to Silwan Residents , the Municipality didn’t asphalt the streets to put the residents under pressure to accept the conditions of the project which will turn Wadi Hilweh neighborhood into a tourist settlement project .By this the settlers agenda will be served and on the other hand , the original residents needs will be ignored.
U.S. scrambles to keep Palestinian aid flowing
Reuters – The Obama administration is lobbying Congress to unblock $200 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority that was frozen due to its bid for U.N. recognition of statehood over U.S. and Israeli objections.
AP – Palestinian officials said Monday that the U.S. has suspended West Bank development projects worth tens of millions of dollars after Congress froze funding to dissuade the Palestinians from seeking U.N. recognition of an independent state.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111003/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_us_aid
Yes, the Palestinians are turning to the United Nations to achieve statehood, but Netanyahu has ignored repeated demands by the Obama administration to take action to facilitate negotiations.
OPT: Bracing for Palestinian statehood bid fallout
GAZA CITY 04 October 2011 (IRIN) – 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.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Senior Palestinian officials said Sunday that Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair was acting as a propagandist for the US and Israel.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425445
Letter by Reuven Rivlin to U.S. Vice President comes following report according to which Biden objected to Obama bid to release the convicted spy.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/knesset-speaker-to-biden-show-clemency-release-jonathan-pollard-at-once-1.387677?localLinksEnabled=false
Panetta visiting Egypt amid spy suspense (AP)
AP – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, America’s former top spymaster, is meeting with Egyptian leaders to urge them to release a U.S.-born man being held for allegedly being an Israeli spy.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_us_mideast_panetta
A special security court in Bahrain sentences 14 people to 25 years in jail each for the killing of a Pakistani man during unrest.
Five men charged with insulting officials refuse to attend hearing in trial rights group call “fundamentally unfair”.
Bahrain sentences 26 for protest links (AP)
AP – A Bahraini security court has sentenced 26 activists to prison for their part in anti-government protests, raising to 60 the total number convicted over the past two days in stepped-up prosecutions by the Gulf kingdom.
NEW YORK — More than 700 anti-Wall Street activists were arrested in New York amid chaotic scenes on Brooklyn Bridge after the protest movement’s march against “corporate greed” was broken up by police. The activists, many of whom have been camped out in Manhattan for two weeks, were detained during their latest and biggest demonstration yet against government-backed banking bail-outs and corporate influence in U.S. politics. As approximately 1,500 protesters walked about a third of the way across the bridge, the police corralled hundreds of them with orange netting.
The “Occupy Chicago” protest against corporations influence on the United States government has lasted for eleven straight days. “Occupy Chicago” began on September 23, when around 20 people gathered at Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, and then marched to the Federal Reserve Bank to show their solidarity with the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters in lower Manhattan.
Today marks the third day of Occupy LA, a movement that is still a few hundred strong and growing as mainstream unions (and even an elected official) throw their hat in with their cause. About 100 Occupy LA protesters woke up on City Hall lawn this morning, reports the Los Angeles Times, andtonight they’ll be joined by members of the education union United Teachers of Los Angeles in a protest against banks. Unlike the protests in New York, Boston and Chicago, the occupation has so far been extremely laid back. Just a few only-in-LA features include vegan cupcakes for the protesters, and a nearby filming crew shooting a major Hollywood film. Protesters even planned to take advantage of the news cameras in the area for the Michael Jackson doctor trial!
Two members of the anti-war activist group CodePink on Saturday arrived at the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in lower Manhattan. “We are here with the 99 percent to say that we’ve had enough of the corruption and greed on Wall Street,” said on activist, Mel. “I’ve been to Tahrir square in Egypt and I’ve been to Madison, Wisconsin, and this is just the same kinds of energy,” CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin added. The group is trying to help the “Occupy Wall Street” protest by leading a women’s media training workshop.
This weekend in Savannah, Georgia, Troy Anthony Davis was laid to rest. Davis was killed by lethal injection in Jackson, Georgia on Sept. 21 after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop his execution. The 2,000-seat Jonesville Baptist Church was filled to capacity for his funeral. While his body was being lowered into the burial ground, 23 doves were released. The first was symbolic of his spirit, and the remaining 22 represented each year Davis spent in prison. He was convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony, and there was no physical evidence that tied Davis to the crime scene. Democracy Now! was in Savannah for the funeral and we play excerpts from the eulogies by Jason Ewart, Troy Davis’s attorney and an eyewitness to his execution; Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP; Larry Cox, president of Amnesty International USA; Lou DuBose, president of NAACP-Georgia; Lenda Sullivan-Russell, friend of Troy Davis; Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church; Antone’ De’Juan Davis-Correia, nephew of Troy Davis.
JERUSALEM — Days after his halfhearted conciliatory U.N. appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already approved the construction of 1,100 flats in occupied East Jerusalem. Yet on Sunday, he threw his support behind the new Mideast Quartet’s peace plan with the Palestinians.
I tend to believe things that a son says to his father in private. To this end, we should go back to 2009, to the words revealed by the father, Benzion Netanyahu, regarding the conduct of his son, Benjamin. With the consent of his son, the prime minister, the father gave an interview to Amit Segal on Channel 2 News, and this is what he said about the Bar-Ilan speech advocating the establishment of a Palestinian state: “He [the prime minister] doesn’t support it. He supports it under conditions that they [the Arabs] will never accept. That’s what I heard from him, not from myself. He proposed the conditions. They will never accept those conditions, not one of them,” said Netanyahu Sr.” [One of those conditions was acceptance of a “Jewish” State.]
“Administration officials are breathing a sigh of relief that the Palestinian application for admission to the UN has not yet reached the Security Council for a vote. The policy of veto, as made clear by President Obama, remains completely intact, but the White House is pleased that it has won a delay. It is further delighted at the successful assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al-Qaeda leader in the Arabian Peninsular. Behind the scenes, some officials at the National Security Council are beginning to worry that the US approach to the “Arab Spring” is starting to veer back to the traditional US priority for stability over reform. One official cautioned privately: “To set up the right circumstances which permitted the Awlaki killing, we had to make a number of concession to the Yemeni government, involving the return of President Saleh.There are inconsistent with our reform agenda. We are most concerned that the Egyptian military is receiving the wrong message and will try to delay democratic elections and crack down on participants.” An equally serious problem concerns relations with Pakistan. The internal debate as to allowing Admiral Mullen, the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to accuse publicly the Pakistan government of complicity with the Haqqani network rumbles on in the White House. Intelligence officials have no doubt that their Pakistani counterparts are, as they commented privately, “highly flexible” in the relationships they run, but they question whether it makes sense to put this public searchlight onto the issue. Our judgment, however, is the evidence is compelling that it would likely have become public. So US military officials will not back away from these claim, thus keeping Washington’s relationship with Islamabad in a constant state of tension. With regard to China, the US $6 billion arms refurbishment package has provoked what US officials see as a “moderate” reaction from China. Some joint military exercises have been postponed, but the reaction has been less harsh than expected. Finally, the announcement that Russian Prime Minister Putin will likely resume his tenure as Russia’s president following next March’s election did not come as a surprise in Washington but was nonetheless a grave disappointment. While many US officials saw the current President simply as a place-holder for Putin, nonetheless he was seen as more reform minded. Washington is preparing for tougher bargaining with Moscow.”
This year’s anniversary of Nasser’s death passed with more notice in the Egyptian press and culture than years past. Even the military ruler, Field Marshal Tantawi, paid tribute to Nasser and spoke about his achievements. Nasser has been a reference point in the Egyptian uprising: not so much in terms of revival of Arab nationalism, because Egyptian nationalist fervor is quite strong, but in terms of the elevation of his stature after decades of vicious propaganda campaigns by the Sadat-Mubarak regime against Nasser and his family. The memoirs of Nasser’s wife, Tahiya, were published only months prior to the eruption of the Egyptian uprising. It is arguable that the life of the Nasser couple, as revealed in her memoirs, was one of many sparks that triggered the Egyptian uprising. The modesty and frugality of the Nasser’s household was a great contrast with the imperial lifestyle of emperors Sadat and Mubarak.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/nasser%E2%80%99s-anniversary-toward-reassessment
Bloggers say Arab Spring has gone global
Prominent Arab bloggers, who meet in Tunis, say their methods are being picked up by activists in the West.
Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, “The Arab Counterrevolution”
The young street demonstrators challenge the status quo, ignite a revolutionary spirit, and point the way for a redistribution of power. But what they possess in enthusiasm they lack in organization and political experience. What gives them strength during the uprising — their amorphous character and impulsiveness — leads to their subsequent undoing. Their domain is the more visible and publicized. The real action, much to their chagrin, takes place elsewhere. The outcome of the Arab awakening will not be determined by those who launched it. The popular uprisings were broadly welcomed, but they do not neatly fit the social and political makeup of traditional communities often organized along tribal and kinship ties, where religion has a central part and foreign meddling is the norm. The result will be decided by other, more calculating and hard-nosed forces. . . . From all corners of the Arab world, Islamists of various tendencies are coming in from the cold. Virtually everywhere they are the largest single group as well as the best organized. In Egypt and Tunisia, where they had been alternatively — and sometimes concurrently — tolerated and repressed, they are full-fledged political actors. In Libya, where they had been suppressed, they joined and played a major part in the rebellion. In Syria, where they had been massacred, they are a principal component of the protest movement. . . . The Arab world’s immediate future will very likely unfold in a complex tussle between the army, remnants of old regimes, and the Islamists, all of them with roots, resources, as well as the ability and willpower to shape events. Regional parties will have influence and international powers will not refrain from involvement. There are many possible outcomes — from restoration of the old order to military takeover, from unruly fragmentation and civil war to creeping Islamization. But the result that many outsiders had hoped for — a victory by the original protesters — is almost certainly foreclosed.
“On Sept. 5, settlers torched a mosque and spray-painted anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David in the village of Qusra, south of Huwwara.”
At “Anatot” the other day what did the settlers do?
“Six cars were seriously damaged, and some were totally destroyed. One car door was etched with Starof David.”
Hello settlers. Say hello to the KKK.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2002/12/why_does_the_ku_klux_klan_burn_crosses.html
one law for jews, another one for those of a different religion… welcome to the religiocentric world of israel where the pecking order is based off religion…
If this had been Palestinians, the action would have been labelled “terrorism”.
From the WTF department
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/pioneer-of-israeli-settler-movement-hanan-porat-dies-at-67-1.388108
Porat came under criticism in 1994 after American-Israeli doctor Baruch Goldstein shot dead 29 Muslims and wounded more than 100 others at a mosque in Hebron. Porat replied with “Happy Purim!” to a reporter’s question about what he thought of the massacre. He later claimed his comments had been taken out of context.
If the settlers had done this with rockets, their neighbor’s children would have been set on fire with white phosphorus (but only if the settlers were Palestinian).