Israel issues demolition orders in Silwan, Hebron and Nablus, confiscates land in Jerusalem

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Assaults on Palestinian culture

House demolition orders spark clashes in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 18 Jan — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Wednesday served demolition notices to a number of Palestinian homes in Silwan in occupied Jerusalem sparking clashes with locals. Israeli policemen escorted IOA-controlled municipality employees who imposed fines on a number of citizens for building with permit then served demolition notices. The committee for the defense of Silwan land said that the inspection teams stormed three suburbs in Silwan, south of the Aqsa Mosque, as police installed roadblocks and searched inhabitants.
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOA confiscates 117 dunums of Jerusalem land
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Jan — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has confiscated 117 dunums of Palestinian land in Shufaat and Beit Hanina in occupied Jerusalem, local sources said on Tuesday. They said that the IOA-controlled municipality of Jerusalem has said that the dunums would be annexed to Highway 21 that serves the settlement of Ramat Shlomo.
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOA serves demolition notices to three brothers in Nablus
NABLUS (PIC) 18 Jan — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) served demolition notices to three brothers in Khirbat Al-Tawil village to the east of Nablus on Wednesday. Ghassan Daghles, monitoring Israeli settlement activity in the north of the West Bank, said that the number of notices distributed since Tuesday thus rose to five. He said that the IOA was distributing demolition notices in the small villages to the east of Nablus in a bid to empty them of their inhabitants.
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Eight homes ordered to be demolished in Khalit Al-Dar
17 Jan — On January 4th, an Israeli military commander served 8 demolition orders in the town of Khalit Al-Dar, just south of the city of Al-Khalil, also known as Hebron. The reason given for issuing demolition orders to the families is that they have built additions onto their homes without Israeli-issued building permits.  In accordance with the 1994 Oslo agreements, building permits in the town are issued by the municipality of Al-Khalil, which had issued the necessary permits to the families … Khalit Al-Dar is a small, impoverished town, and the residents are mostly laborers and farmers.  When the demolition orders are carried out, approximately 60 of them will be displaced from their homes … The pressure on the residents of Khalit Al-Dar manifests itself in other ways as well.  The large water collection basin in the town remains unfinished after 15 years, as the Israeli government will not allow the construction of wells in all of the West Bank.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/eight-homes-ordered-to-be-demolished-in-khalit-al-dar/

Beit Iskariyah…Roots remain against Israeli settlement
PNN 16 Jan — Visitors who enter the settlement compound of Gush Etzion, southwest of Bethlehem, don’t know that they would see a Palestinian compound, which stayed steadfast in its own land. It’s Beit Iskariyah, the endure land against settlement, which surround it from every side. Israel also calls it Khirbet Zachariah. The Israeli authorities have built Gosh Etzion on the village’s lands, the settlements are: Alon Shvut, Kfar Etzion, Migdal OZ, Neve Daniel, Gva’ot, Bat Ayin, Rosh Tzurim and Beitar Illit. Beit Iskariyah is standing in the face of the settlers, who want to deport the Palestinians and take their lands, but Palestinians are steadfast in the village, bearing the attacks and harassments of the settlers. Beit Iskariyah is around nine thousand dunums, seven out of it are left for Palestinians. It consists of five Palestinian, separated compounds that are surrounded by settlements, with the population of 650, who work in farming or own livestock- producing farms.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/657-beit-iskariyahroots-remain-against-israeli-settlementff

PWA chief: World must act on Israel’s water apartheid
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — “Israel controls all the water resources in the occupied West Bank. It exploits these resources for near exclusive Israeli use, allocating a mere fraction of the available water supply to Palestinians. While Israelis enjoy some of the highest water consumption rates in the world, Palestinians continue to face a series of crippling water shortages artificially engineered by Israel as a matter of policy,” Attili said. The official added that Israel used water to target vulnerable Palestinian communities. “This includes its systematic demolition of Palestinian rainwater harvesting cisterns and wells used as a means to forcibly displace Palestinian communities who depend on them for their basic water needs. The number of demolitions continues to increase, with at least 25 Palestinian wells and 32 Palestinian cisterns demolished in 2011 alone.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453288

EU ‘should block finance for Israeli settlements’ / Donald Macintyre
18 Jan — ‘Radical action’ urged to tackle illegal expansion in Jerusalem — The European Commission should consider passing legislation to prevent finance generated within its member states being used to support illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory, the bloc’s top diplomats in Jerusalem and Ramallah have advised.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/eu-should-block-finance-for-israeli-settlements-6291071.html

IDF looks to technology to turn down the volume on West Bank mosques
18 Jan — Settlement leaders frequently complain about the noise of the muezzins, whose electronically amplified calls to prayer can easily be heard in nearby Jewish settlements, including at night when people are trying to sleep … Last week, therefore, Civil Administration head Brig Gen. Moti Almoz convened a meeting with some of the army’s technical experts. One proposed that the problem could be solved by technology: A system could be placed in every mosque that would measure the volume and automatically reduce it if it exceeded a preset decibel level. Installing the systems would obviously require the Palestinian Authority’s cooperation. But Civil Administration officials said they think the PA would also be happy to find a solution to the issue, because many Palestinians also complain about overly loud muezzin calls … Such a technological solution could also have implications for mosques inside Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-looks-to-technology-to-turn-down-the-volume-on-west-bank-mosques-1.407868

Official denies PA, Israeli coordination to lower calls for prayer
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 18 Jan – Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Habash, Wednesday in a statement denied reports by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the Palestinian Authority coordinated with the Israeli government to lower the Islamic calls for prayer. Habash said PA has not and will never approve such nonsense, stressing that PA never discussed the subject with the Israelis.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18728

Settlers / Far-right extremists

Ateret Cohanim yeshiva students sport sweatshirts calling for destruction of Dome of the Rock / Richard Silverstein
17 Jan — Tikun Olam Apparently, one of the hot fashion items this season in the far-right Israeli yeshiva culture is a sweatshirt sold by students at the Ateret Cohamin yeshiva which calls for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock.  The sweatshirt, a picture of which is displayed here, says in literal Hebrew: “Sometimes you have to take off the kippah.” Kippah can mean either yarmulke or “dome,” hence the double meaning.  This “wit” passes for political commentary in the Jewish terror crowd.  Ateret Cohanim is the settler extremist group which is fraudulently “buying” East Jerusalem Palestinian property, evicting residents, and installing kosher Jewish settlers in their place as part of the orchestrated campaign to rid the city of Arabs.  It also is training potential High Priests who can resume the sacrificial ritual of the Holy Temple once it is rebuilt, and presumably the Dome of the Rock destroyed.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/17/ateret-cohanim-yeshiva-students-wear-sell-sweatshirts-calling-for-destruction-of-dome-of-rock/

Settler violence just a symptom of Israeli government / Adam Gvirtz
18 Jan — While Israel has verbally condemned the recent actions of settlers, the government refuses to reign them in, preferring to use the settlers as a distraction from and excuse for the violence perpetrated by the state itself — The scam was a success. The political storm which followed the [recent] actions of the “price tag hooligans” has reached countries outside of Israel, presenting the government as fighting extremists who strike against Palestinians and even against the [Israeli army].  Only Lieberman’s Foreign Ministry has managed, again, to jeopardize Israel’s relations with European countries, when describing them as “irrelevant”, for not buying the scam. A comparison between the [Israeli army] and the “price tag hooligans” confirms that the [Israeli army], which is subordinate to the Israeli government, inflicts much more severe damage and on a regular basis
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/34-opinion/4059-settler-violence-just-a-symptom-of-israeli-government-

Gaza

2 dead in Israeli strike on Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — Israeli forces opened fire on the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing two people and seriously injuring at least two others, witnesses and medics said. The health ministry in Gaza said Muhammad Shaker Abu Odeh was pronounced dead at the scene. Ahmad Al-Zaaneen, 17, died shortly after the strike in hospital. Two others were seriously injured. An Israeli military official said the attack near Beit Hanoun targeted a “terrorist squad” planting an explosive device on the border. Witnesses told Ma’an that planes and tanks fired at least four times toward the city. Medics said ambulances were not initially able to reach the scene due to the continuous fire and heavy shooting. One of the ambulances sustained damage, according to health officials.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453386

Gaza under attack – two killed of which one child – in pictures
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/gaza-under-attack-2-killed/

Al-Aqsa Brigades claim responsibility for projectile
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a projectile fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, a statement said. Israeli news site Ynet reported earlier on Wednesday that a projectile had exploded south of Ashkelon, with no reported injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453525

The other Israeli psychological war on Gaza / Sameh A. Habeeb
Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) 17 Jan – Israeli punishment continues. It is, ultimately, a never-ending policy. The punishment referred to is not the siege that has been imposed for more than 5 years. It is not the War of 2008-2009, which Israel killed more than 1400 civilians. Not even the humiliation measured at the Iritz crossing between Gaza and Israel, where Israeli intelligence attempted to recruit Palestinian patients to work as spies, nor the constant attacks that punishment hereto refers. Rather, it is the hidden psychological war that Israel has been waging since 2000 … Exposure, sadly, resulted in the people becoming accustomed to the loud bombings, invasions and constant attacks. Even the children adapted. No one, however, has become used to the drones. The drones are unmanned aerial planes controlled by central computers in Israel. Israelis use them to monitor the Gaza Strip for “security reasons.” One of the problem with drones lies in their loud buzzing sound. For almost 10 years, the buzzing sound became a constant part of Gaza life. They operate in the skies almost 24 hours a day. Many people find it hard to sleep quietly. The sound reaches everywhere, even should you close the window to sleep. As the streets quiet and night befalls, the sounds become even louder. Some readers could argue this is normal, but it is not. It is not humane for a population to live with a such a constant terror that could drive a person mad.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/10481-the-other-israeli-psychological-war-on-gaza.html

Official: Flower, strawberry trucks leave Gaza for export
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 Jan — Israel permitted the export of one truck of flowers and another of strawberries from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a Palestinian official said. The produce will leave Gaza through Kerem Shalom, the sole remaining crossing into Israel, while 220 trucks will enter the Gaza Strip, Palestinian crossings liaison Raed Fattouh said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453058

Palestinian officials tour crossings into Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 Jan — Palestinian officials from the West Bank visited Israeli crossings into Gaza on Monday, to inspect ongoing work at the terminals, the Palestinian crossings director said. Deputy chairman of the anti-corruption commission Akram al-Khatib, civil affairs ministry undersecretary Ayman Qandil and several public works ministry engineers toured Kerem Shalom goods crossing and the Erez passenger terminal to oversee the construction work, Nazmi Mhanna said. The delegation was greeted by a group of Palestinian businessmen, and briefed by Israeli engineers working at the crossing, as well as the Israeli terminal supervisor.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453064

UNRWA seeks $300 million for Gaza, West Bank
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 17 Jan — The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA on Tuesday launched a $300 million appeal for the West Bank and Gaza, saying needs in Gaza in particular “remain widespread and acute.” The agency said it would devote three-quarters of the total appeal to Gaza, and that 80 percent of the funds would go to promoting “food security, through food assistance, cash assistance and job creation programmes.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/January/middleeast_January473.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Collective wedding ceremony held for freed prisoners in Gaza
MEMO 18 Jan — EXCLUSIVE PICTURES  A collective wedding ceremony for 50 of the Palestinian prisoners freed during the recent prisoner exchange deal agreed between Israel and the Hamas Movement has been held in the Gaza Strip. The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of the government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, who stated that the occasion was one of great joy that would be remembered by the Palestinian people. Haniyeh also asserted that Palestinians would never forget the Palestinian prisoners who continue to languish in Israeli prisons. 
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3293-collective-wedding-ceremony-held-for-freed-prisoners-in-gaza

Kuwait sends medical supplies to the Gaza Strip
MEMO 18 Jan — The Kuwait Red Crescent Society has announced that it has sent a transport aircraft loaded with medical supplies to the Gaza Strip. KRCS Chairman Barjas Al-Barjas said that the plane took off on Tuesday with vital medical supplies for 400 Palestinian children suffering from renal failure in Gaza. The supplies will enter Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3291-kuwait-sends-medical-supplies-to-the-gaza-strip

Bamboo furniture-making tradition, brought from Jaffa, survives in Gaza / Rami Almeghari
17 Jan — Abu Raed al-Mathloum sat in a bamboo chair at his workshop near the ancient marketplace of Fras in Gaza City on a recent Saturday afternoon, a smile lighting up his white-bearded face. In the shop his son Zakariya, 36, turned a thick bamboo stick over a stove. The elder al-Mathloum has been making bamboo furniture for four decades. It is a craft that has been passed down from one generation to the next. The al-Mathloums were one of the best-known bamboo furniture-making families but now, of his brothers, only Zakariya, the eldest son, is struggling to keep the tradition and the business alive.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/bamboo-furniture-making-tradition-brought-jaffa-survives-gaza/10827

War crimes and criminals

Israeli courts impose $5,200 guarantee, blocking cases by victims of Gaza massacre
18 Jan — Israeli courts have begun to impose a NIS 20,000 ($5,200) “guarantee” on Palestinian victims who have brought cases related to “Operation Cast Lead,” … This tactic constitutes “an insurmountable barrier to justice” according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) which represents 1,046 individual claimants. In a release this morning, PCHR wrote: “The courts have begun to impose a court guarantee of 20,000 NIS per claimant. This guarantee must be paid before the case can proceed. PCHR wishes to highlight two factors: first, the amount of this guarantee is far beyond the means of the overwhelming majority of the victims in the Gaza Strip, and so constitutes an insurmountable barrier to justice; second, this guarantee is imposed per claimant, this results in a situation whereby the greater the violation (and so the greater the number of claimants), the greater the financial barrier to justice.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-courts-impose-5200-guarantee-blocking-cases-victims-gaza-massacre

Father recalls son gunned down after ceasefire
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — The day before his death, Maher Rajailah asked if his father could write a will for him. But he didn’t actually believe he was going to die, not at 23.  “We were joking about it,” his mother says, recalling the supposed ceasefire Israel had announced a day earlier on Jan. 17, 2009. Families were returning to their lands because they thought it was safe. Maher’s father Abdel Azim went to his fields, east of Khan Younis, to keep an eye on his sons. “It was calm so I felt comfortable and stayed there,” he told the Palestinian Center of Human Rights. “Suddenly one of the jeeps on the border stopped and bullet after bullet was fired.” Maher was shot in his arm and chest and taken to hospital under heavy gunfire. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453429

Palestinians in Holland press for Netanyahu arrest warrant
AMSTERDAM (PIC) 18 Jan — Palestinians in Holland have declared their intention to seek a court order for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the Netherlands scheduled to start on Thursday. The Palestinian Home, a society formed by Palestinians living in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would seek the court order in view of the Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during the latest war on Gaza.
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/

Two Belgians file war crimes complaint against Israeli leaders over ‘flytilla’ abuse
18 Jan — Two activists have filed a war crimes complaint with federal prosecutors in Belgium, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Hajar Moumni and Muhammad Najar allege they were detained, mistreated, beaten and harshly interrogated when they took part in the “Welcome to Palestine” solidarity fly-in last summer, Belgian media have reported.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/two-belgians-file-war-crimes-complaint-against-israeli-leaders-over-flytilla

Extrajudicial killings

In Gaza, Mabhouh’s grieving family still in search of answers
19 Jan GAZA CITY // Two years after his brother Mahmoud, a Hamas arms-broker, was assassinated in Dubai by suspected Mossad agents, Fayek Al Mabhouh still wants answers. He scours the internet for any news about progress in the efforts to bring Mahmoud’s killers to justice. To the reporters who show up regularly at his home in Jabaliya, he pleads again to Dubai police and other authorities to prosecute members of the hit squad … While saying Mahmoud Mabhouh deserved his fate, Israel neither confirmed nor denied its participation in the killing. That did not deter Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan, Dubai’s police chief, from urging Interpol in February 2010 to consider arresting the Mossad chief at the time, Meir Dagan, because of his “99 per cent if not 100 per cent” certainty of the spy agency’s involvement. MORE ON HAMAS MURDER [four more articles]
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/in-gaza-mabhouhs-grieving-family-still-in-search-of-answers

Political detention / Court actions

IOA renews administrative detention of Hamas leader for 8th consecutive time
RAMALLAH,(PIC) 18 Jan — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has renewed the administrative detention of Ra’fat Nassif, a Hamas leader, for six months for the 8th time running .Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with the international Tadamun foundation for human rights, said that the Israeli military commander of the West Bank has issued the renewal term on Tuesday. He recalled that Nassif, 44, had been in administrative custody since his arrest on 17/3/2009, adding that Nassif was transferred from one prison to another during the past three years to the extent that he experienced 28 different cells…
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IPU calls on Israel to stop detaining Palestinian MPs
GENEVA (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — The International Parliamentary Union on Monday called on Israel to stop detaining Palestinian MPs. The IPU committee on the human rights of parliamentarians discussed the cases of elected officials held in Israeli jails during a meeting in Geneva on Saturday. Some 20 Hamas MPs are held in Israeli prisons in administrative detention without charge or trial.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453284

Report: EU calls on Israel to release pre-Oslo prisoners
18 Jan — BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — European Union officials have called on the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Wednesday. The Hebrew language paper said that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is to arrive in the region next week to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to release 123 prisoners detained before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The measures are meant to encourage the Palestinians to continue negotiations in Amman, the paper reported, with the issue having been raised in previous Quartet meetings.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453501

IOF soldiers round up 12 Palestinians, break into mosque
RAMALLAH (PIC) 18 Jan — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up 12 Palestinians in various West Bank areas at dawn Wednesday and broke into a mosque in Al-Khalil, local sources said … Municipality council chief in Deir Estiye, Salift, said that the IOF troops took three of the inhabitants in the village including Jihad Tawfik Khaled, who was freed in the exchange deal. Locals in Al-Khalil said that the soldiers detained three young men in Dura town and two in Al-Khalil city, adding that the soldiers violently broke into many homes in the province and damaged private property in the process … Also in Al-Khalil province, IOF soldiers surrounded the main mosque in Al-Rayhia village and asked the elderly people to get out of it, then handed summonses to a number of youths after storming it. IOF soldiers questioned a number of citizens in Seelat Al-Harthiya village, west of Jenin, and stormed a number of shops….
Link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Hebron teen detained near Ibrahimi Mosque
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Jan – Israeli forces detained an 18-year-old Palestinian man after he was accused of planning to attack a soldier in the occupied city of Hebron, Israeli officials said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453282

Prisoners center says detainee on hunger strike for 32 days
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — A Palestinian prisoners research group said Wednesday a detainee from Jenin has been on hunger strike for 32 days and is suffering from worsening health conditions. Khader Adnan Mousa, 33, was detained on Dec. 17 in connection with his membership of Islamic Jihad. Mousa told the prisoners research center that Israel’s decision to send him to administrative detention was intended to strip him of dignity, “which is more valuable than food and water.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453397

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Kufr Qaddoum: Not peanuts in the colonists’ jar
16 Jan — The cold and rain did not keep the residents of Kufr Qaddoum from protesting this past Friday. Even the hail storm did not stop them from demanding their equal rights. The resilience and courage of the residents cannot be summed up in words. However, this is not the message they wanted to broadcast. Besides their everyday demands for justice, they wanted to express their concern for the “Judaization of Jerusalem.” This term refers to the Israeli strategy of erasing all Palestinian and Arab identity in Jerusalem. Kufr Qaddoum residents expressed this concern by wearing traditional Arab clothing during the protest. They proudly walked around in this traditional clothing because they know the history of this land and their legitimate connection to it. Although this was a symbolic gesture for solidarity with the Palestinians from Jerusalem, culture theft is a wide spread concern for all Palestinians.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/kufr-qaddoum-not-peanuts-in-the-colonists-jar/

Video: March on the No Go Zone
17 Jan — On Tuesday, 17 January 2012, the International Solidarity Movement joined the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative for its weekly march into the deadly No Go Zone in the northern Gaza Strip.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/march-on-the-no-go-zone/

Boycott Law constitutional despite ‘difficulties’
18 Jan — In a detailed response to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, the state said that despite the Boycott Law’s “significant” constitutional difficulties, it does not violate the Basic Laws. Deputy Attorney-General Uri Keydar also said that while the law did limit freedom of expression, that limitation was constitutional because it was restricted to specific calls for boycotts.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=254084&R=R2

Video of MLK Day protest outside Combined Systems, Inc., in Pennsylvania
17 Jan — Yesterday, I posted a press release by Adalah-NY, the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, which announced a protest outside the headquarters of Combined Systems, Inc. (CSI), on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Activists from the Youngstown-based Arab-American Community Center and the Coalition for Peace in the Middle East, and representatives of Students for Justice in Palestine from the University of Pittsburgh were amongst those who demonstrated outside CSI.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/video-mlk-day-protest-outside-combined-systems-inc-pennsylvania

Weapons maker target of area protest
18 Jan — Below a newspaper in Meadville, PA, covers Monday’s protest against Combined Systems, Inc., which manufactures the tear gas projectiles illegally used by the Israeli military to injure and kill Palestinian demonstrators. As we posted yesterday, US Campaign member group Adalah-NY discovered important details on shipments of U.S. tear gas to Israel linked to the injury and killing of both Palestinians and U.S. citizens in this article. To organize with us to end military aid to Israel, sign up here!
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/01/weapons-maker-target-of-area-protest.html

UK museum attacked over links to Israeli Dead Sea firm
London (Reuters) 17 Jan — Experts at a leading British museum should pull out of a European-funded study into tiny particles because one f their partners is an Israeli company that operates in the occupied West Bank, British scientists and public figures said Tuesday. More than a dozen scientists, some from leading British universities, wrote an open letter with film-makers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach calling on the Natural History Museum in London to stop working with Israel’s Ahava, which makes skincare products from Dead Sea minerals. The group said Ahava works on Israeli-occupied land on the West Bank, “where it extracts, processes and exports Palestinian resources to generate profits that fund an illegal settlement.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/17/us-britain-mideast-museum-idUSTRE80G1XZ20120117

Pro-Israel University of California president denies Jewish students face ‘hostility’ as Zionist complaints allege
17 Jan — University of California (UC) President Mark Yudof, an avowed supporter of Israel, has denied claims that Jewish students on several UC campuses face a climate of hostility that amounts to a violation of their civil rights, due to Palestine solidarity activism. Zionist students and groups have lodged federal civil rights complaints at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Such complaints, as The Electronic Intifada has consistently reported, are part of a nationally-orchestrated strategy by pro-Israel groups to use the civil rights law to suppress Palestinian solidarity activism on college campuses.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/pro-israel-university-california-president-denies-jewish-students-face-hostility

UK Labour Party student officials face backlash over free tour of Israel, settlements
16 Jan — A member of the UK’s National Union of Students Executive Council has denounced several youth and student officers from the opposition Labour Party for taking part in an all-expenses-paid tour of Israel and its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Labour students delegation met with Captain Barak Raz, an Israeli army spokesperson and other Israeli officials. The Union of Jewish Students (UJS), a pro-Israel group, paid for the entire junket.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/uk-labour-party-student-officials-face-backlash-over-free-tour-israel-settlements/10819

Political / Diplomatic news

Hamas, Islamic Jihad debate joining forces
GAZA CITY (AFP) 17 Jan — Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main Palestinian Islamist movements, are holding talks about merging their two factions, sources on both sides said on Tuesday. During a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya called for “opening a serious dialogue to achieve the merger of the two movements,” his office said in a statement. “An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting,” spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP, referring to the group’s leadership which, like Hamas, is based in both Gaza and Damascus. All previous attempts to merge the two Islamist movements had ended in failure, Shihab said. He indicated that the current talks were taking place “at the highest level” among the leaders of both factions in Gaza and Damascus as well as among Islamist prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/January/middleeast_January480.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Official: Reconciliation committee must finish work this month
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Jan — The committee formed to implement national reconciliation will finish its work by the end of January, a committee member said Tuesday. Khalil Abu Shammaleh said the cross-party committee had an obligation to the Palestinian people to implement the agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah in Cairo last May. “I will not work one hour after Jan. 31 because more work like this means more stalling at the expense of our people,” Abu Shammaleh said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453379

Elections committee holds meeting via video conference
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Jan  — The Central Elections Committee held a meeting between all its commissioners on Wednesday via video conference. The Committee’s chairman Dr. Hanna Nasser opened the session by welcoming new commissioners and stressing the independent and neutral role of the body’s work. CEC offices in Gaza are still closed, Nasser added, and commissioners in Gaza will continue working to implement the decision to reopen Gaza offices in order to allow the CEC to exercise its mandate in the coastal enclave.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453453

Fatah official to meet Hamas leader in Cairo
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 18 Jan — Azzam al-Ahmad, head of Fatah delegation to the reconciliation talks with Hamas, Wednesday told Voice of Palestine that he will meet Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal in Cairo later in the day. Al-Ahmad said the meeting will follow up on and address any obstacles facing implementation of the reconciliation agreement. He indicated that an Egyptian security delegation will visit the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to monitor the implementation of the agreement next week … The delegation, approved by Hamas and Fatah during the movements’ talks in Cairo, will monitor the re-structuring of the Palestinian security forces, which will be done under supervision from the Arab League, once a nationalist government is formed, added al-Ahmad.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18721

Palestinian premier under pressure to rescind tax hike meant to end reliance on foreign aid
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) 18 Jan — West Bank businessmen are demanding that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad rescind a sharp income tax increase meant to make Palestinians less dependent on foreign aid. Fayyad argues that the increase only affects those who earn high incomes. They would pay up to 30 percent income tax under the new rate, or double the previous amount.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-premier-under-pressure-to-rescind-tax-hike-meant-to-end-reliance-on-foreign-aid/2012/01/18/gIQA4xe17P_story.html

Abbas meets German president, discusses Mideast situation
BERLIN (WAFA) 18 Jan – President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday met with his German counterpart Christian Wulff over lunch in the German capital Berlin … Abbas, who was received as head of state for the first time, arrived in Germany Tuesday for a three day official visit. He is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18727

EU delegates: Palestinian Liberation Organization should return to Jerusalem / Amira Hass
18 Jan — A report by European Union delegates in Jerusalem and Ramallah is calling for the reinstatement of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and for the advancement of Palestinian Authority policies in East Jerusalem. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz on Sunday, also recommends sharing information on violent settlers in East Jerusalem, in order to assess whether they should be allowed to enter EU member states. “Without Jerusalem as the future capital of two states, a sustainable peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians will not be possible,” said the opening sentence of the report, which is currently being sent to foreign ministries in various capitals
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/eu-delegates-palestinian-liberation-organization-should-return-to-jerusalem-1.407864

Hamas leadership evacuates families from Syria as violence escalates
AP/Reuters 17 Jan — Move comes comes hours after Syria says it would not object to extension of Arab League mission, but will not accept expansion in the scope of its mandate — Hamas officials say senior members of their exiled leadership will evacuate their families from the group’s headquarters in Syria. The officials, speaking from Damascus, said Tuesday that the evacuations are in response to the deteriorating security situation in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has been resisting a 10-month uprising. The officials say the families of three top officials, Moussa Abu Marzouk, Mohammed Naser and Izzat Risheq, are set to leave at the end of the month, while the three men will remain in Damascus. In recent months, Hamas has pulled lower level officials and their families out of Syria.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/hamas-leadership-evactuates-families-from-syria-as-violence-escalates-1.407851

Report: Abu Marzouq moves family to Cairo
CAIRO (Ma‘an) 17 Jan — Egypt is allowing the family of the deputy Hamas politburo chief Mousa Abu Marzouq to reside permanently in Cairo, the Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat reported Tuesday. According to a source quoted by the newspaper, Abu Marzouq arrived two weeks ahead of his family to arrange for an appropriate place to stay in east Cairo, moving from the unrest in Syria. “His stay in the Syrian capital is no longer convenient for Hamas’ leadership … the movement’s leadership wants to move families from Damascus to neighboring Arab states,” Al-Hayat reported. This way, the leaders can visit their families occasionally, it said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453130

Israeli racism / discrimination

Israeli Arabs have never been equal before the law / Yitzhak Laor
17 Jan — The looming expulsion of thousands will be carried out with the silent agreement of enlightened members of society, because maintaining a Jewish majority is an ideological common denominator for the overwhelming majority of Israelis … The expulsion of women and children from their homes will be carried out by a state that has never held Arabs to be equal before the law. That’s the real reason an Israeli constitution was never written. That inequality was the wound. Now it’s just pus.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israeli-arabs-have-never-been-equal-before-the-law-1.407710

MK Ben-Ari vs. Arab soccer player
17 Jan — MK Ben-Ari goes on the offensive: National Union Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari sent an official letter to the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) Monday, urging it to ban a Golan Heights Druze from playing in Israel’s national soccer team. Weaam Amasha, who plays for Maccabi Haifa, was born in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Six Day War and annexed in 1981 – a move that has not been recognized internationally.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4176973,00.html

Israel putting end to millennia-old tradition of Ethiopian Jewish priests
AP 18 Jan — Israeli rabbis working to phase out the kessoch, who preside over the community; the 13 newest kessoch will also be the country’s last … The effort has added to the sense of discrimination felt by Israel’s 120,000 Ethiopian citizens … In most Jewish communities, the priesthood of the Bible was replaced by rabbis who emphasized text study and prayer. Ethiopia’s Jewish kessoch continued the traditions of Biblical-era priests, sacrificing animals and collecting the first fruits of the harvest. The two traditions diverged so much that the first trickle of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel were asked to undergo a quickened conversion ceremony to appease rabbis who were dubious about their religious pedigree.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-putting-end-to-millenia-old-tradition-of-ethiopian-jewish-priests-1.407958

5,000 protest racism against Ethiopians at Knesset
18 Jan — Approximately 5,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the Knesset Wednesday to protests what they described as a rise in racism in Israeli society. The activists, mostly members of the Ethiopian community but including a large number of non-Ethiopians, marched from the Rose Park to the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem … Wednesday’s protest was attended by opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima), who spoke out against racism in Israeli society.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=254192&R=R2

Ten years, 28 deaths: Israel’s Ethiopian community sees another domestic murder-suicide
18 Jan — A man stabbed his wife to death late Monday night and hanged himself while two of the couple’s three children were locked in a room in their Rishon Letzion apartment. The couple, Lawaka Amara, 37, and his wife, Yeshi Amara, 32, had immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia five years ago … [MK Shlomo Molla (Kadima)], an Ethiopian-Israeli, said ministries did not understand that Ethiopian immigrants needed special assistance not only while they live in absorption centers for the initial two years or so after they make aliyah, but after they move to their permanent homes as well. Molla said no such help was forthcoming, which means families were living “with long-term idleness, which leads to a lack of involvement in society, degeneration and frustration. This often leads to cases of family violence.”
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/ten-years-28-deaths-israel-s-ethiopian-community-sees-another-domestic-murder-suicide-1.407867

Ultra-Orthodox teens accost US immigrant boy in Beit Shemesh
17 Jan — Group of teens surround victim, a third-grader, shout and spit at him and then throw a large rock in his direction that hits him in the back … The boy’s father, Jeff Klein, a new immigrant from the United States, relates the events his son relayed to him … Klein said that a few weeks ago, while his son was walking with a friend and his dog in a field between their home and a Haredi neighborhood, they were approached by a Haredi man who screamed at his son and threatened to kill the dog because it was tameh (ritually impure), according to the son … Klein and his family immigrated to Israel from the U.S. state of Ohio just six months ago, directly to Beit Shemesh. He said he never imagined he was coming to a center of conflict over religious differences among Orthodox Jews.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/ultra-orthodox-teens-accost-u-s-immigrant-boy-in-beit-shemesh-1.407677

Other news

Arab lawmaker describes rejecting bill proposal as prejudiced
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 17 Jan – Arab lawmaker Tuesday described as prejudiced a decision by the chairman of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to reject a bill he had submitted for discussion. The president of Israeli Knesset rejected on Monday a draft bill by Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi calling for recognition of Jerusalem as capital of the Palestinian state and the Muslim nation. Tibi’s proposed bill came in response to another bill presented by Israeli right-wing members that consider Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish people everywhere
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18705

Germany grants PLO €42.5 million to support financial, technical projects
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 Jan — Germany and the Palestine Liberation Organization Tuesday signed 42.5 million euros cooperation agreements for the support of financial and technical projects, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18715

Skating toward freedom / Julie Holm
18 Jan — The streets of Qalqilya are, as many other streets, in many other cities, decorated with graffiti. In Qalqilya, however, the word ‘skate’ seems to appear more frequently than in other Palestinian cities. During a visit to the city that is completely surrounded by the separation wall, I found out why ‘skate’ is such a popular word here. In Qalqilya skating is resistance. It is a way out of the mindset that the Israeli occupation imposes on Palestinian youth and it is a way to break down the mental and physical barriers they encounter every day.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=24334&CategoryID=13

Israeli hackers: We’ll knock down Arab sites daily
18 Jan — Group that goes by name “IDF Team” tells ‘Post’ they will only strike if Israeli sites are attacked again — Israeli hackers who brought down two major Arab financial websites this week said they would continue online attacks if Arab hackers maintain their internet offensive on Israel … Future targets could include websites in the Arab world that house government portals, airline websites, stock markets, and banks, the Israeli hackers said.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=254175&R=R2

Gaza/ West Bank: Investigate attacks on rights defenders
(Jerusalem) 19 Jan – Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should investigate recent brutal attacks against human rights defenders in Gaza and the West Bank and hold those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said today. In Gaza, Mahmud Abu Rahma, the international relations director for Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian rights group, was stabbed repeatedly on the night of January 13, 2012, by masked assailants, after being beaten by a group of unidentified men on January 3. The attacks followed his public criticism of Hamas and the impunity of armed groups in Gaza … In the West Bank, a member of the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security agency beat Yazan Sawafta, a lawyer and researcher for the Independent Commission for Human Rights on January 9, according to a statement by the group. Sawafta had been covering a demonstration by relatives of prisoners detained by the PA.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/19/gaza-west-bank-investigate-attacks-rights-defenders

Extradition overturned
17 Jan — The European Court of Human Rights has overturned a House of Lords decision in the case of a Palestinian refugee who faces extradition from Britain to Jordan. The court ruled that Abu Qatada cannot be extradited because of the “real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him” in Jordan.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=27269

Romania PM reappoints Palestinian-born minister
BUCHAREST (Reuters) 18 Jan — Romania’s Prime Minister Emil Boc on Tuesday reappointed a popular deputy health minister, whose resignation last week over proposed healthcare reforms sparked violent protests across the country.  Raed Arafat, a respected Palestinian-born doctor who created an efficient medical emergency system in Romania, resigned after criticizing the draft bill, which aimed to privatize parts of the health system and is backed by President Traian Basescu.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453336

EU contributes $1.7 million to Palestinian lawyers group
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Jan — The European Union has contributed 1.4 million euros ($1.78 million) to the Palestinian Bar Association, a press statement said Monday.  The funds will be used to train lawyers, improve awareness of citizen’s rights, and improve the association’s IT capacity, the release said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453028

Analysis / Opinion

The people with stolen identities / Edra Arb
18 Jan — …Saturday the 14th of January in Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem. The community centre is a regular host of guided tours to show and inform about the situation for refugees in Palestine. Most commonly foreign tourist groups are visiting for a worthwhile experience on their trip. This afternoon a bus from Jordan and Lebanon arrives, full of Palestinians who do not have a Palestinian citizenship and have never been to Palestine before. The tour is different from the ordinary, since the guide does not have to tell them how it is like to be a refugee. They already know. Instead the tour is about life in Palestine, and how life changed since the wall was built. Even though the sight of the huge wall might seem sad, the crowd is animated and hundreds of photos are taken. This is the country their last generations have been fighting for. Here do people practice the same culture and have been through the same thing. They are not visiting their actual former villages though, most of them are located in Israel and the access is closed for Palestinians. The trip is a search for an identity, and for a homeland. Are they Lebanese, Jordanians or Palestinians? Their identities have been unclear in generations.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/678-op-ed-the-people-with-stolen-identities

Interview with Ban White, author of Palestinians in Israel
17 Jan …acclaimed journalist Ben White spoke to PNN about the experience and history of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Palestinians in Israel, published in December by Pluto Press, has received positive reviews Ilan Pappe, Omar Barghouthi, and the Electronic Intifada and is available for purchase on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palestinians-Israel-Segregation-Discrimination-Democracy/dp/0745332285). The interview follows: Q: We’ll start with current realities. Given your research, can you compare the relationship of today’s Palestinians in Israel and the Israeli state to any other period in history? What recent events changed that relationship?”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/top-stories/671-op-ed-interview-with-ben-white-author-of-qpalestinians-in-israelq

Supreme Court’s latest decisions inch toward West Bank annexation / Yossi Gurvitz
…The court made the absurd claim that according to the Oslo Accords, Israel is allowed to continue quarrying in the territories until a final settlement is reached. It did so while conveniently ignoring the fact that the Accords had an expiration date: May 1999 … The High Court further said that we must consider the fact that the occupation is “prolonged” and that we cannot freeze economic activity in the occupied territory until the occupation ends. This seems to be the first time since 1967 that the High Court retreats slightly from its concept of “held territory”, which it used until now, and actually updates it in accordance with reality. Its decision changes the status of the occupation from a temporary phenomenon – as a result of its temporariness we may, temporarily, suspend the rights of the local residents, since the “final settlement” will be soon upon us, though it may tarry – to the normal state of being. Which is somewhat revolutionary, as the whole concept of occupation, in international law, is that it should be temporary, and as short as possible. The occupation of Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan, two marauding nations which were the worse danger to humanity aside from the Soviet Union, ended seven years after it began
http://972mag.com/hcj-latest-decisions-inch-towards-west-bank-annexation/33332/

Lawfare and targeted killing: developments in the Israeli and US contexts / Lisa Hajjar
15 Jan — Over the last decade, the term lawfare, an amalgamation of “law” and “warfare,” has been adopted and popularized among people engaged in monitoring, judging and debating the legality of a state’s wartime behavior vis-à-vis enemies on and off the battlefield. Today, the dominant theme in debates about lawfare turns on the contested legitimacy of litigation to challenge military and security policies and practices; and efforts to sue or prosecute state agents, government-funded contractors, and corporations who are alleged to have engaged in or abetted serious violations of law in the conduct of war.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4049/lawfare-and-targeted-killing_developments-in-the-i

The VIPs’ hush money / Amira Hass
18 Jan — It’s no coincidence that a group of young Palestinians now organizing protests in the West Bank against a return to negotiations is called ‘Palestinians for Dignity.’ — Two people signed the entry permit into Israel that Mahmoud Abbas received from Israel’s Civil Administration on January 1 (and which will be in force until March 1 … The permit also states that Abbas lives in the Gaza Strip (where, as is well known, he has not set foot since 2007 ); that he is “allowed to go into Israel, except for Eilat, and into the Judea and Samaria region [i.e. the West Bank],” but not to drive a car in Israel. It states that his reason for entry is that he is “a senior PA official”; that he may stay overnight only in the West Bank or Gaza, even though the permit is in force from 00:00 to 00:00 (midnight to midnight ). Also, it says he is allowed to move about without a magnetic ID card, but the permit is “valid despite the [security] prevention” – meaning the Shin Bet security service registers him as a security menace, but the permit is given as a gesture of kindness. .
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-vips-hush-money-1.407887

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