and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Nakba
Israel to expand Ariel and build 2100 housing units on lands of Qalqilya and Tulkarem
...This project, numbered '11134 / M-A ', will expand the settlement of Ariel in two phases. The first phase will be the building of 700 new housing units on large areas of the village of Kafr Lakef located between the towns of Azzoun and Jinsafut in the governorate of Qalqilya. The second phase of the expansion will be the building of 1400 of new housing units on large areas in Baket AlHatab, Ozba, Abu Hamada and Kafr Aboush in Tulkarem Governorate.
In the same context, Israeli bulldozers continue for the third consecutive day of work on the roads and land on the western side of the settlement of Rotem which was built on the territory of Wadi al-Maleh in the northern [Jordan] Valley. A local Palestinian explained that a large force of the occupation army are surrounding the target area to protect the equipment and secure the work which accelerated during the past few days. He stressed that the Israeli scheme is aimed at emptying the area of Wadi al-Maleh and expelling the population as a prelude to finally take it over.
link to www.imemc.org
How Abu Dis' hills were stolen in the night
EI 18 May by Lee Baker -- ...Moving with dexterity within a constrained space is something that these young men I saw one Friday night during my recent travels in Palestine have become accustomed to over the last decade. They grew up in Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem that found itself suddenly cut off from the rest of the city one night in 2002. Mohannad, a friend in Abu Dis, recalls how a 24-hour curfew was imposed by the Israeli military that night. Nobody knew what they would find when they were allowed out of their homes again. When my friend’s shepherd grandfather came out of his house, he found his world had shrunk overnight. A night of construction had left his tiny home cramped into a tight corner, surrounded on two sides by the concrete wall the Israelis had built. His sunlight had now been removed for much of the day, and the hills just a couple of hundred meters away were now inaccessible to his flock.
link to electronicintifada.net
New film puts Jerusalem activism in the frame
[with two film excerpts] NEW YORK (Ma‘an) 18 May by Fiona Tarazi -- Just Vision, the production company behind the widely acclaimed 2010 film Budrus, is back with another documentary breaking new ground. My Neighbourhood documents evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah, and the grassroots movement that has sprung up to prevent them. The group has made its name drawing attention to what mainstream media often does not -- the non-violence movement and its leaders in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... In one scene, activists filmed 12-year old Mohammed El-Kurd as he pinned a sign reading "We Won’t Leave" onto the home from which he and his family have just been evicted. A settler now living in the house watches from the doorway -- Mohammed stands defiantly, holding his gaze. The film's co-director Rebekah Wingert-Jabi points to this scene, caught off chance by activists, as one of the documentary's most powerful moments.
link to www.maannews.net
The stories Sayed Kashua wouldn't dare tell his children
Haaretz 17 May -- It wasn’t the way she told them: remembering Grandma and her tales on Nakba Day ... I’m a father now and I have children who get scared at night and come to me to hide. Three children, Grandma. Sometimes I tell them the same bedtime stories you used to tell me. I told them how you used to have these huge watermelons that you would load on the backs of a convoy of camels, to take to the sea to be loaded on boats. I told them about the cows, the donkeys and the horses. About how on holidays you would dress up in a man’s clothes, put on an abaya and a keffiyeh, and gallop on the horse together with Grandpa all the way to Jaffa. About the cafe in Jaffa and how you always told us about the city women who sat there shamelessly smoking narghiles -- just like the men ... But the other stories, Grandma, the ones that made you emotional, that made you cry when you told them -- those I haven’t yet dared to tell. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t want my kids to have to bear that burden, maybe because I want to give them the illusion that a home is a permanent thing, strong, protective, so they wouldn’t fear, as I do, a disaster lurking just beyond the doorstep.
link to www.haaretz.com
Culture Ministry monitors occupation's violations of Palestinian antiquities
GAZA (PIC) 18 May -- The Ministry of Culture issued an awareness Bulletin about the Zionist most prominent violations against the archaeological buildings and sites in the occupied Palestinian territories, aiming at raising awareness about the importance of preserving the Palestinian cultural heritage, and at unveiling the occupation's plans to erase Palestinian and Islamic history through building Zionist museums and synagogues on the ruins of Palestinian and Islamic monuments and excavations.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Jewish settlers break into Al-Aqsa with government minister and Knesset members
MEMO 18 May -- A group of illegal Jewish settlers, accompanied by an Israeli government minister and a number of members of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), broke into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday morning, 17 May, amid a state of alert and while being heavily guarded by Israeli occupation forces. Mahmoud Abu Atta, a spokesman for the Al-Aqsa for Endowment and Heritage Foundation, told Quds Press that a state of tension is prevailing in occupied Jerusalem after the incident. The 24 settlers, the minister and MKs, as well as journalists, made suspicious circuits of the mosque courtyards during the incursion. Mr. Abu Atta pointed out that during the next days and weeks Israeli Jews will be celebrating the forty-fifth anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem, what they call "the unification" of the city. At this time, he said, there will be many such incursions and attacks against Al-Aqsa and other holy sites.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Jewish worshipers visit Nablus tomb
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 18 May -- Israeli soldiers escorted hundreds of Jewish worshipers to Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, witnesses said. Clashes broke out as locals threw stones and soldiers fired tear gas, witnesses told Ma‘an. Jews believe that the tomb is the final resting place of the biblical figure Joseph. Muslims believe that an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat, was buried there.
link to www.maannews.net
Israel razes settler outpost structures
AFP 17 May -- Israeli forces demolished four structures in the Oz Zion and Ramat Migron settlement outposts in the West Bank early Thursday, prompting clashes that saw six people arrested, Israeli officials said. "A temporary structure and water tower were demolished in Ramat Migron," civil administration spokesman Amir Koren told AFP. "The site was abandoned." "In Oz Zion, two wood structures were razed. One of them was inhabited," he said.
link to news.yahoo.com
Violence / Aggression
Murder for fun and 'morale': shocking video of lethal Israeli attack on sleeping Palestinian
EI 17 May by Ali Abunimah -- The camera follows heavily armed Israeli security personnel raiding a prison dormitory, shouting at the prisoners to get out of bed, and that they would be shot if they didn’t obey orders. The prisoners can be heard screaming in terror at the surprise attack. It was a night of brutal and lethal violence that Israeli participants would describe as one that was "beautiful" and "happy." One of the Israeli attackers shouts, amid flashes, flame and smoke: "I want to open these gates and take care of these little sons of whores." Other Israelis shout vulgar Arabic insults at the prisoners regarding their mothers. Prisoners writhe in agony and fear. One can be seen -- in images reminiscent of Abu Ghraib – lying on the ground as an Israeli points a gun at him shouting "lie on your stomach!" Others are shot without apparent reason ... These are scenes from a video that was shown in April 2011 by the investigative program Ouvda on Israel’s Channel 2 television station. The violent attack it records against the Palestinian prisoners on 22 October 2007 was real, but it was carried out as a “training exercise” for Israeli security personnel at Ketziot Prison to boost their "morale" and "motivation." ... This video, Ouvda said, is one "the whole system" has been trying to keep under wraps for more than three years.
link to electronicintifada.net
Israeli NGO: Police beat handcuffed detainees in Palestinian solidarity protest
Haaretz 18 May by Akiva Eldar -- The Justice Ministry has received complaints of severe police violence against [Israeli and Palestinian] demonstrators, including the use of Taser electroshock weapons, beating and kicking bound detainees, racist verbal abuse and sexual harassment of female detainees. The complaints were filed to the ministry's department for investigation of police officers by the Adalah advocacy group two weeks ago, after a demonstration in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners outside the prison clinic in Ramle.
link to www.haaretz.com
Arrested, beaten, and threatened with rape. A personal testimony.
972mag 18 May by By Leehee Rothschild -- "One of the girls is sitting on the bench beside me; an officer places his fist on her head and tells her 'If you dare speak even a single word, you shall be punished.' We are screaming and struggling as they take her away, but they shove us back to our seats, yelling 'Sit down you stinking Arabs,' and 'Don’t you move, bitch.' We can hear the tasers at work in the other room." -- Israeli protesters arrested after a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers in Ramle on May 3 testified to suffering extreme police violence and abuse while in detention. Their complaints have been filed by Adalah with the Justice Ministry’s department for police investigation. Here is one protester's personal testimony.
link to 972mag.com
Family of slain Jerusalem man launch website, petition
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 May -- The family of a Palestinian man shot and killed by Israeli police in Jerusalem have launched a website and petition calling for a criminal investigation into the incident. The website of his family says Ziad Jilani was murdered June 11, 2010 by Maxim Vinogradov, a member of the Israeli border police, after crashing his car in east Jerusalem. Israeli police say they opened fire at him when he got out of his car and started running from the scene. The incident occurred amidst violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
link to www.maannews.net
Killing without consequence: New campaign challenges Israeli impunity
[with video] Mondoweiss 18 May by Annie Robbins and Adam Horowitz -- Killing Without Consequence is a new campaign calling on the Israeli government to bring criminal charges against Maxim Vinogradov, the border police officer who killed Ziad Jilani after a routine traffic accident on his way home from Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque. Jilani's case, which Mondoweiss covered extensively at the time, is being used to raise the larger issue of indiscriminate Israeli violence against Palestinians and the need for accountability ... The video above features interviews with lawyer Michael Sfard, attorney Hassan Tabajah and journalist Amira Hass and shares startling new information about Vinogradov, including incriminating comments he made over Facebook and other social media sites which reveal a deeply racist and violent worldview.
link to mondoweiss.net
Gaza
Energy Authority: Egypt's procrastination delays the arrival of Qatari fuel
GAZA (PIC) 16 May -- ... The Authority said in a statement on Wednesday that it has exhausted all efforts and all required actions to receive the Qatari fuel shipment, currently in the port of Suez's reservoirs, pointing out that the only power plant in Gaza has been working, since four months, with only one generator out of four because of the lack of fuel supplies for the station. The energy and natural resources authority called on the Egyptian authorities to allow the Qatari fuel into Gaza immediately ... Furthermore, the authority added that allowing only 450 thousand liters per day means running only two generators out of four in the power plant. Thus, the electricity crisis in Gaza will not be solved and the outages will continue. Besides, transferring all Qatari fuel shipments to the power plant by this amount will take 65 days. Yet, the power plant is in dire need of this shipment..
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Gaza-built boat to sail from Gaza
IMEMC 18 May -- The Canadian Boat to Gaza, in cooperation, with international initiatives in the US, Australia and other countries, is launching a new initiative to challenge the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade of Gaza, the only Mediterranean port closed to shipping. This new initiative: Gaza's Ark, will build a boat in Gaza, using existing resources. A crew of internationals and Palestinians will sail it out of Gaza carrying Palestinian products to fulfill trade deals with international buyers ... Gaza's Ark will help revitalize the dwindling ship building industry in Gaza and help ensure the transmission of this disappearing expertise (another effect of the blockade) to the younger generations.
link to www.imemc.org
Two solidarity convoys enter Gaza
IMEMC 17 May -- The "Ansar 2" and the "Miles Of Smiles 12" solidarity convoys managed to enter the Gaza Strip, on Thursday evening, via the Rafah border terminal on the Gaza Egypt border, the Quds Net News Agency reported ... The Quds Net News said that several Arab and European physicians, lawyers and businessmen are part of the two solidarity convoys. Head of the Ansar 2 convoy, Wael As-Saqqa, stated that the convoy will be establishing a fund for supporting small projects that would help eliminate unemployment in the besieged and impoverished coastal region. As-Saqqa added that bids will be announced for the construction of a pediatric hospital, in addition to a physical rehabilitation center in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
link to www.imemc.org
Hunger strikes
Prison authority ends isolation of 18 prisoners
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 May – The Israel Prison Service (IPS) Thursday brought 18 prisoners held in solitary confinement for years out of isolation and placed them in jails with other Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club ... Solitary confinement for long periods of time was the main issue that has triggered the strike. Most prominent among the isolated prisoners were Ahmad Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hasan Salameh, Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed, all top Hamas operatives.
link to english.wafa.ps
Several prisoners still on hunger strike in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 18 May -- Several prisoners in Israeli jails are still on hunger strike, officials said Thursday ... Israeli Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma‘an that Mahmoud al-Sarsak and Akram al-Rekhawi are refusing food. They are being held in Ramle prison clinic, she said. Al-Sarsak has been on hunger strike for 60 days and is protesting his detention without charge or trial. A soccer player, al-Sarsak was detained in July 2009 while leaving the Gaza Strip to join the national team in the West Bank. He being held under Israel's "unlawful combatant" law and has not been informed of any charges against him.
The prisoner rights group Addameer told Ma‘an that al-Sarsak is the only prisoner held under the policy. Addameer says al-Sarsak was told he would be released on July 1 but the offer was retracted.
Al-Rekhawi was held in Ramle's prison clinic prior to launching his hunger strike and is still refusing food in protest at inadequate medical treatment. He has been on hunger strike since April 17.
Abedat said another prisoner Mohammad Abu Libda was still on hunger strike and being held in Ramle clinic along with Sarsak and Rekhawi. Abu Libda, 35, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, has been detained since 2000 and was sentenced to 12 years. He has been on hunger strike since April 17.
link to www.maannews.net
Two Palestinian prisoners believed to remain on hunger strike
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 17 May – Two Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are believed to have remained on hunger strike in spite of a deal reached on Monday between the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the striking prisoners that have ended their strike, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said Thursday. It said that Mohammad Taj resumed his hunger strike on Tuesday because the IPS has failed to treat him as a prisoner of war. Taj went on hunger strike 58 days ago demanding to be treated as a war prisoner. He was beaten on Wednesday in an attempt to pressure him to end his hunger strike after he was taken to solitary confinement in Al-Jalameh prison, according to rights groups.
link to english.wafa.ps
Three Palestinians 'restart' hunger strike
AFP 17 May -- Three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are refusing food, despite the signing this week of a deal to end a mass prisoner hunger strike, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Thursday. An official from the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, which tracks the well-being of the 4,700 Palestinians in Israeli jails, told AFP that "prisoners Mahmud Sarsak, Akram Rikhawi and Mohammed Abdel Aziz are still on hunger strike." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said none of the three had ever stopped their protest
link to news.yahoo.com
"We must sustain hunger strike solidarity," says leading prisoner rights campaigner
EI 18 May -- On Thursday, The Electronic Intifada’s Nora Barrows-Friedman interviewed Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, the Palestinian prisoner support and human rights organization. Addameer has been at the forefront of advocacy work and public information about the recent hunger strikes. Nora Barrows-Friedman: First off, what did this mass hunger strike reveal about Israel’s policies against Palestinian prisoners and their families — policies that have been going on for decades inside and outside the prisons? Sahar Francis: Actually, I think the hunger strikes highlighted the most problematic practices against the prisoners and their families.... NBF: Talk about the five provisions that were agreed upon between representatives of the hunger strikers and the Israeli Prison Service. How would you assess the process of coming to that agreement, and now, just a few days later, what are some of the prisoners with whom Addameer works saying about the agreement?
link to electronicintifada.net
The Electronic Intifada's weekly podcast -- 18 May, 2012
This week on The Electronic Intifada podcast, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails end their collective hunger strike: we’ll have a roundup of news from our correspondents and bloggers, as well as in-depth analysis from Sahar Francis, director of the Palestinian prisoner support organization Addameer, about the details of the agreement to end the history-making hunger strikes, and what still needs to be done in terms of bringing attention to the Israeli occupation regime of arrest and detention; also, the Palestinian Authority remains silent as Israel continues to consolidate its fuel monopoly; a report on Palestinian children who work for a pittance in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank; British student leaders condemn an anti-Palestinian policy at an Israeli college; and news from the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
link to electronicintifada.net
Israel's prison regime can no longer go unnoticed
EI 18 May by Safa Joudeh -- Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would have us believe that Israel willingly and graciously conceded the demands of 2,000 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in the name of peace, and as an act of good faith towards Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. But neither Abbas nor the Israeli government could have contained the ensuing uproar had any of the prisoners died. It was only in the last 10 days of the month-long mass hunger strike (four prisoners had passed the 70-day mark, seven had passed 50 days) that it gained visible media coverage. Israeli officials were quick to invoke security grounds.
link to electronicintifada.net
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails: Their legal status and their rights
MEMO 18 May by Dr Abdulrahman Muhammad Ali -- The status of prisoners of war is a very complicated issue in international humanitarian law. Many people think - wrongly - that all of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are to be considered as prisoners of war. International humanitarian law, in particular the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and its protocols, gives a very precise definition of "prisoner of war" which is not applicable to the majority of the Palestinians detained by the occupying power, Israel. To understand this issue; we can divide the subject into two parts: Reference to prison names and locations and the number of prisoners - male, female and children should be mentioned. We can refer here to Israel's violation of article 76 of Fourth Geneva Convention which states that "protected persons" accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein. Download the full briefing paper
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Why the BBC must change
MEMO 18 May by Dr. Daud Abdullah -- Love it or hate it, the BBC is perhaps the most powerful media institution in the world. Not even the Murdoch empire in its heyday matched the scale and impact of the BBC's operations. Yet, in the last week, it has suffered two embarrassing setbacks in the aftermath of which its funders, the British public, are entitled to a change of policy. For almost one month, the corporation's coverage of the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike gravitated from disregard to marginalisation and then to grudging acknowledgement. It got to the final stage, reluctantly, long after other sections of the British media were highlighting the story. The BBC's performance was so pathetic that even the right-wing Daily Mail got there first with a piece by David Rose on 5 May regretting the fact that "1,600 are on hunger strike and the world doesn't even bat an eyelid".
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
More prisoner news
Nahshon unit storms section 6 of Negev prison
NEGEV (PIC) 17 May -- The Israeli Nahshon unit stormed at dawn Wednesday section 6 of the Negev prison, maltreated the Palestinian prisoners and sabotaged their personal belongings at the pretext of searching for cellphones. A source from inside the prison affirmed the Nahshon soldiers searched the prisoners in section 6 and deliberately caused damage to their belongings. The administration of the Negev prison, afterwards, closed the section, banned family visits, deprived all prisoners from taking their break time in the yard and confiscated all electric appliances including TV sets.
In another incident proving Israel's premeditated intent to violate the Egyptian-brokered agreement with the Palestinian hunger strikers, the families of prisoners in sections 10 and 11 of Eshel jail in Beersheba were told they would not be allowed to see their relatives.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Hamdan: The resistance will act if Israel violates its deal with hunger strikers
BEIRUT (PIC) 16 May -- Hamas foreign relations official Osama Hamdan said the Palestinian resistance has many cards to use against the Israeli occupation if it tried to circumvent its recent agreement with leaders of the Palestinian hunger strikers. "It is something habitual for the Israeli occupation to manipulate the terms of the Egypt-brokered agreement," Hamdan told Palestine newspaper on Tuesday. "The Israeli occupation cannot be trusted because it continuously doctors and violates treaties and agreements..."
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli troops rearrest prisoner in Shalit deal
Al Arabiya 18 May -- Israeli troops on Friday rearrested a Palestinian who was freed under terms of a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Hamas movement, Palestinian security sources said. Arref Fakhuri, an officer in the Palestinian intelligence services, was arrested early on Friday at his home in Jaba' village near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, they said.
link to english.alarabiya.net
Israel stops ex-prisoner from traveling to Jordan
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 May -- Israeli forces prevented an ex-detainee from traveling to Jordan on Friday to visit his wife, a PA official said. Deputy Prisoners Minister Ziad Abu Ain said that Israeli forces had prevented Nizar al-Tamimi from crossing the Allenby bridge ... Al-Tamimi was given a permit which allowed him to leave the occupied West Bank as part of the prisoner swap, his wife told Ma‘an ... They were both released as part of the prisoner swap last year, with Ahlam exiled to Jordan.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians from the West Bank
PNN -- On Friday, 18th May, Hebrew-language broadcast said that Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians, claiming they are "wanted". Local sources said that Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinian Youths from Bethlehem and Jenin governorates. One name was revealed: the child Ahmad Ma'ali from Bethlehem, as he was arrested after the soldiers assaulted him and his family.
link to english.pnn.ps
Syria: Deported Palestinian journalist speaks out about torture in custody
Amnesty International 17 May -- ...Salameh Kaileh, a 57-year-old Jordanian national of Palestinian descent, has lived and worked in the Syrian capital Damascus since 1981 ... "The main reason for my arrest, from what I understood, is a conversation I had on Facebook with a friend outside Syria about my position on the revolution and my opinion about the Muslim Brotherhood and so on," Kaileh told Amnesty International ... Following his arrest, Kaileh was held at a Syrian Air Force Intelligence branch in Damascus, where he was insulted and beaten for days. Officers used the falaqa torture method on him, whipping the soles of his feet with a thin bamboo stick ... While at the military hospital, he faced even more torture than before ... "Unfortunately, the hospital was much worse than what I was subjected to in prison. It was not a hospital, but a slaughterhouse," Kaileh said.
link to www.amnesty.org
Activism / Solidarity / BDS
'We will not be silenced': Stop the Wall youth activist speaks on repression and resistance
EI 17 May by Eoin O'Ceallaigh -- Stop the Wall has been prominent lately in organizing protests to support Palestinian hunger strikers, resisting their detention without charge by Israel. The group’s strong opposition to Israeli apartheid has resulted in it becoming a target of repression. Earlier this month, its offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah were raided by the Israeli military. Hassan Kharajeh, a youth coordinator with Stop the Wall, has been especially active in mobilizing young Palestinians to oppose the occupation. He spoke to Eoin O’Ceallaigh, outreach coordinator with Stop the Wall, about the role of youth in the hunger strike demonstrations and why today’s generation of youth has Israel scared.
link to electronicintifada.net
Report: Denmark set to label settlement produce
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Ma‘an) 18 May -- Denmark is set to introduce a labeling system to denote products made in Israeli settlements, Danish media said Friday. "This is a move that will clearly show consumers that this produce has been produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also the European governments have rejected," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal was quoted as saying by Danish online news-site Politken.
link to www.maannews.net
BDS victory: South Africa strips Ahava's 'made in Israel' label
Mondoweiss 18 May by Allison Deger -- Earlier this month, South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry announced that products produced in the West Bank but labeled "made in Israel" will no longer be sold in the country. The judgment calls for "traders in South Africa, not to incorrectly label products that originate from the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as products of Israel."
link to mondoweiss.net
Political news
Abbas amends election law by decree
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 May -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday issued an executive order amending the 2005 election law as a precursor to holding a municipal vote sooner than scheduled, an official said.
link to www.maannews.net
Abu Marzouq: Hamas and Fatah to meet in Cairo
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 May -- The leaderships of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Cairo next week to revive their stalled reconciliation agreement, the deputy head of Hamas' politburo said Friday.
link to www.maannews.net
Official says Fatah never approved Fayyad cabinet
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 May -- A senior Fatah official says his party was not properly consulted on the makeup of Salam Fayyad's new government, which was admitted on Wednesday ... Tawfiq Tirawi said Thursday that when the central committee met after the weekend, it did not discuss the names of the new ministers. They were only told that there would be changes.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli Racism / Discrimination
Kfar Sava hospital bans teaching staff from speaking in Arabic
Haaretz 18 May -- Arab teachers and students working in Kfar Sava's Meir Medical Center have been forbidden to speak to each other in Arabic, despite the fact that Arabic is one of Israel's official languages ... Haaretz learned that three Arab families whose children were hospitalized in the center filed a complaint with the hospital management ... A report prepared by the Mossawa Center shows that state and public institutions are the most racist institutions in the country, and practice the worst discrimination against members of the Arab community, he said. Only about 6 percent of the state's budget is allocated to the Arab community, and the center's report for 2012 found a rise in the number of racist incidents in state and public institutions, compared to the previous report, he said.
link to www.haaretz.com
NGO threatened with arson and violence for helping Africans
972mag 17 May by Mya Guarnieri -- A human rights organization that assists foreigners received threats of arson and rape within hours of Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s remarks that African asylum seekers are “infiltrators” and most are “criminals” who “damage the Zionist project.” The NGO has filed an incitement complaint against Yishai.
link to 972mag.com
Israeli charged over arson attack on Africa migrants
AFP 18 May -- An Israeli man has been charged with arson after he threw Molotov cocktails at the homes of African migrants in south Tel Aviv, highlighting a sharp rise in tension between locals and immigrants. According to the indictment, which was handed down on Thursday and widely quoted in the Israeli press, Haim Mula threw seven Molotov cocktails at several apartments in the city's Shapira neighbourhood in late April.
link to news.yahoo.com
Israel High Court: Onus on employers to explain lower pay for women
Haaretz 18 May -- Dramatically strengthening women's workplace rights, a High Court of Justice ruling released on Thursday gave Israeli women more power to sue employers who paid them less than their male colleagues ... The court's ruling is likely to also affect other cases of discrimination, either sexual, racial, age related, and other cases.
link to www.haaretz.com
Upcoming amendment will test Israeli gov't regard for LGBT rights
972mag 18 May by Elinor Sidi -- Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren recently boasted about Israel’s record on gay rights - however the LGBT community in Jerusalem has faced repeated intolerance and push back from the government. A proposal to be presented this Sunday to extend protection from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation will be the real test of its commitment to gay rights.
link to 972mag.com
Other news
Palestinian Journalist Forum condemns Al-Asir TV channel director's arrest
GAZA (PIC) 18 May -- The Palestinian Journalist Forum condemned the arrest of Al-Asir TV channel managing director Baha Mosa and the confiscation of its equipment after storming its headquarters in Jenin in the occupied West Bank ... It stressed that the occupation's various attempts to suppress the supportive voices to prisoners and their rights will fail as all previous attempts to silence those voices by arresting journalists failed, pointing out that eight journalists are still jailed in occupation prisons.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Interpol 'refuses to help' in Arafat adviser case
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 May -- Interpol is refusing to cooperate with Palestinian prosecutors to summon a former presidential economic adviser to the West Bank to answer corruption charges, the attorney-general said Friday.
link to www.maannews.net
Supreme Court rules against Hebron municipality
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 17 May -- The Palestinian Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a decision by local ministers in Hebron, which would have seen the village of al-Dir added to the municipal boundaries of Surif ... The head of the al-Dir local council, Muhammad Baradiyeh, said the people of his village did not want to be lumped in with another town. The decision might have affected control over public projects. The high court agreed and on Thursday ruled against the Palestinian Authority. [comment on this article by Brian Cohen is interesting]
link to www.maannews.net
Palestinian Heritage Museum re-opens in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 17 May -- The Palestinian Heritage Museum at Dar al-Tifel al-Arabi in East Jerusalem reopened Thursday in ceremonies attended by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the Assessor for Cooperation at the Italian Province of Pisa, Silvia Pagnin, as representative of the Italian partners of the project Istituzione Centro Nord-Sud. The museum intends to preserve and empower the Palestinian cultural and identity heritage and to train and retrain the museum’s staff, said a press release by the Italian Cooperation in Jerusalem. Within the museum’s rooms, many valuable traditional Palestinian dresses and precious jewellery, until now preserved in storage room, were exhibited to the public.
link to english.wafa.ps
Israel 'detonates 700 mines' along Jordan border
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detonated several hundred anti-tank landmines along the Israel-Jordan border on Wednesday, Israeli news reports said Friday. Israel's Ynet news site said 700 landmines were destroyed in an agreement with Jordan. After Wednesday's operation, the total number of cleared landmines is 60,000 from the site in the Jordan Valley, according to the report. Another 14,000 have yet to be removed. The area will eventually be turned into agricultural land, Ynet added.
Hundreds of thousands of landmines and other unexploded ordnance remain within and surrounding Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank, according to the American NGO Roots of Peace.
link to www.maannews.net
IDF nabs 474 deserters , draft dodgers in 6 days
Ynet 18 May -- In less than a week, Military Police reduces number of deserters, draft dodgers by 14.5%. Some 200 turn themselves in.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Video: The Israeli-Jordan barn owl love that knows no borders
BBC 18 May -- Farmers from Israel and Jordan have been using barn owls instead of pesticides to deal with mice and rats for the last 10 years as part of a joint conservation venture called Project Barn Owl.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
Israel grooms ties with EU member Czech Republic
AFP 17 May -- Israel and the Czech Republic inked a raft of inter-governmental deals on Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a two-day visit to Prague. Israel has "no better friends in Europe than the Czech Republic," Netanyahu said following talks with his Czech counterpart Petr Necas in Prague. "The Czech people understand what it's like to be a believer in democracy in a hostile region," he added.
link to news.yahoo.com
Israeli group wins terror suit against Syria, Iran
JERUSALEM (AP) 15 May -- An Israeli advocacy group won a $323 million judgment in a U.S. court against Iran and Syria for supporting Palestinian militants that killed an American teenager and ten others in a 2006 bombing, the group's director said Tuesday.
link to news.yahoo.com
US eyes funding boost for Israel's 'Iron Dome' shield
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 17 May -- The Pentagon will seek to provide Israel with an additional $70 million in the coming months for its short-range rocket shield, known as the "Iron Dome," US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart on Thursday. So far, the United States has provided $205 million to support the Iron Dome
link to www.maannews.net
Quality time with King Bibi
Haaretz 17 May -- TIME magazine's cover story about Netanyahu would never be published by the Israeli media, because only U.S. journalists get to spend real quality time with the PM.
link to www.haaretz.com
Analysis / Opinion
Violence and non-violence for Arabs: the white man judgeth / As‘ad AbuKhalil
Al-Akhbar 18 May -- Watching US media and academic debates about the Arab world in the last year has been eye opening -- only for the naïve observer. For decades, Arabs have been lectured to and hectored. They were told that no sympathy for their causes is possible without adherence to non-violence by the Palestinians and their supporters. They were told that the reason why Western governments and media don’t sympathize with their cause is because Western public sentiments run counter to any violent practices. Of course, such claims were bogus because Israel has never wavered in its consistent and regular resort to war crimes and massacres without ever disappointing its supporters (conservative and liberal alike) in Western countries.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Excuse me, but Israel has no right to exist / Sharmine Narwani
Al-Akhbar 17 May -- The phrase "right to exist" entered my consciousness in the 1990s just as the concept of the two-state solution became part of our collective lexicon. In any debate at university, when a Zionist was out of arguments, those three magic words were invoked to shut down the conversation with an outraged, "are you saying Israel doesn’t have the right to exist??" Of course you couldn’t challenge Israel’s right to exist -- that was like saying you were negating a fundamental Jewish right to have…rights, with all manner of Holocaust guilt thrown in for effect. Except of course the Holocaust is not my fault -- or that of Palestinians. The cold-blooded program of ethnically cleansing Europe of its Jewish population has been so callously and opportunistically utilized to justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian Arab nation, that it leaves me utterly unmoved. I have even caught myself -- shock -- rolling my eyes when I hear Holocaust and Israel in the same sentence. What moves me instead in this post-two-state era, is the sheer audacity of Israel even existing. What a fantastical idea, this notion that a bunch of rank outsiders from another continent could appropriate an existing, populated nation for themselves -- and convince the “global community” that it was the moral thing to do. I’d laugh at the chutzpah if this wasn’t so serious.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Ziyah Yaghi: Guilty of being Muslim in America / Steven Lendman
18 May -- Post-9/11, America declared war on Islam. Wars rage abroad. At home, innocent victims are wrongfully charged, prosecuted, convicted by intimidated and pressured juries, and imprisoned. Ziyad's one of many hundreds serving long prison terms in America's gulag. His crime is being Muslim in America at the wrong time. On July 27, 2009, dozens of heavily armed Swat and hostage rescue team members arrested seven North Carolina men on terrorist-related charges ... Charges claimed "conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, main and injure persons abroad," despite no plot, no crime, or intention to commit one.
link to sjlendman.blogspot.com
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