and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement
JNF to forest-depopulate Bedouin village in Naqab in Wednesday
AIC 1 May — The Israeli police informed residents of the Bedouin-Palestinian village of el Araqib that from Wednesday they will be providing security for bulldozers and workers of the Jewish National Fund, which will begin planting trees on four plots of el Araqib that the JNF had previous committed to not touching. Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights attempted to receive clarifications on this matter, but received partial and contradictory responses. The residents of el Araqib, who have seen their village be destroyed by Israel more than 30 times in the past 18 months, together with a coalition of Israeli and Palestinian groups, are attempting to mobilize activists, public figures, Knesset members and organizations to prevent this cynical use of trees and forestation as a means of displacing the Bedouin residents from their land. Activists are requested to be in el Araqib early on Wednesday morning to meet the JNF bulldozers together with el Araqib residents.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/28-news/4355-jnf-to-forest-depopulate-bedouin-village-in-naqab-on-wednesday.html
Photoessay: Nowhere to call home: the plight of Israel’s Bedouin communities
ABC News [U.S.] 1 May — Italian photographer Giuliano Camarda visited the Arab al-Jahalin tribe of Palestinian Bedouins in October 2011 and discovered what he describes as a people who have shown great determination and impressive resilience despite their hardships. He documented the lives of the residents in his stark and riveting “Forced Ethnic Relocation” photo essay. About 20 Palestinian Bedouin communities make up the Arab al-Jahalin, living between Jerusalem and Jericho, in the occupied West Bank … On April 17, 2012, a film was released, directed by Harvey Stein and produced by Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, about the plight of the al-Jahalin.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/05/nowhere-to-call-home-the-plight-of-israels-bedouin-communities/
WATCH: Alice Walker narrates new documentary on Jahalin Bedouin, with Roger Waters on soundtrack Maureen Clare Murphy
EI 2 May — Nowhere Left to Go: The Jahalin Bedouin, a new short documentary, can now be watched in its entirety on YouTube. In the film, Jahalin Bedouin community members explain how the Israeli government plans to forcibly displace them yet again — the community was originally displaced to the periphery of Jerusalem from their historic lands in the Naqab (Negev) desert during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The film, a project of the Jahalin Association, is narrated by celebrated author and human rights activist Alice Walker. The Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters contributes a performance of “We Shall Overcome” to the soundtrack, with instrumental music by The Dubliners and South Sinai Bedouin musicians.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/watch-alice-walker-narrates-new-documentary-jahalin-bedouin-roger-waters
For Jerusalem’s Palestinians, Israeli ID policies cast a long shadow / Hadani Ditmars
Haaretz 2 May — For a growing number of Palestinians with Jerusalem ID papers, a trip overseas can mean the loss of their right to residency in their homeland … Consider the case of Tamam al Zobaidi, a woman whose family roots in Jerusalem span centuries. But half a world away, in Vancouver, Canada, the effects of an inequitable Israeli policy on Jerusalem identity papers are putting her and her family through a familiar ordeal. Their new home is beginning to feel a lot like their old one, in some unexpected ways. The insecurity and lack of mobility that have become part of the Palestinian experience have followed them all the way to this far-flung corner of the Pacific. Since the middle of April, Tamam has joined thousands of her compatriots living in a Kafkaesque legal limbo. Without any travel documents or other ID, she is afraid to travel far from home, and can no longer work legally in Canada. She fears possible deportation, but cannot legally be deported without proper travel documents. “Where would I be deported to?” she wonders …
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/for-jerusalem-s-palestinians-israeli-id-policies-cast-a-long-shadow-1.427750
Undercover forces kidnap three children in Jerusalem
IMEMC 2 May — At dawn on Wednesday undercover forces of the Israeli army kidnapped two children, ages 14 and 10, in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem. On Tuesday, the undercover forces kidnapped a 12-year-old child in Ath-Thoury neighborhood in Silwan. The two children who were kidnapped on Wednesday at dawn were identified as Hani Sarhan, 14, and Taha Sarhan, 10. On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers kidnapped Adnan Al-Joulani, 12, from Ath-Thoury neighborhood, and took him to an Israeli Police Center in Talpiot area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63405
Israeli authorities demolish well near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli authorities demolished a water well in a village east of Hebron on Wednesday, locals said. Officials accompanied by soldiers tore down the well belonging to Saeed Jaber in Baqaa village, residents said. Palestinian Water Authority chief Shaddad Attili warned earlier this year that Israel was systemically destroying well and rainwater harvesting cisterns to forcibly displace Palestinian communities who depend on them for their basic water needs. At least 25 Palestinian wells and 32 Palestinian cisterns were demolished in 2011, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481542
Israeli forces demolish farm buildings near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 1 May — Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished farm buildings near Hebron in the southern West Bank, witnesses said. Israeli army vehicles and bulldozers demolished two stables, measuring 750 square meters and 400 square meters, as well as a poultry barn and two sheds, locals told Ma‘an. The structures belonged to Iyad Muhammad Rajabi, his brother Imad and their cousins Sharif and Mahmoud.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481416
France condemns Israel’s ‘provocative’ settlement hotel plans
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 May — France on Wednesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,100 hotel rooms in a settlement neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem … “The relentless pursuit of settlement activity in East Jerusalem is all the more deplorable because it increasingly undermines the prospect of making Jerusalem the capital of the two States, which is critical for any peace agreement,” the statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481772
US pressing UN human rights commission to put off West Bank settlements probe
Haaretz 2 May by Barak Ravid — …A U.S. official conveyed messages to UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in the last few weeks, asking her not to advance the matter in the near future … Foreign Ministry officials noted that the U.S. wants to postpone the establishment of the panel to the latest possible date, hoping this will lead to the unofficial burial of the matter. However, the assessment is that it will not be possible to prevent the establishment of the panel, so the aim is therefore to delay it until at least after the U.S. presidential elections in November.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/u-s-pressing-un-human-rights-commissioner-to-put-off-west-bank-settlements-probe-1.427744
Palestinian Christians against the occupation / Philip Farah
HuffPost 1 May — In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren claimed that Christians in Israel are better off than their brethren anywhere else in the Middle East … There is a simple test of Ambassador Oren’s claims: I say to him, “Mr. Ambassador: If your country is so good to Christians, why don’t you allow me, my family and thousands of Palestinian Christians to return to our homes in the part of Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967 or the western part of the city from which Palestinians were forced out in 1948? Why is it that any Jew from any country in the world can claim full rights of citizenship as soon as he or she sets foot in Jerusalem, while I, whose family roots in Jerusalem go back many centuries, am barred from living with full human rights in my hometown?” Ask Ambassador Oren about the Palestinians who hail from the predominantly Christian villages of Iqrit and Kufr Bir’im which, like the majority of Palestinian Arab villages, were razed to the ground after 1948.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-farah/palestinian-christians-against-the-occupation_b_1466027.html
Violence / Incursions / Provocations
IOF violent crackdown injures journalist in the head
RAMALLAH (PIC) 2 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) violently quelled a peaceful rally in front of the Ofer jail on Tuesday that was organized in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. Samer Al-Shuyukhi, the brother of Palestinian photojournalist Naser Al-Shuyukhi, said that his brother, who works as a cameraman for AP, was hit in his head in the IOF quelling of the rally. He said that Naser was carried to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, where he underwent an urgent surgery, after Ramallah government hospital discovered that his skull was broken in the incident.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7fyW8QA3WZWHik0M7ZxZavI%2bEVRPlWZ08OHzKCI8PCUAQXJEEFx6DX0RjxFTUIyuGnN%2bqC%2bj2W4zgz5rRYdinC3%2fT2hQBmiEfJhjGsycf648%3d
Army invades several towns near Jenin
IMEMC 2 May — At dawn on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers invaded several towns near the northern West Bank city of Jenin and fired rounds of live ammunition into the air before breaking into and searching several homes. Several invasions in other parts of the West Bank also occurred.
Soldiers also invaded Zabbouba town and broke into several homes located near the edge of the town before installing a roadblock at the main entrance and searching dozens of vehicles while interrogating the occupants
The Israeli army also installed a roadblock at the main entrance of Kafr Dan village, on the Jenin-Jaffa Road, interrogated several residents while inspecting their ID cards, and searched dozens of vehicles.
Eyewitnesses stated that soldiers also invaded the Al-Widyan area, located between Sielet Al-Harthiyya and Ta’nak villages.
The soldiers further invaded the downtown area of Broqeen town and fired [rounds] of live ammunition into the air.
On Tuesday at dawn, Israeli soldiers invaded several other towns and neighborhoods in Hebron, including Al-Fawwar refugee camp, the towns of Bani Neim and Yatta, Wad Al-Harya area, Al-Fahs area, and Wad Abu As-Somman area.
Soldiers also detained several residents in the Old City of Hebron, and forced them against the walls for several hours before releasing them.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63402
Military jeeps tour Bethlehem town, fire tear gas
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli forces fired tear gas at students by a Bethlehem neighborhood university on Wednesday, witnesses told Ma‘an. Two Israeli jeeps descended into central Beit Jala, near the town’s Orthodox Club, and were photographing buildings, eyewitnesses said. Some residents threw rocks at the jeep, and forces fired tear gas at students from the Jerusalem Open University, they added. No injuries were reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481663
Gaza
Israel forces bomb open area, fire on south Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli forces bombed an open area in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn Wednesday, with no injuries reported. Later Wednesday morning, Israeli military vehicles entered a border area in southern Gaza, and locals reported the sound of heavy gunfire. A 200-square-meter area near the border was leveled by 15 Israeli military vehicles, near Khuza‘a village east of Khan Younis, eyewitnesses said … An Israeli military statement said the airstrike targeted a tunnel used by militants, and was in response to two rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Tuesday night. Earlier Tuesday, Israeli military vehicles opened fire on a border area near Khuza‘a, trapping journalists at the scene for over an hour and setting crops ablaze, witnesses said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481535
Israeli warplanes raid northern Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 2 May — Israeli warplanes launched a night raid on northern Gaza Strip at a late hour on Tuesday with no casualties reported. Local sources told the PIC reporter that an Israeli F-16 fired two missiles at Beit Hanun town at a late night hour on Tuesday. They said that the two missiles blasted in a deserted area in the town and none was injured.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s71Ci01lB1OdgSXmv6igGdyzMOfIBOCfZ4VA1v4ttKzU6PTBcjzOe86QfNghFxKkeCJkecP6tHKXpECjOCfC9ibPGSeCecQSmLcw3DwvC5Tpg%3d
IOF incursion in southern Gaza obstructs school day
KHAN YOUNIS (PIC) 2 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting a number of armored vehicles raided southern Gaza Strip’s Khuza‘a village, to the east of Khan Younis, amidst shooting and bulldozing. The PIC reporter said that Shuhada School was badly damaged in the IOF shooting and the school day was called off. He said that more than 600 schoolchildren were deprived of schooling today as a result of the incursion. The IOF soldiers have escalated raids into that area over the past few days that currently witness the reaping of wheat and barley crops. A number of fields were burnt as a result of those forays.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s78Y5rI%2bSLGDR%2b7OKBNSPC3NQ7kxPzbSgEvz9pSwN8H6gzOXM%2bjEi9hhZPGKtH85%2f1MfP%2bflioRPAd%2ffolZb9luHm9pd7sRjD8wX6ESVQJRcU%3d
Qatari fuel stuck in Egypt amid Gaza crossing dispute
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 May — A Qatari ship loaded with fuel for the Gaza Strip remains docked at an Egyptian port, as Gaza and Israeli authorities dispute the route of its passage to the coastal enclave, an official said Wednesday. Gaza has been plagued by a fuel crisis since mid-February, when Egypt cut off supplies via a tunnel network under the border between the countries. The ship, loaded with about 30 million-liters of fuel as a donation from Qatar, is docked at Suez port. Gaza Energy Authority official Ahmad Abu al-Amreen said authorities are pressing Egypt and other stakeholders to allow the fuel to cross through the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza, or the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing at the intersection between the three territories. Israeli authorities insist it be brought via the Al-Ouja crossing further from Gaza on the Israel-Egypt border, al-Amreen said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481675
Gaza power station to shut down by Thursday if no fuel supplied
KHAN YOUNIS (PIC) 2 May — Ahmed Abul Omarein, the director of information department at the Gaza power authority, said that the sole power generation station in the Gaza Strip would shut down on Thursday if no more fuel was supplied. He said in a press statement on Tuesday that the available fuel could operate the station for two days only due to intermittent supply of fuel and lack of stored quantities. No fuel was supplied via Karm Abu Salem crossing on Monday with no reason given for the interruption … Gaza suffers 8 hours of blackout followed by 8 hours of power, but if the power station stops then power is supplied for only 6 hours and followed by 12 hours of blackout.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s778wz9Q9FLTga8ADVwxL1tX4LD5lR3I8k%2fbOTB0sftwZ7v3SkUySVFdV3NHMpnwbb8yswJgJRnpTCIEm0XTOdRf6waYZ8E%2bevG0gUZ5S4%2fF4%3d
OPT: Blame game defers solution to Gaza’s energy crisis
GAZA CITY (IRIN) 2 May — From factories to the fishing industry, the Gaza Strip economy is being affected by more than two months of fuel shortages and power outages, taking a toll on the livelihoods of its 1.6 million inhabitants. To make a living on the sea, Madlene Kollab needs 20 litres of fuel each day. Unable to afford that, the Gaza Strip’s only fisherwoman has seen her catch halve to just 1.5 kilos per day. “I [began] fishing with my father when I was six years old, but without fuel I can hardly survive.” … A sustainable solution to the current crisis means agreement among the four main players: Hamas, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel and Egypt … “Each side in this game is trying to pressure the other, and Egypt is in the middle of it, trying to solve the problem. But Egypt is also cautious and angry about Hamas, because smuggling through the tunnels has caused troubles in Egypt,” Abdel Monem Saed, president of the Egyptian Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told IRIN, adding: “Multiple parties are involved in the same problem and that makes it all complicated.”
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95395/OPT-Blame-game-defers-solution-to-Gaza-s-energy-crisis
New homes for displaced families, yet Israel still restricts building materials in Gaza / Rami Almeghari
EI 1 May — …Shalloul and her family are among the first to receive the keys of one of 223 new houses built by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), with the support of a $7.2 million grant from the Netherlands that also funded roads, water infrastructure and an electricity system … Other housing projects underway include ones funded by Saudi Arabia and Japan. However, according to Abu Hasna, these vital housing projects are still short of raw materials which Israel restricts from entry into the Gaza Strip. “Let me emphasize that we still need more than sixty truckloads of raw building materials on a daily basis,” Abu Hasna said, although only about a third of that was coming in.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/new-homes-displaced-families-yet-israel-still-restricts-building-materials-gaza/11230
All set for 2012 Palestine literature festival in Gaza, except permits from Egypt / Ali Abunimah
EI 2 May — Back in 2009, Israeli occupation forces raided the Palestinian National Theatre in eastern occupied Jerusalem to shut down the opening night of the Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest), forcing participants out into the street. In 2011, the festival had to contend with a tear gas attack by the Israeli army. Undaunted, the annual roving festival which began in 2008 goes on. This year’s festival is scheduled to take place in Gaza from 5-9 May — if only Egypt provides the permits for writers, bloggers and artists — including Ahdaf Soueif, Alaa Abd el‐Fattah, Suad Amiry and many others to enter the besieged territory.
.http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/all-set-2012-palestine-literature-festival-gaza-except-permits-egypt
New foot-and-mouth strain spreads to Gaza Strip
ROME (Reuters) 2 May — A new strain of foot and mouth disease has reached the Gaza Strip and threatens to spread further after first being detected in Egypt and Libya in February, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday. FAO said sick animals had been detected on April 19 in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. It said vaccines against the SAT2 strain of the virus were still in short supply and the priority at the moment was to limit animal movements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481709
Hunger strikes
Lawyer: Detainee on 64-day hunger strike in shackles
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli prison guards are shackling Bilal Thiab, a Palestinian detainee who has refused food for 64 days, a lawyer said Wednesday. Thiab, 27, lost consciousness on Tuesday and was briefly taken to the emergency room, but was fully conscious on Wednesday and guarded by four prison guards, Prisoners Society lawyer Jawad Bulus told Ma‘an. Bulus said a group of Israeli prison service officials and the hospital’s deputy director were in Thiab’s room when he visited the detainee. Thiab complained that he couldn’t sleep because of six cuffs shackling him to the bed. Prison guards refused to remove the shackles so he could pray, he said, adding that guards forced him to wait for an hour and a half to use the toilet … A doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel who visited Thiab on Tuesday warned his condition was life-threatening, the prisoners rights group Addameer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481782
40 captives from Palestinian 48 participate in the hunger strike
NAZARETH (PIC) 2 May –… The director of the “Yusuf Assedik” Foundation, Firas Amri, said in a press release that 40 captives from the Palestinians inside the green line have taken part in the open hunger strike since its start on the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on 17 April, including 20 prisoners in Gilboa prison, and 20 others in Nafha prison. The Palestinian human rights activist affirmed that the supportive activities in 1948-occupied Palestine for the prisoners in the occupation jails will continue mentioning several events organized by 1948-Palestinians in solidarity with prisoners.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7yG8RW520JM6YwGLDxPr%2bEpB7D9hVEVdl31Vb%2b5U0QCiVafzE5srICX3OH1Rx09V6zU0%2bBV2zYqdBdGosoA72XG5CPtYVTK4VJkhfMOA2lJM%3d
Dozens of liberated prisoners go on solidarity hunger strike
GAZA (PIC) 2 May — Dozens of ex-prisoners went on hunger strike in Gaza on Wednesday in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails who have been on hunger strike for 16 days. Tayseer Al-Bardini, one of the ex-prisoners, told a press conference in the presence of other ex-inmates, who all wore similar T-shirts, that they decided to go on hunger strike in the hope to convince the world to act and pressure Israel into meeting the demands of hunger strikers. The PIC reporter said that more than 50 ex-prisoners of various factions are involved
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7L9DicMAaNW%2fxLdcPBQ9iy7NXxyk0X4n5YcCNmAxyyuLrBc2cMwh5VALy26MgsJPZCgo5m5dk5JrkbhxAH1fVby6tJYuoJRaI8klTzUM2lQI%3d
Video: #Flagwoman protester raises Palestinian flag on Israeli military vehicle outside Ofer prison / Adam Horowitz
Mondoweiss 1 May — Earlier today, we posted an inspiring photo of a protester climbing on top of an Israeli military vehicle as she protested outside Ofer prison in solidarity with the ongoing prisoner hunger strike. The photo has gone viral under the hashtag #Flagwoman and the protester has been identified as Rana Hamadeh. Above is video of the protest and the aftermath when Israeli military tried to arrest her. Activists protected her from the military and were pepper sprayed at point blank range.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/video-flagwoman-protester-raises-palestinian-flag-on-israeli-military-vehicle-outside-ofer-prison.html
20 Palestinians hurt at prisoner demo near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 2 May — Twenty Palestinians were injured Wednesday by rubber[-coated] bullets during clashes with Israeli forces near the Ofer detention center, a Ma‘an correspondent said. A student demonstration set out from Birzeit University toward Ofer to express solidarity with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 16 days. The students marched with Palestinian flags before arriving at the site, where Israeli forces were waiting. Forces fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets toward the demonstrators. Journalists also came under fire during the demonstration, the correspondent said. The students faced off against the forces with rocks and empty bottles, striking an Israeli soldier. The Ma‘an correspondent described the clashes as unusually violent.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481739
Palestinians warn of backlash if hunger strikers die
AFP 1 May — Palestinian prisoners minister Issa Qaraqaa on Tuesday warned there would be a major backlash if any of the detainees on a mass hunger inside Israeli jails were to die. “We will not accept our prisoners returning in coffins from the occupation’s prisons,” Qaraqaa told a 3,000-strong crowd demonstrating in solidarity with the prisoners in the West Bank city of Nablus. “If anything happens to any prisoner, the explosion will not stay inside prison walls but will extend to the outside,” he said.
At another rally, in Gaza City, Khaled al-Batsh, a local Islamic Jihad leader, warned of possible reprisals against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.”The security of the settlers is in the hands of the prisons service,” he said.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/palestinians-see-backlash-hunger-strikers-die-133224142.html
UN official appalled by Israeli violations against Palestinian prisoners
GENEVA (WAFA) 2 May — The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory, Richard Falk, said he was appalled by the “continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons,” amid a massive wave of hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners, according to a statement released on Monday. Falk described the hunger strike as extraordinary act of collective nonviolent resistance to abusive conditions connected to Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory, including unjust arrest procedures, arbitrary detention and bad prison conditions
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19720
Lawyer: Jailed commander demands POW treatment
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 1 May — An imprisoned commander is refusing food to demand he be treated as a prisoner of war, a lawyer for the Palestinian prisoners society said Tuesday. A former major in the Palestinian security forces, Muhammad al-Taj has been on hunger strike for 48 days and his health is deteriorating, Jawad Bulus said after visiting him in Ramla prison hospital. Al-Taj insists that as an occupying power, Israel must treat him as a prisoner of war
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481335
and nothing changes…
Israeli judge renews administrative detention of Barghouthi for six months
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 2 May — An Israeli military court in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday extended the solitary confinement of Hamas leader Abdullah Al-Barghouthi for six months. Director of Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights Fuad Al-Khafsh quoted Barghouthi’s lawyer Abeer Bakr as saying that her client appeared in court in high morale despite his weakness after three weeks of hunger strike demanding an end to his isolation. He told the PIC that the judge refused to listen to Barghouthi and said that according to what was available of information for her, she could not but extend his isolation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ov28Fm6pT%2fQnL2sjoCmkITxo6czeN9U0RE0kD71zh5ZX7RxCQNx75oMzEOWsOt6Ia5TByT%2fAZElCi2iVqiU2uhPiqUrIzzGetRzns1%2fYxk8%3d
Israeli military court refuses appeal for release of MP
RAMALLAH (PIC) 2 May — The Israeli military court in Ofer on Wednesday turned down an appeal by the lawyer of MP Dr. Mahmoud Al-Ramahi against renewal of his administrative detention. Ramahi, who is also the secretary of the Palestinian legislative council, was held in administrative custody for four more months for the fourth consecutive time. He has been in administrative detention, without trial or charge, for 18 months on aggregate. The Ofer military judge claimed that if Ramahi was out of jail then Israel’s security would be in danger.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7uW4AM1lJYlfzl91E1Uf%2fgbS0wssfPJ4sgpYQQZO6Ul5M5y3ueXQlzlBa0dW8GgWaIdSu83pJeKkNPjoLiERCxQVHRVZdcqqP4Dep%2bC0VYKU%3d
For Israel, punishing Palestinians is not enough / Amira Hass
Haaretz 2 May — The hunger strike of nearly 2,000 Palestinian inmates stands as a reminder of their humanity … Palestinian prisoners are given names and faces in the Israeli news media only if they can demonstrate their “contemptibility.” Their names and faces are not mentioned in the context of their personal, family and national history for more than 60 years: expulsion, exile, destruction of their homes, the injury and killing of friends and family members by Israeli soldiers, or trifles such as beatings by soldiers or expropriation of their land by government officials. Palestinian prisoners are mentioned in terms of the number of life sentences they are serving. But Israel’s revered army generals, retired and on active duty, are responsible for killing many more Palestinian (and Lebanese ) civilians than the number of Israeli civilians killed by the Palestinian prisoners.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/for-israel-punishing-palestinians-is-not-enough-1.427649
Political detention
Israeli forces arrest five Palestinians in West Bank
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 2 May — …Mohammed Awad, from the National Committee against the Wall and Settlement in Beit Ummar, told WAFA forces arrested two Palestinians; Hamzeh Abu Maria and Hamzeh Sabarneh, both in their twenties, from the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron after raiding their homes. Sabarneh’s mother, 56, said masked soldiers snuck into her bedroom, terrorizing her, which caused her to temporarily lose her ability to move.
Forces also arrested a 23-year-old Palestinian from his work place in Beit Forik, east of Nablus.
Two Palestinians were also arrested from the Ramallah area.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19716
Israeli forces ‘detain Hebron youth leader’
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 2 May — Israeli forces on Wednesday detained a Youth Against Settlements coordinator in the West Bank city of Hebron, relatives said. Issa Amro was detained on Shuhada Street in Hebron’s Old City while leading a tour for international visitors, his brother Ahmad told Ma‘an. Shuhada Street, a main road in Hebron’s once-bustling center, has been closed to Palestinians since an Israeli settler shot dead 29 Palestinians worshiping in Ibrahimi mosque in 1994.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481765
War crimes
IDF closes probe into Israeli air strike that killed 21 members of Gaza family
Haaretz 1 May — Military prosecution says will take no legal steps against those responsible for deaths of Samouni family, killed in their home during Operation Cast Lead … On the morning of January 4, Givati commanders ordered the dozens of members of the extended Samouni family to leave the three-story house (the home of Talal Samouni), which they then turned into their outpost. The soldiers told them to gather in the one-story home of Wail Samouni, on the other side of the road and about 30 meters southeast. The Samounis took the fact that the soldiers themselves concentrated the family in one building, and saw that there were infants, children, women, elderly people and unarmed men, as insurance that they would not be harmed … According to testimonies given to Haaretz and Breaking the Silence by soldiers who took part in the attack, then-Givati Brigade commander Col. Ilan Malka concluded from UAV images of the house that armed Palestinians were inside. He then ordered an aerial strike on the house, killing one person on the spot. When the casualties went back inside the house, another missile was shot on the house and 20 more people were killed, including three babies and six children between the ages of 5 to 16. Some 40 people were wounded. Some of the casualties were trapped in the destroyed house, among the bodies, for three days, until the IDF allowed rescue services to arrive at the house and evacuate the bodies. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-closes-probe-into-israeli-air-strike-that-killed-21-members-of-gaza-family-1.427583
Palestinian rights group blasts Israel for closing Samouni case
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 May — The Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Wednesday condemned the Israeli military’s decision to close the case of the Samouni family without initiating prosecutions … The Palestinian Center for Human Rights called the series of attacks “one of the most horrific single events” during the course of Israel’s assault, and said it included “the willful killing of 27 civilians.” “The Israeli military’s claim that allegations of war crimes committed in relation to the Samouni case are ‘groundless’ simply defies belief,” PCHR said, noting it filed dozens of criminal and civil complains. The rights group says “this incident emphatically underlines the flaws inherent in Israel’s investigative system, which have been documented in detail elsewhere,” and endorsed by UN experts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481711
In case you missed it:
Samouni Street
uploaded 9 Mar 2011 — The story of 4 kids of the extended Samouni family in Gaza. By animated drawings they express what happened to them and their family during operation ‘Cast Lead’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wld2TIbUfWM
The Nakba
We shall return — the story of Iqrit / Fida Jiryis
“I don’t want to open all my wounds…,” says Maher Daoud, a descendent of Iqrit refugees, as we drive to the site where the village of his parents once stood. I wince and apologise, aware of how difficult the subject must be for him. Iqrit is one of the 350 or so Palestinian villages that were completely destroyed and ethnically cleansed in 1948, its residents barred from returning and turned, overnight, into internal refugees in their own country. Maher, 43, is married to my cousin, Njoud, and they live in Mi‘ilya, a village in the Galilee. They regularly drive up to Iqrit, whose church is all that remains today, to partake in religious celebrations at Christmas and Easter and to visit dead relatives in Iqrit’s cemetery.
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3697&ed=206&edid=206
Rayya / Riyam Kafri-AbuLaban
Rayya’s household of four brothers (Nooh, Idrees, Ibrahim, and Ilias), a sister, a mother (Im Nooh), and a father (Abu Nooh) changed faster than you can say Palestine. It was a breezy spring morning in 1948 when everything transformed in a discontinuous moment in time. Rayya, today, is seventy-eight years old and packs so much energy in her little old body that even the youngest of us is put to shame. Rayya remembers in memory spurts what happened that spring. When she spills her memories out, sometimes there are tears, other times there are just quivers of anger rattling her words, begging to be released. On that fine spring Friday, with green fig trees playing in the breeze like little children trying to fly a kite, death and destruction slowly crept around the village of Abu Shoosheh and surrounded it from every direction
http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3696&ed=206&edid=206
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Palestinians assert right to return on Israeli ‘Independence Day’ / Asa Winstanley
EI 1 May — Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered in the western Galilee for the annual March of Return last week, on 26 April. Timed to coincide with the annual Israeli “Independence Day” celebrations, each year for the past 15 years participants have marched to the lands of different villages destroyed during the Nakba — the 1947-48 catastrophe during which Zionist militias evicted approximately 750,000 Palestinians from what then became Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian villages were blown up with dynamite and demolished.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinians-assert-right-return-israeli-independence-day/11226
Highly contested Methodist divestment initiative fails, but supporters see partial victory / Ali Abinimah
EI 2 May — The General Conference of the United Methodist Church today failed to pass a measure to divest from companies profiting from Israeli occupation and human rights abuses of Palestinians. United Methodist Kairos Response, the group pushing for divestment, issued this statement shortly after the highly contested and watched vote: United Methodist Church Fails to Align its Words with its Actions…
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/highly-contested-methodist-divestment-initiative-fails-supporters-see-partial
Political, diplomatic news
Palestinians to boycott US reception on Press Freedom Day
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 2 May — Twenty Palestinian unions, including the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), called Wednesday for a boycott of a reception organized by the US consulate in Jerusalem to be held in Ramallah on Thursday on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, according to a statement issued by the union. They said the call came “to protest US policies toward our national issues, particularly the issue of the prisoners and freedom of the Palestinian press in light of a rise in criminal Israeli belligerence against journalists without hearing one word of condemnation by the US Administration or its representatives.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19721
Hamas says holding secret diplomatic talks with EU states
AP 2 May — Hamas has been holding secret political talks with five European Union member states in recent months, a senior member of the Gaza-based Islamist movement said on Wednesday. The EU’s official stance indicates that it will not deal with Hamas unless the group renounces violence and recognizes Israel. Europe and the U.S. have been rethinking Mideast policy since the Arab Spring uprisings toppled several pro-Western regimes in favor of Islamists.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/hamas-says-holding-secret-diplomatic-talks-with-eu-states-1.427829
Haniyeh calls on Turkey to support prisoners’ issue
GAZA (PIC) 2 May — During a meeting with a Turkish and Egyptian delegation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to support Palestinian prisoners in their fight for their rights,
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70NqccSmbpnAtc%2fxUODXJNd%2bAnCbdAXG%2bElAZBRcQ9daDehG57bya%2fdlZ9aQzkA5RmeK4V7s6%2bEk7nHDB216Scwgbx5ZERrzWcUSE433HUmU%3d
Bardawil: Hebrew report on Mishaal losing control of QB a ‘hallucination’
GAZA (PIC) 2 May — Dr. Salah Bardawil, a Hamas leader in Gaza, has described as a “Hallucination” the Hebrew press report that Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mishaal had lost control on the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He said in a statement on Wednesday that the press report published by Ha’aretz newspaper was absolutely “groundless”… Ha’aretz claimed that following recent internal elections the responsibility for the budget of the armed wing of Hamas moved to Gaza thus stripping Mishaal of control.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7DRZrEmVniZmQ6PIYFGdc1IpsyYMzdoOqOEoSmZ8RtyHRc2wFj411kNKxRSiunRL3mQ3giSbCXzayG8nc9fX%2f382NtU3J%2btWzczwBHUU4XIM%3d
Palestinian president cancels trip to Libya, citing security concerns
RAMALLAH (AP) 1 May — The Palestinian president called off a planned trip to Libya Tuesday after a militia group surrounded the headquarters of the caretaker Libyan government, an official said. The official said Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in Tunisia this week, was expected to go to Libya but canceled because of security concerns.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-ml-palestinians-libya,0,6041351.story
Other news
Video: All female anti-riot unit in Hebron
BBC 2 May — A unit of 50 female anti-riots [PA] police officers is working in Hebron, in the Palestinian territories. They deal with female law-breakers in one of the most conservative cities in the West Bank. Ghada Nassef reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17916903
Israel’s military censor to monitor Facebook, Twitter, blogs
Haaretz 2 May — Israel’s military launched a new system this week to monitor information on the Internet, the chief military censor said on Tuesday. Col. Sima Vaknin-Gil said that the new system will monitor visual and textual information on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, on blogs and on traditional news sites.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-military-censor-to-monitor-facebook-twitter-blogs-1.427769
PA plans duty-free shop in Jericho
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 1 May — The Palestinian Authority is planning to open a duty-free shop in Jericho, senior Fatah official Muhammad Shtayeh said Tuesday. President Mahmoud Abbas has approved the project and its profits will support the president’s fund for students in refugee camps in Lebanon and underprivileged areas, Shtayeh told Ma‘an … The shop will be set up in Jericho, at the Palestinian Authority arrivals and departures hall for the Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan … Around 1.7 million people use the Allenby Bridge border crossing every year. There is no airport in the West Bank and Israel forbids most Palestinians from using Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Most West Bank residents must travel via the Allenby Bridge to Amman’s airport to travel internationally.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481388
Israeli army: Soldiers enter Qalqiliya ‘by accident’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 2 May — Three Israeli soldiers on Wednesday entered the West Bank city of Qalqiliya by accident, the Israeli army said. Palestinian officers escorted them out of the city and handed them over to Israel’s civil administration, a military spokeswoman told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=481774
Neighbors Sinai Bedouin throwing off image as Zionist collaborators / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 2 May — Aged desert woman who sabotaged IDF troops is lionized in media as Sinai Bedouin, feeling their power, gain respect in new Egypt
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/neighbors-sinai-bedouin-throwing-off-image-as-zionist-collaborators-1.427645
US claims father illegally moved kids to Gaza
AP 2 May — Authorities in the U.S. have accused a divorced Palestinian man of illegally moving his three children from their home in Kansas to his native Gaza earlier this year. Their mother, Bethany Gonzales, says she wants her children back in the U.S., but she has limited political and legal means available to her in the Gaza Strip, a largely isolated and impoverished Palestinian territory ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas. The father, Ahmed Abuhamda, denies any wrongdoing, saying he followed the couple’s divorce decree … However, Abuhamda has been charged in Kansas with aggravated interference with parental custody. Last week, he was charged in a federal criminal complaint in U.S. District Court with fleeing to avoid prosecution on the three state felony counts.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/05/02/national/a000519D07.DTL
Analysis / Opinion / Reviews
Go-it-alone outlook now shapes Israel’s security policy / Edmund Sanders
JERUSALEM (LA Times) 28 Apr — The traditional Passover retelling of Exodus was barely underway in 2002 when Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer got a note with news of the latest in a string of Palestinian suicide attacks that had terrorized Israel for two years. He dashed to an emergency meeting of military commanders, all dressed in civilian clothes because they’d left their own Seder dinner tables upon hearing that 30 Israelis had been killed in the attack on the Park Hotel. After an all-night session, they made a decision that would change the face of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Ben-Eliezer persuaded Israel’s Cabinet to reoccupy the entire West Bank, even though it meant brushing aside the 1993 Oslo agreements that gave Palestinians control over many cities and their own security force. Ten years later, many see that move as the start of a strategic shift that put Israel on a go-it-alone course that continues to shape its security policy, whether dealing with Palestinian statehood or responding to Iran’s purported nuclear arms program.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-conflict-shift-20120429,0,413662.story
The utopian vision of ‘security’ is killing Israel / Dahlia Scheindlin
972mag 2 May — Somewhere along the way, security for Israeli Jews became utopia: it will never be achieved, but it exacts an infinite price of destruction for its own sake, on the road to nowhere … In current Israeli Jewish discourse there are only two options: utopian security, or full-on existential destruction. There is nothing in between … It is time to expose the fact that our prevailing notion of security is a dangerous fantastical nightmare perpetuating the conflict forever, by demanding that unacceptable deeds be committed in its name. But the right can hardly be expected to give up a vision that serves its political interests. Instead, the current leadership abuses that vision for rapacious gain, sacrificing the well-being of Israel as a country in the process.
http://972mag.com/the-utopian-vision-of-security-is-killing-israel/44369/
Haaretz editorial: Israelis are paying millions for their political apathy
1 May — …Lo and behold, on Sunday the cabinet miraculously found more than NIS 53 million to solve the housing problems of 48 families and a single woman – more than NIS 1 million per family. That is the price Israel’s citizens, including the rent victims who camped in tents on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, will have to pay in hush money to residents of the Migron settlement outpost, which was built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israelis-are-paying-millions-for-their-political-apathy-1.427418
International crew brings a Mideast story to life
Haaretz 2 May — Director Eran Riklis explains why he almost didn’t make the big-budget film, about an Israeli pilot and a Palestinian boy who help each other during the Lebanon war.
http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/international-crew-brings-a-mideast-story-to-life-1.427642
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