New ‘Via Dolorosa’: Palestinian patients face ordeal trying to reach East Jerusalem hospitals

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

Settlers cut hundreds of trees in Nablus area
NABLUS (WAFA) 9 May – Jewish settlers Wednesday cut down hundreds of trees in the Nablus area and chased shepherds away from their pastures, according to a local activist. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlers’ activities in the north of the West Bank, said settlers from the illegal settlement of Tapouch, built on land belonging to the village of Jamaeen, cut down and set on fire 250 trees in the village. [also in Yasouf village, acc. to PIC]
In nearby Bourin village, settlers cut 17 trees while forcing shepherds to leave pastures in the villages of Aqraba and Yanoun.
In the village of Sabastia, also in the Nablus area, Israeli forces demolished a tin shack used by a local villager
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19779

Israeli army demolishes three buildings near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 9 May — Israeli army bulldozers demolished early Wednesday three buildings in the West Bank village of Housan, west of Bethlehem, said local sources.  Head of the village council, Jamal Sabatin, told WAFA that a large force with bulldozers raided the village and demolished three buildings after blocking all roads leading to the site. He said that one of the buildings was demolished by the Israeli army for the third time in one year.
Sabatin said that not only Israeli soldiers demolish houses but they also seize land, uproot trees and prevent farmers from accessing their land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19774

Israeli authorities demolish building in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 May — Israeli authorities demolished an under-construction house in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Wednesday morning, witnesses said. Forces blocked off the Al-Mouroha district and broke into the house, demolishing its foundations, the owner Waleed Sadeq Idkedek said. Idkedek said the demolition took place without prior warning, and called on human rights organizations and the Red Crescent to intervene in the continuous forced displacement of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=484072

Outpost advocates pursue price tag demolitions in court
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 May by Charlotte Silver — A tiny village of Palestinian families in the southern West Bank has had an unwelcome visitor in recent months. “He comes with small weapons and his camera, sometimes with armed forces, sometimes with settlers,” Susiya resident Nasser Nawaja says. The armed visitor is Ovad Arad, the Judea and Samaria Director of Regavim, an Israeli non-governmental organization. Arad’s job is to roam the West Bank photographing Palestinian buildings for the group’s legal petitions, which demand the Israeli government expedite their demolitions. Susiya, a hamlet of 350 people, including 120 children, is now at immediate risk of forced displacement as a result of Regavim’s petition, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office says.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483807

Bedouin land and culture threatened by Israel’s plan for resettlement / Phoebe Greenwood
Tel Aviv (Guardian) 9 May — A stench of rubbish wafts over the Palestinian town of As Sawahira from the al-Abdali dump. The vast tip sprawls over an excavated hillside on the outskirts of the town and receives a constant stream of trucks carrying waste from nearby Jerusalem.  Israeli authorities are proposing to relocate 2,300 Bedouins from the surrounding hills to this site as part of their push to resolve “the Bedouin problem”. Simultaneously, plans are proceeding through the Israeli parliament this month to move a further 90,000 Bedouin from their ancestral land in the Negev desert in Israel’s south to government-planned townships.The Israeli administration argues that a move to purpose-built communities will lift the indigenous population from unacceptable depths of poverty. Across Israeli-controlled territory, Bedouin communities argue that their culture, along with centuries-old ties to land, is being swept aside to make way for Jewish expansion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/may/09/bedouin-land-culture-israel-resettlement

Victory for the Ruweidi family and for Silwan
Rabbis for Human Rights 8 May — We congratulate the Ruweidi family, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center and Peace Now on this victory –Last evening, on May 7th,2012, a ruling was delivered from the District Court inJerusalem concerned the case of the Ruweidi family from Silwan. The Court accepted the Ruweidis’ claim that their house is not ‘absentee property,’ as the JNF-KKL/Himanutah, together with the extreme right wing settler organization ELAD, have sought to prove in court over the past two decades. The JNF-KKL/Himanutah’s claim was based on a single, falsified declaration by a Palestinian man with no connection to the family or to Silwan, who claimed that the house’s owner died in Jordan (at a time in which Jordan was an enemy country to Israel), and therefore, according the Absentee Property Law, the State can wrest control over the property … It is important to note that the Sumarin family remains under threat of eviction by the JNF and its partners, through the Absentee Property Law. We call, again, on the JNF to cancel all efforts to take over the Sumarin property.
http://rhr.org.il/eng/index.php/2012/05/victory-for-the-ruweidi-family-and-for-silwan/

‘Back-to-back’ procedure: Patients at checkpoints / Tamar Fleishman
Palestine Chronicle 9 May — The detainment of a person that is being transferred by an ambulance to one of the six Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem, until the completion of the bureaucratic procedures, falls under the euphemistic title of: “co-ordinations”. These entail nothing more than the authorization of the secret services that grant the patient permission to pass through the checkpoint, but they are only the first step on the Via Dolorosa unfolding before the patient until he does (or does not) arrive at his destination … According to the regulations of the occupation, only one person is allowed to escort the patient. A woman’s “dangerousness assessment” is lower than a man’s. That is why in most cases a woman (a mother or a wife) would receive a permit to escort the patient on his way to the hospital, while a man (a father or a husband) would be rejected. But this right as well, as limited as it already is, doesn’t obligate the authorities. The common argument is: “prevented”, and it holds more power than the right for an escort and therefore annuls it. I was once present when a baby of seven months, sedated and on life support, was being transferred on her own. Her tiny body lied inside an intensive care unit and a doctor that was summoned was striving to keep her alive. “Where are the parents?” I asked the ambulance driver whom I knew. “They are prevented passage” he replied.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19285

In turnabout, Netanyahu urges ministers to find way to leave Ulpana intact
Haaretz 9 May — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backtracked and asked ministers to consider crafting bills to prevent the demolition of the Ulpana neighborhood in the Beit El settlement.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/in-turnabout-netanyahu-urges-ministers-to-find-way-to-leave-ulpana-intact-1.429102

Violence / Raids / Detentions

Activist in Nabi Saleh loses eye as Israel escalates repression
PNN 9 May — The second anniversary of the start of the popular resistance by the people of Nabi Saleh, located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah, was marked by the brutal injury of young Mustafa Abdul-Razzaq al-Tamimi, 27, who was shot in the face at less than 10 meters. This occurred while the UN Special Rapporteur for the Freedom of Opinion and Expression was visiting the village. Al-Tamimi was seriously wounded in the head by a tear gas canister fired by the soldiers directly at him from a close distance. From the impact of the gas bomb, his face was split, losing a large amount of blood before being transferred by car to the hospital. The ambulance was stopped at the Nabi Saleh checkpoint by the occupation forces for 30 minutes. Subsequently he was flown for treatment at an Israeli hospital in Tel Aviv…
The repression of today’s protest lead to the injury of six other people. A cameraman from Palestine TV, Najib Fraona, and Ahmed Abdullah Khreish were both hit by rubber bullets. Wa’de Tamimi was hit by a tear gas canister that fractured his foot and a girl, Nissan Tamimi, was shot with a tear gas bomb that broke her hand. Fadel al-Tamimi was wounded by a rubber bullet in his ear and another one in his foot. Muhammad Abu Samra was wounded by a rubber bullet in his ear. Additionally, dozens of people suffered from tear gas suffocation. In response, the people of the village of Nabi Saleh attacked the Israeli military tower at the entrance to the village of Nabi Saleh and broke the main gate that closes the entrance to the village, venting their anger at the injury of Mustafa and others.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/1600-eve-of-human-rights-day-activist-in-nabi-saleh-looses-eye-as-israel-escalates-repression

IOF launch military drills in Dura town, terrorize citizens
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 9 May — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) carried out Tuesday evening military exercises and helicopter landings in different area of Dura town in Al-Khalil city and terrorized its Palestinian residents. Eyewitnesses told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that a large number of Israeli troops and three helicopters took part in the drills which included landing troopers in Kerisa area, combing mountains and raiding homes in Tarusa area.They added that the Israeli troops erected barriers at the entrances to the areas where the exercises happened.
The IOF also stormed Idna town and raided stores and homes without any reported kidnappings.
They also closed on the same day many entrances to Yatta town and Al-Khalil city.
In another incident, violent clashes broke out on the same day between dozens of Palestinian young men and Israeli soldiers in Kharsa village west of Dura town. Local sources told the PIC that more than seven military jeeps invaded Dura town and the nearby Kharsa village and started to fire tear gas grenades and rubber bullets at Palestinian citizens at the entrance to Tabaka village between Dura and Kharsa.
Other eyewitnesses also said that a group of Israeli troops with maps and documents invaded the area between Dura town and Beit Awa town and embarked on demarcating Palestinian lands.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/iof-launch-military-drills-in-dura-town-terrorize-citizens-unclosed/

Military control in the Jordan Valley
JVS 9 May — 17 year old Yassir Sulaiman Sal man Najadah is still recovering from the Israeli army bullet that punctured his body on Thursday 26th April 2012. You may ask what crime he committed to deserve such a severe punishment, and the answer is simple. He was herding camels in the hills near Al Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley … To simply go out and graze their camels, sheep, goats or cattle, as their families have done for generations, is a necessity, and a perilous act of resistance all at the same time.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=432

Israeli forces ‘detain 4 teenagers’ in Azzun
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 9 May — Israeli forces on Wednesday detained four teenagers after ransacking their homes near Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank, locals said. Forces detained Sari Dahbour, 13, Mustafa Riyashi, 15, Ibrahim Shahadeh, 17, and Jaafar Saleem, 18, from Azzun, witnesses told Ma‘an. An Israeli military spokeswoman said four were arrested in Azzun. Soldiers also detained four Palestinians from the Nablus and Bethlehem districts overnight, she said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=484088

3 Palestinians detained near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 8 May — Israeli forces detained three Palestinians Tuesday during a raid of their houses in Herodium area east of Bethlehem, locals told Ma‘an. Some 20 vehicles raided the village at around 10 a.m., and forces used dogs to conducts searches which damaged furniture and belongings inside the homes. Ali Abu Mahamed, 31, Ibrahim Abu Mahamed, 55, and his wife Shadia Abu Mahamed, 48, were detained in the raid, Palestinians in the village explained.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483696

Demolitions, an arbitrary arrest, preventing access to land for plowing and harassments in the territories
Rabbis for Human Rights 8 May — Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann describes the last week’s unusual events in the occupied territories, among them: a demolition of a restaurant in Wallaje, an arbitrary arrest in Yanun, settlers from Shilo harassed a Palestinian, and something positive: a Palestinian farmer from Farata got access to his lands and could plow. …  A Palestinian motorist driving along road 60 from Rammalah to Nablus earlier this week contacted us because of the damage done to his car — smashed windows, apparently from settlers in the Shiloh valley. We instructed him to report the event to the police and the Palestinian DCO, knowing however that the chances of any real aid from those in covering damages and /or dealing with the culprits is very slim.
http://rhr.org.il/eng/index.php/2012/05/arbitrary-arrests-and-demolitions/

Attacks on settlers’ car in Ramallah, soldiers east of O. Jerusalem
RAMALLAH (PIC) 9 May — Israeli sources reported that Israeli settlers travelling in a car came under fire midnight last night on the bypass road near Benjamin settlement north of Ramallah city without any reported injuries. The sources claimed that Palestinians opened fire at the car as it was passing near Sinjel village north of Ramallah, adding that many Israeli troops and policemen were deployed at the scene and embarked on combing the area while a military cordon was imposed around the village. The same sources also claimed that Palestinians from the resistance tossed three Molotov cocktails onto an Israeli army force during its presence in Abu Dis [Palestinian] town east of occupied Jerusalem, noting that no casualties were reported among the soldiers.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s73%2bHhg2WRxA4SDH%2ba4pQO2A%2f%2fgpBYezwOQ0xD%2bYLr%2b65iofa2x6J53iIv0eTszlxjm%2bItxyCc%2f5yxS%2fx%2beGtw7iyaKN7SOYdM9XwgPYBm3DU%3d

Hunger strikes

Rights group establishes ‘situation room’ on prisoners
TEL AVIV (WAFA) 9 May — Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) has established a situation room for the mass hunger strike by Palestinian detainees and prisoners held in prisons inside Israel, a statement said on Tuesday. “The situation room will operate around the clock and work to gather and distribute any relevant information and to enable a public campaign for supporting the demands by the prisoners to respect their human rights,” it said. The PHR-Israel situation room will gather and provide the maximum information to the families of hunger striking prisoners, their attorneys, physicians, and local and foreign human rights organizations, local and foreign diplomats, national and international media, and the public at large, it added.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19777

After ten years, Israel to release Palestinian prisoner from solitary confinement
Haaretz 9 May — Sources close to hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners have reported having some of their requests met. Haaretz has learned that a committee appointed by the Commissioner of the Israel Prison Service has agreed to release some Palestinian prisoners from solitary confinement, including Mahmoud Issa, who has spent more time in solitary confinement and has not seen his family for a longer period than any other Palestinian jailed for security-related offenses. Issa, 44, of the West Bank village of Anata, has been jailed since 1993 … According to sources within the Palestinian Prisoner’s Association, similar agreements have been reached regarding other prisoners held in solitary confinement. Agreements have yet to be made concerning three long-time prisoners, Hassan Salameh, Ibrahim Hamid, and Abdullah Barghouti.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/after-ten-years-israel-to-release-palestinian-prisoner-from-solitary-confinement-1.429276

Long-term hunger striker not backing down
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 8 May — A Palestinian hunger striker who has gone without food for 70 days said Tuesday he had no plans to back down despite suffering severe medical complications. Thaer Halahla, 33, from Hebron, wrote in a letter published by a prisoner rights group that he was suffering rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, and bleeding from the nose and gums. “My weight today is 55 out of 83 kilos before the strike, and my hair is falling out along with muscle atrophy,” he added, according to the Muhjat al-Quds group which distributed Halahla’s letter.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483760

Empty Stomach Warriors (IV): Thaer Halahleh — all in the name / Linah Alsaafin
Al-Akhbar 8 May — Thaer in Arabic means ‘Rebel’. His grandfather was imprisoned by Israel after the 1967 war, and Thaer’s father was also arrested numerous times. “I was arrested in the first intifada and was imprisoned when the prisoners Bassam Samouri and Asad Shawa died after the hunger strike in 1988,” Thaer’s father said. “I was arrested again during the second intifada and held for two years under administrative detention.” … “My son Thaer has a very strong and unyielding character,” his father continued. “I expected him to maintain his hunger strike past seventy days from the moment he started it. I know my son. He has vowed to hunger strike until freedom or martyrdom. I say to the occupation, if you kill Thaer or Bilal, a million more Thaer and Bilal will rise up!” He paused. “We used to write poetry together,” he shared. “I always repeat this verse in my mind.” If my love for Palestine is a crime / Let the world be witness to the fact that we are criminals / We will make the rock understand if the people do not / And if the people rise up we will be victorious
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/empty-stomach-warriors-iv-thaer-halahleh-all-name

Addameer reports: Izzedin and Sarsak in poor health
RAMALLAH (PIC) 9 May — Lawyer of Addameer association for prisoners and human rights Mahmoud Hassan, who visited on Monday the hospital of Ramla prison, said he found hunger strikers Jafar Izzeddin and Mahmoud Sarsak, in very bad shape. Lawyer Hassan stated that prisoner Sarsak has been on hunger strike for 47 days and now he is unable to move, suffer from eyesight problems and has been throwing up for five days, adding that he also underwent pancreas tests in Asaf Harofe hospital a few days ago. Sarsak, 25, from Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, is one of the national Palestinian soccer players and was kidnapped on July 22, 2009 at Erez checkpoint as he was on his way to Nablus to join Balata Youth club.
http://samidoun.ca/2012/05/addameer-reports-izzedin-and-sarsak-in-poor-health/

Hunger strike protesters blockade UN’s Ramallah office
Stop the Wall 9 May — Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign bilal and thaer  At 7am, Wednesday 9th May, around 50 Palestinian activists blockaded and shut down the principal office of the United Nations in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. They were protesting the failure of the UN to fulfill its mandate and to hold Israel to account for its repeated violations of International Humanitarian and International Human Rights Law. As Palestinian political prisoners Bilal Diab and Thai‘ir Halahleh enter their 72nd day of hunger strike against their imprisonment without trial under Israeli administrative detention orders, and in the wake of the Israeli High Court’s rejection of their appeal, Palestinian anger is increasing at the silence of the international community, and in particular at the UN’s lack of action in the face of Israel’s systematic and brutal human rights abuses.
Below is the statement to the UN Secretary-General…. We note with disappointment your silence ever since this protest movement began in December 2011 with Khader Adnan’s arbitrary arrest and subsequent hunger strike. This stands in stark contrast to your vocal and persistent remarks in support of formerly incarcerated Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Though Shalit has been released, Palestinian prisoners are still suffering under the so-called “Shalit Law”, which imposed harsher measures on their conditions of detention. We remind you of your responsibilities as Secretary-General of the UN…
http://stopthewall.org/2012/05/09/hunger-strike-protesters-blockade-un-s-ramallah-office

Abbas warns of disaster if hunger-striker dies
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 9 May — President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Tuesday that the death of any one of the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israel would be a “disaster” and could trigger a backlash that might slip out of control. “It is very dangerous,” Abbas told Reuters on a day when the Red Cross urged Israel to transfer to hospital six detainees who it said were close to death after not eating for two months. “If anybody dies today or tomorrow or after a week it would be a disaster and no one could control the situation,” Abbas said in an interview at his office in Ramallah. “I told the Israelis and the Americans if they do not find a solution for this hunger strike immediately, they will be committing a crime.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483898

Israel seeks to bargain with hunger-striking detainees
IMEMC 9 May — Fuad Al Khoffash, Head of the Ahrar Center for Detainee Studies, stated that the Israeli Prison Administration started a new method of what he called “cheap bargaining” this week by offering to release detainees who have served two-thirds of their prison sentence in return for ending their hunger-strike. The Palestine News Network quoted Al-Khoffash as saying that the Prison Administration is trying to foil the hunger-strike by offering such schemes to lure the detainees away from the main struggle and the main demands of ending illegal administrative detention policies, ending all violations, allowing visits to families of Gaza Strip detainees, and ending solitary confinement polices.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63447

Israel’s bad-faith offer to Palestinian prisoners / Julie Webb-Pulliam
6 May — It was reported late on Friday night that Israel had made an offer to the hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners. The offer, however, made no mention of ending administrative detention or the ‘Shalit Law,’ both of which are key demands of the hunger-strikers. Nor did it contain any reference to timelines for implementation and completion of other conditions of the offer. I went to Al Jundy on Saturday afternoon and talked with one of the prisoners released last year in the ‘Gilad Shalit’ exchange – Tawfiq Abu Naim, who is also hunger-striking in sympathy with those still imprisoned, over 2,000 of whom are now hunger-striking. I asked Tawfiq how the Israeli offer had been received, and whether it met their demands. Here is his response [VIDEO]
http://gaza.scoop.ps/2012/05/israels-bad-faith-offer-to-palestinian-prisoners/

Fatah: Israeli prison doctors neglecting duties
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 8 May — Israeli prison doctors are subjecting hunger-striking detainees to a “slow death” by their medical negligence, prisoners said Tuesday. In a message to Fatah’s committee in Gaza, prisoners said Shadi al-Rekhawi suffers from partial paralysis. Al-Rekhawi, who has been on hunger strike since April 17, was born in Rafah in southern Gaza. His family is from Yebna near Jaffa in Israel. [look at the photo: even the cellblock is painted in the Israeli colors]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483585

Historic hunger strikes: Lightning in the skies of Palestine / Richard Falk
9 May — There is ongoing militant expression of Palestinian resistance to the abuses of Israel’s 45 years of occupation and de facto annexation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and five year blockade of Gaza taking the form of a series of hunger strikes. Recourse to this desperate tactic of courageous self-sacrifice is an extreme form of nonviolence, and should whenever and wherever it occurs be given close attention. Palestinians have protested by hunger strikes in the past but failed to inspire the imagination of the wider Palestinian community or shake the confidence of Israeli officialdom. Despite the averted gaze of the West, especially here in North America, there are some signs that this time the hunger strikes have crossed a historic threshold of no return.
http://richardfalk.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/historic-hunger-strikes-lightning-in-the-skies-of-palestine/

Palestinians block UN staff from entering offices
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 9 May — A number of Palestinians Wednesday demonstrated in front of the United Nations office in Ramallah and blocked staff from entering their building for several hours to protest UN silence regarding the issue of prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19778

Europe Day celebrated in Ramallah
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 9 May — The European Union celebrated Europe Day in Ramallah Wednesday with a display of European and other activities. However, as Palestinians watch the hunger strike of their sons in Israeli prison, dozens of youths and families of prisoners held a sit-in outside the place where Europe Day events were planned demanding European intervention on behalf of the striking prisoners.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19781

Statement of support from Palestinian prisoners to the Irish hunger strikers in 1981
GazaTV During the Irish Hunger Strike in 1981 that was led by Bobby Sands, a statement was smuggled out of Nafha Prison from the Palestinian prisoners and sent to the families of the 10 men who died. That support has never been forgotten, and while Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi were on hunger strike, several families of the 10 men who died, and former Hunger Strikers sent several messages of support to them and their families. They have also sent messages to the current Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strike, and to their families. Below is a copy of the message smuggled out of Nafha prison in 1981: [includes image of recently painted mural on the Falls Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland]
http://gazatvnews.com/2012/05/statement-of-support-from-palestinian-prisoners-to-the-irish-hunger-strikers-in-1981/

Ireland Palestine solidarity campaign ‘cyberbullied’ by Irish Minister for Justice
Jews sans Frontières 8 May — The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) has been subjected to unprecedented attacks after the traditional music band Dervish refused to break the boycott and play in Israel. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter, who is an ardent Zionist has, in a frankly unbelievable press release, slammed the ‘IPSG’ [sic] for  ‘cyber-bullying’ Dervish, has linked us with Al Qaeda, and has claimed we are taking away the constitutional rights of Irish citizens by asking them to boycott Israel. What is worrying – showing the deference to power among the Irish media – is that these statements have been taken at face value, rather than treated as an ideologically motivated assault on peaceful Palestinian rights campaigners. With our minds on the hunger strikers facing death in Israeli prisons, this minor media mugging seems trivial – talking about it sounds narcissistic. But this bullying of Irish people who support Palestinian rights is part and parcel of a so-far successful campaign to ensure that Palestinian voices are drowned out in the media.
There has been no coverage at all of the hunger strikes in the Irish press.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2012/05/ireland-palestine-solidarity-campaign.html

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

From Ofer to Ramle: Impressions of protests across the Green Line / Omar Rahman
[Includes photos of ‘rubber’ bullets used by Israelis – actually plastic-coated steel bullets] 972mag 4 May — Yesterday, I attended my first Palestinian demonstration across the Green Line, in front of Ramle Prison. Having been to many protests in the West Bank I was eager to assess the differences between the two events and how the Israeli authorities respond to each.The day before, I had attended a demonstration in front of Ofer Prison near Ramallah. Both events were in support of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, and therefore, relatively parallel. In the occupied West Bank, peaceable assembly by Palestinians is prohibited unless authorized by the Israeli military, which does not happen.
http://972mag.com/from-ofer-to-ramle-impressions-of-protests-across-the-green-line/44541/

The Wall, 10 years on Part 6: What has the struggle achieved: / Haggai Matar
Commemorating 10 years since construction of the wall also means commemorating almost 10 years of the struggle against it, as described in the previous chapter. Just as we shall later examine what the wall has accomplished, one should also ask what exactly the struggle against it succeeded to do, especially as so many people paid such a high price for it, and as most of the wall is still off the Green Line.
http://972mag.com/the-wall-10-years-on-part-6-what-has-the-struggle-against-the-wall-achieved/45148/

Turkish prosecutors complete investigation on Mavi Mamara raid
Today’s Zaman 8 May — Turkey’s justice minister said on Tuesday that prosecutors have completed their investigation of the 2010 Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said the Justice Ministry had requested information from the Foreign Ministry on Israeli soldiers to be mentioned in the indictment regarding the attack on the Mavi Marmara aid ship. “When we receive this information, we will send the indictments to the concerned courts,” Ergin told the Anatolia news agency.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-279745-turkish-prosecutors-complete-investigation-on-mavi-marmara-raid.html

Stop cementing misery in Palestine!
PNN 9 May — On Wednesday, 9 May, at 11am, Irish multinational CRH will hold their Annual General Meeting in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign plan a highly visual photo-friendly protest outside the venue, lining Marine Road with massive Palestinian flags featuring a ‘human message’ saying “CRH: Stop Cementing Misery in Palestine” (see sketch here: http://www.ipsc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/crhagm2012sketch.jpg). In addition, activists from the IPSC will attempt to hand in a petition with over 10,000 signatures from people calling for CRH to divest from their Israeli business interests. The IPSC is organising this protest because CRH owns 25% of the Israeli company Mashav Initiative and Development Ltd which, in turn, owns Israel’s sole cement producer Nesher Cement Enterprises Ltd. Nesher provide up to 90% of all cement sold in Israel, including cement used in the construction of Israel’s illegal separation wall in Palestine and illegal settlements and checkpoints.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/international/1601-palestine-group-to-hand-in-over-10000-signatures-at-crh-agm-protest

Gaza

The ‘Investment Forum’ asks for explanation to barring entry of delegates
CAIRO (PIC) 8 May — The “Investment Forum in Palestine” demanded from the Egyptian authorities to disclosure the real reasons behind barring Arab businessmen from entering Gaza and participating in the first investment conference which was supposed to start on Monday over two days but it was delayed until the delegation can enter to Gaza. Khaled Al-Terani, the spokesman of “Investment Forum in Palestine”, condemned the Egyptian authorities’ obstructions of the delegation’s visit to Gaza. The delegation, which includes 130 Arab businessmen, did not find any reasonable explanation for preventing it from traveling to the Palestinian territories.
http://www.rohama.org/en/news/8224

Photo: Honey harvest in Gaza
8 May — A Palestinian bee keeper collects honey in Al-Ashqar apiary in Deir Al-Balah, the Gaza Strip, 08 May 2012. The Al-Ashqar farm has 35 hives, and produces around 350 kilograms of honey per season. Gazans reportedly also use honey for medicinal purposes. Reports state that the Gazan Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that although there is an annual demand for 400 tons of honey, only 200 tons are produced locally. The deficit has been attributed by local bee keepers to the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza and the resulting economic difficulties. The bee keepers also highlighted issues in accessing their farms which are located near the Israeli border, as well as a lack of necessary equipment for quality testing.
http://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2012/05/honey_harvest_in_gaza.html

Young women challenge Gaza conservative traditions, do men crafts
GAZA, May 1 (Xinhua) by Hamada Hattab, Osama Radi, Saud Abu Ramadan — Ranad al-Ghoz, a Gaza woman in her early 20s, went to work on Labor’s Day at a restaurant on Gaza city’s seaside. A scene that is unfamiliar to girls living in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip — she challenged the strict traditions of the enclave’s conservative society. In the Gaza Strip, it is considered a big shame for a young woman to work as waitress in restaurants and cafes. But Al-Ghoz never felt that way. She admitted that the hard living conditions in the impoverished enclave obliged her to do men’s jobs. “I’m trying to find and prove myself by breaking the society’s restrictions imposed on women who want to work and help their families,” al-Ghoz said, adding that she is totally convinced of what she does although many Gaza women still prefer not to get such kind of a job. According to official Palestinian figures, the percentage of women’s participation in the labor market in the Gaza Strip in general is not exceeding 12 percent, where the vast majority of women choose to join the fields of health, education and private sector companies.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/73106?tid=163

The Nakba

Ramallah protest planned for Nakba Day
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 May  — The national committee to remember the Nakba is planning a protest in Ramallah on Tuesday to mark Nakba day. On May 15, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, or catastrophe, of Israel’s founding in 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from or fled their homes. Local and popular committees in refugee camps, village councils and municipalities participate in events to mark the anniversary.  Badil, a Palestinian organization for residency and refugee rights, said events would be held across the Palestine and internationally on Nakba day.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=484018

Tel Aviv University okays Nakba Day ceremony despite student union opposition
Haaretz 9 May — Student Union says students’ feelings could be hurt by commemoration of ‘catastrophe of 1948,’ which will include an alternative version of the Jewish memorial ‘Yizkor’ prayer … Nakba is the Arabic word for catastrophe, and for Israeli Arabs, Nakba day [15 May] marks the anniversary of the events of 1948. In January, the High Court of Justice upheld the controversial Nakba Law passed by the Knesset in March, which fines bodies who openly reject Israel as a Jewish state or mark the Israel’s Independence Day as a day of mourning … According to Noa Levy, a law student and organizer of the Nakba Day ceremony, “The idea of the ceremony is to be concrete recognition of the pain and loss that the government caused people in this land feel. It’s less about the political-national question, and more about recognizing the tragedy that happened here.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/tel-aviv-university-okays-nakba-day-ceremony-despite-student-union-opposition-1.429245

Music video: ‘You see that we are rising– the ghosts of Deir Yassin’ — Phil Monsour / Rafeef Ziadeh
Mondoweiss 9 May by Annie Robbins — As the end tells us, “The writing on the hands are the names of the original villages in Palestine from which the people were ethnically cleansed to make way for the state of Israel. Buy the album HERE.” From link to australiansforpalestine.net
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/you-see-that-we-are-rising-the-ghosts-of-deir-yassin-phil-monsourrafeef-ziadah.html

Refugees

UN’s oldest refugee camps look at sensitive upgrades
BETHLEHEM (Reuters) 9 May — Three generations of Palestinians displaced by the founding of Israel in 1948 know only life in UN refugee camps, going to schools beneath the blue-and-white UN flag and drawing their food stocks from UN warehouses. For these Palestinians whose long-cherished goal is the right of return to the lands they lost 64 years ago, the camps must be seen as temporary no matter how permanent they might seem to others. Which explains why the latest program by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA, to upgrade the camps’ dilapidated facilities is such a delicate operation. The United Nations and other agencies have been providing essential services in the camps for decades without implementing permanent institutions, but say the time has come to do more for the growing populations of residents … The 13,000 residents of Bethlehem’s Duheisha camp, a warren of cinder block hovels clogged with traffic and electrical wires, are a focus of UNRWA’s efforts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=484118

Exhibition showcases plans to improve refugee camps
BERLIN/JERUSALEM (WAFA) 8 May — A new exhibition opened in the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum (DAZ) in Berlin to showcase innovative community participation in urban planning to improve conditions in Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East, said an UNRWA press release on Tuesday
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19769

Repression of speech

CPJ calls for return of Wattan broadcast equipment
NEW YORK (WAFA) 9 May — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Israeli Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon to return broadcast equipment his ministry and the Israeli army had seized during a night raid at the Ramallah-based Wattan TV in February, a CPJ press release said on Tuesday. In a letter the New York-based Committee sent to Kahlon, CPJ said it was “deeply concerned by the confiscation of equipment and archives.”  The equipment was funded in large part by U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Middle East Partnership Initiative, a fund controlled by the U.S. State Department, said CPJ.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19776

Israel’s AG mulling charges against ‘Jenin Jenin’ director
Haaretz 9 May — IDF soldiers have requested that Mohammed Bakri be charged according to clause 6 of the Libel Law, which sets a punishment of up to one year in prison for deliberate libel — The attorney general will soon decide whether to file charges against Mohammed Bakri, director of the controversial film “Jenin, Jenin,” which implies that Israel Defense Forces soldiers committed war crimes in a 2002 military operation in the Palestinian refugee camp.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-s-ag-mulling-charges-against-jenin-jenin-director-1.429088

Racism

Jerusalem: Ads warn parents — keep daughters away from Arabs
Ynet 8 May — In an ad made to look like an imaginary wedding invitation between Michal and her chosen groom Mohammad, distributed throughout Jerusalem’s streets, the organization is seeking to demonstrate what would happen if parents fail to keep watch over their daughters … The “invitation” asks you to join Michal and Mohammad as they celebrate their marriage on a Friday night at the Shahid (martyr) events hall in Ramallah. Next to the invitation the ad reads: “If you don’t want your daughter’s wedding invitation to look like this then…Don’t let her work with Arabs or do national service with non-Jews, don’t let her work in place that employs enemies and don’t bring home migrant workers…”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4226495,00.html

Videos, photos: In Israel, African migrants under attack
Al Jazeera, The Stream 8 May –  Recent attacks against African asylum seekers in Tel Aviv are raising important questions for the state of Israel.   Advocates say the migrants are victims of racism, discrimination and decades of poor policy.  But some citizens and politicians argue the rising number of “infiltrators” – as they call them – is leading to crime and a fall in living standards. In this episode of The Stream, we speak to journalist Mya Guarnieri; Sanjeev Bery, Middle East Director at Amnesty International; Yohannes Bayu, Founder and Executive Director for the African Refugee Development Center; and David Sheen, Israeli filmmaker.
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/israel-african-migrants-under-attack-0022203

Politics

Palestinian president ready to engage Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) 8 May — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he was ready to engage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a Middle East peace agreement if he proposes “anything promising or positive”. Abbas, speaking to Reuters after Netanyahu announced a grand coalition that will strengthen the Israeli leader’s hand, said Netanyahu had to realise that Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank were destroying hopes of peace and must cease.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/palestinian-president-ready-engage-israel-204208116.html

Fayyad: Palestinians isolated, short of funds
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 8 May — Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday the Palestinians may have “lost the argument” on the international stage for an independent state but cautioned that continued Israeli occupation was unsustainable. In an interview, Fayyad struck a note of discord with President Mahmoud Abbas by calling for elections that have long been delayed because of deep political divisions between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=483836

Fatah delegation arrives in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — A delegation of senior Fatah officials led by Nabil Shaath arrived in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Central Committee members Shaath and Muhammad al-Madani and Revolutionary Council Secretary-General Amin Maqboul entered Gaza via the Erez crossing on Israel’s border, party official Yahya Rabah told Ma‘an … Earlier Wednesday, Fatah official Atif Abu Seif, told Ma‘an the delegation was tasked with arranging some internal party issues in Gaza, as well as holding meetings with other Palestinian factions to push forward reconciliation efforts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=484135

Other news

Erekat recovers from minor cardiac arrest
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 8 May — PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat is recovering in hospital from a minor cardiac arrest, medical sources said Tuesday. Executive Director of Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, Ahmad Bitawi, told WAFA Erekat underwent a catheterization process and will completely recover within two days.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19771

Israel preventing global implementation of NPT, Salehu tells NAM
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Tehran Times) 9 May – Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that the Zionist regime’s refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is preventing the agreement from being implemented worldwide.
http://tehrantimes.com/politics/97707-israel-preventing-global-implementation-of-npt-salehi-tells-nam-

Analysis / Opinion

Too many tears have been shed in Palestine; let us laugh again / Yousef M. Aljamal
EI 8 May — Two Sundays ago, my mother moved from one home in Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, to another in Gaza. She said she felt sad and happy at the same time … My mother spent 32 days in the West Bank. A day for every year she has lived in Gaza. She cried as much as she laughed. Palestinians have cried too much. It’s about time we were allowed to laugh more. Every tear we shed should be accompanied by a smile.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/too-many-tears-have-been-shed-palestine-let-us-laugh-again/11267

Bean-counting states / Sam Bahour
8 May — As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict faces hunger strikes and the threat of renewed conflict, the question being tirelessly reiterated is whether a two-state solution is beyond us. The answer is “Yes”€ and “€œNo.”€ But counting the number of states required for bringing about a final status solution is entirely misguided.
It is past time to take a fresh approach to resolving the conflict. Instead we should focus on two clear milestones. First, there should be an end to Israel’s 45-year military occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Then, and only then, can Palestinians be expected to negotiate in good faith toward the second milestone, which is a negotiated final status agreement that would end the conflict and launch a process of historic reconciliation.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/08/bean-counting-staes.html

Netanyahu’s and Abbas’s  moments of truth / Carlo Strenger
Haaretz 9 May — Mofaz’s two-phased plan for peace with the Palestinians could force both Netanyahu and Abbas to make tough, fateful decisions – Yesterday’s political bombshell, for obvious reasons, has left both citizens and commentators dumbfounded. It has been pointed out that Netanyahu is now the undisputed king of Israeli politics: basically no single coalition party has any real power over him; each and every one of them now knows that Netanyahu can live without them … To my mind the most interesting factor is one that has been mentioned only rarely: the new coalition agreement’s commitment to resuming negotiations with the Palestinians … Netanyahu’s new coalition partner Mofaz, for quite some time, has advocated a two-phased peace plan. He proposes to immediately establish a Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank, thus liberating more than 99 percent of Palestinians from Israeli rule. This would create favorable conditions for final status negotiations.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/netanyahu-s-and-abbas-moments-of-truth-1.429201

How a rattled Netanyahu outflanked Likud’s militant settler faction / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 9 May — Binyamin Netanyahu’s stunning political coup this week, calling off elections and forming a unity government, was partly a response to increasingly strident demands of rightwing settlers in the West Bank coming from within his own party. The settlers have become a vociferous presence in Israel’s dominant party, Likud, as they seek to drive government and party policy into line with their beliefs. Their growing presence in the party helped push Netanyahu to scrap elections called for September and bring the centrist Kadima party into a broader coalition. Israel’s parliament is poised to approve the new government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/09/netanyahu-likud-settlers

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