Blockade stymies Gaza paralympian and race-car designers– and threatens ‘stability of the region’

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Refugees

Israeli court orders the demolition of 29 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem
MEMO 6 June — An Israeli court has issued a ruling which allows the municipal authorities in Occupied Jerusalem to destroy 29 Palestinian homes in the Silwan district of al-Bustan, south of the Aqsa Mosque. The demolition order includes the residence of the head of the Committee for the Defence of Silwan, Fakhri Abu-Thiab. Mr Thiab clarified that the court had given the Municipality the green light to go ahead with the demolition of the 29 homes after rejecting an intervention by the Jerusalemite residents demanding a postponement.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3842-israeli-court-orders-the-demolition-of-29-palestinian-homes-in-jerusalem

Wednesday: Israeli authorities raze Palestinian homes in the Negev
RAMALLAH (PIC) 6 June — Israeli police and special forces went on a demolition spree in the Negev desert, south of Palestine occupied in 1948, on Wednesday at the pretext of unlicensed building. The joint forces razed a number of Palestinian homes in what Tel Aviv calls unrecognized villages. Witnesses said that the police forces tore down three houses in Tal Al-Saba after interior ministry staffers glued [issued?] orders for the demolition of ten houses in the village.
The police forces sealed off the vicinity of those houses to block citizens from approaching as huge bulldozer went on the demolition streak. Locals said that Israeli bulldozes then razed two houses in Um Ratam village and a shed in Hawra village.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7RWzHvl0ParufzR9lPddn9UaME395sLK8gOQkNQnQL77DZ9wxmFlGNrJoL09CGICn0Bh6%2fTE%2bA0MShy2q4Yh4%2fOW80iSSx%2fwIzSGbWvbSj8c%3d

Jordan Valley displacements and demolitions continue
Stop the Wall 6 June — This morning Israeli troops forced homeowners in the Jordan Valley to demolish their homes, having issued 24 demolition notices to four families. The forces did not wait the 24 hours, but evicted the families, who live in the north of the Valley. The head of the local council in Wadi Al Maleh Aref Daraghmeh, a Bedouin, said that the four families lived in the Al Mayte area of the Al Maleh valley were added to a long list of families who have been displaced or are under threat of displacement in the region … The situation in the Jordan Valley is critical as it is part of Area C, under full Israeli control, but it is seen as essential for the Palestinians. In addition to it constituting a third of the West Bank and it being the only point at which Palestinians can access the outside world, also contains around 47% of the ground water resources of Palestine, as well as housing some of the most fertile agricultural land in Palestine. Since agriculture is the backbone of Palestine’s economy and will continue to be in the future, access to this land is essential for continued Palestinian existence.
http://stopthewall.org/2012/06/06/jordan-valley-displacements-and-demolitions-continue

Wednesday: Despite court ruling, soldiers ban farmers from land
HEBRON, June 6, 2012 (WAFA) – Despite the fact that an Israeli court had ruled in favor of Palestinian landowners against attempts by Jewish settlers to take their land, settlers, protected by soldiers, Wednesday prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching their agricultural land east of the town of Yatta, north of Hebron, under the pretext the land is an Israeli military area, according to a local activist. An Israeli court had issued a ruling last year ordering return of the land to its Palestinian owners. Ratib al-Jabour, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in southern Hebron, told WAFA that settlers from the Israeli settlement of Susiya prevented farmers from harvesting their land planted with wheat and barley.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19993

New road built for Har Homa as part of Israel’s greater Jerusalem plan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 6 June — The applied research institute Arij said Israel has finished the construction of a bypass road extending from around Har Homa settlement in Abu Ghoneim Mount southeast of Jerusalem to Bethlehem city as part of its settlement project which it describes as the greater Jerusalem project. In a report issued on Wednesday, Arij stated that the new bypass road is aimed at creating territorial contiguity inside the settlement itself and preparing the open areas that surround it for the establishment of two other big settlements extending to Bethlehem known as Har Homa C and Har Homa D. It underlined that the information it obtained affirms that these two settlements would be built on an area of 1,080 dunums of Bethlehem land…
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7gSNeVYEpiaHMvjKO8X3MUTatZaJSvZbJNr%2ffHrf2VjxyCNrIA7Es3FzV%2b2EAD6swkx%2b7bhml1oyiXUx6%2fBUuDSQdD2WN3Dikmyed69V5THc%3d

Tuesday: IOA halts maintenance work in Ibrahimi Mosque
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 5 June — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Tuesday ordered a halt to maintenance work in the Ibrahimi mosque in Al-Khalil. Zeid Al-Jabari, the director of Al-Khalil Awkaf, told Quds Press that the Israeli military commander in the liaison office told him of the decision at the pretext that one of the tools [a nail] was used in attacking an Israeli soldier.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7WM1NvW%2fwjpvKoezymhrqEPEDr7La6M2%2fOvHJ8CIEhyvo5g%2bIVoIZX6mBGobg4eJqWD%2bI9wftSUEyat20gN2b4wrGTSZNuco9C7nKFRgEGKQ%3d

Israeli Jewish settlement bill defeated after Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to sack ministers who vote for it
Independent 6 June by Donald Macintyre — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today used a threat to sack rebel ministers to prevent parliament bypassing the country’ s Supreme Court and legalising Jewish settlement on privately owned Palestinian land. Knesset members defeated by 69 to 22 votes a bill promoted by the far right, which would have — among other things — retrospectively legalised five settler apartment buildings in the Ulpana neighbourhood of the West Bank settlement Beit El, that the Court has ordered the state to evacuate by 1 July.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-jewish-settlement-bill-defeated-after-benjamin-netanyahu-threatens-to-sack-ministers-who-vote-for-it-7820898.html

Israel PM plans hundreds of settler homes after vote
AFP 6 June — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that hundreds of new settler homes would be built in the West Bank after MPs rejected a bill to prevent the razing of buildings in one neighbourhood.  Netanyahu had opposed the bill, which would have circumvented a Supreme Court ruling ordering the dismantling of five buildings in the Ulpana neighbourhood of Beit El — a wildcat settlement built on private Palestinian land — by legalising outposts. But he warned after the vote he would not allow people to “use the legal system to harm the settlement movement,” and announced plans to add 300 new homes to Beit El, near the city of Ramallah. “Beit El will be expanded. The 30 families will remain in Beit El, and 300 new families will join them,” he said in remarks relayed by public radio.
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-settlers-protest-ahead-vote-outpost-192137605.html

Police gear for nationwide settler riots
Ynet 6 June –  The Israel police have declared a high alert Wednesday, following several settlers’ riots over the quashing of the settlement regulation bill.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4239282,00.html

Palestinian refugees: from the frying pan into the fire
Al Akhbar 6 June by Doha Shams — Forced to flee, denied entry to Arab countries, and unable to return to their homeland, former Palestinian residents of Iraq are on the Iraqi-Syrian border, still waiting for somewhere to go. The appeal arrived via Facebook. It was like a message in a bottle thrown into the sea with little hope. The sender said he was living in a camp on the Iraqi-Syrian border along with some 200 other Palestinian refugees. They had been left stranded on the dangerous frontier between a country that is facing a combined civil war and foreign onslaught, and another that has been occupied and now persecutes them as “Saddam remnants.” The place is called al-Hol camp. The Palestinian embassy in Lebanon said it knew nothing about these Palestinians. UNRWA said they were not registered with it. How come? We contacted the young man, named Firas Saidam, to ask. A few days later – the web in Syria is not in good shape – we succeeded.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/palestinian-refugees-frying-pan-fire

Gaza siege

Gaza power plant offline as Egypt blocks Qatar fuel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 June — The power authority in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday that the enclave’s sole power plant had stopped functioning due to delays on the Egyptian border preventing the entry of fuel. Truckloads of Qatari fuel — some 150,000 liters — arrived in El-Arish, Egypt on Tuesday but they have not been able to cross an Egyptian goods terminal en route to the Gaza Strip … Officials in the Hamas-run power authority say the fuel is being delayed at the border even though it was supposed to arrive Sunday … The authority said it held Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah responsible for the delays. It said the PA was behind Egypt’s refusal to equip the Rafah crossing to transfer fuel, leaving only a crossing controlled by Israel able to receive the fuel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492958

Israeli allows first shipment of Qatari fuel into Gaza
RAFAH, June 6, 2012 (WAFA) –The Israeli authorities Wednesday allowed the entry of around 135,000 liters of fuel donated by the Qatari government into the Gaza Strip through Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing after a month delay, according to crossing officials. Raed Fattouh, who heads a committee in charge of entry of products into Gaza, told WAFA that the fuel will be used to operate Gaza’s only power plant that supplies a large area of the Strip with electricity. The shipment is the first of 30 tons of fuel Qatar has donated to Gaza to help it overcome a sharp shortage in fuel that has caused severe blackouts for more than two months.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19984

$1.5 million renovation at Rafah crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 June — Gaza’s Rafah crossing is undergoing a $1.5 million overhaul which will bring the terminal to international standards, director Maher Abu Sabha says. Abu Sabha told Ma‘an the renovation, funded by the Islamic Relief and the Islamic Development Bank, was designed to make the crossing on Egypt’s border comfortable and efficient. [The Rafah crossing is for people, not freight, fuel, etc.]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492807

Turkey’s Erdogan slams Israel over ‘open air prison’ in Gaza
AFP 5 June — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday used his keynote address at a regional World Economic Forum meeting to slam Israel over conditions in the Gaza Strip. “People are being jailed in the world’s largest open-air prison,” Erdogan said, referring to Israel’s nearly six-year-old blockade of Gaza, one of the issues that has led to a crumbling of ties between onetime allies.
http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-erdogan-slams-israel-over-open-air-prison-210658341.html

UNRWA: Ongoing siege of Gaza ‘threatens stability in the region’
MEMO 6 June — The newly-appointed Director of Operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip has warned that the continuing blockade “threatens the stability of the region”. Robert Turner added that UNRWA will have to reduce many of its services because of budget deficits “which will impact negatively on the lives of the Palestinian refugees”. During a meeting in his office in Gaza, Mr. Turner told Palestinian journalists that the blockade is the main obstacle to the implementation of UNRWA’s operations, followed by donor countries’ non-fulfillment of their obligations towards the international agency … “With regard to the Gaza Strip, there is a significant shortfall in the emergency programme, where only $43 million was provided out of $225 million requested from donors.” This will lead to a 70 per cent reduction in the level of UNRWA services, he pointed out. This reduction, said UNRWA’s top man in Gaza, will mean that annual employment contracts will be reduced to 9,000 out of 20,000 at present, and six thousand jobs will be cut after the Summer Games programme was stopped for the first time since its inception a number of years ago. Mr. Turner said that UNRWA needs $20 million to provide emergency assistance across Gaza in the coming months, and expressed his fear that the agency may end up cutting programmes altogether, affecting 750,000 Palestinian refugees.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3840-ongoing-siege-of-gaza-qthreatens-stability-in-the-regionq

Bring Gaza race-car drivers in from the cold
4 June by Stuart Littlewood — Last year engineering students from the Gaza Strip took on the cream of Europe’s technical universities in a competition to build a race car, despite obstruction by the Israeli regime … The lads from Gaza were entered in Class 2. They won 3rd prize for their business plan and came 9th with their financial report. But Israel’s illegal blockade prevented specialty parts from Italy reaching them and consequently they missed.the deadline for their design and specification report and were docked a huge number of penalty points.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19331

Gaza Paralympian: Nothing is impossible
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 6 June — Despite having no formal training, Khamis Zakout, a wheelchair athlete from the Gaza Strip, will be representing Palestine at the London 2012 Paralympics … In May, the British Consulate in Ramallah invited Zakout and his fellow athletes to Jerusalem to mark the 100-day countdown to the Paralympics. “The objective of the visit was to get psychological support and moral strength to prepare for the Olympic Games, and I also wanted to show other disabled Palestinians that it is possible to succeed, achieve and live a healthy life, despite physical impairment,” Zakout says. “I wanted to prove to all people that Palestinians are strong, that they have will and are persistent through their hardships. Disability only lies in the mind, not in the body. Hence, we are not disabled, and nothing is impossible.”
But Zakout was unable to attend the event because Israeli forces refused to let him enter at the Erez crossing on Gaza’s border, citing security concerns. The athlete, who has never been detained in Israel, says he cannot think of any reason for the refusal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492973

Violence / Aggression / Raids / Arrests

Wednesday: Israeli airstrike injures 2 in Gaza City
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 June — Israeli warplanes fired on a naval police base in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, injuring two Palestinians. Medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said two people were evacuated to Shifa hospital, one of whom was in a critical condition.
Witnesses also said Israeli fighter jets fired at a poultry farm in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning. No injuries have been reported.
An Israeli army statement said the strike “targeted two weapon storage facilities … The sites were targeted in response to the rocket fire on communities in southern Israel.” On Tuesday afternoon a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel, without causing damage or injuries, the Israeli army said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492709

Wednesday: Israeli navy kidnaps 3 Palestinians at sea
GAZA (PIC) 6 June — Israeli navy gunboats attacked Palestinian fishermen and kidnapped three of them on Wednesday morning while working at sea off the Rafah coast, the Palestinian ministry of agriculture in Gaza said. The ministry’s fisheries department said in a statement that the navy forces attacked a small fishing boat and kidnapped three fishermen on board including two brothers. It said that the fishermen were working to win their sole source of sustenance and within the allowed range of three nautical miles.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7e7UzW4%2f6o0iN03hz%2fix9GhPGjOq8WbizhhudiqT7DJpHk1s67D5z7fUl%2b3nFNWnyzR8qp1qtUZ57p6leRqcUR1Ji3cp2h09sm7%2fJisWcAeU%3d

Wednesday: Israeli forces arrest 14 Palestinians, including minors, in West Bank, Gaza
WEST BANK, June 6, 2012 (WAFA) – The head of Taqoa local council, Taysir Abu Mofreh, told WAFA that forces stormed an area east of the town of Taqoa, east of Bethlehem, raided several homes and arrested three Palestinian students between the ages of 13 and 15 and led them to an unknown destination. A Palestinian from the Jenin area was also arrested after raiding and searching his family home. Forces also stormed the village of al-Fandaqumiya in Jenin, raided and searched several houses and interrogated their residents.
Meanwhile, a large Israeli military force stormed Nour Shams refugee camp and the neighborhood of Thinnaba, both east of Tulkarem, arrested two Palestinians age 24 and 26 after raiding and searching their homes and confiscated a number of computers.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said forces stormed Khirbet Tana, a locale east of Nablus, after being besieged for hours by armed settlers and arrested five Palestinians. They also beat up a Palestinian causing him bruises throughout his body.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19985

Tuesday: Israel army training forces Palestinians out of their homes
NABLUS, June 6, 2012 (WAFA) – Around 20 Palestinian families spent Tuesday night in the open fields after they were ordered by the Israeli army to leave their homes in the Jordan Valley under the pretext the army wants to hold military training in the area, according to a local official. Aref Daraghme, head of Wadi al-Maleh village council, said on Wednesday that around 200 young and old Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and sleep in the open fields while the Israeli army conducted intensive military exercises using heavy artillery in the vicinity of their residences. The families have not been yet allowed to return to their homes, added Daraghme.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19983

Israeli maneuvers in Jordan Valley cut water supplies to nearby village
NABLUS (alresalah.ps) 6 June  — Villagers in Ein Shibli village in central Jordan Valley have complained that maneuvers conducted by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at the slopes of nearby mountains had cut off water supplies to their homes. Locals said that hundreds of IOF troops were exercising with live ammunition and sleeping in tents pitched near their village. They complained that the soldiers have deliberately shut down water springs that supplied the village with water for their crops and house use.
http://www.alresalah.ps/en/index.php?act=post&id=690

IOF intensifies military training in the Jordan Valley
JVS 5 June — The Israeli army have started large scale training with tanks and live ammunition in the northern Jordan Valley. Showing complete disregard for Palestinians in the area, they warned four Bedouin families to leave their homes for 24 hours, yet they didn’t go anywhere near the illegal settlements or the land they farm. Military training in areas of the Jordan Valley completely controlled by Israel (designated as Area C under the Oslo accords) is commonplace … However, with this current wave of training they have moved into Area B (where the Palestinian Authority has joint control under the Oslo accords). On this occasion they were carrying out their training in the centre of Ein Shibli village, next to a park where local people take their children to play and swim. This busy village is one of the few places where Bedouin communities from Al Hadidiya, Makhoul, Ras ar Ahmar and Humsa can come to fill up their portable water tanks, that they then use for themselves and their livestock to drink.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=439

Israelis arrest Palestinian theater’s artistic director at 3 am
Mondoweiss 6 June by Felice Gelman, Phil Weiss — Last night, Israeli armed forces raided the home of Nabil Al Raee, the artistic director of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, arresting him and terrifying his three year old daughter Mina. The Freedom Theatre manager, Jonatan Stanczak asked the soldiers why they were detaining Al Raee. They refused to say. ““The only answer you get is a gun in your face,” Stanczak said. According to Al Arabiya, the Israelis confirmed the incident, saying that Raee, “was arrested overnight in Jenin on suspicion of illegal activity.” This marks the 6th time in the last 12 months that Israeli forces have arrested a member of the staff or board of The Freedom Theatre. In addition, Palestinian security forces, vaunted for their “cooperation” and “coordination” with Israeli security, have twice arrested Freedom Theatre co-founder Zakaria Zubeidi.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/israelis-arrest-palestinian-theaters-artistic-director-at-3-a-m.html

Indictment: Border Guard officers robbed Arabs in Jerusalem
Ynet 6 June — Internal Affairs Division says three armed, off-duty officers in uniform led Arabs to alley, stole their money
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4239142,00.html

Tuesday: Jewish settlers cordon off Nablus village
NABLUS (PIC) 6 June — Jewish settlers have been besieging the Khirbat Tana village to the east of Nablus since Tuesday night, Ghassan Daghlas, monitoring settlement activity north of the West Bank, said. He warned in a statement on Tuesday night that the settlers might be planning an attack on the village, which is located to the far east of Nablus province. Daghlas said that the village is completely isolated and even telephone contacts with its inhabitants were difficult if not impossible.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7T%2fkX%2b80wiSw9%2f9SIABKCRMCU7NS3WDVs4cM1nfAA0wUokjPQCMDpmlKYUf7sESc3SuRZYEVVawL2TQA77sbGrKr6pWQPkslc2NmktngEO7Y%3d

Wednesday: Settlers block Hebron farmers from land
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 6 June — Israeli settlers blocked Palestinian farmers from reaching their lands in the southern West Bank on Wednesday, witnesses said. Farmer Abu Iyad Housheh told Ma’an they were forced at gunpoint to leave the fields near Um al-Rais and Al-Atariya southeast of Hebron. He said Israeli forces arrived and prevented farmers from accessing the land.
Housheh said the group had toured the area with Israel’s Civil Administration three weeks earlier, where they provided maps and documents to prove their ownership of the land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492849

Tuesday: Settlers enter Nablus village, 5 Palestinians detained
NABLUS (Ma‘an) — Israeli settlers stormed a northern West Bank village Tuesday night, assaulting a Palestinian man and damaging his car, a local official told Ma‘an.Dozens of settlers entered Khirbet Tana, east of Nablus and beat Muatasim Nidal Abu Heit after breaking his car windshield, PA official Ghassan Daghlas said.
An Israeli army spokesman said a fire had broken out in the area and the security guard of Gvaot Olam outpost brought a team to extinguish it, after which Palestinians attacked the guard with clubs. The incident passed without injuries, he said.
Israeli forces arrived at the scene and detained five Palestinians, the spokesman added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492733

A Saturday of terror for Palestinians in the shadow of the settlers / Amira Hass
Haaretz 4 June — The strangest words uttered during the Saturday visit two weeks ago to Asira al-Kabaliya were, “And my son told me, don’t worry, mother. The army is coming.” It was strange because the speakers were Palestinian, and doubly strange because in two successive instances, in a single week, the Israel Defense Forces failed to prevent settlers from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar from shooting and wounding two Palestinians … “Oh, how I hate Saturdays,” says Umm Majdi. This is a day prone to attacks. It’s impossible to keep track of them…” [so, attacks aren’t ‘work’ for religious settlers, and OK to do on the Sabbath?] … These are lives under constant threat, 24 hours a day. The kids can’t concentrate at school because they keep peeking out, up the hill, to see if the settlers are approaching. [Well worth the price of a trial subscription to Haaretz to read this]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/a-saturday-of-terror-for-palestinians-in-the-shadow-of-the-settlers.premium-1.434308?localLinksEnabled=false

Detention / Hunger strikes / Prisoner news

Israel: The injustice and secrecy surrounding administrative detention
Amnesty International 6 June — Israel must release all Palestinians held under long-standing administrative detention laws or charge and try them promptly and fairly, Amnesty International said in a new report. ‘Starved of justice: Palestinians detained without trial by Israel’  documents human rights violations associated with administrative detention – a relic of British control of the area that permits detention without charge or trial on indefinitely renewable military orders. The report also calls on Israel to stop using these measures to suppress the legitimate and peaceful activities of activists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/news/israel-injustice-and-secrecy-surrounding-administrative-detention-2012-06-01

Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strikes continue as Israel violates agreements / Linah Alsaafin
EI 5 June — Hours before the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, commemorating the ethnic cleansing of more than half of the Palestinian population in the 1940s by Zionist militias, an historic agreement ending a 28-day mass hunger strike was signed by the Israeli Prison Service and the Higher Committee for Prisoners, in the presence of the Egyptian mediator … The agreement on paper appeared to acquiesce to the three main demands of the prisoners: an end to administrative detention (where a person is detained without any charges brought against him or her, with detention subject to indefinite renewal), the release of 19 prisoners from solitary confinement, and respecting the internationally-recognized right to family visits for the prisoners from Gaza, who haven’t seen their families since 2007 — a form of collective punishment imposed after the capture of an Israeli soldier. However, once again the realization of the agreement was left for Israel to decide — and since the end of the mass hunger strike in the early hours of 15 May, rumors of Israel reneging on its promises have solidified into facts.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-prisoners-hunger-strikes-continue-israel-violates-agreements/11364

Time running out for hunger-striking footballer; rights groups demand urgent pressure on Israel
EI 6 June by Ali Abunimah — For the first time since their hunger strikes began, an independent doctor has been allowed to visit Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi in the Israeli jail where they are held, confirming the imminent danger to their lives. After 80 and 56 days of hunger strike respectively, the critical situation prompted 12 human rights groups making up the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organisations, and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR – Israel) to issue an urgent appeal today for international intervention to save the men. Sarsak, once a star athlete now weighs a little over 100 pounds (51kg) and is close to death. The groups emphasized the urgent need for both men to be transferred to civilian hospitals, something Israel has refused to do … the PHR-Israel doctor reported that Akram also already suffers from extreme loss of muscle tissue and drastic weight loss. His weight has decreased from 68 kilos to 50 kilos, which is a total loss of 26.5 percent.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/time-running-out-hunger-striking-footballer-rights-groups-demand-urgent-pressure

Former Palestinian footballer vows to continue hunger strike until his release
Jerusalem (CNN) 6 June by Kareem Khadder — Entering the 80th day of a hunger strike Wednesday, former Palestinian national football player Mahmoud Sarsak said he will continue until he is released from the Israeli prison where he has been held without charge since July 2009. Sarsak is protesting Israel’s controversial policy of “illegal combatant” — also known as administrative detention — which allows Israeli authorities to detain Palestinians indefinitely. Also Wednesday, two human rights organizations expressed concern about Sarsak and two other hunger strikers: Akram Rikhawi, whose protest was entering its 56th day, and Samer Al-Barq, who’s been held since July 2010.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/06/world/meast/israel-footballer-hunger-strike/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Administrative detention for radiographer Najeh Assi
RAMALLAH (PIC) 6 June — The detainee Najeh Assi, 38, from Beit Liqya town city of Ramallah was re-arrested and put under administrative detention without charge or trial. Al-Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights stated that the detainee Assi, who served thirty months in administrative detention from mid-2008 until the beginning of 2011, was re-arrested for the second time in the same year without charge or trial and then he was served with administrative detention and he is still facing constant renewal of administrative detention every four months … The captive works in Ramallah hospital, Khalid hospital, at Medical Center Mission Statement, his Hijazi radiology center as well, in addition to radiology centers of Red Crescent in Silwad and Salfit, he also teaches at the Modern Community College in Ramallah.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Clx%2b%2f3kaXGYIFW2scpIhC9J%2ft5%2bltPJUsG%2bQVbSjMm%2fmzIL7YbUZT6%2fnf8kuauEN73f9bCbDem6S%2b00jpg9ZWWR9W%2fMkqucI38g7bBPKcBk%3d

MP Haj Ali to be released soon while Kabha’s administrative detention is renewed
NABLUS (PIC) 6 June — The administrative detainees’ lawyer at Tadamon Foundation for Human Rights, Osama Makboul, stated that he managed on Wednesday June 6, to reach an agreement with the Zionist prosecutors for the administrative detention of  MP Ahmed Haj Ali not to be extended … Meanwhile, Ahmed Betawi, a researcher at Tadamon Foundation, stated that the occupation authorities issued a decision renewing the administrative detention (6 months) of the captive Wasfi Kabha the former Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs in the tenth Palestinian government.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hsKcym6V73oE8mQeLCdPg0ayWoRZxr51un90YSr3ux0wq5fpQEeB%2fmM6WlzcAR%2boikYab6gyA1OObyVw5BS1IAhYkzW%2bCBqs3U%2fujHOt%2bCI%3d

Thaer Halahleh: Making his own Palestinian destiny
Al Akhbar 6 June by Antoun Issa, Pascale Menassa. Thaer Halahleh narrowly skirted death when Israel agreed to a deal that ended his 78-day hunger strike, returning home on Tuesday night after languishing behind Israeli bars without charge for over two years … Thaer, whose name means ‘rebel’, expressed deep joy at seeing his family, including his two-year-old daughter, Lamar, whom he barely knows thanks to Israel’s stringent restrictions on family visits.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/thaer-halahleh-making-his-own-palestinian-destiny

IOA sentences Palestinian journalist to ten months
RAMALLAH (PIC) 6 June — The Israeli military court in Ofer passed a ten-month sentence on Palestinian journalist Raed Al-Sharif from Al-Khalil. Press sources told the PIC that Sharif, who works for a local radio station, was arrested eight months ago on the charge of covering activities of the Israeli occupation forces in tracking down “wanted” suspects in Al-Khalil and leaking that information.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7F1hw%2b4plj8D2hwO%2f0NEc7pdnF3md40P86iTWOhQi8HPWtkm%2f8lM0X2%2fy%2bUG4KLj3P40cTVgtcaG0RRvIg6YRy9D0iSPKVOIMWoJEqq%2foSFE%3d

Wednesday: Israeli soldiers storm prison, attack detainees
HEBRON, June 6, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers from the Nahshon special unit stormed a section of Rimon prison, in southern Israel, early Wednesday and attacked Palestinian prisoners, injuring several, according to Minister of Prisoners Issa Qaraqe‘. He told WAFA that a large unit of Israeli soldiers stormed section four of the prison, which houses 120 prisoners, under the pretext of ‘inspection’. The soldiers fired tear gas and battered the prisoners, who confronted them, causing suffocation cases and bodily harm. The Palestinian Prisoner Club (PPC) said the prisoners burnt their mattresses to protest Israeli brutality, adding that PPC lawyers were trying to organize an urgent visit to check on the situation as the Israeli Prison Service announced state of emergency in the prison. Qaraqe‘ described the Israeli action as an ‘act of vengeance’ and ‘systematic terrorism’ targeting the Palestinian prisoners following the four-week hunger strike around 2000 prisoners had observed in April and May protesting conditions in Israeli prisons.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19987

Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

Three appeals submitted regarding closure of 3 investigations of police officers
[with two videos] B’Tselem 6 June — B’Tselem recently learned of the decision by the Police Investigations Unit (PIU) to close the files on three cases dealing with complaints submitted to the unit. Acting on behalf of the complainants, B’Tselem obtained and examined copies of the case files and found investigative errors and omissions. In two of the cases, an appeal has been submitted to the State’s Attorney by Atty. Gabi Lasky on behalf of B’Tselem. The third case was passed on to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which has also submitted an appeal. Details of the appeals:
http://www.btselem.org/accountability/20120605_appeals_on_closing_of_files

Campaigners strategize refugee return during South Africa visit
EI 5 June … In February, a delegation of activists and scholars working on the Palestinian right of return came together in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss the practicalities of return, 64 years and counting since the forced expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians in 1947-48. Participants also learned from South Africa’s experience of implementing its return of internally-displaced Blacks after White minority rule officially ended in the mid-1990s. Delegates were affiliated with Badil, the Bethlehem-based Palestinian Center for Residency and Refugee Rights, and Zochrot, the Israeli anti-Zionist organization dedicated to educating the Israeli public about the Nakba … Hazem Jamjoum, a delegate to Cape Town and the editor of al-Majdal, was interviewed by Nora Barrows-Friedman for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/campaigners-strategize-refugee-return-during-south-africa-visit/11366

Palestinian activists occupy their own little piece of land in London
Haaretz 6 June — Most Britons used the long weekend and national holiday celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee to indulge in street parties and other royal-themed events, or to depart the rainy island for a little sunshine. But a small group of activists used the opportunity to take over an office block in central London and establish Palestine Place, a center for pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel themed activities. Taking advantage of laws that protect citizens occupying disused premises from forced eviction, the activists illegally entered — the organizers prefer the term “reclaimed” — boarded-up shops and office spaces on Grays Inn Road in the central business district of Holborn. After hanging a giant Palestinian-flag-colored banner outside, they used the interior space to create an exhibition filled with large photographs of children confronting Israeli tanks and banners and leaflets explaining how to boycott Israeli goods.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/palestinian-activists-occupy-their-own-little-piece-of-land-in-london.premium-1.434781

Londoners support Palestine
Morning Star 5 June by Paddy McGuffin – Campaigners staged a series of protests across London today aimed at highlighting the plight of a Palestinian hunger striker. Mahmoud Sarsak, a member of the Palestinian national football team, has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days in protest at his continued detention without trial. He is one of a number of political prisoners refusing food in protest at their detention without trial, the conditions in which they are held and the use of “barbaric” interrogation techniques. Mr Sarsak has been held by the Israeli state without charge for almost three years and his supporters fear he is close to death. Protesters wearing the shirts of football teams from around the world staged the symbolic action at several locations including Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and a number of parks.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/119853

In blow to Zionist censors, California backs professor’s right to call for Israel boycott on state university website
EI 5 June by Ali Abunimah — The Attorney General of California has rejected a request by a Zionist group to prosecute a professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) for “misuse of state resources” because he uses university servers to host a website on which he campaigns for the boycott of Israel. As The Electronic Intifada reported in January, CSUN mathematics professor David Klein has been under intense fire from Zionist groups for organizing in opposition to the California State University system’s resumption of a study abroad program in Israel. In April, the Global Frontier Justice Center asked the California Attorney General to investigate and prosecute Klein. Klein told me today that he was pleased and surprised by the decision of the Attorney General not to prosecute him, which he learned of by letter.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/blow-zionist-censors-california-backs-professors-right-call-israel-boycott-state

Naksa Day

Tuesday: Witnesses: 4 wounded at Qalandiya Naksa Day rally
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 6 June — Four Palestinian youth were injured by rubber bullets on Tuesday, at a rally by Qalandiya checkpoint to mark the 45th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, witnesses said. Eyewitnesses told Ma‘an late Tuesday that Israeli forces clashed with protesters at the Ramallah junction, at the commemoration of the 1967 Naksa, or “setback,” marked every year on June 5.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492738

Tuesday: Israeli forces disperse Hebron Naksa demo
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 5 June — Israeli forces dispersed demonstrators in the Old City of Hebron on Tuesday during commemorations of the 45th anniversary of the Naksa, or setback, of 1967. The demonstration, called by the popular committee against the wall in Hebron, was launched from the Zahda area in the Old City toward Shuhada Street, which is under closure by Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians and international activists chanted slogans calling an end to the occupation and apartheid in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. When the demonstration arrived near the Beit Romano outpost, Israeli forces used riot dispersal means against the demonstrators and set up barbed wire to stop them from advancing, activists said. Forces fired tear gas and stun grenades toward the Palestinians, they said.
They briefly detained member four people; Palestinian people’s party political bureau leader Fahmi Shahin, 50, activists Nahil Abu Eisha, 30, and Yahiya Al-Rajabi, 22, and photojournalist Asid Amarna.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492642

Tuesday: Fatah withdraws from Gaza rally over flag dispute
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 June — Fatah supporters on Tuesday withdrew from a rally in Gaza because protesters were flying factional flags instead of the Palestinian flag, a party official said. The rally was held to mark the Naksa, the 45th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492615

Wednesday: IOF violence in occupied Al Khalil
AL-KHALIL,(PIC)– The IOF attacked, on Wednesday afternoon, a memorial march to mark the forty-fifth anniversary of Naksa in al-Khalil city in the southern occupied West Bank. Eyewitnesses reported that the occupation forces have blocked the march by putting barbed wire on its way, preventing it from accessing Shuhada Street that has been closed over the past several years. Eyewitnesses added that Israeli soldiers have attacked the marchers, arresting four citizens who were released later on.
Meanwhile, IOF had raided on Tuesday morning Kharsa village in southern Al-Khalil, where they took over a Palestinian house and turned it into a military post.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7YdgXjoFSjbTtwTSHdXcYXtCAUWXu%2fYv5dWpfk3dxU65gdkcNdkfUbXI%2bmGIVsdVSvl3T%2fSOwQJxDp1t3tdBp%2b0bWm59D6S5JgZoKS%2f5mjVA%3d

Palestinians hold low-key Six Day War commemorations
AFP 5 June — Palestinians held small demonstrations on Tuesday to mark the 45th anniversary of the Six Day War in which Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip … The small and largely peaceful marches were in stark contrast to last year’s anniversary, when protesters attempted to storm across the armistice line from Syria into the occupied Golan Heights.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/palestinians-stage-demos-six-day-war-anniversary-141513313.html

Political developments

Palestinian Abbas urges Israel to accept two-state deal
Istanbul (Reuters) 5 June –  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel on Tuesday to accept a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, warning that the opportunity “may not stay on the table for a long time” given the political upheavals caused by the Arab Spring.  Abbas set out the Palestinian case for statehood and full U.N. membership at a World Economic Forum conference in Istanbul, stressing that membership of the United Nations should not prejudice negotiations with Israel.  “I would like to address our Israeli neighbors and say we are seekers of peace and freedom and our people made a major sacrifice when they accepted establishing their state on less than a quarter of the area of historical Palestine,” Abbas said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/05/us-palestinians-abbas-idUSBRE8540YN20120605

Cabinet stresses Palestinians’ determination to establish their state
RAMALLAH, June 5, 2012 (WAFA) – the Palestinian cabinet considered during its weekly meeting that Palestinians are more determined, in spite of 45 years of occupation to persevere for their national rights in order to establish their fully-sovereign independent state within the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as its capital, Tuesday said a press release issued by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s office. Commemorating the day Israel occupied the Palestinian land on the fifth of June 1967, the cabinet said that it holds Israel fully responsible for the lives of ill prisoners, who suffer from a continuous medical negligence policy.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19981

Palestinian elections aim to boost women
JERUSALEM, West Bank, June 5 (UPI) — Palestinian Liberation Organization officials said a reform committee has agreed to regulations to boost women and youth candidates in Parliament elections. Party lists for the first Palestinian National Council elections must include one woman among the top three candidates, said Walid Awad, committee member and senior Palestinian People’s Party official. Ma‘an News Agency also reported the minimum age for candidacy would be set at 25. The Palestinian National Authority Parliament’s minimum age is currently 28.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/06/05/Palestinian-elections-aim-to-boost-women/UPI-17891338918240/

Fatah leader: Abbas, Mashaal to meet June 20
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 6 June — President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal will meet June 20 in Cairo, a Fatah official said Wednesday.  Fatah central committee member Azzam al-Ahmad told Voice of Palestine radio that the meeting would focus on forming a unity government and implementing the reconciliation deal. Abbas and Mashaal will select the cabinet ministers during the meeting, al-Ahmad said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=492945

Racism / Discrimination

Police keeping mum about south Tel Aviv clashes in bid to ease tension
Haaretz 6 June — Source says authorities plan only to report clashes between native Israelis and African migrants that result in serious injury; Police spokesman denies such a policy exists.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/police-keeping-mum-about-south-tel-aviv-clashes-in-bid-to-ease-tension.premium-1.434640?localLinksEnabled=false

PM orders defense ministry to erect tent cities for African migrants
Haaretz 5 June — Directive calls for ‘creating accommodations for infiltrators, as quickly and for as many people as possible’; Defense Ministry searching for locations … The Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces already have the tents, which have been used mainly by the Home Front Command in foreign rescue missions.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/pm-orders-defense-ministry-to-erect-tent-cities-for-african-migrants-1.434415?localLinksEnabled=false

Yishai forms special taskforce to tackle migrant problem
Ynet 5 June — Interior Minister gives task force two months to present ways to stop the influx of African migrants into Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4238612,00.html

African migrant rape victim was held in prison due to lack of vacancy in shelters
Haaretz 5 June — An Ethiopian migrant who suffered severe sexual abuse and is in her sixth month of pregnancy has been in held in Saharonim Prison since November, but can’t be released to a shelter for victims of human trafficking because it is full.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/african-migrant-rape-victim-was-held-in-prison-due-to-lack-of-vacancy-in-shelters-1.434621?localLinksEnabled=false

Petition seeks redress for Jews illegally evacuated from villages
Haaretz 4 June — A High Court of Justice petition submitted on Sunday claims that thousands of families were evacuated from Lifta, Shalem, Summayl and other villages in an illegal, discriminatory fashion to advance real estate deals … Harish maintains that the state created ethnic Jewish hierarchies in deciding who would get which abandoned Arab properties: grade A neighborhoods for people with ties to the state establishment, particularly those from European countries; and grade B locales for indigent Jewish immigrants from Arab countries. [not to mention that these villages are rightfully Palestinian anyway]
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/petition-seeks-redress-for-jews-illegally-evacuated-from-villages-1.434203?localLinksEnabled=false

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