B’Tselem video shows Israeli soldier headbutting 17-year-old Palestinian in Hebron

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid

Official: Israeli forces close roads in south Hebron Hills
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 July — Israeli forces have closed several roads in the south Hebron hills, after Israel ordered the demolition of eight villages in the area to use the land for military training, local official said. Israeli troops closed roads leading to Khirbet al-Majaz, Khirbet al-Tabban, Khirbet al-Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba and Kharoubeh, a spokesman for Yatta municipality Abed Abu Fannar told Ma‘an. Abu Fannar said Israeli military bulldozers were closing the entrances to all the villages. He added that he was detained by Israeli soldiers while inspecting the area and warned not to return. Israeli troops have informed residents of the villages that the region is a closed military zone, Abu Fannar said, and military vehicles are deployed throughout the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507622

IDF calls for demolition of Palestinian village built on archaeological site / Amira Hass
Haaretz 26 July — High Court to rule next week on the fate of Zanuta; the State: retroactive authorization of unlawful construction is impossible — The Civil Administration is calling for the demolition of a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank, partly because it is built on an archaeological site. The call for demolition comes despite the fact that Israeli authorities have approved the construction of Jewish settlements on much more important archaeological sites, such as the settlement at Tel Rumeida in Hebron and the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem … Zanuta, like other small Palestinian villages in the area, existed as a cave-settlement before the West Bank was occupied by Israel. Archaeological findings reveal that Zanuta had been inhabited continuously from the Byzantine to the Ottoman period, until eventually being reduced to “a settlement of shepherds and fellahs living in the remains of the ancient structures and the residential caves alongside them,” as archaeologist Dr. Avi Ofer described it. Once the caves began to crumble and became unsafe, the residents of Zanuta set up improvised structures and tents at ground level.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-calls-for-demolition-of-palestinian-village-built-on-archaeological-site.premium-1.453907

Israeli police force Muslim worshipers to leave al-Aqsa
JERUSALEM, July 26 (WAFA) – Israeli police raided al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City late Wednesday and forced around 20 Muslim worshipers performing night prayer to leave the premise, witnesses said on Thursday. They said that the police detained an imam, who was leading the prayer, and transferred him to an unknown location before closing the gates to the compound until dawn prayer. Police restricted entry of young men into Al-Aqsa who were headed to perform dawn prayer, while keeping identity papers of other until they leave the Mosque. Muslim leaders have warned that fanatic Jews will try to enter al-Haram al-Sharif compound, one of Islam’s holiest sites which houses al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, to hold ceremonies marking the destruction of the Jewish temple more than 3000 years ago, which coincides on Sunday.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20340

Violent confrontations in Jerusalem following storming of Aqsa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 26 July — Dozens of Jerusalemite youths engaged in violent confrontations with Israeli occupation forces in a number of suburbs in occupied Jerusalem at dawn Thursday. Eyewitnesses said that the confrontations flared after Jewish settlers and policemen stormed the holy Aqsa mosque, forced out worshippers, and arrested a religious scholar for refusing to get out of the mosque. The Israeli occupation authority has allowed Jewish settlers to intensify their desecration of the Aqsa mosque during the holy fasting month of Ramadan under heavy security protection.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7lWfAllZUIMh9Mqr%2ftyoI5YBj3PT9YWedaJorwPnAo8jtlMzDkTMnGKxalcUIGKAIO8BWOHZvLupSf0TqJEVs7RLDmq%2btlrjA3Crxsl86tak%3d

Foundation: Israel continues demolition of Mughrabi Gate
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 26 July — Israeli authorities are continuing to demolish the Mughrabi gate of the compound housing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage said Thursday. The foundation said in a statement that Israel’s excavations at the site had been conducted secretly but were now being carried out publicly … Workers are also digging up earth around the gate where the foundation says Israeli authorities plan to build a synagogue for women. Under the Mughrabi gate there is another passage, the Prophet gate, which leads to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the foundation added.  The group called on Islamic, regional and Palestinian leaders to intervene, adding that Israel was resuming demolitions in the area despite a decision to suspend work.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507858

Israeli occupation intensifies its presence in Ein Silwan to protect settlers
PNN On Wednesday, 25th July, Israeli forces intensified their presence in Wadi Helwa Street in the village of Ein Silwan, after the residents of the village and the guardian of al-Ein mosque stood up against a group of settlers, who tried to re-assemble a door at the southern entrance of Ein Silwan. Jawad Siam, director of Wadi Al Helwa Information Center, said that the soldiers along with the settlers closed Wadi Helwa Street, and the soldiers attempted to arrest Palestinian minors who were at the street. The forces also intensified their presence in Ein Silwan and spread out in the area to protect the group of settlers that entered the village.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2275-israeli-occupation-intensifies-its-presence-in-ein-silwan-to-protect-settlers

Witnesses: Settlers install caravans near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 July — A group of settlers installed mobile homes on private Palestinian land in the Bethlehem town of al-Khader on Thursday, a local activist said. Farmers spotted a group of settlers setting up 10 mobile homes under the protection of the Israeli army, Ahmad Salah told Ma‘an. Settlers have been repeatedly targeting the Bethlehem town in order to seize land and infrastructure for nearby settlements, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507726

Settlers set up mobile homes in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 July — Israeli settlers continued to seize more Palestinian lands in the West Bank to expand and build more settlements. Local sources said that the settlers have set up dozens of mobile homes under the Israeli occupation army’s protection in Baten Al-Maassi area in Al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem, in order to expand Tamar settlement which was established at the beginning of the Aqsa Intifada.
In another context, Ahmad Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee against settlements in Al-Khader town, said that a number of settlers set up power poles and lines into the trench which they dug a few days ago in the land owned by Suleiman Osman Sabih’s sons located in Ein Al-Kassis west of the town.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s73jKNeYRr8xWcTqb9MFkluYfBOz6PlTsDWwML6fRGYnZEph7BFucUJpsy324SAyOtnNx%2bPBHm0oXi72AMhEjxDa1VskhnGcspcslR7sbZneM%3d

Only 35% of Gush Katif evacuees in permanent housing
Ynet 26 July — Only 35% of families who were removed from Gaza in 2005 have permanent housing, according to a report released by the Gush Katif Committee to mark seven years since the Disengagement. Also according to the report, unemployment rates among evacuees is at 16%, compared to 4% in 2005. [Why? to make it clear to West Bank settlers that this is what will happen to them also if they have to leave]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4261045,00.html

OPT: EU pressure for aid change in Area C
JERUSALEM (IRIN) 26 July — As demolition orders continue to threaten the work of humanitarian organizations in Israeli-controlled Area C in the West Bank, the European Union and humanitarian agencies are pressing to change the rules of the aid game. “We all know that when we turn one stone in Area C, what we get is confrontation with the occupying power,” Ulrich Nitschke, project director at the German Agency for International Cooperation in the West Bank city of Ramallah, told IRIN. “But now, there is a major policy shift among the member states of the EU.”…
The first step of the new process is the development of legal and technical guidelines (master plans) for each local community in need under the leadership of the local Palestinian governments. The master plans are then presented to the Israeli Civil Administration, which opens a case for each locality submitted, and is asked to check whether all legal and technical requirements are met. “As soon as we get a green light on the technical stuff, the EU donors are counting six months. If there is still no permit issued after that, the project is implemented without,” Nitschke said. So far, a total of 24 master plans have been submitted; four were technically approved by the Israeli government in January 2011, but no permits have yet been issued.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95954/OPT-EU-pressure-for-aid-change-in-Area-C

Is Israel’s annexation of Area C of the West Bank imminent? / Mya Guarnieri
972mag 26 July — I started to think that a formal, unilateral annexation of Israeli-controlled Area C is imminent in May, when I saw this video (Hebrew) advocating the move. A public relations ploy designed to convince Israelis that annexing Area C is good for their future — and that giving the Palestinians who live in the area citizenship or residency won’t disturb Israel’s demographic balance — the video was put on YouTube by settler leader Naftali Bennett … Bennett’s video means something, especially when taken within a larger context. And what is that larger context? The last year has seen an increase in the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank as well as a marked rise in the demolition of Palestinian and Bedouin structures in the same area. According to Israel Hayom, the settler population has grown 4.5 percent this year, passing the 350,000 mark … At the same time that Israeli settlements are expanding unchecked, the state is putting the Palestinians and Bedouins who live in Area C under extreme, unrelenting pressure
http://972mag.com/is-israeli-annexation-of-area-c-of-the-west-bank-imminent/51956/

Israel coined the term ‘Nakba’ and is still implementing it / Ilan Pappe
Elect. Int. 20 July — … Israel warned of ‘catastrophe’ — Long before the Palestinians themselves understood what was the essence of the Israeli master plan to expel them, and the far-reaching implications of the country’s ethnic cleansing, the perpetrators themselves found an adequate term in Arabic to describe it: Nakba (catastrophe). The term was mentioned for the first time not in Arab or Palestinian sources but in Israeli military intelligence sources. It appeared in leaflets the Israeli air force distributed during those ten days in July on the eve of a very singular attack on a village or a town. The leaflets demanded in the main the “peaceful” eviction of the village and its surrounding areas. If not, the leaflets warned, the village would be severely punished. We do not have all the leaflets but here is the one rained on the huge and beautiful village of al-Tira near Haifa in the middle of July 1948:  “The sword will cut your throats without pity or compensation. If you insist and continue with your wrong doing … you should know that our airplanes, tanks and artillery will grind your village to dust, shell your houses, break you back, uproot you from your land … and your village will become a desert. Oh the people of al-Tira, if you wish to avoid a Nakba [sic] … surrender…”
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-coined-term-nakba-and-still-implementing-it/11518

Restriction of movement

Israel bans 5 Gazan women from study in West Bank
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July  — Israel’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it would not allow five female students from Gaza to go to university in the West Bank, rights groups said … The five students — four of whom are veteran women’s rights activists — are enrolled to study gender studies, democracy and law programs at Birzeit University near Ramallah. There are no Master’s programs in gender studies or democracy in the Gaza Strip. Israel controls all the entry points to the West Bank so residents of Gaza need Israel’s approval to travel there.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507745

Rights groups to ask court to rule on case of Gaza students
GAZA, July 26 (WAFA) – The Gaza-based al-Mezan, a human rights group, and the Israeli Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement decided Thursday to ask the Israeli High Court to hold an urgent session to discuss the situation of five college students from Gaza who have been banned from returning to their West Bank universities to continue their higher education. A statement by the two organizations said that since the new school year starts on August 22, they will ask the High Court to issue an injunction against a decision by the state prosecutor that would allow the five students to return to their colleges in the West Bank … Al-Mezan and Gisha said the prosecutor admitted in May that there were no security reasons for banning the students from returning to the West Bank to complete their college education, but rather the ban is against all Gaza students who want to study in the West Bank. However, the Israeli government’s military coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories claimed that the ban was due to “highly important political and security reasons.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20341

Violence / Raids / Arrests / Provocations

Video: Israeli soldier headbutts Palestinian teen
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 July — An Israeli soldier was caught on camera headbutting a Palestinian teenager on Wednesday, according to footage captured by a volunteer for Israeli organization B’Tselem. The incident occurs at an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank city. Soldiers order a group of young Palestinians to present their ID cards, and one of the teenagers is shown arguing with the soldier.  An Israeli officer arrives at the scene and is seen, at 1:05 in the video, headbutting the teenager, identified by B’Tselem as 17-year-old Thaer Ghanam. Ghanam can be seen bleeding from his face as the soldier continues to assault him. B’Tselem says its volunteer stopped filming and went outside, where he filmed Ghanam being arrested and put into an army jeep blindfolded and handcuffed. The teenager was later released and treated in a hospital in Hebron for a broken nose, B’Tselem said in a statement. Israel’s army said in a statement that a group of Palestinians had refused to identify themselves to soldiers who were conducting “routine activity” in Hebron. However, at the start of the footage the soldier can be seen holding green Palestinian ID cards as he talks to the Palestinian youths.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507842

IOF soldiers arrest nine Palestinians in Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up nine Palestinian citizens in Al-Khalil at dawn Thursday, media sources said. They said that IOF soldiers detained a father and his three sons after breaking into their home in Samu‘ village, south of Al-Khalil. Locals in Dura town, west of Al-Khalil, said that big numbers of IOF soldiers burst into the home of Rami Rajoub, a leader in Al-Khalil University Islamic bloc, and took him away along with his brother Ra’fat.
IOF soldiers also detained two others in Al-Khalil city including Fuad Abu Seif, the director of operations and developments in the union of agricultural activity, local sources said, adding that the soldiers confiscated Abu Seif’s personal computer and mobile phones.
IOF soldiers arrested a Palestinian student from Al-Khalil at the Karame crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Mohammed Al-Atrash, 22, was on his way to Saudi Arabia to perform the minor pilgrimage (Omra).
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ZtPwIiWjL%2fkaKMJuEtlPGwkvj%2bG4hDHC%2f2QmymQw5HAPyPpR9ch61vB0B2KkGmZcpwgJasRXqYDtHeAqc%2bACoMlYc2%2bsxQXwOnauo2MBs3Q%3d

Detainees

UN Committee on Israeli Practices concerned about treatment of Palestinian children
PNN 24 July — The UN Special Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Territories expressed serious concern about the treatment of Palestinian children in detention by Israeli security forces, and warned that a pattern of detaining and mistreating children “links to broader, longstanding concerns regarding Israel detention of Palestinians generally.” “Witnesses informed the Committee that mistreatment of Palestinian children starts from the moment of detention,” said Ambassador Palitha T.B. Kohona, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York, and Chairperson of the Committee, at the end of a fact-finding visit to Amman, Cairo and the Gaza Strip. “Large numbers are routinely detained. Children’s homes are surrounded by Israeli soldiers late at night, sound grenades are fired into the houses, doors are broken down, live shots are often fired; no warrant is presented,” he noted. “Children are tightly bound, blindfolded and forced into the backs of military vehicles.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2261-un-committee-on-israeli-practices-concerned-about-treatment-of-palestinian-children-in-detention

Ahrar slams daily night raids on cell of prisoner Barghouthi
NABLUS (PIC) 26 July — Ahrar center for prisoner studies and human rights deplored the Israeli prison authority for deliberately and repeatedly targeting and storming the section in Gilboa jail where prisoner Abdullah Al-Barghouthi is being held. Barghouthi, a leading commander of Hamas’s armed wing, was among other hunger striking prisoners who were transferred from their solitary confinement to other jails following a deal with the Israeli prison authority last May. Director of Ahrar center Fouad Al-Khafsh said that after midnight search campaigns are waged on a daily basis particularly on the room of Barghouthi and his mates at the pretext of carrying out security search.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7llNFAVj7d2F%2fVDw%2fafj6mhanr%2bw9JprE2uKVhq92KamG58KekOJyXjGEb%2bzr%2feV7CYtb92mubSlUnyzfj6y6w9IZVFJPQOz5hQbe39oo1D4%3d

Detainees in desert prison say cuffed by prison guards
RAMLLAH (Ma‘an) 26 July — Palestinians detained in Israel’s Negev jail say prison guards are cuffing their legs and hands during lawyer visits and when they use the bathroom, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Thursday. A PPS lawyer visited several detainees in the Negev jail. Prisoner Hatem Qafisha, who is in administrative detention without charge or trial, told the lawyer the cuffing procedure was new, PPS said in a statement. Qafisha added that Israeli prison guards were constantly turning off the electricity in the desert prison, so no fans could be used in the oppressive summer heat … “We are fasting for the month of Ramadan and yet the administration of prison hasn’t provided us with the essential materials for cooking we asked for…”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507733

Gaza

Gaza patients’ referral office re-opens
GAZA, July 26 (WAFA) – The Gaza patients’ referral office reopened its doors on Thursday and resumed taking requests from patients seeking treatment outside the Gaza Strip, according to local non-governmental organizations. A statement by the Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organization said efforts by various local and international groups have speeded up the reopening of the office after a two-week closure. The office was closed following disputes between the Ramallah-based Ministry of Health and Gaza-based Hamas health offices over appointment of a new director to the office. More than 15,000 patients are annually transferred to get needed treatment in hospitals outside the Gaza Strip, mainly at Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20342

Damaged power line exacerbates power crisis in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — Residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City are experiencing power outages due to a damaged electricity line, the power company in Gaza said Thursday. Spokesman for Gaza’s electricity company Jamal al-Dardasawi told Ma‘an the main power line running from Israel to Gaza was damaged, but that Palestinian technicians could not repair the line as the damage was in Israel. Al-Dardasawi said the damaged line would exacerbate existing power shortages in Gaza, adding that power cuts were particularly difficult in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507846

Hamas bid for Egypt trade may founder on constraints for Mursi
Bloomberg 26 July — Fayaz Abu Hani saw his factories blown apart three years ago in Israel’s military offensive against the Gaza Strip, crippling production of cooking oil, flour and a popular mix of coffee and cardamom. Egypt’s change of leadership has given Abu Hani hope that he may be able to rebuild his business. The opening of Egypt’s Rafah border with Gaza for commerce would cut the cost of the imported raw materials he needs. Ending trade curbs will be a key demand of Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, during his talks with President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo today. “A commercial crossing with Egypt would give us self- sufficiency and help bring in all kinds of goods to Gaza that have been tough to obtain,” said the gray-bearded Abu Hani, 59. “It’s a very good idea.” Blocking those aspirations is pressure from Israel, the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority, who argue that a direct commercial thoroughfare between Egypt and Gaza would violate trade agreements and damage efforts to bridge the West Bank-Gaza divide. Mursi may also approach changes with caution, as he seeks to balance grass-roots pressure to help Gaza with pledges to preserve Egypt’s international commitments.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-26/hamas-bid-for-egypt-trade-may-founder-on-constraints-for-mursi.html

Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam
Gaza (Reuters) 26 July –  Two conversions that a Christian family says were forced have strained relations between a tiny Palestinian Christian community in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and the Muslim majority. Hundreds of Christians have staged protests in Gaza’s main church in the past week, demanding the return of members of their community of 2,500, whom they said were kidnapped by Islamist proselytizers and forced to convert to Islam. Christians are blaming the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Scholars Association and its chairman Salem Salama, a senior member of the Islamist Hamas movement.
Hamas officials reject the church’s accusations, saying two Christians, a man and a woman, converted freely to Islam. The woman, who had left her husband, brought along her three daughters aged 12, 9, and 6 who are now being taught the Koran. The 24-year-old man told reporters he had become Muslim of his own free will and wanted to go back to his family, should they accept him as a Muslim. A day later, he returned home.
Only nine Gaza Christians are known to have converted to Islam in the past half-dozen years, an insignificant number. Yet the church and some congregants see the latest conversions as the thin end of the wedge and say they are being targeted.
At the Islamic Scholars office, Salama rejected accusations of forced conversions. He said 11 Christians, including non-Palestinians, had come to his office in the past five months to become Muslim. “No one is forced to change his religion. This is the instruction of our holy book Koran,” said Salama.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/26/us-palestinians-christians-conversion-idUSBRE86P0J420120726

Activism / Solidarity

‘Security buffer zone’
MIFTAH 25 July by Melkam Lidet — Saturday morning, July 22, I got off to an early start with two of my friends and about 20 volunteers from ‘Ta’ayush’ to head down to villages southwest of the Hebron Hills. Ta’ayush is an Arab-Jewish organization for non-violent direct action. Part of what it does is to accompany Palestinian shepherds and farmers in the south Hebron area who have experienced settler and/or Israeli army violence, as they work their lands and look after their herds … The argument from the settlers as I later learned was that they want a ‘security buffer zone’ for their settlement even though there’s an understanding that the land where the sheep were grazing is Palestinian. Surprising though is how they can claim a ‘security buffer zone’ when they have a guarded compound with about a dozen soldiers and a police force from the Israeli Civil Administration. Not to mention that they (the settlers) are armed and already have a buffer zone of about 300 meters from their compound. If this is not enough, and if ‘security zones’ and not land grab is what they seek, why don’t they just go back to mainland Israel and live there?
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=25080&CategoryID=13

Save Susya campaign: Over 12,000 faxes annoy Defense Ministry
972mag 24 July by Mairav Zonszein — The Defense Ministry and Civil Administration complained Tuesday that the thousands of faxes calling on the government to cancel the demolition of the Palestinian village are disrupting their work and threatened to get the police to stop the campaign.
http://972mag.com/save-susya-campaign-defense-ministry-annoyed-by-12500-faxes-jamming-their-machines/51807/

Refugees

Syrian army ‘bombs Palestine hospital’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 July — Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday bombed a hospital in Damascus’ Yarmouk refugee camp, Palestinian sources told Ma‘an. Sources in the camp told Ma‘an that that there have been heavy clashes between Assad’s troops and opposition forces around the Palestine hospital since Monday morning, and that Assad’s forces shelled the building twice on Thursday causing a huge fire. Palestinians in Yarmouk told Ma‘an that the Syrian army was targeting the hospital because medics were treating wounded from all sides, while Assad’s regime only allowed its soldiers to be treated. They added that fighting in Yarmouk was intensifying daily, and that the number of Palestinians killed was rising dramatically in camps across Damascus and in Daraa and Halab.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507774

PA boycott of Israeli products

‘Boycott Israel’ campaign kicks off in Ramallah and Nablus
PNN 24 July — …The campaign calls for executing a comprehensive boycott during the holy month of Ramadan. The volunteers contribute the Calendar of Prayer Times with the slogan “make your house clean from the occupation products”. Its target recipients are Palestinian houses, shops, and restaurants which are urged to boycott Israeli products. The main goal of the campaign is to reach all sectors and segments of the Palestinian people, and to appeal for the adoption and dissemination of a comprehensive boycott of the Israeli products — economically, culturally and academically, within the framework of the overall resistance and protest of the occupation. “Boycott Israel” campaign is expanding to include a number of events and new youth movements, raising the slogan of the boycott and calling for the anti-normalization in all its forms.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/2266-boycott-israeli-campaign-kicks-off-in-ramallah-and-nablus

Al-Barghouti: Israel uses profits from its products to kill Palestinians
PNN 23 July — On Monday, 23th July, Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouti, the leader of Al-Mubadara who has consistently emphasized the continuity of peaceful struggle, has called on Palestinians to boycott Israeli products – the profit of which is used to support the expansion of Israeli settlements and killing of Palestinians. Al-Barghouti said in a press release that the second phase from the Mubadara campaign includes a visit to Palestinian stores in order to urge the people and merchants to boycott Israeli products. He also stated that reducing the consumption of 10% of Israeli products would create a potential 150,000 job opportunities for unemployed Palestinians. Al-Barghouti concluded, “It’s unreasonable that the occupied nation supports its occupier by buying its products.” He then stressed the need to support Palestinian products, while boycotting Israeli ones.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/2247-al-barghouti-israel-uses-profit-of-its-products-to-kill-palestinians

BUT:
Imports, exports up in May, says Statistics Bureau
RAMALLAH July 26 (WAFA) – Exports reached $64.3 million in May, registering an increase by 6% compared to April, while imports reached $385.8m, registering an increase by 5% during the same period, a press release by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Thursday. May’s exports to Israel increased by 6.4% compared to the previous month, representing 87.9% of the total exports, while exports to other countries increased by 3.1% during the same period. Imports from Israel increased by 1.8% in May compared to April, representing 65.0% of the total May imports, while imports from other countries increased by 11.5% compared to April.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20338

Political / Economic / Diplomatic News

Hamas: Outlawing Hamas MPs attempts to paralyze PLC
BEIRUT (PIC) 26 July — The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has strongly condemned the Israeli decision banning its representatives in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The movement said in a statement on Wednesday that the step was a desperate attempt to paralyze and obstruct the PLC work.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7eFgjfpT8YiCv%2fFb79FOBeISZhbFoPOHYqoIsP%2bJPIuq7Rs%2bLrPQsbNjA5C%2f90rzhUPpuL%2fWuZqmJ350d5Z9O73KDQCbmpJG689SHhvhZ%2fWY%3d

Warning of fresh campaign of arrests against Palestinian MPs
GAZA (PIC) 26 July — Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies has warned against a renewed campaign of arrests against members of PLC and Change and Reform MPs in particular. The director of the Center, Riyadh Ashkar, stated in a press release that the occupation’s decision to consider the Change and Reform bloc as a banned organization came to pave the way for arresting its MPs. “This is a serious decision that establishes a new phase in dealing with democratically elected representatives,” he said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7CVxfxzqCcRm6Xqo8jdQDoeBO%2b5N1eEKaox9anxbDM3kdIhq4XESLihVak%2fMYdXcKmTRPp2R1POyeDpAXK8BDa45t4Zm%2bdXdOeMPNKg3f6OY%3d

Reconvene Palestine National Council by democratic process, says campaigner
MEMO 26 July — Human rights campaigner Mazin Qumsiyeh has published online the Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in order to remind everyone, Palestinians included, that the charter has never been amended legally. In doing so, Qumsiyeh illustrates that the majority of Palestinians in the Diaspora have been disenfranchised by the actions of the PLO and its offspring the Palestinian Authority. Indeed, he demonstrates that the aims and objectives of the PLO have been overturned by the “failed Oslo accords”. “Many of us are calling for a democratic election to the Palestine National Council as per the PLO charter,” Qumsiyeh writes on his blog, “after which some things can be reconsidered democratically by those representing 11.5 million Palestinians.”
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4046-reconvene-palestine-national-council-by-democratic-process-says-campaigner

PFLP urges Hamas to hold local elections
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — The Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Thursday called on Hamas to hold local elections in the Gaza Strip, an official said. “We call on Hamas to think seriously about holding elections in Gaza,” PFLP leader Jamil Mizhir told Ma‘an. “There must be another chance given to the people to choose who will represent them in offering services.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507721

Abbas ‘holds talks with Islamic Jihad leader’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shallah in a phone call on Thursday, sources close to Islamic Jihad told Ma‘an. The leaders discussed Palestinian issues, the sources said.
Shallah, who is currently in Cairo, heads Islamic Jihad’s delegation in reconciliation talks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507817

Inquiry: Police chiefs should be questioned over Ramallah violence
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 July — An investigative committee has recommended that high-ranking officers be questioned over the use of force against protesters in Ramallah. President Mahmoud Abbas ordered an investigation after police cracked down on protesters who opposed a visit by Israel’s vice premier to Ramallah for talks with the president on June 30, and again used force to shut down a protest on July 1 against police brutality … The officials should be questioned over their decision to allow officers in uniform and in civilian clothing to attack protesters, the report said. All the officers who mistreated and detained protesters should also be transferred to judicial authorities, the report added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507861

Palestinian cash crisis getting worse: minister
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) 26 July — The cash-strapped Palestinian self-rule government is finding it harder each month to stay afloat, its finance minister said in an interview Thursday. The Palestinian Authority is struggling with its worst financial crisis in years, in part because key donor countries, including the U.S. and some Arab states, have so far not sent aid they promised for 2012. “Each month is becoming more and more difficult,” Finance Minister Nabeel Kassis, a German-educated nuclear physicist, told The Associated Press at his Ramallah office. “We are tightening the belt, we are having only one meal a day, so to speak, and after a while we will become just too weak to continue.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-cash-crisis-getting-worse-135609044.html

Palestinian outrage as EU expands cooperation with Israel
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 July — Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Bargouthi joined a coalition of rights groups on Thursday expressing outrage at the European Union’s expansion of cooperation with Israel. At the Association Council’s meeting between the EU and Israel in Brussels on Tuesday, the EU agreed to develop its cooperation with Israel offering it 60 new activities in 15 fields, and said it would seek to identify areas for future cooperation. Bargouthi said the upgrading of bilateral ties was granted in contradiction to the EU’s political position criticizing Israel’s illegal settlement expansion, occupation and violations of international human rights laws.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=507707

One day before Romney’s visit, Obama to sign act expanding military cooperation with Israel
Haaretz 26 July by Barak Ravid — In signing the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, Obama is trying to upstage his rival for the presidency, Mitt Romney, as he arrives for an official visit to Israel … An Israeli official said that U.S. Jewish leaders and a long list of Democratic and Republican congress members and senators have been invited to the signing ceremony of the act, which will take place in the White House. Obama is interested in highlighting, through the signing of the act, the unprecedented upgrade of Israel-U.S. security cooperation during his term, the Israeli official said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/one-day-before-romney-s-visit-obama-to-sign-act-expanding-military-cooperation-with-israel-1.453860

Other news

Palestinian athletes are truly Olympian
MEMO 26 July by Samira Shackle — EXCLUSIVE PICTURES The Palestine Olympic team has arrived in London. Made up of five athletes, it is the largest team Palestine has ever sent to the summer Olympics. The athletes are Maher Abu Remeleh, a judo champion; Baha Al-Farra, a 400m runner; Woroud Sawalha, an 800m runner; Sabine Hazboun, a 50m freestyle swimmer; and Ahmed Gebrel, also competing in the 50m freestyle swimming … Given that the athletes are, for the most part, below the qualifying standard, medals are unlikely, but they are driven by the thrill of representing Palestine on the international stage. While they are keen to attend the Olympics as sportsmen and sportswomen, it is inevitable that politics follows them wherever they go. The fact of their participation is symbolically important for Palestinians; a statement that their nation exists and can take part in this global event.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/sports/4048-palestinian-athletes-are-truly-olympian

Double Take / Presenting Arafat’s legacy
Haaretz 24 July — The planners of the Arafat museum are trying to balance tribute and truth …But away from the swirling conspiracy theories, work is underway on a museum to chronicle the leader’s turbulent life and present it as a legacy for future generations of Palestinians. At the Yasser Arafat Foundation, located in a villa in an upscale Ramallah neighborhood, an advisor involved in the preparations, Mansour Tahboub, shared some of the thinking behind what is to be the first contemporary museum in the Palestinian territories that meets international exhibition standards. A polarizing figure lauded by some as a peacemaker and condemned by others as an unreformed terrorist, Arafat presents a challenge to the museum planners, who want to show all facets of his life, while paying tribute to him as the founder of the modern Palestinian national movement. …
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/double-take/double-take-presenting-arafat-s-legacy.premium-1.453311

Syria targeted for pro-Palestinian stance: Jalili
PressTV 26 July — Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili says Washington and Tel Aviv have targeted Damascus because of its “exemplary” support for the Palestinian cause.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/252918.html

Israel ups security on Syria border
Ynet/AFP 26 July — Israel bolstered security along its border with Syria on Thursday as fighting between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad‘s regime intensified, Israeli security sources told AFP. “The IDF is reinforcing the fence between Israel and Syria by adding more barbed wire,” one Israeli official said, indicating that it was motivated by “fears that refugees from the Syrian side could cross it.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4261054,00.html

Video: Worries over mishandled fireworks in Palestinian territories
BBC 26 July — Fireworks are commonly used in the Palestinian territories for social occasions, but doctors have expressed concern that serious injuries are happening because people do not know how to use them correctly. As Palestinians are celebrating Ramadan the authorities are trying to alert the public to the potential dangers of mishandling the pyrotechnic devices. Murad Shishani reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19004089

Opinion / Analysis

Israel’s crackdown on UN aid organization part of an assault on democracy / Michael Sfard
Haaretz 25 July — Attacks against domestic political opposition and international aid organizations are both symptoms of the same disease — …Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, sent a letter to the UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs demanding that the status of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories be “regularized” (Haaretz, July 15) … In recent years, OCHA’s work has focused on humanitarian matters and the work of international organizations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank’s Area “C,” where Israel retains civil administrative powers. In both places, Israel pursues planning policies aimed at choking off Palestinian life and reducing its presence as much as possible so these areas can be used for Israeli purposes. International aid organizations impede the fulfillment of this goal, since their basis of action is humanitarian need (such as providing tents, water and electricity), and they regularly supply what the Israel Defense Forces take away. Thus they make it possible for Palestinians to remain on their lands … There is a real risk that humanitarian aid workers will be expelled by the government of Israel. Should this happen, Israel would join Sudan, which acted similarly when its President Omar al-Bashir was accused of crimes against humanity.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-s-crackdown-on-un-aid-organization-part-of-an-assault-on-democracy-1.453430

The checkpoint: terror, power, and cruelty / Oded Na’aman
Boston Review July/August — …when a Palestinian disobeys Israel’s orders in the West Bank, the disobedience is, by its very occurrence, a lapse of occupation. All disobedience must be eliminated for the IDF to have firm control of the land and its people. Brute force cannot eliminate the possibility of Palestinian resistance, but, as long as resistance is possible, the military, whose only tool is brute force, cannot rest. Occupation, it might then be said, is about fighting the war before it begins, constantly postponing the next burst of resistance. The idea is to demonstrate presence (le’hafgin nohehut), commanders tell their soldiers. We make them feel like we’re watching their every move and anticipating their every action. This is the occupier’s solution to the problem of preventing everything everywhere: the army has to make Palestinians believe that nothing escapes Israel’s fist. The soldiers demonstrate presence in order to make Palestinians fear that they are present even when they are not. Thus, the Israeli army’s unofficial yet unavoidable tactic is to instill constant fear through arbitrary acts of force. The IDF demonstrates presence in a variety of ways. It peppers the West Bank with observation posts, foot patrols, Jeeps, Humvees, and tanks. It conducts random raids on houses and random inspections of cars and pedestrians. It enforces a curfew. However, the IDF’s most prominent and most notorious form of presence is the checkpoint.
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.4/oded_naaman_israeli_defense_forces_palestinians_occupation.php

The clarity of Dani Dayan: Settler leader exposes the ethnic privilege underlying Israeli society / David Samel
Mondoweiss 26 July — Today’s NY Times has an op-ed from settler leader Dani Dayan, who urges that the world accept the status quo of occupation, albeit with some vague improvements. Dayan repeats some of the nonsense that we would expect: “Arabs called for Israel’s annihilation in 1967, and Israel legitimately seized the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria in self-defense. Israel’s moral claim to these territories, and the right of Israelis to call them home today, is therefore unassailable.” Dayan should know; he emigrated from Argentina in 1971, and his right to rule as a member of the “indigenous” Jewish population over the “non-indigenous” people who have been living there for centuries, is similarly “unassailable.” One would expect to see such use of language in a particularly outdated Twilight Zone episode where every spoken word signifies its opposite … Another inadvertent ‘virtue’ of Dayan’s piece is that it lays bare the “Jews rule” foundation underlying all of Zionism. Dayan casually proposes perpetuation — forever, it seems — of a system in which Israeli Jews, through the actual use and/or threatened use of its highly advanced military firepower, exercises complete domination over another people who are denied any authority over their own lives.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/07/the-clarity-of-dani-dayan-settler-leader-exposes-the-ethnic-privilege-underlying-israeli-society.html

Europe rewards Israel unconditionally: how does this advance peace? / Brigitte Herremans and Deborah Casalin
Open Dem. 25 July — Strong EU statements denouncing the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), conflict with the EU’s recent nod to urgent implementation of 60 new cooperation activities with Israel … European policymakers have been criticizing Israeli policies in increasingly strong terms: in a leaked report, European Heads of Mission in the occupied Palestinian territory wrote that Israel’s settlement policy is rapidly closing the window for a two-state solution. In May 2012, European Ministers of Foreign Affairs took their strongest joint position yet, unequivocally stating that the prospect of a viable Palestinian state is being undermined by Israeli occupation policies. Unfortunately, the EU and its member states have not followed through by demanding a stronger link between Israel’s respect for international law and any increased cooperation. When push comes to shove, the EU refrains from putting any real pressure on Israel beyond statements, instead taking a realpolitik approach of keeping international law out of its political relationships.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/brigitte-herremans-deborah-casalin/europe-rewards-israel-unconditionally-how-does-this-advance-peace

A Chippewa and an Arab? An almost unique perspective on US and Israeli colonialism
What is settler colonialism? / Maya Mikdashi
Jadaliyya 17 July — …This ambivalence would sometimes manifest in anger, such as when I turned down a ‘minority’ scholarship at Columbia University. At first, I was more amenable to receiving this scholarship as an Arab, owing to the general state of poverty experienced by graduate students. When the administration made it clear that they would only grant the scholarship based on my identification as a Native American, I balked. I was not born, raised, or educated in the United States, and I am in no way representative of the experiences of Native Americans … Behind this anger, and perhaps in some ways fueling it, there is an inexplicable sense of guilt. Do I have a right to be angry? Who am I to feel self-righteous about this history? After all, I am the granddaughter of a man who purposely did not speak of his native ancestry to his children, seeking to protect them, and perhaps himself, from what had already hurt him. I am the daughter of one of those children that has not lived in the United States for almost thirty-two years. I grew up thinking about, and struggling against, settler colonialism in Palestine, not the United States. In fact, it was through Palestine that I came to rethink and question my mother’s family history. It was after working in refugee camps in Beirut that I began to question the use of the words “the farm” to connote land on a reservation. It was only after I understood that Israel is a settler colony that I came to see the United States as the same. Still, how could I claim this history as my own when I knew what the scars of dispossession and ethnic cleansing looked like? How could I feel the ongoing catastrophe that was (and is) the settling of the United States when I had not paid its price? I grew up in an upper middle class family in Beirut. I always said that if anything, I was an American Arab, or an Arab with an American background.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6453/what-is-settler-colonialism

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