Mother dies at roadblock after visiting her son in prison

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid

Israeli occupation forces confiscate Palestinian land to establish military position
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 4 July — Israeli occupation forces informed citizens near Dhaheriya village, south of Al-Khalil, that the army intends to confiscate two dunums of land to establish a military outpost.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli plan to confiscate Mount of ‘Gerizim’
NABLUS (PIC) 5 July — The Israeli occupation government decided to convert Mount of “Gerizim” in Nablus to a garden and a nature reserve run by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority and the Israel Antiquities Authority in an attempt to confiscate it. Palestinian sources considered this measure as a new Israeli assault and piracy to take control over Palestinian heritage in total violation to the International conventions that protect the cultural heritage during occupation,
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel issues eviction orders to Palestinians near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM, July 4 (WAFA) – Four Palestinians from the village of Housan, west of Bethlehem, received Israeli army eviction orders from their land adjacent to the settlement of Bitar Illit, according to local sources. One of the land owners said he found eviction notices in his land. He expressed fear that Israel intends to seize the land to expand the settlement.
link to english.wafa.ps

Settlers seize land in northern Jordan Valley
RAMALLAH, July 4 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers from Rotem settlement in north of the Jordan Valley Wednesday seized Palestinian land around the settlement for expansion purposes, according to head of Al-Maleh village council Aref Daraghmeh. He said settlers silently took over land to place new caravans and add rooms to the existing buildings without previous announcement of land confiscation or of building bids. They had also fenced a nearby hilltop and confiscated it, he said. Daraghmeh said the land taken by settlers is considered among the richest agricultural land in the area.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli settlements ‘jeopardising’ Palestinian prosperity
BBC 5 July — The economic potential of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank is being jeopardised by Israeli settlement activity, a report by the UK charity Oxfam says. The study suggests Palestinians could generate an extra £1bn ($1.5bn) a year if restrictions to their use of land, water and movements were removed. It says Palestinians can use only 6% of the land, while settlers control 86%.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Israeli group ‘cleanses’ the Umayyad Palace in new move to re-write Old City’s history
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 5 July — Israeli volunteers commenced a large-scale clearing operation of the Umayyad Palace near the south-western corner of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City on 28 June. The operation, billed as a “cleansing of the holy places”, was conducted under the auspices of Israeli authorities, who claim that the remains of the Umayyad Palace complex, built as the Jerusalem seat of the Umayyad caliph of the Islamic dynasty, is in fact part of the Jewish Temple Mount.
link to silwanic.net

IOA bulldozers raze Palestinian house in Aisawiya
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 3 July — Bulldozers of the Israeli-controlled municipality of Jerusalem razed to the ground a Palestinian house at the entrance to Aisawiye village in occupied Jerusalem on Monday. Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the municipality team, escorted by a large number of policemen, destroyed the house that also included a shop for sanitary ware.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli police evict Palestinian shops from Damascus Gate of Old City
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 5 July — Israeli police, in coordination with the Jerusalem Municipality are evicting Palestinian clothing shops in Damascus Gate, the main eastern entrance to the Old City. Eyewitnesses state that a huge force of armed police, border guards and special units blocked off adjacent roads and raided the shops, confiscating their wares. Witnesses also said that Israeli forces preventing shop owners from accessing their work place, refusing to answer questions about the eviction.
Armed forces occupied the walls of the Old City and the roofs of nearby houses, ensuring that the incident was not filmed. The shops belong to the Al-Syuri, Abu Ermele, Ja’bari and Salaime families. The raid was reportedly approved by the High Court in February 2010 and represents a wider plan by the city Municipality to diminish Palestinian residence, commerce and history in the Old City.
link to silwanic.net

Dozens of soldiers and settlers break into Aqsa Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 2 July — Dozens of Israeli soldiers and settlers stormed the Aqsa mosque on Monday in three groups and strolled inside its plazas. The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) said that one of the Israeli officers walked beside workers, who were busy with repair works inside the Aqsa, and took photos of them. It said in a press release that the Israeli occupation authority had no right whatsoever to interfere in the affairs of the Aqsa mosque, which is the sole responsibility of the Awqaf department … The Hebrew media have lately launched a campaign against the Awqaf for its maintenance works in the Dome of the Rock.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Aqsa Foundation: Secret excavations are still underway in Al-Maghariba ramp
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 2 July — The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage said the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) is carrying out nowadays secret excavations and demolitions of historical ruins in the area of Al-Maghariba Gate, one of the Aqsa Mosque’s entrances. In a press release on Sunday, the Aqsa foundation accused the IOA of stealing historical stones from Al-Maghariba Gate ramp and the remaining ruins near it … Abadi said the IOA on June 12 removed and destroyed some stones from the walls of Al-Maghariba Gate ramp dating back to the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras and carried out diggings in the ruins of Al-Fadhal Mosque that had been destroyed along with Al-Maghariba neighborhood in 1967.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel rejects settlement university in West Bank
JERUSALEM (AP) 4 July — Israel’s council of higher education voted Wednesday not to grant a West Bank college coveted university status, vetoing a move that could have triggered international condemnations and enraged the Palestinians. Sharon Achdut, the council’s spokesman, said five out of seven members of the committee voted against upgrading the status of the college in Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The council cited academic, not political, reasons for its decision. It said there was no justification for another university in Israel when others were already suffering from a shortage in faculty and research infrastructure. The ruling marked a setback for nationalist settlers, who had hoped university recognition would have given them further legitimacy and a stronger sense of permanence in the West Bank.
link to news.yahoo.com

Restriction of movement

PA: Israel agrees to register 216 Gazans in West Bank
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 July– Israel has agreed to register 216 Palestinians originally from the Gaza Strip as residents of the West Bank, a Palestinian Authority liaison department said Wednesday. The Civil Affairs department, tasked with coordinating the population registry with Israel, released the names of Palestinians who will now be able to reside in the West Bank without fear of detention. It said the department would continue efforts to change the residency status of all Palestinians from Gaza who are living in the West Bank. Palestinians living in the West Bank whose registered address is in the Gaza Strip have been detained by Israel as “illegal aliens.” … Israel received an estimated 120,000 change of address applications that it did not process between 2000 and 2005, according to Human Rights Watch.
link to www.maannews.net

Trade union: 15,000 workmen exposed to daily Israeli abuse at Tayeba crossing
TULKAREM (PIC) 3 July — The struggle of workmen bloc in Tulkarem city said 15,000 Palestinians from the northern provinces of the West Bank, including workmen, drivers and traders, are exposed daily to different kind of Israeli maltreatment at Tayeba checkpoint in the city. The daily Israeli violations against the workmen and drivers prompted them more than once to stage protests at the checkpoint, secretary of the bloc Ziyad Ghanem stated.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOA blocks travel of Awkaf official
JENIN (PIC) 4 July — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Wednesday blocked the travel of Mohammed Zeid, in charge of property at the Awkaf office in Jenin, to Jordan. Zeid, 50, was on his way to Saudi Arabia to offer Umra, minor pilgrimage, when the Israeli soldiers manning the Karame crossing, linking the West Bank to Jordan, denied him access. Complaints have grown recently on the increasing number of IOA arbitrary travel ban at that crossing.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Occupation prevents cancer patient from Jenin to get treatment in Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 5 July — The Israeli occupation forces prevented at Ram checkpoint, a cancer patient from Jenin, from traveling to Jerusalem to get treatment at Augusta Victoria Hospital,  the only hospital providing comprehensive services to cancer patients, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical interventions after the PA health ministry stopped referring Palestinian patients to Jordanian hospitals.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Violence / Raids / Arrests

Video: IDF holds drill in Palestinian village
Ynet 3 July – The IDF held an urban warfare drill in the Palestinian village of al-Aqabah in the northeastern West Bank, Ynet learned Tuesday.  The drill was held according to the military’s training protocol. The IDF has recently resumed training in designated live-fire zones in the Jordan Rift Valley – even those riddled [!] with some Palestinian and Bedouin villages … The IDF informs residents of upcoming drills, and asks that they leave the area for a few hours, for their own safety. However, Palestinian sources said that last week, IDF forces entered al-Aqabah without warning and launched an exercise, which including gunfire and flares; all while the residents found themselves under an impromptu curfew.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Tadamun: troops nabbed 265 Palestinians in June
NABLUS (PIC) 3 July — Israeli occupation forces rounded up 265 Palestinians in various West Bank areas and in Gaza Strip in the past month of June, the Tadamun foundation for human rights said on Tuesday. Ahmed Tobasi, a researcher with the foundation, said that most of the arrests were made in the homes of those arrested, noting that three women, including two sisters retuning from the Ukraine after completing their varsity studies, and 38 children were among the detainees. He said that journalists, political and national figures, former prisoners, and workers in religious and national institutions in addition to fishermen form Gaza were among the detainees. Tobasi said that 96-year-old Mohammed Al-Daghamin was taken from his home in Samu village, Al-Khalil, without any consideration to his old age.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers storm west Jenin villages, arrest citizen
JENIN (PIC) 5 July — Israeli occupation forces  stormed three villages to the west of Jenin and arrested a young man and questioned two others at dawn Thursday, local sources said. They said that the soldiers arrested Ahmed Khaluf, 28, from his home and broke into and ransacked the home of Raed Obaidi in Brukin village. Other IOF units burst into the Hashemiya and Kufr Qud villages, roamed the streets, and searched grape fields.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Settlers attack a Jerusalemite girl and a young man from Jenin
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 4 July — The Information center of “Wadi Helwa” revealed on Tuesday, that a Jerusalemite young girl was subjected to a racist attack last Thursday in the town of Silwan in Jerusalem. The center stated that the girl, Arin Demeiri, was battered and humiliated by Israeli students at a religious school in that region…The center quoted the girl’s mother as saying that her daughter is in very bad psychological state due to the brutal attack she had faced.
In the same context, a Palestinian young man, Mohammed Maali,19, from the town Ojja south of Jenin, was seriously injured and was evacuated to Tel Hishmeur hospital in the city of Jaffa in 48-occupied territory after he was attacked by extremist Jewish settlers while on his way to work. The General Federation of Trade Unions in Jenin denounced this brutal attack and said, in a statement, that the settlers took turns in beating and cursing him for a long time till he was transferred to Tel Hishmeur hospital in Jaffa then to Jenin hospital.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Jewish settlers throw rocks at Palestinian family [and fire at camels]
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 3 July — Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian family while tending to their land in Husan village, west of Bethlehem, on Monday evening. The farmer, Faeq Al-Hamamre, said that the settlers came from the Beitar Elit settlement and threw stones at him and his family in their land, which is adjacent to the settlement.
In another incident, a group of settlers fired at a camel herd near Taqu‘ village, east of Bethlehem, on Monday night, killing one of them and wounding a number of others.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Official: Settlers destroy olive trees in Nablus village
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 July — Israeli settlers on Tuesday destroyed dozens of olive trees in a northern West Bank village, a PA official said. Residents of Havat Gilad outpost entered a private field owned by Nayif Raihan, from Tell village south of Nablus, and chopped down 41 trees, Ghassan Daghlas, a PA official monitoring settlement activity in the area, said.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli undercover soldiers kidnap two Palestinian youths
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 4 July — A special Israeli force disguised in plain clothes sneaked into Doheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem and kidnapped two young men on Wednesday, local sources said. They said that the undercover soldiers were riding a white Mercedes and entered the refugee camp at the early dawn hours, adding that some of them wore masks. The sources said that the soldiers blasted their way into the house of Nayef Ramadan and took away his son Abdullah. The special force, which was backed by large number of soldiers in uniform, then arrested Nidal Al-Hasanat and broke into the home of Ayman Muhaisan but did not make any arrests.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Violent confrontation in Doheisha refugee camp
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 5 July — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed Doheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem at dawn Thursday and served summonses to a number of young men before engaging in violent confrontations with its inhabitants. Eyewitnesses said that young men threw stones and empty bottles at the invading troops who responded firing stun grenades and teargas canisters. They said that the soldiers broke into many houses in the camp including that of Emad Assaf, who was liberated in the second stage of Wafa Al-Ahrar prisoners’ exchange deal, and handed him a summons.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers detain 10 Palestinians
WEST BANK, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up ten Palestinian citizens in various West Bank cities and villages at dawn Tuesday, local sources said.
They said that a teenager was nabbed in Bethlehem city while two other young men were nabbed in the nearby village of Husan.
Eyewitnesses in Tulkarem said that four citizens were rounded up in the city while three were taken from Jayyus town near Qalqilia city.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers searched a cars’ spare parts shop in Dura town to the south west of Al-Khalil as other IOF units roamed the streets of Al-Khalil city.
IOF soldiers questioned a man in his home in a village to the south west of Jenin city at dawn Tuesday and searched it but left without arresting the man.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers round up seven West Bankers
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 4 July — …The Israeli radio claimed that IOF soldiers nabbed a Palestinian man in Kufr Ra’ee after finding a machinegun and ammo in his house, while another was nabbed in nearby Jib village. Two citizens were arrested in Nablus while two others were arrested in two villages near to Ramallah, the radio said. Other IOF units roamed southern Al-Khalil at dawn Wednesday, local sources said. Locals in southern Bethlehem said that around 80 IOF soldiers swarmed the Solomon Springs, imposed a tight siege on it, and declared it a closed military zone.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Palestinian, 2 Americans briefly detained in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an)  3 July — Israeli forces briefly detained three people in the Old City of Hebron on Tuesday during a tour of the city, a relative of one of the detainees told Ma‘an. The Palestinian and two Americans were detained on Shuhada Street, which has been off limits to Palestinians since Israeli forces imposed a closure for nearby settlers. A cousin of one of the detainees said they were taken into Kiryat Arba settlement before being released.
link to www.maannews.net

Prisoners / Court actions

Waed organizes a sit-in of prisoners’ children to demand visiting their fathers
GAZA (PIC) 3 July –Waed association for captives and ex-captives organized a sit-in in Gaza, attended by prisoners’ children to demand visiting their parents in the Israeli jails after postponing family visits to prisoners from Gaza until further notice. Atta Za‘anin, the prisoner Hani Za‘anin’s son, said that he has the right to visit his father in occupation prisons, adding that he had not seen his father since seven years ago and that he almost forgot his face and the tone of his voice due to the Israeli ban on prisoners’ visits.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOA extends administrative detention of MP Fuqaha
RAMALLAH (PIC) 4 July — The Israeli occupation authority extended the administrative detention, without charge of Hamas MP Abduljabbar Fuqaha for four months. Israeli occupation forces arrested Fuqaha from his home in Ramallah city six months ago and took him to Ofer jail where he was handed a six-month detention period. Fuqaha had served 67 months on aggregate in Israeli occupation jails mostly in administrative detention.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Ahrar Center appeals for releasing Doctor Amjad Qabha from Israeli jail
NABLUS (PIC) 3 July — Ahrar center for prisoner studies and human rights appealed to medical associations and unions of physicians around the world to necessarily intervene to get Palestinian doctor Amjad Qabha released from Israeli jails, affirming that he is in detention for providing medical help to wounded persons. Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh said that doctor Qabha has been in jail for 10 years serving a sentence of 18 years on a charge of providing medical assistance to Palestinians classified as wanted by Israel.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Ahrar Center appeals to human rights groups to have prisoner Asfour released
NABLUS (PIC) 3 July — …Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh said that prisoner Asfour has been in the Negev jail since March 19, 2003 and is one of the long-time prisoners in administrative detention.Khafsh added that Asfour was one of the prisoners who went on open hunger strikers for many long days and later agreed on an Israeli offer to end their strike on condition that the prison authority should not extend the administrative detention of prisoners among other demands.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Political detainee Natshe transferred to hospital for fourth time
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Political detainee Mutasem Al-Natshe was transferred to hospital for the fourth time from his PA jail in Bethlehem on Tuesday night due to deterioration of his health condition. Natshe’s family told the PIC reporter that Natshe, who has been on hunger strike for two weeks, was taken to Bethlehem government hospital.
Three other political detainees in Bethlehem intelligence prison are on hunger strike since 20/6/2012 protesting their continued incarceration despite obtaining court orders for their release.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Mother of prisoner dies on returning from a visit to her son
RAMALLAH (PIC) 4 Jult — Aziza Mahmoud, the mother of prisoner Mohammed Abdo, died at the Qalandia roadblock on returning from a visit to her son on Tuesday, the Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners said. The center noted that the mother was exhausted after spending a long time to see her son then waiting for a long time at the roadblock because of the routine search procedures.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Gaza

Gaza health ministry renews warnings of unprecedented pharmaceutical crisis
GAZA (PIC) 4 July — The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza has warned that the health situation in the besieged Gaza Strip is getting worse as hundreds of medicines and medical consumables are gradually running out from hospitals and medical centers … He said that as the month of June ended, the balance of medical supplies reached a very disturbing level after 206 types of essential medicines and 266 medical consumables completely ran out from hospitals, test labs, primary care centers and blood banks.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Gaza energy authority urges residents to save power
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 July — The energy authority in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday urged residents to cut down on electricity use amid critical fuel shortages. Due to interruptions in the fuel supply, the sole power plant in Gaza has reduced its production to 30 megawatts of electricity in the morning and 50 megawatts during the night, the energy authority said in a statement., The power available meets only half the needs of residents
link to www.maannews.net

Energy authority: Big reduction in fuel supplies to Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 3 July — The energy and natural resources authority in Gaza has said that the amount of fuel supplied to Gaza electricity generation station was dramatically slashed recently. The authority said in a statement on Tuesday that the Egyptian authorities and the Israeli occupation authority were allowing only 100,000 liters of fuel daily into Gaza while its sole power generation station needs 500,000 liters per day to operate in full capacity. It noted that fuel shipment donated by Qatar was much needed now in the summer heat in Gaza where the inhabitants consume more power.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Soldiers infiltrate in southern Gaza
RAFAH (PIC) 3 July — Israeli occupation forces raided an area to the east of Rafah, south of Gaza Strip, on Tuesday morning, local sources told the PIC reporter. They said that a number of armored vehicles escorted bulldozers that started leveling land east of Rafah. They pointed out that the IOF soldiers were opening random fire at Palestinian neighborhoods to the west of the targeted area.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Gaza rocket lands in southern Israel
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 5 July — Gaza militants fired a rocket into southern Israel on Thursday morning, the Israeli army said. The projectile landed in the Eshkol regional council causing no damage or injuries, a military spokeswoman told Ma‘an.
link to www.maannews.net

BDS

Steps underway to remove Jewish National Fund from list of charities in UK
LONDON (PIC) 3 July — The Arab organization for human rights in the UK said there are serious moves by the British charity commission to remove the Jewish National Fund from its list of registered charities. In a press release on Monday, the Arab organization stressed that it is unreasonable in light of the many facts in hand proving its involvement in “crimes against humanity” to keep the Jewish National Fund, which is registered by the British charity commission as the JNF charitable trust under number 225910, recognized as a charitable society. The human rights organization affirmed that the Jewish National Fund is the financial wing of the Zionist movement since its inception in 1901. It added that since the British mandate, this Jewish fund has been actively seizing Palestinian lands and real estate and persisted in its Judaization and settlement activities after the emergence of Israel in 1948.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Refugees

Palestinians in Lebanon: No resting in peace
Al Akhbar 3 July by Qassem Qassem — Palestinian cemeteries in Lebanon are running out of room. With Lebanese cemeteries refusing the dead, Palestinians have been forced to bury their loved ones on top of one another.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Murra calls for Palestinian-Lebanese talks to avoid intifada in Lebanese camps
BEIRUT (PIC) 3 July — Ra‘fat Murra, in-charge of Lebanese relations in Hamas movement, has said that the events in Nahr Al-Bared and other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon were expected. He said in a statement to the PIC that the events, which included angry demonstrations and blocking roads using burnt tires inside the refugee camps, were predictable in face of the Lebanese policies against those refugees. The Hamas official called for ending the military blockade on Nahr El-Bared, warning of a Palestinian intifada inside all refugee camps in Lebanon.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

The death of Yasser Arafat

Video: What killed Arafat? Arafat’s widow calls to exhume his body
Al Jazeera Eng. 4 July — It was a scene that riveted the world for weeks: The ailing Yasser Arafat, first besieged by Israeli tanks in his Ramallah compound, then shuttled to Paris, where he spent his final days undergoing a barrage of medical tests in a French military hospital. Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system. Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV. A nine-month investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed that none of those rumors were true: Arafat was in good health until he suddenly fell ill on October 12, 2004. More importantly, tests reveal that Arafat’s final personal belongings — his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh — contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element. Those personal effects, which were analyzed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died  … A conclusive finding that Arafat was poisoned with polonium would not, of course, explain who killed him. It is a difficult element to produce, though — it requires a nuclear reactor – and the signature of the polonium in Arafat’s bones could provide some insight about its origin.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Abbas calls for Arafat death investigation
AJE 5 July — Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, sees no reason why Yasser Arafat’s body should not be exhumed following an Al Jazeera report that he may have died of poisoning, his spokesman said on Wednesday. Nabil Abu Rudeinah said that the Palestinian Authority would use “Arab and international scientific expertise” to review the findings.
link to www.aljazeera.com

PA agrees to exhume Arafat, form international probe
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 July — The Palestinian Authority has agreed to set up an international investigation into the death of President Yasser Arafat, and has no problem exhuming his body from a Ramallah grave, officials said Wednesday … PLO official Saeb Erekat said the PA intends to form an international committee to investigate Arafat’s death, along the lines of the UN tribunal into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. Erekat said two committees, one formed of government ministers and another from Fatah’s central committee, have already been investigating Arafat’s death since 2004. But Erekat expressed appreciation for the new revelations in the Al Jazeera report, saying “After finishing with the family and religious procedures, there is no doubt that an international committee will be formed to investigate reasons of Arafat’s death and sides involved.” Abu Rudeineh told Wafa President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered one of the existent committees to follow up on the new reports and seek assistance from Arab and international experts in order to establish the cause of death.
link to www.maannews.net

Hamas welcomes probe into Arafat’s death
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 July — Hamas on Wednesday welcomed the Palestinian Authority’s announcement that it would investigate the death of Yasser Arafat, after new reports suggested the president was murdered … Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said his movement had frequently stressed the need to investigate Arafat’s death. He suggested Israel was responsible for the mysterious illness that killed the 75-year-old iconic leader in 2004. “The first beneficiary of the crime was the occupation that sought to punish President Arafat for his position which was considered radical towards the settlement process in the last days of his life. We have always said that searching for the truth of Arafat’s death is a national and Arab duty,” Bardawil said in a statement. Bardawil said the investigation must reveal the truth to stop a repetition of the crime, and called on Arab countries to cooperate to form a joint legal case against Israel.
link to www.maannews.net

Committee ‘ready to conduct autopsy’ on Arafat after poison report
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 July — The committee to investigate the death of Yasser Arafat is ready to take samples from the the president’s body but is waiting for his family’s approval, committee head Tawfiq Tirawi said Wednesday … Tirawi told Ma’an his committee had already discovered inconsistencies over the cause of Arafat’s death but its continuous investigations, working under occupation, had limited capacities. By specifying the substance, Al Jazeera’s investigation simplified the committee’s work, Tirawi said, as an autopsy could test levels of the poison to confirm the cause of death … Israel has long been seen by many Palestinians as the prime suspect behind the mysterious illness that killed the 75-year-old Arafat in 2004. Avi Dichter, who headed Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service in 2004, denied involvement in a plot to poison Arafat’s food, when asked by Israel’s Army Radio on Wednesday … In 1997, Israeli assassins were caught trying to poison Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Jordan. [see book Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas by Paul McGeough, 2009]
link to www.maannews.net

In Pictures: Yasser Arafat’s life
Al Jazeera 3 July — A chronicle of the Palestinian leader who brought his country’s struggle for freedom to the world’s attention.
link to www.aljazeera.com

After polonium revelation, Israel’s PR hacks revive lies that Arafat was gay and died of AIDS
Elect. Int. 4 July by Ali Abunimah — … Genealogy of a lie: Arafat “died of AIDS” –  Following the Aljazeera report, Lenny Ben-David, former Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and current public relations consultant to the Israeli government, posted a lurid article at The Times of Israel reviving rumors that Arafat died of AIDS and blaming his “sexual proclivities”: … Fabrications as source of Arafat rumor — The account from Ion Pacepa a former Romanian intelligence official – which appears to be the original source of the rumors about Arafat’s sexuality – was described by Scott Long recently as a collection of “fabrications”:
link to electronicintifada.net

Political, economic news

Islamic Jihad calls reconciliation meeting
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 July — Palestinian factions will meet Thursday for reconciliation talks in Gaza City, an Islamic Jihad leader told Ma‘an. Khalid al-Batsch told Ma‘an that Islamic Jihad invited parties to meet at its offices since the scheduled talks in Cairo were delayed and because of Hamas’ decision to suspend voter registration in Gaza.
link to www.maannews.net

Hamas govt urges reform of elections commission
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 July — The Hamas-led government in Gaza on Wednesday called for the reform of the Central Elections Commission, and said the body charged with updating the voter registry was imbalanced. Hamas on Monday suspended the commission’s work, a day before it was due to start updating the electoral roll in Gaza. The move, a further setback to overdue elections, was criticized by the PA, the PLO, factions and rights groups.
link to www.maannews.net

UN arms talks resume after Palestinian compromise
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) 4 July — UN arms controls talks resumed late Tuesday after Palestine and the Vatican accepted a compromise to their demand to participate as state parties in the summit … A dispute over whether the Palestinians should participate in the conference as an observer without voting rights — the status they have in the UN General Assembly — or as a state party with voting rights delayed the start of the conference by more than a day before it was resolved, delegates said … In the end, the Palestinians and the Vatican delegation, which also wanted full participation rights, reluctantly accepted the right to sit at the front of the negotiating hall next to Argentina, but without the right to participate as states with voting rights in the consensus-based talks.
link to www.maannews.net

Finance minister: PA to delay June salaries
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 July — Payment of salaries for nearly 200,000 government employees will be delayed a week due to a financial crisis, the minister of finance said Tuesday.  Nabil Qasis said the Palestinian Authority could not afford to pay salaries due to the crisis, which he said was the worst in three years, the official PA news agency Wafa reported. The PA will try to pay a large portion of June’s salaries, he noted, especially for the poor ahead of Ramadan.
link to www.maannews.net

World Bank pays $22.3 million to PA budget
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 July — The World Bank on Tuesday said it paid $22.3 million to the Palestinian Authority to help with a budget crisis. The funds are from a trust paid into by the governments of Australia, France, Kuwait, Norway, and the UK, the World Bank said in a statement. It noted that the aid was slated to support education, health care and other social services and for the economic reforms undertaken by the West Bank government.
link to www.maannews.net

Ramallah high life masks deepening economic crisis
RAMALLAH (Reuters) 4 July — Past the Israeli sentry towers blackened by firebombs and the entrance to a refugee camp emblazoned with posters of rifle-clenching militants, downtown Ramallah sparkles. The scars of an intractable conflict and occupation melt away: cafes bustle with smartly dressed patrons, water-pipe smoke perfumes the air and basslines from trendy clubs shake the night. New model BMWs ply leafy avenues beneath villas and tall apartment blocks sprout from the West Bank hills.
But it’s more mirage than miracle … Growth in the West Bank is concentrated in Ramallah and in real estate and services even as many sectors like agriculture and construction languish. Government spending and living on credit at all levels of Palestinian society is rampant and, as the euro zone crisis has shown, may prove to be the economy’s undoing.
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinian Authority vs Protesters, continued

Ramallah protests: How the day unfolded
[with photos] RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 July — 17:03 Palestinians are protesting in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, demanding an end to negotiations with Israel and respect for freedom of expression. Tuesday’s march is the third since Saturday, when police cracked down on demonstrators angered by a since-canceled meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli vice premier Shaul Mofaz. Follow this live report for a minute-by-minute update of events as they happen. 17:15 Palestinian youth are in Ramallah’s central Manara square and reading out a statement articulating their demands. Numbers are in the low hundreds so far.
link to www.maannews.net

Dahlan adds support to Ramallah protests
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 July — Ousted Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan on Monday voiced his support to youth protests in Ramallah against Palestinian Authority policies. Dahlan said peace talks with Israel, which first brought Palestinians to the streets on Saturday, simply serve to consume time while Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian land … Dahlan said the Palestinian Authority’s repression of the protesters exemplifies the passivity and detachment that has overtaken the Palestinian national project.
link to www.maannews.net

PA says needs space to complete inquiry into violence
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 July — The Palestinian Authority minister of interior said Tuesday that the results of an investigative committee formed by the president to examine violence against protesters over the weekend should be given space to work. Said Abu Ali told journalists who organized a sit-in in front of the ministry Tuesday morning that the committee’s decisions would be implemented, and he urged them not to make assumptions about the outcome as the inquiry was only formed a day earlier.
link to www.maannews.net

Press freedom groups blast Palestinian police violence
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 July — Foreign press freedom groups have joined Palestinian media advocates in condemning two days of violent incidents involving journalists in Ramallah. On Tuesday, the Vienna-based International Press Institute condemned the attacks on at least four journalists covering protests against Palestinian Authority policy in Ramallah … A day earlier, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the violence.
link to www.maannews.net

Other news

Official denies agreement with Israel on Dead Sea project
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 July — A Palestinian official on Tuesday contradicted an Israeli minister who claimed the Palestinian Authority and Jordan had retracted its opposition to a project to replenish the Dead Sea. Israeli vice premier and minister of regional development Silvan Shalom told Israeli newspaper Maariv on Monday that the PA and Jordan had removed their objections to the Red Sea – Dead Sea water conveyance project. In 2005, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority sent a joint letter to the World Bank requesting a study to investigate the feasibility of reversing the environmental degradation of the Dead Sea by transferring water through a canal from the Red Sea.
link to www.maannews.net

46% of Palestinian university graduates are unemployed
RAMALLAH (PIC) 3 July — Official statistical data showed high rates of unemployment among Palestinian university graduates in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported, on Monday, that the unemployment rate among Palestinian citizens aged between 20 and 29 years old and who have academic qualifications has rose up to 46.5% during the past year. The unemployment rate in the West Bank has reached 38.8 % while 57.5 % in the Gaza Strip with an increase of 1.7% compared with 2010 which reached 44.8% at that time.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli Racism / Discrimination

Beit Shemesh ‘helpless’ fighting women’s exclusion
Ynet 4 July — Municipality admits cannot handle ‘complex issue’ by itself after woman files police complaint over sign ordering women to avoid sidewalk frequented by synagogue goers
link to www.ynetnews.com

Doctors blast hospital’s African refugee isolation policy
Ynet 4 July — Health Ministry, doctors slam Sourasky Medical Center’s decision to restrict admissions of African refugees, isolating them from general population in move they call ‘patient care apartheid’
link to www.ynetnews.com

African migrant family: Tel Aviv hospital locked us in isolated room for four hours
Haaretz 5 July — A Ghanaian man who has lived in Israel for 14 years reported on Wednesday that he was forced to wait for a doctor for his sick baby while locked in a room at Dana Children’s Hospital in Tel Aviv. Isaac Asiedeu’s story of being locked in at the children’s hospital, in Ichilov Hospital, with his feverish, vomiting son is only one of the complaints received by the Hotline for Migrant Workers since Ichilov decided earlier this week to separate migrant and refugee patients from Israeli patients.
link to www.haaretz.com

Analysis / Opinion

A primer on settler colonialism / Jimmy Johnson
Counterpunch 4 July — The Alternative Information Center on 12 June published a seventy word notice that five dunams of land belonging to Rana Talbieh were being confiscated in al-Khader, a village west of Bethlehem. It was something of a banal announcement expressing some expected difficulties for a few nearby farmers, but it is exemplary of the fundamental process beneath what is often misnomered the Israeli-Palestinian ‘conflict’. We can identify this process by distinguishing between two of the many ways that people relocate: immigration and settlement.
We discuss the arrival of Zionists to Palestine with the Hebrew term aliyah (ascend; plural: aliyot). Aliyot are nearly always described as “waves of immigration”. This mischaracterizes things. When you immigrate someplace, you join or articulate to the sovereignty (the organized society; nation, tribe, kingdom, etc.) you find upon arrival. Settlers do not. Settlers carry their own sovereignty with them which challenges the indigenous sovereignty. Successful settler colonies displace or exterminate the indigenous sovereignty.
link to www.counterpunch.org

It was Zionism itself that Israel buried this week. Let it go. / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 3 July — It was not only Shamir that we buried this week. When he went, he took Zionism with him. When the Ariel university is declared, Israel will have nothing more to conquer, and no need to formally annex.
link to www.haaretz.com

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