Israel closes road between Palestinian villages amid wave of demolitions in occupied West Bank

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Sheikh slams Israeli MK proposal for Aqsa division
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — An official from the Al Aqsa Foundation on Thursday denounced an Israeli lawmaker’s proposal to institute Jewish religious worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib told reporters: “The stars in the sky are closer to us than Israel is from taking a place in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Right-wing Israeli lawmaker Aryeh Eldad has submitted a bill to parliament proposing the holy site be divided into Jewish and Muslim prayer times, settler news site Arutz Sheva reported Thursday. On religious holidays, the compound would be reserved solely for worshipers of that tradition, according to the proposal, the site said. The Al-Aqsa compound, containing the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood. Some in the far right in Israel propose building a “Third Temple” at the site.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511253

Israel plans to divide al-Aqsa Mosque
IMEMC 7 Aug — Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem, spoke about Israeli plans to divide al-Aqsa mosque in order to provide Jews with access to the Muslim holy site. The plan is modeled after the division of the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, and Sheikh Hussein said in a press release that the escalation of the rhetoric out of Israel relating to al-Aqsa is serious … According to the Palestine News Network, an Israeli Knesset member said that Israelis would be allowed to enter the mosque on certain days with Muslims only allowed to enter on other days.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64026

Holy sites hold fast to status quo / Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM, Aug 6 2012 (IPS) – “With our spirit, with our blood, we’ll redeem you, O Noble Sanctuary!” the veiled teenagers fervently sing in unison in honour of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police officers in uniform and full battle gear sit unimpressed under pine trees; others patrol the compound. This is epicentre of one of the world’s most disputed holy sites, the Al Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third holiest after Mecca and Medina. It is also known as the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most sacred place … Most rabbis prohibit Jews from praying on the area of the site itself due to its sacredness. “Jews aren’t allowed to stop and pray on the Temple Mount,” confirms Rosenfeld …”The status quo means ensuring that nothing happens to, and occurs on, the holiest site both to the Muslim community and to the Jewish community — the same place, the Temple Mount,” says Rosenfeld. “The most delicate task entails joint coordination between the Israeli police and the Waqf.” In all about 120 Arabic-speaking Israeli police officers now enforce the status quo on the site 24/7. Not without problems.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/08/holy-sites-hold-fast-to-status-quo/

Renewed barrier construction threatens Palestinian heritage
RAMALLAH, 9 August 2012 (IRIN) — Palestinian communities in the West Bank have expressed alarm at widely reported news that Israel will resume the construction of its “separation wall” after a five-year delay. “It is a crime to build the wall through here,” said Akram Badir, head of the village council in Battir, a Palestinian community just outside the Green Line to the southeast of Jerusalem. “It is going to be a catastrophe,” he went on, pointing out the planned route along nearby railway tracks … Some 62 percent of the barrier’s 708km-long route is already complete, while a further 8 percent is under construction and 30 percent is planned but not yet constructed. The barrier has so far isolated 150 communities from their land, and some 7,500 Palestinians stuck between the Green Line and the barrier need special permits to be allowed to remain in their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96057/OPT-Renewed-barrier-construction-threatens-Palestinian-heritage

Mayor orders demolition of East Jerusalem trailer homes put up by UN body
Haaretz 9 Aug — Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Wednesday signed demolition orders for two trailer homes in East Jerusalem that house Palestinian families whose former homes were torn down by the city. The structures were put up by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and its emergency pooled fund, the Humanitarian Response Fund. OCHA officials said the trailers, in the Beit Hanina neighborhood, do not require a license from the municipality because they are not hooked up to city utilities or attached to foundations and they are a stopgap, emergency solution only for the homeless families in each one. But the municipality and the Foreign Ministry dismissed OCHA’s explanations, saying the move constitutes a ratcheting up of intervention in Jerusalem by an international agency. “Israel is not a banana republic, but a state of law and order,” the municipality said in a statement. “The UN can help to advance the residents’ quality of life in keeping with the law and we hope the construction violation at the site is not in accordance with the UN.” The trailers bear OCHA’s emblem as well as the flags of HRF’s donor countries: Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands and Ireland. Municipal officials said the flags were a ploy to embroil Israel in embarrassing pictures of destroying trailer homes donated by friendly states.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/mayor-orders-demolition-of-east-jerusalem-trailer-homes-put-up-by-un-body.premium-1.456925

Israel orders demolition of six Palestinian homes in Beit Awa town
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 8 Aug — The municipal council of Beit Awa town in Al-Khalil city said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) delivered on Wednesday demolition orders against six houses in the town. An official from the council told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the IOF told six Palestinian owners that their homes would be demolished at the pretext they exist in an area under Israel’s rule and near the segregation wall.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Emw3qCvkNjUdyGpPea3d6B3QfpIyRNoWKYlwRq9iylAyDsWIMNFJmoNsg00pmxxu2ybyhovEcGEXb4d0ad9Zocbebl5RRbbudlFNS1yrEqQ%3d

Israeli authorities order demolitions in Tubas village
TUBAS (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of six structures in the northern West Bank on Friday, local officials said. The orders apply to water wells, caravans and trees planted in the Um Kabish area near Tubas, village council head Abdullah Bisharat said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511491

Video: West Bank cave community fears eviction
9 Aug — Communities living in caves south of the city of Hebron in the Occupied West Bank have been locked for years in a legal battle over who has official jurisdiction over the land. Palestinians living in the area believed a recent Israeli court ruling would protect their rights, but now they are once again fearful for their homes. Al Jazeera’s Cal Perry reports from the Occupied West Bank.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/2012897348834243.html

Despite complaints, IDF refuses to remove Israeli settlers from Palestinian village’s land
Haaretz 8 Aug by Amira Hass — More than two weeks after Israeli settlers occupied private lands belonging to a family from the Palestinian village of Susya in the south Hebron Hills, the authorities have failed to evacuate the intruders. Despite an order declaring the area closed, the settlers are preparing the land for planting, attorney Quamar Mishirqi-Asad of Rabbis for Human Rights has told Haaretz. The occupied plot is part of a “security belt” the nearby Jewish settlement of Susya has created around itself over the past decade. The area encompasses some 3,000 dunams (750 acres ), roughly 10 times the size of the settlement itself. Repeated attacks on Palestinian farmers seeking to reach their lands and shepherds were employed to clear the area. Settlers have already converted some 400 dunams of the confiscated land to agricultural use, as part of a modus operandi that is well-known in the West Bank.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/despite-complaints-idf-refuses-to-remove-israeli-settlers-from-palestinian-village-s-lands.premium-1.456904

Israeli soldiers raid coal plants, confiscate equipment near Jenin
JENIN, August 8, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday raided several coal plants and confiscated wood and equipment in Daher al-Maleh, a village near Jenin in the north of the West Bank, according to one of the plants’ owners. Mohammad al-Khateeb, one of the owners, told WAFA that Israeli forces raided several coal plants, including his own, and confiscated almost $25,000 worth of wood from his own coal plant.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20431

Bedouin livestock confiscated in the Jordan Valley
IMEMC 7 Aug — On Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces confiscated the livestock of Palestinian Bedouins in the Jordan Valley and placed them in an Israeli military camp. The head of the Wadi al-Maleh village council, Aref Daraghmeh told WAFA News that tens of Israeli soldiers on horseback invaded the grazing fields near there and stole their livestock.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64029

Israel ‘closes road’ linking Hebron villages slated for demolition
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 7 Aug — Israeli forces closed a road linking two villages in the Hebron hills on Tuesday, a local official said. Rateb Jabour, head of Yatta’s popular committee against the wall, told Ma‘an that Israel’s army closed the road linking Jinba and Khirbet Bir al’Idd villages and set-up a checkpoint … Israel plans to demolish eight villages in the Hebron hills to use the land for army training grounds. Under Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s plans, villagers will be allowed to access their land for farming on weekends and Jewish holidays, and during two one-month periods each year, when the Israeli army is not training in the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510720

Israeli High Court rejects south Hebron village petition
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Israel’s High Court on Thursday rejected a petition against the removal of Palestinian villagers from the southern West Bank by the Israeli army, but stressed further legal challenges were still open. The ruling allows villagers in the south Hebron hills to remain in their villages until November 1, when an order blocking their displacement will expire. The court said it was not taking a position on the wider dispute, in which the Israeli government has ordered demolition of eight of the 12 villages in an area the army designates as a military training zone.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511458

Palestinian villages struggle as Israeli settlement waste contaminates the environment
Mondoweiss 7 Aug by Marta Fortunato — “The bad odor is constant here and nowadays it has become normal to find rodents and insects in this area,” Ahmed, a resident of Burin, tells staring at the smelly polluted water flowing less than 10 meters from the houses of his village located between Salfit and Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank — “It’s not only about the smell. In the village a lot of people suffer from skin diseases, asthmas, and other illnesses.” The waste water stemming from Ariel settlement has played a major role in the contamination of water and in the pollution of the environment in the Salfit area. Due to the concentration of pollutant elements in this zone, many agricultural fields have been destroyed and many animals and plants have been killed. Moreover, many infectious waterborne diseases, like diarrhea, have broken out especially among children.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/palestinian-villages-struggle-as-israeli-settlement-waste-contaminates-the-environment.html

Settlers inaugurate park built on seized Palestinian land
BETHLEHEM, August 9, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers Thursday announced the opening of a park built on land seized from Palestinians from the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, according to a local activist. Coordinator of the committee against the Apartheid Wall, Ahmad Salah, told WAFA that Efrat settlers announced the opening of the new park during a big ceremony. The settlers first started working on the project in 2000, taking advantage of al-Aqsa Intifada and unstable political conditions, and took over large area of land. Salah said that they took over a well that was used to water crops and feed Solomon’s Pools.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20436

Diplomats blast ‘forced transfer’ of Palestinians
Reuters/Ynet 8 Aug — Consul generals, diplomats from around the world visit Palestinian villages slated for evacuation to make way for IDF training zones. PM Fayyad: This is not Israeli land. If they want to practice military training, they should go elsewhere
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4266366,00.html

EU: We expect Israel to cancel demolition orders for Palestinian villages in Area C of West Bank
Haaretz 9 Aug by Amira Hass — Fifteen senior EU diplomats tour the southern side of Mount Hebron; tour starts with visit to village, one day after IDF planted dozens of masked soldiers there to count the number of residents.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/eu-we-expect-israel-to-cancel-demolition-orders-for-palestinian-villages-in-area-c-of-west-bank.premium-1.456926

Israel to prevent UN mission from investigating West Bank settlements
PNN 7 Aug — Israel has said that it will prevent a UN fact-finding mission from investigating the legality of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it will not cooperate with the mission, and will stop its members from entering Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Ma‘an News Agency has reported. The team of experts, set up by the UN Human Rights Council, is due to start work in August and present a preliminary report at the end of September, Ibrahim Khreisheh, Palestinian representative to the UNHCR, said on Sunday. Kreisheh confirmed to the Voice of Palestine radio that the final report is due in March 2013, and called upon Israel to let the team move freely in the Palestinian territories.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/2399-israel-to-prevent-un-mission-from-investigation-west-bank-settlements

Echoes of Syria’s war in the Golan Heights
BUQATA, Golan Heights (NY Times) 7 Aug by Isabel Kershner — As fighting rages in Syria between the government forces and the rebels, the conflict is playing out on a smaller scale in Syrian Druse villages like this one, on the Israeli-held portion of the Golan Heights across the old cease-fire line.  Divisions have sharpened among the 20,000 or so Syrian citizens of the Druse religious sect who inhabit this plateau, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war and later effectively annexed. While many remain loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, there is an increasingly vocal group of opponents. The split has, on occasion, spilled into violence … Only a few of the Golan Druse have chosen to take Israeli citizenship. Despite the relative freedoms they enjoy under Israeli control, many say that the sense of belonging to Syria has not waned, even after more than 40 years of Israeli governance. Loyalty to the Assad family has long been a part of their identity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/world/middleeast/in-the-golan-heights-syrias-war-echoes.html

Violence / Raids / Arrests / Provocations

PLO Palestine Monitoring Group daily situation reports
Worth reading to show the full scope of occupation activity each day — first page of each report is summary, subsequent pages give details. Note that posting is not always immediate; the latest report this morning (10 Aug) is that for 08:00, 7th August 2012 – 08:00, 8th August 2012
http://www.nad-plo.org/dailyreports.php

Israeli forces detain 7 in West Bank night raids
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 7 Aug — Israeli forces detained seven Palestinians in raids in the northern West Bank overnight Monday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said. Troops detained three people from Qalqiliya, three from Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqiliya, and one person from Salfit, the spokeswoman said … In Qalqiliya, forces detained Muhammad Nazzal, 50, and his son Omar, 21, after surrounding their home, local activist Ahmad Beitawi said. Soldiers raided the home during Suhoor, the pre-dawn meal taken before the daily fast during Ramadan, said Beitawi of the Human Rights Solidarity group. Muhammad Nazzal’s wife told Beitawi that dozens of soldiers searched her home before detaining her husband and son.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510614

Israeli forces arrest 4 Palestinians in West Bank
HEBRON/JENIN, August 8, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday arrested four Palestinians from the West Bank cities of Hebron and Jenin, according to local and security sources. Mohammad Awad, from the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, told WAFA that undercover Israeli special forces, protected by Israeli soldiers, stormed an area in Beit Ummar, a town south of Hebron. The Israeli forces arrested two Palestinians in their twenties, one of them a student at Hebron college, after searching and tampering with the contents of their houses … Forces also assaulted Morad Ahmad and held him under gunpoint while he was on his way to work. They tied him, knocked him down on the floor and confiscated his identity card and his work permit … Forces also raided a house belonging to Ramzi Awad, after smashing the front door glass of his house …
In Jenin, forces arrested two Palestinians, 32 and 38, from Kafr Ra‘i, a village south of Jenin, after raiding their homes.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20428

2 Hamas suspects arrested over soldier deaths in 2000
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 10 Aug — Two Hamas members suspected in the lynching deaths of two Israeli reservists in 2000 that preceded a Palestinian uprising have been arrested, Israeli police said on Thursday. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the suspects were arrested in June but police had been under a gag order not to make the arrests public. He said both men, from the occupied West Bank, had admitted under questioning to involvement in the killings, but neither had yet been formally charged. He said he had no further details. The lynchings took place in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where an angry mob set upon the two Israeli reservists who had been seized at a Palestinian checkpoint and taken to a police station, choking and beating them to death … The lynchings occurred as a wave of Palestinian protests launched in late 2000 after failed peace talks spiraled into an uprising. It engulfed Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a five-year cycle of violence in which human rights groups say more than 3,700 Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis died.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511384

Israeli settler runs over child near Hebron
HEBRON, August 7, 2012 (WAFA) – A Palestinian child was injured Monday evening when an Israeli settler from Kiryat Arba settlement ran him over on a bypass road east of Hebron, according to security sources. They told WAFA that Monqiz al-Ja’bary, 10, suffered cuts and bruises all over his body in the attack and was transferred to hospital for treatment. He was reported in a stable condition.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20418

IOF arrest two Palestinian minors from Hebron
PNN — On Monday, 6th August, Israeli occupation forces arrested Mohammad Atef Hamdan Taha, 14, and his brother Mahmoud, 13, from the old city of Hebron. The parents said that the Israeli forces detained their two children at Abu al-Rish checkpoint, near the Ibrahimi mosque, and took them to an unknown location.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2375-iof-arrest-two-minors-from-hebron

Israeli special units arrest children from Issawiyah in Jerusalem
PNN –  On Tuesday, 7th August, Israeli Special Units ‘arabists’ [Israeli forces disguised as Palestinians] arrested several Palestinian children from al-Issawiyeh village in the occupied Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses said that confrontations launched between Palestinians and the Israeli occupation in the eastern area, while the arabists arrested several minors and took them to an unknown location.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2398-israeli-special-units-arrest-children-from-issawiyah-in-jerusalem

Locals: Forces free woman, elderly father after questioning
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Israeli forces freed a woman and her elderly father late Thursday after they were detained for several hours in the West Bank city of Hebron, locals said. Rajaa Amar and her father were released from an Israeli military site after questioning, they said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511455

Hebron area residents face more violence
IMEMC 9 Aug — According to the Palestine News Network, a Palestinian woman was wounded when a group of Israeli settlers from Kyriat Arba settlement south of Hebron in the southern West Bank attacked her in the head with stones. The 28-year-old woman, whose name was not revealed, was wounded and taken to Hebron Government hospital.
Elsewhere near Hebron, two Israeli military patrols raided villages in the surrounding area at dawn, terrorizing residents in the west in Ethna village and in the north in Beit Ummar. No arrests were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64046

Group: Journalist dodges bullet on Jenin road
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — A Palestinian TV journalist was shot at by unknown assailants on a road in the northern West Bank, a press freedom group said Friday. Nizar al-Samodi, a correspondent for the official Palestine TV, stopped at a crossroads south of Jenin late Wednesday when a bullet was fired in his direction by an Israeli license-plated car, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms said. The shot missed him by centimeters, hitting the car mirror, Mada said. “I believe the goal was to kill me, but the shooter underestimated the speed of the car,” al-Samodi said, adding that he had filed a complaint with the Israeli military liaison office.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511507

Confrontations with Israeli occupation in Yamoun village
PNN On Thursday, 9th August, confrontations launched at dawn, between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces, after they raided the village of Yamoun in Jenin. Eyewitnesses said that six military vehicles raided the village and as they reached al-Madrasa area, center of the village, confrontations launched with dozens of Palestinians who were gathering at that area. The same sources said that Palestinians started to throw stones at the soldiers, and the Israeli forces shot fire and sound bombs. Confrontations lasted for almost one hour, no injuries or arrests were reported.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2413-confrontations-with-israeli-occupation-in-yamoun-village

IDF uses inhabited Palestinian villages as a military playground
Mondoweiss 8 Aug by Allison Deger — On the heels of demolition orders to clear eight Palestinian villages for a military training field in the Hebron Hills, masked Israeli soldiers descended from helicopters and raided one of the still inhabited towns. Amira Hass reported in Haaretz on August 7, 2012: “Two Israel Air Force helicopters landed soldiers on Tuesday in Jinba, an isolated village inhabited by cave dwellings in the southern West Bank. It is one of eight villages slated for demolition according to Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s plan to allow the military to resume its training in the area, known as Firing Zone 918 … The soldiers, who were masked and armed, raided the village, photographed and mapped the cave dwellings, the tents and the structures, and made extensive searches while causing property damage, the residents said. The soldiers also emptied out the contents of closets and poured out jugs of milk and cream.” Today’s raid follows two last week in Tuba and Magher al-Abeed. A similar exercise also took place earlier this summer in June in al-Aqaba when the Israeli military took over part of the center of the village to resume the banned practice of live-fire training in the village. The battle between the military and the villagers dates back to 1999 after the Oslo Accords delineated tracts of the West Bank to Israeli control.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/idf-uses-inhabited-palestinian-villages-as-a-military-playground.html

Otherwise Occupied: Caught between price tag and red tape / Amira Hass
Haaretz 6 Aug — West Bank Palestinians are unable to make ends meet as settler harassment stops them from working their land and a draconian permit system prevents them from working in Israel — Two hours after the police and the army arrived on the scene, the Shin Bet security service also showed up at Khalil’s house in the village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah. Last Wednesday, Khalil’s family woke up in the morning only to discover that someone had put flammable material (plastic containers full of benzene and partly smoked cigarettes that had burned out) underneath the pickup truck in the yard. The Jewish settlement of Shiloh is to the east of Sinjil; Ma’aleh Levona is to the west; various outposts are all around. An unknown visitor or visitors had also left a warning, written in graffiti in Hebrew: “Don’t you touch the lands. Price tag.” This is a hint, about as subtle as an elephant, for the village as a whole: Stop your land reclamation project. In Sinjil, like elsewhere in the West Bank, Jewish settlers have blocked farmers from accessing their lands for the last ten years.  
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/otherwise-occupied-caught-between-price-tag-and-red-tape.premium-1.456197

Detention / Court actions

Mother dies before seeing son in Israeli jail
KHAN YOUNIS, August 6, 2012 (WAFA) — The mother of Palestinian prisoner from Gaza, Yehya Islih, died Monday while travelling on a bus on her way with a group from Gaza to visit their detained sons in Israeli jail, according to prison advocacy groups. The mother, Aisha Islih, from Khan Younis, died before seeing her son since he was arrested five years ago and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Israel banned Gaza prisoners from family visitations since 2007 as a punishment after Hamas fighters captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Visitation was allowed only following an agreement was reached on May 14 between the Israel Prisons Service and 2000 hunger striking prisoners.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20413

‘They enjoy breaking mother’s hearts over their sons’: Gaza mourns a detainee’s mother
EI 8 Aug by Shahd Abusalama — Photo: A mother of a detainee who was very sad over the loss of Aisha Isleih and scared that she may share the same fate — ““The detainees spend their imprisonment waiting for their families’ visits,” Dad once said, recalling how the Israel Prison Service (IPS) punished him by denying him family visits during his 15 years of imprisonment. “Despite all the suffering and humiliation attached to their procedures, family visits are as important to prisoners as the air they breathe.”  Following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006, Israel collectively punished Palestinian political prisoners from Gaza by banning family visits, one of their basic rights and a lifeline between detainees and their families. “Under international humanitarian law, Israeli authorities have an obligation to allow the detainees to receive family visits,” said Juan Pedro Schaerer, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/shahd-abusalama/they-enjoy-breaking-mothers-hearts-over-their-sons-gaza-mourns-detainees

Prisoners on hunger strike abused by Israeli military
IMEMC 8 Aug — Four Palestinian political prisoners currently imprisoned in Israeli military jails under administrative detention orders are continuing their hunger strikes despite deteriorating health conditions and abuse by Israeli soldiers according to a joint press release of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64039

Former hunger striker Bilal Diab released
JENIN (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Former hunger striker Bilal Diab was released from Israeli jail to his home in the northern West Bank on Thursday, as part of an agreement to end his 77-day strike. Diab, 27, told reporters he carried a message from Palestinians in Israeli jails to immediately end the factional division between Hamas and Fatah … Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the al-Jalama crossing in the northern West Bank to greet the released prisoner. Diab, from Kafr Ra‘i village near Jenin, said his delight at being released was diminished because of thousands of prisoners left behind.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511396

Female detainee released after six years’ imprisonment
IMEMC 10 Aug — The Israeli authorities released, Thursday, detainee Woroud Qasem, from At-Teera, in the Southern Triangle Area in the 1948 territories, after imprisoning her for nearly six years on unfounded charges, including the claim that she planned a bombing in Ra’nana.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64052

IDF to pay Palestinian shot by errant bullet after top officer annuls right to sue army
Haaretz 9 Aug — A unit of soldiers disguised as Arabs came to disperse a demonstration and mistakenly shot the man in 2007; IDF will pay NIS 10,000 — The Israel Defense Forces will pay a Palestinian shepherd NIS 10,000 in legal expenses, after GOC Central Commander Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon finally signed a document annulling the shepherd’s right to sue the IDF three years after the lawsuit was submitted. Mohammed Shamasna, a shepherd from Katna in Samaria, was hit in the leg by a bullet fired from a Ruger rifle in November 2007. On that day, during a demonstration against the separation barrier that was erected in area, a unit of solders disguised as Arabs came to disperse the demonstration and mistakenly shot the shepherd in the leg. Shamasna subsequently needed several operations and a lengthy rehabilitation process, and he sued the IDF for damages. According to customary practice in the territories, a resident wounded by the IDF can submit a complaint to the commander of the ombudsman’s office. However, if the area commander declares that injury was caused during the course of a necessary military operation, no damages will be paid.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-to-pay-palestinian-shot-by-errant-bullet-after-top-officer-annuls-right-to-sue-army.premium-1.457140

Rights group: PA forces detain hunger striker’s brother
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 7 Aug — Palestinian Authority security forces detained the brother of a detainee on hunger strike in an Israeli jail before dawn Monday, the prisoner rights group Addameer said. Around 30 PA preventative security officers detained Saleh Safadi, 30, during a raid on his home in Nablus at 3 a.m. on Monday, Addameer told Ma‘an. He was taken to Jenaid prison and was not given any reason for the arrest, Addameer said, adding that Saleh had spent one year in an Israeli jail without charge or trial in 2007.
Saleh Safadi’s brother Hassan entered his 48th day of renewed hunger strike in an Israeli prison on Tuesday. In May, he ended a previous 71 day hunger strike.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510644

Israel to house African migrant children in prison, not in facility for minors
Haaretz 10 Aug — Prison service’s decision contravenes a 2011 High Court ruling against minors being held in prisons.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-to-house-african-migrant-children-in-prison-not-in-facility-for-minors.premium-1.457255

Gaza / Sinai

Official: Egypt temporarily opens Gaza border
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Egyptian authorities have temporarily opened the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip for two days, but there is no date set for its full return to normal functioning, the Gaza-based crossing director said Friday. The border, Gaza’s only opening to the outside world under Israeli blockade, was closed on Sunday after gunmen killed 16 Egyptian guards in neighboring Sinai. “The crossing will be open for all travelers on Friday and Saturday,” Gaza crossings director Maher Abu Sbeiha said. However he noted that it was a temporary measure, and Egypt had not set a date full the full re-opening of the border.
      Meanwhile, people involved in the tunnel trade under Gaza’s border with Egypt said the underground network was broadly operating again after Egypt destroyed several tunnels in the attack’s aftermath. Ahmad, who controls one tunnel, told Ma’an the tunnels had resumed work under the direction of the Gaza security services. He stressed that tunnels were used for economic purposes and were not linked to the Sinai attack.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511464

Israel agrees to Egypt attack helicopters in Sinai
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 10 Aug — Israel on Thursday granted an Egyptian request for Cairo to use attack helicopters in Sinai for the first time since a 1979 treaty which strictly limited the deployment of military force in the desert peninsula, a senior Israeli official said. The decision, made by a telephone poll of Israeli ministers to hasten the process, was in effect retroactive since Egypt has already sent in the aircraft as part of its largest offensive in Sinai in 40 years, launched in response to the killing on Sunday of 16 Egyptian border guards by gunmen. Israel’s security cabinet set a limit of several days “for a specific, pinpointed action”, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511449

Officials: Egypt renews raids in north Sinai, 6 detained
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Egyptian forces launched two offensives in the northern Sinai early Friday, security officials said. An air campaign targeted areas outside the city of el-Arish, while other forces launched raids inside the city, officials told Ma‘an. Large numbers of soldiers and military vehicles have been deployed to combat “terrorists” in the region, the security sources said. An Egyptian military source said that the armed forces had arrested six “terrorists” in the Sinai region, state television reported.
On Thursday residents told Reuters they were skeptical about the two-day security campaign, saying they had seen no sign of anyone being killed in what they described as a “haphazard” operation. Army commanders said as many as 20 “terrorists” had died in the offensive launched after suspected Islamist militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards on Sunday and drove a stolen armored car into Israel which was then destroyed by Israeli forces. But residents in Shaikh Zuwaid and surrounding villages said they had seen no sign of fighting. In al Toumah, a village surrounded by olive fields, one witness said he saw troops firing in the air.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511453

Egypt troops move into Israel, Gaza border zone
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Reuters) 9 Aug — An Egyptian military offensive on the Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip entered its second day on Thursday after gunman fired shots towards a police station in the main administrative center of North Sinai on Thursday. Hundreds of troops in armored cars drove out of El-Arish to hunt Islamist militants blamed for killing 16 Egyptian border guards on Sunday, the biggest spike in violence which has been growing steadily since last year’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. The gunfire in the town, the nerve center of the government’s otherwise shaky control of the North Sinai region, showed how difficult it will be for Egypt to impose order. It followed attacks on checkpoints in the town on Wednesday. Israel has welcomed Egypt’s offensive while continuing to express worries about the deteriorating situation in Sinai, home to militants opposed to Israel, Bedouin tribes angered by neglect by Cairo, gun-runners, drug smugglers and al-Qaida sympathizers. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Egypt was acting “to an extent and with a determination that I cannot previously recall.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511366

Egypt forms army commission to destroy Gaza tunnels
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Egypt has formed a military commission to investigate ways to destroy smuggling tunnels under its border with Gaza, a security official said Thursday. A team of Egyptian engineers, border guards and intelligence officers arrived at the border area early Thursday morning with equipment to demolish the tunnels, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The security official told Ma‘an there were over 1,200 tunnels under the border. In the past, smuggling tunnels have been destroyed by filling them with cement or water or by using explosives.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511403

Egypt moves to seal smuggling tunnels after border attack
RAFAH, Egypt (Reuters) 7 Aug — Egypt began to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian militants. Crowds of angry mourners wept at the military funeral of the slain guards in Cairo after the deadliest assault along Egypt’s tense Sinai Peninsula border with Israel and Gaza in decades …
A Reuters reporter in the border town of Rafah said heavy equipment was brought to the Egyptian side of the tunnels, which are used to smuggle people to and from Gaza as well as food and fuel that are a lifeline for the small territory’s population. “The campaign aims at closing all the openings between Egypt and the Gaza Strip that are used in smuggling operations,” said the security source.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/07/us-egypt-gaza-tunnels-idUSBRE8760MT20120807

Video: Gaza panics as Sinai bloodshed severs tunnel trade
AFP 8 Aug — On Sunday, a group of gunmen stormed a nearby Egyptian border police post in northern Sinai, killing 16 of them before storming the border with Israel. The attack prompted Cairo to close the Rafah border and block access to the smuggling tunnels, abruptly cutting off one of Gaza’s only lifelines. In Gaza, residents are starting to panic. Duration: 00:54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=847Nppz5nAg

Gazan hopes of new horizons hit by Egypt killings
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 8 Aug — Stranded at home and abroad, short of fuel and worried about going hungry, this is not what Gazans expected when Islamist leader Mohammed Mursi was elected president of Egypt in June. Egypt closed their only passenger crossing into the Gaza Strip and has moved to seal myriad smuggling tunnels connecting the two territories after unidentified militants killed 16 Egyptian policemen in neighboring Sinai on Sunday. Hamas has ruled out suggestions in the Egyptian media that Palestinian gunmen took part in the Sinai massacre, and has criticized Cairo for imposing “collective punishment” on the impoverished coastal enclave. But with Egypt showing no sign of relenting, thousands of ordinary Palestinians have found themselves stranded during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while traders warn of shortages if the tunnels stay stoppered … The abrupt closure of Rafah, which normally sees some 800 people a day leave for Egypt and beyond, left many visiting Palestinians fearful for their overseas jobs, while others worried their visas might expire before they could be used.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511100

Why are we in Gaza being punished for Egyptian border guard killings? Rana Baker
EI 8 Aug — …In the past few days, I received countless nasty messages on my Twitter account either addressed to me personally or to anyone Palestinian. The harshest one read: “Gazans are dogs who would have become homeless without Egypt.” Another referred to us as “refugee garbage.” Sunday’s attack in Sinai that left 16 Egyptian border guards dead was the reason behind these slights. Following the attack, which was carried out by gunmen who have still not been identified, the SCAF was quick to accuse the people of Gaza of being behind the murder and hence Tantawi was quick in issuing his punishment. Both the Rafah crossing and underground tunnels were declared closed “indefinitely.” … Although many Egyptians were elated by the news, the young revolutionaries who made the highest sacrifices during the revolution condemned the decision and even used social networking websites to voice their opposition to Tantawi and his brutal policies toward the people of Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/why-are-we-gaza-being-punished-egypt-border-guard-killings/11564

Hundreds pray in solidarity with Egypt at Gaza City embassy
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Aug — Hundreds prayed at the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City on Monday in a show of solidarity with the Egyptian people following the deadly attack in Sinai that killed 16 Egyptian officers. Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh led Tarawih prayers, performed during Ramadan after the last prayer of the day. He also performed symbolic funeral prayers for the slain officers. After prayers, senior Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar reiterated the party’s condemnation of the brazen attack on a police station where Egypt’s borders with Israel and Gaza converge. He said Palestinian resistance did not target Egyptians.  “In the name of all Palestinian factions and the al-Qassam Brigades we say that Palestine does not target Egyptian people or Egyptian security,” he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510649

Islamic Jihad says Sinai attack ‘shameful’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an)  7 Aug — Islamic Jihad leader Nafeth Azzam on Monday condemned the “shameful” attack on a Sinai police station that killed 16 Egyptian officers. Azzam spoke at solidarity rally organized by Islamic Jihad near the Salah al-Din gate on the Egyptian border. He said the Sinai attack was an act of “unspeakable cruelty” that had no justification and served only Israeli interests … Commenting on the closure of cross-border smuggling tunnels and the Rafah border crossing, he said all security measures must be taken to prevent further attacks. However, he added that he hoped the clampdown would not be in place for too long.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510669

Sinai spree prods Hamas to act against Sinai jihadis
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 6 Aug — Tensions between Hamas and Gaza’s more radical Islamists were strained to breaking point by a gun attack in Egypt blamed in part on infiltrators from the Palestinian enclave. Hamas, once hopeful of building an alliance with Egypt now ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideological kin, and of ending the blockade on the Gaza Strip, is now under pressure to show it can bring Salafi militants under control.  The Islamist movement, which has governed Gaza since 2007, denied Egyptian and Israeli charges that some of the gunmen who raided a Sinai police post and then tried to storm into Israel on Sunday came from its side of the border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510477

Interview: Salafi leader offers to help fight extremism
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Aug — Salafis are ready to help Egyptian authorities fight terrorism by raising youth awareness, a leading Salafi intellectual in Gaza said Tuesday. Iyad al-Shami told Ma’an that Salafis were not involved in Sunday’s attack on a Sinai police station in which 16 Egyptian officers were killed. He condemned the attack and called for its perpetrators to be punished.
He said Salafis were ready to help Egypt in its fight against terrorism by educating the youth against extremism. The main goal of the brazen raid was to destabilize Egyptian relations with Palestinians, al-Shami added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510708

Israel evacuated military outpost near Rafah hours before Sinai attack
MEMO 8 Aug — The Israel Defence Forces knew about the attack which targeted an Egyptian army post on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and evacuated an outpost close to the area where the attack took place in advance of the incident. The IDF’s southern area commander was involved in taking the decision to evacuate army personnel. According to reports on Hebrew Radio, intelligence warning about Sunday’s attack was received last Friday; this pushed the IDF to take a number of preventive measures a few hours before the bombings. The moves included ordering all Israeli tourists and nationals to leave Sinai and the evacuation of an Israeli military outpost near the attack site.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4120-israel-evacuated-military-outpost-near-rafah-hours-before-sinai-attack

Israel dismisses accusation of involvement in Sinai attack
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 6 Aug — Israel on Monday dismissed a claim by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood that it was in any way involved in a deadly attack on a police station in Sinai a day earlier in which 16 policemen were killed. “Even the person who says this when he looks at himself in the mirror does not believe the nonsense he is uttering,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. The Muslim Brotherhood had said that the attack “can be attributed to Mossad”, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510553

Jerusalem yawns as Oslo ship sets sail to Gaza Strip
JPost 9 Aug — Israel downplayed a Tuesday announcement by radical Scandinavian pro-Palestinian activists that they were setting sail for Gaza in yet another effort to break Israel’s blockade.“One ship does not a flotilla make,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. The ministry was following the development, Palmor said, but he gave no indication the ministry was particularly worried at this time that the ship would pick up a great deal of momentum
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=280587

When the lights go out, talk
GAZA CITY, Aug 2 2012 (IPS) by Mohammed Omer – When the lights go out, Gazans look for generators to switch on. And, they find people to talk to. With so many power cuts over so long now, people are giving themselves the somewhat dubious comfort that human relations may have improved as a result of these power cuts. Mohammed Aljamal, like many Gazans, is discovering that improved communication with friends and family are the brighter side of life in the dark when there isn’t much work he can do. Mohammed says he visits his family members far more often now than he otherwise might have. And it isn’t only because of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. He needs to get away from the “24/7 sauna”, he says. Happily — under the circumstances — power cuts are coordinated, and there just might be light at a relative’s home that has electricity. In any case, he says, “when the power is out, what else can you do?”
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/08/when-the-lights-go-out-talk/

Refugees

Palestinian aid convoy arrives in Damascus
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A convey of aid from the Palestinian Authority has arrived in Palestinian refugee camps in Damascus, the PA ambassador to Syria said Thursday. Mahmoud al-Khalidi told Ma‘an that 17 trucks of medicine, wheat and food staples were welcomed by representatives of 15 Palestinian factions, scouts, the local UNRWA director and Ali Mustafa, the director of the Arab Palestinian refugees commission …  The situation in Palestinian refugee camps is calm at the moment, al-Khalidi said. “We should understand that Palestinians are not targeted in Syria because of their nationality,” he added. An official donations drive netted around $650,000 worth of food and medical aid from Palestinian companies, businessmen, and individuals during the charitable month of Ramadan.A one percent cut of salaries from the Palestinian Authority’s cash-strapped public sector went toward the convoy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511327

Political / Economic / Diplomatic News

Abbas says going to UN even if it conflicts with others’ interests
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 8 Aug — President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority would insist on the UN bid seeking to obtain international recognition that Palestine is a state under occupation rather than a disputed territory. “Even if this step conflicts with other parties’ interests, we will not step back,” Abbas said in remarks at Al-Najah National University
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510868

Report: Netanyahu to release prisoners if UN bid scrapped
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 6 Aug — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to release 50 prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords if the Palestinian Authority cancels its proposed UN bid, Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv reported Monday. Netanyahu also offered to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas to resume political negotiations, the newspaper added. “The bid will be submitted in the right time,” Abbas’ political adviser Nimir Hammad said in response. All prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords should be released without conditions, Hammad added, saying he refused to link a prisoner release with the UN bid.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=510272

Minister: Most public sector salaries to be paid Monday
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Palestinian Authority Minister of Finance Nabil Qassis said Thursday that most public sector salaries will be paid next Monday. Employees earning under 4,000 shekels ($1,000) will be paid in full, while those with higher salaries will receive 70 percent of their monthly salary, Qassis said. The minister stressed the payment of full salaries applies to 90 percent of public sector workers, and assured that the remainder payment to higher-earners will be transferred soon. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Monetary Authority on Thursday issued a request to Palestinian banks not to apply fines for bounced checks while public sector salaries are delayed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511200

Australian foreign minister concludes 3-day trip to Israel and Palestinian territories
PNN 7 Aug — Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr is today concluding a 3-day diplomatic visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Beginning in Jerusalem on Sunday Carr met with Israeli President Shimon Peres before meeting with PA officials in Ramallah and Israeli officials in Jerusalem. The two reportedly discussed security and strengthening trade relations between the two countries. Trade relations between Australia and Israel are already worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce. The AICC, which fosters economic ties between the two nations, is described as the pre-eminent chamber of commerce in the country … Later in the afternoon he met with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss Australia’s ongoing relationship with the PA. The meeting concluded with Carr committing 300 million dollars over 5 years to help sustain the Palestinian Authority, which is suffering a fiscal crisis and has not been able to consistently pay its on employees or the employees of agencies related to it for several months now
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/national/2395-australian-foreign-minister-concludes-3-day-trip-to-israel-and-palestinian-territories

Other news

Woroud Sawalha runs to set an example for Palestinian women
Globe&Mail 8 Aug — She painted each finger nail with a tiny Palestinian flag and then went out and ran the best 800 metres of her life. Palestine’s Woroud Sawalha knows she can’t keep up with the world’s best runners at the Olympics and she finished 21 seconds behind the winner of her heat Wednesday. But she came to London with two objectives; to run faster than ever and to set an example for Palestinian women. She managed both.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/woroud-sawalha-runs-to-set-an-example-for-palestinian-women/article4469107

Swiss experts asked to conduct Arafat autopsy
Al Jazeera 8 Aug — Palestinian Authority invites Institute of Radiation Physics to examine Yasser Arafat’s remains for possible poisoning — Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat’s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader has said. Tawfik Tirawi did not give further details, but the lab confirmed that it had been invited. “We are currently studying how to adequately respond to this demand,” Darcy Christen, a spokesman for the Swiss institute, said on Wednesday. “Meanwhile, our main concern is to guarantee the independence, the credibility and the transparency of any possible involvement on our side.” The announcement follows weeks of indecision on the autopsy issue by officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA), the self-rule government that Arafat established.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/08/201288163523582594.html

Video: West Bank youth roller-skate for freedom
6 Aug — For an estimated 200 youths in the West Bank, the growing activity of roller skating is a way not only to have fun, but also to temporarily escape Israeli occupation.  Here is the story of one young Palestinian skater, Sajed Aboulebeh, in his own words.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/20128692658293913.html

Video: Poor waste disposal puts West Bank at risk
6 Aug — In the occupied Palestinian territory of West Bank, the disposal of medical waste is a major problem. It should be incinerated, but instead it is often taken to the nearest landfill. Many people are at risk of contracting diseases from the used products. Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports from Jenin in the West Bank.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/201286181349232905.html

PA: Shooting incident near Fayyad compound ‘a mistake’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority security forces said Wednesday that a shooting incident outside the compound of PA premier Salam Fayyad was the result of a mistake. Adnan al-Dmeiri said that “an investigation showed that one of the police guards fired two shots toward the ministers’ council in Ramallah by mistake. The police officer was detained and transferred to investigation.” Reuters, citing a witness in Ramallah, reported late Friday that police traded gunfire with unknown assailants at the compound. There were no reports of injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511142

Analysis / Opinion

Egypt’s nouveaux riches and the Palestinians / Joseph Massad
AJ 9 Aug — The beneficiaries of post-Sadat financial success continue to sell out Egypt and the Palestinians — Since Sadat’s selling out of Egypt to American and Israeli interests in the second half of the 1970s, the Sadatist official press and a whole new class of nouveaux riches Egyptians began a sustained campaign against the Palestinian people. This new class, enriched by their active selling of their country off to the highest bidders, targeted the Palestinians in order to delegitimize their cause in the eyes of millions of Egyptians who have supported them since before 1948 and who opposed the Sadatist sell-out. This campaign was and is part and parcel of the campaign to de-Arabise Egypt so that it, or its nouveaux riches, could join the anti-Arab bloc of Israel and the United States of which this class is a main beneficiary. Mubarak continued the same policies, though his anti-Palestinian press campaigns would be deployed intermittently on a need-to-defame basis. The Sadatist and nouveaux riches‘ campaigns would invent stories about Palestinians having lost their country because they themselves were “sell-outs” and had “sold their country to the Jews”.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/20128816542664189.html

Was there an occupation? / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 8 Aug — The right to a day in court will not only be taken away from those without a passport; those who speak in a “minority” accent will likewise find the courthouse doors locked — All told, what did the justice minister really want to do? Insert a small correction. Clerical. Fair, like most of the minister’s ideas. Courts, he decided, cannot review claims that do not cite the identity card number or passport number of the plaintiff. Yet this is no naive directive. It is designed to nullify the basic rights of thousands of work migrants and residents from the territories. It will stop them from lodging claims in Israeli courts. One small step for bureaucracy, one giant leap for the occupation. Paradoxically, the new directive symbolizes candor and integrity. At long last the State of Israel is starting to peel away the mask of duplicitous morality it has been wearing.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/was-there-an-occupation.premium-1.456753

EU-Israel: One hand whitewashes the other / Ben White
Cambridge, UK 8 Aug — How Israel can breach international law, commit systematic human rights abuses and colonise Palestine with impunity is typically blamed on the role of the US, for which there is plenty of supporting evidence: from the UN Security Council veto to significant financial and military support. But the strength and high-profile of the US-Israel relationship has meant that the role of other parties in shielding Israel’s apartheid regime has not been subjected to the critical scrutiny it deserves, particularly the case with the European Union. While those on the hard right portray the EU as representing a continent of anti-Semitic Israel-bashers on the path to “Eurabia”, the reality is that the EU is one of Israel’s most important allies – whose policies are playing a crucial role in frustrating the Palestinian struggle for justice.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201287194144393945.html

Making art from trash / Yitzhak Laor
Haaretz 3 Aug — Two Israeli filmmakers went to the Hebron Hills to document Palestinians eking out a living from scavenging in a dump, and fell in love with their subjects — Initially, I was afraid that “Zevel Tov” (“Good Garbage” ), a documentary produced and directed by Ada Ushpiz and Shosh Shlam, would be just another story about the atrocities of the occupation. At the very least, it would be an effort to prove that there is an occupation, despite the argument by emeritus Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, who headed a committee that declared that the West Bank is not occupied territory. I was wrong. This is a truly blood-chilling film. True, the horrors of the occupation are present in every frame; still, this is an excellent film that should be seen because of the magnificent qualities it shares with, for example, Maxim Gorky’s writings.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/making-art-from-trash.premium-1.455764

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