Some of the chants include:
“The people demand fall of Oslo”
“Palestine is not cheap, the president agreed to Paris, he is not one of us”
“People demand the downfall of the regime”
“Get out Fayyad”
“Get out Abbas”
“Our government are traitors”
“Revolution on Oslo, on Paris, on approach, on policies, on Abbas, on Fayyad, REVOLUTION! REVOLUTION! REVOLUTION!”
Land & Property Theft / Destruction / Apartheid / Refugees
Occupation Confiscates 800 Dunums in Nablus
Occupation authorities announced the confiscation of 800 Dunums (1 Dunum= 1000 square meters) of land belonging to Palestinian villagers, west of Nablus to make a road for the nearby settlement.
Two Families Receive House Demolition Orders
On the 22. of August, 2012, Israel issued a demolition order to Jawad Awad and his wife Melal for their home and a water pool. Jawad and his family live in area C, witch constitutes more than 60% of the West Bank. Most constructions in area C face the threat of being demolished if it is newly built, expanded or just repaired; anything that Israel can see as an improvement. The possibility of getting a permit from the Israeli Occupation Authorities to build is nearly nonexistent, therefore most Palestinians go ahead and build without permission.
Employees of Jerusalem Municipality raided Silwan village in occupied city of Jerusalem accompanied by military forces, and distributed administrative demolition orders for a number of homes.
Al Araqib is located in the Naqab (Negev) desert, populated by Israelis who enjoy full citizenship. Still, the treatment that the people in the village receive at the hands of the Israeli state is no different than that reserved for the Palestinian population living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. These people all have one thing in common: they are Arabs. “What is happening in the Negev,” says Rawia Abu Rabia, a lawyer with ACRI, “is part of the wider Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is the same conflict but it has different characteristics.” Just like Palestinian nationals across the wall, Palestinian citizens of Israel are branded as a security threat. This usually means that their freedoms are curtailed in order to ‘protect’ the freedoms of the Israeli Jewish majority. As Israel has understood long ago, the best way to control a group of people is to cage them in very small areas. This has also the added value of freeing up further space, which is then made available for Jewish-only settlements.
The little girl was dressed in blue pants and a green jacket. Her hair was finely kempt in a ponytail, probably interwoven by her mother. Thursday was meant to be a special day for her, a fact that was highlighted by the carefully chosen details of her outfit — matching green socks and green jacket, white tennis shoes with dark blue stars painted on the sides. But on that day itself, the little Palestinian girl sunk to her death, along with her family and many others. A rickety boat filled with numerous people, including entire families, sunk merely a hundred metres off the Turkish western Aegean coast last Thursday. It was reported that women and children were kept at the bottom of the boat. When the overcrowded vessel hit the rocks and began sinking, many swam to shore. The most vulnerable drowned. Most of the dead migrants were Palestinians, according to Reuters and the Guardian, but they also included Iraqis and Syrians. “The latest death toll we have is 60 people, including 11 men, 18 women and 31 children and three babies,” said Tahsin Kurtbeyoglu, Turkish Governor of the coastal district of Menderes in Izmir province.
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Fearing blackouts, the energy authority in the Gaza Strip called Tuesday on Egyptian authorities to allow fuel donated from Qatar to enter the coastal enclave. The Gaza power station is on the verge of another shutdown amid a 50 percent shortage in fuel supplies, the authority said in a statement, as fuel donated by Qatar is being held up in Egypt. ”Egyptian authorities refuse to transfer the fuel from Qatar to the Gaza Strip,” the authority said. “The Gaza power station needs urgent help as it is at half its capacity due to the lack of power.” Gaza had been plagued by a fuel crisis since mid-February, when Egypt cut off supplies via a tunnel network running under its border with the enclave.
Siege leaves 80 percent of Gaza’s factories shut
JABALIYA, Gaza (IPS) – “Gaza’s economy is expected to grow modestly and people will likely still be worse off in 2015 compared to the mid-1990s,” read a statement heralding the publication of a United Nations report, “Gaza in 2020 – A Liveable Place?” in August. In a no-frills office in the Jabaliya refugee camp, Rizik al-Madhoun, 41, explained how his clothing factory began shutting down six years ago. “We started in 1993 with seven sewing machines. By 2005 we had 250 machines and as many tailors,” he said. “In 2006, after Hamas was elected and Israel sealed the borders, we had to close down half of the factory. We stopped all production in 2007, when Israel tightened the siege.”
The international system is often accused of failing to give adequate early warning; of being myopic and not furnishing the appropriate powers with data and analysis that would allow an effective, timely response to predictable disasters. With the recent publication of the report, Gaza in 2020: a Liveable Place?, it would be hard to level these accusations at the UN country team in the occupied Palestinian territory. The report is a trend analysis based on data from authoritative sources, such as the UN’s specialised agencies, the World Bank and the IMF, which sets out where Gaza will be in less than eight years’ time. This is early warning writ large.
Israel carried out four air raids against the Gaza Strip early on Monday, wounding a Palestinian child, witnesses and Palestinian medics said. The aircraft also targeted a police post in the El Tufah neighbourhood east of Gaza City and carried out two raids in the north of the territory, witnesses said. Medics said that in a separate raid, which followed a rocket attack on Israeli territory, wounded a six-year-old boy while aiming for a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt near the Rafah crossing point. The Israeli air force plane was targeting “an arms factory, a site of terrorist activity and a terrorist tunnel in the north of the Gaza Strip and a smuggling tunnel in the south of the Strip”, the Israeli army claimed in a statement. “Direct hits were confirmed.” The raids were “in reply to continued rocket attacks against the south of Israel,” it added, claiming that 15 rockets had been fired at Israel so far this month, hitting houses twice and “causing damage”. A rocket fired from Gaza crashed into a house in southern Israel on Sunday, causing heavy damage but not casualties, as two more landed near the city of Beersheva, an Israel police spokesman said.
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli military vehicles entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday east of Deir al-Balah and al-Bureij refugee camps , witnesses said. Four bulldozers accompanied by three military vehicles entered over 350 meters into Gaza, locals told Ma’an. An Israeli army spokeswoman said there was “routine” military activity along the border. Meanwhile, locals said Israel’s navy opened fire at Palestinian fishermen in northern Gaza. An Israeli army spokeswoman said navy forces fired warning shots because the fishing boats deviated from the designated fishing area. Under Israel’s maritime blockade, Palestinians are forbidden from fishing more than three nautical miles from the coast. During the Oslo Accords negotiators had agreed to 20 nautical miles of fishing access along Gaza’s coastline.
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces assaulted four Palestinian workers driving into Israel on Saturday night, witnesses told Ma’an. The forces stopped their car near the Beit Yatir checkpoint in the south of the West Bank, and kicked and beat the group with gun butts, one of the workers, Rami Jamal Abu Fanar from Yatta, said. He and Firas Jadallah Abu Fanar, Mohammad Jamal Abu Fanar and Mohammad Atta Abu Fannar were taken to Abu Al-Hasan Al-Qasem hospital in Yatta with head, abdomen and leg injuries, he said. A medic at the hospital said the four were in a moderate condition. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she had no record of the incident.
Two Workers Wounded In Hebron
The sources said that the car was transporting several workers in Jinba area, south of Yatta town, taking them to Be’er As-Sabe’ (Bir Shiva); soldiers chased the car until it crashed.
Three people were treated for injuries related to tear gas after an attack by illegal settlers in the village of Qusra near Nablus on Saturday night. The attack comes roughly a year after Qusra resident Issam Kamel Odeh, 33, died from Israeli gunfire after settlers invaded the village in September of 2011. Shortly before six in the evening Saturday, five settlers came onto the land of Akram Taysir Daoud at the edge of Qusra village. Soon after, they began beating the man’s wife and yelling obscenities at his mother. Additional raiders arrived until there were a total of fourteen settlers on the land. In an attempt to get help, Akram Taysir called the mayor of the town. The mayor alerted the people of the village to come to the farm, and then called both the local District Coordination Offices to report the attack. The invading settlers sealed a well on the property with a large stone.
What would you do if 30 men armed with sticks and guns stormed into your home beat your little brothers and began beating your mother and ripping her clothes? On August 28 this happened to sixteen year old Jalaal Daraghmah. He did his best to protect his family. He grabbed a pick used for gardening, and stood at the door of his house and told the settlers he would not let anyone in. When one of them tried to enter by force Jalaal hit him with the pick. The Israeli police arrived on the scene, and they ignored the two little boys that were beaten so badly they needed to be hospitalized, the mothers bruises and torn dress, and the family’s car that had been completely destroyed by the settlers. They instead arrested Jalaal and his father Khalid. No settlers were sought for questioning or detained. The Israeli press treated what happened as a “terror attack” and dubbed It a“Axe Attack”. Jalaal has been in Israeli custody since.
Israeli forces arrest 13 Palestinian women last month
Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies revealed that the occupation authorities have stepped up during the last month its arrest policy against Palestinian women and children.
Jerusalem–On Saturday, 8 September, demonstrators gathered in front of Damascus Gate in a show of support for the four hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, two of who are in their third month without food. The protest marked the 113th day of renewed hunger strike for Samer Al-Barq, who is the longest hunger striker in Palestinian history. His condition is slipping beyond critical and every hour could be his last.
Five men were arrested in an early morning raid on the town of Kufr Qaddoum Tuesday by Israeli occupation forces. At 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 100 soldiers stormed the village, apprehending 5 men: Moyyad, 57, Aws, 24, Mohammad, 24, Wassin, 23, and Ahmad, 23. The men were arrested for taking part in demonstrations. According to an eyewitness named Morad, soldiers fired tear-gas bombs as the left the village with the men. “I saw from my balcony on the third floor,” said Morad on Saturday! “I was with my three year old child. The gas came in my house where my wife and children were.”
Israeli Night Raid in Beit Ommar: Two Arrested
On Monday, 10th September, Israeli soldiers entered the village of Beit Ommar and raided Palestinian homes at 03.30 at night. It was reported by local Palestinians that the Israeli occupation forces brought seven military jeeps and three big wagons for prisoner transport. The soldiers arrested two Palestinian youths; Ibrahem Mohammad Hussein Adi (age 19) and Mohammad Ayman Ikhleyal (age 18). They were both arrested in their homes with their families as witnesses. Neither of them has been arrested before and the soldiers did not give any reason for the arrests or information about where the youths were taken.
Israeli forces raid Wadi Hilweh, arrest two
Israeli forces raided Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan on Tuesday evening, 4 September, arresting two residents. Omar Siyam, 22, and an unidentified 14-year old child were taken by Israeli officers amidst confrontations sparked by armed forces during the raid. Siyam was previously arrested by Israeli forces and held for 4 months, in addition to serving a 2-year house arrest sentence that ended only recently.
Report: Nazareth Imam sentenced to 3 years by Israeli court
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — An Imam from Nazareth was sentenced to three years in jail on Tuesday by an Israeli court, Israeli media said. Nazem Abu Salim was charged with incitement to violence and terrorism by a Magistrate’s Court after an indictment was filed by the State Attorney’s Office in 2010, The Jerusalem Post reported. ”This case before me seems to be one of the worst of it’s kind which has been ruled on by a court in Israel,” Israeli Judge Lili-Jun Goffer was quoted as saying. ”The accused worked his way deep into an audience with the potential to absorb a dangerous world view.” Abu Salim founded a Salafist-jihadist group in Nazareth with a similar ideology to al-Qaida, The Jerusalem post said. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=519156
The last time that 26 year old Sumoud Saadat saw her father, the Secretary-General for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Saadat, was during a court session in 2008. Sumoud and two of her three siblings are banned from visiting their father as they constitute, according to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), a “security threat.” Her mother Abla and oldest brother Ghassan are able to visit Saadat as they are both holders of the blue Jerusalem ID card, which grants them more privileges and enables relative freedom of movement within the West Bank and the 1948 occupied territories. The agreement, signed on 14 May 2012 between the IPS and the Higher Committee of Prisoners which signaled the end of the 28 day mass hunger strike of approximately 2,500 Palestinian prisoners, contained five provisions that Israel has systematically violated.
GAZA, PALESTINE, September 11 – The families of Palestinians detained by Israel called for a week of urgent actions to support a mass hunger strike on 13 September, as well as ongoing hunger strikes by individual detainees. Thousands of detainees will participate in a mass one-day hunger strike on Thursday, 13 September, beginning a “Saving the Strike” campaign to demand that Israel fully implement the agreement that ended the “Dignity” hunger strike on 14 May, 2012. “The agreement was to allow all prisoners from Gaza to receive visits from family members,” said Sadeya Saftawi, the wife of detainee Emad El Deen Saftawi. “But four months later, I still haven’t been able to see my husband.” Israel also continues to hold detainees in isolation, despite agreeing to release them into its prisons’ general population, and to renew administrative detention orders in violation of the 14 May deal. Two administrative detainees with extended orders, Samer Al-Barq and Hassan Safadi, remain on their 113th and 83rd days of extended hunger strikes. “We ask supporters around the world to undertake more activities to pressure Israel to stop its daily violations against our sons, brothers, and husbands, and to help them get back their rights that are violated daily by Israel,” said Mona Abu Salah, the mother of two detainees, Fahmi and Salah Abu Salah. The families asked supporters to demonstrate outside Israeli embassies, consulates, and missions, international organizations, Israeli prison contractors like G4S, and in other public places from Thursday, 13 September through Wednesday, 19 September.
Palestinian prisoner Mohammad Rimawi transferred to hospital
The Palestinian Information Centre reported on Tuesday September 11 that the occupation authorities transferred the prisoner Mohammad Rimawi to Hadassah hospital following deterioration in his health condition. Wa’ed association for prisoners and ex-prisoners pointed in a press statement that the prisoner Mohammad Rimawi, who was held in Nafha prison, was transferred to Hadassah hospital after his health deteriorated. Rimawi has been serving a life sentence on charge of participating in the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Zeevi. The association added that he was taken to the hospital in a critical condition, as he was suffering serious shortness of breath and accused the occupation authorities of deliberately neglecting his treatment causing him serious deterioration in his health, as Wa’ed said.
Like Martin Luther King Letter from Birmingham Jail and Oscar Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol, Dirar Abusisihas written an appeal to the world concerning his continued detention without trial in Israeli prisons. The Gaza engineer kidnapped by Israel’s Mossad in collaboration with Ukrainian intelligence services, urges the world not to forget his plight and work urgently for his freedom…
Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, reported that at dawn on Monday, September 10, occupation military forces raided the home of Loay Ashqar in Saida, Tulkarem, arresting him and abducting him from his home. Loay Ashqar has been imprisoned 5 times in the past as an administrative detainee, without charge or trial. He was paralyzed in his lower leg and foot under torture in interrogation in Jalame interrogation centre in 2005, and his brother Muhammad al-Ashqar was murdered in 2007 in Negev desert prison in a so-called “training exercise” of the Israeli army (reported here by Ali Abunimah.)
On 24 November 2011, Israeli occupation forces destroyed three homes in the eastern occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, leaving twenty people, including six children, homeless. A video on the action by Haitham Khatib — a still from which is above — shows that Hyundai equipment was in the demolition as Israeli soldiers stood guard. The use of Hyundai equipment in the demolition of Palestinian property is mentioned as an example in a new report on the Republic of Korea (South Korea’s) in Israel’s occupation, colonialism and apartheid. The publication detailing South Korea’s military, economic, academic and cultural ties with Israel was released last week by the Seoul-based Palestine Peace Solidarity @ Seoul (PPS).
Many don’t yet know of the world-wide Palestinian lead movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Israel. Some of these people are artists, musicians, authors, painters, film makers, etc. I can imagine that more often than not, the request for a cultural boycott, really does surprise them. More often than not, the narrative of Palestinian oppression is new to them, not to mention the concept of a Palestinian People, to begin with.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Tuesday night to transfer NIS 250 million to the Palestinian Authority, in light of protests in the West Bank and the difficult economic situation there.
The Israeli Radio, Channel 2, (Reshet Bet) reported that senior Israeli security officials filed an urgent recommendation to the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu to transfer large sums of cash to Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, in order to prevent the collapse of his government amidst massive waves of protests demanding his resignation.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority is preparing to enact a law setting a minimum wage for workers in both the public and private sectors, the minister of national economy said Tuesday. Jawad al-Naji told Ma’an that the government was planning to make the change on Oct. 10. In line with the procedures announced by the Palestinian Authority in response to the economic crisis, al-Naji said his ministry would also seek to open markets for competition cancelling monopolies and exclusive distribution of commodities.
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Palestinian faction leaders said Tuesday that the solutions Palestinian Authority premier Salam Fayyad introduced in response to the economic crisis were insufficient. Following mass protests against rising living costs in cities across the West Bank, Fayyad announced several measures to alleviate the economic crisis. VAT will be reduced to 15 percent and diesel, gas and kerosene will revert back to August prices, the premier told reporters in Ramallah. Civil servants will receive half of their August salaries, or a minimum of 2,000 shekels ($500), on Wednesday and will be paid the rest of their salaries later this week, Fayyad added. The economic measures will also include cuts on expenses for PA ministries, with the exception of the health, education and social affairs departments. All expenses such as rent, travel and exchange coupons will be cut, the premier announced.
Jarrar calls for rising up against the Oslo agreement
Khaleda Jarrar, member of the PFLP political office, expressed her organisation’s support for the economic needs of the Palestinian people, warning against restricting the protests to this aspect.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel is using water agreements signed in the Oslo Accords to blackmail the Palestinian Water Authority and destroy the two-state solution, the head of the PWA said Monday. Israel has reduced the Joint Water Committee, set up to implement the Oslo Agreement on water, to “a forum for blackmail,” Shaddad Attili said in a statement. Israel refuses to approve Palestinian projects to construct and rehabilitate water infrastructure in the West Bank unless the Palestinian Authority approves projects to benefit illegal Israeli settlements, Attili said. ”This is no different to asking us to approve our own occupation and colonization.”
Abbas: “We Will Head To The UN Sep. 27”
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, stated Saturday that he will be heading to the United Nations, on September 27, for deliberations on the Palestinian request for full Palestinian membership at the General Assembly”, the Arabs48 news website reported.
Gaza: Bulldozers Raze Part of Forgotten Neighborhood The Hamas government demolished more than a dozen makeshift homes this week in an impoverished enclave known as the Forgotten Neighborhood, and officials said they would soon remove the rest of the structures, which were built without permits on public land. Residents said that two bulldozers came to the Gaza City enclave on Monday and razed the rusted-zinc shanties that housed about 18 Bedouin families, some for more than two decades. The neighborhood was the focus of an article on Monday in The New York Times about poverty in Gaza. Amal Shamaly, a spokeswoman for the Land Authority, said that all “illegal building” on government land would be removed, and that a security compound was planned for the area. Residents said that they had been sent demolition orders several years ago, and again several months ago, but that no action was taken until this week. The families who lost their houses were staying in a tent on Tuesday, while some of the women and children moved in with relatives.
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — India’s prime minister stressed his country’s support for a Palestinian state on Tuesday, the official PA news agency Wafa reported. Manmohan Singh made the comments during a joint press conference with President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently visiting the country for three days. ”India has played an active role in supporting the efforts of the state of Palestine to secure full member ship status at UNESCO,” Singh said.
Prime minister issues harsh response to Washington’s refusal to put red lines before Iran, says ‘The world tells Israel to wait. And I say, wait for what? Wait until when?’
Israel threatens to block US aid to Egypt to stop German submarine deal
Israel has threatened to use its considerable influence over US foreign policy to block Egypt’s purchase of two submarines from Germany. According to German press reports, Israel intends to prevent Egypt from buying two Class 209 submarines. Bild newspaper quoted Israeli diplomats as saying that Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi must first show that he can be trusted before such deals can be allowed. They were speaking during the visit of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to Israel.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Protesters calling for an end to economic and political agreements with Israel marched Tuesday from central Ramallah toward President Mahmoud Abbas’ headquarters, onlookers said. Protesters chanted against the Oslo peace accords and the so-called Paris Protocol, a subsection of Oslo which binds the Palestinian economy with Israeli tax rates and external trade. The march followed a public transportation strike which paralyzed the occupied West Bank a day earlier. Taxi and truck drivers demanded the cancellation of increased taxes on fuel, and violent riots broke out in Hebron and Nablus. On Tuesday the target of much of the discontent, PA premier Salam Fayyad, announced a return to previous price rates on diesel, gas and kerosene while reducing the value added tax to 15 percent. Leaders of Palestinian factions said the concessions did not go far enough. “We need a different stance,” said Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti, adding that the Paris Protocol must be challenged in order to develop the economy.
Anti-Fayyad protests spread across West Bank
Protests continued across the West Bank on Tuesday with dozens injured as Palestinian police and Israeli soldiers sought to disperse demonstrators angry over poverty, corruption and the spiraling cost of living. Over 80 people were reported injured near Hebron after some protesters attacked a city council building, police station and an ambulance, according to medics. Many of the injuries were caused after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the protesters, according to the Red Crescent which transferred dozens of injured to hospitals and treated others on site. Earlier Monday, around dawn, protesters blocked main junctions in Hebron with burning tires. In Nablus, activists says that 60 people were injured during clashes with police, including the town’s mayor, Adli Yaish, who tried to intervene between the two sides.
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Public transport drivers will strike for one hour on Wednesday and Thursday in protest over economic concessions by the government they say are insufficient. Head of the general federation of Palestinian trade unions Shahir Saad told Ma’an that union members had flooded to Ramallah to hear Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s measures to ease economic hardship, but were disappointed by his concessions. Public transport drivers will strike from 2.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Saad said.
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Employees at all Palestinian universities will go on general strike Wednesday protesting the government’s failure to respond to their demands, a joint committee of the employees’ union and the union of students councils said Tuesday. The committee explained in a statement that both academics and students could understand the ongoing popular protests in the streets. “The occupation is behind all our calamities and problems,” the statement added. “After the Palestinian government has failed to undertake its basic duties toward the different sectors in the Palestinian society, especially the education sector, despite being given enough chances, you have to listen to the cries of anger and to comply with the popular demands,” the statement said addressing the PA premier. The statement urged the protestors to keep their movement peaceful and show a sense of responsibility. On the other hand, schools will operate normally, according to the secretary general of the Palestinian general federation of teachers, Muhammad Suwwan.
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The union of teachers in the West Bank announced Sunday it will hold a partial strike on two days in the upcoming week to protest the Palestinian government’s policies. On Tuesday, classes will be suspended after the fourth period, and next Monday, they will finish after the third period. The union called on the Palestinian Authority to improve teachers’ salaries in line with other governmental employees and pay them on time. It also highlighted the unaffordable price of basic commodities in the West Bank. Popular protests against the rising cost of living have erupted in Palestinian cities over the past week. Public transport workers launched a general strike on Monday, paralyzing movement throughout the West Bank.
Jenin unions plan to escalate protest activities
The General Federation of Trade Unions of Palestine in Jenin announced on Sunday its intention to organize many protest activities against taxation and the sharp rise in prices.
Strikes and Protests in Beit Ommar
A number of strikes and protests took place in Beit Ommar on Monday, 10th September. Starting at 6:00AM, cars were parked in a number of squares in the town, blocking the roads to traffic. A demonstration took place at the entrance to the village, where the road was closed off, blocked with cars and burning tires. Demonstrators congregated to protest the hardship caused by recent price increases and continued non-payment of public sector workers, declaring that they “are not chickens who lay eggs every day”.
In other acts of protest,, the market in Beit Ommar was closed for three hours and students are not attending school today.
Hundreds of Palestinians took out to the streets in Bethlehem to express their anger over economic hardship on Monday evening. The youth-led protests roamed through the narrow streets of Dheisheh and Azza refugee camps and culminated with a peaceful rally in front of the Presidential Palace. The protesters demanded amendments to the Paris Agreement which ties Palestinian economy to the one of Israel, and the ouster of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad whom many Palestinians blame for the current economic crisis.
Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered in Beit Ummar for the village’s regular Saturday demonstration against the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Karmei Tsur, which has annexed village land. The demonstration focused on the August 27th destruction of a recently built Beit Ummar greenhouse by settlers, which occurred as the Israeli military stood by. The demonstration culminated in a young boy being kicked to the ground by an Israeli soldier. Activists from the USA, UK, Japan and Norway joined the villagers in taking a different route to the usual Saturday demonstration, surprising the Israeli soldiers, who had assembled elsewhere. Their route as they reached the Apartheid Wall was immediately blocked by three soldiers with riot shields. As more soldiers arrived, this number swiftly increased to around 45 – easily outnumbering the unarmed protesters.
On Friday 7th September five international activists attended the weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall in the village of Ni’lin. Since 2004, the villagers of Ni’lin have been non violently protesting against the annexation of their lands. So far the village has lost over 50,000 dunum of land, in part to surrounding illegal settlements and in part annexed from the village in the construction of the apartheid wall. Saeed Amireh, member of the Ni’lin popular committee explains that the confiscation of the land and colonization of the West Bank with illegal Israeli settlements are calculated methods designed to expel the Palestinians from the land. Many of the inhabitants in Ni’lin rely on the farm land and in particular the ancient olive trees for their livelihood. This Friday was the first demonstration with an international presence for three weeks.Saeed says that the presence of internationals is vital to the resistance in Ni’lin and is glad to give us a talk after the demonstration, explaining the history of Ni’lin. The demonstration began after the midday prayers which waft from the mosque and through the fields lined with olive and carob trees, under which we wait. They walked through the fields alongside the villagers and children who carried Palestinian flags and a megaphone.
When fellow activist Gavin Pidwell and I were convicted of aggravated trespass of EDO, an arms manufacturer, at a UK Magistrates court on 23 August, pro-Israel commentators were quick to call it a “BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] fail.” However, this ignores both the wider implications of the arms trade and the long history of the campaign resisting EDO.
Roundtable on Occupation Law: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?
[The following series of articles is part of a Jadaliyya roundtable on Occupation Law. It features contributions by Noura Erakat, Lisa Hajjar, Dena Qaddumi and Ahmed Barclay,Asli Bali, Nimer Sultany, and Darryl Li. The roundtable was first published in September 2011.]
That Geert Wilders, the virulent anti-Muslim Dutch politician, has links with American Islamophobes is well known. But a report in Reuters fills in some previously unknown details, like which people and organizations have given money to Wilders for legal and security costs.
Nearly all the frightening forecasts of what life would be like with a nuclear Iran strike me as being hollow. I’m not worried about Iran nuking Israel – because the Iranians don’t want to commit suicide. I’m not worried about Iran giving nukes to terror organizations that would nuke Israel – because Israel’s second-strike capacity, with its estimated 200 nuclear bombs, would devastate the Islamic world and the Islamic world knows it. I’m not worried that Iran’s “proxies,” such as Hezbollah and Hamas, would feel free under an Iranian “nuclear umbrella” to attack Israel at will – because, again, the Iranians don’t want to commit suicide. And I’m not worried that terrified Israelis or the money of terrified foreign investors would leave the country en masse – because this never happened in any of the many, many other countries of the world that have nuclear-armed enemies.
The Pope and the Palestinians
The only time this observer recalls Yassir Arafat ever becoming frustrated with the late American journalist Janet Stevens, whom he adored as a daughter, was during a visit in August of 1982 when the PLO leader, mentioned in conversation, as he often did to others, that Jesus Christ was a Palestinian. Arafat, a devout Muslim, was proud of that fact. On that particular night, Janet was exhausted, as many under siege in West Beirut were, from more than 11 hours of Israeli bombing and she had other things on her mind. Most pressing was a sick child in Burj al Baranjeh refugee camp who needed to be taken to Europe for a lifesaving operation without delay. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/09/11/the-pope-and-the-palestinians/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-pope-and-the-palestinians
Life and Death – The Tank Man and Rachel Corrie
The court decision in Israel, which exonerated the driver of a huge bulldozer in the death of activist Rachel Corrie, recalls a previous confrontation between man and machine – the 1989 stance of a Chinese citizen before a tank squadron moving toward Tiananmen Square. Chronologically and physically displaced, these two events have similar characteristics – one person preventing mayhem by standing firm before those who are prepared to cause violence against others – identical beginnings, different endings – one ending with a smile and relief; the other ending with declamation and grief. http://www.imemc.org/article/64218
Escape Through Fiction: Salha and Her Flying Sheep
In the middle of the night, Salha Hamadin awoke to the overly familiar sound of Israeli military jeeps outside her home. They were back, once again, for yet another home demolition. The soft spoken 14 year-old quietly exited her family’s tin shack, snuck over to their nearby animal pen and whispered into her pet lamb’s ear, “Okay Hantush, let’s get out here.” And off they went. In Salha’s award winning fairy tale, she and her flying pet lamb Hantush escape the dangers of the Israeli army by soaring across the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, where they meet the famous Barcelona football star, Lionel Messi. After declining Messi’s initial request that she and Hantush join the Barcelona football club, Salha convinces Messi to return with her to her home in the Bedouin village of Abu Hinde on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Messi ends up transforming the village’s derelict football pitch into a giant stadium, enabling the tiny village to play host to the 2014 World Cup in a couple of years. Moreover the football superstar decides to switch his allegiance to Salha’s new football team, appropriately entitled Hantush. http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=7306
South African Zionism – Apartheid Squared
Recently there has been a determined, if not desperate flurry of letter writing to the press by the South African Zionist Federation. Strong sentiments on Israel at the African National Congress policy conference at Gallagher Estate near Johannesburg earlier this year has got the lobby in a flutter. Trade Minister Rob Davie’s proposal – now adopted by Cabinet – that goods manufactured in West Bank settlements (deemed illegal by international law) should state “made in Palestine” instead of “made in Israel”, has caused protest. The statement by Deputy International Relations Minister, Ebrahim Ebrahim, that trade visits to Israel should be discouraged, has angered the lobby, who now have the former activist lined up in their sights. Ebrahim has become the victim of an insidious campaign. The tactic is to play the phobia card. The claim is that the South African Muslim community is being pandered to (on the Palestinian issue) to buy ANC votes. http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19554
Chawki al-Mejri’s Kingdom of Ants: A Palestinian Fantasy
Palestinians have deep-rooted traditions. Although they have not yet been able to beat their oppressors, they have not yet learned the philosophy of defeat. Their enemy saw this in them and director Chawki al-Mejri wanted to show it to the entire world. Mamlakat al-Naml (The Kingdom of Ants), coming soon to Lebanese theaters, is a poetic portrayal of Palestine in cinema. The film does not document the Palestinian struggle. Rather, it weaves legends that touch the heart and not the mind. The Tunisian director has made a populist movie that aims to enrapture supporters of the Palestinian cause more than the critics. But who said that a film’s success is based on the opinions of critics?
Some may recall the brief flurry of comment here a month ago or thereabouts when there was a video of some Israeli soldiers in mufti dragging off some Palestinian whilst another Israeli soldier tried to prevent it being filmed.
Ring a bell? Anyway, the story has a sequel.
“Judge orders release of Palestinian after video proves soldiers used unreasonable force
Palestinian man from Hebron held in custody for nearly a month after soldiers in plainclothes dragged and kicked him because they mistakenly thought he cursed them…”
I take it if he had actually cursed them he would still be in custody.
what does “the president agreed to Paris” mean?
Annie, it’s a reference to the Paris Protocols which are part of the reason why Palestinians are in this mess.
Paris Protocol – http://www.nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/Document/ParisPro.pdf
Some may recall the brief flurry of comment here a month ago or thereabouts when there was a video of some Israeli soldiers in mufti dragging off some Palestinian whilst another Israeli soldier tried to prevent it being filmed.
Ring a bell? Anyway, the story has a sequel.
“Judge orders release of Palestinian after video proves soldiers used unreasonable force
Palestinian man from Hebron held in custody for nearly a month after soldiers in plainclothes dragged and kicked him because they mistakenly thought he cursed them…”
I take it if he had actually cursed them he would still be in custody.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/judge-orders-release-of-palestinian-after-video-proves-soldiers-used-unreasonable-force.premium-1.464804