Israel approves 800 new settlement units in Jerusalem
The Israeli government of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, granted Thursday its official approval for the construction of 800 units in the Gilo illegal settlement.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israel must end illegal settlement construction – Moscow
Settlement construction on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem are illegal under international law, the ministry stressed, adding the construction calls into question the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and “must stop fully and immediately.”
The unreported tragedy of Palestine’s olive harvest
The olive harvest has always been a time of heart-warming celebration in Palestine. It gives a sense of fulfilment to families and communities alike. In recent years, however, the occasion has been marked by bitter despoliation. Israeli settlers have waged a callous campaign against this economic lifeline of ordinary Palestinian farmers. Between January and October this year, more than 7,500 olive trees were damaged or destroyed by settlers in the occupied West Bank. The right to private property is an inalienable right of all members of the human family. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” (Article 17)
From the moment they arrive at the border with Lebanon, Palestinians are treated worse than Syrians. They have to buy a transit visa for $17, valid for just 15 days. If they want to stay on legally they must apply for a non-renewable one-month visa for another $33. They are generally denied the right to work in Lebanon. Conditions in the camps to which they are confined are bad.
Israeli navy illegally seizes humanitarian aid ship in international waters
In an act violating international maritime law, Israeli naval forces boarded a humanitarian aid ship, the SV Estelle, that was en route to the Gaza Strip bringing humanitarian aid supplies including musical instruments and building materials. These are among the thousands of items still banned by Israeli forces from entering Gaza.
In August, the UN released a report saying that by the year 2020, the Gaza strip “will not be liveable” by then, citing deteriorating infrastructure, schooling, health and power as contributing to the worsening situation.
Emir of Qatar in Gaza soon to initiate projects
The Qatari Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani is due to arrive in the Gaza Strip in the next few days for a three-day visit, a Palestinian official source told Palestine newspaper.
Israeli artillery shells north and south Gaza Strip
Israeli navy forces, on Friday morning, opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats northwest of Gaza, while Israeli tanks shelled al-Qarara village, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
A 67-year-old Palestinian woman was injured on Saturday after a group of Jewish settlers threw rocks at her home to the east of Yatta town in Al-Khalil, local sources said.
Palestinian farmers were reported injured in racist attacks by Jewish settlers and troops in Al-Khalil and Nablus areas.
IOA extends detention of lecturer for third time
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has extended the administrative detention of Dr. Mohammed Ghazal from Nablus for the third consecutive time.
Prisoner Riad Amour undergoes open-heart surgery
Palestinian prisoner Riad Amour was transferred to Israeli “Tel Hashomer” hospital to undergo an open-heart surgery after his health has seriously deteriorated.
PA security services raid female students hostel
Palestinian Authority security apparatuses raided a female students hostel for the Najah university in Nablus and interrogated its occupants, local sources said on Saturday.
Nurit Peled of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who has studied Israeli textbooks covering history, geography and civics, says that in the books she has looked at Palestinians, when they appear at all, are depicted as refugees, farmers or terrorists—never as doctors or engineers, or any other sort of professional.”
A dangerous position
Despite the onslaught of discriminatory legislation and racist declarations by public leaders, empirical data suggests that the government of Israel is closing the gaps between its Jewish and Arab citizens in many fields. The refusal to recognize those changes is dangerous and counter-productive.
Eritrean asylum seeker details recent hunger strike, fear of indefinite incarceration
Sharon Livne +972 “Don’t tell anyone my name, I’m afraid of what they’ll do to me here if they know I talked.” So began a nighttime telephone call with C., age 23, who has been incarcerated for 11 months in the Saharonim prison in the Negev. According to C., the Eritrean detainees in Saharonim began a hunger strike in protest of their imprisonment for a minimum of three years, in accordance with the new Prevention of Infiltration Law. Around one thousand men, women and children held in sections 8, 4 and 3 refused food for a week, ending the strike on Monday.
The Galilee First!, Sam Bahour
The horrendous reality of the Palestinian communities inside Israel—in places like Akka, Haifa, Nazareth, Yaffa, and the Negev—is not about being regulated to sit in the back of the bus; they could only wish for such blatant racism. Here, the racism is multilayered, ideological, well-camouflaged, state-sponsored, and non-stop. Anyone who thinks that resolving the Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would bring peace to the region would be well-advised to peel away the veneer of democratic façade, one that covers an Israeli plan with only one goal in mind: completing the campaign of ethnically cleansing Palestinians that started with the creation of the State of Israel.
Tens of thousands demonstrate in Gaza on the anniversary of “Wafa al-Ahrar”
Tens of thousands of citizens participated in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon in mass rallies on the first anniversary of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange deal.
UN fears US will cut funding over Palestinian upgrade
President of General Assembly says Palestinians’ push for upgraded status likely to succeed, warns US against cutting UN funding over issue.
New poll: Egyptians turning toward Iran, want nuclear weapons
A poll of Egyptians conducted last month shows that they have increasingly positive views of Iran, believe that both Iran and Egypt should obtain nuclear weapons, and still trust their own military more than any other institution in Egypt.
Huge Israel-US military exercise to test response to two-front threat.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine expressed its deep disapproval to the letter sent on behalf of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to the president of the occupation state, noting that the attitudes expressed therein do not reflect the position or the enormous sacrifices of the Egyptian and Arab peoples, nor do they reflect Shimon Peres’ long history of aggression, war, and racist oppression against the Palestinian people, their land, their rights, and the Arab and Muslim peoples as a whole. The PFLP said that this letter provoked feelings of shock and frustration in the Palestinian street, which is relying on Egyptian and Arab support for the national cause and for an end to policies that strengthen the occupation state.
Palestinian MPs Ramahi and Attoun meet Egyptian Ambassador in Ramallah
MP Dr. Mahmoud Ramahi, secretary of the Legislative Council, and the Jerusalemite MP deported to Ramallah, Ahmad Attoun, met on Thursday with the Egyptian Ambassador to the PA.
Comrade Jamil Mizher, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called for a comprehensive review of the economic policies of the Palestinian Authority, including ending the Paris economic Conventions that subject the Palestinian economy to total control by the occupation, in an interview on Al-Quds TV on October 18, 2012.
Hamas condemns murder of Al-Hassan in Beirut
Hamas condemned the killing of head of the information branch in the internal Lebanese security forces Wisam Al-Hassan in an explosion in Beirut on Friday.
Erekat: Israel Doesn’t Want to End Occupation, Rather They’re Imposing Apartheid
“The Levy Report simply reflects the position of a government that has chosen to turn occupation into annexation and to impose an Apartheid reality in Palestine rather than taking steps to make peace possible” said Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator on Israeli Government’s Levi Report.
Palestinians voted for local councils in dozens of West Bank towns Saturday, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement didn’t get the sweeping endorsement they hoped for — even as archrival Hamas boycotted the vote.
Palestinian split looms large in West Bank vote
Palestinians voted for new local councils in dozens of West Bank towns in long delayed elections Saturday, part of an attempt by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement to recapture dwindling political legitimacy.
“My story is marked by violence, persecution, arrests, abuse and resistance,” writes Matter.
Podcast: Alaa Tartir on building a sustainable Palestinian “resistance economy”
On this week’s podcast, Alaa Tartir of al-Shabaka discusses the role of international donors in the de-development of the Palestinian economy, and what is needed to build Palestinian economic self-sustainability.
Olive trees of Jerusalem’s Gethsemane among oldest in world: study
Olive trees in the Jerusalem garden revered by Christians as the place where Jesus Christ prayed before he was crucified have been dated to at least 900 years old, a study released on Friday showed.
The Palestinians: First to Fight Colonialism, Still Colonized, Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Decolonization was a feature of post-World War II era and the surrender of Nazi Germany. The UN Charter was created; the Arab League was formed in 1945 by seven countries; twenty-nine non-aligned countries from Africa and Asia formed the non-aligned Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1955. Due to decolonization, Arab League state members today are twenty-three; there are 120 Non-Aligned nations; and United Nations member states jumped from 51 in 1945 to 194.
I wonder if the report that undercover soldiers were attacked near Yatta resulting in arrests of settlers is correct. A similar incident involving undercover police was reported on October 7. So far, the behavior of the military in Hebron district seemed uniformly racist. I may be wrong, but I recall a report of activists being attacked by settlers, military being inactive as usual but that the arrival of police stopped that.
It is a bit important, because a single positive act of law enforcement may be an aberration, two in a month could signal a positive trend.
“Settlers ‘strip, insult Prophet’ in south Hebron village”
Classy. The soccer hooligan type, only more dangerous.