Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Restriction of movement
Israel’s West Bank settlements grew by twice the size of New York’s Central Park in 2012
Haaretz 27 May by Chaim Levinson — Israeli settlements in the West Bank legally expanded by nearly 8,000 dunams (1977 acres) in 2012 – land equaling the entire city of Bat Yam and twice as big as Manhattan’s Central Park. The adjustments were approved by military order, with the Israel Defense Forces’ GOC Central Command granting settlement municipalities jurisdiction over the new territories. Although in recent years the practice of giving large swathes of land to settlements has been abandoned, creeping annexations are still under way. In 2012, settlement-controlled land grew from 530,931 to 538,303 dunams, a total increase of 7,372 dunams, according to a comparison of maps from 2011 and 2012 at the Civil Administration offices. Settlements can gain control of new land in one of two ways: either by laying claim to land identified in recent years by the so-called “blue-line team,” which investigates the ownership of land within and around settlements to determine whether it is owned by Israel or private Palestinian citizens; and through the finalization of land acquisitions by Israeli citizens.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-west-bank-settlements-grew-by-twice-the-size-of-new-york-s-central-park-in-2012.premium-1.526101
Settlers use chemicals to destroy over 100 olive trees
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 25 May — A group of settlers destroyed over 100 olive trees in a Nablus village [Burin] on Saturday after spraying them with toxic chemicals, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that settlers from the notoriously extreme Yizhar settlement sprayed toxic chemicals on some 100 trees, causing them to die. The trees belong to Barakat Ghalib and Taysir Najjar, Daghlas added. The PA Ministry of Agriculture tested a sample from the trees and says it found traces of chemicals, without providing further details. Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property with impunity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598881
Israel bulldozers dig up lands near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli bulldozers on Sunday dug up 5 acres of agricultural lands east of Yatta, a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank, an official said. Israeli authorities said they were looking for antiquities, said Ratib Jbour, coordinator of the popular committee east of Yatta. The lands belong to Abu Sabha, al-Batsh, al-Shamti families. Jbour said the Israeli forces intended to confiscate more Palestinian land near two illegal settlement outposts in the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599047
Israeli forces demolish barn, chicken coop near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli forces on Saturday demolished a chicken coop, sheep barn, and a room belonging to Tareq Daoud Ali Rabah from al-Walajeh, an official said Sunday. Ahmad Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee against the wall in al-Khader village, told Ma’an that Israeli bulldozers demolished the barn structures and room built adjacent to Rt. 60 bypass road, and in an area between al-Khader and Beit Jala. The Israeli forces claimed the properties were not licensed. Salah called on officials and human rights organizations to help Tareq Daoud, whose sheep are now being cared for without a structure to house them.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599063
Committee: Israeli forces erect tent near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli forces on Sunday erected a tent on agricultural land north of Hebron, a local committee said. Muhammad Awad, spokesman for the popular resistance committee, said that Israeli forces erected the tent on land belonging to the al-Boo family in Beit Ummar. The purpose of the tent is unknown.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599190
Fire destroys 10 dunams of land in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 May — A fire destroyed 10 dunams [2.5 acres] of agricultural land in Hebron on Saturday, civil defense crews said. Firefighters managed to tackle the blaze, which broke out in the village of Idhna, and destroyed mainly olive trees. Police have opened an investigation into the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598824
‘We will stand in front of the bulldozers’ — Beit Dajan homes threatened with demolition
Beit Dajan, Occupied Palestine (ISM) 25 May by Team Nablus — Five houses are facing demolition orders on the outskirts of Beit Dajan, a village located 10 kilometers east of Nablus. In the last month the Israeli Army have entered the village and presented residents of three of the homes with demolition orders, stating the land that they reside on is classed as Area C and therefore considered a security zone and under full Israeli civil and security control. However Beit Dajan is classed as Area B and under Palestinian control, the residents were given permission by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to build there and are currently arguing this point in case in Israeli court.
http://palsolidarity.org/2013/05/we-will-stand-in-front-of-the-bulldozers-beit-dajan-homes-threatened-with-demolition/
IDF: New WB road to be built in attempt to reduce stone throwing
Ynet 25 May by Yoav Zitun — IDF Etzion Sector Commander Colonel Yaniv Alaluf held a meeting with residents of the settlement of Efrat, saying that a new road is to be built in Gush Etzion in an attempt to protect drivers from incidents of stone hurling.The road construction is expected to be completed within a year. The meeting was held following the complaints of residents of the settlement against the increasing number of stone throwing incidents in the area. “There were incidents in which gunfire was used… and as a result Palestinians were critically injured or killed,” Alaluf added. “We limit the Palestinians and bolster coordination policies. We will not spare where harsh actions are needed, but no one wants us to get to a state of killing 12-year-old Palestinians all day long.” [no comment]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4384049,00.html
Life in Hebron disrupted by another settler ‘tour’
Hebron (ISM) 26 May by Team Al-Khalil — Yesterday the illegal settlers of the city of Al Khalil/Hebron held a walk through the Palestinian souq and nearby neighbourhoods. Prior to this, Israeli forces entered Palestinian homes, occupying roof tops. Throughout the tour Palestinian movement was restricted, and the soldiers controlled the movement of some international observers, while about 50 Zionist tourists and settlers were being escorted by Israeli heavily armed soldiers and police, around the Palestinian neighbourhoods of the old city … This ‘tour’ of Hebron happens every week and is a regular disturbance for Palestinians in the busy souq of Hebron. Since the closure of Shuhada Street — traditionally the busiest market street in the Old City — more trade has moved into the souq. Rather than close it, many Palestinians believe that the Israeli authorities are trying to make life as uncomfortable and unsustainable as possible, in the hope that Palestinians will move from the area.
http://palsolidarity.org/2013/05/life-in-hebron-disrupted-by-another-settler-tour/
Israeli MP enters Al-Aqsa compound on eve of wedding
Ahram Online 26 May — Escorted by tight security, Tzipi Hotovely, Knesset member for Israel’s right-wing Likud Party, entered the grounds of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday afternoon accompanied by her cousins and a handful of Jewish rabbis. A statement issued by the Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage said that Hotovely had coordinated her entry into the flashpoint area with Israeli police. The MK justified her actions by saying that she had wanted to visit the Temple Mount – considered a holy site for Jews — on the eve of her wedding. She went on to say it was imperative that Jews enjoy easy access to the site, levelling criticism at Israeli police for preventing high-profile Israeli figures from entering the mosque compound.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/72378/World/Region/Israeli-MP-enters-AlAqsa-compound-on-eve-of-weddin.aspx
VIDEO: Uneasy Rider: Israeli restrictions force Palestinian kids to use donkeys as school buses
RT 26 May — Education is the most powerful weapon, Nelson Mandela once said, and in a small Palestinian community [Jahalin] families are taking that advice to heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTU_ObF22NU
No police for the Bedouin
Haaretz editorial 24 May — In the aftermath of two violent incidents that took place over the past week, it appears the police simply dismiss the Bedouin — The Israel Police, which is capable of mobilizing large forces to destroy houses in Bedouin villages, invests almost no resources in fighting crime within those villages. The municipal police forces that deal with the Bedouin villages of the Negev have only two female investigators, and neither of them speaks Arabic. The impression is that the police force simply dismisses the Bedouin and doesn’t provide them with the services it is obligated to provide. Plans for improvement have been shelved. The State Comptroller’s Report issued warnings, but the police continued on its merry way….
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/no-police-for-the-bedouin.premium-1.525755
Slain Bedouin girls’ mother a victim of Israeli-Palestinian bureaucracy
Haaretz 26 May by Amira Hass — As a resident of the West Bank, Abir Dandis was met with indifference by the Israel Police and the Palestinian security forces’ inability to act — Abir Dandis, the mother of the two girls who were murdered in the Negev town of Al-Fura‘a last week, couldn’t find a police officer to listen to her warnings, neither in Arad nor in Ma’ale Adumim. Both police stations operate in areas where Israel wants to gather the Bedouin into permanent communities, against their will, in order to clear more land for Jewish communities. The dismissive treatment Dandis received shows how the Bedouin are considered simply to be lawbreakers by their very nature. But as a resident of the West Bank asking for help for her daughters, whose father was Israeli, Dandis faced the legal-bureaucratic maze created by the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian police is not allowed to arrest Israeli civilians. It must hand suspects over to the Israel Police. The Palestinian police complain that in cases of Israelis suspected of committing crimes against Palestinian residents, the Israel Police tend not to investigate or prosecute them.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/slain-bedouin-girls-mother-a-victim-of-israeli-palestinian-bureaucracy.premium-1.525995
Violence / Attacks / Raids / Clashes / Arrests
Child injured after being rammed by settler vehicle
IMEMC Sunday May 26 2013; Palestinian medical sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, has reported that a 7-year old child was injured after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle in the city. The sources said that Bayan Kamel Shatat, 7, suffered moderate injuries and was moved to the Hebron governmental hospital. Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Hebron, said that the child is a student of the first grade, and that she was heading back home from school. The settler fled the scene after the incident. [This is the third such incident since 14 May, two of them in Hebron]
http://www.imemc.org/article/65555
IOF arrests a young man in Ramallah after an attack on his house
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 May- Tadhamun Foundation for Human Rights reported that a large Israeli military force stormed at dawn Sunday the village of Budrus, west of Ramallah, and arrested a young man after raiding his home. The citizen Sedqi Awad told Tadhamun Foundation that more than 50 infantry soldiers stormed the village from the western side and attacked his sister’s house, accompanied by sniffer dogs, then arrested Abdul Rahim Ahmed Awad, aged 19. He added that the Israeli forces (IOF) searched the house for about two hours, and that clashes erupted between the soldiers and the captive’s family members.
The occupation soldiers assaulted the family members and sprayed gas on them. Abdul Rahim’s 4 sisters suffered suffocation and bruises and were transferred to Ramallah hospital. Captive Abdul Rahim fell unconscious and was bleeding due to wounds he sustained during the attack, when he was arrested by the Israeli troops, Awad stated.
Meanwhile, violent clashes took place between the villagers and the IOF during the raid. The soldiers fired live bullets towards the youths who responded by throwing stones at them.
Prisoner Abdel Rahim Awad is the brother of the martyr Samir Awad, who was killed 4 months ago by Israeli fire near the separation wall west of the village of Budrus.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s788pP5cpRh5%2basIA%2fd%2bzLLUNO6lvXMCf4KCxZTDb6cZTBMuJebmnrJgnMvCgYWP1DvOGvKfrc9OJrcBH3Rt4lJbcyE%2bqUMcRDIksDqLyNdfI%3d
VIDEO: Kafr Qaddum — Blocked from life’s basics; pushed back when doing something about it
Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine (ISM) 24 May by Nablus Team — Tear-gas showered down on villagers in Kafr Qaddum yesterday, nearly blinding one media worker in a direct hit and nearly suffocating a child as villagers protested the roadblock that has hindered their lives for a full decade. The villager’s own stone barricades, meant to slow Israeli vehicle access during demonstrations, were bulldozed and jeeps entered the village shooting tear-gas indiscriminately. At least 5 dunams of land was also set fire to by tear-gas, some intentionally shot in such a way as to cause fire by the searing hot canisters … Kafr Qaddum is a 3,000 year-old agricultural village that sits on 24,000 dunams of land. The village was occupied by the Israeli army in 1967 and 1978 saw the establishment of the illegal settler-colony of Qedumim. The settlement, built on the remains of a former Jordanian army camp, occupies 4,000 dunams of land stolen from Kafr Qaddum. The villagers are currently unable to access an additional 11,000 dunams of land due to the closure of the village’s main and only road leading to Nablus by the Israeli army in 2003 … Since the road closure, the people of Kafr Qaddum have been forced to rely on an old goat path to access this area; the road is therefore small and narrow, suitable, as the locals describe, only for animals. In 2004 and 2006, three villagers died when they were unable to reach the hospital in time … Kafr Qaddum is home to only 4,000 people, yet almost 500 residents come to the weekly demonstrations held after Friday prayers. The villagers’ resilience, determination and organisation has been met with extreme repression.
http://palsolidarity.org/2013/05/kafr-qaddum-blocked-from-lifes-basics-pushed-back-when-doing-something-about-it/
IOF holds Palestinian youths at the Ibrahimi mosque
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 25 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a number of Palestinian youths at the electronic gate set up at the main entrance to the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil as they arrived to perform Friday prayers in the Mosque. According to eyewitnesses, the soldiers prevented the young men from praying, held them outside the mosque’s main gates and examined their identities. The young men were freed after Friday prayers, except for Asem Atta Tamimi, aged 18, who was arrested for being wanted for the Israeli forces, and was taken to an unknown destination.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s74jYaUbM0jQTs%2fU4r9skv6n%2fCgJh8L%2fjLxqQUMvZCGIthDW84JNPnzvyMKLmODu3IMpm0RYBv%2bIiYapLpvWy5lh%2b14mOxzttIZnpF6RZpHUE%3d
Witnesses: Israel detains 3 in Nablus village
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 25 May — Israeli forces arrested three people in the Nablus village of Urif early Saturday, locals said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli military vehicles raided the village and detained Muhammad Zedan Safadi, Ahmad Abed al-Karim Safadi, and Muhammad Abed al-Karim Safadi.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598752
Israeli forces detain 2 Hebron men
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli forces on Saturday evening detained two Palestinians from Hebron at the Zatara checkpoint south of Nablus, locals said Sunday. Hamzeh al-Darabe, 23, and Khaldoun Odeh, 22, from Dora village south of Hebron were detained by Israeli forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598976
Israeli forces detain 3 in West Bank raids
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli forces arrested three people in the West Bank on Sunday, locals said. Brothers Khalid Mahmud Ajouri, 26, and Abdulla Mahmud Ajouri, 24, were detained in Qaffin, Tulkarem, witnesses told Ma‘an. They were en-route to attend a court session for their brother Salim, who is currently being detained by Israel. Shamikh Jaber al-Titi was arrested in the el-‘Arrub refugee camp north of Hebron while on his way to college, locals said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599074
Israeli police arrest 4 in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 26 May — Israeli forces arrested four people in East Jerusalem on Sunday during clashes near the old city, locals said. The clashes occurred after an Israeli policeman stopped a young Palestinian near Herod’s gate and an argument broke out, witnesses said. Several local youths tried to intervene and were attacked by Israeli police. Jihad Abu Kharoub, Hussam Sider, Rafat Ajlouni, and an unnamed man were arrested during the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599268
Israeli troops erect checkpoint, arrest Palestinian
JENIN (Ma‘an) 27 May — Israeli forces detained a young man from Jenin on Sunday evening after erecting a flying checkpoint at the Azzun crossroad south of the city. Witnesses told Ma‘an that soldiers detained Nateq Hantouli, 22, after stopping his car and checking his identity papers. The checks at the flying checkpoint were causing long delays, onlookers added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599323
IOF chases Palestinian workers near Jerusalem
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 May — A Palestinian worker from Husan village west of Bethlehem sustained on Sunday fractures and bruises while he and other workers were chased by the Israeli occupation forces while they were on their way to their working place in occupied Jerusalem. Local sources from the town said that Hamid Hamamrah, 23, sustained bruises to different parts of his body and fractures in his legs, as he fell from a high place while being chased by the occupation forces. The young man was transferred to the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala for treatment, and his condition was described as moderate.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Q14sM0%2f7KuyAIQACAwjuuUSd1A4rBPihx1xL%2ftb6EHXZ0GgFwEI9x5RQorMSZBBxtFtR%2b2%2fXdfSPjs0jMGfytJlwU8IqXePUHbudODINfXQ%3d
Detainees
Hebron detainee launches hunger strike
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 26 May — Adel Salameh Hribat 36, from Dura, a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank, continued a hunger strike Sunday for a fourth day in a row to protest his imprisonment without trial. He is also protesting medical negligence, according to the prisoner’s brother, Aref Hribat. Adel suffers cirrhosis in the lungs and has been locked in solitary confinement, the relative said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599009
People’s Party demands PA to release its detained cadres
RAMALLAH (PIC) 25 May — Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) demanded PA’s security services to immediately release its five cadres, who have been arrested few days ago in the city of Tulkarem northern the West Bank. One of the party’s leaders Fahmi Shahin described in a statement on Saturday the continued arrests against the PPP cadres, for resisting the Israeli occupation and exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, as a “shameful act”.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7F8VAgat%2bjJ4v1nd%2bmtSKVRTxo2njQrt94LNM65%2f3BxNnxu%2fVW1DYTXLvXPkmDJuAcGWjvaaM1fjzkaOvN631v%2fbKYjYfWuWt9dZZarKioAM%3d
IPS holds hunger-striking Jordanian prisoner in room filled with rats
NABLUS (PIC) 25 May — The Palestinian prisoner’s society has warned of the serious health condition of Jordanian captive Munir Mara‘ee who has been on hunger strike for 25 days. It said in a statement on Sunday that Mara‘ee has refrained from drinking water since Friday in protest at transferring him to an isolation ward in Eshel prison near to homicide convicts … adding that his cell was full of rats and he could not sleep at all … Mara‘ee said that he did not have a bath for the past 12 days and that the prison authorities refuse to wash his clothes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7EQRw%2bJ0uEdMriwz01IpVp0IytsQmmEYydgENLm8zCFLNsiVmYvi8IjUoeMNaqEtHgK52b6fVAtqHjZ9WRTPCObbEiYGAwLd%2f4S4JnoktYi8%3d
Israel transfers 35 Gaza prisoners to Nafta jail
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 May — Israel’s prison authority on Friday transferred all Gaza prisoners detained in the Negev prison to another jail, a detainees center said. The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies said that 35 prisoners from Gaza were moved to Nafta prison in the transfer.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598665
Gaza blockade
Israeli navy fires 2 missiles at fishermen in Gaza
GAZA, May 26, 2013 (WAFA) — Israeli navy boats Sunday fired two missiles towards Palestinian fishermen fishing off the coast of Gaza, according to witnesses. They told WAFA that two explosions were heard in western part of Gaza coast when Israeli navy fired two missiles towards fishermen while they were fishing in the Gaza allowed fishing range. No injuries reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22468
Israeli warplanes launch mock raids on Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 26 May — Israeli warplanes launched mock raids on Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, a field observer told Quds Press. He said that a number of F16s dropped heavy-weight bombs off the coast of the Strip that caused big bangs heard in all areas of the tiny enclave. He said that the people at first thought that Israeli raids were being launched on the coastal enclave due to the loud noise caused by the explosion of those bombs.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7qS66UE94Np%2fJBMn%2bUPOTglYrohgMqdVxh%2f%2bjF4VUavGBkL5YIdtRZGVxPyuAfxC6ESAQz8s31m%2bTgs1cVBdVWeaiWC3Oj6r0c%2fGg5m%2fGIHA%3d
Gazans dying to enter Israel
Antiwar 25 May by Mel Frykberg — Israel’s crippling blockade of the coastal territory of Gaza is pushing desperate young Palestinians to ever more extreme measures in the search for livelihoods, despite an agreement granting Gazans greater access to their agricultural land. In search of work, some Gazans try to enter Israel by jumping the fence that separates it from Gaza. Others continue to be shot dead or are seriously injured by Israeli soldiers as they try to farm land bordering the fence, and still others who choose an underground path die when tunnels linking Gaza with Egypt collapse. Yet an agreement between Hamas and Israel’s COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) following a ceasefire in November stated that Gazans would be able to access most of their agricultural land in Israel’s self-declared 300-metre buffer zone, which runs along the border, by reducing the zone to 100 metres.
http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2013/05/23/gazans-dying-to-enter-israel/
Palestinians accuse Israel of trying to poison Gaza patients
PressTV 26 May — Officials said Israel, the sole provider for nitrous oxide gas used for anesthesia in the Gaza Strip’s operating rooms, has provided them with carbon dioxide gas posing as nitrous oxide. Four patients suffered cardiac arrest after inhaling carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide mixed with oxygen is given to patients to ease the pain and induce sleep prior to surgeries. According to experts replacing nitrous oxide with carbon dioxide causes cardiac arrest and could lead to death. According to human rights organizations hundreds of Gazans have died in past years as a direct result to the choking Israeli blockade.Al Dameer Human Rights Association called for an international investigation to probe what it described as a new Israeli crime.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/26/305615/palestinians-accuse-israel-of-trying-to-poison-gazan-patients/
Palestinian company to deliver Qatar-donated fuel to Gaza
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 26 May – A shipment of Qatar-donated fuel to the Gaza Strip will be delivered in a day or two, Egyptian security sources said Sunday. The sources told Ma‘an that a Palestinian freight company will replace the Egyptian Delta company which used to deliver fuel from Suez port to al-Auja crossing. The Egyptian army used to escort fuel tankers traveling through Sinai to al-Auja crossing. The source highlighted that the Palestinian Petroleum Authority contracted a Gaza-based freight company to carry the Qatar-donated fuel to al-Auja. The company, according to the Egyptian source, is affiliated to Hamas and will operate without being escorted by Egyptian troops or police patrols.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599137
Gaza exports have plummeted under Israeli blockade
Gaza City, Gaza (CS Monitor) 25 May by Christa Case Bryant — Gaza’s exports dropped 97 percent from 2007-12, which Gazans say hurts not only their economy but their dignity. The Gaza Ark project says what’s needed is trade, not aid– After a wave of international flotillas laden with humanitarian supplies for Gaza were headed off by Israeli forces, with one standoff resulting in nine deaths, a new idea was born: a reverse flotilla that would carry symbolic Gazan exports like embroidery, carpets, and dates to foreign customers.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0525/Gaza-exports-have-plummeted-under-Israeli-blockade
Video: Palestine Festival of Literature held in Gaza Strip
PressTV 25 May — Since 2008 an annual literary festival has been the center of activities which have brought dozens of influential literary figures from the UK, US and Arab world to teach workshops and perform in free public events. Three main speakers came to Gaza to participate in the Palestine Festival of Literature: Ali abu-Neama [or Abunimah], Susan Abulhawa, and Lina Attalah.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/25/305425/palestine-festival-of-literature-held-in-gaza-strip/
Malaysian NGO delegation arrives in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 May — A delegation of Malaysian NGOs arrived in the Gaza Strip Sunday to check the humanitarian situation and open projects. The delegation includes 80 representatives and activists from humanitarian work groups in Malaysia.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=599041
Gaza cadet camps; between consent, criticism and anger
MEMO 24 May by Iyad al-Qarra — Cadet training at schools launched by the Ministry of Education in the Gaza Strip has faced much scrutiny, questioning and criticism by the Palestinian government in the West Bank. The government in Gaza defended it as a project, while the government in the West Bank has severely criticized it as has the Israeli occupation. Hamas were happy with the training and its outcomes which it said were positive, despite the high costs added to its already exhausted budget as a consequence of the Israeli siege, as this training aims at achieving more than one goal. The Islamic movement depends on the upcoming generation to carry out its clearly adopted project of resistance. This project is largely dependent on the youth and it feels that this generation’s ideology is being targeted. Nurturing this generation is Hamas’ primary goal.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/6114-gaza-cadet-camps-between-consent-criticism-and-anger
Government calls for an international commission into the assassination of El-Durra
MEMO 24 May — The Palestinian government in Gaza has demanded that the United Nations and the international and Arab communities form a fact-finding committee into Zionist allegations that Israel is not responsible for the assassination of Palestinian child, Mohammed El-Dura, at the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/6117-government-calls-for-an-international-commission-into-the-assassination-of-el-durra
Palestinian refugees outside Palestine
Palestinian envoys head to Syria
IMEMC 25 May — A senior Palestinian delegation, headed by member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Zakariyya Al-Aagha, headed to Syria in an attempt to find a solution to the difficult situation the refugees face amidst the ongoing war in the country. Al-Aagha stated that the delegation would be holding meetings with different figures and parties in Syria to ensure protection to the Palestinian refugees in the country, to ensure their return as soon as possible, and to end their suffering. He added that the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria should not be dragged into the ongoing conflict in the country.
http://www.imemc.org/article/65551
Murra: Charging refugee camps in Lebanon with firing rockets sheer lies
BEIRUT (PIC) 26 May — Ra’fat Murra, in charge of political affairs in Hamas’s Beirut office, denied claims that the two rockets fired at the southern suburb of Beirut were fired from Palestinian refugee camps. Murra said in a press release on Sunday that the allegation by the Al-Jadid TV network was an absolute lie and a clear attempt to smear the refugee camps and Palestinian refugees.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Cv1XM86QCEn4ezJmTzB64gkNefTDezDjhFV0iszJUZXLw9HnsXC7dOTkM%2bCFL9u%2b1Z5hsfGOfr%2ffP0jg%2fn%2buNUCLEFIGdV4kKYsNk5g%2fmWs%3d
Political news
Abbas invites Arabs to partner with Palestinian businessmen
DEAD SEA, May 25, 2013 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday invited Arab businessmen to visit Palestine and partner with their Palestinian counterparts. Addressing the opening session of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa held at Jordan’s Dead Sea area, Abbas said that “investments enhance the steadfastness of our people, support efforts to achieve peace and stability in our region and bring benefit to the investors.” He said that regardless of the Israeli obstacles, which prevent Palestinians from fully exploiting their land and natural resources, Palestine enjoys promising opportunities and broad prospects in the fields of tourism, agriculture, telecommunications, information technology, energy and other promising investment sectors.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22464
Kerry backs private West Bank economic plan, but little detail
DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) 26 May by Arshad Mohammed — Secretary of State John Kerry sketched out a plan on Sunday to spur Palestinian growth with up to $4 billion in private investment, but did not say where the money would come from. Kerry drew a picture of prosperity in the West Bank that could spread to Israel and Jordan, while acknowledging it would not fully materialize without movement toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians … While stressing his vision of an economic renaissance was not a substitute for negotiations, the U.S. diplomat appeared to hold out the prospect of rising growth, wages and employment as a way to build trust and provide an incentive to make peace.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBRE94P0EE20130527
Abbas: Palestinians will not approve interim agreements, temporary borders
DEAD SEA, May 26, 2013 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday said, during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa 2013 (WEF), the Palestinian people will not agree to interim agreements or a state with temporary borders. Abbas expressed his contentment with the peace initiative entitled, “Breaking the Impasse”, organized by Palestinian and Israeli businessmen to support re-launching of the peace process. He said that if Israel agrees to withdraw from the land occupied in 1967, all Arab countries will normalize relations with it based on the Arab Peace Initiative.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22473
Abbas: New government within weeks
AMMAN, Jordan (Ma‘an) 26 May – President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that the leadership in Ramallah was working to form a unity government within weeks. “It may need the coming two weeks,” Abbas told Ma‘an on the sidelines of a global economic forum in Jordan.
http://www.maanenws.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=598968
Welfare minister: Remove remote settlements now
JPost 25 May — Welfare Minister Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) said on Saturday that Israel should dismantle isolated settlements immediately without waiting for negotiations, Israel Radio reported. “These settlements cost us a lot of money and we must do the utmost so we do not appear to be a state that does everything to scuttle negotiations,” Cohen said in a cultural event at Holon Theater. Cohen added that Israel had lost control of the settlers in some instances and in particular it had lost control of the “hill-top youth.” “We must deal with this youth and bring them back to normal behavior,” Cohen said. Finance Minister and Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid echoed Cohen’s opinion about dismantling settlements on Tuesday when he said at his party’s faction meeting that he thought it was “heartbreaking” that tens of thousands of Jews would have to be removed from their homes in “remote settlements.”
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Welfare-minister-Dismantle-isolated-settlements-now-314338
Other news
Israel low in global popularity ranking
Times of Israel 24 May by Nathan Burstein — A poll released Tuesday by the BBC confirms Israel remains one of the world’s least popular countries, with more than half of those surveyed identifying its influence as ‘mainly negative’. Only North Korea, Pakistan and Iran fared worse. Fifty-two percent of respondents view Israel in a negative light; 21% rated it in positive terms, placing it far behind China’s 42% and Russia’s 30%. The global survey ranked Germany as the country with the best public image — 59% described Europe’s economic powerhouse as playing a ‘mainly positive’ role in international affairs, ahead of runners-up Canada and the UK.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-near-bottom-of-global-popularity-ranking/
Israel launches home front defence drill
JERUSALEM (Daily Star) 26 May — Israel launched on Sunday a national civil defence drill, which the army said will this year focus on the threat of unconventional weapons at a time of growing regional tensions. “The threats against the Israeli home front have significantly increased in recent years,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting in remarks relayed by his office. “Israel is the most threatened state in the world; it is under missile and rocket threat. We are prepared for any scenario,” said Netanyahu. The annual drill, the seventh of its kind, will encompass the army’s home front command, the defence ministry, government bodies, municipalities and local authorities, rescue organisations and school systems, the army said in a statement.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-26/218397-israel-launches-home-front-defence-drill.ashx#axzz2UTMqoJ7A
Chechnya building mosque by Jerusalem for brethren lost 500 years ago
Haaretz 26 May by Nir Hasson — The country is putting millions of dollars into building a huge mosque in Abu Ghosh, whose residents trace their ancestry to the Caucasus region– … Today the building, about 4,000 square meters in area, is all but complete. A recent decision calls for the erection of four minarets, as is customary in the Caucasus region. The road already has two symbolic turrets, built by experts from Chechnya. The links between the predominantly Muslim village, located about 10 kilometers west of Jerusalem, and the Islamic republic are scheduled to expand, and will include student and delegation exchanges … The Chechnyan government, led by [the Russian-backed] Kadyrov, has been looking for ways to enhance ties with Israel. Abu Ghosh is one of the only Arab villages outside Jerusalem to have emerged from the 1948 War of Independence unscathed, due mainly to the residents’ cooperation with Jewish forces. Today, Jewish Israelis flock to the village on weekends to feast on Abu Ghosh’s well-known hummus and other culinary offerings.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/chechnya-building-mosque-by-jerusalem-for-brethren-lost-500-years-ago.premium-1.526050
Gaza refugee tipped to win Arab Idol
Khan Younis, Gaza (Guardian) 26 May by Harriet Sherwood — Mohammed Assaf has had messages of support from Palestinian president and prime minister — The golden voice of a young man from a Gaza refugee camp has enchanted viewers of Arab Idol, broadcast weekly to huge audiences across the Middle East, making him a favourite to win the final of the television singing contest. Mohammed Assaf, 22, has won massive support from viewers enthralled by his rendition of traditional love songs and laments for the Palestinian cause. He has also succeeded in uniting Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora behind his efforts to win … Assaf, who has had no formal training, began performing at weddings and private parties in Gaza as a child. He is currently in Beirut for the filming of Arab Idol. Last year, when the Guardian met him in Gaza, he said that although his repertoire consisted mainly of patriotic songs, he also wanted to sing love songs. “But there’s nowhere to perform them in Gaza,” he said.Hamas, he said last year, discouraged artists and musicians, and he had been arrested more than 20 times by Hamas security officials … He has spoken against the Israeli occupation and has supported hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. “If I had to choose between winning the Arab Idol title and the freedom of [prisoner] Samer Issawi, I would choose freedom for the Palestinian hero whose steadfastness is peerless,” he told the Palestinian news website Ma’an last month. …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/26/gaza-refugee-arab-idol
Right-wing activists try to crash Jewish-Muslim wedding
Times of Israel 23 May by Aaron Kalman — Police on Thursday prevented a bus with some 50 right-wing activists from entering the wedding of a Jewish woman and a Muslim man. The woman had converted to Islam before the wedding, which was held in the groom’s hometown of Araba in the Galilee.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/right-wing-activists-try-to-crash-jewish-muslim-wedding/
Opinion / Analysis
Why Palestine is different / Sam Bahour
Mondoweiss 25 May — Secretary of State John Kerry is making an all-out effort to restart peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Many well-intentioned, highly intelligent people from around the world have engaged in some way, shape, or form in the Palestinian-Israeli issue and many of these people have had hands-on experience in resolving other longstanding, global issues, like those of Ireland, South Africa, and U.S. civil rights. While there is always a great deal to learn from other global experiences, the case of Palestine is different and unless Secretary Kerry recognizes this, all the efforts and millions of dollars being thrown at this conflict will be in vain, as will the latest U.S. negotiations blitz.
Three issues related to this conflict that are crucial to understand are: historic guilt, colonial responsibility, and the U.S. “special relationship” with Israel.
https://mondoweiss.net/2013/05/why-palestine-different.html
The al-Dura report: a slanderous farce and a ‘blood libel’ – against Palestinians / Khaled Diab
Haaretz 26 May — By suggesting that Mohammed al-Dura’s death was staged, Israel’s government is adapting the blood libel: that a Palestinian father would sacrifice his son just to incite people to kill Jews.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-al-dura-report-a-slanderous-farce-and-a-blood-libel-against-palestinians.premium-1.526078
Wonders never cease / Oudeh Basharat
Haaretz 26 May — Dear committee members, as you wish, Mohammed al-Dura wasn’t killed; he’s safe and sound and hiding somewhere. But what about the 951 children that human rights group B’Tselem says were killed during the second intifada?
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/wonders-never-cease.premium-1.525949
Insight: In West Bank shadows, repressed Hamas breathes on / Noah Browning & Ali Sawafta
Dura, West Bank (Reuters) 26 May — In his sparse village home adorned only with framed verses from the Quran, Mohammed Ghannam opens his shirt, pointing silently to his bruised chest. Ghannam, 44, whose job was to deliver the call to prayer in Dura’s local mosque, said plainclothes security forces from the Palestinian Authority (PA) detained him last month for belonging to the Islamist movement Hamas and beat him mute. “They didn’t ask me any questions, just punched me hard in the face and the chest,” he wrote limply on a notepad. “They hit my head again and again against a concrete wall.” Led by the secular Fatah party, the Western-backed PA has pursued surveillance, firings, arrests and torture to bar its Islamist militant rivals Hamas from public life in the West Bank, since the Palestinian territories were split in 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip coastal enclave. Earlier this month, Fatah and Hamas pledged to bury their differences, form a unity government and find a common strategy toward Israel. But their harsh treatment of each other’s activists in the territory they each control makes such reconciliation a tough prospect.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/26/us-palestinians-hamas-crackdown-insight-idUSBRE94P02R20130526
Confronting our tyrants: Incarceration and torture in Palestinian prisons / Talal Alyan
972blog 25 May — Findings by a Palestinian human rights group paint a grim picture of imprisonment and torture under both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas regimes. One guest blogger holds that despite the Israeli occupation, these political groups can no longer act with impunity under the guise of liberators — …It is a strange position that Palestinians find themselves in. Should we forfeit our grievances with these political powers and their cronies, and instead focus entirely on the ongoing occupation? Or should we reserve some of our effort to speak out against these ruling political factions? One main concern is that our complaints may be hijacked by sponsors of the occupation in order to divert attention from Israeli actions. This isn’t an unwarranted concern – the crisis in Syria, for instance, is often evoked to imply that we should not focus on the Israeli occupation, and that some injustices should be prioritized over others. For the same reasons that I reject this logic I also have to believe that we owe something to Palestinians languishing in the jails of Hamas and the PA. It is our responsibility to insist that their suffering not be secondary.
http://972mag.com/confronting-our-tyrants-incarceration-and-torture-in-palestinian-prisons/72097/
Admitting that there is no peace process is the best thing Kerry could do for peace / Noam Sheizaf
972mag 25 May — Two notes on the Secretary of State’s mission to Israel/Palestine — …A word about the notion of “no pre-conditions”: when an American or an Israeli official uses this phrase, what he/she actually means is “no pre-conditions for Israel,” since both Israel and the administration pose many pre-conditions for the Palestinians. The most basic ones are to abandon armed struggle (both in action and as a formal policy) and to recognize Israel. This is, after all, the reason Hamas is kept out of the political process. At the same time, Israel was never asked to formally recognize the Palestinians’ right to this land, nor has its government ever voted in favor of the two-state solution nor demanded that a settlement freeze last more than a brief moment. The Palestinians have agreed to all the Israeli/American pre-conditions. In exchange, their only demand is that talks be meaningful — in other words, that certain territorial principles be established — otherwise the entire thing is a waste of both time and political capital (even this simple principle has been abandoned by the U.S.). Under such circumstances, even if Kerry is able to force Abbas into talks, no serious process can take place.
http://972mag.com/admitting-that-there-is-no-peace-process-is-the-best-thing-kerry-could-do-for-peace/72111/
Sexuality and gender taboos challenged by Haifa project / Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
JERUSALEM (IPS) 24 May – Public discussions about sexuality and gender diversity are difficult to start in many places. But a new multimedia project that is garnering buzz in Palestine aims to reverse this trend and open up dialogue within Palestinian society around these historically taboo issues. “We want to start an honest conversation that can also raise … limitations and tough questions,” explained Haneen Maikey, director of the Jerusalem-based Al Qaws Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. “It’s not to be accepted, but rather to bring the society to a safe place that we can discuss these issues.” Al Qaws is behind a new project called Singing Sexuality, or Ghanni an Taarif in Arabic, launching tomorrow in Haifa after nearly two years of preparation and the work of approximately eighty volunteers.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/sexuality-and-gender-taboos-challenged-haifa-project/12486
It’s spit, not rain / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 26 May — Dear thug who attacked me, do you really think an Israel with no remnant of the peace camp, no High Court of Justice, no human rights groups, no Haaretz, no ‘Israel haters,’ no ‘Arab lovers’ and even no yours truly will be a better country? — Most of all, these lines are meant for one reader — you, the thug who came up behind me late Friday afternoon on the way out of Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market. You threatened to beat me up and screamed in a hoarse voice and bursting veins “leftist,” “Israel hater” and “Arab lover” — not to mention unprintable vulgar comments — in your English mother tongue and in accented Hebrew. Then you spit in my face and in my partner Catrin’s face.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/it-s-spit-not-rain.premium-1.525948
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