State Department calls for ‘speedy, transparent investigation’ of Israel’s killing of 14-year-old US citizen

Violence / Suppression of protests / Illegal arrests

Israeli forces shoot, kill Palestinian teenager near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 Oct — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager late Friday during clashes in Silwad village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, medical officials said. Orwa Abd al-Wahhab Hammad, 14, was shot multiple times with live bullets. He was taken to Palestine Medical Complex where he was pronounced dead. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that soldiers fired at a Palestinian adult who was hurling a Molotov cocktail at forces in the area. Witnesses said Hammad was hit by an Israeli sniper from close range, insisting the soldier shot to kill. Orwa was a US national. His uncle was killed during the First Intifada.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735085

US says Palestinian-American killed by Israel forces
RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) 24 Oct – Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian-American youth during clashes on Friday, the U.S. State Department said, calling for a quick and transparent investigation. Orwah Hammad, 14, was shot in the head in the village of Silwad, north of the Palestinian seat of government in Ramallah. An Israeli army spokesman told Reuters Israeli forces “managed to prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail at them on the main road next to Silwad. They opened fire and they confirmed a hit.” The military said it would investigate the shooting, which occurred amid other clashes in Arab areas in and around Jerusalem in which several people were lightly injured. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called for a “speedy and transparent investigation.” “The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a U.S. citizen minor who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces during clashes in Silwad on October 24,” Psaki said. She added that U.S. officials would remain “closely engaged with the local authorities, who have the lead on this investigation.”
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-boy-shot-dead-israeli-forces-west-bank-172210707.html

The American victims of Israeli-Palestinian violence
The Atlantic 24 Oct by Adam Chandler — As violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank continued on Friday, another American became a casualty of the conflict. Reuters confirmed the death of Orwah Hammad, a 14-year-old boy, who “was born in New Orleans and came to the West Bank at age six.” A State Department official (anonymously) confirmed his American citizenship. Hammad, who was said to be part of a group of teens throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, was killed by fire from the Israeli army. The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers had opened fire to “prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail at them on the main road next to Silwad,” a West Bank village near Ramallah. Hammad’s death comes just hours after a Palestinian car attack wounded eight Israelis at a light rail station in Jerusalem. The one fatality in the incident was a three-month-old baby, who was also an American citizen. And so continues a trend in Israeli-Palestinian violence in which American citizens are prominently involved. Back in June, three Israeli teenagers were abducted and killed in the West Bank. One of them, Naftali Frenkel, was a dual American-Israeli citizen. The deaths of the three teenagers are said to be linked to the death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian, who was murdered by Israelis in Jerusalem shortly after the bodies of the three Israeli teens were discovered. While Abu Khdeir was Palestinian, Israeli police later faced international condemnation after they were caught beating up Tariq Abu Khdeir, Mohammed’s cousin and an American citizen from Florida, on video. American victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stretch back much further than 2014. The conflict itself has long been a magnet for American attention with U.S. citizens frequently joining sides as activists, advocates, soldiers, fighters, and new immigrants. Despite all this, Americans have rarely seemed so central to the fighting.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/palestinian-american-teenager-shot-in-israel-protest/381925/

Israel vows crackdown after Palestinian car attack
Jerusalem (AFP) 23 Oct by Hazel Ward — Israel pledged Thursday a tough response to any further attacks in Jerusalem as police flooded flashpoint Arab neighborhoods after a Palestinian rammed his car into a group of pedestrians and killed a baby. The second deadly incident involving a Palestinian vehicle in three months, Wednesday’s attack prompted a sharp warning from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Jerusalem is united and was, and always will be, the eternal capital of Israel. Any attempt to harm its residents will be met with the harshest response,” he said … The incident triggered clashes between police and stone-throwing Palestinians across east Jerusalem. By Thursday morning, on Netanyahu’s orders, police surged into flashpoint neighborhoods in a bid to stamp out persistent unrest.  ‘Seeds of desperation’  Netanyahu also lashed out at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, accusing him of encouraging attacks … But chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat accused Netanyahu of turning a blind eye to Israel’s provocative actions in the city’s strife-hit east. “The man, once he looks at the mirror… should know who’s responsible for the miserable situation of Palestinians and Israelis, the escalation of violence and so on,” he said. “He plants the seeds of desperation.” … Palestinian community officials say the wave of unrest is fueled by a sense of hopelessness resulting from Israel’s policies in east Jerusalem, which have left many youths with a sense they have nothing to lose. ‘Zero tolerance policy’ Unrest has gripped east Jerusalem on an almost daily basis for four months, and Israeli commentators said it was being fanned by recent acquisitions of homes in the area by Jewish settlers.Police said Thursday they had adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward any violence in Jerusalem … Washington, which denounced Wednesday’s attack as “despicable”, confirmed that the baby girl was a US citizen. “The baby was an American citizen, yes,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, adding that the US consulate was “in close touch with the family”. Three-month-old Haya Zissel Braun was buried at a late-night funeral in Jerusalem.
http://news.yahoo.com/police-expand-presence-jerusalem-car-attack-094632402.html

Police may hold parents of minors involved in Jerusalem disturbance legally liable for crimes
Haaretz 24 Oct by Yaniv Kubovich — In response to the upsurge in violence in Jerusalem in recent months, which has resulted in hundreds of minors being arrested, police attorneys are considering proposing legislation that would allow parents to be held legally liable for crimes committed by children under age 14. One idea under discussion is that parents whose children are arrested for stone-throwing could be slapped with fines totaling thousands of shekels or even prison terms. Police attorneys are discussing this idea with prosecutors and representatives of the Attorney General’s Office. Effectively, this proposal would replicate a military order in effect in the West Bank, where Palestinians under age 14 cannot be held legally liable for crimes, but their parents can be ordered to post financial guarantees that would be forfeited if the offense is repeated, and can be jailed if they refuse to pay. Inside Israel, parents can currently be asked to post bond only to ensure their child shows up for a scheduled court appearance, not as a guarantee of the child’s future behavior. Ever since Jerusalem teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir was murdered by Jews in July, violence by Arab residents of the city has risen sharply, resulting in a sharp rise in arrests. As Haaretz has previously reported, some 700 people were arrested in Jerusalem in the two months after Abu Khdeir’s murder, including 260 minors, and since then, the numbers have only risen. Moreover, when minors have been charged, the state has usually asked that they be jailed until the end of their trial. But police say a large portion of the minors involved in the disturbances are under 14, and therefore cannot be indicted. Consequently, a senior police officer said, there’s no way to deter them from engaging in further violence. The proposal to make their parents legally liable is an effort to change that. In response to the upsurge in violence in Jerusalem in recent months, police are considering slapping fines or prison terms on families of stone-throwers.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.622447

Dozens injured, many kidnapped in occupied Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 24 Oct — Palestinian medical sources in occupied East Jerusalem have reported that scores of residents have been injured during clashes that took place in different parts of occupied Jerusalem following noon prayers, after the soldiers and police prevented thousands from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque. Soldiers kidnapped three children, including a physically challenged boy …  The police fired several gas bombs and dozens of rubber-coated metal bullets in Wad al-Joz, wounding three Palestinians, including the cameraperson of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, Ahmad Siyam. Dozens suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation; the soldiers also sprayed protesters and homes with waste-water [th. Clashes also took place in Ras al-‘Amoud after the soldiers fired bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets targeting worshipers who had to pray in the street after being prevented from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque. More clashes also took place in the al-‘Eesawiyya town, while many Palestinians suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
Late on Thursday evening, soldiers invaded a residential building in Wad al-Jouz, and attacked many Palestinians before firing gas bombs and rubber-coated bullets into the homes. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers invaded the building during clashes that took place in Wad al-Jouz, and attacked several men, women and children. A 12-year-old child, identified as ‘Awni Es’eeda, was shot by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the abdomen, while resident Nasser Es’eeda, 47, suffered fractures in his arm after the soldiers beat him with their rifles and batons. The soldiers also assaulted ‘Adnan Es’eeda who suffers from a heart condition and kidnapped two Palestinians identified as Hazem Es’eeda and Ahmad Salayma.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69497

Defense minister pans Palestinian ‘culture of jihad’
Times of Israel 23 Oct by Yifa Yaakov — Jewish Home party calls for construction of ‘thousands’ of Jewish apartments in Jerusalem in the wake of terror attack that killed baby — In the wake of the terror attack at a Jerusalem Light Rail station in which a three-month-old baby was killed Wednesday, prominent Israeli politicians blamed the Palestinian Authority for sowing seeds of violence and inciting terrorism. Echoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Wednesday lashed out at PA President Mahmoud Abbas over the attack, lawmakers from various parties called for urgent measures to contain the violence simmering in the capital. Writing on his official Facebook page, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon asserted Thursday that the attack was “clearly the outcome of those in the Palestinian Authority who educate the younger generation to hate Jews and expel them from their homeland.” … Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) said in statements on both Wednesday and Thursday that Israel should respond to the attack, and to other recent unrest among the Palestinian population, by announcing the construction of more housing units in Jerusalem and assert sovereignty over the city. “He who is afraid to build houses in Jerusalem, he who ignores rock-hurling in the capital, he who allows gas and train stations to be burned, announces that he has given up on sovereignty over Jerusalem,” he said. Speaking to Army Radio on Thursday morning, Bennett stressed that Wednesday’s attack was directly linked to the “endless” incidents of rock-hurling and Molotov cocktail use against the city’s infrastructure and Jewish houses in recent months.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-wake-of-train-attack-mks-pan-palestinian-culture-of-jihad/

Haaretz editorial: Force won’t solve the problem of Jerusalem
24 Oct —What is needed in Jerusalem is a political horizon that would include discussion of one of the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – the capital’s status — Wednesday’s vehicle attack in Jerusalem, which killed baby Chaya Zissel Braun and wounded seven others, brought the wave of violence that has afflicted the city for the last three months to new heights. The violent demonstrations, the stone-throwing, the Molotov cocktails and the clashes with police haven’t let up since the murder of teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in early July. Following Wednesday’s attack, rightist politicians, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called for a harsh crackdown on the rioters. Yesterday, a meeting called by Netanyahu approved a significant increase in both manpower and high-tech equipment for the Jerusalem police, in an effort to prevent the situation from deteriorating. But it must be understood that the problems in Jerusalem won’t be solved by employing more force or beefing up law enforcement. At yesterday’s meeting, the prime minister reiterated the hollow slogan that “United Jerusalem was and will remain Israel’s eternal capital” and promised to restore peace and quiet to the city by means of “an extremely harsh response to every attempt to harm its residents.” Netanyahu also attacked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – as if he were the one directing and organizing the children of the stones in East Jerusalem – as well as the international community, for its “weakness.” But the violence in Jerusalem didn’t arise in a vacuum and won’t dissipate in the face of the prime minister’s “firmness.” The roots of the violence lie in the despair and fear felt by Palestinian residents of the city. The collapse of the diplomatic process, the growing calls for changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, the ongoing neglect of Palestinian neighborhoods on one hand and the government’s encouragement of the spread of Jewish settlements in the heart of those same neighborhoods on the other – all these form the swamp from which violence and terror grow.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.622469

Israeli police: We cannot stop intifada in J’lem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 24 Oct — A senior Israeli police officer said Thursday that the police might not be able to entirely stop the current Palestinian intifada (uprising) in occupied Jerusalem, but it would attempt to reduce its severity.  He stated in press remarks on Thursday that the Israeli police could decrease the tension and impose a period of relative calm in the holy city by intensifying its presence in its neighborhoods and using extreme force against protestors. Widespread violent clashes, described as unprecedented since the second intifada, have been raging since Thursday morning in east Jerusalem between Palestinian young men and Israeli troops in protest at the killing of 20-year-old Abdul-Rahman Shaludi by Israeli guards at the railroad station in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Israeli rightists hold anti-Palestinian demo at light rail station
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 Oct — Dozens of Israeli rightists late Thursday protested at the site of a suspected attack which left a three-month-old baby dead, witnesses said. Protesters held aloft signs reading “Death to Arabs!” and “Revenge” by the Ammunition Hill light rail station in Sheikh Jarrah. There were reports of attempted assaults on Palestinians as they crossed the road in the area, with Israeli forces deploying to prevent such incidents. Israel immediately labeled the incident on Wednesday as a “terrorist” attack, while the Palestinian suspect’s family denied that it was intentional.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735015

Israel to seal or demolish Jerusalem suspect’s home
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 Oct — The Israeli Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovich said that sanctions would be imposed on the light rail attack suspect’s family in Silwan in East Jerusalem. The Israeli news website Ynet reported Friday that minister Aharonovich said that the house of Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi would either be sealed or demolished. Aharonovich’s statement came during his visit to the the family of an Israeli child who was killed during the incident. A lawyer for the Addameer rights group told Ma‘an that the Israeli intelligence informed al-Shaludi’s father during interrogation that his son’s body would be delivered “late at night” and that only 20 members of his family could be present. Police say al-Shaludi, 21, drove his car at high speed into a group of pedestrians, killing a three-month-old baby and wounding six other people in what police described as a “hit-and-run terror attack.” After the car stopped, al-Shaludi tried to flee but was shot by police, later dying in hospital from his injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735030

Forensic expert: Shalludi was left to bleed to death
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 Oct — Guards of the light rail in occupied Jerusalem fired at Abdulrahman al-Shalludi at close range after he ran over a group of Israeli settlers then left him to bleed to death. Dr. Saber al-Aloul, the Director of the Palestinian Institute of Forensic Medicine, said that Shalludi, 20, with hit with three bullets the first hit his liver and cut a renal artery, the second hit his left foot and the third hit his testicles. Aloul said that cause of his death was the long time he spent lying on the ground at the scene without any first aid treatment.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Unjust conditions on the funeral of the Martyr Shallodi
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 24 Oct — The Magistrate court judge imposed on Friday afternoon unjust conditions to the funeral procession of the 20-year old Martyr Abdulrahman Shallodi. Mohammad Mahmoud, Al-Dameer organization lawyer, explained that the Magistrate court judge decided to give the Shallodi family their son’s body at 10 p.m. on Saturday near the cemetery of Lions Gate with the presence of 80 persons only. The lawyer added that the judge prevented transferring the body to the martyr’s house in Silwan for the final look by his family and conditioned the washing of the body to occur inside the cemetery. The lawyer pointed out that the Israeli Intelligence requested to give the body to the family at 1 a.m. on Sunday with the presence of 20 people and also requested to hold the family responsible for any clashes that might occur during or after the funeral. The lawyer described the judge’s decision to be unjust and inhuman and is a revenge for the Martyr’s family and the Martyr himself.
http://silwanic.net/?p=53910

Questions plague Palestinian mother after deadly car attack
Jerusalem (AFP) 23 Oct by Majeda El-Batsh — The mother of a young Palestinian behind a car attack in Jerusalem which killed a baby was on Thursday struggling to answer questions raised by her son’s actions. Abdelrahman Shaludi, 21, drove his car at high speed into a group of pedestrians on Wednesday evening, killing a three-month-old baby and wounding six other people in what police described as a “hit-and-run terror attack.” After the car stopped, Shaludi tried to flee but was shot by police, later dying in hospital from his injuries. Shaludi came from Silwan in annexed east Jerusalem, where many locals wondered whether the tragedy was just an accident. At the family home, Shaludi’s mother Inas Sharif, 42, struggled to come to terms with the events of the past 24 hours. “I cannot say if it was on purpose or just a simple car accident,” she told reporters at her home, where she lives with her husband and remaining four children. “If it was really an attack, why didn’t he have explosives in his car — or even just Molotov cocktails?” she said … Only hours before the incident, she had taken her son to the doctor who had advised him to see a therapist after days of exhibiting signs of mental exhaustion.  ‘I feel her pain’ As a mother, Sharif said she could identify with the loss felt by the woman whose baby girl was killed. “I feel her pain, I am a mother after all,” she said. “I don’t wish any mother in the world to lose her child.” Outside, chunks of rock and the blackened remains of burnt tyres littered the streets of Silwan, the remains of hours of rioting after the incident. Shaludi was already known to Israeli police. He had spent 14 months in prison for stone-throwing and was released in December 2013. He was arrested again in February and held for 20 days as Israeli investigators tried to establish whether he was involved with Hamas. But they found nothing and released him. Israel has claimed that Shaludi was a Hamas activist. Although his mother’s late brother, Muhi al-Din Sharif, was a senior Hamas bomb-maker who was killed in the West Bank in 1998, there has been no independent confirmation Shaludi belonged to the movement. Since his arrest in February, Israeli investigators had not left him alone, his mother said. “They kept on harassing him and summoning him for questioning over and over again and they tried to enlist him into working for them, but he repeatedly refused. They threatened him, saying he would never find work or be able to continue his education or have a normal life,” she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/questions-plague-palestinian-mother-deadly-car-attack-221911744.html

Overnight attacks by settlers target Palestinian homes in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 23 Oct — Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked, overnight, several Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah, in occupied East Jerusalem, and attacked residents, cars and homes with stones, sticks and sharp objects. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) said settler groups hurled stones at cars, homes and property, causing excessive property damage, before attacking and wounding several Palestinians.
Silwanic said clashes, lasting all night, took place between Israeli soldiers and local Palestinians in various neighborhoods, alleys and towns, in occupied Jerusalem, especially in Silwan, south of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Shu‘fat refugee camp, Mount Of Olives, and the Suwwana neighborhood. The Israeli army and police also placed concrete blocks closing various roads leading to Arab villages and towns, in occupied Jerusalem. Silwan is the town were Abdul-Rahman Shalloudi, 20, was shot and seriously injured, on Wednesday, by light-rail Israeli guards, and died from his wounds, shortly after midnight, at the Israeli Hospital. Shalloudi was shot by three rounds of live ammunition, one directly in his liver.
Silwanic said a child, identified as Fatima Kayed Panjabi, 11, and her cousin Ahmad Wa’el Rajabi, 4, were shot by rubber-coated metal bullets, along with four other young men, who were shot by live rounds, and were all hospitalized.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69484

Palestinian woman injured in Jewish Quarter attack
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — A Palestinian woman was injured after an unknown assailant hurled a rock at her as she walked through the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli sources said. The rock attack, which hit the woman in the head as she passed through the neighborhood, left her lightly injured. Paramedics treated her on the scene and local police opened an investigation into the incident. The attack comes in the wake of clashes and mounting tensions across Jerusalem a day after a young Palestinian man drove his car into a light rail stop, killing one and injuring eight others. The man was shot dead by police on the scene. Although his family has said their son lost control of the car, Israeli authorities have deemed the incident a “terrorist attack.” The Jewish Quarter, where the attack on the Palestinian woman occurred on Thursday, is located in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem. After the area was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967, around 6,000 Palestinians from nearby areas were summarily evicted in order to massively expand the small Jewish quarter that historically existed in the area. Palestinians today consider the area to be a settlement due to the widespread destruction of Palestinian property in the area and its replacement with buildings and services targeting an exclusively Jewish residential population.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734949

Twilight Zone: Assaulted for being Arab
Haaretz 24 Oct by Gideon Levy & Alex Levac — In a Jerusalem hotel, a group of guests from Afula attacked an Arab employee, an education student. They were released quickly. He’s still afraid to leave home — Mohammed Azam is so frightened he won’t leave his house. He’s petrified of traveling on a bus, on the light-rail train and even in a taxi. His father drives him everywhere. He’s also apprehensive about going back to the university when the academic year begins next week. He’s ashamed to face other students while he is still bandaged, limping and wracked by pain. Azam is in this state because he was beaten: According to testimony from witnesses, he was assaulted because he is an Arab. Azam is studying special education at the Open University in West Jerusalem. For a living, he works as a room attendant at the Rimonim Shalom Hotel in the city’s largely Orthodox Bayit Vegan neighborhood. He himself lives in the Shuafat neighborhood, in the northern part of the city. Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the teenager who this summer was kidnapped and murdered – burned alive – was a cousin and a neighbor. Azam was with him the night he was abducted. Azam’s father, Faisal, a building contractor, is from the Azazma Bedouin tribe in the Negev; his forebears moved to Shuafat over a century ago. Many members of the family serve in the Israeli army. Azam, a charming, soft-spoken young man of 20, speaks fluent Hebrew. “There are children who have special needs, and I want to help them,” he explains. “That’s what drew me to the special-ed field.”
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.622532

Several Palestinians injured in Hebron
IMEMC/Agencies 24 Oct by Saed Bannoura — Palestinian medical sources have reported, Friday, that many residents, including a child, have been injured after Israeli soldiers attacked a nonviolent protest at the northern entrance of Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. Eyewitnesses said hundreds of Palestinians marched in the city protesting the ongoing Israeli violations, mainly the repeated attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, before the soldiers fired dozens of rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs at them. Medical sources said several residents were injured, including a child, 7 years of age, who suffered a moderate injury and was moved to a local hospital. In related news, clashes took place near the ‘Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, after several Israeli military jeeps attempted to invade it.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69498

Seven, including a child, injured by army live fire near Ramallah
IMEMC/Agencies 24 Oct by Saed Bannoura — Medical sources have reported, on Friday evening, that six young Palestinians and a 10-year-old child were shot by live rounds fired by Israeli soldiers during clashes near the ‘Ofer Israeli detention center, west of Ramallah. Local sources said hundreds of Palestinians peacefully marched to the area of the Ofer Israeli prison, built on Palestinian lands belonging to residents of Betunia town, west of Ramallah, before the soldiers opened fire. The attack led to clashes, and the army fired dozens of live rounds, rubber-coated metal bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades, wounding the six residents, and the child, with live rounds, while many suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69501

Israeli forces disperse protests near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 Oct — Dozens of Palestinians suffered from tear-gas inhalation as Israeli forces dispersed a weekly protests in the villages of Bil‘in and Nabi Saleh near Ramallah. In Bil‘in, Israeli forces prevented protesters from nearing their lands close to the wall and fired rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas. Lands were damaged and trees caught fire as Israeli forces targeted the area with tear gas and stun grenades. Israeli forces also violently dispersed a protest in Nabi Saleh village and prevented protesters from reaching their confiscated lands. Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas at protesters, causing dozens to suffer from suffocation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735090

Solders kidnap a Palestinian researcher in occupied Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 25 Oct — Israeli soldiers violently attacked, and kidnapped, on Friday evening, a Palestinian field researcher in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, as he was documenting clashes taking place between dozens of soldiers and local Palestinian youths. The kidnapped researcher, Ahmad Sob-Laban, works for a local human rights organization; he also specializes in Israeli settlements’ affairs. Clashes took place in different parts of occupied East Jerusalem, including Silwan, Jabal al-Mokabber and the Old City, while Sob-Laban was documenting the clashes before the soldiers assaulted him. At least 30 Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber-coated metal bullets, while dozens suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, including seven members of two families. The family members were injured after the soldiers targeted several homes causing fire in two homes, but the residents managed to extinguish the fire before it spread. The seven were moved to to a local hospital. The researcher, Sob-Laban, has published numerous reports documenting Israel’s ongoing illegitimate Israeli settlement construction and expansion activities, illegal annexation of Palestinian lands, and various other violations.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69504

Palestinian detained for ‘assaulting soldier’ at Jlem checkpoint
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — Israeli soldiers on Thursday detained a Palestinian crossing between Bethlehem and Jerusalem along Route 60 for “assaulting” a soldier, Israeli media reported. The unidentified Palestinian individual was on a bus traveling toward Jerusalem from the southern Bethlehem region when soldiers boarded the bus at the Gush Etzion checkpoint prior to the Tunnels Road, Israeli news site Ynet said. The website reported that the soldiers on the checkpoint were searching the bus and checking the passports of those aboard when the incident occurred. Although Highway 60 north of the Gush Etzion checkpoint is built on land confiscated from the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and passes on bridges and above and tunnels below the town of Beit Jala, Palestinian West Bank ID holders are not allowed to enter the road.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734928

Army kidnaps nine Palestinian women in the al-Aqsa Mosque
IMEMC/Agencies 23 Oct by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers and police officers kidnapped, on Wednesday evening, nine Palestinian women while leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, and took them to a police station in the Old City. Eyewitnesses said dozens of soldiers were deployed around the al-Aqsa mosque, and its yards, since noon hours Wednesday, and stopped many Palestinian women leaving the mosque, before kidnapping nine of them. They said the soldiers kidnapped Zainab Abu Mayyala, Zeinat Abu Sbeih and Rana Da’na, while leaving through Bab Hatta gate, while Noura Al-Herbid and Mayy al-Assad and Amna while leaving through the Tribes Gate, and three women while leaving through Bab al-Asbat (Gate of the Tribes), and three more women at the King Faisal Gate. All kidnapped women were moved to the al-Qashla Police station in the Old city of occupied East Jerusalem. The army also handed two women, identified as Latifa Abdul-Latif and Wahba Sarhan warrants ordering him to head to the Police station for interrogation, Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69483

Israeli forces detain 17 Palestinians in overnight raids
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — Israeli forces detained 17 Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem overnight Wednesday, locals and Israel’s army said. In Salfit, Israeli troops detained Raed Abdullah Rayyan, Ibrahim Samih Asi, Aysar Samih Asi, Adam Yusuf Rayyan, Ahmad Harb Rayyan and Wahbi Mufid Rayyan after ransacking their homes. Three teenagers were detained in the Hebron district while two men identified as Imad Hamdi Abu Mariya, 37, and Muhammad Bregeith were detained in Beit Ummar. Hamdi Nadi Abu Sneina, 18, was detained in Hebron city, while 50-year-old Jamil Ali Khamaysa was arrested in Jenin. In the Bethlehem-area village of Husan, Israeli forces detained Ramadan Othman Sabatin after a large military force raided the area. Palestinian child Noor Salim al-Shalabi was detained in Jerusalem’s Old City.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734799

Israeli forces detain 8 Palestinians overnight
JENIN (Ma‘an) 22 Oct — Israeli forces detained eight Palestinians in the Jenin district overnight [Tuesday], security sources and an Israeli army spokeswoman said. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an Israeli forces detained Anwar Mirweh Arda, a 47-year-old member of the ‘Arraba village council, at a military checkpoint between the al-Shuada and Bir al-Basha areas. In the village of ‘Arraba soldiers detained Muntaser Jaafar Abu Salah, 17, and Fawzi Abdullah Abu Salah, 19, the sources said. Israeli forces also raided the village of al-Zababida and detained 27-year-old Ahmad Muhammad Jabr Sharqawi, who is reportedly affiliated to the Islamic Jihad movement. Meanwhile, in the city of Jenin, Israeli troops detained Mumen Hazem Arqawi, 20.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734551

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Despite tensions, plan to build 1,600 new East Jerusalem housing units still on agenda
Haaretz 23 Oct by Nir Hasson — Two meetings that could significantly increase tensions in already-tense Jerusalem are slated to take place next week: one in the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee, which will be discussing the Temple Mount, and one in the regional planning committee for Jerusalem, which is expected to approve a large-scale plan for construction in East Jerusalem. On Tuesday, the regional planning committee will discuss a plan to build 1,600 new apartments in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, which is over the Green Line. This plan sparked an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with Washington when the committee approved it for the first time in March 2010, while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel on an official visit. The plan was temporarily frozen in response to United States pressure, but in late 2012, after the UN General Assembly recognized Palestine as a nonmember observer state, it was unfrozen, and tenders were issued for construction of the new units. Nevertheless, construction still hasn’t begun, because the requisite transportation infrastructure hasn’t been completed and therefore, building permits couldn’t be issued. But on Tuesday, the Moriah development company, which is owned by the Jerusalem municipality, will ask the planning committee to let the permits be issued anyway, and also to publish additional tenders.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.622479

Settlers continue work on two illegal settlements near Nablus
NABLUS (WAFA) 21 Oct – Israeli settlers have been illegally constructing two settlement outposts on a land they have unlawfully stolen from Palestinian residents in the village of Yanoun, southeast of Nablus, according to a local activist.  For the last month, settlers have been working on two settlement outposts; one in Dowa area to the south, and the other to the northeast of the village. He said that settlers moved into the outposts a week ago; they placed mobile homes on the land and paved roads through the settlements. A source at the village municipality said that Yanoun is engulfed by settlements; it is surrounded by five settlement outposts. Settlers have taken over vast areas of land, leaving only tens of dunums and a large number of trees, which were destroyed by settlers. Given the location of the village, residents have been enduring constant harassment from the settlers for years. In 2002, residents were forced to leave their homes due to settlers’ brutal attacks against them. They later returned back to their homes with the help of international activists.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26834

Israel confiscates 20 dunums of Palestinian land near Salfit
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — Israeli authorities on Thursday confiscated 20 dunums (5 acres) of Palestinian land near the Jewish settlement bloc of Ariel in the northern West Bank, on the same day that Israeli authorities halted plans to take 15 dunums (4 acres) nearby. Israeli bulldozers began razing 20 dunums of agricultural lands in the Palestinian village of Haris near Barqan settlement on Thursday, while locals said dozens of Israelis from the nearby Jewish settlement came to help destroy the fields. Palestinian local Muhammad Suf told Ma‘an that the lands belonged to his grandfather Ali Abed Daoud Jaber Suf from Haris near the Khillet Habiba area north of Barqan settlement. The land seizure and destruction of Palestinian agriculture comes on the same day that Palestinian officials working in coordination with the local Committee Against Israel’s Separation Wall and the Settlements announced that they had succeeded in saving 15 dunums of land from confiscation just a few kilometers away, in the southwestern part of the Ariel settlement bloc. The office of the Salfit governorate said in a statement that the land, located in Bruqin village, had been under threat since its owners were handed a 2013 evacuation order that stated the land was Israeli state property … Since the beginning of the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Israel has confiscated hundreds of thousands of dunums by declaring it state land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734790

How Israel forces Bedouins to live in a graveyard
Electronic Intifada 24 Oct by Stephanie Westbrook — There is no exit sign off Route 40 for the unpaved road leading to the village of al-Araqib. Located in the Naqab (Negev) region of present-day Israel, al-Araqib is older than the state itself: its cemetery dates back to 1914. Yet that is not considered significant by the authorities. Home to a Palestinian Bedouin community, al-Araqib is deemed an “unrecognized village” by Israel. That gives the authorities an excuse to deprive it and many other Bedouin villages of essential services such as electricity and water.  The deprivation is especially acute in al-Araqib. Because their homes have been demolished more than seventy times since 2010, the local Bedouins are forced to live within the confines of the cemetery. Rubble from their old houses has been removed by the authorities but remnants of kitchen and bathroom tiles still litter the ground. Today, the Bedouins have to rely on a well dug in 1913 for water. “Before, we had electricity and water piped to the houses, but the government destroyed the infrastructure,” said resident Sheikh Sayah al-Turi. “We just want tap water like everyone else.”By contrast, water is abundant across the road in the Jewish-only settlement of Givot Bar. Lawns are green in this settlement — even though it is located in the desert.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israel-forces-bedouins-live-graveyard/13969

In West Bank, Palestinians gird for settler attacks on olive trees
KFAR YASSUF, West Bank 22 Oct by William Booth — The rains have come to wash away the dust of summer from the olives, and so the annual harvest has begun — and with it, another cycle of violence against man and tree. Mohammad Hamoudah and his wife were picking olives in their grove last week when he saw five or six men darting among the trees, their faces hidden by scarves, carrying sticks and shepherd’s crooks.“We ran for the car,” said Hamoudah, a Palestinian from this village south of Nablus. The assailants smashed a window with a club. They struck his wife on the leg. “They were savages,” he said.Hamoudah said his attackers were Jewish settlers; four were later arrested, he said, and when Hamoudah went to the police station to identify them, one of the settlers accused the Israeli police officer of turning against his own people to help the Arabs. “The policeman slapped him to the floor,” Hamoudah said. “I have to say, I respected that.” There is far worse violence in the Middle East today — in Syria, Iraq and Libya — and so the seasonal clashes in the olive groves of the West Bank can seem peripheral, almost trivial. But not to the Palestinians. More than 80,000 Palestinian farmers derive a substantial portion of their annual income from olives. Harvesting the fruit, pressing the oil, selling and sharing the produce is a ritual of life. Now, so is losing trees. Last year, the United Nations reported that Israeli settlers damaged or destroyed nearly 11,000 olive trees and saplings owned by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The trees were burned, toppled by bulldozers, felled with chain saws.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/in-west-bank-palestinians-gird-for-settler-attacks-on-olive-trees/2014/10/21/eb4f5096-54a8-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

Israeli settlers’ violence, movement restrictions negatively impact olive industry
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 23 Oct – The ongoing Israeli settlers’ violence and the access restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians with regards to accessing their olive groves, continue to negatively impact their lives and livelihoods, said UN Humanitarian Coordinator James Rawley on Thursday. Community representatives and olive farmers in the towns of al-Janiya in the Ramallah governorate, and Biddu in the Jerusalem governorate described the negative impact that continued settler violence and access restrictions to their olive groves have on their lives and livelihoods. United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Rawly, visited two Palestinian, olive-producing communities in the central West Bank today, along with members of the diplomatic and donor community, the Ministry of Agriculture, and representatives of humanitarian organizations. UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) briefed the delegation on the programs which are specifically dedicated to support al-Janiya and Biddu as productive olive-producing communities along others in the West Bank. Rawly said the annual olive harvest is a vital economic, social and cultural component for the Palestinian livelihood, because “nearly half of all cultivated land in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) is planted with olive trees.”  Communities with olive groves located between the Israeli Segregation Wall and the 1967 borders, and in the vicinity of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, face serious challenges in maintaining and harvesting their olive crops … According to OCHA statistics, the olive oil industry constitutes 25% of Palestinians agricultural income.  The statement said that in the period between 2006 to the end of September 2014, OCHA recorded over 2,300 settler-related incidents which resulted in Palestinian casualties or property damage in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2013 alone, there were nearly 399 incidents of settlers’ violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, reported OCHA.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26843

Jewish settlers torch Palestinian olive groves in W. Bank
World Bulletin/News Desk 22 Oct — A group of Jewish settlers set fire to around 100 olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. “A group of settlers from the Yitzhar settlement located near Huwara town in Nablus set fire to the town’s olive fields, causing the destruction of 100 trees,” Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official in charge of the settlements file in the northern West Bank, told Anadolu Agency. The attack sparked clashes between the settlers and local residents, which ended upon the arrival of Israeli army troops.Daghlas condemned what he described as increasing settler attacks on Palestinian property and olive fields, slamming the Jewish-only Yitzhar settlement as “a center of extremism.” “The settlement hosts a religious school and a religious center that issues edicts that call for killing Palestinians and stealing their land,” the official said.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/146806/jewish-settlers-torch-palestinian-olive-grove-in-w-bank

Photos: Zionist settlers burn Palestinian olive grove
HUWWARA, Occupied Palestine (ISM, Nablus Team) 22 Oct — This morning at approximately 09:30, settlers from the illegal settlement of  Yizhar set fire to a Palestinian olive field above Huwwara village, just outside of Nablus. The settlers set the land on fire from the top of the hill. People from the village started fighting the fire, but suddenly the wind turned and the flames started moving towards the illegal settlement on the top of the hill. At this point the settlers started fighting their own fire, to prevent damage to their illegal buildings. The owner of the land, Nasser Jihad Mufdi Houwwari, spoke to ISM about his previous experiences with settlers, in 2002 settlers from Yizhar shot Nasser in the shoulder with two bullets. Nasser continued to state that they [the settlers] threaten him and damage his properties every year, however this is the first time they burnt such a large area of his land.
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/10/zionist-settlers-burn-palestinian-olive-grove/

Prisoners

Palestinian minors ‘assaulted, beaten’ in Israeli custody
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 Oct — The Palestinian Authority Department of Prisoner’s Affairs said Wednesday that “dozens” of Palestinian minors jailed by Israel have recently been beaten or assaulted during their time in Israeli custody. In a statement, the department reported the testimonies of two Palestinian minors whom lawyer Hiba Ighbarya visited in HaSharon prison in central Israel. Sixteen-year-old prisoner Muhammad Khaled Sharifeh from the Old City of Jerusalem said he was detained on July 7 as he was leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque at noon. He said he was attacked by several Israeli soldiers, searched, detained as his hands were cuffed with plastic zip ties, and placed in a military vehicle. Sharifeh said he was seated between two Israeli soldiers and forced to keep his head down during the ride to a detention center in the Salah al-Din area of Jerusalem.  When he raised his head up during the ride, he said he was “vigorously beaten.” Once inside the interrogation center, he was hit several times on his face, and eventually transferred to the Russian compound jail. There he was held for six days, after which he was tried and sentenced to house arrest … In another case, 17-year-old Wissan Hussein Awri from Wadi al-Juz in Jerusalem said he was detained on Aug. 1 when he was attacked by undercover Israeli forces in his neighborhood around 1 p.m. Awri said one of the officers held him by his neck as another beat him. They then threw him on the ground, punched and kicked him, and cuffed his hands and feet. He was then taken to an interrogation center and was interrogated with his hands and feet still cuffed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734581

Gaza

Palestinian child killed by unexploded Israeli ordnance in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 Oct — A Palestinian child died on Wednesday after he touched an unexploded Israeli ordnance left over from the most recent offensive over the summer, causing it to explode. Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said that 4-year-old Muhammad Sami Abu Jrad from the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun was killed after he came into contact with the ordnance. Muhammad was severely injured when the ordnance exploded as a result of contact, and passed away after beign transferred to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Muhammad is at least the 10th person to be killed by unexploded Israeli ordnance, including six in August and three in September. Watch groups have warned that the ordnance can be a particular threat to children, who often think the bombs are toys.
The Gaza Strip is currently littered with a large number of unexploded Israeli ordnance … Although Gaza police explosives teams have been working across the territory to destroy unexploded ordnance and prevent safety threats to locals, lack of proper equipment due to the seven-year Israeli siege as well as lack of resources more generally have hindered efforts. Even before the most frequent Israeli assault, unexploded ordnance from the 2008-9 and 2012 offensives was a major threat to Gazans. A 2012 report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that 111 civilians, 64 of whom were children, were casualties to unexploded ordnance between 2009 and 2012, reaching an average of four every month in 2012.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734728

Palestinian fishermen survive Israeli gunboat attack off Gaza shores
RAFAH (PIC) 24 Oct — Two Palestinian fishermen from Baker family survived a gunfire attack  by an Israeli gunboat off Rafah shores southern Gaza strip. The fishing boat was entirely burned during the attack. Local sources asserted that an Israeli gunboat chased the Palestinian fishing boat off Rafah shores before opening fire at it. Fortunately, the two fishermen managed to jump from their boat moments before being attacked. The Israeli gunboat opened heavy machinegun fire at the fishing boat until it burst into flames.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

PCHR report: Israeli attacks on fishermen in the Gaza Sea
GAZA, Occupied Palestine (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights) 22 Oct — Israeli Naval forces continued to carry out attacks on Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip during the reporting period[1] (1–30 September 2014), including 18 shooting incidents that resulted in the injury of a fishermen while fishing; 4 chasing incidents that led to the arrest of 11 fishermen; and confiscation of 4 fishing boats and 22 pieces of fishing nets belonging to Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli naval forces did not comply with the ceasefire agreement concluded between Israel and Palestinian armed groups under Egyptian auspices on 26 August 2014. This agreement includes allowing Palestinian fishermen to sail within 6 nautical miles in the Gaza Sea. According to PCHR’s investigations, all attacks took place within the distance of 6 nautical miles, which proves that Israeli forces’ policies aim to tighten restrictions on the Gaza Strip’s fishermen and their livelihoods.
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/10/pchr-report-israeli-attacks-on-fishermen-in-the-gaza-sea/

Minister: Gaza reconstruction to begin in November
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 Oct — Private companies will begin removing the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza in November, a Palestinian minister said Wednesday. Mufid al-Hasayneh, minister of housing and public works, said that reconstruction will start by the beginning next month, with companies removing the masses of rubble left over from Israel’s military offensive. After the rubble is removed it will be taken to two sites; one in Gaza City and one in Rafah. Work will begin in the next few days to prepare the sites. The PA is due to sign an agreement with the United Nations Development Program to distribute $10 million to families whose homes were partially destroyed. Each family will receive between $1,000-$2,000 to repair their houses. The money will come from PA coffers, al-Hasayneh said, as financial support for reconstruction has yet to arrive.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734560

Official: UN exerting efforts to solve Gaza salary crisis
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 Oct — A UN official told Ma‘an Tuesday that the UN has been exerting significant efforts to work out a solution to the salary crisis in the Gaza Strip. The official, who spoke to Ma‘an on the condition of anonymity, said Qatar had not transferred the $30 million it had pledged, and for that reason the salaries of civil servants had not been paid. He said the money was expected to be transferred to the UN by the end of October, “unless there are surprises” related to security concerns. “The UN cannot deliver the money to the Gaza Strip without the approval of all sides,” including Israel, he said. He said the sides “are discussing a possible mechanism to make the payment,” without providing further details.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734537

World Bank to approve emergency funds for Gaza
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — The World Bank is set to allocate millions of dollars for emergency aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip, a top official says. Inger Andersen says the aid, expected to be approved Oct. 30, will fund repairs to damaged infrastructure and help the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority recover losses incurred in Israel’s five-week assault. “We’re rushing through four emergency projects right now,” Andersen, the World Bank’s vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview with Ma’an, which will air over the weekend. “We are trying very much to respond to this crisis and respond quickly enough.” The budget assistance will allow the Palestinian Authority to recoup the costs of medical bills from treating thousands of Palestinians hurt in the 50 days of violence. The rest of the $63 million will go toward repairing water, power and municipal infrastructure. Existing World Bank projects are worth a combined $180 million, of which half is designated for Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734979

Arab Idol winner wants to give back to Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) 22 Oct by Mohammed Daraghmeh — Last year’s feel-good winner of the TV singing contest Arab Idol said Wednesday he wants to give back to Gaza, where he grew up, by setting up an arts center nurturing young musicians, writers and actors.The center would be funded by Palestinian Americans who have pledged support, Mohammed Assaf, 24, said in an interview in the Gaza City office of The Associated Press.He said he is waiting for a new Palestinian unity government to establish a foothold in Gaza before moving ahead … Assaf, who grew up in Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp, catapulted to regional fame after his Arab Idol win and also performed in the U.S. He has visited Gaza twice this year. “Both times, I found Gazans to be very sad, but this time I see much more sadness,” he said, referring to the period since the summer’s war between Israel and Hamas. “My generation is frustrated,” he said. “Everyone I met asked me to help them leave the country. They want to leave because they have no hope. Problems here are so big and complicated. Blockade, division, wars.” Assaf said he felt equally hopeless before last year’s competition in Beirut. He couldn’t find a job after college and dreamed of getting a civil service job for $300 a month, he said. “Thank God, I had this rare opportunity,” he said.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/22/arab-idol-winner-wants-to-give-back-to-gaza/

Gaza relief efforts overrun by corruption, inefficiency
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Al-Monitor) 23 Oct by Mohammed Othman — Although the Gaza Strip has received millions from the Palestinian government and international donors, many of those in need have not received any aid while others are cashing in more than they should — A Gaza Ministry of Interior official told Al-Monitor that some relief organizations have stolen from financial and material aid intended to be distributed to Gaza Strip residents.Ayman Ayesh, director of Gaza’s General Administration of Public Affairs and NGO Department, told Al-Monitor that the department had uncovered a multitude of thefts. He said, “We arrested a member of an organization that had received special aid for the displaced, following complaints indicating that he was stealing from the organization headed by one of his relatives. The allegations were proven true following an investigation, and the thefts, amounting to half of the assistance received by the organization, were recovered.” Ayesh cited the sale of aid, particularly medical aid to pharmacies, as one of several infractions committed by those administering aid.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/palestine-aid-donors-corruption.html

Other news

Indirect ceasefire negotiations to resume Monday in Cairo
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Oct — Indirect negotiations between Palestinians and Israel in the wake of the 50-day Gaza assault will resume on October 27, an Islamic Jihad leader said Thursday. Khalid al-Batsh told Ma‘an that the Egyptian side had sent both sides invitations to resume indirect negotiations on Monday, and that the agenda will focus on expanding the zone allowed to Gaza fishermen as well as other topics raised in earlier rounds of talks but not settled. He pointed out that the Israeli violations of the ceasefire should be “confronted in the field” and that the resistance should fight back against these violations immediately, adding that putting an end to these violations will be on the Palestinian delegation’s agenda. For the most part, however, al-Batsh said that the agenda would remain similar to earlier rounds of talks due to Israel’s failure to fulfill a number of key demands.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734900

US publicly humiliates Israeli defense minister as visit ends
Haaretz 25 Oct by Barak Ravid — Ya’alon declares crisis between him and Obama administration over, only to find out that it revealed he was denied audience with top official — The White House refused to give Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon an audience with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice during his trip to the United States this week, senior American officials confirmed Friday. The reason for the cold shoulder was a number of statements Ya’alon made six months ago, in which he criticized the Obama administration and Kerry in particular. “Given some of his comments in the recent past, it should come as no surprise that he was denied some meetings,” a senior U.S. official told Haaretz. During his visit, Ya’alon met with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. A senior American official told the Associated Press that the White House wanted to instruct Power to decline meeting with Ya’alon but that they had only learned of the meeting after she had consented … Despite the fact that Ya’alon’s requests to meet with the senior members of the Obama administration were declined over a week ago, Washington waited until the visit ended before making the story public in order to humiliate the Israeli defense minister. Senior U.S. officials leaked the story to the Israeli news website Ynet, which was first to break the story, then to the AP news agency, and after that to the rest of the press. The first reports came out just after Ya’alon returned to Israel Friday afternoon.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.622632

Israel denies former IFJ chief entry to Palestine
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 23 Oct — The Israeli authorities Thursday denied entry of the former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, Aidan White, to the Palestinian Territories through Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, according to a local source. Ghassan Abdullah, head of the Educational Studies Institute, a local Palestinian educational center, said he received a phone call from White saying he was stopped at the airport and denied entry to Palestine due to the recent motion passed by the United Kingdom’s House of Representatives, in which it called on the government to recognize an independent state of Palestine. White was due to give a number of lectures to media undergraduates in a set of Palestinian universities.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26847

Palestinians mourn celebrated businessman, philanthropist
Al-Monitor 24 Oct by Daoud Kuttab — Prominent Palestinian businessman Said Khoury left behind a philanthropic legacy prompted by his desire that Palestinians everywhere live in dignity — …Said Tawfiq Khoury died Oct. 16 in his adopted city of Athens at the age of 91. He was known throughout Palestine for his love and support of his homeland and his faith in the Palestinian struggle for freedom, independence and the right of return. Imad abu Kishek, president of al-Quds University, told Al-Monitor, “[Khoury] loved Jerusalem and its university and never turned down a request we asked of him.” Khoury’s importance to the nation and the region was made clear by the unannounced appearance of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah at his funeral in Beirut’s Orthodox Church of Saint Nicolas. Also in attendance were Lebanese Prime Minister Tamam Salam and former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/said-khoury-palestinian-businessman-philanthropist.html

Israeli Jewish, Arab authors collaborate on bilingual book
Al-Monitor 23 Oct by Yuval Avivi — A new anthology of short stories and poetry (and a comic strip, too) is about to challenge Israeli readers, Jewish and Arab alike. The book, titled “Two: A Bilingual Anthology,” collects the writings of young Israeli authors, both Jewish and Arab, presenting each text in both Hebrew and Arabic. “The very fact that you are holding a book and reading it in Hebrew, with a text in Arabic script on the facing page, or vice versa, is a very powerful experience. Even if you don’t read Arabic, when reading this book you can no longer remain oblivious to the fact that this is a place where people live and create in two languages,” said Anat Niv, editor-in-chief of the Keter Books publishing house, which released the book.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/language-hebrew-arabic-book-poet-writer-israel-palrestinian.html

Seanad Éireann recognizes the state of Palestine
IMEMC/Agencies 23 Oct — The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign congratulated, today, Seanad Éireann on passing a motion calling on the Irish Government to formally recognize the State of Palestine. The motion, which was tabled by Sen. Averil Power and supported by Senators from all parties, as well as independents, was passed this afternoon without a vote, according to the PNN. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Charlie Flanagan TD, will come before the Seanad in November, to further discuss the issue. IPSC Spokesperson Freda Hughes announced: “We welcome this move on behalf of Seanad Eireann which follows similar recent votes in the British and Swedish parliaments.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69489

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