‘Not a rare incident’: Israel settlers have attempted to firebomb Palestinian homes at least 15 times since 2008

Settlers burnt 15 Palestinian homes in seven years
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — The burning of Palestinian homes by Israeli settlers, as happened in Duma on Friday, “is not a rare incident”, Quds Press reported Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din saying yesterday. The organisation said that it has documented 15 cases where Israeli settlers have burnt or attempted to burn Palestinian homes since 2008. In a statement, Yesh Din said that the Palestinians submit complaints to the Israeli police stations, however in 10 instances the files were closed without anyone being brought to justice. Two cases are still being investigated. In the West Bank village of Burin alone three Palestinian homes were burnt by Israeli settlers, the statement said. “If the Israeli occupation authorities dealt strictly with such cases,” Yesh Din said, “the burning of infant Ali Dawabshe [from Duma, Nablus] would not have happened.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20189-settlers-burnt-15-palestinian-homes-in-seven-years

Violence / Raids / Attacks / Clashes / Detentions — West Bank, Jerusalem

Israeli settlers attempt to kidnap Palestinian child, relatives say
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — Israeli settlers attempted to kidnap Ahmad Nader Mohammad Qaqour, eight, from the town of Hizma north of Jerusalem on Monday, the child’s father said. Nader Qaqour, father of Ahmad, said that four Israeli settlers in a silver-colored Mazda car tried to kidnap Ahmad from the main street.  “The settlers were driving their car on the right side, but changed their direction suddenly when they saw Ahmad crossing the road,” Qaqour said. “When the settlers drove near Ahmad, I rushed towards him and asked him to back off,” Qaqour added.  “After that, the car headed to Neve Yaakov settlement near Hizma.”  The incident comes just three days after Israeli settlers set ablaze a Palestinian home in the village of Duma near Nablus last Friday, killing a toddler and injuring four others. The Israeli leadership condemned the attack as terrorism.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766856

Jewish settlers destroy crops after arson attempt on house fails
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — Jewish settlers set fire to dozens of olive trees, fields and agricultural land belonging to Palestinians on Sunday, after their arson attack failed to destroy a local house. The attack took place in the village of Al-Mughier, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Eyewitnesses told Quds Press that a group of Jewish settlers came from one of the Israeli settlements near the village and tried to burn a house down. They fled when they were spotted by villagers. “While they were being chased by the villagers,” the witnesses added, “the Israeli occupation forces arrived and began to fire tear gas and rubber bullets to secure the settlers’ withdrawal.” The same sources said that the settlers took advantage of the clashes that broke out between local youths and the occupation forces and burned dozens of olive trees in Al-Rufid, part of the land belonging to Al-Mughier. “More than 50 olive trees were burnt down.” In the same context, the sources pointed out that the occupation forces attacked and severely beat three unidentified Palestinian youths from Al-Mughier before arresting them and taking them to an unknown destination. A number of local citizens sustained various injuries that were described as “minor”; they also suffered from tear gas inhalation.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20194-jewish-settlers-destroy-crops-after-arson-attack-on-house-fails

Nightraids in the souk: Israeli soldiers terrorize Old City of Hebron
Al Khalil, Occupied Palestine 3 Aug by ISM Khalil Team — At around 11:00 PM on the night of August 1st, a fire began in the souk of Hebron’s Old City.The fire was coming from a building that overhangs into the souk from the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah. The Israeli military came and immediately began detaining Palestinians, saying that the cause of the fire was from a Molotov. Local Palestinians say that they believe it was actually an illegal Israeli settler that threw the Molotov into the house, as a way to cause problems for the Palestinians. No one lived in the house where the Molotov was thrown. The Israeli military presence became massive with about 70 soldiers, border police, and police, as well as army jeeps and a large armored vehicle. The military was claiming that there was a homemade bomb in one of the houses. They started to forbid movement and surrounded the area, detaining people for several hours. They detained eight Palestinians, two of whom were arrested, handcuffed, and blindfolded.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/08/nightraids-in-the-souk-israeli-soldiers-terrorize-old-city-of-hebron/

Clashes erupt after Israeli forces raid Jenin-area village
JENIN (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — Israeli military forces and archaeologists on Tuesday entered the old city of ‘Arraba, southwest of Jenin, leading to clashes with local residents, officials said. ‘Arraba local council member Mutazz al-Hajj Ahmad told Ma‘an that three military jeeps raided the al-Qusor and Sibat areas of the old city, with clashes breaking out. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinian villagers. Witnesses said that Israeli archaeologists took pictures of ruins in the area.  Local Palestinian authorities were not informed by Israeli forces of their activities in ‘Arraba.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766862

Israeli forces raid, set olive trees ablaze southwest of Jenin
JENIN (WAFA) 3 Aug – Stun grenades and teargas canisters fired by Israeli soldiers during a raid on the town of Ya‘bad, to the west of Jenin, on Monday caused fire to erupt in a Palestinian-owned land, according to local sources. Samer Abu Baker, Head of Ya’bad municipality, said large Israeli army forces stormed the town in the early morning, while firing heavy tear gas and stun grenades, provoking confrontations with the town’s locals, however, No injuries or arrests were reported. He said that the heavy firing of tear gas canisters by forces caused a nearby land planted with olive trees to catch fire. Soldiers also mounted the rooftops of several homes in the town during the clashes and turned them into military outposts. The town, which is located in Area B, under Palestinian civil control and Israeli military control, has been a target of almost daily Israeli violations, which mainly include repeated closures of agricultural roads and uprooting of olive trees.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29005

Witnesses: Israeli forces assault, detain Palestinian in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man from the Old City of Hebron on Tuesday after assaulting him, the detainee’s brother said. Hussein Falah al-Natsheh, 50, was cut on his face with a bayonet attached to an Israeli soldiers’ gun before being detained, his brother Hassan told Ma‘an. Relatives say the family has been frequently harassed by Israeli forces in Hebron, with soldiers detaining Hussein’s nephews, aged 16 and 20, ten days earlier.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766859

Nine arrests . . . clashes and injuries after a settler raises the Israeli flag inside Al-Aqsa
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 4 Aug — Dozens of Muslim worshippers and employees of Al-Aqsa Mosque confronted on Tuesday a settler after he raised the Israeli flag in the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock. Witnesses explained that one settler broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque through Dung and raised the Israeli flag upon arrival to the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock. Al-Aqsa guards asked the police to prevent the settler from raising the flag but the police provided him with full protection. A group of guards and Marabouts confronted the settler and took the flag away from and ripped it apart resulting in clashes between them and the settle; the police assaulted the Jerusalemites. The settler attacked the guards and Marabouts with a sharp tool which led to the injury of the guards Mohammad Badran (mouth) and Suleiman Abu Mayyaleh (bruises in the leg). The forces arrested Majdi Abbasi and a group of the Islamic Awqaf Department employees (Director of the Department of manuscripts Radwan Amro, Fadi Bakir, Husam Sider, Ahmad Abu Alya, Majd Abdeen and Raed Zghayar). Al-Aqsa guards organized a sit-in in front of Al-Qishleh police center in the Old City of Jerusalem to condemn the arrests and assaults against Al-Awqaf employees.
http://silwanic.net/?p=60611

The incident was a bit stranger than Silwanic realized – not a settler, nor a Jew:
Christian French tourist beaten on Temple Mount for raising Israeli flag
JPost 4 Aug by Daniel K. Eisenbud — A Christian tourist from France who was beaten by Muslims on the Temple Mount Tuesday morning after raising an Israeli flag near al-Aksa Mosque may face legal charges for incitement and disturbing the public order at the contested holy site. According to police spokeswoman Luba Samri, the attack took place shortly after visiting hours for non-Muslims commenced. When the 35-year-old man removed the flag from his bag and raised it, four Muslim men attacked him, leaving him bloodied. The four assailants were detained, and the tourist was treated at the scene for a light head wound and then escorted off the compound by police and detained for questioning. He may face legal charges for incitement, Samri said, adding that visiting hours resumed after the assault without further incident … Although the Supreme Court has upheld Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount – which is overseen by the Wakf Muslim religious trust – the court allows police to prevent any form of worship there if they believe such activities will incite a “disturbance to the public order.” Apart from forbidding open displays of Jewish prayer, expressions of Israeli nationalism are deemed to be a form of incitement and have resulted in detention and arrests.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Christian-French-tourist-beaten-on-Temple-Mount-for-raising-Israeli-flag-411098

Israeli police suppress demonstration in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 4 Aug – Israeli police Tuesday suppressed a peaceful demonstration organized by Islamic Waqf personnel against Israel’s imprisonment of a number of their colleagues, according to WAFA correspondent. During the protest, Israeli police arrested journalist Abdul-Karim Darwish, a photographer with Quds TV, and Islamic Waqf PR official Feras Dabbas. Last week, Israeli police arrested a number of Jordan-affiliated Islamic Waqf staff during a crackdown on al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the city, following a rise in provocative visits by extremist Jewish fanatics to the holy site. Under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf monitors daily activities in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest place in Islam. Jordan has responsibility for managing the mosque compound and other holy sites in the eastern part of the city.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29021

Army kidnaps 17 Palestinians in the West Bank
IMEMC/Agencies 4 Aug — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, several Palestinian communities, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, broke into and searched dozens of homes, and kidnapped seventeen Palestinians. Several Israeli military vehicles invaded the ‘Aida refugee camp, in Bethlehem, kidnapped six Palestinians and summoned three others for interrogation . . . Former political prisoner Mohammad Taleb Dar’awy, from the Shawawra village, east of Bethlehem, was also summoned for interrogation. He was released only three days ago, after being imprisoned for thirteen years. In Jerusalem, soldiers kidnapped Fadi Bakeer, one of the guards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a mosque official in charge of manuscripts, identified as Radwan ‘Amro, in addition to a third young man who remained unidentified until the time of this report.  In addition, several military vehicles invaded Iraq at-Tayeh village, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, and kidnapped Fadel Msaddeq al-Masri, 20. Resident Anas Hussein Darawsha, 26, from ‘Awarta village, was kidnapped on the Huwwara roadblock, and Anas Fawzi Ziyada, 20, was taken prisoner from his home in Madama village, south of Nablus. Furthermore, soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian, identified as Soheib Abdul-Rauf at-Teety, 18, after searching his family home in the al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.  The soldiers also invaded Khirbit al-Batm area of Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and removed barbed wire surrounding Palestinian agricultural lands. Local villagers said the army is trying to push them out of their lands to expand the Avigail illegal outpost. In addition, soldiers invaded various neighborhoods in Hebron city, and installed several roadblocks in the Old City and its northern entrance, in addition to the main entrance of Sa‘ir town, east of Hebron.
https://www.imemc.org/article/72505

Palestinian arrested with ax in West Bank, claims he held weapon for self-defense
JPost 3 Aug — A Palestinian was apprehended in the West Bank early Monday morning for carrying an ax that he claimed he was holding for self defense. Police said it stopped a car on Highway 5 that was traveling in a suspicious manner and while questioning the driver, a man from the village of Siris, they noticed a shiny and sharp object laying at his feet. The man claimed he was traveling with the ax for self defense purposes. Police arrested him and took him in for further questioning.
Later in the day, Border Police forces arrested a Palestinian in the West Bank near the Tapuah checkpoint who tried to escape from police custody and as a result police opened fire and shot him in the lower extremities. The Palestinian, who was arrested for questioning on past allegations, was handcuffed when he asked the police if he could use the washroom at the checkpoint. The police agreed, and released the restraints. When the man exited the washroom he pushed aside the police forces and began to run to the nearby village. Police began to chase after the suspect who did not stop following a warning shot in the air so they shot him in the lower body.  Border Police medical personnel treated the man at the scene who was then transferred to hospital.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinian-arrested-with-ax-in-West-Bank-claims-he-needed-weapon-for-self-defense-410971

Two injured in Jerusalem firebomb attack on moving car
Ma‘an 3 Aug — Unknown attackers threw a firebomb at a moving car in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina Monday evening, injuring two, Israeli media reported. The attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a car driven by a 27-year-old Israeli woman, who then lost control of the vehicle and hit another car, injuring a second driver.  The 27-year-old suffers from first and second degree burns on 15 percent of her body, Israeli media reported, while the man driving the second car was lightly injured. Both have been taken to the hospital.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766841

Vigilante effort after a child’s death marks stark change in West Bank
DUMA, West Bank (NYTimes) 3 Aug by Diaa Hadid — Early one recent morning, a few residents of this sleepy hilltop hamlet heard that Jewish settlers were hurling rocks at a house. Almost instantly they started posting messages on Facebook, rousing neighbors — then somebody’s brother called a friend, who called his cousin, who called the Muslim preacher, who rushed to the mosque, flicked on a megaphone rigged to the minaret and shouted: “Citizens must gather to repel the settlers!” said Hatem Dawabsheh, a Duma resident, recalling the early Sunday morning episode. “It was faster than Facebook,” he laughed. “Everybody heard it at the same time.” Tens of Duma’s young men headed into the olive orchards, using their cellphones for illumination and wooden broomsticks for protection, hoping their presence had shooed the attackers away. The impromptu vigilante effort underscored a stark change in this West Bank village after Jewish extremists were suspected of firebombing a house on Friday, killing an 18-month-old boy, Ali Dawabsheh, and severely burning his parents and 4-year-old brother. Duma, an isolated village, had long ago found a peaceful accommodation in an otherwise tense area. Its residents helped build nearby settlements, taking jobs in construction, and were not very involved in issues of governance and local politics. But now, with a mixture of anger and ambivalence, they run security patrols — and clash with Israeli forces. With newfound vigor, they loudly criticize their Palestinian representatives, furious that officials co-opted the slain child’s funeral to appear instead as a festival of allegiance to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. Now, some speak of uprising.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/world/middleeast/palestinian-vigilante-effort-marks-stark-change-in-west-bank.html

Palestinian residents prevent settler attack in Salfit village
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 5 Aug — Palestinian residents of the Salfit-district village of Haris were able to prevent an attack on their village by Israeli settlers overnight Tuesday, locals said. Resident Ahmad Soof told Ma‘an that dozens of settlers sneaked into the western outskirts of the village through fields of olive trees and gathered not far from village houses. However, the villagers noticed the settlers’ suspicious movement and began to chase them in groups, forcing them to run away, he said. Soof added that Israeli forces arrived and “helped the settlers run away, preventing villagers from reaching them.” He said that the Israeli soldiers fired flares and stun grenades at the villagers. According to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, Israel has confiscated about a third of Haris’ village lands for the construction of four illegal Israel settlements.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766870

‘A miracle saved my five boys’
JPost 4 Aug by Tovah Lazaroff — Emam Dawabsha believes God’s mercy saved her five children from the two arsonists who on Friday torched the back room of their home where they typically slept on hot summer nights. Her family was in Nablus when the two terrorists, believed to be Jewish extremists, snuck into the West Bank village of Duma and threw firebombs through the windows of her home and that of her cousins, whose family bears the same last name, killing a toddler and leaving the rest of the family hospitalized. Emam’s family had been scheduled to return prior to the attack, but a last minute construction job for her husband, Mamoun, kept them in the Palestinian city an extra week. “If he [Mamoun] had not had that job, then maybe we would have been there that night, but God is merciful,” Emam said on Sunday, trembling slightly as she thought of her family’s near miss with death. “Maybe I would no longer have children. Maybe you would see now an empty house,” Emam said. The bottom floor of their three story home was destroyed in the fire; burned beams lined the rear of the stucco house, whose walls were partially black from smoke. Hundreds of pieces of burned clay tile and other debris covered the floor. The television in the back room melted from the fire’s heat.  “I did not want to see it,” said Emam of the air-conditioned room where her boys, ages six to 17, often camped out to escape the heat that permeated the rest of the building.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/A-miracle-saved-my-five-boys-411062

Shin Bet arrests Kahane grandson in connection to West Bank firebombing
JTA 3 Aug — In the aftermath of a deadly firebombing in a West Bank Palestinian village believed to have been perpetrated by Jewish terrorists, Israel’s Shin Bet arrested its most wanted Jewish terrorist suspect. Meir Ettinger, 24, a grandson of the late militant far-right leader Rabbi Meir Kahane, according to Haaretz, was arrested Monday in the northern Israeli town of Safed. Shin Bet officials told the French news agency AFP that it was interrogating Ettinger “because of his activities in a Jewish extremist organization.” It was not clear whether he is a suspect in Friday’s firebombing, which killed a Palestinian toddler and severely injured his family. However, officials said Ettinger was being interrogated for information that could help find the perpetrator of the bombing in Duma. Haaretz reported that Ettinger tops the Shin Bet’s list of most wanted Jewish suspects. He was believed to have been planning a series of attacks against Palestinians intended to stir up unrest among the Palestinians and bring down the Israeli government. Shin Bet sought to put Ettinger under administrative detention in 2014, according to Haaretz, but state prosecutor Shai Nitzan denied the request, instead barring Ettinger from Jerusalem and the West Bank. Last week, Haaretz reported that the Shin Bet accused Ettinger of leading an underground group responsible for the arson attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in June, a charge Ettinger denied on his blog. In his post, Ettinger denied the existence of a Jewish underground but wrote there are “lots and lots of Jews, many more than one might think, whose value system is very different than that of the High Court of Justice or the Shin Bet, and the laws that bind them are not the laws of the state … but rather laws that are much more eternal.” Kahane, who was assassinated in 1990, inspired the creation of Israel’s outlawed Kahane Chai (Kach) party.
http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/318402/shin-bet-arrests-kahane-grandson-in-connection-to-west-bank-firebombing/

Israel arrests second suspected Jewish extremist
JERUSALEM (AFP) 4 Aug — A second suspected Jewish extremist was arrested Tuesday in Israel following the firebombing of a Palestinian home that burned a baby alive, the Shin Bet internal security force said.  Israel on Monday arrested Meir Ettinger, whose grandfather Meir Kahane founded the racist anti-Palestinian Kach group, and a court prolonged his detention until the weekend on suspicion of “nationalist crimes.”  “A second individual, Eviatar Slonim, was arrested for belonging to an extremist organisation,” a Shin Bet spokeswoman told AFP, without providing details on any charges against him.  Israeli television reported that the office of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had given permission for authorities to place three suspected Jewish extremists in “administrative detention,”  The measure would need the green light from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, it added. Media reports said Ettinger could face a year of such detention under the government’s harder line against “Jewish terrorists.” Israel normally applies the measure, which dates from British-mandated Palestine, against Palestinians, allowing renewable six-month periods of detention without trial.  Currently, 379 of the 5,686 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jail are on administrative detention, according to official figures.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766865

Israel uses detention without trial on Jewish extremist
NAZARETH, Israel (AFP) 5 Aug by Majeda el-Batsh and Laurent Lozano in Jerusalem — Israel on Tuesday used a controversial form of detention without trial normally invoked for Palestinians against an alleged Jewish extremist, following an outcry over the death of a toddler in an arson attack. The use of “administrative detention” came as authorities arrested another suspected Jewish extremist and extended the detention of the leader of a radical religious group. None of the three were accused of direct involvement in last week’s firebombing of a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank in which an 18-month-old boy was killed, sparking an international outcry over Israel’s failure to get to grips with violence by hardline Jewish settlers. But the moves appeared to be part of efforts by Israeli authorities to demonstrate their will to combat extremist Jewish groups. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon signed an administrative detention order against Mordechai Mayer, an Israeli settler arrested for “his involvement in violent activities and terrorist attacks in recent times”, a defence ministry statement said. Media reports had suggested the attorney general had given permission for the authorities to take such action against three suspected extremists.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-rounds-suspected-jewish-extremists-baby-burned-202033957.html

In rare move, police ask for public to help them find suspects in Duma attack
JPost 4 Aug by Ben Hartman — The Judea and Samaria police district on Tuesday asked the public to help them find those responsible for the murder of a Palestinian infant in an arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma last week. The phone number to call with tips is 050-838-6626, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Pressed by reporters on Tuesday, the district’s spokesman said that the announcement does not mean that the investigation has hit a wall and is no different from the police asking the public for help finding missing persons, or to help solve hit-and-run accidents. It is nonetheless very rare for the police to issue such a request in a murder investigation, especially a nationalist crime being investigated in collaboration with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and which is covered by a gag order.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/In-rare-move-police-ask-for-public-to-help-them-find-suspects-in-Duma-attack-411120

PA-Israel security coordination

PA carried out 750 violations against Palestinians in July
Middle East Monitor 4 Aug — Some 750 “violations” were committed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces against Palestinians during the past month; Palestinian news agency Safa yesterday reported a prisoner group saying. In a statement, the Committee for the Families of the Palestinian Political Prisoners in the West Bank said that the PA’s “violations” regarding detention, investigation, holding trials and torture have reached record levels this year. The PA, the committee said, arrested 345 Palestinians and summoned 253 others for investigation over their political affiliation. According to the committee, the citizens arrested included 58 university students, engineers, seven journalists, three teachers and imams. Meanwhile, the committee documented six cases of torture during detention, 32 attacks on homes and inspections without detention and nine cases where the PA confiscated properties. Inside the PA prisons, the committee said that it documented 14 cases of torture, six prisoners suffered deteriorating health conditions, the detention of 73 were extended, tens were tried and three were stopped from having family visits. The committee said that the PA is currently imprisoning 104 Palestinian citizens, nine of which have been in prison for between one and seven years.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20206-pa-carried-out-750-violations-against-palestinians-in-july

Israel welcomes PA help to reduce tensions in West Bank
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) security services have conducted intense contacts over the weekend in order to stop any potential retaliation after a Palestinian toddler was burnt alive in an arson attack in his home started by settlers on Friday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed. According to the Felesteen newspaper, Haaretz reported that the Israeli security services hailed the efforts of their Palestinian counterparts, who worked to undermine any possible response to the attack in the West Bank city of Nablus. However, the paper said that the Israeli authorities are still fearful that retaliation attacks may be carried out by members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20182-israel-welcomes-pa-help-to-reduce-tensions-in-west-bank

Palestinian troops will stop revenge attacks for toddler’s murder, says top West Bank official
Haaretz 4 Aug — Jibril Rajoub blames Netanyahu and Israeli government, but says he is heartened by Israeli society’s reaction — Jibril Rajoub, former Palestinian Authority security chief in the West Bank and still a highly influential figure there, said Tuesday that PA troops are committed to preventing revenge attacks for last Friday’s murder of year-and-a-half-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh . . . Since the infant’s murder, a firebomb was thrown at an Israeli car in East Jerusalem, injuring three people; an Israeli car in the West Bank was shot at but not hit; and clashes broke out between small Palestinian groups and IDF soldiers, who killed one of the participants. But given the magnitude of the arson attack in West Bank village Duma – in addition to the toddler’s death, his 4-year-old brother and parents were critically wounded – the Palestinian reaction on the street has been muted. By contrast, the murder-by-burning last July of East Jerusalem teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir set off large-scale riots in East Jerusalem that lasted into this year. A crucial, perhaps decisive difference is that the Israel Police are in charge of security in East Jerusalem, while the Palestinian Authority handles security in the cities, villages and refugee camps of the West Bank.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.669545

PA returns three settlers to Israel
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces yesterday returned three Israeli settlers to Israel after they infiltrated the West Bank city of Jericho, Quds Press reported. Israeli Radio reported that the settlers were returned “safe” to Israel after the interference of the PA security forces. Palestinian movement Al-Ahrar condemned the PA’s actions: “We were surprised with the crime carried out by the PA security services,” the group’s statement said. “This proves that the PA is just a security agent working for the safety and protection of the Israeli occupation and its illegal settlers.” Al-Ahrar called for the PA officials who are responsible for this “crime” to be prosecuting and called for the people in the occupied West Bank to escalate clashes with the Israeli occupation.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20191-pa-returns-three-settlers-to-israel

MK Zoabi: PA responsible for Israeli terrorism against Palestinians
NAZARETH (PIC) 3 Aug — Arab MK Hanin Zoabi held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable for the preplanned terrorism perpetrated by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people.  Speaking in a TV show broadcast from the 1948 occupied territories, MK Zoabi attributed the ongoing vandalism by Israeli settlers to the policies of repression pursued by the PA towards the Palestinian masses. She said the crimes committed by fanatic Israelis and price tag gangs are also the by-product of incitement and racism against Palestinians by the Israeli Knesset, ministers, and PM Benjamin Netanyahu . . . “How come that at a time when Israelis are killing our citizens we are just trying to calm them down? This is just strange!” she said as she slammed the apathy maintained by the PA as regarding attacks against Palestinians. She stressed the role of Arab MKs in the national liberation struggle, saying: “It is our duty to address our people and urge the PA to react.” She spoke out against the security coordination and suppressive policies pursued by the PA apparatuses, including attacks on demonstrators who take to the streets to voice their protest over Israel’s usurpation of the land and the people alike.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72855

Haniyeh: Halting security coordination with Israel should deter settlers
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas, stressed that stopping the security coordination with the Israeli occupation will result in putting an end to the predominance of settlers in the West Bank. In remarks to reporters on the side-lines of his visit to the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Haniyeh said: “The attitude of predominance taken by settlers in the occupied West Bank will not be stopped except by halting security coordination with Israel and raising the hand of the PA’s security services away from the resistance.” He called for a one national vision that enhances the resistance in the face of the “Zionist orgy or predominance”. Haniyeh expressed his great trust in the West Bank’s inhabitants, saying: “Those who lit the fire in the West Bank will be burnt with the same fire. We and the Palestinian people have great confidence in the West Bank.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20187-haniyeh-halting-security-coordination-with-israel-should-deter-settlers

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Judaization

Israel demolishes three homes in unrecognized Arab village
TEL AVIV (WAFA) 4 Aug – Israeli authorities Tuesday knocked down three Palestinian-owned homes in Dahmash, an unrecognized Palestinian village located on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, according to media sources. The demolished structures belong to the Assaf family, and were recently reconstructed after being demolished by the authorities on March 15 under the pretext they were illegally constructed.  The demolition of these structures on March 15 took place despite of a High Court decision that called for a mutual agreement between local owners and the Israel authorities. Though the village’s Palestinian family has solid proof of ownership in the Israel Land Registry, the State has so far not recognized their claim to the land, and has deprived the village of the necessary infrastructure and even the most basic services, such as sewage, roads, electricity, garbage collection or a post office. Unrecognized and underprovided, the village is the last Palestinian Arab community to remain in the Central Israel district which houses the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Over the past few years, Palestinians of Dahmash have been struggling against repeated home demolitions by coming up with their own master plan in order to gain recognition for their rights to live on their land. Following the demolition, Amnesty International slammed the decision.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29016

Israeli military demolishes structures near Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 4 Aug – Israeli military Tuesday demolished a house and an animal barn in the village of Khushum ed-Daraj, south of Hebron, and an agricultural facility in the nearby town of Beit Kahel, according to local sources. Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the Antri-Settlement Commission, said an Israeli army force accompanied by bulldozers raided the village of Khushum ed-Daraj, and proceed to demolish a residential structure belonging to Mousa Hathalin, a local Palestinian, which houses his ten family members. Army also demolished an animal barn belonging to Hathalin, under the pretext of construction without permission. Meanwhile, Farouq al-Atawneh, mayor of Beit Kahel, said an army force raided the town in the morning and demolished an agricultural facility belonging to Iyad Mahfouz, a Palestinian resident, also under the same pretext.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29017

Israeli forces destroy 2 dunams of agricultural land in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — Israeli forces destroyed over two dunams (0.49 acres) of Palestinian agricultural land in the southern Hebron district on Tuesday, a local committee member said. Rateb al-Jbour, coordinator of a local popular committee in southern Hebron, said that Israeli forces raided the Izeima area and destroyed fields of planted vegetables and irrigation pipes belonging to Ahmad Barghash al-Shawahin. Israeli forces are trying to force local Palestinians off their land in the area, he added.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766858

Israeli authorities deliver demolition orders to Bedouin families
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 3 Aug — Israeli forces delivered demolition warrants to Palestinian Bedouin families in the Jabal al-Baba neighborhood of al-Eizariya, east of Jerusalem, on Monday. A spokesman of the Jabal al-Baba community, Atallah Mazarah, told Ma‘an that seven families were notified that their corrugated metal homes would be demolished. The homes to be demolished belong to the families of Hani Uweidat, Eyman Ibrahim Jahalin, Badr Muhammad Jahalin, Ghassan Suleiman Jahalin, Yasser Suleiman Mazarah, Ali Abu Kteifa, and Ahmad Suleiman Tarabin. The seven homes house around 50 people, most of whom are children. Since 2014, Israel has demolished 15 corrugated metal homes in Jabal al-Baba, leaving dozens of people homeless. Mazarah highlighted that the corrugated shelters were donated by international organizations to improve the living standard of Bedouins. Residents fear demolition orders will be issued to 32 other corrugated homes in Jabal al-Baba, as Israel plans to evacuate the hill and annex it to the illegal Maale Adumim settlement. Jabal al-Baba hill is populated by 55 Bedouin families (around 300 people) who have inhabited the hill for 65 years.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766836

Israel opens pub on Israeli cemetery lands in Jerusalem
Middle East Monitor 3 Aug — Israeli authorities yesterday opened a new coffee shop and pub build on part of the land belonging to the historical Islamic cemetery of Ma’manillah in the old city of Jerusalem, Quds Press reported. In a statement, Al-Aqsa Organisation for Waqf and Heritage said that an Israeli coffee network is running the new facility while the building is managed by the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem. The group condemned the “violation” against the cemetery, noting that opening this pub and coffee shop came as part of a series of violations against this historic cemetery. Only 20 of the 200 dunams of the original total area of the cemetery has not been destroyed, the organisation said. However, it reiterated that this area is desecrated on a daily basis. Ma’manillah is a historic Muslim cemetery that contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period. It includes several historic shrines and tombs. Muslims stopped using it [for new burials] in 1927 when the Supreme Muslim Council decided to preserve it as an historic site.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20188-israel-opens-pub-on-islamic-cemetery-lands-in-jerusalem

Houses, hotel and shops approved on land of Islamic cemetery
Middle East Monitor 31 July by Jessica Purkiss — Israeli officials have approved the construction of a massive complex which will include 200 houses, shops and a 480 room hotel in Jerusalem. The problem is this; the land that the complex will be built upon is already part of an Islamic cemetery. Although the land cited for the build is already home to a car-park and school, earlier excavations showed that bones and graves remain underneath. Located just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, the Mamilla cemetery is said to be the final resting place of the Prophet Mohammed’s companions as well as thousands of Saladin’s warriors who helped expel the Crusaders from the Holy Land nearly 1,000 years ago. It was declared by Israel’s Religious Affairs Ministry in 1948 to be “one of the most prominent Muslim cemeteries” . . . Seven years ago Jerusalem City Hall approved a Museum of Tolerance over another section of the cemetery. The Supreme Court approved the construction after officials promised that only “a few dozen graves” would be found at the entire site. However, an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed that this was not the case. It revealed that, amid great secrecy, sometimes throughout the night, an estimated 1,500 graves were unearthed and the human remains inside them were not treated appropriately. One worker was recorded saying: “The skeletons themselves were disintegrating, whatever comes out comes out, if you can put it in a box you do, and if it’s crumbling you leave it.” Gideon Suleimani, an Israeli architect who worked on the Museum of Tolerance excavations told the Haaretz investigation: “They call this an archaeological excavation but it’s really a clearing-out, an erasure of the Muslim past.” Suleimani, has since become a critic of the work, told Middle East Eye that the new plan continued a long-term process. “The policy is to dismantle what is left of Islamic heritage in Jerusalem piece by piece, to clear the area and make it Jewish,” he said. In Jerusalem, the erasure of the Islamic or Palestinian history is not new. According to Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, many Islamic sites in Jerusalem have over the years been “turned into garbage dumps, parking lots, roads and construction sites”.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/20141-houses-hotel-and-shops-approved-on-land-of-islamic-cemetery

IDF destroys illegally built home in West Bank settlement of Eli
[with video] JPost 4 Aug by Tovah Lazaroff — Just past midnight on Monday the IDF demolished one home and part of another in the Yovel outpost of the West Bank settlement of Eli. It did so in response to a High Court of Justice demolition order because they were built on private Palestinian property. The state is in the process of retroactively authorizing the Yovel outpost, a move which would make it part of the Eli settlement. Binyamin Regional Council spokeswoman Tamar Asraf said that it was painful to see the demolition and that had the High Court of Justice shown some flexibility, the event could have been avoided. “No one benefits from the razing of the structure,” said Asraf. “The Yovel neighborhood will continue to strengthen and grow.” Although Peace Now filed the High Court petition against the structures, Asraf thanked the NGO for doing so, which she said paved the way for the eventual legalization of the neighborhood. She added that she expects the final authorization to be issued soon.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-destroys-illegally-built-home-in-West-Bank-settlement-of-Eli-411054

Gaza

Qatari fuel enters Gaza Strip via Kerem Shalom crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — Qatari fuel entered the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday, a Palestinian official said, as the besieged territory continues to face an energy crisis.Deputy Head of the Energy Authority, Abed al-Karim Abdeen, told Ma’an that 180,000 liters of fuel entered the coastal territory while another 180,000 liters are due to enter on Wednesday.There will likely be more shipments next Sunday or Monday, he added.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766860

Army carries out a limited invasion into southern Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 4 Aug — Several armored Israeli military vehicles, and bulldozers, invaded on Tuesday morning Palestinian agricultural lands, northeast of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and opened fire at random while army helicopters flew overhead. The WAFA News Agency said the soldiers came from the Kissufim military base, across the border fence, east of Khan Younis.  It added that the military vehicles advanced approximately 150 meters into agricultural lands, firing smoke bombs and live rounds, while military helicopters flew overhead, forcing the residents out of their lands.
https://www.imemc.org/article/72513

Heat wave brings added suffering to displaced Gazans
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 Aug — A heat wave sweeping across the occupied Palestinian territories has brought further suffering to Gazan residents whose homes were destroyed during last summer’s deadly Gaza war.  “All the citizens who live in caravans are in very dire and disastrous living conditions,” said 60-year-old Abu Ahmad, who lives in a mobile home in the Khuzaa neighborhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.  “Death is better than our life.”  Abu Ahmad said that since the war ended a year ago, his children had left him to live with their grandfather as conditions inside the mobile homes were too poor.  “We are humans, not animals, and we can’t live in these caravans,” he said . . . Al-Najjar’s mother described the mobile home an “incubator” during the summer.”We are 30 family members living in a 30-square-meter caravan which isn’t appropriate for humans in the first place,” she said.Temperatures peaked on Sunday at nearly 40 degrees Celsius, with a humidity of more than 70 percent creating sweltering conditions in the coastal enclave.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766830

QRC water project for 120,000 in Gaza
DOHA (The Peninsula) 3 Aug : A new initiative by Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) will soon provide clean drinking water to 120,000 people in Gaza. QRC has signed a memorandum of understanding with American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) to start a project to deliver drinking water to several districts of the Gaza city to alleviate suffering of 120,000 people facing difficulty finding water in eastern Gaza. The $561,000 (QR2m) project will start by the end of the month. QRC will dig a well and establish a main pipeline connecting to the beneficiary area spread over 2sqm. ANERA will install connections between the pipeline and households during the eight-month project. Saleh bin Ali Al Mohannadi, Secretary-General, QRC, welcomed new partnership with ANERA, which will lay the foundation for joint work for the Palestinian people in Gaza, reflecting positively on their living standards.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/349192/qrc-water-project-for-120-000-in-gaza

A dirt road in Gaza, devised by Hamas as a message to Israel
GAZA 4 Aug by Jodi Rudoren — The new road known as Jakar Street is a rough dirt expanse that Hamas bulldozers cleared parallel to the fence separating this restive Palestinian strip from Israel. Jakar comes from a slang Arabic term that suggests provocation, stubbornness, an effort to vex or annoy or irritate. Leaders of Hamas, the militant movement that dominates Gaza, have been variously quoted as saying that they built the road as a future staging ground for attacks on Israel and that it will help them stop Gazans from jumping the fence and rogue groups from upsetting the fragile cease-fire by firing rockets at the enemy. More than anything, a year after the deadliest battle ever between Israel and Gaza’s militias, Jakar Street is a statement: We, too, can build a road close to the fence, and monitor your activities as you monitor ours . . . Hamas officials said the road was about 35 feet wide and stretched 25 miles, not quite Gaza’s length, while running 650 to 1,000 feet from the border fence, inside the so-called buffer zone where Israel has long restricted farming. Israel paved its own road, next to the fence and reserved for military patrols, in the 1990s.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/world/middleeast/a-dirt-road-in-gaza-intended-to-send-a-message.html

One year since Gaza, a photo a day: August 2, 2014
This is part of a series of daily posts showing photos taken on the same date a year ago, during “Operation Protective Edge,” last summer’s assault on Gaza. Members of the ActiveStills collective documented what was happening at that time inside Gaza, Israel and the West Bank. Photo 1: Palestinian youth from the village of Tamra in Israel hold dolls wrapped in a white cloth during a demonstration against the Israeli attack on Gaza, August 2, 2014. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills) Photo 2: The Al-Susi Mosque lies in ruins in Shati’ refugee camp following Israeli attacks, Gaza City, August 2, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills)
http://972mag.com/nstt_feeditem/one-year-since-gaza-a-photo-a-day-august-2-2014/

Prisoners / Court actions

Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 49 days
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 Aug – Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Allan entered his 49th day on hunger strike Tuesday as the al-Asra Prisoner’s Center for Studies called for action to release the detainee, who is being held under administrative detention. Allan, 33, is suffering from extremely low blood pressure and is currently unable to move, the center said, adding that he has lost a lot of weight. Another detainee, Abd al-Rahman Othman from Nablus, entered his 25th day on hunger strike to protest his solitary confinement in Eshel jail. He has been held in isolation for two years, the group said. Moussa Sufan entered his 15th day on hunger strike to protest a lack of medical treatment, while Jordanian national Abdullah Abu Jabel entered his 16th day on hunger strike to demand to be moved to a Jordanian prison. Khayri Daraghmeh has been on an open hunger strike for nine days to protest Israel’s refusal to allow him surgery on his stomach, while his brother, Humam, started a solidarity hunger strike with his brother on Aug. 1. Abed al-Majid Khdeirat, who was released in the prisoner exchange deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, began an open hunger strike on Aug. 1 to protest his rearrest.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766857

Israeli High Court rejects petition to free hunger-striking prisoner
EI 4 Aug by Maureen Clare Murphy — Israel’s high court on Tuesday denied a petition put forward by a lawyer representing hunger-striking Palestinian political prisoner Muhammad Allan calling for the man’s release. Allan has been held by Israel since 6 November 2014 without charge or trial, a draconian practice known as “administrative detention”– indefinitely renewable military court orders based on “secret evidence” which is not revealed even to the prisoner or their attorney. Allan, a laywer from Einbus village near the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, was supposed to appear before the high court Monday. But his hearing was delayed after the Israel Prison Service failed to provide an ambulance to transport him from a prison clinic, according to the Mohja Jerusalem Foundation, as reported by the Arabic-language Quds news site. The association called the Israeli court’s decision a “death sentence” against the prisoner, who was on his 48th day of hunger strike today.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-high-court-rejects-petition-free-hunger-striking-prisoner

Israeli court postpones Khalida Jarrar hearing for 2nd time
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 Aug — An Israeli military court on Tuesday postponed a court hearing for Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar for the second time in a row after witnesses failed to show up, her lawyer said. Mahmoud Hassan, director of the legal unit for prisoners’ rights group Addameer, accused the military prosecution of “procrastinating,” saying that they had not taken the necessary steps to have the witnesses brought to the court. The court had issued a detention order for one of the witnesses although it was not executed, he said. He added that the Israeli authorities had also failed to bring a witness who is currently being held in an Israeli jail. The court hearing was postponed to August 10.  Jarrar, an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, marked four months behind bars on Sunday.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766855

Israel issues administrative detention orders against 32 Palestinian prisoners
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 3 Aug – Israeli authorities issued administrative detention orders against 32 Palestinians, Monday reported the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC).  PPC said while three prisoners received administrative detention orders for the first time, the remaining 29 prisoners received renewed administrative orders. Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29009

Other news, analysis

The month in pictures: July 2015
Electronic Intifada 4 August
https://electronicintifada.net/content/month-pictures-july-2015/14742

Hamas calls on United Nations to cover UNRWA’s financial deficit
Middle East Monitor 4 Aug — …”We call upon the UN Central Fund to intervene and cover [UNRWA’S] deficit, given that the agency is one of the UN’s organisations and there is no justification for the reduction of its services, even if the donor countries are not able to meet their financial obligations,” the movement said in a statement released on Monday. Hamas declared its firm rejection of UNRWA’s postponement of the beginning of the school year in Palestine as a result of the fiscal deficit. “The delay is a red line and all of those who support the Palestinian people should save the school year and make it an untouchable key benchmark,” Hamas said. Hamas called on host countries of Palestinian refugees to take action and warn UNRWA and its donor countries about the risks that could result from the reduction of services. The movement also urged host countries to allow refugees to express their views by establishing protest camps on the borders with Palestine where they can communicate their demands.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20216-hamas-calls-on-united-nations-to-cover-unrwas-financial-deficit

UN chief seeks urgent funding for Palestinian refugees
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) 4 Aug — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday raised alarm over a $100 million shortfall in funding for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees and called for urgent donations. Ban said in a statement that the UNRWA relief agency was “a pillar of stability” for five million Palestinian refugees at a time when the Middle East is in the throes of crises and suffering. He called “on all donors to urgently ensure that the $100 million required be contributed to UNRWA at the earliest possible date so that the children of Palestine can begin their 2015-2016 school year without delay.” Ban has personally spoken to several world leaders in the past weeks about the unprecedented funding crisis at UNRWA, his spokesman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/un-chief-seeks-urgent-funding-palestinian-refugees-213226856.html

Following Duma crime, foreign minister hands over file on settlers’ violence to ICC prosecutor
THE HAGUE (WAFA) 3 Aug — Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad Al-Malki, Monday, following formal instructions of President Mahmoud Abbas, handed over the file prepared on settlers’ violence against the Palestinian people to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) headquarters in The Hague. Al-Malki met with the ICC prosecutor in the wake of settlers’ arson attack that targeted two homes in Nablus’ village of Duma and led to the killing of  toddler Ali Dawabsheh and the critical injury of his entire family, in order to follow up with the prosecutor’s office procedures regarding the preliminary examinations into the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  The minister further addressed a previous file that was submitted to the prosecutor’s office in June 25, 2015, on crimes committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories since June 2014, including last summer’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, ongoing illegal settlement activity, and the issue of Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel. Al-Malki briefed Bensouda on the latest grave developments in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the Duma crime, and the ‘cold-blooded’ killing of teenager Laith al-Khaldi, who was shot from behind at Atara check point near Ramallah and later succumbed to his critical wounds.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29011

Official: Hamas will not deal with new Palestinian ministers
GAZA (Ma‘an) 5 Aug — A senior Hamas official said Tuesday that his movement will not deal with the new ministers sworn into the Palestinian government in a reshuffle last week. Hamas political bureau member Moussa Abu Marzouq said on the movement’s official website that there is national agreement on removing the incumbent Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.  Marzouq said Hamdallah was “a failure,” who had not resolved anything during his time in office. The Hamas leader added that although there are currently no plans for a long-term truce with Israel, the proposed notion of forming one to solve Gaza’s issues would be considered “acceptable.” Fatah has expressed worry over the move, saying that such a truce would separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and end the possibility of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766866

Russia’s Lavrov meets Hamas chief, invites him to Moscow
GAZA (Reuters) 3 Aug — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Qatar on Monday and invited him to visit Moscow, a Hamas official said, extending a diplomatic welcome to the Palestinian group shunned by the West.
Meshaal, who is based in Doha, last traveled to Moscow in 2010, four years after his first official visit to the Russian capital.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-russias-lavrov-meets-hamas-chief-invites-him-to-moscow-official-2015-8

Heat wave inflicts severe poultry losses in the West Bank
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 Aug — As a heatwave sweep the Middle East, 43,000 fowls have died in the northern West Bank as a result of the heat, an agronomist from the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture told Ma‘an. Ibrahim Iqteishat said 43,000 chickens and turkeys mostly in Jenin, Tulkarim, Qalqiliya and Tubas have died from the heat. Temperatures peaked on Sunday at nearly 40 degrees Celsius in the occupied Palestinian territories. Iqteishat estimated the loss caused by the deaths totals to around 2.5 million shekels.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766840

Soccer — Palestinian West Bank soccer team to play in Gaza for first time since 2000
GAZA (Reuters) 4 Aug by Nidal al-Mughrabi — A Palestinian team from the Gaza Strip will host West Bank opposition for the first time in 15 years on Thursday after Israel gave the visitors permission to cross its territory for the clash between the two lands’ respective cup holders. The Gaza Strip’s Shejaia and Al-Ahly from Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will play in a fixture that appeared in doubt before the permit granted by Israel, whose territory separates Gaza and the West Bank. The return leg in Hebron is scheduled for Aug. 9 and the winners of the Palestine Cup will play in the next Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup. Prior to Al-Ahly’s arrival in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said Israel was blocking the team’s entry. They had originally been expected to enter Gaza on Monday. Gaza sports official Abdel-Salam Haniyeh said Israel appeared to have relented under international pressure and a complaint by the Palestine FA (PFA) to world soccer’s governing body FIFA. The Israeli office that oversees movement in and out of Gaza told Reuters that Al-Ahly’s travel had been approved but did not comment whether there was a change of heart or a delay in issuing the team’s travel permits. Haniyeh said the match was a milestone for Palestinian soccer and could lead to unified competitions for Gaza and West Bank teams. Palestinians want the two territories to be part of a future independent state, together with East Jerusalem. “This is an achievement for the Palestinian sports family and is a first step towards a unified Palestinian league and cup tournament,” Haniyeh told Reuters at a lavish reception for the West Bank visitors at a Gaza hotel.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/soccer-palestinian-west-bank-soccer-team-play-gaza-150837658–sow.html

For Arab women in Israel, a café of their own
Haaretz 4 Aug by Noa Shpigel — At first the Muslim clergy and even the owner’s own mother objected to the idea of a women’s cafe — A sign at the door of a café in Sakhnin prohibits unaccompanied men from entering. “It’s more comfortable here, I can laugh out loud,” says Ghusun Galya, a hairdresser in Sakhnin who is spending her afternoon break at this café on the town’s main thoroughfare. A friend, Suzanne Shla‘ata, who together with her young daughter shares the table, adds that here there is “less pressure, it’s liberating, there’s no one to look at us.” This is Nisa Café, “the women’s café” in Arabic, which opened in January in this northern Israeli Arab town.  “In our society, especially here in this area, many men don’t let their wives go to cafés,” explains the owner of Nisa Café, Maysoon Raya. She adds that the first thing that most Arab men think, when they see a women in a café, is of a sex object, rather than “women at a work meeting, or simply there for the quiet.”  Raya says that in recent years Western espresso culture has found its way into Arab society in Israel, but not for women on their own or with each other. Women come to her café, she says, when they need a place of their own, where they can talk and laugh without the risk of negative reactions. “It enables older women to go out as well, such as a grandmother with her daughters and granddaughters.”
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668836

Breaking taboo, Jerusalem Palestinians seek Israeli citizenship
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 3 Aug by Maayan Lubell — “I declare I will be a loyal citizen of the state of Israel,” reads the oath that must be sworn by all naturalized Israeli citizens. Increasingly, they are words being uttered by Palestinians. In East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed, a move not recognized internationally, issues of Palestinian identity are layered with complexity. While Israel regards the east of the city as part of Israel, the estimated 300,000 Palestinians that live there do not. They are not Israeli citizens, instead holding Israeli-issued blue IDs that grant them permanent resident status. While they can seek citizenship if they wish, the vast majority reject it, not wanting to renounce their own history or be seen to buy into Israel’s 48-year occupation. And yet over the past decade, an increasing number of East Jerusalem Palestinians have gone through the lengthy process of becoming Israeli citizens, researchers and lawyers say. In part it reflects a loss of hope that an independent Palestinian state will ever emerge. But it also reflects a hard-headed pragmatism – an acknowledgement that having Israeli citizenship will make it easier to get or change jobs, buy or move house, travel abroad and receive access to services. Israeli officials are reluctant to confirm figures, but data obtained by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies indicates a jump over the past decade, rising from 114 applications in 2003 to between 800 and 1,000 a year now, around half of which are successful . . .  Interior Ministry figures obtained by Reuters show there were 1,434 applications in 2012-13, of which 189 were approved, 1,061 are still being processed and 169 were rejected. The remainder are in limbo . . . For many East Jerusalemites, part of the fear is that Israel could revoke their blue ID at any time since retaining it depends on maintaining a “center of life” in Jerusalem. Spend too much time abroad or working elsewhere and the ID could go. That is not the case when it comes to citizenship . . . .
http://news.yahoo.com/breaking-taboo-jerusalem-palestinians-seek-israeli-citizenship-140819340.html

Air France ‘regrets’ map that shows Gaza and West Bank, but not Israel
JC.com 4 Aug by Josh Jackman — Air France has said it “deeply regrets” omitting Israel from an in-flight map. The airline was responding to more than a dozen Twitter users who raised the issue after a photo of the map, which labels Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but not Israel, was posted on social media. The image was taken late last week by a customer on board an Air France flight. A spokesperson running the airline’s Twitter account wrote: “Air France deeply regrets this incident. It’s due to a map scale and display problem which is currently being resolved.” In its responses to most users who complained, the airline sent an updated version of the map which includes Israel, but none of the surrounding territories mentioned above.
http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/141433/air-france-regrets%E2%80%99-map-shows-gaza-and-west-bank-not-israel

Egyptian soap that’s flattering to Jews is a surprise hit among Palestinians
BETHLEHEM (Washington Post) 25 July — A dozen Palestinian Muslim men gathered after midnight at an isolated farm house recently to indulge in a new delight. They were going to watch a soap opera about Jews. ‘‘Hush, hush. It’s starting!’’ someone said. The group settled down, sipped fresh lemonade, nibbled sweets, sucked on water pipes, and then cranked up the volume for the opening credits of ‘‘Haret al-Yahud,’’ or ‘‘The Jewish Quarter.’’  The steamy Egyptian soap tells a Romeo and Juliet tale of a beautiful daughter of a well-to-do Jewish merchant and a dashing Muslim army commander falling in and out and in love again in old Cairo during the earth-shaking 1948 Arab-Israeli war and its aftermath. The show’s vibe is a mash of ‘‘Casablanca’’ with a little ‘‘Fiddler on the Roof’’ and ‘‘Lawrence of Arabia.’’ ‘‘I never in my life imagined that I would be seeing this,’’ said Mahmoud Dadoh, a chicken farmer who had become a fan . . . what stunned the chicken farmer and his pals was that ‘‘The Jewish Quarter’’ is aired on Palestinian Public Television, with the implied consent of the Palestinian Authority, and it shows Jews in a positive light — as ordinary, even extraordinary, human beings. ‘‘This is very new for us,’’ Dadoh said, pointing to the big-screen television during a scene where the Jewish patriarch counsels patience. ‘‘Look at them. Look at their dignity!’’ The other men nodded.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/middle-east/2015/07/25/egyptian-soap-that-flattering-jews-surprise-hit-among-palestinians/zeSKhCG9qd1VBMqEWaMa5H/story.html

No grounds for outlawing racist group, concludes Israeli security agency
Haaretz 4 Aug by Gili Cohen — Israel’s defense minister had hoped to ban the far-right Lehava organization, which follows a Kahanist ideology — There are no grounds for declaring the far-right group Lehava an illegal organization, the Shin Bet security service has concluded. Last December, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon asked the Shin Bet to draft an opinion on Lehava, whose self-proclaimed mission is “to prevent assimilation in the Holy Land.” He made the same request of the Defense Ministry’s legal advisor, attorney Ahaz Ben-Ari. Ya’alon submitted this request after 21 Lehava activists, including the group’s leader, Benzi Gopstein, were arrested on suspicion of inciting to violence. More than seven months later, however, the prosecution has yet to decide whether to indict any of them. Gopstein himself was released three days after his arrest.  After conducting its own investigation of Lehava for several months, the Shin Bet concluded that at this point, there isn’t enough evidence to justifying declaring it an illegal organization. Its review was based partly on intelligence gathering and partly on legal analysis.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.669424

Settler terror underground seeks to overthrow Israeli government, say investigators
Haaretz 3 Aug by Amos Harel & Chaim Levinson — Assailants have more ambitious aims than in the past, such as destabilizing the country and establishing a new regime to be based on Jewish law — Investigators into Friday’s murder-by-arson of a Palestinian infant increasingly believe in the likelihood that the extreme rightist operatives responsible for the attack are affiliated with the same ideological group that  has torched mosques, churches and Palestinian homes over the past year. The group’s core consists of several dozen people whose operations are centered in West Bank outposts but wander all over the country, including within the Green Line.  Unlike in the past, the understanding is that these assailants are no longer attempting to deter the government and security forces from evacuating outposts and settlements. Nowadays they have more ambitious aims, like destabilizing the country and overthrowing the government to establish a new regime to be based on halakha, Jewish law. They plan to use violence in a systematic, continuous manner irrespective of police conduct in the territories, investigators said.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.669291

A modern cult of Jewish zealots is leading Israel toward a war of Gog and Magog / Nehemia Shtrasler
Haaretz 4 Aug — History has a strange nature; it repeats itself with devilish precision — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the murder “reprehensible and horrific.” President Reuven Rivlin wrote: “My people have lost their sense of humanity.” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said it was a “terrorist attack,” and Education Minister Naftali Bennett issues a call to “punish the murders to the full extent of the law.”  To tell the truth, it was impossible to remain silent in the face of the despicable murder on Friday of the infant Ali Dawabsheh in the cruelest possible manner – by burning . . . But what can you do? All of these statements are nothing but empty words with nothing to back them up. It was not this week that we turned from light into darkness, Mr. Bennett: These acts of murder, arson, breaking bones, oppression, incitement and theft of land in the territories did not start yesterday. Do you remember the burning of the Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir by kippah-wearing Jews, just a year ago?  This process of turning into beasts started 48 [not 67?] years ago, immediately after the victory of the Six-Day War in 1967, when Gush Emunim took control of the country with a messianic fervor, while sanctifying stones and graves and debasing human beings – a form of idol worship that is the opposite of Judaism. The false messiahs Moshe Levinger and Hanan Porat determined the fate of Israel then, changing us from a moral and pioneering nation that was loved around the world to a hated and out-of-bounds country, and to a cruel nation, an immoral one that oppresses another people – and in so doing destroys itself.  The two murders, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, are one and the same. Both stem from the same cruel spring of the occupation, which destroys moral inhibitions. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.669377

Why Israel is suddenly owning up to its terrorism / Daoud Kuttab
Al Jazeera 2 Aug — By calling Friday’s arson attack a terrorist act, the Israelis are hoping to avoid the full force of international law — After over a year of total silence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made two phone calls to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in as many weeks. The first of the calls was one of protocol regarding the start of the Eid al-Fitr festivities, but the other call, the more important of the two, was made after Israeli Jewish settlers burned a Palestinian toddler and his family alive. The attack occurred in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank. The toddler, 18-month-old Ali Dawabasheh, died in the incident, and his family was left seriously injured and mourning the loss of their youngest son. This particular attack was unprovoked by the Palestinians and has shocked both the Israeli and Palestinian communities at large. Instead of being an attack of retaliation, this case was prompted by an internal Israeli conflict, the context of which has escaped many . . . The horrible death of the child and his family seems to have rattled Netanyahu who responded by calling the killing a “terrorist” act which supposedly set it apart from the what the UN has documented as 2,100 acts of violence against Palestinians, their religious institutions, their homes, and other Palestinian-owned properties, committed by Jewish settlers since 2006. This attack has been defined as “terrorism” simply because Israel is petrified of the possibility that this incident could open up a “Pandora’s box” of questions regarding the legitimacy of the settlement enterprise and policy in its entirety.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/08/israel-suddenly-owning-terrorism-150802061313258.html

Interview: The toughest spokesperson job in the world? A decade of speaking out for Palestinian needs
UN News Service 3 Aug — Chris Gunness has served as the Spokesperson and Director of Advocacy and Communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for almost a decade. His Twitter account is carefully watched. His every word is deconstructed and parsed for nuance and intent. He is indefatigable in his passion for advocacy – and his cause, quite simply – is the five million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East who are the responsibility of UNRWA. A regular voice in media coverage of the Palestine conflict, Mr. Gunness has been reviled and revered for his dogged commitment to easing their plight. Based in Jerusalem but covering UNRWA operations in the surrounding region, he has lived and worked through five wars – three in Gaza, one in Lebanon and another in Syria – in addition to many other moments of extreme tension and violence as the international community works towards bringing peace to the Middle East. Mr. Gunness came to the United Nations through his previous work as a journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where he worked for 25 years . . . The UN News Centre spoke with Mr. Gunness about the challenges UNRWA faces in 2015, his experiences on the frontlines of one of the world’s most contentious issues in international relations, and becoming the subject of a viral video. UN News Centre: You have been in the “hot seat” at UNRWA for almost a decade now. What were your expectations when you first joined the Agency? Chris Gunness: I knew it was probably the toughest UN spokesman job on the planet – but I didn’t know exactly how tough it was going to be, because the job really is a lightning rod for a lot of the totally understandable anger that is felt about the UN in general – not just UNRWA — on the Israeli side and the Palestinian side.
http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/interview-toughest-spokesperson-s-job-world-decade-speaking

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