Violence / Attacks / Suppression of protests / Detentions
Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian after alleged stabbing attack
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli forces on Sunday shot dead a Palestinian man after he allegedly took part in a stabbing attack that left an Israeli civilian lightly injured in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that “a group of Palestinian assailants” attacked and lightly injured the Israeli near Ofer checkpoint on Route 443, southwest of Ramallah. Israeli news site Ynet reported that the 26-year-old Israeli was filling his car at a gas station when the attack took place. The army spokeswoman said that Israeli soldiers then opened fire on the Palestinian “suspects.” She had no immediate information on whether warning shots were fired, but said that Israeli forces opened fire “to prevent the suspect from escaping.” She confirmed that one of the Palestinians died of his wounds. [AFP: Police said that the alleged assailant, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Khirbet al-Misbah, died of a leg wound shortly after the attack.] The Israeli, who was wounded in the shoulder, was evacuated to hospital for treatment, she said. It was not confirmed whether the Israeli was a settler living in the occupied West Bank. The highway, Route 443, is reportedly used by many Israelis as a major artery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, despite cutting through the occupied West Bank for several kilometers. The Israeli army later said they believed that three more Palestinians were involved in the attack, and soldiers were searching the area. The Palestinian man’s death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces across the occupied Palestinian territories to at least 23 since the beginning of the year, according to UN figures. The UN reported that in the same period, Israeli forces also injured 1,149 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and 52 in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766946
Suspicious object near Israeli military site explodes, injures child
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A 10-year-old Palestinian child was seriously injured in an explosive accident on Sunday in Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestinian police said in a statement. The statement said that the 10-year-old boy was playing with a suspicious object he found near an Israeli military site in Hebron before the explosion. The object detonated in the child’s face, burning and causing serious wounds to his face, hands and body. It is unknown exactly what kind of ordnance caused the explosion.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766938
Settler runs over Palestinian child in Jenin
JENIN (PIC) 7 Aug — A Palestinian 12-year-old child suffered moderate injuries after an Israeli settler deliberately ran him over near Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin. Medics said that the child was transferred to hospital as he suffers differed injuries all over his body. The hit-and-run attack comes just one week after right-wing Jewish extremists set fire to a Palestinian home in the nearby town of Duma
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72917
Israeli forces suppress march over West Bank church settlement plans
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 8 Aug — Israeli forces on Saturday suppressed a Palestinian march protesting Israeli plans to turn a southern West Bank church compound into a settlement outpost, as well as other Israeli “crimes,” locals said. Rateb al-Jbour, a coordinator for popular committees in southern Hebron, said that Israeli forces suppressed the march near al-Arrub refugee camp while it was making its way from the town of Beit Ummar towards the church compound, known as Beit al-Baraka. The 38-dunam compound has been in the spotlight since Israeli media reported in May that in 2012 the site was secretly purchased by an American millionaire, Irving Moskowitz, with the intention of turning it into a settlement outpost. Jbour said that as the march approached the main entrance of al-Arrub college, Israeli soldiers assaulted protesters with the butts of their rifles, leaving several of them bruised.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766928
Thousands mourn death of arson victim Saad Dawabsha
NABLUS (Ma‘an) — Thousands of Palestinians on Saturday attended the funeral of Saad Dawabsha, who died early Saturday morning from wounds sustained during an arson attack in the village of Duma near Nablus last month. Israeli settlers are believed to be responsible for the arson attack on July 31, which also killed Dawabsha’s 18-month-old son, Ali, and critically injured his wife, Riham, and their four-year-old son, Ahmad. The march started from Duma village and ended more than three kilometers (1.9 miles) away at the Duma cemetery, where he was laid to rest. During the march mourners chanted calls for revenge for the death of Dawabsha and his 18-month-old son. Many Palestinian officials, members of the Fatah Central Committee, and representatives of other Palestinian national parties participated in the funeral, raising Palestinian flags and the flags of Palestinian political parties. The Palestinian Authority filed a report on settler violence with the International Criminal Court on Aug. 3 in response to the arson attack. PA sources insisted that Dawabsha’s autopsy was complete and that all legal and medical procedures needed for the submission of the arson case’s file at the ICC had been taken. Dawabsha’s wife and son remain in critical condition at Tel HaShomer hospital in Israel. Earlier on Saturday Israeli settlers attacked another home in Duma village, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, although none made it inside the home.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766927
Palestinians bury second victim as accusations fly
DUMA, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The father of a Palestinian toddler killed in a firebomb attack by Jewish extremists last week died from his burns Saturday, and relatives at his funeral denounced Israel for complicity in settler violence. Thousands of mourners, many waving Palestinian flags, turned out to lay Saad Dawabsha to rest as his flag-draped body was carried by an honour guard of Palestinian security forces. “It’s a crime committed by the settlers but with the agreement of the (Israeli) occupation,” relative Anwar Dawabsha told AFP. “It isn’t possible that Israel with all its army and its intelligence services still has no information on this attack,” he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated Saturday evening a pledge to hunt down the killers . . . But Israeli Arab MP Zouheir Bahloul was unimpressed by the pace of the investigation. “A week has passed and, apart from a few showcase arrests, the security forces have no clue or idea who set this terrible fire,” Bahloul, of the main opposition Zionist Union party, said in a statement . . . Dawabsha’s wife, Riham, and four-year-old son Ahmed are still fighting for their lives in another Israeli hospital, near Tel Aviv. However, a doctor said Ahmed was showing some encouraging signs. “He is conscious at the moment, communicating with relatives,” Marina Rubinstein told the radio. “Yesterday he was licking ice lollies and was pleased with that.” “His condition is still serious,” she added. “He faces a large number of operations and a very long period of hospitalisation.” . . .– ‘Confront the occupation’ – “Nothing will stop these murderous settler attacks and… we cannot wait until they come into our villages and our homes,” Hossam Badran, spokesman of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, wrote on Facebook from his base in Qatar Saturday. “Our people in the West Bank have only one choice: that of open and comprehensive confrontation against the occupation.”
http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-urges-confrontation-israel-second-arson-death-092533290.html
Former Shin Bet chief: Lawless State of Judea is forming in the West Bank
I24News 8 Aug — Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin on Friday warned that a societal rift in Israeli has led to the creation of a hard-line Jewish settler state alongside Israel and criticized the government’s handling of West Bank extremists following a terror attack by suspected Jewish terrorists. “Alongside the State of Israel, a de facto State of Judea is being formed,” Diskin wrote in a in a sharply worded Facebook post warning of a potentially irreversible situation. “In the State of Judea there are different standards, different value systems, different attitudes towards democracy, and there are two legal systems,” he asserted. “In the State of Judea, law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews. In the State of Judea, anarchistic, anti-state, violent, and racist ideologies are forming over the years, and they are treated tolerantly by the Israeli legal and judicial system. ” Judea is a “nation of Jewish law, of terror, of hatred against the other, or racism. Today, even the rabbis who gave birth to these delusional ideologies have become too moderate and soft in the eyes of some of their flock,” Diskin wrote. The recent push by lawmakers to have the so-called “price tag” attacks be declared illegal was essentially too little too late, Diskin asserted. The main problem in this situation, he said, was the religious Zionist concept of “holiness of the land,” instead of “holiness of the people.” According to Diksin, this means that believers are willing take whatever steps deemed necessary to defend the land, even at the expense of the people. “There is nothing more dangerous to the national security than that,” he said. According to the former security service chief, “the Hilltop Youth (hard-line, extremist settlers) are setting the tone within Religious Zionism. Anyone who thinks we are only talking about a few dozen of delusional youths is making a big mistake. In the State of Judea, there are many hundreds of youths supporting messianic and/or anarchistic, anti-state ideologies.” . . . .
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/81327-150808-former-shin-bet-chief-lawless-state-of-judea-is-forming-in-the-west-bank
Catholic churches file complaint against chief extremist
IMEMC/Agencies 8 Aug — The heads of Catholic churches, Friday, filed a complaint against the chief of extremist Jewish group Lehava for advocating the burning of churches. According to a press release issued by the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries on Friday, Father Pietro Felet, Secretary General of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, filed an official complaint to the Israeli police, Friday morning, against the leader of radical Israeli organization Lehava, Bentsi Gopstein, demanding he be brought to justice for advocating the torching of churches. The complaint, filed on behalf of over than twenty patriarchs and bishops, expressed “concern over what was described to be growing security challenges to churches, people and buildings alike, in areas under Israel’s sovereignty or control.” The complaint referred to several attacks that targeted churches and Christian holy sites by radical parties and hinted that in vast majority of these criminal incidents criminals were not brought to justice. The complaint was referring to remarks made by Gopstein during a panel debating Jewish religious law, last Tuesday night in Jerusalem. Responding to a question on whether he “is in favor of burning churches in the Land of Israel,” Gopstein answered: “Did the Rambam rule to destroy [idol worship] or not? Idol worship must be destroyed. It’s simply yes — what’s the question?”
http://www.imemc.org/article/72562
Vatican representatives demand Israel charge Jewish extremist leader with incitement
Haaretz 9 Aug by Jack Khoury — The Vatican’s Custody of the Holy Land demanded the attorney general and state prosecutor charge the leader of the far-right Israeli group Lehava, Benzi Gopstein, with incitement for calling for churches in Israel to be torched. An indictment was necessary “out of consideration of the public interest and of the present danger to churches and Christian communities in the country, and the real concern of further harm to them as a result of this incitement,” the Custody’s representative, Attorney Farid Joubran, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan. The Custody is an institution of the Franciscan Order in charge of tending to Christian shrines in Israel and in the West Bank. Its head is appointed with the approval of the Pope and the Holy See. The Custody also criticized Weinstein for not presenting charges following an investigation into the group, conducted by Israeli security authorities. “This procrastination could be interpreted by someone as flaccidity by law enforcement officials, if not a seal of approval for the racist provocation from Lehava. “This isn’t a time for procrastination, delays and helplessness! This is a time for determined and uncompromising action by law enforcement authorities under your leadership. The writing is on the wall, and a cost to human life, with consequences which cannot be foretold, isn’t a question of if but of when,” the letter read.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670371
Israel jails two more far-right Jews without trial
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 9 Aug by Dan Williams — Israel jailed two suspected Jewish militants without trial on Sunday, the second time the measure has been used to detain Israeli citizens since the lethal torching of a Palestinian home. Meir Ettinger and Eviatar Slonim, were placed in “administrative detention” for six months, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement. A third man, Mordechai Meyer, was similarly detained on Tuesday. Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians in administrative detention. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved using the measure for Israeli citizens after an arson attack in the West Bank on July 31 killed a Palestinian toddler and his father. Israel defends its use of detention without trial, saying it is needed to stem violence and allow for further investigation in cases where there is insufficient evidence to prosecute, or where going to court would risk exposing secret informants. Yaalon accused Ettinger and Slonim of “involvement in activity by an extremist Jewish group”. Meyer had been involved in “recent terrorist attacks as part of a Jewish terror group,” Yaalon said. No specific incidents were mentioned. Honenu, a group of Israeli lawyers representing the three detainees, condemned the use of detention without trial. “Right now there are three detentions. In the coming days it could be 30, and we could end up with 300,” one of the lawyers, Aaron Roze, told Israel Radio. “These orders endanger the entire justice system.”
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-jails-two-more-far-jews-without-trial-102712543.html
Israel cracks down on Jewish extremists with new arrests
JERUSALEM (AP) 9 Aug by Daniel Estrin — . . . Israeli authorities also carried out arrest raids Sunday in two West Bank settlement outposts. Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri would not say whether the arrests were linked to the arson attack. The arrests, carried out by a nationalist crime unit, were connected to “a number of events that occurred recently” in the West Bank, she said. Authorities said one of the raided outposts was Adei Ad, close to the Palestinian village of Duma, where the arson attack took place. In January, Jewish settlers near Adei Ad threw stones at U.S. consular vehicles carrying visiting American officials. Authorities would not name the other outpost raided, but Israeli media identified it as Baladim. Both outposts — small, isolated Jewish settlements built without government authorization — are located in an area known for its hard-line settler population.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-carries-interrogations-settlement-outposts-070536948.html
Prisoners
Rights group: Israeli doctors refusing to force-feed hunger striker
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli hospital doctors on Sunday refused to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days, an international rights group said. Physicians for Human Rights Israel tweeted on Sunday afternoon: “Hunger striker Muhammad Allan’s hospital doctors refuse to treat him against his will.” The rights group could not be reached for further comment and the claim could not be verified. Israeli authorities on Saturday declared their intention to force feed prisoner Muhammed Allaan, who on Sunday marked his 56th day on hunger strike. If carried out, it would be the first case since the adoption last month of a new Israeli law permitting the practice. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Allaan, who has been held without trial since November, was “at immediate risk” of death after fasting for 50 days. Allaan’s attorney Jamil al-Khatib said he had informed Allaan of Israel’s plans to force feed him, but said that it had not changed “his intention to continue his strike.” He added that Allaan was placed in intensive hospital care when his body became unable to absorb drinking water. Palestinian health minister warned Saturday that the force feeding procedure itself would endanger Allaan’s life.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766944
Palestinian hunger striker moved to Israeli medical center
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — Israeli authorities on Monday transferred hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Allan to a medical center in southern Israel, raising fears that the detainee is due to be force fed by Israel, official news agency Wafa reported. Allan, who has been on hunger strike for 57 days, was previously being held at Soroka hospital in Beersheba. On Sunday, Israeli hospital doctors refused to force feed Allan, an international rights group said. Physicians for Human Rights Israel tweeted: “Hunger striker Muhammad Allan’s hospital doctors refuse to treat him against his will.” The rights group could not be reached for further comment and the claim could not be verified. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Friday that Allan, who has been held without trial since November, was “at immediate risk” of death after refusing food for 50 days. Allan’s attorney Jamil al-Khatib told AFP on Saturday that Israeli judicial officials “informed me of the intention to proceed with the force feeding of Mr Allan.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766954
UN slams force-feeding of hunger strikers as human rights ‘violation’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — The UN on Saturday strongly condemned a new Israeli law allowing prisoners to be force-fed, a day after Israeli authorities declared their intention to use the procedure on a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike more than 50 days. The UN said in a statement that “the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental human right” that the new Israeli law violated. The Israeli Knesset passed the law on July 30. While it does not specifically mention Palestinians, Israel’s Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the legislation was necessary since “hunger strikes of terrorists in prisons have become a means to threaten Israel.” . . . The UN statement was jointly signed by the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid in Palestine, Robert Piper, the head of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office in Palestine, James Turpin, and Dr. Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organization’s office in Palestine.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766937
Some 180 Palestinian prisoners end hunger strike after one day
Haaretz 10 Aug b Jack Khoury & Shirly Seidler — Some 180 Palestinian security prisoners have ended a hunger strike launched on Saturday to protest their conditions, the Israel Prison Service and the Palestinian Prisoners Society confirmed Sunday. The Israeli agency said the hunger strikers, most of whom are in the Nafha and Rimon prisons, had resumed eating unconditionally, and that no deal had been made. But prisoner society chairman Qadura Fares told Haaretz that the strike was halted because the prison service agreed to return 120 prisoners to the wing of Nafha where they were previously held and made concessions over searches and other issues. Fares said the prisoners would evaluate the deal’s implementation and could resume the strike after two weeks if progress was unsatisfactory. Earlier Sunday, the organization said more prisoners would join the strike because talks between the prisoners and the prison service were fruitless. The strike included only prisoners from Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hamas and Islamic Jihad did not join in.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670406
Medical negligence worsens health of two prisoners in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 9 Aug – The health condition of two Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Eshel prison have deteriorated due to the ongoing medical negligence by the Israeli prison authorities, according to the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs (CPA). CPA said prisoner Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 32, from the Gaza Strip recently had a minor heart attack, and developed a condition of arteriosclerosis (stiffness of the arteries), kidney stones, and blood pressure. Despite of this, the only medical treatment he received so far was OTC painkillers; he told a CPA attorney who was allowed to visit him. Abu Mustafa has been in prison since 2003 and is sentenced to serve 13 years in jail. Another prisoner, Hamdallah Sarma, 40, from Ramallah has been suffering from an increasingly worsening health. He has been experiencing recurrent headaches, for which he only receives painkillers. A few days ago, Sarma was shot an injection in his thigh with an unknown content. Meanwhile, CPA said the recent heat wave badly affected Palestinian prisoners in Nafha, Rimon, Naqab, and Eshel prisons in Israel. It said since these prisons are located in Naqab desert, the atmosphere there was extraordinarily hot with temperatures reaching some 48 degrees Celsius.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29055
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Judaization
Israeli army demolishes 260th structure in the West Bank in 2015
Haaretz 8 Aug by Amira Hass — For the IDF bulldozers, it was just another day at the office. For Rashid Dabak, 61, it was the demolition of his modest home — Rashid Dabak’s tin shack, which was torn down on Wednesday morning in the Jordan Valley village of ‘Aqaba, was the 260th Palestinian structure that Israel has demolished in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.
The bulldozer smashed the concrete blocks, roof and tin walls, including a kitchenette and bathroom, with a few crushing blows, before continuing on down the village streets. Along with another bulldozer it destroyed six more structures in the village: the home of Khaled Subih’s family; a livestock shelter; an empty hatchery; and three agricultural shacks. In East Jerusalem, the municipality has demolished 49 buildings since the beginning of 2015, according to figures provided by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. At around 6 A.M., the bulldozers – accompanied by Israeli military jeeps – appeared on the road to ‘Aqaba. Soldiers ordered Dabak, his wife and son to leave their small home, which is surrounded by a fruit orchard. The soldiers prevented other villagers from approaching. Laborers – some villagers say they were Thai – emptied the house’s modest contents and then the bulldozer struck. “What does it matter if the laborers are Thai, Arab or Israeli?” said Dabak. “The order is the same.” . . . Dabak was born in the village 61 years ago. In 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, it declared the spot a closed military area. Ever since, it has banned any construction there. Before the occupation, some 600 people lived in ‘Aqaba, a few in stone houses but most of them in tents. They made their living off the land, as farmers. The military training with live fire damaged the crops and gradually drove them to nearby villages and towns . . . Over the years, six ‘Aqaba villagers were killed due to the army’s live-fire training activities. According to B’Tselem, two were shot dead by soldiers and four, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed when dud ammunition suddenly exploded. At least 38 villagers were wounded in similar circumstances. . . Haj Sami Sadek, the head of the village council, was wounded in 1971 while he was working in the field, hit by three bullets fired by Israeli soldiers. He was 16. Half of his body was paralyzed and he moves around in a wheelchair. “Maybe the Israelis can explain this to me,” asked Sadek for the millionth time. “Do only settlers experience natural growth while we Palestinians don’t?” Following a petition to the High Court of Justice in 1999, the army promised not to hold live-fire exercises inside the village. However, the High Court, in its concern for the rule of law, didn’t agree to revoke the demolition orders in a 2008 ruling. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.670189
Israeli army orders Palestinians to halt work on water tanks in Hebron village
HEBRON (WAFA) 9 Aug – Israeli forces ordered the village council of Khellet al-Mayyeh, a locale to the east of Yatta, south of Hebron, to stop the construction work on two water tanks funded by the European Union, Sunday reported a local activist. Coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlements, Rateb Jabour, told WAFA that soldiers handed head the head of Yatta village council, Khaled Abu Humaid, a notice ordering them to stop the construction works on two 1700 cubic meters water tanks. The order cited ‘unpermitted construction’ as a pretext. Meanwhile, soldiers photographed a number of water wells belonging to several locals in the southern part of the locale. The same soldiers photographed sheds, tents, and other water wells in the village of Umm al-Khair to the east of Yatta.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29060
Israeli Jewish organization issues evacuation notices in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — A lawyer representing a right-wing Israeli Jewish organization on Sunday issued evacuation notices for three Palestinian homes in the Batn al-Hawa area in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The lawyer, representing Ateret Cohanim, told the Sarhan family that the land on which the three houses were built allegedly belongs to Jewish settlers. The Silwan-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that the Sarhan family was given 30 days to respond to the claims in court. Ateret Cohanim, an organization aiming to create a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian communities, claims that the land on which the Sarhan family lives belonged to three Jewish men from Yemen who lived there before 1948. The chief of a local committee representing the Batn al-Hawa area, Zuheir al-Rajabi, said the Sarhan family has been living in the property for more than 80 years. The land and the houses, he said, belong to Ali Sarhan, his son Muhammad and another family member, Muhammad Mahir Sarhan. Each home measures 80 square meters (861 square feet).
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766935
Israeli settlers set fire to large swaths of land near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Israeli settlers on Sunday set fire to hundreds of acres of land surrounding the village of Burin in southern Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, a PA official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Bracha set fire to land east and west of Burin, which then spread across hundreds of acres. Daghlas said settlers from the illegal Yizhar settlement separately set fire to another area to the south of Burin, with the blaze rapidly spreading to the southern village of Einabus. The Palestinian Civil Defense said it was trying to reach the fires to put them out. They said that it was too early to determine the scale of the damage. Locals said that clashes later broke out between Palestinian residents of Burin and Israeli forces, who reportedly arrived claiming that Palestinians had thrown stones at settlers on roads near Burin.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766941
Right-wing Jews wave Israeli flags outside Al-Aqsa compound
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 9 Aug — Right-wing Jewish Israelis on Sunday waved Israeli flags outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s Chain Gate, witnesses told Ma‘an. A group of “settlers” crowded outside the Chain Gate and waved Israeli flags under the protection of Israeli police and special forces officers, the witnesses said. Witnesses added that Muslim worshipers shouted “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great,” in response. Separately, more than 30 right-wing Jews toured the mosque compound after they entered through the Moroccan Gate on Sunday. Dozens of Muslim worshipers crowded around one of the Jewish visitors to prevent him from performing Jewish rituals. Last week, right-wing Jewish groups urged Israelis on social media to organize provocative activities in the area, such as storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in large groups.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766936
Gaza
Israeli navy again fires on Gaza fishermen
IMEMC/Agencies 9 Aug — Israeli naval boats, Sunday, opened machine gunfire on Palestinian fishing boats offshore the city of Gaza, according to WAFA correspondents. Israeli naval boats opened machine gun fire on fishing boats sailing within the unilaterally imposed six-nautical-mile fishing zone offshore al-Sudaniyya area, to the northwest of Gaza city. No injuries were reported among the fishermen, who were forced to leave the sea for fear of being arrested, injured, or killed. This attack on fishermen came only a day after Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian minor to the east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Sources said that Palestinian Maher Shtat, 14, was hit with a live bullet fired by Israeli forces stationed at watchtowers at the borderline to the north of the strip. Shtat was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.
https://www.imemc.org/article/72576
‘Thousands with humanitarian cases stuck in Gaza’
Al Jazeera 9 Aug — About 20,000 people with “humanitarian cases” are stranded in Gaza, waiting for the opening of the Rafah crossing between the besieged Palestinian strip and Egypt, the Gaza-based interior ministry has said. Ministry spokesperson Iyad al-Bazem said on Saturday that the closure of the crossing by Egyptian authorities also threatens the lives of hundreds of people with health problems – including people suffering cancer or heart conditions, or who need urgent surgeries. In a press release, al-Bazem also said that there were thousands of students and employees who usually working abroad who remain stuck in Gaza. “We call on the Egyptian authorities to assess the difficult humanitarian conditions in Gaza and open the Rafah crossing urgently to save what can be saved,” he said. According to Palestinian border official Khaled al-Shaer, the Gaza-based government was informed by Egypt that the border crossing will be opened on September 7 and 8 to allow Palestinians planning to perform Hajj to travel to Saudi Arabia. Al-Shaer told Anadolu news agency that Palestinians stuck in Egypt will also be allowed to return to Gaza on those days.
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/20-000-gaza-humanitarian-cases-egypts-mercy-204049489.html
Gaza infant mortality rises for first time in 53 years: UN
JERUSALEM (AFP) 9 Aug — The infant mortality rate in Gaza has risen for the first time in more than half a century, a new study by the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees says. “The number of babies dying before the age of one has consistently gone down over the last decades in Gaza, from 127 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 20.2 in 2008. At the last count, in 2013, it had risen to 22.4 per 1,000 live births,” a statement from the UNRWA relief agency released at the weekend said. “Every five years UNRWA conducts a survey of infant mortality across the region, and the 2013 results were released this week,” it said, adding that because of the data it would conduct a new Gaza-specific survey this year. It said that neonatal mortality in Gaza, the number of babies who die before four weeks old, rose from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2008 to 20.3 in 2013. The statement quoted Akihiro Seita, director of the agency’s health programme, as saying that the sudden upswing was unprecedented in the Middle East. “When the 2013 results from Gaza were first uncovered, UNRWA was alarmed by the apparent increase. So we worked with external independent research groups to examine the data, to ensure the increase could be confirmed,” he said. “That is why it took us so long to release these latest figures.” He suggested that Israel’s blockade of the coastal strip, where close to 45 percent of the population is under 14 years old, could be a contributing factor. “It is hard to know the exact causes behind the increase in both neonatal and infant mortality rates, but I fear it is part of a wider trend,” he said. “We are very concerned about the impact of the long-term blockade; on health facilities, supplies of medicines and bringing equipment in to Gaza.”
http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-infant-mortality-rises-first-time-53-years-165415385.html
‘Tel Aviv beach’ in Paris sparks outrage a year after Gaza slaughter
EI 7 Aug by Ali Abunimah — Palestine solidarity activists in France are expressing outrage that a “Tel Aviv beach” is being created in Paris to promote Israel. For a few hours on 13 August, a section of river bank in the French capital near the Pont d’Arcole, will be turned into “Tel Aviv sur Seine” (Tel Aviv on the Seine), complete with falafel stands and “Israeli nightlife.” According to Coolisraël, a website that markets Israel to a French-speaking audience, the propaganda event is a joint project of the Paris and Tel Aviv municipal governments. Tel Aviv sur Seine will be held at “Paris Plage,” a simulated beach the city sets up in the summer. Lionel Choukroun, director of Agence Culturelle, the company that is producing the event, says the idea is “to give Parisians and tourists the Tel Aviv experience without having to go anywhere.” The Israeli embassy in Paris is heavily promoting Tel Aviv sur Seine on its Facebook page and Twitter accounts. – Beach massacre – In August last year, Israel was in the midst of its 51-day attack on Gaza, dropping the equivalent of an atomic bomb on the besieged territory, killing more than 2,200 people including 551 children and causing utter devastation. While people were partying on Tel Aviv beaches, Palestinian children were being slaughtered by Israeli shells a few miles away on Gaza’s beach. A year later, Israeli bombs are still causing horror in Gaza. On Wednesday, leftover Israeli ordnance exploded, ripping through a house near Rafah. Four members of the Abu Nukira family were killed by the blast; dozens more Palestinians were injured. – “Festive” – The Paris municipality is sending a form response to citizens who email Mayor Anne Hidalgo to express outrage at Tel Aviv sur Seine. The city’s response, a copy of which was seen by The Electronic Intifada, states: “This festive day, open to all, underscores the strong cultural and high-tech ties between Paris and [Tel Aviv].”. . . .
ttps://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/tel-aviv-beach-paris-sparks-outrage-year-after-gaza-slaughter
Wartime journalism: Mohammed Omer on Gaza
AIC 9 Aug by Richard Falk — . . . All of which brings me to Mohammed Omer’s extraordinary Shell-Shocked: On the Ground under Israel’s Gaza Assault, published by Or Books (New York & London) in 2015.The book consists of dispatches from the war zone by a young prize-winning journalist who has been telling the world about the Gaza ordeal for almost ten years, since his early 20s. Omer’s prior reporting earned him the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2007, recognizing the excellence of his reportage on Gaza (‘a voice for the voiceless’). After receiving the award in The Netherlands, Omer on his return home received a brutal reception at the Gaza border by Israeli security guards, being beaten so severely as to endure serious injury that required specialized surgery. With the help of a Dutch diplomat and medical treatment Omer restored his health while studying in overseas universities, yet opting to return to Gaza rather than to enjoy a life abroad as an honored exile. Omer wrote this book while doing his best during the 51 day war of 2014, what Israelis called Operation Protective Edge, to tell the world about the war from the perspective of those enduring it, that is, the civilian population of Gaza. Shell-Shocked raises many issues worthy of commentary, but here I will limit myself to issues bearing on the style and ethics of professional journalism. In essence, Omer does not have the option of detachment from the ordeal of war in the manner of the liberal journalists who I describe above as covering the Vietnam war, as an instance of failure for American foreign policy. Omer by choice and circumstances refused to be detached, but that does not mean that he cannot be trusted. On the contrary. As Omer explains, “. . .I’m a journalist, and I owe it to my people and the Israeli people to get to the truth. I choose to stay in Palestine, my beloved home, with my wife, son, mother, father, siblings. I am not willing to let Israel or Zionism exterminate me.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/aicoment/969-wartime-journalism-mohammed-omer-on-gaza
The forgotten massacre of German citizens in Gaza
EI 7 Aug by Emran Feroz — Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to “stand by the side of Israel” as it attacked Gaza during the summer of 2014. Her solidarity with the aggressor included remaining silent as a family of her fellow citizens were massacred. Ibrahim Kilani had lived in Germany for 20 years before moving back to Gaza. He, his wife, Taghreed, and their five children were killed when Israel shelled an apartment where they had sought refuge in Gaza City. Ramsis Kilani is a son of Ibrahim from his previous marriage, living in the German city of Siegen. Unable to attend Ibrahim’s funeral because of the siege on Gaza, Ramsis has tried to keep his father’s memory alive by campaigning against Israel’s crimes. Ramsis spoke to Emran Feroz. Emran Feroz: One year has passed since your father was killed. Can you summarize what you have experienced since then? Ramsis Kilani: My life has changed a lot. Especially before going to sleep, I cannot stop thinking about what has happened. Not only do I think about my father, who I had not been able to see for years before his death, as I never managed to get into Gaza and he never managed to get out. I think about my half-siblings whose voices and laughter I had heard on the telephone, who told me they loved me, but who I had never encountered in their short lives. . . EF: . . .Can you describe how the debate on Palestine is conducted in Germany? And how does it affect someone with Palestinian roots? RK: The debate in Germany is obviously strongly influenced by historical issues. The Holocaust has had a deep impact on Germans, whose grandparents or great-grandparents may have committed atrocities or were at least passively complicit. For many, the solution now is to stand in non-reflective solidarity with the State of Israel, which they think represents all Jews. This solidarity is interpreted as a sort of redemption for the genocide against millions of Jews by the Nazis. Arabs and especially Palestinians are certainly among the most hated people in Germany. I, for example, have been called an anti-Semite because of my father’s background countless times. The German support for the Israeli government is totally irrational. It is an illogical attempt to erase crimes and injustice by supporting crimes and injustice. . . .
https://electronicintifada.net/content/forgotten-massacre-german-citizens-gaza/14754
For each day of the Gaza war, these Jewish women are fasting
JERUSALEM (The Forward) 9 Aug by Rachel Tzvia Back — . . . We are in the Women Wage Peace protest tent, situated one block from the Israeli Prime Minister’s residence, where women are fasting in shifts for 50 days – the 50 days of last year’s horrific war in Gaza. Every day, new women join the protest, fasting in shifts of 25 or 50 hours. We are demanding that our government enter immediately into renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to precipitate a political resolution to this bloody conflict. We are protesting the terrible senselessness of last summer’s war, and our government’s refusal to do everything in its power to prevent the next war. We are protesting the profound failure of our politicians to provide us with a viable future in this land . . . The next morning, as our own fast nears its end, four young boys hover at the edge of the tent. One of them, dressed in a black t-shirt, is clearly looking for a fight and calls out to us: “Traitors!” To the four of us from the Galilee, these boys look like the religious counterparts of our own sons. Our energy level is low at this point, but we rise from our seats to talk with them. The boy wants only to argue, to shout and quote biblical verses to us. But beside him is a dark-haired boy in a red t-shirt, and he seems to want something else; he is listening, or trying to listen, to what we are saying about the possibility of peace. The black t-shirt boy shouts that his red t-shirt friend lost his brother in last summer’s war, as though proving the errors in our protest with that terrible news. Our gazes turn wholly toward the quiet red t-shirt boy; we ask his name and learn it is Noam. My friend Merav tells him her own son is named Noam, and the two of them move off to the side to talk. I too step aside, with the Proverbs verse about darchei noam suddenly echoing in my mind: the ways of our faith are pleasant, we are told, and “all its paths are peace.” This young Noam who buried his brother a year ago is looking for that peace, I think. As are we all.
http://forward.com/opinion/318809/for-each-day-of-the-gaza-war-these-jewish-women-are-fasting/
Other news
Bethlehem festival celebrates diversity of culture and faith
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 8 Aug by Anna Kokko — At the end of Star Street in the Old City of Bethlehem, turquoise metal doors that are usually locked have been set wide open. In a cave-like interior, a group of women sits in the dim light on brightly colored pillows and sofas, discussing what it means to live as a woman in Palestinian society. “Last year, our morning workshops were almost empty. But now we had about twenty women, who all left the panel inspired,” says Daniele Abilas, a project coordinator at Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian peace-building organization that has for the third year in a row organized Bethlehem’s hugely successful community festival, Bet Lahem Live. The three-day festival combines music and theater with workshops on spirituality and social responsibility, with performers and speakers coming from all over the world. This year’s themes culminate in faith, justice, and culture. All the events are held along Star Street, a traditional pilgrimage route for Christians. One of the main goals of the festival was to engage the local community. “Before the festival, we formed a Star Street Committee for people living on the street. It was the locals’ initiative to have bingo and backgammon at the event, for example,” Abilas says. The organizers hope to get about 30,00 visitors this year, double the turnout for last summer’s festival. Abilas says they expect the majority, about 70 percent, to be locals — not just from Bethlehem but also from other cities in the West Bank as well as Palestinians living in Israel. – ‘The real Palestine’ – Across the street from the women’s panel, another group of visitors has gathered around a burning candle. Ari Pliskin, an American Buddhist practitioner and minister at the Zen Peacemaker Order, kneels in front of the candle and bows to mark the start of a meditation.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766926
Report: Iran calls off Hamas visit to Tehran following Saudi rapprochement
I24News 9 Aug — Iran called off a planned visit by a Hamas delegation to the Islamic Republic following Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month, the Huffington Post’s Arabic edition reported Saturday. Citing sources, the report said a senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards expressed to a Hamas official that Meshaal’s visit to Riyadh was unacceptable. The unnamed Iranian official condemned the visit and asked why the Hamas chief had been so quick to accept the Saudi invitation while having not yet responded to an open invitation from the Iranian leadership for over four years. The Hamas representative responded that the visit to Saudi Arabia was not intended to be “against Iran,” but rather arose as a reflection of the group’s openness to all nations. According to the report, the Iranian official stated that the Saudis were attempting to bring about a rapprochement with Hamas in a bid to exert greater influence in the Middle East following the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers. The meeting between the Iranian and Hamas officials was described as “stormy.” Last month, Meshaal and other top officials from the Palestinian militant group met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and senior Saudi leaders, in a rare meeting between the two sides
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/81479-150809-report-iran-calls-off-hamas-visit-to-tehran-following-saudi-rapprochement
PLO official visits Iran to discuss bilateral relations
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Aug — President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday sent an envoy to Iran in an attempt to improve bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic. Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Ma‘an that the arrangements had been in place for some time and pre-dated recent talks in the country about the nuclear deal with the United States. The PLO official met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and agreed to set-up a “high-profile” joint committee to arrange consultations on political issues, and commercial and educational exchange. The two officials also discussed possible Iranian support in efforts to implement political reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766951
Turkey grants Palestinian refugees ‘protection card’
ANKARA (PIC) 7 Aug — The Turkish Interior Ministry has decided to give the same privileges for Palestinian refugees as well as their Syrian ones who fled from the ongoing bloody events in their country, rights group said. The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria (AGPS) revealed that the decision grants Palestinian refugees a temporary “protection card” which guarantees their basic human rights. The protection card also allows Palestinian refugees to take advantage of all services provided to the Syrian refugees. The Turkish authorities said that 351 Palestinian refugees have registered themselves in the immigration department; however their real number is expected to be higher than declared. The AGPS pointed out that the decision did not include cancelling visa application for Palestinians refugees as their entry from Syria requires a visa. Although Palestinian refugees from Syria are, like Syrian citizens, under temporary protection, the visa-free entry clauses Turkey applies to Syrian citizens are not valid for Palestinian refugees.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72916
Excusive: Uproar in Arab town of Sakhnin forces Netanyahu to cancel visit
I24News 8 Aug by Mohammad Khateeb — The residents of the western Galilee Arab city of Sakhnin were surprised to see large forces of police arriving in their town earlier this week, searching their homes without any warning or explanation and securing the southern part of the city, mainly its Doha soccer stadium. i24news has learned that the unusual police presence was due to a planned visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his plan to attend next Monday’s opening ceremony of a new medical center in Sakhnin. The Mayor of Sakhnin, Mazen Ganaim, confirmed the report to i24news, adding that the visit was canceled without further explanation. “The PM’s Office first said that Netanyahu would participate in the ceremony but called us again after a few days to cancel,” he said. An official in the municipality, who asked to remain anonymous, told i24news that the real reason for Netanyahu’s going back on his promise to attend the ceremony was the strong objection by city residents . . . The Arab residents of Sakhnin still remember Netanyahu’s controversial remarks during March 17 election day, when the prime minister has made a last-ditch attempt to rally his supporters as the country went to the polls, with a warning that a high turnout of Israeli Arab voters could threaten his party’s hold on power.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/81259-150807-exclusive-uproar-in-arab-town-of-sakhnin-forces-netanyahu-to-cancel-visit
Palestinians say high-profile football playoff shelved
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 9 Aug — A football match scheduled for Sunday that had been seen as a symbolic step towards Palestinian unity has been postponed indefinitely over a dispute with Israeli officials, the Palestinian Football Association said. Following Thursday’s goalless draw in Gaza between Al-Ahli from the West Bank city of Hebron and Gaza’s Shejaiya — their first match in 15 years — a second leg was planned for Sunday in Hebron. West Bank and Gaza Strip teams play in separate leagues, in which Al-Ahli and Shejaiya emerged as champions. The winner will be eligible to represent Palestine in international competitions. But the Gaza Strip . . . and the West Bank are separated by 60 kilometres (40 miles) of Israeli territory and Gazans are subject to rigorous border restrictions. Israel asked four of Shejaiya’s 37-member delegation to submit to security interviews as a condition of leaving the territory. The Palestinian Football Association, chaired by former West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub, and Shejaiya club categorically refused . . . “An athlete can enter and exit Gaza without security interference, according to the rules of FIFA,” [Jibril Rajoub] said, referring to football’s world governing body. . . .
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/palestinians-high-profile-football-playoff-shelved-163831527–sow.html
Israel’s culture minister told state funding can’t be withheld over content of work
Haaretz 9 Aug by Revital Hovel — Attorney general’s deputies spell out limits of Miri Regev’s powers, but she’s still considering changes to funding criteria, and the law, for 2016 — The attorney general’s deputies have instructed Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev that the content of artistic works must not be taken into consideration when deciding funding for cultural institutions. After she became culture minister in May, Regev (Likud) announced that she intended to change the criteria for government support for cultural institutions. This was partly because of the Arab play “A Parallel Time,” performed at the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa and inspired by the story of a Palestinian serving a life sentence for murder. Regev had ordered that state support for the theater be frozen. However, in response to a request from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Deputy Attorney Generals Orit Koren and Dina Zilber said on Sunday that Regev is not legally allowed to change funding criteria based on the content of the work.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.670342
Israel charges Swede with spying for Lebanon’s Hezbollah
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 9 Aug — Israel charged a Swede of Palestinian descent on Sunday with spying for Hezbollah, saying the Lebanese guerrilla group had tasked him with gathering information on Israeli military facilities that might be attacked in a future war. The suspect, Khalil Hizran, was arrested on July 21 after flying into Tel Aviv, and confessed under interrogation to working for Hezbollah, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said after a gag order on the case was lifted. According to a Shin Bet statement, Hizran planned to gather information on military sites in Israel, a mission it deemed “proof that Hezbollah is preparing for the next war with Israel and is marking out a ‘target bank'”. Hizran’s Israeli lawyer, Leah Tsemel, denied the charges. Speaking to Reuters, she said Hizran had met with Hezbollah members during visits to Lebanon, where he was born to Palestinian refugees and from which he had emigrated to Sweden. “But he refused any request to harm Israel’s security,” Tsemel said. Hizran made a previous visit to Israel in 2009.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-charges-swede-spying-lebanons-hezbollah-083117565.html
Home demolitions, airport harassment: Israelis’ lack of humanism / Amira Hass
Haaretz 10 Aug — In the West Bank village of ‘Aqaba, the Israeli authorities once more demolished homes and structures. What’s their connection to American Palestinians who were denied entry to Israel/Palestine? — Sometimes, a single sentence from an interviewee immediately glows as bright as a firefly. This time it was the words of Rashid Dabak, standing next to the pile of rubble that only two hours earlier had been his home in the small West Bank village of ‘Aqaba. The Civil Administration demolished his tin shack because the Israel Defense Forces had declared the area a firing zone. What about Palestinians living there? Let them disappear. Dabak, 61, concluded, “The problem with Israelis is that they suffer from a weak sense of humanism.” He made his diagnosis with sadness and compassion. His observation reminded me of the border control officers who, three weeks ago, had forbidden a 70-year-old man born in Jerusalem from entering the country because “Israel is for the Jews.” When George Khoury didn’t understand why, as an American citizen, he was not allowed to enter via Ben-Gurion International Airport, the officer told him, “Why are you denying that you’re a Palestinian?” Khoury answered that he was a proud Palestinian, but he also had an American passport the officer must honor. The response was: “How do you want me to honor your American passport? Do you want me to kiss it, to hug it, or to worship it?” . . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.670366
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