Israeli forces fracture teen’s skull as Jerusalem demonstrations continue

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

Israeli forces fracture teen’s skull in East Jerusalem village
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 20 Sept — Israeli forces fractured the skull of a 13-year-old boy [Mohammad Issa] with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-‘Issawiya overnight Saturday, medics at al-Maqasid hospital told Ma‘an. Witnesses at the scene said clashes broke out after Israeli forces stormed the neighborhood during an arrest raid, in which they initially detained two young men. During the clashes, five more Palestinians were detained, including two teenagers. Israeli forces fired gunshots and stun grenades “haphazardly” at demonstrators protesting the Israeli forces’ presence in the neighborhood, witnesses said . . . Clashes with Israeli forces in the neighborhood have been ongoing for the second week, as tensions in East Jerusalem heightened due to increased violence and restrictions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767717

Israeli soldiers assault two young Palestinian women near Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 20 Sept – Israeli soldiers Sunday assaulted and beat up two young Palestinian women during an incursion in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, according to local sources. Mohammad Awad, coordinator of the Anti-Settlement Committee in the town, said an Israeli army force stormed the house of Khalil Abu-Dayyeh, a local Palestinian, and brutally assaulted his daughter, 20-year-old Nabila, leaving bruises throughout her body. While the army assaulted and pepper sprayed 22-year-old Jamila Abu-Dayyeh, clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths in the same town. The soldiers used teargas canisters and rubber-coated bullets, causing multiple cases of suffocation by teargas inhalation.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29351

Soldiers injure three family members in Jerusalem, damage three cars
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — Israeli soldiers attacked, on Friday evening members of the Es‘eeda Palestinian family, in Wad al-Jouz, in occupied East Jerusalem, fractured the arm of one woman, shot a girl with a rubber-coated steel bullet in her arm, and destroyed three cars owned by the family. Resident ‘Adnan Es‘eeda told the WAFA News Agency that the soldiers caused several fractures in his wife’s arm, and shot his niece, in addition to deliberately causing damage to three cars owned by the family. He added that the assaults took place as the soldiers attacked Palestinian protesters in the area, especially near the ‘Abdin Mosque in the neighborhood, assaulted many protesters with clubs and batons, and fired dozens of gas bombs and concussion grenades. . .
In addition, the soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian teenager, the son of the Manuscripts Department head in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem. His abduction comes just 24 hours after they kidnapped his brother.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73078

The child Yousef Dari . . . continuous pain while recovering from a rubber bullet injury
[with photos] SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 Sept — The 10-year old Yousef Sami Yehya Dari is recovering at home from a rubber[-coated steel] bullet injury in his back that he suffered in the village of Esawyeh. Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that Yousef was targeted with a rubber bullet while he was heading home on 8/9/2015 and suffered severe bleeding in the spleen. The child’s father explained that his son was injured in the back after he had left school and was heading to buy bread for his mother. While walking in the Schools’ Street in the village of Esawyeh, the occupation soldiers were harassing the residents and students and targeted the child with a rubber bullet and injured him in his back causing damage to the spleen; his condition was described as serious. The child’s father added that his son received treatment at Al-Maqased hospital for 9 days where most it was at the intensive care unit. During that, it was revealed that the level of his immune system has dropped and he needed to take all the medical vaccinations. He pointed out that Yousef still suffers from pains and a state of fatigue and exhaustion and is not allowed to move or walk for one month so he won’t bleed again; he also needs follow-up and additional vaccinations in the coming period.
http://silwanic.net/?p=62599

Suspected Israeli settler opens fire at Palestinian car near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 20 Sept — A suspected Israeli settler allegedly opened fire on Saturday at a Palestinian vehicle near the illegal Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the northern occupied West Bank, a local monitor said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma‘an that one person drove the car of the attacker, which has Israeli number plates, while another shot live rounds at a Palestinian vehicle with Palestinian number plates. No injuries have been reported. Daghlas added that the victim in the shooting has been identified as Ammar Naim Sarkaji.  [The vehicle also contained his two daughters.] No description of the attacker’s vehicle has been given at this time. The Palestinians were said to have been traveling from the village of Beit Dajan to Nablus in the northern West Bank during the attack.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767722

Settler violence escalates in the vicinity of Kiryat Arba illegal settlement
[with photos] HEBRON, Occupied Palestine 19 Sept by ISM Al-Khalil Team — The children of the Ja‘bari family in Ja‘bari neighbourhood of al-Khalil are singing along to a Palestinian children’s television show. It is a sunny Saturday morning but in the small living area, six tiny children sit with their mothers who explain to us that they do not go outside because of the settlers. They quietly recite every word of the television songs to themselves. With the massive illegal Israeli settlement, Kiryat Arba – home to nearly eight thousand Israeli settlers, directly facing their home, Saturday mornings aren’t the only time the Ja‘bari family is being affected. They have a newly built synagogue behind them, along with an Israeli police station. All are connected by a path that brings settlers along the family property on a regular basis. “The settlers jump behind our home in the night. They bang on the children’s windows and terrorize them.” International human rights observers from the ISM and others have been providing protective presence for the family who, with so many children living in the home, haven’t had running water since the second Intifada. Their well, fronting the home, contains more trash than water and once they are able to procure the resources to repair it, it is subject to the same assault the family themselves endure month in and month out. “During the Jewish holiday, the settlers filled the streets praying loudly. They shouted curse words at us.” [Continued]
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/09/settler-violence-escalates-in-the-vicinity-of-kiryat-arba-illegal-settlement/

Israeli soldier injured in clashes at Nablus tomb
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Sept — An Israeli soldier sustained injuries overnight as clashes broke out during a visit to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, Israel’s army said. Around 60 Palestinians hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails, and rolled burning tires at a group of Israelis visiting the site under armed guard, an army spokesperson said.Israeli media reported that up to 2,000 Israelis took part in the visit.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767737

Netanyahu tells courts: Israel must impose harsh penalties on stone-throwers
Haaretz 20 Sept by Barak Ravid — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has joined Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan’s criticism of the Israeli court system’s methods of dealing with the legal punishments given to stone-throwers. Netanyahu stressed Sunday that he wants severe minimum sentences to be imposed on those who throw stones or firebombs. “This is a norm that should apply to every citizen of Israel, every resident of Israel and every judge in Israel,” said Netanyahu. “With all due respects to the court, it is our right and our obligations to impose this norm, as we did with sex offenders. A minimum sentence will be imposed on stone-throwers.”  Netanyahu also discussed the escalating violence on Temple Mount, and said it was not Israel that was trying to change the status quo at the holy site. According to Netanyahu, it is the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian Authority and the Islamist Movement in Israel that are flaming the tensions there.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.676788

Attorney general opposes tougher penalties as Jerusalem, West bank violence continues
Ynet 20 Sept by Roi Yanovsky, Elisha Ben Kimon, & Elior Levy — A recent surge in violence across the West Bank and East Jerusalem continued into Sunday as riots, stone throwers and firebombs led to injuries, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a government meeting to announce plans for tougher penalties against rioters and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein declared his opposition to such a move. Weinstein opposed changing the rules of engagement and the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences, arguing that existing protocols were sufficient. New penalties  promoted by the prime minister would have set a minimum sentence of four to five years in jail for stone throwers and a minimum of ten years for throwing Molotov cocktails. This contrasted with the Prime Minister Office’s statement on Saturday night that the police was drafting a proposal with Weinstein’s approval, and that that Weinstein had permitted shooting at stone-throwers in incidents where civilians’ lives were in danger. Weinstein said Sunday that he had merely approved the use of Ruger rifles. Weinstein instead suggested that mandatory sentences be implemented as a temporary provision for a year or two to see whether they did have a deterrent effect.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4702560,00.html

Why does Netanyahu think he can stop rock throwing? / Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
+972 20 Sept — If live ammunition hasn’t stopped stone throwing in the West Bank, what makes the prime minister think it will work in Jerusalem? The one thing we can be sure the change in policy will do is kill more Palestinians — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants security forces to start shooting Palestinian stone throwers. During the First Intifada, which included a lot of rock throwing, then defense minister Yitzhak Rabin also tried to stop the phenomenon. The future Nobel laureate’s answer was an order to “break their bones.” There were a few problems with that tactic. Firstly, it didn’t work. Secondly, it didn’t look very good, especially when broadcast in living color by an American television network. But the bottom line was that you simply can’t stop an occupied people from resisting, and often times, rocks — and far worse violent implements — are involved. And yet, every once in a while occupying forces feel pressure to try and “stop” the stone throwing. Sometimes that pressure is a result of an outcry from affected constituents. Sometimes it is political pressure — an attempt to look like more of a strongman, or even deflect from more troubling issues. It’s not entirely clear why the renewed push against stone throwing in Israel is happening now. There was a death as a result of a stone recently, but there is no radical uptick in violence compared to past rounds of now-perennial “escalations” in Jerusalem, most often connected in one way or another to — perceived and real — Israeli violations of the Aqsa Mosque. Perhaps in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the famous CBS video of Israeli soldiers trying to break stone-throwers’ arms, Israeli police in Jerusalem have increased their obstruction of Palestinian journalists in the city, including using violence against them. Here is another question. The weapons Israeli police have been using in Jerusalem for years, that is before live fire was approved, were already maiming and even killing protesters and passersby. So why add live fire to the mix? Of the two possible explanations, increasing deterrence and increasing the public perception of heavy-handedness, the latter is far more likely. [Continued]
http://972mag.com/why-does-netanyahu-think-he-can-stop-rock-throwing/111856/

License to kill: the case files
+972 20 Sept — Every year, IDF soldiers shoot and kill unarmed Palestinians in the occupied territories. But time and time again, it seems like the soldiers responsible are never brought to justice. Now, +972 opens up the case files to examine just how the army gives its soldiers a license to kill. License to Kill: Stone-throwing while Palestinian could get you killed [24 Aug] An IDF brigade commander earns praise from the political establishment for killing a Palestinian stone-thrower, while soldiers are commended for using ‘restraint’ in the face of Jewish stone-throwers. License to Kill: Why did the IDF shoot the Qawarik cousins 29 times? [19 May] Saleh and Muhammad head out to their agricultural land. A settler stops them and calls the army. Four soldiers arrive. One of them empties his magazine into the two. Three other soldiers claim they didn’t see anything. The IDF says that the cousins attacked the soldier, then retracts the claim. No one is brought to justice. License to Kill: Why did Colonel A. order the sniping of Ihab Islim? [27 March] Members of a family are standing on a balcony and chatting. The commander of IDF forces in the region orders snipers to open fire on them. One brother is killed, the other one loses an eye. The commander fails to account for the order in the investigation that ensues. The case is closed, and the commander is promoted. In the following months, other civilians in the region are killed in the exact same manner. No one is found guilty. [Continued]
http://972mag.com/special/license-to-kill/

Israeli forces targeting Palestinian children in Al-Khalil (Hebron)
[with photos] International Solidarity Movement 20 Sept — Every day, Palestinian families get attacked by Israeli forces in their own homes. Sometimes they bang on the door in the middle of the night, scaring children and adults, ransacking the house. On some of these raids, both during the night and in daytime, Israeli forces randomly arrest family members and take them to an unknown destination without any reason. Last night, Israeli forces entered the Palestinian market in the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) and entered a Palestinian family home where they kidnapped an 8-year old girl and arrested 3 more young men. All of them were walked towards the military base in Shuhada street, but then kept behind a fence and military gate for more than 15 minutes before being released. No reason was given for the random arrest. Even the way to school can be a dangerous and perilous journey for children in al-Khalil (Hebron). Having to pass through sometimes multiple checkpoints to get to school, children as young as 4 years old have to pass by heavily armed Israeli soldiers. As if the ubiquitous military presence weren’t scary enough, children are subjected to bag-searches, frisking, detainment and arrests. With Israeli forces using tear gas on children on their way to school and back home after a long school-day, children also have to duck away from tear-gas grenades shot towards them and navigate past clouds of tear-gas lingering on in the alleys
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/09/israeli-forces-targeting-palestinian-children-in-al-khalil-hebron/

In pictures: Arrests and raiding houses in the village of Jebel Al-Mukabber
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 19 Sept — The occupation authorities turned the village of Jabal Al-Mukabber into a military camp after four Must‘aribeen (undercover police) were injured. The forces raided several houses and deliberately broke the main doors and damaged the contents of the houses and also assaulted and severely beat the residents; they arrested a group of young men. The forces also confiscated a car owned by Mashahra family. Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the forces beat the detainees during the arrest and while detaining them at the police center. The forces arrested the following from the village of Jabal Al-Mukabber: Mujahed Ali Obeidyeh (16) Laith Naser Mohammad Khalayleh (17) Mohammad Alayan Mohammad Shkeirat (21) Yazan Aweisat (18) Shadi Za’atra (20) Ibrahim Mashahra (20) Ahmad Aweisat (17) Mohammad Ali Aweisat (under arrest after being injured with a live bullet and currently receiving treatment)
http://silwanic.net/?p=62686

Army kidnaps 27 Palestinians in Jerusalem, demolishes one home
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Sept — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday at dawn, the al-‘Eesawiyya and Silwan towns, and at-Tour neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, and kidnapped 27 Palestinians, including 11 children. Soldiers also demolished one home in Silwan. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that among the kidnapped are three children in al-‘Eesawiyya, and eight others in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in Silwan.  Silwanic said the kidnapped have been identified as Nadim Zahra, Sharif Abu Mayyala, 16, Sufian Edrees, 16, Amir Abu Najma, 16, Ismael Abu Ramouz, 13, Ala’ Bazlameet, 16, Mohammad Abu Najma, 15, Hamza Syouri, 16, Bashar Abu Rajab, 19, Mohammad Shahbour and Ahmad Nasser, 14. The soldiers assaulted Sharif Abu Mayyala during his abduction, and deliberately hit him on his burnt arms from a previous accident, and struck Ismael ‘Annous with their guns on his back and arms. Silwanic said the soldiers moved the kidnapped children to the al-Maskobiyya interrogation center, after cuffing their hands behind their backs, and forced them to sit on the ground.  A lawyer working for Silwanic said he demanded the soldiers to remove the cuffs, but removed them only to place them again, this time from the front . . .
Furthermore, Israeli bulldozers and several military vehicles invaded Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in Silwan, and demolished a Palestinian home. The army surrounded the entire area before invading it, and demolished the property, allegedly for being built without a construction permit.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73106

Soldiers kidnap four Palestinians in Hebron
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Sept — Israeli soldiers have kidnapped, earlier on Monday, four Palestinians in different areas in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, after the army broke into and searched several homes and a bakery. The army also invaded a village near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. Media sources in Hebron said the soldiers invaded and searched homes in the al-‘Arroub refugee camp, and kidnapped two Palestinians identified as Ahmad Emad Khamour, 19, and Baha’ Jihad Khamour, 19. Another Palestinian, identified as Emad Khaled al-Juneidi, 20, was kidnapped from his home in Hebron city, after the soldiers broke into homes and searched them. In addition, soldiers invaded Khallet al-‘Ein and ‘Aseeda areas, in Beit Ummar town north of Hebron, and kidnapped Khalil ‘Ayesh Sabarna, 17 years of age. The soldiers also invaded a bakery in the town, searched it, and handed one of its workers, identified as Zoheir Meqbil, an order for interrogation in the Etzion military base. In related news, soldiers invaded Emateen village, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, searched a home belonging to Mohammad Abdul-Rahman Suwwan, causing property damage, and withdrew from the village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73107

Israeli forces stop car of senior PA official, detain driver
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 20 Sept — Israeli forces on Sunday stopped the car of the head of the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs in southern Nablus and detained his driver. Issa Qaraqe told Ma‘an that Israeli forces at Za‘atara checkpoint south of Nablus “brutally” searched his car and detained his driver Amir al-Amir, 30, before taking him to an unknown destination. Qaraqe added that there had been no reason for the incident, and that it was solely aimed at “revenge.” Qaraqe formerly served as a minister, heading the PA Ministry for Prisoners’ Affairs, before the ministry was replaced by a committee last year. The Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs has been vocal in its condemnation of Israeli prisons, in which more than 5,500 Palestinians are currently being held.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767732

Al-Aqsa

Egypt’s Sissi says Al-Aqsa unrest threatens regional stability
Haaretz 19 Sept by Jack Khoury & Barak Ravid — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said Saturday that the unrest in Jerusalem is threatening stability in the region and the world, and accused Israel of shirking its responsibility to protect holy Muslim sites. “The daily incidents at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem are a breach of the status quo,” Sissi said at a press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk. He asserted that the escalating violence is “a failure of the government of Israel” which is “shirking its responsibility under international law to protect the holy places.”  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, said that order needs to be restored in Jerusalem, and on Temple Mount in particular. “We are urging everybody to keep the calm, to keep the peace, to adhere to the status quo,” Kerry said after meeting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in London on Saturday. He added that in his conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, the latter said that Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo and preventing any incident that will stir further unrest. “All parties need to refrain from incitement,” Kerry said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.676717

Video: Why is Israel attacking Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque?
EI 17 Sept by Ali Abunimah — On Wednesday, I appeared on Al Jazeera’s news magazine Inside Story to discuss Israel’s assault on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound. The other guests were Akiva Eldar, senior columnist at Al-Monitor, and Matthew Duss, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Today, dozens of members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party entered the compound accompanied by occupation forces. This provocation came after days of violent Israeli assaults on worshipers and journalists in and around the mosque. Palestinians view these incursions as part of an increasingly aggressive strategy aimed at an eventual takeover of the compound by Israeli groups intent on bringing down the mosque and building a Jewish temple in its place. Watch the video above.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-why-israel-attacking-jerusalems-al-aqsa-mosque

Palestinian Authority

PA forces disperse Palestinian protest in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 20 Sept — Palestinian Authority security forces on Sunday dispersed a march near al-Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem that was called to protest an excessive use of force by PA forces last week. A Ma‘an reporter said that up to 300 Palestinians took part in the march, which began at the entrance to the refugee camp before making its way to a nearby PA intelligence building. Protesters reportedly chanted slogans against President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA. The march was called after PA security forces on Friday violently attacked three teenage Palestinians from al-‘Azza refugee camp, also in Bethlehem. The attack, which was caught on camera by online news site Middle East Eye, came during a peaceful rally, and led to sharp criticism from Palestinians of the officers’ excessive use of force. Protesters at Sunday’s march attempted to stage a sit-in in front of the intelligence building. While a number of the protesters urged a refrain from violence, others threw stones at the building, smashing one of its windows. Security officers then emerged from the building and a plain-clothes officer reportedly opened fire using a handgun, leading to the dispersal of the protest. There were no reports of injuries.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767733

PA punishes officers filmed beating Palestinian protesters
Haaretz 20 Sept by Amira Hass — The commander of the Palestinian National Security Forces has ordered disciplinary action against officers who beat Palestinian youths as they were walking to a demonstration across from the Israeli military checkpoint in Bethlehem. Four officers in the Bethlehem district were suspended from their senior positions, while five others were jailed for three months and will not be promoted for at least a year. The Palestinian security forces had been positioned there to prevent youths from approaching the Israeli checkpoint. In announcing the punishments, security forces commander Nidal Abu Dohan wrote that the mission of protecting civilians and children from the rifles of the Israeli army does not justify “a wild attack on an innocent child.”
On Friday a hidden camera belonging to the Middle East Eye news site caught Palestinian policemen beating three Palestinian teenagers with batons and kicking them. It later emerged that the father of one of the youths is a police officer and employee of the Palestinian Interior Ministry. The social media networks focused on this youth, and the Palestinian journalists followed . . . The security forces spokesman said the youths had been restrained out of concern for their lives, but his explanation did not stop the criticism of police behavior in this particular instance nor of what is understood as PA cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet Security service in general. The PA government and the security forces hastened to set up two separate investigating committees. Representatives of the security forces went to the homes of the injured youths to apologize.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.676882

Meet the 2 teens caught on camera being beaten by Palestinian police
BETHLEHEM, West Bank 19 Sept — MEE caught Palestinian police beating Mahmoud Hamamra, 16, and his brother Ahmad Hamamra, 18, on camera Friday afternoon during a protest in the city of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank. Both brothers were beaten on the scene, taken to a secluded location, beaten again, and then taken to a police station where, they say, police continued to brutalize them. The brothers, whose father is a police officer, said that if it wasn’t for the incident being caught on tape they would still be in jail. The video has been seen by more than 30,000 people in 24 hours on MEE’s website alone. Another teen, 14-year-old Ramiz al-‘Azza, is shown at the beginning of the video – wearing a blue shirt – being nabbed by the security forces. ‘Azza was also beaten up, detained, and released in the same day . . . Mahmoud Hamamra, 16  Can you explain a bit about what exactly happened yesterday?  Yesterday I went to a protest for what has been going on at al-Aqsa [mosque in Jerusalem]. When I got there the Palestinian police were already waiting there at the front of the protest between the protesters and the separation wall, where the Israeli soldiers are behind. The protesters were shouting at the police and saying bad things to them for standing against their own people, and that’s when they started shooting tear gas at us, and after that they started charging forward and hitting people. The first one that got to me hit me and I didn’t fall, and then the second and the third, and I was still standing but before I knew it I was surrounded and I was on the ground and they were hitting me with their clubs and kicking me. They hit me in my feet first to make sure I couldn’t get up and then my back and my arms and my head. [Continued]
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/meet-2-teens-caught-camera-being-attacked-palestinian-police-1957538735

VIDEO: PA official opens live fire at Palestinian protesters in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (MEE) 20 Sept — A Palestinian Authority official opened live fire at Palestinian protesters on Sunday evening during an anti-PA protest in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank. Demonstrations against the PA are rare in the West Bank, however tensions skyrocketed over the weekend, after Middle East Eye published footage of PA police officers brutalizing protesters on Friday. The video spread rapidly across social media, sparking anti-PA protests on Saturday and again on Sunday, when a PA official in plain clothes, caught on camera again by MEE, opened fire with a hand gun on protesters in front of a PA intelligence compound.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bethelem-live-fire-1833797471

Abbas must talk tough to hide his efforts to achieve calm in Jerusalem
Haaretz 20 Sept by Amira Hass — Palestinian president’s comment ‘we won’t let them defile our holy places with their filthy feet’ must be seen in context: Palestinian security forces apparatus working to crack down on riots and demonstrations in Bethlehem and Jerusalem — Last week the Israeli media went after Mahmoud Abbas’ words with a magnifying glass. “We won’t let them defile our holy places with their filthy feet,” Abbas said, referring to incidents on the Temple Mount at a news conference aired on Palestinian television. According to the more severe interpretation, Abbas was referring to Jews’ feet, and the comment revealed his true face. The other interpretation was voiced by Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi: Abbas was denouncing the entry of Israeli police into the Al-Aqsa Mosque while shod, thereby desecrating the holy place and disrespecting Muslims. The harsh words must be measured against deeds. Two or three days later, Palestinian social networks caught the Palestinian police and security apparatus, which are subordinate to Abbas, in an embarrassing position. On Friday afternoon these forces prevented demonstrators from reaching an Israeli military post near Bethlehem to protest Israeli policy at Al-Aqsa. A (hidden) camera captured security men fiercely beating up at least two of the demonstrators. One protester who was hurt was Mahmoud Hamamra, 17, the son of a Palestinian police officer who works in the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Ramallah . . . The spokesman of the Palestinian security service, Adnan al-Damiri, said the incident reflected unacceptable acts by individuals that violated Palestinian law. That, by the way, is the standard response of Palestinian Authority spokesmen to reports of abuse at the hands of the security service . . . Even if “individuals” from the police and the national security force had not attacked the protesters, they were deployed to form a barrier between the protesters and the separation barrier in south Bethlehem and the Israeli observation/sniper tower. It wasn’t the first time the Palestinian police have blocked demonstrators, or the first time the public has viewed the PA as a traitor or subcontractor of the occupation.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.676739

Gaza

Army bombards Gaza, one Palestinian injured; homes and structures damaged
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — Israeli war jets fired, on Saturday at dawn, several missiles into different areas of the besieged Gaza Strip, causing excessive damage to homes and structures, while one Palestinian was injured. The army claimed it was retaliating to shells fired from Gaza. The WAFA News Agency said an F-16 Israeli fighter jet fired a missile at the al-Ersal [communications] Tower, on the Salaheddin Road, east of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The missile caused significant property damage, while one Palestinian was injured, and was moved to the Kamal ‘Adwan Hospital, in Beit Lahia nearby town. Many Palestinian children suffered anxiety attacks. In addition, the Israeli Air Force fired two missiles into a site allegedly used by armed resistance groups, east of Gaza City, causing property damage. Another missile was fired into a concrete water reservoir in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, causing serious damage.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73081

Israeli drone captured by Hamas in northern Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 20 Sept — The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas says it has captured a drone belonging to the Israeli regime in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip, the second such incident in about two months. Press TV/Al Ray reports that, according to media reports on Saturday, members of the Hamas military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, seized the aircraft after it fell in an area on the outskirts of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.  Qassam Brigades officials have not made any comments on the report so far. This is the second Israeli drone seized by Palestinian resistance fighters over the past two months. Back in July, Hamas announced that another drone came down in northern Gaza, adding that the movement’s fighters managed to rebuild the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Tel Aviv regime makes frequent use of UAVs to gather intelligence on the coastal enclave, which has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73097

Army: Rocket fired from Gaza lands in southern Israel
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Sept — A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight, Israel’s army said, with no reported injuries. The rocket landed in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council overnight, with Israeli forces conducting searches in the area. Sirens did not sound before the rocket fire, Israeli media reported. No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767738

Army carries out a limited invasion in northern Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Sept — Several Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers carried out on Monday morning, a limited invasion into Palestinian lands east of Jabalia town, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers advanced dozens of meters into Palestinian lands, close to the border fence, and bulldozed them. The army conducts frequent limited invasion into border areas in the coastal region, bulldozes and uproots lands, in addition to firing on homes, farmers and workers.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73108

JHCO sends aid convoy to Gaza
Amman (Petra) 20 Sept –The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO) on Sunday sent an aid convoy to the Gaza Strip donated by Baitulmaal Palestine. Secretary General of the organization Ayman Mifleh said the seven-truck convoy was laden with forty already houses (caravans), noting that it will be delivered to the Palestinian Ministry of public works and housing for distribution in the blockaded enclave.
http://petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?Site_Id=1&lang=2&NewsID=215330&CatID=-1

870 trucks enter Gaza
GAZA (Peninsula) 20 Sept — Coordination Committee for entry of goods in the Gaza Strip said that the Karam Abu Salem crossing was opened on Sunday morning to allow the entry of 870 truckloads with goods, aids and construction materials. The head of Coordination Committee Raed Fattouh said in a statement to Palestine’s News Agency that the Israeli side allowed the entry of 870 truckloads with aids and goods for the commercial and agricultural sectors including, 110 truckloads with construction materials for international projects and 50 truckloads with gravel for infrastructure of roads. Quantities of fuel was also be pumped.
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/middle-east/352863/870-trucks-enter-gaza

Gaza, a constant slaughter: Testimonies of a genocidal aggression
KHUZA‘A, Gaza Strip 19 Sept by ISM Gaza Team — It only depends on us that this mother’s cry of pain does not drown in the silence. “My paralyzed daughter was murdered by Israeli soldiers and I couldn’t save her” she told us, looking at us with clear eyes veiled with tears of pain, the mother of a paraplegic girl, just 18 years old, massacred in her wheelchair by Zionist occupation forces during the ground invasion in Khuza‘a, in southern Gaza Strip. The mother’s voice is like her eyes, clear and painful, sad and intense. In her tone there is much suffering – although she is a victim of the zionist atrocities – there is also a lot of guilt for failing to rescue her daughter from a terrible death under the fire of one of the most powerful armies of the planet: the Israeli Occupation Forces.  “My daughter asked me not to leave her, but she was in a crater formed by a bomb explosion in the middle of the street and I couldn’t move her from there, I didn’t have the strength to carry her in my arms, and the Israeli soldiers were coming back, shooting with tanks, guns, with everything. Crying I told her that I had to leave her and prayed to God.” What happened next is so cruel and  vicious as the crime itself: an officer of the Israeli forces communicated by telephone with the family to say the girl was with them in one of the houses that they had occupied in Khuza‘a. “Come and get her, she is unharmed,” said the officer. The family was so happy that one brother decided to leave the house where they were sheltering with the intention of picking up the girl, but when he opened the door, multiple shots from the occupation forces began to impact the house. The Zionists’ macabre game is repeated, they call again to tell the family to look for the paralyzed teen and again they open fire when one of the brothers tries to leave the house to rescue his sister. [Continued]
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/09/gaza-a-constant-slaughter-testimonies-of-a-genocidal-aggression/

Prisoners

Seven Palestinian detainees join hunger strike in support of hunger strikers
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 20 Sept – Seven Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails have started an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with five other detainees who have been protesting against detention [for 30 days] without charge or trial, according to the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs (CPA). The seven detainees were identified as Moath Abu-Nassar, Udai Byoumi, Mohammad Hawarin, Motasem Raqban, Ahmad Adawi, Ashraf Zaghari, and Hassan Zaghari.  The commission said other political prisoners in Israeli jails also threatened to join the hunger strike in case Israel fails to meet the demands of hunger strikers’ to end the practice of administrative detention, where a detainee is detained in jail without charge or trial. According to the commission, the five hunger striking administrative detainees – Nedal Abu ‘Akr, Shadi Ma‘ali, Ghassan Zawahra, Bader al-Ruzza, and Munir Abu Sharar – who have been on hunger strike since August 20 have so far been denied access to hospital, despite of a noticeable deterioration in their health.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29347

[Palestinian prisoner Ahed Abu Dayyak’s condition worsens]
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 19 Sept …Meanwhile, the committee noted that the health situation of Ahed Abu Dayyak, 33, who is sentenced to three life sentences and 30 years in jail, has sharply deteriorated as a result of deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prison administration. The committee explained that Abu Dayyak underwent a tumor excision surgery on his intestines in Israeli Soroka medical center, where doctors removed almost 80 centimeters of his large bowel. It explained that Abu Dayyak was not provided with crucial medical care at Soroka center, adding that they transferred him to another hospital too early, given the severity of his medical condition. The committee said Abu Dayyak was later moved to al-Ramala hospital in an unfit vehicle, which caused him a severe surgical wound infection.  As a result, he was moved to Asaf Haroveh hospital. He is still lying in a coma connected to a ventilator to assist his breathing, where his medical condition remains critical.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29343

The Israeli prison service imposes a set of inhumane punitive measures against hunger-striking prisoners
RAMALLAH (Addameer) 17 Sept — Administrative detainees on hunger strike, Munir Abu Sharar, Bader Al-Ruzzeh and Shadi Maali, who are isolated in the cells of Al-Naqab prison informed Addameer’s lawyer, adv. Samer Samaan during a visit on Wednesday that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has imposed a set of harsh and inhumane punitive measures against them. Among the punitive measures imposed was denying the hunger strikers access to cold drinking water forcing them to drink warm water from a rusty water faucet in their cells, knowing that the prisoners have entered their 18th day on an open hunger strike. The IPS further blocked all openings in cell gates which limited the supply of fresh air in the rooms. Abu Sharar told adv. Samaan he has been sleeping on a mattress next to the doorstep where the small opening beneath the gate lets some air in. Abu Sharar added that the IPS has confiscated all their belongings as they were placed in solitary confinement immediately after they embarked on their hunger strike. The IPS further denied them access to clothes, books, blankets and pillows. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association condemns these harsh and inhumane punitive measures imposed on the hunger striking detainees in violation of international human rights and humanitarian norms and standards.
http://www.addameer.org/news/israeli-prison-service-imposes-set-inhumane-punitive-measures-against-hunger-striking-prisoners

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlements

Israeli settlers bury Palestinian-owned well with dirt and rocks
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 19 Sept – Israeli settlers Saturday buried a Palestinian-owned water well in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, with dirt and rocks to prevent the owner from using it to irrigate his crops. Coordinator of the anti wall and settlement committee, Ahmad Salah, informed WAFA that a group of settlers filled a water well belonging to local Mohammad al-Baik with dirt and rocks, noting that the well is located in an agricultural land adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Eliezer, built illegally on the land of the town’s land. The activist said that the well was built there almost 60 years ago and is used for irrigation purposes.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29344

Israeli police demolish stores northwest of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 20 Sept – Israeli police Sunday demolished five Palestinian-owned stores in the town of Hezma, just northeast of Jerusalem, according to local sources. An Israeli army force broke into the town in the morning and demolished five tinplate-surfaced stores, including a stone-cutting workshop, under the pretext of construction without a permit. The stores are located in Area C, under complete Israeli military and administrative control. The Israeli army and police have repeatedly vandalized residencies in Area C under the pretext of construction without permission.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29349

Agricultural land targeted for settlements
AIC 17 Sept by Ahmad Jaradat —  “This was the ninth time in the past two years that my land was targeted and damaged by Israeli military bulldozers,” said Badran Bader Jaber to the AIC. Jaber was referring to his agricultural land in the al-Baqa‘a village, located near the Hebron-area settlements of Kiryat Arba and Givat Harsina, as well as to Israeli bypass road 60. Several days ago some 30 Israeli soldiers entered al Baqa’a and declared it a closed mililtary zone, preventing the land owners from accessing the area. Using bulldozers and even their hands, the soldiers damaged some 3.5 dunams of land belonging to Jaber, as well as a similar amount owned by Jaber’s neighbour, Adel Rashed Jaber. Soldiers uprooted the land, destroying vegetable crops as well as the irrigation and water system on the land. “The Israelis, whether soldiers or settlers I don’t know, confiscated my water pipes and pump,” Jaber added. “Replacing them will cost NIS 30,000. The bulldozers also destroyed crates and crates of grapes which were ready for the market.”  Adel Jaber similarly lost water pipes and crops in the attack. Al Baqa’a is heavily impacted by the Israeli occupation. It is isolated from the surrounding area by settlements, the bypass road, checkpoints, road blocks, an Israeli petrol station, military centres and the Separation Wall. A substantial part of its land was expropriated by Israeli military authorities for the building of Givat Harsina, Kiryat Arba and the bypass road. “It is clear to me and my neighbours that they want us to leave our land,” Jaber adds. “They don’t want us to tend to our land, making it easier for them to confiscate it later on. We, however, are staying.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/1030-agricultural-land-targeted-for-settlements

Israeli army renovating contested Hebron building where settlers live
Haaretz 20 Sept by Gili Cohen — The Israel Defense Forces is renovating a contested building in Hebron to serve as a military post that was supposed to have been temporary when the army first moved in six years ago. The soldiers were stationed in the building, on the main road leading to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 2009. The army’s presence in the house, known in the media as the “house of contention” is not supposed to affect the right of ownership of the building itself. Work began about 10 days ago, using IDF career army personnel, apparently to install plumbing. According to the army, the work was carried out with the agreement of the owners although in the past right-wing activists opposed the army’s presence in the house, which they said the army has no right to use. Dror Etkis, who follows settlement policy in the territories, said with regard to the work now underway: “The time has come that every Jewish mother should know that her children in the army are responsible for getting rid of the settlers’ excrement, and not only metaphorically speaking.”  Last April three settler families moved into the building after receiving permission from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. The previous month, the High Court rejected a petition by Palestinians and ruled that the building had been legally purchased by settlers. In 2012, the building was evacuated after a number of settlers squatted there. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.676722

WATCH: No to ‘settlements’ in Jaffa
Israeli Social TV 19 Sept —  A developer wants to evict 12 Palestinian families in order to build a Jewish-only luxury housing project in Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood. Can we call it a settlement, or is it just gentrification?
http://972mag.com/watch-no-to-settlements-in-jaffa/111843/

Palestinian refugees – Syria

Amid Syria chaos, broken symbol of hope plays final note
[with videos] Ynet 20 Sept by Roi Kais — Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled war and hardship over the last few months, looking for safety within Europe’s borders. The unprecedented mass migration has left the Middle East more broken than ever as shelled-out structures have been abandoned and once bustling streets are seen as danger zones. Much of Syria has been left hollow, but tiny rays of light have maintained in the difficult reality of brutal civil war, including Palestinian pianist Ayyam Al-Ahmad, who kept music reverberating amongst the rubble of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damscus for months. Al-Ahmad became infamous online after uploading videos of himself playing in the ruins of a war-torn country. But even the notes from Al-Ahmad’s piano could not hold back the darkness in Syria forever.  After months of maintaining morale and some semblance of culture in Yarmouk, Al-Ahmad finally broke like all the others and began making his way to Europe. “On my birthday in April this year, I decided to leave the camp,” Al-Ahmad told the BBC. “The hardest times were when I used to hear Ahmad, my son, crying at two in the morning. He was hungry and there was no milk. I had some money but I couldn’t buy anything for him with it . . . Even after his own personal journey to Europe, Al-Ahmad is still worried for his family in Damascus who he hopes will find a safe route to join him.  “When the extremism leaves the camp and it’s safe again, I’ll go back,” Al-Ahmad said of an uncertain future. “But the best would be going back to Palestine. I want to return to Safed, to Palestine. From Germany I’ll go back to Palestine even though it’s far.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4702334,00.html

BDS

Iceland mayor withdraws plan for Israeli boycott
AFP 20 Sept — The mayor of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik on Saturday said he would scrap plans for a boycott of Israeli goods, a proposal that had raised outrage in Israel and elsewhere. “I will propose to the municipal council that the idea is withdrawn,” Mayor Dagur Eggertsson said on Icelandic public television. “This was ill-prepared. I blame myself for not following it more closely.”  Reykjavik’s council had on Tuesday approved a motion to halt the city’s purchase of Israeli products until the occupation of the Palestinian territories ends. It was thus en route to becoming the latest European city to join a global boycott and divestment campaign . . . Eggertsson said he would present a new plan to the city council concerning goods made in the Palestinian territories.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iceland-mayor-withdraws-plan-israeli-boycott-1315547610

Using Palestinians as a human shield against BDS
+972 Blog 20 Sept by Rami Younis — In response to the Reykjavik City Council’s decision — since reversed — to boycott Israeli goods until the occupation is ended, Israeli politician Yair Lapid wrote an open letter to the Icelandic people titled ‘The Hypocrisy of Boycott.’ In his oped, Lapid argued that Israel should not be boycotted because doing so would harm its Arab citizens. One of those citizens responds — . . . You begin your article against the boycott, which you published in Iceland after the Reykjavik City Council decided to boycott products from Israel, with an impressive sequence of questions regarding Palestinians living in Israel. “Does the boycott include products made by Israel’s Arab minority which is 20 percent of the population? Does the boycott include the 14 Arab Israeli parliamentarians who sit beside me in Israel’s parliament?” You ask these questions as if you were the champion of protecting our rights. I am baffled as to the source of your insolence and audacity. Aren’t you ashamed? You embarrass yourself with your cynical use of Israel’s Palestinian citizens as a human shield against the boycott . . . What plans have you or your party promoted for the well being of those [Palestinian] residents behind whom you are now trying to hide? You mention in your article the products produced by Arab citizens, as if we were a real factor in the Israeli economy. Meanwhile, the Ashkenazi elite to which you belong does all it can to prevent Arab communities from establishing and developing industrial zones, thus preventing them from achieving economic autonomy and keeping them poor and dependent on favors from the likes of you.Don’t run away, as you would say. I have more questions.
http://972mag.com/using-palestinians-as-a-human-shield-against-bds/111847/

Israel to bypass EU labeling by direct state contacts
AIC 20 Sept — Israel’s foreign ministry decided last week to ramp up its fight against labeling settlement products by circumventing the EU via direct contact with its members, reports the Israeli news portal nrg. In parallel, the possibility is being examined to submit lawsuits against the EU itself or against its member states in the European Court. Israel estimates that the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, will publish guidelines mandating the labeling of goods produced in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights settlements already in the coming days, or at the very latest during October. The EU Foreign Minister, Federica Mogherini, said in a debate of the European Parliament some ten days ago that labeling products is a done deal; the working assumption of Israel’s foreign ministry is therefore that the EU as an official body will not halt this process. In light of this, Israel plans to exploit anti-EU sentiment throughout Europe and work directly with EU member states so that the guidelines, when issued, will not be implemented. “It was decided to to act directly with EU member states which may not want to cooperate with the directives from Brussels.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/25-bds/1035-israel-to-bypass-eu-labeling-by-direct-state-contacts

Other news

Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory (10-16 Sept)
PCHR-Gaza 17 Sept — Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protests in the West Bank. 6 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were wounded in Kufor Qaddoum and Silwan protests. Israeli forces continued to open fire at border areas along the Gaza Strip.  A Palestinian field regulation officer working in the border area was wounded.  Israeli forces conducted 47 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. 2 Palestinian civilians were wounded in Tulkarm and Jenin during Israeli incursions. 48 civilians, including 12 children and 3 women, were arrested. 26 of these civilians, including the 12 children and 3 women, were arrested in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces arrested 7 Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip who attempted to sneak into Israel through the borders to find work . . .  Israeli navy forces opened fire at Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip sea.  Israeli forces continued efforts to create a Jewish demographic majority in occupied East Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa Mosque was raided several times, during which its contents were damaged. 11 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, a woman, a civil defense officer and 2 journalists, were wounded. (Continued)
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11272

Defying Palestinian law, many still seek work in West Bank settlements
RAMALLAH (Al-Monitor) 14 Sept by Ahmad Melhem —Palestinian workers are forced to seek employment, and accept harsh working conditions, in Israeli settlements, as the Palestinian Authority has failed to create viable alternatives — . . .Anas Mohammed, 25, graduated from one of the colleges in Ramallah two years ago and has been working for five months in the Ariel settlement as a construction worker. He told Al-Monitor that he had to accept work in the settlement because of a lack of job opportunities in the West Bank. “I get paid 150 shekels [$38.50] per day. However, the working conditions are harsh as I have to wake up every day at 4 a.m. We work long and hard hours. If I find an alternative [job opportunity] in the West Bank, I will quit,” he said. President Mahmoud Abbas issued decree law no. 4 in 2010, within the framework of the Palestinian Authority’s fight against the settlement policy. The law bans and criminalizes any trade of Israeli settlements’ goods and products, and prohibits Palestinians from working in the settlements. In 2010, the Ministry of Labor announced that it had been planning to establish the Dignity Fund to employ the settlement workers in 2011 but failed to do so as such a project required a legislative framework and funds from the general budget, both of which were requirements that could not be fulfilled at the time. In the first quarter of 2015, the number of workers in Israel and the settlements amounted to 110,000 — 21,000 of whom work in the settlements — according to figures by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The PA has been unable to handle the issue, after failing to find alternative job opportunities for the workers in Israeli settlements.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/palestine-pa-employees-israel-settlements-salaries-funding.html

IEC chair threatens to cut off Palestinians’ electricity
Globes 17 Sept — “If you don’t pay for electricity, they let it go for one month, they give you a warning in the second month, and they cut off your electricity in the third month. We haven’t got to that yet with the Palestinian Authority (PA). My unequivocal stance is that anyone who doesn’t pay for electricity should have it cut off, and since the PA doesn’t pay like it should, actual measures should be taken by limiting the supply of electricity. If that doesn’t help, their electricity should be cut off,” Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) chairman Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal said today in an Arutz Sheva interview. Ron-Tal added, “The PA’s debt to IEC is simply unconceivable: NIS 1.7 billion. That debit is insane.” Ron-Tal made it clear that he intended to limit the flow of electricity to the PA soon, as has already happened before, saying, “As a government company, we have to coordinate what we do with the government, but I intend – already in the coming weeks – to again limit the flow of electricity to the PA until it pays, or until the problem is solved by government decisions.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-iec-chair-threatens-to-restrict-electricity-for-palestinians-1001069066

Italian coach in Hebron upends Palestinian soccer league
RAMALLAH (AP) 20 Sept by Mohammed Daraghmeh & Daniela Berretta — Throughout his long career, Stefano Cusin has played in Italy, France and Switzerland and coached in Bulgaria, Cameroon and the Congo. But the 46-year-old, Tuscany-born Cusin says it’s only in the Palestinian soccer backwater of Hebron that he has truly rediscovered his passion for the sport. “I’ve discovered again the pleasure to train, to play football, the passion,” he said. “We’ve found a group of great guys who were eager to learn and for a trainer this is the most beautiful thing … I was looking for a challenge, something different, less money but with a big challenge.” His arrival on the scene has also transformed the fortunes of scrappy perennial loser al-Ahli al-Khalil. He took a team with a $1 million annual budget raised mostly from donations to a European training camp where they played friendlies against superior competition. In just nine months, al-Ahli al-Khalil has notched four separate titles and Cusin has become a hero in the city . . . His players might not be in the European big leagues, but Cusin said living in a conflict area provides a different sort of spirit. “Since they have to fight every day, they take this to the field. These teams don’t let go for the whole 90 minutes,” he said. “When you play football, you need an angry player and the Palestinian people know how to fight because they have to fight every day against Israel.” (Continued)
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/09/20/3816636_italian-coach-in-hebron-upends.html?rh=1

Palestinian Oktoberfest opens in Taybeh
JPost 19 Sept by Seth J. Frantzman– Taybeh’s iconic Palestinian Octoberfest opened on Saturday and will run through Sunday. With locally brewed beer at 15 NIS, it has attracted hundreds from across the Palestinian Territories and Israel. The US Consul-General Donald Blome attended the opening along with representatives of the local churches, as well as Palestinian bodybuilder Anoush Belian. Palestinian Authority officials also attended. After a period of two years where the festival had faced troubles finding a venue, it was back in Taybeh, east of Ramallah, next to the brewing company. It is being hosted by the Khoury family, who run the brewery and new Taybeh winery, as well as a local hotel. Local artists and dancers joined in the festivities that are expected to attract thousands in the coming day.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Palestinian-Oktoberfest-opens-in-Taybeh-416609

Israel plans to bring in 20,000 Chinese construction workers
AFP 20 Sept — Israel plans to bring in 20,000 Chinese construction workers to help build new apartments as part of efforts to lower housing costs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today. Netanyahu announced the plan at the start of a cabinet meeting, his office said. The Finance Ministry later said the cabinet had approved it. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has opposed the move because the two countries lack a formal agreement related to such cooperation.  The lack of an agreement can lead to immigrant workers paying middlemen hundreds or even thousands of dollars to obtain permits. Chinese workers are currently brought into Israel under private contracts between Israeli and Chinese companies. Israel’s construction sector currently employs 216,000 workers, including 37,000 Palestinians and 6,000 foreigners, with some 3,700 Chinese. The Finance Ministry said the lack of skilled Israeli and Palestinian construction workers, as well as the instability in employing Palestinians – whose permits can be revoked due to the security situation – have created a shortage of workers. The Chinese’s work pace in building high-rises was 50 percent higher than that of Israelis, Palestinians and others, the Finance Ministry said. China told Israel that it would not allow migrant builders to work on settlements in the West Bank.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4702580,00.html

US to provide $351 million for Israel’s Iron Dome
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 19 Sept — After months of chilly relations between Israel and U.S. over Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. Administration provided last week $ 268 million for “Israeli missile defense”, and $351 million for the Iron Dome system. According to Yediot Aharanot Newspaper, the United States committed three years ago to provide more than $176 million in security aid to Israel. Earlier last year, U.S. Senate approved a spending bill that would provide Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system with $176 million dollars. The U.S. allocation for Israel also includes $ 268 million to develop “Israeli missile defense.” The declared funds are not a part of the U.S. annual military aid to Israel which has amounted to $3.1 billion.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73672

UK parliament under fire for declining Netanyahu arrest petition
Press TV 18 Sept — The British Parliament has come under increasing fire over its decision to skip a debate on a petition calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — “It’s quite disappointing that the Parliament has refused to play by its own rules. The fact is that it’s a particular issue which receives over 100,000 signatures that ultimately allows to be debated on the floor of the House. The fact that it has been declined, gives rise to many questions,” said Anas al-Tikriti, chief executive of the Cordoba Foundation. “It seems to me that the Parliament has failed in its duty. It seems to me that this is the continuation of the pro-Israel lobby in its attempt to sweep under the carpet the crimes committed by Israel,” he told Press TV’s UK Desk on Friday. Al-Tikriti described the petition as an important bid, which shows the British people want an end to their government’s support for the Israeli regime.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/18/429735/UK-Parliament-Netanyahu-Arrest-Petition

Brazil’s president against former settler leader appointment as ambassador
Ynet 20 Sept by Itamar Eichner — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has transmitted messages to Israel expressing her discomfort with the appointment of Dani Dayan, former head of the Yesha Council, as Israeli ambassador to Brazil because of Dayan’s ties to West Bank settlements. Dayan, formerly head of the Yesha Council, lives in Ma’ale Shomron in the West Bank. Rousseff’s disapproval places Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister, in a dilemma, as Dayan’s appointment was approved by the government two weeks ago.  According to diplomatic protocol, when a government appoints an ambassador, it sends his or her name to the host government and asks for its permission (in diplomatic jargon, an “agrément”). A host government’s refusal to accept an ambassador is very rare, and usually, in order to avoid a diplomatic incident, it is customary to transmit hushed messages conveying that it would be better to retract the candidate’s appointment so as not to encounter rejection. Dayan and settlers would likely be angered if Netanyahu retracted the appointment  If he stands by his nomination and in the end receives an official refusal, this could cause a crisis in Israel’s relations with Brazil. Netanyahu sees relations with Brazil as an important strategic goal for Israel.  Brazil is the largest country in South America, with a population of 200 million, and it has the seventh largest economy in the world. Israel has made a point of developing trade relations with the international markets in Latin America, particularly with Brazil.  Netanyahu’s associates have not lost hope and believe they will eventually persuade Rousseff to approve the appointment,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4702450,00.html

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