Red Crescent: Israeli forces shot and wounded at least 2,617 Palestinians in October

Violence / Detentions — West Bank, Jerusalem

Red Crescent: Over 2,600 shot with live, rubber bullets in October
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — Israeli forces shot and wounded at least 2,617 Palestinians with live and rubber-coated steel bullets through October, the Palestinian Red Cross said Sunday, as clashes carried on into the new month. A Red Crescent spokesperson told Ma‘an that at least 760 Palestinians were shot with live rounds across the occupied Palestinian territory, while another 1,857 were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets. He said that a further 5,399 Palestinians were treated for excessive tear gas inhalation during the period, while another 246 were injured in other ways, including assault by Israeli soldiers and burns from tear gas canisters. The spokesperson said that it brought the total injured during October to 8,262 Palestinians. For most parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, October was also the deadliest month since the Second Intifada, with at least 69 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. While 26 were shot dead during clashes, another 40 Palestinians were shot dead after Israel alleges they attempted or carried out attacks on Israelis. While Palestinians agree that a number of Palestinians were shot dead while carrying out attacks — ultimately claiming 10 Israelis’ lives — footage and witness testimony have raised serious doubts over the Israeli army’s version of events in many of the other cases.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768603

Palestinian teen killed at Jenin checkpoint after alleged attack
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian teenager was shot and killed on Monday at the al-Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin after allegedly attempting to attack Israeli soldiers with a knife, Israel’s army said. The Israeli army said an “attempted stabbing” took place near Afula, with one Palestinian suspect shot [dead, according to WAFA] and another arrested at the scene. Initial reports say the incident occurred some 150 meters from the al-Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin after Israeli soldiers approached two Palestinians who they say were acting suspiciously. One of the suspects then pulled out a knife and was shot after ignoring warnings to lay down his weapon, The Jerusalem Post reported. The Palestinian liaison office identified the victim as Ahmed Awad Abu al-Rub, 16, from the town of Qabatiya. Mahmoud Muamin Kamil, 17, also from Qabatia, was detained following the incident.
On Saturday, Mahmoud Talal Mahmoud Nazzal, 18, was shot and killed at the al-Jalama checkpoint after allegedly attacking a security guard.
[WAFA: Meanwhile, Israeli forces at the checkpoint denied families of Palesinian prisoners in Israeli jails to pass through the crossing to visit. The Israeli soldiers also shouted profanities at them, the families told WAFA.]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768608

Palestinian shot dead after alleged stabbing attempt near Hebron
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — [On Sunday] Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian man in the village of Beit Einun east of Hebron after an alleged stabbing attempt, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that Israeli forces shot the Palestinian [IMEMC: Fadi Hassan al-Froukh, 27] after he allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier during a “violent riot” in the village. The spokesperson said no Israelis were injured. A paramedic from the Red Crescent said Israeli forces would not allow their medics to examine the young man. “Israeli soldiers forced us at gunpoint to leave the area,” the paramedic said. “From the amount of bleeding, the young man must have been shot several times.” A Palestinian witness told Ma‘an he saw Israeli troops firing several rounds at a “young man” who was “far” from the main street. The witness said the young man fell to the ground before Israeli soldiers surrounded him. Israeli soldiers covered the body with black plastic before taking the body away in a military ambulance to an unknown destination, witnesses said. Witnesses added that Israeli forces also assaulted journalists who tried to come close to the scene, forcing them to leave the area. The death of the unidentified Palestinian brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of last month to 70. [or 73]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768596

Israeli forces injure 3 Palestinians in al-Bireh clashes
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — Israeli forces injured three Palestinians in clashes in al-Bireh north of Ramallah on Saturday, medics said. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that one Palestinian was shot with live fire in his lower extremities, one with a rubber-coated steel bullet, while another was hit with a tear gas canister in his chest. The clashes erupted in the al-Balou neighborhood of northern al-Bireh, which has seen heavy clashes almost every day in October. On Friday, at least 37 Palestinians were injured In clashes in al-Balou, including eight by live fire and 29 with rubber-coated steel bullets.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768586

WATCH: Israeli Border Police assault, pepper spray Palestinian journalists
+972 mag 30 Oct by Lisa Goldman — A Border Police officer pepper sprays Palestinian journalists covering a West Bank protest. The police claims it is ‘looking into the incident —  An Israeli Border Police officer assaulted medics and journalists at a well known junction in the West Bank Friday, according to photojournalist Fadi Arouri.  The incident took place near the Al-Bireh checkpoint, which abuts the Israeli settlement of Beit El —  a spot known for frequent clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli security forces. But Arouri says that journalists and medics were at a significant distances from the protesters when the incident he photographed (below), took place. “He [the officer in the photo – LG) was chasing photographers, even struggling with some of us. He took the gas masks off some journalists to spray them directly in the face,” recounted Arouri. “He did it to two of them right in front of me.” Arouri added that he saw the officer “dragging a journalist and beating him.” Arouri, who posted the photos on his professional Facebook page, noted that this particular member of Border Police — known as Magav — was well known to journalists who have been covering West Bank demonstrations over the past few years . . . Arouri also took some video of the scene, where we can see clearly that the border police is just casually ejecting pepper spray at journalists who pose absolutely no threat, followed by disturbing scenes of a journalist wearing a flak jacket marked “press” is kicked, slapped and dragged by paramilitary forces.
http://972mag.com/photos-israeli-border-police-assault-pepper-spray-palestinian-journalists/113402/

‘The Palestinian body finally achieves the approving glance of the settler’
Mondoweiss 1 Nov by James North & Philip Weiss — We don’t think the picture below, of a young man killed in occupied Hebron by Israeli forces and surrounded by illegal settlers, would ever show up in the New York Times. And while you can say that it is too grisly for the paper of record, it has already gotten wide attention from people who care about Israel’s occupation because of the attitude it documents. The photo appeared in the Gulf News with an AFP credit; then we saw it after it appeared on writer Susan Abulhawa’s Facebook wall — “In my original post I wrote ‘visit Israel’ but really… there just are no words,” she explained to us — and scholar Steven Salaita then retweeted the image and wrote: ‘The Palestinian body finally achieves the approving gaze of the settler’: . . . We mean no disrespect to the victim, Farouq Abdul Qader Sedr. We are aware that often the press does observe privacy for people in wealthy countries and not in poor ones, but this picture says too much to be omitted.
https://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/palestinian-achieves-approving

Israeli forces increase harassment of Palestinian schoolchildren in al-Khalil (Hebron)
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine 1 Nov by ISM, al-Khalil Team —  This morning at Qurtuba school in al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli soldiers harassed schoolchildren, teachers and adults trying to pass the nearby checkpoint. The stairs leading to Qurtuba school, the scene of a heinous murder of a Palestinian youth by Israeli forces three days ago, are directly opposite a checkpoint dividing segregated Shuhada Street into a small strip where Palestinian residents are allowed to walk and the former main Palestinian market now completely closed for Palestinians and only allowed for settlers. The school has, due to its proximity to the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah been a flashpoint of settler attacks and violence against Palestinians and internationals. As teachers, schoolchildren and parents are equally scared with violence rising and 19 Palestinian youth shot to death in the last two weeks, all the schoolchildren are now gathering in one place in order to walk to school together. Parents living there were watching out for the children, telling them to move away from the street as soon as they could hear a car in the distance, afraid settlers would run them over if the children didn’t move fast enough. This has happened in the past and settlers continuously try to hit children with their car.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/11/israeli-forces-increase-harassment-of-palestinian-school-children-in-al-khalil-hebron/

Health ministry: Over 200 IOF assaults on medical teams in Oct.
RAMALLAH (PIC) 30 Oct — The Palestinian ministry of health said that the Palestinian ambulance crews, their vehicles and facilities were exposed to more than 200 violations and attacks by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) since the beginning of the current month. In a press release on Thursday, health minister Jawad Awad stated that the Israeli army did not respect the sanctity of medical centers and hospitals during its escalation of its recent aggressive practices against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Awad added that the IOF recently stormed several Palestinian medical centers and hospitals and assaulted their employees, patients and visitors, including its violent raid on al-Makassed hospital in Jerusalem.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=74556

Armed settler guard raids house near Hebron, threatens to kill dwellers
HEBRON (WAFA) 1 Nov – An Israeli settler security guard raided on Sunday a Palestinian house in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and held dwellers at gunpoint while threatening to shoot them, according to local sources. Mohammad Awad, an anti-settlement activist, told WAFA that an Israeli security guard called “al-Yahu” from the illegal settlement of Karmi Tzur, illegally built on land of Beit Ummar, stormed a house in the town located near Hebron-Jerusalem highway. The settler got out of his car and raided the home of Omar and Ezat Sabarneh – in full sight of Israeli soldiers – where he pointed his gun at the dwellers and threatened to shoot them, claiming that his car was subjected to stone-throwing as he passed near the area. Soldiers reportedly threatened the house owners of severe measures if rock-throwing continues in the area.
Meanwhile, settlers destroyed a barbed-wire fence that surrounds a land in the village of Nabil Samuel, northwest of Jerusalem. The fence surrounds a land belonging to a local Eid Barakat and his nephews.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29725

Locals: Settlers prevent Palestinian farmers from olive harvest
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — Israeli settlers on Saturday prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their olive fields on the outskirts of Burin village near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, locals said. Local sources told Ma‘an that dozens of settlers blocked entrance of farmers to their land while Israeli soldiers stopped two buses carrying volunteers en route to assist Palestinians in the olive harvest. The buses were stopped on the main road between Nablus and the illegal settlement Yitzhar. The Palestinians and volunteers were stopped “despite coordination between the Palestinian liaison department and its Israeli counterpart,” locals said. Locals added that Israeli settlers also stole olives and farming equipment from Palestinians in the Bab Sanna area of Burin, which is completely surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements to the north and west. Settlers in the Nablus area — known by locals to be more extreme and violent — frequently prevent Palestinian access to their farmland, much of which lies under Israeli control in Area C. Earlier this week, settlers from Elon Moreh threw rocks at farmers in the Azmut and Deir al-Hatab areas east of Nablus.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768578

Palestinian turns self in after injuring 3 Israelis in hit-and-run
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — A Palestinian suspected of injuring three Israeli police officers in a hit-and-run near Hebron turned himself into Israeli forces on Sunday just hours after the incident, an Israeli army spokesperson said. She told Ma‘an that the Palestinian was being questioned, but she was unable to provide any further details. It is believed that earlier on Sunday the Palestinian injured three Israeli Border Police officers when he hit them with his car outside Beit Einun east of Hebron. The Israeli army’s chief spokesperson, Peter Lerner, said that the Palestinian rammed his car into the officers before fleeing the scene. A spokesperson for Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services, said that all three officers were in moderate condition, although  one of them was in a more serious condition than the others. Earlier Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead another Palestinian in Beit Einun after he allegedly attempted a stabbing attack on Israeli forces. No Israelis were injured.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768602

Palestinian rammed by Israeli army jeep in ‘stable condition’
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — A Palestinian who was rammed by an Israeli military jeep during clashes in al-Bireh on Friday is in stable condition, the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs said Saturday. Widely circulated video footage shows the moment an Israeli military jeep rammed into Maher Ghanem al-Froukh, before soldiers disembarked from the vehicle and assaulted him while holding back medics. Karim Ajweh, a lawyer with the PA prisoners’ committee, told Ma‘an that Froukh was being treated in Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. Ajweh said that there was no danger to Froukh’s life, but said he had a number of injuries, including fractures and bruising, and was scheduled to undergo surgery.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768588

Tear gas didn’t kill Palestinian baby, Israeli army says
Haaretz 31 Oct by Gili Cohen — Tear gas fired by Israeli forces during clashes in the West Bank on Friday had no direct link to the death of a Palestinian baby, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday, rejecting Palestinian claims to the contrary. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, eight-month-old Mohammed Faisal Thawabta was pronounced dead at a Bethlehem hospital after he inhaled tear gas during clashes in the Beit Fajjar village, south of Bethlehem. But the IDF said an investigation into the incident showed that tear gas was not used in the vicinity of the baby’s family home, but dozens of meters away. An Israeli military source also added that the baby’s relatives said he suffered from a birth defect. Hospital sources also told Reuters the infant had a prior health condition and that it was unclear what had caused his death.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683411

Dozens attend ‘funeral’ of 13-year-old’s amputated leg in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — Dozens of Palestinians on Saturday attended the “funeral” of a 13-year-old boy’s leg that Israeli doctors were forced to amputate after the child was shot and wounded by Israeli forces in September. Issa Ahmad Adnan al-Muti‘s lower leg was buried in the Shuhada Cemetery in Duheisha refugee camp in southern Bethlehem in a ritual that is commonly practiced for amputated limbs. A number of community leaders, including the Mufti of Bethlehem district, Sheikh Abd al-Majid Amarneh, as well as the head of the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, attended the ceremony. Al-Muti’s foot was buried under an olive tree with a gravestone bearing a picture of the child. Al-Muti was shot and injured by Israeli soldiers on Sept. 18 during a protest in northern Bethlehem — reportedly with a “dum-dum” bullet, which expands inside the body on impact. He was taken to an Israeli hospital under military custody, although the army later agreed to release him on a bail of 2,500 shekels ($650). He is still being treated in Israel’s Hadassah hospital. The Israeli army said he was shot and detained for throwing stones, but his lawyer said the 13-year-old was helping to take his brother to a nearby hospital when he was hit by the bullet.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768585

Thousands attend Hebron funerals after Israel returns 5 bodies
[with photos] HEBRON (Ma‘an) — Thousands of Palestinian mourners on Saturday filled the streets of Hebron for the joint funeral of five Palestinians killed by Israeli forces after alleged and actual attacks in the occupied West Bank city this month. The bodies of Dania Irsheid al-Husseini, 17, Bayan Ayman al-Essili, 16, Tariq Ziyad al-Natsha,16, Hussam Ismail al-Jabari,17, and Bashar Nidal al-Jabari,15, were handed over by Israel Friday night. All were involved in attacks that the Israeli army said resulted in injury of Israeli military personnel excluding Dania, who eyewitnesses said did not attempt an attack. The funeral procession left from al-Hussein Ibn Ali Mosque in Ein Saraha neighborhood after funeral prayers. Participants waved Palestinian flags and shouted slogans urging Palestinian factions to unite in order to carry out reprisal attacks against the Israeli military and settlers. The father of 17-year-old Dania Irsheid al-Husseini collapsed during the funeral, locals said. Several Palestinian Authority officials attended the funeral including Hebron governor Kamil Hmeid, chairman of the PA Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Walid Assaf , and Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative party, Mustafa Barghouthi.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768581

Clashes erupt in Hebron after thousands attend joint funeral
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — Clashes broke out Saturday between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Hebron following the funeral of five Palestinian children shot dead by Israeli forces after alleged attacks in the occupied West Bank city earlier this month. Four Palestinians were shot and injured by live fire and two others with rubber-coated steel bullets, the director of Hebron’s public hospital, Dr. Walid Zallum, told Ma‘an. A witness said he saw a young man falling to the ground after he was shot, but added that no gunshots were heard at the time and locals believed Israeli forces were using silencers. Dozens of others suffered excessive tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters, witnesses said. The areas worst hit included the neighborhoods of Bab al-Zawiya, Al-Adel Street, Beer al-Hummus and al-Sheikh. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers showered the area with tear gas after angry mourners hurled stones and empty bottles at forces stationed at the entrance to al-Shuhada Street. Over 10 ambulances were present at the scene seen offering first aid treatment to dozens of young Palestinians.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768583

Thousands march in funeral of Palestinian shot after injuring soldier
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 31 Oct – Thousands of Palestinian mourners in al-Eizariya east of occupied East Jerusalem attended the funeral of Mutaz Atallah Qassem, 22, who was killed on Oct. 21 after injuring an Israeli soldier. Israel delivered Qassem’s body Friday evening to the Palestinian Red Crescent Association before the body was transferred to Abu Dis Medical Center and later to his family in al-Eizariya. The funeral procession took place in the village streets before mourners performed funeral prayers and laid Qassem’s body to rest in al-Eizariya’s cemetery. Participants in the funeral chanted slogans praising Palestinian martyrs and prisoners, while pledging support to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Last week, Israeli police said that Qassem stabbed a 19-year-old Israeli soldier in the neck near the illegal Adam settlement in the Ramallah district.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768575

Israel returns 2 of 7 bodies pledged to be returned to Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — Israeli forces delivered on early Sunday morning the bodies of two young Palestinian men to the Palestinian military and civil liaison department, Palestinian sources told Ma‘an. The bodies of Raed Jaradat, 22, and Mahmoud Ghneimat, 20, were delivered to the liaison department and then to their families, the sources said. Both of the men are from the Hebron and were killed by Israeli troops in late October following what Israeli sources reported as stabbing attacks. Israeli authorities on Saturday had agreed to release the bodies of at least seven Palestinians being held by Israeli authorities following a joint funeral of five others whose bodies Israel had released on Friday. However, Palestinian sources told Ma‘an that Israeli forces retracted their latest decision to release all seven bodies, and instead only released the two. Jaradat, from the village of Sa ‘ir east of Hebron, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Oct. 26, after Israelis sources said he stabbed and injured a 19-year-old Israeli soldier in the neck. Similarly, Ghneimat, from the village of Surif west of Hebron, was shot dead on Oct. 22 after Israeli sources said he had attempted a stabbing attack, however the circumstances around the incident are unclear. The sources said Israeli forces stipulated that the two men should be buried at night in order to avoid a large, politically charged funeral, but the Palestinian families refused that stipulation insisting on “decent funerals.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768591

Israel returns bodies of 2 Palestinians shot dead in Jerusalem
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — Israeli forces on Sunday evening returned the bodies of two Palestinians to their families northwest of Jerusalem, Palestinian authorities told Ma‘an. The bodies of Omar al-Faqeh and Muhammad Nathmi Shamasneh, both 23 years old, were returned at al-Jeeb checkpoint northwest of Jerusalem, where hundreds were waiting to receive them. The bodies were then taken to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. Their funerals are expected to take place on Monday, with the procession heading from the medical complex to the two Palestinians’ hometown of Qutna northwest of Jerusalem, where they will be laid to rest. Omar al-Faqeh, 23, was shot dead by Israeli forces at Qalandiya checkpoint on Oct. 17 after he allegedly stabbed and injured an Israeli Border Police officer. Mohammad Nathmi Shamasneh, meanwhile, was killed on Oct. 13, after he allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on an Israeli bus in northwest Jerusalem, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768600

Video: Tensions rise in Hebron between Israelis and Palestinians
BBC 30 Oct — Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has continued in recent days with attacks concentrated in the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank. This month, there have been reports of about 20 Palestinian stabbing attacks and attempted attacks there, mostly targeting Israeli soldiers and police. At least 20 Palestinians from Hebron have been shot dead in attacks and alleged attacks. One Israeli settler died after being run over following stone throwing. Tensions have historically been high in Hebron, the only place in the West Bank where Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents live side-by-side in the heart of the Old City. Our Middle East Correspondent, Yolande Knell, reports.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34682442

Israeli forces detain mayor of Nablus-area village and his son
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 1 Nov – Israeli forces stormed the northern occupied West Bank village of Qusra overnight Saturday and detained the village’s mayor and his son, a local monitor said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West bank, told Ma‘an that several Israeli military vehicles stormed Qusra south of Nablus. Israeli soldiers then ransacked the home of the village’s mayor, Hussein Abu Reida, 55, and detained him along with his son Tariq, 33. It is fairly common practice for Israeli forces to detain Palestinian Authority officials and Palestinian lawmakers. On Oct. 20 Israeli forces detained a Hamas-affiliated lawmaker, Hassan Youssef, from his home in Beitunia west of Ramallah during a predawn raid. The Israeli army said in a statement that Youssef had been “actively instigating and inciting terrorism and publicly encouraging and praising the execution of attacks against Israelis.” As of September, four members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were being held in Israeli prisons, including Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian leader affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768597

PICTURES: Raiding house . . . arrest . . . terrifying locals in the village of al-Tur
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 1 Nov — The occupation forces arrested 5 Jerusalemites from the village of Al-Tur after raiding several residential houses in the area of “Qa’ Al-Hara” in the village. Witnesses explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that occupation forces were deployed in the streets of the village and closed some roads. They were stationed on the main entrances and then raided the area of “Qa’ Al-Hara” and started searching houses and assaulting children; forces deliberately terrified the locals. The center was informed that the forces raided more than 7 houses for Abulhawa and Al-Sayyad families; some of the houses were empty of residents. The forces searched and caused damage inside the house and also used police dogs during the search process. Amjad Abu Asab, head of Jerusalemites detainees and prisoners families committee, explained that the forces arrested Mahdi Abulhawa and his brother Hashem, Ahmad Sider, 60-year old Khalil Abulhawa and his son Omar. Witnesses added that the forces assaulted and beat several young men in the area of “Qa’ Al-Hara”. They claimed that the raid and search operation came under the pretext of throwing an explosive device towards them.
Raiding Al-Maqased hospital Under heavy firing of sound grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets, the occupation forces stormed into Al-Maqased hospital in the village of Al-Tur and injured dozens of patients, citizens and employees with suffocation including 4 people injured with rubber bullets.
Silwan The forces raided the neighborhood of Bi’er Ayoub in Silwan and fired a sound grenade in “Hosh Zaytoon”, and also raided the courtyard of Bi’er Ayoub Mosque. They also targeted Abed Siam with a rubber bullet.
http://silwanic.net/?p=64711

Israeli troops ransack Palestinian homes in at-Tour and Shu‘fat, abduct children including 7-year-old
IMEMC/Silwanic 1 Nov — . . . On Sunday evening, the Israeli police released two Palestinian children who were kidnapped earlier in front of their homes in Shu‘fat, while the soldiers kidnapped a child in at-Tour town. The two children from Shu‘fat were identified as Yousef Hasan Abu Khdeir, 7 and Omar Mohammad Abu Khdeir, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported.  The Israeli forces arrested 5 Jerusalemites from the village of at-Tour after raiding several residential houses in the area of “Qa’ Al-Hara” in the village. Among those abducted was a child, identified as Yousef Omar Abu al-Hawa, who was taken during clashes that took place in at-Tour, after the soldiers invaded it. The army fired concussion grenades, gas bombs and rounds of live ammunition. . . .
http://www.imemc.org/article/73666

Israeli forces detain 7 teens from East Jerusalem village
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 1 Nov – Israeli forces launched multiple house-to-house predawn military raids Sunday in the occupied East Jerusalem village of Sur Bahir and detained at least eight Palestinians, seven of whom are teenagers, a human rights lawyer told Ma‘an. Muhammad Mahmoud, a lawyer from Addameer human rights group, identified the detainees as Muhammad Jadallah, 16, Yasin Atrash, 17, Muhsin Attun, 17, Abdullah Abu Kaf, 18, Muhammad Bkeirat, 18, Mahir Attun, 18, Ahmad Jadalah, 18, and Nael Rabayaa, 21.
During the month of October more than 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 147 children, were detained by Israeli forces, according to documentation by Addameer. A spokesperson for the group said that it was not yet clear how many prisoners were still being held and how many had been released, although Addameer estimated that there were now some 6,300 Palestinians in Israel’s prisons in total, up from 5,620 at the end of November. Other monitoring groups have said that as many as 1,200 or 1,300 Palestinians have so far been detained in October . . . According to UN figures, there has been a weekly average of 78 Israeli army “search and arrest operations” carried out across the occupied West Bank, with a sharp increase since protests spread across the occupied territory earlier this month.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768593

A life of constant fear for Jerusalem Palestinians
+972 blog 29 Oct by Fuad Abu Hamed — From checkpoints and soldiers to the fate of our children, fear is everywhere in East Jerusalem these days — Friends, I want to tell you about what is happening to us in East Jerusalem. Even today, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem live a life of fear. This kind of situation is completely unprecedented. Palestinians fear having their residency revoked; they fear being cut off from their city, from Al-Aqsa Mosque, from the Old City, from their families, from their schools. Every morning dozens of people try to rent or buy an apartment on the Israeli side of the wall; Palestinians who live in neighborhoods of East Jerusalem where a wall is planned live in the same fear; they feel this is part of a process — that their turn is yet to come. There is a fear of the cruel closure that continues to disrupt the lives of the residents, causing students, doctors, teachers, and businesspeople to constantly be late. The neighborhoods of Jabal Mukaber and Issawiya are besieged and the traffic police are always handing out tickets. Dozens of young people, women and the elderly continue to be humiliated at checkpoints under the guise of routine searches (continued)
http://972mag.com/a-life-of-constant-fear-for-jerusalem-palestinians/113365/

Prisoners

Imposition of administrative detention extended to minors
IMEMC/Agencies 1 Nov — Israeli authorities, last week, placed three Palestinian minors from East Jerusalem under administrative detention, a move rights group say is unprecedented in the city, as Israel heightens security measures amid a month of deadly violence. On Oct. 19, Fadi Abassi, 17, and Mohammed Ghaith, 17, were abducted after dawn raids on their homes in the neighborhood of Silwan, according to Defense for Children International – Palestine. According to World Bulletin/Al Ray, all three teenagers have been detained on charges of throwing rocks at Israeli police vehicles and questioned at the Oz and al-Mascobiya interrogation centers. Days earlier on Oct. 16, Kathem Sbeih, 17, was detained from his family home in Jabal al-Mukkabir, a neighborhood at the heart of current tensions which Israel earlier in the month sealed off from the neighboring East Talpiot settlement with concrete blocks and a wall. The policy of administrative detention — which dates back to emergency laws under the British Mandate — came under intense scrutiny earlier this year following a 65 day hunger strike by Palestinian detainee Mohammad Allan to protest his detention without trial. In April, the United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern by the continued and increasing use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities against Palestinians, who are being held without charge or trial, often on the basis of secret evidence, for periods of up to six months.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73665

Al-Aqsa

Israel’s encirclement of al-Aqsa nearly complete
JERUSALEM (MEE) 1 Nov by Jonathan Cook — Despite claims it is seeking to calm tensions in Jerusalem, Israel is intensifying activities to encircle the al-Aqsa mosque and strengthen its control over the holy site, a group of Israeli archaeologists warned last week. The group sounded the alarm as the United States oversaw moves at the mosque compound, known as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, intended to end weeks of Palestinian unrest focused on Jerusalem. US Secretary of State John Kerry brokered an agreement last weekend between Israel and Jordan, the official guardian of the Haram, that will see cameras installed in the mosque compound.But the archaeologists say the most pressing threats to the mosque, located on a raised plaza above the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, will be invisible to the cameras. They accuse Israel of making rapid changes to the physical landscape around al-Aqsa to obscure the area’s Islamic character and create an ever-more arduous “obstacle course” for worshppers. “The big picture is that Israel is weakening the Muslim and Palestinian presence there so that Israeli Jews can believe they are the true owners of the site,” said Yonathan Mizrachi, head of Emek Shaveh, an organisation of Israeli archaeologists opposed to the use of archaeology for political ends. Various Israeli archaeological activities, he said, had almost completed Israel’s encirclement of the al-Aqsa compound, isolating it from Palestinian neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. (continued)
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-s-encirclement-al-aqsa-nearly-complete-699242536

The fraud that is the Temple Mount movement
972mag 31 Oct by Larry Derfner — Following the murder attempt on [Yehuda] Glick, the claim is being made – and getting a more sympathetic hearing than usual (here and here) – that he and his colleagues have been leading a “civil rights” movement for Jews, one whose aim is simply to gain for Jews the same right Muslims have to pray on the Temple Mount, which Muslims worship as the Noble Sanctuary (Haram al-Sharif in Arabic). I heard Housing Minister Uri Ariel fuming on the radio about the injustice of the Israeli-enforced status quo on the Mount (which allows Jews to visit with police permission, but bars them from praying so as not to incite Muslim fears of a Jewish takeover, and in line with rabbinical rulings) . . . This is a great fraud. I’m sure there are some Jews who really only want to be allowed to pray on the Mount without having any intention of bothering the Muslims and their holy places, who genuinely want religious coexistence up there. But they are incidental to the movement. The Temple Mount movement is and always has been a movement not for religious equality, but for Jewish religious domination and contempt for Muslims and Islam . .. .  The best known of the Temple Mount NGOs, the Temple Mount Faithful, headed by Gershon Salomon, makes no bones about its intentions. On its website, the first of the group’s “Long Term Objectives” is: “Liberating the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque were placed on this Jewish or biblical holy site as a specific sign of Islamic conquest and domination. The Temple Mount can never be consecrated to the Name of G‑d without removing these pagan shrines. It has been suggested that they be removed, transferred to, and rebuilt at Mecca.” Glick appears to be a somewhat different story. he heads an organization called the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, and formerly led the Temple Mount Institute. Both of these groups express the hope of rebuilding the Temple alongside the Muslim holy sites, not in their place. (continued)
http://972mag.com/the-fraud-that-is-the-temple-mount-movement/98250/

Settlers resume provocative visits to al-Aqsa amid escalating tension
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 1 Nov – Israeli settlers Sunday resumed their provocative tours  into al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, despite of recent remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where he vowed that ‘his’ government will not change the status quo at the compound, according to local sources. WAFA correspondent said groups of Jewish settlers, accompanied by a police escort, entered the site through the Moroccan Gate, before they were confronted by Palestinian worshipers who chanted religious slogans to protest their entry. This came amid intensified presence of outdoor students and Islamic Waqf personnel who barricaded themselves inside the compound to confront illegal Jewish entry to the Islamic holy site. Meanwhile, a group of Palestinian women who have been denied entry to the compound rallied on Sunday at Bab es-Selsila Gate, which leads to the compound, in protest of being denied entry there.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29720

Land, property theft & destruction / Restrictions on movement

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian home in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — Israeli forces on Monday demolished a Palestinian home in the Jabal al-Mukkabir neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on the pretext that the property lacked a building permit, locals said.  Owner of the house, Sami Idreis, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces raided the Khallat al-Abed area of Jabal al-Mukabbir and surrounded the property before forcing the family out at gunpoint.  Israeli forces allowed Idreis to take papers and documents from the house before excavators tore it down. He had built the 80-square-meter house three months ago and had moved in 15 days ago with his family of seven. Officials from Israel’s Jerusalem municipality arrived shortly after construction began on the property and issued a demolition order. A lawyer had been trying to obtain a construction license and delay the demolition, which took place without “prior notice.” As of September this year, 29 Palestinian homes have been demolished in occupied East Jerusalem, leaving 29[?] Palestinians homeless, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768606

Israel evicts 13 families in Jordan Valley to conduct drills
NABLUS (WAFA) 2 Nov – Israeli forces Monday forced 13 Palestinian Bedouin families in the northern Jordan Valley to leave their homes to make way for Israeli military training in the area, according to local sources. Aref Daraghmeh, head of al-Maleh local council in northern Jordan Valley, said an Israeli army force broke into Kherbet Hamsa al-Foqa, a small Bedouin village in the area, and ordered 13 families to leave their homes from 6:30 Monday until 12:00 AM Tuesday, to conduct military drills in the area. Almost on a weekly basis, Israeli army orders Palestinian Bedouins residing in the Jordan Valley to leave their homes to make way for live-fire trainings. Under the Oslo accords, 90% of the valley was labeled Area C, where Israel retains full civil and military control, enabling it to restrict Palestinians movement, construction and development projects. Many Palestinians in the Jordan Valley see military exercises in firing zones as well as repeated house demolitions as an Israeli strategy to empty the land of Palestinians and confiscate it for further settlement expansion.In May 2014, a senior Israeli army officer reported that military training in live-fire zones in the West Bank “is used as a way of reducing the number of Palestinians living nearby, and serves as an important part of the campaign against Palestinian illegal construction.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29732

Israel to seize 102 dunums of Palestinian lands in West Bank
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 1 Nov — The Israeli occupation authorities announced their intents to  seize 102 dunums of Palestinian lands in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour. Director of the cartography department in the Arab Studies Association, Khalil al-Tafkaji, said the confiscation decision has been issued by the Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon for military usage. The official said the decisions, propagated by Israeli media outlets, will be in effect for 10 years under the security pretext.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=74584

Israeli forces place concrete blocks, fences around Hebron quarter
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 31 Oct – Israeli forces on Friday placed concrete blocks and fences across roads and sidewalks leading to al-Salayma quarter in Hebron’s old city, leaving open only one path controlled by an Israeli military checkpoint, locals said. “On my way home Friday evening, I was surprised by a two-and-a-half-meter-high fence blocking the path to my house,” a resident of the quarter Mansour al-Salayma told Ma‘an. He added that he could now only access his home through a military checkpoint after being inspected thoroughly. “It seems the occupation wants to separate us from other areas, as only residents of the quarter are allowed to walk in,” al-Salayma said, adding that he saw an Israeli soldier rejecting entrance to Palestinians from other areas in Hebron. Earlier on Friday, the Israeli military issued an order to turn al-Shuhada Street and the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in central Hebron into a closed military zone, preventing Palestinian non-residents from entering the area. An Israeli army spokesperson was unable to comment on the military order, but told Ma‘an that after an increase in attacks in the area, several measures had been taken to prevent future attacks “in accordance with a situation assessment” done by the military. . .
Entrance of Palestinian youth into Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque was also prevented on Friday. Hebron’s Old City has been slowly sealed off to local Palestinians over the last few decades to secure the safety and expansion of Israeli settlers living in the area.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768579

Israel reopens al-Jalama crossing closed after alleged stab attempt
JENIN (Ma‘an) 1 Nov — Israeli authorities reopened the al-Jalama crossing north of Jenin on Sunday morning after it was closed for several hours Saturday, Palestinian liaison officers told Ma‘an. The crossing, between Israel and the northernmost occupied West Bank, was closed on Saturday morning after Israeli security forces shot dead a teenage Palestinian claiming he attempted to attack the forces with a knife, however no injuries were reported. Sources in the Palestinian military liaison department in Jenin confirmed Sunday that the Israeli liaison department notified them the crossing would operate as normal on Sunday morning in both directions. The teenager shot dead at the site on Saturday had been identified as Mahmoud Talal Mahmoud Nazzal, 18.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768592

Gaza

Israeli forces shoot, injure two Palestinians in Gaza clashes
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 31 Oct — Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinian men with live rounds during clashes that broke out east of al-Breij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, medics said. The two Palestinians were both shot in their lower extremities and were described as being in moderate condition. Medics said they had been taken to the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Witnesses told Ma’‘an they were shot when Israeli forces opened fire on a demonstration near the Gaze border fence.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768590

Unarmed Gazans keep on protesting despite Israeli bullets
GAZA CITY (The National) 31 Oct by Creede Newton — Ibrahim Madi has been shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets while protesting in the Gaza Strip against Israel’s response to the latest round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, sustaining moderate injuries. On both occasions, he said, he was unarmed. Mr Madi, 28, is one of hundreds of Gazans – both male and female – who have braved Israeli tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live fire to take part in near-daily demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border over the past month. Seventeen demonstrators have been killed so far, according to the Palestine health ministry. Mr Madi said his brother was seriously injured by live fire at a demonstration on October 16 but, despite the threat facing them, he and his fellow protesters would not be deterred. “I’m not scared to keep going [to the protests]. We are going to keep protesting … until all of Palestine is liberated.” “No one cares for our people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the ’48 territories,” the Gaza City resident added, referring to Palestinians in the state of Israel. “We shouldn’t be scared of fighting till the last drop of blood and the last breath.” . . . Israeli officials alleged that one of the protesters killed in the southern Gaza Strip on October 20 was a member of a Palestinian sniper cell, firing at Israeli soldiers across the border. So far, this has been Israel’s only accusation of armed activity by Palestinians protesting in Gaza. But Dr Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Switzerland-based NGO Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights in Gaza, said his organisation had found no evidence that any of the killed or injured protesters were armed. “Every week, our team interviews protesters throughout Gaza, and the evidence shows that shootings took place from short distances with live ammunition”, which simultaneously allows for greater accuracy and increased responsibility for the Israeli soldiers . .  . But more than half of those killed were “shot in their head”, Dr Abdu observed. “It’s deliberate killing … these constitute a clear violation of international law.”
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/unarmed-gazans-keep-on-protesting-despite-israeli-bullets

IMAGES from Gaza: Another brutal Friday
GAZA STRIP, Occupied Palestine 31 Oct by ISM, Gaza Team — Images from clashes yesterday, October 30th in Nahel Oz (Shijaia), Occupied Gaza Strip. All photos credited to ISM, Gaza — By the end of clashes yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Qadra announced 46 people had been injured, including paramedics. Israeli forces met the demonstrators – who were armed only with stones – with teargas and live ammunition. A photographer is in critical condition having been shot in the chest and in further contravention of international law, an ambulance was shot at in Khan Younis, wounding a paramedic. Confrontations between Israeli Forces and youth were recorded throughout the Gaza Strip, including in Bureij, Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis. Since October 9th, 17 people have been killed in Gaza and 831 wounded as the brutality of Israeli forces throughout the occupied territories continues to escalate.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/10/images-from-gaza-another-brutal-friday/

Why Gaza’s brides are getting married via Skype
GAZA CITY (Al-Monitor) 1 Nov by Rasha Abou Jalal — In the wedding hall of El-Helou international hotel north of Gaza City, everything was spectacular: the decorations, lights and flowers. The bride, Fatima al-Awda, was mesmerizing in her white gown. All that was missing was the groom. Wael Mhanna was not able to attend his own wedding in person because the Rafah crossing — the only means of accessing the Gaza Strip from Egypt — has been closed almost entirely since July 2013. “Wael and I got engaged in January 2014 and decided to get married in August of the same year. But three months before our wedding, Wael traveled to the United Arab Emirates, having received a great job offer and knowing he would come back to Gaza on the wedding day. But we had to postpone the wedding to November 2014 because of the closing of the crossing. And as the crossing remained closed, we postponed it again to February 2015, and twice later. Wael was never able to come to Gaza to get married, which is why, eventually, I had to go on with the wedding ceremony without him.” The couple was wed by proxy instead, via Skype. (continued)
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/gaza-wedding-no-groom-closure-rafah-crossing.html

More than a year after Gaza war, jubilant Palestinian family returns to rebuilt home
GAZA CITY (AP) 1 Nov by Fares Akram — The al-Zazas have much to celebrate these days, after returning a few weeks ago to their neighborhood in the Gaza Strip — the first Palestinian family to move back into a completely rebuilt home since last year’s war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas. It was a much-anticipated homecoming. Their house was one of thousands of dwellings that were reduced to rubble in the war. A push to reconstruct the battered coastal territory has been sluggish, relying on international funding pledges that have only partially been fulfilled. But the al-Zazas’ move offers a rare glimmer of hope to the tens of thousands of Gazans who lost their homes in the war. The family’s place in Gaza City’s Shaaf neighborhood, one of the hardest hit in the war, was among the first 170 completely destroyed homes that were approved for reconstruction under a U.N. mechanism. “We are very happy … it’s our home,” 50-year-old Atef al-Zaza, the family patriarch, told The Associated Press in his barely furnished new living room. “Our life is getting back to its pre-war normality.” . . .  Al-Zaza says he was so eager, he urged the builders to work around the clock to complete the house. The funding covered the rebuilding of the house’s structure, so al-Zaza spent money from his own pocket to give it some resemblance of the old home. He painted the interior walls of the guest room with bright stucco and added gypsum decoration to the ceilings. In the living room, the walls’ lower halves were covered by glazed ceramic tile. With the first floor complete, the family finally moved in in September, and al-Zaza’s relatives are expected to move into the three upper floors once they are finished.
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/11/01/gaza-family-is-first-to-return-to-rebuilt-home-after-war

What’s happening in Gaza’s detention centers?
GAZA CITY (Al-Monitor) 1 Nov by Asmaa al-Ghoul — Every time Mariam G. prepares food for her family, sharp pain shoots through her legs and back as a result of the severe torture she was subjected to in one of Khan Yunis’ police detention centers in southern Gaza. She was held on charges of possessing large quantities of the illegal drug Tramadol found at her place of residence in October 2014.  Mariam, who lives in Khan Yunis, told Al-Monitor, “During my interrogation, I was savagely beaten and kicked all over my body by male detectives from the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], which caused me to bleed between my legs. They then tied my hands and struck me on the feet with black knotted batons.” She added, “Afterward, I was transferred to the Ansar prison in Gaza City, where I remained for eight months, and where my fellow prisoners saw the black and blue marks all over my body.”  The DEA’s director, Col. Sameh al-Sultan, whom Al-Monitor met at his office, denied the practice of torture by his department’s agents located in police detention centers throughout Gaza’s governorates.  He affirmed that police officers never touch female detainees, except if altercations occur during raids on drug dealer houses, where — more often than not — female relatives of the accused attack the officers, who then try to defend themselves. “Trespasses may occur, for we are not angels,” he said. Al-Monitor was given exclusive access to the testimonies of female prisoners inside Ansar prison, documented by a Gaza human rights organization on condition of anonymity, concerning them being subjected to beatings and torture in police detention centers.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/gaza-female-detainees-torture-prisons.html

Gaza submerged by seawater pumped by Egypt
MEMO 31 Oct — Palestine’s interior ministry in Gaza said on Friday that wide swathes of land have been submerged by seawater pumped by the Egyptian army to flood the tunnels linking Egypt with the coastal enclave, Quds Press reported. In a statement, the ministry said that: “The Egyptian army continues pumping seawater into the soil [along the Gaza Strip borders with Egypt] and flooding the tunnels.” About two months ago, the Egyptian army started pumping seawater into the border area in order to submerge the tunnels.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22022-gaza-submerged-by-seawater-pumped-by-egypt

QC begins rainwater purification project in Gaza
ZAWYA 31 Oct –Qatar Charity (QC) is implementing a rainwater purification project in Gaza Strip that will benefit schools and government buildings. The project, which is being carried out a cost of QR6,022,000, is funded through the Gulf Co-operation Council’s Programme for the Reconstruction of Gaza Strip in co-operation with Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
QC is implementing the project in co-operation with Gaza Municipality. The initiative aims to make proper use of rainwater, which will be purified and stored in aquifers, and improve infrastructure by removing rainwater from public spaces and reduce the chances of damage, according to a statement. Mohamed Abu Haloub, QC office director in Gaza, said the project involves the purification of rainwater in 35 government schools in different parts of Gaza.  A system has been put in place to collect rainwater from buildings, schools, playgrounds and squares and use the same in water wells located inside schools.
https://www.zawya.com/story/QC_begins_rainwater_purification_project_in_Gaza-ZAWYA20151031041439/

Other news, opinion

A Month in Photos: This is what ‘living by the sword’ looks like
Activestills 1 Nov — Violence engulfed Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza this month. Clashes around Al-Aqsa Mosque turned into stabbing attacks, the army killed over 70 Palestinians, and Israeli citizens took the law into their own hands.
http://972mag.com/a-month-in-photos-this-is-what-living-by-the-sword-looks-like/113479/

Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory (22-28 Oct 2015)
PCHR-Gaza 29 Oct — Israeli forces have escalated the use of excessive force against peaceful protests in the oPt. 10 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were killed in the West Bank; 9 of whom were killed in Hebron. 2 Palestinian civilians succumbed to their injuries in the Gaza Strip. 202 Palestinian civilians, including 36 children, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Among the wounded were 5 journalists and 9 paramedics in the Gaza Strip, and a journalist and human rights activist in the West Bank. Israeli forces conducted 114 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, including 26 ones in Jerusalem. 184 Palestinian civilians, including 29 children and 6 women. 50 of them, including 11 children and 5 women, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem. Israeli forces have continued their efforts to create Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces issued demolition notices against Palestinian houses on the grounds of collective punishment. A family from Beit Hanina were obliged to demolish their house on their own. Israeli settlers have escalated their attacks against Palestinian civilians and property and settlement activities have continued in the West Bank. 90 fruitful olive trees were burnt in Kufor Qaddoum village because of Israeli forces’ military trainings. A settler opened fire at a Palestinian civilian, east of Hebron, and wounded him with 7 bullets. Settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and continued to throw stones at Palestinian vehicles on roads. [Details and more topics follow
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11345

‘In no way did I intend to absolve Hitler of his responsibility for the Holocaust’ / Benjamin Netanyahu
JPost 31 Oct — Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu clarifies remarks he made over a week ago, stating that the Mufti was a Nazi collaborator but not “Final Solution” architect — I wish to clarify my remarks about the connection between the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Nazis. In no way did I intend to absolve Hitler of his responsibility for the Holocaust. Hitler and the Nazi leadership are responsible for the murder of six million Jews. The decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence.  The Nazis saw in the Mufti a collaborator, but they did not need him to decide on the systematic destruction of European Jewry, which began in June 1941. Still, the Mufti was one of those who supported the Nazi goal of destroying the Jews . . . My remarks were intended to illustrate the murderous approach of the Mufti to the Jews in his lengthy contacts with the Nazi leadership. Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution. The Nazis decided on that by themselves . . . It was important for me to point out that even before World War II it was the Mufti who propagated the big lie that the Jews intend to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque. This lie lives on and continues to exact a price in blood.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/In-no-way-did-I-intend-to-absolve-Hitler-of-his-responsibility-for-the-Holocaust-430607

An organized barbarity called ‘demolishing terrorists’ homes’ / Hagai El-Ad
Haaretz 29 Oct — Insisting on due process in cases of demolition of terrorists’ houses obscures the fact that this practice has across-the-board support — The political and legal systems in Israel have in recent days been thrown into some turmoil by Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman, who scheduled an emergency hearing on the demolition of the homes of the Palestinian families of the perpetrators of the attacks that killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, Malachi Rosenfeld and Danny Gonen – namely, the Hamed and Ghanem families from Silwad; the Kusa, Haj Hamad and Rizeq families from Nablus; and the Amar family from Qalandiyah – rather than sanctioning the demolitions without further ado. The judge’s decision meant the demolitions were temporarily put off, thereby raising the ire of those who felt that the destruction of the Palestinian houses ought to have been carried out by now, and they voiced scathing criticism of the High Court of Justice. Champions of the court leapt to its defense: While sharing the view that the demolitions are certainly merited, they firmly expressed their belief that such justice ought to be implemented only after a proper legal hearing. Truly, what would the civilized world come to if we don’t keep up such appearances?
While the two sides carry on battling one another – so-called extremists versus the law’s knights in shining armor – the heated debate conveniently obscures the fact that, ultimately, the organized barbarity called “demolishing terrorists’ homes” has across-the-board support among the Jewish population in Israel. This unanimity includes those who perceive themselves as soaring high up in the rarified plane of morality and justice: the justices of the High Court. Their rulings have enabled the demolition (or sealing) of over 1,600 Palestinian homes since 1987. All the actors party to the current round of legal-administrative brutality can breathe easy: Both the particulars of the ritual and its results are a foregone conclusion. Demolitions were sanctioned, are sanctioned, will be sanctioned by the court. Then, a family – which no one claims is guilty of any wrongdoing – will find its home reduced to nothing more than a dusty pile of rubble, or perhaps poured full of concrete. Mission accomplished: People innocent of any crime will no longer be able to inhabit their home. (continued)
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.683167

Shin Bet head says there is not sufficient cause to outlaw Islamic Movement
Haaretz 2 Nov by Barak Ravid — Shin Bet security service chief Yoram Cohen has told the security cabinet he objects to declaring the Islamic Movement’s northern branch an illegal organization, according to two ministers who attended security cabinet briefings over the past month. Cohen said the Shin Bet had no intelligence linking the group to terrorism. In recent weeks the security cabinet has held meetings on whether action should be taken against the organization because of its involvement in incitement regarding the Temple Mount. Another meeting was held yesterday but no decisions were made. According to one minister, Cohen said the northern branch had more than 10,000 members, and it was neither wise nor practical to declare all of them criminals overnight. He said this would do more harm than good. Another minister quoted Cohen as saying the focus should be on pressuring the organization’s leaders. While there is no evidence directly linking the group to terror, there is evidence of its involvement in incitement to violence. Cohen suggested cracking down on the northern branch’s funding sources, particularly Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in the Arab world and Europe, the minister said.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683671

EU provides €13M to support extremely poor families in West Bank, Gaza
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 31 Oct — The European Union made its third contribution in 2015, amounting to €12.6 million, to the Palestinian Authority’s quarterly payment of social allowances to poor Palestinian families living in the West Bank and Gaza, said a statement issued Friday by Office of the European Union Representative. The statement said that, “Eligible beneficiaries are households living in extreme poverty that are registered in the cash transfer programme of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The programme is designed to provide a basic safety net to the poorest and most vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, through cash and in-kind assistance. The contribution covers nearly 40% of the total cost of providing cash assistance to over 122,000 Palestinian households living in poverty. Almost two-thirds of beneficiaries are in Gaza
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29712

Foreign ministry course changes due to BDS success
AIC 1 Nov — Responding to the success of BDS, Israel updates foreign ministry cadets course —  Under direction of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Director-General Dore Gold, Israel has updated its foreign ministry cadets training course to better meet the serious challenges posed by global Palestinian solidarity and the BDS movement in particular. New additions to the six-month training course include a tour of the Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood. The Israeli press reports that the tour will be led by David Be’eri, founder of the Elad Association which drives settlement in the heart of this occupied Palestinian neighbourhood located just outside Jerusalem’s Old City and adjacent to the al Aqsa mosque. A tour will also be given of the Israeli settlements situated in the northern West Bank area of Nablus. The tour will be conducted by settler leader Benny Katzover, chairperson of the Samaria Citizens’ Committee and founder of the Nablus-area settlement of Elon Moreh. Katzover has stated in the past that “We didn’t come here to establish a democratic state. We came here to return the Jewish people to their land.” Israeli foreign ministry cadets will further tour the West Bank’s Jordan Valley area and its Barkan Industrial Zone to “learn about” Palestinians working in this settlement industrial zone. A central point of Israeli hasbara is that boycotting settlement products harms Palestinian workers, even though the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) fully supports the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS. An additional new element in the cadets training course is a course on international law, with an emphasis on defending the legality of Israeli settlements. International humanitarian law will further be reviewed to provide justification for Israel’s ongoing military attack on the Palestinian people under occupation and advance Israel’s contention of fielding the most moral army in the world. Finally, Israel’s foreign ministry will present its take on Judaism’s concept of tikkun olam (repair of the world) and its relation to Israeli diplomacy, for example in Israel’s contributions to disaster relief.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/25-bds/1103-foreign-ministry-course-changes-due-to-bds-success

Chicago students get death threat over Palestine protest
EI 30 Oct by Nora Barrows-Friedman —  Students in Chicago received a death threat after taking part in a Palestine solidarity protest. Another student activist in Santa Barbara, California, was physically assaulted during an argument with an Israel supporter. These are just two of dozens of on-campus incidents reported across the United States over the last four weeks, according to Palestine Legal. . .  Pattern of repression  Palestine Legal stated last week that it has responded to more than 35 campus incidents over the last month. “The pattern persists: with a rise in activism comes a rise in suppression,” the group said. Flush with new injections of cash, Israel-aligned organizations are stepping up their efforts to smear and intimidate students involved in Palestine activism. Palestine Legal says it has responded to more than 300 incidents of “censorship, punishment, or other burdening of advocacy” reported by Palestine solidarity activists on more than 65 US campuses in the last 18 months.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/chicago-students-get-death-threat-over-palestine-protest

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