Violence / Detentions — West Bank / Jerusalem
Israeli soldiers kill a young Palestinian man in Silwan
IMEMC 11 Oct — Israeli soldiers fatally shot, on Tuesday evening, a young Palestinian man in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, after the army invaded the town and clashed with many youngsters who hurled stones at their vehicles. The Wadi Hilweh information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) said the young man, Ali Atef Shiokhi, 20, was shot with a live round in his pelvis, and that he bled to death as the medics were unable to move him to the hospital due to the extensive military siege on the town. The Palestinian was a former political prisoner who was only released from an Israeli detention center earlier this year, after being held for 15 months….
http://imemc.org/article/israeli-soldiers-kills-a-young-palestinian-man-in-silwan/
Palestinian killed, buried two hours later in fear of body detention
JERUSALEM (PNN) 12 Oct — Hundreds of Jerusalemites on Wednesday dawn have participated in the funeral of Ali Shyoukhi (20) who was killed in clashes that broke out between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers overnight in Silwan town, East Jerusalem. The funeral took place two hours after he was killed, in fear of his body being detained by Israel, especially that Israeli Forces prevented ambulances from approaching his body after he was shot in the chest with live ammunition and kept bleeding for over an hour … Since last year, Israel detained 100 bodies of Palestinians who it killed as a punishment even after death. Fines are also imposed on the families to return their sons’ bodies. At the moment, Israel is holding 18 bodies of Palestinians who have been killed since October 2015.
http://english.pnn.ps/2016/10/12/palestinian-20-year-old-killed-during-clashes-in-jerusalem/
Violent clashes in Silwan
Silwanic 11 Oct — Violent clashes broke out on Tuesday night in the neighborhood of Ein Al-Lozeh in Silwan between young men and occupation forces that raided the neighborhood and were deployed in its streets. Witnesses explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that a military vehicle raided Ein Al-Lozeh and started provoking the residents, resulting in the breakout of clashes between young men and occupation forces that randomly fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and live bullets. Witnesses also added that young men threw Molotov cocktails towards the military vehicle, setting part of it on fire. Several locals suffocated due to heavy firing of tear gas canisters while one young man was shot in his leg and another in his eye. Witnesses also added that the forces closed the streets of Ein Al-Lozeh. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that their crews were subject to harassment and were searched and their ambulance was searched 8 times by the forces present in the area. The occupation forces raided several houses owned by Abbasi family in Ein Al-Lozeh and assaulted 60-year old Khalil Abbasi and his son and pushed them; they also broke the front door of the house of Ahmad Abbasi.
http://www.silwanic.net/index.php/article/news/76597
4 Palestinian youths in al-Ram injured with live fire as clashes erupt with Israeli soldiers
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Four Palestinian youths were injured with live fire Tuesday evening when clashes erupted in the town of al-Ram in the occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths amid ongoing raids in the community in the aftermath of a deadly shooting attack on Sunday. According to a Ma‘an reporter, clashes broke out at the main entrance of the town, as Israeli soldiers “heavily” opened live fire at Palestinian youths, reportedly targeting their legs and knees. Four Palestinian youths were injured with live fire in the knees. The identity of the three has not yet been released…
The raid came two days after a deadly shooting attack in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which left an Israeli police officer and an Israeli woman killed before the attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, was shot to death by Israeli police. A resident of Silwan, Abu Sbeih was banned from the whole of East Jerusalem for a month recently, after he had already been banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months, forcing him to move in with his family in the village of al-Ram. In July, he was also issued a travel ban until the end of the year. Al-Ram has experienced ongoing detention campaigns and heavy security restrictions since the attack.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773526
Misbah Abu Sbeih ‘reached breaking point’, says family
Al Jazeera 11 Oct by Zena Tahhan — The man who killed two Israelis had reportedly been systematically targeted by the Israeli army and police — Earlier this week, Misbah Abu Sbeih, 39, a father of five children, got into his car in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and carried out a drive-by shooting near an Israeli police station. He killed an Israeli woman and a special forces officer from the “Yassam” unit, in charge of quelling unrest mainly in the Palestinian half of the city. Israeli police showered Abu Sbeih’s car with bullets – witnesses say about 50 – killing him. “We lost one of Jerusalem’s brothers, a big brother. It is a big loss to all of us,” Abu Sbeih’s sibling, Tayseer, told Al Jazeera on Monday, his voice trembling. That morning, Abu Sbeih was expected to hand himself over to the occupation police. He was meant to serve four months in prison for allegedly attempting to hit an Israeli soldier in 2013; an accusation his family denies. Instead of giving in, his family says he chose to fight back. “This kind of pressure breeds explosions. Misbah reached a breaking point,” said Tayseer. “The occupation isn’t a normal or natural environment – they should blame themselves for what he did.” … Abu Sbeih had reportedly been banned by the Israeli court in Jerusalem from traveling abroad, entering the Old City and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site. “He would always call on Palestinians to protect al-Aqsa from Israeli incursions, and the Israelis didn’t like that,” Tayseer continued. Abu Sbeih had been arrested almost systematically by Israeli forces for his activism, his family and friends say. He was detained four times in the same week before carrying out the attack for going to the Old City and attempting to pray at the gates of the compound. Israeli police told Al Jazeera that they could not confirm or deny his arrests as “there is a gag order” on the information. “They even arrested him twice in the same day,” Abu Sbeih’s 19-year-old son told Al Jazeera, adding that they would keep him at the police station for between four to 24 hours at a time. “They are to blame for this.” In 2015, Abu Sbeih was imprisoned for 11 months for what Israel alleged was “incitement on Facebook” – a claim that has been used in the past by Israel to quell Palestinian activism against the Israeli occupation. The arrests and the bans on his entry to the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City were what pushed him over the edge, his family believes. “It’s like taking a fish out of the water,” his son said. They say he was known as “the lion of al-Aqsa”. His long-time friend, Amjad, described the mosque to Abu Sbeih as a “red line.” “It was an article of faith to him. He was very protective of al-Aqsa and he would cry when Israel barred him from entering it. There was no way he would give it up.”
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/misbah-abu-sbeih-reached-breaking-point-family-161011102251854.html
Israeli forces raid Jerusalem high school, accuse students of throwing glass
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli forces raided the Dar al-Aytam school in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem on Monday morning, claiming that students threw glass at them, according to local officials who denied that the students had thrown anything. Samir Jibril, the director of the educational organization which oversees all the Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem, told Ma‘an that seven Israeli soldiers raided the school’s front entrance in an attempt to enter into the classrooms, though the teachers and administration prevented them. According to Jibril, Israeli forces claimed that students threw glass from classroom windows at officers who were stationed at the gates to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Jibril however said the soldiers’ claims were “bogus” due to the fact that there are “security bars” secured over all the school’s windows, making it nearly impossible for students to throw anything out of them. Israeli soldiers threatened to raid the school again if the students threw anything at the soldiers, specifically rocks or glass, Jibril added. Jibril condemned the raid, saying it was “an attempt to obstruct the educational process under unrealistic claims.” He noted that 320 high school students through grades 10 and 12 were enrolled at the school.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773502
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian family picking olives in Nablus area
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — A group of Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family and damaged their car while they were picking olives on their private land south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank on Monday, amid the onset of olive harvest season, when Palestinians farmers are at a heightened risk of being the target of settler attacks. A local Palestinian official who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank told Ma‘an that a number of settlers from the illegal Eli settlement attacked Sahir Mousa and his family while they were picking olives on their land in the outskirts of the village of Qaryut, which is just a few kilometers away from the settlement. “They arrived carrying hatchets and other sharp tools and forced the family to return home and completely damaged their car,” Ghassan Daghlas said. According to Daghlas, the attack was the first of its kind during olive harvest season this year. However on Oct. 4, a group of Israeli settlers’ children escorted by Israeli forces harassed a Palestinian family harvesting olives in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Monday. Meanwhile, the area around the Qaryut and other villages south of Nablus has been particularly vulnerable to an increase in land confiscation by the Israeli government, and is also a frequent site of settler violence. The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773500
Israeli forces detain 56 Palestinians in massive detention campaign
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli forces detained at least 56 Palestinians in overnight raids between Sunday evening and Monday across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with more than two thirds of the detainees coming from the Jerusalem area, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement that 39 of the total detainees came from Jerusalem, including the 17-year-old daughter and father of the slain gunman who carried out a drive-by shooting Sunday morning in East Jerusalem that left two Israelis dead. An Israeli police spokesperson said just 15 Palestinians were detained in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, while an Israeli army spokesperson confirmed 16 total detentions were made overnight in the West Bank, saying three were conducted in the Jerusalem district — one from the village of Qatanna, one from al-Ram, and one from Abu Dis. According to PPS, seven Palestinians were detained from the Qalqiliya area village of ‘Azzun in the northern West Bank. The detainees were identified as 27-year-old Issam Rashid Radwan, 22-year-old Qusai Shahr Salim, 27-year-old Muhammad Abd al-Karim Salim, 18-year-old Munther Yasser Salama, 23-year-old Kathem Mufid Radwan, 18-year-old Mahmoud Jamal Odeh, and 22-year-old Ali Farid Hussein … In the northern West Bank district of Jenin, PPS said Israeli forces detained Tawfiq Muhammad Shalabi and Muhammad Jihad Rbayaa. Also in the north, Israeli forces detained 19-year-old Amir Salah Amaraa from Tulkarem. The Israeli army confirmed the detention, saying it was made in the village of Dhinnaba. Meanwhile, Muhammad Abd al-Ghani Taysir Salam was detained from Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to PPS. In the southernmost district of Hebron, Israeli forces detained brothers Anwar Nayif Zein and Abd al-Karim Nayif Zein, PPS said. Local Hebron activist Muhammad Ayad Awad told Ma‘an that two Palestinians were detained in the Hebron area village of Beit Ummar after their house was raided, identified as 20-year-old Alaa Naim Abu Maria and 24-year old Odai Naim Abu Maria.
According to the Israeli army spokesperson, four Palestinians were detained in the Hebron district — one from the village of Beit Ummar and three from the town of Yatta. The spokesperson also informed Ma‘an of one detention in the village of Surda in the Ramallah district, not reported by PPS.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773504
Clashes erupt as 1,200 Israelis pray at Joseph’s Tomb near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — More than a thousand Israelis escorted by Israeli forces visited Joseph’s Tomb in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Sunday night, sparking clashes with local Palestinian youth. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an that Israeli settlers from different settlements across the West Bank traveled in 24 buses and arrived to the religious site near the Balata refugee camp, where they performed religious rituals until dawn. Clashes broke out in the area, with Israeli soldiers reportedly firing tear gas and sound bombs, and Palestinian youth throwing rocks and empty bottles. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that Israeli forces escorted 1,200 Israelis to Joseph’s Tomb when “violent riots” erupted, with dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. She added that Israeli forces used “riot dispersal means,” including rubber-coated steel bullets. No injuries were reported on either side.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773499
Israeli forces target Hamas, Islamic Jihad members in northern West Bank raids
JENIN (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces detained at least eight Palestinians, including at three alleged members of the Hamas movement as well as the son of a prominent Islamic Jihad leader as soldiers attempted to detain the father, in overnight raids between Monday night and Tuesday morning in areas in the northern occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement that Israeli forces detained Saif al-Din al-Idrisi, who had been one of six who declared a hunger strike in a Palestinian Authority prison last month, and Muhammad Izzat Jaber from the district of Tulkarem, as well as 20 year-old Yassir Shteiwi from the district of Qalqiliya. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed one detention was made in the city of Tulkarem, and informed Ma‘an that another Palestinians was detained in the village of Iktaba in the wider Tulkarem district. The spokesperson added that three alleged Hamas operatives were detained in the Jenin district, one in the village of Qabatiya, one in the village of Jaba‘, and one in the city of Jenin. Two others were detained in the city of Jenin — one of which was a member of the Islamic Jihad, identified by PPS and local sources as Yahya Bassam al-Saadi, son of the prominent Islamic Jihad member Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi. PPS identified the other four detained in the Jenin district as Tamer Abd al-Ghani Sabanaa, Abd al-Salam Jamal Abu al-Heja, Ahmad Saleem Salatma, and Muhammad Mutasem al-Sabagh. According to a local radio station Sawt al-Asra (Voice of the Prisoners), Israeli forces raided Jenin refugee camp to detain Bassam al-Saadi, who has long been pursued by Israeli intelligence, and has spent a number of years in Israeli custody between actual prison sentences and administrative detention sentences — internment without trial or charge. Al-Saadi’s daughter Zuhour told the radio station that Israeli forces “ruthlessly” broke into and ransacked the house at 4 a.m., assaulting her brothers Fathi and Yahya before they detained Yahya, failing to detain Bassam al-Saadi himself. Bassam al-Saadi’s wife Nawal has also served several months in Israeli custody, while their sons Abd al-Karim and Ibrahim, and his stepson Abd al-Rahman have all been killed by Israeli forces, according to Sawt al-Asra. Meanwhile, al-Saadi has also been pursued by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces for years.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773516
Undercover Israeli forces detain 8 Palestinian children from ‘Aida refugee camp
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Undercover Israeli forces detained eight Palestinian children from ‘Aida refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem Monday afternoon, as residents of the camp — particularly minors — have recently been subject to an intensification of violent military raids. Locals told Ma‘an that after clashes broke out between local youth and Israeli forces in the camp, a unit of undercover Israeli forces disguised as Palestinians infiltrated the crowd to “kidnap” the young Palestinians, who were all under 15 years old. A group of uniformed Israeli soldiers rushed to back up the undercover unit, who then took the eight children to an unknown location. The detained youths were identified as Amir Ismael Elayyan, Izz al-Din Badwan, Muhammad Wahid Qaraqe, Adam Muhammad Darwish, Muhammad Nasser Darwish, Abd al-Fattah Abu Shera, Daoud Raed Sharara, and Yousif Muhammad Jawarish. Sources added that Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters at the protesting youth and civilian houses nearby. In a response to a request for comment, an Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that the Israeli army was not involved, and said Israeli police were behind the operation, despite the area being located outside of police jurisdiction, in Area A of the occupied West Bank — the 18 percent officially under full Palestinian Authority control. When contacted by Ma‘an, Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said he was not aware of the raid….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773512
Israeli forces arrest 13-year-old Palestinian weeks after shooting him in both legs
Mondoweiss 10 Oct by Sheren Khalel — In March, 12-year-old Ramzi Abu Ajamia got word that Israeli forces were looking for him. Terrified of getting arrested, Ramzi stopped sleeping at home and going to school. He succeeded in dodging Israeli forces for five months before he was spotted at clashes during an Israeli night raid on Dheisha refugee camp, where the now 13-year-old was born and raised. It all happened within seconds, Ramzi recalled to Mondoweiss. Israeli forces spotted the boy on the streets around 1 a.m., and fired. Ramzi dropped to the ground before another young man rushed to his aid. The other young man was shot in the leg, and then two more bullets whizzed through the air, hitting Ramzi yet again. Doctors were able to remove the two bullets in Ramzi’s right leg, but closed up the wound in his left leg with the bullet still lodged. Ramzi underwent six surgeries over the course of a few weeks before he was sent home to recover. Badly injured, and still with a bullet in one leg, Ramzi slept at home for the first time in months. A few days into Ramzi’s homestay, Israeli forces stormed his house, blasting off the family’s front door before raiding the home and arresting the injured 13-year-old. Forty other Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were detained during a mass raid that same night. “That night I had a feeling they would come for me, I was sitting up in my bed waiting,” Ramzi told Mondoweiss, both legs still bandaged and unhealed. Ramzi’s father, Nassir Abu Ajamia, said the arrest was like nothing he had ever seen. “They didn’t come with a gurney or an ambulance or military jeep waiting by the house, when they came to arrest him, one of the soldiers threw Ramzi over his shoulder and walked with him like that,” his father said….
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/israeli-palestinian-shooting/
Calling Palestinians ‘animals’, deputy Jerusalem mayor vows retribution after shooting attack
Haaretz 10 Oct by Nir Hasson — ‘We lived in false hope that if we would help them they would change their animal behavior,’ says Meir Turgeman. Jerusalem mayor says remarks don’t reflect municipal policy — The deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Meir Turgeman, who is chairman of the planning and building board, said Monday he would “punish” the residents of East Jerusalem because of Sunday’s terror attack that left two people dead. “We have reached the moment of truth,” he said in an interview on Radio Jerusalem. “Let’s put all the cards on the table. The people in East Jerusalem want to kill us and destroy us. Why do we need to give them a new chance every day?” “Each time we lived in false hope that these people, if we would help them, would change their animal behavior, but it turns out that nothing helps,” he said. “Why do people need to die in Jerusalem? Where is it written, and who said it? We have to take responsibility here. And I am going to give an example. I took all the construction plans related to East Jerusalem off the agenda. I shelved all of the plans. They say carrots and sticks. There are no carrots left, only sticks.”….
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.746987
Al-Aqsa
Israeli perform religious rituals at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound ahead of Yom Kippur
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Scores of Jewish Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday and performed religious rituals on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The Islamic Endowment (Waqf) in charge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound reported that 156 Israelis escorted by Israeli police toured the compound, entering through the Moroccan Gate at 7:30 a.m. Eyewitnesses said that many of the Israelis performed religious rituals at the compound, especially at the Chain and Cotton Merchants gates under the protection of Israeli police. Israeli forces reportedly prevented a number of Palestinian youth from entering the compound, and checked the identity cards of those who were allowed to enter. Witnesses said that Israeli forces forcibly escorted a Palestinian youth out of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulted him, before detaining another, identified as Mufid Ghaith. The visit came as Israeli forces enforced a series of closures and heightened security operations throughout the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the larger Jerusalem district in anticipation of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur on Tuesday. The Waqf, along with a number of other Islamic organizations, released a statement condemning Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa compound, saying that it was facing a “vicious attack” by extremist Israeli organizations which continuously call for Jewish worshipers to enter the compound and perform religious rituals there, especially during Jewish holidays, in breach of an agreement between Israel and the Waqf. Following Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has maintained a compromise with the Waqf to not allow non-Muslim prayer in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The statement added that the visits at the compound represented an attempt to change the “historical situation” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque…
Tensions around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound were a main contributor to the increasing unrest that began last October, after right-wing Israelis made frequent visits to the site during a succession of Jewish holidays this time last year….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773522
Punitive demolitions and other acts of revenge
Israeli soldiers demolish an apartment in Nablus, injure ten Palestinians
IMEMC 11 Oct — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Beit Forik town, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and demolished an apartment of an imprisoned Palestinian believed to be behind a shooting attack that led to the death of two Israeli settlers last year. During the invasion, the soldiers clashed with dozens of Palestinians and injured at least ten. Media sources in Nablus said the soldiers surrounded Khallet al-Eman area, in Beit Forik, before storming the family home of Amjad ‘Oleiwi [or ‘Aliwi], 48, then abducted and detained his family for several hours, and demolished their home. The sources added that clashes took place between the soldiers and dozens of local youngsters, who hurled stones and empty bottles at the invading army vehicles, while the soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets. Medical sources said dozens of residents, including many children, suffered the effects of teargas inhalation, and received the needed treatment, while one of them was moved to a hospital, after suffering moderate wounds.
It is worth mentioning that, last week, the Israeli High Court rejected an appeal against the demolition of the ‘Oleiwi family home, and said that the man “had a very serious role in the deadly shooting attack.” Salah ‘Oleiwi, the brother of Amjad, said the family filed a total of four appeals against the demolition, but were unable to save their home. The family lived in a residential building in Khallet al-Eman area; the detained Palestinian is a married father of eight; two boys and six girls. The shooting ‘Oleiwi is accused of planning took place took place on October 1, 2015, near Itamar Israeli colony, built on Palestinian lands near Nablus. The victims of the shooting have been identified as Eitam Henkin, and his wife Na’ama, both in their thirties.
http://imemc.org/article/army-demolishes-an-apartment-in-nablus-injures-ten-palestinians/
Israel army targets Abu Sbeih family, their homes and stores
IMEMC 11 Oct — Since the death of Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was killed by Israel army and police fire after carrying out a fatal shooting attack in which an Israeli police officer and an Israeli woman were killed, the family, their homes and stores became the target of the Israeli army, police and security forces. The soldiers started repeatedly invading the family’s homes and stores, in the al-Ram town and Kafr ‘Aqab, in occupied Jerusalem, since Misbah was killed after carrying out a drive-by shooting attack, near the Light-Rail stop, close to the Police headquarters, in Jerusalem. The soldiers detained and interrogated several members of Abu Sbeih family, including his father, and his teenage daughter, Eman, who is still held on incitement charges, after she published a video in support of her father and the fatal shooting. The army repeatedly searched all rooms in the family’s homes, causing serious property damage, while army engineers took measurement and photographs of the interior and exterior of Misbah’s home, in order to demolish it. On Tuesday at dawn, dozens of soldiers, police and security officers invaded the building owned by Abu Sbeih’s father, before breaking into its four apartments, and detained all women in one room, preventing them from speaking even among each other. The soldiers then interrogated Abu Sbeih’s mother, and summoned his three brothers and three sons, for interrogation, in addition to threatening harsher measures should they fail to attend the secluded times of interrogation. The army is also vowing to revoke Jerusalem ID cards of the family, although they are indigenous to the city.
The army also shut down all stores, and warehouses, owned by the family, under direct orders from Roni Noma, the commander of the Israeli Army Depth Corps, who cited article 319 of the Israeli Emergency Law of 1948. All of the stores and warehouses that were shut by the army are owned by Sbeih Abu Sbeih, and are not owned by Misbah, his family or his brothers and their families. After closing the stores with red wax seal, the soldiers also barricaded and weld shut all doors and windows. Meanwhile, in the al-Ram town where Misbah lived, the soldiers invaded his home again at dawn, Tuesday, imposed a curfew from 4-7 in the town, and broke into the mourning home, before tearing Misbah’s pictures and posters.
The family said the soldiers also invaded the home of his brother Jaber, in Kafr ‘Aqab neighborhood, north of Jerusalem, after detonating its front door, and searched it. His 78-year-old father, Sbeih, was detained and interrogated until he collapsed and lost consciousness, and was moved to a hospital. The soldiers decided to release him but held his ID card.
http://imemc.org/article/army-closes-store-belonging-to-abu-sbeih-family/
Closures / Restriction of movement
Israel sets restrictions across Jerusalem for Yom Kippur, arms Israeli ‘volunteers’
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces announced on Monday a series of closures and heightened security operations throughout the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the larger Jerusalem district in anticipation of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, according to Israeli police. Israeli Police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement Monday that Israeli police, border police, and Israeli “volunteers” would be spread through different areas in the city of Jerusalem beginning early Tuesday morning, the beginning of Yom Kippur, to “maintain order and provide protection for Jews expected to arrive to the Western Wall for prayer.” Al-Samri added that Israeli police provided the volunteers with weapons to “guarantee the safety of the worshipers.” The Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City was closed to tourists and private cars on Tuesday, only permitting residents of the Old City to enter. “Israeli police in cooperation with the Jerusalem municipality will install checkpoints at the main roads to prevent cars of Eastern residents from heading to West Jerusalem,” al-Samri said in her statement, referring to preventing the access of any Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem. “Israeli police will also be stationed at neighborhoods to prevent any rock throwing.” “Israeli police also calls upon the public to contact the police for emergencies and if they suspect someone or something,” the statement concluded.
In a separate statement, Israeli police said it would be imposing a “complete closure” on the West Bank ahead of Yom Kippur, meaning all border crossings between the West Bank and Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, and Israel and the Gaza Strip would be closed. The statement added that the closure started Monday at midnight and would go on until midnight Wednesday, and that Israeli authorities would only allow medical crews, doctors and urgent humanitarian cases to pass, so as long as they had an authorization from the Israeli government.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773510
Photo story: Jewish holidays bring harassment to occupied Hebron
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine 6 Oct by ISM, al-Khalil Team — …During the two-day celebration of the Jewish New Year, the part of Ibrahimi Mosque that has not been confiscated by the Israeli forces has been closed entirely for Palestinians and Muslims. Sixty percent of the Mosque was illegally annexed by Israeli forces who installed a synagogue inside in the aftermath of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Additionally, the nearby Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint that connects the new Palestinian market (after the closure and ethnic cleansing of Shuhada Street, the former bustling Palestinian market, in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi mosque massacre) with the Ibrahimi Mosque area has been closed for Palestinians since Sunday night. This leaves Palestinians, including residents, school students and teachers with only a few options to reach school, work and their homes, as the closest alternative of Shuhada Street is ‘illegal’ to use for Palestinians under Israeli occupation ‘rules’. On Thursday, October 6th, both the Mosque and the nearby checkpoint were closed as well – even though there’s no official Jewish holiday; yet another arbitrary movement restriction on Palestinians in order to favour settlers. These movement restrictions, which are solely and deliberately only enforced on Palestinians, have directly impeded the right to education in various areas. At Ziad Jaber school near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, school-students, their parents walking them to school and teachers had to cross paths with the heavily armed settlers, and often undergo bag-, ID- and body-searches based on racial profiling by the Israeli forces.
https://palsolidarity.org/2016/10/photo-story-jewish-holidays-bring-harassment-to-occupied-hebron/
Prisoners / Court actions
2 Palestinian prisoners end hunger strikes after reaching deal with Israeli authorities
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Two hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners from the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem ended their hunger strikes on Monday after the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) answered their demands, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said in a statement. According to the committee, prisoner Jawad Jawarish ended a two-week hunger strike, which he started in late September to protest IPS authorities’ use of torture and tactical transfer of prisoners from one detention facility to another. The committee had reported on Monday that 40-year-old Jawarish had been moved from solitary confinement in Ashkelon prison to the Nafha detention facility … Meanwhile, the Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said that Maher Ibayyat had ended an 18-day hunger strike he started on Sept. 23 to protest being held in solitary confinement in Ayalon prison. The committee confirmed that Ibayyat, a 38-year-old prisoner who has been serving a 25-year sentence since 2004, was removed from solitary confinement at Ayala and would be moved to ordinary cells in Ramon prison.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773515
Administrative detainees forced to risk lives for freedom
B’Tselem 6 Oct — In July 2016, three Palestinians went on a hunger strike to protest their administrative detention by Israel. About three months after that, on 21 September 2016, the media reported that they had agreed to end their strike after the Israeli authorities promised not to extend their administrative detention orders and to release them at the end of their current detention period. Two of the detainees are brothers Muhammad Balbul, 25, whose hunger strike began on 7 July 2016 and lasted 77 days, and Mahmoud Balbul, 23, whose strike began on 5 July 2016 and lasted 79 days. The two are expected to be released from detention on 8 December 2016. A third detainee, Malek al-Qadi, whose hunger strike began on 16 July 2016 and lasted 68 days, was released from administrative detention on 22 September 2016. Al-Qadi’s heath deteriorated during his hunger strike and he fell into a coma for eight days.
Sana Balbul, 42, mother of Mahmoud and Muhammad, spoke to B’Tselem field-researcher Musa Abu Hashhash on 9 September 2016 about her sons’ choice to go on a hunger strike: “Muhammad studied dentistry in Egypt and came back two years ago. He opened a private practice in Bethlehem and within a year became a very successful and busy doctor. Mahmoud is an officer in the Palestinian Authority military academy. He was planning to study for a master’s degree. On 7 June 2016, we woke up early from the sound of soldiers forcing the door open. They arrested Muhammad and Mahmoud. I later found out that they’d been taken to administrative detention at Ofer Prison. On the first, and only, time I visited them in prison, Mahmoud hinted to me that they were going to go on a hunger strike. He said most detainees go on a hunger strike after their detention orders are extended, but that they weren’t going to wait for the day they stand at the prison gate hoping to go home, and then a smiling prison guard turns up and tells them their detention has been extended for six more months.”….
http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention/20161006_administrative_detainees_driven_to_risk_their_lives
Israel sentences Palestinian to prison for alleged involvement in Feb. attack
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — The Israeli magistrate court in Jerusalem issued a prison sentence on Monday against 57-year-old Khamis Tamim al-Salaymeh, accused of driving three Palestinian youths before they carried out a stabbing and shooting attack that killed an Israeli police officer and injured another in Jerusalem’s Old City in February. The three Palestinians were shot dead on the scene. Palestinian Prisoner’s Society lawyer Mufid al-Hajj said that the court formally sentenced al-Salaymeh to two years in Israeli prison after convicting him for “causing death due to negligence,” claiming that he drove the three Palestinians from northern Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank to East Jerusalem. The indictment against al-Salaymeh was issued on April 16 after he was detained on February 8. Al-Salaymeh had reportedly admitted that he drove the youths, as part of his job driving Palestinian workers, but had no knowledge the three were planning an attack. Israeli media reported at the time that two of the three were barred from entrance into Israel and that all three had crossed Israel’s separation wall illegally.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773503
Rock-throwing charges dropped against Palestinian minor
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Charges brought against a 15-year-old Palestinian accused of rock throwing were dropped on Monday, after the Israeli prosecution found contradictions in the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who detained the boy. In a statement released by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), lawyer Elia Theodory said that Baraa Abd al-Qader Abu Jawda, from the village of al-Ram in the central occupied West Bank, was detained on Oct. 4, 2015 and charged with rock throwing. Baraa was released on bail after spending eight months in Israeli custody. His case remained open upon his release, and after summoning the Israeli soldiers who detained Baraa to testify, the prosecution informed the lawyer that the charges against the teen were dropped due to contradictions in the soldiers’ testimonies. Israel detains hundreds of Palestinians for alleged stone throwing every year, and Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that from 2005 to 2010, “93 percent of the minors convicted of stone throwing were given a prison sentence, its length ranging from a few days to 20 months.”….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773507
Palestinian Prisoners’ Society director released from jail, barred from Al-Aqsa
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — An Israeli court ordered to release Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) Jerusalem chapter director Nasser Qaws from Israeli custody on Tuesday after he was detained two days earlier, but ruled to ban him from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for 45 days. PPS lawyer Mufid al-Hajj said in a statement that Qaws was also ordered to pay a bail of 500 shekels ($131) by the Jerusalem magistrate court. He was originally charged with obstructing Israeli police work. Qaws, 45, has been detained tens of times by Israeli forces according to PPS, most recently in June when he was assaulted and taken in for interrogation. Qaws was among 39 Palestinians who were detained in extensive raids across East Jerusalem, while a total of 56 Palestinians were detained across the occupied territory between Sunday night and Monday. The raids came in the wake of a deadly shooting that left the Palestinian attacker and two Israelis dead Sunday morning in occupied East Jerusalem….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773520
The trials of Dareen Tatour: A year of detention and no end in sight
Mondoweiss 11 Oct by Kim Jensen & Yoav Haifawi — It was exactly one year ago that Dareen Tatour’s ordeal began. In the pre-dawn hours of October 11, 2015, Israeli police and border guards stormed into Palestinian poet’s family home without a warrant or an explanation for the shocking and disturbing intrusion. They arrested, interrogated, and eventually charged Dareen Tatour with the crime of ‘incitement to violence.’ In the past year Dareen has been held in three separate prisons, confined to house arrest, and has faced an aggressive yet scandalously vacuous prosecution — all as part of a flagrant Israeli strategy to suppress Palestinian voices who dare criticize Israeli policies. During an outbreak of predictably cyclical violence between Palestinians and Israelis last fall, Dareen Tatour — a citizen of Israel — posted two status updates on Facebook and a poetry clip called Resist my people, Resist them, which protested the outrageous murders of three Palestinian children. Honest observers who have examined the case agree that Dareen’s ‘offending’ posts fall well inside the boundaries of legitimate artistic expression, yet Dareen remains under house arrest in her home town of Reineh for the duration of her trial. She cannot leave the premises except for six hours a week. She wears an electronic ankle monitor (serviced by the notorious G4S), and a family member must guard her at all times. She is unable to use the internet, and is not free pursue educational, professional, or artistic activities. In short, she is languishing in a state of prolonged anxiety and uncertainty at great personal cost….
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/trials-dareen-detention/
Gaza
Palestinian man dies in smuggling tunnel between Egypt and Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — A Palestinian man died after being accidentally electrocuted inside a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and the southern besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday. Local sources identified the man as Hamda Madhi, 25, from Khan Yunis. Palestinians in Gaza have relied on underground smuggling tunnels across the Egyptian border since 2007, when Israel imposed a crippling military blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control there. Until the July 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt provided a vital lifeline for the small Palestinian territory. Since Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi came to power, however, Egypt has strictly enforced the blockade and flooded hundreds of the tunnels as part of an ongoing security campaign in the northern Sinai Peninsula against anti-regime militants launching attacks on Egyptian police and military personnel. Egypt accuses Hamas of supporting the insurgents, allegations Hamas strongly denies.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773494
IOF target Gaza homes, fishermen
GAZA (PNN) 11 Oct — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday evening morning have opened fire at Palestinian houses east of Khuza‘a town east of Khan Younis to the south of Gaza. According to the PIC reporter, Israeli forces opened their machinegun fire at Palestinian homes and agricultural lands near Shuhada School in Khuza‘a town. Flares were meanwhile fired into the air, the sources added. Along the same line, Israeli naval forces targeted late Monday Palestinian fishing boats off Beit Lahiya shores, north Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported in both attacks.
http://english.pnn.ps/2016/10/11/iof-target-gaza-homes-fishermen/
WHO: Lowest permit approval rate for Gaza patients in years
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 11 Oct – The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday said that August permit application by Gaza patients seeking hospital treatment in Jerusalem, the West Bank or inside Israel was the highest ever in number but lowest approval rate in seven years. It said 60.3% of patient permit applications to exist Gaza through Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing for hospital appointments in August were approved, making it the lowest rate of approval since May 2009. In a summary report about the status of Gaza’s patients’ referrals and access to health, WHO said while 2,394 patients applied to receive permits in August, 186 patients (7.8%) were denied permits, including five children and 16 elderly persons over 60 years. Another 764 patients (32%) received no response, including 199 children and 88 elderly people over 60, it added. The report also indicated that companions’ approval rate was lower than patients’ approval rate leaving many patients without a companion. The approval rate for permit applications of patients’ companions reached 51.2%; 8.6% of the companions were denied and the remaining 40.2% applications were pending. WHO found out that at least 1 in 2 patient companions were denied access or delayed at a checkpoint; a father from Gaza who took his 10-year-old daughter to hospital, was detained at Erez and released after 6 days….
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=j1quUxa50627549082aj1quUx
QRCS opens Al-Shefaa departments of cardiology, radiology in Gaza
Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) have opened the Department of Cardiology & Cardiac Catheterization and the Department of Radiology at the Al-Shefaa Medical Complex’s Specialist Surgery Building in Gaza, at a total cost of $9,446,000. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), QRCS mission in Gaza, national health facilities, MOH, and Jordan’s Field Hospital in Gaza. The Department of Cardiology & Cardiac Catheterization was funded by a $2.6 contribution from Indonesia, under the supervision of IDB, and was implemented by QRCS. At a cost of $4.5, the Department of Radiology was furnished with medical equipment, including an MRI scanner with supplies, a lithotripter, mammography system, and digital radiography system. During the opening ceremony, Dr. Akram Nassar, head of QRCS mission in Gaza, said the inauguration of the facility is one of the major strategic projects of MOH. “The Department of Radiology is part of the $18 million project funded by the Programme of the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Reconstruction of Gaza. We hope these massive projects will make a big difference for the health sector in Gaza,” he added….
http://www.qrcs.org.qa/English/MediaCenter/News/Pages/392016.aspx
Gaza has bumper olive season
MEMO 11 Oct — The Palestinian agriculture ministry in Gaza expects olive and olive oil imports to fall this year due a bumper olive season, QudsNet news reported on Monday. The crop has been put down to the plentiful rain last winter, as well as the fact that thousands of new olive trees have been planted across the Gaza Strip. However, as part of its so-called “security” measures, the Israeli occupation authorities have razed tens of thousands of old olive trees in the buffer zone, which is between 300 and 1,500 metres deep along the eastern edge of the Gaza Strip. More than 95 per cent of this area consists of farmland. The olive harvest season in Palestine starts on 27 September, when the first signs of winter start with light rain across the country. It ends at the beginning of December. Farmers said that the olive trees planted in the wake of the massive Israeli military offensive against the people of Gaza in 2014 contributed to the massive olive crop this year. According to farmer Mohamed Qishta, 47, this year’s abundant olive crop is far better than previous seasons thanks to last winter’s rain. He also pointed out that many of the trees damaged by the Israelis in 2014 have recovered sufficiently to produce olives. Although he accepted that this means slightly lower prices than normal, it is still “a good business to be in.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161011-gaza-has-bumper-olive-season/
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Is the UN about to subsidize an Israeli war crime?
EI 11 Oct by Ali Abunimah — The Palestinian Authority is trying to prevent United Nations agencies from effectively subsidizing Israel’s forcible transfer of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The Electronic Intifada has learned that UN officials are due to meet in coming days to allocate “emergency” funds to pay an Israeli lawyer who has been representing Bedouin communities in their years-long struggle against efforts to forcibly remove them from their land in the occupied West Bank. The lawyer had previously been paid by the Norwegian Refugee Council. But in a confidential memo seen by The Electronic Intifada, the Norwegian Refugee Council says it ended the funding after it learned that the lawyer was negotiating the communities’ forcible transfer, a violation of international law, with Israeli occupation authorities. The meeting of UN officials to approve the replacement funds was postponed last week after the Palestinian Authority issued a directive to international agencies and diplomats warning that “the facilitation of forcible transfer constitutes a war crime.” A copy of the PA directive obtained by The Electronic Intifada is below….
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/un-about-subsidize-israeli-war-crime
Israeli settlers set up makeshift homes on Palestinian lands in Hima
NORTHERN VALLEY (PIC) 12 Oct — Israeli settler gangs and occupation army on Tuesday set up mobile homes on Palestinian Bedouin lands in al-Hima Hamlet, in the northern Jordan Valley. A PIC news correspondent quoted the Palestinian citizen Muhammad Abu Zahw as stating that Israeli settlers residing in the illegal Sal’it settlement, built on Palestinian lands in al-Malih Valley, stormed Hima Hamlet under a tight military shield and set up makeshift homes. According to the locals, the move makes part of a preplanned Israeli scheme of ethnic cleansing. “In the past Israel forced us out of our homes under the pretext of military maneuvering. Today, they are planning to expand illegal settlement at the expense of our own lands,” added Abu Zahw. Abu Zahw also said that the Israeli occupation army threatened to forcibly deport the Palestinians from the area on claims that it belongs to the Israeli-occupied Area C. Local activist Aref Daraghma said the illegal Sal’it settlement was built at the expense of Palestinian land tracts in Hima Hamlet and that new structures are being set up by the Israeli occupation in the territory as part of its intent to dislocate the Palestinian natives and relocate settler gang
https://english.palinfo.com/news/2016/10/12/Israeli-settlers-set-up-makeshift-homes-on-Palestinian-lands-in-Hima
Palestinian refugees – Syria
Palestinians in Syria’s Khan al-Shih refugee camp demand end to bombardment
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Residents of the Palestinian refugee camp Khan al-Shih in war-torn Syria southwest of Damascus city held a protest Tuesday condemning the bombardment of the camp and threats of heavier siege conditions. A statement released on Facebook during the protest listed several demands from residents of the camp, including the end of all bombardments, securing safe passage for residents, providing bread for residents, reinstating UNRWA-run and social services for the besieged camp, while providing medicine to children, women, and the elderly in the camp, and resuming the provision of services from all foundations and institutions. The statement went on to urge the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and all Palestinian factions to “fulfill their responsibilities in maintaining and protecting the camp,” while protecting its “refugee residents until they return back to their original homes in Palestine.” Last week, two volunteer workers with the Jafra Foundation, a relief organization operating in Palestinian refugee camps across Syria, were killed during Russian airstrikes targeting the besieged camp. Two other civilians were injured in the airstrikes. The Jafra services team provides relief and assistance to 12,000 Palestinian refugees and around 800 internally displaced Syrian families seeking shelter inside the camp. The Jafra Foundation released a statement at the time, saying that the “deadly attacks were preceded by a full week of heavy bombardment on the Camp, with 50 plus barrel bombs raining down in and around the outskirts of Khan al-Shih between Tuesday and Sunday evening.”….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773525
Other news
Municipal councils who resigned to run in elections to return to their offices
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct – The Palestinian Authority (PA) decided on Tuesday that municipal councils that had resigned from office in order to run in local elections would return to their original offices until the recently postponed elections were resumed. In a statement released following the PA’s weekly cabinet meeting, PA spokesman Yousif al-Mahmoud said that all municipal councils would resume their work, following the controversial postponement of much-awaited local elections earlier this month. Several council members had resigned as required by law in order to run for the elections. However, when elections were postponed, applications for all candidates were cancelled and the government decided to keep all municipalities in office as caretaker councils until new elections are held. The statement added that the PA would task the minister of local governance with implementing the legal procedures related to the decision. Local elections in Palestine unraveled in recent weeks, with the Palestinian government postponing the elections for four months after coming under heavy criticism after the Palestinian Supreme Court announced that the elections would exclude the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773521
Al-Maliki: The PA is not targeting diaspora Palestinians critical of Abbas
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki denied on Monday claims that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had ever asked him or other Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to go after diaspora Palestinians who criticized Abbas on social media. In an interview with Ma‘an on Monday, al-Maliki said that he was “surprised with the false accusations which pass from mouth to mouth.” A number of posts on the Internet have accused Abbas of requesting that PA officials use their diplomatic positions to target diaspora Palestinians who take to social media to “defame” and “incite against” Abbas, al-Maliki said. “I entirely deny this rumor, which I think was created by a collusive mentality seeking to defame the president and the Palestinian leadership,” al-Maliki added, reiterating that he hadn’t heard Abbas make such statements. The accusations levied against Abbas mirrored recent efforts by Israeli authorities, with Israel most recently blocking the Facebook accounts of scores of Palestinian journalists following an agreement between right-wing Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked and Facebook to censor content that Israel deemed as “incitement.” Meanwhile, the PA has come under fire for cracking down on Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory criticizing the Palestinian government….
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773495
Pollster: No potential successor to Abbas has youth support
JPost 11 Oct by Adam Rasgon — If PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not run in the next Palestinian elections, no single leader is likely to garner a significant percentage of the youth vote. According to a poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, 13.4% of Palestinian youth said they would vote for Marwan Barghouti, a jailed Fatah leader; 9.5% for Ismail Haniyeh, the deputy chairman of the Hamas Politburo; 8.5% for Mohammad Dahlan, an exiled Fatah leader; and lesser percentages for other Palestinian leaders. The poll surveyed 1,000 Palestinian youths, ages 15 to 29, from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from September 28 to October 1. “None of the possible Palestinian leaders, including Marwan Barghouti, have a strong enough base of support, which would allow them to take over the Palestinian leadership,” Ghassan Khatib, a professor at Birzeit University who supervised the poll, told The Jerusalem Post, saying the results indicate there is a “political vacuum.” Many analysts, including former justice minister Yossi Beilin, have recently suggested that Barghouti is slowly emerging as the consensus candidate among Palestinians. The poll also found that an overwhelming majority do not want the Palestinian Authority to be dissolved, with 63.8% saying they want “to maintain and perpetuate” the PA, and only 27% saying they want to dissolve it. Khatib said the primary reason Palestinian youth want to maintain the PA is to avoid chaos. “Palestinian youth fear that security, economic and social chaos will come along with the collapse of the PA. Until an alternative to the PA is presented, I believe the public will continue to support the perpetuation of the stability of the PA over the chaos of its collapse,” he said … Nevertheless, just 10.7% of respondents called the political situation their greatest problem, while more than half, 54.5%, said unemployment is the biggest issue … Of those polled, 51.7% said that “being a good citizen,” namely working and studying, is the best way to promote political change, compared to just 5.2% who said lone-wolf attacks were the most effective.
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Pollster-No-potential-successor-to-Abbas-has-youth-support-469888
Arab MKs questioned by police over fraud case
JPost 10 Oct by Ben Lynfield, Eliyahu Kamisher — Police questioned Balad MKs Haneen Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka on Monday as part of an ongoing fraud investigation into the party’s campaign financing, a police statement said. In response, Balad leaders alleged that the questioning is the latest part of a politically motivated campaign to cripple the party, largely because of its advocacy of transforming Israel into a “state for all its citizens” rather than a Jewish state. The questioning comes after the arrests last month of at least 36 party leaders and activists, many of whom were taken into custody by large numbers of police between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Seven people remain under house arrest, according to Mtanes Shehadeh, the party’s secretary general. Police suspect Balad officials of fraud, forgery and money laundering involving millions of shekels and attempting to conceal the source of illegal funds, the statement said. Police allege that money was smuggled from Jordan to Israel to finance Balad party municipal and Knesset election campaigns in 2013. Before her questioning, Zoabi said at a demonstration outside the offices of the Lahav 443 investigations unit in Lod that the entire matter should have been handled by the state comptroller without arrests. There was, she said, “perhaps a breach of the party funding law that doesn’t require a police investigation and arrests and that could have sufficed with an investigation by the state comptroller. Had it been Jewish activists there wouldn’t be a police investigation, arrests and extension of arrests.”….
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Balad-MKs-expected-to-be-questioned-Monday-by-police-469833
Palestinian youths march on settlement in message to FIFA
AFP 11 Oct — Palestinian children marched on an Israeli settlement to play football there on Tuesday, in a protest ahead of a key FIFA meeting to discuss teams from Israeli settlements. Boys aged between 11 and 15 from nearby Bedouin communities tried to enter the Maale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank. They chanted “Infantino let us play,” in reference to the president of football’s governing body, Gianni Infantino. Soldiers, border police and other security forces stopped them shortly before the entrance to the settlement of around 40,000 people. Six Israeli teams are based in settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. Palestinian officials have called on FIFA to expel the clubs or force them to move inside Israel’s recognised borders. FIFA’s executive committee is expected to discuss the issue during meetings on Thursday and Friday.
Infantino told AFP last week the settlement clubs were a “priority” for him. The children at the protest came from communities that face demolitions and forced displacement as a result of settlement building, according to rights groups. Fadi Quran of the campaign group Avaaz accompanied the children and repeatedly asked soldiers to allow them through. “Will you let the children play on their land?” he asked. “People in the world are watching and this kind of segregation is not acceptable.” A member of the Israeli security forces replied: “They can play anywhere they want, but not in Maale Adumim”. Dima Yousef, a 21-year-old who plays for the Palestinian women’s team, called on FIFA to act on the issue of settlement clubs….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3833009/Palestinian-youths-march-settlement-message-FIFA.html
Juventus sign 10-year-old Palestinian football wonderkid
MEE 11 Oct — Norwegian-born Rashed al-Hajjawi joins Italian champions’ academy, prompting discussion of Israel-Palestine conflict on football websites — Italian football champions Juventus FC have signed a Palestinian-Norwegian 10-year-old player described as a wonderkid by fans. Rashed al-Hajjawi, a Norway-born Palestinian, joined the Italian champions’ academy after visiting the Juventus Stadium in Turin, Goal.com reported. Videos of the youngster showing his skills in youth-level games have garnered thousands of views online….
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/juventus-sign-10-year-old-palestinian-1023388771
Palestinian mothers teach life, not hate
+972 blog 11 Oct by Dalal Erakat — How am I supposed to explain to my six-year-old son the heinous acts he witnesses Israel perpetrating against his people? How do you suggest I explain the violence of your occupation to my kid, Mr. Netanyahu? — In his address to the UN General Assembly last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had the audacity to insinuate that Palestinian mothers teach their children to hate. As a proud Palestinian mother, I must remind him of the life his country — through half a century of occupation and exile — has given our children. As a Palestinian mother, I demand an apology from Mr. Netanyahu, and I call on Israeli mothers to join me. My oldest son, Sari, was born and raised in Canada until the age of six, at which point my husband and I decided he had the right to grow up in his own country and among his family. So we returned to our homeland. I always looked forward to the moment when I would get to see my parents on the weekends or watch my kids play with their cousins during recess at school. Our return to Palestine, however, was not what I had expected. I quickly had to try and find explanations so Sari could comprehend what was going on around him. Our arrival in June 2014 was untimely; it coincided with Mr. Netanyahu launching a military aggression against our people in Gaza. The images of the massive death and destruction were horrific. Sari was traumatized. I never tried to impose any political beliefs on my family. I have always been supportive of cultural exchanges, of openness, and I never tried to prevent my children from seeing the world around them. In Montreal, my son would celebrate Hanukkah with his Jewish friends; we never told him it wasn’t his to celebrate or that it belonged to a religion different than his own. His Jewish friends adored him and they were buddies. Why would any mother, myself included, destroy a childhood over something they didn’t choose in the first place? Like everyone else around him, Sari followed the outrageous Israeli onslaught on Gaza, only about 100 kilometers from where we live. Soon, my six-year-old told me he hates Israelis because they were destroying the lives of kids his age in Gaza — leaving them without parents, without schools, without playgrounds or any hope. I realized I had to start dealing with politics in my household….
http://972mag.com/palestinian-mothers-teach-life-not-hate/122570/
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