and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land & property theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Israel confiscates Palestinian lands to expand Efrat settlement
IMEMC 13 July — The Israeli Army decided to expropriate large areas of Palestinians land in the Bethlehem district in order to expand the Efrat illegal settlement, built on lands illegally annexed from residents of Al Khader District, south of Bethlehem. Al Khader Mayor, Ramzi Salah, stated that one of Al Khader farmers found a military order, placed by the soldiers on his land, informing him that Israel wants to annex large areas of farmlands under the pretext of “providing security” for the nearby Efrat illegal settlement. The military order did not specify how many dunams of land would be expropriated … Salah added that he, and other farmers from the town, headed to the city council in Al Khader to ask for legal advice. The lands Israel intends to confiscate belong to several families from Al Khader.
In 2009, Israel confiscated more than 1700 dunams of Palestinian lands to expand the northern part of the Efrat settlement.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61665
Eleven Palestinian youths detained in Silwan
IMEMC 13 July — Wafa has reported that eleven Palestinian teenagers have been arrested in the Palestinian district of Silwan in East Jerusalem. The teenagers, aged between 14-17, were taken from their homes by Israeli military on Wednesday during a raid of the area. The teenagers are accused of throwing stones at the nearby settlement of Beit Yonatan. A police spokesperson has stated the youth will be charged in the coming days.
Silwan is situated near the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been extensively targeted by the Israeli municipality for housing demolitions under the pretext of building an archaeological park known as “The City of David” in the area. A road running through Silwan to connect settlements to the city has also recently been announced. Housing demolition notices have been served to locals to make way for the planned 4 meter wide road.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61671
Israeli forces storm Aisawiye in eastern Jerusalem, injure civilians
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 13 July — Israeli occupation police stormed the Aisawiye village in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon and fired tear gas and stun grenades at inhabitants, local sources said. They said that youngsters in the village threw stones and empty bottles at the police forces smashing the window shield of one of the police cars. A number of citizens were injured in the confrontations as a result of the use of extensive teargas canisters and stun grenades.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israeli escalation expected to shake Jerusalem in coming months
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 13 July — An unprecedented wide-ranging Israeli escalation is expected to rock Jerusalem in the next few months and to peak in September. The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, a Palestinian NGO, said it has obtained information pointing to major demolitions to take place in the next few weeks. The JCSER added that a first “wave of demolitions” has already begun in Jerusalem’s suburbs, as several homes were demolished in Al-Khalayla district in Al-Jeib northwest of Jerusalem as well as in Sour Baher located south of the city. JCSER director Ziad al-Hemwari said in a statement that the Israeli courts have recently made decisions pertaining to demolitions and fines and also postponed decisions to destroy homes in the Al-Bustan district, signaling an upcoming demolition campaign focused in the Old City vicinity that would take place before September or after Eid-el-Fitr.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Misery and frustration going through Qalandia checkpoint / Jalal Abukhater
Salem-News 13 July – Middle East Teen Perspective – …It was all sudden that we went to Qalandia one morning and saw a whole new checkpoint being constructed; it didn’t take long to be completed. The new checkpoint came along with the Apartheid wall which was built and completed in al-Ram and Qalandia area around 2006, it was considered by the Israelis the borders of their state, and beyond that checkpoint lies the occupied West Bank even though the checkpoint was over 10km into West Bank territory.The Qalandia you see today might seem different or more comfortable than that which was over 6 years ago, but the humiliation and suffering went nowhere, only increased. The daily routine didn’t stop, but now even more people had to pass through Qalandia every morning to get to their work or business since all other paths were blocked by the Israel Apartheid Wall. Qalandia became a central checkpoint
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july132011/qalandia-checkpoint-ja.php
Water theft
Bethlehem’s taps run dry as West Bank Israelis continue to fill their swimming pools
National 13 July — BETHLEHEM // Water taps have run dry in this venerable West Bank city, fuelling public frustration and alarming Palestinian leaders. An acute shortage has panicked Bethlehem hoteliers into building massively expensive storage tanks, lest their customers flee to water-abundant Israeli resorts. Freelance profiteers have carved out a thriving black-market trade in water affordable only to a wealthy few. Meanwhile, Bethlehem’s residents, who no longer have enough water to bathe regularly, are sporting scruffy hair and soiled clothing. While nearby Israeli settlements lavish water on swimming pools and gardens, Mohammed Farraj, 16, barely scrounged up enough for a proper wash for his first day working at Bethlehem’s Stars & Bucks Café this week … Palestinian water officials have pointed to abundant statistics to show their inability to alter Israel’s domination over 90 per cent of West Bank water resources, where, for example, 9,000 Jewish settlers in the Jordan Valley consume a third of all water that Israel allocates to the West Bank’s 2.5 million Palestinians.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/bethlehems-taps-run-dry-as-west-bank-israelis-continue-to-fill-their-swimming-pool
EU provides assistance for Palestinians affected by water restrictions in OPT
BRUSSELS (WAFA) 13 July — The European Commission has allocated €4 million to address water scarcity which is affecting people in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). Rainfall in the area is 59% down from the rainy season average and the drought is testing the resilience of many Palestinian communities with water and fodder shortages. “The rainfall deficit by itself puts at risk the livelihoods of many Palestinians, for instance those who make a living by herding,’ said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. “But the drought is particularly painful when it hits people whose access to water is already very limited by the occupation in the West Bank and by the Gaza Strip blockade. While many wells and other water sources are drying out, the occupation prevents Palestinian herders and their livestock from accessing some water points which have not been as badly affected. The problem is particularly acute for the Bedouin communities in Area C which I visited in May,” the Commissioner explained. The EU funding will provide water for around 50,000 people and their livestock in the West Bank. Special attention will be paid to those most affected by the combination of drought and Israeli-imposed restrictions — in southern Hebron, the Northern Jordan valley, and other parts of Area C (which contains the Israeli settlements, buffer zones and much of the Jordan Valley). The Commission’s humanitarian aid will provide food assistance to 4,000 herders and their families — around 25,000 people. Herders’ livelihoods will be protected by the provision of fodder for their animals.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16701
Settlers
Jewish teenaged settlers attack Palestinian shepherds on Palestinian land
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 13 July — Three teenaged settlers from Havat Ma’on outpost near Tuwani, a village south of Hebron, Wednesday threw stones and shouted insults at two Palestinian shepherds, driving them off of Palestinian land, according to a press release. The press release said that Kamel Muhammeri and his 12 year-old nephew were herding Muhammeri’s flock on Meshaha hill when the settlers emerged from the trees surrounding the outpost; the shepherds immediately left the area with the sheep, but the youth pursued them and threw stones. Two international observers from Christian Peacemaker Teams witnessed the attack, said the press release … According to the press release, this attack follows a similar incident on June 25.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16698
Settlers attack a Palestinian car near Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 13 July — A Palestinian teenager sustained bruises after Israeli settlers pelted his car with stones near the site of the former Israeli settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated in 2005. One of the car’s passengers, Kamal Abu Awwad, said that he and some friends were driving from Nablus to Jenin when they saw a man, who they assumed to be a hitchhiker, waiting by the roadside near the evacuated Homesh settlement. As they approached he began shouting at them and five armed settlers emerged and began throwing stones at the car, Awwad told Ma‘an. Basim Mousa Al-Khatib was hit in the head with a stone. “If we had stopped, we would have been killed. We heard them loading their guns which they pointed at us. It was really a narrow escape,” Awwad said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=405046
Raids, Detentions
Witnesses recount deadly West Bank raid
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 July — A Palestinian student who died Wednesday in the occupied West Bank was shot before being arrested by Israeli soldiers, witnesses in his refugee camp said. Ibrahim Sarhan was already bleeding profusely as soldiers surrounded a house in Al-Farah camp, refusing to allow ambulances to approach the area, witnesses told Ma‘an. “Me and Ibrahim finished dawn prayers and were walking home. After I arrived Ibrahim continued but moments later, I heard gunshots and loud shouting,” said resident Abed Al-Aydi, 48. “He was saying, ‘Help me, help me,’ and managed to reach one of the neighbors who offered first aid,” Al-Aydi told Ma’an. “But the soldiers raided the home and arrested Ibrahim, leaving him bleeding to death.” Red Crescent official Adnan Al-Ghunaimi said “a long time” passed until medics were allowed access. “We received Ibrahim from the Israeli army a long time after he sustained wounds to the thigh. The shooting severed a major artery, causing massive bleeding,” the medical official told Ma’an … Palestinian officials said three people were arrested in the operation … It was not clear why the army intended to arrest Sarhan. His mother, Um Muhammad, says she was stunned when she heard the news from neighbors who flocked to her home to express condolences shortly after the student was pronounced dead. “Oh God, my son was not wanted [by Israel], he was never arrested even once,” she said. Sarhan was close to graduating from the faculty of engineering at An-Najah University, where he supported the Islamic bloc in student senate elections, the Hamas party announced Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404865
Israeli forces raid Beit Ummar, detaining 3
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 13 July — Israeli forces detained three Palestinian men on Wednesday from the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron after ransacking their homes. Popular committees spokesman Muhammad Awad said soldiers ransacked the home of Ali Ayyad Awad, beating him and his wife Amina before detaining their son Ahmad, 18. Ahmad suffers from thalassemia, a blood disorder, Ayad noted. The other two were identified as Muhammad Ali Abu Ayyash, 25, and Wasim Jamal Bahar, 16.
Also Wednesday, soldiers denied worshipers entry to the Ibrahimi Mosque, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404968
2 brothers detained overnight
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 July — Israeli forces detained two brothers from Bethlehem overnight, their parents said. Muhammad Abu Haniyeh, 45, and Abed, 43, were on their way to Bethlehem from Hebron when police arrested them. Police claimed the two brothers posed a threat to the illegal Etzion settlement. They were taken to the investigative center in Hebron’s Kiryat Arba settlement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404772
Israel cancels amnesty for 2 members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 July — The armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades, announced Wednesday that Israel has canceled an amnesty it granted two of its members from Bethlehem … The two affiliates had been granted amnesty from the Israeli authorities a year ago as part of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority which saw dozens of members pardoned. “The decision is an Israeli attempt to tense the situation and to get the region back to a cycle of violence,” Abu Mujahed added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404926
Army trucks tour Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 July — Three Israeli army vehicles briefly entered the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday afternoon, puzzling bystanders who rarely see soldiers operating in the daytime. The army occasionally raids Bethlehem and other cities in the West Bank late at night but according to previous agreements, the Palestinian Authority maintains security control of territory designated “Area A.” An army spokeswoman described the daytime visit as “routine operational activity.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=405023
Gaza
Woman moderately injured in Gaza airstrike
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 July — A Palestinian woman was moderately injured in an Israeli airstrike early Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, hours after the Israeli army said a projectile attack caused property damage. The woman was taken to the nearby Shifa hospital, medics said. Israel’s air force fired on a car-repair workshop on Yaffa Street in northeast Gaza City as well as two targets in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said its aircraft “targeted two weapons manufacturing sites in the northern Gaza Strip.” … No groups in Gaza claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which came after months of relative quiet in the Negev, with just two rockets fired into Israel from the coastal territory in the past two months.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404746
Video: CPS Gaza crew attacked by Israeli warship
CPSG 13 July — Israeli naval forces attacked the Civil Peace Service Gaza monitoring boat with water cannons earlier today. Civil Peace Service Gaza is an international third party non-violent initiative to monitor potential human rights violations in Gazan territorial waters. The initial attack happened at 12.05pm local time. There were four people aboard the Oliva boat at the time, two CPS Gaza crew members (from the UK and Sweden), the captain and a journalist. British human rights worker Ruqaya Al-Samarrai stated: “We were fewer than two miles away from the Gaza coast when they fired at us. We saw them firing water at some fishing boats so we headed to the area. When we got close, the warships left the fishing boats, and turned on us. They attacked us for about ten minutes, following us as we tried to head to shore and eventually lagged when we reached about one mile off the Gaza coast.” A fishing boat was also fired at and damaged with live rounds.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/07/19447/
Israeli minister asks his government to assassinate Hamas leaders
NAZARETH (PIC) 13 July — Israeli minister of infrastructure Uzi Landau has urged his government to reactivate the policy of “targeted killing” and assassination of Hamas leaders. He said in a press statement on Wednesday that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu should adopt a root change in its policy in dealing with the Gaza Strip and should adopt the policy of liquidating Hamas leaders. Landau said that Israel should make it clear to Hamas leaders mainly that they would personally pay the price for the resumption of rocket firing at Israeli targets from the Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Hamas deny economic crisis in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 July — The Hamas government in Gaza confirmed Wednesday that it is not suffering from a financial crisis despite the current economic problems affecting the Ramallah based leadership. The finance minister Aladdin Al-Rafati told Ma‘an that the government would continue to pay employee salaries every month as usual.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404915
In photos: Iranian plastic arts exhibition in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 July– The Iranian artists weren’t able to make it to Gaza City to attend the first plastic arts exhibition, but their work carried the message. Their portraits represent Iranian support to the Palestinian and Lebanese people and their resistance against oppression …the art works were received by email and were printed in Gaza. He highlighted that they could not be received by ordinary mail because there is no direct mail service between Iran and the Gaza Strip. The Iranians tried to send the original portraits through solidarity activists, but it wasn’t possible.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=405015
Jazz concert in Gaza
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 July — A German jazz orchestra is due to perform in the Gaza Strip on July 14-15, becoming the first ever jazz ensemble to play in the coastal enclave. The Goethe-Institut, in cooperation with Deutsche Welle and the Heinrich Boll Foundation, will host the concert as part of a ‘Gender Kicks’ program, a statement said Wednesday.
The all female jazz orchestra will perform in Gaza and Birzeit after having toured the Middle East, playing to audiences in Beirut, Amman, and Erbil, Iraq earlier this week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404907
Fly-in / Flytilla
Out of hundreds, two ‘air flotilla’ activists allowed to stay / Joseph Dana
972mag 13 July — According to various news reports, two ‘air flotilla’ activists who arrived in Israel last Friday have been allowed to remain in Israel (and travel to the West Bank freely) on the condition that they ‘refrain from disrupting the peace.’ The activists were part of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ campaign which sent hundreds of European tourists to Israel last week with the intention to freely and openly visit the West Bank. The two activists, former Australian Green MP Sylvia Hale and New Zealand national Vivienne Porzsolt, were brought before an Israeli district court in Petach Tikva this morning. There are conflicting reports as to where these woman were detained … Regardless of where they were detained, the ruling that they are allowed to remain in Israel after openly stating their intention to travel to the West Bank sets a new legal precedent for traveling to the occupied Palestinian territories.
http://972mag.com/two-air-flotilla-allowed-to-remain-in-israel/
Flotilla
French ship carries Freedom Flotilla’s ‘dignity’ to Gaza / Begoña Astigarraga
ATHENS (IPS) 12 July — The French vessel Dignité-Al Karama is the only boat from the Freedom Flotilla II actually sailing for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade imposed in 2006. At the same time, six Spanish members of the humanitarian aid mission went on hunger strike in the Greek capital. … From on board the Dignité, French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nicole Kiil-Nielsen told IPS that after having been stopped last week in Ormos Kouremenos, in Crete, they were taken to Sitia by the Greek coast guard and eventually allowed to sail from there. “We had to stop in Crete to refuel, as we did not have enough fuel to reach Gaza,” Kiil-Nielsen said. “Now, the Dignité is free and we are organising another group of passengers, probably international, to go on to Gaza.” … The crew of the Canadian vessel Tahrir has decided to give up plans to sail to Gaza for the moment; the U.S. ship Audacity of Hope is still in custody in Athens; and the other French boat, the Louise Michel, the Italian vessel Stefano Chiarini, the Freedom for All, the Methimus II and the Gernika are regrouping, ready to form a new flotilla, columnist Eric Verlo wrote in his blog at www.notmytribe.com.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56455
Boycott law
In major shift, Peace Now calls for boycott of settlement goods
Mondoweiss 13 July — Bravo to Peace Now. Understanding the crisis that the new anti-democratic law in Israel represents, it has called on everyone to boycott settlement products. It has at last come out for boycott, of a limited nature.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/in-major-shift-peace-now-calls-for-boycott-of-settlement-goods.html
Everything you never wanted to know about Israel’s boycott law / Noam Sheizaf
972mag 13 July — A reader’s guide to democracy’s dark hour — Basically, the anti-boycott law allows all those who feel they have been harmed by a boycott, whether against Israel or an Israeli institution or territory (i.e. the settlements in the West Bank) to sue the person or organization who publicly called for it, for compensation. This definition is very broad — even a simple call not to visit a place falls under it — and most important, the prosecutor plaintiff doesn’t even have to prove damages. … What about the Israeli public? Does it support this law? Right now, yes. A poll found 52 percent of the public supporting the anti-boycott law, while only 31 opposes it.
http://972mag.com/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-israels-anti-boycott-law/
Comparative analysis of US boycott-banning legislation and the Israeli boycott bill
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) July 2011
http://www.acri.org.il/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Comparative-US-Israel-boycott-ENG.pdf
Israel’s boycott law: the quiet sound of going fascist / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 12 July — This is the one. Don’t let what we like to call the relative calm here, fool you. When the Knesset passed the boycott law Monday night, it changed the history of the state of Israel … Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak and 10 other cabinet ministers already know this. That’s why they failed to show up for the vote. They stayed away because they know that this is the stain that may prove indelible. The Boycott Law is the litmus test for Israeli democracy, the threshold test for Israeli fascism. It’s a test of moderates everywhere who care about the future of this place.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/israel-s-boycott-law-the-quiet-sound-of-going-fascist-1.372881
AG: Boycott law ‘borderline’ defensible
Ynet 13 July — Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is set to defend the newly-instated Boycott Law before the High Court of Justice, despite his stated opinion that the law is “borderline” defensible. Meanwhile members of the Coalition who voted in favor of the law expressed outrage at the fact that it would be subject to scrutiny by the court, claiming the institution was overstepping its authority.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094547,00.html
Knesset to veto Supreme Court judges?
Ynet 13 July — Two Likud Knesset members are expected to present a new bill which is sure to strain the already tense relations between the House and the legal system further: They would like to give the Knesset veto power over Supreme Court nominations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094834,00.html
Netanyahu: I approved the Boycott Law
Ynet 13 July — PM issues statement saying he opposes justice veto bill after taking criticism from opposition chairwoman. Earlier, during heated Knesset debate Netanyahu stressed he had approved Boycott Law prior to vote
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4095098,00.html
Political / Diplomatic / International news
Hamas: Fayyad unacceptable as PM
IMEMC 13 July — Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, speaking to the Palestinian daily, al Falesteen, has reiterated the party position that Hamas will not support Salam Fayyed continuing in his current position as Prime Minister in an interim unity government.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61670
Palestinians call on US to support UN bid
RAMALLAH (AFP) 13 July — The Palestinians have called on the United States to reverse course and support their United Nations membership bid, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday … “In the aftermath of the Quartet meeting, yesterday we urged the United States administration to revisit, reassess, re-evaluate its position vis-à-vis our attempt to gain Palestine admittance to the UN,” he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=405018
PA: US responsible for Israeli policy
Reuters 13 July — PLO’s Executive Committee says DC answerable for Jerusalem’s ‘racist policies’; urges international pressure on Israel to change course
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094641,00.html
PA: Russia prevented statement on Jewish state recognition
Ynet 13 July — Palestinian spokesman Nabil Sha‘ath credited Moscow Wednesday with silencing a statement by the Mideast Quartet after its meeting earlier this week. “Russia has fulfilled an important role in preventing the Quartet from publishing a statement calling on the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in return for the ratification of the 1967 borders as a basis for negotiations, and for the prevention of a UN appeal,” Sha‘ath said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4095118,00.html
Arab League convenes to discuss UN bid, peace process
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — Arab League officials will convene in Doha, Qatar on Thursday to discuss the next steps before September, the Palestinian president’s spokesman said. Nabil Abu Rdeina said Wednesday that the body’s peace process follow-up committee would discuss supporting the Palestinian bid for recognition of an independent state at the UN General Assembly. Future challenges in light of the impasse the peace process has reached and the Middle East Quartet’s failure to relaunch negotiations will also be on the meeting’s agenda, Abu Rdeina said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=405009
In Israel, quiet holds 5 years after Lebanon war
JERUSALEM (AFP) 13 July — The fifth anniversary of Israel’s war in Lebanon passed largely unmarked on Tuesday, with no official events planned and the border between the neighbors mostly quiet. The conflict that began on July 12, 2006, ending 34 days later with the deaths of 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, has faded into the background in Israeli public life.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404821
Other news
Palestinians won’t learn Israeli lessons / Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
EAST JERUSALEM (IPS) 12 July — Widespread strikes across Palestinian civil society could be in store for East Jerusalem at the start of the next school year, as the municipality moves ahead with its current plan to implement an Israeli curriculum in Palestinian schools. “I expect that the beginning of the new school year will not be a normal one. There will be lots of problems. There will be lots of demands, strikes,” Samir Jibril, director of the East Jerusalem Education Bureau told IPS. “All (the Palestinian) institutions are going to stand hand-in-hand against this implementation. Even civil society is demanding to stop this plan by the Israelis.”
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56442
After much hesitation, Wust El Balad performs in Ramallah
Daily News Egypt 12 July — CAIRO: “Would they call us traitors? Would the government spy on us upon our return? Would the local press try to manipulate our actions to tarnish our image?” These were the types of questions the popular band Wust El Balad and their manager Rami Heikal wrestled with when deciding whether to travel to Ramallah and perform … While people around the world wouldn’t necessarily equate travelling to Ramallah as an act of complicity with the Israeli government, many Egyptians have been brought up believing this very sentiment, Heikal explained to Daily News Egypt. “The old regime didn’t want Egyptians to know much about Palestine. They wanted us to worry about football, movies, music and entertainment. Basically, they wanted to keep us away from the Palestinian problem, to scare us from going there,” he said, explaining that he really didn’t know who the Palestinians that lived in Ramallah actually were.
http://thedailynewsegypt.com/people/after-much-hesitation-wust-el-balad-performs-in-ramallah.html
Analysis / Opinion
Israel’s boycott ban is down to siege mentality / Carlo Strenger
Guardian 12 July –The law, as Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz from the leftist Meretz party said, is outrageous, shameful and an embarrassment to Israel’s democracy. Despite the outrage, I will try to analyse the question: what stands behind this frenzy of attempts to shut down criticism? The answer, I believe, is simpler than many assume: it is fear, stupidity and confusion. Existential fear, confusion and ideology are behind this latest attempt by the Knesset to curb criticism and free speech
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/12/israel-boycott-ban
Zionists have a responsibility to join the upcoming Jewish-Arab march
Haaretz 12 July — All of us, Israel’s Jewish citizens, bear some responsibility for the state’s support for the settlers, especially if we are silent.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/zionists-have-a-responsibilty-to-join-the-upcoming-jewish-arab-march-1.372755
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