and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
State sues Bedouins for NIS 1.8M
Ynet 26 July — The state filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the residents of the Bedouin village Al-Arakib, claiming that razing the illegal outpost multiple times has cost it NIS 1,790,000 ($527,050). The lawsuit comes exactly one year after a major demolition operation destroyed the town. The residents have been marking the anniversary with protests and renewed construction.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4100405,00.html
Israel extends family unification ban for a year
IMEMC 26 July — The Israeli Knesset approved a request by the government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to extend the ban on family reunification for an additional year prohibiting granting Israeli citizenship, or even residency, to Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis or Syrians married to Israeli citizens … The law does not apply to family reunification for Israeli Jews married to foreign spouses, and Israeli Arabs married to citizens of foreign countries, excluding Arab states.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61742
Israeli Supreme Court convenes without issuing verdict on Jerusalem politicians
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 July — The latest hearing on the banishment of three Jerusalem politicians has ended in the Israeli Supreme Court without a ruling being made. The court has yet to set a date for the ruling, but one is expected to be issued in a few months due to legal complications enveloping the case, sources from the defense have told the PIC. The Israeli Public Prosecutor will follow through in defending the interior ministry’s revocation of the men’s right to residency in Jerusalem under an Israeli allegiance law, the source, Att. Fadi al-Qawasimi, said. Qawasimi added the body defending the former PA minister and two Palestinian legislators held that the law does not allow for revoking residency over participation in Israel-sanctioned elections held in 2006. They said it only applies to those who have left the city and resided elsewhere for more than three years.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Community organizer to PNN: New tunnel under Silwan to the Western Wall
Jerusalem – PNN Exclusive/Maysa Abu Ghazaleh – 26 July — On Tuesday, Fakhri Abu Diyab from the committee to defend the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem told PNN that the Jerusalem municipality had dug a new tunnel under Silwan all the way up to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Western Wall. In a phone call with PNN Diyab said this is the seventh tunnel to be dug in the village. The tunnel connects Silwan water wells all the way up towards the north and goes under the old road to Al-Aqsa mosque, he said. The tunnel connects an Israeli settlement in Silwan to the Western Wall, said Diyab. The tunnel will be opened within a month, said Diyab, and will connect all the past tunnels together. He warned that residents’ houses have suffered damage due to digging under their foundation.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10511&Itemid=56
Government move would cement rightist group’s control of Jerusalem national park
Haaretz 27 July — Elad, which manages the City of David national park, is active in ‘Judaization’ of East Jerusalem — The government and a group of MKs led by Yisrael Hasson (Kadima) this week renewed the process to approve an amendment to the National Parks Law that would permit park lands to be transferred to private corporations. The amendment is intended to, among other things, authorize the activities of the Elad association which manages the City of David (Walls Around Jerusalem) national park. Leftist groups claim that control of the park, which overlooks a large part of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, will allow Elad to deepen its activities promoting the “Judaization” of the area. Also, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense vehemently attacked the move, saying it endangers public assets.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/government-move-would-cement-rightist-group-s-control-of-jerusalem-national-park-1.375546
Children march through Silwan for Summer Games closing ceremony
[many very nice photos] Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 27 July — The closing ceremony of the Madaa Creative Center “Summer Games” event yesterday saw a massive march through Silwan under the banner of “I Love You Silwan”. The Games, in their fifth consecutive year, feature a wide range of activities for local children and were attended by 388 children in 2011. The closing ceremony culminated in a march, with children calling for the right to live in dignity alongside all other youth, and for freedom from Israeli persecution and kidnapping. Children released balloons over Silwan inscribed with their hopes and aspirations
http://silwanic.net/?p=18655
Israel plows farms paving way for apartheid wall extension in Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 26 July — Israeli bulldozers began early Tuesday morning plowing through ”vast” Palestinian farmlands and uprooting olive trees to pave the way for an extension of the apartheid wall in Al-Walaja village in western Bethlehem province Tensions envelop the village as Israeli soldiers have suppressed locals, reporters, and dozens of outside supporters who emerged to help stop the operation, locals said. Protests managed to foil the operation for a few hours until heavy back-up arrived at the scene. Locals said over sixty olive and pine trees were torn down in the excavations.
Elsewhere, an Israeli planning committee has notified locals in the Malih area of northern Jordan Valley that it would tear down dozens of local structures, including shacks and nomadic tents. The structures were built allegedly without permits on what the Israeli army has declared a military zone. The committee officials handed out a total of 35 notices, a local has told our correspondent.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
A tractor and water tank confiscated in Ras Al-Awja
Jordan Valley Solidarity 26 July — A tractor and water tanker belonging to the Tresh family was confiscated in the Bedouin community of Ras Al Auja last night. At around at around 10 PM a group of soldiers came to the home of Talib Dahud Tresh and confiscated his family’s tractor and only water tanker. The family relies on this tanker as the only source of water for their livestock, as well as for drinking water and other basic household needs. Soldiers claimed that the family was stealing water from a tap belonging to Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. In order to retrieve the tractor and tank the family was informed that they would have to pay 5,000 shekels.
Al Auja was once an oasis, famous for its water rich spring. People would come to Al Auja from all over to swim, fish and sit among the banana groves that once grew there. In 1972 Mekorot began digging two deep water wells in Al Auja. These wells lowered the water table, drying out the spring. Today the area is a desert, crossed with dried up canals that see water one to two weeks ever year during the rainy season.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=315
Wadi Fukin, a valley of hope and despair
[with 2.20 min. video] PalNote 26 July — Filmmaker Joshka Wessels probes Israeli-Palestinian efforts at environmental cooperation to save threatened West Bank village — Joshka Wessels — Fahmi Manasra walks to the spring he remembers from his childhood. He was a young boy when he moved from Dheisheh refugee camp to the paradise of Wadi Fukin some 30 years ago. At the time, he felt like he was in heaven. He had wished to share this same feeling with his children but the spring is empty. Today, the spring and its reservoir are completely dried up. Nothing is left of the spring. Fahmi’s paradise is lost. The cause? Construction of an expanding illegal Israeli settlement that is taking up land, drying up the springs and contaminating the soil.
http://palestinenote.com/blogs/topnews/archive/2011/07/26/wadi-fukin-a-valley-of-hope-and-despair.aspx
Video: They destroy, we rebuild
justghassan on Jul 26, 2011 Spring Summer 2011 HLT built a house for the Atallah family. The film will include the dedication ceremony of the house [in Al-Walaja], the demolition of the home, clips on the family in their interim apartment in the refugee camp, the construction of the new home, the film will close with the words of Sami Awad and the family’s reaction over their new home.
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/07/they-destroy-we-rebuild.html
UNRWA and UNHCR: from hopelessness to hope
[They’ve got the answer! Send the Palestinians to Chile!] JPost 27 July — …Chile is the first nation to welcome Palestinian refugees and rehabilitate them through a program administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Under this program, Palestinians in Chile received refugee status, with all the relevant rights and privileges. UNHCR helps Palestinians leave the UNRWA refugee camps and settle in better conditions.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=231284
High Court may determine Migron’s fate within days
JPost 27 July — The High Court of Justice is expected to issue a ruling, possibly within days, on whether the West Bank outpost of Migron should be forcibly evacuated or allowed to voluntarily relocate to the nearby settlement of Geva Binyamin. “It is of great importance that [Migron] not be evacuated by force,” state attorney Osnat Mandel told the court during a Tuesday hearing on the matter … Although the Migron residents themselves have yet to agree to relocate, the state has moved ahead with the Geva Binyamin plan.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=231141&R=R2
Settlers / Settlements
Report: Settlers attack 3 Palestinian women
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) — Armed Israeli settlers attacked three Palestinian women driving near Ramallah on Monday evening, the Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reported Tuesday. The women were driving to their home in Beit Rima, south of Ramallah, when residents of the illegal Hallamish settlement attacked the vehicle, eyewitness Awad Mashal told Wafa. The settlers smashed a window of the car and aimed a gun at the women, the witness said. Renad Mashal, 19, has been unable to speak since the incident and two other passengers, aged 22 and 24, were injured by broken glass, the report said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408682
Settlers torch Palestinian farmlands near Nablus
IMEMC 26 July — A group of extremist Israeli settlers torched, on Monday, Palestinian farmlands that belong to the residents of Sorra village, west of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The attack took place after Israeli soldiers fired gas bombs and concussion grenades at Israeli peace activists who arrived at the scene in an attempt to prevent a group of extremist settlers from uprooting Palestinian farmlands.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61740
Tens injured in settlers’ attack on village
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 July — Jewish settlers attacked the village of Nabi Saleh on Monday night under protection of the Israeli occupation forces and engaged in confrontations with young men. Local sources said that settlers roamed the main street between the village and the settlement of Halmish and threw stones and bottles on Arab cars passing by causing damage to a number of them. The sources noted that the IOF soldiers saw the attacks and did nothing to stop them. The confrontations that continued till a late hour on Monday night caused tens of injuries among the inhabitants of the village mostly women after their homes were the target of teargas attacks, the sources said, noting that a 75-year-old woman was among the casualties.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israeli minister admits state subsidizes public transportation for settlers
Haaretz 26 July — As Israelis protest high cost of living, Transportation Minister admits settlers enjoy reduced bus fares to encourage use of armored buses … According to Galon, a bus ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv (60 kilometer distance) costs approximately 20 NIS, while an equidistant ride from Jerusalem to the settlement of Talmon costs around 8.6 NIS. Galon stated that the current calm in the territories does not justify the subsidizing of bus tickets, and that many of the bus companies do not even use even use armored vehicles.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-minister-admits-state-subsidizes-public-transportation-for-settlers-1.375420
Likud MK calls for more settlements in the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Negev
IMEMC 26 July — Tzipi Hotovely, Israeli member of Knesset of the Likud party headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called on the Israeli government to escalate the construction and expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Negev. Her statements came during a meeting for the Likud party on Monday evening … Hotovely claimed that Israel needs to construct more settlements in order to “resolve the current housing crisis in Israel.” … Hotovely stated that “the Israeli government can resolve the housing crisis by encouraging the Israelis to live in border areas in Israel in addition to the West Bank and Jerusalem.” The Likud MK further stated that Israel can resolve the issue “of Bedouins occupying the land of Israel” in the south, by establishing “legal towns and villages,” and by constructing projects that enables the Israelis to find affordable housing.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61741
Children
VIDEO: Undercover forces captured on film kidnapping a Palestinian child in Jerusalem
IMEMC 27 July — The Al Aqsa Foundation in Jerusalem published a video showing members of the undercover forces of the Israeli military attacking Palestinian children as they played in Ras Al Amoud Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, and forcing one of them into their vehicle before driving away. The foundation said that the undercover forces kidnapped the child, Islam Jaber, 13, and detained him in Ras Al Amoud illegal settlement, in East Jerusalem, before taking him into a graveyard where they beat him repeatedly while he was cuffed and blindfolded inflicting concussions and bruises to different parts of his body. The soldiers drove their vehicle against the children as they played football on a minor road in Ras Al Amoud, before jumping out of their car and violently grabbing Jaber.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61752
OPT: Growing number of children with anxiety disorders
RAMALLAH (IRIN) 26 July – The number of children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders including depression has increased in the occupied Palestinian territory where conflict continues with Israel, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Palestinian NGOs specializing in mental health. Violations against Palestinian children related to the armed conflict between Israelis and Palestinians have been documented by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jerusalem, including patterns of killing and injuries, arrest and detention, ill-treatment and torture, displacement and denial of access to health and education services. Children are doubly affected, sometimes by multiple traumatic events and by the effects of the trauma on their parents and care-givers. MSF recently increased its number of clinics and staff training in developmental psychology to meet the growing needs of Palestinian children. Fifty-four percent of mental health patients at MSF clinics in the Gaza Strip were under 12 in 2010, it said. Over a third of the cases MSF treats in Gaza and over half in Nablus in the West Bank are severe, and affect the functioning of a person in daily life. “More than half of consultations in Gaza and in Nablus are for children under 18 years old, so far in 2011,” said Hélène Thomas, psychological coordinator at MSF-France in Jerusalem. “Children and adolescents have particular symptoms of psychological distress, like bedwetting, nightmares, learning difficulties [reading and speech], concentration and memory problems and therefore academic failure, or even aggressive behaviour,” said Thomas.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93334
Palestinian children endure systematic abuse from Israeli military / Hugh Naylor
National 27 July — BEIT UMMAR, WEST BANK // Military justice came to Sami on March 8 when two-dozen Israeli commandos raided his home shortly after midnight. The 15-year-old Palestinian’s family watched as soldiers bound his hands, slipped over a blindfold and arrested him without offering an explanation. Sami recounted in an interview how he was forced to walk three kilometres beyond his village, Beit Ummar, to a nearby Jewish settlement. There, he said soldiers kicked him so hard that they bruised his ribs. At one point, he was seated on the floor ground between two sofas, which soldiers used as a vice to squeeze his rail-thin body. “I tried to firm my body up to stop it. I couldn’t breathe,” said Sami, whose full name has been withheld at his family’s request. He said he was pressured to confess to throwing stones at settlers, for which he recently finished serving four months in Israeli prisons.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/palestinian-children-endure-systematic-abuse-from-israels-military-courts-say-reports?pageCount=0
Israeli forces
VIDEO: Night incursions by soldiers, fires set by settlers in Nabi Saleh
Uploaded by sabarnapress on Jul 27, 2011. Soldiers in Nabi Saleh making the night terrifying for Palestinians. Joseph Dana tweet: Notice the massive fires set by settlers in Halamish. Apparently, part of their “loving the land” policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5rpq5rQydQ&feature=youtu.be
Witnesses: Army injures Palestinian in night raid
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 July — Israeli forces injured a 19-year-old during a raid on a village near Ramallah overnight Monday, witnesses said. Troops entered Deir Abu Mash‘al at around 2 a.m. and stormed several homes, locals said, adding that Palestinian youth threw empty bottles at the forces in protest. Villagers said soldiers fired live ammunition and injured Ahmad Kamal in his knee. Recently there has been an increase in army raids northwest of Ramallah, with nightly incursions reported in some villages.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408633
IOF nabs two men including minor in continued West Bank arrest sweep
WEST BANK (PIC) 26 July — Israeli occupation forces arrested Tuesday morning at least two men in a continued arrest sweep targeting Palestinians in the West Bank. Among those arrested was a minor aged 17 in Housan village west of Bethlehem. Earlier he received a phone call from Israeli intelligence where he was ordered to surrender himself to headquarters in Etzion settlement south of Bethlehem.
The other arrest took place in Aboud village in Ramallah province after a house raid.
More IOF troops invaded another home in Jannatah east of Bethlehem and carried out an intense search of its contents.
Elsewhere, IOF military units patrolled at least four towns in Al-Khalil province in the southern West Bank. Sources said citizens were stopped and searched for identification in the streets and residential neighborhoods.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
Israeli soldiers behind latest fire in Palestinian trees
IMEMC 27 July — Israeli soldiers, stationed along the Annexation Wall surrounding Qotna/Qatana village, near Jerusalem, were behind the latest fire that consumed Palestinian trees in Khallit Al Rabee’ area, in Qotna. Ashraf Shamasna, head of the Public Relations Office at the village council, stated that the soldiers hurled several gas bombs at a local home close to an orchard, and that the gas bombs led to fires around the home, consuming several citrus trees. As some women and children, who were at home when the attack took place, tried to extinguish the fire, Israeli troops pointed their guns at them and hurled another gas bomb, forcing them away. Shamasna stated that this is the fourth week in a row that the soldiers cause fires in the area and that the latest attack against ancient Roman Olive trees that were set ablaze in Ein Namous area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61758
Jenin’s Freedom Theater raided by the Israeli army / Joseph Dana
972mag 27 July — Overnight, roughly 50 Israeli Special Forces troops raided the Jenin Freedom Theatre in the Jenin Refugee Camp in the Northern West Bank according to members of the theater. The Freedom Theater is often associated with slain Palestinian-Jewish actor Juliano Mer Khamis and his vision of cultural resistance to Israeli occupation. Mer Khamis was shot by unknown gunman outside of the theatre last spring. According to the press release of the Freedom Theater regarding the raid:
http://972mag.com/jenins-freedom-theater-raided-by-the-israeli-army-2/
IDF arrests two employees of Freedom Theater in Jenin / Amira Hass & AP
Haaretz 27 July –It is not known if the arrests were linked the April murder of Israeli-Palestinian actor Juliano Mer-Khamis … The arrested men were Adnan Naghnaghiye, the theater’s director, and Bilal Saadi, a member of the theater’s board …The arrest operation left broken windows in one of the theater’s two adjacent buildings. According to theater officials, around 50 IDF soldiers arrived at the theater around 3:30 a.m. Naghnaghiye lived at the theater and was arrested there. Saadi was arrested around the same time at his home in the Jenin refugee camp. Theater officials were shocked by the manner of the arrests. They said that the IDF could have sent summons to the arrestees and called them in for questioning as is routinely done through coordination mechanisms with the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-arrests-two-employees-of-freedom-theater-in-jenin-1.375562
For Israeli army, Palestinians having guests is a crime – Part 1
[with Nabi Saleh video from 22 July[ TOD 25 July — We received this account from the same protest our anonymous source A., an international activist living in Palestine … I followed Nour, who slipped through between the soldiers trying to stop her and down to the house where even more soldiers were massing. A soldier stopped me. I said “my things are there,” “it’s my friend’s house,” etc., emphasizing the banality of the act they were trying to prevent — me going to my friend’s house. He turned his back to me, with another soldier shielding him as if there were sharing some classified secret, and suddenly threw a stun grenade at me, a young woman standing in an almost empty square, surrounded by soldiers. It was rather ridiculous and yet quite typical and therefore predictable, I could react in time and the thing went off somewhere in front of me. We were laughing at the soldiers and joking about this ‘anti-terror’ maneuver when Nour came running back, and threw herself into my arms and crying “They arrested Amir!”
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2011/07/for-israeli-army-palestinians-having-guests-is-a-crime-pt-1/
For Israeli army, Palestinians having guests is a crime – Part 2
TOD 26 July — … In Usaid’s case, it is very clear that his arrest was random, and I am thinking he was arrested because of us, because he was hiding us. To keep myself busy, I guess, I write angry text messages to friends while I’m sitting with his now very distressed parents — who’ve seen two of their sons and a nephew arrested from their homes in the last few hours and are still waiting for their other son to get out of prison and for his jaw to heal — and I’m feeling the familiar mix of disbelief, powerlessness, guilt, worry, sadness, and whoknowswhatelse. We don’t speak.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2011/07/for-israeli-army-palestinians-having-guests-is-a-crime-pt-2/
Gaza
IOF troops advance in southern Gaza, bulldoze land
KHAN YOUNIS (PIC) 26 July — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in army tanks and bulldozers advanced into southern Gaza Strip areas to the east of Khan Younis on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said. They said that six bulldozers and three tanks advanced east of Qarara amidst random firing and bulldozed cultivated fields. Other units advanced into Farahin area and leveled cultivated land lots, sources said, adding that the IOF soldiers routinely raid those areas.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI
Crossing authority sets new Rafah schedule
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — Rafah crossing director Ayyoub Abu Shaar says movement will be scheduled only for the Hajj Monday, following a two-day suspension marking state holidays. The crossing has hardly improved since Egypt’s interim government claimed to open the country’s sole land border with the Gaza Strip following the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408189
Egypt uprising displeases Gazans
GAZA CITY (OnIslam & newsagencies) 27 July – Six months after the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak, many Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip feel that Egypt’s revolution has not yet helped end their suffering. “Nothing in the Egyptian treatment of Gaza Strip residents has changed,” wrote Palestinian columnist Mustafa Al-Lidawi, according to Reuters. He said many Gazans who transit Egypt for third countries are subject to especially heavy scrutiny. “They are still being held in a narrow dark and dirty basement at Cairo International Airport that lacks the minimal conditions for the detention for humans,” said Lidawi, decrying Egypt’s “military mentality.”
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/middle-east/453233-egypt-uprising-displeases-gazans.html
Please, close Rafah Crossing / Abu Yazan
[with video] Gaza Youth Breaks Out 25 July — …Let me sequence what you need to do if you want to travel from Gaza to anywhere else: 1- You have to go the registration office in Gaza at least 3 months before the date you wish to travel on. For example, if you want to travel on October, you have to register on July. Why? Because the Great Pharaohs allow only 300 people to leave daily and the number of people wishing to leave for several reasons is huge, so there is no empty place for you before October.
2- After waiting for 3 months, you go to Rafah gate. There, you would be really really really really really really lucky if you made it in your first try; people usually go 3 or 4 days in a row, hoping to get in and not everyone crosses in the end as thousands are waiting for their turn.
3- If you made it and crossed the gate, you’ll have to wait in the Palestinian hall for at least 2 hours until you get your passport stamped.
4- Then you get in the bus and wait for some more.
5- Then you cross to the Egyptian hall and wait for them to call your name and stamp your passport. But guess what? They don’t stamp all the passports they receive. Almost 50 out of every 300 people will be returned to Gaza; depends on the mood of the person stamping the passport.
http://gazaybo.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/please-close-rafah-crossing/
Egypt allows 30 tons of medical aid into Gaza
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) — Egyptian authorities allowed 30 tons of medical aid into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Egyptian Red Crescent director Jaber Al-Arabi said. The aid was donated by the Egyptian doctors’ syndicate …
Meanwhile, four tons of British medical aid remains stuck at the crossing for the fourth day. Al-Arabi said Egyptian officials had authorized the delivery of the aid, but not the four vehicles transporting the goods.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408625
As Ramadan approaches, 63 prisoners are released in Gaza
MEMO 26 July — The Palestinian government in Gaza has released 63 prisoners in the run-up to the blessed month of Ramadan. A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, Ehab Al Ghossein, said that those released on the instructions of the Minister are prisoners who have served at least two-thirds of their sentence with good conduct … Police spokesperson Ayman Al Botnaigy urged the released men to capitalize on the opportunity to keep away from wrongdoing. “This chance won’t come again so each of you must become a law-abiding citizen,” he said. “Do good things and avoid evil, and make the most of the blessed month of Ramadan to worship and repent to Allah, and get closer to Him.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2652-as-ramadan-approaches-63-prisoners-are-released-in-gaza
2 convicted collaborators executed in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — Gaza’s Interior Ministry told Ma‘an that execution orders were issued in 2004 and were postponed several times until the crimes of the accused could be thoroughly proven. The two prisoners were executed on Tuesday morning. They were not identified [Ynet identifies them as 51-year-old Mahmoud Abu Qenas and his 22-year-old son, Rami Abu Qenas] … Hamas officials told Reuters the two men, a father and son, had confessed to providing intelligence that helped Israel track down Palestinians including Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, who was killed in a 2004 airstrike on his car … Three people have been put to death in Gaza this year and five in 2010.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408485
Rights group condemns Gaza executions
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has strongly condemned the implementation of death sentences against two Palestinians early Tuesday, saying they violated Palestinian law. The rights group said the ratification of death sentences is an exclusive power of the president of the Palestinian Authority and doing so without his approval constitutes a violation of Palestinian law. [and when the president is illegally in office?]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408549
Patient dies in Gaza after being denied exit for treatment
IMEMC 27 July — Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that a 33-year-old patient died on Sunday in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli Authorities denied him permit to be moved into the West Bank for urgent medical treatment. The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reported that Raed Azzam Al Moghari, from Al Boreij refugee camp in central Gaza, had a chronic heart disease and required urgent treatment out of the Gaza Strip as the Israeli siege left hospitals in Gaza out of basic supplies. The Palestinian District Coordination Office had repeatedly contacted its Israeli counterpart, and informed the Israeli side that the case of Al Moghari is urgent, and that he needed immediate medical attention, but the request was denied.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61750
Mob burns Gaza resort
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 27 July — Assailants burned a Gaza resort at dawn Wednesday, the manager said. Imad Al-Wazeer told Ma‘an a group of 30 armed and masked men arrived at the Rais resort in Gaza and threatened employees. The resort was damaged in Israel’s Operation Cast Lead but Al-Wazeer says he reopened the facility in order to show Israel that the people of Gaza would live their lives in spite of the attack. “This time, unfortunately, my resort was damaged by Palestinian hands,” he said. The resort cost some $120,000 to establish and has swimming pools, restaurants and other facilities. After the attack, however, 13 employees have lost their jobs, Al-Wazeer says.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408765
Report: Gaza swimming contest named ‘Freedom Flotilla 2’
JPost 16 July — The Muslim League in the Gaza Strip organized a youth summer swimming competition called “Freedom Flotilla 2,” Gaza-based news agency Palestine Today reported.According to the report, the competition has more than 50 contestants and will include a 400 meter stretch. The name of the contest is reportedly a tribute to those killed on board the Mavi Marmara last year, during the “Freedom Flotilla.”
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=231050
Gaza’s donkeys smile again
Gaza (Alresalah) 26 July – -In the middle of the popular Souk Al Zawia market, in El Balad area of downtown Gaza City, Abu Fathi’s donkey stands proud, self-confident, and carefree. It looked pitifully at the rickshaws, also known as tuk-tuks, that were either escaping from the traffic police or broken-down and left on the sidewalks, and then murmured, “Thanks God, I’m a donkey” In recent days, you could see broad grins spreading across the faces of AbuFathi’s donkey and his fellow donkeys and horses due to the high prices of tuk-tuks’ spare parts and the traffic campaigns. For several months, tuk-tuks had edged out donkey carts in Gaza, but the situation is changing now.
http://www.alresalah.ps/eng/?action=showdetail&seid=559
Detention
Seven Palestinians detained in IOF raids of West Bank
WEST BANK (PIC) 27 July — Seven Palestinians have been apprehended at dawn Wednesday in Israeli occupation forces’ raids of the West Bank, Israeli daily Ynet has reported. Locals reported scores of IOF soldiers invaded various areas of the Jenin refugee camp and nabbed two men after questioning their families and ascending to nearby roof tops…
Elsewhere, IOF troops set up checkpoints outside of Yamoun village west of Jenin city during a far-reaching combing of the area.
On Tuesday, military jeeps raided Bani Na‘im, located northeast of Al-Khalil city in southern West Bank, setting up an hours-long military checkpoint there. Three unidentified men were blindfolded and arrested and taken to an unknown destination in the search.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Israel’s Islamic Movement leader to remain in Britain despite attempts to deport him
Haaretz 27 July — U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May challenges Sheikh Ra’ad Salah’s release, arguing that her office has ‘strong reasons’ to believe he should be in detention — Sheikh Ra‘ad Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, will remain free on conditional bail in Britain, a court of appeals ruled Wednesday, despite requests by the Home Office for him to be detained or deported.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-islamic-movement-leader-to-remain-in-britain-despite-attempts-to-deport-him-1.375595
Marwan Barghouti criticizes Israeli prison policies
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 27 July — Jailed Fatah lawmaker Marwan Al-Barghouti said Wednesday that Israeli policies to reduce rights for Palestinian prisoners are arbitrary and unjust. The campaign against prisoners could lead to widespread protests among detainees and is designed to create a crisis at a time when the Palestinians are heading to the United Nations, Barghouti said …A lifelong activist who supported the Oslo peace process in the 1990s, Barghouti is widely believed to have masterminded the second intifada, or uprising, that erupted in 2000. He was arrested in 2002 and two years later, was sentenced to five life terms for murder for his [alleged] role in several deadly anti-Israeli attacks, although he has since said he never supported attacks on civilians inside Israel. He remains hugely popular among the Palestinian public and has been touted as a possible successor to Abbas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408971
Shin Bet ordered PA security to target Islamic Jihad men in recent arrest sweep
JENIN (PIC) 27 July — The Palestinian Authority’s recent string of arrests targeting the Islamic Jihad party’s men across the West Bank came after direct orders from Israel’s internal intelligence agency Shin Bet, an informed Palestinian security source told the PIC … Shin Bet informed the PA security agencies over recent weeks that Islamic Jihad had taken steps to restore itself in the West Bank provinces of Jenin and Al-Khalil, the source also said. Shin Bet also claimed that some of the cells had contacts with Hezbollah. The source went on to say that Shin Bet handed PA security a list of activists’ names and that a joint arrest sweep took place against elements from the Islamic Jihad party in those provinces.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2B
World parliamentarians say ‘appalled’ at Israel’s detention of PLC members
GAZA, (PIC) 27 July – The Inter-Parliamentary Union said it was ”appalled” at Israel’s repeated detention of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, calling it a violation of the Palestinians’ democratic rights … The IPU also condemned the indefinite terms of administrative detention faced by Palestinian elected officials, as a violation of human rights. The letter points out that the IPU had dispatched an observer to attend the latest Israeli Supreme Court hearing over the banishment of three Palestinian politicians from Jerusalem, two of them being members on the PLC.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87M
Activism / Solidarity / BDS
Palestinian nonviolence: Muslims, not Christians, are the leaders / Sami Awad
HuffPost 26 July — Whenever I give talks on the effects of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian livelihood, the status of nonviolence as a means to resisting the occupation, and how I believe nonviolence is the only way to move forward to resolve the conflict and create a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, one of the first and immediate questions I get from foreign visitors to my office in Bethlehem is, “What you said is good, but what about the Muslims? Do they also believe in nonviolence? Do they understand it?” Even if I don’t mention religion in my presentation — and I rarely do — this question always seems to make its way in our discussions. I have to admit that this question challenges me because within it lies an underlying stereotype, a bias, or at the least a grave misunderstanding of the Palestinian Muslim community — that they are violent people and do not have any understanding of nonviolence. The second challenge is in the biases toward Palestinian Christians. Western Christians simply think and assume that Palestinian Christians must engage in nonviolence and that it is ‘unchristian’ if they use violence. Even though we never look at it through a religious lens, the reality on the ground is that when it comes to nonviolence in Palestine, it is not Christians but Muslims who are engaging in this tremendous work. It is Palestinian Muslims who are the main leaders, the organizers, the activists and the strategists, and only some Christians are active in nonviolent resistance.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sami-awad/palestinian-nonviolence-c_b_905095.html
Abbas tells Palestinians to step up Arab Spring-style protests against Israel
Reuters 27 July — For first time, Palestinian president openly urges popular activism in support of his initiative to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state … “In this coming period, we want mass action, organized and coordinated in every place,” Abbas said. “This is a chance to raise our voices in front of the world and say that we want our rights.” …
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/abbas-tells-palestinians-step-up-arab-spring-style-protests-against-israel-1.375589
Palestinian-Americans on ‘Know Your Heritage’ tour
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 27 July — A group of Palestinian Americans visited Jerusalem on Monday as part of a “Know Your Heritage” tour organized by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. The group was welcomed by clergymen and Palestinian organizations in Jerusalem, before visiting the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa mosque. The group are set to visit a variety of locations in Palestine as part of a project to strengthen relationships between the Palestinian diaspora and Palestinians under occupation … Most recently, the group visited Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem on Tuesday and were told about the history of the camp and the culture that developed as a result of the mixture of Palestinians displaced from different villages.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408974
Video: Adelaide Seacret protest Weeks 42 & 42 the countdown begins
Uploaded by AustralianFOPA on Jul 25, 2011 – Activists leafleting against the background of ‘The Promised Land’ by Phil Monsour – almost a year!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4k8rTb4p4&feature=uploademail
Racism
Israeli grocery store keeps Arab baggers and Jewish cashiers apart
Haaretz 26 July — Palestinians are no longer bagging groceries most days at the Rami Levi supermarket at the Gush Etzion junction, after a romance between a Palestinian bagger and a Jewish cashier spurred local rabbis to demand that Levi take action.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-grocery-store-keeps-arab-baggers-and-jewish-cashiers-apart-1.375301
Political / Diplomatic / International news
US aid to Israel to remain intact in 2012
Ynet 27July — Despite severe financial crisis, US officials say foreign aid to Israel to remain unaffected in 2012; budget funds ‘commitment to ensure our ally Israel maintains its qualitative military edge,’ Rep. Nita Lowey says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4101134,00.html
PA observer breaks down during UN debate
Ynet 26 July — Riyad Mansour bursts into tears discussing Palestinian statehood in last Security Council debate before General Assembly meeting in September. Israel’s Ron Prosor says, ‘On behalf of whom will you present a resolution in September? Abbas or Hamas?’ — Palestinian observer Riyad Mansour called on the UN to recognize a Palestinian state. It’s time to end the occupation, he said before bursting into tears. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor warned that the Palestinian way of bypassing peace talks will lead to frustration and violence.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4100584,00.html
Poll shows majority of Palestinians support UN bid
Bethlehem (Ma‘an) 26 July — …The results of the poll showed that 65.4 percent of people supported going to the UN in September to obtain recognition for a Palestinian State. The poll also found that 50.3 percent of the Palestinian public would choose Salam Fayyad to head the next interim government over independent candidates at 27.1 percent and Hamas candidate Jamal Khodary at 11.6 percent. Results also showed that 72.2 percent of Palestinians believe that not implementing the reconciliation deal is detrimental to the Palestinian national interest … The poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem and questioned a random sample of 1,001 Palestinian adults from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408562
DFLP holds rally in Gaza City to support UN bid
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Tuesday organized a rally at UN headquarters in Gaza City in support of Palestine’s bid for membership of the world body.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408597
Erekat: Palestinian Authority cannot exist without independent state
Haaretz 26 July — Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat vigorously condemned both Israel and the United States during a briefing to over 90 Palestinian envoys in Istanbul on Sunday, saying the Oslo process was on the verge of failure. Erekat said that if the United States continued to stymie the Palestinian efforts to get a state recognized by the United Nations, the Palestinian Authority should be dismantled. “[PA President Mahmoud Abbas] should throw the keys in their faces,” Erekat said.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/erekat-palestinian-authority-cannot-exist-without-independent-state-1.375258
UN: Palestinians ready for statehood
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 26 July — The Palestinian Authority is ready to govern a nation but deadlock with Israel has made a two-state solution far from certain, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process said Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408702
Palestinians say October poll ‘only in West Bank’
AFP 27 July — Palestinian local elections in October will only be held in the West Bank as Hamas is hampering preparations in Gaza, a senior electoral official said on Wednesday. Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the official said the government had informed the Central Elections Commission (CEC) of a decision taken earlier on Wednesday.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/palestinians-october-poll-only-west-bank-150016146.html
Fatah internal body rejects appeal made by Dahlan
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 27 July — An internal decision making body of Fatah rejected on Wednesday an appeal by Mohammad Dahlan against being dismissed from Fatah’s governing body in June.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408995
Israeli authorities ban Palestinians official from crossing at Beir Hanoun to participate in PNC meeting tomorrow
GAZA (WAFA) 26 July — Israeli authorities Tuesday prevented Salah Zidan, member of the Political Office of the Palestinian Democratic Front, from leaving Gaza through Beit Hanoun crossing in order to participate in the Palestinian National Council (PNC) meeting in Ramallah on Wednesday.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16813
Fatah says party members blocked from leaving Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 July — Fatah on Tuesday said Hamas officials refused to allow Fatah revolutionary council member Amal Hamad to leave the coastal enclave for a PLO central council meeting in the West Bank. However Hamas did allow 18 PLO central council members to leave through the Erez crossing ahead of Wednesday’s meeting in Ramallah. The central council meeting was called to discuss strategy ahead of Palestinians’ bid for statehood recognition by the UN.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408644
Hamas refuses to participate in PNC meeting tomorrow
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 26 July –The Palestinian National Council (PNC) Chairman Salim Zanoun, received on Tuesday, Aziz Duwaik’s, one of Hamas’ leaders, response to the formal invitation, addressing him and Hamas representatives, refusing to attend the PNC meeting which will be held Wednesday in Ramallah.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16810
Hezbollah warns Israel against ‘stealing’ gas
Ynet 26 July — Hassan Nasrallah says Shiite group stronger than ever five years after Second Lebanon War — Hezbollah’s leader is warning Israel against “stealing” Lebanon’s natural oil and gas resources. A dispute is building between the two arch enemies over their maritime border and huge natural gas and oil reserves beneath the sea.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4100627,00.html
11 Israeli aircraft skim over Lebanon
PressTV 26 July — Eleven Israeli military aircraft have penetrated Lebanese airspace and flown over parts of the country in flagrant violation of a UN Security Council resolution. Eight Israeli fighter jets crossed into Lebanese airspace over the southern section of the country at 10:55 a.m. local time (0755 GMT) on Monday and conducted several unwarranted sorties in the area, according to a statement released by the Lebanese military … Earlier in the day, two remotely-controlled drones infringed upon the Lebanese airspace over the border village of Kfar Kila, located 96 kilometers (59 miles) south of Beirut, at 10:35 a.m. (0735 GMT) and carried out covert surveillance fights over various sectors of Lebanon … Israel violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190795.html
Israel’s cabinet split over deporting 350 Turkish workers
Haaretz 27 July — Permits of Turkish construction workers may not be extended in wake of government dispute over apology to Turkey for raid on 2010 Gaza flotilla.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-s-cabinet-split-over-deporting-350-turkish-workers-1.375446
Other news
Thousands of housing activists march in Haifa; protests held in cities across Israel
Haaretz 26 July — After rejecting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to solve Israel’s housing crisis, activists continued to protest across the country on Tuesday. Approximately two thousand activists marched in Haifa, chanting “Bibi go home” and “we want justice, not charity.” Elderly residents cheered the young protesters as they passed by. At a Jerusalem tent protest site activists put on shows, with one theatrical piece featuring Netanyahu covered in mud.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/thousands-of-housing-activists-march-in-haifa-protests-held-in-cities-across-israel-1.375424
Arab sector apathetic over housing crisis
Ynet 26 July — In spite of suffering from same housing shortage as rest of country, Israeli Arabs seem uninterested in pitching up tents in protest — As the “tent city” protest expands and gains strength in Jewish cities throughout Israel, in Israel’s Arab cities there is not a tent in sight. The Arab sector is also suffering from the housing crisis mainly because of the demolition of houses and high prices yet the protest has failed to take off.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4100197,00.html
Israel’s Arabs join housing protest
Ynet 27 July — Arab residents set up tents Wednesday in the northern town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, thereby joining the nationwide public protest against skyrocketing housing prices in Israel. The activists, including the city’s Public Committee and a local youth movement, were also protesting against the destruction of Arab homes and rise of land prices.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4101149,00.html
Jewish American challenges denial of entry to Israel for ‘suspected conversion to Islam’
IMEMC 26 July — Last year, Israeli security forces at Ben Gurion Airport denied entry to 30-year-old Jewish American Harold Fuller-Bennett because they claim he was “suspected of conversion to Islam”. Fuller-Bennett hired Israeli lawyers to challenge the claim, which he says is bizarre and completely unfounded, and just won his case in Israeli court. While denial of entry to foreign nationals based on their political beliefs has become common in Israel in recent years, Fuller-Bennett’s case is unusual because he is an avowed Zionist and supporter of the state of Israel.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61749
Barak outlaws Israeli-Arab group over terror ties
Haaretz 26 July — Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared Monday the religious Israeli-Arab organization An-Nasser Allah illegal due to its involvement in terrorist activities … Ssources claim the organization was inspired by Al-Qaida and hold a Salafist-Jihadist ideology which seeks to bring global jihad to Israel. Its leader, Sheikh Nazem Abu Salim was indicted eight months ago for incitement to terror. Following a security officials’ recommendation, Barak signed a rare order which deems the organization illegal under the Emergency Defense Regulations.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-outlaws-israeli-arab-group-over-terror-ties-1.375410?localLinksEnabled=false
Troops arrested for shutting off surveillance gear
Ynet 26 July — Female field observers, to be charged with putting national security at risk, say they were under too much pressure — Four female IDF field intelligence observers were arrested earlier this month after allegedly shutting off surveillance equipment, thus failing to collect information on Israel’s northern border.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4100074,00.html
Palestinian singer to perform in Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 27 July — Palestinian singer Mays Shalash will perform in Qalqiliya on Thursday evening as part of the Mausim Al Hasad festival … Shalash, noted for her powerful voice, is considered to be one of the most famous Palestinian singers. Her lyrics describe the Intifada years and explore the question of Palestine. Her songs include ‘The voice of freedom’ and ‘Khansa of Palestine’.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408756
Video: Al-Quds hosts cultural festival July 20-27
Ibrahim Husseini for PressTV 24 July – The Jerusalem Arabic Music Ensemble presented on Saturday evening their musical program ‘Mawtini’ which translates to ‘My homeland’. The ensemble played a collection of national songs that were composed by Arab poets and composers. The 17th Jerusalem Al-Quds Festival is featuring music, literature, art exhibitions, children’s activities and more. The organizers say the festival is meant to bring quality entertainment to both Palestinians and international residents alike and to assert the Palestinian identity of the city”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190627.html
Where politics are complex, simple joys at the beach / Ethan Bronner
TEL AVIV (NY Times) 26 July — Skittish at first, then wide-eyed with delight, the women and girls entered the sea, smiling, splashing and then joining hands, getting knocked over by the waves, throwing back their heads and ultimately laughing with joy. Most had never seen the sea before. The women were Palestinians from the southern part of the West Bank, which is landlocked, and Israel does not allow them in. They risked criminal prosecution, along with the dozen Israeli women who took them to the beach. And that, in fact, was part of the point: to protest what they and their hosts consider unjust laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/world/middleeast/27swim.html
Civil defense crews extinguish fire near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 27 July — Palestinian Civil Defense crews were able to extinguish a fire which broke out on Wednesday in the village of Rantis northwest of Ramallah. The fire was caused by an electrical fault at a center for communications in the village, a Civil Defense spokesman said. Fire crews in Ni‘lin rushed to the scene of the fire and prevented it from spreading. Fires also reportedly broke out in Qalandia, Tulkarem, Jenin and Hebron. The fires in Jenin and Hebron broke out in olive groves and forested areas in the villages of Surif, Hebron and Silat Harithiya, Jenin.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=408839
Knesset votes down civil marriage, divorce option
JPost 27 July — Justice Minister says bill “stands in contrast to norm since the establishment of Israel,” marriage and divorce according to halacha … “Israel is the only democracy in the world where Jews don’t have freedom of religion,” said MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), who led the list of legislators behind the initiative. “There are currently hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are considered without religion, and cannot marry in Israel,” he said prior to the vote. “When the state was founded there was no such condition.”
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=231234
Video – Eli Yishai: There’s a Jewish gene
Uploaded by gangreentv on Jul 27, 2011 –“Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai claims that there is a ‘Jewish gene’ and that is passed down from mother to child (and not from father to child). Both of these claims have absolutely no scientific factual basis whatsoever. However, he publicly proclaims them as such, because if they were in fact true, they would lend credence to his racist, Jewish supremacist ideology. Disgusting.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1FsUsrPx18&feature=youtu.be
Analysis / Opinion
Israel’s threat to void the Oslo accords will only harm Netanyahu / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 26 July — The childish ‘threat’ of scrapping the Oslo Accords is not making much of an impression on the Palestinian Authority … This “threat” is akin to a fellow saying he’ll cut off his own nose to spite someone else’s face. If the Oslo Accords did not exist, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have had to invent them. The document, and in particular the section that confiscates 60 percent of the Palestinians’ land in the West Bank (Area C ) and grants Israeli settlers exclusive access to it, should be placed in a safe by the right-wing and guarded by an elite army unit.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/israel-s-threat-to-void-the-oslo-accords-will-only-harm-netanyahu-1.375278
When is Palestine’s Arab revolution? / Larbi Sadiki
AJ 25 July — Although Palestine seems absent from the Arab Spring, the unjust occupation was the straw that broke the camel’s back — The one-sidedness of the Palestinian tragedy is illustrated by the fact that the Palestinian faces high-tech war from a formidable force neither with indigenous parity nor an Arab counter-balance. Like the Lebanese in 2006, Gazans were left on their own – helpless – and bombed mercilessly amidst Arab inertia and international silence and indecision. To follow Baudrillard’s logic, the Israelis were more or less conducting a Star Trek-type war, and Hamas a traditional war. On top of the ‘virtual’ nature of the war was a visual feast for the passive viewers who were glued to their TV screens. That was the last war Arab pride could take.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172175243269488.html
Well, it is an occupation / Bill Fletcher
The Black Commentator 22 July — …It is difficult to describe the Occupied Territories. I have followed the Israeli/Palestinian conflict since the June 1967 War and I have been an advocate for peace and justice for the Palestinians since the spring of 1969. I have studied countless documents, articles, speeches, etc. I have seen pictures of the so-called settlements and the apartheid separation Wall. Yet, to be honest, I still was not prepared for what I actually experienced.
http://www.zcommunications.org/well-it-is-an-occupation-by-bill-fletcher
Israeli democracy weighed down by Soviet traditions / Alexander Yakobson
Haaretz 27 July — It’s extremely politically incorrect to say this, but I’m allowed to, since it’s about my own tribe: The current assaults on freedom of expression in Israel have a pronounced Russian flavor. Clearly, not all Russian immigrants support these initiatives, and many non-Russians are also involved. But make no mistake: Russian-speakers, from both Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, are playing a major role.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israeli-democracy-weighed-down-by-soviet-traditions-1.375474
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