Palestinian Bureau of Statistics: 262,000 Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem, living in 26 illegal settlements

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

Statistics Bureau: Seven Jewish settlers for each 10 Palestinians in Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, June 12, 2012 (WAFA) – For each 10 Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, seven Jewish settlers live in illegal settlements built on Palestinian land since the city’s occupation in 1967, said a report by Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Tuesday. It said that the total number of Israeli settlers in and around East Jerusalem reached 262,000 residing in 26 illegal settlements. It said that there are 16 illegal settlements in the Israeli-annexed part of occupied East Jerusalem, with 196,000 settlers, and 10 settlements in areas outside the Jerusalem city borders set by Israel in 1967, where 66,000 settlers live.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20041

Israel police find more settlement construction on Palestinian land
Haaretz 13 June — Since 2009, the National Fraud Squad has been investigating the construction of a waste purification plant near Ofra, which was built on Palestinian-owned land at the initiative of the regional council and with partial funding from the state. After it was completed, the Palestinian landowners, through the Yesh Din organization, petitioned the High Court of Justice to demolish the structure. The state responded that it was searching for a way to legally operate the plant, as it was desperately needed to treat Ofra’s sewage, which had been flowing into local streams and polluting the mountain aquifer for 30 years. But to expropriate the land from its Palestinian owners for public purposes, the plant would also have to serve Ofra’s Palestinian neighbors. The plant, however, is too small to serve the neighboring Palestinian villages.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-find-more-settler-construction-on-palestinian-land.premium-1.436036

Ariel vs. academia
Daily Beast 11 June by Dov Waxman — Israeli academia is about to suffer a major blow. Within the next few weeks, Israel’s Council for Higher Education, which oversees Israeli universities and colleges, is expected to approve the upgrade of Ariel College to full university status. This would be a big victory for right-wing political pressure and for the settlement enterprise in the West Bank, and it would greatly damage higher education in Israel … From the outset, the effort to upgrade Ariel College has been driven primarily by political, rather than academic, considerations.  Whatever the academic merits of Ariel College, making it a university is a thinly veiled attempt to strengthen the settlement of Ariel and legitimize it in the eyes of the Israeli public.  It is really about trying to make the settlement of Ariel a permanent part of Israel.  Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly stated this motive: He once declared that a university in Ariel would ensure that the settlement ““will forever remain part of the State of Israel.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/ariel-versus-academia.html

Official: Israel trying to block Nativity Church from UNESCO list
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 13 June — A representative of the Palestinian Christian community warned on Wednesday that Israeli officials were working to prevent the inclusion of Bethlehem’s Nativity Church on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites … Dmitri Dilani, who is also a member of the Fatah revolutionary council, said Israeli officials have argued against Palestine’s submission on technical grounds. An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that while Israel believes the church is worthy of inclusion on the list, it opposes the Palestinian Authority’s politicization of the process. Dilani said the church is at risk from Israeli practices, such as the siege during the second intifada as well as isolation as a result of Israel’s wall and expansion into Bethlehem territory.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494987

Israeli court orders demolition of Jerusalemite house
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 13 June – The Israeli municipality court in occupied Jerusalem has ordered the demolition of Fakhri Abu Diab’s house in Silwan in occupied Jerusalem and fined him 35000 shekels. The court upheld the municipality’s planning and construction committee’s decision and said would not grant Abu Diab another chance to challenge the decision. Abu Diab described the ruling as “political and malicious”, adding that the presiding judge did not allow his lawyer to say a word and she even ordered his expulsion from court.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/israeli-court-orders-demolition-of-jerusalemite-house/

Israel demolishes a home, structures, in Jerusalem
IMEMC 12 June — Palestinian sources reported that Israeli soldiers demolished, on Tuesday at dawn, a Palestinian building in Beit Hanina neighborhood, north of occupied East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Municipality sent bulldozers accompanied by several Israeli military jeeps to demolish the building that has been recently built, and was in its final stages of interior design. [PIC: Jerusalemite citizens Taleb Idris and Osama Malhi said the IOA had refused to give them a license for the building and ordered them along with the other storekeepers to have their stores knocked down by next July 15, but the Israeli bulldozers surprisingly came on Tuesday to carry out the demolition.]
In related news, soldiers bulldozed 700 meters of hothouses and stables in As-Sal’a area, in Jabal Al-Mokabbir, south of occupied East Jerusalem. The structures belong to Aziz Jamil Ja’bees. Ja’bees stated that the attack took place around 7:30 in the morning and that the soldiers removed the livestock from the stables and spilled approximately 30 tons of barley.  The Jerusalem Municipality also imposed a 50.000 NIS fine on Ja’bees, and informed him that he must remove the rubble on his own expense.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63712

Israel to seize Palestinian land south of Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM, June 12, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities notified a Palestinian of a decision to seize her land in al-Khader, a town in south of Bethlehem, a local activist said Tuesday. Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the popular committee against settlements in al-Khader, said Israeli soldiers left the seizure notice on the land belonging to Rana Tabileh. A farmer found the notice by accident. Salah said the notice regarding the five-dunum plot also ordered the landowners to remove a fence built around the land within 45 days. Tabileh will be forced to pay costs for the evacuation of the land if [she] failed to do it herself before the set deadline, added Salah. He said if the land is seized, Palestinian farmers will not be able to reach their property located in the same area, which is a part of an Israeli scheme to seize Palestinian land to link settlements in the vicinity of Bethlehem.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20038

Occupation gives demolition notices for 5 homes to the southwest of Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 12 June — The IOF notified, on Tuesday, of the demolition of five homes in the village of Beit Awa to the southwest of Al-Khalil [Hebron] in the West Bank, under the pretext of unlicensed construction … The sources confirmed that the five houses, which are located near the apartheid wall, had been given building licenses from the municipality of the village, and that most of them had been built even before the apartheid wall.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7bJvYzANOw5sA2tK4OUNJ9ZK644zBX9OtojmbmoeMrcYyXKz%2bT%2fvaVVwEkZyDIW9MglpES9qwcb6ytpA1zxIgJ8PTnIAMN8NpfS1GMjpp6qQ%3d

Palestinian inhibition in the walled city of Bethlehem
Haaretz 12 June by Leila Sansour — As a child growing up in Bethlehem, I was entrusted with burning all the political books in my father’s library whenever there was an Israeli raid. Now my city is surrounded by walls and ring-fenced by more than forty Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land … A year ago, looking at a photo album of an old friend and neighbor, I became acutely aware of how alien his experience of Middle Eastern geography was to me. In the mid-Fifties, he would spend Saturday nights jitterbugging at the Everest, a restaurant coolly positioned on top of the highest hill in Bethlehem, and, at dawn, would drive to Beirut to continue the party. Today, this experience is unimaginable. The Middle East of his youth no longer exists. For those under 30, the Middle East I once knew does not exist, either. So much has changed in these 45 years … Today, after 45 years of international efforts to end the occupation, Bethlehem’s residents are confined to less than 13% of their original territory with no prospect of a future.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/palestinian-inhibition-in-the-walled-city-of-bethlehem-1.435911

Ulpana residents petition Jerusalem court to expedite debate on landownership
Haaretz 12 June — The settlers’ last-ditch request, submitted less than a month before homes slated for demolition, urges the court to deliberate a prior petition from September 2011 … Five apartment buildings in the neighborhood are slated by the Supreme Court for demolition because they were built on privately owned Palestinian land. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein last week approved a plan to move residents of the five buildings to a nearby tract of land that was appropriated by the state in 1970 for military use.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/ulpana-residents-petition-jerusalem-court-to-expedite-debate-on-landownership.premium-1.435968?localLinksEnabled=false

Double Take / A museum, and a warning
Haaretz 13 June by Joel Greenberg — The Gush Katif Museum aims to commemorate the settlement enterprise in Gaza – and to showcase the price of evacuation … The legacy of the Gaza Strip pullout, as seen by the settlers, is promoted at the Gush Katif Museum, which is tucked away in a nondescript building not far from Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market. Lost paradise: The exhibit memorializes what it depicts as the state-sponsored uprooting of thriving communities of agricultural pioneers, who farmed barren sand dunes and had a rich social, cultural and religious life. Palestinians are conspicuously absent from the narrative, except as rocket-firing terrorists or desecrators of the empty synagogues the settlers left behind.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/double-take-a-museum-and-a-warning.premium-1.436152#

Palestinian workers protest Israeli measures at checkpoint
JENIN, June 13, 2012 (WAFA) – Hundreds of Palestinian workers Wednesday demonstrated at al-Jalama checkpoint south of Jenin that separates this West Bank city from Israel to protest humiliating Israeli army measures, according to the workers. Workers told WAFA that soldiers manning the checkpoint throw coffee at them, verbally abuse and humiliate them and delay them for hours when they try to cross the checkpoint to reach their work places in Israel. Palestinian workers with permits to do employment in Israel normally arrive at checkpoints at a very early hour of the day knowing that it will take them hours to cross the checkpoint considering the long delays and humiliation they daily receive from the soldiers.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20044

Residents open gate that closed their village’s main entrance
IMEMC 13 June — Dozens of youth of Nabi Saleh Palestinian village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, opened on Tuesday evening, the main gate that was installed by the army at the entrance of their village; clashes were reported between the residents and Israeli soldiers. The Palestine News network reported that dozens of youths broke the chains and locks that were sealing the iron gate, and managed to open it despite the Israeli army attempts to prevent them by firing rounds of live ammunition, and gas bombs. Dozens of residents were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63715

Violence / Raids / Arrests

Israeli gunships fire at Palestinian cultivated land in Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 12 June — Israeli military choppers opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian cultivated land in southern and central Gaza Strip afternoon Tuesday, local sources said. They told the PIC reporter that the raid targeted the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah in southern and central Gaza respectively.  The sources said that the plantations targeted were in Qarara and Abasan in eastern Khan Younis and the eastern flank of Deir Al-Balah. They noted that the shooting coincided with the Israeli incursion in central Gaza that has been in progress since the early morning hours.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7SeYdH4b1CPW1D7Y73zVGhjJ33VPgZR%2fbLjwBZ6fqSz%2bhlUd2LIzQ42jAyCCKIPsEM%2fP3Mgj%2bO9LCWfJWq848bBbhxcB5Y%2biw%2f44HwfOphm4%3d

PFLP-GC militants claim attack on Israeli forces
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 June — The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command said it fired on Israeli forces in Gaza on Tuesday. The Jihad Jibril Brigades said it fired four shells during an Israeli incursion southeast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494776

Israeli navy attacks solidarity boat off Gaza shore
GAZA, June 13, 2012 (WAFA) – An Israeli navy boat Wednesday attacked Olivia, a solidarity boat built by international activists to monitor human rights in Gaza waters, as it tried to sail in the Gaza waters, forcing the boat to return to port, according to local sources. They said an Israeli boat intercepted Olivia, which was carrying foreign activists to document Israeli violations of international law against Palestinian fishermen, sprayed it with high-pressure water pumps and threatened to arrest the activists and seize the boat if they do not turn back.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20050

Palestinian dies of injury after 12 years
GAZA (PIC) 13 June — …Adham Abu Salmiye, a spokesman for the ambulance and emergency services in Gaza Strip, said that Ibrahim Al-Bul, 27, died of injuries sustained 12 years earlier. He said that Bul was hit with an IOF bullet in his head on 10/11/2000 in the early days of the Aqsa intifada. He said that the young man’s health condition worsened as he started to suffer epileptic seizures and fainting and was hospitalized in the last days of his life.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Z5n%2bleiJzSDLeok8RXMuCcVZsRfvU%2fr1SQQqhpaxZVT15Pqn50G9Mx5gtyiyFTE9vZKA8MuvGE3C7vEqz8lxFwiFKzPnUaH0BQgdHumF40I%3d

Global campaign seeks justice for 2010 killing of East Jerusalem man
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 12 June by Brandon Davis — Memorials were held around the world Monday to commemorate the second anniversary of the death of Ziad Jilani, an East Jerusalem Palestinian killed by an Israeli border policeman in 2010. With support from a large network of activists and the Nazareth-based human rights association Meezaan, Jilani’s widow has launched an international campaign to bring Russian-born Maxim Vinogradov to justice … Although Jilani’s movement is growing, the Israeli justice system has so far not favored her late husband’s case. Israeli police closed an investigation on Jan. 16, 2011 for lack of evidence. Meezaan filed an appeal, but former state prosecutor Menachem Muzaz upheld the initial ruling.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494710

Settlers block entrance to Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 June — Dozens of Israeli settlers on Wednesday blocked the main road leading to Tuqu village near Bethlehem. Settlers piled rocks on the road and threw stones at Palestinian cars, preventing them from leaving or entering the village, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The settlers were shouting racist chants and were protected by Israeli soldiers, the reporter added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495140

Occupation forces storm Tamon village near Tubas
TUBAS (PIC) 12 June — The Israeli occupation forces stormed at dawn on Tuesday Tamon village southern Tubas, handing a citizen a summons to attend the Israeli intelligence offices after searching his house and combing the area.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kljnspvsR%2b1J%2b37kaift17%2bMyofMWu0qzyuldQgvxZZca6NGWR16sVftQf0mUlEUMZiMpDVLHLZOP3611FTwNl393a95xk2gF4XofSlE4c8%3d

Israeli barriers south of Al-Khalil, attacks on Israeli cars north
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 13 June — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) set up barriers south of Al-Khalil city and obstructed the traffic movement of Palestinian vehicles and individuals, while two Israeli vehicles were reportedly [p]elted with stones by minors. The car of a female settler were damaged near Beit Ummar town when a group of Palestinian minors hurled it with stones, and an Israel bus was also exposed to a similar attack near Gush Etzion settlement north of Al-Khalil. Such attacks on Israeli vehicles are carried out in response to the ongoing violations and violence committed by Jewish settlers and troops against the Palestinians and their property throughout Al-Khalil area.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7HjBV4aOg7UzBZxdOrx0vVjRDMthHkPeeORtll%2fR3w1ZdLtFuyw%2bv3vaXWwbhHI4csFRVMpvyk9KclrD42FcvthVfanYgiB8EMVAZ%2fXWW8j0%3d

UFree: The IOF kidnapped 21 university students last month
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 13 June — The European network to support the rights of Palestinian prisoners UFree said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped last month 21 Palestinian university students. According to its report, 19 of these students are studying at Palestinian universities of the West Bank and two sisters at a Ukrainian university.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s798qdFJm0HxmaT%2fJmPo2hWM9iF1HRwebX1s1al3XyLLw3ZY0tEomyiarcAcMDmHfEhwQTjBpC3Gx%2brTk3kIaCUQuErjo4CxP1cYOL3xDOXhk%3d

Israeli forces detain 5 women at Hebron protest
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 13 June — Israeli forces detained five Palestinians at a women-only protest in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, witnesses and security officials said. The women, wearing traditional Palestinian dress, gathered near Shuhada street in the city center calling for Israel to end its closure of the main thoroughfare. A group of Israeli settlers attacked the women, and Israeli forces detained four protesters, as well as Palestine TV correspondent Diya Al-Junaidi, a Ma‘an reporter said. [IMEMC: two Israelis, three internationals and one Palestinian journalist who works for Reuters]  Israeli soldiers fired sound bombs and tear gas at the group of demonstrators, while shoving the group in order to disperse them, he added … Shuhada Street, a main road in Hebron’s once-bustling center, has been closed to Palestinians since an Israeli settler shot dead 29 Palestinians worshiping in Ibrahimi mosque in 1994.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495057

Israeli forces detain at least 7 across West Bank
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 June — Israeli forces detained at least seven Palestinians in the West Bank overnight Tuesday, according to security officials and local residents. Locals told Ma‘an that Israeli forces raided the village of Iraq Burin near Nablus and detained five youths … An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army did not carry out any arrests in Iraq Burin overnight, but seven people were detained across the West Bank. She said three people were seized in Balata refugee camp in Nablus … They said the families of Khalid Abu Arab, 17 and Bahaa Badrasawi, 18, also received summons for the teens to appear before Israeli intelligence.  The army spokeswoman said three Palestinians were also detained in Aqbat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, and another in Bethlehem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494979

Israeli forces arrest five Palestinians in West Bank
RAMALLAH, June 13, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday arrested five Palestinians from the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron, according to security sources … Forces also stormed al-Tabaqa, a village southwest of the town of Dora in Hebron, and arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian after searching and tampering with his family home … Forces also arrested a Palestinian from Hebron at the Allenby Bridge as he was traveling to Jordan.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20047

Popular Committee member Mouda Abu Maria arrested
PSP 12 June — On Monday 11th June 2012, farmers from Beit Ommar, alongside Popular Committee Members and two international activists, were cultivating land adjacent to the illegal Karmei Tsur settlement. After approximately half an hour of working their land, Israeli settlers began to harass the farmers, shouting abuse in English, calling those farming ‘dogs’ and ‘Nazis’, and throwing stones. The farmers continued to peacefully cultivate their land as Israeli Occupation Forces arrived at the scene. One soldier immediately grabbed Popular Committee Member Mousa Abu Maria (aged 35) by the arm. Mousa asked him to let go of his arm and to stop shouting, but the solider continued to forcefully hold him before dragging him to the ground. Four soldiers then surrounded Mousa and hit him in the face with their rifle butts, causing him to bleed from the head. International activists who attempted to protect Mousa from this assault were beaten, violently dragged from the scene, and stamped upon repeatedly.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/06/12/popular-committee-member-mousa-abu-maria-arrested/

Mousa Abu Maria to be released on bail: Contribute to the PSP legal fund!
After a hearing today in military court, where Mousa was represented by the amazing legal team of Gaby Lasky and associates, Mousa was ordered released on a bail of 4000 shekels (approximately $1000 USD). Palestine Solidarity Project provides legal support, both by hiring lawyers and paying bail and fines, for not only members of PSP, but any resident of Beit Ommar and Palestinians engaged in popular resistance that ask for our help. Because of this, PSP currently has approximately $25,000 USD in legal debt … Please consider making a donation to PSP’s legal fund today:
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/06/13/mousa-abu-maria-to-be-released-on-bail-contribute-to-the-psp-legal-fund/

Gaza

Man dies in Gaza tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 June — A Palestinian man died on Wednesday when a smuggling tunnel collapsed under Gaza’s border with Egypt, medics said. Ghassan Radwan died in the tunnel near Rafah and another man was lightly injured and taken to the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital, medics told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495152

Official: 1,000 travelers turned back at Gaza crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 June — Egyptian border security on Wednesday denied entry to around 1,000 travelers from Gaza at Rafah crossing, a Palestinian ministry official said. Maher Abu Sabha, head of the crossings department in Gaza’s Interior Ministry, told Ma‘an there have been problems at the crossing since Saturday, adding that Egyptian guards turned back three buses from Gaza on Tuesday. A delegation of senior Egyptian security officers met Palestinian officials at Rafah on Saturday to discuss problems for over two hours, Abu Sabha said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495137

Security official: Egypt to close Rafah crossing until Monday
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) — The Rafah crossing is the only border open to residents of the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s 5-year blockade of the coastal enclave. The terminal will be closed on Thursday for repairs, an Egyptian security officer told Ma‘an. The crossing closes every Friday for the weekly holiday, and it will also close on Saturday and Sunday during the final round of the Egyptian presidential elections, the officer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495154

Israel government report criticizes Netanyahu decision-making in naval raid in Gaza-bound ship
JERUSALEM (AP) 13 June — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision-making was badly flawed as he oversaw a deadly Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound ship two years ago, according to a government report released Wednesday. The harsh findings were an embarrassing assessment of Netanyahu’s handling of a military operation that sent Israel’s relations with once-close ally Turkey plummeting and drew widespread international condemnation. But it is unlikely to hurt his domestic standing. Netanyahu is popular and leads a powerful coalition that controls three-fourths of parliament’s seats. Moreover, many Israelis think naval commandos opened fire in self-defense after pro-Palestinian activists attacked them and believe Israel has a right to keep ships from reaching the Gaza Strip
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/13/israel-government-report-criticizes-netanyahu-decision-making-in-naval-raid-on/

Turkish official: Gaza flotilla report not enough, Israel must apologize
Haaretz 13 June by Zvi Bar’el — Senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official says killing of nine Turkish nationals could have been prevented, demands Israel apologize, offer compensation and lift Gaza blockade — The Turkish government has yet to publicly respond to Israel’s State Comptroller’s report published on Wednesday concerning the events surrounding the May 2010 IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara, although a Foreign Ministry official said it would not be enough to restore the diplomatic relations between the two states … As for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Erdugan implied he could stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza, the official confirmed intense diplomatic communications between Israel, Turkey, U.S. and Egypt took place, but also insists “under no circumstance did Turkey say it was able to stop the flotilla.”  Prior to the flotilla, Turkey said it had no formal connection to IHH, and that the organization was operating under its own funding and agenda. 
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkish-official-gaza-flotilla-report-not-enough-israel-must-apologize-1.436233

PA ministry sends medicine to Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 13 June — The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health on Wednesday sent medicine and medical equipment to the Gaza Strip, a ministry spokesman said. Omar al-Nasr said in a statement that Leukemia medication and coagulant drugs were among 14 types of medication sent to Gaza, as well as 42 types of medical supplies. The batch, worth 2.5 million shekel ($644,500), will be delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and will arrive in Gaza on Thursday, al-Nasr said. The Ramallah-based ministry will send another batch of medicine next week, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495016

Detainees / Hunger strikers / Court actions – Israel

Ahrar Center: The health condition of prisoner Rawajba is worsening
NABLUS (PIC) 13 June — Ahrar center for prisoner studies and human rights said the health status of administrative prisoner Dawoud Rawajba, 36, has deteriorated very badly and appealed to human rights groups to intervene for his immediate release. Director of the center Fouad Al-Khafsh said that prisoner Rawajba suffers from epilepsy and amnesia and was kidnapped last February as he was trying to travel to Jordan for medical treatment. Khafsh noted that the prisoners was detained several times administratively by the Israeli occupation and in one of those times in 1994 he was exposed to excruciating torture which caused him to suffer from epilepsy and amnesia.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Gix8fOtwlbhIet%2bFXNmCzBz%2b180FepF6McCBUmsbeRyn9qFMfgzaAQrdhTM92VrXaAjUBTYGbO6KXRlqiGcjSpei1ALTaRMBd1tDrmBk%2fdU%3d

Israel hands out not ‘red card’ but a ‘death card’ to footballer #MahmoudSarsak ~ #Cartoon by @CarlosLatuff
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/israel-not-hands-out-red-card-but-a-death-card-to-footballer-mahmoudsarsak-cartoon-by-carloslatuff/

#London bans cameras at candlelight vigil for #MahmoudSarsak & accuses activists of criminal acts
Occ. Pal. 13 June — Yesterday this happened: A candle light vigil for Mahmoud Sarsak in front of the Israeli embassy was terminated within 20 minutes. By the police. As it seems tweeps on the ground now have been ordered to put their cameras away for photographing the candles and banners would pose a security risk! Well well, Israeli apartheid has been exported to the UK apparently. Cameras and eyes, became more dangerous than a weapon nowadays, for it conveys you truth? http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/london-bans-cameras-at-candle-light-vigil-for-mahmoudsarsak-accuses-activists-of-criminal-acts/

JCantona backs campaign for release of Palestinian footballer
AFP 12 June — French football icon Eric Cantona on Tuesday joined in calls for the release of Palestinian footballer Mahmud Sarsak, who is on hunger strike in an Israeli prison. In a letter sent to British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson and UEFA President Michel Platini, the former Manchester United forward said Israel should be subjected to the same scrutiny faced by Euro 2012 hosts Poland and Ukraine. Left-wing critic Noam Chomsky and film director Ken Loach were also among those who signed the letter.
Sarsak, 25, was detained in 2009 after setting out from Gaza to sign on with a West Bank football team. Three years later, the athlete is in an Israeli prison clinic after spending more than 80 days without eating in protest at his being held without charge.
http://news.yahoo.com/cantona-backs-campaign-release-palestinian-footballer-230107423–sow.html

IDF suspends officer filmed firing live ammunition at Palestinian protesters
[with video] Haaretz 12 June — The incident took place in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh; Video appears to indicate that officer’s life was not in danger. An IDF officer was documented ten days ago hurling rocks and firing live ammunition at Palestinian demonstrators near the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. In the video, shot by village resident Bilel Tamimi, the officer is seen throwing rocks at two young Palestinian men who are also hurling rocks at him. Later the officer is seen firing in their direction. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit released a statement, stating that “an initial investigation found that live ammunition was used in the incident. The firing officer has been suspended until the investigation is completed.” The video, uploaded to Youtube, clearly shows clouds of dust rising from the area where the bullets struck, near the Palestinian men.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-suspends-officer-filmed-firing-live-ammunition-at-palestinian-protesters-1.436009?localLinksEnabled=false

– PA

PA security launches a broad summonses campaign in al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 12 June — The PA security apparatus summoned more than 20 citizens from cadres and supporters of Hamas for interrogation in the villages and towns of the district of al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank. The Preventive Security Service summoned a liberated captive and four other citizens, one of them had been dismissed from his job as a teacher, from al-Khalil city and Samu town, while another one had been summoned by the intelligence service. Meanwhile, the Preventive Security apparatus and the intelligence service summoned 13 other citizens from Yatta including four who were dismissed from their jobs on the backdrop of political affiliation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7TbfvfXajw0b4IOQavoYNHHo3NZShBy9amRiGfJvCbQ%2fAy5eJNiF105LAFXAglD4U8el7MFRKSPE%2b2fhbMd7GKmTE2iI9mmN3L3js4108%2fpA%3d

Qalqiliya court jails man for 6 years for treason
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 12 June — A West Bank court on Tuesday sentenced a 24-year-old man from Azzun village near Qalqiliya to six years in jail after he was found guilty of treason. The Qalqiliya court of first instance found the man was in contact with an Israeli employer in 2010 who secured him a permit to enter Israel. The employer later emerged to be an Israeli intelligence officer who pressured the defendant to work for Israeli intelligence by threatening to reveal private photos of him, according to the court.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494688

PA security detains Nablus municipal official
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 June — …Mayor of Nablus Adli Yaish confirmed that Ayman al-Rabba, the municipality’s engineer in charge of issuing construction licenses, had been arrested by PA forces. PA security officials declined to comment on the reason for al-Rabba’s detention, saying that he was still under interrogation … The preventive security service is ordinarily tasked with investigating suspected breaches of national security. In Nablus, as well as neighboring Jenin, Palestinian security services are going through an internal purge as officials vow to weed out corruption and illegality in their ranks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494894

Political & economic news

Fatah official: Israeli govt’s settler push renews UN option
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 June — A Fatah official warned on Tuesday that the Israeli government is working for the interests of settlers, leaving the Palestinian Authority in an impasse that pushes UN membership to the fore again.  Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud al-Aloul told Ma‘an that the cabinet led by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu did not show any interest in negotiations, but is dominated by pushing settlement activities. Meanwhile, al-Aloul said the ruling West Bank party’s position remains unchanged, that negotiations cannot be resumed until Israel commits to stop settlement expansion. Amid the impasse, the Fatah central committee is considering going again to the United Nations to seek Palestinian membership, he said. The Palestinian Authority is under huge pressure not to go down this path, Al-Aloul said, adding that the US had threatened to impose sanctions if they continue to pursue membership of international organizations. The United States cut off funding to Palestinians last year after Abbas made a bid for recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations Security Council.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494884

Party leaders to hold unity talks in Cairo
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 June — Palestinian leaders will meet in Cairo early next week to resume reconciliation talks, Fatah official Ashraf Joma said Wednesday. Moussa Abu Marzouq, deputy chief of Hamas’ politburo, and Azzam Ahmad, the head of Fatah’s reconciliation delegation and Egyptian intelligence officials will attend the meeting, Joma told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495092

Minister: PA will borrow from banks if necessary
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 12 June — The Palestinian Authority will start talks with the private sector, and still has bank funds available to cover its financial crisis, the newly-appointed PA minister of economy Jawad Naji said Monday … The minister assured that public sector staff salaries would be paid on time in the coming months, while underlining the seriousness of the crisis and urging Arab and international donor to fulfill aid pledges to the PA. The IMF says the aid-dependent Palestinian economy has entered a “difficult phase” with a severe liquidity crunch worsening since last year due to a drop in aid from Western backers and wealthy Gulf states and Israeli restrictions on trade.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494615

Racism / Discrimination

Hunting South Sudanese on the streets of Eilat / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 13 June — More than a few residents cheered the cruising van, cursed its victims — Turjuk sat in the back seat of a van belonging to the Population and Immigration Authority. He sat silently, but his furrowed face spoke of pain and anguish, even though, when asked, he said “everything’s fine.” He looked back at the house that had been his home for the last five years: He will never see it again. Nor will he ever see his friends and neighbors from that apartment building crowded with migrants. And he knows it. In the trunk of the van lie all his worldly possessions: one suitcase, packed well in advance, including a wool blanket against the Sudanese cold … The agents’ keen eyes don’t miss a single African. They know how to tell an Eritrean from a Sudanese, but not a South Sudanese from the northern variety, who can’t be deported. We stopped dozens of times for the armed agents to jump out with their handcuffs, but time and again, they were disappointed: These Africans were the kind who can’t be deported. One was even an Ethiopian Israeli. How embarrassing.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/hunting-south-sudanese-on-the-streets-of-eilat.premium-1.436027

Hiding in fear and nowhere to run for Israel’s South Sudanese after deportation rulings
Daily Star 13 June — TEL AVIV: Abraham Alu, a 35-year-old asylum seeker from South Sudan, hasn’t left his apartment in south Tel Aviv for five days. He has run out of money and food. But he is too scared of the immigration police to venture further than the courtyard. Alu used to sell plastic work boots on a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in south Tel Aviv but he stopped last Thursday, immediately after an Israeli court effectively ruled to deport South Sudanese nationals. Although the state promised to give the South Sudanese community a week to leave of their own free will, police started rounding them up just three days later.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jun-14/176762-hiding-in-fear-and-nowhere-to-run-for-israels-south-sudanese-after-deportation-rulings.ashx#axzz1xiRLbBsB

South Sudanese child abuse victims face deportation
972mag 13 June — Among the hundreds of South Sudanese slated for deportation is a group of children who have been removed from their parents’ custody due to severe domestic violence. The authorities have not taken steps to ensure their protection, and they risk not only immediate deportation, but a forced return to abusive families.
http://972mag.com/south-sudanese-child-abuse-victims-face-deportation-with-families/48223/

Israel to fly out first S. Sudan deportees on Sunday
AFP 13 June — Israel is to fly a first planeload of South Sudanese deportees home on Sunday with more expected to follow later in the week, a spokeswoman for the Population and Migration Authority said. “We have about 150 so far (for Sunday’s flight),” Sabine Hadad told AFP on Wednesday. “We want more planes (to go) during the week.” On Tuesday, the authorities arrested 100 illegal immigrants, while another 300 people agreed to be repatriated voluntarily, she said, without saying which countries they were from. She had no updated figures for Wednesday morning’s raids.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-fly-first-sudan-deportees-sunday-073857066.html

South Sudan delegation to coordinate migrants’ departure
Ynet 13 June — A delegation of South Sudan senior officials is slated to arrive in Israel in the coming days in the backdrop of the deportation of citizens of the African country from Israel. The Foreign Ministry confirmed that the officials will coordinate the departure of 1,500 of South Sudan’s citizens currently staying in Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4241835,00.html

House of Wheels rolls over neighbor’s prejudice
Haaretz 13 June — A new NGO serving disabled residents recently opened in Herzliya Pituah despite opposition from neighbors … For more than six years, a forceful and vocal residents’ group held up construction of the group home planned by the organization that helps children and adults who suffer from cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other physically disabling illnesses. Neighbors raised various objections to the Herzliya Municipality’s decision to lease the NGO a plot located in the heart of villaland. They said a public structure of this type would bring down property values, but underneath the legal wrangling lay a nasty subtext: a refusal to recognize the right of disabled people to live in the community.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/house-of-wheels-rolls-over-neighbors-prejudice.premium-1.436063

Other news

New information reveals that most Israeli charities exempt from disclosing donors’ names are right-wing or ultra-Orthodox
Haaretz 12 June — A petition initiated by the Movement for Freedom of Information (Meida) led to the discovery that over the last two years, the Justice Ministry’s Registrar of Charities granted special privileges to 16 charity organizations, allowing them not to publish names of donors.  The movement petitioned the government for a list of charity organizations that received such special privileges, and the reasons behind them … For reasons yet unknown, the organization which sparked the petition, the Ir David foundation, is not on the list released by the government. The Ir David Foundation, which manages the City of David national park, and works to settle Jews in East Jerusalem, has been exempt from identifying donors for many years.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/new-information-reveals-most-israeli-charities-exempt-from-disclosing-donors-names-are-right-wing-or-ultra-orthodox.premium-1.436004?localLinksEnabled=false

Analysis / Opinion

The specter of Palestinian unity is haunting Netanyahu / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 12 June — At the end of the month, inshallah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the head of Hamas’ political desk, Khaled Meshal, will launch a temporary Palestinian unity government. Until that time, Egypt will continue to assist the two in creating a list of ministers unsullied by any connections with Hamas, to serve in that temporary government. Meshal will announce that Hamas has agreed to allow Abbas to serve as acting head of government until the temporary government expires, and new elections are held for the presidency and parliament.
Meshal won’t utter a single word about the most important part of the accord: Hamas has silently acquiesced to the fact that the new government will continue cooperating with Israel on security. In this way, it has cleared the path for recognition of the PA’s authority over the occupied territory by the United States and other countries that contribute financially to the new government.
The return of Gaza to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority paves the way to an officially recognized Palestinian state.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-specter-of-palestinian-unity-is-haunting-netanyahu.premium-1.435815

Palestinian Authority clamps down on militants but Israel turns a blind eye
Haaretz 12 June — Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff return with their newly relaunched blog to explore the Mideast conflict, primarily from a security-diplomatic perspective; in his latest post, Issacharoff discusses why it is easier for Israel to claim there is ‘no partner’ even as the PA takes significant steps against insurgents …
In recent years, Israel has claimed that although the PA combats Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it is not doing enough to clear the Fatah ranks of insurgents. But in recent weeks, even this claim has proved inaccurate: The PA is clamping down on its own people — Fatah members, intelligence officers — and no one in Israel is interested. There is no doubt the right wing will continue to use the “no partner” slogan to cross out any possibility of — God forbid — a political agreement with the Palestinians.
What is absurd is that the PA’s actions are construed by Israel to mean that nothing is urgent on the Palestinian front; the security situation has never been better, so why hurry? Why freeze settlement construction or launch a wide-ranging political initiative?
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/palestinian-authority-clamps-down-on-militants-but-israel-turns-a-blind-eye.premium-1.435992?localLinksEnabled=false

The warnings we should be hearing / Amira Hass
Haaretz 13 June — Warnings should go to Israelis who are planning this summer’s protests; experts should not warn Israelis about the dangers of burning down of a mosque, but rather, the dangers of their government … Our domination of the expanse manifests itself in fences and walls, a complex network of movement permits and prohibitions and blocked roads. These, together with control over population registration, have created the policy of closure. Its essence: freedom of movement, marriage, work and residence for Jews (“the white man,” as our Interior Minister Eli Yishai said ) throughout the country. For the Palestinians there is separation, isolation, concentration and a stranglehold. The sum total of all this is the lie of the democratic state and the truth of the Jewish state. As opposed to what we might have reasonably expected, all this has still not been enough to spark an uprising. Perhaps because the first two intifadas only led to the perfection of Israel’s system of lies and domination … This is precisely the reason that right-wing groups have an interest in upgrading the reasons for a third intifada, namely, introducing an apocalyptic-religious element to it. Not because they want an intifada, but because they want to suppress it..
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-warnings-we-should-be-hearing-1.436061

Drafting them in kindergarten / Or Kashti
Haaretz 12 June — Schools were not designed to prepare future soldiers, certainly not to encourage them to enlist without asking questions about the 1967 war and about the Israeli military solution to the Iranian problem … It begins in kindergarten, when one day the parents are asked to prepare a package of goodies and to help to draw greetings for the soldiers of the Duvdevan elite undercover unit who have adopted the kindergarten. Miraculously, even if it was done without awareness, the request/order came during the weeks of Passover and Holocaust Remembrance Day, of Memorial Day and Independence Day, a period full of days of majesty, which for the children ended up in a mixture of Pharoah, Hitler, fireworks and “the people who died for the country because of the Arabs who wanted to expel the Jews,” as my four-year-old daughter once told me. The militarism in Israeli society is reflected not only among the gang of Sayeret Matkal elite commando graduates that dominates the country, but also on the everyday level, ostensibly banal and unthreatening, like the adoption of kindergartens by army units, or a brief holiday visit to Israel Defense Forces bases.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/drafting-them-in-kindergarten.premium-1.435811

Occupation double-speak / Michael Sfard
Haaretz 12 June — Zionism’s amazing revival of the Hebrew language has morphed into an insidious instrument of repression — We are now marking the 45th anniversary of the largest national project in our young country’s history: the suppression of millions of peoples’ longing for independence and freedom … the Hebrew language has also been mobilized by decree of national emergency. It has been tasked with providing a soothing, anesthetizing name for the entire project of suffocation, for the blanket system of theft we have imposed on those we occupy. Hebrew has risen to the challenge, showing the creativity and flexibility of a language that has been called to duty. Thus extrajudicial executions have become ‘targeted assassinations’. Torture has been dubbed ‘moderate physical pressure’. Expulsion to Gaza has been renamed ‘assigning a place of residence’. The theft of privately owned land has become ‘declaring the land state-owned’. Collective punishment is ‘leveraging civilians’; and collective punishment by blockade is a ‘siege’, ‘closure’ or ‘separation’.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/occupation-double-speak.premium-1.435982

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