Deeming him ‘threat to state security’, Israel bans Addameer founder from travel abroad
EI 10 Aug by Ali Abunimah — In a move that can only be seen as retaliation for the organization’s effectiveness in challenging Israeli abuses, Israel has imposed an international travel ban on Abdullatif Ghaith, the chair and one of the founders of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. Over recent months, as Palestinian prisoners have staged a wave of hunger strikes forcing Israel to make concessions toward their rights, Addameer has played a key role visiting, liaising with and supporting the prisoners and getting information out to the world. Ghaith, 71, is a prominent human rights defender, activist, and is himself a former “administrative detainee” held repeatedly by Israeli occupation forces without charge or trial.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/deeming-him-threat-state-security-israel-bans-addameer-founder-travel-abroad
Pro-Palestinian activists to attempt ‘flytilla’ to West Bank via Jordan
PNN 14 Aug — Pro-Palestinian activists from the Welcome to Palestine/Bienvenue en Palestine group have said that they are planning to try to enter the West Bank from Jordan next week, after the group’s previous ‘flytillas’ were either prevented from flying by their airlines or blocked from entering Israel at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport in July 2011 and April 2012. The activists, who currently number 104 men, women and children from several European countries and the US, will fly into Amman on the 24th August. They then plan to cross into the West Bank on the 26th August via the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge land border crossing, the group said in a statement on Tuesday 14th August. A spokesperson for the group said that they will be travelling into the West Bank at the invitation of the Governor of Bethlehem, Abed Al-Fatah Hamayel, and will be bringing stationery for Palestinian children who will be starting school again at the start of a new academic year.
Following the turning away of hundreds of activists from Israel during the previous ‘flytillas’ Greg Roman, Deputy Director of the Gloria Centre in Herzliya in Israel, and a former political advisor to the Knesset told Al Jazeera’s ‘Inside Story’, “If they wanted to go to the area which I hope will one day be Palestine…they could have entered through the Rafah crossing in Gaza…or the Allenby Bridge…there were alternatives.” In the statement to PNN, the spokesperson said that they would be using the Jordan land crossing “as recommended” by Israeli officials.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/2461-pro-palestinian-activists-to-attempt-flytilla-to-west-bank-via-jordan
Israel’s restrictions prevent Palestinians from praying at al-Aqsa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 14 Aug — The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) prevented on Tuesday male citizens from the West Bank who are under the age of forty from entering the city of Jerusalem to mark Laylat al-Qadr at the Aqsa mosque. A spokeswoman for the Israeli police said that the police will enhance presence in the holy city and will allow only men over the age of forty to enter the mosque, noting that it will allow children under the age of 12 years and women, of all ages, to enter al-Aqsa Mosque. She added: “Thousands of policemen will be deployed all over the eastern part of Jerusalem, including the alleyways, the crossing points and the roads leading to the town and the Old City.” For his part, Director of the Jerusalem Waqf, Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, told French news agency AFP: “We expect that the number of Muslims who will flock to al-Aqsa Mosque tonight will exceed 300 thousand Muslims.”
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s72sfhujgOsMXI50ai6G7cJmIvivAQG31%2fYGj4g%2fugddUyzq7S8Q9qMxZ2IHHarwwkNG68HzgGIO0tXKc0s%2fe9JXhvCVXPgMLSiztsALmz5q8%3d
Contesting history: a tale of two Tekoas
TUQU‘, Bethlehem (Ma‘an) 13 Aug by Brandon Davis — The Gush Herodion Development Corporation has big plans for Tekoa. Already boasting a pizza parlor, a swimming pool and a horse ranch, this idyllic “Jewish village” of approximately 1,600 will soon add six new buildings with eight “spacious” apartments each, designed by the architect Jacques Gabay. In addition to the modern facilities, Tekoa is home to some of Israel’s most precious archaeological heritage — King Herod’s winter palace and, allegedly, his tomb. The first-century ruins sit on a plateau rising above Tekoa in the north, on the way to the holy city of Jerusalem …
What Gush Herodion does not say is that this “Jewish village” — which takes its name from a town mentioned in the Book of Amos – is more commonly referred to as an illegal Israeli settlement, established in 1977 deep within the West Bank in the Gush Etzion block. According to a 2009 report by Peace Now, more than 10 percent of the settlement is built on privately owned Palestinian land. Neighboring Tuqu‘ — the Arabic version of the same name from the Book of Amos — is less glamorous, and their Jewish neighbors have not made life any easier.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511394
Ethnic cleansing on the road to an Israeli colony
[with photos] ISM 15 Aug by ‘Marshall Pinkerton’ — For the past four years, Khalid al-Sanih Daraghani and his family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan, 2 kilometers south of the West Bank village al-Luban. When Khalid bought the two homes on the road to the illegal Ma’ale Levona settlement 5 years ago, he imagined restoring them and planting the 20 dunums of land that they sit on. Today, the two houses sit with the insides burned and gutted, without doors or windows, and under constant threat of further attacks. Only Khalid is left to protect them, as he has moved his family to another home for their safety. The move was especially motivated to protest his two eldest sons, who have been unjustly arrested several times, simply for being present on their own property. Five years ago, Khalid purchased the two buildings from his cousin believing that he could restore them and turn the property into a paradise. “I sold everything to buy this property,” says Khalid, “including my family gold.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/08/ethnic-cleansing-on-the-road-to-an-israeli-colony/
Committee: Israeli forces uproot land in Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — Israeli bulldozers uprooted agricultural land in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader on Monday, a local committee said. Ahmad Salah, spokesman for the local committee against the wall and settlements, told Ma’an that five dunams of private Palestinian land were leveled in al-Absiyya, near the settlement of Elazar. Olive trees and a well belonging to Riziq Muhammad Hussein Salah were also destroyed.
Settlers led by a female leader then stole several uprooted olive trees and took them away in trucks, Salah said. “Her name is Nadia Matar, the founder of the settler group known as Women in Green. This group maintains that all hills in the Etzion area must be under settler control to build religious schools and parks,” he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512246
Occupation allows settlers to use water pond registered as Islamic Waqf
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 13 Aug — The Israeli occupation army allowed Jewish settlers to use a water pond in the area of Tel Rumeida, in the center of al-Khalil province, although it is registered as an Islamic endowment. Youth against Settlement group said in a statement on Sunday that the occupation army issued a decision preventing Palestinians from using the new spring of water in Tel Rumeida during Fridays and Saturdays, while allowing the settlers to daily use it without any restrictions. For his part, the Director of Endowments in al-Khalil, Zaid Al-Jabari asserted in press statements that the new spring of water and water ponds in Tel Rumeida have been registered as Islamic endowments. He also noted that the new spring of water, which has an area of 55 square meters, has been exposed to continuous attacks as the settlers have been trying to control it through construction and expansion processes for a long time.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7HCGtunJIoNfb3jhN1zI6HJbteTRkcQu4avJRygDag9g8OmMzP9vol4JasFAjQPglKxMi7tXD%2bKpd7qYXBFMvprfsEtEgfK8mVzH6MllMBzE%3d
Video — The Earth Project: Desert Oasis
[5:12 minutes] Tuba, West Bank by Harvey Stein – Activists bring renewable energy to remote Palestinian villages – A project called Community, Energy, and Technology in the Middle East has built solar panels and wind turbines for isolated West Bank settlements, providing electricity to some 2,000 Palestinians. [Supported by the people themselves and by European NGOs. But the villages are now threatened with destruction]
http://www.globalpost.com/video/5715751/the-earth-project-desert-oasis
Palestinians fear new Israeli moves in West Bank
NPR 14 Aug — Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen for almost two years. But Palestinians say that doesn’t mean events aren’t happening on the ground. Recently, the Israeli military issued orders calling for evacuation and demolition of nearly a dozen Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians see this as evidence of Israeli plans to annex the territory, though Israel denies this.
Palestinian Ismael el-Adrah, 67, is a shrunken man with a snow-white beard and a bright blue shirt, who is unusually dapper for a farmer in the remote Hebron hills. He lives in a collection of tin-roofed shacks, tents and concrete homes with his four wives, 33 children and 150 sheep. Scattered nearby are other villages similar to this one, all of them under threat of evacuation and demolition … Most Jewish settlements in the West Bank are located in Area C, and Israel restricts Palestinian building in these areas. Abdul Aziz Abu Fanar works in the nearby Hebron municipal center of Yatta. He says the Israelis’ actions in Area C indicate strongly that they want to annex it. It’s a suspicion that has only been fueled by recent statements from right-wing leaders in Israel who have come out publicly in support of such a plan. “The idea is to apply Israeli sovereignty and law on the Israeli-controlled areas, so it becomes Israel,” says Naftali Bennett, a former adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an advocate of the settlements.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/14/158713251/palestinians-fear-new-israeli-moves-in-west-bank?ft=1&f=3
Israel’s High Court okays construction on site of Muslim graves in Tel Aviv
[with photo of skeleton] Haaretz 13 Aug — High Court of Justice rejects petition against construction of student dorms, despite the fact that the site contains what appear to be Muslim graves from the Ottoman period … Judge Uri Shoham ruled that the construction works at the site did not harm in any serious way, if at all, the right to protect the dignity of the dead, and do not justify halting work on the project … Until 1948, the area on which the project is being built belonged to the Palestinian village of Sheikh Munis. Later, the university was built around the site.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-s-high-court-okays-construction-on-site-of-muslim-graves-in-tel-aviv.premium-1.458003
Israeli policies for Jerusalem ‘require a firmer Islamic response’
MEMO 14 Aug — King Abdullah of Jordan has said that the challenges facing the city of Jerusalem, including Israel’s attempts to impose a new demographic reality, require an active and firm Islamic stance to meet them. Speaking to the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz while attending the Islamic summit in Makkah, the Jordanian head of state said, “The thing we are concerned about most, in light of the current impasse, is what the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, is facing and what our people there are facing by way of Israel’s unilateral measures that threaten the identity and features of the city. These measures are attempts to impose a new reality on the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa, in addition to the continuing Judaisation and population displacement operations.” He added that Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied city require a unified Islamic response, one that is more assertive and effective.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4150-israeli-policies-for-jerusalem-qrequire-a-firmer-islamic-responseq
Despite ban, PLO leaders host Ramadan event in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — PLO leaders hosted a Ramadan event in east Jerusalem late Monday, in the first official Palestinian gathering in the 18 years since Israel imposed a ban on such activities in the holy city. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO leader, and Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Authority governor of Jerusalem, hosted the Iftar meal and briefed diplomats on a bid to join the United Nations in the coming months … Ashrawi told reporters that the continued closure of institutions like the Chamber of Commerce and the former headquarters of the Palestinian negotiating team prejudged the fate of Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital …
US diplomats were not present at the Iftar but every Jerusalem-based representative from Latin America, Asia and Africa who was in town attended, a Palestinian official told Ma‘an. Each European Union member state also sent an envoy with the exception of a few smaller delegations, the official said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512368
PM greets ‘protectors of Jewish future’ at airport
Ynet 14 Aug — This summer’s second charter aliyah flight from the US arrived on Tuesday, bringing some 350 new olim to Israel – including 127 young men and women who will be joining the IDF. The special Nefesh B’Nefesh – FIDF flight was organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish National Fund and Tzofim Garin Tzabar. The newcomers are among over 4,800 American, Canadian and British Jews making aliyah this year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268478,00.html
State mandates schools to teach Zionist values
Ynet 13 Aug — The Education Ministry has instructed teachers across the country to put an emphasis on Zionism during the upcoming school year. Schools have been mandated to focus on Israel’s national anthem and symbols in order to instill Jewish and democratic values in students.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4267838,00.html
Violence / Raids / Arrests / Resistance
Nabi Saleh: ‘The resistance is for our kids’ future’
ISM 15 Aug by ‘Markus Fitzgerald’ — On the evening of July 26, social media lit up with messages from residents of the village Nabi Saleh. “Four army jeeps and around 20 soldiers standing at the entrance,” tweeted Manal Tamimi, and later, “for the third day (in a [row]) the army invading the village before eftar.”
Since late 2010, Nabi Saleh has been raided regularly by Israeli forces, and the religious month of Ramadan is no exception. The long awaited eftar meal brings relief to the fasting people. In the little village, only a 15 minute drive northwest of Ramallah, eftar often arrives with uninvited guests. The reasons for these punitive raids must be found in late 2009 when people from Nabi Saleh and nearby villages organized to protest the occupation and the illegal settlements. In July 2008, Inhabitants of the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish, some 700 metres from Nabi Saleh, began using Al-Qaws spring for recreational purposes. For Palestinians in the area, the spring was a vital factor in farming the dry land, as well as for cultural and recreational purposes.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/08/nabi-saleh-the-resistance-is-for-our-kids-future/
Israeli forces arrest 4 in northern West Bank
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) 14 Aug — Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians overnight Monday and early Tuesday, Israel’s army and Palestinian officials said. One person was detained in Burqin, near Jenin, and three in Qalqiliya, an Israeli army spokeswoman said. A Fatah official in Qalqiliya said that military forces raided the city in the early morning hours, detaining Rashid Muhammad Obeid, 18, Alaa Amer, 26, and Moawyeh, 21.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512413
IOF soldiers round up five Palestinians
NABLUS (PIC) 13 Aug — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up five Palestinian citizens over the past 24 hours in various West Bank areas, local sources said on Monday. Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers arrested four young men at a roadblock installed to the south of Tulkarem on Monday night. They said that IOF patrols searched vehicles passing along Kufriyat road and scrutinized IDs before taking away the four youths who were traveling together in one car.
In Nablus, IOF soldiers stormed the city at dawn Monday and arrested a 30-year-old man after searching his home.
Meanwhile, other IOF units closed on Monday morning the road connecting ten villages to the north west of occupied Jerusalem to Ramallah at security pretexts.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7qv6jQ5DsIvua4WxPXHB2%2fYJiOggxQHTfTkgKs7lI1lOe4GLhqISF24vIcF3UgkoihxdVqrK1AUDahzTq56jEL9DDGVKFs9R7xuwri9WFfHE%3d
IOF soldiers arrest son of Hamas MP
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 14 Aug — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested the son of Hamas MP Basem Al-Z’arir on his way back home from a visit to Jordan on Monday evening. The MP told the PIC reporter that the soldiers detained his eldest son Ahmed, 27, on crossing the bridge between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, adding that his son was on his way back home in Samu village, Al-Khalil province. He said that the family waited for him until a late night hour on Monday but only on Tuesday morning they received a phone call informing them that Ahmed was held in Jalama detention center for interrogation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7wJvkMtWPgV7KhbKcFitRhMIoZNioE4CtuqZCWrJvJ87XvQQXiOOTKuQeqp6fgeGRdL9l%2f0Wt2RV9Iwz5j7iPtBiViAIH%2bHAJE9cwLCMvwWE%3d
IOF kidnap another Khalil university student
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 13 Aug — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped at dawn Monday one of Al-Khalil university students named Abdulhadi Musalma after a raid on his house in Dura town. Musalma was one of the Islamic bloc students who participated in the sit-in and the hunger strike inside Al-Khalil university to protest the arbitrary arrests waged against them by the Palestinian Authority security forces. The PA security apparatuses lately pledged in writing to stop its arrest campaign against the students of Al-Khalil university, but later they violated their agreement by detaining a number of them and asking their Israeli counterparts to kidnap them from their homes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Eldb2Vx5bwJGPbgRQmo6gNaO5FzRdWyQaR%2fl45f8dTa6J58tcb9ndYw387txe1TB%2fOakEJUKKK1h1SMpcgsOPQsPy4XppHcVQUorToHDa40%3d
Israeli police arrest two Arab youth in Tel Aviv
PNN — On Tuesday, 14th August, Israeli police arrested last night, two Arab youths in Tel Aviv. The police claimed that two Arab youths broke into a military base belonged to the Israeli Air Force, north of Tel Aviv. No more details regarding this incident were reported.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2458-israeli-police-arrests-two-arab-youths-in-tel-aviv
Mayor of Hebron condemns the Israeli violations against the Palestinian children
PNN 14 Aug — The mayor of Hebron, Kamil Hameed, condemned the daily Israeli violations committed by the occupant army and the settlers against the citizens in all towns, villages and camps of refugees in the province of Hebron. In a statement to PNN, Hameed condemned the attack against the child Tareq Abu Rmela, 10 years old, who was wounded by the circular gates and the barbed wire at the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the old town. Moreover, Hameed deplored the inhuman behavior of the occupant soldiers who didn’t provide the first aide for the child
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2453-mayor-of-hebron-condemns-the-israeli-violations-against-the-palestinian-children
PA security summonses Hamas cadres in Al-Khalil and Nablus
WEST BANK (PIC) 14 Aug — The Palestinian Authority security agencies summoned during the last two days a number of Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas Movement in Al-Khalil and Nablus cities. In Al-Khalil, the PA preventive security apparatus summoned for interrogation four Palestinian citizens who had already been detained either in Israeli or PA jails. In Yatta south of Al-Khalil, the preventive security summoned Ma’an Rabaei, 16, and Malek Rabba‘a, 21, the nephews of Hamas lawmaker Khalil Rabaei, in addition to another 17-year-old boy and interrogated them about the people who visit and contact MP Rabaei. All the boys were threatened by PA interrogators that they would be imprisoned if they did not cooperate and inform the preventive apparatus regularly about the relations and contacts of MP Rabaei.
The preventive security also summoned three ex-detainees in Israeli jails from Bani Na‘im village east of Al-Khalil, namely, Ismail Ballut, Yousuf Manasra and Khaled Zaidat.
In another incident, a reliable source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that interrogators from the PA preventive security lately tortured without mercy Hamas detainees in a jail in Tubas city, north of the West Bank. The source said the detainees were exposed to different methods of torture including hanging them from their hands for long hours and beating them all over their bodies
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s73BD7jcoURzgk4qs0ndzR6Pk7RxUgMjXBMhaG62fwNp7AUUGfkFhvHbTHD63tVBAScQgUFkbSft%2b6O2X1RhB5ON1IfiVk6WLh11Fwecp9NIE%3d
Gaza
Frustrated Hamas seeks light at end of Egyptian tunnel
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 13 Aug — Hamas, stunned by Egypt’s closure of its border with Gaza, said on Monday the new Islamist leadership in Cairo was imposing the same pain on the Palestinian enclave as ousted former president, Hosni Mubarak … Hamas believed Mursi would usher in a new period of harmony between Gaza and Cairo, but that has yet to materialize because of strategic considerations involving Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel and related military aid from the United States.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512331
Egypt expects first Qatar payment this week
Al Akhbar 13 Aug — Qatar should deposit $500 million in Egypt’s central bank within a week, the Egyptian finance minister said, as the country battles to pull its economy out of a tailspin after 18 months of political turmoil. The Gulf emirate said on Saturday it would deposit $2 billion in all. Speaking on Sunday, Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Saeed said officials had also discussed with a Libyan delegation that Tripoli might support Egypt’s depleted finances.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-expects-first-qatar-payment-week
Gaza residents ‘stranded abroad’ as Egypt denies visas
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — A number of Palestinians say they are stranded abroad because Egypt has denied them transit visas to return to Gaza. Palestinians in Lebanon, Turkey, Libya and Kenya have contacted Ma‘an, saying they were refused Egyptian visas … Salim, who is in Istanbul, told Ma‘an the Egyptian consulate said it had been instructed by the Egyptian government to stop issuing visas to Palestinians. Another Palestinian, who asked not to be identified but is also in Istanbul, said an employee of the Egyptian consulate told him he would not be given a visa “because the Palestinians killed Egyptian soldiers in Sinai.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512464
Egypt detains 3 Palestinians at Sinai tunnels
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — Egyptian security forces on Monday detained three Palestinians as they tried to return to the Gaza Strip via tunnels under the border in northern Sinai, officials said. Security sources in Rafah told Ma‘an the group had entered Egypt via the smuggling tunnel network, and were captured while trying to get back to Gaza. After gunmen killed 16 Egyptian border guards on Sunday, Egypt closed its border with the Gaza Strip and sealed smuggling tunnels that provide a lifeline to the besieged territory.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512166
Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing for three days
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Egyptian authorities have decided to open the Rafah crossing for three days from Tuesday, a Gaza official said Monday. Ayoub Abu Shaar, Gaza director of the Rafah crossing, told Ma‘an that Egyptian authorities officially informed the Palestinian side that the border crossing will be re-opened in both directions on Tuesday for three days. Medical patients, students, visa holders and those with other humanitarian reasons will be able to cross. Mahir Abu Sabha, director of crossings in the the Hamas-run government, told Ma‘an on Monday that Egyptian authorities had promised to reopen the Rafah crossing for the Eid al-Fitr holiday expected to take place this weekend.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512389
Ansar 3 aid convoy heads to Gaza in September
AMMAN (PIC) 14 Aug — The Jordanian Lifeline Committee confirmed that Ansar 3 aid convey will head to Gaza at the end of September accompanied with necessary medical supplies for the people of Gaza. The coordinator of the convoy, Kifah Amayreh, said in a statement on Monday that the convoy collected donations to provide the needed medical supplies according to a list supplied by the health authorities in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7V%2bSCB6744E0HNIpOFYmH3SDsg%2fUY2SjA6sYsIv43Uzh4vHhOdQmwtbu3hm%2fYsQ78WLNhxMxIZC0jWk32Fs6HrYMTqirWZOsPU0oMfjxGp4c%3d
Detainees / Deportees / Court actions
Fifth batch of Gaza families allowed to visit their relatives
GAZA (PIC) 13 Aug — Wa‘ed society for detainees and ex-detainees said the fifth batch of Gaza families were able to go on Monday morning to visit their relatives in Ramon jail. Spokesman for the society Abdullah Qendil told the Palestinian information center (PIC) 55 out of 80 Gazans were allowed to visit their relatives after six years of an Israeli ban on visits from Gaza. Qendil said the Israeli regime only allows a small number of families to visit their relatives every time. Until this moment, he said, about 70 Gazan prisoners were allowed to see their families. He added that some families are informed about the visit date a few hours before the buses leave and they are exposed to humiliating search and measures by the Israeli occupation forces before they go to the prison.The spokesman affirmed that the prisoners in Ramon jail meet their relatives in a very tight place provided with thick glass barriers separating them from their families in addition to malfunctioning communication devices to make it hard for them to communicate.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7cOG2xRkez46ib%2bKYjtoSu3eaaJBGwXH1WCQt1sY%2fI1bvlgobqq0wTbOKcMfc%2bDb0cThjUMDR%2fawwLebanghld%2foyKjFnzEvw7hk%2fnnTpoMY%3d
Hunger strikers ill-treated by prison guards
Amnesty International 10 Aug — Administrative detainees Hassan Safadi and Samer al-Barq have been on hunger strike since 21 June and 22 May 2012 respectively. They have reportedly been repeatedly ill-treated by Israeli Prison Service (IPS) guards since 30 July. Their health was assessed by an independent doctor on 2 August and they need long-term specialized medical treatment which cannot be provided by the clinic in Ramleh prison. [They] have told their lawyers and a doctor who examined them that they were repeatedly beaten and verbally abused during searches of their room at the IPS Medical Centre in Ramleh. Samer al-Barq said he was also assaulted during a transfer to and from Ofer prison on 31 July. The two men were held together in a poorly ventilated small room where there is no space for their wheelchairs, which they need to use for reaching the toilet and other daily necessities. Their treatment seems to be deliberate harassment and humiliation by the IPS guards as punishment for their hunger strikes.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/047/2012/en/c4417158-179c-406b-9276-088d3b69052a/mde150472012en.html
Deportees urge Fayyad to help secure family visits
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Palestinians deported to Gaza by Israel in 2002 appealed to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to help secure permits for their families to visit them during Ramadan, a group spokesman told Ma‘an Tuesday. In 2002, Israel deported 26 Palestinians to Gaza after they took shelter in the Nativity Church during Israel’s siege on the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512460
Successful pregnancy and birth after insemination using smuggled sperm
MEMO 14 Aug — EXCLUSIVE PICTURES In what is believed to be the first successful artificial insemination of its kind, a Palestinian mother has given birth thanks to sperm smuggled out from her husband in an Israeli prison. New mother Dalal al-Zebn, the wife of prisoner Ammar al-Zebn who has been behind Israeli bars since 1998, gave birth earlier today (Monday). Mother and baby – a boy, Mohaned al-Taher – are both doing well. This is not the first time that prisoners’ relatives have smuggled sperm for the purpose of artificial insemination, but it is the first successful pregnancy and delivery.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4149-successful-pregnancy-and-birth-after-insemination-using-smuggled-sperm
Sentence of man who abused Palestinian youth exacerbated
Ynet 13 Aug — Zvi Stroke, who was convicted of the abuse of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy will serve 2.5 years in jail, not 18 months, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The court thus accepted the state’s appeal on Stroke’s original sentence, rendered by the Jerusalem District Court.
Stroke was convicted of the 2007 abduction and abuse of a Palestinian boy. According to the case file, Stroke, and another man, abducted the boy, took him to an abandoned field, stripped him naked and beat him severely. Once done, they abandoned him — bound and blindfolded — on the side of the road. He was eventually able to get loose and made his way to a nearby village from where he was rushed to a Nablus hospital.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268094,00.html
Rights group seeks to reopen files involving illegal Israel Police conduct in East Jerusalem
Haaretz 13 Aug — Questioning a 7-year-old child as a suspect or detaining him without his parents present is against the law. But that didn’t stop five masked policemen from bursting into the Abdal-Razak home in East Jerusalem in the middle of the night, looking for 7-year-old L., who was suspected of throwing stones. This is one of four cases against police actions in East Jerusalem that the Association for Civil Rights in Israel is appealing after the original files were closed due to lack of blame, lack of evidence or lack of public interest. During the May 2011 incident at their home, members of the Abdal-Razak family tried to prevent the boy’s arrest. The child’s aunt was shot in the leg by police wielding crowd-dispersal equipment, while L.’s father was hit with a rifle butt and his face was sprayed with pepper spray. L. himself suffered a hand injury. After the confrontation, the boy was taken alone to the police jeep, where he stayed for two hours while the policemen cruised around East Jerusalem. His mother, who tried to run after the vehicle, was not allowed to approach. Only after L. was brought to the lockup at the Russian Compound was she reunited with him.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/rights-group-seeks-to-reopen-files-involving-illegal-israel-police-conduct-in-east-jerusalem.premium-1.457741
Jail for rock throwing: A West Bank rite of passage
DHEISHEH REFUGEE CAMP, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 14 Aug — Umm Abdullah sits beneath a cross-stitched portrait of a keffiyeh-clad Palestinian youth holding a stone high in the air. Her sunny, crumbling apartment in Dheisheh refugee camp in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem is filled with the laughter of children and grandchildren — but two of her sons are missing. “The Israeli soldiers come in the night,” she says, staring at a faded photograph of a teenage boy. “They take our children.” Three of her seven children spent time in Israeli prisons on stone-throwing charges when they were minors. Two of them, now adults, are still behind bars. Her youngest, 20-year-old Abdullah, has been arrested three times — the first when he was 16. In Dheisheh, Umm Abdullah’s story is often the norm.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/14541050/jail-for-rock-throwing-a-west-bank-rite-of-passage/
Palestinian woman charged with aiding Islamic Jihad
Ynet 13 Aug – The Southern District Prosecution has indicted a Palestinian woman from the West Bank on charges of conspiracy to fund a terror group. Najah al-Qunawi, 49, was charged with having conspired with an Islamic Jihad operative to transfer funds to the terror group via a third party — a man residing in the Bedouin city of Rahat.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268065,00.html
Refugees
Palestinian camps in Lebanon: The displaced guests of a refugee host
Al Akhbar 13 Aug by Robert Abdallah — We are now nearing the end of the month of Ramadan. The faces of the residents of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp cannot belie their weariness. Their lips, dry throughout the days, cannot hope for more than water to quench their thirst, and their evenings lack the usual sumptuous meals of Ramadan. The market in Nahr al-Bared has not returned to normal activity, and the residents’ intermittent businesses and professions are not sufficient to cover the costs of an iftar meal. Faces have become even gloomier with the influx of the newly displaced individuals from Syria, from the Yarmouk refugee camp and elsewhere. The repercussions of the Syrian crisis, from its humanitarian and political dimensions and security-related implications, to the issue of Syrian refugees, are weighing heavily on Lebanon.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/palestinian-camps-lebanon-displaced-guests-refugee-host
Syria: Palestinians being drawn into the fight
BERLIN, 14 August 2012 (IRIN) – When mortar shells slammed into Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian camp, in early August, killing at least 20 people, many Palestinians in Syria saw it as a wake-up call. “It was the third time Yarmouk was attacked, but the casualty number has never been so high,” said a Palestinian activist who gave his name as Moh Abu Eyad. “The problem is that Yarmouk is so crowded. If you fire one bullet, you’ll hit three people.” As fighting in Syria intensifies, those trying to stay out of the conflict are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire. Many of the country’s half-million Palestinians say they may not be able to keep their camps from getting engulfed in the violence.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96103/SYRIA-Palestinians-being-drawn-into-the-fight
The effects of the revolution on Syria’s Palestinian refugee camps
MEMO 13 Aug by Majed Kayali — None of the Palestinian families in the Yarmouk refugee camp was expecting 21 to be killed and dozens of wounded as they broke their fast earlier in this month of Ramadan, but the mortar shells which hit them were not entirely unexpected either. After all, the camp and neighbouring area had been used by pro-Assad “Shabiha” gangs and snipers to kill passers-by, and eleven Palestinians had been killed by Syrian security forces during a peaceful demonstration to condemn massacres in Syria on July 13. From the very beginning, 16 months ago, Palestinian refugee camps decided not to take part in the Syrian revolution for several reasons: … So what happened? How did the Palestinian refugee camps get involved in the Syrian revolution? What is the real story behind the relationship between the camps and the revolution? Two things have to be considered: the collective involvement of the camps and individual involvement. It is clear that the camps adjacent to active cities were almost obliged to be involved because of their location. That’s what happened early on to the camps in Daraa, Latakia, Homs and Hama. In contrast, the refugee camps in Damascus and Aleppo were only gradually involved
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/4144-the-effects-of-the-revolution-on-syrias-palestinian-refugee-camps
Solidarity / BDS
EU declares Israeli city Modi’in not part of Israel; move may affect trade relations
IBT 14 Aug — The European Union declared Tuesday that parts of the Israeli city of Modi’in, population about 80,000, located in the center of Israel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, do not actually belong to Israel. The city used to be part of a buffer “no-man’s land” between Israel and the Jordanian-held West Bank that was dissolved after Israel conquered the region in the 1967 Six-Day War. The change in recognition is expected to affect only three rather upscale postal zones, according to the Times of Israel, but it will also affect the price of exporting goods from that area. The area is now declared to fall outside the 1995 EU-Israel Association Agreement, which was designed to provide Israel with free trade with the EU, similar to what EU member states currently enjoy. This could raise the prices on goods imported from Israel, thus making European states less likely to purchase Israeli goods in the first place. Ynet News also reported that this may mean the EU has “capitulated to pro-Palestinian elements seeking to derail Israel’s economy,” even though the affected zones are not industrial areas.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/373655/20120814/israel-judea-samaria-west-bank-european-union.htm
Churches’ uprising against Israel
MEMO 14 Aug by Nawaf al-Zaru — While Arabs are busy with revolutions and internal wars, and are largely absent from what is happening in Palestine and Jerusalem with Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the local population, American and European civil society is taking action against the Israeli occupation. One particular sector which has become very active and started to play an effective role addressing Israeli crimes is the Christian community. Churches are causing such a headache to the Israeli government that their activities have risen to a level described by some media as the “churches’ uprising against Israel”.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/4152-churches-uprising-against-israel
Political / Economic / Diplomatic News
JEC director: PA must intervene in electricity crisis
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — The general director of the Jerusalem Electricity Company on Monday called on the Palestinian Authority to intervene in an impending electricity crisis in the West Bank. Hisham al-Omari called on the PA to take action after the Israeli Electric Corporation threatened to cut off electricity to the West Bank due to unpaid bills amounting to over $100 million.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512336
Palestinians appeal for support for UN member-state bid
BBC 14 Aug — A senior Palestinian official has asked foreign diplomats in Jerusalem to support a renewed bid for member-state status at the United Nations. Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member, said such an effort was a “test of global consensus and rule of law”. She also said the Palestinian Authority needed a financial “safety net” in case the US cut off aid because of the bid. The US and Israel are opposed to making Palestine a full UN member state.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19254063
Factions urge new drive for reconciliation
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Palestinian factions met in Gaza on Tuesday and called for a renewed drive for national unity, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said. PFLP leader Kayed al-Ghoul told Ma‘an that factions discussed the need for popular movements and political meetings to be held after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr next week. “The shortest way to implement this lies in the strict implementation of the reconciliation agreement that was signed in Cairo last May,” al-Ghoul said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512534
Abu Marzouk: Talks between Hamas and Jordan to frame new future relationship
AMMAN (PIC) 14 Aug — Deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk said there are meetings underway between Jordanian and Hamas officials to discuss the future relationship between the two sides. In a press statement published by the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, Abu Marzouk affirmed that Hamas and Jordan are embarking on creating a framework for future mutual relations that are satisfactory to all parties. He noted that the process of rebuilding a new relationship between his Movement and Jordan is going slow, but he expressed optimism about the possibility of restoring the ties with Jordan.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7yq2KsGKG8hHA89ozAlkfv4yJwLDe5jI0XDeSsEgATfCkO4l8IODd0FPgU87oDtVDRHcXJCHpcj%2bmhWbSDCVIvWCBfJWRHpyf1fIOYqaiTUg%3d
Sweden releases PA from $28 million loan
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — The Swedish government has decided to release the Palestinian Authority from a $28 million loan dating back to 1999, the PA finance minister said Monday … The Swedish government had granted the PA a returnable loan in 1999 to fund an electricity project in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512206
Al-Malki to inaugurate Palestinian consulate in Dominican Republic
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — The Palestinian Authority foreign minister will travel to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday to inaugurate a newly established Palestinian Consulate on the Caribbean island … The ceremony will be attended by the newly elected president Danilo Medina Sanchez. Former president Leonel Fernandez gave his support to the Palestinian UN statehood bid last year
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512505
Israeli Racism / Discrimination
Israeli Ethiopians suffer from racism directed at African migrants
Haaretz 14 Aug — Amid racist incidents targeting African migrants in Israel, more and more Ethiopians are reluctant to be seen in characteristically African areas, to avoid becoming the accidental victims of a violent attack, or racial slurs – …When he went to vacation at a hotel in Eilat, Antenehb was stopped at the entrance, and told “the workers entrance is around the back.” “I wasn’t in work clothes, I was holding my children. Anyone with common sense could have realized the difference, or at least try to clear it up politely — ‘which room are you in?'” said Antenehb. …Mesi Aychek, who holds an MA in public policy, and works for the Association for Civil Rights, is in a similar situation. “Today, someone in the street approached me and asked if I want to clean an office. Why would I be looking for work in cleaning? Then he asked me if I knew someone else. I asked him, why do you think I would?” There have been worse incidents, however.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-ethiopians-suffer-from-racism-directed-at-african-migrants.premium-1.458247
Florida woman sues El Al over gender segregation, reports say
Haaretz 13 Aug — A Florida woman reportedly is suing El Al for gender discrimination after she was forced to change seats to accommodate an ultra-Orthodox man. Debra Ryder charged that a flight steward moved her to a seat in the back without her prior consent, Israeli media reported. The ultra-Orthodox man had refused to sit next to her and then moved into her aisle seat. Ryder reportedly filed a lawsuit on Aug. 9 seeking some $12,500 in compensation, including for distress. She had obtained an aisle seat for medical reasons, she told Army Radio.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/florida-woman-sues-el-al-over-gender-segregation-reports-say-1.457911
Other news
Just under 30% of Palestinians are aged 15-29
MEMO 13 Aug – Statistics released by the Central Bureau of Statistics concerning youth include the following:
The total Palestinian population in the occupied territories is 4.29m, with 104.3 males for every 100 females.
3 per cent of Palestinian youth suffer from chronic diseases.
25 per cent of young Palestinian males are cigarette smokers.
Computers, IT and social networks “play a positive, important role” in the life of young people.
92.3 per cent of women aged 15-29 are married; the figure for men of the same age is 81 per cent.
The 15-29 age group also accounts for 58 per cent of divorces among men, with 78.5 per cent among women.
30.2 per cent of women on a second marriage were married to a relative; 54.9 per cent had no kinship ties to their new husband.
44.8 per cent of youths were enrolled in education in 2011. Of these, 84.9 per cent were aged 15-17; 50.8 per cent were 18-22; and 11.9 per cent were in the 23-29 bracket.
The school dropout rate, whether joined and left or not attended at all, among youths aged 15-29 is 29.7 per cent, of which 34.2 per cent are males and 24.9 per cent females.
More young women enrolled in higher education than men….
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/reports-and-publications/4147-just-under-30-of-palestinians-are-aged-15-29
Algeria TV gives PA archival records of Palestinian struggle
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — The director-general of an Algerian television channel on Monday presented the Palestinian Ambassador in Algiers with a collection of archival records from the channel’s coverage of the Palestinian struggle for independence, a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512386
Story of Gaza doctor to take Habima stage
Ynet 14 Aug — The tragic story of Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor whose three daughters were killed during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza will be adapted as a play for Habima national theatre. Dr. Abuelaish became a symbol in Israel when, during a live interview with Channel 10, his house was hit by two shells, killing three of his daughters and injuring the fourth.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4266944,00.html
American cartoonist discusses work with Palestinian counterparts
RAMALLAH, August 14, 2012 (WAFA) – A group of Palestinian cartoonists Tuesday met in Ramallah with The New Yorker Magazine cartoonist Liza Donnelly to discuss ways of collaboration. Donnelly’s visit to the Palestinian territory, organized by the US State Department and the US Consulate in Jerusalem, aimed to exchange expertise and experiences between both Palestinian and American cartoonists. “We talked about future cartooning and how cartoon is going to actually help in cultural situations like opening a dialogue,” said Donnelly
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20463
Report: Israelis seeking asylum in US
Ynet 13 Aug — A new report by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services revealed that over the past seven years 405 Israelis have petitioned for asylum in the US, and 116 such requests were granted. According to a Monday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the petitioners claimed that they were persecuted by the authorities on religious, political, racial or national grounds; or that their lives were in mortal danger in Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268124,00.html
Erdogan defends foreign policy
ISTANBUL (PIC) 14 Aug –Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched an unprecedented attack on critics of his country’s foreign policies toward Muslim countries living crises especially Palestine, Syria and Myanmar. Erdogan said that leftist and nationalist opponents do not know the meaning of “the one nation” and its important role toward its component countries, adding that Turkish security, safety, and well-being are related to those countries.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7VPo%2bI1I0uZkLHrzcV2BRkVprckrjLs7tBYJDKv5Q5M%2beyJ%2fa9ABBsuDFqyqXkFRZK3yKGtghJRYaWqoIBfQJMX9gjzMG1a2zHnhCiga2DB4%3d
Official: African countries want to revive ‘golden era’ of Israeli ties
Ynet 14 Aug — Deputy FM Ayalon to launch joint agricultural, health projects in Kenya, Uganda; Foreign Ministry official says African leaders who visited Israel recently ‘expressed disappointed at Arab promises from 70s, 80s
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268395,00.html
Analysis / Opinion / Reviews
Haaretz editorial: When war criminals walk free
14 Aug — Cast Lead, an operation that caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians, is ending on a weak note, as only three indictments have been issued — Rayya Abu Hajjaj and her adult daughter Majda Abu Hajjaj were shot to death by Israel Defense Forces soldiers while holding a white flag and attempting to flee for their lives on January 4, 2009, the day that Israeli ground forces launched their incursion into the Gaza Strip. That was a war crime. The IDF, much touted by Israelis as the most moral army in the world, indicted a soldier identified only as Staff Sgt. S., one of the few indictments issued over incidents that took place during Operation Cast Lead. More than three years later, the military prosecution agreed to a plea bargain this week: S. will serve 45 days in prison for unlawful use of a weapon.
In addition, the IDF has not taken any legal measures against those involved in another shocking incident that took place during the Gaza war, the killing of 21 members of the Samouni family of Gaza. In fact, two months ago it closed the investigation against one of those suspected of involvement in the Samouni deaths: Ilan Malka, the Givati Brigade commander at the time.
Put the army’s treatment of those two incidents together and the IDF’s position on enforcing the law on war crimes becomes clear.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/when-war-criminals-walk-free.premium-1.458055
Book review: The Battle for Public Opinion in Europe / Samira Shackle
MEMO 14 Aug — Author: Daud Abdullah & Ibrahim Hewitt (eds). Few issues on the world stage are more divisive than the Israel-Palestine conflict, which triggers a powerful emotional response even among people with little direct stake in it. But how exactly are those opinions formed, and what is the majority-held view? Taking as its starting point a Europe-wide survey of public opinion, this collection of essays examines the forces competing to influence people’s views and the reasons certain opinions are held or have changed. The central argument running through the essays is that the officially held positions of European governments and media are at odds with the views of the people living in these countries. The poll, carried out in January 2011 by ICM (in conjunction with MEMO, the Al-Jazeera Centre for Studies and the European Muslim Research Centre), found that just 10 per cent of respondents agreed that their countries should support Israel rather than the Palestinians, while 39 per cent disagreed.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/media-review/book-review/4155-book-review-the-battle-for-public-opinion-in-europe-by-samira-shackle
It’s time to focus on Israel’s separation policy, not just the siege
MEMO 13 Aug by Ben White — Israel’s approach to the Gaza Strip has never been static; it changes according to the government’s priorities and short or long-term strategic goals. As early as 1991, Israel implemented the permit regime, regulating the movement of Palestinians in and out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in the case of the latter, it went on to construct a perimeter fence in the mid-1990s … Following Hamas’s electoral success and resultant victorious struggle with Fatah for control in Gaza in 2007, Israel imposed a tight blockade of the Gaza Strip, restricting drastically the kind of goods which were allowed in and out, as well as reducing the number of Palestinians granted exit permits. As a result, and compounded by the slaughter of 2009, many activists around the world began campaigning around a demand to “end the siege” … The Israel-imposed ban on exports is a key part of a broader “separation policy”, which, in the words of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, IDF Major General Eitan Dangot, is intended to “separate” the Gaza Strip from the West Bank to put pressure on Hamas. As journalist Amira Hass has insisted, however, this policy of separation “that does not allow the populations of the two parts of the same geographic entity (according to the Oslo Accords) to mix…is a policy of de facto disconnection, which began 15 years before Hamas took power in Gaza in 2006” … There are a number of goals being advanced through Israel’s separation policy. First, it prevents the emergence of a genuinely independent Palestinian state in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Fatah-Hamas division has served Israeli purposes very nicely, but as previously noted the de facto splitting of the two areas predates the internal Palestinian conflict. Secondly, the isolation of the Gaza Strip is part of continued efforts to prevent Hamas from being granted international legitimacy, and ensure that the organisation is primarily seen through the prism of violent confrontation – the “terrorist” government of an “enemy entity”.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/debate/4146-its-time-to-focus-on-israels-separation-policy-not-just-the-siege
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
