United Church of Canada votes to boycott settlement products

United Church of Canada decides to boycott settlement products
IMEMC 16 Aug — Following around six hours of deliberation, the United Church of Canada (UCC), the largest Protestant denomination in the country, voted for boycotting products made in Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. The Toronto Star newspaper reported that a spokesperson of the UCC general council identified as Bruce Gregersen, stated that the decision is considered a significant step. The UCC will be holding another vote on Friday to decide whether this boycott would be a regarded as a permanent policy of the church.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64076

Netanyahu to ignore report on legalizing West Bank settlement outposts
IMEMC 15 Aug — Fearing international repercussions and criticism, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to shelve a report prepared by former Supreme Court Judge, Edmond Levy, as the report calls for “legalizing” Israeli settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank as they, allegedly, are “part of the state of Israel.” Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the report Netanyahu decided to bury does not only call for legalizing settlement outposts, but also allows easier expansion of existing “legal” Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The report was submitted to Netanyahu on June 21.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64071

Minister denies that Netanyahu has dismissed the Levy Report on West Bank settlements
IMEMC 16 Aug — Israel’s Minister of Information and Diaspora has denied media claims that his ministry plans to withdraw the recent Levy Report. The controversial report calls for settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank to be legalised. Yuli Edelstein said that he expects the committee which drafted the report, headed by retired Judge Edmund Levy, to present the document to the Ministerial Settlements Affairs Committee for official approval.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4171-minister-denies-that-netanyahu-has-dismissed-the-levy-report-on-west-bank-settlements

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Modiin residents: We’re not settlers
Ynet 15 Aug —  The European Union’s decision to render parts of the municipality of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut as being “outside” of Israel’s territory did not seem to faze the area’s residents. “So they said we’re settlers, so what?” said Shlomi Barel, the manager of a shopping plaza in Maccabim. Israel says the entire district lies inside its boundaries. The EU determined that parts were built on what was no-man’s land before Israel captured the area in the 1967 Six Day War. The EU says exports from the area will be treated like those from West Bank settlements and be ineligible for tax breaks granted to Israeli products. The Foreign Ministry called the area “an integral part of Israel” and said the EU “ignores reality.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4269060,00.html

Report: Israeli ministers order Hebron shop handed to settlers
TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — A committee of Israeli government ministers has ordered the army to transfer possession of a building in the southern West Bank city of Hebron to Israeli settlers, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The building in central Hebron was a Palestinian shop until it was closed by military order after the 1994 massacre of Muslim worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, the report said. Israeli settlers took over the building, and the Israeli group Peace Now filed a petition for their removal, it continued. While the ministerial committee for settlement affairs agreed the settlers should be evicted, they decided the building should be transferred into the ownership of the Israeli settlements in the area. Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein believes canceling Palestinian ownership of the building may be illegal and is trying to formulate a new position in order to respond to Peace Now’s case, Haaretz said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512903

Seven years on, Gush Katif remains in limbo
Haaretz 15 Aug — With the administration that deals with Gush Katif evacuees set to close, many of the families remain in limbo … Of the approximately 1,800 families evacuated from Gush Katif in 2005, the largest number — about 500 — are living at Nitzan. What was supposed to be a footnote in their lives has stretched into a long and ugly chapter. Over the years, the families have added makeshift rooms and other additions to their houses. There are 350 original 90-meter mobile homes and 130 more 60-meter mobile homes where the evacuees’ children live. “The blood that was not spilled then, during the expulsion, is going to spill here,” says Moshe Reuven, the manager of the site, in the small air-conditioned mobile home that serves as his office. “People have reached a point where they can’t build homes. There are more than 200 families who will live out their lives here.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/seven-years-on-gush-katif-remains-an-unsettled-question.premium-1.458355

Israeli gov’t approves the establishment of seven settlements in Negev
NAZARETH (PIC) 16 Aug — A group of Israeli human rights organizations presented a petition to the Supreme Court against the government’s plan for the establishment of seven Jewish settlements near Arad city in the Negev desert, south of Palestine occupied in 1948. The petitioners asserted that the establishment of such settlements means the demolition and deportation of five Bedouin hamlets inhabited by about 800 people. The petition, filed on Tuesday, is in response to the Israeli government’s decision that was issued in October last year. The Israeli plan aims to develop Negev desert and escalate settlements in the region, where 180 acres will be seized for the establishment of this project, media sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7bAim7WeErYOchoSJ1a68LUbnMKWPflMDh08BhcwtbXEq2b6LUXvVSdj9O3hjS3ILMkWReymhnd%2b4T0AuIWBYjNhWUnkiVytFC77%2b3NAv%2fr0%3d

Israeli forces demolish 3 artesian wells near Jenin
JENIN, August 15, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sunday demolished three artesian wells in Beit Qad and Deir Abu Da‘if, villages east of Jenin, according to local and security sources … Jenin Mayor Talal Dweikat told WAFA that Israel is targeting Jenin area, which suffers from a noticeable shortage in water supply, noting that Israeli forces demolished tens of water wells before.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20468

Jerusalem’s 360,000 ‘orphans’ / Daoud Kuttab
PNN 16 Aug — Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are experiencing perhaps their worst times. With the continuation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the uncertainty of the future of Jerusalem, the 360,000 residents of East Jerusalem are political orphans. They are not allowed to be part of the Palestinian Authority, do not possess its passport, nor do they enjoy its governance. They are not Israeli citizens either. Israel grants permanent residency to Palestinians who were in Jerusalem when the Israeli army conquered the holy city and unilaterally annexed it to the state of Israel. And even though no country in the world has recognised this Israeli annexation, there has been little success in allowing Palestinians to retain their own local institutions.
Despite Israeli promises and US commitments, since the Oslo Accords, the city has been isolated and denied self-governance. The Orient House, which was a de facto Palestinian reference point, has been closed by orders of the Israelis, which have used emergency laws to retain its closure. Similarly, the chamber of commerce has been closed, denying Palestinian merchants the right to accede to this organisation. Any event that smells of Palestinian nationalism is quickly stopped by Israeli police. An attempt to celebrate the success of an East Jerusalem football champion was denied on claims that the Palestinian Authority was secretly behind the celebrations.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/opinion/2475-jerusalems-360000-orphans

In excavation of ancient mosque, volunteers dig up Israeli city’s golden age
Haaretz 17 Aug — Dozens of workers, students digging in Tiberias’ unearth artifacts from city’s golden age – the Early Muslim period — …Israeli archaeology is sometimes said to ignore the Islamic period in favor of monumental construction from the Roman-Byzantine periods. Sometimes Islamic archaeological strata have paid the price, by being removed without enough attention being paid to them. The structure now coming to light at the foot of Mount Berenice, south of modern Tiberias, is a good example. For years, it was thought to be a Byzantine market, although some excavators were bothered by the fact that it did not resemble other markets … In fact, the large structure is neither a market nor Byzantine. Rather, it is a remnant of a magnificent eighth-century mosque, 90 meters long by 78 meters wide. Cytryn-Silverman, who now heads the Tiberias excavation, said the building resembles the Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria … The eighth century was Tiberias’ golden age, as shown by both excavations and historical writings. A large Jewish community also flourished in the lakeside city, and that community produced the copy of the Bible that became known as the Aleppo Codex. In short, Tiberias may have been the most tolerant city the Middle East has ever seen.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/in-excavation-of-ancient-mosque-volunteers-dig-up-israeli-city-s-golden-age.premium-1.458874

Restriction of movement

Roadblocks make life a daily struggle in Hebron
AFP 16 Aug — It is a blistering summer day in the West Bank city of Hebron and Mohammed Al-Jaabari sweats profusely as he struggles to haul a heavy gas canister through an Israeli checkpoint. It is not an enviable task on any day, and particularly not during the holy month of Ramadan when most Palestinians fast from dawn till dusk, making any physical effort doubly hard.
But hauling heavy goods and shopping across the city has become a way of life for Jaabari and thousands of others who live in H2, a 4.3 square kilometer (1.7 square mile), tightly-controlled Israeli enclave where many key streets are off-limits to Palestinian cars. “I have to cross this checkpoint several times a day and walk hundreds of meters to take groceries and supplies home,” puffs Jaabari, a 44-year-old steel worker. “There’s no other way other than carrying it all on my shoulders and walking,” he tells AFP. “I’ve already carried more than half a ton of metal to my workshop today along with my son — all on foot,” he says. “We were dragging it in the heat for almost two hours…”
http://www.arabnews.com/roadblocks-make-life-daily-struggle-hebron

Palestinians dodge security checks en route to Tel Aviv
Ynet 15 Aug — Arab workers take advantage of lax security on buses traveling from West Bank to central Israel; some Jewish passengers get off for fear of terror attacks — Palestinians in the West Bank have found an easy way to bypass IDF security checks: They simply board buses travelling to central Israel. The army said it was aware of the problem and is seeking a solution.  The security establishment has invested a lot of resources in preventing the entrance of hostile elements into Israel, and despite the billions that have been spent on the construction of the West Bank security barrier, it seems that Palestinian workers, and terrorists, can simply board a bus near Nablus and head to the heart of the Jewish state.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268990,00.html

PA official condemns closure of Ibrahimi mosque
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A top Palestinian Authority religious figure on Wednesday denounced Israel’s closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron while Israelis celebrate a Jewish holiday. Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi said the site is an “Islamic mosque, and its facilities are not for Israelis or Jews.” Tamimi said the site was not intended to be split into separate parts, as it is currently divided, and especially not under the pretext that it was necessary due to the “heinous massacre” committed there in 1994. The massacre was carried out by an Israeli settler, who shot dead 29 worshipers. In response, Israeli authorities divided the site so Jews and Muslims could visit it separately.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512721

Syrian-Israeli couple reunited a year after marrying
Ynet 16 Aug –  A Syrian-Israeli couple who were married one year ago in Jordan, and have not seen each other since, have finally been reunited. The wife, a Syrian resident, passed through the Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights on Thursday, and joined her husband, Fidha Ibrahim, a Druze from Majdal Shams, soon after …  On the Israeli side of the border, the couple was greeted with cries of joy, dancing and singing. However, Ibrahim’s wife knows that the possibility of seeing her family back in Syria is slim. “She will only be able to meet her family in Jordan. That is why she is crying,” explained one family member.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4269555,00.html

Report: Israel to increase permits for Palestinian workers
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Israel will increase the quota of Palestinian construction workers permitted to enter Israel from 19,000 to 30,000 in the coming weeks, Israeli media reported Wednesday. The Jerusalem Post, quoting an Army Radio broadcast, reported that the interior ministry prefers to employ Palestinians as opposed to foreigners because the Palestinians do not wish to settle in Israel. Israel announced in June that it would deport migrants as part of a crackdown on foreigners without permits that has focused on Africans who enter across the desert border with Egypt.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512770

Palestinians flock to Jerusalem as Israeli restrictions eased
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 15 Aug — Israel has unexpectedly eased restrictions on Palestinians looking to visit Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying improved security meant it could let in thousands more from the occupied West Bank. Israeli officials said on Wednesday they had lowered the age limit for men wanting to visit al-Aqsa mosque in the old city to 40 from 50 and had also handed out seven times more permits to Palestinians between the ages of 35 and 40. Religious authorities said up to half a million people visited the third holiest site in Islam on Tuesday night, many of them from the nearby West Bank, as visitors and pilgrims flowed through the checkpoints on Jerusalem’s Eastern flanks. “I’m rejoicing and so happy to be in Jerusalem after 10 years of not visiting,” said 42-year-old Mohammed Rashid, from the West Bank town of Yatta, sipping a midnight draught of coffee in a brightly lit old city arcade.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512817

Thousands pray in Al Aqsa for Laylat al-Qadr
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Thousands of worshipers from the West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel headed to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday to celebrate Laylat al-Qadr, one of Ramadan’s holiest nights. Director of the Jerusalem office of the Islamic Waqf told Ma‘an that the number of worshipers exceeded 400,000. The Waqf did its best to provide worshipers with everything they needed, Sheikh Azzam al-Khateib said, adding that the sheer volume of people in the Al-Aqsa compound had not been seen for years. The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said that around 150,000 people had Iftar in the Al-Aqsa compound. Thirty thousand meals were provided by the foundation and other charities … Laylat al-Qadr is one of the holiest nights in Ramadan, and marks the anniversary of the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512628

Violence / Raids / Arrests / Provocations

Father, mother and children injured by settler firebomb
[graphic photo] IMEMC 17 Aug — Palestinian medical sources in Bethlehem reported Thursday that a cab driver, a Palestinian father, mother and their children, from Nahhalin town, near Bethlehem, suffered moderate to severe injuries after fundamentalist Israeli settlers hurled a firebomb at the Palestinian cab … Head of the Emergency Department of the Red Crescent in Bethlehem, Abdul-Halim Ja‘afra, reported that wounded residents were identified as Bassam (cab driver) Mahmoud Ghayatha, 55, Ayman Hassan Ghayatha, 35, his wife Jamila Abdul-Hai, 28, their children; Mohammad, 5, and Eman, 4, and Hasan Mohammad Hasan Ghayatha, 26. Residents Ayman, Jamila and Hasan suffered second and third-degree burns, while the children, Mohammad and Eman suffered first-degree burns. The Israeli police reported that the attack was carried out by Jewish settlers, and that the assault was nationally motivated.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64081

Firebomb attack: Palestinian ‘pulled kids from burning car’
Ynet 17 Aug — Jamila Riada, who was injured along with her husband and three children in what police called a ‘Jewish nationalist attack,’ says she saw assailant. Netanyahu instructs Shin Bet to bring perpetrators to justice — “We were driving up Gush Etzion’s hill, when someone threw a Molotov cocktail at us from a wooded area. I saw his face and clothes. He had side-locks and was wearing a large kippah. When the bottle was thrown there was a big boom, and the car caught fire. I opened the door and pulled the children out,” recounted Jamila Riada (30), the Palestinian woman who was injured Thursday evening along with her husband and three children when a firebomb was hurled at the taxi they were travelling in.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4269639,00.html

Settlers empty Palestinian well, flood farmlands
IMEMC 15 Aug — A group of extremist Israeli settlers used electric pumps to empty a Palestinian irrigation well and flooded Palestinian farmlands in as-Seer area, east of Sa‘ir town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Resident Yassin Mohammad ash-Shalalda, told the Land Research Center that settlers of Esfir and Mitzad settlements carried out their attack on Tuesday at night. The settlers reportedly used a motor pump to empty the well and flooded the nearby Palestinian farmlands. He added that several hundred cubic meters of land were wasted in the attack, and that the residents use this water for both irrigation and as a source of drinking water for their livestock.
Ash-Shalalda further stated that the residents filed a complaint to the Israeli police in Keryat Arba’ settlement in Hebron, but are not hopeful that there will be any affirmative action by the police due to the fact that numerous previous assaults, carried out by the settlers, were never investigated
http://www.imemc.org/article/64070

Settlers invade Khan al-Luban
ISM 17 Aug by ‘Alex Marley’ — At around 10:30 p.m., a group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona arrived in Khan Al Luban, a Palestinian hamlet located in the vicinity of Al Luban village. Armed with guns and wooden sticks, the settlers broke into a house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghani. The owner Khalid Daraghani was alerted by his dogs when the 6 armed settlers arrived by car. Khalid went out and asked the intruders to leave his property. The settlers refused claiming that, “this is not  private property, but property of the state of Israel.” The settlers forcefully entered his house, going into every room, shouting and kicking household objects. The settlers then headed towards the water spring that is next to the house. International activists that Khalid called for support also tried to stop the settlers and explain that they are intruding on private property, but again the settlers refused to leave. On this occasion they argued that it is their right to be there, because “the prophet Abraham was here 2000 years ago.” About half an hour after the settlers’ arrival, a white jeep arrived at full speed. Two Israeli soldiers ran out of the car and headed aggressively towards Khalid. The soldiers grabbed Khalid, shouting, and pushed him violently into a room of the house.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/08/settlers-invade-khan-al-luban/

PCHR Weekly Report: 8 wounded, 9 abducted by Israeli forces this week [9-15 Aug
IMEMC 16 Aug — …During the last week, Israeli forces conducted 7 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 7 Palestinians. Israeli forces also abducted two Palestinian civilians in Hebron.
Israeli forces have continued efforts to create a Jewish demographic majority in East Jerusalem. During the reporting period, the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem decided to build 12 tower buildings in Jabal Abu Ghunaim (‘Har Homah’ settlement) between Jerusalem and Bethlehem …
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip: In the Gaza Strip, on 11 August 2012, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when Israeli forces positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of Khan Yunis opened fire at al-Zanna area between al-Qarara and ‘Abassan villages. As a result, Mohammed Sidqi al-Qarra, 18, was wounded by two bullets to the left hand and the right foot, when he was working on an agricultural field belonging to his father nearly 700 meters away from the border.
Israeli forces continued to fire at Palestinian fishing boats. During the reporting period, PCHR documented two attacks in this regard, which did not cause casualties.  Full Report
http://www.imemc.org/article/64080

IOF holds military ceremony in Ibrahimi Mosque
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Aug — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday held for the first time a military ceremony in the courtyard of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil city after declaring it a closed military zone. Local sources told Safa news agency that the IOF imposed a tight cordon on the perimeter of the Ibrahimi Mosque, and prevented the calls for prayers and the entry of Muslim worshipers. They said the IOF celebrated the appointment of a new army leadership for Al-Khalil city and announced the installation of new officers inside the Mosque.
The sources condemned this behavior as an unprecedented act provoking the feeling of Muslims and a serious step to consolidate Israel’s illegal control over the Mosque.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7xcvoqmvE218O3AuLJL7omRLDB34RLoqWLrB7GnelRg8w2VW08uHMyfheXnBXvMqTnXdoQflFVUDImgtRawQOJ7eLjZrLudB3aYvpTs7vEEs%3d

Border police fires rubber bullet at Palestinian peace activist’s car in West Bank
Haaretz 16 Aug — An Israeli policeman fired a rubber bullet at the car of a Palestinian peace activist in the last week, reportedly shattering her windshield while she was driving with her children near a West Bank checkpoint. The soldiers claimed that they had resorted to shooting rubber bullets in attempt to disperse a riot. According to Maysa Baransi-Siniora, the Palestinian co-director of Radio All For Peace, a joint Israeli-Palestinian station based in Ramallah, the incident took place last Friday at around 1:30 A.M. Maysa Baransi-Siniora is residing in East Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/border-police-fires-rubber-bullet-at-palestinian-peace-activist-s-car-in-west-bank.premium-1.458838

Israeli soldiers ‘attack man en-route to Jerusalem’
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Israeli forces assaulted a man while on his way to Jerusalem on Tuesday night, a local committee said. Thaer Ribhi Muhammad Awad, 23, was attacked by border guards while heading to Al-Aqsa for the holy night of Laylat al-Qadr, spokesman for the popular committee in Beit Ummar Muhammad Ayyad Awad said. Awad suffered nerve damage to his left foot, and his right foot was also injured. Witnesses to the attack said that an ambulance took him to a hospital in Beit Jala.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512713

IOF arrests prisoner’s disabled father
NABLUS (PIC) 15 Aug — Tadamun Foundation for Human Rights stated that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested several days ago a father of a prisoner held in occupation jails for nine years. Ahmed Beitawi, a researcher at the Foundation, confirmed that Ghalib Mahmoud Abdullah, 59, from Sorrah village to the southwest of Nablus was arrested, while on his way home, at an Israeli barrier at the entrance of the village. He pointed out that Abdullah, an employee in Sorah village council, is with special needs and can only walk using crutches. Furthermore, he suffers from both diabetes and high blood pressure. Ghalib’s son is a prisoner in occupation jails since 2003 serving a prison sentence of 14 years under the pretext of resisting the occupation. Israeli bulldozers had demolished his family home several days after his arrest.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7AJeDcW6LUnA10xkE7TD7l7%2bZcUjBZEN5%2f5QM%2bFpa9kKM5zHB2QcxyvMxOBbirmRNJc8RU3lqj9IAn%2bCw5qmwInKbEO5KE4xUlqGhaSHTNX8%3d

IOF breaks into West Bank cities
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Aug — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided at dawn Thursday a number of towns in Al-Khalil southern West Bank and established a number of military checkpoints at their main entrances.
Sources confirmed to PIC that the IOF in big numbers accompanied with Shin Bet officers raided a number of liberated prisoners’ houses and handed them summonses.
In the same context, the Israeli forces raided the town of Bani Na‘im east of Al-Khalil city at dawn and the Sorrah village in Dora where they searched several houses. Israeli soldiers set up military checkpoints within the towns’ neighborhoods and entrances.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers stormed, in the early morning hours on Thursday, the village of Deir Ghazala, eastern the city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, and erected a road barrier on its outskirts … Witnesses confirmed that the retreating troops, erected a checkpoint on the road between the villages Deir Ghazala and Beit Qad where they stopped and checked citizens’ cars and identity cards.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76%2bZtySWbn4kfTwkAUC1Nny5ItccUBmeCcbJWRgmR2dBSTrOFgGSZ49oF44CfHglCaR2Z0jGsOuj7ozbaxRdpxPJZ0c2nT%2bxtLkXyWd4AXgk%3d

Army invades several Hebron towns, kidnaps one resident
IMEMC 15 Aug — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, several towns in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, and abducted one resident. Soldiers also installed several roadblocks and searched dozens of Palestinian vehicles. The army invaded ash-Shallala Street in Hebron, and abducted one resident identified as Abdul-Aziz Nidal al-Fakhoury, 20. He was cuffed and taken to an unknown destination…
Earlier on Tuesday, soldiers invaded Zabbouba and Ya‘bod villages, near Jenin, and abducted two youths; cuffing and blindfolding them, and also took them to an unknown destination. The two taken youths were identified as Rafat Nassar and Mohammad Atatra.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64072

Pre-dawn raid in Kufr Qaddoum: Army storm houses and arrest three, including one minor
PNN 16 Aug — The village of Kufr Qaddoum has been holding weekly demonstrations for the past year. Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said in a press release that the Israeli army staged yesterday night, 15th August [Wednesday], a pre dawn raid to the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum. Massive numbers of Israeli soldiers stormed three houses in the village, and caused extensive damages to resident Mohammad Taha Amer’s house, while looking for his son Moawiya. The Committee also said that the army arrested one minor, Rasheed Abdallah, 17, and two other residents, Alaa Amer, 27, and Mo’awiya Amer, 21. All three of them have been taken to Salem military base, and will have a hearing tomorrow, Friday, August 16th.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2471-pre-dawn-raid-in-kufr-qaddoum-army-storm-houses-and-arrest-three-including-one-minor

Confrontations and arrests in Jenin
JENIN (PIC) 16 Aug — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched at dawn Thursday raid and search campaigns in three towns west of Jenin and arrested a citizen as clashes erupted in the town of Yamoun. Local sources said that several military vehicles stormed the town of Yamoun and encircled the house of Said Shaaban, which led to the outbreak of violent confrontations during which the occupation forces fired bullets and stun grenades. The sources pointed out that IOF soldiers raided the house of Said Shaaban, 52, using police dogs and then took him to the Israeli Salem army camp as a hostage until his son turns himself in to the occupation forces.
IOF troops also combed the center of Silat al-Harithiya village during which Palestinian youths threw stones and empty bottles at the invading forces.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2fmZSgCyLwX%2fST9AowCDbhEOuO9lGgfBzrWfThtRs%2fkMS%2f8BrTnEvTrw%2fEBvCaBQzlxOc7VfZPovs4uEHGh9ooDmGQVlZK8MRegAH5HQUQLc%3d

Israeli occupation arrests three Palestinians, throwing stones is their charge
PNN 16 Aug — On Thursday 16th August, Israeli sources said that forces from the police arrested in the past three days, three Palestinians from Jerusalem, claiming that they were throwing stones towards Israeli forces and Israelis in Silwan and Ra’s al-Amoud areas in Jerusalem. Hebrew-language media sources said that the three Palestinians were released after the Israeli forces interrogated them and their families.  The sources revealed that during the interrogation, the three Palestinians denied the charge of throwing stones and were sentenced to house arrest.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/2477-israeli-occupation-arrests-three-palestinians-throwing-stones-is-their-charge

Video: Off-duty soldiers drag Palestinian into Hebron home
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A group of off-duty soldiers were captured on video dragging a Palestinian man into a house in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday. The video shows a group of at least nine men and one uniformed Israeli soldier aggressively drag a Palestinian youth down a road and into a house.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512780

PA: Israel returns wrong body
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Israel wrongly identified at least one of the bodies returned to the West Bank in May, the Palestinian Authority minister of justice said Wednesday. Israel in May returned the bodies of 91 Palestinians interred in numbered graves in what it described as a “gesture” to President Mahmoud Abbas. The family of Nasser al-Buz received what was alleged to be his body, but they demanded a DNA test to verify the identity. Justice Minister Ali Muhanna said a sample of the remains was sent to a DNA laboratory in Jordan, which found it was not al-Buz’s body. Muhanna said the PA would send an official letter to Israel demanding the return of al-Buz’s remains.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512800

Detainees / Court actions

Watch: Spotlight on torture in Israel
972mag 16 Aug — In honor of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Israel Social TV prepared a special edition in cooperation with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. Watch to learn about methods of physical and psychological torture that are common in Israel and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators.
http://972mag.com/watch-spotlight-on-torture-in-israel/53050/

[Release of four MPs]
PIC 16 Aug …In another context, the Israeli occupation authorities released on Thursday morning the two MPs of Change and Reform Bloc, Dr. Mohamed Abu Juhaisha and Dr. Azzam Salhab. According to their families, the IOA decided not to extend their administrative custody after they appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court against administrative detention. The IOA arrested Dr. Azzam Salhab and Abu Juhaisha in 2011 and held them in administrative detention that was renewed several times.
Meanwhile, the IOA released on Wednesday afternoon the MPs Dr. Hatem Rabah Kafisha, 50, and Dr. Mohammed Maher Badr, 55, from Al-Khalil after spending eighteen months in administrative detention in the Negev desert prison. The released MPs were welcomed by a number of Palestinian MPs topped by speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Dr. Aziz Dweik at Shamaa barrier. IOF soldiers had arrested both MPs after besieging their homes in the city of Al-Khalil in 2010, and held them in administrative detention.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2fmZSgCyLwX%2fST9AowCDbhEOuO9lGgfBzrWfThtRs%2fkMS%2f8BrTnEvTrw%2fEBvCaBQzlxOc7VfZPovs4uEHGh9ooDmGQVlZK8MRegAH5HQUQLc%3d

Gaza

Witnesses: Israeli forces fire on eastern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Israeli military vehicles crossed into the Gaza Strip east of Rafah on Thursday, as residents heard heavy gunfire but no injuries were reported. Three tanks and four bulldozers crossed near the al-Nahda neighborhood east of al-Shouka, witnesses said. They said forces fired guns and launched smoke bombs. A Palestinian militant escaped the area amid heavy shooting, witnesses said. His motorcycle was burned. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there was no army activity in the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512926

Palestinian resistance fighter miraculously survives IOF shooting
RAFAH (PIC) 16 Aug — A Palestinian resistance fighter miraculously survived intensified Israeli shooting that destroyed his motorbike east of Rafah on Wednesday night. The local Safa news agency said that the fighter was riding his motorbike in Shoka village east of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, when he came under fire. It said that Israeli occupation forces stationed in the vicinity of Mutabaq gate east of Rafah opened machinegun fire at the fighter, who was only 400 meters away. It said that the bike was on set ablaze as a result of the shooting but the fighter escaped unharmed.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7IYSzjMm8GAxm1EIMeQDt%2fF6eIiVl2aMu8Guoq1eddCJlgCLFryNHxXWI%2fPbs6LZUUWuQMx%2boAkfMT%2bUuyBPqmTpgRQMCYg8eEK%2f%2bj1S5uPo%3d

Mass rally planned for Jerusalem Day in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — All factions in Gaza will rally on Friday to mark Jerusalem Day, a Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader said Thursday. Mahmoud Khalaf, events coordinator for the committee of national and Islamic forces, said the protest is in response to Israel’s confiscation of land and settlement expansion in Jerusalem, as well as daily violations against the city’s Palestinian residents. Thousands are expected to join the rally, under the slogan “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state,” beginning after prayers at the Palestine Mosque.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512972

Gaza ministry finalizes prisoners to be freed for Eid al-Fitr
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Gaza’s Ministry of Justice has completed preparations for the release of detainees on the closing holiday of Ramadan this weekend, an official said. Ahmad al-Kahlout, head of the ministry’s inspection committee, said official visits had taken place to update the lists of detainees due to be released on Eid al-Fitr. The exact number to be released has yet to be announced, but will include some who have served half their sentences and humanitarian cases to be allowed home for the holiday. At the start of Ramadan last month, the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip released 159 prisoners as a gesture for the religious holiday.
In the West Bank, President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decision on Friday to release several jailed military officers for the final week of Ramadan, according to official media.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512881

Hamas government moves to regulate Gaza wireless communication
Al Arabiya 16 Aug — The Ministry of Telecommunication and Technology for Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip announced this week that use of wireless telecommunication in the area would no longer be allowed without its permission. “Transmission equipment used to send wireless radio waves are not allowed regardless of its use (personal or scientific), unless there is a license from the ministry,” it said in a Tuesday statement. The decision “includes all public frequencies, stations and wireless equipment,” the statement added. The ministry said it made the ruling after it found some users of radio waves without a license were causing overlapping and confusion of signals.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/16/232597.html

‘Miles of smiles’ convoy arrives in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — The fifteenth Miles of Smiles aid convoy arrived in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday via the Rafah crossing, government official Anwar Atallah said. Atallah, head of protocol in the Gaza government’s committee to end the siege, said 70 activists from countries including the UK, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan joined the convoy. They brought medical aid for Palestinian children, particularly poor children, orphans and the children of prisoners, Atallah told Ma‘an. The activists will stay in Gaza throughout the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which is expected to start Sunday, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512731

Gaza Strip beauty salon damaged in bomb attack
GAZA CITY (LA Times) 15 Aug — Islamic extremists are suspected in the bombing Wednesday of a beauty salon at the Nusseirat refugee camp, officials said. No one was hurt because the shop was closed, officials said, but the building suffered substantial damage. It was the first such bombing in Gaza in more than two years, following a crackdown by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, against smaller groups affiliated with Al Qaeda. Such groups had targeted beauty salons, Internet cafes and churches. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the most recent attack. The explosion comes a week after Hamas released two leaders of one of the Gaza-based extremist groups, Hisham Saidny, 56, and his deputy, Mahmoud Talib.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/08/gaza-strip-beauty-salon-bomb-attack.html

Hamas PR campaign hits roadblock after Sinai attack
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 16 Aug — “We have carried out 800 open-heart surgeries, regulated traffic, and built 44 schools,” billboards boldly proclaim in white letters on a vibrant magenta background. Not the proud boast of a Scandinavian country, but a publicity campaign undertaken by the Gaza Strip’s Hamas government, which has plastered news of its achievements at road junctions, in the across newspapers, on the Internet and even on the radio. Under the slogan “We are building the nation,” the Hamas PR campaign combines the concepts of environmental responsibility with that of opposition to Israel, which maintains a partial blockade on the territory.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5igsmHyFojfPJWK-hLhXe-B-qzCWA?docId=CNG.0a0933c1a0c7e96df0d86749bf553c1a.671

Sinai

Report: Egypt exceeded troops permitted in Sinai
TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Egypt has sent more troops to its Sinai region than are permitted under agreements with Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday. Since an attack on Egyptian border guards that killed 16 soldiers, Egypt has deployed large forces in the border peninsula to crack down on Islamist militants, to Israeli officials’ praise. But the Haaretz report says Egypt has exceeded the terms of agreements with Israel on the number and type of troops and equipment, which are regulated under the 1979 Camp David accords. Israel has decided not to respond to avoid confrontation, but regards the troop build-up as a source of future problems, Haaretz said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512866

Report: ‘Salafist group claims responsibility for firing rockets into Eilat’
Israeli Central Issues newspaper reported, Thursday morning, claimed that a group known as the “Egyptian Salasfist Front” in northern Sinai claimed responsibility for firing two missiles into Eilat coastal city. The missiles landed and exploded in an open area leading to no injuries or damages. The Central Issues said that the group issued a statement officially claiming responsibility for the attack, adding that the group is also behind several previous attacks that targeted Egyptian gas pipelines providing Israel and Jordan with gas. The paper said claimed members of the Salafist group came from Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan … The group is also believed to be behind the recent attack against an Egyptian military base in Sinai leading to the death of 16 Egyptian soldiers.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64077

Tantawi pointed finger at Gaza for Sinai attack
IMEMC 15 Aug — Egypt’s former Defence Minister, Field Marshal Tantawi, accused Palestinians from Gaza of committing the recent attack in Sinai in which 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed. This led to a heated argument with President Morsi and, eventually, to Tantawi’s enforced “retirement”, along with several of his senior army colleagues. The quarrel, claims the Sama News Agency, took place at the presidential palace in Heliopolis during a National Defence Council meeting to discuss the repercussions of the Rafah incident and the security situation in the Sinai. According to the report, Tantawi told President Morsi that the armed forces and intelligence services had information about the involvement of Israeli-paid Palestinian elements in the attack. That, Tantawi insisted, called for the complete and final closure of the Rafah border crossing because it posed a threat to Egypt’s national security. In response, Morsi asked why, if it was available, did such information not lead the authorities to take action. The president, it is claimed, said that he will not allow the border to be closed indefinitely and that Hamas is not a suspect in what was a criminal operation.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/4165-tantawi-pointed-finger-at-gaza-for-sinai-attack

Palestinian refugees

2 Palestinians killed in Yarmouk shelling
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — A Palestinian refugee and his child were killed Thursday after the Syrian regime bombed residential areas in Yarmouk camp in Damascus, local activists said. Palestinian activists in Yarmouk camp told Ma‘an that the refugee, Jamal Abu al-Haija, and his daughter Hanin, 10, were killed by a mortar shell fired near their house in the sport city area.
Activists said dozens of shells were fired at Yarmouk camp at dawn because Syrian and Palestinian houses are next to each other in the camp. He pointed out that the sounds of shells had frightened children. He said that a number of Palestinian families found shelters outside the camp and some moved to relatives’ houses. He said more than 1,000 families had immigrated to Lebanon.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512871

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Activestills: A week in photos
972mag 16 Aug — Introducing: A new regular feature from the Activestills photography collective. Each week, we will bring you a selection of our most compelling images from movements for social change throughout Palestine and Israel.
http://972mag.com/activestills-a-week-in-photos/53038/

How Palestinian bloggers cover protests in their own villages
TIME 14 Aug by Leeor Kaufman — As the cycle of protests goes on, Palestinian videographers and live bloggers produce footage of great immediacy and pointed perspective — I stumbled into Kamel Qadummi during a demonstration at his village, Kafr Qaddum, a few months ago. With his laptop in one hand and a small camera in the other, he was running straight into the cloud of tear gas, breathless. Unlike the foreign photojournalists, he didn’t have a gas mask, yet he was determined to film the events and webcast them live.
http://world.time.com/2012/08/14/how-palestinian-bloggers-cover-protests-in-their-own-villages/#ixzz23hw13U5d

Political / Economic News

Hamas: Elections a result, not condition, of reconciliation
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Hamas on Thursday insisted that it supports elections, but that reconciliation must come first. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri criticized recent remarks by President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, who said there would be no reconciliation without elections. “These statements are a coup on the reconciliation deal which makes elections a fruit of reconciliation and not a condition for it,” Abu Zuhri said in a statement. Hamas supports holding elections, but all the basic files of the reconciliation deal must be implemented first, including an interim leadership framework, PLO elections and a national unity government, Abu Zuhri said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=513052

PA, Israeli companies sign deal to postpone West Bank blackouts
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A deal has been reached with the Israel Electric Corporation to postpone power cuts in the occupied West Bank until after Eid al-Fitr, an official told Ma‘an … Instead, a scheduled payment plan will remove debts owed monthly to the Israeli company. Al-Omari stressed that in the event that the PA does not pay its debts after the holiday, there will be a “real crisis” for electricity in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho. He says part of the problem is that refugee camps do not pay for utilities. Refugees living in camps own mobile phones and pay those bills while electricity is more important but they do not pay, he said. UNRWA pays for water, education and health but not the electricity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512793

Unemployment rate reaches 20.9% in Q2, 2012
RAMALLAH, August 15, 2012 (WAFA) – Unemployment rate in the Palestinian Territory reached 20.9% in second quarter of 2012, bringing total number of unemployed people to about 232,000, divided into 127,000 in the West Bank and 105,000 in Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said Wednesday. Unemployment rate in Gaza Strip was 28.4% compared with 17.1% in the West Bank, and the unemployment rate for males in the Palestinian Territory was 18.8% compared to 29.5% for females, added PCBS.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20473

PA grants 4.7 million NIS to West Bank universities
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Aug– The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance on Wednesday transferred financial aid to seven universities, the PA education minister said. Ali al-Jarbawi said that Al-Najah University, Bethlehem University, Al-Istiqlal Academy, Bir Zeit, Hebron, the Open University and Palestinian Polytechnic will all receive the funding, designed to alleviate the financial crisis affecting universities. The total amount of funding to be divided between the seven universities is 4.7 million shekels ($1.1 million). PA financial support for university and college staff will be paid after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, al-Jarbawi said. The education minister thanked institutions of higher learning for their patience and understanding in the face of a financial crisis affecting the PA.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512739

Abbas meets Turkish president in Mecca
MECCA, August 16, 2012 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday met with the Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the sidelines of the forth Extraordinary Session of Islamic Summit Conference held in Mecca. Abbas and Gül discussed bilateral relations, recent developments in the area and the stalled peace process due to the Israeli intransigence.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20476

PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib leaves post
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib has decided to leave his position and return to teaching, the PA’s official news agency Wafa reported Wednesday. Khatib had taken a three-year leave of absence from Birzeit University to work as a spokesman and head of the PA government media center at the request of PA prime minister Salam Fayyad. Three years is the maximum amount of leave a university employee can take
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512714

Bahraini delegation visits Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A Bahraini delegation of 17 public figures and businessmen visited Jerusalem on Tuesday, the Palestinian ambassador to Bahrain said. Khalid Aref told Ma‘an that this is the second visit of its kind by the Bahraini delegation, who visited charities, orphanages and a hospital. Palestinian Authority minister of Jerusalem affairs Adnan al-Husseini applauded the Bahraini delegation for their visit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512636

Probe sought of alleged shoddy work at Arafat tomb
AP 15 Aug — Palestinian anti-corruption campaigners on Wednesday called for an investigation of allegedly shoddy work on Yasser Arafat’s mausoleum that they said cost public coffers more than $600,000 at a time of a government cash crunch … The mausoleum marking the late Palestinian leader’s grave in his former West Bank compound was completed in 2008, at a cost of $1.4 million. Cracks and spots were later discovered on most of the stones used in the construction, according to officials in the Yasser Arafat Foundation, the keeper of his legacy. The government has spent an additional $630,000 this year replacing the stones. The construction was overseen by PECDAR, a quasi-governmental agency.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/08/15/probe-sought-alleged-shoddy-work-at-arafat-tomb/

Israeli Racism / Discrimination

Court petition: 11-year-old put in special needs education due to his cultural background
Haaretz 16 Aug — A petition claiming that an 11-year-old Jerusalem boy, whose family immigrated from Ethiopia, had been unjustifiably placed in a program for children with special needs was filed in a Jerusalem court on Wednesday. The case is seen as part of a wider problem of children from Ethiopian immigrant families being unnecessarily placed in special education settings instead of regular classrooms, rather than addressing the cultural differences with which they come to school. The petition, which was filed against the Education Ministry and the Jerusalem municipality, claims the boy’s parents were not invited by education authorities to discuss their child’s school placement and were not provided with documents or any professional opinion justifying his placement in a special education program, despite a provision of the special education law that requires this.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/court-petition-11-year-old-put-in-special-needs-education-due-to-his-cultural-background.premium-1.458522

Yishai: Next phase — arresting Eritran, Sudanese migrants
Ynet 16 Aug — Interior minister tells Ynet ‘illegal migrant threat just as severe as Iranian nuke threat’; says will lock infiltrators up to ‘make their lives miserable’ — Following the deportation of a several dozen illegal South Sudanese migrants, Interior MinisterEli Yishai told Ynet on Thursday that he has instructed the Population and Immigration Authority to “begin arresting Eritrean and north Sudanese nationals” in the coming weeks.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4269540,00.html

A scorching desert prison for asylum seekers, with no way out
972mag 14 Aug by Yonatan Berman — While Eritrean asylum seekers cannot be deported due to the risk they would face upon return, the new Prevention of Infiltration Law enables Israel to keep them in prison indefinitely. New arrivals, most having faced rape and torture en route to Israel, are presently being held in a prison in the desert, and nobody knows how long they’ll be kept there. A visit to Ketsiot prison … In the two months since the authorities began to use this draconian new instrument for detention, not one person has been released.
http://972mag.com/a-scorching-desert-prison-for-asylum-seekers-with-no-way-out/52938/

Fearing daughter’s circumcision, African family asks Israel to hold off deportation
Haaretz 17 Aug — Family says asylum request was rejected without ever being examined properly — A family from the Ivory Coast whose application for refugee status was denied is worried their 6-year-old daughter will be forced to undergo female circumcision if they are deported from Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/fearing-daughter-s-circumcision-african-family-asks-israel-to-hold-off-deportation-1.458872

Other news

Palestinian envoy raised alarm about missing asylum boat
(with video) Brisbane Times 16 Aug — The [Australian] federal government has known for weeks that another asylum seeker boat, this one with dozens of Palestinians on board, had disappeared yet it kept silent about the details. The boat carrying 67 passengers, including 28 Palestinians, was last heard from 48 days ago after setting sail from Indonesia. The Palestinian government representative in Australia, Dr Izzat Abdulhadi, told the Herald he had raised the alarm about three weeks ago, passing on the names of the missing Palestinians. He was told the government was investigating but that more than one boat had gone missing. But Dr Abdulhadi said he had heard nothing further until after media reports that the boat was missing and feared sunk. He was told on Tuesday that the Palestinians believed to have been on the boat were not in detention in Australia.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/palestinian-envoy-raised-alarm-about-missing-asylum-boat-20120815-2495j.html

Violations of media freedoms in the OPT during July 2012
PNN 16 Aug — The high number of violations against Palestinian journalists remained steady during the month of July. Many journalists were subjected to numerous and various violations that contravene international conventions relating to human rights and freedom of opinion and expression. These have been monitored by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) throughout the month. These violations were committed both by the Israeli occupation forces and by various Palestinian actors in both the West Bank and Gaza. [Details follow.  See also MADA: More than 100 media freedom violations in the first six months of 2012]
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/human-rights/2479-violations-of-media-freedoms-in-the-opt-during-july-2012

Gaza Paralympians confident of success in London
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 15 Aug — Wheelchair-bound Khamis Zaqout from Gaza, who lost the use of his legs while working on a building site in Israel two decades ago, is Palestine’s best hope for a Paralympic medal in London this month. Zaqout will compete in the shot put, discus and javelin at the Aug. 29-Sept. 9 Games. Partially-sighted long-jumper Mohammed Fannouna, a bronze winner in Athens, will be Palestine’s second representative.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512792

Leaders of US human rights groups visit Israel
Ynet 15 Aug –  Leaders of prominent religious, ethnic and civil rights groups from the United States have traveled to Israel for a one-week seminar on human rights and civil liberties.The Project Interchange seminar, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, was meant to introduce the officials to Israeli culture and society and to expose them to the complex reality of life in the Jewish state and the Middle East.
As part of the project, the delegates met with Israeli, Arab and Palestinian community leaders and civil rights experts. The seminar focused on combating prejudice and racial stereotyping, protecting religious liberty, promoting LGBT equality, promoting fair treatment of immigrants, as well as international human rights, among other issues….
Priscilla Ouchida, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League stated, “I’ve experienced multiple ‘Ah-Ha!’ moments. The program transformed my prior assumptions into an understanding of Israel and its policies in the Middle East.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4269087,00.html

Analysis / Opinion / Reviews

Watch: ‘Separate and unequal’ — Interview on Israel’s legal system / Roi Maor
972mag 15 Aug — I recently sat down for an interview with activist and filmmaker David Sheen, as part of a larger project he is working on. We discussed Israel’s legal system and the distortions inherent in it, and the possible avenues for change in Palestine and Israel. I provide a breakdown of the structure of citizenship in Israel and the different sectors of the population under Israeli control and how the law applies to them.  It’s a system in which there is no single rule of law and in which discrimination and injustice are part and parcel of the legal structure.
http://972mag.com/watch-separate-and-unequal-interview-on-israels-legal-system/52996/

The five-star occupation / Naomi Zeveloff
Guernica 15 Aug — To make the ten mile trip from Jerusalem into Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian West Bank, one must pass through Qalandia checkpoint, a forbidding concrete apparatus with a tall gray watchtower—the very embodiment of Michel Foucault’s Panopticon—from which an Israeli soldier peers down on Palestinians as they come and go. The checkpoint is flanked on either side by Israel’s security wall … On the other side of the checkpoint, in Ramallah, the rumble of jackhammers and bulldozers fills the air. Every block in Ramallah seems to be under renovation, as if the city’s 40 thousand inhabitants decided to rebuild the city at once, rising collectively from the ashes of the second intifada to erect a new façade … Some Palestinians see the boom as a perversion of the Palestinian independence movement, an indication that the government has given up its political program in favor of meaningless economic reforms. Forty-four years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with a peace plan nowhere in sight, the Ramallah boom looks more like an attempt to placate a battle-worn Palestinian populace than to prepare for its independence.
http://www.guernicamag.com/features/the-five-star-occupation/

Book review: Occupation Diaries
MEMO 15 Aug — Review by Amelia Smith — It’s the abundance of Raja Shehadeh’s daily accounts, filled with frustration and despair, which makes you realise just how far the Israeli occupation reaches into every corner of Palestinians’ lives. As each day unfolds in Shehadeh’s diary it brings with it another story more unbelievable than the first; the evidence withheld by Israeli police in the suspicious circumstances of his father’s death; and the section of the Annexation Wall that loops around a car park, at extra cost, to make space for Israelis to park their cars, for example. A talented storyteller, Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian writer and lawyer. His recently published book, Occupation Diaries, is a collection of entries of daily life in the West Bank from the end of 2009 until September 2011, the time of the Palestinian bid for recognition at the UN of its statehood.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/media-review/book-review/4167-occupation-diaries

Film review: The lenses may break, but not the spirit
News Services 16 Aug by Bruce DeMara — Emad Burnat, a Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Bil‘in, gets his first camera at the same time his fourth son Gibreel is born. It also coincides with the arrival of Israeli army surveyors who have plans to build a barrier between the village and nearby Israeli settlements (later ruled to be illegal by Israel’s Supreme Court). It’s 2005 and over the next six years, Burnat chronicles a very personal story of resistance to the encroachments on his village, which starts when the olive trees Burnat, a ‘falah’ or peasant, and his neighbours have traditionally harvested for much-needed income, are bulldozed by the Israeli army or burned down by Jewish settlers. Throughout 5 Broken Cameras, Burnat uses a succession of cameras to detail the fierce but non-violent resistance put up by close friends, and the tactics used by the Israeli army to break their spirit … Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi helps shape all of the footage into a compelling and very personal documentary, helping to craft the eloquent commentary in Burnat’s voice that knits it all together.
http://www.therecord.com/whatson/artsentertainment/article/781751–the-lenses-may-break-but-not-the-spirit

Tough desert life wins Bedouin teen fairy tale award
WADI ABU HINDI, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 16 Aug — It was the trauma of seeing Israeli troops raze homes in the Bedouin community where she lives that inspired 14-year-old Salha Hamadin to write an award-winning fairy tale. Earlier this year, Salha, who comes from an impoverished Palestinian Bedouin community near Jerusalem, was crowned winner of the teenage category of the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale Bay competition, which saw 1,200 entries from around the world by youngsters aged 11 to 16. The competition, which is dedicated to the 19th century Danish author famed for his stories and fables, takes place every year in the Italian town of Sestri Levante, with a focus on children’s literature and unpublished tales. Called “Hantush,” the story reflects the tough realities of daily life in the occupied West Bank, and starts when an army bulldozer comes to demolish her family home, prompting Salha to call on her pet lamb Hantush to take her away. The lamb, who can fly, takes her on an adventure to Spain, where the youngster meets Barcelona football icon Lionel Messi.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/14573687/tough-desert-life-wins-bedouin-teen-fairy-tale-award/

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