Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
West Bank convent loses appeal over Israeli separation barrier route
Guardian 26 Apr by Harriet Sherwood — Catholic group criticises ruling after seven-year legal battle over barrier that will separate Cremisan nuns from most of their land — Israel is expected to press ahead with construction of the vast West Bank barrier around a convent near the Christian town of Beit Jala, following a ruling from a special appeals committee. The route of the barrier will separate a small community of elderly nuns at the Cremisan convent from 75% of their land and from a nearby monastery with which it has close ties. The playground of a nursery and a school run by the Cremisan sisters will be bordered on three sides by the wall. More than 50 Palestinian families will lose free access to their agricultural land, causing economic hardship to the dwindling Christian community … The UK government provided indirect funding for the legal case. It says Israel is entitled to build a barrier but it should lie on the internationally recognised 1967 Green Line, not on confiscated Palestinian land. About 85% of the barrier is inside the West Bank.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/west-bank-convent-israeli-barrier
EU criticizes Israel destroying Palestinian structures
JERUSALEM (EUbusiness) 26 Apr — European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah expressed serious concerns on Friday about the demolition this week of 22 structures in eight places across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The destruction displaced 28 people, including 18 children, and affected 120 other people including 57 children, a statement from EU missions in Ramallah and Jerusalem said of the actions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of these structures were funded by EU member states, including France, it said. “These and other recent demolitions appear to put an end to a period in which a welcome reduction in demolitions had been noted,” the EU said.
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/israel-palestinians.oa1#1367005981
Israel delivers stop work order to Hebron clinic
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Israeli forces handed down a stop work order on Wednesday, halting construction on a rehabilitation center in a Hebron clinic, a local coordinator told Ma‘an. The clinic in the Susiya village serves more than 150 people and is the only clinic in the area, Popular Committee Coordinator Rateb al-Jbour said.
Al-Jbour also said four demolition orders were delivered to residents of the nearby Qawawes area in Yatta. The noticed ordered the demolition of tents owned by the Noman family, he said.
Both villages are in Area C, where Israel retains exclusive control over security and planning permission. According to the UN, over 60 percent of the West Bank is considered Area C.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589190
Israel uproots trees to prepare for new settlement in Jerusalem
IMEMC 26 Apr — Thursday April 25, 2013, Israeli bulldozers uprooted dozens of trees on a hill close to the Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa) illegal settlement, east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, in order to pave a new road that leads to a planned settlement neighborhood of 3000 homes for Jewish settlers. Bethlehem Governor, Abdul-Fattah Hamayil, stated that the new violation is part of a decision made by the Jerusalem City Council to build more illegal settlement units on Palestinian lands in the area. Hamayil added that the lands in question are not part of Area A (under Palestinian control), but are located behind the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall built in the area. He said that part of these lands are being planted by their owners, and that the army did not inform the residents of its intensions to uproot the lands.
http://www.imemc.org/article/65369
Israeli forces uproot 700 olive trees near Jenin
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Israeli forces on Thursday uprooted over 700 olive trees near ‘Arraba village in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Legislative Council member Najah Abu Bakr said. The trees belonged to Palestinians in Arraba, south of Jenin, close to the Israeli settlement Mevo Dotan, the MP said in a statement. On Tuesday, Israeli forces destroyed over 1,300 olive trees in the south Hebron hills of the southern West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589385
Jordan: Israel to allow UN into Jerusalem Old City
AMMAN (AFP) 24 Apr — Jordan on Tuesday said Israel has agreed to allow a UN mission to “investigate and assess” heritage conservation in Jerusalem’s Old City for the first time since 2004. “Jordan and Palestine, supported by Arab states, succeeded in pressuring Israel, for the first time since 2004, to accept and facilitate a UNESCO experts’ mission to investigate and assess the status of heritage and conservation of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls,” a palace statement said. The mission will start its work on May 15 “and it has to present its report and recommendations before June 1st, 2013, just before the beginning of the World Heritage Committee 37th session,” it added. According to the palace, Israel confirmed its decision in a letter to UNESCO director general Irina Bokova and in a statement read out on Tuesday at a meeting in Paris of UNESCO’s executive board.
Israel also agreed to take part in a technical meeting of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “to discuss recent Israeli violations against the Mughrabi Gate,” in Jerusalem, it added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=588864
Israel forces demolish ‘wildcat’ settler outpost
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Apr — Israeli security forces overnight demolished two structures that Jewish settlers had erected to create a “wildcat” outpost in the occupied West Bank, a police spokesman said on Friday. Soldiers and border policemen razed the makeshift structures of the Oz Zion outpost near Ramallah without incident, Luba Samri told AFP. The security forces have dismantled structures erected at Oz Zion on several occasions in the past — most recently in March — but settlers have persisted in putting up new ones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589609
Israeli authorities reveal distribution of West Bank land
TheRealNews 25 Apr — State lands in the occupied West Bank were declared by Israel for the use of the local population, but were used mainly for the colonization of the West Bank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2s-dbojZkY
Violence / Attacks / Raids / Clashes / Arrests
Man injured as Israeli forces storm ‘Issawiya wedding
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — Undercover Israeli forces on Wednesday shot a Palestinian man and detained three others in a raid on ‘Issawiya in East Jerusalem. The forces raided a wedding party in the village, and local young men pelted them with stones, a Ma‘an reporter said. Officers fired into the air, injuring 20-year-old Ibrahim Juweid in the abdomen. He was taken to Hadassah Hospital. The Israeli forces also detained three young men. ‘Issawiya is the hometown of Samer Issawi, who ended a 266-day hunger strike on Tuesday after Israel agreed to release him in eight months. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided the neighborhood amid frequent protests over Issawi’s detention, dismantling a solidarity tent in the town over 30 times.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589161
3 children detained by Israeli police in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 26 Apr — Israeli police detained three children on Thursday morning during a raid in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of ‘Issawiyeh, a local committee member said. The three children, aged 13, were arrested by Israeli police who were accompanied by intelligence agents, Follow-Up Committee member Muhammad Abul Humus told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589260
Dozens of students treated for breathing difficulty after IOF teargas attack
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 Apr — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas canisters at two secondary schools in Abu Dis town to the east of occupied Jerusalem on Thursday. Jerusalemite sources said that dozens of students at Abu Dis school for boys and the other school for girls suffered breathing difficulty due to the IOF heavy firing of teargas bombs at them. They said that a 17-year-old boy was injured with a metal bullet in his foot while a little girl was treated for shock. The sources said that violent confrontations erupted in the vicinity of the two schools, adding that fire broke out in one of the nearby homes after IOF soldiers fired a teargas inside it igniting the fire.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7we47Hz9l3BEcFJbqRv9YaOy%2bWEzmv15UKaQYSkMHiGgQcxQBPIELiEgA0hXZVv0M3%2fsHrX16YXNge24j9WsMVGqfzniWYU1E4hUBQNsUxI0%3d
In huge demonstration against lawless settler outpost, 500 Palestinians are teargassed by Israeli army
Mondoweiss 26 Apr by Ira Glunts — Reuters’ Noah Browning reports that 500 Palestinians were violently dispersed by the Israeli army as they marched toward an illegal Israeli settler outpost northeast of Ramallah. The protesters came from the adjacent village of Deir Jarir (also spelled Deir Jareer) and were reacting to recent attacks on their community by settlers from Ofra and its nearby outpost. Browning describes the size of this demonstration as “the largest of its kind in recent years.” The peaceful main demonstration, which included a Muslim and a Christian cleric, was preceded by a group of stone-throwing youths. The entire group, which included residents of the nearby village of Silwad and, according to various reports on Twitter, was forced to retreat when the army fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters. The march was a response to the recent destruction of 10 cars (see end of Ynet article, here), the planting of an Israeli flag and the harassment of local residents by the settlers from the nearby outpost. According to Ma’an News, the residents of Silwad had previously set fire to some trailers in the outpost after a resident of their village was attacked by area settlers.
https://mondoweiss.net/2013/04/demonstration-palestinians-teargassed.html
Clashes at weekly protest near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 26 Apr — Dozens of protesters on Friday suffered tear-gas inhalation in clashes with Israeli forces in Nabi Saleh village north of Ramallah, activists said. Palestinian and international activists participated in the village’s weekly protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and against Israel’s settlements. Israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse protesters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589650
Israeli forces shoot, injure teen near Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — Israeli forces on Wednesday shot and injured a Palestinian teenager trying to cut part of the separation wall in the northern West Bank. Yazid Tawfiq Abu al-Rub, 17, was shot in the foot and Omar Abu al-Rub was detained, a Ma‘an reporter said. They were trying to cut part of a fence in the separation wall surrounding Jalbun villiage.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589114
Undercover Israeli forces raid central Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Undercover Israeli forces on Thursday detained two Palestinians in central Hebron in the southern West Bank. The forces, dressed as Palestinians, took Issam Irfifan Zablah and Fahed Gamal Sarahneh in the Bab al-Zawiyeh area, a Ma‘an reporter said. At dawn Thursday, uniformed Israeli soldiers detained three Palestinians in Hebron. Locals said Loay Nasser al-Din, Sameh Zahdeh and Ibrahim Deis were detained in raids on their homes in the city.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589350
IOF soldiers round up four Palestinians during West Bank incursions
JENIN (PIC) 25 Apr — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up four Palestinians during incursions in Ya‘bad and Tobas villages on Wednesday morning. Local sources said that IOF soldiers stormed Ya‘bad village, south of Jenin, and broke into many homes and searched them before arresting a teenager and a 20-year-old youth. Eyewitnesses said that IOF soldiers manning Al-Hamra road block in the Jordan Valley detained two young men from Tobas and blindfolded and handcuffed them after searching them and confiscating their car.
Meanwhile, IOF patrols roamed the streets of Jenin and Qabatiya cities and asked for IDs of citizens.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7pHIrSXBgiIE7BXAGat%2bQeHXio8C7ECMJEQuLmVQaIUBDR3PXHM3Y9NgnVtguS95U3HVf6UKiL1Dvlt4NTlPNRdxOn%2b76AZxcWbmLy6GoqaY%3d
Israeli soldiers arrest 8 Palestinians in the West Bank
Ramallah (Petra) 25 Apr — Israeli soldiers on Thursday arrested 8 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources. The sources reported that Israeli troops stormed the West Bank cities of Hebron, Jenin and Jerusalem and arrested the citizens.
http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?Site_Id=1&lang=2&NewsID=108561&CatID=13&Type=Home>ype=1
Dozens of settlers visit West Bank tomb
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — Dozens of settlers visited Joseph’s tomb in Nablus early Wednesday, locals said. More than six buses carrying the settlers were seen by the tomb at around 1 a.m., surrounded by Israeli military forces, witnesses told Ma‘an. Clashes broke out between Israeli forces and youths, witnesses added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=588837
Police arrest two Israeli teenage settlers for torching Palestinian cars
IMEMC 24 Apr — The Israeli Police announced on Tuesday evening that it apprehended two Israeli teenage setters living in an illegal settlement outpost near Dir Jareer village, north east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, as they are believed to be involved in torching 10 Palestinian vehicles earlier on Tuesday. The Police said that members of the Central Investigation Committee apprehended the settlers from what is referred to as Hill 904 – Givat 904 illegal outpost, as part of the investigation into the torching of the Palestinian vehicles in the nearby village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/65359
Podcast: Youth in West Bank village under constant attacks by Israeli army, settlers
EI 26 Apr — Rush transcript: Mousa Abu Maria of the Palestine Solidarity Project Mousa Abu Maria: Really, I am very happy to tell the people about the situation in my town, called Beit Ommar, of the children [who are being] arrested by the Israeli army. After 2005, until today, the Israeli army started to arrest many young children from Beit Ommar — the reason because many of them participate in the many useful actions here. And the army were taking photos of them first, and after that they came in the night and arrested them, and they put them in the prisons. Every year, when we publish a big report about how many children the army arrested, we found sometimes [approximately] 100 kids [per year], and they are between 13 and 18 years old. We have an Israeli lawyer who went to the court to try and release the prisoners, and most of the time, she doesn’t find in the court a strong reason that the Israeli are keeping the kids in the prison. They charge them money sometimes in order to release them. And if the family doesn’t have that money, they’ll be in the prison for more or less six months.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/podcast-youth-west-bank-village-under-constant-attacks-israeli-army-settlers
PCHR Weekly Report: 8 wounded, 52 abducted by Israeli forces this week [18-24 April]
IMEMC 26 Apr — During the past week, Israeli forces conducted at least 98 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these incursions, Israeli forces abducted at least 52 Palestinians, including 6 children and a number of political leaders and members of Hamas movement. During the reporting period, Israeli forces wounded 8 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and a 70-year-old elderly woman, in the West Bank … In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces conducted 2 limited incursions into the Gaza Strip. Both incursions were conducted in the east of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip on the 22nd and 24th of April 2013. They leveled lands, however, no casualties were reported. [Details in this article, including coverage of events not mentioned in Today in Palestine, or see the full PCHR report here]
http://www.imemc.org/article/65370
PA security arrest Quds Press reporter in Ramallah
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 Apr — PA security apparatuses in the West Bank arrested on Friday afternoon the correspondent of Quds Press agency in Ramallah journalist Khaldun Mazloum. Mazloum’s wife said that a force of the Preventive Security men surrounded the house of her parents in law, in Janiya village near Ramallah, then arrested her husband. The elements of the preventive apparatus informed the Mazloum family that his arrest will not be long.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7uAeasCv9Shx24CSGg85ZZQa0I1xkNK2%2bT2dB0btpmHTeS4LxasVTDUT%2fkKSMG4ZLoA0y9GxLpJajBF8SXGEAikZmaEI3UVjy6GdWFKjx26k%3d
Gaza siege
Medics: Israeli forces shoot 17-year-old in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Apr — A Palestinian teenager was shot by Israeli forces in Jabaliya refugee camp, medics said. Jameel Heesha, 17, was shot in his left foot near the northern border of Gaza Strip. He was taken to a nearby hospital with moderate injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589661
Israeli artillery attacks northern Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 26 Apr — Israeli artillery fired on Friday night several shells towards Palestinian citizens’ lands in the north of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. PIC’s correspondent reported that a number of Israeli military vehicles raided the liberated area of Dugit and fired several shells at the free zone in the area of Atatra, in the northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7QrBgYmRpzkeiTt%2fP1mRsNXGQujAi1T1JeAUPjfc%2foDz54sBt2FOwzlRznfmsrszi9bI02%2f2Asa%2fO2DvGIe09cTh9oCd9ys9XnWAiAlVdOBY%3d
Israeli gunboats target fishing boats off the coast of Gaza
GAZA (PIC) 26 Apr — The Israeli occupation gunboats pounded at dawn Friday Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Sources in the Naval Police told PIC’s correspondent that the Israeli gunboats have directly opened fire toward one of fishing boats off the coast of north-western areas of the Gaza Strip, causing material damage, but no injuries were reported. The sources stated that the occupation forces have also opened fire in the open sea off the coast of the Sudanea neighbourhood, in the western coast of Gaza City and in the coast of the central region. No casualties were reported. [Ma‘an 26 Apr: Israeli gunboats on Thursday opened fire toward Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the Gaza Strip, a local official said.]
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7xbY%2bjm0MmGcAu%2fd678tiFyhV0W%2fQGCVimQiG%2f9rryK%2fkcp%2fqKJUWl12iHjgl7jYLAhGAkeggNUrg30mf%2fAedV93uRtX%2bpnBvZprKKfDMNWg%3d
Locals say Israeli tanks, bulldozers enter Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Israeli military forces entered the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, locals said. Eight bulldozers were accompanied by tanks, entering approximately 100 meters into farming land east of Khan Younis, witnesses said.
No clashes were reported … On Wednesday, witnesses reported a similar incident east of Beit Hanoun.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589203
Agreements signed to expand five cities in Gaza
MEMO 24 Apr — The Minister of Local Governance in Gaza, Engineer Mohammed Al-Farra, announced the signing of five agreements to expand a number of cities in the Gaza Strip during his visit to Morocco … During his Wednesday appearance on the television program “A meeting with an official” organised by the Government Media Office, Al-Farra said, “An agreement was signed with Morocco regarding the expansion of five Palestinian cities as a part of the construction projects implemented by Rabat to support the Gaza Strip.” According to the Minister of Local Governance, the agreement included the expansion of Gaza, Khan Yunis, Jabalia, Rafah, and Deir al-Balah. It is worth noting that there are about 44 residential localities in the Gaza Strip, extending over 360 km2. The Gaza Strip makes up about 1.33 per cent of Palestine’s historical area, according to Wikipedia.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/5834-agreements-signed-to-expand-five-cities-in-gaza
Trucks with material for Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Hospital arrive in Gaza
24 Apr — Trucks carrying material and technical equipment for construction of the Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Hospital sponsored by the Turkish International Coordination and Development Agency (TIKA),have arrived in Gaza. Memduh Burno, hospital project official, told Anadolu Agency that the 15 trucks entered Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing without facing any problems. TIKA began with the construction of the hospital in May 2011, which will include 150 beds and will be the biggest hospital in the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=384380
Women in Gaza welcome PA restrictions on salary payments
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Apr — A new restriction on salary payments for Palestinian Authority employees in Gaza has brought new freedom to some female workers in the enclave. The Fatah-led PA in the West Bank in April refused to pay salaries to its employees in the Gaza Strip whose bank accounts could be accessed by third parties who had power of attorney. The move by the PA aimed to ensure its employees were physically present in Gaza. The PA lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007, but its employees in the enclave remain on the payroll. Employees of the PA had to cancel the power of attorney to receive their salaries. For many women, whose accounts were controlled by their husbands or fathers, the decision gave them control of their bank accounts for the first time … Men have also been affected by the decision. Rani, 32, says his father insisted on having power of attorney over his account, claiming he wanted to save money for his son’s wedding. Having worked for several years, Rani is still not married, and says he doesn’t know where his wages are.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589591
Misconceptions abound on Gaza’s women, politics
Al-Monitor 25 Apr by Rana Baker — It has become commonplace when reading about Gaza to come across descriptions of it as an “Islamist enclave” or “Hamas-controlled territory” and so on. In case someone exists who does not know what Hamas is all about, commentators make sure their readers understand that it is the “fundamentalist” group bent on the “destruction of Israel” and nothing else. The Palestinians of Gaza, therefore, are often categorized as either ardent Hamas supporters or suppressed dissidents, including women, who receive the severest treatment imaginable, not only from the Hamas government, but also from misogynistic and backward average male residents. Such categorizations are then followed by sweeping generalizations about each of these stereotypes. Whereas the Hamas supporters consist of “terrorists” and “bloodthirsty barbarians,” the dissents are seen as peace-loving minorities who seek neighborly relations with Israel, the occupying entity.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/gaza-misconceptions-women.html
[Female] Palestinian singer holds concert in Gaza – short video
Al Arabiya 25 April
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AejmCsfutqw
Mayor says Hamas govt neglecting farmers
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Apr — The mayor of a farming village in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday accused the Hamas government of neglecting local farmers. Agriculture in the village of al-Masdar has almost vanished due to the high cost of farming, Mayor Abdul-Hakim al-Masdar said. The mayor said the government in Gaza was reluctant to support national produce, preferring to import cheap food from Egypt and Syria. Farmers have stopped working on their land because they cannot compete with the imported produce, al-Masdar said, adding that they had already abandoned fields near the border because they are in range of Israeli fire.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=588517
Egyptian Salafist delegation arrives in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — A delegation from two Egyptian Salafist parties arrived in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The senior officials from Egypt’s al-Watan and al-Asalah parties will inspect damage from Israel’s last war on the Gaza Strip and the effects of Israel’s blockade of the enclave, said Salem Attallah of the Hamas Ministry of Information. Attallah said the delegates were invited to Gaza by the Mujahedin in Palestine movement, a small Salafist group.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589306
Gaza to export truckload of spices to Europe
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Apr — Israeli authorities opened the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday for the export of one truckload of herbs and spices to Europe, a Palestinian liaison official said. They also allowed the access of 350 trucks loaded with goods and cement and building materials for international projects in Gaza, the official said. Limited quantities of cooking gas were to be transferred into the sector, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=588467
Israel opens Gaza crossing for limited export
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Israeli authorities opened the Kerem Shalom goods crossing into Gaza on Thursday for the export of goods, a Palestinian Authority liaison official said. The goods for export include flowers and green peppers and are destined for Europe, Raed Fattouh said. Israel also permitted the entry of 320 trucks with goods for various sectors in Gaza as well as limited quantities of cooking gas, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589234
Israel’s army to stop using white phosphorus
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Apr — Israel’s army has announced it will stop using munitions containing white phosphorus, for which it was internationally condemned during a military operation against Gaza in 2008-2009. Shells containing the chemical “will no longer be used,” the army said in a statement released late Thursday. “In around a year, the Israeli artillery will have developed a new munition which can create smoke screens and that uses only gas. This will replace the current munitions which contain small amounts of phosphorus,” it said … On January 15, 2009 the military fired white phosphorous shells in the vicinity of a compound of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City to obscure Israeli troop positions from Hamas fighters in the area, local media said. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorous shells in heavily populated civilian areas, but allows them in open spaces to be used as cover for troops.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589624
Prisoners / Court actions
Tadamun: Abu Sisi, Saidi moved to worse isolation cells
NABLUS (PIC) 24 Apr — The Israeli prison service (IPS) has moved the remaining two isolated Palestinian prisoners Dirar Abu Sisi and Awad Saidi to isolation cells worse than the former ones. Mohammed Abed, a lawyer with the international Tadamun foundation, said in a statement on Wednesday that the IPS transferred Saidi in early April from Ela isolation to Eshel isolation. He added that the IPS transferred Abu Sisi three months ago from Ashkelon isolation to that of Ohli Kedar. Abed quoted Saidi as saying that he was surprised with the decision to transfer him on 3/4/2013, which he at first believed meant an end to his isolation, adding that Eshel was worse than his former isolation in Ela …
For his part, Abu Sisi told the lawyer that he [had] also believed that the IPS was moving him out of isolation, adding that Ohli Kedar is much worse than that of Ashkelon. Abu Sisi said that he does not see anyone or speak to anyone, “sometimes I think I am living in another planet.” Abu Sisi is to attend a hearing on 28/4/2013 in which the court would decide on an appeal by his lawyer against renewing his isolation for six more months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ccVibPjGfsB0ziqClO%2fQwn0eNLTEZkYaBzycTybfnhpbySoa%2bxPEiatWlCorlYT8m2LpziZm98ydlTNcXlDWKXgVxpX7ZDuwjt89VZZVPP4%3d
Palestinian children denied education in Israeli prisons
BEIT UMMAR, WEST BANK (Al-Monitor) 26 Apr by Jillian Kestler-D-Amours — Seventy-three. In that many days, Sadek Abu Maria’s life has drastically changed. “It’s easier than before, but it’s still difficult because I have exams, and the majority of the material I wasn’t there for,” the 15-year-old told Al-Monitor from his family’s living room in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar. Abu Maria is in 10th grade at a local school in Beit Ummar. He was arrested in early January on the charge of throwing stones and detained at Israel’s Ofer military prison, on the outskirts of Ramallah, for almost two and a half months. The Palestinian Ministry of Education makes children repeat their academic year after they’ve missed a certain number of school days; Abu Maria says he’s missed more than is allowed and is now waiting to hear if he can take the exams in three weeks with his classmates … At Ofer, Sadek Abu Maria had no access to educational courses, aside from the Hebrew courses older prisoners taught him. The prisoners also taught Arabic and mathematics for beginner-level students.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/palestinian-detained-children-education-israel.html
Hamas leader Jamal al-Tawil released
RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 Apr — The Israeli Occupation has released on Thursday evening the former head of the al-Bireh municipality and a leader within the Hamas movement Sheikh Jamal al-Tawil, 55, from the city of al-Bireh in the central occupied West Bank. The Israeli Court decided on Thursday to release the leader in Hamas movement Sheikh al-Tawil, from Ramallah, after his administrative detention in Ofer prison, Palestine center for prisoners’ studies confirmed. The lawyer has informed al-Tawil’s family that the Israeli court refused the appeal submitted by the Israeli Intelligence hours after issuing his release decision, the family told PIC.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70d6QK4%2bcDm9IzMR%2bYVBG2ZEAv4qmUJChYs2UnVQDIO0Acf13LnNFtCJbUt1kASFQ8IwQUgPmSbE6SgKogVhtAPw9mHdpOqu2PW3lZ8UE30Q%3d
Atta Ayyash’s family appeals for his release
NABLUS (PIC) 26 Apr — The family of Palestinian prisoner Atta Ayyash appealed for his release. Haj Ayyash was arrested by the occupation authorities two weeks ago on Karama bridge as he was leaving the West Bank heading to Jordan, where he lives with his family. The family condemned the occupation authorities’ decision to extend the arrest of Haj Atta Ayyash, 61, for 12 days in Taj Tikva interrogation center. For his part, Mamoun Ayyash, the prisoner’s son, confirmed that the occupation authorities arrested his father while he was returning to Jordan from a short visit to his hometown of Rafat in Salfit, on Karama crossing. Mamoun said that his father is used to visiting his family in Rafat every year.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7B4gFMgGdZGX21Z7my86ElPoGOu5fkhWVJaRCmWQtxLvCzV55XFkMGRbSv4EYl%2ftYqKDvFZKdPhhht5vOwMaMmEs8DNl3sr6YTeJQr0UJUYI%3d
Ahrar appeals to release the dean of administrative detainees
NABLUS (PIC) 25 Apr — Director of Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights, Fuad Al-Khuffash, appealed to all human rights organizations to work for the release of the dean of administrative detainees captive Dirar Abu Menshar. Abu Menshar, aged 34 from al-Khalil, was arrested on November 5, 2010 and is held in the Negev prison. Al-Khuffash said that the occupation has extended the administrative detention of captive Abu Menshar six times, with no reasons.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7uVUnPGxWx20lCSCe4ecjEQ4oLNSTWrN1jte4y9GJcUiCaOIaiPkMTWcccR%2fe3oJMld5%2bBPDvh0K8k5dwM5glh6ldLQyY5ow5xzzjf1zDzjA%3d
Amnesty calls on Israel to release Palestinian academic jailed ‘to deter left-wing activists’
EI 26 Apr by Maureen Clare Murphy — Amnesty International has renewed its call on Israel to release Palestinian academic and activist Ahmad Qatamesh, who has been held for two years without charge or trial — a practice known as administrative detention. Amnesty stated yesterday: “Qatamesh, a 62-year-old academic who Amnesty International believes is being detained to deter political activities by other Palestinian left-wing activists, was yesterday told he will be held for at least another four months from 29 April.” Amnesty also reports that Qatamesh is suffering from medical neglect
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/amnesty-calls-israel-release-palestinian-academic-jailed-deter-left-wing
Postage stamps and onions the latest threat to the State of Israel, write Palestinian political prisoner
EI 26 Apr by Maureen Clare Murphy — Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and political prisoner who was persecuted for his work to uphold the rights of his community, describes the absurd measures taken to control Palestinian prisoners in a new essay written in an Israeli prison cell. Makhoul says these practices include a ban on onions, in place since the beginning of the year, and the removal of postal stamps from letters of solidarity to Palestinian political prisoners (referred to by the acronym PPP in Makhoul’s handwritten essay below). Makhoul writes that the authorities brought half an onion and a piece of fruit to each prisoner daily last year, a routine since discontinued for “security” reasons. “What was ‘normal’ in 2012 became dangerous in 2013,” Makhoul concludes.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/postage-stamps-and-onions-latest-threat-state-israel-writes-palestinian
Tulkarem resident sentenced for 24 years
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — An Israeli court on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old Palestinian from Tulkarem to 24 years. Muhammad Kharboush was detained in 2009 in Surif village near Hebron.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589321
Fatwa council approves artificial insemination for prisoners’ wives
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — The Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council on Wednesday approved artificial insemination for the wives of Palestinians in Israeli jails. The Razan Medical Center for Infertility, which has clinics in Ramallah and Nablus, has offered free insemination treatment to the wives of political prisoners who manage to smuggle sperm out of Israeli jails. In February, the clinic announced that four prisoners’ wives were pregnant as a result of artificial insemination … The council set over a dozen conditions to make the process religiously acceptable. The couple must be married, and the pregnancy must be agreed by both partners and preferably their families, the council ruled. Several of the couple’s next-of-kin relatives must witness the insemination, and the process must be made public … It must be the prisoner’s first child to qualify as an emergency, and the detainee must be serving a long sentence which would prohibit childbearing upon his release.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589018
Political, other news
Abbas to meet Mursi in reconciliation push
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Apr — President Mahmoud Abbas will head to Cairo in May to advance reconciliation between his Fatah party and Hamas, a senior Fatah official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abbas would meet Egypt’s President Mohammad Mursi and Egypt’s intelligence chief during the visit. Egypt is expected to push for a Palestinian unity government after the meeting as well as a date for elections. Meanwhile, Fatah leader Faisal Abu Shahla told Ma‘an that there were no plans for meetings between Fatah and Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589606
Hamas slams Palestinian Authority for postponing UN resolutions
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 Apr — Hamas on Thursday condemned a reported decision by the Palestinian Authority to postpone five UNESCO resolutions following US intervention. “This step is like a reward to the occupation for its crimes and violations,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement. “It is a contribution in erasing the Arabic and Islamic identity of Jerusalem, and it encourages the occupation to continue its Judaization program,” Barhoum said. The Hamas official added that no one had the right to compromise the rights of the Palestinian people. Israel radio reported Wednesday that the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority had agreed to postpone five resolutions condemning Israeli threats to Jerusalem’s Palestinian character as well as Israeli activity in the West Bank. The resolutions were to be presented to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which admitted Palestine as a member in September.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589444
Spain rescinds decision to open honorary consulate in Hamas-ruled Gaza
NEW YORK (AJC) 25 Apr — AJC welcomed Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo’s decision to rescind a plan to establish an honorary consular office in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Spain maintains a consulate in Jerusalem for relations with the Palestinian Authority. “Such a step would have only given unwarranted recognition to the terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza, while undermining the Palestinian Authority and jeopardizing the chance to advance the peace process,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. AJC had expressed “bewilderment” in a letter to Foreign Minister Garcia-Margallo, following the original announcement to establish an Honorary Spanish Consular Office in Gaza.
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=7oJILSPwFfJSG&b=8478375&ct=13093703¬oc=1
Experts continue to clear landmines near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — Teams of experts on Wednesday started the second stage of a campaign to clear Bethlehem of landmines left by the Jordanian army before 1967. The organization Roots of Peace started the initiative, and the second stage is expected to take 10 days, said Atai Shelach, a representative of the group said. “The process will involve giant bulldozers and modern detectors,” Shelach told Ma‘an. Husan village council leader Hasan Hamamra said teams started work Wednesday morning. After the landmines are cleared, the land will be rehabilitated and then returned to its owners, Hamamra said.
Villagers are pleased with the campaign, Hamamra added, highlighting that around 2,600 people had been killed or injured by landmines in the area since 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589157
Israel airport security ‘allowed to read tourist email’
JERUSALEM (AFP) 24 Apr — Israeli security officials at Ben Gurion airport are legally allowed to demand access to tourists’ email accounts and deny them entry if they refuse, the country’s top legal official said on Wednesday. Details of the policy were laid out by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in a written response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the group said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589166
US academy to open in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 24 Apr — A Palestinian teacher who spent 22 years working in the United States has decided to open an educational academy in Nablus which will follow the US school curriculum … International teachers will work at the academy, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Al-Ahmad said that he chose to open his academy in Nablus because it is one of Palestine’s largest cities. He hopes to open other branches across the West Bank and raise the level of education in Palestine to the highest level possible, he told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589024
Cross-country concert unites Palestinian children
Al Arabiya 25 Apr — Palestinian children from across the region took part in a concert that united the voices of 700 youths from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, broadcast via a satellite link. The concert was the finale of a three-year music program which aimed to help marginalized youths through education, reported the Daily Star on Thursday. The program, which wrapped up on Tuesday, saw the Palestinian children take part in the al-Sununu choir, organized by the Association Rostrpovich-Vishnevskaya. The non-government organization, established in Paris by Russian musician Elena Rostropovich in 2008, orchestrated the closing event. It featured the simultaneous performance of all 700 participants, singing in unison in Beirut, Amman, Damascus, Gaza and Bethlehem in a single concert broadcast via satellite. “I performed today with my friends in Syria, Gaza and the West Bank…I want to be a musician in the future,” said one Palestinian child who took part in the Beirut concert.During the concert, the children performed traditional Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab songs. The finale included a rendition of the traditional Palestinian song, “Wein a’Ramallah.”
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/entertainment/2013/04/25/Cross-country-concert-unites-Palestinian-children-.html
TV: Hezbollah denies sending drone over Israel
BEIRUT (AFP) 25 Apr — Hezbollah said Thursday it did not send a drone over Israel, hours after the Israeli air force said it shot down an unmanned aircraft off the country’s northern coast. “Hezbollah denies sending any unmanned drone towards occupied Palestine,” the movement’s television channel al-Manar said, without elaborating. Israel’s deputy defense minister earlier put the blame squarely on Hezbollah … However, Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner was cautious, saying the incident was still being investigated. “We don’t know where the aircraft was coming from and where it was actually going,” he said, adding that the navy was “searching for the remains of the UAV.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=589515
Israeli assessment: Iran behind downed drone
Ynet 27 Apr — Assessments that Iran is behind the launch of the unmanned drone into Israel airspace Thursday is gaining popularity among Israel’s senior military and political echelons. According to current assessments, the drone, which was downed by an IAF F-16 jet a few kilometers west of Haifa’s shore line, was sent by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in contradiction to previous assessments that Hezbollah was behind the launch.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4372826,00.html
Israeli racism
Love in the time of racism: the new, dangerous low in the campaign to stop interracial relationaships
Haaretz 25 Apr by Vered Lee — Incitement over relationships between Jewish women and Arab men has been rising sharply in Israel in recent years. A new report examines the phenomenon and its real aims — Last September, five Jewish youths attacked an Arab man in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood. The Arab was escorting a female work colleague home and was attacked because he was suspected of “taking advantage of a Jewish woman,” according to the statements made to the police by three of the defendants. A month before, in August 2012, Jewish teens mobbed and attacked a 20-year-old Arab man, seriously injuring him … Things heated up when a teenage girl who was with the Jewish boys told them that she was once raped, apparently by an Arab assailant. In response, the youths decided to beat a young Arab who happened to be passing by and with no connection whatsoever to the incident the girl had described … A new report from the Israeli Religious Action Center on this specific brand of racism surveys and analyzes the phenomenon from a gender perspective, examining the main organizations that are concerned with “the honor of daughters of Israel,” keeping them away from Arab men and “saving” them from assimilation and mixed marriages.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/love-in-the-time-of-racism-the-new-dangerous-low-in-the-campaign-to-stop-interracial-relationships.premium-1.517545
Medical racism: Israel hospital director complains that too many African babies are born
EI 25 Apr by Ali Abunimah — It’s a “problem” that too many babies are being born to parents from Africa, a leading Israeli medical official has told lawmakers at the Israeli parliament. Israel’s Maariv reported yesterday the official’s comments in Hebrew: “In Tel Aviv, today, there live approximately 80 thousand infiltrators from Africa, who constitute about 15 percent of the city’s population. In the last year about 700 babies were born to Eritrean and Sudanese mothers, and we currently have an average of about two births a day,” thus reported today Professor Gaby Barabash, director of the Ichilov Medical Center, in a hearing the Knesset held by the lobby for returning the infiltrators.”The problem is that they closed down the fence, but they did not close down the natural growth, and the number of Eritreans born here rises from year to year,” said Barabash. Barabash’s use of the term “infiltrators” as a general term for Africans marks his comments as part of the long-standing campaign of racist incitement by Israeli leaders and officials that has resulted in horrifying demonstrations and pogroms targeting Africans in Israel, many of whom arrive as refugees
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/medical-racism-israel-hospital-director-complains-too-many-african-babies-are
Analysis / Opinion / Reviews
An exhibit of historical oppression / Ramona Wadi
MEMO 25 Apr — British approval for Israel to temporarily display the Balfour Declaration during the inauguration of a museum in 2015 has met with verbal condemnations from the Arab League and leading Palestinian officials. The declaration is described as a document which negated the political rights of Arabs and Palestinians, as well as being proof of their forced displacement. Israel’s enthusiasm has been vehemently challenged by Palestinians as they contemplate their historic reality – that of a people divested of rights by imperial motives favouring the establishment of a Jewish state … The display of the Balfour document is regarded by Zvi Hauser as vital to the Jewish population’s approach to history. “We will do our utmost so that Israelis may view with their own eyes a piece of history that has changed our reality.” It is possible for Israelis to view not only the document articulating support for the Jewish state, but also the ramifications of such illegalities. Relegating a document to a particular era in history strives to eradicate its recurrent consequences for Palestinians, whose right to self-determination began to dwindle from the moment Zionists obtained support for the illegal occupation of Palestine.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/blogs/politics/5843-an-exhibition-of-historical-oppression
Book review: ‘Fast Times in Palestine’ offers a glimpse of what has been, what is, and what could be / Jerry Merriman
Mondoweiss 23 Apr — Pamela J. Olson’s recently-published book, Fast Times in Palestine, is an important and welcome addition to the books written from personal experience living in the occupied Palestinian territories. Part travelogue, part unflinching witness to the brutality of the Israeli occupation and colonization of the West Bank, and part “love affair with a homeless homeland” (the book’s subtitle) … The purpose of her book, as Olson writes on her website, is to give the reader “a sophisticated understanding of the Israel/Palestine conflict in a way that is enjoyable and accessible to all.” She accomplishes this by combining the engaging story of her experiences living in the West Bank with a well-documented account of the grim reality of life under occupation. While acknowledging that terrorism from both sides has caused unimaginable suffering, Olson does what relatively few in the West have been willing to do, and that is to also acknowledge the conflict’s staggering imbalance of power.
https://mondoweiss.net/2013/04/palestine-offers-glimpse.html
Palestinians turn to Facebook in fight against occupation / Linah Alsaafin
Al-Monitor 25 Apr — Despite a spike in social-media usage, Palestinian activists still face challenges translating online activism into mass mobilization — A recent report on social media in the West Bank and Gaza Strip found that 40% of the Palestinian population there are active on social-media sites, most notably Facebook. This ranks the two territories as the highest in the Middle East region. Hanin Taha, a social-media specialist who works with the Spark Media company, said that the annual rate of increase for Twitter users in Palestine in 2012-2013 is the highest of the Arab countries, at an astonishing 232%. The exponentially increasing rate of social-media users, especially those on Twitter, arose from the need for an alternative discourse away from the mainstream-media narrative when it came to the Israeli occupation. The popular resistance protests in the West Bank garnered more worldwide attention due to activists live-tweeting and updating from the ground about the arrests, injuries and, more rarely, deaths of protesters at the hands of the Israeli army.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/social-media-palestinian-activism.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7048
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