15 arrested, 40 injured, as Palestinians protest Israeli provocations at al-Aqsa

VIDEO: Palestinians protest against the Judaization of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa
Silwanic.net Wadi Hilweh Information Center  24 September
http://silwanic.net/?p=42319

Details: the arrest of 15 Jerusalemites and injury of 40 others while condemnation of trying to Judaize Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 24 Sept — …Injuries: Medical sources said that 40 individuals were injured with burns, bruises and wounds after being directly hit by shrapnel of sound bombs and rubber bullets; one young man was directly hit in his head with a sound bomb and lost consciousness. Another was injured by iron shrapnel in his spinal cord. Most of the injuries were in the head, chest and back and the medical sources noted that the Israeli forces used a new kind of rubber bullets which leaves severe burns in the area where it hits. Arrests: Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the Israeli forces arrested 15 Jerusalemites from Nablus Street and Damascus gate. The Center noted that the Musta’ribeen (undercover unit) was deployed in between the participants of the sit-in since it started and carried out several arrests and severely beat the participants. Jad Qadamani, prisoner’s club lawyer, said that the police arrested: 14-year old Ahmad Khanfar, 15-year old Omar Al-Sheikh Ahmad, 14-year old Omar Abu Sirrieh, 24-year old Sameh Ibrahim E’weisat, Jihad Sa’eedeh, Mus’ab Mujahed, Ma’moon Al-Natsheh, Mohammad Mamlook, Muntaser Ayoubi, Sa’ed Sinokrot, Fadi Mamlook, Amir Abu Sara and Musa Assaileh. Qadamani pointed out that the young men were severely beat during the arrest process leading to several wounds and bruises among them Targeting the medical staff The Israeli forces targeted the medical staff that was deployed in the streets of Jerusalem to provide necessary first-aid to the injured leaving them with wounds and bruises. Targeting press crews The forces also targeted the press crews and worked hard to obstruct their work and prevent them from filming and documenting the incident using their cameras as they were pushed and forced to keep moving from one place to another. Photographer Suleiman Khader was injured in his chest during the clashes by shrapnel of a sound bomb. The forces also attacked the photographers of Wadi Hilweh Information Center and broke their cameras and equipment
http://silwanic.net/?p=42292

Worshipers gather in al-Aqsa to prevent incursions in the mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 24 Sept — Hundreds of students, Jerusalemites and residents of the 1948 territories gathered in the Aqsa mosque since the early morning hours, following Jewish calls to break into the mosque courtyards on Tuesday, on the eve of Sukkot. Al-Aqsa Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday that the presence of worshipers, students and leaders of the Islamic movement in Al-Aqsa mosque has been thwarting the settlers’ incursions expected for today. According to eyewitnesses, a large number of settlers gathered this morning at Bab al-Silsila, but were not able to enter the Aqsa mosque. The vicinity of the mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem have been witnessing an intensive police presence in preparation for the Jewish mass rally that will take place today in the Old City at the call of the Jewish groups and parties.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7yU9epxX2DG%2b4cucEKx%2fmQBB5sSh4IZTJxgM%2bNllEqPzP14GtCEBNewaO76%2fATKioiX%2bGjnIMedXVCGHD40QxvBwKHJsLhS08MaQJaGmE5P0%3d

Israeli police close al-Aqsa compound to non-Muslims
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Sept — Israeli police closed the al-Aqsa mosque compound to non-Muslim visitors on Tuesday, citing security concerns. “This morning the Temple Mount was closed to visitors due to information about possible incidents that could develop. We closed it for visitors as a precaution to prevent any incidents from taking place,” Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Ma‘an. Israeli police received threats of rioting by Palestinian worshipers, according to Rosenfeld.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=632789

Mashaal: J’lem and Aqsa can only be restored with armed resistance
DOHA (PIC) 24 Sept — Head of Hamas’s political bureau Khaled Mashaal called on the Palestinian natives of occupied Jerusalem to rally in the Aqsa Mosque’s courtyard on Tuesday to protect it against desecration attempts by the Jewish settlers. In an interview conducted by Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Mashaal urged Fatah faction, the Palestinian authority and the political factions not to get busy with side battles, to utilize the common ground between them and make Jerusalem a top priority for them over other issues. Mashaal also hailed the enormous efforts being made for Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque by Sheikh of the Aqsa Ra’ed Salah. The Hamas leader highlighted that the Palestinians would be able to restore Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque only through armed resistance, recalling that the Muslim conqueror Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi had liberated Jerusalem with armed force. He urged the Arab League and the organization of Islamic conference to hold emergency meetings and provide funds in support of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, which are being exposed to serious Israeli violations nowadays. “I warn the nation that if it does not rise up to save the Aqsa Mosque, we will lose it, especially as it is being exposed to division attempts by the usurping Zionist entity,” he stated.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7D0yRfBp6vdCAhw3YRxPCb%2f2bh5alkPIAKJnoilYqUTVaoaVe2WqTuzIqLPTdibJAJDDGRV3LUTlwosSBEwBzvXYoLKvCcM8bfF1uaEiwEkU%3d

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Israel promises not to raze toilets in disputed West Bank villages
Haaretz 23 Sept by Amira Hass — The state has promised not to demolish 15 cisterns and 19 toilets in three Palestinian villages in the West Bank until the High Court of Justice decides the fate of the army firing zone in which the villages are located. The promise was part of the state’s response, submitted in late August, to a High Court of Justice petition against the planned demolitions. The cisterns and toilets are in Sfai, Majaz and Jinba, three villages in the South Hebron Hills with a combined population of around 300. The facilities were built in 2002 with British government funds. Israel has refused to allow them be connected to the water and electricity supplies, since they are among the eight villages the state is seeking to raze and relocate to make room for the army training area known as Firing Zone 918.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.548564

Hebron settlers pitch hut, claim contested house
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) 24 Sept by Nasser Shiyoukhi — Israeli settlers on Tuesday pitched a Sukkah, or makeshift hut marking a Jewish harvest festival, outside a contested house in the West Bank city of Hebron in a new claim to ownership. A few hundred settlers live in several heavily fortified enclaves in the tense city of 170,000 Palestinians, who view each new settler bridgehead with alarm. Months of wrangling over the house in downtown Hebron took a decisive turn on Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responding to the fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier in Hebron a day earlier, said settlers should be allowed to move into the building. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has since given the go-ahead, but further approvals are needed before settlers can move in, said Yaalon aide Ofer Harel.
http://www.bradenton.com/2013/09/24/4735912/hebron-settlers-pitch-hut-claim.html

Israel tells Palestinian farmer it plans to seize his land
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 24 Sept – Israeli forces Tuesday notified a Palestinian farmer from al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, that it plans to expropriate his agricultural land, according to a local activist. Coordinator of the committee against the Apartheid Wall, Ahmad Salah, told WAFA that Reziq Salah found a notice on his land put there by Israeli authorities informing him of their intentions to expropriate his land and gave 45 days to evacuate it. He said that his land was previously razed and trees were uprooted eight months ago by Israeli forces
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23274

Settlers burn 350 olive trees near Nablus
IMEMC — Local sources reported Monday [September 23 2013] that a group of extremist Israeli settlers set ablaze more than 350 Palestinian olive trees that belong to villagers of Sorra and Tal villages, west of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Settlers also harvested Palestinian orchards near Jenin. Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of Israeli Settlements File at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA), that a number of settlers of the Hafad Gilad illegal outpost, invaded the orchards located in the western valley, and burnt the trees. Daghlas added that the fire consumed nearly 350 olive trees, and that the attack just comes a few days before the beginning of the olive harvest season. More than 200 of the burnt trees belong to Suleiman Abdul-Aziz Hamad, 100 to resident Omar Mustafa Samara, and 50 to Mohammad Fares. Daghlas further stated that the settlers also burnt Palestinian farmlands that belong to several residents in the area  … Extremists further attacked a Palestinian orchard south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and uprooted its trees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/66162

Jewish settlers steal Palestinian olive crops in Jenin village
JENIN (PIC) 23 Sept — Jewish settlers stole olive crops of Palestinian farmers in Jalbon village, east of Jenin, on Monday two weeks before its harvesting season. Local sources said that the settlers came from three settlements built on Jalbon village land and started to harvest the olives in the land that was isolated from the village by the racist, separation wall. The sources pointed out that the harvesting season starts in two weeks’ time, adding that the settlers wanted to impose a fait accompli in order to control the land. Hasan Abulrub, from Jalbon village, told the PIC reporter that he saw the settlers harvesting the olives but the villagers could not do anything because of the separation wall. Marj Bin Amer municipality, to which the village is affiliated, denounced the act in a statement on Monday. It said that a group of settlers harvested all the olives in the fields of two brothers in Jalbon village.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7TknFW3NzO56k2J1OrzkXOPLwPA7Bnv6q%2fhEo0IGsxQIwpVEQ6QhMO%2bsIEfTU0uX5Lyd9kyr3NWYq4C21cA%2fBgz5zSfQNVRXeYg47UN9EifQ%3d

Salfit farmers resist bulldozing of their land
SALFIT (PIC) 224 Sept — Famers near Sarta village, to the west of Salfit, resisted Jewish settlers who tried to annex more areas of their cultivated land. Ghasan Daghlas, an activist against Israeli settlement in northern West Bank, said on Tuesday that the settlers brought in bulldozers and started leveling land near the village. He said that the settlers were trying to link Brukhin  settlement to a major road, adding that the settlers were trying to build a two-kilometer street running through the land of Sarta and Brokin [Buruqin] villages. Daghlas said that violent confrontations took place after farmers stood in the way of the bulldozers and prevented them from completing their work
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76NRhg3g0CxD2N5wO0gRvwrxlo3TiYZyUS%2blZmxjH%2bHshQdG%2bhIqgrhXT9Gp8m49Ksb6dPqTnvB9FQI5XA2SKjfYKYBqlcPh5ogCjPKtTKt8%3d

Settlers use bulldozers to annex more Palestinian land
NABLUS (PIC) 23 Sept — Jewish settlers used bulldozers to level dozens of dunums of agrarian land in Yanun hamlet to the south of Nablus city on Monday morning. Ghassan Daghlas, an activist against Israeli land grab in northern West Bank, said that the settlers bulldozed more than 20 dunums of land in Ulwana area between Yanun hamlet and ‘Aqraba village. He said that the settlers want to annex more land in order to expand their agricultural land lots along the Yanun road, north east of ‘Aqraba.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7646XuV6JQ%2bQBUBEPan%2fGbgQnLLEBNMhiakjZXcWpw94h%2fVwbi%2bvUpquwMCorQpWHyTv2s2leWysWL6Ys8HpH05sqnKwiDyY%2bos6vKGEPR38%3d

Restriction of movement

FIFA tackles travel restrictions for Palestinian footballers
Reuters 23 Sept — The Israeli and Palestinian Football Associations will each appoint a liaison officer to facilitate the movement of players in and out of the West Bank and Gaza, world soccer’s governing body FIFA said on Monday. Israeli FA head Avi Luzon, and his Palestinian counterpart, Jibril Rajoub, met in Zurich on Monday in a session chaired by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. He has pledged to help ease travel restrictions imposed by Israel, which cites security concerns. “Both associations agreed (to)…the appointment of two liaison officers between the two federations to the relevant authorities on each side, who shall report to FIFA in order to facilitate the movement of persons and goods,” FIFA said. Palestinians say that Israel’s security forces, who control movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, frequently prevent athletes traveling freely between the two separated territories.
http://www.jpost.com/Sports/Israelis-Palestinians-will-appointed-to-ease-football-players-travel-through-West-Bank-Gaza-326895

Soldier arrested for driving illegal Palestinians
Ynet 22 Sept by Raanan Ben-Zur — A soldier on active duty has been arrested under suspicion of driving 23 Palestinians who are staying in Israel illegally. The soldier was pulled over for a routine check, when the Palestinians were discovered in the commercial vehicle he was driving.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4432110,00.html

Violence / Raids / Attacks / Clashes / Illegal arrests

Vicious settler attack leaves 15-year-old in need of hospitalization
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine (ISM) 24 Sept by Khalil Team — Yesterday, Monday 23rd September, a mob of Israeli settlers invaded the roof of a Palestinian family in Hebron, attacked several Palestinians and international activists and beat a 15-year-old unconscious, leading to hospitalisation. At approximately 5pm a group of Israeli settlers and Jewish tourists entered the roof of the Abu Shamsiyeh family without permission after they had already tried to force their way into another family’s house in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. After international activists confronted the invading group and insisted that nearby soldiers remove the trespassers, they eventually left the roof but continued to verbally harass Palestinians and internationals present. The verbal harassment quickly turned into a vicious assault with several settlers pushing, hitting and kicking Palestinians. Three teenage settlers brutally assaulted Abu Shamsiyeh’s 15-year-old son [Ma‘an: 13-year-old]  leaving him unconscious and requiring hospital treatment. He has since been released and is recovering in the care of his family.
In past years, several Palestinians in Tel Rumeida have been severely attacked, beaten and injured by settlers, have lost pregnancies due to attacks, have had their houses broken into and furniture and electrical appliances smashed, trees in their gardens cut down and plants uprooted and poisoned. On a day to day basis, Palestinians have to deal with minor incidents such as spitting, stone-throwing and insults by the settler community. Especially on Shabbat and during Jewish holidays, settler attacks against the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida take place.
http://palsolidarity.org/2013/09/vicious-settler-attack-leaves-15-year-old-in-need-of-hospitalisation/

At least 25 Palestinians injured in Hebron
IMEMC — Tuesday evening [September 24, 2013] Palestinian medical sources have reported that at least 25 Palestinians have been injured during renewed clashes that took place in Bab Az-Zawiya and Shallala Street, in the center of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades leading to more than 25 injuries.  They added that Palestinian security officers in the city tried to prevent dozens of residents from reaching the clashes area, but the residents pushed through. Furthermore, several soldiers occupied rooftops of high buildings in the city, used them as monitoring towers, and fired rounds of live ammunition at the protesters.
In addition, clashes took place near the main entrance of the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, while the soldiers also installed several roadblocks in several areas in the city, and around it, closing the entrances of several villages and towns. The soldiers stopped and searched hundreds of vehicles, and interrogated the residents, especially near Ath-Thaheriyya town, the main road leading to the Shajna Valley, Karma area, and the As-Sammoa‘ [al-Samu‘] village. According to eyewitness accounts in the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, soldiers fired dozens of rubber-coated metal bullets, and gas bombs, at dozens of protesters in the area, while dozens of soldiers were deployed in Palestinian farmlands and streets in the area. Israeli military sources said that the army is operating in the occupied city in an attempt to locate the Palestinian sharpshooter who shot and killed an Israeli soldier in the city on Sunday. Following the fatal shooting of the soldier, the army carried out a large search campaign, kidnapped dozens of residents, and interrogated them, before releasing some of them later on. According to Israeli reports, the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak) believes that the sharpshooter is still somewhere in Hebron, while Givati and Nahal units of the army are searching hundreds of homes in an attempt to locate him.
http://www.imemc.org/article/66168

Hebrew radio: Kafir soldiers detained more than 20 Palestinians in W. Bank
WEST BANK (PIC) 23 Sept — The Hebrew radio said that Israeli military forces from Kafir brigade raided several Palestinian areas in the West Bank and took more than 20 Palestinians prisoner in the context of a widespread campaign aimed at hunting the killers of the Israeli soldier. The Hebrew radio explained that the special forces of Kafir brigade launched violent raids on homes and property in Al-Khalil [Hebron] after declaring it a closed military zone and blocking all its entrances. It added that two young men were taken prisoners during these raids and it was believed that both of them were involved in the attack on the Israeli soldiers on Sunday, noting that hunting rifles were found in their possession. The invading troops also ransacked most of the homes in the neighborhoods of Al-Khalil city, especially in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque, after forcing hundreds of families, including children and women, to stay outdoors, according to the radio’s report.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7RkYICVq223JHbFeA2MBI2MaHT05wHQ04EZFVTajE3JiKAVpCShVR%2fYlki7HBvNugEBKrhADkOLBBoJ456tv6HRWqCQb%2fyntjaZGOskHoe0o%3d

Girl killed in Hebron accident, driver arrested
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 23 Sept — A six-year-old girl was killed in a road accident in Halhul north of Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestinian Authority police reported Monday. In a statement, police said Jana Muatazz al-Bao was crossing the main road in the town when a vehicle hit her. She sustained critical wounds and was evacuated to al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron where medics pronounced her dead. The driver has been taken into custody and police started to investigate the incident. [the driver must be Palestinian, since he was arrested? We’ll wait and see.]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=632445

Clashes erupt after soldiers arrest students
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 24 Sept – Clashes broke out late Monday between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the town of Izzariyeh, southeast of Jerusalem, after soldiers ambushed university students and arrested them, according to local sources.
They said that five students from Al-Quds University were ambushed and arrested when they were leaving a sports center. The incident provoked residents in the area who threw rocks and bottles at the soldiers. Forces fired back tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets causing injury to at least one person who was shot with a rubber bullet in the foot
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23268

Woman shot in head in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 Sept – A Palestinian woman from the town of Eizariya in East Jerusalem was shot in the head by unidentified gunmen Monday afternoon. Locals told Ma‘an that 26-year-old Hiba Udah was taken to al-Maqasid Hospital in Jerusalem after she received two gunshots to the head by unidentified assailants. Some local media outlets and social networks reported that Udah died of her wounds, however, sources close to the case told Ma‘an that she was not pronounced dead, though she is brain dead. According to the sources, the victim was first evacuated to a clinic in Abu Dis town before she was transferred to al-Maqasid where she underwent surgery.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=632567

IOF soldiers storm Nablus, round up 3 Palestinians
NABLUS (PIC) 23 Sept — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed Nablus city at dawn Monday and blasted their way into many homes before rounding up three citizens. Local sources said that IOF soldiers in a number of armored vehicles roamed in many suburbs in the city and broke into a number of homes after blasting their main gates. They said that the soldiers searched and wreaked havoc in their operation that ended with the arrest of three young men in their twenties. The brother of Ahmed Al-Saber, one of the detainees, said that the soldiers blasted their way into their family home and beat his brother until he fainted before taking him away. He charged the soldiers with savagely searching their home that destroyed some of its furniture.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76IMFucRNhBiNCRsOhByYdRZjg1gHltJioMxUjW5h9gFMFXT7s%2fKivC31nU6Rc9QlXdf3QamcESdS3VgKZBqgUjoxz7YY1S20LNWpcJv2jOk%3d

IOF soldiers detain 8 Palestinians including Jerusalemite journalist
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 24 Sept — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up eight Palestinians at dawn Tuesday including a Jerusalemite journalist. The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said that Israeli policemen arrested Mahmoud Abu Atta, the director of the foundation’s information department, in the Aqsa Mosque. It said that Abu Atta was taken to Masobeh detention center for interrogation.
IOF soldiers also booked a 22-year-old man in the Old City of Al-Khalil, local sources said.
The IOF said that six Palestinians were nabbed in other West Bank areas, two from Deir Estiya near Nablus city, and four from ‘Abud village to the north of Ramallah.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7nZ%2fz%2fowj3nXp6Mh548%2bif7UriiUcyY6LnV4j9yEzxhdS8bGczq155M7iSvqyBuXRd6q6C6RMzgGfTasWXUunpY3gXmIHBoWb%2f2vrMnvtV0Y%3d

Palestinians treated for breathing difficulty after IOF teargas attack
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 24 Sept — Palestinian citizens were treated for gas inhalation after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas canisters at them in Bethlehem city. Local sources said that IOF soldiers fired at a march near Bilal Bin Rabah mosque and near ‘Aida refugee camp in support of the Aqsa Mosque. They said that the soldiers fired metal bullets and teargas at the marchers, who were mostly university students.
The sources said that the IOF soldiers were deployed near the racist, separation wall as the confrontations widened. They pointed out that calls were made for a day of rage for the Aqsa Mosque next Friday to coincide with the second intifada anniversary.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7yWucujs2nMm%2fuM9Dz7BE%2fkI12lPX3Wiz8SSZw20o6l6hJEpEjOPeyjj95nLitV90mfI5eilm0sny7dGPSb9t32Sgu8JStLCE202ddiD0DC8%3d

IOF soldiers nab three schoolchildren
RAMALLAH (PIC) 24 Sept — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) nabbed three Palestinian children in Baders village, west of Ramallah, afternoon Tuesday. Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with the Tadamun foundation for human rights, said that a 14-year-old child and two 15-year-old children were arrested in an IOF raid into the village. He said that the soldiers were searching for young men who cut the barbed wire of the separation wall adjacent to the village, adding that the three detainees were schoolchildren.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7B5%2fi825ZhJbmwb9JGDs12lDQGU21JvO%2fhCV0gKCY9sW9cT5vuL0jBorYx6p1%2bCH0NZTOZrisHyxBiUCNDubF9AvIIemoJFNzfcNAaOB%2bb9c%3d

Palestinians throw firebombs at Israeli car; no injuries
Ynet 24 Sept by Yoav Zitun — Palestinians threw three firebombs at Israeli vehicles near the village of al Hader [al-Khader] near Bethlahem. No injuries or damage were reported.  IDF forces have begun searching the area for the perpetrators.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4433277,00.html

Khreisha: West Bank is revolting against occupation
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 23 Sept — Second deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Hasan Khreisha has said that the West Bank was revolting against occupation and negotiations. He told the PIC on Monday that the confrontations and attacks (on Israeli targets) were a natural response to the Israeli occupation and its practices. The growing Israeli incursions and cold-blooded murder of young men had provoked retaliatory operations, the MP said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7xVymOUXGvTHTfv0zCy48wlf76UL%2fJX3Am5%2bhiWP%2b6rRG8fq%2boKaoTlbHj%2bsYT6XwIUlAmhac%2b6XztgSatjs3npCsNXaiUXwIqNViGclBi9Y%3d

PA security kidnaps four citizens, summons others in W. Bank
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 24 Sept — The Palestinian authority (PA) security forces kidnapped four Palestinian citizens and summoned three others for interrogation in the West Bank on charges of their affiliation with the Hamas Movement. In Qalqiliya, the PA preventive security forces launched a security campaign in Saniriya town near the place where the Beit Amin operation happened last Friday.
Among the detainees, Jamil Omar and Alaa Sadeq from Saniriya town, and a teacher named Mamdouh Barri from Immatin town [SW of Nablus]. All of three men had been exposed to illegal arrests by the PA security apparatuses several times.
In Nablus, the preventive security forces kidnapped Ghanem Sawalmeh, a senior Hamas figure, from outside a mosque in Balata refugee camp. He was an ex-detainee in PA and Israeli jails.
For its part, the PA intelligence apparatus in Tulkarem summoned a journalist named Yazeed Khader for the second time in a week, as well as ex-detainee Othman Asi from Qarawat Bani Hassan village in Salfit. In Ramallah, another journalist named Mohamed Al-Qiq was also summoned for interrogation by the preventive security for the second time in a month.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7A6zz94BChOfigiSlZZTwSPSja6Lt5vYqu9zCCycpSDh8eaSmBsXNnkWdmQbSL%2b8wu6%2f%2flDRgTDL%2fnLTDaRvyO30IkLv82Jqv7Bq3UYiojD8%3d

Gaza under blockade

First patient in Gaza dies after recent closure of Rafah crossing with Egypt
MEMO 24 Sept — A Palestinian citizen from the Gaza Strip died of a serious illness on Monday night after he was prevented from traveling through the Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The citizen was named by medical sources in Gaza as Wael Abu-Sada, 40. He was the father of five children. He had been suffering from a serious heart disease for nine years. His health situation deteriorated recently and he was planning to travel to Amman for heart surgery over the recent days, but he was not allowed to leave Gaza. The deceased’s relatives said that on Monday night his condition severely deteriorated and he was quickly rushed to a hospital in Gaza, but a few minutes later he was pronounced dead. Doctors in the hospital attributed his death to the urgent need for resetting his heart-pulse regulator, and that could not be done except through heart surgery. They said he should have travelled to Jordan to have that surgery, which could not be done in Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza says that 9,500 citizens have now registered to travel through the Rafah Crossing. It said that 4,500 of them are patients and students in urgent need to travel for treatment or to attend their schools.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com

Disabled people in Gaza suffer Israeli blockade, Egyptian closure
Press TV 24 Sept by Halla Alsafadi — As the Israeli blockade has been imposed on Gaza for over seven years, and the Egyptian closure has been imposed since last July, life of many Gazans have only got worse since many of their basic needs are no more available.  The closure of the crossings along the borders with Egypt has affected the disabled people, for their medications are not available in Gaza or they need to be transferred outside Gaza for medical treatment. Even when the Rafah crossing is opened for few hours for patients, not all patients can travel and many turn back home with no avail and are forced to sometimes delay undergoing their surgeries abroad. Number of Gazans became disabled after the last 2 Israeli aggressions in the past three years. They do not only suffer the consequences of an aggression and an Israeli blockade, but also have to deal with the daily-life difficulties the Egyptian closure has added to their lives.
link to www.presstv.ir

PA official: Rafah closes due to security situation in Sinai
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Sept — Security conditions in the Sinai peninsula prevent Egypt from re-opening the Rafah crossing with Gaza, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt said Tuesday. Barakat al-Farra told Ma’an that the PA embassy is tirelessly contacting Egyptian authorities over the closure of the crossing, and has received promises that the terminal will be reopened as soon as possible. “Egypt is interested in easing the suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip, but we have to take into account the security situation in Sinai,” al-Farra said.
Gaza pilgrims to Saudi Arabia have been given authorization to cross into Egypt, but the Hamas government has refused to send the passports of guides to the Saudi consulate in Egypt to issue visas, al-Barra said. PA minister of endowment, Mahmoud Habbash, said that 2,000 pilgrims [from the West Bank?] are due to travel to Saudi Arabia, with the first group leaving next Saturday and the next group on Oct. 2.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=632721

Fighters clash with soldiers invading central Gaza
IMEMC — [Tuesday morning, September 24, 2013] A number of armored Israeli military vehicles, and a military bulldozer, invaded an area east of the Al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza, and clashed with Palestinian fighters. Eyewitnesses said that the fighters managed to detonate an explosive charge under the military bulldozer, and that fire and smoke was seen coming out of the targeted vehicle. Soldiers fired dozens of rounds of live ammunition and used smokescreens in an attempt to conceal the movement of their vehicles, and advanced to uproot farmlands in the area. Also on Tuesday, several Israeli military vehicles carried out a limited invasion into an area, east of Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, and uprooted Palestinian lands. Media sources said that six Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers advanced nearly 150 meters and uprooted lands in the area. Israeli soldiers conduct frequent military invasions into different areas in the besieged coastal region, and uproot farmlands, in addition to opening fire at farmers working in their lands close to the border area.
http://www.imemc.org/article/66166

VIDEO: Along with Israeli attacks, Gaza fishermen face new danger from Egyptian navy
Electronic Intifada 24 Sept by Ali Abunimah — In this video report for The Real News Network, Yousef Al-Helou speaks to Gaza fishermen, including survivors of recent Egyptian naval attacks, and the father of two fishermen who were arrested. Many Palestinians in Gaza depend on the sea for their livelihood, but fishing has become increasingly difficult and dangerous as Israeli attacks on fishermen have reduced the zone where they can fish to just six nautical miles from Gaza’s shore. This is a violation of the Oslo agreement which sets the fishing zone at 20 nautical miles. For the past few years, Gaza fisherman were allowed to cross into Egyptian waters under the supervision of Egyptian forces, according to Nizar Ayyash, head of the Gaza fishermen’s syndicate. This helped relieve the pressure as catches shrank. But since the 3 July military coup that overthrew Morsi, Palestinian fishermen from Gaza have come under unprecedented attack by Egyptian naval forces and at least three have been injured.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-along-israeli-attacks-gaza-fishermen-face-new-danger-egyptian-navy

IDF commander: Hamas control of Gaza good for Israeli security
AFP 24 Sept —  Continued control of the Gaza Strip by Hamas is in Israel’s security interests, Southern Command chief Major General Sami Turgeman told Channel Two television, claiming that only Hamas had the power to enforce broad respect for the truce that ended the latest conflict with Israel and limit rocket fire. “What we want is calm and security in the Gaza Strip,” Turgeman said. “Hamas, currently the sovereign power in the territory, has the means and the know-how. I see no alternative to control being exercised by Hamas.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4433309,00.html

Egypt warns Hamas over Sinai border
CAIRO (Reuters) 24 Sept — Egypt has warned of a military response if Hamas or other Palestinian groups try to violate Egyptian security, increasing tension over what Cairo says is support from Gaza for Islamist militants operating in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt’s army says militants from Hamas-run Gaza have staged joint attacks with hardline Islamists in North Sinai, where the government has ramped up security operations after a surge of violence set off by President Mohamed Mursi’s downfall in July.
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy told the London-based newspaper al-Hayat there was “tension” in Cairo’s relationship with Hamas, an ideological offshoot of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood. He suggested Hamas was not helping enough to secure the border. The Sinai militants expanded into a security vacuum that emerged after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising in 2011. “If Hamas proves through actions and not words – and unfortunately there are many negative indicators – its good intentions, then it will find an Egyptian party that … protects the Palestinian side,” Fahmy said. “If we feel that there are parties in Hamas or other parties trying to violate Egyptian national security, our response will be severe,” said Fahmy, foreign minister in the army-installed cabinet that came to office after Mursi was deposed by the army. Asked whether any response would include a closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Fahmy said: “Options are military-security, and not options that result in suffering for the Palestinian citizen.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/24/us-egypt-palestinians-hamas-idUSBRE98N10B20130924

Man sentenced to death in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 Sept – The court of first instance in the Gaza Strip has sentenced Faris al-Ashram to death, after being convicted of killing former military prosecutor Mohammad al-Asharm. The public prosecutor said that after thoroughly looking into the evidence, it was concluded that the suspect killed a man with malice and attempted to murder others.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=632892

Hamas intimidates Tamarod activists ahead of protest
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (Al-Monitor) 20 Sept by Asmaa al-Ghoul — Palestinian activists say they are being harassed by Hamas’ security services as unease engulfs Gaza before planned Nov. 11 anti-Hamas protests — Tamarod in the Gaza Strip has become something of a hot potato, with no one wanting to get burned. In the last two months, Hamas security agencies have apprehended dozens of Fatah-affiliated political activists and journalists and charged them with belonging to the ‘Tamarod movement’. According to previous reports and follow-up by Al-Monitor, most of those detained have denied any affiliation with the movement. The Palestinian Tamarod movement was formed along lines similar to those of its counterpart in Egypt, which ousted the Muslim Brotherhood regime there following mass demonstrations that began June 30. The movement in Gaza has announced that its goal was to depose the Hamas-led government, drawing criticism from other Palestinian activists in Gaza and the West Bank, as reported by Al-Monitor‘s Linah Alsaafin on Sept. 10.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/tamarod-palestine-gaza-hamas-fatah-arrest.html

Detainees

Waed: Abu Sisi still isolated
GAZA (PIC) 24 Sept — Waed Association for prisoners’ affairs confirmed that the prisoner Dirar Abu Sisi is still isolated due to the continuing deviousness of the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) in not implementing the agreement it signed to end the prisoner’s hunger strike. The agreement states that Dirar be moved from his solitary confinement to live with three other prisoners in Eshel Prison in better detention conditions.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76iN9YqzTIEJhy90vVLHEb1GtjyWtOqkeFAfW8zG4hvYFXaIFERJesH6N3ICb1dup8wH%2faho1z2XtTLPBcZsTwifeBkbAaC5326rgMdHVTqM%3d

7 ministers urge PM to open prisoner release for debate
Ynet 23 Sept by Moran Azulay — Though the chief of staff deemed it a “tragic coincidence,” right-wing ministers believe the murder of Sergeant Tomer Hazan and the shooting of Staff Sergeant Gal Kobi in Hebron prove the failure of the prisoner release for resumed peace talks equation. In an unusual joint action, seven ministers addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a letter and demanded of him to convene the cabinet for a renewed debate over further releases of Palestinian prisoners.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4432772,00.html

Otherwise occupied: an anthropological experience in Israeli detention
Haaretz 22 Sept by Amira Hass —  A Pole whose father is Palestinian, denied entry into the West Bank and Israel, tells about the time he spent as a voluntary detainee in the cells of Ben-Gurion Airport — …Qandil, a Polish citizen, was in the airport detention facility for ten days, by choice. When he was denied entry into Israel and the West Bank, he decided to appeal to the district court and then to the Supreme Court instead of getting on the next plane to Warsaw (“Israel refuses to let Polish aid worker back into country,” September 9, 2013). The Israeli authorities did not tell him or his attorneys the “security-related reasons” why he was being denied re-entry after he had already stayed in Israel on a work permit for about three months and went to Warsaw for several days for a friend’s wedding. Long live ambiguity. Setting aside his discomfort, tension and sorrow at being cut off from his work, the detention was an anthropological experience for the 23-year-old aid worker and a peek into the Israeli Interior Ministry’s back yard. The detainees came and went. Those who were forbidden entry immediately upon landing waited for the next plane back, while others were brought to the detention facility from within Israel. Segregation was maintained on an ethno-geographic basis. http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.548293

BDS

Israel has no Roger Waters
Haaretz 22 Sept by Gideon Levy — Those who have attacked, poisoned, uprooted and burned will be coming this evening to applaud Ehud Banai, a singer representing Israel’s heart and soul — There’s a show on tonight. Hundreds will put on their holiday finest, maybe dressing in white. They’ll grab their weapons and kids, and off they’ll go. They’ll park their cars in the parking lot that was especially arranged (without permission, of course) on land owned by the Shraytah family, and in they’ll go to the West Bank site that was once the Palestinian village of Sussia. Until 1986, it was home to hundreds of residents who lived in caves and niches there. They were expelled by Israel in an “expropriation for public use,” with the administration of the site turned over to the nearby Jewish settlement (also called Sussia) as an additional source of income – “for public use,” of course. At the rear of the site, the settlers had set up several huts, where the Palestinians became squatters. They were evicted from their new location twice, until the High Court of Justice ruled in 2001 that a “mistake” had been committed. That happens, but the threat of eviction is again hovering over the Palestinians … A popular singer will be performing in this violent no-man’s-land, this apartheid district. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome that performer of strong opinions, Ehud Banai. Banai was evasive on his Facebook page: “I wanted to come to perform at Sussia despite my views … to convey a message that we should come together in the spirit of the Sukkot holiday,” he wrote
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.548120

Racism

Israeli job marker closed to Arab women graduates
Al-Monitor 20 Sept by Mazal Mualem — The Israeli economy loses an estimated NIS 30 billion annually because most Arabs are not being employed — The past five years have seen an increase in dozens of percent in the number of Arab women attending universities and colleges in Israel. Currently, they outnumber male Arab graduates. Reality in Israel, however, pours cold water over this impressive figure, compiled by the Office of the Prime Minister. Despite the growth in the number of students, only 27% of Arab women are employed, compared with 74% of Jewish women.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/israeli-arab-women-universities-unemployment-workforce.html

IDF soldier passes IDs of Jewish girls who socialize with Arabs to anti-assimilation NGO
972mag 25 Sept by Mairav Zonszein — A female IDF soldier who is often stationed at checkpoints is apparently very disturbed by the fact that some Jews and Palestinians actually hang out. The soldier turned to Yad La’achim, a religious organization whose mandate is to ‘save Jews from assimilation’, in the hopes they can help her prevent this from happening in the future by talking some sense into these young women. As she wrote to them: “…Every time I see such Jewish girls, I try to hold up the vehicle and check the background of these Arabs [euphemism gone], and in between I take the Jewish girls aside for a short talk (which doesn’t always help). So perhaps you will succeed, because it’s really painful to see the daughters of Israel going with these Arabs.”
http://972mag.com/idf-soldier-passes-ids-of-jewish-girls-who-socialize-with-arabs-to-anti-assimilation-ngo/79349/

Analysis / Opinion

Will Abu Mazen rescue Hamas?
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (Al-Monitor) 23 Sept by Asmaa al-Ghoul — Hamas’ only way out of its current crisis could be through reconciliation with Fatah — Since Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s overthrow on July 3, the Hamas-led Gaza government has been suffering from a series of crises that could spell political suicide for the movement. Many believe that salvation is impossible unless Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stretches his hand out to Hamas. Regarding the likelihood of that happening, Al-Monitor met with the deputy foreign minister of the Hamas government, Ghazi Hamad, who believes the president can do a lot, whether at the level of ending the Rafah crossing crisis or protecting Gaza from acts of provocation. ‘In his capacity as president, Abbas has many responsibilities. I expected him to take more steps in Gaza especially after the blockade was tightened and the media attack [against Hamas],’ he added. Hamad noted that Abbas had asked Egypt to open the crossing, but it was closed again two days later … ‘There have been calls with ministers in the West Bank and with officials in contact with the president. We are communicating with them since we consider the provision of services to the people a national obligation. We have conveyed exactly what is going on in Gaza, prompting the president’s own interest in the Strip,’ Hamad stated.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/abbas-hamas-reconciliation-crisis.html

US pushes Palestine economic plan to break stalemate on peace talks
Al-Monitor 20 Sept by Daoud Kuttab — s the Palestinian-Israeli talks reach a political deadlock, US officials are promoting a $4 billion economic plan to develop the Palestinian territories — The apparent failure of the ongoing secret Palestinian-Israeli talks appears to have led their US sponsors to put more emphasis on economic issues. A three-year plan has been drawn up by the US peace delegation working through the offices of the Quartet, still nominally headed by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa told the local wire service, Ma’an, that the US gave them a 200-page plan outlining their economic vision for the future of Palestine. The US economic plan, which will require some $4 billion in investment, will attempt to strengthen the Palestinian IT sector, tourism, industry and agriculture. Mustafa insists that the plan will apply to all Palestinian areas, including the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, and that US officials promised to work with the Israelis to help in its implementation. A major focus area of the plan is said to be the sparsely populated Palestinian areas totally under Israeli security and administrative control, where the Israelis have not permitted any development. Some 60% of the West Bank is declared Area C, including, among other areas, almost the entire Jordan Valley.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/kerry-economic-plan-palestine-peace.html

Killed 65 years ago, Bernadotte was committed to Palestinian refugees’ right to return
Mondoweiss 24 Sept by Chris Gunness — Last week marked the 65th anniversary of the killing of UN mediator Folke Bernadotte, by the rightwing Zionist militia the Stern Gang, at a checkpoint in Jerusalem. No one has ever been charged with the crimes, which included the murder of Bernadotte’s French aide. On the anniversary, Sept. 17, Chris Gunness, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency, gave a speech titled, “Bernadotte: his legacy to Palestine Refugees,” in Jerusalem, on behalf of UNRWA’s Commissioner General. —  “…Here I quote his first general report to the Secretary General. Sadly, the count would not live to see his words inform the international discourse; he was killed the day before it was published on the 18th of September. Tellingly, this is what he had to say:  ‘It is … undeniable that no settlement can be just and complete if recognition is not accorded to the right of the Arab refugee to return to the home from which he has been dislodged by the hazards and strategy of the armed conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. The majority of these refugees have come from territory which … was to be included in the Jewish State. The exodus of Palestinian Arabs resulted from panic created by fighting in their communities, by rumours concerning real or alleged acts of terrorism, or expulsion. It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees, who have been rooted in the land for centuries.’
https://mondoweiss.net/2013/09/bernadotte-committed-palestinian.html

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