compiled by Shadi Fadda
Apartheid, Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Sarta villagers resist Brokhen settlers destruction of their land
The aim behind the construction of the new road near the Jewish Colony of “Brokheen” and expanding it is to connect the settlement with a street called “Trans-Samaria”, which connects the “Tel Aviv” to the Jordan Valley. The new Street of “Trans-Samaria” will result in the confiscation of about 1000 dunams of village’s lands, an area mostly planted with olive trees which constitutes the main source of income for the farmers there.
link to stopthewall.org
Nature conservation – the continuation of the occupation by other means
Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz should seize the opportunity to reevaluate a decision to turn an unimpressive area in East Jerusalem into a national park – which is aimed at preventing the expansion of adjacent Palestinian neighborhoods.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.550048
Israel’s residency regime causes “silent transfer” from Jerusalem
Yet problems escalated after her husband was awarded French nationality upon receiving a medal “for his work on education in Palestine,” said Azzouni. Israeli authorities justified revoking all five of their IDs by arguing that the entire family was eligible for French nationality.
link to electronicintifada.net
‘Fun Under the Sun’ Concludes with Children’s Trip to Qalqiliya Zoo
“Today was a very memorable day for my community,” said one mother, with tears in her eyes. “Thank God for you, thank God for making my child’s dream come true.” The dream this Palestine refugee mother had for her children was a simple one: just a trip to the zoo.
link to unrwa.org
Israel bans veteran campaigner for Palestinian prisoners from West Bank
Ghaith, a 71-year-old Palestinian resident of occupied East Jerusalem, was informed on 11 September that Israeli authorities had renewed a travel ban that forbids him from traveling to the rest of the West Bank. Ghaith is the chairperson of Addameer, a human rights organization that documents Israel’s arrests of Palestinians and abuses of Palestinian political prisoners.
link to electronicintifada.net
“The Stones Cry Out”: Film puts spotlight on Palestine’s Christians
Palestine is the cradle of Christianity, but “the living aspect of Christianity in Palestine is disappearing,” warns Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi in Yasmine Perni’s recent film The Stones Cry Out (2013).
link to electronicintifada.net
Violence / Raids / Attacks / Suppression of protests / Clashes / Illegal arrests
Settlers Burn Palestinian Car In Nablus
Daghlas further stated that, on Monday, extremist settlers attacked Palestinian olive orchards close to Khirbit Yanoun village, near Nablus. On Sunday at night, a group of extremist settlers damaged and defaced eight Palestinian cars, in Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem.
http://imemc.org/article/66201
VIDEO: Israeli soldiers fire tear gas canisters and stun grenades at school children
In this case, a few children threw stones and pebbles at Israeli forces as the soldiers stood watching them walk to morning classes. The response from the Israeli soldiers present was incredibly disproportionate.
link to palsolidarity.org
Vandalized cars, hate graffiti amidst wave of hate crimes in Jerusalem
Vandals slashed tires of five vehicles of Palestinians and spray-painted hate graffiti in Jerusalem early Tuesday morning, in the latest Price Tag attack amid a surge in hate crimes in Israel, Israeli police confirmed to Xinhua.
link to xinhuanet.com
Israeli Extremists Destroy Gravestone At Christian Cemetery In Jerusalem
For the second time in two days, extremist Israeli settlers broke a gravestone in a Christian Cemetery that belongs to the Latin Patriarchate in occupied East Jerusalem.
http://imemc.org/article/66202
Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian civilian in Gaza
The victim, 36-year-old Houshabe Abou Houshabe, was a civilian. He was killed by Israeli gunfire, according to the sources.
link to news.yahoo.com
Hundreds of Palestinian troops deploy near restive West Bank camp
The level of unrest has risen in recent months, in part after Israelis raided the area to arrest suspected militants. Three Palestinians died in raids that turned violent in the past two months. After the last killing, stone-throwing camp residents attacked Palestinian government offices in the area.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.550185
Extremist Settlers Destroy Carwash Facility Near Jerusalem
Local sources in the Nabi Samuel village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, have reported that a number of extremist Israeli settlers attacked and destroyed a car wash facility that belongs to a resident in the village. The attack is the fourth of its kind in two months.
http://imemc.org/article/66208
Several Palestinians Injured In Al-Khader
[Tuesday evening October 1, 2013] Palestinian medical sources have reported that several residents have been treated for the effects of teargas inhalation after Israeli soldiers invaded the Al-Khader town, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
http://imemc.org/article/66207
Palestinian Child Injured By Army Fire in Ramallah
Tuesday October 1, 2013, – Palestinian child was shot and injured by Israeli army fire at the entrance of the Al-Jalazoun refugee camp… The sources added that a Palestinian ambulance rushed to the refugee camp, but Israeli soldiers prevented the medical crew from reaching the wounded child.
http://imemc.org/article/66206
Detainees
Photos: Detainees’ families and supporters hold weekly vigil in Gaza Red Cross
On Monday morning, hundreds held a weekly sit-in in the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza City office to support Palestinians detained by Israel. The regular gathering, which began in 1995 and has continued for nearly two decades, brings together families and supporters of many of the 422 Palestinian political prisoners from the Gaza Strip, as well as 4,646 from elsewhere in occupied Palestine.
link to palsolidarity.org
44 Palestinian detainees suffer cancer in Israeli jails
The cancer sufferers are among 1,200 Palestinian prisoners with illnesses who remain detained by Israel, Ahmed al-Faleet, head of the non-governmental Free Prisoners’ Society, told dozens of relatives of Palestinian detainees holding a rally outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza City.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=119444
Activism / Solidarity / BDS
Iffley church launches appeal to buy olive trees for Palestinian farmers
One organiser said: “The Olive Tree Campaign is to replant tens of thousands of olive trees in Palestine in the West Bank to support farmers who have had their crops damaged.
link to www.oxfordmail.co.uk
Justice for Palestine: advancing the struggle
Free public event at SOAS, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG (Room G2) Thursday 10 October 2013, 7pm
War on Want, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and SOAS Palestine Society welcome you to a panel discussion on the campaigns and legal advocacy initiatives that inspire the global solidarity movement with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
link to waronwant.org
AP PHOTOS: West Bank garden of tear gas grenades
BILIN, West Bank — Residents of this Palestinian village have planted flowers in hundreds of spent Israeli tear gas grenades to honor those killed during their weekly protests against Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.
link to adn.com
Negotiations / Diplomacy
Most Palestinians expect violence if talks with Israel fail: poll
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have held seven rounds of talks without announcing a breakthrough. The future of the negotiation looks grim, as 60 percent of the people expect no peace deal with Israel in the coming years.
link to xinhuanet.com
Palestinian envoy blasts Israel claim in West Bank
“Mr. Netanyahu says he needs to stay another 40 years, in any (peace) settlement, in the Jordan Valley,” Erekat said. “Of course, he will stay another 400 years with such a profit.” “It’s not about security,” he said. “It’s about stealing land and profiting.”
link to news.yahoo.com
Palestinians want Israel peace deal in 9 months
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will continue recently resumed negotiations with Israel with “an insistence on success” and the aim of reaching a peace deal within nine months.
link to lasvegassun.com
Release delayed of test results of Arafat’s remains: sources
Test results of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s remains will be released later than scheduled due to an disagreement between his widow and the Palestinian government, sources said Tuesday.
link to news.xinhuanet.com
Gaza / Egypt’s policy
Gazans say Egypt is now turning the screw
The shift of power in Egypt over the past few months has led not just to border closures for those wanting to cross into the country from Gaza, but also to a sharp reduction in the transport of basic goods, as well as fishing rights, further isolating residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
link to irinnews.org
Gaza tunnels idle amid Egypt crackdown
From the Gaza side, some of the workers watched as bulldozers leveled an olive grove on the Egyptian side of the border, marked by a low wall. The Gazans said they’d learned from their Egyptian smuggling partners that the army had just destroyed a house built on top of a tunnel, and the bulldozers were now presumably clearing away any other cover where one could be hidden.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4435775,00.html
Hamas executes prisoner for murder
The Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas on Wednesday hanged a prisoner who had been convicted of murder, its interior ministry said, despite international calls for a halt to executions.
link to google.com
Palestinian refugees
UNRWA: At Least 5,000 Drop-outs in 2010/11 School Year
Reflecting its commitment to education as a vital investment in the human development of Palestine refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has published the results of a comprehensive study on students who drop out of school and the reasons for which they do so.
link to www.unrwa.org
Reviews / Analysis / Opinion
‘Security cooperation with Israel prevents third intifada’
Security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel is the main factor preventing a third Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, a member of the Palestinian parliament said Wednesday.
link to timesofisrael.com
US cowardice will let Israel’s isolated right off the hook – By Robert Fisk
For there was President Obama at Monday’s meeting, praising Mr Netanyahu for his support for a two-state solution. And what did President Obama actually say? That there was “a limited amount of time to achieve that goal”. So why was there only a “limited amount of time”? Not a single scribe asked the poor fellow.
There is, of course, only a “limited amount of time” – in my view, no time at all – to achieve this illusory goal because the Netanyahu government is thieving, against all international law, yet more Palestinian Arab land for Jews and Jews only, at a faster rate than ever, to prevent just such a Palestinian state ever existing.
link to www.independent.co.uk
Obama is no sucker
Obama was harshly criticized. He was called soft, naïve, someone who does not understand the world he lives in. The Israelis, who never liked Obama and his hesitancy, interpreted his conduct as weakness. They did not buy into his approach that power lies in restraint.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4434538,00.html
Israel’s Politics of Deflection: Theory and Practice – by Richard Falk
The purpose of my analysis is to encourage Palestinians in all settings to do their best to keep the focus on substance and respective rights. Perhaps, it is time for all of us to learn from the brave Palestinian hunger strikers whose nonviolent defiance of Israeli detention abuse operated with laser like intensity to call attention to prison and administrative injustice. Unfortunately, the media of the world was silent
link to palestinechronicle.com
Haaretz analysts weigh in on Netanyahu’s UNGA speech
By threatening to attack Iran unilaterally, the prime minister appeared diplomatically impotent and unwilling to join the Western powers in the search for a common strategy.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.550141
Slow progress in Israel-Turkey talks threatens gas pipeline plan
But Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu insisted Thursday Netanyahu had not yet met Erdogan’s other conditions: compensation for the families of the slain Turks and ending Israeli “restrictions against Palestine,” primarily the blockade of Gaza
link to upi.com
US / Zionist Lobby
Stop Congress From Rewarding Israeli Discrimination
Would I have been pulled aside for questioning in the first place if I were not Arab-American? Everyone I have spoken to—including human rights lawyers and researchers—finds my deportation story outrageous. But what is more outrageous is that Congress is considering codifying into law this very kind of Israeli discrimination against American citizens.
link to thenation.com
State Department: US government shutdown could threaten military aid to Israel
US official tells ‘Post’ that security assistance funding for Israel is typically provided in early- to mid-November, and an extended shutdown “has the potential to disrupt this critical military assistance program.”
link to jpost.com
A Wall for a Wall: Mirroring Racism
Here’s a piece of disgusting news, so disgusting in fact that it beggars belief. Israel and its army of occupation are not just brutal, inhuman and utterly devoid of morality. Israeli army sprays sewage on the streets of the Palestinian town of Abu Dis.
link to dissidentvoice.org
Rethinking the two-state solution
Notwithstanding the current negotiations initiated by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, if J Street does not want to find itself promoting an irrelevant political program, it will need to begin thinking about an alternative that guarantees both democracy and a certain strain of Zionism, but also advocates a single state in which Jews and Palestinians live together as equals.
link to latimes.com
Other / Regional News
Almost 1,000 Iraqis killed in September
Nearly 1,000 Iraqis were killed in September, one of the highest monthly death tolls in years, the UN has said. The killings reflect the militants’ determination to rekindle large-scale sectarian conflict.
link to independent.co.uk
General says Egypt should keep to transition plan
The 40th anniversary is on Sunday, when the military plans air shows and other celebrations. Supporters of Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist president whom el-Sissi ousted, are for their part planning protest rallies.
link to timesofisrael.com
Egypt minister: No Iranian tourism here just yet
Egypt’s tourism minister says a campaign to bring Iranian visitors to Egypt will remain suspended because of national security considerations.
link to news.yahoo.com
EU minister: West may drop demand for Iran to halt all nuclear work
The new stance – a reaction to President Hassan Rohani’s overtures to the West – would mean easing a long-standing demand that Iran suspend all enrichment, due to concerns Tehran could be developing nuclear weapons.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.550163
Rohani: Netanyahu’s desperate efforts please us
“That an aggressive regime in the region names Iran with coarse language is the cause of our happiness,” Rohani told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday, according to the Iranian news agency FARS. “Israel is upset to see that its sword has gone blunt and Iran grows more powerful day by day,” he added.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4435867,00.html
Shots fired at Israeli builders in Golan Heights
Israeli builders maintaining a security fence in the northern part of the Golan Heights came under gunfire from Syria on Tuesday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
link to news.xinhuanet.com
How Turkey Blew Its Chance to Lead the Middle East
Two years later, none of these good things has come to pass for Turkey, and it is very short of friends in the Middle East. It has managed simultaneously to make enemies of the four Shia powers to its south and east: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon – as well as the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf with the exception of Qatar.
link to counterpunch.org
Where are you levit.
Where are your pathetic excuses condoning land theft and war crimes.
What ziononsense will you come up with to attempt to paint Israel,s war crimes as justified.
Do you peddle your zionist hasbara to your “alleged” students.Are you poisoning their minds with your fascist leanings.
Finally, someone is talking about Israel’s nukes, even if it is in Britain. The BBC’s Outlook is covering Mordechai Vanunu.