Violence / Detentions – West Bank, Jerusalem
Palestinian shot, killed in East Jerusalem after alleged stabbing
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — Israeli forces on Monday shot and killed a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem after an alleged stabbing attempt, Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the unidentified suspect pulled out a knife at officers and was shot dead at the scene. The incident occurred near the Lion’s Gate, with the area closed off afterwards. Israeli media said the man stabbed an Israeli border police officer in the vest. Witnesses told Ma‘an that the man did not attempt to stab anyone when he was shot dead by Israeli forces. The latest death brings the total number of Palestinians killed to 25 since the beginning of October.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768185
another version, with name:
Army kills a Palestinian teen in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 12 Oct — The Israeli army is claiming a Palestinian teen stabbed a soldier near in Jerusalem’s Old City, and that the soldier’s vest prevented the knife from cutting him, before he opened fire and killed him. According to the narrative of the Israeli military, “the Palestinian walked up to the officer and stabbed him.” Israeli Ynet News said the officer was not hurt in the alleged attack, and opened fire on the Palestinian, killing him instantly . . . Palestinian sources said the slain Palestinian teen in Jerusalem has been identified as Mustafa ‘Adel al-Khatib, 18 years of age, from Sur Baher town, in occupied Jerusalem. He was killed near Bab al-Asbat (the Tribes Gate) in the city. Eyewitnesses said Khatib, a high-school student, was driving his car in a narrow street between the al-Asbat Gate and Hatta Gate, in the Old City, before the soldiers ordered him to stop, and instantly opened fire on him. A Palestinian medic told Al-Jazeera Mubasher that the slain teen “was shot while still in his car,” after the soldiers suspected he intended to stab them, and that they fired several live rounds on him.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73365
Israeli forces shoot dead 13-year-old in Ramallah clashes
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old boy during clashes south of al-Bireh in Ramallah district, medics said. The child, identified as 13-year-old Ahmad Abdullah Sharaka, was shot in the neck with a live round, medics said. He was rushed to the Palestinian Medical Complex in Ramallah where doctors operated on him, before he succumbed to his wounds. Sharaka’s death brings the total number of Palestinians killed to 24 since the beginning of October. He is also the third 13-year-old to be shot dead by Israeli forces in the same time period. Another Palestinian was shot in his leg with a live round during the protest in the al-Balu area of southern Bireh, while another was injured by a rubber-coated steel bullet. Two others reportedly suffered excessive tear gas inhalation at the protest. Israeli bulldozers have reportedly removed large objects in the area, in order to remove cover for Palestinian protesters . . . In clashes across the occupied Palestinian territory, the Palestinian Red Crescent counted at least 55 Palestinians shot and injured with live fire, and 77 injured by rubber-coated steel bullets.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768178
Palestinian killed in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — Palestinian medical sources have reported, Sunday, that a young Palestinian man died of serious wounds he suffered Saturday, after being rammed by an Israeli settler’s car, in occupied Jerusalem. The Palestinian, identified as ‘Ata an-Noury, suffered a very serious injury, and was moved to a hospital where he died of his wounds. He was hit with the setter’s car in at-Tour town, east of occupied Jerusalem, and the settler fled the scene. [26th victim since the beginning of Oct?]
http://www.imemc.org/article/73350
Palestinian shot by Israeli forces in Hebron succumbs to wounds
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — A young Palestinian man on Saturday succumbed to wounds sustained two days earlier during clashes with Israeli forces in the southern occupied West Bank, hospital doctors told Ma‘an. Israeli forces shot 27-year-old Ibrahim Ahmad Mustafa Aoud in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet during clashes in Beit Ummar north of Hebron on Thursday. Hospital doctors said he died at around 7 p.m. on Saturday “due to severe head trauma.” Aoud’s death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 1 to 21, of whom 14 were fatally wounded during clashes.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768157
Palestinian shot, injured by Israeli forces in critical condition
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — A Palestinian who was shot and injured by Israeli forces during clashes near the illegal Beit El settlement in Ramallah is in critical condition, a lawyer for the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs said Saturday. Tariq Barghouth said that the man, identified as Muhammad Othman Hussien Ziyada, was shot in the head by live fire during clashes, and was being detained by Israeli authorities while receiving life-saving treatment at Hadassah Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem. Barghouth visited Ziyada on Saturday and said that he still in the intensive care unit, and his life is in danger. He added that an Israeli court would extend his remand in coming days . . . At least four Palestinians were shot with 0.22 caliber bullets in fierce clashes near Beit El settlement outside Ramallah on Saturday, medics told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768168
Israeli forces shoot, injure 53 with live fire in Nablus clashes
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces shot and injured at least 53 Palestinians, including a Ma‘an cameraman, during clashes at Huwwara checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank on Sunday, medics said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli forces trapped Palestinian protesters and fired directly into the crowd, while other soldiers fired from a nearby watch tower. Abd al-Halim Jaafra, the ambulance and emergency director at the Palestinian Red Crescent, told Ma‘an that three of the injured were in critical condition and were undergoing surgery. He said that the others were shot and injured in their lower extremities and had been taken to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus for treatment. Most were in moderate condition, he said. A Ma‘an cameraman, Rami Swidan, was covering clashes near the checkpoint when Israeli forces shot him with live fire in the leg. He was transferred to a hospital for medical treatment.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768171
13 injured by live bullets during clashes near Tulkarem university
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces shot and injured more than 20 Palestinians during clashes on Sunday near the Palestine Technical University in Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, medical source said. Medical sources told Ma‘an that 13 young men were shot and injured with live ammunition, while five others were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets. The injured young men were reportedly evacuated to Thabit Thabit and al-Zakah hospitals in the area. An Israeli army spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment. Medical sources said two of the victims sustained moderate injuries. Several other young men suffered from tear gas inhalation. On Thursday, dozens of youths were injured during clashes near the university, including 12 youths who were shot with live fire and 20 with rubber-coated steel bullets.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768169
Soldiers shoot a Palestinian near Bethlehem, and kidnap him
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — Medical sources have reported, on Saturday at night, that a young Palestinian man was shot and injured with live Israeli army fire in Za‘tara town, east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, before the soldiers abducted him. The sources said that Bilal Sami Abu Salem, 21, was shot with several live rounds after Israeli soldiers invaded the town, and that they kidnapped him, and took him to an unknown destination. The army surrounded the entire town, and clashed with dozens of local youths, who hurled stones and empty bottles on their vehicles.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73339
Strike in Hebron ahead of funerals of 2 shot by Israeli forces
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 10 Oct – All shops across the southern West Bank city of Hebron closed Saturday morning in compliance with a general strike in mourning for Palestinians killed in recent days. Political factions in the area announced that the strike would begin at 10 a.m. in mourning for “all Palestinian martyrs,” as well as two Palestinians killed in and near Hebron on Friday. Muhammad Fares Abdullah al-Jaabari, 19, was shot and killed in the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron on Friday after allegedly stabbing an Israeli border police officer. Amjad Hatem al-Jundi, 20, was shot and killed after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier and stealing his gun in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel, near Hebron. Al-Jundi was from the nearby city of Yatta.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768140
Israeli army attacks funeral of Palestinian killed by army soldiers
HEBRON (WAFA) 11 Oct – Israeli army Sunday attacked the funeral procession of a Palestinian father of two in the town of Beit Ummar to north of Hebron, who succumbed late night Saturday to critical wounds he sustained after getting shot by Israeli forces during clashes in Hebron on Thursday. WAFA correspondent said that forces attacked mourners while they were heading to the cemetery to lay Ibrahim Awad, 27, to his final rest, preventing them access to the cemetery. Forces reportedly used tear gas canisters and stun grenades toward mourners, causing many suffocation cases among them. Earlier Sunday, forces – amid intensified army presence in the area – blocked several roads in the town of Beit Ummar to the north of Hebron with cement blocks and earth mounds, including the road leading to the cemetery.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29527
Hundreds join funeral of al-‘Issawiya teen despite 50-person limit
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct – Hundreds of mourners on Sunday morning took part in the funeral procession of 19-year-old Fadi Alloun in the al-‘Issawiya village of occupied East Jerusalem, despite Israeli authorities’ requirement that no more than 50 people attend the funeral. Israeli authorities originally agreed to hand over Alloun’s body on Oct. 5, under the condition that only 70 people would attend the funeral, which was supposed to take place in the Shu‘afat neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem earlier this week. At the time, Israeli authorities demanded that Alloun’s family pay a guarantee of 20,000 shekels ($5,200) that would have been returned if the condition was met. It is unknown whether a conditional payment was required to release the body after it was decided that Alloun would be laid to rest in al-‘Issawiya village instead of Shu‘afat. Alloun, a 19-year-old from al-‘Issawiya, was shot dead by Israeli forces after an alleged stabbing attack in which a 16-year-old Israeli was reportedly moderately injured outside Jerusalem’s Old City . . . Alloun’s family has denied that he was involved in an attack, saying that Israeli forces shot Alloun dead while he was fleeing from Israelis who were trying to attack him, citing the video of the incident as evidence.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768165
Israel police refused to release body of killed Palestinian to family for autopsy before burial
Haaretz 11 Oct by Nir Hasson — The family of Fadi Alon, a Palestinian shot dead by police a week ago after he allegedly stabbed an Israeli teen, demanded an autopsy to help determine the circumstances of his death, rights lawyers said Sunday. But the police, who were holding Alon’s body, would not release it until immediately before the funeral Saturday night . . . “The attempt to prevent an autopsy even though this is a case of death by unnatural causes raises suspicions that the police are trying to disrupt the investigation a priori, including the destruction of vital factual evidence,” Suhad Bishara from the Adalah legal center and Mohammad Mahmoud from rights group Al-Dameer said in a letter. “This conduct makes it imperative to open an investigation.” . . .“Police opposition to an autopsy raises grave suspicions that the law was violated in a clear conflict of interest.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679831
Mother of Palestinian shot dead denied permit to attend son’s funeral
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities denied the mother of Thaer Ghazalah a permit that would allow her to enter Jerusalem to attend her son’s funeral, local sources said. Ghazalah, who was shot dead by Israeli forces after he stabbed and injured an Israeli in Tel Aviv, is a resident of occupied East Jerusalem. While his body is still being held by Israeli authorities, it is set to be delivered to family members, including his father who is divorced, in Jerusalem. Ghazalah’s mother, who is from Hebron, was denied permission to enter Jerusalem and will be unable to attend her son’s funeral.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768170
Female settlers attack, pepper spray Palestinian in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 11 Oct – A Palestinian youth Sunday sustained light burns after being pepper-sprayed by three Israeli settlers in Jerusalem city. The youth, who was working at one of the shops at Jaffa Road, one of the longest and oldest major streets in Jerusalem, was attacked by three female settlers, causing him minor burns. The Israeli police claimed the attackers were apprehended. [According to the Jerusalem Post, it was tear gas, not pepper spray]
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29534
Israeli settlers carry out attacks in East Jerusalem, West Bank
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — Israeli settlers on Saturday carried out a number of attacks on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, witnesses told Ma‘an. In western Hebron, locals said that settlers attacked Palestinian homes near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arbaa. Settlers reportedly attacked the homes in Wad al-Hisn, spreading waste water and firing tear gas canisters. Israeli soldiers reportedly protected them.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman said armed Israeli settlers attempted to attack her and her family in the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabir in occupied East Jerusalem. Yusra Zhayka told Ma‘an that her family was on their way home when about a dozen Israeli settlers carrying guns appeared. She said that she and her family were able to escape, but the settlers, who she believed were from the illegal Israeli settlement of Nof Zion, remained in the area. She said that she had gone to Oz police station in Jabal al-Mukabir to tell them what had happened, but they refused to take her complaint, saying that there was no investigator present.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768154
Palestinian locals repel settlers’ attack on Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 11 Oct – Palestinians from the village of Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, managed to fend off an attack by Jewish settlers on the village at predawn Sunday, according to local and security sources. The sources said a group of Jewish settlers from the nearby illegal settlements of Beitar Illit and Gush Etzion entered the outer parts of the village in the late night hours, and proceeded to attack adjacent Palestinian homes with stones. However, night guards and local Palestinian villagers rushed to the scene to confront the settlers and chased them out of the village. Following a noticeable increase in violent activity by Jewish settlers across the West Bank, local Palestinian communities that are situated close to Israeli settlements in the West Bank recently began to deploy night guard committees to confront possible Jewish attacks on Palestinian villages.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29521
Settlers attack Palestinian homes in Nablus
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — On Saturday evening, armed Israeli settlers stormed two villages south of Nablus, under the protection of military forces, in an attempt to attack Palestinian homes and civilians. The villages of Qasra and Jalud, south of Nablus, became goals for settler violence, especially from the surrounding settlements, according to PNN. The attack was unsuccessful, as an increased presence of Palestinian security and local residents, who were able to protect the homes. Recently, local residents have been assigned the role of security in order to increase the level of safety in areas exposed to settler violence.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73352
Jewish man indicted for attacking Israeli Arab janitors
JPost 11 Oct by Yonah Jeremy Bob — The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Sunday filed an indictment against Aharon Azulai for a race-motivated attack on two Israeli-Arab workers. The indictment said Azulai, 35, attacked the workers near David’s Tomb last week “because they were Arabs and with no provocation from them.” He allegedly pushed Taysar Abu Ramuz to the ground and slashed his elbow with a knife, and pushed Muhammad Salima while yelling, “Death to Arabs, get out of here.” Policeman Alexander Isacson stopped Azulai and asked him to identify himself, according to the indictment, which was filed with the Jerusalem District Court. Azulai initially told Isacson he did not have an identity card and did not give his name. Later, during his initial interrogation and first court hearing, he provided a false name. The full list of charges approved by Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein also included a race-motivated attack that caused serious injury, impersonating another individual and obstruction of justice. The prosecution requested that Azulai be detained until the end of his trial.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Jewish-man-indicted-for-attacking-Israeli-Arab-janitors-422614
Israeli police: Palestinian stabs, injures 4 Israelis near Hadera
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — A Palestinian man was arrested after he allegedly stabbed and injured four Israelis, leaving one in serious condition near Hadera in northern Israel, an Israeli police spokesperson said. Micky Rosenfeld told Ma‘an that Israeli police had arrested the Palestinian with Israeli citizenship [Haaretz: Ala Raed Zyud, a 22-year-old resident of Umm al-Fahm] without injuring him, and he was being questioned. One Israeli woman was seriously injured in the attack, Rosenfeld said. Israeli news site Haaretz reported that the woman was a 19-year-old Israeli soldier. It reported that the attack took place at the Alon Junction on Route 65, and also left a 14-year-old girl in moderate condition.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768181
Update: Israeli police tear up Palestinian workers’ entry permits to 1948 land, arrest 5 workers
JENIN (WAFA) 11 Oct – . . .Sunday, Israeli security forces stationed at al-Jalameh border crossing, north of Jenin, tore up the entry permits of several Palestinian workers who were awaiting entry to reach their workplaces in land occupied since 1948. Meanwhile, Israeli police detained five Palestinian workers while they were present at their workplace inside the 1948 land, citing unpermitted entry to Israel as a pretext. The five were identified as Rami Abu-Arra, 18, Ali Abu-Arra, 22, Ehab Sawafta, 22, and Hassan Abu-Arra, 24, and Hosni Saeed Khalilia.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29528
Israeli forces raid Jenin area village for second day
JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli forces stormed a gas station in the northern occupied West Bank village of Barta‘a southwest of Jenin early on Sunday morning and confiscated several computers, a local official told Ma‘an. Head of the Barta‘a municipal council, Ghassan Qabaha, told Ma‘an that Israeli troops raided the gas station at 2 a.m. Qabaha added that Israeli forces had also raided the village the day before and blocked the village’s entrances from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768166
Police say ‘car bomb’ set off, witness says it was electrical fault
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli authorities said Sunday that a Palestinian woman set off a “car bomb” in occupied East Jerusalem, although a Palestinian witness told Ma‘an that it appeared an electrical fault ignited a fire in her car. The woman was driving near the al-Zaayyim checkpoint between East Jerusalem and the West Bank when the incident took place. The witness, who wished to remain unnamed, told Ma‘an she was driving “with her child in the car,” when about “300 meters before the permanent Israeli military checkpoint near the village of al-Zaayyim, an electrical problem ignited a small fire inside the car.” He said that “the woman panicked and started to scream,” adding that when she “managed to pull over, the driver’s airbag deployed emitting drizzles of powder. “Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma‘an that the woman detonated a car bomb near the checkpoint after an Israeli police officer signaled her to stop. Rosenfeld said a police officer approached the woman’s car and “the explosion took place inside the vehicle.” Israeli media reported that the woman was initially pulled over for “driving suspiciously.” The woman reportedly sustained moderate to severe injuries, while an Israeli police officer was lightly injured. The witness who spoke to Ma‘an said an Israeli police patrol prevented the woman from exiting the car while she was in distress following the alleged electrical fire, claiming that she detonated an explosive device. The witness said that the car had not sustained any damage and that its windows and windshields were intact. While a photo on Israeli news site Haaretz shows the car completely unharmed, the Hebrew-language NRG website later posted a photo with the car’s front bumper partially detached.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768167
IN PICTURES: Palestinian women take part in the protests
MEE 10 Oct by Shadi Hatim & Elia Ghorbiah — . . .Hundreds of Palestinian women resisted along with Palestinian men throughout the clashes at Al-Balou neighborhood near Beit-El settlement. The scene harks to the days of the First and Second Intifadas, as women played a key role in the struggle against Israel. They provided first aid as well as participating in militancy operations. Even though many women suffered from injuries, that did not prevent them from throwing stones and leading protests. Women masked with the kuffiya or the Palestinian flag have been seen standing along the front lines, displaying up the slogan “Homeland is not restricted to a particular gender” and explaining that all Palestinians from each sex and age suffer from harassment and attacks by Israeli forces and settlers
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pictures-palestinian-women-take-part-protests-2136749127
Jerusalem hospitals frequently targeted by Israeli soldiers
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — Several Palestinian hospitals in occupied Jerusalem have been the frequent target by the Israeli soldiers, who do not only attack ambulances and medics, but are also invading the medical centers, including their Urgent Care units, in Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. On Saturday, the soldiers assaulted many Palestinian medics in Bab al-‘Amoud in occupied Jerusalem, after the army killed one Palestinian and wounded dozens with rubber-coated steel bullets. After attacking medics and ambulances, the army invaded the al-Makassed and Augusta Victoria Hospitals in occupied Jerusalem, and searched them for wounded Palestinians. Similar attacks took place in September and the beginning of this month.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73348
Israeli forces attack demonstration in Kafr Qaddum
[photos] KAFR QADDUM, Occupied Palestine 10 Oct by ISM, Nablus Team — In the afternoon of October 9th 2015 in Kafr Qaddum, Israeli forces preempted a peaceful demonstration with an ovewhelming display of military power by shooting an unarmed man with live ammunition in the thigh and abdomen. This man is Moayad Shtaiwi, 61, and when he was shot just after midday. He was dressed in professional clothing, face uncovered, standing three hundred metres from the Israeli bulldozer, waving the Palestinian flag in one hand and making a peace sign with the other. He was carried to medical assistance by several others on the scene, during which he lost enough blood to necessitate a transfusion and emergency surgery. The shrapnel created by the bullet lacerated his femoral artery and colon, and put him in critical condition.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/10/israeli-forces-attacks-demonstration-in-kafr-qaddum/
HRW slams Israel’s ‘indiscriminate firing’ after researcher wounded
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Human Rights Watch on Sunday slammed the Israeli army’s “indiscriminate or deliberate firing” on protesters and observers the pose no threat, several days after one of the group’s researchers was injured at a demonstration. “Indiscriminate or deliberate firing on observers and demonstrators who pose no imminent threat violates the international standards that bind Israeli security forces,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of the international rights group said in a statement.”It is particularly troubling when those seeking to monitor the security forces’ conduct are among the casualties,” he said,On Tuesday, Israeli forces shot and wounded an HRW research assistant as she was observing a demonstration outside of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, the organization said. . . The research assistant, who also works as a journalist, was reportedly observing and photographing the demonstration and was wearing a flak jacket marked “press,” when she was shot. “Two rubber-coated steel bullets of the type used by Israeli forces struck her flak jacket, one in her back and one that deflected off her upper torso and injured her jaw,” the statement said.”One of the rubber bullets was recovered in her clothing,” the statement said, adding that “a third bullet, apparently live, either grazed her hand or exploded nearby, sending shrapnel into her hand.”According to the injured research assistant, Israeli forces opened fire “without warning.” She was treated at the Ramallah hospital and later released.The research assistant told HRW that before the shooting, she “was not aware of any Israeli forces in the vicinity, other than those at a checkpoint approximately 500 meters away from where she stood.” She said that “between 100 and 200 protesters and observers were milling around, including families and young people, some of whom were singing.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768176
Video: ‘Army invades IMEMC/PCR office in Beit Sahour’
IMEMC 11 Oct — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Sunday at dawn, the offices of the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement (PCR)/International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) and searched them. The soldiers violently searched and ransacked our officers, after breaking the locks of the main door. Because the invasion took place around 4 AM, Sunday morning, no staff were in the building as our offices are closed Sundays. [Beit Sahour is traditionally a Christian area] The soldiers also invaded and searched a few old nearby homes. The Israeli military has invaded, ransacked and confiscated numerous files from the IMEMC and PCR in the past.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73349
VIDEOS: Clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli troops in Um al-Fahem, Kafr Kanna, Nazareth
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered hundreds of additional units in Palestinian towns inside Israel — mainly Nazareth, Kafr Kanna and Um al-Fahem — Israeli officers and soldiers used excessive force against Palestinian protesters, wounding and kidnapping dozens of citizens of Israel . . . The Arabs48 news website reported that the Israeli police arrested at least 10 Palestinians in Um al-Fahem, following extensive clashes that took place on Friday and Saturday. In addition, a child was shot with rubber-coated steel bullets during the protests. The news site added that the police also arrested ten more Palestinians in the eastern neighborhood of Nazareth, and that two of the abductees were shot and injured prior to their arrest. . . Dozens of police and army vehicles also invaded Kafr Kannna, and sprayed the protesters with wastewater mixed with chemicals, in addition to firing rubber-coated steel bullets and gas bombs. They also arrested several citizens, and violently assaulted them.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73346
The other occupation: Settlers terrorize Palestinians of the West Bank
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine 11 Oct by ISM, al-Khalil Team — It was another emotional day for Palestinians in al-Khalil, (Hebron) after the burial of martyr Muhammad al-Ja‘bari who was shot to death by Israeli forces near the entrance to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement. Thousands filled the streets as the body of the 19-year-old boy was carried through the masses up to the martyr’s cemetery which is the same cemetery where 18-year-old unarmed Palestinian female student Hadeel Hashlamoun was laid to rest after being shot to death at the checkpoint yawning into segregated Shuhada Street. Immediately beyond the service, Palestinians gathered in the Bab al-Zawiya section of Khalil for a demonstration against the Israeli occupation forces use of violence which has now claimed the lives of nearly 20 young Palestinians in just one week. The demonstration was met with extreme violence by the Israeli military which settlers in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood gathered to watch on Saturday afternoon. The Shamsiyyeh family’s home has long been the target of violence from Israeli settlers who have thrown rocks and other debris as well as poisoning their water tanks on several occasions and even cutting their water pipes on the roof. Today, settlers again filed onto the family home’s roof to watch the Israeli military assault on Palestinians in Bab al-Zawwiya, some armed with machine guns. Israeli occupation forces predictably did nothing to calm the situation or remove the settlers from the roof of the family home. One settler sprayed pepper spray from the roof, gassing the family and subsequently himself. Israeli forces allowed him to leave with the pepper spray without asking a single question. Just a few hours later, a settler armed with a machine gun, lightly slung around him just like an accessory, came onto the roof. Soldiers close-by refused to ask the settler to leave from the private Palestinian family home’s roof. The settler then suddenly pointed his machine gun at Palestinians, including small children, on nearby houses’ roofs. Soldiers at first watched the events unfold only to join the settler on the roof, taking orders from him on what to do. Watch a video here: . . . In occupied al-Khalil, it has been apparent that settlers rule the military, both through demanding arrests and ID checks of Palestinians and through getting away with any transgression of Palestinian’s human rights by being handed total impunity by the occupying forces. This is especially disturbing since a West Jerusalem mayor has publicly called for settlers to carry guns amidst a high pressure situation with exploding violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/10/the-other-occupation-settlers-terrorize-palestinians-of-the-west-bank/
Israeli intelligence using fake Facebook accounts to spy on protesters
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — A number of Palestinian activists on social media have published anonymous messages with Arabic names, that are asking for “names of protesters,” especially in Jerusalem, saying that it’s only “to join them in the clashes.” The messages started flowing on Friday, according to PNN, and there have been several warnings not to reply, accept friend requests, or give out any type of information. Media sources said that Israeli intelligence have launched these accounts to monitor the protesters. The accounts have Palestinian flags as their cover photos, with Arabic names, local numbers, and use the Arabic language. Israel has long used social media, especially Facebook, to monitor activists and indeed arrested a number of people for their “anti-Israel” posts.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73344
VIDEO: Israeli undercover police help Palestinians throw stones before drawing guns on them
JERUSALEM (MEE) 7 Oct by Sheren Khalel — Israeli police have reportedly often used undercover officers to infiltrate demonstrations but deny the practice — Two Palestinians were shot and injured on Wednesday when what appeared to be at least eight undercover Israeli agents, dressed like Palestinians and wearing scarves around their faces, infiltrated a group of Palestinian protesters during clashes . . . The use of undercover Israeli forces has been documented countless times. An AFP journalist who caught the incident on video released a blog post about the event later on Wednesday. “It’s fairly common to see Israeli agents infiltrate the crowds of Palestinian stone throwers during demonstrations,” the journalist wrote. “I’ve witnessed this plenty of times in Jerusalem.” “But today, I filmed these undercover agents for the first time firing live bullets into a crowd of protesters,” he added. Israel maintains a cadre of undercover police units, well versed in Arabic language and local culture and often drawn from the ranks of Jews, as well as Druze and other Palestinian citizens of Israel. Palestinians even have a word for Israelis infiltrating their communities, Must‘arabiin, meaning someone who is disguising themselves as an Arab. At protests in which there are youth from a variety of neighbourhoods, it is common practice for protesters to tuck their shirts into their pants, and to question anyone not doing so. The point behind the practice is to show that one does not have a gun around their waist-line. Last year al-Jazeera released a full-length Arabic documentary that focused on Israeli undercover agents infiltrating Palestinian communities, sometimes for years, feeding information back to Israeli intelligence before they are activated on a particular mission.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/video-israeli-undercover-police-help-palestinians-throw-stones-drawing-guns-them-1311634807
Police demand enclosure of West Bank, government denies
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — A proposal by Israeli occupation police suggesting to seal off the West Bank, in order to prevent Palestinians from crossing the Green Line, was rejected by the Israeli government last Thursday. The recommendation to seal off the West Bank follows the wave of violence and clashes between Palestinians and occupation forces that have been occurring in the past two weeks, but it was declined by both the Shin Bet (Israeli internal intelligence service) and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon. Ya’alon’s argument, that closing off the area would serve as a collective punishment and incite further resistance instead of increasing security, was accepted by the Israeli government. PNN additionally reports that the military does not advise that more enforcement be sent to the occupied territories of the West Bank, and considers the four regiments that have already been sent there sufficient.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73359
Gaza
Mourners of Gaza mother and child killed in airstrike urge resistance – ‘3rd, 4th, 5th intifada, whatever it takes’
[photos] Mondoweiss 11 Oct by Dan Cohen — Israeli F-16 strikes destroyed a house in the Mughraga area of Gaza overnight, killing five-months-pregnant Nour Hassan, 27, her two-year-old daughter Rahaf, and injuring her husband Yahya and their toddler son. All that remains of the house is a massive blast hole several meters deep and twenty meters wide amid scattered bits of clothing and personal belongings. “No one called and told us to evacuate the house,” said 17-year-old Abdullah Hassan, Yahya’s cousin who was nearby when the missiles struck. “It was a cheap shot.” As soon as the missiles struck, Abdullah Hassan and his cousin sprinted to the site. They heard crying and found the little boy dozens of meters away – he had been blown afar by the explosion. After rescuing the boy, they heard the father’s voice. The two cousins began a heroic effort to rescue Yahya Hassan who was trapped under a large piece of concrete and was impaled by a piece of rebar. The boys continued to dig through the rubble until they found the lifeless bodies of Nour and Rafah Hassan. Situated approximately 300 meters from the Badr training site of Al-Qassam, Gaza’s largest armed resistance group, the house was shabbily built, like many of its kind. “Such high-tech weaponry for such a simple house,” Abdullah Nasser Hassan remarked. Early this afternoon, mourners gathered at a neighborhood mosque. The distraught and injured father sat in a wheelchair next to his dead wife and daughter, tearing up as he kissed the little girl’s lacerated, bare face and gripped her tiny hands. . . .
https://mondoweiss.net/2015/10/mourners-airstrike-intifada
Israeli force suppresses demonstration in northern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Israeli forces suppressed a demonstration in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, firing heavy amounts of tear gas at protesters, medics said. Ayman al-Sahbani, the head of emergency department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, told Ma‘an that three Palestinians suffered excessive tear gas inhalation during the protest and were admitted to hospital. The protest reportedly took place across from the Israeli community of Nahal Oz in southern Israel. Gaza has seen many demonstrations in recent days in solidarity with widespread protests across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli forces have cracked down on them forcefully, shooting dead nine Palestinians and injuring 200 since Friday.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768175
Israeli navy attacks fishing boats in Gaza waters
GAZA (PIC) 11 Oct — The Israeli occupation navy at dawn Sunday opened machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Rafah district, south of the Gaza Strip. Local sources said that all the fishermen on the boats survived the gunfire attack and managed to return to shore. In an earlier incident, the Israeli navy on Saturday night bombed and opened fire at the shores of al-Sudaniya and Khan Younis areas, north and south of Gaza, with no reported casualties or material damage.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=74086
Israeli authorities claim their ‘Iron Dome’ defense intercepted shell fired from Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — Israeli authorities claimed that the US-funded “Iron Dome” defense system intercepted a shell fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday night. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that sirens sounded across southern Israel, before a single homemade shell was intercepted south of Ashkelon. No injuries were reported, and she said she was not aware of any further shells fired by the Palestinian resistance. Palestinians in Gaza, who have no such defense system, were bombarded Saturday night by Israeli fighter jets. A family home was hit by the Israeli bombing, killing a pregnant woman and her two-year old child, and badly wounding the father and three other children.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73345
Israeli army: Rocket fired from Gaza lands in southern Israel
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit an open area in southern Israel late Sunday, Israel’s army said, with no injuries reported. Israeli forces searched the area following the incident. No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the attack.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768187
Prisoners
Palestinian prisoner ‘brain dead’ in Israeli hospital
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — A Palestinian prisoner was declared “brain dead” in Soroka hospital on Sunday evening after suffering a stroke, the head of the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs said. Issa Qaraqe told Ma‘an that 30-year-old Fadi al-Darabi from Jenin was in critical condition after he suffered a stroke and acute bleeding earlier in the day. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society told Ma‘an that Israeli authorities allowed his parents and siblings to visit him after his health deteriorated. The society said in a statement that al-Darabi had suffered medical negligence by the Israeli Prison Service. It said that he suffered bleeding in his abdomen two years ago, but was left in solitary confinement, without medical treatment. According to the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR), poor conditions in Israeli prisons have lead to the deterioration of health for a large number of Palestinian prisoners. “Prison clinics have become renowned for offering only aspirin for all health treatments and physicians within the clinics are all soldiers,” CEPR said in a report.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768180
Other news / Analysis
Netanyahu asks attorney general to open criminal probe against MK Zoabi
Haaretz 11 Oct by Barak Ravid — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting that he has asked Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to open a criminal investigation against MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint Arab List) for incitement to violence. Netanyahu read aloud quote by Zoabi, which were published over the weekend in the Hamas newspaper. “Hundreds of thousands of worshipers must ascent to Al-Aqsa to stand against the Israeli plot to allow the blood of East Jerusalem residents to be spilled,” one of the quotes said. Another quote stated that if “thousands of [our] people turn out, these incidents will turn into a real intifada.” Zoabi’s words constitute incitement and are a clear call for violence,” Netanyahu said. “I will not brush aside these severe statements.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679817
Cabinet unanimously approves mandatory minimums for rock-throwers
Haaretz 11 Oct by Barak Ravid — The cabinet unanimously approved on Sunday a bill setting mandatory minimum prison sentences for individuals caught throwing rocks, firebombs and firecrackers. The drafting of the bill, which also seeks to impose fines on minors caught throwing rocks and firebombs and on their parents, was done at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the weekly cabinet meeting the prime minister said that the bill is approved as a temporary provision as a trial period and “if necessary, the bill’s [sentences] would be even harsher. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein opposes the legislation of mandatory minimum penalties and proposed instead to institute the measures through a one-year temporary provision. Such trial period, he argued at a cabinet meeting three weeks ago, would help determine whether there is a need for mandatory minimums, and whether such penalties would deter the throwers of stones and firebombs.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679822
Hamas says YouTube shut down channel upon Israeli Foreign Ministry request
JPost 11 Oct — YouTube shut down a Palestinian Hamas YouTube channel Sunday, following a request made by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign affairs to remove videos encouraging violence against Israelis. Hamas said Sunday that YouTube closed down one of its channels under Israeli pressure. Yet YouTube, upon visiting the page, has a memo attributing the removal of the channel to copyright infringement. The provocative channel featured a video in which lyrics to a popular Eyal Golan song were replaced with provocative verse such as: “And the most important, the most important/is to wipe out the Zionists at every site/and the most important the most important/is their defeat on site.”
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Jewish-girls-attack-Arab-man-in-capital-422599
France to push for UN Security Council resolution on West Bank settlements
Haaretz 11 Oct by Barak Ravid — The French government intends to advance a UN Security Council resolution on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to senior officials in Jerusalem and Western diplomats. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius made a comment to that effect 10 days ago, at a meeting in New York of the foreign ministers of the Middle East Quartet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made use of the comment to convince right-wing members of his cabinet that new construction in the settlements in response to the recent wave of terrorism would cause Israel severe diplomatic damage . . . Despite the fact that there is no draft or proposed text of a French resolution, Netanyahu, Molho and other participants at the meeting contended that it would state that the settlements are not legal. They presented Fabius’ initial idea as a highly dangerous process that could bring about a wave of boycotts and withdrawal of investment from any Israeli entity operating directly or indirectly in the settlements; serious international isolation; and a risk of a trial at the International Court in The Hague against any entity connected to the settlements. They argued that construction in the settlements at this time would provide backing for Fabius’ initiative and cause Israeli serious diplomatic damage. Channel 2 reported that Netanyahu and Molho also told the ministers that they had received an American ultimatum that an announcement of new construction in the settlement would cause President Barack Obama to refrain from vetoing the French resolution if it would come to a UN Security Council vote . . . Even if Fabius’ plan does take shape, it would not be the first time that the Security Council adopted a resolution on the settlements. Resolution 465 in 1980, which was passed unanimously without an American veto, stated that the settlements built beyond the 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem, were not legal. The resolution also called for all countries to refrain from providing any form of assistance to construction in the settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.679785
India pres. ahead of Israel trip: ‘Palestine belongs to Arabs like England belongs to English’
JPost 11 Oct by Herb Keinon — . . . Speaking in Amman at the University of Jordan, where he received an honorary doctorate, Mukherjee was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying Sunday that “India’s traditional support to the Palestinian cause remains steadfast and unwavering while we pursue strong relations with Israel. Our bilateral relations [with Israel] are independent of our relations with Palestine.” In recent months, New Delhi, which has pursued closer ties with Israel since the election of Narendra Modi in 2014, has abstained – rather than vote against Israel – in three UN votes, leading to concern among some Palestinians that they were losing a reliable ally. The Indian president seemed intent on dispelling that notion in his address Sunday, quoting from Mahatma Gandhi in saying, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English and France to the French.” . . . “India,” Mukherjee said, “supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognized borders.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/India-pres-ahead-of-Israel-trip-Palestine-belongs-to-Arabs-like-England-belongs-to-English-422615
Quartet delegation to visit Palestinian territories
IMEMC/Agencies 11 Oct — A delegation of the Middle East Quartet is to visit Palestinian territories, including the occupied West Bank, this week, in an attempt to calm the escalated wave of violence, Israeli radio reported on Saturday. According Al Ray, this visit aims to stop the recent developments in West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, since Abbas threatened to wave all security and political agreements signed with Israel. The radio also reported that the representative of Middle East Quartet intends to visit Israel and Palestinian territories in order to push up peace settlement process in the area. It quoted UN sources as saying that the delegation will meet Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss ways to resume peace talks.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73347
Number of Jews worldwide still lower than before Holocaust
Ynet 11 Oct by Yaron Druckman — The number of Jews in the world is still lower than the number of Jews before the Holocaust, figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in its annual statistical report show. In 1939, there were 16.6 million Jews living around the world, while today there are 14.31 million. According to the data, the world had 7.8 million Jews in 1882, 24,000 of them in the Land of Israel. In other words, less than 1 percent of the Jews were living in Israel when the First Aliyah (the first modern widespread wave of Zionist immigration) began. When World War I broke out in 1914, the number of Jews in the world had already reached 13.5 million, 50,000 of them in the Land of Israel. In 1939, just before the Holocaust, there were 16.6 million Jews in the world, 449,000 of them (3 percent) in the Land of Israel. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the number of Jews in the world was 11.5 million, and 650,000 of them (6 percent) were living in Israel . . . According to the figures for 2015, there are 14.31 million Jews in the world, 6.219 million of them in Israel. In other words, 43 percent of the world’s Jews live in Israel today.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4709498,00.html
Analysis: Palestinians want 1967 lands to be put under UN protection
Ma‘an 11 Oct by Samer B. Jaber — Samer B. Jaber is the chosen spokesperson for a group of professional and trade union figures, intellectuals, and political activists who have come together to deliver a message during the current wave of upheaval across Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territory. We, a group of professional and trade union figures, intellectuals, and political activists, appeal to the Palestinian leadership within the Palestine Liberation Organization and outside of it, to call on the United Nation and the permanent members of the Security Council to put the Palestine territory occupied by Israel in 1967 under the international protection of the United Nations. This call is coming after two decades of negotiations between the leadership of the PLO and successive Israeli occupation governments. These negotiations have not been able to achieve the rights of the Palestinian people to return to the homes from which they were displaced and to self-determination. The goal of this initiative is to provide an exit strategy from the arrangement in which the balance of power is tipped entirely in favor of the occupying state, thereby giving it the opportunity to impose its policy of fait accompli.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768144
Netanyahu offered vague terms for West Bank withdrawal: former US negotiator
Reuters 9 Oct by Howard Goller – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United States five years ago that Israel could withdraw from most of the West Bank if his country’s security needs were met, former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross recounts in a book to be published next week. Prodded by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2010 to say what he could do to advance peace talks and citing Israeli security needs, “he said that Israel could withdraw from most of the territory,” Ross writes in “Doomed to Succeed: the U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama.” “He did not want to give percentages, but he understood what the Palestinians wanted, and if the Israeli security needs were accepted by us and met, he could be generally responsive.” . . . However willing Netanyahu might have been in 2010, he has since said in the face of post-Arab Spring regional instability that any Israeli withdrawals from occupied territory would embolden hardline Islamist guerrillas arrayed on its borders.
http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-offered-vague-terms-west-bank-withdrawal-former-173015020–sector.html
Arab League to convene over Israel’s escalations of violence
CAIRO (WAFA) 11 Oct – At the request of the Palestinian Authority, the League of Arab States decided to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the latest ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, land and holy sites. The PA called for an emergency meeting to be held on Tuesday, in light of Israel’s escalated violence against the Palestinian people, particularly its assaults against al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. The League’s Deputy Secretary General, Ahmad Bin Hali, said the meeting will focus on discussing the necessary measures that need to be taken against the backdrop of mounting tension across the West Bank districts, including Jerusalem.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29533
Saudi Arabia grants PA $60M to support budget
CAIRO (WAFA) 15 Oct – Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Egypt and permanent Representative at the Arab League, Ahmad Qattan Monday said the Saudi Fund for Development has provided the Palestinian Authority with a total of $60 million to cover support its budget for three months in 2015. In a press conference, Qattan said this grant was made possible following a decision to increase Saudi Arabia’s monthly contribution toward PA’s budget from $14 million to $20 million. He reiterated that Saudi Arabia will continue to support the Palestinian cause on all levels. The grant will cover PA’s expenses for July, August and September of 2015.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29532
Video: A ‘snapshot of Jerusalem . . .
Jewish Voice for Peace 16 Sept — What is the fighting about? Some background on Jerusalem here via AJ+
https://www.facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeace/videos/10154197483289992/
Israel’s lawless death penalty without trial buoyed by cheers of the masses / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 11 Oct — A spree of extrajudicial killings is sweeping over the land. It’s sickening, barbaric and lawless – and it is buoyed by the cheers of the masses, media incitement and the authorities’ encouragement. Now add to the wave of terror attacks the worst kind of damage – Israeli society is losing its image. This society has had savage periods before, but not like this one, in which every stabber or anyone who threatens with a knife, screwdriver or vegetable peeler is executed, even after he has thrown down his weapon, while the killer becomes a hero of the nation. Those who wanted the death penalty for terrorists are now receiving a more ignominious version – a death penalty without trial. Fourteen Palestinians have been killed this way in the past week, most of them would not be liable for a death sentence in a state of law. The blood lust, the likes of which is not remembered in these parts, wants more and more blood. In some of the attacks, the security forces and civilians acted appropriately and neutralized the assailants. Sometimes, there is no choice but to shoot and kill. But in other cases, they carried out an execution, there is no other way to describe it. The video clips prove it indisputably. It’s enough to watch the atrocious shooting of Asra‘a Abed in Afula, who stood still with a knife in her hand, surrounded by armed policemen who drew closer and closer to her, one of them licking an ice-lolly, until they finally fired several bullets into her from short range, instead of taking control of her and disarming her. It looks like murder. Those policemen were too cowardly or revenge-thirsty and for that they deserve to go on trial, not a citation. Even more ghoulish appears the execution of Fadi Alon in Jerusalem. After he threw down the knife with which he had stabbed and injured a Jewish youth, he tried to flee from the angry rabble toward the policemen, while the mob incited the policemen with gutter language to kill him. Responding to the riffraff’s request, the policemen shot the youngster to death, for no reason, then rolled his body into the road. The grotesque element was provided by the attack in Tel Aviv. A Palestinian with a tiny screwdriver, who had stabbed and very slightly injured a number of Israelis, was shot to death by an IDF officer. Second Lieutenant Daniel became the hero of the day . . . The people of Israel see these pictures and most of them are filled with delight and pleasure, as the media inflames their animal urges. That’s the real incitement. Adults and children see how Arabs are shot like stray dogs at the roadside and learn the lesson. In this way, one of the main reasons for this uprising’s eruption is demonstrated – the dehumanization of the Palestinians, whose life and death are worthless to the Israelis. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.679781
Countdown to a new intifada / Gideon Levy & Alex Levac
Haaretz 10 Oct — The first Palestinian to die in the third intifada – which has not yet erupted and is unlikely to do so – was a house painter from the village of Bal‘a, east of Tulkarm. Hudhayfah Ali Suleiman was an 18-year-old youth who joined a nighttime demonstration at the cynically named Nitzanei Shalom – “Buds of Peace” – checkpoint. There are no buds, much less peace. Only angry young Palestinians and Israel Defense Forces snipers who shoot and kill them. On Sunday evening, Ali Suleiman saw a Facebook post about a group of young people from the villages in the vicinity who were organizing to go to the checkpoint, and he decided to join the demonstration. He went in his brother’s car to the event, together with a friend – but did not return . . . As the demonstration got underway, stones and possibly also firebombs were thrown at the army’s fortified watchtower and at the checkpoint. Hudhayfah was shot by an IDF sniper, apparently from the tower, at a range of a few dozen meters. One live round struck him in the stomach and killed him . . . The village of Bal‘a – whose last shahid (martyr for the cause) was interred in 2004, when Badia Umar, a local resident, was shot and killed by soldiers in Tulkarm – buried Abu Suleiman with relative restraint. Some who attended the funeral said that the ball is now in Israel’s court. If Israel resorts to harsher punitive measures, the situation will lurch out of control, with the danger of a third, outright uprising looming. If Israel holds back, this wave of violence, too, will be forgotten. Bal‘a, located in a hilly region, is an affluent, neat and relatively tranquil village. It’s the chicken coop of the West Bank; most of its income comes from raising chickens and turkeys, from chicks that are bought in Israel . . . The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit told Haaretz the next day that the circumstances of the event will be investigated. Apart from Abu Suleiman, one of the other two Palestinians wounded there was shot in the lower part of his body, the other in the upper part. Most of the participants in the tempestuous demonstration were from nearby villages – including ‘Attil, Deit Gasson [?Deir al-Ghusun] and ‘Anabta, but not Tulkarm itself. As usual, the IDF’s means of demonstration dispersal consisted of live, lethal fire . . . After the death of Abu Suleiman, whose family is said in the village to be “in the middle” – religious, but not identified with any organization – representatives of Hamas and Fatah arrived at the hospital, each seeking to appropriate the dead youth as their own martyr. In light of the sensitivity of the situation, they agreed to “divide” the public memory of the dead youngster equally. As a result, flags of all the organizations were hoisted. Until recently, Hamas flags raised in the West Bank were quickly removed by PA security personnel. No longer. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.679432
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
Or they’ve killed 26 – no one seems to be counting `Ata an-Noury, who was run over by a settler on Saturday (fourth story down above).