‘Obvious execution’ — Palestinian woman killed after allegedly ramming car into soldier in occupied territory

Violence / Detentions — West Bank / Jerusalem

Palestinian woman shot dead after alleged car attack at Gush Etzion
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — Israeli forces shot dead a 34-year-old Palestinian woman on Friday morning after she allegedly rammed her car into an Israeli soldier stationed at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern occupied West Bank. An Israeli army spokesperson said that after the woman hit the soldier with her car, Israeli forces “responded to the imminent threat” by shooting and killing her. The spokesperson said the soldier was evacuated to hospital, although she was unable to confirm his condition. She alleged that a knife was found in the woman’s car. The Palestinian Ministry of Health later identified the woman as 34-year-old Amani Husni Sabatin from the nearby village of Husan in western Bethlehem. The head of Husan’s village council, Hasan Hamamreh, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces had sealed the eastern and western entrances of the village following Sabatin’s death. He rejected the army’s allegations that she had attempted to carry out an attack, saying her death was an “obvious execution” that continues Israel’s crimes and violations against Palestinians. Hamamreh said Sabatin was married and the mother of four children, the eldest of whom is a 14-year-old daughter. Her husband works in Israel. He added that the Israeli authorities had summoned Sabatin’s husband, father, and brother to the Etzion detention center to identify her body. It was not clear when her body would be released for her funeral.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770548

Palestinian village mourns death of mother shot dead during alleged car-ramming
[with photos] BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 5 Mar — Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Husan late Friday mourned the death of a 34-year-old mother of four who was shot dead earlier in the day after allegedly ramming her car into an Israeli soldier at the Gush Etzion junction. Locals told Ma‘an that the Israeli authorities returned the body of Amani Husni Sabatin shortly after she was killed. Her body was then taken to Beit Jala Hospital for autopsy. A funeral procession followed from the hospital to Sabatin’s hometown of Husan west of Bethlehem, where relatives bid her a final farewell. She was then buried in the village cemetery following funeral prayers. A number of relatives were unable to attend Sabatin’s funeral due to Israeli restrictions on movement in the area, as entrances into Husan were sealed following the alleged car attack. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that entrances were reopened Saturday morning, with security checks carried out on those moving in and out of the village.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770563

DCI: ‘Israel killed 41 children since October 1’ [LIST]
IMEMC 4 Mar by Saed Bannoura — Defense for Children International (DCI), Palestine Branch, has reported that Israeli soldiers have killed 41 children in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, since the current uprising began in Palestine on October 1, 2015. Sixteen of the slain children were killed this year. The IMEMC [has added to the following list] the name of the child who was killed, along with her mother, in Gaza — DCI said that, on February 5th of this year, soldiers killed Haitham Sa’da, aged 14, from Halhoul town. in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, while kidnapping his cousin, Wajdi Sa’ada. Also 14, and chased their friend, who was later taken prisoner. Wajdi told DCI that he and Haitham, along with their friends, were walking near a bypass road used mainly by Israeli soldiers and settlers, before some soldiers hiding in the area opened fire on them. Haitham was killed after suffering gunshot wounds in his upper body, while Wajdi was taken prisoner. “We never hurled stones on them, never attacked them, but a soldier jumped and punched me in my face. I fell down, and they ordered me to remove my shirt,” he said. “I was looking at Haitham; he was motionless, looked dead, and then the soldiers cuffed him, and left the area.” DCI said Haitham was shot with a live round which entered his back, severing his spine and puncturing his lung, and exited through his mouth, and that the soldiers then cuffed and blindfolded Wajdi and took him to a nearby military outpost in Karmie Tzur colony, where he was forced to stand in the cold for more than 90 minutes. (Continued)
http://www.imemc.org/article/75155

Child injured in Kafr Qaddoum as Israeli soldiers use excessive force
IMEMC 4 Mar by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers assaulted, Friday, the weekly nonviolent protest against the Wall and Colonies in Kafr Qaddoum town, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, wounding one child, while many residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. The Popular Committee in Kafr Qaddoum said the soldiers surrounded the village, and carried repeated attempts to invade it, and stop the protest. The attack pushed many local youths to hurl stones and empty bottles at the soldiers, and also burn several car tires. The soldiers fired many rounds of live ammunition, wounding a child, identified as Khaled Morad Eshteiwy, with two rounds in his legs, and also fired gas bombs and concussion grenades, wounding several Palestinians. The Committee stated that, although the military resorts to excessive force during their invasions yet today’s invasion was even more aggressive and violent.
Also on Friday, the soldiers assaulted dozens of Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists holding the weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and colonies, in Bil‘in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Several protesters also suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation after the soldiers assaulted the weekly protest in Ni‘lin nearby village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75165

Israeli forces target ambulance crew during Bethlehem clashes
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — Two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation when Israeli forces fired a tear gas canister at their ambulance during clashes at the northern entrance to Bethlehem on Friday. Muhammad Awad, who heads the Palestinian Red Crescent’s ambulance and emergencies department, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces targeted the ambulance while its emergency crew was aiding injured youths. The tear gas canister smashed through the front window of the ambulance, causing two of its crew to suffer excessive tear gas inhalation. They were identified as Ayman Dababseh and Fadi Jaafreh. A number of other Palestinian youths suffered tear gas inhalation during the clashes. There have been routine clashes before Israel’s separation wall at the northern entrance to Bethlehem since a wave of unrest swept the occupied Palestinian territory at the beginning of October last year. In the same period, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which is a full member of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, has repeatedly condemned the Israeli army for targeting its staff. Across the occupied Palestinian territory, paramedics have been wounded and ambulances damaged, while there have also been cases of Israeli forces stopping ambulances to haul out wounded Palestinians from inside them. The Red Crescent has decried the incidents as “a blatant violation” of international humanitarian law.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770557

Israeli soldiers invade al-‘Eesawiyya and Silwan, in Jerusalem
IMEMC 4 Mar — Dozens of Israeli soldiers surrounded, on Thursday, the towns of al-‘Eesawiyya and Silwan, in occupied Jerusalem, and invaded them before firing many gas bombs, and rubber-coated steel bullets. The soldiers also broke into many homes and stores — Mohammad Abu al-Hummus, a member of the Follow-Up Committee in Silwan, said dozens of soldiers surrounded the town, approximately at three in the afternoon, and prevented the Palestinians from entering or leaving it, in addition to searching dozens of cars and interrogated many Palestinians while inspecting their ID cards. Abu al-Hummus added that many armored military vehicles also invaded the town, before the soldiers stormed and searched many homes, and residential building, and occupied many rooftops. He also said clashes took place in the town, after many local youths hurled stones, empty bottles and Molotov cocktails on the invading vehicles, causing an army jeep to partially burn while the army fired several rounds of live ammunition.  The soldiers also invaded the al-‘Eesawiyya town, and kidnapped two young men from their homes, after searching them. The two have been identified as Younis ‘Oleyyan and Ali Mheisin.  The soldiers, and personnel of the City Council in additional to the Natural Reserve Authority, invaded Palestinian lands that have been recently bulldozed and uprooted, in addition to buildings that were previously demolished, and took pictures of them, in addition to confiscating a tent. The soldiers also photographed the bulldozed and uprooted Palestinian [lands], as Israel wants to confiscate them from their owners, in order to build the so-called “National Gardens.”
In Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the soldiers invaded several neighborhoods and removed posters and Palestinian flags that were placed to welcome a political prisoner after his release. The soldiers also attacked many young men and children in the town and forced them out of the area. On Thursday evening, the soldiers invaded Be’er Ayyoub and Ein al-Louza neighborhoods in Silwan, and searched many homes and alleys, allegedly looking for youths who hurled stones at them. The soldiers also invaded stores and shops, and ordered the owners to present their licenses and permits, and threatened to impose very high fines on merchants who have any missing documents.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75153

Bogus arrest of 12-year-old boy in Hebron
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine (ISM, al-Khalil Team) 3 Mar — On the 28th of February around 4:00pm, 12 year old Palestinian boy Sayed Seder was arrested by 10 heavily armed Israeli soldiers whilst playing football with his friends on the street in front of his family home. The Israeli army claim that he was arrested under allegations he was throwing stones at the guard tower which watches over Al-Shallalah Street and the illegal Israeli settlement that has been built directly behind the street and family home. Abed, the father of Sayed, went down to confront the soldiers after Sayed’s friends came running up to the family home, explaining to the father what was happening. When Abed approached the soldiers to ask them what exactly they were arresting his son for, the soldiers responded by informing him that it was because he was seen throwing rocks at the guard tower above. However, the street is lined with a protective type of fencing above the shops’ roofs that prohibits objects being thrown up or in the most common cases, being thrown down by illegal Israeli settlers who live above. Abed put the argument forward that it would have been pointless for his son to have been throwing stones with this protective barrier in place. Perhaps the logic of this made too much sense and the arresting soldier quickly changed his story and then began to tell Abed his son was being arrested for stealing a settler child’s football whilst pointing to the ball that Sayed and his friends were playing with. Abed informed the soldier that the ball Sayed and his friends were playing with was in fact a ball that he had purchased for Sayed from a shop in Halhoul just recently. The soldier, who was evidently lying and knowingly falsely accusing Sayed of the above allegations, ignored any more of Abed’s protests and continued to arrest Sayed. From this point Sayed was marched to the Shuhada street entrance gate and taken through while his parents and friends were forced to stand back and watch. Sayed was then taken to the local military base on Shuhada street. Upon entering the military base he was reportedly handcuffed and blindfolded. The blindfold remained on for around 30minutes before being taken off, assuming that it was put on so he could not get a full view of what was happening inside the military compound for security purposes. Sayed alleges that teenage settlers who were allowed into the compound then beat him while the Israeli army simply stood back and did nothing.
http://palsolidarity.org/2016/03/bogus-arrest-of-12-year-old-boy-in-hebron/

IOF kidnaps Palestinian soccer player at Gaza crossing
GAZA (PIC) 4 Mar — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday evening kidnapped the Palestinian soccer player, Fadi al-Sharif, at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, north of the Gaza Strip. Sharif was taken prisoner on his way back from Occupied Jerusalem to Gaza after he underwent surgery in al-Makassed hospital. He had suffered a ligament injury during a league match in Gaza. The family of the player appealed to the Palestinian football association to swiftly intervene with the FIFA to have its son released. Sharif is one of the most prominent defenders for the Helal team in Gaza.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=77198

PLO seeks international pressure over Israel’s withholding of bodies
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — Senior PLO official Saeb Erekat on Friday urged the international community to pressure Israel to release the bodies of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces while allegedly carrying out attacks. The PLO Executive Committee’s secretary-general made the call following separate meetings with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov, a Belgian parliamentary delegation, the Swiss and Cypriot foreign ministers, and Japan’s representative to Palestine. He said: “Israel’s collective punishments are now being carried out against the living and the dead.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770553

Israeli settlers raid Nablus-area Palestinian village, damage car
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 Mar — Dozens of Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement in southern Nablus raided the village of ‘Asira al-Qibliya on Thursday, Hebrew media reported. Hebrew-language news sites reported that settlers shattered the windshield of a Palestinian car before Israeli forces arrived to the area to evacuate the settlers. No injuries among the Palestinian passengers were reported.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770543

More pairs of terrorists carry out attacks than before
Ynet 3 Mar by Elior Levy — Since the beginning of the current escalation of violence, there have been 13 attacks committed by pairs of terrorists from the West Bank or East Jerusalem. This trend is slowly beginning to challenge the perception that attacks are mainly carried out by “lone wolves” – single attackers – who go out to commit an attack without telling anyone of their intentions in advance . . . Terrorists who go out in pairs to carry out attacks work in a more deliberate manner and not from a momentary desire or on impulse. The fact that the terrorists carry out attacks together increased, in some cases, the deadliness of the attack, such as the attack on the bus at the Armon Hanatziv (East Talpiot) neighborhood in Jerusalem, when Baha Alyan and Bilal Ranem from Jabel Mukaber killed three Israelis, or the attack by terrorists Ibrahim Alan and Hussein Abu Ghosh, who murdered Shlomit Krigman in Beit Horon, and the three terrorists from Qabatiya who murdered Border Police officer Hadar Cohen in an attack at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. (Continued)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4773791,00.html

Closures

Israeli forces reopen one of several closed roads
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — The Palestinian military liaison in Nablus reopened a road connecting the villages of Madama and Burin south of Nablus after it was closed with dirt barriers by Israeli forces on Wednesday. The entrance of the village of ‘Iraq Burin remained closed on Friday for the third consecutive day, although the military liaison office said it had secured entrance and exit from the village for people under the age of 9 and above 45, as well as medical emergencies. Israeli forces closed all roads leaving the southern city of Nablus and shut the entrances of nearby villages on Wednesday evening after two Israeli soldiers were stabbed and lightly injured in an attack near Burin.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770561

Punitive demolitions

IDF prepares to demolish homes of Eli, Ma’aleh Adumim terrorists
JPost 3 Mar by Yaakov Lappin — The IDF mapped out the homes of three terrorists in the West Bank involved in recent attacks on Israelis. The mapping out is a step that precedes the demolition of their homes. In the Palestinian village of Karyut [Qaryout], units arrived at the homes of two 17-year-old terrorists who stabbed and injured a civilian in the settlement of Eli, before being shot dead by soldiers, preparing their homes for demolition. [refers to Labeeb Khaldoun Azzam and Mohammad Hisham Zaghlawan]
IDF units and Border Police officers from the Etzion Brigade, together with the Civil Administration, also mapped out the Azriya [al-Eizariya] home of Sa’adi Abu Khamed [Saadi Ali Abu Hamid], who attacked and severely injured a security guard with an axe at the Ma’aleh Adumim shopping center on February 26.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/IDF-prepares-for-demolition-of-homes-of-Eli-Maaleh-Adumim-terrorists-446734

Gaza

Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians near Gaza border
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian workers east of Gaza City on Friday morning, with no injuries reported, locals told Ma‘an. Heavy gunfire was heard as Israeli soldiers stationed in military towers along the Gazan border opened fire on workers and bird hunters. Witnesses told Ma‘an that the Palestinians left the area fearing for their safety. Medical sources said that no injuries were reported.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770552

Gazan farmers forces to leave land after Israeli forces open fire
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 Mar — Palestinian farmers were forced to leave their fields early Saturday after Israeli forces opened fire east of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the borderline opened fire on the farmers while they were tending to their land. No injuries were reported. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an that Israeli forces fired “warning shots” into the air when “suspects” approached the border fence, causing them to retreat. Palestinian farmers whose land lies within or close to an Israeli-enforced buffer zone along the border with Israel face near-daily fire or threat of fire from Israeli forces, often preventing them from cultivating their crops, according to documentation by rights groups. Israeli authorities have maintained the buffer zone since 2005, although its exact limits have changed over the years and remain unclear in many cases. Approximately 35 percent of Palestinian agricultural land in Gaza is inaccessible without high personal risk, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770564

Israeli navy attacks and seriously wounds Gaza fishermen
[with photos] DEIR EL BALAH, Gaza Strip (ISM Gaza Team) 1 Mar — One month ago Mahmoud Said El Saidi, 23 years old, and his brother went back to the sea around 5am in order to pick up the nets that they had previously left 2 miles offshore in Deir El Balah. When they arrived they saw an Israeli warship waiting for them in the distance, once they had collected their nets the Israeli navy vessel approached and told them to stop. “We decided to try escape… we couldn’t afford losing the boat and the nets”. However they couldn’t go too far, as the Israeli soldiers immediately shot Mahmoud 11 times with a unique kind of projectile that consists of a cloth bag full of buckshot. They soldiers shot him 8 times in the leg and 3 times to the head. The damage from the shots left him unable to walk, as he couldn’t feel his leg, he was also left very dizzy and disoriented. Immediately after that, the warship from the occupation rammed them, destroying their small boat and nailing a metal bar on Mahmoud’s neck. In the collision he also got his jaw and nose broken. The occupation forces then took Mahmoud to the hospital and kept his brother for one day before sending him back to Gaza. Mahmoud’s mother explains, “I received a call from the Israeli hospital telling me that my son might die at any moment, and when my other son came back he told me that Mahmoud was dead”. Mahmoud’s mother was then given a permission slip to leave Gaza in order to see him. He was unconscious for 6 days and couldn’t begin to speak again until 12 days after, as all his vocal cords had been cut by the metal bar. The doctors have told him not to eat anything solid, during the next year he is only able to drink juices and soups through a straw. The situation of the family has become tragic, “we live in a rented house that we have been paying with the money that Mahmoud provides. Now we also should pay for his care and medicines, but we can’t… (Continued)
http://palsolidarity.org/2016/03/israeli-navy-attacks-and-seriously-wounds-gaza-fishermen/

Red Cross donates trees to war-ravaged Gaza
Wadi Salqa (News24) 3 Mar — The Red Cross on Wednesday began distributing thousands of almond trees to growers in the Gaza Strip whose fields along the border with Israel were ravaged in successive wars. Mamadou Sow, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the coastal Palestinian territory, said the organisation would give “4,000 almond trees of different varieties to farmers along the border [whose lands were] particularly exposed in the wars.” Grower Marwan Abu Mharreb, one of the beneficiaries, described life in the border zone, hit by three conflicts with Israel since 2008 and run by Islamist militant movement Hamas. “Every day we put our lives in danger by going to our land,” says the 45-year-old who grows aubergines, courgettes and other vegetables in greenhouses, in addition to the plot where he is now planting the almond trees. “We are 700 or 800m from the border,” he said. “[Israeli] military patrols pass near our fields, every day we hear shots from their training areas” on the other side of the border fence. As he spoke, shots rang out in the distance sending a flock of frightened storks into the sky. Palestinian farmers on the border are nervous too. “Who can say if an Israeli plane will not come and destroy everything anew,” another grower said, referring to Israeli aerial spraying of defoliant along the border.
http://www.news24.com/World/News/red-cross-donates-trees-to-war-ravaged-gaza-20160302-2

Uproar in Gaza as Abbas rejects new electricity lines to address power crisis
Mondoweiss 4 Mar by Isra Saleh El-Namy — Israel’s Channel 10 television station said this week that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas has rejected a proposal to build Gaza new electricity lines to support the power sector in the impoverished coastal enclave. The project reportedly received Israeli consent, but failed to get the green light from the PA. The Israeli station added that everything was ready and agreed about, until the PA declared its position of thwarting the plan without explanation. Qatar has pledged to fund the project in an attempt to mitigate the severe power crisis in Gaza since 2006, when Hamas achieved a landslide victory in the Palestinian Legislative elections. European companies expressed willingness to implement the Qatar plan yet, the PA has intentionally missed the chance of substantially decrease the impact of the power crisis inside the Palestinian society in Gaza. Hamas criticized Abbas for rejecting the long-awaited project. “Abbas is not willing to miss any occasion in which he can stave off his political foes, even if it is done at the expense of his people. This does not make difference with him at all,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zohri told Mondoweiss. Abu-Zohri added that Abbas would not hesitate to torment his own people to achieve his ultimate purpose of strangling Hamas in Gaza as part of his political game. “He is switching roles with the Israeli occupation to strengthen and foster the blockade,” he said. -Abbas’s policy toward Gaza- Since Hamas took control in Gaza in 2007, Mahmoud Abbas has neglected the region resulting in multiple crises on nearly all facets of life. Fayz Au-Shamalah, a Palestinian commentator, told Mondoweiss, “He wants the Palestinians in Gaza to draw a comparison between their significantly deteriorating conditions under Hamas, and the good living conditions in the West Bank under his rule. Unfortunately, that is his logic.” (Continued)
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/uproar-in-gaza-as-abbas-rejects-new-electricity-lines-to-address-power-crisis/

Israeli gov’t to allow Leviathan gas sales to Gaza
Globes 3 Mar by Hedy Cohen — The Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources has authorized the sale of0.25-0.4 BCM a year — After almost seven years of attempts by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to import natural gas to the Gaza Strip, it appears that it is really happening. Sources inform “Globes” that intensive secret negotiations between Israel and the PA, led by the Quartet on the Middle East, have taken place in recent weeks for the supply of gas from the Leviathan reservoir to the Gaza Strip power station. The Israel Security Cabinet has agreed in principle to the measure, and the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources authorized the Leviathan partners several days ago to conduct negotiations. The Quartet announced that it was willing to pay for a gas pipeline to be laid by Israel up to the border. The Leviathan partners and Israel National Gas Lines Company did not respond to the report . . . Despite progress in negotiations between Israel and the PA, a number of unresolved issues remain. One is the route of the pipeline. Planning such a route can take considerable time; approval of a National Outline Plan alone could take three years. Construction of the pipeline is expected to take three more years. [Continued]
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-govt-to-allow-gas-exports-from-leviathan-to-gaza-1001108009

A moment that changed me: carrying out kidney transplants in Gaza / Salim Hammad
GAZA (The Guardian) 3 Mar — It is only a 20-minute walk, but crossing no-man’s-land at the Erez border control changes everything. Entering Gaza feels like gaining access to a state penitentiary; there are guards, automatic weapons, dogs, gates and the infamous wall, designed to keep the 1.85 million Gazans in, and everything else out. Israel is an advanced country, with fantastic infrastructure and a healthcare system to rival any of those in the western world. Just a few miles down the road though, you see a different story . . . My journey to Gaza began with a charity, the Liverpool International Transplant Initiative (LITI). LITI was responsible for the first kidney transplants in Gaza, and has performed 25 successful transplants there now . . . Our aim on this mission was to carry out four kidney transplants, all live donors, from relatives of the patients. Living with kidney failure in the UK is a struggle, even with advanced support, three to four weekly dialysis sessions, regular follow-ups, dietitian input, specialist nurses, anaemia management and hospital transport. In Gaza it is almost impossible. Suffering from kidney failure here means almost certain premature death. Dialysis centres are few and far between, and cater for numbers that are unheard of in the UK. This means that patients may only be able to dialyse once or twice per week, which puts an enormous strain on the body and leaves them with a substandard quality of life. (Continued)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/03/moment-changed-me-kidney-transplants-gaza

Young Gaza couples start marriage in debt
EI 2 Mar by Yousef M. Aljamal — Bilal al-Jamal, 27, sat on a chair in his office in al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip sipping coffee. It was an unremarkable scene except for those who came to seek his professional advice. Al-Jamal — full disclosure: he is a cousin of the author’s — is a marriage facilitator. His Dream Institute is part of a new crop of businesses that have emerged in Gaza in an effort, they say, to help young couples get married when they otherwise cannot afford the cost. A majority of Palestinians in Gaza are young. Many are keen to get married. But in a moribund economy, few can now afford the cost, which can run into a prohibitive thousands of dollars. “Thus, came the idea of marriage facilitation institutions,” said al-Jamal, a law graduate, who himself could not find work after graduating. “We provide young couples with services and all the necessary items for a successful wedding day,” he said, all the while jotting down notes. To this end, he said, his institute has signed contracts with a number of relevant businesses and shops. He provides the upfront costs and the couple pay him back within 15 months. The practice has not been without controversy. Mostly, critics charge that the marriage facilitation business is exploitative, taking advantage of young couples’ impatience and desperation to marry for an outsized profit. Al-Jamal conceded that facilitators are also looking to make money but denied that profits were remarkable. (Continued)
https://electronicintifada.net/content/young-gaza-couples-start-marriage-debt/15856

Historical, pampered bath in Gaza draws visitors from afar
GAZA CITY (Al-Monitor) 4 Mar by Entsar Abu Jahal — Like other cities under Islamic rule, Gaza has had its fair share of public baths, or hammams, considered the pre-eminent characteristic of any Muslim state of old because of their association with religious matters having to do with purity and cleanliness. The baths also played important social and economic roles in their localities, as merchants, princes and sultans competed to build and exploit them as sources of wealth and income. These hammams served the needs of ordinary folk and merchants who traveled through the city during far-flung business trips. In Gaza, the sole remaining bath is Hammam al-Sammara, considered to be the most important historical landmark in the whole of Palestine. Despite the debate over when it was built, a plaque displayed inside reveals it was first renovated during the Mamluk era by Sinjer bin Abdullah al-Moayyedi in 1286. As she prepared to leave the hammam, Maha Mohammed explained to Al-Monitor why she frequented the bath. “The first time I came here was when I was told it would help alleviate the psychological pressures I suffered from. Subsequently, I became a regular visitor and advised my friends to come here as well.” (Continued)
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/gaza-historical-public-baths.html

Recycling for survival in Gaza
Mondoweiss 4 Mar by Rania Elhilou — Nothing goes to waste in Gaza. Recycling has become a way of life. But, it’s not so much about protecting the environment in Gaza. It’s much more personal. It’s about survival. After ten years of closure, three wars that devastated farmland and destroyed homes, soaring unemployment and the lack of access to materials to rebuild their communities, Gazans still find creative ways to survive. Recycling is becoming a way of life and the benefits reach beyond the individual. That may contrast with wealthier, more stable communities in the US or Europe, where people now question the cost and value of recycling. Here in Gaza, where we can barely eke out a living, recycling makes good economic sense . . . Farmers like Abu Waheed in Khan Younis soon realized it didn’t take much to turn waste into something of value to help him survive. One farmer is even reported to have found a way to make coffee from the excess seeds of the palm trees on his farm. I recently visited a preschool in the overcrowded Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City. Resources are really limited in the impoverished community but teachers have found creative ways to transform discarded clothes, cardboard, old toys and buttons into colorful puppets and learning materials for the children. Their creativity has reached beyond the classroom. Parents who have lost their jobs and spend a lot of time worrying about their survival are learning how to turn old clothes or a pair of socks into toys that bring a bit of joy and laughter to their homes.
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/recycling-for-survival-in-gaza/

Prisoners

Israel holding Palestinian clown in administrative detention
+972 Blog 2 Mar by Noam Rotem — Mohammed Abu Sakha has devoted his life to helping children throughout the West Bank as a clown and circus performer and trainer. He has been held without charge by Israel for three months, and as a result, the program for special needs children he was running has closed — Three months ago, as Mohammed Abu Sakha was driving to visit his parents near Jenin, and passed the Za’atara checkpoint, he was arrested by soldiers . Not long after, he was put under administrative detention, held without charge or trial. He has since been held in Israel’s Megiddo prison. Abu Sakha is a clown. He operates the Palestinian Circus School in the West Bank, teaching circus performance to Palestinian children. Abu Sakha started learning the art of circus nine years ago, when he was 14 years old, and since then, it has become his entire life. He lives near the circus and spends his entire day working there. He is also busy writing his book there about how to teach therapy for special needs children through the art of circus.  His friends say that children that didn’t know how to take a step when they met him can now walk thanks to him . . . According to Abu Sakha’s lawyer, he was barely investigated by the police for general charges, all of which he denied. Asked for comment, the IDF Spokesperson said that “Mohammed Abu Sakha has been under administrative detention since December 14, 2015 for his involvement in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which according to confidential military intelligence that reached the Israeli court, makes him a severe security threat. His administrative detention was implemented as per law and as the last resort since no other option for neutralizing the threat he poses was found.” His friend deny this claim, saying he has no connection to the Popular Front, and even if so, then why not put him on trial. (Continued)
http://972mag.com/israel-holding-palestinian-clown-in-administrative-detention/117531/

Why is Israel detaining a clown?
Al-Monitor 4 Mar by Shlomi Eldar — Circus artists around the world are protesting the arrest and detention of Palestinian performer Mohammad Abu Sakha — Writing an article about a Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli administrative detention means walking a thin line. Such prisoners are detained by the Israeli security establishment without an indictment or a trial date. In some ways, this author is quite like the prisoner, his lawyers, his family and his friends. Neither he nor they know the reason for the arrest, or what intelligence was gathered against the suspect to lead the Shin Bet to conclude that he was involved in planning a terrorist attack. And there is an even more daunting question: Why did the authorities decide to use administrative detention, a controversial tool by any standard, rather than a more transparent criminal procedure, which would allow the courts to rule on it? . . . The fact is that all of the administrative detainees who made hunger strikes over the past few years, including Khader Adnan in 2015, Samer Issawi in 2013 and Muhammad al-Kik in 2016, became heroes of the Palestinian struggle by forcing the Israeli authorities to reach an arrangement with them. And what a surprise! As soon as that happened, they were no longer considered security risks, and certainly not “ticking time bombs.” So were they really such a threat before their arrests? Today, the administrative detainee in the international spotlight is Mohammed Abu Sakha. . . .
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/palestinian-circus-shin-bet-administrative-detention.html

Two detainees continue hunger strike protesting their illegal detention
IMEMC 4 Mar — The Palestinian Detainees’ Committee has reported that two detainees, held by Israel without charges or trial, have declared an open-ended hunger strike, demanding Israel to end their arbitrary Administrative Detention, without charges — The Committee said that detainee Daoud Habboub, from the al-Am’ari refugee camp, in Ramallah, started his hunger strike on March 1.
He is currently held in the Negev detention camp, without charges or trial. Habboub was previously imprisoned by Israel for more than four and a half years.
It added that detainee Mohammad al-Fasfous, from Doura town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, is ongoing with his hunger strike since February 20. In addition, the committee said that more detainees will likely join the strike this coming week, as Israel continues to illegally hold them under Administrative Detention orders.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75168

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Lack of respect for non-Jewish history, culture

Home demolitions displace 330 Palestinians in single month
+972 mag 4 Mar by Natasha Roth — Israeli forces demolished 235 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank in February, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency, the highest such figure since it started keeping record in 2009. In all, UN OCHA confirmed to +972 Magazine, the demolitions displaced 331 Palestinians, including 174 children, and otherwise affected a further 740 Palestinians . . . The overwhelming majority of these demolitions were carried out due to a lack of building permits. Particularly affected have been Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, the Jordan Valley and the E1 area around Ma’ale Adumim. The intensive rate of demolitions since the start of the year is in marked contrast to a relative lull at the end of 2015, which itself followed several waves of mass demolitions throughout last summer. Israel has issued over 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian structures in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli security and administrative control, since 1988. Around 3,000 demolitions have been carried out in that time, leaving some 11,000 orders outstanding that affect over 17,000 structures. The Israeli government argues that such demolitions are ordered and carried out because the structures were built without permission, but between 2010 and 2014 only 1.5 percent of permit requests by Palestinians in the West Bank were approved.
http://972mag.com/home-demolitions-displace-330-palestinians-in-single-month/117612/

Settlers uproot olive trees east of Nablus
NABLUS (PIC) 4 Mar — Extremist Jewish settlers uprooted dozens of Palestinians’ olive trees in Deir al-Hatab town to the east of Nablus. Mohammad Hussein, an inhabitant of the town, told the PIC reporter that the settlers uprooted over 55 olive trees from lands adjacent to Elon Moreh settlement.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=77191

Israeli forces begin construction over Bethlehem-area historical site
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 Mar — Israeli forces on Wednesday began construction work on top of a historical site in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Jala, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said. The PA ministry condemned the Israeli authorities for allowing work to begin on a road that will be built on top of Khirbet al-Najjar, a site that reportedly dates back to the Roman and Byzantine periods. The ministry said that Israeli bulldozers began excavations in the area — the site of historical walls, water wells, presses and a cluster of graves — in what it said were the beginning stages of construction on a road to a nearby settlement. A group sent by the ministry to document activity carried out by Israeli forces on the historical site was prevented from accessing the area, the ministry said, slamming Israel for its “obvious violation of international law” regarding Palestinian rights to heritage and culture.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770111

PHOTOS: Arabs and Jews protest planned expulsion of 1,200 Bedouin
+972 Blog 3 Mar Text by Yael Marom, photos by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org — Over 300 demonstrators marched outside the Be’er Sheva District Court Thursday against the planned demolition of two unrecognized Bedouin villages, Umm al-Hiran and Atir, in Israel’s Negev Desert. Two villages are slated to be replaced by a Jewish-only community and a Jewish National Fund forest, respectively. The protesters, Arabs and Jews, accompanied by members of Knesset from the Joint List and Meretz’s Issawi Freij, chanted “We will not move from Atir and Umm al-Hiran,” and “the Negev belongs to all of us — Jews and Arabs.” . . . MK Dov Khenin, also of the Joint List, spoke to the crowd and reminded them that “two more Arab-Bedouin villages, Al-Fur‘a and Al-Za‘rura, are also slated for demolition to establish a phosphate mine.” . . . Raed al-Qian, the chairman of the local committee, said “We are calling on the government to cancel the decision to evacuate the villages and instead recognize them where they are or on their original land. Or they can accept the residents’ suggestion of establishing a joint Jewish-Arab town, Hiran—Um al-Hiran.”
http://972mag.com/photos-arabs-and-jews-protest-planned-expulsion-of-1200-bedouin/117570/

Palestinian village ‘will be like a prison’
Occupied East Jerusalem (Al Jazeera) 4 Mar by Nigel Wilson — Imad leaned over the Ein Haniya spring and dipped his face into the gushing water. “Very good!” called out Imad, who did not provide a last name. “Better than bottled water!” Nearby, sheep and goats grazed on green terraces as Bedouin shepherds chatted in the shade, puffing on cheap cigarettes. Imad, himself a shepherd, makes the short trip from Wallajeh [or Walaja] village to the spring four times a week with his sheep, as he has done for decades. The ample vegetation and availability of fresh, natural water have made it a popular spot for local Palestinian farmers. But this way of life is coming under threat. The area around the spring, which is on the Israeli side of the Green Line, is set to be transformed into a visitors’ centre for a planned Israeli national park. The Emek Refaim park, which will cross the Refaim Valley and the Green Line and cut deep into the agricultural land of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh, will consist of hiking trails, bike routes, green space and barbecue pits . . . In late January, Israel announced its intention to seize five dunams (5,000 square metres) of land in northern Wallajeh to build the separation wall. This will cut the village off from an additional 1,000 dunams of agricultural land, most of which would be absorbed into the Emek Refaim park. The nearby villages of Battir and Beit Jala would lose an additional 200 dunams of their land to the Israeli park, while the Ein Haniya spring would be developed into part of a visitors’ centre for the park and potentially rendered inaccessible to Palestinians from Wallajeh. “After they finish the wall, Wallajeh will be like a prison. The wall will go all the way around, just like a prison,” said Omar Hajajla, a resident of Wallajeh. “Small or big, it will be like a prison.”
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/palestinian-village-prison-160222055954973.html

Netanyahu gov’t is implementing annexation of West Bank as secret but official policy
Mondoweiss 3 Mar by Yossi Gurvitz — Last month we at Yesh Din published our new position paper, “From Occupation to Annexation,” which deals with the way the Israeli government is implementing the conclusions of the Levy Commission Report without any public debate or even an official government decision – an implementation which is dragging Israel into de facto annexation of the West Bank, one that does not grant the annexed their rights. First, we must distinguish between annexation and occupation. International law recognizes the legitimacy of an occupation, i.e. a state in which one power occupies a territory where a local population lives. But the assumption of international law is that occupation is a temporary affair; the occupier is considered to be a trustee who maintains what he has conquered until the conflict is over. Furthermore, the occupier is not allowed to make long-term changes in the region. An annexation is a one-sided takeover by a state of a territory by use of force or threats of it, and is impermissible under international law – a part of the lessons of the Second World War on which so much of international law is built on. Our position paper does not deal with the Levy Report itself (to which we dedicated a whole report of our own) but with its implementation. Nevertheless, we must say a word about the report itself: it is nothing less than a revolution in the how the State of Israel has come to regard the occupied Palestinian territories. According to the report, the state’s legal position is that the occupied Palestinian Territories are not occupied, since they were promised to the Jewish people by the British Mandate . . .
But even though the government never officially adopted the report, it effectively began implementing it. On the legal front, the Foreign Ministry published a document in late 2015 that adopts the spirit of the Levy Report. According to the document, Israel has a right to build settlements, based on the British Mandate charte . . . When it comes to dispossessing Palestinians of their land, the Netanyahu government and its jurists are showing impressive creativity. The final result of all these processes is the creeping, de-facto annexation of large swaths of the West Bank.  (Continued)
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/netanyahu-govt-is-implementing-annexation-of-west-bank-as-secret-but-official-policy/

The right to own property — for Jews alone
+972 Blog 4 Mar by Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz — Our previous post on Yesh Din’s new position paper, “From Occupation to Annexation,” explored the various ways the Israeli government implements the Levy Report. This post will focus on another critical point: the erasure of the Palestinians’ right to property. Prior to the Levy Report, the Israeli government was careful to avoid legalizing the seizure of private Palestinian property, except when it could argue it was done due to pressing military needs (“military seizure”) or by declaring it state land and claiming that it was never, in fact, private property at all. This took place, in part, because the laws of occupation demand that the occupier protect the private property of protected persons in occupied territory. The legal appeals against the illegal outposts, about 80% of which are at least partially built on private Palestinian land, challenged this way of thinking. And then came the Levy Report, which claimed the government has the right to build settlements and outposts in the West Bank. On paper this claim may have been harmless, had its implementation not directly threatened the property of private persons . . . Another case that represents the erasure of Palestinian property rights is that of Amona. Amona is the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank – a significant part of the land on which it stands belong to Palestinian residents, whose theft was followed by violence against the Palestinians. In court, the state opposed the evacuation of Amona time after time. At the end of 2014, the High Court of Justice ruled that Amona was to be evacuated by the end of this 2016. So what did the government do? Did it accept the ruling and follow the instructions of the court? Of course not. It tried to bypass the court through a new bill titled the “re-ordering bill.” This law follows one of the comments made in the Levy Report, according to which compensation for Palestinians whose land has been taken from them is preferable to evacuating the invaders. Once it can be proven that an outpost was illegally built on Palestinian land, the Palestinian owners would be forced to accept compensation and give up their rights to their own property. According to the Levy Report, therefore, all people are equal before the law, but some are more equal. You own land? Jewish invaders took it with government aid? We won’t evacuate them, we simply legalize the invasion. (Continued)
http://972mag.com/the-right-to-own-property-for-jews-alone/117591/

Israel’s silent war on Palestinian children
[with photos] HEBRON, Occupied Palestine (ISM, al-Khalil Team) 29 Feb — Fortunately much of the world is now fully aware of Israel’s apartheid wall and the zionist state’s grotesque, illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories that it represents. But few are aware of the endless number of other apartheid structures scattered throughout Palestine with the direct purpose of further demoralizing and dehumanizing its proud people. At just four and five years old some might wonder if the Sasrriya kindergarten kids in Al-Khalil (Hebron) are aware of the apartheid fence they encounter every morning walking to and from kindy. On Sunday February the 29^th, whilst under the protection of international volunteers, these Palestinian kindergarten kids set off from home for a short yet challenging journey to school. The kindergarten sits atop a hill. At it’s base is an apartheid fence. This symbol of persecution and maltreatment splits the path below in two. On the left is a well paved and regularly maintained strip. On the right is an old, eroding stretch of rubble littered with waste. The fence and its paths are located in the H2 area of Hebron, home to both Palestinians and illegal Israeli settlers, yet only one is accessible for these young Palestinian kids. With the well preserved strip specifically constructed for exclusive use by zionist settlers and the Israeli forces based in the area to serve them, the young children are forced to trudge up and down the dangerous, uneven path to get to and from kindy. Slipping and sliding on the loose ground below, the internationals always do their best to guide the kids through the uneven rubbish filled terrain and safely to their destination . . . With Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers regularly abusing and harassing the innocent young children, the presence of these international activists is essential to ensure the safety of the kids. But even with the efforts of these human rights defenders Israeli forces and zionist settlers still attempt to dehumanize the kids, often hurling rubbish at them, making animal noises, learning their names to confuse and scare them and even attempting to take their hand and lead them astray. The harassment is so great that even the kindergarten teachers fear for their safety when leaving for the day and seek out the protection of the volunteers through multiple checkpoints. (Continued)
http://palsolidarity.org/2016/02/israels-silent-war-on-the-children-of-palestine/

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

UNICEF’s Jordan branch dumps Israeli occupation profiteer G4S
EI 4 Mar by Ali Abunimah — Palestinians and Jordanians are welcoming the decision by the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF to end its contract with G4S in Jordan. The decision comes after a year-long campaign by activists in Jordan urging UNICEF and other UN bodies to end their contracts with the international security and incarceration firm over its role in Israel’s imprisonment and torture of Palestinian political prisoners and other Israeli human rights abuses.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/unicefs-jordan-branch-dumps-israeli-occupation-profiteer-g4s

Ireland: Gino Kenny raises Palestinian flag upon election victory
IMEMC/Agencies 4 Mar — New Irish Parliament Member Gino Kenny, from the Anti-Austerity Alliance, celebrated his election victory, this past Saturday, by waving a Palestinian flag . . . Another candidate who also won, Independent John Halligan, launched his candidacy in January in the presence of Palestinian Authority Ambassador Ahmad Abdelrazek. “Delighted that Palestinian Ambassador Ahmad Abdelrazek will be attending my #GE16 launch on Friday in the Granville at 7:30pm,” he proudly placed on his Facebook page in January. Both Kenny and Halligan supported position statements circulated by two Irish-Palestinian solidarity groups. Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, circulated a “pledge” among all 551 candidates, asking them to sign off on the following position points: Ireland should formally recognize a Palestinian state; Vigorously work to end the blockade of Gaza; Seek a EU ban on trade and investment with Israeli colonies/settlements; Suspend military export licenses to Israel and public procurements from Israeli arms companies; Another organization, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, asked the Irish candidates to commit themselves to working to end bilateral Israel-Irish arms trade, and to suspend the EU-Israel; Association Agreement. See IMEMC documentary: “Ireland & Palestine”
http://www.imemc.org/article/75157

New Birthright trip for Jewish law enforcement seeks to counter BDS movement
Mondoweiss 3 Mar by Anna Simonton — Every year, thousands of Jewish youth flock to Israel for ten days of sightseeing and Zionist indoctrination through Birthright Israel, an organization that offers the trips free of charge to young adults with Jewish heritage. Beginning in May, Birthright and its partner organizations will pilot a new trip specially tailored to a specific demographic: [American] Jewish law enforcement officers. In February, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) announced the first ever “Law Enforcement Israel Adventure,” designed to “connect law enforcement officials to their Jewish roots and Israeli counterparts.” Asked why Jewish police need their own Birthright trip, JNF spokesperson Adam Brill, himself a former Detective with the New York City Police Department, said it’s important for cops to have a connection to “their homeland.” . . . But later in conversation, he acknowledged that the trip was conceived, in part, as a reaction to the growing influence of the Boycott Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement. “They hear only bad things about Israel…from this BDS community that’s out there today, which is borderline anti-Semitic in its tone and is there to malign Israel all the time,” Brill said . . . Participating officers will also be matched with Israeli cops who will travel with them in the hope of forming friendships. It’s a heightened level of personal connection that Brill says doesn’t necessarily happen in the numerous programs that already send American law enforcement officers of any background, Jewish or otherwise, to Israel — like the Georgia-based GILEE program, which doles out counter-terrorism training and Islamophobia in equal measures.
https://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/new-birthright-trip-for-jewish-law-enforcement-seeks-to-counter-bds-movement/

Other news, opinion

The month in pictures: February 2016
Electronic Intifada 4 March
https://electronicintifada.net/content/month-pictures-february-2016/15866

Palestinian teachers’ strike grinds on
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 4 Mar — Palestinian teachers confirmed Friday that their strike would carry on until the Palestinian Authority recognized their demands and guaranteed their rights. The teachers said they had formed a legal follow-up committee — to coordinate with lawyers and rights groups — which would represent the teachers’ cause without charge. They also announced a sit-in demonstration in front of the PA cabinet headquarters in Ramallah on Monday next week at 11 a.m. Palestinian teachers, who have been on strike since mid-February, are seeking higher salaries as pledged to them by the PA in a 2013 agreement that was never fulfilled. The PA has threatened to take legal action against the teachers if they do not return to work immediately, with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah saying last week that they have a “responsibility” to their students. A number of teachers have now been detained by PA security forces, who have also sought to prevent the teachers from convening at demonstrations. The strike marks one of the largest demonstrations against the PA in recent years, with 20,000 teachers marching in Ramallah last month, and it has exposed a divide in Palestinian society, with several small attacks taking place in recent days.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770554

Gunshots fired at homes of two Palestinian teachers in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 3 Mar — Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the homes of two Palestinian teachers in Hebron overnight Wednesday in separate attacks believed to have been linked to their stances on a national teachers’ strike. Palestinian security sources said gunmen fired shots at the house and vehicle of Amin al-Sous, a teacher in the Hebron-district town of Dura who has taken up the role of coordinating local teachers’ protest activity. Meanwhile, shots were also fired at the house of Jihad al-Shamsti, a teacher in Hebron city, who is calling on teachers to end their strike and return to schools. There were no injuries reported, and Palestinian security sources said they had opened an investigation into the incidents. Hebron Governor Kamel Hmeid condemned the attacks, and called on teachers to quickly elect a new leadership to the teachers’ union.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770546

Lawmaker continues sit-in, says rights are ‘restricted’ by PA
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 5 Mar — Palestinian lawmaker Najat Abu Bakir on Saturday continued a sit-in strike at the headquarters of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the tenth day in a row, saying that human rights in Palestine were “severely bleeding due to restrictions on freedoms.” The Fatah-affiliated lawmaker in a statement Saturday said she refused to leave the Palestinian parliamentary building until her case was “solved under Palestinian law which protects her and grants her immunity.” Political controversy initially erupted last week when Palestinian Authority security forces reportedly attempted to detain Abu Bakir for casting corruption charges against a Palestinian minister. Abu Bakir began her sit-in after the PA attorney-general summoned her for interrogation on the matter on Feb. 25. She called again on Saturday for the attorney-general to annul the summons, adding that she planned to proceed with legal procedures. Abu Bakir has maintained that the official’s decision to bring her for interrogation was “illegal” due to her status as a lawmaker. The lawmaker also slammed PA leadership for putting the security of Palestinian civil society “in danger.” “Most trade unions have been dissolved and others have been crippled, resulting in instability and fear amongst civil servants,” Abu Bakir said.  “The current situation in Palestine is a result of the domination of the executive branch over other authorities. This should ring a bell as it puts social security in danger,” Abu Bakir said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770566

Palestinian leader says Shin Bet murdered Arafat
IMEMC/Agencies 2 Mar — The leader of Israel’s Joint Arab List party has accused the Israeli government of murdering Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004, Haaretz reports. Ayman Odeh, in a recent interview, accused the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service (the Israeli equivalent of the FBI) of being behind the death of the Palestine Liberation Organization founder’s death at age 75. According to World Bulletin/Al Ray, Odeh made the allegation during an interview on Israel’s Channel 2, saying that, when Avi Dichter — now a Likud Knesset member — was head of the Shin Bet, he “sent the people” who murdered Arafat. A panel of French judges, in September, closed a case pressed by Arafat’s widow, Suha, which pointed to Israel for Arafat’s poisoning. The court ruled that there was “a lack of sufficient evidence to continue the investigation.” The autopsy report published after Arafat’s death listed the immediate cause as a massive brain hemorrhage resulting from an infection.
http://www.imemc.org/article/75141

Discriminatory, anti-democratic legislation
AIC 3 Mar — Adalah unpacks 10 Israeli laws and bills with provisions liable to harm Palestinians and those who defend Palestinian rights — Adalah: the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel released a summary of ten Israeli laws and bills that include “discriminatory and/or anti-democratic provisions that are liable to severely harm the human rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians living in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as those who defend their rights.” The ten laws fall into two categories: a) legislation developed in response to the Third Intifada, i.e. since September 2015 b) legislation that undermines or criminalizes human rights organizations and the BDS movement. The first category is by far the largest; Adalah identifies eight new Israeli laws or bills that have been developed since September 2015 and function or can be expected to function to criminalize Palestinians and/or strip them of essential legal protections. The first three laws Adalah analyzes reflect the Israeli government’s interest in severely punishing Palestinians convicted of a crime. (Continued)
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/1303-new-discriminatory-and-anti-democratic-legislation

Israeli Knesset passes stop and frisk law for ‘suspicious’ individuals
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 3 Mar — Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday passed a new law allowing Israeli forces to stop and frisk “individuals who appear suspicious” for unlicensed weapons. A statement released by the Knesset said the measure was passed 39 to 31 during its third and final reading. The new law will permit Israeli police officers to search “anyone in a place prone to violence if they have reason to believe he or she may use a weapon,” the statement said. “If someone is fighting or is engaged in ‘verbal violence’ — without a visual clue that the person may be carrying a weapon — that person could be searched and evidence found would be admissible in court,” according to the Knesset statement. The bill stipulates that an officer also now has the legal ability to search anyone, regardless of behavior, in a “location that is thought to be a target for hostile destructive actions,” referring to situations where there is a “suspicion of terrorism.” Such locations can be declared as such by a regional commander for a period of 21 days which may be extended for up to two months. Knesset member Ilan Gilon of the Meretz party criticized the new law, saying the measure ”perpetuates the viewpoint that every citizen is guilty until proven innocent — exactly the opposite of what criminal law should be.” MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List for his part said: ”This law sends a message to police officers: ‘do whatever you want. There is no need for any criteria, and everything can be approved retroactively.’”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770112

Words of Palestine’s national poet on San Francisco buses
EI 4 Mar by Ali Abunimah — If you ride on San Francisco’s Muni buses or light rail trains this month, you might pass the time contemplating the words of Mahmoud Darwish, often described as Palestine’s national poet. Throughout March, the nonprofit Palestine Advocacy Project is running ads on the public transportation system featuring selections of Darwish’s poetry, including excerpts from “Passport,” “Under Siege,” “Earth Poem” and “A Lover from Palestine.” The posters also feature images of everyday life in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/words-palestines-national-poet-san-francisco-buses

US VP Biden to visit Israel, West Bank next week
WASHINGTON (AFP) 2 Mar — US Vice President Joe Biden will visit Israel and the West Bank next week, the White House said Wednesday — a rare trip amid fears about escalating political violence. “The Vice President and (his wife) Dr. (Jill) Biden will travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah” on March 8, the White House said in a statement. Biden’s visit comes as the White House considers how it could help restart the moribund peace process before President Barack Obama leaves office early next year.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-vice-president-biden-visit-israel-march-8-151311673.html

Opinion: Israel’s new line of propaganda puts Orwell to shame / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 27 Feb — Israel is resorting to lies and deceit about the occupation and its treatment of the Palestinians to fill the void left by the death of the peace process. . . . it’s impossible to ignore the embarrassing change that has occurred in Israel’s propaganda. Nobody in the world speaks seriously about the peace process anymore. No one believes that the Israeli government is interested in peace, while the two-state solution is nothing but a monument. At a time like this, propaganda must reinvent itself. Israel can’t say “There’s no partner,” because it’s clear it doesn’t want to talk to the Palestinians. Israel can’t say “two states,” because it’s clear it doesn’t mean it. But Israel must say something, so it is now resorting to the Orwellian propaganda of lies and deceit, the likes of which even George Orwell himself couldn’t have imagined; he didn’t even go so far in “1984.” The new Israeli “public diplomacy” (hasbara) consists of three principles, at least two of which are outright lies: there is no occupation; the Palestinians are living contented lives; God giveth . . . And the best news is that official Israel is pulling its rusty day-of-judgment weapon of yore out of the attic: there’s a God, so there’s no occupation. In the early days of the occupation, a few wackos used to wander around trying to sell us this merchandise. Not many were convinced. Dredging up this weapon again confirms that Israel has run out of arguments. We’re left only with the delusion and lies.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.705799

Opinion: Getting ready to occupy the West Bank all over again / Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz 2 Mar — If Immigrant Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin’s prophesy is accurate and the Palestinian Authority implodes within a year or two, and if his warning that Israel isn’t ready for this eventuality is solid, he’s right that Israel will have to administer the entire West Bank. Not only will it have to worry about security aspects, which it does almost in full now, it will have to run education, health, welfare, municipal services and all the other foundations of everyday life. In other words, Israel will have to reoccupy the territories, appoint military governors and establish a tax collection system, because no Arab or Western state will fund Israel’s direct occupation. Israel will have to censor the schoolbooks and newspapers, erase anti-Israel slogans and maybe even revive the disbanded Village Leagues. Worse than that, this direct occupation would probably impel Western countries to send an intervention or defense force to the territories and bring Israel into direct confrontation with people who still define themselves as its friends. There’s no other scenario because Elkin has determined that no elected Palestinian leaders could replace the current leaders, and the only possible leader, Marwan Barghouti, is in prison. A bitter end is expected – bitter not only for the PA and the Palestinian people, but mainly for Israel. Indeed, the Palestinians, if Elkin hasn’t noticed, are already under occupation, and the PA, despite President Mahmoud Abbas’ calling it a Palestinian national achievement, is nothing more than an administrative arm of the occupation. But this is a strange albeit fashionable working assumption. It rests on the perception that the PA is really just an administrative body, that when it disappears a bloody war of succession will begin in the territories and spill into Israel. It assumes there are no ambitious leaders who can wave the Palestinian flag after Abbas leaves. (Continued)
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.706397

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