Israeli government to celebrate 50 years of occupation on Sept. 27. “To the different forces in the world and in Israel trying to undermine the Jewish people’s connection to its country, we say — you won’t succeed,” Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev said, per Ynet. “We returned home to our ancestral lands, and we are here to stay for all of eternity. Our belonging to these lands should be above political or diplomatic dispute.”
A group of Israeli settlers from the infamously extremist Yitzhar settlement in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus uprooted 27 olive trees near the village of Burin on Wednesday. Last week settlers from Rechelim destroyed 43 olive trees in occupied al-Sawiya.
Amira Hass reports that Israel has quietly ended one-year visas to foreign spouses married to Palestinians, “In recent months, Eva and other citizens of foreign countries who are married to Palestinian residents of the West Bank have noticed that Israel has been putting more limits on their ability to stay put. Another woman, Dora, says that after years of being issued visas (officially called “visitor permits”) that were valid for a year, suddenly, with no explanation, she received a visa that was only good for a few weeks. Other women, who not long ago received visas valid for six or seven months, have recently been given visas valid for just over two weeks and which must be renewed over and over.”
Palestinian lawyer Fadwa Barghouthi, the wife of prominent imprisoned Palestinian leader and Fateh central committee member Marwan Barghouthi, said on Monday, 4 September that she had been banned from visiting her husband until 2019 in retaliation for her involvement in supporting the prisoners’ hunger strike in April-May 2017, per Samidoun, the Palestinian prisoners’ solidarity network.
Israeli forces raided the occupied village of Beit Rima overnight and detained popular wedding singer Muhammad Barghouthi for song glorifying Omar al-Abed, who allegedly killed three settlers. Two members of Barghouthi’s band were also detained.
Eight-year-old Palestinian girl Aseel Abu ‘Oun was killed Saturday by an Israeli settler who drove his car near where she lived in the Foroush Beit Dajan village, in the Nablus district. She was buried Sunday, and her family said the announcement of an investigation by Israel of the killing is likely meaningless, meant to quell public anger.
Israeli forces injured 11 Palestinians, including 8-year-old Khalifeh Riyad Shteiwi, with rubber-coated steel bullets on Friday, while suppressing Kafr Qaddum village’s weekly march in the occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya.
“My brothers and some relatives joined us on the beach on Wednesday, 19 July 2017. Our children swam in the sea and played on the beach,” said Salim Al-Sayis, “After we returned home, some of my family members started feeling very sick—at around 2:00 am. Mohammed spent the night either vomiting or sleeping. When I tried to wake him up at 8 am on Friday, 21 July 2017, he did not respond. I immediately took him to Al Dorra Pediatrics Hospital in eastern Gaza City, and siblings and relatives who felt unusual fatigue came along with us. When we arrived at the hospital, Mohammed fell into a coma, while the doctors were taking a CT scan. Then, his health deteriorated drastically and he was placed in the intensive care unit. On Sunday, 23 July 2017, he was transferred to Al Rantisi Pediatrics Hospital in Gaza City, where he received another CT scan. Doctors confirmed that he was suffering from Ekiri syndrome, which results in brain edema.”
Police on Wednesday arrested a pair of teens from a settlement south of Jerusalem who are suspected of assaulting Israeli-Arab bus drivers over the past several months, Times of Israel reports. Boys are from Bat Ayin, “a staunchly nationalistic community that, as a policy, does not allow Arabs through its gates.”
Haaretz reports for a first time, Israel could charge an entire family for murder after a Palestinian who killed three Israelis posted his intent on Facebook. Reportedly, the family saw the post and were debating how to intervene when the slaining happened: “The military prosecution is expected to indict five relatives of Omar al-Abed, who stabbed to death three Israeli civilians in the settlement of Halamish last month. The five would be charged with failing to prevent a crime. According to sources in the prosecution, the family members were aware of Abed’s plans to carry out an attack but did not try to stop him. Expected to be charged are Abed’s father, Abed al-Jalil, his mother, Ibtisam al-Jalil, two of his brothers and another relative. As far as is known, the main piece of evidence against the family is a Facebook post Abed wrote a few hours before the attack. ‘I am writing my will and these are my last words. I am young, I have not yet reached the age of 20, I have many dreams and aspirations,’ he wrote.”