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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Gaza
VIDEO: Israel launches fresh attacks on Gaza
Ashraf
Shannon, Press TV, Gaza 16 Aug -- Medical sources in Gaza said one man
was killed and at least seven others including a woman and a five-year
boy were wounded.
Two more air strikes targeted east of Khan Yunis and a tunnel beneath Gaza's border with Egypt near Rafah.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194257.html
Medics: 1 killed, 7 injured as Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza
GAZA
CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug – One man was killed and seven others injured as
Israeli warplanes struck targets in the central and southern Gaza Strip
early Tuesday, Palestinian medical sources and the Israeli army said ...
Several people were injured as Israeli forces fired at a group of people
in the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources
said. All of the victims were evacuated to Ash-Shifa Hospital in
Gaza City. Mousa Shteiwi, 29, later died from his injuries. Three
other Palestinians, including a 6-year-old child, also sustained
injuries as an Israeli airstrike hit the border area near Rafah,
southern Gaza, medics said ... Israeli forces launched air raids in
several areas of the coastal enclave after midnight with operations
continuing until the early morning Ramadan meal, just before daybreak.
Palestinian sources said they counted five air strikes across Gaza. The
Israeli army confirmed that airstrikes had hit the coastal enclave.
"Overnight, IAF aircraft targeted four targets in the Gaza Strip. Direct
hits were confirmed," a statement said. "These sites were targeted in
response to the firing of a
rocket from the Gaza Strip at the city of Be'er Sheva." The
projectile that hit near Beersheba did not cause any damage or injuries,
the military said. Israeli public radio said a second projectile had
been fired at Beersheba, but it was not immediately clear
where it landed. Israeli warplanes also targeted a Hamas military base
in the Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City, with no reported injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413468
Medics: Gaza teenager shot dead
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug -- Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian
teenager near the central Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah late Tuesday,
medical officials reported. Medics said the Palestinian, who was not
identified, suffered "more than 10" gunshots to the head and upper body
after soldiers east of the Al-Masdar area opened fire. Gaza health
ministry official Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma’an that an ambulance crew
transferred the teenager's body to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in
central Gaza. An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma‘an that "IDF
forces opened fire at a suspect approaching the security fence. The
forces identified a hit," the official said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413703
Medics: Israeli forces shot Gaza man in leg
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug -- Israeli forces shot and injured a
20-year-old Palestinian man on Monday evening in the southern Gaza
Strip, medics said. Medical officials said Hamouda Sami Al-Najjar was
shot in his leg after Israeli troops opened fire from a military tower
east of Khan Younis.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413397
Israeli siege puts pressure on rehabilitation centers
Yousef al-Helou, Press TV, Gaza 15 Aug -- Gaza's only rehabilitation society which deals with individuals with Down's Syndrome
is grappling with a lot of problems because of Israeli siege.
The Right to Live society which was established in 1992 offer services to about 1000 individuals from both genders.
Officials say that the ongoing Israeli ban on construction materials
has hampered the building of another branch in the southern Gaza strip. The
beneficiaries receive academic as well as vocational programs that help
them integrate in the community. Embroidery, Bamboo and carpets making
are some of the programs, which can be a source of income for these
people with special needs.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194114.html
Hamas releases detained Gaza activist
JERUSALEM
(AP) 16 Aug -- Hamas security officials released a prominent Gaza rights
activist Tuesday, several days after he was repeatedly interrogated and
detained over his participation in a French conference about
Palestinian activism, his brother said. Mohammed Matar, 25, was released
hours after international media reported his arrest, according to his
brother, Salem Matar. His colleagues had also urged supporters on
Facebook
to pressure the Hamas government to release him. Mohammed Matar belongs
to a
group of activists who held small rallies in March urging Gaza's Hamas
rulers to unite with their rivals, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority
that rules the West Bank.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110816/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_hamas_arrests
Tarzan and Arab: the Gaza artists determined to make it at all costs / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian
15 Aug -- They are determined to succeed as film directors, yet they
have never been to a cinema. They studied fine art at university but
have never been to a gallery. They would have much in common with young
conceptual artists in London, New York or Paris, but they have never
left the tiny Gaza Strip. Tarzan and Arab, identical twin artists who
have made an award-winning short movie and a remarkable set of cinema
poster pastiches, are undeterred by the lack of training, equipment,
funding, a place to show their work or a receptive audience ...
Tarzan and Arab -- real names Ahmed and Mohamed Abu Nasser -- cut
unusual figures in Gaza. Their hair is long, they wear Converse All
Stars smuggled from Egypt through the tunnels, and tangles of beads and
chains
hang around their necks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/15/tarzan-arab-gaza-artists
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Israeli security detains five Jerusalemites over the past 24 hours
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 16 Aug -- Israeli security arrested two
Jerusalemite
youths at dawn Tuesday as they were leaving the dawn prayers at the Aqsa
Mosque, eyewitnesses reported. They recalled that Jewish settlers
engaged in a limited clash with a number of youths in the Old City of
Jerusalem before dawn.They said that the young men were heading to the
dawn prayers when the Jews assaulted them prompting the youths to defend
themselves. The settlers called the Israeli police who arrived at the
scene and detained
the two young men after the prayers.
Meanwhile, local sources in Silwan suburb, south of the Aqsa Mosque,
said that Israeli occupation forces stormed the town on Monday and burst
into a number of homes.They said that the forces arrested three citizens
including two minors 15 and 16 years old respectively.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/
israeli-security-detains-five-jerusalemites-over-the-past-24-hours/
Syria calls on UN to thwart Israel's separation fence on Golan Heights
Haaretz 15 Aug -- Fence is part of IDF attempt to prevent border
infiltration following September vote at UN; Syria's ambassador to
United Nations says Israel trying to separate Syrian-Druze population of
Golan Heights from their Syrian motherland ... The
Syrians are claiming that Israel is trying to create new political and
security facts on the ground in order to affect future negotiations.
"This fence is creating negative implications on the lives of the
citizens on the occupied Golan. This is the continuation of an
aggressive Israeli policy against the citizens of the Golan, which
includes expulsions, arrests and heavy fines," the letter states.
.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
syria-calls-on-un-to-thwart-israel-s-separation-fence-on-golan-heights-1.378642
Working side by side with the community in Fasayal
[photos] JVS 8 Aug -- ...In June this year the Israeli administration
demolished 18 homes and 6 other structures leaving 103 people homeless
including 65 children. Israels deliberate policy to ethnically cleanse
the Valley by taking away the basic human rights of the Palestinian
indigenous population means that these demolitions are commonplace
across the valley. Two days
ago Jordan Valley Solidarity volunteers and locals from the village of
Fasayal launched new initiatives to support the community living in
Fasayal ... With a group of 12 JVS volunteers from the 'PEDAL:
100 days to Palestine' group and around 20 volunteers from the village,
around 300 mud bricks have already been made for use in the Jordan
Valley Solidarity house. This new campaign is aimed at supporting the
villages in Fasayal to remain on their land despite the illegal Israeli
campaign to force them to leave.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=320
Settlers
Israeli settlers demonstrate to expand settlements
HEBRON
(WAFA)
16 Aug -- Hundreds of Israeli settlers Tuesday participated in a
demonstration in Hebron, demanding to confiscate more Palestinian land
in order to expand settlements in the West Bank, said a
Palestinian activist. Issa Amro, member of the Youth Against Settlements
organization, said that the Council of Settlement in Hebron organized
the protest, in which hundreds of settlers from various settlements
called on the Israeli government to confiscate land and expand
settlements to encourage Israelis to live in the West Bank. The
protesters particularly called to
expand Beit Romano, a settlement located in the old city in Hebron,
added Amro.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17013
PA: Settlers torch farmland near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 16 Aug -- Israeli settlers on Tuesday set fire to farm
land in an evacuated settlement near Nablus, a Palestinian Authority
official said. Settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said
settlers torched hundreds of trees around Homesh settlement shortly
before Iftar,
the traditional meal to break the daily fast in the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413691
Israeli forces
Israeli army bulldozes farmlands in Hebron area
West
Bank
(Pal. Telegraph) 16 Aug -- Israeli occupation forces closed Tuesday the
northern entrance of Yatta, a town in the south of Hebron, razing
farmlands belonging to Palestinian citizens. Security sources told that
Israeli bulldozers closed the northern entrance of the town and started
razing operations to agricultural lands
that supported several Palestinian families. Fathi Shatat, a Palestinian
farmer, said that Israeli bulldozers uprooted dozens of fruit trees
from his land.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/9868
Israeli forces intensify military checkpoints in Hebron
West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)- Israeli occupation forces set up a
number of military checkpoints at the main entrances of Hebron, south of
the West Bank. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces erected a
military checkpoint
at al-Fawar refugee camp, whereas they stopped citizens and verified
their identity cards. At the entrance of al-Nabi Younis, Israeli forces
attacked citizens after stopping their cars and blocked their access to
different destinations. Another military checkpoint was erected at the
western entrance of Hebron under the pretext of searching for wanted
people .
Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided Tarqomia and Yatta towns, western and
eastern Hebron without arrests reported
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/9869
US senator seeks to cut aid to elite IDF units operating in West Bank and Gaza
Haaretz 16 Aug -- U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to
suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units,
alleging they are
involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Leahy, a Democrat and senior member of the U.S. Senate, wants assistance
withheld from the Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover
Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag
unit.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-
senator-seeks-to-cut-aid-to-elite-idf-units-operating-in-west-bank-and-gaza-1.378800
Detention
Israel detains Al Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief in West Bank
Haaretz 16 Aug -- A senior Palestinian journalist with the Arabic
language Al Jazeera satellite network was brought before an Israeli
military court Tuesday, nearly a week after soldiers arrested him at a
border crossing in the West Bank. Video footage filmed by Al Jazeera at
the military court showed Samer Allawi, the station's bureau chief in
Afghanistan, wearing an olive green prison uniform and speaking to his
lawyer. Under Israeli procedures, Palestinian nationals in the West Bank
are tried in military
courts. According to Al Jazeera, Israel is charging Allawi with
belonging to Hamas. A spokeswoman for the Shin Bet internal security
service refused to release any details about why Allawi was detained,
saying nothing would be made public until the investigation was
complete. Al Jazeera said Allawi was detained Aug. 10 along the West
Bank border with Jordan as he tried to leave to return to
Afghanistan. The broadcaster said Allawi was in the West Bank spending
his annual vacation with his family in his native village of Sebastia,
near Nablus. Speaking briefly to Al Jazeera, Allawi said his arrest was
baseless.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
israel-detains-al-jazeera-s-kabul-bureau-chief-in-west-bank-1.378942
Israel extends arrest of Al Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief
RAMALLAH
(WAFA)
16 Aug -- An Israeli military court Tuesday ordered Al-Jazeera’s Kabul
bureau chief Samer Allawi to remain in custody for 10 more days,
according to an Al-Jazeera report. It said Allawi was being investigated
for allegations he made contacts with Hamas activists in the West Bank,
which his lawyer has denied and the report said was part of his work as
a journalist. The hearing at the court went only for 25 minutes, said
Allawi’s family members, who were not allowed into the courtroom. The
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Monday called on
Israel to clarify the legal basis for holding Allawi.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17012
Gaza detainee released after 20 years in prison
GAZA
CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug -- The Ministry for Detainees in the Gaza Strip
reported Monday that the Israeli prison administration had released Abu
Sahib, 47. Abu Sahib, also known as Ahmad Ismael, had spent 20 years in
Israeli prison. Ministry
spokesman Riyad Al-Ashkar told Ma‘an that Ismael was detained in 1992,
having been accused of participating in operations against Israel with
the Al Qassam Brigades during the first intifada ... Ismael's sister
died three months before his release, Al-Askar added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413494
Report reveals harsh conditions in Israeli jails
Haaretz
16
Aug -- The report, issued by the Justice Ministry's Public Defender's
Office, reveals widespread overcrowding, inadequate access to
medical care, poor hygienic conditions, and excessive punitive measures
in most facilities ... PDO officials observed an inmate at Hadarim
Detention Center who had been cuffed to his bed 24 hours a day for five
and a half months, and afterward remained in restraints at night, for 13
hours a day, for an additional period of about six months.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/report-reveals-harsh-condition-in-israeli-jails-1.378807
Hamas: Israel retreated from its extreme position on Shalit deal
Senior
Hamas official says Israel has been showing much more flexibility
regarding its demands in a prisoner exchange deal to secure the release
of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit ... Earlier on Tuesday, the
London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported that Hamas leader Khaled
Meshal was in Cairo for a third round of indirect talks with Israel over
a prisoner swap deal. Meanwhile, Defense
Minister Ehud Barak confirmed Tuesday that there was "a grain of truth"
to reports of renewed negotiations taking place in Cairo for a prisoner
swap deal to secure the release of Shalit. Barak told Israel's 103 FM,
however, that despite the validity of the rumors he "preferred not to
say anything [about the negotiations], because it doesn't help."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
hamas-israel-retreated-from-its-extreme-position-on-shalit-deal-1.378952
Activism
VIDEO: As protesters hold Iftar in the 'buffer zone'. Israeli bulldozers sever Gaza's links with the world
ISM 16 Aug -- On Tuesday, August 9, members of the International
Solidarity Movement –
Gaza Strip joined the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative for its weekly
protest by the Erez Crossing against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone.”
During Ramadan, these protests take the form of Iftars with local
farmers threatened by Israeli incursions. Protesters observed Israeli
military bulldozers operating by the crossing, and later learned that
they had severed electronic cables running under it, shutting down the
Gaza Strip’s telecommunications and Internet networks for between 12 and
18 hours.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/19811/
Refugees
VIDEO: Palestinian refugees flee Syria camp, UN says
BBC
16 Aug -- Thousands of Palestinian refugees have been forced to escape a
camp in the Syrian port of Latakia amid shelling by government troops,
the UN has said. A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works
agency told the BBC that more than 5,000 of the 10,000 people have had
to flee. The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley reports. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14538968
Abbas, Suleiman reject resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
BEIRUT (WAFA) 16 Aug -- President Mahmoud Abbas and his Lebanese
counterpart Michel Suleiman Tuesday asserted their total rejection of
permanent resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. In a meeting
in the Lebanese Presidential Palace, Abbas said, "The Palestinian
refugees’ existence in Lebanon is temporary, which is under the Lebanese
law." ... On his part, Suleiman stressed that the Palestinian refugees'
situation in Lebanon must be given more attention, considering that
refugee camps’
security is part of Lebanon’s national security."
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17018
Medical company donates aid to refugees in Lebanon
RAMALLAH
(Ma‘an)
16 Aug -- The Jerusalem Pharmaceutical Company sent 35 doctors from
different specializations to Lebanon on Sunday, the executive manager
Iyad Masroujy said. The move comes as part of a campaign by President
Mahmoud Abbas to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The
Jerusalem based private company has also donated more than 10,000
different medicines to treat a range of diseases, Masroujy said. The
donation only goes a small way to meeting the diverse needs of
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, he added. There are currently over
400,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Lebanon
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413486
Racism / Discrimination
Racism in the Galilee Part 2: Underrepresentation in Upper Nazareth
Pal. Monitor 16 Aug -- On 22 June, Adalah, a Palestinian rights NGO in
Israel, sent a letter
to the mayor of Upper Nazareth, Shimon Gapso, insisting he address the
under-representation of Palestinians in his municipality. Palestinians
are a significant minority in Upper Nazareth -- up to 17% according to
official statistics -- which is not mirrored in the municipal system,
of
which only 5% are Palestinian. Dr. Raed Ghattas is one of the two
Palestinian municipal members in Upper Nazareth, out of a total of 17.
"We face a policy of discrimination like Palestinians in the rest of the
country," he observes. "There are barely any Palestinians in government
companies or the municipalities."
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1408
For first time, foreign worker's child born and educated in Israel to be deported
Haaretz 16 Aug -- Arrest of four-year-old girl whose mother is from the
Philippines points to further implementation of new Israeli new policy
-- In an unprecedented move, the Interior Ministry announced Tuesday
that it intends on deporting a four-year-old girl, the daughter of a
foreign worker, who was born and educated in Israel. Israel's Population
and Immigration Authority on Tuesday arrested the
girl and her mother, originally from the Philippines, who are currently
in a holding facility in Ben-Gurion International Airport, ahead of
their deportation from the country. The four-year-old was born in Israel
and since then has been attending kindergartens in the Tel Aviv
Municipality.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/for-
first-time-foreign-worker-s-child-born-and-educated-in-israel-to-be-deported-1.378929
Gay and lesbian IDF soldiers complain of widespread sexual harassment
Haaretz
16 Aug -- More than 40 percent of gay and lesbian soldiers in the Israel
Defense Forces were sexually harassed during their time in the
military, according to a recent study by the Israel Gay Youth
organization. The report is based on a sampling of 364 gay and lesbian
soldiers currently serving in the IDF or who were discharged over the
past year. Of the sample, 40 percent reported verbal abuse and 4 percent
reported physical abuse as well.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
gay-and-lesbian-idf-soldiers-complain-of-widespread-sexual-harassment-1.378810
Soldiers say humiliated in Bnei Brak
Ynet
16 Aug -- An IDF officer who boarded a bus in Bnei Brak
on Monday claims he and two other soldiers were humiliated by
ultra-Orthodox passengers and an Egged bus company employee, who ordered
them to give up their seats for "real Jews," Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The reserve officer, 26, boarded bus number 981 to Safed on his way to his military base.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109418,00.html
UN statehood bid
IDF: Allow arms into the West Bank
Ynet
16
Aug -- Military's operational recommendations ahead of nearing
Palestinian bid in UN include series of 'confidence-building measures'
-- Will the Palestinian Authority's UN bid
for statehood in September necessarily mean violent riots? The IDF is not so sure. Ynet
learned Tuesday that the defense establishment has put together a
series of operational recommendations, which aim to prevent the security situation
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from escalating. The
IDF's
recommendations include allowing several mitigations vis-à-vis the
Palestinian Authority and its security
forces, mainly allowing more weapons into the West Bank from Jordan ...
The defense establishment also recommended increasing the water supply
to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, granting permits for the construction
of new desalination facilities, increasing the numbers of Palestinian
merchants who are allowed to enter Israel --
especially from Gaza, and allowing more Palestinians into the EU
agricultural training program.
The IDF also recommended other good-will gestures ahead of September,
such as returning the remains of 30 Palestinian prisoners and removing
various roadblocks.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109763,00.html
Israeli military recommends Fatah prisoners' release
Bethlehem
(PNN) 16 Aug -- The Israeli military has advised politicians to grant
several concessions to Palestinians ahead of their bid for statehood at
the UN in September, according to ynetnews.com.
The options under consideration include the removal of checkpoints,
increasing labour quotas for Palestinians in Israel's construction and
agriculture sectors, the change of address for Gazans currently living
in the West Bank, the repatriation of 'terrorist' remains and the
release of Fatah prisoners. The military has also recommended that
extremist settler groups be restrained from what it dubs 'price tag
activities' which could provoke violence. But according to the Israeli
news website, the military's plans stress that all moves should be
'reversible' and should
not 'minimize [sic] Israel's maneuvering space in negotiations'.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10603&Itemid=61
Mansour: Palestinian state a priority for Lebanon at UN
Daily
Star 16 Aug -- ..."When Lebanon heads the Security Council in
September, one of its first priorities will be to vote in favor of a
Palestinian state with Arab states and other countries in the world,"
Mansour told a local radio station Monday, adding that this would
commence after Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas proceeds to New York with his
proposal.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/2011/Aug-16/Mansour-Palestinian-state-a-priority-for-Lebanon-at-UN.ashx
Abbas seeks Lebanon support for Palestinian statehood bid at UN
dpa 16 Aug -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Beirut on
Tuesday in an effort to obtain Lebanon's support for its bid for
statehood at the United Nations. Lebanon is to assume the presidency of
the UN Security Council in September. Palestinian
sources accompanying Abbas said "the president is hoping that Lebanon
would play an important and effective role in his bid for UN membership
on September 20," despite Israeli rejection.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/
abbas-seeks-lebanon-support-for-palestinian-statehood-bid-at-un-1.378954
Egypt supports recognition of independent Palestinian state
MEMO 16 Aug -- Egypt's Foreign Minister has said that his country will
support the Palestinian move for UN recognition of an independent
Palestinian state in September. Mohamed Kamel Amr said that the decision
taken by the Palestinian Authority is supported by all Arab countries,
and that Egypt
has supported the plan from the beginning. Speaking to journalists, Amr
said that Egypt, as the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, has sent
messages to all countries around the world urging them to back the
request for a UN resolution recognising an independent State of
Palestine.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2726
Other news
Abbas names PNC speaker to form constitution
RAMALLAH
(Xinhua)
15 Aug -- Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on
Monday nominated Salim Za'noon, speaker of the Palestinian National
Council (PNC), as the chairman of a committee to form the Palestinian
constitution. Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee, was
nominated as Za'noon's deputy, the state-run Wafa News Agency reported.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/16/c_131050963.htm
Preserving Palestinian heritage one stitch at a time / Emily Lawrence
EI
15 Aug -- ...The military has become a formidable presence in Hebron.
The often violent settlers are protected by up to 2,000 soldiers and a
combination
of military checkpoints, watchtowers, roadblocks, iron gates and shop
closures have had a dire effect on Hebron’s economy ...Yet in these
deserted streets, there are flickers of enterprise and hope. A few
businesses still survive in the old marketplace, among them Women in
Hebron, a shop and cooperative in the heart of the city, selling
traditional Palestinian crafts such as
kuffiyehs (checkered scarves), embroidered dresses, cushions,
bags and wall hangings, along with slightly less traditional items,
including purses emblazoned with the slogan "Women Can Do Anything." All
of the products have been handmade by local women, many of whom rely
solely on the cooperative for their income.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/preserving-palestinian-heritage-one-stitch-time/10273
Israeli Knesset calls for Sharon's medical expenses to be shared by his family
MEMO 16 Aug -- The Finance Committee of the Israel's Parliament, the
Knesset, has approved a decision for the family of former Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon
to pay half of his medical care expenses. Sharon has been in a coma for
five years and the annual cost of looking after him is around NIS
1,500,000 (almost half-a-million US dollars). In January 2006, the
former premier, infamous for his massacres against Palestinians,
suffered a brain haemorrhage which left him in a coma.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2728
Texas man making dangerous voyage to site of 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty
Veterans Today 16 Aug -- Larry Toenjes, 74, from Clear Lake Shores,
Texas, is sailing his 39-foot sailboat, the s/v Liberty, to the
coordinates of the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that
killed 34 sailors and wounded another 173. 207 were killed or wounded
out of the 294 on board the USS Liberty in the 90 minute attack by
strafing attack planes and torpedoes. At the site, Toenjes will be
holding a memorial service honoring those killed on the USS Liberty by
the Israeli military ... Meadors said Toenjes told him he is considering
mooring at the coordinates of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty for a
few weeks. Toenjes will be staying well clear of the coordinates of the
Israeli blockade of Gaza as published in the Israeli Notices to
Mariners, but Meadors said contact with the Naval Attaché’s office in
the US Embassy, Tel Aviv had not produced written assurances from the
Israeli government
that Toenjes will not be harassed or attacked by the Israeli military,
even though Toenjes will be in Egyptian waters.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/08/16/
texas-man-making-dangerous-voyage-to-site-of-1967-israeli-attack-on-the-uss-liberty/
Analysis / Opinion
Donors help keep Palestinians in cages / Charlotte Silver
EI 16 Aug -- "Israel besieges us, puts us in cantons -- in
cages -- and the international community is feeding us in these cages.
It’s anything but developmental and it’s helping Israel’s colonization,
ethnic cleansing and dispossession," Dr. Samia Botmeh said, as she sat
in her office in the Center for Development Studies (CDS)
at Birzeit University near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank ... Botmeh
added that
the current international framework for assessing development aid in the
West Bank treats the Israeli-occupied region either as a conflict zone
or a post-colonial zone. "This is completely unrealistic because we are
not in a conflict, we are in a colonization process," she said.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/donors-help-keep-palestinians-cages/10283
Palestine needs a political solution, not aid / Ben White
Al
Jazeera
16 Aug -- The funds received by the Palestinian Authorities have cast a
shadow over the liberation that people are demanding ... Rather than go
into the specifics of Gaza's socio-economic plight - excellent
resources can be found at Gisha/Gaza Gateway, PCHR-Gaza, and OCHA -
it
is important to emphasise a point missing from Israel's propaganda and
also neglected by some rights activists: Palestinians are seeking
liberation, not aid. The conditions Palestinians are suffering from have
political origins and political solutions. This is not a natural
disaster; for more than 40 years, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank have been subject to a military regime shaped by the
priorities of colonial settlement and apartheid control.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201181484414862931.html
Apartheid on steroids / Stephen Robert
The
Nation
12 Aug -- ...I’ve been a contributor and fundraiser for the
UJA-Federation of New York, a governor of the American Jewish Committee,
which is dedicated to
fighting anti-Semitism, and a founding director of the Museum of Jewish
Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. I’ve made five additional
visits to Israel since 1962, the last this summer as part of a
humanitarian aid trip to East Jerusalem and the West Bank. As a Jew who
has been an ardent supporter of Israel since its independence, it pains
me to record what I saw there. But it is my love for Israel and for the
Jewish people that drives me to speak out at this treacherous time. What
I witnessed in the West Bank -- home to about 2.5 million Palestinians
and 400,000 Israeli settlers -- exceeded my worst expectations. While
the world’s statesmen have dithered, Israel has created a system of
apartheid on steroids, a horrifying prison with concrete walls as high
as twenty-six feet, topped with body-ravaging coils of razor wire.
Spaced along these walls are imposing guard towers that harbor bunkers
from which trespassers can be shot by Israeli soldiers. From this
physical segregation -- one land for Israelis; another, unequal land for
Palestinians -- flows a torrent of misery, violence and human rights
abuses.
http://www.thenation.com/article/162756/apartheid-steroids
AJ spells it out: Israel's housing shortage leads to internal tensions / Annie
Mondoweiss
16 Aug -- Two important videos from Al Jazeerah explain the J14 quandary
over settlements. "Cementing control of the West Bank...... is
increasingly seen as a burden ordinary Israelis are no longer willing to
take" -- Protests against high prices and social inequality in Israel
are entering their third week.
With Israel's social justice movement looking at ways to reduce
government spending and the cost of living, settlement spending in the
occupied West Bank is now coming under scrutiny.
In a tented city in Tel Aviv, the leaders of the social justice movement
have yet to issue specific demands from the government, but the expense
of maintaining the West Bank settlements is being discussed.
Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from Tel Aviv
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/08/aj-spells-it-out-israels-housing-shortage-leads-to-internal-tensions.html
UK bans settler rabbi who called for killing of non-Jews / Asa Winstanley
EI 15 Aug -- Is the UK government
equating a respected Palestinian community leader with an extremist
settler who advocates racism and mass killing of civilians? Palestinian
religious leader and rights activist Sheikh Raed Salah was arrested by the UK government in June, supposedly for "flouting" a ban on entering the country, as much of the UK
press put it. But it later emerged that Home Secretary Theresa May
issued the exclusion order only two days before Raed Salah entered the UK
for a speaking tour. Crucially, neither he nor his tour organizers had
any idea there was such a ban in place. A lawyer acting for the Home
Office admitted as much in the High Court on 15 July, saying Salah
"didn’t do anything wrong." ... While the UK Border Agency (UKBA)
gave no prior warning to Salah, it was revealed last Wednesday that the
same agency gave a written warning of a ban to an extremist Israeli
settler named Rabbi Yosef Elitzur, who has incited the murder of
non-Jews, including civilians and children.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/uk-bans-israeli-settler-rabbi-who-called-killing-non-jews/10280 |
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