Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Restriction of movement
Israel finds new "home" for Bedouins: a garbage dump
The Israeli government plans to forcibly displace 27,000 Bedouins in the occupied West Bank within three to six
link to Electronic Intifada
Parents: Remove mobile towers near Bethlehem school
BETHLEHEM
(Ma'an) -- Parents and students at a school in the town of Beit Jala,
near Bethlehem, plan to hold a sit-in strike Saturday against the
presence of cell phone towers near their classrooms. The close proximity
of a Wataniya and Jawwal mobile towers to the Talitha Kumi School "may
have in the short and long term negative effects on our children's
health," a committee of concerned parents said. "The World Health
Organization and the Ministry of Environment prevent the existence of
the towers near schools because the children are at the stage of
development and growth," a statement said. The sit-in strike, scheduled
for one hour on Saturday at 8 a.m., is the first step in a campaign to
remove the towers. There will be other activities in the days following
the sit-in, the statement said.
link to www.maannews.net
A
UK immigration court ruled yesterday that popular Palestinian leader
Sheikh Raed Salah could be deported from the country, after being banned
by Home Secretary Theresa May in June. The Electronic Intifada can now
also exclusively reveal new details of an Israeli government role in the
UK plot to exclude Salah.
Israeli Violence Against Gaza
Israeli airstrikes kill nine Palestinians
Deaths have prompted a massive barrage of retaliatory rocket fire, officials say.
link to english.aljazeera.net
2 Fighters Killed In Gaza; 9 in Less Than 24 hours, One Israeli Killed In Asqalan
The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, reported on
Sunday at dawn, that two of its fighters were killed in an Israeli Air
Strike targeting an area west of Gaza City. On Saturday afternoon, seven
fighters were killed in Tal Al Sultan, in southern Gaza. Several
Palestinians were injured. One Israeli was killed by a Palestinian shell
in Asqalan (Ashkelon)
GAZA
CITY (Ma’an) -- The Fatah movement in Gaza strongly condemned an
Israeli airstrike which killed five Islamic Jihad fighters in the
southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, a statement said. The movement
described the airstrike as an "assassination crime committed by Israeli
occupation forces." The Israeli government is attempting “to throw the
region into a cycle of violence and systematic state terrorism against
the Palestinian people," the statement added.
Despite Declared Ceasefire; Israel Bombards Several Areas In Gaza
Despite a mediated ceasefire mediated by Egypt between the resistance in
the Gaza Strip, and Israel, the Israeli army bombarded, on Sunday at
dawn, several areas in different parts of the Gaza Strip.
link to www.imemc.org
Egyptian efforts at Gaza cease-fire fail (AP)
AP - Egyptian officials say efforts to persuade Palestinian militants in
Gaza to hold their rocket fire on Israel have failed, after a day of
deadly, escalated violence.
GAZA
CITY (Ma’an) -- A medical official said a Palestinian man sustained
injuries Thursday east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, while
Israel's army denied involvement. Medical spokesman in Gaza Adham Abu
Salmiya said a 32-year-old identified only as MA suffered an injury to
his left hand after Israeli forces opened fire. He was taken to Abu
Yousef An-Najjar hospital and then to the European hospital.
link to www.maannews.net
The Israeli Army shot at me and 3 Palestinian kids in Gaza today
After a lovely day of drinking excessive amounts of tea with a few
families in South Gaza (Faraheen and Khuza’a, to be exact), an Italian
colleague, Silvia, who used to live in Khuza’a, suggested walking down
the road towards the local school. It was late afternoon, about 4:30
p.m. and dozens of children played in the area. We walked past slices
of a giant concrete wall placed in the middle of the road. The slivers
reminded me of Israel’s Apartheid Wall in the West Bank — 25 feet of
reinforced concrete. The local villagers had apparently retrieved
these sections from a former settlement and placed them there so that
children could play outside while being (somewhat) protected from
Israeli army gunfire
link to notesfrombehindtheblockade.wordpress.com
Israeli army shoots at children and two ISM activists
Witnesses in Gaza today reported an escalation of Israeli aggression in
the Khuza’a – Abasan, governate of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. The Israeli
army also shot at two ISM activists and local children. Israeli tanks
entered Gaza this morning, from approximately 7.30 to 8.30, moving from
the village of Faraheen to Khuza’a. Residents reported hearing numerous
gun shots. Suzanne, who lives in the north of Khuza’a, confirmed that
in recent days, Israeli tanks have entered Gaza on a daily basis.
Another women, Taragi, who lives in the south of Khuza, also confirmed
that Israeli gunfire has become more frequent.
Other Israeli / Settler Terrorism Against Palestinians
Soldiers Attack A Nonviolent Protest Near Hebron, Injuries Reported
Israeli soldiers attacked on Saturday a nonviolent protest against
Israeli settlements, in Beit Ummar town, near the central West Bank city
of Hebron, five reporters and one resident were injured.
The
Israeli military violently obstructed a peaceful demonstration against
the Israeli separation wall in Al-Ma’sara, near Bethlehem, today. Around
25 Palestinians and a similar number of international observers marched
from the village at 12:20 PM today and attempted to reach olive groves
on Palestinian land just outside of Al-Ma’asara in time for this year’s
olive harvest. A line of thirteen soldiers, backed by reinforcements in
three armoured vehicles, pushed and shoved protesters, including a
small Palestinian boy, in order to prevent them from leaving the
village.
The
Israeli military is continuing to harass and intimidate Palestinians
and international volunteers at checkpoints throughout Tel Rumeida,
Hebron. On 25 October 2011, around 7.15pm, a Palestinian woman was held
at checkpoint56 inTel Rumeida for around an hour after refusing to pass
through the metal detector. The woman claimed that she was unwell and
had been instructed by her doctor that it was not safe to pass through
metal detectors. Although she produced papers from the doctor showing
that she was ill, the soldiers refused to let her pass. She was
eventually allowed to continue her journey, without passing through the
metal detector, after the Israeli police were called and allowed her to
return home.
NABLUS
(Ma'an) -- A family in Nablus says Israeli settlers blew up a room in
their home and firebombed their jeep early Thursday. Shaheer Hanini, 40,
told Ma'an the family was woken by two blasts at their home in Beit
Furik at around 2 a.m. They found a room at the back of the house burnt
out and their jeep, parked in front of the home, on fire. Hanini says he
used a water tank to put out the blaze.
Injuries in IOF, settlers attack on peaceful march
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas and stun grenades at a
peaceful march in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, afternoon
Saturday, local sources said.
Jewish
settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in Azmut village to the east of
Nablus on Saturday morning and prevented from collecting their olive
crops.
On
Tuesday, illegal settlers from the Susiya settlement harvested the
olive trees belonging to the Abu Sabha family from Susiya and Yatta,
South Hebron Hills.
Refusing to die in silence: Palestinians resist settler violence during the olive harvest, BEN LORBER
As this year’s olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of
historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance
group called Refusing to Die In Silence is patrolling the West Bank,
protecting harvesters from increased settler violence.
link to mondoweiss.net
Palestinian Reprisal
Rockets pound south as barrages fired at Ashdod, Beersheba
Senior Egyptian official claims cease-fire agreed upon as of 6 am but at
least 11 rockets and mortar shells fired at South overnight and early
Sunday morning. Iron Dome intercepts two Grad rockets fired at Ashdod.
Ashkelon rocket victim dies
Man who sustained serious shrapnel wounds in rocket attack on Ashkelon
dies in hospital. At least 24 rockets, mortar shells fired at Israel
Saturday.
Eight arrested in Tsur Baher raid
Israeli police, border guards and intelligence agents raided a home in
Tsur Baher early Thursday morning, 27 October. Eight men were arrested
in the raid on the home of the Attoon and Bkeerat families in the
village just south of Jerusalem. They are currently being held at the
Russian Compound. Family head Abu Ahmad Attoon told Silwanic that a huge
number of Israeli forces stormed the house and arrested 7 members of
his family: Ahmad Attoon Eyad (38), Ra’ed (36), Wa’el Mousa Attoon (43),
Mousa Ahmad Attoon (21), his brother Luqman (19), Suhaib Ali Attoon
(38) and Ezz al-Dien Mahmoud Attoon (17). Essam Bkeerat was also
arrested. The 8 were taken to the Russian Compound in west Jerusalem.
Attoon commented that the raid had been conducted only a few short days
after celebrations had swept the village, in honour of those prisoners
returned home as part of the Israel-Hamas prisoner swap agreement. A
long shadow has been cast over such bonhomie, in light of this new sweep
of arrests. The Jerusalem Prisoners Committee and the families of the
returned prisoners have condemned the arrests as a disgraceful attempt
to sour a rare moment of celebration for the Palestinian people. The
Attoon family’s experience has been particularly bitter-sweet, as Ahmad
Attoon’s brother, Legislative Parliament member Mahmoud Ahmad Attoon,
was amongst those free as part of the swap deal. Mahmoud had served 19
years in jail under his life sentence.
The
proof is all there: photos, videos, witnesses. All of them showed that
Ashraf Abu Rahmah, one of the main activists of popular non violent
struggle in the village of Bil’in, Palestine, walked peacefully on the
road which goes from Bil’in’s recent liberated land to the center of the
village, when an Israeli jeep passed besides him. Then it stopped. The
soldiers stepped down, took the flag Ashraf carried and arrested him,
forcing him to enter in the back of the vehicle under arrest, on October
23rd.
Zionist court refuses to release Muna Qaadan
The Zionist military court in Salem refused to release Muna Qaadan (39),
from Arraba in Jenin district, on bail despite the fact that she was
brought before court previously on the same charges.
Released Detainees
Humilation Against The Detainees Continues
Palestinian detainees held by Israel at the Majiddo detention center,
managed to leak a memo revealing that the violations against them have
never stopped, adding that the Israeli Prisons Administration (IPA) is
not abiding by vows it made to the detainees in order to end their
hunger strike, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported
Saturday.
Lawmakers
send letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, saying Palestinians convicted for terrorism should be denied
entry to U.S.
Gaza
Russian aid convoy arrives in Gaza
A Russian aid convoy carrying medicines and medical equipment arrived to
the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege for five years, through the
Rafah crossing.
Solidarity / Activism / Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
DUBLIN
(Reuters) -- A former culture minister was on course to be elected
Ireland's president on Friday, beating an ex-IRA commander and a reality
TV star, informal tallies showed as a rival conceded defeat., Michael
D. Higgins, 70, a champion of Palestinian rights and a member of junior
coalition party Labour, was ahead in most voting tallies across the
country, state broadcaster RTE said., "It's very clear that we will have
a President Michael D. Higgins," said David Norris, a gay-rights
campaigner who said he expected to come third or fourth.
Islamic council in J'lem hails Saudi Arabia for eliminating Alstom
The higher Islamic council in occupied Jerusalem welcomed the decision
taken by Saudi Arabia to exclude the French transport company Alstom
from the construction of the Haramain train project.
Ezra Nawi: 'I just feel sorry that my name caused David problems'
“Firstly, I think that being gay makes me more sensitive to other
people’s problems,” he says. “Secondly, I used to have a Palestinian
boyfriend in Ramallah, and when you go through the checkpoints and
experience daily life for the Palestinians, it became real for me rather
than something I’d just read and heard about. And the gay-rights
movement here isn’t really concerned with the problems facing other
groups like the Palestinians and the Bedouins.”
link to www.irishtimes.com
‘A historic forum:’ Sylvia Schwarz tells Minneapolis gathering that privileging Jews is racism, Sylvia Schwarz
Editor's note: Yesterday we posted Sylvia Schwarz's account of an
October 16 forum she participated in in Minneapolis, titled "Seeking
Israeli/Palestinian Peace: Varied Voices from the Jewish Community." The
post got a lot of comment and we asked Schwarz, a member of the
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, for the text of her prepared
remarks. That follows. And below her text is a short response from
Schwarz to the many comments.
As
long as the Israeli government uses art and culture to cover up Israeli
war crimes, culture and politics are clearly intertwined.
I
wanted my readers to know that in addition to the blog posts I publish
here, there is much short-form activism which I find more appropriate to
post on Twitter or Facebook. I encourage you to subscribe to my Twitter &/orFacebook feeds, where you’ll find material and research which doesn’t make it to this blog.
Racism / Discrimination
I’ve
written here before about the extremist pro-settler views of Israeli
police officer, Meir Rotter, who has often been known to provoke fights
with Sheikh Jarrah protesters. He is the son of Rabbi Rotter, who runs
one of Israel’s most popular internet news portals, somewhat akin to the
Drudge Report, if you can imagine Matt Drudge wearing a talit katan and
knitted settler-style yarmulke.
Political Developments / Diplomatic News
European
and Israeli diplomats say Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
was presented with a compromise proposal, but that he had yet to
respond.
Israel Sends Note To UN, Claims Abbas Responsible For Escalation
As part of its international campaign to isolate the Palestinian
Authority and its statehood application, the Israeli government sent a
letter to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, accusing Palestinian
President, Mahmoud Abbas, of granting the Hamas movement a green light
to fire shells into Israel.
Bedouin Israeli in Egypt prison for 11 years to be freed next month in exchange for 'political prisoners,' Kuwaiti paper says.
Professor
Julio Pino asks Ishmael Khaldi, the first Bedouin to serve in Israel's
foreign service, 'how can the Israeli government justify providing aid
with blood money from deaths of Palestinian children?'
Other News
Israeli professor suspected of distributing child pornography wanted in US
Professor Tzvi Tzfira charged in a federal criminal complaint and was declared a fugitive after leaving the US.
US: Haredi man sold Israeli organs
Levy Yitzhak Rosenbaum, an Israeli-American from Brooklyn pleads guilty
to brokering illegal organ sales to wealthy buyers after being caught in
FBI sting two years ago.
A
group of Hasidim brutally attacked Avraham Hirschman, 36, a father of
six, Thursday, resulting in his hospitalization with fractures and other
serious injuries.
Other Mideast / U.S. News
Arab Spring activists win human rights award
Activists, including Tunisian fruit seller whose death sparked uprisings, awarded European parliament's Sakharov Prize.
Egypt prison guards accused of torture death
Man's death after allegedly being filled with water from hoses raises comparison to case that helped spark revolution.
US-Israeli
national freed in Jerusalem-Cairo deal thanks Israeli, US officials who
helped secure his release US-Israeli national Ilan Grapel held a press
conference in Jerusalem on Thursday after returning to Israel from Egypt
where he was held for four months on espionage charges. Grapel thanked
the Israeli and American officials who helped secure his release as part
of a prisoner exchange deal which saw 25 Egyptian prisoners freed. He
thanked Egyptian authorities, who he said treated him well and with
respect from day one. He related details from his time in the Egyptian
prison: "It was a tough ordeal as I was isolated, but the guards were
OK. What I wanted to eat, they gave me, including fresh fish. They paid
for my meals, more than the average Egyptian would get."
VIDEO: Cairo taxi drivers' role in uprising
Mishal Husain has travelled across the Middle East for a BBC series,
exploring how activists used social media to get their message out.
New Crown Prince Nayif bin Abd al-Aziz, who is in his late 70s, has a
reputation as being more conservative than either the former crown
prince or king. Saudi prince offers $900,000 to soldier abductors
Khaled bin Talal adds $900,000 to Saudi cleric's $100,000 reward for whoever abducts Israeli soldier.
Syrian army operations continue in Homs
Activists say several people killed a day after fierce fighting breaks out between troops and army defectors. |
