Mondiweiss
by Kate on May 3, 2011Palestinian factions sign unity deal in Cairo
CAIRO (AFP) 3 May -- Palestinian factions gathered in Cairo on Tuesday signed a reconciliation deal that will pave the way for elections within a year, an AFP correspondent said. Representatives of 13 factions, including President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and its rival Hamas, as well as independent political figures inked the deal following talks with Egyptian officials. A formal signing ceremony will be held on Wednesday, and will be attended by Hamas chief Khalid Mash‘al and President Mahmoud Abbas ... "We signed the deal despite several reservations. But we insisted on working for the higher national interest," said Walid Al-Awad, a politburo member of the leftist Palestine People's Party ... The deal largely maintains the status quo, leaving Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank ... Commenting on the nature of the new union, Fayyad said sides had already determined that violence should not be used as a means of struggle against Israel's occupation.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad pledge to honor truce with Israel under unity government
(AP) 3 May -- Hamas officials said Monday that the Islamist militant group would honor an unofficial truce with Israel after forming a new unity government with Palestinian rivals from the West Bank ... Officials also said that Islamic Jihad, which has fired barrages of rockets and mortar shells at Israel in recent years, had agreed to honor the truce as well ... Although Hamas has insisted it will not change its stance on recognizing Israel, security officials from the organization said on Tuesday that militants have agreed to hold their fire after the new government is formed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the cease-fire is not officially part of the deal.
Smaller Palestinian factions endorse reconciliation deal, prompting Israeli warning
CAIRO - Fifteen Palestinian factions, including militant Islamic groups, endorsed a reconciliation deal Tuesday meant to end a four-year rift between the two major Palestinian political movements, Hamas and Fatah. The declaration paved the way for the two groups to sign the agreement on Wednesday, then form a unity caretaker government to prepare for national elections next year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a last-minute appeal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel the impending unity deal, which he called a "hard blow to the peace process."
Text of the agreement between Fatah and Hamas
Text of the agreement between Fatah and Hamas
Pal. Monitor 3 May -- Translated by Al Mubadara, the Palestinian National Initiative, this document is currently in the process of being signed by all of Palestine’s factions and parties.
but...
PA rounds up 4 Hamas men in West Bank, summons dozens
WEST BANK, (PIC) 3 May -- Palestinian Authority security forces rounded up four Hamas men and summoned dozens for questioning including women as Fatah and Hamas politicians near the signing of a national reconciliation deal in Cairo. PA security chiefs have openly rejected the agreement between parties ruling Palestine and vowed to continue targeting Hamas in the West Bank, as it sees the group as a security threat to the Israelis.In a related development, security agencies in Nablus have brought 19 men in Al-Juneid prison to a military tribunal where it was ruled that their trials would be postponed until June 12.
Abunimah: "Text" of Hamas-Fatah deal emerges and it doesn’t look good
Palestine Monitor, the website affiliated with the Al Mubadara movement of Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, has published what it says is the “Text Of The Agreement Between Fatah And Hamas” to be officially signed in Cairo this week. If this text is genuine – and while the source is trustworthy there is no way to verify that it is genuine – then it shows the questions I raised about the agreement when it was first announced last week are no closer to being answered.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
PM urges Abbas to cancel Hamas agreement
Ynet 3 May -- Netanyahu continues to press Palestinian president day before formal signing of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4064061,00.html
Netanyahu to lobby UK, France over Palestinian state
JERUSALEM (AFP) 3 May -- When Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu visits Britain and France this week, he will point to a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal as part of his fight to head off UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384449
Palestinian PM's future uncertain as Hamas and Fatah move toward unity
AP 3 May -- The ouster of internationally respected Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad could cost the Palestinians millions of dollars in aid; Hamas claims Fayyad is a tool of the West ... Both Fatah and Hamas don't want Fayyad as prime minister, said Hani Masri, a Palestinian independent who has been mediating between the factions. Nothing is impossible in politics, but so far Fayyad is not the preference of either side. .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-pm-s-future-uncertain-as-hamas-and-fatah-move-toward-unity-1.359582
Palestinian government workers face pay cuts after Israel freezes tax money
Reuters 3 May -- Israel withholds transfer of $105 million in customs duties and other levies it collects on behalf of the PA, fearing the money would fall into the hands of Hamas; PM Fayyad says PA won't be able to pay wages unless Israel releases the funds ... But many believe the surprise agreement between President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction and Hamas Islamists in Gaza will be worth the price if it brings statehood closer.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-government-workers-face-pay-cuts-after-israel-freezes-tax-money-1.359595?localLinksEnabled=false
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Settlers
IOA exiles Jerusalemite woman from Sheikh Jarrah zone for 5 days
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) decided on Monday to exile a Jerusalemite woman called Maysoun Al-Ghawi from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood for five days on allegation of assaulting Jewish settlers. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had detained Ghawi at Qalandiya checkpoint, north of occupied Jerusalem, as she was with her three-year old daughter and a relative on her way back home after a visit to a relative of hers in Kafr Akeb [Kafr ‘Aqab] town.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Settlers set fire to Huwwara prayer hall
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Ultra-orthodox Jewish Israeli settlers raided the northern west Bank town of Huwwara in the early hours of Tuesday morning and according to residents set fire a prayer hall in the local school ...
Ynet 3 May -- Under heavy IDF escort relatives of Itamar massacre victims Ben Yosef Livnat visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus but infiltration of settler youths, refusal to leave tomb lead to riots
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063729,00.html
Witnesses: Hebron settlers attack construction workers
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Dozens of Israeli settlers assaulted a group of Palestinian construction workers in Hebron's city center on Tuesday, residents said. Nayef Da'na told Ma‘an that settlers attacked him and other workers as they restored a home near Ash-Shuhuda street, an area long closed down due to settler violence and military patrols.
The owner of the home, Mufeed Ash-Sharabati, said the altercation began with insults being thrown by settlers at the workers, who responded in kind, and escalated into physical violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384376
IOA prevented call for prayers at Ibrahimi Mosque on 68 occasions in April
AL-KHALIL [Hebron], (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) banned the call for prayers at the Ibrahimi mosque in Al-Khalil city on 68 occasions during the past month of April. Director of Awqaf in the city Zeid Al-Jabari said in a statement on Monday that the step was made at the pretext that the call for prayers was annoying settlers in the occupied sector of the mosque.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
IOF soldiers damage Palestinian land in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC) 2 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) destroyed tens of dunums of cultivated land in Wadi Al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley on Sunday evening, local sources said. They added that the solders deliberately destroyed 30 dunums owned by Mahmoud Anis, adding that the soldiers this time each year damage the crops in the same area in the hope to convince farmers not to cultivate their land again. The sources noted that the troops did not leave the area after destroying it since last night. Farmers in Wadi Al-Malih's Burj area are the constant target of attacks by the IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers who systematically burn or destroy their crops.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Seven piles of rubble
[with photos] Sad Oranges blog 27 Apr -- Last night we drove to Lod, another Israeli city where Jews and Arabs apparently co-exist. Except that the municipality doesn’t invest in the Palestinian areas and doesn’t recognise the local villages ... To our right was the unsecured train track which has been built through unrecognised Palestinian villages, resulting in child injuries. To our left was a wall separating this painful reality from a very different one. As in so many parts of Israel, the Jewish community is able to pass through life without ever having to look at what its society is doing to the Palestinians ... On 13 December 2010, Israeli police and bulldozers arrived in this area, installed a roadblock and demolished seven buildings. The families were not allowed access, not allowed to remove their belongings, not given compensation. 74 innocent people, 54 of them children, remain homeless.
http://www.sadoranges.co.uk/diary/seven-piles-of-rubble/
Zeita Jamma‘in
[with photos] Words from Palestine blog 29 Apr -- Yesterday we went to the village of Zeita Jamma‘in. By the way the crow flies it is a short distance from Deir Istiya. However, the 'Settler only' roads can increase the travel time fourfold. Fortunately, our driver knows narrow back roads that skirt the settlements. We have been called there because settlers have began laying claim to upwards of 150,000 dunums of Zeita Jamma‘in’s land. Representatives from popular committees all over the West Bank have gathered to plan a resistance. They quickly decide they need to draw up a detailed map, build a road that makes it easy access for farmers to plant this land (it has up until now been used for animal grazing by villagers from around the area and nomadic Bedouins) and get media support for their cause. Then we are off to see the land. OMG! An expanse of rolling hills, pristine… covered with native trees and flowers every way you look… unless you look to the top of the hills. There you see the settlements. They are already illegally occupying Palestinian land, and yet they want more…. Always more. After about half an hour walk we come across the ruins of a very ancient village, perhaps predating Roman times, so at least 2000 years old or older ... It is this ancient village that the settlers are trying to lay claim to. It is the usual story. They claim it is a religious heritage site, the area becomes a closed military zone and soon (very soon) an 'outpost' appears, and then of course another illegal settlement.
http://wordsfrompalestine.org/?p=627
Netanyahu suspends East J'lem construction plan
Ynet 3 May -- PM orders discussion on massive east J'lem construction projects to be taken off planning committee's agenda - ahead of US trip ... One project is a plan to build 930 homes at the neighborhood of Har Homa, and the other is slated to see the construction of dozens of units in Pisgat Ze'ev.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4064026,00.html
State: Fallen solder's outpost home to be spared
Ynet 3 May -- State tells High Court Eli home of Major Eliraz Peretz, who was killed in Gaza, will not be razed pending alternative housing solution for his family
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063922,00.html
Army incursions
Witnesses: Army raids Nabi Saleh
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Israeli forces closed the village of An-Nabi Saleh on Monday night, shutting down entrances with roadblocks and restricting movement of residents, witnesses said. Israeli troops were deployed throughout the village for unknown reasons, leading to clashes with teenagers, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there was no military activity in the area overnight. Military jeeps remained stationed at the entrances to the village well into Tuesday morning, local residents told Ma‘an, saying they feared several pending home demolition orders were about to be executed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384199
When Israeli soldiers came to arrest my father / Hanin Ahmad Qatamesh
EI 2 May -- Last week, on 21 April, Israeli soldiers invaded my home in Ramallah, held hostage all those present, and forced me at gunpoint to call my father, a writer and human rights advocate, in order to demand his surrender. This is common operating procedure for Israeli occupation forces. This time, however, they had taken hostage an American citizen willing to speak out. And I will not be silent ... Last Wednesday night, just past midnight, my mother and I were chatting when we suddenly heard pounding on the door and someone shouting in chillingly familiar broken Arabic, “iftakh bab!” (open the door). We looked carefully from behind the slit-open curtain to realize that many Israeli occupation soldiers were surrounding the house, heavily armed and in combat formation. Shortly afterwards, they broke in and occupied the house.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/when-israeli-soldiers-came-arrest-my-father/9901
Detention
Ofer military court sentences Palestinian boy to month in prison
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli Ofer military court near Ramallah city has sentenced 14-year-old Palestinian boy Yazin Jamal Dandan to thirty days of actual prison time in addition to USD 600 in fines. Dandan's father was forcefully removed from the courtroom when he attended Tuesday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said. Dandan was arrested Nov. 1 and has since been detained at the Rimonim prison in the northern 1948-occupied Palestinian territories.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Troops arrest 7 Palestinians; residents clash with settlers
IMEMC 3 May -- Israeli troops arrested on Tuesday morning seven Palestinian civilians among them two children during invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities. In Bethlehem city, southern West Bank, Israeli forces invade Aida refugee camp and arrested Firas al-Haj, 27. Another youth, Malik Hassan, 20, was arrested when troops searched homes in Bethlehem city ... in northern West Bank, two Palestinian civilians were also arrested by Israeli soldiers during house to house search they did in Salfit city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61167
Prisoner strike secures eye surgery for inmate
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- A successful prisoners strike saw a Palestinian detainee in Israel receive eye surgery, which friends and relatives said was long overdue, Hussam Detainees' Center said. Sufian Al-Zibda, from Gaza City, had an operation on his left retina at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, the center said. A prison doctor had reportedly said the detainee needed urgent surgery but Israel's Prison Service had refused to allow his treatment. Prisoners launched a strike in protest of the decision.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384277
Israeli forces detain PLC member in Jericho
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Israeli forces detained Palestinian Legislative Council member Ali Romanin from his home in Al-Ouja [Al-‘Awja] village north of Jericho on Tuesday morning, officials confirmed. The legislator, elected with Hamas' Change and Reform Bloc, was released in October 2010 after more than four years in an Israeli prison.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384288
Targeted assassinations / Killing of bin Laden
Mofaz urges Israel to boost assassinations of Hamas leaders
NAZARETH, (PIC) 3 May -- Shaul Mofaz, former minister of Israel's military, has called on Netanyahu's government to increase assassinations against the leaders of Palestinian resistance forces after the US successfully killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin in Pakistan. "If terrorist attempts continue in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leaders must know that they represent a target for liquidation," Mofaz, also a member of the Israeli Knesset, threatened. "This bears unquestionable legitimacy." Separately, another Knesset member from the Kadima party has stated that the United States had adopted Israel's strategy in the bin Ladin hit, which is to target leaders of alleged terrorist organizations, "a strategy proven efficient throughout the years."
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood rejects assassination as a tactic and affirms the legitimacy of resistance
MEMO 3 May -- The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has rejected assassination as a tactic in a response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US troops. The group also confirmed that while it rejects violence it supports legitimate resistance against foreign occupation of any country ... According to the statement, the Muslim Brotherhood is against the use of violence in general and assassination in particular. "We support fair trials for criminals, no matter what kind of crime they have committed."
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2293-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-rejects-assassination-as-a-tactic-and-affirms-the-legitimacy-of-resistance
Should bin Laden have been captured and tried?
BERLIN, May 3 (Reuters) - While many world leaders applauded the U.S. operation that killed al Qa‘eda leader Osama bin Laden, there were concerns in parts of Europe that the United States was wrong to act as policeman, judge and executioner ... "It was quite clearly a violation of international law," former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV. "The operation could also have incalculable consequences in the Arab world in light of all the unrest."
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/should-bin-laden-have-been-captured-and-tried
Dozens of Palestinians pay tribute to bin Laden in Gaza
Haaretz 3 May -- Some two dozen Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to pay tribute to slain al-Qa‘ida leader Osama bin Laden. About 25 people holding pictures and posters of bin Laden rallied outside a Gaza City university. The crowd included al-Qa‘ida sympathizers as well as students who said they opposed bin Laden's ideology, but were angry at the U.S. for killing him and consider him a martyr. Hamas police did not interfere with the demonstration
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/dozens-of-palestinians-pay-tribute-to-bin-laden-in-gaza-1.359607
Al-Aqsa spokesman denies bin Laden statement
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- The spokesman of Fatah's military wing on Tuesday denied issuing a statement marking Osama bin Laden's death. Abu Uday of the Al-Aqsa Brigades said the group did not and had no plans to comment because bin Laden's death was unrelated to Palestine ... Palestinian reactions to the death of bin Laden have been mixed. Salam Fayyad, the premier in Ramallah, said it increased chances for peace, while Gaza-based prime minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned it as an extension of American's foreign policy based on killing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384458
No dignity at Ground Zero / Mona Eltahawy
Guardian 3 May -- As a US Muslim I abhor the frat boy reaction. We should be celebrating the Arab spring, not this ... It was minutes after President Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, and I was heeding a friend's suggestion that we – both Muslims – take candles and stand in vigil where the World Trade Centre stood before Bin Laden's foot soldiers took it down. So it was a shock to find hundreds of others had turned that hallowed ground into the scene of a home crowd celebrating an away victory they hadn't attended, the roots of which they were probably not there to experience or were too young to remember.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/no-dignity-ground-zero-frat-boy
Siege
Siege brings Gaza's garment industry to a halt
EI 3 May -- Near an abandoned sewing factory in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Mohammad Khamis Hamdan runs a small travel agency dedicated to serving pilgrims to the Saudi Arabia city of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. Hamdan opened the travel agency after being forced to shut down the sewing factory following Israel’s imposition of a devastating blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Hamdan, 50, a father of 14 children and married to two women, said he lost hope of returning back to the cycle of production at his Hamdanco garment factory, which he owned along with two of his brothers.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/siege-brings-gazas-garment-industry-halt/9904
Gaza's sole operating crossing partly open
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Around 260 truckloads of goods in addition to limited amounts of cooking gas will be permitted into Gaza by Israel's crossings authority on Tuesday, a Palestinian liaison officer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384192
Racism
Case of Arab man accused of raping Jewish woman brought to Supreme Court
Haaretz 3 May -- The Supreme Court heard an appeal on Monday by an Arab man who was convicted of rape last July for having consensual sex with a Jewish woman who believed him to be Jewish ... Kashur, who was indicted for forcible rape, a charge later reduced to rape by deception as part of a plea bargain, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was also convicted of performing an indecent act on the woman, who had sex with him shortly after they met two years ago. When she discovered Kashur, who presented himself as a bachelor named "Dudu," wasn't Jewish, she filed a police complaint.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/case-of-arab-man-accused-of-raping-jewish-woman-brought-to-supreme-court-1.359500
Other news
Marking World Press Freedom Day in Palestine
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Palestinian journalists were oppressed during the past year, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said marking the annual World Press Freedom Day. According to the syndicate, there were 280 violations of journalists’ rights during the past year 179 of which were by Israeli forces and settlers while the other 101 by security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384424
Egypt wants Palestinian students to prove good conduct
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are enrolled in Egyptian universities have been asked to proof of a background check for security-related issues. As they have only one week left before deadline, they appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and officials in Cairo to look into their case and try to work out a solution for the problem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384305
US immigration separates Palestinian mother from her 4 children / Sameh A. Habeeb
2 May -- ...On Friday April 13, 2010 ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) invaded my home at about seven thirty in the morning. My mother, Faten Hakim, was preparing her usual work on a normal day in Ramadan. A very loud noise like banging on the door had awoken me. I was surprised at the noise but brushed it off thinking it was one of our neighbors. All of a sudden my mother came into my room to wake me and said “Wake up the police is here to take me.” My heart dropped. What could they want from my mother? I was shocked. My mother had been in the US illegally for about 22 years. I never thought there would be a day where she would be asked to leave. Out of the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, I never thought my mother would be caught. She gave birth to me and my three siblings in the United States.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/palestinian-refugees/9059-us-immigration-separates-palestinian-mother-from-her-4-children.html
From slave to IDF officer: a Guinean's story
Ynet 3 May -- At just 15 Avi Be'eri was sold to slave traders who smuggled him into Israel from Guinea, he managed to turn his life around and will now become an IDF officer [doesn't look as if he was ever actually a slave, just an illegally trafficked immigrant, but it's an interesting good-luck story anyway]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063352,00.html
Analysis / Opinion / Interviews / Reviews
Guardian editorial: Fatah and Hamas: Tectonic plates start to shift
2 May -- A future environment composed of free Egyptians, Jordanians and even possibly Syrians could well fashion Israel's borders ... There are three chief reasons why, after four years of bitter and violent conflict between the rivals, Fatah acceded to all of Hamas's political conditions to form a national unity government.The first was the publication of the Palestine papers, the secret record of the last fruitless round of talks with Israel. The extent to which Palestinian negotiators were prepared to bend over backwards to accommodate Israel surprised even hardened cynics. The Palestinian Authority found itself hemorrhaging what little authority it had left. The second was the loss to the Palestinian president, Abu Mazen, of his closest allies in Hosni Mubarak and his henchman Omar Suleiman. While they were still around, Gaza's back door was locked. But the third reason had little to do with either of the above: Abu Mazen's faith in Barack Obama finally snapped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/29/fatah-hamas-tectonic-plates-editorial
Love during Wartime: the Israel-Palestine conflict. within a marriage
Atlantic 1 May -- A conversation with Gabriella Bier, whose new documentary explores the relationship between an Israeli woman and her Palestinian husband
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/love-during-wartime-the-israel-palestine-conflict-within-a-marriage/238108/
Book review: Palestinian Women: Narrative histories and gendered memory
By Fatma Kassem -- Based around a series of interviews with a group of Palestinian women, who lived through the horrific events of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) and then found themselves living in the state of Israel itself, this is a fascinating text.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/104187
http://www.theheadlines.org/ (archive)
River to SeaAbunimah: "Text" of Hamas-Fatah deal emerges and it doesn’t look good
Palestine Monitor, the website affiliated with the Al Mubadara movement of Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, has published what it says is the “Text Of The Agreement Between Fatah And Hamas” to be officially signed in Cairo this week. If this text is genuine – and while the source is trustworthy there is no way to verify that it is genuine – then it shows the questions I raised about the agreement when it was first announced last week are no closer to being answered.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
PM urges Abbas to cancel Hamas agreement
Ynet 3 May -- Netanyahu continues to press Palestinian president day before formal signing of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4064061,00.html
Netanyahu to lobby UK, France over Palestinian state
JERUSALEM (AFP) 3 May -- When Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu visits Britain and France this week, he will point to a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal as part of his fight to head off UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384449
Palestinian PM's future uncertain as Hamas and Fatah move toward unity
AP 3 May -- The ouster of internationally respected Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad could cost the Palestinians millions of dollars in aid; Hamas claims Fayyad is a tool of the West ... Both Fatah and Hamas don't want Fayyad as prime minister, said Hani Masri, a Palestinian independent who has been mediating between the factions. Nothing is impossible in politics, but so far Fayyad is not the preference of either side. .
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-pm-s-future-uncertain-as-hamas-and-fatah-move-toward-unity-1.359582
Palestinian government workers face pay cuts after Israel freezes tax money
Reuters 3 May -- Israel withholds transfer of $105 million in customs duties and other levies it collects on behalf of the PA, fearing the money would fall into the hands of Hamas; PM Fayyad says PA won't be able to pay wages unless Israel releases the funds ... But many believe the surprise agreement between President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction and Hamas Islamists in Gaza will be worth the price if it brings statehood closer.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-government-workers-face-pay-cuts-after-israel-freezes-tax-money-1.359595?localLinksEnabled=false
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Settlers
IOA exiles Jerusalemite woman from Sheikh Jarrah zone for 5 days
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) decided on Monday to exile a Jerusalemite woman called Maysoun Al-Ghawi from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood for five days on allegation of assaulting Jewish settlers. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had detained Ghawi at Qalandiya checkpoint, north of occupied Jerusalem, as she was with her three-year old daughter and a relative on her way back home after a visit to a relative of hers in Kafr Akeb [Kafr ‘Aqab] town.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Settlers set fire to Huwwara prayer hall
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Ultra-orthodox Jewish Israeli settlers raided the northern west Bank town of Huwwara in the early hours of Tuesday morning and according to residents set fire a prayer hall in the local school ...
Locals reported the incident after hundreds of settlers entered the northern West Bank city of Nablus heading to Joseph's Tomb for prayer.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384221
Coordinated Joseph Tomb visit ends in riots, stoning
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384221
Coordinated Joseph Tomb visit ends in riots, stoning
Ynet 3 May -- Under heavy IDF escort relatives of Itamar massacre victims Ben Yosef Livnat visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus but infiltration of settler youths, refusal to leave tomb lead to riots
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063729,00.html
Witnesses: Hebron settlers attack construction workers
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Dozens of Israeli settlers assaulted a group of Palestinian construction workers in Hebron's city center on Tuesday, residents said. Nayef Da'na told Ma‘an that settlers attacked him and other workers as they restored a home near Ash-Shuhuda street, an area long closed down due to settler violence and military patrols.
The owner of the home, Mufeed Ash-Sharabati, said the altercation began with insults being thrown by settlers at the workers, who responded in kind, and escalated into physical violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384376
IOA prevented call for prayers at Ibrahimi Mosque on 68 occasions in April
AL-KHALIL [Hebron], (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) banned the call for prayers at the Ibrahimi mosque in Al-Khalil city on 68 occasions during the past month of April. Director of Awqaf in the city Zeid Al-Jabari said in a statement on Monday that the step was made at the pretext that the call for prayers was annoying settlers in the occupied sector of the mosque.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
IOF soldiers damage Palestinian land in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC) 2 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) destroyed tens of dunums of cultivated land in Wadi Al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley on Sunday evening, local sources said. They added that the solders deliberately destroyed 30 dunums owned by Mahmoud Anis, adding that the soldiers this time each year damage the crops in the same area in the hope to convince farmers not to cultivate their land again. The sources noted that the troops did not leave the area after destroying it since last night. Farmers in Wadi Al-Malih's Burj area are the constant target of attacks by the IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers who systematically burn or destroy their crops.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Seven piles of rubble
[with photos] Sad Oranges blog 27 Apr -- Last night we drove to Lod, another Israeli city where Jews and Arabs apparently co-exist. Except that the municipality doesn’t invest in the Palestinian areas and doesn’t recognise the local villages ... To our right was the unsecured train track which has been built through unrecognised Palestinian villages, resulting in child injuries. To our left was a wall separating this painful reality from a very different one. As in so many parts of Israel, the Jewish community is able to pass through life without ever having to look at what its society is doing to the Palestinians ... On 13 December 2010, Israeli police and bulldozers arrived in this area, installed a roadblock and demolished seven buildings. The families were not allowed access, not allowed to remove their belongings, not given compensation. 74 innocent people, 54 of them children, remain homeless.
http://www.sadoranges.co.uk/diary/seven-piles-of-rubble/
Zeita Jamma‘in
[with photos] Words from Palestine blog 29 Apr -- Yesterday we went to the village of Zeita Jamma‘in. By the way the crow flies it is a short distance from Deir Istiya. However, the 'Settler only' roads can increase the travel time fourfold. Fortunately, our driver knows narrow back roads that skirt the settlements. We have been called there because settlers have began laying claim to upwards of 150,000 dunums of Zeita Jamma‘in’s land. Representatives from popular committees all over the West Bank have gathered to plan a resistance. They quickly decide they need to draw up a detailed map, build a road that makes it easy access for farmers to plant this land (it has up until now been used for animal grazing by villagers from around the area and nomadic Bedouins) and get media support for their cause. Then we are off to see the land. OMG! An expanse of rolling hills, pristine… covered with native trees and flowers every way you look… unless you look to the top of the hills. There you see the settlements. They are already illegally occupying Palestinian land, and yet they want more…. Always more. After about half an hour walk we come across the ruins of a very ancient village, perhaps predating Roman times, so at least 2000 years old or older ... It is this ancient village that the settlers are trying to lay claim to. It is the usual story. They claim it is a religious heritage site, the area becomes a closed military zone and soon (very soon) an 'outpost' appears, and then of course another illegal settlement.
http://wordsfrompalestine.org/?p=627
Netanyahu suspends East J'lem construction plan
Ynet 3 May -- PM orders discussion on massive east J'lem construction projects to be taken off planning committee's agenda - ahead of US trip ... One project is a plan to build 930 homes at the neighborhood of Har Homa, and the other is slated to see the construction of dozens of units in Pisgat Ze'ev.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4064026,00.html
State: Fallen solder's outpost home to be spared
Ynet 3 May -- State tells High Court Eli home of Major Eliraz Peretz, who was killed in Gaza, will not be razed pending alternative housing solution for his family
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063922,00.html
Army incursions
Witnesses: Army raids Nabi Saleh
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Israeli forces closed the village of An-Nabi Saleh on Monday night, shutting down entrances with roadblocks and restricting movement of residents, witnesses said. Israeli troops were deployed throughout the village for unknown reasons, leading to clashes with teenagers, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there was no military activity in the area overnight. Military jeeps remained stationed at the entrances to the village well into Tuesday morning, local residents told Ma‘an, saying they feared several pending home demolition orders were about to be executed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384199
When Israeli soldiers came to arrest my father / Hanin Ahmad Qatamesh
EI 2 May -- Last week, on 21 April, Israeli soldiers invaded my home in Ramallah, held hostage all those present, and forced me at gunpoint to call my father, a writer and human rights advocate, in order to demand his surrender. This is common operating procedure for Israeli occupation forces. This time, however, they had taken hostage an American citizen willing to speak out. And I will not be silent ... Last Wednesday night, just past midnight, my mother and I were chatting when we suddenly heard pounding on the door and someone shouting in chillingly familiar broken Arabic, “iftakh bab!” (open the door). We looked carefully from behind the slit-open curtain to realize that many Israeli occupation soldiers were surrounding the house, heavily armed and in combat formation. Shortly afterwards, they broke in and occupied the house.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/when-israeli-soldiers-came-arrest-my-father/9901
Detention
Ofer military court sentences Palestinian boy to month in prison
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 3 May -- The Israeli Ofer military court near Ramallah city has sentenced 14-year-old Palestinian boy Yazin Jamal Dandan to thirty days of actual prison time in addition to USD 600 in fines. Dandan's father was forcefully removed from the courtroom when he attended Tuesday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said. Dandan was arrested Nov. 1 and has since been detained at the Rimonim prison in the northern 1948-occupied Palestinian territories.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Troops arrest 7 Palestinians; residents clash with settlers
IMEMC 3 May -- Israeli troops arrested on Tuesday morning seven Palestinian civilians among them two children during invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities. In Bethlehem city, southern West Bank, Israeli forces invade Aida refugee camp and arrested Firas al-Haj, 27. Another youth, Malik Hassan, 20, was arrested when troops searched homes in Bethlehem city ... in northern West Bank, two Palestinian civilians were also arrested by Israeli soldiers during house to house search they did in Salfit city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61167
Prisoner strike secures eye surgery for inmate
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- A successful prisoners strike saw a Palestinian detainee in Israel receive eye surgery, which friends and relatives said was long overdue, Hussam Detainees' Center said. Sufian Al-Zibda, from Gaza City, had an operation on his left retina at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, the center said. A prison doctor had reportedly said the detainee needed urgent surgery but Israel's Prison Service had refused to allow his treatment. Prisoners launched a strike in protest of the decision.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384277
Israeli forces detain PLC member in Jericho
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Israeli forces detained Palestinian Legislative Council member Ali Romanin from his home in Al-Ouja [Al-‘Awja] village north of Jericho on Tuesday morning, officials confirmed. The legislator, elected with Hamas' Change and Reform Bloc, was released in October 2010 after more than four years in an Israeli prison.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384288
Targeted assassinations / Killing of bin Laden
Mofaz urges Israel to boost assassinations of Hamas leaders
NAZARETH, (PIC) 3 May -- Shaul Mofaz, former minister of Israel's military, has called on Netanyahu's government to increase assassinations against the leaders of Palestinian resistance forces after the US successfully killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin in Pakistan. "If terrorist attempts continue in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leaders must know that they represent a target for liquidation," Mofaz, also a member of the Israeli Knesset, threatened. "This bears unquestionable legitimacy." Separately, another Knesset member from the Kadima party has stated that the United States had adopted Israel's strategy in the bin Ladin hit, which is to target leaders of alleged terrorist organizations, "a strategy proven efficient throughout the years."
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood rejects assassination as a tactic and affirms the legitimacy of resistance
MEMO 3 May -- The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has rejected assassination as a tactic in a response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US troops. The group also confirmed that while it rejects violence it supports legitimate resistance against foreign occupation of any country ... According to the statement, the Muslim Brotherhood is against the use of violence in general and assassination in particular. "We support fair trials for criminals, no matter what kind of crime they have committed."
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2293-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-rejects-assassination-as-a-tactic-and-affirms-the-legitimacy-of-resistance
Should bin Laden have been captured and tried?
BERLIN, May 3 (Reuters) - While many world leaders applauded the U.S. operation that killed al Qa‘eda leader Osama bin Laden, there were concerns in parts of Europe that the United States was wrong to act as policeman, judge and executioner ... "It was quite clearly a violation of international law," former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV. "The operation could also have incalculable consequences in the Arab world in light of all the unrest."
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/should-bin-laden-have-been-captured-and-tried
Dozens of Palestinians pay tribute to bin Laden in Gaza
Haaretz 3 May -- Some two dozen Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to pay tribute to slain al-Qa‘ida leader Osama bin Laden. About 25 people holding pictures and posters of bin Laden rallied outside a Gaza City university. The crowd included al-Qa‘ida sympathizers as well as students who said they opposed bin Laden's ideology, but were angry at the U.S. for killing him and consider him a martyr. Hamas police did not interfere with the demonstration
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/dozens-of-palestinians-pay-tribute-to-bin-laden-in-gaza-1.359607
Al-Aqsa spokesman denies bin Laden statement
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- The spokesman of Fatah's military wing on Tuesday denied issuing a statement marking Osama bin Laden's death. Abu Uday of the Al-Aqsa Brigades said the group did not and had no plans to comment because bin Laden's death was unrelated to Palestine ... Palestinian reactions to the death of bin Laden have been mixed. Salam Fayyad, the premier in Ramallah, said it increased chances for peace, while Gaza-based prime minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned it as an extension of American's foreign policy based on killing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384458
No dignity at Ground Zero / Mona Eltahawy
Guardian 3 May -- As a US Muslim I abhor the frat boy reaction. We should be celebrating the Arab spring, not this ... It was minutes after President Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, and I was heeding a friend's suggestion that we – both Muslims – take candles and stand in vigil where the World Trade Centre stood before Bin Laden's foot soldiers took it down. So it was a shock to find hundreds of others had turned that hallowed ground into the scene of a home crowd celebrating an away victory they hadn't attended, the roots of which they were probably not there to experience or were too young to remember.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/03/no-dignity-ground-zero-frat-boy
Siege
Siege brings Gaza's garment industry to a halt
EI 3 May -- Near an abandoned sewing factory in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Mohammad Khamis Hamdan runs a small travel agency dedicated to serving pilgrims to the Saudi Arabia city of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. Hamdan opened the travel agency after being forced to shut down the sewing factory following Israel’s imposition of a devastating blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Hamdan, 50, a father of 14 children and married to two women, said he lost hope of returning back to the cycle of production at his Hamdanco garment factory, which he owned along with two of his brothers.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/siege-brings-gazas-garment-industry-halt/9904
Gaza's sole operating crossing partly open
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Around 260 truckloads of goods in addition to limited amounts of cooking gas will be permitted into Gaza by Israel's crossings authority on Tuesday, a Palestinian liaison officer said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384192
Racism
Case of Arab man accused of raping Jewish woman brought to Supreme Court
Haaretz 3 May -- The Supreme Court heard an appeal on Monday by an Arab man who was convicted of rape last July for having consensual sex with a Jewish woman who believed him to be Jewish ... Kashur, who was indicted for forcible rape, a charge later reduced to rape by deception as part of a plea bargain, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was also convicted of performing an indecent act on the woman, who had sex with him shortly after they met two years ago. When she discovered Kashur, who presented himself as a bachelor named "Dudu," wasn't Jewish, she filed a police complaint.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/case-of-arab-man-accused-of-raping-jewish-woman-brought-to-supreme-court-1.359500
Other news
Marking World Press Freedom Day in Palestine
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Palestinian journalists were oppressed during the past year, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said marking the annual World Press Freedom Day. According to the syndicate, there were 280 violations of journalists’ rights during the past year 179 of which were by Israeli forces and settlers while the other 101 by security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384424
Egypt wants Palestinian students to prove good conduct
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 3 May -- Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are enrolled in Egyptian universities have been asked to proof of a background check for security-related issues. As they have only one week left before deadline, they appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and officials in Cairo to look into their case and try to work out a solution for the problem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384305
US immigration separates Palestinian mother from her 4 children / Sameh A. Habeeb
2 May -- ...On Friday April 13, 2010 ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) invaded my home at about seven thirty in the morning. My mother, Faten Hakim, was preparing her usual work on a normal day in Ramadan. A very loud noise like banging on the door had awoken me. I was surprised at the noise but brushed it off thinking it was one of our neighbors. All of a sudden my mother came into my room to wake me and said “Wake up the police is here to take me.” My heart dropped. What could they want from my mother? I was shocked. My mother had been in the US illegally for about 22 years. I never thought there would be a day where she would be asked to leave. Out of the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, I never thought my mother would be caught. She gave birth to me and my three siblings in the United States.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/palestinian-refugees/9059-us-immigration-separates-palestinian-mother-from-her-4-children.html
From slave to IDF officer: a Guinean's story
Ynet 3 May -- At just 15 Avi Be'eri was sold to slave traders who smuggled him into Israel from Guinea, he managed to turn his life around and will now become an IDF officer [doesn't look as if he was ever actually a slave, just an illegally trafficked immigrant, but it's an interesting good-luck story anyway]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063352,00.html
Analysis / Opinion / Interviews / Reviews
Guardian editorial: Fatah and Hamas: Tectonic plates start to shift
2 May -- A future environment composed of free Egyptians, Jordanians and even possibly Syrians could well fashion Israel's borders ... There are three chief reasons why, after four years of bitter and violent conflict between the rivals, Fatah acceded to all of Hamas's political conditions to form a national unity government.The first was the publication of the Palestine papers, the secret record of the last fruitless round of talks with Israel. The extent to which Palestinian negotiators were prepared to bend over backwards to accommodate Israel surprised even hardened cynics. The Palestinian Authority found itself hemorrhaging what little authority it had left. The second was the loss to the Palestinian president, Abu Mazen, of his closest allies in Hosni Mubarak and his henchman Omar Suleiman. While they were still around, Gaza's back door was locked. But the third reason had little to do with either of the above: Abu Mazen's faith in Barack Obama finally snapped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/29/fatah-hamas-tectonic-plates-editorial
Love during Wartime: the Israel-Palestine conflict. within a marriage
Atlantic 1 May -- A conversation with Gabriella Bier, whose new documentary explores the relationship between an Israeli woman and her Palestinian husband
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/love-during-wartime-the-israel-palestine-conflict-within-a-marriage/238108/
Book review: Palestinian Women: Narrative histories and gendered memory
By Fatma Kassem -- Based around a series of interviews with a group of Palestinian women, who lived through the horrific events of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) and then found themselves living in the state of Israel itself, this is a fascinating text.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/104187
http://www.theheadlines.org/ (archive)
Uprooted Palestinian
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