Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / SettlersSilwan inhabitants fear confiscation of their land in court rulingOCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 1 June -- Silwan town committee has called for a sit-in before the Jerusalem court of construction and planning on Thursday which is supposed to issue a ruling on confiscation of 550 dunums of land in Silwan, Jabl Mukabir, and Wad Yasul in occupied Jerusalem. The committee described the scheme as the most serious over the past few years as it covers vast area of land and is close to the Old City gates.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israeli court dismisses petitions to reopen Hebron road
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 16 June -- Israel's High Court threw out a petition seeking the re-opening of a market street in Hebron's city center, which would have overturned 21 military orders mandating the closure of the area for "security reasons." ... Ash-Shuhada Street, once the main shopping area in the city's ancient downtown, is now divided down the center with concrete blocks, one side for Palestinian residents who can prove that they live down the street, and the other for settlers who have taken over homes in the area. Most Palestinians are prohibited from walking on the street, which resembles a ghost town dotted with soldiers who patrol the area ... The 21 military orders, which according to reports from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem have closed 440 shops in the area, are renewed by the army every six months. "This policy led to the economic collapse of the center of Hebron and drove many Palestinians out of the area," B'Telem said in a report on conditions in the city.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397287
Jerusalem court rejects settlers' bid to evict Palestinian family from Sheikh Jarrah
16 June -- In a surprise ruling, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court yesterday rejected a request from Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah to evict another Palestinian family from its home. Judge Yitzhak Shimoni also ordered the settlers to pay NIS 20,000 legal expenses to the family. The Farhan family lives in a small house over the burial cave of Simon the Just in Sheikh Jarrah, where they moved after leaving their village of Lifta in 1948. The settlement of Shimon the Just developed around their home over the years, and they are now surrounded by Jewish families.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-court-rejects-settlers-bid-to-evict-palestinian-family-from-sheikh-jarrah-1.367959
Factions say 'no way' to settler visits in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 16 June -- A committee in Nablus have said they "refuse and condemn" Palestinian Authority dialogue with settler groups who wish to visit Joseph's Tomb, a holy site in the city where biblical figure Joseph is thought to be buried. In a statement released on Thursday, the Factional Coordination Committee, including six leftist groups, addressed a Tuesday night event which saw PA police facilitate a visit to the shrine by eight right-wing members of Israel's parliament. The group called the move a "dangerous indication," saying PA police should "protect our people from occupation forces and settler aggression instead of protecting the settler leaders."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397226
PA official: Settlers burn farmland near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 16 June -- Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian farmland south of the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, a Palestinian official said. Ghassan Doughlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement affairs in the northern West Bank, said the incident occurred near the illegal settlement of Itamar, south of Nablus. The settlers burned 15 dunums of farmland of olive trees in an area known as Berkat Al-Marah, which belongs to residents from Roujeeb in the southeast of Nablus, Doughlas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397365
Jewish settlers burn olive trees west of Ramallah
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 16 June -- Jewish settlers torched tens of Palestinian olive trees in Bilin village land behind the separation wall west of Ramallah city, the popular anti wall committee said in a statement on Thursday. The statement said that the fire started last night near a Jewish settlement, which was established on Bil‘in village land. It pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces stationed at the wall’s gate blocked entry of fire brigades to extinguish the blaze, which led to the spread of fire.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Violence
Palestinian worker seriously injured after being stabbed by Israeli assailant
IMEMC 16 June -- A Palestinian worker was seriously injured on Thursday after being attacked and stabbed by an Israeli man in Netanya, north of the country. The injured worker was identified as Raslan Daoud, 37, from Beta village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. He was repeatedly stabbed in his chest and back directly after he exited a supermarket in the city. Israeli medics arrived at the scene and took him to a nearby hospital.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61467
Court actions against soldiers, settlers
Israel won't investigate IDF soldier photographed next to bound Palestinians
Haaretz 16 June -- Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan decided Thursday not to launch a criminal investigation against former Israel Defense Forces soldier Eden Aberjil, who in 2010 photographed herself standing next to tied-up Palestinian detainees. Instead, he ordered an investigation against another two soldiers. The first of the IDF soldiers to be investigated was pictured pointing a rifle at a bound and blindfolded detainee who stood beside him. The other soldier to be investigated filmed a video of himself dancing to music around a tied-up and blindfolded Palestinian woman. Both photographs and the video were posted on Facebook.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-won-t-investigate-idf-soldier-photographed-next-to-bound-palestinians-1.368106
Settler placed under house arrest in Palestinian murder case
[includes video] Ynet 16 June -- A Jewish man arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing a 19-year old Palestinian, who threw stones at him in January, was remanded to a three-day house arrest Thursday, which he is to spend at his parents' home in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut. The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court released the suspect after he posted bail at a sum of NIS 2,000 ($586). Police suspect the 26-year old shot Udai Qadous and neglected to report the case after returning home. He was arrested on Wednesday, some five months later.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083122,00.html
Detention
Israeli medical resident arrested for Naksa Day violence
Haaretz 16 June -- A medical resident from the Druze town of Majdal Shams on the Israel-Syria border was charged Thursday with aggravated assault for attacking a public servant and disorderly conduct as part of his involvement in the Naksa Day events last week. Dr. Mahmoud Mahmoud, a 28-year-old who works at Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed, was indicted along with two other men for hurling rocks at Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Naksa Day, which marked the anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War ... The Ministry of Health said Wednesday it will reconsider Mahmoud's employment in the hospital.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-medical-resident-arrested-for-naksa-day-violence-1.368080
IOF soldiers renew detention of MP Qadi
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 June -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Hamas MP Dr. Samir Al-Qadi from his home in Sourif village north of Al-Khalil at dawn Thursday. Sources close to Dr. Qadi, 55, said that IOF troops encircled the lawmaker’s home then ordered him out before arresting him. The Israeli occupation authority is currently detaining 17 Palestinian lawmakers, nine of them from Al-Khalil with all of them held under administrative detention for six months. The IOA returned to the policy of kidnapping MPs seven months ago with some of them held on three occasions during the past few years.
The IOA has separately forced the isolation of all Jerusalemite deputies who were threatened with deportation from their city and sought refuge in the Red Cross premises where they have been there for the past year with the exception of one, Mohammed Abu Tir, who was captured and deported to the West Bank after revoking his Jerusalemite residence.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
IOA holds former minister in administrative custody
JENIN, (PIC) 16 June -- Salem military court on Wednesday ordered the administrative detention of former minister of prisoners’ affairs and Hamas leader Wasfi Qabaha and extended the detention of former public works minister Abdul Rahman Zeidan for 14 days. The wife of Qabaha, 47, told the PIC reporter that Israeli intelligence recommended the administrative custody of Qabaha without leveling any charge against him.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
IOA holds 72-year-old MP in administrative detention
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 15 June -- The Israeli court of Ofer, near Ramallah, ordered the administrative detention of Palestinian MP Ahmed Al-Haj for six months, without any charge. Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with the international Tadamun foundation, said that the same court also ordered the administrative custody of lecturer Mustafa Al-Shinawi for four months. Both would appear in court next Sunday where the verdicts would be pronounced ... Both Haj and Shinar were taken from their homes on 7/6/2011 in a campaign of arrests aimed at foiling the reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Palestinian prisoners torch mattresses in protest at detaining old mother
RAMALLAH (PIC) 15 June -- Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Eshel jail set their mattresses on fire after the administration detained the mother of one of them at the pretext she was carrying unpermitted luggage with her. The administration cancelled the visit and returned prisoners to their wards and forced visiting relatives out of the jail and of visiting halls.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Hamas detains Fatah official in Gaza
IMEMC 16 June -- Fatah have complained that one of its officials in Gaza, Abu A’itah, was detained in Gaza by Hamas security forces, according to Maan. Fatah officials have complained that the detention of Abu A’itah by Hamas makes Fatah’s effort to rebuild the party in Gaza impossible. The party also complains that it breaks the spirit of the recent unity deal between the two rival parties and puts it in jeopardy. Under a unity deal signed by Fatah and Hamas in April both parties were to desist from arresting opposing party activists. Additionally, both sides agreed to mutually release each other’s political prisoners. Hamas has complained that its activists in the West Bank continue to be extensively targeted for arrest by Fatah and PA security forces.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61463
Reprisal
Lull ends, rocket fired from Gaza
Ynet 15 June -- A Qassam rocket exploded Thursday evening in an open field in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported in the strike, the first of its kind in southern Israel in recent weeks ... "From the eve of Passover until today we had a calm period that we are not familiar with by any standard," Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yalin told Ynet. "We are not surprised that the lull ended, we're surprised by a month an a half of quiet. Qassam fire is not an unusual thing, because we know who's living on the other side," [Oh these one-sided lulls, if only the Palestinians had them too....]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083323,00.html
Gaza
Medications to arrive in Gaza Monday, PA says
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 June -- Ten truckloads of medicine will enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday, officials in the coastal enclave told Ma‘an on Thursday. Nazmi Muhanna, head of the crossings committee in Gaza, said that instructions from President Mahmoud Abbas were handed down and necessary arrangements with Israel's Civil Administration and crossings officials were made to ensure that the goods were permitted to enter. Israeli restrictions, poor coordination and the fragile status of the health care system in Gaza combined to create a medications shortage crisis, prompting the International Red Cross to open its warehouses earlier in the week and donate its stockpile to public hospitals. "The first of the ten trucks will arrive Sunday," Muhanna said, with the remainder scheduled to arrive the following day.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397305
Owners of destroyed homes close down UNRWA premises in protest
GAZA (PIC) 15 June -- Owners of destroyed homes in Rafah and Khan Younis, in the south Gaza Strip, have decided to close down UNRWA main offices in protest at the latter’s delay in starting to re-build their homes, which were destroyed in the Israeli war on Gaza. A committee of those citizens charged UNRWA with not being sincere in its bid to re-build their homes, explaining that the agency had promised to start building in mid June, that is today but nothing happened.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Top ten reasons why the opening of Rafah Crossing just doesn't cut it
GG 16 June -- In no particular order of importance, we thought we’d list some of the reasons why the opening of Rafah, while significant and helpful, doesn’t meet all of Gaza’s needs for access and why, as some voices in Israel have recently suggested, it can’t serve as Gaza’s only access point. Despite four unanticipated days of closure last week, the crossing has been operating for the passage of travelers on a more regular but still semi-limited basis.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/06/the-top-10-reasons-why-the-opening-of-rafah-crossing-just-doesnt-cut-it/
IOF troops infiltrate east of Breij refugee camp
GAZA (PIC) 15 June -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza on afternoon Wednesday and bulldozed land lots, local sources said. They told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers in army tanks escorted military bulldozers 400 meters into Gazan land amidst random firing.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Al-Qassam member dies from electric shock
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 June -- The militant wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement Thursday saying one of its fighters had died in hospital after sustaining a life-threatening electric shock two days earlier. The group identified the man as Muhammad Al-Mahmoum, 20. He sustained an electric shock while he was working with the brigades in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah ... Tunnel workers often suffer electric shocks from faulty wiring in the underground passages leading between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397171
Miles of Smiles convoy en route to Gaza convoy delivery
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 16 June -- Preparations to receive the humanitarian aid ship Miles of Smiles have been completed, head of the Red Crescent society in the Egyptian Sinai told Ma‘an on Thursday. The ship is set to arrive in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria on Friday, after leaving from Venice, the RC's Jaber Al-Arabi explained. Al-Arabi told Ma‘an that Egyptian authorities in Alexandria will transfer the contents of Miles of Smiles to another ship before it arrives in the northern port city of El-Arish, south of Gaza, on Sunday. The convoy contains medicine, medical equipment, wheel chairs, and ambulances, the official said. Over 60 Arab and European activists from different countries are said to be traveling with the convoy,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397212
Flotillas
Watch: Video shows IDF preparing for next Gaza flotilla
Haaretz 16 June -- The naval exercise includes intercepting ships of various sizes and handling both non-violent and violent passengers.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/watch-video-shows-idf-preparing-for-next-gaza-flotilla-1.368091
Organizers: Flotilla no threat to Israel
Ynet 16 June -- Free Gaza 'determined to sail to Gaza'; meanwhile, Israel allows Turkish aid into Strip ... "We do not present an imminent threat to Israel nor do we aim to contribute to a war effort against Israel, thus eliminating any claim by Israel to self-defense, we invite the HRC or any other UN or international agency to come on board and inspect our vessels at their point of departure, on the high seas, and/or on their arrival in the Gaza port," the group said in a statement Thursday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083073,00.html
Senator wants US Navy to help block flotillas to Gaza / Alex Kane
16 June -- Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois sure is earning the hundreds of thousands of dollars the Israel lobby dumps into his coffers. In a report based on a recent “fact-finding” trip to the Middle East, Kirk calls for U.S. naval and special operations forces to support Israel in combating the upcoming flotilla to Gaza.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/senator-wants-u-s-navy-to-help-block-flotillas-to-gaza/
Political / Diplomatic / International news
UN move is 'for Palestinian membership not international recognition'
MEMO 16 June -- A leading member of the PLO's executive Committee has said that the Palestinian Authority's plan to go to the United Nations in September is more about seeking UN membership for Palestine than international recognition of the state. According to Saeb Erekat, membership of the international body is being sought for a state of Palestine on the pre-June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. "We don't seek to declare a Palestinian state unilaterally, as is being claimed," said Dr. Erekat, "but we want the United Nations to recognise us as a state qualifying for membership of the organisation." That, he added, will lead to international acceptance and recognition.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2480-un-move-is-qfor-palestinian-membership-not-international-recognitionq
New Israel ambassador to UN still sees hope for September
Haaretz 16 June -- Haaretz speaks with newly appointed Ambassador Ron Prosor, who views the possible unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood in September as a challenge, but not an inevitability.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/new-israel-ambassador-to-un-still-sees-hope-for-september-1.368027
Turkey to vote for PA recognition in UN
Ynet 16 June -- Ankara's Abdullah Gül tells Japanese publication his country will support unilateral Palestinian bid in September
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083125,00.html
PM: Israel aims to offset PA's UN bid
Ynet 15 June -- Netanyahu meets with EU Chair Buzek, says Israel wants to create 30-nation block in UN to balance out support garnered by unilateral Palestinian bid
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4082285,00.html
Official: Netanyahu fears third intifada
Ynet 16 June -- Israel preparing for worst-case scenarios ahead of Palestinian declaration of state, says official, including loss of legitimacy for Jews to reside in Jerusalem neighborhoods
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4082863,00.html
Conference to offer alternative to 2-state solution
Ynet 16 June -- A mini-conference next week on the subject of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria is the first step in an effort to present an alternative to the two-state solution, event organizers told Ynetnews Thursday. The event, titled "The Preferred Option: Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria," will be held at the OU-Israel Center in Jerusalem on Monday night, June 20th at 7:30 pm.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083295,00.html
Israel warns Lebanon against violating 1701
BEIRUT (DS) 16 June -- Israel warned Lebanon’s new Cabinet Wednesday to respect its international legal and border agreements, including the cessation of hostilities between the two one-time belligerents ... Israel routinely violates Lebanese airspace with near daily reconnaissance flights and mock air raids and has been accused by the Lebanese Army countless times of crossing the Blue Line into southern territory. The Blue Line is not the border between Lebanon and Israel. Rather, it is the U.N. delineated boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from south Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-16/Israel-warns-Lebanon-against-violating-1701.ashx#axzz1PU9ycbWu
Report: Egypt's al-Karama party wants to cancel peace treaty with Israel
Haaretz 16 June -- The Egyptian al-Karama party, whose leader plans to run in the upcoming presidential elections, has said the cancellation of the Camp David Accords is its top priority, according to a report by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm on Thursday. Al-Karama party representative Amin Iskander said the party wishes to cancel the agreement "immediately because it’s not in Egypt’s interest."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-egypt-s-al-karama-party-wants-to-cancel-peace-treaty-with-israel-1.368011
Multilateral cooperation between the United States and Israel: Fighting delegimitization, moving forward together
15 June -- Remarks by Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Washington Institute for Near East Policy ...Today I am going to focus on the Administration’s far-reaching efforts to normalize Israel’s status in and across the UN and broader multilateral system, and to counter head-on efforts of delegitimization and continued structural bias. As you can imagine, we spend a considerable amount of time in my bureau, in the seven U.S Missions to the UN, the State Department and across the Administration on these very issues. In particular, our Missions to the UN have close cooperation with their Israeli counterparts in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Paris, Rome, Nairobi and Montreal and across the full range of UN and multilateral fora. In fact, there are only a handful of other countries where our level of cooperation at the UN is so deep.
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rm/2011/166223.htm
MK Herzog: Deep hostility to Bibi in US
Ynet 16 June -- Labor Party Knesset member visiting US says Netanyahu slammed by top Democrats for leaving behind 'scorched earth'; PM's style insulted President Obama and his people, MK Herzog says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083321,00.html
Other news
Archbishop comments on Christians criticized
LONDON (Ma‘an) 16 June -- The Palestine Solidarity Campaign issued a statement Wednesday criticizing the Archbishop of Canterbury calling Bethlehem Christians a "marginalized minority." ... He noted an increase in attacks against Christian populations in Egypt and Iraq, and extended concern to Palestinian Christians, citing encroaching Muslim communities, and making no mention of Israel's occupation of Bethlehem as part of the Palestinian West Bank. The oversight prompted angry responses from some Palestinian Christians, who felt that the Archbishop had overlooked the Israeli occupation as the principal reason for Christian emigration.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397067
Egypt: Bedouins begin to demand equal citizenship rights
SINAI (IRIN) 16 June - Moussa Al Dalah, a 35-year-old tribal leader from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, knew it would be a risky step to try and take his employer to court over alleged discrimination: He could easily end up in prison ... Egypt's Bedouins who inhabit the triangular Sinai Peninsula which links Africa with Asia and covers an area of 23,500 square miles, say they do not enjoy full citizenship rights and are treated as second class citizens. They say they are not allowed to join the army, study in police or military colleges, hold key government positions or form their own political parties. Locked in this arid expanse, the Bedouins claim they have have been left to fend for themselves. Mistrust between the government and the Bedouins, some of whom allegedly collaborated with the Israeli military when it occupied Sinai in 1967, continues to fuel negative stereotypes about them.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=92998
Israeli arms companies report $7,2 billion in exports for 2010t
IMEMC 16 June -- JPost reports that Israeli military companies sold a total of $7.2 billion worth of military hardware abroad and a further $2.4 billion to the IDF in 2010, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry. With total sales of $9.6 billion in 2010 Israel is said to be in the top four producers of armaments globally.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61464
Dog sentenced to death by stoning
Ynet 16 June -- Rabbinical court rules spirit of secular lawyer who insulted judges 20 years ago transferred into wandering dog's body
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4082843,00.html
PETA urges rabbis to overturn dog's death sentence
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 16 June -- A leading US animal rights organization is urging rabbinical authorities in Jerusalem to overturn a "death sentence" by stoning of a dog alleged to be a reincarnated lawyer. Head of the court Rabbi Avraham Dov Levin reportedly denied calling for the dog's stoning. But one of the court's managers confirmed the sentence, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has called the sentence "absurd." "By sentencing an innocent animal to a painful death for such an absurd reason, this rabbinical court has not only completely discredited itself but also violated tza'ar ba'alei chayim ("the suffering of living creatures") -- one of the most important principles in Judaism," PETA said in a statement Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397372
Analysis / Opinion
Haaretz editorial: Israel needs to keep religion out of the army
16 June -- It's time for IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to bring back the original version of the Yizkor memorial prayer, featuring the words, 'the nation of Israel,' to IDF ceremonies, after it was changed during the Six Day War ... At first glance, this change seems to affect just one phrase. However, it is indicative of the major transformation taking place in the army and the entire country, which is turning from a secular country into a theocracy in which the rabbis set the rules.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-needs-to-keep-religion-out-of-the-army-1.367988
Operation Birthright
Nation 16 June -- How a small group of wealthy American Jews and Israeli politicians set out to create the next generation of Zionists.
http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/international/1517/operation_birthright
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment