NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
7 items below—none, however, about Israel striking Iran—a subject that is more and more discussed here with added tidbits from the US and other countries. May it never happen!
Item 1 reports that 3 people were injured today at the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh, one of the three, a French national, was apparently badly wounded. Haaretz had less information than is in the 972 Magazine report below (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-french-woman-wounded-by-idf-gas-grenade-in-west-bank-demonstration-1.410945 ). Ynet has nothing, not even in its updates. Nor did I find any report in France24. Which means that we won’t know how badly she was injured until at least tomorrow. There have been in the past lethal and almost lethal injuries from canisters being shot by IOF soldiers at close range directly at demonstrators. I hope that in the present case the injury will be less severe and that the person injured will soon be well. Whoops, there’s an update that was not there 10 minutes ago, but not of her condition http://972mag.com/witnesses-video-challenge-army-account-of-nabi-saleh-shooting/34594/
Item 2 is commentary on Mohammed Bakri acting in a play at the Tzafta theater in Tel Aviv.
Item 3 informs us that Jerusalem Armenians are outraged because a parking lot near their homes has suddenly become for Jews only. Yep. That’s Israel.
In item 4 Ben White argues that Palestinian citizens of Israel will not enjoy equality. I agree.
Item 5 is a further report on Professor Gur’s slurs regarding the BDS conference at the University of Pennsylvania. The University responds to the complaint.
In item 6 Ban Ki Moon states that the Palestinians will have a state only via negotiations, which is the same as to say that the Palestinians will never have a state. Israel uses ‘negotiations’ not to end the conflict but rather to win time until it takes over the entire West Bank.
In item 7, the final item, Amira Hass poses the question ‘does helping a Palestinian beautify the occupation?’ Her essay, which is about Machsom Watch, which comprises women who monitor the checkpoints, reminds me of a piece that I wrote in 2004, when I still was quite active, and in which I acknowledged that I was a collaborator—not by choice, but by necessity. Because the truth is that helping Palestinians—be it harvesting olives or driving them to hospitals or helping to get a permit (which often is impossible) or anything else can be done only by appealing to the occupation authorities. Sad.
That’s it for today.
All the best,
Dorothy
+++++++++++++
1 Friday, February 3 2012Independent commentary and news from Israel & PalestineCategories
http://972mag.com/reports-of-serious-injuries-at-weekly-west-bank-demonstration/34527/
Foreign national injured at weekly West Bank demonstration
A photographer and two women, one reportedly a French national, were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at this Friday’s anti-occupation demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. This is a developing story that will be updated as new information becomes available
http://972mag.com/witnesses-video-challenge-army-account-of-nabi-saleh-shooting/34594/
|Lisa Goldman
Three civilians were injured in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh today and required hospitalization, according to reports from several eyewitness. A French national, whose name is reportedly Amissy (unconfirmed), was hit in the neck with a projectile – either a tear gas canister or a steel-coated rubber bullet. The Israeli army reports that a border police officer was injured in the head by a rock.
French national injured at Nabi Saleh Friday demonstration (photo: ActiveStills / Oren Ziv)
Although photos show the woman bleeding profusely and obviously in pain, IDF spokesman Major Peter Lerner tweeted that she had been ‘lightly injured’ by a rock thrown by a ‘non-violent’ Palestinian.
Major Lerner’s tweet provoked jeers from eyewitnesses, with several tweeting that they had seen the incident and that an indisputable video would soon be available. +972 Magazine has confirmed that there is a video of the shooting; we will upload it as soon as it is available.
Eyewitnesses report that soldiers beat Nariman Tamimi, a Nabi Saleh woman who is a trained medic, as she tried to help the injured French woman. Ms. Tamimi is the wife of imprisoned activist Bassam Tamimi, whose jail sentence was handed down based on forced coercions taken from minors. Bassem Tamimi’s case has attracted the attention of French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé.
Ms. Tamimi’s cousin Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was killed at a Friday demonstration in early December 2011, when an Israeli border police officer shot a tear gas canister at his head from very short range.
Soldiers also reportedly shot directly at a photojournalist who was covering the demonstration, prompting several people present to comment that the Israeli army was targeting journalists. This would not be the first time journalists were targeted by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. Photojournalist Mati Milstein wrote this report for +972 Magazine after he and several colleagues were targeted by Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas canisters at close range.
Proper use of tear gas canisters, according to both IDF training manuals and the tear gas manufacturers, is to shoot it from a safe distance in arcs over the heads of demonstrators, in order to avoid injury.
Nabi Saleh is a small village of approximately 500 people, located in the Ramallah District. It has been the scene of weekly demonstrations since December 2009, shortly after Jewish residents of the neighbouring settlement of Halamish forcibly confiscated a water spring that is on Nabi Saleh-owned land.
|++++
2 Thursday, February 2, 2012 Independent commentary and news from Israel & Palestine
Minister of Culture urges Tzavta Theater to ban Muhammad Bakri
http://972mag.com/minister-of-culture-urges-tzavta-theater-to-ban-muhammad-bakri/34511/
Ori J. Lenkinski
Mohammad Bakri in Tel Aviv last September (photo: Keren Manor / Activestills)
In response to Desmond Tutu’s call on the Capetown Opera Company to cancel their 2010 tour in Israel, director Michael Williams said, “arts and academics are never the right place to boycott.”
These words jumped into my mind this week as I read of the organization Im Tirzu’s demonstrations against actor and director Muhammad Bakri, and the urging of Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat to ban Bakri from Israeli stages.
At present, Bakri is in rehearsals for an interpretation of Frederico Garcia Lorca’s 1936 play, The House of Bernarda Alba, which will run at Tzavta Theater. The participants in this production are Bakri’s theater students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv.
Since 2003, when Bakri released his film Jenin, Jenin, harsh criticism of the Palestinian artist has lurked around every corner. The film was about the events that took place during the 2002 clashes between the IDF and residents of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Time and again, Bakri has been questioned about his film Jenin, Jenin. The Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Bakri broke no laws in the creation of this controversial piece. And yet, for the past eight years, Bakri has been all but blacklisted in Israel.
“We are the people of Israel,” shouted the director and spokesperson for Im Tirzu during a televised interview. “And the people of Israel are tired of letting terrorists perform on Tzavta’s stage.” The organization is an extra-parliamentary movement dedicated to strengthening Zionist values in Israel. Among their many activities, Im Tirzu’s members have been known to spy on university professors who they suspect of subversion.
There is no controversy surrounding Bakri’s talent as a performer. And though his work in the past has been directly connected to the political situation in Israel, this play is not.
Tzavta is a government-funded theater, and Livnat and Im Tirzu thus believe that it is not an appropriate venue for Bakri’s work. It should be noted that The House of Bernarda Alba is not a Tzavta production, but rather that of an outside entity that is being hosted by the theater.
“You can’t interfere with art,” said Yankale Mandel, founder and director of the Israeli Union for Performing Arts, in response to Livnat’s statement, which essentially left the decision whether or not to give Bakri the boot to the directors of Tzavta.
As far as I am concerned, the folks at Im Tirzu can think what they want and demonstrate to their hearts’ content. It’s a free country. However, when the Minister of Culture and Sport decides to chip in her two (I would argue McCarthyistic) cents, then there’s a problem.
The House of Bernarda Alba is a story of an overpowering mother who oppresses and dominates her five daughters excessively. It seems poetic that the narrative in this play mirrors Livnat’s actions so perfectly.
If, in the state of Israel, we accept the interference of politicians in the art sector, the imposition of censors and blacklists, we are lost.
+++++
3 Haaretz
Friday, February 03, 2012
Jerusalem’s Armenians outraged as city approves Jews-only parking lot in Old City