Is This Anti-Semitism or Not ?

Dear All,

Just one item today.  Actually, I was hoping to find news in the printed media about an item that was broadcast on tonight’s TV news here in Israel , but with no luck. The news item showed homeless people (some with infants) being brutally removed from vacant apartments that they had broken into.  The news item furnished statistics on why public housing was not being built, namely, much of the money that had been dedicated to it was being spent on other things, as, for instance, a road to Maale Adumim in the West Bank.  In addition to that there were additional purposes for which the money was being used, none having to do with public housing.  Perhaps tomorrow the Israeli newspapers will have something about the issue.  

 

Meanwhile,  ‘Today in Palestine ’ has plentiful material to keep you busy.  Please pay special attention to the following : the first item, in which the Israeli court gives Elad the right to continue its means of Judaizing East Jerusalem. Under the heading “Settlers” all the items.  Under Prisoner Swaps see especially ‘The Hannibal  Policy,’ which reveals Israel ’s true attitude towards the lives of its soldiers.  Under ‘Israeli Forces’ ‘4 year old girl shot in the neck.’ And Under “Detention/Court Actions’ see especially ‘Israeli punishments against prisoners escalate . . .’ and ‘Israel releases Palestinian child after 5 months’—the child being 11 years old!!! Can you imagine your 11 year old child or anyone’s being held in an adult prison for 5 months???!!!

 

The more of all the items that you manage to read, the better informed you will be.  I see now that Today in Palestine for the 27^th is also up, so am including its link, too.

 

If you can stomach all that Israel does in the OPT and to its own, you have a less sensitive stomach than I do!

 

All the best,Land theft / Ethnic cleansing 

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Elad can continue to operate City of David, court finds

JPost 26 Oct — The City of David Foundation can continue to operate the City of David Archaeological Park in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, despite a petition against the private organization’s right to manage a national park, the High Court of Justice decided on Wednesday. Left-wing group Ir Amim filed the petition in July 2010 to challenge an allegedly secret contract between the Israel National Parks Authority and Elad, a right-wing organization that supports Jewish residents in the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan. Ir Amim charged that Elad’s political agenda was ignoring the Arab history of the site and creating a conflict of interest
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=243280&R=R2

Israeli Municipality to demolish Dung Gate bridge

JERUSALEM (WAFA) 26 Oct — Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem said Tuesday that Bab El-Magharbeh (Dung Gate) bridge in Jerusalem’s Old City is in danger of collapse or fire and must be demolished within 30 days. Israeli authorities issued, five months ago, a permit to demolish the Dung Gate bridge and build another one in accordance with Israeli plans which aim to Judaize the area, but the police postponed the demolition for fear of the outbreak of protests by Palestinians. Israeli authorities are working to change the character of Jerusalem’s Old City, including the demolition of the Dung Gate bridge, which is used by Israeli police and security as well as the Jews when entering Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17864

Al-Aqsa Foundation warns against demolishing mosque passage

JERUSALEM (WAFA) 26 Oct — The al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage in Jerusalem Wednesday warned of dangerous repercussions if the Israeli municipality proceeds to demolish Magharbe Gate passage to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. If implemented, it said, it would lead to the demolition of a section of the Mosque itself.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17878

The land exchange project  / Sawsan Ramahi

MEMO Briefing Paper 25 Oct — Zionist political thought continues to propose projects based on the eradication of the Palestinians as a people or, at the very least, their marginalisation inside the state of Israel. So-called ‘population transfer’ is a fundamental and unequivocally non-negotiable principle of political Zionism. It has been used to devastating effect for more than sixty years to carry out what historians have called the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians from their land … the Zionist establishment has now added a new dimension to its concept of ‘transfer’. This has come to be known as ‘geographical transfer’ and is intended to destroy Palestine as a viable homeland while still referring to it as a land.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/briefing-papers/2983-the-land-exchange-project

The Negev’s hot wind blowing / Jonathan Cook

MERIP 25 Oct — Over the past 15 months the dusty plains of the northern Negev desert in Israel have been witness to a ritual of destruction, part of a police operation known as Hot Wind. On 29 occasions since June 2010, hundreds of Israeli paramilitary officers have made the pilgrimage over a dirt track near the city of Beersheva to the zinc sheds and hemp tents of al-‘Araqib. Within hours of their arrival, the 45 ramshackle structures — home to some 300 Bedouin villagers — are pulled down and al-‘Araqib is wiped off the map once again. All that remains to mark the area’s inhabitation by generations of the al-Turi tribe are the stone graves in the cemetery … The struggle over al-‘Araqib has played out many times before in other Negev locations since Israel’s founding in 1948. Then, and in the early years of state building, all but 11,000 of the Negev’s population of 90,000 Bedouin were expelled to Egypt, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank.
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero102511

Attempts to erase history and culture

East Jerusalem school textbooks are a war of words

LATimes 24 Oct — Israel says some passages incite violence. Parents and teachers are incensed …Two sets of textbooks are vying for the formative minds of thousands of Palestinian students in Arabic-language schools in East Jerusalem. One was written by the Palestinian Authority, and the other is a revised version reprinted by Israeli authorities. It’s a textbook war that underscores the long-running battle of narratives in the Mideast conflict, where the fight over the future is often rooted in understanding of the past, and schoolbooks can play a critical role .. Palestinian parents, teachers and officials, however, say Israel’s edits are politically motivated, essentially erasing all references and symbols relating to Palestinian identity, history and nationalism. [See also Jalal Abukhater’s article cited in Monday’s list]
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-palestinian-textbooks-20111025,0,216250,full.story

Settlers

PA: Settlers prevent farmers from harvesting olives

NABLUS (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said villagers in Huwwara were prevented from accessing their land near the notorious Yitzhar settlement south of Nablus, despite having approved coordination between Israeli authorities, the official news agency Wafa reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432526

Jewish settlers burnt or uprooted 7,500 olive trees in 9 months

RAMALLAH (PIC) 26 Oct — Jewish settlers burnt or uprooted 7500 Palestinian olive trees in the first nine month of 2011, a report by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied territories (OCHA) said on Tuesday. The report documents the damage of thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural fields cultivated with olives. It said that Palestinians’ access to their olive fields near 55 settlements in the West Bank was limited to certain periods in the year and in the presence of Israeli occupation forces. It noted that the Israelis turn down 40% of requests by Palestinian farmers to ‘visit’ their fields located beyond the separation wall.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

‘Price tag amounts to terrorism’

Ynet 25 Oct — Outgoing Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon warns against ‘growing extremist margins of Israeli public’  … The Samaria and Binyamin settlement councils welcomed Alon’s departure. “His flaccid policy towards Arab rioters, the statements that show a clearly leftist world-view and the war on Jewish settlement have caused a great rift and a credibility crisis between the army and the settlers,” they said in a statement.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4139064,00.html

Palestinian, Israeli videos offer conflicting views of East Jerusalem assault

Haaretz 25 Oct — Palestinian video shows a man subduing a boy throwing rocks, while Jewish video shows boy and other children vandalizing a house with rocks and iron rods.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
palestinian-israeli-videos-offer-conflicting-views-of-east-jerusalem-assault-1.391815

Israeli forces

Four-year-old girl shot in neck next to wall in Anata

PNN 27 Oct — Shortly after noon on Wednesday, a four-year-old Palestinian girl named Asil Arara was shot in the neck by Israeli troops near her village of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem. A PNN reporter in Jerusalem said the shot was fired from the nearby Anatot army training camp toward Arara’s home, which lies next to the wall separating Anata from Jerusalem. Medical sources in al-Makased Hospital in Jerusalem told PNN that Arara was “seriously wounded” and described her condition as “dangerous.” Arara, they said, was in danger of paralysis as a result of the injury.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10807&Itemid=56

4-year-old ‘critically injured’ after shooting

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — A young Palestinian girl was shot late Tuesday in an incident near Israel’s separation wall near the Anata district in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Wednesday. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear. The family has blamed Israel’s army but an Israeli military official denied involvement in the girl’s injury … The girl’s family, of the Bedouin community, resides in the Anata area near an Israeli army camp, the Palestinian Government Media Center said in a statement on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432739

House demolished, trees uprooted in Anata

PNN 25 Oct — On Tuesday, Israeli forces demolished a 120-square foot house in the village of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, as well as uprooted trees and removed barbed wires placed on village land. A group of Israeli soldiers entered the village from the northeast and imposed a military blockade of the village before it began demolitions. According to Palestinian official news wire Wafa, the Israeli forces claimed that the Palestinian buildings were illegally constructed in an Israeli area.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10800&Itemid=64

Israeli police target Sheikh Jarrah store for hanging posters of Erdogan

Mondoweiss 25 Oct — For the past year Palestinian store owner Azzam Maraka has been displaying posters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in his store windows near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Today Israeli police arrived for the fifth time since the posters were hung to fine Mr. Maraka 475 Israeli shekels (equivalent to approximately 130 US dollars) totaling 2375 shekels (~$650) to date.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/
israeli-police-target-sheikh-jarrah-store-for-hanging-posters-of-erdogan.html#more-55121

Israel police close ‘Hamas, PFLP’ offices in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Oct — Israeli police said on Tuesday they had closed down two offices in occupied East Jerusalem which were allegedly being used by Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine … The office which was allegedly being used by Hamas was in the northern Dahiyat al-Barid neighborhood, while the premises being used by the PFLP were located in Shu‘fat, police said. But Khaled Zabarqa, who runs Jerusalem for Development, a local housing association which is based in the Dahiyat al-Barid office, said he was “surprised” by the move and denied the organization had any ties with Hamas … Israel took over the eastern sector of the city during the 1967 Six Day War and has since banned any Palestinian activity there deemed as “political.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432509

Gaza

UN official calls on Israel to end the blockade of Gaza

MEMO 26 Oct — A senior United Nations official has called on the Israeli government to lift the siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for five years. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told a Security Council meeting on the Middle East and the Palestine Issue that the prisoner exchange agreement should lead to further steps towards ending the closure of Gaza
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2989

Egypt releases 6 Palestinians

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — Egyptian authorities on Tuesday released six Palestinians who had been detained for illegally entering Egypt without permits.Palestinian sources told Ma‘an that six men from Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza were returned to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432477

Grad rocket fired from Gaza Strip explodes near Ashdod

JPost 26 Oct — No injuries but several suffer from shock; sirens heard in cities north of Ashdod; IDF force near Efrat hit earlier by roadside bomb, causing no injuries; rocket attack is first since Schalit deal.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=243313

Detention / Court actions

Israeli punishments against prisoners escalate after swap deal: report

RAMALLAH (WAFA) 26 Oct — The Israeli punishments and arbitrary measures against Palestinian prisoners have significantly escalated following the completion of the first phase of the prisoners’ swap deal, according to a report published on Wednesday. The report, published by the Ministry of Detainees’ Affairs, said that the solitary confinement policy against prisoners, which is considered one of the most dangerous Israeli policies against prisoners, is still carried out by the prisons’ administration and did not end; almost 20 prisoners are still detained in solitary confinement, some of them have been there for several years. Shirin Iraqi, one of the ministry’s lawyers, said that the legal adviser of the Israeli prisons’ administration closed the canteen accounts for 28 prisoners and their families can no longer pay for the canteen. The report pointed out that Gazan prisoners are still awaiting family visits since more than five years, although the Israeli pretext, Gilad Shalit issue, to prevent family visits no longer exists after the prisoner’s swap deal.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17881

Israel releases Palestinian child after 5 months

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 Oct — Israeli authorities released on Tuesday Omar Jaradat, 11, from Saeer village north of Hebron after five months in the Israeli prison Ofer. He also paid a 5,000-shekel fine. Israeli forces tried to forbid people who were waiting for the child near the checkpoint from welcoming him and tried to remove Palestinian flags that were on cars near the checkpoint. The released prisoner spoke of harsh conditions inside the jails. He said that as winter approaches, there are few clothes for the prisoners and the authorities prevent families from providing them.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432439

Israeli intelligence kidnaps 7 family members of detained Jerusalemite MP

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 Oct — Israeli occupation forces and intelligence agents broke into the home of detained Jerusalemite MP Ahmed Attoun in Sur Baher village and took away seven of his relatives including two brothers … He said that the police forces detained five of Attoun’s cousins, adding that an intelligence officer told him that they had a list of names of his family to be arrested but did not give reasons for the arrest. The father charged that the Israeli occupation authority wanted to spoil the family’s joy with the release of one of Attoun’s brothers in the recent prisoners’ exchange deal.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Israel detains released prisoner

JERUSALEM (WAFA) 26 Oct – Israeli forces Tuesday night detained Samer Issawi, a released Palestinian prisoner in the latest swap, according to a WAFA correspondent. Israeli police arrested Issawi at a checkpoint near Issawiya, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, and detained him for 13 hours in al-Muskubiya, the detention center in the Russian compound in West Jerusalem, before releasing him.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17873

Israeli forces detain 19 Palestinians overnight

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — Israeli forces detained 19 people across the West Bank overnight Tuesday, witnesses and the army said.  An Israeli military spokeswoman said the 19 Palestinians were taken for security questioning … The prisoner rights group Addameer estimates that Israel has jailed 650,000 Palestinians since 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432563

[UK] Immigration Tribunal rejects Sheikh’s appeal on a sad day for human rights and democracy

MEMO 26 Oct — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The Immigration and Asylum First-Tier Tribunal has rejected the appeal of Sheikh Raed Salah against the decision of the Home Secretary to exclude him from the UK. Yesterday’s judgement (Tuesday 25 October), a court statement said, came down to a balancing act between the public interest and the interests of Sheikh Salah … It is unfortunate that the tone of yesterday’s judgement suggests that Sheikh Raed Salah is being excluding from Britain for being a vocal critic of the state of Israel (of which he is a citizen).
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/press-release/2993

PA sentences Nablus man for collaboration

PNN 25 Oct — …Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian Authority (PA) court sentenced an unnamed man to 10 years in prison for collaborating with the Israeli security service Shabak. The prosecutor in the case told reporters that the collaborator, age 34, had been passing information to the Shabak officer in charge of the Salfit governorate since 2002, after he was imprisoned inside Israel. On his release, the officer gave him an identity card that would let him pass through Israeli checkpoints and a cell phone with 450 NIS on it.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10795&Itemid=64

Border cop gets 7.5 years for West Bank checkpoint bribes

JPost 26 Oct — The Jerusalem District Court sentenced border policeman Atta Marai to seven-and-a-half years of imprisonment on Tuesday, following his conviction on 49 counts of bribery and breach of trust and one count of carrying out an act that could spread disease. Marai was also fined NIS 50,000. According to the indictment, 32-year-old Marai had been a border guard for 14 years and at the time of his arrest served as commander of the al-Jib, or Givat Ze’ev, checkpoint. Al-Jib is part of the “Jerusalem envelope” series of checkpoints at various entrances from the West Bank into the capital. Marai, who was convicted under a plea bargain, admitted that, together with two guards and a civilian accomplice, he took bribes from truck drivers to allow them to pass through the checkpoint from the West Bank into Israel without a security check.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=243191

Prisoner swaps

In light of Shalit swap, 29 Palestinian women demand Israel return bodies of family members

Haaretz 26 Oct — Since 1967, Israel has held about 180 bodies of Palestinians killed in various clashes, and those of suicide bombers. Most of the bodies are held in a cemetery for enemy combatants, near Adam Bridge in the Jordan Valley.  A decade ago, a number of families petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding the return of Palestinian bodies. At first the state agreed, subject to an identification process. But after Shalit was abducted to the Gaza Strip, the state changed its stance and said the bodies would not be returned for they were bargaining chips in the negotiations for the soldier’s release.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/in-light-of-shalit-swap-
29-palestinian-women-demand-israel-return-bodies-of-family-members-1.392158

Israeli authorities prevent Al-Rugoob from meeting his released son

IMEMC 25 Oct — The Israeli authorities have prevented Awad Yonis al-Rugoob, 60, from traveling to the Gaza strip to meet his son, who was released in the first phase of the prisoner-swap deal and exiled to Gaza. Al-Rugoob said that heads of the Israeli Intelligence Agency held him for several hours before telling him to go home. He asserted that there is no explicit reason for this, and that he has also been prevented from visiting his son in the Israeli jail for ten years.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62358

Freed prisoner weds after 17-year engagement

JENIN (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — …Thaher Ribhi Qabha was freed from an Israeli jail last week in the prisoner exchange deal but was sent into exile in the Gaza Strip. His bride was still waiting for him in his hometown of Bartaa al-Sharqiya, a village overshadowed by Israel’s separation wall near Jenin in the northern West Bank … Exiled to the Gaza Strip, Thaher couldn’t attend the ceremony but a satellite feed was arranged and he delivered a speech aired on a huge screen in the village park … the bride would join her groom in Gaza, traveling via Jordan and Egypt accompanied by her father and brothers. Fatah secretary Mohammad Saleh Qabha told Ma‘an that Thaher’s mother and his disabled brother had died while he was in prison in Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432566

Israel stopped mother visiting prisoner son for 11 years / Rami Almeghari

EI 25 Oct — “Eid was born on the night of Eid al-Fitr 47 years ago,” Eid Abdallah Misleh’s mother, Umm Eid, explained, referring to the feast marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, “So we named him Eid to be a good omen for our family. This day is also Eid for me, as my son has been released from the Israeli occupation’s jails.” Indeed, it was a celebration for Misleh, back with his mother, his wife Umm Ubaida, his daughters, Shaima, 23, Israa, 21, and his son Ubaida, 19, and many extended family and friends in Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Six days after his release, friends and family continued to flow to Misleh’s home to welcome him back.He had just served almost two decades in the Israeli desert prison in the Negev (Naqab).
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-stopped-mother-visiting-prisoner-son-11-years/10520

IDF to revisit abduction prevention protocol

Ynet 25 Oct — Army to discuss ‘Hannibal Protocol’ which stipulates kidnappings of living soldiers must be prevented at any cost, including endangering captive’s life … The protocol takes into consideration the fact that the captive soldier may be killed, with the guiding principle being that a dead soldier is better than a kidnapped soldier in the eyes of the State of Israel which will be forced to pay a heavy price for the captive. In practice, each commander gives his own interpretation of the order to his men. On the eve of Operation Cast Lead, for example, a Golani battalion commander told his soldiers that if they find themselves in danger of being kidnapped they must blow themselves up using a grenade …Gantz will be forced to form a clear and unified policy next week which will no doubt prompt a public discussion. Meanwhile IDF officials stressed that the protocol will not be changed but procedures will be revisited to prevent any misunderstandings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4138915,00.html

‘Hannibal’ policy: Israel’s plan to kill its own soldiers / Jonathan Cook

National 26 Oct — …Amid all the self-congratulation, it was easy to overlook the army’s view of the Shalit deal. Its commanders were not only downcast, but, it seems, determined to use drastic military means to ensure there was not a repeat of the event. Not least, they appear to be reviving the so-called “Hannibal procedure”, the Israeli army’s dirtiest secret … The procedure was supposedly ended in 2003, after its existence came to light inadvertently when a media report slipped past the military censor. But few observers believe it was ever rescinded in practice. The circumstances in which two Israeli soldiers died following their capture by Hizbollah in 2006, triggering that year’s Lebanon war, have never been satisfactorily explained.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/
hannibal-policy-israels-plan-to-kill-its-own-soldiers

Teens: Don’t exchange terrorists for our freedom

Ynet 25 Oct —  A week after Gilad Shalit’s return from captivity, dozens of spirited teens signed a petition opposing the release of terrorists — even in the event that they themselves become prisoners of war …  The future IDF soldiers note in the letter that they would agree to a prisoner swap, if it was done in accordance with international conventions that call for one POW to be exchanged for another.  Moreover, the teens demand the state downgrade terrorists’ imprisonment conditions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4138946,00.html

Saudi cleric offers cash for Israel soldier kidnap

DUBAI (Reuters) 26 Oct — A prominent Saudi cleric has offered to pay $100,000 to any Palestinian who kidnaps an Israeli soldier, according to his Facebook page. Awad al-Qarni said he had made the offer in response to a similar reward promised by an Israeli family for anyone who catches the person who killed one of its members in 1998, following the exchange this month of more than 1,000 prisoners for a captive Israeli soldier. “The media reported the news of the Zionist occupiers paying a huge sum to anyone who killed the freed Palestinian prisoners,” Qarni, who is well known in Saudi Arabia for his outspoken views but is not part of the official clerical establishment, said on his Facebook page.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432724

Cabinet approves Grapel deal

Ynet 25 Oct — Political-Security Cabinet unanimously approves release of 25 Egyptian prisoners in return for Israeli-American citizen. Swap to be held Thursday under heavy security; Grapel to meet family in Eilat
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4139050,00.html

Grapel deal: Drug dealers and infiltrators

Ynet 25 Oct — Prison Service publishes online list of 25 Egyptian inmates to be freed in exchange for release of US-Israeli citizen. Most prisoners arrested for drug smuggling, trafficking and infiltrating into Israel
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4139159,00.html

Solidarity / Aid

French musicians play ‘Music beyond Walls’ in Palestine

PNN 26 Oct — The French musical group Swing Gadje rounded up a successful two-week visit to Palestine with ten performances, including a show in Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp … Agatha Mary, who coordinated the visit, told PNN that the visit was themed “Music Beyond Walls,” a message to the world that the Palestinians are living civilized lives despite difficulties imposed by the occupation, wall, and settlements … The visit was not just about official performances, Mary said, but included training sessions for children, many of whom have no experience in music.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10805&Itemid=

UNDP, Germany inaugurate new classrooms in Beit Jala

BEIT JALA (WAFA) 26 Oct — The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the German government Tuesday inaugurated seven new classrooms in the Talitha Kumi co-educational secondary school in Beit Jala near Bethlehem, said a press release by the UNDP
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17875

Anti-BDS

Rutgers students stand up for Mideast peace

9 Mar — After weeks of tension among Rutgers University students over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, students came together at two events in a spirit of dialogue, acceptance — and laughter. On March 1, four young Israelis — one black, one Arab, one gay, and one lesbian — gathered in New Brunswick to speak about minority rights in Israel.
http://njjewishnews.com/article/statewide/rutgers-students-stand-up-for-mideast-peace

Political / Diplomatic / International news

Palestinians: No renewed talks unless Israel accepts preconditions

DPA 26 Oct — Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat calls on Quartet to ‘explain, in practical terms’ how renewed negotiations will differ from past failed attempts.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
palestinians-no-renewed-talks-unless-israel-accepts-preconditions-1.392163

As Quartet tries to renew Israel-Palestinian talks, Lieberman steps up attack on Abbas

Haaretz 26 Oct — Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s office released on Wednesday a document to dozens of foreign embassies, saying Palestinian President is the main obstacle to the peace process. The release of the document comes as the Quartet representatives are holding talks in Jerusalem and in Ramallah in an effort to renew  negotiations. Liebermancalled Abbas the “greatest obstacle” to regional order, telling reporters in Jerusalem it would be a “blessing” if the Palestinian leader were to resign.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
as-quartet-tries-to-renew-israel-palestinian-talks-lieberman-steps-up-attack-on-abbas-1.392155

Fatah lawmaker: Lieberman’s remarks threaten Abbas’ life

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — Fatah lawmaker Faysel Abu Shahla on Wednesday said the Israeli foreign minister’s comments urging the removal of Mahmoud Abbas threatened the president’s life. Avigdor Lieberman told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday: “If there is one obstacle that should be removed immediately, it is (Abbas).” …  Abu Shahla said in a statement that Lieberman’s comments reflected arrogance in Israeli thinking, which he said was based on assassinations and terror. He added that Israel had assassinated dozens of Palestinian leaders in the past and urged leaders to take threats seriously … Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Tuesday also considered Lieberman’s comments a public call to kill the president, the official news agency Wafa reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432607

Nimr Hamad: Lieberman has a ‘thuggish, animal’ mentality

PNN 25 Oct — Nimr Hamad, the political adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, said on Tuesday that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman speaks from a “thuggish mentality.” The comment comes as a response to Lieberman’s statement that Mahmoud Abbas is an obstacle to the peace process and he must be removed. Hamad said Lieberman’s statements represent how Israel is governed: with “a thuggish and aggressive mentality.” Hamad said he was sorry that Israel chose someone like Lieberman to represent it.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10798&Itemid=56

Shin Bet ex-chief defends Abbas

Forward 26 Oct — Former Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin defended Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, saying that Abbas is against terrorism. “[Abbas] is against terrorism, although not because he loves us,” Diskin told a student conference in southern Israel.
http://forward.com/articles/144936/

Palestinians seek UNESCO vote despite US opposition

RAMALLAH (Reuters) 26 Oct — The Palestinian delegation will seek a vote on the bid for full membership of UNESCO on Oct. 30, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Wednesday, despite US threats to pull funding from the UN cultural agency. The initiative is part of a push, opposed by the United States, for recognition as a state in the UN system — a move the PLO hopes will strengthen its standing vis-à-vis Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432576

Sha‘ath to PNN: Rumors of PA dissolution not true

PNN 27 Oct — On Wednesday, Fatah Central Committee member Dr. Nabil Sha‘ath spoke to PNN and denied rumors that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was willing to dissolve the Palestinian Authority (PA) … Sha‘ath talked about the upcoming meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, which will be held on Wednesday evening in the presidential residence in Ramallah. Many issues will be discussed, Sha‘ath said, such as “after September” initiatives, but dissolution of the PA was not one of them. Sha‘ath said the second item on the agenda would be national unity and the reconciliation agreement with Hamas.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10806&Itemid=61

DFLP: Egypt to increase reconciliation efforts after Eid

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — A member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said Wednesday that Egypt would increase efforts to implement a Palestinian reconciliation deal after Eid al-Adha. Saleh Zeidan told Ma‘an that Egyptian mediation efforts would increase after the religious holiday, with the country planning to meet Palestinian factions separately to discuss different means to implement a deal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432738

Azerbaijan wins Security Council seat

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — The UN General Assembly on Monday elected Azerbaijan to a two-year term on the Security Council, joining Pakistan, Morocco, Guatemala and Togo as the five new non-permanent members of the most powerful UN body … Analysts say the new structure of the council is more likely to yield to US pressure over the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, particularly Guatemala and Togo who replaced Brazil and Nigeria. Azerbaijan is considered more vulnerable to the US pressure than its predecessor on the council Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite being an Islamic country.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432475

Barghouthi: South Africa familiar with Israel’s apartheid policy

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — South Africa’s support of the Palestinian UN bid stems from its familiarity with Israel’s apartheid policy in Palestine, Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi said Wednesday. South Africa on Tuesday threw its weight behind Palestine’s bid to become a full member of the United Nations and called on the international body to settle the bid quickly.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432505

Israel downplays Turkey quake aid as salve for ties

JERUSALEM (Reuters) 26 Oct — Israel’s help for earthquake-struck Turkey is a humanitarian gesture with limited prospects of rebuilding ties between the former allies, Israeli officials said on Wednesday. Responding to an international appeal by Ankara following Sunday’s 7.2 magnitude quake that killed more than 400 people and forced thousands to flee their homes in the eastern Van province, Israel planned to fly out a small number of prefabricated homes and said it could ship hundreds more by sea.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432675

Report: Germany rethinks submarine sales to Israel

TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — Germany is reconsidering its decision to sell Israel a sixth “Dolphin” class submarine, Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday. According to a report in Ynet, a news service connected to the newspaper, the move was prompted by the tensions between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Top political sources” say Merkel is fed up with Netanyahu
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432768

Other news

PA armored personnel carriers, gifted from Russia, languish in Jordan

PNN 26 Oct — Fifty armored personal carriers (APCs) intended as a gift from Russia to the Palestinian Authority remain in Jordan after more than a year since their initial delivery. Russia first announced its intention to provide the APCs, along with 2 Mi-17 transport helicopters, to Palestine in December of 2005. Israel agreed to the deal on the condition that all machine guns be removed from the APCs, but despite Russia’s acquiescence, Israel has continued to block the final delivery of the equipment to Palestine.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10802&Itemid=72

World Bank insures Palestinian investors

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Oct — A World Bank fund announced on Monday it will give investment guarantees to a Palestinian consortium to help inject $15 million into date palm farms in Jericho.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432013

Minister: 9,200 Palestinian pilgrims in Mecca

MECCA (Ma‘an) 25 Oct — Some 9,200 Palestinian pilgrims from the West Bank and Gaza Strip have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, the Palestinian Authority’s religious affairs minister said Tuesday. Mahmoud Habbash told reporters in Mecca that the ministry was able to successfully take the pilgrimage for the third year under the slogan “One Palestine” with participants from both enclaves … more Palestinians have been able to join this year because 2,000 of them were sponsored by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432398

For Palestinians on pilgrimage to Mecca, permits are not guaranteed

PNN 25 Oct — Ahmed Hamamreh, deported in 2002 after the siege of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, has not seen his mother in nine years. This year, they had planned a memorable reunion in Saudi Arabia for Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca — but they were turned back by ‘technical problems’ … Back in Palestine, red tape prevents even more Palestinians from going on Hajj. Umm Ashraf Abu Sroor, the mother of a prisoner, cried over her luck because she applied for a Hajj permit only to have her request postponed and postponed until the Palestinian Waqf Ministry took her passport and refused to let her leave.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10797&Itemid=72

IDF sets up Magic Wand unit

Ynet 26 Oct — After the deployment of the Iron Dome missile defense system, which has provided southern Israel with limited yet efficient protection from Qassam and Grad missiles, the defense establishment is forging ahead with developing the Magic Wand system, designed to thwart mid and long-rage missiles.7
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4139576,00.html

Only 2% of Jewish Israelis consider emigration ‘reasonable’, new survey shows

Haaretz 25 Oct …According to the survey, conducted by the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, 44 percent of Jewish Israelis have never considered emigrating and 35 percent have thought about it “but would never do it.” Intentions to leave the country are higher among younger Israelis and decrease with age, the survey found. Only 4 percent of citizens older than 60 are considering emigration as a viable option, compared with 31 percent in the 18 to 29 age group.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
only-2-of-jewish-israelis-consider-emigration-reasonable-new-survey-shows-1.391820

Analysis / Opinion

Aish Kodesh setters brutally attacked peace activists, now accuse them of inciting serial Jewish murder / Richard Silverstein

Tikun Olam 25 Oct — Tonight we’ll view the sick, twisted and sociopathic mind of Isra’Holy Fire’) who brutally assaulted the 61 year-old A. whom I profiled in a post earlier today, breaking his fingers, ribs and stealing several thousands dollars worth of personal property. A. has filed a police complaint and demanded they investigate the crimes.  Not that this will matter much regarding the outcome, which is always virtual

A chance for Hamas to find friends outside of Damascus / Salman Shaikh

ly the same: nothing happens. Now, we see in the far-right nationalist Israeli media, the settler counter-attack against the peace activists, whose real crime was joining with Palestinian farmers to harvest their olive trees.  The charge levelled by the settlers is that the protesters are ‘anarchists’ who are really spies on behalf of Palestinian terrorists, whose plan is to commit a terror attack against Aish Kodesh like the murders of the Fogel family committed in Itamar.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/10/25/aish-kodesh-
settlers-brutally-attacked-peace-activists-now-accuse-them-of-inciting-serial-jewish-murder/

A chance for Hamas to find friends outside of Damascus / Salman Shaikh

National 26 Oct — …As the growing influence of Egypt demonstrates, Hamas-Syrian relations are increasingly being shaped by other actors. Under the weight of a range of regional pressures, and given the new narrative of the Arab Awakenings, Hamas has found it difficult to chart an independent political course over the past few months. It was no coincidence therefore that Turkey and Qatar took nearly two-thirds of the 42 Palestinian prisoners exiled abroad in the Shalit prisoner swap deal. Both countries have emerged as independently minded regional powers that balance relations with Islamists, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, and the United States.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/
a-chance-for-hamas-to-find-friends-outside-of-damascus

Book review– Exploring the diversity of Palestinian identity / Mya Guarnieri

Ma‘an 26 Oct — …which voices are we still not hearing? What are their stories? What unites — and divides — the sometimes mutually antagonistic voices across their society as a whole? Who are these people, the Palestinians? Arthur Neslen’s groundbreaking new book, In Your Eyes a Sandstorm: Ways of Being Palestinian, has some answers. A collection of 51 in-depth interviews of Palestinians from all walks of life
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=432763