Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

• Discussing Palestine at Occupy Boston

• The impact of the Wall on Palestinian life

• A Presbyterian take on divestment from the Israeli occupation

• The 99 percent in DC

• In Cairo, the SCAF consecrates sectarian bloodshed

• Local Angel

• Panic and shock sweep Cairo

Discussing Palestine at Occupy Boston

Oct 10, 2011

Ahmed Moor

I spent my day in downtown Boston in and around the Occupy Boston encampment. Appropriately, the protesters bivouacked across the street from The Federal Reserve Bank here; the image they’ve conjured is a symbolically potent one.

My main task for the day was to lead a Palestine teach-in. About twenty people – from a variety of backgrounds – sat in a circle to offer comments and ask questions. Significantly, the teach-in was organized at the request of the Occupy Boston leadership.

I have to admit that I was surprised at the new baseline that’s emerged in recent years. People took it for granted that America and Israel have been working to undermine Palestinian human rights for decades now. Anyone who remembers talking about Palestine in 2003 knows that the goalposts have shifted. I just wasn’t aware by how much.

The recession has done its part to change perceptions I think. Americans react like normal people when they read that despite everything cash transfers to Israel are unaffected by their economic straits. Moreover, the effect that Dan Levy describes here has had a domestic impact in the past two years. Finally, Israel is breaking on the Left-Right divide, but it’s also about 1% versus the 99%. The moneyed elites and the lobbyists are all about Israel.

One other thing that struck me about the Occupy movement – which saw one or two thousand people march today – were the resonances with Tahrir. The tents, the reliance on community expertise (medical services, a prayer space, etc…) the chants and the positivity all underlined the universality of the experience for me. I wonder if we overstate the impact of culture on social movements sometimes.

I left the protesters feeling good about the movement’s goals and diversity. But I do have one major concern: Unlike Tahrir, the Occupy movement runs a very real risk of being co-opted by a range of establishment Democrat bandwagoneers.

Nothing will bury this nascent American movement for social justice more effectively than the Democratic Party. I hope that enough of the leadership knows that.

 

The impact of the Wall on Palestinian life

Oct 10, 2011

Kate

Virtual field visit: Impact of the Annexation Wall
This tour shows how the building of the Annexation Wall on Palestinian land; the severe restrictions on movement resulting in loss of livelihoods; and the expansion of the settlements, are tactics being employed by the Israeli Occupying Power to fragment Palestinian existence in the West Bank. –  Read Al-Haq’s legal analysis of the Impact of the Annexation Wall.http://www.alhaq.org

Local official: Bulldozers destroy land in al-Walaja
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli bulldozers on Sunday destroyed agricultural land belonging to the village of al-Walaja, northwest of Bethlehem, local officials said. Head of al-Walaja village council Saleh Khalifa said that a number of bulldozers accompanied by Israeli soldiers destroyed land in the Ein Jozeh area of the village to expand the separation wall, official news agency Wafa reported. Soldiers prevented farmers from reaching their land, Khalifa said. 

And more news from Today in Palestine:

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Restriction of movement

Israel postpones granting Palestinian olive-picking permits
NABLUS (WAFA) 9 Oct — Israeli authorities Sunday re-scheduled Palestinian farmers’ access to their land confined behind the Apartheid Wall to pick olives, which was scheduled today till October 21 due to the escalated Jewish settlers’ attacks, said a local official. Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said the Israeli side informed the Palestinian Coordination Office of the decision to postpone olive picking to control and prevent any possible settlers’ attacks, and to protect the Palestinians.  The Israeli authorities grant Palestinian farmers a one-day permit to access their land behind the Wall and harvest the olives every year.
link to english.wafa.ps

Army demolishes a house in Bethlehem
IMEMC 10 Oct — Israeli military bulldozers demolished a house in the village of Al-Jab‘a, southwest of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on Monday morning, the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. Head of the village council, Ahmad Hamdan, reported that a large number of military jeeps and personnel carriers, accompanied by military bulldozers, invaded the village after enforcing a strict closure on it. The army then proceeded to the Al-Madares (Schools) neighborhood and demolished the house of resident Nasr Ed-Deen Al-Toos … It is worth mentioning that Nasr Ed-Deen Al-Toos had only recently built his 120-square-meter home and was getting ready to move into it.
link to www.imemc.org

Amnesty International urgent action – Israel/OPT/ Jahalin school at risk of demolition
AI 10 Oct — A primary school for Palestinian Bedouin children in the Jerusalem area is to be destroyed after Israeli settlers pushed the military to carry out the demolition. It could be destroyed at any time. Seventy pupils from the Arab Jahalin tribe will be left without a school. Demolitions of Bedouin homes in the area are also scheduled to take place soon.
The plan to demolish the Jahalin school is part of a larger campaign to forcibly displace Bedouins who reside in the area east of Jerusalem, near to the Israeli settlements of Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim.
link to groups.google.com

Jerusalem kindergarten to remain closed due to fears it may turn into Hamas terror hub
Haaretz 10 Oct — The Ahmed Sameh kindergarten in Jerusalem’s Abu Tor neighborhood will not open this year, parents have learned … Parents were informed of the problem only days before the school year was to start, when they found the building’s gate welded shut and a closure order posted. The order stated that intelligence information showed there was a reasonable concern that the Najat association, which has been running the kindergarten for five years, would turn the building into a hub for Hamas terror activities.
link to www.haaretz.com

Elie Wiesel, former Israeli intelligence chiefs celebrate judaization of East Jerusalem / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 9 Oct — …One of the leading land-grabbers in East Jerusalem is an Israeli settler NGO, Elad, one of whose tactics has been to have Palestinian homes declared archaeological sites. This allows them to condemn and expel the residents and then create artificial archaeology parks … Who should join these settlers in commemorating their service on behalf of the Jewish people and their expropriation of Palestinian land?  None other than Nobel Peace Prize winner and Jewish humanitarian par excellence, Elie Nobel. In fact, he’s the chair of this settler group’s Advisory Board.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

Allenby Bridge to operate reduced hours during Jewish holiday
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Operating hours at the border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank will be reduced on Wednesday and Thursday due to a Jewish holiday, crossing officials said … The bridge is the sole border crossing open to most Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli forces and Palestinian Authority security forces are stationed at the border. The Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins on Wednesday evening and lasts for seven days.
link to www.maannews.net

Trying to salvage Palestinian history and culture

Palestinians compile list of heritage sites as part of UNESCO campaign
Reuters 10 Oct — The Palestinians will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus once the UN cultural agency admits them as a full member, and will then nominate other sites on Israeli-occupied land for the same standing, an official said. Hamdan Taha, a Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, said UNESCO membership was the Palestinians’ natural right. He described as “regrettable” the objections of some governments including the United States.
link to www.haaretz.com

Last-ditch effort to save a unique Palestinian village / Noam Sheizaf
972mag 9 Oct — The Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites is joining the campaign to save the remaining houses of the Palestinian village Lifta, at the western entrance of modern Jerusalem. Lifta, the best-kept of hundreds of abandoned Palestinian villages, is about to be demolished in order to make way for a new Jewish neighborhood.
link to 972mag.com

Jewish settlers and extremists

PA: Settlers damage land in northern West Bank
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Settlers caused damage several Palestinian villages’ land in the Qalqiliya and Nablus districts on Sunday, an official said. Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma‘an that farmers from Farata village, east of Qalqiliya had arrived at their land to find that olives had been stolen. Israeli forces arrived at the scene and demanded that all villagers return to their homes…
In Nablus, dozens of Itamar settlers threw rocks at farmers who were trying to pick olives in the village of ‘Awarta and stole harvest equipment, Doughlas said.
Meanwhile in Yanun village, in the valley overlooked by Jewish-only settlement Itamar, dozens of settlers attacked farmers and blocked them from their lands to harvest olives, he said, adding that Israeli army coordination to protect farmers has been postponed until Oct. 21.
To the east of Nablus, settlers from Elon Moreh cut down 45 olives trees in Deir al-Hatab village, on land owned by Palestinian man Shehada Amer, the official said.
link to www.maannews.net

Jewish settlers torch 10 Palestinian dunums of olive trees
NABLUS, (PIC) 10 Oct — Palestinian fire fighters managed on Monday morning to put off a huge fire that was blazing in 20 dunums of Palestinian olive farmland in ‘Awarta village, south of Nablus, a statement for the fire brigades said. It noted that Jewish settlers had started the fire late on Sunday night, adding that many olive trees were damaged in addition to a reporter’s car, which was intentionally targeted by those settlers. Ghassan Daghlas, in-charge of monitoring Jewish settlement activity in northern West Bank areas, said that the farmers in ‘Awarta and Yanun villages decided to delay the reaping of their olive crops this year due to the escalating settlers’ attacks.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

PA: Settlers clash with olive harvesters near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 10 Oct – …-Dozens of settlers from the Elon Moreh Jewish-only settlement attacked Palestinians picking olives in Azmut village east of Nablus, PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma‘an. The villagers refused to abandon their harvest, and fist fights broke out with the settlers, Doughlas said, adding that no injuries were recorded. After half an hour, Israeli forces arrived and moved the settlers out of the village, he said.
link to www.maannews.net

Settlers clash with Palestinian farmers
NABLUS (AFP) 9 Oct — Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday, as they tried to pick olives from land owned by relatives of two men convicted of killing a settler family. At least three Palestinians were injured when dozens of settlers from Itamar armed with sticks and stones attacked the group of about 50 workers harvesting olives, on land belonging to the Awwad family from the nearby village of Awarta, an AFP correspondent reported.
link to www.maannews.net

Governor of Ramallah’s car stoned by settlers
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — A car carrying Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghanam and police chief Abdul Latif al-Qadumi was pelted with stones by settlers on Sunday night, security sources said. The car came under attack while passing by the notorious Yitzhar settlement in Nablus, causing the driver to swerve and lightly injure both passengers, security authorities told Ma‘an.
link to www.maannews.net

Azzun man ‘injured in settler attack’
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — A resident of Azzun says he was injured Sunday evening when settlers threw rocks at his car in the northern West Bank. Wael Khlef, in his 50s, said he was driving on the Tulkarem-Ramallah road close to Yitzhar settlement when dozens of settlers threw rocks at his car, shattering the windscreen. He suffered injuries from the broken glass. Khlef said Israeli soldiers were on the road but did not intervene.
link to www.maannews.net

Nablus sisters fall victim to yet another hit-and-run crime
ISM 7 Oct — Sajah, 19, and Ahlam Bilal, 18, from Kufr Qaddoum were injured on Tuesday October 4th by Israeli settler, Eliyaho Miller, on the main road in Huwara. The two women were walking to Ibn Sina College of Nursing where they are studying when the settler crashed his vehicle into the women. After he hit them both and Sajah was thrown 10 meters from the accident, he attempted to flee the scene by foot. Miller was stopped by a Palestinian taxi driver until the Israeli police came to make a report. The hit and run attack occurred at 7:50am as the two sisters were walking to campus. As Sajah and Ahlam were about to cross the road, they both saw the settler’s car speed up when they stepped into the street … An official report quoted by Quds Press earlier this week stated that there were 33 cases of deliberate vehicular attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank since the start of 2011.
link to palsolidarity.org

Muslim and Christian graves desecrated in Israeli city of Jaffa
Reuters 9 Oct — Dozens of gravestones have been desecrated at Muslim and Christian cemeteries and a firebomb thrown at a synagogue in Jaffa, Israel, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. At least five tombs were smashed and around 20 others sprayed with Hebrew graffiti, including ‘Death to Arabs’ and ‘Price Tag’ — a slogan used by militant Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and their supporters.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Israel sees increasing incidents of anti-Arab hate graffiti
Haaretz 10 Oct — Hate-graffiti reported across Israel after Tuba-Zangaria mosque arson last week; Police Commissioner meets with Muslim, Christian community leaders after tense weekend in Jaffa … The police’s current thinking is that even though one of the spray-painted slogans was “price tag,” a phrase usually associated with right-wing extremists, the vandalism was not ideologically motivated, but was rather the work of local hoodlums, possibly soccer fans.
link to www.haaretz.com

Second mosque arson suspect identified here; Melman says Shin Bet cannot solve Jewish terror crimes because it doesn’t want to / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 9 Oct — I’ve published here, the only media source inside or outside Israel to do so, the full name of the settler suspect arrested by police in the mosque arson attack: Yisrael Katz from Yitzhar.  I’ve also noted that the evidence against him is thin and unlikely to stick or result in formal charges.  Israeli media is reporting that a second suspect was arrested today in the crime and my Israeli source indicates he is Elkanah Pikar, about 20 years old and also from Yitzhar.  In my earlier post about the mosque burning I indicated that a car was impounded at the settlement by the police.  It transpires that this was Pikar’s car.  Little if anything of this has been reported in the Israeli media as there is a gag on the investigation.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

PHOTOS: Support to Tuba-Zangria / Micah Leshem
New Profile 9 Oct — I have just delivered a letter of support and outrage from over 50 University of Haifa professors to the mosque incinerated by settler terrorists in Tuba-Zangria … In the mosque, I got the eerie feeling that this was no act of mindless vandalism committed by mindless thugs. All the walls were scrawled with graffiti – in Arabic – imprinted hands, etc. The perpetrators had planned and spent considerable time in the mosque. They had brought plenty of incendiary material with them to spread around and ignite anything flammable in the stone building, primarily books, draping and carpets. The heat had exploded the decorated ceramic tiles and they lay shattered on the floor. These people are well trained and practiced saboteurs, they were no amateur hotheads high on adrenalin (pictures below). [these are the best and most upsetting photos I’ve seen of the damage]
link to groups.google.com

Vicious settler attack targets unarmed Palestinians and Israelis / Sophie Crowe
Pal. Monitor 9 Oct — On 30 September, 60-year-old Yassin Rifai from the Palestinian village of ‘Anata went with his wife, Eman, and nephew, Ahmad, to visit the family’s plot of land, comprising 48 dunams (or 12 acres), that lies within the boundaries of Anatot, a settlement built in 1982. Nearby is the Palestinian town of ‘Anata that stretches to the periphery of Jerusalem. The Rifai family have owned land around ‘Anata for many generations, though Yassin grew up in Jerusalem, near the Old City. Yassin and Eman have been visiting their family’s land every Friday for the past four years, ever since the council of Anatot decided to build a new fence, encircling the settlement. As defined by the council, the Rifais’ private land lies within the new boundaries of Anatot. The construction of the fence began soon after the death of Yassin’s father and uncle, who had been the main caretakers of the land.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=2595

PA official: IDF protects settlers who attack Palestinians
JPost 10 Oct — Palestinian Authority officials claims that settler violence planned in coordination with IDF; Charges are “ridiculous,” says military source … But the PA minister for fence and settlements, Maher Ghnaim, told reporters in Ramallah that a recent upsurge in anti-Palestinian settler violence in the West Bank “coincided with increased assaults by the occupation against our people.” He said this indicated the attacks were being “coordinated and programmed” between the settlers and the IDF. Ghnaim claimed IDF soldiers were not only protecting the violent settler groups, but were also providing escape routes for them after attacks on Palestinians.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=240897

Israeli government responds to settler ‘price tag’ violence with words, not actions / Mikaela Levin
AIC 9 Oct –…Lack of proof is not the problem here. In every crime scene, the attackers leave a clear signature like “Migron forever” or “Migron = Social Justice”, in reference to Migron, the outpost on the outskirts of Jerusalem in which three homes were dismantled following a court order in early September. Similarly, the Israeli army recognized that the attackers who vandalised the Israeli military base near Ramallah following the Migron operation enjoyed the complicity of some conscripts. Although an investigation was ostensibly conducted, no one was detained. In contrast, Israeli forces detained 20 Palestinian citizens of Israel who protested in Tuba Zanghariya in the days following the mosque attack.
link to www.alternativenews.org

Video: Palestinian youths must stop throwing stones: Abbas
Kalandia (CTV) 10 Oct — “The culture of the stone is strong here,” Seemungal reports from Kalandia. “Always the symbol of the struggle, the Palestinian David against the powerful Israeli military Goliath — and it’s always had the support of the Palestinian leadership [?]. But not anymore.” Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian leader who is urging young men to leave the stones on the ground, is pragmatic about a peaceful solution. “We tried violent resistance,” he says. “We tried armed struggle.” But convincing angry young people in the streets to change their tack is going to be an enormous challenge. As one young man told Seemungal: ” We tried peaceful negotiations for years. The only way to liberate Palestine is armed struggle.” Many stone throwers don’t regard their actions as violent, but the Israelis do.
link to www.ctv.ca

IDF keeps raids of West Bank outposts under wraps, fearing leaks to settlers
Haaretz 9 Oct — The military establishment has recently begun excluding soldiers and officers who serve in the West Bank from [all too infrequent] operations to evacuate unauthorized Jewish outposts there. Evacuations are carried out by troops brought in from outside, and only the sector commander will be informed in advance of the operation … It has been several years since IDF soldiers carried out evictions themselves. Instead they are done mainly by Israel Police officers and members of the Border Police. IDF units deployed in the area do, however, provide peripheral security for the operations, including blocking area roads … A number of unauthorized outposts are slated for evacuation after the October holiday period.
link to www.haaretz.com

Gaza

Palestinian resistance fighter killed in IOF artillery shelling
GAZA (PIC) 10 Oct — A Palestinian resistance fighter was killed on Monday morning after Israeli occupation forces opened artillery fire at him near the Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing to the north of the Gaza Strip. Sources told the PIC that Ahmed Salem Al-Azaiza was instantly killed in the shelling. The national resistance brigades, the armed wing of the democratic front for the liberation of Palestine, affirmed that the fighter was one of its cadres.
Link to Palestinian Information Center

Army airstrikes on Gaza
The Israeli Air Force bombarded several areas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, while the Israeli Navy fired shells at coastal areas; damages were reported, no injuries. Local sources reported that an Israeli fighter jet fired one missile at an open area north of Beit Lahia.
Also, an Israeli Navy vessel opened fire at Palestinian boats fishing in the area, resulting in excessive damages.
link to www.imemc.org

Hamas: Foreigners now need visas to enter Gaza
Haaretz 10 Oct — Gaza’s Hamas rulers have imposed new entry restrictions requiring most foreigners to obtain a visa to enter the coastal territory. The group says the move is meant to ensure the security of foreigners, who enter either through Israel or Egypt. Beginning Tuesday, foreigners must apply online or through a local sponsor a week before entry to obtain a month-long visa.
link to www.haaretz.com

Rafah crossing reopens after Egypt holiday
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 8 Oct — Gaza’s crossing with Egypt reopened on Saturday after a two-day closure for Egypt’s commemoration of its 1973 war with Israel.The ministry of interior of the Gaza-based government said students and patients registered to travel on Oct. 6 and 8 could access the Rafah crossing to Egypt between 6.30 a.m and 5 p.m.
link to www.maannews.net

Prisoners’ hunger strike

Security prisoners across Israel to join PFLP in hunger strike
Haaretz 10 Oct — Security prisoners in all Israeli prisons plan to announce on Monday that they are joining the hunger strike declared by jailed activists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the hundreds of other prisoners who have identified with them, including Israeli Arab security prisoners.
link to www.haaretz.com

420 Palestinian prisoners join hunger strike
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 10 Oct — 420 Palestinian prisoners in ‘Gilboa’ Prison Monday joined the open hunger strike to protest the Israeli prisons’ administration’s arbitrary measures practiced against them, said a Palestinian official. Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqi called on to declare Wednesday, October 12, a national and popular day to support Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israel approves several hunger strike demands
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — Israeli prison authorities have decided to meet some of the demands by Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, detainees said Sunday. The prison administration has agreed to allow the transmission of satellite television, has allowed prisoners to go on family visits without handcuffs, and has permitted visits between different sections of prisons to take place. A demand by prisoners to be given whole chickens, instead of chopped chicken, has also been met, detainees told Ma‘an. Prison authorities are still refusing to end the practice of prisoner isolation,
link to www.maannews.net

Minister: Hunger strike about isolation, not chicken
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Oct  — The main goal of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails is an end to solitary confinement policies, the Palestinian Authority prisoners’ affairs minister said Sunday. The use of isolation cells is the “strategic demand” of prisoners, who have refused food for 13 days, Issa Qaraqe‘ said, accusing Israeli media of “incitement” for stating its aims were access to satellite TV or whole chickens. Qaraqe‘, speaking at a solidarity tent for the hunger strikers in Abu Dis, said solitary confinement, as well as prevention of family visits, fines, and use of hand and feet cuffs, were the main demands of the movement.
link to www.maannews.net

Health of imprisoned leader deteriorated, says rights group
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 10 Oct — The health of Ahmad Sa‘adat, the imprisoned secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has sharply deteriorated as he went on hunger strike on September 27, Monday said the Palestinian human rights group, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. It said in a press release that Sa‘adat lost five kilograms since he and other PFLP prisoners in Israeli jails have entered an open-ended hunger strike to protest their worsening detention conditions. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) responded by confiscating fluids like milk and juice, as well as salt, leaving prisoners with water as their only nourishment, said the release.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17705

Arab League calls for support of prisoners on hunger strike
CAIRO (WAFA) 9 Oct — The Arab League’s head of Palestine affairs, Mohammad Sbaih announced Sunday that the Arab league is following up with international and regional bodies to discuss the issue of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails for the thirteenth day consecutively … He added, “Neither in the liberation movements or occupation history, did a country detain such a big number of children, old people or women, nor do we find heavily armed soldiers assault children in this dangerous way, except in the occupied Arab and Palestinian lands.”
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli forces —  incursions and political detentions

Israeli forces conduct searches in Tulkarem
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — Israeli forces searched students at universities in the northern West Bank on Monday morning, a Ma‘an correspondent said. Soldiers entered the city of Tulkarem and stationed at the entrance of Khadoury Palestinian Technical University, witnesses said. Forces then located to the center of al-Quds Open University in the city and searched students, checking their identity papers. No detentions were reported.
Israeli forces also entered Tulkarem district villages Kafr Zibad and al-Jarushiya on Monday morning, a correspondent said. Forces set up a checkpoint to conduct searches outside al-Jarushiya village, he added.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli forces detain 2 near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — Israeli police detained two men in al-Khader in south Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon, witnesses said. Forces raided the family’s house and used spray-gas to disable Raed Salah and Muhammad al-Sarafandi before detaining them, locals told Ma‘an. A pregnant relative who tried to intervene was also sprayed, they said, adding that Israeli medical services transferred her to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. The family live near the Efrata Jewish-only settlement, locals said.
link to www.maannews.net

Soldiers detain 2 teens in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) — Israeli forces detained two teens overnight Sunday, a Ma‘an correspondent said. Yousef al-Titi, 16, and Muhammad Jawabreh, 17, were detained by soldiers at dawn. Both men are from al-Arrub refugee camp north of Hebron.
link to www.maannews.net

4 Palestinians detained at Walaja protest
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 8 Oct — The popular campaign against the wall and settlements organized a peaceful demonstration in Al-Walaja village west of Bethlehem on Friday, activists said. Israeli forces attacked the demonstrators and detained four Palestinians.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel forces search for settlement intruder ‘false alarm’
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — Israeli forces flooded checkpoints south of Nablus on Sunday afternoon, as Israeli media reported the army was tipped that an armed Palestinian entered Eli settlement. Eyewitnesses told Ma‘an that hundreds of Israeli police and border guards, along with settlers, gathered at the Zatara and Huwwara checkpoints, while Israeli news reports said the army was combing the settlement for the intruder. Israeli police later told reporters that the tip was a false alarm.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel releases remains of fighter killed in 1976
[photo] QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 9 Oct  — Israeli authorities on Sunday afternoon transferred the remains of a Palestinian fighter killed in 1976 to the West Bank, a Ma‘an correspondent said. The remains of Hafez Muhammad Hussein Abu Zant have been held for 35 years in Israeli custody. Abu Zant was killed while participating in an operation with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine against Israeli forces in the Jordan Valley … The remains will be taken to Abu Zant’s family home in Nablus and an official military funeral will take place on Monday. Officials say Abu Zant was likely buried in Israel’s “cemetery of numbers,” a series of mass graves, marked and unmarked plots of mostly Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past 60 years. A DFLP official said the bodies of more than 350 killed Palestinians remain in the cemetery.
link to www.maannews.net

Refugees

Zahhar: Living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon not acceptable
BEIRUT, (PIC) 9 Oct — Mahmoud Zahhar, a political bureau member of Hamas, has described as unacceptable the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Zahhar, who was speaking during a tour of Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon on Saturday, said there was a wrong policy being practiced against them. He said that Palestinians in Gaza under siege and constant attacks are living much better than the refugees in Lebanon. The Hamas leader said that he would meet with Arab League secretary general Nabil Al-Arabi and ask him to pressure Lebanon into improving the living condition of those refugees.
link to uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com

Racism

Driver, Egged to compensate passenger for racist incident
JPost 10 Oct — Court orders Driver Nissim Ben Yakar to pay NIS 60,000 after refusing to let woman on his bus and telling her “Ethiopians are stupid people.” … Judge Abraham Heiman noted Ben-Yakar also said there were no buses in Ethiopia and people there did not even have shoes, so Varka should walk. “Who brought these blacks to Israel, they aren’t Jewish, all these blacks should be returned to Ethiopia,” the judge quoted Ben-Yakar as having said.
link to www.jpost.com

More anti-Arab hate graffiti surfaces in Bat Yam
JPost 9 Oct — Police disclosed on Sunday that anti-Arab hate graffiti had been spray-painted on two buildings in Bat Yam, adding that the messages appeared some time ago. The graffiti read, “Maccabi Haifa doesn’t want Arabs on the team” and “Death to Arabs.” A third message read, “Rabbi Kahane was right.” A law enforcement source told The Jerusalem Post that a possible connection with hate graffiti found in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa over Yom Kippur — which also made a reference to Maccabi Haifa — was being examined, but refused to confirm that the investigation was centering on fans of the soccer team.
link to www.jpost.com

In Jaffa, Israeli racism toward Arabs is routine / Roy Arad
Haaretz 10 Oct — The problem in Jaffa is not that some kids scrawled ‘Death to the Arabs’ on a grave, but the racist treatment Arabs receive on a daily basis; Israel’s Arab minority is treated as an enemy.
link to www.haaretz.com

Political / Diplomatic / International

Quartet to ask Israelis, Palestinians to meet in coming days
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 10 Oct — The Middle East Quartet will invite Israelis and Palestinians to meet in “coming days,” envoys said on Sunday after convening in Brussels to discuss their plan to revive negotiations. Quartet representative Tony Blair said Sunday’s meeting “showed the Quartet’s commitment to the timetable for talks set out in our September statement,” according to a press statement from the group.
link to www.maannews.net

Blair aide to Haaretz: Quartet envoy did not speak against Palestinian UN bid
9 Oct — A spokesperson for Quartet envoy Tony Blair told Haaretz on Sunday that he had never spoken against the Palestinian move to the UN, rejecting criticism by a top Palestinian official that Blair is not an “honest broker.”
link to www.haaretz.com

PA: Quartet must act on Israeli settlement ‘provocations’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — The Palestinian Authority said on Sunday Israel’s decision to approve new housing units in an East Jerusalem settlement undermined the Middle East Quartet’s proposal for talks.  “Israel’s approval of more settlement housing, this time in Pisgat Zeev, is a clear violation of the Quartet’s initiative, which calls for negotiations without pre-conditions and without provocations,” the statement said.
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinians ready for negotiations if settlements stop: official
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 10 Oct — The Palestinian Authority is ready to resume negotiations with Israel once it stops settlements and accepts the 1967 lines, Sunday said presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh. “We are ready to return to negotiations on condition settlements are brought to a total halt and Israel recognizes the 1967 borders as the reference for the peace process,” he said in a brief statement reacting to a call by the Middle East Quartet on the Palestinians and Israel to resume talks.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israel says ‘ready for talks on all core issues’ with Palestinians

AP/DPA/Haaretz 10 Oct — …”We are ready for talks with all the core issues [of the conflict] on the table,” Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters in Tel Aviv on Monday. He said both sides needed to “show creativity” in negotiations, but claimed that the Palestinians have added pre-conditions for talks, such as its demand that Israel freeze construction in West Bank settlements and in East Jerusalem. Regev accused the Palestinians of not being ready for “a package of give and take”.
link to www.haaretz.com

Iceland to recognize Palestinian state, says al-Malki

RAMALLAH (WAFA) 10 Oct — Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Monday that Iceland will officially recognize Palestine as an independent state on Tuesday
link to english.wafa.ps

Abbas arrives in Colombia for official visit

BOGOTA (Reuters) 10 Oct  — President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Bogota for an official visit on Sunday. He is scheduled to meet with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday. The leader traveled to Colombia after meeting with Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes. He is touring Latin America to follow up on support for a Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations as a state. Colombia, which has a seat on the UN Security Council, has argued that recognition of a Palestinian state should come through negotiations with Israel.
link to www.maannenet

France FM: Palestinian statehood bid starting to create cracks in European unity

DPA 10 Oct — EU member states cannot come to agreement on Palestinian UN move, says Alain Juppe; Catherine Ashton says no division among EU countries regarding renewal of Mideast talks.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/france-fm-palestinian-statehood-bid-starting-to-create-cracks-in-european-unity-1.389188

Minister: Tourism won’t be affected by US aid cuts

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 9 Oct — Minister of tourism in the West Bank Kholoud Deibes said Sunday that tourism to Palestine will not be affected by aid cuts recently announced by the United States Congress. Tourism projects are largely developed through the private sector, Deibes told Ma‘an
link to www.maannews.net

‘Undisclosed’ Israeli delegation arrives in Egypt

AhramOnline 9 Oct — An Israeli delegation arrived in Egypt by private jet on Sunday for a new chapter of talks with Egyptian officials following attacks on one of the Israeli embassy’s facilities last month … The delegation intends to resumes talks over the embassy incident ‎and the Palestinian issue. ‎The Israeli delegates’ identities remain undisclosed, according to Cairo Airport officials.‎
link to english.ahram.org.eg

Israel issues urgent travel advisory ahead of Sukkot

Haaretz 10 Oct — Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Monday warned Israelis to stay away from the Sinai Peninsula during the upcoming week-long Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which begins Wednesday night, for fear of possible attacks from militants based there. A statement from the Bureau also urged Israelis currently in the peninsula “to leave at once and return to Israel.”
link to www.haaretz.com

Hundreds rally for Assad in the Golan Heights

MAJDAL SHAMS (AFP) 8 Oct — Some 500 people living on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Friday held a rally of support for embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an AFP photographer said … Israel, whose police did not intervene in the demonstration, seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the Druze-inhabited territory. Around 18,000 Syrian Druze live in the Golan, most of who refuse to take up Israeli nationality and stress their Syrian identity. Syria insists on Israel’s return of the territory as the price for any peace deal.
link to www.maannews.net

Other news

Ofcom rejects complaint by Erekat and PLO against Al Jazeera for the Palestine Papers

MEMO 10 Oct — …Dr Erekat, the PLO’s chief negotiator, claimed that he was unfairly and unjustly treated in the four part series which was broadcast by Al Jazeera English channel between 23 January 2011 and 25 January. He also alleged that the station had breached his personal privacy and that of the PLO.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Despite Egypt ban, thousands of palm fronts smuggled to Israel, US ahead of Sukkot

Haaretz 10 Oct — Palm fronds, or lulavs, which are used ceremonially during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, are being exported from Egypt via Jordan to Jewish communities.
link to www.haaretz.com

Fundamentalism

Yiddish sign urges ‘precious Jewish daughters’ of Brooklyn to make way for men

Haaretz 9 Oct — Yiddish signs have been posted on trees throughout Brooklyn, imploring “precious Jewish daughters” to move to the side when a man is walking toward her on the sidewalk, the Brooklyn Paper reported last week … “There are some hard-core Hasidim in Williamsburg who think they still live in 19th-century Ukraine and they consider interaction between the sexes, in even the most casual, accidental manner to be licentious,” bike shop owner Baruch Herzfeld told the Brooklyn Paper
link to www.haaretz.com

Saudi mufti bans soccer for Muslims

PressTV 10 Oct — A Saudi Arabian mufti has issued a religious degree (fatwa) prohibiting soccer for Muslim youth because it has been invented by Jews, Christians, infidels, the US, Russia, France and their lackeys.
link to www.presstv.ir

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox rethink Yom Kippur animal sacrifice

Haaretz 7 Oct — For generations, ultra-Orthodox Jews have marked Yom Kippur by swinging live chickens over their heads while saying a blessing, then slaughtering the birds as a symbolic way to rid their souls of sins. Now some rabbis are decrying the practice as animal abuse.
link to www.haaretz.com

Opinion / Analysis

The Israeli government is fooling you / Akiva Eldar

Haaretz 10 Oct — Did you know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just welcomed a diplomatic plan that posits the borders of June 4, 1967, as a basis for negotiations with the Palestinians, along with mutual and consensual territorial exchanges? Did you hear that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) welcomed the demand to freeze construction beyond the Green Line entirely, including in East Jerusalem? Were you told that Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) welcomes the demand for the immediate dismantling of all the outposts built in the past decade? Has anyone told you that Ministers Eli Yishai (Shas) and Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) have given their blessing to negotiations on the status of the holy places in our united capital?
link to www.haaretz.com

Israeli forces state to change ‘Jewish’ classification / Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) 7 Oct — In its troubled peace talks with the Palestinians, Israel has demanded that it should be recognized as a Jewish state, but there is deep domestic division on what that means. Yoram Kaniuk, a rambunctious 81-year-old author, was hailed by Israeli secularists this week for winning a court victory that compelled the state to stop listing Judaism as his “religion” while keeping “Jewish” as his “ethnicity”. He is the first Israeli Jew to have done so. Israel defines itself as a “Jewish and democratic” state. Kaniuk’s legal triumph comes at a time when society is increasingly polarized between those who say the state’s Jewish character must be strengthened and opponents who say this comes at the expense of civil rights and liberties.
link to www.maannews.net

A week the British judiciary might wish to forget

MEMO 10 Oct — It was a week like no other, one which the proud guardians of British justice will probably wish to forget. Three high-profile events confirmed the existence of a malaise that is threatening the integrity and credibility of the British judiciary. It started with the hearing of an immigration tribunal in Birmingham into the appeal by Sheikh Raed Salah against the Home Secretary’s decision to deport him from the UK. That was followed by a public spat between the Home Secretary and the Minister of Justice over the former’s call to scrap the Human Rights Act. Things went from bad to worse with the visit of the Israeli war crimes suspect, Tzipi Livni, ostensibly at the invitation of Foreign Secretary William Hague.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

A state is born in Palestine / Ronen Bergman

NYTimes 7 Oct — Sixty-four years ago, in August 1947, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine presented to the General Assembly a startling and unexpected report, calling for an end to the British Mandate of Palestine and division of most of the territory into two independent states, with the Jewish state occupying the majority of the land. What came next, of course, is well known … What is not widely known is how a possibly pro-Arab committee, or at least one that was supposed to be neutral, came to issue a report that led directly to the establishment of the state of Israel. What happened on that committee’s trip to Palestine, and how were the minds of its members changed in a way that so radically altered history?
link to www.nytimes.com

groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)

A Presbyterian take on divestment from the Israeli occupation

Oct 10, 2011

Nahida Halaby Gordon

“What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

This is what inspires the work of the PC (U.S.A.)’s investment policy committee, Mission Responsibility Through Investing (MRTI). MRTI’s record in its mission has been successful in changing corporate behavior in areas such as human trafficking, child labor, environmental justice, and unjust foreclosures. To this list, many Presbyterians hope to add MRTI’s latest report regarding investment in American companies doing business in Israel/Palestine.

In September 2011 MRTI published a report on its seven-year history of engagement with five U.S. companies that profit from activities deemed to be “obstacles to a just peace in Israel and Palestine” and which are illegal under international and humanitarian law. In the report, MRTI relates a detailed history of its and its ecumenical partners’ engagements and their inability to make any change in corporate behavior regarding profiting from the military occupation of the Palestinian territories. As a result, MRTI will be bringing a recommendation to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) next July to divest from three companies, Caterpillar, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, all of which profit from non-peaceful uses of their products by the Israeli armed forces in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Caterpillar products, the report notes, are “used, contrary to international humanitarian law, by the Israeli military and civilian authorities to demolish Palestinian homes and construct settlements and Israeli-only roads on Palestinian land.” The most notorious of these products are the D-9 weaponized bulldozers. I have seen the results of demolitions of Palestinian homes and infrastructure by the Caterpillar D-9 weaponized bulldozer and have spoken with some of its victims. The experience is heart-wrenching and I am certain it is much more painful to those who experience the onslaught personally.

Hewlett-Packard products are used in “invasive and unjust biometric scanning processes of Palestinians at checkpoints in the separation wall constructed on Palestinian territory” in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Notably, the wall almost always separates occupied Palestinian territory from occupied Palestinian territory, rather than Israeli territory. I have personally endured and frequently observed the humiliation that Palestinians routinely experience at checkpoints and deplore the involvement of Hewlett-Packard in this practice.

Furthermore, Hewlett-Packard’s products are used “by the Israeli Navy in its internationally condemned blockade of the Gaza Strip and in the municipal governments of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.”

Motorola Solutions profits “from providing communications technology to the Israeli military used in operations in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, and has built and supported high-tech surveillance systems in the separation barrier and Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian land.”

I have seen the separation barrier and all the equipment mounted on the barrier (which is a 27- foot high wall in some areas and an extensive electrified fence installation in others with cameras and sensors). Since I learned about this equipment and about Motorola Solutions’ involvement in the Gaza Blockade, I have not and will not purchase any Motorola device of any kind.

Divestment is a proven and peaceful tool to effect change in violations of human rights by governments, corporations, and individuals. It enables individuals of conscience to take concrete action against injustice of any kind and was vital in building momentum to overturn apartheid in South Africa.

As a Palestinian-American whose family was displaced by the creation of the state of Israel, I am heartened by my Church’s stand to “love kindness and do justice” with its investments.

To those Presbyterians who are working for the human rights of the people of both Israel and Palestine, I say “thank you.” Despite being attacked for your principled stance, you have remained steadfast. You have my utmost respect and gratitude for your selfless efforts toward justice and kindness.

Nahida Halaby Gordon is Professor of Biostatistics, Elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church, moderator of the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus, Treasurer and member of the Steering Committee of the PCUSA’s Israel/Palestine Mission network, and president of the Interfaith Council for Middle East Peace.

The 99 percent in DC

Oct 10, 2011

Adam Horowitz

(Photo: John Quiqley)

To learn about activities happening near you visit Occupy Together. To learn more about “the 99 percent” and the inspiration behind the protests be sure to visit the We Are the 99 Percent tumblr page.

In Cairo, the SCAF consecrates sectarian bloodshed

Oct 10, 2011

Sarah Hawas

I enjoyed reading Philip Weiss’s personal account of how he came to mark Yom Kippur in Cairo. Ahead of a day in which a mass anti-sectarian march was planned, it instinctively felt like a nice rejoinder to the spirit of the ongoing revolution and the millions of Egyptians who have constantly resisted the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces‘s (SCAF) sectarian provocations, and not only following the onset of the revolution. Yet it was also oddly removed from the prevailing sordid reality of religious communities in Egypt, and the complex history of Egyptian Jewry which suffered at the hands of Zionism. Especially relevant in light of today’s disturbing events, I want to expand on a couple of politically skewed assumptions he exhibited in his account of the experience. This is not to take away from what the prayer service signified to him, but to invite us all to recognize what is concealed in the image of “freedom of religion in Cairo” that he aspires to portray or to imagine, supposedly in contrast to neighboring Israel.

For one thing, Egyptian Jewry cannot be represented by a half-expatriate crowd of largely Zionist Jews praying in the suburb of Maadi. There is good reason why the “downtown Jews” were not bussed in for the service, which as Weiss is aware was directly related to the Israeli embassy, even in the absence of the Israeli diplomatic staff. It is therefore disingenuous and presumptuous, not to say politically problematic, to place everyone under the same umbrella. In fact, it actually reifies the essentializing impulse of Zionism, which has not only exacted terrorism against Palestinians for most of modern history, but has also terrorized other Arabs – crucially, Arab Jews: