NOVANEWS
- Palestinian families forced to demolish their own homes
- If ’5 Broken Cameras’ wins an Oscar– then will you end the occupation?
- Story of forced searches of travelers’ emails goes viral
- US imperialism and the lobby
- ‘Leave the neighborhood’ — arsonists’ message to Eritrean refugees in Jerusalem
- PLO: In May, Israel approved 4,300 new settlement units, uprooted 1,024 olive trees, demolished 37 buildings, and arrested 240 Palestinians
- Shaul Magid: Once a heresy, two-state paradigm has become a dogma
- Arizona State University student government votes to divest from Israel
Palestinian families forced to demolish their own homes
Jun 05, 2012
Today in Palestine
OCHA: Israel displaced more than 60 Palestinians last week
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said Israel displaced more than 60 Palestinians during one week after demolishing their homes in West Bank areas.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
A deteriorating situation in the Jordan Valley: a family evicted without official orders
On 20 April 2012, the Zamel family living in the village of Ein El-Hilweh in the Jordan Valley were forcibly removed from their home. The family were forced to dismantle their own tents, despite no official demolishing order presented to them by the Israeli army. Ein El-Hilweh, as is over 90 percent of the Jordan Valley, is located in Area C which means that the area is under full military and civil control by the Israeli occupation authority. To enter or leave this area from and to the West Bank one has to pass through one of the four Israeli checkpoints in the Jordan Valley. The Zamel family have lived in the Ein El-Hilweh village for hundreds of years. They travel twice a year within the same area, and have currently has set up their tents at their summer location, a place very close to the water spring that is forbidden for Palestinians to use. In the winter they move 400 meters further away to Be’our, a place on a hilltop.
link to www.palestinemonitor.org
Israel approved more than 4,300 new illegal settlement units last month
MEMO 4 June — The monthly report issued by the PLO’s Department of International Relations has revealed that Israel approved the construction of more than 4,300 new illegal settlement units in May. “A people under occupation” also gives details of Israeli violations against the Palestinian people and their property, which are ongoing.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Settlers ‘expanding illegal outpost’ near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers on Tuesday annexed privately-owned Palestinian land to expand an illegal outpost south of Hebron, a local official said. Coordinator of the committee against settlements Ratib al-Jubour said in a statement that settlers from Avigayil outpost were digging up land belonging to the Jabarin and Muhammad families in Masafer Yatta, an area at the southern tip of the West Bank.
link to www.maannews.net
Protesting the right to live on stolen land: Israeli settlers begin protest march to Jerusalem
Hundreds of young settlers began marching from a West Bank outpost to Jerusalem on Monday to protest against plans to raze five homes built on private Palestinian land.
link to news.yahoo.com
Minister warns that legitimising settlements will lead to international isolation of Israel
Israel’s Minister of Public Works, Michael Eitan, has warned his government that the consequence of legitimising settlements on private Palestinian land will be the “isolation of Israel internationally”. Eitan’s comments came after the Chairman of the Board of Settlements in the occupied West Bank, Danny Dayan, said that it has become necessary to enact a special law which legitimises such currently illegal settlement “outposts”.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
“What Israel destroys, we rebuild”: villagers determined to remain in South Hebron Hills, Lydia James
Residents of the isolated village al-Mufaqarah struggle to remain on their land and expose their plight despite Israel’s attempts to isolate them.
link to electronicintifada.net
Stop the bulldozers, Act now: end JCB’s complicity in Israel’s destruction of Palestinian communities, Adri Nieuwhof
British charity War on Want has launched the Stop the Bulldozers-campaign aiming to end British firm JCB’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
link to electronicintifada.net
Israeli airstrikes destroy dairy factory for the fourth time in three years, Alex Kane
Four times. That’s how many occasions Abu Haroun Dalloul has witnessed his dairy factory in the Gaza Strip pulverized by Israeli bombs. The latest attack came last night as part of a wave of Israeli air raids on Gaza over the weekend that injured 13 Palestinians and killed two.
link to mondoweiss.net
Israeli maneuvers in Jordan Valley cut water supplies to nearby village
Villagers in Ein Shibli village in central Jordan Valley have complained that maneuvers conducted by the IOF at the slopes of nearby mountains had cut off water supplies to their homes.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Occupation continues to close Nabi Saleh village for the fourth day
Occupation forces continued to impose a tight security cordon on the village of Nabi Saleh northwest of Ramallah for the fourth consecutive day, since last Friday morning.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Committee of refugees demands Arab position against US congress scheme
The higher committee for the Palestinian refugee’s right to return called for developing a unified Arab position against the US congress’s attempt to liquidate the cause of Palestinian refugees.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
The Palestinian residents of Baddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon are increasingly being caught in the crossfire, sparking fears that the camp could be drawn into the sectarian fighting taking place in Tripoli.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Palestinian town on Green Line bears scars of history
BARTAA, Palestinian Territories, June 5, 2012 (AFP) – “The Green Line? Here it is!” jokes Yussef Kabha, drawing an imaginary line through the main street in Bartaa’s souk, between a shop selling sequined dresses and a dried fruit stall. The fabled Green Line is the de facto boundary laid down in the 1949 armistice agreement which ended the war that broke out when Israel declared its independence a year earlier. A constant point of reference within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Green Line — which gets its name from the green pen used to trace its route — is mentioned in every international peace plan since 1993, and is considered by the Palestinians as the starting point for peace talks, with negotiators referring to it as “the pre-1967 lines.”
link to reliefweb.int
Naksa
Palestinians mark Naksa Day
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hundreds of Palestinians on Tuesday rallied in Gaza City to mark the anniversary of a 1967 Mideast war in which Israel defeated five Arab armies and seized the occupied territories. Palestinians mark the Naksa, or 1967 setback, each year on June 5 with large rallies across the occupied territories. Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the war.
link to www.maannews.net
Medics: 9 hurt at Naksa day rally
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Nine Palestinians were injured Tuesday as Palestinians rallied near the Ofer prison to mark the 45th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, medics said. In East Jerusalem, protesters marched down Nablus street while hundreds rallied in the Gaza Strip as the Naksa day events got underway. The Naksa, meaning “setback,” is marked every year on June 6.
link to www.maannews.net
Hebron: gathering to commemorate Naksa Day
On June 5, 2012, Palestinians will gather in the streets of Al Khalil (Hebron) to memorialize Naksa Day. Naksa Day marks the 45th year of the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by the Israeli forces, as a result of the 1967 war, leading to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians. The demonstration is planned to commence in H1 territory (Palestinian Authority controlled area) of Al Khalil near the municipality buildings. After gathering, the procession will march towards H2 territory of Al Khalil (Israeli military control). Upon reaching the territories they will attempt to enter and carry out a peaceful demonstration. It is predictable that that the protesters will not step foot into H2 territory without being confronted by the Israeli military. It is also predictable that they will not be deterred by the soldiers and their M-16s. As is the case for peaceful protesters in the occupied West Bank, they will continue to march despite the grave risk of military violence, to demonstrate the injustice Palestinians have faced since the illegal annexation of their land by Israel.
link to palsolidarity.org
Naksa: When the Tanks Came Rolling in, Mazin Qumsiyeh
It seems like yesterday that we watched Israeli tanks rolling down the hills towards our sleepy town of Beit Sahour 45 years ago today. As a child it was the most frightening sight. The second stage of the Zionist expansion on the land of Palestine unleashed terror that our generation had not experienced but my parents’ generation had during eth Nakba when between January 1948 and the end of 1949, some 530 villages and towns were ethnically cleansed.
link to palestinechronicle.com
Siege on Gaza / Flotillas
On World Environment Day: Al Mezan Warns of Critical Environmental Situation in Gaza Strip
Tuesday 5 June 2012 marks World Environment Day. It is an important occasion on which to assert the importance of respect for all peoples’ environmental rights. International human rights conventions emphasize the close relationship between the environment and the individual’s enjoyment of basic rights. Realization of environmental rights is a key factor in people’s lives and welfare. This year, World Environment Day is being observed with the slogan “green economy,” emphasize the vital role of the environment in achieving development and preserving natural resources against exhaustion and pollution.
link to reliefweb.int
Gaza energy authority slams Egypt for not allowing in Qatar fuel aid
The Palestinian authority of energy and natural resources in Gaza deplored the Egyptian authorities for persistently delaying the delivery of the Qatari fuel aid to the Gaza Strip.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Gaza’s natural gas, the unreachable treasure
Under Gaza’s glittering waters of the Mediterranean, a strategic gas reservoir that is capable of ending the crippling power crisis in this Palestinian enclave has been lying out of commission since it was discovered 12 years ago. Now, electricity outage in Gaza is suffered up to 12 hours per day, as the only power plant lacks enough diesel to run its turbines. Cars stop in long queues for hours at petrol stations, hospitals warning that fuel for generators is running up and cooking gas suffers sporadic shortages.
link to www.alresalah.ps
A Long Forgotten Memory, Gaza
Last month, Gaza exported the first truckload of clothes in 5 years to the United Kingdom (UK) as part of a pilot project funded with British aid to rebuild a clothing factory that was forced to shut down in 2007 after the beginning of the blockade. Sadi Mustafa Abu Shaqfa, a tailor by profession living in Al Shaati Camp, remembers a time when he provided work for others at his sewing workshop while making good profits.
link to english.pnn.ps
Turkey Presses Case Against Israeli Officers in Raid on Ship
An Istanbul court ordered that Israel be formally notified of the charges against four former Israeli military commanders over a 2010 raid on a Turkish ship headed for Gaza.
link to feeds.nytimes.com
Court postpones Zoabi flotilla petition decision
Decision on Zoabi’s petition, decrying Knesset sanctions imposed for her participation in Gaza flotilla, postponed.
link to www.jpost.com
Father of son killed by Israelis on Gaza flotilla calls for justice
Ahmet Dogan (fourth from right) visited the Islamic University of Gaza, where a memorial and scholarships in Furkan’s name are among the tributes to his son The father of the young man killed in the attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla two years ago, recently visited Gaza with Al Fakhoora officials describing his experience as “intensely emotional” and expressing his gratitude for the support shown by the people there. Ahmet Togan, whose son Furkan was killed by Israeli forces aboard the flotilla, spoke to Gulf Times following his visit, explaining that he is still campaigning for justice for his son and arguing that the US government has not done enough to support Furkan’s case, despite his US citizenship.
link to www.gulf-times.com
Gaza remembers the ‘Mavi Marmara’, Talgha Bendie
The 31st of May 2012 marked the second anniversary of the Mavi Marmara attack in which nine Turkish activists were killed and many more injured when they attempted to sail to Gaza in order to break the illegal Israeli siege. The Mavi Marmara, which was part of an international freedom flotilla, was raided by Israeli military force commandos in international waters when they came under attack. The result was: nine martyrs, many injured and one person who is still in a coma due to traumatic brain damage.
link to mondoweiss.net
Israeli Violence & Aggression
Series of Israeli raids injure seven in Gaza including 5-month-old infant
A series of Israeli aerial raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip at dawn Sunday inflicted seven casualties in one building in Nuseirat refugee camp, medical sources said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli soldiers fire at Jerusalemite demo
Israeli occupation troops fired rubber bullets and teargas canisters at a group of Jerusalemites near Abu Dis town in a bid to disperse their demonstration on Monday night.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Palestinians treated for gas inhalation in Ofer
A number of Palestinian young men were treated for gas inhalation in front of the Israeli prison Ofer near Ramallah on Tuesday, local sources said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Palestinians’ cars vandalised in mass settler attack
Saturdays are frequently punctuated by violence in Silwan, with Israeli settlers invoking an ugly interpretation of the holy Jewish shabbat to wage violence on local Palestinians and their property. On Saturday 2 June, a band of religious settlers numbering in their dozens on their way to Ein Silwan vandalised several vehicles belonging to Palestinian residents, causing serious damage such as destroyed tires and wrecked paint jobs. Kamel al-Banna, one of the owners of the attacked vehicles, stated that despite pressing charges against the offenders, whose attack was caught both caught on tape and witnessed by settler security guards, police closed the file. Many Palestinians of Silwan have come to dread Saturdays as large numbers of settlers and right-wing Israelis enter the neighborhood, verbally and physically harassing locals. Police turn a blind eye to such disruptions, whilst Palestinian youth are frequently targeted for minor demeanors and false charges. Some two weeks prior, Israeli Police tried to arrest a Palestinian after Israeli settlers attacked the Ein Silwan mosque.
link to silwanic.net
Wounded Youth Moved To Jordan For Treatment
Consultant to the legal unit established by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to follow up Israeli violations of Palestinians rights, Naela Attiyeh, reported that resident Najeh as-Safadi has been transferred to Jordan to continue his treatment after forty centimeters of his intestine was removed due a gunshot wound, in addition to several health complications.
link to www.imemc.org
On 21 May 2012, settlers attacked a group of Palestinian farmers harvesting on their land near the Mitzpe Yair outpost. One settler lifted a sickle from the ground and brandished it threateningly at B’Tselem field researcher Nasser Nawaj’ah, who was present, then grabbed Nawaj’ah’s camera and smashed it. The soldiers standing nearby did nothing to prevent the attack. B’Tselem submitted a complaint to the Judea and Samaria district police.
The Palestinian prisoner society said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped last May more than 100 Palestinian citizens, including 15 patients, from Al-Khalil city.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
The occupation deprives 18 detained students from completing their studies
Eighteen students, from Beit Ommar town in Al-Khalil, were deprived from sitting for their final examinations, after being arrested by the IOF.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
IOF kidnap five Palestinians in Al-Khalil and Tubas
Israeli occupation forces kidnapped at dawn Tuesday four Palestinian citizens from Al-Khalil city and one from Tubas city, while one citizen was wounded during violent raids in Halhoul town.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
The Israeli courts have extended the detention of three young residents of Silwan by a further 5 days, following their arrest one week ago on secret charges. Muhannad al-Kawasmi (18), Ahmad Basboos (20) and Alaa al-Kaimari (20) will appear before the court next Thursday, 7 June. It is expected that state prosecution will request another extension of their detention.
IOF soldiers arrest journalist few days before his wedding
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Palestinian journalist Sharif Al-Rejoub from his home in Dura town, south of Al-Khalil, only few days before his wedding.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Abbas’ security apparatus continues its political arrests campaign
PA security apparatus arrested two brothers from Hamas supporters, from Tubas town in the West Bank, one of them suffering from a serious health condition.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Report: PA authority arrest 40 Hamas supporters during May
PIC 3 May — Hamas’s information office issued its monthly report documenting the breaches of the PA in Ramallah. The report confirmed that the PA security services carried out an arrest campaign against the supporters and cadres of Hamas, where they arrested 40 citizens during May, most of them are liberated detainees, academics, university students, and activists in solidarity with striking prisoners.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Hunger striker in PA jail taken to hospital
Abdullah Al-Aker was transferred to hospital on Saturday night after his health deteriorated following nine days of hunger strike in Palestinian Authority jails in Nablus.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Barhoum: Political detention does not serve the national reconciliation
The official spokesman for Hamas, Fawzi Barhoum, held the PA responsible for the life of Abdullah Aker, a political prisoner in PA’s aljunied prison, regarding his deteriorating health.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Mahmoud a-Sarsak, imprisoned in Israel for about 3 years, has been on a hunger strike for some 80 days and in danger of death
Mahmoud a-Sarsak, age 25, a resident of the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza, has been imprisoned by Israel for the last three years under the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law of 2002. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel report that a-Sarsak, who has been on a hunger strike for some 80 days, has lost a great deal of weight and that his life is in imminent danger. The Israel Security Agency (ISA) did not permit a-Sarsak to be checked by independent physicians, and so PHR-Israel petitioned the court to allow one of its physicians to examine him. The petition was heard on 30 May 2012 in the Central District Court in Petakh Tikvah, and Judge Abraham Tal ruled that the ISA must set a date for the examination. Yesterday, the ISA notified the organization that the examination would take place tomorrow, 6 June 2012.
link to www.btselem.org
Video: Palestine footballer Mahmoud Sarsak’s mother speaks out as jailed son’s condition grows desperate, Ali Abunimah
As his condition grows ever more desperate, the mother of jailed, hunger-striking Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak has appealed for his release and safe return home.
link to electronicintifada.net
‘Don’t wait until we’re in body bags’: Two Palestinian hunger strikers’ “final distress call”, Ali Abunimah
“There is still enough time and the support that comes late is better than that which does not come at all. It is better that you receive us alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black bags.”
link to electronicintifada.net
Israel detention ends Gaza footballer’s dream, Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA: Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Al-Sarsak left the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2009 to play football in the West Bank. But he never reached his goal. He was arrested by Israeli security and, after three years of detention without trial, Sarsak is on hunger strike. His current term of detention term ends on August 22 but there is no guarantee that it will not be renewed for a further six months, as it has been before, his family and lawyer said. “The entire family and friends are afraid for Mahmoud’s life and the worry is killing us,” said Sarsak’s older brother, Emad. The 25-year-old is in an Israeli jail on secret charges that he is an “unlawful combatant” linked to the militant group Islamic Jihad, an allegation he denies.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
The Palestinian female prisoners’ dean Lena Jerboni has been recently transferred to Meir hospital following the deterioration of her health, the Palestinian prisoners’ center revealed.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Detainee Suffering Serious Illness, Requires Urgent Care
Political Prisoner Amer Bahar, from Abu Dis near occupied East Jerusalem, is reportedly suffering from a serious illness that requires care beyond the provisions of a prison clinic. Bahr was visited by the head of the legal unit of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), lawyer Jawad Boulos, who confirmed that the PPS will be appealing for an early release.
link to www.imemc.org
Prisoner Held in Administraive Detentin for Two Years Continues Strike
RAMALLAH, June 5, 2012 (WAFA) – A Palestinian prisoner arrested in Israel in 2010 has been on hunger strike for 15 days to protest his administrative detention since his arrest, Jawad Boulus, an attorney for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC), said on Tuesday. He said Samer al-Baraq, from the village of Jayyous, near Qalqilia, has been on hunger strike since May 22, less than 10 days after more than 2000 prisoners have called off their month-long hunger strike, to protest his detention for around two years without charge or trail. Baraq, who lived in Pakistan until 2003, returned to Jordan and was arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for five years. After his release in 2008, he worked in Jordan as a teacher until he was rearrested in 2010 for 77 days. He was turned over to Israel where he was detained for no clear charges. Baraq was assured by leaders of the striking prisoners that he will be released soon, however his administrative detention order was renewed for another three months forcing Baraq to resume his strike.
link to english.wafa.ps
Occupation returns the detainee Salatna to administrative detention
Tadamun Foundation for Human Rights stated that the Israeli occupation authorities has turned, on Monday, a detainee, from Jaba village, to administrative detention after the end of his sentence.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israel renews administrative detention of deal-broker
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — An Israeli military court on Sunday renewed the administrative detention of a prisoners representative who helped broker last month’s deal to improve detainees’ conditions. Ofer court extended the detention without charge of Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi, an Islamic Jihad leader from West Bank city Jenin, for a further six months, Prisoners Society lawyer Jawad Boulos said. Al-Saadi played an important role in reaching the deal with Israeli prison authorities to end a mass hunger strike in exchange for detainees’ demands, society chief Qadura Fares said. He attended the signing of the agreement in Ramle prison hospital on May 14.
link to www.maannews.net
The Jordanian Authorities prevent ex-prisoner Nizar Tamimi from entering Jordan
The Jordanian authorities prevented ex-prisoner Nizar al-Tamimi, liberated under “Wafa-Ahrar” deal, from entering the Kingdom, to celebrate his wedding.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
An appeal to release administrative detainee Husam Harb
Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies of and Human Rights appealed to international institutions and human rights organizations to intervene for the immediate release of Husam Harb.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli prison service disclaims any agreement on administrative detainees
The administrative detainees of Hamas, in Negev prison, said that the Israeli prison service leadership has denied any agreement on the administrative prisoners in the last agreement.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Samer Abu Seir’s mother passed away this morning. Samer was to get engaged this evening to make his mother happy before she died but destiny stood against his intentions.
link to electronicintifada.net
Detainee Halahla Released
Israel released Palestinian detainee Thaer Halahla, 32, ending his illegal Administrative Detention, without charges or trial, starting when he was kidnapped by the army on June 26, 2010.
link to www.imemc.org
After 3 Years In Solitary, Sa’adat’s Wife Allowed To Visit Him
link to www.imemc.org
http://reliefweb.int/node/501236
BDS / Solidarity / Activism
The student body of an American university has become the latest Western institution to back divestment from companies involved with the Israeli army. Arizona State University’s student union unanimously passed a bill demanding the university divest from and blacklist companies that continue to provide the Israeli army with weapons and militarized equipment. Among the companies that work with the Israeli army are Boeing, Motorola, United Technologies, Petrochina, Sinopec, and Alstom.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Arab writers withdraw from U.S. book over publisher’s refusal to remove Israeli contributions
But, according to Inside Higher Ed, one of the anthology’s 29 authors said that she would withdraw her work from the anthology unless it excluded the work of two Israeli writers who were also asked to contribute to the anthology. When the publishers refused to exclude the Israelis, a total of 13 authors withdrew their work from the book — which would have left the book without any Arab contributors. This led the center to cancel the book’s publication.
link to www.haaretz.com
In an interview on Democracy Now, Norman Finkelstein renewed his attack on Palestinians and the BDS movement in strident terms. A response.
link to electronicintifada.net
Solidarity march with footballer on 82nd day of hunger strike
Dozens of people took part in a march in Gaza on Monday in solidarity with Mahmoud Sarsak, who has been on hunger strike in Israeli occupation jails for 82 days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
LGBT activists protest NYC ‘Celebrate Israel’ parade, Adam Horowitz
LGBT activists protested at New York City’s “Celebrate Israel” parade today, objecting to Israel’s apartheid laws denying Palestinian human rights and its use of gay rights messaging to portray Israel as open and democratic. Signs reading “Support Palestinian Queers” and “Israel: Stop Pinkwashing Apartheid” dotted the sidelines of the Fifth Avenue parade. Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QAIA) organized the protest.
link to mondoweiss.net
New report: JCB complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinian people
War on Want – AIC – “War on Want is calling for people to contact JCB to raise concerns over its activities in Palestine, and to demand that the company ends its arms sales to Israel and takes steps to ensure its equipment is not used by Israel to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people”
link to www.alternativenews.org
Steadfast Resistance
Below is an excerpt from the fifth trip report of the Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) delegation to Palestine/Israel. It was written by Lissie Perkal.
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org
A Failing Boycott Campaign?
The claim that BDS efforts are failing is a favorite of pro-Israel opponents of BDS. Just this past weekend, in reaction to Madonna performing her “peace concert” Israel, the Board of Deputies of British Jews claimed that comparisons with apartheid-era South Africa were “a specious and desperate effort by a failing boycott campaign.”
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org
Racism / Discrimination
Israel asks Arab visitors to open emails to search
When Sandra Tamari arrived at Israel’s international airport, she received an unusual request: A security agent pushed a computer screen in front of her, connected to Gmail and told her to “log in.”
link to news.yahoo.com
Discrimination Against Arab Communities in Israel and Palestine, Stephen Lendman
An April joint Bimkom Planners for Planning Rights/Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) report titled “Outline Planning for Arab Localities in Israel” explains state-sponsored discriminatory injustice. Bimkom’s Cesar Yeudki called study findings “a recipe for further widening the gaps between population groups in Israeli society.” The report discussed Arab community planning for the first time. It reviewed 119 areas with about 950,000 residents. It compared variations in planning solutions for Arab and Jewish locations.
link to sjlendman.blogspot.com
Four hurt as Africans’ home torched in Jerusalem
Four African migrants were taken to an Israeli hospital with burns and smoke inhalation on Monday after a potentially deadly arson attempt on the Jerusalem building in which they were living, police said.
http://news.yahoo.com/four-hurt-africans-home-torched-jerusalem-003503937.html
Shas to Sudanese: You’re ruining our dream
The Shas journal has officially joined the struggle against infiltrators led by party chairman Eli Yishai. The party’s journal, Yom LeYom recently published a public letter to the infiltrators containing “serious talk with the serious Sudanese, out of love and decency.” The bottom line: “You’re ruining our dream; it’s best if we go our separate ways.”
link to www.ynetnews.com
Israeli Interior Minister on African immigrants: ‘Most of those people arriving here are Muslims who think the country doesn’t belong to us, the white man’, Adam Horowitz
[Interior Minister Eli] Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, told the newspaper Maariv on Friday he saw the African arrivals, many of whom are Muslims or Christians, as a demographic threat. “The infiltrators along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream,” Yishai said, adding that Israel had its own health and welfare issues. “We don’t need to import more problems from Africa.” “Most of those people arriving here are Muslims who think the country doesn’t belong to us, the white man,” Yishai said in the interview with Maariv.
link to mondoweiss.net
Egyptians foil infiltration attempt
Infiltration of 36 African migrants to Israel prevented due to coordination between IDF, Sinai security forces.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Israel’s five-year war on African migrants
From building a new border fence to setting up the world’s largest detention facility for asylum seekers, Israel’s government has tried a number of different strategies designed to keep African migrants out.
link to www.haaretz.com
Ethiopian-Israeli Jews, mistaken for African migrant workers, feel racism’s pain
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When violent riots against African migrant workers erupted in south Tel Aviv recently, a mob attacked Hanania Wanda, a Jew of Ethiopian origin, mistaking him for a Sudanese migrant worker. “Wanda is my friend,” says Elias Inbram, a social activist in the Ethiopian community and a former member of the Israeli diplomatic corps who served as spokesman for the embassy in South Africa. “I knew I had to react somehow.” He suddenly realized, says Inbram, 38, “that since to white people, all blacks look the same — I, an Israeli Jew who is black, or anyone in my family, or anyone in my community, could be attacked, too.” That moved him to stencil “CAUTION: I am not an infiltrator from Africa” onto a bright yellow T-shirt. He then drew in by hand, in the upper left corner, the unmistakable yellow “Jude” patch from the Nazi era.
link to www.jta.org
Israel: Milk & Honey – Not for Black Africans, Iqbal Jassat
The author of an important piece of critique ‘Jewishness of Israel fuels xenophobia’, Heidi-Jane Esakov, published in the Mail & Guardian (June 1 to 7, 2012) can expect to be blasted by an intolerant pro-Israeli lobby for daring to profile the Jewish state in a negative light. That Esakov is a Jewish South African who in her own words “grew up under apartheid” and is “shamed” by racism against black Africans in Israel is admirable and extremely courageous. This though will not be of any consequence for SA Zionists bent on spitting venom upon anyone crossing the line according to their narrow self-serving interest in defending Israel’s false image as a “democracy” with “full rights for all its citizens”. In fact as Esakov correctly argues, the links between the treatment of Israel’s own Palestinian citizens and the xenophobic attacks are stark! “Israeli Palestinians, despite being heralded as proof of Israel being a democracy, contend with about 40 discriminatory laws” asserts Esakov in highlighting the naked reality of a colonial enclave far-removed from democracy!
link to palestinechronicle.com
Developments and Other News
GENEVA, June 5, 2012 (WAFA) – The International Labor Organization (ILO) Monday blamed the Israeli occupation and absence of a peace process for the deteriorating situation of Palestinian workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It said in its annual report submitted to the 101st Session of the International Labor Conference that the Israeli occupation and expansion of settlements lead to “a shrinking space for Palestinian development.” “The situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories is extremely worrying and remains precarious,” it said. “The peace process is at a standstill more than at any time since the Oslo Accords” of 1993, said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia in his preface to the report. He said evolving facts on the ground seriously diminish the scope for a negotiated two-state solution.
link to english.wafa.ps
Can Iran have some too? Israeli PM defends use of German-supplied subs
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that German-supplied submarines were “very important” for his country’s defence, after a media report that Israel was fitting the vessels with nuclear warheads.
link to news.yahoo.com
Advanced Homeland Security Training in Israel by Security Solutions International (SSI)
This new program is designed for seasoned Homeland Security professionals interested in advanced topics in Homeland Security while at the same time having the opportunity to visit Haifa, the Northern Border, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Dead Sea.
link to uspolitics.einnews.com
‘Netanyahu should be put on trial’
Hanin Zoabi says prime minister, senior IDF officials should be tried for oppressing Palestinians as court hears petition over partial revocation of Knesset privileges.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Hamas and Fatah to Choose a New Prime Minister
Hamas and Fatah leaders are due to meet on Tuesday in order to discuss the selection of the prime minister of a united government stated a Fatah official on Monday.
link to www.imemc.org
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A senior Fatah leader said Monday that comments by the Israeli defense minister, posing “unilateral action” if peace talks remain at a standstill, would have been welcomed if they formed part of a broader proposal to the Palestinian leadership. Ehud Barak told a security conference last week that Israel should “consider a provisional arrangement or even unilateral action” if negotiations remain deadlocked, understood as referencing Israeli withdrawal from parts of the West Bank.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli humanitarians care more about animals than for Palestinians: 490 apartments approved near Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
Opponents fear for animals’ health, mental well-being.
link to www.haaretz.com
NYC alleged child molester ‘got away with it’ after fleeing to Israel
JERUSALEM — A bogus rabbi and self-proclaimed psychologist who fled New York as he was about to be arrested for abusing children was spotted walking near his Jerusalem home — and is now free from prosecution. Called the “Bin Laden of pedophiles” by one victim, Avrohom Mondrowitz fled his Brooklyn home just before cops broke in with a search warrant in 1984. Officers found a stash of child porn and lists of hundreds of names of local boys, most referred to Mondrowitz by Jewish families and child-service agencies for counseling and his yeshiva-style program. Victim Mark Weiss, who was sent to Mondrowitz at the age of 13, said, “He was known in the insular community as the go-to therapist, child mentor. He had a certain knack with kids.”
link to www.myfoxdetroit.com
Analysis / Op-ed
A monthly roundup of photographs documenting Palestine, Palestinian life, politics and culture, and international solidarity with Palestine.
link to electronicintifada.net
“There will be no Palestinian state” – Q&A with Palestine Papers whistleblower Ziyad Clot, Max Blumenthal
Last month, thousands of Jewish Israelis celebrated Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day. It was the 45th anniversary of what many Israelis consider the “reunification” of Jerusalem, an occasion for right-wing revelers to sing nationalistic songs, chant anti-Muslim slogans, and cheer for the mass murdering Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein while marching triumphantly through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Today, Palestinians will observe Naksa Day, marking “the Setback” of 1967. It is the 45th anniversary of Israel’s ongoing military occupation, an ignominious date that inspires angry demonstrations across the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian refugee camps, and in cities around the world.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Can rights be won in Israel’s courts?, Mazen Masri
Litigation on the part of the Palestinian minority in Israel and their rights requires the consideration of an especially complex situation.
link to electronicintifada.net
New Yorkers celebrate Israel as Gaza bombing continues
Thousands of Israel supporters waved blue and white flags as they marched up Fifth Avenue on Sunday for the annual Celebrate Israel parade, as the country’s military carried out a series of devastating bombings in Gaza. At least one person was injured as Israeli airplanes bombarded the besieged region, but in the US supporters backed the country.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Netanyahu bats away Dershowitz’s suggestion of settlement freeze, Philip Weiss
Even Alan Dershowitz must be worried about Israel destroying itself. He calls for a partial settlement freeze to advance the peace process, in the Wall Street Journal, and says he discussed the idea with a high-ranking Israeli.
link to mondoweiss.net
Handala Will Age Again Soon, Jamil Sbitan
As a person who grew up in a diasporic Palestinian family, there have always been symbols around me that reminded me of Palestine. My grandparents’ homes are adorned with them; from framed pictures of gateways in Jerusalem’s Old City, to mini sculptures of the Dome of the Rock mosque, they are all remnants of their memory of an occupied homeland. Such symbols were all intelligible to me except for one relic that I could not comprehend at the time, as a teenager still educating myself on a long and convoluted history. This relic was an image of a boy with short spikes for hair, his hands crossed, with only his back visible; it was not necessarily a beautiful illustration, but his picture sprung up often.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
Salama Kayla: Ideology is Awareness
Last April Salama Kayla was detained and then deported by Syrian security forces. Al-Akhbar sat with the Palestinian Marxist and talked about the state of the Arab uprisings.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Al Mayadeen Tv: New Kid on the Block
The new satellite news channel, launching June 11, is promising to be an independent and unbiased commentator.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Bahrain
Bahrain activists recount abuse claims in retrial
A Bahraini defense lawyer says jailed activists challenging verdicts issued against them by a military-led tribunal recounted in court that they had been subjected to torture and beatings after their arrest.
link to news.yahoo.com
Bahrain says group follows violent Shi’ite cleric
DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain justified moves to ban a small Islamist group on Monday by saying a radical Shi’ite cleric based abroad was its spiritual leader, while the move was seen by some as a renewed warning to leading Shi’ite opposition party Wefaq. The U.S. ally has been in turmoil as democracy protesters from among the Arab state’s Shi’ite Muslim majority continue with protests and civil disobedience while the Sunni ruling Al Khalifa family rejects demands for an elected government.
link to news.yahoo.com
Bahrain: The Dragonfly’s Eye, Ahmed Kanna
Bahrain is a small country, and though the story of its own trials and troubles during the past year and a half is intrinsically valuable, it also tells a bigger story, about bigger countries. Small countries, distant provinces, and overlooked corners of empire—places on which metropolitan elites look with condescension, if they ever even bother to—often better reveal the truths of geopolitical power than is possible in the sheltered metropole. Take the example of the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia—part of the Chagos Archipelago—and its indigenous inhabitants, the Chagossians. Diego Garcia is like Bahrain a place most Americans have never heard of. Labeled a “Strategic Island” by British and US Cold War planners, its population was expelled and transferred hundreds of miles away to Mauritius in the 1960s, their home appropriated for an American military base. As the anthropologists David Vine and Laura Jeffery have shown, this was, and continues to be, justified in US national security discourses by representing these islands as conveniently “sparsely populated.” Expulsion of Chagossians was not of great concern both because of the fact that their island was “strategic” and their population “measured only in the hundreds. The expulsions, which resulted in “abject poverty” and marginalization on Mauritius, were further legitimized by constructing Chagossians as “transient contract workers with no connection to the islands.”
link to www.jadaliyya.com