Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

• Rick Perry to speak at Likud hoe-down in New York

• West Bank braces for settlers’ defiant marches

• An American observes as Israelis suppress a peaceful demo in occupied West Bank (‘the panic you feel is unbelievable’)

• Tea Party congressman’s one-state solution

• Translating revolution between J14 and the Israeli embassy in Cairo

• Raising money, British Israel lobby brags about sending BBC anchor to Israel and pressing BBC editors to report ‘favourable line’

• Israel lobby R Us

• But Americans favor Palestinian statehood bid, 45-36%

• Schumer, Gillibrand, Lieberman and Scott Brown push Obama to confront Erdogan tomorrow

• Khalidi gets two mainstream platforms (and 2 arguments)

Rick Perry to speak at Likud hoe-down in New York

Sep 20, 2011

Paul Mutter

Hoo boy. It’s going to be a real ultra-Zionist lovefest in New York City Tuesday as  GOP luminaries, Likud machers and members of the Israel lobby convene at 10am at the W Hotel near Union Square. Their rally/press conference will be led by Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry and Knesset Member Danny Danon. From The Jerusalem Post:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry will hold a press conference with American and Israeli-Jewish leaders in New York on Tuesday in which he is expected to address the upcoming deliberations at the United Nations, MK Danny Danon (Likud), said on Saturday night.

Danon, who will participate at the press conference, said he would ask Perry ahead of the conference to adopt the initiative the MK is advancing to annex Judea and Samaria in response to the unilateral Palestinian moves at the UN.

Danon, already in the U.S. to speak at nationwide Zionist fundraisers and rallies prior to the UN vote, has proposed an “Annexation for Declaration Initiative,” which would “establish full sovereignty over the Jewish communities of the West Bank . . . our historic homeland of Judea and Samaria:”

“Under [my] three-state solution, Arab-Israelis residing within Israel would be welcome to join the official new State of Israel. The remaining enclaves of Palestinian towns and villages in Judea and Samaria would become part of either Egypt or Jordan, and the Egyptian and Jordanian borders would extend accordingly to these designated towns.”

[Snip]

“Both Jordan and Egypt have expressed strong support and concern for Palestinians living in the West Bank. If they truly care so much, then they should readily agree to a three-state solution and incorporate the Palestinian towns located adjacent to their current borders.”www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx

The Israeli annexations would include the settlements “as a start,” and expand to encompass the “empty land” of Area C, a zone that includes almost 60% of total West Bank territory, though only 10% of the West Bank’s Palestinian population. This is partlybecause “about 70 percent of Area C is [already] classified as a firing zone, settlement areas, or nature reserves, and is inaccessible to Palestinians.”

Danon argues that all this is right and proper because the land constitutes what was “Judea and Samaria”: there’s no Palestine, he insists, never was and certainly won’t be on the Jews’ God-given property. So while it is right for South Sudan to pursue statehood, in Danon’s opinion — “just like Israel, its people live with a sense of resolve and confidence that their existence is a God-given right,” he has said, and “the creation of this new nation deserves the attention and admiration of the entire international community” — it is not right, not God-given and certainly not admirable for the Palestinians to attempt to do so now or ever, as it will just lead to the establishment of an Iranian-backed “terrorist state” like Gaza.

All this will no doubt garner a robust “Amen” from Perry tomorrow, since he is all too happy to project past onto present, Israel onto Texas, Arabs onto Mexicans, and the “struggles” of Texan pioneers in the 1830s and 40s onto the “struggles” of Israeli settlers in the the 21st century. As he rather famously wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week: “historian T.R. Fehrenbach once observed that my home state of Texas and Israel share the experience of civilized men and women thrown into new and harsh conditions, beset by enemies.”

So it’s exactly the same – except for the part where Texans actually participated in areferendum over their annexation by the U.S. (granted, it was a referendum that whoeheartedly endorsed slavery). The non-Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria will presumably not have the luxury these (white) Texans did, though they will certainly be welcome to vote with their feet on whether they remain in Greater Israel or not.

Yet, as Max Blumenthal has pointed out, Perry’s remarks are in fact, too clever by half. According to Blumenthal, what Fehrenbach actually said in his work Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans was this:

“The Texan’s attitudes, his inherent chauvinism and the seeds of his belligerence, sprouted from his conscious effort to take and hold his land. It was the reaction of essentially civilized men and women thrown into new and harsh conditions, beset by enemies they despised. The closest 20th-century counterpart is the State of Israel, born in blood in another primordial land.”

With that in mind, Danon is even more deserving than Glenn Beck of the honorary Texan citizenship Rick Perry is so fond of bestowing on deserving wing-nuts. Hell, he might just make him an honorary Texas Ranger. Make everyone in Likud (among other parties) an honorary Texas Ranger. They could then do some whistlestop campaigning in the West Bank wearing official badges.

Yisrael Beitenu’s Avigdor Lieberman would probably look good in a bolo tie, and spurs would not look out of place on Im Tirtzu jackboots. But I shudder to think what Perry would wear to such a West Bank rally . . . especially as a U.S. president.

West Bank braces for settlers’ defiant marches

Sep 20, 2011

Kate

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Palestinians will defend themselves

Palestinian villages launch defense campaign
Ynet 19 Sept — Popular Committees set up security unit to tour Ramallah-Nablus route, provide immediate response to ‘Price Tag’ operations, promising to ‘intervene in a non-violent manner’— In the wake of a wave of ‘price tag’ acts that have been targeting Palestinian villages over the past two weeks, the Palestinians have launched a new defense campaign Monday, dubbed ‘Refusing to die quietly’, intended to secure the Ramallah-Nablus route and provide immediate response to “price tag” activities.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Youth organization sets up settler monitoring group
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Young activists have set up a coordination center to monitor Israeli settler attacks in Hebron ahead of the Palestinian bid for membership of the UN. The group, including Palestinian and international volunteers, human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and university students, will work around the clock to follow up rights violations against Hebron citizens, grassroots organization Youth Against Settlements said Saturday.
link to www.maannews.net

PA calls for ‘vigilance and caution’, Palestinians await week of settler provocation
PNN 19 Sept — As Israeli settlers prepare armed marches on West Bank cities in advance of Friday’s Palestinian statehood bid presentation at the UN, Palestinians say they are wary of increased attacks but unafraid … Meanwhile, settlers quoted by Yedioth Ahronot said they “won’t hesitate to use live ammunition” against Palestinians who approach illegal settlements in the West Bank, but in an effort to “make it clear to everyone who this country belongs to,” they will take the initiative and march on Tuesday from the settlements of Beit El, Kiryat Arba, and Itamar to the nearest Israeli army District Coordination Offices (DCO). Each of DCOs, however, is near a major Palestinian city: Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus, respectively.
link to english.pnn.ps

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Exile

Israel plans 10 new settlements in the Negev
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — The Israeli government is planning to approve a new project that aims at building 10 new Jewish-only settlements in the Negev, by displacing thousands of Bedouins from the area. The project was described as the largest in recent years, and was formulated by the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Ministry of Housing. The plan also calls for establishing suburban settlements in Arad area in the Negev, the Arabs48 news website reported … The plan is said to include a project that aims at moving military bases from the center of the country to the Negev, and constructing houses for regular soldiers and their families. The Arabs48 added that the project will be submitted for approval in the coming few weeks, and that the 10 new settlements would include nearly 1500 units
link to www.imemc.org

IOA serves demolition notices to four Bedouins in Jordan Valley
NABLUS (PIC) 18 Sept — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) notified four Bedouins in Wadi Al-Malih area to the north of the Jordan Valley on Sunday that their homes would be razed within three days. Local sources said that two Bedouins in each of Khirbat Tal Hima and Farsiya were served those notices, adding that Israeli occupation forces delivered the notifications.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Water wells threatened of demolition
JVS 19 Sept — On 14.09.2011 the Israeli army entered the village of Al-Fara‘a and threatened to demolish six wells. At 7am, ten army jeeps arrived at a farming area of Al-Fara‘a (Area A), located approximately 20 kilometres northeast of the town of Nablus. The people of Al-Fara‘a showed the army the well construction permits issued by the Palestinian Authority, but were told these were not recognised (by the occupiers) and ensured that the wells would be destroyed. The soldiers took pictures of the wells and noted down the exact GPS coordinates, a necessary step towards the issuing of a demolition order … There are only 28 wells in the district of Tubas, which provide water for domestic and irrigation use in the districts of Tubas and parts of the district of Nablus. These wells cost between 50-100 thousand dollars each to build. If demolished, the farmers will lose their means of subsistence and over 40 thousand people will suffer from water shortages. Three wells had been destroyed in Nasaryah the previous day, and another three were demolished last week in the same village. The farmers of Al-Fara‘a are now expecting the IOF to return with a demolition order and destroy their wells.
link to www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org

Palestinians protest racial closure of North West Jerusalem area
JERUSALEM (WAFA)18 Sept — Tens of Palestinians from North West Jerusalem demonstrated on Sunday in protest of the occupation’s tight closure caused by the separation wall, transforming it into ‘Bestenun’ area, northwest of Jerusalem. The protesters, who come from 11 villages and localities, raised banners and signs denouncing depriving them from using street 44, in spite of the Israeli high court decision allowing them to use it. They stressed that they are besieged and denied the freedom of movement, in favor of the settlers who live in the area … Jerusalemite Husam al-Sheikh said that the occupation forces created an alternative road for the Palestinians through dangerous and unsafe tunnels, which became ‘death tunnels’ due to its lack of health and traffic safety conditions, while freedom of movement over these tunnels is given to the settlers.
link to english.wafa.ps

Adnan Ghaith banished from Silwan again, one day after return home
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 17 Sept — Silwan Fatah secretary-general Adnan Ghaith has been returned to Ramallah by Israeli court order, with a new ban issued on his entering his home city of Jerusalem. A relative reported that Ghaith had been arrested on new, fabricated accusations. Ghaith had returned home just one day before, having completed the 8-month “exile” sentence placed on him by the Israeli military. The Israeli Magistrates Court sentenced Ghaith to a new period of banishment, limited to the Silwan area this time as opposed to the whole of Jerusalem city
link to silwanic.net

West Bank settlement celebrates opening of controversial cultural center
Haaretz 19 Sept — Knesset speaker calls inauguration of the Kiryat Arba cultural center a “political and Zionist response” to the pressures of the international community on Israel.
link to www.haaretz.com

Violence, provocations from Israeli forces

Wadi Hilweh youth arrested and beaten by police
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 19 Sept — Israeli forces detained two youth from Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan yesterday. Murad al-Bana, 18, and Yazan Siyam, 16, were taken from the street by a passing military patrol. The two were transferred to Salah al-Din Street police station, where they were severely beaten by Israeli officers. The boys were later released, told by police not to stand on Salah al-Din Street on the grounds that it is “forbidden”.
link to silwanic.net

IOF soldiers fire gas canisters at women
PIC 19 Sept …In Salfit, 20 Palestinian women were treated for breathing difficulty after the IOF soldiers fired teargas canisters at a wedding they were attending on Sunday. Local sources told the PIC that the women were returning in a bus to their village of Deir Ballut from the wedding in Shibteen village when the soldiers fired the gas at them, describing the act as “savage” and unjustified since no attack was recorded on the soldiers at the time.
link to realisticbird.wordpress.com

Midnight military offense sparks clashes
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 19 Sept — A calm night in Silwan was turned to chaos by an Israeli military patrol early Sunday morning, 18 September. A jeep-mounted loudspeaker blaring high-pitched, offensive messages awoke residents at approximately 2am, sparking confrontations as people poured into the street. Violent clashes spread throughout Bir Ayyub and Ein al-Louzeh districts of Silwan. Wadi Hilweh remained relatively calm over the weekend, due largely to minimal settler movements. One incident was reported, however, of a settler using offensive language in an attempt to provoke Palestinian pedestrians.
link to silwanic.net

Settlers

East Jerusalem settlers beef up security fearing Palestinian violence
Haaretz 18 Sept — Police warn of march on Jewish homes in East Jerusalem neighborhood; residents say they’re prepared to shoot.
link to www.haaretz.com

Report: Settlers plan march to Palestinian towns
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Israeli settlers are preparing to march on Israeli army command offices and Palestinian towns in the West Bank starting Tuesday afternoon, Israeli media reported on Sunday. Dubbed “sovereignty marches,” settlers are protesting the Palestinian bid for full membership at the UN, Israeli news site Ynet said. Far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir told the site that settlers were “going to go out and make it clear to the Arabs who the home owners are.” … The news site quoted a settlement security officer saying they were prepared to use live ammunition on Palestinian demonstrators, as settlers felt the Israeli army were “too trusting” of Palestinian security to deter potential marches on the settlements.
link to www.maannews.net

Witnesses: Settlers uproot over 500 trees in Salfit
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — Israeli settlers uprooted over 500 olive and fig trees in Deir Istiya village in Salfit on Monday morning, witnesses said. Onlookers said residents of the Revava settlement chopped down trees using a chainsaw in Qarawat Bani Hassan village near Deir Istiya. The village mayor said the field belonged to Daoud Yousef Harb, a resident of Deir Istiya. Farmer Harb Rayan, who worked on the land, told Ma‘an that over 500 trees were uprooted and the 23-acre field was completely destroyed. Rayan blamed settlers from the nearby Revava settlement, noting that tire tracks from settler jeeps were left in the dirt.
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinian injured by Jewish settlers hit and run
SALFIT (WAFA) 19 Sept — A Jewish settler Sunday night ran over a Palestinian man from Jama‘een, a village north of Salfit in the northern West Bank, causing him critical injuries, said medical sources. Witnesses said the settler intentionally ran over Ahmad Ali at the southern entrance of the village and fled the scene. Ali was transferred to hospital for treatment and his condition was described as stable.
In a related matter, Jewish settlers ran over a disabled Palestinian on Sunday and abducted another on Saturday night in the West Bank.
link to english.wafa.ps

PA: Settlers shoot at homes in Burin village, Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — Settlers opened fire on Palestinian homes late Sunday in the village of Burin in southern Nablus, Palestinian Authority officials said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma‘an that armed settlers shot at the village after midnight on Sunday. The home of Said Najjar was hit in the attack, Doughlas said. Local guard committees witnessed the attack and contacted Palestinian officials.
In a separate incident on Sunday, settlers tried to raid the village of Awarta in Nablus. Israeli forces prevented the settlers from entering the village in a standoff which lasted 3 hours, witnesses said.
link to www.maannews.net

Jewish settlers build new road south of Hebron, seizing Palestinian land
HEBRON (WAFA) 19 Sept — Jewish settlers Monday built a new dirt road and surrounded it with barbed wire, adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Sosiya, which was built illegally on Palestinians’ land south of the town of Yatta, in southern Hebron, according to witnesses. The Popular Committee Coordinator in Yatta, Rateb al-Jabour, told WAFA that the new road’s length reached almost 2.5 kilometers which took about 10 dunums of Palestinian land. He said that settlers also destroyed a number of olive trees, while they were opening the road, adjacent to Khirbet Um Nir, in Hebron governorate, [in the] south of the West Bank.
link to english.wafa.ps

Foundation: Rightists enter Al-Aqsa Mosque
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Religious and right-wing Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said. Israeli police looked on as around 18 religious and far-right Israelis entered in the morning and another 40 entered in the afternoon, the foundation said in a statement.
link to www.maannews.net

Settler suspected of IDF base vandalism
Ynet 19 Sept — Israel Police’s International Crime Investigations Unit arrests a 27-year-old right-wing activist on suspicion of involvement in West Bank IDF base vandalism incident in early September; Event evidently a ‘price tag’ response to demolition of settlement homes
link to www.ynetnews.com

Israeli settler rabbi slams ‘price tag’ violence
JERUSALEM (AFP) 19 Sept — A prominent settler rabbi on Monday slammed so-called “price tag” acts of violence against Palestinians and the Israeli army, saying they undermined Jewish presence in the occupied West Bank. “We condemn the actions termed ‘price tag’ against the IDF [Israeli army], mosques and innocent Arabs,” says a petition penned by Rabbi Yaakov Medan, one of the heads of the Har Etzion yeshiva, or Jewish seminary, near the southern town of Bethlehem. “These deeds are totally unacceptable from a moral and national perspective, and endanger the entire settlement movement in Judea and Samaria,” it reads, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
link to www.maannews.net

‘The Israeli army would never leave here; we are safe’ –Settlers react to Palestinian statehood bid / Sophie Crowe
Pal. Monitor 19 Sept — Over 300,000 Israelis live in settlements inside the West Bank – illegally under international law. What will happen to them if the UN accepts the Palestinian bid for statehood on 23 September? Will they stay, leave or fight?– …David Wilder is not worried. “We are not unfamiliar with difficult situations,” he says. “We can handle this.” … Tamar Asras agrees with Netanyahu. She is the media officer for the settlements of the Matei Binyamin Israeli regional council, which comprises the area around Ramallah and includes 42 settlements. By international law, a country must have 14 km as a buffer zone with a neighboring state, she notes.[?] Should the 1967 borders be the final border between Israel and Palestine, Israel would have no way of protecting itself from the mountainous region of the West Bank. “That would mean millions of Arabs looking down over us,” she says. “It would be suicidal.”
link to www.palestinemonitor.org

Activism / Solidarity

Video: Kufr Qaddoum holds funeral for illegal occupation
ISM 17 Sept — The people of Kufr Qaddoum demonstrated on Friday, September 16th, against the illegal settlement Qadumim, which is situated west of the village. They demanded access to their main road which passes adjacent to the settlement and leads out from the village. The demonstration started at 1:30 pm and consisted of around 300 villagers and four internationals from the ISM. The demonstrators carried a coffin covered by the Israeli flag which symbolized the funeral of the Israeli Occupation in spirit of  the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN this month. The coffin was then burned.
link to palsolidarity.org

Israelis and Palestinians celebrate independence together, Thursday, September 22, 6 PM
Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity 19 Sept — Combatants for Peace and the Solidarity movements invite you to celebrate Palestinian independence in a festive assembly of Palestinians and Israelis.  An independent Palestinian state is an opportunity for all of us – an opportunity to be liberated from the Occupation, an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian demand for liberty and self-determination, an opportunity for peace between the two peoples who share this land. Join the multitude of Israelis and Palestinians who see an independent Palestinian state as a full member of the United Nations as a reason to celebrate rather than as a threat! The event will take place this Thursday, September 22nd, at 6 PM, in the Orthodox Club in Beit Jala.
link to www.en.justjlm.org

Gaza siege

Palestinian killed in Gaza tunnel collapse
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — A young Palestinian was killed and another injured on Sunday morning, after a tunnel under Gaza’s border with the Egyptian city of Rafah collapsed. The Ambulance and Emergencies Committee in Gaza identified the deceased as Jihad Irbati … Medics say over 160 Palestinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006.
link to www.maannews.net

Medics: 2 injured as gas canister explodes in Rafah tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 19 Sept –Two Palestinians were injured on Monday when a gas canister exploded inside a smuggling tunnel running under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Five Palestinians were in the tunnel at the time of the explosion, with two receiving critical injuries
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli troops attack northern Gaza
PressTV 19 Sept — Israeli troops have launched an attack on the northeastern Gaza Strip on the eve of the presentation of the Palestinians’ proposal for membership in the United Nations. The assault targeted an area in the northeast of Gaza City on Monday, a Press TV correspondent reported.  Residential buildings were struck during the offensive, but there are no reports of any casualties so far.
link to www.presstv.ir

Surgery in Dubai for Gaza’s innocent child victims
National 20 Sept —  DUBAI // Bisan Al Sallaq, an 11-year-old girl from Gaza, cannot wait to see her friend Oday Al Jamal at a Dubai hospital today. Oday, also 11, underwent four hours of orthopaedic surgery yesterday to treat injuries from a Gaza bombing in 2005. “I was very worried about him and so I am happy he is OK,” said Bisan. It was Oday’s fourth operation after a blast tore off his right leg and left him with severe abdominal burns and a scarred and injured left leg.
link to www.thenational.ae

Gaza: Khan Yunis revisited / Julie Webb-Pullman
[photos] Scoop 19 Sept — When Kia Ora Gaza was in Gaza almost a year ago, some of the team visited poor families and orphans in Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Yunis. At that time I reported on the dire situation faced by families there, some of whom had been living in these conditions since 1948. Yesterday I returned. The intervening year has not seen an improvement, but rather, even more homeless, living in even worse conditions, as a result of even more attacks by Israel, compounded by that state’s refusal to permit the necessary building materials in to replace the houses they have been destroying for over 60 years now.
link to www.scoop.co.nz

Detention

PA: Israeli soldiers detain 2 children in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) 18 Sept — A Ma‘an correspondent identified the detainees as Amjad Nidal Taha, 13, and Husam Hussein Abu Sneina, 12. He said they were detained at a checkpoint known to locals as Talat Abu Hadid located near the Ibrahimi mosque. The two boys were on their way to the Ibrahimyya school, near the mosque.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel arrests 9 Palestinians in West Bank
WEST BANK (WAFA) 19 Sept — Israeli soldiers Monday arrested nine Palestinians, including two teenagers, in several areas in the West Bank, according to security sources.
In Jenin, Israeli soldiers arrested three Palestinians early at dawn, after raiding their houses and ransacking their contents…
In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers stormed a neighborhood and raided a house, searching it and arresting a Palestinian man.
In south Hebron, soldiers stormed Al-Oroub refugee camp, arresting five Palestinians including two teenagers, after searching their houses…
Other soldiers raided Al-Dhahiriya, a town southwest of Hebron and handed a Palestinian man a notice to appear at the Israeli intelligence office.
link to english.wafa.ps

IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian woman, six other Jerusalemites
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 19 Sept – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian woman from occupied Jerusalem alleging that she was planning to smuggle mobile phones to Palestinian prisoners. An IOF statement on Sunday said that the woman, who was not named, was detained in Afula, in northern occupied Palestine 1948, with four mobile phones in her possession, which she was planning to smuggle to Palestinian prisoners. The statement noted that a former Palestinian prisoner was also arrested with the same charge, adding that they would appear at Nazareth central court on Monday.
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces arrested six Jerusalemite youths in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday at the pretext they threw stones at Jewish settlers’ houses in the Islamic suburb late last week.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

IOF soldiers detain Hamas leader
JENIN (PIC) 19 Sept — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained Hamas leader Abdul Jabbar Jarrar after breaking into his home in Jenin city at dawn Monday, local sources said. They said that the IOF soldiers encircled the home of Jarrar before storming it and taking him to an unknown location. Jarrar, who works as a teacher, was previously held in Israeli prisons for several years as well as in PA jails in Ramallah.
link to mideastnews-danmike.blogspot.com

Refugees

Hamas asks Baghdad to protect Palestinian refugees
DAMASCUS (PIC) 18 Sept — Hamas strongly denounced the Iraqi security forces for storming the Baladayat compound, mainly inhabited by Palestinian refugees, in Baghdad and arresting a number of them at dawn Saturday. The movement asked the Iraqi government in a press release on Sunday to assume its responsibility in protecting those refugees until their return to their homeland.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Statehood bid

Poll: Palestinians support UN bid, fear consequences
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — A majority of Palestinians support the bid for Palestine’s membership of the UN, but expect a negative backlash, according to the results of a survey released Sunday. While 84% of Palestinians support the bid, 87% believe the US will react negatively, and 90% think Israel will respond by worsening the conditions of Palestinians, the September study by Ramallah-based research institute Near East Consulting said.  Furthermore, 53% believe the vote will have a negative impact on the Palestinians, at least in the short term, and 70% are concerned about the rights of refugees.
link to www.maannews.net

Video: Palestinian song ‘Blue Chair’ mocks PA’s UN statehood bid / Linah Alsaafin
EI blog 17 Sept — A group of Palestinian youth activists who were sick of the western media portraying the Palestinians as a collective entity regarding the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid have produced a satirical video and song titled “Blue Chair”. In its simple sing-song lyrics, the video highlights sarcastically the fact that supporters of statehood have become obsessed with “magical” chairs rather than basic human rights. The lyrics, translated from Arabic, are below.
link to electronicintifada.net

Palestinian marching bands celebrate ahead of statehood bid
BETHLEHEM (Reuters) 18 Sept — Palestinians gathered in Bethlehem’s Manger square on Sunday to watch local marching bands playing in support of an expected Palestinian statehood bid at the UN later this week.
link to www.maannews.net

Holy Land clerics bless Palestinian UN bid
JERUSALEM (AFP) 18 Sept  — Priests in the Holy Land used their sermons on Sunday to give their blessing to the Palestinians’ bid for United Nations membership. The retired Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the first Palestinian to hold the post since the Crusades, was to preach in the Roman Catholic church in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. A joint statement by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran priests pledged their “support for the diplomatic efforts being deployed to win international recognition for the State of Palestine… on the June 1967 borders with Jerusalem as our capital.”
link to www.maannews.net

Hamas’ Haniyeh slams Abbas over UN bid
Ynet 18 Sept — Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh came out against the Palestinian campaign to achieve UN recognition on Sunday describing the move as a “political adventure which does not reflect national or Arab consensus.”
link to www.ynetnews.com

High-stakes diplomacy to avoid diplomatic showdown
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 19 Sept  — Top Palestinian and Israeli leaders held talks in New York amid frantic diplomatic efforts to avoid a showdown over a Palestinian bid to seek full UN membership as a state. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak held an unannounced meeting a day ahead of the UN General Assembly
link to www.maannews.net

Palestinian president Abbas meets UN chief, reaffirms push for statehood
Haaretz 18 Sept — Earlier Monday Abbas said ‘all hell has broken out’ over statehood bid; UN Secretary General Ban K-moon calls on Israeli and Palestinians to resume negotiations … Abbas has said he will present his application to the Security Council on Friday. With a U.S. veto looming at the Security Council, the Palestinians have said they could also go to the UN General Assembly to request an upgrade in their standing from an “entity” to “a non-member state” — a move they say is likely to pass with support from at least 126 members of the 193-member body.
link to www.haaretz.com

PA rep: We’ll drop membership bid if EU recognizes us
BERLIN (Ynet) 18 Sept — Palestinian Authority envoy in Germany Saleh Abdel-Shafi claimed Sunday that the Palestinians will drop their bid to achieve full UN membership in exchange for European Union recognition of the PA as a UN observer state at the General Assembly. “We are still negotiating with the Europeans,” Abdel-Shafi told the Financial Times Deutschland.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Abbas predicts very difficult time for Palestinians after UN bid
Haaretz 19 Sept — PA President arrives in New York ahead of UN General Assembly; Palestinians deny reports that Netanyahu agreed to compromise on wording of Israel as a Jewish state in Mideast Quartet statement … 
link to www.haaretz.com

Abbas: No new PA cabinet until situation ‘stable’
NEW YORK (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — The Palestinian Authority cabinet resigned in February, but Abbas swiftly reappointed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and tasked him with reforming the Ramallah cabinet. Despite several announcements that the new cabinet was imminent, it has not yet been formed. Since February, the resigned cabinet has been acting in a caretaker capacity.
link to www.maannews.net

Norway FM: We will recognize Palestinian state
DPA 18 Sept — Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store believes negotiations can ‘solve’ matters between Israel and the Palestinians, but that the Palestinians have a ‘right to go to the UN’.
link to www.haaretz.com

Saudi Arabia supports Palestinian bid
RIYADH (WAFA) 19 Sept — Saudi Arabia completely supports the Palestinian bid to gain full United Nations membership of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, and puts all its political and diplomatic means under the Palestinian disposal to enable the bid to succeed, Monday said the Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jamal Shobak
link to english.wafa.ps

BBC poll: 49% support Palestinian bid to UN
LONDON (WAFA) 19 Sept — A BBC poll, jointly conducted with GlobeScan and surveying residents of 19 countries, Monday showed that 49% of the respondents supported the Palestinian bid to gain full United Nations membership of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, while 21% said their government should oppose it … The BBC said that the participants’ support for the Palestinian bid was strongest in Egypt, where 90% were in favor and only 9% opposed; however, the lowest level of support was in India, with 32% in favor, 25% opposed and many undecided … The Chinese were among the most enthusiastic supporters, with 56% in favor and just 9% opposed. US and the Philippines both had 36% against the resolution, but 45% of Americans and 56% of Filipinos backed recognition, said the BBC….
link to english.wafa.ps

US Republicans submit resolution supporting Israel’s right to annex West Bank
Haaretz 19 Sept — U.S. Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL), introduced on Monday a resolution (with 30 co-sponsors) to support Israel’s right to annex the West Bank in the event that the Palestinian Authority continues to push for vote at the United Nations … He was quoted as saying that “it’s clear that the United States needs to make a very strong statement. I would argue that the president should make this statement, but he’s not capable of making it. So, the House needs to make this statement, if the [Palestinian Authority] continues down this road of trying to get recognition of statehood, the U.S. will not stand for it. And we will respect Israel’s right to annex Judea and Samaria.”
link to www.haaretz.com

Palestinian analysts continue to debate, oppose PA ‘statehood’ bid / Ali Abunimah
EI blog 19 Sept — short summaries, links to articles by Joseph Massad, Omar Barghouti, Samah Sabawi, Raja Khalidi, Khaled Elgindy, and to Facebook pages.
link to electronicintifada.net

Netanyahu’s ‘speech of truth’ at the UN / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 19 Sept — No Palestinian leader can allow himself to give up at the outset on the right of return and alienate himself from Israel’s Palestinian citizens — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that in his speech at the United Nations on Friday, he will “tell the truth.” This is no trivial matter when it involves a politician who invented an encounter with British soldiers that happened before he was born … The following lines are an attempt to formulate Netanyahu’s truth ahead of one more speech of a lifetime.
link to www.haaretz.com

Observer editorial: A Palestinian state is a moral right
17 Sept — …The reality is that what those opposing the moves at the UN are demanding is that Palestinians adhere to a non-existent peace process in the good faith that at some time it might be revived in the future under American guidance. They also require Palestinians to refrain from moves that would expose the double standards of the White House and Congress which, while supporting a two-state solution in words, has not only failed to deliver one but now threatens actively to block that outcome. Palestinians, this newspaper believes, are right to be wary of the vague promise that things might be better in a revived peace process at some unspecified time in the future … already the strategy has shed important light on a Middle East peace process in which a United States that has long cast itself as an impartial broker (while vetoing every criticism of Israel raised at the UN) is a far from neutral referee, even as its influence in the region has appeared diminished.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Obama’s historic opportunity / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 18 Sept — It is difficult now to understand Obama’s America. The man who promised change is turning out to be the father of American conservatives. With regard to Israel, there is no difference between him and the last of the celebrants at the Tea Party. We did not expect a great deal from Hillary Clinton; she can continue to recite hollow speeches about negotiations-shmegotiations – but Obama? … The riddle remains unsolved: How is it that the supposedly new America is continuing to sing the same old songs from its evil past? How is it that Obama is behaving as if he does not understand that the Palestinians will no longer agree to live another four decades without civil rights, certainly not in view of all that is taking place around them in the awakening Arab world?
lin