NOVANEWS
- Courage in the face of intimidation: Rebuilding to remain
- As seen on the campaign trail
- Exile and the prophetic: Listening to Sara Roy
- Now settlers are stealing Palestinian…. soil
- Did ‘Foreign Policy’ plant false Israeli embassy story — leading to diplomat’s reassignment to Copenhagen?
- ‘Jewish political community’ supported Iraq war, but now divides between neocon funders and liberals — Alterman
- Republican leader apologizes to Israeli ambassador for ad
- Green Party pres’l candidate misses crucial political opportunity by not talking up democracy in Israel/Palestine
- Drone attacks will lead to inevitable blowback in Pakistan
Courage in the face of intimidation: Rebuilding to remain
Oct 13, 2012
Donna Baranski-Walker
Civil courage is when civilians stand up against something that is deemed unjust and evil, knowing that the consequences of their action might lead to injury or even death. The Palestinian villagers of Al Aqaba, a little town in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank, are standing up as peacefully and courageously as they can, to build their homes on the land they own, knowing that Israeli Army bulldozers may come at any time. They are “rebuilding to remain.”
Al Aqaba Guest House:
At one o’ clock in the morning on Oct. 10th, 2012, three Israeli military jeeps drove through Al Aqaba Village [in the Jordan Valley] to Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq Sbaih’s house at alarmingly high speed. They banged on his gate and yelled for him to open immediately. Because he is paraplegic, Mayor Haj Sami needs time and assistance to get out of bed. Before he was able to approach the soldiers, they fired bullets above his house and then drove away firing into the air. Villagers were terrified for Mayor Haj Sami and his elderly mother who lives with him.
Mayor Haj Sami received no message from the soldiers — neither oral or written. This raid seemed to be an intimidation tactic against the mayor, a peace advocate who continues to build and welcome visitors despite demolition orders against 97% of his village. Forty years ago at the age of 16, Mayor Haj Sami was shot by Israeli soldiers when working in the fields with his parents, and since then has been wheelchair-bound. He was the first casualty in the Israeli Army’s live-fire training exercises that killed 12 people and injured 36. In 2002, by order of the Israeli Court, the Israeli Army signed an agreement barring live-fire training exercises within Al Aqaba Village, but the next year the Army issued demolition orders against the kindergarten, the mosque, the medical clinic, and most of the homes.
“I was not afraid, but the people were frightened,” said Mayor Haj Sami, “I will stay steadfast and serve the citizens, God willing, these criminal acts will not scare me.”
We can breath a sigh of relief — Al Aqaba’s lawyers at JLAC report that the Jaber family home and barn are safe for now. Demolition orders have been “frozen.”
Starting at 9:01pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, October 16th, GlobalGiving will match donations to “Rebuilding to Remain” by 30% for each donation up to $1000. If you give early, in the first two hours of the competition we will have a much better opportunity to compete for GlobalGivings generous $50K of matching funds.
To finish construction so that 3 families move into their new homes and to continue the advocacy to keep them safe, we must raise $18,919.
To make TUESDAY 9:01 Pacific easy to remember, please come to our Online Bonus Benefit for ‘Rebuilding to Remain’ — or if you are in California, come to our Bonus Benefit party at our San Mateo shop!
Please join us.
It helps to remember what Rebuilding to Remain is all about. Here’s a film short by Maurice Jacobsen capturing the closing day of the Architectural Design Charrette in Al Aqaba, when the first 3 families signed to approve the design of their new colorful, eco-friendly, affordable, expandable homes!
To follow both crisis and hope, please click the “Get Alerts” tab on Lea Park’s “Palestine Crisis Map.”
As seen on the campaign trail
Oct 13, 2012
Adam Horowitz
A friend sent this photo today. It was taken at the intersection of Biscayne Blvd and 110 Street in Miami Beach, Florida.
The ad was placed by the American Principles Super Pac. Here is another ad the organization is running in south Florida:
Here’s the Sunlight Foundation on the American Principles Super Pac:
It’s one of a number of pop up super PACs that are emerging just before the November election, barraging voters with advertisements before having to reveal any information about financial backers. American Principles will release its first list of donors by Oct. 20. The treasurer for another such super PAC aimed at Florida voters, Treasure Coast Jobs Coalition, declined to comment for this article.
American Principles Super PAC’s spokesman, Eytan Laor, declined to name the group’s donors, but conceded that most are pro-Israel Republicans. He characterized them as “concerned individuals” and “small business corporations.” Spending decisions are made by a small group of people, including Laor, and no one person is in charge, he said.
The group believes in “American exceptionalism,” a foreign policy that distinguishes enemies from allies, conservative monetary and fiscal policies, and limited government intervention in the private sector, according to a press release.
Laor is also raising money for pro-Israel Republicans in Congress though a traditional PAC—which must abide by contribution limits unlike super PACs. It is also called American Principles PAC and has raised raised close to $200,000 this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Despite the identical names and the fact that both committees share donors and Laor’s labor, he insisted there is a clear distinction between the PAC and super PAC. The super PAC is about opposing Obama and electing select Republicans in 2012 and is not about Israel, Laor maintained. They have “no connection,” he said.
Exile and the prophetic: Listening to Sara Roy
Oct 13, 2012
Marc H. Ellis
This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
I just listened to Sara Roy deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the Palestine Center. I have known Sara for years. Sara is a Jew of Conscience, and though she rarely talks about it, she is also a child of Holocaust survivors. As one of the world’s foremost experts on Gaza, her background may be irrelevant. Then, again, it might be quite relevant.
You see the Holocaust was real. It wasn’t conducted by Jews or Zionists. It wasn’t a conspiracy of one sort or the other. You can break the Holocaust down any way you want to but it remains horrific to the core.
Sara doesn’t wear her Jewishness on her sleeve. Like the Holocaust, she rarely talks about it. In this way, Sara is a lot like Noam Chomsky. He doesn’t wear his Jewishness on his sleeve either. However, without factoring in his Jewishness, you don’t understand Chomsky. It’s the same way with Sara.
Rather than speak about her Jewishness, Sara exudes it. In light of the Free Gaza flap of the past days, Sara connects the dots of Jewishness as a particularity with its universal thrust. Both exemplify the prophetic in its Jewish incarnation. This prophetic is homegrown, indigenous to Jewish life. The prophetic has stood the test time.
Sara embodies the Jewish prophetic. How interesting as well that she would be called to speak at Edward Said’s type of altar, the lectern, to honor him. In flights of rhetorical fancy, Said imagined himself a cosmopolitan Jew much like Sara. They were friends in life. No matter how cosmopolitan, both drawn to and embodied the Jewish prophetic.
Sara’s lecture was close to the bone. The only rhetorical lines were encapsulated in the title and in her closing. Her title is dramatic and, unfortunately, quite apt: “A Deliberate Cruelty: Rendering Gaza Unlivable.”
With a highly organized narrative, Sara’s lecture unpacks her title. Sara is methodical, outlining what the Israeli and Egyptian closures mean to the people of Gaza. Isolated, Gaza has developed a “Tunnel” economy were goods are smuggled in from Egypt. Though in many ways heroic, such an economy is outside a normal setting; it isn’t good for Gaza in the long run. For Sara, such an economy discourages a more productive and regulated business class. Likewise, it encourages smuggling and the rise of a Black market mercantile class.
Obviously the isolation of Gaza takes its toll in other areas as well. Like the economy, isolation distorts the political situation in Gaza and among Palestinians in general. The natural basis for political collective action between Gaza and the West Bank has been interrupted, if not destroyed.
Israel is a main player here and everywhere in Sara’s lecture. She especially focuses on the “buffer” zone between Gaza and Israel which comprises nearly 14% of Gaza’s land mass and contains 48% of its arable land. Israel’s bulldozing and compacting of the land there has an especially onerous effect on Gaza’s ability to feed itself and export produce. This and Israel’s restrictions on the maritime industry render Gaza dependent and further isolate it from its neighbors.
It’s a devastating picture that Sara draws. She does so without hyperbole or a raised voice. Sara doesn’t use mythic videos of Jewish power or Jewish conspiracy. She doesn’t use any “ism” language, even of International Law. She simply analyzes what’s going on. She assumes the conclusions are obvious. They are.
It is only at the end of her lecture that Sara fills in the blanks of the thought behind her analysis. She first quotes from Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University who believes that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are entrapped in “a zone of non-existence.”
In this zone, she argues, one finds “new spaces of obscenity in the politics of day-to-day lives” where engaging in normal, everyday acts of living and working—going to school, visiting neighbors, traveling abroad, planting a tree, growing vegetables and selling products in a nearby market—are treated as criminal activities, punishable, in some instances, by death. In these obscene spaces, innocent human beings—most of them, children—are slowly being poisoned by the water they drink, all with the knowledge and acquiescence of the world community.
Then, unexpectedly, Sara speaks of her Jewishness. Her Jewishness is unadorned. It seems a natural conclusion to her analysis. Nonetheless, you can feel an emotional resonance. With her family background and her grounding in Jewish life, you feel that the words are heart-felt. They come at a cost:
This disfigurement of everyday life is, for me, as a Jew, painfully symbolized in the Star of David that was gouged into Gaza’s soil during Israel’s 2008 war on the territory. Yet the desecration of the land in this way not only points to the destruction of a way of life and means of survival for Palestinians, it embodies the limitations of Israeli power and the failings of Jewish life as well. No doubt those who wrested the Star of David from Gaza’s land meant to convey the presence and the power of the Jewish state over the destiny of others. Yet this power is one of deprivation and ruin, and it speaks profoundly to our own inability to live a life without the walls we are constantly asked to build.
Sara concludes:
As I have hopefully shown, the people of Gaza are being deliberately targeted and a crime against them is being committed. More than anything, this crime is found in the daily and unrelenting assault on their economy and society for which the United States, the European Union and various Arab states bear enormous responsibility together with Israel. Whether you deliberately shoot a human being through the heart with a bullet or deprive him of a home, livelihood, and the means to care for his children, you are saying to that human being that he has no right to exist. In this way, among others, Gaza speaks to the unnaturalness of our own condition as Jews. For in Gaza, we seek remedy and consolation in the ruin of another people, “[o]bserving the windows of [their] houses through the sites of rifles,” to borrow from the Israeli poet, Almog Behar. It is ironic then that our own salvation now lies in Gaza’s. And no degree of distance or separation can ever change that.
How powerful Sara’s images are:
The Star of David gouged into Gaza’s soil.
Desecration of Palestinian landas embodying the limitations of Israeli power and the failings of Jewish life.
Israeli power as testimony to our own inability as Jews to live without walls of our own construction.
What Israel is doing to Gaza speaks to the unnaturalness of our own condition as Jews.
Sara’s video and text should be added to all those Jewish organizations collecting materials on the end of Jewish history as we have known and inherited it. I include here the Israel National Archives, B’Tselem and Haaretz. It also should be forwarded to the archives at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. After all, listening to Sara, I hear her announcing the end of Holocaust consciousness as a blunt instrument against the Palestinian people.
Shall the video of Sara’s lecture be forwarded to the leaders of the Free Gaza movement with the proviso that her family Holocaust-laden biography be included as the introduction to her lecture? They can then tweet it to the larger or smaller audience that received the earlier video on Zionism and the Holocaust.
Listening to Sara I feel the flowering of Jewish life at the end of Jewish history.
Paradoxical I know, but anyone who has practiced the asceticism of the prophetic knows that documenting the end is a sign of fidelity. It is also a sign of hope.
Now settlers are stealing Palestinian…. soil
Oct 13, 2012
Kate
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Occupation
Israel takes by force a Palestinian house in al-Khalil for settlers
RAMALLAH (PIC) 12 Oct — Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported on Friday that the Israeli “defense ministry” has instructed the Civil Administration to hand over a Palestinian house in Ras neighborhood in al-Khalil in favor of an Israeli Association after an Israeli court decided that the purchase of the Palestinian house by Israeli settlers was legitimate and legal … The Web site expected that the settlers will take control of the house which was named many names “the brown house”, the “House of Peace” and “the disputed house.”
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Rights groups raise alarm over settler attacks on olive trees
[with two videos] BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — As the West Bank olive harvest season begins, two Israeli rights groups released reports this week criticizing Israeli authorities for failing to protect Palestinians from settler violence, or investigate attacks. Over the past week, Palestinian farmers have reported almost daily attacks on harvesters and olive groves in the West Bank. Israeli rights group B’Tselem said on Thursday it had documented five of the attacks since Sunday … Meanwhile, rights group Yesh Din said on Thursday that of 162 attacks on Palestinian trees since 2005, only one case had led to charges. The group said 124 files were closed on grounds of “perpetrator unknown,” 16 because of “insufficient evidence” and two on ground of “absence of criminal culpability.” Others are still under investigation, or information was not provided, while case files were lost for two incidents.
link to www.maannews.net
B’Tselem suspects army not prepared to protect Palestinian olive harvesters
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 12 Oct — B’Tselem human rights organization has documented a number of attacks carried out by the Israeli settlers and targeting farmers and olive groves throughout the West Bank. The organization stated that the events raise suspicion that Security forces were not prepared to protect Palestinian olive harvesters and their property from settler violence. The accumulation of incidents since the start of the olive harvest suggests that security forces were not adequately deployed to fulfill their duty to protect Palestinian olive harvesters and their property from settler violence, according to the organization’s report.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli settlers steal olive crops in Hebron
HEBRON 11 Oct (WAFA) – Israeli settlers from Ramat Yishai settlement, built illegally on Tel Rumeida land in central Hebron, Thursday stole Olive trees crops from land that belongs to Palestinians under the protection of Israeli army, said witnesses. hey told WAFA that a number of armed settlers broke into a land that belongs to a number of Palestinian families under the protection of the Israeli army and picked the Olive trees in the land
link to english.wafa.ps
Settlers attack and injure Palestinians harvesting olives in Tel Rumeida
ISM 12 Oct — In two separate incidents on Wednesday 10th and Friday 12th October 2012 settlers from the illegal settlement in Tel Rumeida, Hebron stole olives from two trees belonging to Jawad Abu Eisheh and attacked his family whilst they attempted to harvest from their land … On Thurday 11th October 2012 three International Solidarity Movement volunteers accompanied Jawad to his land to record any further criminal activity from the illegal settlement as Jawad and his family carried on harvesting their olive trees. Jawad has permission from the Civilian Military Commander, Rami Ferris, to harvest his olives at this time. Jawad and the volunteers were stopped at the Gilbert checkpoint by an Israeli soldier who said that Jawad could not harvest any olives today and that no international volunteers could accompany him to his land….
link to palsolidarity.org
Witnesses: Settlers attack olive harvesters in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — A group of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers who were harvesting olives in central Hebron on Friday, witnesses told Ma‘an. Wajdi Thabet Abu Aisheh, 25, fell as he was attacked by settlers in Tel Rumeida and was transferred to hospital with moderate injuries, Jawad Abu Aisheh said.
North of Hebron, a local activist said a group of settlers toured the town of Beit Ummar, and performed prayers at an Islamic cemetery. Popular committee spokesman Mohammad Ayad Awad said a settler tried to attack him while he was taking photos, but an Israeli soldiers guarding the group prevented him. Many farmers were harvesting olives in the area with their families, but avoided any confrontation with the settlers, he said.
link to www.maannews.net
Settlers attack Palestinian farmers in Kufr Qaddoum, destroy olive trees
PNN — On Friday 12th October, dozens of settlers attacked a group of Palestinian farmers in Kufr Qaddoum, destroyed olive trees and stole the olives that were gathered in the early hours of the morning. Local sources in the village said that a group of settlers destroyed 45 olive trees belonged to Nidal Ahmad Aqel and Abdul Razeq Mahmoud Amer and another group of settlers stole olives from the Mohammad Fathi Amer’s olive trees.
link to english.pnn.ps
West Bank settlers ‘stealing soil’ from Palestinians
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — Israel’s Civil Administration is ignoring the theft of soil from Palestinian land enclosed in illegal West Bank settlements, Israeli media reported Friday. Israel’s Haaretz daily reported that Almon settlement, near Jerusalem, has many large plots of private land within its fences and some are missing tons of soil worth 2,000 shekels per truckload. Other locations where the alleged theft is taking place include Ibei Hanahal outpost, Givat Avigail, Beit El, Maaleh Mikhmash, the Shiloh Valley, and in Susiya, on lands belonging to the village of Yatta. The report said police were aware of the phenomenon yet do nothing about it. A police official quoted in the report said there was no formal way of enforcing laws against this kind of theft.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli police forms ‘Jewish Terror’ branch in the West Bank
IMEMC 12 Oct — Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to form a unit that has the sole responsibility of dealing with “Jewish Terrorism”, and that this unit will be countering attacks carried out by extremist settlers … It also stated that the Police will be appointing a commander, instead of a superintendent, to head the army in the West Bank, and will be increasing the number of officers operating in the unit in addition to investing more technological resources, so that the unit will only be in charge of countering Jewish terrorism. The inauguration was conducted Wednesday with the participation of Israel’s Public Security Minister, Yitzhak Abranovitch, and Israeli Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino.
link to www.imemc.org
Israel’s West Bank settlers: We’re here to stay
KFAR TAPUACH, ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK (VOA) 11 Oct — The walls of Daniel Pinner’s home in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach are lined with books. Among the political, cultural and religious texts are books by the late Meir Kahane, an American-Israeli rabbi who preached the idea of a “greater Israel” — one that includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Kahane’s political party, Kach, also promoted the idea of expelling the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lived in the captured areas, a position that prompted the Israeli government to outlaw it in 1988 as a racist organization. Kahane was assassinated in New York two years later, but many of his ideas are still popular among some Israeli settlers, including Daniel Pinner.
link to www.voanews.com
Report: Netanyahu agreed to full Golan Heights withdrawal
Ynet 12 Oct — Yedioth Ahronoth reports that in late 2010 PM, Barak conducted secret indirect talks with Assad; US documents reveal Israel agreed to return to June 4, 1967 lines in exchange for peace deal; negotiations were interrupted by uprising against Syrian president … According to American sources, Netanyahu and Barak agreed to withdraw to the 1967 lines in exchange for a comprehensive peace deal that would include an Israeli “expectation” for the severing of ties between Syria and Iran. However, the sources said, the burgeoning deal did not include an explicit commitment by Assad to severe ties with the Islamic Republic.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Netanyahu denies agreeing Golan pullout for peace
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 12 Oct — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied a newspaper report on Friday that said he had agreed in principle to hand back land annexed from Syria as part of secret US-mediated peace talks that broke off last year. Syria has long set a complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights as a condition for making peace with Tel Aviv. Israel captured the strategic plateau in a 1967 war, then annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally.
link to www.maannews.net
Violence / Raids / Illegal arrests / Suppression of protests
PCHR Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (4-10 October 2012)
11 Oct (full report after the summary) — IOF extra-judicially executed a Palestinian man and wounded a second in the southern Gaza Strip. 8 civilian bystanders were wounded, including 4 children and 1 woman. IOF continued to carry out airstrikes and land attacks on civilian objects in the Gaza Strip. 5 Palestinians were wounded, including 2 children, in shellings, east of Khan Yunis. 2 mosque minarets and a tar factory sustained damages, east of Khan Yunis. IOF continued to target fishermen in the Gaza Strip. IOF opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats four times, arrested 4 fishermen, and confiscated their boats. … IOF conducted 46 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and limited incursions in the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested 8 Palestinians, including the wife of a Palestinian prisoner IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. A Palestinian laborer was wounded when Israeli settlers fired at him in the West Bank. IOF prevented the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee from carrying out rehabilitation works in the Old City. 220 olive trees and 20 vineyards were destroyed in Bethlehem and Nablus. Israeli settlers chased Palestinian farmers from their land, as they began to harvest olives for the harvest season.
link to www.pchrgaza.org
Israel attacks in Gaza Strip after rocket fire
JERUSALEM (Daily Star) 13 Oct — The Israeli air force launched attacks at three sites in the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, the military said, hours after a rocket fired from the enclave exploded near a house in southern Israel.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
Second police attack on Ras al-Amoud primary school in a week
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 13 Oct — Israeli police and undercover officers attacked a group of school children in Silwan on Tuesday, 9 October. Officers entered the grounds of Ras al-Amoud primary school and hit, swore at and attempted to arrest a number of students, said Issam al-Abbasi, secretary of the Silwan Parents’ Committee. The attack is the second on the school in the past week: the week before, an undercover unit harassed students just outside school grounds … The Parents Committee has appealed to the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education to keep police and armed forces away from the school, but the problems persist, with undercover officers in particular, continuing to visit the school of 2,000 students, from 7 to 15 years old.
link to silwanic.net
Occupation forces attack funeral procession in Beit Ommar
PSP 11 Oct — On 10th of October a funeral procession burying the late Ihmid Abu Maria was attacked by Israeli soldiers. The cemetery in the village has been closed off by the Israelis for years. Large, heavy stones are partly blocking the entrance to the burial site. As the mourners, this morning, tried to enter the cemetery occupation soldiers attacked the civilians with tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets. Some of the people were suffocating from inhaling gas. These acts by the occupation forces are an attempt to limit the number of people participating in funerals. The Israelis partly succeed in this as people with heart diseases and people suffering from other kind of health problems no longer participate in funerals due to fear of tear gas. Israel has also stated that they will make the cemetery into a road leaving the residents of Beit Ommar no place to bury their loved ones.
link to palestinesolidarityproject.org
Israeli occupation arrests Palestinians from Hebron and Nablus
PNN 11 Oct — On Thursday 11th October, Israeli occupation forces arrested a Palestinian at dawn, after they raided his house in the village of Beit Ola west of Hebron Governorates in the West Bank. Security sources said “Israeli army raided the house of Raed Abed Al-Afo al-Amlah, 27, in the village and arrested him.”
In the village of Durah, Israeli soldiers searched several houses and intensified its presence in the western and southern areas of the village.
Israeli patrols also raided Ein Sarah and Ra’s al-Jourah neighborhoods, and also raided the villages of Samou‘, al-Thahriya and Halhoul in the same Governorate.
In Nablus Governorate, our reporter said that Israeli forces arrested an old Palestinian from Aqrabavillage east of Nablus. Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli military force raided the house of Usama Khader Jeriyeh, 60, searched his house and rummaged with the contents before arresting him. The eyewitnesses also said that the force raided several other houses in the village and searched them.
link to english.pnn.ps
IOF arrests 10 youths in Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 13 Oct — Local sources in occupied Jerusalem reported that the Israeli occupation forces arrested ten youths from different districts in the holy city. The sources said that the Israeli troops raided Shu‘afat refugee camp, the neighborhoods of Ras Khamis, Ras Shihadeh and Sawwanah, the town of Silwan and the Old City on Thursday night. They also searched a number of houses using sniffer dogs and arrested a group of youths and children.
Meanwhile, an Israeli Court in Jerusalem has extended the detention of the two brothers Sarhan and Khaldoun from Silwan, until next Sunday.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
IOF quells W. Bank marches against settlement and wall
RAMALLAH (PIC) 13 Oct — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Friday afternoon violently suppressed the weekly peaceful marches held in West Bank villages against the segregation wall and settlement activities. In Kafr Qaddum village east of Qalqiliya city, the IOF attacked the protesters who chanted slogans demanding the opening of the main road of the village. The troops kidnapped two young men Ahmed Abdul-Fatah and Ahmed Badea during clashes with the protesters in the village.
The IOF also quelled the weekly anti-wall march of Bil‘in village in Ramallah city and showered foreign activists and Palestinian protesters with tear gas grenades…
The IOF also used violence against the anti-wall march of Ma‘sarah village near Bethlehem and the anti-settlement march of Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Detainees
Twilight Zone — When Palestinian jail hurts more than Israeli incarceration / Alex Levac & Gideon Levy
Haaretz 12 Oct — Although he served some nine years in Israeli jails, Zakaria Zubeidi’s belly is full. But he’s not blaming Mahmoud Abbas — …Skinnier than ever – he lost seven kilograms in hunger strikes – Zakaria Zubeidi, the “cat with nine lives,” was finally released on bail after being detained for five months in the Palestinian Authority’s Jericho prison without trial. He was indicted on suspicion of taking part in a shooting attack on Jenin Governor Kadura Musa last May. After dozens of meetings with Zubeidi – a majority of them while he was still No. 1 on Israel’s most-wanted list, as commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the camp – we found him more reserved than ever this time. Incarceration by the Palestinians was for him apparently far worse than his nine years in Israeli lockups; being arrested by his Palestinian brethren wounded him emotionally.
link to www.haaretz.com
PA refuses to release the journalist Walid Khalid on bail
NABLUS (PIC) 12 Oct — PA Preventive Security Service in the city of Nablus refused to release the liberated prisoner, Walid Khalid, West Bank office director of the newspaper “Felestin”. The journalist was arrested on September 18, 2012, during a large-scale arrest campaign waged by the PA security apparatus against members and supporters of Hamas in the West Bank, which came few days after his release from Israeli jails where he had spent 17 years.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Society: Cell raids spark clash in Israel’s Shata jail
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — Israeli prison guards stormed the cells of Palestinian prisoners on Friday, prompting clashes as the detainees hit back, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said. The clash in Shata prison, in northern Israel, was prompted by a cell raid of more than 70 officers, the society said. Some prisoners fought back against the guards with chairs, it continued.
link to www.maannews.net
After 10 months of administrative detention, Israeli occupation releases PNN reporter Abu Warda
PNN 11 Oct — On Wednesday evening 10th October, Israeli occupation authorities released the journalist Amin Abdul Aziz Abu Warda after he spent 10 months of administrative detention in Majdou prison … Israeli forces arrested 48 year-old Abu Warda in 28/12/2011, after they raided his house in al-Quds Street in Nablus Governorate, and he was interrogated for more than 40 days and when Israeli authorities had no specific charges against Abu Warda, Israeli authorities transferred him to administrative detention. While being in jail, Abu Warda was writing more than 200 stories and news reports about the situation of prisoners’ and made scientific studies and research. It’s worth noting that Abu Warda has an MA degree in Media Studies and prior to his arrest he was studying for a PHD in Malaysia. Abu Warda works as an instructor in the An-Najah National University and as a reporter for PNN and the Gulf Emirates newspaper.
link to english.pnn.ps
Prisoners’ Society condemns Hamas assault on released prisoner Jaradat
PNN — On Friday 12th October, head of Palestinian Prisoners’ society, Qadoura Fares condemned the assault of members of Hamas security services on the released prisoners Hilal Jaradat, 48, who spent 27 years in Israel jails and was deported to the Gaza Strip. Fares said in a press release, that this dangerous violation will negatively affect the captive movement, which unites Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails.
link to english.pnn.ps
Gaza blockade
Fuel crisis breakthrough in Gaza
MEMO 11 Oct — Diesel fuel is expected to flow again to Gaza through the tunnels from Egypt in the coming days. The news was revealed by a member of the board of directors of the oil companies’ syndicate in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Al-Abadla. Speaking to the local media, Mr. Al-Abadla said that agreements have been reached with the tunnel operators and suppliers in Egypt to ease the fuel crisis in the beleaguered Gaza Strip. He explained that the diesel will be pumped through following the end of Cairo’s austerity measures and the distribution of fuel to Egyptian dealers, which have had a negative effect on supplies to Gaza.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com
Mashaal: Islamists must admit difficulties of governing
DOHA, Qatar (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal on Monday said Islamists must admit the challenges of governing states. Speaking at a conference in Doha on Islamists and democracy, Mashaal said Hamas’ experience as an Islamist political party was unique as it was foremost a national liberation movement … Mashaal said Hamas entered the political arena and joined the Palestinian Authority in 2006 partly to try and correct the mistakes of the Oslo peace process, a statement from ACRPS said. He acknowledged that the party had struggled to reconcile its transition to government with its role as a resistance movement. “Islamists must admit that being in government is much more complicated than what they had imagined; this applies to Hamas as well,” he said.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli racism
Haaretz editorial: Discrimination against Arab women
12 Oct — The rate of workforce participation among Arab women is only 28 percent, compared to 80 percent for nonreligious Jewish women. The barriers preventing Arab women from looking for work are many, but one of the main ones is their exclusion from the job market. That is what emerges from an analysis published this week by Prof. Eran Yashiv of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, based on new unemployment data generated by changes in how the Central Bureau of Statistics conducts its employment survey … The government should start by setting an example: Today, only 8 percent of government employees are Arabs. That is even less than the goal the state set for itself – 10 percent – and well below their share in the population.
link to www.haaretz.com
Jerusalem court issues injunction barring state from detaining Sudanese migrants
Haaretz 11 Oct — Following petition filed by human rights groups, court blocks Interior Minister from rounding up and incarcerating the migrants starting next week. The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday barred the state from detaining Sudanese migrants until it makes a final ruling on the issue..
link to www.haaretz.com
Political and other news
A Week in Photos: October 4-10
by Activestills
link to 972mag.com
Palestinian activist: Situation of refugee camps in Syria is worsening
ISTANBUL (PIC) 12 Oct — Tariq Hamoud, the coordinator of the international working group for Palestinian refugees in Syria, confirmed that the Syrian security forces had attacked a farm belonging to Hamas movement in the area of “Drousha” on the outskirts of Damascus … He expressed to “Quds Press” agency his concern about the increased suffering of the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, saying: “The information about the launch of a security crackdown against the leaders and members of Hamas in the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria are not precise, but the situation in the camps, in general, is getting worse and is deteriorating.”
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
PA seeks recourse for Israeli telecom restrictions
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 12 Oct — The Palestinian Authority communications minister says she hopes to take Israel to international courts for its restrictions on the Palestinian telecommunications sector. Safa Eldin said Wednesday that Israel’s restrictions on the communications and information sector were costing the Palestinian Authority millions of dollars each year. Meanwhile Israeli companies are being permitted to operate in Palestinian markets and profit.
link to www.maannews.net
West Bank, Gaza university staff to strike
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 11 Oct — University staff will go on strike Tuesday over ongoing wage disputes with the Ministry of Education, a union chief said Thursday. Amjad Barham, head of the union for university professors and staff, told Ma‘an that staff in the West Bank and Gaza would strike on Tuesday and for two days the following week.
link to www.maannews.net
The EU accelerates trade with Israel despite human rights abuses
MEMO 13 Oct — The EU’s 500 million citizens account for about 60% of Israel’s total trade. Europe is Israel’s largest source of imports and its second biggest export market, second only to the United States. That’s a lot of bargaining potential when it comes to addressing Israel’s bullish behaviour in the Middle East. A boycott of Israeli goods for example, could finally push Israel to stop its breaches of international law. But instead of exercising this negotiating clout, the EU is actually planning to boost trade between them through the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA). They would rather maintain, or make worse, the status quo than address human rights violations.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com
More than half of contributions to Israeli politicians come from foreign donors
Haaretz 12 Oct — Netanyahu raised 96.8 percent of his NIS 1.2 million in campaign contributions from foreign donors, according to the State Comptroller’s Office — More than half of the contributions to politicians in the past two years – 53 percent of the NIS 13 million – came from people who live overseas, cannot vote in Israel and are not directly impacted by the elected officials’ decisions, Haaretz has found … a relatively small group of about 550 foreign contributors are responsible for the big money behind Israel’s politicians.
link to www.haaretz.com
Report: Arabs prefer Science studies
Ynet 11 Oct — The [Israeli] Arab post-primary education system has higher ranks of students majoring in the science fields of physics, chemistry and biology than Jewish education system, the Central bureau of statistics (CBS) said Thursday.
link to www.ynetnews.com
PA plan would boost trade with Arab countries
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) — The Palestinian Authority economy minister hopes to boost revenues for the occupied territories through increasing trade between Palestine and Arab states. Jawad al-Naji told Ma‘an on Friday after participating in talks at the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation that opening Arab markets to Palestinian products would boost the economy. The Organization for Islamic Cooperation-sponsored conference was held in Turkey.
link to www.maannews.net
Analysis / Opinion
Palestinians will pay the price for Israel’s early election / Dr. Daud Abdullah
MEMO 12 Oct — In most countries, elections are purely internal affairs. In Israel, though, things are different; elections often have horrible consequences for the Palestinians living under the brutal Israeli occupation. The election in early 2013 will be no different. Reacting to Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of an early election, veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat admitted that they may have to pay the price. This, he explained, will probably entail an escalation of settler attacks, further expansion of settlements and another full-scale onslaught on the Gaza Strip. Israeli politicians thrive on malevolence toward the Palestinians. In reality, such escalation has already started. In Jerusalem, settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque have now become a daily spectacle….
link to www.middleeastmonitor.com
Jerusalem-born thinker Meron Benvenisti has a message for Israelis: stop whining / Ari Shavit
Haaretz 11 Oct — The notion of a Jewish-democratic state is an oxymoron and the two-state solution will never work. ‘This country is a shared land, a single homeland,’ he says … “I do not accept the allegation that Israel is an apartheid state. Even what is happening in the territories is not exactly apartheid. But what is taking shape here is no less grave. This is a master-nation democracy; in German, a “Herrenvolk democracy.” We are a country that behaves like a full-blooded democracy, but we have a group of serfs − the Arabs − to whom we do not apply democracy. The result is a situation of extreme inequality. There is a society here of settlers who dispossess others by