NOVANEWS
- Another ‘NYT’ reporter goes to Gaza and offers condescending anthropological observations on social media
- Meshaal arrives in Palestine, calls for unification
- Merkel squirms during Netanyahu’s love song to ‘special relationship’
- Exile and the prophetic: The rabbis before them
- Four Pacific island nations dodge questions on their UN opposition to Palestine
- Joseph and Mary can’t make it to Bethlehem, on Banksy’s Christmas card
- Israel could only survive by ‘killing all the Arabs’– Netanyahu’s father
Another ‘NYT’ reporter goes to Gaza and offers condescending anthropological observations on social media
Dec 08, 2012
Philip Weiss
It hasn’t been a month since a New York Times reporter in Gaza got in hot water for condescending comments on local culture, when Steven Erlanger, of the Times Paris bureau, formerly the Jerusalem bureau chief, shows up and has some anthropological insights to convey on social media.
The two tweets below strike me as “othering”– they treat Palestinians as an alien culture. First, here’s his tweet responding to a Hamas show of force– with his picture. “Dorothy: We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“Dorothy: we’re not in Kansas anymore” — Erlanger
I wonder how he feels about Israelis with semiautomatic weapons at checkpoints…
Then Erlanger tweeted a picture of a rally at which children were wearing camouflage and had this to say: “Gaza today and tomorrow.” As if militancy is Gaza’s destiny and essence, rather than, say an artifact of occupation.
“Gaza today and tomorrow” — Erlanger
I still think it’s a good thing that Times reporters are on social media; I’m actually interested in what Jodi Rudoren thinks about the conflict. But Erlanger’s observations seem condescending, hoary, lame, bordering on inappropriate. Who does he think he is, Malinowski coming to New Guinea 100 years ago.
Meshaal arrives in Palestine, calls for unification
Annie Robbins
Khaled Meshaal and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh Gaza, Palestine December 7, 2012 (photographer unknown via Haniyyeh’s twitter feed)
Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal received a hero’s welcome as he arrived in Gaza for the first time yesterday, ending 45 years of exile from Palestinian land. This was Meshaal’s first visit to the Gaza Strip, and he entered with his hand over his heart “telling jubilant supporters that his visit marked a new era in the pursuit of Palestinian independence.”
An outdoor rally is being held today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas as well as commemorating the 25th anniversary of the First Intifada. Over 200,000 people are expected to attend, including delegations from Qatar, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and Bahrain. Saturday’s rally, according to Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahri, is ‘A message of challenge to the occupation..a message of unity to the Palestinian people .. with the attendance of all political factions’.
LATimes:
[T]he Nov. 21 cease-fire agreement that ended an eight-day clash with Israel emboldened Meshaal to make a victory lap through the seaside territory…..
“I say I’m returning to Gaza even though I have never been before because it’s always been in my heart,” he told the crowd, fighting back tears.
The visit underscores Hamas’ rising political clout in a Middle East reshaped by the “Arab Spring.”
……
On Friday, he was greeted like a king. Flag-draped streets were lined by masked, armed Izzidin al-Qassam Brigade fighters.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh tweeted “It is a joy, and triumph.”
Meshaal knelt and kissed the ground on his arrival:
Ma’an News:
Mashaal praised the people of Gaza and the political factions in his first ever speech on Palestinian soil. “We politicians are in debt to the people of Gaza,” he said.
The leader was briefly tearful as he was welcomed by Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Mashaal said his visit to Gaza was his “third birth” referring to an assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents in 1997 as his previous “re-birth.”
“I pray to God that my fourth birth will come the day we liberate Palestine,” he said, clearly moved by his reception, with uniformed police breaking ranks to try and kiss his hand.
“Today is Gaza. Tomorrow will be Ramallah and after that Jerusalem then Haifa and Jaffa,” he said.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyyeh’s tweet of Meshaal’s: “moment arriving in the land of Palestine“
Local Fatah leaders are due to attend – the first time the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas’s faction has taken part in such an event since at least 2007, when it fought a brief civil war with Hamas in Gaza that Hamas won.
“Meshaal’s speech will outline the priorities of the Hamas movement in the coming future, and especially the implementation of reconciliation [with Fatah],” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Clearly aware of the yearning among ordinary Palestinians for an end to the divisions that have weakened their cause on the world stage, Meshaal repeatedly returned to the subject during his many stops around Gaza on Friday.
“With God’s will … reconciliation will be achieved. National unity is at hand,” Meshaal shouted through a microphone at the ruins of one house destroyed last month by an Israeli air raid that killed 12 civilians, including four children.
“It is a joy, and triumph” — Haniyyeh responds to Meshaal visit.
Merkel squirms during Netanyahu’s love song to ‘special relationship’
Annie Robbins
I stumbled across this little gem of a video last night. Merkel’s expression is priceless, as Netanyahu offers this lovesong:
I want to thank you for your warm reception to me… I know and I heard it again yesterday an today how important to you is the relationship between Israel and Germany. You said, it’s not just another relationship, it’s a special relationship, and it’s deeply felt that you deeply feel it, and I appreciate it greatly. I appreciate the time and energy that you’re devoting to strengthening this relationship. And I want to take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear that I have no doubt whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to the well-being of the Jewish state.
Asked whether Israel had “lost Europe,” Mr. Netanyahu said that was not the case, but he acknowledged, “There is obviously a difference of view in Europe on the issue of the settlements.”
Ms. Merkel concurred. “On the question of settlements, we agreed that we do not agree,” she said.
…….
Any expectations that Mr. Netanyahu would try to defuse the situation or at least play it down during his visit to Berlin were dashed Thursday when he brushed aside criticism.
…..
Referring to the “special relationship” between the two countries, Mr. Netanyahu said to Ms. Merkel, “I want to take this opportunity to make it absolutely clear that I have no doubt whatsoever about the depth of your commitment to Israel’s security and to the well-being of the Jewish state.”
Exile and the prophetic: The rabbis before them
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.
Email give-backs and a second New York Times article. What a world we are living in.
The Rabbis and lay leaders of B’nai Jeshurun have taken their second chance to back away from unequivocal support for Palestinian freedom – sort of. After all, they don’t want to alienate their New Age congregation.
First things first. What did the synagogue leadership propose in the first place? Did they propose enough to take back?
At this point in history, shouldn’t we expect more of synagogue leadership? Shouldn’t synagogue leadership expect more of itself?
B’nai Jeshurun has had two fascinating Rabbis in their long history pertinent to the topic at hand. The first one was Rabbi Judah Magnes, yes, that Judah Magnes, the Reform Rabbi and first Chancellor of Hebrew University. He served the congregation in 1911- 1912. Magnes worked alongside Martin Buber and Hannah Arendt. He was a spiritual homeland Zionist. Like Buber and Arendt, Magnes opposed the creation of the state of Israel.
Magnes’s opposition wasn’t only symbolic. As Israel was being created, Magnes met with Secretary of State George Marshall and President Harry Truman to try to persuade them not to recognize Israel as a state. Instead, he shared with them his vision of a unified Palestine.
Magnes’s vision: Two homelands in the Holy Land or, better, a Middle East confederation which included Palestine. Jews and the Arabs of Palestine would live together with the other nations of the region.
Though a pacifist at heart, Magnes argued that the United States should fill the void of Britain’s Palestine departure by declaring an American Trusteeship. Magnes understood that such a declaration could mean the introduction of American troops into Jerusalem to keep Palestine unified.
Perhaps the leaders of B’nai Jeshurun should take a look at Magnes’s writings. They can start with an article he published in Foreign Affairs in 1943 – ‘Toward Peace in Palestine.’ It’s still relevant.
Luckily, Magnes didn’t have email. His paper trail on Palestine is extensive. They can’t be so easily retracted. I doubt very much he would want to.
The other distinguished congregational leader is Rabbi Marshall Meyer who served the congregation from 1984 until his death in 1993. Meyer had a distinguished career before coming to B’nai Jeshurun. Serving in Argentina, Meyer founded what became the leading Conservative seminary in Latin America, Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano. In the political realm, Meyer was a strong critic of Argentina’s military government of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He spoke publicly against the military government and visited political prisoners in jail. Jacobo Timmerman’s book, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, is dedicated to him.
Unlike Magnes who lived and died as the state of Israel became a reality, Meyer was a spiritual homeland Zionist at heart within the context of Israeli statehood. From his Latin American days, Rabbi Meyer was fully aware of the impact of Catholic liberation theology. He wondered out loud what such a liberation theology would mean for empowered contemporary Jews with a state of their own.
I first met Rabbi Meyer in the late 1980s when the Palestinian Uprising was in full swing. The occasion was a conference at Dartmouth College that celebrated the life of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy who was a good friend of Franz Rosenzweig, the great German Jewish philosopher. Both were born Jewish and considered conversion to Christianity. Rosenstock-Huessy took that route; Rosenzweig demurred. Instead, Rosenzweig explored his Jewishness at a depth which still enthralls Jewish philosophers.
After leaving Germany as Hitler rose to power, Rosenstock-Huessy spent a significant part of his life teaching at Dartmouth. Years later, Meyer became his student. In turn, Rabbi Meyer read my book on a Jewish theology of liberation. He invited me to speak at the conference on this topic.
The conference was unfamiliar territory for me and I was nervous about how my thoughts would be received. After my talk, the Progressive Jewish philosopher, Paul Mendes-Flohr, insinuated himself as my respondent, dressing me down for my impertinence in criticizing Israel during this difficult time. He asked that I retract some of my comments about Israel. I refused. We were living through the height of the Uprising. My priority was Palestinian freedom.
Fortunately, before my encounter with Mendes-Flohr, Rabbi Meyer immediately put me at ease with an atypical rabbinic greeting. After embracing me, he flipped through pages of my book, pointing to his extensive underlining and the notes he had written in the margins. He said, ‘Marc, you have become my Rabbi.’
Marshall Meyer was the first Rabbi to confess that he had read my book, let alone admit he benefited from it. He saw us as a team. Later I visited him at his home in New York. Our relationship became more personal.
On my last visit to him before his untimely death, I thanked him for the endorsement of my follow-up book published in 1990. The title of that book – Beyond Innocence and Redemption: Confronting the Holocaust and Israeli Power. Rabbi Marshall’s words warmed my heart.
No doubt I alienated a lot of Jews by writing such a book and especially one that bore that provocative title. Tell me, is that title less or more relevant today than it was then?
As with all of my books until late in the 1990s, I wrote with pencil on long legal pads. I’m not sure I knew what email was back then. I didn’t have a chance to retract my words like the Rabbis and lay leaders of B’nai Jeshurun.
Rabbi Meyer died three years after my book was published. Like Rabbi Magnes, I doubt Meyer would retract the sentiments he shared with me and others at such a deep level.
When alienating congregants or the wider Jewish community becomes the ethical marker you don’t have Rabbis speaking truth to governments in America or Argentina or Israel for that matter.
But, then, what’s a Rabbi to do, except test the congregational winds and modify statements that were too modest in the first place.
Four Pacific island nations dodge questions on their UN opposition to Palestine
Dec 08, 2012
Kate
Gaza
Video: Hamas chief Meshaal makes historic Gaza visit
7 Dec — The political leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas has set foot in Gaza for the first time. Khaled Meshaal crossed into the strip from Egypt and was welcomed by members of various Palestinian factions. A large rally is to be held on Saturday to welcome him. Fatah, Hamas’ political rival, has also been invited to attend the rally, and has indicated that it would do so. Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports from Gaza City.
link to www.aljazeera.com
Meshaal to attend Gaza anniversary rally
Al Jazeera 8 Dec — Thousands of Palestinians are due to turn out for ‘victory’ rally to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hamas Movement. After receiving a hero’s welcome on his return from decades in exile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will attend a rally in Gaza to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas Movement and the start of the first Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, against Israel in December 1987. At least 200,000 Palestinians are expected to attend the outdoor event on Saturday, which is likely to be used by Meshaal to promote Hamas’s growing stature in the Arab world and push the case for reconciliation with its secular political rival, Fatah.
link to www.aljazeera.com
Joy at return of Hamas leader tinged by unity regret
GAZA CITY (Reuters) 7 Dec — Policemen kissed him, crowds mobbed him and gunfire rattled out in celebration as Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal made his first ever visit to the Gaza Strip. But the scenes of joy at his arrival in this small splinter of land could not disguise deep-rooted disunity between the Palestinian factions, ensuring its people remain divided both geographically and politically … “Gaza lives forever thanks to its fighters and people,” said 44-year-old public sector worker, Abu Mohamed. “Mashaal’s visit is a first step. We hope Fatah and Hamas will join hands for the sake of Palestine,” he added … Clearly aware of the yearning for reconciliation, Mashaal repeatedly returned to the subject during his many stops around Gaza, home to some 1.7 million mostly impoverished Palestinians … Yellow Fatah flags fluttered alongside the Hamas colors on some streets and a senior figure from the movement was one of the first to greet Mashaal as he entered the enclave.
link to www.maannews.net
Mashaal: Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 Dec — Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal made his first visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday, telling crowds he hoped his next visit would be to Jerusalem, Ramallah and a liberated Palestine. After passing through the Egyptian border crossing, Mashaal knelt on the ground to offer a prayer of thanks and was then greeted by dozens of officials from an array of competing factions lined up to meet him in warm December sun … The leader was briefly tearful as he was welcomed by Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Mashaal said his visit to Gaza was his “third birth” referring to an assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents in 1997 as his previous “re-birth.” “I pray to God that my fourth birth will come the day we liberate Palestine,” he said, clearly moved by his reception, with uniformed police breaking ranks to try and kiss his hand.
link to www.maannews.net
Exiled Hamas leader set for historic Gaza visit
GAZA (Reuters) 6 Dec — Hamas’s exiled leader will step onto Palestinian land for the first time in 45 years on Friday for a “victory rally” in the Gaza Strip, displaying his newfound confidence after last month’s conflict with Israel. The Islamist group’s leader, Khaled Mashaal, who has not visited the Palestinian Territories since leaving the West Bank at age 11, emerged emboldened from the eight day conflict which ended in a truce he negotiated under Egypt’s auspices. He has since spoken of reaching out to other Palestinian factions
link to www.maannews.net
The rise of Meshaal, Hamas’ born again survivor
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) 8 Dec — Long considered a radical, Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshaal has gradually shifted position to an implicit acceptance of the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. “This is my third birth,” he said as his made his first ever visit to Gaza Friday, counting his escape from an Israeli attempt on his life in Jordan in 1997 as his second. Aged 56, imposing but affable, the former physics teacher with salt-and-pepper hair and large dark eyes was born in Silwad, near the West Bank town of Ramallah. It is there that he spent his childhood before going into exile with his family to Kuwait, following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 when the Jewish state seized the West Bank…
On Sept. 25, 1997, agents of Israel’s Mossad secret service disguised as Canadian tourists bungled an attempt to assassinate him on a street in Amman by injecting him with poison. Three of the attackers took refuge at the Israeli Embassy, but two were captured by Jordanian authorities. Meshaal fell into a coma and a furious King Hussein demanded Israel hand over the antidote if it wanted the captured agents to be freed. The episode compelled then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – re-elected in 2009 – to release Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and 19 others from prison. [See the fascinating book Kill Khalid]
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
Islamic Jihad chief ‘reconsiders Gaza visit after Israeli threat’
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 Dec — Israel threatened to assassinate the leader of Islamic Jihad if he enters the Gaza Strip, causing the party to reconsider his upcoming visit, sources said Thursday … Jihad’s leadership are in talks with the Egyptian authorities over the matter.
link to www.maannews.net
Gaza fishermen after the ceasefire [includes a video]
ISM 6 Dec — On Wednesday 5th December, Gaza fishermen staged a peaceful protest in the port of Gaza City, in order to highlight the Israeli attacks on their livelihoods. They were supported by the local Fishing Union, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Gaza fishermen constantly face Israeli military aggression in Gazan territorial waters — just as farmers attempting to work their land in the buffer zone have been facing on a regular basis since Israel’s massive assault on Gaza in late November. Both cases constitute a violation of the fragile ceasefire.
link to palsolidarity.org
Video: Gaza’s armed groups unite against Israel
7 Dec — During the recent fighting between Israel and Palestinian fighters, there was an unprecedented level of co-operation between the dozens of resistance groups in Gaza. The fighters say that for the first time, they are now united in planning attacks against Israel. Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports from Gaza.
link to www.aljazeera.com
Gaza minister of interior frees 80 prisoners
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Dec — The ministry of interior in the Gaza Strip decided Friday to release 80 prisoners who had served two-thirds of their sentences as a celebratory gesture following Palestine’s admission to the UN.
link to www.maannews.net
Yemen offers jobs to Gaza graduates
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 6 Dec — Yemen is offering job opportunities to new graduates in the Gaza Strip, an official at the ministry of education announced Tuesday. Zakaria al-Hour said 27,000 Palestinian university graduates were out of work in Gaza, and the ministry of education has reached out to foreign offices to ease that rate. Yemen, he said, responded and offered its support to Palestinians in Gaza. It is recruiting graduates in the fields of Arabic, Islamic education, English, science, math, computers, chemistry, physics, biology, and information technology.
link to www.maannews.net
Malaysia donates $1 million to UNRWA
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 6 Dec — Malaysia has donated $1 million to support UNRWA in the Gaza Strip in response to Israel’s recent war on the enclave, the UN agency said Thursday. The contribution is in addition to $200,000 donated by Malaysia in November to support the regular services of the agency, which supports Palestinian refugees.
link to www.maannews.net
Land, property theft / Threats to Palestinian heritage and culture / Restriction of movement
The Arab villages that were: a new Israeli guidebook
Haaretz 7 Dec by Moshe Gilad — A new volume in Hebrew and Arabic retraces a past that many prefer to forget — A round white dome stands in the middle of the vacation village at Dor Beach, near Caesarea. I’ve visited this place dozens of times but never noticed the sheikh’s tomb on the well-tended lawn. Nor did I remember the large stone building right on the shoreline, a few dozen meters from the water, opposite the bobbing fishing boats. This made me wonder. After all, this beach – also known as Tantura – was among my parents’ favorites and as a child we would go there every summer. Still, when I pressed the intercom at the entrance to the village and explained why I’d come, the woman declared: “There are no antique buildings here. You are mistaken.” I tried to persuade her that the guidebook I was carrying – an intriguing new volume, in Hebrew and Arabic, called “Omrim Yeshna Eretz” (“Once Upon a Land – a Tour Guide” ) – contradicted what she had said. Maybe she doesn’t see the sheikh’s tomb either, although she walks past it every day.
The guidebook offers 18 tours in various locales, including Palestinian villages that were evacuated in the late 1940s, most of which were destroyed … Regarding the book, let me say straightaway that its importance goes beyond the mere fact of its publication. It contains consistent, systematic historical documentation, with a clear political opinion, of a past we tend to ignore.
link to www.haaretz.com
Settlers storm the evacuated Tarsala settlement
PNN — On Friday 7th December, Jewish settlers stormed the evacuated Tarsala settlement outpost to the south of Jenin at dawn under protection of the Israeli occupation forces. Security sources said that dozens of settlers broke into the settlement, performed their religious rituals and chanted anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim slogans. Tarsala is one of four sites evacuated by the IOF in the West Bank in 2005.
link to english.pnn.ps
Preserving or looting Palestinian books in Jerusalem / Ofer Aderet
Haaretz 7 Dec — The National Library in Jerusalem houses more than 8,000 volumes in Arabic which once belonged to Palestinians who fled the country or were forced out in 1948. Were these books collected for the purpose of preservation – or looted? … Was gathering them part of an Israeli salvage operation or part of a systematic destruction of Palestinian culture? Not everyone is in agreement about this … “at the National Library they believed — and still believe — that what is at issue is the act of saving a culture … The Palestinians, on the other hand, view the gathering of the books as “a clear-cut act of cultural plunder, cultural disinheritance, which was an inseparable part of the Nakba, the tragedy the war brought upon them,” he adds.
link to www.haaretz.com
Polish NGO safeguards Palestinian water rights / Amira Hass
Haaretz 8 Dec — The harsh actions of the Civil Administration in the West Bank have made waves in places as far afield as Poland. An NGO there is working to safeguard Palestinians’ right to collect water — Israel’s ambassador to Poland was summoned to the Polish deputy foreign minister’s office in the wake of an article published in the mass-circulation, liberal paper Gazeta Wyborcza. The ambassador was not summoned because of planned construction in E1, but because of a demolition. This happened last February, but the newspaper continues to take an interest in the reason behind the diplomatic event: the demolition of a Palestinian community’s old water cistern, which had been restored with Polish government funding through the Polish Humanitarian Action NGO. Judging by comments on the Internet, and discussions held in Polish media outlets and social networks, the fact that Israel was destroying sources of water belonging to the population for whose welfare it is responsible was a shock to quite a few Poles.
link to www.haaretz.com
Palestinian employment: The phantom workers of Israel / Alon Aviram
972mag 7 Dec — An estimated 30,000 Palestinian laborers work in Israel without permits, in predominantly labor intensive jobs. Pay is poor, social rights are virtually non-existent, and conditions in the workplace are often hazardous. A group of Palestinian workers tell their story from a construction site in Petah Tikva — “This place is a luxury penthouse,” said Faisal, 26, a builder from Hebron, as he looked out across the lit city-scape of Petah Tikva. Industrial waste was strewn across the floor, tools were propped up against walls and dust hung in the air on the tenth floor of the construction site. “We’ve stayed in so many penthouses, you wouldn’t believe it!” he said grinning. The shell of a building, in which Faisal stood, is a workplace as well as a temporary home for him and the five other young men in the room. They’ve lived this life on countless construction sites across the country … “Every two weeks or so the police come and detain us. They take us to the checkpoint and send us back into the West Bank. It’s their way of telling us whose boss. But they know we’ll just make our way back in,” said Faisal.
link to 972mag.com
Violence / Raids / Suppression of popular protests / Illegal arrests
PCHR Weekly Report: 3 Palestinians dead, 14 wounded by Israeli forces this week [29 Nov – 5 Dec]
IMEMC 7 Dec — …the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that Israeli Forces killed a Palestinian civilian in the southern Gaza Strip. In addition, a member of a Palestinian armed group died of wounds he had sustained in the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Forces also killed a Palestinian civilian in the east of Tulkarem. 14 civilians, including 4 children, were wounded along the border fence in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Forces abducted 20 fishers, including 5 children, and damaged a fishing boat’s engine.
Israeli attacks in the West Bank: Israeli Forces conducted 47 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and abducted 34 Palestinians, including 2 children and a woman with her son, in the West Bank. In the West Bank, on 03 December 2012, the Israeli Forces killed a Palestinian civilian when his car hit an Israeli military jeep on Nablus-Ramallah road. On 01 December 2012, a Palestinian child was wounded when the Israeli Forces moved into Dora village, southwest of Hebron, amidst firing sound bombs. Full Report
link to www.imemc.org
Soldiers attack Bil‘in weekly protest against wall, settlements
IMEMC 7 Dec — Similar Protests Attacked In Different Parts Of West Bank — The Friends of Freedom and Justice Committee in Bil‘in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, reported Friday that Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall and Settlements, built on villagers lands, and fired gas bombs at the protesters leading to dozens of injuries. Soldiers also attacked nonviolent protesters in Nabi Saleh, Al-Ma‘sara and Kufur Qaddoum …
The Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil‘in issued a statement in solidarity with all Palestinian political prisoners holding a hunger strike in Israeli prisons, mainly, Ayman Ash-Sharawna, Samer Al-Issawi, Tareq Qa’dan, Ja‘far Iz-Ed-deen and Yousef Yassin.
link to www.imemc.org
Clashes erupt in Hebron, after Israeli forces provoke Palestinians in Area H1
ISM 6 Dec — Clashes broke out in Hebron on Thursday after a confrontation between Palestinian Authority police and Israeli Occupation Forces. On Wednesday there was a verbal confrontation between a Palestinian Police officer and the Israeli Army. The following day Israeli Forces spotted the Officer while they were on a patrol in area H1 (which is a Palestinian controlled area) and tried to arrest him in Bab Al-Zawiye. Palestinians who witnessed the scene intervened and the officer managed to avoid the unlawful arrest. After the PA Officer avoided arrest, the situation remained tense, as the army would not leave the scene. Israeli Forces then shot tear gas into crowds of civilian bystanders, which quickly escalated the situation. Palestinians became enraged, then clashes broke out between Palestinian youth and the IOF.
link to palsolidarity.org
Army invades Faqqu‘a village near Jenin
IMEMC 7 Dec — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Thursday evening, the Faqqu’a village, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, installed roadblocks and searched several vehicles. Clashes were reported and the army fired gas bombs and concussion grenades. The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the army invaded the eastern neighborhood, and conducted military searches of homes leading to clashes with the residents …
Furthermore, the army installed roadblocks at the entrances of the villages of Al-Yamoun, Rommana, Zabbouba and Ta’nak, stopped and searched dozens of vehicles, and inspected the ID cards of the drivers and passengers; no arrests were reported.
link to www.imemc.org
Occupation claims confiscating weapons in Nablus
NAZARETH (PIC) 7 Dec — Israeli sources claimed that an Israeli military force has found, during a military operation carried out at dawn on Thursday, a rifle, ammunition and several knives in the village of Burqa, located to the north-west of the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank … The website of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper stated that the military operation carried out at dawn on Thursday in Burqa targeted Hamas [See article 500 Israeli soldiers ransack homes in Burqa]
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Israeli forces detain 3 minors from Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 8 Dec — Israeli forces raided Azzoun village east of Qalqiliya and detained on Friday three teenagers, locals said. Qaies Waddah Shbeta, 15, Mohammad Abed al-Fatah Radwan, 15, and Mohammad Adel Shbeta, 15 were all detained and taken to an unknown location.