Gaza
Israeli forces shoot, injure Gaza fisherman [on shore!]
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Israeli naval forces opened fire off the coast of northern Gaza late Wednesday, injuring a Palestinian fisherman on a beach, locals said. Yousef Zayif, 70, was hit by live fire while waiting for his sons on the shore near al-Sudaniya. Medics said he was moderately wounded. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was looking into the incident. On Sunday, an Israeli warship opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza City’s al-Shati refugee camp, the speaker of the Union of Gaza Fishermen said. Nizar Ayyash told Ma‘an that Israeli gunboats “have been firing at fishermen every day since the ceasefire agreement was signed.” He also said that Israeli naval forces have detained six Palestinian fishermen since the ceasefire agreement in late August.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728235
Most Malta boat refugees were Gaza refugees
BRUSSELS (EUObserver ) 17 Sept by Andrew Rettman — Palestinian people fleeing Israel’s occupation of Gaza were most of the victims in the Malta boat incident last week, when hundreds were left to drown by human traffickers. The information comes from survivors interviewed by the Palestinian embassy in Greece, which spoke to two men from Gaza who made it to the Greek island of Crete. Two other men from Gaza, who made it to the Italian island of Sicily, also gave details to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a Swiss-based institute. The original group, which sailed from Damietta in Egypt, is said to have numbered 500 people from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Sudan. But Ahmed Suhail, a Palestinian diplomat in Greece, told EUobserver on Wednesday (17 September) that “according to the information we got, around 250 or 300 of them were Palestinians from Gaza”. A Gaza-based NGO, Adamir, corroborated his statement, telling the Israeli newspaper Haaretz it has collected the names of 400 missing people. “The whole Gaza Strip is talking about it. It’s such a painful story, as if it’s not enough what happened in the last war and now another blow comes”, the NGO’s director, Halil Abu Shamala, said. One Gaza resident, Belal, who is planning to make a similar trip, told this website that Israel’s recent attack prompted many people to attempt the crossing. “We are thinking: It’s better to try and to drown in the sea than to stay at home and be killed by Israeli bombs”.
http://euobserver.com/justice/125652
2 boat survivors in Italian custody
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — Italian authorities are holding two Palestinian survivors of a deadly boat sinking in protective custody, Palestine’s embassy in Rome announced Friday. Khmain Barbakh and Shadi al-Jabari are being held in protective custody because they are witnesses to the suspected deliberate sinking of a boat packed with hundreds of migrants. The embassy said in a statement that as of noon Friday, diplomatic staff “were informed officially by the Ministry of Interior’s department of migration that there are only two survivors with Italian authorities.” No remains of Palestinian victims are in Italian custody, the statement added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728571
Israeli forces enter Gaza for third time since the truce
Middle East Monitor 19 Sept – -Israeli forces entered the outskirts of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, this morning to complete what they called “security activity” at the barrier around the Strip, eye witnesses reported. Witnesses said: “Four Israeli bulldozers set off this morning from Kissufim military base, and penetrated 100 meters east of the town of Al-Qarara, north of Khan Yunis.” According to witnesses, the bulldozers dredged agricultural land near the town before leaving. Israeli Army Radio quoted unnamed military sources as saying that the Israeli army this morning carried out “security activity” by examining the border area with Khan Yunis. The incursion is the third on the borders of the Gaza Strip since the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israel on August 26, brokered by Egypt, after the Israeli war which lasted 51 days. Over the past two weeks, Israel has carried out similar activities on the outskirts of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14230-israeli-forces-enter-gaza-for-third-time-since-the-truce
2 killed, 3 injured by unexploded Israeli ordnance in Shuja‘iya
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — Two Palestinians were killed and three were injured on Friday when an unexploded Israeli bomb blew up in the al-Shuja‘iyya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City. A Ma‘an reporter in Gaza said that a huge explosion was heard in the al-Shuja‘iyya area and ambulances rushed to the area immediately. Spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza Ashraf al-Qidra said that two Palestinians were killed in the explosion. Al-Qidra identified the two as Ayman Ziad Abu Jibba, 23, and Abdullah Jibril Abu Aser, 23, and said that their bodies were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. In mid-August, six people were killed in a similar explosion, and watch groups have warned that the ordnance is a particular threat to children, who often think the bombs are toys. The Gaza Strip is currently littered with a large number of unexploded Israeli ordnance, a constant reminder of the more than 50-day Israeli offensive that left more than 2,150 dead, 11,200 injured, and more than 110,000 homeless. Although Gaza police explosives teams have been working across the territory to destroy unexploded ordnance and prevent safety threats to locals, lack of proper equipment due to the seven-year Israeli siege as well as lack of resources more generally have hindered efforts. Even before the most frequent Israeli assault, unexploded ordnance from the 2008-9 and 2012 offensives was a major threat to Gazans. A 2012 report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that 111 civilians, 64 of whom were children, were casualties to unexploded ordnance between 2009 and 2012, reaching an average of four every month in 2012.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728543
Hamas fighter dies in Gaza tunnel accident
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Hamas’ military wing said that one of their members died on Thursday evening in an “accident” in a tunnel below the Gaza Strip. Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement Thursday that Ahmad Riyadh al-Haddad, 21, from Tel al-Islam in Gaza City, died in a “resistance tunnel,” without giving any further information. One of Israel’s stated aims in it’s more than 50-day assault over July and August that killed more than 2,150 Palestinians was to destroy all tunnels operated by Hamas inside the Gaza Strip, particularly those entering Israeli territory. Although Israeli military officials said before withdrawing from their invasion of the eastern Gaza Strip that they had accomplished this mission, the news of the fighter’s death suggests Hamas continues to maintain a tunnel network. Hamas has said the tunnels into Israel are for use against military targets near the border, and during the conflict launched a number of such attacks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728480
Gaza widow offers insight into world of spies
GAZA CITY (AP) 17 Sept by Hamza Hendawi — The 48-year-old Palestinian woman’s husband was shot to death in 2012 by militants in the Gaza Strip for spying for Israel. A mother of seven, she herself was jailed by Gaza’s Hamas rulers for aiding and abetting a spy – her husband. The widow’s account to The Associated Press gave a rare look into the secret espionage side of the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. According to her, Israeli security agents took advantage of her late husband’s financial troubles a decade ago, luring him into collaborating by offering him a permit to work in Israel. She was later recruited when she was allowed to take one of their children to Israel for medical treatment. “Our life was hell. We were scared,” she said of their years feeding Israel information. “I used to look over my shoulder when I am out in the market, get scared when I see a police car.” The woman, who was released in December, spoke on condition of anonymity because Hamas does not allow freed collaborators to talk to the press. Israel has historically relied on collaborators against Palestinian militants and activists, recruiting them with methods ranging from entrapment and blackmail to cash and perks. Hamas, in turn, has done whatever it can to stop collaborators – particularly by killing them in public as a deterrent to others – since it holds them responsible for helping Israel assassinate dozens of its top figures … On the Gaza side of Erez, a large sign put up by Hamas warns travelers against being recruited by Israelis. An AP reporter this week witnessed firsthand how the Israeli military uses access to Israel through Erez to get information from Palestinians. On the Israel side outside the crossing terminal, a Palestinian businessman who had just entered from Gaza sat waiting for his brother, who was crossing with him but was held up by border officials inside the terminal. A uniformed army lieutenant speaking Arabic approached the man and promised to help his brother, but first asked him dozens of questions about life in Gaza, from the number of factories damaged in the latest war, to the mood on the streets and power supply. The questioning – casual in tone – lasted about 15 minutes, and the man answered with little hesitation. In the end, the officer insisted on taking the man’s mobile phone number. The brother emerged soon after.
http://www.theolympian.com/2014/09/17/3322770_gaza-widow-offers-insight-into.html?rh=1
Gaza’s revenge: Israelis swim in Palestinian shit
11 Sept by Sam Bahour — Consecutive Israeli military assaults have caused huge damage to Gaza’s water and sewage systems, writes Sam Bahour. One result is that almost all Gaza’s water is unfit for human consumption. Another is the tide of raw Palestinian sewage lapping on the beaches of Tel Aviv. So who should we feel most sorry for? … Reality is bleaker than ever before. Nothing of the underlying reasons why Gaza exploded into a bloodbath has changed; Israeli and Egyptian closures of Gaza’s borders remain in place. However, one product is making its way freely across the border into Israel. Actually, this product flows undetected by the almighty Israeli military and rolls right up on to the shores of Tel Aviv. More terrorist shit The product is Palestinian shit, or more accurately, to maintain the media bias of the times, Palestinian terrorist shit. We Palestinians have no love affair with the Israelis relaxing on the shores of Tel Aviv. Many of these Israelis have no problem being high-tech professionals in the morning, throwing on their military uniform and participating in turning Gaza into a living hell on earth in the afternoon, then going for a relaxing swim with the family on the shores of Tel Aviv in the evening. However, we would advise Israelis, and all tourists to Israel for that matter, to please stop swimming in our shit. This practice is not only unhealthy for you and your children, but it is killing us, literally and figuratively.
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2550620/gazas_revenge_israelis_swim_in_palestinian_shit.html
Gaza ministry postpones surgeries due to strike
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Gaza’s Ministry of Health has postponed up to 180 surgeries in the besieged coastal enclave due to strike action by cleaning staff. Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said patients will bear the consequences if cleaning staff across Gaza continue to strike. Some 750 cleaning workers are participating in strike action in protest at not receiving their salaries for five months. The workers used to be paid by the Hamas-run government in Gaza, but the group and the Palestinian Authority are at odds over responsibility for payment of salaries in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728288
Israel tortures prisoners captured in Gaza invasion
GAZA CITY (Electronic Intifada) 17 Sept by Joe Catron — Two dozen Palestinians captured during Israel’s invasion of Gaza this summer remain in detention more than three weeks after the 51-day offensive ended. While the men have had limited contact with their families, the legal team representing most of them says several have been tortured. “They testified in front of our lawyer that they were subjected to torture by the Israeli interrogators,” Issam Younis, director of Gaza’s Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, told The Electronic Intifada on Monday. Al Mezan represents 22 of the 24 detainees still held by Israel. “At least eight that were visited by the lawyer were subjected to torture,” Younis added. “It doesn’t mean the others were not.” Their treatment has included beatings with the butts of M-16 rifles, sleep deprivation for at least three consecutive days and handcuffing in painful stress positions, according to Younis. Additionally, he said, “They were intimidated with threats that Israel would demolish their houses, kill their families and rape their wives.” Indefinite detention The number of prisoners from the Gaza Strip held after the ground invasions has decreased since the height of the offensive, said Gavan Kelly from Addameer, a group supporting Palestinian political prisoners. “There were two hundred people arrested from Gaza,” he told The Electronic Intifada on Sunday. “Of these, 24 are still currently being held, one of whom is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows for detention without charge or trial for an indefinite amount of time … “In practice, the Unlawful Combatants Law contains fewer protections for detainees than even the few that are granted under administrative detention orders in the West Bank,” states Addameer.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-tortures-prisoners-captured-gaza-invasion/13861
Egypt denies Palestinian family entry at Rafah crossing
CAIRO (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Egyptian authorities on Thursday denied a Palestinian family from Gaza entry into Egypt because the family had allegedly used smuggling tunnels to enter the besieged enclave several years ago. Egyptian officials told Ma‘an that a Palestinian woman and her children were stopped by border officials at Rafah while trying to enter Egypt. The family, who have German citizenship, did not have entry stamps to Gaza, which, according to Egyptian authorities, means they entered Gaza using tunnels and not the Rafah crossing. The mother later admitted during interrogation that they had entered Gaza through a smuggling tunnel in Rafah in 2012.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728331
2,500 Gaza pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia via Rafah crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Over 2,500 Hajj pilgrims from Gaza will enter Egypt on Thursday via the Rafah crossing, a Palestinian official said. Director of Gaza’s crossings authority, Maher Abu Sabha, told Ma‘an that the pilgrims will transit through Egypt en route to Saudi Arabia.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728268
Briefing: What’s in the UN’s new Gaza agreement?
GAZA, JERUSALEM, DUBAI (IRIN) 19 Sept — On 16 September the UN announced a new deal that is supposed to ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip. In his public statement on the day, Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle East, gave few specific details about the deal but said it would “enable work at the scale required in the Strip, involving the private sector in Gaza and giving a lead role to the Palestinian Authority in the reconstruction effort.” IRIN looks at the issues. Why is the agreement necessary? Following the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas and other Islamist groups in Gaza, much of the enclave is in ruins. At least 18,000 homes were destroyed as Israel dropped thousands of bombs on the heavily populated area, while key infrastructure including power plants and water networks were also badly damaged. Rebuilding efforts are made even more challenging by a pre-existing blockade. Since 2007 Israel and Egypt have limited or banned many basic goods from entering the Strip. Among those that Israel restricts are fertilizers, cement, steel cables and even some fabrics. Tel Aviv defines such goods as “dual use” – meaning that while they are needed for the civilian population, they could also potentially be used by militant groups in attacks. With the catastrophic level of destruction and ongoing humanitarian crisis, rebuilding without easing the blockade is nearly impossible. A key housing group has estimated that without lifting the restrictions on cement and other dual-use goods, restoring Gaza just to the level it was before the war could take 20 years. As such, the UN, the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have reached a deal that seeks to increase access while aiming to assure Israel that none of the goods will fall into the hands of Hamas or other groups that it labels terrorists … What is known so far is that there are two main areas of works that this applies to – UN projects and private Palestinian projects. The former have been subject to fewer restrictions in recent years, but a new deal has been agreed whereby the Israeli government will approve UN projects upon receipt of only basic information and their general locations. This, in theory, should speed up UN operations. The second category – Palestinian projects – is the more contentious issue. Under the new rules, Palestinian businesses trying to bring in “dual-use” goods must first register with a database run by the Palestinian government in the West Bank, not Gaza. This online database will register the import and transfer of items. There will be two different monitoring procedures – one for small-scale works such as people rebuilding their homes and another for larger private construction projects. Both of these involve UN monitoring teams overseeing the projects … It does not appear that Hamas, the Islamist party that runs the Gaza Strip, was explicitly involved in the agreement and the extent of the consultation with the group is unclear.
http://www.irinnews.org/report/100632/briefing-what-s-in-the-un-s-new-gaza-agreement
Delay in Gaza rebuilding could threaten truce : Quartet
Jerusalem (AFP) 17 Sept — The Middle East Quartet of peacemakers on Wednesday joined calls for a quick start to the rebuilding of war-ravaged Gaza before the current truce with Israel ends in renewed violence. “The precarious situation in Gaza and southern Israel, the danger that violence could flare up again at any point, are precisely the reason to move as quickly as possible on the short-term and long-term recovery efforts,” Quartet envoy Tony Blair wrote in remarks published by his office ahead of a meeting on international aid to the Palestinians. Blair said that aid to the coastal strip should go beyond just repairing the devastation wrought by Israel’s 50-day offensive against rocket fire from Palestinian militants. “This is not about putting the pieces back together in Gaza,” he wrote in the introduction to a report he is to present in New York on Monday to a session of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which coordinates international donor support for the Palestinians. “This is about making substantive, lasting change, uniting Gaza and the West Bank and opening Gaza back up to the world,” he wrote. Blair’s report calls for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas to take a leading role in Gaza’s reconstruction, with the “comprehensive” support of the international community. He welcomed Tuesday’s announcement that Israel and the Palestinians had accepted a UN-brokered deal on delivering construction materials to Gaza that would ensure they would not be diverted by Hamas militants.
http://news.yahoo.com/delay-gaza-rebuilding-could-threaten-truce-quartet-192226779.html
Hamas: Cairo ceasefire talks to be held within the next week
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq on Wednesday told Ma‘an that indirect ceasefire negotiations between Palestinians and Israel will restart within the next week. Abu Marzouq said that while the exact date had not yet been set, “it would definitely be before the 24th of the current month.” The Hamas leader also said that the United Nations will take charge of the reconstruction of Gaza in coordination with Israel and the Palestinian unity government, adding that Hamas would not object to any methods taken by the UN in reconstruction. Abu Marzouq added that he is waiting for a phone call from the head of the Fatah delegation in Cairo, Azzam al-Ahmad, to set a time and place for an awaited meeting between Fatah and Hamas leaders. “The movement does not mind meeting in Cairo if it agrees, but if it doesn’t, the meeting will be held in Gaza.” Israel and a delegation comprised of representatives from all major Palestinian political parties will meet for the second half of negotiations for a long-term ceasefire in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728202
Israeli FM refusing to cooperate with UN fact-finding mission
IMEMC/Agencies 17 Sept — The Israeli Foreign Ministry has expressed a refusal to cooperate with the fact-finding mission with regard to the recent Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip coordinated by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, say Israeli reports … Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry wonders if it should cooperate with a fact finding mission which relies on an “anti-Israeli majority”. The sources said that “Israel did not cooperate with Goldstone. As a result, his report was disappeared.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/69159
War? What war? Gaza gets forgotten in a hurry
Haaretz 18 Sept by Gideon Levy — Even if we put aside the moral blindness in Israel, which wasn’t shocked by a single event during the fighting, it’s impossible to comprehend the complacency afterwards — Sometime this summer, between the singer Ninet’s getting pregnant and getting married, a war went on here. It ended and was forgotten. That’s how it is in a bipolar society that fluctuates between mania and depression, between scandal and festivities, between commemoration and suppression. One moment the entire nation is an army at war, the next it’s as if nothing had happened. Even the Israeli sacrifice has been forgotten – not to mention the killing and destruction in Gaza, which were never really mentioned in the first place. Except for the direct victims, nobody seems to remember that a war went on. It goes without saying that nobody is drawing conclusions or learning lessons (except for defense officials and their extortion of the state budget). Israel is jubilant again. It has returned to its nonsense as if there hadn’t been a war, as if another will never break out, as if an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv there was no devastated swath of land, smashed by Israel’s hands, where the inhabitants are suffering horribly while Israel is exultant.
Gaza hasn’t forgotten. There’s a whole list of people who can never forget: the 1,500 orphaned children; the 3,000 wounded children; the 1,000 crippled children; the 110,000 residents still crowded in UNRWA shelters in inhumane conditions; the tenants of the 18,000 buildings destroyed or badly damaged, leaving 2.5 million tons of debris nobody knows what to do with; the 450,000 people without water and the 360,000 who, according to the World Health Organization, are suffering from PTSD after our bombardments. None of these people can be expected to forgive, and this isn’t the first time this has happened. Not only has Israel forgotten they exist, the world might be about to abandon them.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.616338
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Discrimination / Apartheid
Israeli high court upholds racist ‘admission committees’ law
Electronic Intifada 18 Sept by Charlotte Silver — The Israeli high court upheld on Wednesday the “Admissions Committees Law,” which allows rural towns in the Negev and Galilee to reject Palestinian citizens of Israel and other marginalized groups from residing in them on the basis that they are “unsuitable” for Jewish communities. It is a ruling that Israeli civil and human rights organizations have condemned as legalizing the practice of segregation. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, filed a petition against the law on behalf of several human and civil rights organizations in Israel on 30 March 2011, arguing that the law violated Israel’s prohibition against discrimination. On 17 September, an expanded panel of judges ruled five-to-four to dismiss the petition. In a press release, Adalah said: “This law is one of the most racist pieces of legislation enacted in recent years, the primary objective of which is to marginalize Arab citizens and prevent them from accessing housing on ‘state land’ in many communities. The court’s decision upholds one of the most dangerous laws in Israel.” While there is specific language in the law that nominally bars explicit discrimination in terms of race, religion, gender, nationality, or disability, it nevertheless allows admissions committees to use a vague criteria to reject an applicant who is “not suitable for the social life in the community” or the “candidate’s lack of compatibility with the social-cultural fabric of the community town.” Discrimination In its condemnation of the law in 2011, Human Rights Watch pointed to one example in which a kibbutz justified its rejection of a Palestinian couple with Israeli citizenship, citing the town’s criteria that required residents be eligible for the membership in the World Zionist Organization and to have served in the Israeli army, which swiftly disqualifies most Palestinian citizens. Approximately seven hundred rural communities across Israel have committees made up of town residents and representatives from the Jewish Agency or the World Zionist Organization….
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-high-court-upholds-racist-admission-committees-law
West Bank Bedouin leaders reject relocation plan
Haaretz 17 Sept by Amira Hass — Lawyer explains to three tribes slated to move to new town how unsuitable the arrangement will be — Representatives of Bedouin communities in the eastern West Bank convened two emergency meetings on Tuesday to discuss their stance against a Civil Administration decision to forcibly settle them north of Jericho. The meeting was initiated by a Bedouin community defense council founded a few years ago in the West Bank. “From the start we’ve opposed the plan to expel us from the places where we live and settle us unwillingly in one town, but we didn’t know just how bad this plan was until we heard and understood the details,” one participant at the first meeting in Anata told Haaretz. “We decided to express our opposition to the principles of the plan,” he said, “and not this or that aspect of it. We know that we have a tough time ahead of us, and there is a chance that the Civil Administration will exert pressure on us in the form of more demolition orders and attempts to expel us from various places.” He also stated that on Tuesday morning four more stop-work orders were issued against four buildings under construction in the Bedouin community of Jabal al Baba, west of Ma’aleh Adumim. In late August, and last weekend, details about the plan to relocate the Bedouin to a town north of Jericho in Area C, adjacent to Area A where the Palestinian Authority governs, were published. The town will be called Talet Nueima, and will house 12,500 people from three different Bedouin tribes: Jahalin, Kaabneh and Rashaida. The Bedouin representatives’ meetings took place simultaneously in Anata and Jericho, due to the distance between the two places, and also because members of various tribes are embroiled in long-term family or personal disputes. These tensions, according to Cohen Lifshitz, are just a small example of the “great difficulty in gathering together people from various tribes, in close proximity that goes against their way of life.” … At the meetings, the participants found out that according to the plan, they will not be allowed to build sheep pens in the manner they are used to, as each structure must be covered by a stone roof. “They raised their eyebrows when I said that,” said Cohen Lifshitz. He also explained that the allocation of lands does not allow each family to build as they wish. “They must submit updated building plans, at their own expense. Speaking with them, I understood that aside from uprooting them, one of the most difficult aspects of the plan is that they are being sent as a group into a single place, without taking into account where they will put their flocks, how they can feed them, how much room they’ll have and where they will keep their livelihood.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.616163
Civil Administration plans to transfer thousands of Bedouins from homes, concentrate them in inadequate settlement
[with map] B’Tselem 17 Sept — The Civil Administration has filed for objections plans for establishing a new settlement in the Jordan Valley, where thousands of Bedouins will be forced to relocate. The Civil Administration is advancing several such plans. The current plan was drawn up without consulting the residents themselves, ignoring their needs. It is part of the Civil Administration’s repeated attempts to concentrate the Bedouins living in the West Bank’s Area C in “permanent sites”, with a view to annexing most of this area to Israel and leaving it free for Israeli use, including settlement expansion. The new settlement, to be named Ramat Nu’eimeh, will be built in Area C near Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, and is slated to house about 12,500 people from Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley and the Ma’ale Adumim area … The plans ignore the residents’ agrarian way of life and will not allow them to continue shepherding as before. The new settlement will be surrounded from all sides, in part by firing zones, settlements and a military checkpoint, leaving the residents without grazing pastures for their livestock. In addition, the plans force different tribes and communities to live together, contrary to traditional practices. Most Bedouins living in the West Bank arrived there after they left their homes in the Negev desert, in southern Israel, or were expelled from them, in 1948. Ever since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, they have been forced to relocate several times to allow for Israeli settlements, firing zones, new nature reserves declared, and more. Hundreds of demolition orders have been issued against their homes and entire communities have been repeatedly expelled….
http://www.btselem.org/area_c/20140917_plans_to_transfer_bedouins_to_ramat_nueimeh
Foreign Affairs Ministry condemns displacement of Bedouins
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned on Tuesday Israeli plans to “empty” areas in the occupied West Bank of Bedouin communities. The ministry said in a statement that these plans aim to expand settlements and displace Bedouin communities from the eastern area of Jerusalem with a “loud violation” of international law and the Geneva conventions. Israeli forces have destroyed more than 23 Bedouin villages in order to expand settlements, it said. More than 350 Bedouin homes have been destroyed since the beginning of 2014 and several schools were shut while the Israeli authorities are preventing humanitarian aid and supplies from reaching these communities, it said. The ministry added that more than 42 Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations have signed a letter demanding an end to the expulsion of Bedouins.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=727858
Israeli forces begin demolitions in Bedouin village near Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Israeli forces raided a number of Bedouin communities east of Jerusalem on Thursday days after handing them demolition and evacuation orders, a local activist said. Popular committee spokesman Hani Halabiya told Ma‘an that dozens of Israeli soldiers entered the Bedouin communities escorted by a bulldozer while an Israeli military plane circled above. He added that the bulldozer demolished the walls surrounding homes and land in the Khillet al-Qamar area in Abu Dis without warning. Halabiya warned that the demolitions in Khillet al-Qamar were part of Israel’s larger plan to “displace” the 14,000 Bedouins living in nearly two dozen communities across the West Bank … Israeli authorities, however, have denied that the plans are a covert attempt at the forcible transfer of Palestinians, instead comparing them to efforts to improve quality of life for some of the 90,000 Bedouins within Israel itself. Palestinians in Israel, however, had widely protested similarly moves against their communities there.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728307
Cabinet due to again approve controversial section of West Bank barrier
Haaretz 19 Sept by Nir Hasson — Terraces at Batir, near Bethlehem, were declared UNESCO World Heritage site in attempt to save them from construction of the separation barrier. During its weekly meeting on Sunday, the government is expected to again approve the construction of the West Bank separation barrier in the vicinity of the village of Batir, near Bethlehem. The course of the barrier will be the same as that originally approved, which was opposed by the Nature and Parks Authority and criticized by UNESCO as endangering ancient terraces. The residents of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc also oppose the construction, believing that it will leave them on the far side of the barrier. A legal battle over the construction of the barrier has been waged for the past seven years. Among the opponents of the barrier are the residents of Batir, who maintain that the barrier will destroy both the landscape and their unique traditional irrigation system … The ministry of defense, which is promoting construction of the barrier, maintains that the damage to the terraces will be minimal and that the irrigation system will not be affected.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.616634
Israeli forces issue demolition orders to 3 Hebron families
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 18 Sept — Israeli forces delivered demolition orders to three Palestinian families in the southern West Bank town of Idhna on Thursday, the landowners said. Amjad Hilmi Nofal, owner of the one of the properties, said his family of seven have lived in the home for 10 years. Nofal’s brother, Awad, and his family of nine have lived in their home since 2007, while a third house slated for demolition belongs to Arif Abd al-Hamid Abu Zalata. The families received stop-work orders from Israel’s military seven years ago and have been filing appeals with Israel’s Supreme Court ever since. Mayor of Idhna Hashim Tmeizi says Israel is trying to displace Palestinians from the town, with hundreds of families threatened with demolition orders.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728373
Army to demolish a car repair structure near Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Bethlehem, said the soldiers invaded Um Rokba area, south of al-Khader, and handed an order to resident Osama Salah to demolish his car repair structure. The resident was informed that he has a week to demolish the structure; otherwise, the army will demolish it and send him the bill. He said the army handed him a similar order nearly five months ago. Israel continuously limits the ability of the Palestinians to build in their lands
http://www.imemc.org/article/69179
Israeli forces photograph Palestinian homes while settlers perform rituals near Hebron
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — Israeli forces raided and took photos of Palestinian homes in the villages of Ma‘in and Al Karmel, located respectively to the east and southeast of Yatta, south of Hebron, while settlers performed religious rituals, said a local activist. Soldiers forced Palestinian locals out of their homes before breaking into, ransacking and taking photos of the homes, as well as of the entire area, according to WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency. According to Palestinian Village Profile information, Ma‘in is surrounded in three directions by many illegal Israeli settlements and bypass roads. Three settlements lie to the east, two to the south and one to the west, with one bypass road to the east.
Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli settlers, under the protection of soldiers, raided Al- Karmel and performed Talmudic rituals at some local archaeological sites. The Palestinian Village Profile notes that Al Karmel has a long history, dating back to the Canaanite period. The name “Al Karmil” is derived from a Canaanite word, which means “God’s Blessing”, and the village keeps its name until this day. The residents of the village are indigenous to the area, while two illegal Israeli settlements, “Karmiel” and Ma’oun”, are situated to the east of the village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69172
Israeli forces confiscate farming tools near Tubas
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli forces confiscated farming tools and tractors on Wednesday and prevented dozens of workers from reaching lands in eastern Tubas in the northern West Bank. A member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine told Ma‘an that vehicles belonging to Israel’s civilian administration arrived in the al-Atuf and al-Buqeia areas and told the farmers that they were banned from working there. They confiscated farming tools and tractors and briefly detained dozens of workers before they confiscated their identification cards. Bassam al-Maslamani said that Israeli forces confiscated the tractors of Mustafa Bani Odeh and Jamal Muhammad Qassem Bani Odeh. Farmers had announced several days ago a project to extend eight kilometers of water pipes to several plots of land at their own expense, which would cost 200,000 shekels ($55,000).
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728048
Settlers uproot agricultural and grazing lands near Salfit
IMEMC/Agencies 17 Sept — A number of extremist Israeli settlers bulldozed agricultural, and grazing, lands belonging to residents from Deir Estia and Hares villages, north of the Central West Bank city of Salfit. The settlers came from the Revava illegal Israeli settlement, built on Palestinian lands in the district. The attack is part of Israel’s efforts to expand the illegal settlements on the expense of Palestinian lands belonging to residents of Deir Estia and Hares. Khaled Ma’ali, a researcher specialized in settlement affairs, said the uprooted agricultural and herding lands have recently been illegally confiscated from Palestinians by an Israeli military order, under different “justifications”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69154
The battle to preserve Bethlehem’s cultural heritage
[with film trailer] BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Sept by Charlie Hoyle — When Palestinian filmmaker Leila Sansour left Bethlehem in the 1980s there were no military checkpoints intimidating the city, no separation wall jutting into residential gardens, and no Israeli settlements dominating the horizon. “I grew up in a very idyllic town, but I didn’t think of it like that as a child. There were forests of olive trees, fig trees, apricot trees and huge fields filled with grape vines,” she told Ma‘an. “All of this is lost in Bethlehem. Now what we have is a concrete forest of buildings.” Sansour’s new documentary, Open Bethlehem, is the culmination of a 10-year journey of emotional reconnection with a city she left as a teenager to experience the wider world. It is also a tribute to the legacy of her father, who founded Bethlehem University … The ancient city, which gave birth to Christianity, is now guarded by Israeli military watchtowers which jut into main thoroughfares and an 8-meter high concrete wall which abuts residential properties, dissecting the population from Jerusalem, historically Bethlehem’s twin city. Israeli soldiers raid the city almost daily to arrest Palestinians and the rolling hills surrounding the city have been replaced by concrete Israeli settlements. Only 13 percent of the Bethlehem governorate is available to Palestinians due to Israeli restrictions. Sansour says the Israeli military occupation is threatening the very survival of a way of life which had thrived for generations … Changing fortunes of a wealthy city During the making of the film, Sansour acquired what is now one of the largest visual archives of Bethlehem, including over 700 hours of video footage, news reels, old magazines and photographs. The archive will be made public over time and it is Sansour’s hope that Palestinians will share in the story of Bethlehem, and Palestine, by helping to identify those featured in the footage. While researching the film, Sansour also discovered that this small, diverse Middle Eastern city had thrived at the turn of the 20th century, as Bethlehemites built a complex trade network for Holy Land products stretching across the Middle East, Europe and as far as the Philippines. The profits that came with such a successful enterprise brought huge profits to Bethlehem, which were funneled into Ottoman mansions still seen across the city. “Bethlehemites had this worldly outlook, like adventurers, they liked the good life, luxuries, and a high standard of education. “It was very easy going, a very outward looking community. Diverse, capable, and entrepreneurial. That is the spirit of the city that I’m scared is disappearing.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728154
Tulkarem chemical factory exploits Palestinian labour and health
Middle East Monitor 19 Sept — It is a well-known yet understated fact that Israel uses Palestinian land and its civilian population to test military innovations and “cutting edge” crowd control techniques. However, there is an issue often side-tracked, whether intentionally or not, that deals with the use of cheap Palestinian labour in Israel’s growing industrial market. The settlement industrial zones in Area C of the West Bank house chemical factories that have grown into powerful and lethal means of oppression for the communities that they smother. There are now 11 factories in the Tulkarem area, all of which are on internationally recognised occupied Palestinian land within the 1967 borders, displaying a ruthless disregard for the rights of the residents who have to live with the horrific smell, constant threat of land theft, and the health risks that come with proximity to such harmful substances. Israel’s economic interests guide much of its behaviour towards Palestinians and their land; none is more overt than the placing of these factories in and around the villages of Tulkarem.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14220-tulkarem-chemical-factory-exploits-palestinian-labour-and-health
Violence / Raids / Suppression of protests / Illegal arrests — West Bank / Jerusalem
Israeli police brutally assault Jerusalem youth
IMEMC/Agencies 19 Sept — Israeli police assaulted, this past Wednesday, 16-year old Shadi Raed Ghurab as he was walking along Nablus Street, in occupied East Jerusalem. Police severely beat the boy with batons while being detained in the interrogation room, at the Salah Eddin Street police station, according to Jerusalem’s Wadi Hilweh Information Center. The Center noted that he suffered fractures in his arm and leg, as seen in the photo. Shadi explained that an officer detained him on Nablus Street and, then, took him to Salah Eddin Street police station. After the interrogator entered the room, he mocked the child for being a resident of the Al-Thori neighborhood, which resulted in a number of verbal altercations. Additionally, according to the boy’s testimony, the interrogator then transferred him to a different room which did not have any cameras, upon which he was assaulted by not one but three officers.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69186
Prisoner says slain cellmate was killed in span of minutes
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — A Palestinian prisoner on Monday said he saw a cellmate believed to have been beaten to death by Israeli prison guards last week only minutes before his death. Nassim Abu Ghosh, a lawyer from the Palestinian Authority Prisoner Affairs department, said that he met with prisoner Muhammad Said al-Azza in Ashkelon on Monday, where he was told the information regarding the deceased Raed al-Jabari. Al-Azza told Abu Ghosh that he was with al-Jabari in Ofer along with another prisoner identified as Abu Jad, who was being moved with al-Jabari to Eshel prison. “We arrived in Ramla and it was normal,” al-Azza was quoted as saying. “We had dinner and prayed and headed to sleep.” “In the morning when we arrived to Eshel, Raed and Abu Jad were taken inside the prison and I stayed in the vehicle. 15 minutes later, one of the soldiers came and told me that Raed was dead.” Al-Azza said that he yelled at the soldier and asked him why he had said his cellmate was dead, but “the soldier did not answer me. He hit me on my leg and shut the door of the vehicle, and then I was then taken to Ashkelon.” Palestinian officials said on Friday that an autopsy suggested that Raed al-Jabari had been beaten to death by Israeli guards in prison, after Israeli prison authorities said he had hanged himself in a bathroom. The injuries suffered by al-Jabari — including internal bleeding and a concussion — did not match the details of his death described by Israeli officials, Palestinian forensic experts said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=727870
Israeli jails fill with Palestinian juveniles after summer riots
Haaretz 19 Sept by Nir Hasson — Hundreds arrested in East Jerusalem in recent weeks; 13-year-olds among those in prison — Hundreds of suspects under the age of 18 have been arrested in East Jerusalem since the riots began there some three months ago. Residents accuse the authorities of neglect and the police of violating the minors’ rights and of brutal treatment, saying “they’re turning little children into terrorists.” Attorneys who represent dozens of suspects in East Jerusalem say the police and legal system’s treatment of the suspects is harsh, vindictive and discriminatory. The involvement of minors in violent incidents in East Jerusalem is nothing new, but since this summer’s riots’ outbreak it has grown to unprecedented proportions. In recent weeks 260 minors have been arrested and even small children have begun taking part in the disturbances. On Sunday two weeks ago, hours after the funeral of 16-year old Mohammed Sunuqrut, a few dozen masked individuals stormed the gas station on the seam line between the Issawiya and French Hill neighborhoods. They set gas pumps on fire and raided the convenience store. Earlier this week six minors, ages 13-15, were arrested on suspicion of carrying out the arson and looting. Their families deny the teens’ involvement and say the police’s so-called evidence is based on admissions extorted under pressure and accusations made by other children. On Wednesday the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court extended the six minors’ custody by five days. Khaled, the father of a 15-year-old suspect, waited angry and frustrated for several hours in the courthouse corridor for the hearing on his son’s custody. His younger son, 13, was arrested several days ago on suspicion of throwing rocks. He is still behind bars. Khaled emphatically denies that his older son was involved in the gas station torching, but tells Haaretz why children take part in the disturbances. “These children have nothing, they should have places to play in,” he says. “They saw what happened to the children in Gaza, 500 children were killed there, and their friend Mohammed Abu Khdeir was murdered. I was in the first Intifada. Twenty years later we’re back in the same situation.” The father of another suspect said he told his son to stay at home. “But he told me, ‘I’m afraid they’ll burn me like they burned Abu Khdeir, so I won’t stay at home,’” he says … Kamal Jabrin, a youth counselor from the Shoafat refugee camp, says his brother was arrested in July for one day in Jerusalem police headquarters. “He became an adult in one day,” Jabrin told Haaretz. “You put a 13-year-old in a room with 17-year-olds and he’s afraid of being beaten up. It’s hell there. I see it in my work, every child put in jail, even for two days, most chances are he’ll go back to jail after a short time,” he says … Tsemel and Mohammed Mahmoud, an attorney who also represents several dozens of minors, say the police burst into homes to arrest juveniles in the middle of the night, interrogating them with shouts and threats in their parents’ absence … Tsemel and Mahmoud compare the way the Palestinian minors are treated to the way the courts and police treat Jewish suspects of similar age but accused of more serious crimes. For example, at the end of July a group of Jews attacked two young Palestinians in Beit Hanina with clubs and sticks in what was described as an attempted lynch. The two Palestinians were injured, one seriously. Yet only one of the 12 Jews arrested on suspicion of taking part in the attack was kept in custody until the end of the legal process.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.616650
Israeli occupation extends arrest of national football team player for the eighth time
BETHLEHEM (PNN) 19 Sept — The Israeli Occupation court extended the arrest of the Palestinian national football team player, Sameh Maraa’beh, and the head of the Qalqilyah Islamic Club, Moayyad Shrim, for another week, without any clear charge. This extension is the 8th for both prisoners in Majiddo prison after the failure of Israel to find them guilty. Maraa’beh’s father was shocked by the court decision, and was not able to see his son for more than the 15 minutes of court session. It is noteworthy that Maraa’beh was arrested last April at the Jericho checkpoint on his way back from a camp abroad with the national team in Qatar.
https://occpalgaza.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/israeli-occupation-extends-arrest-of-national-football-team-player-for-the-eighth-time/
Israeli forces disperse West Bank protests
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 19 Sept — Hundreds of Palestinians protested across the occupied West Bank on Friday to call attention to Israel’s efforts to confiscate their land. The weekly marches protesting the Israeli occupation and land confiscation and condemning international silence toward the Palestinian cause set off after Friday prayer. Dozens of Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets and suffocated by tear gas grenades as Israeli forces dispersed a march in the village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah … Bil‘in: At a protest in Bil‘in, a village near Ramallah, a Palestinian was injured and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation. Two international activists were detained. Ashraf Abu Rahma was injured in his leg as he was chased by Israeli forces, while an Israeli and British activist were detained. Ma‘sara: Near Bethlehem, meanwhile, Israeli forces blocked a weekly march in the village of al-Ma‘sara, locals said. Dozens of Palestinian and international activists marched in the village to protest against Israel’s confiscation of land in the area, but were forcibly stopped by Israeli soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728553
Six Palestinians, including two children, kidnapped in West Bank, Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 17 Sept by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers continued their daily invasions into different Palestinian communities and kidnapped, on Wednesday, at dawn, six persons including two children, in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Media sources in the Hebron district, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, said the soldiers kidnapped three Palestinians in the district. The sources said residents Morsi Khalil Hmeidat, Osama Amin Manasra, 24, and former political prisoner Mohammad Mousa Hmeidat, also 24, have been kidnapped after the soldiers invaded and ransacked their homes in Bani Ne‘im town, west of Hebron, taking them to an unknown destination. Soldiers also kidnapped Abdul-Hamid Abdul-Hadi Sharawna, 57, also after breaking into, and ransacking, his home in Deir Samet town, south of Hebron.
In Ithna town, west of Hebron, soldiers broke into several shops before searching and ransacking them, and invaded a number of neighborhoods in Hebron city. The soldiers also installed roadblocks at the entrances of Sa‘ir and Halhoul towns. In addition, soldiers kidnapped two Palestinian children in the al-‘Eesawiyya town, in the center of occupied Jerusalem, and took them to the al-Maskobiyya interrogation center in West Jerusalem. The Israeli police claims the children “participated in torching a fuel station” belonging to settlers living near al-Eesawiyya. In addition, the army kidnapped one Palestinian, identified as Mohannad Ghazawna from the ar-Ram town, north of Jerusalem. In Bethlehem, dozens of soldiers invaded the Deheishe refugee camp, south of the city, and handed two residents military warrants for interrogation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69155
Six Palestinians kidnapped in West Bank and Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 18 Sept by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers invaded on Thursday, at dawn, Nahhalin village, to the west of Bethlehem, where they kidnapped four Palestinians; one in Mareeha village, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and another in Jerusalem. Local sources in ‘Anin said that dozens of soldiers invaded the village, broke into and searched several homes, kidnapping four Palestinians … In addition, the soldiers kidnapped Ali Mohammad Khalil, age 21, from ‘Anin village, while he was in the nearby village of Mareeha, south of Jenin. The army claimed that the kidnapped Palestinians are “wanted for security violations”. The soldiers also invaded the home of Walid Abdul-Hadi Abu ‘Obeid, in Faqqou‘a neighboring village, searched and ransacked