Planning board to consider first new Arab city in Israel’s history
Haaretz 26 Oct by Zafrir Rinat — Report on project describes it as ‘affirmative action — A plan to build the first new Arab city in Israel since the establishment of the state will come before the National Planning and Building Council for approval next week. The city, to be built adjacent to the Arab community of Jdeideh Makr, which is just east of the northern coastal city of Acre, is planned for a population of 40,000. Planning for the new city, initiated by the Israel Lands Authority, the Housing and Construction Ministry and the planning administration in the Interior Ministry, has been in the works for the past four years in fulfillment of a 2008 cabinet decision. The architectural firm of Eran Mabel has drawn up the plans. However, it is still unclear when construction on the new city, slated to cover 2,700 dunams (675 acres), will start. Its municipal status is also unclear, and the Jdeideh Makr municipality says it should be part of the city. In Israel’s history, no new cities have been built for Arabs other than for Bedouin who had not been living in permanent settlements before. A report prepared by the city’s planners notes that among the justifications for building a new Arab city is to create communities that do not belong to a number of clans, and to provide for citizens who do not have land to build on. The new community, intended for a middle-class population, is “a message to the Arab population that new communities are not only being built for Jews but for Arabs as well, as part of the process of affirmative action for the Arab population in the public sphere,” the report states …The planning team met with a variety of Arab planners, mayors and academics. Some expressed their support for the project as a solution to the housing crunch, but others said they opposed the establishment of a new city for a specific population group, arguing that cities need to be open from the outset to all sectors.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.622885
Violence / Raids / Clashes / Illegal arrests — West Bank / Jerusalem
Funeral of Shalloudi held in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 27 Oct by Saed Bannoura — Family members of Abdul-Rahman Shalloudi and a few dozen Palestinians from Jerusalem who managed to reach his home despite the strict military siege held the funeral ceremony of the slain Palestinian, just before midnight Sunday. Local sources said the Israeli army handed the body of Shalloudi to his family around 11 at night, while dozens of soldiers were deployed in Palestinian neighborhoods, and around the Yousifiyya Graveyard near al-Asbat Gate. The Israeli police imposed restrictions on the number of Palestinians who could participate in the funeral, and instructed the family that only 55 persons would be allowed to attend. The police also prevented the family from holding funeral prayers in the mosque, an issue that forced them to perform the prayers outside, as they buried him in the cemetery.
On Sunday evening, nine Palestinians were injured and four were kidnapped, during a symbolic funeral procession starting in front of Shalloudi’s home in Silwan town, heading towards the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Political parties and local youth groups in occupied Jerusalem called for the procession to challenge the Israeli restrictions on the number of persons who could attend the funeral itself. The police attacked the mourners by firing gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets at them, in addition to spraying them with wastewater, while mounted police officers assaulted many of the mourners as well. Medical sources said nine Palestinians were injured; eight of them were moved to local clinics and hospitals, while the police also kidnapped a wounded teen. Clashes also took place in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem; two Palestinians were injured, and the police kidnapped three others after invading their homes. The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) said the police fired gas bombs at a number of homes and sprayed them with wastewater. The police also prevented local journalists from entering the area, burnt several Palestinian flags and posters of Shalloudi.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69517
Report: Last Wednesday’s ‘light rail attack’ by Palestinian driver was a car accident
IMEMC 27 Oct by Celine Hagbard — As Israeli right-wingers continue to gather at the site of the death of a 3-month old baby on Wednesday, reports from the police investigating the incident and eyewitnesses on the scene indicate that the incident was a hit-and-run car accident, not a deliberate attack. 21-year old Abdul-Rahman Shalloudi had been at the clinic earlier on Wednesday complaining of a fever and illness. He had returned home and gone to bed, but then went back out and was driving too fast on a Jerusalem road when he ran into a group of pedestrians with his car. He tried to flee the scene of the crash, but was shot dead by Israeli police … Abdul-Rahman Shalloudi’s cousin Abed Shalloudi told reporters with the Israeli paper Ha’aretz, “We believe that he was shot and killed in cold blood and there was no attempt to question him, and hear his side of the story, and that he deserves a funeral like everyone else.” … The cousin of the deceased man added, “I still believe that he had an accident. If he wanted to carry out an attack, why did he wait until he got there? The videos don’t show that it was definitely an attack, and he might have lost control of his vehicle. For the Israelis, that’s an attack, and they shoot him to death.” A video posted on social media, filmed from an angle above the highway, shows the car crossing the center line and hitting pedestrians who were walking in the median.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69508
PHOTOS: Clashes follow funeral of 14-year-old Palestinian-American
Activestills 26 Oct — Orwah Hammad, the second American minor to be killed beyond the Green Line last week, was shot by Israeli soldiers. Thousands turn out for his funeral in the West Bank village of Silwad … Hammad was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier on Friday. His family told the AP that he was with a group of youths who were throwing stones at soldiers. Israel claims the teenager was about to throw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli traffic on a West Bank highway.
http://972mag.com/photos-clashes-follow-funeral-of-14-year-old-palestinian-american/98052/
Thousands attend funeral for Palestinian-American child killed by Israeli army
[with photos] Mondoweiss 26 Oct by Allison Deger — Thousands gathered in the West Bank town of Silwad outside of Ramallah to bury Orwah Hammad, a 14-year old Palestinian-American from Louisiana who was killed by the Israeli army on Friday evening. Hammad’s memorial was held at a local school to accommodate the out pouring of mourners, rather than at Silwad’s central mosque as customary. The front entrances of the town were still littered with burnt trash bins and rocks from the clash on Friday when the youth was killed. Hammad was enshrouded with flower wreaths as children from the village wept and prayed over his headstone. Hammad died in Ramallah public hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to the neck and head during a demonstration against the killing of another Palestinian earlier in the week. The funeral was delayed a day as so Hammad’s father who resides in New Orleans could travel to the West Bank. Hammad lived in New Orleans as well until the age of six when he relocated to the West Bank. The youth’s mother and extended family live in Silwad … The circumstances surrounding Hammad’s killing remain gray. The Israeli army asserts that the youth was throwing a Molotov cocktail at the time he was struck. The Israeli army told Reuters Hammad was shot because soldiers were attempting “to prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a Molotov cocktail at them on the main road. They opened fire and confirmed a hit.” However, witnesses have told me that Hammad was throwing stones and not lobbing a petrol bomb.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/thousands-palestinian-american
Palestinian family says it has proof boy shot by IDF troops posed no threat
Haaretz 26 Oct by Jack Khoury — The family of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli soldiers this month says it has footage showing that the boy did not throw a firebomb or otherwise endanger the soldiers who had entered his village. Bahaa Samir Badr was hit by a bullet in the chest in the village of Beit Laqia near Ramallah on October 16. The family’s attorney, Naila Atiyeh, says that in addition to a complaint to the Military Police, she will file a civil suit at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva claiming that the boy was killed without justification. Neither the boy nor others at the site were a danger to the soldiers leaving the village, she says. The army says a unit entered the village after stones were thrown in the area. When leaving, soldiers stepped out of their vehicle to fix a problem when Palestinians hurled firebombs at them from about 20 meters away, the soldiers said. The unit’s commander fired at them, fatally wounding the boy. Both the child’s uncle, who lives near the site of the shooting, and the owner of a grocery store nearby told Haaretz that no one had provoked the soldiers. They said the children were 200 to 250 meters away from the soldiers and posed no threat.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.622715
The Palestinians’ right and duty to resist / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 25 Oct — Faced with a reality in which Israel is strong and the United States is in its pocket, it is the duty of Palestinians to resist the occupation. The only question relates to the means — …Imagine you’re Palestinian and your children are in danger. Two days ago, the occupation forces killed another child because “he lit a firebomb.” The words “Death to Arabs” were sprayed near your home. Everywhere you turn, a soldier or Border Police officer may shout at you. Every night, your home may be invaded brutally. You will never be treated like human beings. They’ll destroy, humiliate, intimidate, perhaps even arrest you, possibly without trial … Imagine you’re a Palestinian. You have every right to resist. In fact, it’s your civil duty. No argument there. The occupied people’s right to resist occupation is secured in natural justice, in the morals of history and in international law. The only restrictions are on the means of resistance. The Palestinians have tried almost all of them, for better and worse – negotiations and terror; with a carrot and with a stick; with a stone and with bombs; in demonstrations and in suicide. All in vain. Are they to despair and give up? This has almost never happened in history, so they’ll continue. Sometimes they’ll use legitimate means, sometimes vile ones. It’s their right to resist. Now they’re resisting in Jerusalem. They don’t want Israeli rule, or people who set live children on fire. They don’t want armed settlers who invade their apartments in the middle of the night, under the Israeli law’s protection, and evict them. They don’t want a municipality that grants its services according to national affiliation, or judges that sentence their children according to their origin. They also go nuts when the house of a Jewish terrorist is not demolished, while the house of a Palestinian will be torn down. They don’t want Israel to continue tyrannizing them, so they resist. They hurl stones and firebombs. That’s what resistance looks like. Sometimes they act with heinous murderousness, but even that is not as bad as their occupier’s built-in violence.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.622711?fb_action_ids=10204286060345068&fb_action_types=og.recommends
Why do media value Israeli children’s lives more than those of Palestinian kids? / Rania Khalek
Electronic Intifada 24 Oct — A young Palestinian man named Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi rammed his car into pedestrians exiting the Ammunition Hill light rail station in northern Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing three-month-old Haya Zissel Brown and injuring at least seven others. Israeli officials instantly labeled the crash a terrorist attack, which US media outlets have parroted without question even though the intent of the driver remains unclear. Given that Israeli police shot and killed al-Shaludi immediately after he exited the vehicle, whether the crash was deliberate may never be certain. His family insists it was an accident, telling reporters that al-Shaludi, 21 years old, suffered from mental illness as a result of being tortured in Israeli prison. “We believe that he was shot and killed in cold blood and there was no attempt to question him, and hear his side of the story,” his cousin, Abed al-Shaludi, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz … According to his mother, al-Shaludi’s metal health began to deteriorate after a three-week-long interrogation at the hands of the Shin Bet (Israel’s secret police) in the Jerusalem Russian Compound jail, a notorious site of abuse and torture of Palestinians. This context has of course been missing or buried in most US media accounts, of which there are many. Israel and Palestine-related news is currently saturated with headlines about a Palestinian man killing an Israeli baby. Meanwhile, these same outlets have either whitewashed or completely ignored the ongoing abuse and killings of Palestinian children by the Israeli military and settlers.
Gaza children still dying The same day that al-Shaludi killed an Israeli infant with his car, an unexploded Israeli bomb took the life of four-year-old Muhammad Sami Abu Jrad in Beit Hanoun, a city in northern Gaza that was decimated by Israel’s merciless summertime bombing campaign, which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including more than 500 children. According to the Ma‘an News Agency, Jrad is the tenth person killed by unexploded Israeli munitions, most of which have yet to be cleared because the Israeli-imposed, Egypt-enforced blockade hampers access to the robotic and protective equipment needed to neutralize the leftover ordnance. Unlike the tragic death of three-month-old Haya Zissel Brown, Muhammad Jrad’s killing elicited only silence from the American press corps, as did that of another Palestinian child run over by an Israeli settler earlier this week. On Sunday, a man reportedly from the Jewish-only settlement of Yitzhar ran over Palestinian schoolchildren as they made their way towards their mothers after exiting a school bus in the West Bank town of Sinjil. Five-year-old Inas Khalil died of her wounds shortly thereafter and another girl, also hit, was left in critical condition. Instead of stopping to check on the children or calling for help, the man kept driving until he reached a nearby Jewish settlement, at which point he says he called the police.Residents accused the settler of ramming the children deliberately, but Israeli police ruled the hit-and-run an accident, siding with the settler, who claims he fled out of fear of being hurt by the Palestinian crowd which gathered around the girls he maimed.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/why-do-media-value-israeli-childrens-lives-more-those-palestinian-kids
Treat Palestinian killers like you treat Israeli killers / Talal Jabari
972 Blog 26 Oct — More dead children. A Palestinian and an Israeli. More grieving families. And I can’t help but feel that the Israeli justice system is responsible for both deaths. This justice system has an affliction that in any other democratic country would paralyze the entire judicial system: rather than being blind to ethnicity, the Israeli justice system has perfect vision, especially when it comes to crimes of a political nature. Take two recent incidents as prime examples: a Palestinian driver collides with a crowd of people getting off a train, killing a child. He is killed on the spot and the authorities immediately announced that he has a record of “security related offenses.” I don’t know if he did it on purpose or not, but after the collision, his exited his vehicle and ran. Why wasn’t he arrested? Why was he not given the chance to defend himself? Could he not just have been driving recklessly? Instead, he was shot and killed. The other incident occurred in the Palestinian village of Sinjil, where an Israeli settler ran over two girls walking along the side of the road, killing a five-year-old girl. Was this an accident? Possibly. Will there be an open investigation? Very unlikely. And most importantly, the driver wasn’t gunned down as a terrorist moments after the incident. And this isn’t a one-off. Whenever a Palestinian is suspected of killing an Israeli, he is convicted, jailed or killed without what would be called “concrete evidence”in a democratic nation, or even a semblance of a real, fair or open trial. And it doesn’t usually just end there. Now the family that has lost a husband and a father, for an event for which he may or may not be responsible, but in which the family played no part, has their home destroyed. Then the man’s close relatives who obviously played no part in the event — otherwise they they would have met with his same fate — get nasty little marks put onto their secret police files, making it very difficult for them to get permits to enter Israel or even travel abroad. (Generally speaking, when a Palestinian is killed by Israeli forces, their close relatives’ entry permits are revoked out of fear that they will seek revenge.)
http://972mag.com/treat-palestinian-killers-like-you-treat-israeli-killers/98026/
Hospital: Ecuador woman hurt in Jerusalem car attack dies
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Oct — An Ecuadorian woman died Sunday in an Israeli hospital four days after being injured when a Palestinian rammed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, taking the death toll to two. A spokeswoman for the Jerusalem Hadassah hospital, where she was being treated after being hit on Wednesday, confirmed the death of the 22-year-old woman, noting she was not an Israeli national. The other person killed in what the Israeli police called a “terrorist attack” was a three-month-old girl who is due to be laid to rest later Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735491
At least 5 arrested in fresh East Jerusalem clashes
JERUSALEM (AFP) 26 Oct — At least five Palestinians were arrested during fresh clashes overnight Sunday in East Jerusalem, where hundreds of extra police have been deployed to tackle mounting unrest, authorities said. The clashes were especially intense in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood, an area near the Old City that was the home of Abd al-Rahman Shaludi, the Palestinian driver who ran into a Jerusalem crowd, killing an Israeli baby. Police dispersed stone-throwing protesters in Silwan overnight, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that there was scattered unrest again on Sunday morning. “At least 400-500″ extra police units have been deployed “to prevent and respond to any incident,” Rosenfeld said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735357
17 kidnapped in Israeli military invasions into West Bank, Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 26 Oct by Saed Bannoura — …Several armored Israeli vehicles invaded the town of ‘Atteel, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, and kidnapped one Palestinian. A Palestinian schoolteacher, identified as Amjad Mustafa Najm, was kidnapped at a military roadblock, installed by the soldiers at the main junction of his town, Qabalan, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. In al-Yamoun town, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, soldiers handed the family of former detainee Maher Khamaysa, 27, a military warrant ordering him to head to the Salem military base for interrogation. Khamaysa previously spent seven years in Israeli detention facilities. The soldiers also installed a roadblock at the entrance of Kufr Qoud village, west of Jenin, stopped and searched dozens of cars, and interrogated the passengers while inspecting their ID cards. In the central West Bank district of Ramallah, dozens of soldiers invaded Deir Abu Mashal town, and kidnaped one Palestinian, in addition to kidnapping two Palestinians in the al-Mogheer town. The army alleges the three are members of Hamas. Another Palestinian was kidnapped in Za‘tara town, east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. In the southern West Bank district of Hebron, the soldiers kidnapped four Palestinians in Beit Ummar town, two in Sa‘ir, and two more in Beit ‘Awwa town … Awad added that dozens of soldiers invaded homes south of Beit Ummar, especially in areas close to the Karmie Tzur illegal settlement, and that the soldiers smashed the main doors of the invaded homes, and searched the properties causing excessive damage.
The soldiers also invaded the home of Ahmad Khalil Abu Hashem, 48, and handed his 14-year-old child, Qusai, a military order for interrogation at the Etzion base … In addition, Israeli soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian woman from the Old City of occupied Jerusalem as she was trying to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque from Bab Hatta area. The woman, Samiha Jouda, was moved to an interrogation center in the city. Also in the Old City, soldiers kidnapped a young man, identified as Dia’ Daoud Hammouda, after breaking into his home and ransacking its property, in ‘Aqbat as-Saraya neighborhood. A number of soldiers attacked Palestinian Muslim worshipers in the al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, and kidnapped an elderly man, identified as Abu Bakr ash-Sheemy, after assaulting him.
http://www.imemc.org/article/69514
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid
Israel bans Palestinians from settlers’ buses in West Bank
Middle East Monitor 26 Oct — Israeli authorities have bowed to pressure from Jewish settlers and ordered a ban on Palestinians from using Israeli-run buses in the West Bank, Israeli daily Haaretz reported Sunday. According to the paper, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has issued instructions to the civil administration in the Israeli army to ban Palestinian workers from traveling by Israeli-run buses upon their return from their work places inside Israel to the West Bank. The ban will go into effect at the beginning of next month, the paper said, noting that it came following intensive pressures from the settlers in the northern West Bank. The paper said the settlers sought for the past year to prevent Palestinians from traveling in their buses for security reasons. It noted that the decision contradicts the stance of the Israeli army leadership which asserted that the Palestinian workers do not pose any security risk because they already go through a security check before being given permits to enter Israel. Palestinians in northern West Bank who works inside Israel need to pass through the Eyal checkpoint near Qalqilya city, where they are subject to security screening. “Every day in the morning, we pass through Eyal checkpoint for security check, which takes more than two hours,” Ahmad al-Toor, 44, told Anadolu Agency. “Upon our return, we use settlers’ buses in the West Bank, which pass near our villages,” he added. “During our return trips, we are subject to frequent harassments by the settlers,” he added. “But standing for additional two hours under security pretexts when we return is too exhausting.” The Israeli authorities has issued permits to nearly 150,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank to work inside Israel.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14881-israel-bans-palestinians-from-settlers-buses-in-west-bank
Continuous invasions by settlers spoil the joy of Palestinians’ olive harvest
Haaretz 26 Oct by Amira Hass — A once-annual visit is all the villagers of Deir al-Hatab get to see whether squatters have invaded their land — Abed el-Karim and Nidal Zamel of the village of Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus, could be considered fortunate: Civil Administration officials ordered settlers who were squatting on their land to leave. About a week ago, they told me what such good fortune looks like, near a mound of earth blocking the old road to their orchards. On October 6, Abed and Nidal, cousins, went outside accompanied by about 50 relatives. Escorted by Israeli troops, they were on their way to harvest olives on roughly 200 dunams (49 acres) of land owned by the extended family. The settlement of Elon Moreh, on a hilltop to the northeast, dominates the view over about half of Deir al-Hatab’s 12,000 dunams, including the Zamels’ land. Because of the settlement’s and the settlement’s outposts’ proximity to the land, the army only lets Palestinian farmers go out to their fields with advance coordination and a military escort. And this happens only a few days a year: two days during the olive harvest and maybe another day or two to turn over and weed the soil a little. An army position, a “sterile” road off-limits to Palestinians, dogs, cameras, patrols by soldiers and the settlement’s security people, an iron gate on the road leading to the fields, an earthen mound and fear — all this stands between the farmers and their trees, livelihood, heritage, inheritance and working their land. As during the past seven years (the army did not allow Deir al-Hatab farmers to work their land between 2002 and 2007), a funereal atmosphere prevails in the village at harvest time. At one time, the olive harvest was a continuous holiday. The whole family went out to work, spend time on the land, rest, eat and drink among the trees. “Now the soldier says we aren’t even allowed to drink tea,” Nidal Zamel said. “The soldiers made us rush, and we hadn’t found many olives in any case.” He said that a few days earlier he could see Israelis picking olives from the trees….
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.622690
Settlers continue to level private Palestinian lands in Salfit area
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 26 Oct – Israeli settlers have continued to bulldoze private Palestinian lands in several areas across Salfit district in the central West Bank, a Palestinian researcher said Sunday. Khalid Maali, who monitors settler activities in Salfit, quoted Palestinian farmers as saying that bulldozers have been leveling lands near Revava settlement which is illegally built on the lands of the village of Deir Istiya in northwest Salfit. Furthermore, bulldozers have been seen digging up private Palestinian lands near the Barqan settlement and industrial zone built on land of the Palestinian village of Haris. Bulldozers, he added, have leveled about 5 acres in an area of Haris village known as “Khallat Habiba”. The land belongs to Ali Dawood Soof, says Maali, and he said that the owners been denied access to their land despite the fact that they haven’t received any confiscation notice.
Maali highlighted that sewage water from the Israeli settlement of Ariel north of Salfit continued to flow into the ravines of Wadi al-Matwi and Wadi al-Beer polluting Palestinian groves.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735344
Israeli army to remove sheep barn near Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 26 Oct – The Israeli army on Sunday notified a local resident of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, to remove his animal barn, reported local sources. Rateb Jabour of the Anti-Settlement National Committee, said an Israeli army force raided the village and ordered Mohammad Najjar, a local resident, to remove the barn he uses for his sheep herd. Masafer Yatta, a collection of almost 19 hamlets, relies heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood. Located in Area C of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and military control, the village has been subject to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and army soldiers targeting their main source of living, livestock.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26862
Israeli forces detain Palestinian man who removed settler tent
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 25 Oct — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian from the village of Susiya south of Hebron after residents took down a tent set up by Israeli settlers on land belonging to a Palestinian family in the area, a local official said. Jihad al-Nawajaa, the head of a local village council, told Ma‘an that Israeli forces detained Ahmad Muhammad Mahmoud al-Hadar, 35, after he took down a tent set up by settlers on the al-Hadar family’s property. He said that soldiers “assaulted” Palestinian villagers at the same time. The tent was set up as an outpost to expand the illegal Israeli settlement of Susiya, al-Nawajaa said. Al-Hadar took down the tent in order to “save our lands from Judaization and settlement.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735182
Palestinian fatwa bans the sale of land and real estate to Jews
Middle East Monitor 24 Oct – The Supreme Palestinian Fatwa Bureau, lead by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, issued an official fatwa forbidding the sale of land and real estate to Israelis. This prohibition was implemented in the wake of Israeli forces and settlers seizing Palestinian properties in Silwan, East Jerusalem, a decision that directly affects the presence of Palestinians in Jerusalem and its environs. Thus, the fatwa council considered any individual who willingly sold his house or land to an Israeli as a traitor of Islam, God and to his nation. The fatwa called upon the Palestinian people to isolate and boycott these individuals and not to allow them entry into society and ban them from marrying into the community. The Mufti called on any individual who wishes to sell any piece of land to research the buyer’s history carefully before agreeing to a sale. The council also condemned the recent violations that have been committed against Muslim and Christian holy sites, including the burning of the Abu Bakr Mosque in the village of Aqraba, near Nablus, and the attack of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. In addition, Israeli forces have been promoting both a spatial and temporal division of Al-Aqsa mosque and its courtyards. The Fatwa council has asked to convene an urgent meeting with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in an effort to stop these aggressive practices
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14865-israels-housing-minister-intends-to-live-in-silwan
The hidden documents that reveal the true borders of Israel and Palestine
Mondoweiss 23 Oct by David Gerald Fincham — I once believed that Israel has never defined its borders. It was one of those things that “everyone knows”. I was corrected by the blogger talknic. Mondoweiss is privileged to have talknic as a frequent commenter, and many readers here will be familiar with the document to which he pointed me: the letter written by Eliahu Epstein, the representative of the Jewish Agency in Washington, to President Truman and to the State Department, on May 14, 1948. Epstein’s letter to Truman In the letter, the Provisional Government of Israel formally requested the United States to recognize the new State of Israel which was about to be declared in Tel Aviv, effective one minute after midnight (6 p.m Washington time) when the British Mandate over Palestine ended. It begins (my emphasis): My dear Mr. President, I have the honor to notify you that the State of Israel has been proclaimed as an independent republic within the frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947. The full text is given in the link above, and also appears below.)
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/documents-borders-palestine
Gaza
Hamas: Egypt delays Gaza talks
Middle East Monitor 26 Oct — Egypt has notified Palestinian resistance movement Hamas that indirect talks with Israel on a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which were due to resume Monday, have been delayed, a spokesman for the Palestinian group said Sunday. “The Egyptian authorities have notified us of the delay of the talks after Hamas’ delegation was unable to travel from Gaza to Egypt because of the closure of Rafah border crossing due to the security situation in Sinai,” spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Anadolu Agency. Twenty-six Egyptian troops were killed and 28 others wounded on Friday in an attack on a military checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, prompting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to declare a state of emergency for three months in the northeastern peninsula as well as a nighttime curfew. The Egyptian authorities have also closed the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Sinai until a further notice. Barhoum said that his movement “understands” the reason behind the delay and noted that Egypt is yet to unveil a new date for the resumption of the talks … Earlier in the day, a number of Palestinian negotiators arrived in Cairo from the West Bank to join the talks.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14877-hamas-egypt-delays-gaza-talks
Egypt eyes legal restrictions, military measures after Sinai attacks
CAIRO (Reuters) 25 Oct — Egypt is considering expanding the jurisdiction of military courts and displacing thousands of residents to enlarge a military buffer zone near the border with the Gaza Strip following an attack on security forces in the area. Two attacks on Friday in the Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip killed at least 33 security personnel in some of the worst anti-state violence since former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year. Sisi, who became president in June, said the military would respond by taking “many measures” in the border area where a buffer zone is likely to be expanded in order to pursue militants and destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons and fighters. Security sources told Reuters the army was considering relocating residents to clear a larger buffer zone.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/25/us-egypt-security-sinai-idUSKCN0IE0RZ20141025
Israel and Egypt target fishing boat off Rafah
Middle East Monitor 24 Oct — Egyptian and Israeli navy vessels have been continuously targeting a fishing boat in the waters near Rafah in the south of Gaza with heavy gunfire. Security sources have told Alresalah that the Egyptian navy opened fire towards a fishing boat which resulted in the boat catching fire. This was followed by gunfire from Israeli vessels. They said ambulances and Palestinian Civil Defence forces were called to the beach fearing the fishermen were injured.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14851-israel-and-egypt-target-palestinian-fishing-boat-off-rafah
Israel fires on farmlands in southern Gaza
Middle East Monitor 25 Oct — Israeli army forces opened fire on Palestinian farmlands in southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, eyewitnesses said. “Israeli forces stationed at the Kisovim military post opened fire on farmlands [in Khan Younis city],” an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency. No casualties were reported.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/14868-israel-fires-on-farmlands-in-southern-gaza
Minister: Gaza reconstruction funds to be supervised by PA
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 Oct — A Palestinian official said Saturday that according to the UN, the funds donated for Gaza reconstruction in the Cairo conference will be allocated under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority. Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh told Ma‘an that President Mahmoud Abbas had proposed forming a committee to supervise the use of the funds in Gaza. The committee would consist of Palestinian, Egyptian, Saudi, and EU officials, and would focus on following up on the Cairo conference’s resolutions and agreeing upon specific methods, al-Sheikh said. International envoys pledged about $5.4 billion in reconstruction aid for the Gaza Strip at a conference in Cairo on Oct. 12.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735154
UNRWA cleaning workers on strike in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 26 Oct — Gaza cleaning workers in Nuseirat camp who are employed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were on strike for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday, the workers told Ma‘an. The strikers are demanding that UNRWA pay them a bonus for “the hazardous nature” of their job during the Israeli assault on Gaza in July and August. Since the war broke out, the striking employees say they have received verbal promises regarding the bonuses from various UNRWA officials. “They have been telling us that UNRWA will pay us a bonus for the hazardous nature of the job just as they did in the previous wars in 2008 and 2012,” one employee said. Protesters have delivered an official complaint to UNRWA’s environment department which includes a list of names and signatures of all employees on strike.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735331
For the Israeli media, Gazan lives are little more than expendable
972mag 22 Oct by Haggai Matar — Nearly two months after the end of Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli media refuses to ask the difficult questions. Who decided that killing entire families is now allowed? What is the justification for doing so? And why won’t the army explain why it killed five members of the Joudah family?
http://972mag.com/for-the-israeli-media-gaza-lives-are-expendable/97927/
How radio became a ‘lifeline’ in Gaza
PRI 24 Oct — Sometimes the clean-up after a disaster is as challenging as surviving the event itself. That may be the case in Gaza, where, nearly two months after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, the recovery has only just begun. Ban Ki-Moon described the situation as “destruction beyond description,” but not all the repairs are physical. Many families still need advice and support on how to adjust to a post-conflict world. One part of that effort has come from local radio. BBC Media Action, the BBC’s development charity, teamed up with Gazan station Radio Alwan to create a daily program called “Atheer Gaza” or “Gaza Lifeline.” The aim is to share local advice on the new problems that people face, as well as tips for managing during the recovery period. Before the war, radio would have been a surprising choice — most Gazans turned to TV for their information. But Paul Harper, the program’s English editor, says things changed dramatically after the fighting. “One of the first things we do when we go into a situation like that is to do an information needs assessment — which sources people trust most,” Harper explains. “The survey we did in Gaza after the war showed a huge spike in radio listening.” A TV set requires a reliable power supply, but power cuts have become the norm. Radio sets can run on batteries, and mobile phones only need occasional charging. Harper thinks that will always be the medium’s advantage: “Radio comes into its own in emergency situations. When all the other media collapse in the face of disaster, the one thing that is easy to get up and running is radio. It’s a very effective tool.” In recent weeks the show has looked at a wide range of topics: PTSD, education, aid distribution, unemployment, volunteering. In each case, listeners are encouraged to share their own stories and tips on making life easier.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-24/how-radio-became-lifeline-gaza
Video: UNRWA’s Chris Gunness demolishes anti-Palestinian activist on Fox
Electronic Intifada 26 Oct by Ali Abunimah — This is a video of UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness absolutely demolishing anti-Palestinian activist David Bedein on Fox News. Bedein claims that two incidents during Israel’s summer attack on Gaza in which weapons were found in closed and empty UNRWA schools proved that the UN agency for Palestine refugees was helping Hamas. As Gunness notes, it was UNRWA itself that brought these unprecedented incidents to light and condemned them as a violation of UN “neutrality.” Moreover, while Bedein presents UNRWA as an agressor against Israel, it was of course Palestinians and UN personnel sheltering from Israeli bombardment in UNRWA schools who were repeatedly shelled and massacred.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-unrwas-chris-gunness-demolishes-anti-palestinian-activist-fox
Bloodied and crumbling sculptures installed in destroyed Gaza neighbourhood
The Independent 24 Oct by Lizzie Dearden — Broken, crumbling and splattered with “blood”, these haunting sculptures have been made by an artist in Gaza to show the pain of conflict. The 50-day war between Israel and Hamas earlier this year left more than 2,200 people dead and razed thousands of homes in the narrow strip to the ground. Most of the casualties were civilians, including hundreds of children, according to the UN, reflected in artist Iyad Sabbah’s depiction of a family. The sculptor, who is Palestinian and lives and works in Gaza, created them using mud and waste materials found in bombsites. In an installation entitled Worn Out, the family of sculptures including a small child and a baby appear to move through debris and rubble and past shelled homes … “The displacement scene is very influential, so the sculptures were put amid the wreckage of the destroyed houses in Shuja’iyya to show the suffering of the residents.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bloodied-and-crumbling-sculptures-installed-in-destroyed-gaza-neighbourhood-9816724.html
Other news
Israeli president admits wrongs to Arabs at massacre memorial
KAFR QASSEM (Israel) (AFP) 26 Oct — President Reuven Rivlin acknowledged Sunday past and present wrongdoings to Israel’s Arabs, while calling for calm in the wake of growing unrest in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Rivlin spoke at a memorial ceremony for victims of the 1956 massacre at Kafr Qassem, where Israeli forces killed 47 residents of the central Israeli Arab village for breaking a wartime curfew, becoming the first Israeli president to attend the event. “A terrible crime was committed here,” he said. “The brutal killings in Kafr Qassem are an anomalous and sorrowful chapter in the history of the relations between Arabs and Jews living here. “I came here today, specifically during these difficult days, to reach out my hand in the belief that your hands are outstretched to me and to the Israeli Jewish public in turn,” the president said. Violence pitting Palestinians against Israeli police has shaken annexed east Jerusalem on an almost daily basis since the murder of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists in July … Kafr Qassem is situated in central Israel, adjacent to the West Bank. In 1956, it was under military rule, and on October 29 — the first day of a war with Egypt — Israeli border policemen gunned down residents who were unaware a curfew that had been imposed, killing men returning from work in the fields as well as women and children … “I am not naive,” Rivlin said. “We belong to two nations, whose dreams and aspirations, to a great extent, contradict each other. “Many Israeli Arabs, who are part of the Palestinian people, feel the hurt and suffering of their brothers on the other side of the Green Line. Many of them encounter racism and arrogance from Jews,” said the Israeli president.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-president-admits-wrongs-arabs-massacre-memorial-174849044.html
Poll: British public twice as likely to blame Israel as the Palestinians for ongoing conflict
Middle East Monitor 24 Oct — Twice as many British adults blame Israel for the failure to achieve a final settlement as they do the Palestinians, according to a new poll commissioned by Israel advocacy groups. The survey was conducted by Populus on behalf of The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) and the Jewish Leadership Council, with more than 2,000 interviewed online 10-12 October. Asked to choose from a list of words and phrases the 3 that most closely describe their view of Israel, respondents opted for: ‘Jewish’ (40%), ‘Under threat’ (32%), ‘Aggressive’ (32%), ‘Bullying’ (18%), and ‘Isolated’ (14%). The poll also suggested a generational gap when it comes to attitudes about core questions. Asked to pick from three possible statements, support for Israel as a Jewish state – even in the context of a negotiated two-state solution – was at only 27% among 18-24 year olds, compared to 55% amongst the 55-64 age bracket. The fact that the poll was commissioned by two of the UK’s main Israel advocacy bodies, reflected in the questions, makes these results even more noteworthy.
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/48448-141024-kuwait-boycotts-firms-operating-in-west-bank-settlements
Israeli minister: British MPs ‘encouraged terrorist attacks’ with Palestine vote
Middle East Monitor 26 Oct — Israel’s intelligence and strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz has accused British MPs of “encouraging terrorist attacks”, following the parliamentary vote in support of Palestinian statehood. Steinitz, a senior cabinet figure and member of PM Netanyahu’s Likud party, made the remarks in an interview with The Telegraph while on a visit to London. He described the 274-12 vote as “miserable”, and said it left him “surprised” and “frustrated.” In the immediate aftermath of the vote, Israeli deputy education minister Avi Wortzman took to Facebook to comment that the way “[ISIS] is developing over your way in London is really lovely”, adding: “They truly feel at home.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/14874-israeli-minister-british-mps-encouraged-terrorist-attacks-with-palestine-vote
Hebrew U. threatens Palestinian students with expulsion over political activities
972blog 24 Oct by Rami Younis — Twelve Palestinian students are facing possible expulsion from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University for participating in an ‘illegal’ political protest. In the past, the university only took steps against particular student groups. Now, it’s switching gears and targeting individual students.
http://972mag.com/hebrew-u-threatens-palestinian-students-with-expulsion-for-political-activities/97987/
Two male Knesset members to quit and make way for women
Haaretz 25 Oct by Jonathan Lis — Two Knesset members are leaving parliament — one to vie for the leadership of the Israel Antiquities Authority, one to retire and make room for a woman high up in the Arab-Jewish Hadash party. MK Israel Hasson (Kadima), who seeks to run the Antiquities Authority, will be replaced by Ronit Tirosh, 60, a former director general of the Education Ministry who served in the Knesset for the centrist Kadima party from 2006 to 2013 … Meanwhile, MK Mohammed Barakeh, the chairman of the left-wing Hadash party, said Thursday he would retire on March 8 and be replaced in the Knesset by Nabila Espanioly, a psychologist and currently No. 5 on the party list. Epanioly is a cofounder of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel. In November 2012, Barakeh, 59, said he would retire in two years to make room for new faces and ensure a women’s presence in the party’s Knesset faction. On Thursday, Barakeh, speaking at a conference on gender differences in Israeli voting patterns, said he intentionally chose March 8, International Women’s Day.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.622588
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