Violence - West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinian killed after alleged attack attempt north of Jenin JENIN (Ma‘an) 31 Oct -- A Palestinian was shot dead
Saturday
after an alleged attack attempt on an Israeli security guard at the
al-Jalama military checkpoint north of Jenin in the occupied West Bank,
the Israeli army and media said. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma‘an
that "the Palestinian attempted to stab security personnel at the
crossing” when “forces responded to the imminent danger and shot the
perpetrator.” Hebrew language news sites and the army confirmed there
were no Israeli injuries. The Palestinian Red Crescent received the
body, whose identity has not yet been released.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768577 8-month-old baby dies from tear gas inhalation near Bethlehem BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- An eight-month-old Palestinian baby died
Friday from tear gas inhalation in
Beit Fajjar
village south of Bethlehem during clashes in the area, the Palestinian
Ministry of Health said. The ministry said in a statement that
Ramadan Mohammad Faisal Thawabta
died after inhaling tear gas when clashes erupted nearby between
Palestinians and Israeli military forces. Thawabta's body is being
transported to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital. Three Palestinians were
injured with 0.22 caliber bullets during clashes in the village, the
ministry added . . . The eight-month-old child's death brings the total
number of Palestinians killed this month to nearly 70, at least ten of
whom have been children. Sixty-nine Palestinians have been killed from
clashes and attacks on Israeli military personnel and civilians, many of
which have been disputed. At least nine Israelis have been killed in
attacks by Palestinians during the same time period.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768571 Palestinian killed near light rail station in Jerusalem following alleged stabbing of soldier IMEMC 30 Oct -- A Palestinian from east Jerusalem was shot dead on
Friday evening
near the Jerusalem light rail station by three separate shooters after
he allegedly pulled out a knife and very lightly wounded a soldier. The
Palestinian was shot numerous times - by light rail security, a border
policeman, and an armed paramilitary settler. Their numerous gunshots
also wounded a bystander. The Palestinian who was killed was identified
as
Ahmad Hamada Qneibi, 23, from Kafr Aqab in East
Jerusalem. The 23-year old Palestinian man suffered multiple gunshot
wounds and was critically wounded. He was left bleeding on the ground
for an extended period of time without receiving medical treatment, and
died soon after he was transferred to an ambulance. Israeli medics from
the Magen David Adom medical service, which is affiliated with the
International Committee of the Red Cross, told reporters from the
Israeli Ha'aretz newspaper that when they arrived on the scene soon
after the incident, they immediately treated the Israeli soldier, aged
22. The soldier was very lightly wounded with a shallow stab wound in
the upper body. The medics told the paper, "We gave him initial medical
aid on the scene and then evacuated him to a hospital quickly." The
alleged Palestinian attacker was lying on the ground nearby bleeding to
death, and was left alone by the medics for a long time, bleeding to
death. The other person wounded in the incident was a bystander who was
hit in the leg by one of the multiple gunshots fired from three separate
shooters toward the Palestinian man.
There have been more than
seventy Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since
October 1st. The majority of those killed were unarmed, and the number
includes two babies under age two. Of the Palestinians killed this month
who were armed, only one was armed with more than a small knife or
stone. The one Palestinian who was armed with a gun when he was killed
had grabbed that gun from an Israeli on a bus in an October 13th attack.
Despite Israeli claims of a widespread wave of 'knife attacks' by
Palestinians against Israelis, many of the alleged knife attacks were
later disproved by video evidence and eyewitness accounts. There have
also been several proven incidents of Israeli soldiers planting knives
on the bodies of Palestinians they had killed.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73660 Palestinian shot, killed after alleged attack at Nablus checkpoint BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- Two Palestinians were shot in the Nablus district on
Friday
after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli border policeman at a
military checkpoint, Israel's army said. An Israeli army spokesperson
said two Palestinians tried to stab an Israeli border policeman at the
Tappuah, or Zatara, checkpoint south of Nablus, with both attackers
shot. Israeli police confirmed that one Palestinian was killed and the
other man shot and "captured," with his condition thought to be
critical. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the man killed
as
Qassem Mahmoud Sabaneh from Jenin. Director of the
ambulance and emergency unit of the Red Crescent, Abed al-Halim Jafreh,
told Ma‘an that medics treated the critically injured man at the scene.
Sabaneh died from multiple gunshot wounds, he added, with medics
prohibited from reaching his body. The area, including the checkpoint,
was closed following the incident. The two men had reportedly arrived at
the checkpoint on a motorcycle before attempting to attack an Israeli
officer. No Israeli injuries were reported.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768560 2nd Palestinian killed in Hebron after alleged stabbing attempt HEBRON (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian near the illegal
Beit Hadassah settlement in
Hebron in the second alleged stabbing attack in the city on
Thursday. Witnesses told Ma‘an the incident took place in
Shuhada Street nearby
the settlement. A Palestinian woman in the area at the time told Ma‘an
that she "heard gunshots and saw Israeli soldiers and settlers firing at
a young Palestinian man while he was walking down a staircase," adding
that she did not see anything in his hands. The Israeli army said in an
initial report that a “Palestinian assailant” attempted to stab an
Israeli soldier “at a security post in Hebron” before being shot on
site. No Israeli injuries have been reported. The Palestinian was
identified as
Farouk Abdel Qader Omar Sidr, 19, from Hebron.
Hours before, 23-year-old
Mahdi Mohammad Ramadan al-Muhtasib
was shot dead by an Israeli border policeman near the Ibrahimi Mosque
in Hebron after an alleged attack on an Israeli soldier. A soldier
received light injuries to his face before the suspect was shot dead on
scene, according to reports by Israeli media that were disputed by
eyewitnesses who said a soldier dropped a knife next to his dead body.
Ma'an could not verify claims that a knife was planted at the scene.
Following Thursday's second alleged attack, a Palestinian resident told
Ma‘an that "Israeli soldiers have been threatening to kill us if we
don't evacuate Shuhada Street." Israeli soldiers and settlers stormed
the home of Mufid Sharabati located on the street shortly after the
second Palestinian was killed, a Ma‘an reporter said, adding that a
number of activists were present at the home during the raid.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768545 Video: 'Soldier fires fatal shot on wounded Palestinian in Hebron'
IMEMC 30 Oct -- After the Israeli army shot and killed a young
Palestinian man in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday,
October 29, 2015, a video was published by the Ramallah Mix Media
Agency, showing a soldier approaching the neutralized Palestinian,
before firing the fatal shot. The video shows the fatal shooting of
Mahdi Mohammad Ramadan al-Mohtasib,
23 years of age, who was shot near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
Al-Mohtasib was first shot and wounded, and was already on the ground in
pain, when a soldier approached him and fired a second, deadly shot.
The Israeli army claimed the young man was shot after stabbing and
mildly wounding a settler with a cut to his arm.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73645 Clashes erupt in Hebron after Palestinian killed on Shuhada Street HEBRON (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- Clashes erupted in the Bab al-Zawiya area in central
Hebron on Thursday following the earlier killing of 19-year-old
Farouk Abdel Sidr
on nearby Shuhada Street, locals said. Locals said several Palestinians
were injured during the clashes, which are ongoing, including three
protesters who were shot and injured with rubber-coated steel bullets
and dozens of others who suffered from severe tear gas inhalation. In
addition, the car windows of local journalist Hazem Badr were shattered
when three rubber-coated steel bullets hit the vehicle during clashes.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers attacked homes of Palestinians living off
Shuhada Street and the Tel Rumeida area, locals said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768548 Palestinian residents of Hebron required to register in preparation for severe new restrictions
HEBRON, Occupied Palestine 30 Oct by ISM, al-Khalil Team --
Palestinians gather in the street to be registered in the Tel Rumeida
neighbourhood in occupied Hebron. It is being reported that the area
will be closed off completely for people who are not residents of the
area and who are not registered within the next few days. “For the
people living in the area, it will become like a prison. For people
living in Hebron, the closure of Tel Rumeida will mean that the city
will be split in two”, says local resident to international activists.
The names and ID-numbers of the people living in the area are being
written down by soldiers on long lists, and there are dozens of
Palestinians standing around Gilbert checkpoint waiting to hand over
their information or be forced out. Even for the residents who will be
allowed in the area, this will mean severe restriction of their
movement. Every time Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida & the area
around Ibrahimi mosque (between checkpoints 209 and 29) cross a check
point to get to their home, the soldiers will have to search the long
list for the name. It is not the first time the Israel has imposed such
restrictions on the residents of the area. In 1994 after the Illegal
settler extremist Baruch Goldstein committed a massacre in the Ibrahimi
Mosque, similar measures were taken. At that time, Palestinian residents
refused registration and were punished with a six month 24-hour-curfew
and only allowed a few hours a week during which the residents could buy
food. Due to the increase in violence by army and settlers against
Palestinians they do not dare to refuse registration this time.
http://palsolidarity.org/2015/10/palestinian-residents-of-hebron-required-to-register-in-preparation-for-severe-new-restrictions/ Palestinian dies in East Jerusalem as ambulance delayed by checkpoint JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- A Palestinian man from the
Jabal al-Mukabbir
neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem died on Thursday after
suffering a heart attack, with recently erected checkpoints in the area
delaying ambulances services as they tried to reach the patient. A
spokesperson for the Noran Charitable Organization, Muhammad Bashir,
said the group received a call at 6:33 a.m. requesting an ambulance for
52-year-old
Nadim Shqeirat after he lost consciousness.
Red Crescent crews arrived at the scene in 11 minutes, with Bashir
estimating that closures of the neighborhood with concrete blocks
delayed the journey by at least 4 minutes. Medics examined Shqeirat and
determined that he had suffered a heart attack. “Medics started to
resuscitate him with electric shocks (defibrillators) and they called
the Israeli ambulance service (Magen David Adom) asking for an intensive
care ambulance,” Bashir said. The Israeli medics refused to enter the
neighborhood due to security reasons and waited by the Israeli Oz police
station near Jabal al-Mukkabir. Shqeirat was eventually transferred to
the Israeli ambulance, but was pronounced dead by paramedics on the way
to the hospital. Earlier this month,
Huda Muhammad Darwish,
65, reportedly died after she and her family were delayed from reaching
the hospital due to long backups at an al-‘Issawiya checkpoint.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768546
Israeli forces shoot rubber bullets, tear gas at Jerusalem hospital
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- Israeli forces raided the
Al-Makassed Hospital
in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, shooting tear gas, stun
grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets during a sit-in protest against
recent Israeli actions at the hospital, sources at the scene told
Ma‘an. Dozens of Palestinians, patients and employees of the Al-Makassed
Hospital were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets and suffered
from tear gas inhalation, as Israeli forces raided the hospital
"indiscriminately," firing directly into the hospital compound, sources
said. The secretary-general of the employees’ union of the hospital,
Talal Sayyad, said a nurse and a patient were reportedly injured with
rubber-coated steel bullets. Israeli forces also allegedly summoned a
doctor for interrogation.
An Israeli police spokesperson told Ma‘an
he had no information on the raid. Thursday's protest was announced
earlier this week, following Israeli raids at the hospital, in which
forces demanded patient files. Earlier on Thursday, the administration
of Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem said it had refused to hand over
medical files to Israeli forces belonging to Palestinians treated after
recent clashes that had erupted in the city.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768551
Israel returns bodies of 5 Palestinians in Hebron, 1 near Jerusalem
HEBRON
(Ma'an) -- Thousands of Palestinians on Friday evening received the
bodies of five Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces in
Hebron over the last month. The five were identified as
Dania Irsheid al-Husseini, 17,
Bayan Ayman al-Essili, 16,
Tariq Ziyad al-Natsha,16,
Hussam Ismail al-Jabari,17, and
Bashar Nidal al-Jabari,15.
All were involved in attacks in Hebron that the Israeli army said
resulted in injury of Israeli military personnel excluding Dania, who
eyewitnesses said did not attempt an attack. Hebron governor Kamil Hmeid
said the bodies were returned after the intervention of Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas and international groups, adding that he expects
remaining bodies to be returned soon. A Fatah official in central
Hebron, Imad Khirwat, said the bodies will be transferred to Hebron
Governmental Hospital where autopsies will be performed in order to
record potential Israeli violations. A joint funeral is expected to be
held Saturday when the five will be laid to rest in al-Shuhada cemetery
in al-Sheikh neighborhood of Hebron.
Separately, the Palestinian Red Crescent told Ma‘an on Friday that the body of
Mutaz Atallah Qassem,
22, killed on Oct. 21 after injuring an Israeli soldier, had been
received at the entrance of al-‘Ezariya village and taken to Abu Dis
Medical Center near Jerusalem. Spokesman for a popular resistance
committee in the area, Hani Halabiya, told Ma‘an that thousands of
Palestinians were present to receive the body. Qassem’s funeral is
expected to take place tonight.
Palestinians across Hebron
protested this week in a “rally of anger” against Israel's decision to
withhold the bodies of 11 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces since
Oct. 1. Israel's security cabinet decided earlier this month that the
bodies of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces after carrying out
attacks on Israeli citizens would no longer be returned to their
families. The decision -- one among a series of stringent security
measures -- was taken in order to stem protests that frequently
accompany the funerals of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Israel
has kept the bodies of the majority of Palestinians killed this month,
many of which were Hebron-area residents according to Israeli daily
Haaretz, which reported that the cabinet now considered keeping the
bodies “a burden and not an asset.”.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768572
Israeli forces injure 55 Palestinians, 16 by live fire in West Bank
RAMALLAH
(Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- Israeli forces injured 55 Palestinians, 16 by live
fire, in clashes around Ramallah and Hebron in the occupied West Bank
Friday. In clashes in al-Balou' neighborhood in northern
al-Bireh
near Ramallah, 37 Palestinians were injured, including eight by live
fire and 29 with rubber-coated steel bullets, medics said. Two were left
in serious condition, one Palestinian who was shot with live fire in
the pelvis, and another hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the
head. Dozens of others were hurt with tear gas and pepper-spray,
including four medics and four journalists.
Israeli forces also
injured 18 Palestinians, eight with live fire, during clashes with
Palestinians across Hebron. In the village of
Beit Ummar,
one Palestinian was injured by live fire in the foot and ten others were
hit by rubber-coated steel bullets, spokesman for the local resistance
committee, Mohammad Ayyad Awad, told Ma‘an. The injured were taken to
al-Balja Medical Complex or treated on the scene, he said. Awad added
that Israeli forces sprayed houses with foul-smelling skunk water before
assaulting and arresting Samir Mohammad Dawuod al-Alami, 23 In
Hebron city,
seven Palestinians were injured by live bullets and eight with
rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes, according to the Palestinian
Red Crescent. Several others suffered from tear-gas inhalation. Clashes
broke out nearby the city’s Ibrahimi Mosque after Israeli forces
imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinians, preventing youths
from praying at the holy site. . . .
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768568
WATCH: Israeli soldiers threaten Bethlehem refugee camp over loudspeaker
BETHLEHEM, Occupied Palestinian Territories (MEE) 30 Oct by Sheren
Khalel & Abed al-Qaisi -- Yazan Ikhlayel, 17, was at a community
centre in
‘Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem when Israeli forces
stormed the camp. Ikhlayel was using his iPhone to film as Israeli jeeps
rolled by on one of the camp’s main roads, shooting off tear gas, when a
soldier began issuing a message to residents from one of the jeep’s
loudspeakers. “People of ‘Aida refugee camp, we are the occupation
army,” the message began.“If you throw stones, we will hit you with gas
until you all die - the youth, the children, the old people, you will
all die.” The soldier continued, speaking in Arabic and issuing more
threats and insults to the people of Aida camp. But Ikhlayel says it was
the first line that really shocked people. “The most important thing I
want people to see when they watch this video is to realise what the
Israeli ‘democracy’ really is,” Ikhlayel told Middle East Eye. “They
have said it for us now, they are an occupation - they said ‘we are the
occupation army’. It is proof, this is an apartheid country, it is not
democratic at all.” “This is the first time I heard them say something
like that over a speaker for everyone to hear,” Ikhlayel continued. “The
young people aren’t accepting what the soldiers are doing particularly
now. They’re going to the streets [to protest] everyday, and they aren’t
stopping. They aren’t scared of them.” When asked if he thinks the
soldier’s message would scare the youth enough to stop the protests,
Ikhlayel shook his head adamantly. “This will not stop until the
occupation ends,” he insisted. . . .
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/watch-israeli-soldiers-threaten-bethlehem-refugee-camp-over-loudspeaker-1147215543 Israeli forces run over youth, assault journalists in el-Bireh clashes
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- A Palestinian youth was run over [knocked
down, not run over] and detained and several journalists assaulted
during clashes in el-Bireh on Friday. Video footage of the incident from
Al-Aqsa TV shows an Israeli military jeep speeding at a group of
Palestinian youths, hitting one person. Medics who attempt to reach the
youth are pushed back and assaulted by Israeli soldiers. Israeli
soldiers then assaulted several journalists in the area as they
attempted to film clashes with Palestinian youths. Israeli forces fired
tear gas, stun grenades and live fire during the clashes, which started
following Friday prayers.
Video from another angle http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768564 Video: Assaulting press crew SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 30 Oct -- The occupation forces assaulted on Friday
press
crews during clashes at the neighborhood of Baloo’ north of the city of
Al-Bireh near the checkpoint of Bet El settlement. Videos showed
Israeli Borders Control assaulting press crews by pushing and hitting
them in addition to spraying them with pepper gas and detaining one
journalist. Among those assaulted is the correspondent of Al-Ghad
Al-Araby channel, Dia’ Hoshyeh, and photographer Munther Khatib, Eyad
Jadallah the photographer of Palestinian Information and News Agency/
Wafa and others. Videos showed the forces’ assault on journalists while
they were attempting to defend their colleagues.
http://silwanic.net/?p=64676 Report: Israeli drivers refuse to let Palestinians board bus to West Bank
Haaretz 30 Oct --
Bus
drivers on the Tel Aviv-Ariel line are refusing to let Palestinian
passengers board the bus, a Channel 10 reported on Friday, even though
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon instructed earlier this year to freeze
the plan for segregated bus lines in the West Bank. The Channel 10
footage documents drivers of the 286 bus line asking passengers for an
Israeli ID and sending those lacking one to another line, even though a
ticket vendor tells the passengers that the buses are not segregated.
"Do you have a blue ID card? No? Go down, to the 386 line," a driver is
heard telling a Palestinian who wants to reach his home in the West
Bank. "I'm not negotiating with you… go down, your bus will arrive
shortly." The driver is later overheard saying: "There's no such thing
as a good Arab. Even one who looks so nice, so quiet, he isn't. There's
no such thing." Afikim, the company which operates bus lines in the West
Bank, responded to the report and told Channel 10 that the drivers had
acted on their own initiative, which they said contradicted the
company's policy. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.683349 Palestinians fired in retaliation for protests RAMALLAH (Al-Monitor) 23 Oct by Ahmad Abu Amer -- The
protests and violence that
have marred the Palestinian territories since early October are now
casting their shadow on all aspects of life there, including the economy
and especially the working class, the first to pay the price of the
ongoing unrest. Dozens of Palestinian workers have been dismissed from
their jobs in Israeli settlements, in the West Bank and Israel, while
tens of thousands fear they will be next. The layoffs follow an Oct. 14
decision by Israeli settlement councils in the West Bank to
bar Palestinian workers
from entering their workplaces in the settlements. The decision has yet
to be fully enforced, but numerous Palestinian workers confirmed to
Al-Monitor that their employers told them to leave their workplaces
permanently. Mohammed Saeed, a resident of Ramallah in the central West
Bank, worked in an aluminum plant in the settlement of Beit El,
northeast of Ramallah. He told Al-Monitor that the plant owner fired him
one week after the unrest broke out. Saeed, now unemployed, explained
that he and a number of his coworkers were dismissed because of Israeli
settlers’ fear of being attacked. He added that the firings coincided
with the new security measures to prevent workers from entering the
settlement . . . .
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/israel-settlements-west-bank-layoffs-palestinian-workers.html Punitive demolitions The occupation threatens to demolish the house of martyr Ala' Abu Jamal's sister and creates holes in its walls SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 30 Oct -- The occupation forces raided the house of Safa’ Abu Jamal,
Martyr Ala’ Abu Jamal’s sister, and created holes into its walls and threatened to demolish it under the pretext of being owned by
Martyr
Ala’. Abu Jamal family explained that the occupation forces raided the
house of Safa’ and took measurements, checked the walls and created
holes in them. The forces claimed that the house is owned by Ala’ Abu
Jamal and that the first house they checked in which a
demolition
order was issued against is not actually owned by Ala’. The family
refused the occupation forces’ claim and confirmed that the house they
raided on Tuesday is owned by Safa’ Abu Jamal where she has been living
with her husband and two children. Abu Jamal family also mentioned that
the forces interrogated several family members to make sure which one is
the house of Ala’. It is noteworthy that Ala’ passed away after
carrying out a run-over and stabbing attack in West Jerusalem and his
family received a confiscation and demolition order to his house in the
village of
Jabal Al-Mukabber in Jerusalem.
http://silwanic.net/?p=64651 Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers and Settlements Group: Israeli settlers lock family out of their home in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- Israeli settlers on Thursday prevented a
Palestinian family from entering their home in the Batan al-Hawa area of
Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, a local organization said. Wadi
Hilweh Information Center said that Israeli settlers who live in the
area prevented Rania Abu Nab and her four children, aged 4 to 14 years
old, from entering the home, before Israeli police arrived at the scene
reportedly in support of the settlers. An Israeli police spokesperson
did not immediately respond for comment. Abu Nab said she had left her
home to meet with UNRWA employees, who were prevented from visiting her
at home by Israeli settlers in the area. When Abu Nab tried to come
home, the main gate of the compound where her home is was reportedly
locked and the Israeli settlers did not allow her back into the house.
She added that they did not provide any reason and mockingly told her
"keep having meetings and interviews." Abu Nab's husband, Jawad, was
also denied entry to the house when he arrived, and phoned his lawyer.
Abu Nab's house is in a housing compound where several houses have
already been taken over by Israeli settlers this year. Peace Now, a
human rights organization, has documented that during the past year,
settlers have doubled their presence in the Batan al-Hawa area of
Silwan, noting that an overnight takeover in August expanded the illegal
Israeli settlement from 10 to 35 Jewish families. Around 500 settlers
live in Silwan among a population of 45,000 Palestinians, one of mainly
enclaves in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods surrounding the Old
City, such as Ras al-Amud, al-Tur, Abu Dis, and Sheikh Jarrah. Illegal
settlements in occupied East Jerusalem are designed to prevent any
division of the city -- as is called for in the two state solution --
and to create a Jewish majority population in the city.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768553 Israel legalizes hundreds of settler homes in West Bank
Al Jazeera 30 Oct -- Israel has retroactively legalised about 800 homes
in four settlements in the West Bank, the Palestinian occupied
territory, the interior ministry said. They included 377 homes in the
Yakir settlement, 187 in
Itamar and 94 in
Shilo in the northern West Bank, as well as 97 more in
Sansana
in the south of the occupied Palestinian territory, it said. The
decision was taken two weeks ago, but was only reported in the Israeli
press on Friday . . . The international community regards all Jewish
settlements in the West Bank as illegal, but the Israeli government
makes a distinction between those it has authorised and those it has not
. . . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced
international criticism for refusing to halt settlement expansion.
"These aren't new constructions but rather homes built in settlements
recognised by Israel in areas that until now didn't have any urban
planning," said Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for Israeli settlement
watchdog Peace Now. "Even if it doesn't have the same impact that the
announcement of new settlements would, it's undeniably a gesture from
Netanyahu," she said. Recent violence in the West Bank has given
ammunition to the Israeli pro-settlement lobby, commentators say. Israel
last announced new settlements in July when the government authorised
300 new settler homes to be built in
Bet El in the central West Bank.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/israel-legalises-hundreds-settler-homes-west-bank-151030134726848.html
Gaza Gaza: 46 injured by Israeli forces during Friday demonstrations
IMEMC/Agencies 30 Oct -- Israeli forces injured at least 46
Palestinians during demonstrations in the Gaza Strip on Friday,
including 17 by live fire, hours after Israeli naval forces opened fire
at fishing boats off the coast. Spokesperson of the Gaza Ministry of
Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that 17 Palestinians were injured by live
fire including a youth hit in the foot during clashes near the Erez
crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. A medic was also injured in the
hand when Israeli forces targeted a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance
with live fire in the al-Farrahin area in eastern Khan Younis. Al-Qidra
added that 19 were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and burns
sustained from being hit by tear gas canisters. Ten more demonstrators
suffered tear gas inhalation.
The injured were taken to nearby
hospitals. Locals told Ma‘an News Agency that the demonstrations erupted
in protest of the recent killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in
occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as in support of an
intifada.
Earlier on Friday, Gaza's Ministry of Interior said that
Israeli naval forces fired shells at the northern Gaza Strip, damaging
land belonging to farmers near Gaza City. An Israeli army spokesperson
had no reports of shelling, but said that Israeli naval forces fired
warning shots into the air when vessels "breached a fishing zone in the
northern Gaza Strip," adding that the vessels turned back after the
warning shots.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73658 Gaza police dismantle unexploded Israeli bomb in southern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- The explosives engineering department of
the Gaza police force on Friday dismantled a 500 kilogram Israeli bomb
left from last year's devastating military offensive in the besieged
territory. A suspicious object was reported by locals in the rubble of a
destroyed building in the Khuza‘a area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
A team of bomb disposal experts cleared the perimeter and removed the
bomb to a safer area, where they initiated a controlled explosion. More
than 7,000 unexploded ordnances were left throughout the Gaza Strip
following last summer's war between Israel and Palestinian militant
groups, according to officials of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for
the Palestinian territories. Even before the most recent Israeli
assault, unexploded ordnances from the 2008-9 and 2012 offensives were 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.com/Content.aspx?id=768556 Gaza Palestinians: Egypt 'teaching Israel new tricks'
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Al Jazeera) 29 Oct -- Eyad Musbah Abu Thar, 31, is a
father of eight whose Rafah home lies within eyesight of Egyptian
military positions. "When the [Egyptian army] pumps water into the
tunnels … [it] reaches all the way to our home. My children can't play
outside," Abu Thar said. He told Al Jazeera that the situation is
getting "worse and worse". The family lives in a neighbourhood
pockmarked with bullet holes from Israel's war on Gaza last year, the
third major conflict since 2008. But Abu Thar says that the Egyptians
are adding to the destruction: "Shots have been fired at our home" over
the past weeks, and the sound of Egypt bombing the alleged positions of
armed groups active in the Sinai Peninsula is "always audible".
September was a chaotic month on the embattled frontier. Egyptian forces
had bombed, flooded, and shot at the Palestinian side of Rafah, the
city directly across the border. In contrast, October started out calm.
That changed on October 23, when Egyptian military forces in the Sinai
Peninsula renewed efforts to drown out smuggling tunnels that cross its
border into the besieged Gaza Strip. Along with aerial bombardments, the
Egyptians resumed pumping seawater into known smuggling tunnels . . .
In addition to pumping water into the smuggling tunnels previously used
to transfer goods necessary for Gaza residents across the border, the
Egyptian military also began construction on what some referred to as a
"medieval moat" - a 20-metre-deep trench filled with water from the
Mediterranean Sea. The moat would ensure that further tunnel
construction would be impossible. Egypt says that this is a security
measure, as the Sinai Peninsula has been wracked with armed attacks from
the armed group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has pledged itself to the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. The Egyptian military
says that the armed group receives its arms from Gaza via the tunnels,
though this allegation has not been substantiated. A representative from
Human Rights Watch (HRW), who spoke with Al Jazeera on the condition of
anonymity, says that this reasoning doesn't hold water: "Most of the
heavy weapons in use in the Sinai ... have likely been smuggled from
Libya and bought, stockpiled, and sold within the Sinai." (continued)
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/gaza-palestinians-egypt-teaching-israel-tricks-085401726.html Egypt's siege on Gaza: 'Rafah opens only for the dead' GAZA (Al Jazeera) 25 Oct by Victoria Schneider
-- At
the end of the road that leads from Gaza to Egypt is a big black gate.
It's locked. A thick layer of dirt has settled on the plastic chairs in
the waiting area beside it. An empty fridge and an empty counter are
dusty reminders that this is supposed to be a busy border crossing. Two
men are sitting on prayer rugs in the shade. They used to work in the
departures hall and are now security guards with nothing to do, as
border operations were shut down by the Egyptian government after two
attacks in the Sinai last year left 33 Egyptian soldiers dead. "Did you
see the martyr?" asks one of them. Earlier that day, the body of Ahmed
al-Khaledi, who died in the
Ankara bombings a few weeks ago,
was allowed to enter Gaza. "Rafah now opens only for the dead," says
photographer Ezz al-Zanoon. "Maybe I must die to get out," he adds,
laughing about his morbid joke . . . "We are tired. Fed up. We don't
have energy anymore," says Nagham Mohanna, a senior training programme
coordinator at the Gaza Center for Media Freedom. Mohanna was abroad
when the crossing closed last year. Her two-week visit in Dubai turned
into a 50-day nightmare. "I went crazy," she remembers. "My visa ran
out, and I couldn't buy a ticket to Cairo because Egypt prevented
Palestinians from returning because of the situation." "You are suddenly
deprived of the right to decide by yourself," she continues. "I had to
leave Dubai. I couldn't go home and didn't get a visa to go anywhere
else. You feel like nobody wants you." Mohanna finally succeeded to get a
ticket to Egypt, where she was stuck for another week before the border
was opened for two days to let stranded Palestinians cross back into
the strip: "There were so many people. The Egyptian security guards beat
people up; they shot [their guns] into the air. Many of the people
trying to cross didn't make it." The experience was so bad that Mohanna
says she will not try to leave again as long as the situation persists.
Since last October, Egypt has only opened Rafah occasionally - for two
or three days at a time - and mostly only in one direction. (continued)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/egypt-siege-gaza-rafah-opens-dead-151025092556908.html Gaza aid pledges fail to materialize
EI 29 Oct by Isra Saleh el-Namey -- For more than a year, Ahmad
al-Hamayda, his six siblings and their elderly parents have been forced
to live in a cramped apartment. Their two-story house in
Khan Younis,
a city in southern Gaza, was totally destroyed by Israel during 2014.
Al-Hamayda had spent all of his 24 years in that house. At the time
Israel dropped its bombs, the family had just been evacuated after a
neighboring building was hit by a small missile. This was interpreted as
a warning that a larger assault on the surrounding area was imminent.
“We turned back to see our home was reduced to rubble,” al-Hamayda said.
Promises have been made by officialdom that the house and others in the
neighborhood will be rebuilt with aid from
Kuwait. Yet none of the $200 million pledged by Kuwait in Cairo has been made available, according to World Bank
data.
“Whenever I go to ask the [Gaza] housing ministry, they keep on
delaying things,” al-Hamayda said. “It has been very frustrating.” As
their uncertainty continues, the al-Hamayda family struggles to make
ends meet. The United Nations has covered their monthly rent of $200 for
the apartment where they now live on just two occasions in the past
year. The rest of the time the family has had to pay the full amount
themselves. Their plight is in no way unique.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees,
reported
last week that 13,167 refugee families in Gaza remain displaced because
of the damage done to their homes by Israel’s 2014 attack. So far, just
one refugee family has had its home completely rebuilt, with the
agency’s support.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-aid-pledges-fail-materialize/14961 Stateless in Gaza
RAFAH (Al-Monitor) 23 Oct by Fadi Shafei -- There are Palestinians who
live in the Gaza Strip without legal status; their identification cards
are not recognized by Israel for various reasons, nor do they have
official status in any other country. In fact, those Palestinians bear
the “
Blue ID,”
which is nothing more than a personal identification card that
classifies its holder as “stateless.” The card was given by the former
Hamas government to Palestinians who entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with visitor permits after the
Israeli disengagement from Gaza
in 2005, or those with temporary travel documents issued by Arab or
foreign countries. Blue ID cardholders see themselves as refugees and
without legal status. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was founded in 1993
as per the
Oslo Accord,
which is a set of agreements between the government of Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). However, Israel has only
complied with the part related to security — the withdrawal from Gaza
and the Jericho area — and is yet to transfer authority to Palestinians
in civil and social affairs, such as the population registry . . . In
2000,
Israel discontinued
updating its copy of the population registry, and it no longer
recognizes the changes made by the PA. According to the B’Tselem report,
Israel allows the PA to register only births and deaths and to replace
damaged documents. As a result, neither the PA nor the Hamas government
can issue ID cards to stateless residents nor approve applications for
family reunification. In 2012,
media reports
by the former Hamas government, which is currently the main authority
in Gaza, stated that the government had so far issued 22,365 Blue IDs,
the first of which was issued on Jan. 31, 2007. Meanwhile, B'Tselem
mentioned in its report that 40,000-50,000 individuals in Gaza had no
legal status. The center held Israel responsible for the situation due
to its policy regarding the Palestinian population registry. Those
Palestinians are not allowed to travel nor can they conduct any civil
transactions . . . .
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/israel-palestinians-id-cards-legal-rights.html The real blackout throughout Israel can't be blamed on Israel Electric Haaretz 28 Oct by Gideon Levy --
While parts of Israel suffered a two-day blackout, Gazans have been living with minimal electricity for years -- . . . True,
a power blackout is not something pleasant. When it extends to a few
days, it is even hard. It should not happen and there is a need for an
immediate commission of inquiry. But when a country responds
hysterically to a two-day blackout, at a time when that same country is
responsible for depriving millions of people of electricity for years;
when a country loses it after a single night of candles, at a time when
the fate of millions of its subjects and neighbors, who have lived this
way for years, does not interest it in the least – then the true
blackout is not that caused by the Israel Electric Corporation. That is
how they live in Gaza, just an hour-and-a-half from Bnei Zion. In most
houses, the power is out 12 to 16 hours a day, every day. That has been
the case for nine years already – winter and summer, at night and during
the day. Over 70% of the households in Gaza receive water only every
two to four days, and then for only six to eight hours. That, too, is
due to the shortage of electricity . . . When a country turns itself
into a victim because of a power outage and is insensitive to the
millions of people alongside it for whom such a life is routine – it is
not the electric company that is sick.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.682905 GV Face from Gaza: Living and blogging under the occupation
GV 28 Oct -- Since October 1 knife attacks, shootings and protests
have become near-daily occurrences in the occupied Palestinian
territories and Israel. At least 57 Palestinians and eight Israelis have
been killed since the beginning of the month. During these tense times
what is life like for Gaza's 1.8 million residents? The 40
kilometer-long strip is still reeling from the effects of the
50-day Israeli offensive in 2014 that killed 2,100 people and reduced 40% of the area to rubble. In this episode we speak to
Omar Ghraieb, a popular blogger and journalist based in Gaza. Omar talks about documenting life in the occupied strip since 2007.
https://globalvoices.org/2015/10/28/gv-face-from-gaza-living-under-occupation/
UpFront - Reality Check - Gaza is still occupied
Al Jazeera English 23 Oct -- Israel says it no longer occupies Gaza
after disengaging from the strip of land in 2005.But Palestinians,
international organisations, human rights groups and governments,
including the United States, argue Gaza is still occupied. In the
Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan challenges Israel's narrative, arguing the
country still controls Gaza's borders, airspace and territorial waters.
He also points to the fact Israel controls the population register,
meaning the government defines who is and who is not a resident of Gaza.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kUSihH-M9M Prisoners / Courts Israeli court charges Palestinian teen, 13, with attempted murder BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 30 Oct -- Israel's Jerusalem District Court on Friday indicted 13-year-old Palestinian
Ahmad Manasra
on charges of attempted murder following an attack on two Israelis on
Oct. 12 in Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. The stabbing attack took
place near the illegal Pisgat Zeev settlement in East Jerusalem, with
Israeli police reporting that two Israelis, aged 13 and 21, were
seriously injured. Ahmad's 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, was shot dead at
the scene by Israeli forces, while Ahmad was knocked over by a car and
seriously wounded. A video of Ahmad lying injured and bloody on the
ground after being hit by the car was uploaded to social media and went
viral. In the footage, an Israeli onlooker can clearly be heard saying:
"Die, son of a whore! Die!" while another tells the police officer to
shoot him. Ahmad will be held in a closed facility until prosecution,
with the court rejecting the family's request that he be placed under
house arrest. Israeli news site Ynet said that the cousins committed the
attack after returning from school and discussing the Al-Aqsa Mosque
and Gaza, before deciding to be "martyrs." Due to his age, Ahmad cannot
face jail time until he turns 14 in January.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768555
PLO warns against new security court proposal as violation of law
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- PLO Executive Committee member Hanan
Ashrawi on Thursday warned that Israel would violate “any kind of rule
of law” if a new security court proposed by Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is implemented. Netanyahu on Wednesday proposed in a
meeting the establishment of a “special court” to deal with security
issues. The court would likely process cases of punitive home
demolitions, administrative detention, revoking residency from
Palestinians involved in attacks, and holding the remains of
Palestinians. Ashrawi accused Netanyahu of following in the footsteps of
Arab dictators Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein if he were to create
the court. “This is a blatant attempt at circumventing the law and the
regular courts in Israel, and avoiding accountability, no matter how
minimal it is, by the Supreme Court.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768549 'Suicidal' Israeli Arab woman mistaken for terrorist charged with possessing a knife
Haaretz 29 Oct by Noa Shpigel -- An Israeli Arab woman from Nazareth,
who was shot and arrested after brandishing a knife at the central bus
station in Afula a few weeks ago, was charged on Thursday with
possessing a knife and making threats. According to the indictment
Asra‘a [or
Isra‘a]
Zidan Abed,
29, did not intend to carry out an attack, but was suicidal when she
arrived at the bus station on October 9 and began waving a knife in the
air. The State Prosecutor said that Abed, who had attempted to kill
herself in the past, had planned to commit suicide by getting herself
shot by security forces in Afula, and asked the court to detain her
until the end of proceedings . . . “The facts in the indictment indicate
that Abed tried to commit suicide in the past, and three weeks ago she
decided to try again, one reason being the end of a relationship. On the
morning of the incident Abed sent text messages in which she hinted at
her intentions. During her interrogation she said she wanted to kill
herself, and preferred to do so in a manner that would make her a
shahida (Islamic martyr).” . . . Abed, the daughter of a well-known
imam, had reportedly lost custody of her child following her recent
divorce.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683214 23 Jerusalemites under administrative arrest
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 27 Oct -- The occupation authorities
turned to the policy of administrative arrests which is based on weak
confidential evidence and intelligence information to detain a person
and shut the hopes of defending him in the Israeli courts. The
administrative
arrest
orders recently increased against Jerusalemites in an attempt to slow
down the Palestinians’ rise and break their steadfastness party of the
policy of collective punishment practiced against Jerusalemites. Wadi
Hilweh Information Center explained that the occupation authorities
transferred 23 Jerusalemites including three minors to administrative
arrest
during one week following an order from the Minister of Occupation
Army. The center added that the Jerusalemite young men who were
transferred to
administrative arrest are from the village of
‘Esawyeh, Silwan, Old City of Jerusalem, Sur Baher and Jabal Al-Mukabber;
note that freed prisoners are among them. The center also pointed out
that transferring several prisoners to administrative arrest falls
within the collective punishment policy recently practiced against
Jerusalemites. Abdel Salam Abu Ghazaleh, father of Martyr
Thaer Abu Ghazaleh, was transferred to administrative arrest while his son’s body is still being detained who passed away on the 8
th
of the current month in Tel Aviv after being shot under the pretext of
carrying out a stabbing attack. Also, the brother of prisoner
Shurouq Dwayyat
was also transferred to administrative arrest. Shurouq was accused of
attempting to stab a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem on the 7
th of October and was injured in her shoulder; she underwent a surgery and is currently imprisoned in Hasharon prison.
http://silwanic.net/?p=64578 BDS Staffordshire: Israeli drone maker Elbit loses injunction blocking Gaza protests
IBT 29 Oct by Ewan Palmer -- A drone factory in Staffordshire owned by
an Israeli arms manufacturer has had its attempt to block all protests
on its site thrown out by a High Court after a judge ruled an injunction
imposed in June should never have been put in place. Activists have
staged several protests down the years at the UAV Engines Limited
factory in Shenstone, which produces parts for drones which were used
for attacks on Gaza. UAV states that it produces "engines for various
size tactical
UAVs,
target drones and single mission platforms", and is owned by Israel's
largest weapons company, Elbit Systems . . . A spokesperson for the
coalition that organised the Block the Factory protests, who challenged
the injunction, said: "This injunction should never have been imposed.
It seems to have been designed to deter protest and campaigning around
ending the UK's deadly arms trade with Israel." "It's Elbit Systems and
its arms factories that should be facing a ban, not our protests.
Today's decision will bring even more energy to our campaigning in
solidarity with ongoing Palestinian resistance and for a two-way arms
embargo on Israel."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/staffordshire-israeli-drone-maker-elbit-loses-injunction-blocking-gaza-protests-1526312 Other news Palestinians hand fresh alleged war crimes evidence to ICC
THE HAGUE (Reuters)31 Oct -- The Palestinians handed a fresh dossier of
evidence to the International Criminal Court in an attempt to get the
war crimes tribunal to expand its existing probe of last year's Gaza
conflict to include the upsurge in violence of the past month. Emerging
from the court, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said the new dossier,
the third he has submitted this year, contained evidence of
"extrajudicial killing, home demolition, collective punishment"
including from the past 40 days.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-hand-fresh-alleged-war-crimes-evidence-icc-183755497.html Report: Shin Bet opposed to Netanyahu's plan to outlaw Islamic Movement
JPost 30 Oct -- The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) is recommending
that the Israeli government refrain from outlawing the northern branch
of the Islamic Movement even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
ordered the service to help state prosecutors lay the legal groundwork
for such a move. According to Channel 10, the domestic spy agency
believes that a government edict banning the Islamist group - which is
considered to be the ideological cousin of the Palestinian Hamas
movement - increases the risk of an escalation in Jewish-Arab tensions.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Report-Shin-Bet-opposed-to-Netanyahu-plan-to-outlaw-Islamic-Movement-430585 Jailed PFLP leader calls for continuing 'intifada'
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 29 Oct -- Jailed Secretary-General of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Saadat, on Thursday called
for continuing what he termed the intifada, calling for support from the
leadership. In a letter to the PFLP office in Gaza, Saadat called for a
united national leadership to support the current popular mood in
Palestine. The continued occupation of the Palestinian people calls for
only resistance, he added, urging the leadership to halt security
coordination with Israel. The PFLP leader called for international
protection of Palestinians in occupied territory, under supervision from
the UN, and a transitional time frame for Palestinians to obtain an
independent state.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768544 Why some Palestinian journalists struggle with when to put down the camera Al-Monitor 28 Oct by Aziza Nofal --
Palestinian journalists covering the current events in Jerusalem and
the West Bank are torn between the professionalism their jobs require
and their sense of nationalism, often conveying a subjective image of
the news. While filming the events taking place at the northern entrance to the city of Bethlehem, photojournalist
Jad Gado
put his camera aside to help an elderly lady who was trying to cross
the road before Israeli soldiers threw tear gas bombs at demonstrators
there. The woman was unable to breathe and took cover behind a tree on
the side of the road; that is when Gado saw her and ran toward her.
Gado, 32, a cameraman for the Palestinian News Network, took off the
mask he was wearing to protect himself from the tear gas and gave it to
the woman. He then asked the paramedics to come and take her somewhere
safe . . .Gado was the only bystander who could reach the woman, and he
believed what he did was his duty as a human being, as it did not
interfere with his job as a journalist. “The lady was simply passing by,
and she was not participating in the confrontations. She wasn't
carrying any weapon or stones,” he said. However, Gado was criticized by
some journalists under the pretext that his actions did not show
professionalism as a journalist in the field . . . Journalist Hussam Izz
al-Din, an Agence France-Presse correspondent in the West Bank,
believes that when it comes to the Palestinian situation, there is a
clear challenge for journalists to separate their professional work from
their sense of belonging to the Palestinian cause as well as their
national duty. “There is nothing wrong with helping out an injured
person or a passerby, but it is not right for a journalist to become
part of the event [he is covering],” he said. Izz al-Din, who is also
president of the Ethics Committee in the Palestinian Press Syndicate,
said that despite the developments in Palestinian journalism, the
journalists’ nationalistic feelings still dominate their mission and
affect their credibility internationally.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/palestinian-journalists-professionalism-nationalism.html Orthodox Jewish newspaper asks Arabs to avoid killing Haredi Jews BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 29 Oct – An orthodox Jewish Israeli newspaper
Mishpacha
published on Thursday an appeal to "potential Palestinian attackers”
asking them to avoid killing Haredi Jews on the grounds that the sect
does not visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Published both in Hebrew and
poor Arabic, the pieces read: “We, the Haredi public, have no interest
in going up to the Temple Mount at this time," using the term used in
Judaism for the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. "We vehemently oppose doing so.
Even more: Jewish law severely proscribes such an act -- on penalty of
spiritual excommunication. Therefore you will never see Haredim
ascending the mount, with the exception of one single family, acting on
its own, which is condemned for the practice." Many believe that Jewish
law forbids entry to the Temple Mount due to a lack of knowledge
regarding the exact location of sites holy to Judaism, risking religious
transgressions. The publication emphasized that recent sentiment by
right-wing Israelis to change the status quo on the holy site was not
shared by the Haredi community.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768542 Are Israel's war crimes no longer good for business? EI 30 Oct by Michael Deas -- Israeli arms companies
promote
their products as “combat proven.” That choice of words suggests
Israel’s ability to test weapons on Palestinians has become a selling
point. Such a ploy was in evidence following Israel’s 51-day attack on
Gaza last year. Once the attack had been completed, Israel’s arms
industry
rushed to try and impress prospective clients by telling them that new
drone
technology had been showcased during it. While drawing attention to the
effectiveness of its weapons may have filled the order books of Israeli
arms companies in the recent past, it now seems that growing public
opposition to the brutal oppression of Palestinians is starting to hit
Israel’s military exports. The heads of Israel’s four biggest arms
companies have
written to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
to notify him that Israeli military exports have declined from $7.5
billion in 2012 to $5.5 billion in 2014. These exports could fall as low
as $4 billion this year, according to their letter. The arms dealers
cite “less desire for Israeli-made products” as one of the factors
causing this dramatic drop. An urgent meeting with Netanyahu has been
sought to address what they say is “a significant crisis in the defense
industries.” This seems to be an admission that at least some
governments around the world are becoming more wary of buying Israeli
weapons.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/are-israels-war-crimes-no-longer-good-business/14965 Jewish-Muslim couples tell their stories
Al-Monitor 26 Oct by Nurit Canetti -- Two mixed Jewish-Muslim couples,
one residing in Jaffa and another in Umm al-Fahm, talk to Al-Monitor
about how the current unrest is complicating their already cautious
lives. It was a real challenge to find people who agreed to be
interviewed for this piece. While there are quite a few mixed couples in
Israel, with one partner Jewish and the other Muslim, many of them are
afraid to provide a glimpse into their fascinating lives. Now
especially, when the street is becoming a jungle and hatred is bubbling
over and blinding so many people from both religions, these families
prefer to seclude themselves until the rage passes.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/israel-jewish-muslim-mixed-couples-violence-acceptance-media.html Rightwing Israelis celebrate murder of a Jewish activist (and NYT won't tell you so)
Mondoweiss 29 Oct by James North & Philip Weiss -- Maybe you have
read about the murder in Jerusalem of Richard Lakin, 76, an American
idealist who moved to Israel in 1984 and became active in the peace
movement there and then was shot and stabbed by young Palestinians on a
Jerusalem bus two weeks ago, succumbing to his wounds on Tuesday. The
Hartford Courant says Lakin “spent a lifetime trying to bring people of different religions and races together.” The New York Times has a
moving report from Lakin’s funeral saying he was a civil rights activist in the U.S. before moving to Israel to be a teacher.
Peace Now also has a report on the case, apparently
based on a translation of a report in the Hebrew press: "Less than a
day after Richard Lakin passed away Tuesday from the wounds he suffered
in an attack by two Palestinians two weeks ago, thousands of
right-wingers on the Internet celebrated his death. The flood of hate
posts began after the right-wing Israeli rapper, ‘The Shadow,’ wrote on
Facebook that the murder of Lakin, an activist with the ‘Tag Meir’
group, which visits Palestinians who were attacked by Jews, should be a
wake-up call to left-wingers.
“He needs to be buried in Gaza and people should shit on his gravestone,”
posted one on Facebook over a picture of Lakin’s face. “Another dead
terrorist,” wrote another. “So it turns out Arabs do good things
sometimes.”
“For me he is another terrorist.” “Since I really love the left-wing, I want to wish them the same thing,” others wrote."
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/10/rightwing-celebrate-activist Labour veteran Sir Gerald Kaufman claims 'Jewish money' has influenced Conservatives
The Jewish Chronicle (U.K.) 28 Oct by Josh Jackman & Sandy Rashty
-- Veteran Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman has accused Israel of
fabricating the recent knife attacks in the country and claimed the
Conservative Party has been influenced by “Jewish money”. Speaking at a
Palestine Return Centre event in Parliament on Tuesday, Sir Gerald said
that the British government had become more pro-Israel in recent years.
He said: “It’s Jewish money, Jewish donations to the Conservative Party –
as in the general election in May – support from the Jewish Chronicle,
all of those things, bias the Conservatives. “There is now a big group
of Conservative members of parliament who are pro-Israel whatever
government does and they are not interested in what Israel, in what the
Israeli government does. “They’re not interested in the fact that
Palestinians are living a repressed life, and are liable to be shot at
any time. In the last few days alone the Israelis have murdered 52
Palestinians and nobody pays attention and this government doesn’t
care.” Sir Gerald, Father of the House of Commons, then told the
audience of 45 people that the Israeli government had made up the recent
spate of violent attacks in order to allow it to “execute
Palestinians”. The Manchester Gorton MP said “a friend of mine who lives
in East Jerusalem” had emailed him with the accusations about Israel
fabricating the attacks. Sir Gerald then read from the letter: “More
than half the stabbing claims were definitely fabricated. The other
half, some were true, the others there was no way to tell since they
executed Palestinians and no one asked questions. " (continued)
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/148290/labour-veteran-sir-gerald-kaufman-claims-jewish-money-has-influenced-conservativ Adolf, Amin and Bibi / Uri Avnery
IT IS not very pleasant when serious people around the world –
historians, psychiatrists, diplomats – ask themselves if my prime
minister is completely sane. But this is happening now. And not only
abroad. More and more people in Israel are asking themselves the same
question. All this is the result of one event. But people are now
looking at many other events - past and present – in a new light. Until
now, many strange actions and utterances by Binyamin Netanyahu have
been seen as the manipulations of a clever politician, a talented
demagogue who knows the soul of his constituents and supplies them with
ample lies. Not anymore. A troubling suspicion is getting around: that
our prime minister has serious mental problems. Is he losing his
marbles? IT ALL started two weeks ago, when Netanyahu made a speech to a
world-wide Zionist assembly. What he said was shocking. Adolf Hitler,
he pontificated, did not really want to exterminate the Jews. He just
wanted to expel them. But then he met the Mufti of Jerusalem, who
convinced him to "burn" the Jews. Thus the Holocaust was born. The
conclusion? Hitler was not so bad after all. The Germans are not really
to blame. It was the Palestinians who were the instigators of the murder
of six million Jews . . . This particular utterance of Netanyahu's was
not just stupid, not just ignorant. It borders on the insane. . . .
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1446219610/ --
