Prisoners / Hunger strikes / Court actions
Palestinian detainees reach deal to end hunger strike
Haaretz 25 June by Jack Khoury -- Palestinian detainees in Israeli
prisons ended a two-month-long hunger strike overnight
Tuesday after a
deal was struck with the Israel Prison Service. The details of the deal,
it was agreed by the sides, will only be made public after the hunger
strikers receive treatment and their condition stabilizes. Sources in
the Palestinian Prisoners Club told Haaretz that Israel has agreed to
some of their terms and said that a press conference will be held on the
matter
on Wednesday. On
April 24, Palestinians under administrative
detention in Israeli jails launched a hunger strike demanding that
Israel end the practice of holding Palestinians in prison without a
trial. Initially some 125 detainees took part in the strike, though
their numbers recently decreased to 80. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners
who are not under administrative detention also joined the protest. All
in all, Israel Prison Service confirmed earlier this month that 290
prisoners and detainees were on hunger strike at the time.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.601002
Palestinian prisoners halt hunger strike for Ramadan fast
Ynet 25 June by Elior Levy and Ra'anan Ben Tzur -- Sixty-three
Palestinian prisoners have suspended the hunger strike which they have
observed in Israeli jails since late April, one of their lawyers said
Tuesday night. "The strikers, who have reached an agreement with the
Israeli prison authorities, have decided to suspend their action with
the approach of (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan," lawyer Abu Snena
said. Palestinian minister Shawki Aleessa announced the ending of the
strike, and the announcement will be passed on to all security detainees
that have been hospitalized as a consequence. A senior military
official, however, said
Wednesday morning that "not everyone stopped
striking." According to the Palestinians, the end of the hunger strike
is conditioned in the Israel Prisoners Service canceling the fines
imposed on striking detainees, and moving them back to their cell
blocks. Despite that, there will be no change in the administrative
detention policy. The Israel Prisons Service confirmed the end of the
strike, but refused to elaborate on the agreements reached. The Prisons
Service said the 75 hunger striking detainees who have been hospitalized
will remain in the hospital for the time being for monitoring.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534282,00.html
Prisoner release deal is no longer possible, Lieberman says
Ynet 24 June by Attila Somfalvi --Foreign minister tells Ynet he will
no longer allow Yisrael Beiteinu ministers to vote in favor of any deal
to release prisoners -- A prisoner release deal with the Palestinians,
such as the ones freed in the Shalit deal and those freed as a gesture
to restart peace talks, will no longer be possible, Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman told Ynet
on Tuesday. "I voted against the Shalit deal
and that says it all about how I feel about it, both then and now. I
think we should all learn the lesson as quickly as possible and it is
obvious that no deal - not as a gesture, not as a prisoner swap and
other types - is possible anymore," Lieberman said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4534054,00.html
Israel 'doubles' administrative detainees during arrest campaign
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June by Charlie Hoyle -- Israel's military has
fast-tracked over 100 administrative detention orders during a mass
arrest campaign launched 10 days ago, a Palestinian prisoners group said
Monday, nearly doubling the number of Palestinians held without charge.
As of
Monday, 104 administrative detention orders have been confirmed
by the Addameer prisoner rights group, with the number set to increase
significantly over the coming days. The group had documented 77
administrative detention orders as of last Thursday, with 27 more
confirmed
on Monday, an advocacy coordinator told Ma‘an. Most of the
orders, lasting between three to six months, were issued by a judge at
Ofer military court on the recommendations of the Israeli Shin Bet, with
the majority of detainees affiliated to Hamas and Islamic Jihad...
Addameer said the systematic use of administrative detention in the
ongoing arrest campaign is "alarming" given the number of prisoners on
hunger strike to protest the policy. Issuing administrative detention
orders "en-masse" since the disappearance of the three youths is "in
direct violation of the strict parameters established by international
law," the group said, urging the international community to immediately
condemn the "arbitrary arrest and detention campaign." ... Hunger
strikes by Palestinian prisoners have posed a constant challenge over
the past two years to Israel's policy of detention without trial, with
not a single day passing since 2011 when a Palestinian prisoner has not
been on hunger strike.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707113
Group names 21 prisoners sentenced to administrative detention
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 June -- The Palestinian Prisoner's Society on
Tuesday released a list of 21 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to
administrative detention. The group said in a statement that a total of
143 Palestinians have been sentenced to detention without trial as part
of a mass arrest operation in the occupied West Bank. [List of detainees
and their sentences follows]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707459
Red Cross warns Israeli doctors against force-feeding prisoners
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 June -- The International Committee of the Red
Cross
on Monday warned doctors in Israel against force-feeding
hunger-striking prisoners, saying they could face international
prosecution. Dr. Raid Abu Rabbi, an official of the Red Cross, said that
“any doctor who force-feeds prisoners will be violating medical ethics,
and in Israel and abroad this doctor could be arrested.” A law to allow
force-feeding prisoners was set to be approved
on Monday. However, the
Israeli minister of finance threatened to call off the bill and voting
was postponed until the coming week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707175
Comptroller: Detainees let go in middle of West Bank without means to get home
Jerusalem Post 24 June by Ben Hartman & Yonah Jeremy Bob --
Detainees released in middle of night from police stations often forced
to hitchhike home, report finds -- In a time when the hitchhiking
phenomenon is being scrutinized, a man under arrest at a police station
in the West Bank was released without the means to get home, at night,
with few options for getting home other than hitchhiking, according to a
report released
Tuesday by the State Comptroller
on Tuesday. The police
misconduct was one of a number of examples presented in the report on
complaints filed against public bodies, one of the comptroller's areas
of responsibility.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Comptroller-Detainees-let-go-in-middle-of-West-Bank-without-means-to-get-home-360377
Israeli court extends detention of al-Issawi until June 29
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 June -- An Israeli military court
on Tuesday
extended the detention of former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi until
June 29, a prisoners group said. Lawyer Mufid al-Hajj from the
Palestinian Prisoners Society told Ma‘an that al-Issawi would appeal
against the decision. Israeli forces
on Monday re-arrested al-Issawi
from his house in al-Issawiya village in East Jerusalem. Issawi was
released from Israeli jail last December as part of an agreement in
which he ended a 266-day hunger strike, during which time he became an
international cause célèbre who focused attention on the plight of the
thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707449
Israel seeks re-incarceration of seven Jerusalemites freed in Shalit swap
Haaretz 24 June by Nir Hasson -- Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein
issued a request
Tuesday morning to re-incarcerate all seven Palestinian
prisoners from Jerusalem who were released in the 2011 swap for captive
Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. The seven were taken into
custody over the last week within the framework of Israel's Opperation
Brother's Keeper. The request submitted to the ministerial committee
overseeing the release of security prisoners at the Haifa District Court
states that each one of the prisoners has violated his terms of release
and must be returned to jail to serve his original sentence. All the
requests are based on confidential information submitted to the court
without the presence of the prisoners' lawyers. The Jerusalem residents
released in the Shalit deal were released in a legal process separate
from those arrested and tried in the West Bank. The Jerusalemites, who
have permanent residency status in Israel, were released by presidential
pardon. Within that context, each one signed an agreement stating that
he was prohibited from "being affiliated with a terror organization or
illegal association of any kind; to not be involved or support or assist
any act of terror or violence." They were also barred from entering the
West Bank or flying abroad for a period of three years.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600866
Land, property, resources theft & destruction
Hamdallah: Israel prevents oil extraction in West Bank
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June -- Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said that
Israel has officially requested that the PA stop their appeal to the UN
for extracting oil and petroleum from northern West Bank areas.
Hamdallah told Ma‘an that “the Israeli coordinator of government affairs
officially requested that the oil extraction from
Rantis and
Qalqiliya stop
and called it a one-side procedure.” “There are 160 million oil barrels
in Rantis and Qaliqiliya. Nevertheless Israel rejected what was agreed
upon with the US secretary of state on the possibility of extracting gas
from the Gaza Strip,” Hamdallah added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707172
South Hebron Hills: Pressure on Firing Zone 918 residents continues
Christian Peacemaker Teams 23 June -- On 15 May 2014, Israeli courts
extended the mediation process between the Israeli army and the villages
within Firing Zone 918 for another three months. The Israeli army
wants to use this area for training. Israeli, Palestinian and
international human rights organizations have condemned its bid to expel
the villagers a violation of international law, which forbids forced
transfer of the indigenous population of an occupied territory unless
the occupying power is safeguarding them from an immediate danger.
During the previous period of mediation, the court allowed
rehabilitation of damage done by storms, as well as access to the area
by international humanitarian organizations. As a result, some
development was possible in the area, specifically to the schools in
al-Fakheit and
Jinba.
At the same time, as revealed in an article published on Ha'aretz, army
officials admitted using firing zones as a way to deter the growth of
Palestinian communities in Area C and to expel Palestinians from where
they have lived since before the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.
Since 8 June, the Israeli military has conducted exercises in close
proximity to, and on one occasion, inside the village of Jinba. Some
weeks before, the army drove armored vehicles over Palestinian fields
close to Jinba and
Mirkez, damaging their harvest. Residents of
Jinba told CPT that they received a "solution" to the current legal
battle from the Israeli army via their lawyers at the beginning of June.
The army asked that all of the Palestinian residents voluntarily leave the area for thirty months
so that the Israeli military could conduct its exercises. After that,
the Palestinians could return to their homes. The villagers refused the
offer, affirming they would not have anywhere to go with all their
livestock. Even if the army allowed them back, no one would care for
their crops and flocks for that thirty months. The army is not asking
Israeli settlers in the area to leave Firing Zone 918.
http://cpt.org/cptnet/2014/06/23/south-hebron-hills-pressure-firing-zone-918-residents-continues
For first time, Israel compensating Palestinians over settlers' land grab
Haaretz 25 June by Chaim Levinson -- In an unprecedented step, the
state will pay 300,000 shekels ($87,500) in compensation to Palestinians
who own land upon which the unauthorized West Bank outpost of
Amona
was built. The Palestinian land owners will be compensated for the lost
revenues from their fields for the first time since reaching a
compromise agreement with the state. The Palestinians had filed a civil
suit against the state for not enforcing the law after the settlers took
over their land for the unauthorized building at Amona. It is a
precedent-setting agreement ... The landowners said they plan on
establishing a fund with the money to finance legal support for
Palestinians whose lands have been taken over by Israelis. In the
compromise agreement, the plaintiffs continue to insist on their demand
that the entire outpost be evacuated, as was requested in the petition
to the High Court of Justice. The state is scheduled to notify the court
within 30 days if it will continue its suit against Amona, in which it
is demanding the settlement pay the state back for the compensation paid
to the Palestinian landowners.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.601026
Army invades agricultural lands near Hebron
IMEMC 24 June by Chris Carlson --
On Tuesday, Israeli army bulldozers
razed a privately owned Palestinian ranch in the village of
Hassaka,
north of Hebron, according to local sources. Coordinator of the
anti-settlement committee Rateb Jabour told WAFA Palestinian News &
Info Agency that the bulldozers razed a 30-dunam area of land (just over
7 acres) which was partially covered with greenhouses and planted with
vegetables. The land belongs to several residents of the village,
collectively. In the Bethlehem district, Israelis also destroyed
privately owned Palestinian farmland, the head of the
Nahhalin village council, Ibrahim Shakarneh, told WAFA news. He stated that settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of
Beitar Illit,
protected by Israeli soldiers, chopped down grapevines and olive trees
there. The army additionally prohibited landowners from accessing the
area, sealing it off as the settlers chopped down the trees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68218
Army to demolish stores near Jenin
IMEMC/Agencies 24 June by Saed Bannoura -- Israeli soldiers invaded,
on Tuesday,
Barta‘a
Palestinian village, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and
handed military orders for the destruction of more than ten stores.
Member of the Barta‘a Village Council, Tawfiq Kabaha, stated that dozens
of soldiers, and members of the Civil Administration Office, run by the
military in the occupied territories, invaded the Industrial Area in
the village, and handed the orders. Soldiers also conducted searches of
various homes and property in the village, causing damage. The invasion
is one of dozens of invasions carried out in the village in the last
two months, and the army handed out orders against more than 21 homes
and industrial structures. Also
on Tuesday, soldiers invaded the
Hasaka
village, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and drained
water wells used by the residents for their homes and lands.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68214
Israeli forces detain man, confiscate tractor near Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 June -- Israeli forces raided a Jenin-area village and
detained a man after confiscating his tractor, security sources told
Ma‘an. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an Israeli soldiers entered
Bir al-Basha and
searched dozens of houses before detaining Sharif Hussein Ghawadrah,
50. Israeli forces also confiscated Ghawadrah's tractor, the sources
said, without providing further details.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707352
Settlers vandalize 12 Palestinian cars in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 June -- Settlers vandalized 12 Palestinian
vehicles and a school bus in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of
Beit Hanina on Monday, locals said. Owners of the vehicles told Ma‘an that three masked settlers raided the
al-Ashqariya neighborhood
at
3 a.m. and punctured tires on 12 cars. The settlers also sprayed
"Death to Arabs" and "Revenge" on a school bus and another private
vehicle. Local resident Mahmoud Shanak told Ma‘an that this is the first
incident of its kind in al-Ashqariya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707029
UNESCO adopts decision to protect Jerusalem's heritage
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 June -- The Palestinian minister of foreign
affairs said
Monday that the UNESCO world heritage committee adopted a
resolution to protect the walls and heritage of Jerusalem. During the
committee's 83rd session being held in Qatar, 12 countries voted for the
resolution, one country against it, and eight countries abstained from
voting, Riyadh al-Malki said. He praised the resolution and thanked the
Arab and Jordanian efforts that helped get it passed. “Despite the
occupation’s attempts to remove the Palestinian existence from
Jerusalem, and attempts to deform history and demography, Jerusalem will
remain the capital of world heritage, and the capital of the state of
Palestine,” he added.
On Friday UNESCO granted endangered World
Heritage status to ancient terraces in the West Bank that are under
threat from the Israeli separation barrier ... The Palestinians won
membership in UNESCO in October 2011 and quickly moved to submit a
number of sites for recognition, including an emergency application for
Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity which was approved in June the
following year, despite Israeli objections.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707226
Violence / Raids / Illegal arrests
Two Palestinian youths injured in grenade attack by Jewish settlers
RAMALLAH (PIC) 24 June -- Two Palestinian young men suffered from
severe suffocation and minor paralysis last night when an atypical smoke
grenade thrown by an extremist Jewish settler fell inside their car
near
Deir Ibzi‘ village, west of Ramallah. Local sources said an
Israeli settler from Talmon settlement chased a Palestinian passenger
vehicle traveling on the public road that leads to towns and villages of
west Ramallah. The smoke that emitted from the grenade caused the two
young passengers to suffer from severe suffocation and made their limbs
feel numb for a while. The injured young men rushed to Israeli soldiers
posted at a nearby military checkpoint and reported what happened to
them, but the soldiers ignored their complaint and forced them to leave
the area.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/
Palestinian prisoners 'assaulted' before being detained
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 June -- A Palestinian Prisoner’s Society lawyer
reported
Monday from Palestinian detainees at Etzion detention center
that many of them were assaulted and beaten before they were detained.
Prisoner Faraj Ghaith, 57, told the lawyer that three settlers raided
his house, assaulted him and his family before the Israeli police
detained him and his two sons Ahmad and Omar. Ghaith lives near the
Israeli settlement of
Kiryat Arba. Jaclyn Fararjeh said that
bruises were still clear on the prisoners’ bodies. Prisoner Ashraf
al-Jaaidi, 30, from Bethlehem, said that he threw up blood since he was
detained, and that he was beaten with butts of the riffles when he was
detained from his house in
Duheisha refugee camp last Friday. Farajeh highlighted that al-Jaaidi requested to be examined by a doctor but the prison service refused.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707089
Israeli forces detain 8 in Hebron, Nablus RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 June -- Israeli forces detained late
Monday eight Palestinians from
Hebron and
Nablus,
raided dozens of houses in several West Bank districts and interrogated
dozens of residents, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707364
Army kidnaps three Palestinians in Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies by Saed Bannoura -- [
Tuesday at dawn, June 24 2014]
Israeli soldiers kidnapped three Palestinians in the West Bank district
of Bethlehem, and shot and injured two more Palestinians. Palestinian
security sources said the army invaded
Harmala village, east of
Bethlehem, broke into and violently searched several homes, and
kidnapped two Palestinians ... Dozens of soldiers also invaded the
al-‘Azza refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, searched and ransacked dozens
of homes, while one Palestinian was mauled by army dogs that attacked
him, as the soldiers searched his property. The wounded Palestinian,
identified as Khalil Kayed an-Nashash, was moved to the
Beit Jala governmental hospital, suffering moderate injuries. In related news, soldiers invaded
‘Aida refugee camp,
north of Bethlehem, also searched several homes, and kidnapped a
Palestinian identified as Hussein Saleh Abu Aker, 25. Furthermore,
soldiers invaded
‘Arraba town, south of the northern west Bank
city of Jenin, kidnapped one Palestinian, and stole large sums of cash.
The WAFA News Agency has reported that dozens of soldiers invaded the
town, and broke into the home of Mustafa Sheebany, before kidnapping his
brother Najeeb. The soldiers violently searched the property, causing
excessive property damage, and stole 5,000 NIS, WAFA added.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68213
Israeli forces seize Palestinian in Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 June -- Special Israeli forces seized a bodyguard of
Wasfi Qabha, a Palestinian official,
on Tuesday from his shop in the
center of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Palestinian
security sources told Ma‘an that special Israeli forces drove a bus with
Palestinian plates to the center of Jenin and detained Mahdi Hassan
al-Hifawi, 38, from his electrical appliances shop. Sources added that
al-Hifawi was a special escort for a former minister of prisoners.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707509
Including two legislators, four Hamas officials kidnapped in Bethlehem IMEMC/Agencies by Saed Bannoura -- [
Wednesday at dawn,
June 25 2014] Israeli soldiers invaded the West Bank city of
Bethlehem,
and kidnapped two legislators, members of the Change and Reform Bloc of
Hamas, and two other political leaders of the movement. Local sources
said the army kidnapped legislators Khaled Tafesh and Anwar Zboun, after
breaking into their homes, and violently searching them. The soldiers
also kidnapped Ghassan Hermas and Hasan al-Wardiyyat, both political
leaders of Hamas, and also invaded and searched several homes in
al-Karkafa area, in the center of Bethlehem city, causing property
damage.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68224
Israeli forces detain 4 children in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 June -- Israeli police
on Wednesday afternoon
detained four Palestinian children from the al-Aqsa compound in
Jerusalem. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli forces detained the four
children, aged 10-14, while they were flying a kite. One of them was
identified as Ayman Hashima. Another was Taha Hashima, and the two
others were yet to be identified. They were all led to the Chain Gate
police station.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707529
529 arrests reported during the last ten days
RAMALLAH (PIC) 24 June --
529
Palestinians have been detained since Israel started its arbitrary mass
arrest campaign throughout the occupied West Bank
on Thursday evening
12th June 2014. 61 arrests were carried out
on Monday in different
parts of occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian Prisoners Society
(PPS), 179 arrests were carried out in
al-Khalil [Hebron], while 87 arrests were reported in
Nablus. 75 Palestinians were also detained in
Bethlehem, while 52 detainees were documented in
Jenin. 49 Palestinians were detained in
Ramallah, while 36 from
Jerusalem were detained and 23 others in
Tulkarem, and 13 Palestinian citizens were arrested in
Qalqiliya. 7 arrests were reported in
Tubas, and 7 others in
Salfit, while one Palestinian was detained in
Jericho.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel re-arrests one in six Palestinians released to West Bank in Shalit deal
Haaretz 23 June by Gili Cohen -- Security services officials assert
dozens of former prisoners have violated release conditions, but one
ex-prisoner says Israel using kidnapping as excuse for roundup --
Israeli security services figures indicate that 55 Palestinians who had
been released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have
been arrested since the start of Operation Brother's Keeper. A security
official who spoke on condition of anonymity asserts that most of the
detainees are Hamas members. Since the
2011 prisoner swap,
Israel has re-arrested 131 of the 824 Palestinians released to the West
Bank. Most of the 76 arrested before Operation Brother's Keeper were
suspected of violating their release conditions, such as returning to
terrorist activities, failing to report monthly to the government
coordination office in the territories or illegally entering Israel. One
of the prisoners released in the Shalit deal, Luay Najih Nofal, who
spent 11 years in an Israeli jail, was released
Saturday after being
re-arrested during Brother's Keeper. He told Channel 2 in an interview
Sunday night that the apprehension was a reaction, arresting people in
the name of being careful ,,, "I don't imagine that someone tied to the
Shalit deal would be involved in these things. A person spent years in
jail serving a sentence. It would be crazy (to return to terror),
because then he would return for a life sentence."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600572
IDF scales back West Bank operation against Hamas, shifts focus to intelligence
Haaretz 24 June by Gili Cohen & Amos Harel -- The Israel Defense
Forces significantly scaled back its operations against Hamas in the
West Bank
on Tuesday and began removing temporary checkpoints set up
inside Hebron. However, infantry units are continuing to scan large
swaths of territory northwest of Hebron in an effort to find the
kidnapped teens and their abductors. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said
that "A large part of the operation against Hamas has been exhausted."
Twelve days after the kidnapping of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and
Eyal Yifrah from a hitchhiking spot in Gush Etzion, the main focus of
Operation Brother's Keeper is now shifting to intelligence gathering and
searches ... The defense establishment is troubled by the increase in
the number of Palestinian casualties and the possibility that the
confrontations will spill over into the month of Ramadan, which starts
in less than a week. It seems most of the Hamas activists on the lists
prepared by the IDF and Shin Bet security service for arrest have
already been taken in.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600940
Gaza under dual blockade
Two Gazans wounded in new wave of Israeli airstrikes
GAZA (PIC) 25 June -- Two Palestinian young men
on Tuesday evening
suffered shrapnel injuries in a renewed spate of Israeli aerial attacks
on the Gaza Strip. A medical source in Gaza told the Palestinian
information center (PIC) that two young men working for the naval police
suffered moderate wounds in different areas of their bodies in an
Israeli air raid in
Al-Nuseirat district. The air raid in
Nuseirat district caused considerable damage to a municipal park and a
naval police headquarters located in a beach area. Israeli warplanes
also bombed a resistance site belonging to Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic
Jihad as well as a cultivated land belonging to Al-Masri family in
Beit Lahia
district, north of Gaza. Another airstrike targeted an abandoned farm
in Al-Manara neighborhood to the southeast of Ma‘an area in
Khan Younis.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/
Israeli warplanes strike 5 Gaza targets
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 25 June -- Israeli warplanes struck multiple targets
across the Gaza Strip late
Tuesday, with no injuries reported. Israel's
army said it targeted "5 concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza,
one terror activity site in central Gaza, and a weapon manufacturing
facility in southern Gaza" in response to rocket fire. Earlier, five
rockets were fired from Gaza, Israel's military said, with two
intercepted, two falling in Gaza and one landing in an open area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707589
Explosion kills Palestian girl in Beit Lahiya
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 June -- A young [3-year-old?] Palestinian girl
died and three family members suffered injuries late
Tuesday in an
explosion in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. Ashraf
al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said four
people including two children arrived at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The two children were in critical condition. Residents in the area said
they believed the explosion was caused by a homemade rocket.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707588
Gaza power plant 'to shut down' as Qatar-donated fuel runs out
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June 11:18 -- The Gaza Strip's sole power plant is
expected to shut down
Tuesday after the last shipment of Qatar-donated
fuel runs out, Gaza's power authority said. Fathi Sheikh Khalil, the
deputy chairperson of Gaza's power authority, said that the plant would
run out of fuel
Tuesday. Gaza will then depend on 140 megawatts of
electricity from Israel and 20 megawatts from Egypt, only a third of the
electricity needed to power the Strip, Khalil said. He said the Gaza
power authority had contacted the newly-formed national consensus
government seeking a solution to the power crisis, but that nothing had
been done so far. Qatar had in March agreed to continue to donate money
to fuel Gaza's power plant for three months.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707338
250,000 liters of fuel to be sent to Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June 23:53 -- An agreement has been reached to
import 250,000 liters of synthetic diesel for the Gaza power generation
station, the deputy head of the energy authority in Gaza said
Tuesday.
Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told Ma‘an that the fuel, to be delivered
Wednesday, aims to continue the supply of electricity for eight hours
daily. He added that this amount is enough for one day, explaining that
there are other suggestions to reduce the taxes on diesel in place.
Khalil had earlier said that donated Qatari fuel would run out on
Tuesday, and that the power generation would stop if an alternative was
not found.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707578
Severe shortage in medicines, medical equipment in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June -- The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza
says a serious crisis is expected to affect the health sector in the
coastal enclave as many types of medicines and medical equipment have
run out and other types are running out. Ashraf al-Qidra said in a
statement
Tuesday that 122 types of basic medicines completely ran out
and 91 types would run out in a few weeks. Furthermore, 471 types of
medical equipment and disposables have run out completely and some 85
types will run out in a few weeks, added al-Qidra. He highlighted that
Gaza fuel crisis has affected hospitals and medical centers. During
daily power cuts, Gaza hospitals use diesel-run generators to produce
electricity. Gaza public hospitals, says al-Qidra, consume 8,000 liters
of diesel a day and they now have only 20 percent of the average
reserve. In addition, ambulances and other vehicles of the ministry
consume about 22,000 liters of diesel and 12,000 liters of gasoline a
month. Under these conditions, he added that fuel reserves will run out
in a few days. As a result, the ministry of health decided to cancel
surgical operations which are not urgent and to reduce about 50 percent
of ambulance travel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707405
Gaza employees go on strike Thursday
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 June -- Workers in the former Gaza government will
have a full strike in all government institutions in protest of being
left out of the unity agreement, the director of the civil service
workers union in Gaza said. Mohammad Siyam said all the doors of the
government’s institutions and offices will be closed as an escalation in
response to Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, which did not address the former
employees or the electricity issue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707552
Israeli naval boats open fire on Palestinian fishermen offshore Gaza
GAZA (WAFA) 24 June -- Israeli naval boats opened fire
Tuesday on
Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of As-Sudaniya to the northwest
of Gaza, according to WAFA correspondent. Israeli naval boats opened
gunfire on several Palestinian fishing boats fishing within the six
nautical miles allowed fishing zone, forcing fishermen to return to the
shore. No injuries were reported among them.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=25598
Witnesses: Israel military vehicles enter Gaza neighborhood
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 June -- Israeli military vehicles entered a
neighborhood in eastern Gaza City
on Monday, witnesses told Ma‘an.
Locals said soldiers in the vehicles scanned land belonging to residents
in the al-Shajaiya neighborhood and "fired shots," without causing
injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707079
Palestinian refugees in Syria
Palestinians unable to return to Syria camp despite truce
DAMASCUS (AFP) 23 June - Convinced they would be able to return to
Yarmuk in southern Damascus after a truce and ceasefire, Palestinians
went to the embattled camp's entrance
Monday but their wait was in vain.
"I heard about the deal so I bought food because I thought I could go
home, but (the regime forces) did not let me go because armed men still
haven't left," said a 30-year-old woman clutching a bowl of eggs. Forces
loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been laying siege to Yarmuk
since last year. Yarmuk is now devastated, and only around 40,000 people
remain of the 150,000 Palestinian and Syrian people who lived at the
camp before the conflict erupted in March 2011.
On Saturday evening, an
agreement was struck under which rebel fighters were to vacate the camp,
according to Anwar Abdel Hadi, political director of the Palestine
Liberation Organisation in Syria. "The armed men will pull out of the
camp, checkpoints will be dismantled and rubble removed. Repairs will be
made before people are to return," said Abdel Hadi. But even though the
guns had fallen silent
on Monday, it was clear that the agreement had
never taken effect a day after it was supposed to.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-unable-return-syria-camp-despite-truce-222139647.html
In Pictures: Life and death in Yarmouk
Middle East Eye 24 June by Laila Benallal -- "We want our freedom
back"; "We want these crimes against us to stop"; "I haven't seen my
parents in more than a year, I don't have any idea where they are or if
they are still alive"; "We are going from place to place, from camp to
camp; this is a second
Nakba! (catastrophe)"; "We want to get out
of this cage." These were the type of harrowing accounts of life in the
Yarmouk camp heard by photographer Laila Benallal during a visit there
before
this week's ceasefire.
About 18,000 Palestinians have been besieged in the camp since last
July, with starvation claiming an estimated 100 lives ... Laila was
there with a group of volunteers from several European countries to
witness first-hand the immense suffering of the Yarmouk residents and
how vital the support of two European NGOS, Help Syria Through the
Winter and Al Wafaa Campaign, has been to the camp.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pictures-life-and-death-yarmouk/1135611274
Other news
Mashaal: We cannot deny or confirm the kidnapping of settlers
GAZA (PIC) 24 June -- Head of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Mashaal
stated that his Movement has no clear information about the
disappearance of the three Israeli soldiers 10 days ago, refusing to
confirm nor deny responsibility for their kidnapping. "Blessed are the
hands of those who have kidnapped the three settlers because our
prisoners have to be freed from the occupation's jails," Mashaal stated
in televised remarks to Al-Jazeera satellite channel
on Monday evening.
Mashaal ruled out that the kidnap incident is an Israeli fabrication
aimed at justifying the escalation of its violations and crimes against
the Palestinian people, stressing that Israeli premier Benjamin
Netanyahu does not need pretexts for his aggression against the
Palestinians. He said that the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and
Jerusalem are armed and unlawful combatants violating the international
through living in occupied lands and committing daily attacks and crimes
against the Palestinian civilians and their property. Mashaal also
denied Israeli claims that he had given Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas the
green light to carry out the kidnap operation during his last speech,
affirming that Hamas is a large Movement and every one of its members
knows his job well and how to accomplish his duties.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel: Policeman killed in April shot by freed Shalit deal prisoner
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 June -- Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency said
Monday that it had identified two Palestinians responsible for the
April shooting that killed an Israeli policeman and injured two others,
Israeli media reported. Israeli forces arrested Ziad Awad, 42, and his
18-year-old son, on May 7 and they were charged in a military court on
Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said early Monday that he ordered Awad's family home
demolished, the Israeli news site Ynet
reported.
Ziad is a former prisoner who was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit
deal. Israeli police officer Baruch Mizrahi was shot dead while he was
driving near Hebron in the southern West Bank on April 14. His wife and
son were also injured in the shooting.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707125
Charging of released Hamas activist ups heat on PM
Haaretz 24 June by Amos Harel -- The revelation that a prisoner
released in the Shalit deal murdered police officer Baruch Mizrahi helps
the right-wing pressure Netanyahu to be tough with the Palestinians ...
The right’s argument goes like this: Netanyahu released terrorists
responsible for the murders of hundreds of Israelis, knowing that many
of them would return to terrorist activity. Mizrahi, who was murdered
while driving with his family to a Passover seder in the West Bank
settlement of Kiryat Arba, is just the first victim of this rash
decision. There will be more in the future. Therefore, the prime
minister must not display any further weakness toward the Palestinians.
Thus the demand for harsh decisions made previously: the refusal to
release the Israeli Arab prisoners in the final stage of U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry’s recent peace initiative, the bill sponsored by
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and MK Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi)
to ban pardons for terrorist killers and the force-feeding bill meant
to be applied to the hunger-striking security detainees.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600776
Bedouin trackers hunting for clues to kidnapped boys
BEIT KAHIL, West Bank (NY Times) 23 June by Jodi Rudoren -- Maj.
Mohammed Mazarib of the Israel Defense Forces ducked into an old stone
hut on a hillside above a riverbed here Monday afternoon, quickly
determining that footprints inside belonged to soldiers who had beat him
there. He nonetheless drew his rifle and shone its spotlight into a
hole on the far side of the hut, then grabbed a stick to poke around.
Nothing but animal droppings -- a wolf, he decided. More than a hundred
years ago, the cave within a cave was probably used as a cool spot to
store food. Now it was one of hundreds of holes Major Mazarib and his
men checked and rechecked for any trace of the
three Israeli teenagers kidnapped on June 12
from a hitchhiking post about 15 miles away. “In every corner and in
every room and tunnel that I go into, I see them in front of my eyes,”
Major Mazarib, 37, commander of the southern West Bank’s specialized
tracking unit, said in Hebrew. “As long as there are three missing,
we’re going to keep going.”Major Mazarib and his 50 trackers, all
Bedouin citizens who serve voluntarily in the Israeli military, were
among perhaps 1,000 troops who converged Monday around the village of
Beit Kahil
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/world/middleeast/bedouin-trackers-hunting-for-clues-to-kidnapped-boys.html
IDF building suppressive fire posts along the Syria border
Ynet 24 June by Yoav Zitun -- After numerous instances of fire
spillover from Syria, the most recent of which ended with the death of a
13-year-old boy, the IDF is building "assault stations" in the Golan
Heights - suppressive fire posts along the border with Syria that would
offer quick response to any attack against Israel ... Similar posts have
already been built along the Gaza border to coordinate between
different military elements in case of an attack against IDF troops. The
coordination between the division, the Air Force and others elements
allows for a relatively quick response to suppress the attackers.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4533914,00.html
West Bank refugee children tell Governor Deval Patrick: 'Don't be a partner with Israel in killing us'
Mondoweiss 23 June by Nancy Murray -- When he learned from
Massachusetts residents with West Bank ties that Governor Deval Patrick
was leading
a large trade delegation
to Israel last month with water as a key focus, 15-year-old Ahmad had a
message for the Governor. “I don’t know what kind of work you are
doing with Israel over water but I’ll tell you that you are supporting
the occupation and violating human rights. Do you know that Israel
steals most of the water and leaves almost nothing for us? Do you know
that we don’t have enough water to take showers in the summer, to clean
the house, to clean our clothes, and sometimes we don’t have enough
water or clean water to drink because Israel doesn’t care about us. “We
are not asking you to help us with water but at least don’t be a partner
with Israel in killing us. Maybe you should come to visit us while you
are in Israel to see for yourself.” Ahmad, whose full name is being
withheld from this post for fear of retaliation by the Israeli army, is
one of several Palestinian refugee children who have written to Governor
Deval Patrick describing the struggles of their families to get
sufficient water to meet their basic needs. Those letters are being
delivered to the Governor by members of the Boston Alliance for Water
Justice
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/children-governor-partner.html
Reports
Report: Growing up between Israeli settlements and soldiers
Ramallah (Defence for Children International Palestine) 19 June --
A
new report published by DCI-Palestine brings to light the devastating
impact on Palestinian children of growing up near increasingly violent
Israeli settlements and Israeli military outposts. The report,
Growing Up between Israeli Settlements and Soldiers,
details the experiences of children and their families living in
villages and towns hemmed in by expanding and often violent settler
communities. It finds that attacks on schools, assaults on individual
homes, and the physical abuse of children are occurring throughout the
West Bank as a result of close proximity to settlements and military
outposts ... Stationed throughout the West Bank, Israeli soldiers,
police and private security firms protect settler populations at the
expense of Palestinian civilians. Unlike Israeli civilians living across
the Green Line, Israel’s pre-1967 boundary with the West Bank, many
settlers carry government-issued arms. In this hyper-militarized
environment, disproportionate physical and psychological violence is
inflicted on Palestinian children. In the small village of
Sinjil
to the north of Ramallah, seven-year-old Eman’s family continues to
suffer from the devastating effects of an attack by Israeli settlers
from the nearby settlement of Shilo, who set fire to the family home in
the middle of the night. While near the
Ahiya outpost,
five-year-old Farah was beaten with a rock during an hour-long settler
attack on his family home. In the divided city of Hebron, settlers
grabbed seven-year-old Marwa as she walked home from school, held her
down and set her hair on fire. Sadly, they are not alone: other children
face similar trauma. Schools such as the Urif Secondary School near the
Yitzhar settlement and the UNRWA school near the settlement of
Beit El experience
regular attacks from soldiers who fire rubber-coated metal bullets and
tear gas canisters into their schoolyards. These anecdotes of settler
and military violence across the West Bank in recent years serve as a
window into the innumerable injustices Palestinian children face. Recent
statistics by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs estimated that more than 2,100 settler attacks have
occurred since 2006, 399 of which took place in 2013 alone ...
DCI-Palestine estimates that the Israeli military has detained over
8,000 children
since 2000. Since 2008, there have been at least 170 Palestinian
children in Israeli detention at any given time. Almost more alarming
than the fact that 1,405 Palestinian children have been killed by
Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2000 is the climate of impunity that
makes such violence possible.
http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/report-growing-between-israeli-settlements-and-soldiers-0
--
Jordan
was said to be pressing the bill to be stronger, saying “deploring” the
deaths wasn’t enough, while the United States insisted that the bill
could deplore the deaths in general, but not mention that they were
caused by Israeli troops, nor indeed mention Israel at all.
