Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

PHOTO: Settlers build Star of David on Palestinian land

+972 mag 28 Feb by Mairav Zonszein — Settlers built a Star of David made out of rocks on private Palestinian lands in the village of Shweika in the South Hebron Hills on Saturday. The settlers, who live in the illegal outpost Eshtamoa near the village, built the Star of David in order to obstruct Palestinian residents’ sheep from grazing, and as a crude way of marking territory. The army prohibits Israelis from entering the valley below the outpost since it is recognized as private Palestinian land. Therefore, the fact that they were able to build this giant Star of David indicates that the IDF is clearly not enforcing the order. Last year, settlers from this outpost badly assaulted a Israeli Ta’ayush activist in this same spot.

http://972mag.com/photo-settlers-build-star-of-david-on-palestinian-land/103466/

Israeli soldiers arrest two shepherds, activists in Hebron

HEBRON (WAFA) 1 Mar — Israeli police arrested two Palestinian shepherds as they grazed their flock in the valley of Umm Zeitouna near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on in Hebron late Sunday. According to Operation Dove, in late morning the security chief of Ma’on settlement and Israeli soldiers arrived in Umm Zeitouna valley where the shepherds, accompanied by international volunteers, were grazing their flock on land which Israeli settlers from Ma’on are attempting to annex. Minutes later the Israeli police arrived and immediately detained two shepherds and two international volunteers. At around 12pm Israeli police arrested the two shepherds and took them to Kyriat Arba police station. The volunteers were released, but the shepherds were released at about 3pm, after paying a fine of 500 NIS each. Residents of the South Hebron Hills experience continual harassment from settlers in nearby settlements and outposts, but remain steadfast in their commitment to nonviolent resistance. Each day that they graze their sheep in contested areas, the shepherds continue to resist settler attempts to drive them from their lands. International volunteers have witnessed shepherds chased from Umm Zeitouna six times since the start of the year (in five of these occasions the Israeli army came after a settler’s call). The arrest followed a nonviolent action that morning during which residents successfully repaired the road which links At-Tuwani village to Yatta.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27981

Israel orders Palestinian family to evacuate Sheikh Jarrah house

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 1 Mar – Israeli authorities on Sunday ordered 83-year-old Palestinian grandfather Ayyub Shamasnah and his family to voluntarily evacuate their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before next Sunday in compliance with a final supreme court decision. Shamasnah lives with his wife, 75, children and grandchildren in a two-room, 65-square-meter house targeted by Jewish settlers who have already evicted several Palestinian families. The family moved to Sheikh Jarrah after they were displaced from Qatanna village in northwest Jerusalem during the creation of Israel in 1948. They initially paid rent to Jordanian authorities, who were responsible for East Jerusalem until 1967 when Israel occupied the city. Since 1968, the family has paid rent to Israeli authorities as protected leaseholders. In 2011, the Israeli government’s Custodian for Absentee Property started legal proceedings to evict the Shamasnah family, claiming their rental contract expired in 2008. In May 2013, an Israeli court postponed the eviction until further discussions. The court suggested during a hearing in May that the family could remain in the property until the elderly parents die, but settlers who are targeting the property once the family is evicted refused the proposal, according to the owner’s son Muhammad….

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759683

Israel to demolish homes of dozens of Bedouins in Abu Dis

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 28 Feb — Dozens of Palestinian Bedouins from the al-Jahalin community in eastern Abu Dis have received orders from Israeli forces to demolish their homes themselves. The steel structures in which the community lives were put up near the Khillet al-Raheb area on which the Gateway to Jerusalem protest camp has been continually re-erected by activists in recent weeks. The Gateway to Jerusalem was set up in protest to Israeli plans to displace Bedouin families from their dwellings in the corridor known as E1, between Jerusalem and Jericho. Daoud al-Jahalin, the secretary-general of the Fatah movement for Bedouins of the al-Jahalin community, said that their homes are expected to be demolished soon, as Israeli bulldozers have been razing lands in the nearby Gateway to Jerusalem camp for several days … The secretary-general emphasized that the Israeli side aims to empty the Palestinian desert of all its inhabitants in order to use the land for military purposes and to build settlements. This includes 22 Bedouin communities living on 62 percent of the West Bank’s areas of Jerusalem, Jericho, Anata, al-Eizariya, and Abu Dis al-Sawahreh, extending to the Dead Sea.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759665

Israel closes major Nablus checkpoint

NABLUS (WAFA) 28 Feb — Israeli forces Saturday closed the major Huwwara checkpoint, located at the southern entrance of Nablus, in both directions for hours, causing major delays for hundreds of Palestinian commuters, according to an official. Member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation organization (PLO) Taysir Khaled, who was present at the scene, described this Israeli army’s behavior as ‘sadistic’. He added that such behavior is not witnessed anywhere else in the world and that Israeli forces practice the ugliest kind of sadism against the Palestinian people, while expressing delight in torturing and humiliating another nation. He said that these Israeli practices cannot be tolerated and that they foreshadow a future blow to the situation if continued. B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, said in a report, “Israel’s restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank are enforced by a system of fixed checkpoints, surprise flying checkpoints, physical obstructions, roads on which Palestinians are forbidden to travel, and gates along the Separation Barrier. The restrictions enable Israel to control Palestinian movement throughout the West Bank as suits its interests, in a sweeping breach of Palestinians’ rights.” It said that, “Prolonged checks and searches at some of the checkpoints, humiliating treatment by soldiers, and long lines deter Palestinian drivers from using some of the roads still open to their use. As a result, Palestinian movement on some of the main roads in the West Bank has decreased, and these roads are used almost exclusively by settlers.” B’Tselem said that in February 2014 there were 99 fixed checkpoints in the West Bank: 59 are internal checkpoints, located well within the West Bank.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27977

Palestinian tanneries at risk of closure

Middle East Monitor 28 Feb — EXCLUSIVE IMAGES — In the years before the establishment of the State of Israel, caravans and traders from neighbouring Arab states crossed open borders bringing hides from Damascus, Beirut and Cairo that fed the work of Palestine’s tanneries alongside local materials. Today, the few Palestinian tanneries that survive in the industrial hub of Hebron stand at the risk of closure due to an assortment of Israeli restrictions. 13 tanneries remain open in Hebron today, whilst the northern West Bank also accommodates a small number of surviving workshops. The Hebron tanneries are all run by the Zatari family who have led the local leather production industry since it began, and stand huddled together in one area of the city’s sprawling industrial zone. Until the Second Intifada, tanneries in the West Bank received regular supplies of raw hides from Gaza. That supply route was then banned by Israel and the international import of raw hides to Palestine is also banned by Israel. This leaves the tanneries with access only to local raw hides which themselves are insufficient to meet demand. In 1998, USAID financed a chromium removal and recycling plant alongside the tanneries which aimed to ensure the survival of the industry through safe environmental practices. In 2005, Israel banned sulphuric acid – an essential chemical in the running of the plant – from entering the West Bank as a ‘security threat’. Without access to sulphuric acid the recycling plant was forced to close down. Last year, Friends of the Earth Middle East announced that Israel was changing these policies as one of a range of gestures aimed at prolonging negotiations between Israel and the PA. Despite this claim, Hebron’s tanneries say they Israel is still denying them access to sulphuric acid and other essential chemicals.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17246-palestinian-tanneries-at-risk-of-closure

Violence / Raids / Clashes / Suppression of protests / Arrests

Four Palestinians and one female German demonstrator shot with live ammunition at Open Shuhada Street protest

HEBRON, Occupied Palestine (ISM, Khalil Team) 28 Feb — On February 27 in occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli forces fired live ammunition towards nonviolent protesters participating in the annual Open Shuhada Street demonstration, injuring five including four Palestinian activists, one of them 17 years old, and one German citizen. More were also injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades as soldiers and Border Police blocked the roads leading towards Shuhada Street and attacked the protesters. Close to a thousand Palestinians, accompanied by Israeli and international supporters, marched towards one of the closed entrances to Shuhada Street carrying flags and signs and chanting. They called for the opening of Shuhada Street, whose closure to Palestinians has become a symbol of Israel’s Apartheid system, and for an end to the occupation. The march was turned back by stun grenades, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition fired by the Israeli military. Around twenty demonstrators were injured in total; Hebron Hospital reported that at least six were admitted and two required surgery. One Palestinian activist, Hijazi Ebedo, 25, was arrested at the demonstration; all he had been doing was chanting and holding a sign … Julia, the injured 22-year-old German activist from Berlin, was evacuated to Hebron Hospital where she is being treated for a live gunshot wound which entered and exited her leg. “The brutality of Israeli forces is unbelievable, it seems like they don’t have a limit,” she stated. “In Palestine I have seen Israeli forces shooting tear gas, stun grenades, rubber and live ammunition at any kind of demonstration that is against the occupation. It doesn’t matter for them if it is peaceful or if there are kids attending … They shot me as I was standing and filming. It seems the soldiers just shoot at anyone.”

http://palsolidarity.org/2015/02/four-palestinians-and-one-female-german-demonstrator-shot-with-live-ammunition-at-open-shuhada-street-protest/

PHOTOS: Pepper spray and arrests as Bil‘in marks decade of struggle [and protesters call for opening Shuhada Street]

+972mag 28 Feb by Haggai Matar, Photos by Yotam Ronen, Shiraz Grinbaum, Miki Kratsman / Activestills.org — Nearly 1,000 protesters — Palestinians, Israelis and internationals — marched to celebrate 10 years of popular struggle in the West Bank village Bil‘in. Soldiers responded with tear gas, pepper spray and arrests. One Palestinian was badly wounded. Meanwhile, activists marked 21 years since the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, and called to open Shuhada Street to Palestinians.

http://972mag.com/photos-pepper-spray-and-arrests-as-bilin-marks-decade-of-struggle/103430/

‘A consciousness free of occupation’ — Bil‘in marks 10 years of popular struggle

972mag 26 Feb by Haggai Matar — The village that managed to unite the world behind the spirit of nonviolent Palestinian protest marks not only a decade of tear gas, night raids and tragedy, but also of co-resistance and victories in its struggle against settlements, the separation barrier and the occupation — Anyone who has visited the West Bank village of Bil‘in on a recent Friday might think, just for a second, that they were back in 2005. At first glance, it seems like nothing has changed since the days of the first protests, which began 10 years ago this month … But in reality, much has changed in Bil‘in. Over the course of the past 10 years, hundreds of protesters have been to the village. The Israeli Defense Ministry cleared olive trees from entire tracts of land and erected the separation barrier. A petition the villagers filed in Israel’s High Court of Justice succeeded in moving the fence — and to some degree, the soldiers. Only recently did they return to the previous route of the fence — the same one the court ruled against. Hundreds have been wounded, two protesters were killed, hundreds have been arrested and imprisoned for years at a time. Over the past 10 years the struggle has seen ups and downs. Its biggest achievement was winning back hundreds of dunams of agricultural land, a victory which made Bil’in a symbol of popular resistance to the separation fence, settlements, and military rule in the Occupied Territories across the world. A film made by one of the villagers was nominated for an Oscar. Former presidents and prime ministers from far away lands journeyed to the village. Deep friendships developed among the activists. Those who were small children at the start of the struggle are now among its leaders. But something else happened, too. “The most important thing that changed is the culture of the people of Bil’in, says Abdullah Abu Rahmah, an activist in the village’s Popular Struggle Committee, which organizes the protests. “Over the years we have managed to free our minds from the occupation. The Israeli occupation is not just soldiers standing on our land, it is the control of our thoughts, it is the fear that every Palestinian has when staring down the occupation. And we have overcome that, the fear of the soldiers, of police, the Shin Bet, the courts — we express ourselves freely and act to realize our rights. In Bil‘in, we are educating the next generation not to be afraid.”….

http://972mag.com/a-consciouness-free-of-occupation-bilin-marks-10-years-of-popular-struggle/103266/

Bil‘in marks ten years of popular resistance

Mondoweiss 1 Mar by Allison Deger — Bil‘in’s Friday demonstrations started in 2005 when Israeli soldiers arrived to construct the separation wall at the edge of the town. The army wanted to build a cement barrier between a then uninhabited settlement neighborhood in Modi’in Illit and Bil‘in. “Everybody from the village, we went to stop the bulldozer from cutting olive trees,” said Hamde Abu Rahme, 27, the celebrated photojournalist from Bil‘in who documents the weekly protests. “At this time I was only 17 years old. And we tried our best to stop this.” Within the year left-leaning Israeli activists from the group Anarchists Against the Wall joined the Friday demonstrations. Two years later a dozen of other villages facing land confiscations started their own weekly marches. Yet it was Bil‘in that became the symbol for Palestinian non-violent resistance, a term that is debated because often the marches end in stonethrowing from the town’s youth. Bil‘in is also recognized for creativity and costume. Villagers have come out in Santa Claus suits and blue alien garb and body paint modeled off of the movie Avatar. Once protestors even had an Israeli dress as Mahatma Gandhi and a Palestinian as Martin Luther King Jr. The press images of unarmed renowned peacemakers and cinema characters fleeing from the Middle East’s strongest army and its gun fire were so compelling that it catapulted Bil‘in to become the West Bank’s real-life David and Goliath tale. What is now referred to as the Palestinian non-violent movement was born. Bil‘in suffered losses over the decade of dissidence. Regularly the army tear gassed and shot live fire into the crowds at the Friday protests. Two of Abu Rahme’s cousins were killed during such clashes … And Bil‘in lost land. By the time Israel’s army completed construction of the separation wall in 2008, around 2,000 dunums of Bil‘in’s farmland was trapped behind the Israeli side of the barrier. Then in 2010 Israel’s high court intervened after a leading Israeli human rights law firm, Yesh Din, filed a petition. The jurists ruled that the path of the wall must be re-routed because it was built on privately owned Palestinian land. Still the new route took more than 650 dunums. Bil‘in’s legal victory is widely seen by Palestinians as a win for popular resistance against settlement encroachment on Palestinian territory. And the protests continued. Bil‘in villagers want to get the rest of their land back that the settlers usurped….

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/03/bilin-popular-resistance

Israeli forces shoot, injure 2 young men in Duheisha camp

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Mar – Israeli troops shot and injured two young Palestinian men on Sunday morning in Duheisha refugee camp south of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. Locals told Ma‘an that clashes broke out early in the morning between young Palestinian men and Israeli soldiers who raided the refugee camp at dawn to detain a young man from his house. The victims were evacuated to Bethlehem district’s public hospital in Beit Jala. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an as forces entered the camp, young Palestinians threw a grenade at soldiers who responded with live fire at the lower extremities with .22 caliber rounds. One hit and slight injury was confirmed. Before they left the camp, Israeli troops detained 26-year-old Bilal al-Sayfi and took him to an unknown destination.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759676

3 injured during clashes near Ramallah

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 28 Feb — Three Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets while dozens of others suffered from tear-gas inhalation during clashing near the Attara checkpoint north of Ramallah on Saturday. Clashes erupted with Israeli soldiers as dozens of Palestinian youths headed toward the checkpoint. Israeli forces opened live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear-gas grenades and stun grenades to disperse youths while they responded with rocks.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759675

Israeli army storms village, provokes confrontations

BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 1 Mar – Dozens of Palestinians suffocated by teargas inhalation during confrontations with the Israeli army, which broke into the village of al-Khader near Bethlehem, according to local sources. Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Anti-Settlement Committee in the village, said an Israeli army force broke into the village in the afternoon hours, provoking confrontations with local residents. He said Israeli soldiers opened live fire towards the protesters, yet there were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, there were multiple cases of suffocation by teargas inhalation, as soldiers fired teargas canisters. In the meantime, army broke into a medical clinic in the nearby village of Wadi Fukin, checking the identity cards of medical staff and searching the clinic. No arrests were reported in both villages.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27985

West Bank: 3 kidnapped, 2 summoned for interrogation

IMEMC/Agencies 1 Mar — Israeli forces, Saturday, abducted three Palestinians, including a head of a village council, as well as summoned two others for interrogation, according to reports by security sources. According to WAFA, Israeli forces stationed at a checkpoint to the west of al-Jab‘a village, southwest of Bethlehem, detained two Palestinians while they were tending their farmland. The detainees were identified as Head of the Village Council Nu‘man, 50, and ‘Ikrima Hamdan … Forces also raided al-‘Ubeidiya town, to the east of the city, where they summoned two Palestinians for interrogation. Salamah Shanayta, age 26, and Walid Hasasna, 22, were served with notices ordering them to appear before Israeli intelligence in the military base of Gush Etzion. Meanwhile, in Hebron, soldiers took 19-year-old Imad al-Rajabi near the Ibrahimi mosque in the Old City.

http://www.imemc.org/article/70752

A chance to see what a raid looks like to the raiders

Inside the conflict: One night with elite troops in West Bank

[with video] Ynet 28 Feb — Ron Ben-Yishai joins IDF combat soldiers from Duvdevan during an operation in Qalandia refugee camp, encounters the conflict first hand, and comes to an discomforting conclusion.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4631820,00.html

US consul general slams settlers’ attacks on holy sites as hate crimes

JERUSALEM (WAFA) 28 Feb — The United States slammed settlers’ arson attacks against a church in Jerusalem and a mosque in Bethlehem as ‘hate crimes’ and encouraged local authorities to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice. Last Week, Israeli settlers set fire to the Greek Orthodox Church monastery of Sion in Jerusalem as well as torched a mosque in Jab‘a village, in Bethlehem. “We stand with all those, including the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, in strongly condemning these crimes of hate,” stressed a statement by U.S. Consul General Michael Ratney. Following a visit to the torched sites, Ratney said that both [sites] had been torched and vandalized in apparent ‘price tag’ attacks. “Make no mistake, any attack against holy and religious sites is an attack on the very idea of Jerusalem and Bethlehem as sacred places shared among the three great Abrahamic faiths, he said.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27976

EU missions urge investigation into settlers’ attacks on mosques, church

JERUSALEM (WAFA) 28 Feb — The EU Missions in Ramallah and Jerusalem urged to launch an investigation into setters’ arson attacks against a mosque in Bethlehem and a church in Jerusalem. The EU missions, in a statement, condemned that attack and ‘desecration of Al-Huda Mosque in the village of Al-Jaba’a near Bethlehem in the West Bank on 25th February, as well as the arson attack and desecration of the Greek Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem that took place on 26th February.’ “Religiously-motivated hate-crimes and provocations by any party carry the potential to further inflame an already fragile and volatile environment,“ stated the statement. The EU Heads of Mission urged for a timely and thorough investigation for both crimes, as well as bringing the perpetrators to justice.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27975

Prisoners / Courts

Report: PA Prison Authority foresees uprising in the next month

IMEMC/Agencies 1 Mar — The Department of Prisoner’s Affairs with the Palestinian Authority recently issued a report regarding the 17 Israeli jails housing some 7,000 Palestinian prisoners. Sources within the organization have predicted uprisings and a series of protests over the next month, due to the very poor living conditions reported there. Data from the prisoners themselves reveal a possible hunger strike in the next few weeks. Prisoners and humanitarian aid workers have compiled a list of steps required in order to contain an escalating feeling of discontent among detainees: … The report, according to the PNN, continues by highlighting the difficulty to manage an increasing situation of dissatisfaction and anger among prisoners. The Palestinian Authority said that the illegitimate movement of prisoners is the key factor of the increasing anger and acts of rebellion among prisoners, used as a double weapon by Israeli reports on detainees’ behavior. Since 2014 to date, convicts have seen more than 400 raids and abuse of force by the Israeli police within the prison system: the wrecking of rooms, incursions and searches made with police dogs, assaults on detainees and the confiscation and damage of their belongings. The value of the fines imposed on prisoners has reached, during the period mentioned, to more than a million and a half shekels, as individual and collective punishments are deducted from the prisoners’ personal accounts. This period has seen a big increase in the number of arrests, where the number of detainees augmented from 4,000 to 7,000 arrests since June of 2014, including mass arrests among children….

http://www.imemc.org/article/70751

WATCH: From Ofer prison to the Knesset?

Activestills Video by Oren Ziv [in English]– Attorney Gaby Lasky spends her days fighting the occupation in Israel’s military courts. Now she is fighting to make it into the next Knesset with the left-wing Meretz party. An elections special — For Palestinians in the West Bank, Ofer Military Court has come to be known as a symbol of the banality and injustice that lies at the heart of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. For Attorney Gaby Lasky, however, Ofer is where much of her day-to-day work takes place. Lasky — a human rights attorney who previously served as the General Director of Peace Now, a current Tel Aviv council member and number seven on the left-wing Meretz party’s list for the upcoming elections — has spent much of the last decade defending Palestinian who lead the popular struggle against the occupation and the separation barrier in the West Bank, as well as the Israeli Jews who join them.

http://972mag.com/the-israeli-lawyer-fighting-the-occupation-in-court/103388/

Israeli court approves administrative detention of eight prisoners

RAMALLAH (WAFA) 1 Mar – Israeli Ofer military court approved the administrative detention order against eight Palestinian prisoners, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC) in a statement on Sunday. PPC said that the court approved the administrative detention against four prisoners for a period of six months. The prisoners who received a six month imprisonment sentence without charge or trial were identified as Rami Abu Shalaf, Sliman Battat, Mohammed Samaneh, and Mohammed Mimi. Meanwhile, two prisoners from Jenin received a detention period of three and two months. They were identified as Oday Istiti, and Abd al-Rahman Hindyeh, respectively. The remaining two prisoners, who were also from Jenin and identified as Mohammed Salatneh and Ali Kamil, received a detention period of four months.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27982

Gaza

1 killed, 1 injured as Israeli ordnance explodes in Rafah

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 28 Feb — A Palestinian was killed and another was injured when unexploded Israeli ordnance blew up in eastern Rafah on Saturday, medical sources said. Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma‘an that Naji Khalid Youssef Abu Sableh, 21, was killed and his brother Akram, 18, was injured as Israeli ordnance blew up in eastern Rafah. Al-Qidra said that Akram’s injuries were critical as he was hit in the face, chest and stomach.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759673

Navy opens fire on Gaza fishermen

IMEMC/Agencies 1 Mar — The Israeli navy, Saturday, again opened machine gun fire on Palestinian fishermen offshore the al-Sudaniya, to the northwest of Gaza. According to WAFA correspondents, Israeli naval boats indiscriminately opened heavy gunfire on fishermen sailing within the unilaterally-imposed six-nautical-miles fishing zone offshore al-Sudaniya, causing damages to at least one boat. No injuries were reported among the fishermen who fled the scene for fear of being injured, killed, or arrested … The current six-nautical-mile fishing zone falls drastically short of the twenty nautical miles allocated to Palestinian fishermen in the 1993 Oslo Accords.

http://www.imemc.org/article/70750

Islamic Jihad officials discuss Rafah closure in Egypt

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 1 Mar – A delegation of Islamic Jihad leaders met with Egyptian officials in Cairo Saturday to discuss the need for Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Headed by the group’s secretary-general Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, Islamic Jihad leaders stressed to authorities the Rafah closure has seriously restricted the movement of Gaza population … In a statement received by Ma‘’an, al-Nakhala added that priority in the meetings was given to the Rafah crossing and the reconstruction of the war-torn areas in the coastal enclave. The Egyptians, he said, took the Islamic Jihad’s suggestions very seriously. The secretary-general added that the group’s delegation would meet in Cairo with Hamas officials including Mousa Abu Marzouk to try to work out a binding agreement with the Egyptian leadership.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?id=759678

Group: Israelis arrest 2 Palestinians near Gaza border

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 28 Feb – Israeli troops arrested two young Palestinian men on Saturday morning near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, a prisoners rights group reported. The Association of Palestinian Prisoners and ex-Prisoners Hossam said Israeli sources claimed the two were planning to secretly enter one of the Israeli communities near the Gaza borders. According to the group, Israeli troops have arrested 26 Gaza men trying to enter Israel illegally to look for work since the beginning of 2015.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759674

DFLP marks 46th anniversary in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 1 Mar – The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Sunday commemorated its 46th anniversary organizing a rally in Gaza City joined by supporters and militants from the group’s military wing the National Resistance Brigades. The rally marched from the municipal park to the Unknown Soldier square in the center of Gaza City where speeches were delivered. “The crowds who partook in the rally took to the street so as to express anger at the delay in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, said senior DFLP leader Mahmoud Khalaf. He urged rival Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah to end the state of disagreement and enable the national consensus government to play its needed role in the coastal enclave

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759684

Egyptian court declares Hamas a ‘terrorist’ group

Al Jazeera 28 Feb — Palestinian organisation accused of aiding armed groups who have waged string of deadly attacks in Egypt’s Sinai region — An Egyptian court has branded Hamas a “terrorist” organisation, weeks after the Palestinian movement’s armed wing was given the same designation. A judicial source told AFP news agency that the court issued the verdict on Saturday, a ruling seen as keeping with a systematic crackdown on Islamist groups by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The verdict resulted from two separate private suits filed by two lawyers against the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri denounced the court ruling. “The Egyptian court decision…is shocking, critical and targets the Palestinian people and Palestinian resistance forces,” he said. Palestinians in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza held a demonstration on Saturday in protest of the Egyptian court’s decision. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent senior Palestinian official, told Al Jazeera that the verdict “is a very unwise decision” that carries political complications. “Hamas is part of the Palestinian national unity movement, and this decision is not useful,” Barghouti said … Armed groups in Sinai have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi’s overthrow, vowing revenge for a crackdown on his supporters that has left more than 1,400 people dead. Most of the attacks however have been claimed by the armed group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/egyptian-court-declares-hamas-terrorist-group-150228122454458.html

Gaza fears isolation as Egypt calls Hamas ‘terrorist’ group

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) 1 Mar by Fares Akram — Gaza residents said Sunday they fear growing isolation and more hardships after an Egyptian court declared the territory’s ruling Hamas a terrorist organization. Some blamed the Islamic militant Hamas while others said Egypt is being unreasonable. Hamas called for protests against the Egyptian government and issued angry statements, but did not offer a way out of the crisis. Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas spokesman, alleged Sunday that Egypt has become a “direct agent” of Israeli interests. Hamas urged Saudi Arabia to press Egypt to open the Gaza-Egypt border. Egypt’s president met Sunday with the new Saudi king. Saturday’s court ruling signaled Egypt’s growing hostility toward Hamas, an offshoot of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has blamed Hamas for violence in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula, a charge Hamas denies … In recent months, Egyptian soldiers have destroyed virtually all smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. In October, they began razing parts of the Egyptian town of Rafah on the border with Gaza. Residents near the border said homes are still being dynamited or bulldozed at a steady pace, with the latest explosion heard Sunday afternoon….

http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-fears-isolation-egypt-calls-hamas-terrorist-group-173221397.html

3 Israelis charged with smuggling materials meant to rebuild Gaza tunnels

Haaretz 2 Mar by Shirley Siedler & Gili Cohen — Three Israelis were arrested about a month ago on suspicion of smuggling illegal goods into Gaza, including metal and equipment apparently meant for tunnel construction, training and weapons manufacturing. Details of the three Israelis’ arrest were not cleared for publication by the courts until Monday. For the last three weeks, the Israel Police, along with the Shin Bet and the Israel Tax Authority have been conducting an investigation into the smuggling ring, culminating in indictments issued Monday. Police sources noted the significance of such charges against Israelis, including funding a terrorist group, communicating with the enemy, money laundering, and tax evasions totaling millions of shekels. According to suspicions, the three Israelis were part of a network that smuggled illegal goods into the Gaza Strip for the various terror organizations based there. The goods included large quantities of metal and metal pipes, meant for rebuilding underground tunnels that were destroyed during Operation Protective Edge last summer, as well as tunnel elevators apparently meant for transporting kidnapping victims … Raids uncovered large amounts of illegal materials, some of which was hidden among materials permitted for entry into Gaza. The Shin Bet cited one case in which raw materials used for building explosives were found hidden among humanitarian aid shipment meant for the Gaza Strip. The materials were found during inspection at the Kerem Shalom crossing … According to police sources, the suspects admitted during questioning that they knew the goods’ destination, their purpose, and that the transfer of such goods was illegal. Some of the suspects have expressed regret of their actions and are now cooperating with the investigation, and have claimed that they acted out of financial need. The police claim that the three suspects made millions of shekels … Investigators asked the suspects why three Jewish Israelis would transfer such goods meant for rebuilding terror tunnels, during an especially dangerous time in Israel-Gaza relations.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.644912

Qatari businessman to pay for 50 Gaza weddings every year

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 28 Feb — A Qatari businessman has pledged to cover marriage expenses for 50 Gaza young men every year indefinitely. Member of the Higher Council of Youth and Sports in the Gaza Strip Abd al-Salam Haniyeh, son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, told reporters Saturday that Ali al-Sadah, a businessman from Qatar, pledged to pay for 50 marriages in the coastal enclave every year. The generous donation, said Haniyeh, would be a serious relief for young men who have been suffering from dire economic conditions in Gaza since Israel imposed a crippling siege on Gaza about 8 years ago … The Hamas movement has organized mass weddings in the Gaza Strip several times using donations from Qatar and other donors. The move was meant to reduce wedding costs which have been on the rise in Palestine.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759669

Palestinian refugees in Iraq

Continually displaced, Palestinian refugees suffer in Iraq

Middle East Monitor 1 Mar by Sheren Khalel & Matthew Vickery — Khadra Ibrahim shakes her head at the mention of her current home – a cramped, but well-kept, refugee tent in Baharka Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, near Erbil in the north of Iraq. Ibrahim is the matriarch of one of the eighteen families of refugees at the IDP camp. Unlike the displaced Iraqi families at Baharka, this life isn’t temporary for the Palestinians, she says – this is just how life is for a Palestinian refugee. Ibrahim was born in Khan al-Sheikh Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. Over sixty years later, she sits with Middle East Monitor in the fourth tent she has had to take refuge in – and the second within the past year … Crossing a large muddied track in the centre of the camp, over stagnant wastewater accumulated from the rows of tents that line Baharka, Ibrahim and her husband, Ibrahim Al-Fahmawry, can be found, keeping watch for her lively grandchildren that use the camps erratic muddy pathways as playgrounds. Al-Fahmawry was just seven years old when his family fled from their home in Haifa in 1948. Al-Fahmawry never believed that the day he fled, would be the last time he would set foot on Palestinian soil – and that his life as a Palestinian refugee would continue indefinitely.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/17250-continually-displaced-palestinian-refugees-suffer-in-iraq

Other news, analysis

PCHR report on Israeli human rights violations in the oPt (19-25 February)

PCHR-Gaza 2 Mar — Israeli attacks in the West Bank & Gaza: Shootings: During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian in excessive use of force and wounded 10 others, including 3 children, in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli navy forces continued to chase and target Palestinian fishermen. Moreover, Israeli forces continued to open fire at border areas … Incursions: During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 43 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 41 Palestinians, including 10 children and 5 women. Twenty of these Palestinians, including 9 children and the 5 women, were arrested in Jerusalem … Settlement activities and attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and property: … On 25 February 2015, Israeli forces backed by Israeli Civil Administration and a digger moved into Khellet al-Sharabti, northeast of Hebron. The digger demolished a water well with a capacity of 300 cubic meters, while Israeli soldiers confiscated a caravan used as a room for a farm workers…[Full report]

http://www.imemc.org/article/70759

IDF holds surprise training drill in West Bank

Ynet 1 Mar by Yoav Zitun — The IDF’s central command called a massive surprise training exercise in the West Bank on Sunday. The drill was held to test reservists’ alertness and to prepare for the possibility of a possible escalation in the West Bank. The drill is the first in three years and takes place only two weeks after IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot took control of the army, replacing Benny Gantz, who completed his five-year term last month. The drill saw some 13,000 reservists received phone calls, of which 3,000 were actually called up for duty ahead of a full day of training operations Monday. The drill – which will see two large full scale training operations covering the entire Judea and Samaria (West Bank) region, and will involve armored, artillery and air forces. The army further said it would train for a possible kidnapping scenario, as well as practicing arrest raids … The drill came on the day that Palestinians said they would consider dissolving security cooperation with Israel over Israel’s recent suspension of tax revenue transfers, though there was no confirmation of any connection. Asked about the timing of the drill, a military spokeswoman said it was “not necessarily linked to anything specific”.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4632231,00.html

PHOTOS: Israel cuts off Palestinian power twice in one week

Activestills 28 Feb Photos and text by Ahmad Al-Bazz — At the height of a harsh winter season, the Israel Electric Company cut power to two major Palestinian cities in the West Bank twice over this past week. Nearly 650,000 people were left without power for an entire hour in the middle of the day in Jenin, Nablus and 18 villages in the area. The decision comes as a response the Palestinian Authority’s unpaid debt to the company, which totals some 1.9 billion shekels ($483 million). However, the Palestinian electricity company in the north of the West Bank claims that the numbers Israel provided are inflated, and that the decision to cut the power supply is strictly political, coming on the heels of the Israeli government’s decision to withhold the PA’s tax revenues. It is worth noting that according to the Oslo Accords and the Paris Protocols, the Palestinian Authority is required to buy its electricity from Israel … Adalah further noted fact that the CEO of the Israel Electric Company did not call to disconnect debtors in Israel due to difficult weather conditions, stating that “the reasonable conclusion is that disconnecting Palestinians from power was intended as collective punishment, which joins a list of steps taken against the Palestinian Authority in other realms.” On Thursday, the Israel Electric Corporation agreed to stop cutting power to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for the Israeli government’s promise to use some of the Palestinian tax revenues it has been withholding to partially offset the PA’s debt.

http://972mag.com/photos-israel-cuts-off-palestinian-power-twice-in-one-week/103478/

Palestinian activist: Boycott of Israeli products begins

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) 1 Mar by Mohammed Daraghmeh — Most West Bank shops no longer carry the products of six major Israeli food companies, as a boycott triggered by rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions is taking hold, a boycott leader said Sunday. Activists in the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the boycott plans last month, after Israel halted transfer of vital tax revenues to Abbas’ cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Israel took that step after the Palestinians joined the International Criminal Court to seek war crimes charges against Israel. Fatah activists had given shopkeepers until this weekend to remove the products, warning they would destroy what hadn’t been sold by then. Campaign leader Abdullah Kmail said Sunday that 80 percent of shops no longer carry the products. He said shopkeepers were given extra time to sell the remaining goods and that no products were seized. Palestinian activists tried before to get consumers to shun Israeli products, with little success. The current campaign appears more effective, in part because of changing public mood. West Bank shopkeepers said sales of Israeli products declined even before the boycott appeal. They said the main trigger was last year’s war between Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas in Gaza, in which some 2,200 Palestinians were killed, according to U.N. figures, along with 72 people on the Israeli side … Kmail said the boycott in its current form would end if Israel resumes transfers of the funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-activist-boycott-israeli-products-begins-121748832.html

Verdict delayed in ex-Gaza strongman graft trial

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 1 Mar — A Palestinian court on Sunday postponed its verdict in the trial of exiled Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who is being tried in absentia on corruption charges, an AFP correspondent reported. The ruling, which was to have been handed down at an anti-corruption court in the West Bank city of Ramallah, was postponed until the high court can rule on an earlier appeal regarding Dahlan’s parliamentary immunity, which was revoked in 2011. Dahlan’s immunity was revoked by presidential decree shortly after his expulsion from the ruling Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas.But according to Salameh Halaseh, one of the lawyers working for Dahlan, such a step can only be taken after a vote in parliament, which has not convened since 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major crisis with Fatah.

http://news.yahoo.com/verdict-delayed-ex-gaza-strongman-graft-trial-135424145.html

Anti-Israel divestment push gains traction at US colleges

NEW YORK (AP) 28 Feb by Rachel Zoll — The lecture hall had filled quickly. Several students wore keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian headscarves, while another sat draped in the Israeli flag. It was time for a ritual that has become increasingly commonplace on many American college campuses: A student government body, in this case at the University of California, Davis, would take up Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, and decide whether to demand their school divest from companies that work with the Jewish state. In the United States, Israel’s closest ally, the decade-old boycott-divestment-sanctions movement, or BDS, is making its strongest inroads by far on college campuses. No U.S. school has sold off stock and none is expected to do so anytime soon. Still, the current academic year is seeing an increasing number of divestment drives on campus. Since January alone, student governments at four universities have taken divestment votes.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/anti-israel-divestment-push-gains-traction-us-colleges-29295169

Israel targets rising critical opinion in Germany

BERLIN (Al Jazeera) 1 Mar by Yermi Brenner — As celebrations kick off marking 50 years of diplomacy, an increasing number of Germans are expressing negative views — It is called “Israel Day” and it features lectures, cultural performances, open discussions in schools and universities, and even dance lessons with Israeli music. Israel Day has taken place in more than 20 cities throughout Germany since 2006. It is part of the foreign ministry’s efforts to increase familiarity with the country and try to reverse what it sees as a worrying trend: growing criticism of Israel in German society – particularly its policies in the occupied Palestinian territories. Sixty-two percent of Germans have a negative opinion of the Israeli government, according to a recent study by the non-profit Bertelsmann Foundation. “Yes, we can say that among the [German] public opinion there is some withdrawal in the attitudes towards Israel,” said Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, Israel’s ambassador to Germany. “It is not necessarily because of Israel. It’s connected to many other things that concern the average German. We are trying to work on this, and change it.” While the ambassador implied Israel’s policies were not to blame for growing negative attitudes towards Israel, the results of the Bertelsmann study and other polls suggest otherwise.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/02/israel-targets-rising-critical-opinion-germany-150223062503702.html

Israel PM Netanyahu takes off on ‘historic’ US mission

BEN GURION AIRPORT, Israel (AFP) 1 Mar — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington Sunday on what he said was a “historic” mission to try to stop a nuclear deal with Iran, an AFP correspondent reported. The controversial 48-hour visit will see the Israeli leader addressing a joint session of the US Congress in a bid to garner last-minute support to halt an emerging world deal with Iran over its nuclear program, in a move which has infuriated the White House. But Netanyahu, who will also address the annual policy conference of the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, has refused to back down. “I’m going to Washington on a fateful, even historic, mission,” he told reporters on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv shortly before his plane took off. “I feel deep and sincere concern for the security of Israel’s citizens and for the fate of the state and of all our people,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure our future.” Netanyahu will address AIPAC before heading to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after which he will fly home.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759686

Pro-Palestinian group to run campaign across DC against Netanyahu

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 1 Mar — As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial speech at the US Congress nears, a pro-Palestine group has launched a new campaign across Washington, DC criticizing Netanyahu’s actions and urging the US to end aid to Israel. The campaign will run ads on buses across Washington, DC during Netanyahu’s visit … The campaign was officially launched last Tuesday by American Muslims for Palestine. The group said in a statement that the campaign aims to use the Netanyahu’s “contentious address” to congress on the Iranian nuclear program to bring to focus the “detrimental impact” of US support of Israel. The ads will make use of quotes from a speech Netanyahu made in 2001 before settlers living in illegal West Bank settlements, in which he reportedly described the United States of America as “a thing you can move very easily.” Netanyahu was apparently unaware that his statements were being filmed. In the recording, Netanyahu emphasizes that he managed to “terminate the Oslo accords” and convince Washington to agree that Israel would not pull back from any areas he deemed as militarily strategic sites in the West Bank.

http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?id=759682

‘Escalation’ is when Palestinians cease their self-restraint / Amira Hass

Haaretz 1 Mar — “[The Israel Defense Forces] Central Command is completing preparations for possible clashes in the West Bank beginning at the end of March,” Amos Harel reported in Haaretz (English edition, March 1). And in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz last week, Harel reported that reserve battalions from the Judea and Samaria Division have been called in for a series of stepped-up training exercises in advance of a possible escalation of the situation. This prompts several comments: 1. It becomes apparent from periodic reports of “preparations for escalation” that the IDF – in other words, that force defending the occupation – views itself as a party that is only reactive. It is not responsible for escalation and certainly isn’t initiating any such action. 2. If it were not for those Palestinians who got stuck between the military bases, the roadblocks, appearing on monitors in situation rooms and in the armored personnel carriers, the IDF could have fulfilled its real destination: as a society for the protection of nature … 4. Here’s a case of non-escalation: Armed Israelis raided the Deheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank last Tuesday night. They killed a young Palestinian (because those insolent Palestinians resisted the intrusion into their homes). In a raid the previous evening on the Aida refugee camp, an armed Israeli force wounded five young Palestinians with live ammunition. They too had the nerve to resist the raid and a kidnapping attempt.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.644847

Israel is galloping to the next war in Gaza / Gideon Levy

Haaretz 26 Feb — The next war will break out in the summer. Israel will give it another childish name and it will take place in Gaza. There’s already a plan to evacuate the communities along the Gaza Strip border. Israel knows this war will break out, it also knows why – and it’s galloping toward it blindfolded, as though it were a cyclic ritual, a periodical ceremony or a natural disaster that cannot be avoided. Here and there one even perceives enthusiasm. It doesn’t matter who the prime minister is and who the defense minister is – there’s no difference between the candidates as far as Gaza is concerned … The rest of the Israelis aren’t interested in Gaza’s fate either and soon it will be forced to remind them again of its disaster in the only way left to it, the rockets … It’s hard to believe, but Israelis have invented a parallel reality, cut off from the real one, a callous, unfeeling, denying reality, while all this adversity, most of it of their own making, is taking place a short distance from their homes. Babies are freezing to death under the debris of their homes, youths risk their lives and cross the border fence just to get a food portion in an Israeli lock up. Has anyone heard of this? Does anyone care? Does anyone understand that this is leading to the next war?

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.644219

The US, Palestine and the pursuit of justice / Daoud Kuttab

Al Jazeera 28 Feb — In an ironic way, the judgment by a US court against the PLO and the Palestinian Authority may be the best thing that has happened to Palestinians in years. By opening up the US courts to so-called victims of terrorism, the US administration has, consciously or unconsciously, walked into a trap that could ultimately prove in favour of Palestinians. According to the New York Times, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation were found liable on Monday by a jury in Manhattan for their role in knowingly supporting six attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 in which Americans were killed and injured. Once the US courts agree to adjudicate cases of violence against Americans in the Middle East, they will have no choice but to take similar cases by Jewish terrorist groups against American Palestinians and ultimately state terrorism acts by the State of Israel. There are plenty of cases of Palestinian Americans injured and killed by Israel, and Israeli citizens. Americans own properties in the occupied West Bank that have been damaged or expropriated by Israel and Israelis. – Pursuit of justice – In reaching the various legal instruments connected with the Oslo Accords, Palestinians agreed to an Israeli demand that no Palestinian will be allowed to sue Israel or Israelis for injuries that occurred during the Palestinian Intifada (uprising). No such agreement exists with the US and there is no reason why in pursuit of justice, Palestinian Americans can’t seek justice as well.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/02/palestine-pursuit-justice-150226083227025.html

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