No longer do the soldiers just protect the settlers, they attack Palestinians together with the settlers

Israeli forces, settlers attack Ramallah village

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 5 May — Settlers raided on Saturday night Ras Karkar village west of Ramallah, and attacked several houses there. Clashes between residents and Israeli forces erupted, locals said. Eight people were wounded by rubber-coated metal bullets … Four others sustained bruises and fractures as settlers and Israeli troops assaulted them, locals said. Ayoub Samhan, 24, was hit by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the chest; the Israeli soldier was 10 meters away when he shot him. Ramadan Filfel was hit by rubber-coated metal bullet in the eye. Additionally, Mohammad Gamal Yousef was hit by a rubber-coated bullet in the head, and the Israeli forces and settlers banned ambulances from entering the village. After a long time of talking to the Israeli forces, they allowed the ambulance to transfer two wounded people to the hospital.

Hundreds of settlers guarded by Israeli forces entered the Beir Ayoub area at the entrance of the village and clashed with the people there. Townspeople tried to prevent them but their attempts failed. Israeli troops fired live bullets, rubber bullets, and tear gas toward civilians. In addition, forces fired live bullets into the air to scare the occupants and prevent them from defending their properties, locals highlighted. Residents started throwing stones at settlers and Israeli forces, wounding one settler.

The same sources confirmed that the settlers attacked three houses and assaulted the occupants of the Beir Ayoub area, setting fire to houses and olive trees in the area. As clashes heated up, mosques began calling on nearby villages and people to help them.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592191

VIDEO: Settlers attacked the village of Ras Karkar 05.05.2013 by Haitham Khatib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKn7gctOMpg



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

Israel to allocate $6m to enhance settlement in Jerusalem

NAZARETH (PIC) 4 May — Hebrew press sources revealed that the Israeli government intends to approve the allocation of huge amounts of money to enhance settlement activity in the occupied city of Jerusalem. Maariv newspaper said in its Friday edition that the Israeli government has approved plans to allocate 22 million shekels (more than 6 million dollars) to step up its settlement activities in the city of Jerusalem on the occasion of the forty-sixth anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem, which falls on Tuesday….

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7aES8dBpursOdYGQ5QfmH86XgFLa0ha4EHkmlHwJo62EAeVgA0%2bgQTfLzSXmZ2FdrUYKag7dU%2bPFTQx5L1COgvWivGpgriBUy65Kl32lrdn8%3d

Israeli authorities raze Palestinian home in ‘Arraba

NAZARETH (PIC) 5 May — Israeli authorities demolished a Palestinian home in ‘Arraba town to the north of Palestine occupied in 1948 on Sunday at the pretext it was built without permit. Palestinian sources said that a big number of police forces escorted bulldozers that razed the building, which was under construction, in Wadi Hussein. They said that the demolition took place without prior notice, Noor Lahwani, the son of the house owner, said, adding that his family filed a complaint with the Israeli police as it did not receive any demolition notification from the Israeli organization and construction committee.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7cK49f7oE7b1GXj%2fo5J9PLfuoCcX%2fNeP4kLBxjTUD8r5oef7iMD1ewLqgr9OxHQaieFxZyc0K3CpPRUJwNtWwgqKQ4JoWly8HCjRPOHL%2fZB8%3d

Jewish settlers chop down dozens of olive trees in Bethlehem village

BETHLEHEM (PIC) 5 May — Jewish settlers chopped down on Sunday dozens of old olive trees in Nahalin village, Bethlehem province. Jamal Najajre, the chairman of Nahalin municipal council, said that the settlers destroyed 30 olive trees that are almost one hundred years old. He underlined that Jewish settlers chopped down olive and almond trees in the same area about a month ago.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7eEQsR1G2zhwyqcKWgmWpiKW3kmosbKuMap38CVu38LJ4aHdrOwKC3BxmScr0XS5TSyUH0au9QutBk6K3woglmA5hm%2bMvGemTEn1LXbFlMg0%3d

Plan to reroute Wadi al-Nar road reactivated

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 May — The Palestinian Authority’s higher planning council has reactivated a project to amend a section of the main highway connecting the southern and northern West Bank. Original plans to build a new section of the Wadi al-Nar road were submitted more than a year ago to the ministry of local governance’s Bethlehem office and the municipal councils of al-Ubeidiya and Dar Salah. The new section would run through private lands in both towns. The new route would bypass the hazardous hair-pin bends and steep cliff-side roads that snake around the hills of Wadi al-Nar, or the Valley of Fire. The road is the site of frequent, sometimes fatal, car accidents. The road used to be a dirt track, but it became the main highway for Palestinians after Israeli authorities closed Jerusalem, forcing Palestinians to take the long detour around the city. The mayor of al-Ubeidiya, Suleiman al-Asa, says the new section of the road is a top national priority because the road connects the south to the north. The new route will be much safer for Palestinian vehicles and will reduce heavy traffic in al-Ubeidiya and Dar Salah, the mayor added.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=591969

Official: Israel forces deploy in Jerusalem on Holy Saturday

JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 4 May — Israeli forces deployed at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday as Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter, a Christian official said. Israeli police set up checkpoints and deployed heavily in the Old City, said Dimitri Diliani, head of the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land. Diliani said Israeli security forces were also present in the church and on its roof. Diliani accused Israel of trying to stop Christians from performing rituals for Holy Saturday and of trying to erase the Christian identity in Jerusalem.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=591979

PLO slams Israel over treatment of Palestinian Christians

JERUSALEM (AFP) 5 May — The Palestine Liberation Organization denounced Israel for causing “countless difficulties” for Palestinian Christians and Muslims to reach their holy sites as Orthodox Christians held the “Holy Fire” ceremony in Jerusalem Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter. “It is not only that Israel has isolated our occupied capital from the rest of our country — forcing our people to apply for special military permits to access their families and holy places for religious occasions — but even Palestinians from Jerusalem were beaten when trying to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” said Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and Head of the Presidential Committee on Church Affairs. Throngs of Orthodox Christians filled Jerusalem’s ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre and surrounding streets for the ceremony for which thousands of Israeli police officers were deployed. Police said tens of thousands of faithful gathered in the streets around the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, causing huge delays at dozens of checkpoints. “The Israeli forces turned a religious occasion into a battle camp scenario,” said Amireh. “This is part of Israel’s plan to turn Jerusalem into an exclusive Jewish city. “Palestinian Christians and Muslims face countless difficulties in order to reach their holy sites and conduct their celebrations, while Jews from anywhere are allowed to freely pray at their holy places. “It is time for the international community to take real action,” he added. “What was witnessed in Jerusalem was an attempt to cancel a tradition of 700 years…” The PLO said Israeli police stopped a visit organized by Palestinian Christian groups with foreign diplomats and Adnan Ghaleb al-Husayni, the governor for the Jerusalem Governorate, as they tried to enter the Old City of Jerusalem.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592219

Orthodox Christians celebrate Holy Saturday

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 May — Thousands of people celebrated the start of Orthodox Easter in Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Saturday. Tens of thousands of worshipers visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City to witness the Holy Fire ceremony, where a lamp is placed on the tomb of Jesus and mysteriously lit. Believers hold that a divine fire from heaven ignites candles held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch, in an annual rite dating back to the 4th century AD symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. The Holy Fire was passed outside to the crowds who watched the ceremony on huge screens, and was then taken to nearby Bethlehem, where it was received by mayor Vera Baboun, governor Anas Hamayel, and local Orthodox clergy. Prominent Palestinian figures attended the celebrations in Bethlehem, with local scout groups playing traditional music to mark the occasion. Thousands of people marched in the streets of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour as part of the celebrations.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592123

Truck drivers strike at Allenby over Israeli restrictions

JERICHO (Ma‘an) 29 Apr — Truck drivers went on strike at the border between the West Bank and Jordan on Monday in protest over new Israeli restrictions. The drivers stopped work between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the Allenby Bridge crossing because Israeli authorities have reduced the number of trucks allowed to cross into Jordan, from 120 to 45 each day, the head of the drivers’ union told Ma‘an. Sultan Hadad said the restrictions have led to huge losses for traders and drivers. Traders lose 300 Jordanian Dinars ($424) for every truck that is denied passage, Hadad said. On Sunday, Israel only allowed 22 trucks to enter Jordan, he added.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=590530

Violence / Attacks / Raids / Arrests

VIDEO: Silwad protest 3-5-2013

published 4 May by planxtysumoud — Happy to report Silwad, after a period of relative calm, is now awake and fiercely resisting the occupation and the theft of its lands by “settlers” from the nearby colony of Ofra. The resistance was sparked by the savage beating of a 60-year-old Silwad resident, Ahmad al-Zir, as he tended his land by Ofra colonists who fractured his skull with an iron bar leaving him unconscious and necessitating emergency surgery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysZqJ2FxplE

Witnesses: Settlers prepare to raid Ramallah village

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 5 May – A group of extremist settlers gathered early Sunday near the central West Bank village of al-Janiya in northwest Ramallah preparing to storm the village, locals told Ma‘an. A witness said in a phone call that dozens of settlers escorted by Israeli troops and police officers gathered at the main entrance to the village, while local young men closed the road with rocks trying to prevent the attack. Activists in the village used mosque loudspeakers to urge residents to defend their village. The same source highlighted that Israeli forces fired stun grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets at the young Palestinians to scare them into evacuating the village’s entrance. Several were hurt by tear gas.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592232

Settlers attack man near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 4 May — Settlers attacked a man west of Bethlehem on Saturday, causing moderate injuries, locals said. A group of settlers threw stones at Ahmad al-Zaglool at a road junction near Betar Illit settlement, witnesses told Ma‘an. Al-Zaglool, who is from the nearby village of Husan, was moderately wounded and taken to hospital for treatment.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592139

Jewish settlers attack citizens in Old City of Al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL/Hebron (PIC) 5 May — Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian citizens and shop owners in the Old City of Al-Khalil on Sunday. Mohammed Harub, who was present at time of the attack, told the PIC that a group of settlers from the nearby Beit Hadassah settlement outpost insulted citizens and attacked one of them. He said that Israeli army troops and police forces were present but did not intervene to stop the settlers’ provocations

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kjyrGpq9yLqcSMrsmue19SeMT7VFoF7ytAJvgqK5EvkvqE3KPerV%2b%2bS4%2fasl4001LD8YsWK8fJBeTFAY41AqOp2d%2fOP00pRy1icJSRoyt9o%3d

Occupation arrests 3 Palestinians who complained of trespassing settlers

RAMALLAH (PIC) 3 May — B’Tselem organization reported that the Israeli army arrested three Palestinian citizens after they complained of settlers’ attacks. The human rights organization stated that a military court judge at Ofer Camp ordered the unconditional release from detention of the three Palestinian residents of al-Khalil, Shaker Zaro (Tamimi) and his two sons Shehab and Shukri, who had been arrested by soldiers summoned to deal with trespassing settlers. B’Tselem said that the three Palestinians in question on Wednesday saw on their privately-owned land settlers from Giv’at Gal, and called the police to report the trespassing that was documented in video by B’Tselem’s cameraman. “When soldiers arrived on the scene, the Palestinians told them that this was their own land and that they wanted the trespassers removed. The soldiers ignored these explanations. Rather than sending the settlers away, the soldiers arrested the Palestinians and took them to the Kiryat Arba Police Station. There, the police did not release the detainees.” The police demanded cash bail and a pledge that the Zaros will not go out to their land for 15 days….

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7RgUSjV%2bnuLSi%2fIH7GlSq85LV1xBJUy2M8R5vBvrL7f3o7N4GHgULkVJqjBrMTw8XtfWnv4l0efAaTnQMjycxD6jotOSJyGoxT9naImyxovg%3d

Israeli forces arrest man near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 5 May — Israeli forces detained a man on Sunday in a village south of Bethlehem, a local official said. A popular committee coordinator told Ma‘an that Israeli forces arrested Rani Salah, 27, in the village of al-Khader. Clashes broke out following the arrest, with no injuries reported. Ahmad Salah, 21, and Khaled Salah, 22, were briefly detained during the incident.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592539

16 Palestinians killed, 1,227 arrested since start of 2013

GAZA (PIC) 4 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed 16 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of 2013, the Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights said on Saturday. The center said in a statement that 12 Palestinian were killed in the West Bank, including two captives, and 4 in Gaza. The statement pointed out that 15 of the detainees were from Gaza, adding that they were arrested either at the crossings or at the Gaza shores. The center said that most of the detainees in the West Bank were from Al-Khalil where 310 Palestinians were arrested or 25% of the total number of detainees followed by occupied Jerusalem with 243 detainees or 20% of the total number.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7N6vOnIkdLy6hx0Obpqr2IggeSCtTpJyOGkJ2JaVQT8rQ4Lf7IugG0CITLrj3DymZMbrryYESM3APXfA%2ffbKfFjJUi6XI7lePZGpNYmJRwZU%3d

PA security arrest 4 Hizb al-Tahrir members at Jenin rally

JENIN (Ma‘an) 4 May — Palestinian Authority security forces arrested four members of the Hizb al-Tahrir party on Saturday during a rally in Jenin. The Islamist group held a rally in the northern West Bank city to protest the Arab League’s recent public backing for land swaps with Israel as part of a peace agreement … PA security forces dispersed the rally

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592096

PA security forces detain 38 of Hamas supporters during April

RAMALLAH (PIC) 5 May — Hamas movement has revealed, in its report issued on Saturday, that PA security services have detained 38 of its supporters, while summoning 9 others during April. The report confirmed that 20 liberated prisoners, 3 university students, 2 journalists, a teacher and an imam were among the detainees. 12 Hamas supporters have been arrested in al-Khalil, while 10 others were detained in Nablus, 5 arrests were reported in Ramallah, 4 arrest cases took place in Tulkarem, while two other cases were in Tubas, in addition to two detainees in Jenin, and one detainee in Salfit. Meanwhile, PA Preventive security services renewed the detention of 4 detainees for 45 days in violation of a court ruling ordering their release, the prisoners’ families confirmed.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7fd7BLUo7vV7a04clTGmDQ60zFlMF60%2f%2fYWMjrVBgYBGNUFVtvgFqE886tn4Cqj%2buBJGEDBVAzhLvK%2b%2bjQX2KdCnsmcwyn13qGoblQCUZc9E%3d

Detainees / Hunger strikers / Court actions

Ahrar Center asks AI to demand immediate release of 5 Palestinians academicians

NABLUS (PIC) 5 May — Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights has asked Amnesty International to urgently intervene and demand the release of five Palestinian academicians from Israeli administrative custody. Fuad Al-Khafsh, the director of the center, said that three of those academicians were already serving administrative detention terms, without trial or charge, while two others are in custody and are expected to face the same fate … Ahrar delivered detailed files of those five lecturers to the international organization including each one’s scientific degree and his academic history along with a briefing on his suffering in administrative detention and his diseases.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7tQ30JhseeA4Z5qW8d9N7x7ZYzG8WTkcEYL7DKoXTCAd04yg6cwFv46nvioHmMCHD6C5xj4P4CywooSi%2bOtoTjBpy30kXMGZRDo1b0%2f0FvW4%3d

Three prisoners on hunger strike, says prisoners ministry

RAMALLAH (WAFA) 4 May — Three Palestinian prisoners are currently hunger striking, said a report published by the Ministry of Prisoners on Saturday. The report said that prisoner Ayman Abu Daod, 31, from Hebron has been hunger striking since April 14 against attempts to reimpose a sentence of 28 years. Abu Daod is one of the prisoners who were released in the Gilad Shalit swap deal and is currently being held in solitary confinement in Jalma prison. Ayman Hamdan, 30, from Bethlehem announced hunger striking since April 28 to protest the extension of his administrative detention for another 6 months. Muhammad Abu Rmelah [or Armila], 42, from Jenin commenced his strike on May 1 to protest his administrative detention and extension for 19 months.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22288

Israeli jailers bar Jordanian hunger strikers from having fluids

AMMAN (PIC) 4 May — The Israeli prison authority prevented the Jordanian hunger strikers from drinking any fluids except water in order to force them into ending their strike which they started on Thursday, according to an informed source. The source said that the Israeli prison authority used to provide hunger strikers with fluids such as milk, but it decided on Friday to give the Jordanian hunger strikers only water and isolate them in an attempt to pressure them to break their strike. The Palestine center for prisoner studies said, in turn, that the leadership of the Palestinian captive movement also failed to keep in touch with the Jordanian prisoners after they were isolated. There are 25 Jordanian detainees in Israeli jails and all of them started two days ago a hunger strike in a bid to draw the attention of their government to their cases and pressure it to move to have them released.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ga%2bAynGGMBSGiTPlhZwEtZ%2fM4RWPH42CRy%2ffils7unQyzpzJ08yED6xMOsj%2fw7sQ%2bGuQo7qV26CxVnaJfjzRu8Q9HlubTWOC%2f3WWtiuk23Y%3d

Occupation extends detention of two boys, including a wounded

JENIN (PIC) 3 May — An Israeli court in the Jalama detention center on Thursday extended for eight days the detention of two Palestinian boys, one of them wounded, from Jalboun village east of Jenin. Ragheb Abu Diak head of the Popular Committee for the release of prisoners, told PIC’s correspondent that the two boys Yazid and Ibrahim Abu al-Rob, aged 15, are still under interrogation at the Jalama center. He added that there is concern about the health condition of Yazid Abu al-Rab, because during his arrest on 24 April he was shot in the foot. Abu Diak pointed out that according to available information, the prison doctors are not treating the boy’s wound, which poses significant danger to his foot and his health condition in general.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7k1zaRe1YGpht48WzWZUzh32tnDJKDjpTuc0jDIhjd8IAA3fDOP%2bE6LtHpYKDVdFDDbr8VCidTR1UVnLaSuMD1St0Mg2VFPOe6sX%2fp%2ftvVzc%3d

Israeli court sentences Gazan to 32 years in jail for resisting occupation

GAZA (PIC) 4 May — An Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian man from Gaza Strip to 32 years in jail for “resisting occupation.” Abdullah Qandil, the spokesman for the Waed society for prisoners, said on Friday that an Israeli court passed the sentence on Thursday against Zakaria Al-Samiri. He said that Samiri, from Khan Younis to the south of Gaza Strip, was detained along with his brother Khaled by an Israeli army patrol east of Khan Younis in 2007.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2bAexkHgduK4Ydu5xNqyV3yKJK8MV2ofOaE65ONxYrWfU8SQFoI1kTMjRCPDhKtNts0WCqrz4rnhakvtkeiLlQ%2fYfg3rgBE7cRe5mWwbNR2g%3d

Israeli court extends detention of stabbing suspect

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 5 May – An Israeli military court on Sunday decided to keep an injured young Palestinian man from Tulkarem in detention for 15 more days, his lawyer said. Salam al-Zaghal was seriously injured last Tuesday after he allegedly stabbed an Israeli settler to death at a checkpoint near Nablus. He has been hospitalized at Beilinson Hospital Rabin Medical Center in central Israel. A lawyer for the Palestinian prisoner’s society, Raed Mahamid, said Sunday an Israeli military court decided to keep al-Zaghal in detention for 15 more days. He added that the defendant had been denied a lawyer’s visit until Sunday. Thus, the lawyer added, he would be able to submit an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court. The lawyer quoted a doctor as saying that al-Zaghal’s condition is stable. He was shot in the abdomen and in the right thigh.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592276

Gaza siege

Palestinian youth wounded in IOF shooting

GAZA (PIC) 4 May — A Palestinian youth was slightly wounded east of Jabaliya, north of the Gaza Strip, on Friday evening after Israeli occupation forces opened fire at the area. PIC reporter quoted eyewitnesses as saying that IOF troops positioned to the east of Jabaliya opened fire at residential quarters and cultivated land lots injuring a young man in his twenties.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2bE9ZjTQ4Gnj8bB9J4L%2bih1eac4kw9q8%2f8cy3L0SJ1CzC5RGF7GLbT5VRfpzKTx7kSsU9BLJqNxp%2bj3zvjBJh32vvbFpe7cSmFN2Sf8OIjeA%3d

Israel gunboats fire at Palestinian fishing boats

GAZA (PIC) 4 May — Israeli navy gunboats opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza Strip at dawn Saturday forcing fishermen to retreat to the shore. Sources in the marine police told the PIC reporter that the gunboats fired one shell then opened heavy machinegun fire at the fishing boats off the Sudaniya area to the northwest of Gaza city. They said that the fishermen were forced to retreat to areas nearer to the shore without any casualties or damage to boats being sustained. Israeli gunboats daily target Palestinian fishermen and force them to fish within a three nautical miles radius that was later reduced to only one nautical mile, while the calm agreement of last November stipulated among other articles that fishermen could fish at a distance of six nautical miles off the shores of Gaza.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7gLuuxbQk9tq2e3wzGgf%2fP4E%2bs1FaqobMznp4EUonRPF0DmJqm11rEyxhV5GjDV6dQAZEhmIbMFqqD4ZG%2fKr62eF5wj7e3DPZ6DgHNwbVppc%3d

Israel closed Karm Abu Salem 17 days in April

GAZA (PIC) 4 May — The popular committee against the siege has said that Israel had closed Gaza’s sole commercial crossing Karm Abu Salem [or Kerem Shalom] for 17 days during the past month of April. The committee said in a statement on Saturday that the closures were either due to weekend holidays, Fridays and Saturdays of each week, for eight days or due to security pretexts, which amounted to nine days. It said that the crossing was thus closed for 67 days since the start of 2013, recalling that Israel was maintaining the closure of the former crossings of Soufa, Mintar, and Shujaia. The repeated closure of Karm Abu Salem since the start of the year had led to 100 million dollars in direct and indirect losses for the private sector, it pointed out.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7W0w6xa6CYo9NxLcaKgBOCZCIvfxTF5v8XP7vj0mtn%2fo93%2fK5PeIflvB7ZRYRJa62L5%2b0z%2bhfDBRWRpXVunqMb4bZTsT%2b3Nav8D3cG2tiCsw%3d

Fatah: Gaza security bans party member from leaving Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 May — A Fatah official was prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip on Sunday to attend a meeting in Ramallah, the faction said. Amal Hamad, a member of Fatah’s central committee, said Hamas security forces prevented her from traveling despite coordinating with Hamas through a coordinator within Fatah. amad denounced the restrictions. Such procedures violate basic human rights and are reminiscent of an Israeli collective punishment policy, Amal Hamad said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592261

Senior Hamas officials denied entry to Egypt

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 5 May — Egyptian forces on Sunday denied two senior Hamas officials entry to Egypt, a statement from the Islamist group said. Salah Bardawil and Ismail al-Ashqar were denied entry into Egypt by intelligence officers, Hamas said, with both officials en-route to take part in reconciliation talks.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592382

Family: Egypt detains 3 Palestinians at el-Arish airport

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 4 May — Egyptian authorities detained three Palestinians at El-Arish International Airport in Sinai on Thursday, relatives said Friday. Hussein Adwan says Egyptian security detained his brothers Mahmud, 37, and Abed, 34, as well as Wael al-Shaer, 28, on Thursday. The men were returning to Gaza from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, Adwan said. Their families have contacted Egyptian authorities but have not been told why they were arrested. Adwan says the Hamas government promised to follow up on their case. Egyptian security officials told Ma‘an that the men were arrested because they were carrying daggers as gifts in their luggage.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592066

Egyptian forces seize 10 cars being smuggled into Gaza

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 5 May — Egyptian security forces seized 10 cars in a smuggling tunnel under the border with Gaza on Sunday, security sources said. Security forces raided a smuggling tunnel after receiving a tip-off and confiscated the cars around 100 meters from the Gaza Strip. The smugglers fled to Gaza and Egyptian forces destroyed the tunnel.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592406

Human-rights groups attack Hamas for head-shaving incidents

GAZA CITY (The National) 5 May by Hugh Naylor — Tareq Al Naqib lives in fear of what Hamas does to those whose appearance it deems inappropriate. Last month, he said, two plainclothes officers approached him in the street, struck him in the face and then shoved him in a jeep that shuttled him to a police station. There, an officer told Tareq, 17, he looked too “western”, and shaved off his spiky, gelled hair. Human-rights workers and critics said he was one of at least 40 young men and boys whose hair had been forcibly sheared in what they called an effort by the Islamist group to root out “foreign” customs.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/human-rights-groups-attack-hamas-for-head-shaving-incidents

Video: Fears from fundamentalism are growing after Hamas’ latest public modesty campaigns

RealNews 4 May posted by Palgaz — Yousel Alhelou, TRNN correspondent, Gaza

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YquUjcQUkQ8

Senior clerics urge Hamas to open dialogue with Salafists

GAZA (Xinhua) 5 May — Two senior Muslim clerics on Sunday called on Islamic Hamas movement to open a dialogue with the Salafists in Gaza, instead of arresting them. The Gaza-based scholars made the call as Hamas forces stepped up its crackdown against the Salafist Jihadists since their al-Qaida-inspired groups claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel. Hamas saw the rocket fire as a challenge for the ceasefire which was brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas in November. Na’el Masran, one of the Salafi Sheikhs, said on his Facebook page that Hamas “should be flexible with the Salafi youths and extend to them the hands of brethren, mercy and kindness and open a dialogue with them.” He also urged Hamas to stop arresting the Jihadists. Majdi Al-Mughrabi, another cleric, said that the Jihadists are being chased down by both Hamas and Israel. He said the dialogue was the only solution. Last week, families of Salafists held by Hamas staged a rare sit-in protest in Gaza City. They said that about 14 Jihadists are detained inside Hamas prisons with no charges.

http://www.nzweek.com/world/senior-clerics-urge-hamas-to-open-dialogue-with-salafists-63380/

IDF source: Hamas working to stop rockets from Gaza

JPost 3 May — There is “some degree of dialogue” between Israel and parties in Gaza to prevent rocket fire into southern Israel, Brig.-Gen. Micky Edelstein, commander of the army’s Gaza Division, said on Friday. Speaking at an IDF event in Sderot, Edelstein said that Hamas was working to thwart rocket attacks from the Strip. “Today Hamas and other actors in Gaza are acting to stop the rocket fire. They don’t always succeed, and where they fail, the IDF acts,” the general said.

Earlier last week, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Hamas had replaced policemen in the Gaza Strip border areas with fighters from its armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, in an effort to stop the rocket fire. The newspaper quoted a Palestinian source as saying that Israel passed messages to Hamas through Egyptian mediators threatening to carry out another large operation in the Gaza Strip if the rocket fire doesn’t stop. Izzadin Kassam has set up fixed and mobile roadblocks and has begun searching cars near the border. They were also deployed to areas further away from the border that were used in the past to fire rockets at Israel, the Palestinian source told Asharq Al-Awsat. A Salafi official told the newspaper that his group refused to comply with the cease-fire agreement and would continue firing rockets at Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/IDF-source-Hamas-working-to-stop-rockets-from-Gaza-311977

Gaza as seen through the lenses of Gaza’s cameras

Al-Monitor 5 May by Lena Odgaard — Thousands of journalists and photographers from all over the world have tried to capture Gaza over the years — often showing images of war such as militants, rockets and injured or dead people. But on Wednesday, May 1, the people of Gaza got a chance to portray what Gaza looks like through their own eyes. Around 50 Gaza men and women — mainly youths — participated in the Palestine Photo-Marathon, a photo competition arranged by Danish House in Palestine … In the coming days, a jury of professional Danish and Palestinian photographers will select the best pictures from the Photo-Marathon. The winners will be announced May 19.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/gaza-photography-palestine-photo-marathon.html

Refugees outside Palestine

2 Palestinians killed in Syria violence

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 5 May — Two Palestinians have been killed in Syria, the Damascus-based working group for Palestine said Saturday. Ahmad Nour al-Din, from Yarmouk refugee camp, was killed in shelling on al-Quds Street near Palestine Junction. Ahmad Salim Shtawi died of wounds sustained in shelling on Khan al-Sheikh refuee camp, according to the group.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592193

Political, other news

Fayyad denies statements in New York Times article

RAMALLAH (WAFA) 4 May — Outgoing Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s office Saturday denied statements slamming the Palestinian leadership which were attributed to Fayyad in an interview with the New York Times. Fayyad’s office said in a statement, “The statements in the article are just journalist Roger Cohen’s personal impressions, and certainly not the words of Fayyad, who did not make any statements or conduct interviews for the New York Times or any other newspaper or agency since his resignation.” The New York Times published on May 3 an article titled “Fayyad Steps Down, Not Out” by Cohen, in which Fayyad allegedly described the Palestinian leadership as “failed.” Cohen quoted Fayyad saying “It is incredible that the fate of the Palestinian people has been in the hands of leaders so entirely casual, so guided by spur-of-the-moment decisions, without seriousness. We don’t strategize, we cut deals in a tactical way and we hold ourselves hostage to our own rhetoric.” Cohen’s article caused an uproar among Palestinians while Fayyad’s office said that this article must not be published as an interview with Fayyad.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=22289

Abbas in China for state visit

BEIJING (AFP) 5 May — President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a visit, official media said, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also set to meet Chinese leaders later this week. Abbas will stay in China through Tuesday, the state news agency Xinhua reported, while Netanyahu is due to arrive in the financial hub of Shanghai on Monday for two days and then visit Beijing until Friday. Abbas told Xinhua he plans to update Chinese leaders about obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian talks and ask them to “use its relationship with Israel to remove the obstacles that obstruct the Palestinian economy”. Of his overlapping visit with the Israeli leader Netanyahu, he said: “It is a good opportunity that the Chinese listen to both of us.”

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592247

Turkey, Israel to meet Monday on raid compensation

ANKARA (AFP) 5 May – Turkish and Israeli officials will meet on Monday in Israel for another round of talks over compensation for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a diplomatic source told AFP. “The second round of negotiations will be held in Israel tomorrow,” the source said on Sunday, without elaborating. An initial meeting was held in Ankara on April 22 to discuss the amount and the terms of the payment for the compensation by Israel, which Turkey has named as a precondition for normalization of diplomatic ties. That meeting was the first stage of what Turkish officials have said would be a multi-step diplomatic process that could finally reinstate bilateral ties between the former allies. Monday’s talks will see Turkish diplomats officially visit Israel for the first time in three years since Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on a aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turkish nationals.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=592473

MK Zoabi blames police of women homicide in Arab sector

Ynet 3 May — Dozens protested at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm against women homicide in the Arab sector on Friday, Following the murder of Muna Mahjana, 29, who was shot to death on Sunday in the city. Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi, present at the protest, accused: “The police have all means and the will to fight crime in the Jewish sector, but find it difficult to do the same in the Arab sector.” On Thursday, Mahjana’s brother, who was suspected in the murder, was released. Further suspects are yet to be arrested. The demonstrators hoisted signs reading: “No more women murders” and “the criminals must be punished.”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4375735,00.html

PA health minister visits Israeli hospital

JERUSALEM (AFP) 5 May — Palestinian Authority health minister Hani Abdeen on Sunday paid a visit to the Hadassah hospital in west Jerusalem, the first visit by a Palestinian minister to Israel’s largest medical facility, it said in a statement. Accompanied by a delegation of senior Palestinian officials, Abdeen met Dr Yuval Weiss, director of Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, and distributed gifts to Palestinian patients. Abdeen spoke of the importance of increasing the cadre of Palestinian medical staff, which would cut the high payments currently made by Palestinians to Israeli and Jordanian hospitals. “Hadassah considers cooperation with its Palestinian neighbors a high priority,” Weiss said. “Medicine is a bridge to peace. Borders don’t exist when it comes to caring for people.”

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=59252

At a West Bank crossing point, Israeli students put the ‘right’ into human rights

QALANDIYA (Times of Israel) 3 May by Elhanan Miller — A new volunteer group, emphatically not from the usual left of the political spectrum, is monitoring how the IDF operates the Qalandiya checkpoint en route to Jerusalem — The sun had not yet risen over the Qalandiya checkpoint, the main Israeli-controlled crossing between Ramallah and Jerusalem, but Matan Asher was already engaged in a lively conversation with a young Palestinian man, advising him on how to obtain an entry permit into Israel. A 24-year-old law student at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, Asher has been coming to Qalandiya every week since February as a volunteer for Blue-White Human Rights, a new initiative of the right-leaning think tank The Institute for Zionist Strategies. Asher is tasked with monitoring the human traffic streaming to Qalandiya every morning from Palestinian Authority-controlled Ramallah and the surrounding West Bank villages, and he’s on the lookout for violations. He’s the one to make sure the humanitarian gate designated for the sick and disabled is operating, for instance, and he’s the one to convey complaints of Palestinians standing in line to the Israeli authorities on duty …

At a safe distance, about 10 feet away from Asher, two middle-aged women also kept watch. They belong to Machsom Watch, a women’s organization founded at the height of the Second Intifada in 2001 to report on human rights violations at the crossings. These are the women Hendel refers to as well-intentioned but “politically problematic.” Ina Friedman, a New York native who emigrated to Israel in 1968, has been coming to Qalandiya at the crack of dawn every week for the past three years. She seems slightly perturbed by the high level of media attention the young men from Blue-White Human Rights have been receiving since its establishment two months ago, but insisted there was no human rights turf war at Qalandiya. “The more people come and observe at checkpoints, the better off we all are,” she said, but added that “we have different philosophies. These young people support human rights but they don’t have anything against the occupation. We don’t quite understand how these two issues jive.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/at-a-west-bank-crossing-point-israeli-students-put-the-right-into-human-rights/

The story of Nabi Saleh performed by the Freedom Theatre

Activestills 5 May Text and photos by Keren Manor — Through the eyes of a Palestinian child, members of Jenin’s Freedom Theatre perform the story of popular struggle in Nabi Saleh.

http://972mag.com/photos-the-story-of-nabi-saleh-performed-by-the-freedom-theatre/70459/

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