New government to promote contentious bill altering balance between Israel’s Jewish and democratic identities / Jonathan Lis

Haaretz 15 Mar — The Likud and Habayit Hayehudi parties agreed in their coalition agreement to advance a controversial Basic Law subverting Israel’s democratic identity to its identity as the state of the Jewish people. Former MK Avi Dichter, then a member of Kadima, submitted two versions of the bill during the previous Knesset’s term. The first would have removed the Arabic language as an official language in Israel, granting it instead a “special status.” The second softened this clause. According to the text of the first bill, the state would invest resources in promoting Jewish settlement but would not commit itself to building for other national groups.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/new-government-to-promote-contentious-bill-altering-balance-between-israel-s-jewish-and-democratic-identities.premium-1.509793?localLinksEnabled=false



Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Judaization

New apartments will complicate Jerusalem issue

JERUSALEM (NY Times) 16 Mar by Jodi Rudoren – The Muslim call to prayer resounds through the traffic circle in the Palestinian enclave of Ras al-Amud, through the taxi stand where waiting drivers sip sweet coffee and the vegetable market where boys help their fathers after school. It can also be heard down the street in Maalot David, where a few Jewish families have quietly taken up residence in newly renovated apartments with prime views of Jerusalem’s Old City. Maalot David is not a typical Israeli settlement, a planned community in the hills, surrounded by gates and guards, where Jews live separate and apart from nearby Palestinian villages. It is a new apartment block sandwiched into the very fabric of Arab East Jerusalem, a construction many say fundamentally undermines the idea that the area could ever serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/world/middleeast/in-jerusalem-jewish-apartments-in-arab-neighborhoods-complicate-issue.html

Israel decides to seize 45 more dunums of Palestinian land East J’lem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Mar — The Israeli interior ministry has decided to appropriate 45 dunums of land in Shu‘afat town northeast of occupied Jerusalem to expand a road connecting settlements. The new annexed land will be used to expand road 21 in order to connect the settlements Reches Shuafat and Ramat Shlomo with Ramot settlement. Earlier, the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) had issued a decision to annex 117 dunums of land in Shu‘afat and Beit Hanina to the east of Jerusalem in order to expand road 21 after Ramat Shlomo settlers requested the expansion of construction in these settlements.

Road 21, if expanded, would dismember Shu‘afat and Beit Hanina districts, isolate parts of these districts from each other and disconnect Shu‘afat from its “western area,” which Israel’s settlement activities had already devoured a large part of as well.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s724Hjs5nNxESOZSHhiGGJhGEIx9vWxpc8K0B1mTF7OFMS3l7OtCQDKN3HYIjb17KqQpSLuADYHjevjGgZKlFj1bJXK7NVC%2bwwpyHlF4VTd%2fE%3d

Israeli plan to seize the remaining part of Ma’manullah cemetery

NAZARETH (PIC) 17 Mar — A Jerusalemite foundation revealed that there are Israeli plans to implement 7 Judaizing projects targeting the historic Islamic cemetery of Ma’manullah, in the occupied city of Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said, during a press conference on Sunday, that the occupation authorities have already seized an area of 160 dunums of the cemetery’s land and seek to seize the entire cemetery in order to turn it into public commercial and tourist facilities. It pointed out that one of the seven Judaizing projects scheduled to be implemented aims to destroy a pond built in the cemetery, in addition to the establishment of a Jewish museum in the area. Part of the cemetery’s land will be allocated for the establishment of car parking, and another part for the establishment of a park for dogs.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Z4C4YkIR8CW%2bq8gf1wHWYtMsvFORt6%2b2VX11TBjIrzqvaGQ%2bL4k0T3kBeL6lvJss%2bS%2b7uo9DmsizFCSvg%2f9YOC2b5Hq1tniB62frtkujYsY%3d

IOA orders removal of EU-funded solar cells in Al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Mar — The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) ordered the removal of solar cell panels providing a Palestinian community east of Yatta town in Al-Khalil with electric power. Local sources reported that the occupation civil administration handed on Friday notices to the residents of Umm Al-Kharouba area near Yatta stating that the solar panels they use to generate electricity will be confiscated.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ueg%2fokCoiqXpLaxSR6wtbGn4kRmrEUk%2bSvaCuGwQKg0Lpg7GMqk6YZQ0xLYyFtRgLoDQzdUmSdg%2f%2bZ%2fPkdeY7gnx7ClRRkvYSEsxbONSHKQ%3d

IOF soldiers seize control of new house in Jenin village

JENIN (PIC) 16 Mar — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) took control of a house in Ya‘bad village, south of Jenin, as part of a campaign against houses in the village that escalated recently. Local sources said that IOF soldiers occupied the house of Anajah university lecturer Dr. Amin Massoud in Malul area in Yabad and turned it into military barracks. They said that dozens of soldiers stormed the area and sealed it off before taking control of the house. They said that the soldiers claim that they seize those houses to prevent youngsters from throwing stones at occupation forces.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2bnWNsxIR%2b9YSyUr9ekpujDQUP%2fHD74hBexCCF3Jvj2Q4pc6ITgmeWxDOBd8IB9iX1uF52DQUfvhmOj0gshWG7ZYI68SPWfwZa8JgVab76gs%3d

IOF in southern Jenin prevents farmers from entering their land

JENIN (PIC) 16 Mar — Israeli occupation forces prevented on Saturday morning citizens from the town of Ya‘bad from entering their lands in the village of Mraiha, southwest of Ya‘bad, under the pretext of closing the area for military purposes. The mayor of Ya‘bad Samer Abu Bakr said in a press statement on Saturday that the occupation authorities have banned the farmer Walid Masoud Abu Bakr from entering his land, which has an area of 10 dunums, in Mraiha village southwest of Ya‘bad, and informed him that the Israeli army is carrying out exercises and maneuvers in the area. The mayor pointed out that the occupation troops have been carrying out military exercises in the Mraiha area for the tenth day, and are continuously and intensively targeting the town. The citizen Nasser Abu Bakr told PIC’s correspondent that it became clear that the occupation authorities are seeking to confiscate more land in Ya‘bad, noting that they have already confiscated 25% of the village’s agricultural land. He noted that there are seven settlements built on Ya‘bad’s lands, and that Mraiha area has been recently subjected to ongoing Israeli attacks.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7PpjzWTotvKEGzvcmWuRa8TLmRR16o4dejiK8A%2buPo%2fI8BqQJlgrXv9Nmw1WOaN9%2bqWFPXWzGnG%2foEr%2b660OLLvrc1hGcZw1%2bYNIsj23%2fGF0%3d

Settlers burn a chicken coop near Nablus [among other crimes]

IMEMC 17 Mar — Several Attacks Reported In West Bank — … Local sources reported that settlers of the Magdolim illegal settlement, attacked the village of Qasra, southeast of Nablus, and burnt a chicken coop that belongs to resident Jamal Abu Reeda. The Radio Bethlehem 2000 interviewed the head of the Qasra Village Council, Abdul-Athim Al-Wady, who stated that the settlers have escalated their attacks against the village, and several nearby villages, especially over the past few days.

In related news, a number of Israeli settlers raised Israeli flags, planted olive saplings, and placed some clay pots at the entrance of the Al-Qit area, in Al-Khader south of Bethlehem. Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Al-Khader, Ahmad Salah, told Radio Bethlehem 2000 that, a few months ago, the settlers illegally occupied five dunams (1.23 Acres) of Palestinian lands in the area, and were never removed. He added that the settlers are repeatedly trying to occupy and plant Palestinians lands in the area in order to install illegal settlement outposts, or to expand existing illegal outposts.

Furthermore, a number of armed Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian farmers, and prevented them from plowing their own lands east of Yatta town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

http://www.imemc.org/article/65227

Israeli soldiers set fire in a mosque in al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 15 Mar — Israeli occupation soldiers targeted on Thursday afternoon the mosque of Ali ibn Abi Talib in al-Hijri area, north of Fawwar camp near al-Khalil [Hebron], with gas and stun grenades, which caused the outbreak of fire inside the mosque. Firefighters from the civil defense center in the city of Dura arrived at the mosque immediately after being informed about the fire. A report issued by the Department of Public Relations and Information in the Civil Defense stated that the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, which broke out in the carpets of the mosque after Israeli soldiers threw tear gas and stun grenades inside it.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7CFOiYZBtCvGEk7%2b2eo1Er9WCYIqGMho%2fRpdMipkWxmyn9Bxun6LzIm4IFj2qpDw81LxNxJMxe2zApPOAIm4BlyUuAjaxAgiGsy6OOAiheIc%3d

Har Adar is over the Green Line, but its residents don’t like to be called settlers

Haaretz 15 Mar by Uri Blau — In this quiet and affluent neighborhood, harsh treatment of Palestinian labor is strictly enforced — Life beyond the Green Line offers plenty of bizarre situations, but it’s hard to compete with the surreal scene that has been going on for years behind the fence that surrounds the settlement of Har Adar, located outside Jerusalem. A few dozen meters from the community’s westernmost houses, the home of the 18 members of the Palestinian Fakya family sits all alone. The house, built in the early 1970s, is officially part of the nearby Palestinian village of Katana. In effect, it is about two kilometers from the village center, but right next to Har Adar. The separation fence built in the area in the middle of the last decade cut the house off from the village, so now the house is trapped between that fence and the barrier surrounding the Jewish community … When the separation fence was being built, the family house was cut off from the water and electricity supply. They’ve been reconnected since then to the electricity grid, but for eight years, the Fakya family has had no running water … How did this strange situation arise, and why was the family cut off from its village? Activist Dror Etkes, who has been monitoring Israel’s land administration policies in the West Bank for the past decade, explains: “It’s a policy based on the assumption that if you make life miserable for the 18 family members for long enough, eventually they’ll abandon their house and then the settlement will be able to expand onto their land.”

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/har-adar-is-over-the-green-line-but-its-residents-don-t-like-to-be-called-settlers.premium-1.509410

Al-Aqsa

60 Jerusalemites and 9 soldiers injured following a raid on al-Aqsa

Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 15 Mar — 60 Palestinians were injured on the grounds of al-Aqsa as dozens of Israeli forces raided the Aqsa mosque. Nine soldiers were injured; three with burns after Molotov Cocktails were thrown at them. Injuries: Dr. Ziyad Srur from the Aqsa pharmacies said 50 injured came for advice and treatment to the Pharmacy. Injuries had been caused by rubber bullets, sound bombs, gas bombs and pepper spray. 20 of the rubber bullets injuries were to the head, four were transferred to the hospital. Some of the injuries were in the stomach and below, whilst others needed treatment of suffocation cause by the pepper spray. The photographer Atta Ewessat was injured by a rubber bullet to his face. He was transferred to the hospital. A reporter, Mahfuz Abu Turk, was also injured. Sources from al Makassed hospital said ten injuries were serious.

http://silwanic.net/?p=36160

Al-Aqsa guards prevent Israeli MK from storming the mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 15 Mar — Al-Aqsa mosque guards have foiled the Israeli MK Moshe Feiglin’s attempt to storm the mosque, accompanied by Israeli forces. Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage confirmed in a statement on Friday that the MK Feiglin tried to storm al-Aqsa as a member of Knesset who enjoys parliamentary immunity, but the mosque guards confronted him and thwarted his scheme. This attempt is considered a dangerous precedent that aims to create and impose a new reality to divide al-Aqsa Mosque gradually, the statement added. [According to MEMO, “Witnesses said that he looked as if he was ready to perform certain rites in the mosque; the MK was accompanied by a media team.”]

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7G9AgZAB7zlhLF9wdkZpE6abtkI8zwgMGssD3BxtB6P92v8d9uSLQcCHYJJ6YR4OP7glOQB3thkqoq3QXW0AryD7mY647amrPhHYhTlscSRM%3d

Two guards in Al-Aqsa injured

Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 15 Mar — Jad al Gool and Saleh Dweik, guards from the Aqsa mosque, were injured by sound bombs and rubber bullets when the grounds of al-Aqsa were raided by Israeli forces. Al Gool was injured by a rubber bullet and Dweik by two sound bombs. Eyewitnesses said al Gool was injured after forces gathered near the eastern gate of the Qibli mosque, trying to raid it. During which a sound bomb was thrown at the gate, setting it on fire. The guard tried to put the fire out and one of the Special Unit Agents shot his back with a rubber bullet. As for 63-year-old Saleh, he said: “while I was near the Dun Gate, a sound bomb was thrown at me and my face was injured in my face. Whilst covering my cheek I was hit by another sound bomb which set my shirt on fire.”

http://silwanic.net/?p=36166

IOF arrests a female teacher at the study circles of the Aqsa mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 15 Mar — The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested, on Thursday evening a female teacher at the study circles of the Aqsa Mosque, Zina Amr, 44, from the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, following the events that took place at the mosque. The Jerusalemite Zina Amr said that she went to the police station to retrieve her identity card accompanied by her lawyer, where they asked her to sign on a military order banning her from al-Aqsa mosque for 15 days but she refused. She was taken to al-Maskoubiya detention center for interrogation where she was detained for 24 hours till her court session today. The Israeli brutal practices came following the recent events at al-Aqsa mosque, where the students of the study circles were the first to confront the Israeli settlers who stormed the mosque.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7HbblauTO3TyPYm%2bT5IXB%2fC7%2fTvP3VKg%2bB8CTE8IsXTyGgewuP4GQ7sJ9RDQKEmwTZ%2b%2bKTQPBh5C1jAaM08AA2Wj4n6EqZpCLLdFr3RnCyW0%3d

Violence / Raids / Attacks / Clashes / Arrests

Palestinian dies of injuries suffered Feb 22

IMEMC 16 Mar — Friday evening March 15, 2013, Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man, identified as Mo’ayyad Nazeeh Ghazawna, 34, from the Al-Ram town, north of occupied East Jerusalem, died of wounds suffered on February 22 after being struck in the chest by a gas bomb fired by Israeli soldiers as he was driving his taxi. Medical sources reported that Ghazawna suffocated and his heart stopped after being struck by the gas bomb, and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the Palestine Medical Center in Ramallah.

The slain Palestinian is married and a father to a 4-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, and his wife is due to give birth to their third child in the coming few days.

Hundreds of residents participated in his funeral Friday, and marched carrying his body to a local graveyard while chanting slogans against the occupation and its ongoing crimes. Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene, attacked the residents, fired gas bombs, and rubber-coated metal bullets at them.

http://www.imemc.org/article/65218

10 wounded, others detained in clashes in Al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Mar — About 10 Palestinian young men were wounded and four others were detained in violent clashes on Friday with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in different areas of Al-Khalil city. Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the 10 young men suffered injuries from rubber bullets and many others suffocated from tear gas in confrontations with Israeli troops on the streets of Shalala and Shuhada and in the Old City of Al-Khalil … Similar clashes also erupted at the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, between young men and Israeli troops.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s732seSc9PJI1d472fMxkRZzUy%2b78izRbeogpwQeszaJgLJkJPMmdEcDR6JmuOGhTxMoA%2fZTRkDMy3ooSJNHLyVIsRZaDiXrrNRWyX8UvrLXg%3d

Palestinian complains about ‘price tag’, is arrested

Ynet 18 Mar — A Palestinian resident of the village Kusra in the West Bank arrived Sunday morning at the Shai district police station to submit a deposition in connection with a car torching incident in February, but to his surprise was suddenly turned from a complainant to a suspect. He was interrogated for several hours for allegedly fabricating a “price tag” act, and was later released on bail. The Yesh Din human rights group, which mediated between the complainants and the police and convinced several villagers to testify, was furious at the police. “Instead of investigating a serious hate crime, policemen are looking for an alibi,” the group stated. “The police are refusing to conduct a real and thorough investigation, and are irresponsibly attempting to frighten the complainants. It is a cynical, infuriating and outrageous abuse.”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4357623,00.html

UN OCHA report: Protection of Civilians 5-11 March 2013

15 March — Key issues: Decline in clashes during demonstrations [Overall, a total of 132 Palestinians were reported injured by Israeli forces during the week, down by around 40 per cent compared to last week; five Israeli soldiers were also injured during the clashes]; on 7 March, a 23 year-old Palestinian man died of wounds he sustained in a demonstration in late February and dozens others were injured. Fourteen Palestinians injured in settler-related violence. No demolitions were carried out by the Israeli authorities but at least 30 demolition and stop-work orders were delivered to residents in Hebron … Gaza Strip: While a number of incidents along the fence and in the sea were reported during the week, the overall situation inside the Gaza Strip remained relatively calm, with no reports of rockets or airstrikes. On 8 March, a group of Palestinian civilians reportedly approached the restricted area near the fence and threw stones at Israeli forces; the soldiers responded by firing rubber-coated metal bullets, injuring one Palestinian. In addition, Israeli forces detained a 16 year-old Palestinian boy while he was reportedly attempting to cross the fence into Israel without a permit. On three occasions on 7 and 11 March, Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered approximately 300 meters into the Gaza Strip, withdrawing after leveling land. On 11 March, Israeli naval forces opened fire towards Palestinian fishing boats while they were reportedly sailing close to the new six nautical miles limit; no injuries or damage to boats was reported.

http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/f619dc8293aae57885257b2f005575c7?OpenDocument

Palestinian worker hurt in settler attack near Nablus

NABLUS (Ma’an) – Israeli settlers on Friday morning attacked a Palestinian worker while he was at his workplace place near Aqraba village south of Nablus. Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma‘an that a number of settlers from Itamar settlement beat Muhammad Hashem Bani Jabber, 28, from Aqraba village. The victim suffered bruises in the attack and was taken to Rafidia governmental hospital west of Nablus. Medics said that he was moderately injured. On Thursday settlers attacked two brothers from the same village.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575249

35 settlers attack Palestinian youths near Al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Mar — A group of Jewish settlers attacked on Friday evening two Palestinian youths near the town of Yatta, in Al-Khalil southern West Bank, and broke the foot of one of them. Eyewitnesses confirmed that 35 disguised Jewish settlers chased the two shepherds, from the area of al-Adra in the town of Yatta, and attacked them by sticks and iron chains. One of the two young men Ahmed Mohammed Shawahin, 24, suffered a fracture in his foot and was taken to the hospital, while the other suffered bruises all over his body. The witnesses added that the settlers chased Palestinian farmers and shepherds in the region and vandalized crops in the Palestinian fields by allowing their own sheep to graze on the farmland.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7KFWTRZgPOdhOpfYqJApEMRtBJfCgyzkG%2bwFMxUZs32exU1MVbFE2tHEuvzsVyT3hqjTSIT%2b%2fc9cY62txVx9EInu0my7Wz4NMMbY3x%2bnCKPw%3d

Settlers attack a Jerusalemite woman and her daughter

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 17 Mar — Jewish settlers attacked on Saturday a Palestinian woman and her daughter, while walking in Sharaf Gate, in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, Palestinian sources said. Ayoub Abu Wahdan confirmed that his wife and daughter Ala,19, were subjected to a racist attack by Jewish settlers, while on their way to their home in the Mughrabi Gate in Silwan neighborhood south of al-Aqsa Mosque. The racial attack occurred when the mother and her daughter passed beside a number of Jewish extremists standing near a model of the alleged Temple, where one of them tried to pull the veil from Ala’s head, and sprayed the two of them with gas before fleeing, causing them burns over their faces, the father told Quds Press.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7touyiYguIVEN3KSLghIdcb%2f5vfgxdlXnzEmMPFUYjFFVqc%2f12WlXSZ8E%2beFnc8obZbs5boaPdws9G20VWl050wGdnQUpkRv7JAe7cyG3x1o%3d

Night raids in Beit Ommar

PSP 17 Mar — On March 16th, at 2:30 am around twenty soldiers stormed the house of Ahmad Abu Hashem. Ahmad, the secretary of the Popular Committee in Beit Ommar’s house is regularly a target of raids by the Israel Occupation soldiers. The soldiers were looking for his son Hamza who wasn’t in the house, a fourteen year old child who volunteers with PSP in the non-violent resistance movement. All the family members were evacuated to the roof of the house including two small children ages three and a half and seven years old. The family was held on the roof in the cold for more than three hours, while they searched the house. The soldiers searched two rooms in the house creating a huge mess by emptying the contents of cabinets and dressers onto the floor. They continued to the outside of the house and destroyed the door of a storage shed that contains wood and tractor parts, they explained that they were searching for weapons. After the three hour long search and destruction of property, the Israeli Occupation Forces moved to the area were Ahmed’s son Yousef Ahmad Abu Hashem works in agricultural production breeding sheep and chickens…

http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2013/03/17/night-raids-in-beit-ommar-2/

IOF quell weekly marches against settlement in W. Bank

RAMALLAH (PIC) 16 Mar — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Friday afternoon violently attacked the peaceful marches held weekly against Israel’s segregation wall and settlement activities in different West Bank villages [Kafr Qaddoum, Bil‘in, Nabi Saleh] … The IOF also subdued the anti-settlement peaceful march in Ma‘sarah village south of Bethlehem. Mohamed Burejeh, spokesman for the popular committee against settlement in Bethlehem, said that the march was held this week to denounce the upcoming visit of the US president Barack Obama and his support for Israel’s apartheid and racist policies against the Palestinians. As the protesters were chanting slogans against Obama, the IOF fired tear gas grenades and clashed with them causing many injuries among them.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7RsQ6uPXagmm2rgoKotvfcfVUc%2fwPV1w7VHjH8214BpwoGYmNDgI3McW95yTHJTMYECibdw%2fEjblz1EyXXwZA0d2sMz2XO9YWrlvRNM8OxWM%3d

Israeli forces detain 18 in overnight arrest raids

SALFIT (Ma‘an) 17 Mar — Israeli forces arrested 18 people overnight Saturday, Israel’s army and locals said.Israeli forces raided the Salfit village of Haris and detained Tamer Ayad Souf, Ammar Abed Souf and Ali Yassin Shamlawi, all aged 16, locals told Ma‘an. In Beit Ummar, Ali Saed Ali Sabarneh, 17, Ali Ahmad Rashid Sabarneh, 16, and Jihad Nasser Mohammad Ikhlayel, 16, were arrested, locals said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that three people were detained in Haris, four in al-Yamun village in Jenin, one in al-Judeida village, one in Salem, one in Asira al-Shamaliya, one in Ni‘lin, three in Beit Ummar, one in Saris, two in Hebron and one in Duheisha refugee camp.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575716

IOF soldiers arrest 8 Palestinians including Hamas leader

NABLUS (PIC) 17 Mar — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up eight Palestinians at dawn Sunday including a Hamas leader in Salem village to the east of Nablus. Local sources said that IOF soldiers arrested Awad Eshtiye, who was previously detained by the IOF and PA security, from his home. IOF soldiers broke into the home of Ibrahim Abu Khalifa in Doheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem and took away his son Malik, 22. Three young men were kidnapped in Hares village, Salfit province, at the hands of IOF soldiers, locals reported. Other IOF units stormed Yamon village, west of Jenin, and took away three youngsters including two brothers and their cousin.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7y0C%2fmORkL%2fnv%2fiefATKTFqEIIBk8WnyDFUK%2fbBl%2f%2fydg865bzEuR2l6sCIdi%2fDw3gEvBdiTIbPi%2fOHrOc7La3zMdH%2f%2bMp4HsG00zkWOF7YY%3d

Operation Dove: Israeli police arrest 3 Palestinian teenagers

HEBRON, March 17 (WAFA) – Israeli police arrested three Palestinian minors, ages 16, 15 and 14, in the village of At-Tuwani, southeast of Hebron, said a press release by Operation Dove Sunday. It said the officers acted after two Ma’on settlers accused the boys of damaging a fence of a cherry tree field. The Palestinian boys were grazing their flocks on Khelly hill, near a cherry tree field of the nearby Ma’on settlement when two settlers in a car approached the boys, videotaped them and drove off, it added. Later on a police car arrived and an officer told the boys they were accused by the settlers of damaging the cherry tree field fence. The teenagers were taken to the Kiryat Arba police station. An international, who was accompanying the Palestinian boys during the incident, testified that they did not damage the fence. The teenagers are still detained at Kiryat Arba police station and also their parents have been called in for questioning … Since the beginning of 2013 Ma’on settlers, often in coordination with the Israeli army, chased Palestinian shepherds away from Khelly hill and Khelly valley seventeen times.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=21905

Israeli army demolish tent, leave Palestinian schoolchildren at risk of settler attack

ISM 16 Mar — Palestinians raised a tent to shelter schoolchildren from settler attacks on the morning of the 16th of March, on the outskirts of the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron hills. Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military arrived and declared the area to be a Closed Military Zone, chasing away demonstrators and demolishing the tent. They also tried to make several arrests but only managed to arrest one international activist who was released later the same day. Palestinian children from surrounding villages each day make their way on foot to the school in At-Tuwani, but regularly face attacks from settlers on their journey. An Israeli military accompaniment has been organised for the schoolchildren, but the army are unreliable in their presence and the children are often forced to wait for them to arrive

http://palsolidarity.org/2013/03/israeli-army-demolish-tent-leave-palestinian-schoolchildren-at-risk-of-settler-attack/

IOF soldiers arrest liberated prisoner

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Mar — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained Ashraf Shawamre, a liberated prisoner, from his hometown of Deir Al-Asal to the west of Al-Khalil on Friday. Relatives told the PIC that IOF soldiers stormed the home of Ashraf and confiscated personal belongings after searching the house then took him away. They said that Ashraf was released only a year ago after serving five years in Israeli occupation jails. They noted that he was also detained by the PA security agencies in Al-Khalil.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vpsnaMzhnYAyNKolwBMFGMNlf4%2bSnnNebsDXlnXIGrFPVZRO31I6EEKh%2bwx7wTqTBNkDtkFJPeSABZyWniC0K4Mirl6XdzP%2bhJshONaXh9s%3d

Israeli army detains 10 Palestinians after rock attack

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Mar — The Israeli army said Friday that it had arrested 10 Palestinians suspected of connections to a rock attack that injured several Israelis near a West Bank settlement. Eight Palestinians were arrested in Haris and two were arrested in Kifl Haris [Kafr Tholth SE of Qalqiliya acc. to PIC]. Both Palestinian villages are in the West Bank district of Salfit.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575243

Family attacked with stones on Route 443

Ynet 15 Mar — Passengers traveling on Route 443 from Modiin to Jerusalem say their cars were pelted with stones Friday evening, just one day after a three-year-old girl was critically injured on Route 5 in Samaria in an accident caused by stone-throwing. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office confirmed that stones had been thrown a around 7 pm on Route 443 near the Palestinian town of Bir Nabala. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4356955,00.html

Remembering Rachel Corrie — 10 years on

ISM 16 Mar — American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in Gaza ten years ago today. The International Solidarity Movement write this message in her memory. Rachel, a 23 year old woman from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer on the 16th March 2003, whilst protesting non-violently against the demolition of a Palestinian house by Israeli forces. As an activist she spoke out about the injustices that she saw in Gaza. “I feel like I’m witnessing the systematic destruction of a people’s ability to survive. It’s horrifying… Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I’m having dinner with.” She is remembered with love still by Palestinians and new generations of ISM volunteers — for many of whom Rachel’s untimely death was an inspiration to become more involved in the struggle for freedom for Palestine. We honour her memory and what she was standing for, whilst she stood in front of that bulldozer ten years ago today. The International Solidarity Movement continues to work for justice, peace and freedom for Palestine — where the occupation still strongly resembles Rachel’s words in the video below. Our thoughts today are with Rachel’s family, and as we’re sure Rachel would have wanted, also with all the Palestinian families who have lost a loved one to the Israeli occupation.

http://palsolidarity.org/2013/03/remembering-rachel-corrie-10-years-on/

Corrie family calls on Obama to seek justice from Israel

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 16 Mar — The father of Rachel Corrie on Friday called for justice from Israel, a day before the tenth anniversary of his daughter’s death … Official Israeli investigations, criticized by human rights groups, have ruled that her death was an accident and no action would be taken against Israeli military personnel. Her father Craig Corrie, writing in The Hill newspaper on Friday, said that “President Obama should refuse to continue US military and diplomatic support until Israel gives truthful answers to our questions, not just for US citizens like Rachel and Furkan Dogan, but for all the civilians killed or maimed using US-funded weapons.”

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575655

PA security arrest 11 liberated prisoners in Jerusalem

RAMALLAH (PIC) 17 Mar — Hamas accused the Authority apparatuses of arresting 11 Palestinians from the town of Biddu northwest of Jerusalem in two days, and summoning three others for investigation. The Hamas movement said in a statement on Sunday that “the Palestinian security services, and specifically the Preventive Security Service and the General Intelligence, have carried out campaigns of arrests, summonses and raids during which they searches the houses and shops of the detainees.” Hamas pointed out that the security services have summoned and arrested a number of liberated prisoners during these campaigns.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7TUJMBZVzARKVu2dBLPgNlSFFLUdl7xZLOREHil%2fxJMNvXtpdRcibOF8UpPkuhhsupgTQ2Q2PFVoZycMIF1a8OArQAGRTlTx%2bnWpsa8AL0eI%3d

Hamas: PA security forces detain 4 members in West Bank

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Mar — Palestinian Authority security forces arrested four members of Hamas on Friday, a statement from the Islamist group said. Two Hamas-affiliates were detained in Jenin, one in Hebron and one in Nablus, a statement said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575316

Prisoners / Court actions



Ayman Sharawna arrives in Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 Mar — Ayman Sharawna arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening after signing a deportation deal to end an 8-month long hunger strike in Israeli jail. Sharawna arrived at the Erez crossing, where a Palestinian ambulance was waiting to take him into Gaza. Hundreds of people crowded at the Palestinian side of the checkpoint to greet him. Sharawna signed an agreement with Israeli authorities to be deported to Gaza for 10 years, bringing an end to a hunger strike he launched on July 1, said Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society. The undersecretary of the PA Ministry of Detainee Affairs, Ziad Abu Ein, told Ma‘an the agreement was signed without notifying the ministry. He said Israeli authorities were pressuring Samer Issawi, who has been on hunger strike for 228 days, to make a similar deal. Earlier Sunday, the Minister of Detainee Affairs Issa Qaraqe said the Palestinian Authority rejected the deportation of prisoners as political blackmail. Sharawna, 36, is from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and is married with nine children. He was released in the Oct. 2011 prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas but was rearrested in Jan. 2012 and accused of violating the terms of his release. Israeli authorities refused to reveal how Sharawna violated his release terms, even to his lawyers, and he was jailed without charge or trial. Israeli prosecutors sought to cancel Sharawna’s amnesty and jail him for 28 years, the remainder of his previous sentence. He went on hunger strike to demand his release.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=576049

Israeli intelligence interrogates Sharawne’ brother over Mishaal phone call

AL-KHALIL (PIC) 17 Mar — Israeli intelligence summoned and interrogated brother of detained hunger striker Ayman Sharawne, Jihad, for six hours. Jihad told Quds Press that he was summoned to Etzion near Bethlehem where Israeli intelligence questioned him about his solidarity activity with his brother Ayman, adding that the intelligence officer threatened him with arrest and a fate similar to his brother in the event he continued “to incite against Israel”. He said that the intelligence told him that he was summoned also for the phone calls his family received from political bureau chairman of Hamas Khaled Mishaal and Gaza premier Ismail Haneyya. Israeli occupation forces had arrested Ayman’s nephew, a teenager, after bursting into his work place in Tel Aviv on Thursday. He was held in Askalan interrogation center for questioning on his role in publicizing his uncle’s issue on the media.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Jt48SjWRppiB46Z%2fgwvRnKDnoEJpurXAPxF2UJmaJKVRukJxJeOCme6KikjTubxplqTnR4sgZGTANKP4XX7Rtru0ZZcqlBJCBNdeNYGthBg%3d

Eight Sheikh Jarrah activists acquitted of disorderly conduct at 2010 protest

Haaretz 17 Mar — Eight left-wing activists demonstrating against a Jewish takeover of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem in May 2010 were acquitted Sunday of disorderly conduct. The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court also said the police were wrong to designate the protest in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah as illegal and upheld the protesters’ right to passive resistance … The eight protesters, including Rabbis for Human Rights co-founder Rabbi Arik Ascherman, were among at least 250 who had been demonstrating weekly against a Jewish takeover of Palestinian homes through the use of ownership documents dating from the British mandate period. The activists arrested were also protesting a police decision to allow right-wing activists to hold a Jerusalem Day rally in Sheikh Jarrah even though police banned the left-wing activists from entering the neighborhood.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/eight-sheikh-jarrah-activists-acquitted-of-disorderly-conduct-at-2010-protest.premium-1.510117?localLinksEnabled=false

IOF extends detention of 34 Jerusalemites, releases 11 others

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 15 Mar — The so-called Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem extended on Thursday the detention of 34 Jerusalemites, and released 11 others on bail and house arrest. Wadi Hilweh Information Center pointed out that most of the arrests took place during the past five days, following the clashes that erupted at al-Aqsa Mosque, while the releases were on bail, house arrest, and deportation from Jerusalem’s Old City, or from al-Aqsa Mosque. The center said the arrests included most of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods, where the IOF have violently stormed and searched the detainees’ houses and confiscated their personal contents. The center added that the arrest campaign came after the clashes that broke out at al-Aqsa mosque where IOF filmed the clashes with a video camera that shows clearly their faces.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7QhnMvcXy3vXT30LxSJb0Byc3RO4xBc4nMvxmYVvkwmqzCysmbFaND64RwcZVsADpbVC5DFX63vGT%2fY1gY1hYDWRnVDRfebg4L2CbGCxsvsI%3d

IOA extends 3 prisoners’ administrative detention

RAMALLAH (PIC) 17 Mar — An Israeli military court extended the administrative detention of three Palestinian prisoners from Ramallah including two leaders in Hamas movement … Meanwhile, Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights denounced the wide scale transfer campaign waged by the occupation authorities in prisons aiming to create a state of confusion and instability.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7baROwNgdOU35QO7mIBs5m3sL%2bCdIPsOhgQtchWdE5xPkTy5F3BoObcoI7dvkbF5VCDR9kiYLykAztj0WJV6%2bIqY%2bSzwkblFV2Mc0jmIyeWc%3d

Israeli authorities release Hamas MP

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) — Israeli authorities on Thursday released a Hamas member of parliament from Ramallah after he served eight months in Israeli jail. Ahmad Abed al-Aziz Mubarak was detained in July 2012.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575244

Adalah: Israel denies Palestinian kids in its jails access to education

RAMALLAH (PIC) 16 Mar — The legal center of Arab minority rights Adalah demanded in a joint letter with defense for children international (DCI) the Israeli prison authority to grant Palestinian children and minors access to schooling in its jails. The center pointed out that there are about 400 prisoners aged between 12 and 16 years serving very long terms in the prisons of Magiddo, Hasharon and Ofer … Adalah lawyer Rima Ayoub said that depriving the Palestinian children in prison of education is contrary to court verdicts issued by Israel in this regard and violates the international law that protects their right to education. Ayoub stressed that Israel discriminately and deliberately deprives the Palestinian children of education, while it provides Israeli children, who are jailed for criminal reasons, with their educational rights in prison.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7FBy6jVkNJtwn3LvqB67r5hCsD1GogsjWIwGH1M3Qzlsd5lF9mWgjillhCCgPV4osUC5blAbaYaHl6R3Qr7FSJ%2bsQ7P05lNuMoHBfzq2bIWk%3d

Palestinians born ‘from prisoners’ smuggled sperm’

BBC 14 Mar by Jon Donnison — Just a few seconds old, but already strong of voice, Muhannad Ziben did not sound best pleased as a midwife, gripping him by the ankle, hoisted him above his mother and snipped the umbilical cord. He was born in Nablus’s al-Arabia hospital in August last year. Within a few hours he looked more comfortable, snoozing in the arms of his mother Dallal. The father though was absent. Ammar Ziben is serving 32 life sentences in an Israeli prison for his involvement in bomb attacks in Jerusalem in 1997 [convicted by an Israeli military court in 1999]. Dallal says she was able to get pregnant using her husband’s sperm, which was smuggled out from inside the jail … Since then, the BBC has spoken to two fertility doctors in the West Bank who say there are now around 10 Palestinian women who have become pregnant using sperm smuggled out of Israeli jails. “Honestly, I don’t know how they do it and I don’t want to know how they do it,” says Dr Salem Abu Khaizaran, one of the fertility doctors who has been helping the women. “I don’t want to get into the politics. I am doing it for humanitarian reasons only, just to help these women. Everyone gives a lot of attention to the prisoners, but these women really suffer a lot.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21658940

After three years, Israel Supreme Court gives Jilali family hope for accountability

Mondoweiss 15 Mar by Jessica Purkiss — On Wednesday, March 13th Ziad Jilani’s wife, Moira, and their three children were given a glimmer of hope from the inside of the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. In June, 2010 Ziad Jilani was shot and killed by border police after a road collision involving his car and Magav officers on the main road into Wadi Joz, in occupied East Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Israeli Supreme Court judges decided to personally review all the evidence from the case. “It is unprecedented that the court asks to look at the evidence by themselves,” said the family’s lawyer speaking from outside the courtroom. Jilani was driving home from noon prayers when the incident occurred. He had just rung his wife to tell her to prepare the kids to go out for a day at the beach. Shortly after his car swerved out of his lane and hit four police officers who had been standing by the side of the road. The reason behind his sudden swerve is unknown, but neighbours claim that he was trying to avoid stones being thrown by kids at the police … The autopsy revealed four shots in his body, with expert forensics stating the cause of death was severe damage to the brain caused by the passage of two bullets through the head fracturing of the skull. This discovery supports the eye witness testimony that Jilani was actually shot by Vinogrodov at point blank range after having fallen to the ground, which is a distinctly different narrative than that offered by the officers.

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/03/supreme-jilani-accountability.html

Video: Ramallah rally for Israel’s Palestinian prisoners 16-3-2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I1yJ2rnoazU

Gaza siege

Let Gaza surprise you!

[with photos, videos] 17 Mar by Samah Sabawi — Gaza is one of the most reported on and yet least understood places on earth. Its mere mention conjures up images of war victims, war criminals, piles of rubble, militants with guns, dead children and weeping mothers. A simple google search will bring up disturbing images of heart break, terror and destruction. But all of this is an infliction on a place that must not surrender its identity or lose its beauty to decades of violent Israeli occupation. Gaza is a city of many tales. While some are about loss, grief and misery, many others are about enduring love, triumphant moments, tenacity, passion, music and hope that lives beyond the confines of the siege and the occupation. If you dig deeper than the negative headlines and the devastating news reports you will find many pleasant surprises. You can take a walk along Gaza’s gorgeous fields, enjoy its magical sunsets, get to know its warm people, visit its ancient sites and eat its delicious dishes. You will find in Gaza everything that would make you love life with a passion! So join me here to explore some of Gaza’s unknown side.

http://talesofacitybythesea.com/2013/03/17/let-gaza-surprise-you/

Days in Gaza / Eva Bartlett

15 Mar — At around 5 a.m., long after the Azzan (call to prayer) has sounded from various surrounding mosques for the early morning prayer, but still before sunrise, my brother-in-law’s family in the apartment below turn on Quranic recitations — technically not considered music but soothingly melodic nonetheless — as they get their kids ready for school, which they go to in two shifts, starting very early, because all of Gaza’s schools are massively over-crowded. In the random times when I get up during these quiet hours, I revel in the sounds almost devoid of human noise… no honking taxis, children playing soccer in the streets, street sellers circulating goods… (there’s about a 2-hour window of reverie before these all begin anew). On many days, I hear the sea’s waves a few hundred metres away rebound off our walls, doves cooing, small birds flitting, roosters, a nearby horse, palm leaves in the wind.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/eva-bartlett-gaza/2013/03/days-gaza

Gaza’s graveyards for the living now flooded with sewage water / Mohammed Omer

VICE 17 Mar — Haneen Khader had no option. As soon as she learned of her father’s death, her March wedding celebration had to be canceled. Forty-one-year-old Bassam Khader, an unemployed construction worker, had tried everything to provide a basic living for his family but to no avail. His only option was to work in the tunnels—known as “the trade of death,” and considered the most dangerous job in Gaza .. It was in one of those makeshift burrows to the international market of goods that Khader perished. For workers still employed underground the news gets worse. In early March, Egyptian troops started a new tactic to shut down the tunnels: by flooding them with sewage water.

http://www.vice.com/read/gazas-graveyards-for-the-living-now-flooded-with-sewage-water

Gunmen shoot, injure Fatah leader outside Gaza mosque

GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Mar — Gunmen in the Gaza Strip shot and injured a Fatah leader in Jabaliya refugee camp on Friday, a Ma‘an correspondent said. Masked gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on senior Fatah leader Jamal Obeid as he was leaving a mosque following Friday prayers, a Fatah spokesperson said. He suffered injuries to his leg and was transferred to a local hospital for treatment. Fatah condemned the attack and said it would open a special investigation into the incident. Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry said that security forces were also investigating the shooting.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575300

Refugees

UNRWA mourns death of Palestinian staffer in Syria conflict

JERUSALEM, March 16 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) mourned Saturday the death of Nasri Khalil Hasan, a member of its teaching staff in Syria, who was killed in an explosion, according to an UNRWA statement. Hassan, 52, is the sixth UNRWA staff member to be killed in the two-year-old Syria conflict, it said

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=21897

Action group: Palestinian refugees of Syria are still under attack and blockade

LONDON (PIC) 16 Mar — The action group for the Palestinians in Syria said that many Palestinian refugee camps saw the fall of dozens of projectiles and mortar shells on Friday, especially Khan Younis camp. In a report, the action group stated that Khan Younis camp saw in early morning hours a massive exodus of families as a result of the intensive shelling before the Syrian regime forces closed the roads and barred more refugees from leaving….

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7lrOPNdrQbAF8PSXDwvZ0kGeqgTs8xoD9C61ymsAzaodYDMX1BYPS8z8ZGcc7YTmQS6%2bz5MlPRoJErp9O0NjjNB9tXQgYg4vxBpnqU0Kegu8%3d

10 Palestinians killed in attacks on refugee camps in Syria

DAMASCUS (PIC) 17 Mar — 10 Palestinian refugees were killed on Saturday in projectile attacks launched by the Syrian regime forces on populated areas in some refugee camps in Damascus countryside. Al-Quds newspaper reported that seven Palestinians were killed in Al-Husseiniya camp when a projectile hit a building located on Surour street … Two other Palestinians were also killed when they got caught in the crossfire on Yakoub street in Al-Husseiniya camp. In Sayeda Zeinab refugee camp, an elderly man named Khalil Saleh was killed and four others were wounded in different projectile attacks on the camp by the Syrian regime forces.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2fb3114RUy%2bdgVpF8fuQJvG2XgOHYRnKjReEqdVI04U6Klwasf0vsPW%2fcGjZ603h3AqKA70nmHI0Ge9Mw3QvkierU2zSqhPyG%2bNbY3qR7p0E%3d

Political and economic news



IMF warns PA finances ‘increasingly precarious’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) 15 Mar — The Palestinian Authority’s fiscal situation is “increasingly precarious,” the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday. The IMF called for urgent action to help it close a gaping budget deficit and to stabilize the economy … The IMF projected a financing gap of about $400 million for 2013, which includes expected donor budget support of $1 billion and payment of 2012 wage arrears. However, the funding shortfall could reach $700 million if donors fail to deliver on aid promises, the IMF said. It urged the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to draw up contingency plans that includes spending cuts.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575337

EU grants PA €20.8 to pay salaries, pensions

IMEMC 17 Mar — The European Union (EU) has granted the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank approximately €2.8 so that it can pay pensions and salaries to nearly 82.000 retired persons, and government employees, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The European Union will be paying €20 million while Holland will be paying €0.8 million. The funds are part of the EU PEGASE aid mechanism to the Palestinian Authority … The E.U is also trying to ensure that Israel transfers, and continues to transfer, Palestinian Tax and Customs money it collects on all border terminals it controls in the West Bank.

http://www.imemc.org/article/65228

Obama’s visit will reinforce Palestinian Authority, says US official

JERUSALEM, March 16 (WAFA) – A senior United States official said Friday that one of the reasons for the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama to the region is to reinforce US support for the Palestinian Authority. US Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes described in a briefing via satellite from Washington Obama’s three day trip to Israel, Palestine and Jordan as “a very important trip.”

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=21895

Other news

Prominent female Hamas lawmaker dies in Gaza

BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Mar — Mariam Farahat, a Hamas-affiliated female member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, passed away on Sunday at the age of 64, a Gaza health official said … Hundreds of leading Hamas officials, including Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, gathered at the hospital to pay their respects, the Al-Qassam Brigades said. Farahat was born in Gaza City in 1949 and became a deputy in the Legislative Council of Hamas in 2006 elections. She became known as the “Khansa of Palestine”, named after a 7th century female Arab poet, due to her sacrifices during the second intifada. Three of Farahat’s sons were killed by Israeli forces and a fourth was released in 2005 after 11 years in an Israeli jail.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575777

Bodies of Jordan bus crash victims returned to West Bank

JENIN (Ma‘an) 17 Mar — The bodies of 15 Palestinians killed in a bus crash in Jordan were returned to the West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian officials said. An official ceremony was held at a crossing in Jericho and attended by PLO officials Saeb Erekat, Tawfiq Tirawi, PA interior minister Said Abu Ali and health minister Hani abdeen, crossing officials said …

On Saturday, a bus carrying Palestinian pilgrims who performed the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia overturned on the Dead Sea road on Saturday, according to the Amman-based daily al-Ghad. Fifteen Palestinians, mainly from Jenin, were killed and over 40 people injured.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575801

‘May all Arabs die!’ Israelis on Facebook express joy at Jordan bus crash that killed Palestinian victims

EI 16 Mar by Ali Abunimah — Israelis, including at least one person identifying himself as a soldier, reacted with genocidal joy on Facebook to the horrifying news this morning that 17 Palestinians returning from a pilgrimage had been killed in a bus accident in Jordan and dozens more injured. Early reports had put the number of dead at 14 … “I couldn’t ask for a better morning than this,” wrote Facebook user Kobi Yaacov Saroussi under an item about the accident on the Facebook page of Israel’s Channel 2, “Shame there isn’t another zero at the end [of the number of victims].” There were dozens more similar comments.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/may-all-arabs-die-israelis-facebook-express-joy-jordan-bus-crash-killed

Chairman defends magazine after Hamas lawsuit threats

CAIRO (Ma‘an) 15 Mar — Chairman of the board at Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine Mamdouh Al-Wali said Friday that he does not intervene editorially in what the magazine publishes and had no role in the story linking Hamas to the deaths of Egyptian soldiers … A day earlier Hamas’ military wing said it would sue the editor-in-chief of the magazine over a report Thursday accusing Hamas leaders of killing Egyptian soldiers in the northern Sinai.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=575248

US survey: Support for Israel at all-time high

Ynet 16 Mar — According to a Gallup survey released Friday, 64% of Americans sympathize with Israelis, versus 12% who sympathize with the Palestinians and 23% who said they did not support either … The recent survey, conducted in February, showed that as in previous polls, sympathy for Israel is much more prevalent among Republicans (78%) than it is among Democrats (55%). In the group of people between the ages of 18 and 34, sympathy rates are 55%, rising to 65% among Americans between the ages of 35 and 54, and as for those 55 and older support for Israel stands at 71%. Support rates for the Palestinians were at 12% for all age groups. Support for Israel has been exceeding 60% for the last three years, but the recent poll sees the highest percentage in the last 22 years.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4356990,00.html

Analysis / Opinion / Human interest

Haaretz entitled its review of this article “Days before Obama visit, NYT publishes pro-Palestinian manifesto”

Is this where the third intifada will start? / Ben Ehrenreich

NY Times 15 Mar — On the evening of Feb. 10, the living room of Bassem Tamimi’s house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh was filled with friends and relatives smoking and sipping coffee, waiting for Bassem to return from prison. His oldest son, Waed, 16, was curled on the couch with his 6-year-old brother, Salam, playing video games on the iPhone that the prime minister of Turkey had given their sister, Ahed. She had been flown to Istanbul to receive an award after photos of her shaking her fist at an armed Israeli soldier won her, at 11, a brief but startling international celebrity. Their brother Abu Yazan, who is 9, was on a tear in the yard, wrestling with an Israeli activist friend of Bassem’s. Nariman, the children’s mother, crouched in a side room, making the final preparations for her husband’s homecoming meal, laughing at the two photographers competing for shots from the narrow doorway as she spread onions onto oiled flatbreads. On the living-room wall was a “Free Bassem Tamimi” poster, left over from his last imprisonment for helping to organize the village’s weekly protests against the Israeli occupation, which he has done since 2009. He was gone for 13 months that time, then home for 5 before he was arrested again in October.

http://www.nytimeso.cm/2013/03/17/magazine/is-this-where-the-third-intifada-will-start.html

US Jews leave ‘Gatekeepers’ asking why we give money to Israel — says Oren, outraged

Mondoweiss 17 Mar by Philip Weiss — The documentary “Gatekeepers” is now playing at two theaters in Westchester. Here and here. There are a lot of Jews in Westchester. And what do we care about Jews seeing the movie? Well, Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., does. He is quoted in Hebrew at Ynet: “I’ve been hearing about Jews leaving the screening asking why we should keep assisting Israel” This statement is not contained in the English translation of the piece. But that piece is itself stunning. Oren said that he intended originally to keep private his views of the film, which conveys the statements of six former Israeli security chiefs, except that there is now a massive struggle over the delegitimization of Israel in the United States.

http://mondoweiss.net/2013/03/gatekeepers-israel-outraged.html

150 years of teaching Muslims, Jews and Christians together in Jaffa

Haaretz 15 Mar by Danna Harman — The two Scottish sisters who founded the Tabeetha School set out to provide the children of the Holy Land with an education; their lessons on the importance of celebrating diversity live on.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/150-years-of-teaching-muslims-jews-and-christians-together-in-jaffa-1.509646

The IRA veteran and the daughter of a slain MP who preached peace to Israelis / Gideon Levy and Nir Kafri

Haaretz 17 Mar — She is the bereaved daughter of the British member of Parliament who was one of five people killed in one of the biggest terror attacks in the history of the Irish Republican Army – an attack meant to kill the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher. He is the man who planted the bomb in that attack, at the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984, where members of the Conservative Party were gathered for a conference. He was the only person arrested and convicted, and he was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms. After 14 years in prison, he was freed, after the signing, in 1998, of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought about the release of all IRA prisoners. Since then he has been roaming his country and the world together with the daughter of the man he murdered, attending meetings and conferences, and giving lectures. This week the two of them arrived here, too, for a lecture tour aimed at Israelis and Palestinians, during which they are presenting their extraordinary and astonishing experiences. Jo Berry and Patrick Magee do not fall on each other’s necks. Even today, nearly 30 years after the blast that killed her father, and after the hundreds of hours they have spent together since – the pair sat far apart, at opposite ends of a couch, carefully guarding their tongues.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/the-ira-veteran-and-the-daughter-of-a-slain-mp-who-preached-peace-to-israelis.premium-1.509655

Drinking tea with the man who killed my father

[with video] Ynet 17 Mar by Gili Gurel — Her father was killed in an IRA bombing but Jo Berry decided to meet the men responsible; her first meeting with Pat Magee, the bomber, developed into a public dialogue lasting years; the two visited Israel [and the PA] and told Ynet their story … I met with Jo and Pat at the home of Robi Damelin, a PIBFP activist who lost her son David in 2002, during the second intifada. A Palestinian sniper, Ta’ar Hamed, shot him while he was guarding a road block in the West Bank. Hamed killed eight soldiers and two civilians and escaped. He was caught two years later and sentenced to 11 life sentences. Robi, a spritely and quick-tongued woman from South Africa, is inspired by Jo and Pat’s story … She wrote Hamed a letter and intends to meet with him. Though his first response was demonstratively political, without a personal tone and with no avenue for reconciliation, he recently agreed to meet with her. Robi sees the similarities between her story and Jo and Pat’s. When they told how they receive the harshest responses from North Ireland, she sympathized – in Israel she is ofter called a “traitor.” It is clear the three share a deep understanding. But I try and understand why, beyond the personal journey, they believe there is a need for national processes of reconciliation, and whether it is impossible to make do with a political solution, a peace treaty. Is it even possible to discuss reconciliation while the conflict is still going on? “I don’t think that you can have a political solution here without a reconciliation process,” Robi insisted.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4357085,00.html

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