21 October, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
The Changing Character Of East Jerusalem Is An Obstacle To Peace
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Friday October 22, 2010 – 05:53, The possibility of a viable two-state solution being eroded by settlement expansion, Palestinian home demolitions and deportations
Turkish Government Denies Direct Support to Gaza Flotilla
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 17:19, The Israeli government reported Thursday that documents found in one of the laptops confiscated by the Israeli Defense Forces suggest that the flotilla organizers received assistance from the Turkish government — a claim that the Turkish government vehemently denies.
Israeli Military Bulldoze Lands in Hebron
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 12:36, Israeli bulldozers began, on Thursday morning, clearing large areas of Palestinian land in the region of al-Bok’a, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Center Reports on Israeli Abuse of Children
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 12:26, The Palestinian, Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights published, on Thursday, new reports about Israeli abuse and random detention of Palestinian children and their parents in the town of Silwan next to the old city of Jerusalem.
Israeli Army Detained A University Student One Month Before His Graduation Day
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 11:15, The Palestinian Center for Human Rights and Detainees in Nablus condemned on Thursday the Israeli army raid on the house of Palestinian Nawwaf al-Ammer, and detention of his son, Ibrahim Ammer, 22 years old, after a destructive search of the house.
Israeli Military Abducts Two, Disrupts Many Near Hebron
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 11:12, The Israeli army, on Thursday morning, abducted two Palestinian citizens after invading their houses and ransacking their contents in the town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron. The citizens were identified as Malek Awad, 21, and Rami Awad, 28.
The West Bank Ready For a New Airport
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 11:07, According to Palestinian News Network, the Palestinian Authority is ready to start the construction of a new international airport, east of Jerusalem.
Rate Of Israeli Settlement Construction Quadrupled In Last Month
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 10:56, At least 500 new buildings have been constructed since Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, lifted the partial hold on new permits that was in place for six months prior to September. Even while the so-called ‘moratorium’ was in place, construction continued in dozens of West bank settlements, but with the hold lifted, Israeli settlers have gone on a ‘building spree’, according to the Associated Press.
Clinton: “Two-State Solution Still Possible”
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 10:25, On Wednesday, at an annual gala of the American Taskforce for Palestine in Washington D.C., United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that Israelis and Palestinians have not abandoned peace negotiations and a two-state solution is still possible.
Two Wounded in Gaza Strip Collecting Scrap Metal
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Thursday October 21, 2010 – 10:24, Palestinian medical sources reported, on Thursday, that two residents who work in the collection of scrap metal were wounded when the Israeli army opened fire at them in northern Gaza.
Israeli fire injures 2 workers in northern Gaza
10/21/2010 – GAZA (Ma’an) — Israeli forces fired live ammunition injuring two Gaza residents near the Strip’s northern border on Thursday morning, medics reported. Medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmieh said the injured men were collecting rubble near Beit Lahiya, and were taken to Kamal Adwan hospital for treatment. An Israeli military spokeswoman said….
Anti-wall campaigner sentenced to 18 months in jail
10/21/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a protest leader from Bil’in, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment Thursday for his involvement in organizing demonstrations, local activists said. The decision aggravates the 1-year sentence originally imposed in the first instance.” Today the court of appeals has shown that it is serving as….
Settlers attack village and steal olives
10/21/2010 – SALFIT (Ma’an) — Settlers attacked residents of Kifl Haris village in Salfit and stole their olives, witnesses said. Locals reported that residents of the illegal Ariel settlement attacked villagers as they harvested their olives. Meanwhile, Israeli forces destroyed farmland in Al-Baq’a east of the West Bank city of Hebron, residents said. An….
Rights group lodges complaint against Dutch company
10/22/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq announced Thursday that it has lodged a criminal complaint against a Dutch private rental company, Riwal, for its involvement in the construction of Israel’s wall. The complaint asserts that Riwal is complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity – offences….
PA urged to investigate torture allegations
10/21/2010 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority should promptly investigate the alleged torture of two detainees in a Jericho prison and ensure that officials responsible for the abuse are prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. These two cases are among more than 100 allegations of torture registered so far this year with the Independent Commission….
Witnesses: Israeli patrol enters Gaza
10/21/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Israeli forces entered Gaza via the Karni and Sufa crossings Thursday morning, witnesses said. Locals said soldiers patrolled the area east of Gaza City and opened fire before withdrawing. Also, the An-Nasser Brigades claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli force stationed near Al-Matbaq gate east of Rafah in southern Gaza….
Bethlehem detainee enters 27th year in Israeli jail
10/22/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Issa Abed Rabbo, 47, entered his 27th year in Israeli detention on Thursday, the detainees center said. Abed Rabbo was detained from Ad-Duheisha refugee camp in October 1984 accused of affiliation to Fatah and resisting the occupation. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and is the longest-serving detainee from Bethlehem, the….
Campus Palestine advocates respond to ADL list
10/22/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — University students promoting Palestine have responded to a report by the Anti-Defamation League listing Students for Justice in Palestine and other American organizations amongthe “Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups in America.” The report – which also names prominent Muslim-American organizations, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Christian ecumenical organization Friends of Sabeel – criticizes….
5 detained in Silwan overnight
10/21/2010 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) —Israeli special forces detained five Palestinians from the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem overnight on Wednesday. The detentions followed a wave of arrests at dawn on Wednesday, when nine Palestinians were detained from their homes in the Ein El-Lozeh and Ber Yacoub areas of Silwan. Those arrested included Sahib Ar-Rajabi….
Public health at risk as UNRWA goes on strike
10/21/2010 – Public health at risk as UNRWA goes on strike. Published yesterday (updated) 21/10/2010 23:13. TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Refugee camps in the West Bank district of Tulkarem face a health crisis as trash builds up in the streets due to an ongoing strike by workers employed by the UN’s Palestine….
Israel army says drone crashed in north Gaza
10/21/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli military drone crashed in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, army officials said.”During routine activity an unmanned aircraft fell in the northern Gaza Strip,” an Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an.”IDF soldiers retrieved the aircraft and returned it.” She added: “The circumstances of the event are….
PA signs agreement with France to repair Gaza wastewater station
10/21/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority signed a new financial agreement with France on Sunday dedicated to the construction of a regional wastewater treatment plant in northern Gaza. The Beit Lahiya wastewater treatment plant receives wastewater from the 250,000 inhabitants of the municipalities of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Umm An-Nasser. The plant….
Settlement-produced paper seized in Hebron
10/21/2010 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Printing paper produced in a settlement were seized from Hebron on Thursday. Sources said the paper was produced in the illegal Atarot settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, and was held in a warehouse in Ar-Ram in Jerusalem, before being transferred to Hebron to be sold. The sources added that the owner….
Clinton says no substitute for peace negotiations
10/21/2010 – WASHINGTON (Ma’an) — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday there was “no substitute for face-to-face discussion” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speaking at a Washington dinner for advocacy group the American Task Force on Palestine, Clinton said negotiations were “the only path that will lead to the fulfillment of the Palestinian national….
Netanyahu: Settlements no threat to peace
10/21/2010 – TEL AVIV (Ma’an) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that construction in existing West Bank settlements “does not contradict the aspiration for peace and an agreement.” Addressing the Knesset at a session to mark the 15th anniversary of the assassination of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Netanyahu said the partial settlement freeze….
Sha’ath: Talks on hold until US election
10/21/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A member of the PLO’s negotiating team said Thursday that the Obama administration had all but given up its efforts to restart peace talks at least until US midterm elections next month. Fatah leader Nabil Sha’ath said the US position threw the Palestinian Authority into crisis through….
Hamas: PA detained 8 supporters
10/21/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas accused Palestinian Authority security forces of arresting eight party members in the West Bank overnight Wednesday. In a statement, Hamas said the PA was continuing its arrest campaign against Hamas affiliates, adding that the latest detentions occurred in Ramallah, Hebron and Tulkarem. The Islamist movement said PA forces arrested over….
Knesset: Carter seen as Hamas supporter
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin relayed Israeli public perception of former US President Jimmy Carter by saying that he is viewed as a Hamas supporter, Ynet News reported Thursday. Rivlin met with the Elders organization…
Israeli protestors denounce Citizenship Act, call for return to ‘classical Zionism’
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – An Israeli protest movement against the controversial Citizenship Act, which includes a requirement for all those seeking citizenship to swear and oath of allegiance to a “Jewish and democratic” Israel, is taking place and…
NDP officials: Hosni Mubarak seeks sixth term
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – A top official from Egypt’s National Democratic Party (NDP) has indicated that current President Hosni Mubarak will seek another six-year presidential term in next year’s elections, Ynet News reported Thursday. This news comes after…
Viva Palestina convoy reaches Gaza
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – The Viva Palestinian convoy of flotilla reached the Gaza Strip on Thursday with $5 million worth of aid, PressTV reported Thursday. The convoy protests the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007, since political…
Netanyahu: Settlements do not contradict peace
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Wednesday that the Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank “does not contradict the aspiration for peace and an agreement,” Ma’an News Agency reported Thursday. In his…
Chavez continues MidEast tour in Damascus
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez continued his tour of the Middle East on Thursday, stopping by Damascus for a visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Chavez’s stated goal for his tour is to counter US…
WATCH: Dead Sea Scrolls going online
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – In a project launched by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the Dead Sea Scrolls will be available for viewing online, the Jewish Journal reported Wednesday. Nine-hundred images will be digitized, containing over 300,000 Dead Sea…
Bulldozer driver in Rachel Corrie case brought to trial
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – The bulldozer driver who crushed US peace activist Rachel Corrie in March 2003 was brought to trial on Thursday in Haifa, Al Jazeera reported Thursday. The former solider was seated behind a wood-and-plastic partition…
Clinton: Negotiations ‘absolutely necessary’
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – “Negotiations are not easy, but they too are absolutely necessary. There is no substitute for face-to-face discussion and, ultimately, for an agreement that leads to a just and lasting peace. That is the only…
2 Israeli soliders arrested for stealing and trading weapons
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – Two Israeli soldiers and four citizens were arrested on Thursday for illegally stealing and trading stolen ammunition, Haaretz reported Thursday. The charges follow months of investigation led by Israeli intelligence forces. The investigation revealed…
Hariri: Israeli loyalty oath reminiscent of South African apartheid
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Washington – Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri referred to Israel’s amendment to its citizenship bill as racist on Sunday, Haaretz reported Thursday. The amendment requires non-Jewish seeking citizenship to pledge loyalty to the Israel as a…
At least 550 new settler homes being built in West Bank
Palestine Note 21 Oct 2010 – Israeli advocacy group says building pace is now four times greater than before ban. Washington – According to Peace Now estimates, more than 600 new settler homes have begun construction after the expiration of the moratorium…
The lobby: Running scared
Palestine Note 20 Oct 2010 – The Anti-Defamation League has published its list of the “Top Ten Most Anti-Israel Groups in America.” It’s the most significant Jewish enemies list since the like-minded American Jewish Committee issued “Progressive Jewish Thought and the New…
Tourism, one practical advantage of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement
Palestine Note 20 Oct 2010 – Washington, DC – Recent sputtering of a peace process between Israel and Palestine, the termination of Israel’s settlement building freeze causing a demise of said peace process – again – has produced a loud, global yawn….
The day after tomorrow
Palestine Note 20 Oct 2010 – Can Israel or America put Iran’s nuclear technological genie back in the bottle? Can any country, in fact, ever hope to eliminate and verify the elimination of all weapons capable of mass destruction? What about America’s…
Driver testifies in Corrie case
AlJazeera 21 Oct 2010 – A bulldozer driver who crushed a US activist in Gaza in 2003 tells Haifa court he can not recall much about day she died
Viva Palestina convoy reaches Gaza
AlJazeera 21 Oct 2010 – Pro-Palestinian activists enter Gaza through Rafah crossing with $5m of aid for residents of Israeli-blockaded strip.
Israel ramps up settlement building
AlJazeera 21 Oct 2010 – Surveys say hundreds of homes in West Bank have begun to be built since settlement freeze was lifted three weeks ago.
US foes seek ‘new world order’
AlJazeera 21 Oct 2010 – Venezuela and Iran denounce US imperialism as they flex their economic muscles by signing a raft of energy deals.
Israel Reveals Documents Related To The Gaza Closure Policy
PNN – Gisha — PNN — on Thursday and after one and a half years in which Israel at first denied their existence and then claimed that revealing them would harm state security , the…
Seeing Is Believing
PNN – ANERA- PNN – The dingy basement room was constructed in 1972 with miserable ventilation and light. Worn-out, outdated computers are stacked in a monotonous line alongside the moldy crumbling walls. This was…
Audio Report : The Fifth Viva Palestina Aid Convoy Enter Gaza
PNN – Gaza- PNN —On Thursday evening the fifth aid convoy organized by Viva Palestina managed to cross into Gaza. PNN’s Ghassan Bannoura prepared this report:
Elders Visit Silwan, Hear Local Stories
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN – This morning a delegation from the peace advocacy group The Elders, including former US President Jimmy Carter, visited the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The delegation sat down…
Electronic Checkpoints to Make Palestinian Passage “More Pleasant”
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN – Military sources told Israeli news house YNetNews.com that they would begin installing new “soldier-free” checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. Under the new system, entry and exit…
Limited Israeli Incursion into Eastern Gaza
PNN – Gaza — PNN – Israeli military forces made a limited incursion into the Gaza Strip east of Gaza City on Thursday. Eyewitnesses said a number of Israeli tanks came about 300 meters…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14— 20 October 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Delegitimization of Israel tops agenda at JPPI conference
Jeruslalem Post 22 Oct 2010 – Livni on UK arrest warrant: My parents were both put in British prisons, I am also willing to sit in a British prison for Israel.
The last checkmate?
Jeruslalem Post 22 Oct 2010 – Israeli chess captain Alon Greenfeld is sadly convinced that Israel’s successes will never be replicated.
2 soldiers, 5 others held for stealing IDF weapons
Jeruslalem Post 22 Oct 2010 – Weapons were taken from military base; criminals prefer army guns to make it hard for police to trace them, senior investigator tells ‘Post.’
Chief Rabbinate to probe IDF, civilian conversion
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Five senior rabbis will present findings to Chief Sephardi Rabbi, Chief IDF Rabbi within four months after doubt over army conversions.
IDF boosts missile defense with Tel Aviv Arrow battery
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Battery will have Arrow-2 missile interceptors; IDF chooses center location because it “provides the utmost protection for long-range threats.”
Robinson tells ‚ÄòPost’ of encouraging a non-violent Hamas
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Carter, in Silwan, demands division between east and west J’lem; Barkat says, “Biased third parties do more harm than good.”
Analysis: Would US work against unilateral ‘Palestine?’
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Netanyahu is being told that if he doesn’t extend the freeze, talks will break down, something else will take its place.
Exclusive: ‘No’ to UNRWA school ‚Äònear Hamas base’
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Defense sources say Israel committed to UNRWA education system, will not allow Hamas to use schools, children in terror war against Israel.
Exclusive: Israel rejects UNRWA school ‚Äònear Hamas base’
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Defense sources say Israel committed to UNRWA education system but will not allow Hamas to use schools and children in terrorist war against Israel.
Israel warns of unilateral steps if PA seeks UN statehood
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Gov’t source: If the Palestinians think that unilateral moves are a one-way street, they are sadly mistaken. Considering reviving Olmert’s “convergence” ideas for a withdrawal from parts of the West Bank.
NIS 60m on Road 443 security, for 5 Palestinian cars a day
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – The checkpoints were built earlier this year after the High Court of Justice ordered the IDF to reopen the road to Palestinian traffic.
PA says Israel ‚Äòspreading lies’ about peace intentions
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Erekat: No compromises on settlements; our position is that Israel should stop all settlement construction in order for the direct talks to resume.
‘Viva Palestina’ aid convoy arrives in Gaza
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Flotilla receives warm welcome from Hamas; aid estimated to be worth $5 million; Egypt banned head organizer from going to Gaza
IDF constructs new Arrow missile defense battery near TA
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Battery will have Arrow-2 missile interceptors; IDF chooses center location because it “provides the utmost protection for long-range threats.”
UN Mideast envoy slams Israel’s renewed building
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Robert Serry : settlement construction “illegal under international law,” says “will only further undermine trust.”
UN Mideast envoy slams Israel’s renewed W.Bank building
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Robert Serry calls settlement construction is “illegal under international law,” says “will only further undermine trust.”
2 IDF soldiers ‘stole firearms and sold them to criminals
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Weapons were taken from military base; criminals prefer army guns to make it harder for police to trace them, senior investigator tells Post.
Chavez hopes one day to visit ‘liberated Golan’
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Assad claims Israel “does not have desire to give anything for sake of peace” as Venezuelan president visits Syria.
Chavez hopes for day to see Golan returned to Syria
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Venezuelan President visits Syria; Assad says Israel “does not have desire to give anything for sake of peace.”
Rabbi hits back at PA imam for anti-Israel diatribe
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – PA’s chief Islamic judge accused Israel of illegally occupying J’lem, “Judaizing” the city, and peddling drugs to local Palestinian youth.
PA says it will try again to mend rift with Hamas
Jeruslalem Post 21 Oct 2010 – Scheduled meeting between factions in Damascus canceled following heated exchange between Abbas and Assad at Arab summit in Libya.
International Solidarity Movement
Bulldozer driver testifies in Rachel Corrie case
10/22/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – 21 October 2010, YNet News – The bulldozer driver who ran over Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003 said Thursday he did not realize he had trampled the American left-wing activist to death until he heard what had happened over the radio network. The driver, whose name has not been released, testified during a Haifa District….
Delayed permission for exit from Gaza causes death of toddler
10/21/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Occupied Territories Department of Physicians for Human Rights Reports on Another Death in Gaza of a Sick Person who Did Not Receive a Permit to Exit the Gaza Strip for Medical Care – Nasama Abu Lashin, a two-year old toddler from Gaza died on Saturday October 15, 2010 in the Netzer Hospital in Gaza. Nasama did….
Bil’in organizer sentenced to 18 months
10/22/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – 21 October 2010, Popular Struggle Coordination Committee – Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a protest leader from Bil’in, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by the Military Court of Appeals, for his involvement in organizing demonstrations. The decision dramatically aggravates the one-year sentence originally imposed in the first instance. Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military….
Farmers Again Prevented from Entering their Land
10/22/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Salim 20. 10. 10 – Today a family in the village of Salim, southeast of Nablus, was prevented from harvesting their olives for a second time this year. All of their trees are located behind a settlers¬¥ road leading to the illegal settlement of Elon More: a settlement which has stolen much of the village’….
‘Viva Palestina’ activists deliver tons of aid to Gaza Strip
Ha’aretz – Most of the activists arrived at the Egyptian port El-Arish on flights from Syria, while just 30 activists made the journey with the aid supplies by ship.
UN: Settlement construction rate undermining Mideast peace talks
Ha’aretz – Mideast envoy says alarmed by Associated Press report stating 544 new settlement homes were built since freeze expired late last month.
Carter: Hamas eager to renew talks for Shalit’s release
Ha’aretz – The Elders hold meetings with Hamas officials, discuss stalled negotiations for Shalit’s release and Middle East peace talks.
Israeli soldiers enter Gaza after IDF drone crashes in Strip
Ha’aretz – Rochev Hashamayim drone was controlled by an IDF artillery unit on an information gathering mission before it crashed landed on the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave., Hariri also says law will make…
Hamas official: Israel held up Shalit deal by refusing to free 15 top prisoners
Ha’aretz – Head of Hamas’ military wing has no interest in securing any exchange unless those senior militants are released, official tells Al-Hayyat.
Settlers have broken ground on nearly 550 West Bank homes since end of freeze, survey shows
Ha’aretz – According to an Associated Press count, rate of construction since September 26 is four times faster than over the last two years.
Clinton: Two-state solution still possible for Israel, Palestinians
Ha’aretz – U.S. Secretary of State tells U.S. task force on Palestine that sides have not abandoned peace process, adds position on West Bank settlements ‘has not changed’.
Leading rabbi encourages IDF soldiers to use Palestinian human shields
Ha’aretz – ‘Your life is more important than that of the enemy’, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira tells students, adding that a soldier should never put himself in danger even for the sake of…
IDF to block Facebook, Gmail to prevent ‘gifts for Hamas’
Ha’aretz – List of popular websites to be blocked on army bases, offices, to avoid inadvertent leaks of classified information.
Viva Palestina 5 reaches El Arish, enters Gaza tonight
21 Oct 2010 – Gaza, October 21, (Pal Telegraph) The first delegation of Viva Palestina 5 “Lifeline 5” convoy arrived last night to El Arish airport which intends to provide assistance to the Gaza Strip. According to the Middle East News Agency that the first delegation, which is 155 activist, is expected to be inflicted by a second group at a later time, the…
Israeli drone crashes into ground in Gaza
21 Oct 2010 – Gaza, October 21, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli drone fell today in the territory of the Gazan citizens in “Shija’eya”, along the border, east of Gaza City. According to eyewitnesses and security sources, the Israeli drone landed at a distance of 200 meters from the border, while Israeli vehicles rushed to the crash site. Sources also reported seeing two Israeli tanks and…
Israeli army shoots young Gazan workers
21 Oct 2010 – Gaza, October 21, (Pal Telegraph) Three Gazan youths were slightly injured this morning after being shot by the Israeli occupation forces in the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the military medical services in Gaza, Adham Abu Salmeyah, confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian workers who were…
Israel lets seventh batch of cars into Gaza
21 Oct 2010 – Gaza, October 21, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation authorities allowed today the entry of the seventh batch of new cars into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Abu Salem commercial crossing, located to the southern Gaza Strip. Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Gaza’s Supplies, Raed Fattouh, said that the Israeli occupation authorities allowed today the entry of 20 new vehicles…
Israeli army raids Hebron, razes lands
21 Oct 2010 – Hebron, October 21, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli bulldozers carried today morning on razing Palestinian agricultural lands in the village of “Baq’a” adjacent to the settlement of “Kiryat Arba”, east of Hebron in the West Bank. Villager Badran Jaber reported that Israeli bulldozer of accompanied by enhanced mechanisms and dozens of Israeli soldiers raided the village and began razing farmlands owned by…
Shepherd made homeless, injured and imprisoned
21 Oct 2010 – Hebron, October 21, (Pal Telegraph — ISM & CPT) Noah El-Rajabi is a shepherd, with two hundred sheep and goats. He lives in Bani Na’im, 17 kilometres from Hebron. He is married, and has seven children. Ten weeks ago the Israeli military demolished his house. His wife and younger children now live in two rented rooms in Hebron. Noah and…
Israel partially opens Gaza’s commercial crossings
20 Oct 2010 – Gaza, October 20, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation authorities partially opened today the Kerem Abu Salem and Karni commercial crossings to the entry of dozens of trucks carrying aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip. Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Gaza’s Supplies, Raed Fattouh, said that the Israeli occupation authorities allowed the entry of between 210-220 trucks through the Kerem…
Center Reports on Israeli Abuse of Children
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – The Palestinian, Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights published, on Thursday, new reports about Israeli abuse and random detention of Palestinian children and their parents in the town of Silwan next to the old city of Jerusalem. One of these reports came from Abdullah Ghaith, 17. He told a social worker in the Center…
Israel Shooting and Electric-Shocking Palestinian Children
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine Section (DCI/Palestine) “is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children,” according to international law principles. Two earlier articles addressed their work. Both covered Israel’s systematic, institutionalized use of torture of Palestinian children as brutally…
Jerusalem center promotes Palestinian heritage
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – “I very much want this place to continue being a bit of Palestinian heritage,” says Huda Imam. “A place for people to come and research and do art and have ateliers, or just read and have a cup of tea with mint and feel the Palestinian-ness of the heart of Jerusalem.” Imam is Director of…
Delayed permission for exit from Gaza causes death of toddler
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Nasma Abu Lasheen died on Saturday, October 16, 2010 in Gaza. Israel failed to issue her an urgent entry permit for life-saving medical treatment at Ha-Emek Medical Center in Afula, Israel. She was two years old. Abu Lasheen, a young resident of Gaza diagnosed with Leukemia, was referred for emergency treatment in Israel on October…
Israeli drone crashes in northern Gaza
Uruknet October 21, 2010 ‚Äî An Israeli army drone crashed in the north of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Thursday but was recovered by a military unit, an army spokeswoman said. “The drone crashed in northern Gaza, at first reading from a technical fault,” she told AFP. “A unit was sent to the scene and has recovered the machine.” The…
Viva Palestina convoy reaches Gaza
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Pro-Palestinian activists in more than 100 cars and trucks have crossed into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah crossing with aid worth nearly $5m. The multinational “Viva Palestina” ship arrived at Egypt’s port city of al-Arish from Lattakia, Syria, earlier on Thursday. About 300 activists then flew into al-Arish airport and converged with the…
Canada: Boy Scout exposed at UN
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – The humiliating withdrawal by Canada from the race with Germany and Portugal for a covetted place on the United Nations Security Council revealed what close observers have long known — that the current Conservative government in Ottawa has nothing but disdain for the world’s tattered peacekeeper and would most likely just use its seat to…
More than an olive branch
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has expressed willingness to offer Israel far-reaching concessions in return for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in all or most of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Some the offered concessions constitute clear abandonment of Palestinian national constants and other long-standing Palestinian positions. Earlier this week,…
Video: Facing death on Gaza’s borderDozens of Palestinians have been shot by Israeli troops while collecting rubble.
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Three Palestinians have been shot and injured by Israeli troops in recent days while collecting rubble near the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel. Many young Palestinians scour the area to gather the bricks and stones from demolished homes to sell to help them scratch out a living. A UN report says that at least 25…
Rate Of Israeli Settlement Construction Quadrupled In Last Month
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – At least 500 new buildings have been constructed since Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, lifted the partial hold on new permits that was in place for six months prior to September. Even while the so-called ‘moratorium’ was in place, construction continued in dozens of West bank settlements, but with the hold lifted, Israeli settlers have…
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (14— 20 October 2010)
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Summary: Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (14 — 20 October 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed two members of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip, and wounded 3 civilians, including a child, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In…
Israeli fire injures 2 workers in northern Gaza
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – Israeli forces fired live ammunition injuring two Gaza residents near the Strip’s northern border on Thursday morning, medics reported. Medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmieh said the injured men were collecting rubble near Beit Lahiya, and were taken to Kamal Adwan hospital for treatment. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she would look into the report….
SATANIC VERSES DISGUISED AS JUDAISM
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – There are three major branches of Judaism that exist today, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Over the past few years we have seen the evolvement of yet another branch, Satanic Judaism. Not yet in the mainstream, it manifests itself mainly through the verses written by so-called rabbis living n Israel. Earlier in the year one of…
HRW: West Bank: Reports of Torture in Palestinian Detention
Uruknet October 21, 2010 – The Palestinian Authority should promptly investigate the alleged torture of two detainees over the past month in a Jericho prison and ensure that officials responsible for the abuse are prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said today. These two cases are among more than 100 allegations of torture registered so far this year with the Independent Commission…
Video: US activist’s family sue Israel
Uruknet A civil lawsuit brought by the parents of a US peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli forces bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in March 2003 has begun being heard in the Israeli city of Haifa. The driver of the bulldozer that crushed Rachel Corrie to death will testify in court on Thursday, while the military…
In the Name of the Children
Uruknet October 20, 2010 – Reader comments may often be the best litmus test for public opinion. They are sometimes even more interesting than the article itself because they provoke varying points of view from a wide spectrum of people, many of whom violently clash. This was certainly true of a recent story and video showing a settler leader in…
Israeli-Arabs fear for their future
Uruknet October 20, 2010 – Like other Arab citizens of Israel, Leyla Ahmoud is anxious about her future. A young mother of two girls with another on the way, Ahmoud says recent moves by the Israeli government are making it increasingly obvious that the Arabs are not welcome in their own country. “I feel like my life is not in…
Israel Seals Unprecedented Weapons Deals With the US
Uruknet October 20, 2010 – Israel has recently sealed a deal to purchase 20 brand-new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets made by US defense and aerospace corporation Lockheed Martin in a contract that, at $2.75 billion, is one of the largest arms purchases ever made by the state. The entire contract is paid for by an ongoing US military aid…
Leading rabbi encourages IDF soldiers to use Palestinian human shields
Uruknet October 20, 2010 – A leading rabbi in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar has encouraged Israel Defense Forces soldiers to make use of the outlawed “neighbor procedure” while operating in Palestinian areas. “Anything you do to keep the war tough is permissible, and obligatory according to the torah,” Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, headmaster of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva,…
Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers, School in Northern West Bank
Alternative Information Center – On Wednesday 20 October, Israeli settlers attacked a group of farmers from the Boreen village, in the southern Nablus district, who were working in their fields, harvesting the olive crop.
Eight Countries Absent from OECD Conference in Jerusalem
Alternative Information Center – – Norway, Canada, Ireland, UK, Sweden, Iceland, Turkey and South Africa not present at OECD tourism conference
Why is the OECD Supporting Israeli Apartheid?
Alternative Information Center – Following is text of a flyer distributed to passers-by near the venue of the OECD Tourism Conference being held in Jerusalem.
600 settler homes built in West Bank over past month – report
Daily Star 21 Oct 2010 PARIS: French protesters blocked key sites and clashed with police Thursday as unions called for further mass nationwide protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to raise the retirement age. With no fuel left in more than…
Chavez visits Syria on tour to counter US dominance
Daily Star 21 Oct 2010 DAMASCUS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez discussed a proposed oil project with his Syrian counterpart Thursday on the Mideast leg of an international tour partly intended to counter what he calls US “imperialism.”
Octogenarian Mubarak will seek new presidential term – official
Daily Star 21 Oct 2010 CAIRO: Egypt’s octogenarian President Hosni Mubarak, in power for 30 years and whose health has raised questions, is to run for re-election in 2011, a high-ranking ruling party official said on Thursday. “The candidate of the…
Ex-minister’s bribery sentence upheld in Jordan
Daily Star 21 Oct 2010 AMMAN: A Jordanian appeals court upheld the three-year prison sentences of a former finance minister and three others for bribery over the country’s oil refinery Thursday, said a Justice Ministry spokesman. Ex-minister and refinery management committee…
UAE opens east coast naval base to secure oil-export capability
Daily Star 21 Oct 2010 The United Arab Emirates has opened a naval base on its east coast as part of efforts to secure its ability to export oil in the event Iran closes the strategic Strait of Hormuz, local media…
Rachel Corrie case: Israeli soldier in bulldozer ‘did not see her’
The Guardian 21 Oct 2010 – Driver of machine that crushed 23-year-old American to death in Gaza in 2003 tells court he only saw her after the incident The Israeli soldier at the controls of the bulldozer that crushed the pro-Palestinian activist…
S.Africa draws on past to boost Palestinian reconciliation
Relief Web 21 Oct 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
OPT: Fierce clashes over West Bank olive harvest
Relief Web 21 Oct 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
West Bank & Gaza Strip: Closure Maps – July 2010
Relief Web 21 Oct 2010 – Source: OCHA
Jewish settlers ‘building 600 new homes’
Relief Web 21 Oct 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
8th Week against the Apartheid Wall, November 9 — 16 2010
Stop The Wall – [
Rivlin to Carter: Public views you as Hamas supporter
YNet News – Harsh message to former president: Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin blasts Jimmy….
Poll: 49% of Palestinians would recognize Jewish state
YNet News – Survey finds willingness to recognize Israel as Jewish as part of peace deal….
Attorney general: Barak’s wife should be indicted
YNet News – Nili Priel’s offer to pay fine for illegally employing foreign worker rejected….
Gaza-bound ships dock in Egypt
YNet News – Delay, Egyptian regulations prevent many activists from participating in fifth….
IDF reduces rate of mental-based exemptions
YNet News – Army tries to keep Profile 21, label freeing mentally unstable teens from….
Report: Mediator meets jailed Hamas man
YNet News – Al-Hayat reports German mediator in Shalit deal visited Sheikh Hassan Yousef in….
Barak: Not time to insist on recognition
YNet News – In rare critique of Netanyahu defense minister says ‘what we need now is de….
IDF presents: ‘Soldier-free’ checkpoint control
YNet News – New electronic ID system that uses handprints ‘will make passage more pleasant,’….
AP: Settlers building 544 new homes
YNet News – After interviewing construction managers, mayors in effort to document new….
Peres: Israel-PA peace can help US against Iran
YNet News – Israel can assist the US in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat by achieving peace with the Palestinians, President Shimon Peres told Jewish leaders and academics …….
Aid convoy arrives in Gaza overland from Egypt
YNet News – An aid convoy arrived in the Gaza Strip overland from Egypt on Thursday to a warm welcome from the territory’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers. The convoy was …….
Gov’t officials: Prepare for unilateral steps
YNet News – The Palestinians’ intention to seek international recognition of a Palestinian state did not catch Israel’s political echelon by surprise. Amid deadlocked …….
Party official: Egypt’s Mubarak to run in elections
YNet News – A top ruling party official has given the strongest indication to date that Egypt’s 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak will seek another six-year term of office in …….
Chavez to Assad: I hope to visit ‘liberated Golan’
YNet News – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad that Caracas supports Damascus’ demand that Israel return the Golan Heights, a Syrian news …….
Bulldozer driver: I didn’t realize I crushed Rachel Corrie
YNet News – The bulldozer driver who ran over Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003 said Thursday he did not realize he had trampled the American left-wing activist to death until he heard …….
Palestinian Information Center
Jewish Rabbi allows using Palestinians as human shields
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – A Jewish rabbi has allowed the use of unarmed Palestinian civilians as human shields even if they were killed in the process.
Peace Now: Settlers started building 600 housing units at end of freeze
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The Israeli anti settlement organization “Peace Now” announced that settlers had started to build more than 600 housing units in the West Bank since the end of the settlement freeze last September 26.
Israeli court adjourns hearing into the case of Mamanullah cemetery
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The so-called Magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday decided to adjourn hearings into the Israeli municipality’s demand of destroying 220 graves in Mamunallah cemetery for three weeks.
Israeli troops kidnap 3 Najah university students in Nablus
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The international Tadamun foundation said the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped at dawn Thursday three students from Al-Najah national university after raids on their homes in Nablus.
Lifeline 5 lands in El Arish en route to Gaza
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The first batch of activists on the Lifeline 5 convoy arrived Wednesday night at the El Arish airport in Egypt in their last stop before heading out to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.
Netanyahu: No return to 1967 borders, OJ to remain under Israeli sovereignty
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his rejection of Palestinian demands for a lasting peaceful settlement mainly a Palestinian state on 1967 land with Jerusalem as its capital.
IOA blocks travel of Palestinian MP
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – MP Dr. Samir Al-Qadi has said that he was barred from traveling to Turkey to attend a medical conference by the Israeli occupation authority (IOA).
South Africa offers initiative to end Palestinian split
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The state of South Africa proposed an initiative to end internal division in Palestine and achieve reconciliation based on the country’s experiences.
Fatah prisoner in IOA jails on hunger strike over cousin’s detention in PA jails
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The longest serving Fatah prisoner in IOA jails Fakhri Al-Barghouthi and his son Shadi, who is serving a 29-year sentence, have gone on hunger strike.
Ministry of detainees: Israel uses Arab prisoners as political hostages
PIC 21 Oct 2010 – The Palestinian ministry of prisoners’ affairs said that Israel uses Arab detainees in its jails as political hostages at the pretext that their countries do not want them.
Bulldozer driver testifies in Israeli trial over Rachel Corrie’s death
LA Times 21 Oct 2010 – The testimony in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. activist’s family marks his first public comments since the woman’s 2003 death in Gaza. Speaking from behind a screen, he says he remembers little. The bulldozer driver who crushed to death American activist Rachel Corrie seven years ago struggled Thursday just to recall her name.
Settlers Race to Build Units in West Bank
New York Times 21 Oct 2010 – Just weeks after the end of the freeze of West Bank Jewish settlements, hundreds of units are under construction.
Slain US Activist’s Parents Face Israeli Driver
New York Times 21 Oct 2010 – The parents of an American protester crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip got their first chance to hear from the man who killed her.
Palestinians Shift Focus in Strategy for Statehood
New York Times 21 Oct 2010 – The Palestinian leadership, despairing of attaining a negotiated agreement with Israel, is focusing on how to get international bodies to declare a Palestinian state.
DAM: “We Can’t Go To Syria, But Our Music Can”
Palestine Monitor – Day two of the Taybeh Oktoberfest, the internationally renowned beer festival. Its late and the amber nector is loosening tongues. MC Tamer Nafar addresses the audience in English. “Scream if you do not speak Arabic,” he calls. A few people shout, and he raises his voice….
Report from Israel: the occupation is the Stanley Milgram experiment, for American Jews
Mondoweiss – At the beginning of the year I visited Israel and came back and wrote a post , Israel’s crisis. Last month I got back from my third trip to the country, and that sense is stronger. Israel is headed for the iceberg, as one Israeli friend put…
Tibi: American unwillingness to challenge inequality in Israel has gravely damaged its moral authority
Mondoweiss – Ahmed Tibi has a great op-ed in the International Herald Tribune today entitled The Other Citizens of Israel . Too bad it didn’t run the Times . It’s really worth reading the whole thing, but here are some highlights: Is there no limit to what the American government…
Image and reality of Barack Obama’s Israel policy
Mondoweiss – PHOTO: Agence France Presse The photo shown above of an Israeli throwing a shoe at an image of Barack Obama perfectly captures the bizarre notion emanating from right-wing Zionist circles, both in the U.S. and in Israel, that President Obama is hostile to the State of…
Let them eat cake
Mondoweiss – Ali Abunimah’s Pizza analogy for Israel’s facts-on-the-ground negotiating style has taken the world by storm. I have it on good authority that the clip has been watched and enjoyed on the most extreme Israeli settlements. One settler was even heard to say “that guy’s really cool…
Hebron Fund to celebrate West Bank settlements with faux flotilla on the Hudson river
Mondoweiss – The Hebron Fund presents: Remember last year’s Hebron Fund fundraiser at Citi Field was widely attacked by activists . It will be interesting to see how this one develops. Here is a press release sent out by Ronn Torossian : From: Ronn Torossian [rtorossian@5wpr.com] Sent: Wednesday, October…
“Israel Held up Shalit Deal by Refusing to Free 15 Top Detainees”
Al-Manar 21 Oct 2010 – Israel held up a deal to free captured Israeli occupation forces soldier Gilad Shalit by refusing to release 15 senior Palestinian prisoners whose names had already been secured for the exchange, a Hamas official told the Al-Hayyat daily on Thursday. The official also told the…
South Africa Mission Comes to Ramallah to Aid Palestinian Reconciliation
Al-Manar 21 Oct 2010 – South Africa’s diplomatic mission in Ramallah is trying to assist the reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah, on the assumption that internal Palestinian unity is necessary to successfully fight the Israeli occupation. South Africa’s representative to the Palestinian Authority, Dr. Ted Pekane, and Dr….
Canada Denies Mabhouh Assassination Suspect Arrested
Al-Manar 20 Oct 2010 – Canada on Tuesday denied reports that a suspect in January’s assassination of senior Hamas operative Ali Mahmoud Mabhouh was arrested in the country in January, according to the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. A Canadian official called Dubai police chief Lt.-Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim’s…
Israel Crushes A Palestinian Gandhi: Bil’in Organizer Sentenced to 18 months
Joseph Dana 21 Oct 2010 – Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a protest leader from Bil’in, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by the Military Court of Appeals, for his involvement in organizing demonstrations. The decision dramatically aggravates the one-year sentence originally imposed in the first instance. Adeeb Abu Rahma, a protest leader from…
Freed Prisoner Kifah Afaneh: Full-body Searches Routine for Female Prisoners
Sabr 20 Oct 2010 – 19.10.10 – 13:51 Mustafa Sabri — PNN /Exclusive – Recently released prisoner Kifah Afaneh said in an interview that female detainees like her often risk being strip-searched in prison. They fear the interrogation room, she said, where they are stripped in front of hidden cameras as…
Report: Barghouthi to be freed in Shalit deal
Sabr 20 Oct 2010 – Published yesterday (updated) 19/10/2010 21:40 MEDINA, Saudi Arabia ( Ma’an ) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to release Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouthi in a prisoner swap deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit when finalized, a Saudi Arabian newspaper reported Tuesday. According to Al-Madina, quoting sources,…
Jewish settlers ‘start 600 homes’
BBC 21 Oct 2010 – Jewish settlers have started work on some 600 West Bank homes since an Israeli construction freeze expired – four times the pace of building before then, a pressure group says.
Egypt’s Mubarak ‘will run again’
BBC 21 Oct 2010 – A senior Egyptian official says President Hosni Mubarak will stand for re-election next year despite rumours about his health.
Iran and Venezuela deepen ties
BBC 20 Oct 2010 – The presidents of Iran and Venezuela have promised to deepen their “strategic alliance” against US “imperialism”.
Palestine’s Burning Olive Groves
Antiwar.com 22 Oct 2010 – Rannie Amiri on Israel’s defense of settler attacks
Israeli’s Peaceful Position Takes Courage
Antiwar.com 21 Oct 2010 – EAST JERUSALEM — A former captain in the Israeli Air Force, previously an ardent Zionist who lost many members of his family in the Holocaust, has been labeled a psychopath and denounced by many Israelis for the moral stand he has taken against the Israeli occupation….
Israel Torture Palestinian Children by Electric-Shocking
Sabbah report 21 Oct 2010 – Gush Etzion settlement interrogator attached car battery jump leads to the genitals of a 14-year old boy in order to obtain a confession to stone throwing. Three documented cases of children reporting being given electric shocks by Israeli interrogators occurred in Ari’el Settlement. Each was accused…
Ambassador Oren’s Invisible Israel
Sabbah report 21 Oct 2010 – Oren and Shavit have it wrong about Israel. It is not a Jewish state. Rather it is a Zionist state. For 93 years the Zionists have sought to make the two synonymous. But they are not the same. Judaism is a religion that, at its best,…
Repeat with me: “Zionism and peace are incompatible”
Sabbah report 21 Oct 2010 – There is an illusion that a liberal, forward thinking government can rise in Israel and then everything will be just as liberal Zionists wish it to be. They will pick up where Rabin and Arafat left off and we will have the pie in sky Jewish…
Who are the real prisoners?
Sabbah report 21 Oct 2010 – When a Palestinian youth sacrifices his life to prevent the demolition of a house in the Salwan neighborhood in Jerusalem, and when an unarmed Palestinian girl faces the Israeli military oppression machine on her own, is answered with the silence of Arab people, it is more…
(en) Britain, Anarchist Federation (AF) Resistance bulletin #126 – October 2010
A-infos 21 Oct 2010 – Scottish communities resist open cast mining —— From Bradford to Brighton ?¢ anti-racist resistance —— Hackney Pride speech —— Cape Town residents fight back —— Round and about the AF — On the Frontline: workplace roundup — Coca-Cola: the real sting — The Pope?¢s not welcome…
Articles
Ardent Zionist turns boycott advocate
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, Electronic Intifada10/21/2010
A former captain in the Israeli Air Force, previously an ardent Zionist who lost many members of his family in the Holocaust, has been labeled a psychopath and denounced by many Israelis for the moral stand he has taken against the Israeli occupation.
Yonatan Shapira, 38, was fired from his job, has been verbally abused in public, subjected to death threats in newspaper talk-back comments, called a traitor by many Israelis, falsely charged with assaulting Israeli security forces, and interrogated by Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.
While Israel often gets a lot of negative publicity for its brutal treatment of Palestinians and the inherent racism within its society, there is a growing core of Israeli human rights activists who are challenging government policy — and paying a high price for their courage.
Shapira made international headlines recently while on board the Irene, a boat sent by Jews for Justice in an effort to break the siege of Gaza but which was intercepted by Israeli commandos. On board the small boat were a number of Israelis and several Holocaust survivors.
“The commandos separated my younger brother Itimar and me away from the other passengers. It was obvious we were being targeted. I was tasered twice on the shoulder and once near the heart area after my life jacket was lifted by the commando to get better access,” Shapira told IPS.
After media equipment was confiscated the passengers were taken to a police station in Ashdod where they were interrogated. Shapira was charged with assaulting a commando, despite eyewitnesses disputing this. more.. e-mail
Invisible Israel?
Lawrence Davidson, CounterPunch10/21/2010
The Peculiar Claim of Michael Oren
Michael Oren is the Israeli ambassador to the United States. This means he stands in a line of foreign diplomats who are often quite out of the ordinary. For one thing they may well be ex-Americans. Oren (nee Bornstein) was born in upstate New York and grew up in West Orange, New Jersey. He switched countries in 1979. For another, Israeli ambassadors do not hesitate to engage in public debates aimed at swaying American public opinion. Actually, this is very un-diplomatic behavior and you don’t see the ambassadors from China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay or Liechtenstein, ad finem, doing that sort of thing. Yet Oren has done this several times by sending op-eds to the New York Times. On October 13 he did so again with one entitled, “An End to Israel’s Invisibility.”
It is an odd title, for if there is one thing Israel is not, it is invisible. But the ambassador is arguing from a peculiar point of view. Essentially, he claims that the Palestinians have yet to officially acknowledge that Israel is a “Jewish state.” For Oren it is the Jewish aspect of Israel that remains “invisible.” As odd as this sounds, the ambassador’s complaint echos a current theme across the political spectrum in Israel. At the same time that he put out his op-ed, Ari Shavit, the center-right contributor to Ha’aretz, published a piece that made a similar argument but extended the failure of recognition accusation to Europe and beyond. It appeared on October 14 and is entitled “The Core of the Conflict.”
All of this might appear as something of a mystery. Doesn’t the entire world already know that Israel is a “Jewish state?” Oren, however, expresses profound insecurity over the issue. “The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the refusal to recognize Jews as a people, indigenous to the region and endowed with right of self-government.” Here Mr. Oren, who is certainly not “indigenous to the region,” is practicing a bit of plagiarism…. more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad joining Hamas ceasefire with Israel?
Jared Malsin, Gaza City, Ma’an News Agency10/21/2010
Islamic Jihad is taking strides to restrain its members in the Gaza Strip from unauthorized attacks, suggesting that the group has quietly joined Hamas in enforcing a nearly 2-year ceasefire with Israel.
This became clear when, on Sunday morning, an Israeli drone killed two men widely believed to be current or former members of the Palestinian movement in northern Gaza; mysteriously, the group did not claim them as their own.
The Israeli military said the two were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.
The incident has placed Islamic Jihad in conflict with radical Salafist groups, adherents to a stark brand of Islam who are also staunchly opposed to any ceasefire with Israel.
The Salafists, while still marginal, draw some support from Palestinians outraged by Israel’s ongoing blockade, which has left Gaza’s economy in ruins and the Strip’s 1.5 million inhabitants all but imprisoned.
Hamas announced a unilateral ceasefire at the end of Israel’s devastating 3-week offensive on the enclave in January 2009. Islamic Jihad, while not publicly endorsing the truce, has largely refrained from attacks.
Sunday’s airstrike came at 4 a.m., next to a factory in the Sudaniyya area in northern Gaza, near the coast, about 1 kilometer from the border with Israel in an area strewn with the bombed-out skeletons of buildings, abandoned beachfront restaurants, apartment complexes, and an installation with a rusty sign reading, “Palestinian Authority Ministry of Youth and Sport.”
All that remained at the blast site by afternoon were damp stains on the ground wall of an apartment building, which onlookers said were blood and human tissue. more.. e-mail
Ahmedinejad in Lebanon: shifting regional power balance
Electronic Intifada: 21 Oct 2010 – “Khosh amadid” quickly became the new catchphrase for many Lebanese when thousands of signs reading “welcome” in Farsi went up in areas around the country. The occasion was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s two-day visit to the country last week. Matthew Cassel comments for the Electronic Intifada.more
Jerusalem center promotes Palestinian heritage
Electronic Intifada: 21 Oct 2010 – Situated just a few yards away from the Haram al-Sharif in the Souq al-Qattanin, the Cotton Market in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Centre for Jerusalem Studies is both an assertion of the city’s Palestinian identity, and an example of the threat that identity faces.more
DAM: “We Can’t Go To Syria, But Our Music Can”
Palestine Monitor: 21 Oct 2010 – Day two of the Taybeh Oktoberfest, the internationally renowned beer festival. Its late and the amber nector is loosening tongues. MC Tamer Nafar addresses the audience in English. “Scream if you do not speak Arabic,” he calls. A few people shout, and he raises his voice. “Come on, come on! Yala, yala! Scream if you do not speak Arabic!” He wins over a few meek foreigners, and their voices blend with those of the mainly Palestinian audience, who are eager to join the call-and-response game. DAM is requesting audience interaction, specifically asking their foreign audience to learn Arabic syllables during the next song. Their call is a demand for understanding. Suhell teaches the audience Arabic phonemes during a song. It’s a call beyond a song. The three-person act is a product of a mixed background, with influences from both sides of the Wall. Mahmoud Jreri and brothers Tamer and Suhell…more
Britain Hangs out ‘Welcome’ Sign to War Criminals
Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2010 – By Stuart Littlewood — London The UK is to become a safe haven for Israeli psychopaths while they continue their brutal military occupation, colonization and ethnic cleansing of the Holy Land, and carry on bombarding blockaded Gaza and executing or abducting anyone bringing humanitarian help. That’s the British government’s latest contribution of Middle East peace. The Zionist entity’s Trojan Horse at the heart of our government — otherwise known as the Conservative Friends of Israel — held a reception recently attended by our foreign secretary William Hague. Hague told the 400 guests: “We have had good discussions with Israeli ministers on universal jurisdiction where the last government left us with an appalling situation where a politician like Mrs Livni could be threatened with arrest on coming to the UK… “We have agreed in the coalition about putting it right, we will put it right through legislation that will be introduced…more
Jazza: From Scala to Wembley
Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2010 – By Gilad Atzmon — London London Jazza festival is behind us. It was stressful and we took a massive risk, but it turned into a great success. For some of us, it was the most musically meaningful event we have ever participated in. It occurred to me a while back that as far as Palestinian affairs are concerned, the tide has indeed changed — The struggle of the Palestinian people has now become a part of a Western collective conscience. We are a mass movement becoming increasingly aware of itself. At our last week’s first Jazza Festival, leading artists of all genres united together with an audience from all walks of life to side with the Palestinians. In the Scala London, we stood together, protesting against Israeli brutality. Funds were raised for the Free Palestine Movement, an organization that challenges many aspects of the occupation, and will soon bring the…more
The Violence Debate: Teaching the Oppressed How to Fight Oppression
Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2010 – By Ramzy Baroud An American activist once gave me a book she wrote detailing her experiences in Palestine. The largely visual volume documented her journey of the occupied West Bank, rife with barbered wires, checkpoints, soldiers and tanks. It also highlighted how Palestinians resisted the occupation peacefully, in contrast to the prevalent media depictions linking Palestinian resistance to violence. More recently, I received a book glorifying non-violent resistance, and which referred to self-proclaimed Palestinian fighters who renounced violence as “converts”. The book elaborated on several wondrous examples of how these “conversions” came about. Apparently a key factor was the discovery that not all Israelis supported the military occupation. The fighters realized that an environment that allowed both Israelis and Palestinians to work together would be best for Palestinians seeking other, more effective means of liberation. An American priest also explained to me how non-violent resistance is happening on an impressive…more
Liberal Zionism is Flawed
Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2010 – By Miko Peled Setting aside for a moment the argument of whether dividing historic Palestine into two states was ever a good idea, clearly forty years ago it was a viable solution. Today as liberal Zionist Jews and others call for this solution, it is a sad and pathetic sight. In 1967, after the IDF completed the conquest of Palestine, great men like Dr. Nahum Goldman, Dr. Yishayahu Leibovitch, General Dr. Matti Peled and other prominent Jews called for the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. However, Jews in Israel, America and elsewhere around the world were basking in the messianic glow of the conquest of historic Israel, bewitched by the sounds of biblical names now made accessible. Names like Hebron and Bethlehem, Shilo and Bet El, all of which who were now within reach drove everyone, including secular liberal Jews to believe that…more
Shooting and Electric-Shocking of Palestinian Children
Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2010 – By Stephen Lendman Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine Section (DCI/Palestine) “is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children,” according to international law principles. Both covered Israel’s systematic, institutionalized use of torture of Palestinian children as brutally as against adults. DCI/Palestine’s latest September Bulletin adds more, saying: “For the first time….three (documented) cases of children reporting being given electric shocks by Israeli interrogators (occurred) in Ari’el Settlement.” Each was accused of stone throwing. Electric shocking extracted confessions although the boys maintain their innocence. DCI and PACTI (the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel) demanded Israel investigate reports that a Gush Etzion settlement interrogator “attached car battery jump leads to the genitals of a 14-year old boy in order to obtain a confession to stone throwing.” The August 5 incident involved four boys walking near a…more
Jewistan: Finally Recognizing Israel as the Jewish State
Dissident Voice: 21 Oct 2010 – Israel’s Likudnik Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached into his bag of Zionist tricks and pulled out a brand-new demand that had never surfaced before in the history of the Middle East Peace Process going all the way back to their beginning with the negotiation of the original Camp David Accords conducted under the personal auspices of U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1978: The Palestinians must recognize Israel as “the Jewish State.” Not surprisingly, the Zionist controlled and funded Obama administration publicly endorsed this latest roadblock to peace that was maliciously constructed by Israel. Netanyahu deliberately shifted the goal-posts on the Palestinians. It would be as if the United States of America demanded that Iran recognize it as the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) State as a condition for negotiating and then concluding any comprehensive peace settlement with it. Of course such demands are racist and premeditated non-starters to begin with. Netanyahu’s…more
Zionism and Peace Are Incompatible
Dissident Voice: 21 Oct 2010 – At last somebody has said it in the most explicit way possible. The somebody also said: “The problem is Zionism and the solution is dismantling the Zionist framework and instituting a secular democracy that does not discriminate between Israelis and Palestinians.” The somebody was Miko Peled, a Jewish peace activist who was born in Israel and lives in America. He is the son of an Israeli war hero, Matti Peled, who was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967. After that war, General Peled signalled his own commitment to truth by rubbishing Zionism’s version of events. He did so with the statement that there was not a threat to Israel’s existence and that it was a war of Israeli choice (i.e. aggression not self-defense). General Peled was also one of a number of prominent Jews who called soon after the 1967…more
More material available from Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel – www.vtjp.org
To subscribe, please write to OccupationNews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OccupationNews/join
The New Dark Age 
Leave a comment