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Four Injured, Two Journalists Detained, At The Bil'in Anti Wall Protest
IMEMC - Friday April 30, 2010 - 17:37, On Friday Palestinians, Israeli, and International activists marched to the wall built on the central west Bank village of Bil’in lands.
Villagers Organize An Anti Wall Protest In Al Walaja Village
IMEMC - Friday April 30, 2010 - 17:32, Villagers along with international supporters gathered on Friday in Al-Walaja village near Jerusalem to protest the Israeli wall being built on their lands.
Al Ma''sar Village Near Bethlehem Protest The Israeli Wall
IMEMC - Friday April 30, 2010 - 17:28, On Friday midday the residents of Al Ma’ssara village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem protest the Israeli-built wall on their lands.
Palestinians rally against wall, settlements
4/30/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinians rallied across the occupied West Bank on Friday, protesting Israel's wall and settlement enterprise amid new concerns that authorities have begun detaining and expelling Palestinians following a new military order. At least seven demonstrators were detained in villages surrounding Ramallah on Friday, protesters said and Israel's military confirmed. There were no reports of serious injury. In Nabi Salih, four Palestinians and one Israeli were detained at the scene, a military spokeswoman said. They were being held on allegations they broke an Israeli law and were undergoing questioning, she said. In Bil'in, an Israeli woman and Palestinian male were detained at the scene, the military said. The Palestinian was released and the Israeli was being held for questioning, she added. Israel is building most of the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the. . .
Bethlehem hosts wall studies conference
4/30/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Wall studies provides a new focus point to discourse on the "conflict" and a chance to discuss the impact of the wall in particular on the people of the region, conference organizer Toine van Teeffelen said Friday. By posturing the wall as the center of a new discipline, Toine, with the Arab Educational Institute, said research on Palestine can be extended to other areas facing comparable segregation. The conference, which started Friday and runs through Saturday, was sponsored by Oxford Brookes University, Paris-Est University, and the AEI, in cooperation with Al-Quds Open University, Bethlehem University, and Utrecht University's Center for Conflict Studies. Speakers from the sponsoring universities presented papers at the event, in addition to several academics from Europe and North America. Hosted in Bethlehem, organizers said it was difficult to bring in Israeli. . .
Protests, arrests across West Bank
YNet News - As is the case every Friday, hundreds of leftist and Palestinian activists protested against Israel's security fence at various sites across the West Bank. At least .......
You may be too afraid or too far away to join the Friday Bil’in protest but you can be there in spirit
Mondoweiss - Pictures are frrom Hamde Abu's photostream. On facebook , Hamde reports that CRH refers to an Irish cement company. Four people were arrested today, including a female journalist and an international activist. Prior to the demonstration, two Israeli activists broached the Wall and attempted to post flyers...
Volvo equipment: Israel's weapons to destroy al-Walaja homes
Uruknet April 29, 2010 - On 16 April, approximately 100 Palestinian villagers and internationals walked towards the construction site of Israel's wall in the occupied West Bank village of al-Walaja, four kilometers northwest of Bethlehem. When the protesters were leaving the village, four Israeli army jeeps and one police vehicle entered and surrounded a Palestinian home. At least 40 persons, including...
Palestinian youth united against normalization with Israel
Stop The Wall - See:
Emboldened by impunity: Israel kills two children at Ein al Beida
Stop The Wall - Last night at 9 pm, close to Ein al Beida in the northern Jordan Valley, an Israeli military jeep rammed into a tractor of a Palestinian family, killing two little girls and injuring their father and brother. This killing comes only a day after the Israeli military acquitted the soldiers who had killed four youth in Nablus district. [
Youth killed in demonstration against Gaza "death zones"
B'tselem 27 Apr 2010 - A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, 19, died yesterday (28 April) after Israeli security forces shot him near the border fence with the Gaza Strip, while he was participating in a demonstration against Israel’s prohibition on Palestinians enterigram FilesQuickTimeQTSystem
Volvo equipment: Israel's weapons to destroy al-Walaja homes
Electronic Intifada: 29 Apr 2010 - On 16 April, approximately 100 Palestinian villagers and internationals walked towards the construction site of Israel's wall in the occupied West Bank village of al-Walaja, four kilometers northwest of Bethlehem. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada.
Video of Gaza shooting death released
4/28/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, aged 19, died at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after he was injured by Israeli fire while attending a demonstration near the border to protest the imposition of "no-go" zones by Israeli armed forces.In the following video, filmed by Muhammad Sabah, B’Tselem’s Gaza field researched, a group of Palestinians and internationals is seen walking from the Ash-Shaj'iya neighborhood, east of Gaza, toward the Israeli border fence. The youths reach a distance of a few dozen meters from the border, facing an Israeli military post. A soldier is seen near the post, observing events. None of the protesters are armed. According to B’Tselem, the video shows a group of youths, some of them throwing stones at the military post. There is a sound of one shot. The injured youth is seen evacuated to receive medical treatment. Related: Blip TV: Video and PCHR condemns Israel over Hebron killing
Settlers attack Palestinian worker in Jerusalem
4/28/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian worker while he was going home from his work in Jerusalem on Tuesday night. Yasser Raba'ya said three settlers stopped him and asked for his ID. When he removed his wallet, the settlers stole it and beat him with a stick until he lost consciousness. Jerusalemites said they called Israeli police but the settlers escaped through the Old City. Raba'ya said police took him to the police station and questioned him about the attack. He added that the police asked him to go back to Bethlehem after giving him a paper that proved his ID and work permit were stolen. Raba'ya added that he arrived to his house late at night when his family took him to the Beit Jala hospital. He went in the morning to the Military Liaison Office and issued a complaint against the settlers.
Humanity: Ahmed Deeb is killed
Uruknet April 28, 2010 - An SMS informs me that the young man from Sheik Radwan who was shot by an Israeli soldier today is dead. A visit to Shifa hospital confirms it. Ahmed Deeb, 21, was among protesters closest to the border fence at the former Nahal Oz crossing, east of Gaza City, when he was targeted in the leg....
Call for Support and immediate Action against the persecution of Political Activists in Palestine 48
Stop The Wall - Start with signing your name in support of Mr. Makhoul, General Director of Ittijah- Union of Arab Community Based Associations and Head of the Popular Committee for the Protection of Political Freedoms, who is prevented by the Israeli authorities from leaving the country for two months and so denied the human right to freedom of movement. [
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2241.shtml
Stop The Wall - The investigation by the Israeli occupation forces into the murder of four youth, two of them from Awarta and two from Iraq Burin, within less than 48 hours is seen by the people of Awarta as an integral part of Israeli whitewashing "assassination and military investigation" routine. [
Demonstrators halt construction of the Wall in alWalaja
4/28/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Demonstrators managed to disrupt the construction of the Wall in alWalaja for the second time in a week. A 15 year old demonstrator was beaten, pepper-sprayed and arrested. Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators managed to stop the construction of the Wall in the village of alWalaja, south of Jerusalem for the second time this week. If completed, the path of the Wall in the area will surround the village completely, isolating it from all its lands, the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and essentially the rest of the world. Demonstrators managed to block the bulldozers in the early morning, and even climb and take over one of the machines. A Border Police force at the scene arrested on of the demonstrators - 15 year old Nabil Hajajla - who was beaten and pepper-sprayed. Following Hajajla's arrest, Border Police officers managed to drag the demonstrators away from the bulldosers and construction was resumed.
Youth shot to death in Gaza
B'tselem 27 Apr 2010 - A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem dib, aged 19, died in the last hour at Shifaa Hospital, Gaza City. Earlier this morning, Dib was injured by Israeli fire, while attending a demonstration near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City, to prot
humanity: Ahmed Deeb is killed
In Gaza: 28 Apr 2010 - *[photo: Max Ajl] Ahmed Deeb before he bled to death from the Israeli-fired explosive bullet which severed his femoral artery. 4:57 pm April 28 An SMS informs me that the young man from Sheik Radwan who was shot by an Israeli soldier today is dead. A visit to Shifa hospital confirms it. Ahmed Deeb , 21, was among protesters closest to the border fence at the former Nahal Oz crossing, east of Gaza City, when he was targeted in the leg. The ‘dum dum’ bullet hit his femural artery, exploding inside and severing it, causing massive bleeding, said Dr. Abdullah el Attar at Shifa hospital. Life is short, the saying goes. But in Palestine that expression is literal, and everyone knows it. The demonstraters, proud and fearless, delight in being on Palestinian land rendered off-limits by Israeli authorities, going as close as possible to the fence, dressing the fence with the...
Report: Israelis kill another unarmed demonstrator, 21
Mondoweiss - A year or so back Norman Finkelstein said, why don't the Palestinians march on the wall to dramatize their imprisonment. This is a photo of the blood of Ahmed Deeb, a 21-year-old unarmed protester who marched on the confiscatory "buffer zone" in Gaza. According to Suha...
Screenshot Of The Separation Wall
Palestine Monitor: 28 Apr 2010 - Some say you can't decorate it, others see it as a form of political protest. A fact is that the Separation Wall, with a total length of some 760 km, offers an ideal outlet for activists, street artists, tourists, and locals to express themselves. The British guerrilla graffiti artist Banksy used the grey and concrete wall built by Israel through the West Bank as a canvas to give free reign to his thoughts. Palestine Monitor's photojournalist FLV explored the wall in two sites, Qalandiya (Ramallah) and Bethlehem. His images show how graffiti can be a tool of expression, somewhere between art and political engagement. The anonymous Banksy once told a reporter from the English newspaper The Guardian, that the wall is illegal under international law and essentially turns Palestine into the world's largest open prison. And with some sense of humor he added: “It also makes it the ultimate activity...
Gaza: Protesting Under Fire In The Buffer Zone
Palestine Monitor: 28 Apr 2010 - A Palestinian youth, Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, aged 19, died in the last hour at Shifaa Hospital, Gaza City. Earlier this morning, Dib was injured by Israeli fire, while attending a demonstration near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City, to protest the imposition of “no-go” zones by Israeli armed forces. Video from B'Tselem: In the video, filmed by Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem's Gaza field researched, a group of Palestinians and Internationals is seen walking from the al-Shaj'iya neighborhood, east of Gaza, towards the Israeli border fence. The youths reach a distance of a few dozen meters from the border, facing an Israeli military post. A soldier is seen near the post, observing events. None of the protesters are armed. The video shows a group of youths, some of them are throwing stones at the military post. There is a sound of one shot. The injured youth is seen...
Sheizaf: Settlers and Palestinians to join in protest against the separation barrier south of Jerusalem
Palestine Note 27 Apr 2010 - An unusual protest is scheduled for Thursday in the West Bank: Settlers and Palestinians are planning to march together in protest against a section of the separation barrier Israel is constructing south of Jerusalem. According to...
Al-Walaja: Defending Palestinian Land From Bulldozers
Palestine Monitor - A sit-in protest was organised in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja (south of Bethlehem) on Sunday against the ongoing construction of the Wall, which was resumed last Thursday. Approximately 200 Palestinian, Israel and international demonstrators tried to block bulldozers uprooting an olive grove, sitting in...
Egyptians View Construction of Gaza Wall As Evidence of Government’s 'Hypocrisy'
Joseph Mayton, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 4/27/2010
April 2010
ACCORDING to eyewitnesses reports cited by local Egyptian newspapers, the underground steel barrier between the Egyptian and Gazan border was near completion in early February. While the Egyptian government never either confirmed or denied the wall’s construction, pictures and testimonies from the area have said the cement is, literally, pouring into the ground.
For many in this North African nation—the Arab world’s most populous—the move to erect a wall in a U.S. and Israeli-backed attempt to end the smuggling of goods into the besieged Palestinian enclave has left a sour taste in the mouth. Egyptians, especially activists, have noted quite openly on Twitter and other online networks that the wall represents the Egyptian government’s “hypocrisy.”
“We have always been told that Palestinians are our brothers and sisters,” said opposition activist Omar Fagr, “but when we go out to support them, the government here [in Egypt] arrests us and imprisons us. How can they say one thing and then go do another?”
Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after ousting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ security services following a bloody, U.S.-backed coup attempt in June 2007, Israel and Egypt have imposed an economic blockade on the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza. The siege has forced Gazans to find other avenues for obtaining essential goods, such as cooking oil, petrol, butter and other foodstuffs. Smuggling tunnels that run beneath the Sinai desert landscape have become one of the few means of getting supplies to Palestinians, but Tel Aviv and Cairo want this to end, insisting that the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons.
Palestinians involved in smuggling, however, have told the Washington Report that the 100-foot-deep wall will not stop the movement of goods into Gaza.
“We are not going to be stopped by a wall,” said one smuggler, who asked not to be named. “Since when has that done anything—because we are talking about the lives of our families and friends here.” more.. e-mail
Portland protest challenges AIPAC fundraiser
IMEMC - Monday April 26, 2010 - 11:26, A group of protesters in Portland, Oregon, USA, erected mock settlements, a 'Wall of Shame', and a checkpoint as part of a protest against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)'s annual Oregon fundraiser on Sunday.
Fatah leader says prevented from leaving West Bank
4/26/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Israeli authorities reportedly banned member of Fatah's central committee Tawfiq At-Tirawi from traveling Monday morning through the King Hussein border crossing between northern Israel and Jordan. At-Tirawi told Ma'an that he was not allowed to travel as a VIP nor with locals by bus. After calling the head of civil affairs at the borders, Hussein Ash-Sheikh, At-Tirawi said he was informed that Israel had placed him under investigation."It seems Israel wants to ban us from speaking too," he added. But the senior Fatah leader said the ban had nothing to do with scheduled Revolutionary Council meetings in Amman, and everything to do with Israel's wall, settlements, and peaceful activism against the occupation. At-Tirawi explained that other Palestinian figures were also barred from traveling, but insisted that "this procedure won't stop us from resistance; rather, it will increase our resilience.
Israel army: 3 bombs detonated on Gaza border
4/26/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli forces discovered and detonated three bombs along the Gaza border Monday, the military reported. In a statement, the army stated that its forces prevented an attack by detonating three land mines in a controlled manner. There were no reports of injury or damage."The presence of Palestinian civilians in the area adjacent to the security fence in Gaza is used by terrorist organizations as cover for their activities, including planting explosive devices, planning terrorist attacks and attempts to kidnap IDF soldiers," the Israeli military statement said."For this reason, the IDF considers this a combat zone," it added. [end]
Al-Walaja: Defending Palestinian Land From Bulldozers
Uruknet April 26, 2010 - A sit-in protest was organised in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja (south of Bethlehem) on Sunday against the ongoing construction of the Wall, which was resumed last Thursday. Approximately 200 Palestinian, Israel and international demonstrators tried to block bulldozers uprooting an olive grove, sitting in the place where the bulldozers staged. Israeli soldiers attacked demonstrators:...
Hundreds Of New Settlers Homes In Jerusalem
Uruknet April 26, 2010 - The Islamic Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites announced on Monday Israel’s intentions to build 321 new settlers homes in East Jerusalem. The new homes which will include a religious school will be constructed at the Palestinian neighborhood of Shikh Jarah outside the wall of the old city. Dr. Hasan Khater, co-founder of...
Israeli Court Rejects Palestinian Villagers Petition against Wall Construction
3 detained, 5 injured as al-Walaja residents stop Israeli bulldozers
Stop The Wall - Israeli occupation forces arrested three Palestinians yesterday and wounded thirty others in a brutal attack against residents of al-Walaja as they resisted the construction of the apartheid Wall in their village. [
Men and women of Iraq Burin demonstrate against land theft
4/26/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, 25 April - Palestinian men, women and children, along with international activists met with severe military repression on Saturday, April 24 as the village of Iraq Burin staged another successful demonstration against the Israeli occupation of their lands. Local and international activists gathered under the heat of another beaming midday sun at the southern outskirts of the village, warming up for what has become weekly tradition. Some 80 demonstrators, lead by a shabb (youth) on a magnificent steed, began the march along the steep path to the summit of Iraq Burin's southern peak toward the fence demarcating the edge of Iraq Burin's contested farmland, adjacent to the illegal settlement of Bracha. A force of two dozen Israeli soldiers, having occupied the hill's summit, blocked the demonstrators' progress.
Al-Walaja: Defending Palestinian Land From Bulldozers
Palestine Monitor - A sit-in protest was organised in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja (south of Bethlehem) on Sunday against the ongoing construction of the Wall, which was resumed last Thursday. Approximately 200 Palestinian, Israel and international demonstrators tried to block bulldozers uprooting an olive grove, sitting in...
Al-Walaja: Defending Palestinian Land From Bulldozers
Palestine Monitor: 26 Apr 2010 - A sit-in protest was organised in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja (south of Bethlehem) on Sunday against the ongoing construction of the Wall, which was resumed last Thursday. Approximately 200 Palestinian, Israel and international demonstrators tried to block bulldozers uprooting an olive grove, sitting in the place where the bulldozers staged. Israeli soldiers attacked demonstrators: among them, Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative who declared that “despite the attempt of Israeli authorities to weaken and interrupt the protest, the non-violent struggle will continue weekly rallies to stop the construction of the Apartheid Wall”. Here what's happened. / Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo: Palestine Monitor Photo:...
Hebronites rally to open segregated street, 4 detained
4/25/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - Four Palestinian protesters were detained on Saturday afternoon in a non-violent rally against the continued closure of Ash-Shuhada Street in the center of Hebron, witnesses said.Approximately 100people, including Israeli and foreign nationals, rallied near the illegal Israeli outpost of Beit Romano, located on the Palestinian Osama Ibn Munqith School, at the entrance of As-Shuhada Street.Protesters demanded the street be reopened to Palestinians, and that settlers be evacuated from the area. The rally prevented settlers living in illegal West Bank settlements in the area from performing a weekly tour of the Old City of Hebron.Human rights activist Issa Amr, 30, Professor Amiel Farady from the Taayush coexistence movement and Jonathan Pollack, of Anarchists Against the Wall, were detained during the rally. An Israeli military spokesman said he would look into the report. Related: Youth Against Settlements
Border police beat protesters demanding halt to wall
4/25/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Demonstrators participating in a sit-in protest against the continued construction of Israel's separation wall in Beit Jala and Al-Walaja were beaten with sticks and batons by Israeli border police, witnesses said. Approximately 200 Palestinian, international and Israeli protesters sat in the path of Israeli bulldozers scheduled to tear up olive groves on Sunday, and faced Israeli border police who detained four, including an Israeli man. One of the protesters was identified as Haitam Al-Atrash, and four were reported injured. Organizers said border police dislocated the shoulder of an Israeli man "during the violent arrest," and say the man is being denied access to medical treatment as he is kept in a police station. Officials said three others, an AP photographer and two demonstrators, were also injured and evacuated to a hospital. Protesters declared the event a victory, after reportedly stalling construction for three hours in Al-Walaja. An Israeli border police spokesman said he was unavailable for comment.
Israel reopens Bethlehem checkpoint
4/25/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli border police reopened the 300 checkpoint at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem Sunday morning, after enforcing a brief closure. While a spokesman for the Israeli border police was not immediately available, on 11 March, the last time a closure was enforced, representatives said the shut down was in anticipation of a demonstration at the military terminal. Sources said the military apparently expected a demonstration similar to one held on Palm Sunday, where Christians and supporters demanded rights to access the holy city of Jerusalem for religious rites during Easter. All sides confirmed that the protest was non-violent, and demonstrators riding donkeys proceeded through a steel door in the separation wall only to be detained by soldiers 200 meters on the far side. There was no demonstration on 11 March, as reportedly anticipated. On Sunday, witnesses said they saw several military jeeps stationed at the checkpoint, and several police on motorcycles.
Israeli injured during protest against West Bank separation fence
Ha'aretz 25 Apr 2010 - An Israeli protester was injured on Friday after being hit in the forehead with a teargas canister during a weekly protest against Israel's West Bank separation fence in Bil'in. ...
Earth Day In Israel: Apartheid Showing Through the Greenwash
Palestine Monitor: 24 Apr 2010 - On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to "increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption." The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing "outstanding contributions to promote the environment" and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity. The irony was not lost on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza who have been living with daily power outages lasting hours on end for nearly three years due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (...
Earth Day in Israel: Apartheid Showing Through the Greenwash
Palestine Chronicle: 24 Apr 2010 - By Stephanie Westbrook On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to "increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption." The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing "outstanding contributions to promote the environment" and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity. The irony was not lost on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza who have been living with daily power outages lasting hours on end for nearly three years due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities...more
Egypt detains Israeli illegally crossing border
4/24/2010 - Al-Arish - Ma'an - Egyptian security detained an Israeli citizen entering Egyptian territory illegally on Saturday, officials said. The unidentified 46-year-old was detained as he attempted to cross over an area of fence destroyed by flooding, and pass into the Egyptian Sinai south of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza. The detainee was interrogated by Egyptian security, who said this was the third arrest of an Israeli citizen attempting to breach Egypt's borders. The most recent arrest was an Israeli journalist reporting on African migrants entering Israel illegally via the Egyptian border. He was released without punishment. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that Israeli who illegally crossed into the Sinai peninsula on a motorbike. The police officers say the 46-year-old Israeli set off a police chase when he rode into the Sinai Saturday.
Video: An Israeli bulldozer destroys a children's playground near Bethlehem
Uruknet April 24, 2010 - Guarded by Israeli soldiers, a bulldozer demolishes a garden and children's playground to make way for the continued construction of Israel's illegal apartheid wall. International Solidarity Movement activists joined local Palestinians and two Israeli activists to attempt to block the bulldozer. All were violently removed by the soldiers - one Palestinian was hospitalised after his stomach...
Bil’in: Israel shoots Palestinian from Yafa
Stop The Wall - Imad Rizqa was shot in the head while attending the protest to mark the conclusion of the Fifth Annual Conference on Popular Resistance in Bil’in. New weapons were tested on the protestors as the IOF clamped down on the protest. [
Israeli forces shoot unarmed demonstrators in Gazan ‘buffer zone’
4/24/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - ISM Gaza - El Maghazi, Deir Al Balah, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories, 24th April 2010, 12PM – At a peaceful nonviolent demonstration against the forceful cessation of farming within what Israel defines as a "buffer zone," which was attended by 150 people, two Palestinians demonstrators and one International activist wereshot. Israeli soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators from the border fence. Nidal Al Naji (18) was shot in the right thigh. Hind Al Akra (22) was shot in the stomach and is undergoing emergency surgery. Bianca Zimmit (28) from Malta was filming the demonstration when she was shot in her left thigh. The wounded are currently being treated in Al Aqsa Hospital. Shortly after 11 a. m. , women and men, including 6 ISM activists, marched from Al Maghazi towards the Israeli fence closing off the Gaza strip.
Israeli Arab wounded by tear-gas canister during separation-barrier protest
Daily Star 25 Apr 2010 BILIN, Occupied West Bank: An Arab-Israeli man was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier on Friday at a protest along the route of Israel's separation barrier in the occupied West Bank. Blood could be seen gushing from a huge gash on his forehead as he was rushed by ambulance from the village of Bilin to hospital in nearby
Israel, a New Decade
Ran HaCohen, Antiwar.com 4/10/2010
The deep racism of the Israeli psyche is on the rise. The 1990s, at least in hindsight, marked some liberalization of the public discourse; the first decade of this century crushed it, and now the mildly critical, left-liberal discourse hardly exists in the mainstream. No wonder the liberal left has just 3 seats out of 120 in the Knesset; all the other parties are various shades of right-wing, far right, or fascism (except the small outcast "Arab" parties). The racist mindset can be observed in the most trivial daily situations, like my elderly neighbor, when told I saw someone peeping at my window the other night, instinctively reacting with a single question: "Have you seen whether it was a Jew or an Arab?"
I turn on the television just before dinner. Prime-time. An Israeli series: "The Pilots’ Wives" ("Meet the Women behind Our Heroes", said the promo), interrupted occasionally by a commercial depicting a soldier missing his mother’s soup ("disclaimer: the actor is not a soldier"). After the series, a short public service broadcast showing a group of young men, each in turn boasting his military service, until they notice one of them – a violent zoom-in – keeps quiet; the message is clear. Then the news, with at least one public relations item pushed by the military: "teen-age girls eager to become fighters", "a remote-control watch-and-shoot system on the Gaza fence", "a unique glimpse into a top-secret air-force base" or the like. Not to mention the real news, be it about the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Iran, or even the billions of terrorists disguised as miserable African refugees allegedly waiting on the Egyptian border to inundate Israel: all these issues, and many more, are predominantly managed and framed by the military.
The military service has been made a major issue in Israeli public discourse. Not that the army is short of soldiers: on the contrary, the number of recruits requesting "to serve their country" in combat units is at record level. Nevertheless, uniting the nation around the military as the ultimate good is a goal in itself, especially when it implicitly excludes the Israeli-Palestinians, who are not conscripted..... more.. e-mail
Earth Day In Israel: Apartheid Showing Through the Greenwash
Palestine Monitor: 24 Apr 2010 - On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to "increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption." The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing "outstanding contributions to promote the environment" and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity. The irony was not lost on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza who have been living with daily power outages lasting hours on end for nearly three years due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (...
Earth Day in Israel: Apartheid Showing Through the Greenwash
Palestine Chronicle: 24 Apr 2010 - By Stephanie Westbrook On April 22, as part of the global Earth Day celebrations, homes, offices and public buildings in 14 Israeli cities turned out the lights for one hour in an effort to "increase awareness of the vital need to reduce energy consumption." The Earth Day celebrations included scenes of green fields, wind generators and rainbows projected on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, the Green Globes Award ceremony recognizing "outstanding contributions to promote the environment" and a concert in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv powered by generators running on vegetable oil as well as volunteers on 48 bikes pedaling away to produce electricity. The irony was not lost on the 1.5 million residents of Gaza who have been living with daily power outages lasting hours on end for nearly three years due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities...more
Israel's Open Secret: Nuclear Armed and Dangerous
Palestine Chronicle: 24 Apr 2010 - By Stephen Lendman For many years, Israel's open secret is that it's one of eight known nuclear powers, including America and Russia with about 97% of the world's arsenal according to Helen Caldicott in her book "Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer." The others are Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel - North Korea a declared but unverified one. In her January 20, 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal article titled, "Obama and the opportunity to eliminate nuclear weapons" Caldicott wrote: "The Cold War is over, but the threat of nuclear war is not. Little progress has been made since 1989 when the Berlin Wall collapsed. In fact, the threat of nuclear annihilation has escalated. In 1972, when 5 nuclear nations....signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, they agreed to rapidly disarm. They have done the opposite," resulting in a greater than ever threat, the Pentagon's new Nuclear Posture Review and US-Russia deal...more
Villagers Near Bethlehem Protest The Israeli Wall Built On Their Lands
IMEMC - Friday April 23, 2010 - 16:55, Residents of Al Ma’ssara village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem protest on Friday midday the Israeli-built wall on their lands.
Al Walaja Villagers Protest The Wall Being Built On Their Lands
IMEMC - Friday April 23, 2010 - 16:09, Around 200 villagers along with international supporters gathered in Al-Walaja village south of Jerusalem on Friday to protest the Israeli wall being built on their lands.
Gas canister injures anti-wall protester in Bil’in
4/23/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - A Palestinian citizen of Israel was injured by a high-velocity tear-gas canister during a protest against the separation wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in on Friday, witnesses and Israel's army said. Emad Rezqa, 43, from Yaffa in Israel, was hit in the forehead by an aluminum tear-gas projectile shot directly at him by soldiers, the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee reported. He was hospitalized at the Hadassa Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem with a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage, the committee stated. An Israeli military spokesman, quoting medics, described Rezqa's injuries as light, and said he was evacuated by Israeli medics. The march, which commenced at the village's mosque after the midday prayer, was attacked with tear gas some 30 seconds after reaching the gate in the wall, despite the fact that it was entirely peaceful, the committee stated.
Bulldozers return to destroy children’s playground in Beit Jala. Six activists arrested.
Uruknet April 22, 2010 - Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children’s playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in Al Walaja, both in the Bethlehem district, to make way for the continued construction of their illegal apartheid wall. Soldiers present used violent force to remove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who attempted to prevent the destruction....
Palestinian Israeli seriously Injured in Bil’in
WAFA 23 Apr 2010 - RAMALLAH, April 23, 2010 (WAFA)- A Palestinian Israeli was seriously injured by a gas gangister in the weekly pacifist demonstration against the Israeli Apartheid Wall in the West Bank Village
Israeli injured during protest against West Bank security fence
Ha'aretz 23 Apr 2010 - An Israeli protester was injured on Friday after being hit in the forehead with a teargas canister during a weekly protest against Israel's West Bank security fence in Bil'in. ...
Homes of 30 Palestinian families threatened with demolition in Beit Jala
PIC 23 Apr 2010 - Israeli occupation bulldozers started on Thursday bulldozing the garden of a Palestinian home in Beit Jala at the pretext of clearing the way for the apartheid wall.
Two Injured, One Detained; As Troops Attack People Protesting Wall Construction Near Bethlehem
IMEMC - Thursday April 22, 2010 - 17:02, Two Palestinian civilians were injured, one international peace activist detained on Thursday as Israeli troops used batons to suppress wall construction protesters at the town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem southern West Bank.
Protesters in Beit Jala beaten, Walaja under curfew
4/22/2010 - Jerusalem - Ma'an - Israeli bulldozers razed lands near the eastern entrance of Al-Walaja on Thursday, as preparations continued for the construction of the separation wall south of Jerusalem. Demonstrations in nearby Beit Jala saw two detained and three others two injured, while Al-Walaja residents said border guards and soldiers imposed a curfew, preventing locals from exiting their homes from early in the morning. Work continued in both areas following an injunction order filed two weeks ago, which was lifted on Thursday by the Israeli Supreme Court. Popular committee representatives said soldiers on horseback and riding all-terrain vehicles ordered residents attempting to leave their homes to return indoors, while village council member Adel Al-Atrash described a "large number of Israeli forces and border guards invading the village, surrounding homes, and preventing villagers from leaving.
Israeli army to investigate human shield report
4/22/2010 - Jerusalem - Ma'an - The Israeli army said Wednesday it would investigate allegations that a 14-year-old boy was used as a human shield by Israeli forces in Beit Ummar, a Hebron village, following a Ma'an inquiry. The Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP) said at 11am on Friday 16 April four jeeps entered the main street of Beit Ummar as local children responded by throwing stones. According to the PSP's report, as Israeli troops set up snipers on a rooftop, while others fired rubber coated bullets, two soldiers took the unidentified child by the nape and "forced him to walk in front of them as a human shield as they advanced into the town." "The boy was clearly distressed so a third soldier grabbed him forcefully by the arm and put the boy against a wall where he was handcuffed and pushed into a jeep," the PSP report said. Ma'an obtained the photos reportedly showing Israeli forces using the child as a human shield and subsequently detaining him.
In photos: Border guards detain Israeli activists in Beit Jala
4/22/2010 - Israeli soldiers pull international and Israeli activists from a peaceful demonstration against the continued construction of the separation wall in Beit Jala on 22 April 2010. Construction on the wall continued after an injunction was lifted by Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday morning. MaanImages / Luay Sababa. [end]
Report: Netanyahu rejects US demands
4/22/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the Obama administration's demands to freeze construction in East Jerusalem, his office reportedly confirmed Thursday. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Office of the Prime Minister was responding to a report in the Wall Street Journal that Netanyahu's government had delivered over the weekend its most substantive response yet to that US request. Obama reportedly made the demand for an East Jerusalem construction freeze, along with other requests, in a tense White House meeting with Netanyahu on 23 March, the Israeli newspaper reported. [end]
Israel rejects US call to freeze Jerusalem building
Palestine Note 22 Apr 2010 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has answered US President Obama's request to freeze Jerusalem building, the answer is no, Haaretz reports. The prime minister responded to a Wall Street Journal report that the Israeli premier conveyed to...
Bulldozers return to destroy children’s playground in Beit Jala. Six activists arrested.
4/22/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Israeli bulldozers today destroyed a garden and children's playground in Beit Jala, and 100 fruit and olive trees in Al Walaja, both in the Bethlehem district, to make way for the continued construction of their illegal apartheid wall. Soldiers present used violent force to remove Palestinian, Israeli and international activists who attempted to prevent the destruction. Two Israelis were arrested immediately, and six internationals were later arrested. In Beit Jala, this is the second time that this particular garden and playground has been bulldozed. A legal injunction preventing further destruction expired this week. Following the previous demolition, in early March, local Palestinian residents and international supporters rebuilt the playground and planted new olive trees in the garden. All these were today destroyed. Twelve people, representing six different nationalities, sat in front of the Caterpillar bulldozer as it moved up to the garden.
21st Century Mass Expulsion
Nasim Ahmed, The Palestine Telegraph, Palestine Telegraph 4/23/2010
Briefing on the Israeli Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) and the Order regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No. 112) passed on Tuesday, April 13 2010.
Behind the euphuism, ’prevention of Infiltration’ lies a horrible truth which Israeli officials are trying desperately hard to conceal. This simple truth is a truth that has been cardinal throughout Israel’s existence and continues to do so. It’s a truth that connects the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 and the recent military order that would result in the forced expulsion of many thousands of Palestinians. It’s the truth that Israel was founded on a policy of systematic population transfer and it has been committed to this policy ever since its inception.
This simple fact is a natural outcome of Israel’s central creed, ’redemption of the land with as few of the indigenous people as possible’. Since its inception its central creed has been efficiently carried out through modern methods of population transfer and land appropriation. This explains why, even as rhetoric and politics change, expulsion and dispossession continue through various methods.
Its strategy commenced with a total denial of Palestinian as a people. Since than over many decades, Israel has developed and refined policies to disperse imprison and impoverish the Palestinian people, in a relentless effort to destroy them as a nation. It has industrialized Palestinian misery through ever more sophisticated systems of curfews, checkpoints, walls, permits and land grabs. It has transformed the West Bank and Gaza into laboratories for testing the infrastructure of confinement, human resolve and the limits of human despair.
Throughout history Israel rarely missed an opportunity to implement its core principal of population transfer and it has relentlessly pursued this course through its many wars, creeping colonization in the form of settlement building, a regime that combines occupation, apartheid and colonization. more.. e-mail
Bad Faith in the Holy City
Rashid Khalidi, Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development 4/15/2010
The Israeli government’s announcement in March that it would further expand East Jerusalem settlements was just the latest in a decades-old series of calculated slights to the United States.
Since 1967, virtually every time a U.S. envoy has arrived to discuss the fate of the West Bank or Gaza, the Israeli government of the day has bluntly shown who is really boss, usually with a carefully timed unilateral expansion of Israel’s presence in the occupied territories. Since the 1970s, Israel has illegally settled close to half a million of its citizens in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, not to mention building a barrier mainly inside the West Bank on Arab-owned land that is longer and taller than the Berlin Wall.
Given that for a year the Obama administration has sought a settlement freeze in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, it is impossible to interpret the latest announcement of settlement expansion in the city as anything but a provocation. (The alternative explanation -- that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot control his own government -- cannot be taken seriously.) As if on cue, an obedient majority in Congress issued a letter demanding that there be no public discussion of U.S.-Israeli differences. This, however, has not ended the controversy.
Although this episode has revealed that some things never change, it has been unusual in the sense that U.S. administrations usually take great care to avoid offending the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (known as AIPAC). Yet, this year, senior officials suggested that unconditional U.S. support for Israel, far from serving U.S. national interests, may in fact jeopardize them. The Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot reported that Vice President Joe Biden said as much to Netanyahu in March; the message was reiterated in a statement by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and in the congressional testimony of the head of the United States Central Command, General David Petraeus, who argued that “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples [in the region].” more.. e-mail
Another Palestinian Journalist persecuted for criticizing the PA
Khalid Amayreh, Uprooted Palestinians 4/21/2010
Muhannad Salahat, 32, is another Palestinian journalist victimized by the Palestinian Authority Mukhabarat or General Intelligence. Earlier this month, Salahat, who lives in Amman, Jordan, but has a home in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, had to spend 14 nightmarish days in the custody of the Palestinian Mukhabarat in Jericho where he was thoroughly abused for criticizing the PA, especially its so-called security coordination with Israel.
Following his release, Middle East Monitor had the chance to interview Salahat. The following is a verbatim translation of his testimony on the treatment he received during his detention in Jericho. Salahat can be contacted on the following email address. salahatm@hotmail.com [This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]
"On 18 March, as the bus I was riding from Amman arrived at the Allenby Bridge, which is under Israeli control, we proceeded to the Palestinian Authority Inspection Terminal where the minibus stopped for identity checking. Soon, I saw the bus being surrounded on all sides by policemen. One of them boarded the bus, carrying my passport in his hand and shouting "Where is Muhannad Salahat." As I said "yes," the policeman asked me to disembark and accompany a number of other policemen to a nearby room where all my personal items and luggage were taken from me. Then I was taken rather unceremoniously to another room without being informed why. However, I understood that I was being pursued by the PA General Intelligence. At that point, I was able to call my family to tell them that I was being arrested. As soon as I ended the call, which lasted only for one minute, my mobile phone was confiscated.
"Then I was taken to a third room, and a large Ford van stopped nearby and three armed young men dressed in plain clothes, got off the car, and asked me to stand up with my face toward the wall. They warned me against looking at them. A fourth person, armed with an Ak-47, stood behind, training his gun toward me...." more.. e-mail
Gaza protesters test Israeli no-go zone
4/20/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Shots were fired after hundreds of Palestinians marched north of Beit Lahiya toward the Israeli military no-go zone in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. Local Initiative coordinator Saber Az-Za'aneen said residents began the rally from the Atatra village raising Palestinian flags and marching toward the barbed-wire fencing. Az-Za'aneen said a number of Israeli military jeeps surrounded the area where the rally was intended to take place and opened fire at them. No injuries were reported. An Israeli military spokesman said security forces operating in the same area spotted a group of Palestinians approaching the barrier along the northern Gaza Strip. The force fired warning shots in the air in an attempt to drive them away from the fence, the spokesman said. The group left the area without incident, the official added.
Israel at 62: No apologies for Jerusalem building
4/20/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - As Israel marked the 62nd declaration of its statehood Monday evening, officials reiterated their commitment to a "unified Jerusalem," Israeli media reported."We will not apologize for building up Jerusalem our capital," said Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin during his Independence Day speech, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Since the announcement on the eve of US-brokered proximity talks between Israelis and Palestinians that further settlement expansion is expected in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel has reiterated its unwavering commitment to construction throughout the city despite international condemnation. However, Rivlin further told conveners that "[Israel's] fear of the 'other' across the wall, especially in Jerusalem, whether Arab or ultra-Orthodox, goes against the Zionist spirit," Haaretz reported.
Sri Lanka calls on Israel to withdraw to pre-67 borders
4/20/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Sri Lanka on Thursday called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories, saying sustainable peace could only be obtained if Israel were to retreat to the 1967 borders, end the blockade, illegal expansion of settlements, and the construction of the separation wall. Sri Lankan Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Bandula Jayasekara, speaking at the UN Security Council, said his country believed that a resolution of the Palestinian conflict was crucial in restoring peace in the Middle East, and "therefore called on all sides to fully implement resolutions regarding both the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the two-State solution," a statement read. While the relaxation of restrictions regarding the economic blockade in the occupied Palestinian territories are noted, there remain deep concerns about the daily suffering and hardship. . .
Independence Day: 26,6356; 3,500, 1,500, 1,455
Baha Hillo, Ma’an News Agency 4/19/2010
On 19 and 20 April, Israel will mourn what is says were 26,653 Israelis killed in the past 150 years, 22,682 of which were soldiers.
The Day of the Fallen Soldier sees hundreds of thousands lay flags on the graves of their lost loved ones, and the Minister of Defense Ehud Barak will speak at official ceremonies around the country.
Yom Hazikaron as the Israelis call it, begins with silence and sirens that mourn the deaths of soldiers, but when the mourning is over, the celebration begins. The celebration of Israel’s ‘strength,’ and of all the wars it has won: a celebration of racism and apartheid.
That the day of the fallen soldier, and the celebration of the so called victories of the state of Israel are celebrated during the same week as the Holocaust Memorial Day, is a travesty. The narrative string that starts with the Holocaust, passes through the death of those who fought for the state, and ends in celebration.
It is the Zionist narrative, it takes the Holocaust out of Europe and brings it to the Middle East, with Israelis declaring that they must defend the state, that Zionists must rally and defend against the enemy, this time the Arabs.
By juxtaposing the Holocaust Memorial Day with Israel’s Yom Hazikaron/Independence Day, the Arabs become those who are denying Jewish existence. In fact, however, it is the very same narrative that denies Palestinian existence.
The way the story is told means that when Palestinians assert their right to exist, they activate a constructed binary that somehow denies Jewishness.
Palestinians everywhere have to put up with the reality of being oppressed, expelled, occupied, divided, fenced in, controlled and so on, without being allowed to commemorate their miseries, or , god forbid, try to repair them. This is very clear when it comes to certain historic events like the Nakba (the Catastrophe of 1948). more.. e-mail
Troops Open Fire At A Nonviolent Wall Protest In The Gaza Strip
IMEMC - Monday April 19, 2010 - 18:26, Israeli troops opened fire on Monday at Palestinians gathered at the Israeli built wall near Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip.
Erekat skeptical over Abu Dis handover plans
4/19/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israel may re-zone parts of the Jerusalem Municipality on the east side of the separation wall so they fall under Palestinian Authority control, head of the PLO negotiations department Saeb Erekat said Sunday. In a broadcast from the Ma'an Radio Network, Erekat explained that Abu Dis, along with Al-Eizariya and As-Sawahira were all supposed to be transferred to PA control under subsequent phases of the Oslo Peace process, scheduled for 1998."Even after Oslo the Knesset agreed on the transfer," Erekat said, adding that he had learned about a renewed interest by Israel to finally make the transfer. At the end of March, Israeli news outlets quoted Palestinain sources who cited US pressure over the handover, in line with the establishment of a Palestinian state in 2011 as per caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan.
International activist arrested on false accusations in Sheikh Jarrah
4/19/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - At approximately 11. 30pm on the 18th April, a British ISM activist, Robin Brown, was arrested in Sheikh Jarrah having been falsely accused by Israeli settlers of attacking them with tear gas. Those present in the hours leading up to his arrest insist this cannot possibly be true. Brown was released from police custody at 3am on the 19th – recognition from the police that there was absolutely no evidence to support the settlers' accusations. Earlier in the evening, settlers had attempted to destroy a mural that was recently painted in the front garden of the Al Kurd home, half of which is occupied by settlers. Running past the wall, they threw cupfuls of white paint at the mural before fleeing down the street. Despite their later claims to police, there was no confrontation in the street between them and the Palestinian residents of the neighbourhood, or the international activists who were also present.
Boldness vs. Bullets At The Gaza Border
Max Ajl, Truthout 4/19/2010
The razor-wire and concrete frontier between Israel and Gaza is intermittently interrupted by remote-controlled metal observation towers equipped with motion sensors. When the sensors detect something, the metal petals atop the towers peel back, blooming. A small bloom means the interior camera is peering around. A big bloom occurs when the people controlling the machine guns inside the turret are thinking about blasting someone.
On Tuesday, in a border area near Atatra, a neighborhood in Beit Lehiya in northern Gaza, the top only opened a little - just looking around. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) software operator saw us nearing the border, perhaps 200 Palestinians and seven internationals. The Palestinians marched, boisterously and peacefully, holding a banner reading "No for the security wall and we call on international society for urgent intervention to stop the Israeli violations of Palestinian rights."
The bigger group of them stopped maybe 150 meters of the border, well within the Israel-decreed buffer zone. The bolder youth surged forward, to the first string of barbed wire, maybe 25 meters from the border, then around it, past the ring road, then nearly to the border fence. There they defiantly planted a Palestinian flag. They climbed on top of a metal structure, maybe formerly used for transmitting electricity, and planted several Palestinian flags. I mentioned to another international, Rada, that "someone was going to get shot," we were so close to the border. I guessed wrong, luckily. And there we waited. We didn’t wait too long.
First one jeep, then two, then three, drove up in a tremendous hurry. IDF marksmen rushed from the jeeps and took up sniping positions on a sand-dune overlooking the enemy: in this case peaceful Palestinian demonstrators clustered on their own land, with a few international witnesses, and a lot of clearly visible press wearing blue flak jackets. more.. e-mail
Palestine to welcome Israeli guides, Israel on fence
4/18/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - New regulations allowing Israeli tourguides into the West Bank are still pending approval from some sides, an Israeli spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) confirmed Sunday. The Israeli army, COGAT and the country's Ministry of Tourism had all approved the move, the official said, but declined to name the offices that were holding back the initiative, adding "we hope it happens as soon as possible." Not among those holding back the plan is the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, which was neither consulted nor asked to okay the new regulations. In fact, the only mechanism for information transfer in the tourism field is a Joint Technical Committee, which was notified about the possibility of the new permits for Israelis a few weeks ago, but not asked for comment.
Palestinians reclaim property through graffiti
4/18/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - The Al-Kurds continued to reclaim what remains of their Sheikh Jarrah home today with an art project. Three graffiti artists from Palestine, Israel and the UK joined Sheikh Jarrah residents and activists for a day of garden beautification. The artists met with residents in the morning while activists prepped the walls for painting."Sheikh Jarrah" was sprayed in both Arabic and English with an Al-Aqsa style mosque between the two. The Gawi children, evicted from their homes in August 2009, assisted with the creation. Neighborhood kids also made stencils to decorate the doors, walls and pathways of the yard. Nasser Al-Ghawi sits by reclaimed wallSettlers were present in large numbers, upwards of 15 at times, throughout the day. They sat in front of the occupied Al-Kurd home watching as over 40 residents, Israeli and international activists filled the yard to support the evicted families of Sheikh Jarrah.
Peres at Remembrance Day ceremony: Don't underestimate Israel
YNet News 18 Apr 2010 - Central ceremony opens in Jerusalem's Western Wall plaza with address by President Shimon Peres, to honor 22,684 fallen in fulfillment of their duty since 1860. 'There are still those who desire to destroy us, first and foremost the oppressive Iranian regime,' he says, 'But they must not dismiss our capabilities'
The Myths of Liberal Zionism – Book Review
Dr. Ludwig Watzal, Bonn, Palestine Chronicle 2/7/2010
Yitzhak Laor, The Myths of Liberal Zionism (London: Verso, 2010) 162 p.
The book deals with the deep contradictions within Israeli society, the fact that a large majority of the population supports the brutal oppression of the Palestinian people, and the role of Israeli intellectuals and their counterparts in the West, particularly in France, in justifying the ongoing colonial Endeavour in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan (and Iran).
By stigmatizing an anti-racist attitude these “liberal” Israeli intellectuals try to delegitimize any criticism of atrocities the West has wrought upon the people of the East, the Muslims.
According to Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, the Jewish state was designed as a Western bulwark against the “barbarians” of the East. The “normalization of the Jews", so the Zionist reasoning, meant going to the Orient, the East and establish their own state in order to solve the European problem of anti-Semitism. “The colonized Jews now tried to free themselves by colonizing others.” This kind of thought finds its famous expression in Ehud Barak’s characterization of Israel as a “villa in the jungle“.
According to Yitzhak Laor, a famous Israeli poet, novelist and political activist, "Liberal Zionism” is a myth and a contradiction in terms because Israeli “liberal Zionists” believe that millions of Palestinians can be removed from their land, denied their human rights, fenced in so-called homelands or in huge "ghettoes”, and even killed in the name of a Jewish and democratic state.
The majority of Israelis see themselves as “Westerners” and therefore part of the West. The creation of a “New Man” which finds its expression in the “sabra” cult, can teach much about the “ideological makeup of the new Jewish society” that settled in Palestine, so the author. Laor describes some traits of this “New Man”: courage and sacrifice, boldness and arrogance (“Israeli chutzpah”). Furthermore, the “sabra” is described as “a victim of circumstances, or a victim of cruelty of the generation before him, or the [cruelty] of Jewish history...." more.. e-mail
Israeli forces storm Prisoners Day event
4/17/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - One child and one teenager were injured on Sunday evening when Israeli forces stormed a prisoner solidarity event in Beit Ummar, north of the West Bank city of Hebron. Spokesman for the Palestine Solidarity Project Mohammad Ayyad Awad said soldiers surrounded the courtyard of the local Zahret Al-Mada'en school, and fired live bullets and tear-gas canisters, injuring Yezan Imad As-Sleibi, 17, sustaining a gunshot wound to the head, receiving treatment at the scene. Awad added that 15-year-old Sabri Ibrahim Awad sustained bruising after being beaten by Israel soldiers, and was transferred to hospital for treatment. The festival was organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and the Palestine Solidarity Project in solidarity with Palestinian detainees on Prisoners Day. Following a Ma'an inquiry, an Israeli military spokesman said no live fire was used and no injuries. . .
Israeli forces surround Beit Ummar
4/17/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - Israeli forces reportedly surrounded the town of Beit Ummar on Saturday, closing off all entrances into the town and fired tear-gas canisters near the local mosque, according to the Palestine Solidarity Project. Spokesman for the PSP Muhammad Ayyad Awad, said Israeli forces surrounded the town and stopped all cars, checking owners' identity cards, adding that Israeli and international solidarity groups were barred from entering Beit Ummar to participate in the week march against the wall. Locals said Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas canisters near the local mosque, where worshipers were gathered, with several suffering from respiratory problems as a result. Awad added that the Popular Committee Against the Wall and the PSP were unable to hold its weekly march because of the Israeli siege imposed upon the town.
Anti wall marches challenge Israeli ban
PIC 17 Apr 2010 - Palestinian marches against the Israeli separation wall continued n West Bank villages for the fourth week running challenging the Israeli military order banning such rallies issued four weeks ago.
Deir Yassin’s inextinguishable fire
Dina Elmuti, Deir Yassin, Israeli Occupation Archive 4/16/2010
“They will not criminalize us, rob us of our true identity, steal our individualism, depoliticize us, churn us out as systemized, institutionalized, decent law-abiding robots. We refuse to lie here in dishonor!” - Bobby Sands, Provisional Irish Republican Army
It’s as if the very moment I passed by Bab al-Amud or Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, I was transported back in time to a forbidden place, a place I was forced to feel as though I was illegally trespassing through just by gazing at it, a place now belonging to others. “This place you talk about no longer exists. It’s been long gone.” That’s what they continue to say with such impunity and disregard, but those sentiments of deterrence wouldn’t stop me. They never had before, and they wouldn’t stand a chance now. I was determined to go back, to see it all again with my own eyes, to capture every sight so the memories would be engraved in my head forever, despite any and all pretentious constructions that would be made without our permission. Despite all the renovations and reconstructions to make it “their own,” it would always be Deir Yassin to me.
“Deir Yassin,” she says with a sadness, a sense of loss in her eyes each time she speaks of the atrocious day she lost her home. “Deir Yassin,” she says with a childlike innocence in her voice as she recalls sweet memories before her entire world was completely denatured by evil. “Deir Yassin,” the imperishable words of my grandmother continue to resonate with me each day for she made me promise to never forget, and that’s a promise I intend to keep to her.
I followed the imperiously-placed road signs leading to Givat Shaul until the memories began flooding back, one by one. With no place to park, I took the chance of leaving the yellow-plated car on the side of the road, near the abandoned blue fence so I would be able to step back in time on foot. In the cool breeze of that afternoon, standing on the ledge overlooking the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in scenic view of the Jewish Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, I inhaled deeply and digested the view of what was now known as Givat Shaul. As I stood there taking in the surreal surroundings of Mount Herzl and Yad Vashem, I was overcome by emotions as the tales of my grandmother soon came to life right before my very eyes. -- See also: Source more.. e-mail
Israeli fire kills 1 east of Gaza City
4/16/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian operative in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said, following witness accounts of heavy fire. Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades said its operatives clashed with Israeli forces along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. In a statement, the armed wing reported that at 6am, its forces acted defensively against an undercover Israeli force that entered Gaza. Israeli forces reportedly opened fire at the Al-Aqsa fighters, killing one. Another affiliate remained missing Friday afternoon, the group said. Dr Mu'awiyah Hassanein, the head of ambulance and emergency services at the Health Ministry in Gaza, confirmed that one Palestinian was killed in the clashes. The deceased was not immediately identified. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an that an "IDF force identified a Palestinian gunman planting explosive devices near the security fence.
Locals say settlers torched cars overnight
4/16/2010 - Qalqiliya - Ma'an - Israeli settlers torched cars and sprayed graffiti on homes in the occupied West Bank overnight, locals said Friday. Residents of Jinsafut, a village east of Qalqiliya, said the incident began at about 2am, when locals awoke to shouting. The alleged assailants were identified by locals as residents of the illegal settlement of Qedumim east of Qalqiliya. The settlers reportedly entered Jinsafut late Thursday and wrote slogans on a residential wall. Hebrew-language graffiti left on the structure read "this is what you deserve." The next morning, settlers set fire to two cars owned by local residents Muhammad Bashir and Abdullah Einash. An Israeli military spokesman said a complaint was filed with the Civil Administration. According to the complaint, the words "price tag" were inscribed on the wall, the official said.
Friday protests continue, Walaja homes raided
4/17/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Following an anti-wall protest in Al-Walaja on Friday, Israeli border police entered the village and surrounded the home of a detained Palestinian, trapping at least 40 people in the home for two hours. The home of 40 year old Hatem Al-Araj was host to women and children when it was besieged. Witnesses said troops withdrew after two hours without incident, and said it was unclear what they wanted with those in the building. Village council representatives said the Al-Araj home was a gathering place for locals and internationals who had earlier participated in an anti-wall rally, where they had protested the latest site of wall construction, which cuts off large swaths of land from the Al-Walaja and Beit Jala areas, west of Bethlehem. Lands from the Cremisan Monastery will also be confiscated. One representative explained that solidarity groups traveled to the homes of. . .
Lebanese villagers dismantle part of Israel border fence
Ha'aretz 16 Apr 2010 - IDF goes on alert under gaze of Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers who were near the area.
Ni'lin: every Day is Prisoners’ Day
Stop The Wall - More than one hundred fifty people joined the weekly march against the Apartheid Wall today, April 16, Prisoners’ Day. Protestors called for the release of all Palestinian prisoners and in particular the 14 anti-Wall activists from Ni’lin that currently languish in the jails of the Israeli prisons. [
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08-14 April 2010)
PCHR 14 Apr 2010 - Palestinian civilians and international solidarity activists run away from tear gas smoke fired by Israeli troops during a peaceful demonstration organized in Bal'ein village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) · 7 Palestinian civilians, including two....
Diliani warns of ’rapidly escalating’ aggression
4/15/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Fatah Revolutionary Council member Dimitri Diliani warned Thursday that Israel's "continuous and rapidly escalating aggression" against villages surrounding occupied Jerusalem was in cooperation with settler groups. Diliani added that such "aggression" occurs in parallel with the decision of Israel's Jerusalem municipality to resume house demolitions in the occupied city, in addition to settlement building, the separation wall, seizing residents' houses for the benefit of settlers, imposing high taxes, restricting movement, confining the process of education, and systematically disrupting social and cultural development. He pointed out those settlers uprooted 300 centuries-old olive trees in the village of Mikhmas, north of Jerusalem, on Tuesday at the same time that the military ruling authority in the West Bank announced the confiscation of hundreds of acres in Anata. . .
In photos: Palestinians examine demolished homes
4/15/2010 - 1-7) Palestinians inspect the rubble of house demolished by Israeli bulldozers in the West Bank village of Al-Khader, near Bethlehem. [MaanImages/Luay Sababa] 8-17) The home, which belonged to Ali Saleem, was destroyed on 14 April 2010 under the pretext it was built too close to Israel`s wall. [MaanImages/Haytham Othman] 18-23) Meanwhile, in Hares, a village near Nablus, Palestinians examine the remains of a home and several shops destroyed by bulldozers. [MaanImages/Rami Swidan] [end]
Israel army condemns mosque vandalism
4/15/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - After the Bilal Ibn Rabah mosque in the village of Huwwara, south of Nablus, was vandalized by anonymous suspects late Wednesday night, the Israeli military expressed condemnation and vowed to bring those responsible to justice. The army said in a statement that the Star of David symbol and the caption "Muhammad" in Hebrew were among the graffiti painted on the wall of the mosque. In addition, two vehicles owned by Palestinians were reportedly set on fire in the village."The Commander of the IDF Judea and Samaria division, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon ordered an immediate investigation into the incident, condemned the acts and said that those responsible should be brought to justice," the statement noted." The IDF conveyed a message to the Palestinians through the Civil Administration to reassure them that the IDF takes the matter of harming or vandalizing of holy sites very seriously. . ."
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08-14 April 2010)
PCHR 14 Apr 2010 - Palestinian civilians and international solidarity activists run away from tear gas smoke fired by Israeli troops during a peaceful demonstration organized in Bal'ein village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) · 7 Palestinian civilians, including two....
Settlers Torch Two Vehicles, Right Graffiti On Mosque’s Wall
IMEMC - Wednesday April 14, 2010 - 12:30, Israeli settlers invaded on Wednesday at dawn the village of Huwwara, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, torched two cars and wrote graffiti at the wall of a local mosque.
PA police: 7 detained by Israel in West Bank
4/14/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained seven Palestinians across the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian Authority police said. A PA statement said forces raided Qalqiliya, northern West Bank, in the morning and detained Hakam Nasri Sabri, Wasfi Daoud Mahmud, Kamal Abdul Fattah Yassin, Ruslan Kawwas, and Marwan Theeb Sa'sa. Israeli troops further raided the Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem, detaining Saleh Muhammad Abdul Rahman Al-Ju'edi. In Ramallah, Israeli forces detained Muhammad Ahmad Daoud as he attempted to cross the Atara checkpoint, police said. Police further reported that Riziq Khalil Nafe, 40, was severely beaten by Israeli forces near the separation wall in Ni'lin, sustaining a broken leg as a result. Nafe was transferred to hospital to undergo treatment. Forces also raided the Barta'a village in Jenin, surrounding the home of Hussam Abdullah Qabha, police said, performing a number of home searches, with no detentions reported.
Israel issues a stern warning to PA
14 Apr 2010 - West Bank, April 14, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli military issued a stern warning to the Palestinian Authority recently, in order to cool off and ease the work of "violence" in the West Bank, particularly those carried out on the security fence fearing that those acts will come out of control and turn into escalation. Colonel Avi Mizrahi, commander of the...
Syria Supplies Scud Missiles to Hizbullah While Accepting American Overtures
The Media Line 13 Apr 2010 - Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad has been supplying Scud missiles to Hizbullah while accepting overtures of relationship-building from President Obama. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that American officials have confirmed Israeli charges that Syria is, indeed,...
Israeli Army, Terrorists Clash on Gaza Border
The Media Line 12 Apr 2010 - Israeli army troops opened fire at a group of Palestinian men seen planting explosives along the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning. Four Palestinians died in the incident, according to Palestinian medical...
Israeli forces continue to enforce Gaza no-go zone
4/12/2010 - Gaza - Ma’an - Israeli forces opened fire on a march Monday, as civilians protested the Israeli-imposed buffer zone lining the Gaza borders in the southern Gaza Strip. Continuing the weekly protest against the no-go area, which experts say eats up 20% of Gaza's arable land, protesters gathered at the southern village of Absan, and marched toward the border.Soldiers fired in the air when marchers reached approximately 200 meters away from the border fence, marking the continued policing of what Israel calls the "buffer zone." The area is used for Israeli military vehicles patrolling the Gaza border, in contravention to the 2005 unilateral pull-out of Israeli forces from Gaza.Popular Resistance Campaign coordinator Mahmud Az-Ziq said hundreds participated in the protest, marching under the cover of smoke from burning tires toward the border. Related: In photos: Challenging Gaza no-go zone Related: In photos: Challenging Gaza no-go zone
In photos: Challenging Gaza no-go zone
4/12/2010 - MaanImages / Hatem Omar - Continuing the weekly protest against the no-go area, which experts say eats up 20% of Gaza's arable land, protesters gathered at the southern Gaza Strip village of Absan, and marched toward the border.Soldiers fired in the air when marchers reached approximately 200 meters away from the border fence, marking the continued policing of what Israel calls the "buffer zone." The area is used for Israeli military vehicles patrolling the Gaza border, in contravention to the 2005 unilateral pull-out of Israeli forces from Gaza. Popular Resistance Campaign coordinator Mahmud Az-Ziq said hundreds participated in the protest, marching under the cover of smoke from burning tires toward the border. The effort seeks to discredit claims that Gaza is no longer occupied, and highlight the violent military nature of the ongoing siege of Gaza. Related: Israeli forces continue to enforce Gaza no-go zone Related: Israeli forces continue to enforce Gaza no-go zone
Hebron: Israeli forces detain 5 protest organizers
4/11/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained five members of a Palestinian popular committee during its weekly march north of Hebron on Saturday, as well as five international activists, a statement read. Those detained include Moussa Abu Maria, external relations officer for the local committee against the wall and settlements in Khirbet Safa, who was briefly detained by Palestinian Authority forces less than one week earlier. Mohammad Ayad Awad, the committee's spokesman, Younis Arrar, committee coordinator, and Sakhr Abu Maria and members of the popular committee Atef Abu Diya, were also detained. An Israeli military spokesman said a total 13 individuals were taken and transferred for security questioning."A number of knives were discovered on them," he added. The organizers and activists were detained during a protest against land confiscation that begun on Saturday afternoon from Beit. . .
Israel closes Bethlehem checkpoint
4/11/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Israeli border police closed the 300 checkpoint at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem Sunday morning, stranding West Bank permit holders and foreign nationals attempting to enter and exit the West Bank. Representatives said the closure was in anticipation of a demonstration at the military terminal, similar to one held on Palm Sunday where Christians and supporters demanded rights to access the holy city of Jerusalem for religious rites during Easter. Groups in charge of the Palm Sunday event said there was no action planned at the 300 checkpoint, but noted Bethlehem-area residents intended to gather near the site of the most recent separation wall construction to protest the confiscation of private and monastery lands. Witnesses said they saw groups gathering near the wall, and several military jeeps stationed near the area.
Five new arrests as activists dismantle illegal settlement foundations
Stop The Wall - Earlier today Israeli occupation forces arrested the following five members of the local committee against the Wall and Settlements in Khirbet Safa. Five international activists, who were detained are already released. The arrests came during a protest against a settlement outpost under construction on the Beit Ummar lands. [
High Court rejects Palestinian village's petition against security fence
YNet News 11 Apr 2010 - Justices say rerouting segment of West Bank barrier that separates village of Masha from Israeli communities will jeopardize security of local Jews
Fayyad’s big gamble
Uri Avnery, Ma’an News Agency 4/11/2010
I met Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, two weeks ago, and was again impressed by the calm and modesty he radiates.
Generally, I meet him at demonstrations, such as those at the Bi’lin fence. This time, too, there was no opportunity for more than a perfunctory handshake and a few polite words.
We appeared together at the Land Day event in a small village near Qalqiliya, whose name is known only to a few: Izbat Al-Tabib. The village was established in 1920, and the occupation authorities do not recognize its existence. They want to demolish it and transfer its extensive lands to the nearby Alfei Menashe settlement.
We were surrounded by a large group of respectable personalities – the heads of neighboring villages and officials of the parties that belong to the PLO – as well as the inhabitants of the village. I could speak to him only from the rostrum. I entreated him to strengthen the cooperation between the Palestinian leadership and the Israeli peace camp, a cooperation that has weakened since the assassinations of Yasser Arafat and Faisal Husseini.
It is impossible not to like Fayyad. He radiates decency, seriousness and a sense of responsibility. He invites trust. None of the filth of corruption has stuck to him. He is no party functionary. Only after much hesitation did he join a small party (the Third Way). In the confrontation between Fatah and Hamas, he does not belong to either of the two rival blocs. He looks like a bank manager – and that is what he indeed was: a senior official of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The 58-year old Fayyad is the very opposite of Arafat, who first appointed him as finance minister. The Ra’is (Arabic for head or chief) radiated authority, the prime minister radiates diffidence. Arafat was an extrovert, Fayyad is an introvert. Arafat was a man of dramatic gestures, Fayyad does not know what a gesture is. more.. e-mail
Israel releases detained B’Tselem field worker
4/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli forces released a Palestinian human rights worker late Friday, hours after an arrest in the occupied West Bank village of Bil'in, near Ramallah, his colleagues said Saturday. Haitham Al-Khatib, a field worker for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and a cameraman for the Popular Committee Against the Wall, was detained for entering a closed military zone, the army said. B'Tselem, however, rejected the military's explanation. Israel's closed-zone order, instituted last month to stop the weekly anti-wall protests in Bil'in and neighboring Nil'in, does not apply to residents of the West Bank villages, a B'Tselem spokeswoman said. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that the army's closed-zone order does not apply to residents. According to the Popular Committee, Friday's arrest was Al-Khatib's third since 2009.
11 detained at anti-wall rally south of Bethlehem
4/10/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained at least 11 people south of the central West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday afternoon. Eight of the detainees were participating in a protest against Israel's wall in Safa, a village next to the illegal Gush Etzion settlement. A Palestinian journalist and two foreign nationals were among those detained at the scene, according to witnesses, who said 11 were seized in total. An Israeli military spokeswoman said 14 rioters who violated a closed military zone order were arrested during a "violent and illegal riot."They threw rocks at security forces and set fire to adjacent lands, she said. All 14 were transferred to the custody of Israeli police for questioning, the official added.
Fatah marks Deir Yassin massacre
4/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Marking the 62nd commemoration of the Deir Yassin massacre, Fatah called on the international community to bring its perpetrators before a war crimes tribunal, a statement read Saturday. The movement further termed Israel's separation wall, settlements and home demolitions war crimes, and demanded that "racist" killings and laws discriminating against Palestinians be considered the "continuation of the genocide that begun 62 years ago."The statement, issued by Fatah's Culture and Information Office, said Israel's "massacres and killing of innocent people, and the terrorism used by Israeli armed organizations to evacuate Palestinians from their land have failed."Quoting Palestinian resistance fighter Abdul Qader Al-Husseini, who was killed during the Battle of Qastal in April 1948 on the road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the statement said "the Palestinian people have resisted the invaders, with their modest abilities. . ."
Students erect Israeli wall on US campus
4/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - For eight hours on Thursday, students at Princeton University in the US were greeted by a 16-foot wall, made of wood and Styrofoam, representing Israel's separation wall, local media reported. The Daily Princetonian, a college newspaper, reported Friday that the display was a protest by the Princeton Committee on Palestine and Amnesty International against the wall, which weaves in and out of the occupied West Bank. PCP and AI members spent months planning, building, and painting the wall, which was marked with the words "peace not apartheid."PCP president Yoel Bitran told the publication that the group wanted to "give Princeton students the opportunity to imagine what it would be like to grow up or go to school in a place surrounded by a prison of concrete and metal."He said that while "most students understand that Israel's policies in the occupied territories ... Related: Princeton Students Build Wall to Protest Israeli Apartheid
African migrant dies of heart attack; 25 detained
4/10/2010 - Al-Arish - Ma'an - An Ethiopian migrant who was detained by Egyptian police on Thursday died of a heart attack on Saturday while in Egyptian custody. Egyptian security sources identified the deceased as Yousif Muhammad Jaberta, 28, and said his body was transferred to the Al-Arish Hospital. Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities detained 25 African migrants attempting to enter Israel illegally, the sources added. The migrants told police that they had paid 1,000 US dollars each to an international human trafficking gang to guarantee their transit into Israel, sources said. Last Saturday, Egyptian authorities detained 20 African migrants in two separate incidents, caught attempting to breach the barbed-wire fencing along the Egypt-Israel border. In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the government will commence construction on a border wall along Egypt "to close the. . .
Israel knows apartheid has no future
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 - After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. In...
Five new arrests as activists dismantle illegal settlement foundations
Stop The Wall - Earlier today Israeli occupation forces arrested the following five members of the local committee against the Wall and Settlements in Khirbet Safa. Five international activists, who were detained are already released. The arrests came during a protest against a settlement outpost under construction on the Beit Ummar lands. [
Bil’in anti-wall protestors defy Israeli military orders for fourth week
PIC 10 Apr 2010 - The Bil’in anti-wall march renewed protests against the Israeli segregation wall defying military orders which four weeks ago declared the village a closed military zone on Fridays.
Palestinian Journalist Arrested In Bil’in While Documenting Demonstration
IMEMC - Friday April 09, 2010 - 16:49, On Friday Palestinians, Israeli, and International activists marched to the wall built on the central west Bank village of Bil’in lands.
Nil’in Village Commemorates The April 19th 1948 Dier Yassin Massacre
IMEMC - Friday April 09, 2010 - 16:40, Villagers, along with international and Israeli supporters, protested on Friday at the village of Nil ‘in, central West Bank, the Israeli built wall on farmers lands.
Protesters say army used live fire against Nil’in demonstration
4/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinians were joined by 15 Israeli and international activists in the West Bank village of Nil'in on Friday, where Israeli forces were said to have used live fire to disperse a weekly demonstration. Protesting Israel's wall and settlements, which have claimed over 40 percent of the village's lands, demonstrators marched toward the barrier armed with flags. According to participants, Israeli forces responded by firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. Soldiers invaded the village's olive groves, where they continued opening fire, but there were no injuries, a statement from the International Solidarity Movement said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said riot-dispersal means were used to disperse a violent riot.
Hundreds protest Israeli wall, settlements
4/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinians and foreign nationals were arrested across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Friday, as Israeli forces dispersed weekly protests against Israel's wall and settlements. Four international peace activists were detained during a protest supporting Palestinian families from East Jerusalem who were evicted from their homes and replaced by Israeli settlers. Photographer Mustafa Abu Turk told Ma'an that Israeli forces assaulted photojournalists in the flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah "in an attempt to prevent us from doing our jobs."Maysoon Al-Ghawi, a resident of the flashpoint East Jerusalem district and a member of one of the Palestinian families expelled by settlers in 2009, also told Ma'an that "Israeli forces attacked protesters and used force to keep us from approaching our confiscated homes."
B’Tselem field worker detained at Bil’in rally
4/9/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Israeli forces arrested a human rights advocate on Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Bil'in, near Ramallah. The detainee was identified as Haitham Al-Khatib, a field worker for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and a cameraman for the Popular Committee Against the Wall. Israel's military said that one person was detained for questioning during what it termed a violent and illegal riot. An army spokeswoman told Ma'an that the arrest came after the Palestinian entered an area designated as a closed military zone. Israeli forces used riot-dispersal means to disperse the crowd, she added. B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli confirmed that Al-Khatib worked for the human rights organization, but rejected the pretext of his arrest. Israel's closed-zone order does not apply to residents of the West Bank village, she said, adding that, in any case, Al-Khatib was filming the protest rather than participating in it.
Injuries reported after Nabi Salih demonstration
4/9/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Dozens of protesters choked on tear gas Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Salih, west of Ramallah, protesters said, while Israel said a border police officer was injured by rocks. An estimated 200 human rights advocates, among them international and Israeli solidarity activists, joined the weekly Palestinian protest against Israel's wall. Participants insisted the protest was generally peaceful. Bashir At-Tamimi, head of the Nabi Salih village council, said "Israeli soldiers attacked the rally, showering [participants] with rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas canisters. Dozens were injured after inhaling gas."At-Tamimi added: "Israeli forces chased protestors into the village, fired gas canisters at their homes, and sprayed houses with sewage water, injuring several women and children, who fainted after inhaling fumes."
Deir Yassin massacre remembered in West Bank
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 - Nil'in villagers along with international and Israeli supporters mark the 62nd anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre by protesting the Israeli separation wall that has bisected Nil'in territory, IMEMC reports. After midday prayers, protesters approached the...
Israel knows apartheid has no future
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 - After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. In...
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2228.shtml
Stop The Wall - Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist Haitham Al-Khatib, a photographer working with an Israeli human rights organisation and the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements. The popular committee appealed to international solidarity to organize events and a letter writing campaign calling for the release of leaders and activists of the anti-Wall movement. [
Live Ammunition Fired at Nonviolent Demonstrators in Ni’lin
4/9/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Facing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition, roughly sixty Palestinians gathered outside of Ni'lin today. Joined by 15 Israeli and International activists, the demonstrators protested the Israeli occupation which has claimed over 40% of the village's land. After congregating in nearby olive groves for midday prayers, demonstrators marched towards the illegal annexation wall with flags and chants led by village youth. Upon reaching the wall, demonstrators were met with a violent military response. Claiming nearly 30% of remaining village land, the wall annexes Ni'lin farmland for use by the nearby illegal settlement Modi'in Ilit. Soldiers fired tear gas and percussion grenades over the wall at nonviolent demonstrators, who were not deterred and continued a spirited protest.
Medical staff prevented from reaching clinic beyond wall
4/8/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli checkpoint soldiers prevented medical staff from entering the village of Khallet An-Nu'man, north of Bethlehem, where they were headed to work at a CARE-sponsored clinic, the Health Work Committees reported Thursday. The incident reportedly took place early in the morning, with two doctors and two nurses along with their regular driver in a medical vehicle heading to the An-Nu'man clinic, where they work. According to the Health Work Committees, Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint ordered doctors Ahmad Abu Sharkh and Nadia Al-Hih, along with nurses Nehaya Abu Khdeir, Hiam Al-Warasnah, and their driver Ismail Noufal to step out of their car for a search. The medical staff told the committees that they were treated poorly by the soldiers and ultimately turned away from the checkpoint and unable to access the clinic.
Israel partially lifts gag on journalist detention
4/9/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israel lifted a months-long censorship order Thursday, confirming for the first time that an Israeli journalist has been held under secret house arrest for almost four months amid allegations she leaked classified military information to an Israeli newspaper. After weeks of exposure in the foreign media and local blogosphere, despite the all-encompassing gag order, authorities announced that Anat Kam, 23, a contributor to the Web site Walla!, was placed under house arrest on 15 December in Tel Aviv pending trial on treason and spying charges. Prosecutors claim she copied hundreds of classified military documents during her mandatory army service years earlier. Two of these documents are believed to have inspired a November 2008 investigation by Israeli reporter Uri Blau detailing Israeli army assassination procedures.
Israel expected to partially lift media gag
4/8/2010 - New York - Ma'an - Israel is expected to lift a court-ordered ban on publishing its months-long detention of an Israeli journalist, Anat Kam, 23, on Thursday, following weeks of exposure in the foreign news media and local blogosphere. Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper at the center of the controversy, reported late Wednesday that officials representing the army, the internal security service, and the state prosecutor would officially ask for the partial removal of the gag order. An appeal by Channel 10 and Haaretz against the ban was scheduled to be heard by a Tel Aviv court on 12 April, but sources familiar with the case said Channel 10 opted to move forward in light of the abundance of foreign news reports. Haaretz unsuccessfully appealed the order a month ago. A contributor to the Israeli Web site Walla!, Kam has been under house arrest since Decemberon treason and spying charges.
Israel knows apartheid has no future
Mustafa Barghouthi, Ma’an News Agency 4/6/2010
After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences.
In 2007, Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, declared: “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished.” More recently, making a similar point, Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, said “as long as between the Jordan and the sea there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic ... If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a bi-national state, and if they don’t, it is an apartheid state.”
But when do the “ifs” of Olmert and Barak no longer describe a possible future, but the current reality? Apartheid is here. There is one set of Israeli laws applied to Palestinians in the West Bank and another set applied to Jews in the West Bank. Israeli settlers live illegally in beautiful subsidized housing on stolen Palestinian land while we are relegated to smaller and smaller bantustans.
I believe, even today, in the importance of the two-state solution. But with every passing day I see what can only be described as Israel’s dogged determination to block such an outcome. The time has come to tell Washington that the viability of the two-state solution is being destroyed on Barack Obama’s watch. President Obama inherited this difficulty from his predecessor. But old problems have become Obama problems.
When Washington fails to act decisively towards this festering conflict, it is in fact acting decisively. Billions of American taxpayers’ dollars continue to flow to Israeli coffers. And American diplomatic capital is still spent to shield Israel from world censure. more.. e-mail
Israel knows apartheid has no future
Electronic Intifada: 8 Apr 2010 - After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi comments.
Tulkarem blast damages home of Fatah fighter
4/7/2010 - Tulkarem - Ma'an - An explosive charge was detonated in front of an Al-Aqsa Brigades member's home in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Wednesday, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injury. Relatives of Husni Abu Zugheib, a member of the Fatah-aligned armed wing, said the home sustained material damage. The culprits also vandalized the walls of the building with slogans denouncing the fighter, they added. Palestinian Authority police announced that an investigation was opened into the incident, as Fatah officials in the city denounced what they called an attack on Abu Zugheib."Those suspected of orchistrating this attack must be exposed and punished," a Fatah official said. An Israeli military patrol raided Tulkarem hours earlier, stopping several Palestinians to check IDs, eyewitnesses said. No clashes or detentions were reported, although residents said they felt threatened and forces were unnecessarily provoking civilians.
Cameras and Kuffiyehs: Palestine's video resistance
Uruknet April 7, 2010 - Every Friday, the slingshot-wielding boys of the West Bank village of Ni’lin make their way to protests at the Israeli-constructed separation wall, which has deprived the village of 300 hectares of its farmland. But weaving among the boys, or shabab, are other youngsters with a different weapon of choice – video cameras. For the past three...
US military aid to Israel violates domestic, international law
Uruknet April 7, 2010 - The Middle East Study Committee of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has published "Breaking Down the Walls", a report to be submitted to the church's 219th General Assembly this July. Some of the report's 39 recommendations have drawn harsh criticism. The Simon Wiesenthal Center declared in a 22 February action alert that "adoption of this poisonous document...
Settlers Destroy Al-Kurd Property: Two Palestinians Arrested
4/7/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Update: The Palestinians who were arrested last have been released without charge. No settlers have been questioned or detained in connection with the property destruction they undertook, despite photographic evidence proving their culpability. Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem, Israel, 12AM - Right-wing settlers began to dismantle a fence the Al-Kurd family erected around their garden shortly after midnight Wednesday morning. Palestinians and internationals in the Al-Kurds protest tent, where the family has have lived in for four months, placed themselves between the fence and the settlers. Police arrived soon after and arrested two young Palestinian men of Sheikh Jarrah. No settlers were taken into custody. Despite pleas by the Palestinians and internationals who witnessed the event, officers refused to look at the destroyed section of the fence.
Gandhi's grandson applauds non-violent protest
Palestine Monitor - 6 Apr 2010 - Gandhi applauded what he described as Bil'in's "modern struggle," adding that "the whole world knows of Bil'in's activists, and it is a model for modern popular resistance. There will come a day when the Israelis learn that their settlements and separation wall vanish and will be...
Financial Times: Israel knows Apartheid Has No Future
Palestine Monitor - 6 Apr 2010 - After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. In 2007, Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, declared: “If the day...
Gaza protesters raise flags on no-go zone
4/6/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Gaza residents marched toward Israel's no-go zone on Tuesday, in protest of the confiscation of 20% of the Strip's farming lands inside the buffer. Marchers proceeded from Al-Atatra, a Beit Lahiya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, toward the border area to plant flags on Palestinian lands. Popular Resistance Campaign coordinator Mahmoud Az-Ziq said hundreds of local men and international solidarity activists marched toward the no-go zone, raising Palestinian flags at the barbed-wire fence sectioning off the area. Dozens of Israeli soldiers, he said, fired warning shots in "all directions.""These rallies show how adamant we are to regain access to agricultural lands along the border area. Non-violent rallies will continue, no matter what danger we will face," Az-Ziq added. Beit Hanoun Popular Initiative coordinator Sabir Za'nin said Israeli soldiers in black uniforms. . .
Jordan King: Israel's long-term future is in jeopardy
Ha'aretz 6 Apr 2010 - In interview with Wall Street Journal, Abdullah warns against 'wasting too much time' in solving conflict.
Gandhi's grandson applauds non-violent protest
Palestine Monitor: 6 Apr 2010 - Gandhi applauded what he described as Bil'in's "modern struggle," adding that "the whole world knows of Bil'in's activists, and it is a model for modern popular resistance. There will come a day when the Israelis learn that their settlements and separation wall vanish and will be destroyed as a result of the injustice and tyranny they practice." He added that "It is our duty to awaken the international community, and to call attention to what is going on in Palestine, and seek support for the Palestinian people and their just cause." Received by members of the local village council and the Popular Committee Against the Wall, Gandhi and his delegation heard committee member Muhammad Al-Khatib speak of Bil'in's form of non-violent resistance during the past five years, highlighting its achievements and the participation of international activists and sympathizers who "played a major part in this resistance." The popular committee screened...
Financial Times: Israel knows Apartheid Has No Future
Palestine Monitor: 6 Apr 2010 - After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. In 2007, Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, declared: “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished.” More recently, making a similar point, Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, said “as long as between the Jordan and the sea there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic . . . If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a bi-national state, and if they don't, it is an apartheid state.” But when do the “ifs” of Mr Olmert and Mr...
Gandhi’s grandson applauds non-violent protest
4/5/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the late Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, visited the West Bank village of Bil'in on Monday, accompanied by Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti. Gandhi applauded what he described as Bil'in's "modern struggle," adding that "the whole world knows of Bil'in's activists, and it is a model for modern popular resistance. There will come a day when the Israelis learn that their settlements and separation wall vanish and will be destroyed as a result of the injustice and tyranny they practice."He added that "It is our duty to awaken the international community, and to call attention to what is going on in Palestine, and seek support for the Palestinian people and their just cause." Received by members of the local village council and the Popular Committee Against the Wall, Gandhi and his delegation heard committee member Muhammad. . .
The Palestinians are winning the legitimacy war – will it matter?
Richard Falk, Redress, Israeli Occupation Archive 4/5/2010
Ever since the Balfour Declaration in 1917 gave the formal approval of the British government to the establishment of “a Jewish homeland”, profound issues of legitimacy were present in the conflict recently known as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
This original colonialist endorsement of the Zionist project has produced a steady erosion of the position of the Palestinian people on historic Palestine, which dramatically worsened over the course of the past 43 years of occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It has worsened due to an oppressive military occupation by Israel that involves fundamental denials of rights and pervasive violations of international humanitarian law, and because Israel has been allowed to establish “facts on the ground”, which are more properly viewed as violations of Palestinian rights, especially the establishment of extensive settlements and a separation wall constructed on occupied Palestinian territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These developments have been flagrantly unlawful, and made the whole treatment of the Palestinian people illegitimate, as well as the occasion of continuous intense and pervasive suffering.
For decades, Palestinian political forces have exercised their right of resistance in various ways, including the extraordinary non-violent Intifada of 1987, but also engaging in armed resistance in defence of their territory. The Palestinians definitely enjoy a right of resistance, although subject to the limits of international humanitarian law, which rules out deliberate targeting of civilians and non-military targets. Such tactics of resistance challenge Israel at its point of maximum comparative advantage due both to its total military dominance, achieved in part by large subsidies from the United States, and to its ruthless disregard for civilian innocence. -- See also: Source more.. e-mail
Israel's "Iron Dome" system aims to pacify, not protect
Electronic Intifada: 5 Apr 2010 - Israel's Iron Dome program has been controversial from its inception in 2005. Besides the nationalist economic motive, Israel's efforts at intercepting rockets and mortar shells are products of Israel's pacification industry. Iron Dome is intended to be a checkpoint of sorts, one that attempts to erase or obscure the resistance of the Palestinians warehoused behind the walls of Gaza and the West Bank by intercepting projectiles. Jimmy Johnson comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Israel gags news on extrajudicial killings
Electronic Intifada: 5 Apr 2010 - RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad, after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or "targeted killings" of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents. Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site "Walla," was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli military documents during her compulsory military service.
Al-Ma’sara: solidarity activists detained in weekly march
Stop The Wall - The march in al-Ma'sara remembered the massacre committed by Israeli occupation forces in 1976. On March 30 that year, the Israeli military killed 6 farmers in the Galilee which were part of a general strike to protest the large scale confiscation of Palestinian land. Since then every year Palestinians commemorate Land Day. [
The limits of Israeli infiltration
Galal Nassar, Al-Ahram Weekly 4/1/2010
Differences between the West and Israel form at least a narrow corridor for the Arabs to exploit.
That Israel’s relations with the West have entered a completely new phase is easy to spot. Britain, author of the Balfour Declaration, has expelled an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged British passports in the assassination of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai several weeks ago. Tensions between London and Tel Aviv have rarely been allowed to spill into the open. Yet in the course of this unprecedented diplomatic flare-up an Israeli Knesset member referred to the British as "dogs or even worse, since at least dogs are loyal".
France, also angered by Israel’s use of forged French passports, has taken the matter to court. But even aside from the barely suppressed French and British fury over the Al-Mabhouh incident, European-Israeli relations have begun to worsen. Evidence to this effect can be seen in the increasingly frequent visits by European officials and politicians to Gaza in order to plead for the lifting of the Israeli blockade and in the suits being brought against alleged Israeli war criminals in European courts. Mounting European intolerance of Israeli injustices against the Palestinians has also been expressed in resolutions against the apartheid wall and in the European Court of Justice ruling that products originating from Israeli settlements are not entitled to the same preferential treatment accorded to Israeli products under the European Community-Israeli Association Agreement. Europe’s academic community has attempted to boycott Israel universities based in the occupied territories. However, perhaps the sharpest European slap was the European Parliament’s recent endorsement of the Goldstone Report, accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Even US-Israeli relations, which have long been much closer and more critical to Israel’s political, military and economic strength, have begun to show signs of strain..... more.. e-mail
Teenager injured in West Bank confrontation
4/3/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - A Palestinian teenager was injured Saturday in confrontations in the central West Bank village of Aboud, west of Ramallah, a day after an Israeli settler ran over a young woman in the nearby village of Allubban. Palestinian residents of Aboud told Ma'an that school students had organized a rally protesting the "killing" of Samar Radwan, 21. Young men hurled stones at Israeli soldiers who fired rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas canisters to disperse them, onlookers said. As Israeli soldiers chased rock-throwers, one student was injured in the leg when he attempted to jump a barbed-wire fence to escape. Witnesses said the troops caught Yousif Awad, 15, after he hurt his leg, and that he was harshly beaten and then released. Others told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers deployed around the Aboud school as several patrols toured the area.
Israel army detains 3 in Hebron
4/3/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - The Israeli army detained three Palestinians from the Old City of the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday. Sources told Ma'an that Marwan Al-Batsh, 24, Islam Fakhuri, 22, and Sa'eed El'weiwi, 22, were detained in the Khan Shaheen area. Soldiers reportedly told them that the detentions were made as the three attempted to remove a metal fence installed in the area. Locals said the fence was being moved for clearing work being carried out in the area, with Israeli forces overlooking. The three detained were not participating in the clearing effort, locals added. An Israeli military spokesman said the army was not familiar with any arrests in Hebron on Saturday. [end]
Israel Gags News on Extra-Judicial Killings
Uruknet April 2, 2010 - An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad, after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or "targeted killings" of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents. Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site 'Walla’, was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli Defence Force (IDF) documents...
IOF troops quell peaceful anti-wall marches
PIC 4 Apr 2010 - Tens of Palestinian citizens were treated for breathing problems after the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) violently quelled peaceful anti wall marches in a number of West Bank villages on Friday.
Troops Use Tear Gas To Suppress Bil’in’s Village Anti Wall Weekly Protest
IMEMC - Friday April 02, 2010 - 17:29, The villagers of Bil’in, central West Bank, along with international and Israeli supporters protest the Israeli-built wall on villager's lands.
Villagers Protest The Israeli Wall In Deir Istiya In Northern West Bank
IMEMC - Friday April 02, 2010 - 17:10, Local politicians joined the villagers of Deir Istiya in northern West Bank in their protest against the Israeli wall on Friday.
Dozens Treated For Tear Gas Inhalation At The Nil’n Anti Wall Protest
IMEMC - Friday April 02, 2010 - 17:04, Dozens for protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the anti wall protest in the village of Nil’in central West Bank.
One Detained, Journalists Injured, Cars Damaged As Troops Attack Anti Wall Protest Near Bethlehem
IMEMC - Friday April 02, 2010 - 16:33, One international supporter detained by Israeli troops, three journalists were injured and cars damaged by military fire at the weekly anti wall protest at Al Ma’ssara village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Woman dead after struck by settler car
4/2/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - A 21-year-old was killed instantly Friday when a settler struck her with his car west of Ramallah, the latest in a rapid series of violent incidents. The woman, identified by relatives as Summar Saif Radwan, was killed on the road leading to Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi, sandwiched between Israel's separation wall and the settlements of Ofarim and Bet Arye. The woman was pronounced dead at the hospital. Shortly before the woman was struck, settler groups near Nablus announced their intention to rally at the Huwwara military checkpoint, protesting what they described as "state neglect," according to the Israeli press, following an attack on a settler the day before. The day saw two additional settlers injured by Palestinian rock-throwing, as village leaders in the north described at least two zones taken over by settlers marking Passover with outdoor celebrations.
Despite closures, anti-wall rallies continue
4/3/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - For the third week in a row, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched toward Israel's separation wall in violation of military orders declaring the areas closed. In Al-Ma'asara, a foreign national protesting land confiscation was detained for attacking a soldier, the Israeli military said, while organizers reported three internationals detained. An army spokesman said the area was declared a temporary closed military zone, making the rally illegal. Witnesses said villagers tried to access their lands cut off by Israel's wall and were met with tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets. In Bil'in, where soldiers issued an order declaring the area a closed zone from March until August, dozens suffered the effects of tear-gas inhalation when Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters at what a military spokesman said were 80 demonstrators.
Corpse found week after Gaza clashes
4/3/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Palestinian medics found a body late Friday near the site of recent clashes along the Israeli border fence in southern Gaza. The corpse, discovered in Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis, was identified as Jihad Ei'tah Ad-Dughmah, 23, by medics at An-Nasser Hospital. Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades said the man was killed in clashes eight days earlier during which two Palestinians and two Israelis died. Last Sunday, Israeli forces discovered the body of Suleiman Abu Arafat, another Islamic Jihad-aligned fighter who was killed in the incident, which left two Israeli soldiers and 10 Palestinians injured. [end]
Egypt guard injured in clash at border
4/2/2010 - Al-Arish - Ma'an - An Egyptian guard was shot by a smuggler amid clashes along the Israel-Egypt border on Friday, security sources said. The officer was identified as Salameh Ibrahim, 22. He was hospitalized in Rafah with a bullet wound to the leg. Fierce clashes erupted after Egyptian forces discovered a group of African migrants approaching a fence at Israel's border. Egyptian authorities were investigating the incident. [end]
Israeli Court Decides Not To File Charges Against Soldier Who Killed Nonviolent Protestor in Bil’in
Uruknet April 2, 2010 - Despite a video clearly showing the death of Bassem Abu Rahma, who was shot in the chest by a gas bomb, an Israeli court decided Thursday that the killing that took place during a nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall in Ni’lin near Ramallah, was not intentional. The brother of Abu Rahma slammed the decision and...
Settler violence heats up; young Palestinian woman killed
Uruknet April 2, 2010 - A 21-year-old was killed instantly when a settler struck her with his car west of Ramallah on Friday, the latest in a rapid series of incidents marking a rise in settler violence. The woman, identified by relatives as Summar Saif Radwan, was killed on the road leading to Al-Lubban Al-Gharbi, sandwiched between Israel's separation wall and...
Israeli Court Decides Not To File Charges Against Soldier Who Killed Nonviolent Protestor in Bil’in
IMEMC - Friday April 02, 2010 - 03:20, Despite a video clearly showing the death of Bassem Abu Rahma, who was shot in the chest by a gas bomb, an Israeli court decided Thursday that the killing that took place during a nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall in Ni’lin near Ramallah, was not intentional.
Family visits for prisoners to stop, in protest of unequal treatment
4/1/2010 - Nablus - Ma'an - Palestinians in all Israeli detention centers will refuse family visits from Thursday 1 April to Friday 30 April in protest over the use of the visits by prison officials to manipulate detainees, prisoners announced. The first day of the strike, affecting more than 10,000 Palestinians in 13 Israeli detention centers and prison facilities, will be punctuated with a hunger strike, chairperson of the prisoners' relatives committee in Nablus, Nagham Al-Khayyat, said. Detainees say families of Gaza prisoners are denied visiting permits entirely, that high-profile prisoners are denied family visits, that some visits must take place with family and prisoners separated by wire fences, that family members are treated without respect and civility, and that visits and treats against family members are used to intimidate and control prisoners.
Israeli journalist held under secret house arrest
4/2/2010 - New York - Ma'an - An Israeli journalist has been held secretly under house arrest for months, sources confirmed this week, amid allegations she obtained and leaked classified military information to an Israeli newspaper. Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service has banned news media from mentioning the case or identifying the reporter, Anat Kam, 23, who former colleagues say worked for the Israeli news site Walla! until her arrest last December. A group of Israeli journalists will challenge the ban in court on 12 April, 48 hours before Kam goes on trial for espionage and treason. Prosecutors will claim she copied at least two classified military documents during her mandatory army service years earlier. These two documents are believed to have inspired a 2008 investigation by Haaretz reporter Uri Blau detailing Israeli army assassination procedures. Related: Israel urged to lift gag order and Israeli journalist held under secret house arrest
Israeli journalist held under secret house arrest
4/1/2010 - New York - Ma'an - An Israeli journalist has been held secretly under house arrest for months, sources confirmed this week, amid allegations she obtained and leaked classified military information to an Israeli newspaper. Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service has banned news media from mentioning the case or identifying the reporter, Anat Kam, 23, who former colleagues say worked for the Israeli news site Walla! until her arrest last December. A group of Israeli journalists will challenge the ban in court on 12 April, 48 hours before Kam goes on trial for espionage and treason. Prosecutors will claim she copied at least two classified military documents during her mandatory army service years earlier. These two documents are believed to have inspired a 2008 investigation by Haaretz reporter Uri Blau detailing Israeli army assassination procedures. Related: Israel urged to lift gag order and Israeli journalist held under secret house arrest
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