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Today we worked in the olive groves of the village of Hares.
It was a revelation to find out what well-tended olive groves look like. All the
groves I had seen before today belonged to the farmers of Mas-Ha and were beyond
the Annexation Fence (a "Security Fence" if you're Israeli!). They were
overgrown with thistles and weeds, and the terrace walls and boundary walls were
in a poor state of repair. It made the work of picking the olives much more arduous
and dangerous.
In my ignorance I had just assumed that Palestinians don't pay
a great deal of attention to these things, after all it's not unusual for farmers
anywhere in the world to allow groves and orchards to grow quite wild. It seemed
a little strange though, since at some point in the past they had obviously taken
the trouble of building the walls, but having no way to find out more I was left
with my assumptions.
The olive groves of Hares revealed not only my ignorance of
how much the farmers care for their land, but also my lack of understanding of
the impact of the Annexation Boundary Fence on the farmers of Mas-Ha. The groves
of Hares are those classically beautiful terraced groves, rambling down the hillside,
with lovely sandstone terrace and boundary walls, and ploughed and weeded dry
earth. They look so tidy in a very organic and ancient way. They have been here,
looking like this since antiquity. Omar, the man we were working with today, said
that his fields had been in his family for generations, and the trees we were
picking were at least one hundred years old.
The farmers
of Hares do not have to contend with the Annexation Fence, so they can access
and tend their land more often than the farmers of Mas-Ha, who before this week
hadn't been allowed to get to their land for nine months. The farmers of Hares
who have land near the settlement of Revava still cannot get to it as often as
they would like. Omar, the farmer we worked with today, said that he had only
been on his land twice this year, once to plough and repair walls, and the second
time was now - to harvest. His land abuts the settlement boundary fence. Well,
actually the settlement has been built on his land and the land of other farmers
of Hares - stolen from them by the settlers with the complicity and assistance
of the Israeli government. more..
Products: Embroidered placemats, cushion covers
and bags. Beneficiaries: 150 women from villages and refugee camps in Bethlehem
area.
The Bethlehem Arab Women's Union (BAWU) has a long history
of community service, dating back to 1947 when it was founded as a first aid center
to care for refugees from the first Arab-Israeli war. Located in the Old City
of Bethlehem, the Union strives to meet the needs of the Bethlehemites of all
ages, organizing luncheons for senior citizens, activities for youth, and income-generation
projects for women through food and craft production. It also runs the Bethlehem
Museum, where one can learn about local cultural heritage.
The Union’s embroidery project aims for the preservation
and revival of Bethlehem heritage and for meeting the economic needs of women
in the area. When the embroidery project was established in 1968 to respond to
worsening life conditions with the beginning of the Israeli occupation, the women
began by collecting old dresses and studying the local embroidery tradition.
According to Elen Eloussie, who runs the embroidery project,
the Christian and Muslim women in Bethlehem historically shared the common heritage
of embroidery. Women identified themselves by their village of origin rather than
the religion, by wearing an embroidered dress with the distinct patterns and colors
of each village. more..
Pleasure Hunting / Winter on the Mount of Olives Ha'aretz - 3 Feb 2012 [uruknet.info] Greenwashing the Occupation Uruknet February 1, 2012 - One of the things that have affected me greatly from all the horrors of the Israeli occupation is the uprooting of Palestinian olive trees. In Palestine, olive trees are valued for their historical presence, their beauty, symbolic connotations, and most importantly for their economic significance. Unfortunately it is not rare that we... Russia holds firm against military intervention in Syria LA Times 2 Feb 2012 - U.N. diplomats say they have made progress on a Security Council resolution, but challenges remain. About 70 more deaths are reported in Syria. As diplomats attempted to craft a compromise, Russia remained firm Wednesday in its pledge to veto any U.N. Security Council resolution that... Israel to Open New Police Station in Occupied East Jerusalem IMEMC - The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli daily, has reported, via their website, on Tuesday that the State of Israel intends to open a new police station at the Mount of Olives in occupied East Jerusalem. ... Police to open new station on Mount of Olives Jerusalem Post 31 Jan 2012 - Public security minister says station will increase security against vandalism, stone throwing. Iraq Is Angered by U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies New York Times 30 Jan 2012 - The use of unarmed craft to protect American buildings and personnel may foreshadow an expansion of such operations to the United States government’s diplomatic arm. A new stage for West Bank popular resistance Dylan Collins, Palestine Monitor 1/28/2012 In a hazy room, clouded with cigarette smoke and steam from hot syrup-sweat tea, residents of Kafr ad-Dik and its neighboring villages, along with Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists, excitedly gathered together waiting for the midday prayer to finish. The twenty-seventh of January marked the fourth Friday during which the village of Kafr ad-Dik has staged a nonviolent protest against the annexation of its agricultural land by the Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA). The village of Kafr ad-Dik, and the greater Salfit District, is located on top of the largest water table in the West Bank, thus providing it with some of the most fertile land in the region. Home to generations upon generations of farmers, Kafr ad-Dik, and the neighboring villages of Rafat, Balut, and Bruqin, have had the majority of their agricultural land stripped away from them in the last ten years by the IOA. In turn unemployment and poverty rates in the farming-based community have skyrocketed. In a village of which 99% of the inhabitants are olive farmers, the IOA’s annexation of the majority Kafr ad-Dik’s groves has been devastating. Approximately 4,000 dunams of vital agricultural land, shared by the four villages, has been appropriated by the IOA over the past ten years. Last month, the IOA significantly increased its total of annexed land in the area when it earmarked an additional 1,000 dunums for the alleged expansion of the nearby illegal Israeli outost, Ale Zahav. Kafr ad-Dik residents, however, are convinced this latest annexation of land will be allocated to the construction of an entirely new outpost. Left with no land to farm, and consequently no source of income, Kafr ad-Dik’s farmers have been forced to either rent out small plots from farmers who still have access to their lands in neighboring villages, or work their own land, now owned by the illegal Israeli settlements, for a paltry wage of around $13 a day.more..e-mail Valley flavors: Part 1 Jerusalem Post 27 Jan 2012 - As part of Emek Izrael’s annual food festival, Yokneam Moshava residents open their houses to the public to view and buy arts and crafts. [uruknet.info] Activists resisting Palestinian home demolitions face IDF Price Tag' attack Uruknet January 25, 2012 - It has become commonplace among violent West Bank settlers to randomly attack Palestinian mosques, homes, olive orchards and individuals in order to send a message to other Israelis. They are called "Price Tag" attacks, after the "signature" the settlers leave scrawled on the walls of the burnt-out buildings. In the dark of... In Palestine, to Exist Is to Resist Melinda Tuhus, In These Times 1/24/2012 Behind the headlines, Palestinians are using nonviolent direct action to protest the status quo. Few readers of mainstream media are aware of Palestinians' longstanding creative efforts to use non-violent direct action in their struggle for self-determination. WEST BANK, PALESTINE – On November 15, Mazin Qumsiyeh and other Palestinian activists boarded public bus number 148, an Israelis-only bus that normally takes Jews from the Israeli West Bank settlement of Ariel to Jerusalem. The bus took the group to the Hizma checkpoint, just outside the northern entrance of Jerusalem, where activists resisted authorities’ efforts to remove them. Eventually, as a camera broadcast the action online, eight people were pulled from the bus and arrested. They were charged with “illegal entry to Jerusalem” and “obstructing police business.” Qumsiyeh hopes this recent “freedom ride” – possible because a bus driver let them ride by mistake, he said – will spark the same kind of response that its namesake did across the United States in the early 1960s, when interstate bus trips helped end racial segregation in the South. Qumsiyeh, author of Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment, says other examples of nonviolent resistance include protests of the separation barrier (which many Palestinians call an “apartheid wall”) that has effectively turned 10 percent of Palestinian land into Israeli land since its construction began in 2002; school girls holding class in the street when they can’t get to their schools because of Israeli interference; and farmers braving Israeli intimidation to harvest olives. “For us to exist on this land is to resist,” says Qumsiyeh, who teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit universities. Most readers of mainstream media in the United States think of the First Intifada (1987-92) as the stone-throwing uprising and the Second Intifada (2000-2004) as the attack of the suicide bombers....more..e-mail [uruknet.info] 20 Points that are made in Dr. Qumsiyeh speech (Palestine-Israel in brief) Uruknet January 21, 2012 - 1- Palestine is the Western part of the Fertile Crescent: an area that includes Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In this Fertile Crescent the first human agriculture developed. Here the first domestication of animals (e.g. goats, donkeys, camels) and plants (e.g. wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, olives) happened. 2- This is also... Israeli army fails to protect Palestinian children Operation Dove, Alternative Information Center 1/19/2012 According to a new report released by Operation Dove, Israeli authorities have been increasingly intransigent in their obligation to protect Palestinian children from settler violence in the South Hebron Hills this school year. The mandatory Israeli military escort that is supposed to ensure that Palestinian children arrive to school safely failed to walk with the children 95% of the time since the school year began in September. Soldiers and police also behaved aggressively towards Palestinians, forcing a pregnant women to spend 30 minutes at a flying checkpoint, for example, and aided settler harassment of Palestinians. The month of December was characterized by increased Israeli military and police actions against the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills. Several demolition orders were delivered to the community of Susya, including against a school, water tanks and trees. During a non-violent demonstration in the same village, a Palestinian male child was arrested. In some cases, as in the village of At- Tuwani, soldiers harassed local Palestinians, threatening and prohibiting them from calling the international volunteers of Operation Dove. There were random checkpoints and inspections, sometimes in the middle of the night, such as occurred in Umm Fagarah. In one case, soldiers stopped a car carrying a pregnant woman and sick child at a flying checkpoint outside of At-Tuwani; soldiers forced the family to remain there for more than thirty minutes. This month also saw Israeli settlers perpetrate violence against Palestinian property, destroying six olive trees. Problems with the military escort of school children from Tuba and Maghayr Al-Abeed During December, the Operation Dove team registered 20 days of school. Although the military escort arrived on time, only in a few cases did the soldiers walk with the children, as mandated.more..e-mail [uruknet.info] Hummus and falafel are already "Israeli." Now they're coming for Palestine's olive oil too Uruknet January 17, 2012 - Zionism's cultural appropriation of indigenous Palestinian folklore and cuisine - such as hummus, falafel and maftoul - as "Israeli" has long irked Palestinians, especially when these same cultural products are used in international propaganda and marketing efforts which deny Palestinians' rights and history. Now, Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are... Video: Settlers claim olive oil as ‘Israeli’ Mondoweiss - Ali Abunimah posted on his blog this commercial for settler-made olive oil from an Israeli regional council-- hijacking "the most important symbol and source of economic sustenance for rural Palestinians." Abunimah writes: Zionism’s cultural appropriation of indigenous Palestinian folklore and cuisine – such as hummus, falafel... Bamboo furniture-making tradition, brought from Jaffa, survives in Gaza Electronic Intifada: 17 Jan 2012 - Rami Almeghari The Electronic Intifada Gaza City It is a craft that has been passed down from one generation to the next. The al-Mathloums were one of the best-known bamboo furniture-making families in Gaza but now, of his brothers, only Zakariya, the eldest son, is struggling to keep the tradition and the business alive.more [uruknet.info] Property damaged, Palestinians attacked in weekend of settler violence Uruknet January 15, 2012 - According to Palestinian news agencies Maan and WAFA, settlers from the Tapuah settlement attacked Palestinian land in the area south of Salfit in the central West Bank yesterday (Saturday). The settlers cut down no less than 100 olive trees of the Palestinian villages Yasouf and Jamain. Maan also reported that the settlers... ‘I better not call Betty’ — My long path to unreasonable optimism about the conflict Mondoweiss - Kevin R Vixie Editor: Some weeks back we asked mathematician Kevin R. Vixie to write up the story of his disaffection from Zionism. "I immediately agreed," Vixie relates. "But then I began to wonder how I could craft such a story while avoiding the self-absorption into... Settlers 'chop down 100 olive trees' in Nablus 1/14/2012 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers chopped down more than 100 olive trees belonging to Palestinians south of Nablus on Friday evening, a PA official said. The group tore down the produce in the valley neighboring the Tappuah settlement, between Yaduf and Jamain villages,Palestinian Authority official monitoring settlement activity Ghassan Doughlas said. Another group.... [uruknet.info] Settlers 'chop down 100 olive trees' in Nablus Uruknet January 14, 2012 -- Israeli settlers chopped down more than 100 olive trees belonging to Palestinians south of Nablus on Friday evening, a PA official said. The group tore down the produce in the valley neighboring the Tappuah settlement, between Yaduf and Jamain villages, Palestinian Authority official monitoring settlement activity Ghassan Doughlas said. Another group of... Settlers Destroy 100 Olive Trees Near Salfit WAFA - 09:32-SALFIT, January 14, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers from Tappuah settlement in the northern West Bank cut off and destroyed on Friday around 100 fully-grown olive trees northwest of Yasouf, a town east... Settlers Cut More Than 100 Olive Trees Near Salfit IMEMC - A number of fundamentalist Israeli settlers cut on Friday more than 100 Palestinian Olive trees, including some ancient Roman trees that belong to residents of Yasouf and Jam’een towns, near the central Went Bank district of Salfit. ... Jewish settlers uproot very old olive trees near Salfit PIC - Jewish settlers on Friday destroyed 100 very old olive trees, amongst them olive trees that locals believe to have existed since Roman times. [uruknet.info] Palestine's farmers: Refusing to Die in Silence Uruknet January 10, 2012 - A new organization in the West Bank, Refusing to Die in Silence, offers support to the Palestinian farmers who face violent attacks from Jewish settlers as they attempt to harvest their olives. As this year's olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new... Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone to discuss ‘On History’ in NYC Mondoweiss - Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone will be in New York next week to to discuss their new book On History: Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation . The book is the result of conversations the two had while working on two documentaries, South of the... [uruknet.info] Gaza: the Olive Fights the Occupation Uruknet January 8, 2012 - "During hard times, we have survived off olive oil," says Ahmed Sourani from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. "Including during the last war," says Sourani, referring to the 23 day war Israel waged on Gaza three years ago. "Many people who couldn't leave their homes had only bread and olive oil to... MIDEAST: The Olive Branch Fights Back IPS "During hard times, we have survived off olive oil," says Ahmed Sourani from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. "During the last war many people who couldn't leave their homes had only bread and olive oil to sustain them for long periods." The Olive Fights the Occupation In Gaza: 8 Jan 2012 - * An olive nursery set up by in Gaza to restore decimated cultivation. GAZA CITY, Jan 8, 2012 (IPS) – By Eva Bartlett *(blog version longer than published version) “During hard times, we have survived off olive oil,” says Ahmed Sourani from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. “Including during the last war,” says Sourani, referring to the 23 day war Israel waged on Gaza three years ago. “Many people who couldn’t leave their homes had only bread and olive oil to sustain them for long periods.” Even during the first Intifadah (Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation), olives and olive oil were vital to survival. “They enabled many thousands of very poor Palestinian families to survive,” recalls Sourani. “When the Israeli army imposes curfews on us, preventing us from leaving our homes, it is our main food source. Most students take za’atar (wild thyme) and olive oil sandwiches to school...more Video: 10 Years of Struggle for Justice US Campaign to End the Occupation 4 Jan 2012 - var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname = "US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation's 10th Anniversary Video"; a2a_config.linkurl = "http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3150"; This year, contributions from supporters will allow us to plant 2,050 olive trees for Palestinian farming families in 2012. Thanks to your generosity, the US Campaign will be able to... Hamas cracks down on fortune-tellers, mannequins 12/31/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Hamas-run government has launched a series of campaigns targeting fortune-tellers, mannequins and cigarette vendors in the Gaza Strip. Police sources told Ma'an that 142 fortune tellers were forced to sign an agreement at the Ministry of Interior pledging that they would not practice their craft. As well.... Settlement outposts at root of Jewish violence in West Bank LA Times 29 Dec 2011 - With their legal challenges exhausted, settlers are increasingly nervous Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition is preparing to enforce court orders to dismantle outposts. For months many Israelis shrugged off the mosque burnings, the uprooted Palestinian olive trees and even the death threats against... Al Jab'a: 'If the judge is your enemy, who are you going to complain to' 12/28/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Sarah Morand, 28 December 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - At first sight Al Jab'a appears as an idyllic Palestinian village, and sitting in a lovely garden under big olive trees, this seems like a perfect escape to the country side: white houses, friendly people, nice nature, and a splendid view until.... Al Jab'a: ’If the judge is your enemy, who are you going to complain to’ Sarah Morand, International Solidarity Movement 12/28/2011 At first sight Al Jab’a appears as an idyllic Palestinian village, and sitting in a lovely garden under big olive trees, this seems like a perfect escape to the country side: white houses, friendly people, nice nature, and a splendid view until you glance just 500 meters from the village’s border. Al Jab’a is surrounded by illegal settlements, a soldier camp, one major checkpoint, the construction of the separation wall as well as one permanent roadblock which blocks access to Jab’a’s land and the neighboring village of Surif. Since Al Jab’a only has about 1000 inhabitants and lacks a hospital, markets, and high school, the restriction of movement means that everyone has to go two to three kilometers by foot in order to do their basic shopping and to reach school, work and healthcare. Sometimes even that is impossible. “When my wife was pregnant and was about to give birth, they didn’t let us cross the checkpoint. They forced us to go back and my wife had to give birth at home,” Naser, a senior of the village, said. As Naser guided ISM volunteers through his village, the roadblock obstructing the village from free movement was visible. One women explained that since her husband is sick and she does not want to leave her children alone, she has to walk with them every 4th day to do the basic shopping and to buy milk for her baby. The restriction on movement should also be seen in context of everyday Israeli harassment which aim at making life unbearable in order to make people leave the village. Many houses have a demolition order as do its trees, plants, fences, walls and mailboxes. The big sign which welcomes visitors at the entrance has one and so do the two small plants that are put next to it. -- See also: ISM: More about Al Jab'amore..e-mail Open letter from Gaza: Three years after the massacre, justice or nothing! Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine, International Solidarity Movement 12/27/2011 We, Palestinians of Gaza, 3 years on from the 22-day long massacre in Israel’s operation ‘Cast Lead’, are calling on international civil society to make 2012 the year when solidarity with us in Palestine captures the spark of the revolutions around the Arab world and never looks back. On this anniversary we demand an international liberation movement that eventually leads to just that, liberation for us Palestinians from 63 years of brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing that pours shame on any organisation or government claiming to endorse universal human rights. We will never forget the hurt of 3 years ago, the criminal onslaught that we lived through, the blood of over 1400 murdered men, women and hundreds of children running through the streets of Gaza, between the rubble, soaking our beds and etched on our minds. We will never forget. For they are still dead, and thousands more are still maimed.[1] We will never forget the last 63 years during which our land, homes, olive groves, lemon trees and cherished way of life was taken away from us, while Israeli soldiers held our fathers’ faces in the sands, imprisoned them, or shot them in front of us. We will not forget the sickening cowardice of the international community that has allowed and enabled this ethnic cleansing of our people, subjecting us to Israel’s racist Zionist vision that defines us, the indigenous people of Palestine, as the undesired ‘ethnic group’ for the region. The US continues to ‘reward’ Israel with 6 billion dollars of tax-payers money while the EU increases its trade and diplomatic relations. For the Israeli apartheid regime this translates as the green light to unleash the 4th most powerful military on us to ‘do its worst’ against our civilian population, of which over half in Gaza are children and over 2 thirds are UN registered refugees.more..e-mail Remember These Children Mr. President Palestine Chronicle: 27 Dec 2011 - By Clive Hambidge Happy Christmas Mr President or may I call you Barack this Yule Tide? As you know 'Christmas is the day that holds all time together' (Alexander Smith) certainly as you rustle through your Christmas stocking and wrestle with your conscience perhaps to find as you dig deep in both and past ‘hegemonic imperatives’ an olive twig or a so-called ‘peace process’? Perhaps not. But as you dig, can you hear the whispers? No. They are not the whispers from the Presidents of Christmas past, we will come to them; no? You are not listening attentively Mr President; that’s because you’ve been genuflecting on the Christmas message of that other great statesman Prime Minister Netanyahu, “we are living in a time of great uncertainty and instability in the Middle East and Israel, throughout this instability, remains a beacon of religious freedom and pluralism.” Wow. On what rock is...more Report: 30 olive trees cut down near Hebron 12/21/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Over two dozen olive trees were chopped down near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Israeli news media reported Wednesday. Israel's Ynet news site said two slogans were sprayed near the orchard. The Israeli military says it has launched an investigation.... Security cameras reduce vandalism on Mount of Olives Jerusalem Post 21 Dec 2011 - Vandals desecrating graves are caught more often, and are more easily convicted due to video evidence; 80 out of 147 planned cameras are already monitoring the cemetery. Your help needed: Donating olive trees this holiday season 12/19/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 19 December 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - As we creep up to Christmas and are seeing more and more trees appear in houses and high street windows, while we debate when to put up our own, if at all this year, I ask you all to give consideration to a much more special tree.... Unbearable Lightness of Thomas Friedman – Book Review Palestine Chronicle: 18 Dec 2011 - By Cyril Mychalejko (The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work by Belén Fernandez. Verso Press, 2011.) One year ago, Foreign Policy magazine placed New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman at number 33 on their list the Top 100 Global Thinkers, noting that he “doesn't just report on events; he helps shape them.” Friedman, who commands a $75,000 speaking fee (more than most Americans make in a year), wrote in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree that when he did his first column as the New York Times' chief diplomatic correspondent in 1989: "I certainly did not know anything about most of the issues the senators were quizzing [Secretary of State James] Baker about, such as the START treaty, the Contras, Angola, the CFE (Conventional Forces in Europe) arms control negotiations and NATO...I couldn't keep straight whether the Contras were our guys or their guys, and I thought the...more Settlers Cut Down Olive Trees South of Nablus WAFA Japanese NGO Continues to Support Olive Farmers and Women’s Group in Tubas through Japanese Fund PNN - Press Release On December 8th, 2011, the Representative of Japan to the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Naofumi Hashimoto and Ms. Mayumi Yoshida, the representative of NICCOD, a Japanese NGO, signed the grant contract... U.S. asks Iran to return spy drone LA Times 13 Dec 2011 - The Defense secretary says he doesn't expect Tehran to comply. Iran says it is planning to clone and mass produce the bat-winged craft for use against its enemies. The Obama administration has sent a formal diplomatic request asking Iran to return the radar-evading drone aircraft... Gaziantep Journal: Turkey’s Sanctions on Syria Hurt Business for Border City New York Times 13 Dec 2011 - In a large industrial center, everyone from olive vendors to owners of large textile conglomerates says the shifting geopolitics are proving bad for business. [uruknet.info] Secret US-French drone base in Libya? Uruknet December 11, 2011 - The website Algeria ISP reports (citing unnamed "Arab" sources) Dec. 11 that the US and France have jointly established a secret drone base in the Libyan desert, near the area of Katroune. Craft from the secret base are allegedly flying missions to Niger, Mali and Mauritania, with the ostensible mission of seeking... Palestinian farmers disappointed with olive harvest Alternative Information Center - Palestinian farmers had a disappointing olive harvest this year, their trees yielding only two-thirds of last year's harvest. The Alternative Information Center explores the reasons behind the decrease [uruknet.info] Israel can never steal our heritage Uruknet December 6, 2011 - We Palestinians have nothing to cherish more than our roots and ancestral identity. To us, olive trees and the shade in which our grandparents rested or lovers used to secretly meet weave together sweet pre-dispossession memories. My grandmother's depleted voice can't but play and replay the same ecstatic melodies of a womanhood (... French Cultural Center and Sunbula Organize Palestinian Handicrafts Fair in Jerusalem PNN - PNNOn Saturday afternoon, the Palestinian fair trade organization Sunbula and the French Cultural Center in Jerusalem held a handicrafts fair to promote and sell embroidery, jewelry, and other craft work from Palestinian... Journalism project helps verse visually impaired in craft Daily Star 5 Dec 2011 In a room of Furn al-Shubbak’s press club Monday, students practice their radio voice with Antoine Mrad, the general manager of Radio Liban Libre, while some read sample lines out loud from their books. No Freedom in the Land of False Prophets – A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 2 Dec 2011 - By Lillian Rosengarten I ask, how can Israel finds freedom as occupier? Two occupations and a faux Museum Sits on desecrated tombs. They call it Museum of Tolerance, I call it Ethnic cleansing, killer of those deemed inferior. False prophets, destroyer of 800,000 olive and citrus plants, subjugation. Collective abuse, Gaza fishermen attacked likes vermin by Israeli killer boats. Apartheid! Word we dare not whisper, write or speak. Condemned by true believers, the Zionist story makes one shutter. I’ve heard the racist words before, when Jews were driven from their homes and vilified. Now I hear it all again from a big Rabbi contender for The Jewish Heroes competition. Asked how Jews should treat their neighbors he said: “The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way. Destroy the holy sites, Kill men, women children and cattle.” I remember another time, “No Jews Allowed.” Germany nearly succeeded....more [uruknet.info] Israeli settlers harass released prisoners, threaten them with death Uruknet December 1, 2011 - When olive season came to the northern West Bank village of Tell, the Ramadan family could be found spreading tarps underneath trees and thwacking down the high-hanging fruits with sticks. The talk was of cousins Khwaylid and Nizar Ramadan, two native sons freed from Israeli military prison as part of mid-October's prisoner... Israeli forces uproot 100 olive trees and ‘arrest’ a farmer’s tractor to extend wall in Occupied Territories Mondoweiss - link to www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org link to stopthewall.org link to english.wafa.ps link to english.wafa.ps link to www.maannews.net link to palestinesolidarityproject.org link to english.wafa.ps link to www.maannews.net link to www.maannews.net link to www.alternativenews.org link to www.haaretz.com link to www.ynetnews.com link to english.wafa.ps link to www.maannews.net link to www.maannews.net link... Israeli forces uproot 100 olives trees in Salfit PIC - The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) destroyed 100 olive trees in the Salfit village of Masha to make way for building a section of the separation wall, local sources said on Wednesday. Medics: Farmers hospitalized after Israel rips up land 11/24/2011 - QALQILIYA (Ma'an) - Three Palestinian farmers collapsed and required medical attention Wednesday when they saw Israeli bulldozers razing their olive fields in the northern West Bank, medics said. Mufeed Abdul-Halim Ash-Sheikh, 62, his wife Fahmiyya, 60, and his son Mahmoud, 26, were evacuated to the Darwish Nazzal Hospital after they collapsed at the scene.... Sowing wheat in Israel’s kill zone Radhika Sainath, Notes from Behind the Blockade 11/22/2011 One need not be an agronomist to know that its been a long time since the farmers of Khuza"™a, Gaza have tended to their land near the border. When we arrived on Friday, the densely packed soil formed small hills with alien, ridged, patterns: Israeli tanks had roamed here, dozens of them. It was hard to imagine how anything ever grew on this brown, barren soil, much less the hundreds of olive, orange and grapefruit trees the Qudaih family reminisced about. But those groves and the greenhouses too, were long gone: the Israeli army bulldozed them in 2002 to create the ever-expanding no-man’s land Israel calls the “buffer zone” and Gazans call the “kill zone” — any Palestinian who steps foot inside is subject instant death or dismemberment by the Israeli army fire. Khaled Mahmood Suleiman Qudaih called us a few days before, asking us if we would accompany his family to his father’s fields so that they could sow wheat. We met them inside a small tent and they explained to us the situation. The Qudiahs and many other farmers were afraid that the Israeli army would shoot them if the attempted to reach their land near the buffer zone. We informed them that we could not guarantee their safety, that the Israeli army had killed foreign civilians too. Alas, our presence and our video cameras was all the impetus they needed to risk life and limb. On Friday, we arrived to the south Gaza village early, drank two cups of sugary tea with sage, jumped on a cart pulled by a white donkey, and were on our way. We slowly rode down the main street locals waving as we passed by. Then we head east out to the farmland, passing between giant slabs of concrete placed at the outskirts of the village in an attempt to protect children playing in the streets from Israeli army gunfire. -- See also: Notes from Behind the Blockademore..e-mail Israeli court 'extends students detention' 11/20/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- An Israeli military court in the West Bank has extended the detention of two students seized a week ago in the northern West Bank, their family said. Saed and Salam Afana while they were picking olives in the family's field behind the separation wall north of Salfit, relatives told.... Settlement’s Waste Water Destroys Olive Trees WAFA Jerusalem mosque expanding illegally YNet News, 17 Nov 2011 - The Ras el-Amud mosque, situated on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, has been illegally expanded by 217 square meters (about 2,335 square feet) over the past year, Ynet ... .... Meanwhile in Gaza Radhika S, Notes from Behind the Blockade 11/15/2011 I awoke today with the news that the NYPD was clearing out Occupy Wall Street and that Israeli tanks were shelling “northern Gaza.” In the West Bank, Palestinian Freedom Riders, inspired by the US freedom riders of the 1960s, were getting ready to board segregated buses to occupied East Jerusalem. Here in Gaza, we head to Beit Hanoun for their weekly nonviolent protest in the buffer zone. For three years, Palestinians in the north have been marching into the barren, no-man’s land which encircles the inside of the narrow strip like a slowly-tightening noose. We arrived around 11 a.m. and gathered in front of a bombed-out house down a dusty road leading to the border. This was my second buffer zone protest. At my first, two weeks ago, the Israeli army had fired a few shots from the military towers at the border. I wondered what would happen today. As a foreigner, I was to don a reflective fluorescent yellow vest and walk in front of the Palestinians, which seemed to provide them a degree of solace. They seem to think that the Israelis were less likely to use lethal violence when Americans, Italians, and Brits walked with them. I was not so sure. About two dozen people waving Palestinian flags marched down the dusty path towards the buffer zone. The landscape reminded me of home, of California, with its thorny tumbleweeds and cactus. It was hard to believe that only ten years ago fruit orchards and olive trees filled this area. But Israel had bulldozed it all, claiming it needed 300 kilometers of Gaza’s most fertile land, but in reality taking more.more..e-mail Israeli forces detain 5 people overnight 11/13/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained five people overnight Saturday across the West Bank, Palestinian police and the Israeli army said. Three people were arrested in the Hebron and two in Nablus, Palestinian sources said. Salam Affana and Saed Affana were detained while picking olives on their land in Nablus while Thaer Ahmad Khalil.... Family says students detained while picking olives 11/12/2011 - SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained two men on Saturday while they were picking olives near the separation wall north of Salfit in the northern West Bank, family members said. Islam Afana, a high school student and Saed Afana, a university student, were detained by Israeli soldiers while they were picking olives in the.... Abbas: Continuous Attempts to Drop Arafat’s Olive Branch WAFA Hundreds mourn rabbi killed by IDF fire in W. Bank Jerusalem Post 11 Nov 2011 - Rabbi Dan Mertzbach, 55, laid to rest at Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem; survived by wife and 5 children. Israel vs. Free Press: Uri Blau Faces Seven Years in Prison for Practicing Investigative Journalism Tikun Olam - Uri Blau: shining a lens on Israeli society Haaretz’ Uri Blau, one of Israel’s finest investigative journalists, faces seven years in prison for doing nothing more than practicing his craft in a country that upholds the values of a national security state above those of press... Remembering Arafat -- letter from a Palestinian diplomat Saadi Salama, Ma’an News Agency 11/10/2011 Mr President, the first time I met you 30 years ago, I was studying at Hanoi University in Vietnam; that was only a few days after the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in Cairo and the assassination in Rome of your brother-in-arms Majed Abo Sharar. I realized then that one might disagree with you but no one can refute you. You are the father of Palestine, President Yasser Arafat. A supervisor, a freedom fighter, a peacemaker, a leader of compassion; you stood your ground and held on with a tight grip to both the olive branch and the freedom fighter's pistol. It has been exactly seven years since you departed, leaving bereft and orphaned a nation of stateless Palestinians whose cause you personified and promoted as no one else could. Shortly before your death, you were asked by a journalist what you thought was your greatest achievement, and flashing your trademark face-splitting grin, you replied: "We have made the Palestinian cause the biggest issue in the world … 107 years after the Basel Conference, 90 years after the Sykes Picot Agreement, all conspiracies have failed to wipe us out. "We are here, in Palestine, facing them. We are not Red Indians." Seven years after your death, the Palestinian cause remains one of the biggest problems in the world, and despite their receding hopes of viable statehood in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians still consider a man, Abu Ammar, to have been the person responsible for making it so.more..e-mail Father of 5 run over and killed by settler 11/9/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Thom Andrews, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - This afternoon, 45 year old Abdullah Mutaled Al-Mashni, father of 5, was run over and killed by an illegal settler. Whilst returning from collecting his olives, Abdullah was last seen riding his donkey back towards his village of Deir Istia – 7km northwest of Salfit. Soon after the.... Related: Palestinian dies after run over by settler near Salfit Settlers Uproot Thirty Olive Trees Near Nablus IMEMC - A group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted at least thirty olive trees on Monday. They belonged to the Palestinian residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Maan news Agency reported. ... Settlers 'chop down 30 olive trees' in Nablus 11/8/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers chopped down more than 30 trees in Madama village south of Nablus on Monday, a local official said. Village council head Ihab Tahseen said residents from Yitzhar settlement destroyed Palestinian-owned trees and sprayed anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew. He urged international human rights organizations to intervene in settlers' continuous.... Jewish settlers uproot dozens of olive trees in W. Bank village PIC - Jewish settlers savagely attacked Madama village, south of Nablus city, on Monday and uprooted more than 25 olive trees from Palestinian agricultural lands there, Palestinian villagers reported. Israeli military profiling and assaulting international observers in Hebron International Solidarity Movement 11/8/2011 Novermber 5 For over a week now, ISM activists have been continually harassed, and on one occasion assaulted, by Israeli soldiers who have frequently demanded that internationals to hand over possessions of their passports. This ongoing situation has occurred within the ‘H2’ zone in the city of Hebron, which is notorious for its intense and illegal Israeli military presence due to a small number of Israeli citizens who have illegally invaded and occupied a historically significant part of the city. According to Israeli law, soldiers have limited jurisdiction over internationals as internationals are governed by civil law (unlike the Palestinians who suffer under unjust military rule) and therefore only the Israeli police have the legal authority to demand an international or Israeli citizen to provide their passport for inspection. Despite this, the soldiers have continued to attempt to abuse their power, generally using tactics of intimidation and threats, in a vain hope that they will force the internationals to submit to their inflated sense of power. This recent change of approach from the Israeli military towards internationals appears to have coincided with a strong international presence at a olive harvest within the ‘H2’ zone during which Israeli soldiers refused Palestinians’ their inherent right to harvest their own land. It also appears that the arrival of a new commander, who infamously boasted, “I am the law, I am god” has also contributed to what incredibly may be a deterioration in the treatment Palestinians and internationals. In his short period in charge the commander has revoked a long established agreement that teachers; pregnant women and others with health issues do not have to pass through the radiation emitting checkpoint and must instead submit to being searched every time. It appears this commander has ambitions of promotion beyond the rank of, “god” and recognises that the path to this within the Israeli army is inhumane treatment of Palestinians and any who dare support them.more..e-mail Settlers Uproot 30 Olive Trees Near Nablus IMEMC - A group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted, Monday, at least 30 olive trees that belong to the Palestinian villagers of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Maan news Agency reported. ... Palestinians Resist Settler Violence during Olive Harvest Palestine Chronicle: 7 Nov 2011 - By Ben Lorber, ISM, West Bank As this year's olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance group called Refusing to Die In Silence is patrolling the West Bank, protecting harvesters from increased settler violence. The 2011 olive harvest, which began in early October, has seen a troubling rise in settler attacks. On October 20, OXFAM reported that Israeli settlers have already cost West Bank Palestinian farmers $500,000 this year in destroyed olive trees. In September alone, 2,500 olive trees were destroyed, out of 7,500 destroyed so far this year (and a conservative estimate of 800,000 destroyed since Israel’s annexation of the West Bank in 1967). This is particularly damaging because this year’s olive harvest is expected to yield only half the oil of last year’s harvest, making each tree all the more valuable more farmers. An interactive map...more We are here because we exist. The story of a shoemaker living in Hebron's H2 Stop The Wall - We are here because we exist. The story of a shoemaker living in Hebron's H2 Tamir: "... they want to scare and despire us, they want us to leave the are, that is why they do this. But we are not leaving. We are here because we exist..." Tamir or Abu Taleeb (The Father of Taleeb) is shoemaker and lives in the H2 are of Hebron's Old City. I met Tamir and his family the day when a group of young Palestinia and forigner volnteers met in his lands to harves olives. This group of volunteers went to help Tamir and his family because they practicaly live surrounded by Israeli stettlers. The old City of Hebron was divided in two areas: H1 under Palestinian control and H2 under Israeli contro. This is the only Palestinian city where the stettlers are actualy inside the city and not in the near by settlements. Both zones are divided by a military check-point, which must be corssed by anyone willing to enter to the H2 area. Currently there 400 settlers living in the H2 area, who are protected by between 2,500 to 3,000 soldiers; and also about 30,000 Palestinians live in that area. This has aroused tension in the are and for Tamir the work of harvesitng olives has turned very complicated, beyond the physical effort it may require. Tamir has to face the attaks of the settlers who are protected by the Israeli police and soldiers. To harvest olives takes time, as each one of the olives must be cut from the tree with the hands one by one, so that is why this year Tamir was helped by a group of volunteers. Harvesting olive that day was not easy, all the work was done while the volunteers were completely surronded by Israeli soldiers, policemen and settlers, who constantly provked the Palestinian and foreign volunteers. Tamir told me that in previous years when he and his family harvested the olives they were frequently attaked by th settlers who threw them stones while they were farming. The settlers also steal their olives, but Tamir explains me that the attack of the settlers does not only ocurre during the olive harvesting season, but it occure at any time at any moment at any places. The soldiers frequently arrived in Tamir's house to raid at, usually they arrived late night during wokrking days. "They enter in the house and mess everything, they brake things and they do not let my children slepp when they have school at the following day, they also stand in the fernature. They enter in my house and make us go to one room. Whenever this happens at the following day my children are always scare of going out and run into the settlers," Tamir said. However, Tamir and his family not only have to face the soldiers, but also the settlers, he said that when his wife makes laundry, the settlers would come and make it dirty again. Last year, the Israeli authorites gave Tamir a permit to harvest his olives, only for one day and a couple of hours, for him not to be attacked by the settlers when doing it. Of course the times was not enough, so he continued harvesting the olives out of the permit time, untill he was arrested. Tamir was arrested for harvesting olives out of time. Luaghing, Tamir told me that at the moment when he was arrested, he was carrying a bucket full of olives, which untill know continues at the same place when he was arrested, as nbody can touch it according to the soldiers' orders. Tamir knows that he and his family cannot harvest all the olives in one day, so they need the help of volunteers, however, he told me that the presence of volunteers does not solve everything, because the olives can be harvested in one day, but in the other hand there is more tenssion, because the presnece of the soldiers and settlers near his house, increases. They just go to provoke the volunteers looking for clahses, he said. "When there is a lot of people near by house, the presence of the stettlers increases, as well as the atacks," Tamir said. Tamir said that whenever his children leave house to go to school or other place he is worried, because the settlers can attack them. Tamir used to live in another house in the north of Hebron, however Israel confiscted 30 dunums of his land and then the soldiers and the settlers pushed him to leave. The house where he lives now is rented. Tamir decided to live in the H2 are, for two reasons, as he said: the economic reason, which is important, but not the most important; and because he considered that if Palestinians give up, the settlers will occupy more Palestinian houses untill arrives the moment when there will not be one Palestinian in the H2 area. "I live here to confirm my existance and prove that we are going to solve our presence in this land," Tamir said. "The settlers want to scare us and be despair, they want us to leave this area, that is why they do all this. But we are not leaving. That is why we are here, because we exist and we are not going to allow them to kick us from our lands. This is our land and we ae not going to give up," Tamir said. Tamir also said that he know he is half alone in this struggle, and he asked me: "Where are all those large international organization of Human Rights, the UN? We have 40 years of occupation and where are they? what are they doing?" Finaly, Tamir told me that he dreams on the day when the Palestinians can live safe in their land and the settlers leave. Bumper olive crop expected in Syria Jerusalem Post 5 Nov 2011 - As harvest begins, unrest apparently hasn’t kept farmers from picking fruit; country expects to produce 200,000 tons of oil from olive trees. Olive yield down but farmers look to next year’s harvest Daily Star 4 Nov 2011 It was hit-or-miss for this autumn’s olive harvest, but most farmers, many of whom are struggling with rising cost and stagnant profits, have their sights set on next year. Hebron copes with self deifying Israeli military and its settlers Alistair George, International Solidarity Movement 11/4/2011 The streets of Tel Rumeida are locked-down and divided; physically occupied by a forceful Israeli military. For the Palestinian community living in this part of H2, Israeli-controlled Hebron, military occupation is an inescapable intrusion into everyday reality. The existence of an estimated 500 Israeli settlers is facilitated by up to 4000 Israeli soldiers stations in Hebron. Grey, austere watchtowers gaze over streets in which Israeli soldiers and military vehicles are stationed at regular intervals, frequently stopping Palestinians as they walk through their own neighbourhood to demand they prove their identity. Those wishing to travel into H2 from Palestinian-controlled H1 must pass through metal detectors and checkpoints, where they may be arbitrarily harassed or detained by bored Israeli soldiers. Movement around H2 is severely restricted. In some streets Palestinians are allowed to walk but not drive, forcing them to manually lug heavy supplies such as gas canisters and food. Even ambulances are not allowed to drive through certain areas. Palestinians are forbidden from passing through some streets by car or by foot; the main street linking north and south Hebron has been closed to Palestinians; turning a 5 minute journey into a 45 min trek through alternative roads. However, despite the enduring hardship in Tel Rumeida, resistance to the Israeli occupation remains strong. The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’ is located on Palestinian land that is surrounded by four Israeli settlements – the closest of which is only metres from the rear of the building. It faces south Hebron, overlooking steep, dusty terraces, planted with olive trees and cratered by old archaeological digs of excavated Roman artifacts. The centre is a hub of nonviolent resistance and its existence is a testament to the spirit that exists in a beleaguered community under occupation. The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’....more..e-mail Bitter olive harvest adds to animosity 11/2/2011 - AWARTA (Reuters) -- A potent symbol of peace and harmony, the olive has become a source of confrontation and violence in the decades-old conflict that pits Israel against Palestinians. Once a time of happy industry, the autumn harvest season in particular has degenerated into antagonism, with farmers accusing extremist Jewish settlers of destroying their crops and.... Palestine's farmers: Refusing to Die in Silence Alternative Information Center - A new organization in the West Bank, Refusing to Die in Silence, offers support to the Palestinian farmers who face violent attacks from Jewish settlers as they attempt to harvest their olives. As this year’s olive... [uruknet.info] Settler violence against Palestinian farmers in Ramallah area Uruknet November 1, 2011 - On 24-26 Oct. '11, B'Tselem documented four cases of attacks on farmers from Beitillu, a Palestinian village near Ramallah, and their property. In three cases, the perpetrators damaged olive trees. In one case, settlers assaulted farmers who had come to their land to pick olives. The army failed to provide the farmers with adequate... [uruknet.info] NGO: Settlers destroyed 2,600 olive trees in October Uruknet November 1, 2011 -- The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees released a report on Tuesday which found that over 2,600 olive trees were destroyed by settlers in October. The report by the Gaza-based NGO issued findings on settler violence and attacks against Palestinian agriculture in October. According to the report, 55 attacks took place across 37 villages and in... Israel destroys Jerusalemite home, 20 olive trees in OJ PIC - The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) razed a Palestinian home in Tur village in the Mountain of Olives in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday and destroyed 20 olive trees, local sources said. International Activists Support Olive Harvest in Surif Palestine Solidarity Project 2 Nov 2011 - This week PSP, along with many international volunteers, joined farmers from Surif in the olive harvest. The olive harvest is a busy season and many hands are required to do the job. Several traditions and rituals are related to the olive harvest, and it is also... Bitter olive harvest adds to animosity Crispian Balmer, Ma’an News Agency 11/2/2011 AWARTA (Reuters) -- A potent symbol of peace and harmony, the olive has become a source of confrontation and violence in the decades-old conflict that pits Israel against Palestinians. Once a time of happy industry, the autumn harvest season in particular has degenerated into antagonism, with farmers accusing extremist Jewish settlers of destroying their crops and trying to seize their land. Nawaf Thawabteh said he had barely started picking his oil-rich fruit in early October on a rocky hilltop near the Elon Moreh settlement when three masked men brandishing clubs charged through his orchard and grabbed his half-filled sacks. "The army was meant to be here to protect us, but there was no one around. It is just getting worse and worse," said Thawabteh, sitting beneath one of his trees, with the West Bank city of Nablus shimmering in the distance. An estimated 10 million olive trees dot the Israeli-occupied West Bank, thriving in the arid climate and covering 45 percent of all agricultural land in the region. But settler attacks are taking their toll, says the United Nations, which has recorded a surge in general violence this year. Vandals have not only snatched harvested olives, but also destroyed thousands of trees. The UN body for humanitarian affairs, OCHA, says 7,500 trees were uprooted, burnt or chopped down in the first nine months of 2011. The Palestinian Authority says 800,000 trees have been destroyed since the 1967 war, when Israel seized the territory.more..e-mail NGO: Settlers destroyed 2,600 olive trees in October 11/1/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees released a report on Tuesday which found that over 2,600 olive trees were destroyed by settlers in October. The report by the Gaza-based NGO issued findings on settler violence and attacks against Palestinian agriculture in October. According to the report, 55 attacks took place across 37.... Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees: 3.5 Olive Trees Destroyed Per Hour in 2011 PNN - PNNThe Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) released its monthly report on Monday, revealing that about three and half olive trees were destroyed per hour during the 2011 season. The report includes all... Israel drops missile on North Gaza neighborhood, no one cares 11/1/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Radhika Sainath, International Solidarity Movement, Gaza - The Israeli Air Force fired a missile into a Beit Hanoun residential neighborhood in north Gaza early Sunday morning. The missile landed in a grove surrounded by homes, creating a crater the size of a tennis court and destroying over forty orange and olive trees. Chunks of shrapnel and.... Related: Israeli missile strikes Beit Hanoun: Click for images Resistance is fertile: Palestine's eco-war 11/1/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - James Brownsell, Al Jazeera English - After uprooting thousands of olive trees, Israel's latest plantation may pose a fire risk to its own citizens. They come from across the planet and meet in the shadow of Israel's 12m concrete wall. They strap olive saplings and water bottles to the back of a donkey.... Related: Source [uruknet.info] Settlers Stone Elderly Palestinian Lady Uruknet October 31, 2011 - A group of Jewish settlers Monday stoned an elderly Palestinian lady as she was picking olives in Mukhmas, a village southeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, according to local sources. The 80-year-old woman was reported to be injured in the head and transferred to hospital for treatment. Settlers have escalated their attacks on... [uruknet.info] Gaza olive trade recovers slowly from siege, attacks Uruknet October 31, 2011 - Seventy-five-year-old Khaled Ali al-Farra leaned on a stick as he waited at the olive oil extraction plant near the entrance of his home town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Inside, his olives were being pressed, an annual autumn ritual that he and many other farmers undertake to obtain a staple food for... Resistance is fertile: Palestine's eco-war James Brownsell, Al Jazeera 11/1/2011 After uprooting thousands of olive trees, Israel's latest plantation may pose a fire risk to its own citizens. They come from across the planet and meet in the shadow of Israel's 12m concrete wall. They strap olive saplings and water bottles to the back of a donkey, silent under its burden. Former police officers from Sweden, German punks, Australian conservationists, leftist activists from the US, South African priests, and a Celtic fringe of Welsh students join Israeli anarchists and Palestinian pacifists. These are the guerilla gardeners of the occupied West Bank. And it's a growing movement, with more than 120 international volunteers arriving in Bethlehem governorate alone to assist with this year's harvest. "Guerilla gardening" has its roots among the Levellers and the Diggers of mid-17th Century England, but today has branches spanning the globe. From Toronto to Moscow, cabals of city-dwelling horticulturalists have sprung up in most population centres with any form of urban anarchist presence. Seeking to "reclaim public space from its corporate governors", these green-fingered activists plant flowers, sometimes vegetables, in waste ground under overpasses, at the side of roads and in the centres of cities where concrete has long since replaced living, breathing flora and fauna. But in the occupied Palestinian territories, it is a slightly different story. -- See also: Sourcemore..e-mail Settlers Stone Elderly Palestinian Lady 31 Oct 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - A group of Jewish settlers Monday stoned an elderly Palestinian lady as she was picking olives in Mukhmas, a village southeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, according to local sources. PARC: Settlers burn 2600 Palestinian olive trees in October PIC - PARC said that Jewish settlers had burnt 2600 Palestinian olive trees in October, assessing the Palestinian farmers’ damages as a result at around 156000 dollars. VIDEO - Settler attacks during olive harvest not random Moriel Rothman, +972 Magazine 10/30/2011 Notes and Stories from the Olive Harvest: Palestinian farmers tell stories of intimidation, vandalism and violence from settler neighbors, as they attempt to harvest their olives. Israeli settler violence against Palestinian farmers during the olive season is not an exception. It is the norm. It is the norm encouraged by the settler leadership, which, in turn is supported by the government. This violence ranges from the blows delivered from masked, rod-wielding youth accompanied by an armed guard in Jalud last week, to the violent mob outside of Anatot last month, to scores of instances of tree burning or uprooting. For Palestinian farmers, settler violence against them or their property is a practically a daily occurrence. And yet, much of Israeli society is either unaware of the extent of the violence, or unwilling to call it anything other than “the random actions of a few fanatics.” But it is much deeper and more disturbing than simply “the random actions of a few fanatics.” It is policy. Yes, the acts of violence themselves are generally carried out by a “few fanatics.” But the actions of these few fanatics correspond directly to settler policy, which, while not explicitly declared, is certainly normatively inscribed. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira’s Torat HaMelekh was not an aberration. It was simply a codification of the “religiously” framed devaluation of all non-Jewish life that is rampant throughout the settlements. Moreover, Rabbi Shapira’s Yeshiva in the settlement of Yitzhar has received substantial government funding.more..e-mail Jerusalem Day, 2011 Christopher J. Lee, Jerusalem Quarterly File 10/29/2011 Autumn, 2011 The story is one that has become engrained in the history of the city. On June 7, 1967, Israeli paratroopers invaded the Old City of Jerusalem, fighting their way from the Mount of Olives to enter through the Lions’ Gate, eventually reaching the Western Wall—the most sacred religious site for Jews around the world. The capture of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967) between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria was not fully anticipated, given the United Nations presence in the city and the accords that had been reached through the 1949 Armistice Agreements following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israel started the Six-Day War through a surprise air strike on Egyptian air force bases. However, Jordan’s alliance with Egypt and Syria and its consequent attack on Israeli positions in West Jerusalem provided a pretext for the Israeli assault, one that fulfilled long-standing Zionist ambitions for the city and led to the Israeli occupation of the entire West Bank—a legacy that continues to this day. Jerusalem Day commemorates this event for Israelis. First established in 1968 and made a national holiday in 1998, it marks an annual occasion to celebrate the repossession of the Western Wall and the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli control more generally. With support from the Israeli government, it has also become an attraction specifically for Zionist youth groups from the United States, Europe, and other nations to come and fulfill the Passover Seder prayer of “Next year in Jerusalem.” But from a different political standpoint, this holiday has also reinforced the Israeli occupation for Palestinians, with Zionist youth and families re-enacting the 1967 entry into the Old City by rallying and chanting nationalist slogans as they proceed to the Western Wall. Instead of entering at the Lions’ Gate, the Damascus Gate has also served as the point of entry for the annual parade, encouraging participants to march through the historic Muslim Quarter in waves lasting from early afternoon to early evening. For a city whose complex history embodies so many religious, national, and ethnic narratives, Jerusalem Day marks a more exclusive and contested story of this city....more..e-mail Gaza olive trade recovers slowly from siege, attacks Electronic Intifada: 31 Oct 2011 - Rami Almeghari The Electronic Intifada Gaza Strip Qusay al-Astal, the owner of an olive oil extraction plant in Gaza, has been in the business for seven years but even in that short period he has seen dramatic changes.more “Save the Land – Donate an Olive Tree Seedling” Campaign Palestine Solidarity Project 31 Oct 2011 - The National Committee for Resisting Settlement and Apartheid Wall in Beit Ommar and Palestine Solidarity Project Dear All, The National Committee of Beit Ommar and Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP ) declare the start of: “Save the Land – Donate an Olive Tree Seedling” Campaign In light of... [uruknet.info] Refusing to die in silence: Palestinians resist settler violence during the olive harvest Uruknet October 29, 2011 - As this year's olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance group called Refusing to Die In Silence is patrolling the West Bank, protecting harvesters from increased settler violence. The 2011 olive harvest, which began in early October, has seen a troubling rise... Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers in Nablus IMEMC - Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked, on Saturday morning, Palestinian farmers in the village of ‘Azmout, near the West Bank city of Nablus, preventing them from harvesting their olive trees, the Maan News Agency reported. ... Official: Settlers block Nablus villagers from land 10/29/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Dozens of settlers accompanied by guard dogs blocked farmers from accessing olive tree groves near their Nablus village on Saturday morning, a Palestinian Authority official said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an the clashes broke out between settlers from Elon Moreh and farmers from Azmut, east of.... Police investigating Qalqiliya village fire 10/29/2011 - QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- A fire that destroyed olive trees on land east of Azzun village near Qalqiliya on Friday night has been put out by Civil Defense forces. Police opened an investigation into whether the blaze was due to negligence or arson, a press statement said. Azzun village, west of Qalqiliya in the northern.... Refusing to die in silence: Palestinians resist settler violence during the olive harvest 10/29/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Ben Lorber, Mondoweiss - As this year's olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance group called Refusing to Die In Silence is patrolling the West Bank, protecting harvesters from increased settler violence. The 2011 olive harvest, which began in early October, has.... Related: Source Refusing to die in silence: Palestinians resist settler violence during the olive harvest Mondoweiss - Olive harvesters watch Israeli soldiers after being told to stop picking olives in Burin. (All Photos: International Solidarity Movement ) As this year’s olive harvest sends Palestinian families across all of historic Palestine out to their olive trees, a new nonviolent resistance group called Refusing to Die... PCHR Weekly Report: 13 abducted in 58 separate incursions this week; settlers attack olive harvest IMEMC - In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 20 – 26 October 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that Israeli forces conducted 58 incursions into Palestinian communities, abducting 13 and destroying Palestinian farmland for the ongoing construction of the Annexation Wall. ... Settlers Uproot Olive Trees Near Jerusalem and Ramallah IMEMC - A group of armed Israeli settlers uprooted, on Thursday evening, twenty olive trees that belong to Palestinian residents of Beit Safafa town, south of occupied East Jerusalem. Dozens of trees were uprooted earlier on Thursday, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. ... New Israeli military tactic: Headbutting in Al- Ma'asara 10/28/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Alistair George - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - The Israeli military violently obstructed a peaceful demonstration against the Israeli separation wall in Al-Ma'sara, near Bethlehem, today. Around 25 Palestinians and a similar number of international observers marched from the village at 12:20 PM today and attempted to reach olive groves on Palestinian.... Settlers desperately try to fit the role by stealing olives 10/28/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Aida Gerard - 25 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On Tuesday, illegal settlers from the Susiya settlement harvested the olive trees belonging to the Abu Sabha family from Susiya and Yatta, South Hebron Hills. Around 12 o' clock a villager from the area spotted two settlers picking olives from the land of.... The Olive and the F-16: Autumn in Gaza 10/28/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Radhika S. - 27 October 2011 - Notes from Behind the Blockade - Today completes another week of olive picking in Gaza. Another week of pausing, breaths held, as Israeli tanks the color of sand moved nearby along the buffer zone, another week of children frightened at the sound of roaring F-16s, another week below the.... Related: Source The Olive and the F-16: Autumn in Gaza Radhika S, Notes from Behind the Blockade 10/28/2011 Today completes another week of olive picking in Gaza. Another week of pausing, breaths held, as Israeli tanks the color of sand moved nearby along the buffer zone, another week of children frightened at the sound of roaring F-16s, another week below the watchful eye of the drone. Together with the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteers picked olives with families near the buffer zone in the village of Burej and in two different locations in Beit Hanoun this week. “We’re here to harvest olives and be with the land because this is our land and we don’t want to abandon it,” said 27-year-old Randa Hilou a local student to came to pick in solidarity with the farmers in Beit Hanoun. On Wednesday, dozens of local children joined in the picking. I asked the children why they had come. “I’m here to pick olives,” declared 9-year-old Mahmoud, taking a break from dumping olives into a blue plastic crate. “We love olives,” added other children, who gathered around. At one point in the day, the sound of Israeli F-16s could be heard overhead. “I went picking with my mother and father,” added Bursa, also 9-years-old. “I am not afraid.” Later in the week, ISM volunteers picked closer the Erez crossing in an area that used to be full of olive, orange and grapefruit groves.more..e-mail Police: Settlers uproot olive trees in Jerusalem 10/27/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers uprooted some 20 olive trees in southern Jerusalem, police said Thursday. Luba al-Samri, police representative for Arabic media, said the settlers uprooted 20 trees in the Beit Safafa area of Jerusalem. Al-Samri told Ma'an the settlers left a banner with "price tag" written on it. Israeli police.... Suspected right-wing extremists uproot 20 olive trees belonging to Jerusalem Arab family Ha'aretz - Unknown vandals post sign saying 'Price tag' at family's lot in Beit Safafa; attack follows spike in violence by right-wing extremists against Arabs and IDF soldiers Price tag: 20 olive trees cut down in J'lem YNet News, 27 Oct 2011 - Some 20 olive trees that belong to a resident of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhood Beit Safafa were cut down Thursday. A sign printed with the slogan "price tag" was left on ... .... PA: Settlers prevent farmers from harvesting olives 10/26/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Settlers prevented farmers from picking olives on Wednesday in a Nablus village, a Palestinian Authority official said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said villagers in Huwwara were prevented from accessing their land near the notorious Yitzhar settlement south of Nablus, despite having approved coordination between Israeli authorities, the official news.... In photos: West Bank olive harvest 10/26/2011 - Reuters / Darren Whiteside - Palestinian farmers sort and process harvested olives at a grove near Farha village, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on Oct. 25, 2011.... Settlers smash Palestinians' cars, block olive harvesting in Nablus 26 Oct 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-A number of Israeli settlers smashed yesterday overnight several Palestinians' cars passing through Yitzhar road, while other settlers blocked Palestinian farmers from accessing their fields to harvest their olives in Hawra village, southern Nablus. [uruknet.info] I Wish to Tell You about Gaza Uruknet October 25, 2011 - Gaza life exists in a cage, an open air prison that has been kept mostly isolated from the world. Its citrus trees have been uprooted. Flowers are no longer exported. Nor are vegetables, fruit or olives, formerly a thriving export business. Since 2000, the Israeli army destroyed 114,000 olive trees. The rest were destroyed... Jewish settlers burnt or uprooted 7500 olives trees in 9 months PIC - Jewish settlers burnt or uprooted 7500 Palestinian olive trees in the first nine month of 2011, a report by OCHA said on Tuesday. Israeli Forces Prevent Volunteering Journalists from Picking Olives WAFA Harvesting olives as a statement of resistance 10/25/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 24 October 2011, The Electronic Intifada, Ben Lorber - Palestinian villages across the West Bank are undertaking their annual olive harvest this October, amid fears of harassment and violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. While the Palestinian olive harvest is a tradition that stretches back countless generations, the phenomenon of settler violence during the olive harvest is.... Testimony of an Israeli activist who was robbed and beaten by settlers while attempting to assist the olive harvest Mondoweiss - This is a testimony of A', a 61 year old peace activist, who was beaten badly with clubs on his head and entire body by Jewish settlers during an olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Jalud; his ribs and several fingers were broken, and his... [uruknet.info] Harvesting olives as a statement of resistance Uruknet Palestinian villages across the West Bank are undertaking their annual olive harvest this October, amid fears of harassment and violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. While the Palestinian olive harvest is a tradition that stretches back countless generations, the phenomenon of settler violence during the olive harvest is only as old as the illegal Israeli settlements themselves. Every... [uruknet.info] As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: "I am the law, I am God." Uruknet October 23, 2011 - Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida. Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land at 11AM Saturday morning and began to pick... Just Two Prisoner Stories and the Olive Harvest Intifada-Palestine: 23 Oct 2011 - Courtesy: Salem-News.com by Mazin Qumsiyeh / Intifada Palestine Latest roundup of stories from Palestine (Bethleham) Western media try to make Palestinian political prisoners mere numbers while personalizing one Israeli soldier. So let me just give you the names and brief story of... more Harvesting olives as a statement of resistance Electronic Intifada: 24 Oct 2011 - Ben Lorber The Electronic Intifada Nablus Palestinian olive farmers face violence from both the settlers and the Israeli military during the harvest season.more I Wish to Tell You about Gaza Palestine Chronicle: 24 Oct 2011 - 'To those who were martyred for the land of sad oranges.' By Lillian Rosengarten Gaza life exists in a cage, an open air prison that has been kept mostly isolated from the world. Its citrus trees have been uprooted. Flowers are no longer exported. Nor are vegetables, fruit or olives, formerly a thriving export business. Since 2000, the Israeli army destroyed 114,000 olive trees. The rest were destroyed during the 2008-9 war, much of it uprooted from white phosphorous and other chemicals. Farming is now difficult and in some areas impossible. Much of Gaza looks like a war zone, bullets holes visible on the sides of buildings. Gaza is without proper sewage pumps, bombed as they are rebuilt. Mediterranean waters are infested with raw sewage, while a 3 mile limit, closely watched by the Israeli navy collectively destroys a once flourishing fishing industry, the waters now stagnant from sewage and...more In Pictures: Olive Harvest Draws Internationals to West Bank PNN - by Lo Yuk FaiEvery October, Palestinian families take to their groves to harvest olives from the approximately 10 million olive trees throughout the West Bank. Facing a dry year and an unprecedented... As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: 'I am the law, I am God.' 10/23/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 22 October 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida. Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land at.... Israeli tanks patrol olive farmers in Gaza 10/23/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, Gaza - Olive farmers and volunteers were picking olives on 23 October 2011 when they were circled by two Apache helicopters and were faced by four tanks at certain points in the day. This video shows one of the tanks. Updated on October 23, 2011.... [uruknet.info] Just two prisoner stories and the olive harvest Uruknet October 22, 2011 - Western media try to make Palestinian political prisoners mere numbers while personalizing one Israeli soldier. So let me just give you the names and brief story of two of those released Palestinian political prisoners. -Chris Bandak, a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem was just 21 when he was abducted by the Israeli occupation forces. He... As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: ‘I am the law, I am God.’ Mondoweiss - Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida. Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land... [uruknet.info] Released prisoner: "The freedom of a people and the freedom of a land are inseparable" Uruknet October 21, 2011 - When dawn marches over the hills of Palestine and the sun begins to cast its light over lemon, olive and orange trees, dusty narratives of hard-working peasants escape their time and ride in the air through history to our lungs. A scent from the past caresses our hair; we stretch our limbs, slip our... VIDEO - Olive harvest brings settler violence in West Bank Joseph Dana, +972 Magazine 10/21/2011 On the outskirts of the northern West Bank village of Qasra, a 19-year-old resident recently told me that settlers are not going to stop attacking Palestinians, simply because they don’t have too. According to the man, settlers live in a world of no consequence as if removed from the normal social contract of Western societies. One look at this year’s olive harvest, taking place throughout the West Bank over the next two weeks, proves the statement to be correct. This morning (Friday), a group of armed settlers from the illegal outpost of Ash Kodesh (Sacred/Holy Light) approached a group of Palestinians picking olives, accompanied by Israeli and international activists. The Palestinians were from the nearby village of Jalud and had been picking olives in peace until settlers descended from their outpost. The settlers claim that the Palestinians “provoked” them by throwing stones, a claim denied by the Palestinians and activists. Settlers also noted that the Palestinians did not get permission from the proverbial master of the land – the Israeli army – to have an olive harvest. You can read their fantastic understanding of how the events unfolded on Ynet. Palestinians claim that the settler attack was driven by pure malice. As you can see in the embedded video, many settlers had covered their faces with masks, with some carrying metal poles in addition to several firearms. Had the settlers only been defending themselves, one wonders why they would cover their faces—a practice popular among setters engaged in wanton violent attacks on Palestinian civilians and their supporters. The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement, a leftist activist outfit based in Jerusalem, posted the embedded video on Twitter, claiming that it shows a sound grenade thrown by settlers at Palestinians this morning....more..e-mail Israeli military and Zionists ambush olive harvest in Beit Furik 10/21/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - The Palestinian family El Jobor was unsuccessful in their attempt to harvest olives today as they met resistance from Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers originating out of the Itamar settlement. Accompanied by ISM volunteers the family climbed the hillside above Beit Furik and marched through the olive groves to within.... While village attended funeral, Zionists stole 10/21/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 18 October 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On Tuesday, a family in Kufr Qalil cancelled all olive harvest because of the death of a family member. While the people in the household were at the cemetery to attend the funeral, settlers from the adjacent Berakha settlement took the opportunity to visit the household'.... Woman flees harvest to escape violent settlers and wild boars 10/21/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 20 October 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - Early Thursday morning, a Palestinian woman in Beit Furik was picking olives when a settler began to chase her and set loose wild hogs to chase after her, causing her to fall and suffer broken bones in both her legs. Muhaya Khatatba was in her olive groves.... [uruknet.info] Oxfam: Settlers cost farmers over $500,000 this harvest Uruknet October 20, 2011 -- Israeli settlers have cost Palestinian farmers over $500,000 this year by destroying olive trees in the West Bank, Oxfam and local organizations warned Thursday. Oxfam, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees estimated that olives collected this year would produce half the oil of the 2010 harvest, a statement... Settler attacks damage the olive harvest in the West Bank PIC - Israeli settlers’ destruction of Palestinian olive trees will reduce this year’s harvest by an estimated USD $500,000 as 7,500 olive trees were destroyed in acts of settler violence.. Settlers Attack Farmers, Foreign Volunteers Harvesting Olives WAFA Ongoing Murder Trial of Vittorio Palestine Chronicle: 21 Oct 2011 - By International Solidarity Movement - Gaza The military trial of the four men charged with the death of Italian International Solidarity Movement Activist Vittorio Arrigoni continued in Gaza City today. The small courtroom was packed with friends and colleagues of Arrigoni, in addition to four or five members of the defendants’ families. All four defendants appeared unshackled behind a caged-off portion of the courtroom and remained standing throughout the trial. The trial began today with the parties checking where they had left off on the September 22 session. The prosecutor, dressed in olive-colored military pants and a khaki shirt, then stated that “each of the accused strangled him [Arrigoni] by plastic handcuffs,” and therefore all four were complicit in Arrigoni’s kidnapping and killing. Previously, only two of the defendants had been charged with murder; the other two were charged with aiding and abetting in Mr. Arrigoni’s kidnapping and killing, and...more Oxfam: Settlers cost farmers over $500,000 this harvest 10/20/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers have cost Palestinian farmers over $500,000 this year by destroying olive trees in the West Bank, Oxfam and local organizations warned Thursday. Oxfam, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees estimated that olives collected this year would produce half the oil of the 2010.... In Photos: The survival of olives 10/19/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 16 October 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - The olive harvest started in theWest Bankin early October and will continue in some villages until mid-November. Olives have been cultivated in Palestinian land for thousands of years. Around 95% of the harvest is used to make olive oil, with the remainder for pickles, table olives, and.... Olive Harvest Fact Sheet - October 2011 Relief Web 19 Oct 2011 - Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Country: occupied Palestinian territory FAST FACTS About 45% of the agricultural land in the oPt is planted with 12 million olive trees, the vast majority in the West Bank. The olive... [uruknet.info] A harvest of tears: Palestinian agriculture continues to suffer as a result of ruthless Israeli policies Uruknet October 19, 2011 - It is olive harvest season once again in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) and something unusual is taking place, something unique to this region. Unlike most harvests around the world which are collected either by local farmers or migrant workers, in the case of Palestine people are literally flying in from all over the... PSP Accompanied Farmers` Olive Harvest in Surif Palestine Solidarity Project 19 Oct 2011 - October 19th, 2011, PSP, members from The Popular Committees of Beit Ommar and Surif, several international volunteers, and boy shouts from the area supported Palestinian farmers from Abu Shook in Surif while they harvested their olive trees. The olive grove is in area C, only a... Settlers Prevent Farmers from Harvesting Olive Trees WAFA In photos: Olive harvest in West Bank village 10/17/2011 - MaanImages / Trevor Lewis - The Badar family harvest olives in the village of Beitillu, northwest of Ramallah. Beitillu was historically a farming village but between the first and second Intifada most residents worked in construction within Israel. The village has now turned back to farming as the primary source of income and grows olives, pumpkins, tomatoes.... Burin: Zionist soldiers and colonists collaborate against harvesting 10/17/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - The Israeli military conducted arrests, mistreated detainees and continued to prevent villagers from picking olives in certain areas of Burin, near Nablus, yesterday on October 16 2011. International activists have been prevented by the military from attending olive harvests during the past two days in some areas and settlers harassed.... [uruknet.info] Burin: Zionist soldiers and colonists collaborate against harvesting Uruknet October 17, 2011 - The Israeli military conducted arrests, mistreated detainees and continued to prevent villagers from picking olives in certain areas of Burin, near Nablus, yesterday on October 16 2011. International activists have been prevented by the military from attending olive harvests during the past two days in some areas and settlers harassed and threw stones at... [uruknet.info] This year's olive harvest in Walaja may be the last Uruknet October 17, 2011 - This week, the olive harvest began across the West Bank, with people returning to villages from city jobs to assist with the picking. Many farmers face restrictions, imposed by the Israeli Defence Forces, on when and where they can harvest due to the proliferation of Israeli settlements and outposts. For villagers in al-Walaja, a... The Real Enemy of the Palestinians Dr. Elias Akleh, Intifada-Palestine 10/15/2011 When I was young I perceived the Zionist Israelis to be the Palestinians, and my, only enemy. The Zionist terrorist gangs had forcefully occupied my country, razed about 400 Palestinian towns, perpetrated many massacres against their Palestinian residents, and evicted many hundreds of thousands others out of the country into refugee camps. Among them was my family, whose property; home and ranch planted with citrus and olive trees and vineyards, were seized by Israeli terrorists. Researching deep in the history and nature of the Arab/Israeli conflict, watching the unfoldment of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence against the savage Israeli oppression and territorial expansion, and examining the Western political policies towards the conflict I came to a new different realization. Israelis, themselves, are as victims as the Palestinians although to a very lesser extents. Those Israelis are being misguided, mass-brainwashed, and militarily driven by deliberately distorted and misinterpreted theology, political Rabbis, and Western Zionist imperialist powers to execute the colonial Zionist project of establishing Greater Israel in the heart of the Middle East. It has become obvious to all, by now, that Israel could not have been created nor could it continue to exist as a viable state without the assistance of the West especially the USA. Israel is a military subsidiary of the US; a forward-deployed American military base in the Middle East, who is totally dependent on American funds. Since its creation, 63 years ago, Israel received more American tax money, $3 Trillions as reported by Army War College in 2003, than any other country on earth. This money is used to cover the expenses of hoarding to Israel, housing, re-socializing, and absorbing every Zionist Jewish immigrant. It subsidizes homes for every Israeli citizen. It pays for free education of every Israeli child from elementary school until university graduation. It is used to create industries and jobs in Israel. It pays for complete medical coverage and for hefty monthly social security payment for every Israeli senior citizen. Even during the current economic crisis, when American tax-paying citizens are losing their jobs, losing their homes, the majority are without medical benefits.... -- See also: The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillionmore..e-mail Honeymoon in Gaza 10/16/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, Gaza - I had just finished off a plate of homemade bread knaffe yesterday with a family in the south of Gaza, when we got the call: farmers in Beit Hanoun, a village in the north of the Gaza Strip, requested that ISM volunteers accompany them to pick olives near the buffer zone.... Israel urged to clamp down on Jewish terror Al-Ahram Weekly 10/13/2011 Desecration of graveyards and destruction of olive groves are just two manifestations of violence Palestinians -- on the West Bank and inside Israel -- face daily from Israeli society The Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as Arab leaders in Israel have urged the Israeli government to "swiftly and decisively clamp down on spiralling Jewish terror and vandalism against Palestinian targets, including mosques and Islamic as well as Christian cemeteries", writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem. The latest call came after suspected Jewish terrorists vandalised and defaced Muslim and Christian graves at the main cemetery of Jaffa. Some of the graves there date back several centuries. Other Muslim leaders, including some Knesset members, reminded Jews in Israel and abroad that, "This is how the holocaust started." He accused "powerful political circles" within the Israeli government, army and police of "treating with extreme leniency the perpetrators of such crimes.â--êœI believe that the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, which is the most extreme government in Israel's history, lacks both the will and determination to stem the tide of Jewish terror. Therefore, I expect this worrying phenomenon to continue and even escalate." Last week, unidentified Jewish saboteurs, believed to be affiliated with an underground Jewish terror group in the West Bank, set the local mosque at the Israeli Palestinian village of Tuba Zangariya on fire. The fire gutted the interior of the mosque, burning Quranic texts and other sacred objects. The attack was widely condemned by the Arab community throughout Israel and the occupied territories.more..e-mail Settlers 'burn olive trees' near Ramallah 10/15/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israelis from a settlement outpost in the central West Bank set fire to dozens of dunams of olives tree forest belonging to farmers in Ras Karkar village on Friday evening, locals told Ma'an. Residents of Nira outpost burned down over 120 olive trees in the Ramallah-district village, on land.... In photos: Bilin march in solidarity with prisoners 10/15/2011 - MaanImages / Bilin Popular Committee - Palestinians and international activists marched in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike, and in celebration of the annual olive harvest, in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Demonstrators faced tear gas as they approached the barrier separating the tiny village from an Israeli settlement.... There is no east: Olive harvest in Gaza 10/15/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, Gaza - Gaza doesn't have very much farmland left. The expanding no go zone imposed by Israeli bullets and bulldozers constantly erode the amount of land left for Palestinians to farm in Gaza. Mohamed Ashure Shimbari lives on the edge of the no-go zone. If you look east from his land.... Israeli Authorities Attack Agricultural Project of Palestinian Children Alternative Information Center - Project Olive Trees , conducted by the Italian-Palestinian association Amal since Christmas 2010 in the Palestinian village of Al Walaje, is currently under threat by Israel. On Monday morning, 10 October, Israeli military bulldozers entered the agricultural... [uruknet.info] The lonely olive tree of Bil'in Uruknet October 14, 2011 - Near the concrete wall which separates Bil'in from Modiin Illit colony, occupied by ultra-Orthodox Jews, there is an olive tree. It is impossible to know how it survived the construction of the wall and how it continues to resist to the lack of a few cares that the specie demands - a lack caused... Israeli forces 'block olive harvest in Nablus' 10/14/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces blocked villagers in Nablus from harvesting olives on lands near Israeli settlements on Friday, locals told Ma'an. Israeli troops told harvesters in Qaryut and Azmut villages that security coordination had expired and blocked them from picking olives, a Ma'an correspondent said. International activists accompanying farmers.... The lonely olive tree of Bil'in 10/14/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - Near the concrete wall which separates Bil'in from Modiin Illit colony, occupied by ultra-Orthodox Jews, there is an olive tree. It is impossible to know how it survived the construction of the wall and how it continues to resist to the lack of a few cares that the specie demands - a lack caused by the Israeli barbed wire fence that prevents the access of the residents to the point.... Settlers attack Irraq Burin farmers 14 Oct 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli settlers attacked on Friday Palestinian farmers who were trying to harvest their olive trees in the village of Irraq Burin, southwest of Nablus. Jewish settlers burn 300 olive trees near Salfit PIC - 13/10/2011 - 06:04 PM The CIA and the Iran Caper Ray Mcgovern, CounterPunch 10/14/2011 "Which other government in the Middle East would like nothing better than to see relations between Iran and the United States take a big step toward military confrontation?" Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, in his accustomed role as unofficial surrogate CIA spokesman, has thrown light on how the CIA under its new director, David Petraeus, helped craft the screenplay for this week’s White House spy feature: the Iranian-American-used-car-salesman-Mexican-drug-cartel plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. In Thursday’s column, Ignatius notes that, initially, White House and Justice Department officials found the story “implausible.” It was. But the Petraeus team soon leapt to the rescue, reflecting the four-star-general-turned-intelligence-chief’s deep-seated animus toward Iran. Before Ignatius’s article, I had seen no one allude to the fact that much about this crime-stopper tale had come from the CIA. In public, the FBI had taken the lead role, presumably because the key informant inside a Mexican drug cartel worked for U.S. law enforcement via the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, according to Ignatius, “One big reason [top U.S. officials became convinced the plot was real] is that CIA and other intelligence agencies gathered information corroborating the informant’s juicy allegations and showing that the plot had support from the top leadership of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the covert action arm of the Iranian government.” ....But it IS as implausible as it sounds, says every professional intelligence officer I have talked with since the “plot” was somberly announced on Tuesday.more..e-mail EUPOL COPPS Helps Palestinians in Harvesting Olives WAFA Settlers 'attack Palestinian near Nablus' 10/12/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian man was moderately injured on Wednesday as a group of Israeli settlers attacked farmers in the Jit village near Nablus, witnesses said. The settlers were armedand they damaged farmland in the village, residents said. They also attacked a Palestinian resident while he was picking olives, they said. The unidentified.... Israeli military 'superiors' interfere in Burin's olive harvest 10/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - The Israeli military ordered villagers to stop picking olives on their own land in Burin, near Nablus, today. The soldiers refused to give a reason for suspending the harvest."It is nothing to do with us, we just get orders from our superiors," they said. Villagers from Burin were picking.... Farmers harvest olives as wall cuts through village 10/11/2011 - AL-WALAJA (Reuters) -- It is olive picking season in the Palestinian territories, an important harvest as the fruit represents an integral part of the agricultural livelihood of many. But, the farmers in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja say the construction of an Israeli barrier is threatening this activity. This small community of 2,300 people located.... 'Heritage and tourism' festival to be held in Hebron 10/11/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Hebron-France association for Cultural Exchange is organizing a crafts festival in Hebron on October 15, a statement said. The festival will take place in the old city and handicrafts from local villages will be displayed. The festival is open to children and adults, locals and foreigners. An 'educational garden.... Olive harvest reaps animosity in West Bank, Olive harvest reaps animosity in West Bank AlJazeera 11 Oct 2011 - Netanyahu has bowed to political pressure over illegal Jewish settlements on private Palestinian land, reports say. Settlers Set Fire to Olive Trees West of Ramallah WAFA Settlers Attack Farmers Harvesting Olives In Nablus Area IMEMC - Monday October 10, 2011 - 12:15, Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive trees on Monday morning in the village of ‘Azmoot, east of the West Bank city of Nablus, the Ma'an News Agency reported. PA: Settlers clash with olive harvesters near Nablus 10/10/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers in a Nablus village on Monday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Dozens of settlers from the Elon Moreh Jewish-only settlement attacked Palestinians picking olives in Azmut village east of Nablus, PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an. The villagers refused to abandon their.... Settlers attack olive harvesters in Nablus district PIC - 10/10/2011 - 10:10 AM Jewish settlers torch 20 Palestinian dunums of olive trees PIC - Palestinian fire fighters managed on Monday morning to put off a huge fire that was blazing in 20 dunums of olive farmland in Orta village, south of Nablus, a statement for the fire brigades said. PA: Settlers damage land in northern West Bank 10/9/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Settlers caused damage several Palestinian villages' land in the Qalqiliya and Nablus districts on Sunday, an official said. Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an that farmers from Farata village, east of Qalqiliya had arrived at their land to find that olives had been stolen. Israeli.... Settlers clash with Palestinian farmers 10/9/2011 - NABLUS (AFP) -- Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday, as they tried to pick olives from land owned by relatives of two men convicted of killing a settler family. At least three Palestinians were injured when dozens of settlers from Itamar armed with sticks and stones attacked the group of about 50 workers harvesting.... Secret memo justified killing of U.S.-born Awlaqi Daily Star 9 Oct 2011 President Barack Obama’s administration crafted a legal document in secret ahead of the assassination of U.S.-born Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaqi, which permitted the killing of an American citizen without trial, a report said Saturday. Jewish settlers clash with Palestinian farmers Daily Star 9 Oct 2011 Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday as they tried to pick olives from land owned by the family of two men convicted of killing a young settler family in March. Jewish settlers attack olive harvesters PIC - Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in Orta village, southeast of Nablus, on Sunday while reaping their olive harvest, eyewitnesses reported. Israel Postpones Granting Palestinians Olive-Picking Permits WAFA Settlers Burn Dozens of Olive Trees North Of Jerusalem IMEMC - Friday October 07, 2011 - 05:19, A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers of the Ramat Shlomo illegal settlement installed on lands that belong to residents of Shu’fat, north of Jerusalem, set ablaze dozens of olive trees that belong to two Palestinian families, the Palestine News Network reported. IDF announces closure of Judea, Samaria for Yom Kippur Jerusalem Post 7 Oct 2011 - Clashes erupt day before Yom Kippur between security forces, settlers; Arab and Jewish-owned olive trees destroyed in West Bank violence. [uruknet.info] The Israeli government is directly responsible for the ongoing harm inflicted on the residents of Qusra Uruknet October 6, 2011 - This morning (6.10.2011), Palestinian farmers from the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, discovered that approximately 200 of their olive and fig trees were completely destroyed or uprooted. The vandalism occurred south of the village, in an area adjacent to the location of several outposts of the Shilo settlement. Some of the olive trees... [uruknet.info] Settlers Uproot 200 Olive Trees Near Nablus Uruknet October 6, 2011 - A group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted on Thursday morning, at least 200 olive trees that belong to residents of Qasra village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Shortly after midnight, a group of Israeli settlers invaded the village and vanadalized the orchard, eyewitnesses reported. Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the... Official: Settlers uproot trees in Nablus village 10/6/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in Qusra village near Nablus overnight Wednesday, a Palestinian Authority official said. A number of settlers destroyed trees in the south of the village at midnight, days before the olive harvest is due to begin, the Fatah official monitoring settlement activity in the northern West.... Palestinians accuse settlers of destroying dozens of olive trees in West Bank Ha'aretz - IDF officials have confirmed that vandals chopped down 150 olive trees near the village of Qusra; residents of nearby settlement deny involvement. Jewish settlers uproot scores of Palestinian olive trees Daily Star 6 Oct 2011 Occupied West Bank: Around 150 olive trees in the occupied West Bank were cut down overnight in an attack blamed by Palestinians on Jewish settlers. Jewish settlers uproot hundreds of Palestinian olive trees PIC - Jewish settlers cut off more than 200 olive trees south of Qasra village south of Nablus city after midnight Wednesday, local sources reported on Thursday. Settlers Cut Down Olive Trees in Nablus Area WAFA Government directly responsible for ongoing harm to residents of Qusra B'tselem 5 Oct 2011 - This morning (6 Oct. '11), Palestinian farmers from the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, discovered that about 200 of their olive and fig trees were destroyed. The vandalism occurred in an area adjacent to outposts of the Shilo settlement. Last month, the army established a... A land divided: Gate closures for Salim's olive harvest by IOF 10/5/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 3 October 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - As Palestinians in Salim began the first day of their annual olive harvest this morning, October 2nd, Israeli Occupation Forces locked the gate which gives those living in Salim access to their olive trees. The gate was unlocked at 7:00am to allow farmers to reach their.... Related: pictures of Salim's olive harvest ordeal Army Demolishes a House and Cowshed, Bulldozes Olive Orchard in Hebron IMEMC - Tuesday October 04, 2011 - 13:42, The Israeli army demolished a house and cowshed, bulldozed an olive orchard, and confiscated two caravans in the village of Beit Ola, northwest of the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported on Tuesday. Firefighters tackle blaze in Tulkarem 10/4/2011 - TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- Firefighters contained a large fire which ripped through an area of olive trees in the village of Beit Lid in the northern West Bank on Monday evening. The blaze was extinguished after damaging over 200 olive trees, the civil defense said in a statement. Witnesses said the fire was caused by.... Illegal extension to Mount of Olives mosque almost complete Jerusalem Post 4 Oct 2011 - J'lem municipality says building under freeze order but being treated sensitively; police say building violations are city's responsibility. PA: Settler violence 'not random' 10/3/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are "condoned and supported by the Israeli government," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday. Over 500 olive trees were burned and uprooted on Saturday night, in settler attacks on villages near Nablus and Hebron, a government statement said. Khatib said the incidents followed.... Agricultural committees: Protect olive harvest from settlers 10/3/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees announced on Monday an upcoming campaign to protect West Bank farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers during the olive harvest season. Noting a recent escalation in attacks on Palestinian lands and farmers, the agricultural support organization said it will organize groups of volunteers to accompany workers.... As Israeli violence spreads across Israel/Palestine, Shin Bet worries it will soon target law enforcement Mondoweiss - Settlers uproot dozens of olive trees near Nablus IMEMC 1 Oct -- A group of extremist armed Israeli settlers uprooted on Saturday dozens of Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Clashes were reported;... Targeting Tuba: The Ongoing Nakba Palestine Chronicle: 3 Oct 2011 - By Georgina Reeves On Sunday night, the mosque in the small village of Tuba suffered an arson attack. Unknown agitators entered the building and set the fire, causing damage to carpets and the structure itself. Before leaving, they sprayed messages on the walls outside: “price tag” and “revenge”, in Hebrew. Until this weekend, these attacks seemed to be confined to the West Bank. And it isn’t just mosques that are targets. Olive groves, villagers, solidarity actions: all are “fair game” to the wild West Bank settlers. Tuba is in the Upper Galilee, nearby is the Jewish town of Safed. Tuba village residents believe that the attack was the result of incitement from the rabbis in Safed. Safed is known for its hostility towards Arabs in general and Palestinian Israelis in particular. Despite the hostility, at Safed’s academic college over 50% of the student body is Palestinian Israeli. For the last...more Locals: Settlers burn olive trees in Ramallah villages 10/2/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers vandalized orchards in two Ramallah-district villages late Saturday, locals told Ma'an. Settlers uprooted olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers and set fire to the groves in the central West Bank villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham, witnesses said. Shortly after the settlers left, Israeli forces prevented.... Settlers set fire to olive trees in Ramallah 2 Oct 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli settlers set fire yesterday to several olive trees belonging to Palestinian families in the north of Ramallah city. [uruknet.info] Settlers Uproot Dozens Of Olive Trees Near Nablus Uruknet October 1, 2011 - A group of extremist armed Israeli settlers uprooted on Saturday dozens of Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Clashes were reported; soldiers fired gas bombs at the protesters leading to a number of injuries. Armed settlers uprooted more than 45 olive... Settlers Uproot Dozens Of Olive Trees Near Nablus IMEMC - Saturday October 01, 2011 - 23:20, A group of extremist armed Israeli settlers uprooted on Saturday dozens of Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Clashes were reported; soldiers fired gas bombs at the protesters leading to a number of injuries. [uruknet.info] Video: Israeli Police Join Settler Pogrom at Anatot, 23 Israeli, Palestinian Activists Injured Uruknet September 30, 2011 - Israeli settlers have celebrated the second day of the New Year of 5772 in the only way they know how, by a pogrom which drew the blood of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists who'd come to a Palestinian village to help a local landowner plant olive trees. Instead, settlers swarmed the group, smashed the... (en) [Brazil] Pedido de Solidariedade/Request for Solidarity A-infos 1 Oct 2011 - Dear Friends -- Greetings --- The Comrades of the “Sindicato de Artes e Ofícios Vários de Araxá” (Syndicate of Various Arts and Crafts of Araxá), Minas Gerais, Brazil, affiliated to the “Confederação Operária Brasileira” (Brazilian Workers’ Confederation), Brazilian section of the International Workers Association, are under... Israeli Police Join Settler Pogrom at Anatot, 23 Israeli, Palestinian Activists Injured Tikun Olam - Israeli settlers have celebrated the second day of the New Year of 5772 in the only way they know how, by a pogrom which drew the blood of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists who’d come to a Palestinian village to help a local landowner plant olive... Report: Palestinian olive trees in West Bank uprooted in suspected 'price tag' attack Ha'aretz - Writing found at scene indicates that incident may have been response to a Palestinian stone throwing attack last week that killed an Israeli man and his son. 'Price-tag' vandals uproot olive trees near Hebron Jerusalem Post 29 Sep 2011 - At least 45 trees uprooted, "Price-Tag Infiltration" sprayed on boulder; vandalism apparently in response to fatal car accident near Kiryat Arba. Settlers raze Palestinian olive trees Daily Star 29 Sep 2011 Dozens of Palestinian olive trees were destroyed in an attack near the city of Hebron, local residents said Thursday, calling it an act of revenge carried out by Israeli settlers. 'Price Tag': Olive trees uprooted near Hebron YNet News, 29 Sep 2011 - Anonymous vandals mutilate Palestinian olive trees in West Bank, spray paint.... Settlers Destroy 55 Olive Trees South of Hebron WAFA Israeli forces hand Bethlehem village confiscation orders Palestine Solidarity Project 29 Sep 2011 - BETHLEHEM -Israeli forces notified villagers near Bethlehem that their land will soon be confiscated, local residents said Wednesday. Land owned by 40 families in Battir village – 148 dunums of vegetable, fruit and olive groves – is earmarked for confiscation, villagers said. According to the notices... Locals: Israeli forces hand Bethlehem village confiscation orders 9/28/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces notified villagers near Bethlehem that their land will soon be confiscated, local residents said Wednesday. Land owned by 40 families in Battir village -- 148 dunams of vegetable, fruit and olive groves -- is earmarked for confiscation, villagers told Ma'an. According to the notices received by villagers, the area.... Related: Committee: Israel to build new bypass road south of Bethlehem Blast destroys Egypt gas pipeline to Israel for sixth time Ha'aretz - Local hospital says one man admitted with burns from blast, which also set olive groves and shacks on fire; fire brigades getting flames under control after company operating pipeline cut off gas supply. West Bank olive trees uprooted by settlers Middle East Monitor 26 Sep 2011 - Dozens of Israeli settlers have uprooted 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra near Nablus. Some of the trees were owned by the grandfather of Essam Badran, who was killed last by Israeli Occupation Forces during clashes sparked when settlers tried... Setters Uproot 400 Olive Trees South Of Nablus. IMEMC - Sunday September 25, 2011 - 12:07, Dozens of Israeli settlers uprooted Sunday morning more than 400 olive trees in the towns of Qosrah and Douma, south of city of Nablus. Palestinian sources that this attack is the “fiercest” on the Palestinian lands, the Maan News Agency reported. PA: Settlers uproot 400 olive trees near Nablus 9/25/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Israeli settlers on Sunday uprooted over 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said. Settlement Affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said settlers attacked fields between Qusra and Duma villages south of Nablus. On Friday, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man, Issam Kamal.... [uruknet.info] Setters Uproot 400 Olive Trees South Of Nablus. Uruknet September 25, 2011 - Dozens of Israeli settlers uprooted Sunday morning more than 400 olive trees in the towns of Qosrah and Douma, south of city of Nablus. Palestinian sources that this attack is the "fiercest" on the Palestinian lands, the Maan News Agency reported. Ghassan Douglas, settlement issue chief in the Northern of the West Bank, told... Suspected 'price tag': 100 olive trees torn down near Nablus YNet News, 25 Sep 2011 - Police launch investigation into Palestinian villagers' claims suggesting.... Israeli Settlers attack Palestinians, burn 60 Olive Trees 23 Sep 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli settlers from Yitzhar, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, uprooted and destroyed 60 olive trees in Madama village, south of Nablus, according to local sources. Returned U.S. envoy to Libya doesn't see long-term insurgency LA Times 22 Sep 2011 - In his first public comments since returning to Libya, Ambassador Gene Cretz voices hope that moderate elements will prevail as authorities seek to craft the nation's first representative government. Fugitive leader Moammar Kadafi remains a danger and Libya faces "stubborn resistance" from former regime loyalists,... Palestinians ready to put statehood on backburner in favour of peace talks The Guardian 21 Sep 2011 - Obama causes anger with veto pledge and staunch backing of Israel but Abbas continues to hold out olive branch • Read the day's developments as they happened • Julian Borger: Obama plays it (electorally) safe The... Settlers Destroy 60 Olive Trees in West Bank Village WAFA Israeli army detains citizens and increases checkpoints and presence in villages PNN - The Israeli army detained citizen Baha’ Jaser Abdel -Razaq from Deit Ballut, Salfit, on Tuesday morning. The army arrested Abdel-Razaq in an olive field near “Al Ze’if’ settlement while he was checking... Israeli Settlers Cut 500 Trees Near Salfit IMEMC - Monday September 19, 2011 - 16:43, A number of armed Israeli settlers invaded on Monday morning an olive orchard in the village of Deir Istia, near Salfit, in the northern part of the West Bank. Witnesses: Settlers uproot over 500 trees in Salfit 9/19/2011 - SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers uprooted over 500 olive and fig trees in Deir Istiya village in Salfit on Monday morning, witnesses said. Onlookers said residents of the Revava settlement chopped down trees using a chainsaw in Qarawat Bani Hassan village near Deir Istiya. The village mayor said the field belonged to Daoud Yousef.... [uruknet.info] Witnesses: Settlers uproot over 500 trees in Salfit Uruknet September 19, 2011 -- Israeli settlers uprooted over 500 olive and fig trees in Deir Istiya village in Salfit on Monday morning, witnesses said. Onlookers said residents of the Revava settlement chopped down trees using a chainsaw in Qarawat Bani Hassan village near Deir Istiya. The village mayor said the field belonged to Daoud Yousef Harb, a resident... Stop the Wall Campaign Announces This Year's Olive Harvesting Program Stop The Wall - Sep 17, 2011-- Stop the Wall Campaign Announces This Year's Olive Harvesting Program, "You Will Not Face Settler Violence Alone" [ Palestinian statehood: The olive tree of al-Walaja - video The Guardian 15 Sep 2011 - Farmer Salah Abu Ali tells how his village has lost land and people since the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 David Levene Mona Mahmood For the love of Israel Ramzy Baroud, Al-Ahram Weekly 9/8/2011 Documenting a misguided congresswoman's war on the UN. From an Israeli point of view, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the ideal American politician. Although many in the US government aspire to her level of commitment to Israel, few can measure up to a dedication that extends so far beyond the interests of her own country. "Lawless extremists infest Congress like crabgrass besets lawns. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R. FL) is one of the worst," writes US columnist Stephen Lendman. Ros-Lehtinen's résumé is a distressing read. The congresswoman "endorses US imperial wars, police state laws, corporate empowerment, tax cuts for the rich, laying waste to Libya, perhaps a second Bay of Pigs, and Israeli lawlessness, while, at the same, opposing Palestinian statehood," according to Lendman. It is, in fact, "Israeli lawlessness" and her opposition to a Palestinian statehood that has made her a darling to Israel and its lobby. Unsurprisingly, Ros-Lehtinen has been rewarded handsomely for her die-hard support of Israel by some of the most powerful pro-Israeli individuals and lobby groups in the United States. One of these individuals is Irving Moskowitz, the well-known American Jewish millionaire, who made his fortune as a "casino magnate". "The benefactor of a controversial Jewish development in eastern Jerusalem is a major donor to US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen," reported the Jewish Telegraph Agency on 11 January, shortly after the congresswoman claimed her new post. A high proportion of the revenue he made from the gambling industry has been used to demolish Palestinian homes, raze ancient olive trees and fund Jewish settlements. It has also been used to finance Ros-Lehtinen's campaigns.more..e-mail Fire devours hundreds of olive trees west of Jenin PIC - A massive fire erupted Saturday night in Anin village west of Jenin city in the West Bank, devouring hundreds of olive trees, locals reported. Settlers burn cars, vandalize mosque in Nablus area 9/8/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees, set fire to cars and vandalized a mosque in the Nablus area on Thursday, officials said. Palestinian official Ghassan Douglas told Ma'an that two cars were set alight in the village of Qabalan, south of Nablus. Settlers also vandalized a mosque in Yatma village.... [uruknet.info] Settlers burn cars, vandalize mosque in Nablus area Uruknet September 8, 2011 - - Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees, set fire to cars and vandalized a mosque in the Nablus area on Thursday, officials said. Palestinian official Ghassan Douglas told Ma'an that two cars were set alight in the village of Qabalan, south of Nablus. Settlers also vandalized a mosque in Yatma village south of Nablus, spraying... Al Walajeh: Demonstrators , Military clash over olive trees uproot. PNN - Bethlehem - PNN - The Israeli Military attacked a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, participating in a peaceful demonstration against the enlargement of the wall in Al-Walajah, North West of... Wasteland in al Walajeh: Israeli military destruction of farmland 9/7/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On Tuesday September 6th local Palestinians from the village of Al Walajeh gathered with international activists to protest the building of the illegal separation barrier as well as the destruction of ancient olive trees. The demonstrators succeeded in halting the razing of Palestinian land for approximately one hour before soldiers violently.... Coming soon: Ahmadinejad through Oliver Stone's lens? The National 7 Sep 2011 - The filmmaker's son, Sean Stone, is in Tehran, possibly plotting a film on Iran. [uruknet.info] Wasteland in al Walajeh: Israeli military destruction of farmland Uruknet September 7, 2011 - On Tuesday September 6th local Palestinians from the village of Al Walajeh gathered with international activists to protest the building of the illegal separation barrier as well as the destruction of ancient olive trees. The demonstrators succeeded in halting the razing of Palestinian land for approximately one hour before soldiers violently broke up the... Wasteland in al Walajeh: Israeli military destruction of farmland International Solidarity Movement 9/7/2011 On Tuesday September 6th local Palestinians from the village of Al Walajeh gathered with international activists to protest the building of the illegal separation barrier as well as the destruction of ancient olive trees. The demonstrators succeeded in halting the razing of Palestinian land for approximately one hour before soldiers violently broke up the protest arresting one Palestinian and one Israeli activist. On September 5th bulldozers protected by dozens of soldiers arrived at 4 AM and uprooted 50 olive trees that date back at least 100 years. The bulldozers also destroyed 18 almond trees, 27 pine trees, and 8 fruit trees. The destruction took place in an area of over 1 square mile and was declared a closed military zone, prohibiting media coverage of the devastating operation. Mohammed Al-Atrash (Abu Wajih), the elderly farmer who owned the trees, will receive no compensation for his loss. In the aftermath residents of Al Walajeh called for a presence of media and activists to highlight this illegal destruction carried out by the Israeli government. At approximately 10am on Tuesday several residents from the village, joined by ISM and other activists, walked down to the site of the olive grove, which is now a wasteland. Upon arriving they stood in front of the construction machines and forced them to halt their work. Soldiers declared the area a closed military zone and disbanded the protest by force within an hour. Yousif Shakawi, a local resident in his 50’s was arrested along with one Israeli activist. The remaining protesters were held at distance so that the work could resume.more..e-mail Village council: Israeli soldiers destroy trees in Al-Walaja 9/6/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers uprooted a number of trees on Monday in the village of Al-Walaja, north of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reported. Saleh Khalifa, head of the village council, said that soldiers entered the village Monday morning and cut down olive trees to make way for a section.... Yitzhar settlers violently crash Burin wedding, military watches 9/6/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - nternational Solidarity Movement, West Bank - While villagers were celebrating a wedding in the small village of Burin, Israeli arsonists from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar seized the opportunity to set ablaze olive groves, destroying over 200 olive trees. On September 5th at 5 AM, locals in the village of Burin and other surrounding areas awoke to the.... Army Surrounds Bethlehem Village, Uproots Olive Trees IMEMC - Monday September 05, 2011 - 12:57, Local sources reported Monday that Israeli soldiers are currently surrounding the Al Walaja Village, near Bethlehem, and are uprooting dozens of Olive trees in order to construct a section of the illegal Annexation Wall in the area. Israel Continues to Uproot Hundreds of Olive Trees for Construction of Separation Wall Alternative Information Center - At 8 am this morning (5 September) bulldozers arrived at the olive tree fields in the Bethlehem-area village of al-Walaje. They were driven by private contractors and guarded by Israeli soldiers. [uruknet.info] Army Surrounds Bethlehem Village, Uproots Olive Trees Uruknet September 5, 2011 - Local sources reported Monday that Israeli soldiers are currently surrounding the Al Walaja Village, near Bethlehem, and are uprooting dozens of Olive trees in order to construct a section of the illegal Annexation Wall in the area. The soldiers, heavily deployed in the area, declared the village a "closed military zone", and are preventing... Settlers Set Fire to Olive Fields in Nablus Area Village WAFA Olive Revolution in pictures 9/1/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 29 August 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On the final Friday of Ramadan, Palestinians and supporters alike peacefully marched towards Jerusalem from four directions in a symbolic attempt to enter Jerusalem which has been illegally annexed by Israel, preventing fasting Muslims from worshiping during the final holy days of Ramadan. Yet more than just.... Join the 2011 Olive Harvest Campaign 8/31/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - At a time of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2011 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities. The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and.... Jewish settlers attack Qasra village and damage hundreds of olive trees PIC - 30/08/2011 - 02:15 PM (en) South of Hebron Hills Social Justice Struggle Al Walaja Ni'ilin Knocking on doors: Qalandiya Shuafat A-infos 31 Aug 2011 - The joint struggle in the occupied west bank continue on the back ground of the wide spread social justice struggle in Israel. The "Olive Revolution" was expressed mainly in Friday demonstration in Qalandiya. The anarchists against the wall and village activists of Ni'ilin, Bil'in, Nabi Saleh... [uruknet.info] Witnesses: Settlers attack olive trees in Salfit Uruknet August 27, 2011 - Settlers on Saturday cut down Palestinian-owned olive trees in Salfit in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. A group of settlers destroyed eight olive trees and damaged two lemon trees belonging to farmer Abdel Razzaq Khaled Mansour in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istaya, locals told Ma'an... Witnesses: Settlers attack olive trees in Salfit 8/27/2011 - SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Settlers on Saturday cut down Palestinian-owned olive trees in Salfit in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. A group of settlers destroyed eight olive trees and damaged two lemon trees belonging to farmer Abdel Razzaq Khaled Mansour in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istaya, locals told Ma'an. Local.... Olive Revolution in pictures: Palestinians march on Jerusalem 26 Aug 2011 - Qalandia (Pal Telegraph) - Today, the last Friday of Ramadan, mass peaceful protests took place under the slogan “Knocking on Jerusalem’s doors”. Palestinians, Israelis and International activists gathered on four gates which lead to Jerusalem: Qalandia, Biddu, Shufat, and at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. What follow are images of the protest from Qalandia. [uruknet.info] Witnesses: Settlers burn hundreds of olive trees Uruknet August 25, 2011 - Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire on Thursday to more than 100 olive trees in Mikhmas village southeast of Ramallah. Local witnesses told Ma'an that settlers from the illegal Ma'ale Mikhmas settlement adjacent to the village set fire to agricultural land before vacating the area. The Mikhmas village council condemned the attacks and called... Making the Humanitarian Primitive: Time and Violence on the Eternal Frontier Peter Lagerquist, Jerusalem Quarterly File 8/26/2011 Summer Along the route of the West Bank’s main north-west trunk road there is a passage of road some 20 minutes south of Hebron where the country’s roiling sweep of silver olive groves begins to thin out, and the land grows noticeably more arid. As you descend the penultimate ridgeline before the southern border the concrete carapace of an army post floats by, tight up on a hardscrabble village where dusty farmer’s children scatter fearfully on sighting a car with yellow Israeli license plates. At this point clusters of shacks and tents begin to appear on the surrounding slopes, some nearly two kilometers adrift adrift of the shoulder. As you progress past turnoffs for thinly spaced Israeli settlements, red- tiled roofs and agro-industrial cowsheds poised on the surrounding hilltops, these shacks slide in and out of view behind folds of scrubland, until a left turn past the settlement of Susyia takes you up to the edge of the frontier in the southern West Bank. Israel’s Barrier snakes out of the western horizon here, fence and tarmac separating a last cluster of settler tract housing from a welter of native sheds, before finally dead- ending in a small terminal, comprising two booths straddling the road and a clump of concrete barracks. Looking east across unfenced hills rolling clear down to the Dead Sea one may have the feeling of peering over the brink of another world, and if you read power only in what it constructs, in concrete and steel, you might briefly have the impression that the hold of the occupation somehow attenuates here. If so, you would be advised to recall those encampments now long vanished from view, bereft of a single place sign, or exit road. One way to describe the hills wedged in between Route 317 and the West Bank’s southern border is to say that they cover approximately four square kilometers, yet can take as long as two hours to traverse....more..e-mail Witnesses: Settlers burn hundreds of olive trees 8/25/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire on Thursday to more than 100 olive trees in Mikhmas village southeast of Ramallah. Local witnesses told Ma'an that settlers from the illegal Ma'ale Mikhmas settlement adjacent to the village set fire to agricultural land before vacating the area. The Mikhmas.... Extremist settlers torch 100 olive trees near Ramallah 25 Aug 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Extremist settlers torched on Thursday 100 olive trees planted by Palestinian farmers in Makhmas, a village in the southeast of Ramallah. [uruknet.info] Settlers Uproot Olive Trees, Grapevines, Plum Trees Near Hebron Uruknet Wednesday August 24, 2011 - Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers of the Beit Ayin illegal colony, north of Beit Umamar, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, attacked on Tuesday Palestinian orchards and farmlands and uprooted dozens of Olive trees, Plum trees, and grapevines in Wad Abu Al Reesh area. Mohammad Awad, spokesperson of the Popular... Settlers Burn Down Olive Trees WAFA Settlers Uproot Olive Trees, Grapevines, Plum Trees Near Hebron IMEMC - Wednesday August 24, 2011 - 06:10, Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers of the Beit Ayin illegal colony, north of Beit Umamar, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, attacked on Tuesday Palestinian orchards and farmlands and uprooted dozens of Olive trees, Plum trees, and grapevines in Wad Abu Al Reesh area. Farmer: Settlers uproot trees in Beit Ummar 8/24/2011 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Settlers from the illegal Bat Ayin settlement, northwest of Hebron, have uprooted olive, plum and grape trees belonging to a local farmer in Beit Ummar. Hamad Abdul Hamid Sleiby told Ma'an that settlers attacked his land in Beit Ummar for the fifth time on Tuesday. The olive trees were.... Jewish settlers cut off Palestinian olive trees PIC - Jewish settlers cut off olive and fruit trees in the cultivated land lots of Beit Ummar village north of Al-Khalil province on Wednesday, a local source reported. Palestinians 'to march on Jerusalem' 8/23/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinians will march on Jerusalem from four directions in a coordinated protest organized by the "Olive-Revolution" movement on the last Friday of Ramadan, activists said Tuesday. Activists accompanied by Israeli and international supporters will convene to launch the campaign by marching on Jerusalem from north, west, south and east, the Popular.... ‘Olive Revolution’ plans to march on Jerusalem from four directions this Friday Mondoweiss - The following press release was sent out by a group called the Olive Revolution , which describes itself as an "unarmed, popular, patriotic, and human revolution against Israeli occupation." The release announces a day of action to "knock on Jerusalem's gates" by marching on the city from... Settlers raid Nablus village 8/21/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Sunday stormed a Palestinian village near Nablus and uprooted 80 olive trees, a Palestinian Authority official said. Settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said dozens of residents of the illegal Esh Kodesh outpost raided Qusra and destroyed trees belonging to locals Rabi Abu Bakr, Samir Hasan and Jabali Abu.... Settlers uproot 80 olive saplings near Nablus 21 Aug 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)- Settlers from the illegal settlement of Eish Kodash uprooted 80 newly planted olive saplings in the south of al-Masara village, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Fresh olives and the sound of bombs Umaymah Hewitt, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 8/19/2011 Gaza is under fresh attack from Israel following an incident near Eilat in which seven Israelis were killed and 40 injured. Although those responsible "crossed the border from Sinai", the Israeli government claims that it was carried out by "terrorists from Gaza". As usual, swift "full force retaliation" took place, leaving six Palestinians dead in the first wave early on Friday morning, 19 August. This is the disconnected, disaffected news I have seen in Britain. Up until a month ago, I would have responded in the standard manner on hearing it, with somewhat feeble exclamations of protest and a few Facebook and Twitter posts. I would have perhaps even signed a petition or two. But now I have visited Gaza. I have crossed the Rafah border, walked upon the Holy Land in the Holy Month of Ramadan, dug my toes into the soft sand, trailed my fingers through the warm sea, touched the olive trees, befriended my Palestinian brothers and sisters, and left my heart there. I knew then, instantly, that my entire outlook on the Palestinian issue has changed: it is no longer simply a 'situation' faced by the Palestinian people, on my laptop screen, safely distant, thousands of miles away. It is now scarily real and deeply personal. I've always proclaimed my support for Palestine; but now, I am genuinely terrified by the horrific prospect of my friends and their families being harmed and killed. I find it hard to describe the Palestinian girls and young women I met in Gaza. The words 'strong', 'courageous', 'resilient' just aren't enough. My Gazan sisters are inspirational. Their radiant smiles, warm hugs and bright laughter belie the staggeringly awful times they've had to endure, and are still going through. They are beautiful, in every single sense of the word.more..e-mail [uruknet.info] Fresh olives and the sound of bombs Uruknet August 19, 2011 - But now I have visited Gaza. I have crossed the Rafah border, walked upon the Holy Land in the Holy Month of Ramadan, dug my toes into the soft sand, trailed my fingers through the warm sea, touched the olive trees, befriended my Palestinian brothers and sisters, and left my heart there. I knew... Imports cast shadow on lantern trade in Egypt The National 17 Aug 2011 - Lights are part of Ramadan tradition but the flood of cheap, ready-made goods threaten fanoos craftsmen in ancient quarters of Cairo. Al-Walaja villagers rally to save oldest living olive tree from destruction by Israeli forces IMEMC - Monday August 15, 2011 - 11:33, On Saturday August 13, 2011, a show of nonviolent popular resistance occurred in Al-Walaja village, west of Bethlehem. Settlers torch agricultural lands near Jenin 17 Aug 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire yesterday to several dunums planted with olive trees in Bart'a, a village in the south of Jenin. [uruknet.info] Defending olive trees: Israeli army cracks down on protest in al-Walajah Uruknet August 13, 2011 - Twelve protestors-two Palestinians and ten Israeli activists-were arrested yesterday by Israeli forces in the village of al-Walaja during a weekly protest against the expansion of the Wall. In al-Walaja, as in many Palestinian villages, the construction of the Wall has resulted in the destruction of Palestinian olive groves and orchards. At the protest, international... Israeli soldiers torch dozens of olive trees in W. Bank village PIC - The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) set fire to dozens of fruitful olive trees, some of them perennials, in Kafr Kadum village, Qalqiliya city. East Jerusalem’s Armenian Ceramic Art Tikun Olam - The Olive Tree of Jerusalem (Armenian Ceramics, East Jerusalem) Tonight, I’m repaying a debt that is long overdue. A few years ago when I was installing the slideshow you see in my banner above, I discovered a beautiful mural on a website called Tikkun Tree . There... Six People Detained As Israeli Army Chases Non-Violent Protestors into Homes at Walaja IMEMC - Wednesday August 10, 2011 - 12:26, The Israeli army responded to a non-violent protest at Al-Walaja on Wednesday with gas and sound bombs. They detained five Israelis and one Palestinian, chasing the protestors from the olive grove into the village. 'Recently I was Someone, Now I'm Nobody' Palestine Chronicle: 8 Aug 2011 - By Mats Svensson I have visited Muhammad around sixty times. But it is only now that we begin to really talk to each other. Seven years ago, I met Muhammad for the first time. I was then out on one of my long weekend walks. Muhammad came towards me, pointed towards the olive grove and presented me to the long gray dragon that was approaching his house. At the time he did not know whether the wall would go east of the house and let him belong to Jerusalem with all the practical benefits, or if it would go west of the house, and forever shut him out of Jerusalem. It was a lottery with a winning ticket and a loosing ticket. Bu he could not even pick his own lottery ticket. Some other people decided over his future. Then he spoke about the dragon that was approaching, the dead...more Air strikes hit targets in the Gaza Strip 8/2/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes struck two targets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, with no casualties reported. Israeli air crafts fired at a target in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip causing material damage but no human casualties, medical sources told Ma'an's correspondent.... Settlers torch Nablus village fields 8/1/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers torched acres of land near Nablus on Sunday, a Palestinian official said. Palestinian Authority settlements official Ghassan Doughlas said settlers set fire to 150 dunums of fields belonging to Palestinian villagers south of the northern West Bank city, destroying dozens of olive trees.... [uruknet.info] Breaking: Harsh Israeli response to protest in Palestinian village Uruknet July 31, 2011 - A group of about 30 international, Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators demonstrated in front of Israeli construction equipment Sunday morning, in an effort to prevent the uprooting of olive trees to make way for the continued construction of the separate wall that is to surround this village located just south of Jerusalem. Within 10 minutes... Witnesses: Settlers set fire to olive trees in Burin 7/29/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Friday torched olive trees in Burin village, south of Nablus, and fired live ammunition at firefighters' trucks trying to reach the blaze, Palestinian Authority officials said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said the fire continued to rage as firefighters were unable to reach the area. Witnesses.... [uruknet.info] Witnesses: Settlers set fire to olive trees in Burin Uruknet July 28, 2011 - -- Israeli settlers on Friday torched olive trees in Burin village, south of Nablus, and fired live ammunition at firefighters' trucks trying to reach the blaze, Palestinian Authority officials said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said the fire continued to rage as firefighters were unable to reach the area. Witnesses said clashes erupted... Israeli Soldiers Kidnap Non-Violent Palestinian and Israeli Activists in Al-Walaja IMEMC - Wednesday July 27, 2011 - 13:00, Two Palestinian and four Israeli activists were kidnapped outside Al-Walaja village Wednesday morning while protesting the bulldozing of an olive tree grove. The Israeli army blocked everyone from access to the olive grove which is being uprooted. Israeli Bulldozers Uproot Olive Trees In Al-walaja Near Bethlehem IMEMC - Tuesday July 26, 2011 - 18:31, Israeli troops detained, kidnapped two Palestinians from the village of Al-Walaja near Bethlehem Tuesday morning. [uruknet.info] Israeli Bulldozers Uproot Olive Trees In Al-walaja Near Bethlehem Uruknet July 26, 2011 - Israeli troops detained, kidnapped two Palestinians from the village of Al-Walaja near Bethlehem Tuesday morning. Shireen al-Araj and another local youth were kidnapped when they, together with a number of villagers and international peace activists attempted to stop Israeli bulldozers from uprooting olive trees in the village to build the wall. Al-Araj was released... Fires eruptin an olive grove and 2 forests Daily Star 24 Jul 2011 A Lebanese Army helicopter doused a fire Monday that erupted in an olive grove. The fire in the southern town of Maamarieh in the Zahrani region had trapped several Civil Defense personnel. Israel plows farms paving way for apartheid wall extension in Bethlehem village PIC - Israeli bulldozers began Tuesday plowing through ''vast'' Palestinian farmlands and uprooting olive trees to pave the way for an extension of the apartheid wall in Al-Walaja village. Civil defense personnel trapped by fire in olive grove Daily Star 25 Jul 2011 Lebanese Army helicopter attempting to extinguish flames in Zahrani district which earlier trapped several civil defense members, prompting a rescue attempt by local villagers. Fast Times in Palestine - Book Review Palestine Chronicle: 25 Jul 2011 - By Jim Miles (Fast Times in Palestine. Pamela J. Olson. Mason Hill Press, New York, 2011.) What can I say about such a well written book that has not already been said: well crafted, thought provoking, illuminating, enlightening, informative….most importantly Fast Times in Palestine highlights the essential humanity of Palestinians and their struggle with the constant oppression of Israeli society that surrounds all facets of their lives. In the face of overwhelming power, the message that underlies this story is the very idea of Palestinian existence. Not just base existence, but existence of a culture, a distinct society, that dares to live and breathe within the confines of walls, and razor wire, bombs and bullets, and any and all daily harassments that few in the western world face. That culture is alive and well in spite of it all, and perhaps healthier than many would expect. Olson’s writing brings out...more Dutch Band Brings Music to Palestinian Streets PNN - PNN Exclusive /By Liza Oliver - Dutch band, De Fanfare van de Eerste Lief des Nacht (the First Night of Love Brass Band) performed in the streets of Beit Sehour Saturday night,... IOF uproots, robs 100 olive trees PIC - The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) uprooted 100 olive trees from Beit Egza village, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, and took them in trucks to an unknown destination. Jewish settlers assault shepherd, start fire in olive trees PIC - 23/07/2011 - 08:22 AM Israeli Soldiers Uproot 100 Olive Trees in Jerusalem Area Village WAFA Israel uproots dozens of olive trees in Jordan Valley PIC - Israeli bulldozers have begun to uproot olive groves in Beit Iksa village in Jerusalem province. Troops Uproot Olive Orchards Near Jerusalem IMEMC - Thursday July 21, 2011 - 16:38, Israeli army bulldozers uprooted, on Thursday morning, Palestinian olive orchards that belong to residents of Beit Iksa village, in occupied East Jerusalem, in order to build a section of the illegal Annexation Wall, and to allow the expansion of Ramot illegal settlement. Israeli authorities uproot olive trees in Beit Eska 21 Jul 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli occupation bulldozers started Thursday uprooting several olive trees and razing farmlands in the southwest of Beit Eska village in Jerusalem. Israeli Bulldozers Uproot Olive Trees in Jerusalem WAFA Palestinian, Israeli firefighters control fire near Bethlehem 7/20/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) - More than 70,000 square meters of olive fields belonging to Cremisan Monastery in Beit Jala burned Wednesday before Palestinian and Israeli firefighters managed to put out the blaze. Palestinian civil defense officials in Bethlehem said 20 dunums were completely burnt, while the other 50 sustained partial damage. Part of the area.... Related: Blaze near Bethlehem monastery extinguished My Bali: My Palestine – A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 18 Jul 2011 - By Lillian Rosengarten Here in Bali trees are 'living beings' for nature, religion and man is one. Frogs and dragonflies live in harmony with all creatures and man. A reddish sun rises on the mountain slope ans brings life to all elements of nature. Light in Bali, like no other in the world reveals the forces of nature. The magic of Bali is the night time encounter of the divine in the form of moon, mountain, sea and trees with the worshipping faithful. It is the magic of Bali at it's highest. As light turns from red to orange to deepest blue, as mountain fades into darkness, I think of my Palestine imprisoned in the paranoid face of Israel starved of life and dragon flies. Olive groves and orchards once bloomed on your land, fishermen now dead. Sunlight hides behind Israeli shells No creature to soothe your piercing screams your...more Israeli Occupation Forces Invade Wadi Qana Stop The Wall - Jul 11, 2011-- Israeli occupation forces invaded on Monday Wadi Qana in the south of Nablus after being declared a “military closed zone” and held a number of citizens from the nearby town of Deir Esta while bulldozing around 450 olive trees and destroying 3 donoms ready to be planted. [ Army gas canisters set fire to Palestinian land 7/15/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers fired gas canisters at residents in the town of Qatana, near Jerusalem, on Thursday,causing fires which spread through olive and fig groves, reports say. The fire also damaged vineyards and the electricity grid in the area, a spokesman from the town's police department Ashraf Shamasneh said.... Settlers set fire to olive groves near Nablus PIC - Extremist Jewish settlers on Friday afternoon set fire to olive groves in Mount Sulaiman near the village of Bourin to the south of the northern West Bank village of Nablus. Settler violence on the rise; violent incidents in 2011 may double those in 2010 Mondoweiss - In West Bank, settler violence seen on the rise HUWARA, West Bank (Reuters) 14 July – Scorched hillsides and charred olive groves near Nablus pinpoint the latest acts of arson by hardline Jewish settlers against Palestinians who say they are ever more the victims of such... Songs tear down fences in Izbat Tabib 7/14/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 13 July 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On July 13th villagers in the small town of Izbat Tabib wanted to protest against the illegal Israeli construction of barbed wire fences outside the village, preventing farmers from tending their lands and olive trees. In the beginning of the afternoon, villagers and international activists gathered at the mayor'.... In West Bank, settler violence seen on the rise Relief Web 14 Jul 2011 - Source: Reuters - AlertNet Country: occupied Palestinian territory 14 Jul 2011 13:23 Source: Reuters // Reuters By Tom Perry HUWARA, West Bank, July 14 (Reuters) - Scorched hillsides and charred olive groves near Nablus pinpoint the latest acts of arson by... Settler violence against Palestinians up 57 percent in the West Bank Daily Star 14 Jul 2011 Scorched hillsides and charred olive groves near Nablus pinpoint the latest acts of arson by hard-line Jewish settlers against Palestinians who say they are ever more the victims of such attacks in the West Bank. Video: Soldiers stand by as settlers attack 'Asira al-Qibliya B'tselem 13 Jul 2011 - On 3 July '11, at midday, settlers attacked the village of 'Asira al-Qibliya, claiming villagers had started a fire near the Yitzhar settlement. The attackers threw stones towards the village and broke some twenty olive trees. The Palestinians report that, as in previous incidents, the forces... Extensions to Mount of Olives mosque illegal, says city Jerusalem Post 12 Jul 2011 - Construction continues despite municipal stop-work order; located next to rotary at main entrance to Ras el-Amud, mosque was built in 1950s. Farmers' valley declared closed military zone 7/11/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces declared a valley south of Nablus a closed military zone on Monday, while olive trees were uprooted from the area. Ma'an correspondent said Israeli forces blocked residents from entering and exiting the Wadi Qana area. A number of villagers from nearby Deir Istiya, including village mayor Nazmi.... IOF soldiers uproot 450 olive trees PIC - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday uprooted 450 olive trees west of Salfit province, local sources reported. Israeli Authorities Uproot, Confiscate 450 Olive Trees in Salfit WAFA The Lede: U.S. Ambassador Greeted With Roses by Syrian Protesters in Hama New York Times 9 Jul 2011 - Video recorded by Syrian activists appears to show that protesters holding olive branches tossed roses on to the American ambassador's car in Hama's central Aasi Square on Friday. Syrians take to the streets as regime lashes out at US The National 7 Jul 2011 - Demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad, Syrians carried olive branches as they gathered in the flashpoint city of Hama. 4 arrested for desecration of 20 tombs on Mt. of Olives Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 - Three Arab boys from A-Tur in e. J'lem allegedly damaged tombstones in the cemetery's American section. [uruknet.info] PA report: Israeli settler violence on the rise Uruknet July 7, 2011 - - Israeli settler violence against Palestinians increased "dramatically" in June, according to a Palestinian Authority report released Wednesday. The report documented 139 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli army and settlers during the month, including the demolition of 95 buildings and over 3600 olive trees and vines. Fires in the... PA report: Israeli settler violence on the rise 7/7/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli settler violence against Palestinians increased "dramatically" in June, according to a Palestinian Authority report released Wednesday. The report documented 139 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli army and settlers during the month, including the demolition of 95 buildings and over 3600 olive trees and vines. Fires.... BT Selem Release Footage Of Settler Attack IMEMC - Wednesday July 06, 2011 - 16:24, Human rights organisation BT Selem has released footage of Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement in the West Bank setting fire to fields near olive orchards belonging to Palestinians in the nearby villages of Burin and Huwara. The ensuing fire consumed dozens of dunams of land and 400 olive trees according to media. French boat 'departs Greece for Gaza' 7/5/2011 - PARIS (AFP) -- A small French pleasure craft with eight protesters on board left Greek waters overnight and set off for Gaza in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade, organizers said Tuesday. The "Dignite al Karama" is so far the only boat in a planned flotilla organized by pro-Palestinian activists to set sail from.... IAF air craft attack terror tunnel in northern Gaza Jerusalem Post 5 Jul 2011 - Attack comes in response to recent rocket fire from Gaza into Israel; precise targets identified; all air craft safely returned to bases. French pleasure boat makes dash to Gaza Daily Star 5 Jul 2011 A small French pleasure craft slipped out of Greek waters Tuesday in an attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza, reviving an international campaign that appeared to have ground to a halt. Union: Settlers burn olive trees near Nablus 7/5/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The union of agricultural work committees in the village of Aqraba in Nablus said Monday that residents of the illegal Itamar settlementburned 300 olive trees. A similar incident was alleged to have occurred several months earlier, it said. The agricultural committees called on Palestinian Authority officials to intervene to stop violations.... Jewish settlers set on fire hundreds of Palestinian olive trees PIC - Jewish settlers torched hundreds of Palestinian olive trees south of Nablus on Sunday night, local sources said. Fires destroy 200 olive trees in West Bank cities 7/2/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Civil defense crews from several districts in the West Bank were able to control and suppress fires that broke out in the West Bank Thursday morning. Fires destroyed over 200 olive trees and damaged wheat fields in the villages of Al-Yamoun and Al-Arafa in Jenin, Irtah in Tulkarem, the villages of.... Qalqilia: Six Civilians Injured While Settlers Set Fire to Olive Groves PNN - Qalqilia - PNN - Six Palestinian civilians were injured when Israeli soldiers attacked a peaceful protest that demanded the opening of the north entrance of Qaqila in the northern West Bank. At... IOF troops raid the village of Kafr al-Deek and uproot trees PIC - IOF troops raided on Thursday afternoon the village of Kafr al-Deek near Salfit and uprooted dozens of olive trees from the fields belonging to the villagers.. Israeli forces confiscate Palestinian olive orchards near Ramallah IMEMC - Thursday June 30, 2011 - 08:27, Hundreds of acres of olive orchards in Al Mazra’a al Gharbiya village were taken over by Israeli troops on Tuesday, who claimed that the area was a 'closed military zone' and that the land was being confiscated for military use. Mayor: Israel uproots olive trees in northern West Bank 6/28/2011 - SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces uprooted dozens of olive trees on Tuesday in Deir Istiya in the northern West Bank, local officials told Ma'an. Village mayor Nazmi Sulaiman said some of the trees uprooted had been planted more than five years ago on land belonging to Kamal Muhammad Abdul Rahman. The mayor.... Israel denies Salfit farmers access to their lands 28 Jun 2011 - West Bank, (Pal telegraph)-Israeli bulldozers invaded Tuesday the village of Dier Esta in Salfit and started razing operations to agricultural lands uprooting 200 olive trees. [uruknet.info] 300 Trees uprooted in Salfit village by IOF Uruknet June 28, 2011 - Today, 28 June, the Israeli Occupation Forces uprooted 300 olive trees in the Palestinian village of Deir Estia in the Salfit district of the West Bank. MP Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that the destruction of lands and uprooting hundreds of olive trees in Deir Estia are heinous... IOF soldiers destroy tens of Palestinian olive trees PIC - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bulldozed tens of Palestinian olive trees in Deir Estiya village west of Salfit city on Tuesday. Israeli Soldiers Uproot 300 Olive Trees in Salfit WAFA The Liberation Anthem - A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 27 Jun 2011 - By Samah Sabwai To the people of Israel who fear our freedom: Don’t be afraid, we will liberate you too. This is my rendition Of an anthem to be sung That day you and I Will stand side by side Shoulder to shoulder Watching a new dawn Wipe away Decades of hate and savagery The day I rise From the ashes of your oppression I promise you I will not rise alone You too will rise with me You will be liberated From your own tyranny And my freedom Will bring your salvation This is my rendition Of an anthem to be sung I’ll craft new words of expression Outside of this suffocating language That has occupied me Your words, Are like your walls They encroach on my humanity I am more than demography I’m neither your collaborator Nor your enemy I am not your moderate Not your terrorist Not...more We will not be uprooted-tree planting in Fasayel 6/26/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Jordan Valley Solidarity - Today local and international activists joined families affected by last week's demolitions in the Palestinian community of Fasayel in the occupied Jordan Valley as they planted 300 olive trees on their land. At around 5pm a group of 25 Palestinian and international activists joined 10 families whose homes were destroyed.... Related: Jordan Valley Solidarity and Article and Video Witnesses: Israeli fire torches Nabi Saleh olive trees 6/24/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli troops fired tear gas in An-Nabi Saleh village on Thursday, setting fire to olive trees, witnesses said. Locals told Ma'an that troops entered the village and fired on houses, breaking into some of the homes and deploying on their rooftops. Teargas canisters set the trees alight, the witnesses.... “As long as the Za’atar remains. . .” Mondoweiss - Sometimes a food is more than just something you eat. The herbal condiment za'atar, a mixture of dried thyme, sumac and sesame seed commonly eaten with olive oil and bread, has become well known in recent years outside the Middle East, especially among visitors and solidarity... Airbus, IAl join forces on early-warning plane YNet News, 21 Jun 2011 - Derivative of Airbus craft to use radar to monitor airspace, warn of approaching.... Israeli Soldiers Interrupt Funeral with Tear Gas, Close Entrance to Beit Ommar Palestine Solidarity Project 20 Jun 2011 - On June 17, Israeli soldiers interrupted a funeral by throwing tear gas canisters all over the surrounding region. Eventually the tear gas started a fire near three homes and grape and olive fields. Several Beit Ommar residents and a fire truck with high-pressure hoses spent over... Settlers Torch Palestinian Orchards Near Nablus IMEMC - Friday June 17, 2011 - 09:25, On Thursday evening, dozens of extremist Israeli settlers torched Palestinian Olive orchards near the illegal Itamar settlement, south of the northern West bank city of Nablus. [uruknet.info] Settlers Torch Olive Orchards Near Ramallah Uruknet June 16, 2011 - A number of armed extremist Israeli settlers torched on Wednesday at night dozens of olive trees that belong to villagers of Bil'in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. The trees are located in Palestinian orchards isolated behind the Annexation Wall. The Popular Committee Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements issued... Jewish settlers burn olive trees west of Ramallah PIC - Jewish settlers torched tens of Palestinian olive trees in Bilin village land behind the separation wall west of Ramallah city, the popular anti wall committee said in a statement on Thursday. Settlers set fire to Palestinian crops, IOF troops burn olive groves PIC - Extremist Jewish settlers on Thursday torched Palestinian crops in agricultural land belonging to the villagers of Awarta to the south east of the Northern West Bank city of Nablus. Settlers Torch Olive Orchards Near Ramallah IMEMC - Thursday June 16, 2011 - 11:24, A number of armed extremist Israeli settlers torched on Wednesday at night dozens of olive trees that belong to villagers of Bil’in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. The trees are located in Palestinian orchards isolated behind the Annexation Wall. Palestinians say gas canisters set fire to village land 6/16/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters that started a fire Wednesday and burned acres of olive trees in the occupied West Bank, witnesses said. Soldiers also fired stun grenades toward fields near the village of Bil'in, near Ramallah, locals said. Villagers tried to put off the fires, but soldiers.... Popular Committee leader of Ni'lin arrested and two protesters injured by live ammo in Deir Qaddis 6/16/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 15 June 2011, Ni'lin - Demonstrators disrupted new construction in the Israeli colony of Nili. Israeli soldiers responded with baton charges, tear-gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. One organizer was arrested and many olive trees were burned. Two Palestinian youths in their twenties were hit by live ammunition today, during a demo against illegal.... Settlers burn olive trees in Bil’in 16 Jun 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli settlers burnt yesterday dozens of olive trees planted in the territories of Bil’in village located behind the Apartheid Wall in the West of Ramallah. A very balanced itinerary? Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Is the Olive Tree Initiative, an interfaith program that brings American students here to learn about the Israeli-Arab conflict, offering its participants the appropriate mosaic of views? Bethlehem resident in 30-year fight to defend land 6/13/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Maher Mohammed Seb'a says he will stay on his land despite 30 years of harassment, intimidation and bribery by Israeli forces seeking to displace him. On June 2, Maher said he woke up to find more than 250 of his olive trees destroyed by settlers. He said he was.... Report: Security at Mt. Olives slipping YNet News, 13 Jun 2011 - 'One Jerusalem' group sees 50% rise in hostile activity on cemetery grounds;.... Israeli Settler Violence Report: March and April 2011 Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center 6/12/2011 Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the North and South West Bank increased in March and April 2011. The brutal aggressions against lands, homes and residents are part of an obvious systematic project to render the life of Palestinian residents virtually impossible. Settlers announced their “price tag” plan after the Israeli army dismantled mobile homes in some West Bank outposts and settlements. This “price tag” strategy is carried out through land confiscations, physical attacks using stones, guns and knives, the uprooting of olive trees and attacks on homes. In most of the settler attacks in March and April 2011, the connection between settlers and Israeli soldiers is evident. The army collaborates with the violent settler aggression against Palestinian residents; proof of this link includes military harassments against Palestinian farmers and residents who are trying to defend their villages and lands against settler attacks. Both in the northern and southern West Bank, the army intervenes to facilitate settler violence, instead of stopping it. Soldiers are involved in cruel episodes of violence, arresting Palestinians who denounce settler aggressions or even pushing them out of their own lands. Police officers and military officials often deny Palestinian complaints against settlers: As commander of the Israeli military police, Meir Ohana, admitted last month, only 6-9% of complaints by Palestinian residents are taken into consideration. The rest are totally ignored, and hundreds of cases of abuse and attacks are closed. Hebron and the Southern West Bank Region On March 2, settlers from settlements in the eastern Bethlehem area uprooted 25 olive trees belonging to residents of the Al-Frides village....more..e-mail Walking to the Buffer Zone Johnny Barber, CounterPunch 6/10/2011 Inside the Jail of Gaza We marched to the buffer zone with about 20 others including members of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative who have been organizing non-violent demonstrations for the past three years, as well as several members of GYBO (Gaza Youth Break Out). Carrying flags and alternately chanting, singing and walking in silence we approached the Israeli border. This is a no go zone for Palestinians. Israel has deemed that 300 meters from the wall is a buffer zone, so Palestinian farmland is taken away. Waving flags and chanting we reached the edge of the buffer zone and continued walking. Almost immediately, dust kicked up just ahead of us, a warning shot rang out. We stopped, daring to go no further. Climbing a small embankment we waved our Palestinian flags and chanted to the soldiers hidden in the guard towers. Not five minutes passed and 2 shots rang out, one kicking up dust at our feet. 19 year old Mohammed Kafarna grabbed his neck, turned, and ran back in the direction we had come. He had been hit with shrapnel. That effectively ended the demonstration; we turned and headed back toward the village. I was stunned that two dozen people could pose such a threat to Israel that the army would resort to using live rounds of ammunition against us. Of course, we were not a physical threat, I imagine the Israeli soldiers laughed at us as we turned and headed back. But non-violent demonstrations do cause a threat, especially when people walk to the wall and demand access to their land, their olive trees, their resources, and their homes. Israel has only one method to disperse non-violent demonstrators and that is through violent repression. We often hear of Israel’s need for security, yet the people of Gaza are under occupation by the state of Israel and no one utters a word about their security....more..e-mail [uruknet.info] Libyan leader Gaddafi vows to fight to the death Uruknet June 7, 2011 - Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi vowed to fight to the death in a defiant speech after Nato military craft unleashed a ferocious series of some daytime airstrikes on Tripoli. In a phone call to Libyan state television station, Gaddafi angrily denounced the rebels who rose up against him in mid-February, inspired by a wave of... Olive trees burned in fire sparked by tear-gas 6/6/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces stationed along the separation wall near the Jerusalem-area village of Qatanna fired tear-gas canisters at a group of young farmers on Monday, the heat from which caused a brush fire damaging 40 trees. The leader of the village council told Ma'an that the brush around the olive.... Olive trees burned in fire sparked by tear-gas Palestine Note 6 Jun 2011 - Ma'an - Israeli forces stationed along the separation wall near the Jerusalem-area village of Qatanna fired tear-gas canisters at a group of young farmers on Monday, the heat from which caused a brush fire damaging 40 trees. The leader of... Jewish settlers burn 250 Palestinian trees in Nablus village PIC - Jewish settlers started a huge fire in Palestinian farmland in Deir Al-Hatab village east of Nablus on Monday burning 250 olive and almond trees, local sources reported. Commemorating Naksa: Report on Weekend Anti-Occupation Protests Dolev Rahat, Alternative Information Center 6/6/2011 When demonstrators understood that the fire was aimed directly at their bodies, they began to run. The shooting, however, did not stop... This past weekend’s demonstrations (3-4 June) against the Israeli occupation, settlements and apartheid walls were conducted in the West Bank villages of Bil’in, Na’alin, Nabi Saleh, al Masara and Beit Ummar. In Budrus a demonstration was held against an Israeli quarry located on land of Palestinian villages. The weekly demonstration against the Separation Wall in the Ramallah-area village of Bil’in commemorated the 44th anniversary of the Naksa, the beginning of Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan. Demonstrators carried two huge maps of Palestine that noted the Palestinian land lost in 1948 and 1967. When demonstrators reached the Separation Wall, Israeli soldiers shot tear gas and skunk water at them. Journalist Haled Manasara was injured in his leg from a tear gas canister. However, demonstrators did manage to reach the Wall (which in this area is a barbed wire fence) and removed tens of metres of it. Tear gas canisters resulted in the setting of several small fires and burning of numerous olive trees. Soldiers continued shooting toward the olive groves with the goal of setting trees on fire, even after the demonstration ended and protesters returned to the village. In the Ramallah-area village of Na’alin the weekly demonstration commemorated the second anniversary of the death of Aqel Srur, who was shot in the chest with live fire in the village in June 2009. This week the military also chose to oppress the Na’alin demonstration using live ammunition. -- See also: AlJazeera video: Violence marks 'Naksa' in Golan Heightsmore..e-mail International human rights volunteers needed in Palestine 6/4/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Women's Peace Service - The InternationalWomen's Peace Service (IWPS) is a small team of international female human-rights activists in Palestine. We: provide accompaniment to Palestinian civilians (including farmers during the annual olive harvest), document and non-violently intervene in human-rights abuses , support Palestinians in their non-violent resistance to end the Israeli military.... Related: International Womens’ Peace Service A State for Jews Dissident Voice: 4 Jun 2011 - I grew up in North Carolina and was around for the transformation to an integrated society where in the laws of the state and nation became color-blind; and blacks were afforded equal protection under the law. My parent’s generation were generally decent honorable people who wished no one harm, neither black nor white, they believed in the humane treatment of everyone, but many also believed in the doctrine of separate but equal. This doctrine had been affirmed by the US Supreme Court in 1896 — Plessy v Ferguson – and the court contained such notables as Oliver Wendel Holmes. A subsequent decision, Brown vs the Board of Education , 1954, was essentially unimplemented until the mid to late 1960’s with the onset of the administration of Lyndon Johnson. This transformation was a difficult one for many, but certainly not all, my parent’s and grandparent’s generation. It is hard for me, and...more A State for Jews Palestine Chronicle: 2 Jun 2011 - By William James Martin I grew up in NC and was around for the transformation to an integrated society where in the laws of the state and nation became color-blind; and blacks were afforded equal protection under the law. My parent's generation were generally decent honorable people who wished no one harm, neither black nor white, they believed in the humane treatment of everyone, but many also believed in the doctrine of separate but equal. This doctrine had been affirmed by the US Supreme Court in 1896 -Plessy v Ferguson - and the court contained such notables as Oliver Wendel Holmes. A subsequent decision, Brown vs the Board of Education, 1954, was essentially unimplemented until the mid to late 1960’s with the onset of the administration of Lyndon Johnson. This transformation was a difficult one for many, but certainly not all, my parent’s and grandparent’s generation. It is hard for...more HEBRON/AL-KHALIL: Settlers burn ancient olive trees in Tel Rumeida Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine - At 4:30 p.m. on 27 May 2011, CPT received a call that settlers set fire to olive orchards on the Abu Haikel property in Tel Rumeida. One of the Abu Haikel sons took the CPTers to the scene of the fire. As some of the trees... Olive trees destroyed outside Bethlehem 5/31/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - International Solidarity Movement - This morning Maher Abu Sab'a' discovered that 248 out of the 250 olive tree saplings that had recently been planted on his land had been destroyed over-night. The saplings which had been planted three months previously had been systematically uprooted from the earth and broken with their remains left.... Settlers Uproot 20 Olive Trees Near Hebron IMEMC - Sunday May 29, 2011 - 05:25, A group of extremist Israeli settlers, living at the Beit Ayin illegal settlement built on Palestinian lands the belong to Beit Ummar village, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, attacked on Saturday Palestinian orchards, and uprooted twenty Olive trees. CPT: Settlers torch Palestinian olive grove 5/29/2011 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to an olive grove belonging to a Palestinian family near Hebron on Friday, an international monitoring group reported. The fire damaged 16 trees belonging to the Abu Haikel family in Tel Rumeida, Christian Peacemaker Teams said, adding that some of the trees affected were over 1,000 years.... Open border, 1000-year-old olive trees, new Israeli stun guns Mondoweiss - and other news from Today in Palestine: Gaza Travelers sought as Gaza terminal empties quickly Reuters 28 May -- "Is there anyone who wants to travel?" asked a black-uniformed Hamas policeman at a cafe near the border terminal gate. Under the new regulations implemented by Egypt... Where Are the Israeli Poets? Dissident Voice: 28 May 2011 - Where are the Israeli poets? Those who would search their dreams For memories lost or Denied Those who would look inward To see the archetypes of shadows Fleeing In the night Or who would search the rocky landscape of the mind To see those whom they have chased away Where are those who would survey the scrubgrass And the pale horse And the winter moon And the olive trees Planted a thousand new suns ago By those who are no longer But whose sweat lingers in the soil Are there no Israeli poets? Are they afraid? Of looking inward If only in a dream On a barren moonlit landscape While wandering the winding paths Stepping on the rubble on ancient villages Which are no longer But villages whose souls still weep For the familiar voices They may sometime hear In the distance When the wind is rightmore Amidst long hours waiting to pass to Jerusalem Shahd Abusalma, International Solidarity Movement 5/25/2011 Last night, I went to bed at 11 pm, much earlier than I’m used to. I forced myself to stay under my blanket. The room was very dark and no sound could be heard but the sound of me moving in bed continually. I wanted to sleep so that 7 am today would come quickly, but all my attempts failed. Daydreaming in darkness conquered my mind. I dreamt about my travel to Jerusalem, the smell of its air, the view of its nature, its streets, and its people. My excitement to reach it kept me awake and I only managed to sleep at 4:30 am, then woke up again an hour and a half later. Amidst this chaos and all the people around me who are chatting as an attempt to make time pass faster, I’m putting my headphones in my ears and listening to Fairoz, trying to live in my own world. I’m writing now from Beit Hanoun border or the so called Erez border. I’m sitting in a hall among lots of people, many of them patients and traders. Everybody has an excuse to go to Jerusalem and waiting to get permission to pass. My eyes are confused; one eye on the people around me and another on the fences that surround me from all destinations, laughing and sarcastically pitying the situation. Isn’t it funny that all of us here are waiting for hours to have a pass to go to our capital, Jerusalem? It’s not fair at all that I need an excuse to go there! Now I’ve completed two hours of waiting and I don’t know for how much longer I’ll have to wait. While I was writing nonstop, an old woman sat next to me. Her traditional Palestinian dress lined by red embroidery attracted my eyes. The wrinkles of her face looked like she was bearing so many burdens that I thought she was older than only 66 years old. “Are you a refugee?” she asked. I smiled at her, nodding my head to confirm that. Then she said that she is too a refugee. That was the start of a very interesting conversation about our lands, which all Palestinian refugees were cleansed from in 1948. She was only three years old when her family was expelled from her original village, Acre....more..e-mail AT-TUWANi: Palestinian trees destroyed in ongoing settler vandalism and harassment Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine - In the early morning of 12 May 2011, Palestinian farmers discovered that during the night unknown perpetrators had vandalized ten olive trees in Humra valley, near At -Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. The trees and the land belong to At-Tuwani resident Salman Jibrin Raba'i. The evidence suggests that the... Meeting senseless aggression face-to-face Gershon Baskin, Jerusalem Post 5/23/2011 A recent trip to the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh shed a new light on the IDF and its operations. For months I have been hearing about disproportionate use of force by the army against weekly demonstrations in Nabi Saleh – a small pastoral Palestinian village northwest of Ramallah. Last week, I watched several YouTube videos filmed by activists in the village, providing vivid visual images of the forceful arrests of protesters by the army. I was disturbed because all of the clips showed how the demonstrations ended; none showed how they began. I was convinced that there must have been stone-throwing by the shabab in the village which provoked the violent army responses. So I decided I had to see for myself. When I contacted the Israeli activists who regularly participate in the Nabi Saleh demonstrations, I was warned that it was dangerous and that there was no way to know in advance when we would get home. They also warned that there was a high possibility we would be arrested. I am 55 years old, and have been demonstrating since the age of 12. I have been in dangerous situations before, and was prepared for another one. ON FRIDAY morning I was picked up from French Hill at 10:30. We drove on 443 until the Shilat junction, and turned toward the West Bank. We drove off the beaten settlers’ track through the Palestinian villages in the area. We then turned off the road and parked in an olive grove. From there, we began a trek of about an hour through the hills, finally arriving, after a steep climb, at the edge of the village. Every Friday morning the army seals off the area and prevents entry and exit for all. The 500 residents of Nabi Saleh, all from the Tamimi family, are demonstrating against the continuous encroachment of the Helamish settlement on their land. Since 2009, Nabi Saleh has been demonstrating every Friday.more..e-mail Occupation bulldozers change features of Bab al-Amoud PIC - Israeli occupation bulldozers under protection of occupation police and soldiers started on Tuesday morning to uproot olive trees from a park close to Bab al-Amoud in occupied Jerusalem. Protests held in several Syrian cities: witnesses Daily Star 20 May 2011 Pro-democracy protests erupted in several Syrian towns and villages on Friday after the weekly Muslim prayers, with demonstrators holding olive branches and calling for more freedom in defiance of a brutal crackdown, witnesses said. [uruknet.info] What will you do when Palestine is free? Uruknet May 14, 2011 - Palestine is neither a memory nor a dream - it is a homeland to which millions will one day return. From the wrinkled hands of old men and women who spent years harvesting rows of ancient olive groves, to the soft yet determined faces of a younger generation unfazed by decades of dispossession, Palestine... As Long As the Olive Trees Live… The Right to Return to Palestine Intifada-Palestine: 14 May 2011 - by: Nour Rida/ English.Moqawama.org “Marches of Return” encircle the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) while the Palestinians inside the OPT rally from within… Restating commitment to the Right of Return of all Palestinians, all Palestinians, and Marking the 1948 Nakba in which... more Do you see that land? That land is mine and I cannot go there International Solidarity Movement 5/14/2011 On May 8, 9, and 10th the farmers of Khuza’a harvested their wheat. Khuza’a is a village near the Israeli border in the southern Gaza Strip. For three days they visited the fields, starting very early in the morning and picking the fruits of their land. For three days the Israeli occupation forces fired from their automated turret while the farmers continued to harvest their grain. However, they did not allow the Israeli Occupation Force to prevent them from going to their land. The area where the farmers, along with three international ISM activists and five Palestinian activists traveled to, is about 450 meters from the border. Before the second intifada melons were grown there, along with other fruit trees and olive trees. “We came here to do barbecue, party and relax… the Israeli jeeps used to pass in the distance but did not bother us, they used to leave us in peace.” Ahmed said. Today the trees have been uprooted, the plants destroyed. The only thing that can be grown, because it does not require constant attention, is wheat. But the wheat needs several hours to be collected, and snipers have fun terrorizing the farmers during those hours. On May 8th in addition to the activists there were eight farmers in the fields, mostly women, but also a child of 13 years and a girl of seven, all brothers and sisters of the AnNajjar family which resides in Khuza’a. They were on 10 dunams of their land, collecting the golden-yellow wheat in bundles and they thought that the presence of activists (foreign and not) could protect them at work, and decided to go farther than usual to collect plants to feed their animals. Where the wheat fields end the land is crossed by sand dunes caused by Israeli bulldozers; here grows thorn bushes and small trees that seem dry, but are a good food for donkeys and sheep. A man bends down to pull up some plants, extends his arm and points his finger at a dune a few tens of meters away, “You see that land? That land is mine and I can not go there.” -- See also: ISM: Khuza’amore..e-mail Palestinian Trees Destroyed in Ongoing Settler Vandalism, Harassment Alternative Information Center - In the early morning of 12 May 2011, Palestinian farmers discovered that during the night unknown perpetrators had vandalized ten olive trees in the Humra valley, near At -Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Israeli soldiers uproot olive saplings in Jeruasalm 4 May 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli army uprooted dozens of olive saplings in the village of Al-Nabi Samuel in the north-west of Jerusalem. The ghost town between Palestine’s past and its future Catrina Stewart, The Independent 4/30/2011 Catrina Stewart visits an abandoned settlement, frozen in time 63 years ago, that may soon become a luxury housing development. Walking through the abandoned Palestinian village of Lifta, Yacoub Odeh is transported back to a time more than 63 years ago when as a child he would play in these streets before his carefree existence came to an abrupt end. As he points out the old mosque and olive press, names come tumbling back, events, memories – a life before 1948, the fateful year that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their ancestral homes during Israel's war of independence, most of them never to return. All that remains of this once-prosperous village are the shells of dozens of houses dotted throughout the valley, their outer walls largely intact but now overgrown with wildflowers and weeds. How much longer the village will remain in this state is anyone's guess. It is at the centre of a wrangle over whether it should be preserved in its current state as a reminder of the Palestinian dispossession or redeveloped into luxury housing. The Israel Land Administration, now the legal owner of the land, is marketing plots to developers to construct an upscale neighbourhood based on the buildings that already exist. "They [the Jews] did not destroy Lifta in time of war, so they should not destroy it when Israel is talking about peace," says Mr Odeh, a Palestinian in his early 70s who spent his early childhood there. -- See also: Call to Save the History, Culture and Heritage of Lifta Village and Palestinian Refugees Act to Save Jerusalem’s Lifta Village from Destructionmore..e-mail Syrian Forces Shoot at Protesters in Dara’a Siege New York Times 29 Apr 2011 - At least 16 protesters carrying olive branches and seeking to break a military siege were killed on Friday. It's about time Jeruslalem Post 26 Apr 2011 - In a small Jerusalem store, Nathan Serfaty carries the torch of a dying craft - watchmaking. SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Palestinians prune trees as act of resistance in Susiya Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine - On the morning of 23 April, Palestinians from the village of Susiya pruned olive trees on their land in an act of protest against land confiscation and violence by residents from the nearby Israeli settlement, also named Susiya. Six days earlier, Israeli settlers had attacked and... 'Murdered simply for being a Jew' YNet News, 24 Apr 2011 - Thousands gathered at Mount Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem to bid farewell to Ben-Yosef Livnat, who was killed Sunday morning in a shooting at Joseph's Tomb, presumably by ... .... 6th Annual Conference on Popular Resistance in Bil'in Palestine Monitor: 21 Apr 2011 - Yesterday, 20 April, the village of Bil'in commenced its sixth Annual Conference on Popular Resistance. Bil'in's ongoing nonviolent protests against the construction of the wall on its land, has made the village an internationally recognized symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israel's occupation, theft of land and Apartheid Wall. Community members hold up signs that tell the names of their family members that have been killed by Israeli forces. The village of Bil'in is beautifully situated amongst soft green hills. Its gardens are lush with fig and olive trees, roses and newly planted rows of vegetables. As one stands in the village to take in the view, one sees the wall that cuts through the landscape like a jagged scar and the expanding settlements lie beyond. Over 300 people from Palestine and all over the world sat under the blue and white tarp of the conference's tent. Italian solidarity activists made...more Prisoners' day Uruknet April 19, 2011 - The olive and citrus trees were blooming all over Palestine on Prisoners’ day. Pink irises, red puppies, and yellow flowers weave interesting patterns among the endless green carpet underneath the fruiting almonds, fig, and loquet trees. Green almonds are eaten with a pinch of salt and are addictive. There are already some ripening loquots.... Prisoners’ Day PNN - By Mazin Qumsiyeh - The olive and citrus trees were blooming all over Palestine on Prisoners’ Day. Pink irises, red puppies, and yellow flowers weave intricate patterns among the endless green carpet... Olive Oil Production in 2010 Increased by 400% more than in 2009 WAFA Syria protesters demand release of detainees LA Times 13 Apr 2011 - As hundreds near the village of Baida block a roadway, chant slogans and shake olive branches, symbolizing peaceful protest, security forces threaten violence, witnesses say. The women and children blocking a roadway outside the north Syrian coastal village of Baida shook olive branches as symbols... Crafting the Voice of Nablus Palestine Monitor - Buried in the worn stones of Nablus' Old City - through its maze of alleys and market stalls, past the big hammam, the surviving soap factories and underneath countless posters of victims and martyrs of the occupation - is a special workshop, one of a kind... Settlers Uproot Olive Trees In Hebron IMEMC - Tuesday April 12, 2011 - 05:17, A group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted and destroyed more than 45 olive trees that belong to the residents of Beit Ummar village, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Settlers plant trees on Palestinian land 4/12/2011 - TUBAS (Ma'an) -- Residents of the Rotem settlement continued planting olive trees on lands on which they are squatting. Israeli forces accompanied the settlers in the "Khilet Hamad" area in the northern Jordan Valley. Aref Daraghmeh, head of Al-Maleh village council, said the lands are for Palestinian citizens who live near Ein Al-Baida village.... Jewish Telegraph Agency mentions putting an olive on the seder plate Jewish Voice for Peace - Settlers uproot olive trees in Al-Khalil PIC - Jewish settlers on Monday attacked the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar in Al-Khalil and destroyed 45 fruitful olive trees under protection of the IOF, local sources reported. Army fires on Iraq Burin during olive tree planting 4/10/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - ISM - Bullets and tear gas were fired upon Palestinians and internationals whilst they planted olive trees on the land legally owned by the village of Iraq Burin yesterday. The popular committee asked for a group of internationals to assist them in planting olive trees on the village land which is close to an army out.... Army fires on Iraq Burin during olive tree planting 4/10/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - ISM - Bullets and tear gas were fired upon Palestinians and internationals whilst they planted olive trees on the land legally owned by the village of Iraq Burin yesterday. The popular committee asked for a group of internationals to assist them in planting olive trees on the village land which is close to an army out.... Hamas: Commander killed in Gaza YNet News, 8 Apr 2011 - The IDF continued Friday evening to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip in response to unceasing projectile fire by terror groups. Air Force craft attacked a ... .... Jerusalem Post on adding olives to your seder plate Jewish Voice for Peace - In an overview of changing Passover traditions, the Jerusalem Post mentions the new tradition of Chosen Bites: Passover game plan Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2011 - Because all extra virgin olive oils are kosher for Passover and year round, make sure you purchase a great oil. Where Are the Palestinian Poets? – A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 4 Apr 2011 - By Francis Oeser (An answer to W. J. Martin ) Where are the Palestinian poets who'll tell us all dreams, dreams of quiet olive groves, villagers' meetings, the rich quiet of rain on straw grass and dust? Where are the Palestinian poets, brother Arabs, progeny of Homer, Shakespeare, Lorca whose dreams enrich us all, dreams opposing hate and war, the vicious greed of Israelis and the blind-eyes of the world? Poems about hooves thumping hearts too, of golden olive oil and the laughter of children, those who dig in our minds in sweat-tinged soil, of the joy of making of the family of man in places both ordinary and sacred where a close hug negates languages of confusion? Where are the poets of hope, bringing us this precious land and its active people in odes, sonnets, magic speech and children's songs of hope, prosperity and peace? Shouts will go up when...more Partisan Politics, Neo-Liberalism, and Struggle for Democracy and Public Education in Puerto Rico Dissident Voice: 4 Apr 2011 - The epicenter of the struggle for the public university in Latin America is Puerto Rico. – José Carlos Luque Brazán, professor and researcher of political science and urban planning at the Autonomous University, Mexico City 1 Puerto Rico has historically been a laboratory for social, economic, political and scientific experiments. After the 1898 Spanish American War, the U.S. extended to Puerto Rico a newly crafted colonial system which had never been implemented in the mainland, eugenic programs were tested in the island, sterilization of women and the use of the contraceptive pill also used the island as a laboratory. Later, an export-based developmental model was crafted, euphemistically called “Manos A la Obra” translated as “Operation Bootstrap” (in Mexico called Maquiladora Program), which was later touted as a developmental model for the “Third World.” The use of emigration as an escape valve led 500,000 to migrate to the United States and...more Palestinian youth attacked while planting olive trees 4/2/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A group of Palestinian youth said they were attacked by Israeli soldiers while planting olive trees on Wednesday. Around 30 young men and women from a group "Ihna Gheir" (We are different) planted around 100 olive trees in A'bud village north west of Ramallah to commemorate Land Day. One.... Related: 'We Are Different' brings joy to Palestinian children and “ehna gheir” Palestinian Voluntry Group J’lem bureaucratic hump sees Kojak the camel ‘jailed’ Jeruslalem Post 31 Mar 2011 - "I haven’t worked for 2 weeks," says owner of Mt. of Olives photographic icon; city municipality says animal lacks vaccinations, license. Where Are the Israeli Poets? – A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 30 Mar 2011 - By William James Martin Where are the Israeli poets? Those who would search their dreams For memories lost or Denied Those who would look inward To see the archetypes of shadows Fleeing In the night Or who would search the rocky landscape of the mind To see those whom they have chased away Where are those who would survey the scrubgrass And the pales horse And the winter moon And the olive trees Planted a thousand new suns ago By those who are no longer But whose sweat lingers in the soil Are there no Israeli poets? Are they afraid? Of looking inward On a barren moonlit landscape While wandering the winding paths Stepping on rubble on ancient villages Which are no longer But villages whose souls still weep For the familiar voices They may sometimes hear In the distance When the wind is right - William James Martin contributed...more Occupied Palestine from A to Z: Canaan of Palestine Uruknet March 27, 2011 - "Ya Abu Nidal, lahhiq ibnak, lahhiq darak, hurry up, the soldiers are raiding your home and want to take your son Nidal." A neighbour came running to tell Canaan who was ploughing the land and tending the olive and almond trees. In a matter of seconds, Abu Nidal was running all the way down the... New labeling laws for olive oil will be introduced: ministry Daily Star 28 Mar 2011 BEIRUT: New labeling laws for olive oil will be introduced in response to last week's revelations that oils in Lebanon are contaminated with toxic chemicals, caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan said Monday. The minister announced... Settlers uproot olive trees near Salfit 27 Mar 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Settlers of Alei Zahav settlement uprooted Sunday morning 21 olive trees belonged to the citizen, Sami Ibraheem, in Deir Ballout town in Salfit, northern West Bank. Jewish settlers uproot 21 olive trees in Salfit PIC 26 Mar 2011 - Jewish settlers from Ali Zahav settlement on Saturday morning uprooted about 21 olive trees in Deir Ballut town west of Salfit city. Suspended in time, Lifta under threat Uruknet March 25, 2011 - A natural spring, countless olive trees, a mosque and virtually every stone used to build the village's unmistakable houses -- Yacoub Odeh remembers it all. "Here was where the water went down to the spring. Here was the root of the village. This place name was al-Saha. Saha means plaza. It was surrounded by a... Mount of Olives vandalized and desecrated Palestine Note 24 Mar 2011 - Arabiya - A wide patch of steep hillside overlooking Jerusalem's Old City holds row after row of graves. Biblical prophets, revered rabbis and a prime minister are buried there. Yet many of the tombstones have been smashed, litter is strewn... SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Palestinian man stabbed by settler near At-Tuwani two days after settler riot disrupts replanting of damaged olive trees Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine - Provocations and attacks by Israeli settlers obstruct Palestinian nonviolent action in the South Hebron Hills: two Palestinians are arrested 3/21/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 19 March, Operation Dove - At-Tuwani -Saturday morning, around 9:00 am, during a nonviolent action, the inhabitants of At-Tuwani, accompanied by several international, planted some olive trees in Palestinian-owned Humra valley. In addition, during the action some shepherds of the village decided to graze their flocks in the area. Immediately, several Israeli army jeep reached.... Related: Operation Dove Murdering Babies is 'Permissible' When They’re Palestinian Alison Weir, Counterpunch, Intifada-Palestine 3/18/2011 US media have been widely and repeatedly reporting on the awful March 11 murder of three small Israeli children and their parents. While no one yet knows who committed this act, reports presume that the murderers were Palestinian, and for this reason the incident is receiving major attention. Various heads of state, including President Obama, have condemned it. If it turns out that the murderer or murderers were Israeli, as some previously presumed “terrorists” have turned out to be, or a foreign worker who had previously threatened the family over unpaid wages, as some reports from the area suggest, it is likely that coverage of the incident will quickly vanish from U.S. headlines. For now, however, American news reports continue to provide excruciating details about the atrocity. Given the amount of reportage, it is surprising how much significant information is omitted. For example, none of these reports mention that the location of the murders, Itamar (near Nablus), is an illegal Jewish-only settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the midst of refugees whom Israel pushed off their ancestral land through massacres and ruthless military actions. Nor do reports mention the frequency with which Israeli settlers beat, occasionally torture, and sometimes murder Palestinians of all ages, burn their crops, and hack down their groves of olive trees, the livelihood of many Palestinian villagers; hundreds, at least, of these trees, have been destroyed by rampaging Israeli settlers. -- See also: Sourcemore..e-mail 6 Trees Cut Down in at-Tuwani. Settlers Accused of the Attack IMEMC - Villagers from at-Tuwani, in the southern West Bank region, discovered, on Wednesday, that olive groves belonging to residents of the village had been attacked, with six trees destroyed. Residents believe that the attack was carried out by settlers from the outpost of Havat Ma'on. March against the wall in Jenin 3/18/2011 - JENIN (Ma'an) - The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Fatah organized on Thursday a march in Anin village to plant 200 olive trees. Fatah secretary general Radi Khadour said at the march that the separation wall was isolating the village and turning it into a prison.... Settler vandals continue to do damage Palestine Note 17 Mar 2011 - Ma'an - At least 100 olive trees were ripped out and four water tankers ruined Thursday afternoon, by what witnesses said was a mob of at least a dozen settlers. On a hilltop between the Nablus-district villages of Beita and... AT-TUWANI: Six olive trees destroyed in the night Christian Peacemaker Teams - Palestine - Israel says trees planted on 'state land' 3/17/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration told Ma'an on Thursday that nearly 100 olive trees bulldozed near Beit Dajan the day before were planted on land that did not belong to Jamal Abu Kanaan. The spokesman said the land in question was "state land," and said all.... Related: Israel uproots Palestinian olive trees near Nablus Settlers uproot olive trees near Nablus 17 Mar 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Dozens of olive trees were uprooted and confiscated by Jewish settlers in the area of Beit Dajan in the east of Nablus city to facilitate Israeli movements around settlements. Israel uproots Palestinian olive trees near Nablus Uruknet March 16, 2011 - Israeli troops blocked off access to agricultural fields near the village of Beit Dajan on Wednesday, while bulldozers tore out dozens of olive trees from privately owned property, officials said. The trees were uprooted and confiscated, deputy to the Nablus governor Anan At-Ateera told Ma’an. "Dozens of olive trees from the At-Tyur area east of... Israel uproots Palestinian olive trees near Nablus 3/16/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli troops blocked off access to agricultural fields near the village of Beit Dajan on Wednesday, while bulldozers tore out dozens of olive trees from privately owned property, officials said. The trees were uprooted and confiscated, deputy to the Nablus governor Anan At-Ateera told Ma'an."Dozens of olive trees.... Three Arrested in Hebron, Troops Cut Down Olive Trees, Pile Waste near Bethlehem PNN - Hebron – PNN - On Wednesday morning, dawn raids conducted by the Israeli army ended with the arrests of three Palestinians, as settler attacks escalated and Israeli soldiers near Nablus cut down... Call to Save the History, Culture and Heritage of Lifta Village Sons of Lifta Society, Alternative Information Center 3/14/2011 Few Palestinian villages capture the tragedy of 1948 like Lifta. Refugees from Lifta appeal to the international community to halt the final destruction of their village; Israel should not be allowed to continue justifying its annexation practices and denial of Palestinian rights in order to build luxury apartments exclusively for Jews. Background Few villages capture the tragedy of the Nakba (the 1948 dispossession of the Palestinian people) quite like Lifta. Situated on the north-west edge of Jerusalem, the village is divided by the 1949 Armistice green line, which leaves part of it in West Jerusalem and part in East Jerusalem. The village has been continuously inhabited for well over 2,000 years, long before the establishment of the state of Israel. Official records indicate that in 1931, the number of houses stood at 410, most of which were built by Lifta's Palestinian residents using the famous Jerusalem stone from nearby quarries. During the 1940s and leading up to the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in 1948, Lifta expanded markedly eastward and northward, linking with the buildings of the Rumayma neighbourhood just west of Jerusalem. Its economic ties with Jerusalem became strong as nearly half of Lifta's cultivated land was planted with cereal, wheat, barley, olives and various fruits. As the village expanded, the villagers built new stores, established a social club and opened two coffee houses. But they also took care to preserve the older sites, both sacred and secular. During the 1948 war, one of the goals of the Jewish armed forces was securing the western exit of the city. In order to achieve this the Israeli forces launched a series of military and militia attacks on the village including the burning of the Mukhtar’s (head of the village) house on the 11th of January 1948, and two days later 20 houses close to the entry of the city (KhalitTarha) were blown up.... -- See also: Help the campaign to save Liftamore..e-mail Declaration of Independence Palestine Monitor - Renouncing violence and terrorism, recognizing Israel, accepting United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338 and negotiations leading to a two-state solution, Mahmoud Darwish's crafted Declaration of Independence is a foundational document for the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence. From it's release in 1988 in Algiers until... Declaration of Independence Palestine Monitor: 14 Mar 2011 - Renouncing violence and terrorism, recognizing Israel, accepting United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338 and negotiations leading to a two-state solution, Mahmoud Darwish's crafted Declaration of Independence is a foundational document for the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence. From it's release in 1988 in Algiers until today, it's lessons continue to be relevant. Preamble In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Palestine, the land of the three monotheistic faiths, is where the Palestinian Arab people was born, on which it grew, developed and excelled. Thus the Palestinian Arab people ensured for itself an everlasting union between itself, its land, and its history. Resolute throughout that history, the Palestinian Arab people forged its national identity, rising even to unimagined levels in its defense, as invasion, the design of others, and the appeal special to Palestine's ancient and luminous place on the eminence where powers and civilizations are joined. All...more Recognizing Palestine: Estonia's Iceland Moment Palestine Chronicle: 13 Mar 2011 - By Oliver Loode Estonia will mark the 20th anniversary of the restoration of its independence in August of this year. It will be a major milestone in a remarkable year - one that brought the European Capital of Culture to Tallinn and the euro to Estonia. It will also be an occasion for numerous speeches and newspaper articles on how our independence was won back, whether this is "the Estonia that we wanted," and what it means for Estonia to be an independent country in a globalized world. To a large extent, the anniversary will be a rather Esto-centric, self-congratulatory affair. I, however, offer a proposal to use it for something even more meaningful – as an opportunity to show ourselves and the world that Estonia is as committed to the idea of freedom as it was in 1991 – by recognizing the independence of Palestine. There are at least...more Palestinians eke out living on dump recycling Uruknet March 10, 2011 -- Among the gentle slopes of cypress-covered hills near the West Bank city of Hebron is an anomaly, a stinking garbage dump that is workplace and home to dozens of men and boys. The quiet that hangs over neighboring olive groves, in the far south of the West Bank, is broken here by the shouts of... Palestinians eke out living on dump recycling AFP, Ma’an News Agency 3/10/2011 YATTA, Hebron -- Among the gentle slopes of cypress-covered hills near the West Bank city of Hebron is an anomaly, a stinking garbage dump that is workplace and home to dozens of men and boys. The quiet that hangs over neighboring olive groves, in the far south of the West Bank, is broken here by the shouts of workers, many of them children, and the grinding of a bulldozer covering the picked-over trash with sand and dirt. Overhead the sky is clear and the sun beats down, heating up the detritus of modern life -- vegetable scraps, washing liquid bottles, old clothes, cans with dregs of soda in them. The smell produced is overpowering at times, a sickly-sweet stench of rotting organic matter and chemical effluvia, which sticks to clothes and hair despite the light breezes that sweep over the hilltop. At the far end of the hill, created entirely from layers of garbage ploughed over with sand, are makeshift residences -- planks of wood with tarpaulin or rubbish bags strapped over them to provide shelter. For many of those working here, these shacks act as their home during the week, a place they can sleep at night rather than going back to the village of Yatta. And it also means they are on hand to sort out any rubbish that comes in after dark. It is unpleasant, tiring work, but is a rare source of income in the West Bank, where unemployment stands around 15.2 percent.more..e-mail Israeli settlers and soldiers attack Palestinians near Nablus: 10 Palestinians, 1 settler injured IMEMC - Monday March 07, 2011 - 19:02, According to local sources, a large group of armed Israeli settlers invaded Qusra village, near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, on Monday, and began uprooting olive trees, throwing stones and firing live ammunition at Palestinian farmers. Palestinian youth threw stones at the settlers, and the Israeli army then attacked the youth with live ammunition, injuring ten, three seriously. Settlers Cut Down More Than 500 Olive Trees In Nablus IMEMC - Friday March 04, 2011 - 12:18, 500 olive trees, which were planted some weeks ago near an settlement outpost called Yash Adam, were cut down by the Israeli settlers this morning in Nablus. Settlers chop down 500 trees in Nablus 3/4/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Settlers chopped down more than 500 olive trees owned by Palestinians in the West Bank district of Nablus on Friday, Palestinian Authority officials said. Residents of the illegal Shvut Rachel settlement raided Qusra village and chopped down the trees, said Ghassan Doughlas, PA official for settlement affairs in the northern West.... Chile's Pinera seeks to push peace on Mideast trip 3/4/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Chile's recognition in January of a Palestinian state was aimed at helping end the Middle East conflict, President Sebastian Pinera said on Friday. Speaking to reporters on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, Pinera said Chile wanted to help the two sides work towards a peace agreement that would see.... West Bank: Settlers Destroy 500 Olive Saplings, Three Arrested and Car Impounded in Hebron PNN - Nablus – PNN - Israeli settlers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus destroyed at least 500 young olive saplings before dawn on Friday, according to local sources. In the southern... Settlers "Maniacs" Vandalize Nablus Area Fields, Attack Residents 4 Mar 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Teleraph) - Israeli settlers vandalized late Thursday and early Friday several villages in the Nablus area, uprooting olive tree and throwing rocks at Palestinian cars, according to local residents and officials. Settlers chop down 500 trees in Nablus Uruknet March 4, 2011 -- Settlers chopped down more than 500 olive trees owned by Palestinians in the West Bank district of Nablus on Friday, Palestinian Authority officials said. Residents of the illegal Shvut Rachel settlement raided Qusra village and chopped down the trees, said Ghassan Doughlas, PA official for settlement affairs in the northern West Bank. In a "day... Jewish settlers uproot 500 olive saplings to the south of Nablus PIC 4 Mar 2011 - Jewish settlers, at dawn Friday, uprooted more than 500 olive saplings from fields belonging to the residents of the village of Qasra to the south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Settlers attack homes, uproot olive trees in Bethlehem 1 Mar 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)- A number of Jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli military forces started uprooting 25 olive trees near the Fureidis mount in the east of Bethlehem and attacked civilian houses. Local sources said that dozens of settlers carrying machine guns stormed yesterday night agricultural lands belong to Ahmed Al-Wahesh and uprooted hundreds of olive trees before their withdrawing... Salaam Fayyad offers 'pragmatic' olive branch to Hamas The National 1 Mar 2011 - The Palestinian prime minister Salaam Fayyad's overture to Hamas did not make Israel or the US very happy, but he says he is confident his agenda will bring positive change. Colonialism and violence Mondoweiss - As we bear witness to the daily, ever escalating, ever-unprecedented yet routine Israeli collective punishment and cruelty and torment inflicted on the Palestinians—men and women, young and old, boys and girls, children and infants, farm animals, fruit orchards, and olive trees—one cannot but be awed at... Palestine Papers under the spotlight Samira Quraishy, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 2/25/2011 A seminar planned to put the "Palestine Papers under the spotlight" has been held in the Senate House of the University of London. Organised by the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) in conjunction with the Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS), the event sought to draw attention back to the important documents leaked to and published by Al Jazeera and the Guardian newspaper; the publication of the papers was overshadowed by the turbulent political situation in Egypt and elsewhere across the Middle East. Under the capable chairmanship of lawyer and Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Andrew Phillips, the seminar was divided into two sessions: the first was an opportunity for political analysts and Middle East experts to share their insights and thoughts on the Palestine Papers, as the leaked documents are now called; former CIA analyst and author Kathleen Christison, Britain's former ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton and Director and Co-Founder of the community empowerment charity Forward Thinking, Oliver McTernan, led the way. In the second session, Al Jazeera Executive Producer and author Clayton Swisher was joined by former BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Llewellyn. Mr. Swisher is head of the Transparency Unit at Al Jazeera which published the papers. The evening ended with a panel of the speakers taking questions from the audience of more than 200 people. Opening the seminar, Lord Phillips asked the audience to stand for a minute's silence in solidarity with those who were struggling for their rights across the Middle East, before introducing the Director of MEMO, Dr. Daud Abdullah, who provided a brief insight into the significance of the Palestine Papers. The documents, he said, exposed the main players in the Israel-Palestine peace process negotiations, primarily the state of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States; the British government and intelligence services, the French and other Western states were also mentioned in the papers....more..e-mail Israeli Bulldozers Plow 15 Dunums of Olive Trees Near Salfit PNN - Salfit – PNN - On Thursday morning, Israeli bulldozers plowed 15 dunums of land cultivated with olive trees (a dunum is about a quarter of an acre) in Deir Istiya, a village... Army Bulldozers Uproot Olive Trees in Northern West Bank PNN - Salfit – PNN – Israeli army bulldozers uprooted on Thursday olive trees and destroyed farm land owned by a local farmer from the village of Dier Istiya near the northern West Bank... Israeli bulldozers raze farmlands central WB 24 Feb 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli bulldozers started Thursday razing operations to 15 dunums planted with olive trees in the west of Dair Esta town near Salfit. Home demolitions in Amniyr, a community north of Susiya in the south Hebron Hills Uruknet February 22, 2011 - This morning the Israeli army demolished homes, wells and trees in the village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills. Two families were made homeless. A total of five tents, two wells and a number of olive trees were demolished. Tens of troops and two bulldozers were used. Neighbours were prevented from reaching the families, and teachers... Israel destroys hundreds of West Bank olive trees to lay settlement water line Mondoweiss - A resident of Jab'a stands next to destroyed olive trees. (Photo: Palestine Solidarity Project ) Yesterday, February 22 2011, a number of Palestinian news agencies, including the agency that I work for, published articles on the destruction of olive fields in the West Bank town of Jab’a,... Hebron Settlers Attack At Tiwana, Uproot Trees IMEMC - Wednesday February 23, 2011 - 02:28, A group of armed extremist Jewish settlers attacked on Tuesday At Tiwana village, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron and uprooted several olive trees. Israeli Army Uproots Over 230 Olive Trees Near Bethlehem IMEMC - Tuesday February 22, 2011 - 17:26, The Palestine News Network reports that the Israeli army uprooted over 230 olive trees near Bethlehem. Israeli bulldozers bury Bedouin village 2/22/2011 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The five tents giving shelter to some 50 Bedouin residents of Amniyr, a tiny community north of Susiya in the south Hebron hills, were torn down on Monday, their olive trees uprooted and water sources covered over. An observer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Israeli demolition crews arrived before sunrise.... Witnesses: Israeli bulldozers uproot 250 olive trees 2/22/2011 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Monday uprooted 250 olive trees in Al-Jab'a northwest of Hebron, locals said. Witnesses said two bulldozers uprooted the trees, which were loaded onto trucks and transported to Israel. Members of Beit Ummar and Al-Ma'sara local popular committees said they tried to stop the uprooting.... Israeli Bulldozers Clear Land Near Bethlehem, Destroy 230 Olive Trees PNN - Bethlehem – PNN - On Tuesday, Israeli army bulldozers cleared land near Jub’a village south of Bethlehem, uprooting and confiscating hundreds of olive trees and taking them to an unknown location. Awad... Home demolitions in Amniyr, a community north of Susiya in the south Hebron Hills 2/22/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - This morning the Israeli army demolished homes, wells and trees in the village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills. Two families were made homeless. A total of five tents, two wells and a number of olive trees were demolished. Tens of troops and two bulldozers were used. Neighbours were prevented from reaching the families, and teachers.... Israeli bulldozers bury Bedouin village Uruknet February 22, 2011 - - The five tents giving shelter to some 50 Bedouin residents of Amniyr, a tiny community north of Susiya in the south Hebron hills, were torn down on Monday, their olive trees uprooted and water sources covered over. An observer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Israeli demolition crews arrived before sunrise, at about 5:30... Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus Palestine Note 21 Feb 2011 - Ma'an - A mob of extremist settlers stormed Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Residents of an illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270... Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus Uruknet February 21, 2011 - A mob of extremist settlers stormed Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Residents of an illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270 using chainsaws and other means," in Duma and Qusra villages, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activities... Settlers Destroy Olive Trees IMEMC - Monday February 21, 2011 - 14:13, The Ma'an News Agency reported, on Monday, that a group of settlers uprooted olive trees and damaged Palestinian farmland near Nablus. Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus 2/20/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A mob of extremist settlers stormed Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Residents of an an illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270 using chainsaws and other means," in Duma and Qusra villages, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority.... Israelis Settlers "Maniacs" chop down 220 olive trees for settlements 20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Jewish settlers in the West Bank were certainly encouraged after the U.S. struck down a resolution that would have thwarted settlement activity for good. In Nablus, Yash Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian-owned farm noon Sunday, chopping down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat up the night before entire families in the Jordan Valley. Israelis chop down 220 olive trees envisioning settlement expansion PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Yash Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian-owned farm noon Sunday, chopping down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat up the night before entire families in the Jordan Valley. Egyptians Say Military Discourages an Open Economy Palestine Note 18 Feb 2011 - New York Times - The Egyptian military defends the country, but it also runs day care centers and beach resorts. Its divisions make television sets, jeeps, washing machines, wooden furniture and olive oil, as well as... Settlers Uproot Olive Seedlings in Ramallah Area 15 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli settlers Monday uprooted newly planted olive seedlings in Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah, according to witnesses. Outgoing UNRWA director plants saplings near Nablus 2/14/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) - The outgoing director of UNRWA operations Barbara Shenstone on Monday planted olive tree saplings on land slated for confiscation in the northern West Bank. Shenstone joined Palestinian beneficiaries of the UN Money for Work program to plant 360 saplings in an attempt to save over 30,000 square meters of land in.... Villagers harassed by Israeli army whilst trying to farm their land 2/13/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 12 February - In the village of Jaloud, south of Nablus, around thirty villagers, two internationals, and six Israeli peace activists accompanied farmers to their land to help plant one hundred olive trees. Towards the end of the planting, a settler from the illegal settlement of Shilo came down in a pickup carrying an assault rifle.... Rawabi developer to replace trees donated by JNF Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 - Ma'an - Bashar Al-Masri, developer of a new West Bank city Rawabi, said Tuesday that trees donated to the project by the Jewish National Fund would be replaced by olive trees. Masri said there was some... Rawabi developer to replace trees donated by JNF 2/8/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Bashar Al-Masri, developer of a new West Bank city Rawabi, said Tuesday that trees donated to the project by the Jewish National Fund would be replaced by olive trees. Masri said there was some confusion over the trees, explaining that pine trees near the city were actually in Area C, a.... Related: Rawabi implicates PA in Zionist project Israel & Palestine: Breaking the Silence David Shulman, 2/6/2011 What Is a Palestinian State Worth?, by Sari Nusseibeh, Harvard University Press, 248 pp., $19.95 Occupation of the Territories: Israeli Soldier Testimonies 2000–2010, by Breaking the Silence, Jerusalem, 431 pp. A few weeks ago I was in al-Nabi Salih, a Palestinian village northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. It wasn’t so easy to get there; the Israeli army had closed off the area on every side, and we literally had to crawl through the olive groves, just beneath one of the army’s roadblocks, before we managed to reach the village. Al-Nabi Salih is a troubled place. The large Israeli settlement of Halamish nearby has taken over nearly half of the village lands, including a precious freshwater spring. Most Fridays there are dramatic confrontations between the soldiers and the villagers protesting this land grab and the other difficulties of life under occupation. Yet the first thing I saw in al-Nabi Salih was a huge sign in Arabic and English: “We Believe in Non-Violence. Do You?” It was World Peace Day, and speaker after speaker reaffirmed a commitment to peace and to nonviolent resistance to the occupation. Particularly eloquent was Ali Abu Awwad, a young activist who runs a new organization, the Palestinian Movement for Non-Violent Resistance, with its offices in Bethlehem and growing influence throughout the occupied territories. “Peace itself is the way to peace,” he said, “and there is no peace without freedom.”1 All of this is, in some ways, rather new in Palestine, although in his latest book the philosopher Sari Nusseibeh, the president of al-Quds University in Jerusalem, traces an earlier stage of organized Palestinian civil disobedience in the popular struggle of the first intifada in 1988 and 1989, in which he had a significant part....more..e-mail Cornerstone Laid for New Settlement in Jerusalem Alternative Information Center - The cornerstone was laid for a newly approved settlement project being built on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, Monday 31 January. The new neighborhood is called Beit Orot, and will house 24 new residential units. Huckabee: Israelis should be able to live anywhere in Jewish state YNet News - Israelis should be able to live "anywhere in Israel they wished to live," Iikely US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Monday during a visit to the Mount of Olives ....... Israeli Settlers Violence Report: November, December 2010 Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center 1/18/2011 The Alternative Information Center monitored and recorded Israeli settler attacks and violations during the final two months of 2010. Introduction As will be demonstrated, settler attacks continued during this period and were concentrated in the north of the West Bank, especially in the Nablus District. Trees were the most common target, with burnings and land confiscations, especially land close to settlements, which serve the aim of expanding settlements and providing strategic points for attacks on Palestinian residents traveling by road. Several of the attacks were done with full cooperation of the Israeli army and in plain sight of soldiers, who did nothing to prevent the settlers from attacking and burning trees. Hebron and South West Bank Region At midday on 11 November, settlers from the Takoa settlement to the southeast of Bethlehem threw stones at the students of the girls school in the Tako’a village. Students from the school were engaged in a demonstration against the soldiers who had stopped in front of the school, which is located near the main road. Settlers who were travelling on the road stopped their cars and threw stones at the students. On 11 November, settlers from the Beitar Illit settlement, west of the Bethlehem District, opened the pipes of the settlement’s sewage onto the land of the Hosan village to the east of the settlement. The site targeted by the sewage is called Al-Haraeq and is planted with grape vines and olive trees....more..e-mail Gaza doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish: 'We saved lives,' I told the children. 'Your sisters’ blood wasn’t wasted’’ Rachel Cooke, The Observer, The Guardian 1/16/2011 Two years ago, Israeli shells fell on Dr Abuelaish's family home in Gaza, killing three of his young daughters and their cousin. The horror was caught live on Israeli TV when the doctor phoned his broadcaster friend. Amazingly, the loss did not embitter Izzeldin Abuelaish. Instead he decided his girls' deaths must not be in vain – and slowly he has turned his family tragedy into a force for peace On 12 December 2008, Izzeldin Abuelaish, a doctor from Gaza, took his six daughters and two sons on a day out. The family rose early, packed a picnic and, at 7am, climbed into his old Subaru and headed out. Gaza is not big – just 25 miles long, and nine miles across at its widest – but the situation being what it is, it can take time to move around and Abuelaish was determined that they make the most of the hours ahead. Twelve weeks earlier, Nadia, his wife of 21 years, had died suddenly of leukaemia and ever since, every day had dawned black. It was his intention, that sunny winter morning, to shine a little light on them, to give his brood some respite, however brief, from their grief. Their first stop was a surprise. Unbeknown to his family, Abuelaish had recently bought a small olive grove, about an acre in size. Separated from the urban sprawl by a 10ft-high fence, it was "a utopia, a little piece of Shangri-La". The smaller ones, delighted to discover this new place, ran among the olive, fig and apricot trees, before finally settling down to eat their falafel sandwiches beneath a bower of vines. As they did so, the family talked. Abuelaish had been offered a job in Toronto, Canada, and he wanted to know how the children, who had never known anywhere other than Gaza, would feel about this. (Good, as it turned out. "I want to fly, daddy," said his daughter, Aya.) The family discussion over, they headed to the beach, where the children dashed over the dunes, chased the surf, and wrote their names in the sand. Abuelaish cherished their laughter, the way they mimicked and teased one another. For the first time in many days, his spirits lifted. "We are getting there," he remembers thinking. "They will be okay. Together, we can do this."more..e-mail The day after Zionism Hannah Mermelstein, Ma’an News Agency 1/16/2011 As we trudge through the terraced land, ducking under branches of olive trees and trying to avoid prickly bushes, I think about landscape, consciousness, and memory. We are walking through the land because Israeli soldiers are blocking the road ahead. They are blocking the road ahead so as not to allow people to arrive in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. We are going to Bil’in in order to protest the confiscation of the village’s land for settlement and wall construction. At Bil'in's demonstration a week earlier, 36-year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah inhaled a lethal dose of tear gas. Her brother Bassem was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier at a protest in the village just under two years ago. So we traipse through the olive groves, only slightly out of view of the soldiers on the road, and a line by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish comes to mind: "If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears." Bil’in has become a battleground, the surrounding landscape a stage for a risky game of cat and mouse. What kind of consciousness does the land have? What would it say if it could? The wall is often described as a scar through Palestine, but right now it is more of a fresh wound. When the wall falls, will the scar left be permanent? Two days before this protest, our group wakes up at the Yafa Cultural Center in Balata refugee camp, Nablus. We eat breakfast, thank our hosts, and get in a bus with the right color license plate, driven by a driver with the right color ID card, and head towards the city of Yafa.more..e-mail Settlers Uproot 100 Saplings Near Nablus IMEMC - 8 Jan 2011 - Saturday January 08, 2011 - 10:21, Israeli settlers uprooted on Friday at least 100 Olive saplings that belong to residents of Qasra village, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The settlers collected the cut saplings and fled the scene. Olive trees uprooted; villagers say setters behind vandalism 1/7/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- More than 100 small olive trees were uprooted from outside of Qasra village in the northern West Bank, with villagers saying settlers were behind the vandalism. Palestinian official in charge of settlement watch in the north Ghassan Daghlas said villagers reported to him seeing several men wearing skullcaps who they identified.... VIDEO: B'Tselem worker beaten by Israeli soldier Palestine Monitor - Two Palestinian family members were beaten and arrested by an Israeli soldier in their own olive grove last November, following an unlawful detainment of their two teenage relatives. Filming for B'Tselem near Susiya in the southern Hebron Hills, 'Aliaa a-Nawaj'ah, 12, and her 14-year old brother... VIDEO: B'Tselem worker beaten by Israeli soldier Palestine Monitor: 5 Jan 2011 - Two Palestinian family members were beaten and arrested by an Israeli soldier in their own olive grove last November, following an unlawful detainment of their two teenage relatives. Filming for B'Tselem near Susiya in the southern Hebron Hills, 'Aliaa a-Nawaj'ah, 12, and her 14-year old brother Hamzah were leading their sheep on their own land when, according to 'Aliaa, around 7:30 AM, two soldiers arrived via an army jeep. The soldiers detained the siblings with plastic handcuffs before releasing them. Responding to the soldiers, family members of the siblings came to the farm and, according to B'Tselem: "Among them were Nasser a-Nawaj'ah, a B'Tselem field researcher, and Ahmad a-Nawaj'ah, who volunteers in B'Tselem's camera distribution project. The two soldiers saw Nasser filming the events, went over to him and pushed him, telling him that he was forbidden to be there. As noted, the land belongs to the Nawaj'ah family. The...more Israeli soldiers kill second member of Palestinian family Palestine Monitor: 4 Jan 2011 - Jawahur Abu Rahmah died on the first day of 2011 after suffering intense teargas inhalation at the end of year anti-wall protest in Bil'in. Her death leaves a hole in her family that will be hard to fill. The Abu Rahmahs have suffered much under the occupation. They were drawn into the fight permanently when in 2004 their land was annexed by Israel following the construction of the apartheid wall. They were cut off from their olive trees and left without a source of income. Since then, their objections to this injustice have been met with terrifying force. In 2008, brother Ashraf was arrested, blindfolded and shot in the leg. The attack was captured on film and uploaded to the internet. Brother Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah was killed in 2009 when IDF soldiers shot him in the chest with a teargas canister. A week later, Ashraf climbed a crane to...more Video: Keep hope alive- The Olive Tree Campaign Uruknet December 31, 2010 - The Olive Tree Campaign (OTC) seeks to replant olive trees in areas trees have been uprooted and destroyed or in areas where the fields are threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli military Occupation and settlers. Since the year 2001 Israel through its military and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza has uprooted, burnt... Christmas Story - Mary and Joseph in Palestine 2010 James Petras, 12/12/2010 How would Mary and Joseph, two Jews from Nazareth, have fared in the context of present-day Palestine where the Romans have been replaced by Jewish occupiers? A caustic exercise in realistic imagination offered by James Petras. Times were tough for Joseph and Mary. The real estate bubble crashed. Unemployment soared among construction workers. There was no work, not even for a skilled carpenter. The settlements were still being built, financed mostly by Jewish money from America, contributions from Wall Street speculators and owners of gambling dens. “Good thing”, Joseph thought, “we have a few sheep and olive trees and Mary keeps some chickens. But Joseph worried, “cheese and olives are not enough to feed a growing boy. Mary is due to deliver our son any day”. His dreams foretold of a sturdy son working alongside of him…multiplying loaves and fish. The settlers looked down on Joseph. He rarely attended shul, and on the high holidays, he would show up late to avoid the tithe. Their simple cottage was located in a nearby ravine with water from a stream, which flowed year round. It was choice real estate for any settlement expansion. So when Joseph fell behind on his property tax, the settlers took over their home, forcibly evicted Joseph and Mary and offered them a one-way bus ticket to Jerusalem. Joseph, born and raised in the arid hills, fought back and bloodied not a few settlers with his labor-hardened fists. But in the end he sat, battered on their bridal bed under the olive tree, in black despair.more..e-mail Entry 6: The land, the gun, the olive tree Mondoweiss - By Sameeha Elwan In Memory of Nakba He closed his eyes when the smell of the thyme found its way to the deepest memory his mind is still tirelessly clinging to. He opened them with a persistence to inhale as much of the smell as he... Israel Demolishes Industrial Buildings North of Jerusalem, Settlers Uproot 30 Olive Trees PNN - Jerusalem – PNN - Citing lack of license and proximity to a military crossing, Israeli forces demolished an agricultural storehouse, a gas station, and several other industrial buildings in the Palestinian village... Demonstrations in Ni'lin: Routine or Resistance? Palestine Monitor - Walking through the olive groves separating the village of Ni'lin from the West Bank barrier, a group of Palestinians heading the opposite direction shake their heads at us in warning. “Trouble” is all they say. Trouble is a weekly occurrence here, signified by tear gas, rubber... Demonstrations in Ni'lin: Routine or Resistance? Palestine Monitor: 28 Dec 2010 - Walking through the olive groves separating the village of Ni'lin from the West Bank barrier, a group of Palestinians heading the opposite direction shake their heads at us in warning. “Trouble” is all they say. Trouble is a weekly occurrence here, signified by tear gas, rubber bullets, and arrests. Trouble is punctuated by tragedy, as the Friday demonstrations often end in tear gas, rubber-coated metal bullets, arrests, and sometimes death. The history The protests have occurred every Friday since May of 2008, when Israel began to build their 8-metre barrier wall across the village of Ni'lin, in order to “protect” the Jewish settlements of Modin Illit and Hashmonaim. Over 8,600 dunhams (34,400 acres) of Palestinian land were stolen for the construction and roads to the settlements. The placement of the barrier wall annexed another 50% of the remaining Ni'lin property to the Jewish settlers, with over 6,000 of the oldest...more The Unexpected Sound of Christmas: Palestinians and the Bagpipe PNN - Bethlehem – PNN - To an outsider, Palestinian culture can be recalled with a few recognizable motifs: the keffiyeh, the olive tree, a plate of hummus, or a Darwish poem. On the... Easing of Gaza blockade fails to reverse housing crisis 12/21/2010 - JABALIA, Gaza Strip (IRIN) -- Farid Batch and his brother Wasfi live about 500 meters from their old houses in Jabaliya, north Gaza. The homes of four Batch brothers once stood next to each other overlooking a grove of olive and lemon trees, after Israel's three week war on Gaza, however,all that is.... Iran's nuclear chief turned foreign minister reaches out to West Ha'aretz - Ali Akbar Salehi does not mention U.S. or Israel in inaugural speech, but seemed to extend olive branch to the European Union., Egyptian leaders tells parliament session that Israel is to blame for stalemate in talks, urges U.S. and other peacebrokers to 'assume' responsibility., Israeli officials fear that Washington will not rush to exercise its veto power against such a resolution, which calls for international pressure for construction freeze. Iran's nuclear chief turned foreign minister reaches out to West Ha'aretz 19 Dec 2010 - Ali Akbar Salehi does not mention U.S. or Israel in inaugural speech, but seemed to extend olive branch to the European Union., Egyptian leaders tells parliament session that Israel is to blame for stalemate in talks, urges U.S. and other peacebrokers to 'assume' responsibility., Israeli officials fear that Washington will not rush to exercise its veto power against such a resolution, which calls for international pressure for construction freeze. Israeli settlers uproot trees in Nablus 18 Dec 2010 - Nablus, December 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli settlers uprooted at Friday night tens of trees belonging to Palestinians in Tal village, in south of Nablus. The official of West Bank settlements file, Ghassan Douglas, said to SAFA news agency that the settlers of Jefat Jelad uprooted tens of olive, grape and almond trees belonging to villagers in Tal village.... Insisting on humanity Ramzy Baroud, Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2010 When a copy of William A. Cook’s latest book, The Plight of the Palestinians arrived in my mailbox, I initially felt a little worried. The volume, featuring the work of over 30 accomplished writers, is the most articulate treatise on the collective victimization of Palestinians to date. From Cook’s own introduction, ‘The Untold Story of the Zionist Intent to Turn Palestine into a Jewish State’ to Francis Boyle’s summation of ‘Israel’s Crimes against the Palestinians’, it takes the reader through an exhaustive journey, charting the course of Palestinian history prior to and since the Nakba, the Catastrophe of 1947-48. Still, I feared that something might be missing in this noble and monumental undertaking: Palestinian people’s own responses to the cruelties they’ve suffered. Would Palestinians be presented yet again as merely poster-child victims, eager for handouts? The photograph on the cover was telling: a kindly old man with a white beard, who could have been any Palestinian or Middle-Eastern grandpa, is lovingly touching the hair of a toddler. The two are crouching before a small, stained tent. The Nakba was still recent, and the two Palestinians, separated by two generations appear tired and haggard as they are caught in this hopeless scene. Yet, somehow the grandfather insists on preserving his right to love his grandson. This insistence on one’s humanity has been the key strength which has allowed the Palestinian people to preserve their struggle and resistance before the wicked arm of occupation and oppression for nearly 63 years. Do most academics know this? Do they truly comprehend what it is that makes an old man from a West Bank village face the brutality of Jewish settlers, year after year, as he returns to harvest his few remaining olive trees? Or a Palestinian woman from Gaza who keeps coming back to hold a vigil before the Red Cross office with a framed photo of her once-young son, now ailing in some Israeli jail?more..e-mail Jerusalem official condemns plans for Jordan hotel 12/16/2010 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority's chief of Jerusalem affairs condemned Thursday Israel's plans to renovate and expand a hotel confiscated from its Jordanian owners when Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. The Seven Arches Hotel, atop the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, belongs to the Jordanian royal.... Report: Israel to expand hotel owned by Jordan Palestine Note 15 Dec 2010 - Maan - Israel is planning a major expansion to a Jordanian-owned hotel atop the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, an Israeli newspaper reported Wednesday. The Seven Arches Hotel belongs to the Jordanian royal family but it... Report: Israel to expand hotel owned by Jordan 12/15/2010 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel is planning a major expansion to a Jordanian-owned hotel atop the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, an Israeli newspaper reported Wednesday. The Seven Arches Hotel belongs to the Jordanian royal family but it was taken over by Israel when Jordan withdrew from the West Bank in the 1967.... Settlers begin construction of housing at East Jerusalem yeshiva Ha'aretz - New construction starts on 18 apartments around the Beit Orot Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives. Report: Israel to expand hotel owned by Jordan Palestine Note 15 Dec 2010 - Maan - Israel is planning a major expansion to a Jordanian-owned hotel atop the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, an Israeli newspaper reported Wednesday. The Seven Arches Hotel belongs to the Jordanian royal family but it... Settlers begin construction of housing at East Jerusalem yeshiva Ha'aretz 15 Dec 2010 - New construction starts on 18 apartments around the Beit Orot Yeshiva on the Mount of Olives. Construction of Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem underway YNet News - Construction commenced on Wednesday on a new residential Jewish neighborhood atop the Mount of Olives Ridge in east Jerusalem, near Hebrew University. The ....... Settlers Violence -- Interview with Ahmad Jaradat Alternative Information Center - Fall 2010 was marked by a drastic raise in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. According to a report published by the United Nation's Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs during the olive harvest 50... Notes from the Olive Harvest Uruknet December 7, 2010 - "We lived in a paradise". My grandmother used to say about Jrash; her village to the west of occupied Jerusalem, her home and only home. "We had lots and lots of trees, countless trees, so many trees that stretched as far as the eyesight would reach, planted by my father, his father and his grandfather... Gulf could provide lifeline for Palestinian olive farmers, say Oxfam and European Union Relief Web 6 Dec 2010 - Source: European Union, Oxfam Settlers Torch Olive Orchard near Nablus Uruknet December 3, 2010 - Israeli settlers torched on Thursday evening Palestinian Olive Orchards near the Homesh evacuated settlement, west of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that a number of extremist Israeli settlers set fire to dozens of... Why doesn’t the world offer assistance when settlers set fire to West Bank land? Mondoweiss - And other news from Today in Palestine: Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing Official: Settlers set fire to West Bank land NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive groves near the evacuated settlement of Homesh, near the West Bank city of... To Gaza with Humble Apologies – A Poem Palestine Chronicle: 3 Dec 2010 - By Lillian Rosengarten I am a Jew symbolic of the carnage of Gaza. I will walk on the ravished desolation of destroyed lives places where Apache helicopters fired yet another missile on to crowds reduced to charred remains. I wonder how to make contact for I am ashamed. What justifies the brutal rampage of terror and murder? Now in Rafah where entire neighborhoods are reduced to rubble Where Israeli tanks and bulldozers made in USA Add an extra 2000 families left homeless. They flee on donkey carts piled up with nothing to nowhere! No food, no water, no money, flattened neighborhoods from the reign of terror. Where has hope gone? Where are the olive groves I love so much? Does anyone remember the Nazis sixty years ago? I am going to Gaza and wonder. How can it be that arms will be outstretched to welcome me? Will they see my...more Official: Settlers set fire to West Bank land 12/2/2010 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian-owned olive groves near the evacuated settlement of Homesh, near the West Bank city of Nablus Thursday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghasan Daghlas, who is charged with monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an: "The settlers set fire in the.... Settlers torch olive trees south of Nablus 11/30/2010 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Residents of illegal settlements in the Nablus district set fire to olive trees on Tuesday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Doughlas, who holds the settlements file for the northern West Bank, said settlers from Yizhar settlement torched trees on land belonging to Madama and Asira villages south of Nablus. Palestinian.... PA lawyers to prosecute settler vandalism 11/30/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Agriculture Minister Ismail Daik announced Tuesday that his ministry established a legal department to prosecute settlers who damage Palestinian fields. In an interview with Watan TV, Daik said 50 employees work at the department documenting settler attacks of Palestinian olive groves and farm land. So far, the department is.... Israeli Settlers’ Violence Report – September and October 2010 Ahmad Jaradat, Alicia Isani, AIC, Alternative Information Center 11/18/2010 Introduction The following report highlights a drastic change in Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, not only because of the increasing number of aggressions but also because of the evolution of the violence itself. In September and October 2009, only a few aggressions against Palestinian farmers – related to harvest, land and farming equipment – were reported. Yet approximately 22 incidents of this kind were reported this year for the same period. Even if this time of year is particularly violent in the West Bank due to the olive harvesting season, other notable changes can be observed this year. One explanation for the violent evolution that took place over the past two months is the end of Israel’s ten month partial settlement freeze on 26 September 2010. On 26 September, settlers and their supporters publicly celebrated the beginning of a new wave of illegal construction in the West Bank, a celebration they had been preparing since the beginning of September. The month of October was thus particularly characterized by a new wave of violence, land grabbing and destruction due to the construction of new outposts and the expansion of existing settlements. This decision – along with the inability of international leaders to force Israel to apply a new settlement freeze so that negotiations could continue – was largely perceived by the settlers and their leaders as recognition of their presence in the West Bank and as encouragement to go ahead with their colonization. According to a report written by the Israeli organization Peace Now, 1,126 construction sites have been opened in the West Bank since the end of the settlement freeze.more..e-mail Srulik, meet Handala Palestine Note 26 Nov 2010 - JERUSALEM - Driving east from Jerusalem on the winding Jordanian-built road that once led down from the Mount of Olives to the Dead Sea, one passes through a series of Arab suburbs and soon comes to... Srulik, meet Handala Gil Zohar, Common Ground News Service 11/25/2010 JERUSALEM - Driving east from Jerusalem on the winding Jordanian-built road that once led down from the Mount of Olives to the Dead Sea, one passes through a series of Arab suburbs and soon comes to a dead end in front of the grotesque West Bank barrier. Called Geder ha-Hafrada (separation fence) in Hebrew and jidar al-fasl al-‘unsuri (Apartheid wall) in Arabic, the insurmountable (if still incomplete) barrier has no doubt contributed to a reduction in terror and car theft. However, my objection to it is more existential: like some of those in West Berlin who spray-painted their protest for freedom on the Bundesrepublik side of die Mauer even as armed GDR guards used deadly force to prevent anyone from approaching the Wall’s eastern side, I believe all walls must fall. It is a metaphor that has repeated itself from Joshua’s encircling of Jericho, to the Berlin Wall and its remaining East Side gallery, to Garth Hewitt’s ballad: “They’ve Cancelled Christmas in Bethlehem” - about the stranglehold the wall has placed on both day-to-day life and religious pilgrimage in the place where Jesus the Prince of Peace was born 2,000 years ago. The world today is caught between two conflicting ideologies: The growing trend of some democratic countries to join in unions with open borders, joint legal systems, and a common currency, of which the European Union - notwithstanding its problems - is a great success. Then, there is the trend of other countries - many repressive and undemocratic - to defend their borders with minefields and walls. Like John Lennon, I prefer the first vision - of a growing global union without barriers. Imagine that.more..e-mail Settlers Occupy Home in al-Tur, East Jerusalem IMEMC - 25 Nov 2010 - Wednesday November 24, 2010 - 17:34, A group of settlers, on Wednesday, with the help of the Israeli police force, took possession of the apartment in the al-Tur neighborhood, in the area of the Mount of Olives in Occupied East Jerusalem. Israel razes Palestinian home in East Jerusalem 11/24/2010 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli police on Wednesday razed a Palestinian house in occupied East Jerusalem, shortly before the owner arrived home with a court order halting the demolition. Scores of police and a single bulldozer were involved in the operation, which leveled the small house in the At-Tur neighborhood near the Mount of Olives. House owner.... Air raid shatters holiday for Gaza family 11/22/2010 - Jared Malsin - DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (Ma'an) -- The most intense Israeli airstrikes in months disrupted what had been a quiet holiday for one Gaza family. Sulaiman Abu Mustafa, an olive and eggplant grower with a small farm near the border with Israel outside of Deir Al-Balah, was celebrating the Eid Al-Adha holiday with.... How international law affects the Palestine 'peace process' | Oliver Miles The Guardian 22 Nov 2010 - The Israel-Palestine 'peace process' is in a vegetative state, leaving the application of international law a complex process As a former professional diplomat, I regard international law, with all its shortcomings, as much better than the... Friday in Ni'lin: Inside the Weekly Anti-Wall Protests PNN - Ni’lin - PNN/Exclusive - In another world, these would be the beginnings of a picnic. About a hundred people, mostly men, gather under the noon shadow of olive trees and spread out... The Israeli military left it to settlers to monitor Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest Mondoweiss - Avigdor Lieberman's home settlement of Nokdim. Jeb al Theeb, a small West Bank village south of Bethlehem, is under constant threat by the illegal Israeli settlements surrounding it. The small house we called home for a month had a view of the so-called Lieberman Road, which... Israeli Settlers Torch Olive Trees in West Bank Village of Beit Ommar, 13 Solidarity Activists Detained Alternative Information Center - 13 international Israeli and Palestinian activists were detained this morning (18 November) at around 9.30 a.m. in the West Bank’s Saffa Valley, while working with local Palestinian farmers to clear the land. IOF soldiers detain three Palestinians for trying to extinguish fire PIC 18 Nov 2010 - IOF soldiers on Wednesday detained three Palestinians in Beit Ummar, north of Al-Khalil, for participation in putting off a fire started by Jewish settlers in olive and almond trees. Liar, Liar Palestine Chronicle: 18 Nov 2010 - By Philip Giraldi President Barack Obama's speech in Indonesia in which he conceded that the United States must do more to establish a good working relationship with many Muslim nations would have ranked as one of the more pathetic performances by an American president in recent years but for the fact that there have been so many awful performances to choose from. The president’s grammar and syntax were perfect and the speech was cleverly crafted, exactly what we have come to expect. It was replete with carefully designed pauses, Indonesian words and phrases, and some self deprecating humor, but it was characteristically bloodless and completely tone deaf. One almost longed to see Bill Clinton choking up and shedding a tear or two. Obama’s spin team made a heroic effort to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. They likened the Indonesia speech to his Cairo offering seventeen months ago,...more IOF soldiers detain three Palestinians for trying to extinguish fire Uruknet November 17, 2010 -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday detained three Palestinians in Beit Ummar, north of Al-Khalil, for participation in putting off a fire started by Jewish settlers in olive and almond trees. Local sources said that the soldiers ambushed the three, who included two children less than 18 years old, and arrested them... Three Palestinians Arrested Extinguishing Settler Fires in Safa Village PNN - Hebron – PNN - Israeli forces detained three Palestinians in Safa village, near Hebron, for trying to put out olive grove fires set by Bat Ayin settlers on Tuesday night. Muhammad Ayad... Settlers set Saffa ablaze, 3 Palestinian youth arrested 11/17/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Palestine Solidarity Project - Last night settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement set fire to 70 olive trees in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. The trees belonged to the Thalji Aady family, who have been subject to frequent settler violence and military harassment. The fire was lit around 9:30 pm, and burned for 3.... IOF soldiers detain three Palestinians for trying to extinguish fire PIC 17 Nov 2010 - IOF soldiers on Wednesday detained three Palestinians in Beit Ummar, north of Al-Khalil, for participation in putting off a fire started by Jewish settlers in olive and almond trees. Residents say settlers behind torched grove 11/16/2010 - HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Fires ravaged agricultural lands in the southern West Bank near Hebron on Monday afternoon, destroying 15 dunums of fruit groves and greenhouses. Beit Ummar farmers, whose lands were affected, said they believed residents of the nearby Bat Ayin settlement were behind the arson, which destroyed dozens of fig, olive and pine.... Related: VIDEO - Footage contradicts arson allegations and YouTube Settlers Burn Olive Trees Near Nablus IMEMC - 15 Nov 2010 - Monday November 15, 2010 - 11:00, A group of extremist Jewish settlers torched, on Sunday, at least 200 Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Salem village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and also torched a number of nearby farms. Settlers Burn Olive Trees Near Nablus Uruknet November 15, 2010 - A group of extremist Jewish settlers torched, on Sunday, at least 200 Palestinian olive trees that belong to residents of Salem village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and also torched a number of nearby farms. Adli Eshtayyaa, spokesperson of the Salem Village Council, stated that the settlers were seen heading to Elone... Palestinians say settlers torched olive trees 11/14/2010 - NABLUS (AFP) -- Residents of a Nablus village said that Israeli settlers burned about 200 of their olive trees on Sunday and also torched surrounding grazing land. Settlers denied the allegations. The alleged attackers were seen heading in the direction of the nearby Elon Moreh settlement after setting fire to the trees on land owned by.... Jewish settlers burn olive trees in Nablus PIC 14 Nov 2010 - Jewish settlers burnt dozens of Palestinian olive trees east of Salem village, Nablus district, on Sunday, local sources reported. Bush Didn't Write No Damn Book Palestine Chronicle: 11 Nov 2010 - By Ahamad Amr The first lie you'll encounter in 'Decision Points' is the identity of the author; Bush didn't write no damn book and if I'm wrong about that, I'll eat the shoe that Iraqi journalist threw at him. 'Decision Points' is a hoax as transparent as Clifford Irving's fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Take a good look at the man who held the title of POTUS for eight years - he looks jittery and it’s worth speculating if he’s back on the bottle. I'm not suggesting that Bush is stupid. You need to be awful crafty to regurgitate the same WMD lies for eight years. I'm just saying that the ex-president was in no mental state to write a book - certainly not a book of this size. The entire book was probably farmed out to some Neo-con boiler room operation. The word is already out that Condi Rice...more Israeli forces remove the memorial of Samer Sarhan amidst daily unrest in Silwan 9 Nov 2010 - Jerusalem, November 9, (Pal Telegraph - ISM) Today, workers from the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli forces removed the Memorial of Samer Sarhan, this morning. They also removed the water supply donated on the soul of Samer Sarhan and the olive tree planted in the place, although the tree was present prior to the monument. The operation took place under the... Thinking of Rachel Corrie during the olive harvest in the Galilee Mondoweiss - It is olive gathering season and people in Arrabeh are at it again. This year the crop is good. A friend from Jerusalem had asked us for two jerry cans of fresh olive oil direct from the press. Raja Shehadeh was scheduled to have a book... Settlers target Palestinian olive trees Uruknet November 8, 2010 - During the last few years, Palestinian olive trees - a universal symbol of life and peace- have been systematically destroyed by Israeli settlers. "It has reached a crescendo. What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their own land," stated a spokeswoman... Israeli forces remove the memorial of Samer Sarhan amidst daily unrest in Silwan 9 Nov 2010 - Jerusalem, November 9, (Pal Telegraph - ISM) Today, workers from the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli forces removed the Memorial of Samer Sarhan, this morning. They also removed the water supply donated on the soul of Samer Sarhan and the olive tree planted in the place, although the tree was present prior to the monument. The operation took place under the... Israeli forces remove the memorial of Samer Sarhan amidst daily unrest in Silwan 11/8/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Today, workers from the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli forces removed the Memorial of Samer Sarhan, this morning. They also removed the water supply donated on the soul of Samer Sarhan and the olive tree planted in the place, although the tree was present prior to the monument. The operation took place.... Tears Of Gaza Dr. Ashraf Ezzat, Dissident Voice 11/4/2010 A bomb dropped by an Israeli air force F-16 jet exploding in Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, on January 3, 2009. When was the last time you thought about death? Was there a time when you felt you were so close to losing your own life? Have you ever experienced that scary feeling-except maybe in the movie theatres? …have you ever felt like not actually living, you’re still breathing … but you’re living as dead? Most people live their lives never thinking about nor contemplating death. It is human nature. We were born to live and think about how to best enjoy our life while we are still alive. It is in our genes of survival. Something inside us drive us away not from death but from pondering at death. Maybe because death is the only concrete and dreadful fact we are sure of. But in some places and with some people death sometimes can be seen as their shadow on the ground. When you can’t eat, drink, move freely, watch TV, have access to internet, have a decent job and home and send your kids to schools then DEATH could be a liberating thought. …And when the world is celebrating the rescue of 33 Chilean miners trapped underground- whom we all are glad to see brought back to life again- but at the same time the world is playing deaf and blind to the 1.5 million Gazans- virtually buried above ground and besieged like animals- then something is terribly wrong with the morality of the international community. Gaza, this narrow strip of land - the aching remnant of Palestine - where the orange and olive trees have been growing for hundreds of years has lately turned into death fields and a hunting ground for the people who planted and watered those evergreen trees generation after generation.more..e-mail Fires in West Bank destroy 300 olive trees 11/5/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Firefighters controlled blazes in several villages throughout the week which had burned around 300 olive trees, a civil defense report said. Civil defense crews also extinguished fires in two cars in Qalqiliya and Dura, the report added.... Today in Bil’in Mondoweiss - A protester protects his face from tear gas during the weekly march against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. The hot tear gas canisters set fire to Bil'in's olive fields several places. (Photo: Hamde Abu Rahmah) Intimidation Continues in Susiya as Peace Activists Are Arrested Uruknet Novrember 4, 2010 - Two activists from the Jewish-Arab equality group Ta’ayush were arrested while assisting olive farmers in Susiya village on Saturday. The harvest had been interrupted by Israeli soldiers who claimed the land was disputed, although Israeli government-issued aerial maps showed it to be Palestinian... IDF detains kids for picking olives YNet News - Officer reprimands kids aged 6, 11, and 12 for taking handful of olives from.... Olly and the Olive Factory Palestine Monitor - The olive harvest is the definitive Mediterranean tradition. From the Pyrennes to the Atlases, Tunis to Athens, Jerusalem to Damascus, farmers and families are climbing trees and filling sacks in their grey-green groves. But before these kilos can be poured on pasta, heated to fry, or... Olly and the Olive Factory Palestine Monitor: 3 Nov 2010 - The olive harvest is the definitive Mediterranean tradition. From the Pyrennes to the Atlases, Tunis to Athens, Jerusalem to Damascus, farmers and families are climbing trees and filling sacks in their grey-green groves. But before these kilos can be poured on pasta, heated to fry, or soaked in bread, the olives must go to a press. Palestine Monitor visited Ramallah's downtown olive press to see how the season's harvest gets from the raw to the extra virgin. The first phase of the olive press: all the olives from one batch are put in this funnel. From the funnel, a conveyor belt carries the olives to the washer. The manager demonstrates how the entire press operation is controlled. Ramallah's downtown olive press was founded in 1972 and when in season, it produces on average 2.5 tons of olive oil a day. In the washer, twigs and dirt are removed from the...more In photos: Olives hit the presses 11/3/2010 - MaanImages / Luay Sababa - Palestinian women bottle freshly pressed olive oil and can pickled olives to be sold at the Olive Harvest Festival in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 30 October 2010.... Olives and Balfour and more Uruknet November 2, 2010 We just finished our olive harvest. This year we got over twice as much olives as last year from our own grove. This year hundreds of trees were damaged and/or harvest stolen by settlers. People are still harvesting near the apartheid wall/colonial settlements and if you are in Palestine and interested, you may still get a... Intimidation Continues in Susiya as Peace Activists Are Arrested Palestine Monitor - Two activists from the Jewish-Arab equality group Ta'ayush were arrested while assisting olive farmers in Susiya village on Saturday. The harvest had been interrupted by Israeli soldiers who claimed the land was disputed, although Israeli government-issued aerial maps showed it to be Palestinian. Written and photographed... Ramallah's Olive Press Palestine Monitor - The olive harvest is the definitive Mediterranean tradition. From the Pyrennes to the Atlases, Tunis to Athens, Jerusalem to Damascus, farmers and families are climbing trees and filling sacks in their grey-green groves. But before these kilos can be poured on pasta, heated to fry, or... Intimidation Continues in Susiya as Peace Activists Are Arrested Palestine Monitor: 3 Nov 2010 - Two activists from the Jewish-Arab equality group Ta'ayush were arrested while assisting olive farmers in Susiya village on Saturday. The harvest had been interrupted by Israeli soldiers who claimed the land was disputed, although Israeli government-issued aerial maps showed it to be Palestinian. Written and photographed by Brynn Ruba. Israeli soldiers arrest a Ta'ayush activist for entering a declared “Closed Military Zone,” after appealing for his help translating for a detained Palestinian woman. The Ta'ayush activists, who specialise in supporting Palestinians' legal rights to their property, showed the aerial maps to soldiers, as well as relevant land deeds. The maps have been publically available since a Peace Now campaign pressured the government into disclosing data on ownership of the land in the occupied territories. The soldiers refused to acknowledge that the area was private Palestinian farmland, instead proclaiming it a ‘closed military zone', a common but illegal method of crowd...more Ramallah's Olive Press Palestine Monitor: 3 Nov 2010 - The olive harvest is the definitive Mediterranean tradition. From the Pyrennes to the Atlases, Tunis to Athens, Jerusalem to Damascus, farmers and families are climbing trees and filling sacks in their grey-green groves. But before these kilos can be poured on pasta, heated to fry, or soaked in bread, the olives must go to a press. Palestine Monitor visited Ramallah's downtown olive press to see how the season's harvest gets from the raw to the extra virgin. The first phase of the olive press: all the olives from one batch are put in this funnel. From the funnel, a conveyor belt carries the olives to the washer. The manager demonstrates how the entire press operation is controlled. Ramallah's downtown olive press was founded in 1972 and when in season, it produces on average 2.5 tons of olive oil a day. In the washer, twigs and dirt are removed from the...more Hasbara Lie Exposed: "Staged" Settler Violence is Actually Tree Pruning Uruknet November 1, 2010 - In a recent Ynet News story, a news group operating within West Bank settlements witnessed "Arabs and Leftists" staging an event in which their olive trees were vandalized, so as to further demonize settlers...In essence, we are expected to be utterly devoid of critical thought in order to believe such a wild story. We are... Olive Harvest in the South Hebron Hills: What the Occupation Has Become Uruknet November 1, 2010 - How many Israeli soldiers does it take to remove an elderly Palestinian woman from harvesting olives? It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it is an unfortunate reality of life in the West Bank. We are in the middle of the olive harvest season and with it comes episodes of violence as... Civil resistance to bring down the Walls Ayed Morrar, Huffington Post, International Solidarity Movement 11/1/2010 Budrus, a documentary film now debuting across the US, tells the story of a successful protest campaign by unarmed Palestinian civilians against Israel’s military occupation in my small West Bank village. Our struggle’s success and the consequent expansion of civil resistance to other West Bank communities may provide hope to viewers desperate for positive news from the Middle East, but today an Israeli crackdown on unarmed Palestinian protesters is threatening this growing movement. For our movement to thrive and serve as a true alternative to violence, we need Americans’ to demand that Israel, a close US ally, end this repression. Budrus depicts our ten month campaign of protest marches in 2003-2004, which included participation by men, women and children, and by representatives from all Palestinian political factions, along with Israeli and international activists, to resist the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier on our lands. Young women, led by my 15-year-old daughter Iltezam, ran past armed Israeli soldiers and jumped In front of the bulldozers that were uprooting our ancient olive trees. The soldiers regularly met us with clubs, rubber-coated bullets, curfews, arrests and even live ammunition. But we won in the end. The Israeli military rerouted the barrier in Budrus, allowing us access to almost all of our land. The film ends with Palestinian and Israeli activists heading to the neighboring village of Ni’ilin where the struggle to save Palestinian land continues today. But following Budrus’s success and faced by a growing numbers of civilians protesting the confiscation of their lands, Israel has responded with military might, attempting to quell this new movement. Twenty Palestinians have since been killed during unarmed demonstrations against the construction of the Separation Barrier. In Ni’ilin, in the dark of night, Israeli soldiers have staged hundreds of military raids and arrests of civilians from the village; hundreds more were injured — forty by live ammunition, and five, including a ten year old, were shot dead. Today, a horrid 25 foot concrete wall stands in Ni’ilin, behind which lie 620 acres of village lands taken for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. -- See also: Sourcemore..e-mail Israeli Settlers' Terror Palestine Chronicle: 1 Nov 2010 - By Dr. Elias Akleh Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank face waves after waves of Israeli terror campaigns throughout the year. These terror waves are committed by Israeli extremist settlers (colonizers) as well as the Israeli army. The most common attacks include violent trespassing on Palestinian properties during the night, stone throwing at civilians and their homes, physical assaults on farmers, children and women, destruction of all types of properties, burning civilian structures, crops and trees, shooting livestock, poisoning wells, and theft of crops and cutting fruit trees. The worst of these Israeli terror attacks are committed during harvest seasons, especially during olive season. Olive trees are very important part of the Palestinian agricultural economy. They have been a major source of livelihood for Palestinians for thousands of years. Olive groves are spread all over the country and every Palestinian house has a couple of olive trees in its...more How many Israeli soldiers does it take to keep an elderly Palestinian woman from harvesting her olives? Mondoweiss - The headline sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it is an unfortunate reality of life in the West Bank. We are in the middle of the olive harvest season and with it comes episodes of violence as well the harsh face of Israeli... Settlers dispute vandalism allegations 10/31/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- After four Israeli rights groups submitted a letter to the country's army documenting attacks on Palestinians, settlers denied the allegations and said locals were more likely to blame."Every year as the olive harvest season comes around so do various groups of provocateurs," settler leader David Ha'ivri.... Video: Picking olives under occupation Uruknet October 30, 2010 - Families in the village of Qusin with properties close to the illegal settlements Shave Shomeron and Shave Shomron, make an attempt to harvest their olives but soldiers forced them to leave. One of these families has been unable to access their land for the last nine years due to settler attacks and pressure from Israeli... Jewish settlers on the rampage in Salfit PIC 31 Oct 2010 - Extremist Jewish settlers on Sunday attacked Palestinian citizens while harvesting their olive crops west of Salfit and tried to rob their harvest, local sources reported. Israeli rights orgs demand action over settler vandalism 10/30/2010 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Four human rights organizations collaborated on a project documenting settler vandalism during the 2010 olive harvest, reporting a total of 35 incidents of tree vandalism during the six-week season. The organizations, all based in Israel, included The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), B'Tselem, Rabbis for Human Rights.... The olive groves where peaceful solidarity grows | Seth Freedman The Guardian 28 Oct 2010 - While some Israelis are vandalising West Bank farms, others are volunteering to help the harvest With the olive harvest in full swing across the West Bank, reports are flooding in of settler attacks on Palestinian farmers... Fayyad: Unilateral declaration of statehood coming in 2011 Palestine Note 28 Oct 2010 - Washington - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spoke to an Italian newspaper reorter on Thursday during his daily olive picking routine and announced that the Palestinian Authority would declare an independent state by summer of 2011.... Fayyad: PA will declare state in summer 2011 Jeruslalem Post 28 Oct 2010 - Palestinian PM says Israeli "colonies" must come to an end; "the youngest olive trees have deeper roots than the largest Israeli settlement." IOF soldiers destroy 4 Palestinian water wells PIC 28 Oct 2010 - Israeli occupation forces destroyed four Palestinian water wells in Deir Abu Da'if village, east of Jenin city, on Wednesday and served a demolition notice to the owner of an olive pressing factory. Erekat: Settlers have Israeli authorities' full cooperation 10/27/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat "strongly condemned" on Wednesday a flood of raw sewage that destroyed a Palestinian olive grove in the near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, which Israeli settlers are suspected of perpetrating. Residents in the village of Deir Al-Hatab said 660 olive trees were poisoned by.... Palestinian singer to perform in Bethlehem 10/27/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) - Palestinian star Ammar Hassan will celebrate this year's olive festival in Bethlehem. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is sponsoring the event scheduled for Saturday in the city's Nativity Square. Ammar recently participated at a Lebanese performing contest and won second place.... Israel ‘Outraged’ as UN Calls for End to Settler AttacksUN Envoy Slams Attacks on Mosques, Olive Trees Uruknet October 26, 2010 - UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry today condemned a flurry of high profile settler attacks across the West Bank, urging the Israeli government to "combat violence and terror" by the settler groups. The settlers have launched a number of attacks in recent weeks, burning mosques and chopping down olive trees... Jewish settlers destroy 200 olive trees in Nablus Uruknet October 26, 2010 - Citizens in Deir Al-Hatab village, Nablus district, were stunned at the sight of 200 of their olive trees damaged in the fields after Jewish settlers poured sewage water from the nearby Allon Moreh settlement into their land. The citizens said on Tuesday that the settlers usually discharge polluted water from factories of canned meat and... Village says settlement runoff destroyed olive grove 10/26/2010 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers denied allegations Tuesday that they flooded a Palestinian olive grove with sewage from an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. Residents of Deir Al-Hatab, a Palestinian village in the Nablus district, said some 660 olive trees were destroyed by runoff from factories connected to the Elon Moreh settlement.... UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks Ha'aretz - UN Mieast peace coordinator 'appalled at acts of destruction of olive trees and farmlands, desecration of mosques and violence against civilians'. Palestinians, Jews race to plant olive trees in West Bank Ha'aretz - This year, the stakes have been raised: Palestinians have planted double the number of trees as in past seasons, and Jewish settlers have responded by boosting their own olive production. Serry slammed for equating Israeli and Palestinian 'terror' Jeruslalem Post 26 Oct 2010 - Following UN envoy's comments in which he compared alleged settler vandalism against olive trees to terrorism, Israel reacts: "Does Serry pretend Israeli suicide bombers attack Palestinian buses?" UN rep.: We support Palestinian state by next year Jeruslalem Post 26 Oct 2010 - Robert H. Serry tells Fayyad that all int'l players agree that Palestinians are ready for statehood during olive picking. UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks Ha'aretz 26 Oct 2010 - UN Mieast peace coordinator 'appalled at acts of destruction of olive trees and farmlands, desecration of mosques and violence against civilians'. Palestinians, Jews race to plant olive trees in West Bank Ha'aretz 26 Oct 2010 - This year, the stakes have been raised: Palestinians have planted double the number of trees as in past seasons, and Jewish settlers have responded by boosting their own olive production. UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks YNet News - A senior UN official condemned attacks by Jewish "settler extremists" on Palestinians' olive trees in the West Bank and called on Israel to "combat violence and terror by ....... Jewish settlers destroy 200 olive trees in Nablus PIC 26 Oct 2010 - Citizens in Deir Al-Hatab village were stunned at the sight of 200 of their olive trees damaged after Jewish settlers poured sewage water from the nearby Allon Moreh settlement into their land. Soldiers abandon Palestinian farmers in Kufr Qalil 10/25/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - 24 October - Farmers in Kufr Qalil, near Nablus, were scheduled to receive army protection yesterday through the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO), in order to harvest their olives on land near the illegal Bracha settlement. The family, accompanied by four international activists, went to the land and was initially pleased to find army jeeps nearby.... Israeli authorities deny Salfit farmers access to olive crops PIC 25 Oct 2010 - Israeli authorities continue to deny farmers in the west Salfit town of Masha access to their land located behind the separation wall to harvest their olives, local sources reported Monday. Uncovering the Ancient Crafts of Nablus Palestine Monitor - The Old City of Nablus is one of the oldest cities in the world. Founded by Romans nearly 2,000 years ago, the city has survived Byzantine, Crusader, Islamic, and Ottoman rule. Now under Israeli occupation, the Old City of Nablus remains a charming and well-preserved cultural... Uncovering the Ancient Crafts of Nablus Palestine Monitor: 25 Oct 2010 - The Old City of Nablus is one of the oldest cities in the world. Founded by Romans nearly 2,000 years ago, the city has survived Byzantine, Crusader, Islamic, and Ottoman rule. Now under Israeli occupation, the Old City of Nablus remains a charming and well-preserved cultural experience. Visitors to the Old City of Nablus are greeted by an exotic patchwork of colours and aromas. Exploring the narrow alleys, visitors weave their way through street vendors, picking their way through a maze of spice sacks, hand-woven rugs, and stacked pottery. Further inside the ancient walls, traditional soap factories, Turkish bathhouses, and antique stores have long-established their place in the heart of this bustling hub. The Old City of Nablus provides overwhelming sensory testimony to the eclectic civilisations which have filled her twisted paths for generations, and a stimulating afternoon for the modern explorer. Written and photographed by Brynn Ruba. Nuts roast...more PA ministry holds rally in Jerusalem 10/24/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A rally was held in occupied East Jerusalem Sunday in solidarity with local farmers who are denied access to their land by the Israeli army. The Palestinian Authority Settlement and Wall Affairs Ministry organized the protest in Beit Surik and Biddu, where locals are prevented from harvesting their olives by Israel.... In photos: Settlers cut down 40 olive trees Uruknet October 23, 2010 - On Saturday morning, Salima Ewes, 73, and her family found 40 olive trees had been cut down in their field in the northern West Bank village of Al-Lubban Ash-Sharqiya, southwest of Nablus city. Akram Jamil Uweis said his family headed to their field to harvest olives, and found their trees destroyed. He said the family... Olive harvest in the West Bank The Guardian 24 Oct 2010 - The annual olive harvest has been hit by an upsurge in violence this year, attributed to a rise in settler militancy West Bank olive groves become battleground The Guardian 24 Oct 2010 - Most troubled harvest yet has seen attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian farmers and trees, say human rights groups Eighty-year-old Rasmia Awase had left the best olive trees until last. She and her family had already... A Day In The Olive Groves Of Sinjil PNN - By Alessandra Bajec - With the recent start of the olive harvest, like every year there is a constant need for people to help, across several locations in the Holy Land, in...
