Stichting Stop de Bezetting - Laatst toegevoegde nieuws over en rondom Palestina

As Israel's occupation drags on, boycotts are one way forward

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:51:56 +0200

by Omar Barghouti21-5-2013This article was originally published at The National
(Image: Pep Montserrat for The National)During a visit to Lebanon in 2000, I asked Amal, a Palestinian child in the Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp, "What do you wish the most?"Without hesitation, she said: "To slip into your suitcase when you head back to Palestine, to go home."Her sense of deep nostalgia for a place she'd never visited except in her dreams and her grandparents' tales was quite pervasive among her peers. But Amal's fertile imagination about how to overcome barriers to go home was a piercing reminder that the 1948 Nakba, the planned and systematic ethnic cleansing of the majority of the indigenous Palestinians to create a Jewish majority state in Palestine, is not forgotten. Nor will it be forgiven until the Palestinian people can exercise their inalienable right to self determination, with the refugees' right to return at its core.Anyone who supports Palestinian self-determination while calling only for ending the 46-year-old Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is actually upholding most of the rights of only 38 per cent of Palestinians, while expecting the rest to accept injustice as their fate.According to 2011 statistics, of the 11 million Palestinians, 50 per cent live in exile, mostly denied their UN-stipulated right to return to their homes of origin, and 12 per cent are Palestinian citizens of Israel who live under a system of "ins

Israeli soldiers shoot 12 year old Palestinian boy Atta Mohammed Sharadeh in chest

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:48:08 +0200

21-5-2013
Israeli soldiers (file photo)Palestinian youth and children have been among the most vulnerable victims of the Israeli soldiers’ brutality in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”Israeli troops have shot and critically injured a Palestinian boy in the chest in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian security and hospital sources.The troopers of the Israeli regime shot 12-year-old Atta Mohammed Sharadeh on Tuesday outside the Jelazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah, AFP reported.Palestinian paramedics said Sharadeh was hit in the chest and the bullet exited through his back. The boy was transported to a Ramallah hospital, where he is in critical condition.The Jelazoun refugee camp is close to the so-called Beit El Israeli settlement.Earlier in the day, clashes had broken out between Palestinians and Israeli troops, The clashes erupted shortly after the occupying Israeli forces stormed the refugee camp.Palestinian youths – angry over the presence of Israeli soldiers at the camp site – hurled stones and bottles at the Israeli troops, who fired live bullets in return.Palestinian youth and children have been among the most vulnerable victims of the Israeli soldiers’ brutality in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlemen

Israel to 're-extend' Gaza fishing zone to 6 miles and still violates the Bertini Agreement

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:46:30 +0200

21-5-2013
The Israeli government has decided to re-extend Gaza’s fishing zone to 6 miles, after reducing it in March following a rocket attack from the coastal territory, a statement from Israel’s army said Tuesday.The decision was announced after a meeting between Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Moshe Yaalon, who then informed the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.Senior Egyptian and international officials were also informed about the decision, the statement added.In March, Israel’s army announced that the fishing zone for Palestinians in Gaza would be reduced from six to three miles following a rocket attack.The zone had been extended to 11 km as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in November, in which 166 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed.In the Oslo Accords, Israel agreed to a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone off Gaza’s coast but it has imposed a 3-mile limit for several years, opening fire at fishermen who strayed further.Israel has controlled Gaza waters since its occupation of the area in 1967, and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.Source

Israel sloopt: vier huizen in O-Jeruzalem, en 15 in een 'niet-erkend' Bedoeienendorpje

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:41:00 +0200

21-5-2013

Israel heeft dinsdag vier huizen in Oost-Jeruzalem gesloopt, omdat ze zonder vergunning waren gebouwd. Het ging om twee huizen in Jabal al-Mukabbir en twee andere in At Tur. Het huis op de foto, in Jabal al-Mukabbir, was eigendom van de familie al-Qaq, die het 13 jaar geleden bouwde. Er werd een slooporder voor uitgevaardigd in 2002. De familie wendde die toen af met een rechtszaak, die ermee eindigde dat een boete moest worden betaald van 80,000 shekel ($21,800). Daarna heeft de familie tevergeefs geprobeerd een vergunning te krijgen.De andere woning was eigendom van de familie Abu al-Dabaat. Er woonden daar vier families in vier appartementen. Volgens een van de eigenaars, Raed Abu al-Dabaat, was het in 1973 gebouwd op land dat al sinds 1930 in het bezit van zijn vader was. Ook in dit geval werd - in 2007 - na een rechtszaak de slooporder afgewend en een boete uitgedeeld. Die bedroeg in dat geval 160,000 shekel ($44,000).Drieëndertig procent van alle huizen in Oost-Jeruzalem, met in totaal ruim 90.000 bewoners, heeft geen vergunning volgens cijfers van de VN. Aanvragen voor bouwvergunningen van Palestijnen worden in 95% van de gevallen geweigerd. Sinds 1967 heeft Israel al zo'n 2000 huizen in Oost-Jeruzalem, gesloopt.
Foto's Tali Mayer/Activestills.org Bedoeïenen Al eerder, op 16 mei, werden in het Bedoeïenendorpje Atir in de Negev, 15 gebouwen omver gehaald. In de Negev bestaat een groot aantal dorpen da

In de Gazastrook is alles politiek

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:36:26 +0200

door Lydia de Leeuw21-5-2013Dit artikel verscheen op woensdag 15 mei 2013 in DWDD Magazine. Bekijk het hierSinds 2007 leven Palestijnen niet alleen onder de Israëlische bezetting, maar ook onder een ‘afsluiting’. Dat wil zeggen: import, export en bewegingsvrijheid is zeer beperkt. De afsluiting is een strafmaatregel die door Israël is ingesteld nadat Hamas aan de macht kwam, onder het mom van Israëlische staatsveiligheid. De VN en het Rode Kruis stellen de afsluiting een collectieve bestraffing van de burgerbevolking inhoudt. Dat is illegaal onder internationaal recht. Zij roepen dan ook al jaren op tot opheffing van de afsluiting.De Gazastrook kan het best worden vergeleken met een openluchtgevangenis. De lokale economie is ingestort, met hoge werkeloosheid en armoede tot gevolg. Er zijn tekorten aan brandstof, elektriciteit, bouwmaterialen, medische- en levensmiddelen. Ook zijn de riolering en waterzuivering nauwelijks onderhouden. Daardoor raakt het grond –en kraanwater steeds verder vervuilt; het water uit de kraan is op sommige plaatsen een mix tussen een Amsterdamse gracht en de Dode Zee.Meisjes spelen in een vervuilde omgeving vlakbij Nuseirat, in het midden van de GazastrookDoor deze ellende en de gevolgen van oorlogsgeweld, wordt de Gazastrook behandeld als ‘humanitair crisisgebied’. En dat is nou juist het laatste waar ze in Gaza op wachten: “Geen hulpgoederen, maar een politieke oplossing, vrijheid, werken en voor onszelf zorgen,” is een veelgehoor

Palestinian Ambassador Demands EU Boycott Nakba Activities

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:32:08 +0200

by Kawther Salam21-5-2013PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his Ambassador to Brussels, Leila Shahid, conspired against the interests of all Palestinians, at home and in diaspora, by engaging in activism against the 11th Conference of Palestinians in Europe, the biggest Palestinian gathering in the diaspora which is held yearly in EU cities and which is organized by the General Secretariat of the Conference of Palestinians in Europe and the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC). The 11th such conference which took place this year was held last Saturday 18th May 2013 in Brussels, Belgium.Over 10 thousand Palestinian refugees living in the EU and elsewhere gathered to confirm their strong bond to Palestine as their first homeland, to confirm their right of return and to demand that the international community end the Israeli occupation, which has lasted over 65 years since the Nakba or Catastrophe in 1948. The conference raised issues related to the release of Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli jails, the Palestinian people and their quest of liberation, borders, statehood as well as other related issues.Leila Shahid, Abbas and other PA officials tried in all ways possible to block the way of the organizers of the conference. They conspired, incited and contacted European bodies and did everything possible and impossible for this purpose.During the conference, Professor Salman Abu Sitta, who spoke on behalf of Palestinian refugees and made reference to the right of return of Palestin

Occupation excavates near al-Aqsa Complex

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:27:35 +0200

22-5-2013Israeli authorities on Monday began excavation near Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex and canceled a visit by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which was supposed to inspect preservation work in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, the head of Islamic Waqf department in occupied Jerusalem, said that the Israeli authorities began the excavations in the Al-Buraq Plaza (the Western Wall Plaza) and in area of the Umayyad palaces adjacent to the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.Israeli authorities started the excavations in the Al-Buraq Plaza for the construction of the so-called Strauss House, the plan of which was approved by the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee in 2010. The proposed four-story house would consist of 944 square meters that would be added to the existing building of 772 square meters in the plaza.Khatib said that the Israeli authorities also started new excavations in the area of Umayyad palaces for “constructing a network of bridges and iron stairs in the historic area to transfer it to facilities of the so-called second temple.”Meanwhile, an Israeli official said Israel objected to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki’s reference to the UNESCO tour as a “probe (of) the occupation measures” in the city. “So we are calling off (the visit).”A month ago, UNESCO’s Paris headquarters announced it would send experts to Jerusale

Censorship from Churchill 1948 to Al Jazeera in 2013: 'The Last of the Semites' by Joseph Massad

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:23:18 +0200

by Joseph Massad20-5-2013After @Newseum killed the commemoration of by Israel slain journalists, now also Al Jazeera falls for the zionist lobby which is pushing all buttons to silence all who even dare to speak or publish truth.Main stream media and it’s journos: prostituting it’s very essence, ethics and conscience in fear of loosing paychecks, funds; scared of the zionist hasbara machine which is solely interested in winning the war on truth at all cost:Mainly to erase any fact, distort truth and to justify it’s myths and propaganda. Like the KFC smuggled into Gaza blasting headlines all over this world, it has been the same MSM complicit in burying the facts about deliberate starvation policies for Palestinians.Never minding the fact, over 230 tunnel workers died to fight the deprivation similar to those of Nazis in World War II which have cost over 1 million Jews to die of deprivation.How those employed in main stream journalism “ignore” horrendous facts like these, as well as scroll over the very names of their dead colleagues to report fried chicken wings smuggled to Gaza in stead is a mystery to me. To keep you busy with incoherent nonsense, you might forget history for as far as that knowledge ever reached you at all.So when Joseph Massad reveals historical facts, all is done to literally shut the box of the past – as if this is possible at all - at least any form of pressure is unleashed on by zionists controlled media or it’s lobby to keep

Letter From Palestinians In the Diaspora To Ki-moon

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:15:07 +0200

20-5-2013In the name of our Palestinian People , living in the poor miserable refugees camps, and in the occupied territories, where the Israeli forces continue to confiscate its lands to build the racist Zionist settlements, and to force upon our People the policies of the ethnic cleansing, the siege, and the Judaization of its Holey places, we still remember in this 65th anniversary of our Nakba all the crimes the Zionists perpetuated against us.It is the most cruel, savage crime that has ever been done against a peaceful people in the history when it was expelled by terror and force out of its homeland.Our people have been waiting during those 65 years for the implementation of the UN resolutions: 194, 181, 242, and 338 by Israel, or by the United States, which supported the declaration of the Israeli state in order to make it an aggressive base in the Middle East.The Nakba anniversary is still rooted deeply in our people’s memory and has been inherited by all generations until the implementation of the justice. Meanwhile our people will continue to struggle by all legitimate means, authorized by the international and religious laws in order to return back to its homeland in occupied Palestine.Accordingly, we confirm here that our people, by its Muslims and Christians citizens have never given an authorization to any person, or organization to make concessions of its rights and to hold negotiations on any concession. Therefore, our people have already confirmed in severa

Woman arrested in Hebron is accused of stone throwing by a settler

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:06:46 +0200

19-5-2013Zleikha was released from custody at around midnight, on the condition that she reports back to the police station today.During Zleikha’s interrogation, an Israeli settler was brought by the Police and asked, ‘is this the woman who threw stones at you?’ to which she replied ‘yes’. This fundamentally flawed method of identification further illustrates how far removed the Israeli military is from any credible system of justice.Zleikha Muhtaseb being arrested from her homeIsraeli forces tonight,18th May, abducted 51 year old Zleikha Muhtaseb from her home on Shuhada Street, in the old city of Hebron. Zleikha was helping her son complete his homework when a squad of Israeli soldiers invaded her house and took her. She was subsequently taken to be interrogated at the police station in the illegal Israeli settlement of Givat Ha’avot.Israeli forces claim she was taken on suspicion of stone-throwing, although she was abducted from her home. Such unfounded allegations are regularly used in Hebron to justify arbitrary arrests and detention, of young and old alike – for example, 27 children arrested at random on their way to school in March of this year were accused of throwing stones. It is more likely that Zleikha was arrested for her defence of human rights and resistance to Israeli Occupation.Zleikha Muhtaseb’s home is on Hebron’s Shuhada Street – an area closed to Palestinian access by the israeli military. Because of these closures, she and her family

2400 Palestinians Stuck At The Rafah Terminal

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:02:30 +0200

by Saed Bannoura21-5-2013The Himaya Center for Journalists Defending Human Rights has reported that more than 2400 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are currently stuck at the Rafah Border Terminal between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, awaiting to be allowed through.

In a press release, the center demanded the Egyptian Authorities to open the terminal without any delays, and to refrain from involving the Palestinians in internal issues in Gaza and Egypt.It also demanded providing the Palestinians, stuck on the terminal, with temporary shelter and the needed care, and added that the border crossing must be continuously operating as agreed upon during meetings and arrangements, and called for applying all related laws.Egypt closed the Rafah Border Terminal more than four days ago, leaving 2400 Palestinians stuck on the crossing, and preventing thousands of Palestinians from leaving the coastal region.The Rafah Terminal is the only crossing point that the Palestinians in Gaza can use when traveling abroad, due to the fact that Israel controls all other terminals, including commercial crossing in the Gaza Strip. Source

Flight Paths Over Palestine

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:55:04 +0200

20-5-2013The Myths:

"Palestine is a land without people"
"There is no such thing as Palestinians"
"The young will forget..."

The Facts:

For the first time since 1948 the children and grandchildren of the
refugees can see their homeland from which their fathers were expelled.
When they tried to return in 1948, they were shot dead as
'infiltrators'.

Now the fathers, mothers and their children can see Palestine as it was
in 1948. They can fly over it, but only in preparation for the day when
they will actually walk over its soil and recover their patrimony.

See below the lands where the refugees were deprived from returning to or seeing.

FLY OVER PALESTINE (1945)

WATCH: Supporters stage prison vigil for conscientious objector Natan Blanc

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:40:29 +0200

20-5-2013Israeli teenager Natan Blanc was sentenced to a tenth prison term of 28 days for refusing to serve in the Israeli army last week. With the latest sentencing, he has been sent to prison more times than any previous conscientious objector in Israel. Earlier this year, supporters and activists held one of many regular support vigils on a hilltop overlooking the IDF’s Prison 6, where he is currently being held.Source

Egyptian brotherhood leader: Hamas has nothing to do with kidnappings

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:26:14 +0200

18-5-2013
CAIRO, (PIC)– Saber Aboul Fotouh, a leader in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, stressed that charging Hamas with the Egyptian soldiers’ kidnapping only misleads justice.Hamas is engaged in the battle against the Israeli occupation, and it has no reason to abort the Egyptian-Palestinian good relationship, said Aboul Fotouh.The kidnapping of 7 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai is a catastrophe, he continued, calling on the Egyptian armed forces to work for their release by any possible means.Meanwhile, Director General of border crossings Maher Abu Sabha confirmed on Friday morning that the Egyptian authorities refused to re-open Rafah crossing in both directions.He told PIC reporter that a number of Egyptian police and army conscripts have closed the crossing in both directions on Friday morning protesting the abduction of a number of their colleagues in Sinai.Crowds of hundreds of Palestinians have gathered on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing following the Egyptian decision to close the crossing until further notice.Egyptian security sources have confirmed that a group of unidentified militants kidnapped seven Egyptian soldiers near the town of El Arish North Sinai.Source

Israelische hasbara, Netanyahu voorop, is de weg kwijt met nieuw rapport over zaak al-Durra

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:18:58 +0200

20-5-2013Jongens passeren graffiti in Gaza van de scene waarbij vader en zoon al-Durra onder vuur liggen. (Foto Reuters).Ik houd er niet zo van grote woorden te gebruiken, maar Israels jongste hasbara-daad laat duidelijk zien hoe Israels topfiguren langzamerhand in een parallelle werkelijkheid zijn komen te leven. Anders gezegd hoe ze daar werkelijk van gekkigheid niet meer weten wat ze doen. Alle Israelische kranten berichtten gisteren dat een onderzoekscommissie tot de conclusie is gekomen dat het verhaal van het jongetje Mohammed Al-Durra, die 13 jaar geleden omkwam toen hij met zijn vader in kruisvuur belandde tussen Israelische militairen en Palestijnen bij de toenmalige nederzetting Netzarim in Gaza, ´gefaked´ is. De scene werd destijds gefilmd door een (Palestijnse) cameraman' van de Franse tv-zender France 2 en ging de hele wereld rond. Het werd een soort icoon van Palestijns lijden en daarom zijn - nadat het Israelische leger aanvankelijk de verantwoordelijkheid voor de dood van Mohammed had toegegeven - hasbara-types en Israel zelf nu al 13 jaar bezig om te vertellen dat a) Mohammed niet door Israelische kogels werd getroffen maar door Palestijnse, b) Mohammed helemaal niet werd getroffen door kogels maar nog leeft, en c) dat Palestijnse cameralieden uiteraard altijd liegen dus deze beelden ook gefaked zijn, en d) de (Israelische reservist) Chales Enderlin die correspondent in Israel is van France 2, zich op schandalige wijze op sleeptouw heeft laten n

Two friends meet for 5 minutes in Jerusalem

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:51:18 +0200

by Walaa Ghussein and Annie Robbins20-5-2013
Three days ago Maha and Walaa May 16, 2013 JerusalemOn May 16, Maha, the Palestinian woman on the left in the above photograph, tweeted this photograph of meeting her friend Walaa from Gaza in Jerusalem. A friend in Gaza sent it along to me with this note: Walaa made it to Jerusalem for the first time in her life. Here is a picture with her Palestinian friend Maha. They only met for five minutes, full of tears. Injustice!Walaa is Walaa Al Ghussein. She wrote about the cruel restrictions on travel from Gaza for us last month, and I wrote to her to ask her about the meeting above. At first she politely turned me down, explaining it was "indescribable". But I persisted, and she provided the following explanation.It's not easy for a Gaza resident to get a permit to enter the occupied lands of Palestine, or even to leave Gaza through Erez checkpoint. And it's impossible for anyone from there to enter Gaza.Our permanent dream is to meet, one day, in our own land. And we never gave up this dream. But I almost did when I was there, in Jerusalem, not having time to meet one of my friends because of my permit and some restrictions. But my friend refused to give up and managed to follow me to the Gas station while I was on my way back to Gaza.My friend, Maha came from Umm Al-Fahem to Jerusalem, just to see me for 5 minutes in the Gas station, knowing that I would have to go back to Gaza before 7 pm, because I have a limite

Shut In, Shut Down, Shut Up: Three Years after Mavi Marmara

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:47:02 +0200

By Greta Berlin20-5-2013

Passengers on the Mavi Marmara were attacked by heavily armed Israeli commandos. Three years ago, the Free Gaza movement was wrapping up final preparations for a flotilla of eight ships to head out to Gaza, determined to break Israel’s illegal siege on 1.5 million Palestinians shut into an open-air prison. Most of us were already in Cyprus or Turkey or Greece, as we were the primary organizers, having already sent eight voyages, five of them successful in 2008.Why a flotilla of boats?During Israel’s horrific massacres against the people of Gaza (called Operation Cast Lead) in December 2008/January, 2009, our boat, the DIGNITY, had been rammed off the coast of Lebanon as we were taking medical personnel into Gaza. The boat later sank in a storm off the coast of Cyprus.Then, in July 2009, Israel brutally attacked the “Spirit of Humanity,” even though Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire, and former Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney were on board. The Israeli government stole the boat, threw passengers into Israeli prison and, laughably, deported them eight days later, because “passengers had illegally entered Israel.” It was the first time the Israeli commandoes had actually boarded one of the boats as opposed to ramming them or trying to sink them.We realized a new approach would have to be designed, one that would include more vessels, more passengers and more media exposure to the brutal closure of Gaza. Sailing one

Negev demolitions: 'War in the full sense'

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:08:02 +0200

19-5-2013NEGEV (Ma’an) – “What I have seen was like post-war footage rather than home demolition as the Hebrew media misleadingly describe it,” says the head of the Islamic movement in northern Israel Sheikh Raed Salah.Salah’s remarks Sunday came during a visit to the Bedouin Negev village of Attir where Israeli municipal staff demolished 18 houses.“Demolishing 18 houses, uprooting 460 olive saplings, cutting down olive trees and sycamore fig trees, destroying roads, power generators and solar cells is war in the full sense of the term,” Salah added.He urged all Palestinian residents of the Negev and across Israel to visit the demolished village to see the truth firsthand.Salah was accompanied by other members of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The delegation was welcomed by dignitaries from the Abu Al-Quian family whose houses were demolished.“Nothing was left on the ground. They leveled everything cutting down trees and turning the place into debris. However, we will remain firm and our spirits are stronger than before,” said Hajj Shihdeh Abu al-Queian.“Perhaps what we are watching now is the beginning of disastrous consequences of the Prawer Plan which is aimed at displacing our people from Negev indiscriminately,” said Sheikh Salah.He added: “This plan is one of ethnic cleansing against our people in Negev.”On May 6, an Israeli government committee approved a draft bill setting a framework to implement the evacuation of “unrecognized” village

London protest outside UEFA congress to call for cancelation of Israel tournament

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:05:28 +0200

by Adri Nieuwhof19-5-2013

A protest prior to the European Championship final in Amsterdam on 15 May.(Simon Vrouwe)

On Friday, 24 May, protestors from several European countries will assemble outside UEFA’s annual congress to call for the cancelation of Israel as location for the European Under-21 football championship. The European football’s governing body awarded Israel the prestigious tournament despite the country’s systematic violation of Palestinians’ rights.The rally outside Grosvenor House hotel, the venue of the UEFA meeting, will last from 11am til 3pm. At approximately 2pm a protest march outside companies which are complicit in the Israeli occupation will join the rally at Grosvenor House hotel for a mass gathering. The protest march starts at noon near the main entrance of St. Pancras station. There will be live music, red cards, footballs and goals. Protestors are requested to bring or wear football shirts (see here for more information).

Geoffrey Lee, coordinator of the Red Card Israeli Racism campaign, stated that UEFA should follow the example of Stephen Hawking, who pulled out of an international conference in Israel because of its treatment of Palestinians. UEFA should “refuse to be part of one of Israel’s window-dressing exercises,” he said. “If we condemn racist chanting against black players in Europe, why do we condone a whole system of racism against

Photo essay: Israeli soldiers sing 'We wish your whole village would burn down' to residents of Nabi Saleh

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:09:15 +0200

19-5-2013Today Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched towards a well that was stolen from the village of Nabi Saleh by the establishment of Halamish illegal settlement. As activists walked down the hill towards the well, Israeli soldiers shot tear gas at them which set fire to the ground around them. As they did so , soldiers sang “we wish your whole village would burn down”. Activists were then blocked from reaching the spring by a large group of Israeli soldiers. At the same time, a skunk water truck entered the village spraying several of the homes in the village with the putrid smelling liquid. Eight international and Israeli activists were detained by Israeli soldiers who confiscated their passports. They were released within 30 minutes. Long after the demonstration was over, two Israeli military vehicles and several Border Policemen entered the village and drove slowly around the neighbourhood in a bid to intimidate its residents.

Tear gas canisters set ground alight

Residents of Nabi Saleh and Israeli activists argue with Israeli soldiers blocking the stolen well

Residents of Nabi Saleh confront soldiers blocking them from reaching their stolen well

Israeli soldiers block residents of Nabi Saleh from reaching their stolen well

Israeli border police patrol village long after demonstration has endedSource

Egypt closes Gaza crossing for third day

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:05:25 +0200

19-5-2013

Egyptian police at Rafah are closing the crossing for a third day in a row Sudnay after the kidnappings of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, officials said.They are preventing all Palestinians from traveling through the crossing or leaving the Gaza Strip, the Gaza interior ministry said Sunday.The Hamas-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday that talks were underway with Egypt to reopen the crossing."The ministry of foreign affairs is holding talks with senior officials in Egypt to re-open the Rafah crossing and ensure the safe return of people stranded by the closure," deputy foreign minister Ghazi Hamad told Ma'an.Maher Abu Sabha, the general director of crossings and borders, said 800 Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing on Saturday morning.The number was expected to reach 1,000 by the end of the day. Most travelers are waiting in hotels in el-Arish for the crossing to reopen. They include sick people who had received medical treatment abroad, pilgrims and students who study abroad.Gaza's Interior Ministry announced a state of alert along its border with Egypt on Thursday in case the kidnappers tried to smuggle the Egyptian servicemen into Gaza.Early Thursday, gunmen ambushed two minibuses in Wadi al-Akhdar, between el-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid cities, and kidnapped seven E

29 mei Amsterdam Debat Israel hoe verder?

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:00:49 +0200

Israel wil een staat zijn als alle andere. Maar is een staat die zonder grondwet regeert, die verwacht dat het Westen een blanco cheque stuurt en verder alle internationale conventies aan zijn laars lapt, wel een normale staat? En welke rol speelt religie in een conflict waarin het steeds minder gaat om Israëliërs tegen Arabieren, maar meer om joden tegen moslims? Ligt de oplossing in Amerika of in Israël zelf?

Debatavond o.l.v. Wim Bartels met
Abram de Swaan, socioloog
Gied ten Berge, voorzitter SIVMO
Ghada Zeidan, oprichter Palestine Link.
Ido Abram, filosoof
Janneke Stegeman, bijbelwetenschapper
Erella Grassiani, medeoprichter van de stichting Gate 48, een kritisch platform voor Israëli’s woonachtig in Nederland.
Naar aanleiding van het nieuwe boek Aan een Israelische vriend van de Franse filosoof Régis Debray in de vertaling van France Guwy. I.s.m. uitgeverij Van Gennep.
Voorprogramma met Frénk van der Linden
Vanaf 19.00 uur kunt u met journalist Frénk van der Linden in discussie over zijn bevindingen op de Westbank, waar hij tussen 20 en 26 mei een reportage maakt voor het televisieprogramma Altijd Wat en voor de Volkskrant. Welke nieuwe inzichten heeft zijn bezoek hem opgeleverd? Hoe kijkt hij met zijn recente ervaringen ter plaatse aan tegen de vraag: Israël. Hoe nu verder? 19.00 uur: vertoning van de reportage, 19.15 uur: gesprek met de zaal.
Over het boek
In zijn historisch en religieus-filosofisch

Occupation Forces limit non-Muslim visits to Jerusalem mosque

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:23:13 +0200

18-5-2013Jerusalem police closed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound to non-Muslim visitors on Thursday, in what they said was an effort to avoid a repetition of recent Palestinian unrest.

The decision followed disturbances on Wednesday in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem where police used stun grenades, water cannons and mounted officers against Palestinians who hurled rocks during protests marking the anniversary of Israel’s foundation in 1948.“A decision was taken after the past 24 to 48 hours of incidents…and measures have been taken to prevent incidents on the Temple Mount,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, using the Jewish term for the compound in the walled Old City, which houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques.The location is Islam’s third holiest site and is also Judaism’s most holy place, venerated as the site where the First and Second Jewish Temples once stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.Rosenfeld said that there had been no reported disturbance there on Thursday and the limitation of visitors was a preemptive move which would be reviewed later in the day.“At the moment it’s quiet and we want it to continue to be quiet,” he said.There were scuffles at the site last week as Israelis celebrated their capture of the Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday expressed

Dienstplicht voor orthodoxen, biddende vrouwen en asociale begroting stenen des aanstoots in Israel

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:20:26 +0200

18-5-2013De afgelopen weken werd er in Israel nogal wat gedemonstreerd. En dan heb ik het voor een keer niet over demonstraties van Palestijnen, tegen de 'Muur' of ter herdenking van de Nakba, maar over - zeg maar - intern Israëlische kwesties. Ik volg het 'binnenlandse' Israëlische nieuws meestal niet zo op de voet, maar het is misschien toch de moeite waar het een keer op een rijtje te zetten. Jerusalem orthodox draft protest streetOp 16 mei demonstreerden zo'n 30.000 ultra-orthodoxe mensen (uitsluitend mannen) op 16 mei tegen het voornemen van de Israëlische regering (en dan met name van de nieuwkomers Yair Lapid van Yesh Atid en en Naftali Bennet van Babysit Yehudi ) om ook ultra-orrthodoxe mannen te gaan oproepen om in het leger te dienen teneinde de 'verplichtingen eerlijker te verdelen'. De ultra-orthodoxen zijn die sinds het bestaan van Israel altijd vrijgesteld van dienst, en volgens hun rabbijnen en politieke partijen komt het regeringsvoornemen neer op 'een religieuze oorlog tegen de gelovigen'. Er waren wat gewonden bij botsingen met de politie en er werd een aantal arrestaties verricht.
Een kleine week eerder - op 10 mei - was er een demonstratieve gebedsdienst van de 'Women of the Wall' (nee, niet de Wall op de Westoever, maar de 'Westelijke Muur' in Jeruzalem waar veel Joden plegen samen te komen om te bidden). De 'Women of the Wall' zijn al een tijdje bezig om dezelfde voorrechten op te eisen als mannen bij dit bidden, namelijk het dragen van

Occupation Forces attack Egyptian Orthodox bishop in Jerusalem

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:13:39 +0200

18-5-2013Israeli newspaper Maariv published a video clip on Monday showing an attack by Israeli police on Bishop Anthasius of Ramallah’s Egyptian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem during Easter celebrations last week.In an interview with the newspaper, Anthasius said that Israeli police had attacked him in the street after he had tried to pass through an Israeli military checkpoint.In the video, the 84-year-old bishop can be seen being attacked by policemen. “They treated me like a dog,” the bishop told the Israeli newspaper.Last week, Israeli police also attacked Egyptian diplomats in Jerusalem, prompting Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry to summon Israeli Ambassador Yaacov Amitai to express its displeasure.Israeli police, for their part, issued a statement asserting that the policemen who attacked the bishop had not been from the Jerusalem police but rather from other police stations.Israeli police subsequently issued a formal apology to both Egypt and Bishop Anthasius for last week’s incident.Source

Extremist rabbi Yisrael Ariel accompanies Jewish settlers on storming of Aqsa

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:18:39 +0200

16-5-2013Extremist rabbi Yisrael Ariel stormed the holy Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday at the head of a group of Jewish settlers.
Jerusalemite sources said that groups of Jewish settlers stormed the Aqsa mosque via the Maghareba gate and strolled inside it under heavy police escort.Worshipers and Quran students inside the mosque chanted Allahu Akbar to protest the tour.For his part, Mahmoud Abu Atta, the spokesman for the Aqsa Foundation for endowment and Heritage, said that 32 settlers broke into the Aqsa mosque in three groups and toured its plazas and attempted to offer Talmudic rituals.Abu Atta said that the Israeli police forces tightened security measures in and around the holy site and took shots of worshipers and students.Tension is running high in occupied Jerusalem and the vicinity of the Aqsa mosque in light of the heavy deployment of Israeli police and military forces in anticipation of more such storming by Jewish settlers.Source

Israeli archive file shows that Israel's founder tried to erase Palestinian Nakba

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:15:57 +0200

by Saed Bannoura18-5-2012A new report published in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz describes the information found in a newly-uncovered document in the government archives, which reveals that the first Israeli government, including the first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, worked to re-write the history of Israel's founding in 1948 to deny the fact that over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled.Palestinian refugees in tents 1948 (image by sabbah.biz)The file, number GL-18/17028, was apparently missed by the Israeli military censor, who has sealed all other historical documents related to Israel's creation in 1948. With the advent of historians like Benny Morris, who went through previously de-classified documents in detail and found strong evidence of massacres of Palestinians by Israeli armed militias as well as the forced expulsion of most of the indigenous population of Palestine in 1948, documents that had been de-classified were sealed again and remain so until today.There are currently no guidelines or timeline as to when the documents will be unsealed. However, the one file that the government censor missed has a great deal within it on the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), the 65th anniversary of which was marked by Palestinians and their supporters just this past Wednesday.According to the Ha'aretz expose, “what has been uncovered provides enough information to establish that in many cases senior commanders of the Israel Defense Forces ordered Palestinians to

'Nothing forbidden for them, but nothing allowed for us'

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:12:05 +0200

14-5-2013Settlers from the illegal colony of Shilo set fire to land belonging
to the nearby village of Qaryut. Around 25 families own land in this
area. The land contained wheat crops and olive trees and is next to land
previously stolen by settlers, which they had been cultivating for
themselves only two days before.
Illegal Shilo settler Moshka takes pictures of his handiwork, torching Palestinian land (Photo by Qaryut villagers)
Red Crescent paramedics went to the scene of the fires at around 6pm,
where many villagers had already arrived hoping to put out the fires.
However they were prevented from doing so by four settlers and half a
dozen soldiers who had turned up to protect the settlers. Villagers were
made to stand and watch their future harvest go up in flames. With the
fires building up they had nothing to do but argue in vain with the
soldiers about the gross immorality of the situation.
The settlers present also prevented the fire from spreading on to the
annexed land they have been cultivating. It was clear to see the fires
had been deliberately lit as there were many separate fires in a close
range, rather than one large fire spreading on the overcast and wet day.
Villagers witnessed Moshka, one of the settlers – (who is a regular
problem causer; his son is a patrolman for the settlement too) – use a
lighter to set fire to their land. The fire was only put out by the
arrival of heavy and atypical rain from a thunderstorm

13 year-old boy shot and beaten by settlers, leg broken

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:05:57 +0200

17-5-2013At about 2pm on 16 May, a 13 year-old boy was shot at and beaten by settlers; he broke bones in his leg running from the shots at him and from being beaten. After falling, the boy was threatened with his life by settlers, but soldiers arrived and stopped the settlers from killing him before threatening the young boy with three guns while he lay injured and immobile on the ground.The young Qaryut boy here has his entire right leg in a cast, expecting potential surgery (photo: ISM)Initial medical attention was not allowed during the time Israeli soldiers had taken the boy into their custody, implying that he would be treated in an Israeli ambulance. However, three hours later, the boy had to be picked up, untreated, by the Red Crescent and taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus.When solidarity activists saw the boy, his entire right leg was wrapped in a cast. Later he described that he was sitting on his land which is close to an illegal Israeli settlement bordering Qaryut and famous for attacks such as olive tree torching. Settlers shot at him and he ran from the shots. When he fell, the settlers beat him and were going to kill him, but soldiers arrived and told the settlers could not. Afterwards, the soldiers also shouted at the boy with guns pointed at him.The boy may undergo surgery for his broken bones.Just two days before this attack, Qaryut faced an olive tree torching attack from another nearby illegal Israeli settlement and the village has a history of well-docum

WATCH: 'My Neighbourhood' - the human impact of settlements in Sheikh Jarrah

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:58:45 +0200

17-5-2013Just Vision’s Peabody Award winning film, My Neigbhourhood (directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi), tells the story of Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian teenager in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah whose family is forced to share a section of their home with Israeli settlers. Mohammed comes-of-age in the midst of unrelenting tension with his neighbors and unexpected cooperation with Israeli allies in his backyard.The struggle against evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah returned this week as the Shamasneh family stands to lose its home, which would be the neighborhood’s first eviction since 2009. An Israeli court is expected to order their eviction on Monday.A number of films from Israel and Palestine have raised international awareness of the occupation and issues developing on the ground this year (5 Broken Cameras and The Gatekeepers). Considering that the Peabody Awards ceremony falls on the same day that the Shamasneh stands to be ordered out of their home, can international attention surrounding My Neighborhood impact reality on the ground?Watch My Neighbourhood in full:Source

Member of Knesset Mordechai Eugev calls for building synagogue inside the Aqsa mosque

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:53:53 +0200

16-5-2013OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Mordechai Eugev, a member of the Israeli Knesset, called on his government to build a synagogue in the Aqsa mosque’s southern area.The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said in a press release on Wednesday that the Israeli escalation against the Aqsa mosque was ongoing, the latest being an article by MP Eugev, a member of the fanatic party Habayit Hayehudi, that called for building a synagogue inside it.The statement coincided with the distribution of a detailed map of the alleged temple by Jewish settlers during their storming of the Aqsa mosque.Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib, deputy leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 occupied Palestine, described the recent storming of the Aqsa as “unprecedented” as far as the quantity and proximity of storming days are concerned.Khatib warned that the Knesset speaker and members’ calls for more such storming were part of new political drive to create a new de facto situation in the holy site.Source

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08 -15 May 2013)

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:26:41 +0200

Hebron – Israeli settlers uproot dozens
of trees in al-Tawani village, east of YattaIsraeli forces continue systematic attacks against Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) · 4 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded during incursions in the West Bank.· Israeli forces have continued to use excessive force against peaceful protestors in the West Bank.- 4 protestors were wounded during peaceful protests against the annexation wall and settlement activities.- 2 photojournalists volunteering in B'Tselem and a paramedic were among the wounded persons.· Israeli forces conducted 61 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.- 47 Palestinian civilians, including 13 children and a woman, were arrested in the West Bank.- A number of university students and members of Palestinian security services were among the arrested persons.· Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the oPt and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.- Karm Abu Salem crossing was closed for 2 days due to Jewish holidays.- Israeli forces established dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank.- A Palestinian civilian was arrested at a checkpoint in the West Bank.· Israeli forces have continued to support settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.- Israeli authorities issued more house demolition notices in area (C).- An agricultur

Clashes break out across the West Bank as Palestinians mark the Nakba

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:22:05 +0200

by Allison Deger16-5-2013Clashes broke out across the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem,
yesterday as Palestinians marked the 65th anniversary of the Nakba.
Nakba, or “catastrophe,” refers to the displacement of over 750,000
Palestinians and destruction of over 500 villages during the founding of
the state of Israel.
In the West Bank, Palestinians mobilized outside of Ofer prison,
where last year over 1,000 demonstrated. This year numbers dropped, with
only 300 taking part in the actions outside of Israel’s military prison
and court, and location of a mass detainee hunger strike last year. The
Israeli military fired tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring over 50
protesters. Emergency medics with the Red Crescent Society also reported
one demonstrator was shot in the leg with live-fire. Palestinians
burned tires and tree branches, and used sling-shots to throw stones and
a handful of Molotov cocktails.

Protesters burn tires outside of Ofer prison.

Prostesters flee from tear gas fired by the Israeli military outside of Ofer prison.
In Jerusalem clashes took place at the Damascus Gate entrance to the
Old City. Israeli border police fired tear gas and used a water cannon
on some 200 protesters. Inside Israel, Palestinians also held a
demonstration in Jaffa at the clock tower, the location of weekly events
in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.
Most protesters seemed to expect a low turnout. For the pas

Warnings of a new Nakba threatening Al-Aqsa Mosque

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:17:40 +0200

15-5-2013
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– A senior Palestinian official called for protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque from a “new Nakba” threatening it due to the occupation practices that aim to impose Jewish control over it in preparation to demolish it and build the alleged temple on its ruins.Yousef Edais, head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic courts in Palestine, called on the residents of Jerusalem and the 1948-occupied territories to intensify their presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to confront the repeated raids into its courtyards by the settlers and the extremist Jewish groups.Edais said in a statement on Wednesday that Al-Aqsa Mosque has been witnessing daily raids by Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, warning of attempts to divide it as they did in the Ibrahimi Mosque.He warned of a scheme made by settlers’ leaders and senior Jewish rabbis to divide Al-Aqsa; stressing that it is a purely Islamic endowment and that the Jews have no right in it.Source

Haneyya's government: PLO announcement to freeze negotiations was false

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:15:05 +0200

15-5-2013GAZA, (PIC)– Palestinian government in Gaza condemned reports stating that a number of PLO officials have conducted secret negotiations with Israel, considering it a continuation of “waiving the Palestinian rights.”
The government said in a statement following its weekly meeting on Tuesday in Gaza: “The announcement of the [Palestine] Liberation Organization to freeze the negotiations with the occupation was false,” and warned of going too far in giving up the national rights.It has also condemned the attacks carried out against the Turkish village of Rihaniyya and which claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people.The Palestinian government in Gaza saluted the Palestinian people who commemorate the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Nakba, stressing that the people are holding onto their land and legitimate rights and will never relinquish any part of their land, despite the occupation crimes.The government strongly condemned the persistent abuses by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers against the city of Jerusalem as well as the religious icons and leaders, in reference to the arrest of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.It also warned of the occupation attempts to enact a law that allows Jews to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and considered it a flagrant infringement on the sanctity of the mosque, which belongs to Muslims.Source

The Nakba revisited

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:12:01 +0200

By Khalid Amayreh15-5-2013
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the violent usurpation and occupation of Palestine by Zionist Jewish invaders coming from around the world. The seizure of Palestine can be considered as one of the greatest acts of theft in the history of mankind. Israel itself therefore is a gigantic war crime and a crime against humanity.Thanks to the infamous Balfour declaration of 1917, Palestine, an Arab country since the seventh century, was given by another country (Britain) to a third people (the Jews) without even consulting the native people of the country.According to the British Philosopher Bertrand Russell:” The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was ‘given’ by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state.”In fact, it can be safely argued that the West, particularly Britain, committed the original sin by envisaging, planning and implanting Israel in the heart of the Arab world in order to protect its colonial and imperialistic interests.In 1905, Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman invited the Western Imperial powers for conference which continued until 1907.The conference of the thieves recommended the establishment of ” a state on the lands of Palestine, to serve as an advanced base for the covetous colonialists, and protect their interests, implement their plans and schemes and ensure the outflow of natural resources from the region, as well as the impo

PCBS: Israel controls 85% of historical Palestine

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:06:51 +0200

16-5-2013RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Jewish terrorist gangs seized 774 Palestinian villages and cities and committed 70 massacres that reaped the lives of 15,000 Palestinians in 1948 to create Israel, Palestinian official statistics revealed.About 800 thousand Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homelands to the West Bank, Gaza, and the Diaspora in addition the expulsion of thousands from their homes and villages but they remained in 1948-occupied Palestine, a press release issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated.The percentage of refugees reached 44.2% of the total population in 2012, while UNRWA has reported 5.3 million Palestinian refugees mid 2013 (45.7% of the Palestinian population), the press release noted.The statistics revealed that 59% of the Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, while 17% in the West Bank, and 24% in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 29 % of the Palestinian refugees are currently in 58 camps, where there are 10 camps in Jordan, 9 camps in Syria, 12 camps in Lebanon, and 19 camps in the West Bank, in addition to 8 refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.During the Nakba, there were 1.37 million Palestinians while the number has multiplied 8.5 times to reach 11.4 million Palestinians worldwide in 2012.The statistics pointed out that about 5.8 million Palestinians live in the Palestinian historical territories (from the river to the sea) in 2012, expecting that their number will reach 7.2 million by the end of 2020.Gaza

Het geduld met Israel raakt op

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:03:45 +0200

door Harm Ede Botje16-5-2013

Het Palestijnse dorp Beit Oala, 6 mei: Israëli’s ontwortelen olijfbomen en vernietigen waterbronnen. Foto: ANPNu de bouw van nederzettingen maar doorgaat, groeit het ongenoegen met Israël. ‘De tijd van pappen en nathouden is voorbij.’ Een eerbiedwaardig adviesorgaan raadt actie aan.‘Ik vind het een uitstekend rapport,’ zegt Désirée Bonis, oud-ambassadeur te Syrië en PvdA-woordvoerder buitenlandse zaken. ‘Dit rapport heeft de schoonheid van de studeerkamer,’ aldus haar VVD-collega Han ten Broeke in het Nederlands Dagblad. ‘En dat is precies waar het thuishoort.’De twee coalitiepartijen staan weer eens recht tegenover elkaar. Dit keer gaat het om de verhoudingen met Israël. Aanleiding is het rapport van de Adviesgroep Internationale Vraagstukken, een onafhankelijk orgaan dat de regering en de Staten-Generaal adviseert over het buitenlandse beleid. In oktober vorig jaar vroeg de Eerste Kamer (in de Tweede Kamer was er destijds geen meerderheid voor) het AIV om een advies over mogelijkheden die er voor Nederland zijn om bij te dragen aan vrede tussen de Israëli’s en de Palestijnen. Het AIV kwam daarop onlangs met het rapport Tussen woord en daad, waarin een geheel nieuwe kijk wordt gegeven op de Nederlands-Israëlische verhoudingen, zeker na de jaren dat de ministers Maxime Verhagen en Uri Rosenthal aan het roer stonden bij Buitenlandse Z

Palestina nieuws

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:51:10 +0200

Klik op de link en lees Palestina Nieuws, nr. 2 jaargang 1. Een uitgave van Khamakar PressPalestina Nieuws

Justitie laat het erbij zitten: Nederlandse bouwer aan de Muur in bezet gebied wordt niet vervolgd

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:31:34 +0200

15-5-2013

Kraanverhuurder Riwal wordt niet vervolgd voor betrokkenheid bij de bouw van de Israëlische 'Afscheidingsmuur' op de Westelijke Jordaanoever, zo heeft het Nederlandse openbaar ministerie bekend gemaakt. Volgens het OM staat vast dat het bedrijf uit Dordrecht dat in Israel en diverse andere landen optreedt onder de naam Lima, hoogwerkers en kranen heeft verhuurd voor werk in de door Israel bezette gebieden. Maar volgens justitie zou 'gecompliceerd verder onderzoek' nodig zijn om vast te stellen of dat betekent dat Riwal zich schuldig heeft gemaakt aan oorlogsmisdaden. Het openbaar ministerie besloot daarvan af te zien, mede omdat Riwal/Lima 'verreikende stappen heeft genomen om te stoppen met haar activiteiten in Israel en de bezette gebieden'.De mensenrechtenadvocate Liesbeth Zegveld van Böhler advocaten had in 2010 een dubbele aangifte jegens het Dordse bedrijf gedaan namens de Palestijnse mensenrechtenoganisatie Al Haq. De Nationale Recherche deed in hetzelfde jaar een inval in het bedrijf, waar het onder meer delen van de boekhouding meenam. Volgens de aangifte van advocaat Zegveld had het bedrijf zich schuldig gemaakt aan oorlogsmisdrijven en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid. Het Internationaal Gerechtshof in Den Haag legde in 2004 in een uitspraak vast dat de bouw van de 'Muur' die Israël in Palestijns gebied bouwt in strijd is met het internationaal recht. Ook sprak het Hof toen uit dat de nederzettingen in bezet gebied illegaal

Herdenking 65 jaar NAKBA II

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:21:07 +0200

15-5-2013
Op het spandoek staat: 'De terugkeer naar onze huizen is een heilig recht, het is niet vatbaar voor verjaring' (Foto Ma'an).Vandaag 15 mei was het dus echt 65 jaar geleden dat de staat Israel werd gesticht. Voor de Palestijnen de Yom al-nakba, Dag van de catastrofe, waarop elk jaar de verdrijving van 750.000 mensen wordt herdacht. Tienduizenden namen deel aan optochten op de Westoever, in Gaza en in Libanon. Op de Westoever loeiden de sirenes woensdagmorgen en waren er optochten in Nablus, Hebron en Jeruzalem, terwijl op sommige plaatsen zoals in Bethlehem al een dag eerder herdenkingen waren gehouden.Op veel plaatsen waren botsingen. In Hebron werd een molotov-cocktail gegooid naar een militaire jeep, die daarna omsloeg en uitbrandde. Vier soldaten raakten gewond. In Jeruzalem raakten drie agenten gewond nadat ze een vreedzame menigte hadden bestormd bij de Damascus-poort. Er was een onbekend aantal gewonden onder de Palestijnen en er werden veel arrestaties verricht.Bij de Ofer-gevangenis viel een 15-tal gewonden on de Palestijnen nadat ze met rubber-kogels en traangas waren bestookt. In Qalandiyya vielen eveneens flink wat gewonden en in het christelijke dorp Al-Khadr waren het er minimaal 17.Optocht in Naqoura (Libanon) op 14 mei. 'Het volk wil terug naar Palestina' staat er op het doek. (Foto Al-Akhbar, Beirut) .

Nakba optocht naar het E1 gebied tussen Jeruzalem en de nederzetting
Ma'aleh Adumim. de man op de voorgrond draagt een grote namaak-sleutel,

Radwan calls for confronting Israeli provocations in Jerusalem

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:16:46 +0200

15-5-2013Dr. Ismail Radwan, Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, called on the Islamic and Arab leaders and international organizations to urgently move to stop the Israeli religious provocations in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa mosque.
Radwan warned of the Israeli attempts to ignite a religious war in the region through escalating attacks in occupied Jerusalem.He called for reinforcing the national unity and to stop security coordination and the absurd negotiation with the occupier in order to put an end to the Israeli Judaization schemes.Radwan warned of the repercussions of the Israeli attempts to divide al-Aqsa mosque between Muslims and Jews similar to what has happened in the Ibrahimi mosque.He held the occupation fully responsible for its attempts to falsify the historical monuments and to Judaize and obliterate the Arab and Islamic monuments.The repeated Israeli raids, the demolitions in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the excavations, the occupation’s intention to establish projects, synagogues and a bridge near the Mughrabi Gate, and the demolition of houses in Buraq square, are systematic steps for the Judaization of Jerusalem, he added.He noted that the occupation authorities allocated $6 million to escalate the Israeli settlement in Jerusalem to mark the so-called “Jerusalem Day”.About 40 Jerusalemites were deported and 150 others were arrested during March. The occupation tightened its restrictions on Palestinian worshipers and students’ entry into al-Aqs

UN Expert Warns Against East Jerusalem Settlement Highway

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:13:39 +0200

15-5-2013An independent U.N. expert Monday urged Israel to stop building a settlement highway that would bisect a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem.

The “Begin Highway” would negatively affect about 9,300 people in the Beit Safafa neighborhood, which has been under Israeli control since 1967, U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Falk said in a statement released by the United Nations in New York.“The projected six-lane highway extending 1.5 kilometers (about 1 mile) will do irreparable damage to the community, cutting off local roads and blocking access to kindergartens, schools, health clinics, offices, and places of worship,” Falk said.“The residents of Beit Safafa, who were not consulted at any stage of the planning, will be placed in an absurd situation where places within their own community — previously accessible within 10 minutes’ walk — would require travel by car on bypass roads and a bridge.”Falk said the purpose of the highway to to allow the annexation of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and allow for further expansion of Israel’s settlements around East Jerusalem.“Companies taking part in the construction of the illegal highway in Beit Safafa, under the auspices of the Moriah Jerusalem Development Co. and their implementing partner, D.Y. Barazani Ltd., must be held responsible,” he said.The project was started in September and a petition by affected residents was rejected in Jerusalem District C

ICC investigating Israel's attack on Gaza Freedom Flotilla MaviMarmaraâ

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:10:49 +0200

15-5-2013On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens, including a teenager with Turkish-US dual citizenship, on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.
An Israeli speedboat escorts the Mavi Marmara near the port of Ashdod on May 31, 2010.The International Criminal Court says it has launched a preliminary investigation into Israel’s deadly attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010 to see if war crimes or crimes against humanity had been committed.“My office will be conducting a preliminary examination in order to establish whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met,” ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement issued on Tuesday.On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens, including a teenager with Turkish-US dual citizenship, on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.Bensouda said she had met Turkish lawyers who are representing the African state of Comoros, which referred the case to the court based in The Hague, Netherlands.The Mavi Marmara was registered in the Indian Ocean island country, which is a member of the ICC.“After careful analysis of all available informati

Jerusalem Conference: Stop Israeli's desecrating of Al-Aqsa

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:51 +0200

15-5-2013Gaza- Islamic Jerusalem Conference called on Monday on a press release the UN Security Council and the Secretary General of the United Nations to stop Israeli settlers and Jewish extremists ‘ desecrating of Al- Aqsa Mosque.“Any attack against Al-Aqsa Mosque or violation of its sacredness will have grave impacts on the regional and international arena,” Izzat Jaradat, Secretary General of the Islamic Jerusalem Conference, stated.The statement called on the UN and the United Nation Secretary Council to take immediate steps to stop Israeli’s violations of the sacredness of Al Aqsa Mosque, stressing on the Jordan’s duty to defend Al Aqsa .It also emphasized on the Islamic feature of Jerusalem and to resist Israeli Judaizing plan .Israeli settlers stormed Al Aqsa Mosque courtyards last week under Israeli intensive security measures.Source

No to Arab Sell-Out 2.0! Right Of Return Coalition calls For Unity, Rejects Arab Initiative

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:42:47 +0200

by Saed Bannoura14-5-2013The International Palestinian Right of Return Coalition issued a press release marking the 65th anniversary of the Nakba of 1948, and called on all Palestinian factions to achieve unity and to remain steadfast without abandoning the legitimate Palestinian rights, topped by the Right of Return of the refugees to their homeland, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The coalition, that includes twenty institutions and rights groups, said “as the Palestinians mark the Nakba day, when Israeli armed forces displaced hundreds of villages and towns displacing an attire population before Israeli was established in the historic land of Palestine in 1948, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank must denounce any attempt to void the Right of Return.”It added that the leadership must denounce the Arab League for suggesting land swap with Israel, and for sending a delegation to Washington to discuss the issue, and stated that the internationally guaranteed Palestinian rights of Return and independence are nonnegotiable.The coalition stated that the Arab League and its Arab Peace Initiative must quit granting Israel free concessions, must withdraw their initiative, and focus their efforts on supporting the resistance and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people facing the ongoing Israeli occupation and aggression.It further called on all Palestinian factions to reject all attempts that aim at forcing

For West Bank protesters, legal knowledge is power

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:33:20 +0200

by Raghad Jaraisy14-5-2013Anyone who’s been to a checkpoint or a protest in the West Bank knows how arbitrary military rule can be. For the activist on the ground, some specific knowledge of the occupation’s byzantine legal framework can make a real difference.IDF soldiers clash with demonstrators in Nabi Saleh, December 11, 2011 (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)Youtube is rife with videos of daily life in the West Bank – home demolitions, violent suppression of protests, unchecked settler violence, arbitrary arrests, etc. But this video, from the organization Ta’ayush, is a little different. If other videos play out like action films, this one is more of a drama. No fisticuffs, no bulldozers, no tear gas or rubber bullets. It’s just talking. The army personnel barely even raise their voices. So what’s happening in this video?A soldier walks up to a group of activists and tells them they are in a closed military zone. An activist asks, “Who issued the order?” and the commanding officer answers, “the general.”“The general?”“My mistake,” says the commanding officer, “it was the brigade commander. There’s an order-”“I’d like to photograph the order.”“You can’t photograph the order. You can see the order.” The commander then tells the group they have five minutes to leave the area because it’s a closed military zone. The activists ask to see the order, and the officer shows it to them (and us). It’s signed by “Dan.”“Who’s

Despite efforts to erase it, the Nakba's memory is more present than ever in Israel

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:25:42 +0200

by Noam Sheizaf14-5-2013The Israeli Right has been waging a war on history in recent years, using extreme measures to remove evidence of the Nakba from the national discourse. It failed.A
Palestinian photographer stands during a minute of silence
commemorating the Nakba at a ceremony held by Palestinian and Israeli
students at the entrance to Tel Aviv University. Right-wing activists
protesting the ceremony and policemen are seen in the background. May
13, 2013 (photo: Yotam Ronen / Activestills)Yedioth Hakibbutz is the weekly magazine of the United Kibbutz Movement. It is delivered every week to hundreds of Kibbutzim as part of the weekend edition of Yedioth Ahronoth, the best selling paper in Israel. Even at a time of diminishing political influence – there is not a single representative of the United Kibbutz Movement in the current Knesset – the Kibbutzim remain both a symbol and a stronghold of conservative Zionism, and the mainstream tone of Yedioth suits them well.Three months ago, there was an unusual story on the cover of Yedioth Hakibbutz. The front page read: “We expelled, blew up and killed.” Inside the magazine was a three-page interview with Kibbutz Degania member Yerachmiel Kahanovich, a former fighter in the Palmach (the Jewish underground that preceded the IDF), in which Kahanovic confessed to his part in the expulsion and murder of Palestinians during the war of 1948.Several months earlier, Kahanovich was interviewed as part of a project by

Auto's verbrand en moskee beklad in Noord-Israel

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:13:10 +0200

14-5-2013
Onbekenden hebben maandagnacht drie auto's in brand gestoken en graffiti achtergelaten op eeen moskee in het plaatsje Umm al-Qutuf in de Wadi Ara, ten zuiden van Haifa in Israel. Op de moskee stond 'prijskaart' geschreven en 'Eviatar', ongetwijfeld een verwijzing naar de kolonist Eviatar Borovsky uit de nederzetting Yitzhar, die twee weken geleden werd doodgestoken bij een bushalte op de Westoever. Kolonisten hadden eerder vlak bij de plek van de moord een nieuwe 'outpost' opgericht, maar die is intussen op last van de militaire commandant van de Westoever weer afgebroken.Op dezelfde dag dat in Umm al-Qutuf vernielingen werden aangericht, werd ook racistische graffiti aangetroffen op een andere plek, namelijk in Safed, op een huis waar twee Arabische studentes wonen als onderhuursters. Daar stond onder meer 'Arabieren eruit' en 'hoeren'.Bron

Herdenking 65 jaar NAKBA

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:09:32 +0200

15-5-2013
Palestijnse zowel als Joodse studenten van de universiteit van Tel
Aviv hebben op 13 mei, tegen de wil van de de universiteit, voor het
gebouw een herdenking gehouden van de Nakba - de catastrofe van de
verdrijving van de Palestijnen - die 65 jaar gelden op 15 mei 1948 werd
bekroond met het uitroepen van de Staat Israel. De foto werd genomen op
het moment dat een minuut stilte werd gehouden. Op de achtergrond is nog
net een beetje zichtbaar dat ook een tegendemonstratie werd gehouden
door nationalistische jongeren met veel Israelische vlaggen en
Davidsterren. Foto Oren Ziv/Activestills.org.

In het dorp Husam en in het Deheishe vluchtelingenkamp - allebei in
de vuurt van Betlehem op de Westoever - werden maandag
herdenkingsoptochten gehouden. De deelnemers werden in beide gevallen
tegengehouden door het leger en de grenspolitie, zoals hier te zien is
op de foto uit Husam. Foto Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org.Source

Conference for refugees held in Gaza

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:06:08 +0200

14-5-2013A conference for Palestine refugees has been held in Gaza to mark the 65th anniversary of the historic Nakba Day, Press TV reports.Leaders of Palestinian factions and representatives from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt attended the conference, entitled “United for Return.”Following the establishment of the Israeli regime in 1948, some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland because of the threat of being massacred. Palestinians commemorated the dispossession as Nakba.Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Palestinian refugees around the world “assert their adherence to the right of return” on Nakba Day. “The children and the grandchildren of the refugees will never give up the land of their ancestors, we will never give up an inch of Palestine not even a grain of sand from the land of Palestine,” he added.The conference highlighted the right of return for thousands of Palestinian refugees who live in the Middle East and around the world.It also emphasized the rejection of the Israeli regime’s resettlement or compensation as a substitute for the Palestinian refugee’s right of return.Maram al-Madhoun, the conference spokeswoman, said the conference was organized to send a message to the world that the Palestinians have the right for return to their own villages and towns.Organizers also said that the conference aimed to form a coalition of media and law organizations which are interested in refugees affairs and Pales

Qabalan and Talfit show their lives under occupation

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:11:05 +0200

13-5-2013Israeli occupation has created different problems for Talfit and Qabalan. Talfit is proud of its history and wants to protect it from Israeli army night incursion that seeks to appropriate it, as Qalaban struggles to provide water to its population.Old olive presser in TalfitTalfit is a village situated south of Nablus, in a valley rich with olive fields. A village proud of its history, especially for its role in the resistance during the 1st and 2nd Intifadas. This resistance resulted in the village being collectively punished with arrests and house demolitions, including the house of a present member of the village council who witnessed those importance struggles of resistance.In the last months, weekly night incursions by Israeli occupation forces took place in Talfit, provoking concerns from the inhabitants. During these incursions the soldiers have been very interested in the old buildings of Talfit. Antiques such as jars and ploughs have been taken from the village by the army. Larger structures such as old buildings containing milestones and olive presses are photographed by the soldiers during these incursions where they have also been known to write Hebrew and draw the Star of David on the walls and doors of the buildings.These incursions are of concern for the villagers who worry that their purpose is to try and appropriate their history, which could lead to future problems. Israel has in the past used the appropriation of Palestinian history and cult

Israel detains ex-prisoner freed in Shalit deal

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:07:11 +0200

13-5-2013Israeli forces on Sunday morning detained a former prisoner who was released from jail in a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas in 2011, locals said.

Israeli forces took Tahrir Sati al-Qinna, 35, and her brother Saddam, 25, to an unknown location after raiding their village, Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Soldiers raided the village at 3 a.m., locals said.The brother and sister are affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was looking into the report.Israel has re-arrested over a dozen former prisoners it released under the terms of a deal to free captured soldier Gilad Shalit in October 2011.Separately, Israeli forces raided the Rafedia neighborhood west of Nablus and detained 42-year-old Omar Abdul-Rahim al-Hanbali.A relative told the Tadamun (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights that large numbers of Israeli troops ransacked al-Hanbali's house late Saturday and took him to Huwwara detention center.Al-Hanbali is a pharmacist, according to Ahmad al-Bitawi of Tadamun.He highlighted that al-Hanbali's brother Muhammad, an engineer and prominent leader within Hamas' military wing, was assassinated by Israeli forces in 2003.Source

Recognition and justice is our demand

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:57:26 +0200

by Jorahah Baker13-5-2013This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from th

Army Kidnaps Several Palestinians In The West Bank

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:10 +0200

by Saed Bannoura13-5-2013Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Monday at dawn, several Palestinians, including an imam of a local mosque, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, after violently breaking into their homes and searching them. Armed clashes and injuries have been reported in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the army invaded the Orif village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and kidnapped one resident identified as Ahmad Fawzi Shihada, 22, and handed his parents a warrant ordering his brother to head to a military base for interrogation.Also, the army kidnapped Sheikh Waleed Mohammad Al-Haj, the Imam if Jalqamous village, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, after breaking into his home and searching it.The army also invaded Sielet Ath-Thaher village, near Jenin, and handed two residents military warrants ordering them to head to the Salem military base for interrogation. The two have been identified as Ehab Sadeeq Rahhal and Nathmi Taiseer Abu Diak.Soldiers also invaded Al-Fandqoumiyya and Ar-Ro’ya areas, in Qabatia town, near Jenin.Troops also invaded the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, kidnapped two Palestinian identified as Raed Amin Dhabaya, 36, and Mohammad Amer Zobeidy, 38, and took them to an unknown destination.Local sources reported that more than twenty military vehicles invaded the camp, approximately at 2 after midnight, and fi

Een 'Newseum' dat die naam dus niet verdient

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:48:54 +0200

13-5-2013
Mahmoud al-Koumi (l) en Hussam SalamaDe twee 'terroristen'van Al-Aqsa tv van Hamas die in november door Israel werden vermoord. Ik had nog nooit van het Newseum gehoord. Het schijnt een soort museum te zijn in Washington DC, waar journalisten die bij de uitoefening van hun functie zijn 'gesneuveld' worden geëerd met een een foto en een korte beschrijving van wie ze waren en hoe ze aan hun einde kwamen. Een mooi initiatief natuurlijk, zo blijft de vergetelheid hen bespaard.
De auto waarin Koumi en Salama zaten. Het Newseum had in zijn collectie ook Mahmoud al-Koumi en Hussam Salama opgenomen, twee journalisten van Al-Aqsa tv in Gaza die tijdens de laatste grote aanval van Israel op Gaza, Cast Lead, werden gedood met een raket op hun auto die duidelijk was gemarkeerd met het opschrift "press'' op het dak. Ze werden overigens gedood tijdens een reeks Israelische aanvallen op persbureaus en tv-ploegen, waarbij kantoren werden beschadigd en een Libanese journalist beide benen kwijtraakte.Maar het Newseum had de twee Aqsa-journalisten nog niet aan hun collectie toegevoegd, of er kwamen hevige protesten van de Israel-claque. Die betoogde dat de twee nooit journalist geweest konden zijn, maar terroristen waren. Al-Aqsa-tv was immers van Hamas. En dat zegt natuurlijk genoeg.Nog een dag of wat hield het Newseum dapper stand, maar vandaag is het dan toch door de bocht gegaan en bezweken voor de druk. In een verklaring zegt het Newseum:Serious questions have been

Palestinian celebrity gets the 'Jewish sticker' at Ben-Gurion Airport

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:43:49 +0200

by Ami Kaufman13-5-2013On the one hand it’s obvious the young man has just made my life easier by putting on the sticker for Jews. On the other hand, it’s one of the things that it’s hard to say thanks for. I mean, thank you for not considering me a terrorist any more? — Actress Mira Awad’s tale of Israeli airport security.Actress Mira Awad (Urga41/CC)Palestinian Christian singer Mira Awad, a celebrity in Israel who has participated in the Eurovision, the Israeli version of “Dancing with the Stars” and is also known for her role in Sayed Kashua’s television sitcom “Arab Labor,” posted the following status on her Facebook page today: So, I was checked at the airport, they asked the questions, put the stickers on, and I proceeded to the X-Ray machine. Suddenly, the young security man comes to me: “Mira? Mira Awad?” Me: “Yes?” Security man: “Can I see your passport? There’s a mistake with the sticker.” I almost told him: “No, you’re not mistaken, I see you put the right one on — the sticker for Arabs”, but I didn’t say that (security people have their humor extracted during their preparatory course). I gave him my passport, he opens it, takes off the sticker in the passport and on the suitcase and puts on a new one, different, the same color but smaller. Now the dilemma. On the one hand it’s obvious the young man has just made my life easier by

Israeli navy gunboats open heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishermen

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:12:16 +0200

12-5-2013GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli navy gunboats opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats working off the coast of central Gaza Strip on Saturday night.|Local sources told the PIC reporter that the gunboats opened intensive fire at the boats that were fishing off the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.Israeli gunboats occasionally fire at Palestinian fishing boats and impede their work even within the reduced three nautical miles radius.Source

IDF: 'Forbidden zone' in Gaza three times larger than previously stated

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:09:53 +0200

by Noam Sheizaf13-5-2013The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories has clarified that the “forbidden” buffer zone in Gaza strip stretches 300 meters from the fence (the Israeli border), and not 100 meters as it previously announced.Civilians who enter the area risk being shot by the army. In the past, the killing of Palestinians who wandered into the forbidden zone has led to retaliatory rocket launching from the Strip into Israeli territory.The clarification was made following a request by the human rights organization Gisha. Gisha had noticed that the IDF Spokesperson’s messages stated a different distance than did the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which claimed that Gazans are not allowed into an area stretching only 100 meters from the fence. Recently, the army notified Gisha that the forbidden zone is indeed three times larger than previously reported.The army has refused to fully detail the methods it uses to warn farmers and other civilians from wandering into the forbidden zone it declared. A spokesperson for the army has told Gisha that such methods are part of “the opening fire procedures, and cannot be disclosed.”There are over 1.5 million Palestinians living in 141 square miles in Gaza, including the buffer zone, which represents a population density of 11,267 people per square mile. Below you can see a map of the Gaza Strip (click on map for larger scale). The dark green strip represents 500 meters from the Ga

Report: 100 % Of Administrative Detainees Are Former Prisoners

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:46:12 +0200

by Saed Bannoura13-5-2013The Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies and Human Rights reported that all of the Palestinian current administrative detainees, held by Israel without charges, are former political prisoners who have been repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel. File - Image addameer.org Fuad Al-Khoffash, head of the Ahrar Center, reported that Israeli is currently holding captive 218 detainees under Administrative Detention, mainly at the Negev detention camp and Ofer prison, while the rest are held in Majiddo, Hadarim and other prisons.Al-Khoffash added that %80 of the Administrative Detainees are supporters of the Hamas movement, and that some of them spent more than 15 years after being kidnapped and detained numerous times without charges.He said that most of the Administrative Detainees are from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, followed by the northern West Bank city of Nablus.Al-Khoffash said that detainee Ayed Doudeen, from Hebron, spent a total of 15 years in prison, including eight years under Administrative Detention, also detainee Nazeeh Abu ‘Oon, spent 13 years in Israeli prisons, and has been under Administrative Detention since he was kidnapped last time two years ago.Furthermore, the Ahrar center reported that elected former Minister of Detainee, Wasfi Qabha, has been under Administrative Detention since two years, and added that Israel is currently holding captive 13 elected legislators, including nine who are held under Administrative

Violence by settlers

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:41:12 +0200

12-5-2013On Tuesday, 30.4.2013, immediately following the stabbing attack in which a Palestinian killed Evyatar Borovsky, a resident of the settlement Yitzhar, dozens of settlers from Yitzhar began revenge attacks against the adjacent Palestinian villages. Settlers also stoned cars driving on route 60, in the vicinity of the settlement. Two buses carrying Palestinian schoolgirls were stoned in the village Huwarra. Two girls and one of the drivers were lightly injured.B'Tselem volunteers in the villages documented the events with video cameras from their homes and vantage points in the area.Urif:'Asira al-Qibliya:Burin: Some of the footage uploaded was shortened by editing to allow us to upload it swiftly. We will make the full rushes available in the coming hours. The attached material is a small part of the video footage available. It has only reached our office today, as the area was closed by the army on Tuesday.The videos show dozens of youths, mostly masked, descending from the direction of the settlement and throwing stones at the Palestinian villages' peripheral homes. Additionally, the footage shows fires that were started in several locations, in areas where settlers were standing. The footage shows that the security forces present in the area during the attacks did not act with the necessary firmness and efficiency to prevent the attacks, which were to be expected. In some cases, soldiers are seen standing by while settlers throw atones. Soldiers are seen using crow

League chief says no changes to Arab peace initiative

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:36:28 +0200

12-5-2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with top Arab League officials in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2013.(AFP/ Jim Watson)
CAIRO No amendments have been made to the Arab peace initiative proposed in 2002, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said Sunday.A delegation from the Arab League visited Washington in late April to discuss the initiative with US Secretary of State John Kerry, but no amendments to the proposal were made, Elaraby said."The delegation went to Washington to negotiate the initiative, not change it," he said.Following the discussions with Kerry and US Vice President Joe Biden, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, who headed the delegation, said that he backed Obama's proposals for a "comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land" between Israelis and Palestinians.Israel's lead peace negotiator Tzipi Livni praised the "important" concession, but top PLO official Saeb Erekat said minor agreed border modifications were already part of the Palestinian position.The Arab peace initiative was proposed by then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Arab League Summit in Beirut in 2002, and called for comprehensive peace and fully normalized relations between Israel and all 22 Arab states in return for Israel's withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories.The initiative includes the possibility for reciprocal and equal border modifications if agreed upon by both parties. It also calls for a ju

Palestinians in Gaza prepare for the Global March to Jerusalem

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:29:41 +0200

12-5-2013

Head of the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) National
Committee, Prof. Ahmed Abu Halabiya, declared that preparations to
launch the GMJ have started off.
Abu Halabiya said that the GMJ will take
place all over the Gaza Strip, coinciding with marches amongst many
countries of the world. The GMJ aims to defend Jerusalem against the
Israeli endeavors to Judaize both, the Islamic and the Christian holy
places.
These statements were made in the wake
of the primary meeting, which was held by the GMJNC in Gaza, in the
presence of a handful of representatives for the Palestinian factions,
leave alone a group of Islamic elites.
Majed al-Zubda, the spokesperson for the GMJ, said that the success of the 2012 GMJ helped launch the 2013 GMJ.Source

Ahrar: 'Israel Still Holding Captive 13 Legislators, 2 Ministers'

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:23:59 +0200

by Saed Bannoura12-5-2013The Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies and Human Rights reported, Saturday, that Israel is still holding captive 13 democratically-elected legislators, and two government ministers.Detained Legislators - File Ahrar CenterFuad Al-Khuffash, head of the Ahrar Center, stated that Israel is deliberately kidnapping the legislators, releases some and kidnaps them again, similar to what it did with Minister Wasfi Qabha, and legislators Mahmoud Ar-Ramahi and Mohammad An-Natsha.Al-Khuffash said that most of the imprisoned legislators are elderly and suffer various health issues, and that they are not receiving the needed medical attention in prison.Al-Khuffash added that the imprisoned legislators are; Yasser Mansour, Ahmad Attoun, Mohammad Totah, Marwan Barghouthi, Mohammad An-Natsha, Ahmad Saadat, Mahmoud Ar-Ramahi, Fathi Qar’awy, Imad Nofal, Bassem Az-Zaareer, Hatem Qfeisha, Mohammad At-Tell, Hasan Yousef, and that the detained legislators are Wasfi Qabha and Khaled Abu Arafa.He further stated that all legal and human rights groups must act on the international level to secure the release of all elected legislators, ministers and officials, and to end the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinians and their elected representatives. Source

65 Years of Nakba: UK pro-Palestine activists to hold Nakba Day demo

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:19:11 +0200

11-5-2013
British pro-Palestine activists are to hold Nakba Day demonstration in London on May 15, 2013.Pro-Palestine campaigners from across Britain are to stage a protest in London later this week on Nakba Day, marking the 65th anniversary of evicting Palestinians from their homes by Israelis.The demonstration is planned to be held at 1 p.m. across Downing Street on Wednesday May 15 in coordination with international rallies around the world.The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will be also hosting a series of Nakba Week events between 11 and 17 May, including a speaking tour by Palestinian rights activist Mousa Abu Maria in Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Dublin.Another protest rally dubbed “End the ongoing Nakba-Palestine’s catastrophe” and organized by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), will be held outside the British Parliament on May 18.Palestinians refer to the May 15, 1948, occupation of Palestine as the “Nakba Day,” which means the Day of Catastrophe in Arabic, to mark the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland almost 65 years ago.Israeli forces have wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees hoping for an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.On May 13 last year, Palestinians commemorated Nakba Day outside Downing Street in London, carrying placards reading, “free Palestine,” “end ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem

Welcome to the Red Card Israeli Racism campaign

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:16:41 +0200

1-5-2013We call for removal of the 2013 UEFA U21 finals from IsraelThe Israeli government violates international law and discriminates against Palestinian Arabs through its laws and actions. These actions include ethnic cleansing, restrictions on movement, and limited access to water, health services and education. Palestinian footballers suffer their share of this oppression. They are arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned without charge, cannot travel freely and cannot meet properly for games and training.The United Nations has formally identified this Israeli system as Apartheid. Such institutionalised racism is unacceptable and is not found in any European country. Therefore, Israel does not merit the honour of holding a UEFA competition.Please call on UEFA President Michel Platini to remove the 2013 finals from Israel by signing our petition, by emailing UEFA at info@UEFA.com or writing to UEFA, Route de Genève 46, Case Postale, CH-1260 Nyon 2, Switzerland. Then support your national organisations in their quest for justice for Palestinians.Source

29 mei Amsterdam Israel/Palestina, de andere oplossing

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:13:28 +0200

Israel/Palestina, de andere oplossing
geannuleerd
Het vredesoverleg tussen Israï¿½l en de Palestijnen is al jaren vruchteloos gericht op een zogenoemde twee statenoplossing. Maar inmiddels is 43% van de Westoever door Joodse kolonisten bezet en lijkt het uigesloten dat die grond ooit nog in Palestijnse handen komt.
Is het niet beter dat gekozen wordt voor ï¿½ï¿½n seculiere en democratische staat waarin alle inwoners, ongeacht hun afkomst, dezelfde rechten hebben?
Aan de vooravond van het bezoek van minister Timmermans aan het Midden-Oosten debatteren onafhankelijke deskundigen, prominenten en betrokkenen over deze prikkelende vraag.
Meer informatie volgt.
Gespreksleiding is in handen van Frï¿½nk van der Linden.
Organisatie: Rode Hoed

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (02-08 May 2013)

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:00:07 +0200

Beit
Sahour – Oush Ghorab military site that issued a military order allowing
settlers to establish a new settlement outpost – by Mohammed 'ElianIsraeli forces continue systematic attacks against Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)4 Palestinian civilians were wounded during incursions in the West Bank.Israeli forces wounded 4 civilians while offering protection to Israeli settlers as they carried out attacks.Israeli forces have continued to open fire in the border areas in the Gaza Strip.Israeli forces opened fire at gravel collectors and people picnicking in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. Israeli forces have continued to use excessive force against peaceful protestors in the West Bank.3 protestors were wounded during peaceful protests against the annexation wall and settlement activities.A woman and a 9-year-old girl were wounded during weekly protest in al-Nabi Saleh.Israeli forces conducted 79 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 2 limited incursions into the Gaza Strip.45 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were arrested in the West Bank.Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the oPt and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.Israeli forces established dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank.8 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were arrested at checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.6 civilians were

B'Tselem report delivers blow to narrative that November attack on Gaza was 'surgical'

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:07:45 +0200

by Alex Kane11-5-2013

Palestinians try to extinguish a fire after an Israeli air strike.
(Photo: Mohammed Abed — AFP/Getty Images
“Precise” and “surgical”: those were the buzz words mouthed by the
Israeli army and its supporters to describe the November air assault on
Gaza. But a new report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem calls that narrative into question. The report reveals that over half of Palestinian casualties during Operation Pillar of Defense, the army name for the assault, were civilians.
In the midst of Israel’s attack on Gaza last November--which began
with the assassination of a Hamas leader while truce negotiations were
ongoing--the army claimed it was ensuring limited harm to civilians.
“The IDF goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and to
minimize collateral damage,” the Israeli army’s official blog claimed. A November 14 explanation of the military’s activities on that day says that the “IDF has precisely hit 80 more targets.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that “the targets of Israeli operations are all military. Israeli strikes are conducted in a precise surgical manner.”
That narrative was also pushed by supporters of Israel outside of official state channels. Writing for Foreign Policy magazine,
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Jeffrey White said:
“Based on the relatively low number of Palestinian casualties -- roughly
110 killed, including bot

Weg met de hyprocrisie van de zogenaamd 'goede' Israeli's, Hawking verdient ons respect

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:05:01 +0200

11-5-2013

Tijd om even stil te staan bij de reacties op Stephen Hawking, de beroemde verlamde natuurkundige, die bij nader inzien besloot niet aanwezig te willen zijn bij het verjaardagsfeestje van Israel's president Shimon Peres en de 'President's Conference' zal boycotten. De reacties op dit besluit halen werkelijk de allerlaagste sentimenten boven bij de Israel-claque (ook wel 'hasbaristen'genoemd naar het Hebreeuwse woord hasbara -voorlichting, dat langzamerhand is komen te staan voor pro-Israel-leugens). Columnist Bradley Burston van de Israelische krant Haaretz haalt wat smerige opmerkingen aan, zoals suggereren dat Hawking op een cruise kan worden gestuurd (een referentie aan de Achille Lauro-affaire in de jaren '80, voor wie zich dat nog kan herinneren) zodat hij met zijn rolstoel van het dek in zee kan worden geduwd. (Anderen hadden al iets geroepen over een berg en de handrem los maken).Burston citeert niet de opmerking die op Twitter voorbijkwam, dat Hawking niet eens zijn eigen gat kan afvegen, maar haalt wel weer het specifieke voorbeeld aan van Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, een advocate van de ultrarechtse, zich 'Mensenrechtengroep noemende' organisatie Shurat haDin. Darshan Leitner heeft het erover dat Hawking alleen kan communiceren via een spraakcomputer en en schrijft: "His whole computer-based communication system runs on a chip designed by Israel’s Intel team. I suggest that if he truly wants to pull out of Is

Paving the way to an indivisible Jerusalem

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:56:18 +0200

by Nir Hasson10-5-2013

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday joined Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to dedicate Route 20, a highway that connects Jewish neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem and happens to have an interchange named after the prime minister’s father, historian Benzion Netanyahu.“We are working unceasingly, systematically, to link Jerusalem to itself,” the prime minister declared.The road may turn out to be the most important legacy of both generations of Netanyahus in that, as part of the road network encompassing Jerusalem, it could be the nail in the coffin for plans to re-divide the capital and attach its Arab areas to a future Palestinian state.According to retired Israel Defense Forces Col. Shaul Arieli of the Council for Peace and Security, the construction of the highway constitutes a break with a longstanding policy that left the door open to the re-division of Jerusalem.“Up to now, the development of Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem was based on maintaining and separating Jewish and Palestinian contiguity,” said Arieli, who was a drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. “In Jerusalem, there are two separate cities each of which has had territorial contiguity. That was the mosaic concept of [late Jerusalem Mayor] Teddy Kollek – that the Jewish and Palestinian neighborhoods would be next to each other but not inside each other. This principle was

Palestine suffers 'worst poverty' due to occupation and apartheid

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:53:58 +0200

10-5-2013A United Nations report shows that full 82 percent of Palestinian children in east Jerusalem lived in poverty in 2010 due to Israeli segregation policies.Israeli “segregation policies” have caused deep economic isolation and left more than 80 percent of Palestinian children in east Jerusalem wallowing in poverty, the U.N. said in a report published yesterday.“Palestinian poverty in Jerusalem has risen steadily over the last decade,” the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a statement. A full 82 percent of Palestinian children in east Jerusalem lived in poverty in 2010, a figure that fell to 45 percent for Israeli children in the same area, according to the organization, Agence France-Presse reported.The findings echoed a report issued by an Israeli human rights group earlier this week, lamenting that the city’s Palestinian residents were suffering the “worst [poverty] rate of all time.” The soaring poverty levels were closely linked to the city’s increasing economic isolation, UNCTAD said, maintaining that “segregation policies,” including the building of Israeli separation barrier, had left it “integrated neither into the Palestinian economy nor into the Israeli economy.”Israel insists the barrier is needed for security reasons, but it has met broad international condemnation for carving off large segments of the West Bank, splitting families, separating farmers from their land and slicing east Jerusalem off fr

Despite threats, students to commemorate Nakba at Tel Aviv University

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:14:57 +0200

by Patrick Strickland10-5-2013

Israeli right-wing protesters burn a Palestinian flag in front of
Tel Aviv University during the Nakba day commemoration event last year. (Jaack Guez)Palestinian and Jewish activists will join together to commemorate the ethnic cleansing that led to Israel’s establishment at an event in Tel Aviv University early next week.This will be the second year that students will mark the Nakba — Arabic for “catastrophe,” the name given to the violence by Zionist forces in 1948 — in this way.Students will read poetry, including works by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and a refugee from Tantura, a Palestinian village destroyed by a Zionist militia in May 1948, will recount his story to the audience.“Nakba continues today”Palestinian students who tell their families’ stories “will stress the meaning of the Nakba that continues today,” said Noa Levy, graduate student and organizer. “Whether it’s the relatives in refugee camps who cannot meet them, the economic situation in the towns and villages mostly populated by refugees, or the joint struggle for rights and restitution in Israel.”“Our event is unique [because] it is very public [in] the main square on campus,” said student organizer Dan Walfish.Readings will be delivered in both Hebrew and Arabic, Walfish said, “in order to show that the Nakba is not only a Palestinian issue, but a subject that should be known and commemorated by Jewish Israelis as wel

Disappointing French ruling on Veolia still paves way for suing occupation profiteers

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:09:39 +0200

by Adri Nieuwhof, Jeff Handmaker and Daniel Machover7-5-2013

Israel’s light rail project violates international law because it is designed to serve illegal settlements.Issam Rimawi In March, the Versailles Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal in a long-standing dispute between the Association France-Palestine Solidarite (france-palestine.org) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) against the French corporations Alstom Transport, Alstom and Veolia Transport.The ruling was disappointing in many ways, primarily for refusing to decide the key legal issue as to the companies’ involvement in illegal activities in the occupied West Bank. It is also highly problematic in its interpretation of international legal obligations.However, the court did confirm some important points, most importantly that the PLO can legitimately bring legal actions against companies that violate international humanitarian law, setting a crucial precedent for future actions.The court also confirmed that corporations are valid targets for civil litigation and that the Geneva Conventions and Hague Conventions governing the conduct of war are enforceable in a third-party country’s national court. These points should not be missed by lawyers and the many activists who participate in the global campaign to hold Veolia and Alstom accountable for their roles in a light rail project in occupied East Jerusalem, and other activities that help to embed illegal Israeli settlements on

Say 'thanks' to Stephen Hawking

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:00:19 +0200

by Henry Norr10-5-2013If you want to express your appreciation to Stephen Hawking for his courageous gesture, there's a petition here.It reads: To: Stephen Hawking Thank you for supporting the international call to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, and adherence to the Academic Boycott of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine. We appreciate the courage it takes to stand against apartheid Israel. Sincerely, [Your name]After I signed, the site, change.org, invited me to sign another one: "Pledge your support for President Obama's second-term agenda." Thanks anyway for that one...Source

Israel won't pursue criminal charges despite damning Gaza report

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:56:09 +0200

10-5-2013
BETHLEHEM- The Israeli army said Wednesday it has found no incidents warranting criminal investigations into the conduct of its soldiers during Operation Pillars of Defense, despite a report suggesting its inquiry was lacking.The army’s comments follow reports by Israeli rights group B’Tselem that the army had failed to investigate cases of civilian deaths sufficiently, particularly those where it found the military may have been in violation of international law.“Because the military refuses to provide real information about incidents in which Palestinians who did not take part in the hostilities were harmed, B’Tselem is unable to investigate the lawfulness of each and every military strike during the operation,” a report issued Thursday by the rights group read.In response to the report, the army said the majority of civilian deaths “were as a result of unintended damage connected to an attack against military targets, or alternatively were as a result of operational errors, where civilians were mistakenly identified as terrorist operatives.”B’Tselem found that in some cases, investigations into civilian deaths were not carried out. In response to requests, the army said “no suspicion of a criminal offense or a well-founded suspicion of violation of laws of war by any military entity had been found,” the rights group reported.Some responses were given without accompanying evidence or information to support the army’s conclusion.In some cases

Bedoeienendorp Al-Araqib in de Negev nu voor de 50ste keer gesloopt

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:33:06 +0200

10-5-2013
Al-Araqib in 2009

De eerste keer dat al-Araqib werd gesloopt, in juli 2010.

Bulldozer van de ILA (Israeli Land Administration) in actie in al-Araqib in 2010. Het Bedoeïenendorpje Al-Araqib in de Negev (Naqab) woestijn in Zuid-Israel heeft donderdag een triest record beleefd: het dorp werd voor de 50ste keer in twee jaar tijd omver gehaald door de Israelische autoriteiten. In de Negev zijn zo'n 35 dorpen en kleine stadjes (van de in totaal 46) niet door de Israelische regering erkend, ook al dateert hun bestaan van de voor de stichting van de staat Israel. Deze dorpen zijn niet aangesloten op de waterleiding of het elektriciteitsnet en hebben ook geen aansluiting op het openbaar vervoer.Al-Araqib is één van deze dorpjes. Ongelukkigerwijs heeft het Joods Nationaal Fonds (JNF), één van de instanties die in Israel over het beheer van land gaat, op de plek van Al-Araqib en de bijbehorende grond een bos geprojecteerd. En om daarvoor plaats te maken moest het dorp wijken. De bewoners van Al-Araqib geven de strijd echter niet op. Zoals zij de vorige 49 keer zijn teruggekomen en - vaak met behulp van Israelische activisten - de boel weer hebben opgebouwd, zo zullen zij dat ook nu opnieuw doen, zei Aziz al-Tori, een van de landeigenaren in het dorp. 'We zullen onze huizen opnieuw opbouwen, zelfs al slopen zij ze 1000 keer,' zei hij.
Al-Araqib was niet het enige dorp dat deze week bezoek kreeg van
soldaten en politie. Deze foto van voor hun ei

Het zijn niet alleen moslims die het moeilijk hebben in Jeruzalem

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:29:29 +0200

10-5-2013De afgelopen week was het orthodox Pasen. Christenen in Jeruzalem filmden hoe daarbij door Israelische politiemensen 'de orde werd gehandhaafd' om het feest in goede banen te leiden. Ik beveel dit filmpje vooral warm aan bij diegenen die het afnemen van het aantal christenen in Jeruzalem en de Palestijnse gebieden wijten aan de repressie van moslims. Bron

1 juni Rotterdam, optreden DocJazz

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:31:31 +0200

Nog 1 keertje knallen: laatste Doc Jazz gig 1 Juni, De Unie, Rotterdam:

Wat ik op 1 Juni ga doen, daar wil ik alvast wel iets over verklappen, onder voorbehoud: ik ben van plan op een aantal verschillende instrumenten een solo-act te brengen, hoofdzakelijk Arabische liedjes in de vorm van zang, shibbabeh (Palestijnse fluit) en Oud. Hiermee hoop ik recht te doen aan de Palestijnse folkloristische traditie. Hierna zal ik samen met de band van Sanne de Jong (Sadie Jayne) de gebruikelijke Doc Jazz nummers hopelijk op een spetterende manier van het podium knallen.

Voor meer informatie

Rashid Khalidi en de gespleten tong van de Amerikaanse diplomatie

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:25:07 +0200

7-5-2013Brokers of Deceit, How the US has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, (Bemiddelaars in bedrog, Hoe de VS vrede in het Midden-Oosten tegenwerkte) heet
het jongste boek van Rashid Khalidi, hoogleraar contemporaine Arabische
studies aan de New Yorkse Columbia University. Het gaat, dat zal
duidelijk zijn, over de de Amerikanen de afgelopen decennia hun rol van
'honest broker' opvatten bij het zoeken naar vrede tussen Israel en de
Palestijnen. De titel is keihard, maar de inhoud maakt hem volledig
waar. Khalidi schreef een boek dat op het nachtkastje hoort van
iedereen - politicus of geïnteresseerde -- die nog hoop koesterde op
een positieve Amerikaanse rol en een heropleving van het zogenoemde
'vredesproces'.

Rashid Khalidi (Foto Ellen Rachel Davidson/Mondoweiss)

Na de de internationale vredesconferentie van Madrid van 1991 volgden er
onderhandelingen in werkgroepen in Washington onder leiding van onder
meer de Amerikaanse diplomaten Denis Ross, Daniel Kurtzer en Aharon
David Miller. In die onderhandelingen deed zich een moment voor waarin
de Palestijnen van de top van de PLO in Tunis - die niet mee mocht
vergaderen in Washington maar op de achtergrond wel aan de touwtjes trok
- te horen kregen dat Israel akkoord was gegaan met het stationeren van
Palestijnse troepen op de Westoever en in Gaza om de orde te handhaven.
Het was opvallend nieuws, want het spoorde niet met het feit dat de
onderhandelingen in Wash

Jeruzalem dag II

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:18:31 +0200

9-5-2013

Zo werd Jeruzalem-Dag woensdag gevierd. Ultra-nationalistische jonge
zionisten trokken met grote aantallen Israelische vlaggen - en wat je op
de foto's niet ziet - anti-Arabische leuzen schreeuwend - door Arabisch
Oost-Jeruzalem onder begeleiding van grote aantallen leden van de
grenspolitie.

De Palestijnse inwoners van de Oude stad werden zelf op een afstand gehouden.

Toch waren er nog wel wat botsingen met Palestijnen. Een Palestijnse
fotograaf die dat fotografeerde werd onmiddellijk opgepakt. (Foto's
Activestills.org/Yotam Ronen).

Ook een andere Palestijnse fotograaf werd hardhandig afgevoerd. Dat
gebeurde bij de Damascus Poort (waar ook de bovenste foto is genomen).
Deze foto was van Oren Ziv, een andere fotograaf van Activestills.org.

Oren Ziv werd daarop zelf ook in hechtenis genomen (Foto Yotam Ronen)

De onderste foto (van Ryan Rodrick Beiler van Activestills) laat zien
hoe kolonisten de dag vierden met een fietsrally. Zij namen daarbij de
gehele weg nr 60, de verbindingsweg tussen Jeruzalem en de Westoever, in
beslag. Een jaar geleden wilden leden van de Internationale Solidarity
Movement ook met Palestijnen een fietsrally houden in de Jordaanvallei.
Die rally werd echter hardhandig uit elkaar geslagen. De ene rally is natuurlijk ook de andere niet.

En oh ja, de mufti van Jeruzalem werd gisteren na zes uur ondervraging weer vrijgelaten.
Het parlement van Jordanië stem

Het ABC van de BDS-beweging

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:11:59 +0200

10-5-2013Lezing van Omar Barghouti aan de ULB

“A boycott is withdrawing support for
an evil policy or system”. Dit citaat van Martin Luther King was één
van de vele overtuigingsmiddelen van Omar Barghouti, stichter van de
BDS-beweging, tijdens zijn lezing aan de ULB. Intal nam het initiatief
om deze voorvechter van de Palestijnse zaak in België uit te nodigen,
i.s.m. Comac, BDS-ULB en de JAC. Dankzij zijn heldere uiteenzetting
zullen naderhand niet veel sceptici de zaal verlaten hebben.

De BDS-beweging (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) is opgericht in 2005 en is de grootste Palestijnse coalitie. Zowel de Palestijnse politieke partijen als ngo’s, vrouwenbewegingen, volkscomités, Israëlische organisaties,… maken er deel van uit. De beweging wordt zo breed gedragen aangezien ze gebaseerd is op mensenrechten en het internationaal recht. De slogan “Freedom, Justice, Equality” verbaast dan ook niemand. De doelstellingen van de beweging zorgen voor een samensmelting van de verschillende componenten van de Palestijnse strijd: de Palestijnen met een Israëlische nationaliteit die onder een apartheidsregime leven, de Palestijnen onder militaire bezetting in Gaza en de Westbank en ten slotte de Palestijnse vluchtelingen wereldwijd. Je moet namelijk weten dat

Kabinet stelt etikettering producten Israelische nederzettingen uit

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:07:49 +0200

door Huib Modderkolk4-5-2013

Een Joodse kolonist kijkt naar de nederzetting Maaleh Adumim op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever. Foto AP / Sebastian Scheiner

Voorlopig komt er geen herkomstvermelding op producten uit Israëlische nederzettingen in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden. Het kabinet heeft plannen hiervoor op de lange baan geschoven, om een conflict in de coalitie te voorkomen. Dat zeggen bronnen rond het kabinet tegen NRC Handelsblad.Minister Frans Timmermans (Buitenlandse Zaken, PvdA) presenteerde deze labeling in Nederlandse winkels in maart dit jaar nog als vanzelfsprekend. Timmermans' enthousiasme bleek slecht te vallen in de VVD-fractie. Achter de schermen oefe de ksraeC3%GBl diplomatieke druk uit. Israël vreest dat de%etirettArine een eerste stap is op weg naar een boycot.Aanleiding tot de spanningen was een advies over 'herkomstetikettering' dat het ministerie van Economische Zaken begin maart publiceerde. Daarin stond dat producten uit de Westelijke Jordaanoever, Oost-Jeruzalem en de Golan Hoogvlakte, niet meer het label 'Made in Israel' mogen dragen. Het verbod zou gelden voor onder meer groente en fruit, wijn, olijfolie, vis en cosmetica.Timmermans droeg standpunt 'te enthousiast' uitIn een reactie op het advies noemde minister Timmermans dit toen de Nederlandse lijn: "Als op producten uit nederzettingen staat dat ze uit Israël komen, klopt dat gewoon niet met het internationaal recht." Nu wordt in re

Bakirat: Israeli government officially starts dividing Al-Aqsa Mosque

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:02:42 +0200

9-5-2013
Najeh Bakirat, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, said the Israeli government has officially adopted the project to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque, and started discussing legislations to increase number of Jews who visit Al-Aqsa Mosque.The Hebrew radio revealed that the Knesset began on Wednesday morning to discuss the adoption of a law that allows increasing the number of Jewish settlers who visit Al-Aqsa Mosque.Bakirat pointed, in remarks to Quds Press agency, to the seriousness of this development.“The Arab and Islamic silence, at both the official and public level, regarding the events taking place in the Holy City represents a serious waiver,” he added.Bakirat pointed out that the Israeli attacks did not affect Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem only, but also included arrests of religious icons, referring to the recent arrest of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein.For his part; the Jerusalemite MP Mohammed Abu Teir said that the occupation does not need legal justifications to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque and control it, because it always does whatever it wants to impose a fait accompli.The MP, who was deported to Ramallah, told Quds Press on Wednesday that “the repeated visits to Al-Aqsa indicate that the occupation seeks to impose a fait accompli on the ground, so that it will be able to impose its full control over Al-Aqsa Mosque.”He called on the Jerusalemites and the Palestinians in the 1948-occupied territories to confront the occupation plan

Palestinians March In Jerusalem To Counter Provocative Settler Procession

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:11 +0200

9-5-2013
Settler Wearing Shirt Symbolizing The Demolishing Of the Dome Of The Rock – Image Mohammad QazzazHundreds of Palestinians marched Wednesday in occupied Jerusalem, carrying Palestinians flags and chanting slogans for the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem, to counter a provocative procession by extremist settlers who marched in the city chanting “Death to Arabs”. The Police attacked protesters and reporters, and kidnapped 21 Palestinians.The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the Israeli Police used excessive force against the nonviolent protesters, who marched to counter the provocative procession held by extremist settlers, especially since the settlers chanted racist slogans, including “death to Arabs” and “Jerusalem is ours”. Some settlers even wore shirts carrying prints that symbolize the demolition of the Dome of the Rock Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem.The settlers also attacked dozens of Palestinians, Palestinian shops and property, and called for the expulsion of Arabs and Palestinians from the city.The Police also sprayed the Palestinian protesters with pepper spray, and deliberately attacked a number of Palestinian journalists.Furthermore, the police attacked several Palestinians trying to reach the Al-Aqsa mosque leading to several injuries, including a child, identified as Mohammad Mazaro, 14, who suffered various cuts and bruises.Cameraman Fayez Abu Rmeila was injured after being attacked by several police officers w

22-5 Amsterdam Films en gesprek met Daniel Sherman van B'tselem

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:02:02 +0200

WILD WEST BANK - 46 jaar wetteloosheid in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden

woensdag 22 mei, 20.00 uur
De Balie, Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam
WILD WEST BANK - 46 jaar wetteloosheid in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden, Amsterdam Gate48 organiseert in De Balie een avond waarop videoclips van het cameraproject van B'Tselem worden getoond en er daarna een gesprek plaatsvindt met Daniel Sherman van B'Tselem, de Israëlische mensenrechtenorganisatie die informeert over schendingen van mensenrechten in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden. Voor het cameraproject zijn circa 220 Palestijnse vrijwilligers getraind in het maken van videobeelden. Aan de hand van deze beelden zal gesproken worden over wetteloosheid, illegaliteit en de bezetting - zaken die het bestaan van Israël als liberale, democratische staat op het spel zetten. Tijdens de 46 jaar bezetting heeft Israël, de jure en de facto, een dubbelzinnige en complexe werkelijkheid geschapen waarin Israëli's en Palestijnen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever onderworpen zijn aan een hybride mix van civiele en militaire regels die op een uiterst discriminerende wijze worden opgelegd. Aan de ene kant heeft het Israëlische Hooggerechtshof een aantal uitspraken gedaan die steeds herhalen dat het noodzakelijk is om de rechten te respecteren van Palestijnen die onder bezetting leven. Aan de andere kant echter, worden bestaande voorschriften en uitspraken van het Hooggerechtshof niet of slechts gede

18 MEI BRUSSEL: EUROPEAN DEMONSTRATION TO SUPPORT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND TO COMMEMORATE THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAKHBA

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:59:16 +0200

EUROPEAN DEMONSTRATION TO SUPPORT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND TO COMMEMORATE THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAKHBA

In the name of justice the Palestinian refugees in Europe invite you to participate in A HUGE DEMONSTRATION of SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND AGAINST EUROPEAN POLICY THAT COLABORATES WITH ISRAEL AND
ALLOWS THE PALESTINIAN SUFFERING TO CONTINUE
SATURDAY – MAY 18 – 2 P M : IN FRONT OF THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS – BRUSSELS
- Place du Luxembourg -

FLYER: EUROPEAN DEMONSTRATION TO COMMEMORATE THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NAKHBA

16-5 Amsterdam Lezing van Ihab Saloul over de Nakba

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:53:48 +0200

Lezing door Ihab Saloul over de Nakba Dr. Ihab Saloul zal in zijn lezing het historische verhaal verkennen van de Nakba (Israelische onafhankelijkheid in 1948, of 'de catastrofe' zoals het in Palestina bekend is) en haar betekenis voor de hedendaagse Palestijnse cultuur en politiek. Hoe kunnen we, 65 jaar na dato, de Nakba in het kader van het Palestijns-Israelische conflict begrijpen en in relatie tot de huidige politieke veranderingen in het Midden-Oosten in het algemeen? Ihab Saloul doet een postdoc Cultureel Erfgoed en Identiteit aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, en is gastprofessor Cultuur en Politiek bij het Centrum voor Midden-Oosten en Noord-Afrikaanse politiek van de Freie Universiteit Berlin. Saloul heeft onder andere Catastrophe and Exile in the Modern Palestinian Imagination: Telling Memories (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012) en Zoom In: Palestinian Refugees of 1948, Remembrances (The Republic of Letters, 2011) gepubliceerd.

Amsterdam, 16 mei Filmavond met ‘Roadmap to Apartheid'

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:51:23 +0200

Filmavond met Roadmap to Apartheid, Amsterdam

Wanneer: 16 mei, 19.45 uur
Waar: het Vredescafe, Roelof Hartplein 2, Amsterdam
Op 16 mei organiseert Vrouwen voor Vrede/Amsterdam in samenwerking met het Vredescafe een filmvertoning van de documentaire Roadmap to Apartheid. De twee filmmakers, Ana Noguaira (een blanke Zuid-Afrikaanse) en Eron Davidson (een joodse Israelier), zijn door hun achtergrond zeer betrokken bij de problematiek die zij in hun documentaire laten zien. Roadmap to Apartheid is niet alleen de eerste documentaire die diepgaand onderzoek doet naar de parallellen tussen Zuid-Afrika en de IsraÑ‘lische vormen van apartheid, maar de film biedt het materiaal zo aan dat het duidelijk en toegankelijk is voor een groot publiek. De filmmakers laten verder bijna alle aspecten van de IsraÑ‘lische en Zuid-Afrikaanse apartheid zien die zij met elkaar vergelijken: de mentaliteit van kolonialisme, de gedwongen migratie, de checkpoints, het passenstelsel, de oorspronkelijke bewoners die als vreemden worden behandeld, de boycots, de bulldozers en de Bantustans.

16 - 5 THE LAW IN THESE PARTS op TV Nederland 2 23:50 uur VPRO

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:47:57 +0200

Docu uit 2012 over de werking van de militaire rechtbanken in de bezette gebieden van de Westelijke Jordaanoever.

13 mei tv Docu uit 2012 waarin 6 Shin Bet-hoofden hun verhaal doen.

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:46:44 +0200

Docu uit 2012 waarin 6 Shin Bet-hoofden hun verhaal doen.
Zoals Jaap Hamburger telt: de Palestijnen komen er niet als gelijkwaardige partners in voor. Ze blijven een 'object'.

Zie http://www.joop.nl/opinies/detail/artikel/19781_de_israelische_geheime_dienst_doet_een_half_boekje_open/ en Een Ander Joods Geluid voor meer commentaar.

Police escort settlers at al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:06:28 +0200

9-5-2013

A group of Jewish settlers accompanied by police entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Moroccan Gate early Tuesday, witnesses said.The group of around 40 settlers toured the compound escorted by police officers to commemorate the eve of Jerusalem Day, a national holiday in Israel celebrating the “unification” of the city.Meanwhile special Israeli forces stormed the compound and assaulted worshipers before they detained two young men.A witness told Ma’an that the raid was through the Chain Gate and the Moroccan Gate. He added that the agents forcefully dragged worshipers and sprayed them with pepper spray.Two young worshipers were detained and a third sustained wounds and was taken to a clinic inside the compound for treatment. Several others were treated on the spot.Israeli forces also deployed by the main access gates to the mosque compound, denying all Muslim worshipers under 50 from praying.Female students who study at the compound were also denied access to the mosque.Witnesses told Ma’an that clashes broke out between Israeli forces and women trying to access the mosque, after soldiers verbally insulted the women and pushed them. One woman was taken to hospital for treatment.East Jerusalem is considered occupied Palestinian territory by the international community.The Al-Aqsa compound, containing the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews be

Vechten tegen windmolens?

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:28:15 +0200

door Wendy Koops2-4-2013Veertienhonderd Palestijnen op de Westoever hebben al elektriciteit dankzij de windmolens en zonnepanelen van het Israëlisch-Palstijnse Comet-ME. Verschillende kleine gemeenschappen wachten trappelend op hun beurt. Gooit Israël roet in het eten?Eind december opende de Israëlisch-Palestijnse organisatie Comet-ME (Community, Energy, Technology in the Middle East) een multifunctioneel centrum voor hernieuwbare energie op de Westoever. Voor eind 2013 staat een pilotproject voor betere watervoorzieningen gepland.De door twee Israëlische natuurkundigen opgerichte organisatie gelooft in open source en hoopt de opgedane kennis en ervaring ooit in andere ontwikkelingsgebieden in te zetten. 1,3 Miljard wereldburgers hebben immers geen toegang tot elektriciteit. Aan ambitie en doortastendheid geen gebrek.TegenwerkingComet-ME opereert met name in Area C, een gebied dat 62 procent van de Westelijke Jordaanoever beslaat en volledig onder controle van Israël staat. Er woont maar zo’n zes procent van de Palestijnse bevolking, zonder enige democratische vertegenwoordiging.Het ontwikkelingswerk richt zich op enkele kleine gemeenschappen die nog zo leven als honderd jaar geleden: ze hoeden geiten en schapen en verkopen kaas, yoghurt en boter op de markt in de stad. Dat gebrek aan ontwikkeling komt deels doordat er geen elektriciteit is, hoewel ze op sommige plekken de zoemende kabels bijna kunnen aanraken. Comet-ME probeert hun situatie te verbeteren, eigenlijk de

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (25 April-01 May 2013)

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:33:24 +0200

Israeli
bulldozers demolished 4 houses belonging to the family of Ghaith in al-Tour
neighborhood in occupied JerusalemIsraeli forces continue systematic attacks against Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) Israeli forces extra-judicially executed a member of a Salafi-Jihadist group in the Gaza Strip.Israeli forces have continued to open fire in the border areas in the Gaza Strip.1 child was wounded in the northern Gaza Strip.Israeli forces wounded 4 civilians, including 1 child, while offering protection to Israeli settlers as they carried out attacks.Israeli forces have continued to use excessive force against peaceful protestors in the West Bank.3 protestors were wounded during peaceful protests against the annexation wall and settlement activities.Israeli forces conducted 63 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 3 limited incursions in the Gaza Strip.32 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children, were arrested in the West Bank.Israel has continued to impose a total closure on the oPt and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.Israeli forces closed the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel for 3 days.Israeli forces established dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank.8 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were arrested at checkpoints.Israeli forces have continued activities aimed at creating a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem.3 houses in al-Tour village and al-T

Dertig Nederlandse bedrijven importeren uit Israelische nederzettingen

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:21:53 +0200

door Leonie van Nierop24-4-2013

Een illegale Israëlische nederzetting op de Westelijke Jordaanoever. Foto Reuters / Ronen Zvulun

Zeker achttien Israëlische bedrijven exporteren producten uit de illegale Israëlische nederzettingen naar Nederland. Meer dan dertig Nederlandse bedrijven importeren of verkopen die. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoeksrapport in opdracht van Cordaid, ICCO en IKV Pax Christi dat vandaag verschijnt.In Nederland en Europa wordt al lang gewerkt aan richtlijnen voor de etikettering van producten uit de illegale Israëlische nederzettingen op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever en de Golan Hoogvlakte. Nu staat op die producten meestal: Made in Israel. Dat is volgens consumentenrecht misleiding, al is het apart labelen van die producten nog niet verplicht.Volgens het onderzoeksrapport komen de 'Israëlische' schoonheidsproducten van Ahava, onder andere verkrijgbaar bij de grote keten Kring-apotheek, uit Mitzpe Shalem, een illegale nederzetting op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever. 'Israëlische' cakejes en zoute koekjes van C1000 in Amsterdam? Ook uit de nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns gebied. De 'Israëlische' wijnen Yarden en Gamla, te koop bij De Wijnstok in Delft, komen eigenlijk uit de nederzettingen op de Golan.Exporteren vanuit nederzettingen politiek gevoeligHet specifiek etiketteren van producten uit Israëlische nederzettingen is een politiek gevoelig, maar uiterst actueel thema in Europa, zo bleek vrijdag uit een

9,500 Palestinian children detained by Israel since 2000

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:33:36 +0200

8-5-20139,500 Palestinian children detained by Israel since 2000Palestinian researcher and former prisoner Abdul-Nasser Ferwaneh released statistics on Tuesday showing that Israeli occupation forces have detained around 9500 Palestinian minors since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000.The statistics showed a steady increase in the number of minors detained over the last year. "This increase raises concerns about the future of the Palestinian childhood," Ferwaneh said.Minor detentions, according to the statistics, have been carried out randomly against both individual children and groups. The children are then exposed to different kinds of physical and psychological torture before, during and after the investigations."All confessions taken from them are always false because they are taken under torture and blackmail," Ferwaneh said. "Then, Israeli courts insist on using such confessions."Ferwaneh described the detention centres, saying that "whether before or after their trials, they are kept in detention centres that lack the essential needs of a prisoner."Defying international human rights law, "Israeli occupation forces also use Palestinian minors as human shields."According to the statistics released by Ferwaneh, the annual detention rate of Palestinian minors is 760. Currently there are 243 minors under 18, including 42 under 16 in Israeli jails.These statistics exclude hundreds of adult prisoners who were minors at the time of their detention, "Some of

Jordan summons Israeli envoy over al-Quds protest attack

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:47:21 +0200

8-5-2013A Palestinian man is arrested by Israeli policemen in al-Quds on May 8, 2013. Jordan has summoned Israeli envoy, Daniel Nevo, after MPs unanimously demand the government to expel him over Israel's detention of the Mufti of al-Quds (Jerusalem).The Israeli ambassador was summoned on Wednesday by Jordan’s Interior Minister Hussein Majali, who is also acting foreign minister, Jordan’s official news agency Petra reported. ”These Israeli actions violate international law and obstruct peace efforts. As occupying force, Israel is responsible for preventing such provocations,” Majali said, adding that al-Aqsa is a red line.He asked Nevo “to convey this message to his government in a very clear way.”The development came after the 150-member lower house of parliament unanimously demanded that the government ask the Israeli ambassador to leave Jordan, and recall the Jordanian ambassador in Israel.The MPs said they took the decision due to Israel’s recent aggression against al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds as well as the detention of a top Muslim cleric.Jordan’s Premier Abdalla Ensour has criticized Israel for its systematic deployment of special forces and setting up of military barracks around the holy site.Ensour has vowed to demand the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting should Israel refuses to end its aggression.Backed by Israeli forces, some 100 Israeli settlers entered al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday.Clashes erupted between the Israel

Israeli forces detain Mufti of al-Quds

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:45:04 +0200

8-5-2013Grand Mufti of al-Quds (Jerusalem) Mohammed HusseinIsraeli forces have raided the house of Grand Mufti of al-Quds (Jerusalem) Mohammed Hussein and detained him, Press TV reports.Mufti Mohammed Hussein was arrested at his home on Wednesday over suspicions of ‘involvement in Tuesday clashes in Al-Aqsa Mosque,’ a statement by Israeli police said.The mufti is in charge of al-Quds' Islamic holy sites including Al-Aqsa Mosque.Some 100 Israeli settlers accompanied with Israeli forces entered Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday.Clashes erupted between the Israeli settlers, soldiers and Palestinians following the entry of the Israelis. Several Palestinians were reportedly injured, and several others were arrested.Also late on Tuesday, sixteen Palestinians were abducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank.Israeli officials claim the Palestinians were detained for their alleged involvement in security-related offences.Israel occupied the West Bank as well as East al-Quds (Jerusalem), which Palestinians consider the capital of their homeland, during the Six-Day War in 1967.The Israeli military regularly raids Palestinians' houses in the West Bank arresting activists and civilians, mostly without any charges. Many Palestinians remain under detention in Israeli prisons, where they are given minimal access to their basic rights.Palestinian prisoners have been subject to human rights violations such as torture during interrogations by Israeli prison authorities.Source

Israeli forces arrest Palestinian youths outside al-Aqsa Mosque

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:42:59 +0200

8-5-2013Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinians outside the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), arresting dozens of Palestinian youths, Press TV reports.Israeli forces clash with Palestinians at al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).Israeli troops beat and dispersed Palestinians who were gathering in the holy mosque on Wednesday after Israeli settlers entered the al-Aqsa mosque and started acting in a provocative way.Several Palestinian journalists were reportedly wounded by Israeli forces.Earlier in the day, Israeli forces raided the house of Grand Mufti of al-Quds Mohammed Hussein and detained him in connection with the heightened tension in the area.On Tuesday, similar clashes erupted between the Israeli settlers, soldiers and Palestinians following the entry of some 100 Israeli settlers into the mosque. Several Palestinians were reportedly injured, and several others were arrested.Meanwhile, Israel’s minister of religion is said to be planning to amend a law which would allow Jews to pray at al-Aqsa.The move has drawn criticism from Israeli lawmakers who say the eastern part of al-Quds has been under Israeli occupation for 46 years. Source

Israeli vehicles enter border area in northern Gaza

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:32:08 +0200

9-5-2013GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli military vehicles entered a border area in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, locals said.Witnesses
told Ma'an that Israeli bulldozers and military vehicles penetrated
over 400 meters into an area east of Beit Hanoun and dug up agricultural
lands.An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that there was
"routine activity adjacent to the security fence," without providing
further details.source