RSS Feed
September 18th, 2015 
Awake Goy Violence / Detentions
Palestinian shot, injured at Tulkarem protest over Aqsa
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 15 Sept — Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian taking part in a demonstration in the northern West Bank to protest Israeli actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, medics said. Another five Palestinians suffered excessive tear gas inhalation during the protest, which marched to an Israeli checkpoint known as Sani Oz to the west of Tulkarem. Medical sources told Ma‘an that the Palestinian was in moderate condition after he was shot in the thigh. They said he had been transferred to Thabit Ibn Thabit hospital for treatment. During the clashes, a large fire broke out in land adjacent to the Israeli checkpoint, belonging to al-Khadouri University, a Ma‘an reporter said. He added that the Palestinian civil defense arrived and was attempting to control the fire. The protesters chanted slogans against Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa, and called for the compound’s protection.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767618
Clashes erupt across East Jerusalem in wake of Aqsa violence
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli forces across occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday night following three days of violent clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Sources told Ma‘an that clashes erupted in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods and villages of al-‘Issawiya, al-Tur, Shu‘afat refugee camp, Silwan, Sur Bahir, and al-Sowwana. Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, a local committee member in al-‘Issawiya, told Ma‘an that clashes broke out in ‘Issawiya after Israeli forces chased and shot at two Palestinians, injuring one and detaining the other. Abu al-Hummus said that during the ensuing clashes, Israeli forces raided the village and sprayed foul-smelling skunk water on the streets and on one of the village’s mosques. He said that a 13-year-old girl, Saly Yousif Muhessien, who was in a nearby park, was injured when she was hit by a rubber-coated steel bullet in her neck. Meanwhile, a Fatah spokesman in Shu‘afat refugee camp said that clashes broke out there after Palestinian youths threw Molotov cocktails at a nearby Israeli checkpoint, setting an Israeli control tower on fire. Israeli forces responded by firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets, he said. Israeli forces also raided al-Tur neighborhood, reportedly detaining a child there, identified as Muath Sayyad. In al-Sowwana neighborhood, clashes broke out after Palestinian youths shot fireworks at the Israeli settlement of Beit Orot, built on the neighborhood’s land. Clashes also erupted in the southern village of Sur Bahir when Israeli settlers marched to the village entrance, raising Israeli flags and chanting about the death of an Israeli driver, who police say may have lost control of his car after a stone was thrown at it. The Wadi Hilweh information center said that clashes also erupted in the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of Silwan, just south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The information center said that Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters and sprayed skunk water through the neighborhood’s streets.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767630
After injuring him with a rubber bullet and assaulting him, the occupation arrests the child Munes Idkeidek
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 15 Sept — The occupation forces arrested on Monday the 14-year old Mu’nes Emad Idkeidek from in front of his house in the neighborhood of Ras Al-Amoud in Silwan. The child’s father explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that the occupation forces arrested his son while he was in front of his house in Ras Al-Amoud in Silwan. The forces fired three rubber[-coated steel] bullets towards him and despite being injured and falling on the ground, nearly 8 soldiers assaulted and severely beat him under the pretext of throwing stones. The child’s father added that the forces arrested his son while barefoot and verbal altercations broke out between the forces and the family members. The father also added that the forces refused to talk to him about his son’s medical condition and the type of injury he suffered and instead handcuffed the boy despite the fact that he was bleeding. He pointed out that his brother tried to follow the forces to check on Mu’nes but the forces fired a rubber bullet towards him and injured him in the hand.
http://silwanic.net/?p=62396
Israeli forces detain 6 in East Jerusalem, including 4 children
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli forces detained four Palestinian children and two young men from different neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, after ransacking their homes overnight Wednesday, a human rights lawyer and local sources told Ma‘an. Addameer human rights lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud said Israeli forces detained Ramiz Ajlouni, 12, and Muatazz Said, 16, in the Old City of Jerusalem overnight on Wednesday, while local sources told Ma‘an Nabil Sidir, 13, was also detained from his home in the Old City. Locals in the East Jerusalem village of Sur Bahir told Ma‘an that Israeli forces stormed the village and detained Muhyiddin Najih Ibkerat, 20, Nasser Amirah, 25, and Muatazz Mahmoud Dabash, a Palestinian in his twenties.
On Tuesday night, Israeli forces also detained eight young men and minors from the neighborhood of Silwan, the village of al-Tur and the Old City — all in occupied East Jerusalem — for alleged stone-throwing. Silwan-based monitor, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, reported that Israeli forces have detained 34 young men and 26 teenagers in the neighborhood in the past five days alone.
Most of the 60 were detained during clashes in East Jerusalem neighborhoods in protest against Israeli forces storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and attacking worshipers, the monitor group said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767659
The occupation kidnaps a Red Crescent ambulance and arrests an injured person
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 15 Sept — The Israeli occupation soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance on Monday that was transporting an injured Jerusalemite and forced it to head towards Hadassah hospital and arrested the injured person. The soldiers stopped the ambulance and pointed their guns towards the ambulance’s staff and then got inside the vehicle next to the injured person and forced the driver to head towards Hadassah hospital. The Palestinian Red Crescent Association denounced this Israeli assault which is a clear infringement on the work of the ambulance crews and impeding the humanitarian mission in addition to riding inside the vehicle and forcing them to drive to a specific location. The Israeli aggression is a flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law in terms of respecting medical staff and providing special protection to them so that they perform their duties safely and without humanitarian threat to their lives and the delivery of ambulatory services and relief to the civilian victims living under occupation . . . Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the detainee is Murad Sarandah who received treatment at Hadassah hospital. The center was also informed that the occupation forces transferred the detainee to Salah Eddin Street police station for interrogation. The village of Esawyeh witnessed violent clashes on Monday in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque due to the recurrent settlers’ break-ins.
http://silwanic.net/?p=62392
Soldiers invade Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 17 Sept — Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at night, the al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital, in the at-Tour village in occupied East Jerusalem, and searched several sections. Hospital administration said the soldiers invaded and searched the Children’s Ward, nurses and doctors’ rooms, the Department of Internal Medicine, and Urgent Care rooms. The soldiers claimed they were searching for young Palestinians who participated in clashes with the army that took place near the hospital building. The army also searched the all hospital yards, and nearby neighborhoods, and kidnapped two young Palestinian men.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73045
The occupation arrests two children and one minor from Silwan
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 16 Sept — The occupation forces arrested on Wednesday night two children and one minor from the neighborhood of Bi’er Ayoub in Silwan. Witnesses informed Wadi Hilweh Information Center that the occupation forces dismounted from the settler’s guards’ vehicle and arrested the 12-year old Amer Siam, 12-year old Sultan Shweiki and the 16-year old Raed Mansour. Witnesses explained that the forces took the detainees in the settlers’ vehicle; note that there were no clashes or remarkable events in the area.
http://silwanic.net/?p=62507
The occupation arrests three children
[photos] SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 16 Sept — The occupation forces arrested on Wednesday three children from the Old City of Jerusalem. Wadi Hilweh Information Center’s lawyer explained that the occupation forces arrested the 11-year old Mohammad Ismaeel Ahmad Hoshyeh and the 11-year old Mohammad Adel Abdel Hadi Sweiti. The lawyer explained that according to the two children the forces suddenly arrested them while they were in the Old City’s markets and took them to Al-Silsileh Gate police station. Hoshyeh was pushed and punched on his face during the arrest and while detained at the police station. It is noteworthy that they were arrested while heading home after leaving school (Omaryeh and Aytam schools).
On the other hand, the occupation forces arrested the 12-year old Yazan Al-Banna while he was in the village of Al-Tur.
http://silwanic.net/?p=62501
Israeli troops detain Palestinian teen charged with stabbing soldier
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian teen late Wednesday from Balata refugee camp, near Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an. Mo’men Nidal al-Kaabi, 16, was reportedly detained after being charged with stabbing an Israeli soldier near Zaatara checkpoint south of Nablus. Palestinian security sources told Ma‘an that Israeli forces took the teen to Howwara military site.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767657
Palestinian attempts attack on Israeli police patrol in ‘Issawiya
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — As tensions continue to flare in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli police patrol in the ‘Issawiya neighborhood was attacked by a “masked Arab holding a petrol bomb,” Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma‘an that a Palestinian approached the group of police with the intent of throwing the petrol bomb from close range. The officers fired a warning shot into the air before firing directly at the suspect. Rosenfeld said that locals removed the suspect from the scene and that police were currently searching the for the man, adding that the area was currently “relatively calm.” No injuries of the officers were reported and heightened security continues in the area, the spokesperson said, with extra police deployed in and around neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767653
Israeli troops detain 4 Palestinians in Beit Ummar, including minor
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli forces early Thursday detained four Palestinians, including one minor, from the town of Beit Ummar near Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, a local monitor told Ma‘an. Muhammad Ayyad, spokesperson for a local popular committee, said that Israeli forces detained Muhannad Abdul-Hameed, 15, and took him to Etzion military site north of Beit Ummar. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed four people had been detained in Beit Ummar, without adding further information. Ayyad said that Israeli forces also raided the house of Muhammad Hamdi Abu Maria, 25, before detaining him. Abu Maria still suffers from injuries sustained in an incident in July, in which his father was shot dead by Israeli forces, while Abu Maria was shot and injured. Israeli forces also detained Abu Maria’s brother, Falah Hamdi Abu Maria, 20, who is a former prisoner of Israel. Witnesses also reported that Israeli forces detained Raed Omar Gibrael al-Selibi, 19. Ayyad highlighted that Israeli forces have detained 19 Palestinians from Beit Ummar since the beginning of September. Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Beit Ummar are frequent, as the town is home to frequent night raids and detainments.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767655
Israeli PM ‘declares war’ on stone-throwers after riots
JERUSALEM (AFP) 16 Sept – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “war” on stone-throwers Wednesday with tougher penalties and new rules for security forces on when to open fire, following riots at a Jerusalem flashpoint. Netanyahu spoke of plans to crack down on Palestinian protesters as he visited the site of a weekend car accident that killed a Jewish man. Police have said the accident was caused by Palestinian stone-throwing, the latest in a number of such incidents in and around Jerusalem. “This stone is one too many,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying. “We are declaring war on those who throw stones and bottles, and rioters.” Hundreds attended Wednesday’s funeral of 64-year-old Alexander Levlovich who died in what Israeli officials labelled a nationalistic stoning attack. Netanyahu also held an emergency meeting Tuesday with security officials and discussed minimum sentences for those who throw stones or petrol bombs, and his intention to alter rules of engagement. He said authorities planned to “massively increase fines for minors and their families” involved in such activity. He has not said how rules of engagement could be altered.
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-pm-announces-tougher-penalties-against-stone-throwers-221657885.html
Netanyahu asks attorney general to authorize sniper fire against stone-throwers
Haaretz 16 Sept by Amos Harel — There is a significant difference in the open fire regulations followed by Israel Police and by the Israeli army. This is what emerged in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emergency meeting with senior members of Israel’s defense establishment on Tuesday about the increasing tensions and violence in Jerusalem. While the Israel Defense Forces permits troops in the West Bank to operate snipers and use small caliber 0.22 inch Ruger rifles fitted with a sniper scope, the police is not allowed to do this. When it comes to the IDF, sniper and Ruger fire are allowed when firebombs or large stones are being thrown and commanders in the field are certain that lives are in danger. Shots are mostly fired at perpetrators’ legs. In Jerusalem police units, meanwhile, such measures are not allowed. Open fire regulations only permit using crowd dispersal measures, such as firing rubber bullets and throwing tear gas grenades. Ahead of an additional meeting on the security situation set for Monday, Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has been asked to give an opinion on whether to allow the police to follow the same open fire regulations as the army does in the West Bank. Ruger rifles were used in the West Bank during the Second Intifada. They were prohibited for a few years after a number of Palestinian youths were killed by Ruger fire. Today, their use is once again permitted. Attendees at Netanyahu’s emergency meeting Tuesday said that allowing police to follow these guidelines would only require an internal police adjustment, and not a change in legislation. If, that is, Weinstein okays it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.676190
Al-Aqsa
Israeli forces assault two Al-Aqsa Mosque guards
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Israeli forces on Wednesday assaulted two Al-Aqsa Mosque guards at the holy site in occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Endowment said. Mowafak al-Hamami, 50, and Hamza Nimer, 35, were assaulted by Israeli forces who were escorting a group of Israeli rightists touring the site. Both guards were taken to Makassed hospital for medical treatment. Witnesses said that an Israeli pushed a Palestinian woman during the tour and swore at her. Around 25 Israeli rightists entered the site via the Moroccan Gate, while 60 Palestinians were denied access to the compound. At least 52 of those denied were Palestinian women known as the Murabitat who have been blacklisted by Israel from entering the site. Israeli extremist Yehuda Glick participated in the tour, as Palestinians shouted “Allah Akbar (God is Great)” at the group. Tensions have soared across East Jerusalem in the wake of three days of violent clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. Palestinians fear Israel is seeking to change rules governing the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access to the compound and even efforts by fringe organisations to erect a new temple. The PLO has accused Israel of provoking the entire Muslim world in its actions at the compound. “Israel is playing with fire,” senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Monday, warning that Israeli authorities were forcibly securing control over the site “in preparation for the total annexation and transformation of Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767638
Israeli forces storm Aqsa Mosque in third day of clashes
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 15 Sept — Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s southern mosque on Tuesday, sparking the third straight day of violent clashes at the third holiest site in Islam. Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the clashes, during which Israeli forces fired stun grenades, tear gas canisters, and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian worshipers. The Palestinian Red Crescent’s Jerusalem director, Amin Abu Ghazala, told Ma‘an that 36 Palestinians had received treatment. He said that some of the Palestinians had suffered wounds and bruises, while others had suffered excessive tear gas inhalation. At least two were hospitalized. The director of Al-Aqsa religious school for boys, Nadir al-Afghani, said that a 14-year-old boy was hit in his head by a rubber-coated steel bullet and had received 10 stitches. Israeli police said five officers were lightly injured.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767612
Clashes rock Jerusalem mosque compound for third day
JERUSALEM (AFP) 15 Sept by Laurent Lozano — Palestinians and Israeli security forces clashed in Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the surrounding Old City for a third straight day on Tuesday despite international calls for calm. Young demonstrators gathered around the mosque threw stones at police who had entered the compound in large numbers and responded with stun grenades. Police said they cleared debris from the entrance of the mosque and closed the door on those inside who had been throwing stones, fireworks and other objects at security forces. The Jordanian-run Waqf organisation which administers the site said that police entered deep inside the mosque and caused damage. Amman said Israel’s actions amount to “aggression” against Arab and Muslim nations, and said it was examining legal and diplomatic means to protect religious sites in the Holy City. Jordan has custodianship rights over Muslim holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel. The new flare-up came despite calls for restraint from the United Nations, United States and European Union. UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov warned that “provocations” at the site could lead to unrest elsewhere in the Middle East. “As the Middle East faces a vicious tide of terror and extremism, such serious provocations have the potential to ignite violence well beyond the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem,” Mladenov said.
http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-rock-jerusalem-mosque-compound-third-day-054615673.html
Israel seeks to allay Jordan concerns over Temple Mount violence
Haaretz 16 Sept by Barak Ravid — In the past 48 hours, Israel has been passing messages to Jordan to calm tensions, both directly and via the U.S. government, amid the recent escalation at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Senior officials in Jerusalem said that Israel told Jordan it has no intention of making any change to the status quo at the holy site, and said that the Palestinians are spreading lies on this issue. Over the past few days, amid clashes at the Temple Mount, Jordan’s King Abdullah II made strong declarations against Israel, and even sent a warning over the future of Israel-Jordan ties. “Any more provocations in Jerusalem, will affect the relationship between Jordan and Israel; and Jordan will have no choice, but to take action, unfortunately,” he said. Following escalation on the Temple Mount last year, Jordan returned its ambassador in Israel for consultations in Amman, and only sent him back to Tel Aviv after many months. Israel wants to avoid a situation where ongoing tensions lead the Jordanians to return their ambassador to Israel once again . . . One of the missives related to rumors spread by Palestinian officials that Netanyahu was planning to go to the Temple Mount on Wednesday morning. According to the senior officials, Israel told the Jordanians that this was a lie and that Netanyahu had no intention of doing so. Israel also denied the Palestinians’ claim that Israel intended to change the Muslim prayer arrangements at the holy site. Along with these messages, the Israeli officials demanded from their counterparts that Jordan also take steps to stop the violence on the Temple Mount through representatives of the Waqf, or Muslim religious trust.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.676247
The sanctity of provocation on Temple Mount / Amira Hass
Haaretz 17 Sept — Al-Aqsa unites and empowers Palestinian resistance initiatives. Here, everybody – religious and secular, Christian and Muslim, Fatah and Hamas – are united — “Temple Mount should be closed to Muslim worshipers,” a surfer named Ronen wrote in a comment on an article by Nir Hasson last Tuesday about clashes between Israel Police and young Palestinians on the site holy to Muslims. One could dismiss it as another hallucinatory comment from another Jewish talk-backer exercising his freedom of expression. If we try hard, we can dismiss as hallucinatory and fringe the Hebrew website “Temple Mount News” with its headlines like “The movement for establishing the Holy Temple invites you to ascend Temple Mount” and listing on its masthead opening hours for Jews. [see mount-home.blogspot.co.il] The site reported on Sunday that Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, who traditionally visits the mount every Rosh Hashanah, was there among the many Jewish visitors. They ascended the holy site after a heavy police presence used force to keep away young Palestinians who intended to stop the visit by throwing stones and firecrackers. The clashes repeated on Monday and Tuesday. Palestinian sources report that at least 40 Palestinians were injured, among them many journalists. They also report extensive damage, including broken doors in the mosque. Ariel, the website reported, blessed the Jewish people with the priestly blessing. This is the same Ariel who in July met with the parliamentary team of Students For The Temple Mount, and promised that he would take action to end “discrimination against Jews on Temple Mount.” He also promised the students he would set up a meeting with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to examine the “behavior of Israel Police toward Jews visiting Temple Mount.” And here we are, this week Erdan praised the police for doing a firm job on Sunday and said the current arrangements on the mount have to be reviewed. Ariel, as housing minister, called two years ago for rebuilding “the real Holy Temple on Temple Mount.” He apparently has not repeated the statement publicly since then, but it is not the passing remark of an Internet comment-writer. Between the “visits” and the recurring break-ins of armed Israelis into the holy Muslim site, his statement is a scary indication. The attempt to present visits by Jews to the site as affirmative action motivated by the principle of equality is playing dumb and dangerous in its pretension, akin to the (successful) Israeli journalistic attempt to squeeze out of Palestinians theological denials about the Jewish connection to the land and mount, and to the possibility of the Holy Temple’s past existence . . . Palestinians have every reason and justification to fear that the “visits” and the police raids in the holy mount are part of a Jewish operational plan: a plan to complete their exclusion within their own homeland and the marginalization of Palestinian history, a plan to wipe out the deep ties of some 12 million people to this country.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.676245
Gaza
Gaza electricity lines disconnected, deepening energy crisis
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Two power lines providing electricity to the Gaza Strip were disconnected overnight Tuesday, further fueling an ongoing energy crisis in the beleaguered coastal enclave. Gaza’s energy authority said that the Jabalia line feeding northern Gaza off the Israeli electricity grid had failed due to a technical issue. The authority said that another power line feeding the central Gaza Strip, line 7, had also failed. The two lines together provide roughly 24 MW. For four days, the main power line from Egypt’s electrical grid, providing a further 28 MW, has also been down. Sources inside Gaza’s energy authority said Wednesday that the total supply of energy was now covering only 30 percent of the population’s minimum needs.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767636
Gaza sees third day of protests over power crisis
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — Dozens of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday held demonstrations for the third straight day to protest the coastal enclave’s ongoing power crisis. In the southern city of Rafah, protesters called for the resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah’s government over the crisis. Meanwhile, in central Gaza, residents of the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps set tires alight in a demonstration held in front of Gaza’s sole power station. Hamas said that participants burnt photos of President Mahmoud Abbas, before the movement’s police force dispersed the protest. Local Fatah officials later “praised” the demonstration in posts on Facebook, but said they were “surprised” that pictures of Abbas and Hamdallah had been burnt. The officials accused members of Hamas’ military branch, al-Qassam Brigades, of burning the photos, and said: “We stood up against them.” The Gaza Strip has faced a power crisis for months, with insufficient fuel entering the enclave, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007. Gaza currently receives electricity from Israel, Egypt, and its sole power plant. However, the power plant has struggled to cover the cost of fuel, with Gaza’s energy authority blaming taxes imposed by the Palestinian Authority’s petroleum authority. An inability to cover these costs forced the power station to close for more than a month earlier this year, and it has not run at full capacity in years. Gaza’s energy authority reiterated that it holds the Palestinian Authority and the Hamdallah’s government fully responsible for the current power crisis.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767611
Hamas: National committee to be formed for power crisis
GAZA (PIC) 16 Sept — Palestinian factions met on Tuesday with Minister of Justice Salim al-Saqqa and Minister of Public Works Mufid al-Hasaina in the presence of Fathi Sheikh Khalil, the chairman of Gaza Power Company, to discuss the power crisis in the blockaded enclave. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, in a statement, it was agreed in the meeting on forming a national committee of the Palestinian factions to follow up the power crisis and to approach officials in Ramallah in order to work on solving the crisis as well as to come up with strategic solutions. It was also confirmed based on data and discussions that Gaza Power Company transferred money required to get sufficient amounts of fuel to operate the plant to Ramallah, but the fuel has not reached Gaza yet, Abu Zuhri revealed. Accordingly, President of the Energy Authority Omar Katana was contacted for the transfer of fuel to Gaza power plants. He was invited to visit Gaza in his formal capacity as President of the Energy Authority in order to work on solving the aggravating power crisis,” Abu Zuhri said.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73616
Qassam member injured by Israeli gunfire east of Khan Younis
KHAN YOUNIS (PIC) 15 Sept — A member of al-Qassam Brigades field forces was injured by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip. Local sources told the PIC reporter that the Israeli forces opened fire at a patrol of Al-Qassam field forces who replied by shooting at the source of Israeli fire. This resulted in limited clashes, the sources added. The sources revealed that one of al-Qassam brigades field members was injured by the Israeli bullets while tension is still running high at the location.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73597
IOF open fire at farmers in northern Gaza Strip
GAZA (PIC) 14 Sept — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened Monday morning bursts of machine gun fire at Palestinian farmers and houses in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties have been reported. Quds Press quoted a witness as saying Israeli occupation soldiers stationed at military points as well as in their Jeeps, northeast of Beit Hanoun town, fired volleys of shots at Palestinian houses and farmers in the town with no injuries reported. The heavy shooting coincided with unusual military moves and intensive drone overflights along the border line of Gaza. The attack is another episode in the series of Israeli daily violations of the Cairo-brokered truce accord signed in the wake of last summer’s offensive on the besieged coastal enclave
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73582
Five Palestinians kidnapped by IOF near Gaza borders
GAZA (PIC) 15 Sept — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at noontime Monday kidnapped five Palestinian citizens allegedly after they crept into illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli news outlets said four Palestinians were kidnapped in the Eshkol settlement council, off southern Gaza, and another was nabbed in the northern corners of the Strip. The five arrestees were dragged to a Shabak detention center pending further interrogation. The Israeli occupation army claimed responsibility for the abduction of 14 Palestinians last week allegedly after they infiltrated Israeli settlements near the borders with Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel’s ministry of the interior threatened to penalize every Palestinian who crosses the border fence or even tries to do so. Infiltrations into Israel, seeking jobs, have been on the rise due to the high unemployment and poverty rates rocking the blockaded coastal enclave. According to human rights data, at least 250 Palestinians had been kidnapped by the IOF on the same grounds since last year’s offensive on the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73590
Israel permits Gazans to access farmlands for first time in 15 years
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli forces on Wednesday allowed Palestinian farmers to access hundreds of acres of land along the Gaza border for the first time in 15 years, a spokesperson from the International Committee of the Red Cross told Ma‘an. Suheir Zaqqut said the ICRC has been working to restore the land since 2007, when the organization began “talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.” As a result of the talks, 500 farmers were given access to their fields, which amounts to 3500 to 4000 dumans (863 to 988 acres) of land. Salih Abu Haddaf, one of the farmers given access to his fields, told Ma‘an that he “couldn’t find words to express his happiness,” as he watched tractors plowing his land in the east of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Abu Haddaf’s son, 15, had never before been able to visit his family’s land, he told told Ma‘an. Abu Haddaf said he plans to plant wheat, barley and pea crops on his newly accessible fields. According to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem, agricultural land near Gaza border constitutes 24 percent of the overall area of the Gaza Strip. Ninety-five percent of Gaza’s arable land lies along the so-called “buffer zone” that is routinely restricted to Palestinians in the Strip [that is, Palestinians cannot access it without risking being shot], according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767658
Israel reopens Gaza crossings after Jewish New Year holiday
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Israeli authorities on Wednesday morning reopened the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings into the Gaza Strip after they were closed for two days during the Jewish New Year holiday. Palestinian official Raed Fattouh, who chairs a committee for commercial coordination, told Ma‘an that 900 truckloads of goods were expected to enter the coastal enclave Wednesday, including construction material for Qatari-funded projects and much-needed fuel for both domestic and commercial uses. Kerem Shalom is a commercial crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, while Erez lies in the coastal enclave’s north, near the town of Beit Hanoun, and is used for pedestrians and vehicles. On Monday, during the crossings’ closure, Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians they said were attempting to cross the border fence into Israeli territory.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767629
Gaza university suspends classes amid student dispute
GAZA (Ma‘an) 15 Sept — The al-Quds Open University in the Gaza Strip suspended classes for the second day on Tuesday over a dispute with its Hamas-affiliated student bloc. Yassir Odeh, the university’s head of student affairs, said that the Hamas-affiliated students had “closed the university” and were refusing to negotiate a solution to the dispute. He did not specify the nature of the dispute, although he insisted that the university had been closed by the the students, and not by the university administration. Student bodies in Palestinian universities have become deeply politicized, mostly falling along factional lines represented in wider Palestinian society. In the absence of national elections, student elections have come to be seen as an important expression of Palestinian political aspirations.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767614
Report: Palestinian rocket errantly lands in Gaza Strip
JPost 16 Sept — Palestinians fired a rocket late Tuesday that errantly landed in the Gaza Strip, according to a report in Palestinian media. The rocket exploded in the central Gaza town of Dir el-Balah. There is no word on the number of human casualties, if any.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Report-Palestinian-rocket-errantly-lands-in-Gaza-Strip-416260
Qatar to transfer financial aid for reconstruction of Gaza homes
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Sept — Over 400 Gazans displaced by Israel’s war last summer will receive financial aid from Qatar on Wednesday to rebuild their homes, a minister in Gaza said. Mufid al-Hasayneh, Minister of Public Works and Housing, said 420 beneficiaries will receive aid to rebuild over 1,000 homes destroyed during Israel’s devastating military offensive, which killed over 2,200 Palestinians, including 500 children. The transfer from Qatar is the first of its kind to help with the reconstruction of homes in Gaza. Last year, Qatar promised $1 billion in reconstruction aid for Gaza at a donor conference in Cairo. The 2014 war, which also left 73 Israelis dead, destroyed or severely damaged more than 20,000 Palestinian homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals and 45 primary healthcare centers. As many as 247 factories and 300 commercial centers were fully or partially destroyed, and Gaza’s only power station sustained severe damage.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767625
Gaza man sentenced to life imprisonment on collaboration charges
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — A man in the Gaza Strip was sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor on Monday on charges of collaborating with Israeli intelligence services, the Gazan Ministry of Interior said. The unidentified 27-year-old man was found guilty of collaborating with “with enemy entities” in violation of Article 131 of the Palestinian revolutionary penal code of 1979. The man allegedly began working with Israeli intelligence services in 2009 and is accused of providing Israel with information about the location of Palestinian fighters during operations. Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel may be punishable by death.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767598
IDF hints at first Gaza war crimes indictment against high-level officer
JPost 14 Sept by Yonah Jeremy Bob — The IDF on Sunday published a speech given by Military Advocate-General Maj.- Gen. Danny Efroni in which he implied the army is moving toward indicting its first senior officer for a war crime. Efroni gave the speech last week at a legal conference in Tel Aviv, but his comments on the 2014 Gaza war crimes investigations have not been reported. The incident he referred to was when an IDF unit under the command of Lt.-Col. Neria Yeshurun allegedly improperly shelled the Gaza pharmacy where one of his officers, Capt. Dimitry Levitas, was killed by Hamas fighters in Shejaia, Gaza City, in July 2014. The day Levitas was buried, Yeshurun was recorded ordering his soldiers to fire a shell on the pharmacy as part of his eulogy to Levitas or to avenge his killing. The law of armed conflict prohibits combatants from firing from a civilian location such as a pharmacy. The law also permits return fire on a civilian facility if combatants are illegally firing from it, which turns it into a legitimate military target. But the law does not allow the IDF to target the pharmacy on a later date, if it was no longer being used militarily, simply to honor Levitas or avenge his killing. Efroni began discussing his approach to investigating war crimes more generally, saying, “It is our obligation to probe, and where necessary, to fully investigate exceptional incidents” – in other words, violations of the law or armed conflict. He then commented on the specific incident involving Yeshurun. (continued)
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-hints-at-first-Gaza-war-crimes-indictment-against-high-level-officer-416111
Prisoners
Palestinian said to start hunger strike again after rearrest
Times of Israel 16 Sept — A former Palestinian hunger-striker who had only agreed to end his two-month long fast after being released from administrative detention was re-arrested on Wednesday immediately after leaving the hospital where he had been nursed back to health. Mohammed Allaan, 31, was arrested by police after being released from Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A new administrative detention order was issued for his arrest. “Mohammed Allan, whose condition has improved, was arrested this morning by police at the hospital in Ashkelon,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. His detention, scheduled to last until November 4, had been suspended as he received medical treatment following his hunger strike. Relatives said he was restarting his hunger strike upon being arrested, as he had threatened to do before calling off the two-month fast last month. Allaan began a hunger strike in June to protest his internment under administrative detention, which allows Israel to jail suspects without charging them. He was being held for suspected involvement with the Islamic Jihad terror group. The High Court of Justice in August suspended Allaan’s administrative detention after tests showed that he had sustained brain damage as a result of his two-month fast. There were conflicting reports as to whether the damage was reversible. The temporary suspension of his status as prisoner was enough to allow Allaan to end his hunger strike, family members said at the time.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hunger-striking-palestinian-rearrested-after-leaving-hospital/
Israel renews 29 Palestinians’ detention without charge or trial
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 15 Sept – Israeli authorities issued administrative detention orders against 29 Palestinian political detainees between three to six months, Tuesday reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC). PPC said while nine prisoners received administrative detention orders for the first time, the remaining 20 prisoners received renewed orders. Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29316
Palestinian prisoners conference kicks off in Amman
AMMAN, Jordan (PIC) 16 Sept — The Palestinian prisoners conference was launched in the Jordan capital Amman on Wednesday under the theme: “Protecting prisoners and detainees is an international responsibility and obligation.” Speaker of the Jordanian Parliament, Atef Tarawneh, and other Palestinian and Jordanian figures and a number of prisoners’ families in the Israeli occupation jails attended the conference. In his opening speech, Tarawneh appreciated the formal efforts his country makes on the level of following up on the cause of the Palestinian and Arab prisoners, pointing out that the solution of the Palestinian cause is “the key to solve the crisis in the region.” Tarawneh said that “King Abdullah II exerts efforts in defense of the Palestinian cause, especially the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a written word read on his behalf by his advisor Hasan Oury that “the Israeli occupation persists in torturing the Palestinian prisoners, especially the minors.” He pointed to the need for action on the international legal level to protect the prisoners and to compel Israel to give the prisoners their rights as guaranteed by international charters and laws. Abbas praised the Jordanian role in standing by the Palestinians, pointing out that holding this conference in Amman reflects the King’s care of the Palestinian cause. (continued)
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73623
Ahrar: Prisoner Sami Abu Abu Diyak in serious health condition
JENIN (PIC) 16 Sept — The health condition of Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak has reached a critical stage in an Israeli hospital following a recent surgery, Ahrar Center for Prisoners and Human Rights said. According to the center, the Israeli jailers summoned the parents of Abu Diyak on Tuesday afternoon and asked them to visit their son in Assaf Harofeh hospital. The prisoner has suffered health complications after he underwent surgery for the removal of a tumor in his intestines in early September, the center affirmed. Abu Diyak was recently transferred from the hospital of the Ramla jail to the intensive care unit in Assaf Harofeh medical center. The prisoner has been in jail for 13 years, serving three life sentences.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73620
Palestinian university lecturer sentenced to 17 months
RAMALLAH (PIC) 16 Sept — Israeli Ofer Court sentenced the Palestinian university lecturer Jamel Abu Salem, 42, to 17 months imprisonment and imposed a fine of $5,000 dollars on him, Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies said. Family sources said that Abu Salem, from Ramallah, was arrested more than once most recently in June 2014. As a whole he has spent 25 months in Israeli jails. Abu Salem, a lecturer at Abu Dis University in occupied Jerusalem, was charged of being allegedly affiliated with “a terrorist organization.”
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73613
Prisoner Taqatqa . . . four bullets not enough to stop her torture
BETHLEHEM (PIC) 15 Sept — Wounded captive Amal Taqatqa, 21, still suffers from a difficult health condition as a result of a severe injury caused by four bullets in her body during her detention. However, her condition was not enough for the Israelis to stop torturing her in prison. She also suffers from medical neglect. The lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement after visiting prisoner Taqatqa that: “She suffers from severe pain in one of her feet, causing her to fall to the ground while walking sometimes; still the prison administration refuses to transfer her to the hospital for follow-up treatment.” Captive Taqatqa was shot in 2014 with three bullets in her upper body and one in her foot by the Israeli occupation forces under the pretext that she tried to stab a settler at “Gush Etzion” checkpoint. Then she was transferred from “Hadasa” hospital to “Hasharon” jail after her surgical operation and before the completion of her treatment, which aggravated her suffering. Captive Taqatqa’s family held the occupation authorities responsible for Amal Taqatqa’s life. They also appealed to the humanitarian and human rights organizations for urgent action to know their daughter’s condition. They also called for an immediate intervention from the concerned authorities to stop their daughter’s suffering. Regarding the treatment she gets in the prison, Taqatqa said that she only receives sedatives and painkillers.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73605
Palestinian refugees – Sweden, Turkey
Palestinian asylum-seekers in Sweden maintain hunger strike
STOCKHOLM, (PIC)– Dozens of Palestinian refugees in Sweden have been rallying outside of Malmo’s department of refugee affairs for the 10th day running to demand permanent asylum. Speaking on behalf of the refugee sit-inners and hunger strikers, Muheeb Abu Jazar told the PIC: “96 refugees, 95% among whom are from the Gaza Strip, have taken part in the strike, initiated some 24 days ago.” He said women, children, disabled persons, and elderly refugees have been among those who initiated the sit-in to demand asylum. According to Abu Jazar, 60% of the protesters left Gaza in the wake of last summer’s Israeli offensive. He added that the Swedish authorities have been refusing to grant Palestinian refugees asylum because they consider the blockaded Gaza Strip a safe place to live in. The activists also said that three hunger strikers have been transferred to hospital after their health has sharply deteriorated. The number of those who have been rushed to hospital over the past few days has gone up to 33, including one refugee held in the intensive care, the activist added. A refugee sit-inner was attacked by the Swedish police and others were subjected to punitive measures by the Swedish authorities in an attempt to force them to suspend the hunger strikes and sit-ins.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73591
Palestinian, Syrian refugees in Turkey appeal for safe passage to Greece
ISTANBUL (PIC) 14 Sept — Palestinian and Syrian refugees fleeing war torn-Syria to Turkey launched a campaign to demand a safe passage to Greece on humanitarian grounds. Hundreds of Syrian and Palestinian refugees taking shelter in the coastal city of Izmir held a mass sit-in rally as part of the “We’re Just Passengers” campaign launched some few days ago. The stranded refugees called for a humanitarian corridor from Turkey to Greece so as to avoid many more deaths at sea onboard overcrowded smugglers’ boats. The “We’re Just Passengers” campaign called for a six-kilometer-march along the borders with Greece on Tuesday starting from the Turkish city of Edirne.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73583
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restrictions on movement
Israeli army notifies to confiscate agricultural equipment in Jordan Valley locality
JORDAN VALLEY (WAFA) 16 Sept – Israeli army Wednesday notified local Palestinian Bedouins in Khirbet Um al-Jamal, a small Bedouin locality in the northern Jordan Valley, of their intent to confiscate Palestinian locals’ agricultural belongings, if they refuse to evacuate the area, according to local sources. Aref Daraghmeh, head of the al-Maleh local council, [said] Israeli Civil Administration personnel accompanied by a military escort broke into the village, and notified the locals that all agricultural structures, including tractors and machines, will be confiscated unless the village locals evacuate the area. Today’s incident is the second of its kind in the village in less than 10 months. On 30 January 2014, Civil Administrative officials arrived with a military escort at Khirbet Um al-Jamal and proceeded to demolish all of the structures there, namely 16 tents and 12 sheep pens, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Immediately after the demolition, the residents attempted to rebuild what was left of their tents and sheep pens, but soldiers on site did not allow them to do so. The military also prevented Palestinian Authority officials of Tubas District from sending humanitarian aid and tents to the community, yet it allowed PA officials to send only thick plastic sheeting to cover the locals belongings. After being obliged to spend the next two nights out in the open, without any shelter, the locals managed to erect ten temporary tents, using materials salvaged from the wreckage.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29322
Israel orders eviction of 26 dunams of land
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Israeli authorities on Wednesday afternoon ordered two Palestinians to leave their land within 48 hours near the Salfit district of the occupied West Bank. The 26 dunams of land — around six acres — belong to Omar Rashi Rayyan and Sabir Mustafa Mereiy, who found the notices hanging in their property in the Beit Abu Ammar area north of Qarawat Bani Hasan village in the Salfit district. The head of the village’s council, Aziz Assi, told Ma‘an that while the property owners had received notices from Israeli authorities before, this was the first time the notices ordered their imminent eviction. Assi said that Rayyan and Mereiy were ordered to uproot over 100 olive trees in the past, under the pretext that the trees were an “encroachment on nature.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767649
Israel to demolish 3 houses, residential tent in Hebron locality
HEBRON (WAFA) 16 Sept – Israeli forces Wednesday handed notices to demolish three houses and a residential tent belonging to Palestinian locals in the Hebron’s locality of Massafer Yatta in the southern West Bank, said a local activist. Coordinator of the Anti-Wall and Settlement Popular Committee in southern Hebron, Rateb Jabour, said that forces, accompanied by ‘Civil Administration’ officers, stormed the Massafer Yatta locality of Khirbet Khalet al-Maiyya, where they handed two locals demolition notices. Both Mohammad al-‘Adra and Isma‘il al-Najjar were handed notices notifying them of the Israeli forces’ intention to demolish their two-storey home in Khalet al-Maiyya. Forces also stormed the Massafer Yatta’s locality of Ein Irfa‘iya, and handed local Ra‘ed ‘Amur a a demolition notice for his home. Forces also broke into al-Adra, another locality of Massafer Yatta, where they handed a Palestinian from the al-Adra family a notice to tear down his tent, which shelters him and his family.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29328
Israel building settler-only road on Palestinian land near Nablus
MEMO 16 Sept — The Israeli forces have bulldozed agricultural land owned by Palestinian farmers near the city of Nablus, north West Bank, to open new roads to connect Jewish outposts and settlements south of the city. Bashar Qaryouti, coordinator of Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Qaryout village, south of Nablus, told Al-Resalah news site that Israeli bulldozers have razed large areas of land west of the town of Qaryout near Nablus to build a road to connect the settlement of Eli with other settlements and outposts as part of a larger plan that aims at confiscating large areas of Palestinian land in Qaryout and the surrounding villages. Qaryouti pointed out that Jewish settlers razed the land and uprooted olive trees in the area to pave new roads to serve the settlements. He added that the new Israeli plan would lead to further illegal annexation of Palestinian lands, and to destroying the southern road of the village. He added that the Israeli forces in the settlement of Shiloh, adjacent to the village, are monitoring the movement of Palestinian residents in the area to prevent farmers from cultivating land near the settlements.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/21104-israel-building-settler-road-on-palestinian-land-near-nablus
Israel closes Jenin checkpoint for Jewish New Year
JENIN (WAFA) 14 Sept – the Israeli authorities Monday decided to close al-Jalama checkpoint, north of Jenin, for two days, starting on Monday, under the pretext of celebrating the Jewish New Year Holiday, said Palestinian military liaison sources. As a result of the closure, Palestinian living in the West Bank will be denied access to Israel. The checkpoint would be open on Wednesday morning. Al-Jalama checkpoint separates the occupied West Bank and Israel and is located near Al- Jalama village to the north of Jenin.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29310
Israeli forces close Hebron’s mosque for Jewish New Year
HEBRON (WAFA) 15 Sept – Israeli authorities Tuesday closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to Palestinians for the second consecutive day during the Jewish new year, said Palestinian Waqf (Endowments) and Religious Affairs Ministry. The ministry said in a press statement the Mosque would be closed to Palestinians on Tuesday, so that [Jewish] settlers can celebrate the Jewish new year, ‘Rosh Hashanah’ on the same site. The ministry explained that the Mosque would also be closed on next Thursday in order to allow (Jewish) settlers to celebrate the Day of Atonement, also known as ‘Yom Kippur’.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=29315
Palestinian Authority
PA forces briefly detain Palestinian over Facebook posts
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — The Palestinian Authority Preventive Security Forces on Sunday briefly detained a Palestinian citizen from Tulkarem in the northern West Bank over comments allegedly criticizing Palestinian officials on social media. Initial reports said that Abdullah Nashat al-Sayyid was detained by the PA intelligence branch after he criticized PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Facebook. However, a spokesperson for the PA Preventive Security Force, Ikrima Thabit, denied that criticism of Hamdallah had been the reason, although he confirmed that al-Sayyid was detained for activity on Facebook. “He wasn’t arrested for freely expressing his opinion,” Thabit claimed. He said that al-Sayyid was arrested on charges of “slander, defamation, and an attempt to harm Palestinian relations with some brother Arab nations, namely Saudi Arabia, through Facebook posts. “Thabit warned news outlets against quoting social networks, claiming that “some try to use these networks as platforms for defamation and attacks against officials and dignitaries.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767597
Source: Palestinian ‘collaborators’ to sue PA in Israeli court
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — Twenty Palestinians have filed a lawsuit against the Palestinian Authority in an Israeli court, seeking up to $100 million in damages after they were detained for alleged collaboration with Israeli intelligence, a PA security officer told Ma‘an on Sunday. The officer in Qalqiliya, who wished to remain anonymous, said that 10 PA security officers were summoned to a Jerusalem court on Thursday last week to give testimony in the case. Adnan Dmeiri, chief spokesman for the PA security forces, denied the report, saying he had not heard anything about the alleged case. However, the security officer told Ma‘an that the 20 Palestinians seeking damages had “fled” to Israel after they suffered harm during interrogations carried out by Palestinian security forces. He said that a lawyer representing the Palestinians is asking that the PA award each of the plaintiffs 20 million shekels (around $5 million) in compensation for the harm they suffered, including psychological damage, as well as being denied contact with their families. He said that the lawyer questioned all 10 PA security officers during Thursday’s hearing. “(The officers) proved before the judge that the Palestinian judiciary found the suspects guilty of collaboration with the Israeli occupation,” the officer said. He added that the witness hearing ended at 7 p.m. without any verdict.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767587
Gunmen shoot, injure 3 PA security officers in Jenin gun clash
JENIN (Ma‘an) 16 Sept — Unidentified gunmen shot and injured three Palestinian Authority security officers late Tuesday during clashes in Jenin refugee camp, security officials said. The security officers came under fire while pursuing a suspect into the camp after he had attacked a PA officer. One officer sustained a serious head injury, while two others suffered moderate to light injuries. A Fatah leader in the Jenin district, Ali Zakarna, told Ma‘an that the gunmen were affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. “Members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacked a Palestinian security officer during a festival to announce support for Jerusalem, then gunmen affiliated to both movements opened fire at security forces from behind the crowds,” Zakarna said. He said that Palestinian security officers abstained from firing back, fearing for the safety of the crowds at the festival. Islamic Jihad has said it will not defend its members who were involved in the shooting.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767631
PA to provide health insurance to 45,000 poor families
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 14 Sept — The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Affairs announced plans on Monday to provide health insurance to up to 45,000 poor families in the occupied Palestinian territory. Minister of Health Jawad Awwad and Minister of Social Affairs Shawqi al-Ayassa said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on the plans. Awwad said that the health insurance would cover 100 percent of medical treatment for 32,000 families, and 95 percent for 13,000 families. Al-Ayassa added that the insurance would also go toward non-Palestinian families living in the occupied Palestinian territory “provided that they have been residents in Palestine for more than five years, and are in a very bad financial situation.” . . . It was not clear whether the health insurance would go toward families in the Gaza Strip, where government ministries are run by the coastal enclave’s de facto leaders Hamas. The occupied Palestinian territory has faced a number of crises in the health sector over the last year. Gaza’s health sector came under severe strain during last summer’s Israeli offensive, with both hospitals and health centers damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces. In the occupied West Bank, the PA struggled to subsidize hospitals earlier this year after the Israeli government withheld hundreds of millions of dollars worth of taxes it collects on the PA’s behalf. The crisis brought private hospitals across the territory to the verge of collapse.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767601
Political detainee moved twice to hospital
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 16 Sept — The Palestinian political detainee Maher Shuraitah, who has been on hunger strike for 31 days running, was subjected to a brutal attack in PA jails and moved twice to hospital. Well-informed sources told the PIC reporter that PA Intelligence Services transferred the political detainee Shuraitah to Ramallah Hospital for treatment after being savagely beaten to force him to break his hunger strike. The defenseless political detainee was kidnapped last month and since that time he was subjected to severe torture at the hands of PA forces. Meanwhile, PA Security Forces stormed overnight Jenin camp and brutally attacked the popular festival that was organized in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and al-Aqsa Mosque. The PA forces heavily fired tear gas bombs and live ammunition in the air to break up the rally, while several local homes were violently stormed and searched after cutting electricity in the area. In the wake of the attack, a state of tension has prevailed in the camp where local youths stoned the storming PA forces.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=73617
Other news, analysis
Palestinians invite leaders to UN flag-raising ceremony
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 15 Sept — Hundreds of world leaders are invited to a ceremony this month to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations despite opposition from Israel and the United States, the Palestinian envoy said Tuesday. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will attend the September 30 ceremony that follows a vote in the UN General Assembly to allow the flag of Palestine to fly at UN headquarters in New York. “It will be a glorious day, a proud day for us,” Riyad Mansour told reporters in announcing the date for the flag-raising ceremony. “We expect hundreds of leaders to be with president Abbas to celebrate that moment and to participate in the ceremony.” The UN resolution adopted last week allowed the flags of Palestine and the Holy See to be flown alongside those of the 193 member-states and gave UN officials 20 days to follow up on the decision. Two poles have since been erected on the grounds of UN headquarters and talks are underway on the details of the ceremony. On the same day as the flag-raising, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will host a meeting of the Middle East Quartet seeking a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-invite-leaders-un-flag-raising-ceremony-155842784.html
Israel to return the remains of 119 Palestinians
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 Sept — Israeli authorities have pledged to return the remains of 119 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, an official Palestinian spokesperson said on Wednesday. Salim Khillah, from the Palestinian national campaign to restore martyrs’ bodies, told Ma‘an that the remains, currently held in “numbered graves,” are expected to be returned to family members before the end of 2015. According to Khillah, Israeli authorities have promised to “abstain from keeping the bodies of Palestinian martyrs from now on,” however, he said his campaign has documented at least 242 bodies in Israeli custody, while Israeli authorities claim they are only holding the 119. Khillah explained that he was told by legal adviser Suleiman Shahin of the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights that the decision to return the bodies, as well as the promise to abstain from continuing the practice of withholding remains, came directly from a ruling in the Israeli High Court. Khillah said the bodies will be returned to families after a few months, as the Israeli authorities plan to conduct DNA tests to identify each remain. Israeli authorities have reportedly released a list of the 119 victim’s names. Khillah said his campaign will also deliver a list of the remaining 123 bodies thought to be held in Israeli custody.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767656
Iceland’s capital bans all Israeli products
Ynet 16 Sept by Itamar Eichner — Reykjavik has passed a resolution boycotting Israeli-made goods, in protest of Israel’s ‘racist apartheid policy’ towards the Palestinians — The city council of Icelandic capital Reykjavik has passed a resolution banning all Israeli-made products in protest of policy in the Palestinian territories. The resolution was proposed by Councilwoman Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, who mentioned that she intends to spend the rest of the year doing humanitarian work in the Palestinian territories. The resolution appears to be purely symbolic, since it didn’t mention specific companies or products, and it’s not clear if the Reykjavik municipal authorities have even had any business ties to Israeli companies – or if they’ve been purchasing Israeli products – so far. [cont.]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4701022,00.html
UK parliament won’t debate petition to arrest Netanyahu for war crimes
Haaretz 16 Sept — The British parliament will not debate a petition that called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite it receiving almost 112,000 signatures. Netanyahu visited the U.K. last week to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the situation in Syria and the Iran deal. He was met with noisy pro-Palestinian protests outside 10 Downing Street. The e-petition was uploaded in August on the official government website by those angry at Israel’s actions during the war with Gaza last summer. It argued that Netanyahu should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.K. “for the massacre of over 2,000 civilians in 2014.” Under British parliamentary procedure, public petitions with over 100,000 signatures are usually debated by parliamentarians in the House of Commons. In this case, the petition demanded the arrest of a visiting head of a foreign government, which is prohibited under both U.K. and international law. As a result, the committee of MPs responsible for handling public petitions concluded that no debate would be held despite the large number of signatories. The petition was supported by Stop the War, a British pressure group whose national chair is newly-elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is also a prominent member the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, a fellow supporter of the petition.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.676165
Netanyahu to meet Obama in October
AP and Ynet’s Yitzhak Benhorin 16 Sept — After months of chilly relations, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet at the White House on November 9, to talk about the Iran nuclear deal that Israel’s government has harshly criticized and tried, without success, to block. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the leaders also would discuss efforts to counter ISIS’s activities in the Mideast. He called the meeting a demonstration “of the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel, as well as our unprecedented cooperation to further enhance Israel’s security.” It will be the first formal meeting between Obama and Netanyahu in months. Obama pointedly refused to see Netanyahu in March, when the Israeli leader appeared before a joint session of Congress and harshly criticized the US-negotiated nuclear deal with Iran, Israel’s enemy. US lawmakers had arranged Netanyahu’s appearance without White House input.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4701139,00.html
Haaretz editorial: Israel cannot continue to punish the students in its Christian schools
17 Sept — Israel must carry out its obligations as a democratic state toward these students, and return them to the classroom — The school year opened to great fanfare and numerous photographs of politicians together with students at schools around the country, yet 33,000 students enrolled in Christian schools have yet to begin their studies. The decision to shut down Israel’s 47 Christian schools, not including Jerusalem, was made by their management board, which for months had warned that as a result of massive budget cuts by the Education Ministry, the schools, which are regarded as “unofficial but recognized” educational institutions, would be unable to start the new school year. Since the strike began, the government, the Education Ministry and most of the Israeli media have treated the issue as a marginal one — so much so, that ahead of the start of the school year all the authorities announced gaily that everything was in order. It is difficult not to assume that the issue’s slide from the public agenda, the lack of interest among decision makers and the delay in addressing the issue stem from the fact that the schools serve Israel’s Arab community. It is not far-fetched to presume that such a strike among Jewish schools would elicit much greater effort by the authorities to solve the problem.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.676277
Israel’s Chief Rabbinate blasts ‘spiritually dangerous’ Christian event in Jerusalem
Haaretz 16 Sept — Israel’s Chief Rabbinate warned of the spiritual danger of an upcoming conference organized by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, claiming the event seeks to convert Jews to Christianity. “We have learned that missionary elements [working on behalf] of the Christian embassy in Jerusalem are organizing a large conference during the Sukkot holiday. Some of this organization’s goals are to convert Jews [to Christianity],” a statement signed by Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef read. “Those same elements see as their mission converting the entire world to Christianity, especially the Jewish people.” “This is a grave matter that runs contrary to the foundations of our beliefs, and therefore it must be denunciated and the public must be warned,” the statement continued, calling on the Israeli public not to participate in the conference. The statement added that “Even though it may be that the conference organizers are friends to the State of Israel, in practice the event constitutes a spiritual danger and undermines [the state’s] Jewish character.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/1.676259
US sanctions Hamas leaders, but why now? / Adnan Abu Amer
Al-Monitor 15 Sept — Hamas suspects the United States is trying — but failing — to undermine the movement’s truce efforts by designating three Hamas leaders as terrorists — On Sept. 8, the US State Department unexpectedly added three Hamas leaders to its blacklist of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, freezing their US assets and prohibiting its citizens from doing business with them. The move against Mohammed al-Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha is prompting speculation on what might have motivated the United States to act now. According to the State Department’s website, the three Hamas leaders are known for their roles in founding Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in 1991, and for planning armed attacks against Israel. This is probably the first time Washington has described Hamas leaders as terrorists, although it classified Hamas itself as a terrorist movement in 2001 and held the former head of Hamas’ political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzouk, from 1995-1997 . . . Mushtaha told Al-Monitor, “It is not up to Washington to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, and the movement does not consider resisting the Israeli occupation to be terrorism, as [the resistance] is an internationally granted right. Washington’s decision will not stop [Hamas] from carrying on with the resistance to free its territories. How long will it take for the US to realize that Hamas is a liberation movement and not a terrorist organization?” (continued)
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/us-designation-hamas-leaders-terrorists.html
Analysis: Tackling Jewish terror / Leslie Susser
JPost 12 Sept — FOR YEARS radical young Jewish settlers have been a law unto themselves, setting fire to churches and mosques, beating Palestinian villagers in their fields, uprooting olive trees and sometimes, more recently, torching Palestinian homes. Arrests have been very rare; convictions even rarer. But that may be about to change. The burning to death of Ali Dawabsha, an 18-month-old infant in the West Bank village of Duma in late July, sent shock waves across Israeli society. People were horrified at the callous inhumanity of the perpetrators. Damage to property, as criminal as it may be, was one thing; coldblooded killing quite another. Moreover, the government now realizes that it too is a target. Some of the young religiously observant radicals claim that their goal is to topple the country’s secular democratic regime and set up a Jewish religious kingdom under Torah law in its stead. It is also becoming increasingly clear to the country’s leaders that the unpunished settler rampages are compromising Israel’s international standing at a time when anti-Israel boycott and divestment moves are gaining traction. Many tend to dismiss the extremists as a handful of disturbed young fanatics, a few dozen at most. But some of their ideas pared down to essentials, for example a more religiously Jewish state in all of Biblical Israel with as few Palestinians in it as possible, have broad right-wing support. This raises two key questions: How widespread are these non-democratic, nationalistic views and is the current rightwing government really serious about taking the extremists on? (continued)
http://www.jpost.com/Jerusalem-Report/Tackling-Jewish-Terror-412593
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
Source Article from http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/netanyahu-declares-throwers
Views: 0
Posted in 
