Friday, September 29, 2017

Israel/Palestine News

 



It is not every day that you see in Israel art exhibitions in a hummus
shop, mosque, garage or law firm. The Mediterranean Biennale aspires to
take the art out of the boundaries of the museum and to display in the
Galilee works by artists from Israel, Palestine, the Middle East and
Europe.
 

Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians marched (Saturday, 16/9/2017) in a
march marking the International Day of Peace in solidarity with the
residents of al-Walaja. The march, entitled "Build Bridges, Not Walls,"
was held in protest against the demolition of houses in al-Walaja and
the construction of a wall that will surround the village and prevent
access to the spring and farmland. The march was supposed to end at the
rally, but for fear that this activity would result in the normalization
of the occupation, some residents of al-Walaja prevented the march from
entering the village and the holding of the rally.






The connection between the ultra-Orthodox society and human rights organizations and left activists may be surprising, but the state's push of the ultra-Orthodox to enlist has led the latter to appeal to human rights organizations for assistance. Gabriel Saada is a central activist in the struggle against the ultra-Orthodox recruitment law. He runs an advocacy line for the ultra-Orthodox public, which operates as a kosher radio station through which he conducts his struggle against the draft decree: "My son does not fit this framework, and you come and just cut everything that I worked for from the root".
 



In our childhood animals were our best friends, at some point we became
their worst enemies. So what makes us eat animals without feeling pangs
of conscience? For thousands of people who marched in Tel Aviv animal
rights march, the answer is clear: Education and the creation of a
faulty consciousness. Listen to 8-year-old Yahli who explains how in
kindergarten children are taught that cows live in the cowshed and not
in nature. The march took place on Saturday, 9/9/17,and at the end of
the march a large living performance was presented, presenting the shape
of the feet of a dog made by the participants.
 



The Palestinians will join Interpol, the international police
organization's generally assembly voted on Wednesday, clearing the way
for Palestine to become a member.
75 nations back motion after Israel fails to delay general assembly
vote; Palestinians praise 'joyous occasion'; Israeli minister blasts
Palestinians 'diplomatic war'






Jerusalem Municipality destroys the home of two families in East
Jerusalem

On Wednesday, 13 September 2017, Jerusalem Municipality officials
arrived at the neighborhood of Ras al-‘Amud in East Jerusalem, escorted
by Border Police. They bulldozed a two-story, two-apartment building to
the ground, leaving eight people, four of them minors, homeless. The
pretext for the demolition was lack of building permits, even though it
is the Israeli authorities that deny Palestinian legal construction in
East Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities have already demolished 45 homes
in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year, leaving 126 people,
including 70 minors, without a roof over their heads.
 





On 9 Aug. 2017 Kifaya al-Ja’bri, 12, was awakened by knocking at the
door of her home in the al-Muhawel neighborhood, Hebron; the Giv’at
Ha’avot settlement was built nearby. She opened the door to find about
20 soldiers with a dog. The soldiers came inside, gathered the family in
one room and searched the house. Ayat al-Ja’bri, 33 - Kifaya’s sister
and a B’Tselem volunteer - filmed the soldiers, including dialogue
indicating they were trying to plant something in the house and
deliberately keeping her away. After the soldiers left, the al-Ja’bris
unsuccessfully tried to find the concealed item. The IDF Spokesperson
said nothing was planted in the home.
 



2017 has been a 'killer' year for women. By mid September more women
have been murdered than the national average. Following the murder of
Hiba Manaa, project "Tizkor" (Her Memorial) organized rage rallys in
Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem.
 





Nir Baram, author of the book "A Land Without Borders" went out to meet
with Palestinians in the West Bank and was surprised to find most of
them talk about longing the 1948 borders, rather than the occupation in
1967, In the following discussion, he presented a teaser of the film and
held a discussion on the gap in the perception of the conflict between
Palestinians and Israelis, together with representatives of the
Palestinian Authority and the "Two States One Homeland" movement.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Israel/Palestine News

 





In his UN speech, Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Iran 37 times but spoke
about Palestine only twice, deflecting attention away from the
occupation and giving Israel an external enemy, says Haaretz journalist
Gideon Levy
 





Journalist and documentarian Lia Tarachansky discusses the decision by
the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn a law exempting ultra-Orthodox
Jews from military service
 





Wadi Qana was once a lush valley filled with diverse crops and livestock
where dozens of Palestinian families farmed and thrived off the land.
Now after years of Israeli settlements dumping their wastewater in the
area, there is little life left in the valley.
 



2 videos of activists trying to enter settlement.




 



Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters from the most extreme factions of
their community demonstrated on Sunday outside the Israeli army
enlistment center on Rashi Street in Jerusalem over the arrest of about
40 ultra-Orthodox men on allegations of desertion.


 



A scathing report from United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development describes how 50 years of Israeli occupation has prevented
economic development in Palestine, and highlights the destructive impact
of Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank
 





Demo in Ni'ilin.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Israel/Palestine News

 





Andrew Anglin, the American blogger who runs the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer
website, told an Israeli television channel on Tuesday night that he
supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair for having posted
a meme laden with anti-Semitic imagery.
 





On 13 Aug. 2017, Rania al-Muhtaseb documented Israeli security forces
coming to her home in central Hebron and welding shut a door to the
house, on the unfounded grounds that the entrance served “fleeing
suspects”. The forces used severe violence against her aunt, Zleikhah
al-Muhtaseb, 55, who tried to prevent the welding. This is yet another
example Israel’s policy of segregation and restriction on Palestinian
movement in central Hebron, which is coupled with abuse, violence and
daily harassment by security forces and settlers.
 





Under Israel’s segregation policy in Hebron, Palestinians depend on the
goodwill of security forces even for simple actions. On 7 July 2017, the
Hadads moved house within central Hebron. Police at the Pharmacy
Checkpoint did not let the truck carrying their furniture through and
sent them to Checkpoint 160. Two family members remained at the Pharmacy
Checkpoint to move lighter possessions by hand, and one got into an
altercation with the police that led to his arrest. Shuruq Hadad
documented the incident on video from the new apartment.
 





The Palestinian Authority's arrest of prominent human rights activist
Issa Amro is part of a wider crackdown on critics of Mahmoud Abbas'
rule, says Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada
 





On 8 Sept. 2017, at about 3:00 P.M., a military force came with a
bulldozer to the dirt road that connects the town of Yatta with the
villages of Masafer Yatta, dug it up and blocked it off with rocks. The
destruction of the road, which had been renovated just a day earlier
with aid funding, forces villagers to now take a long detour. Masafer
Yatta, which extends southeast of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, is
home to more than 1,000 people which Israel has been trying to expel for
many years, including by declaring the area Firing Zone 918.
 





On 5 Aug. 2017, a large group of young settlers physically and verbally
assaulted two Palestinian youths who were walking in the Jaber
neighborhood of Hebron. When the youths tried to defend themselves,
soldiers arrested one of them. He was released later that night.
Residents who witnessed the scene tried to convince the soldiers to
release the boy and asked that they stop the attack, but the settlers
continued to act violently, injuring three residents. B’Tselem volunteer
‘Aref Jaber captured parts of the incident on video.
 



Hundreds of protesters marched in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah
neighborhood on Friday, against the eviction of the Shamanseh family,
who forced from their home on Tuesday morning.

Among the detainees were two residents of the neighbourhood: a young
boy, reportedly detained for a short period of time, and another person
found waving the Palestinian flag.

The Shamansehs, a family of eight, had lived in the area for over 50
years. This was the first eviction in Sheikh Jarrah in eight years.
 





Lehava (Hebrew: למניעת התבוללות בארץ הקודש‎‎ LeMeniat Hitbolelut B'eretz HaKodesh; "Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land") is a Jewish far-right[1][2] organization based in Israel that strictly opposes Jewish assimilation, objecting to personal relationships between Jews and non-Jews.[3][4][5] It is opposed to the Christian presence in Israel.[6] It has an anti-miscegenation focus, denouncing marriages between Jewish women and non-Jewish, particularly Arab, men. Its actions have been denounced by President of Israel Reuven Rivlin as being like "rodents gnawing under the shared democratic and Jewish foundation of Israel".[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehava


 





Israeli bulldozers have reportedly demolished several Muslim graves in
addition to a wall at a cemetery in occupied Old City of Jerusalem
al-Quds as the Tel Aviv regime goes ahead with its total disrespect for
human and religious values.

The head of the Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries in
Jerusalem al-Quds, Mustafa Abu Zahra, told Arabic-language Wafa news
agency that Israeli bulldozers rolled into Martyrs’ Cemetery near the
Lions' Gate to the al-Aqsa Mosque, tearing down a wall and destroying a
number of graves there.

Abu Zahra noted that the cemetery contained the remains of 400
Palestinians, who were killed during the Six-Day War fought on June
5-10, 1967 between the Israeli regime, on the one side, and Egypt,
Jordan, and Syria, on the other.
 



Another demo In Ni'ilin.
 





3 videos
segment of a slideshow by David Sheen about incitement to racist
violence by top Israeli leaders leading up to and during the assault on
Gaza in the summer of 2014. Presentation given at Palfest (Arts festival
demonstrating solidarity with the people of Palestine) in Dublin,
Ireland on 8 July 2015, exactly one year after the assault. Full
50-minute presentation: http://bit.ly/inflictedongaza

Friday, September 8, 2017

Israel/Palestine News

Shir Hever says the eviction of a Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah is part of a larger strategy to displace Palestinians, but it could set a precedent for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.








  



Hamas scholar Imad Al-Soos explains that Gaza’s isolation is not just physical, but also political
 





Anonymous and "Live and Let the Animals Live" activists set up a show in
Ashdod to illustrate the suffering and abuse that calves and lambs go
through during the long and agonizing journey from the fields of
Australia to death in Israel.
 



Demand that the Carmel settlement take responsibility and stop the stone-throwing on Umm al-Kheir!

September 1, 2017
The village of Umm al-Kheir in the south Hebron hills has been under
attack by stone-throwers from the adjacent settlement of Carmel for the
past four nights. With the sole aim of depriving the villagers of their
sleep – every hour throughout the night, a stone is lobbed over the
fence. A single stone, jerking an entire village out of sleep. Cowardly,
under cover of darkness, the perpetrator runs away.

 





A severe electricity shortage in the Gaza Strip has left residents with
as little as four hours of power a day in the sweltering summer heat,
raising humanitarian concerns.
  





On Reality Asserts Itself, Trita Parsi says the Israelis are trying to
push the United States to reestablish the pre-Iraq War status quo, but
it's not possible any longer
 





Shir Hever examine privatization of security which undermines Israel’s racial policies
 



Israeli forces detained a popular Palestinian wedding singer and his
band members during predawn raids in the central occupied West Bank
district of Ramallah today, reportedly over a video released by the
group applauding Omar Al-Abed, who has been indicted for carrying out a
deadly stabbing attack in July that left three Israeli settlers dead.
 





Many victims of crime do not necessarily feel that sending their
offender to prison is doing justice. Can a community procedure replace
the criminal? And how does this benefit the victim of the offense?
 





What is the role of the media in political incitement? Is it a leftist,
or is it the government's horn? A conference held in the Knesset dealt
with the role that media plays in incitement against Israeli publics.
 



On 24 August 2017, settlers from Kiryat Arba verbally abused
Palestinians in the al-Hariqah neighborhood of Hebron on loudspeaker,
including insults to Islam. When they noticed a B’Tselem volunteer
filming them from her window, they directed racist and obscene language
at her, including threats of extreme sexual violence. Although the
threats were explicit and the swearing constituted severe sexual
harassment, Israeli security forces at the scene allowed the settlers to
continue undisturbed, as is usually the case.
  



Ni'ilin Friday 25.8.2017 protest against the separation wall cutting them off from their land, against the occupation and against apartheid.