Friday, January 25, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
Israel/Palestine News
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated his belief that the
Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment (BDS) movement is anti-Semitic. We
speak to Ali Abunimah, who says Trudeau has adopted Netanyahu's talking
points
Areen and Tzofia's trip to the settlement of Zippori in the Galilee,
where Areen's family was uprooted from the Palestinian village of
Safuriya in 1948. During the visit, Areen reveals the home of her
Grandmother, who now lives there a Jewish family. Next to that house,
Roberta lives, expressing her fear, that one day a Palestinian woman
will come to her and tell her-it was my home.
The Gaza Strip is famous for its strawberries, which used to be exported
all around Israel, Palestine, and the world. But as a result of
Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which is entering its 12th year this year,
strawberry farming is dying out. The siege has made the practice
increasingly expensive for farmers, forcing them to abandon their farms.
Long waits at Israeli checkpoints and restrictions on exports mean that
Gaza’s remaining strawberry farmers can never be sure if they will make
enough profits to survive through the season.
Ahmad Abu Marahil, 20, is one of the best boxers in Gaza.
Israeli
occupation forces injured Abu Marahil three times during the Great
March of Return protests, leading him to use a wheelchair.
Even
before his injuries, Abu Marahil has dreamed of participating in
championships in other Palestinian cities and around the world. But
Israel has repeatedly barred him from leaving Gaza.
“I had the ambition to become a boxing champion and to represent Palestine abroad,” Abu Marahil told The Electronic Intifada.
“But the occupation was the obstacle,” stated Osama Ayoub, Abu Marahil’s coach.
Despite his injuries, Abu Marahil is determined to continue with the sport that he loves.
Video by Amjad Ayman and Yousef Mashharawi
On
the morning of 13 Dec. 13 2018, a Palestinian opened fire at a
hitchhiking stop near the entrance to the settlement of Givat Assaf,
east of Ramallah. He killed two soldiers and seriously injured another
soldier and a woman.
Following the incident, large numbers of
settlers set out to attack Palestinians, particularly in the Hebron and
Nablus Districts. The attacks continued until the evening, with settlers
throwing stones at moving cars. B'Tselem investigated 10 incidents in
which four people required medical treatment.
These attacks were
predictable, yet the security forces did nothing to prevent them. In
half the incidents B'Tselem investigated, soldiers were present on the
scene, but in most cases, they did nothing to prevent the settlers from
attacking Palestinians and did not arrest any of them.
This behavior
by the security forces was also predictable. Settler attacks on
Palestinians, in the presence and under the protection of the security
forces, have long since become routine throughout the West Bank. It is
clear to Palestinians today that no-one will protect them and their
property and that no-one will be held to account when they are attacked.
Qassam
Nazzal attacked on the Huwarah-Jit road: Qassam Nazzal, 21, a truck
driver from Qabatiya in the Nablus District, was driving from Ramallah
to Tulkarm for his work. At about 11:00 A.M., he arrived at Huwarah
Checkpoint and discovered that the military had closed the checkpoint to
vehicles. He turned around and headed for the Huwarah intersection,
where he took the road leading to the village of Jit, which passes close
to the settlement of Yitzhar. As he neared the entrance to the
settlement, Nazzal noticed about 20 settlers by the side of the road. A
few soldiers and a military jeep were standing next to them. Some of the
settlers began to throw stones at the truck. Nazzal filmed the attack
on his cell phone, which he placed on the dashboard.
In a testimony
taken on 17 December 2018 by B'Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi,
Nazzal stated: They threw more than 10 stones at me, breaking the front
windshield and two windows on either side. Two stones entered the truck
and one of them hit me on my left arm. I was lucky I wasn’t hurt worse
than that. I managed to stay calm and control the truck. The settlers
attacked me in front of the soldiers, who stood there and didn’t stop
them throwing stones. One of the soldiers gestured to me to keep on
driving and that was all. I kept on driving until I got to my workplace
in Ramallah. My managers suggested I go to hospital to get checked. At
a-Zakat Hospital they x-rayed me and saw that nothing had been broken. I
just had bruises. Those were some terrifying moments. It was really
hard
the morning of 13 Dec. 13 2018, a Palestinian opened fire at a
hitchhiking stop near the entrance to the settlement of Givat Assaf,
east of Ramallah. He killed two soldiers and seriously injured another
soldier and a woman.
Following the incident, large numbers of
settlers set out to attack Palestinians, particularly in the Hebron and
Nablus Districts. The attacks continued until the evening, with settlers
throwing stones at moving cars. B'Tselem investigated 10 incidents in
which four people required medical treatment.
These attacks were
predictable, yet the security forces did nothing to prevent them. In
half the incidents B'Tselem investigated, soldiers were present on the
scene, but in most cases, they did nothing to prevent the settlers from
attacking Palestinians and did not arrest any of them.
This behavior
by the security forces was also predictable. Settler attacks on
Palestinians, in the presence and under the protection of the security
forces, have long since become routine throughout the West Bank. It is
clear to Palestinians today that no-one will protect them and their
property and that no-one will be held to account when they are attacked.
Qassam
Nazzal attacked on the Huwarah-Jit road: Qassam Nazzal, 21, a truck
driver from Qabatiya in the Nablus District, was driving from Ramallah
to Tulkarm for his work. At about 11:00 A.M., he arrived at Huwarah
Checkpoint and discovered that the military had closed the checkpoint to
vehicles. He turned around and headed for the Huwarah intersection,
where he took the road leading to the village of Jit, which passes close
to the settlement of Yitzhar. As he neared the entrance to the
settlement, Nazzal noticed about 20 settlers by the side of the road. A
few soldiers and a military jeep were standing next to them. Some of the
settlers began to throw stones at the truck. Nazzal filmed the attack
on his cell phone, which he placed on the dashboard.
In a testimony
taken on 17 December 2018 by B'Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi,
Nazzal stated: They threw more than 10 stones at me, breaking the front
windshield and two windows on either side. Two stones entered the truck
and one of them hit me on my left arm. I was lucky I wasn’t hurt worse
than that. I managed to stay calm and control the truck. The settlers
attacked me in front of the soldiers, who stood there and didn’t stop
them throwing stones. One of the soldiers gestured to me to keep on
driving and that was all. I kept on driving until I got to my workplace
in Ramallah. My managers suggested I go to hospital to get checked. At
a-Zakat Hospital they x-rayed me and saw that nothing had been broken. I
just had bruises. Those were some terrifying moments. It was really
hard
On Monday, 19 November 2018, at around 1:00 P.M., Israeli Civil
Administration personnel came with a truck-mounted crane and a
three-jeep military escort to the Palestinian village of Bardalah in the
northern Jordan Valley. The troops dismantled and confiscated a pre-fab
that served as the home of a family of six. The structure had been
donated to the family after last month’s demolition, when troops
demolished the shack that had been their home as well as sheep pens and
storage tents.
Yasmine Eran-Vardi is expected to arrive at the induction center on
January 13. She objects to the state's use of compulsory recruitment for
the continuation of the occupation policy: "The army is trying to place
the responsibility on me. What I want to say by my refusal is that I do
not want to serve a racist system like the army". "I am not willing to
cooperate with the occupation and the siege on Gaza".
Friday, January 11, 2019
Incoming members of Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have both
come out in favor of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
movement — the first House members to ever do so. Critics, however,
suggest that BDS is anti-Semitic and undermines a two-state solution in
the Middle East. Others say supporters of BDS aren't consistent in their
criticism of human rights and unfairly focus on the actions of Israel.
In his latest video essay, The Intercept's Mehdi Hasan examines — and
debunks — some of the myths and controversies surrounding the BDS
movement
Friday, January 4, 2019
Neve Hana is a day school and a boarding school for both Jewish and
Bedouin students that is called "Nativ Lashalom" (A Path to Peace).
Their goal is to connect the two peoples while advancing the issue of
reconciliation between them. The article follows the day school on the
Jewish and Muslim New Year when the children learn about the Jewish and
Muslim holidays and the staff tells about the daily life that takes
place in Neve Hana.
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