Friday, January 29, 2016
HEBRON, occupied West Bank -- Muhanned Qafesha, a resident of Tel
Rumeida, Hebron, takes Mondoweiss through the arduous journey some
residents of the city have been subjected to after Israeli forces made
the town a closed military zone in November.
Following the
establishment of the closed military zone Israel implemented a new
number system in the area. Each household within the zone was given an
ID number which is now necessary to be able to access Tel Rumaida.
Anyone without a number is barred from entering the town.
Many
residents and visitors alike have instead chosen to take a footpath
through the muddy back-hills of Tel Rumeida to get home, instead of
being subjected the military checkpoint at the city center. The Israeli
checkpoint used to be the more convenient entrance to their town, but
now can take hours as Israel "heightens security."
While the
footpath is dangerous, and non-residents taking the path are doing so
illegally, Qafesha said many choose to take the alternative entrance out
of protest, while others take it because they have no other choice.
http://mondoweiss.net
Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz interview a member of Daoud family outside
an Israeli checkpoint in the Tel Rumaida neighborhood of Hebron.
Http://mondoweiss.net
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Children from Bethlehem's Aida and Beit Jibrin
refugee camps talk to Mondoweiss about their life in the camps.
Filmmakers Sheren Khalel and Abed al Qaisi wanted to know exactly how
much the children understood about the military occupation going on
around them, and how normal they believed their lives were. With their
parents permission, Khalel and al Qaisi asked five children from the
streets of the two camps what they thought. All of the answers were
spontaneous and unrehearsed, and as it turned out, the kids understood
-- and have experienced -- quite a lot.
Many of the children
talked about tear gas, soldiers, and being scared of going outside. All
of the children have seen family members killed, injured and detained by
Israeli forces -- as is the life in the occupied West Bank's many
refugee camps. Still, the children have high hopes, telling Mondoweiss
they want to be doctors, lawyers and engineers when they grow up.
Three activists are held in custody and their identities have been under
a sweeping Israeli gag order until today (Jan 21st, 2016). The three
were arrested following a "sting operation" by Ad-Kan, a right-wing
group that accused them of collaborating with the Palestinian Security
Services against a Palestinian man who allegedly tried to sell
Palestinian land in the West Bank to Israeli settlers.
Those who
are detained have described the police using torture against them, as
well as colluding with the settler organization Ad-Kan which is linked
to the Samaria Settler Council.
More by Richard Silverstein.
Israelis seize two buildings in central Hebron, claiming the Palestinian owners sold the deeds to them. The IDF fights protesting Palestinians, thne removes the squatters. Richard Silverstein says Likud party officials instead of settlers organized the seizure.
Friday, January 22, 2016
A demo for the release of Ezra Nawi, who has been arrested by settler police. Richard Silversteain has more here .
The ITF/IDF routinely uses 0.22 caliber live ammunition against
demonstrators. Here is a video that was shot by one of the assailants
whose camera later dropped and was retrieved by Palestinian protesters
in the Ramallah district.
"Following the publication of the
Israeli military’s probe into yesterday’s incident in which 13-year-old
‘Abd a-Rahman ‘Obeid Allah was killed in ‘Aida Refugee Camp by a 0.22
caliber bullet, B’Tselem demands that Israel’s security forces
immediately cease use of this ammunition as a means of crowd control and
to refrain from the use of live ammunition – both 0.22 caliber bullets
(dubbed Two-Two) and “ordinary” live bullets – in non-life-threatening
circumstances.
Since January 2015, 0.22 caliber bullets have
killed at least four Palestinians in the West Bank (including
yesterday’s fatality), and injured dozens more, some gravely. For years
B’Tselem has documented the lethal outcome of firing 0.22 caliber
bullets at demonstrators, and has been cautioning that the reality on
the ground contradicts the military’s official statements that the use
of this weapon is regulated and restricted. If the sniper’s version of
yesterday’s events is indeed correct, namely - that despite being armed
with a weapon with telescopic sights and firing in broad daylight, he
missed the mark and inadvertently hit a 13-year-old boy, the incidents
merely serves to underscore even further the danger this weapon poses."
Friday, January 15, 2016
A teen in New Jersey has been reprimanded by her high school for
bullying. She tweeted criticisms of the Israeli government, and the
school has taken action saying that it could be perceived as
anti-Semitic towards Jewish students. Here’s the problem: She’s also
Jewish. Ana Kasparian, Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show), Jayar Jackson,
and Becca Frucht hosts of The Young Turks discuss.
Aegean Airlines apologizes for caving in to the racist demands of their
Israeli passengers, those who insisted that the plane will not take off
until the Palestinian passengers (Palestinian citizens of Israel) will
disembark. CNN then claims it is an isolated case. But is it? Here's a
collection of similar incidents in apartheid Israel.
Friday, January 8, 2016
During the clashes following the funeral in al-Khalil (Hebron) for 14
Palestinians killed over the last three months by Israeli forces and
settlers, the Israeli military in Bab al-Zawwiya (an H1, supposedly
Palestinian-controlled neighborhood) forced a Palestinian Red Crescent
Society ambulance to move away from the street where it was attempting
to drive in order to be prepared to treat wounded protesters. After
heavily armed Israeli forces approached the ambulance, they threw a stun
grenade to make it leave the street medics had been planning to drive
down. Over the last few months Israeli forces have often harassed,
threatened, and even injured Palestinian medics attempting to treat
Palestinians wounded by Israeli settlers or military forces.
On December 30th infamous Israeli settler Ofer (who often drives an
ambulance even though he is not medically trained) pulled up outside the
Ziad Jaber boys' school in occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron). He approached
the school while wearing a gun, filmed international human rights
defenders and teachers aggressively and spat at them (0:30).
Eventually Palestinian schoolteachers were able to prevent Ofer's entry
into the school with the Israeli soldiers he had ordered to accompany
him. Amidst all this, there was a guy trying to sell traditional
Palestinian bread, which is the call that can be heard near at one point
after 3:00 in the video.
As ISM activists were monitoring a checkpoint close to the Al Faihaa
girls' school in Al-Khalil, notorious Israeli settler Anat Cohen drove
up and assaulted the activists, hitting both of them and attempting to
break one of their cameras. One activist managed to film footage of the
final part of the attack, when Israeli soldiers intervened and also
threatened to break one activist's camera.
Friday, January 1, 2016
On December 29 several heavily armed Israeli troops advanced from both
Salaymeh and Qeitun checkpoint down the street leading to the schools in
Quitun neighborhood, emptying at least one tear gas gun and throwing
stun grenades at Palestinian schoolboys gathered in the street. Israeli
forces also aimed tear gas (visible at 0:58 in video) and threw at least one stun grenade over a wall beside them, into a schoolyard.
ERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police have arrested five Israelis
involved in a Jerusalem wedding ceremony that incited violence towards
Palestinians, Israeli media reported Tuesday.
The groom of the wedding — reportedly a well-known member of the
radical right — was arrested in addition to an Israeli soldier and two
minors, Israeli daily Haaretz said.
Israeli police also arrested renowned extremist settler Daniel Pinner
from the illegal settlement of Tapuah, who was among a number of others
seen dancing with a gun in video footage of the wedding ceremony,
Haaretz reported, adding that Pinner’s attorney claimed the gun was a
toy.
Israeli police opened an investigation into the wedding last week after video footage aired by Israel’s Channel 10 went viral.
Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement at the
time that the investigation was opened due to “numerous and serious
offenses seen in the video.”
The video shows Israelis present at the wedding dancing and singing songs of revenge while waving knives and guns in the air.
At one point during the ceremony, a masked Israeli youth waves a
firebomb while another stabs a photo of Ali Dawabsha, an 18-month-old
Palestinian burned alive in an arson attack carried out by Jewish
extremists over the summer.
The infant’s parents later died from severe burns, leaving their four-year-old child Ahmad as the sole survivor of the attack.
Controversy over the video erupted as Israel’s right slammed Israel’s
internal security agency Shin Bet for its investigation into the
Dawabsha murders, which has increased internal tensions within the
national religious right.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the wedding video
showed “the real face of a group that poses danger to Israeli society
and security,” days after the Shin Bet warned that Jewish terror organizations were aiming to “violently overthrow” the Israeli government.
hat tip to Juancole.com
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