Jewish colonists attack Palestinian villagers in Nablus and Ramallah districts
Palestine Information Center – 03/06/2011
NABLUS, RAMALLAH — Dozens of fanatic Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian villagers to the south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus resulting in clashes in which two Palestinians were injured and three others were arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
Hebrew sources said that dozens of settlers from Havat Gilad, which is built on confiscated Palestinian land belonging to the villagers of Kasra and neighbouring villages, attacked Palestinian homes at a late hour Thursday resulting in the injury of two Palestinians who were taken to hospital for treatment.
Local sources said that the IOF intervened to protect the settlers and arrested three Palestinian youth who clashed with the attacking settlers.
Meanwhile, fanatic Jewish settlers carried out provocative acts on Friday morning in the village of Deir Nithanto the north west of the southern West Bank city of Ramallah
Locals said that a large number of settlers from Hamlish settlement close to the village are roaming the streets and fields of the village and are provoking the Palestinian villagers by writing racist graffiti and hanging Israeli flags on trees.
Israel Names New Settlement After Obama
By Saleh Naami | Al-Ahram Online | May 31, 2011
In a move that comes as gesture of deep gratitude, the Israeli government permitted an extreme rightwing Israeli association to name a new settlement Obama. The building of settlements makes the establishment of a connected Palestinian state an impossible task.
Bulldozers started to pave the way for the settlement a day after Obama gave his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference. The construction of the settlement comes in the larger context of a Zionization project that aims to link Jerusalem to the city of Ma’ale Adumim, north east of Jerusalem.
The location of the Obama settlement is along the main road that connects the West Bank’s northern and southern regions; a consequence of building the settlement would therefore be to separate those territories permanently.
In order to make concrete the reality of settlement in these territories, the Israeli government has decided to move its police headquarters next to the Obama settlement.
Israeli radio reported that this step came to honour Obama’s positions in solidarity with Israel which he disclosed to his audience at the AIPAC conference.
Israeli official sources mentioned that the Israeli step comes in the framework of the strategy “Greater Jerusalem,” which aims to change the demographic nature of Jerusalem, raising the number of Jews to one million, a project put forth by former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.
Israeli gunboat fires on fishermen in Gazan waters
International Solidarity Movement in Gaza – June 1, 2011
Ramadan Zidan, 51, and his son Mohamed, 20 set sail from the harbor in Gaza at seven in the morning, they didn’t plan to go far, only to fish outside of the harbor.
For an hour and half everything went well, it was a beautiful morning and they still hoped to have a successful day of fishing.
When the Israeli gunboat first started to approach them at eight thirty a.m. they thought nothing of it, they were close to the port, nowhere near the Israeli imposed three mile limit on Palestinian fisherman.
Unexpectedly the gunboat started to shoot around their boat. The boat wasn’t hit, and the gunboat left the area, so the men went back to fishing. Then they saw the gunboat turn around and come at them again. It opened fire on the boat again; the front of their boat was hit several times with bullets. The gunboat then told the men that they were under arrest.
Fearing that after confiscating the boat the Israeli’s would either damage the boat while it was in Ashdod, as routinely happens to the seized boats of Palestinian fisherman, or even worse refuse to return the boat, the fisherman started the engine and began to return to port.
The gunboat shot the engine of the boat, but miraculously the engine didn’t stop working and the fisherman made it safely back to port despite the shell in the engine and the many bullet holes in their ship. They hope to return to fishing soon, they have no other way to support their families.
Freedom of movement in Gaza gets a boost
31 May 2011 – IRIN
RAFAH – The opening of Rafah on 28 May, the only official border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has created a lifeline for Palestinians living in Gaza, but some, mostly refugees, will still be restricted to their localities because they lack identification papers.
Palestinians were allowed to pass freely from Gaza into Egypt through Rafah for the first time in four years. The decision marked a huge shift in Egyptian foreign policy, introduced after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, and provides a critical valve for the 1.6 million people trapped within Gaza’s borders since June 2007.
The crossing was partially opened in May last year after the deaths of international activists on board a flotilla attempting to break the siege. It operated a five-day week, from noon until 4pm, but was open only to foreign passport holders, Palestinians with foreign visas and medical patients.
The restrictions had made it incredibly difficult for Palestinians to enter Egypt, even on genuine medical grounds. From April 2011 to date, around 2,100 Palestinians have been denied entry into Egypt for unspecified reasons, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Under the new rules, all women, minors and any man under 18 and over 40 will be able to pass freely without a visa six days a week from 9am until 4pm.
Mohamed Matar, 39, a shopkeeper from Rafah, who was among the thousands of people lining up at the crossing on 28 May hoping to leave Gaza, said: “I won’t be 40 until October but I’m still going to try. My Mum is in Egypt and very sick with Alzheimer’s. She is 80 years old and none of her sons are with her. We are all here in Gaza.
“When I speak to her on the phone she sounds very tired and weak. I’m afraid she will die. If I get through the border tomorrow, at least I can sit with her for a week so that she recognizes me again.”
Not everyone happy
Not all Palestinians are as optimistic. For men aged 18-40, the reopening makes little difference. Unless they can provide proof of having a place at university abroad or a foreign visa, they will remain stuck in the Gaza Strip.
There are also hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, mostly refugees, without identification documents who cannot leave. While it officially withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel retains control of its maritime, air and most of its land borders. It also retains control of its population registry, including the issuance of Palestinian ID numbers without which it is impossible to travel.
Sana Easa, 39, has not seen her family in Cairo since she moved to Gaza to marry her husband Salah 12 years ago. Both need medical treatment unavailable in Gaza’s hospitals, but even with the new policy at Rafah, they are stuck.
Sana is a Palestinian but was born in Cairo and lived there most of her life. Her parents left Gaza as refugees in 1967. Her Egyptian passport expired in April 2004 but in order to renew it, she must go to Cairo in person. She is still waiting for the Palestinian ID number she applied for 12 years ago.
“The last time I tried to cross Rafah with my husband was in May 2010,” she says. “We got to the Palestinian border at 4am and reached the Egyptian side at 11pm. The Egyptian officials told my husband he and my son could pass through but they told me that because I have expired Egyptian travel documents and I don’t have a Palestinian ID I had to turn back.
“At 1am we decided we would come home together. My husband refuses to go to Egypt for the operation alone. He will be a patient and will need help. It was a disaster. This new opening means nothing to me because I know my case.”
The border opened at 10am local time on 28 May and within 90 minutes 200 Palestinians had crossed into Egypt. Travellers coming in the opposite direction spoke of huge changes on the Egyptian side of the border.
“It’s incredible. Anyone who came to the terminal, they just stamped their passport and gave them entry just like that. I am from Gaza and have a black passport but there were many different passports coming through – yellow, blue, red. There was a huge difference,” Hamad Yusef told IRIN.
Israeli concerns dismissed
Dismissing Israeli concerns about increased security threats to their borders, Ghazi Hamad, director of crossings in Gaza, said that Hamas and Egypt had proved – over the past four years, during which they had run Rafah crossing without European Union or Israeli supervision – that they could operate according to international standards. Claims that weapons, drugs and criminals had been smuggled through the border were false, he said.
“This is a very important day for Gaza… For four years we have been living under a siege. Now not all our problems are solved, but it’s better.
“We are in talks with the Egyptians and hope that the restrictions applied to men aged 18-40 will be lifted soon.”
Israel objects to the reopening believing that Hamas militants will funnel weapons into Gaza through Rafah.
British prime minister steps down as JNF patron
Asa Winstanley – The Electronic Intifada – May 31, 2011
London – A spokesperson for David Cameron on Friday refused to comment on the rationale behind the British prime minister’s decision to step down from his position as honorary patron of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The move comes as pressure on the JNF steps up in Britain, and is being hailed by activists as a big victory in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Campaigners with activist group Stop the JNF had written to Cameron earlier in May calling on him to cut his links with the JNF. Registered as a charity in the UK, the JNF is involved in development of illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the destruction of Palestinian Bedouin villages in the Naqab (Negev) inside Israel and stands accused of institutionally racist practices and complicity in ethnic cleansing since 1948.
Cameron’s press office told The Electronic Intifada that the decision had been made after a review of all the charities Cameron supported: “This is not a particularly recent decision,” said a spokesperson on Friday. In a short statement Thursday, the prime minister’s office had said the JNF was one of a “number of charities” Cameron stood down from following the review which was undertaken “[f]ollowing the formation of the Coalition Government last year.”
The statement did not specify any reason for the move. When asked if it was related to the JNF’s involvement with Israeli settlements in the West Bank (which the British government, in line with international law, considers illegal) the spokesperson said they were “not going to get into any further details.”
The spokesperson implied that Cameron is only involved in local causes: “The charities that he’s currently involved with will normally be charities in his [local parliamentary] constituency … or a couple of national campaigns. There aren’t really any that deal with specific issues in specific foreign countries,” he stated. He would not comment on why this had changed after Cameron had become prime minister.
The JNF’s UK office refused to comment on the matter. A report in The Jewish Chronicle on Thursday suggested “time constraints” were behind the move, although the email statement did not mention this (“Cameron leaves the JNF,” The Jewish Chronicle, 26 May 2011). On the Spectator website Monday, staunchly Zionist columnist Melanie Philips used her blog to describe the move as “the latest act of aggression against Israel by HMG [Her Majesty’s Government],” and suggested that the time constraints justification are “unconvincing” (“Cameron drinks the Kool-aid,” Spectator blogs, 30 May).
The spokesperson refused to name the other groups, saying he didn’t “think it would be very fair on the other charities that he stepped down from to name them.” While the statement claimed a “full list of all the charities and organizations the prime minister and Mrs. Cameron are associated with is published on the Cabinet Office website,” several searches for this list were unsuccessful. The spokesperson declined to provide The Electronic Intifada with a link to the list.
According to a list on the JNF’s UK website, the move leaves former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the only serving member of parliament left as honorary patron to the group. Other figures on the list include staunch supporters of Israel such as former prime minister and current Quartet envoy Tony Blair and Israeli government figures such as Shimon Peres. An open letter signed by campaigners calling for current Labour leader Ed Milliand to “break from this tradition” of party leaders patronizing the JNF was printed by The Guardian in October. So far he has not followed Brown, Blair or Cameron (who became patron while opposition leader).
The JNF is a quasi-governmental organization that controls large swathes of state land in Israel. This land is reserved for the use of Jews only — to the detriment of Israel’s 1.5 million Palestinian citizens, and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled from that land by Zionist militias in 1947-48.
The JNF has in recent years tried to re-brand itself as an environmentally-friendly charity, an effort critics have branded “greenwashing.” But pressure on the JNF mounted Saturday as Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland, at its annual general meeting, voted to endorse the Stop The JNF campaign. Chief Executive Stan Blackley said FoE Scotland was “pleased” to join the call for revocation of the JNF’s charitable status, according to a Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) press release (“Friends of the Earth Scotland endorses call …,” Stop the JNF website, 28 May).
The JNF has been connected with ethnic cleansing and abuse of Palestinian rights on both sides of the green line — the internationally-recognized armistice line between Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Journalist Max Blumenthal reported that the fund recently “set its sights” on al-Araqib in the Naqab (or Negev) desert. The Bedouin village has been destroyed 21 times since July 2010 so that the JNF can “develop” the area as part of the government’s Judaization campaign (“On Land Day, the Jewish National Fund’s Racist Legacy is Exposed,” MaxBlumenthal.com, 30 March 2011). The JNF is also involved in funding projects in illegal West Bank colonies such as Sansana in the south Hebron hills.
According to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, as of 2007 the JNF owned a total of just over 2.5 million dunams of land (a dunam is the equivalent of 1,000 square meters), the majority of which was seized from Palestinian refugees.
In the course of a 2004 legal challenge by Adalah, the JNF confirmed in a response to the court its discriminatory policies against non-Jews: “The JNF is not the trustee of the general public in Israel. Its loyalty is given to the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in the state of Israel … The JNF… does not have a duty to practice equality towards all citizens of the state” (“Land Controlled by Jewish National Fund for Jews Only,” Adalah press release, 29 July 2007).
Stop the JNF, which emerged in May of last year, is a working coalition of different campaigning groups including the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC). The campaign will be holding a series of workshops in London on 4 June.
~
Asa Winstanley is a freelance journalist based in London who has lived in and reported from occupied Palestine. He is the editor of a book about the Russell Tribunal on Palestine coming out on Pluto Press later in 2011. His website is www.winstanleys.org.
Israeli bulldozers destroy farmer’s land in Al Ma’sara
30 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
Yesterday private Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village of Al Ma’sara in the West Bank and destroyed a section of farm land belonging to the Brijia family, uprooting five grape trees and an abundance of wheat. The bulldozers were accompanied by Israeli military jeeps which belonged to an electrical company that was installing an underground cable to provide electricity to the nearby illegal settlement of Efrat. The family of farmers, who have legally owned the land since 1964 had been given no prior warning of the destruction and neither the workers nor the army could provide any paperwork when asked.
This latest destruction of property is a sad blow to a family who have already lost four dunums of their land to illegal Israeli construction.
Al Ma’sara, 13 km south of Bethlehem, is home to about 900 people. The village is situated in a mountainous and fertile rural area which enjoys an abundance of natural water resources. Construction and expansion of Gush Etzion – one of the nearby illegal settlements – has already confiscated a large portion of village lands.
Villagers believe that this latest destruction of land is part of the Israeli government’s bigger plan to expand the illegal settlements around Bethlehem and link them together, isolating Palestinian villages, who are already a minority in the area and strengthening Israel’s hold on the West Bank.
Canadian Boat to Gaza: “Israel’s Blockade Is Illegal. We Will Sail to Gaza”
Canadian Boat to Gaza | Press Release | May 30, 2011
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – The Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) is dismissing Foreign Affairs Minister Baird’s misinformation about the upcoming flotilla, and is promising to sail with the Freedom Flotilla II next month. John Baird, newly appointed Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, has taken to discouraging Canadians from participating in the upcoming flotilla, which aims to break the siege of Gaza.
CBG views Minister Baird’s statement as an attempt to abdicate the Canadian Government’s obligation to ensure the safety of the Canadians who will be on board the flotilla, including the Canadian boat Tahrir and to justify, in advance, any crimes Israel may commit against peaceful unarmed civilians from Canada and all over the world, as it did a year ago tomorrow.
“We are sailing to change the unjust and illegal situation Israel imposes on Gaza and to challenge the Canadian government’s support for those policies,” says Wendy Goldsmith, CBG steering committee member.
“Baird has characterized the Freedom Flotillas as “provocative”. How is aid provocative? How is standing up for international law and social justice provocative? How is it provocative to work for the freedom of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the open air prison of Gaza?” asks Ehab Lotayef, a CBG spokesperson.
“What’s provocative is the government of Israel’s impunity and systemic violations of international law,” says Lotayef. “What’s provocative is the Harper government acting as an apologist for all of Israel’s actions, even when they are illegal and immoral, like the siege of Gaza. CBG and the flotilla are nonviolent direct responses to Israeli provocation.”
In his statement Mr. Baird mentions Israel’s right to prevent the smuggling of weapons. “What is he trying to imply?” asks Goldsmith. “If Mr. Baird has any doubts about our mission or what we will carry, we invite him or any Canadian body to inspect the Canadian Boat to Gaza.” She added.
“We would like to remind Mr. Baird that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the official channels to send aid to Gaza, has itself said: “all States have an obligation to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of all relief consignments, equipment and personnel [into Gaza],” not just those passing through channels approved by the government of Israel.” [1] said Lotayef.
CBG is a civilian to civilian initiative funded by citizens and civil society organizations and did not benefit from any government funding or taxpayers funds as some misinformed media reports mentioned lately.
The full list of endorsements and supporting individuals and organizations is online at www.tahrir.ca.
(1) http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/palestine-update-140610.htm
Over 1,600 Israelis enter Nablus overnight
Ma’an – 30/05/2011
NABLUS — Israeli soldiers escorted 1,600 Jewish settlers into the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Sunday to visit a shrine in the area, known to many Jews as Joseph’s Tomb.
While accompaniment by Israeli forces remains mandatory according to laws governing settlers, an additional 200 Jewish worshipers entered Palestinian neighborhoods without coordinating with Israeli authorities, an Israeli military spokesman said.
During the visit, around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.
On Sunday, an Israeli military investigation into fire that caused the death of a settler – who was found by Palestinian Authority police to be sneaking into the tomb along with 30 others – was labeled “unwarranted,” Israeli military chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said in a statement.
Under the Oslo accords, Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control.
Israeli soldiers generally coordinate the visit, requesting that PA police evacuate the area. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an, however, that the Sunday night visit was not coordinated with the PA.
Witnesses said Ultra-Orthodox settlers were among the visitors. Locals said the Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, was closed at midnight and Palestinian drivers were not allowed to use the main road from the city.
Israeli forces set up several flying checkpoints in the area, locals and an Israeli military spokesman said.
The army spokesman said Palestinians had filed complaints over property damage caused by Israeli settlers during the visit. He said all complaints would be “thoroughly examined by the relevant authorities.”
Nablus residents said around 50 military vehicles escorted the Israelis, who arrived at around 1 a.m. and left at 5 a.m.
Palestinian Forced To Demolish His Own Home In Jerusalem
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News – May 29, 2011
Israeli authorities forced Mahmoud Aramin to demolish his house in East Jerusalem Sunday, or risk having it destroyed by an Israeli bulldozer, which would have resulted in an exorbitant fine.
Aramin had already paid thousands of dollars in fines to the Jerusalem municipality in monthly installments, for having built an ‘unlicensed’ house in East Jerusalem. Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem have not been granted building permits since 1967, and face frequent demolitions of their homes by Israeli authorities.
The forced demolition comes just days after the Israeli authorities authorized the construction of a 50-unit Jewish settlement in the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of East Jerusalem, not far from the home of Mahmoud Aramin.
According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “Since 1967, around 2,000 homes have been demolished in East Jerusalem. According to official statistics, from 2000 – 2008 the Israeli authorities demolished more than 670 East Jerusalem homes. The number of outstanding demolition orders is estimated at up to 20,000.”
The Committee also stated that even though Palestinians represent about 30% of Jerusalem’s population they are currently confined to reside in just 7% of the city’s area, in mostly inadequate housing. The master plan for Jerusalem follows the Israeli Government and Jerusalem Municipality policy of demographic and ethnic control, aimed at preserving demographics in the city at 70% Jewish to 30% Arab. This policy is clearly stated on the Jerusalem Municipality’s website.
Israel Prevents University Lecturer From Traveling To Jordan
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies – May 29, 2011
On Friday, Israeli soldiers prevented university lecturer, Dr. Farid Abu Dheir, from traveling to Jordan as he was trying to cross the Allenby bridge to be with his son who has surgery scheduled at a Jordanian hospital. Abu Dheir teaches at the Al Najah University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Abu Dheir managed to obtain all needed documents and permits from the Israeli side, but as he entered the crossing, he was detained and questioned for two hours before he was ordered back home.
He slammed the Israeli violation, adding that it violates the International Law and the freedom of movement.
Abu Dheir further stated that Israel has been preventing him for leaving the country for five years now, and that this issue made him miss several international conferences and prevented, him from seeing family members living abroad.
He called on different human rights groups to intervene and expose the illegal Israeli practices.
On Friday at dawn, Israeli soldiers kidnapped Palestinian researcher and author, Firas Salah Ed Deen Jaber, 30, after breaking into and violently searching his home in Kufur Aqeb village, between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
He was cuffed and blindfolded before he was moved to the Al Makobiyya Interrogation center in Jerusalem.
Jaber, born in Jerusalem, works as a researcher at the Bissan Center; he wrote several books including “The Privatization of Palestine”, and “The Effects of Conflicts on Palestinian Women”. He recently received his M.A Degree from the Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah.


