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Jewish settlers expropriate Palestinian garden as police stand by

International Solidarity Movement | April 4, 2016   

Tel Rumeida, al Khalil, occupied Palestine  – On Saturday 3rd of April 2016 settlers entered land belonging to Muhammad Abu Haikal in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron on the occupied West Bank in Palestine. The settler children built a tent and then brought other settlers who prayed and ate there. It took more than four hours from when the police arrived until the settlers actually left, still claiming that it was their land and running around so that the police would not be able to evict them.

The first young settler kids arrived at the land at around 9 o’clock in the morning and started building a tent out of wood and sheets that they had found and playing on the land. They were actually playing in Muhammad Abu Haikal’s garden, but the end of the garden has been declared a closed military area by the Israeli Occupation Forces, who have made a military outpost in the garden and cut off the end of it of with barbed wire. The settler children entered the garden using the staircase that has been built for the soldiers to reach the outpost: they stamped down the barbed wire and covered it with a piece of wood to prevent themselves from getting injured.

Settlers and their children trespassing illegally on Palestinian land.

Later on, while the family was trying to pick almonds from trees in the part of the garden that is not a closed military Area, the settler children returned with a number of  adult settlers and more children. Muhammed Abu Haikal and the internationals present asked the settlers to leave the land, but they refused. He then contacted the police.

After the police arrived, the settlers once again claimed to be the owners of the land, with the right to remain there. The Palestinian family was asked to step back and had to stop harvesting their garden. Not until after the settlers had prayed on the land multiple times, brought food and played ball there, did the  police finally try to get them to leave. The police asked all Palestinians and internationals to leave as well, as they said, “it is impossible to make Israelis leave, if there are Palestinians on the land”. It then took the police over two hours to evict the settlers. They then removed the materials that the children had left on the part of the land that is not a closed military area, but refused to pull down the tent, because, they said,  it was not allowed on Shabbat.

Finally the soldiers closed off the closed military area with more barbed wire and allowed the family back into their garden. If Palestinians had been trespassing on settlers land, which is illegally occupied, they would probably have been arrested immediately, but when it is the other way around, which it usually is, the police do not use any kind of force.

April 7, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Calls mount for immediate release of Nigerian cleric

Press TV – April 6, 2016

A Nigerian human rights lawyer has called for the immediate and unconditional release of senior Shia cleric and leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky.

In a Tuesday letter to the director general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Femi Falana said that Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat should be freed from “illegal detention” within 24 hours.

Zakzaky and his wife have been in detention since December last year.

The clergyman is said to have been charged with “criminal conspiracy and inciting public disturbances.”

Falana said “even though our clients have not been told that they breached any law, they have been denied access to their lawyers, personal physicians, and family members for over three months.”

“Our clients were only permitted to meet with us last Friday after several requests made by us had been turned down without any legal basis,” he added.

Falana further noted that Zakzaky had lost his left eye due to the brutal attacks during his arrest, and that the doctors “are currently battling to save the right” eye.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission also called for the immediate and unconditional release of Zakzaky.

The London-based NGO slammed the persecution of Sheikh Zakzaky and his Islamic Movement in Nigeria as an affront to all civilized and democratic values.

It also urged the Nigerian government to bring to justice all those responsible for the unprovoked attacks on Zakzaky and his supporters.

On December 12, 2015, Nigerian soldiers attacked Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him.

April 6, 2016 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

UNRWA Condemns Today’s Large Scale Home Demolitions in the West Bank

IMEMC News & Agencies – April 6, 2016

Statement by UNRWA West Bank Director, Lance Bartholomuesz

Jerusalem 6 April 2016

unrwa2016-cgUNRWA condemns today’s large scale home demolitions by the Israeli Authorities in the Bedouin refugee community of Um al Khayr in the South Hebron Hills. As a result, 31 Palestine refugees, including 16 children, were made homeless.

This community has endured several rounds of demolitions and often faced harassment from the nearby illegal settlement of Karmel.

“I am appalled. Looking in the eyes of a young Bedouin boy in a red shirt standing amongst the crumpled ruins of his demolished home, how can anyone justify this? ” stated Lance Bartholomeusz, Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank.

Already this year, over 700 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli demolitions in the West Bank.

This figure is approaching the total number of displaced for all of 2015.

UNRWA is gravely concerned about demolitions in violation of international law. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention destruction of private property is prohibited. As Occupying Power, Israel is obliged to administer the occupied territory for the welfare of the protected Palestinian population.

As the UN has said repeatedly, these demolitions must stop.

April 6, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

University rooms destroyed in early morning raid by Israeli forces

International Solidarity Movement | March 5, 2016

East Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine – In the early hours of Tuesday, 5th April, around 3am, an armed group of Israeli soldiers stormed the campus of Al Quds university in the area of Abu Dis, part of East Jerusalem. The soldiers terrorised security guards on duty and forcefully entered four rooms belonging to student political parties and confiscated equipment while completely destroying the rest of the rooms.

Destroyed items from the Tuesday morning raid gathered outside the rooms

Destroyed items from the Tuesday morning raid gathered outside the rooms

During the early hours of the morning the only people present at the university campus were the campus security, they were rounded up and locked together in a room, they were given no reason from the soldiers as to why they were being locked in a room nor as to why the soldiers were entering the campus grounds. The soldiers proceeded to forcefully enter four rooms belonging to various political parties run by students of the university, cutting the locks and smashing their way in, completely destroying the doors. This is the fourth time in 2016 alone that soldiers have entered the campus, destroying and confiscating material while giving no reason for their actions.

One of the computers destroyed in the raid

One of the computers amongst other items destroyed in the raid

The rooms entered belong to varying student bodies who’s students work within the university and the local community. Among the varied groups they advocate student rights, create activities within the campus and surrounding neighbourhoods, hold discussions on the state of the middle east, volunteer within the community, offer services for students, hold workshops and meetings about young prisoners and host an array of solidarity activities for the Palestinian community.

Students cleaning up debris from Tuesday's raid

Students cleaning up debris from Tuesday’s raid

During the raid the army took personal computers, laptops and cameras belonging to the Islamic party. Around one hundred and seventy flags were confiscated from the union party room and all of their stationary equipment for creative activities. Whatever was not taken was destroyed during the raid by the occupying forces.

The activities room for the ladies Islamic movement which works mainly with disadvantaged youths and students had the majority of their belongings destroyed, posters ripped from walls and electronic equipment confiscated.

The area of Abu Dis were the university is located was around thirty thousand hectares prior to 2002 and is now around four thousand hectares with 75% of the area now falling under area C and 25% under area B. This malicious land grab by the Israeli government has left students facing huge difficulties with their education. Many students within the faculty of medicine can’t reach Jerusalem where the main hospital for training is located and have been forced to go elsewhere for their practical while the media faculty faces new difficulties also. Since the beginning of what most would call the third intifada, checkpoints leading into the city of Ramallah, where the media students must go to complete their practical work have become extremely tightened and students are often denied access to the area or face long waits to enter.

The annexation wall surrounding the university

The annexation wall surrounding the university

On the 2nd November, 2015, Israeli forces entered the campus around 4pm and began firing on students using tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and even using live ammunition. Over two hundred students were injured and required medical care while two students were seriously injured, with access to Jerusalem hospital unavailable the students were forced to travel over an hour to the city of Ramallah for treatment.

One of the destroyed rooms

One of the destroyed rooms

With the student elections to take place on April 19th, this attack falls into Israel’s wider policy of targeting political activity within student campuses and bodies as a means of repressing resistance to the occupation.

Four students of the university have been killed by Israeli forces since November, 2015.

April 6, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Turkish President Calls to Strip ‘Terrorism Supporters’ of Citizenship

Sputnik — 05.04.2016

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called for a debate on whether those who Ankara deems “terrorist supporters” should be stripped of Turkish citizenship, local media reported.

“We should consider all measures against supporters of terrorism, including stripping them of their citizenship,” Erdogan said, as quoted by the Daily Sabah newspaper.

The Turkish government has stepped up anti-terror efforts in the wake of suicide bombings that rocked its capital Ankara earlier this year. The attacks were claimed by pro-Kurdish militants in response to Turkey’s shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria.

Erdogan also brought up the issue of removing parliamentary immunity of members of the pro-Kurdish and pro-minority Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he said “should be taken care of immediately,” according to the outlet.

Ankara previously controversially labelled government critics as supporters of terrorism. In January, several academics were held for allegedly engaging in terrorism propaganda after they condemned the ongoing operation in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast that has killed over a hundred civilians since August.

April 6, 2016 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Venezuela’s Political Killings: A Sign of the Repression to Come?

By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim | Venezuelanalysis | April 4, 2016

A mayor gunned down in a drive by shooting just meters from his own doorstep. A legislator shot by paramilitaries in plain sight outside a bodega. A solidarity activist butchered in a home invasion. Two police run over by militants in a stolen bus. These are just the latest in a wave of killings in Venezuela. The motives behind most of these killings remain unclear, though it’s hard to not be disturbed by what appears to be a growing wave of political violence gripping the country. In response, Venezuela’s right-wing, the mass media and even most human rights groups are all following a well worn script that seeks to downplay these killings, or at least deflect attention away from the context behind the violence. For example, Human Rights Watch’s latest report on Venezuela is basically just a call for Venezuela’s supreme court to be stacked with supporters of the right-wing political coalition, the MUD. Another of their recent reports focused on claims that imprisoned right-wing political figure Leopoldo Lopez didn’t receive a fair trial. Their third most recent report (at the time of writing) was another complaint about the Maduro administration’s human rights record, including false claims that “security forces violently cracked down on largely peaceful protests” in 2014. As I saw myself at the time, those suppressed “largely peaceful protests” included gangs of armed right-wing militants throwing Molotovs at hospitals, sniping at civilians from rooftops and setting up barricades to hold neighbourhoods hostage. Then and now, Venezuela is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for leftists.

Indeed, all the recent victims were either leftists, or police seeking to contain violent right-wing demonstrations. The latest victim was Marco Tulio Carrillo, the socialist mayor of a municipality in Trujillo state. Other victims include Haitian-Venezuelan solidarity activist Fritz Saint Louis, Tupamaro legislator Cesar Vera, and two police officers in Tachira state.

These killings take on a new dimension when contextualised: the right-wing MUD is preparing to oust Maduro, and wrestle control of all branches of the state from the left.

If they achieve this, the worst case scenario would be a return to the repression of the 20th Century, when leftists were all too often the targets of neoliberal regimes. Today’s right-wing has repeatedly shown it not only has no interest in disavowing violence, but is willing to turn on the Venezuelan people for their own political gain. From the 2002 coup to the violence of 2014, there has always been a sector of the right-wing that has never been afraid to use terror against ordinary Venezuelans. If it takes complete power, perhaps the MUD will learn to speak out against violence such as the recent killings, or perhaps not. After all, much of the MUD is generally slow to condemn violence against leftists, if they do so at all. So if they take complete power, will the right reign in their excesses, or rule with terror?

April 5, 2016 Posted by | Deception, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Subjugation - Torture | , , | Leave a comment

Israeli occupation forces invade university, arrest 25 in night raids throughout occupied West Bank

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samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network | April 5, 2016

Israeli forces arrested 25 Palestinians in overnight raids by occupation forces, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society on Tuesday morning, 5 April.

The mass arrests included storming the campus of Al-Quds Open University in Abu Dis, occupied Jerusalem, between 3 am and 5 am, according to Ma’an News. Campus security guards were locked in a room by the invading occupation forces, their radios broken. The soldiers stormed the offices of the Dean of Students and the Faculty of Islamic Studies, destroying an exhibition underway by students who are part of the Islamic Bloc, one of the student council blocs at the university. Israeli occupation officials claimed that they were stopping “incitement” by destroying student projects.

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The attack on the university is one of several in recent months; Al-Quds University was attacked in January and the materials of the student union confiscated; Bir Zeit University was also invaded and its student union offices ransacked. In March, Khadoori University in Tulkarem was invaded twice in 18 hours, as was the Arab American University in Jenin. These attacks have focused especially on targeting student union offices and come alongside the arrest and imprisonment of student activists like Donya Musleh and Asmaa Qadah.

In Abu Dis, the occupation soldiers arrested Ahmad Jamil Dandan. In Deir Istiya, Salfit, Israeli occupation forces invaded and ransacked the home of Jihad Khalid, 30, arresting him. They also arrested Nazeeh Abu Oun of Jaba, Jenin; Adnan Khader al-Husari of Tulkarem refugee camp; Tamir Shawar Rimawi and Karim Rimawi of Beit Rima, and Ghassan Said Nasser of Bir Zeit, Ramallah; in al-Khalil area: Hossam Hureibat; Ali Abu Sel and Yazan Muqbil of al-Arroub refugee camp; Mahmoud Hmeidat of Surif; Mahmoud Fawzi Amr and Mahmoud Badwan Ibayush of Dura; and Wasim Jamal Bahar of Beit Umar; in Jerusalem: Iyad Atta Uweisat and Ahmad Azaz Uweisat of Jabal Mukabber; Abdel-Qader Dari and Mohammed Abu Riyala of Issawiya; Abdullah Abu Assab of the Old City; and Abdul Latif Awad, Adel Jumaa, Abed Rabbo Kanaan, Abed Faris Kanaan, Hamza Kanaan, Sufyan Kanaan and Odeh Abdullah Odeh of Hizma.

Photos: Al-Quds University

April 5, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The NY Times Joins Israel in Whitewashing (Yet Another) Scandal

By Barbara Erickson | TimesWarp | April 4, 2016

A military scandal has rocked Israel, and The New York Times has been on hand to report developments: A soldier was arrested for killing a wounded and helpless Palestinian; the soldier was under investigation for murder, and some Israelis have protested, insisting that he is a hero.

These were the stories that made headlines in the Times after the murder was caught on video and spread through the Internet, provoking outrage worldwide. The newspaper, it seems, has been on this from the start.

But readers may not suspect that there is much more that the newspaper is withholding. After the early headlines, the Times has gone silent and has failed to report a number of developments connected with the story:

All of these items appeared in media outlets, some of them disseminated widely, such as the downgrade from murder to manslaughter, which made headlines in Israel, the West and the Arab world. In the Times, however, this news became nothing but a whispered conjecture buried in an article last Thursday. Far into her piece, author Isabel Kershner briefly mentioned that prosecutors were “appearing to have backed off from the idea of a murder charge.”

Since then, the Times has had nothing more to say about the scandal, leaving readers with the impression that Israeli officials were swift and firm in their effort to bring justice to bear. As authorities backed off from the murder charge and let the soldier go free, the Times fell silent.

It seems that the newspaper has endeavored to whitewash Israeli actions—spotlighting the first cries of outrage when the video emerged, the arrest of the soldier and the talk of a murder investigation and ignoring news that might expose the reality: nearly unlimited impunity for crimes against Palestinians.

The paper had nothing to say, for instance, about Netanyahu’s change of tone. When the video first emerged, the prime minister said the killing “does not represent the values of the IDF.” Later he spoke to the accused man’s father, assuring him that he personally understood the man’s distress and saying that the family should trust the army to be “professional and fair in its investigation.”

This was reported extensively in Israel, as was the Leahy letter asking Secretary of State John Kerry to investigate a “disturbing number of reports of gross violations of human rights by security forces” in Israel and Egypt. The letter mentions several specific cases of alleged extrajudicial executions by Israeli forces.

Senator Leahy’s signature is of particular importance because his name is on a law that prohibits the United States from providing military aid to security forces that violate human rights with impunity.

Nevertheless, the Times has ignored the appeal by Leahy and 10 other members of Congress, even though the event is eminently newsworthy and the letter led to a sharp exchange between Netanyahu and Leahy.

The newspaper has also overlooked the effect of the incident on Palestinians: the threats against the videographer, the harassment of his family and initial refusals to allow Palestinian participation in conducting the autopsy.

It seems that much of the news touching on this latest Israeli scandal is unfit to print in the Times. Readers are not to see evidence that the first official reaction to the disturbing video was little more than damage control, an attempt to show the world that Israel does not condone such crimes. The Times, as usual, has fallen into line, a willing partner in the official effort to exonerate Israel of its crimes.

April 4, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces detain brother of Duma attack victim, 12 others

samidoun – Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network | April 4, 2016

Wissam Dawabsheh, the brother of Reham Dawabsheh, killed in her home with her husband and baby boy Ali when it was firebombed by Israeli settlers in July 2015, was arrested last night by Israeli occupation soldiers, who stormed the home of Wissam and Reham’s father in Duma, south of Nablus.

Five military jeeps entered Duma at 1:30 am early Monday, 4 April, and occupation soldiers raided the family home, taking Wissam with them. No explanation was given for his arrest by the occupation forces.

Wissam Dawabsheh was one of at least 13 Palestinians arrested in dawn raids by Israeli occupation forces, including Palestinian lecturer and Hamas leader Adnan Asfour, and his son Muntasser Asfour; Abdel Rahim Bassam Hammad in Silwad; Muhammad Rafat Abu Srour of Aida refugee camp, and Louay Habis al-Imour and Malid Jamil Abu Mfarreh of Tuqu, south of Bethlehem.

April 4, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

12-year-old Palestinian children imprisoned, pursued by Israeli occupation soldiers

samidoun – Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network | April 4, 2016

The family of 12-year-old Shadi Farrah, imprisoned in a detention center in Tamra, called for international attention and support from human rights organizations for the case of their son.

Farrah has been imprisoned, along with another Palestinian Jerusalemite child, Ahmad Zaatari, 13, since 30 December 2015. They were arrested by Israeli occupation forces and accused of being in possession of a knife and attempted murder based on possessing the knife.

Amjad Abu Asab, head of an East Jerusalem committee for prisoners’ families, said that both children were interrogated repeatedly without the presence of their parents or lawyers, in violation of law. Farrah’s parents noted that their son was in the seventh grade and an avid participant in dabkeh traditional dance.

Earlier, Ahmad’s mother had explained that he had been tortured and mistreated under interrogation, and that he had been threatened with harm to his family members.

dimawawiThis comes amid the news of Ramzi Abu Ajamia, also 12 years old, a Palestinian refugee living in Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, currently in hiding from Israeli occupation forces. “I can’t explain why they want me, other than it’s my turn. Tomorrow it will be another kid’s [turn],” said Ramzi, in an interview with Middle East Eye. “Why should I give myself to someone who is going to hurt me. I know what they did to my brother and I won’t offer myself up for that,” he said. “I didn’t do anything, I don’t know what they want from me, and that means they will hurt me because I have nothing to tell them.”

A letter to her family from fellow 12-year-old Palestinian prisoner, Dima Wawi, 12-year-old Palestinian prisoner, was released on Sunday. Al-Wawi writes about the role of other Palestinian women prisoners in taking care of and supporting her. (Translation via Iris Bar.)

“Peace, mercy and blessings of God to you.
My beloved Mom, My dear Dad and brothers.
I miss you all. I want you to know that you are always with me. Do not worry about me, mother, I’m happy and don’t need anything except the knowledge that you are in good health.
Everybody here is taking care of me and helping me, I’m playing and studying, and the only thing I need from you is to know that you are OK.
I know that the prison gates can’t be closed forever
Mom — heart sticker — Dima
Say hello to Dad and my brothers, friends & relatives”

There are over 400 Palestinian children imprisoned in Israeli jails; Defence for Children International Palestine report that over 75% of them suffer mistreatment, torture and abuse under interrogation and imprisonment. The majority of Palestinian children are arrested in violent, late-night military raids that traumatize the targeted children and their entire families.

April 4, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

Seoul Human Rights Film Festival cancels Israeli participation

Palestinian Information Center | April 3, 2016

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement has achieved another success after it managed to convince organizers of the Seoul Human Rights Film Festival to reject the participation of an Israeli film in the event.

Organizers of the festival sent a message to the producer of the Israeli film, “Third Person,” affirming that it canceled the participation of the film and would send back the registration fee.

“We have met with Palestinian activists and BDS activists and we discussed the participation of your film in the Seoul Human Rights Film Festival, which is an organization active in the field of human rights,” the message read.

“The topic of the film is very important, but we are working with anti-war organizations and thus we have decided to adopt the viewpoint of BDS,” it added.

Third Person is a film produced by an Israeli channel and about people who are intersex and living in Israel.

April 3, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli military destroys agricultural lands in Gaza

International Solidarity Movement | April 3, 2016

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Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine – At around 9am on Thursday, the 31st March, four Israeli bulldozers entered the Gaza Strip at El Fakhuri. They came in order to destroy agricultural lands located near the border, once again violating the indefinite truce that ended the 2014 Israeli aggression against Gaza.

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Meanwhile more than thirty tanks were located along the fence line, pointing at the Palestinian farmers who kept working on their lands despite the great risk that they face doing so.

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In less than a month the wheat harvest season will start. The families who own land near the border don’t know what will happen then, as no one seems to do anything to stop the systematic aggression. The wheat harvest is vital for the families ability to feed their children.

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April 3, 2016 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment