Soldiers told to bar non-Jews from settlement
Ma’an – 19/09/2012
File Photo
BETHLEHEM – Israeli soldiers stationed at a settlement in the West Bank were instructed not to allow any non-Jews to enter the community, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday.
The military security coordinator of Bat Ayin settlement, near Bethlehem, instructed that not even Israeli non-Jews could enter, a soldier stationed at the settlement told Haaretz.
“It was specific — only to allow entry to Jews with blue [Israeli] identity cards. Let’s say a Druze or a Bedouin with a blue ID [would try to enter], someone coming to clean the bathrooms — no,” the soldier explained.
He added: “It felt just like apartheid, or things that recall dark times and the Holocaust — that you allow someone entry to a specific place based only on his religion.”
The Israeli army confirmed the instruction had been given. The military said it had clarified to the security coordinator that the order to ban non-Jews was illegal.
However, the army said it ordered soldiers to notify the settlement coordinators if any non-Jews entered so they could be accompanied while in the settlement.
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Settler attack in Aqraba leaves 3 injured, 1 hospitalized
September 19, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement
On Monday 17, September, six Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar attacked three members of the Benijaber family, who were walking home to the Palestinian village of Aqraba from their olive groves.
Maher Hashem Mostafa Benijaber reported that he, his brother Omar and cousin Hafed were set upon by six men, three of whom were armed with semi-automatic rifles. The attack occurred just before 7 p.m., around 600 metres from their home. The settlers punched and kicked the three men, as well as beat them with rocks and sticks. They also tried to block the path back to the village so Maher and his family could not escape.
Omar managed to escape, calling neighbours for help. Meanwhile, the attack on Maher and Hafed continued. After the arrival of other residents, the Israeli attackers fled the scene. Maher then attempted to walk back to the village, but collapsed, lost consciousness, and had to be carried.
Maher Hashem Mostafa Benijaber in the hospital being treated for injuries after settlers attacked him on his way home.
Maher, Omar and Hafed all required medical treatment at the local clinic in Aqraba for the injuries they sustained during the beating, and Maher was hospitalized overnight in Nablus. All three men suffered injuries to their arms, head, back and legs, consistent with a sustained beating with sticks. When asked what he thought about the latest attack, Maher said, ‘if no-one had come to help, they would have killed me.’
The family contacted the Israeli army via the Palestinian Police and District Coordination Office to report the attack, however the army instead visited Yanoun village, which is also near Itamar settlement. Despite being informed that they had gone to the wrong village, they never attended the scene of the attack in Aqraba or spoke to Maher.
The attack on the Benijaber family is just the latest of many on the village of Aqraba. Four days previously, an elderly shepherd was attacked and forced to flee from his fields back to the village. The attacking settlers then stole some of his sheep. Such attacks on Palestinian villages are commonplace throughout the West Bank, and there is effectively impunity for settlers who carry them out. According to the Human Rights Watch 2012 report, “The Israeli government generally took no action against Israeli settlers who destroyed or damaged mosques, homes, olive trees, cars, and other Palestinian property, or physically assaulted Palestinians.” Illegal settlements such as Itamar continue to be encouraged to expand with the support of Israeli government and occupation forces.
Maher’s room at Rafidia Hospital happens to be across the corridor from Akram Taysir Daoud, who suffered a similar attack in the village of Qusra on 15th September and remains in hospital. Report at: www.palsolidarity.org/2012/09/qusra-man-left-for-dead-after-settler-attack/
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Jewish Settlers Deface Mosque Near Hebron
By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC & Agencies | September 12, 2012
A group of extremist Israeli settlers defaced, on Tuesday at dawn, a mosque in Emresh village, south of Doura town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
The settlers came from Etnael illegal settlement, built on privately-owned lands that belong to the residents in the area.
The settlers wrote racist graffiti that read “Death to Arabs”, “Price Tag”, and several other racist graffiti.
Extremist settlers are behind hundreds of attacks that not only target the residents and their lands, but also have targeted graveyards, mosques and churches in different parts of Palestine.
Last week, a group of extremist Israeli settlers attacked the Latrun Christian Monastery in occupied Jerusalem, and wrote racist graffiti describing Jesus as a “Monkey”, and other graffiti against the Christian religion in general.
Last month, several extremist Israeli settlers invaded the Awarta village, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and wrote racist graffiti on the walls of several homes, and the deface the local mosque.
Earlier in February this year, extremist Israelis wrote “Death to Christians” on the walls of a Jerusalem church, and slashed the tires of vehicles parked in the area.
The attacks fall under the “Price Tag” attacks carried out by extremist Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people, their lands and property, such attacks have been carried out against several mosques, including some that were completely burnt, and several churches.
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Report: Israel urges US, EU to send funds to Ramallah
Ma’an – 11/09/2012
BETHLEHEM – The Israeli government has appealed to Washington and the EU to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to rescue the collapsing Palestinian economy amid mass protests in the West Bank, Israeli media reported Tuesday.
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has said the Palestinian Authority is unable to pay August salaries in full or on time because donor funds have not arrived. He said last week the PA was waiting for the US Congress to approve a request by President Barack Obama’s administration to pay $200 million to the Ramallah government.
The Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv said the European Union had reduced its financial aid to the PA due to economic crisis in Europe.
Protests against rising costs of living in cities across the West Bank have called for the resignation of Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas, and demanded the cancellation of the PA’s economic agreement with Israel, the Paris Protocol.
In Hebron and Nablus on Monday night, protesters threw rocks at PA security forces and dozens of security officers and demonstrators were injured.
Israel fears that demonstrations and strikes in cities across the West Bank against rising costs of living could weaken the PA and its security services, which coordinate with Israeli forces under agreements laid out in the Oslo Accords, Maariv reported.
Israeli officials fear protests could develop into a third intifada and the collapse of the PA, and protesters might attack Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank, the report added.
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Palestinian universities set strike for Wednesday
Ma’an – 11/09/2012
HEBRON – Employees at all Palestinian universities will go on general strike Wednesday protesting the government’s failure to respond to their demands, a joint committee of the employees’ union and the union of students councils said Tuesday.
The committee explained in a statement that both academics and students could understand the ongoing popular protests in the streets. “The occupation is behind all our calamities and problems,” the statement added.
“After the Palestinian government has failed to undertake its basic duties toward the different sectors in the Palestinian society, especially the education sector, despite being given enough chances, you have to listen to the cries of anger and to comply with the popular demands,” the statement said addressing the PA premier.
The statement urged the protestors to keep their movement peaceful and show a sense of responsibility.
On the other hand, schools will operate normally, according to the secretary general of the Palestinian general federation of teachers, Muhammad Suwwan.
Settlers destroy 18 olive trees Burin
September 11, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Eighteen Palestinian-owned olive trees were destroyed by settlers in the village of Burin, near Nablus, when settlers attacked the Palestinian land Tuesday 4 September 2012. Burin, located in the northern West Bank, comes under frequent attack from the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha that encircle the village.
Under the cover of dark, settlers from Yitzhar entered the olive grove of the Nasser Qadous family and began cutting the branches from his trees. This is not the first attack on his land. Two years ago the settlers burned his land, which consists of 5 dunums. The following morning Nasser Qadous arrived in the olive grove and found all his olive trees destroyed. After one hour the Israeli army, police, and The District Coordination Office (DCO) arrived at his land. They spoke with Nasser but he says that they have taken no action to find those responsible.
Background:
Located seven kilometers southwest of Nablus, Burin is the home to 3000 residents. From every position within the village you can see evidence of the Zionist occupation. Three of the most volatile settlements within the West Bank, Yitzhar, Bracha and Givat Arous reside on the hilltops of Burin. Yitzhar is the largest of the three settlements and was founded in 1984. Yitzhar consists of 1233 dunams and according to Peace Now, 35 per cent of the land is privately owned Palestinian land. The villagers in Burin are predominantly farmers and the fields that surround the village full of olives trees are testament to this. However, the land has been under threat since the start if the occupation in 1967.
Yitzhar settlement is notorious for its fanatically ideological residents, the violence they inflict on neighboring Palestinian communities, and the extremist doctrines they espouse. Settlers have frequently launched attacks with rocks, knives, guns and arson on Palestinian families and property in the area. In one of the most extreme act of terrorism students of the Yitzhar Od Yosef Hai yeshiva fired homemade rockets on Burin in 2008.
Despite West Banks settlements’ status as illegal under international law, Yitzhar was included in the Israeli governments’ recent “national priority map” as one of the settlements earmarked for financial support. Construction has continued unabated in both Yitzhar and Bracha. Yitzhar and Bracha also receives significant funding from American donations, tax-deductible under U.S. government tax breaks for ‘charitable’ institutions.
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Israel demolished 467 buildings and displaced 700 Palestinians in 2012
Palestine Information Center – 08/09/2012
RAMALLAH — The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished 10 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the West Bank this week, including five residential structures, displacing 32 Palestinians, including 14 children, according to a weekly report issued by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA).
In a report covering the Israeli violations from august 29 to September 4, OCHA noted that Israel has demolished since the start of the current year 467 residential buildings and displaced 702 Palestinians during the same period.
During the reporting week, 17 Palestinians, including four children, were injured by the IOF, mostly during protests.
The settlers also carried out a number of attacks on Palestinian citizens and their property in the West Bank. Their attacks included racist slurs, arson attacks on agricultural lands and cars, throwing stones at vehicles.
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Hebron man walks down street for first time in years
September 10, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Hashem Azzeh in front of the graffiti on his door
Photos: EA Phelie Maguire
On Sunday 9th September, Hashem Azzeh walked down the street outside his house for the first time in years.
Hashem lives with his artist wife Nasreen and their four children (14, 9, 4 and 2 years old) on a hillside in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron. The street outside Hashem’s house is barred to Palestinians and overseas visitors, with an army checkpoint at the end of the street to enforce the ban. To reach their house, the family have to go via a treacherous back route, clambering over walls and around other properties on the way.
Despite all the harassment and violence, Hashem remains determined to stay in his house, and today said he wanted ‘an adventure’. Hashem and five ISM volunteers from the UK, Italy and the USA clambered up from the house to the street, then walked the 200 or so metres to the checkpoint at the end of the street. The Israeli soldier at the checkpoint appeared astonished to see Hashem and international volunteers come along the street from the ‘wrong’ direction and immediately started radioing for back-up. When the soldier asked Hashem why he was walking on the street, Hashem replied, ‘I am walking to my house’.
Hashem’s family have faced years of harassment from residents of the illegal Israeli settlement on the hillside just above their house. The settlement happens to be home to some of the most fanatical settlers in Hebron, including American-born extremist Baruch Marzel.
Over the years, Hashem’s family have faced attacks on their property by settlers, with Israeli soldiers standing alongside doing nothing to intervene. Settlers have also poisoned his water supply, and killed his olive trees, fruit trees and vines. When Hashem installed his own water tank, the settlers shot it full of holes in yet another attack.
As well as attacks on their property, the family have faced regular physical violence. Hashem’s nephew had his teeth knocked out by rocks, and his brother was also smashed in the face with rock and suffered damage to his teeth and nose. Nasreen has had two miscarriages. An ISM activist, 77 year old Australian academic Mary Baxter, also faced violence in the past, when accompanying Hashem’s children to school in 2005. She and the children were attacked, and Mary had four bones in her back broken and is now disabled as a result.
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Three injured from tear gas after settlers raid in Qusra
September 10, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Settlers together with Israeli soldiers in Qusra. Picture from Tantawi Aljiniral
Three people were treated for injuries related to tear gas after an attack by illegal settlers in the village of Qusra near Nablus on Saturday night. The attack comes roughly a year after Qusra resident Issam Kamel Odeh, 33, died from Israeli gunfire after settlers invaded the village in September of 2011.
Shortly before six in the evening Saturday, five settlers came onto the land of Akram Taysir Daoud at the edge of Qusra village. Soon after, they began beating the man’s wife and yelling obscenities at his mother. Additional raiders arrived until there were a total of fourteen settlers on the land.
In an attempt to get help, Akram Taysir called the mayor of the town. The mayor alerted the people of the village to come to the farm, and then called both the local District Coordination Offices to report the attack.
The invading settlers sealed a well on the property with a large stone.
Israeli soldiers arrived at the village thirty minutes later. According to Abdel Ahrim, a resident who observed the event, soldiers began firing tear gas shortly after their arrival. Abdel Ahrim stated that soldiers fired 30 total tear gas bombs. Thirteen of these were fired directly into the house of Abdul Majid Towfeek, a resident of Qusra.
Abbdel Ahrim reported that the commanding officer told the mayor that if any of the villagers followed the soldiers over the hill, he would burn the village down.
Soldiers fired three times before leaving the immediate area of the conflagration.
According to Red Crescent workers, three people were treated for injuries related to tear gas, two for inhalation, and one for an injury he received when a canister hit him in the ankle.
This is the second invasion by settlers on the village of Qusra in as many days. Yesterday, settlers from the nearby illegal development of Aish Coddish came onto land belonging to the residents of Qusra village.
Photos of that incident show that they were armed with an M16 rifle.
At that time, officials from the occupation forces told the mayor of the town that the only recourse for the farmer involved was to go to the local Israeli-administered court and file a complaint against the settlers. This type of legal appeal requires the petitioner to either hold an Israeli identification card, or to hire a lawyer who holds an Israeli ID to file the complaint.
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Soldiers Physically Attack Palestinian Youth In Hebron
By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC & Agencies | September 04, 2012
Israeli soldiers physically attacked, on Monday at night, a Palestinian nonviolent activist after stopping his vehicle, in Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank. The soldiers forced him out of his car and brutally attacked and kicked him.
Tamer al-Atrash, media spokesperson of the Youth Coalition Against Settlements, stated that several soldiers stopped his car and forced him out of it before they started shouting at him, in addition to kicking and punching him.
Al-Atrash said that he recognized the soldiers who attacked him as he previously filmed them while they were assaulting a number of residents in the Tal Romedia neighborhood in Hebron.
“This is an act of revenge; it seems they think they are settling a score”, Al-Atrash stated. “We always expose their violations and abuse practiced against the civilians on a daily basis in Tel Romeida”.
Israeli settlers illegally reside in the neighborhood in privately-owned Palestinian property, in Tal Romeida and in several parts of the city.
Settlers who reside in the heart of the occupied city of Hebron are responsible for dozens of attacks against the residents and their property.
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On Herd Mentality
By Jeb Smith | April 14, 2026
I no longer trust “we the people,” because of the powers influencing them. Media and government schooling form their general ideas on reality and governance. Therefore, it’s not a case of the voter choosing the politicians. Instead, the system is conditioning and conforming the voter to the authorities’ desires.
In democracies, the people are kept occupied working and paying taxes, too busy to acquire information outside the approved sources. You will find they know and care far more about the next iPhone than political philosophy. Of those who hold some interest, 95% just toe the party line, holding the same opinion as the primary media source they listen to. They lack both the desire and time to expand their horizons.
Media’s purpose is to conform people’s thought to a preferred goal, which is why Republican and Democratic voters both firmly hold their parties’ general stances, reciting the same talking points. The people do not originate ideas; their thoughts are fed to them by the media so they can consume, digest, and parrot back whatever they are served. When it comes to politics, we rarely think for ourselves. We are told what to think.
Watch PBS, MSNBC and read your local newspaper for six months, and you will receive a particular view and understanding of the world. Then listen to The Mike Church Show, The Blaze, and The Daily Wire, and you will get not just another perspective but a whole different world of facts and events. The world people believe they live in can be entirely different depending on their news sources.
We enjoy seeing the enemy humiliated, which describes why those engulfed in politics love their preferred media sources; they keep returning for more like a drug addict. Networks ensure their “experts” align with the worldview they and their audience desire. The people who watch PBS, BBC, and so forth expect a specific perspective to be presented. Fox News watchers demand the same. In doing this, we both encourage and assure we are misled.
In their book Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, professors Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels argue, based on substantial research, that voters do not decide the party platform and agenda. Instead, the parties control the “ideologies” of the voters. When the party the voter identifies with changes its position, the individuals also change theirs. They discovered the individual would quickly adopt the views of their group; they will ignore or change their own opinions over time to fit in with the collective they identify with. Achen and Bartels wrote “group memberships largely drove policy views, not vice versa.” … continue
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