*Living in fear – new video highlights settler terror against Palestinian families <http://electronicin
Electronic Intifada 24 Dec by Ali Abunimah — Children too frightened to sleep or woken by the sounds of rampaging settlers. Molotov cocktails through living room windows. Settlers firing guns, protected by soldiers.
Hateful slogans daubed on walls. Settler children throwing rocks. These are some of the daily experiences Palestinian children and parents describe in this new short documentary 'Living in Fear: In the shadow of Israeli settlements', from Defence for Children International – Palestine Section (DCI-PS) <http://electronicin
The video focuses on attacks by settlers from Yitzhar
<http://electronicin
<http://www.ochaopt.
the northern occupied West Bank. The attacks are frequent and ongoing
as the settlers seize more land. In 2011 alone, UN OCHA
<http://electronicin
largest figure recorded from a single settlement that year.
<http://electronicin
Why is this happening? “They want us to leave our homes. That’s what they want,” says one mother. Here’s DCI-PS’s description with more information: The Jewish 'settlement' of Yitzhar is described by The New York Times as “an extremist bastion on the hilltops commanding the Palestinian city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.” Its roughly 1,000 radical Jewish settlers terrorize 20,000 Palestinians from the surrounding villages of
Burin, Madama, Asira al-Qibliya, Urif, Einabus and Huwara.
http://electronicin
Palestinian*
Haaretz 25 Dec by Nir Hasson — A criminal investigation of a private security guard who shot and killed a Palestinian man in 2009 has been closed. The victim’s family believes the probe was closed due to negligence and investigative failures. They also claim the testimony of an eyewitness was ignored. Last week, attorney Ester Bartor filed a petition on behalf of Hanadi Sarkhan, widow of Samer Sarkhan, against the Jerusalem district
prosecutor’s decision to close the investigation into the death of Sarkhan,
a resident of Silwan in East Jerusalem, who was killed by a private security guard in September 2009. Sarkhan’s death was one of the causes of a wave of violence in Silwan and surrounding neighborhoods for over a year … Shortly after Sarkhan’s death, security footage was found that document the minutes prior to the shooting. The images in the footage contradicted the security guard’s testimony … Next week, the High Court of Justice will rule on the petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem against the private security firm that operates in the area. For the past 20 years, Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem have been guarded by private security guards, funded by the Housing and Construction Ministry. The budget for security in East Jerusalem has been set at over 50 million shekels ($14 million) per year. Security includes guard posts, patrols and armed escort for residents. According to the petition, over the years the security guards have assumed authority and privileges they are not entitled to, and have
begun to serve as a private police force.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.565272
*Checkpoints and closures near Ramallah after Israeli officer
stabbed*<http://www.maannews
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 Dec — Israeli forces tightened security procedures in the central West Bank on Monday evening after an Israeli security officer was stabbed by an unidentified attacker in a nearby settlement. Israeli forces closed a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of
Jaba, southeast of Ramallah to Palestinian cars after reports of a stabbing in Geva
Binyamin settlement. The closure caused major delays for Palestinian
commuters on one of the West Bank’s busiest north-south roads, although
Jewish settlers traveling on the roads were free to pass through the
checkpoints.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=659603
*Israeli troops erect tents near
Ya‘bad <http://www.maannews
JENIN (Ma‘an) 24 Dec — Israeli troops erected three military tents near the
main road of the northern West Bank town of Ya‘bad on Tuesday morning.
Eyewitnesses told a Ma‘an reporter that they saw three military tents on
Palestinian olive trees near the main road between Jenin and Tulkarem.
Large numbers of Israeli soldiers deployed in the area, they added. Locals
said that they believe the Israeli military activity was in response to an
attack with stones at an Israeli settler’s vehicle traveling on the main
road. The vehicle’s windshield was smashed as a result of the attack. In
response, Israeli forces had threatened to occupy local houses if stone
throwers continue to attack Israeli vehicles.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=659750
'While you were sleeping: The systematic terrorization of
Burin' <http://972mag.
[with video of army watching settlers throw stones] 972blog 23 Dec by Yesh
Din, written by Yossi Gurvitz — *Israeli civilians terrorize the village of
Burin; as usual, they are aided by the strongest army in the Middle East — To
paraphrase Tolstoy, every village in the West Bank is miserable in its own
way. The curse of Burin, in the Nablus region, is that it neighbors two
particularly troublesome 'settlements', Har Bracha and Yitzhar. Attacks
by Israeli civilians coming from these settlements against the residents of
Burin are almost daily occurrences; in one recent week, no fewer than four
such attacks were documented. (More about Burin, see
here<http://www.haaretz.
The problem with these attacks has less to do with the Israeli civilians
and more with the fact that they are generally accompanied by IDF soldiers
who protect them even when they carry out pogroms. There’s a standard
procedure for these attacks: the Israeli civilians descend on the village
in order to attack it, sometimes attacking the school or some of the
outlying, isolated buildings; the villagers organize themselves for self
defense and throw stones at the invaders; and then, the strongest army in
the Middle East rushes in and fires tear gas canisters, stun grenades and
from time to time rubber-coated, or even live bullets, at the villagers.
All of which happens not while the Palestinian residents attack or raid a
settlement, but when they are trying to defend themselves and their homes …
So, in sum: we’ve seen a break-in to a house by threat, the arrest of a
minor without an adult present (which Israeli law is strict about), the
abuse of a helpless minor, an attempt to make a minor into a police
informant against his will and the abandoning of a minor on the road. All
of the above is the result of collaboration between the army and Jewish
hooligans
http://972mag.com/while-you-were-sleeping-the-systematic-terrorization-of-burin/
*The poor man’s sheep* <http://blog.
Yesh Din blog 18 Dec by Yossi Gurvitz — Soldiers break into the wrong house
at night, go on a rampage – and make off with a woman’s savings from 15
years of work — One night in early September, the members of the Kavajeh
family in *Tarqumiya* were woken by IDF troops breaking into their house.
According to the despicable custom of the last few years, some of the
soldiers wore ski masks; before our apathetic eyes what used to be the
premier line of fashion among criminals has become common military attire.
From this moment on, everything went as per the routine – a routine known
to every soldier who has ever served in the occupied territories: the
soldiers gathered all the family members in one room, not giving them time
to dress properly. They then searched the house, found nothing, and as they
left, the head of the family, ‘Issa, heard the soldiers say to one another
that they had raided the wrong house. Needless to say, the soldiers did not
apologize to the family. The soldiers told them not to leave the house
while they were still present. When the family realized the soldiers were
gone, they began to estimate the damage. Here the words of ‘Issa are worth
quoting: “We began moving around the house and saw the horror.” The
contents of the cupboards had been spilled, and the soldiers had thrown
bedding, clothes and equipment onto the floor. The kitchen was the real
calamity zone: the soldiers made certain to spill the flour on the floor,
mix the sugar, the lentils and the salt together, poured the tahini into
the kitchen sink, and, finally, broke the eggs. But as the family members
finished examining the results of the small green storm that passed
mistakenly through their home, the real disaster was discovered: the
savings of one of the family members, Thahani, had been stolen. These were
two gold bracelets and a gold ring. Thahani had saved the money to buy the
jewelry from working in a seamstress shop since 1998. Fifteen years of
savings. Fifteen years of painstakingly gathering, day by day, an ounce of
meager pay … Looting is a war crime. It is defined as such in the Fourth
Geneva Convention.
http://blog.
*IOF arrests 11
Palestinians*
RAMALLAH (PIC) 23 Dec — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested at dawn
today (Monday) 11 youths in occupied West Bank and took them to unknown
detention centers. IOF arrested five youths from ‘*Anabta* town in Tulkarem
after Israeli troops stormed the town and raided the detainees’ houses. IOF
arrested two other Palestinians from *Jenin* city, one of them was summoned
for investigation in Salem military camp before his arrest.
link to www.palestine-
*Soldiers kidnap eleven Palestinians in West
Bank*<http://www.imemc.
IMEMC 24 Dec — Israeli soldiers invaded, between Monday evening and Tuesday
morning, several areas in the occupied West Bank, kidnapping eleven
Palestinians, including six in the northern West Bank district of Nablus.
Eyewitnesses have reported that dozens of armored Israeli military vehicles
invaded the *Old City of Nablus*, kidnapping Imad Halawa, 20, and Raed
Hamdan, 20, after breaking into their homes and violently searching them.
They added that the soldiers invaded the *Dahia Al-Janoubiyya area, in
Nablus, and kidnapped Rami Kilbany and Bashir Raji Taqtouq, 21. Soldiers
also invaded the *Askar* refugee camp, east of Nablus, and kidnapped Ziad
Al-Maghreby. Another resident, identified as Wajdy Qanadeelo, has also
been kidnapped in the northern mountain of Nablus city. All kidnapped
residents were moved to the Huwwara military base, south of Nablus.
In related news, soldiers invaded *‘Ein Yabroub* town, east of the Central
West Bank city of Ramallah, kidnapping two Palestinians.
Two more Palestinians were kidnapped in *Betunia* town, west of Ramallah,
local sources have reported. Furthermore, soldiers invaded Beit
Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem, and kidnapped Ahmad Saleh Thawabta,
after violently breaking into his home and searching it. Also, dozens of soldiers
invaded Beit Awwa town, west of Hebron, in the southern part of the
occupied West Bank, and handed the residents military documents threatening
to impose further collective punishment measures.
http://www.imemc.org/article/66617
*IOA re-arrests 23 prisoners released in Wafa al-Ahrar
deal*<http://www.palestin
NAZARETH (PIC) 24 Dec — The Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) have
re-arrested 23 liberated prisoners released in the Wafa al-Ahrar deal in
2011 and threatened to arrest more liberated prisoners, Palestinian
Department of Statistics in the West Bank reported. The department
confirmed that 23 liberated prisoner, including women, have been
re-arrested under flimsy pretexts after being released in the Wafa al-Ahrar
exchange deal in total violation of the agreement’s terms. IOA have
threatened the liberated prisoners to re-impose their old sentences on them
or to be deported to Gaza or abroad, the Department of Statistics added.
Six liberated prisoners of those who were re-arrested after Wafa al-Ahrar
deal including Samer al-Issawi were released while four of them have been
deported to Gaza, identified as Ayman Sharawna, Iyad Abu Fannouneh, Ayman
Abu Dawood, and the female captive Hana Shalabi, after being engaged in
long hunger strikes. Meanwhile 12 liberated prisoners are still held in
Israeli jails, in addition to the female captive Mona Ka’adan.
link to www.palestine-
*Report: 1,120 arrests since talks’
resumption*<http://www.palestin
RAMALLAH (PIC) 23 Dec — The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have arrested
approximately 1,200 Palestinians, including MPs, since resumption of
PA-Israeli negotiations, Palestinian human rights sources said … The
center’s report affirmed that Palestinian and Israeli authorities have not
addressed during negotiation meetings either the Israeli continued arrests
against Palestinian citizens, academics and national leaders, or the
improvement of prisoners’ detention conditions in Israeli jails. The report
clarified that IOF had arrested since talks’ resumption two Palestinian
MPs, Nizar Ramadan and Mohamed Bader, and dozens of academics and Hamas
cadres, including Dr. Adnan Abu Tbana, Sheikh Jamal Hadaida, Sheikh Jamal
al-Tawil, Sheikh Hussein Abu Kuweik, and Faraj Romana, after raiding their
houses.
link to www.palestine-
*AOHR: PA’s security services arrest 256 citizens monthly in West
Bank*<http://www.palestin
LONDON, BETHLEHEM (PIC) 24 Dec — An international report issued by the Arab
Organization for Human Rights in UK (AOHR) showed that the Palestinian
Authority’s security services have carried out 256 political arrests
monthly during 2013. The organization said in its report that most of the
targeted detainees are ex-prisoners in the Israeli occupation jails and
university students. It added that the Palestinian Authority after failing
to address the occupation daily violations and to protect its citizens, it
has adopted a dangerous security policy based on permanent coordination
with the occupation forces to arrest Palestinian citizens. 599 citizens
were arrested every month during the year 2013, 256 of them were arrested
by the PA security apparatuses … Meanwhile, local sources in Bethlehem
reported that a prisoner held in the PA Preventive Security apparatus’s
jail died by hanging in mysterious circumstances in his cell. Bethlehem
governor Abdel Fattah Hamayel said in statements that the detainee Nawaf
Kawazba, from the village of Sa‘ir in al-Khalil, “had been chased for
months by the security services. He was recently arrested, together with
other wanted men, after his wife was killed by mistake.”
link to www.palestine-
*Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Discrimination /
Apartheid *
*High Court mulls demolition of illegal houses in legal West Bank
settlement*<http://www.haaretz.
Haaretz 25 Dec by Chaim Levinson — The High Court on Wednesday will
consider a petition demanding that nine houses illegally built on
Palestinian land in the legal settlement of Ofra in 2008 be demolished. The
original landowners and the Yesh Din human rights group have petitioned the
court via attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zecharia. Although the state
says illegal structures on private Palestinian land must be demolished, it
notes that the Ofra construction is inside the boundaries of a recognized
settlement, so the fate of the nine buildings should be decided with that
of the entire settlement.
http://www.haaretz.
*Israeli bulldozers destroy 15 Palestinian homes near
Ramallah*<http://www.maannews
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 Dec — Israeli bulldozers on Tuesday destroyed 15 houses
in Palestinian villages west of Ramallah, a Ma‘an reporter said. Early
Tuesday, three Israeli bulldozers accompanied by 10 military jeeps raided
the *Bedouin* villages of Ras Karkar and Deir Ammar and started
demolishing buildings, reportedly without giving a warning. Locals said the
demolitions were carried out under the pretext of security concerns, due to
the fact the villages are located near Israeli settlements.
http://www.maannews
*Israeli forces demolish Palestinian properties in Jordan
Valley*<http://www.maannews
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 24 Dec — Israeli forces demolished a residential house and
four steel agricultural structures in *Fasayil al-Wusta* in the Jordan
Valley Tuesday morning. Spokesman of the local Campaign to Save the Jordan
Valley Fathi Shqeirat told Ma‘an that more than fifteen Israeli military
vehicles escorted two bulldozers into the neighborhood. Bulldozers then
wrecked a house and two steel structures owned by Mahmoud Ibrahim Abu
Kharbeish, in addition to two livestock farms owned by Hasan Muhammad Zayid
and his brother Hussein.
http://www.maannews
*Jerusalem issues demolition orders to displace 19 Silwan
residents*<http://www.maannews
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 23 Dec — Inspectors of the municipal council of Jerusalem
on Monday handed a demolition warrant to a Palestinian family notifying
them that two residential buildings are scheduled to be demolished,
potentially displacing 19 people. The Siyam family were told that the
buildings in *Silwan* neighborhood would be demolished “because they were
constructed without the needed license.” The buildings, according to family
members, belong to Hammudah Siyam and his brother Mahran. Their brother
Dawood told a Ma‘an reporter that the buildings were constructed ten years
ago. The first building is a two-story building and consists of four
apartments measuring 540 square meters belong to his brother Hammudah who
has a family of twelve, he said. The other building, which consists of one
apartment measuring 135 square meters, is inhabited by his brother Mahran’s
seven family members. Siyam highlighted that his mother, who passed away
two years ago, had funded the construction ten years ago and had earlier
paid a fine of 650,000 shekels ($187,000) after the municipality of
Jerusalem issued a demolition order previously.
http://www.maannews
*WATCH: Al Walaja – the story of a shrinking Palestinian
village*<http://972mag.
972blog 23 Dec by Julie Land and Alison Morgan (2.48 minutes) — Beginning
with the 1948 war and continuing with the illegal annexation of land to
Jerusalem, the canton-like divisions created in the Oslo Accords and now
with the separation barrier, Israel has, piece by piece, chipped away at
al-Walaja’s village lands for 65 years. This is the story of how it
happened.
http://972mag.
*Photos: Denied service by Jerusalem, Palestinian villagers form emergency
response team <http://972mag.
Activestills 24 Dec Photos & text: Yotam Ronen, Oren Ziv, Shiraz Grinbaum —
Although it is hidden away from the view of most the city’s residents by a
separation barrier, the Shuafat refugee
camp<http://972mag.
officially part of Jerusalem. Therefore, like every other neighborhood
in Jerusalem, Shuafat’s
residents<http://972mag.
pay municipal taxes) depends on the city for their infrastructure and
sanitation services. So what happens when the municipality simply ignores
its own residents<http://972mag.
They take matters into their own hands. Three months ago, several young
residents of Shuafat decided to take initiative and start an emergency
response team (which they named “Taqam Taware’ Assalam,” or Emergency Peace
Team) in order to fill in for the lacking infrastructural services. They
began training in first aid and rescuing skills and started to work
together as a group. Thus, when the biggest storm in years hit the region
last weekend, the team quickly understood that they would be the ones to
clear Shuafat’s roads from the snow, as well as provide needy families with
food and clean water.
http://972mag.
*Detainees / Releases *
*PHOTOS: Israel releases former Palestinian hunger striker Samer
Issawi*<http://972mag.
Activestills 23 Dec Text by Michael Omer-Man Photos by Oren Ziv and Tali
Mayer — Former hunger striking Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi was
released to his home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya Monday
night, exactly eight months after he agreed to resume eating as part of a
deal with Israeli authorities. Issawi staged an intermittent hunger strike
for nearly nine months until April 23, 2013. Over 2,000 people awaited his
release on the main road leading into Issawiya. Revelers carried him on
their shoulders to the Issawi family home, where a tent was erected in the
morning. Earlier in the day the family hosted guests who came to celebrate.
Israeli security forces visited the Issawi family twice in the past few
days, warning them not to hold any celebrations.
Issawi was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in
October, 2011, having served 10 years of a 30-year sentence. He began his
hunger strike nine months later, shortly after the IDF re-arrested him.
Issawi began his hunger strike to protest the legal mechanism that put him
in prison without access to due process. He was re-sentenced by a military
tribunal using secret evidence that neither he nor his lawyers were allowed
to see, and therefore was unable to mount any defense in court.
http://972mag.
*Israeli jailers allow prisoner Abu Sisi to see his family on TV for first
time*<http://www.palestin
GAZA (PIC) 23 Dec — The solidarity foundation for human rights said that
Palestinian prisoner Dirar Abu Sisi was able to see his family through a
television show for the first time since he was kidnapped from Ukraine
about three years ago. Senior official of the foundation Ahmed Al-Beitawi
said that Abu Sisi was allowed to see his Ukrainian wife and his six
children on a TV show broadcast live by Palestine satellite channel. During
a visit by the solidarity foundation’s lawyer to the jail, Abu Sisi
expressed his great happiness for seeing his family for the first time.
“How happy and delighted I was. It has been difficult moments to me because
they have evoked feelings of nostalgia and love. Those moments passed like
I was in a dream I did not like to wake up from, and my tears of joy went
down my face hoping for a reunion soon,” Abu Sisi told the lawyer. Beitawi
noted that an Israeli court hearing is slated to be held on January 7, 2014
to determine the legality of the statement forcibly taken from Abu Sisi.
Dirar Abu Sisi, deputy engineer of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant, was
kidnapped from an overnight train in Ukraine, his wife’s native country, on
18 February 2011.
link to www.palestine-
*Report: Israel to release more veteran Palestinian prisoners next
week*<http://www.maannews
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Dec – Israeli daily Maariv on Tuesday published names
of some of the veteran Palestinian prisoners Israel intends to release next
week as a third group of 104 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails
before the Oslo Accords of 1994. Maariv titled the piece “A new group of
terrorists will be released next week.” The report published names and
details of Israelis killed in operations carried out by the prisoners
scheduled to be released.
http://www.maannews
*Palestinian refugees elsewhere*
*Property rights scarce for Palestinians in
Lebanon*<http://www.irinnews
QASMIYEH, Lebanon (IRIN) 24 Dec — “If they throw us out, we will end up in
the sea,” Zahar Sayed Ghadbaan says, her anger not entirely disguised by
the joking tone. “We have nowhere else to go but here,” she says, gesturing
towards the small hand-built home with a corrugated iron roof. The Ghadbaan
family is one of 75 in the Palestinian gathering, or informal settlement,
of Qasmiyeh in south Lebanon, where they are living with the prospect that
their homes might be destroyed. Like many of Lebanon’s estimated 280,000
Palestinians, the family came to the country in 1948 after being evicted
from their homes by Israelis. Now, 65 years later, they could be facing a
second eviction. Qasmiyeh, unlike other areas where Palestinians have
established homes, is not part of an official refugee camp run by the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA) … In 2001 the Lebanese government passed law 296, adjusting
the rules on foreign ownership of property. The law does not specifically
mention Palestinians, but it prohibits “any person who is not a national of
a recognized state… acquiring real estate property of any kind”, and serves
to ban Palestinians living in Lebanon from buying or selling their homes.
The only safe havens are the official camps, where although they do not
formally own the houses, there is a widespread perception of ownership. But
the camps are suffering from severe overcrowding, made worse in the last
two years by the influx of over 50,000 Palestinian refugees fleeing the
civil war in neighbouring Syria.
http://www.irinnews
*Grandi: UNRWA cannot deliver aid to the besieged camp of
Al-Yarmouk*<http://www.palestin
DAMASCUS (PIC) 23 Dec — UNRWA commissioner-
warned that the lives of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk
refugee camp in Damascus are at risk due to the ongoing blockade imposed by
the Syrian regime forces. “It is my responsibility to inform the
international community that the humanitarian conditions in the besieged
refugee camp of Yarmouk are worsening dramatically and that we are
currently unable to help those trapped inside. If this situation is not
addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of
people, including children,” Grandi stated in a press release. “20,000
remaining Palestinians have been trapped inside Yarmouk
link to www.palestine-
*Other news *
*Israeli army said to hamper West Bank pollution
cleanup *<http://www.haaretz.
Haaretz 25 Dec by Zafrir Rinat — Efforts to deal with environmental
problems in the West Bank are being severely hampered by the inability of
the defense establishment and the Environmental Protection Ministry to
reach an agreement on the latter’s enforcement powers. For about a year,
the ministry has been seeking the power to enforce environmental laws over
the Green Line. But this would require the Israel Defense Forces to issue
an order applying the Environmental Enforcement Law – which authorizes
inspectors from both the ministry and the local authorities to enforce
legislation – to the West Bank. So far, it hasn’t happened.
http://www.haaretz.
*Why Israeli police don’t automatically assume that a bombing was done by
Palestinians:
*Father, son seriously injured in assassination
attempt* <http://www.ynetnews
Ynet 23 Dec by Eli Senyor — A powerful car
explosion <http://www.ynetnews
central
Israeli <http://www.ynetnews
Rehovot Monday morning, in the heart of a residential neighborhood. A
father and his son, aged 45 and 25, were seriously injured … The
assassination attempt Monday took place after two months of many efforts by
the police to battle organized
crime<http://www.ynetnews
In early November, a man was critically injured in an
assassination attempt in
Ashkelon<http://www.ynetnews
when a device that was attached to his car detonated. Police officials said
that the assassination target belonged to a well-known criminal group. Ten
days earlier, a courier for the same criminal group was killed in a car
explosion near a school in Ashkelon’s downtown. Hours prior to that there
was another assassination attempt in Yokneam, where a man was seriously
injured.
http://www.ynetnews
*Analysis / Opinion*
*Yes, Boogie, there are Palestinian partners for peace / Harvey
Stein*<http://blogs.
Times of Israel blog 23 Dec — The repeated Israeli refrain gets a bit
ridiculous, uttered this time by Moshe “Boogie”
Ya’alon <http://www.timesofi
the Israeli Defense Minister appointed by Bibi Netanyahu, “We have no
partner on the other side.” Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian non-violent
activist, has been a partner for peace for over 10 years. After Ali’s
brother was killed – shot in the head by an Israeli soldier during the
Second Intifada in October, 2000 – Ali and his mother joined the Bereaved
Families Forum <http://www.theparen
(Palestinian and Israeli) have all had family members killed by the
conflict here. Later Abu Awwad, together with Robi Damelin (an Israeli
mother whose son was also killed in the violence of the Intifada) made
presentations around the world, about reconciliation and non-violence being
essential tools towards peacemaking. Boogie has probably never shared the
stage with a Palestinian, or had one visit his home. Abu Awwad, on the
other hand, had Israeli visitors from the Bereaved Families Forum visit his
home in 2002. He told me, “That was the first time I saw an Israeli
cry…before that, I was convinced I am the only victim, and they are the
enemy.” Abu Awwad is trying to raise funds to finish writing and
self-publishing hisbook
<http://www.indiegog
“Painful Hope,” stories and thoughts about his experiences of the past ten
years. He wants to print 5000 copies, in Arabic, Hebrew and English. He
told me he plans to give away 1000 of these, “To Palestinian local leaders,
to soldiers at checkpoints, and elsewhere.”
http://blogs.
*Attack on Tibi is not just tempest in a teapot / Moshe
Negbi*<http://www.haaretz.
Haaretz 24 Dec — The attack on MK Ahmed Tibi while he was demonstrating in
Be’er Sheva for Bedouin rights is far from a tempest in a teapot. It should
not be disconnected from the campaign of incitement and delegitimization by
Knesset members who concocted the non-profit organization law against
critics of government policy in general, and against those protesting its
harm to human and civil rights specifically. Whoever wants to impose legal
sanctions on those who express loud public criticism against Israel, and
justify it by saying such criticism is tantamount to hostile subversion and
treason, should not be surprised if someone decides to punish and silence
with his own hands these same “subversives” and “traitors.” Such things
have already happened. In 1996, extreme right-winger Yisrael Lederman threw
hot tea at the face of then-MK Yael Dayan, who was also identified with
struggles for human rights. But that was by no means the first attack
against an elected official because of his or her beliefs, either.
Forty-five years ago, only four months after the Six-Day War, Holocaust
survivor Avraham Ben Moshe attacked the Communist Knesset member Meir
Wilner with a knife.
http://www.haaretz.
--
www.TheHeadlines.
www.Mondoweiss.
