Surf's up on the Gaza Strip for the brave regardless of hardship
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Dec-13/280955-surfs-up-in-gaza-strip-for-the-brave-amid-hardship.ashx
GAZA CITY (AP 13 Dec by Fares Akram) As wintry winds battered the Gaza
Strip, sending many inside, two Palestinian men instead rushed for the
breaking waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Mohammad Abu Jayyab, 41, and his
friend Ahmad Abu Hasira, 35, are two of about two dozen surfers
catching waves in the blockaded strip, which has endured three devastating
wars with Israel in six years, the most recent this summer. The Gaza Surf
Club describes the sport as a way to "forget about the hardships of living
in Gaza." But that's not really the case as the two men splash into water
cold enough to take their breath away even in wetsuits. Raw or only
partially treated sewage now churns into the waves. "We take to the sea
engulfed with fears of infection. In the past, the water was better," said
Abu Jayyab, a father of five. The sewage in the Mediterranean stems from
long-standing electricity shortages linked to a border blockade enforced by
Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Rolling power
cuts disrupt pumps handling sewage for the strip's 1.8 million people ...
When Abu Jayyab started out as an amateur in the 1990s, he used homemade
wooden boards that injured him at least four times. Now, the clubs' boards
bears the logos of world organizations that donated them, including Surfing
4 Peace, founded by American surfer Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, who died in
November at age 93. "God bless his soul," Abu Jayyab said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Dec-13/280955-surfs-up-in-gaza-strip-for-the-brave-amid-hardship.ashx
Friday 19 December 2014
Wednesday 17 December 2014
Coexistence struggles
JERUSALEM (AFP) 16 December -- Israeli police on Tuesday arrested 10 members of
extremist anti-Arab group Lehava which has been linked to an attack in November
on a Jewish-Arab school. The attack, which incited violence against
Arabs and equated them to a "cancer", sparked a wave of condemnation and
came amid months of rising tensions and unrest in Israel and the
Palestinian territories. "Ten suspects, members of the Lehava organisation,
have been arrested for questioning following incitement and calls for
racist acts of violence and terror," the police said in a statement. The
suspects were arrested at their homes in the Israeli towns of Petah Tikva
and Netivot, as well as in Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the occupied
West Bank. Police also seized computers belonging to the suspects. Among
those detained was Lehava leader Bentzi Gopstein, who lives in the
flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron. Gopstein's lawyer said the arrests
were political. "The police are acting against Lehava even though it's a
legal organisation fighting against assimilation," Itamar Ben Gvir said,
accusing the "left" of pressuring the police into making arrests. Leftwing
MPs have demanded that Lehava be banned as a "terrorist organisation".
Three Lehava members were arrested last week on suspicion of torching a
classroom at the Hand-in-Hand school, a rare symbol of coexistence in
Jerusalem.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-arrests-10-anti-arab-extremist-swoop-074639541.html;_ylt=A0LEVicCy5BUyTUAeqIPxQt.
extremist anti-Arab group Lehava which has been linked to an attack in November
on a Jewish-Arab school. The attack, which incited violence against
Arabs and equated them to a "cancer", sparked a wave of condemnation and
came amid months of rising tensions and unrest in Israel and the
Palestinian territories. "Ten suspects, members of the Lehava organisation,
have been arrested for questioning following incitement and calls for
racist acts of violence and terror," the police said in a statement. The
suspects were arrested at their homes in the Israeli towns of Petah Tikva
and Netivot, as well as in Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the occupied
West Bank. Police also seized computers belonging to the suspects. Among
those detained was Lehava leader Bentzi Gopstein, who lives in the
flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron. Gopstein's lawyer said the arrests
were political. "The police are acting against Lehava even though it's a
legal organisation fighting against assimilation," Itamar Ben Gvir said,
accusing the "left" of pressuring the police into making arrests. Leftwing
MPs have demanded that Lehava be banned as a "terrorist organisation".
Three Lehava members were arrested last week on suspicion of torching a
classroom at the Hand-in-Hand school, a rare symbol of coexistence in
Jerusalem.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-arrests-10-anti-arab-extremist-swoop-074639541.html;_ylt=A0LEVicCy5BUyTUAeqIPxQt.
Sunday 14 December 2014
Army finishes 'biblical' punishment, Silwan
Israeli forces on Thursday searched the
demolished home of attack suspect Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi in the Silwan
neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, family members said. Al-Shaludi's mother
told Ma'an Israeli forces searched the rubble of the house they demolished
in November in the al-Bustan area of Silwan, claiming the family had rebuilt
parts of the home. Israeli officers also raided the home of al-Shaludi's
uncle where his mother and family have been living temporarily. She said
that after searching each room, forces threatened to demolish the house as
well. Al-Shaludi was killed by Israeli police after he drove his vehicle
into a group of pedestrians at a light rail station in the Sheikh Jarrah
area of East Jerusalem. The attack left two dead and several injured.
Israeli forces demolished his family home in a punitive move on November 19.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=746581
demolished home of attack suspect Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi in the Silwan
neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, family members said. Al-Shaludi's mother
told Ma'an Israeli forces searched the rubble of the house they demolished
in November in the al-Bustan area of Silwan, claiming the family had rebuilt
parts of the home. Israeli officers also raided the home of al-Shaludi's
uncle where his mother and family have been living temporarily. She said
that after searching each room, forces threatened to demolish the house as
well. Al-Shaludi was killed by Israeli police after he drove his vehicle
into a group of pedestrians at a light rail station in the Sheikh Jarrah
area of East Jerusalem. The attack left two dead and several injured.
Israeli forces demolished his family home in a punitive move on November 19.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=746581
Tuesday 9 December 2014
To A&E in handcuffs
JERUSALEM 7 December: A Palestinian man on Sunday succumbed to wounds
he sustained in a car attack on a light rail station in East Jerusalem, his
wife told Ma‘an News Service. Abd al-Karim Nafith Hamid, 60, was injured when a
Palestinian [Ibrahim al-Akkari, 47] slammed his car into the Sheikh Jarrah
tram station, killing a Druze officer in the Israeli border police and
injuring at least 13 other people, Hamid's wife Umm Ibrahim told Ma‘an. She
said her husband suffered multiple fractures in his spine and feet, and
subsequently had a heart attack. Hamid did not receive the necessary
medical treatment right away, Umm Ibrahim said. "After the Israeli forces
identified the injured people, they handcuffed my injured husband because
he is an Arab and didn't offer him the appropriate treatment. Neither did
they evacuate him to the hospital immediately." She said that according to
eyewitnesses, Hamid arrived at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre handcuffed. "He
has been in an intensive care room and he was given all the necessary
surgeries, but he was declared dead today," Umm Ibrahim said. Hamid left
behind 12 children and two widows. His body was taken to the al-Maqasid
hospital in Jerusalem and then to his home village of ‘Anata, east of
Jerusalem. He will be buried at Bab al-Sahira cemetery in the Old City of
Jerusalem.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=745373
he sustained in a car attack on a light rail station in East Jerusalem, his
wife told Ma‘an News Service. Abd al-Karim Nafith Hamid, 60, was injured when a
Palestinian [Ibrahim al-Akkari, 47] slammed his car into the Sheikh Jarrah
tram station, killing a Druze officer in the Israeli border police and
injuring at least 13 other people, Hamid's wife Umm Ibrahim told Ma‘an. She
said her husband suffered multiple fractures in his spine and feet, and
subsequently had a heart attack. Hamid did not receive the necessary
medical treatment right away, Umm Ibrahim said. "After the Israeli forces
identified the injured people, they handcuffed my injured husband because
he is an Arab and didn't offer him the appropriate treatment. Neither did
they evacuate him to the hospital immediately." She said that according to
eyewitnesses, Hamid arrived at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre handcuffed. "He
has been in an intensive care room and he was given all the necessary
surgeries, but he was declared dead today," Umm Ibrahim said. Hamid left
behind 12 children and two widows. His body was taken to the al-Maqasid
hospital in Jerusalem and then to his home village of ‘Anata, east of
Jerusalem. He will be buried at Bab al-Sahira cemetery in the Old City of
Jerusalem.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=745373
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