Repression in US and Israel: tail wags dog

For most of us, but especially the Baby Boomers, America has long been seen as an immutable presence, always reliably in the money (Okay; apart from the Great Depression and the more recent Crash) and the source of all the 20th Century's popular culture. That corner-stone has been chipped away as the USA keeps afloat on credit, to a great extent from China, arguably the new Top Nation which may by default thus have the last say in the future of Israel/Palestine. as there is a limit to how much cash the US can throw at its Zionist colony, and if China says 'no more credit' it could have a direct effect on Israel's military capabilities despite those exports - or because of them if the US is  a major customer. America's status takes another hard knock as the International Jewish AntiZionist Network has published a plea for support for both prisoners in Israel/Palestine, and the US. Israel is already known  to be supplying arms (tested on Gaza) to the US, which is increasingly dependent on imports, of everything from corn to cars which it spent the twentieth century exporting.
          " Israel plays a significant role", states the Network, " in the training of police forces in the United States and elsewhere in population control and Israel and the US share technologies and strategies of surveillance and repression across borders ). As people who support the liberation of all peoples, and oppose all forms of racism, it is imperative that we stand behind striking prisoners, who are willing to risk their lives organizing for their rights and dignity."

'Embassy' opens in Bristol, UK

In the centre of Bristol's old city,  A new Palestinian cultural exchange has opened its doors for the first time. I quote from the Release: Central-Bristol venue, the ARC on Broad Street, was transformed into a “Palestinian Embassy”. Spread across three floors it included a café serving Palestinian food, a cinema showing Palestinian films, and a gallery showing a major exhibition of Palestinian history, culture and solidarity, with West Bank paintings by Bristol artist Hanley. A day-long conference  included talks and workshops on Palestine provided by local and UK solidarity activists together with a live video link to Gaza & West Bank. Professor Manuel Hassassian, Palestine's

Prof. Hassassian greeted by the Lord Mayor of Bristol

Ambassador to the UK, was the welcome special guest.

Karmel Colony: Israelis unite with Palestinians

On Saturday June: 8 an old Palestinian man from the village of Umm Al Kheer, Suleiman Aid Yameen Hadleen, was detained for more than three hours by the Israeli army while affirming his right to access his own land. In the last two days the soldiers denied the Palestinians from Umm Al Kheer  access to their own land until Sunday morning, without any official order. The land in question is on a hill that belongs to the Hadleen family. On the top of it the 'settlers' of Karmel Israeli colony in 2011 planted some olive trees and about two weeks ago built a small tent. Two days ago the settlers started to dig holes on the ground, intending to plant more olive trees in a row that would go along the top of the hill, preventing Palestinians from entering the land behind it. That hill is crossed everyday by Palestinian shepherds, since it is the only way that takes to the valleys grazed by their sheep. On Saturday June 8, three Palestinian shepherds with their flocks, together with other Palestinians, Israeli activists and international volunteers were chased away from the top of the hill by the Israeli army.
< http://palsolidarity.org/2013/06/expansion-of-karmel-settlement-prevents-inhabitants-of-umm-al-kheer-from-accessing-their-land/>link
to palsolidarity.org<http://palsolidarity.org/2013/06/expansion-of-karmel-settlement-prevents-inhabitants-of-umm-al-kheer-from-accessing-their-land/>
Maan News reports that Negev residents protested against a forced displacement
plan.

A campaign poster reading "One Voice: No to Prawer."
(Maan/Naqab.org)

<http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=603270>
Beersheba, Israel (Ma‘an) 9 June -- Arab and Bedouin residents in the Negev
announced on Sunday that they would be rallying against a legislative proposal
to be put before the Knesset that would see the dismantling of 'unrecognized'
villages and the forced displacement of residents. The Al-Naqab Association
for Land and Human Beings said all residents were being urged to join
Thursday's protest, which includes a general strike, organized by the Higher Guidance Committee of the Arab Residents in the Negev.
< http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=603270>link to
www.maannews.net <http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=603270>

Jerusalem family made homeless

The Jerusalem municipality is billing Badwan al-Salaymeh for the destruction of his home. (Lazar Simeonov)

On a massive pile of rubble that used to be a two-story home, Badwan al-Salaymeh’s cat paced back and forth searching for her two missing kittens.
“The human rights organizations will probably care more about the pets — even animals have more rights than us Palestinians,” al-Salaymeh said as he climbed the mound of concrete and metal.
The front yard gives the impression of a miniature war zone: the collapsed home in the centere, the metal fence dented and bent, the garden uprooted, the trees flattened under the bulldozers.
Early in the morning on Wednesday (29 May), approximately 100 Israeli police officers arrived at his home in the Beit Hanina area of Jerusalem, accompanied by two bulldozers. According to witnesses, two minors were arrested for throwing stones, one of whom was said to be around 12 years old. Another was injured after inhaling tear gas.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-razes-home-13-member-family/12500

16,000 colonial units built in 3 years

armed_israeli_setters_near_hebron__photo_by_michael_ramallah

 Saeb Erekat, member of the Palestinian Liberation
Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, stated that the Israeli government Continues to exercise the settlement policy on the occupied Palestinian
territories." During a meeting with the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Erekat said: "The total number of Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land after
Benjamin Netanyahu came into office from 2009 to 2012 has reached over 16,000 settlement units. On average, this is 11 new settlement units a day."
He added that an increase of settler acts of violence against the
Palestinians has been observed in the last few years, "At an alarming rate." He explained that the violent acts committed by settlers increased from 2009 to the end of 2012 by 315 per cent. Such acts include killing
innocents and setting fire to trees, mosques, and churches all of which
are carried out under the protection of the Israeli army." He also pointed
out that "Since the appointment of the Minister of Defence, Moshe Ya'alon,
last month, the Israeli 'settlers', along with the occupation army forces,
started establishing road barriers in the West Bank."
< http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/6085-israel-constructed-16000-settlement-units-over-the-past-3-years>link
to www.middleeastmonitor.com<http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/6085-israel-constructed-16000-settlement-units-over-the-past-3-years>

Gaza 'forbidden zone' expands

The Coordinator of Government
Activities in the "Territories" has clarified that the 'forbidden39; buffer
zone in Gaza strip stretches 300 metres from the 'fence' (the Israeli
border), and not 100 metres as it previously announced. Civilians who enter
the area risk being shot by the army. In the past, the killing of
Palestinians who wandered into the forbidden zone has led to retaliatory
rocket launching from the Strip into Israeli territory. The clarification
was made following a request by the human rights organization
Gisha<http://www.gisha.org/>.
Gisha had noticed that the IDF Spokesperson’s messages stated a different
distance than did the Coordinator of Government Activities in the
Territories, which claimed that Gazans are not allowed into an area
stretching only 100 metres from the barrier. Recently, the army notified
Gisha that the forbidden zone is indeed three times larger than previously
reported. The army has refused to fully detail the methods it uses to warn
farmers and other civilians from wandering into the forbidden zone it
declared. A spokesman for the army has told Gisha that such methods are
part of "the opening fire procedures, and cannot be disclosed."
< http://972mag.com/idf-forbidden-zone-in-gaza-three-times-larger-than-previously-stated/71282/>link

'Settlers' invade monastery

Settlers raise Israeli flag over West Bank church

graffiti sprayed on a wall at the entrance to
the Latrun Monastery near Jerusalem September 4, 2012.
(Reuters/Baz Ratner)

 

RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 19 Apr -- Israeli settlers on Friday took over a monastery in a village near Ramallah and raised an Israeli flag over the building. Priest Aziz Raei told Ma‘an that Israeli settlers used force to occupy the monastery and its adjacent chapel in al-Taybeh, a Christian village in the central West Bank. They raised a flag over the monastery, which was built by a French monk. www.maannews.net