Colonial expansion continues despite 'talks'

Leshim_settlement _active_stills

Army uproots lands to build 'settlement' units in
Salfit<http://www.imemc.org/article/66051>
IMEMC 1 Sept — Local sources in Salfit district, in the central part of the
West Bank, have reported that Israeli bulldozers uprooted Palestinian lands
west of Salfit, in preparation for building new units in Leshim illegal settlement. The lands are located between Deir Ballout and Kufr Ad-Deek towns. Leshim was built last year on privately owned Palestinian lands.
Israeli Housing Minister, Uri Ariel, placed the corner stone of the illegal
settlement. The Salfit district is one of the most impacted districts due
to Israel’s illegal settlement activities as it contains 23 Israeli
settlements swallowing more than half of Salfit’s farmlands. It is worth
mentioning that there are 18 Palestinian towns and villages in the Salfit
District.

US Congress to import Israel's discriminatory laws

America's celebrated Civil Rights Bill - the anti-racialism legislation - could soon be weakened if Israeli lobbyists have their way. That part of the law which assumes reciprocal action by other nations just will not be accepted by Israel, which does not intend to make travel easy for US/Palestinians. US Arabs, or just US citizens known to be less than full of praise for the Israeli regime.  At the moment US lawmakers in looking at codifying a bill that would legitimise Israel's discriminatory behaviour towards US citizens, appear to be set to quietly ignore this elephant. As Electronic Intifada states: The State Department refuses to release the exact number of US citizens denied entry into Israel, but Israel’s denial of entry and harassment of travelers is so common that the State Department warns “some US citizens holding Israeli nationality, possessing a Palestinian identity card, or of Arab or Muslim origin have experienced significant difficulties entering or exiting Israel or the West Bank.” The State Department’s unwillingness to hold Israel accountable has prompted civil society organizations like the Arab American Institute and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to document these cases themselves and follow up with lawmakers.
Read more at http://electronicintifada.net/content/why-does-us-government-let-israel-discriminate-against-americans/12729

Children defy Israel to demand right of return

'This return is permanent' -- refugees' grandchildren defy Israel with
Galilee camp<http://electronicintifada.net/content/return-permanent-refugees-grandchildren-defy-israel-galilee-camp/12711>
Electronic Intifada 22 Aug by Patrick O. Strickland -- Young people with
family connections to Iqrit <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/iqrit,
an "ethnically-cleansed" village in the
Galilee<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/galilee>,
assembled recently for a week-long "camp of return." According to
organizers, more than 200 participants between eight and eighteen years old
registered and attended the camp in Iqrit, which was destroyed by Israel’s
military in 1951. The village’s vibrant green hills -- situated in the
northern Galilee region of present-day Israel and hugging the boundary with
Lebanon <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/lebanon> -- are dotted with
campers’ tents and the decaying rubble of demolished homes. The "Camp of
Return" has been held annually since 1996. For many years, its participants
left Iqrit after only a week. Activists have, however, now decided to
complement the annual camp with a constant presence in the village.
< http://electronicintifada.net/content/return-permanent-refugees-grandchildren-defy-israel-galilee-camp/12711>link
to electronicintifada.net<http://electronicintifada.net/content/return-permanent-refugees-grandchildren-defy-israel-galilee-camp/12711>

On the ground - bad news, good news

Despite renewal of peace talks, Israel approves plans for hundreds of
residential units in West Bank
settlements<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.540481>
[with map/diagram] Haaretz 8 August by Chaim Levinson -  Some 550 units in
the settlements of *Talmon*, 60 in Alon Shvut and 38 in Kokhav
Yaakov*have been approved, out of a total 878; discussion of some of
the plans had been postponed amid renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians.
< http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.540481>
www.haaretz.com<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.540481>

*Video interview: Architects help envision Palestine's landscape after
apartheid*<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/architects-help-envision-palestines-landscape-after-apartheid>
Electronic Intifada 7 Aug by Nora Barrows-Friedman -- An in-depth interview with a former researcher with Decolonizing Architecture<http://www.decolonizing.ps/>was published by Toronto-based writer and interviewer Justin Podur. A collective of architects and artists doing political work on the ground in occupied Palestine, Decolonizing Architecture’s work "combines discourse, spatial intervention, education, collective learning, public  meetings and legal challenges … It proposes the subversion, reuse, profanation and recycling of the existing infrastructure of a colonial occupation," according to its website. In recent years, members of the Decolonizing Architecture collective have worked in the occupied West Bank to reclaim land <http://electronicintifada.net/content/architectural-planning-different-future/8916> and,
envisioning for the future, re-map the land inside and around illegal Israeli settlement colonies< http://electronicintifada.net/tags/settlements> in preparation for a post-apartheid era.palestines-landscape-after-apartheid
to electronicintifada.net<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/architects-help-envision-palestines-landscape-after-apartheid>
< http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/architects-help-envision-
 Facing Al Aqaba, a multi-media installation for Art Prize <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/938933977/facing-al-aqaba-a-multi-media-installation-for-art>

This is an edited bulletin from Today in Palestine

Palestinians forced to lease from colonisers

West Bank water shortage forces Palestinians to lease land from
'settlers' - as published in Haaretz:
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.539325>
Haaretz 2 Aug by Amira Hass -- Shortage of water and agricultural land in
area leads local farmers into embarrassing predicament. -- Settlers in the
Jordan Valley are leasing some of their land to local Palestinians and to
Israeli citizens, but both sides prefer to keep the matter a secret.
Official Israeli sources say they know nothing about the matter, and in any
case it is not common and there are only a few marginal cases involved. The
Palestinians are forced to lease the land from the settlers because of a
shortage of land and water, which Israeli policy in the Jordan Valley has
brought on, and because of limitations placed on the marketing of their
produce ... such leasing is embarrassing for the Palestinians since the
farmed land is land Israel confiscated through various means from
Palestinian communities and residents, then allocated it to settlers in the
Jordan Valley.
link to www.haaretz.com<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.539325>

Gaza starves as 'talks' pantomime sets up again

Things are as bad as they have ever been in Gaza - all supplies are reportedly very low due to the Egyptian army closing  the tunnels. To re-enter peace negotiations while this collective "punishment" proceeds is begging the question - big time.

 

http://www.gisha.org/item.asp?lang_id=en&p_id=2045
 

Human rights groups to DM Ya'alon: Respect Gaza residents' right to freedom of movement

July 22, 2013. A group of Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations wrote to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday 22 July demanding Israel take action to allow Gaza residents affected by the new restrictions at Rafah Crossing to exit and enter Gaza.

Recent turmoil in Egypt has brought new restrictions on passage via Rafah Crossing. Since July 1, exit via Rafah has been reduced to less than one third its usual scope. As a result, more than 10,000 people are stranded in Gaza. An unknown number of others cannot exercise their basic human right to return to their homes, and they are forced into paying for involuntary stays in airports and hotels in foreign countries.

Currently, only medical patients with referrals from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and holders of a foreign citizenship or residence are allowed to enter Egypt from Gaza. Gaza residents present in Egypt are allowed to return home, but those still abroad are not being permitted to land at Egyptian airports. Because Israel does not allow passage to and from Gaza via the air or sea and limits passage via land crossings with Israel, Gaza residents have become dependent on Egypt as their gateway to travel abroad.

Students needing to reach universities abroad, Palestinian residents needing to return to their work places outside Gaza, businesspeople and medical patients without official referrals are all stuck.

Due to Israel's control over the Gaza Strip, it has an obligation, under the law of occupation and human rights law, to enable Gaza residents to lead normal lives, including the opportunity to leave Gaza and return to it. If travel through Rafah is inadequate, Israel must allow Gaza residents to exercise their right to freedom of movement through other crossings, whether on land through the border crossings between Israel and Gaza or by sea and air, to the outside world.

In the past, when traffic at Rafah was restricted, Israel allowed individuals to enter and leave the Strip via crossings with Israel, as part of a shuttle bus system and on an individual basis.

As the situation in Egypt remains volatile, and restrictions at Rafah continue, the undersigned human rights groups calls upon Israel’s defence minister to immediately institute arrangements that will allow Palestinian residents of Gaza to exercise their fundamental right to freedom of movement.
Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of MovementPCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human RightsHamoked – Center for the Defence of the IndividualPHR-Israel – Physicians for Human Rights – IsraelAl Mezan Center for Human Rights

 http://www.gisha.org/UserFiles/File/LegalDocuments/YaalonLetter-21.7.13/stuckinrafah-letter-21.7.13-en.pdf

__._,_.___

 

2 women arrested for being in "wrong" place

First published in +972mag.com
The IDF’s Ofer Military Court in the West Bank held its first hearing on Tuesday 9th in the trial of Nariman Tamimi and Rana Hamadah, two Palestinian women who were arrested on Friday, June 28 at the weekly demonstration against the occupation in Nabi Saleh.
The two women were held in Sharon Prison, in Israel, for more than three days before being brought before a military judge and indicted for entering a “closed military zone.” Rana Hamadah was also charged with obstructing a soldier in the execution of his duty.
Hamadah told +972 that during her arrest she asked the IDF soldier why she was being handcuffed, to which he replied: “Because I feel like it.” Hamadah said the pair were left handcuffed and blindfolded for nine hours, and were driven around in a vehicle with two male soldiers for seven more hours before being booked in Sharon Prison.

The arrest (Activestills)

“Seeing the prisoners’ struggle from the inside gives an incredible urgency to their cause,” she said, adding that, “what we don’t see, and easily forget, is that the prisoners really must struggle for every passing minute.”
Nariman Tamimi told +972 this was the fifth time she has been arrested. She speculated that her arrest was part of the IDF’s efforts to crack down on the village’s right to protest, saying that Israel is “trying to make an example out of the village” by inflicting collective punishment.
A foreign national arrested along with the two Palestinian women was released later the same night and barred from entering the village for 15 days.
According to Israeli military law, under which Palestinians live, there is no such thing as a legal protest without permission from a military commander, which is rarely if ever granted (which is why arrests for stone throwing or organizing protests are so rampant).
http://972mag.com/when-non-violence-is-criminal-palestinian-women-stand-trial-for-west-bank-protest/75350/