Meanwhile. back at the ranch...

While the world's attention is focussed on Gaza, Zionist expansion and violence continue as ever on the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian man in Hebron
< http://www.imemc.org/article/68801
IMEMC/Agencies 9 Aug by Saed Bannoura -- Palestinian medical sources in
Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, have reported that
a Palestinian man died Saturday, at dawn, of a serious injury suffered
Friday, after Israeli soldiers opened fire at local protesters in the city.
The slain Palestinian, Nader Mohammad Edrees, 40, was shot by a bullet
  to the heart. The sources said the soldiers fired rounds of 'live
ammunition' (e.g. not rubber bullets), gas bombs and concussion grenades at scores of protesters in the Bab az-Zaweya area, in the centre of the city, causing dozens of
injuries, including 25 shot and injured by more shooting.
Doctors at the al-Mezan Medical Centre in Hebron, performed a heart surgery
in an attempt to save the live of Edrees, and administered 40 units of
blood, but he succumbed to his serious wounds around 2 after midnight.
Prayers and the burial ceremony will be held Saturday, in Hebron.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68801

 Israeli forces kill Palestinian during protest near Ramallah
 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=719146
 8 August (report by Maan) -- A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces on
Friday afternoon during clashes at *Jabal al-Tawil east of el-Bireh near
Ramallah, following a protest close to the nearby Jewish settlement of
*Psagot*. Medical sources told Ma‘an that Ahmad Mohammad al-Qatari of
al-Am‘ari refugee camp was shot in the chest, before being taken to the
Palestine Medical Complex where he was pronounced dead. Masked gunmen had
opened fire at Psagot settlement earlier, without any injuries being
reported. An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return calls
seeking comment.
Al-Qatari was at least the 16th Palestinian to be killed by Israelis in the
West Bank in the last month, as forces have repeatedly attacked tens of
thousands partaking in protests in solidarity with the Gaza Strip. Also on
Friday, Israeli forces injured at least 50 Palestinians in protests across
the West Bank, including 40 in *Hebron* alone, where hundreds marched
through the Bab al-Zawiya neighborhood in the city center in solidarity
with Gaza. Israeli forces used live bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets
to disperse Palestinian demonstrators in *Safa, near Ramallah, as well as
in *‘Azzun, near Qalqiliya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=719146

*Palestinian killed by army fire near Ramallah
< http://www.imemc.org/article/68799
IMEMC/Agencies 9 Aug by Saed Bannoura -- Palestinian medical sources
reported Friday that a young Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli
army fire near the *Psagot* illegitimate Israeli settlement, built on
Palestinian lands belonging to residents of *al-Bireh* City, near the
central West Bank city of Ramallah. The sources said *Mohammad Ahmad
al-Qatari*, age 20, from al-Am‘ari refugee camp, was killed by an Israeli
live round to the chest. The army held his body for a few hours, and later
handed it over to Palestinian medics. Eyewitnesses said clashes took place
near the western entrance of the town, and that the army fired rounds of
live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs. One Palestinian
was also shot by a live round in his thigh, three were injured by
rubber-coated metal bullets, and dozens were treated for the effects of
tear gas inhalation.
On Friday evening, a Palestinian child was injured in the al-Lubban
ash-Sharqiyya* town, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, after
being struck by a speeding settler’s vehicle at the main junction of the
town. Medical sources said *Shahad ‘Oweis, 9, suffered a moderate injury,
and was moved to the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68799

*4 Palestinians injured by live fire in Qalqiliya clashes
< http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=719093
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 8 Aug -- Four Palestinians were injured with live fire on
Friday during clashes with Israeli forces in the Qalqiliya villages of
*‘Azzun* and *Kafr Qaddum*. *Younis Muhammad Salah Adwan, 19, was shot in
the waist in ‘Azzun and critically injured, medics said. He was taken to a
nearby hospital for treatment. In Kafr Qaddum, *Asaad Shteiwi* was shot in
the back, *Ahmad Aqel* was shot in the leg, and Adulrahman Shteiwi* was
hit in his thigh during a weekly demonstration. The victims were taken for
treatment by Red Crescent ambulances at the scene.


*Child seriously injured after being struck by 'settler' car in Hebron
< http://www.imemc.org/article/68781
IMEMC/Agencies 7 Aug -- Palestinian medical sources have reported that a
child was seriously injured after being rammed by an Israeli settler’s
vehicle, in the Old City of Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank.
The sources said *Rosy Talab Jaber,* 8 years of age, suffered a serious
injury, and was moved to the Hebron Governmental Hospital. The Raya News
Agency said the child was deliberately attacked while walking near the main
street of the Old City of Hebron. There have been dozens of similar
incidents in Hebron, and in different parts of the occupied West Bank, some
leading to fatalities among the Palestinians, including children, and
scores of similar incidents causing very serious injuries.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68781

*Settlers smash doors of Palestinian stores in Hebron's Old City
< http://www.imemc.org/article/68767
IMEMC/Agencies 6 Aug by Saed Bannoura -- A number of fanatic Israeli
'settlers' invaded, on Wednesday at noon, the “Gold Market” area, under full
Israeli security and military control, in the Old City of the southern West
Bank city of Hebron, smashed and removed the doors of various stores. The
'settlers' came from the illegal colonies.

Another cease-fire over Gaza

According to israelnationalnews.com a new date for cease-fire has been agreed.

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed a new 72-hour Gaza ceasefire that would start at 0500 GMT (8:00 a.m. Israeli time) Tuesday, said a senior official in Egypt, which is hosting truce talks.

"Egypt's contacts with relevant parties have achieved a commitment for a 72-hour truce in Gaza starting from 0500 GMT tomorrow morning, and an agreement for the rest of the relevant delegations to come to Cairo to conduct further negotiations," the official told AFP.

A Palestinian delegation, including Hamas representatives, has been holding talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators for a durable truce in Gaza, but Israel has not yet sent any negotiators to the Egyptian capitol, which is what its representatives have stated several times was the immediate plan.

"The Palestinians have agreed to a ceasefire proposed by Egypt," Azzam al-Ahmed, leader of the Palestinian delegation, told reporters in Cairo.

There was no comment as yet from Israel.

Jeremy Bowen (BBC) from Gaza

Jeremy Bowen's Gaza notebook: I saw no evidence of Hamas using Palestinians as human shields
22 July -- The BBC's Middle East editor reports from Gaza : I saw Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, giving an interview to the BBC after Israel had killed more than 60 people in the Gaza district of Sheja‘iya. He said he regretted the civilian casualties in Gaza but they were the fault of Hamas. Netanyahu said Israel had warned people to get out. Some had taken the advice; others had been prevented from leaving by Hamas. I was back in London for my son’s 11th birthday party by the time all those people were killed in Sheja‘iya. But my impression of Hamas is different from Netanyahu’s. I saw no evidence during my week in Gaza of Israel’s accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields. I saw men from Hamas on street corners, keeping an eye on what was happening. They were local people and everyone knew them, even the young boys. Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, told me that Hamas, whatever you think of it, is part of the Palestinian DNA. I met Sourani first when he was condemning abuses by Yasser Arafat’s men. He has taken an equally tough stance on Hamas. Now he says Israel is violating the laws of war by ignoring its legal duty to treat Palestinian civilians as protected non-combatants. Hamas, human rights groups say,also violates the laws of war by firing missiles at civilians  ... But it is wrong to suggest that Israeli civilians near Gaza suffer as much as Palestinians. It is much, much worse in Gaza. I defy anyone with an ounce of human feeling not to feel the same after ten minutes in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital with wounded and dying civilians. In the mortuary, it’s so overcrowded that the bodies of two children are crammed on to a single shelf. One day, they had only found enough of the remains of six women and children to fill a single stretcher.

As Israeli violence continues - responses

Outside the BBC, Bristol

In the UK, as children were killed by Israeli fire while playing on a Gaza beach, and a spokesman said on the BBC that this was part of Israel's justified fight to defend its people, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign released this statement, calling on people to oppose Israeli aggression: 
"This isn’t about rockets from Gaza. It’s about Israel fighting to maintain its control over Palestinian lives, and Palestinian land. It’s about Israel feeling able to commit war crimes with complete impunity."


Street protests against Israeli actions and the BBC's bias in its reporting of the crisis took place all over the UK.

From Jonathan Cook, Nazareth

http://www.jonathan-cook.net/

Clashes put Jewish-Arab relations in Israel to the test 7 July 2014
Black, pungent smoke from burning tyres mixed with white, even more acrid plumes of tear gas to create an ugly grey smog eclipsing Nazareth’s most famous landmark, the imposing spire of the Basilica of the Annunciation. Clashes over the weekend between youths and police in Israel’s largest Palestinian city have not been seen on this scale since the outbreak of the second intifada in late 2000. You can’t force-feed occupation to those who crave freedom 23 June 2014 Israelis have been lulled into a false sense of security by the promise of endless and simple technical solutions. Palestinians are confined to ever smaller spaces: the prison of Gaza, the city under lockdown, the torture cell, or the doctor’s surgery where a feeding tube can be inserted. But the craving for self-determination and dignity are more than technical problems. You cannot force-feed a people to still their hunger for freedom.
Israelis close their ears to reasons for kidnap 20 June 2014
The apparent abduction of three teenagers has provoked a wave of revulsion in Israel but no readiness to examine the causes of the incident or the appropriateness of Israel’s response. Haneen Zoabi, a Palestinian member of the parliament, discovered the cost of not joining the chorus of outrage: she was assigned a bodyguard after receiving a flood of death threats, and is being investigated for incitement. - See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/#sthash.fxWDMogC.dpuf

Website of the moment - closing the gap

It can't be restated too often: just as the first anti-Nazis were Germans, so the first anti-Zionists were Jews. They are still on the front line: http://ijsn.net/ - All the better for a visit as the occupation could edge towards civil war in the West Bank, pushing the imposition of the rule of law further from the table.

Colonisers invoke justice in West Bank as soldiers destroy homes

“Ya’alon at funeral: No rest until we bring kidnappers to justice”
Justice in the West Bank is a shifting concept, where the colonisers, or "settlers" claim ownership of 62% of the land, and the Israeli army is able to attack the relatives of mere suspects with impunity. This behaviour was common before the recent murder of Israeli teenagers. That murder, which ideally would be dealt with by legal enforcement, has only served to refocus the world's attention on Palestine/Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-peace-conference/1.601479