West Bank protesters shot

• 
  Israeli forces shoot Palestinian in eye during clashes
  JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 16 Apr -- A Palestinian was critically injured after being shot in the eye with a rubber-coated steel bullet during clashes with Israeli forces in the al-‘Issawiya village of occupied East Jerusalem lateWednesday. Member of a local committee in al-‘Issawiya, Muhammad Abu al-Hummus, said that Suleiman Mahmoud al-Tarbi, 20, was leaving his home when he was "directly" targeted by Israeli forces from a short range. Abu al-Hummus added that al-Tarbi fell to the ground when he was injured, before being assaulted and detained by Israeli forces despite his injuries. Al-Tarbi was taken to the Hadassa Ein Karem Hospital. Clashes erupted in the al-‘Issawiya village late Wednesday after Israeli soldiers raided the street across from the Maale Adumim settlement. Three Palestinian youths were also injured with rubber-coated steel bullets in their lower extremities ... Al-Tarbi's injury is one of many inflicted at the hands of Israeli forces. The United Nations estimates that Israeli forces injured a total of 1,190 Palestinian children in the West Bank during 2014. More than in 1 in 5 of the injuries were caused by Israeli forces' use of live ammunition, with the rest from rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas inhalation, and assault.
  http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=760508
  
  Another Palestinian loses eye to police sponge bullet
  Haaretz 16 Apr by Nir Hasson -- A Palestinian youth has lost an eye, apparently as a result of being shot at with a sponge bullet. It is the latest of a series of similar incidents in which Palestinian youths and children, primarily in East Jerusalem, have lost eyes to sponge bullets fired by the Israeli security services. Sliman [or Suleiman] al-Tardi, a resident of the West Bank living in ‘Issawiya, was injured on Wednesday night when he went out to buy cigarettes, according to his own account. Palestinian youths were clashing with Israeli police in the area at the time. Tardi was operated on at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem on Thursday, but the doctors were unable to save his eye. Less than two weeks ago, Zakariya Julani, a 13-year-old boy from the Shu‘afat refugee camp in Jerusalem, also lost an eye in similar circumstances....
  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.652239
  
  Israeli forces continue to target Bil‘in, 2 protesters shot
  RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 Apr -- Two Palestinians were shot, one with live fire, and up to 60 protesters suffered excessive tear gas inhalation when Israeli forces violently suppressed the Bil‘in weekly march on Friday. Hundreds of Palestinians are reported to have taken part in the march against the separation wall, also marking Palestinian Prisoner's Day. Israeli forces fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters as well as tear-gas canisters. Ahmad Mohammad Mansour, 17, was shot in the chest with a live bullet and was taken to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, while Munther Ameera was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the lower extremities and treated on the scene. Among those who suffered excessive tear gas inhalation were Palestinian Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qarage, Minister of Agriculture Walid Assaf, lawmaker Mustafa al-Barghouthi, and Palestinian journalist Linda Shalash ... This year marked the tenth consecutive year of weekly marches against the Israeli separation wall in Bilin, which was constructed on Palestinian land in 2005. In response to the protests, the village has been a target of frequent raids and arrests by Israeli forces.
  http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?id=760533
  
  Israeli forces shot five in Kafr Qaddum
  [with video] KAFR QADDUM, Occupied Palestine (ISM, Huwwara Team) 17 Apr -- This week’s Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum followed the same violent pattern as the previous ones during the past weeks. The Israeli occupation forces began their shooting before the demonstration even started. Soldiers and border police fired tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at the protestors.Hammam Khalid Aqil, age 19, was hit by two rubber-coated steel bullets, one in his leg and one in his head. He was badly injured and while he was still unconscious the Israeli army arrested him and took him to a hospital in Israel where he is now under intensive care. His condition is extremely serious, even so it took several hours before his parents were allowed to come and see him at the hospital ... The occupation forces met the demonstration with terrifying brutality.  They used the skunk-water truck to spray down not only protestors but family homes and gardens covering the village in a foul stink. At least five more people were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets. Maamoun Shtaiwi, 36, and Anna Johnson, a 30 year old ISM volunteer, were both shot in the head and taken to the hospital in Nablus where they were treated for their wounds. Maamoun’s injury required 13 stitches. One Palestinian activist was hit in the leg, and one in the chest, and an Israeli photographer had the camera on his helmet smashed.
  http://palsolidarity.org/2015/04/israeli-forces-shot-five-in-kafr-qaddum/
  
  When shooting a Palestinian in the back is merely 'reckless'
  +972 blog 15 Apr by Alma Biblash -- Why trust the military to investigate itself when soldiers who kill unarmed Palestinians are let off the hook time and time again? -- In January 2013, an Israeli soldier shot a 16-year-old Palestinian who posed absolutely no threat in his back. Samir Awad, from the village Budrus, didn’t survive the valiant military operation, and was killed. Last December, the High Court of Justice harshly criticized the Military Advocate General’s (MAG) handling of the case calling on it to finish its investigation. On Tuesday, the State announced that it would charge the soldier with reckless and negligent use of a firearm. Had the incident not ended with the death of a teenager, it could have come off as no more than a silly act of mischief. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, which accompanied the Awad family throughout the legal process, called the decision a “new low in Israeli authorities’ disregard for the lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. The State Attorney’s Office has sent security forces in the Occupied Territories a clear message: if you kill an unarmed Palestinian who poses no threat, we will do everything to cover it up and ensure impunity.” According to Yesh Din, an Israeli organization that provides legal assistance to Palestinians in the occupied territories that has researched this issue in the past few years, 97.8 percent of the Criminal Investigation Division’s (CID) investigations vis-à-vis harm caused to Palestinians have ended without indictments.
  http://972mag.com/when-shooting-a-palestinian-in-the-back-is-merely-reckless/105549/

The BBC rolls over for Israel

This week's guest blogger, Amena Saleem, describes the BBC's latest inexplicable 'default' support for the Occupation succinctly:  http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/bbc-hands-airwaves-over-israels-minister-war

Israeli forces stop school bus for 2 hours

 NABLUS:  Israeli forces held a children's school bus on the main road leading from Nablus for two hours late on Monday 6th April claiming one of the children had thrown a stone at Jewish settlers from the bus. A Palestinian Authority liaison official in Nablus, Usama Abu Arab, said that Israeli forces stopped the bus, carrying children between the ages of 10 and 12, along the main road between Nablus and the Israeli  'settlement' of Yitzhar. The bus was returning to Ramallah from a school trip. The children are students at Shuhadaa Silwad school in Ramallah. Abu Arab said that the bus was released after two hours. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that Israeli forces had stopped a bus because rocks were allegedly "hurled" by people on board, although she had "no information about (the stone throwers) being children." She said there were no injuries or arrests. Asked why there had been no arrests when Israeli forces claimed rocks had been hurled, she said: "Every case is dealt with differently... This case was dealt with as it was meant to be." Israeli authorities regularly detain Palestinians for alleged stone throwing incidents. Last March marked two years that five boys from the northern West-Bank village of Hares have been held under administrative detention over such allegations. Despite heavily contested evidence, the boys, aged 16 to 17 at the time of their arrest, each faces 20 charges of attempted murder and potential life imprisonment for  - allegedly -  throwing stones.
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=760333

Gaza: major attack on fishing

Israel kills fisherman and reduces Gaza's fishing space by 2 miles
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17391-israel-kills-fisherman-and-reduces-gazas-fishing-space-by-2-miles-union
Middle East Monitor 8 March:  The Israeli army on
Saturday reduced fishing space off the coast of the Gaza Strip to four
nautical miles from the six miles agreed on as part of last summer's
cease-fire agreement, Gaza's fishermen's union has said. "The Israeli side
asked Palestinian fishermen on Saturday not to exceed four nautical miles
in plying their trade," union head Nizar Ayyash told Anadolu Agency.
"Israelis also warned fishermen against venturing into the six nautical
miles agreed on in last August's cease-fire agreement," Ayyash added. He
noted that the move constituted a major violation of a cease-fire deal
signed in August of 2014 between Palestinian factions and Israel. The
Israeli army has denied the union's reports, though. Army
spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed on Twitter that no change had been introduced
to Gaza's fishing space, apparently allowing Gaza's fishermen to go up to
six nautical miles from the coast.

'Settlers' attack church, mosque on West Bank

[f_shadi] Digest Number 3491

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Digest #3491

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Today in Palestine! ~ Friday, 27 February 2015 ~ by "Today in Palestine!" f_shadi

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Today in Palestine! ~ Friday, 27 February 2015 ~

Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:54 am (PST) . Posted by:

"Today in Palestine!" f_shadi

Violence / Incursions / Attacks / Suppression of protests / Arrests

Israeli troops 'violently' attack Palestinian teen at border crossing
<http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759660>
JENIN (Ma‘an) 28 Feb – A teenage Palestinian boy from the northern West
Bank says he was violently assaulted by Israeli soldiers at *al-Jalama
crossing* north of Jenin while he was trying to cross into Israel. *Muhammad
Asri Fayyad*, 17, told Ma‘an Saturday that on Thursday morning he arrived
at the crossing along with a busload of young men and teenagers who had
organized a trip to Israel and obtained the needed permits from Israeli
authorities. He says he entered the crossing and complied with the
instructions Israeli officers were giving through loudspeakers. The
instructions included "that we shove our mobile phones in one place and we
cross from a different place which we did." "Everybody received back their
mobile phones except me. The soldiers asked me to pass through a path under
a bridge on top of which stood a number of soldiers pointing their guns at
me. "They then asked me to enter a room which has several doors and I
obeyed the orders. All the doors were immediately locked before the
officers started to shout through loudspeakers demanding that I take off my
clothes and my shoes." He added that he took off his shoes first but the
soldiers continued to shout "violently" repeating that he must take off all
his clothes. "When I took off my clothes, they turned on a huge ceiling fan
which caused frigid coldness. I told them to turn off the fan because I was
freezing, but they didn't, and so I knocked on the fan in an attempt to
cause it to stop. At that point the soldiers broke into the room and
started to beat me with rifle butts until I fell to the ground. "They then
tied my hand to a steel bar behind my back and tied my foot to another bar.
I remained in that position from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. After that a number of
soldiers arrived and a female soldier untied me after she took a silver
necklace I was wearing. She ordered me to put on my clothes, then she
handcuffed and blindfolded my eyes and escorted me outside the crossing and
told me that I was denied entry to Israel. She gave me a small sack in
which I found the remnants of my mobile phone which had been smashed."
Muhammad says he has been suffering severe shoulder and foot pain ever
since.
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759660

Soldiers use excessive force against nonviolent protest in Hebron
<http://www.imemc.org/article/70741>
IMEMC 27 Feb by Saed Bannoura -- Israeli soldiers attacked, on Friday, a
nonviolent protest organized by hundreds of students to demand that the
army reopen Shuhada Street in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied
West Bank. At least 15 Palestinians were injured, with two reported
kidnappings. The soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and
rubber-coated metal bullets, wounding three with live fire and twelve with
rubber-coated metal bullets; many others suffered the effects of tear gas
inhalation. The three Palestinians injured by live fire have been
identified as *Abdul-Majid ‘Amro*, *Issa Mahmoud ‘Amro*, and *Anas ‘Amro*.
One of the kidnapped Palestinians is Hijazi ‘Obeido, age 22, a law student
and activist with the Youth Against Settlements Coalition that organized
the protest, along with various national and Islamic factions, in addition
to a number of Popular Committees from different parts of the occupied West
Bank. Shuhada Street, and all of its shops and stores, have been shut down
by the Israeli military for 21 years now, after Israeli-American Baruch
Goldstein stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque and opened automatic fire on
worshipers, on February 25, 1994, killing 29 and wounding more than 200,
before some managed to subdue and kill him.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70741

Palestinians mark the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron
<http://www.imemc.org/article/70719>
IMEMC/Agencies 26 Feb -- Hundreds of Palestinians marked, Wednesday, the
21st anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre that led to the death of
29 Palestinians, and the injury of around 200. Among the victims were many
children and elderly; some of the wounded suffered permanent disabilities.
The Palestinians in the city started the ceremony with prayers in the
mosque, and demanded protection to them, homes and property, and their holy
sites. They said Israeli fanatics, illegally living in the city, are
ongoing with their violations and assaults, while enjoying protection from
the army. The massacres was carried out by American-born Baruch Goldstein,
who was also a physician; Israel claimed he was “mentally unstable”. ‘Adel
Edris, one of the survivors of the attack, told the Wattan News Agency
that, as the Muslim worshipers were kneeling, they heard dozens of rounds
of live ammunition fired towards them from a gunman who was standing all
the way behind them. “The physician, who was also an army officer, entered
through the ‘Ishaqiyya Gate’ of the Ibrahim Mosque, and started shooting,”
Edris said, “My brother, Salim, was killed, my other brother and many
relatives were injured.” The Khatib of the al-Ibrahimi Mosque Hatem
al-Bakri said that, after the massacre, Israel used the situation to divide
the mosque, and emptied all nearby Palestinian homes after forcing the
families out, so that it can bring more Israeli colonizers to replace the
Palestinians. “Israel also deliberately shut down around 3000 stores after
the massacre,” he added, “It divided the mosque, has been trying to keep us
out, and still intends to fully control it.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/70719

*Israeli forces suppress West Bank demos*
<http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759650>
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 27 Feb -- Israeli forces on Friday fired live bullets and
tear gas canisters at Palestinians demonstrating against the Israeli
occupation in the West Bank. Local sources told Ma‘an that Israeli forces
suppressed a demonstration of Palestinians who were demanding Israeli
authorities reopen Shuhada street, once a major thoroughfare in *Hebron*'s
Old City ... Meanwhile, in *Kafr Qaddum* near Nablus, a photojournalist who
works for Reuters was hit by an Israeli tear gas grenade in the neck. Murad
Ishtewi, the coordinator of the popular resistance committees in Kafr
Qaddum, told Ma‘an Israeli soldiers opened fire and shot tear gas
canisters, injuring Reuters photojournalist *Abd al-Rahman al-Qussini.*
Dozens of Palestinians suffered from tear-gas inhalation and faintness and
were treated on the spot by the Palestinian Red Crescent, he said. The
marchers chanted slogans calling for the boycott of Israeli products. The
march was organized under the title: "Do not pay for the bullets that kill
you and the gas that suffocates you." It came amid a series of activities
organized by the Fatah movement calling for boycott. Protests are held
every Friday in Kafr Qaddum against Israel's closure of a main road linking
the village to its nearest city, Nablus.
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759650

*Palestinians tear-gassed on 10th anniversary of barrier protests*
<http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/palestinians-tear-gassed-10th-anniversary-barrier-protests>
Bil‘in, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 27 Feb -- Palestinian, Israeli and
foreign activists faced off against Israeli forces Friday in the occupied
West Bank village of *Bil‘in* where they marked 10 years of protests
against Israel's separation barrier. In what has become a weekly ritual,
the activists marched towards the barrier which cuts villagers off from
their fields. Palestinian youths with slingshots aimed stones at border
police posted along the wire-topped concrete wall and the police fired tear
gas to disperse them, AFP journalists at the scene said. At least one
demonstrator was arrested, another was seen being taken away by ambulance
after a blow to the head and several suffered tear gas inhalation. The
extent of their injuries was not known. Israel says the barrier is designed
to prevent militant attacks, but the Palestinians say it is an "apartheid
wall" that carves off key parts of their promised state. When the
709-kilometre (435-mile) barrier is complete, 85 percent of it will have
been built inside the West Bank.
http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/palestinians-tear-gassed-10th-anniversary-barrier-protests

*Israeli forces destroy protest camp for 10th time*
<http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759653>
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 27 Feb -- Israeli civil administration employees on
Friday demolished the "*Jerusalem Gate"* protest camp for the 10th time, a
spokesman told Ma‘an. Popular resistance committees spokesman Hani Halabiya
said Israeli forces raided the area, dismantled the camp, and seized
equipment. Halabiya said the camp was most recently rebuilt Thursday
evening, highlighting that activists continued their protest in the street
across from the camp after it was demolished. The camp was built in protest
against an Israeli plan to build Jewish-only settlements in the E1 corridor
east of Jerusalem on the way to Jericho where Palestinian Bedouins have
been living for decades.
In January 2013, Palestinian activists set-up over 25 tents and a medical
center in the E1 area east of Jerusalem to protest Israeli settlement plans
and protect Palestinian land from annexation. The protest village, called *Bab
al-Shams*, or 'Gate of the Sun', was later demolished by Israeli forces.
Over the following months, activists set up the *al-Karamah* (Dignity)
protest village in Beit Iksa, and the *Ahfad Younis* village in Eizariya.
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759653

*Cops accused of abusing Bedouin family evade investigation*
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.644596>
Haaretz 28 Feb by Amira Hass -- *A Bedouin father and his two sons were
detained during a protest. Their complaint of assault and serious abuse was
dismissed without any attempt to locate the policemen involved -- ...**Taleb
Alturi* and his sons *Nidal* and *Rauf*, of the Bedouin town of* Rahat* in
the Negev, accused a group of some 20 policemen of attacking them after a
protest on September 30, 2013 against the so-called Prawer plan for the
relocation of tens of thousands of Negev Bedouin to government-recognized
local councils. The police, who they said were not recognizable due to
their helmets and face guards, reportedly shouted "Why did you throw stones
at us, you bastards?" According to the complaint, the police then hit the
three with batons and fists, kicked them, dragged them along the ground and
jumped on their bodies when they were lying manacled on the ground. One of
Alturi's sons complained that a stun grenade was thrown directly at him,
injuring his back, and the other said that a policeman had urinated on him.
At some point, the father lost consciousness. According to their
testimonies, the police also made such comments as "let's give each of them
a bullet in the head," "you stinking Arab bastard" and "watch your bum
because they'll soon be fucking you in prison." The assault took place in
an unlit area, in which the assailants could not be recognized. Later, when
they were taken to police vehicles in a lit area, one of the policemen
warned his comrades that "it's not dark; everything is being filmed and
documented." The three were imprisoned for just over a day, but later
released without any charges being laid against them. Two judges ruled that
there was no evidentiary basis on which to hold them, with one noting that
the father had been severely beaten. The complainants maintained that
during the full year that their complaint was under investigation, the
investigators only questioned the two policemen in whose custody the three
had been left following the beatings. The file was then closed due to
"absence of guilt," on the basis of the testimony of the two policemen
questioned. However, even those two testified that the three Bedouin had
been arrested by members of paramilitary police units.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.644596

*Soldiers invade town near Salfit* <http://www.imemc.org/article/70736>
IMEMC/Agencies 27 Feb -- Several Israeli military vehicles invaded, on
Friday at dawn, *Kifl Hares* town, east of the central West Bank city of
Salfit, to accompany Israelis touring archaeological sites [reputed tombs
of Joshua, Caleb & Nun] in the town. Eyewitnesses said approximately 30
military vehicles invaded the town after surrounding it, forced shut local
shops, and prevented the Palestinians from entering various areas. They
added that, after the army surrounded and invaded the town, dozens of
Israeli buses drove through, heading towards the archaeological sites,
while denying freedom of movement to the locals. Many Israeli buses parked
in the center of the town, as many colonialist settlers wanted to walk from
there to the historic sites, and the rest of the buses drove straight to
the sites. Dozens of Israeli extremists started chanting anti-Arab and
anti-Palestinian slogans, while marching through the town during the early
dawn hours.
On Thursday evening, several Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas
inhalation, including a few who fainted, after the soldiers fired dozens of
gas bombs, and rubber-coated metal bullets targeting Palestinian protesters
near the Rachel Tomb area, at the northern entrance of *Bethlehem*. Media
sources said local youths hurled stones, Molotov cocktails and empty
bottles at the soldiers, stationed in a military tower behind the
Annexation Wall, on the northern entrance of the city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70736

*Religious buildings attacked by suspected Jewish extremists*
<http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/religious-buildings-attacked-by-suspected-jewish-extremists>
JABA‘A, West Bank (The National) 26 Feb by Ben Lynfield -- Palestinians
were quick to paint over burn marks inside Al Hoda mosque in the West Bank
village of Jaba‘a but fear persisted as another apparently religion-based
attack shook Jerusalem. Suspected Jewish extremists set fire to the mosque
under the cover of darkness on Wednesday in an assault that Palestinians
and Israeli human rights groups say is far from an isolated incident.
Furthering concerns over an increase in religious tensions, assailants --
also suspected Jewish extremists -- on Thursday set fire to a Greek
Orthodox seminary. The attackers left graffiti reading “Redemption of
Zion”, similar to that scrawled over Al Hoda mosque ... Attacks by Israelis
against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are “routine,’’ according to
Noa Cohen of Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. These include violence
against persons, harm to property, arson, theft, and the destruction of
trees, many of which provide Palestinians’ with their livelihoods, she
said. Yesh Din has documented eight cases in which mosques were set on fire
in the West Bank since 2006. No one has been arrested in any of the cases.
Mr Cohen charged that there is “negligence” and “failure” by the Israeli
police when it comes to investigating crimes against Palestinians ...
Between 2005 and 2014, Yesh Din monitored 1,045 files opened by Israeli
police following Palestinian complaints. Only 7.4 per cent of these
complaints led to indictments of Israeli civilians suspected of attacking
Palestinians and their property, according to the group ... In Jaba‘a,
there was defiance alongside the fear of more attacks. In white letters,
fresh graffiti written on one of the mosque’s walls read: “Whatever you
burn, we stay in this land and in our mosque we pray.”
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/religious-buildings-attacked-by-suspected-jewish-extremists

Greek Orthodox Church decries attacks by Jewish settlers
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17216-greek-orthodox-church-decries-attacks-by-jewish-settlers>
Middle East Monitor 26 Feb -- The Patriarch of the Holy City of
Jerusalem and all Palestine, Theophilos III, denounced on Thursday what he
called "repeated" attacks on Christian and Muslim places of worship in the
Palestinian territories by extremist Jewish settlers. "The targeting of
churches and mosques is caused by pervasive racism and hatred," he said in
a statement. Earlier Thursday, Jewish Settlers set fire to part of a
religious school affiliated with Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Church, Which
they sprayed with anti-Christian graffiti. On Wednesday, settlers torched
and sprayed graffiti on a West Bank mosque.
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17191-jewish-settlers-torch-mosque-in-west-bank>.
Theophilos III said Christians represented an "integral part" of the Holy
Land, its history and its future, going on to assert that the Greek
Orthodox Church was one of the world's most important churches. "Criminals
will not intimidate this church or its flock," he declared. He called on
government agencies to address repeated settler attacks on places of
worship. Earlier Thursday, The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on both
the Vatican and the international community to protect Islamic and
Christian places of worship from what it described as "Jewish extremism."
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17216-greek-orthodox-church-decries-attacks-by-jewish-settlers

Jailed schoolgirl becomes Palestinian symbol

< http://news.yahoo.com/jailed-schoolgirl-becomes-palestinian-symbol-003652488.html>
BEITIN, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 3 February by Hossam Ezzedine  A 14-year-old schoolgirl jailed for trying to attack Israeli soldiers has become a symbol of Palestinian anger over the arrests of children in the occupied territories. The two-month sentence for Malak al-Khatib, who was accused of stone-throwing and possession of a knife, has unleashed a wave of solidarity and support among Palestinians. "My heart broke when I saw her in court, cuffed and shackled," her mother Khawla al-Khatib told AFP from her home in the town of Beitin near Ramallah. "I brought in a coat for her to wear because it was cold, but the judge refused to let her have it," the distressed 50-year-old said. Israeli forces arrest about 1,000 children every year in the occupied West Bank, often on charges of stone-throwing, according to rights group Defence for Children International Palestine (DCI Palestine). But the case of Malak has brought countless media organisations flocking to her family's door and attracted more public attention than most. The difference -- she is a girl. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club estimates that 200 Palestinian minors are held in Israeli prisons, but only four are girls, and Malak is the youngest.
http://news.yahoo.com/jailed-schoolgirl-becomes-palestinian-symbol-003652488.html

Israel's popularity dives

Britons like Israel better only than North Korea, Haaretz poll finds
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.640016
According to a report in Haaretz, 1 February,  35 percent of Britons name Israel as their least favourite non-European country, a worse score than Iran's. British
citizens think worse of Israel than they do about any other non-European
country except for North Korea, a British survey published this week found.
http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20150129YouGovRaines.pdf?dm_i=1TY5,34ZC7,BHZIRQ,B8VH2,1
Answering the question "Which of the following do you feel especially
unfavourable toward?" 35 percent named Israel – scoring two points worse
than Iran, the poll found. With 47 percent, North Korea won the worst
score, the Chathan House-YouGov poll found. Israel's score, a rise of 18
points since the last poll was published in 2012, may have been due to last
summer's attack on Gaza and the civilian death toll it exacted
from the Palestinians, the report suggested.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.640016