Humanitarian Issues

[ninathedog]

Jun 10, 2011 19:37:13 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

A young American Jew describes being arrested for standing in
opposition to the Jerusalem Day parade

by Adam censored on June 10, 2011
mondoweiss.net


www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDjbTR8Br_w

The young man being arrested in the video above is Lucas Koerner, and he was a member of the delegation that I recently co-led to Israel/Palestine. Below is Lucas's account of what took place in Jerusalem, which he originally posted on his blog.

mondoweiss.net/2011/06/a-young-american-jew-describes-being-arrested-for-standing-in-opposition-to-the-jerusalem-day-parade.html


........


The Arrest

Returning from Hebron Wednesday afternoon, I glanced outside my window, only to see miles and miles of blue and white. Today was Jerusalem Day, and a parade of thousands marched through the streets celebrating, as if in an orgy of nationalistic fervor, the 44th anniversary of the Israeli conquest of East Jerusalem. What shocked me initially was how eerily monolithic the procession was: it seemed as though the ocean of Israeli flags was meant to blur all distinctions between old and young, boss and worker, women and men, settler and 48er. In light of the events of recent days, I sensed a strong political undertone beneath the cheers and yells of the ecstatic crowds. Coming on the heels of Netanyahu’s defiant speech before Congress, it appeared to me that the marchers streaming down Sultan Suleiman St. that evening sought to echo their PM’s bold remarks, that all of Jerusalem was “theirs” forever. Indeed, it seemed that this display of triumphal nostalgia concealed a deeper, far weaker emotion, a lurking fear of a future in which nothing between the river and the sea would be exclusively “theirs” but would have to be shared with the other.

After witnessing first hand, over the past week and a half, the many horrors the occupation has inflicted on the Palestinian people, my fellow delegates and I trembled with indignation at the chutzpah of these Israeli marchers as they boisterously paraded through East Jerusalem, brandishing their flags of conquest. Prompted by the traffic to walk the rest of the way to our hotel, we were inspired to launch an impromptu parade of our own. Donning our keffiyehs we had purchased at the Hebron Keffiyeh factory and our small Palestinian flags, we we’re met by spit, aluminum cans, and pure, unadulterated hatred. Police instantly set upon us, accosting me, demanding that I put away my 3 by 5 inch Palestinian flag. It was remarkable how so much as giving voice to the other, the “Arab”, the Palestinian, in 3 by 5 form in E. Jerusalem no less could ignite such visceral fear and hatred.

Upon returning to the Holy Land Hotel, my comrades (Haneen, Amanda, Peter, Lydia, Tammy & Tiffany) and I decided that we would go back to the parade merely to hang out and observe, this time without our small Palestinian flags. In order to avoid any provocations, we simply posted up on the side walk, and, still wearing our keffiyehs, we proceeded to wave and make peace sign gestures to the paraders, who marched on the other side of the street, separated from us by a high gate. The initial reaction of the marchers was a combination of shock and disbelief. I myself had elected to wear, along with my keffiyeh, a kippah adorned with a small Palestinian flag. This last article of clothing on my head contributed, I believe, more than anything else to the climate of collective bewilderment, especially among the youth. For them, Judaism and its physical symbol, the kippah, were inseparably bound up with the particular strain of ethno-religious nationalism associated with the state of Israel. It simply never occurred to them that a Jewish person would, in the name of Jewish ethics, stand in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom. I feel that it was precisely this cognitive dissonance on a societal level that formed the motivation for my arrest.

As we walked up and down the sidewalk, waving our peace signs, many Palestinians of all ages approached to join us. With twenty or thirty people now gathered on the sidewalk facing the parade, we turned over leadership of what had become a demonstration to Palestinian activists, and we happily clapped and danced to their songs and chants. Standing on two feet high pylons, we tried to maintain our visibility as internationals in order to confer as much protection as possible to the Palestinians. The demonstration remained totally peaceful - just singing, whistling, and clapping. In fact, much to the chagrin of the paraders, we often danced to their music. Many Palestinians, fascinated with my kippah, approached me and exclaimed, “I love you”. For a moment, a space was opened for Palestinians to freely gather in their own streets and protest, peacefully demanding their basic rights. We were soon to learn just how brief that moment would be.

Suddenly, the police moved in without warning of any kind. Officers on horseback came so close to the sidewalk, nearly hitting some of the demonstrators. I stepped down from the pylon. In that instant, my impulse to flee was counteracted by the firm realization that, standing on a sidewalk waving a peace sign, I had every right to be there, and if I fled, who would stand with the Palestinians? I stepped back up on the pylon. Moments later, an Israeli police officer ran up, seized me, and dragged me to the other side of the street. He then punched me in the face, put me in a choke hold, and with four other officers, slammed me to the ground. I was eventually handcuffed and carried to the car; I allowed my body to go limp and refused to walk on my own in a gesture of nonviolent defiance. Throughout the whole affair, the only thing audible coming from the policemen was a constant stream of curses words, “motherf**ker”, “piece of nuts”, etc., which was to me a ringing confirmation of how infuriated and threatened they were by a 19-year old wearing a kippah and a keffiyeh standing with the Palestinians.

To be continued in the next post: “In Israeli Jail”

strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/

(many thanks to We are all Vittorio Arrigoni, Rachel R and Tom V for link to Mondoweiss -- mondoweiss.net/2011/06/a-young-american-jew-describes-being-arrested-for-standing-in-opposition-to-the-jerusalem-day-parade.html)


Apartheid (“Separation”) Wall built by the Israeli army, surrounding the Palestinian city of Bethlehem
photo by Lucas Koerner
strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/

Israel's wall surrounding Palestine



...........


Gesiowka wall and guard tower — Warsaw, Poland
The Germans established a concentration camp in Warsaw, following the crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in May 1943...
joedresch.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/gesiowka-concentration-camp/

[ninathedog]

May 31, 2011 22:04:49 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Balfour's legacy:
Creating Israel from empire's needs

>>edited for length...
ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 1
The Early Zionist Attitude to Anti-Semitism

>> edited for length

Jun 2, 2011 3:03:05 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 2
The Common Ground Between Zionism and Nazism

[/size]

>> edited for length[/quote]

Jun 4, 2011 8:33:14 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 3
The Ha'avara Agreements

[/size]

The relationship between Zionism and Nazism was soon formalised in an agreement, the first of a series.

"Jews emigrating to Palestine were given a special opportunity to remove their capital by the so-called Ha'avara agreement...
>> edited for length[/quote]

Jun 7, 2011 21:13:43 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 4
The 1938 Emigration Accords

The year 1938 was to prove a triumphant one for Hitler. Its highlights included his annexation of Austria and the Munich Agreement, the diplomatic capitulation of the British and French Governments which enabled the Nazis to dismember Czechoslovakia. These successes emboldened the Nazis to intensify their campaign to force the Jews out of Europe, and the acquisition of new territories brought more Jews, in large numbers, within the scope of this campaign. The end of the year witnessed the notorious pogrom known as the Kristallnacht...

>> edited for length

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 5
The Ghetto Revolts

History records no proclamation of revolt by the Zionist movement against Nazism in Europe. It is relevant to ask why. As a Jewish writer has asked, "Why was there no Jewish self-defence organised and in readiness? ... There were also scores upon scores of thousands of Jewish soldiers in the army of the Polish Republic. Why was there no guiding hand to instruct some of them at least to bring their weapons home, to store them away... so that later, when the Jewish fighting organisations did arise, they should have at least some equipment with which to face the Nazis?" (44) It should be noted that Poland's Jews accounted for about half the 6 million Jews estimated to have been butchered by Nazism.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland


students.umf.maine.edu/brooke.burton/public.www/UnitSite/unithome.html

Despite the lack of any preparation of this type, the Jews of Europe distinguished themselves by many gallant acts of resistance against their oppressors, that have been well documented by Jewish historians like Reuben Ainsztein, who wrote a massive and thorough work on the subject. Large numbers of Jews joined partisan movements, particularly in Nazi-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, and also staged remarkable uprisings in ghettos and even in concentration camps. But in his painstaking 849-page study, Ainsztein does not quote a single instance of military assistance to these revolts by the Zionist movement's highly organised worldwide apparatus outside Nazi-occupied Europe. In fact, he repeatedly pointed out that the only allies the ghetto fighters had outside their ghetto walls were local groups of leftists or other anti-Nazis, such as the People's Guard (later People's Army) of the Communist Polish Workers' Party. (45)

This is all the more remarkable since Ainsztein is himself pro-Zionist and his book is liberally filled with both anti-Soviet comments and glorification of those Zionist individuals and small groups that were overwhelmed by the holocaust after 1941 and often had little choice but to resist. After the collapse of the Zionist migration accords at that time, a number of Zionist groups, notably in Poland, found themselves unable to communicate with the Zionist leadership outside Nazi-held territory. As the leader of one of these groups, in a letter urging the right-wing Polish Home army to supply the Warsaw ghetto with arms, wrote: "How we regret that we have no possibilities of direct contact with the governments of the allied States, with the Polish Government and Jewish organisations abroad." (46)

The ghetto revolts constitute a remarkable, even unique form of resistance by the Jews in areas of Eastern Europe. They arose when the inhabitants of the ghettos realised that the Nazi aim was their extermination. Some ghettos learnt this earlier than others. "That the aim of the Germans was the total annihilation of all the Jews they could get hold of became obvious to the mass of Warsaw Jews only in the summer of 1942, when in three months 300,000 were dispatched to the gas chambers of Treblinka and other places of slaughter. Even in Bialystok, despite the massacres that followed the capture of the city by the Wehrmacht, it was possible for a Jew to delude himself that a remnant of the ghetto's Jews might be allowed by the Germans to survive. But in Vilno, the truth about the nature of the Nazis' Jew-hatred became obvious to those who had the moral and physical courage to face it even before the end of 1941. (47)


anonymous-generaltopics.blogspot.com/2009/04/treblinka.html

The fact that Nazi extermination plans became widely known to Jews in Europe shortly after their implementation began is also confirmed by Joseph Tenenbaum, who pointed out that the Nazis were not able for long to conceal the news of their death camps. "The news of the Treblinka murder camp came like a thunderclap. Some had heard of it before; they whispered about it. There was news from Chelmno of the mass extermination of Jews in gas-filled vans. There was terrible news brought by refugees from Wilno of the massacres of Jews in Slonim, Baransowicze and other places. But who could believe such atrocities could be possible? Soon, however, there came incontrovertible proof. In July 1942, 'Zygmunt' (Frydrych) was delegated to verify the story of Treblinka. He reached Malkynia. There he met Esriel Wallach, an escaped prisoner from Treblinka, who confirmed the worst rumours. Fydrych brought back the sad tidings to Warsaw, whence it spread throughout occupied Poland. The underground Jewish organisation closed ranks. They disseminated the Treblinka news and brought this information to the attention of all." (48)

"As early as December 1941, Edek Boraks, Israel Kempner and Pinczewski were sent to Warsaw with the news of Ponary. Another team, Chayka Grossman and Tamara Schneiderman, carried authentic information about the developments in Wilno. Bela Chazan under the assumed name and passport of Bronia Limanowski made personal contact with Grodno. There were no ghetto walls for these winged messengers. A Wilno 'courier' constantly on the move was Lea (Leonia) Kazibrodska. She was apprehended and executed in April 1942. Frumka Plotnicka, who carried money appropriated by the Joint Distribution director in Warsaw for the use of the youth organisations in Wilno, also brought the news of Treblinka. She later traveled to Kowel where she organised an underground movement and established connections with Bialystok. Among the non-Jewish couriers who served the cause with distinction were Irena Adamowicz and Jadzia Dudziec." (49)



Frumka Plotnicka
polishjews.org/photos/phpeople.htm


Irena Adamowicz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Adamowicz


Historians generally agree that Vilno (also known as Wilno or Bilan) was the city where the Jews first became aware of German extermination plans, after large numbers had been executed at the nearby site of Ponary, and also where the first attempt to organise a Jewish resistance movement began. In its first appeal, this movement declared: "Let us not go like sheep to the slaughter! It is true that we are weak and we have nobody to help us. But our only dignified answer to the enemy must be resistance." (50) Vilno Jews carried out sabotage actions against the Nazis, but their hopes for a mass uprising did not materialise.

A major factor in this failure was the role of Jacob Gens, a leading Zionist collaborator with the Nazis, who eventually made him chief of a Jewish police force in Vilno. "He stands all by himself because no other ghetto leader went so far in serving the Nazis as Gens; no other ghetto leader used his police force to carry out the actual killing of Jews. Nor did any other ghetto leader play such an effective part in sabotaging Jewish participation in the partisan movement... He combined Lithuanian nationalism with the fascist brand of Zionism represented by Jabotinsky's followers by being a member of the Revisionist Brith Hakhayil (Military Organisation) ...


Jacob Gens
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/gens.html


Vilna Judenrat at a ghetto sporting event. Jacob Gens is in the front row, sixth from the left
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/gens.html



The Judenrat offices in Vilna
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/gens.html


"As soon as the surviving Vilno Jews were crammed into two ghettos on 6 and 7 September 1941, Gens became the deputy commander of the ghetto police whose commander, Muszkat, was a lawyer from Warsaw and also a Revisionist. His programme and philosophy were no different from those of Barasz, Rumowski, Merin or other collaborationist ghetto leaders: he too argued that a remnant of Jews might survive if they made themselves economically useful to the German war machine. However, it was not his success in building workshops in the ghetto that endeared him to the Gestapo, but his ruthlessness in delivering Jewish victims and his usefulness in preventing the flight of young Jews into the forests to join the partisans...

"Having embraced both as a Jew and as a Lithuanian ideologies that extolled the virtues of leadership, he found it possible to believe that he had a mission to fulfill and that he knew what was good for his Jewish subjects. Since work alone was not enough to ensure the survival of his Jews, he was ready to assume the responsibility for selecting the victims who had to feed the Nazi Moloch. And he did this so efficiently that by the autumn of 1942 the Gestapo made him the dictator not only of the Vilno ghetto, but also of all the surviving rural ghettos in the Vilno region." In October 1942, the Nazi told Gens they wanted 1,500 Jews killed in Oshmyany ghetto. Later they "agreed to reduce the number of victims to 400 provided they were selected and killed by Gens's policemen." Gens agreed and sent his chief of Police Salek Desler (also a Revisionist) with 30 policemen. They selected over 410 sick and old people whom they killed themselves. Gens defended his action by claiming "it is our duty to save the strong and the young and not to let ourselves be overcome by sentiments." (51)



Members of the Vilna Ghetto Police
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/gens.html



Order issued by Jacob Gens, head of the Judenrat in the Vilna ghetto,
requiring Jews to offer a greeting to any German within the ghetto
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/gens.html


"On April 5, 1943, an announcement appeared on the walls of the ghetto, urging Jews who had relatives in Kovno to join the transports from the neighbouring villages, principally from Snipiszok, allegedly bound for Kovno. The announcement was couched in alluring language, depicting better living conditions and easier housing accommodations than were available in the crowded Wilno ghetto. Gens put himself out for the Kovno scheme, and many unsuspecting victims volunteered to join the Kovno caravan. All in all, some 5,000 Jews mounted the trains... It soon became evident that instead of proceeding to Kovno the trains were unloaded at Ponary and the victims mowed down with machine gun fire." (52) Some of the victims however, were able to escape and tell their tale.



Ponary dead lying in the dirt 1943
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/ponary.html

Gens played a particularly treacherous role in betraying the leader of the Vilno ghetto resistance, Itzik Witenberg, who was a Communist and thus a particular target for the hatred of the rightwing Revisionist. "One night Witenberg was arrested by a ruse of the Jewish police, but was rescued by his alerted comrades and returned to the the headquarters unharmed... Unfortunately, the volatile Gens and his ruthless police commissioner, Sala Desler, outwitted everybody, including themselves. They promptly sent out their police hounds, aided by the scum of the ghetto, to round up the crowd for an urgent meeting. The people thronged obediently. Before a vast assembly Gens displayed his uncanny sense of appealing to the fear instinct of a trembling multitude. He harangued the crowd with warnings not to let one man's personal safety jeopardise the safety of all, and he relayed the alleged plans of the Gestapo to wipe out the ghetto with one blow with bombs, tanks, artillery and all the fires of hell, unless the ultimatum of surrendering Witenberg was met. Under this blackmail, "at the appointed hour Witenberg surrendered to the bloody Desler, who handed him over to the Gestapo... The backbone of the movement was broken. A pall of terror hung over everything. It was no use denying that the Gestapo had won a decisive victory without a fight." (53)

After Witenberg's death, the Zionists managed to ensure that one of their number, Abba Kovner, succeeded him. "Kovner, the representative of the 'Hashomer Hatziar', succeeded in appointing himself as commander of the underground fighting forces in Vilno,* which hoarded ammunition and recruited strong, trained individuals, prepared for battle. But it never used its resources against the Germans in the ghetto and, consequently, Kovner arrived at an agreement with the head of the ghetto (Gens) and the leader of the Jewish police (Desler), according to which they were obligate, in exchange for the holding back of action by the underground, not to harm any of its members — and also to promise them exit from the ghetto on the verge of its final destruction. These three — Gens, Desler and Kovner — held a common view, which was also the approach of Dr. Weizmann and Nathan Schwalb, Jewish Agency representative in Switzerland: to sacrifice the aged and the multitude, and to save the 'elite' group of youth — 'our friends'...


Abba Kovner
blog.holocaustresearchproject.org/2008/02/18/abba-kovner-resistance-leader.aspx


"When representatives of the partisans arrived in Vilna, with news of the final solution and advice to the Jews of Vilna to save themselves in the forests and join the partisan camps, what did Kovner do?

"The representatives of the partisans Kovner kept isolated,, so that they should not come in contact with the crowds in the ghetto and they shouldn't organise groups of plain Jews for escape into the forests.

"However, escape into the forest does not remain a secret to the residents. Every time a group leaves, hordes run after them and want to join them. But, according to Kovner's orders, a thorough search is carried out at the time of the departure and the Jews are chased away from the gate. Only infrequently does one of them succeed in mingling with the fighters and get out with them. It is an interesting thing that just these 'illegals' are later to become the best fighters in the forest.

"The Jews begin to gossip about the head of the organisation, Kovner: how is he better than the commander of the police? One decides who will die, and the other chooses who is allowed to live. They permitted hundreds of Jews to be slaughtered who certainly would have succeeded in making an important contribution in the fight against the enemy, and is Jews who lock the gates of rescue before them.

"The fate of the Vilan ghetto was sealed. The day before the final annihilation arrived, Kovner betrays the constitution of this underground organisation. The 22nd paragraph of the constitution states, 'We will go to the forest only as a result of battle, after we have accomplished our goal. We will take with us the largest number of Jews possible and we will clear a path to the forest, from whence we will continue our battle against the murderous conquerors.'



Abba Kovner (standing in the center) with members of the FPO
(Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye or United Partisans Organization)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abba_Kovner


"In reality, Kovner promises exit to 50 of his friends from the organisation exclusively. In spite of all the precautions, it became known in the ghetto that the fighters are gathering to leave. Tens of young, healthy, strong people gather in the courtyard and plead before Kovner that he permit them to joining those leaving, but Kovner hardens his heart, threatens them with his revolver and chases them away. The opening of the sewer is guarded carefully by Kovner's own men so that no 'illegals' should sneak through.

"In the forests, too, as commander of the partisans, Kovner continues to prevent rescue and ships to death any Jew who wasn't counted among his friends — the members of 'Hashomer Hatzair'. (54)

The first mass uprising is believed to have been in Lachwa ghetto in Byelorussia, on 4 August 1942. A remarkable feature of this revolt was that it was carried out without any firearms. "The SS men entered the ghetto and ordered everyone to line up. Instead, the Jews ran to their houses and set them on fire...



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakhva


"Yitzchok Rochtchin attacked the SS chief with an axe. The SS officer fell to the ground, covered with blood. Having no way of escape Rochtchin jumped into the nearby river. He was struck down by a bullet. At the same time another SS man was felled at the gate by Chaim Cheiffetz and the brothers Asher and Mose-Leib Cheiffetz. Still another German fell at the hands of Moshe Klopnitzki.



Yitchok Rochtchin
www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007233


"Now the crowd was aroused and stormed the ghetto gate. Those who were able to run did, leaving behind a flaming ghetto. They were pursued and shot at. Many fell. The town was littered with corpses. People ran with their last ounce of strength to the forests near the river Pripet, hoping to find shelter there. Of the 2,000 Jews, about 600 managed to reach their destination. But the police and the Byelorussians of that region, who pursued them, murdered most of them most brutally...

"The Germans only succeeded in leading a few of them to the grave, because both young and old tried to escape. They would rather die from a a bullet while running than be led to their deaths.

"Several days later 120 Lachwa Jews gathered in the Chobot forest, about 20 kilometres from town, and joined the partisans, fighting side by side with them, and later with the Red Army, thus taking revenge for their beloved ones." (55)


Partisans operating in the forests of Belarus
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/bielski.html

A key role in the extermination programme was played by the Judenrats, or Jewish Councils, which the Nazis appointed to run each ghetto. "The Judenrat served as an instrument for keeping things calm. It lulled both the youth and the adults into a false sense of security, so that they shouldn't think about rescue activities. Unfortunately, most of the members of the Judenrats were Zionists. They thought that by collaborating with the Germans, they were doing a good thing. By preparing the lists of Jews who were sent to their deaths, they thought that they were saving other Jews. The heads of the Judenrat suffered from a superiority complex, thinking that they were doing a historic thing in order to redeem the nation — and the entire Jewish population feared them."

Thus, "the first thing the Nazis did in Upper east Silesia, too, was to establish a 'council of elders' (Judenrat) and, as in every place, they appointed Zionist activists to head the council. The Nazis found in these 'elders' what they hoped for: loyal and obedient servants who, because of their lust for money and power, led the masses of Jews to their destruction.



Jewish policemen and members of the Judenrat at a wedding in the Bochnia Ghetto, Poland
www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/june/09.asp


Adam Czerniakow (center), the Chairman of the Warsaw ghetto Jewish council, poses with visiting
Polish police during a ceremony held in honor of Jewish policemen killed in the line of duty
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/judenratgal/index.html


A group of Judenrat employees in the Lodz ghetto
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/judenratgal/index.html


Judenrat workers in the Radom ghetto.
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/judenratgal/index.html


"Monik (Moses) Merin, one of the Zionist activists in the community of Sosnowiec, was propped up by the Nazis as 'emperor' of all the 'councils of elders', and he appointed the leaders of these councils in every community. Of course, he named to these shameful positions only his friends in ideology from the Zionist camp. The Satanic plan of the Nazis assured that the personal fate of each Jew — whether life or death — be exclusively left up to the decisions of the 'council of elders'. The Nazis, from time to time, decided upon a general quota for the work of the camps and for extermination, but the individual selection was left up to the 'council of elders', with the enforcement of kidnappings and arrest also placed in the hands of the Jewish police (kapos). By this shrewd method, the Nazis were highly successful in accomplishing mass murder and poisoning the atmosphere of the ghetto through moral degeneration and corruption." A prominent Jew in Bedzin, Reb Bunim, "alerted the Jews of the city, revealing to them that they should save themselves by not appearing for the deportation when called by the council. Reb Bunim knew that Merin would revenge himself cruelly, especially since he refused to participate in the schemings of the previous two years of the council of elders. Merin's revenge was not long in coming. He betrayed to the Gestapo that Reb Bunim's sons belonged to the underground, and they were soon arrested and sent to Auschwitz. After a short time, Reb Bunim and his wife were also arrested and sent to Auschwitz."(56)


A Judenrat clerk in the Lodz ghetto with women scheduled for deportation from the ghetto.
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/judenratgal/index.html

Attempts to organise resistance in the Bialystok ghetto were not very successful. This was in part owing to a tactical miscalculation by the resistance leadership, which tried both to fight in the ghetto and also to strengthen the rural partisans, but had too few resources to achieve both tasks properly. They were also undermined by the collaboration of the Zionist-led Judenrat with the Nazis. "The policy of the Bialystok Judenrat was all the more convincing because its chief champion and executor was Ephraim Barasz, an engineer by profession and a liberal Zionist in his political beliefs." Barasz had previously had the reputation of being an "honest man", which enabled him more effectively to lull the ghetto's inhabitants into a false sense of security.

In February 1943, the Nazis demanded the surrender of 6,300 Bialystok Jews for extermination. "The Judenrat complied by preparing lists of people whose sin was that they were poor or had fled to Bialystok from the annihilated provincial ghettoes. The deal was arranged in absolute secrecy, without and warning or hint form Barasz or other Judenrat members to the ghetto population of what was in store for it. "However, the resistance United Anti-Fascist Bloc prevented most people on the lists from reporting for transportation to their deaths, and the ghetto inhabitants fought back when the Nazis came to collect them. On 15 August 1943 the Nazis informed Barasz they intended to liquidate the ghetto. "Barasz returned to the ghetto and did not warn anybody that only a few hours were left to the 40,000-od Jews" still in there, nor did he encourage them to revolt. The Anti-Fascist Bloc nevertheless managed to arm 300 combatants with firearms and grenades and a further 200 with Molotov thingytails, home-made bombs, knives and axes. These weapons, may of them smuggled into the ghetto in most daring ways, were grossly inadequate for a large-scale revolt, but the resistance nevertheless lasted until 26 August and the Nazis had to use artillery and aircraft to subdue it. About 100 Nazis were killed. (57)


German aerial photo of June 27th, 1941 "aktion" against Bialystok Jews. On lower right the Great Synagogue
can be seen starting to burn, with more than 2000 Jews locked inside and burnt alive. Upper left hand is
Plonaska Synagogue and surroundings burning. Submitted by Tilford Bartman
www.zchor.org/bialystok/bialystok.htm


Another prominent Zionist who gave the Nazis considerable assistance was Chaim Romkowsky, a megalomaniac ghetto leader who even had postage stamps with his portrait on them issued for use by the ghetto inhabitants. "Romankowsy, serving for decades as the chairman of the Zionists in Lodz, had himself crowned, under Nazi sponsorship, 'king of the ghetto'. He treated his 'constituents' with the ruthlessness of a maniacal tyrant, augmenting Nazi decrees with his own, organising with methodical precision and without pity all death transports, appointing himself as the sole marriage performer for young couples. Alfred Nussing, the elderly Zionist leader and personal friend of Herzl, blemished his old age by informing and spying in the Warsaw ghetto, for which he was judged and sentenced to death by the underground.



5pf Stamp with Rumkowski image
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/rumkowski.html


Chaim Romkowski
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/rumkowski.html


"These names are mentioned as blatant examples, but the infamous list itself is long and spans many cities and villages throughout Poland, LIthuania, Hungary and Rumania." (58)

Despite the help given by the Zionist leadership to Nazi efforts to smash any Jewish resistance, anti-racist Jews used great ingenuity to provided themselves with the means to defend themselves. At one point, guns were smuggled into resisting ghettoes in false-bottomed coffins. "Then, for a time, girls brought in guns, slung between their legs as they returned from the factories outside." Later, and particularly in Warsaw, "the sewers were to become the most important single route whereby arms came into the ghetto and people got out." In Dnepropetrovsk ghetto, 150 kilograms of industrial dynamite were smuggled in "hidden in the pestilential carcase of a rotting horse," while in Vilno, "the Sisters of St. Catherine brought grenades and guns into the ghetto and hid the gunrunners in the convent." But with their slender resources, the weapons the ghetto fighters obtained were "never enough and never the right kind; no heavy machine guns, no mortars, no mines, no antitank weapons, no gelignite pencils or plastic explosives." Jewish ingenuity even managed to seize or manufacture arms or smuggle weapons and components into the death camps of Treblinka and Sobibor, where desperate revolts were staged." (59)

Ghetto resistance reached its climax in Warsaw in 1943. There "the Jewish resistance movement received the support not only of the militarily weak Communists, but of three small but influential Polish resistance organisations and a number of noble individuals, who played a crucial part in making the Home Army Command provide the Jewish Fighting Organisation with some arms." The People's Guard sent in some pistols, although "how limited their resources were can be judged from the report of the Command of the Warsaw Area People's Guard of 27 December 1942, which put the amount of arms in its possession at thirteen pistols and seventeen grenades, and that of 1 January 1943, which gave the figures as 24 pistols and eighteen grenades." (60)

When the operation known as the great liquidation (in which some 300,000 Jews were exterminated) began in Warsaw on 22 July, the Jewish resistance groups had few arms and so could not put up a fight. However, the great liquidation made the ghetto arm itself as far as possible, and also build up a superb intelligence system. "The Polish and Jewish intelligence sources outside the ghetto were able to discover what was being prepared by the Germans because not only the special extermination force but the entire German garrison in Warsaw had been alerted to deal with a possible general uprising." (61)

"On Sunday, April 18, 1943, the chiefs of police and the SS leaders held a conference at which the plan for the ghetto attack was worked out in detail. It was to take place the following day at dawn. At 2 p.m. that day the SS and the German police received their mobilisation orders. A similar order was received by the Polish police, who threw a heavy cordon around the entire ghetto at about 6 p.m. One hour later the chiefs of staff of the Jewish Fighting Organisation and of the Jewish Military Association were informed of the enemy's preparations." (62)

The ghetto fighters launched their revolt on the following day. According to Ainsztein, the composition of the ghetto fighters was as follows: the Revisionists' Jewish Military Union had some 400 combatants, the Jewish Fighting Organisation (a coalition of Communists, Bundist Social Democrats and Zionists, of whom Hashomer Hatzair played the most notable part) had between 600 and 800, while the majority, some 2,000, were not attached to any political organisation and were known as "wild groups". The latter in fact lasted longer than the politically organised groups. (63)

Fighting from street to street, form house to house, from underground bunkers, ruins and even sewers, the Warsaw ghetto resisters held the Nazis at bay or pinned down for months in what was described as the largest and longest single act of resistance in occupied Europe, apart from Yugoslavia. It caused hundreds of Nazi casualties, although the German Army shelled the ghetto with artillery and the Luftwaffe was brought in for air strikes against it. The Nazis tried to destroy even the ruins which were providing cover for urban guerillas in July, and in September 1943 they sent large forces in to clear out the remains of the ghetto. Nevertheless, the last recorded act of resistance by a Warsaw ghetto group, the killing of three German gendarmes, was as late as June 1944. (64)

In addition to the Nazis, the ghetto resisters had to combat a highly dangerous traitor Abraham Gancwajch, who had been the leader of Hashomer Hatzair (a "leftwing" Zionist group, now known as Mapam) in Czestochowa. In Warsaw in the spring of 1940, "he made a speech in which he said that he Nazi New Order had come to stay, and that the Jews had to adjust themselves to it... With the assistance of the Gestapo he collected a staff of collaborators recruited from members of his own family, friends and acquaintances." The Nazis allowed him to set up his own 300-man "police force" which "performed the functions of an american gangster's hoodlums and with their help Gancwajch forced all the important businessmen in the ghetto, irrespective of whether they were honest or dishonest, to pay him protection money, which he shared with his Gestapo patrons... The most important factor was the usefulness of Gancwajch and his Mafia as an agency of espionage and subversion — in brief, as a classical fifth column... Two rabbis belonging to the Agudath Israel Party, Blumenfeld and Glicensztajn, made propaganda on his behalf among the Hassidic elements and saw to it that no resistance ideas should take root in the religious schools and colleges." Gancwajch set up and "ambulance service" which helped round up victims for the Nazis, and also every Tuesday handed in an intelligence report which he "boasted that the Gestapo awaited with impatience, because they regarded it as the only reliable assessment of what was happening in the ghetto." The Agudath Israel Party, now one of Israel's respected political parties, helped the Nazis to suppress resistance "by telling (its) numerous followers that the ghetto was not only the Lord's punishment for Jewish desertion of orthodoxy and atheism, but a blessing in disguise designed to bring the Jews back to the state of piety." (65) that the ghetto fighters were able to organise resistance despite these collaborators was a remarkable achievement.


Mordechai Anielewicz

Shortly before his death in battle in the ghetto, the Jewish Fighting Organisation's leader Mordechai Anielewicz wrote to his successor: "Aware that our last day is at hand, we demand from you to remember how we were betrayed. The day of payment for our spilled innocent blood will come. Send help to those who in the last battle may escape the enemy's hands, so that they can carry on the fight. (66) Although he does not specifically ame who it was who betrayed the Warsaw ghetto Jews, it is interesting to note that Anielewicz was a rare exception that proves the rule, in that he was a Zionist, ironically from the same Hashomer Hatzair organisation to which Gancwajch belonged.

* Vilno, Wilno and Vilna are variants of the same place

REFERENCES chapter five

44. Shlomo Katz, 6,000,000 and 5,000,000 (article in Midstream, No. 1, 1964).
45. Reuben Ainsztein, Jewish Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe (London, 1974) pp. 408, 442, 468, 634–638.
46. Letter from Mordechai Anielewicz to Polish Home Army Command and Government Delegate's office, 13 March 1941.
47. Ainsztein, op. cit., p. 486.
48. Joseph Tenenbaum, Underground, the Story of a People (New York, 1952) pp. 81–82.
49. Ibid., pp. 347–348.
50. Appeal by Itzik Witenberg and Abba Kovner to Vilno ghetto inhabitants, 1 January 1942.
51. Ainsztein, op. cit., pp. 505–507.
52. Tenenbaum, op. cit. pp 344–345.
53. Ibid., pp. 353-354.
54. Reb Boshe Shonfeld, The Holocaust Victims Accuse, Part 1, (Neturei Karta of USA, New York, 1977) pp. 30–33.
55. Yuri Suhl, They Fought Back (London, 1968) p. 191.
56. Shonfeld, op. cit., pp. 88, 119–121.
57. Ainsztein, op. cit., pp. 521–547.
58. Shonfeld, op. cit., pp. 22–23.
59. Michael Elins, Forged in Fury (New York, 1971) pp. 62, 64–65.
60. Ainsztein, op. cit., pp. 565, 599.
61. Ibid., p. 620.
62. Suhl, op. cit., p. 622.
63. Ainsztein, op. cit., p. 622.
64. Ibid., pp. 591–671; see also Chaim A. Kaplan, Scroll of Agony (A Warsaw Diary), translated & edited by Abraham I. Katsch (London, 1966) and Martin Gray, Au Nom de Tous les Miens (Paris, 1971) for accounts of ghetto inhabitants.
65. Ainztein, op. cit., pp. 556–561.
66. Letter to Issac Cukierman, 26 April 1943.


................


ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

By Faris Glubb
© 1979


www.amazon.com/Zionist-Relations-Germany-Faris-Glubb/dp/0911026118


These are links to each corresponding chapter:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One — The Early Zionist Attitude to Anti-Semitism
Chapter Two — The Common Ground Between Zionism and Nazism
Chapter Three — The Ha'avara Agreements
Chapter Four — The 1938 Emigration Accords
Chapter Five — The Ghetto Revolts
Chapter Six — Zionist Policy on the Holocaust
Chapter Seven — Kastner and the Hungarian Jews
Chapter Eight — The Concealment of Evidence
Chapter Nine — The Irgun and Nazism
Chapter Ten — Assessment of Zionist Policy towards Nazism

Introduction

Despite the appearance of large numbers of books on Nazi Germany's barbaric treatment of the European Jews, there is widespread public ignorance on one important aspect of this question: the relationship between the Zionist movement and Nazi Germany. The information on this subject is available, but has not yet been gathered together in a single comprehensive study.

(Note: You may also refer to 51 Documents of Zionist Collaboration With The Nazis edited by Lenni Brenner and A Threat From Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism by Yakov M. Rabkin.) This study is intended, at least partially, to remedy this deficiency.

Owing to the delicate nature of this subject, and the Zionist tendency to brand any non-Zionist or anti-Zionist viewpoint as "anti-Semitic", all the material on Zionist-Nazi relations in this study is taken from exclusively Jewish sources. The writers quoted cover a wide spectrum of views, from extreme Zionist to anti-Zionist, with various shades in between. The reader will thus be able to form an accurate and objective opinion on the basis of evidence presented by leading Jewish historians.

—Faris Glubb in his Introduction to ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY[/blockquote][/b]

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

ninathedog.livejournal.com/

.....

(Sorry I didn't finish adding photos. This stuff is really upsetting to me and I decided that it wasn't crucial for me to continue at this time. More of the book to come...If you wish to continue with text only, it's all posted here: ninathedog.livejournal.com/ -- Thanks for reading. Love, Jen.)

[ninathedog]

Gaza-Egypt border wall


Pretty sure that the patched area is due to the People's escape in 2008—
• subtopia.blogspot.com/2008/01/small-death-in-nomadic-fotress-bossom.html
• rafahtoday.org/news/08/jan08.html

...........


from:
Britain 2 Gaza
www.britain2gaza.com/

We are putting Israel on notice......
Gaza, we are coming


www.youtube.com/watch?v=19BEnzAwCIA

(many thanks to Britain 2 Gaza)

[ninathedog]

Rafah opens for second day

Published yesterday (updated) 10/06/2011 13:00
Ma'an News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza opened for a the second day in a row on Thursday, following a four-day closure as officials argued over appropriate crossing regulations.

The first day of operations saw 450 Palestinians cross into Egypt, crossing director Ayoub Abu Sha’ar told Ma'an, adding that he expected Thursday's number to be higher, at 500.

Five-hundred and fifty was set as a cap for the maximum number of travelers crossing at the terminal, after thousands arrived in the southern border town and hundreds were admitted into Egypt during the first days. An average of 700 people per day were being processed at the terminal.

At the beginning of June, only a week after the crossing had been opened for nearly-free travel in and out of Gaza, Egyptian officials turned several buses of Palestinians back to Gaza and suddenly closed the terminal saying new mechanisms would have to be developed.

Angry statements and frustration followed, as concern mounted that the terminal would remain closed, but Abu Sha'ar announced a breakthrough Tuesday night.

From Wednesday onward, Rafah will open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and allow an average of 550 passengers per day to cross.

The number of passengers was less than the 700 per day requested by the Gaza authorities, but higher than the cap of 400 set after travelers overwhelmed the terminal on its first day of operation on May 28.

More than three months after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned following 18 days of massive street protests against his rule, Egypt opened the Rafah terminal for all travelers except men between 18-40, allowing most Gaza residents to travel freely through the border for the first time in five years.

The border had remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.

Rafah is Gaza's only border crossing not controlled by Israel, and news of Egypt's decision to reopen it was warmly welcomed in the coastal strip and the Egyptian street, though Israel strongly criticized the move.

www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=395127

Jun 8, 2011 21:10:53 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Trapped in Gaza: Rafah Crossing Closed to Palestinians
Soon After Egyptian Pledge to Reopen It (DN!)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nnfxt7uvkE

Uploaded by democracynow on Jun 7, 2011

DemocracyNow.org — In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government has asked Egypt to drop restrictions on the Rafah border crossing, just days after the checkpoint opened last week. In a major policy shift, Egypt's transition government had unsealed the Rafah border after years of closure under ousted Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. But less than a week later, Egypt imposed a cap of 400 people per day, turning back busloads of people that had been cleared for passage. On Saturday, the border was sealed completely, causing angry Palestinians to storm the gates in protests. Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were one of the few teams of foreign journalists to witness the scene at the Rafah border and they file this report from the Gaza Strip.

For the podcast, transcript and more Democracy Now! coverage of the situation in Gaza, visit
www.democracynow.org/tags/israel

FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/democracynow
Twitter: @democracynow
Daily Email News Digest: www.democracynow.org/subscribe

Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit www.democracynow.org/donate/YT

.........

TRANSCRIPT:

Trapped in Gaza: Rafah Crossing Closed to Palestinians
Soon After Egyptian Pledge to Reopen It (DN!)

AMY GOODMAN: In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government has asked Egypt to drop restrictions on the Rafah border crossing, just days after the checkpoint opened last week. In a major policy shift, Egypt’s transition government had unsealed the Rafah border after years of closure under ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But less than a week later, Egypt imposed a cap of 400 people per day, turning back busloads of people who had been cleared for passage. On Saturday, the border was sealed completely, causing angry Palestinians to storm the gates in protest...

>>edited for length

[ninathedog]

When Jews, Muslims and Christians unite, Palestine shall be free.
Nothing is more anti-Semitic than Zionism.

(Many thanks to Gaza TV News!! Great timing )


.......



ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

By Faris Glubb
© 1979


www.amazon.com/Zionist-Relations-Germany-Faris-Glubb/dp/0911026118


These are links to each corresponding chapter:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One — The Early Zionist Attitude to Anti-Semitism
Chapter Two — The Common Ground Between Zionism and Nazism
Chapter Three — The Ha'avara Agreements
Chapter Four — The 1938 Emigration Accords
Chapter Five — The Ghetto Revolts
Chapter Six — Zionist Policy on the Holocaust
Chapter Seven — Kastner and the Hungarian Jews
Chapter Eight — The Concealment of Evidence
Chapter Nine — The Irgun and Nazism
Chapter Ten — Assessment of Zionist Policy towards Nazism

ninathedog.livejournal.com/

[ninathedog]

sunset over Bi'lin on June 11, 2011

statement by Habib Khan—

During this sunset, Israeli soldiers entered the outskirts of the village firing live ammunition, teargas and sound grenades...

statement by Haitham Al Khatib—

On the evening of June 11 at approximately 7PM, Israeli soldiers entered the outskirts of the village Bi’lin. They fired live ammunition, teargas and sound grenades. The direction of the wind carried the teargas into the village and the villagers, especially the children, were affected by it.

After a few hours of firing ammunition into the village, the soldiers left just as quickly as they had come. This follows an earlier incident, the night before, when soldiers in jeeps drove through the town dropping sound grenades, for no apparent reason, terrorizing the villagers. .

Location of Bi'lin, West Bank, Palestine:


www.bilin-village.org/english/articles/press-and-independent-media/People-against-division


www.bilin-village.org/english/maps/


.........


مسيرة بلعين الاسبوعية
...Bilin Weekly Demo 10.06.2011
By [e-mail]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aU4M1rAhjI
Uploaded by haithmkatib on Jun 10, 2011

Dozens of activist suffered from tear gas inhalation and crops caught fire in Bil'in
10/6/2011

In spite of the scalding heat, dozens of villagers from Bil'in marched once again together with international and Israeli solidarity activists to the Apartheid Wall in protest to its illegal annexation of 60% of the village's land for the construction of Jewish-only settlements. As every Friday in various locations throughout Palestine, the activists attempted to implement international law, international humanitarian law -- under which settlements constitute a war crime -, and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice with ruled in July 2004 that the illegal Wall and its associated regime should be dismantled.

Waving the Palestinian flag and images of martyrs and prisoners of the popular resistance, protesters chanted for freedom and justice, against Apartheid, and for the release of all political prisoners. As usual, the army opened fire at the protesters even before most had reached the Wall, shooting a type of tear gas that is considerably more harmful than the types ordinarily used in Europe or the US, throwing sound bombs, and spraying them with a chemical green liquid that activists have termed „shit" or „skunk" due to its nauseating odor which sticks to its target for days.

Dozens of activists suffered from tear gas inhalation, which is aggravated by the harsh summer heat, and in various places, crops caught fire and spread quickly. The army continued to shoot at protesters even while they attempted to put out the fires.

This week, the villagers were accompanied by national and international diplomats including Mr. Walid al Mu'aqqad, the Palestinian Ambassador to Argentina, Munjid Saleh from the Foreign Ministry's Office, Mr. Horacio Wamba, the Argentinean Ambassador to Palestine, and Ms. Cecilia Marcha who heads a delegation of Argentinean Parliamentarians that are currently visiting popular committees and networks that participate in the growing Palestinian popular resistance against Israel's illegal colonization.





(many thanks to Haitham Al-K and Habib K)

[ninathedog]

Irish Rugby Players for
Irish Ship to Gaza

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WV9ixJD_yg

Uploaded by iDirectMovies on Jun 11, 2011

www.irishshiptogaza.org Four of Ireland's rugby team score a try for the
besieged Palestinian people of Gaza. Civil society has spoken, enough is enough.
The illegal blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has created must
be broken. Convert the try, please donate what you can.


(many thanks to Britain 2 Gaza)

[ninathedog]

[ninathedog]

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights concerned about serious shortages in
medications and medical supplies in the Gaza Strip

Ref: 54/2011
Date: 13 June 2011
Time: 10:00

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Is Concerned over the Running out of
Medications and Contraction of Health services in the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights is deeply concerned over the cancellation of dozens of surgeries at hospitals in the Gaza Strip and postponement of others to unknown periods, due to the serious shortages in medications and medical supplies, as the Gaza Strip has not been supplied with medications and medical needs since last February. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights warns of the expected catastrophic deterioration to health conditions of the Palestinian population, including patients, especially those who suffer from chronic diseases, who have not been able to regularly obtain medications. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the Palestinian President to immediately intervene to ensure immediate supplying of the Gaza Strip with necessary medications and medical consignment.

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has observed over the past two weeks the devastating crisis of the shortages in medications and medical supplies in public health facilities, including hospitals, medical centers and clinics. According to investigations conducted by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and statements issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza , 178 types of medications and 123 types of medical supplies have run out, and an additional 69 types of medications and 70 types of medical supplies are expected to run out within the next three months.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has been forced to take a series of emergency measures, including contraction of public health services, including surgeries, and suspension of some basic health services, such as dentistry, public and outpatient clinic. The Ministry has further reduced the work capacity in many other clinics and departments in public hospitals, including surgeries; has cancelled already scheduled surgeries, including pediatric surgeries, ophthalmological surgeries and cardiac catheterization; and has suspended other services of lab tests, medical imaging, endoscopic surgeries, urology, orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery. The Ministry has also declared contraction of health services in some primary health care centers and hospitals, including food and water control services, the child’s health, women’s health and occupational health. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is concerned that such steps may impact the population of the Gaza Strip, and cause further deterioration to the already deteriorated health services.

According to information available to Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, primary care centers and hospitals face extreme difficulties as their warehouses have ran out of many types of medications they regularly provide to patients. Such medications include many necessary antibiotics and dozens of necessary medical supplies. Martyr Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital and the UAE Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah have warned of the repercussions of the shortage in medications and medical supplies on their patients, especially as they have been forced to use their emergency stocks.

The crisis of medical needs constitutes a vast obstacle to the work of medical crews in hospitals and medical centers in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ field workers reported that dozens of necessary medical supplies have been unavailable in various departments, including ICU’s, nurseries of premature infants; operation rooms; anesthesia and recovery; emergency; cardiac catheterization; hematology and oncology; nephritic diseases; and pediatrics. The director of the Ophthalmology Hospital in Gaza City stated that they were forced to postpone 8 surgeries that were scheduled to be performed in the past two days for patients who suffer from cataract. He added that retinal surgeries have been stopped in the hospital for six months due to the chronic shortage in some medical needs and spare parts of some medical equipment.

Dr. Omar al-Nasser, Director-General of Public Relations and Information Department in the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, stated on Sunday, 12 June 2011, that 19 types of vital medications provided by the Egyptian Medical Association would be delivered to the central medical warehouses in the Gaza Strip soon. The Ministry of Health in Ramallah declared that it would coordinate with Israeli occupation authorities in order to supply central medical warehouses in the Gaza Strip with some medications and medical consumables from its warehouses in Ramallah and Nablus. According to Dr. Abu al-Nasser, the Ministry prepared lists that include more than 130 types of medical consumables and surgical tools, whose value is estimated at 2.5 million NIS, and of 81 types of medications, whose value is estimated at 6 million NIS, which are expected to be entered into the Gaza Strip in the next two days.

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is deeply concerned over the deterioration of health conditions in the Gaza Strip, and:

1. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls for prompt intervention by the Palestinian President to ensure that the Ministry of Health in Ramallah supply all consignments of medications and medical supplies needed at health facilitates in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the Palestinian President and the Prime Minister in Ramallah to initiate thorough investigations into the reasons for the obstructed supply of medications and medical supplies, which had been approved in accordance with the budget of the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, to health facilities in the Gaza Strip, especially as such medications and medical supplies are available in the Ministry’s warehouses in the West Bank as indicated by Dr. Abu al-Nasser; and to hold those who are found responsible accountable.

2. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls for coordination between the Ministry of Health in Ramallah and its counterpart in Gaza to remove obstacles, especially under the current atmosphere of reconciliation.

3. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the Ministry of Health in Ramallah to immediately supply all of the above-mentioned types of medications and medical supplies to avoid health risks threatening the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

4. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to pressurize the Israeli occupation authorities to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip to stop the suffering of the Palestinian population, especially patients, and allow the delivery of urgent medications, medical consignments and spare parts to health facilities in the Gaza Strip.

5. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reminds the Israeli occupation authorities of their legal obligations towards the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), especially ensuring the free and secure flow of all medical consignments and foods to the population, and to provide them if the financial resources in the OPT do not suffice, according to international humanitarian law.

www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7499

(in the link, the word "censored" should be replaced with the letters "p" and "c")

[ninathedog]

**caution on basis of language and humor, which may not sit well with some**

Inside the mind of Mark Regev.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMd_js_oQAk

Mark Regev* loses his cool in classic interview with Jon Snow.
New mind-reading technology lets us see what he's thinking.


(many thanks to Gaza TV News)

*Who is Mark Regev? -- www.google.com/search?q=mark+regev

[ninathedog]

May 31, 2011 22:04:49 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Balfour's legacy:
Creating Israel from empire's needs

>>edited for length...
ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 1
The Early Zionist Attitude to Anti-Semitism

>> edited for length

Jun 2, 2011 3:03:05 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 2
The Common Ground Between Zionism and Nazism

[/size]

>> edited for length[/quote]

Jun 7, 2011 21:13:43 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 4
The 1938 Emigration Accords

The year 1938 was to prove a triumphant one for Hitler. Its highlights included...

>> edited for length

Jun 10, 2011 19:47:36 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 5
The Ghetto Revolts

History records no proclamation of revolt by the Zionist movement against Nazism in Europe. It is relevant to ask why.

>>edited for length...

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY
BY FARIS GLUBB © 1979

Chapter 6
Zionist Policy on the Holocaust

The accounts by Jewish historians of the ordeal of East European Jews under Nazi occupation contain a two-sided story of the heroism of resistance and the shame of collaboration. What precisely was the role of the Zionist movement, in all this? Were the numerous Zionist leaders who collaborated with Nazism in various ways acting as individuals, or as officials implementing Zionist policy? In other words, which was more typical of the Zionist movement, Anielewicz or Gens?



Anielewicz and girlfriend Mira Fuchrer in the destroyed Warsaw Ghetto
(a painting by Shimon Garmize)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Anielewicz


When the German Army's thrust into the Soviet Union brought the bulk of East European Jewry an iron circle of Nazi control, the reaction of individual Zionists caught in this trap varied. Some realised that Nazi Germany was determined to make Europe "Judenrein" and therefor belied that there was a risk of extermination for any Jew who had not escaped or been taken out of Europe by the Zionists under the 1938 agreements. These, who included Anielewicz, joined with non-Zionist Jews to resist. Others, particularly those like Gancwajch and Gens who had been leaders in the Zionist movement, continued to hope that they could save themselves and their chosen followers through deals with the Nazis, at the expense of their fellow-Jews.

However, in the higher echelons of the Zionist movement, notably in the Jewish Agency whose leaders sat out the war in safe havens to become the future Israeli Government, there was no such division of opinion. No clarion call for a revolt against Nazism came from these leaders, nor is it recorded that they made any attempt, for instance, to smuggle in arms to the ghetto fighters who so desperately needed.

The Zionist movement did engage in some limited military activity in World War Two, but this was essentially designed to further the aim of Zionist statehood rather than to combat Nazism as such or help the oppressed Jews to resist it. Thus, the Zionists formed a "Jewish Brigade" in the British Army, whose real purposes were to give credence to the fiction that the Jews constituted a national entity, and to gain military training and expertise for the future Israeli Army.



The Jewish Brigade — British accede to Zionist wish to fight Nazis under their own flag.
The Jewish Brigade is organized as part of British 8th Army. Sept 20, 1944 — Brig Ernest F Benjamin
commands the 5500 man formation. Eventually, 25,000-28,000 Palestinian Jews fight with the British.
A plan to even-handedly raise a similar Arab Brigade falters. The Jewish Brigade trains in Egypt,
sees action against Germans in northern Italy.
dancutlermedicalart.com/AlbertEinstein%27sZionism/07Einstein%27sZionism1940-1949.htm


According to Jewish historian Joseph Tenenbaum, "Eliahu Golomb — leader of the Haganah — petitioned the British Army to put at the disposal of the Jewish volunteers planes and ammunition for flight, fight and rescue. None were forthcoming until the beginning of 1944." It is not clear why the British would have failed to co-operate in such a project if it had been seriously intended to strengthen the allied war effort and if they had had the resources to spare for it, nor why the Zionists did not make such an appeal to the United States, the allied power with the greatest resources where the Zionist movement also possessed the most powerful political influence. Finally, when the war was in its closing stages, the Zionists dropped a total of 31 parachutists in Nazi-occupied countries, but their task was to organise further emigration to Palestine rather than resistance to Nazism. (67)

The charge that the British Government neglected supposed Zionist pleas to help the Jewish victims of Nazism was refuted by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld, who served a chairman of a rescue committee set up by Britain's Chief Rabbi.



Dr. Solomon Schonfeld
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Schonfeld


According to Rabbi Schonfeld, "my experience in 1942–43 was wholly in favour of British readiness to help, openly, constructively and totally, and that this readiness met with opposition from Zionist leaders who insisted on rescue to Palestine as the only acceptable form of help." Rabbi Schonfeld recalled that 277 British Members of Parliament signed a motion calling on the Government to provide asylum in British-controlled territories for victims of Nazi persecution, and "HM Government did, in fact, issue some hundreds of Mauritius and other immigration permits — indeed, in favour of any threatened Jewish family whom we could name." Then, "at the Parliamentary meeting held on January 27, 1943, when the next steps were being energetically pursued by over 100 MPs and Lords, a spokesman for the Zionists announced that the Jews would oppose the motion on the grounds of its omitting to refer to Palestine. Some voices were raised in support of the Zionist view, there was considerable debate, and thereafter the motion was dead. Even the promoters exclaimed in desperation: If the Jews cannot agree among themselves, how can we help?" (68)

In July 1944, the Slovakian Jewish leader Rabbi Dov Michael Weissmandel, in a letter to Zionist officials in charge of "rescue" organisations, recommended a series of measures to save the lives of thousands of Jews threatened with liquidation at Auschwitz. His proposals were:

"1) With the aid of an exact mapping of the railways, to bomb the tracks on which Hungarian Jews were being transported to the crematoria;

"2) To bomb the furnaces of Auschwitz;

"3) To parachute ammunition to the 80,000 prisoners of Auschwitz;

"4) To parachute saboteurs who would blow up all the means of annihilation, and thus cause a break in the process of cremating 13,000 Jews every day;

"5) In the event of the refusal of the Allies, to obtain airplanes and to recruit Jewish volunteers who would carry out the sabotage.

"To his letter he added his heart-piercing questions:

"'Why was this not done until now? Why is it not done now? Who is guilty of this frightful negligence? Are you not guilty, our Jewish brothers: you who have the greatest good fortune in the world-liberty?"

Rabbi Dov Michael Weissmandel
collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/54384.html


letter from Rabbi Dov Michael Weissmandel
www.fantompowa.net/Flame/weissmandel_lublin.htm

From www.fantompowa.net/Flame/weissmandel_lublin.htm —

Weissmandel later published the following letter, which is a literal translation of the letter the Jewish Rescue Committee in Czechoslovakia received from the Zionist "Jewish" Agency Executive Offices in Switzerland. This was in reply to the call of the Jewish Rescue Committee for help, with documentary evidence furnished, concerning the fate of millions of Jewish people in Nazi occupied Europe.

"We are writing to remind you of the one factor of which you must never lose sight: that ultimately, the Allies will win the war. After their victory, territorial boundaries will be reshaped as they were after the First World War. Then, the way will be clear for our purpose at this time, with the war drawing to a close, we must do everything in our power to change Eretz Yisrael to Medinat Yisrael and many steps have already been taken in this regard. Therefore, we must turn a deaf ear to the pleas and cries emanating from Eastern Europe. Remember this: all the allies have suffered many losses, and if we also do not offer human sacrifices, how can we gain the right to sit at the conference table when the territorial boundaries are reshaped? Accordingly, it is foolhardy and brazen for us to negotiate in terms of money or supplies in exchange for Jewish lives. How dare we ask of the allied powers to barter money for lives while they are sustaining heavy casualties daily? So, insofar as the masses are concerned: RAK B'DAM TIHJE LANU HAAREZ, (Eretz Yisroel will be ours only by paying with blood), but as far as our immediate circle is concerned, ATEM TAJLU. The messenger bearing this letter will supply you with funds for this purpose".

Weissmandel says that :

After I accustomed myself to the peculiar writing, I trembled when I realized the import of RAK B'DAM TIHJE LANU HAAREZ. But many weeks passed, and I was still confounded by the meaning of ATEM TAJLU. Until one day, it struck me. ATEM TAJLU meant "You escape", for the word "tiyul" (walking trip) was used by them as a euphemistic code for "escape". They meant to say - you fifteen or twenty "party members", escape from Czechoslovakia and save your hides. The price of Eretz Yisroel is the blood of the men and women, hoary sages, and babes in arms - but not YOUR blood! Let us not spoil this plan by giving the Axis powers to save Jewish lives. But for you, comrades, I have enclosed carfare for your escape. What a nightmare! The Zionist agent "diplomat" comes to Czechoslovakia and says 'Now is a very critical time. But comparatively speaking it is not at all critical for you trapped Jews. For there is an emergency of far greater proportions; namely, BINYAN HA-ARETZ (the prize of Medinat Yisrael). Shed your blood cheerfully, for your blood is cheap. But for your blood, the Land (of Israel) will be ours!

It is doubtful, indeed, whether the Zionists ever did make any serious appeal to the allies to help the persecuted Jews under Nazi occupation. "During the Kastner trial, time and again the question was brought up why the leaders of the Jewish Agency did not turn with this demand (to bomb the Auschwitz extermination facilities) to the Allies. No answer could be obtained from them. Ben Gurion and Sharett even evaded appearing before the court to explain the lack of any significant action. Only after four years, in the case against Eichmann, did the Jewish Agency, in anticipation of further embarrassing difficulties, bring documents before the court on its own initiative, testifying that pleas were brought to the British Government on the subject of bombing Auschwitz. What a wonder! So many years nothing was known of these documents and suddenly they were discovered in the archives of the Jewish Agency! But now, also, Ben Gurion and Sharett refrained from giving oral explanations to the court, and the public prosecutor twisted and turned, with amazing virtuosity, so as not to need them." (69)

It is legitimate, though few have dared to do so, to ask why the Zionist movement did nothing to help the heroic ghetto revolts and the desperate attempts to organise resistance even in the extermination camps, and why it did very little to help the Jews of Europe generally, with the exception of organising emigration facilities for its own members. Did the Zionist leadership not know that the East European Jews were being exterminated?

According to the well-known Zionist writer Micahael Elkins, one victim named Moshe Podhlebnik miraculously escaped death and managed to flee from Chelmno, the first gas chamber extermination centre, and carry word of what was happening to the outside world as early as 18 December 1941. "Early in August 1942 an agent of the World Jewish Congress in Switzerland named Gerhard Riegner brought a report to the American Legation in Berne" based on the evidence of Podhlebnik and others. The Legation reported on 17 August to the State Department that there was a plan for all Jews under Nazi rule to "be at one blow exterminated." (70) So at least by that date, the Zionist movement outside Nazi-held territories knew what was going on.

Did the Zionist movement lack the resources to help the beleaguered Jews? This is hardly credible. Zionism was then the only Jewish movement organised on a world-wide basis, with financial resources and influential contacts in positions of power throughout the Western world. It should not be forgotten that 1942 was the year of the Biltmore Programme, which marked the establishment of decisive Zionist influence over policy in the United States.



The Biltmore Program. May 1942
The conference was comprised of lobbying Jewish Americans and
American Zionists who called for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.
The program did not have the support of the U.S. administration, as
President Roosevelt was worried about Arab oil supplies during the war.
In the 1944 presidential campaigns, both Democrat and Republican
election platforms endorsed the Biltmore Program. This set the stage for
the post-war U.S. policy.
www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=824713
more information — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biltmore_Conference


Surely Zionism was not too weak to help the oppressed European Jews, particularly when we recall that as soon as World War Two ended, "from Haganah, the Jewish underground army in Palestine, a hundred agents filtered into Europe" to transport the surviving Jews to Palestine to swell Zionist manpower. But by then, an estimated six million victims had been slaughtered. The Zionist intelligence organisation Mossad "had thrown a Haganah network over Europe from Constantza on the Black Sea to the tiny Port de Bouc at the tip of France's Mediterranean coast and there was little that a Jew could meaningfully do in all those thousands of miles that escaped their notices." (71) Where had these resources been when the Jews of Europe were being slaughtered in their millions?

Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first President of the Israeli state, indicated as early as 1937 that he had a good idea of what the fate of Europe's Jews might be, and also declared unambiguously what official Zionist policy would be towards them. "The hopes of Europe's six million Jews are centered on emigration", he stated, "I was asked: 'Can you bring six million Jews to Palestine?' I replied, 'No'...From the depths of the tragedy I want to save two million young people...The old ones will pass. They will bear their fate or they will not. They were dust, economic and moral dust in a cruel world...Only the branch of young shall survive...They have to accept it." (72)



President Truman with Dr. Chaim Weizmann. May 25, 1948
www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/israelphotos.php


The Zionists were indeed single-minded. Their one concern was securing their goal of a state in Palestine. One of their leaders, Yitzhak Greenbaum, who was appointed Chairman of a committee that the Zionists set up supposedly for the rescue of European Jewry, stated that nothing, not even the rescue of European Jewry, should be allowed to obscure that goal. In his words, "when they come to us with two plans — the rescue of the masses of Jews in Europe or the redemption of the land — I vote, without a second thought, for the redemption of the land. The more said about the slaughter of our people, the greater the minimisation of our efforts to strengthen and promote the Hebraisation of the land. If there would be a possibility today of buying packages of food (for starving Jews under Nazi rule) with the money of the Keren Hayesod (United Jewish Appeal) to send it through Lisbon, would we do such a thing? No! And once again no!" (73) It is strange that few people asked whether a man who voiced such sentiments was the right man to head a body whose theoretical function was rescue work.



Yitzhak Greenbaum
www.dieweltderwahrheit.de/0BB/SOS/TheRothschildHorrorPictureshow/Eng/11-20PagesSOS/SOS11MeinKampf.htm


Interestingly enough, Yitzhak Greenbaum's son Eliezer was a notorious collaborator with the Nazis of Auschwitz. The Jewish Author K. Tzetnik, in his book "Call Him Feifel", referred to Eliezer Greenbaum (whom he called Fruchtenbaum in the book) who, thanks to his tactics of acting as informant and displaying cruelty — to an extent which amazed even the Germans — was elevated to the rank of the bloc commander." (74)


REFERENCES for Chapter Six

67. Tenenbaum, op. cit., p. 381.
68. Letter to the Times, 6 June 1961.
69. Shonfeld, op. cit., pp. 63–65.
70. Elkins, op. cit., pp. 59, 166.
71. Ibid., pp. 197, 237.
72. Statement to Zionist convention in London, August 1937.
73. Speech on "The Diaspora and the Redemption", Tel-Aviv, February 1943.
74. Shofeld, op. cit., p. 21.

................

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

By Faris Glubb
© 1979


www.amazon.com/Zionist-Relations-Germany-Faris-Glubb/dp/0911026118


These are links to each corresponding chapter:

ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One — The Early Zionist Attitude to Anti-Semitism
Chapter Two — The Common Ground Between Zionism and Nazism
Chapter Three — The Ha'avara Agreements
Chapter Four — The 1938 Emigration Accords
Chapter Five — The Ghetto Revolts
Chapter Six — Zionist Policy on the Holocaust
Chapter Seven — Kastner and the Hungarian Jews
Chapter Eight — The Concealment of Evidence
Chapter Nine — The Irgun and Nazism
Chapter Ten — Assessment of Zionist Policy towards Nazism

Introduction

Despite the appearance of large numbers of books on Nazi Germany's barbaric treatment of the European Jews, there is widespread public ignorance on one important aspect of this question: the relationship between the Zionist movement and Nazi Germany. The information on this subject is available, but has not yet been gathered together in a single comprehensive study.

(Note: You may also refer to 51 Documents of Zionist Collaboration With The Nazis edited by Lenni Brenner and A Threat From Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism by Yakov M. Rabkin.) This study is intended, at least partially, to remedy this deficiency.

Owing to the delicate nature of this subject, and the Zionist tendency to brand any non-Zionist or anti-Zionist viewpoint as "anti-Semitic", all the material on Zionist-Nazi relations in this study is taken from exclusively Jewish sources. The writers quoted cover a wide spectrum of views, from extreme Zionist to anti-Zionist, with various shades in between. The reader will thus be able to form an accurate and objective opinion on the basis of evidence presented by leading Jewish historians.

—Faris Glubb in his Introduction to ZIONIST RELATIONS WITH NAZI GERMANY[/blockquote][/b]

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit. [/quote]

[ninathedog]

Israel holds drill for next
Gaza-bound flotilla

Associated Press — Wed Jun 15, 4:51 am ET

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says it's holding a drill ahead of the next Gaza-bound flotilla with pro-Palestinian activists who could try to breach Israel's naval blockade of the territory.

Last year, an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla left nine activists dead and propelled the blockade controversy to center stage of international politics. Israel said its soldiers were defending themselves.

A military spokeswoman would not provide details of the drill under way Wednesday.

Israel's Army Radio says commandoes were practicing the takeover of a ship and that troops have been trained to board vessels more quickly than they did last year to minimize any violent confrontations.

The flotilla is to depart at the end of June from various European ports.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_blockade

[ninathedog]

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1412

Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:21 pm (PDT)

***Occupied Palestine and Israel: News and Articles*

*News*
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
*International Middle East Media Center* <http://imemc. org/>

*Israeli troops attack anti-Wall protest near Ramallah, injuring seven*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61455>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 23:06, According to local sources,
Israeli forces attacked a non-violent action by Palestinian men, women
and children trying to block Israeli bulldozers from bulldozing their
farmland and orchards on Wednesday.

*Report: Palestinians spend high percentage of income on basic
necessities* <http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61453>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 16:36, A new report by the Palestinian
Central Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Palestinians spend more
than one third of their income on foodstuffs and only 1.5% on recreation
and 3% on personal care.

*Conflicting Reports On Syria's Involvement In Border Clashes During
Nakba and Naksa Day* <http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61452>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 15:37, The UN Disengagement Force have
reported their findings that Syria allowed Palestinian Refugees access
to the Syria-Israeli occupied Golan border. The report also concluded
however that Syrian officials did not organise the protests, according
to AFP.

*Turkish Group Reconsiders Its Role In Freedom Flotilla 2*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61451>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 12:49, The Turkish organisation IHH
has said it is reconsidering its participation in the planned "Freedom
Flotilla 2" set to sail for Gaza on June 27th.

*Netanyahu Seeks To Form Block Of 30 To Counter To Palestinian UN Bid*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61449>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 11:57, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has declared his intent to create a block of 30 to 50
countries against the Palestinian move to declare statehood in the
United Nations in September.

*Israel Readies To Attack Freedom Flotilla 2*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61448>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 11:27, Israeli media sources reported
Wednesday that the Israeli army and the navy are intensifying their
training and preparing plans to intercept and attack the Freedom
Flotilla 2 should it try to reach the Gaza Coast to deliver humanitarian
supplies.

*Israeli troops invade Nablus area, abduct 8 Palestinians*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 61447>
IMEMC - Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 11:12, According to local sources,
several squadrons of Israeli soldiers invaded the Nablus region at
around 2:30 am Wednesday morning, abducting 8 Palestinians from their homes.

*Ma'an News* <http://maannews. net/en/>

*7 hurt at protest against land confiscation near Ramallah*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396986>
6/15/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) - Seven Palestinians were injured,
including two critically, Wednesday after an anti-wall protest turned
into clashes between Israeli soldiers and young Palestinians in Deir
Qaddis, west of Ramallah. A rally headed from the village to obstruct
Israeli bulldozers digging up private lands for the separation wall, a
Ma'an correspondent reported....

*Demolition orders handed to farmers*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396377>
6/15/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's Civil Administration handed out
demolition orders to three farmers in the northern West Bank on Tuesday,
warning them that bulldozers would shortly arrive to demolish their
greenhouses and farm buildings. Officials from the agricultural village
of Majdal in the Nablus region said water collecting buckets and plastic
tenting....

*Red Cross: Gaza medicine crisis needs attention*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396789>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza medication crisis is "enormous
and needs concentrated efforts" to see its resolution,Red Cross official
Omer Ferry said Wednesday. Ferry said the organization would continue
supporting the health sector in any way it could, but called on the
Palestinian Ministry of Health to look seriously at the problem....
Related:Doctors and nurses in Gaza protest medicine shortages
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397052>

*Gaza suffers gas shortage after pump breaks at crossing*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396994>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) - The Gaza Strip has been suffering from
shortages of domestic-use gas for three days due to a technical fault in
the gas pump at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Mahmoud Ash-Shawwa, head of
the association of gas station owners, said Wednesday that "the
infrastructure at Kerem Shalom crossing is inappropriate. There....

*10 Palestinians detained from West Bank overnight*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396781>
6/15/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained 10 Palestinians
overnight, security officials and witnesses said. Palestinian officials
said five were detained in the north after soldiers entered the villages
of Beit Dajan and Einabus and carried out house-to-house searches. Local
sources told Ma'an that soldiers entered both villages at 2:30 a. m....

*UN: Syrian forces let Palestinians cross ceasefire line*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397036>
6/15/2011 - UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- Syrian forces stood by as
Palestinian demonstrators crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan
heights, a report by the UN said Wednesday. At least 27 people were
killed as Israeli forces opened fire on the demonstrations, which took
on May 15 and June 5. Palestinian leaders are "furious that their people
were....

*Doctors and nurses in Gaza protest medicine shortages*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397052>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -Doctors and nurses organized a rally
Wednesday in front of Red Cross offices in Gaza City to protest the lack
of medical supplies in the coastal enclave. Representatives from
different Palestinian factions joined the demonstrations as protesters
held posters appealing to the international community and the
Palestinian Authority to help.... Related:Red Cross: Gaza medicine
crisis needs attention
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396789>

*Egyptian police seize Gaza arms dealers*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396922>
6/15/2011 - EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian police in the northern
Sinai said officers had arresteda ring of Palestinian arms dealers on
Wednesday who were preparing bring a shipment of automatic weapons, flak
jackets and night vision goggles into Gaza. An Egyptian fixer working
alongside the three arms dealers was also detained, director of the
Sinai....

*Israel: Lebanon should respect laws, borders*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397030>
6/15/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel hopes that Lebanon's new
government will respect international law and borders and contribute to
regional stability, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
After five months of negotiations, Lebanon announced a new government on
Tuesday, with Hezbollah and its allies dominating the line-up." Israel
hopes that the new Lebanese government.. ..

*Haniyeh: Coming talks will put hard issues to rest*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396918>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told
Palestinian high school students on Wednesday that the upcoming week of
talks between Hamas and Fatah leaders in Cairo will put to rest all
outstanding feuds between the parties."The suspended issues will be
tackled, success will prevail," Haniyeh said during a tour of....

*Report: Palestinian prisoners in Israel use Facebook*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397053>
6/15/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) - Trying to show that Palestinian
prisoners in Israel's custody enjoy VIP treatment, the Israeli daily
Maariv published Wednesday a report by Amit Cohen who monitored the
Facebook accounts of some prisoners. Maariv says that a Hamas-affiliated
prisoner, Haytham Battat, uploaded on his Facebook page three weeks ago
a short....

*Report: Israel tells EU of plan to stop UN bid*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396758>
6/15/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu told the EU president Tuesday that Israeli diplomats would try
to convince 30 UN member states to vote against a Palestinian bid for
recognition of statehood. During a meeting with European Parliament
President Jerzy Buzek in Jerusalem, Netanyahu revealed that he hoped to
"balance out....

*EU's Ashton due in Mideast to relaunch peace process*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397039>
6/15/2011 - BRUSSELS (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton
plans to fly to Israel and the Palestinian territories this week with
hopes of relaunch the peace process, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
Ashton is said to be hoping for a swift Quartet meeting." The principle
of a visit had been decided, the details are still being worked....

*Fatah denies claims of unrest after Dahlan ouster*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396937>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The office of Fatah leader Nabil
Sha'ath denied Wednesday claims on Facebook and Palestinian internet
forums that the leader's home had been torched by mobs of "angry Fatah
members." According to the statement, members of several online forums
said that "angry Fatah adherents burned the house....

*250 trucks of goods allowed into Gaza*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396768>
6/15/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli officials approved the
transport of 250-260 truckloads of goods and humanitarian aid into the
Gaza Strip via the sole commercial crossing between Israel and the
coastal enclave. The goods will be imported Wednesday via the Kerem
Shalom terminal in southern Gaza. Palestinian official Raed Fattouh said
they will....

*Analysis: Even democracy can be scary*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396731>
6/15/2011 - Nidal Alayasa - As the face of the Arab world changed, and
still changes, before our eyes, it is inevitable that observers get
caught up in the most recent revolution. As noble and important as the
revolutions against the antiquated Arab regimes have been, none comes
close to the magnitude and significance of the regime change....

*89,000 Palestinian students to take Tawjihi exam*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396870>
6/15/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Approximately 89,000 Palestinian
students sat for the first session of the General Secondary Certificate,
or Tawjihi, in the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday. Education Minister
Lamis Al-Alami said that of the 88,768 registered test takers, 52
percent were women. Of the total number of students, 52,367 were from
the West....

*Jordanian protesters demand AFP office closure*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396895>
6/15/2011 - AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) -- Some 300 Jordanians demonstrated on
Tuesday outside AFP's offices in Amman, calling for the bureau's closure
after a report that King Abdullah's motorcade was attacked with stones.
A security official had told AFP on Monday that "(the rear) part of King
Abdullah's motorcade was.... Related:Attackers raid AFP offices in
Jordanian capital <http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397061>

*Egyptian security detain African 'infiltrator' *
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397024>
6/15/2011 - EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian border police forces
detained on Wednesday a Sudanese migrant attempting to cross the borders
with Israel, Egyptian security sources told Ma'an. The sources said
police officers spotted an African migrant trying to infiltrate through
the border fence between Egypt and Israel in Sinai about 2 kilometers to....

*Syrian officials show new mass grave in protest town*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397029>
6/15/2011 - JISR AL-SHUGHUR, Syria (AFP) -- Syrian authorities on
Wednesday showed journalists a "new mass grave," containing at least
five corpses, buried near the flashpoint northern town of Jisr
al-Shughur. The remains, which lay under a pile of rubbish, had been
placed in yellow and orange body bags, an AFP reporter who was taken to
the site....

*Syria launches media offensive as outcry grows*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397031>
6/15/2011 - JISR AL-SHUGUR, Syria (AFP) -- Syrian authorities launched a
media offensive on Wednesday in the face of a mounting outcry over its
deadly crackdown on dissent, taking journalists on an escorted tour of a
key protest hub and staging a loyalist rally. Government minders showed
a group of 20 journalists, including an AFP correspondent, a grave....

*Attackers raid AFP offices in Jordanian capital*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397061>
6/15/2011 - AMMAN (AFP) - Ten men broke into AFP's offices in the
Jordanian capital on Wednesday and destroyed furniture and office
equipment. Two days earlier the news agency was among several foreign
media outlets to report that King Abdullah's motorcade had been stoned."
Ten men armed with sticks broke into the office and....
Related:Jordanian protesters demand AFP office closure
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396895>

*Islamic Development Bank to loan Egypt $2.5 billion*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=397068>
6/15/2011 - CAIRO (AFP) -- The Islamic Development Bank said Wednesday
that it will grant Egypt a $2. 5 billion loan to finance infrastructure
projects and strengthen imports and exports. Egypt has been struggling
to put its economy back on track after a popular uprising toppled
president Hosni Mubarak in February. The three year package will
contribute to....

*Palestine Note* <http://palestinenot e.com/cs/>

*Which Summer for the Arab Spring?*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ blogs/archive/ 2011/06/15/ which-summer- for-the-arab- spring.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Washington
Note - Six months will have passed since a destitute Tunisian
countryside street vendor set himself on fire in an absolute gesture of
desperation triggering a wave of uprisings in the Arab world. In that
relatively.. .

*Demolition orders handed to farmers*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ demolition- orders-handed- to-farmers. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an - Israel's Civil Administration
handed out demolition orders to three farmers in the northern West Bank
on Tuesday, warning them that bulldozers would shortly arrive to
demolish their greenhouses and farm buildings. Officials from the
agricultural village of Majdal...

*89,000 Palestinian students to take Tawjihi, secondary school
qualification, exam*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ 89-000-palestini an-students- to-take-tawjihi- secondary- school-qualifica tion-exam. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an - Approximately 89,000 Palestinian
students sat for the first session of the General Secondary Certificate,
or Tawjihi, in the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday. Education Minister
Lamis Al-Alami said that of the 88,768 registered test takers, 52 percent...

*Egyptian police seize Gaza arms dealers*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ egyptian- police-seize- gaza-arms- dealers.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an - Egyptian police in the northern
Sinai said officers had arrested a ring of Palestinian arms dealers on
Wednesday who were preparing bring a shipment of automatic weapons, flak
jackets and night vision goggles into Gaza. An Egyptian fixer...

*Eastern Europe emerges as battleground in rift over Palestinian
statehood*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ eastern-europe- emerges-as- battleground- in-rift-over- palestinian- statehood. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Washington Post - Warsaw and Prague might
seem like unlikely battlegrounds in the Middle East conflict. Yet it
suddenly matters --- a lot --- whether Poles, Czechs and others in the
region align themselves with the Israelis or Palestinians. Their...

*Turkish organization may cancel Gaza flotilla as IDF prepares at sea*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ turkish-organiza tion-may- cancel-gaza- flotilla- as-idf-prepares- at-sea.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Haaretz - The Turkish organization IHH
(Humanitarian Relief Foundation) is considering the cancelation of the
Gaza flotilla due to the tensions along the Syrian-Turkish border,
Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported Wednesday. "We are reconsidering
our plans. We cannot close our eyes...

*UN chief renews mandate for Golan peacekeeping force due to border
tension*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ un-chief- renews-mandate- for-golan- peacekeeping- force-due- to-border- tension.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Haaretz - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
asked the Security Council on Tuesday to maintain a peacekeeping force
in the Golan Heights because of the volatile situation in the Middle
East. Ban asked the council to extend for another six...

*Arab League issues first condemnation of Syria violence*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ arab-league- issues-first- condemnation- of-syria- violence. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - The Guardian - The Arab League has publicly
criticised the violence in Syria for the first time, saying Arab states
are "angry and actively monitoring" the crisis. The comments from the
outgoing secretary general, Amr Moussa, drew a bitter response...

*Israel police train for mass Palestinian protests*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ israel-police- train-for- mass-palestinian -protests. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an - Hundreds of Israeli police are
taking part in a training exercise in preparation for potentially
large-scale Palestinian protests in September, a police spokesman said
Tuesday. "There's an exercise that the police are carrying out ... in
order to deal...

*Hamas, Fatah Call On Top Leaders in Cairo*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ topnews/archive/ 2011/06/15/ hamas-fatah- call-on-top- leaders-in- cairo.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Still no agreement on who will lead unity
government Los Angeles Times - Unable to agree on who will run the new
Palestinian national unity government, the secular Fatah movement and
the Islamist Hamas, two bitter rivals for years, decided...

*Ousted Dahlan speaks out on Facebook page*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ ousted-dahlan- speaks-out- on-facebook- page.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an- Ousted Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan
has dismissed "the charges against him" on his Facebook page. In a
series of three videos posted days before Fatah's Sunday night decision
to expel the official from the party, Dahlan revealed information about...

*Israeli police arrest 4 settlers in West Bank*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ israeli-police- arrest-4- settlers- in-west-bank. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an- Israeli police arrested four Israeli
settlers in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar on Monday, accusing them
of "attacks on public order," a police spokeswoman said. Among those
detained was a minor suspected of setting fire to Palestinian property,...

*Hip-hop the soundtrack of the Arab spring?*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ blogs/archive/ 2011/06/15/ hip-hop-the- soundtrack- of-the-arab- spring.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Rose Hackman, Common Ground - Behind the
scenes of the Arab spring since late 2010, hip-hop with a political
twist has become a soundtrack to pro-democracy movements across the
Middle East and North Africa. It may come as a surprise...

*Mosque, school handed demolition orders*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ mosque-school- handed-demolitio n-orders. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an- Israel handed out demolition orders
for a mosque and public school in the village of Bruqin on Sunday,
prompting immediate condemnation from Palestinian leaders. Palestinian
political leader Mustafa Barghouthi described the Israeli actions as
"criminal" on a visit to...

*PA forces shut down Hamas sit-in*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ pa-forces- shut-down- hamas-sit- in.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an- Palestinian Authority security
forces on Monday shut down a sit-in demonstration organized by Hamas
affiliates in the West Bank city of Nablus. The demonstration was called
to protest the Fatah-led PA's ongoing detentions of Hamas members, and
to demand...

*Medicine delivered to Gaza amid hospital crisis*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ medicine- delivered- to-gaza-amid- hospital- crisis.aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Ma'an- Israeli Civil Administration
officials said Monday that 19 trucks of medicine were transferred to the
Gaza Strip as doctors warned that the enclave's health sector was on the
verge of collapse. Palestinian Authority Health Minister Fathi Abu
Moghli said...

*Hamas Turns on Fatah*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ news/archive/ 2011/06/15/ hamas-turns- on-fatah. aspx>
Palestine Note 15 Jun 2011 - Jonathan Schanzer, The National Interest-
"Bukra fil mishmish," in Arabic vernacular, literally means "Tomorrow,
the apricots." What it really means is "it will never happen." The
window for harvesting apricots is so tight that if one puts it off for...

*AlJazeera* <http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/>

*Obama resists pressure over Libya campaign*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ americas/ 2011/06/20116152 2553379782. html>
AlJazeera 15 Jun 2011 - Ten members of Congress file suit against Obama
for committing US forces to Libya without congressional authorisation.

**
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ americas/ 2011/06/20116152 22728764492. html>*Libyan
rebels wrest western mountain villages*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ africa/2011/ 06/2011615207285 73533.html>
AlJazeera 15 Jun 2011 - Opposition continues to edge closer to capital,
Tripoli, capturing two villages despite shelling by pro-Gaddafi forces.

*Syrians flee imminent assault on town*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/06/20116155 01460629. html>
AlJazeera 15 Jun 2011 - Tanks surround Maarat al-Numan ahead of military
offensive, prompting an exodus of residents from the northern town.

**
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ asia-pacific/ 2011/06/20116151 1629677417. html>*'Al-Qaeda'
fighters attack Yemeni town*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/06/20116159 3417906433. html>
AlJazeera 15 Jun 2011 - At least two killed and five wounded in fierce
fighting between attackers and security forces in southern town of Huta.

*Egypt's military council lifts nightly curfew*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/video/ middleeast/ 2011/06/20116156 3513344977. html>
AlJazeera 15 Jun 2011 - Measure imposed during protests against
government of Hosni Mubarak is lifted.

*Palestine News Network* <http://english. pnn.ps/>

*Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation Starts "Know Thy Heritage"
Campaign for ...*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10240& Itemid=56>
PNN - Bethlehem - PNN - The Holy Land Ecumenical Christian Foundation
and its partners started the Know Thy Heritage Project, aimed at
Palestinian youth in diaspora by organizing yearly visits for youth
groups...

*UNRWA Official Visits PNN*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10239& Itemid=72>
PNN - Bethlehem - PNN - As part of her visit to the Palestine News
Network, Ilona Kassissieh, UNRWA Public Affairs Official, met with PNN's
director, Dafar Kassis and Munjid Gadou, PNN's editor-in-chief, and...

*Turkish IHH Organizer to PNN: Mavi Marmara Could still be Part of the
Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10238& Itemid=56>
PNN - Ghassan Bannoura -- PNN Exclusive -- As the Israeli Navy announced
exercises to counter the international Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2, Izat
Shaheen, organizer from the Turkish IHH (Humanitarian Relief
Foundation), told PNN...

*Israeli Jerusalem Municipality Plans 7900 Settler Homes in the City*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10236& Itemid=56>
PNN - Jerusalem - PNN - The Israeli human rights group, Ir Amim,
announced in a press release today that the Israeli municipality of
Jerusalem has discussed plans to build 7900 settler homes in...

*Document Supposedly Shows Syrian Responsibility for Nakba Protests*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10235& Itemid=61>
PNN - Damascus - PNN - The Syrian government was the organiser behind
the Golan Heights raids by Palestinians on Nakba Day, 15 May 2011,
according to a letter received by Telegraph blogger Michael...

*Fatah Official: New Government Next Tuesday*
<http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=10234& Itemid=56>
PNN - Bethlehem - PNN - Member of the Fatah central committee and head
of internal dialogue, Azzam al-Ahmad, announced today that the new
Palestinian government will see light next Tuesday. According to
al-Ahmad,...

**
<http://www.pchrgaza .org/portal/ en/index. php?option= com_content& view=article& id=7503:pchr- condemns- the-use-of- force-to- disperse- a-peaceful- assembly- in-nablus- and-the-attack- on-plc-member- muna-mansour- &catid=36: pchrpressrelease s&Itemid= 194>*
**International Solidarity Movement* <http://palsolidarit y.org/>

*Napalm Death: don't turn your backs on Israeli apartheid*
<http://palsolidarit y.org/2011/ 06/18878/>
6/15/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Palestinian Youth
Against Israeli Apartheid (PYAIA) and Palestinian Students' Campaign for
the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI) - Dear Mark "Barney" Greenway,
Shane Embury, Danny Herrera, & Mitch Harris of Napalm Death, We are
Palestinian students and youth based in Gaza, among 1. 5 million in a
tiny Strip of land the size of Britain.... Related:Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
<http://www.pacbi. org/>andCoalition Against Israeli Apartheid
<http://www.caiaweb. org/>

*Two protesters injured by live ammo in Deir Qaddis*
<http://palsolidarit y.org/2011/ 06/18884/>
6/15/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - Popular Struggle
Coordination Committee - Demonstrators disrupted construction of a new
neighborhood in the adjacent settlement of Nili. Israeli soldiers
responded with baton charges, tear-gas, rubber-coated bullets and live
ammunition. One organizer was arrested. Two Palestinian youths in their
twenties were hit by live ammunition today, during a demo against
settlement expansion in the village of.... Related:Popular Struggle
Coordination Committee <http://popularstrug gle.org/>

*Biddu holds an unarmed demonstration*
<http://palsolidarit y.org/2011/ 06/18890/>
6/15/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - 10 June 2011, Popular
Struggle Coordination Committee - The village of Biddu held a
demonstration this week demanding access to their farmlands and a end to
the Separation Wall in their village. In 2004, four demonstrators were
shot dead by live ammunition in a similar demonstration. Roughly 50
people gathered near an Israeli placed gate at.... Related:Popular
Struggle Coordination Committee <http://popularstrug gle.org/>

*Relief Web*
<http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ rwb.nsf/doc106? OpenForm& emid=ACOS- 635PFR&rc= 3>

*EU High Representative Ashton visits Jordan, Egypt, Israel and
Palestine* <http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420363>
Relief Web 15 Jun 2011 - Source: European Union Country: Egypt , Israel
, Jordan , Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (the) , occupied Palestinian territory
Summary: 15 June, Brussels - Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative
for Foreign Affairs and European Commission Vice President, travels this
week to Jordan, Egypt, Israel and...

*Israeli troops shoot two Palestinians in West Bank*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420358>
Relief Web 15 Jun 2011 - Source: Agence France-Presse Country: occupied
Palestinian territory DEIR QADDIS, Palestinian Territories --- Israeli
troops fired on stone-throwing Palestinians on Wednesday, wounding two,
while two soldiers were also hurt in the West Bank clash, the army and
Palestinians said. The rare...

*Summer Games to provide "normality" in Gaza*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420277>
Relief Web 15 Jun 2011 - Source: UN Radio Country: occupied Palestinian
territory Listen to the News Two hundred and fifty thousand children in
the Gaza Strip are expected to take part in the annual Gaza Summer games
which begin on Wednesday. The six-week long games...

*Human rights education with a difference in Jordan*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420268>
Relief Web 15 Jun 2011 - Source: UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East Country: Jordan , occupied
Palestinian territory It was human rights education with a difference in
Irbid city in northern Jordan in late May. More than 70 students from...

*Human Rights Council holds General debate on Human Rights situation in
Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420184>
Relief Web 15 Jun 2011 - Source: UN Human Rights Council Country: Israel
, occupied Palestinian territory , Turkey Human Rights Council MORNING
14 June 2011 The Human Rights Council this morning held a general debate
on the human rights situation in Palestine and other Occupied Arab
Territories. ..

*OPT: The Monthly Humanitarian Monitor, May 2011*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 420122>
Relief Web 14 Jun 2011 - Source: UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs Country: Egypt , Israel , occupied Palestinian
territory May Overview May witnessed the highest number of Palestinians
injured (319) during demonstrations and clashes in the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt) since March 2010. The...

*Palestine Telegraph* <http://paltelegraph .com/>

*Israel detains five Palestinians in WB*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 9433-israel- detains-five- palestinians- in-wb.html>
15 Jun 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Five Palestinian citizens
including a lawyer were detained by Israeli forces after raiding and
searching their homes in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tubas .

*Israel to demolish Palestinian mosque in Bethlehem*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 9432-israel- to-demolish- palestinian- mosque-in- bethlehem. html>
15 Jun 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli occupation forces
handed Palestinian citizens a military order for demolishing a mosque in
the village of al-Masara in the south of Bethlehem.

*Israel prepares to attack Gaza aid flotilla 2*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ gaza-strip/ 9431-israel- prepares- to-attack- gaza-aid- flotilla- 2.html>
15 Jun 2011 - Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli naval forces conducted
Wednesday military trainings in order to stop the movement of the
freedom flotilla 2 during its journey to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

*The National* <http://thenational. ae/section/ FOREIGN?profile= 1011>

*Independent new trade unions in Egypt clash with Mubarak old guard*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ independent- new-trade- unions-in- egypt-clash- with-mubarak- old-guard>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - The long-established Egyptian Trade Union
Federation (ETUF) claims the upstart Egyptian Federation for Independent
Unions (EFIU) is 'a Zionist conspiracy", while the EFIU says its rival
is 'run by a group of old men who serve whatever political power is
convenient.'

*Saudi feminists unafraid of breaking driving ban*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ saudi-feminists- unafraid- of-breaking- driving-ban>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - 'Women2Drive' campaign will see women get
behind the wheel and keep going 'until a royal decree allowing women to
drive is issued' in the kingdom, the only country in the world where
women face such a ban.

*Arab Spring is 'threat to Christians' says UK archbishop*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ arab-spring- is-threat- to-christians- says-uk-archbish op>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - Archbishop of Canterbury, head of Anglican
church, warns of extremism risk and says vacuum left by ousted regimes
has led to 'anxious times' with some Christian groups subject to 'ethnic
cleansing'.

*'Plotters based in Saudi fed us false news stories', Bahrain opposition
editor tells court*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ plotters- based-in- saudi-fed- us-false- news-stories- bahrain-oppositi on-editor- tells-court>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - Mansoor al Jamri of Al Wasat newspaper,
charged with publishing false news stories, says fabricated descriptions
of crackdowns by authorities, came from an internet address in Saudi
Arabia and were written in a way that did not raise suspicions.

*Militants seize parts of Yemen city in 'show of power'*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ militants- seize-parts- of-yemen- city-in-show- of-power>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - One soldier is killed as neighbourhoods in
Houta, the capital of Lahj province, were seized for 12 hours by up to
200 militants believed to include al Qa'eda members.

*Syria troops move in to volatile Sunni eastern province*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ syria-troops- move-in-to- volatile- sunni-eastern- province>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - Assad forces move to quell protests on border
with Iraq in province ¿boiling away¿ with anti-regime sentiment.

*Hamas peacemaker's new softer stance treads a risky path*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ hamas-peacemaker s-new-softer- stance-treads- a-risky-path>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - Khaled Meshaal's overtures to Fatah, a
calibrated gamble to soften the Islamists' image could backfire,
analysts say, if his efforts fail to unify Palestinians or gain
international acknowledgment.

*Israeli navy practises boarding ships in readiness for Gaza flotilla*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ israeli-navy- practises- boarding- ships-in- readiness- for-gaza- flotilla>
The National 15 Jun 2011 - The exercise appeared aimed at avoiding the
killing of any of the passengers in the flotilla in case the commandos
are ordered to board the ships to stop them from heading to Gaza to
break Israel's naval siege of the Palestinian enclave.

*Ha'aretz* <http://haaretz. com/>

*Gaza flotilla still set to sail, with or without IHH*
<http://www.haaretz. com/print- edition/news/ gaza-flotilla- still-set- to-sail-with- or-without- ihh-1.367951>
Ha'aretz - Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation expected to make final
decision on whether or not to participate over next day or two.

*U.S. envoys return to Mideast in bid to renew Israeli-Palestinian
talks*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/u- s-envoys- return-to- mideast-in- bid-to-renew- israeli-palestin ian-talks- 1.367940>
Ha'aretz - First big challenge for Dennis Ross and David Hale is to
entice Palestinians away from their bid for unilateral recognition of a
Palestinian state at the UN.

*Livni: Netanyahu calling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict insoluble
buries chances for peace*
<http://www.haaretz. com/print- edition/news/ livni-netanyahu- calling-the- israeli-palestin ian-conflict- insoluble- buries-chances- for-peace- 1.367947>
Ha'aretz - Opposition head, U.S. official reject PM's statement to
Haaretz that there is no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
Tzipi Livni chides Netanyahu, saying 'Who are you to bury the chances of
a deal and of normal life?'

*Iran successfully launches second satellite into orbit*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ international/ iran-successfull y-launches- second-satellite -into-orbit- 1.367922>
Ha'aretz - U.S. and allies fear Iran's long-range ballistic technology
used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads.

*Egypt prosecutor investigates suspected Israeli spy*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/egypt- prosecutor- investigates- suspected- israeli-spy- 1.367923>
Ha'aretz - Ilan Grapel, arrested by Egypt for allegedly spying on behalf
of Israel, is being investigated along with six other people who have
alleged links to him.

*European Parliament: East Jerusalem should be Palestinian capital*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/european -parliament- east-jerusalem- should-be- palestinian- capital-1. 367891>
Ha'aretz - In a speech before the Knesset, European Parliament President
Jerzy Buzek said he backs Obama's peace plan, and that negotiations are
the 'only solution.'

*Turkish organization may cancel Gaza flotilla as IDF prepares at sea*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/turkish- organization- may-cancel- gaza-flotilla- as-idf-prepares- at-sea-1. 367858>
Ha'aretz - The IHH cited tension along the Turkish-Syrian border as the
reason it may not set sail to the Gaza Strip later this month; IDF
conducts large naval drill in preparation.

*Netanyahu: Unilateral declaration of Palestinian state will create
negotiation impasse*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/netanyah u-unilateral- declaration- of-palestinian- state-will- create-negotiati on-impasse- 1.367821>
Ha'aretz - Prime Minister Benjamin meets with President of EU Parliament
Jerzy Buzek in Jerusalem; Buzek calls on Natanyahu to renew talks with
Palestinians.

*UN chief renews mandate for Golan peacekeeping force due to border
tension*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/un- chief-renews- mandate-for- golan-peacekeepi ng-force- due-to-border- tension-1. 367670>
Ha'aretz - UNDOF was first deployed in 1974 to monitor a ceasefire
between Israel and Syria; Ban Ki-moon asks for extension for the force
due to the volatile situation in the Mideast.

*Report: Suspected Israeli spy arrested in Egypt was traveling to Libya*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/report- suspected- israeli-spy- arrested- in-egypt- was-traveling- to-libya- 1.367596>
Ha'aretz - Egyptian prosecution is claiming that American-Israeli Ilan
Grapel met with several Europeans in southern Egypt before traveling to
Cairo upon Mubarak's resignation, al-Ahram reports.

*FM Lieberman: EU peace efforts in Mideast are 'naive'*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/fm- lieberman- eu-peace- efforts-in- mideast-are- naive-1.367595>
Ha'aretz - Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responds to the new EU
plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, telling Army Radio the
world should instead focus on events in the Arab world.

*UN study: Gaza unemployment rate remains among the worst in the world*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/un- study-gaza- unemployment- rate-remains- among-the- worst-in- the-world- 1.367580>
Ha'aretz - UNRWA report says 45.2 percent of Gazans in working age are
unemployed, dropping more than 5,900 jobs to 190,365 in the second half
of 2010.

*Jerusalem Post* <http://jpost. com/>

*The death of an Italian marrano*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Columnists/ Article.aspx? ID=225202& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 16 Jun 2011 - Fundamentally Freund: The passing of
Avraham Zecchillo, a proud descendant of Bnei Anusim, who for years
cared for his city's local synagogue which dates back over 750 years, is
a tragic blow to Italy's Jewish community.

*10 days, 10 months*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Op-EdContributor s/Article. aspx?ID=225201& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 16 Jun 2011 - While Birthright may scream the loudest,
there are also programs for young Jews that through the layers of
complexity and look at Israeli society through a magnifying glass,
rather than rose-colored Ray-Bans.

*A (confused) Yankee in Abraham's desert*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Op-EdContributor s/Article. aspx?ID=225200& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 16 Jun 2011 - Lesson 1: Israelis don't need you as much
as you think

*J'lem resident arrested for deadly shooting of Palestinian*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225198& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 16 Jun 2011 - Judea and Samaria police arrest man
suspected of killing Udi Nahar Kadus, 19, near the West Bank village of
Arak Burin.

*Technion student wins world's largest yo-yo competition*
<http://www.jpost. com/Sci-Tech/ Article.aspx? ID=225197& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Eyal Moshe Cohen's prize-winning yo-yo was
dropped from a 30-meter-tall crane and rose over 20 meters.

*Social empowerment NGO Yedid to close 5 branches*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225193& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Non-profit for economic justice is facing
a serious financial crisis in light of the global economic recession.

*Infrastructures Ministry: Develop second small gas field*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225192& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Israel Oil Co. instructed to begin
developing one-billion cubic meter Or natural gas reservoir this week.

*Court: Paving, upgrades near City of David must stop*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225188& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - High Court of Justice rules that
infrastructure upgrades in east Jerusalem neighborhood must be halted.

*Eritrean volcano eruption won't disrupt Israeli air traffic*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225187& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Israel Meteorological Service says volcano
shouldn't have an affect on air routes.

*Israel Police gets its first Muslim Lt.-Cmdr.*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225186& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Meanwhile, Israel Fire and Rescue Service
begins largest ever recruitment drive.

*MK gives Netanyahu 'expensive gift': Cottage cheese*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=225184& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Forty MKs sign letter, prompting
hours-long Knesset discussion of Netanyahu's 'diplomatic, economic and
social failures.'

*Israel marks record defense exports in 2010*
<http://www.jpost. com/Defense/ Article.aspx? ID=225183& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Exports reach $7.2 billion, making Israel
one of the world's top four exporters of arms; 15 Israeli companies to
display at Paris Air Show.

*Gov't: Number of African migrants reaches high for 2011*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225180& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Migrants' NGO criticizes Immigration
Authority for scaremongering; plans for 'housing facility' released.

*The future of European Jewry*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Op-EdContributor s/Article. aspx?ID=225179& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Those who deny Jews or Israel their
freedom will lose, or fail to gain, their own.

*Who wants to be president?*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Columnists/ Article.aspx? ID=225178& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Most know they haven't got a shot at the
Oval Office, but see the race as a path to job advancement.

*Godspeed to Jerusalem, Glenn Beck*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Columnists/ Article.aspx? ID=225174& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - The American Right and Israeli Right have
become the closest, most natural of allies.

*A salute to the IDF*
<http://www.jpost. com/ArtsAndCultu re/Entertainment /Article. aspx?ID=225172& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - You may think that you're simply defending
your country, but in fact you are defending mine too.

*PM meets with US officials, Ashton to visit Israel Friday*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=225171& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - US gov't working on a formula that would
restart negotiations and lead to the withdrawal of Palestinian
unilateral moves at the United Nations in September, Israeli official says.

*Watching Ahmadinejad through Israeli eyes*
<http://www.jpost. com/Features/ InThespotlight/ Article.aspx? ID=225170& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Reporter's Notebook, Kazakhstan: There he
is, so near and self-assured, this man who arms and funds the people who
are trying to kill me.

*A very balanced itinerary?*
<http://www.jpost. com/Features/ InThespotlight/ Article.aspx? ID=225167& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Is the Olive Tree Initiative, an
interfaith program that brings American students here to learn about the
Israeli-Arab conflict, offering its participants the appropriate mosaic
of views?

*Police suspect double murder, suicide in Ashkelon*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225169& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Police find mother, infant dead in
apartment; police suspect man found hanged was woman's husband, killed
the two, then himself.

*The cottage cheese uprising*
<http://www.jpost. com/Opinion/ Editorials/ Article.aspx? ID=225166& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - We can only hope that the cottage cheese
insurrection will be revolutionary indeed.

*'Bloomsday' tour celebrates Jewish protagonist of 'Ulysses'*
<http://www.jpost. com/JewishWorld/ JewishNews/ Article.aspx? ID=225165& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Thousands to set off through the streets
of Dublin in celebration of James Joyce's masterpiece.

*'Iran successfully launches satellite into orbit'*
<http://www.jpost. com/IranianThrea t/News/Article. aspx?ID=225154& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Rasad 1 satellite will be used for
transmitting images, weather forecasts, Iran TV reports; US fears
ballistic missiles could carry warheads.

*French minister pedophilia scandal enrages Morocco*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=225151& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Charge that visiting French cabinet
minister engaged in sexual relations with underage boys sets off
political debate.

*Starman says Israel has best seat for total lunar eclipse*
<http://www.jpost. com/Sci-Tech/ Article.aspx? ID=225149& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Ira Machefsky, the 'Starman of Mitzpe
Ramon,' says volcanic ash, Israel's geographic location make this lunar
eclipse extra exciting.

*Hamas, Fatah yet to agree on PM of Palestinian gov't*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=225147& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Two sides reach agreement on release of
political detainees held in West Bank and Gaza prisons; Abbas and
Mashaal to meet, decide on PM.

*Social empowerment NGO to close 5 branches*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=225143& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Charity organization providing services to
underprivileged hurt by lack of funding brought about by economic crisis.

*Solar powered plane arrives in Paris*
<http://www.jpost. com/VideoArticle s/Video/Article. aspx?ID=225135& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - The Swiss Solar Impulse arrives in Le
Bourget for the Paris air-show, where its makers say it marks a new
stage in aviation.

*EP President: EU doesn't oppose Palestinian statehood*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=225131& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 15 Jun 2011 - Negotiations are the best way for a
solution; Israel also moved unilaterally in building settlements, Jerzy
Buzek says.

*The Guardian* <http://guardian. co.uk/world/ palestinian- territories>

*Unemployment in Gaza and West Bank rises despite hopes of economic
revival*
<http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ view-from- jerusalem- with-harriet- sherwood/ 2011/jun/ 15/gaza-palestin ian-territories>
The Guardian 15 Jun 2011 - Jobless numbers in Gaza among highest in the
world as analysts warn of unsustainable 'boom' in West Bank The
construction boom in the West Bank, along with the frequent opening of
new bars and restaurants in...

*Inter Press Service* <http://ipsnews. net/middle. asp>

*AU Concerned With One-sided Interpretation of Libya Resolution*
<http://ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 56095>
IPS Like Russia, China, India and Brazil, the African nations seem to be
getting increasingly wary of the consequences of the Western powers'
military strikes in Libya - the oil rich North African country currently
embroiled in violent political upheaval.

*YEMEN: U.S. Escalates War Against Al-Qaeda*
<http://ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 56075>
IPS Increasingly worried that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
is taking advantage of the growing political chaos in Yemen, the
administration of President Barack Obama has tasked the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use drone missiles to strike at suspected
AQAP militants.

*Uruknet* <http://uruknet. info/>

*Obama Claims War Powers Act Doesn't Apply in Libya*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78674>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Faced with Monday night's House vote to withhold
funding and demands from both parties to provide a justification for the
conflict, the Obama Administration today claimed that the War Powers Act
doesn't not apply to the Libya War. The administration' s argument is
that the Libyan War is not technically a war from America's perspective, ...

*Napalm Death: Don't Turn Your Backs on Israeli Apartheid*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78673>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Dear Mark 'Barney' Greenway, Shane Embury, Danny
Herrera, & Mitch Harris of Napalm Death: We are Palestinian students and
youth based in Gaza, among 1.5 million in a tiny Strip of land the size
of Britain's Isle of white, surrounded and kept captive in a medieval
siege by the Israeli Occupation Forces, the fourth...

*"Why is the world silent?" Syrian refugees speak*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78672>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Little is known of the life of the thousands of
Syrians who have recently fled to Turkey, and are now living in camps in
Yayladagi and Altinozu in the south-east of the country. Not one civil
society activist or journalist is known to have been able to enter the
camps. Knowing that, and with...

*WikiLeaks: The Unknown Prisoners of Guantánamo (Part Five of Five)*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78671>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - ...In the years since the documents relating to
the CSRTs were released (and information relating to their annual
follow-ups, the Administrative Review Boards, or ARBs), I attempted to
track down the stories of these 201 men, and managed, largely through
successful research that led to relevant media reports, interviews and
reports compiled by NGOs,...

*Wisconsin Supreme Court Reinstates Anti-Union Law*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78670>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - At the state and federal levels,
pro-business/ anti-worker rulings are nothing new. US Supreme Court
history is rife with them since the 19th century, and no wonder. From
inception, America was always ruled by men, not laws, who lie, connive,
misinterpret, and pretty much do what they please for their own
self-interest. In 1787 in...

*NATO air strike reportedly kills 12 in Libya: State TV*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78669>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - - NATO airstrike hit a bus loaded with
passengers Wednesday evening in Kikla city, 120 km southwest of the
capital Tripoli, killing 12 and wounding two others, Libyan state TV
reported. The strikes hit the bus at the entrance of the city in the
mountainous region southwest of Tripoli, Libyan state TV quoted military...

*Gaza's gas wealth kept from Palestine* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78668>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Estimated to be worth at least $4 billion, gas
deposits off Palestine's territorial waters are being targeted by
international corporations and the Israeli government. Currently the 1.5
trillion cubic feet of estimated reserves are split between British Gas
(60 percent), the Lebanese Consolidated Contractors (30 percent) and the
Palestinian Authority (10 percent). Following Egypt's...

*Yemen warns Qatar over dissident funding*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78667>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Yemen said on Wednesday it intercepted financial
transfers made through Qatar to fund dissidents, warning the energy rich
Gulf state to stop supporting divisions in the strife-torn country. "The
authorities have discovered transactions made through Qatar and the
mediator in this is our former ambassador (in Cairo) Abdulwali
al-Shumeiri, " deputy information minister Abdo al-Janadi...

*Yemen: Three Civilians killed in US drone attack in Abyan*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78666>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - A security official in Abyan said that US drone
attacks took place against Islamic militant targets in Abyan killing
three civilians. No al-Qaeda suspects were killed in the attack, the
source said. The residence of al-Qaeda fighter Nader Shadadi was also
attacked. Shadadi was not home during the attack. His father, mother,
and sister...

*Israeli troops attack anti-Wall protest near Ramallah, injuring seven*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78665>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - According to local sources, Israeli forces
attacked a non-violent action by Palestinian men, women and children
trying to block Israeli bulldozers from bulldozing their farmland and
orchards on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses reported that the injured protesters
were beaten by the soldiers with clubs and rifle butts, knocking two
young men unconscious and sending seven to...

*Israeli navy practises boarding ships in readiness for Gaza flotilla*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78664>
Uruknet June 16, 2011 - Israeli naval commandos carried out a
wide-ranging exercise yesterday in the takeover of a large ship in
preparation for a possible raid of the vessels taking part in the
Gaza-bound flotilla that is expected to sail in coming weeks. The
exercise appeared aimed at avoiding the killing of any of the passengers
in case...

*Kucinich, other House members file lawsuit against Obama on Libya
military mission* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78663>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - Ten House members led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio) are filing a complaint in federal court against President Obama
for taking military action in Libya without first seeking congressional
approval. Kucinich and Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Howard Coble
(R-N.C.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), John Conyers
(D-Mich.) Ron Paul (R-Texas), Michael Capuano (D-Mass.),.. .

*US makes a drone attack a day in Yemen*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78659>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - The US has conducted more than 15 drone attacks
in Yemen since the beginning of June, a Yemen defence ministry official
said. The increase of such attacks is part of a US strategy to employ
more drones to curb what the US believes is a growing terror threat in
Yemen, the Washington Post and...

*Israeli violations in the occupied West Bank "have escalated"*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78658>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - A Palestinian research centre monitoring Israeli
violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has accused Israel of
escalating the level of attacks on Palestinian citizens and their
properties over the past month across the West Bank and Jerusalem. The
latest monthly report from the Land Research Centre said that the
violations committed by Israeli occupation.. .

*Syrian uprising exposes regime's opportunism over Palestine*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78657>
Uruknet June 15, 2011 - ...Even before the beginning of the uprising,
the truth about the regime's hypocritical attitude to the Palestinian
resistance was hinted at in one of the US diplomatic cables exposed by
Wikileaks. The Syrian government has always said that it views Hamas as
a legitimate Palestinian resistance movement, and that it supports it
along with...

*Syrian thugs ... ?* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78655>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - This is a hidden camera video (10 minutes - no
translation required) of Syrian government thugs, called "Shabiha", with
batons attacking and dragging away unarmed demonstrators in Damascus
streets. They are similar to Egypt's "Baltajia" who often attacked
demonstrators (once they were riding on camels) during Egypt's February
revolution. They are similar to the...

*East Jerusalem: Six Voices* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78654>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - In this innovative project, B'Tselem and the
Guardian gave six Palestinians and Israelis cameras to create video
diaries of their lives in occupied East Jerusalem, under the shadow of
the settlement enterprise. The diaries offer a glimpse into the impact
of the volatile reality on their lives. This is one aspect of B'Tselem's
video...

*Military Resistance 9F8: Rising Defections From the Army*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78652>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - ...Army defections remain key to a potential
showdown between the Assad core and the Sunni community, which dominates
the rank-and-file of the army, analysts say. Every day this week,
testimonies by defected army conscripts have emerged. A 21-year-old
conscript who fled to Jisr al-Shoghour from Damascus earlier this week
said troops live in near...

*Video: Suzanne Weiss, Holocaust survivor voices her support for the
Canada Boat to Gaza.* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78651>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - Suzanne Weiss, Holocaust survivor voices her
support for the Canada Boat to Gaza.

*Feminists attacked in pro-democracy rally in Baghdad*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78650>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - On June 13, four women participating in a
democracy demonstration at Tahrir Square in Baghdad were molested and
beaten allegedly by government sponsored protestors, according to a
report on Ms. Magazine's Website. The four women were part of a 25-woman
group from the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a leading
feminist group in...

*Iraq snapshot - June 14, 2011* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78649>
Uruknet June 14, 2011. Chaos and violence continue, 2 US soldiers are
announced dead, a hostage situation takes place in Diyala Province,
torture and War Crimes may get investigated in the US, torture and War
Crimes may be buried in a British inquiry, the VA stalls, evades and
stonewalls a House Subcommitteee, are active duty soldiers be giving the...

*Bedouin children hope their West Bank school will be spared Israel's
bulldozers* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78648>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - Each morning, they scrabble through a drainage
pipe under a busy main road slicing through the unforgiving landscape
between Jerusalem and Jericho, where hard-baked stony hills roll down to
the Dead Sea. At the end of the school day, they clamber back down to
the drainage pipe to pass beneath the thundering traffic on...

*NATO air strike hits medical factory in Libya*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78646>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - In Libya foreign media representatives were
taken to a factory near Zawiya, hit by NATO airstrikes two days earlier.
According to Libyan government officials, the factory produces crucial
medical supplies that could help save lives. Damaged military vehicles
in a site next to the factory were seen through holes around the
perimeter, leading to...

*Video: NATO attacks ordinary Libyans at petrol pump*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 78645>
Uruknet June 14, 2011 - As NATO tells the world to prepare for a
post-Gaddafi era, coalition bombs continue to blitz the Libyan capital.
Gasoline queues snake through Tripoli with fuel in short supply. A
scenario made worse with tankers a regular target for air strikes. It
may have some of the largest oil reserves on the planet, but...

(continues in the following post)

[ninathedog]

(continues from the preceding post)

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1412
Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:21 pm (PDT)

*Daily Star* <http://dailystar. com.lb/>

*Libyan rebels take new ground as strains show in Western alliance*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Libyan- rebels-take- new-ground- as-strains- show-in-Western- alliance. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Libyan rebels pushed deeper into government-held
territory south of the capital Wednesday, but their advance came as
strains began to emerge in the Western alliance trying to topple Moammar
Gadhafi.

*British, U.S. officials' visits aim to revive peace talks*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/British- US-officials- visits-aim- to-revive- peace-talks. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 U.K. and U.S. officials will meet Palestinian,
Jordanian, Egyptian and Israeli officials this week to try to bring
Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks, the U.S. State
Department said Wednesday.

*Thousands flee Syrian town, tanks deploy east*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Thousands -flee-Syrian- town-tanks- deploy-east. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of
Maarat al-Numaan on Wednesday to escape troops and tanks pushing into
the north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against
President Bashar Assad.

*Activist highlights women's rights in Islam*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Activist- highlights- womens-rights- in-Islam. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 As the first Muslim woman to be appointed to head
the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Azizah al-Hibri,
a Lebanese-American lawyer and prominent human rights activist, has an
uphill battle in front of her.

*Conference signs public safety protocol*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Conferenc e-signs-public- safety-protocol. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The Youth Association for Social Awareness and
the Aisha Bakar Islamic Center signed a protocol Wednesday with the aim
of ensuring public safety in order to limit accidents and injuries.

*Civil Defense issues rules for a swimming summer*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Civil- Defense-issues- rules-for- a-swimming- summer.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The Directorate General of Civil Defense issued a
statement Wednesday on awareness guidelines in preparation for the
swimming season.

*ISF destroys confiscated drugs in Bekaa town*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/ISF- destroys- confiscated- drugs-in- Bekaa-town. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The anti-drug department of the Internal Security
Forces said Wednesday it destroyed drugs that had been confiscated in
the Bekaa town of Riit.

*Women say new Cabinet a violation of their rights*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Women- say-new-Cabinet- a-violation- of-their- rights.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The Lebanese Women's Rights Committee said
Wednesday that the absence of women from Prime Minister Najib Mikati's
Cabinet was a flagrant insult to the rights of Lebanese women.

*$426,000 project aims to bolster Lebanon's NGO sector*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/$426000- project-aims- to--bolster- Lebanons- NGO-sector. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 A 300,000 euro ($426,000) project aimed at
strengthening the NGO sector in Lebanon was launched Wednesday as part
of a landmark cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Italian
Embassy.

*Like: Measuring politicians' popularity on Facebook*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Like- Measuring- politicians- popularity- on-Facebook. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Traditionally a politician's popularity has been
measured by election results. These days, it's also being tested on
Facebook.

*UNHCR: number of Iraqis seeking asylum on the rise*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/UNHCR- number-of- Iraqis-seeking- asylum-on- the-rise. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The number of registered Iraqi refugees and
asylum seekers residing in Lebanon has increased in 2011, jumping from
fewer than 8,300 in January to over 9,390 in June, the U.N. Refugee
Agency (UNHCR) said.

*Online game mirrors Lebanese political scene*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-16/Online- game-mirrors- Lebanese- political- scene.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 A new online game designed to mirror the Lebanese
political scene allows players to join different tribes and parties
modeled after the country's own affiliations and pit themselves against
one another in a bid to achieve...

*Assad regime takes journalists on media tour*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Assad- regime-takes- journalists- on-media- tour.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Syrian authorities launched a media offensive
Wednesday in the face of a mounting outcry over its deadly crackdown on
dissent, taking journalists on an escorted tour of a key protest hub and
staging a loyalist rally.

*Young Palestinians redefine national struggle as two-state hopes fade*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Young- Palestinians- redefine- national- struggle- as-two-state- hopes-fade. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Freedom, justice, dignity and equality are the
demands of a new generation of Palestinians seeking to redefine their
national struggle in a way that could threaten both Israel and their own
leadership.

*Calls for U.S. to stay after 5 Iraqi deaths*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Calls- for-US-to- stay-after- 5-Iraqi-deaths. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The governor of the disputed Iraqi oil province
of Kirkuk said Wednesday it was important for U.S. forces to extend
their year-end pullout deadline because of renewed fears of sectarian
violence.

*Attackers raid AFP's Amman office, protesters want agency expelled*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Attackers -raid-AFPs- Amman-office- protesters- want-agency- expelled. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Ten men broke into AFP's offices in the Jordanian
capital Wednesday and destroyed furniture, two days after the news
agency was among several foreign media to report that King Abdullah II's
motorcade had been stoned.

*Six months on and the Arab spring is struggling*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Six- months-on- and-the-Arab- spring-is- struggling. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Six months after mass revolts toppled Tunisia's
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and then Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the so-called
Arab Spring has hit roadblocks ranging from fierce repression to
outright war.

*Dozens dead in border clashes between North, South Sudan*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Dozens- dead-in-border- clashes-between- North-South- Sudan.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 A U.N. humanitarian report and aid workers caught
in the crossfire reported an increase in violence in a new front near
the already tense internal border between North and South Sudan
Wednesday, with dozens of people...

*Tunisia: Cradle of Arab Spring still awaiting change 6 months on*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Tunisia- Cradle-of- Arab-Spring- still-awaiting- change-6- months-on. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Six months after a 26-year-old Tunisian fruit
seller triggered a wave of protests across the Arab world.

*Ahmadinejad calls for security alliance against Western states*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Ahmadinej ad-calls- for-security- alliance- against-Western- states.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called
Wednesday for a security alliance of several ex-Soviet nations and China
to form a united front against the West.

*Yemen opposition rejects GCC offer, violence flares*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-16/Yemen- opposition- rejects-GCC- offer-violence- flares.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Members of Yemen's political opposition dismissed
an offer from Gulf Arab neighbors Wednesday to resume mediation in the
political crisis, which has brought the country to the brink of civil war.

*Mikati Cabinet unrepresentative: Geagea*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Politics/ 2011/Jun- 15/Mikati- Cabinet-unrepres entative- Geagea.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Sunni majority and Christian population
underrepresented, Lebanese Forces leader says, adding that the Lebanese
government's links to the Syrian regime are dangerous.

*Co-founder of Syria's Baath kidnapped in Lebanon: daughter*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Politics/ 2011/Jun- 15/Co-founder- of-Syrias- Baath-missing- in-Lebanon. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Lebanese authorities are searching for a Syrian
opposition figure who went missing three weeks ago and who may have been
kidnapped, his daughter said on Wednesday.

*Syrian forces let demonstrators cross ceasefire line: U.N.*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Syrian- forces-let- demonstrators- cross-ceasefire- line-UN.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Syrian forces stood by as Palestinian
demonstrators crossed the Golan Heights ceasefire line and were fired
upon by Israeli forces, according to a U.N. report obtained by AFP.

*Three killed in attack on south Yemen govt complex*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Three- killed-in- attack-on- south-Yemen- govt-complex. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Gunmen stormed government buildings in the
southern Yemeni province of Lahj on Wednesday, killing three guards and
wounding four before being turned back, residents of the area said.

*Palestinians set UNRWA flag ablaze in protest*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-15/Palestini ans-set-UNRWA- flag-ablaze- in-protest. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Palestinian refugees in south Lebanon stage a
sit-in to protest against what they say are corrupt practices at UNRWA.

*One wounded after Tripoli dispute ends in armed violence*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-15/One- wounded-after- Tripoli-dispute- ends-in-armed- violence. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 An overnight dispute between two families in
Tripoli, north Lebanon, escalates into shooting that leaves one man wounded.

*Jobless Gaza enters 5th year of Israeli blockade*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Jobless- Gaza-enters- 5th-year- of-Israeli- blockade. ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 The Gaza Strip enters its fifth year of a full
Israeli blockade by land, air and sea on Tuesday with unemployment at
45.2 percent, one of the highest rates in the world, a U.N. aid agency...

*Pro-Assad Syrians rally as global outcry grows*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Pro- Assad-Syrians- rally-as- global-outcry- grows.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Thousands of supporters of Bashar al-Assad
demonstrated Wednesday on the outskirts of Damascus as the embattled
president came under intense world pressure to halt a crackdown on
democracy protests.

*Six months on, Arab spring faces serious threats*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Six- months-on- Arab-spring- faces-serious- threats.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Six months after mass revolts toppled Tunisia's
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and then Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the so-called
"Arab spring" has hit roadblocks ranging from fierce repression to
outright war.

*Syria tightens grip on flashpoint despite outcry*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/Syria- tightens- grip-on-flashpoi nt-despite- outcry.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Syrian troops tightened their stranglehold on the
country's restive northwest, activists said, as a global outcry grew
over a deadly three-month crackdown on protests by President Bashar
Assad's regime.

*NATO set for talks as fresh blasts rock Tripoli*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/2011/ Jun-15/NATO- set-for-talks- as-fresh- blasts-rock- Tripoli.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 NATO chief to hold talks on Libya with British
leaders Wednesday after fresh blasts rock Tripoli following a three-day
pause in the alliance's raids on forces loyal to Gadhafi.

*Nasrallah meets Jumblatt, Aridi*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-15/Nasrallah -meets-Jumblatt- Aridi.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 Hezbollah leader and Progressive Socialist Party
chief emphasize the need for officials in the new Cabinet to work
together in order to guarantee the success of the government.

*Government made in Lebanon: Sleiman*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Local- News/2011/ Jun-15/Mikati- convenes- first-Cabinet- meeting.ashx>
Daily Star 15 Jun 2011 President Michel Sleiman hopes a policy statement
will be promptly drafted, Information Minister Walid Daouk said
Wednesday after the first meeting of Prime Minister Najib Mikati's
government.

*Thorny issues besiege Lebanon Cabinet*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Politics/ 2011/Jun- 15/Thorny- issues-besiege- Cabinet.ashx>
Daily Star 14 Jun 2011 The new Cabinet will hold its first meeting
Wednesday to form a committee designed to draft a policy statement
outlining the government's position on divisive issues such as
Hezbollah's arsenal and the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for...

*YNet News* <http://ynetnews. com/>

*Opposition: Netanyahu isolated Israel*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082653,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - 'We don't have single ally in world,' says MK
Itzik at Knesset hearing on PM's....

*Prosor assumes UN ambassador role*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082684,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Former UK envoy to weather political storms in
September, when PA plans to....

*Watch: Syrians burn Iran, Hezbollah flags*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082535,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - (Video) Opposition activists upload online
video showing protesters setting fire....

*MK Majadele receives death threats*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082522,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Letter sent to Labor MK's Knesset office says
he has 180 days to live, will die....

*Dozens of Syrians gather along border*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082476,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Gatherers stand on Shouting hill, observing
Israeli side. IDF doesn't consider....

*IHH may not take part in flotilla*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082482,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Turkish organization announces it will make
final decision by end of the week,....

*Iran: Man who raped, murdered niece hanged*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082449,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Prosecutor says Neyriz resident ripped off
8-year-old niece's gold jewelry after....

*Angelina Jolie to visit Syrian refugees*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082422,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Turkey says famous Hollywood actress wishes to
visit Syrian refugees who fled....

*Women drivers to circle Saudi embassy in protest*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082382,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Unusual Washington rally remonstrates Saudi
Arabia's opressive ban on female....

*Grapel denies Mossad ties*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082378,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm reports
Israeli held in Egypt told....

*Glenn Beck's Jerusalem rally program unveiled*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082351,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - TV star's solidarity event is expected to draw
thousands of Israelis, Americans... .

*Navy gears for Turkish flotilla*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4082355,00. html>
YNet News, 15 Jun 2011 - IDF determined to stop Gaza-bound flotilla,
senior officer says. 'If we allow....

**
<http://btselem. org/topic- page/1352011- investigation- border-police- violence- against-proteste rs-nabi-saleh>

*Palestinian Information Center* <http://palestine- info.co.uk/ en/>

*Sixty prisoners moved from Olehai Kedar prison in Beer Sheva*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7yJdz2a8uUQ cNKhjzR%2bj3wtni cHsUAA79% 2fu1X0CvyyBkuGM% 2bnnkImfjJ3W35% 2f2%2fRmuOGWKufe wj31yRNr4mkmDdYb d%2fr6tRzzl2T3y9 hqTA0%3d>
PIC - 15/06/2011 - 09:12 AM

*Dweik: West Bank security violates citizens' rights*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7J7G1G6XIS0 NBwncSwEbxjgEm80 cFGCQC4p9zPrBf2G P8o6nAqIizDZ40Bm 0VgoW8zzeMzA9qyU YImx9fOBhRO0mrkk 9PZAY4YXeU2XgB3j M%3d>
PIC - 15/06/2011 - 09:20 AM

*IOF serves notice for demolition of village mosque*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7DYw7xdVSIL 69pBAaeFU% 2fXnspErJVlaXsRb Sj%2beuWJaHdFeVR OzZoELrdzX0O1gTn 8C2TqBs7WID55OX8 9j7KVD2bAa1zr8O4 aLgR6Bq11to% 3d>
PIC - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday stormed the village of
Ma'sara south of Bethlehem and told the inhabitants that their village
mosque would be knocked down for unlicensed construction.

*Haneyya: Reconciliation talks in Cairo positive*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7UNsQrFWmjH %2bkNaRyITT9xnmh hsSONY2n08dMMxzD AnZkYF5QKa% 2b5k2Gj%2br3rfd8 3gZlSts7o7h3e8OI xcXSvOtiCfUkWWik F6M7Qt8g0afE% 3d>
PIC - Palestinian premier in Gaza Ismail Haneyya has said that a
positive atmosphere prevailed during the reconciliation talks in Cairo
between Hamas and Fatah representatives.

*IOF soldiers detain 5 Palestinians including lawyer*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7xCsHCuml0G AyeO3Jl9% 2fjjUKx6By0cFkru d9lIxQ%2bKLH64% 2fyruj%2bIzvKACB BaLJtTEodG02Eovp OYphquMJM7XRJrFD vLko6N7pU58UCLN8 U%3d>
PIC - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up five Palestinians in
pre dawn raids on Wednesday including a lawyer from his home in Beit
Dajan village, Nablus.

*Bardawil: Name of premier to be resolved in Abbas-Mishaal meeting*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7jZN5lAC5ZN J8B3JTsTV% 2btr5hu3oR% 2fSJ6E9p% 2bqZraa34UTaVpdo b43hONMAtNhCOPHY uoskG4%2f7JJ56jH 0mrPAR8xj7rkhoYS HOxBCIy7OhI% 3d>
PIC - Hamas leader Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil hailed the Hamas-Fatah meeting
in Cairo yesterday, saying that it was "positive and amicable".

*Ahrar center asks WHO to solve Gaza medicine crisis*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7H%2fsmy3Yf 6%2fiacHQyyG3m96 6B%2bN6WH2PF13W6 wcjKGAjCwnX9bbMc g1mIua%2bmCkmrAV V2ih3Yb1l8ch1SxO CP6D5gtt1fScSbGI LJdOIkX6E% 3d>
PIC - The Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights has
called on the World Health Organization (WHO) and its chairperson to
swiftly intervene and solve the medicine crisis in the Gaza Strip.

*IOA holds 72-year-old MP in administrative detention*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7uZ% 2fDLODz8Z5h28upY 6cAdLytwEyin9FwJ yhTxd44i6Fols% 2bA8hyh7dIwVZ3GU adR0wQvmO6% 2fDu9zs2nSn2m8U5 Mix8K4U22PB5IiEY wMEWs%3d>
PIC - The Israeli court of Ofer, near Ramallah, ordered the
administrative detention of Palestinian MP Ahmed Al-Haj for six months,
without any charge.

*Owners of destroyed homes close down UNRWA premises in protest*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7qmUUgYzevr QSE0uNNNiFxMNVB7 d%2bNf0Ehl9RAfqo PUnulpwp0GQnIOMI Wh2nnaKxWgswLwPr VVVf3X930RBpQbWT juLkGNwOCgGS86Ie cog%3d>
PIC - Owners of destroyed homes in Rafah and Khan Younis, south of the
Gaza Strip, have decided to close down UNRWA main offices in protest at
the latter's delay in starting to re-build their homes.

*IOF troops infiltrate east of Breij refugee camp*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s77BVyJ3sKkL bFJvsEWRThNSS3z6 PvoGgPOX% 2bG93R96EiWQq0X3 CNeoqP3NEzjQUizb Z%2fpAuterzon3rY rjQgSXTHLEbyh162 JzKLjvl0qTXY% 3d>
PIC - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced east of Breij refugee
camp in central Gaza on afternoon Wednesday and bulldozed land lots,
local sources said.

*Seven Palestinians wounded in clashes with IOF*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7ByqAGo4461 afgrir0fY1CRUuQ0 pI81Cf%2fjfn2hVE VpIVl021w5xgXI3E ck4QG8sVYhmBMe77 %2bs%2fbwkSy% 2fRQLBfIlrVKGOEl %2bTwNPPJRQx3o% 3d>
PIC - Seven Palestinian citizens were wounded on Wednesday two of them
critically during violent confrontations with Israeli occupation forces
(IOF) west of Ramallah.

*Palestinian prisoners torch mattresses in protest at detaining old
mother*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7E5PwADJhgh 9ZgJqR5dtiDWNal5 j8SbldeybMjVEVT% 2fo4cu%2f3odEm1S a0bnmz8SwFH1Elgl VUrAd2LLfFI9ZD% 2bQI%2bAedvQ40Hd hMb3bF%2fdIQ% 3d>
PIC - Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Eshel jail set their
mattresses on fire after the administration detained the mother of one
of them at the pretext she was carrying unpermitted luggage with her.

*
*WAFA - Palestine News Agency* <http://english. wafa.ps/>*

***Israeli Soldiers Attack Palestinian Protest against Land
Confiscation* <http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16451>
WAFA

*Fayyad Urges Doctors to Return to Work*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16450>
WAFA

*Jerusalem's Israeli Municipality Discusses Plans to Build 7600 Units*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16449>
WAFA

*Award-Winning Architect Hani Hassan to Join Charrette in West Bank*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16448>
WAFA

*A Third of Palestinians' Monthly Expenditure goes to Food, 1.5% for
Recreation, PCBS* <http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16446>
WAFA

*Newspapers Review: Abbas, Mishaal Meeting Focus of Dailies*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16445>
WAFA

*Los Angeles Times* <http://latimes. com/news/ nationworld/ world/middleeast />

*Syrians vent rage in tent camps on border with Turkey*
<http://feeds. latimes.com/ %7Er/latimes/ middleeast/ %7E3/e6wtC608AkI /la-fg-syria- crackdown- 20110615, 0,647288. story>
LA Times 14 Jun 2011 - Ordinary people tell of seeing acquaintances
killed and towns emptied as Assad's forces continue cracking down on
pro-democracy protests in Syria. They were once ordinary Syrians:
farmers with fields to tend, doctors with patients to treat, students
with exams to take and homemakers with children...

*Al Schwimmer dies at 94; founder of Israel's aerospace industry*
<http://feeds. latimes.com/ %7Er/latimes/ middleeast/ %7E3/RV_E7wYbeGg /la-me-al- schwimmer- 20110615, 0,3816037. story>
LA Times 14 Jun 2011 - A native of New York, the former aircraft
engineer smuggled American planes to Israel for its 1948 war of
independence and later became a figure in the Iran-Contra affair. Al
Schwimmer, a former aircraft engineer who smuggled American planes to
Israel for its 1948 war...

*New York Times* <http://nytimes. com/pages/ world/middleeast />

*Civilians Flee Another Northern Syria Town, Fearing a Military Assault*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=3e95b065ee7c3e 10ce51c8c3f0e812 b8>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - Hundreds fled a town in northern Syria on
Wednesday that appeared to be the next target of a military seeking to
crush a three-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

*Rebels Seize Buildings in Southern Yemen*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=04a4a24f87488b 485a8d605ed4cdc4 1e>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - Militants of unknown affiliation made a
serious incursion early Wednesday into a provincial capital in Yemen's
southeast, warning government officials to leave or face retaliation.

*C.I.A. Building Base for Strikes in Yemen*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=dfd36de7da3015 ed0603c1b0d46da0 4c>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is the
target of a secret facility under construction somewhere in the Middle
East, an American official confirmed.

*Middle East: Muslim Woman Seeks Egyptian Presidency*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=74fd41506eaf9e e2cdd9295f8f701a 06>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - After years as a television news anchor and
political activist, Bothaina Kamel's campaign motto is simply, "My
agenda is Egypt."

*Middle East: Mobilizing to Support a Region in Turmoil*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=938d15b9eabb36 ee5ded9271b48b20 85>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - The World Bank's private-sector investment
arm plans to step up its financial support in the Middle East, notably
for Egypt and Tunisia.

*Middle East: Middle East Eagerly Welcomes Trend for Online Deals*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=4c0a9f0429225a 86c0ca66a794de54 88>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - Eight group-buying sites have started in
the region, including the leader in the field, Groupon, proving the
model works globally.

*Middle East: Gasoline Crisis in Emirates Brings Lines and Fears*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=35260dcaf25d1e 8710294d356b2a62 7a>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - Retailers cite technical maintenance as the
main reason nearly 200 gas stations have been turning customers away.
But analysts link the shortage to the phasing out of government subsidies.

*Mandate for a New Turkish Era*
<http://feeds. nytimes.com/ click.phdo? i=1bae91a6023aaf 509f0c9121f9d112 a7>
New York Times 15 Jun 2011 - With his victory speech, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan outlined a shift in Turkish foreign policy approach
that could have wide-ranging consequences in a turbulent region.

*Misc* <http://vtjp. org/aboutus/ aboutus.htm>

*PCHR Condemns the Use of Force to Disperse a Peaceful Assembly in
Nablus and the Attack on PLC Member Muna Mansour*
<http://www.pchrgaza .org/portal/ en/index. php?option= com_content& view=article& id=7503:pchr- condemns- the-use-of- force-to- disperse- a-peaceful- assembly- in-nablus- and-the-attack- on-plc-member- muna-mansour- &catid=36: pchrpressrelease s&Itemid= 194>
Palestinian Center for Human Rights Wednesday, 15 June 2011

*13.5.2011 Investigation into Border Police violence against protesters
in a-Nabi Saleh*
<http://btselem. org/topic- page/1352011- investigation- border-police- violence- against-proteste rs-nabi-saleh>
B'tselem 15 Jun 2011 - Residents of the village a-Nabi Saleh, north-west
of Ramallah, hold weekly popular protests against the takeover of the
village's land by settlers. On Friday, 13.5.2011, Border Police officers
dispersed the protesters with severe violence even though the protesters
did not throw stones or endanger the security forces in any way. During
the breaking up of the protest, documented by B'Tselem volunteers Bilal
Tamimi and Nariman Tamimi, Border Police officers beat protesters with
their hands and with clubs, kicked them, swore at them, sprayed several
people with pepper spray and arrested three female protesters using
disproportionate force.

*Map of the West Bank, Settlements and the Separation Barrier, June
2011* <http://btselem. org/map/2011>
B'tselem 15 Jun 2011 - Download PDF This map depicts the most up-to-date
route of the separation barrier, including the changes made to the route
of the barrier adjacent to the Palestinian communities of Wadi Rasha,
Jayyus and Bil'in. More on the topic

*Germany recognises Libyan opposition after US ultimatum*
<http://www.wsws. org/articles/ 2011/jun2011/ liby-j15. shtml>
WSWS - The demand by outgoing US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates for
Europe to take a greater share of the military load bore its first fruit
with Germany's recognition of the Benghazi-based Transitional National
Council.

*US-backed Bahrain regime stages military trial of doctors and nurses*
<http://www.wsws. org/articles/ 2011/jun2011/ bahr-j15. shtml>
WSWS - The US-backed dictatorship in Bahrain proceeded this week with
the military trial of 47 doctors and nurses rounded up during mass
protests last March.

*Two Palestinian protesters injured by live ammo in Deir Qaddis*
<http://mondoweiss. net/2011/ 06/two-palestini an-protesters- injured-by- live-ammo- in-deir-qaddis. html>
Mondoweiss - From the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee :
Demonstrators disrupted construction of a new neighborhood in the
adjacent settlement of Nili. Israeli soldiers responded with baton
charges, tear-gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. One
organizer was arrested. Two Palestinian youths in their twenties were
hit by live ammunition.. .

*UN report debunks Israel's Naksa propaganda*
<http://mondoweiss. net/2011/ 06/un-report- debunks-israel% e2%80%99s- naksa-propaganda .html>
Mondoweiss - Immediately after the Israeli military reportedly killed a
number of unarmed demonstrators in the occupied-Golan Heights on June 5,
Israel's propaganda machine went into high gear . Newly-released details
from a United Nations report authored by the Secretary General clearly
show that the Israeli spin on the...

*How 'A Gay Girl in Damascus' became a mascot of the liberal west*
<http://mondoweiss. net/2011/ 06/how-a- gay-girl- in-damascus- became-a- mascot-of- the-liberal- west.html>
Mondoweiss - Several days ago, Jadaliyya posted a brilliant essay
exploring the reason so many Westerners -- and Western media types,
including some of us at this site -- fell so hard for the myth of Amina
Arraf, the fierce and fearless "Gay Girl in Damascus" who was...

*In London, Benny Morris runs the gauntlet*
<http://mondoweiss. net/2011/ 06/in-london- benny-morris- runs-the- gauntlet. html>
Mondoweiss - This is a little like Marty Peretz being assailed at
Harvard by people holding placards with his own repugnant words on them,
only stronger. Benny Morris, the Israeli historian who has rationalized
ethnic cleansing to create a majority-Jewish state in '48, being
badgered as he walks...

*Why we support the US Boat to Gaza*
<http://mondoweiss. net/2011/ 06/why-we- support-the- us-boat-to- gaza.html>
Mondoweiss - Students for Justice in Palestine FIU - Solidarity
Statement with the US Boat to Gaza - The Audacity of Hope "There's no
thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there's no joy
in merely doing things which any one can do. But...

*Israeli Intelligence Leaks Alleged Syrian Memo Claiming Government
Support for Nakba Day Protests*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/richardsilv erstein/ZOfh/ %7E3/sVIFHa9funU />
Tikun Olam - A former high ranking Israeli government source revealed to
me that Israeli intelligence leaked to a pro-Israel British tabloid
blogger an alleged Syrian government document claiming that the Syrian
government organized the bus convoys which brought demonstrators to the
Syria-Israel armistice line on Nakba Day. Demonstrations. ..

*UN: Gaza Faces Highest Unemployment in World*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/richardsilv erstein/ZOfh/ %7E3/XSiQPqp- 7i0/>
Tikun Olam - UNRWA plays vital role in stabilizing Gaza humanitarian
crisis A new UNRWA report finds that Gaza, despite the so-called
"easing" of Israel's blockade, faces the highest unemployment in the
world . Almost half of all eligible workers cannot find a job. By most
accounts, the rate hovers...

*First Gaza Flotilla Ships Depart Scotland*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/richardsilv erstein/ZOfh/ %7E3/1eLAWtT2WD0 />
Tikun Olam - Channel 10 Israeli TV reports (Hebrew) along with Israel
Radio that the first ships of the massive Gaza flotilla are expected to
depart shortly (by now they may already have left port) from Scotland.
They will meet with the rest of the group of blockade-running ships...

*Misc 2* <http://vtjp. org/news/ news.php>

*18 Demolitions in Fasayel, Southern Jordan Valley*
<http://palestinesol idarityproject. org/2011/ 06/15/18- demolitions- in-fasayel- southern- jordan-valley/>
Palestine Solidarity Project 15 Jun 2011 - On Tuesday, June 14, the
Israeli army demolished 18 structures in Fasayel, in the southern Jordan
Valley. At 6 o'clock in the morning, about 10 military jeeps, one civil
administration vehicle and 3 bulldozers entered the Palestinian villages
of Fasayel, Wasta and Foqa, turning the area...

*Leading Islamic scholar backs revolutionaries across the Arab world*
<http://www.middleea stmonitor. org.uk/news/ middle-east/ 2477-leading- islamic-scholar- backs-revolution aries-across- the-arab- world>
Middle East Monitor 15 Jun 2011 - A leading Islamic scholar has
announced his support for the popular revolutions in Libya, Yemen and
Syria. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Sheikh Dr. Ahmed El Tayeb,
said: "What is going on [against the revolutionaries] is not right from
neither a religious nor a...

*Israeli violations in the occupied West Bank "have escalated"*
<http://www.middleea stmonitor. org.uk/news/ middle-east/ 2476-israeli- violations- in-the-occupied- west-bank- qhave-escalatedq>
Middle East Monitor 15 Jun 2011 - A Palestinian research centre
monitoring Israeli violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
has accused Israel of escalating the level of attacks on Palestinian
citizens and their properties over the past month across the West Bank
and Jerusalem. The latest monthly report from the Land Research Centre...

*Syrian uprising exposes regime's opportunism over Palestine*
<http://www.middleea stmonitor. org.uk/articles/ middle-east/ 2475-syrian- uprising- exposes-regimes- opportunism- over-palestine>
Middle East Monitor 15 Jun 2011 - In their 63 year struggle against the
occupation and colonisation of their homeland, the Palestinians have
been short of friends and allies. The main world powers have taken
Israel's side in the conflict and provided it with all the political,
economic, and military support it needs...

*UNRWA spokesman says blockade of Gaza has not weakened the government*
<http://www.middleea stmonitor. org.uk/news/ middle-east/ 2474-unrwa- spokesman- says-blockade- of-gaza-has- not-weakened- the-government>
Middle East Monitor 15 Jun 2011 - The official spokesman for UNRWA has
said that the Israeli-imposed blockade of the territory has not weakened
the government in Gaza. Christopher Gunness added that over the 5 years
of the siege, the Hamas-led government has managed to create a 3% rise
in public sector jobs....

*From Arab Spring comes a new form of Palestinian unity*
<http://josephdana. com/2011/ 06/from-arab- spring-comes- a-new-form- of-palestinian- unity/?utm_ source=rss& utm_medium= rss&utm_campaign =from-arab- spring-comes- a-new-form- of-palestinian- unity>
Joseph Dana 15 Jun 2011 - Published on The National with Jesse Rosenfeld
On June 5, when Palestinian protesters tried to march from Ramallah to
Jerusalem in observation of the 44th anniversary of Israel's 1967
occupation, they were sent scrambling amidst clouds of Israeli tear gas
and hailing rubber bullets. Hours later...

*VIDEO: Students make racing car in Gaza*
<http://www.bbc. co.uk/go/ rss/int/news/ -/news/world- middle-east- 13786635>
BBC 15 Jun 2011 - Palestinian students have manufactured their own race
car defying the blockade imposed on the Strip. It will take part in a
student race in the UK.

*Rape alarm*
<http://www.bbc. co.uk/go/ rss/int/news/ -/news/world- middle-east- 13777308>
BBC 15 Jun 2011 - Fear and fury in Iran over violent sex crimes

*AIPAC Pushes Hard for War with Iran But doesn't want the blame*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/6O- I82pcuUs/>
Sabbah report 15 Jun 2011 - AIPAC and its creaky constellation of
affiliates will be blamed if the United States is successfully goaded or
tripwired into an unnecessary war with Iran.

*Is Israel Plotting...or Stumbling toward...Mideast War?*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/pYlgBBPW1v s/>
Sabbah report 15 Jun 2011 - Are the extremist leaders of Israel crazy
enough to launch a regional war, using the specter of an eventual
Iranian nuclear bomb as the excuse? Perhaps irrational, perhaps just
coldly calculating their own personal, short-term interest. The recently
retired chief of Mossad has just warned that...

*Israel Is Going to the Dogs*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/ymk8MQpA4p o/>
Sabbah report 15 Jun 2011 - Israel has followed in the footsteps of the
United States, using dogs to terrify Palestinian workers trying to get
into Israel to find jobs. Victims of the dog attacks are not security
suspects, but rather day laborers. Are occupation soldiers using
Palestinian workers as guinea pigs,...

*Articles*

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
*Analysis: Even democracy can be scary*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396731>
Nidal Alayasa, Ma'an News Agency 6/15/2011
As the face of the Arab world changed, and still changes, before
our eyes, it is inevitable that observers get caught up in the most
recent revolution.
As noble and important as the revolutions against the antiquated
Arab regimes have been, none comes close to the magnitude and
significance of the regime change in Egypt. And while the obvious
changes to the everyday life of Egyptians should, naturally, take center
stage, the most historically significant change will be in Egypt's
regional policies.
It takes little political cunning for one to realize that Egypt's
new rulers have not spared any efforts to distance themselves from the
previous regime's tarnished legacy on the international scene. It is
even less challenging to identify Israel as the target of most of these
changes.
The revolution has exposed every crack in the unity of the
Egyptian society for all to see. Religious conflicts, political
disagreement, crime and even a pure (hopefully short-lived) dictatorship
of the military have emerged. In order for any new Egyptian regime to
emerge, it must unify the divisions in this heterogeneous society, while
gathering enough political influence to eliminate the influence of the
military institution.
Egypt is not unique in its position. Historically, and like many
democratization movements have taught us, rapid transition from
autocratic dictatorship (an understatement of the Egyptian regime) to
transitional democracy result in instability. Russia's emergence from
under the Soviet blanket led to the war in Chechnya much like the more
democratic French Republic fought most of Europe after the French
revolution.more. .
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396731>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= Analysis: %20Even%20democr acy%20can% 20be%20scary% 20&body=Analysis :%20Even% 20democracy% 20can%20be% 20scary%20- -%20http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=396731% 20--%20link% 20courtesy% 20www.vtjp. org>

*The Coming Israeli Tsunami?*
<http://www.agencegl obal.com/ Article.asp? Id=2581>
Immanuel Wallerstein, Agence Global 6/15/2011
The Palestinians are pursuing their project of seeking a formal
recognition of their statehood by the United Nations when the General
Assembly convenes in the fall. They intend to request a statement that
the state exists within the boundary lines as they existed in 1967
before the Israeli-Palestinian war. It is almost certain that the vote
will be favorable. The only question at the moment is how favorable.
The Israeli political leadership is well aware of this. There are
three different responses that are being discussed by them. The dominant
position seems to be that of Prime Minister Netanyahu. He proposes
ignoring such a resolution totally and simply continuing to pursue the
Israeli government's present policies. Netanyahu believes that, for a
very long time, there have been resolutions adopted by the U.N. General
Assembly that have been unfavorable to Israel, all of which Israel has
successfully ignored. Why should this one be any different?
There are a few politicians on the far right (yes, there is an
even further right position than that of Netanyahu) who say that, in
reprisal, Israel should formally annex all of the presently occupied
Palestinian territories and end all talk of any negotiations with the
Palestinians. Some of them also want to force an exodus of non-Jewish
populations from this expanded Israeli state.
Former Prime Minister (and present Defense Minister) Ehud Barak,
whose political base is now almost non-existent, is warning Netanyahu
that he is being unrealistic. Barak says that the resolution will be a
tsunami for Israel, and that therefore Netanyahu would be wisest somehow
to make a deal with the Palestinians now, before the resolution passes.
Is Barak right? Will this be a tsunami for Israel? There is a good
chance that he is. There is however virtually no chance that Netanyahu
will heed Barak's advice and try seriously to make a deal with the
Palestinians before then.more..
<http://www.agencegl obal.com/ Article.asp? Id=2581>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= The%20Coming% 20Israeli% 20Tsunami? %20&body= The%20Coming% 20Israeli% 20Tsunami? %20--%20http://www.agencegl obal.com/ Article.asp? Id=2581%20- -%20link% 20courtesy% 20www.vtjp. org>

*Islamic Visions of the Outcome of the Recent Arab Revolutions (PDF)*
<http://conflictsfor um.org/briefings /Islamic- Visions-Arab- Revolutions. pdf>
Sheikh Chafiq Jaradi, Conflicts Forum 4/11/2011
/Sheikh Chafiq Jaradi, General Director of the Institute of Sapiential
Knowledge, Beirut/
The peoples and countries of the Arab and Islamic worlds have
embraced movements and currents of numerous different ideologies and
tendencies -- nationalist and Pan-Arabist, secular and religious,
violent and peaceful, Salafi and modernist, traditional and revivalist,
shunning politics orinherently political - all this notwithstanding the
fact that since Camp David, the Arab world has undergone a period
ofdeclining revolutionary spirit. The Pan-Arabist movements lost all
real support after the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its
allies in Iraq and the fall of the country. Meanwhile, the Islamic
presence has been growing steadily ever since the Islamic Revolution in
Iran, aggravating the revolutionary elements of the Salafi and
Brotherhood movements which have moved onfrom prothletising to armed
action (although they have notgiven up prothletising and
preachingcompletely ).
The critical turning point came after September 11th, brought
about by America and the international and regional alliance. Under the
banner of cross-border globalisation, it launched the most violent and
most comprehensive war on all forms of Islam with any involvement in
politics, and even forms of ideological Islam confronting the West
through critical sentiment. This has placed the affairs of Islamists
within the following groupings:
1. Groupings of Islamists who uphold Sufi values in their
teachings and who have not entered the political arena in their
countries, though they have supported jihadist Islamist movements. This
includes the Justice and Charity Movement in Morocco, which has extended
beyond Morocco itself and which is primarily a youth movement.
2. Groupings of Islamists with Sufi tendencieswhoaim to tackle the
problems of modernity through political engagement, and who mix Islam
and pragmatic relations with the West, such as the Justice and
Development movement. They are keen to offer a model form of Islamism
for nationalist Islamist movements... .more..
<http://conflictsfor um.org/briefings /Islamic- Visions-Arab- Revolutions. pdf>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= Islamic%20Vision s%20of%20the% 20Outcome% 20of%20the% 20Recent% 20Arab%20Revolut ions%20%28PDF% 29%20&body= Islamic%20Vision s%20of%20the% 20Outcome% 20of%20the% 20Recent% 20Arab%20Revolut ions%20%28PDF% 29%20--%20http://conflictsfor um.org/briefings /Islamic- Visions-Arab- Revolutions. pdf%20--% 20link%20courtes y%20www.vtjp. org>

*Agrexco forum a milestone in Europe's BDS movement*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/electronicI ntifada/% 7E3/_vSj022UIvc/ 10082>
Electronic Intifada: 15 Jun 2011 - Stephanie Westbrook The Electronic
Intifada Earlier this month in Montpellier, France, more than a hundred
activists from nine countries gathered for the first ever European Forum
Against Agrexco for two full days of workshops aimed at strengthening
the boycott campaign against the Israeli agricultural export giant.more
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/electronicI ntifada/% 7E3/_vSj022UIvc/ 10082>

*Napalm Death: Don't Turn Your Backs on Israeli Apartheid*
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16923>
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Jun 2011 - By PSCABI and PYAIA -- Gaza Dear Mark
'Barney' Greenway, Shane Embury, Danny Herrera, & Mitch Harris of Napalm
Death: We are Palestinian students and youth based in Gaza, among 1.5
million in a tiny Strip of land the size of Britain's Isle of white,
surrounded and kept captive in a medieval siege by the Israeli
Occupation Forces, the fourth most powerful army in the world. Over a
million of us in Gaza are United Nations refugees, expelled by the
Israeli army to make way for the Israeli state to be built over the
ruins of our 531 villages and 10 urban neighborhoods destroyed and
emptied, in a process that fits the definition of ethnic cleansing. Over
half of us are children. We are asking you to understand the Israeli
Apartheid Regime's complete subjugation of our lives and adhere to the
2005 call from over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations. ..more
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16923>

*Forthcoming Gaza Flotilla: Heroism vs Violent Intransigence? *
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16922>
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Jun 2011 - By Richard Lightbown After he
returned from his ordeal on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Fiachra O'Luain,
the mate on the Challenger I, was asked if he would go again to break
the siege of Gaza. He replied 'yes...and again, and again'. Many of the
survivors of the flotilla will be on the next one due to sail for Gaza
towards the end of June. Called 'Stay Human', it will commemorate
Vittorio Arrigoni who gave his life (as did ten activists on the Mavi
Marmara: nine dead and one in a coma) for justice and human rights for
the Palestinian people. In the face of Israeli propaganda, parroted by
the BBC and other mainstream media, we should hold fast to the truth
that these people are prepared to face. All of the survivors of the
previous flotilla were maltreated and humiliated. Many of them were
beaten, tasered (by electric stun gun),...more
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16922>

More material available from Vermonters for a Just Peace in
Palestine/Israel -www.vtjp.org <http://www.vtjp. org/>
To subscribe, please write toOccupationNews- subscribe@ yahoogroups. com
<mailto:OccupationNews- subscribe@ yahoogroups. com>or
visithttp:// groups.yahoo. com/group/ OccupationNews/ join

[ninathedog]

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in
the Occupied Palestinian Territory (09– 15 June 2011)
Thursday, 16 June 2011 00:00


Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian civilian during a demonstration against
Israeli settlement activities in al-Tawana village, south of Hebron

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic
Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in
the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

· A Palestinian died of wounds he had sustained during the wide scale Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
- A Palestinian civilian was wounded by IOF in Salfit.
- An old Palestinian man was wounded by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
· IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.
- Two Palestinian civilians were wounded.
- IOF arrested 4 Israeli human rights defenders and two Palestinian civilians.
· IOF conducted 50 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one into the Gaza Strip.
- IOF arrested 21 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children.
- The detainees include former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Wasfi Qabaha.
· IOF fired at Palestinian fishing boats in the Gaza Strip.
· Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
- IOF arrested two Palestinian civilians, including a woman, at military checkpoints in the West Bank.
- IOF violently beat a Palestinian civilian at a military checkpoint near Hebron.
· IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
- IOF ordered the demolition of a school and two barracks in Salfit.
- IOF ordered stopping the construction of a mosque in Salfit and demolishing another one in Bethlehem.
- IOF destroyed two wells and ordered the demolition of another 3 ones.
- IOF demolished 3 tents and 10 barnyards in Jericho.
- Israeli settlers attacked 5 houses in Hebron.
- Israeli settlers leveled areas of land they had already seized near Hebron.

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT
continued during the reporting period (09 – 15 June 2011):

Shooting:

During the reporting period, a Palestinian died of wounds he had sustained during the wide scale Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian civilians were also wounded by IOF and settlers in the West Bank.

On 11 June 2011, medical sources at the Israeli Hasharon Hospital declared that Mohammed Sha’ban Mohammed Esleem, 50, from Gaza City, died of wounds he had sustained on 15 January 2009 during the wide scale Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Esleem had been wounded by shrapnel to the head, the abdomen and the hand. On 24 February 2009, he was transferred to an Egyptian hospital. On 29 May 2011, he was transferred to an Israeli hospital, where he had received medical treatment until his death. It is worth noting that Esleem was wounded inside his house when IOF targeted the late Minister of Interior in the Gaza government, Sa’id Syam. As a result of this attack, 12 Palestinians, including 6 members of the Esleem family, were killed.

On 10 June 2011, an old Palestinian man was wounded by a bullet to the head by an Israeli settler near Ramallah.

On 13 June 2011, a Palestinian civilian was wounded by IOF in Salfit. IOF fired at number of Palestinian boys and young men who threw stones at military vehicles.

During the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, two Palestinian civilians were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested 4 Israeli human rights defenders and one Palestinian civilian.

On 11 June 2011, Israeli gunboats opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the northern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported.

Incursions:

During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 50 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 21 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and former Minister of Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs, Wasfi Qabaha.

In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted a limited incursion into Palestinian areas in the central Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Restrictions on Movement::

Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Gaza Strip

Israel has continuously closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for over three years. The illegal Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

· IOF have tightened the closure of the Gaza Strip and practically made Karm Abu Salem crossing as the sole commercial crossing of the Gaza Strip although it is not proper for commercial purposes in terms of its distance and operational capacity.

· IOF have continued to apply their policy aimed at tightening the strangulation of the commercial movement in the Gaza Strip, including imposing total control over the flow of imports and exports.

· The total closure of al-Mentar "Karni" crossing on 02 March 2011 has created a bitter situation that has seriously affected the Gaza Strip. Following this closure, all the economic and commercial establishments in Gaza Commercial Zone were shut off. It should be noted that al-Mentar crossing is the biggest crossing in the Gaza Strip in terms of its operational capacity to absorb the flow of imports and exports. The decision of al-Mentar crossing was the culmination of a series of decisions to totally close Soafa crossing, east of the Gaza Strip, in the beginning of 2009, and Nahal Oz crossing, east of Gaza City, which was dedicated for the delivery of fuel and cooking gas to the Gaza Strip, in the beginning of 2010.

· These statistics which were made available to Palestinian Centre for Human Rights by the Border and Crossings Department indicate a continued drop in the number of truckloads of Gaza imports and exports.

· IOF have continued to impose total ban on the delivery of raw materials to the Gaza Stri, except for very limited items and quantities. The limited quantities of raw materials allowed into Gaza do not meet the minimal needs of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

· The cooking gas crisis which has erupted last November has continued to affect the Gaza Strip. This crisis was created when the Israeli occupation authorities totally closed, on 04 January 2010, Nahal Oz crossing, which used to be dedicated for the delivery of fuel and cooking gas supplies to Gaza, and shifted fuel and cooking gas supplies to Karm Abu Salem crossing which is not technically equipped to receive Gaza's needs of fuel. Karm Abu Salem crossing, with its maximum absorptive capacity, can receive only 200 tons of cooking gas per day.

*** www.solarcooking.org/plans/ ***
***http://www.solarcooking.org/images/tirecooker.jpg***

· Approximately 80% of Gaza civilians have continued to depend on alimentary aid provided by UNRWA and other relief agencies, rates of families who are living below poverty line have continued to be on the rise and approximately 40% of Gaza's manpower has continued to suffer from permanent unemployment as a result of shutting down the majority of Gaza's economic establishments.

· IOF have continued to impose a total ban on the exportation of Gaza's products, especially industrial products, leading to undermining any real chances to rerun economic establishments. The situation has been aggravated especially after making Karm Abu Salem crossing as Gaza sole commercial crossing and the repeated closure of this crossing which negatively affected the quantity of Gazan products which were allowed to be exported during last April.

· IOF have continued to prolong the implementation of their decision to allow 60 cars into Gaza weekly although more than 10 months have passed since they announced this decision after three years of ban imposed on the delivery of cars to Gaza. As a result, the prices of cars in Gaza have been on the rise and local markets experience serious shortage in spare parts.

· For approximately four consecutive years, IOF have continued to ban the delivery of construction materials to Gaza. During the reporting period, IOF approved the delivery of limited quantities of construction materials for a number of international organizations.

· Israel has continued to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip. IOF only allow the movement of limited groups amidst severe restrictions, including long hours of waiting in the majority of cases. IOF have also continued to adopt a policy aimed at reducing the number of Palestinian patients allowed to move via Beit Hanoun crossing to receive medical treatment in hospitals in Israel or in the West Bank and Jerusalem. IOF denied new categories of Gazan patient permission to have access to hospitals via the crossing.

· Israel has imposed additional access restrictions on international diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers seeking to enter the Gaza Strip.

· For approximately 46 months, IOF have continued to deny approximately 710 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza detained in Israeli jails their visitation rights without providing any justification to this measure, which violates the rules of the international humanitarian law.

West Bank

IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue to be denied access to Jerusalem.

· IOF have established checkpoints in and around Jerusalem, severely restricting Palestinian access to the city. Civilians are frequently prevented from praying in the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

· There are approximately 585 permanent roadblocks, and manned and unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank.

· When complete, the illegal annexation wall will stretch for 724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population. 350 kilometers of the wall have already been constructed. Approximately 99% of the wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, confiscating more Palestinian land.

· At least 65% of the main roads that lead to 18 Palestinian communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by IOF.

· There are approximately 500 kilometers of restricted roads across the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without permits issued by IOF. Such permits are extremely difficult to obtain.

· IOF continue to harass and assault demonstrators who hold peaceful protests against the construction of the annexation wall.

· Palestinian civilians continue to be harassed by IOF in Jerusalem, and across the West Bank, including being regularly stopped and searched in the streets by IOF.

Measures Aimed at Creating a Jewish
Demographic Majority in Jerusalem:

On 09 June 2011, a group of Jewish extremists, mostly settlers from “Kiryat Arba” settlement in Hebron, escorted by IOF, broke into the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

On 10 June 2011, an Israeli police force stormed the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque after the Friday Prayer. A number of young men threw stones at the force. Immediately, Israeli police officers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at them. No casualties.

On Saturday, 11 June 2011, a number of Jewish extremists conducted religious rituals in a Palestinian marker. The Israeli police forced Palestinian civilians to close their shops in the market.

On Sunday, 12 June 2011, the Israeli authorities started excavation works in al-Sultan Pool in the old town, which is a registered Islamic site. On the same day, officials of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem and the Israeli police chased peddlers in Bab al-Amoud area. They confiscated goods and attacked a number of peddlers.

Settlement Activities:

Israel has continued its settlement activities in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

On 10 June 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians from Kufor Malek village, northeast of Ramallah, travelled in cars to al-Marj area, nearly 10 kilometers to the east of the village, where 3 Israeli settlers set up a tent. When the Palestinian civilians arrived at the area, one of the settlers opened fire at them. As a result, Yousef Hammad al-Qaq, 66, was wounded by a bullet to the head. Later, IOF arrived at the area and attempted to control the settlers.

On 12 June 2011, IOF moved into Brouqin village, west of Salfit. They handed a notice to Mo’ayad Mohammed Baker, ordering the demolition of an agricultural barrack belonging to him. They also handed another notice to villagers ordering the demolition of a school, and a third one ordering stopping construction of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Mosque allegedly for the lack of licenses.

On the same day, IOF moved into Hares village, north of Salfit. They handed notices ordering the demolition of two barracks used for car washing belonging to ‘Abdullah and Jihad Mohammed Daoud, claiming that they were built without licenses.

On 13 June 2011, Israeli settlers from “Ashkilot” settlement to the west of Arab al-Ramadin village, southwest of Hebron, razed and leveled at least 20 dumuns of Palestinian agricultural land isolated by the annexation wall. Israeli settlers seized this area of land a few months ago.

On 14 June 2011, IOF, accompanied by two bulldozers, moved into Dassayel village, north of Jericho. They demolished 3 barnyards and 10 tents, claiming that they were established without licenses near bypass road #90, which is used by Israeli settlers. A number of Palestinian civilians attempted to stop the demolition, but Israeli soldiers violently beat them. As a result, ‘Ali ‘Ebayat sustained bruises. Three of the demolished tents were inhabited.

On the same day, IOF, accompanied by two bulldozers, moved into al-Harayiq area, southwest of Hebron. They demolished two water wells belonging to the al-Jamal family. According to Samer ‘Abdul Hamid al-Jamal, IOF handed notices ordering the demolition of 5 water wells, claiming that they were established without licenses, and then demolished two wells. Israeli soldiers used force to drive Palestinian civilians away from the area, including firing tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation.

On the same day, IOF moved into al-Ma’sara village, west of Bethlehem. They handed a notice to Ahmed Zawahra ordering the demolition of a mosque in the east of the village, claiming that it was built without a license. The notice gives Palestinian civilians 13 days to appeal against the order.

On the same day, at least 50 Israeli settlers living in settlement outposts in the center of Hebron attacked 5 Palestinian houses in Tal Rumaida neighborhood near the closed al-Shuhada Street. This attack came two days following the Israeli High Court’s rejection of a petition filed by Palestinians to open closed roads in Hebron.

On 15 June 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from “Mitatyahu” settlement, west of Ramallah, set fire to dozens of olive trees in Bel’ein village. IOF restricted the access of Palestinian fire fighters to the area to extinguish fire. In the end, the firefighter were able to extinguish fire.

Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period
(09 – 15 June 2011)

1. Incursions into Palestinian Areas and
Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Thursday, 09 June 2011

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Taqqou’ village, south of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, accusing them of throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles:

1. Muntasser Sameeh al-‘Omour, 17;
2. Haitham Mohammed al-‘Omour, 22; and
3. Mahmoud Mohammed al-‘Omour, 24.

According to information available to the detainees’ lawyers, the detainees were subject to violent beating during interrogation. An Israeli interrogator even threatened to remove the trousers of the first detainee and molest him. As a result of beating, the three detainees suffer from pains throughout their bodies.

· At approximately 08:40, IOF moved into Nabi Elias village, east of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 09:10, IOF moved into ‘Azzoun village, east of Qalqilya. They raided a number of shops and held a number of Palestinian civilians. They released those civilians at approximately 12:00. Israeli soldiers took the camera of the municipality’s photographer and deleted all photos saved on it. Before their withdrawal, Israeli soldiers threatened villagers that they would close the entrance of the village and arrest all young men in the village if stone throwing continued. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 10:00, IOF moved into ‘Attil village, north of Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:00, IOF moved into Jayous village, northeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 12:55, IOF moved into Snirya village, southeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· Also at approximately 12:55, IOF moved into Beit Ameen village, southeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 16:00, IOF moved into Kharabtha al-Misbah village, west of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 16:05, IOF moved into Qarawat Bani Hassan village, northwest of Salafit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 18:00, IOF moved into Bedya village, west of Salafit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 22:30, IOF moved into Jericho. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 23:45, an IOF undercover unit moved into ‘Azzoun village, east of Qalilya, traveling in a Palestinian civilian vehicle. The vehicle stopped near a game gallery. Immediately, at least 20 Israeli soldiers stepped down from the vehicle and broke into the gallery and threatened the owner to punish him if they discovered that the raid was photographed. Soon after, Israeli soldiers gathered customers and forced them to stand with their faces to the walls. They also fired smoke bombs inside the gallery after arresting Ahmed Sa’id Saleem, 22.

Friday, 10 June 2011

· At approximately 00:20, IOF moved into Marda village, north of Salfit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 00:30, IOF moved into Jenin. They raided and searched a house belonging to Wasfi ‘Izzat Qabaha, 51, former Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs and a leader of Hamas, and arrested him. An Israeli officer told Qabaha’s daughter that they arrested him because “he did not listen to their advice to stop his activities.”

· At approximately 00:40, IOF moved into Qabatya village, south of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:00, IOF moved into Jafna village, north of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:35, IOF moved into Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 11:40, IOF moved into Kufor Thuloth village, southeast of Qalailya. They patrolled in the streets and stopped and questioned a number of Palestinian civilians. They withdrew later and neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 22:00, IOF moved into Beit Liqya village, west of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 23:00, IOF moved into al-Jalama village, north of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 23:30, IOF moved into Bitounia town, west of Ramallah. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

Saturday, 11 June 2011

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Bir Zeit village, north of Jericho. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. No arrests were reported.

· At approximately 08:00, medical sources at the Israeli Hasharon Hospital declared that Mohammed Sha’ban Mohammed Esleem, 50, from Gaza City, died of wounds he had sustained on 15 January 2009 during the wide scale Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. Esleem had been wounded by shrapnel to the head, the abdomen and the hand. On 24 February 2009, he was transferred to an Egyptian hospital. On 29 May 2011, he was transferred to an Israeli hospital, where he had received medical treatment until his death. It is worth noting that Esleem was wounded inside his house when IOF targeted the late Minister of Interior in the Gaza government, Sa’id Syam. As a result of this attack, 12 Palestinians, including 6 members of the Esleem family, were killed.

· At approximately 16:30, IOF moved into Zabbouba village, northwest of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· Also at approximately 16:30, IOF moved into ‘Aanin village, northwest of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 19:00, IOF moved into Bil’ein village, west of Ramallah. They provocatively patrolled in the streets. A number of Palestinian boys gathered and threw stones at Israeli military vehicles. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. A number of Palestinian civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF withdrew from the village later and no arrests were reported.

· At approximately 22:00, Israeli gunboats stationed opposite to Beit Lahia seashore in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats. They also fired flash bombs over the area. Palestinian fishermen were forced to flee and no casualties were reported.

Sunday, 12 June 2011

· At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Bethlehem. They raided and searched a house belonging to the family of Tamer Mahmoud Hammoud, 23, and arrested him.

· At approximately 02:40, IOF moved into al-Khas village, east of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a house belonging to the family of Ahmed Naji Hmaidan, 21, and arrested him.

· Also at approximately 02:40, IOF moved into Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron. They raided and searched a house belonging to the family of Saddam ‘Abdul ‘Aziz ‘Awadh, 22, and arrested him.

· At approximately 14:30, IOF moved into Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 17:15, IOF moved into Qarawat Bani Hassan village, west of Salafit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 20:55, IOF moved into Jayous village, southeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 23:40, IOF moved into Kufor al-Dik village, west of Salfit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

Monday, 13 June 2011

· At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Salfit. They patrolled in the streets and raided and searched 3 houses. As they were patrolling in the streets, a number of Palestinian boys and young men threw stones at Israeli military vehicles. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a 28-year-old Palestinian (who requested censored HR not to mention his name) was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet and tear gas canister to the left hand.

· Also at approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Qabatya village, south of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 16:35, IOF moved into Ematin village, northeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 19:10, IOF moved in Jeet village, northeast of Qalqilya. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

· At approximately 01:15, IOF moved into Hares village, north of Salafit. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested two Palestinian civilians:

1. Hakim Yassin Shamlawi, 26; and
2. Yazan Taleb Daoud, 22.

· At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Housan village, west of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested two Palestinian children:

1. Mahmoud Mohammed Sabatin, 17; and
2. Ussama Shousha, 17.

· At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Bedya village, west of Salfit. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 02:20, IOF moved into Qalqilya. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 4 Palestinian civilians:

1. Mohammed Taleb al-Aqra’, 32;
2. Khaled Taleb al-Aqra’, 30;
3. Mohammed Bassam Walweel, 29; and
4. Taqfiq Bassam Walweel, 31.

· At approximately 09:00, IOF moved into ‘Allar village, north of Tulkarm. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 09:30, IOF moved into Jalboun village. East of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· Also at approximately 09:30, IOF moved into Deir Ghazala village, northeast of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

· At approximately 10:00, IOF moved into Kufor Ra’ei village, south of Jenin. They patrolled in the streets for some time and withdrew later. Neither house raids nor arrests were reported.

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

· At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Tulkarm. They raided and searched a number of houses and arrested 4 Palestinian civilians:

1. Mohammed Wasfi Jallad, 30;
2. ‘Omar Talal Jeetawi, 21;
3. Raja’ei Ahmed ‘Ammouri, 26; and
4. Jamal ‘Allam Hattab, 27.

It should be noted that at approximately 15:00 on Tuesday, 14 June 2011, IOF summoned Ahmed Fu’ad Kharyoush, 29, to the Israeli district coordination office by a phone call. When he went there, he was arrested and taken together with ‘Ammouri and Hattab to Salem military court, north of Jenin to testify in a case of a Palestinian prisoner. At approximately 11:00 on Wednesday, the three detainees were released.

· At approximately 06:00, IOF moved nearly 200 meters into the east of al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They leveled areas of land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel amidst intensive shooting. They withdrew from the area at approximately 18:00 and no casualties were reported.

2. Use of Excessive Force against
Peaceful Demonstrations Protesting Settlement Activities and
the Construction of the Annexation Wall

During the reporting period, IOF used force against peaceful demonstrations organized by Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders in protest to the construction of the Wall and settlement activities in the West Bank. As a result, two Palestinian civilians were wounded, dozens of Palestinian civilians and human rights defenders also suffered from tear gas inhalation and others sustained bruises. Additionally, IOF arrested 4 Israeli human rights defenders and two Palestinian civilians.

· Following the Friday Prayer on 10 June 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Bil'ein village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the annexation wall. They marched in the streets raising Palestinian flags and portraits of Jawaher and Bassem Abu Rahma, who were killed by IOF, and Marwan al-Barghouthi, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council who had been detained by IOF. Mr. Waleed al-Mo’aqat, Palestinian Ambassador to Argentina; Dr. Munjed Saleh, Assistant of the Palestinian Foreign Minister for Latin America and Caribbean Affairs; Mr. Urassio Wamba, Argentinean Ambassador to Palestine; Ms. Sicilia Marshan, Speaker of the Argentinean Parliament; and an Argentinean parliamentary delegation participated in the demonstration. Israeli soldiers stationed in the area fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators. As a result, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation and others sustained bruises.

· Also following the Friday Prayer on 10 June 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Ne'lin village, west of Ramallah, in protest against the construction of the annexation wall. They clashed with Israeli troops positioned near the Wall. Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at demonstrators. As a result, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.

· Also following the Friday Prayer on 10 March 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, in protest against land confiscations in the Wad al-Raya area between the villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nizam. When the demonstrators attempted to reach areas of land seized by Israeli settlers near "Halmish" settlement, Israeli troops fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation. Additionally, IOF arrested 3 Israeli human rights defenders.

· Following the Noon Prayer on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians and Israeli human rights defenders organized a peaceful demonstration in Deir Qiddis village, west of Ramallah, in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall. They marched in the streets raising the Palestinian flag. They then moved towards Jabal al-Deir area in the west of the village near “Nili” settlement. When the demonstrators attempted to reach the area, Israeli soldiers deployed there fired bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs at them. As a result, two demonstrators were wounded:

1. Wa’el ‘Abdul Qader Nasser, 24, wounded by a bullet to the right thigh; and
2. Islam Nazeeh Nasser, 25, wounded by two bullets to the right hand and side.

In addition, a number of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation and other sustained bruises. Israeli soldiers also arrested an Israeli human rights defender, and Mohammed ‘Abdul Qader ‘Amira, 39.

3. Continued Closure of the OPT

Israel has continued to impose a tightened closure of the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Gaza Strip

Israel has continuously closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for over three years. The illegal Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip. The illegal closure has caused not only a humanitarian crisis but a crisis of human rights and human dignity for the population of the Gaza Strip. Measures declared recently to ease the blockade are vague, purely cosmetic and fail to deal with the root causes of the crisis, which can only be addressed by an immediate and complete lifting of the closure, including lifting the travel ban into and out of the Gaza Strip and the ban on exports. censored HR is concerned that the new Israeli policy is simply shifting Gaza to another form of illegal blockade, one that may become internationally accepted and institutionalized. Palestinians in Gaza may no longer suffer from the same shortage of goods, but they will remain economically dependent and unable to care for themselves, and socially, culturally and academically isolated from the rest of the world.

Movement at Border Crossings during the Reporting Period:


source: European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah
www.eubam-rafah.eu/node/351

Movement at Rafah International Crossing Point
08 – 14 June 2011



Movement at Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) Crossing
08 – 14 June 2011
It was not possible to obtain details about the movement at the crossing this week. Such details will be included in the next report.


Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing: Israel has continued to close Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for the movement of Palestinian civilians. IOF have allowed only diplomats, a number of international journalists, employees of international agencies and a limited number of patients who suffer from serious diseases to pass through the crossing. They have continued to prevent Palestinian civilians from visiting their relatives who are detained in Israeli jails. The small number of patients permitted to pass through the crossing is only able to do so under severe restrictions that include prolonged checking.

Movement at Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing
08 – 14 June 2011



The West Bank

Israel has imposed a tightened closure on the West Bank. During the reporting period, IOF imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians.

· Jerusalem: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians to and from the city. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been denied access to the city. IOF have established many checkpoints around and inside the city. Restrictions of the movement of Palestinian civilians often escalate on Fridays, preventing Muslim Palestinians from praying at al-Aqsa Mosque.

· Ramallah: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of the Palestinian civilians in Ramallah. At approximately 10:00 on Thursday, 09 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint on the road linking between Beit ‘Aur al-Tahta and Beit ‘Aur al-Fouqa villages, west of Ramallah. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. At approximately 17:00 on the same day, IOF established a checkpoint under Kharabtha al-Maisbah village, west of Ramallah. At approximately 19:00 on the same day, IOF established a checkpoint on the road linking between Silwad and al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya villages, northeast of Ramallah. At approximately 10:30 on Saturday, 11 June 2011, IOF re-established their presence at 'Attara checkpoint, north of Ramallah. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. At approximately 16:00 on the same day, IOF established a checkpoint at Beit ‘Aur al-Fouqa intersections, west of Ramallah.

· Qalqilya: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians. On Friday, 10 June 011, IOF established 5 checkpoints around the town. On Monday, 13 June 2011, IOF established 4 checkpoints around the town.

· Tulkarm: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians. At approximately 09:00 on Thursday, 09 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance of Beit Leed intersection, east of Tulkarm. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. At the same time, they established a checkpoint on the road linking Jenin with the northern villages of Tulkarm. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. At approximately 09:00 on Saturday, 11 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint on Tulkarm-Qalqilya road, near Far’oun village. At approximately 20:00, IOF established a checkpoint near Kufor Sour intersection on Tulkarm-Qalqilya road. Half an hour later, they established a checkpoint at the entrance of Qiffin village, north of Tulkarm. At approximately 09:30 on Tuesday, 14 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint at Far’oun intersection, south of Tulkarm. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles. At approximately 13:00, IOF imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians through Ennab checkpoint, east of Tulkarm. At approximately 17:00 on the same day, IOF established a checkpoint at al-Jaroushiya intersection, north of Tulkarm. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles.

· Salfit: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians. At approximately 12:10 on Monday, 14 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint between Brouqin and Qarawat Bani Zaid villages, west of Salfit. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles.

· Jericho: IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians. At approximately 19:30 on Thursday, 09 June 2011, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance of Fassayel village, north of Jericho. They stopped and searched Palestinian civilian vehicles.

Arrests at Military Checkpoints

· At approximately 21:00 on Friday, 10 June 2011, Israeli soldiers positioned at the northern entrances of the old town of Hebron arrested Hamada ‘Emad Da’na, 22.

· At approximately 17:00 on Saturday, 11 June 2011, Israeli soldiers positioned at Um al-Raihan checkpoint, west of Jenin, arrested Kifah ‘Emad Zaid, 20, from Kfiret village, claiming that she wanted to pass through the checkpoint using her sister’s permit. The Israeli police arrived and questioned her. She was released an hour and a half later.

Harassment at Military Checkpoints

On Tuesday evening, Israeli soldiers positioned at a checkpoint to the south of Hebron violently beat Mohammed Ahmed Makhamra, 26, when he debated with them as they held him together with other Palestinian for a long period. He sustained acute bruised throughout the body.

4. Measures Aimed at Creating a Jewish
Demographic Majority in Jerusalem

Israel has escalated arbitrary measures against Palestinian civilians in East Jerusalem in order to force them to leave the city. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has devoted this section in the Weekly Report to highlighting violations of human rights perpetrated by IOF against Palestinian civilians in East Jerusalem.

· On Thursday, 09 June 2011, a group of Jewish extremists, mostly settlers from “Kiryat Arba” settlement in Hebron, escorted by IOF, broke into the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

· On Friday, 10 June 2011, an Israeli police force stormed the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque after the Friday Prayer. A number of young men threw stones at the force. Immediately, Israeli police officers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at them. No casualties.

· On Saturday, 11 June 2011, a number of Jewish extremists conducted religious rituals in a Palestinian marker. The Israeli police forced Palestinian civilians to close their shops in the market.

· On Sunday, 12 June 2011, the Israeli authorities started excavation works in al-Sultan Pool in the old town, which is a registered Islamic site. On the same day, officials of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem and the Israeli police chased peddlers in Bab al-Amoud area. They confiscated goods and attacked a number of peddlers.

5. Settlement Activities and Attacks by Settlers against
Palestinian Civilians and Property

Israel has continued its settlement activities in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law, and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

· Following the Friday Prayer on 10 June 2011, dozens of Palestinian civilians from Kufor Malek village, northeast of Ramallah, travelled in cars to al-Marj area, nearly 10 kilometers to the east of the village, where 3 Israeli settlers set up a tent. When the Palestinian civilians arrived at the area, one of the settlers opened fire at them. As a result, Yousef Hammad al-Qaq, 66, was wounded by a bullet to the head. Later, IOF arrived at the area and attempted to control the settlers.

· At approximately 09:10 on Sunday, 12 June 2011, IOF moved into Brouqin village, west of Salfit. They handed a notice to Mo’ayad Mohammed Baker, ordering the demolition of an agricultural barrack belonging to him. They also handed another notice to villagers ordering the demolition of a school, and a third one ordering stopping construction of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Mosque allegedly for the lack of licenses.

· At approximately 12:10 on the same day, IOF moved into Hares village, north of Salfit. They handed notices ordering the demolition of two barracks used for car washing belonging to ‘Abdullah and Jihad Mohammed Daoud, claiming that they were built without licenses.

· On Monday, 13 June 2011, Israeli settlers from “Ashkilot” settlement to the west of Arab al-Ramadin village, southwest of Hebron, razed and leveled at least 20 dumuns of Palestinian agricultural land isolated by the annexation wall. Israeli settlers seized this area of land a few months ago. The land belongs to Nassar Mohammed Zamel.

· At approximately 06:30 on Tuesday, 14 June 2011, IOF, accompanied by two bulldozers, moved into Dassayel village, north of Jericho. They demolished 3 barnyards and 10 tents, claiming that they were established without licenses near bypass road #90, which is used by Israeli settlers. A number of Palestinian civilians attempted to stop the demolition, but Israeli soldiers violently beat them. As a result, ‘Ali ‘Ebayat sustained bruises. Three of the demolished tents were inhabited. They belong to ‘omar Khalil Ta’amra, Kayed ‘Atallah Rashaida and Yassin Mohammed Rashaida.

· At approximately 10:00 on the same day, IOF, accompanied by two bulldozers, moved into al-Harayiq area, southwest of Hebron. They demolished two water wells belonging to the al-Jamal family. According to Samer ‘Abdul Hamid al-Jamal, IOF handed notices ordering the demolition of 5 water wells, claiming that they were established without licenses, and then demolished two wells. Israeli soldiers used force to drive Palestinian civilians away from the area, including firing tear gas canisters at them. As a result, a number of civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation.

· At approximately 11:30 on the same day, IOF moved into al-Ma’sara village, west of Bethlehem. They handed a notice to Ahmed Zawahra ordering the demolition of a mosque in the east of the village, claiming that it was built without a license. The notice gives Palestinian civilians 13 days to appeal against the order.

· On the same day evening, at least 50 Israeli settlers living in settlement outposts in the center of Hebron attacked 5 Palestinian houses in Tal Rumaida neighborhood near the closed al-Shuhada Street. This attack came two days following the Israeli High Court’s rejection of a petition filed by Palestinians to open closed roads in Hebron.

· At approximately 13:30 on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, a number of Israeli settlers from “Mitatyahu” settlement, west of Ramallah, set fire to dozens of olive trees in Bel’ein village. IOF restricted the access of Palestinian fire fighters to the area to extinguish fire. In the end, the firefighters were able to extinguish fire. At approximately 17:30, a number of Palestinian boys gathered and threw stones at Israeli soldiers near the annexation wall. Immediately, Israeli soldiers fired bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs at them. No casualties were reported.

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Recommendations to the International Community

1. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal and moral obligations under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights believes that the conspiracy of silence practiced by the international community has encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and encourages Israel continue to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

2. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene a conference to take effective steps to ensure Israel's respect of the Convention in the OPT and to provide immediate protection for Palestinian civilians.

3. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to comply with their legal obligations detailed in Article 146 of the Convention to search for and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches, namely war crimes.

4. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls for the immediate implementation of the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal.

5. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights recommends that international civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, bar associations and NGOs, participate in the process of exposing those accused of grave breaches of international law and urge their governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.

6. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that Israel must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights further calls upon the EU states to prohibit import of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.

7. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls on the international community to recognize the Gaza disengagement plan, which was implemented in September 2005, for what it is — not an end to occupation but a compounding of the occupation and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

8. In recognition of ICRC as the guardian of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the ICRC to increase its staff and activities in the OPT, including the facilitation of family visitations to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

9. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights appreciates the efforts of international civil society, including human rights organizations, bar associations, unions and NGOs, and urges them to continue their role in pressuring their governments to secure Israel's respect for human rights in the OPT and to demand Israel end its attacks on Palestinian civilians.

10. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the international community to pressure Israel to lift the severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and its occupation forces on access for international organizations to the OPT.

11. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reiterates that any political settlement not based on international human rights law and humanitarian law cannot lead to a peaceful and just solution of the Palestinian question. Rather, such an arrangement can only lead to further suffering and instability in the region. Any peace process or agreement must be based on respect for international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law.

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Public Document

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