Category Archives: Palestine

Israel admits it kills innocent Palestinian — again | The Electronic Intifada

A familiar narrative unfolded on Monday: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian, and media dutifully published a police spokesperson’s claim that the young man was shot dead during an attempt to attack soldiers with a car.But for the second time in just over a week, Israel soon admitted that the young man shot dead by its forces in Shuafat refugee camp near Jerusalem was not attempting any attack when he was killed.This was the news given to 27-year-old Mustafa Nimir’s parents by Israeli intelligence, who had summoned the couple to a police station in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday.But the couple already knew that their son was not attempting an attack when he was killed, and that Mustafa and his brother-in-law, 25-year-old Ali Tayseer Nimir, were bringing home food and baby clothes when their car came under fire.Videos and a photo of the aftermath show the backseat of the vehicle with loaves of bread and shopping bags still sitting on the back seat, spattered with blood.Sprayed with bulletsMustafa and Ali were driving home after visiting Mustafa’s older brother when they came under fire. Palestinian youth were confronting raiding Israeli forces in the area at the time.A Palestinian eyewitness told the Ma’an News Agency that confrontations broke out when Israeli forces raided the street connecting the camp to the neighboring village of Anata.“The area of Shufat and Anata is surrounded on three sides by Israel’s separation wall – to the west, north and south,” according to Ma’an.The witness said that dozens of soldiers were in the streets, firing rubber-coated steel bullets at protesters.“During the clashes, a white Opel Corsa was driving in the area and Israeli forces opened heavy fire on the car,” he told Ma’an, adding that the car was moving at a moderate speed and soldiers were standing to the sides of the street.After being sprayed with bullets, the driver lost control of the vehicle, and ran into a parked car.Another camp resident told Ma’an that she was woken up by the shooting and she saw from her balcony that when the white car crashed to a halt, a soldier opened the driver’s side door and demanded that the driver, Ali, who had been shot, get out of the car.She told Ma’an that she saw the driver get out of the car with his hands up while stating repeatedly, “I didn’t do anything.”“Israeli soldiers pushed him on the ground, ordered him to take his pants off, and searched him, despite his injuries,” the witness said.Video of the scene shows soldiers shouting orders at Ali, who emerges from the car with his hands up before lying on the ground:The witness added that Mustafa’s body was left sitting in the passenger’s seat while Ali was left on the ground for half an hour without receiving medical care before both were taken away in Israeli military vehicles.Mustafa’s father Talal told Ma’an on Tuesday that “There are no justifications for killing our children.”“Even if soldiers really did order them to stop the vehicle, why would they immediately start shooting at them?”Killed on way to bakery, returning from pool partyThe incident in Shuafat is similar to the slaying of 22-year-old Anwar Falah al-Salaymeh in nearby al-Ram weeks earlier.Israeli forces claimed that soldiers fired on a “speeding vehicle heading towards them,” killing al-Salaymeh and seriously wounding one of the other two Palestinians in the car.“However, the surviving passengers in the car categorically denied that they had attempted to run over the soldiers,” Ma’an reported at the time, “saying that they were heading to a bakery and had been unaware that Israeli forces were deployed in the area.”And in June, Israeli soldiers in the central West Bank opened fire on a car full of young Palestinians returning from a late-night pool party celebrating Ramadan, killing 15-year-old Mahmoud Badran and injuring four others.In that case, too, Israel admitted that the youths were “mistakenly hit” while soldiers were responding to reports that Palestinians were throwing rocks and firebombs on a highway used by settlers.More than 220 Palestinians have been killed since a new phase of violence began last October, many shot dead in what Israel says were attacks or alleged attacks which have killed more than 30 soldiers and civilians.Human rights groups have condemned Israel’s reflexive use of deadly force in such incidents, saying it amounts to an unofficial shoot-to-kill policy encouraged by Israel’s top leadership.The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also called for full investigation of incidents in which Israeli forces have caused death and injury.

Source: Israel admits it kills innocent Palestinian — again | The Electronic Intifada

Palestinian who filmed Hebron shooting faces threats to his life | +972 Magazine

Last week B’Tselem filed a complaint with Israeli police, claiming that Hebron police prevented Abu Shamsiya from submitting his own request following threats he received on the internet.Abu Shamsiya describes how last Sunday he arrived at the police station in Hebron to file a complaint about the threats, which included comments such as “I will kill you, you disabled asshole,” “your time will come,” and threatening videos. After a lengthy wait he was told that the station was too busy and that he should return the following day. The next day, after another long wait, he was told that he could not file a complaint, since the only officer who could deal with issue was not present. Abu Shamsiya returned for a third day, waiting a number of hours to be helped. When he approached one of there investigators, he was told to go home and threatened with arrest should he refuse to do so.

Source: Palestinian who filmed Hebron shooting faces threats to his life | +972 Magazine

The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine

Jerusalem is divided between different people – leftists and rightists, secular and religious – these definitions erect walls and restrict our humanity. At the end of the day, when you talk to someone on the level and do it genuinely you realize that we all have a lot in common, even when we disagree with each other, which is fine. They look different and they think different, but we must respect each other, we are all the sons of one god.

I then shed all my prejudice and the preconceptions that I had, having grown up in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, having seen blown-up buses and thought every Arab was a terrorist. Many times in my life I incited and acted against Arabs.

And today, three years on, I’m coming full circle. I’m going to meet with Mohammed Ghadir, shake his hand talk to him. I’m the happiest man alive.

I’ve recently started speaking against racism and for love and tolerance. Many eyebrows were raised. I was harassed along the way, and many are still annoyed with me.

But when I see kids that thanks to me choose love over hate, I couldn’t be happier. I have made lovely Arab, religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox friends, really of all kinds. I’m trying to shed my prejudices and be sensitive, empathetic, loving and accepting. I’ve shed all the fears that I had. I’ve won.”Later, after he met with Ghadir, he wrote another post describing the meeting as “one of the most emotional moments of my life.”

Source: The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine

Israeli soldiers routinely shoot heads of injured Palestinians, court told | The Electronic Intifada

 

“In terrorist incidents I witnessed, I saw with my own eyes that in every instance in which a terrorist attacked, soldiers shot him in the center of mass until he was neutralized … and [shot] a bullet to the head to ensure that the terrorist could not set off a suicide belt or continue the attack. These soldiers never went to court,” Liebman, the longtime civilian security chief for Jewish settlers in Hebron, told the court.“A ‘neutralized terrorist’ means: either he attempted to carry out an attack and was shot in the chest and killed and then shot in the head to make sure – as is taught in the IDF [Israeli army] according to the rules of opening fire – or it means that the terrorist was checked by a sapper and was cuffed by the hands and feet,” Liebman added.

Source: Israeli soldiers routinely shoot heads of injured Palestinians, court told | The Electronic Intifada

Meet Palestine’s animal rights activists | +972 Magazine

Ahmad Safi, a PAL employee, gave us a presentation about their work. I was amazed by the amount of knowledge he had on animals in Palestine. He told us about their rescue operation to save animals from Gaza’s Khan Younis zoo who hadn’t eaten for 52 days during the 2014 Gaza War, and on treating working animals: the volunteers go to villages where donkeys and horses work the land, vaccinate them and instruct the owners about treating them respectfully.They also have a campaign to raise awareness among children about their pets.“We have to break the cycle of violence,” he said. “We have to tell these kids that what they see the occupation doing – killings, incursions and raids into their villages and schools – is not a natural reality. This violence eventually comes out on defenseless animals, and kids think it’s all right because violence is king. Everybody harms the weaker, and animals are an easy target.”“We try to convey to them that we are all living creatures, and we all have feelings – animals and human beings alike, “Sham, a volunteer, explains. “The same way we fear a tank or an armed soldier, they do too. We are under the occupation together, and therefore should help every living creature.”“It says so in the Qura,” Jiwa adds.Our ancestors didn’t eat meatI ask them whether they are vegan – khudaryat, in Arabic, meaning “herbivores.”“Sort of,” says Siham. “I barely eat meat. Since I became involved in this I noticed I don’t like the taste that much.”“I am vegetarian,” says Dana. “I gradually stopped eating murdered stuff, I can’t put in my mouth something that was once living.Sham says she does not proselytize or try to enforce anything on her family. “Palestinian cooking has so many vegetables. Even if they eat meat and I eat salad and rice, I’m happy.”“So many vegetables, yes,” adds Jiwa. “And how can you open a cafeteria without falafel? It has all the iron and protein that you need. Who needs shawarma?”“But meat is a requirement at any special meal,” I say. “Look at the iftar meal after Ramadan. Is there an Arab dinner party anywhere that doesn’t have meat?”“That’s right, Safi says. “We were taught meat was prestigious. But what did our ancestors eat? Plants and vegetables. They ate meat only once a week because they couldn’t afford it. Meat-eaters were considered the rich ones, that’s why it took over our diet. The meat industry here uses hormones profusely, we learned that from Israel. The owner of one of the biggest chicken farms in Palestine said that he learned from Israelis how to feed his chickens a mixture of chicken meat leftovers, intestines, hormones, antibiotics and some seeds, instead of the regular food, to make them fat quickly, and cash in on it. Since when did Palestinian farmers start growing chickens like that? It’s all about the money. Jews and Palestinians want to be as rich as they can.”

Source: Meet Palestine’s animal rights activists | +972 Magazine

Israel erases Palestine-related contents from school books in J’lem – PNN

The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) in Occupied Jerusalem has omitted all texts and pictures that are related to Palestine and the struggle against the occupation from Palestinian school books before its distribution.According to the Hebrew newspaper Iroshalim, the Israeli municipality and the ministry of education deleted Quranic verses, poems and other contents from Palestinian curriculums advocating the Palestinian struggle against the occupation.The IOA recently distributed these books that contained some blank pages and blackened lines to Palestinian schools in the holy city. Among the lines that disappeared from those books are texts talking about the unity of the Muslim nation and the importance of the Aqsa Mosque.The Palestinian map, flag and anthem were also removed from text books. The Israeli municipality justified the measure by claiming that it would not allow the presence of educational books encouraging violence

Source: Israel erases Palestine-related contents from school books in J’lem – PNN

Official from Christian charity tortured by Israel, lawyer says | The Electronic Intifada

Israel detained Mohammad El Halabi in June, interrogated him for more than 50 days and then charged him with diverting up to $50 million to the military wing of Hamas.There are also new indications that Israel’s Shin Bet secret police tortured Halabi to extract the confessions it is relying on.On Monday, Kevin Jenkins, president and CEO of World Vision International, said his organization is “seeking to understand the truth behind the allegations laid against Mohammad El Halabi,” and had suspended operations in Gaza pending investigations.Jenkins added that “we still have not seen any of the evidence.”“World Vision’s cumulative operating budget in Gaza for the past ten years was approximately $22.5 million, which makes the alleged amount of up to $50 million being diverted hard to reconcile,” Jenkins said. He also noted Halabi’s signing authority to spend funds was limited to to just $15,000.“He was afraid they would kill him”Faced with these figures – which severely undermine the credibility of the Israeli accusations – an Israeli government official told Australia’s ABC network that the numbers were irrelevant.“It’s like when you catch a serial killer, the question of whether he killed 50 people or 25 people is not really relevant is it?” Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said.This kind of reckless statement is adding to concerns among observers.“That’s an absolutely ridiculous statement from Emmanuel Nahshon,” Jacob Burns, a researcher at Amnesty International, tweeted. “Serious charges require serious (and fair) trial.”

Source: Official from Christian charity tortured by Israel, lawyer says | The Electronic Intifada

Christian charity rejects Israeli claim funds went to Hamas | The Electronic Intifada

Shin Bet accusationsThe Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz reported that Halabi was detained by Israeli forces as he attempted to return to Gaza through the Erez crossing from present-day Israel.According to Haaretz, Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency has accused Halabi of funneling “tens of millions of dollars” of World Vision resources to Hamas, “some of it to fund digging military-related tunnels and to purchase weapons.” Citing Shin Bet, The New York Times put the figure at $43 million allegedly funneled to Hamas in just six years.Israel has not explained how such astonishing sums could have gone missing without the charity noticing, especially in Gaza where relatively small sums of development money could have a potentially massive impact.Shin Bet claims that $80,000 contributed by UK donors for needy families and to support civilian projects “were used to build a Hamas position in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, to pay Hamas activists’ salaries and bonuses [for] members who had fought against Israel in the 2014 war,” Haaretz said.Halabi’s attorney Muhammad Mahmoud told the newspaper that his client denies any ties to Hamas and that the fact the investigation took more than 50 days indicates a “problem” with the evidence.Shin Bet has routinely used torture in interrogations of Palestinians.World Vision said in its statement that it has “detailed procedures and control mechanisms in place to ensure that the funds entrusted to us are spent in accordance with applicable legal requirements and in ways that do not fuel conflict but rather contribute to peace.”Halabi’s lawyer told Haaretz that some allegations appeared to be linked to an incident allegedly in which “armed Hamas members came in two commercial vehicles with a machine gun mounted on it and under threat they took what they wanted” from World Vision stores.“We will study the file and its evidence some more but I think this file started off very inflated and the balloon has since been deflated,” the lawyer added.CrackdownIsrael has a history of making baseless allegations that various organizations are tied to Hamas.The accusations regarding World Vision also come months after Amnesty International expressed concern over harassment and intimidation by Israel aimed at hampering and discrediting the work of Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders and nongovernmental organizations.The arrest of Halabi may be an ominous sign of a broader crackdown specifically targeting humanitarian workers in Gaza.“Other information obtained while investigating Halabi has raised suspicions that other humanitarian aid organizations, as well, including United Nations institutions, have exploited their jobs for Hamas,” Haaretz reported, citing Shin Bet sources.It said that details of these cases are under Israeli gag orders.Evangelical ChristiansThe arrest was first reported by the blog ThinkProgress on 1 August.ThinkProgress revealed that a senior Gaza staffer – presumably Halabi – had been held for more than 40 days “without evidence or trial” and that occupation forces had searched World Vision’s offices in East Jerusalem.The charity works closely with UN agencies and the Red Cross and has received funding from the US and European governments.“The detention of a World Vision employee and subsequent raids potentially complicates the historically strong relationship between Israel and evangelical Christians in the United States,” ThinkProgress commented.World Vision Gaza humanitarian aid christian activism Hamas armed resistance Mohammad El Halabi Shin Bet ThinkProgressAli Abunimah’s blog Add new commentYour nameE-mailThe content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.HomepageSubjectComment policyComment *Content limited to 2000 characters, remaining: 2000 Notify me when new comments are posted All comments Replies to my commentBy submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.ALI ABUNIMAH Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.TwitterFacebook What’s really behind Israel’s attack on Christian charity World Vision?Ali Abunimah 5 August 2016 Video: Israeli soldier assaults child playing on Jews-only roadAli Abunimah 3 August 2016 Israel temporarily lifts travel ban on BDS co-founder Omar BarghoutiAli Abunimah 2 August 2016 Israel uses Caterpillar equipment in apparent extrajudicial killingAli Abunimah 28 July 2016 Saudi-Israeli courtship heats up with general’s visitAli Abunimah 27 July 2016Main menuFeaturesOpinion and analysisReviewsBlogsSearch form Search

Source: Christian charity rejects Israeli claim funds went to Hamas | The Electronic Intifada

incoherent reflection | nadiaharhash

The only way out for us, is to start reading the reality with a critical and observing eye that can bring us a step forward to peace. Not the political peace that is consumed as a notion, but peace for us people. Palestinians, who are so distracted, shattered, bleeding in so many obstructions and frustrations, we no longer realize what we are.

Source: incoherent reflection | nadiaharhash

License to Kill: Forgery, evidence tampering and two dead teens | +972 Magazine

Usaid and Muhammed Qadus are shot to death in their own village by a major in the Israeli army who claims he only fired rubber bullets. But the bullets were real, and he admitted to lying and committing forgery to cover up his crime. Instead of being charged with a crime, he is promoted. By John Brown and Noam Rotem (Translated from Hebrew by Ofer Neiman) In the “License to Kill” series thus far, we have surveyed eight Military Police investigation files regarding the killing of Palestinians by IDF fire. Despite the fact that none of those killed posed a danger…

Source: License to Kill: Forgery, evidence tampering and two dead teens | +972 Magazine