Category Archives: Palestine

Israeli settlers seize West Bank buildings in Hebron | News | DW.COM | 21.01.2016

Dozens of Israeli settlers entered two homes in a building in the center of the Palestinian city of Hebron on Thursday, sparking violent clashes over disputed ownership claims, witnesses told news agencies.”A group of dozens of settlers accompanied by rabbis broke into a building on Shuhada Street,” Jawad Abu Eisheh, an activist with the local Youth Against Settlements group, told the news agency AFP on Thursday. He added that Palestinians lived in the building, described by some settlers as empty.Israeli forces were deployed to protect the settlers. Some demonstrators threw stones and soldiers, in turn, used sound grenades, taking a number of injured Palestinians to the hospital, AFP reported. An army spokeswoman said the clashes subsided later.

Source: Israeli settlers seize West Bank buildings in Hebron | News | DW.COM | 21.01.2016

Eritrean man was lynched by Israelis in uniform, new video shows | The Electronic Intifada

On 18 October, 29-year-old Eritrean refugee Haftom Zarhum was severely beaten and shot to death by a vengeful mob of Israeli soldiers, prison officers and police in and out of uniform, security camera footage recently obtained by the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz has revealed.The mob mistook Zarhum, unarmed and injured, for the gunman who had opened fire moments earlier at the central bus station in Bir al-Saba (Beer Sheva), a city in the south of present-day Israel.

Source: Eritrean man was lynched by Israelis in uniform, new video shows | The Electronic Intifada

Israel Faces New Brand of Terrorism, This Time From Young Settlers – The New York Times

Shin Bet, says the younger Mr. Meyer belongs to a Jewish terrorist network, some of whose members have been charged with grave crimes, including the July arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West Bank village of Duma. The two suspects in that case also spent time in these hills.The existence of the network, known as the Revolt for the title of its manifesto, became known about six months ago, after the arrest of several suspected members. This latest manifestation of Jewish terrorism is the creation of young extremists rebelling against what they view as the inertia of the Israeli establishment, and it has fermented in lawless outposts like Baladim, a tiny encampment outside Maale Shlomo, and Geulat Zion to the north.PhotoMr. Meyer at his lawyer’s office in Jerusalem. Mr. Meyer was held in administrative detention for five months as a suspect in arson attacks before being released last week, and remains under house arrest at night. Credit Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesShin Bet says the group poses a continuing danger of violence, and the authorities have gone after it using extraordinary methods that were previously reserved for Palestinians accused of terrorism. Suspects have been imprisoned without charge under administrative detention orders, and have been denied meetings with lawyers for as long as three weeks.

Source: Israel Faces New Brand of Terrorism, This Time From Young Settlers – The New York Times

Jewish settlers bore into Palestinian children’s bedroom | The Electronic Intifada

Israel’s high court has temporarily halted the eviction of the Sub Laban family from their home in the Muslim quarter of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, but that has not stopped Jewish settlers from harassing the family in an apparent attempt to pressure them to leave.On 3 January the family came home to find that the Jewish settlers who took over the adjacent apartment last month had drilled six large holes into the concrete walls of the children’s bedroom.The video above shows the surreal situation where family members could peer through the holes and see the settlers continuing to bore into the house.According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Sub Laban family called the police, who came to the house and asked the settlers to repair the damage, but took no further measures against them.

Source: Jewish settlers bore into Palestinian children’s bedroom | The Electronic Intifada

Israel bans novel on Arab-Jewish love story | News | DW.COM | 31.12.2015

Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan holds her novel ‘Borderlife’The book, ”

The book, “Borderlife,” by the Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan, tells the story of Liat, an Israeli translator, and Hilmi, a Palestinian artist, who meet in New York and fall in love. Eventually, they go their separate ways, as she has to return to Tel Aviv and the to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“Intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threaten the separate identity of each sector,” the Education Ministry said in a statement, adding that “young adolescents don’t have the systemic view that includes considerations involving maintaining the national, ethnic identity of the people and the significance of miscegenation.”

 

 

Preventing fruitful debate

However, many cultural figures in Israel, and even high school pupils themselves, tend to disagree.

“I know I may not represent the opinion of all the students, but I personally think it’s pretty stupid to ban the book,” Noa, a 17-year-old student from Haifa, told DW. “What happens now is that it created such a stir that our teacher is forced to talk about the book with us, because we keep asking her about it,” she adds.

Source: Israel bans novel on Arab-Jewish love story | News | DW.COM | 31.12.2015

Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

I swear I was taken in a trance. I still couldn’t believe this is happening. I am sitting in the house of Nawal Saadawi. Nawal herself is there asking me friendly questions caring so much about my comfort as if I was a little princess that she has just found. And Youssef; That giant man in his presence. Suddenly became just a man sitting opposite the queen of all women.Of course it wasn’t too long until his aura took over the presence of the setting. There is an unbelievable power in his presence. His tone and voice is very pleasant to the ear.They were busy talking about them. About Egypt. About her. About him. There was this race of a conversation that could last for three days not three hours. Her eyes talk faster than her mouth. So keen. So intelligent. So much every word of every book she wrote. Somehow I knew her. What she was saying wasn’t new to me. The fact that she herself was saying it all to me was enough to keep me quiet and in that state of non-belief.

Source: Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador | World news | The Guardian

Celso Amorim, a former Brazilian foreign and defence minister, said on Friday that the diplomatic dispute over Dayan’s appointment showed that “it is time the Brazilian armed forces reduced their dependence on Israel.”

Source: Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador | World news | The Guardian

Permission to Narrate: Bethlehem: Living Between Tear Gas and Christmas Ornaments

In the Western imagination, the “little town of Bethlehem” is a romanticized, mythological town that appears on Christmas cards and is usually depicted by a bucolic nativity scene with wise men, animals, Mary, Joseph, Jesus in a manger, and a bright star above all.  In reality, Bethlehem is a besieged city surrounded by a 26-foot-high wall erected on much of its perimeter. This imposing edifice prevents many farmers from getting to their land and restricts residents from performing everyday actions, like going to school or work. By the time it is completed, 56 kilometers of this barrier—which many call the apartheid wall—will leave 12 communities physically separated from the rest of Bethlehem.Fully 85 percent of the Governorate of Bethlehem is classified as part of Area C—under complete Israeli control in all security and civil matters. In addition, there are 19 settlements—illegal according to international law and officially opposed by the U.S. government—surrounding the governorate which house over 100,000 Israeli settlers. In the last three months, there were 39 incidents of settler violence in Bethlehem—these are cases that involve assault, raids, destruction of property, abductions, injuries, and other aggressive acts perpetrated against Palestinians by Israeli settlers. Settler violence goes largely unpunished, so settlers feel they have tacit impunity for their actions.

Source: Permission to Narrate: Bethlehem: Living Between Tear Gas and Christmas Ornaments

Interviewing Luis Moreno Ocampo\a reflection | nadiaharhash

Ocampo is the first assigned Prosecutor to the International Criminal Court (ICC), who was sworn to the position for nine years as of June 2003. When he took the position, observers said that he would surely turn the ICC into a “sexy court”. It will take anyone five minutes to understand how true this sentence is, and later to realize how the mixture of brilliance and modesty are the perfect combination that form “sexy” in this situation.Aside from the flirting ideas about the man; what he has to offer was inspiring for me. As usual, we are also confronted with the complexity of the situation. In this particular situation, it was about Ocampo’s visit and lectures in the Hebrew University. A debate that will remain ongoing, between “us” and “them”. Between “us”, “them” and “those from outside this zone of conflict”.What Ocampo had to offer in advices to the Palestinians wasn’t particularly new. It was actually what everyone who wants to give an advice to the Palestinians say: “ Follow Gandhi. Adopt non violence as an approach to resistance”. And each time the quick Palestinian response is: “ how do you want us to stop violence with non violence? How do we defend ourselves amid this vicious aggression that never seize to stop. Occupation is violent by its very nature. What we do, even if it is not resistance, it is the only way for us to survive.”Ocampo wasn’t different from the rest in this call: “Teach your children to leave the stones and use their cameras in the confrontation with the occupation. This is more effective. Document the crimes and the violations and use it as a weapon of resistance.”

Source: Interviewing Luis Moreno Ocampo\a reflection | nadiaharhash