Settler terror, 38 Palestinians wounded in attack on Safa village

Copy-pasted from Ma'an;

Hebron – Ma'an – Thirty-eight Palestinians were injured when armed Israeli settlers, backed by soldiers, rampaged through the West Bank village of Safa, north of Hebron on Wednesday morning.

According to medics at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron 11 Palestinians were shot with live bullets, five with rubber-coated metal bullets and another 15 were treated for the effects of teargas.

One Palestinian, 18-year-old Tha'er Aadi, is in critical condition after being shot in the neck. After undergoing surgery at Al-Ahli, he was transferred to the public hospital in the city of Ramallah.

One eyewitness said that some 25 settlers from the nearby settlement Bat Ayin approached Palestinian houses and began shooting randomly. He said that Israeli military patrols were present, and watched the settlers shooting without stopping them.

Soldiers fired gunshots and tear gas canisters in order to prevent local youths from confronting the settlers, one witness said.

Neighboring villages called on for help

Calls were heard through mosque loudspeakers in the neighboring Palestinian towns of Beit Ummar and Surif asking residents to head to Safa and help protect its people from the rampaging settlers. Hundreds of youths responded to the call.

When the youth arrived Israeli troops intervened and restrained the settlers, making sure they returned their settlement unharmed. Local sources said that the settlers stole cattle as they left Safa.

Medics at Al-Ahli Hospital named some of the injured:
31-year-old Ammar Abu Dayya who was shot in the thigh,
26-year-old Suheil Abu Dayya, shot in the foot,
26-year-old Muhammad Khlayyil, also shot in the thigh,
35-year-old Walid Khlayyil, shot in the foot, and
24-year-old Muhammad Khlayyil

The mayors of nearby Hebron and Beit Ummar arrived in Safa to check on residents. According to mayor of Beit Ummar Nasri Sabarna, all of those injured in the day's events were harmed by the soldiers supporting the settlers, and not by the settlers themselves.

Revenge attack

On Thursday in Bat Ayin a man, reportedly Palestinian, killed a teenage settler and wounded another 7-year-old boy in the settlement with an axe.

The settlement is also the origin of a militia called the Bat Ayin Underground. The father of the 7-year-old victim of last week's attack is Ofer Gamliel, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for attempting to bomb a Palestinian girls' school in Jerusalem in 2002. Two other men from the settlement were also jailed for the attempted attack.

On Wednesday night, the Israeli news agency Ynet reported that Gamliel was to be released for 48 hours this week in order to visit his son.

The Israeli military has refused to comment on the incident.

Humiliation at check-points in West Bank

From Ma'an, April 6, 2009;

Tulkarem – Ma'an – Israeli soldiers forced Palestinian teenagers to strip naked in full view of other Palestinians waiting at a military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Monday afternoon.

Witnesses told Ma'an that three soldiers forced the youths to remove their clothes, and were verbally mocking them.

The witnesses also reported long waits at the checkpoint.

via Angry Arab. Newslinks: 1

Daily Apartheid under Israeli occupation

Official military orders have been issued banning Palestinians from walking the streets of the Israeli settlement Har Adar, West Bank. Around 600 Palestinian labourers, who work at construction sites inside the settlements, have been barred from moving by foot between the constructions sites. They are not allowed on the streets, they are not allowed to visit the local supermarket, etc.. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has lambasted the order as "... a racist instruction based on a general fear of Arabs, which is reminiscent of dark days in the history of mankind". Full article at Ynet.

U.S. citizen shot in Ni'lin

copy-pasted from ISM website;

"13th Friday 2009, Ni’lin Village: An American citizen has been critically injured in the village of Ni’lin after Israeli forces shot him in the head with a tear-gas canister.

Tristan Anderson from California USA, 37 years old, has been taken to Israeli hospital Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv. Anderson is unconscious and has been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister. He is currently being operated on.

"Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500m. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed."

– Teah Lunqvist (Sweden) - International Solidarity Movement

The Israeli army began using to use a high velocity tear gas canister in December 2008. The black canister, labeled in Hebrew as “40mm bullet special/long range,” can shoot over 400 meters. The gas canister does not make a noise when fired or emit a smoke tail. A combination of the canister’s high velocity and silence is extremely dangerous and has caused numerous injuries, including a Palestinian male whose leg was broken in January 2009.

Please Contact:

Adam Taylor (English), ISM Media Office +972 8503948

Sasha Solanas (English), ISM Media Office - +972 549032981

Woody Berch (English), at Tel Hashomer hospital +972 548053082

Tristan Anderson was shot as Israeli forces attacked a demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall through the village of Ni’lin’s land. Another resident from Ni’lin was shot in the leg with live ammunition.

Four Ni’lin residents have been killed during demonstrations against the confiscation of their land.

Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29th July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital.

Residents in the village of Ni’lin have been demonstrating against the construction of the Apartheid Wall, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004. Ni’lin will lose approximately 2500 dunums of agricultural land when the construction of the Wall is completed. Ni’lin was 57,000 dunums in 1948, reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, currently is 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after the construction of the Wall.

Updates:

Orly Levi, a spokeswoman at the Tel Hashomer hospital, tells Ha’aretz:

He’s in critical condition, anesthetized and on a ventilator and undergoing imaging tests,” She described Anderson’s condition as life-threatening.

Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack told Ynet:

"… the firing incident took place inside the village and not next to the fence. There were clashes in the earlier hours, but he wasn’t part of them. He didn’t throw stones and wasn’t standing next to the stone throwers."

"There was really no reason to fire at them. The Dutch girl standing next to him was not hurt. It only injured him, like a bullet."

Update 11:50pm March 13: Tristan is sedated and in surgery, being seen by an ophthalmologist, and will likely be in surgery for some time"

Blogs: Anna Wester, Palestine Video, Esbati, Roya, KABOBfest, JSF, Petter, Minsta bröder

Eleven Palestinians kidnapped in the West Bank

Eleven Palestinians have been seized by Israeli Occupation Forces in raids across the West Bank. Most of the detentions were made in the cities of Ramallah, Jenin and Hebron.

Source: Maan News Agency

37 Palestinians kidnapped in the West Bank

During the night between Sunday and Monday, 37 Palestinians have been captured by Israeli Occupation Forces in a series of coordinated raids in various towns. More information at Maan News Agency.

News links on Palestine: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

UNRWA employees in the West Bank on strike

Today, employees of UNRWA in the West Bank went on strike. A second strike is planned for February 26. The UNRWA employees have put forth three demands;
- Clarification on the status of the retirement savings plan instituted by UNRWA (a deficit in the find was announced earlier this year)
- A salary adjustment taking into account the rising cost of living
- A just agreement on the two-day weekend proposal that does not include a cut in salaries.

UNRWA has 4,500 employees in the West Bank. Source: Maan News Agency

حكاية ثورة - فلسطين

من قناة الجزيرة


News links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Uproar over death of Hamas activist in PA prison

Several Palestinian organizations have protested the death of Hamas activist Abd aj-Jamil al-Haj in a PA prison on the West Bank. According to some claims, his death was result of torture. His family claims that he had been arrested for political reasons, and that no charges had been made against him.

The National and Islamic Forces (a broad coalition including both Hamas and PLO factions) has issued a call for forming an independent committee to investigate the circumstances of al-Haj's death. The PFLP has urged, supporting the call of the NIF, both the Hamas and Fatah movements to uphold the National Accord and Cairo Declaration. Secretaries of the Fatah movement in the West Bank has also called upon the PA to open an investigation into the matter.

PFLP-GC appeals for Palestinian unity and dialogue

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) has at a press conference in Ramallah today urged all Palestinian factions to end hostilities between them and that dialogue is a must to resolve issues and problems that have arisen. The group also called on Mahmoud Abbas to reactive the institutions of the PLO, which have became dormant after the Oslo process. The PFLP-GC spokesperson also denied allegations that there would be any division between the West Bank wing of the group and its leadership in exile.

Moreover, the PFLP-GC representatives reaffirmed the legitimacy of the resistance struggle, stating that "[d]espite ongoing blockade and aggression and despite continuation of wall construction, still resistance is one of our people's rights as decided by the UN and international laws, as long as occupation continues."

Source: Maan News Agency (note that the photo in the article is of PFLP militants, not PFLP-GC). Om PFLP-GC på svenska, News links on Gaza: 1, 2, 3, 4

On Opinion Polls

The Israeli media (such as Jerusalem Post, Haaretz) and some Hasbara bloggers has taken notice of a recent opinion poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. The poll shows a sharp decline of support for Hamas after the Gaza massacre. Moreover the study shows an increase in support for Fatah in the Gaza strip.

Notably, the same Israeli media and Hasbara bloggers declined to show any major interest in the JMCC opinion poll published last week (which would almost diametrically opposite trends in shifts in support of Hamas and Fatah). It should be noted that the JMCC poll had 1,198 respondents whilst the PCPO had 673 respondents. No opinion poll is 100% accurate, but I'd say spontaneously that the JMCC poll had a far wider sample and is thus more credible. The JMCC poll also had more concrete questions, than the vague 'identification' of political parties used in the PCPO poll. In 2006, the PCPO underestimated Hamas vote level by 15%.

Palestinian Opinion Poll: Increasing support for Hamas, Haniyeh the most trusted Palestinian politician, majority now supports rocket launches

In the wake of the Gaza massacre, the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center has released an interesting opinion poll. The polls consists of 1,198 interviews with randomly selected residents in the West Bank and Gaza, and is a follow-up on earlier political opinion polls.

The poll shows that 28.6% of respondents said that they intended to vote for Hamas in Legislative Council elections (if held today), as compared to 27.9% for Fatah and 14.6% for other parties. In November 2008 a similar question had been asked, then 36.8% had said they would have voted for Fatah (40% in Gaza) and 19.5% said they would have voted for Hamas (22.5% in Gaza).

A slightly differently worded question asked which political faction had the most trust amongst the respondents. In November 2008 Fatah had led with 31.3% of the respondents having most trust in them, followed by Hamas (16.6%), Islamic Jihad (2.4%) and the PFLP (2.3%). In January 2009 Hamas has overtaken the leading position, being the most trusted party amongst 27.7% of respondents. The runner-up is Fatah (26%), followed by the PFLP (3.3%) and Islamic Jihad (2.8%). Trust for Hamas has more than doubled in the West Bank.

In November 2008 the most trusted politician was Mahmoud Abbas, having the support of 15.9% of the respondents. In January 2009, the most trusted politician is Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh gets the trust of 21.1% (up from 13.8% in November 2008), compared to 13.4% trusting Abbas. In both the November 2008 and January 2009 surveys, Marwan Barghouti is the third most trusted politician.

50.8% of respondents (52.8% in the West Bank, 47.3% in Gaza) said that rocket launches from Gaza into Israel helped the Palestinian cause, whilst 20.8% (16.2% in the West Bank, 28.6% in Gaza) considered them harmful. In April 2008, 39.3% (34.6% in the West Bank, 47.4% in Gaza) of respondents had stated that rocket launches from Gaza was a useful form of resistance, whilst 35.7% (38.3% in West Bank, 31.2% in Gaza) considered them futile.

89% of respondents said that they were satisfied with Turkey's role during the bombings, whilst 80% were satisfied with the role of Venezuela. 96.3% were dissatisfied with the role of the United States.

News links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Daily terrorism by the IOF in the West Bank

Some headlines from Maan News Agency today, all issued within 20 minutes:

"10:21
05/02/2009
Settlers bulldoze land, erect outpost in Nablus area village

10:05
05/02/2009 High school student seized by Israeli forces at Tulkarem checkpoint

10:03
05/02/2009 Israeli forces detain five in Nablus area

10:01
05/02/2009 Israeli forces seize boy from Bethlehem area village"

Other news links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Palestinians commemorate Holocaust

On the World Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Holocaust memorial was erected in Ni'lin, West Bank, Palestine. Hundreds of West Bank residents visited the site. One of the organizers of the event, Mohammad Amira, commented to Maan News Agency that

"We thought the public should understand the pain and suffering the Nazis caused the Jews ... Unfortunately, we are paying the price for the immense pain suffered by the Jews during the Holocaust."

"There is no comparison between our suffering and that of the Jewish people in the Holocaust, ... but everyone should understand that we are suffering too, as a result of what the Germans did to the Jews."

The Hamas movement, which de-facto governs the Gaza strip, had publicly denounced the Holocaust in mid-2008, stating that the Nazi atrocities

"was not only a crime against humanity but one of the most abhorrent crimes in modern history. ... And at the same time as we unreservedly condemn the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews of Europe, we categorically reject the exploitation of the Holocaust by the Zionists to justify their crimes and harness international acceptance of the campaign of ethnic cleansing and subjection,"

Israeli Occupation Forces kills Palestinian youth in Hebron

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli army today killed a 20-year old Palestinian in Hebron, occupied West Bank. The killing occured during a demonstration against the Gaza massacre. According to a medic, Musab Daana was killed with live ammunition fired at his head.

West Bank: 22-year old protester killed by Israeli Occupation Forces

A 22-year old protester was killed in Qalqiliya, West Bank, as Israeli Occupation Forces used live ammo against Palestinian youths.

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News links on conflict: 1, 2, 3, 4