Issue no 120

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Issue No : 120 3rd February , 2015

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia | 1


Palestinian Cultural Organization MalaysiaMalaysiaM

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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Lieberman: Israel›s last war on Gaza was not deterrence

Palestinian girl, 14, locked up in Israeli prison for two months for throwing rocks

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FEATURED STORY

Articles & Analyses

Read in This Issue

The flames at our doorstepHe Who Lit the Fire Should

Extinguish It.

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UNRWA suspends Gaza reconstruction aid

Health Condition of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prison Severally Deteriorating

Thousands of Palestinian youths graduate from Liberation Army

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Israel to expand West Bank Jewish settlement

P10 Israel Insider

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CONTENTS

Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

Israel Insider

Articles & Analyses

News of Palestine

FEATURED STORY

Palestinian girl, 14, locked up in Israeli prison for two months for throwing rocks 4

Hayya: We prepare the generation of victory and freedom 6

Health Condition of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prison Severally Deteriorating 7

UNRWA suspends Gaza reconstruction aid 8

UN: Dozens of children homeless after Israel illegally demolished Palestinian houses 9

New Film “Journalists Under Fire” Launched in Gaza 10

Lieberman: Israel›s last war on Gaza was not deterrence 11

Israel to expand West Bank Jewish settlement 12

Netanyahu: Lieberman’s accusations are ‘irresponsible’ 13

He Who Lit the Fire Should Extinguish It. 14

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Featured Story

Palestinian girl, 14, locked up in Israeli prison for two months for throwing rocks

Serbia’s government has quietly grant-ed citizenship to Mohammed Dahlan, a key rival of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and adviser to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.

Dahlan, his family and five key political supporters were all granted citizen-ship between February 2013 and June 2014, according to documents from the state’s official gazette analysed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

The government is able to grant citi-zenship during closed cabinet ses-sions to foreigners deemed to have served “state interests” without offer-ing any detailed public explanation.

Dahlan is credited with facilitating Abu Dhabi’s promised investment of bil-lions of euros in Serbia. However, the government in Belgrade has refused to explain whether this is the reason for granting citizenship to him and 11 other Palestinians in the past two years.

Seasoned Middle East observers have suggested that Dahlan could be plan-ning to use Serbia as a base to launch his leadership challenge against Ab-bas, the current Palestinian Authority (PA) leader.

Dahlan, a former PA security chief, was seen by many as Yasser Arafat’s likely successor but lost out to Abbas. The latter accused him of corruption and he was kicked out of the political party Fatah in 2011.

The PA launched a defamation action against Dahlan, then liv-ing in exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after he criticised Abbas’s leadership and PA security forces in the West Bank. He was given a two-year jail term in March 2014 following his convic-tion in absentia.

Thousands of Dahlan’s supporters took to the streets of Gaza in December to protest at the opening of another court case against him, this time on charges of corruption.

Dahlan has publicly denied the accusations but refused to re-spond to questions sent to him by BIRN. His backers dismiss the court cases as nothing more than politically motivated show trials, while Abbas and the PA claim to have produced extensive reports on his alleged wrongdoing.

A spokesman for Abbas said: “According to all national and in-ternational rules, when somebody wants to take a passport from another country, they [the government] should check to make sure that they have a clean file and clean history and not just give it. They have not asked the Palestinian side about their history or whether they are criminals or not.

“We will send a letter to the Serbian president and prime minister to stop that.”

BIRN reveals that Dahlan is renting a luxurious villa in an ex-

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clusive Belgrade neighbourhood favoured by diplomats. Until recently the home of former Serbian president Boris Tadić, the villa’s security was beefed up before Dah-lan’s arrival in Belgrade.

The Serbian government has refused to respond to requests from BIRN for an ex-planation of why it has granted citizenship to Dahlan, his family and supporters.

However, Dusan Simeonovic, former am-bassador to Egypt and Palestine, told BIRN the move was “clearly a sign of gratitude for Dahlan’s role in implement-ing investments from the UAE”.

Bypassing the standard naturalisation process, the government can grant citi-zenship to an individual if it is deemed that doing so is in Serbia’s national inter-est, according to the country’s citizenship law.

Under this system, a minister puts for-ward a name, which is then voted on in a closed government session. The deci-sion is signed off by the prime minister or his deputy and published in the official gazette.

This process has attracted controversy on a number of occasions, including last year when Sergey Kurchenko, a Ukrainian businessmen facing EU sanctions, was also made a Serbian national following a government decision. The Serbian interior minister declined to confirm earlier media reports that Kurchenko’s citizenship had been revoked after the outcry.

This system has been used 52 times in the past five years, most often to grant passports to musicians and sportsmen and women.

Many EU countries have schemes in place to naturalise top sportsmen and provide citizenship or permanent resi-dency to major foreign investors. These, however, are usually subject to a number of strict criteria – such as not being un-

der criminal investigation – and handled by officials rather than politicians.

Serbia’s position differs in that the government can approve citizenship as long as it serves the “state interest”, irrespective of any other conditions.

Dahlan was instrumental in forging new diplomatic and eco-nomic ties between Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi and the Serbian government. He was decorated by President Tomislav Nikolić with the Medal of the Serbian Flag in April 2013 for his role in “the development and strengthening of peaceful cooperation and friendly relations between Serbia and the United Arab Emirates”.

The president’s office refused to elaborate on this when ques-tioned by BIRN last week, adding only that Dahlan was “a close associate of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed who had con-tributed to investments from the UAE”.

Serbia opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi in August 2013. This blossoming relationship played a key role in finalising a series of intergovernmental deals signed between Serbia and Abu Dhabi, promising billions of euros of investment through com-panies connected to the ruling family.

But the deals have proved controversial.

Etihad Airways bought 49% of shares in the airline JAT in 2013, although concerns have been raised about whether the Serbian taxpayer received value for money from the sale of almost half of the state-owned firm.

Al Dahra Agriculture was due to invest €150m through state-owned farms, according to a published contract signed with the Serbian government. But, after the deal sparked protests, the Abu Dhabi firm decided to buy a stake in a firm owned by Serbian tycoon Vojin Lazarević instead.

Other huge deals related to agriculture, arms, electronics and ports have been signed with firms linked to the royal family, according to statements by the Serbian government. A €2.8bn real estate project called Belgrade Water, a joint venture be-tween the Serbian government and a Dubai-based firm, has also been announced.

Despite the impressive proposals, little concrete investment has been visible on the ground. Officials from the UAE em-bassy in Belgrade insist that delays with projects of this scale are normal and that investments will follow.

Source: The guardian

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Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya said on Thursday Hamas youth camps emphasizes the principle that Palestinian resistance protects its people from conspiracies.

This came in Hayya’s speech during the graduation event of Gazan youth in al-Qassam Brigades train-ing camps for youth.

“We prepare this generation to be able to resist the Israeli occupation until liberation of Palestine”, Hayya said.

The Hamas leader hailed Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Movement Hamas. “We raise our children on resistance rather than security coordination with Israel”, he said.

He added, “We also teach our youth to defend our religion and Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him”.

He hailed as well the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, saying “we all are united on the theme of resis-tance until victory and liberation”.

The Hamas leader also thanked the Gazan families for sending their children to al-Qassam training camps for youth.

30 Jan 2015 Source: PIC

Hayya: We prepare the generation of victory and freedom

Thousands of Palestinian youths graduate from Liberation Army training camp

News of Palestine

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Several Palestinian detainees in the Israeli prison of Nafha have been recently evacuated to Israeli hospitals after their health condition deteriorated due to deliberate medical negli-gence by the prison administration, said De-tainees and ex-Detainees Affairs Committee.According to the committee’s lawyer Rami al-‘Alami, prisoner Hamza al-Kaloti, 46, sen-tenced to six life imprisonments, has been suf-fering from severe exhaustion as a result of the Israeli Prison Service’s delay to allow him to undergo an urgent surgery in the abdomen.Al-Kaloti suffers from severe pains caused by abdominal hernia.The committee’s lawyer added that al-Kaloti has not been able to eat, drink nor sleep for the last nine days and has been suffering from severe arthritis. As a result of his health de-terioration, al-Kaloti vomits pain-killers and is incapable of walking unless he is supported by others.Another detainee, Wisam ‘Abbasi, sentenced to 26 life imprisonments and 40 years, was transferred last Wednesday to a hospital to undergo an operation in one of his eyes.Additionally, Yusri al-Masri, a resident of Gaza who is sentenced for 20 years, suffers from a gland cancerous tumor. He has been subject-ed to the systematic medical negligence of the Israeli Prison Service, which kept on delaying providing him with the necessary medical ex-aminations.As a result of medical neglect, al-Masri has been suffering from eye problems, gastroen-teritis and colonic tumor.Another detainee, Muhammad As‘ad, a resi-dent of Kuf Kanna who is sentenced to six years in imprisonment at Eshel prison, has been suffering from severe swelling in his right hand and leg, in addition to lymph gland prob-lems.Meanwhile, detainees in Majeddo prison have been suffering from unbearable conditions, re-ported the committee.An affidavit by 33-year-old detainee ‘Abdu-lathim Abu Sara stated that Palestinian de-tainees in Majeddo are detained in closed dungeons, where they are subject to extreme

Health Condition of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prison Severally Deteriorating

p s y c h o l o g i -cal pressure and are totally deprived from their basic hu-man rights, including fam-ily visits and medical treat-ment, reported Sherin Iraqi, another Detainees and ex-Detainees Affairs Commit-tee’s lawyer.Abu Sara was reported as adding that he was sav-agely assaulted, causing him to suffer serious wounds and bruises across his body. He filed a complaint against his assaulter, however, his electrical appli-ances were confiscated as a punishment.Additionally, ‘Isam Zain-addin, who is sentenced to life imprisonment and has been placed in solitary confine-ment since December 24, said that he has been suf-fering from stomach pain for the last four years with-out receiving any medical medication.He complained about repression, humiliation and provocation of detainees by the prison administration. He also complained that detainees placed in solitary confinement never leave their cells without being handcuffed and that they lack external toilet, noting that they are only allowed one hour outside their cells.Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, stated that the number of sick prisoners detained in Israeli jails have reached 1500, of whom 80 prisoners are suffer-ing from serious health problems and do not receive the necessary treatment; they suffer from malignant diseases, paralysis, and disabilities, in addition to cases of mental illnesses and neurological disorders.The Palestine Detainees Studies Center said around 60% of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails, suffer from chronic diseases, a number of whom died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases caused by a deliberate medical negligence policy.According to the committee, prisoners detained in Is-raeli jails are held in cells that lack basic health stan-dards, highlighting the infestation of insects and rats and lack of proper heating infrastructure.

24 Jan 2015 Source: Wafa

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UNRWA suspends Gaza reconstruction aid

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) – citing insuf-ficient funds – has halted financial aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip whose homes were dam-aged or destroyed during Israel’s devastating 51-day military on-slaught last summer.

“ UNRWA has been forced to sus-pend its cash assistance program inGaza to tens of thousands of people for repairs to damaged and destroyed homes and for rental subsidies to the homeless,” the organization declared on Tuesday.

“Over 96,000 Palestine refugee family homes were damaged or destroyed during last summer’s conflict,” the UNRWA asserted, adding that some $720 million was

required “to address this need.”

“To date, UNRWA has received only $135 million in pledges, leav-ing a shortfall of $585 million,” the agency added.

UNRWA Director Robert Turner told Anadolu Agency that the or-ganization’s budget for recon-struction in the war-battered Gaza Strip would run out by the end of this month.

In December of last year, the agency called on the international community to earmark $414 mil-lion to support Palestinian refu-gees in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip.

During Israel’s seven-week on-

slaught last summer, 15,671 hous-ing units were damaged across the coastal strip, including 2,276 that were completely destroyed, according to official Palestinian figures.

The offensive, launched with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from Gaza, left more than 2,160 Gazans dead, mostly civilians, and some 11,000 injured.

UNRWA provides assistance and protection for some 5 million regis-tered Palestinian refugees, over a fifth of whom are in the Gaza Strip.

27 January 2015

Source: AA

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UN: Dozens of children homeless after Israel illegally demolished Palestinian houses

The United Nations has slammed Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and unfair, after a series of de-molitions this week left dozens of Pales-tinians—mostly children—homeless.“In the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement issued late Friday. “Some of the demolished struc-tures were provided by the international community to support vulnerable fami-lies.”“Demolitions that result in forced evic-tions and displacement run counter to Is-rael’s obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately,” said OCHA.The demolitions occurred in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jericho and He-bron, as well as East Jerusalem.Last year, Israel carried out a record number of home demolitions in parts of the West Bank designated as Area C, which are under full Israeli military con-trol, according to OCHA. Other parts of the West Bank, Areas A and B, are occu-pied by Israel but under the civil adminis-tration of the Palestinian Authority.“In 2014 ... Israeli authorities destroyed 590 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 1,177 people — the highest level of displace-ment in the West Bank since OCHA be-gan systematically monitoring the issue in 2008,” the U.N. office said.Israel did not respond to a request for comment by Al Jazeera at the time of publication. However, sources told Pal-estinian news site Ma’an that the demo-litions were for “security purposes” and because the homes were constructed without permission.Israel has justified past demolitions by stating that the targeted homes were built without the required permits — which only Israeli authorities can issue. But Pal-

estinians and rights groups allege that Israel routinely denies Palestin-ians permits so as to force them to leave desirable areas, including East Jerusalem. These Palestinians say they are essentially forced to build homes without authorization.“The occupation simply does not want us here. We are not welcome in our own city, Jerusalem,” Rebhi Dari, one of the recently displaced homeowners, told The Jerusalem Post.“They are fighting our steadfastness – that is why they ask for large amounts of cash for some paper work,” he added. “Approving an appli-cation for a construction permit takes years and ends up being denied.”In its statement on Friday, OCHA echoed Dari’s concerns about hous-ing discrimination in the occupied Palestinian territories.“The planning policies applied by Israel in Area C and East Jerusalem discriminate against Palestinians, making it extremely difficult for them to obtain building permits,” the statement said. “As a result, many Pal-estinians build without permits to meet their housing needs and risk having their structures demolished. Palestinians must have the oppor-tunity to participate in a fair and equitable planning system that ensures their needs are met.”In contrast to Israel’s restrictive housing policy for Palestinians in Area C, Israeli settlers “enjoy expansive allocations of land, detailed plan-ning, hookup to advanced infrastructure and a blind eye regarding il-legal construction,” Israeli rights group B’tselem has said.“From 2002 through 2010, only 176 construction permits were issued to Palestinians [in Area C], at least 15,000 residential units were built in settlements during that same period, with or without permits,” said a statement on B’tselem’s website.All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and other ter-ritories occupied since the Six Day War in 1967 are illegal under in-ternational law. Their continued development has been a longstanding obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.Today, there are more than 100 Israeli-government-sanctioned settle-ments and 100 unsanctioned settlement outposts in the West Bank, housing an estimated 515,000 Israelis, according to B’tselem.

26 Jan2015 Source: Agencies

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The Palestinian Center for De-velopment and Media Freedoms (MADA) held a meeting in Gaza city yesterday (26 January) to present its special report and short documentary film on the Israeli violations against journalists and media outlets during the latest at-tack on the Gaza Strip in summer 2014. The journalists who partici-pated in the meeting stressed on the need to hold the Israeli lead-ers accountable for their crimes against journalists and media out-lets in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip.

MADA’s coordinator in Gaza Dr Ahmad Hammad thanked the In-ternational Media Support (IMS) organization in Denmark for fund-ing the report, the film and the event.

He condemned the harassment of journalists in Palestine and world-wide, the latest incident being the

Israeli Crimes Against Palestinian Media:

New Film “Journalists Under Fire” Launched in Gaza

attack against Charlie Hebdo jour-nalists in France. He said: “We would like to see the solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’ journalists be-ing expanded to include solidarity with journalists from Palestine and other countries that face serious violations of media freedoms.

Hammad pointed out that the re-port, entitled “The Media in Gaza: Caught in the Crossfire” (avail-able in both Arabic and English), monitors the attacks committed by the Israeli occupation forces on journalists and media freedoms in Gaza during the latest attack. It also compares media violations committed during the 2014 at-tack with the previous ones, in the years 2008-2009 and 2012.

He added: “During the last three Israeli attacks on Gaza, MADA monitored a total of 191 Israeli violations, most of which were se-vere aggressions: the IOF killed

24 journalists and media workers in the three attacks, and shelled and destroyed 61 local, Arab and international media outlets.” He observed that the killing of jour-nalists in the latest attack equals 77% of the total of killings commit-ted by the IOF against journalists in Palestine in the last 14 years and a half. This attack raised the number of killed journalists since the year 2000 to 39 journalists and media workers.

MADA’s lawyer in Gaza Karem Nashwan said that keeping silent about the Israeli crimes justifies their continuation, and that all the human rights organizations should stand together to hold Is-rael accountable and to trial its leaders for violating one of the most important right: freedom of expression.

27 Jan2015 Source: MEMO

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Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman Thursday criticized premier Benjamin Netanyahu over citing the last military offensive on Gaza as an example of Israel’s power of deterrence.

“Operation Protective Edge in Gaza was the exact opposite example of how to achieve and maintain deter-rence against terror organizations,” Lieberman said. “This is not deterrence; it is turning a blind eye.”

Lieberman also slammed Netanyahu’s decision to contain the Hezbollah attack, saying, “Those who want to contain this situation agree to allow terror organizations to hold onto the on-off switch for the daily lives of the citizens of Israel.”

Earlier on Wednesday the Israeli premier threatened to strongly respond to Hezbollah’s deadly attack on the Shebaa Farms in the northern borders with Palestine.

Netanyahu further called on Hezbollah to draw lessons from Israel’s last devastating war on Gaza.

Later, Netanyahu declared his decision to contain the tension and not to further response to Hezbollah’s attack.

30-1-2015 Source: PIC

Lieberman: Israel›s last war on Gaza was not deterrence

Israeli Insider

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Israel to expand West BankJewish settlement

Israel’s Housing and Construction Ministry has earmarked $215,000 for the expansion of a Jewish-only settle-ment in the southern West Bank.

The ministry has allocated 850,000 Israeli shekels (roughly $215,000) to the expansion of the West Bank’s Efrat settlement, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The decision was made last October “despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having reversed the deci-sion to build on the site,” the paper reported.

According to Haaretz, the site of the planned expansion, known as the Eitam Hill, “has been a strategic target of settlers for the past decade.”

“When the separation barrier was planned, the settlers fought for the hill’s inclusion west of the fence [the West Bank separation barrier]. Their efforts failed, however, as did a number of attempts to build an outpost on the site,” the paper added.

The West Bank separation barrier effectively isolates nearly ten percent of the West Bank, according to UN reports.

Israel hopes to acquire all West Bank land west of the barrier in any final settlement with the Palestinians.

In recent years, Palestinian, Israeli and international rights groups have all criticized increased Israeli settle-ment activity.

26 January 2015 Monday Source: World Bulletin

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Netanyahu: Lieberman’s accusations are ‘irresponsible’

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is unaf-fected by various irresponsible and belligerent propositions” the premier’s office said fol-lowing accusations by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that the former is “agreeing to terms set by Hezbollah”.

Israeli media outlets report-ed that Likud officials issued a statement saying: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handles security-related inci-dents in conjunction with the defence minister and the IDF chief of staff, with responsi-bility and judicious planning, and is unaffected by various irresponsible and belligerent propositions.”

This came after Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beit-einu party, criticised Netanya-hu and accused him of “agree-ing to terms set by Hezbollah”.

The war of words between the two Israeli politicians comes amid the exchange of mes-sages between Israel and He-zbollah through the mediation of the United Nations, which ended a round of confronta-tions between the two sides. Hezbollah attacked Israel in the Lebanese Shebaa Farms after the latter’s aggression on Quneitra, Syria.

According to Israeli newspa-per Haaretz, Lieberman said on his Facebook page on Sun-day: “Containing the event and the lack of an Israeli response means that Israel is agreeing to terms set by Hezbollah. It’s a serious blow to Israel’s de-

terrence capabilities.”

“A proportional response shows the terrorist leaders that they have immunity, that their rule isn’t going to be toppled, that their ammunition won’t be tar-geted, and that they will continue to be allowed to recruit and train new terrorists. Those who want to contain this situation agree to let the terrorist organisations get stronger at the expense of Israe-li citizens’ safety,” he added.

Lieberman also addressed the situation in Gaza and the latest Israeli aggression on the Strip: “Anyone that holds up Gaza and ‘Operation Protective Edge’ as an example of deterrence is actually showing the exact op-posite of deterrence, and how terror organisations should be dealt with.”

He was also quoted by Haaretz as saying on his Facebook page, “Deterrence achieved against

Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War is beginning to crack, because of what was seen during Protective Edge. If we do not immediately respond with force, the terrorist organisa-tions will understand that Israel cannot effectively overcome ter-ror. They too know that words and declarations cannot defeat terrorism, that only harsh and steadfast actions can destroy the foundations of terror.”

Lieberman’s statements come at a time when his popularity is retreating against the backdrop of a major corruption case in which leaders of his party are suspected. Moreover, an opin-ion poll published by the Israeli TV’s Channel 10 has revealed that Yisrael Beitinu will hardly achieve the decisive percentage in Israel’s upcoming parliamen-tary election.

30 January 2015 Source: MEMO

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The flames at our doorstepHe Who Lit the Fire Should Extinguish It.

25 January 2015

Samah Jabr

One cannot understand the recent incidents in which Palestinian Je-rusalemites attacked and killed Jewish Israelis without taking into account the current and historical political contexts. Nor will simply judging and punishing these acts prevent their future occurrence.

Israeli officials were quick to place the blame on all Palestinian par-ties, as well as on our religion, our educational system, our media, even our innocent President Mah-moud Abbas, not to mention the Is-lamic movement in 1948 Palestine and the international community. But there was no mention of the role the Israeli occupation and its oppressive policies play in provok-ing such acts.

Despite the profound inequalities between East and West Jerusalem - denying Palestinians citizenship, engineering laws to push them out of their own city, and imposing dai-ly humiliations on them in almost every aspect of life - there were no confrontations in Jerusalem until the kidnapping and burning alive of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Kh-deir from East Jerusalem’s Shua-fat neighborhood.

The resulting clashes that were provoked by this incident were met by official brutality and more crimes by settlers. Young Palestin-ians who took part in the clashes were arrested and tortured, and prohibitive fines were imposed on their families - one mother whose

Articles & Analyses

three sons were arrested told me she had been ordered to pay 3 mil-lion NIS. Not only are families pun-ished for the behavior of their sons, but since those clashes erupted our neighborhood has been plunged into darkness and traffic lights still are not working.

Additional border police have been put at the disposal of Jerusalem police and security forces. Now in Shuafat, as in many Jerusalem neighborhoods, wherever one looks there are soldiers carrying large rifles. Ostensibly they are there to protect the passengers on the Jerusalem light rail line - a proj-ect built in defiance of international law - but they also provoke the Arab residents, stopping youths and making them stand for hours with their faces against walls and arms raised; urinating on the walls of our shops and homes; throw-ing children’s schoolbooks in the muddy streets; and issuing arbi-trary traffic tickets to everyone they can - my two cousins and brother

all received tickets in a single day. When they can’t find another ex-cuse, they will tell drivers that their back window is dirty or the light for the oil tank is on empty, and fine them for that! Surveillance cam-eras are everywhere, and children get arrested at night by masked men who speak a language they don’t understand.

Meanwhile Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians go uninvestigated and unpunished, and Israeli sol-diers rush to kill and demolish the homes of anyone suspected of at-tacking Jewish Israelis.

Even though there have been many reports of attacks on Pales-tinian pedestrians late at night or in the early morning, and of aggres-sive acts against bus drivers and gas station workers, no measures were taken to protect them. When the bus driver Yousef Rammouni was found hanged in his bus, Pal-estinian Jerusalemites rejected the Israeli conclusion that he had committed suicide. After all, earlier

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Israeli reports had maintained that Abu Khdeir was killed in an act of familial revenge because he was homosexual - until Palestinian-owned cameras identified his Jew-ish kidnappers and murderers.

We Are All MurabitounIn Jerusalem we have all kinds of people: it is true that we have a growing drug problem among our youth, and a few traitors who col-laborate with Israel and sell land and properties to Zionist organisa-tions. But we have freedom fight-ers willing to die in resistance to the occupation, and we have Al Murabitatand AlMurabitoun: fe-male and male volunteers who guard the Haram Al Sharif from extremist right-wing Jewish groups who invade the Haram and call for the destruction of al-Aqsa in order to build the Third Temple in its place. The word Ribat, or stead-fastness, is believed to come from Hadith Al Ribat: it is reported that the Prophet said, “A group of my Ummah will remain fighting for jus-tice, they will vanquish their enemy and they will never submit to those who harm them until the end of the Hour.” “Where are these peo-ple?” the Companions asked. The Prophet said, “In and around Byt Al Maqdes [Jerusalem].”

To attribute all the tension in Je-rusalem to religious difference is misleading at best. When people were paralysed staring at their TV screens watching the killing in Gaza, enraged at the impotence of their leaders and the empty words of the outside world, some were radicalised and decided to take the law into their own hands. What is notable about the latest attacks on Israelis is that there is no organisa-tion, no planning, and no political party behind them. The only thread linking the various attacks is out-rage at Israeli policies.

He Who Lit the Fire Should Extinguish It.

Israeli officials complimented the Palestinians security forces for their role in not allowing the flames of Gaza and then Jerusalem to spread to the West Bank. But in their efforts to calm their Jewish citizens, Israeli officials are add-ing more fuel to the fire: Ashkelon Mayor ItamarShimoni decided to bar Arab construction workers from kindergartens in the city; an amendment to the criminal law increasing the punishment for stone throwing to up to 20 years in prison has been supported by the Cabinet;and an “anti-terror law” which includes the revoking of citizenship or residency of family members of those who attack Jew-ish Israelis, in addition to destroy-ing their families’ homes, has been proposed. The proposed bill gives Israel the rightto define “terrorism,” and also recommends that carry-ing the Palestinian flag be consid-ered a terrorist act punishable by law! (We should remember that Is-raeli soldiers used to shoot and kill young Palestinians for carrying or displaying their flag.) As evidenced by the proposed law declaring Is-rael “the nation-state of the Jew-ish people,” Israel has no intention of resuming negotiations toward a two-state solution - not in good faith, at least. Instead it intends to expand its one state for Jews only and pre-emptively legalise discrim-ination and inequalities based on religion.

The flames in the body of Moham-med Abu Khdeir; the fire in the hearts of those most oppressed by Israel’s occupation; and the fuel relentlessly added by that occupa-tion all could go out of control. If that happens, even more Israeli as well as more Palestinian lives will be consumed like kindling feeding this nihilistic fire.

The flames in the body of Mohammed Abu Khdeir; the fire in the

hearts of those most oppressed

by Israel’s occupation

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Issue no 120

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Transcript of Issue no 120