Tag: Beit Lahiya

“. . . One woman sighing, her body bears the marks of all their trudging . . .” (Jehan Bseiso)

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gaza-dead-2
Mohamed Abu Saada who was killed by the Israeli occupation east of Al Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, this evening (Photo: Facebook)

❶ 1 killed, 3 Injured by Israeli forces in Gaza clashes
❷ Israeli forces open live fire at Palestinian fishermen, shoot tear gas at youth in Gaza

  • Background: “The Vicious Cycle Of Building And Destroying: The 2014 War On Gaza.” Mediterranean Politics

❸ Gaza’s war victims receive Kuwait aid for reconstruction of homes
❹ POETRY by Jehan Bseiso
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❶ 1  KILLED,  3  INJURED  BY  ISRAELI  FORCES  IN  GAZA  CLASHES  
Ma’an News Agency      
Nov. 18, 2016
A Palestinian man Friday was killed and three others were injured by Israeli forces during clashes east of al-Bureij refugee camp near the “buffer zone” in the central Gaza Strip, and near the Nahal Oz border crossing in eastern Gaza.
___Ministry of Health Spokesman Ashraf al-Qidrah said Muhammad Abu Sada, 26, from al-Nusayrat in the central Gaza Strip was killed after Israeli soldiers shot him in the chest during the clashes near al-Bureij.
[. . . .] Abu Sada is the 239th Palestinian to be killed by an Israeli since the beginning of a wave of unrest across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October 2015 . . .  More . . .       Related . . .   

gaza-dead
Muhammad Abu Sada’s mother clutches her son’s dead body after he was shot dead by Israeli forces in Gaza, Nov. 18, 2016 (Photo: Fadi Thabet/Ma’an News Agency)


❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  LIVE  FIRE  AT  PALESTINIAN  FISHERMEN,  SHOOT  TEAR  GAS  AT  YOUTH  IN  GAZA  
Ma’an News Agency  
Nov. 18, 2016
Israeli naval forces Friday opened live fire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip and fired tear gas at a group of Palestinian youths near a military site in eastern Gaza city.
___Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli naval boats deployed off the coast of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip opened live fire at Palestinian fishermen, forcing them to flee the area.
___Meanwhile, Israeli forces also fired tear gas canisters at a group of youth who had gathered near the Nahal Oz military site in eastern Gaza City.     More . . . 

  • Bouris, Dimitris. “The Vicious Cycle Of Building And Destroying: The 2014 War On Gaza.” Mediterranean Politics 20.1 (2015): 111-117.    Source.  

The 2014 summer war on Gaza (Operation Protective Edge) was the third in the last six years and in many ways the most significant one. According to official United Nations (UN) data, 2,205 Palestinians were killed, including at least 1,483 civilians, half of whom were women and children. In other words, more than 67 per cent of the total deaths were civilian. . . . The war also left 500,000 Palestinians displaced, which equates to one-third of the total population of the Gaza Strip. . .  Almost everyone traces the reasons for the war to the series of events that began with the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teenagers . . .  the real reasons . . . can be traced to the international community’s failed and myopic policies towards Gaza . . . .
___ Except for the large number of casualties, the summer war in Gaza was also distinctive because it highlighted the process of radicalization of Israeli society. Operation Protective Edge brought forward the gains in prominence and influence of anti-democratic and racist forces compared to previous wars. . . . .
[. . . .]   The ‘West Bank first’ strategy was initiated by the United States . . .  The aim of the ‘West Bank first’ strategy was to make sure that the Palestinian elite who were ‘acceptable’ to the West, led by Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad, would remain in power . . .  while the Gaza Strip remained isolated and blockaded by air, land and sea from Israel, with the quiet approval of Egypt and the international community.
[. . . . ]  Israeli restrictions on what is permitted in and out of Gaza are not new and they are the actual reason why previous reconstruction efforts were never completed in Gaza . . . . the Independent Commission for Human Rights estimated that Israel will end up receiving over 30 per cent of all funds that are brought for recovery and humanitarian assistance because of its control over the goods and services which are available in the West Bank and Gaza.     
[. . . .]   Even before the latest war on Gaza, the local socioeconomic and humanitarian conditions were so critical that a 2012 UN report questioned whether Gaza would be habitable by the year 2020. A press release by Oxfam International also predicts that based on the current pace, it will take 50 years to rebuild Gaza . . . . The international community continues with its one-way policy of dealing with the symptoms of the crisis rather than focusing on its deeper causes.

❸ GAZA’S  WAR  VICTIMS  RECEIVE  KUWAIT  AID  FOR  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  HOMES
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA  
Nov. 19, 2016
At least 1340 homeowners in Gaza received more than $16 million in Kuwaiti aid directed to help the Gaza Strip recover from Israel’s 2014 war, the Palestinian government’s National Office for Reconstruction said on Saturday.
___According to this office, which is in charge of dispensing the Kuwaiti fund, the $16 million is the fourth payment from the fund bringing the total received so far by the victims of the war to $49 million out of a total of $75 million allocated for housing.         More . . .   

CEASEFIRE,  BY  JEHAN  BSEISO   

Little men, cross legged, trade war stories like boys trade baseball cards.

These are times ripe and full with want and promise never fulfilled.

This much is true:
Lost boys become lost men.

Too much water, too much blood dilutes history and
We always end up with less than what we started.

In Gaza,
there is no legacy under the rubble, not pride in long fires
Burning.

There is a face at the window, sallow.

One woman sighing, her body bears the marks of all their trudging, thighs transformed to gallows and trenches.

Her hair shrouds the dead from both sides and her lap cradles aporias* generations can’t understand.

____
*A difficulty encountered in establishing the theoretical truth of a proposition, created by the presence of evidence both for and against it.

From: I REMEMBER MY NAME: Poetry by Samah Sabawi, Ramzy Baroud, Jehan Bseiso. Vacy Vlanzna, ed. London: Novum Publishing, 2016. Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . These policies fall under what is referred to as ‘cleaning the area of its inhabitants’ . . .” (Khalil Tofakji)

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outpost
The new illegal outpost being constructed in the northern Jordan Valley on privately owned Palestinian land, Nov. 4, 2016. (Photo: Amira Hass, Haaretz)

❶ Colonizers Build New Illegal Settlement in Jordan Valley

  • Background:    “Settlements And Ethnic Cleansing In The Jordan Valley.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture.

❷ Israeli forces close several checkpoints, village entrances across Ramallah district
❸ Gaza: Fishing Zone Expansion Postponed for 3rd Time
. . . ❸― (a) Witnesses: Israeli forces attempt to drown Gaza fishing boat with wastewater
. . . ❸― (b) Israeli forces open fire at Palestinian fishermen off Gaza coast
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❶ COLONIZERS  BUILD  NEW  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENT  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY 
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC      
Nov. 6, 2016
Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, on Sunday, said that Israeli settlers have a new community gathering near an Israeli military station in the northern part of the valley, five kilometers away from two other settlements.
___According to the newspaper, PNN reports, the settlers arrived in the area two months ago, built a “tabernacle” and left. A few days ago, they went back to the area, leveled the land and began to build, as seen by local eyewitnesses.
___Israeli authorities say that the building is illegal and does not have permits, and that construction will be halted, equipment possibly confiscated.      More . . .

  • Tofakji, Khalil. “Settlements And Ethnic Cleansing In The Jordan Valley.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 81-87.     Source.  

In recent years, the Israeli government has intensified its settlement activities in the Jordan Valley, an area viewed by the Palestinians, from an economic and natural resources perspective, as the future of the Palestinian state. Israel has demonstrated its priorities through continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the area, with significant political implications for future borders . . . .  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated this point when he declared that the area along the borders with Jordan would remain under Israeli control.
[. . . .]   The Israeli officials’ statements were followed by settlement construction activity, in parallel with the publication of a strategic report by the Israeli NGO Council for Peace and Security, an NGO established by, and composed of, retired Israeli security officials. The report addressed Israeli security needs, and the government’s claim that they require the state to retain control over the Jordan Valley territory, and . . . In this context, Miri Regev, then a Likud member of the Knesset and currently minister of culture and sport, submitted a draft proposal of a law to annex the Jordan Valley territory and to apply Israeli law on it, which was then signed by 18 Knesset members from both coalition and opposition parties.
[. . . .]  ___ In a January 3, 2013 article, Haaretz revealed that over 5064 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley, private property belonging to Palestinians, had been placed under Israeli control and that in recent years, through Israeli military policies, the percentage of the Palestinian lands utilized by settlers had increased by 110%. In 2013, 2,380 dunums of Palestinian lands were transferred to settlers in order to control water resources and facilitate the planting of palm trees and other crops.
[. . . .]   The ethnic cleansing policy took a clear turn in 2004, with the implementation of a project that was announced on January 9, 2004. “The settlers’ project” is aimed at dividing the West Bank into six areas and isolating them from each other. Israel used this project to isolate the Jordan Valley by forbidding non-residents from residing in the area without a permit and removing the Bedouins through deportation or home demolishment. These policies fall under what is referred to as “cleaning the area of its inhabitants” in order to avoid any security or political burdens on Israel in the future.

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  CLOSE  SEVERAL  CHECKPOINTS,  VILLAGE  ENTRANCES  ACROSS  RAMALLAH  DISTRICT
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 7, 2016     Israeli forces closed several checkpoints across the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah Monday morning, resulting in serious traffic jams and mobility impediments on morning commuters attempting to enter Ramallah city.
___Local sources and taxi drivers told Ma’an that Israeli forces closed the northern Attara checkpoint ― a major entryway to Ramallah ― preventing rush hour traffic coming from the northern West Bank from entering the administrative center of the occupied territory. ___Vehicles attempting to enter Ramallah from the area were turned around, while vehicles attempting to exit Ramallah through the checkpoint were subject to “strict inspection” before being allowed to exit.    More . . .

Qalandiya, West Bank, 25.2.2016
Palestinian laborers with work permits and commuting East Jerusalem residents, including high school students, wait to cross the Qalandiya checkpoint separating the parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah from Jerusalem in the early hours of February 25, 2016. (Activestills.org)

❸ GAZA:  FISHING  ZONE  EXPANSION  POSTPONED  FOR  3RD  TIME  
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC   
November 6, 2016
Israeli authorities postponed for the third time a planned temporary expansion of the besieged Gaza Strip’s fishing zone of Sunday, claiming that Palestinian officials had not fulfilled their commitments.
___An Israeli official said on Sunday that the temporary expansion of the northern Gaza Strip’s fishing zone would take place once Palestinian authorities in Gaza “carry out their commitments”, which include placing a ship to observe the agree to monitor any violations.
___The head of Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Yoav Mordechai, said on his official Facebook page that the expansion had been postponed until Sunday, but that “your representatives did not implement what was agreed on.”      More . . .
. . . ❸― (A) WITNESSES:  ISRAELI  FORCES  ATTEMPT  TO  DROWN  GAZA  FISHING  BOAT  WITH  WASTEWATER
Ma’an News Agency  
Nov. 7, 2016
Israeli naval forces attempted to drown a Palestinian fishing boat off the coast of the central Gaza Strip on Monday, according to witnesses.
___Local fishermen told Ma’an that Israeli naval boats pumped wastewaters towards Mohammad Adel Abu Rayala’s fishing boat “in an attempt to drown him.”     More . . .
. . . ❸― (B) ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  FIRE  AT  PALESTINIAN  FISHERMEN  OFF  GAZA  COAST   
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 6, 2016
Israeli naval forces opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, according to witnesses.
___Local fishermen told Ma’an that Israeli forces opened fire on them while they were out at sea, off the coast of the northern town of Beit Lahiya, forcing them to sail back to shore.      More. . .

“. . . these measures were in breach of the Fourth Convention . . .” (Tony Klug)

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detention
Administrative detention dates back to the pre-1948 British Mandate, when suspects were held without charge for up to six months. (File photo: Al Arabiya News, Jun. 06, 2012)

❶ Israeli forces detain younger brother of slain Palestinian policeman

  • Background. “A Never-Ending Occupation: The End Of Hope?” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture.

❷ Israeli forces detain 6 fishermen off Gaza coast, confiscate 2 boats
❸ Releasing a child after detaining and assaulting him…extending the arrest of another
. . . ❸― (a) Teenager detained in Hebron for alleged knife possession
❹ Israeli forces detain 14 Palestinians in West Bank raids
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❶ ISRAELI FORCES DETAIN YOUNGER BROTHER OF SLAIN PALESTINIAN POLICEMAN 
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces raided the Jenin-area town of Qabatiya in the northern occupied West Bank before dawn on Tuesday, where they detained the brother of the slain Palestinian police officer who committed a shooting attack that injured three Israelis on Monday.
___Ali Zakarna, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Jenin, told Ma’an that large numbers of Israeli troops stormed Qabatiya and ransacked the home of the Turkman family.
___After inspecting the house and questioning all family members, Israeli troops detained Muhannad Turkman, 22, whose brother Muhammad, 25, injured three Israeli soldiers after he opened fire on them at the Beit El checkpoint near the entrance of Ramallah on Monday afternoon.
___Zakarna added that dozens of young Palestinian men clashed with Israeli forces during the raid, and that forces “showered the town with tear gas and stun grenades.”  More . . . 

  • Klug, Tony. “A Never-Ending Occupation: The End Of Hope?.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 88-95.   Full article.

Occupations are meant to be temporary affairs, whereby the occupying power is effectively a custodian of the occupied territory until its final disposition is determined. When the occupation of the West Bank commenced in June 1967, almost no one seriously imagined it would still be extant half a century later. . . .
___With the recent breakdown of even the semblance of a peace process, the question today is whether the occupation will ever end, or if the future will be one of “permanent occupation” . . . .
[. . . .]  One of the principal provisions of the Fourth Convention, which regulates occupations, is that the penal laws of the occupied territory should remain in force. . . . However, a permitted exception to this provision on security grounds — provided the measures introduced did not abrogate the Convention’s other provisions gave rise to a parallel legal system in the West Bank.
[. . . .]    In August 1968, the Israeli military court in Nablus ruled that two legal systems operated in the territory, and that Israeli military law — concerned with defense and security — was not to be guided by Jordanian law, the jurisdiction of which was confined to civilian matters. In practice, military law was often to take precedence by designating the alleged offense a security matter.
[. . . .]    While Israel thus did not accept the applicability of the Fourth  Convention, its . . .   it has disregarded the provisions . . . that prohibit altering the legal status of an occupied territory’s inhabitants — to justify treating them differently from Israeli citizens.
[. . . .]  Israel’s immediate challenge on inheriting the West Bank was to quell any insurgency and restore order. . . .      Israeli military law took its authority from the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, which did not pretend to follow the system of common law or apply the rules of natural justice. These regulations . . . .  permitted administrative detention, under which a suspect deemed to be a threat to public safety or order could, in effect, through successive extensions, be detained indefinitely following a perfunctory hearing before a military court.
___Other than preventive detention, these measures were in breach of the Fourth Convention. But Israel’s principal justification was, simply, that they were effective in quelling the mounting unrest that followed the inception of occupation.
[. . . .]  Sooner or later, Israel will have to face its moment of truth: Is it or is it not an occupation? If it maintains that its rule in the West Bank is not an occupation, Israel denies itself the only solid defense it has against the intensifying charge of apartheid. If it accepts it is an occupation, then it is way beyond time to bring it to an end. [. . . .] 

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  6  FISHERMEN  OFF  GAZA  COAST,  CONFISCATE  2  BOATS 
Ma’an News Agency
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli naval forces detained six Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, according to locals.
___Nizar Ayyash, head of the Palestinian Fishermen Union in Gaza told Ma’an that Israeli naval forces stopped two fishing boats off the coast near the northern town of Beit Lahiya, confiscated the boats, and detained the crews that were onboard.
[. . . . ]  It remained unclear for exactly what reason the boats were confiscated, and why the fishermen were detained.
___Most recently, Israeli authorities postponed on Monday a decision to expand the fishing zone off the northern Gaza coast from the current six nautical mile limit, to nine nautical miles for the duration of the month of November.        More . . . 

child-arrest
Israeli undercover police arrest a 10-year old Palestinian child on October 24, 2014. (Photo: Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu/Anadolu Agency)

❸ RELEASING A CHILD AFTER DETAINING AND ASSAULTING HIM…EXTENDING THE ARREST OF ANOTHER      
Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan
Oct. 30, 2016
The occupation police released on Sunday night 10-year old Adnan Jamal Amro and extended the arrest of 13-year old Mustafa Firas Abbasi until Monday on charges of throwing stones. Clashes also broke out in the village of Esawyeh after occupation forces raided the village and were deployed in its streets.    ___Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the forces arrested Adnan Amro and Mustafa Abbasi from Silwan on suspicious of throwing stones.       More . . .
. . . ❸― (A)  TEENAGER  DETAINED  IN  HEBRON  FOR  ALLEGED  KNIFE  POSSESSION    Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces Tuesday detained a Palestinian teenager at a checkpoint near Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque for alleged knife possession, according to witnesses.
___They said soldiers manning a checkpoint outside the mosque stopped the teenager, identified as Badwan Abu Mayyala, 17, and arrested after they allegedly found a knife in her possession.
___The army claimed Abu Mayyala was planning to attack soldiers.      More . . .    

❹ ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  14  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK  RAIDS 
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA  
Nov. 1, 2016
Israeli forces Tuesday detained 14 Palestinians, including a minor and an elderly, during overnight raids across the West Bank, said Palestine Prisoner’s society.      ___Israeli forces detained five Palestinians after storming and ransacking their homes across the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
___Among the detainees were a 14-year-old minor, handcuffed after being summoned to Etzion detention and interrogation center, and a 70-year-old elderly, who reportedly suffers from diabetes and heart problems.        More . . .