Part 1: What's going on in Silwan? The Story of Al Bustan
“As a Jew and a citizen, I feel it is your right to stay here and live here as a Palestinian neighbourhood,” says Maimon. “The policy of planning in East Jerusalem is appalling and in Al Bustan particularly, it is demographic and racist.” “It is not a just plan. We told the Mayor Nir Barkat that if he wants tourism in Jerusalem to be so great, he must admit there are two communities with the right to the city. In order for more tourists, we don't need the King's Garden, or more monuments, we just need a non-violent city. Archaeology is no better than the rights of residents to live in their own place.”
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Britain must atone for its sins in Palestine
Ninety-five years ago tomorrow, on November 2, 1917, British imperialism in Palestine began when Lord Balfour, the then British foreign secretary and former prime minister, sent a letter to Baron Rothschild, one of the leaders of the Zionist movement. This letter became known as the “Balfour Declaration”. In that letter, Balfour promised British support for the Zionist programme of establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This pledge of support was made without consulting the indigenous Christian and Muslim inhabitants of Palestine, the Palestinian people. And it was made before British troops had even conquered the land. Balfour, on behalf of Britain, promised Palestine – over which Britain had no legal right – to a people who did not even live there (of the very small community of Palestinian Jews in Palestine in 1917, very few were Zionists). And he did so with the worst of intentions: to discourage Jewish immigration to Britain. No wonder Lord Montagu, the only Jewish member of the Cabinet, opposed the declaration.
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Israeli Ministry of Tourism map annexes over 60% of the West Bank
But by far the largest portion of the West Bank, Area C, was handed over to Israel's full control. It was assumed by most observers that this land, 61 per cent of the West Bank, would eventually become the territorial bulk of a future Palestinian state. Over the past two decades, however, Israel has used its hold over Area C – and the lack of an agreement, due to its own intransigence – to entrench and expand the settlements there. There are now nearly 350,000 Jewish settlers living in more than 250 settlements and outposts dotted all over Area C (a further 200,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem). These settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers and a network of civilian and military bureaucrats, have created a reign of terror that has gradually encouraged Palestinians in Area C to migrate to the cities, still nominally under Palestinian Authority control. There were once hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Area C, most making their living from agriculture. Today, some estimates put that number below 100,000, but the population is certainly no higher than 150,000. Of these, most live in extreme poverty and insecurity: their homes are liable to be demolished at any moment; they can access water expensively and intermittently from water-trucks only; their livelihoods as farming communities are under constant threat from water shortages, land confiscations and the walls and fences Israel constantly erects to divide up their holdings; and their physical safety is threatened by attacks from ever-more fanatical settlers living nearby.
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Palestinian youth arrested and 4 detained at Nabi Saleh weekly demonstration
Na prosvjedu u Nabi Salehu uhićen 1 palestinski maloljetnik, privedena 4 aktivista (2. studeni 2012)
Jedan je palestinski maloljetnik uhićen, a 2 izraelskih i 2 međunarodnih aktivista su privedeni tijekom nenasilnog tjednog prosvjeda 2. studenog 2012. u selu Nabi Saleh na Zapadnoj Obali. Mještani sela počeli su se okupljati na glavnom trgu u selu u 11:30, a prosvjed je započeo u podne. Prosvjednici su se uputili glavnom cestom pjevajući i plješćući rukama. Djeca su mahala zastavama i izvikivala poruke preko megafona. Prosvjednici su se zatim uputili prema svom cilju: prirodnom izvoru do kojeg je mještanima sela Nabi Saleh onemogućen pristup zbog ilegalnog kolonističkog naselja Halamish. Prosvjednicima se na putu ispriječio red izraelski vojnika, a u 12:30, bez ikakvog povoda i upozorenja izraelska je vojska ispalila suzavac izravno u prosvjednike, dok su se oni još uvijek nalazili u selu. Prosvjednici se nisu pokolebali i nastavili su hodati uzbrdo prema izvoru. Vojnici su zatim ispalili suzavac u visini glava prosvjednika, umalo pogodivši jednog od njih u glavu. Prosvjednici su došli što su bliže mogli vojnicima, mašući zastavama i podižući svoje ruke ispred oružja vojnika kako bi spriječili daljnje ispaljivanje suzavca u selo. Djeca Nabi Saleha hrabro su stala u prve redove prosvjeda, pokazujući rukama znak pobjede, pjevajući pjesme i izvikujući slogane, i držeći palestinske marame pred licima vojnika kako ovi ne bi pucali iz svog oružja. Vojnici su bili prisiljeni povući se s brda prema izvoru, a za njima su nastavili hodati muškarci, žene i djeca iz Nabi Saleha. No oko 13:05 iz sela se začulo zapomaganje i mještani su se vratili u selo, te saznali da je vojska uhitila 14-godišnjeg Waeda Bassima Tamimija, sina nedavo uhićenog nenasilnog aktivista Bassema Tamimija. Vojska je također privela 2 izraelskih aktivista, 1 francuskog novinara i 1 međunarodnog aktivista koji su podržavali majku uhićenog djeteta dok se bunila protiv uhićenja. Nakon toga vojnici su na prosvjednike u selu otvorili vatru bojevim streljivom.
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Israeli Justice Endorses Continued Abuse of Dirar Abusisi
Israeli Mossad agents collaborating with Ukrainian authorities kidnapped Gaza civil engineer Dirar Abusisi on a Ukrainian train nearly two years ago. He was spirited to a Kiev apartment and by some accounts drugged and shipped in a coffin to Israel. There he was imprisoned under sham charges that he was Hamas' chief “rocket engineer.” He has languished in solitary confinement without trial during that period.
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Palestinian Injured By Settlers Near Nablus
Kolonisti ozlijedili Palestinca u okolici Nablusa (3. studeni 2012)
Izraelski kolonisti ušli su u Palestinsko selo Orif i počeli kamenjem gađati lokalne mještane, pri čemu je jednom 19-godišnjem Palestincu ozlijeđena glava. Izbili su sukobi između kolonista i mještana, a kad se na mjestu događaja pojavila izraelska vojska, vojnici su oteli ozlijeđenog mještana i odveli ga na nepoznatu lokaciju.
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18 Palestinians Kidnapped In East Jerusalem After A Settler Was Stabbed
U istočnom Jeruzalemu oteto 18 Palestinaca nakon što je nožem uboden 1 kolonist (3. studeni 2012)
Izraelska je policija otela 18 Palestinaca u četvrtima Ras Al-Amoud i Silwan u okupiranom istočnom Jeruzalemu nakon što je nepoznati napadač u petak (2. studenog) navečer nožem ubo jednog židovskog kolonista u četvrti Ras Al-Amoud. Desetci vojnika i vojnih terenskih vozila raspoređeni su na ulazu u Ras Al-Amoud, a izraelsko sigurnosno osoblje, prerušeni vojnici i pogranični policajci u velikom su broju raspoređeni po uličicama u četvrtima Silwan i Ras Al-Amoud, prije nego su počeli provaljivati u arapske domove u pokušaju pronalaska napadača. 18 je mladih palestinskih mještana Jeruzalema odvedeno u istražnu i pritvornu ustanovu Al-Maskobiyya u zapadnom Jeruzalemu, no 6 su puštena na slobodu nekoliko sati po uhićenju. Svjedoci također tvrde da je policija tijekom potrage provalila u jedan samostan u Ras Al-Amoudu. U izraelskoj policiji tvrde da je jedan kolonist uboden nožem dok je hodao od Zapadnog zida prema ilegalnom kolonističkom naselju koje je u četvrti Ras Al-Amoud izgradio židovski milijunaš Moskowitz. Prema tvrdnjama žrtve i njegovog prijatelja koji je svjedočio napadu „napala su ih 2 arapskih mladića i jednog od njih uboli u leđa, prije nego su pobjegli s mjesta događaja“. Nakon toga su kolonisti otišli do kolonističkog naselja i tamo potražili pomoć. Bolničari su ranjenog kolonista prevezli u izraelsku bolnicu Hadassah Ein Karem u Jeruzalemu. U policiji su najavili da će uhićene zadržati u pritvoru radi istrage do daljnjega. Izraelska policija je nešto kasnije nametnula zabranu informiranja o istrazi i prestala informirati javnost o novim saznanjima u vezi napada i potrage za počiniteljima, te ostalim povezanim informacijama.
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New report by European groups highlights growing consensus for ban on Israeli settlement goods
A coalition of 22 European NGOs along with Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories have in the last week released significant reports on financial links with illegal Israeli settlements. Running into 35 pages, the report from European NGOs, titled Trading Away Peace, is the most wide-ranging report yet into the various forms of economic support for illegal Israeli settlements provided by European states and corporations. Opening with an overview of the reality for Palestinians in the West Bank, the report highlights the inconsistency between the EU's stated opposition to settlements and its failure to take action to halt economic activity that encourages their continued existence and expansion.
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