4 Palestinians murdered by Israeli Occupation Forces: Israel's illegal collective punishment of Palestinians in photos and numbers

Dear friends,
as you will be aware, Israel's occupation forces are currently carrying out a major military operation against the entire Palestinian population in the Occupied West Bank in the wake of the kidnapping of 3 Israeli settlers on June 12, 2014.  Israeli Occupation Forces have been engaged in illegal collective punishment of the Palestinian population for the last week. Such action is a war crime under the Geneva Convention, which Israel is a signatory too. 

The Israeli government and mainstream media in both Israel and internationally have attempted to portray the collective punishment against Palestinians as "restrained", however, figures complied by Israeli activist and writer Mairav Zonszein shows that this is not the case.  I have included her figures below.

Numerous writers and commentators have noted that Netanayahu has attempted to blame Hamas for the kidnapping of the 3 settlers, despite having absolutely no proof of Hamas involved.  The primary aim is to try and weaken Hamas and to undermine the nearly formed Palestinian technocratic "unity government".  It has also been noted the current operation against Hamas and Palestinians was planned BEFORE the settlers were kidnapped.  

According to the Israeli Hebrew newspaper, Hadrei Hadarim, an Israeli military officer stated that the operation had been pre-planned and had little to do with the kidnapping.  According to the newspaper, the officer said the Israeli military is intentionally trying to agitate the population in order to provoke stone throwers, which will allow Israeli snipers to kill them. “There was a group of snipers on the roof – an entire unit that moves on the outskirts of Jenin in order to make noise and raise tensions,” he said. “This was actually the true goal: to provoke them into causing disorder, and then put down those causing the disorder.”

In the 10 days since Israel began its illegal collective punishment of the Palestinian population of the Occupied West Bank, four Palestinians have been murdered by the Israeli military.   Ahmad Sabarin from al-Jalazon refugee camp was killed on 17 June, when Israel invade houses in the camp.Mustafa Aslan (21 years) was killed by the IOF when they invaded Qalanda Refugee camp (near Ramallah) on 20 June.  On the same day, 14 year old Mahmoud Jihad Muhammad Dudeen was killed by live ammunition fired by the IOF in Dura in Occupied Hebron.  Today (22 June) Ahmad Abu Shinno, age 35, was shot dead by Israeli Occupation Forces as he was on his way to pray at the Omar Mukhtar Mosque in Occupied Nablus. He was shot in the chest 3 times & left to bleed 4 an hour as ambulance prevented from reaching him.

Two other Palestinians have also died, including Jamil Ali Abed Jabir, an elderly man from the village of Haris in Salfit, who had a heart attack when he attempted to stop the IOF invading his home and then prevent his family from taking him to hospital for treatment. The second death Sakher Dorgham Zaamel Abu al-Hasan, 17 years old, who died when he stepped on a land mine while herding his sheep in the Jordan Valley.

Currently, 5,700 Palestinian political prisoners are now being held in Israeli jails, including 241 minors. 261 Palestinians are being held indefinitely without charge or trial. 125 of those have been on hunger strike for about 60 days in protest against their detainment.

Israeli Occupation Forces have also raided Birzeit University near Ramallah and Arab American University in Jenin. In addition, the IOF have used the main plaza of Ahliya University near Bethlehem was used as a holding ground for blindfolded Palestinian men being detained in nearby Duheisha camp.

Israel continues doing what it does best: pillaging, raiding, detaining, and killing. And the US continues funding Israel, to the tune of $3 billion a year.

Please consider how you can raise awareness and stand in solidarity the Palestinian people in opposition to the illegal collective punishment and war crimes being carried out against them in the name of "security" and searching for the missing Israeli settlers.  

The mainstream media and Western governments have remained silent about Israel's brutal campaign over the last 10 days against the entire Palestinian population of the occupied West Bank, so please raise your voices where you can: by writing letters to your local media and politicians opposing Israel's actions, by sharing information about Israel's collective punishment and war crimes against the Palestinian people on social media, by moving motions in your church, community and unions demanding an end to Israel's illegal activities and breach of international law.  

Please promote and support the Palestinian  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, a  non-violent campaign started by Palestinian civil society in 2005.

I have included below a small selection of photos which have been taken by Palestinian, Israeli and International activists documenting Israel's illegal collective punishment and murder of Palestinians.

In solidarity,
Kim

**
Israel's military operation in numbers 
from Mairav Zonszein's +972 Magazine article, which can be found by clicking here.

Since the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers from a hitchhiking stop in the West Bank on June 12, 2014, the Israel Occupation Forces has been operating all over the Palestinian territories, in Areas A, B and C. The following list attempts to provide some basic statistics on the toll it has been exacting. While Israeli media is portraying the operation as highly restrained, these numbers show the deep effect it has on the Palestinian population as of June 20, 2014.
 *Some numbers provided are estimates due to the difficulty in confirming exact numbers.

Figures as of 20, June 2014

• Number of kidnapped Israeli teenagers: 3

• Number of days since operation began: 7

• Number of Palestinians arrested: 388

• Of them, number associated with Hamas: 240

• Of them, the number released in 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange: 55

• Number of indictments filed against them thus far: 0

• Number of Palestinians killed: 2  (as of 22 June, the figure is now 4 Palestinians killed by direct military action)

• Number of Palestinians wounded: Dozens

• In critical condition: 1

• Number of Israeli soldiers wounded: 1

• Number of troops deployed to Hebron: At least 2,000

• Number of residents of the city of Hebron under total lockdown:  200,000

• Number of Israeli settlers living in Hebron: 800

• Number of houses raided throughout West Bank: Thousands

• Number of Palestinian houses & institutions raided: 1,150

•  Number of Israeli air strikes on Gaza: At least 15

• Number of rockets fired from Gaza: 16

• Number of Israelis wounded: 0

• Number of Palestinians wounded: At least 7

•  Structures damaged: 1

Sources: IDF Spokesperson, Palestinian Prisoners Club, Haaretz, Walla, Ma’an News Agency, Associated Press, New York Times, International Middle East Media Center

***
Israel's illegal collective punishment of Palestinians in photos

Birzeit University Condemns Storming of its Campus by Israeli Occupation Forces

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Thursday

June 19, 2014

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Israeli occupation forces stormed Birzeit University’s campus in the early morning hours.

Photo by: 

Samer Nazzal and Issam Rimawi

1234

In continuation of its barbaric aggression on our people and national institutions, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Birzeit University’s campus in the early morning hours of Thursday 19 June 2014 in direct violation of the sanctity of our university and a blatant attack on the right to education and the freedom of education guaranteed by international conventions and law.
Birzeit University views this attack as very dangerous and a barbaric intrusion. We deplore the conversion of its academic facilities to military barracks, as well as the confiscation of its student property, in addition to wiping out the eastern and western gates, searching parts of the Faculty of Science building and attempting to force open administrative offices.
The University calls on the international community and human rights organizations to condemn this belligerence and put an end to Israel’s defiance of the fundamental rights of our people and its violation of the sanctity of our universities.
Birzeit University confirms that these attacks will not deter our commitment to higher education, and the pivotal role we have played since its establishment.
Birzeit University will remain a university for all Palestinians, with their diverse ideas and various political schools of thought. Our students will continue to be distinguished intellectuals and leaders in their communities. The provocative measures taken by the Israeli occupation will only lead to a greater conviction and commitment of the university community, academics, staff and students, to the values of freedom, justice and democracy.

- See more at: http://www.birzeit.edu/news/birzeit-university-condemns-storming-its-campus-israeli-occupation-forces#sthash.s8jAyA6m.dpuf

Israeli Occupation Forces invade Hebron. Photo via Lisa Guilani

Israeli soldiers during the fifth day of the operation, Hebron, June 17, 2014. (Mustafa Bader/Activestills.org)

 Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian youth during clashes in Hebron. The city is under full closure, June 16, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

 Israeli soldiers detain Palestinian men at the Gush Etzion junction, a settlement near Bethlehem, June 16, 2014. Over 150 Palestinians were arrested over the last several nights and a tight closure was imposed on the city of Hebron. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

A Palestinian youth sits blindfolded at a checkpoint after being arrested by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 16, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

 

 Palestinian boy arrested by Israeli Occupation troops in Hebron. Photo by Felesteen.

 

 Israeli Occupation Force invade and destroy Palestinian House in Occupied Hebron. Photo: International Women's Peace Service

 Israeli Occupation Forces invade Palestinian house, Occupied West Bank on 21 June.

Israeli Occupation Forces invade Palestinian house, Occupied West Bank on 21 June. Photo: Maan News.

 

 Mustafa Aslan (21 years) died of injuries he sustained after being shot on 20 June by Israeli Occupatin Forces in Qalanda Refugee camp near Ramallah. Photo via:
Hamde Abu Hamde Abu

  

 Father ofr Mahmoud Jihad Muhammad Dudeen says good bye to his 14 year old son killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Dura, Occupied Hebron on 20th June.

 Mahmoud Jihad Muhammad Dudeen, age 14, killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli Occupation Forces on 20th June in Dura, Occupied Hebron.

 Family of  Mahmoud Jihad Muhammad Dudeen, 14, who was killed by Israeli Occupation Forces

Photo documentation of injuries inflicted on Sami Al ramal from Salfit by Israeli Occupation Forces who assaulted him sand threw him on the edge of the road. Photo via:  Hamde Abu Hamde Abu

 Palestinian youth resist Israeli military invasion of Ramallah - Al Manara. 5am, 22 June. Photo by Raya Ziada.

Palestiniain youth resist Israeli military invasion of Ramallah in Rukab Street, one of the city's main streets.  5am, 22 June. Photo by Linah Alssafin. 

Body of Ahmad Abu Shinno,  age 35, shot dead by Israeli Occupation forces as he was on his way to pray at the Omar Mukhtar Mosque in Nablus on 22 June. He was shot in the chest 3 times & left to bleed 4 an hour as ambulance prevented from reaching him.

 Ahmad Abu Shinno age 35 shot dead by Israeli Occupation forces as he was on his way to pray at the Omar Mukhtar Mosque in Nablus on 22 June.  He was shot in the chest 3 times & left to bleed 4 an hour as ambulance prevented from reaching him. Photo by Hamde Abu Hamde Abu

Israeli military detain and threaten shop owner whose video recorded IOF's killing of Palestinian teens.

Dear friends,
Defence for Children-Palestine and Human Rights Watch have reported that Israeli occupation forces who shot dead two unarmed Palestinian teenagers on Nakba Day outside of Ofer Prison have sought intimidate witnesses to the killings and have threatened the owner of the shop whose video equipment recorded the murders.  According to the human rights organisations, Israeli Occupation Forces have  threatened the Palestinian shop owner, ordering him to to take down security cameras and have confiscated his digital recording equipment.

DCI-Palestine's full report is below.  

You can also read my earlier posts and articles (with the full videos) on the Israeli's murder and attempts to whitewash and cover up the killing of  Nadeem Nawarah and Mohammed Salameh via these links:

• Murder and Lies in Palestine: on Israel's killing of Muhammed al-Thahir and Nadim Nuwarah

• CNN video footage show Israeli military shooting at Palestinian teens killed during Nakba protests

• Bloodshed at Nakba

• VIDEO: Israeli Occupation Forces kill two Palestinian teens in cold blood during Nakba demonstration

in solidarity,
Kim

**
Israel: Stop threatening witness to killings

19 Jun 2014 | Defense for Children International and Human Rights Watch 

Fakher Zayed's security cameras captured the fatal shootings of two Palestinian teens on May 15.

Ramallah, June 19, 2014—Israeli security forces ordered a Palestinian man to take down security cameras that captured the shooting deaths of two Palestinian boys in May, Human Rights Watch and Defense for Children International – Palestine said today. Footage recorded by cameras on the man’s building prompted an international outcry over the killings. 

Israeli military officers berated Fakher Zayed, 47, for sharing the security videos with human rights groups, claimed he had lied and fabricated evidence, and threatened to bring unspecified legal actions against him if he did not remove the security cameras, Zayed told Human Rights Watch and DCI-Palestine. A soldier threatened to “unleash dogs on my children,” he said. 

“Israel should be investigating these deaths, but instead its forces seem intent on intimidating witnesses and ensuring future abuses won’t be caught on camera,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli response to the killing of two boys looks more like an attempt to cover up than a serious investigation.” 

Israeli forces shot and killed Nadeem Nawarah, 17, and Mohammed Salameh, 16, also known as Mohammed Abu Daher, during a demonstration on May 15, 2014, when neither boy posed any threat. On May 19, Defense for Children International – Palestine published footage from Zayed’s security cameras on its website. The Israeli military spokesperson’s office initially claimed the video was “edited in a biased way,” but the full, unedited videos, which DCI-Palestine and the Israeli rights groups B’Tselem later made available to the media, also showed the boys posed no imminent threat to life. 

Zayed and another witness who asked not to be identified out of fear for his security told Human Rights Watch and DCI-Palestine that at around 4:20 p.m. on June 17, four Israeli military vehicles with about two dozen soldiers came to Zayed’s carpentry shop, on the ground floor of his building in the West Bank Palestinian town of Beitunia, while he was out delivering wood to a customer. According to the other witness, an officer who identified himself as “Sabri” said that “if [Zayed] is not here in five minutes we are going to burn this carpentry shop down,” and ordered one of Zayed’s employees to call him. When Zayed arrived, Israeli forces confiscated his identification document, told him and his employees that he was not being arrested but taken for questioning, and drove him to the nearby Ofer military base.
Zayed said:

At Ofer I was taken into a room that had several captains. They told me that the video I gave to the press was fabricated, that everything I said and all my testimonies are a lie, that this is a serious violation of the law, and that I made the IDF look bad and caused a lot of problems. They told me the cameras need to be brought down within 24 hours. They were all speaking, and I had no chance to respond. There were so many threats. They said it as though they were going to turn the law against me. One of the captains told me: “We will crush you, according to the law.” There were many threats against my family. They told me that I was up against a very powerful force, and I am very small. One of them said, “We will squish you like a bug, you are nothing.” There were no direct violent threats, except when I left that room, one of the soldiers told me that they will unleash dogs on my children.

At 5:45 p.m., Israeli forces drove Zayed back to his building, he said. 

Israeli forces had visited Zayed previously and confiscated the DVR equipment that records footage from Zayed’s security cameras as well as his computer. Soldiers and an officer first came to Zayed’s building on May 22, the same day CNN published its own video footage showing one of the Israeli border police firing toward the location where Nawarah was killed, and seconds later, a group of Palestinians carrying him towards an ambulance. 

The officer commanding the Israeli forces who confiscated the recording material refused Zayed’s request to give him a receipt. The Israeli commander “Sabri” and border police returned to Zayed’s home at 8 a.m. on June 13 and asked again for the DVR equipment. “I said they’d already taken it, so they went around the entire neighborhood, the whole street, and took all the neighbors’ recording equipment too. They left nothing. I can’t record anything and neither can the others,” Zayed told Human Rights Watch. 

Taken together, the military’s confiscation of equipment weeks after the killing and its refusal to provide receipts to owners, Israeli officials’ repeated public claims that video footage was doctored without providing any evidence, and military investigators’ alleged remarks while berating Zayed for recording the shootings, raise concerns that the military is not conducting a good faith investigation into the killings. 

Another resident of the area interviewed separately, who asked that his name not be published out of fear for his security, told Human Rights Watch that Israeli forces called him at around 8 a.m. on June 13 and told him to open a shop he owns near Zayed’s building. He said:

There were a lot of soldiers and a few military vehicles. I opened the shop and they went in and took a computer and the DVR and told me they will return it to me, and then they left. The cameras are still there but they don’t work because they took the other equipment. They didn't tell me what it was about or give me a receipt or invoice. They just grabbed the equipment, wrote something on it in Hebrew, took it, and moved on to the next neighbor – they were taking other people’s equipment too, saying they needed to check it.

“Israeli forces are threatening to treat Palestinians like criminals because they witnessed or recorded what appear to be war crimes committed by the Israeli military,” said Brad Parker, International Advocacy Officer and Attorney at DCI-Palestine. “Instead of harassment and threats Israeli forces should focus on bringing to justice those responsible for killing two boys on May 15.” 

Dear friends,
please find below my latest article published by Red Flag.

in solidarity, Kim

***

Palestinian unity government no step towards justice

16 June 2014 | Kim Bullimore | Red Flag

After seven years of internecine fighting, the two largest Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah, have formed a technocratic “unity government” in Ramallah. Sworn in on 2 June, the 17-member assembly consists of non-aligned academics, businessmen and independents.

The swearing-in comes in the wake of a unity agreement signed by Hamas and the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organisation on 23 April in Gaza. Under the agreement, the administration will govern for at least six months, after which fresh elections will take place – the first in more than eight years.

The reaction by Palestinians has been mixed. While many welcomed an end to almost a decade of conflict between the two factions, the unity deal has also met scepticism. Many doubt that it will be able to bring an end to Israel’s occupation.

In Gaza, Hamas has come under increasing pressure because of Israel’s eight-year illegal blockade and Egyptian government hostility, which have left the Strip isolated. In the occupied West Bank, Fatah’s credibility has continued to crumble. Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected to a five-year term as the Palestinian president in 2006, has remained in control of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) in the West Bank for the last three years with the backing of the US.

Hamas candidates won a majority of seats in the 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), bringing to an end Fatah’s political domination of the PA, which had been established in 1996 as part of the Oslo Peace Accords.

In response to the results – which had been deemed open, fair and democratic by international observers – Israel, the United States and the European Union imposed an economic and financial embargo. Israel also began the siege of Gaza. More than 85 percent of Palestinian households were pushed below the poverty line as a result.

At the same time, the US sought to bolster Abbas politically and financially. Fighting erupted between Hamas and Fatah later in the year, but under pressure from the Palestinian public, the two factions formed a “national unity” government in February 2007.

However, the US and Israel continued to push for a “hard coup” against Hamas. Four months later, Gaza-based Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan used the PA Preventive Security Service to provoke clashes with Hamas. Hamas responded by seizing control of the Gaza Strip. In retaliation, Abbas declared a state of emergency and dismissed the Hamas-led unity government.

Since then, Israel has tightened its siege of Gaza, while the Ramallah-based PA has continued to pursue the failed “peace process” and increased cooperation with Israel, including “security” coordination.

The latest Fatah-Hamas agreement came just days before the 29 April expiration of the “peace talks”, surprising US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose spokesperson initially described the Palestinian agreement as “disappointing” and “troubling”.

Kerry has since announced that, despite reservations, the US will work with the new technocratic administration after assurances from Abbas that it would heed demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and honour previous agreements. Abbas reaffirmed his commitment to the failed peace talks, saying, “We are totally committed to establishing a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state principle.”

The new government, however, has no real power. Nor is it a real government. The PA was originally established as an interim administrative body tasked to facilitate the “peace process”. It was supposed to transfer power to the PLC. That never happened. Real power remains in the hands of the Israeli state and its military, which control the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The impotence of the PA and PLC was evident in the wake of the 2006 elections, when Israel arrested and jailed more than half of the 132 PLC members. Nine are still being held indefinitely, without charge or trial, under Israel’s “administrative detention” regime.

In the wake of the April agreement, Israel launched an air strike against Gaza that injured 12, including two children. On 2 June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would suspend all peace negotiations. Netanyahu also stated that Israel would not allow Palestinian elections to take place in occupied East Jerusalem and would attempt to prevent Hamas candidates from running elsewhere.

Melbourne-based Palestinian activist and playwright Samah Sabawi noted, “We are still an occupied people.” Sabawi told news website Middle East Eye: “What we need more than ministries and authorities is resistance and liberation … Hamas and Fatah reconciled not based on their vision for liberation, but a desperate need to save their factions from financial, diplomatic and political crisis.”

She’s right. It will take struggle, not negotiations, to end the Israeli occupation.

Gideon Levy: Israelis can try, but they can't ignore the occupation

Dear friends,
veteran Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy, who writes for Haaretz addresses the issue of the kidnapping of the 3 Israeli settler youth in the Occupied West Bank. While not condoning the kidnappings, Levy notes that they come as a result of Israel's ongoing occupation, apartheid and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

in solidarity,
Kim
***

Israelis can try, but they can't ignore the occupation

The only way still open for the Palestinians to remind the Israelis of their existence and plight is the way of violent struggle.

By Gideon Levy | Jun. 15, 2014 |Haaretz

Arresting a Palestinian man in Hebron. Photo by AP

The abduction of three yeshiva students in the West Bank last Thursday was ordered in advance – by Israel. At the time of writing, Saturday, their fate was unknown and concern for their welfare outweighed all other issues connected to their disappearance. But no matter what happens in the end, whether they return home safely or not, God forbid, whether the responsible party turns out to be global jihad or the local kind, the context of the action cannot be ignored. 

Perhaps the operation took Israel’s oh-so-sophisticated espionage agencies by surprise, but it could not have been a real surprise to anyone. 

Those who stubbornly refuse to release Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been incarcerated for decades, from before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and some of whom Israel has promised to set free; those who imprison detainees without trial for years; those who ignore the hunger strike by 125 “administrative” detainees, some of whom are dying in hospitals; those who intend to feed them using force, and those who planned to pass sweeping laws to prohibit their release – these people cannot pretend to be surprised or shocked by the abductions. They arranged for them in advance. 

Israel, which is so worried about the welfare of every one of its citizens, has for years arrogantly ignored the Palestinian concern for the welfare of their prisoners.

Israel holds the copyright to concern for its people, as it does for the worship of the heroes of the national struggle. Meir Har-Zion [a founding member of Unit 101, who in 1953 led a retaliatory raid against a Bedouin tribe after his sister and others were killed while making an illegal trip to Petra] was a national hero; Ahmad Sa’adat [the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] is a base murderer. 

Gilad Shalit was all ours, but the fate of Walid Daka, who has been imprisoned in Israel for more than 30 years, for the crime of membership in a militant cell that killed an Israeli soldier – without a single furlough or conjugal visit – is of no interest to anyone here. 

No one here cares about the thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Last week, Israelis were much more interested in Meir Sheetrit’s housekeeper than in 125 hunger strikers who have been slowly starving to death for 53 days now. 

Among the thousands of Palestinian prisoners are some base murderers, but also many political prisoners – and all of them are seen as heroes of the Palestinian national struggle. It’s the same in every national struggle. Behind them stands an entire society, which is no less worried about their fate than Israelis are for that of their loved ones. 

In killing the peace process, Israel shut the gates of its prisons, and the Israeli message to the Palestinians was razor-sharp: The only way your sons will be freed is through a violent operation. On Thursday night, the conclusions were taken. But the context of the abductions extends far beyond the prisoner releases. 

The curtain has come down on the peace process, however fruitless that process may have been, and with it the last Palestinian hope for national liberation through negotiations. Life in Israel and the West Bank settlements is back on track, a life of freedom and accomplishment, reality shows and circuses, entirely untouched by the occupation. 

The same cannot be said for the Palestinians: They have none of this, and for them every delay in a solution to the conflict only extends their suffering, humiliation and tribulations. 

Anyone who thought the Palestinians would sit quietly and wait until Israel deigned to change its tune or government was deluded. Anyone who thought the settlers would continue to live in security in the territories suffered a grave disappointment: Thursday’s abduction was merely a wake-up call, a taste of what could lie ahead. 

The only way still open for the Palestinians to remind the Israelis of their existence and their plight is the way of violent struggle. All other paths have been blocked. If the Gaza Strip doesn’t fire Qassam rockets at Israel, the Gaza Strip doesn’t exist. And if, in the West Bank, yeshiva students aren’t abducted, then the West Bank disappears from Israel’s consciousness. 

Abductions or murders are aimed at puncturing Israel’s intolerable complacency, and as such they should surprise no one. In the past few months, this complacency has reached new, inconceivable heights. 

Just look at the nonsense that has captured Israel’s attention. The terrifying reminder that has landed on our heads is only the trailer for what we could expect if we continue to live between Benjamin Ben-Eliezer’s safety-deposit box and the kiss of Ahi and Anna on the Israeli version of “Big Brother.” 

That’s the annoying nature of the occupation. It will chase after us, even if we bury our heads even deeper into the sand.

Live from Occupied Palestine reaches 200,000! Thank you for your support!

Dear friends, 
I have now been running the Live from Occupied Palestine blog for just over 7 years (7 year and 3 weeks to be more precise) and made 469 individual posts to the blog. Today Live from Occupied Palestine hit 200,000 views. This is averages out (over the last 7 years) to 78 hits per day or 549 hits per week or 2381 per month.

The hit rate for this blog was never even, with it being much lower in the first year or two of its existence to being much larger now. The hit rate for the last month was 6, 097. The highest hit rate for a month was in December 2013 with 10,288 hits.
 
Of the 469 blog entries, the top rating entries on Live from Occupied Palestine have ranged from ones covering some of the saddest news from Palestine, including the Israeli Occupation Forces murder of Bassem Abu Rahman from Bil'in village in April 2009, as well as stories of resistance such as one about 13 year old Ah'd Tamimi, who is the daughter of my dear friends Nariman and Bassem Tamimi from the village of Nabi Saleh, who won the Hanzala Prize for courage when she attempted to stop Israeli soldiers arresting her mother.

Other entries have been posts covering the siege of Gaza, as well as one with some beautiful photos of Palestine taken at the turn of the 20th century and Israel's continued attempt to suppress documents relating to the Deir Yassin massacre.  


However, of course, this would never have been possible without your support.  Thank you so much to all those who have continued to subscribe and visit Live from Occupied Palestine over the years.
 
From its inception, Live from Occupied Palestine has campaigned for an end to Israeli apartheid and the brutal illegal occupation of the Palestinian people and will continue to do so. Live from Occupied Palestine proudly supports and will continue to support the Palestinian civil society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. 

This blog, in its own small way, will continue to stand with and in support of the Palestinian people in their just struggle for self-determination and human rights, as well the international movement that stands in solidarity with them.

As Edward Said once said:

Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights

in solidarity, 
Kim

From the 1948 Nakba to the 1967 Naksa

Dear friends,

Today, June 5, marks the 47th anniversary of the Naksa (Arabic for setback/calamity). In 1967, Israel invaded Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian controlled territories seizing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. For the Palestinian people, the June 1967 war and subsequent occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem resulted in Israel's illegl military occupation of what was left of their historic homeland. After the 1948 Al Nakba (the catastrophe), the 1967 Naksa (the setback/calamity) it is the single most important objective factor that defines the Palestinian people's struggle for self-determination, freedom and justice.

In 1967 more than 400,000 Palestinians were expelled by Israel from their land, marking the second expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland since 1948 when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled to neighbouring Arab countries by Zionist terror militias and 150,000 Palestinians became internally displaced inside the newly established Israeli state. It took Israel less than one week to forcibly displace Palestinians for the second time, with ninety-five percent of Palestinians fleeing to Jordan. A small number also fled to Lebanon and Syria.

I have included below photos from the 1967, as well as an extract from a 2004 bulletin issued by Badil, the Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refuge which gives a very good overview of the Naksa and its impact on Palestinian society.

I am also posting a link to an article I posted up a year ago about Israel's razing and ethnic cleansing of the Mughrabi neighourhood in 1967, which took place within days of Israel seizing control of Occupied East Jerusalem.  The Mughrabi neighbourhood was ethnically cleansed in order to build the plaza which now stands in front of the Western Wall. 

The article by Ben Lynefield originally appeared in the American Jewish Forward. In the article Lynfield notes that the destruction fo the Mughrabi neighbourhood “is an event either unknown or repressed by most Israelis and Jews who visit the Kotel. It is deleted from public discourse about the Old City". Lynefield's article offers some valuable information on the razing of the neighbourhood within days of Israel seizing and occuping East Jerusalem and the ethnic cleansing of up to 1000 or more Palestinians from their homes.

You can read his article by clicking here.

For an overview and facts on the 1967 war, see the Institute for Middle East Understanding's FAQ sheet (please click here). 

in solidarity,
Kim

**
Al Naksa in Photos:

 Israeli military arrest Palestinians suspected of being members of Fatah

 Palestinians arrested by Israeli military forces

 Israeli soldier watch as Palestinian refugees flee across the Allenby Bridge into Jordan

A Palestinian girl carrying her sister as they prepare to cross the Allenby Bridge

 Palestinians refugees flee across the bombed out Allenby Bridge at the River Jordan into Jordan

Palestinian refugees flee across bombed out Allenby Bridge

Israel razes hundreds of Palestinian homes immediately after seizing East Jerusalem leaving thousands homeless 

Within days of seizing East Jerusalem, Israeli razes Palestinian homes, ethnically cleansing thousnad of Palestinians in order to build the Western Wall plaza

 **

From the 1948 Nakba to the 1967 Naksa

Extract from BADIL Occasional Bulletin No. 18, June 2004 (to read the bulletin in full, please click here)

[Clipped section – Prelude to Al Naksa] 

Mass displacement--ethnic cleansing

During the second Arab-Israeli war in June 1967 some 400,000 Palestinians were displaced. Half of them were refugees who had been displaced from the part of Palestine that became Israel during the 1948 war. This second displacement took less than a week. Ninety-five per cent fled to Jordan and small numbers to Lebanon and Syria. About one million Palestinians remained in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and Gaza.

As in the 1948 Nakba, most refugees were displaced by Israeli military forces using tactics violating basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights law: attacks on civilians, massacres and other atrocities; expulsion; and destruction and looting of property. In Jerusalem, Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian men, forced them onto buses and sent them to Jordan. Some were beaten and then forced to sign papers saying they left voluntarily. At the border, refugees trying to return were shot at. 

Scope of Displacement

The Naksa altered the landscape of Palestine once again. About 1.4 million Palestinians lived in West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and Gaza on the eve of the 1967 war between Israel and neighboring Arab states. Until then, the majority of Palestinians living in the central (except the Jerusalem district) and eastern interior of mandatory Palestine had escaped the largescale displacement and dispossession of Palestinians living in other areas of the country. This included Nablus and Ramallah districts and portions of Jenin, Tulkarem, Hebron, Jerusalem and Gaza districts.

More than a third of the Palestinian population of West Bank and Gaza was displaced during the war. By the end of 1967 the proportion of the indigenous Palestinian population outside its homeland had more than doubled. Nearly half of all Palestinians were now living in exile. Seven villages in West Bank, several refugee camps in the Jericho area, half of the city of Qalqilya, and the Moroccan quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City were destroyed. Depopulated and destroyed villages included Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba in the Latrun salient west of Jerusalem, and the villages of Beit Marsam, Beit Awa, Jiftlik, and al-Burj. In the period immediately after the 1967 war, Palestinian ownership and control of land fell by nearly 15 per cent in these areas 

Denationalized and Dispossessed

In September 1967 Israel conducted a census in West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Only Palestinians (and their offspring) registered in the census were considered by Israel to be legal residents of the occupied territories. It is estimated that 60,000 West Bank Palestinians were abroad at the time of the war and so were not included in the census nor were up to 30,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Administrative measure effectively prevented Palestinians abroad at the time of the war and Palestinian refugees displaced during the war from returning to their homes.

Israeli legislation and military orders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip applied many of the same property laws already in effect inside Israel. Military Order No. 58 Concerning

Abandoned Property (Private Property) enabled the government to acquire control of refugee properties in the West Bank. Unlike the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law applicable in Israel, the military order for West Bank has no time restrictions and thus enables Israel to continue to apply the Order subsequent to the original displacement of Palestinians from the occupied territories in 1967. Israel took control of state land under Military Order No. 59, Concerning Government Properties.

Israel did not apply these same military orders to eastern Jerusalem. Instead, it applied its own domestic law, under the 1968 Legal and Administrative Matters (Regulations) Law. This law also established procedures for Jews to reclaim lost property in eastern Jerusalem after the 1948 war. Under the same law Palestinian residents of eastern Jerusalem were exempt from the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law; however, Palestinians living in eastern Jerusalem who lost properties in western Jerusalem or other areas inside Israel in 1948 were still considered as absentees in regard to their property in these other areas. 

International Response

In June 1967 the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 237 calling on Israel to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants of areas where military operations took place and facilitate the return of those inhabitants who had fled the areas since the outbreak of hostilities. This resolution is reaffirmed annually by the General Assembly. Several months later the Security Council adopted Resolution 242 calling for a just settlement of the refugee problem. In July 1967 the General Assembly also requested the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), established in the aftermath of the 1948 war, to extend emergency relief and assistance to Palestinian refugees displaced in 1967.

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Since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began, the UN Security Council has passed more than 200 resolutions on the subject but the trail of unimplemented resolutions is long. They include Israel’s failure to: rescind measures changing the status of Jerusalem; stop deporting Palestinians from the occupied territories; and abide by obligations and responsibilities in the 4th Geneva Convention. General Assembly Res. 194 on the right of return of 1948 refugees has not been enforced nor have Security Council Resolutions 237 and 242 on the return of 1967 refugees and withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories. Resolutions calling on Israel to comply with international law have been vetoed more than 50 times by the United States.

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Some notes on the new Palestinian "unity government"

Dear friends,

as you will be aware on June 2, a new Palestinian "unity government" was sworn in Ramallah. 

The swearing in of the "unity government" is being heralded as bringing to an end 7 years of internecine fighting between the two biggest Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas.  And without a doubt, an end to the internecine factionalism between Hamas and Fatah should be welcomed.

However, over the next few days, weeks and months many things can and will be said about this new "government", including the motivations behind it, whether it will take forward the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and human rights and whether or not it will work.  

For the moment, I am not going to comment on any of those things, but I will noted a few things that are not being said in relation to the formation of the new "unity government" by much of the media:

• Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (and East Jerusalem) continue to live under a belligerent and brutal Israel military occupation.  Israel continues to build its illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank and continues to blockade Gaza, collectively punishing - in violation of international law - 1.5 million Palestinians in an open air prison.

• The new "unity government" has no real power, nor is it a "real" government (as compared to other world governments in Europe, the USA and Australia)

• The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is not a "government", it was only ever established as an interim/transitional body which was established as part of the Oslo Accords, in order to help facilitate the "peace process". 

• The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) established in 1996 and was suppose to replace the PNA.  However, the PNA (under Arafat) did not transfer power.

• Just as with the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian Legislative Council, the new "unity government" has no real power because Israel remains in military control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

• The last PLC election was in 2006.  The election was free, fair and democratic.  Hamas ran successfully on a "Change and Reform" platform and won control of the PLC, including the Prime Ministership.

• In the wake of the 2006 Palestinian election, when the last free, fair and open election happened in Palestine, Israel arrested and jailed more than half of the 132 democratically elected PLC members.  Currently 9 PLC members are held indefinitely, without charge or trial, under Israel's "administrative detention" regime. 

• The five year elected period for Mahmoud Abbas' presidency ran out in 2011.  As an unelected president with no mandate, he remains in control of the PNA for the last three years through the backing of the United States.

• The new "unity government", while hopefully and thankfully bringing to an end the internecine factionalism between Hamas and Fatah, has no electoral mandate.

• The Oslo Accords are dead and so is the fake "peace process" and two state solution.

• Israel has no interest in reaching a real and/or just peace with the Palestinians.  The primary aim of Israel is expansionist, to claim as much Palestinian land with as few Palestinians as possible.  

• The "peace process" has been used by Israel to allow them to appear to be giving lip service to a negotiated peace, while at the same time allowing them to establish "facts on the ground" (with the building and expansion of illegal settlements and confiscation/exploitation of natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories)

In solidarity,
Kim

Palestinian Political Prisoners continue their hunger strike against administrative detention

Dear friends,
please find the second of my two articles published in the lastest edition of RedFlag on the Palestinian Political Prisoners strike. 

In solidarity,
Kim

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

31 May 2014 | Kim Bullimore | RedFlag

More than 100 Palestinian political prisoners have been on hunger strike since 24 April. They are protesting Israel’s administrative detention regime, under which people are locked up without charge or trial. Under the regime, Palestinians are detained using secret “evidence”.

Israel has reneged on previous promises to restrict the use of administrative detention, as is required under international law. The agreement was made in order to end a mass hunger strike by more than 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

According to the Palestinian Political Prisoner Association Addameer, as of 1 March there were more than 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. More than 180 were held under administrative detention, including nine Palestinian Legislative Council members.

Since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been detained under the regime. Some have been jailed for more than eight years without charge or trial.

According to Addameer, Israeli authorities have raided cells, beaten prisoners and transferred some to unknown locations. Hunger strikers have been isolated from other prisoners and detained in overcrowded cells.

In the Naqab prison, hunger striking prisoners have been placed in isolation cells with floors covered in sand. They are handcuffed for 10 hours a day and subject to daily searches.

Since the hunger strike began, another 150 Palestinian prisoners have joined and thousands of others have participated in solidarity actions. 

Murder and Lies in Palestine: on Israel's killing of Muhammed al-Thahir and Nadim Nuwarah

Dear friends,
please find below my latest article published by Red Flag on the Israel's murder and lies about the killing of Muhammed al-Thahir and Nadim Nuwarah.

In solidarity,
Kim
***

Murder and lies in Palestine

 
31 May 2014 | Kim Bullimore | Red Flag

Israeli occupation forces continue to deny killing two Palestinian teenagers during a protest marking the 66th anniversary of the Nakba (the “catastrophe”) despite video footage showing they were shot in cold blood.

On 15 May, 17-year-old Muhammad al-Thahir and 15-year-old Nadim Nuwarah were shot in the chest while protesting outside of Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. CCTV footage revealed that neither youth presented a direct or immediate threat to Israeli soldiers when shot. The video, released by Defence of Children International-Palestine and Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, shows the two boys were shot during a lull in the clashes, while walking near the building.

On 22 May, CNN released a video of Israeli occupation forces firing on Palestinian youth at the time Nuwarah was gunned down. The Israeli military, while continuing to deny the use of live ammunition, has since been forced to admit that a “non-combatant” soldier opened fire at the youth.

The full details of the case are subject to a military gag order that prevents the Israeli media from reporting anything but basic details. Such orders, imposed by the military, are a regular occurrence.

According to Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz, “Israeli military investigators said, however, the shots may have been fired by the Palestinian side, rather than by Israeli troops, and senior Israeli officials said a video of the shootings that has sparked an outcry was likely forged.”

These two contradictory claims are a regular defence by the Israeli military against its documented human rights abuses. Right wing Zionist media and bloggers have since gone on to claim the CCTV footage is the work of “Pallywood” – which implies manipulation or fabrication. Israeli human rights abuses that are documented on film by Palestinians, Palestine supporters and/or the media are routinely derided as Pallywood.

It is a racist anti-Arab term which casts Palestinians as inveterate liars. It’s used to discredit Palestinian claims, while justifying and purifying Israel’s human rights abuses and atrocities.

The term originates with Zionist attempts to discredit television footage that captured the death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durah in September 2000. Al-Durah and his father were caught in crossfire between the Israeli military and Palestinian resistance fighters in the first weeks of the second Intifada.

Despite frantic calls by his father to stop firing, Muhammad was shot and died in his father’s arms. Al-Dura’s death has since come to symbolise the more than 1,400 Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel since 2000. At the time, the video made world headlines and caused severe damage to Israel’s public image. Over the last decade, Israel apologists have attempted to discredit the video by claiming the footage was fake and/or the boy was still alive.

On 22 May, in response to the CNN video, former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren also claimed that the CCTV footage of Nuwarah and al-Thahir’s deaths was fabricated. Interviewed on CNN by Wolf Blitzer, who is a former employee of the Zionist lobby group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Oren stated: “Israel has a lot of experience of pictures like this.”

Despite Nuwarah and al-Thahir’s funerals being documented by international, Israeli and Palestinian media, Oren went on to claim it wasn’t certain that the two boys were dead. Asked by Blitzer whether he was suggesting that “this whole thing was staged”, Oren replied, “We don’t know. We don’t know.”

In response to such claims, B’Tselem released 7.5 hours of uncut footage, establishing “its authenticity and validity”.

CNN video footage show Israeli military shooting at Palestinian teens killed during Nakba protests

Dear friends,

as you will be aware, on May 15, Israeli Occupation Forces, shot dead 17-year-old Muhammad Audah Abu al-Thahir and 15-year-old Nadim Siyam Nuwarah, with live ammunition in the chest during a Nakba demonstration outside Ofer Prison. 

In the wake of their death, video footage shoot by CCTVs mounted on the building next to where they were killed, has come to light show they were shot during a lull in the protests and posed no immediate or direct threat to Israeli Occupation Forces. The footage was released by Defence of Children International- Palestine and Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. Despite not having requested copies of the footage for examination, Israeli Occupation Forces immediately denied the boys were killed by the IOF, instead claiming the footage was either fabricated or that the boys were shot by Palestinians.

In the last few days, however, more footage has come to light showing the Israeli military shooting directly at the boys at the time they were killed. The footage shot by an American news team from CNN and was released as part of a news report on the shootings. CNN reporter, Ivan Watson goes on to say in the report: "“At the precise moment when Nuwara was shot,CNN’s camera was rolling, filming an Israeli soldier shooting his rifle at the Palestinians and then demonstrators carrying the mortally wounded teenager to the ambulance.”

Despite the new footage from CNN, Israel, has continued to deny that Israel Occupation Forces used live ammunition and killed the boys. 

I have included below the CNN report on teh shooting of al-Thahir and Nuwarah.  You can also view the CCTV footage released by Defence of Children International-Palestine and B'Tselem by clicking on links below to my earlier posts.  Also is included is a link to my article in Red Flag on the shooting.

• VIDEO: Israeli Occupation Forces kill two Palestinian teens in cold blood during Nakba demonstration 

• Bloodshed at Nakba

In solidarity, 

Kim 

screen grab from CNN report

CNN REPORT: Palestinian youths shot dead on camera 

(to view the report on CNN website, click here)