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News Topics:

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)

Prisoners

• 03.06.19 3 Palestinian prisoners continue hunger strikes against detention
• 04.06.19 The pressing question at a Palestinian health gathering: How to illegally collect sperm from prisoners
• 04.06.19 Bidding farewell to my soulmate and cellmate
• 05.06.19 ‘This is for Palestine’, says mum who gave birth through smuggled sperm

Jerusalem

• 01.06.19 EU condemns new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem as ‘illegal’

West Bank

• 01.06.19 Palestinian school children living with stress and danger
• 03.06.19 Israel cop charged with breaking leg of Palestinian activist
• 03.06.19 Photo Essay: This is what Israel’s ‘relaxation of movement restrictions’ for Ramadan looks like
• 04.06.19 Palestinians wary of Israel’s checkpoint changes
• 05.06.19 Israel delays auction of Palestinian classrooms donated by EU
• 05.06.19 Life under occupation: Palestinians face land shortage (Video)
• 05.06.19 New evidence backs Arab MK’s claims that police shot him

Gaza

• 03.06.19 WHO: 3 children a month in Gaza left disabled for life
• 03.06.19 Skyping Gaza: How a Ramadan scheme is connecting Americans to besieged Palestinians
• 04.06.19 ‘Miles of Smiles 36’ aid convoy arrives in Gaza through Rafah Border Crossing
• 05.06.19 WHO sanitizes Israeli responsibility for Gaza killings
• 05.06.19 The Gaza Gas Deal
• 05.06.19 Israel made girl with cancer suffer alone
• 06.06.19 Israel builds a wall along Gaza, says fence is not enough

Settlers and Settlements

• 02.06.19 Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa compound after settler ‘tour’
• 02.06.19 Israeli forces and settlers enter Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
• 05.06.19 Settlers torch Palestinian farmlands south of Nablus
• 06.06.19 Video shows masked Israel settlers attacking Palestinian home

Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

• 03.06.19 Nobel Prize winner calls for boycott of Israel physics contest
• 05.06.19 Video: Canada activists disrupt top supporter of Israeli war crimes

Domestic Affairs

• 03.06.19 PA continues to refuse reduced tax revenues from Israel
• 03.06.19 Palestinian academic sues Quora, saying she was banned from the website for criticizing Zionism
• 05.06.19 Abbas: ‘Deal of the Century’ Will Go to Hell
• 05.06.19 Palestinian prime minister says PA is on brink of collapse, bankruptcy

Foreign Affairs

Israel

• 02.06.19 The right wing in Israel is in a deep crisis
• 03.06.19 Israel Supreme Court postpones deportation of HRW director
• 04.06.19 We will soon pray there’: Israeli minister urges settlers to enter Al-Aqsa

US

• 01.06.19 US sends new map of Israel, including Golan, as gift to Netanyahu
• 01.06.19 Abu Dis to be Palestine capital under ‘deal of the century’
• 03.06.19 Kushner: Palestinians not yet capable of governing themselves
• 03.06.19 Pompeo questions reception of US plan ‘loved only by Israelis’
• 04.06.19 Chicago-area school district withdraws ‘Teaching Palestine’ course and apologizes for ‘sense of exclusion’ it created
• 04.06.19 10 Reasons Why Ilhan Omar Scares US Political Elite
• 05.06.19 A Palestinian response to Jared Kushner’s racist remarks
• 05.06.19 Bernie Sanders links Hitler’s murder of his family to his fight against occupation of Palestinians
• 06.06.19 Florida’s Governor just signed a bill that will censor criticism of Israel throughout the state’s public schools

Middle East

• 01.06.19 Egypt’s Sisi: No regional stability without meeting Palestinian aspirations
• 01.06.19 Demonstrations in 30 countries on Quds Day
• 01.06.19 Mecca summit supports Palestinians, backs Saudis in Iran standoff

‘Three Palestinian prisoners are continuing their protests against their administrative detention in Israeli jails.

Thirty-five-year-old Hassan Mohammed Al-Aweiwi from occupied Hebron has been on hunger strike for 64 days. Over this two month period he has lost 22 kilogrammes in weight and is no longer able to stand as a result of exhaustion. He has been taken to the Kaplan Medical Centre for treatment.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

‘In late March and early April 2019 I traveled to Jordan and the West Bank (Palestine) with two colleagues, Sonia Dettman and S. Komarovsky, first to attend the Lancet Palestine Health Alliance conference in Amman and then to explore and better understand the lives of refugees and the workings of UNRWA, with a focus on the status of refugee health.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

There has been a big void in my heart since 25 May 2019, the day I lost a dear friend, brother, and “cellie,” Sameeh Hammoudeh.

Sameeh and I were in prison together in Florida for more than three years beginning in 2003, when the US government sought to send us to the gulag for the rest of our lives. While we had been friends and colleagues for more than a decade, our shared struggle solidified our brotherly bond.

Read the rest of the article at Electronic Intifada

‘In 2014, Suhad Abu Fayed gave birth to her daughter Huriye, a bright-eyed child with a mop of curly hair. When Suhad took Huriye to see her father, Sameer, for the first time, the Israeli guards at the prison where he is detained looked puzzled. “Who is this girl?” they asked. “How can this be your daughter when your husband is here, inside?”

“I replied that I had thought I was infertile,” Suhad recalls. “I told them I had samples from my husband from before he was imprisoned, and when I was treated I used them to get pregnant.”’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

‘Israel’s housing ministry has announced plans for construction of 805 housing units in occupied portion of the city. The European Union has condemned Israeli plans to build illegal housing units in occupied East Jerusalem.

The plans, which were announced on Wednesday by Israel’s housing ministry, include the construction of 805 housing units in Jewish neighbourhoods in the city’s east, which was occupied by Israel in 1967.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Eye

‘More than 45 Palestinian school children were killed by Israeli fire last year in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

Since 2018, the Palestinian Ministry of Education estimates that some 20,000 students have suffered through different Israeli violations.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

03.06.19 Israel cop charged with breaking leg of Palestinian activist

‘An Israeli police officer was charged yesterday with fracturing the leg in May 2018 of prominent Palestinian activist Jafar Farah during a demonstration in Haifa, reported Haaretz.

According to paper, in addition to being charged with “causing serious bodily harm” in breaking Farah’s leg, the police officer Lior Hatam, “is accused of assaulting seven other men who had been brought to the Haifa police station that day”.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

03.06.19 Photo Essay: This is what Israel’s ‘relaxation of movement restrictions’ for Ramadan looks like

‘Every year during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Israeli authorities approve a package to “relax” the restrictions on movement for West Bank Palestinians. This standard military practice aims, as authorities say, to facilitate Palestinian worshippers’ trips to Jerusalem for the weekly prayer that takes place every Friday.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

04.06.19 Palestinians wary of Israel’s checkpoint changes

‘Israel says renovations could boost West Bank economy but Palestinians say measures are self-serving propaganda. But in recent months, Israel has renovated Qalandia and Checkpoint 300 in Bethlehem, creating more lanes and introducing automatic gates in which Palestinians tap biometric entry permits to pass.

Workers and analysts told Al Jazeera that despite the easing of conditions, they believe the new policies are part of an Israeli propaganda campaign aimed at enhancing its own image in the rest of the world and pacifying the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

05.06.19 Israel delays auction of Palestinian classrooms donated by EU

‘Israeli occupation forces this morning demolished the Arab village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev, south of Israel, for the 145th time, Arab48 reported.

Local witnesses said that Israeli forces raided the village in the morning, protecting bulldozers that demolished the houses of the villagers.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

05.06.19 Life under occupation: Palestinians face land shortage (Video)

‘As the West Bank and Gaza prepare to mark 52 years of occupation, a look at the issue of land, the heart of the conflict.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

05.06.19 New evidence backs Arab MK’s claims that police shot him

‘New evidence suggests Israeli police shot Palestinian Member of Knesset Ayman Odeh in the head with a sponge-tipped bullet during a home demolition in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in 2017, according to a final investigation report published earlier this week by the London-based Forensic Architecture research center.’

Read the rest of the article at 972Mag

‘At least three children in the Gaza Strip are left permanently disabled every month as a result of armed conflict and Israeli violations, data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed.

The report by the WHO, released on Friday, cited data collected between March 2018 and March 2019, and stated that in the past year alone, a total of 172 Gazans were injured in such a way that they were left disabled for life, 36 of whom were children, meaning that one person is affected every other day.’

Read the rest of the article at the Middle East Monitor

03.06.19 Skyping Gaza: How a Ramadan scheme is connecting Americans to besieged Palestinians

‘With that bewildering speed of an excited teenager, Nawar Diab, 16, from Gaza, flits between chatting about surviving three wars with Israel to her desperation to learn the cello.

We are seated on the floor of her family home in Gaza City, trying to fix the battered instrument, which is too small for her and has ancient strings that have come loose.’

04.06.19 ‘Miles of Smiles 36’ aid convoy arrives in Gaza through Rafah Border Crossing

05.06.19 WHO sanitizes Israeli responsibility for Gaza killings

‘There were nearly 7,000 gunshot wounds among Gaza’s population of two million in the duration of a year.

Many of those injured have extensive and in some cases irreversible damage to their bones, neurovascular structures and soft tissue.

Among them, hundreds face amputations if they cannot access specialized tertiary treatment for their catastrophic wounds.’

05.06.19 The Gaza Gas Deal

‘The untold story of how behind-the-scenes deals prevented Palestinians from exploiting valuable natural resources. Natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a highly-prized commodity.

In 1999, geological surveys revealed that there were natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. But through a series of poor decisions, questionable leadership and regional geopolitics, the so-called Gaza Marine gas field has lain dormant for 20 years.’

05.06.19 Israel made girl with cancer suffer alone

‘On 17 May, a 5-year-old child died from cancer in a hospital in Gaza.

She died with her family around her. But she didn’t know that.

In fact, she had spent most of the past month alone in hospitals in Jerusalem, separated from her parents and other relatives by the Israeli permit system that controls the movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.’

Read the rest of article at Electronic Intifada

06.06.19 Israel builds a wall along Gaza, says fence is not enough

‘Israeli defence contractors yesterday completed a new section of a wall along the Gaza Strip.

The wall, which is little more than a thin bright green barrier along roads bordering Gaza, is intended to prevent Gazans from clearly seeing activity beyond the current fence.’

02.06.19 Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa compound after settler ‘tour’

‘Israeli police chased and assaulted a number of worshippers, including a mosque guard and banned medics from providing medical help.  Clashes erupted between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli forces at East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday during a settler ‘tour’ at the flashpoint site, according to the Jerusalem Waqf (religious endowments) Agency, Anadolu reports.’

Read the rest of the article in Middle East Monitor

02.06.19 Israeli forces and settlers enter Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

‘Protests erupted on Sunday after Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound along with hundreds of ultra-nationalist Jews whom they allowed to access the compound on Jerusalem Day – when Israelis celebrate the anniversary of their occupation of East Jerusalem at the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.’

05.06.19 Settlers torch Palestinian farmlands south of Nablus

‘Jewish settlers set fire to dozens of dunums of Palestinian farmland in Jalud village, south of Nablus.

Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told WAFA that a number of Jewish settlers set fire to the villagers’ farmlands, destroying their olive orchards.’

03.06.19 Nobel Prize winner calls for boycott of Israel physics contest

‘The 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry is urging a boycott of a physics competition in Tel Aviv in July.

George P. Smith and 19 other scientists signed an open letter last week that calls on “all students and mentors from all over the world not to participate in the next International Physics Olympiad in Israel and to stand for human rights of the young Palestinian pupils and students, including their right to education.”’

Read the rest of the article at Electronic Intifada

05.06.19 Video: Canada activists disrupt top supporter of Israeli war crimes

‘Former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler was on stage as one of several “inspiring thought leaders” talking about “pressing human rights issues” at Montreal’s Concordia University on Monday.

But one issue the chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights was in no hurry to talk about is Israel’s massive and systematic violations of Palestinian rights.’

03.06.19 PA continues to refuse reduced tax revenues from Israel

‘A spokesman for the Palestinian government Ibrahim Melhem said the government refuses to receive tax revenues collected on its behalf by Israel as long as Tel Aviv deducts sums allocated to the families of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails and those killed by Israel.

“We will not eat or drink until the children of martyrs and wounded are full. Those who rob and steal the first time repeat it because they are used to theft. We know that the occupation is robbing our money,” Melhem said.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

03.06.19 Palestinian academic sues Quora, saying she was banned from the website for criticizing Zionism

‘On Monday, May 27, Dr. Rima Najjar, a retired professor and active participant on many social media platforms, had her attorney, Rima Kapitan, serve the management of Quora with a letter seeking a settlement with the internet platform, which had banned her permanently earlier that month. Quora.com is a website where users can post general questions on a range of topics and other users offer answers to those questions. Najjar feels that the ban is a direct result of her national origin, and Kapitan’s letter to the Quora management documents many instances when Najjar was censored because she wrote as a Palestinian.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

05.06.19 Abbas: ‘Deal of the Century’ Will Go to Hell

‘President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his hopes that the US-proposed peace plan, dubbed Deal of the Century, will go to hell.

Abbas stated:

“I hope that the next Eid al-Fitr would come with us, the Palestinian people, having liberated our country from the Israeli occupation, established our independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and overcome the plots contrived against the Palestinian issue, including the Deal of the Century, which will all go to hell.”’

Read the rest of the article at Palestine Chronicle

05.06.19 Palestinian prime minister says PA is on brink of collapse, bankruptcy

‘The new Palestinian prime minister warned that the Palestinian Authority is on the brink of collapse as Israel continues to withhold Palestinian tax revenues.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Wednesday, Mohammed Shtayyeh said the PA may go into bankruptcy by July or August as a result of an Israeli law that allows it to halt the tax-revenue transfers.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Eye

02.06.19 The right wing in Israel is in a deep crisis

‘What happened to Avigdor Liberman? Why did he insist on cutting short what will become the shortest Knesset term in Israeli history? Was it his deep personal hatred for Netanyahu or was he simply settling a score? Was it an opportunity to build himself up politically before disappearing alongside his small, sectorial party? Amid all the questions remains a point that has gone largely undiscussed: Liberman’s success at thwarting Netanyahu reflects a deep crisis among the Israeli right.’

Read the rest of the article at 972Mag

03.06.19 Israel Supreme Court postpones deportation of HRW director

‘Israel’s Supreme Court has postponed the deportation of regional Human Rights Watch (HRW) Director Omar Shakir, allowing him to remain in the country while he contests the expulsion order against him.

In the latest chapter in Shakir’s ordeal – which has seen him subjected to protracted legal proceedings after Israel’s Interior Ministry ordered his deportation – the Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Shakir will be allowed to stay while he continues to fight against the expulsion order.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

04.06.19 We will soon pray there’: Israeli minister urges settlers to enter Al-Aqsa

‘An Israeli minister has called on settlers to continue entering Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound and thanked security officials for making their visits possible after hundreds broke into the mosque during the final days of Ramadan.

In a video released on Monday, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said: “We should do everything to keep ascending to the Temple Mount [the name used by Jews for Al-Aqsa].”‘

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Eye

01.06.19 US sends new map of Israel, including Golan, as gift to Netanyahu

‘US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has given a new map of Israel, which included the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a press conference held in Jerusalem, Netanyahu announced that he had received this gift through Kushner, the chief architect of the US “deal of the century”.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

01.06.19 Abu Dis to be Palestine capital under ‘deal of the century’

‘A senior Israeli source has revealed that Abu Dis would be the capital of any future Palestinian state under the “deal of the century”.

According to a report by Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon yesterday, preparations are being made to unilaterally hand over Abu Dis – a district of Jerusalem located beyond Israel’s Separation Wall – to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA is expected to reject this step.

Abu Dis is classified as part of Area B under the Oslo Accords, meaning it is under civil and administrative sovereignty of the PA but security control of Israel.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

03.06.19 Kushner: Palestinians not yet capable of governing themselves

‘White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner has said that the Palestinians deserve “self-determination,” but stopped short of backing Palestinian statehood, expressing uncertainty over their ability to govern themselves.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

03.06.19 Pompeo questions reception of US plan ‘loved only by Israelis’

‘The top diplomat of the United States has reportedly called the US administration’s long-awaited Israel-Palestine peace plan arguably “unexecutable” in comments delivered just weeks before a Washington-led economic conference in Bahrain, where the first part of the initiative is due to be unveiled.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

04.06.19 Chicago-area school district withdraws ‘Teaching Palestine’ course and apologizes for ‘sense of exclusion’ it created

‘Just eight days after an administrator offered public high school teachers in Skokie, Illinois, the opportunity to take a summer professional development course called “Teaching Palestine,” the school district retracted the offer in a statement from top administrators apologizing for the hurtful, “one-sided nature of this course.”’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

04.06.19 10 Reasons Why Ilhan Omar Scares US Political Elite

‘U.S. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has come under attack by the United States ruling elite on both sides of the political aisle over her bold progressives stands on controversial topics in U.S. politics ranging from migration, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, foreign interventions and other social and political policies.’

Read the rest of the article at TeleSur

05.06.19 A Palestinian response to Jared Kushner’s racist remarks

‘In classical racist literature and discourse, black/brown natives are portrayed as lazy groups who cannot run their own affairs; they belong to backward entities that clash with other modern entities. The best intentions of these nations amount in the end to nothing, and whatever they have is brought about by the powers of illusion and Western intervention.

The racist ideology of colonialism justifies the occupation of other lands, and then defends the so-called human face of Western colonialism, in general, and Israeli settler colonialism, in particular.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

05.06.19 Bernie Sanders links Hitler’s murder of his family to his fight against occupation of Palestinians

‘We’ve closely followed the statements of Democratic presidential hopefuls to the American Jewish Committee. Almost every candidate so far has been careful to skirt the Israel question, hinting at some mild criticism of Israel but not actually voicing it. Joe Biden went after the Palestinians. Kamala Harris embraced Israel. No one has mentioned the occupation or Palestinian human rights with any specificity.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

06.06.19 Florida’s Governor just signed a bill that will censor criticism of Israel throughout the state’s public schools

‘On May 31, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits anti-Semitism in public schools and universities throughout the state. However, the legislation also equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, effectively censoring the advocacy of Palestinian rights.’

Read the rest of the article at Mondoweiss

01.06.19 Egypt’s Sisi: No regional stability without meeting Palestinian aspirations

‘Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has said that there will be no stability in the Middle East unless the Palestinian issue is properly addressed.

Al-Sisi stressed that Palestine is the first Arab issue and the main cause of instability in the region, one without which the rapprochement of Arab national security will not be achieved, Quds Net News reported yesterday.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

01.06.19 Demonstrations in 30 countries on Quds Day

‘People in 30 countries around the world have organised demonstrations to mark Al-Quds Day, the last Friday of each Ramadan.

Several Palestinian and international organisations called on people to join the demonstrations in support of Jerusalem and the city’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as to highlight Israel’s aggression against the city and its holy sites, Al-Resalah newspaper reported.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

01.06.19 Mecca summit supports Palestinians, backs Saudis in Iran standoff

‘Political leaders and heads of state from Islamic nations have condemned countries that have made the “illegal and irresponsible decision” to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In a joint statement on Saturday, at the end of a summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the leaders called on countries that have moved their embassies to Jerusalem to rethink their strategy which they said constituted “a serious violation of international law and international legitimacy”.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

31.05.19 Gigi Hadid’s brother releases music video filmed in Palestine

‘The younger brother of supermodel Gigi Hadid has released a music video which he filmed during his recent visit to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Nineteen-year-old Anwar Hadid uploaded “Progression 101” to Instagram as part of his debut album “Bleach”.

The video takes viewers through the streets of West Bank towns and highlights some of the injustices which Palestinians live through.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Monitor

02.06.19 Riding, despite Gaza: Palestinian cycling champion Alaa al-Dali

‘Cycling champ Alaa al-Dali’s leg was shot to pieces by an Israeli sniper. Now he’s making a comeback as a para-cyclist.’

Read the rest of the article at Al Jazeera

02.06.19 Ancient plants: Reflections on Palestinian life from the Galilee mountains

‘A walk in the mountains, and what could have been had Israel not destroyed hundreds of Palestinian mosques. I always like my beer on the bitter side. Recently, I discovered the wild variety of plant behind the delicate taste.

On the afternoon of our 79th (combined average) birthday, my wife and I took a lengthy hike in the Galilee mountains that frame Arrabeh. We used to walk the same mountain paths, carrying our two children on our backs, to visit our friends, the two monks who chose the highest peak in our range to recreate early monastic life in Palestine.’

Read the rest of the article at Middle East Eye

02.06.19 Palestine in Pictures: May 2019

‘Thirty Palestinians were killed in the context of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the month of May.

Two of those killings took place in the West Bank on the last day of the month.

Yusif Wajih Suheil, 18, was shot and killed by Israeli police in the Old City of Jerusalem after stabbing two persons, critically injuring a 50-year-old man.’

Read the rest of the article at Electronic Intifada

06.06.19 Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass: ‘In my artistic work, what I am doing must connect to who I am’

‘The actress is both picky and prolific, and tells us how she seeks to tell the stories of the citizens of the world who are considered a “danger” to othersHiam Abbass answers the phone from Scotland. “It’s been raining for four days, non-stop,” she tells me.

The Palestinian actress lives in Paris but is in the UK to shoot the second season of Succession, the HBO series about money and power struggles between the contentious heirs of an ageing media magnate. Abbass, 58, plays Marcia Roy, the third wife of the clan patriarch portrayed by Brian Cox.’

Read the rest of the article at The National