Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank: Updates and Discussions

[Falcon29]

There is much news in the West Bank, ranging from less significant to very significant, so instead of opening multiple threads, I'm going to post all the updates here. Will give people who don't have access to Palestinian media, a sense of what Israel is moving through with on a daily basis in Palestinian territory.

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Israel resumes construction of illegal separation wall near al-Walaja

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities resumed construction of the illegal separation wall in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem after a three-year hiatus, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Saturday.

Wafa quoted Hassan Brijiya, an activist with the Bethlehem-area committee against Israeli settlements and the separation wall, as saying that Israeli authorities had placed a four-meter high barbed wire fence in the Ain Jweiza area northwest of the village of al-Walaja.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz corroborated the information, adding that construction of the illegal separation wall -- also known as the annexation or apartheid wall -- had been frozen in the al-Walaja area three years ago following legal battles and protests denouncing the move as causing huge damages to the landscape and archaeological heritage in the area.


https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776783

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15 days on, Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners remain united behind Barghouthi

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- As some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners entered their 15th day on hunger strike on Monday, Israeli authorities and the prisoners remained at an impasse over negotiations, as the hunger strikers have insisted that senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi represent them and their demands.

In an interview with Mawtini Radio, Abd al-Fattah Dawla, the head of the Media Committee of the Freedom and Dignity Strike -- a joint committee formed by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs -- said on Monday that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) had “tried to circumvent the leadership of the strike” and exclude Barghouthi, under whose aegis the hunger strike began, from being involved in negotiations.


However, Dawla added that Palestinian prisoners had remained united behind Barghouthi, as Karim Yunis, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, refused to represent the hunger strikers in negotiations with IPS without Barghouthi.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776795

 

[Falcon29]

4-year-old Palestinian hospitalized after hit and run by Israeli settler in Hebron

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- An Israeli settler ran over a four-year-old Palestinian boy in the center of Hebron city in the southern occupied West Bank on Sunday and fled the scene, according to Palestinian security sources.

Murad Samir al-Razam was treated for moderate injuries by the Palestinian Red Crescent before he was evacuated to the Hebron governmental hospital for further treatment.

According to the security sources, the hit and run occurred in the center of Hebron city, near the illegal Israeli Ramat Yishai settlement adjacent to Tel Rumeida.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an they were looking into the case.

Mistreatment of Palestinians has been common since the city was divided in the 1990s after US-born settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The majority of the city was placed under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while the Old City and surrounding areas were placed under Israeli military control in a sector known as H2.

Some 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers now live under the protection of the Israeli military in the Old City, surrounded by more than 30,000 Palestinians.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776777

 

[Falcon29]

UNESCO adopts resolution criticizing Israeli policies in Jerusalem, Gaza

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution on Tuesday criticizing Israeli policies in occupied East Jerusalem and the besieged Gaza Strip.

The resolution -- which passed with 22 countries in favor,10 voting against, and 23 abstaining -- criticized Israel’s refusal to cease “persistent excavations, tunneling, works and projects in East Jerusalem,” and added that these policies were illegal under international law.

“All legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the “basic law” on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith,” the text read.

The resolution also reaffirmed the importance of Jerusalem to the three monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

In the besieged Gaza Strip, the resolution condemned Israel’s military operations in and around the coastal enclave and the decade-long closure of the small Palestinian territory, while requesting that Israel lift the devastating blockade.

Ofir Gendelman‏, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, quoted Netanyahu on his twitter saying “ We reject UNESCO. We will uphold our truth, which is the TRUTH itself.”

“There is no nation in the world for whom Jerusalem is more holy than the Jewish people. UNESCO is trying to deny this truth,” he added.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776816

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Funeral held for former prisoner who died from 'medical negligence' in Israeli custody

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A funeral was held in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday for former Palestinian prisoner Mazen al-Mughrabi who died earlier in the day from medical complications sustained during his time in Israeli custody.

Crowds set off from Ramallah’s old mosque to the cemetery in Ramallah’s industrial zone.

Head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqe condemned the assaults, violations, and medical neglect Palestinian prisoners face in Israeli custody during the funeral.

Qaraqe said earlier in the day that al-Mughrabi, a 45-year-old resident of the village of Abwein in the Ramallah district, died at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah after suffering from kidney failure.
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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776817
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Thousands of Palestinians commemorate Nakba in annual 'March of Return'

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Thousands of Palestinians participated in the “March of Return” in Israel on Tuesday, which set off from the destroyed Palestinian village of al-Kabri to the western Galilee in commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba, “catastrophe.”

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and repeated slogans calling for the Right of Return, which refers to UN resolution 194 guaranteeing Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 the right to return to their lands in what is now Israel.

Head of a follow-up committee in Israel Muhammad Barakeh also praised the some 1,600 Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

The march, which has been held for 18 consecutive years, is aimed at highlighting the internationally recognized right of Palestinians who remain refugees or internally displaced to return to their homes and villages in Israel.

Each year, the march is launched from a site of a Palestinian village destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948.The March of Return is usually held on Israel’s Independence Day to commemorate the Nakba, referring to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and villages during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that established the state of Israel.

The official commemoration of the Nakba is held on May 15 and is observed by millions of Palestinians and rights activists around the world.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776818

 

[Falcon29]

Israeli forces detain 20 Palestinians, including 9 minors in raids

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians during predawn raids Wednesday, according to local sources the Israeli army, and Israeli police.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an that one Palestinian was detained in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, and that three Palestinians were also detained in the town of Beit Fajjar, north of Hebron.

Local sources told Ma'an that the three detained in Beit Fajjar were teenage boys between 15 and 17 years old, identified as Ahmad Ziyad Deiriyeh, Yasser Zaid Deiriyeh, and Ahmad Sami Deiriyeh.

Israeli forces raided and searched Palestinian homes in Beit Fajjar for more than two hours before detaining them, locals said.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776821

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Israeli military court begins hearing appeals on sentence of Elor Azarya


BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- An Israeli military court started to hear appeals Wednesday morning regarding the case of Israeli soldier Elor Azarya, who was sentenced in February to 18 months in prison for the filmed, execution-style shooting of 21-year-old Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif.

Prior to the sentencing, the case had already been denounced as a “show trial” for focusing on the case to distract from a wider culture of impunity for Israeli forces, as Azarya was charged with manslaughter for what was termed by rights groups as an “extrajudicial execution” and by the victim’s family as “cold-blooded murder.”

Following the announcement of the 18-month sentence, the al-Sharif family said they were "not surprised" about the lenient sentence -- noting that the soldier received less prison time than a Palestinian child would for throwing stones.

Azarya’s defense team has appealed both the manslaughter conviction and the 18-month jail sentence for being too harsh, while the Israeli military prosecution has submitted an appeal to increase the sentence.
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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776824

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[Falcon29]

Israeli forces demolish East Jerusalem home, leaving 6 Palestinians homeless

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Amid a spate of demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished a home in the town of Sur Bahir on Thursday, leaving six Palestinians homeless.

Israeli bulldozers, escorted by crew from Israel’s Jerusalem municipality and armed Israeli forces, demolished a house Sur Bahir belonging to Ashraf Fawaqa.

Fawaqa told Ma’an that forces raided his house without prior notice, and began emptying and evacuating the house in preparation for demolition. Authorities told Fawaqa that his home would be destroyed for lacking nearly impossible to obtain construction permits.

According to Fawaqa, he had been trying to obtain licenses for his house since he built it six years ago, but no no avail, pointing out that had paid more than 200,000 shekels ($55,403) in lawyers fees over the years.

He added that while the Jerusalem municipal court and magistrate's court approved the demolition, the Israeli Supreme Court had frozen the demolition.

Despite the supreme court’s ruling, Israeli forces destroyed Fawaqa’s 100-square-meter house, leaving him, his wife, and their four children -- the eldest of which is eight years old -- homeless.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776867
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Palestinians hold rally in Bethlehem in support of hunger-striking prisoners

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Palestinians rallied in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday in support of Palestinian prisoners who have entered the 20th day of a mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

The supporters marched from the Cinema area in the center of Bethlehem to Manger Square, adjacent to the Nativity Church, as they chanted slogans applauding the hunger strikers and urging the international community and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to exert pressure on the Israeli government to “stop the collective punishment” of Palestinians by Israeli authorities, and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) in particular.

The protesters also urged all Palestinians to organize as many activities as possible to support the hunger strikers.

A spokesman of the Bethlehem office of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) Abdullah Zighari delivered a speech at Manger Square warning of the threats facing the lives of the hunger strikers. He added that Israeli authorities continued to ban lawyer visits to hunger-striking prisoners.

“There is no longer a way to contact prisoners and follow up on their health conditions," he said, highlighting that the majority of hunger strikers are elderly, serving long sentences, or suffering from illness.

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https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776892
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[Falcon29]

What the West gets wrong on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

On April 21, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Palestinians must prove that they want peace. “I think the first test of peace is to say to them, ‘Hey, you want peace? Prove it,” Netanyahu told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

This is very typical of Netanyahu’s statements on peace over the years. But perhaps it’s time to consider the issue too rarely discussed by those of us who work for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The government’s actions aside, most Israelis do very much want peace. But on the Palestinian side, again setting aside the statements of Palestinian Authority leaders, peace is not at the top of the agenda.

This is one of the biggest, most fundamental disconnects in the Western approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians are not struggling for peace; they are struggling for freedom. That struggle may be against second-class citizenship for Palestinian citizens of Israel, the expansion of settlements and land confiscation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, or the strangling siege in Gaza. But in all cases, it comes down to a struggle for freedom and a future where today’s Palestinians and future generations can forge their own future outside the yoke of Israel.

This goes beyond the obvious hypocrisy Netanyahu displays on a regular basis. His occasional statements of support for two states are empty, as he makes clear when he routinely accompanies them with qualifiers such as the need for Israel to maintain control over the Jordan Valley.

Indeed, many Palestinians hear Israeli desires for peace as nothing more than a preference for Palestinians to acquiesce in their own oppression. That view may ring false for many Israelis, but when Israel issues extraordinary demands on the Palestinians, it’s an unavoidable interpretation.

One such demand is that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Not only is this unheard of in the annals of diplomacy, it is also a demand not being made of anyone but the Palestinians—the one group of people for whom it has the meaning of justifying their own dispossession and suffering for the past 69 years. Israel makes this demand simply to obstruct any progress toward resolving the conflict.

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https://972mag.com/what-the-west-gets-wrong-on-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/127148/
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[Falcon29]

Pressure mounts on Israel, PA, and ICRC over mass prison hunger strike

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The National Committee to Support Palestinian Prisoners’ Hunger Strike has called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to suspend municipal elections scheduled to be held Saturday and to halt its contested security coordination with Israel as some 1,600 Palestinians entered their 22nd day on hunger strike in Israeli prisons on Monday.

While the elections process has continued to move forward, a number of Palestinian political factions had already boycotted the elections, including the Hamas movement, Islamic Jihad, and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), amid growing anger against the PA.

The hunger strike committee also called on Palestinians to continue showing their support for the hunger strikers through civil disobedience, boycotting all Israeli products, ceasing to work in Israel and in Israeli settlements, participating in a commercial strike scheduled for Thursday, and organizing demonstrations in front of the headquarters for the Red Cross and the United Nations.

Daily protests across the occupied Palestinian territory, Israel, and abroad raged on in solidarity with prisoners who are calling for an end to solitary confinement, medical negligence, the denial of family and lawyer visitations, and internment without charge or trial under administrative detention.

The committee reiterated its calls to the Palestinian people on Monday to take to the streets and participate in sit-in tents established across the West Bank and Gaza, highlighting that hunger strikers entered a life-threatening stage and many had been evacuated to the Ramla prison hospital.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776933

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[Gothic]

Palestinian relatives of arson victims sue Israel
Dawabsheh family, who lost 18-month-old Ali and his parents in 2015 Israeli settler attack, demand state responsibility.

• 
• 

• West Bank.
  
  Eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabsheh died along with his parents when their house was firebombed in July 2015.
  
  His brother Ahmed, now six, was the sole survivor but was left with severe burns.
  
  "Today we filed a complaint with the Nazareth district court demanding the state of Israel be held responsible for the burning of the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma in the West Bank," Hassan al-Khatib, a lawyer who represents the family, said.
  
  Ahmed's uncle Nasser Dawabsheh said they were seeking an admission of responsibility from the state and $4.4m in damages.
  
  'Medical incapacity'
  Israel has occupied the West Bank for 50 years and Khatib said the state must accept responsibility for the killings.
  
  "The child, Ahmed, suffers from disability," he added, as well as "medical and psychological incapacity from the loss of his father, mother and brother".
  
  Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, from the northern West Bank settlement of Shilo, was charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime.
  
  READ MORE: The death of Ali Dawabsheh
  
  A 17-year-old, whose name remains under a gag order, was charged with being an accessory to committing a racially motivated murder.
  
  An Israeli defence official said the family would not be eligible for compensation that applies to "terror" victims since it is only open for Israeli citizens, AFP reported.
  
  The official said that the family would be able to apply instead to an alternative committee that compensates people for so-called nationalist attacks.
  
  Nasser Dawabsheh confirmed to AFP that they had rejected a previous compensation offer because they were demanding the state accept responsibility, which he said had been refused.
  

At the same time


Deutsche Bank Sued in U.S. by Jewish Trust Over $3 Billion
by
David Voreacos
and
Susannah Nesmith
January 19, 2017, 6:38 PM GMT+3:30 January 19, 2017, 7:47 PM GMT+3:30

• Wertheim trust seeks assets first deposited before Nazi rise
• Suit says money deposited at Credit Suisse moved to Deutsche

Deutsche Bank AG was sued in Florida by a Jewish charitable trust that claims the firm wrongly withheld as much as $3 billion from the heirs to a wealthy German family.

The lawsuit claims the bank refuses to return the funds initially deposited by the Wertheim family in accounts opened at what is now Credit Suisse Group AG before the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Those accounts were later transferred to Deutsche Bank, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in federal court by Wertheim Jewish Education Trust LLC.

Deutsche Bank has “refused to cooperate with the heirs of the Wertheim family fortune in the recovery and return of the monies that they are withholding from the rightful heirs,” and preventing the use of the funds for charitable and other purposes, according to the complaint filed in Fort Lauderdale.

Deutsche Bank is “taking the matter very seriously,” said spokesman Tim-Oliver Ambrosius. “The accusations are completely unfounded, and Deutsche Bank denies them,” he said. “All proceedings initiated against Deutsche Bank in this matter have been decided in favor of Deutsche Bank.”

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The charitable trust is an heir to the descendants of Joseph Wertheim, a family that amassed a fortune by building the KaDeWe department store in Berlin and a textile and manufacturing empire in Frankfurt, according to the complaint. One of those descendants, Karl Wertheim, feared the German rise of anti-Semitism in the 1920s, moved his businesses to Spain and opened an account at Credit Suisse in 1931.

The Swiss bank protected the family assets through the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s and during World War II, using secret numbered accounts, pseudonyms and trust accounts, according to the complaint.

When Karl Wertheim died in 1945, the estate passed to his wife, Maria, who managed the fortune until the early 1970s, according to the lawsuit. The fortune included the sewing machine and office-machine business of Hispano Olivetti SA, accounts and investment portfolios in Swiss banks, land in Europe and the U.S. and art collections, it said.

As the health of Maria Wertheim deteriorated, she turned to Ambrosius Wolfgang Bauml to help manage the assets. After she died in 1976, Bauml managed the Wertheim family fortune until his death in 1990, when control passed to the family of Rudolf Sutor.

Through a complex series of events, the assets were transferred in 1993 to Deutsche Bank, which misled the Wertheim heirs for many years about the accounts, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit seeks return of $3 billion and an accounting of the assets in dispute.

The case is Wertheim Jewish Education Trust LLC v. Deutsche Bank AG, 17-cv-60120,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale).



Jewish Trust Sues Deutsche Bank For $3 Billion

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-19/jewish-trust-sues-deutsche-bank-3-billion

 

[Gothic]

Fatima Hjeiji: Seventh child killed by Israel in 2017

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/...-fatima-hjeiji-west-bank-170509011852306.html

 

[Falcon29]

Nativity Church deportees in Gaza to undertake solidarity hunger strike

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinians who were deported to the besieged Gaza Strip following the deadly Israeli siege of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem in 2002 said they would undertake a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with hundreds of Palestinian who are on the 23rd day of a mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

A representative of the deportees, Fahmi Kanaan, said in a statement that they, along with their family members still residing in Bethlehem, would launch the strike on Wednesday, May 10, which coincides with the 15th anniversary of their exile.

Kanaan said that Nativity Church deportees in both the Gaza Strip and in European countries, as well as their families, have been supporting the hunger strikers and their demands since the beginning of the mass hunger strike on April 17.

“We were also prisoners in Israeli jails and know well the suffering our heroic prisoners are facing," he added, affirming that the deportees would not give up on their “national duty” to support political prisoners.

The deportees in Gaza will hold their annual news conference at 2 p.m on Wednesday in Gaza City to officially announce their hunger strike.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs has called upon the Palestinian people and all their supporters worldwide to undertake an international day of fasting on Thursday in solidarity with the mass hunger strike.

A number of prominent figures have also launched solidarity hunger strikes in recent days, including Archbishop Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church, who reportedly announced Sunday his intentions to undertake a strike the following day, while Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khalid and Catholic patriarch Gregory III Lahham who announced their strikes on Saturday.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776942

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[Solomon2]

​

Palestinians need real support, not self-serving BDS
MAY 8, 2017, 10:07 AM

I know from speaking with my fellow Palestinians every day that the average Palestinian is mostly concerned with putting food on the table and educating their children. The average Palestinian wants dignity more than identity. They want employment for themselves and their children. Palestinians want an economy that provides meaningful jobs.

Nothing is being done to establish an economic infrastructure in the Palestinian territories because no one is willing to invest in the West Bank, let alone Gaza. There is practically no Palestinian-controlled industry in the West Bank or Gaza.

We Palestinians suffer from a lack of leadership. Our leaders – both from Hamas and Fatah – are corrupt. Mahmoud Abbas was elected President in 2005 for a four-year term, and he is still in power, despite the fact that there has been no election since 2005. He refuses to hold elections. We Palestinians have no legitimate leadership. Even though the world still pretends that he is the legitimate President, no one, including Israel, believes that he represents anyone anymore. He has no authority to speak with Israel about peace or a permanent solution.

Palestinian leaders have mishandled negotiations so badly that today, the very idea of a two-state solution, is in tatters. Although most Israelis still wish to reach such a solution, there is practically no confidence among Israelis that it can be achieved under current circumstances.

Hamas, which has repeatedly demanded the destruction of Israel, is clearly not interested in a two-state solution. There is little indication that Abbas wants it either because he refuses to even discuss that possibility with Israel. More importantly, Abbas has no credibility to deliver such a solution.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state today, and evacuate areas, is giving radical Islam an area from which to attack the State of Israel”, he was right. Abbas has a weak hold on power. If Israel evacuated the West Bank, she would quickly be replaced by Hamas.

For both Fatah and Hamas, the conflict has become a business and a means of retaining power. They profit from the conflict financially and politically, so they do everything to ensure that it continues.

Despite Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, because of the violent nature of Hamas’ rule over Gaza and their continued attacks on Israel, we Palestinians are anything but free and independent.

The Palestinians in Gaza depend upon four powers over which they have no influence: Israel; Egypt; the Palestinian Authority; and Hamas. Hamas is, of course, the de facto authority in Gaza. Israel and Egypt control traffic in and out Gaza in order to limit Hamas’ military capacity and its ability to wage war. The PA has official oversight over Gaza, but in practical terms, it cannot do anything without Hamas.

The Palestinians in Gaza are held hostage by these four powers, and Hamas is the one responsible for the situation. Hamas uses and sacrifices the Palestinians for its own political purposes. Every day that goes by, it becomes clearer that Hamas’ rule in Gaza is a dictatorship. While it is true that Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006, there hasn’t been another election since 2006. As such, any legitimacy that Hamas previously had is no longer valid. They show no sign of holding an election because they know that the population is increasingly disillusioned and eager for change.

The West Bank consists of three areas:

• In Area A, the PA is the sole authority, there are no Israeli settlements, and Israelis are forbidden from entering except for security purposes.
• In Area B, there is joint control by the PA and Israel, and there are no Israeli settlements.
• Israeli settlements exist only in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control. The vast majority of Palestinians in the West Bank live in Areas A and B and, therefore, are under total or partial control of the PA.

Palestinians, however, do not feel that they are well-represented by the PA, and Abbas has stated that he will not permit elections in the West Bank unless simultaneous elections take place in Gaza. Since Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist and will not permit elections, Abbas’ stance practically means that he is allowing Palestinian democracy to be held hostage by Hamas.

Outside Israel and the Palestinian territories, much of the world sees us through the lenses of the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (“BDS”) movement – which Palestinians largely do not support. Since the Palestinian-controlled economy is so weak, many Palestinians are employed by Israeli firms — the only source of good jobs for Palestinians. The BDS movement, however, is not interested in hearing the Palestinians’ pleas because they would rather see Palestinians live in poverty than relent in their pursuit against Israel.

The BDS movement and other anti-Israel activities use Israeli settlements in the West Bank to demonize Israel, but they do not seem to understand that the building of settlements benefits Palestinians. The settlements are a great source of well-paying jobs for Palestinian workers, and you can even say that the Palestinians essentially build the settlements. Jews residing in the West Bank is not a problem. Why should it be? Muslims live all over the world, so why should there be areas where Jews are not allowed? That would be apartheid.

We all know how the conflict with Israel started. Arab leaders saw war against the Jews as a way to create a convenient “enemy” that they could use to keep their people subjugated while the Arab leaders, their families, and their cronies lived the high life. The Arab world is almost one thousand times larger than Israel, so the existence of Israel was never a threat to the Arab world, but it was a great opportunity to allow corrupt Arab leaders to keep their peoples distracted. This is the tragedy of the Arab nations, and they need to deal with it themselves – and we Palestinians are tired of paying the price for it.

Despite the Arabs’ betrayal of the Palestinians, today’s situation is in our hands. We cannot expect our situation to improve while terrorism continues and while Palestinian youth are taught to believe that killing Jews – even Jewish children – is honorable. It is not honorable, and such hate will never benefit the Palestinians.

The BDS movement, which claims to be our friend, is determined to blame Israel for all our problems, and refuses to acknowledge the true issues. Instead, they are engaged in a self-serving narrative aimed at making them look like heroes who are supposedly helping the Palestinians. If they truly were our friends, they would open their eyes and help resolve the real issues.

If so-called pro-Palestinian activists truly want to help the Palestinians, then they should demand freedom, human rights, democracy, and justice for the Palestinians. They should demand that the incitement of Palestinians stop. They should assist Israel in creating jobs in the West Bank for Palestinians. They should assist Palestinians in developing an economy while ensuring that the money is not used to enrich the terrorists’ rule or to augment the terrorists’ arsenal. The should encourage Palestinians to live in peace with Jews. If and when these things happen, a permanent solution will be found. Until then it is waste of time to even talk about it.

Bassem Eid is the founder and former director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG). He is an advocate for peace with Israel, and a critic of terrorism.

This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content here are presented solely by the author, and The Times of Israel assumes no responsibility for them. In case of abuse, report this post.

 

[Falcon29]

Scores of Palestinian prisoners reported to join mass hunger strike on 25th day


BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- As hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel marked the 25th day of their mass hunger strike on Thursday, more prisoners reportedly joined the strike, while prisoners rights groups noted with concern the worsening health conditions of a number of hunger strikers.

Sawt al-Asra (Voice of Prisoners) radio quoted anonymous sources on Thursday as saying that nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners from across the political spectrum had decided to join the hunger strike.

Meanwhile, the Fatah Central committee called on its party members currently imprisoned by Israel to join the strike, unless they were sick, underage, or women.

Sawt al-Asra estimated that nearly 1,800 prisoners were now participating in the strike.

As Israeli authorities have severely restricted hunger-striking prisoners’ access to their relatives, lawyers, and each other, estimates of the number of hunger strike participants have been hard to corroborate. While the media committee of the hunger strike has reported that between 1,500 and 1,600 prisoners were forgoing food, Israeli authorities have claimed that fewer than 1,000 prisoners were participating.

Hunger-striking prisoners are calling for an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue higher education, appropriate medical care and treatment, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention -- imprisonment without charge or trial -- among other demands for basic rights.

According to prisoners' rights organization Addameer, 40 percent of the male Palestinian population has been detained by Israeli authorities at some point in their lives, as rights groups have long accused Israel of using routine imprisonment as a tool to erode family and political life in the Palestinian territory.

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776994

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[Jaanbaz]

Fast forward to 50-100 years, news headlines will be more like Arabs protest as Israel continues building settlements in Damascus.

 

[Falcon29]

Fast forward to 50-100 years, news headlines will be more like Arabs protest as Israel continues building settlements in Damascus.

Hopefully we Arabs are more decisive by then, lol.

 

[Solomon2]

Fast forward to 50-100 years, news headlines will be more like Arabs protest as Israel continues building settlements in Damascus.

You know there used to be a Jewish neighborhood in Damascus but nearly all the Jews were kicked out, their property, accounts, and homes seized by the Syrian regime. Same in Baghdad. And these things happened not because the Jews rebelled but because the Arabs were greedy and did nothing to stop their greedy leaders. So why shouldn't Jews someday return to Damascus and build their neighborhoods anew - not under an Israeli government, but under an Arab one? And in that case, why should Pakistanis care if some Arabs are offended about it?