Overplaying Its Hand, Israel Still Holds Plenty of US Cards
Palestinian teachers continue strike after PA arrests educators
Rows of children alternated by gender lined up outside their school, sitting crossed legged under the freshly risen sun. They were anxious to enjoy the balmy weather that tells of the end of winter, all of them hoping that school would be dismissed before classes began, as has happened repeatedly during the past several weeks.
Squeals of laughter dissipated as teachers at Tuqu Primary School lined up in front of the rows. The children stood and began singing the national anthem in the bored tone typically replicated in classrooms across the world.
As they finish, the children were escorted row-by-row to dilapidated classrooms that fill the village school.
After the students settled in their rooms, around 20 teachers gathered in a circle discussing the same subject that every public school teacher has been talking about across the occupied West Bank - the strike.
Twenty minutes later a decision was made. Roll-call was taken and the children released from school. The strike, which affects over one million Palestinian pupils, it seemed would continue for another day.
On Tuesday around 20,000 Palestinian public teachers gathered in the governmental-hub of Ramallah to call for the 2013 agreement made between the Palestinian Teachers Union and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to be implemented, local media reported. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-teachers-continue-strike-after-pa-arrests-educators-1647516195
Palestinian Authority arrests photographer over Instagram post
A Palestinian user of Instagram spent Monday night in a Palestinian Authority jail cell after posting a photo of a police officer to the social media site.
The Instagram user spoke to The Electronic Intifada on condition of anonymity due to fear of PA reprisals.
The Instagram user was in a Ramallah-area village taking photos as part of their office job. The user took a photo of a PA police officer and later decided to post it to their personal Instagram account.
The police officer was not identifiable from the photo, as his face was cropped out, the Instagram user said. Statistics about the PA were posted alongside the photo, such as the fact that 80 percent of the PAs revenue comes from foreign governments or taxes that are controlled by Israel.
For this, PA police later arrested the Instagram user, threatened them with violence and kept them in a cell overnight. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/palestinian-authority-arrests-photographer-over-instagram-post
PA collaborates with Israels torture agency
Palestinian prisoners are being held in painful positions for up to 35 hours, according to a new report.
The Israel Security Agency, known as the Shin Bet, is confining detainees to filthy cells smaller than the size of an adult body stretched out, the report also reveals.
Compiled by the Israeli human rights organizations HaMoked and BTselem, the report focuses on the Shikma interrogation center in Ashkelon, a city in present-day Israel.
It is based on 116 affidavits from Palestinian security prisoners, most of whom were still under detention when they testified.
The detainees the majority men under the age of 25 from the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank recalled their arrest, transfer, interrogation and holding conditions to attorneys while sitting behind a glass partition, with their legs tied to the chair and under the supervision of a prison guard. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/pa-collaborates-israels-torture-agency
Samidouns Charlotte Kates Discusses The PAs Complicity In The Death Of Omar Nayef Zayed
The brutal death of a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at the Palestinian Authoritys embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, serves as a grim reminder of the interminable cycle of the PAs collaboration with, and dependence upon, Israel.
Omar Nayef Zayed, originally from the West Bank city of Jenin, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986 for the murder of an Israeli student in occupied East Jerusalem. Just four years into his sentence, he managed to flee after being transferred to a hospital following a 40-day hunger strike. In 1994, he settled in Bulgaria, where he was granted residency in 2012. The married father of three ran a vegetable shop in the countrys capital.
On Dec. 15, 2015, Israeli judicial authorities sought Zayeds extradition through correspondence directed to the Bulgarian justice ministry, in which Zayed was deemed a fugitive from justice. Zayeds home was raided two days later, prompting him to seek refuge at the PAs embassy.
The details surrounding his death remain unclear. However, several incidents and statements shed light upon the high probability of collaboration and complicity between the PA, Israel and Bulgarian authorities. http://www.mintpressnews.com/samidouns-charlotte-kates-discusses-pas-complicity-death-omar-nayef-zayed/215132/
Family's search for truth over death of Palestinian 'hero' in Bulgaria
Bulgarian officials said Omar Zayed most likely fell three storeys to his death, but his family is convinced Israeli intelligence agents killed the 51-year-old.
On 26 February, more than 20 years after Zayed had begun a new life in Europe, he was found dead at the Palestinian Embassy in Sofia where hed sought refuge after Bulgarian authorities notified him of Israels intentions to seek his extradition.
Zayed escaped from an Israeli prison hospital in 1992, after serving seven years of a life sentence for the slaying of a Jewish Israeli citizen. He denied committing the crime, and said that he was tortured by Israeli authorities into confessing to it.
He had spent more than two months in hiding at the embassy before he was found dead. During that time, Zayed was in constant contact with his family both in Bulgaria and in the occupied Palestinian territory.
His brother, Ahmad Zayed, who lives in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, said that in the weeks before his death Omar expressed fear that the embassy wasnt the safe refuge he expected.
Omars wife, Rania Zayed, who is still in Bulgaria with the couples three children, told Middle East Eye that shed visited her husband at the embassy frequently.
There was no security, Rania said. That started to really concern us. He was there for protection, yet there were no guards, no security cameras, nothing. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/family-palestinian-found-dead-bulgaria-speaks-about-his-life-death-1280256857
Palestinian internal politics deteriorating on all fronts
Disagreements in the Palestinian leadership have started affecting the factions within the ruling Palestinian Liberation Organization. Tensions between PLOs leading faction, Fatah, and especially President Mahmoud Abbas, and the second-largest PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), are now in the open.
Following the recent tensions, Abbas has ordered the suspension of the movement's monthly stipend, due to its leaders' much harsher than usual anti-Abbas positions. In response, anti-Abbas demonstrations were held April 12 by PFLP supporters in the Gaza Strip, during which the photo of the Palestinian president was burned. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/fatah-pflp-financial-pressure-internal-conflict-plo.html#
Will Fatah split?
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip A new current has been active within the Fatah movement. Its founders have named it the Democratic Reformist Current, which consists of a large number of leaders who were dismissed by the movements leader Mahmoud Abbas, because they refused its policies, as well as other active leaders. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/palestine-fatah-defections-new-current-reformist-divide.html#
Why Hamas closed down Iranian charity in Gaza
Relations between Hamas and Iran are still unstable and fluctuating between improvement and deterioration. But the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip where Hamas dominates shut down an Iranian charity a few days ago. This might open a new page in relations, and nobody knows where it might lead. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/gaza-hamas-shut-down-iran-affiliated-charity.html#
Hamas finds itself between a rock and a hard place
The leaders of Hamas never imagined that they would be pushed up against the wall like this. With Egypt holding a gun to their heads, they know that if they want to keep the movement alive, they must accept Egypt's ultimatum and sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. It could be the toughest decision that Hamas has been forced to make since it was first founded in December 1987. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/israel-egypt-gaza-strip-hamas-ahmed-yassin-abu-marzouk.html#
Young members increasingly critical of Hamas
Hamas was the product of Palestinian youth efforts in the 1980s, and those young men have grown up and become todays leaders. Now that Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2006, is the role of youth in the movement confined to fighting and media roles, and restricted from leadership? Why is there no leader in Hamas under 40? The movements youngest leader is 40-year-old Mushir al-Masri, a Palestinian Legislative Council member from the Change and Reform Bloc. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/growing-criticism-within-hamas-youth-members.html#
Blindfolded and beaten: Palestinians decry PA torture
Had he not been blindfolded and shackled to a chair in a Palestinian Authority (PA) prison cell, Awni Mazen al-Shakhshir might have spent the first evening of Ramadan last year breaking the day's fast with his family in Nablus.
Shakhshir said that throughout the first week of his 41-day detention, PA interrogators in Bethlehem forced him into stress positions, punched and kicked him, and deprived him of sleep. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/blindfolded-beaten-palestinians-decry-pa-torture-160412053550253.html
PA forces mistreat 5 Palestinians in custody, says rights group
The Palestinian Authority has extended the detention of five young Palestinians, prisoners rights organization Addameer reported Monday, after their arrests sparked criticism of the Palestinian governments security coordination with Israel.
The Palestinian magistrates court extended the detention of Basil Mahmoud al-Aaraj, 33, Muhammad Abdullah Harb, 23, Haytham al-Sayyaj, 19, Muhammad al-Salamin, 19, and Ali Dar al-Sheikh, 22, for further interrogation, Addameer said, adding that the five prisoners had been subjected to ill-treatment. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771103
Hamas slams detention of 3 Palestinians by PA as 'collaboration' with Israel http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771069
Armed clashes erupt as PA forces raid Nablus, 13 wounded
Armed clashes broke out Tuesday between Palestinian youths and Palestinian Authority security forces whenthey raided the Old City of Nablus, leaving 13 wounded.
Nablus governor Akram Rujoub told Ma'an that PA security forces were attempting to detain a suspect in a recent murder case when clashes erupted with armed men in and around the Old City.
Seven Palestinian youths and five members of the PA security forces were reportedly injured during the clashes, most in moderate condition.
Rajoub identified the fugitive suspect as Hani Halaweh, who PA security forces believe may have been involved in the murder of Ashraf al-Beia two months ago.
Hani Halaweh, a leader in Fatah's military wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, slammed the PA for the carrying out the raid.
"What happened today was a raid on houses of martyrs, prisoners, and resistance fighters in the Old City, which we will not allow," Halaweh said.
"We look to the Palestinian Authority as a Palestinian national project that must be protected and defended, but there are people in the PA who still chase resistance fighters when they should be chasing spies and drug dealers," Halaweh added. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=770894
Armed assailants open fire at teacher's vehicle in Qalqiliya
Unidentified armed men opened fire at the vehicle of the head of the teachers movement late on Wednesday in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya.
Jamal al-Qaddumi told Ma'an that men riding motorcycles stopped in front of his building in the city of Qalqiliya and fired 14 bullets at his parked vehicle before fleeing the scene.
Al-Qaddumi only reported material damage to his car. He added that security services arrived at the scene and opened an investigation into the incident. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771031
Cut off from PA aid, relatives of slain in Gaza face destitution
The 45-year-old lost two of her children when fighter jets shelled her home in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Balah during Israels assault in the summer of 2014.
Now she attends a regular sit-in demonstration outside a branch of the Palestinian Authority office responsible for the welfare of the families of the dead and wounded. Relatives of the martyrs, are they are known, gather weekly in Gaza City to protest the decision to suspend the payment of allowances to families of the those slain by Israel in 2014.
Officials tend to say that it is a great honor for them to serve the families of martyrs. But we have become beggars due to these offensive practices, al-Qayid told The Electronic Intifada. https://electronicintifada.net/content/cut-pa-aid-relatives-slain-gaza-face-destitution/15831
PLO cancels funds to DFLP faction, a day after targeting PFLP
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said Tuesday the PLO had canceled the faction's funding,a day after it halted funding to the PFLP allegedly for criticizing President Mahmoud Abbas.
Sources in the DFLP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, condemned the decision, saying it was also due to the factions' critical stance towards the current governance in Palestine.
On Monday, Abbas ordered the cancellation of funds allocated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another left-wing faction member to the PLO. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771099
Thousands rally against PA approval of controversial social security law
Thousands of Palestinians on Tuesday demonstrated outside of a government building in the occupied West Bank hub of Ramallah against the Palestinian Authoritys approval of a law many believe fails to provide adequate protection for workers.
Social Security Act No. 6 was ratified by PA Cabinet members in February and approved by President Mahmoud Abbas the following month.
The law has since brought a downpour of criticism from critics who say it disadvantages those with disabilities, retirees, and private sector workers.
The organizers of Tuesdays rally demanded that the new law be suspended until discussions were held on a national level, in order to address concerns that the law acts as a detriment to employee savings without guaranteeing security from the state.
Organizers said that under the new social security system, expected retirement income wont be enough to enable retired employees and workers to live in dignity. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771207
Gazans march for rights, dignity
Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them unemployed, marched for their rights and dignity on May Day in the Gaza Strip. Marchers aimed to raise awareness of the wretched conditions of workers and those without employment in the coastal enclave.
Nearly 80 percent of families in the Gaza Strip are dependent on social assistance, while a staggering 70 percent of them still fall below the poverty line, according to recently released research by the General Federation of Trade Unions. Gaza's unemployment, the highest in the world, stands at 60 percent, soaring from 44 percent in 2014. http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/1366-gazans-march-for-rights-dignity
Palestinians mark May Day amid high unemployment and harsh working conditions
As the world marks International Workers Day (May Day), laborers in the Palestinian territory continue to suffer from soaring unemployment, poverty, and other dire working conditions.
The average unemployment rate in the Palestinian territory was 26 percent in 2015: in the occupied West Bank, unemployment stood at 17 percent, compared to a staggering 41 percent in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). Trade unions in the Gaza Strip estimate unemployment there has reached 60 percent. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771359
A Palestinian police state in waiting
When it comes to Israel, and to supporting Palestinian rights, at the far reaches of acceptability in mainstream British party politics is the idea of supporting a Palestinian state in Gaza and (some) of the West Bank.
In recent years, this has focused on the campaign to recognise the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank as the State of Palestine. There are several problems with the strategy, but the most glaring one is that the Palestinian Authority is in reality little more than a subcontractor for Israeli occupation. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160524-a-palestinian-police-state-in-waiting/
PA cracks down on dissent as Abbas runs out of options
t is both an assertion of dominance and a sign of desperation.
As the Palestinian Authority struggles to contain deep public and political disenchantment, it appears to be engaged in a concerted effort to curb criticism of its highest leadership and shore up the power of its leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), dominated by Abbas Fatah faction, has cut funding to other member factions critical of the leadership. https://electronicintifada.net/content/pa-cracks-down-dissent-abbas-runs-out-options/16561
Divide and Rule: How Factionalism in Palestine Is Killing Prospect for Freedom
As Palestinians in the Occupied Territories begin preparations for local elections which are scheduled for next October, division and factionalism are rearing their ugly head.
Palestinian political platforms and social media are abuzz with self-defeating propaganda: Fatah supporters attacking Hamas alleged failures, and Hamas supporters doing the same.
What is conveniently overlooked by all sides is that the performance of Palestinian municipalities is almost entirely irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.
In the West Bank, local councils are governed by strict Israeli-PA arrangement. Aside from very few chores, village and town councils cannot operate without a green light: an endorsement from the Palestinian Authority itself conditioned on a nod from the Israeli Occupation authorities. http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/11/divide-and-rule-how-factionalism-in-palestine-is-killing-prospect-for-freedom/
Hamas, Fatah no longer the only candidates in Palestinian elections This is the first time that left-wing factions run in Palestinian elections as part of a unified list. In the previous Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 these factions ran in separate lists, such as the list of Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Alternative list affiliated with the coalition of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA), the Palestinian Peoples Party (PPP) and the Independent Palestine list affiliated with the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI).
In a July 28, 2015, interview with a PFLP-affiliated website, Kayed al-Ghul, a member of the PFLP's political bureau, said, The five left-wing factions the PFLP, DFLP, PPP, FIDA and PNI agreed to form a unified list consisting of figures affiliated with the democratic current to participate in the Oct. 8 local council elections. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/palestine-left-wing-united-local-council-elections-october-8.html
The race to replace Abbas: Jordan, Egypt push Palestinian succession plans
Jordan and Egypt have been contacting Fatah officials to begin planning for the era that will follow the leadership of current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Middle East Eye can confirm.
Confirmation from Palestinian and diplomatic sources comes after MEE revealed the existence of a plan by Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt that would see Abbass Fatah arch rival Mohammed Dahlan oust him. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/succession-abbas-dahlan-jordan-egypt-pa-palestinian-rjoub-2055273061
Is Gaza facing an opioid epidemic?
Addiction to Tramadol, a drug that affects the central nervous system and is used primarily to treat severe pain, is yet another symptom of the plight that so many Gazans face after nine years of living under closure, since June 2007. It appears that abusing Tramadol has become a way of dealing with the absence of any hope for change in the foreseeable future. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/tramadol-gaza-strip-pain-killer-siege-israel-hamas.html
Islamic Jihad takes drug enforcement into own hands in Gaza
the Islamic Jihads military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, released a video claiming to show that it had raided a number of drug stashes and seized large quantities of the narcotic Tramadol in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Tramadol is an opioid painkiller that has become popular in Gaza over the past nine years and has been smuggled through tunnels on the Egyptian-Gaza border. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/05/gaza-islamic-jihad-seizes-tramadol-drugs.html#
Palestinian prisoner beaten to death in police custody
A Palestinian prisoner was beaten to death early on Tuesday while in Palestinian police custody after being arrested in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to local officials.
Nablus' governor, Akram Rujoub, named the dead man as Abu al-Izz Halaweh, the highest ranking member in Nablus of the Palestinian movement Fatah's military wing, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
He was killed after being arrested in a precise operation in Nablus, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-detainee-beaten-death-police-custody-1462647265
Fatah militia leader killed by PA forces
The fatal beating of a detainee at the hands of Palestinian Authority security forces in Nablus on Tuesday was met with street protests and condemnations from Palestinian factions and human rights groups.
Ahmad Izzat Halawa, 50, was arrested during the pre-dawn hours at a home in the northern occupied West Bank city, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.
He was taken to a Palestinian Authority compound where he reportedly argued with security officers, who then severely beat him to death despite attempts by other security officers to rescue him, PCHR stated.
The rights group described the incident as an unlawful act of revenge for the killing of two Palestinian security officers in Nablus last Thursday. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/fatah-militia-leader-killed-pa-forces
Palestinian PM vows to resign if PA fails to arrest all West Bank fugitives
.....Amid the ongoing security crackdown, the PA has faced wide criticism over the vague circumstances in which Palestinian fugitives have been arrested and killed.
In the wake of Halawehs killing, Palestinian prisoners rights group Addameer released a statement saying that No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
Addameer considers the actions of the Palestinian Security Forces to be in contravention with the Convention Against Torture and other international human rights treaties, the statement added, demanding that those involved in Halawehs killing be held accountable. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=772883
The Democratic Alliance is more than a counterweight to Fatah and Hamas
The unification of Palestinian leftist parties for Octobers municipal elections is an accomplishment in and of itself, regardless of who wins or loses or how it affects prevailing political parties. http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php/comment/173-the-democratic-alliance-is-more-than-a-counterweight-to-fatah-and-hamas
The need for a clear leftist alternative in Palestine
The Democratic Alliance marks Palestinian leftist parties seventh attempt to unify. To ensure its survival, the party must concretize its platform. http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php/comment/179-the-need-for-a-clear-leftist-alternative-in-palestine