9 nov 2014
Last August the UK based Israeli artist Idit Elia Nathan inscribed 1484 of the names of Palestinians killed in the Gaza attack at that time onto a white sheet. The project called “Don’t look away now“,aimed to comment on the deaths of every single person killed. Nathan later published her own reflections and feelings while inscribing the names of the dead. “The hardest lines to inscribe are the families, some stretching over more than one line“, she wrote in her blog. Other reflections ranged from the difficulties of accurately naming the dead, her own Zionist education and the behaviour of Israeli society in face of the war crimes committed in Gaza: “The country I grew up in and which claims to be democratic has banned a human rights organisation’s video clip reading out these names so that the Israeli public would be able to carry on looking away from the horrors committed in their name.“
In an Interview with the AIC, she speaks about the project, Israeli society in light of the recent Gaza attack and her research on the relationship between play and conflict.
In your project “Don’t look away now“ you wrote the first 200 names in public and afterwards described your own thoughts extensively. What were the reactions of other people around you?
The project was devised and realized for a Saturday vigil of the Cambridge Palestine Forum, an umbrella group of various Palestine solidarity societies in the city, while the massacre in Gaza was still ongoing. Many people helped me set up and start off that day. A group of activists took charge of the list of names to annotate the children and the women. Many of those who took part in the vigil as well as passers by engaged in reflection, I think. Conversation was quite minimal in fact, mainly I suppose because it was very overwhelming and the sight of the white sheet on the ground filling up very slowly with names was striking.
The title of your project is “Don’t look away now“. Is that title directed towards Israeli society with its denial of the war crimes and human rights violations committed during the attack on Gaza or more towards the international public and media that seems to forget quickly about what happened in Gaza since the ceasefire and returns to other news and 'business as usual‘?
Absolutely. I, like many other activists, knew that Gaza would be forgotten very quickly, so the idea behind Don’t Look Away Now was to get people to realize that we are all responsible for allowing massacres to take place. Don’t Look Away Now was directed primarily at Cambridge residents and the UK. I cannot claim to reach the Israeli public, though social media does help make things that happen here also visible over there. The response online was quite interesting and totally supportive. The groups of activists that I donated the banner to a week later (during the Saturday vigil outside the tow hall this time) are always trying to get the public to engage with the issue and importantly with the complicity we all partake in. It is very hard to get people to understand things as media is so biased and the pro-Israeli lobbying so pervasive.
In writing about the project you reflect about your own education and having emerged from a society that consequently denies its own violent history on account of the crimes suffered by the international Jewish community. What was your way out of this mindset?
I am of a generation which remembers the border with Jordan cutting across Jerusalem, and grew up knowing that the 1967 occupation will be detrimental to Israel. Being brought up in a liberal, albeit essentially Zionist, environment, we were not taught about the Nakba, but as admittedly I had a rather privileged education, we were brought up to question things. Once you start asking questions and you see that the answers are not forthcoming and that there is lack of knowledge or will to engage with the very difficult issues, you become even more determined to find out for yourself. I do remember that many of us were very critical of the way Holocaust education was taught; in fact, the Holocaust itself was hijacked by Zionist rhetoric and practices. We were angry at the blindness to others’ suffering and dispossession, specifically because we were told that the main lesson of World War II and the Holocaust was that nothing like this should ever happen again.
Still, polls taken in Israeli society in July show an overall approval of 95% of the attack on Gaza, while only about 4% believed the Israeli army had used excessive firepower in Operation Protective Edge. What could explain this strong consent and how do you feel about this?
I think that so much time has gone by without leadership willing to break the cycle, and I am not referring to Rabin’s death here, and generations upon generations are brought up on fear and indoctrinated to hate, that it is hardly surprising that polls are as they are. I also think that the majority of Israelis cannot see clearly because when your government keeps telling you to look away and encourages separation and oblivion- it's very hard to take these issues on board. I do feel like the international community has a really important role to play here in demanding of their governments that Israel be stopped from perpetuating the atrocities. And the only way to get western politicians to resist the pro-Israeli lobbying is for their citizens to inform themselves about the reality so they can demand this change of attitude from their governments.
Your Phd-research focuses on the possibilities of playful engagement with the realities of a conflict. What is your major interest in that topic? What purposes and chances do you see in it regarding the situation in Israel/Palestine?
I got interested in the links and relationship between play and the Israel/Palestine situation following a period I spent helping to curate MachsomWatch exhibitions within Israel, while on sabbatical there, and abroad. It was becoming increasingly hard to show the work in Israel and gradually even abroad for the reasons I just talked about; complicity, lobbying etc. Around the same time as working with MachsomWatch, I designed a game which describes the apartheid regime, which somewhat to my surprise was more effective than many films and photographs and reports which aimed to get similar messages across. This made me start my research into play and conflict, trying to understand what play offered and how it operated in the context of conflict. I cannot get into too many details here but lets just say that I found many artworks which use various aspects of play or are playful and which question and contest the existing paradigms. While I wouldn’t go as far as suggesting that the artworks offer much hope in relation to the conflict, I nevertheless think that the arts do, and possibly will increasingly have, an important role to play in making visible what many would wish to carry on hiding.
Looking at different clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli forces at Friday demonstrations, it seems they turn into some kind of never ending routine. Did you ever consider the possibility of or reflect on the conflict itself becoming sort of a play?
I have over the past few years looked at many instances and links between the idea of play and the reality of the conflict, which is a huge subject! In a blog called Play I Saw Today which I wrote throughout 2012, I reflect on many aspects of the conflict in relation to play but I didn’t really consider demonstrations as playful. I must say that I am not sure that reducing the demos to Tom & Jerry chases would be very helpful to anyone.The challenge of ‘using’play in the context of conflict is precisely to avoid reducing it to something that can be disregarded as frivolous and raising questions and critical reflection instead. So for example the game I mentioned earlier, Hegemonpoly/Machsompoly aims to tempt you to play it, something we usually do to win, only to realize that not all players are equal, something we often take for granted, in the hope that it makes you start asking questions about this extremely anomalous situation. Galleries and theatres are safer and possibly saner places in which this criticality might take place, than demonstrations for example, whose purpose is entirely different.
In an Interview with the AIC, she speaks about the project, Israeli society in light of the recent Gaza attack and her research on the relationship between play and conflict.
In your project “Don’t look away now“ you wrote the first 200 names in public and afterwards described your own thoughts extensively. What were the reactions of other people around you?
The project was devised and realized for a Saturday vigil of the Cambridge Palestine Forum, an umbrella group of various Palestine solidarity societies in the city, while the massacre in Gaza was still ongoing. Many people helped me set up and start off that day. A group of activists took charge of the list of names to annotate the children and the women. Many of those who took part in the vigil as well as passers by engaged in reflection, I think. Conversation was quite minimal in fact, mainly I suppose because it was very overwhelming and the sight of the white sheet on the ground filling up very slowly with names was striking.
The title of your project is “Don’t look away now“. Is that title directed towards Israeli society with its denial of the war crimes and human rights violations committed during the attack on Gaza or more towards the international public and media that seems to forget quickly about what happened in Gaza since the ceasefire and returns to other news and 'business as usual‘?
Absolutely. I, like many other activists, knew that Gaza would be forgotten very quickly, so the idea behind Don’t Look Away Now was to get people to realize that we are all responsible for allowing massacres to take place. Don’t Look Away Now was directed primarily at Cambridge residents and the UK. I cannot claim to reach the Israeli public, though social media does help make things that happen here also visible over there. The response online was quite interesting and totally supportive. The groups of activists that I donated the banner to a week later (during the Saturday vigil outside the tow hall this time) are always trying to get the public to engage with the issue and importantly with the complicity we all partake in. It is very hard to get people to understand things as media is so biased and the pro-Israeli lobbying so pervasive.
In writing about the project you reflect about your own education and having emerged from a society that consequently denies its own violent history on account of the crimes suffered by the international Jewish community. What was your way out of this mindset?
I am of a generation which remembers the border with Jordan cutting across Jerusalem, and grew up knowing that the 1967 occupation will be detrimental to Israel. Being brought up in a liberal, albeit essentially Zionist, environment, we were not taught about the Nakba, but as admittedly I had a rather privileged education, we were brought up to question things. Once you start asking questions and you see that the answers are not forthcoming and that there is lack of knowledge or will to engage with the very difficult issues, you become even more determined to find out for yourself. I do remember that many of us were very critical of the way Holocaust education was taught; in fact, the Holocaust itself was hijacked by Zionist rhetoric and practices. We were angry at the blindness to others’ suffering and dispossession, specifically because we were told that the main lesson of World War II and the Holocaust was that nothing like this should ever happen again.
Still, polls taken in Israeli society in July show an overall approval of 95% of the attack on Gaza, while only about 4% believed the Israeli army had used excessive firepower in Operation Protective Edge. What could explain this strong consent and how do you feel about this?
I think that so much time has gone by without leadership willing to break the cycle, and I am not referring to Rabin’s death here, and generations upon generations are brought up on fear and indoctrinated to hate, that it is hardly surprising that polls are as they are. I also think that the majority of Israelis cannot see clearly because when your government keeps telling you to look away and encourages separation and oblivion- it's very hard to take these issues on board. I do feel like the international community has a really important role to play here in demanding of their governments that Israel be stopped from perpetuating the atrocities. And the only way to get western politicians to resist the pro-Israeli lobbying is for their citizens to inform themselves about the reality so they can demand this change of attitude from their governments.
Your Phd-research focuses on the possibilities of playful engagement with the realities of a conflict. What is your major interest in that topic? What purposes and chances do you see in it regarding the situation in Israel/Palestine?
I got interested in the links and relationship between play and the Israel/Palestine situation following a period I spent helping to curate MachsomWatch exhibitions within Israel, while on sabbatical there, and abroad. It was becoming increasingly hard to show the work in Israel and gradually even abroad for the reasons I just talked about; complicity, lobbying etc. Around the same time as working with MachsomWatch, I designed a game which describes the apartheid regime, which somewhat to my surprise was more effective than many films and photographs and reports which aimed to get similar messages across. This made me start my research into play and conflict, trying to understand what play offered and how it operated in the context of conflict. I cannot get into too many details here but lets just say that I found many artworks which use various aspects of play or are playful and which question and contest the existing paradigms. While I wouldn’t go as far as suggesting that the artworks offer much hope in relation to the conflict, I nevertheless think that the arts do, and possibly will increasingly have, an important role to play in making visible what many would wish to carry on hiding.
Looking at different clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli forces at Friday demonstrations, it seems they turn into some kind of never ending routine. Did you ever consider the possibility of or reflect on the conflict itself becoming sort of a play?
I have over the past few years looked at many instances and links between the idea of play and the reality of the conflict, which is a huge subject! In a blog called Play I Saw Today which I wrote throughout 2012, I reflect on many aspects of the conflict in relation to play but I didn’t really consider demonstrations as playful. I must say that I am not sure that reducing the demos to Tom & Jerry chases would be very helpful to anyone.The challenge of ‘using’play in the context of conflict is precisely to avoid reducing it to something that can be disregarded as frivolous and raising questions and critical reflection instead. So for example the game I mentioned earlier, Hegemonpoly/Machsompoly aims to tempt you to play it, something we usually do to win, only to realize that not all players are equal, something we often take for granted, in the hope that it makes you start asking questions about this extremely anomalous situation. Galleries and theatres are safer and possibly saner places in which this criticality might take place, than demonstrations for example, whose purpose is entirely different.
The European Union's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, who recently took over from Catherine Ashton as the top EU diplomat, raised alarm bells over the exacerbated humanitarian crisis in Gaza during a visit to the Strip on Saturday.
The EU official appealed for the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying the world "cannot afford" another war in Gaza.
"We need a Palestinian state - that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union," Mogherini said during a visit to Gaza, devastated by the latest Israeli offensive.
Mogherini dropped in on a UN-run school sheltering Palestinians, whose houses were destroyed during the recent offensive.
Her statement came against a backdrop of soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions in occupied East Jerusalem, where there have been near-daily clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in flash-point neighborhoods in recent weeks.
"It is not only the people of Gaza that can't afford having a fourth war, all the world cannot afford this," she said.
"We cannot just sit and wait. If we sit and wait it will go on for another 40 years. We have to have action now," said Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister.
She further stressed that her first visit to Gaza is a humanitarian mission, calling for lifting the siege and reconstructing the Strip before it is too late.
Mogherini pushed for the implementation of the terms of the Cairo-brokered truce accord, vowing the block will do whatever it takes to stand by the Gaza Strip by every means available.
http://english.palinfo
The EU official appealed for the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying the world "cannot afford" another war in Gaza.
"We need a Palestinian state - that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union," Mogherini said during a visit to Gaza, devastated by the latest Israeli offensive.
Mogherini dropped in on a UN-run school sheltering Palestinians, whose houses were destroyed during the recent offensive.
Her statement came against a backdrop of soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions in occupied East Jerusalem, where there have been near-daily clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in flash-point neighborhoods in recent weeks.
"It is not only the people of Gaza that can't afford having a fourth war, all the world cannot afford this," she said.
"We cannot just sit and wait. If we sit and wait it will go on for another 40 years. We have to have action now," said Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister.
She further stressed that her first visit to Gaza is a humanitarian mission, calling for lifting the siege and reconstructing the Strip before it is too late.
Mogherini pushed for the implementation of the terms of the Cairo-brokered truce accord, vowing the block will do whatever it takes to stand by the Gaza Strip by every means available.
http://english.palinfo
7 nov 2014
PNN correspondence revealed, on Thursday, that the UN has decided to deduct $30m worth of "administrative costs" from the aid donated for reconstructing the Gaza Strip.
An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, reportedly said that a number of media outlets announced a deduction of some $800,000 by the UN, as a first payment for about 24,000 UN employees. He further stated that the total sum deducted from the expected financial aid for Gaza is $30 million, according to Days of Palestine news publication.
Egypt's foreign ministry was said to have expressed "extreme surprise" over the United Nation's decision to deduct the funds, which are urgently and immediately needed by Gaza residents.
PNN notes that the UN has suggested a proposal for the entry of construction materials to the Strip that has been described as an extension for the Israeli siege on the enclave.
The International Donors Conference, held in Cairo last month, documented some $5.4 billion pledges by the international community.
In related news, Al Ray further reports that Qatar has pledged to fund the purchase of fuel needed to operate Gaza's only power plant for a three-month period:
"Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani has informed Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas' political office, that his country planned to make a deposit in the Palestinian Authority's treasury earmarked for the purchase of fuel for Gaza's power plant for three months," read a recent statement from Deputy Haniyeh's office.
PM Al-Thani's reaffirmation of his country's support for the Palestinian people, and especially those in the devestated Gaza Strip, was highlighted in the statement. Gaza's sole power plant went offline on July 29th of this year, after its main fuel tank was attacked from the air by Israeli jets.
(Palestinians have no official military to speak of; Gaza's response to the months of relentless provocations which preceded Israel's assault on the region was assumed, once again, by armed partisan factions who, despite staunch resistance, were helpless to defend Gaza's civilian infrastructure.)
Furthermore, even though the plant remains functional, it has stopped running due to chronic fuel shortage.
A relatively small stretch of land, and exceedingly overpopulated, the Gaza Strip is said to require around 360 megawatts per day – of which only 200 megawatts are currently available – to meet the needs of some 1.9 million residents. Before the air strikes, residents were making due with 8 or less hours of electricity per day.
Gaza currently has three sources for electricity, Al Ray reports: Israel, which provides 120 megawatts; Egypt, which supplies 28 megawatts; and Gaza's power plant, which generates between 40 and 60 megawatts on average, per day.
An Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, reportedly said that a number of media outlets announced a deduction of some $800,000 by the UN, as a first payment for about 24,000 UN employees. He further stated that the total sum deducted from the expected financial aid for Gaza is $30 million, according to Days of Palestine news publication.
Egypt's foreign ministry was said to have expressed "extreme surprise" over the United Nation's decision to deduct the funds, which are urgently and immediately needed by Gaza residents.
PNN notes that the UN has suggested a proposal for the entry of construction materials to the Strip that has been described as an extension for the Israeli siege on the enclave.
The International Donors Conference, held in Cairo last month, documented some $5.4 billion pledges by the international community.
In related news, Al Ray further reports that Qatar has pledged to fund the purchase of fuel needed to operate Gaza's only power plant for a three-month period:
"Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani has informed Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas' political office, that his country planned to make a deposit in the Palestinian Authority's treasury earmarked for the purchase of fuel for Gaza's power plant for three months," read a recent statement from Deputy Haniyeh's office.
PM Al-Thani's reaffirmation of his country's support for the Palestinian people, and especially those in the devestated Gaza Strip, was highlighted in the statement. Gaza's sole power plant went offline on July 29th of this year, after its main fuel tank was attacked from the air by Israeli jets.
(Palestinians have no official military to speak of; Gaza's response to the months of relentless provocations which preceded Israel's assault on the region was assumed, once again, by armed partisan factions who, despite staunch resistance, were helpless to defend Gaza's civilian infrastructure.)
Furthermore, even though the plant remains functional, it has stopped running due to chronic fuel shortage.
A relatively small stretch of land, and exceedingly overpopulated, the Gaza Strip is said to require around 360 megawatts per day – of which only 200 megawatts are currently available – to meet the needs of some 1.9 million residents. Before the air strikes, residents were making due with 8 or less hours of electricity per day.
Gaza currently has three sources for electricity, Al Ray reports: Israel, which provides 120 megawatts; Egypt, which supplies 28 megawatts; and Gaza's power plant, which generates between 40 and 60 megawatts on average, per day.
5 nov 2014
Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 Palestine, has predicted a new prisoners’ exchange deal between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions “very soon”.
He told al-Quds TV space station on Tuesday night that as long as the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians continued then there would be always such deals.
Asked on the conditions in occupied Jerusalem, Sheikh Raed said that Jerusalem was experiencing a real war waged by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) on the holy city and its inhabitants.
Sheikh Raed charged that the IOA was practicing the cruelest forms of “Nazism and terrorism” against the Jerusalemites.
The Islamic leader called for supporting the steadfastness of Jerusalemites in face of such violations and oppression.
He also urged the Palestinian Authority leadership to sign the Rome Statute in order to expedite the trial of Israel over its war crimes.
http://english.palinfo
He told al-Quds TV space station on Tuesday night that as long as the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians continued then there would be always such deals.
Asked on the conditions in occupied Jerusalem, Sheikh Raed said that Jerusalem was experiencing a real war waged by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) on the holy city and its inhabitants.
Sheikh Raed charged that the IOA was practicing the cruelest forms of “Nazism and terrorism” against the Jerusalemites.
The Islamic leader called for supporting the steadfastness of Jerusalemites in face of such violations and oppression.
He also urged the Palestinian Authority leadership to sign the Rome Statute in order to expedite the trial of Israel over its war crimes.
http://english.palinfo
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Tuesday two Palestinians for allegedly crossing the border fence east of Gaza Strip.
Hebrew radio claimed that IOF soldiers nabbed yesterday two unarmed Gazans after crossing the security fence east of Gaza in an attempt to find jobs in Israel.
Along the same line, Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies said that the detainee Samir Najar, 43, who was arrested in Gaza during the Israeli latest war on the Strip, is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows his detention without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time.
22 Gazans are still held in Israeli jails including five convicted detainees, one of whom is Samir al-Najjar from Khuzaa, a village in southeastern Gaza.
Israel has used the Unlawful Combatants Law to hold Palestinians from Gaza without charge or trial since 2005.
Meanwhile, a young man was arrested overnight in Araba town in Jenin and taken to an unknown destination.
The detainee was nabbed after stopping his car at a makeshift roadblock, eyewitnesses clarified.
In occupied Jerusalem, a 16-year-old boy was kidnapped while on his way to school in Beit Hanin in occupied Jerusalem.
Family sources said that the boy was riding his motorcycle when three unidentified men came out of a nearby car and hit him with a gun on his head before putting him by force in the car.
The boy’s father said that his son was later found thrown in the road and was transferred to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital for treatment.
A coat including a small booklet written in Hebrew was found at the scene of the incident, the sources added.
The boy suffers lung bleeding and neck and back bruises.
http://english.palinfo
Hebrew radio claimed that IOF soldiers nabbed yesterday two unarmed Gazans after crossing the security fence east of Gaza in an attempt to find jobs in Israel.
Along the same line, Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies said that the detainee Samir Najar, 43, who was arrested in Gaza during the Israeli latest war on the Strip, is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows his detention without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time.
22 Gazans are still held in Israeli jails including five convicted detainees, one of whom is Samir al-Najjar from Khuzaa, a village in southeastern Gaza.
Israel has used the Unlawful Combatants Law to hold Palestinians from Gaza without charge or trial since 2005.
Meanwhile, a young man was arrested overnight in Araba town in Jenin and taken to an unknown destination.
The detainee was nabbed after stopping his car at a makeshift roadblock, eyewitnesses clarified.
In occupied Jerusalem, a 16-year-old boy was kidnapped while on his way to school in Beit Hanin in occupied Jerusalem.
Family sources said that the boy was riding his motorcycle when three unidentified men came out of a nearby car and hit him with a gun on his head before putting him by force in the car.
The boy’s father said that his son was later found thrown in the road and was transferred to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital for treatment.
A coat including a small booklet written in Hebrew was found at the scene of the incident, the sources added.
The boy suffers lung bleeding and neck and back bruises.
http://english.palinfo
4 nov 2014
The Israeli occupation army on Tuesday morning opened its machinegun fire at Palestinian homes and agricultural property in the southern side of the Gaza Strip.
Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the Israeli troops deployed behind the border fence to the east of Qarara district in Khan Younis opened machinegun fire indiscriminately and sporadically at Palestinian neighborhoods and also fired some flashbang grenades.
No Palestinian was injured during the gunfire attack, they noted.
Today's attack was not the first Israeli violation since a ceasefire deal was reached in Gaza last August. Israel had already violated the truce several times in Gaza either in its border borders or off its coast.
http://english.palinfo
Local sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the Israeli troops deployed behind the border fence to the east of Qarara district in Khan Younis opened machinegun fire indiscriminately and sporadically at Palestinian neighborhoods and also fired some flashbang grenades.
No Palestinian was injured during the gunfire attack, they noted.
Today's attack was not the first Israeli violation since a ceasefire deal was reached in Gaza last August. Israel had already violated the truce several times in Gaza either in its border borders or off its coast.
http://english.palinfo
Israel will reopen two border crossings with Gaza that it had ordered shut over the weekend, an Israeli army spokeswoman said late Monday.
"The crossing points of Erez and Kerem Shalom will be open as normal on Tuesday morning," the spokeswoman told AFP, without giving details.
A Palestinian official who coordinates the entry of goods into Gaza confirmed the reopening of crossings, adding that 330 truckloads of goods would be allowed into the besieged Strip, in addition to one truckload of cement.
Erez crossing will operate in both directions, added Raed Fattouh.
The two crossings had been ordered shut after a rocket fired from Gaza fell in Israeli territory on Friday, without causing any casualties or damage.
The rocket was the first to hit Israeli soil since Sept. 16, and the second since the end of Israel's devastating 50-day war on Gaza.
A ceasefire agreed between Israel and Palestinian factions took effect on Aug. 26, ending a conflict that claimed 2,140 Palestinian lives, mostly civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them from the army.
Both sides are expected to resume talks soon in Cairo as part of an effort to keep the ceasefire in place.
"The crossing points of Erez and Kerem Shalom will be open as normal on Tuesday morning," the spokeswoman told AFP, without giving details.
A Palestinian official who coordinates the entry of goods into Gaza confirmed the reopening of crossings, adding that 330 truckloads of goods would be allowed into the besieged Strip, in addition to one truckload of cement.
Erez crossing will operate in both directions, added Raed Fattouh.
The two crossings had been ordered shut after a rocket fired from Gaza fell in Israeli territory on Friday, without causing any casualties or damage.
The rocket was the first to hit Israeli soil since Sept. 16, and the second since the end of Israel's devastating 50-day war on Gaza.
A ceasefire agreed between Israel and Palestinian factions took effect on Aug. 26, ending a conflict that claimed 2,140 Palestinian lives, mostly civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them from the army.
Both sides are expected to resume talks soon in Cairo as part of an effort to keep the ceasefire in place.
2 nov 2014
Israeli security backdropped by the Dome of the Rock mosque during Friday noon prayers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud on Oct. 31, 2014
Gaza crossings closed indefinitely
Politically far-right member of the Israeli Knesset Moshe Feglin entered al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, on Sunday, while entry was restricted for Palestinians, according to witnesses. Border crossings in Gaza have been closed indefinitely.
AFP reports that, in renewed clashes with Israeli police on Saturday night, around East Jerusalem, police said 17 Palestinian protesters were detained, raising to 111 the number of arrests during protests since October 22.
An AFP photographer said that MK Feiglin visited the compound in the Old City district on Sunday, in spite of calls for restraint from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Feiglin is a leading advocate for increased Jewish access to the compound, which is home to the mosque, though such access, so far, has been obtained primarily by aggressive surprise visits to the mosque, backed by armed escort.
Men and women under 40 have been banned from entering the mosque since, dawn prayer at around 4:30 a.m., witnesses told Ma'an News Agency. Additionally, several employees of the Ministry of Endowment who work inside the compound, as well as students there, were also reportedly denied entry by Israeli police officers.
Police, however, told AFP that no restrictions were in place.
Palestinian MK Ahmad Tibi says that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s request to try and calm the tension in the Old City is unacceptable.
He accused the Netanyahu government of being behind the ongoing escalation in the holy city.
While speaking to Ma’an, Tibi added that “the statement Netanyahu’s office released is unacceptable as I don’t agree to be viewed as an instigator if I go to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
“It is natural that I show (myself) in al-Aqsa, while the presence of extremist Jews there is provocative and instigative.”
Tibi described Netanyahu as “a thief who tries to help find stolen things which he himself stole.”
“The problem lies in the ruling party and the Likud lawmakers and their supporters. They are the ones who stir up the situation by storming al-Aqsa Mosque. They are the main cause of what is going on in addition to Netanyahu’s decision to shut down the al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslims.”
Al-Aqsa and adjacent neighborhoods have seen several months of violence, now, with the mosque compound serving as a rallying point right-wing Jewish attempts to take control of it and, in response, Palestinian resistance against these attempts.
Israel, on Thursday ordered a rare closure of the compound, after police clashed with local youth following the fatal shooting of Muataz Hijazi, a Palestinian suspected of trying to murder American-born extremist rabbi Yehuda Glick.
The area reopened the following day, with hundreds of additional police deployed by Israel, who continued with their ongoing policy of prohibiting entry for Muslim men under 50.
See: 11/01/14 Palestinian Uprising in Wake of Hijazi Assassination and Aqsa Closure, 28 Injured in Jerusalem
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities closed Karm Abo Salem checkpoint and Beit Hanoun /Erez crossing borders, on Saturday evening.
Director of the crossing Munir Ghalban said on Saturday evening that "the Israeli occupation inform us of his sudden decision to close the crossings without giving any reasons, and did not specify the duration of the closure".
According to Al Ray, the official of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Moussa Abu Marzouq, said on Sunday morning that the Israeli entity violates the ceasefire understandings by closing the crossings.
He described it as "boyish behavior and irresponsible, and their justification is rejected." Marzouq pointed out that the closure is a collective punishment imposed on Gaza strip, which violates all international laws and conventions".
Israeli Channel 2 said that the decision to close the crossings came in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Blockaded by Israel –- by air, land and sea –- since 2007, the Gaza Strip is associated with seven border crossings linking the region to the outside world.
Six of these crossings are controlled by Israel, while the seventh, Rafah, is controlled by Egypt authorities who keep it tightly sealed for the most part.
Israel sealed four of its commercial crossings with Gaza, in June of 2007, after Hamas wrested control of the strip, following elections.
Al Ray further reports that, currently, Israeli authorities allow the Kerem Shalom crossing – which links Gaza to both Israel and Egypt – to operate for commercial purposes. The Gaza-to-Israel "Erez" crossing, however, is generally devoted to the movement of individuals between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
A truce deal recently brokered by Egypt, between Israeli and Palestinian groups in Gaza, calls for reopening the strip's border crossings, which, if implemented, would effectively end the seven-year blockade of the territory.
Gaza crossings closed indefinitely
Politically far-right member of the Israeli Knesset Moshe Feglin entered al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, on Sunday, while entry was restricted for Palestinians, according to witnesses. Border crossings in Gaza have been closed indefinitely.
AFP reports that, in renewed clashes with Israeli police on Saturday night, around East Jerusalem, police said 17 Palestinian protesters were detained, raising to 111 the number of arrests during protests since October 22.
An AFP photographer said that MK Feiglin visited the compound in the Old City district on Sunday, in spite of calls for restraint from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr. Feiglin is a leading advocate for increased Jewish access to the compound, which is home to the mosque, though such access, so far, has been obtained primarily by aggressive surprise visits to the mosque, backed by armed escort.
Men and women under 40 have been banned from entering the mosque since, dawn prayer at around 4:30 a.m., witnesses told Ma'an News Agency. Additionally, several employees of the Ministry of Endowment who work inside the compound, as well as students there, were also reportedly denied entry by Israeli police officers.
Police, however, told AFP that no restrictions were in place.
Palestinian MK Ahmad Tibi says that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s request to try and calm the tension in the Old City is unacceptable.
He accused the Netanyahu government of being behind the ongoing escalation in the holy city.
While speaking to Ma’an, Tibi added that “the statement Netanyahu’s office released is unacceptable as I don’t agree to be viewed as an instigator if I go to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
“It is natural that I show (myself) in al-Aqsa, while the presence of extremist Jews there is provocative and instigative.”
Tibi described Netanyahu as “a thief who tries to help find stolen things which he himself stole.”
“The problem lies in the ruling party and the Likud lawmakers and their supporters. They are the ones who stir up the situation by storming al-Aqsa Mosque. They are the main cause of what is going on in addition to Netanyahu’s decision to shut down the al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslims.”
Al-Aqsa and adjacent neighborhoods have seen several months of violence, now, with the mosque compound serving as a rallying point right-wing Jewish attempts to take control of it and, in response, Palestinian resistance against these attempts.
Israel, on Thursday ordered a rare closure of the compound, after police clashed with local youth following the fatal shooting of Muataz Hijazi, a Palestinian suspected of trying to murder American-born extremist rabbi Yehuda Glick.
The area reopened the following day, with hundreds of additional police deployed by Israel, who continued with their ongoing policy of prohibiting entry for Muslim men under 50.
See: 11/01/14 Palestinian Uprising in Wake of Hijazi Assassination and Aqsa Closure, 28 Injured in Jerusalem
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities closed Karm Abo Salem checkpoint and Beit Hanoun /Erez crossing borders, on Saturday evening.
Director of the crossing Munir Ghalban said on Saturday evening that "the Israeli occupation inform us of his sudden decision to close the crossings without giving any reasons, and did not specify the duration of the closure".
According to Al Ray, the official of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Moussa Abu Marzouq, said on Sunday morning that the Israeli entity violates the ceasefire understandings by closing the crossings.
He described it as "boyish behavior and irresponsible, and their justification is rejected." Marzouq pointed out that the closure is a collective punishment imposed on Gaza strip, which violates all international laws and conventions".
Israeli Channel 2 said that the decision to close the crossings came in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Blockaded by Israel –- by air, land and sea –- since 2007, the Gaza Strip is associated with seven border crossings linking the region to the outside world.
Six of these crossings are controlled by Israel, while the seventh, Rafah, is controlled by Egypt authorities who keep it tightly sealed for the most part.
Israel sealed four of its commercial crossings with Gaza, in June of 2007, after Hamas wrested control of the strip, following elections.
Al Ray further reports that, currently, Israeli authorities allow the Kerem Shalom crossing – which links Gaza to both Israel and Egypt – to operate for commercial purposes. The Gaza-to-Israel "Erez" crossing, however, is generally devoted to the movement of individuals between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
A truce deal recently brokered by Egypt, between Israeli and Palestinian groups in Gaza, calls for reopening the strip's border crossings, which, if implemented, would effectively end the seven-year blockade of the territory.
Hamas on Saturday pushed for an immediate launch of the Gaza reconstruction process, slamming the Israeli occupation for having dragged its feet vis-à-vis Palestinians’ agony.
The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said in a statement on Saturday the Israeli prerequisites lying ahead of the rebuilding process represent flagrant breaches to the terms of the Cairo-brokered truce accord stipulating the opening of border-crossings and smoothing the access of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip.
The group called on the UN to turn down all Israeli stipulations and form a national committee to keep tabs on the reconstruction file and oversee all projected moves to that end.
http://english.palinfo
The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said in a statement on Saturday the Israeli prerequisites lying ahead of the rebuilding process represent flagrant breaches to the terms of the Cairo-brokered truce accord stipulating the opening of border-crossings and smoothing the access of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip.
The group called on the UN to turn down all Israeli stipulations and form a national committee to keep tabs on the reconstruction file and oversee all projected moves to that end.
http://english.palinfo
1 nov 2014
The Israeli military on Saturday said that a rocket from Gaza had landed in southern Israel the day before, causing no injuries or damage but reminding locals of the tenuousness of a ceasefire signed in August.
An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma'an that a rocket was fired and hit an open area near the border town of Eshkol.
She said the rocket was fired at 7 pm.
Israeli media reports said that the rocket fell near the border on the Israeli side and exploded upon impact. Sirens warning locals of the rocket fire reportedly failed to activate.
Israeli news site Ynet said that the Israeli military was investigating the incident and was focusing on two possible theories.
The first was that the rocket was fired by a group opposed to Hamas, which has so far upheld its side of the August ceasefire and prevented any firing of missiles into Israel.
The second possible scenario investigators are considering is that the explosion was the result of a faulty rocket test.
Army: Rocket fired from Gaza hits southern Israel
A rocket fired from Gaza hit southern Israel on Friday, the Israeli army said, although there were no reports of casualties or damage.
"A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the Eshkol area in southern Israel," said the spokesman for the army, adding that it was the first rocket to strike Israeli territory since Sept. 16.
An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma'an that a rocket was fired and hit an open area near the border town of Eshkol.
She said the rocket was fired at 7 pm.
Israeli media reports said that the rocket fell near the border on the Israeli side and exploded upon impact. Sirens warning locals of the rocket fire reportedly failed to activate.
Israeli news site Ynet said that the Israeli military was investigating the incident and was focusing on two possible theories.
The first was that the rocket was fired by a group opposed to Hamas, which has so far upheld its side of the August ceasefire and prevented any firing of missiles into Israel.
The second possible scenario investigators are considering is that the explosion was the result of a faulty rocket test.
Army: Rocket fired from Gaza hits southern Israel
A rocket fired from Gaza hit southern Israel on Friday, the Israeli army said, although there were no reports of casualties or damage.
"A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the Eshkol area in southern Israel," said the spokesman for the army, adding that it was the first rocket to strike Israeli territory since Sept. 16.
31 oct 2014
Chief of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Benny Gantz said Thursday that the situation on Gaza front could be one of only very deceptive calm, stressing that the latest war on Gaza was the most complicated.
During a ceremony to honor Israeli officials in Tel Aviv University, Gantz called for “tracking what is taking place on our borders, in Gaza and in the sea.”
He said that the latest military operation in Gaza aimed at creating a new status-quo in the area.
The latest conflict in Gaza was the most complicated of three recent wars, he added, stressing his military forces' readiness for any possible security challenges.
Sami Turjman, the head of the Israeli army's southern command, and other senior officials who took part in the 51-aggression on Gaza attended the ceremony.
http://english.palinfo
During a ceremony to honor Israeli officials in Tel Aviv University, Gantz called for “tracking what is taking place on our borders, in Gaza and in the sea.”
He said that the latest military operation in Gaza aimed at creating a new status-quo in the area.
The latest conflict in Gaza was the most complicated of three recent wars, he added, stressing his military forces' readiness for any possible security challenges.
Sami Turjman, the head of the Israeli army's southern command, and other senior officials who took part in the 51-aggression on Gaza attended the ceremony.
http://english.palinfo
The Israeli navy opened fire on Wednesday morning, against Palestinian fishermen, and shot a young man off Beit Lahia shores, in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to Al Ray correspondence, he sustained moderate injuries after being shot in the thigh and transferred to al-Shefa hospital.
The Israeli navy has attacked Gaza fishermen several times since the Gaza ceasefire took effect, although the terms of the truce deal provide Israel stop its attacks and expand the fishing zone.
By mid-September, some 26 Israeli violations of the ceasefire had been documented.
According to Al Ray correspondence, he sustained moderate injuries after being shot in the thigh and transferred to al-Shefa hospital.
The Israeli navy has attacked Gaza fishermen several times since the Gaza ceasefire took effect, although the terms of the truce deal provide Israel stop its attacks and expand the fishing zone.
By mid-September, some 26 Israeli violations of the ceasefire had been documented.
30 oct 2014
Egyptian Authorities have closed Wednesday Rafah crossing until further notice following the deadly attacks in Sinai, preventing the access of the Jordanian Artery of Life aid convoy to Gaza Strip.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry informed the trade unions, the party responsible for the convoy, that Egypt Tuesday allowed its entry to the Strip. However, the border crossing was closed Wednesday following the bombing attacks in Sinai.
The Egyptian army on Wednesday morning demanded the residents of the northern neighborhoods in the Egyptian border city of Rafah to evacuate their homes in order to demolish them and establish a 500-meter buffer zone along the borderline with the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the convoy could have access to the Strip once the crossing is reopened by Egyptian authorities.
Following the Israeli 51-day aggression on Gaza Strip, Jordan’s trade unions announced the organization of Artery of Life convoy to break the 8-year siege on Gaza and to provide some of the basic humanitarian needs to the people of the Strip.
http://english.palinfo
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry informed the trade unions, the party responsible for the convoy, that Egypt Tuesday allowed its entry to the Strip. However, the border crossing was closed Wednesday following the bombing attacks in Sinai.
The Egyptian army on Wednesday morning demanded the residents of the northern neighborhoods in the Egyptian border city of Rafah to evacuate their homes in order to demolish them and establish a 500-meter buffer zone along the borderline with the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the convoy could have access to the Strip once the crossing is reopened by Egyptian authorities.
Following the Israeli 51-day aggression on Gaza Strip, Jordan’s trade unions announced the organization of Artery of Life convoy to break the 8-year siege on Gaza and to provide some of the basic humanitarian needs to the people of the Strip.
http://english.palinfo
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Truce violations List of names Pictures of martyrs
Days: Aug: 26 - 25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1
July: 31 - 30 - 29 - 28 - 27 - 26 - 25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8
