Palestine is the barometer of Western integrity

HJFP MONTHLY PALESTINE REVIEW – MAY 2014

Don’t call me a Palestinian of the Palestinian Territories because it is called Palestine.Don’t give me a fraction of my homeland and call it a solution.

Don’t give me oppression and call it peace. Don’t give me a Bantustan and call it a home.

Don’t give me a prison and call it freedom. Don’t draw the borders of my existence according to your whims and interests and call it a state.

My Palestine is the home that is mine since the dawn of history till the end of history.

NEWS

Palestine Support in UK

Medical Aid for Palestinians 

01.05.2014 Message from the West BankHOME DEMOLITIONS ARE ON THE RISE IN THE JORDAN VALLEYI am Palestinian and have been working with MAP in the West Bank for over 8 years. In that time, I haven’t written to you directly. I am today because I am deeply concerned about what is happening to the Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley. Over 1000 Palestinians were left homeless through demolitions last year; half of these were children.

While claiming to be committed to peace talks, Israel has ramped up its destruction of Palestinian homes and livelihood structures and intensified its building of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinian struc-tures demolished and Palestinians displaced so far this year is up to 29% and 32%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2013 – a year which witnessed a steep rise in demolitions and displacement.

Bedouin families in the Jordan Valley are particularly vulnerable. As the Jordan Valley has become more and more fragmented by checkpoints, settler bypass roads and no-go zones, I’ve witnessed the traditional, Bedouin way of life become eroded. Today, I see more and more families living in cramped, impoverished encampments – surrounded by military zones and settlements, which take more land every year. The Bedouin communities live on the frontline of the Israeli occupation. They are trapped in a vicious cycle. It is almost impossible for Palestinians to get a permit from the Israeli authorities to build a home in the Jordan Valley. Without permits to build, families put up tin and plastic basic shelters but these are often demolished again. Even emergency tents, supplied by international aid agencies, have been seized by the army.

It is not just family homes that are demolished; the communities aren’t even allowed to build healthcare centres and schools. For many, the nearest medical clinic is much too distant to reach through the heat of the desert and they often fail to seek medical help if a child becomes feverish. MAP runs a daily mobile health clinic to deliver medical aid to the heart of these isolated communities – a donation will help to provide a child with a course of antibiotics. Will you help?

While demolitions of Palestinian houses are at a five-year high, Israeli settlers are granted permission to build homes in the Jordan Val -ley. It breaks my heart to see Bedouin children in need of water when thousands of settlers, now in the region, are drawing most of the precious water to irrigate their own land. MAP has partnered with the Jerusalem Legal Aid Centre to offer free legal support to families who have been targeted by violence or demolitions. Next month I will be going back to the Jordan Valley. I would love to be able to bring news of the success of this appeal and our petition to prove to them that they are not forgotten and that there are people out there who care.Source: Esperanza Shanan, Programme Officer, Occupied Palestine, Medical Aid for Palestinians.

09.05.2014 The human cost of de-developmentOne of the most unsettling aspects of visiting occupied Palestine is the sense one gets that Israel is squeezing the population as tightly as it can, and in as many ways possible, without inducing a full-blown revolt, international outcry or a total humanitarian catastrophe . In Gaza, the illegal blockade, about to enter its eighth year, is systematically de-developing the economy and stripping the popu-lation of their freedom and potential. Israel – helped by Egypt and the inaction of the international community – ensures that Gaza remains caught in the narrow divide between basic survival and man-made humanitarian crisis, slightly easing restrictions when the lat-

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ter seems probable. Poverty is deep and widespread, with a population that is 80% aid dependent. The future health prospects of thou-sands of children in Gaza are hostage to the long-term impact of this systematic de-development.

“Every day we see cases of chronic malnutrition manifested in growth faltering – a combination of underweight and short stature in chil-dren. The reason is chronic exposure to food deprivation, to chronic malnutrition, due to poverty. Most families are unable to afford ap -propriate food for their children,” says the soft-spoken Dr Adnan al Wahaidi, a senior paediatrician and Director of Ard el Insan Palestinian Benevolent Association (AEI), one of MAP’s partners in Gaza. Iron deficiency anaemia and rickets are the main manifesta -tions of chronic malnutrition seen at AEI, though Dr Adnan says that they are beginning to see cases of ‘kwashiorkor’, a disease caused by an insufficient intake of protein. Nearly a quarter of children screened at AEI also suffer from Vitamin A deficiency. Chronic malnutri -tion during the formative months of life can have life-long consequences, he warns.“When a child is exposed to chronic malnutrition for a long time, it is not only a matter of physical disability in which the child will be shorter and smaller than normal,” says Dr Adnan. “He will be absolutely vulnerable to, and exposed to, many repeated illnesses affect -ing most of his organs. His cognitive capabilities and intellectual performance will be subnormal too.” Affected children will be more pre-disposed to communicable and non-communicable diseases, Dr Adnan adds. “This means that the child will not live a normal life. The family will pay a price, because all resources will be directed towards the management of the consequential illnesses affecting a chron-ically malnourished child – and society will pay a price too.”

Every room and corridor at the Ard el Insan clinic in Khan Younis – one of two in Gaza – is filled with mothers, children and staff. The noise attests to the busy nature of the clinic, which is split between medical rooms, where assessments and treatment are undertaken, and kitchens and canteen-style rooms. In the latter, mothers are given practical lessons on preparing nutritious meals for their children based on their age and illness. They work with staff to prepare the meals and then feed their children in groups. It’s very hands-on, and there’s a strong sense that the clinic is part and parcel of the community. The mothers speak openly about the impact of Israel’s block-ade and the importance of the organisation.

Among the infants at the Khan Younis clinic is Huda,* the youngest of three children in her family. Her mother, Suha, brought her to AEI when Huda was six months old because she was underweight. “Huda weighed 6 kg and her haemoglobin levels were just 8 when we first came to the clinic,” says Suha. She brought her daughter to AEI two to three times a week for the first two months following Huda’s admission. “I learned from AEI how to prepare food for my daughter and Huda also eats meals here during these visits. She is growing better now – her haemoglobin is 11 and she now weighs 8.7 kg,” she says, much relieved. The family is poor – Suha’s husband is un-employed and 14 family members live under one roof in cramped conditions. “We receive some food rations from the government, but this is barely enough,” Suha says. “We cook one meal for lunch and eat whatever is left over for dinner.” She says that Huda is still breastfeeding and she feeds her the same food that the rest of the family eats. “The daily meals are usually made of lentils, rice or ve-getables. AEI gives us the lentils. We can’t afford to buy chicken or meat,” she says.

Unemployment levels in Gaza are extremely high at 41.5%, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and food insecurity among refugee families is 57%, according to UNRWA.  “I wish my husband could find work – we could have much better access to different food items,” says Suha. It would also make the journey to AEI easier, she says: “It is very difficult for us to pay the cost of the transportation to reach AEI: I pay 12 NIS per trip [£2], which is too much for us. If the situation in Gaza were better, my husband could have found work.”

Another mother, Lama, is there with her nine month old daughter, Zeina, who has been attending the clinic for three months. Zeina was also underweight for her age and malnourished. The family is very poor – her husband drives a truck but the fuel crisis has rendered him unemployed. They live with extended relatives in the same house and number 21 in total. The family is well known at AEI as sev -eral of Zeina’s siblings also suffered from anaemia, stunting and rickets. “We receive some food rations from the government but it is

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not enough for us,” says Lama. “AEI gives us some food items, including lentils and beans, which I cook at home. We can’t afford meat and chicken, and we only see the fruit in the market.” Lama and Zeina have been coming to AEI every week and she is clearly delighted by Zeina’s progress. “I learned how to prepare food for my daughter in the food demonstration sessions at AEI. Zeina is growing better now.” AEI also provides a field team that goes to more remote communities in Gaza to find malnourished children. It is particularly im -portant for locating the poorest families that simply cannot afford the transportation costs in getting to Ard el Insan.

Sahar is another mother there with her one year old son, Omar, whose physical and mental development have clearly been affected by malnutrition. “I realised that Omar was malnourished early on, but I couldn’t bring him earlier to AEI because I couldn’t afford the cost of the transportation,” says Sahar. “The AEI field team encouraged me to bring him here so he could be treated and covered the transport-ation costs.” Like most mothers here, Sahar’s husband has been unable to find work as a result of the blockade. “We get some food support from UNRWA and that’s it – it’s not enough for us as we are a big family,” she says. “My mother-in-law receives a small govern -ment pension and spends this money on all of us, including my sisters and brothers-in-law and their children.” “Our situation will be much better if my husband could find work. But because of the blockade even those with qualifications and degrees can’t find jobs – what about those like my husband who don’t?” The poverty levels in Gaza are directly related to the blockade’s long and devastating economic impact. Infants like Omar, Zeina and Huda are its youngest victims, whose lives can be irreversibly blighted by malnutrition. AEI, in conjunction with its partners like MAP, is working hard to provide support but, as Dr Adnan says, this is a man-made crisis that could and should be prevented by external political will. “The international community calculates every step on political, not humanit -arian, considerations. It should be based on moral, ethical and humanitarian considerations so that the suffering of Gaza will no longer continue.” It’s as simple – and as complicated – as that.William Parry, Media and Communications Officer, and Fikr Shalltoot, Programme Director in Gaza.

25.04.2014 When all is lost, can Palestinians in the Jordan Valley rely on you?Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley are facing a sharp rise in home demolitions. Shelter tents given by international aid agencies to families who have lost their homes are also being seized by the Israeli authorities. These families are more vulnerable than ever before. As the Israeli authorities continue their destruction, the International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) have had to pull out of the region and halt their emergency support to those made homeless. Surrounded by checkpoints, milit -ary zones and settlements, which take more land every year, the traditional Bedouin way of life in the West Bank is being eroded.  They are trapped in a vicious cycle. It is almost impossible for Palestinians to get a permit from the Israeli authorities to build a home in the valley, while Israeli settlers continue to arrive and build settlements. Palestinians that try to keep a roof over their family can be evicted at any time. Aysha was pregnant when the army arrived in the middle of the night. As the bulldozer arrived, the parents hurried to get their daughter, who has a disability, into her wheelchair. The family got out just in time. All the children could do was watch as their home was destroyed in front of their eyes. The simple shelter where they kept their sheep – their only source of income - was demol-ished too.It is not just family homes that are demolished; communities aren’t being allowed to build healthcare centres and schools. For many, the nearest medical clinic is much too distant to reach through the heat of the desert and they often fail to seek medical help if a child be-comes feverish.

MAP’s mobile health clinic provides check-ups and medication to these camp communities to ensure their basic right to health is up-held. You can help run the mobile health clinic by making a donation today. The remoteness of these communities means that attacks by settlers and Israeli soldiers are common and can go by unrecorded. MAP has partnered with the Jerusalem Legal Aid & Human Rights Centre to offer support to families who have been targeted by violence or demolitions. Israel is making it harder and harder to provide humanitarian relief to the Bedouin but MAP is committed to our long term work in the Jordan Valley. We will continue to provide medical aid and support to those who have been cut off from their own livelihoods and isolated from the world.   Please make a donation today to help us keep this promise.

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Few aspects of Israel’s nearly 48-year-long military occupation of Palestinian land are as brutal, destructive and inhumane as home de-molitions. The home is the heart of family life. Israel’s campaign of home demolitions and forced displacement is systematic and is de-signed to push Palestinians off their land. It has a profound psychological and economic impact on Palestinian families and the viability of indigenous communities, adversely affecting health, education and livelihoods. The demolition by the Israeli authorities of nearly 29,000 Palestinian homes and structures contravenes its obligations as an occupying power and is against international law.

Israel has nonetheless accelerated its campaign of home demolitions and forced displacement since it agreed to an intensive round of US-sponsored peace talks last July. Almost every week, dozens of Palestinians have their homes destroyed and face displacement, sometimes for the second or third time. While claiming to be committed to peace talks, Israel has ramped up its destruction of Palestinian homes and livelihood structures and intensified its building of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinian structures demolished and Palestinians displaced so far this year is up by 29% and 32%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2013 – a year which witnessed a steep rise in demolitions and displacement.

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Palestine News, Archives and Campaigns

“Peace Talks”01.05.2014 Kerry reopens the debate on Israel’s ApartheidThis week US Secretary of State, John Kerry. said Israel was at risk of becoming an Apartheid State – a remark he said he 'regretted' after coming under pressure from the pro-Israel lobby. Desmond Tutu was asked about his remarks and said:

I go and I visit the Holy Land and I see things that are a mirror image of the sort of things I experienced under the apartheid. How can you stop me from the right to describe as I feel? You go anywhere in the world and if I see things that mirror the kind of experience that I know first hand I think it’s a cheek in a way for someone else to tell you ‘no you are wrong in feeling as you feel about what you have seen.’

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This is available for order as a postcard via the office - 020 7700 6192. Plus view 11 infographics help to explain Israeli Apartheid.

Meanwhile, on the day the Kerry talks are due to expire, the PLO negotiations unit revealed Israel’s violations during their 9 months duration.

o 61 Palestinians have been killed o 1054 have been injured o 3674 have been arrested o There have been 675 settler attacks and 999 attacks on Palestinian propertyo 508 Palestinian properties have been demolishedo 14,000 settler housing units have been advanced to accommodate 55,000 illegal settlers o An entire Palestinian community (home to 120) was erased 

No sanctions were taken against Israel during that time.

BDS04.05.2014  'Help to Work' - Haringey has G4SAs you may now the government has recently launched it's latest punishing-the-poor scheme, 'Help to Work'. This BBC article gives an overview of what it involves: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27177767

Ipswich Unemployed Action have compiled a list of the companies given the contracts for running the schemes across the contract. Haringey has G4S as part of the 'West London' contract: http://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/full-list-of-touts-running-community-work-programme/And here's a pretty good column by Suzanne Moore in The Guardian on the topic: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/help-to-work-is-really-punishment-unemployed-peopleIn case you don't know, HSG is running a campaign against workfare (Help to Work, Community Work Placements, Mandatory Work Activity, etc.) in the borough. If you'd like to get involved then reply to this e-mail or contact info@haringey.org.uk

Israeli Politics06.05.2014 What kind of country throws a teen out of an IDF (IOF) jeep? “They threw him out like a bag of garbage,” Fadel says now. “A child without a phone, without money, without papers, who doesn’t know where he is. If you’re thrown out of a jeep in the middle of the night, you don’t know where you are. If that man hadn’t found him, he would have gone on walking on the road the whole night. But to where? What kind of soldiers are these? What kind of police?” 

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.588490

This message was sent by Donna Schwarz-Nielsen using the Change.org system. You received this email because you signed a petition started by Donna Schwarz-Nielsen on Change.org: "Calling on the United Nations to investigate and hold Israel to account for the war crimes & crimes against humanity they commit on a daily basis.." Change.org does not endorse contents of this message.View the petition

Palestine Prisoners06.05.2015 Petition to stop Israeli Administrative Detention policy against Palestinian

political prisoners and detainees

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There are currently more than 5,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 22 women, 230 children and 11 democratically elected members of Parliament and 200 Palestinians detained under “Administrative Detention” policy. They are subjected to physical and mental torture, solitary confinement, medical testing, and many serious abuses. They are deliberately denied medical treatment for chronic illnesses, family visits, and access to legal support. Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees were subjected to “Administrative Detention” policy, where prisoners detained without charge or trial in flagrant violation to international laws and conventions that state prisoners should have a fair trial. Israeli occupation forces regularly use the administrative detention as punitive policy, although international law restricts the use of administrative detention. Administrative detention policy breaches the Israeli law itself as it violates the conditions set to renew Palestinian administrative detainees' arrest. These conditions pushed more than 200 prisoners on 24th April 2014 to start an open-ended hunger strike to end administrative detention policy. We, the undersigned, call on the European Parliament and United Nations Human rights Council to pressure Israel to comply with international and humanitarian law and stop the use of “Administrative Detention” policy, such policy clearly breaches the international and humanitarian law, ethical principle and human values. We condemn the cruel and in humane treatment including psychological and physical punishment and humiliation, and deprivation of healthcare. This is in contravention of international law and must stop immediately. Take Action | Sign petition:http://ymlp265.net/xgmmbeyhgmguu

US Groups09.05.2014 Jimmy Carter live interview

Jimmy Carter unveils truth about Israel (Preview)

(Preview)

Jimmy Carter unveils truth about Israel(Preview)

View on   www.youtube.com (Preview)

Preview by Yahoo

US Groups10.05.2014 Israel's new "A" Bombhttp://smashpipe.com/news/videos/RPX0F-UqF-k/5%20Reasons%20Why%20Israel%20is%20an%20Apartheid%20State%20|%20Weapons%20of%20Mass%20Distraction

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US Groups11.05.2014 An American Jew speaks outMark Braverman -- How to be a Jew After the Nakba: http://youtu.be/Q4IpKNMuDGI  

 Israeli Economy14.05.2014 Steinmetz Foundation cover-upHaving been forced to sell off and re-brand the Steinmetz Diamond Group the Steinmetz Foundation has now also been forced to un-dergo some significant whitewashing. The new website makes no mention of funding for the Givati war criminal responsible for the Sam-ouni massacre or of donations to the IDF which will no doubt continue below the radar.  http://www.beny-steinmetz.com/foundation.html This is an effort to insulate De Beers, Sothebys and Tiffany’s (all three major clients of Steinmetz) from the charge of selling blood dia-monds that fund war crimes in Palestine. Too late – the evidence is well documented in the public domain for all to use.  -  http://www.opednews.com/articles/Are-Sotheby-s-Steinmetz-di-by-Se-n-Clinton-130701-516.html

Media & Publicity14.05.2014 BBC: cover 1948 from Palestinian perspective, not just IsraeliIf anyone tweets, could I suggest sending a tweet to BBC Monitoring (@BBCMonitoring) about an article it ran on the BBC website on 8th May? The article is headlined: Israel: Testimonies on founding of the state go onlineThis is the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-27323035Please suggest to @BBCMonitoring that it runs an article on the Palestinian experience of the Nakba, in the name of balance. The tweets will be timely, with the Nakba being commemorated tomorrow.

You could make @BBCMonitoring aware of a news story about the new Nakba app, which allows users to locate on a map the Palestinian villages destroyed during the Nakba. This is the story about the app: http://tinyurl.com/knxr4uqAll tweets should go to @BBCMonitoring and should all carry the hashtag #NewsfromElsewhere (the hashtag used by @BBCMonitor-ing) so that all the tweets are collated in one place, and will be visible to other Twitter users searching for that hashtag.PSC (@pscupdates) and Chat2Gaza (@chat2gaza) have already sent tweets, and they can be viewed on the page for #NewsfromElse-where https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NewsfromElsewhere&src=tyah

If you’re not on Twitter, these are the tweets:PSC   @ PSCupdates    1h.@ BBCMonitoring what about an article on the # Palestinians ’ loss of their country, as balance to your article 8/5/14? # NewsfromElse - whereGazaRight2Education   @ Chat2Gaza    29m@ BBCMonitoring You print Israeli stories @ 'founding of a state' Balance it with Palestinian stories on loss of a country # Newsfro - mElsewhereIt would be good to get a collection of tweets on the #NewsfromElsewhere page calling on BBC Monitoring to report on 1948 from the Palestinian perspective, not just the Israeli point of view.

Child Prisoners14.05.2014 Israel puts Palestine kids in confinement: Report“Use of isolation against Palestinian children as an interrogation tool is a growing trend,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish of the DCI in the Palestinian territories, adding, “This is a violation of children’s rights and the international community must demand justice and account-ability.” http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/05/12/362401/israel-puts-children-in-confinement/

16.05.2014 More Palestinian children in solidarity confinementIsrael is placing more and more Palestinian children in solitary confinement as part of the interrogation process, a new report from Defence for Children International Palestine reveals. The children are often blindfolded, bound and sleep deprived. Neither they nor parents know the reasons for arrest.“Solitary confinement for detained Palestinian children was used in 21.4 percent of cases in 2013,”In 34 out of 40 cases (85 percent), the children are detained In 34 out of 40 cases (85 percent), the children are detained

“during the middle of the night by heavily-armed Israeli soldiers” while in 38 out of 40 cases (95 percent), neither the parents nor the child were told the reasons for arrest, says the study.“Interrogations tend to be coercive, including a variety of verbal abuse, threats and physical violence that ultimately result in a confession” says the report.

Many of these children are being held in G4S run facilities. Help us to step up the campaign against G4S violations. We will be protesting outside the G4S AGM in London on the afternoon of Thursday 5th June – keep that date in your diary (more details soon). Join our call for G4S to withdraw from all Israeli prisons.

Please support our petition calling on G4S to withdraw from Israeli prisons, and end its involvement with Israel’s human rights abuses. We will be handing this in at the G4S AGM in June, 2014.

HUMAN RIGHTS

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Human Rights16.05.2014 Lawyer for Jerusalem’s poor, tortured in Israeli prison, found hanged140508-amjad-safadi.jpg

Amjad Safadi was interrogated for more than fifty days and subjected to torture. (Photo courtesy of the Safadi family)

On the morning of 29 April, Amjad Safadi’s wife left their Jerusalem home for work. A little after 8am, Amjad’s younger brother Samer arrived to escort him to a court hearing. As he opened the door to his room, Samer found that Amjad had hanged himself. The shocking death of the 39-year-old lawyer and father of two girls came five days after his release from the notorious underground Russian Com -pound detention center — known in Arabic as the Moskobiyeh — in Jerusalem.

It is believed that Safadi took his life as a result of more than fifty days of harsh interrogation he underwent there. “He looked very ex-hausted after the long hours of interrogation and the violent beating,” Amjad’s lawyer Fathi Farhoud told The Electronic Intifada. “I deem what happened to Amjad as an indirect killing by the occupation.” Amjad Safadi was the second of four brothers and two sisters. “He was a very sensitive person. He was a poet,” said his older brother, Ahmad. He lived in the Assadiyeh Quarter between al-Sahreh Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City and al-Ghawanmeh Gate at the Noble Sanctuary which houses al-Aqsa mosque. This quarter is a place of reg -ular clashes between the Palestinian residents and Israeli occupation forces. Safadi was arrested on 6 March during a regular visit to HaDarim prison. “He was accused of collaborating with a terrorist organization and meeting a foreign agent,” said Farhoud. Five other lawyers were arrested on the same charges. “They are trying to intimidate lawyers to make them stop visiting the prisoners,” insisted Farhoud.

“Amjad was a lawyer for several prisoners. Part of his job is to carry letters from prisoners to their families and beloved ones,” said Nas -ser Qaws, Palestinian Prisoners Club director in Jerusalem. Safadi and three other lawyers were released on 20,000 NIS ($5,800) bail and sentenced to house arrest. Their licenses to practice law were suspended. Only Shireen Issawi remains in custody. Shireen, sister of former hunger striker Samer Issawi, spent a year in prison in 2010 for similar charges. She has been suspended from practicing law in Jerusalem ever since.

Deteriorated stateSafadi was locked up in solitary confinement, in a closely-monitored room. His brother Ahmad, director of the Elia Youth Media Associ-ation in Jerusalem, believes that the conditions of his detention contributed to Amjad’s deteriorated mental state. “They locked him up with criminal inmates rather than the Palestinian security prisoners,” he said, in a reference to Palestinian activists or alleged fighters. “They put him with drug addicts and criminals.” Amjad Safadi was previously arrested during the first intifada in 1989 when he was only 14 years old. He spent eight months in prison along with his brother Ahmad. Safadi received his law degree from Al-Quds University in Abu Dis in 2001, and opened an office in Jerusalem that he closed soon after due to financial troubles. “He used to spend most of his time defending poor people for free,” said Ahmad. According to his brother, Safadi continued taking on the cases of the poor in Jerus-alem who suffered from enormous taxes imposed by the Israeli authorities and who risked losing their Jerusalem identity cards.

Israeli authorities continue to impose high taxes on the Palestinian population in Jerusalem, as part of their wider attempt to push them out of the city. Residents who fail to pay their taxes risk losing their National Insurance coverage. This then gives Israeli courts a pretext to revoke their residency status. “Amjad was interrogated by the Shabak [Israel’s secret police force],” said Farhoud. “We have testimo-nials [from former Palestinian prisoners who detained with Safadi] that he was subjected to electric shocks on his head and other parts of his body.”

TortureThe Public Committee against Torture in Israel accused the Shabak in 2012 of a lack of accountability — not a single one of 700 com-plaints of torture or ill-treatment was criminally investigated between 2001 and 2010. The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-De-tainees Affairs and the human rights group Al-Haq say that 203 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 1967, 71 of them due to torture. In 2013, 33-year-old Arafat Jaradat died in Israeli custody after he was subjected to torture. His death was followed by mass protests and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank. “We have witnessed an increase in torture cases lately, especially amongst children,” Nasser Qaws, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Club in Jerusalem, told The Electronic In-tifada. “A latest example is the child Rashid Rishiq, 14 years old from the Old City, who was subjected to electric shocks and violent

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beatings during the interrogation,” Qaws said. “Two months later, he was released to house arrest after being forced to admit to the ac-cusations.”Qaws added that during his own brief detention in March after he was arrested during a sit-in protesting Israeli forces’ attacks on wor -shippers at al-Aqsa mosque, he was told by other prisoners inside that they witnessed Safadi being subjected to electrical shocks. “After his release, he confirmed that he was subjected to electrical shocks,” said Ahmad Safadi. “They electrocuted him because he re-fused to appear in front of the court and protested the interrogation conditions.”

AccompliceAmjad Safadi was a psychiatric patient and took medicines that kept him mentally stable. “Amjad was not allowed to take his meds in prison,” said Ahmad. “They played with his meds and did not give him the appropriate medical attention. “We demanded that he sees a specialist doctor from the first days [of his detention], but they refused,” he added. “And after the long periods of interrogation and the terrible detention conditions, his health deteriorated. The prison’s doctor claimed that Amjad was just acting.” “There was big medical negligence,” said Farhoud. “The prison doctor was an accomplice with the interrogators.” Safadi was not able to see a doctor after he was released because he was sent directly to house arrest. He needed a special court order to be allowed to see a doctor, according to his lawyer. “We hold the occupation responsible,” said Qaws. “A committee of lawyers met and decided to file a lawsuit against the oc-cupation.” Ahmad Safadi told The Electronic Intifada that there was no indication that Amjad was planning to take his life, despite his fatigue. As the family is eager to hold those responsible accountable, they remain uncertain as to the reasons for his death. The Safadi family says that no autopsy was performed on Amjad and that they received no medical report as to the cause of his death. “They took the body away quickly without even lifting prints,” Ahmad said. “We still have doubts that his suicide was staged,” said Ahmad. “The Shabak have the keys to his house; they could have killed him. It would not have been the first time they attempt to kill one of us. A Shabak agent attempted to kill me in the first intifada, but they failed. We caught the collaborators, and they confessed.”

In 1989, according to Ahmad, two Shabak agents tried to instigate a fight in his neighborhood and were planning to stab him and make it appear accidental. He claimed that they were working with Palestinian collaborators who later confessed to the plot.Source: Maath Musleh is a Palestinian journalist and blogger based in Jerusalem and a visiting lecturer at Al-Quds Bard Hon-ors College.

Child Prisoners18.05.2014 Brilliant website on Aparthied Israel & Child Prisoners Latest from DCI

Apartheid Adventures VIDEOS     let me know if link doesn't work

http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/report_doc_solitary_confinement_report_2013_final_29apr2014.pdf

Palestinians killed by IOF22.05.2014  Israel continues killing with impunityDCI Palestine have released a video showing that two boys shot dead by Israeli Forces were unlawfully killed. Even the US State Department has called on the Israelis to conduct a "prompt and transparent investigation" into the killings of Nadeem Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Odeh, 16. Watch the video and read more. Please be aware the video contains graphic and distressing scenes. But we felt it was important to share this information with you.

Video: unlawful killing of 2 PalestiniansMay 22, 2014Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teens during clashes on Thursday 15th May – Nakba Day – outside the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh Abu Daher, 16, were both fatally shot in the chest with live am-munition near Ofer military prison in the West Bank city of Beitunia.  Read more from DCI Palestine>Please note: this content of this video is graphic and distressing. Please consider this before watching.

This video is from Defence for Children International Palestine. This visual tweet from @DCIPalestine further demonstrates that the Palestinians killed posed no threat, and so further supports the prosecution of the Israeli military responsible for their murders. See more at:http://www.palestinecampaign.org/video-unlawful-killing-2-palestinian- boys/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PSC+up-date%3A+Israel+continues+killing+with+...&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=Watch+the+video#sthash.JxIk0VQi.dpuf

Rachel Corrie22.05.2014 Rachel Corrie's family to have case reheard in Israeli supreme courtFamily will ask court to overturn judgment that Israeli military was not negligently responsible for activist's death in 2003

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Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza. Photograph: Getty Images

Eleven years after the death of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bull -dozer in Gazain 2003, her family will have their case reheard by three judges in Israel's supreme court in Jerusalem. The Corrie family will ask Israel's highest court on Wednesday to overturn a 2012 judgment by a lower court in Haifa, which  ruled that the Israeli military was not negligently responsible for Corrie's death and had fully and credibly investigated the circumstances of her death.The Haifa court upheld the state's case that, by entering a conflict area and impeding the work of the bulldozers, Corrie was responsible for her own death.

Speaking to the Guardian in Jerusalem on Monday, Corrie's father, Craig, said: "The case is about our own deep and personal loss, but it has become about more than that, about impunity and the protection of civilians." The appeal hearing comes at the end of a lengthy campaign for the Corrie family that has involved a series of high-profile US political figures, including the then US president George W Bush, who secured a commitment from the then prime minister Ariel Sharon for a full investigation. Over the years, according to Craig Corrie, that campaign for justice has cost the family hundreds of thousands of dollars. The family's submission to the court argues that the judge in the Haifa case ignored contradictory evidence by key state witnesses, adding: "Regretfully, when reading the ruling, one gets the impression that the court of first instance set for itself the final goal of rejecting the lawsuit."

Rachel Corrie's sister Sarah, father Craig and mother Cindy in court in Haifa in 2012. Photograph: Getty Images

Israel has always denied the soldiers involved were negligent in Corrie's death while she was non-violently protesting against house de-molitions by the Israeli military in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The original Haifa court case, which began in 2010 and concluded in 2012, cast a sharp spotlight on the attitudes of some Israeli officials to civilians in conflict areas. One mid-ranking officer testified that there were no civilians in war time, and the lead military police investigator expressed his opinion that the Israeli military was at war with everyone in Gaza, including peace activists. "During the past nine years, we have sought accountability in the Israeli courts for Rachel's killing but were handed a verdict that showed blind indifference to the rights of the victim and little interest in seeking truth and justice," said Craig Corrie in a statement. The court hearing on Wednesday, expected to last just half a day and which has taken written submissions from the family and defence, is the last recourse for the family in the Israeli legal system.

The family's legal team will argue that the Haifa court ignored the Israeli state's obligations under international law to protect civilians. In its own submission, lawyers for the Israeli state claimed the Corrie family had "disseminated false pictures and sought to defame the state of Israel on every possible stage, while ignoring the investigations that were presented and the actual facts". Corrie's parents, Craig and Cindy, said they were more optimistic because the case was being heard before three judges, not one. "We are appealing on several grounds," said Craig Corrie. "The first is that the lower court was unwilling to apply international humanitarian law [regarding the protection of civilians]. It also applied a very narrow interpretation of the idea of negligence." Despite acknowledging that the court process is an adversarial one, the Corries are upset by the way in which their campaign has been presented in the government's sub -mission to the court. "We have been very careful over the years not to use the word murder as some people did," said Cindy Corrie, "and yet there in the final paragraph of the state's submission we are being attacked and accused of being untruthful."

That accusation, they say, follows long attempts over the years by Israel to "demonise" their daughter and the organisation to which she belonged, the International Solidarity Movement. At the centre of the original case were a number of disputed issues. The Israeli case was that the bulldozer's crew – who testified behind a screen – were unable to see Rachel Corrie and that they were involved in clear-ing explosives, while witnesses for the family said the activists were protecting houses from demolition. It emerged too that there had been a discussion among the soldiers operating in the area whether to halt operations because of the presence of the activists, with a decision taken by commanders to continue so as not to set a precedent for the foreign activists. Instead, argue the family's lawyers:

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"The commanders' order was, prima facie, patently illegal and negligent at the very least, and [the bulldozer driver] YP should not have obeyed it."

Corrie's story was retold in the 2005 play My Name is Rachel Corrie, written by the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner and directed by Alan Rickman, which has now been staged across the globe, including in Hebrew on Monday evening in the Israeli city of Jaffa.

Source: Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem; theguardian.com, Monday 19 May 2014

Media & Publicity23.05.2014 Interview with Professor Haidar EidThis is a really good interview covering a lot of ground including comparisons with South African Apartheid;   "Gaza is a Concentration Camp"

 http://mondoweiss.net/2014/05/interview-resisting-apartheid.html

Jews for Justice for PalestiniansJfJfP Website – so much information

http://jfjfp.com

Haringey Justice for Palestinians [Affiliated to Palestine Solidarity Campaign] [Part of the Britain Palestine Twinning Network]

Write to:  secretary@hjfp.org.uk

Go to:  www.hjfp.org.uk

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