Gaza, 31 August 2016

Following a visit today to the occupied Gaza Strip with diplomats from Australia, Belgium, Canada, the EU, and the UK, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities, Robert Piper, called for increased diplomatic and donor action to reduce reliance on aid, increase respect for international law and accelerate recovery and reconstruction.
 
“This week two years ago, Palestinians in Gaza were breathing a sigh of relief following 51 days of hostilities that left over 1,450 civilian deaths, more than 11,000 injuries and two million tons of rubble in its wake,” recalled Mr. Piper, “Today, many of the physical damages have been repaired, once again, but the horizon remains bleak as Gaza’s isolation enters its tenth consecutive year”.
 
In Beit Hanoun, the delegation heard from some of the 65,000 Palestinians who remain displaced, two years later, as well as from the victims and families on their expectations for accountability for violations of international humanitarian law that occurred during the hostilities.
 

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Israel approved on Wednesday the construction of hundreds of new housing units in West bank settlements and retroactively legalized dozens more.

The plan has already been approved at the political level.

The Civil Administration’s High Planning Committee approved the building of 234 homes in Elkana, which are designated by the plan as a nursing home, 31 homes in Beit Arye, and 20 homes in Givat Ze’ev. The committee has also legalized 178 housing units which were built in Beit Arye the 1980s.

The housing units planned for Elkana still require objections to be heard before a final approval is granted.

The construction of 30 housing units originally planned for the settlement of Efrat, however, were not approved by the panel.

The Civil Administration is the Israeli agency that oversees services for residents of the occupied West Bank.

Earlier this month, a Jerusalem district panel approved the construction of 56 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, located across the Green Line.

The additional housing will not expand the boundaries of the neighborhood, but will increase building density within Ramot.

Last week, Haaretz reported that Israel plans to expand the Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron for the first time in over a decade. The U.S. State Department expressed “deep concern” about the intention to advance construction for settlers there.

“We strongly oppose all settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. And we’ve said repeatedly such moves are not consistent with Israel’s stated desire to achieve a two-state solution,” a State Department spokesman said.

Israel’s most senior police officer has provoked outrage by suggesting it is “natural” for officers to suspect Israelis of Ethiopian origin – as well as Arabs – of being more involved in crime than other Jews.

Roni Alsheich, Israel’s police commissioner, made the comments in response to a question at a conference of the Israeli bar association, suggesting more widely that research worldwide showed that “young people and immigrants” were disproportionately involved in crime.

His remarks come against a growing background of complaints by Ethiopian Jews over policing of their community – including accusations of crude profiling – which has led to recent street protests.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/palestine-evictions-human-rights-susiya-bedouin-un-security-council

Abu Jihad, a Susiya village elder, waits anxiously. His home in the south Hebron hills of the occupied West Bank faces demolition for the third time. Legal options are running out as Israeli authorities proceed with their plans to forcibly evict half the village. Global opinion and pressure have helped keep the bulldozers at bay this time around. So far.

The Palestinian herder community of Susiya was forced out of its century-old village in 1986. Israel declared the area an archaeological site and then handed it over to Israeli settlers. The villagers moved into tents and caves on their own farmland, but were evicted from there as well by the Israeli army in 1991. No reasons were given. They now live on another part of their farmland, sandwiched between a hostile Israeli settlement and one of its outposts.

For several decades now, the villagers of Susiya have lived under the constant threat of becoming homeless once again. Mass demolition of their homes and forced evictions took place in 2001 and 2011. Israel claims it has no planning permits to build on the farmland, but at the same time makes it impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits. Residents of Susiya have applied for permits over the years but each application is met with rejection.

Every week somewhere in the West Bank a family watches while their home is demolished by bulldozers

Susiya’s plight is not an exception. In addition, more than 46 Bedouin communities in the central West Bank – around 7,000 Palestinians – face Israeli pressure to leave their homes. These are among the most vulnerable people in Palestine. Most of them are Palestinian refugees, forced out of southern Israel following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

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The wide-ranging new platform of a coalition growing out of the Black Lives Matter
movement includes harsh criticism of Israel, which it describes as an
“apartheid state” that, it claims, perpetrates “genocide” against the
Palestinian people, endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
campaign.

Released
Monday, the platform of the Movement for Black Lives calls for “an end
to the war against Black people” and is the campaign’s first
comprehensive document addressing specific federal policies.

Black Lives Matter Network is one of over 50 black-led organizations in the coalition.

While the majority of the document addresses issues other than Israel, the section on foreign policy,
titled Invest-Divest, objects to U.S. military aid to Israel, which it
describes as “a state that practices systematic discrimination and has
maintained a military occupation of Palestine for decades.”

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Water shortages are not new for Palestinians. Whether in the occupied
Gaza Strip or the West Bank including East Jerusalem, the supply of water flowing into Palestinian homes is strictly capped or obstructed by Israel.

As temperatures climb during the summer, taps run dry. Clemens Messerschmid,
a German hydrologist who has worked with Palestinians on their water
supply for two decades, calls the situation “hydro-apartheid.”

This year, Israeli journalist Amira Hass published data proving that the Israeli Water Authority had reduced the amount of water delivered to West Bank villages.

In some places, the supply was slashed by half. Her records
contradict official denials that water supplies to Palestinian cities
and villages are cut during the summer, even though that too is not new.

Cities and small villages have gone as long as 40 days without running water this summer, forcing those who can afford it to haul in water tanks.

Read more on the Electronic Intifada

Last week former Rep. Robert Wexler delivered a banal justification of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians before the Democratic National Convention’s platform drafting committee.

Dr. Cornel West, a member of the committee, respectfully pushed back. “For too long, the Democratic Party has been beholden to AIPAC,” West responded to applause. The party “didn’t take seriously the humanity of Palestinian brothers and sisters.”

But “we’re at a turning point now,” West continued. “And of course it’s going to be a slow one in the Democratic Party, but some of us will be working outside the Democratic Party to make it quicker. And that’s why I support the BDS [movement].”

This is must-see TV.

Press Release

Israeli occupation is the main trigger of humanitarian needs among Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory

Jerusalem, 13 June 2016

Humanitarian needs in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) continue to be driven by practices related to Israel’s prolonged occupation and continued conflict, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in its 2015 Annual Humanitarian Overview, “Fragmented Lives,” released today.
 
“This month, Palestinians enter their 50th year under Israeli occupation,” said David Carden, Head of OCHA in the oPt. “‘Fragmented Lives’ shows clearly the devastating impact of this ongoing situation, mainly on 4.8 million Palestinians who are increasingly vulnerable due to violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
 
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[PSU President Wim Wiewel comes out swinging against student efforts to divest from companies complicit with Israel’s occupation. His talking points are drawn directly from those made by the pro-Israel groups opposed to divestment.  He even accuses them of anti-Semitism but offers absolutely no evidence!  So much for treating students with respect and not being divisive! ]

DIVESTMENT PROPOSAL IS DIVISIVE, ILL-INFORMED

June 2, 2016

https://voxprez.com/2016/06/02/divestment-proposal-is-divisive-ill-informed/

Wim Wiewel

Portland State University President

The Associated Students of Portland State University International Affairs Committee introduced a resolution to student government on May 23 calling for PSU to divest from companies doing business with the Israeli military. The resolution follows a recommendation from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which was started in 2005 by pro-Palestinian organizations seeking international pressure on Israel to end settlements in occupied territories and other measures. The BDS resolution calls for divestment from companies such as Caterpillar and Hewlett Packard.

As President, I support the right of students to express political, economic and social opinions. In this case, however, I think the resolution is divisive and ill-informed.
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