Today in al-Khalil (Hebron) families gathered to stage a peaceful demonstration protesting the continuing closure of the Shuhada checkpoint. The rally consisted of approximately 50 Palestinians, of all ages. The protesters met outside of the closed checkpoint at 1 pm, armed with nothing but Palestinian flags. The protest moved towards the checkpoint, as soon as it reached the checkpoint´s outer barrier the soldiers from the other side threw a tear gas grenade and two stun grenades at the dense group of protesters. The protesters dispersed immediately, elderly men had to be assisted by other protesters due to tear gas inhalation. Several young Palestinian boys then threw stones at the checkpoint, but were stopped by other protesters. The dispersed demonstrators stayed in the area near the checkpoint after the first aggression by the Israeli occupation forces, but several more tear gas grenades and stun grenades forced the protesters to leave the area completely. Young Palestinian b...

The protests were in response to the bank's holdings in Israel's largest military company which provided drones used in recent deadly strikes on Gaza. The flagship Barclays branch in Piccadilly Circus closed three hours early as 35 people from London's Palestine Action network held a sit-in occupation. A member of the group said: "We shut down Barclays today to protest its investments in Elbit Systems and other companies that arm Israel. "Barclays think it is acceptable to profit from Israel's massacres of Palestinians. "It is time for the UK government to stop arming Israel and for UK companies to dissociate themselves from the arms trade with Israel." Elsewhere three branches were closed by protesters blocking entrances in Manchester. Demonstrations were also held in Leeds, Sheffield, Brighton, Edinburgh, Bradford, Birmingham and more than 10 other towns and cities across the UK. Around 1.8 million people have signed a petition callin...

The national consensus government declared by Hamas and Fatah this summer has finished its interim term, the Hamas movement said Sunday. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a news conference in Gaza City that the unity government's six-month term had expired, and that dialogue should be resumed on a national level to discuss the future of the government. Any decision on whether the government should be disbanded or continued or be reshuffled must be made only through national dialogue and consensus, Abu Zuhri said. Hamas "isn't interested in incitement, but rather seeks to maintain national unity," he said. He stressed that the Hamas movement "does not control the Gaza Strip at all. ... If the national consensus government doesn't want to take responsibility for Gaza, this doesn't mean the government is exempted from this responsibility." Abu Zuhri went on to criticize the Palestinian Authority for making what he called politically motivated...

A Palestinian was injured late Friday after Israeli forces opened fire near the border with the Gaza Strip east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources told Ma'an. Spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health Asraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that a Palestinian youth in his twenties was hit in his right foot with live fire after Israeli soldiers shot at Palestinians east of Jabaliya. Al-Qidra added that the youth was subsequently brought to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, where his injuries were reported as moderate. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident. The shooting near Jabaliya was the second such attack by Israeli soldiers on Friday, a day after Israeli forces fired a tank shell into the Gaza Strip after claiming that shots had been fired toward an Israeli military vehicle near the border. Although the shell caused no reported injuries, it marked the most serious escalation on the Gaza border since the en...

A senior UN official has declined to respond to mounting warnings that the failure of his so-called Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism could lead to a breakdown of the August ceasefire that ended Israel’s 51-day massacre in the territory. Anger is growing over the fact that there has been virtually no rebuilding, a situation made worse by devastating floods that have prompted UN agencies to declare a “state of emergency.” “We do not have any comments,” Nicole Ganz, spokesperson for Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) said in an email to The Electronic Intifada on Thursday. The curt reply came in response to a statement from Gaza’s private sector bodies rejecting the UN-sponsored reconstruction plan. In October, The Electronic Intifada revealed details of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism, pushed by Serry and signed by Israel and the PA. It calls for onerous restrictions on building supplies and monitoring for Palestinians trying to rebuild th...

An Italian was critically injured on Friday afternoon after Israeli forces opened live fire on a protest march in the village of Kafr Qaddum west of Nablus. Palestinian Minister of Health Jawad Awwad told Ma'an that an Italian solidarity activist he identified as Prodo Corsi, 30, was injured after Israeli forces fired several bullets at him in the stomach and chest. The minister said that Corsi was in "critical" condition as a result of the shooting, which took place during a protest march against the Israeli occupation. Awwad said that "shooting live fire at the upper part of the bodies of protesters is directly targeting them and is a deliberate attempt at murder." "Israel does not differentiate between foreign solidarity activists, Palestinians, or even journalists," he added. Khaldoun Ishtewi, media coordinator for public campaigns in Kaf Qaddum, told Ma'an that the Italian national was taken to the Rafidia Public Hospital in Nablus for t...

The United States Department of Defense has announced that it will supply the Israeli air force with 3,000 smart bombs (precision-guided munitions designed to achieve greater accuracy). The funding for the sale will come from US military aid to Israel, and will be paid until the end of November, 2016. The United States provides Israel with some $8.5 million in military aid each day, while it gives Palestinians $0. Palestine has no official armed wing outside of PA security coordination with Israel, with any militarized response to aggression from occupation forces left in the hands of ill-equipped political brigades and other homegrown resistance groups. The infamous rockets reported to be fired from Gaza are, by default, little more than hollow tubes stuffed with dynamite and typically fall into unpopulated areas of the Negev Desert. Al Ray reports that, according to media sources, the cost of the recent deal is estimated at $82 million, through which the Israeli air force will r...

The UN's Palestine refugee agency UNRWA on Thursday evening declared a state of emergency in Gaza City amid massive rains that have shut down normal life in parts of the besieged coastal enclave's largest city. A major storm over the past week has filled the streets of Gaza City with water and sewage, causing further misery for the more than 100,000 Palestinians left homeless -- including nearly 30,000 still staying in emergency shelters -- from Israel's massive offensive over summer that also left nearly 2,200 dead. UNRWA said in a statement that 63 schools across Gaza City and 43 schools across the Northern Gaza Strip governorate had been closed Thursday due to the flooding. Hundreds of residents in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City had also been evacuated due to the rise of a "storm water lagoon" that had flooded many homes in the area. "The flooding is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza caused by blockade and the u...

More than 400,000 children in Gaza need "immediate psychosocial and child protection support" following Israel's devastating assault, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The data is contained in an October report produced by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 538 Palestinian children are confirmed killed by Israeli military attacks during so-called 'Operation Protective Edge', says UNICEF. More than two-thirds of the child fatalities, 68 percent, were 12 years old or younger. The UN agency reports that nearly 425,000 children in Gaza are in need of immediate psychosocial and child protection support, including at least 3,373 injured children (some with permanent disabilities), as well as more than 1,500 children who were orphaned. All require urgent support "to deal with acute levels of psychosocial distress and vulnerability at a time when several neighbourhoods and villages of the...

Israeli forces fired a tank shell at eastern Gaza on Thursday after shots hit an army vehicle patrolling the border area, Israel's army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said shots were fired at an Israeli army vehicle during a "routine patrol," damaging the vehicle but causing no injuries. A tank responded by firing a shell into Gaza. The shelling is the most serious incident along the Gaza border since a Palestinian man was shot and killed on Sunday while hunting birds east of Jabaliya. Fadil Muhammad Halawah, 32, was the first Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since the signing of a ceasefire agreement in late August, ending 50 days of violence which killed over 2,000 Palestinians. more

A senior Hamas official claimed Thursday that the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has amended a reconstruction plan for Gaza after a request by Hamas officials. Senior official Mousa Abu Marzouq said Wednesday evening that a Gaza reconstruction deal brokered by the UN in September was not discussed with the movement. The official, speaking on the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV Channel, said "Hamas neither agreed to the plan verbally, nor on paper." "We requested amendments and some items of the plan were amended. All that the international envoy requested was to secure the movement of UN teams in Gaza," he added, without providing any details about the nature of the amendments. The official said that Qatar is the only country that has kept its promises to the Gaza Strip. Abu Marzouq also briefly spoke about political reconciliation and blamed Fatah for trying to exclude Hamas and lacking the political will for unity. Hamas is...

GAZA (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian children died and a number of other family members were injured in a fire that broke out in their apartment in the al-Nusairat neighborhood in western Gaza City on Wednesday. Spokesman for the health ministry Ashraf al-Qidra said that Mohammad Zuhdi Abu Ghalyoun, 15, and his brother Abd al-Rahman, 7, both arrived dead at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Al-Qidra added that their parents and a brother were lightly injured in the fire. Police are investigating the cause of the fire. Due to frequent electricity cuts caused by the Israeli siege, many Palestinian families in Gaza use candles for light and warmth during the winter. more

From Mondoweiss, by Scott McConnell - What do you do if you are a committed American supporter of Israel and find that everywhere you look campaigns for Palestinian rights are gaining ground? You could, as a number have done, use whatever resources and platforms you possess to try to persuade Israel to change course and negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians that is at least relatively just and practical. Along these lines you could vigorously encourage American efforts to impose on Israel a two state solution. Alternatively you could double down on repeating various Israeli talking points—villa in the jungle, children as human shields, America’s best friend, what about Tibet and Darfur? Or you could escalate your financing of American politicians who will do Israel’s bidding automatically, and pray that Palestinian activism somehow runs its course like a bad fever. But there is fourth, more innovative and indeed daring alternative, which was analyzed at a fascinating Institu...

From the International Middle East Media Center - Teachers at an Israeli school recently delivered a worksheet to their students which includes, in a list of rights, the right of "Killing Hamas". This surprised some students' parents enough to cause them to make a formal complaint against the school, Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency reports. According to Channel 10 Hebrew News, students of Tel Aviv's "Blokh" school were shocked to see the bizarre inclusion on a 2nd grade worksheet. Parents were quoted to say that "instead of protecting the students, the school throws them in politics beanball", noting that such curriculum was not appropriate for 2nd graders. Other rights reportedly included the right to swim, the right to eat ice-cream, the right to buy stationary, the right of education, the right to faith in God and the right to eat. more

Israel on Wednesday revoked the residency rights of the widow of a Palestinian who carried out a deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, drawing condemnation from human rights groups. The move came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would seek broad powers to rescind the residency and welfare rights of any Palestinian citizen of Israel or resident of annexed East Jerusalem if they or their relatives participated in unrest. "I have ordered the cancellation of Nadia Abu Jamal's permit to stay in Israel. Anyone who is involved in terror must take into account that there are likely to be implications for their family members too," Israeli Interior Minister Gilad Erdan said in a statement. Cousins Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukabir, killed five people at a synagogue on November 18 before being shot dead by police, in the city's bloodiest attack in six years. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities will open the Rafah crossing with Gaza to allow thousands of Palestinians, stranded for weeks on the Egyptian side, to return home to the Strip, an official said Wednesday. Nathmi Muhanna, director of Palestinian crossings and borders, told Ma'an that Rafah would be open on Wednesday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Palestinian ambassador to Egypt Jamal al-Shubki confirmed that he had received word from the Egyptian leadership that the crossing would be opened. The Palestinian Authority applauded the Egyptian decision to briefly open the crossing. more

Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians in overnight West Bank raids, sources told Ma'an Wednesday. In the Bethlehem district, Israeli forces raided the village of Wadi Fukin and detained three teenagers, Palestinian security sources said. The teens were identified as 17-year-old Ibrahim Atiyeh Manasrah, 18-year-old Majd Muhammad Manasra, and 19-year-old Karim Atif Assaf. Palestinian security sources also said that Israeli forces raided the village of Burin in the Nablus district and detained Muamin Raji Eid, 21, after ransacking his home. Eid is a supporter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the sources said. He was taken to Huwwara military base south of Nablus. Israeli forces also detained two Hamas leaders in the Ramallah district, sources within the Hamas movement said. Soldiers raided the al-Jinan neighborhood in the city of al-Bireh and detained Fayiz Warda. They also arrested Hussein Abu Kreik in Beituniya, the sources said. In the Hebron distric...

An Israeli bus driver ran over two Palestinian at al-Jalama checkpoint in Jenin, killing one person and injuring another, Palestinian security sources said Tuesday. Palestinian security sources told Ma'an that Noor Hassan Naim Salim, 22, and Alaa Kayid Salim, 20, from Nablus were injured after being ran over by an Israeli bus. Hussein was taken to an Israeli hospital with serious injuries and later died. Salim was taken to Jenin governmental hospital with light injuries. Israeli police and ambulances arrived at the scene and the bus driver was arrested. more

Hamas' military wing announced that one of its fighters was killed during a military drill in eastern Gaza late Monday. In a statement, the al-Qassam Brigades said 18-year-old Abdullah Ulayyan, from the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, died in a training exercise. Ulayyan's body was taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City. more

Twenty-eight trucks of cement entered the battered Gaza Strip Tuesday in only the second delivery of building materials for the private sector since a 50-day summer war, an official said. Raed Fattuh, the PA official in charge of the entry of goods into Gaza from Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, said 28 trucks, each carrying 40 tons of cement, had crossed into the enclave. It was the first delivery of building materials for the private sector since Oct. 14, when 75 trucks entered Gaza, carrying 1,300 tons of material -- 15 trucks of cement, 10 of metal and 50 of gravel. "This is the biggest delivery of cement since the war ended," Fatuh told AFP, referring to the seven-week conflict between Israel and Hamas militants which ended with a truce on Aug. 26. "But it is not enough, it is only a tiny amount for the reconstruction." He said there had been no further deliveries since October because Israel had halted the process over concerns about how the ma...

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Human rights groups have accused Israel of encouraging a shoot-to-kill policy after a wave of incidents in which police shot dead Palestinians involved in, or accused of, attacking Israelis. The alleged practice of killing suspects without trying to arrest them has caused concern after a series of deadly Palestinian attacks also resulted in the perpetrators' deaths -- and not always at the scene. In a rare move, a Jerusalem court on Sunday indicted a border police officer after he shot and killed, unprovoked, a Palestinian teenager during a May demonstration in the occupied West Bank. For some, the charge of manslaughter in the case was not strong enough, and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch's comments that "a terrorist who strikes civilians should be killed" indicate no further such investigations will take place. "Aharonovitch's statement and its application on the ground show that the authorities simply want these inc...

GAZA, (PIC)-- Senior official of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Ziyad Jarghoun appealed to the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah border crossing and allow thousands of Palestinian passengers to enter the Gaza Strip. During a symposium organized by the union of Palestinian women in Rafah, Jarghoun also called on Egypt to allow Gaza people to travel freely through the Rafah border crossing, especially patients, students and holders of foreign passports. "It is unreasonable for the closure of the Rafah crossing to continue for more than a month, in light of Israel's closure of all crossings of the Strip except for one crossing, which has turned the Gaza Strip into a big prison," he stated. The DFLP official stressed that the Palestinian people want Egypt to return to its leading role in supporting their national cause. In another context, the Hamas Movement slammed the continued Egyptian media smear campaign against it, describing it as...

The British bank Barclays has come under fire for its holdings in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company and the main supplier of drones used to attack and kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The bank is the named owner of $2.9 million worth of shares in Elbit. More than 1.7 million people have signed a petition calling on Barclays to divest from “projects that finance illegal settlements and the oppressive occupation of the Palestinian people” and campaigners have occupied and protested at bank branches across the UK. Elbit’s share price rose in July off the back of the extensive use of its technology during Israel’s summer massacre in Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, including some 500 children. The company advertises its products as “combat proven” and recently reported a backlog in orders worth $6.2 billion. Through its holdings in Elbit Systems, Barclays is profiting directly from Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure...

Israeli forces detained a 10-year-old Palestinian boy in the Silwan neighborhood on Monday evening, a local information center said. Majdi Abbasi of the Wadi Hilweh information center told Ma'an that Israeli forces in the Ein al-Luza area of the neighborhood detained 10-year-old Rashid Abu Sarah, took of his shirt, blindfolded him, and took him away in a military jeep. Israeli forces also fired stun grenades in the neighborhood, Abbasi said. He did not have further information about the boy's arrest. more

From the Middle East Monitor - Israel believes that its missing soldiers are still alive in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians who have been subjected to investigations by the Israeli security forces said. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, witnesses said that Israeli authorities conducted intensive investigations with "patients" and their companions at the Erez crossing in order to obtain information about the fate of the two soldiers who went missing during the recent war on the Gaza Strip. According to the witnesses, who refused to be identified fearing being arrested by the Israeli army, Israel's focus during its investigation is to find out where Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin and soldier Shaul Aaron are being detained. They emphasised that the line of questioning clearly indicated that Israel believes both men are alive. On July 20, Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it had captured Aaron during the Israeli ground invasion in to the Strip. Two days later, the Israe...

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, visited Gaza today [Sunday], during his trip to the region. The Cardinal lead over 100 pilgrims from the Diocese of Westminister to Gaza to celebrate a Mass for the strips Catholic community, before going to visit the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. In an interview with MEMO today, Cardinal Nichols said "Everyone should rediscover the humanity of the situation, beyond the politics, beyond the oppression of war. We have to get a fresh focus, that it is a human community here in Gaza, and we have to look at ways that the community can prosper - because poverty is always a cause of frustration, and frustration is always a cause of dispute". The Cardinal agrees with the fears of others that the actions of an extreme few, on both sides, might set the agenda in the Holy Land, and thus strong leadership is required on both sides to lead to peace. He strongly believes that both sides must abide by internatio...

Medical sources reported, Sunday, that a Palestinian shepherd was killed when an Israeli explosive, dropped by the army during training, detonated near him in al-Marah area, close to Bardala village, in the Northern Plains of the occupied West Bank. The sources said that Ahmad Abdul-Rahman Sawafta, age 44, was herding his cattle in the area when he accidentally stepped on the explosive. His brother, Samer, told Al-Jazeera News Agency that Sawafta lost parts of his face and shoulder, due to the severity of the blast. He added that Israeli soldiers stationed in the area provided first aid to his brother and moved him to the Rambam Israeli Hospital in Haifa, where he died of serious wounds. Samer said that the area in question is a grazing land used by dozens of Palestinian shepherds, yet, the Israeli military constantly uses it for training using explosives and live fire, and that the army frequently invades Palestinian communities in the area during training. The slain Palestini...

A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country’s democratic character. Opponents, including some cabinet ministers, said the new legislation defined reserved “national rights” for Jews only and not for its minorities, and rights groups condemned it as racist. The bill, which is intended to become part of Israel’s basic laws, would recognise Israel’s Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation and delist Arabic as a second official language. Arab Muslims and Christians make up 20% of Israel’s population. The cabinet passed the bill by a 14-7 majority after reports of rancorous exchanges during the meeting, including between the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his justice minister, Tzipi Livni. The bill, which still requires the Knesset’s approval to become a law, comes as tensions between Israelis and Pa...

The PLO has postponed submitting a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding the end of Israel's occupation, having already passed several target dates for the procedure over the past two months. PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told Ma'an that the decision was made because the PLO is still lobbying to gain the support of nine security council members to ensure the vote passes. The resolution was also suspended because Iran nuclear talks are currently the top priority for Security Council permanent members. "The permanent member states have informed us that they would give priority to the Iranian issue not to the Palestinian statehood issue," al-Maliki said. "We haven't backed down on the resolution or cancelled it despite the international opposition and US threats." The PLO will submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council as soon as Iran nuclear talks have finished and the required political support has been obtained. The...

Defense for Children International - Palestine has published a video analysis, conducted by Forensic Architecture, which identifies the Israeli soldier who shot and killed 17-year-old Nadim Nowarah six months ago, in the West Bank city of Beitunia. According to WAFA Palestine News & Info Agency, DCI-Palestine said in a recent press release that “although Israeli authorities initially asserted that no live fire was used by soldiers during the May 15, 2014 protests, one border policeman, whose name has not been released, has since been arrested by Israeli police and faces manslaughter charges.” DCI-Palestine noted that the arrest was made after it released a video footage from security cameras which captured the fatal shootings of Nowarah and 16-year-old Mohammad Abu Daher, as well as an autopsy’s ruling that a live bullet was the cause of Nowarah’s death. The rights organization commissioned Forensic Architecture, a research agency which provides spatial and media analysis, to ...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical sources and witnesses said. Witnesses said Fadil Muhammad Halawah, 32, was hunting birds east of Jabaliya when Israeli soldiers shot him dead. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, said Halawah arrived at Kamal Udwan hospital in Jabaliya with a gunshot wound. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an that two Palestinians approached the separation barrier in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Soldiers called on the two to stop and fired warning shots in the air, the spokesman said. When the two Palestinians "refused to comply," soldiers "fired at the lower extremities, confirming one hit." The spokesman could not provide any further information. more

Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian home northeast of Ramallah early Sunday, an official told Ma'an. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that a group of extremist settlers raided the village of Khirbet Abu Falah and torched the home of Abd al-Karim Hussein Hamayil. The settlers threw a fire bomb into the house through a window before fleeing the scene, Daghlas said. He said Hamayil's widow and her three daughters were inside the house at the time of the attack. A number of rooms were torched, but no injuries were reported. The settlers also spray-painted "death to Arabs" and "vengeance" on the house in Hebrew. more

"Israel should impose an immediate moratorium on its policy of demolishing the family homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis," the New York-based group said, as the fate of three houses slated for demolition awaits a court ruling. "The policy, which Israeli officials claim is a deterrent, deliberately and unlawfully punishes people not accused of any wrongdoing. When carried out in occupied territory, including East Jerusalem, it amounts to collective punishment, a war crime." The East Jerusalem families of Mutaz Hijazi, and of cousins Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, killed by police after two separate attacks, have been served demolition orders on their homes but have appealed. Their lawyer, Mohammed Mahmud, said in a statement that an Israeli military court would hear their petition on Sunday morning. Hijazi was accused of shooting and critically wounding a far-right Jewish activist on October 29. Police shot him dead during a raid on...

Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh has announced that next week will see the second round of construction material and equipment entering the beleaguered Gaza Strip. The announcement comes only days after UN authorities in the besieged coastal enclave said that nearly 30,000 Palestinians were still living in temporary shelters in Gaza, even as days of rain was causing flooding and further hardship for thousands of families displaced by Israel's summer assault. Al-Sheikh said in a statement posted on his Facebook page that the Palestinian authorities planned to ensure the import of heavy equipment such as bulldozers and buses into Gaza, and he called upon private businesses in Gaza submit their requests for access through official government agencies. Al-Sheikh said that the second phase of construction materials would be the biggest, and that materials would reach 24,000 families. more

A Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli forces on Friday evening east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. Ibrahim al-Nimnim, 22, was shot in the right foot in the vicinity of al-Shuhada graveyard east of Jabaliya. He was taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital for treatment, where he was said to be in moderate condition. Al-Nimnim was shot aftern he and a group of others approached the border and set tires on fire and threw rocks toward the border. more

Israeli forces opened fire and injured dozens of Palestinians across the West Bank on Friday, as hundreds marched in a number of cities and villages in protest against the Israeli occupation and recent Israeli violence in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers opened fire on rallies in Nabi Saleh, central Hebron, at Qalandia checkpoint and in al-Bireh near Ramallah, in Kafr Qaddum, al-Masara, Jalazun refugee camp, Aida refugee camp, and in other villages across the West Bank, injuring dozens. Two Israeli soldiers were also reported injured in clashes that erupted following the protests. The protests came after a night of violence in Jerusalem, where two different hate attacks were reported against Palestinians on the basis of their ethnicity, in addition to two other such incidents inside Israel. On Friday afternoon, meanwhile, a Palestinian woman was run over by a Jewish settler near Shufat in East Jerusalem, and later in the evening a brawl erupted as a group of Jewish sett...

A spate of anti-Palestinian hate attacks have been reported since late Thursday in Jerusalem and northern Israel, police and Israeli media said. In Jerusalem, four Israeli girls attacked a Palestinian taxi driver with pepper spray in King George Street late Thursday, Israeli police said. Another Palestinian claimed he was also attacked by a group of Israeli girls in the center of the city. Police said they arrested four girls, settlers from the occupied West Bank, and a court ordered that they be banned from Jerusalem for 15 days. In northern Israel, unknown assailants threw acid on the car of an Imam in Acre late Thursday. An Israeli police spokesman said they are looking into the background of the incident. Israeli news site Ynet reported that a 53-year-old man was arrested near Haifa after threatening Palestinian workers with a knife. The man was disarmed by one of the workers at the restaurant and police arrested the suspect. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday that Pa...

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces have detained at least 380 Palestinians in raids across the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last three weeks, including 21 early Thursday alone. The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli authorities have engaged in a wide-ranging crackdown on Palestinians that has led to the arrests of nearly 200 in East Jerusalem since the beginning of November. The startling figures come amid growing instability in Jerusalem, while daily protest marches by Palestinians have been held across the city and Israeli authorities have been accused of "collective punishment" in their response to a series of attacks by individual Jerusalem Palestinians on Israelis. In addition to the 190 Palestinians detained in East Jerusalem, the PPS said that 70 were from Hebron, 32 from Ramallah, 24 from Bethlehem, 18 from Jenin, 14 from Tulkarem, 14 from Nablus, nine from Tubas, five from Salfit, and four from Qalqiliya....

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Thursday that tens of thousands of Palestinians are currently unable to cross the Rafah crossing with Egypt despite an urgent need, as a closure of the border by Egyptian authorities enters its fifth week. Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzm said during a press conference in Gaza City that 6,000 Palestinians are stuck on the Egyptian side of the crossing unable to return home, while 30,000 humanitarian cases -- including sick people seeking treatment abroad, students, and foreign-passport holders -- are stuck on the Gaza side, unable to leave. Al-Buzm called the closure of the Rafah crossing for four weeks a "humanitarian disaster" for the Gaza Strip, adding that Egyptian authorities are currently closing the crossing "for no logical reason." Al-Buzm pointed out that the Rafah crossing has been closed for 208 days this year so far, severely limiting the movement of people and goods. He requested...

On Tuesday night, the University of California at Los Angeles became the sixth of nine undergraduate campuses in the UC system within the last two years to pass a resolution calling for divestment from firms that profit from the Israeli occupation. The resolution was passed despite expensive efforts by anti-Palestinian groups to thwart such a victory. In a landslide victory — with eight student senators voting in favor, two voting against and two abstaining — UCLA’s resolution formally calls on the University of California to “withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings” in eleven US-based companies linked to the occupation. More than thirty student groups representing a wide spectrum of causes supported the divestment resolution. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA stated in a press release following the vote that members of the UCLA student council “from a variety of political affiliations voted in favor...

A number of extremist Israeli settlers invaded, Thursday, the village of Qusra, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and attacked property before local villagers chased them, and briefly detained two. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of Israeli Settlements file in northern West Bank, said the settlers came from Yesh Kodesh illegal settlement, south of the village. Daghlas added that local youths surrounded the invading settlers, and held two of them for more than 30 minutes, before the Palestinian District Coordination office intervened, and handed them to the Israeli side. more

Israeli forces on Wednesday night broke into the mourners’ tents of the family of Ghassan and Udayy Abu Jamal from Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood who were shot dead after they attacked a synagogue and killed five in west Jerusalem on Tuesday. Witnesses told Ma’an that the soldiers broke into both the men and women tents as well as the home of Mahmoud Abu al-Jamal and removed all posters of Ghassan and Udayy. Meanwhile, clashes broke in the Jabal al-Mukabbir, Sur Bahir and al-Tur neighborhoods in protest against Israel’s refusal to deliver the bodies of Ghassan and Udayy Abu Jamal to their families for burial. Medical sources said 12 young men were injured by rubber-coated bullets including one seriously injured in Sur Bahir after he was hit in the head. Dozens of others were hurt by tear-gas inhalation. An official in the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service in Jerusalem Dr Amin Abu Ghazala said four out of the 12 injured in Sur Bahir and Jabal al-Mukabbir needed hospital...

Disruptions to public transportation in Jerusalem are expected again Wednesday, as Palestinian drivers working for the Israeli bus company "Egged" begin their second day of strike in protest of the death of fellow-driver Yousuf Hasan al-Ramouni. Although an Israeli autopsy report and police investigation concluded that the 32 year old father of two died of suicide, Palestinians claim he was murdered by Israelis. Egged noted in a statement that “Following the sad death of an Egged driver who ended his life and committed suicide, there are disruptions in Jerusalem's urban bus routes. These disruptions are caused by the absence of drivers...from East Jerusalem”. Egged is bringing drivers to Jerusalem from other cities to minimise disruptions to service. An anonymous medical expert told the Palestinian news agency Ma'an that al-Ramouni died of “hanging and strangulation” and that preliminary tests suggest he was victime of “an organised murder”. The victim's brot...

Gunshots were fired near Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Israeli media and the Israeli army said. Israeli Channel 7 reported that gunshots were fired at Israeli forces at the crossing, without causing injuries. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an "fire was opened" at Israeli forces near the separation barrier in the area. Israeli forces responded by using a "harmless" smoke screen and left the area, she said. more

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished the family home of the suspect in a Jerusalem car-ramming attack last month, witnesses said. Dozens of Israeli troops raided the al-Bustan area of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem and proceeded to explode the home of Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi. The forces entered the area after midnight, surrounded the five-story building where the al-Shaludi family lives, and forced residents out of the building without allowing them to bring any of their possessions with them, witnesses said. Troops also evacuated three houses near the building and held residents in a tent for over four hours. They told residents to remove their cars from the area, before planting explosives in the al-Shaludi home and destroying it at around 3:45 a.m. Locals of the al-Bustan neighborhood said that the whole building was damaged in addition to nearby houses. more

AMMAN, (PIC)-- Director of the UNRWA operations Robert Turner said the buffer zone, which Egypt is creating on the border of Gaza, would lead the Palestinian population to feel like being in a big prison, describing the blockade as "unjust and deadly". Turner added that Egypt's buffer zone would have a psychological impact on the population in Gaza, although it would not affect the humanitarian services provided by the UNRWA. Turner made his remarks in a news conference on the sidelines of the meeting of the UNRWA advisory commission that was held on Monday in Jordan's Dead Sea area. For his part, UNRWA commissioner-general Pierre Krahenbuhl highlighted during the commission's meeting the tragic living conditions of the population in Gaza. Krahenbuhl criticized the reconstruction efforts as "much too slow and largely ineffective", and called on the Palestinian government to speed up these efforts and Israel to allow the needed building materials int...

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- An Israeli settler shot and seriously injured a Palestinian teenager Tuesday after a settler demonstration on the outskirts of Beitin village east of Ramallah. Ibrahim Mahmoud, 16, was shot with a live bullet and taken to Palestine Medical Complex with serious injuries. He is now stable and was placed in the ICU. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was looking into the report. Earlier a Palestinian man was stabbed by a group of Israelis in north Jerusalem. Fadi Jalal Radwan, 22, was attacked and stabbed by four Israelis while walking in the town of Kafr Aqab, his father said. He was stabbed three times in the legs, and once in the back. The victim was found bleeding in the street and taken to Hadassah hospital for treatment. Doctors said he was in a serious condition. more

A Palestinian man was stabbed by a group of Israelis in north Jerusalem on Tuesday, relatives told Ma'an. Fadi Jalal Radwan, 22, was attacked and stabbed by four Israelis while walking in the town of Kafr Aqab, his father said. He was stabbed three times in the legs, and once in the back. The victim was found bleeding in the street and taken to Hadassah hospital for treatment. Doctors said he was in a serious condition. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that "an Arab man was approached by three suspects" who asked him for light. They then stabbed him in the leg with a small knife. more

Iyad Salman was terribly shocked to find out that his son, Mohammad (9), has Osteoporosis, an illness that became hugely spread between the children of Gaza. Iyad assured that he was always keen that his children have a healthy lifestyle. However, his son became ill after buying and drinking desalinated water from carts that sell it in Tal-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah where he lives. Mohammed's doctor immediately diagnosed the causative of the illness to be the sold desalinated water, which was reiterated by the head of water monitoring department in the Ministry of health, saying that the lack of Chloride in the water causes Osteoporosis, especially for children. Despite knowing the causes for the illness, there is no substitute for the desalinated water, since the water provided by the Municipality is salted and unfit for drinking, and Israeli occupation control over more than 82% of Palestinian water. The prices of the desalinated water reach 30 NIS for 1000 Liters. A Germ...

Israeli military sources stated Tuesday that Palestinian fighters opened fire at an Israeli military jeep driving on the Yitzhar settlement road, south of Nablus, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. The sources said Palestinian fighters, driving a car near the Qaduim illegal Israeli settlement, opened fire at the military vehicle, and fled the scene. The army reported no injuries among the soldiers. Soldiers closed the Yitzhar-Nablus road, close to the Yitzhar illegal settlement, and stopped hundreds of Palestinian cars, while dozens of soldiers have also been deployed on the main road between Za’tara and Huwwara roadblocks. more

Palestinian factions Tuesday applauded an attack by two young Palestinians in a Jerusalem synagogue, killing four Israelis earlier in the day. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that the attack was a response to the "ongoing Israeli crimes against the Al-Aqsa Mosque," and urged Palestinians to carry out similar attacks. "The operation in Jerusalem came in response to the execution of the martyr (Yousuf Hasan) al-Ramouni," Abu Zuhri added, referring to the Monday hanging death of a Palestinian Jerusalemite bus driver whose family says was murdered by right-wing Israelis while police say the death was a suicide. A leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation Palestine, Kayid al-Ghoul, also praised the attack, but he did not say that the PFLP officially claimed responsibility for the attack. Speaking to the Lebanese news channel al-Mayadin, al-Ghoul said the attack was in response to ongoing Israeli crimes in occupied Jerusalem. The military w...