By: Walid Zaher
• Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudainah Wednesday said the Israeli government continues to “destroy any chance of resuming the peace process”. (http://english.wafa.ps/) Attach
• Israeli settlers on Wednesday set up 13 tents and caravans on Palestinian private-owned land near the village of Deir Estya, near the town of Salfit in the West Bank, according to local sources. (http://english.wafa.ps/)
• Israeli forces Wednesday detained four Palestinians from across the West Bank districts and Jerusalem, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s society (PPS). (http://english.wafa.ps/)
• Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has published a report on housing unit construction plans made by Israeli Settlement Council West Bank in order to solve the housing crisis in Gush Dan settlement bloc. (http://english.wafa.ps/)
• Israeli forces Wednesday assaulted two Palestinian citizens and seized a tractor in the village of Qusra, south of the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, local source said. (http://english.wafa.ps/)
• Palestinian cities and towns in Israel observed since Wednesday morning a general strike in protest of the Israeli police’s killing of a Palestinian in the town of Kufr Qassem on Tuesday dawn. (http://english.wafa.ps/)
• The death of Mohammed Taha of Kafr Qasem early Tuesday morning during clashes between police and local residents once again reveals the complex relationship between Arab society in Israel and the police and the lack of faith between them. The fact that a civilian security guard, not a police officer, fired the fatal shots does not improve the grim picture. (http://www.haaretz.com/) Attach
• The killing of two Palestinians; a Palestinian in the besieged Gaza Strip and a Palestinian citizen of Israel in the Israeli town of Kafr Qasem, hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies. (http://english.wafa.ps/) Attach
• On 7 June 2017, Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission; Johannes Hahn, Member of the European Commission in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations; and Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), signed a Joint Declaration on EU support to UNRWA for the period 2017-2020. They also announced the signature of the financial agreement for the EU contribution to the UNRWA Programme Budget for 2017, which covers the Agency’s essential services in terms of education, health care, and relief and social services. (http://english.pnn.ps/)
• The international community must ban the import of all goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements and put an end to the multimillion dollar profits that have fuelled mass human rights violations against Palestinians, said Amnesty International today. (http://english.pnn.ps/)
• The settlement activities in the occupied West Bank including Jerusalem have not stopped for a moment after US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region and his failure to address the settlements issue, which has accelerated its pace in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Israeli Civil Administration has approved the plan to build a new settlement south of Nablus, which were evacuated several months ago. (http://english.pnn.ps/)
• PLO Secretary-General Dr Saeb Erekat on Amnesty International Campaign to Ban Israeli Settlement Products (http://www.plo.ps/en) Attach
• I am a Palestinian millennial, part of a generation that has only known occupation. It is a brutal reality that penetrates every aspect of our lives. As a people, we seek what all humans seek – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet in 2017, we still find ourselves having to prove that we deserve to be free. We wonder how “inalienable” this right to freedom really is. (https://fatehmedia.eu/?p=101345)
• A horrific incident took place in the occupied territories last Thursday. It was no less despicable than the shooting of an incapacitated terrorist by Elor Azaria. Watching the video clip that documented the event turns one’s stomach. It’s revolting and infuriating, yet no media outlet in Israel paid any attention to it, reflecting the depths of apathy to which we have sunk. (https://fatehmedia.eu/?p=101341)
Presidential spokesman says Israel destroys any chance of peace
RAMALLAH, June 7, 2017 (WAFA) – Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudainah Wednesday said the Israeli government continues to “destroy any chance of resuming the peace process”.
Abu Rudainah’s statement came in response to remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he pledged more settlement construction in the West Bank.
He said these remarks “prove to the international community once again that Israel still lays obstacles and destroys any chance of resuming the peace process.”
“They pose a challenge to the US administration and its efforts to create the right atmosphere for a serious political process,” Abu Rudainah said. “It also constitutes an outspoken challenge to the entire international community, which recognized the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
“If Netanyahu does not consider the 1967 war an occupation, and then what is the point of launching a political process? Why launch negotiations? And on what basis will they be?”
He said such remarks constitute a challenge to the UN Security Council’s latest resolution on settlements, voted by all the world’s nations, including the United States which did not veto the resolution.
“The international community’s non-recognition of the Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, proves that the Palestinian cause is firm and that the Palestinian people will not be defeated.”
Israel’s Arab Citizens Have a Right to Protection
It seems that the police refuse to recognize that the Arabs of Israel are citizens of the state and that it is their right to receive police services and protection just like any other citizens
Haaretz Editorial
The death of Mohammed Taha of Kafr Qasem early Tuesday morning during clashes between police and local residents once again reveals the complex relationship between Arab society in Israel and the police and the lack of faith between them. The fact that a civilian security guard, not a police officer, fired the fatal shots does not improve the grim picture.
The clashes during which Taha was shot broke out in the context of the shut-down of Kafr Qasem’s schools in protest over police inaction at stopping violence. The residents have established municipal guard committees, made up of the town’s young people, in an attempt to maintain order and keep criminals out. But the police are against these committees because they say they can’t allow local organizations to carry out policing functions. Even if the police are right, the phenomenon reflects the vacuum in Arab communities into which unwanted elements enter.
It seems that the police and the Public Security Ministry refuse to recognize that the Arabs of Israel are citizens of the state and that it is their right to receive police services and protection just like any other citizens. Meanwhile, Arab society suffers from a proliferation of violence, frequently gun violence. Since the beginning of this year, 32 Arabs have been murdered, 27 of them by guns in criminal incidents. Many of the victims paid with their lives as a result of a power struggle among criminals.
More police substations have been added in Arab communities out of a desire to improve the sense of personal security, but public faith in the police has not grown and the violence has not decreased. That is because police presence isn’t enough, and can’t replace skilled professionals who can deal with the seriousness and extent of crime.
Dealing with this depends first and foremost on policy. The required change of policy doesn’t depend only on the police, but on the government and especially the Public Security Ministry, because fundamental changes in approach and strategy are needed. Instead of the current focus of the police on fighting minor foot-soldiers in crime organizations, this policy must declare all-out war on crime organizations operating in Arab society. The police, for its part, must go after the crime bosses and the murderers and bring them to justice.
The government as a whole, and the police in particular, must understand that they are obligated to the security of Israel’s Arab citizens no less than to the security of its Jewish citizens. Otherwise, the lack of faith will only grow and could devolve into a systemic breakdown in relations between the state and its Arab citizens.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
Newspapers review: Killing of two Palestinians in Gaza, Kafr Qasim focus of dailies
RAMALLAH, June 7, 2017 (WAFA) – The killing of two Palestinians; a Palestinian in the besieged Gaza Strip and a Palestinian citizen of Israel in the Israeli town of Kafr Qasem, hit the front page headlines in Palestinian dailies.
The three dailies said Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian young man and wounded seven others during clashes on the borders of Khuzaa town, east of Khan Younes in the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian young man from Kafr Qasim town in central Israel on Monday night.
They added the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel called for a general strike in all Palestinian-majority towns in Israel on Wednesday and protests on Thursday and Saturday.
On the other hand, al-Ayyam reported Israeli authorities approved a plan to construct a new settlement comprising of 1,800 settler units in the West Bank.
The plan was reportedly approved by the “Israeli Civil Administration”, the name Israel gives to the body administering its military occupation of the West Bank.
It added Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that he would proceed with settlement construction across the West Bank.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida and al-Ayyam reported Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh slamming Netanyahu’s recent remarks that Israel would maintain “security control” over the West Bank in any future peace deal with the Palestinians as “unacceptable”.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported him the meetings between President Mahmoud Abbas and his US counterpart Donald Trump were “serious and clear and paved the way for creating a rare opportunity to achieve peace.”
Al-Ayyam reported member of PLO’s Executive Committee Wassel Abu Youssef saying Abbas and Trump agreed to form a five-member Palestinian-US committee to discuss the prospects for political settlement.
Al-Quds said a delegation of Hamas officials, including deputy chief of Hamas’ politburo Mousa Abu Marzouk, continued meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
It added Israeli forces quelled a protest organized by the National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida said Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah briefed the cabinet about the results of his recent meeting with Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.
The dailies also highlighted statements of some United Nations (UN) officials marking 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories in 1967.
Al-Quds reported UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities Robert Piper slamming the Israeli occupation as “the most longstanding protection crisis in the UN’s history.”
Highlighting a Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) report on 50 years of Israeli occupation, al-Quds reported NRC saying Israel demolished over 1,000 Palestinian homes in 2016.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and saying: “Now it is the time to ]end the conflict[ by establishing an independent Palestinian state.”
Al-Hayat al-Jadida also reported UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein stating at the UN Human Rights Council’s 35th session in Geneva: “end of Israeli occupation would benefit both sides.”
Al-Ayyam said the United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley threatened to pull out from the UN Human Rights Council over the council’s alleged “chronic anti-Israel bias”.
PLO Secretary-General Dr Saeb Erekat on Amnesty International Campaign to Ban Israeli Settlement Products
Press Releases – June 07, 2017
We welcome the campaign of Amnesty International to ban all Israeli settlement products from international markets. This has been a longstanding Palestinian demand from the international community. Rather than a political position, this is a legal obligation on all States. There is no need to reiterate that settlements are illegal under international law while still allowing their products to be traded in international markets. Israel’s colonial settlement enterprise negates the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.
A few days ago Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged to continue building illegal colonial-settlements, while he takes pride in being the first Israeli PM to build new settlements after the Oslo Agreement. The world should not continue to tolerate this. Accountability is the only way to end the occupation and achieve a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
To read more news visit our facebook page
