Palestine News Report 28-5-2017
by: Walid Zaher
• Commission, Issa Qaraqe, said on Sunday that 80% of the demands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who ended their 41-day hunger strike on Saturday, have been met by the Israeli authorities.(WAFA) ) Attachment
• arrested at least three Palestinians from the districts of Hebron and Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources. (WAFA)
• Newspaper Review: Suspension of Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike focus of dailies (WAFA) Attachment
• The Israeli military court in Jaffa today looks into the appeal of soldier Elor Azaria, who shot dead a wounded Palestinian youth in Hebron on 24 March 2016.(PNN)
• Around 75 israeli settlers on Sunday morning have entered the yards of Al-Aqsa mosque on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan.(PNN)
• A group of Israeli settlers and soldiers on Saturday evening stormed the village of Madama, south Nablus city, northern West Bank, and injured one Palestinian in the head.(PNN)
• A week after a six-year-old Palestinian was seriously injured by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, the boy was rehospitalized after his initial treatment damaged his windpipe, his father told Ma’an on Sunday. (Ma’an)
• Award-winning South African filmmaker John Trengove canceled his participation in the upcoming Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival (TLVFest). His film, The Wound, is scheduled to be the festival’s opening night film on June 1.(Imemc)
• Britain’s Labour party announced, in its 2017 elections manifesto, that, if elected in June, the party would immediately recognize the state of Palestine.(Imemc)
• Peres, Erekat comment on Barghouti case.( AP Archive) Attachment
Official: 80% of prisoners’ demands have been met
RAMALLAH, May 28, 2017 (WAFA) – Chairman of the Detainees Affairs Commission, Issa Qaraqe, said on Sunday that 80% of the demands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, who ended their 41-day hunger strike on Saturday, have been met by the Israeli authorities.
He said these achievements came thanks to the agreement concluded between the leaders of the strike and the Israel Prison Service on May 26-27. “A substantial transformation has been achieved by this strike. This constitutes an important achievement to be built on in the future,” Qaraqe remarked.
Following are the main demands that have been met by the Israeli authorities in the aftermath of the strike, as published by the Detainees Affairs Commission:
• Improving the standards for telephone communication between the prisoners and their family members outside the prison.
• Lifting the security prohibition on hundreds of family members who are banned from visiting their imprisoned relatives.
• Initial acceptance for increasing the number of family visits for Palestinian prisoners from Gaza.
• Improving the standards for visits of family members of the second degree to their imprisoned relatives.
• Improving the imprisonment conditions of female prisoners and gathering them in one prison.
• Improving detention conditions of minor prisoners.
• Allowing the prisoners to receive meals while they are being transferred between prisons.
• Improving the standards for taking pictures with family members during family visitation.
• Improving the system of “canteens” in terms of quality and quantity.
• Resolving the issue of overcrowding in prisons.
• Providing an ICU ambulance in multiple prisons.
• Other achievements.
Newspaper Review: Suspension of Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike focus of dailies
RAMALLAH, May 28, 2017 (WAFA) – The suspension of the Palestinian prisoners’ mass hunger strike, which started on April 17th and lasted for 41 days, hit the front pages of the three Palestinian dailies on Sunday.
Al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the news of the suspension of the open-ended hunger strike, which was joined by around 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails to protest the difficult humanitarian conditions in Israeli jails and demand better treatment, feeding solely on water and salt as their only sources of nourishment.
Al-Quds said the prisoners suspended their strike after negotiations with Israeli Prison Services, while al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that prisoners declared victory and suspended their 41-day strike.
The three newspapers said a rally took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, in support of the two-state solution.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said that thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv in order to show support to the two-state solution of Palestine and Israel. Al-Quds described it as “a huge demonstration in support of the two-state solution.”
Al-Ayyam said that thousands of Israelileft-wing supportrs held a demonstration demanding peace with the Palestinians. It said President Mahmoud Abbas sent a message to the demonstration, which was warmly welcomed by those who attended the rally. Abbas said in the message that the time has come to end the occupation.
Funeral of 15-year-old Raed Rdaydeh was reported in al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida. The Palestinian teen was shot after he allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack against a police officer at a military checkpoint near the city of Bethlehem.
A statement by an Israeli military official Moti Almoz was reported in al-Quds. He said that Israel’s war with Gaza isn’t over yet.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported another statement by US President Donald Trump. Trump said that President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed to him their keenness of making peace.
Peres, Erekat comment on Barghouti case
SOUNDBITE: (English) Shimon Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister:
” We don’t have political trials, we have only traditional trials and the better to try the people in a fair process of justice than to kill or hit somebody else otherwise in a confrontation of blood. I am sure that Mr. Barghouti will have a fair trial and while we shall mention all the facts that bought us to arrest him, we should follow all the laws and calls of fair justice.”
SOUNDBITE: (English) Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator:
“The trial of Mr. Marwan Barghouti is a serious escalation, it is an Israeli attempt to undermine all the efforts being exerted to resolve the peace process and put it back on track at a time when we are exerting every effort to do so. This trial reflects the lack of seriousness on the Israeli side. Marwan Barghouti is a man of peace, Marwan Barghouti is an elected Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti believes in peace between Palestinians and Israelis, believes in ending the Israeli occupation as a start of peace. The convening of this court and the results of this court, as far as we are concerned, will be null and void and we hope that the Israelis will revoke their decision to convene this court and to release Mr. Marwan Barghouti, and other thousands of Palestinians.”
