In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Property

(Compiled by Leslie Bravery, Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Auckland, New Zealand www.palestine.org.nz) [If you have difficulty with the display of this report, it may be better viewed on our website]

NB: We shall always do our utmost to verify the accuracy of all items in these IOP newsletters/reports wherever possible – but please forgive us for any errors or omissions (not of our own making) that may occur! L & M.

IOP Report {No. 4} for June 2017}

3 Palestinians shot dead

in Jerusalem after Israeli

officer fatally stabbed

Another young man

shot dead by Israeli forces

Israeli Army wounds/injures

29 Palestinians near Jerusalem

Israeli Army Gaza incursion –

crops bulldozed

Israeli Army destroys Palestinian

olive groves and crops to

make way for new illegal colony

Victory for BDS in court case

against UK Government

Recent news updates:

Three Palestinians shot dead after Israeli officer fatally stabbed in Jerusalem. The attack took place on Sultan Suleiman Street outside the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City of Occupied East Jerusalem. One Israeli police officer was critically injured and later died, while three Palestinians police referred to as “Arab terrorists” were shot dead. The Israeli police officer who died was 23-year-old Hadas Malka. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the slain Palestinians as Adel Hassan Ahmad Ankoush (18), Baraa Ibrahim Saleh Taha (18) and Usama Ahmad Dahdouh (19), all from the central Occupied West Bank village of Deir Abu Mashal. The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that the attack was carried out at two scenes near Damascus Gate; two of the Palestinians were shot and killed after reportedly assaulting Israeli police officers with knives and guns, while the third attacker was shot dead after fatally stabbing the border policewoman as she attempted to reach for her gun. A second Israeli officer was reportedly lightly wounded and two Palestinian bystanders were also wounded and hospitalised as Israeli forces began firing wildly. According to Ma'an documentation, 33 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the start of 2017, while eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the same time period. https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777676

Young man shot dead by Israeli forces. On 20 June, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man, Baha’ Samir al-Harbawi (23), near the Jaba’ military roadblock in Occupied East Jerusalem, after he reportedly attempted to stab them. The soldiers also stormed a home and took prisoner and interrogated the father of the slain Palestinian. The Israeli Army then isolated and deployed more troops. Soldiers then invaded al-Eizariya and abducted Emad al-Harbawi, the father of the slain Palestinian, after storming his home and searching it, and took him to a detention and interrogation centre in Ma’ale Adumim colony. Eyad al-Harbawi, the uncle of the slain Palestinian, said Baha’ left al-Eizariya in the evening after work, telling the family that he was heading to Ramallah to visit his brother, and to do some shopping there. Baha’ has never been detained or imprisoned by Occupation forces and he had no political affiliations.

Israeli Army wounds/injures 29 Palestinians near Jerusalem. On Wednesday night Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, invaded Abu Dis, wounding three youths and causing 26 severe tear gas casualties. The soldiers also took prisoner one Palestinian near Jenin. The Palestinian Red Crescent in Occupied Jerusalem said its medics rushed to Abu Dis and provided treatment for three wounded Palestinians as well as 26 tear gas casualties. http://imemc.org/article/army-injures-29-palestinians-near-jerusalem-abduct-one-near-jenin/

Israeli Army Gaza incursion – crops bulldozed. 19 June 2017 | The Israeli Army twice stormed onto Palestinian farmland from behind the Green Line. Witnesses said they saw four bulldozers at work near what was once the Sufa crossing. Also Israeli bulldozers bulldozed Beit Hanoun farmland. The Israeli Army and Navy regularly open fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen, shepherds and farmers, in effect destroying much of the Palestinian population's agricultural and fishing sectors.

Israeli Army destroys Palestinian olive groves and crops to make way for new illegal colony. 21 June 2017 | Invading Israeli forces sabotaged Palestinian agriculture belonging to the village of Jaloud, south of Nablus, claiming the land for Israel by calling it “government-owned property.” Israel’s colonies in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and, in particular, the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory but constant violator. 

UN weekly report: http://mailchi.mp/un/protection-of-civilians-weekly-report-4-18-april-542941?e=47f1bb36d5

Victory for BDS in court case against UK Government. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in Britain took the UK Government to the Royal Courts of Justice to fight for the right to boycott. On 22 June the judge delivered his verdict and justice prevailed. Administrative Court judge, Sir Ross Cranston, determined that the Government had acted for an improper purpose. The Government was trying to stop local council pension schemes divesting from companies complicit in Israel’s human rights violations. Theresa May’s disgraceful attempt to silence Palestinian voices and restrict the right to peaceful protest has failed. It’s a moment to treasure and a key victory for local democracy, the rule of law and for Palestine. PSC knows the public is on its side. A recent YouGov poll showed 43% of the British public thought BDS was reasonable. PSC's Director, Ben Jamal says: “We now know that the law is on our side too. We couldn’t be happier that our right to boycott has been upheld by the court in the month that the illegal military Occupation turns fifty years old. Today we have drawn a line in the sand against the attempts to suppress the right to boycott and to stand up for Palestine. Free Free Palestine!!”

Is this the end of Al Jazeera?

By John Arlidge (abridged)

Read full article at: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/is-this-the-end-of-al-jazeera-a3569306.html

This afternoon, as she does most afternoons, Maryam Nemazee will ride the lift to the 16th floor of the Shard, the highest office floor in London’s tallest skyscraper, and take her seat behind the off-white curved desk in Shard studio. She will wait for the lights to come up before smiling and saying: ‘Good evening and welcome to Al Jazeera.’ Durham-educated Nemazee presents Al Jazeera’s flagship news bulletin most nights and is one of the Qatar-based network’s most celebrated journalists. Millions worldwide currently tune in to her show. But how many people will soon be watching?

Al Jazeera is confronting its worst crisis since it launched in 1996. Its signal is being blocked in five countries in the Middle East, the region where it is based and where it made its name. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan have banned it. Now the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are calling on Qatar, whose ruling royal family owns the network, to shut it down permanently. Someone is already trying. Last week it became the target of a powerful cyber attack.

But appearances can be deceptive. Al Jazeera, as I found out when I spent a week there a few years ago, is a big network with big ambitions — and its leading figures say there is no way the current campaign against it will succeed. One, speaking privately because, since the crisis staffers have been told not to give interviews, tells me: ‘Al Jazeera is too important to too many people around the world and certainly too important to the emir and the government for any amount of pressure to shut it down.’

Al Jazeera, which exploded on to the world’s media stage when it became the main outlet for grainy videos from Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks, is more than just another rolling news network. It is a crucial — the most crucial — element of Qatar’s efforts to build itself a future. Geographically, Qatar is a tiny thumb sandwiched between the giant fists of the Middle East’s two regional superpowers, Saudi Arabia and Iran. In the roughest neighbourhood on Earth, you need power. Qatar has hard power, thanks to the US. The emir’s father handed a chunk of the nation to the US military for its main Middle East base. The country’s sovereign wealth fund also owns more than £100bn-worth of international assets, including The Shard itself, Harrods and a stake in the London Stock Exchange.

Al Jazeera, as one editor puts it: ‘The network is now the sole credible voice of Qatar projecting the country as a modern, free-thinking, free-speaking, open Arabian hub in a region where such qualities are rare indeed.’ There is another reason Al Jazeera will continue broadcasting, and it is one that its journalists don’t always like to talk about. The emir foots almost the entire bill for the network, which exceeds £100m a year. That’s a lot of cash even if you are the head of state of the world’s richest country, per capita. Qatar has the third-largest natural gas reserves — 890 trillion cubic feet-worth more than £1 trillion. The emir expects something in return: support — subtle but clear — for his foreign policy objectives.

Although publicly Al Jazeera insists it is ‘not partisan’, one senior correspondent concedes: ‘We’re only 85% independent. The other 15% of the time we are helping to gently make the case for Qatar’s view of the region and the wider world.’ An editor adds: ‘My job is to make sure we are independent enough to be credible journalistically while also pleasing our paymasters.’ When rival states accuse the emir of using Al Jazeera to support his objectives, they have a point. Up to a point. What about those allegations that Al Jazeera is biased in favour of radical Islamist groups? Watch the screens in its Doha lobby and you soon notice that its coverage is different from that which we’re used to here. Corpses, including those of young children, often appear to emotive, swirling orchestral accompaniments. The language sounds odd, too. On the Arabic language channel, suicide bombers are often referred to as shaheed, or martyrs. Critics point out that Al Jazeera uses the expression ‘the state organisation’ to refer to Islamic State, as opposed to the pejorative ‘Daesh’.

Some insiders say that Al Jazeera Arabic does whip up emotion and is often sectarian and partisan, but it largely goes unnoticed since few Westerners watch the Arabic service, preferring the more sober English-language channel. One former senior manager angrily refutes this. Wadah Khanfar used to be Al Jazeera’s director general until he left to set up Al Sharq Forum, an independent network dedicated to developing long-term strategies for political development, social justice and prosperity in the Middle East. Speaking from Doha, he tells me: ‘It is not Al Jazeera that is encouraging extremism. Al Jazeera reports on what is going on, including extremism. Those who cause and encourage it are the states — local and foreign — who have interests in this region.’

If anything, he adds, Al Jazeera plays a positive role by reporting more fairly and fully than any other network in the region. Virtually every TV station and newspaper in the Middle East is either state-owned or state-run or both, with all coverage shaped to the liking of powerful regional bodies. Al Jazeera’s independence, even if it is only 85%, is valuable. ‘By covering all sides, we demystify and promote knowledge, if not always understanding,’ Khanfar says. He adds that the word shaheed is only used for Palestinians who die fighting Israel. Bias, of course. But proof of extremism? As ever in the Middle East, it depends on whom you ask. Regional officials and sheikhs are now conducting hurried rounds of shuttle diplomacy, hoping to calm the Gulf feud. Qatar recently signalled it might make some concessions to ease tensions but that does not appear to extend to Al Jazeera. Addressing the complaints of rival Gulf states, the Qatari ambassador to the US said last week: ‘If they are threatened by Al Jazeera … are they scared of free media and freedom of speech?’ It looks like Maryam Nemazee’s job is safe for now.

                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Palestine Yearbook 2015

The genocide the world ignores

by Diana Lodge

Everyone should have a copy

of this invaluable resource!

To order the book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Palestine+Yearbook+2015

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See this In Occupied Palestine newsletter at: the PHRC website: www.palestine.org.nz

- and you can check out previous editions by clicking on In Occupied Palestine listed under Contents

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let us know if you no longer wish to receive these emails. Please, if you have friends or family who would like to receive them ask them to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it