BAGHDAD (IRIN) - Palestinian refugees stranded in two makeshift camps on the Syrian-Iraqi border may be able to go back to their homes in Iraq and offered protection by the Iraqi authorities, a senior Palestinian diplomat said on 28 July. The refugees had earlier turned down an offer to go to Sudan, citing security concerns. Read more about Palestinians stranded on border offered protection by Iraq authorities
Al-Haq’s new report, “Torturing Each Other: The Widespread Practices of Arbitrary Detention and Torture in the Palestinian Territory,” documents and analyzes arbitrary arrests, acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against individuals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by various Palestinian security or military agencies and personnel. Read more about Report: Torture rampant in Palestinian prisons
It must be the smallest Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: just half a house. But Palestinian officials and Israeli human rights groups are concerned that it represents the first stage of a plan to eradicate the historical neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, cutting off one of the main routes by which Palestinians reach the Old City and its holy sites. Jonathan Cook reports. Read more about Palestinian family denied even half a house
BIL’IN, West Bank (IPS) - A YouTube video showing a blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian being fired on at close range by an Israeli soldier in the presence of a Lieutenant-Colonel, has made international and regional headlines. Ashraf Abu-Rahma was arrested, beaten up, forced to sit blindfolded and handcuffed and then deliberately shot on his foot from less than a meter away. Read more about Palestinian "Che" blindfolded and shot
My friend and I decided to go to Tel Aviv at night to visit a friend of ours who works at a hotel there, and hang out on the beach together. Just before we reached the hotel, I noticed a car behind us. The driver of the other car blinked his lights, and I saw it was a police car, a GMC with a siren. I pulled over to the curb and stopped. The car stopped next to me, and one of the people in it asked, “Where are you from?” Read more about Testimony: Israeli police severely beat Palestinian student in Tel Aviv
HEBRON (IPS) - The Israeli military has erected three additional roadblocks, further blocking vehicular access on the road between the south Hebron village of al-Tuwani and the commercial hub of Yatta in the southern West Bank. The West Bank is the Palestinian area west of the Jordan river, much of it under Israeli control. Read more about Roadblocks cripple West Bank economy
Today, B’Tselem is publishing a video clip documenting a soldier firing a rubber coated steel bullet, from extremely close range, at a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who was holing the Palestinian’s arm when the shot was fired. Read more about Israeli soldier shoots restrained Palestinian at close range
Testimonies given to B’Tselem indicate that the Civil Administration recently informed residents of the Palestinian village ‘Arab al-Ramadin al-Janubi that they will be demanded to vacate their village and move to another site, in contradiction of Israel’s explicit undertaking to the high court. Read more about Israel threatens West Bank village with expulsion
JERUSALEM (IPS) - Shopping malls. Schools. Medical centers. Charities, orphanages. Soup kitchens. These are the latest targets in the campaign the Israeli military is waging against Hamas in the West Bank. Israeli military officials have identified Hamas’s civilian infrastructure in the West Bank as a major source of the Islamic group’s popularity, and have begun raiding and shutting down these institutions in cities like Hebron, Nablus and Qalqiliya. Read more about Israel targets Hamas orphanages
Evidence gathered by Adalah-NY indicates that Brooklyn-based billionaire Shaya Boymelgreen owns the two little-known Canadian companies sued Wednesday for war crimes in Canada by the West Bank Palestinian village of Bil’in. Three Hebrew language Israeli media reports from 2005-2006 report that Boymelgreen owns the Green Park companies that are now being sued for $2 million in Quebec Superior Court. Read more about US billionaire owns corporations sued by Palestinian villagers