The Institute for Middle East Understanding : All site additions (global feed)

Palestinian beer defies Middle East strife (Agence France Presse)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:47:35 PST

Some Palestinians have taken up arms and others attend peace talks in their decades-long struggle, but Nadim Khoury has found a third route to statehood - the brewing of delicious local beer. The 49-year-old returned to his native West Bank village of Taybeh from the United States in 1994 with the unusual and ambitious idea of distilling the dream of Palestinian independence into a smooth, full-bodied golden lager.

Israeli extremist groups post Al-Aqsa break-in photos online (Ma'an News)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:10:23 PST

Israelis on Thursday posted statements, news items and photographs online indicating that extremist groups had broken into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on Wednesday. Among the claims were that groups of Jewish Israelis had "boldly and loudly" read parts of their holy book, which is known in Hebrew as the Tanach. Among the individuals at the break-in were reportedly members of "Yehuda Atzion," an extremist group that threatened in the 1980s to "blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Third death in West Bank clashes (BBC News)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:06:36 PST

The army said he was in a group of three people in Kufr Malik village, one of whom was carrying a firebomb. Another Palestinian man died overnight after being critically wounded in a clash near a Jewish settlement. The shooting happened during a protest about another killing on Tuesday of a teenager - also an alleged firebomber. In the latest incident, Aziz Beerat, 20, was killed when Israeli soldiers in a jeep opened fire in Kufr Malik village, north-east of Ramallah.

Israeli Arab groups: Riots were bid to expel Acre's Arabs (Jack Khoury, Haaretz )

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:03:08 PST

Israeli Arab groups on Thursday branded last week's violent clashes in Acre as an attempt to expel the northern city's Arab residents. Acre-based Israeli Arab community groups will announce this claim on Thursday in conjunction with Arab families that have been forced out of their houses in the city's eastern neighborhood in the wake of the clashes. The groups claim that the riots that have swept across the mixed city since last week's Yom Kippur were in fact a premeditated attempt at ethnic cleansing.

Hebron: Palestinian family says trapped by army (Ali Waked, Ynet)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:59:24 PST

For some Palestinians this Sukkot means being forced to live in a small room for days. This was the case for Sultan family from Hebron, who were ordered into one room of their house on Tuesday morning and have not yet been released. IDF troops commandeered the family's house as part of the army's preparations for the arrival of numerous Israeli visitors to the city. The family members claim that despite initially being told they would only have to remain confined to the room for 24 hours, the soldiers have yet to leave the house.

Olive groves set on fire, as West Bank settler violence flares (Ma'an News)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:16:03 PST

Israelis from the West Bank settlement Qedumim set fire to olive trees owned by a Palestinian farmer, Fathi Hamed Amer, in the village of Kafr Qaddum, which is adjacent to the settlement on Thursday morning. Witnesses reported that as of late morning the olive groves were still burning. The area lies west of the city of Nablus. The burning of the olive trees is the latest in a series of violent settler attacks, particularly against Palestinian famers, who recently began the annual olive harvest.

Festival of hatred in Acre (Meron Benvenisti, Haaretz)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:26:15 PST

Consideration of the events in Acre must include the influence of this external stratum on the local-municipal tension, which makes it explosive. The friction between a Jewish population, in which many are new immigrants from distressed classes, and a population of Palestinian refugees, most of whom were forced to leave their homes in nearby villages, creates a potential for violence.

A childhood occupied (IMEU)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:35:50 PST

Palestinian boy beaten, detained at Nablus checkpoint (Ma'an News)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:08:42 PST

Israeli soldiers assaulted and detained a young Palestinian at the Huwwara checkpoint south of Nablus on Wednesday night, according to witnesses at the scene. Several Palestinians told Ma'an that the soldiers first accused the 16-year-old boy, Sa'd Ibrahim Abed Gaghoub, of possessing a knife. They said troops then assaulted the boy, closing the checkpoint for several minutes while processing his arrest.

The settlers' war with Israel (Paul Raymond, The Guardian)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:04:17 PST

No religious festival in Jerusalem would be complete without a controversial political incident, and this year's Yom Kippur was no exception. A group of nearly a hundred rightwing radicals forced their way on to the plaza of the Dome of the Rock, one of the most sacred sites in Islam. Entering the precinct on Yom Kippur was a symbolic way of claiming Jewish sovereignty over the site many consider to be the location of the second temple, destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

IDF troops kill third Palestinian fire-bomber within 3-day period (Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz )

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:02:37 PST

Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead a Palestinian early Thursday as he was preparing to throw a fire bomb at them in the West Bank village of Kufr Malik. The IDF said he was one of three men an army patrol spotted carrying firebombs under cover of darkness and he was shot when he ignored warning fire. The other two escaped. Palestinian medics named the dead man as Aziz Yousef, 20, and said his body was handed over by Israeli officials before dawn.

Jurists: Acre driver cannot be indicted (Yael Levy, Ynet)

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:01:42 PST

The primary consideration that led police to arrest Arab driver Taufik Jamal from Akko [Acre] was an offense to religion. But Israeli jurists have questioned the validity of an indictment based on such a consideration. Jamal's drive through a Jewish Akko neighborhood on Yom Kippur sparked violent, interethnic riots in the northern city. "Such an indictment has no place in the modern age," Professor Emeritus Aharon Enker told Ynet.

West Bank settler attacks on the rise (Linda Gradstein, The Washington Post)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:44:38 PST

The human rights group B'Tselem lists 429 reported settler attacks on Palestinians this year - an increase of 75 percent over last year. In Asira al-Qibiliyya, the Palestinian village near Yitzhar, Nahla Mahmoud said settlers enter almost every week. Her home is the closest to the settlement and has been repeatedly attacked by settlers.

Palestine gains membership in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IMEMC)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:32:37 PST

From today forward, Palestine will be represented in the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) as a permanent member, a meeting of the union's member states, excluding Israel, decided Wednesday. The decision read that the Palestinian National Council will be representing Palestine at the IPU in Geneva. Palestinian officials voiced their happiness over the decision, considering it as a historic day in the life of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian police assist West Bank olive pickers (Ma'an News)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:01:17 PST

Palestinian police in a number of West Bank towns - including Bethlehem, Jenin and Tubas - are sending their forces to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives. Police are being sent into the fields to strengthen relations with farmers and to protect them from possible harm. The olive harvest has been disrupted almost daily this year by Israeli settlers and soldiers, who have harassed and sometimes assaulted Palestinian farmers on their land.

Fatah rejects bilateral talks with Hamas (Agence France Press)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:58:49 PST

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has rejected a call for talks with arch-rival Hamas ahead of early November Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo, his spokesman said on Wednesday. "Fatah and all the factions of the Palestine Liberation Organisation are in favour of a Palestinian dialogue that involves all the parties," said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina.

Universities union denies Israel motion overstepped mark (Peter Kingston, The Guardian)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:56:49 PST

The University and College Union has denied exceeding its legal powers in asking its members to question their contacts with Israel, following a court threat by its own members. According to the UCU, it would be lawful for any English university considering setting up links with an Israeli counterpart to consider the moral and political debate surrounding Israel's actions towards the Palestinian people.

Riots fracture rare Jewish-Arab ties in mixed Israeli town (Joshua Mitnick, The Christian Science Monitor)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:00:42 PST

After four days of ethnic rioting that has torn apart one of the few Israeli cities where Arabs and Jews live and socialize together, Israeli President Shimon Peres brought together political and religious leaders of both communities in an effort to restore a sense of calm and coexistence. Community activists and Israeli analysts say the worst domestic clashes since 2000 were a local symptom of the troubled relations between the Jewish state and its one-fifth Arab minority.

A West Bank mayor's struggle (Paul Adrian Raymond, The Electronic Intifada)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:30:03 PST

Just two day before my visit, the Israeli army conducted an early morning exercise right in the center of Aqaba as the locals were eating their pre-dawn meal in preparation for a day's fasting for Ramadan. "These provocations against a tiny village would be unacceptable in any country in the world," says Hajj Sami. "The people of this village want to live in peace, but the Israelis don't let them. It is impossible for us to leave here, there is nowhere else for us to go."

A Nablus olive press (IMEU)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:31:26 PST