AFP RESPONDS TO FALSE ACCUSATIONS SURROUNDING A PICTURE TAKEN IN THE WEST BANK VILLAGE OF AL-DIRAT ON JANUARY 25

February 3, 2012 AFP http://www.afp.com
http://www.afp.com/afpcom/en/content/news/afp-responds-to-false

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (AFP) WAS RECENTLY ACCUSED IN BLOGS AND IN A LETTER SENT BY THE ISRAELI EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON TO PROMINENT US NEWSPAPERS OF FILING A PICTURE TAKEN ON JANUARY 25 IN AL-DIRAT, WEST BANK THAT HAD BEEN STAGED. AFTER SEVERAL DAYS OF THOROUGH RESEARCH BY OUR JERUSALEM BUREAU, AFP WISHES TO CONFIRM THE VERACITY OF BOTH THE PICTURE AND THE ACCOMPANYING PHOTO CAPTION.

In a letter to US newspapers, the Israeli embassy in Washington wrote that the vehicle was in fact stationary and that medics from the Israeli Defense Forces and Red Crescent determined that the construction worker had not been injured. In its letter, the embassy asked newspapers to “issue a correction that the purported injury was not confirmed independently, contradicts medical examinations by both the IDF and Red Crescent, and was perhaps staged”. After casting doubt on AFP’s credibility and journalism ethics, it then asked the newspapers “to consider ceasing to publish the photographs of Hazem Bader”.
These claims are false.

AFP’s Jerusalem bureau and photo editor interviewed other media representatives present at the scene and watched video footage filmed by other colleagues showing the construction worker being carried away on a stretcher. Their trust in the events described by Hazem Bader is unequivocal.

Reporters from AFP Jerusalem bureau also interviewed the injured construction worker, Mahmud Abu Qbeita, on February 1 as well as the doctors that treated him at Yatta hospital. The following is a translation from Arabic of the medical certificate issued on the day of the incident : “Yatta Hospital Prescription for Mohammed Abu Qbeita To whom it may concern, The above mentioned person has attended the emergency service at the hospital. He was suffering from severe pain in his right leg. He said that an Israeli military vehicle ran over him. In the medical examination we found that he has pain in his right knee, pain in his pelvis, and pain in the neck, and has difficulty in walking. We conducted X-RAYS on him and found fractures. He has been advised to consult the orthopedic department."

Here’s a transcript of the interview given on February 1 by Mohammed Abu Qbeita: "I was working on this site for the first day. It was the first time I'd been working there. Some time after we started working the Israeli army arrived. All of a sudden, a lot of them, started saying it was forbidden to build there. I didn't know that because I hadn't worked there before, but they said it was forbidden and we had to stop and they wanted to demolish what was already at the site. They were shouting a lot and I started walking over to where my stuff was so I could get my phone and my ID card and that's when the tractor hit me. It hit me twice, first on my side, which knocked me over on the ground. Then it drove over one of my legs. I didn't see it coming. It went over one of my legs, one was under the wheel, the other one was outside it. (Asked whether he heard it coming) I didn't hear it, there was a lot of noise, a lot of shouting. Even if I heard something, I didn't respond because I never imagined that it would hit me. (Asked who was driving?) It was one of them driving, one of the army, the Israelis. I don't know who he was. It was our tractor, for our work, but he was on it and driving. (Asked if he went to the hospital?) Yes, I went to the hospital, they examined me and treated me and I have a medical certificate and I will show it to anyone who wants to see it. Anyone who wants can talk to me and take a picture of my leg and of me."

In the light of these inquiries and based on the trust we have in our photojournalist, AFP Management does not believes that this event could ever have been staged.
Given the ferocity of the attacks against the AFP Photo service, we have decided to release this statement in order to set the record straight. We will not make any further comment.

MARCADORES

“Home Front” – Just Vision Chronicles the Struggle in Sheikh Jarrah

21 December 2011, Shalom Rav http://rabbibrant.com (USA)

by Rabbi Brant Rosen

Just Vision (the folks behind the documentary films "Encounter Point" and "Budrus") has just released "Home Front" - a new series of four video portraits that profiles Palestinians fighting Israeli settler takeover of their homes in Sheikh Jarrah as well as Israeli solidarity activists who are standing with them in their struggle.

If you 're unfamiliar with the situation in Sheikh Jarrah (and similar circumstances in other parts of E. Jerusalem and the West Bank) this film will provide you with a powerful and expertly documented introduction. Click above to see the first clip. Click here for to see all four.

Highly recommended.


A Palestinian teenager whose family is forced to give up part of their
home and live under the same roof as a family of settlers. He comes of
age in the face of unrelenting tension with his neighbors and unexpected
cooperation with Israeli allies in his backyard.


An American-born Israeli mother who to her own surprise becomes
involved in the demonstrations after her children are arrested for
protesting.


A Palestinian community organizer from Sheikh Jarrah who spearheads the involvement of local women in the movement while facing the risk of losing her own home to the settlers.


A former Israeli soldier from a religious background who only several years after his combat service in the West Bank finds himself taking on a leading role in the protests.

Israeli activist: Checkpoint at J’lem refugee camp form of “ethnic cleansing”

22 December 2011, +972 Magazine http://972mag.com (Israel)

Mya Guarnieri*

Approximately 30 Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals gathered at the edge of Shu’fat refugee camp on Sunday to protest a new Israeli checkpoint, which opened on December 12 and that an Israeli activist likened to a form of “ethnic cleansing.” Palestinian kids threw stones; Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets at the children.

Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals protest the new permanent checkpoint at Shu'fat. (Photo: Mya Guarnieri)

A number of local Palestinian activists were reportedly arrested prior to the demonstration.

The small group of protesters stood in the roundabout closest to the new checkpoint, holding signs and giving speeches. Israeli police approached and asked the group to move 20 meters back because the protesters were “bothering” them. The demonstrators responded that the checkpoint bothered them and refused to move.

After a tense stand-off, the police left and the protest continued.

“This [checkpoint] has nothing what so ever to do with security,” Jeff Halper, a co-founder of the Israeli Commitee Against House Demolitions, said. “There are Palestinians on both sides of the border. [The checkpoint] has one purpose–to concentrate 50,000 Palestinians on one side of the [separation] wall so their residency can eventually be revoked.”

Halper added that the checkpoint represented “ethnic cleansing.”

Shu’fat refugee camp was founded by Jordan in 1966. Today, it is home to approximately 50,000 Palestinians. It is located in the eastern part of the city and falls inside of Israeli-drawn municpality lines.

Many of the residents hold Jerusalem residency. But to keep this status, they must prove that Jerusalem remains the “center” of their life. According to activists, the checkpoint–which separates one area of Jerusalem from another, impeding freedom of movement–makes this already difficult task more difficult. Scores of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem lose their residency rights every year; 2008 marked an all-time high, with the Israeli government stripping over 4000 Palestinians of their status. Between 1967 and 2010, Israel revoked the residency of over 13,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites.

Jaber Mouheisen, head of the Shu’fat’s Popular Committee, called the checkpoint illegal. “We carry Israeli ID cards…This is our right to live here and move freely.”
He added that the occupation would fall “sooner or later.”

As the protest dispersed, small children threw stones towards the checkpoint. Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets. After the kids continued, police entered the refugee camp with their weapons drawn. Israeli protesters appealed to them to leave, saying their presence and their weapons were a provocation. The police retreated to the roundabout near the checkpoint.

When asked via email about the purpose of the new checkpoint at Shu’fat refugee camp and whether it was intended to separate Jerusalem residents from other areas of the city, Israeli officials did not respond.

This post originally appeared on the Alternative Information Center website.

*Mya Guarnieri is a Jerusalem-based journalist and writer whose work has appeared in dozens of publications spanning the US to India, including Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, The National, Counter Punch, The Boston Review, and Caravan. She has been invited to serve as a commentator on Israel/Palestine on the BBC and Al Jazeera, among others. Mya holds undergraduate degrees in Psychology and English from the University of Florida and a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Florida State University. Her short stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Narrative, and elsewhere. She is currently working with an agent on a book about migrant workers in Israel.

Contact myaguarnieri@gmail.com

Tel Aviv University accused of spying on student activists

22 December 2011, The Israeli Communist Party המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית‎ (Israel)

Tel Aviv University has called on lecturers to turn in students who carried out protest activities on campus last week. Students and lecturers accused the University of resorting to "secret police" methods and oppressing legal social protest on campus.

According to "Haaretz", in a letter sent to lecturers in the history, philosophy and literature departments, the university's security department attached a YouTube clip showing students urging their friends on campus to join the social protest they were planning at the university

Student's demonstration at Tel-Aviv University (Photo: N.B.)

"I will be grateful for your handing over the students' details as soon as possible, including full name, ID number and telephone number," the TAU security head wrote to the lecturers.

"It will be helpful if beyond identifying the students, you would attach to each [one's name] the identification marks from the clip so that we can identify them in action ... since this group has already carried out and is planning illegal protest activity on campus," he wrote.

The group calls itself "The Sourasky Operation - a campus action group," after the Sourasky Library near which it had gathered. Last week, when the university's management heard the group was planning social activity in the building, it evacuated the library ahead of closing time, locked it and posted security guards at the entrance.

The several dozen students moved their social activity to the Recanati Building, where they discussed renewing the social protest with an emphasis on students' issues such as housing, tuition, cost of living and workers' rights. Prof. Eli Friedlander, head of the philosophy department, responded to the university's letter, saying: "I strongly protest the security department head's disgraceful demand in the email. There is no place for a secret police on campus." The YouTube clip sent to the lecturers shows students facing the camera and calling their friends to act for social justice.

"We are students who want to make ends meet, who want to study in dignity, to have a place to live. We want to submit papers, not only serve coffee," they said, among other things.

"In the current sociopolitical environment, it is not surprising that the university is acting like a secret police. It's a natural reflection of what is happening 'outside' and our initiative is a bid to fight these social and political injustices," says Nimrod Flashenberg, a third-year history and philosophy student who appears on the clip. "The university is oppressing sociopolitical activity on campus," he says.

The university also sent several student activists letters scolding them for their activity last week. "If any public activity takes place in the future without proper authorization, harsh disciplinary steps will be taken against the organizers and participants," the security department head wrote.

"A student found organizing or participating in illegal public activity will have difficulty receiving a permit to hold public activity on campus in the future," he added. One student said the security department told her it was following the group's activity on its closed Facebook page. This was corroborated by two of the group members who did not attend the meetings, but received warning letters all the same.

The You Tube clip (2.01 minutes, Hebrew):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vPJ81zt9THc

MERCOSUR AND PALESTINE

Palestine Chronicle http://palestinechronicle.com (US, UK)
Post Date: 17:38 12/21/2011

The Mercosur, a leading trading bloc of four South American nations, has signed a landmark free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA). On Tuesday, PA Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki and the foreign ministers of the member states of the trade group, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, signed the deal during the organization's presidential summit in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Mercosur countries along with Venezuela, which is currently in the process of joining the economic bloc, have all recognized the Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority has free trade agreements with the European Union, Turkey, and Arab League countries. The bloc's combined market encompasses more than 250 million people and accounts for more than three-quarters of the economic activity on the continent. Before this historic agreement, only one member of Mercosur, Argentina, had trade agreements with the Palestinians. (Reference for text and photo: Via Press TV)