Palestinians Refuse to Be Deported from Where They Fell in Love

In TeleSUR

Israel is citing vague security fears to justify removing Palestinians from Jersulm, but those who have been targeted are putting up a fight.

For Palestinian activist and filmmaker Samer Abu Eisheh, walking in the narrow alleys of Jerusalem’s Old City is like being embraced by his mother.

It was in Jerusalem where he fell in love for the first time and where he met his wife and partner in struggle, Rawan Abu Ghosh. It was in Jerusalem where he has led protests against the occupation with roaring chants and where he was chased on numerous occasions by the Israeli police.

Few things give him more pleasure and warmth than drinking a cup of tea on the steps of Damascus Gate during a cold morning. He wasn’t prepared to relinquish that warmth voluntarily.

The steadfast women of Al-Aqsa remain defiant

in Middle East Eye

“You are so precious to us! It’s only when you were taken away from us that we realised how indispensable you are,” squealed Umm Hussam as she embraced Zinat al-Jallad, commonly known as Umm Ihab, in a tight embrace.

It was Umm Ihab’s first day back among her “sisters’ in Bab Hutta in the Old City after four days in an Israeli jail and an additional five days under house arrest. There’s little need to ask the women gathered around Umm Ihab how much she means to them as their reception of her speaks volumes. The 61-year-old cuts a motherly figure even to her older friends.

“We couldn’t sleep when she was arrested,” Ikram al-Ghazzawi told MEE. “I wished I could do something, anything, to free her. We cannot imagine our lives without her,” she added.

“Umm Ihab is universally loved because she supports everyone in need,” said Zina Amr. “When any of us is arrested, Umm Ihab is always the first to come to our hearings and to welcome us when we are released. Her tenderness and defiance is an example for all of us,” added Amr, before handing out letters of support that the women have received from Algeria in which Algerian women stress their solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem expulsions target activists and community leaders

in Electronic Intifada

Whenever Palestinians stand up for their rights in Jerusalem, it is a safe bet that Samer Abu Eisheh will be there. It is hard to imagine a protest near the Damascus Gate — an entrance to the Old City — without his bellowing voice.

It is the 28-year-old’s relentless activism that could sunder him from his home, however. After nearly three months under house arrest, the TV producer and community leader was handed a five-month expulsion order from Jerusalem this week. It was issued by an Israeli district commander.

Fallan las zanahorias e Israel saca el garrote una vez más

ORIGINAL
translated here

Fuerzas de Ocupación israelíes montan guardia frente a un palestino que realiza las tradicionales oraciones del viernes en una calle fuera de la Ciudad Vieja de Jerusalén Este.

“Han matado la ciudad”, comentó una vendedora palestina de la calle en una casi vacía Puerta de Damasco. El lugar que una vez crepitaba con la energía y la gente,ahora está desprovisto de vida. En lugar de escuchar a los vendedores ambulantes gritando para vender sus productos y ver a los niños y adultos subir y bajar las escaleras de la Puerta de Damasco, lo único que se oye es el ruido de unos pocos autobuses en las noches.

Why won’t Israel return the body of a 14-year-old girl?

in Electronic Intifada

It is hard to believe that Hadil Awwad’sroom has been abandoned for more than two weeks. It is clean, tidy and smells beautiful.

Teddy bears of many colors are scattered on the two sides of her bed. Hadil received them as a gift from one of her brothers when he returned from China. Even as she turned 14 she continued to keep those teddy bears in her room.

Her new jacket that she had bought recently and only wore once is hanging in the wardrobe.

She will never have a chance to wear it again.

Israel’s revenge demolitions only stiffen Palestinian resolve

in Electronic Intifada

When residents of Shuafat woke on 2 December to free-flowing traffic at the checkpoint where Israeli forces control movement to and from this overcrowded refugee camp, many were unnerved.

“We immediately knew that this was not a charitable gesture and that there was an ulterior motive,” Abdullah Alqam, a veteran local activist, told The Electronic Intifada.

And sure enough: that day hundreds of Israeli troops entered the Jerusalem-area camp. Hours later, the home of Ibrahim al-Akkari had been destroyed in accordance with a demolition order handed down by an Israeli court more than a year earlier.

As Carrots Fail, Israel Pulls Out the Stick Once Again

in teleSUR

The latest Palestinian uprising has exposed the heavy-handed brutality of Israeli occupation.

“They have killed the city,” remarked one Palestinian street vendor in a nearly empty Damascus Gate. The place that once crackled with energy and people is now bereft of life. Instead of hearing street vendors call for the sale of their goods and seeing children and adults climbing up and down the Damascus Gate stairs, all you can hear is the noise of a few buses in the evenings.

“People are just afraid. The executions, the traffic tickets and fines that we get for nothing, the random arrests … we don’t feel safe in Jerusalem in the evening,” said a bus driver, who was forced to pay US$300 in traffic fines in the last week alone. He believes the Israeli police are using traffic tickets and fines to frame Palestinians and make their lives even more unbearable.