Israel’s continued blockade of Palestinian territory along the Gaza Strip has not only infringed on residents’ human rights, but also choked the area of essential resources such as fuel.

Authorities in Jerusalem control much of Palestine’s energy sources and supplies through its Israel Electric Corporation, as well as heavily restricting imports.



Two students from the Islamic Al Azhar University in the center of Gaza are seeking to swerve the energy limitations that have dogged the area for many years by creating a solar-powered vehicle on a shoestring budget.

Working with the institute’s Mechatronics Engineering Department, Khalid al-Bardawil and Jamal al-Miqaty have created a single-seater vehicle that runs off solar panels on its roof.

Indeed, fuel is often difficult to come by in Gaza.

The solar car prototype comes as Palestinians continue to suffer an energy crisis exacerbated by, according to the United Nations, an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza’s only power plant in 2006.

According the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Human Rights, last year the Gaza Strip only received 45 per cent of the electricity it needed to sustain its population.

Meanwhile, “severe fuel shortages” have left the Gaza Power Plant operating at scarcely half its capacity.

The power plant in Nusairat has also been forced to shut down numerous times, most recently in April this year after a tax dispute with Palestinian authorities.

In January, something as innocuous as cold weather even caused gas deliveries from Israel into the Palestinian-controlled areas to be cut by half.

The three-wheel solar-powered vehicle may only be able to reach a top speed of 18 mph, but the project is an innovative step in tackling restrictions on daily life in the Palestinian territories.

A statement by the Al Azhar University reveals the bright spark idea of a solar-powered car was inspired by the “chronic electricity deficit” and “diesel shortage” plaguing Gaza.

“Electricity [powered] motors are not available in our city and unfortunately nobody knows how to make them,” Al-Miqaty told reporters.

“So we had to [get] a motor and make a lot of changes to it, and these changes were not easy to make.”

https://www.rt.com/viral/358452-palestinian-students-solar-car/

10 September 2016
BDS Movement

Cadiz, provincial capital in the autonomous community of Andalusia in the Spanish state, has become the latest municipality to pass a motion supporting the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights and declaring itself an Israeli “Apartheid Free Zone”.
With a population of 120,000, Cadiz joins more than 50 cities and towns across the Spanish state which have voted to declare themselves spaces free from Israeli apartheid. Other famous Apartheid Free municipalities include Gran Canaria, Santiago de Compostela, Xixón-Gijón, Sevilla, Córdoba and Santa Eulària in Ibiza.
Inspired in part by a similar campaign during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, the Israeli Apartheid Free Zone campaign, led by the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine (RESCOP), seeks to create ‘islands of political consciousness’ and to break local ties with Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid, as well as with international corporations and institutions that are complicit in the maintenance of Israel’s violations of international law.
The campaign, which is supported  by  social movements, businesses, schools, media and public institutions from across the Spanish state, has created a map indicating spaces free from Israeli apartheid.

By declaring themselves Israeli Apartheid Free Zones, local authorities agree to boycott corporations complicit in violations of international law and the rights of Palestinians as well as break ties with the Israeli regime and its complicit institutions. They will also support local awareness raising efforts and commit to conscientious procurement policies based on the human rights of the Palestinian people.

Riya Hassan, European coordinator for the Palestinians BDS National Committee (BNC), said:
“The Israeli Apartheid Free Zones campaign across the Spanish state is inspiring similar efforts in other countries.  The fact that these declarations have been voted by democratically elected municipalities reflect  the growing support for the BDS movement for Palestinian rights, not just at the grassroots level but also within governments. This will eventually steer public opinion in favor of comprehensive sanctions on Israel until it end its systematic oppression of Palestinians.
“Local councils in the Spanish state are leading the way with a powerful model of  solidarity with the Palestinian people and our struggle for self-determination. We salute all councilors and activists involved in proposing and defending the motions and those involved in the implementation of the Israeli apartheid-free zones.”
“At a time of a growing democratic deficit across the European continent, it is empowering to witness how citizens are integrating solidarity with Palestinians with  domestic agendas that promote social, economic and environmental justice.”

Attacks on a movement for freedom, justice and equality

Growing public support for the BDS movement for Palestinian human rights has prompted Israel and its allies to launch an unprecedented, well-funded and anti-democratic attack against everyone seeking to hold Israel accountable to international law and UN resolutions, especially through BDS advocacy.

The Israeli-sponsored attacks on the BDS movement aim to put pressure on governments, legislators and officials to curtail BDS civic actions and adopt repressive measures that infringe upon their respective citizens’ civil and political liberties at large. 
In the Spanish state, attempts to silence the BDS movement, particularly on an institutional level, have been led by ACOM, a pro-Israeli Madrid-based lobby group.
ACOM has launched a number of legal appeals against local councils that have declared themselves Israeli Apartheid Free Zones.
However, ACOM’s strategy of intimidation has not been successful. Targeted cities have defended the democratic outcome of the votes, and informed courts, such as  the First Administrative Court of Gijon, refused to accept ACOM’s complaints.
Similar legal charges were lodged against three local councils in the UK by the  so-called Jewish Human Rights Watch, a London based Israel lobby group. Also there, the UK High Court rejected the complaints and ruled in favour of the three local councils which had passed resolutions in support of targeted boycotts of Israel’s occupation.

RESCOP commented in a statement: :

“It is intolerable that a foreign entity defending a system of apartheid, such as ACOM, should interfere in the democratic sovereignty of our municipalities, dictating what we can vote for and what not, and preventing our institutions from being committed to human rights.”
This latest decision by the city of Cadiz to join the inspiring wave of other Spanish cities and towns in declaring themselves zones free from Israeli apartheid is a sign that citizens and elected representatives are not intimidated by ACOM’s legal threats.
“By supporting the BDS movement for Palestinian rights and choosing not to engage with institutions and corporations directly involved in Israel’s egregious crimes against the Palestinian people, people of conscience and municipalities across the Spanish state are taking a concrete step to hold Israel accountable  for its crimes against the Palestinian people,” Riya Hassan concluded.

http://www.earth-h

Sep 9th, 2016

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Israel has for the first time used the illegal home demolition policy it uses in Palestine in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Tel Aviv declared that Israel and the Golan are “part and parcel” and that the international community should get used to the fact that Israel will annex the Syrian territory that holds major energy reserves. Israel also aids “Syrian rebels” via a corridor from which UN blue helmets were displaced.

Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, on Wednesday, for the first time demolished a home, claiming it was built without permission. The demolition and claims the house was built without permission violates Israel’s obligations under international law, according to which an occupying power must assure that administration in occupied territories adhere, to the greatest possible degree, to the law of the occupied country’s territory.

Israel has, however, enforced new Hebrew as official administrative language, denies building permits and engages in other violations of international law that aim at oppressing the Arab population and culture and Syrian administration in the occupied Golan.

Al Marsad, which is the only human rights organization that operates in the Golan, reported that hundreds of Israeli police accompanied by bulldozers demolished the home of Bassam Ibrahim in Majdal Shams, the largest town in the Israeli occupied Golan. In a statement, Al Marsad said:

“This is the first time that the Israeli authorities have demolished a home in Majdal Shams. … The destruction of this home marks the adoption of a new systematic policy of home demolitions by the Israeli authorities in the remaining Syrian villages in the Occupied Syrian Golan. The Syrian owners of dozens of other homes have been threatened with similar action. … As a result of the severe restrictions imposed by Israeli planning and construction committees, it is close to impossible for the Syrian population to obtain the necessary building permits. Therefore, the Syrian population is forced to build homes without building permits, as this is the only way to meet their housing needs given unprecedented levels of overcrowding,”

The rights organization accused Israel of preventing the Syrian population from building in their cities while encouraging and facilitating the construction and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights. Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights after the June 1967 war.

Israel’s continued occupation violates international law and has been opposed by several UN General Assembly resolutions. None of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members (P5), however, has taken any tangible steps that would be consistent with their mandate and obligation to end the illegal occupation.

The failure of UN Security Council and the UN system as a whole has emboldened Israel to declare that “Israel and the Golan are part and parcel”. In June 2013 an Austrian United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) officer explained that Israel was maintaining a joint intelligence and operations room with “Syrian rebels”. Warnings by Syrian UN Envoy Dr. Al-Hamwi, in July 2013, to the effect that Israel commits methodical crimes in the Golan were ignored by the UN Security Council (UNSC).

By mid-2013, reports about the Israeli involvement in the war on Syria via the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan and in the UNDOF controlled neutral zone slowly made it to some of the Western and Arab media. The administration of Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu transformed that, what could have developed into a PR nightmare, into a propaganda success when Netanyahu visited an Israeli field hospital for “Syrian opposition fighters”.

Netanyahu told Israeli TV viewers and international press that the field hospital showed the true, humanitarian face of Israel. The PM did not mention a word about Israel’s direct and indirect military support of Jabhat al-Nusrah and other al-Qaeda associated brigades. (see video)

http://nsnbc.me/2016/09/09/israel-starts-home-demolitions-in-syrian-golan-plans-...

wrong thread sorry

19 Sep, 2016

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement “the new face of terrorism” in New York on Sunday.

Speaking at the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in New York, Shaked said, “The BDS is illegitimate. I define it thus: BDS is another branch of terrorism in the modern age.”

The BDS movement is a global campaign to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land through the boycott of Israeli goods and services, the divestment of funds and, in theory, sanctions.

Shaked claimed that the aim of the BDS movement was to “to wipe Israel off the map.”

As the decade-long movement gains momentum, Israel has pushed back against it with increasing determination.

“Sometimes the BDS movement’s funding sources are identical to those funding the terrorist organisations,” Shaked told the New York crowd. “This is the new face of terrorism.”


Shaked, a conservative member of Israel’s government who does not believe in a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, has made controversial statements in the past.

In, 2014 she was accused of inciting genocide with a Facebook post which quoted a Jewish settler, "They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there."/i]

Shaked reminded the crowd about 9/11, and said that the terrorism which has taken place in Jerusalem, New York, Paris, Tel Aviv, London, Brussels, Istanbul [i]“is the same terrorism.”

The minister went on to tell the crowd that Israel and the rest of the world are all “fighting against extreme Islamic terrorism.”

The justice minister expressed concern that young Jewish people are “confused and are led astray” by BDS, claiming that they are being tricked by “terrorists from radical Islam.”

She congratulated states in the US that have adopted legislation against BDS and expressed hope that others would follow suit and make BDS illegal.

https://www.rt.com/viral/359886-bds-terrorism-israel-minister/

Israeli troops photographed beating unarmed Palestinian during 'routine check'

22 Sep, 2016

Israeli soldiers have been photographed brutally detaining a Palestinian man in Hebron on Tuesday. One of the five troops in the vicinity could be seen kicking the man, while another soldier pinned the Palestinian to the floor with his knee.

The incident took place near a Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, with the Israeli soldiers saying that the man was resisting arrest.

"During a routine security check, the Palestinian who was documented [in the photos] refused to be frisked. The forces had arrested the suspect. The troops' conduct is being looked into and the incident is being investigated,” the military said in a statement, as cited by Haaretz.

However, the photographs, which were shot as the detention was taking place, shows what seems to be unnecessary force being used by the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian man was not wearing any shoes, and was dressed in a T-shirt and pants.

The troops, who were from the Nahal 50th battalion, surrounded the man with one of the soldiers pinning him to the ground with his knee.

Another photograph shows a soldier appearing to kick the man, who was unarmed, with either his foot or his knee.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is investigating the incident, while “the conduct of the forces will be checked.” A spokesperson for the organization said that the deteriorating security situation around Hebron had led to increased checks being carried out in the area.

"In light of the situation following recent terror attacks in the city, and due to security considerations, it was decided to conduct searches in the area. During one such routine search, a Palestinian man deemed suspicious refused to be searched. Forces detained the suspect. The conduct of the forces will checked and the incident will be investigated,” the statement read, according to Ynet News.

The incident came less than 24 hours after Israeli troops shot and injured a 13-year-old Palestinian girl near the town of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank. 

The girl, who was carrying a bag, approached a security checkpoint and ignored warning shots for her to stop, which were fired by the Israeli soldiers. She was eventually shot in the leg. No weapons or explosives were discovered in the teenager’s bag by the Israeli forces, the ministry’s statement said.

During questioning, the girl said “I came here to die” to Israeli forces, the ministry said. She was then taken to a hospital. The Palestinian Health Ministry said she sustained moderate injuries.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian after he stabbed soldiers at a checkpoint at a village west of Hebron.

Meanwhile, in an incident on Monday, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a holy site to both Muslims and Jews in Hebron.

There had been a relative lull in attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, which had peaked in October and November 2015.

During more than two months of unrest, Israeli security forces killed 105 Palestinians, 65 of whom were said to be attackers. Palestinian assailants killed 19 Israelis as well as one US citizen, Reuters reported.

https://www.rt.com/news/360242-israel-palestine-soldiers-violence/

September 22, 2016

A top EU lawyer on Thursday said Islamist movement Hamas and Sri Lankan rebel group LTTE should be taken off the bloc’s terror list because procedural mistakes invalidated the decision to put them on it.

Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston of the European Court of Justice said Thursday that a European judicial body was correct to remove Hamas and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from the list in 2014.

The European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes against Hamas and the LTTE under 2001 rules. The groups subsequently contested being kept on the bloc’s terrorist black list.

The General Court, second to the ECJ, found in their favor in 2014 on the grounds the EU had based its decision on publicly available information, not on a finding by a competent authority.

In a statement at the time, the court explained the EU’s blacklisting of Hamas had been based on “factual imputations derived from the press and the internet” instead of “on acts examined and confirmed in decisions of competent authorities.”

Stating that the European Council, which placed Hamas on the terrorism list in 2001, “did not produce the obligatory judicial effects for the designation,” the court scrapped it but kept sanctions in place for another three months pending appeal.

The European Council of the 28 member states in turn appealed that finding.

Sharpston said Thursday that the EU “cannot rely on facts and evidence found in press articles and information from the internet, rather than in decisions of competent authorities, to support a decision to maintain a listing.”

Given that “some of the reasons advanced could not justify the decision to maintain the listing of LTTE and Hamas,” the General Court was correct to dismiss the EU appeal when it could find no other sufficient reasons for their listing.

Accordingly, the ECJ “should annul the measures maintaining Hamas and LTTE on the EU list of terrorist organizations on procedural grounds.”

Washington, which already defines the Hamas organization as a “foreign terrorist organization,” added Hamas politburo member Fathi Hamad to its terror blacklist last week, meaning that US citizens and companies are banned from doing business with him and any assets he holds in areas under US jurisdiction will be frozen.

According to the US State Department, which issued the designation, during his time as Hamas interior minister in Gaza Hamad used his position to “coordinate terrorist cells.”

The State Department said that Hamad had founded Al-Aqsa TV, “with programs designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood.”

Advocates general of the ECJ are regularly called on to give their view on a case before a final ruling and in most instances their opinions are followed.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-eu-lawyer-says-hamas-should-be-dropped-from-ter...