Category: Historic Land of Palestine
Rashida Tlaib – First Muslim woman elected into US Congress
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) — Former Michigan state legislator, Rashida Tlaib, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for the US House seat to represent Michigan's 13th Congressional District and potentially first Muslim woman to become US Congresswoman.
Rashida Tlaib, a 42-year-old mother of two children, and a daughter of two Palestinian immigrants, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1976. She later went on to study politics and subsequently law.
Tlaib ran a progressive anti-establishment campaign, focusing on environmental protections and opposing tax cuts for big corporations.
She also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
The campaign raised over $1 million, which gained 33.6% of the vote, as opposed to her rival, Detroit Council President Brenda Jones, who only took 28.5% of the vote.
Following the win, Tlaib described her combination of emotions as a "happy chaos."
She added that "it has been amazing to interact with families at polling locations. I feel very much supported."
Tlaib will represent the 13th Congressional District, which is the only congressional district entirely within one county. She is the second Muslim to serve in the Michigan State House of Representatives, after James Karoub, and the second Muslim woman to serve in a state legislature nationwide after Jamilah Nasheed from Missouri House of Representatives.
Since there are no Republican candidates contesting for the House seat, Tlaib will enter Congress unopposed, following a special election on November 6, 2018, when she will officially replace John James Conyers, the current US Representative for Michigan.
It is almost certain that Rashida Tlaib will enter into Congress and become the first Muslim Palestinian-American US congresswoman in the nation's history.
Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780641.
Tags: Historic Land of Palestine, Levant
Palestinian teen icon says she has a 'political future'
NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — Teenage Palestinian protester Ahed Tamimi has vowed to keep demonstrating against the Israeli occupation and says she expects to have a "political future," without elaborating.
Tamimi spoke to The Associated Press on Monday after serving an eight-month sentence for slapping two Israeli soldiers in an incident captured on film that has made her an icon among Palestinians and their supporters.
She said she hopes to pursue a law degree in order to document human rights violations. The curly-haired 17-year-old struck the soldiers outside her West Bank home in frustration after learning that troops wounded a cousin in nearby clashes. Israel views her as a provocateur.
Her case sparked debate over what constitutes legitimate resistance to Israel's half-century rule over the Palestinians.
Gaza residents pray near Israel, as Muslims mark major feast
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza worshipers knelt on prayer rugs spread on sandy soil, near the perimeter fence with Israel, joining hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world Friday in marking the holiday that caps the fasting month of Ramadan.
The three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday is typically a time of family visits and festive meals, with children getting new clothes, haircuts and gifts. In the Middle East, celebrations were once again marred by prolonged conflict in hot spots such as Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.
In the Gaza Strip, some worshipers performed the traditional morning prayers of the holiday in areas several hundred meters (yards) away from the heavily guarded fence with Israel. Friday's prayers marked the continuation of weeks-long protests against a blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the 2007 takeover of the territory by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Since late March, more than 120 protesters have been killed and more than 3,800 wounded by Israeli army fire in the area of the fence.
Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader, joined worshipers in an area east of Gaza City. At one point, as the faithful bowed their heads on their prayer mats in unison, a young man on crutches — presumably injured in previous protests — followed the ritual while he remained standing. Some activists later approached the fence, burning tires.
Protest organizers said they planned to release large numbers of kites and balloons with incendiary materials rags throughout the day Friday, in hopes they will land in Israel. Such kites with burning rags attached have reportedly burned hundreds of acres of crops and forests in Israel.
Protest organizer Mohammed al-Tayyar, a member of a group calling itself the "burning kites unit," said Friday larger balloons with greater potential for damage would be released after 10 days unless the blockade is lifted. Israel's defense minister has said Israel is determined to stop such kites and balloons.
The protests have been organized by Hamas, but turnout has been driven by growing despair in Gaza about blockade-linked hardships; unemployment now approaches 50 percent and electricity is on for just a few hours every day.
Hamas has also billed the protests as the "Great March of Return," suggesting they would somehow pave the way for a return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants — about two-thirds of Gaza's residents — to return to ancestral homes in what is now Israel.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled in the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation. Haniyeh told reporters after Friday's prayers, which were also being held outdoors in another location east of the town of Khan Younis, that protests would continue.
He said a recent U.N. General Assembly resolution blaming Israel for the Gaza violence "shows that the marches of return and breaking the siege revived the Palestinian issue and imposed the issue on the international agenda." The resolution also said Israel had used excessive force against Palestinian protesters.
Israel says it is defending its territory and civilians living near Gaza. It has accused Hamas of trying to use the protests as cover for damaging the fence and trying to carry out cross-border attacks. Israel and Egypt argue that the blockade is needed to contain Hamas which has a history of violence and refuses to disarm.
In Jerusalem, senior Muslim cleric Muhammad Hussein told tens of thousands of worshipers that a plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, expected to be unveiled by the Trump administration, is unfair and "aims at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause."
President Donald Trump has promised to negotiate the "ultimate deal" but the plan's reported, though unconfirmed parameters have been dismissed by the Palestinians as siding with Israel. The Palestinian issue also loomed large in Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing worshipers Friday, praised citizens for showing up at massive rallies last week in support of the Palestinians on Jerusalem Day. That day was initiated by Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Israel.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in an Eid al-Fitr message that he believes the "land of Palestine will be returned to owners of the land with the help if God." Iran and Israel are bitter foes. In Syria, President Bashar Assad attended Eid prayers in the town of Tartous, part of an area that has remained loyal to him throughout seven years of civil war. The coastal region is home to Syria's minority Alawite population that has been the core of Assad's support. Assad, an Alawite, traces his family's origins to Qardaha, a town in the mountains nearby.
Tens of thousands of men from the coastal region are believed to have been killed fighting for the president since 2011, according to Syrian monitoring groups. Assad is now in control of Syria's largest cities and its coastal region.
In Afghanistan, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani touted a three-day holiday cease-fire with the Taliban, calling for a longer truce and urging the Taliban to come to the negotiating table. The Taliban agreed to the cease-fire but leader Haibaitullah Akhunzada reiterated his demand for talks with the U.S. before sitting down with the Afghan government.
Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Jericho, West Bank and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
Hamas extols Turkey's swift response to Gaza massacre
Filed under: Anatolia Section, Hamas of Palestine, Historic Land of Palestine, Shining Beacon of Gaza — Leave a comment
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania
Hamas on Tuesday expressed its appreciation for Turkey's rapid response to Monday's massacre committed by Israeli troops against peaceful Palestinian protesters on the Gaza Strip's eastern border.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency during a visit to Mauritania, where he will take part in a pro-Palestine conference, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the support of the Turkish government and people for the Palestinian cause.
"The Turkish people hit the streets immediately after Monday's massacre; this was very encouraging," he said.
According to Abu Zuhri, Turkey's role is of especial importance as the country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Israel's ambassador to Ankara left Turkey on Wednesday — at the latter's request — shortly after the deadly violence on the Gaza-Israel border.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag announced Monday that the Turkish government had declared three days of mourning in solidarity with Gaza's martyrs.
"We appreciate the Turkish role and hope to strengthen this interaction with the provision of needed humanitarian relief to Gaza, which continues to remain under siege," Abu Zuhri said.
He also called for opening hospitals to help treat Gaza's injured, urging Turkish organizations to provide support to struggling Gazan families.
On Monday, at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred — and hundreds more injured — by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the border.
Monday's demonstration had coincided with Israel's 70th anniversary — an event Palestinians refer to as "The Catastrophe" — and the relocation of Washington's Israel embassy to Jerusalem, which also took place Monday.
Since the Gaza rallies began on Mar. 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred by cross-border Israeli army gunfire.
Last week, the Israeli government said the ongoing border protests constituted a "state of war" in which international humanitarian law did not apply.
Source: Anadolu Agency.
Link: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/hamas-extols-turkey-s-swift-response-to-gaza-massacre/1147798.
Tags: Anatolia Section, Hamas of Palestine, Historic Land of Palestine, Levant, Shining Beacon of Gaza
Gaza hospitals struggle to cope with high casualty toll
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Patients with gunshot wounds filled wards and hallways in Gaza's under-equipped and overwhelmed main hospital Tuesday, with dozens still waiting in line for surgery a day after Israeli soldiers shot and killed 59 Palestinians and wounded hundreds in mass protests on the Gaza border.
The high casualty toll triggered a diplomatic backlash against Israel and new charges of excessive use of force against unarmed protesters. The U.N. Security Council began its session Tuesday with a moment of silence for the dead, and the U.N.'s special Mideast envoy said there was "no justification for the killing."
Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador, and several European countries called for an international investigation. Israel said it has the right to protect its border and nearby communities, accusing Gaza's ruling militant group Hamas of carrying out several attacks under the guise of the protests. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, came to Israel's defense, saying no member "would act with more restraint than Israel has."
Monday's border confrontation was the culmination of a weeks-long protest campaign to break a border blockade that Israel and Egypt imposed after a Hamas took over Gaza by force in 2007. The protests were led by Hamas, but fueled by the growing despair among Gaza's 2 million people who face worsening poverty, unemployment, 22-hour-a-day power cuts and sweeping bans on travel and trade.
The protests were also driven by anger over the relocation Monday of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Palestinians seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as a future capital.
Even before the latest round of bloodshed, Gaza's health system of 13 public hospitals and 14 clinics run by NGOs had buckled under persistent blockade-linked shortages of medicines and surgical supplies. At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the main health facility in the strip, these woes were magnified this week.
Anticipating a major influx of casualties ahead of Monday's mass march, Shifa had set up an outdoor triage station under a green and blue tarp in the hospital courtyard, setting up 30 beds and stretchers there.
Throughout the day Monday, Shifa received about 500 injured people, more than 90 percent with gunshot wounds, said hospital director Ayman Sahbani. Of those, 192 needed surgery, including 120 who needed orthopedic surgery, he said.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, overwhelmed surgeons working in 12 operating theaters had only performed 40 orthopedic operations, with 80 others still waiting their turn. In the orthopedics department, nerves were frayed Tuesday as relatives worried about wounded family members amid fears their conditions might deteriorate.
In one room, Ibrahim Ruhmi rested on a bed with bandages on both legs. He had been shot in the right leg, while shrapnel hit his left leg. Outside the room his mother was crying on a chair in the hallway, consoled by his 28-year-old sister, Faten.
Suddenly, the young woman started shouting at nurses in a burst of frustration. "His leg will rot," she yelled. "What are you waiting for? Do you wait for it to rot so you can amputate it?" A Hamas policeman, who was stationed as a security guard on the ward, tried to calm her down, to no avail.
"If you are unable to treat them, why are you letting them go to the protests," she said of her brother and the others who were wounded by Israeli snipers in the dangerous area near the border fence. Nickolay Mladenov, the special U.N. envoy to the region, told the Security Council on Tuesday that hospitals in Gaza were "reporting an unfolding crisis of essential medical supplies, drugs and equipment needed to treat the injured."
He said a U.N. official who visited Gaza, "witnessed first-hand patients being brought in on stretchers and left in the hospital's courtyard, which was being used as a triage area." "There is no justification for the killing, there is no excuse," Mladenov said, adding that Israel had a responsibility to calibrate its use of force. At the same time, he said, "messages by Hamas indicate the intention to use mass protests to infiltrate into Israel and attack Israelis."
On Monday, Israeli forces shot and killed 59 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,300, making it the deadliest single day in Gaza since a 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas. Two more Palestinians were shot dead in scattered border protests Tuesday, bring the total since late March to more than 100, the Health Ministry said.
Israel's military said 14 of those killed Monday were involved in planting explosives or firing on Israeli soldiers. The diplomatic backlash against Israel was swift following the dramatic scenes from the Gaza border of frantic protesters carrying the wounded to ambulances in clouds of putrid black smoke from burning tires and flag-waving women in robes and headscarves defiantly facing Israeli soldiers in the distance.
Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador, and Israel retaliated in kind. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Turkey's president of hypocrisy, saying that a "man whose hands are drenched in the blood of countless Kurdish civilians in Turkey and Syria is the last one who can preach to us about military ethics."
Ireland and Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their foreign ministries for questioning about the Gaza violence, and the two nations, along with Germany, called for an investigation. China called on Israel to show restraint.
In Brussels, Prime Minister Charles Michel called the Israeli actions "unacceptable violence" and said there was a "clear lack of proportionality." Michel said the violence and killings would be moved onto the calendar of the European Union summit in Sofia on Wednesday and Thursday.
German spokesman Steffen Seibert said the violence "concerns us greatly," but also accused Hamas of cynically escalating the unrest. South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was "deeply distressed and broken-hearted by the massacre perpetrated" by Israel.
Also Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered his envoy to Washington to return to the West Bank in a show of protest against the U.S. Embassy move to contested Jerusalem. Meanwhile, there were no signs Tuesday that Hamas had made a breakthrough in shaking off the blockade.
Hamas has said protests would continue weekly, but it was not clear if it would be able to maintain momentum during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins this week. One leading organizer said the next mass march would be held June 5, to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war in which Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Tia Goldenberg, Ian Deitch and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Tags: Historic Land of Palestine, Levant, Shining Beacon of Gaza
1 dead, dozens hurt by Israeli fire in Gaza border protest
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Palestinian was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli army fire Friday as thousands of Gaza residents protested near their sealed border — part of a weeks-long campaign to end a decade-old blockade of the territory.
Later Friday, vandals burned a fuel complex and a conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing with Israel, causing more than $9 million in damages and disrupting the import of diesel fuel and building materials, the military said.
Friday's clashes offered a preview of what will likely be a much larger protest — and possibly a border breach — on Monday when the United States relocates its embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem amid Palestinian outrage.
President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the embassy there "is causing the volcano to spew," said 25-year-old protester Ahmed Deifallah as he stood near the Gaza border, a Palestinian flag draped around his head.
Deifallah, who is unemployed like almost half the Gaza labor force, said he would also join Monday's protest and is not afraid to die. "We are used to confronting the (Israeli) occupation with our bare chests," he said. "We are used to wars and no one with us but Allah."
Friday marked the seventh weekly border protest since late March. The demonstrations have been organized by Gaza's Hamas rulers, but are fueled by despair among the territory's 2 million people. The vast majority are barred from travel and trade, while the blockade has gutted the economy.
As in previous weeks, thousands flocked to five tent camps near the border — some 15,000 people, according to the Israeli military. From the camps, smaller groups moved closer to the fence. They threw stones, burned tires and flew kites with burning rags attached to them, hoping to steer them into Israel to set fields on fire.
The area was quickly engulfed in thick black smoke from the burning tires. Israeli soldiers, some crouching behind sand berms, fired live bullets and tear gas volleys from the other side of the fence.
The Israeli military said protesters also threw pipe bombs and grenades toward Israeli soldiers and damaged the fence. Later Friday, Palestinians vandalized a fuel complex and conveyor belt on the Palestinian side of Gaza's main cargo crossing, Kerem Shalom, the army said. It said the fuel installation is the only way to bring diesel fuel into Gaza for operating generators for hospitals and other key facilities.
The military distributed a video showing Palestinians cheering as a fire was set. It was the second such attack on the facility in a week. "Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive," the army said.
Nissim Jan, the director of an Israeli company that operates Kerem Shalom in partnership with private Palestinian companies, said he spent large sums to repair last week's damage. "This time I can't repair and will not repair it. Where shall I bring money from?" he said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said a 40-year-old protester was killed and 176 were wounded by Israeli fire Friday. Ten of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the head. Nearly 800 others were overcome by tear gas or suffered other types of injuries.
Friday's death brought to 41 the number of protesters killed since March 30. In the same period, more than 1,800 were wounded by Israeli fire. Despite such risks, Gaza's Hamas leader, Yehiyeh Sinwar, has said he expects tens of thousands to participate in Monday's protest. He has raised the possibility of a mass border breach, comparing protesters to a "starving tiger," unpredictable and full of pent-up anger.
Israel has said it will prevent any border breach and has stuck to its open-fire policies, including targeting "main instigators" and those approaching the fence, despite growing international criticism.
Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border. Rights groups say the use of potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.
There are growing concerns that if Israel and Hamas dig in, a widespread border breach could lead to large numbers of casualties. The protests are part of a campaign to break the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza in 2007.
On Monday, they are also aimed at the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy, which comes five months after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital — a decision that outraged Palestinians as blatantly pro-Israel.
The Israeli-annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem is sought as a future Palestinian capital — at least by those supporting Hamas' political rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas seeks an Islamic state in the entire historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, but has said it is ready for a long-term truce.
Another large-scale protest is planned for Tuesday, when Palestinians mark their "nakba," or catastrophe, referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven out or fled homes in what is now Israel. More than two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees.
Meanwhile, Gaza government officials announced that Egypt will open its border with Gaza for four days starting Saturday. Helping reinforce the Israeli blockade, Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing point, Gaza's main gate to the outside world, closed most of the time since the Hamas takeover.
Egypt opens the crossing from time to time, mainly to allow people in special categories, including medical patients and Gaza residents studying abroad, to leave the territory or return to it. The upcoming opening was framed as a humanitarian gesture ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins next week.
In Jordan, about 7,000 people participated in a "nakba" rally in an area close to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian refugees and their descendants now number several million people in the region, including more than 2 million in Jordan.
Friday's rally took place before a large stage with a view of the Dead Sea and the West Bank. One man walked onto the stage with an effigy of Trump dangling from a noose.
Laub reported from Amman, Jordan. Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Alice Su in Sweimeh, Jordan, contributed to this report.
Palestinian lecturer shot dead in Malaysia
Filed under: Historic Land of Palestine, United Land of Malaysia — Leave a comment
A Palestinian family on Saturday accused Israel's spy agency Mossad of killing a Palestinian lecturer in Malaysia.
Fadi Mohammed al-Batsh, 35, was shot dead by two gunmen on a high-powered motorcade near his home in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, Malaysian police said.
"The suspect fired 10 shots, four of which hit the lecturer in the head and body. He died on the spot," the official Bernama news agency quoted Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim as saying.
Mazlan said a recording of a closed-circuit television camera near the scene showed the two assailants waited for about 20 minutes for the Palestinian lecturer.
"We believe the lecturer was their target because two other individuals walked by the place earlier unharmed," he said.
The lecturer's family, meanwhile, said Mossad was behind his assassination.
"We accuse Mossad of standing behind the energy researcher's assassination," the al-Batsh family in the Gaza Strip said in a statement.
The family called on the Malaysian police to launch an investigation into the killing.
There has been no comment from Israeli authorities on the accusations.
Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, confirmed that the lecturer was a group member.
"The martyr was distinguished by his excellence and scientific creativity," Hamas said in a statement.
It, however, did not accuse any side of killing al-Batsh.
In late 2016, Palestinian drone expert Mohamed al-Zawari, was shot dead in Tunisia, with Hamas accusing Israel of killing him.
Israel is widely believed to have killed numerous Palestinian resistance activists in the past, many of them overseas.
In 1997, Mossad agents tried — and failed — to kill Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal in Jordan by spraying poison into his ear.
Mossad is also believed to have been behind the assassination in 2010 of top Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh in a Dubai hotel.
Israel has never confirmed or denied its involvement in Mabhuh's murder.
Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180421-palestinian-lecturer-shot-dead-in-malaysia/.
Tags: Historic Land of Palestine, Levant, United Land of Malaysia
4 dead, dozens injured as Gaza protests continue for fourth week
Protests have continued to take place on the Gaza border today as thousands of Palestinians demonstrate for the fourth week as part of the "Great March of Return", leaving at least two dead and dozens injured.
Twenty-five-year-old Ahmed Abu Aqel and 24-year-old Ahmad Rashad Al-Athanna were killed earlier today after being shot by Israeli snipers, raising the death toll to 35. As of 3pm local time, some 40 others have been injured, adding to 4,279 people that have been wounded in the past three weeks. Several of the injuries were caused after Israeli occupation forces fired a barrage of gas canisters to disperse protesters.
According to Hebrew news site Walla, Israeli forces have been forced to evacuate one area of the border after protesters burned tires in an effort to reach the fence, with the fumes drifting into the small kibbutz of Alumim.
Arab media reported today that Israeli forces had positioned some 120 snipers on the border in preparation for the demonstrations. Israeli authorities have permitted soldiers to shoot at anyone who approaches the Gaza side of the fence, despite widespread condemnation from NGOs and the UN over the practice.
In preparation for the expected protests, Israeli authorities also dropped leaflets in Gaza overnight warning people against attending demonstrations and accusing the protests of being a front for Hamas to attack the border.
"Avoid using weapons and carrying out violent acts against Israeli security forces and Israeli civilians. Keep away from terrorist elements and groups pushing riots and violence. The IDF [army] will take action against any attempt to damage the barrier and its components and any other military equipment," the leaflet stated.
Earlier this week, UN human rights experts condemned "the continued use of firearms, including live ammunition" by Israeli forces "against mostly unarmed Palestinian protesters and observers", calling on Israel to uphold its responsibilities under international law.
"If Israel will not take credible and effective steps to investigate, and indeed, where it has congratulated its military forces for their use of force, then the international community must fill the investigatory void to ensure respect for international law," the experts stated, referring to a video of soldiers celebrating the shooting of a Palestinian two weeks ago.
The Gaza Ministry of Health has also accused the Israeli occupation of deliberately targeting journalists and medics as one journalist was killed, 66 journalists and 44 medics were wounded and 19 ambulances were targeted.
The planned six-week protest, which began on 30 March marking Palestinian Land Day, is set to end on 15 May – the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe), in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces in 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180420-2-dead-dozens-injured-as-gaza-protests-continue-for-fourth-week/.
350 injured as Gazans demonstrate for third Friday in Great March of Return
Protests have continued to take place on the Gaza border as thousands of Palestinians demonstrate for the third Friday as part of the Great March of Return.
As of 4pm local time (14:00 GMT), some 350 people were injured today, adding to the over 3,000 Palestinians who have been wounded over the past two weeks. There are reports that Israeli soldiers have fired teargas at the field hospital in the east of Khan Yunis causing at least ten medics to experience suffocation. Palestinian journalist Ahmad Abu Hussein and photographer Mohammed Al-Hajjar have also been shot, adding to the growing list of reporters wounded whilst documenting the protests.
Many of the protesters have burnt tires in an attempt to hide themselves from Israeli snipers. Near Khan Yunis in the south, protesters also burned pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, whom they view as cooperating with Israel.
Israel has deployed additional military forces to the Gaza border in preparation for planned protests since last week as part of the Great March of Return. Demonstrators are calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to the homes they were forced to flee in 1948.
Israeli authorities have permitted soldiers to shoot at anyone who approaches the Gaza side of the fence, despite widespread condemnation from NGOs and the UN over the practice. Last week, Israeli rights group B'Tselem appealed to Israeli soldiers to refuse any "grossly illegal" orders to fire at unarmed protesters.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that hospitals and medical personnel were on high alert as of this morning to deal with the anticipated influx of casualties. The UN has also highlighted the region's strained resources in delivering treatment to the wounded.
"Gaza's health sector has struggled to cope with the mass influx of casualties, due to years of blockade, internal divide and a chronic energy crisis, which have left essential services in Gaza barely able to function," the UN agency said in a statement today.
Last week's protest was marked by the death of journalist Yaser Murtaja who was shot despite clearly wearing a vest marked "PRESS". Photos also emerged of Israeli settlers gathering at a military watchtower to cheer as soldiers shot civilians, as well as a video of soldiers celebrating the shooting of a Palestinian protester.
Israeli occupying forces are also quashing solidarity protests in the West Bank, with at least one journalist, Ramez Awwad, reportedly injured by live fire in the city of Al-Bireh.
The planned six-week protest, which began on 30 March marking Palestinian Land Day, is set to end on 15 May – the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe), in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by Jewish militias in 1948 to make way for the formation of the state of Israel.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180413-350-injured-as-gazans-demonstrate-for-third-friday-in-great-march-of-return/.
1 Palestinian killed, 40 hurt in Gaza-Israel border protests
KHUZAA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians torched piles of tires near Gaza's border with Israel on Friday, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the air and drawing Israeli fire that killed one man in the second large protest in the volatile area in a week.
At least 40 protesters were hurt, including five seriously, the Gaza Health Ministry said, but did not provide a breakdown of the types of injuries. Friday's death brought to 23 the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza over the past week, including 17 protesters.
Friday's march was the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory. Israel has accused the Islamic militant group of using the protests as a cover for attacking Israel's border, and has warned that those approaching the fence put their lives at risk.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians streamed to five tent encampments that organizers had set up at various points from north to south, each about several hundred meters from the border fence. In one camp near the border community of Khuzaa, activists moved closer to the fence and torched large piles of tires, engulfing the area in black smoke meant to shield them from Israeli snipers.
Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with live fire, tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets. Water cannons trained a stream of thick liquid at the fence. Within minutes, several young men with gunshot wounded began arriving at a field clinic at the camp.
Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tires on fire, had been shot in the right arm. He rested on a stretcher placed on the ground. "We came here because we want dignity," he said before paramedics carried him to an ambulance to be transported to the strip's main hospital.
Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to demonstrate and honor those killed in previous protests. "Yes, there is fear," he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. "We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak."
An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, portrayed the protests as riots, and said Hamas organizers are trying to use them as a diversion to "open up the fence and then to insert terrorists into Israel.
Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border, including the warnings that those approaching or trying to damage the fence would be targeted. The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has indications that Israeli forces used "excessive force" against protesters last week.
Rights groups have branded orders permitting the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters as unlawful. A leading Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers this week to refuse "grossly illegal" open-fire orders.
Conricus said snipers are used "sparingly" and only against those that pose a "significant threat." A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the United States condemns "leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters — including children — to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."
In all, 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, including 17 protesters, according to Gaza health officials. The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.
Last week's turnout was apparently driven by the organizational prowess of Hamas as well as the growing desperation of Gaza residents who live in what has been described as the world's largest open-air prison.
The crowd size was seen as a test for Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized the territory in 2007 from its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ahead of Friday's march, Hamas announced it would pay compensation to families of those killed or injured, ranging from $200 to $500 per injury and $3,000 per death.
The idea of mass protests was initially floated by social media activists, but was later co-opted by Hamas, with the backing of smaller militant factions. For Hamas, it's perhaps the last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm.
The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.
Hamas leaders billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the "Great March of Return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel. But they stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.
Israel has warned that it will not permit a breach of the fence and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border. Military officials have said Hamas has used the protests as a cover for damaging the fence, planting explosives and, in one incident, opening fire on soldiers.
Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence. Hamas has refused to give up its weapons — even at the cost of derailing talks on getting Abbas to assume the burden of governing Gaza, seen by Israel and Egypt as a prerequisite for opening Gaza's borders.
Associated Press writers Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, and Josef Federman on the Gaza border contributed to this report.