JAI Eye on Palestine: Aug., 2015
The YMCA-YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative issues this bi-weekly newsletter to keep you updated on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories related to the Israeli occupation.
In victory for activists, drone manufacturers linked to Gaza war cross-examined in Scottish courts
After a grueling fourteen day trial, a group of activists known as the Thales Ten, received their verdict in Glasgow Sheriff Court last week. Five were convicted, and five acquitted, of the crime of breach of the peace. The group scaled onto the roof and blockaded entrances to the Thales UK factory on 23rd September, 2014 in response to the war in Gaza. They hung a fifty foot Palestine flag and several banners. One read: ‘Another Scotland is Possible: Stop Arming Israel’. Another made the connection between the French arms company Thales, Israel’s Elbit Systems, and the UK Ministry of Defense. Read more
Israel Tightens Rules of Engagement for Combat Troops in West Bank
In light of heightened security tensions in the West Bank, the Israeli defense establishment on Tuesday temporarily revised the rules of engagement for combat soldiers on the ground serving in the Palestinian territories, triggering a wave of resentment within the ranks.
According to the 0404 web site, IDF soldiers were furious over the newly issued rules of engagement that they say will encourage more Palestinian terrorism. Read more
Palestinian Prisoner’s Case Tests Israeli Force-Feeding Law
The first Palestinian prisoner who could be forced to stay alive under a new Israeli law lies shackled to a hospital bed, vomiting bile and blood after 57 days of drinking only water to protest his indefinite incarceration without charges.
Mohammad Allan, the prisoner, is being held at the Barzilai Medical Center in this southern Israeli city as officials search for a doctor willing to start the process to force-feed him to keep him alive.
His mother, who was smuggled into Israel from Ainabus in the northern West Bank, sits outside the hospital praying for her son’s survival – and for God to smite the hands of any doctor who might carry out the new law and allow the force-feeding of her son. Read more
Media Resources–Gaza: Human Shields.
In a powerful film from Al Jazeera World, we hear from Palestinians who were allegedly used as human shields by the Israeli army. We also explore whether Hamas used residential buildings and civilian areas to launch attacks against IDF troops.