JAI Eye on Palestine–Aug. 28, 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.
US congresswoman calls for sanctions on Israeli unit behind killing of teens
For the second time in two months, a member of the US House of Representatives wrote a letter to the US State Department demanding concrete actions against Israel’s systematic violations of the rights of Palestinian children.
Released on 18 August by Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the letter calls for sanctions on the Israeli border police unit responsible for killing Palestinian teenagers Nadim Nuwara and Muhammad Abu al-Thahir on 15 May 2014. The boys were shot at a Nakba Day protest near the Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank village of Beitunia. Read more
WATCH: Christian, Muslim Palestinians protest separation wall route
Hundreds of Muslim and Christian Palestinians protested Sunday morning in the West Bank town of Beit Jala against the future establishment of the separation wall that would cut them off from Jerusalem.
Father Paolo from the Catholic church in Beit Jala, told +972 Magazine: “We are here because they are building a wall that will separate Beit Jala from Jerusalem. We came here to say that this is our land, and that we are against the wall and for living together in peace. All the churches in Beit Jala are opposed to the building of the wall, and we are here to tell the army – get out of here, this is not your land.” Read more
Former ANC leader backs study finding Israel guilty of apartheid
Israel is an apartheid state that should be boycotted by the international community, former South African Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils told an assembly of Palestinian rights advocates on Sunday.
Both contemporary Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa, “proclaim their state on the basis of exclusive citizenship, monopolizing rights in law,” giving one group superior access to services, he said. The former African National Congress (ANC) leader also denounced the “dehumanization of the monstrous Apartheid Wall” and the “horrific bombardment of Gaza.”
The architects of South African apartheid, he said, “would have greatly admired the machinations that have enclosed Palestinians in ghettos.” Read more