Israeli Military Action in the West Bank | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel's immigration police granted power to deport foreign activists from West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The Israel Defense Forces issued a new order last week allowing inspectors from the Interior Ministry's enforcement unit to remove any foreigners who are found to be in the West Bank without a permit. The step, which represents a further step in the military's actions against foreign activists, was struck down in the past by the High Court of Justice, on the grounds that the Interior Ministry inspectors do not have authority in the West Bank.

Walls Of Palestinian Homes Come Tumbling Down
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - July 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel has dramatically increased its demolitions of unauthorized Palestinian homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a recent United Nations report. Last year, 1,100 Palestinians — more than half of them children — were displaced, an 80 percent increase from the previous year. And demolitions this year continue at a high rate. For Sami Idriss, the Israeli bulldozers came while the 26-year-old Palestinian was at work.

IDF holds drill in Palestinian village
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

The IDF held an urban warfare drill in the Palestinian village of al-Aqabah in the northeastern West Bank, Ynet learned Tuesday. The drill was held according to the military's training protocol. The IDF has recently resumed training in designated live-fire zones in the Jordan Rift Valley – even those riddled with some Palestinian and Bedouin villages.

Israeli NGO posts video of Israeli policeman kicking Palestinian child
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem on Monday posted a video showing an Israeli border police officer kicking a Palestinian child in the West Bank city of Hebron. The video, filmed by a B'Tselem volunteer on June 29, shows that a policeman caught a child and another officer hurriedly approached them, kicked the child once and left just as fast, while the kid ran away crying. In a statement, B'Tselem said the case was referred to Israeli Justice Ministry's department for investigation of police.

Israeli officer faces trial for shooting 10-year-old boy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Omri Abu, an officer in Israel's Border Police, was travelling in a bulletproof vehicle four years ago when it came under a barrage of stones thrown by Palestinian demonstrators as it drove through the West Bank village of Na'alin. He opened the door of the SUV and shot twice, striking 10-year-old Ahmed Moussa in the forehead, killing him instantly. What is being decided in an Israeli court is whether Mr Abu is guilty of negligence by firing his weapon.

Uprooting olive trees: Nature or politics?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zafrir Rinat - (Opinion) June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the most complex challenges facing the Israel Nature and Parks Authority is finding the balance between protecting the nature in its reserves and allowing agriculture to flourish. This has become a particularly complicated issue in the Wadi Kana nature reserve in the northern West Bank, where the debate is not only focused on land, nature and the environment, but as is often the case in this country, it has become a question of politics.

‘I Am an Illegal Alien on My Own Land’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by David Shulman - (Opinion) June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

In 1949, shortly after Israel’s War of Independence, S. Yizhar—the doyen of modern Hebrew prose writers—published a story that became an instant classic. “Khirbet Khizeh” is a fictionalized account of the destruction of a Palestinian village and the expulsion of all its inhabitants by Israeli soldiers in the course of the war. The narrator, a soldier in the unit that carries out the order, is sickened by what is being done to the innocent villagers.

Caterpillar pulled from social indexes over company’s use in Palestinian territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
June 27, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — A U.S. investment firm has removed Caterpillar Inc. from three of its popular indexes that track socially responsible investments, citing concerns about the Israeli military’s use of company bulldozers in the Palestinian territories.

Israel subjecting Palestinian children to 'spiral of injustice'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - June 27, 2012 - 12:00am

A belief that every Palestinian child is a potential terrorist may be leading to a "spiral of injustice" and breaches of international law in Israel's treatment of child detainees in military custody, a delegation of eminent British lawyers has concluded in an independent report backed by the Foreign Office.

Israeli army ‘game’ leaves one Palestinian dead
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Selim Saheb Ettaba - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

As the Shawakha brothers rushed to protect their home from intruders, they had no clue they were unwitting participants in an Israeli army exercise that would leave one of them dead. “It was March 27, 1:30 in the morning,” recalls Akram Shawakha, 36, who was on watch duty on the top floor of the modest family home on a hill east of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Their house is on the outskirts of the wealthy village of Rammun, where most residents have emigrated to America.

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