- *Palestine*. About 50,000 Government employees in the West Bank have begun a two-day general strike<http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8BI0F120121219?irpc=932>, protesting against a delay in the payment of their wages amid Israeli economic sanctions.
Israel announced at the start of December that it was withholding about $100 million in tax revenues, after Palestine obtained Observer State recognition at the United Nations General Assembly. The Palestinian Authority, which oversees the West Bank, was in financial difficulties before the latest Israeli step, with salaries issued late for 153,000 public sector workers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two new election polls came out yesterday, both telling roughly the same story: the Likud-Beitenu party is losing some voters to the National Religious Party and to Otzma LeIsrael, *an extreme faction led by former Kahane man Michael Ben-Ari( at recent anti-war demos, he counter demonstrated against anti-war Israeli's, campaigned and spoke for the Israeli leftists to be jailed and deported, some at the counter-demo had called for the leftists to be sent to Gaza to be bombed and killed)*. Both parties are identified with the settler movement (though settlers are well represented in Likud as well). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Israel*. *The Central Election Committee has disqualified<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4322190,00.html> Haneen Zoabi, a current member of the Knesset, from standing in January's elections..* *The decision will automatically be taken to the Supreme Court for consideration.* *Ofir Akunis, the legislator who submitted the request to disqualify Zoabi, welcomed the committee's decision, "[She] clearly violated the Basic Law of The Knesset when she took part in the Marmara terror attack [the Freedom Flotilla that challenged the Israeli blockade of Gaza in May 2010], and therefore she has no place in the Knesset. Israeli democracy needs to know when to defend itself from those who are trying to destroy it from within."* *Zoabi, one of 11 MPs representing Arab parties, has been challenged since she took part in the Freedom Flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza in May 2010. Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, on which Zoabi was a passenger.* *The Committee turned down motions for bans on two Arab parties. The motions to ban the Arab parties, Balad and Ra'am-Ta'al, were based on a provision in the Basic Law, which says a party or an individual candidate can be disqualified if their actions deny Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism, or support armed struggle, an enemy state, or a terrorist organisation.* * ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * Schools to strike Wednesday, Thursday Published yesterday (updated) 19/12/2012 14:38 BETHLEHEM (Maan) The Palestinian Authoritys ministry of education is considering heading early to the winter holiday before final exams, a ministry official said. Undersecretary Muhammad Abu Zeid told Maan that the ministry is following up with the teachers strike hour by hour, and is studying a suggestion to go early to the winter holiday in an attempt to save the semester. According to Abu Zeid, it was suggested that the winter holiday start Sunday, and students would have to sit for final exams at the beginning of the second semester. The suggestion came as an attempt to cope with the ongoing teachers protests as the general union of teachers announced Tuesday that teachers and all employees at the ministrys offices across the West Bank would go on strike Wednesday and Thursday protesting unpaid wages. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://972mag.com/testimony-soldier-fired-directly-at-bilin-demonstrator-killed-in-2009/62306/ By Haggai Matar <http://972mag.com/author/haggaim/> |Published December 19, 2012Testimony: Soldier fired directly at Bil'in demonstrator killed in 2009 *New light is shed on the shooting death of non-violent demonstrator Bassem Abu Rahme in Bilin in 2009: A soldier who served in the same brigade as the shooter testifies how the incident was perceived by other soldiers. The testimony strengthens the claim that the shot was fired against army regulations.* *The guy who shot him was kind of pleased with the whole thing, he had an X on his launcher.* On April 17, 2009 Bassem Abu Rahme was killed by an extended-range tear-gas canister that hit him directly in the chest. Abu Rahme, one of the most prominent figures in the popular struggle against the wall in Bilin, was demonstrating non-violently and shouting at the commanding officer across the fence to stop firing tear gas, as a foreign national had just been hit in the ear by a gas canister. Another projectile was fired, hitting and killing him almost immediately. The entire incident was caught on tape by artist and photographer David Reeb (the deadly shot is fired at around 3:10). *http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5yM9U2y-op4* (Video: David Reeb) Military orders are quite clear in regards to the shooting of tear gas canisters, stating that they should always be fired at an arched angle, never point-blank (in a direct trajectory), which makes the canisters much more lethal. Even so, as BTselem has warned several times<http://www.btselem.org/firearms/20120422_direct_firing_of_tear_gas_continues> and has documented<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UCZPbX1npRo>, it is a common practice amongst soldiers to shoot projectiles directly at demonstrators, causing serious injury and at times even death as in the cases of Abu Rahme and Mustafa Tamimi<http://972mag.com/mustafa-tamimi-a-murder-captured-on-camera/29459/> (in Nabi Saleh) after him. As is often the case, the army refused to open an investigation into the case of Abu Rahme, claiming the shot was fired in accordance with procedures, and that the canister changed its arched course after hitting a wire. Only after the Abu Rahme family and attorney Michael Sfard petitioned the High Court, with video evidence and a forensic expert opinion supporting the claim that the shot was fired directly, did the army launch an investigation <http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20100712>, which has been going on for more than two years now. *Officers told soldiers the shot was fired against regulations* Now, three and a half years after the shooting, a new testimony given to Breaking the Silence <http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/> exposes how the story looked from the uniformed side of the fence. A soldier who served in the same brigade as Abu Rahmes shooter told the NGOs researchers that officers informed the troops that the shot was illegal, that soldiers would watch Reebs video of the incident and laugh about it, and that the shooter marked a victorious X on his rifle, signifying a successful kill. The testifying soldier was a sergeant in the 7thArmored Brigade at the time. Some soldiers had a grenade launcher installed on their guns, so they also had the option of shooting tear gas canisters. In the second company, which was stationed in Nilin at the time, there was one person you know the man who got killed in Bilin? So this is how he got killed, from one of the soldiers launcher. The actual order is to not shoot the gas canisters point-blank, but rather to aim in an arch at where the demonstrators are standing. The grenade flies into their midst and releases the gas and that should disperse them. But this one time, one of the soldiers simply aimed at someone point-blank, and it hit his chest and he got killed. *How did you hear about this?* Everybody heard about it. It was a mess. Once something happened in the [military] sector everybody would hear. *How did everyone know that it was point-blank?* Because they would tell us. *Your commanders talked about it?* They didnt linger on it for too long, you know. Just explained what happened. The use of grenade launchers is not really that common (*amongst army units, H.M*). Dispersing demonstrations is mostly handled by the Border Police. *Who explained what happened?* The platoon commander or something. Usually in briefings theyd tell what had happened recently and explain. At the time there was a video of this incident where you see the man who got shot, you see something hit him, then he roles over and shouts and then he actually dies. Some of the soldiers had this clip on their phones and theyd send it to one another and have a bit of a laugh. The guy who shot him, I dont remember his name, I personally dont know him but I had an idea of who it was. He was kind of pleased with the whole thing, he had an X on his launcher. (The full testimony was published in Hebrew<http://www.shovrimshtika.org/testimonies/database/635697> on Breaking the Silences site. This is my own translation) [image: Bassem Abu Rahme Was Killed by a Tear Gas Canister in Bil'in in 2009]<http://972mag.com/new-flaws-in-the-idf%e2%80%99s-account-of-rachel-corrie%e2%80%99s-death/1707/bassem/> Bassem Abu Rahme, killed by a tear gas canister in Bilin in 2009 Following the publication of this testimony, BTselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli wrote on her Facebook page that she herself once documented a soldier aiming a grenade launcher directly at a Palestinian youth, threatening to give him the Abu Rahme, in the soldiers own words. As mentioned above, the investigation of the shooting of Abu Rahme is still ongoing. 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