The Knesset has just passed a law banning calls for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The Israel-based website BoycottIsrael! remains online at the moment, and it will be interesting to see if any action is taken against it.
Four years after an order from the Israeli Supreme Court, the IDF demolished a two-mile section of the West Bank wall near Bil’in village. The demolition came after the attorney for the villagers threatened a contempt of court motion.
Israel’s Civil Administration on the West Bank declared 189 dunams of land belonging to the Palestinian village of Karyut to be state land, so as to retroactively “legalize” a nearby settlement outpost.
In a resolution that passed 406-6, the US House of Representatives threatened to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority if it pursues recognition of statehood outside of negotiations with Israel.
A new report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon into the violence along the Israeli-Lebanon border on Nakba Day harshly criticizes the Israeli army for using unnecessary force in firing on protesters.
As participants in the Gaza flotilla return to the US, their ships impounded by the Greek coast guard, Israel and the blockade-busters are waging a propaganda war to spin the affair before world opinion.
The Tahrir, a Canadian ship taking part in the planned aid flotilla to Gaza, was forced to return to Aghios Nikolaos harbor in Crete after an attempt to reach international waters was thwarted by coast guards.
Israeli police limited access to al-Aqsa Mosque in a precautionary measure a day after clashes in Jerusalem. Meanwhile haredi Jews clashed with police over the arrest of their leader Rabbi Yaakov Yosef on suspicion of inciting violence.
Hundreds of Palestinian detainees at Ashkelon prison, in Israel’s south, continued their hunger strike into a second day following attacks by prison security forces, who fired tear-gas and beat detainees with batons and hoses.
The captain of The Audacity of Hope, a US boat carrying activists seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza has been jailed in Athens. John Klusmer is being charged with two felonies, including “disturbing sea traffic”
Israeli Defense Forces arrested 23 Palestinians, including two members of the Palestine National Council, in operations across the West Bank. There are 6,700 Palestinians currently held in prisons and camps in Israel and in the West Bank.
The Audacity of Hope, US-registered lead ship in the Gaza aid flotilla, was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard just some 20 minutes outside the port of Perama. Athens says all ships bound for Gaza will be prohibited from leaving Greek ports.
