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Friday, January 22, 2010
Israel Deports Reporter At Same Time Settlers Desecrate Muslim Graveyard As IDF Stands Idly By!
at 3:07 PM
Israeli authorities today deported an American journalist who was working as an editor for a Palestinian news agency.
Jared Malsin, who is Jewish and in his late 20s, was detained at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport eight days ago as he returned from a holiday in Prague.
His girlfriend, a Lutheran church volunteer who flew back with him, was deported two days later., but Malsin was held in detention at a cell in the airport while he began a legal challenge to his deportation order.
Early today Malsin, who has worked with the Ma'an news agency for two years as its English news editor, spoke by telephone to a colleague to say he was being deported and was then put on a flight to New York. "He was not in a good place. He sounded very confused," said George Hale, a staff writer at Ma'an.
Sabine Hadad, a spokeswoman for the Israeli interior ministry, said Malsin had refused to answer questions and co-operate with security staff when he landed at the airport last week. "It is the minimal right of every immigration authority to ask questions or to clarify things that are not clear about every person who wants to enter Israel," she said. "He refused to co-operate and we told him if he continued to refuse he would not enter Israel."
Hadad said they did not know Malsin was a journalist until they were contacted by the press about his detention.
However, Hale said Malsin was interrogated repeatedly and was asked about articles he had written from the occupied West Bank that were critical of Israeli policies. Hale said Malsin had briefly overstayed his last tourist visa, but was registered as a journalist with the Palestinian Authority and with the authority's labour ministry. He had applied for an Israeli government-issued press card, which most foreign journalists here carry, but was told it would not be granted because he was based in Bethlehem, in the West Bank.
"They knew he was a journalist," said Hale. "We are in contact with Israeli spokespeople going about our daily work and we have never had someone so much as held up, much less deported. My opinion is that this is a mistake. I can't believe they didn't call it off."
Court documents seen by Ma'an showed that Malsin's interrogators said he was denied entry to Israel at the airport because he refused to co-operate, lied to border officials, gave unclear reasons for arriving and violated his visa terms.
Hale said he was concerned and puzzled about a document that Malsin signed on Tuesday, after his lawyer had left him, in which he annulled his legal challenge to the deportation order. After that the Israeli judge on the case closed the deportation file, meaning it can no longer be challenged.
After Malsin was first held at the airport Ma'an described his detention as arbitrary and "an affront to journalists not only in Palestine, but in Israel and abroad." Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda," it said in a statement. .
Jared Malsin, who is Jewish and in his late 20s, was detained at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport eight days ago as he returned from a holiday in Prague.
His girlfriend, a Lutheran church volunteer who flew back with him, was deported two days later., but Malsin was held in detention at a cell in the airport while he began a legal challenge to his deportation order.
Early today Malsin, who has worked with the Ma'an news agency for two years as its English news editor, spoke by telephone to a colleague to say he was being deported and was then put on a flight to New York. "He was not in a good place. He sounded very confused," said George Hale, a staff writer at Ma'an.
Sabine Hadad, a spokeswoman for the Israeli interior ministry, said Malsin had refused to answer questions and co-operate with security staff when he landed at the airport last week. "It is the minimal right of every immigration authority to ask questions or to clarify things that are not clear about every person who wants to enter Israel," she said. "He refused to co-operate and we told him if he continued to refuse he would not enter Israel."
Hadad said they did not know Malsin was a journalist until they were contacted by the press about his detention.
However, Hale said Malsin was interrogated repeatedly and was asked about articles he had written from the occupied West Bank that were critical of Israeli policies. Hale said Malsin had briefly overstayed his last tourist visa, but was registered as a journalist with the Palestinian Authority and with the authority's labour ministry. He had applied for an Israeli government-issued press card, which most foreign journalists here carry, but was told it would not be granted because he was based in Bethlehem, in the West Bank.
"They knew he was a journalist," said Hale. "We are in contact with Israeli spokespeople going about our daily work and we have never had someone so much as held up, much less deported. My opinion is that this is a mistake. I can't believe they didn't call it off."
Court documents seen by Ma'an showed that Malsin's interrogators said he was denied entry to Israel at the airport because he refused to co-operate, lied to border officials, gave unclear reasons for arriving and violated his visa terms.
Hale said he was concerned and puzzled about a document that Malsin signed on Tuesday, after his lawyer had left him, in which he annulled his legal challenge to the deportation order. After that the Israeli judge on the case closed the deportation file, meaning it can no longer be challenged.
After Malsin was first held at the airport Ma'an described his detention as arbitrary and "an affront to journalists not only in Palestine, but in Israel and abroad." Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda," it said in a statement. .
Settlers arrested for torching mosque
January 18, 2010
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli security forces arrested residents of a West Bank settlement in connection with last month's torching of a Palestinian mosque.
Ten settlers were arrested at two yeshivas in the northern West Bank community of Yitzhar in a late Sunday night raid.
Five are accused of burning down a mosque in the nearby village of Yasuf, allegedly in retaliation for an Israeli government-imposed freeze on building in the settlements. Two of the five reportedly are minors.
More than 100 security officers were involved in the raid and arrests, according to reports. Yitzhar residents told Israeli media that the police and security services officers used excessive force.
In the December mosque attack, arsonists struck before dawn on a Friday, burning furniture, prayer rugs and holy texts, and defacing the mosque's walls. The attack led to retaliatory violence, including the stabbing of an Israeli woman at a bus stop. The arson attack was internationally condemned. Source;
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/18/1010206/settlers-arrested-for-torching-mosque
January 18, 2010
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli security forces arrested residents of a West Bank settlement in connection with last month's torching of a Palestinian mosque.
Ten settlers were arrested at two yeshivas in the northern West Bank community of Yitzhar in a late Sunday night raid.
Five are accused of burning down a mosque in the nearby village of Yasuf, allegedly in retaliation for an Israeli government-imposed freeze on building in the settlements. Two of the five reportedly are minors.
More than 100 security officers were involved in the raid and arrests, according to reports. Yitzhar residents told Israeli media that the police and security services officers used excessive force.
In the December mosque attack, arsonists struck before dawn on a Friday, burning furniture, prayer rugs and holy texts, and defacing the mosque's walls. The attack led to retaliatory violence, including the stabbing of an Israeli woman at a bus stop. The arson attack was internationally condemned. Source;
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/18/1010206/settlers-arrested-for-torching-mosque
Muslim cemetery in West Bank vandalized hours after Jews seen in area
A Muslim cemetery near the West Bank town of Nablus was vandalized on Tuesday just hours after Jewish worshippers were seen in the vicinity. Food remnants were left on a number of graves, three tombstones were damaged, and anti-Arab graffiti was spray-painted elsewhere in the Muslim cemetery in the Palestinian town of Awarta. The discovery was made hours after Israel Defense Forces soldiers, ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Israeli settlers were seen entering the cemetery.
Some Jewish scholars believe that Ithamar and Eleazar, two sons of Aaron the High Priest, and Pinhas, Eleazar's son, are interred at the Awarta cemetery. Israelis are forbidden from entering Awarta, although the IDF occasionally organizes group trips for which it provides security. On Tuesday a large contingent of Orthodox Jews and Israeli settlers made a pilgrimage to the site under the protection of IDF troops. Awarta residents were startled to discover Wednesday morning that the Muslim tombstones alongside the Jewish gravesites were desecrated. A fact-finder with B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, interviewed local residents and photographed the damage left behind at the cemetery. One section featured graffiti written in Russian, which said: "Arabs are gay. I f---ed your mother and your father and your donkey."
Some Jewish scholars believe that Ithamar and Eleazar, two sons of Aaron the High Priest, and Pinhas, Eleazar's son, are interred at the Awarta cemetery. Israelis are forbidden from entering Awarta, although the IDF occasionally organizes group trips for which it provides security. On Tuesday a large contingent of Orthodox Jews and Israeli settlers made a pilgrimage to the site under the protection of IDF troops. Awarta residents were startled to discover Wednesday morning that the Muslim tombstones alongside the Jewish gravesites were desecrated. A fact-finder with B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, interviewed local residents and photographed the damage left behind at the cemetery. One section featured graffiti written in Russian, which said: "Arabs are gay. I f---ed your mother and your father and your donkey."
Settlers defile Palestinian graves under IDF watch
Jewish settlers desecrate graves, wreak havoc in Palestinian village
"Death to Arabs" was just one of the hateful messages left by Jewish settlers on Muslim graves after a destructive rampage on a cemetery and village near Nablus Tuesday.
The defilement was carried out, according to residents of the village, under the IDF's watch.
The settlers destroyed graves, slashed tires of some 20 cars and smashed the windshields of five other cars after carrying out an annual ceremony in the village.
Each year, with Israel Defense Force protection, settlers arrive at the West Bank village of Awarta to hold a celebration for the sons
of Aharon, Moses' brother, who are buried there according to Jewish tradition.
According to Central Command sources, only a small group of the 500 settlers attending the celebration was responsible for the destruction, which included graffiti saying "Kahane" (the leader of extreme right-wing Kach movement who advocated the expulsion off all Arabs from the area) and "Death to Arabs".
"We couldn’t pray in the morning because of the settlers. They have destroyed tombstones in the cemetery and we are afraid that next time their actions may be more severe," said Awrata resident Muhammad Abd A-Salam.
According to Abd A-Salam, no one from the IDF has shown up to investigate the matter, despite being notified.
In response to a Ynetnews inquiry, an official IDF announcement said that as soon as the soldiers noticed what was going on, they removed the settlers from the site and prevented them from causing further damage.
"The IDF views such incidents very severely," said the announcement.
Jewish settlers desecrate graves, wreak havoc in Palestinian village
"Death to Arabs" was just one of the hateful messages left by Jewish settlers on Muslim graves after a destructive rampage on a cemetery and village near Nablus Tuesday.
The defilement was carried out, according to residents of the village, under the IDF's watch.
The settlers destroyed graves, slashed tires of some 20 cars and smashed the windshields of five other cars after carrying out an annual ceremony in the village.
Each year, with Israel Defense Force protection, settlers arrive at the West Bank village of Awarta to hold a celebration for the sons
of Aharon, Moses' brother, who are buried there according to Jewish tradition.
According to Central Command sources, only a small group of the 500 settlers attending the celebration was responsible for the destruction, which included graffiti saying "Kahane" (the leader of extreme right-wing Kach movement who advocated the expulsion off all Arabs from the area) and "Death to Arabs".
"We couldn’t pray in the morning because of the settlers. They have destroyed tombstones in the cemetery and we are afraid that next time their actions may be more severe," said Awrata resident Muhammad Abd A-Salam.
According to Abd A-Salam, no one from the IDF has shown up to investigate the matter, despite being notified.
In response to a Ynetnews inquiry, an official IDF announcement said that as soon as the soldiers noticed what was going on, they removed the settlers from the site and prevented them from causing further damage.
"The IDF views such incidents very severely," said the announcement.
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