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A sad sign of the times: Hispanic caucus members ejected from meeting about immigration raids

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 17 February 2017 17 February 2017

Removal of caucus members from meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to shock: ‘Never before in 20-plus years has this happened’

Two members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said they were removed from a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Thursday, just two days after the agency’s acting director abruptly cancelled a meeting with the CHC.

On Thursday, Democratic Representatives Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Norma Torres of California said Republicans asked them to leave a meeting with the agency’s acting director, Thomas Homan, about the rash of raids on immigrant communities.

“In 20-plus years, I have never heard of the Republicans controlling what meetings Democrats can have with officials of the executive branch and never had a staffer ask me to leave a meeting to which I am entitled to attend,” Gutiérrez said in a statement after the meeting.

Read more on The Guardian

In First, Israel Mulls Using New Law to Confiscate Palestinian Lands for Illegal Settlement

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Written by Yotam Berger Yotam Berger
Published: 14 February 2017 14 February 2017

Israel tells court contemplating using new land-grab law to 'legalize' seven structures, roads built on private Palestinian land.

Israel has told the High Court it is contemplating using recently passed legislation to confiscate privately owned Palestinians lands in the West Bank. The lands in question contain seven structures in the West Bank outpost of Adi Ad and a number of roads built illegally on private lands.

This could be the first time that state uses the so-called Regularization Law to expropriate private Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

A group of Palestinians had filed a petition with the High Court through the Yesh Din legal aid group in 2014, demanding that the illegal outpost of Adi Ad be dismantled. At the time, Israel's legal representatives said in response that a demarcation team surveyed the area and found that six structures in the outpost were built on parcels "that are not state lands."

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.771651

Solidarity is not selective: Michael Bennett brings the struggle for Palestinian freedom to the NFL

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Written by Shireen Ahmed Shireen Ahmed
Published: 14 February 2017 14 February 2017

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett created ripples in the sports world when he publicly tweeted he was no longer going on a Post-Super Bowl trip to Israel.

In a world where privileged football sports figures make vacuous and cowardly statements about politics, Bennett has been a voice of intelligence and compassion. He was vocal in supporting Colin Kaepernick’s protest against systemic injustice and anti-Blackness in the United States, and his most recent public comments have cemented his unwavering commitment to understanding the roots of injustice — despite the attempts by Israeli organizations to gloss over the oppression of Palestinians.   .....

See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2017/02/solidarity-selective-palestinian

Israel passes bill retroactively legalising Jewish settlements

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Written by Peter Beaumont Peter Beaumont
Published: 07 February 2017 07 February 2017

The bill was supported by Benjamin Netanyahu, but opponents said the law ‘makes theft an official Israeli policy’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/06/israel-likely-pass-bill-retroactively-legalising-jewish-settlements

Israel’s parliament has approved a controversial bill to retroactively “legalise” illegal Jewish outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land, setting up an inevitable confrontation with the international community.

The so-called regulation bill paves the way for Israel to recognise thousands of illegally built Jewish settler homes constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in what opponents have dubbed a “theft” and “land grab”.

The law retroactively legalises the construction, with the original landowners to be compensated either with money or alternative land – even if they do not agree to give up their property.

The new law is the latest in a series of pro-settlement moves by Israel since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, which has seen some 6,000 new Jewish settlement homes announced in the occupied Palestinian territories in the past fortnight.

The international community overwhelmingly opposes settlements and sees them as an obstacle to peace.

Read more on The Guardian

 

‘We have nowhere else to go’: Bedouins say they will continue to rebuild as Israel carries out home demolitions at a record pace

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Written by Sheren Khalel Sheren Khalel
Published: 01 February 2017 01 February 2017
 

A white tent is the only structure left standing among the scattered piles of twisted metal and tarp that was a Jahalin Tribe Bedouin encampment West of Jericho city in the Wadi Qilt valley.

On the morning of Wednesday, January 25th, Israeli forces escorted two bulldozers down from the main road up to the small Bedouin community. Mohammed Jahalin and his family were ordered out of their houses and forcefully gathered together on the edge of their encampment where they watched as the metal blades of bulldozers smashed through their homes.

Israeli forces destroyed every standing structure in the encampment — including three houses and two livestock barns — leaving 12 people homeless, half of whom are children.

In 2016, Israeli forces demolished homes, particularly Bedouin homes, in record numbers. According to United Nations documentation, Israeli forces in 2016 demolished or seized an unprecedented 1,093 Palestinian-owned structures throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the displacement of 1,601 Palestinians and affecting the livelihoods of another 7,101.

In the first 23 days of 2017, Israeli forces demolished 119 Palestinian-owned structures, leaving 177 Palestinians displaced. The bi-weekly average for home demolitions in 2017 is nearly a third higher than 2016’s, putting 2017 on track for another record-breaking year.

Read more on Mondoweiss: http://mondoweiss.net/2017/01/bedouins-continue-demolitions/

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