Jewish Voice for Peace: Israeli settlers invaded Umm al-Kheir [West Bank] with a bulldozer to destroy what little remains of the Palestinian village. As Awda and his family tried to defend their homes and land, a settler opened fire—both aiming directly and shooting indiscriminately. Awda was shot in the chest and later died from his injuries..... This is not a clash or a conflict — it is colonial violence. It is ethnic cleansing, carried out under the protection of the Israeli military regime. The Israeli government's strategy of settlement expansion — through settler violence, military raids, and systematic demolitions — is part of a broader project rooted in the original goals of Zionism: to claim maximum land with a minimum number of Palestinians. In Masafer Yatta, this strategy aims to complete the displacement of Palestinian communities to make way for expanding Israeli settlements.

Jewish Voice for Peace

@jvplive

 

To know Awda Hathaleen is to love him. Awda Hathaleen was an activist and a resident in Umm al-Khair, an indigenous Bedouin Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills within the occupied West Bank. He was an English teacher and activist. Awda has always been a pillar amongst his family, his village and the wider international community of activists who had the pleasure to meet Awda. He is survived by his beloved wife Hanady, and their three young, vibrant children, who carry forward his legacy of love and strength

Activists working with Awda report that Israeli settlers invaded Umm al-Kheir with a bulldozer to destroy what little remains of the Palestinian village. As Awda and his family tried to defend their homes and land, a settler opened fire—both aiming directly and shooting indiscriminately. Awda was shot in the chest and later died from his injuries after being taken by an Israeli ambulance. His death was the result of brutal settler violence. Later, when Awda's relative Ahmad al-Hathaleen tried to block the bulldozer, the settler driving it ran him over. Ahmad is now being treated in a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, several Palestinians and international activists were detained by the Israeli army and police on false charges.

This is not a clash or a conflict — it is colonial violence. It is ethnic cleansing, carried out under the protection of the Israeli military regime. The Israeli government's strategy of settlement expansion — through settler violence, military raids, and systematic demolitions — is part of a broader project rooted in the original goals of Zionism: to claim maximum land with a minimum number of Palestinians. In Masafer Yatta, this strategy aims to complete the displacement of Palestinian communities to make way for expanding Israeli settlements.

We reject settler violence and expansion, and we recommit ourselves to the courageous, loving resistance that Awda embodied — a spirit that inspired all who had the privilege of knowing him. May Awda’s memory be a revolution.

https://x.com/jvplive/status/1949908062015541690

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

''I am mad at both Israel and Hamas. We need peace,'' says Hanan al-Karanawi, a farmer.

Israeli soldiers stand near a mobile artillery unit after it fired a shell towards northern Gaza from its position outside the Gaza Strip on Monday. Residents of the Bedouin Arab town of Rahat are divided between worry for themselves as rockets from Gaza fly in both directions and worry for their relatives. Amir Cohen/Reuters

Israel's Bedouin Arabs caught in middle as rockets fly in both directions

Residents of the Bedouin Arab town of Rahat are divided between worry for themselves as rockets from Gaza land nearby and worries for their relatives in Gaza facing an Israeli barrage.

By Ben Lynfield, Correspondent / November 19, 2012 

Rahat, Israel

"Remember God" reads a sign on the main street of this devout, impoverished Bedouin Arab town in southern Israel that is trapped in the middle of the devastating Israel-Gaza fighting, even more than most places in the country.

Like nearly a million other Israelis in the south, the lives of Rahat's 55,000 residents are interrupted by missile strikes in the vicinity, recurrent sirens, and fears that the pictures of shattered apartments they see on television could include their own homes next.

But unlike their Jewish neighbors, many of Rahat's inhabitants have relatives in the Gaza Strip, making them more adamant about the need for a cease-fire and more sensitive to the spiraling civilian casualty toll there.

The familial ties to Gaza date back to 1948, when Bedouin who were expelled or fled from what became southern Israel arrived as refugees in the coastal enclave. The relationship between southern Israeli Bedouin and Gazans even extends to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who, according to Israeli Hamas specialist Shlomi Eldar, has a sister living in the Israeli Bedouin town of Tel Sheva.

As Israel ponders expanding the military operation into an all-out ground incursion, many in Rahat are urging a solution through negotiations.

''I am mad at both Israel and Hamas. We need peace,'' says Hanan al-Karanawi, a farmer.
Khalil al-Zbareh, a gas station attendant, added: ''This cannot continue. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas and [Egyptian President Mohamed] Morsi must meet and make a sulha,'' he says, referring to the Arabic word for a traditional reconciliation between warring families or tribes.

Al-Karanawi says his six children have been ''screaming and crying'' from the missile sirens and taking cover under a table and the stairs.

Despite their links to Gaza, Rahat residents have a real chance of being hit by one of the rockets soaring into Israel, al-Karawani says.''Why won't Rahat also be hit by a missile? We have no immunity,'' he says.

'I'm worried about them'

But what his children go through pales in comparison to the barrage against Gaza, where his uncles live, he says. They have no warnings before the Israeli airstrikes.

''Compared to them, we are living it up here,'' he says. ''I'm worried about them. All are humans. There are a lot of innocent civilians on both sides.'' ...READ MORE