AFOPA MEDIA REPORT, 10 JULY 2017

Selections from Australian newspapers.

Gaza electricity crisis: 'It is the worst I can remember – but we expect it to get worse', Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 10 July 2017

Move by Mahmoud Abbas to cut electricity to 2-4 hours a day in escalation of row with Hamas is affecting quality of life for Gazans. ...

Hamas seeks help from Palestinian foe to relieve pressure on Gaza, Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 9 July 2017

Gaza’s Hamas movement is seeking a rapprochement with the Palestinian leader once regarded as its greatest enemy, as the Islamist group faces unprecedented challenges from all sides. Hamas’s leadership is in talks with Mohammed Dahlan – the exiled former Fatah leader in Gaza whose supporters Hamas defeated when it wrested control of the territory in 2007 in a brief but bloody civil war – amid hopes he can persuade Egypt to come to the aid of Gazans struggling under the decade-long Israeli-led blockade. ...

Unesco makes Hebron old city Palestinian world heritage site, Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 8 July 2017

The UN’s world heritage body has recognised the old city of Hebron in the West Bank as a Palestinian world heritage site, sparking outrage from Israel. Furious efforts by Israel failed to derail the Unesco ruling on the city, which includes a holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi mosque and Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. ...

Fixing my toilet more important than UNESCO Hebron resolution: Israeli diplomat, Ruth Eglash, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 July 2017

Israel isn't known for its fondness of the United Nations and its institutions, but a resolution passed on Friday questioning Israel's continued occupation of the ancient West Bank city of Hebron and the damage it might be causing to holy sites there drew an unusual response. "Sorry ... I have a very urgent ... sorry, Mr Chairman ... it's my plumber in my apartment in Paris," Carmel Shama-Hacohen, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), said sarcastically while addressing the forum's annual gathering. ...

UNESCO declares Hebron shrine as Palestinian angering Israel, Isabel Kershner, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 July 2017

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organisation, has declared the ancient and hotly contested core of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a Palestinian World Heritage site in danger, despite a concerted diplomatic effort by Israel and the United States to scuttle the decision. The Palestinian Authority administers most of Hebron, a predominantly Palestinian city, under the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s. But an enclave around the historic core remains under full Israeli military control and is also home to several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers. ...

Letters to the Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 June 2017

Illegal recruiting

Alan Shroot (letters, June27) claims that for members of the (Australian) Jewish community to join and fight with the Israeli army that is occupying Palestine, oppressing its people and committing war crimes, is "totally legal".

This is not correct. Australian law prohibits the recruitment in Australia of persons to serve in an armed force in a foreign state. This is precisely what pro-Israeli organisations are doing in Australia for years by different means.

Mr Shroot's letter raises also a number of essential questions: Wouldn't Australian Jews serving in the Israeli army make Australia and the Jewish community complicit with Israel's violations and crimes?

And would that give Israel the right to recruit Jewish Australians to counterfeit Australian passports, as it has been doing in Australia for decades, and use them to spy on other countries and carry out assassinations as it did in 2010 in the United Arab Emirates, a country friendly to Australia?

And according to Shroot's logic, would Australian Arabs, Muslims and others be allowed to join foreign armies and securities also?

Ali Kazak, Narrabundah

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

• Sydney Morning Herald / The Age - Email letters@smh.com.au ; letters@theage.com.au
• The Australian - letters page
• The Guardian - Email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Other resources:

THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA - Palestinian Territories / Israel

ABC NEWS - Occupied Palestinian Territory / Israel

JADALIYYA - Palestine Media Roundup 09JUL2017