Excerpts: Israel security forces disarm suicide bomber. Abbas re 'new
national unity government'. Young extremist Jews re Arab property damage May
30, 2014

SOURCE: Al Arabya News 30 May ’14:”Israel says prevented Palestinian suicide
bomb attack” ,by Maayan Lubell--Reuters
SUBJECT: Israel security forces disarm suicide bomber

QUOTE:”Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank caught a
Palestinian man wearing an explosive belt on Friday [30 May], police and the
military said, preventing what could have been the first suicide attack in
the area for years.

FULL TEXT:Border police guarding a busy junction near the Palestinian city
of Nablus were suspicious about the man who was wearing a coat on a hot day
and ordered him to stop, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner
told reporters.

The man, who was in his 20s and has not yet been named, immediately lay down
in the road and raised his shirt to reveal that he was wearing an explosive
belt. The device was removed and later detonated by army experts.

“There were 12 steel pipes connected with wires,” Lerner said. “He said he
was supposed to activate it. ‘Touch it and activate’ was the wording he
used.”

Israel saw a wave of suicide bombings a decade ago during the height of a
Palestinian uprising. However, the last such attacks took place in 2008 and
Lerner said military intelligence had no indication of any specific threat
at present.

“It is a freak incident,” he said, noting that the security forces did not
yet know if the man, who came from Nablus and is under interrogation, was
affiliated to any militant group.

The incident happened at the Tapuah Junction, just south of Nablus - a
particularly sensitive area with a high level of security near a number of
Jewish settlements. A settler was killed at the same junction by a
Palestinian in April 2013.

U.S.-led peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed last
month, and some military analysts have warned of a possible uprising given
the lack of any clear way forward to resolve the generations-old conflict.

Although there have been sporadic outbursts of violence in recent weeks,
there has been no indication of any widespread or more organised
disturbances.



Last Update: Friday, 30 May 2014 KSA 15:42 - GMT


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 30 May ’14:”Abbas designates PM to head new
Palestinian unity Cabinet”, by Reuters
SUBJECT: Abbas re new ‘national unity government’



QUOTE: Abbas asked P.M. to head a new national unity government which will
bring together the feuding Hamas and Fateh parties”

FULL TEXT:RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on
Thursday[29 May] asked Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to head a new national
unity government which will bring together the feuding Hamas and Fateh
parties.

The announcement satisfies a five-week deadline following the groups’
reconciliation pact on April 23, but the two sides have yet to publish a
list of ministers drawn from independent technocrats, suggesting that
disagreements persist.

“This letter designates Doctor Rami Hamdallah to form a new transitional
government. I wish him luck in this difficult task which he will undertake,”
Abbas said in a swift ceremony with the prime minister at his side.

Israel suspended US-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians in April
after Abbas agreed the unity pact between his Fateh Party and the Islamist
Hamas, which is viewed by Israel as a terrorist group.

Israel has threatened Abbas’ aid-dependent administration with financial
sanctions if he pursues the deal.

Western-backed Fateh rules the Israeli-occupied West Bank while Hamas, which
has refused to recognise Israel, holds sway in the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

Fateh and Hamas developed separate governments while national institutions,
including parliament, mostly lapsed after Hamas seized control of Gaza in
2007 in the wake of a sweeping win in legislative elections.

Sources close to the government talks say disputes remain primarily over who
should be foreign minister.

Officials at a joint Hamas-Fateh news conference said on Tuesday they had
mostly agreed to a list of names pending Abbas’ final approval this week.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that a final announcement
was not immediately expected. “The consultations over forming a government
still need days to finalise the last details,” he said.

Abbas has been keen to assure Western donor countries that he will remain
the key Palestinian decision maker and that security coordination between
his forces and Israel will continue.

Both Palestinian parties see benefits to a unity pact.

Limping under a strict blockade by neighbours Israel and Egypt, the Hamas
government in Gaza has struggled to prop up the economy and pay its 40,000
employees.

Abbas, shifting his strategy after the peace talks collapsed last month, is
seeking to shore up his domestic legitimacy since his mandate expired in
2009.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 30 May ’14:”Israel charges two Jews over racist
attacks”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Young extremist Jews re Arab property damage



QUOTE:“Two suspected Jewish extremist have been charged with racially
motivated attacks against Arab-owned property”



FULL TEXT:OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Two suspected Jewish extremists have been
charged with racially motivated attacks against Arab-owned property, the
justice ministry said Thursday[30 May], after a spate of vandalism.

A 16-year-old arrested earlier this month for scrawling graffiti on and
smashing the door and windows of a dentist’s practice in Yokneam, an Arab
Druze town in northern Israel, was charged on Thursday[30 May], the ministry
said.

The minor’s name was not made public, in accordance with Israeli law.

On Wednesday[29 May], prosecutors filed charges against Adir Yosef, 26, for
damaging an Arab-owned car in Yokneam earlier in May.

According to the charge sheet, Yosef’s alleged felony was part of a wave of
14 racist crimes that took place in and around Yokneam over the past three
months.

So-called price tag attacks are nationalist-motivated hate crimes by Jewish
extremists that mostly target Palestinian and Arab property, but have also
included attacks on other non-Jews as well as leftwing Israelis and the
security forces.

A spate of attacks preceded last week’s visit of Pope Francis to the Holy
Land, prompting calls from some government ministers and security officials
to label the attacks “terrorism”.



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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA