Here we go again... Another suicide bomber... The last one we had was 2008... Is this symptomatic of the failed Peace process or the new Abbas-Hamas marriage? 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 dentists practice in Yokneam, an Arab Druze town in northern Israel, was charged on Thursday[30 May], the ministry said. The minors 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, Yosefs 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 weeks visit of Pope Francis to the Holy Land, prompting calls from some government ministers and security officials to label the attacks terrorism. ========================================================= Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA ________________________________________ IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
