Only 15 motorists with Palestinian Authority license plates chose to drive on Route 443 on Friday ...  More soldiers and reporters than Palestinians headed to the new checkpoint guarding access to Route 443 near Beit Sira at 8 a.m., when the road officially opened ... on Friday morning, [Faruk] Ankawi wanted to savor the victory, however limited and delayed, of taking his car onto the road. “We got something from the court. Not everything we wanted, but something. I wanted to be the first. I wanted to feel good just once,” he said. He said that when he pulled up to the checkpoint, “Soldiers told me turn off the car and to stand to the side. I felt like a dog. I stood. They asked for my ID. I handed it to them and they checked it. They wanted me to empty my pockets and to stand here and there. They checked the truck and under the hood. I asked, “Do you want me to take out the engine as well?” Finally, they let him go. But the inspection erased any positive feelings he had about the opening, he said.
As PM heads to Washington to expunge memories of row with U.S. over Jewish building in the capital, settlers' push to oust Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah risks reigniting tensions ... On Saturday lawyers served eviction notices to two Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, a focus of clashes between Arab residents and settlers. The families were ordered to vacate their properties within 45 days.
Israeli police began blocking an entrance to the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya today (30 May). The entrance, located next to the Hebrew University, is being blockaded with large slabs of concrete. The blockade comes nearly a week after Israeli forces, border police and intelligence officers raided al-Issawiya at 4am Monday morning (24 May).  Following the raid, Israeli forces imposed a curfew on the village. Residents were questioned and detained on both 24 and 25 May as part of a “special tax evasion operation" being conducted by Israel’s Tax Authority, wrote the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
NAZARETH // With most Israelis assuming a new Middle East war is just around the corner, settler leaders are trying to prove to their compatriots that some 120 illegal Jewish colonies in the West Bank will provide an indispensable safe haven in time of emergency. The settlements have drawn up plans to accommodate as many as half a million Israelis forced to flee areas inside the country’s recognised borders if they come under rocket fire in wartime.
Fifteen human rights organizations, headed by Hamoked – Defense of the Individual, petitioned the High Court of Justice late last week against the army’s policy of deporting to the Gaza Strip Palestinians living in the West Bank who appear in Israel’s copy of the population registry as having a Gaza address. The petition also calls on the court to order the army to update changes of address by Palestinians who have moved from Gaza to the West Bank in accordance with the change made in the Palestinian population registry. Since 2000, Israel has refused to update its copy of the Palestinian registry. It will not accept notifications of changes from the Palestinian Authority in any of the details that are inserted into the Palestinian population registry, such as change of address. In that time, thousands of Gazans have moved to the West Bank. Many of them have married there and started families, found work and made friends. “Over the years, and particularly in recent years, Israel has begun to base itself on the outdated addresses in order to expel people from the homes,” the human rights organizations charged.
Israeli warplanes struck the defunct Yasser Arafat International Airport near Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Sunday morning, marking the second day of air strikes. Locals told Ma'an that F16 planes fired five missiles toward the airport, with no injuries reported. The Israeli army said Saturday that a projectile from Gaza hit the Askelon shore, with no damage or injuries reported, while a military source said one had landed in the Western Negev, another inside the Strip. 
The Israeli airforce announced Sunday that its warplanes had dropped two missiles on the previously-destroyed Palestinian airport in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Israeli government officials said that the airstrikes were in response to Palestinian militant groups firing two homemade shells from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. The Palestinian airport in Rafah was destroyed by Israeli missile fire several years ago, and the Palestinian Authority has no control over its own airspace any longer, as Israeli forces have taken full control over all Palestinian airspace. Israeli officials gave no indication as to why the airport was targeted in the Sunday morning strikes
(with photos) Yesterday, Thursday the 27 May ’10, three people were wounded in the Zeytoun neighborhood of Gaza City which was bombed by the Israeli Apache helicopters and six farmers from the same area were wounded by the tank artillery fire while farming near the border. This morning (Friday 28th), two ISM activists visited two of the wounded farmers in the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Baraka Mihammad AL Mugrabi, age 53 and Musa Ashad Badawi, age 28 are neighbors, and went to farm yesterday at 6 a.m ... Baraka has 5 dunums of land and Musa 12, and they grow olives, apricots and other fruits as well as vegetables and some wheat ... Both of them are farmers with no other source of income and large numbers of people depend on their farming income. In Musa’s case, this includes over 20 members of his family including his parents and younger siblings. Baraka supports a large family of 10 children, his parents and several older relatives. Soon after they started farming, earth-to earth missiles fired at them from 10 Israeli tanks ... Artillery shrapnel hit Baraka’s lower arm, shattering the bone in several places and caused nerve damage. He also suffered a spinal injury in a fall following the wounding.
Israeli police reportedly detained four Palestinian tradesmen from Jerusalem after assaulting them on Al-Wad Street in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem. The assault apparently followed a tax inspection by Israel's Jerusalem Municipal Council staff.
IDF forces arrested two wanted Palestinians in the West Bank Saturday night. A Kfir Brigade force detained one suspect in Qalqilya and another force arrested the second suspect near Ramallah. The detainees were taken in for questioning.
(Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided Sunday Romana town in the city of the West Bank of Jenin, and roamed its streets which erupted clashes between the IOF and the citizens. Eyewitnesses said to SAFA news agency that three military vehicles supported with Israeli troop raided the town at 9 a.m. which resulted in erupting clashes between IOF and students. Palestinian citizens confirmed that IOF fired gunshots in air to disperse the crowd of the students.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided Sunday the city of the West Bank of Hebron, no detentions were reported. Witnesses said to WAFA news agency that Israeli forces raided the neighborhoods of Hebron and searched the houses of Nedal Al-Natsh and Ibrahem Ghnimat and his brothers’ houses too. IOF raided the camp of Al-Aroub and fired gas bombs as they clashed with the citizens. Local sources reported that IOF erected military barriers at Ezna, Halhoul and Al-Nabi Younis areas where they stopped the citizens and checked their ID cards.
A Palestinian teenager was detained by Israeli forces on Sunday near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron for allegedly attempting to stab a border guard, Israeli security sources told Ma'an. Islam Mohammad Abu Idheim, 18, from Hebron, was detained as he tried to stab a soldier without causing any injuries, the source said, adding that he was transferred for security questioning. Onlookers said, however, that Abu Idheim was detained for possessing a knife. 
On 11 February 2010, at least 17 children were arrested from the Al Jalazun Refugee Camp in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers. The children and their families report the use of excessive force during the arrests, and ill-treatment and coercion during subsequent interrogations. The children were interrogated in the absence of a lawyer and family member, and the interrogations were not video recorded. The children are accused of throwing stones, and in some cases, Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers in 2009 and 2010. The children are being prosecuted in military courts. --  7 June 2010 Next court appearance for one aged 14, five aged 15, one aged 16
A flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip is preparing to leave Cyprus, organisers say. Earlier reports said the ships had already set sail around 5am local time (02:00 GMT). But organisers later said they merely relocated to a different location, 40km off the coast of Cyprus, and that the ships haven't actually left for Gaza yet. Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from the flotilla, said the ships expected to leave for Gaza on Sunday afternoon. A total of six ships are expected to set sail. Two other ships were damaged over the weekend, and remain in port. Organisers say they might launch a second smaller flotilla on Tuesday, which would include the two damaged ships, plus a third which has yet to arrive.
A demo on the sea today, a day in advance of the anticipated arrival of the Freedom Flotilla, originally comprising 9 boats and 700 people.
One hundred boats will set sail from Gaza's Fisherman Port on Sunday to greet the Freedom Flotilla before it casts anchor in Gaza City's port on Sunday, Committee Against the Siege and PLC member Jamal Al-Khudary said. The welcoming convoy will include committee members, organizers, officials and the families of prisoners in Israeli jails, a statement issued by Al-Khudary read. 
...A statement issued by Yousef Ibrahim said Sunday that vasts amounts of pollution could be released into the sea should the Israeli navy damage one of the boats in an attempt to deter it from arriving in Gaza such as fuel leaking into the sea, the spillage of medical supplies and medicines, and the seeping out of cement, all items the convoy hopes to bring into the coastal enclave. The official warned against the detonation of mines and explosives by Israel's navy in a bid to intimidate the flotilla, citing the potential killing of sea life and fish, "particularly significant because it is the high season for fishing." 
Fatah supporters and members in the Gaza Strip have been called on to welcome the Freedom Fleet's "peace messengers" due to arrive in the coastal enclave on Monday, deputy Secretary-General of the movement's Central Committee Jibril Rajoub told Ma'an Sunday. 
Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Football Federation, said the fleet represented "international recognition of the just Palestinian call" and applauded the European and international officials for participating in the attempt to break the siege and deliver aid to Gaza.
Large naval forces stationed at Haifa Port to 'prevent precedent of opening unsupervised maritime route to Gaza'. Source says mission to intercept aid ships 'relatively simple' but large forces deployed to 'minimize PR damage' -- The Navy hopes it will not have to use its extensive force and that the flotilla will retreat once its ships' captains are warned. If this does not happen, Shayetet 13 officers are ready to take over the ships by force. Naval officers will board the ships and sail them according to the Navy commander's orders.
Greta Berlin | Free Gaza Movement -- After tremendous pressure from the Greek Cypriots, reneging on their agreement with us, we were forced to take our MPs and activists to Famagusta yesterday, on the Turkish/Cypriot side of Cyprus. We spent all day going from one port to the next, surrounded by helicopters and police. Clearly our deal with Cyprus officials had fallen through, and we ended up being pawns in a political soap opera. The Cypriot members of Parliament, the ones who had worked so hard to get us permission to leave, were outraged. The Greek Parliament members finally told us to go to the North. If they could, they would. The Cypriot government said they made their decision because, “The Republic of Cyprus is fighting for its survival” but it didn’t bow to pressure from Israel. As they said this, they bowed their heads.
...Israel claims that if we wish to send aid to Gaza, all we need do is go through ‘official channels,’ give the aid to them and they will deliver it. This statement is both ridiculous and offensive. Their blockade, their ‘official channels,’ is what is directly causing the humanitarian crisis in the first place ...