Palestinian/ Israeli update 7/11/2017...Palestinian killed by Israeli forces near Bethlehem

Palestinian killed by Israeli forces near Bethlehem

Israeli court extends the detention of Palestinian politician Khalida Jarrar

Gaza Power Watch: How Many Hours of Electricity Does Gaza Get Everyday

A severe electricity shortage in Gaza leaves residents with as little as four hours of power a day in the sweltering summer heat. Who gets electricity and when?

 read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.800735

A severe electricity shortage in the Gaza Strip has left residents with as little as four hours of power a day in the sweltering summer heat, raising humanitarian concerns.

For several years, Gaza residents received roughly eight hours a day, and many rely on gasoline-fueled generators. Others turn to large batteries to run household appliances, and a privileged few can afford solar panels.

In June, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested that Israel reduce electricity purchases and supply to the Gaza Strip, to which Israel acquiesced. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers the current electricity crisis in Gaza an “internal Palestinian matter” and insists that Israel has no interest in an escalation of tensions.

Jewish settlers taking over a Palestinian home

Over Half of Israel’s Jews Do Not Want to Live in a ‘Jewish State’

http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/07/11/over-half-of-israels-jews-do-not-want-to-live-in-a-jewish-state/

Some 55 percent of Jewish Israelis would like a review of the longstanding policy that sees Judaism and the state fused to a great extent, a new poll shows. The same percentage of respondents believe the current policy reflects an ultra-Orthodox view.

The authors of the survey, which was commissioned by the Israel Democracy Institute, asked groups of Israel’s Jewish population with various religious backgrounds about their opinion on the status quo, a consensus on the role of religion in the life of the Jewish state reached between secular and religious parties that dates back to its early days.

The main pillars of the policy were outlined in a letter by one of Israel’s founders, its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, from June 1947, and later enshrined in Israeli law. That includes limiting business and public activity on Shabbat, putting rabbinical courts solely in charge of any matters concerning marriage and divorce of Jewish Israelis and not allowing the option of a civil marriage for anyone. As for the non-Jewish population, including Christians and Muslims, the letter purported to guarantee a freedom of conscience giving them permission not to follow Shabbat and providing other exceptions.

While two-thirds of secular Israelis surveyed said that the present secular-religious status chimes with the views of “haredi” or ultra-Orthodox Israelis, nearly 100 percent of them favored the idea of mitigating the role of religion or separating it from the state altogether, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Eighty percent of those who declare themselves traditional but non-religious Jews also back greater separation of state and religion, while a considerably lower share among traditional religious Jews, 49 percent, support the idea of a more secular state…

Your Morning News From Israel – July 11, 2017