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2 Palestinian teenagers were shot and killed by IDF soldiers near a protest outside Israel’s Ofer Prison in the West Bank. Israeli authorities initially denied shooting at the boys, however video was later leaked showing IDF soldiers firing bullets at the unsuspecting victims.
186 of the 5,265 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli detention are being held without trial or charge, according to Addameer, a Palestinian human rights organization.
21.4 percent of Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military report being placed in solitary confinement, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine.
75.3 percent of East Jerusalem residents live below the poverty line, according to The Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
2 Israeli news outlets—the Makor Rishon newspaper and the NRG news website—were purchased by American billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. The staunchly pro-Israel Republican funder already owns the Israel HaYom newspaper.
0 out of 10,000 Sudanese migrants have been granted refugee status by Israel, +972 Magazine reported. Worldwide, the refugee recognition rate for Sudanese individuals is nearly 70 percent.
10 bills that could lead to the annexation of all Israeli settlements were placed on the Knesset’s docket on June 23. The legislation calls for Israeli law, judiciary and administration to apply to these areas in the occupied West Bank.
92 percent of Egyptian voters cast their ballot for former general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to unofficial results released by his campaign.
42 percent of Egyptians view ousted President Mohamed Morsi favorably, according to a Pew Research poll. The survey also found that 40 percent of Egyptians still support the Muslim Brotherhood and that 54 percent of the country has a favorable view of Sisi.
3-year prison sentence was handed toformer Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for embezzling millions of dollars in public money for renovations to his personal property.
9,800 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 if the Afghan government signs a security agreement, President Barack Obama announced.
$5 billion “terrorism-partnership fund” was announced by President Obama at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY. If supported by Congress, the fund will assist countries such as Yemen in combatting terrorist groups.
5 detainees were released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was allegedly captured by the Haqqani Network. The government of Qatar played an instrumental role in negotiating the prisoner exchange.
Pakistan’s economy is 70 percent larger than previously estimated, according to figures released by the International Comparison Project.
24,500 people have been displaced in Yemen’s Abyan and Shabwah governorates as a result of fighting between the Yemeni government and elements of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), according to the U.N.Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
75 Libyanswere killed in fighting between Islamist militias and armed rebels led by retired Gen. Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi. General Haftar’s actions, which included storming the parliament, were viewed by many as a coup attempt.
1,027 civilians were killed by violence in Iraq, according to Iraq Body Count.
6 young Iranians were arrested for making a video in which they danced to Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy,” sparking international outrage.
Quotes:
“[Love is] a pretty radical notion. It means your daughter or son, your neighbor’s daughter or son and the daughters and sons of people who live thousands of miles away, all deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It means we let go of fear and see each other’s humanity…It means American lives don’t count more than Iraqi lives. It means we see a young Palestinian kid not as a future security threat or demographic challenge, but as a future father, mother and lover.”
—Singer John Legend, addressing the University of Pennsylvania’s graduating class on May 19.
“It is a measure I guess of how twisted and shallow our depiction of a people is that these images [of Palestinians doing ordinary things] come as a shock to so many. The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity. People are not statistics. That is all we attempted to show. A small, pathetically small step towards understanding.”
—CNN’s Anthony Bourdain, after being presented with the Muslim Affairs Council’s award for courage and conscience in the media for the episode of “Parts Unknown” he filmed in Israel and Palestine.
Published in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
