Middle East Monitor - The Latest from the Middle East

Israel's Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, on Tuesday sent a strongly worded letter to Israeli Defence Minister, Moshe Ya'alone, accusing security forces of acting wrongly in protecting illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli newspaper said.

The Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that Weinstein wrote to Ya'alone asking him to ensure criminal enforcement of planning and construction violations in the West Bank without delay.

Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Othman, has expressed appreciation for the Palestinian government in Gaza's position, patience and cooperation with the Egyptian authorities in resolving the captured soldiers' crisis in Sinai.

In response to Hamas leader Dr Salah Al-Bardawil's congratulations of the Egyptian authorities for releasing the Egyptian soldiers, Othman said, "We commend the patience and endurance of the Palestinian people while the Rafah crossing was closed in order to resolve this crisis."

Deputy Chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau, Moussa Abu Marzook, has expressed grief over the torture taking place in Palestinian Authority prisons and believes that the EU statement issued on Wednesday (5/22) is somewhat saddening as it indicates that Europeans seems to care more about the rights of Palestinians than Palestinians themselves.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday (5/22), Abu Marzook said "I read a story I wish I hadn't - "The EU expresses its concern over torture in PA prisons". I say this for two reasons; firstly because of the torture itself, and secondly because the EU is more protective of Palestinian rights than the Palestinians themselves."

Saeb Erekat, member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, stated that the Israeli government "Continues to exercise the settlement policy on the occupied Palestinian territories."

During a meeting with the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Erekat said: "The total number of Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land after Benjamin Netanyahu came into office from 2009 to 2012 has reached over 16,000 settlement units. On average, this is 11 new settlement units a day."

The Syrian army said that it has destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights into the Syrian territories.

The Israeli army responded with firing a Tammuz missile on a Syrian site in the Golan Heights after Syrians opened fire on an Israeli army patrol that was carrying out routine work.

In the past two days the Hamas movement has briefed Egyptian security authorities on a vast amount of intelligence documents they obtained after entering the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service and the Palestinian Intelligence amid Hamas' ouster of its rival, the Fatah movement, from the Gaza Strip.

The remaining Palestinians in the Al-Naqab area, located in the southern area of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, are seeking to internationalise their case. They are also raising awareness about the racism they are subjected to by Zionists who are aiming to seize their land, forcefully expel them from it and relocated them to allocated areas that could be called racist "ghettos", similar to those prevalent during Apartheid in South Africa.

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During a visit to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, discussed the humanitarian issues facing the Sector and promised a $1.5m increase in his country's support to UNRWA.

Tuomioja accompanied UNRWA staff on a short tour to several places in the Strip, including the University of Palestine where he was offered him an Honorary Doctorate for his efforts toward international humanitarian justice.

A Palestinian organisation located in the territories occupied in 1948 that maintains Islamic sanctities and monitors violations against them by the Zionist occupation authorities has said that, "Zionist gangs have been using malicious methods and means of destruction and Judaisation of Islamic and Christian sanctities in order to alter real Palestinian landmarks over past 65 years in what is known as the "Nakba" or [Palestinian Catastrophe]." It also noted that this "still goes on today at the hands of the Israeli establishment and its various branches."

Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Monday that Israeli settlements are the main obstacle before efforts to revive the peace process, and that the Palestinian Authority is prepared to join 63 international organisations and conventions but is holding back to give Kerry's efforts a chance.

Speaking at a meeting of a committee concerned with Palestinians exercising their inalienable rights in New York, Erekat said: "In total 6,000 Israeli settlements have been approved between 2009 and 2012. This is an average of 11 settlement units every day."

There is an on-going conspiracy against the Christian presence in the Palestinian territories, said Hanna Issa Hadithah, an activist who supports the Christian presence in Palestine.

"The [Israeli] authorities bear primary responsibility for emptying the land of the Christ of Christians," Hanna Issa said in an interview held in Ramallah.

The European Union yesterday denied reports by Israeli media outlets regarding the postponement of its decision to label Israeli settlement products.

A statement was made by the EU delegation in Israel saying "Contrary to what was recently reported in Israeli media, work on the enforcement of EU legislation with regard to the labelling of settlement products has not been delayed."

US Secretary of State called the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, last week demanding an explanation about planned legalisation of four Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Tuesday.

Haaretz reported a senior Israeli official as saying that Kerry personally phoned Oren after he had received a report about the Israeli intentions to legalise the four outposts. The official said that Kerry rebuked Oren.

Al-Tadamun human rights organisation said on Tuesday that the Israeli occupation has renewed the administrative detention of 11 Palestinians, including a former hunger striker and two Palestinian lawmakers.