Activists preparing the new aid fllotilla to the Gaza Strip charge that Israel sabotaged one of their boats at the Greek port of Piraeus. In a statement, Scandinavian organizers said "hostile divers" had cut the propeller shaft of the Juliano, a ship shared by Swedish, Norwegian and Greek activists. They said the damage can be repaired and that it will not affect plans to sail for the Palestinian territory toward the end of the week. The 10-ship flotilla has already been delayed by administrative problems with Greek port authorities that activists blame on Israeli diplomatic pressure.

The US State Department issued the following terse warning on June 22:

The security environment within Gaza, including its border with Egypt and its seacoast, is dangerous and volatile. U.S. citizens are advised against traveling to Gaza by any means, including via sea. Previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea have been stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens participating in any effort to reach Gaza by sea should understand that they may face arrest, prosecution, and deportation by the Government of Israel... On May 31, 2010, nine people were killed, including one U.S. citizen, in such an attempt.

A new Israeli proposal that would forcibly transfer more than 40,000 Bedouin citizens into government-planned townships in the Negev (Naqab) desert has raised the ire of Bedouin communities and their supporters, who say the plan is both discriminatory and ignores the Bedouins' historic connection to the land, Electronic Intifada reports. Dr. Awad Abu Freih, the spokesperson of al-Araqib, one of approximately 45 so-called unrecognized villages in the Negev, told Electronic Intifada: "Now we are very angry and we reject this plan. We will not accept it. We are working all the time to explain to our communities that this plan is very dangerous, it's not good for us and not good for the Jews, not good for the state, not good for anybody."

Dozens of armed Israeli settlers on June 10 attacked residents of Qusra village in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials told Ma'an News Agency. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said settlers beat several residents at the entrance of the village, south of Nablus, and smashed the windscreen of a truck belonging to a local. Doughlas said the settlers were from "illegal" outpost Alei Ayin, which the Israeli army recently evacuated. Settlers from the same outpost are suspected of torching and vandalizing a mosque near Ramallah days earlier. Meanwhile, in the nearby village Iraq Burin, Israeli forces used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a weekly anti-settlement protest, residents told Ma'an. (Maan News Agency, June 12)

The mosque in the West Bank village of Maghayer (also rendered al-Mughayyir) suffered damage and threatening graffiti in a vandal attack in the wee hours of June 7. Burning tires were rolled into the mosque near Ramallah, setting rugs in the building on fire, and the walls were scrawled with anti-Arab slogans. The words "Alei Ayin" were also spray-painted on the walls, which is the name of a nearby Jewish settlement outpost demolished by Israeli police last week, sparking clashes with the settlers. Other slogans spray painted on the wall include "Price Tag," and "This is only the beginning." "Price tag" refers to the strategy extremist settlers have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians in retribution for moves against settlements or incidents such as the Itamar attack. Several West Bank mosques have been torched in the past year; most incidents were blamed on Jewish settlers. Israeli authorities say they are investigating the Maghayer attack. (Ma'an News Agency, JTA, June 7)

At least 5,000 people marched in central Tel Aviv on the night of June 4 in support of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. The march was sponsored by several parties and organizations, including Peace Now, Meretz, Hadash, Combatants for Peace and Gush Shalom, and Other Voice. Chants and slogans included "Netanyahu said no—We say yes to a Palestinian state," "Palestinian state—An Israeli interest," "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies," and "Bibi, recognize the Palestinians." A few dozen right-wing activists held a counter demonstration at the start of the march. (JTA, June 5)

The land of one of the Bedouin communities slated to be evicted under a proposed Israeli government plan will be used for the construction of a new Jewish community, according to documents obtained by Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in the Jewish state. In the coming weeks, the Israeli cabinet is expected to approve the forcible relocation of some 30,000 Bedouin to designated existing Bedouin towns. Residents of the community in question did not squat on the land, but were transferred there in 1956 by the direct order of the military administration then in place on Arab lands within Israel. Their lands now lie within the master plan of the Beersheba metropolitan area.

A new bill in the Knesset would change Jerusalem neighborhoods with Arabic names to Hebrew ones—Mamilla, Talbiya or Holyland becoming the Hagoshrim, Komemiyut and Eretz HaTzvi. MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) introduced the bill, and it has received endorsements by many other Knesset members from both the Likud-led ruling coalition and the opposition. "The purpose is to strengthen the bond to Jerusalem by enforcing the use of Hebrew names for the capital's neighborhoods where Jews reside," said Hotovely. The bill would apply to any neighborhood with Jewish residents. Old names would remain unchanged, but have a secondary status to the new Hebrew ones. The Jerusalem city government would have to complete the Hebraization of all city neighborhoods, replace the signposts and not use the previous names in any official matter. Several Arab-majority districts would be affected. The Palestinian town of Abu Dis (dissected by a security barrier with the western part under the Jerusalem government) will become Kidmat Zion. (YNet, May 30)