- 26 aug 2011
10 Palestinians hurt in IOF storming of Jenin
JENIN, (PIC)--Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the eastern suburb of Jenin city before dawn Tuesday and took away two Palestinians after spraying the entire neighborhood with tear gas.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that ten citizens suffered breathing difficulty as a result of the extensive use of the teargas bombs in the midst of the civilian population.
They said that a 28-year-old man was taken from his home after thoroughly searching it while a second was taken from the Old City.
http://fwd4.me/0A8x
Palestinians barred from Aqsa Mosque
Iranians took to the street on Quds Day to express solidarity with Palestinians in Tehran on August 25
Thousands of Palestinians prevented from attending the last Friday prayers of Ramadan at the al-Aqsa Mosque have clashed with the Israeli army north of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Israeli soldiers closed the Qalandia checkpoint of north al-Quds to Palestinians under 50 years old on Friday, preventing them from making Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque on International Quds Day, DPA reported.
Israeli troops fired tear gas at Palestinians when they began pushing and shoving in attempt to cross the checkpoint into al-Quds.
Muslim officials at the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, in the Old City of al-Quds, estimated the number of worshippers at about 300,000 despite the Israeli move.
Israeli officials were very concerned about the outcome of the marches planned by Palestinians on Quds Day, which calls for the liberation of Palestine and an end to Israeli occupation.
On Friday, millions of people around the world attended Quds Day demonstrations to support the Palestinians and condemn the Israeli occupation.
In August 1979, the founder of the Islamic Republic, the late Imam Khomeini, named the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan International Quds Day, a day of global solidarity with Palestine.
In Iran, millions of people took to the streets across the country to commemorate the occasion and stand with the Palestinian cause.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195961.html 24 sep 2012, 10:18 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2011
Local children kidnapped by Israeli authorities in settler jeep
Israeli Undercover forces in Silwan
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) -- An undercover Israeli unit driving a settler jeep arrested two children playing on one of the hills in Silwan today. The two youngsters were taken without warning by the unit as they stopped the jeep, grabbed the children and drove off.
The kidnapping is the latest in an ever-lengthening record of tight cooperation between Israeli authorities and local settler security.
http://silwanic.net/?p=19775 24 sep 2012, 10:18 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2011
Border Authority Prevents West Bank Patient From Traveling To Jordan
Zakariyya Daoud Issa
Israeli Border Authorities at the Allenby Bridge, leading to Jordan, prevented on Sunday a seriously ill West Bank patient, a former political prisoner, from traveling to Jordan for urgently needed medical treatment.
The Maan News Agency reported that the patient, Zakariyya Daoud Issa, 43, suffers from an advanced stage of cancer, and that his health condition is sharply deteriorating.
He received all needed permits and referrals to cross the bridge by ambulance to head to the Hussein Medical Center in Jordan.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Office conducted all arrangements with the Israeli Military Administration at the Etzion Base near Bethlehem, and obtained all needed authorizations, but the administration at the bridge refused to allow him through.
Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated Issa did not receive the medial attention he needed while in detention, an issue that caused the serious deterioration in his health condition, “and now Israel is preventing him from receiving the urgently needed medical treatment in Jordan”.
Qaraqe’ added that the ministry will follow the issue with all related institutions and human rights groups.
Zakariyya, a father of four, from Al Khader village near Bethlehem, was sentenced by an Israeli military military court to 15.5 years imprisonment; he spent nine years in prison and was released due to his serious medical condition.
http://fwd4.me/0Ah4 24 sep 2012, 10:18 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2011
Israeli court sentences two Jerusalemite minors to jail
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli central court in occupied Jerusalem sentenced two Palestinian Jerusalemite minors to 15 months behind bars for throwing stones at Israeli vehicles.
The court verdict passed on Thursday said that the two minors from Silwan, occupied Jerusalem, threw stones at an Israeli vehicle and injured its passengers.
The Israel radio said that the court ruling also ordered the minors to pay 30000 shekels to the injured persons.
http://fwd4.me/0B8T 24 sep 2012, 10:18 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2011
Israel Police question six children for hours without parents present
The boys, aged 11 to 13 were all suspected of vandalism in Jaffa's Old City during the recent Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr, were taken from school straight to the interrogation room.
Six children from Jaffa, all aged 11 to 13, were arrested at school Wednesday by the Yiftach District police and interrogated for hours, all without their parents being present.
Twelve-year-old N. told Haaretz that he came to school as usual at 8 A.M. About half an hour later, the classroom door opened and a teacher asked him to accompany her to the principal's office. There he found the principal and three men in civilian dress.
"He told me he was a policeman, and that I had broken streetlights in Jaffa's Old City during the holiday," N. related. "After a few minutes, they told me to get into a white car, and there I saw a friend from school. They took us to the police station. I didn't know where they were taking me and I began to cry. I just wanted my mother."
N. and the other five boys were all suspected of vandalism in Jaffa's Old City during the recent Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr. When they arrived at the Yiftach police station on Salameh Street in Tel Aviv, each boy was sent to a different interrogation room along with several detectives.
"At first there were three cops, and later there was one cop who began asking me questions," N. said. "He told me I could get a lawyer if I wanted, but I didn't understand what I needed a lawyer for. I just wanted my mother.
"They took my fingerprints and made me sign all kinds of papers; I had no idea what was written on them. One of the cops pounded the table and said that if I told them the truth, they'd release me quickly. I started to cry in that room and I told them 'yes' to every question, just so they'd get me out of there."
The boys were questioned until 1 P.M. "At a later stage, he told me I'd thrown a stone at a bus," N. said. "I said that isn't true, but he began pounding on the table again and yelling, so then I told him I'd thrown it, just so he wouldn't yell at me."
Another boy told a similar story. "I told them I didn't want to go with them to the station, and that I wanted my father," he said. "The detective took out handcuffs and threatened that if I didn't come with them, he'd handcuff me and take me to the police."
The boys' parents were informed of the arrests only much later. But when they finally got to the police station, they weren't allowed inside, on the grounds that the detectives were busy questioning the children and therefore couldn't be interrupted to okay their entry.
"I didn't see him until 1 P.M., when he left the interrogation," said N.'s mother. "I asked the policemen whether they were allowed to arrest my son, who is 12 years old, and interrogate him. So one of them told me it's allowed, and that's his job.
"I don't understand how you ask a 12-year-old if he wants a lawyer," she added. "What did they think - that he'd say 'yes' and call an attorney? All of us parents stood there outside the station and we didn't know what was happening with our children."
When the interrogation ended, the parents were brought inside, required to post bail of NIS 2,000 per child and told that the boys must remain under full house arrest for five days and stay away from the Old City for 15 days thereafter.
Police responded that the boys "confessed to having thrown stones at cars and caused damage to a shop window, streetlights and benches in Jaffa over an extended period. The six were detained for questioning, three at home and three at school, and their parents were informed. Under the Juvenile Law, police are allowed to question minors without their parents present."
However, that is true only if police believe the suspects could disrupt the investigation, making it vital to arrest them on the spot, without their parents, or if the suspects are afraid of their parents.
http://fwd4.me/0Axk 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 10 sept 2011
Dozens injured as IOF cracked down on West Bank marches
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces suppressed anti-wall marches in the West Bank, using teargas and rubber bullets, causing dozens of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists to suffer breathing difficulties.
Locals held the Friday prayer near the portion of the apartheid wall in Ni’lin town in Ramallah district. The speaker stressed the importance of curbing Jewish settler violations, the latest being an attack on Beirzeit mosque earlier that morning.
Protesters then proceeded towards the apartheid wall waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanting slogans against the Israeli occupation.
Ahed al-Khawaja, the coordinator for a popular campaign against the apartheid wall in Ramallah, called for making a clear strategy including all Palestinians to address the recent string of attacks by Jews on the Muslim holy sites.
In Bil’in, IOF soldiers shot rubber-coated bullets and teargas at marchers who arrived at the liberated lands near a portion of the apartheid wall there. Witnesses said smoke bombs caused burning of massive areas of olive groves.
Meanwhile, to the south of Jerusalem in Ma’sara, protesters suffered the effects of breathing teargas and others were arrested after IOF troops cracked down on marches there as well.
The coordinator of the local popular anti-wall committee Mahmoud Zawahira said the IOF troops suppressed the march when marchers arrived at the apartheid wall, and fired a barrage of teargas canisters and battered some of them using fists, causing several injuries.
Violent clashes erupted between the forces and youths, the source added.
http://fwd4.me/0B8e
(6 sept 2011)
Israel vows 'tolerance' for Palestinian protests
TEL AVIV, Israel (Reuters) -- A senior officer said on Monday that Israeli soldiers would show "much more tolerance" towards Palestinian demonstrations than in the past thanks to riot-control training and new equipment designed to reduce injuries and deaths.
Israel is wary of large-scale protests by Palestinians as their leaders sidestep stalled peace talks by appealing for United Nations statehood recognition this month.
A similar deadlock in 2000 triggered a Palestinian revolt that Israel fueled with military crackdowns, resulting in a heavy death toll among unarmed protesters.
Last May and June, pro-Palestinian marchers throwing stones swarmed Israel's fortified boundary fences from Lebanon and Syria in two separate protests.
Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing 13 people on the Lebanese side and an unconfirmed number, which Syria puts at 23 although Israel disputes this, on the Syrian side.
Brigadier-General Michael Edelstein, the officer crafting Israel's counter-demonstration doctrines, said troops were now better equipped and trained to police the occupied West Bank and the boundaries with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
"The balance has changed. We have more means that we can use, therefore the use of lethal weapons will decrease," he told foreign reporters in a briefing.
He said there was no plan to reinforce military garrisons, which had been practicing non-lethal riot control techniques.
Israel has also invested heavily in riot-dispersal gear including accurate tear-gas launchers, high-powered loudspeakers that emit an intolerable buzzing noise, and cannons for dousing crowds with water or a foul-smelling liquid known as "skunk".
The objective, Edelstein said, was "to be able to handle riots while diminishing casualties on both sides".
Asked if this meant that Israeli forces, accused in the past of shoot-on-sight policies against Palestinians, would now show more tolerance, he said: "Much more tolerance."
The administration of US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has denied seeking bloodshed and Edelstein, like other Israeli officials, said it was too early to know how this month's showdown at the United Nations would resonate locally.
But the political upheaval of the "Arab Spring" and the events on the border have made Israel nervous.
Coordination
In the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, Palestinian security forces coordinate with the Israeli army, which wields overall control and guards a network of Jewish settlements.
Edelstein said Israeli commanders would try to contact protest leaders in advance to try to prevent friction.
"Our policy, basically, is to let the Palestinian people demonstrate as long as they will be within the Palestinian cities and be -- not controlled, but contained, let's say -- by the Palestinian authorities," he said.
An Israeli official last year appeared to acknowledge Israel's failings in dealing with unarmed protests.
A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks quoted Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, as saying: "We're not good at dealing with Gandhi."
Asked about possible marches in rural areas, or near Jewish settlements that have armed patrol squads of their own, Edelstein said the permissible limits would be decided by the military on site.
For instance, a thousand demonstrators would not be allowed to come within two meters of an Israeli security fence, nor would the military allow protesters to attack Israel's West Bank barrier, which cuts through Palestinian land and has sparked frequent clashes.
He said commanders in the field would use loudhailers with a range of 1 kilometer to issue orders in Arabic, and would try to converse with protest leaders by phone.
Edelstein, a former commando now in charge of Israel's infantry, saw no doctrinal problem in transforming thousands of soldiers into de-facto paramilitary police auxiliaries.
"To have people who have a good readiness for war and to shift them to these tasks is much easier than the other way around," he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417966 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2011
The perpetual threat of arrest Silwan’s children face: anytime, anywhere
(1:35) ???????? ???????? ?????? ?????? - ??? ???????
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) -- The children of Silwan are like any others in the world: they wish to have fun, and spend their leisure time playing. The Israeli forces that dominate Silwan, however, make this impossible: the children of Silwan face the threat of daily kidnappings from their own streets – the only place available for them to play.
While the Jerusalem Municipality extorts taxes from the Palestinian residents of Silwan, they do not re-invest any of that money back into the community, such as the construction of play grounds for children.
Settlers, meanwhile, control vast areas of land in Silwan and physically prevent Palestinian residents from reaching them. The Palestinian child is cornered into her or his own Bantustan, exposed to arrest and kidnapping.
Images documenting the kidnapping of a local child by undercover units, as he played neighborhood in Ras al-Amoud district of Silwan on 22 July 2011:
Islam Jaber, 13, appears in the video after being brutally beaten by Israeli Forces.
Malek Issam Da’na, 8, together with his father holds the medical report issued after he was beaten severely by Israeli forces.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20054. 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2011
Shtayyeh Decries Israeli Unilateralism as West Bank Raided
After a night of Israeli raids and settler attacks in the West Bank, senior Palestinian official Mohammed Shtayyeh released a statement condemning Israeli unilateralism on the 18th anniversary of the Oslo Accords.
“Today we commemorate 18 years since the launch of a process that was supposed to lead us to freedom and independence,” he said. “It was meant to last only for a transitional period of five years. Unfortunately, almost two decades later, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is entrenched and Israel’s occupation has turned into de facto annexation.”
Early on Wednesday morning, Israeli forces raided the village of Masliya, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Secure local sources told official Palestinian news wire Wafa that the troops used flash grenades as they invaded the home of Abdurraziq Abu al-Rab. No one was arrested in the raid, but al-Rab told Wafa his three children were terrified.
Other villages in the Jenin area, such as al-Arq, al-Hashimiya, and Kafr Qadum, were also raided. In the central West Bank, the village of Deir Istiya reported a nighttime Israeli raid and the mayor, Nazmi Salman, said that troops blocked off access to the village from the West.
“Together with the colonization of Palestinian land, other unilateral Israeli policies, including home demolitions, evictions, ID revocations, killings, the illegal exploitation of natural resources, and closure of Palestinian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem have threatened the prospect of a two-state solution,” Shtayyeh continued.
Settlers from Itamar burned a car near the northern West Bank city of Nablu and injured three Palestinians on Wednesday morning.
The car was transporting 50-year-old Jihad Thuwabiteh, 30-year-old Mu’atiz Yusef Dayriya, and 21-year-old Mohammed Khaled Taqataqeh from Nablus to their village of Beit Fajjar, near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. All three ended up with bruises and other injuries and their car was burned, though it was unclear how. The three Palestinians were taken to a Nablus hospital.
After noting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s self-proclaimed desire to “kill the Oslo Accords,” Shtayyeh reiterated his support for the Palestinian statehood bid to be presented to the UN in one week.
“We are approaching the moment of truth. After years of Israeli unilateralism and illegal policies aimed at sabotaging a bilateral peace agreement, Palestinians will take their struggle back to where it all began—to the assembly hall of the United Nations.”
http://fwd4.me/0BRs 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 15 sept 2011
Local youth, Ameer Qaraeen, targeted again by Israeli forces
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) --
Israeli forces arrested local youth Ameer Qaraeen yesterday, Tuesday 13 September. Qaraeen, 15, was taken from Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan on the pretext of being absent at a scheduled court appearance.
Qaraeen has been subject to an ongoing targeting by Israeli authorities, including a series of arrests, interrogations and house arrest sentences.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20121 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 15 sept 2011
Witnesses: Israeli forces detain 5 teens in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained five teenagers from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Thursday morning, witnesses said.
Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that Israeli forces raided the neighborhood and detained Ali Sabri Abu Diab, 15, Ahmad Jalal al-Awar, 15, Muhammad Abed al-Awar,16, Shadi Hani Nazeela, 15 and Iyad Rewedi, 15.
An Israeli police spokesman said he would look into the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420470 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 15 sept 2011
IOF attack nonviolent protest in al Khalil, injuries reported
Al Qassam website- Al Khalil- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked on Thursday a nonviolent protest in the Al Arroub refugee camp, in the southern West Bank city of Al Khalil (Hebron), and injured several residents, including one child.
Palestinian medical sources in the occupied West Bank reported that the wounded child, Ahmad Abu Ghazi, 15, was shot by a rubber-coated bullet in his foot; several residents were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation. No arrests were reported.
Palestinian media sources reported that dozens of students marched on Thursday morning in support of the Palestinian bid at the United Nations, and that soldiers attacked the protest, leading to clashes..
Israeli extremist settlers also gathered near the camp, and clashed with dozens of residents.
http://fwd4.me/0BWn 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 16 sept 2011
Israel storms Nablus village after settler assault
NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers assaulted a Nablus village Friday morning, leading to clashes with Israeli forces injuring 11 Palestinians.
After the settlers were removed by Israeli police, Israeli forces raided Qusra village injuring six villagers with rubber bullets, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Forces surrounded a house sheltering European press agency cameraman Alaa Bedarneh was filming the earlier settler attack, the correspondent reported.
Three children inside the house suffered tear gas inhalation during the military raid, and Bedarneh was injured in the hand, he said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the journalist's agency had requested the army remove him from the village, and he was taken to safety.
Around 20 people were hurling rocks at forces, and the border police were operating in the village, she said, without giving further details.
Settler attack
PA official monitoring settlement activity Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an that earlier in the day around ten settlers from neighboring settlement Migdalim came into Qusra village south of Nablus.
Fathallah Abu Rida, 25, was injured when settlers shot him in the leg, Doughlas said.
Village guard units established in recent weeks held the settlers at the scene for 30 minutes, before Israeli police arrived and removed settlers from the village, he added.
Israel police say settler wounded in knifing
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an a settler was injured after an argument broke out between two settlers and a 50-year-old Palestinian in an open area near Qusra.
"The Palestinian pulled out a knife and the settler reacted by shooting the Palestinian in the leg," he said.
The injured settler and Palestinian were taken to hospitals, he added, saying police who arrived on the scene had opened an investigation into the incident.
Settler assaults increasing in West Bank
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib warned on Thursday that a serious increase in settler violence towards West Bank Palestinians threatened escalation of the situation ahead of the Palestinians' bid for membership of the UN.
News reports said two weeks ago that Israeli forces were arming settlers with tear-gas canisters, stun grenades and even trained dogs to counter potential attacks by the Palestinians.
On Sept. 5 settlers broke into Qusra village mosque, smashing windows, burning tires inside the building, and spray-painting walls with offensive slogans.
Village council head Hani Ismail told Ma’an on Tuesday that young men volunteered to guard the entrances to the village after the attacks, and had blocked further groups of armed settlers from entering the village.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420705 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 17 sept 2011
Israeli forces carry out unprecedented drills near Al-Aqsa Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli military forces carried out unprecedented drills on Friday in East Jerusalem’s Arab Silwan district, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The armed forces consisted of four-wheel drive military vehicles and those small enough to fit into alleys as well as fire trucks and ambulances. It entered Silwan’s Wadi Hulwa neighborhood, the main entrance to Silwan and closest point to Al-Aqsa Mosque, at 1am, said Fahkri Abu Diab, a member of the Silwan defense committee.
Abu Diab warned that Israeli forces had plans to simulate popular protests in Silwan that could erupt in response to plans to displace all or some of the 1,600 residents of Silwan’s Bustan neighborhood for the interests of biblical parks and other projects promoting beliefs related to the supposed rebuilding of King of Solomon’s temple.
http://fwd4.me/0Biw
IOF places tight grip on Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) closed Saturday morning all crossings leading to the occupied Jerusalem in fear of protests erupting after the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed he would go ahead with plans to ask the UN to recognize a Palestinian state.
The IOF has been taking what Palestinian sources called “very tight measures” on checkpoints, erecting concrete barricades on roads bridging Jerusalem to all outlying areas.
Elsewhere, the IOF shut down a checkpoint near Bilal ibn Rabah mosque, known by Jews as Rachel’s Tomb, in Bethlehem district, where measures have also been tightened on the movement of the Palestinian population towards Jerusalem.
In a statement, former Palestinian minister of Jerusalem Khalid Abu Arafeh described the situation in the holy city as “potentially explosive”.
He said that Israel isolates the city whenever some event takes place because of the war crimes the Zionist entity has committed there. He also attributed the current state of panic to the fact that the Israeli occupation authorities have treated the city as entirely Jewish, although the world has always considered the city as occupied.
“Today, in particular, the IOF added a double dose of threat under the pretext of the Palestinians’ intent to go to the United Nations and ask for recognition of a Palestinian state,” Abu Arafeh said.
He went on to describe the IOF grip on the city as “unprecedented”, saying that it placed screens and barbed wire and readied 50 tons of dirty water to cope with protests.
http://fwd4.me/0Biy
Dozens injured in IOF crackdowns on West Bank rallies
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Dozens of Palestinians and foreign supporters suffered the effects of breathing teargas after Israel occupation forces (IOF) cracked down Friday afternoon on weekly anti-barrier rallies across the West Bank.
Such rallies were launched in such localities affected by the Israeli apartheid wall as Nabi Saleh, Bil’in, and Ma’sara, to the north and west of Ramallah city.
The IOF fired a barrage of tear gas and stun grenades at protesters in Bil’in, burning local groves.
They also fired rubber bullets at the protesters when they reached lands that were recently liberated near a modified section of the apartheid wall.
Similar protests erupted in Walaja, near Bethlehem, and Ni’lin, west of Ramllah. The IOF responded to those too by firing teargas at rallies.
Separately, IOF razed a home on Jerusalem-Bethlehem road in Beyt Jala at the pretext that it was built without permit.
IOF also arrested Friday one man in Jerusalem's Arab Silwan district after violent clashes broke out there.
http://fwd4.me/0BiF
Hundreds join Qalandiya protest
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated Saturday in the West Bank town of Qalandiya, as Israel closed a key checkpoint separating Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, activists said.
The demonstrators are supporting a Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations.
President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday in a televised address from Ramallah that the Palestinians would seek full membership in the UN Security Council, defying pressure from the US and Israel.
Ahead of the demonstration Saturday, Palestinian vehicles were forced to wait for hours in line at two key checkpoints in the southern and central West Bank, one of them in Qalandiya, witnesses said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420880
Israel closes key West Bank checkpoints
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Israeli forces on Saturday forced Palestinian vehicles to wait for hours in line at two key checkpoints in the southern and central West Bank, witnesses said.
Hundreds of vehicles were stuck waiting at the “container” checkpoint near Bethlehem and Qalandiya crossing near Ramallah, two inspection points that are usually half an hour's drive from one another.
Witnesses said hundreds of vehicles, mostly taxis, were stuck on both sides of the “container” checkpoint. Hundreds of employees arrived late to work, as “container” is the only point of access through the northern, central, and southern West Bank.
Ma’an’s Jerusalem correspondent confirmed that at Qalandiya checkpoint, Israeli forces used cement blocks to close the route from Ramallah to Jerusalem. Hundreds of vehicles were stuck in both directions, he added.
The closure seemed to come suddenly as there was security alert beforehand. It followed President Mahmoud Abbas' announcement late Friday that the Palestinians would seek full membership in the UN.
Israel has boosted its army presence in the West Bank ahead of a Palestinian recourse to the UN amid fears they may resort to the International Criminal Court over Jewish settlements, reports said Friday.
Public radio reported the build-up and the daily Yedioth Aharonoth said three battalions of reservists -- some 1,500 personnel -- have been mobilized and units already in the occupied territory have been reinforced.
The move comes ahead of expected Palestinian demonstrations as their statehood bid looms at the United Nations on Sept. 23, public radio said.
General Avi Mizrahi, the commander of central Israel which includes the West Bank, has issued strict orders to the military to act with restraint and avoid bloodshed if trouble erupts, Yedioth Aharonoth said.
It said troops in the Palestinian territory have been armed with anti-riot equipment including tear gas to enable them to control any protests without having to resort to live ammunition.
The military is also reported to have boosted its presence around Jewish settlements in the West Bank, both to protect them and to prevent attacks on Palestinians by extremist settlers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420847 24 sep 2012, 10:19 , Respect -
Maria 18 sept 2011
PA: Israeli soldiers detain 2 children in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained two Palestinian boys at a military checkpoint in Hebron on Sunday, Palestinian Authority officials said.
A Ma'an correspondent identified the detainees as Amjad Nidal Taha, 13, and Husam Hussein Abu Sneina, 12. He said they were detained at a checkpoint known to locals as Talat Abu Hadid located near the Ibrahimi mosque.
The two boys were on their way to the Ibrahimyya school, near the mosque.
Director of the Hebron office of the Palestinian Ministry of Education Nisreen Amr denounced Israeli harassment at checkpoints in Hebron's Old City.
She called on all school principals and teachers to work together with the local community to protect pupils from anticipated settler attacks as the UN bid approaches.
“None of the school’s students is immune against the unjustified detention and stopping at Israeli checkpoints,” said Salih Abu Sleima, principal of the Ibrahimiyya School.
An Israeli army spokesman was not aware of the incident.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of Hebron that are under Israeli control.
Israeli restrictions on movement and access, many of them dating back to the Palestinian uprising at the start of the decade, have turned parts of Hebron into a ghost town.
Poverty has risen in a city that was traditionally an engine of the Palestinian economy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=421317