- 1 apr 2012
Zoabi: Expelling Arabs from Jaffa a 'declaration of war'
Balad MK takes part in protest march in Jaffa; demonstrators slam PM Netanyahu as 'responsible for terrorism against Arabs'.
Hundreds of Arab Israelis took part in a post-Land Day march in Jaffa Saturday, under the banner "Jaffa is in danger."
The demonstrators protested what they called the "expropriation of land and expulsion of families from their homes."
Waving Palestinian flags, they called for "an end to the racist policies imposed on Jaffa's Arab residents."
The protesters further denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "responsible for terrorism against Arabs," called for an immediate freeze of settlement construction and chanted "We will not give up on Jerusalem, we are not afraid."
Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi (Balad), who participated in the march, said: "What the State failed to achieve during the Nakba, it's trying to achieve today in every corner of our homeland.
"This policy of Arab deportation has been going on for 63 years and it is nothing less than a declaration of war against us," she continued.
"We didn’t take over anyone's land, we didn’t steal land from any Jewish citizen and we didn’t invade anyone's home. I'm not the settler here. I just want to live in my home on my land," she said.
MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) added that "Jaffa's Arab residents suffer form grave institutional discrimination. Rightist groups want Judaize Jaffa and aim to empty it from it Arab residents and prevent coexistence.
"The racist legislation against Arabs and the attempt to disconnect Arabs in Israel from their national identity will fail," he added.
The march was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, along with other movements in Jaffa.
City Councilman Sami Abu Shahada tied the public outcry to the dire housing situation in Jaffa: "The continuing discrimination against the city's Arab's residents is a recipe for disaster. It will ruin the community."
Left-wing activist Michal Wexler, who participated in the march, voiced her support "for the Palestinian people's aspirations and fight for full equality. I'm glad to see people here fight for better housing," she said.
Meanwhile Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Saturday that the annual Palestinian protest amounted to "political terrorism."
Ayalon said Land Day protests were "a continuation of the diplomatic terrorism (Palestinian Authority President) Abu Mazen is using against Israel in international forums."
http://fwd4.me/0xaD
Zoabi: “We Did Not Invade Anybody’s Land”
Arab Member of Knesset, member of the National Democratic Assembly, Hanin Zoabi, stated during a massive protest, marking Palestinian Land Day in Jaffa, that the Arabs and the Palestinians in the country are not the invaders, and that they want to live in peace and prosperity in the homeland.
Hundreds of residents participated in the protest carrying Palestinian flags and posters that read “We Are Here To Stay”, “Stop Political Prosecution”, and “Stop The Expulsion Policies", the Arabs48 news website reported.
Arab Members of Knesset (MK) Mohammad Baraka and Jamal Zahalka also participated in the protest along with head of the Arab Follow-up Committee, Mohammad Zeidan, and the Secretary-General of the National Democratic Assembly, Awad Abdul-Fattah, head of the Abnaa’ El-Balad (The Sons of the Land) movement, Raja Eghbariyya, and head of the Islamic Movement, Abdul-Hakim Mofeed.
Israeli Ynet News quoted Zoabi stated that “Israel is resuming what it did not finish in the Nabka of 1948, by continuing the systematic expulsion and transfer of the Arab population”.
“Israel is still conducting its illegal 63-year-old policy”, Zoabi said, “We see that as a declaration of war against us”.
“We did not invade anybody’s land, or country, we did not steal the land of any Jewish person”, she stated, “We did not raid homes, I am not a settler, am indigenous, I want to live in my home, in my homeland”.
Zoabi was one of the participants of the Freedom Flotilla that was heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver medical and humanitarian supplies and was attacked, on May 31, 2010, by the Israeli Navy while in International Waters. Nine Turkish peace activists, including one who also hold American citizenship, were killed and dozens were wounded.
Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the northern Branch of the Islamic Movement was among the participants, and was injured in the attack.
Zoabi was attacked in 2010 by Member of Knesset, Anastasia Michaeli, of the fundamentalist “Israel Our Home” Party, while at the Knesset podium. Michaeli tried to remove Zoabi from the podium by force, accusing her of “supporting terrorism” and “betraying the state”.
Several extremist MK’s verbally attacked Zoabi also accusing her of “supporting terrorism”, but Zoabi remained calm and said that “she will not be as low as they are”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63241 2 apr 2012, 15:56 , Respect -
Maria 2 apr 2012
Palestinian family loses court fight for Shepherd Hotel
The partially demolished Shepherd Hotel is seen through a fence in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on April 2.
By Jihan Abdalla
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a prominent Palestinian family could not claim ownership of a landmark and now derelict building in East Jerusalem -- paving the way for a Jewish settlement project.
The Husseini family said the Shepherd Hotel, now partially demolished, is a symbol of the Palestinian rights to their land and to East Jerusalem, and criticized the court ruling.
The Shepherd Hotel was built in the 1930s and served as the home of Jerusalem grand mufti Haj Amin Husseini, who fought the British and Zionists.
It was declared "absentee property" by Israel after it was captured and annexed to East Jerusalem in 1967. The title was transferred to an Israeli firm, which sold it in 1985 to Irving Moskowitz, a Florida businessman and patron of Jewish settlers.
In 2009, Israel's Jerusalem city hall approved a project to replace the building with a block of 20 apartments. Israeli officials said Washington had voiced its opposition to the plan to Israel's ambassador in the United States.
"This property, which is legitimately ours, represents the Palestinians' rights to their land and to Jerusalem," Mona Husseini, heir to the property and Husseini's granddaughter, said on Monday.
In dismissing the family's case, the court said too much time had passed since Israeli authorities had transferred the property to private developers for a legal challenge to be brought, a lawyer for the petitioners said.
The family said it had been unaware at the time that the site had been sold off.
"The court clearly sided with the other party, and this proves that the Israeli courts have never been fair to Palestinians," said Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Authority-appointed mayor of Jerusalem and a member of the extended family.
The family said, however, they would continue to seek legal action "against the odds."
Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, a move never recognized by the international community.
Palestinians consider East Jerusalem the capital of their promised state and say Jewish settlement could deny them a viable country.
Some 250,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem and adjacent areas of the West Bank that Israel annexed to its Jerusalem municipality after the 1967 conflict. East Jerusalem has 300,000 Palestinian residents.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=473422
Municipal Court Cancels Demolition Order of Silwan Protest Tent
An Israeli municipal court Monday canceled an administrative order to demolish the protest tent in al-Bustan area of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, said head of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan, Fakhri Abu Diab.
The Israel West Jerusalem municipality has ordered demolition of 88 homes in al-Bustan prompting activists to set up the protest tent to prevent the demolitions, which would displace hundreds of Palestinian families.
Several activities are usually held in the protest tent, including the Friday prayers.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19441
Israeli Forces Demolish 10 Palestinian Tents East of Nablus
Israeli forces Monday demolished ten Palestinian tents used as dwellings and animal barns in an area east of Beit Furik, a town east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to the town’s municipality.
It said that an Israeli bulldozer protected by a number of Israeli military vehicles stormed the area and demolished ten tents used by farmers as dwellings and animal barns and confiscated two water tanks.
The municipality said that this is the fifth time the Israeli forces demolish these tents.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19442 3 apr 2012, 13:42 , Respect -
Maria 3 apr 2012
Israeli Forces Demolish 4 Houses, Uproot Electric Poles in Beit Jala
Israeli forces Tuesday Stormed al-Makhrour area in Beit Jala city, north of Bethlehem, demolished four Palestinian houses, uprooted 52 electric poles and cut off electricity power to 12 houses, according to a local activist.
Mazen al-Azzah, from the Popular Committee against Settlements and the Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem, said that Israeli bulldozers protected by Israeli forces along with officers from the civil administration stormed the the area at dawn, demolished four houses and uprooted 52 electric poles at a distance of 2.5 kilometers, cutting off electricity power to 12 Palestinian houses in an attempt to force the residents to leave the area as a prelude to seize it.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19450
IOF soldiers raze Palestinian home, power network in Beit Jala
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) unleashed their huge bulldozers against a Palestinian house and electricity network to the west of Beit Jala town west of Bethlehem at dawn Tuesday.
Nadim Samaan, the director of the Beit Jala municipality, said that the IOF bulldozers razed an old home and water well owned by George Khaliliya in the Makhrur area west of the town.
He said that the IOF soldiers then bulldozed an asphalted road and the entire electricity network in the region and broke down all wooden poles and wires plunging it in total darkness.
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Israel Raze Agricultural Land near Hebron
Israeli army forces Tuesday razed agricultural land in Khirbet Um Nir, a local east of Yatta in southern Hebron and demolished two water wells, according to a local activist.
Rateb Jabour, from the local Popular Committee against the Settlements, told WAFA that an Israeli military unit accompanied with an officer from the Israeli civic administration razed around 50 dunums of Palestinian-owned agriculture land planted with olive and almond trees.
The Israeli forces also demolished retaining walls and two water wells in the land, added Jabour.
The area around the town of Yatta has been repeatedly targeted with demolitions of residences and tents, as well as razing agricultural land to deport the area residents for settlements expansion.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19447
IOF soldiers bulldoze land, damage olive trees near Yatta
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bulldozed Palestinian agricultural land and uprooted olive trees, some dating 30 years back, in Um Nir to the east of Yatta town south of Al-Khalil on Tuesday.
Ratib Al-Jibour, the coordinator of the popular committee in Yatta, said that IOF soldiers bulldozed 50 dunums of land owned by the Jibour family and uprooted olive trees and saplings.
He said that the soldiers brought workers with them to uproot the olive trees, and removed saplings out of the area in a bid to “conceal the crime”.
Jibour opined that the Israeli occupation authority wants to evict inhabitants of the area in a bid to control it in view of its strategic location.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers stormed Yatta at dawn Tuesday and delivered a summons to liberated prisoner Zeid Abu Fanar for questioning at the intelligence headquarters in Etzion to the north of Al-Khalil, eyewitnesses told the PIC.
Abu Fanar was released from Israeli jails only a month ago.
http://fwd4.me/0xhs 6 apr 2012, 09:40 , Respect -
Maria 5 apr 2012
Palestinians: Soldiers stole jewelry during raid
Qaddum residents say valuable jewelry items stolen from home; 20 locals, including two policemen, detained in raid.
According to the Palestinians, soldiers stole valuable jewelry items during a search of a home in the village. The troops also caused severe damage to the house, locals claimed.
The IDF said the Palestinians have lodged a complaint with the Civil Administration, adding that the claims are being examined.
During the raid the army detained 20 Qaddum residents, including two Palestinian police officers.
Qaddum's residents have been holding regular protests against the "confiscation of village lands for the expansion" of the nearby Kedumim settlement.
They have also demanded that the village's main road, which passes near the settlement, be reopened after it was closed by the IDF during the second intifada.
A few weeks ago a dog belonging to the IDF's canine unit, Oketz, bit a Palestinian protester who tried to assault troops in Qaddum. The incident was caught on camera.
http://fwd4.me/0xy2 9 apr 2012, 10:38 , Respect -
Maria 5 apr 2012
AFEH warns of growing Zionist calls for demolition of Aqsa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) has warned on Thursday of growing Zionist calls for the immediate demolition of the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
The warning coincided with other calls for opening the Aqsa mosque on Friday before Jews to offer rituals at the “Temple Mount” on the occasion of the Jewish Passover.
AFEH said that such calls ring an alarm bell and constitute a clear call for storming the Aqsa mosque.
It said that Israeli Knesset member for the National Union Aryeh Eldad has repeatedly called for destroying the Aqsa mosque and building the Jewish temple in its place regardless of international reactions.
The foundation said that such statements and calls point to serious intentions on the part of the Israeli occupation authority, calling for urgent Arab and Islamic moves to save the Aqsa.
http://fwd4.me/0xwL 9 apr 2012, 11:46 , Respect -
Maria 8 apr 2012
Settlements eat up 65% of Al-Khalil territory
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Zionists occupation filled it with settlements, stole its land, killed its children, surrounded its Mosque and dismembered the city to control more than 65% of its area. That is how the land of the district of al-Khalil was divided between Jewish settlements and occupation military bases.
An expert in settlement Abdul Hadi Hantash told PIC: "Al-Khalil is, deeply and clearly, suffering from the onslaught of settlement in the year 2012 and I expect that settlements in the district will expand by 30% while they expanded last year by 20% . Thus, the number of settlement units will be doubled". He also explained that the policy of adding mobile homes in many outposts in the district is a part of a larger plan that aims at installing more settlement outposts.
He added that 65% of the district’s area which exceeded 1103.5 square kilometers was extorted for settlements, camps of Zionist soldiers and bypass roads. Amongst the settlements to which new buildings were added are "Tnaamarim" and "Sansana" in the south of Dhahiriya, "Susia" in the South of Yatta, "Maoun", "Carmaniel" and "Njhot" in the south of Doura, and "Kharsina" in the north of Al-Khalil.
Continuous Zionist orgy
Al-Khalil inhabitants consider that the Zionists’ settlement annihilated the most important agricultural land and the forest areas under the pretext that they are areas belonging to them or classified as "C" areas or they are nature reserves, military camps or military stores, knowing that a large proportion of which are military zones.
Abu Mohammed Shuraitah a citizen from the city of Yatta told PIC that the settlers' almost daily attacks prove the policy of harassment of citizens, in addition to their uprooting of trees, their attack on the properties in the east of Yatta, and their assault of students and teachers at a school which received a demolition order under the pretext of endangering the settlers' safety.
Hantash revealed that the Ibrahimi Mosque’s surrounding, the old town and neighborhoods were seized through the expulsion of Palestinian residents from their homes and that the 500 settlers in Al-Khalil old city, including students of the religious school called the school of "theology" are considered to be experienced in attacking and threatening indigenous residents and their children.
Religious allegations
The settlers in Al-Khalil claim their right in the city under the pretext that the land religiously is theirs. Nidal Abu Koidr another citizen of Al-Khalil told PIC that Zionist settlers use force to grab land and properties repeatedly by demolition and eviction orders mentioning the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 which ended up with dozens of martyrs and wounded.
http://fwd4.me/0y5T
Settlers Raid Agricultural Land near Jenin
Tens of Israeli settlers Sunday raided an agricultural land south of Jenin, under the protection of the Israeli army, according to security sources.
They added the settlers provoked and verbally assaulted the Palestinian residents in the area.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers raided Zabouba, a village west of Jenin, and fired tear gas and stun grenades against the villagers.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19497 10 apr 2012, 10:54 , Respect -
Maria 9 apr 2012
Israeli authorities turn Islamic cemetery into car park
ASKALAN, (PIC)-- The Israeli municipality of Askalan, south of Palestine occupied in 1948, has turned an Islamic cemetery in the city into a car park, Hebrew press indicated.
Ma’ariv newspaper reported on Monday that the municipality used the graveyard as a car park to serve shoppers in a recently built nearby commercial center, in absolute disregard of the sanctity of the place.
It quoted an inhabitant as saying that he filed a complaint with the municipality but to no avail.
For his part, Arab member of the Israeli parliament Ahmed Al-Tibi denounced the step, saying that if a Jewish cemetery in France was turned into a car park Israel would have feverishly complained. He asked the municipality to stop using the cemetery as a car park immediately.
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IOF soldiers tear down solidarity tent in Nablus
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed a tent in the Old City of Nablus pitched in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoner Hassan Safadi who has been on hunger strike for 36 days in Israeli jails.
Sources close to the Safadi family said that the soldiers broke into the tent, which is near to their home, and tore photos of the detainee and placards expressing solidarity with him.
Safadi, 34, has been on hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention. Safadi had previously spent 105 months in Israeli occupation jails mostly in administrative detention, without trial or charge.
http://fwd4.me/0y9o 14 apr 2012, 07:29 , Respect -
Maria 12 apr 2012
Hamas: Destroying Qassam tombstone a crime
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Hamas denounced the Israeli authorities for attempting to destroy the headstone of Sheikh Ezzuddin Al-Qassam’s grave in Haifa.
The movement, in a statement on Wednesday, described the diggings in the cemetery as racist, charging that Israel was not respecting the dead or the living.
The blatant attack on the Islamic cemetery reflects an intention to distort the history and to blackout the Sheikh’s history in resisting occupation and oppression, it said.
Hamas called on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and UNESCO to assume their role in curbing the Israeli authorities’ consistent violations and crimes.
For his part, Arab member of the Israeli parliament Jamal Zahalke has warned the Israeli authorities against tampering with the grave of Sheikh Qassam.
He said, in a press release on Wednesday, that he addressed a message to those authorities asking them to immediately stop the digging in the graveyard, describing it as a grave provocation of the Palestinian people’s national, religious, and humanitarian feelings.
He warned that any violation of the sanctity of graves especially that of Sheikh Qassam would be met with a strong reaction on the part of the Palestinian people.
The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage had revealed that a Jewish company was assigned by the Israeli ministry of transportation to lay down a sewage pipeline through the Qassam cemetery in preparation for the construction of a railway passing through the same cemetery.
http://fwd4.me/0yP6 14 apr 2012, 07:30 , Respect -
Maria 13 apr 2012
Settlers uproot olive trees near Yatta
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Zionist settlers uprooted, on Friday, about 100 olive trees near the town of Yatta, in al-Khalil city southern the occupied West Bank, and ejected the land's owners.
Ratib Al-Jibour, the coordinator of the popular committee in Yatta, said that a group of settlers, from Ma'oun settlement, uprooted no less than 100 olive trees owned by Jebril Mousa Reb;i in Kherobeh area east Altawana village, bulldozing 10 dunums of the land, according to Quds Press Agency.
He added that a group of settlers pursued shepherds in that area and international activists who came to film the settlers' brutality, and when they had reached Altoana village they started throwing stones on the residents' houses under occupation police and army protection.
Jibour said that such brutal and barbaric settlers' practices are aimed at evicting inhabitants of the area in a bid to control it, urging national and international human rights organizations to immediately intervene to put an end to such practices that prove the settlers' arrogance supported by the occupation government.
http://fwd4.me/0yPR 17 apr 2012, 10:33 , Respect -
Maria 15 apr 2012
Israeli settlers injure three Palestinians, uproot dozens of olive trees in two separate incidents
On Thursday and Friday in the West Bank, groups of armed Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and their property. In the northern West Bank on Thursday, armed Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, injuring three; and in the southern West Bank Friday, a group of settlers destroyed a Palestinian olive grove by chopping down all of the trees.
The incident on Thursday took place in the village of Yanun, near Nablus, where Palestinian farmers were working on their land when several Israeli settlers came onto the land and attacked them. One of the settlers involved in the attack was identified as Matan Fogel, the brother of an Israeli man who was murdered along with his family in the settlement of Itamar last year in an attack that was blamed on local Palestinians.
Fogel and the other settlers called the Israeli military to assist them in dispersing the Palestinian farmers. When the military arrived, soldiers fired tear gas at the Palestinians and abducted five Palestinian farmers, according to local sources.
The Israeli settlers claimed that the Palestinian farmers initiated the attack, and injured two settlers with farming tools. The settlers were all armed with military-grade weapons. None of the Palestinians involved in the incident were armed.
In the attack on Friday, Israeli settlers from the settlement of Maol, near Hebron, entered an olive grove near the village of Kharoubeh and chopped down trees belonging to local Palestinian landowner Jebril Mousa Khalil, according to the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
Palestinian shepherds and international non-violent activists who were in the area came to the olive grove to try to stop the destruction, and were chased by the settlers to Tuwani village. According to eyewitnesses, the settlers ran after the activists and shepherds and threw stones at them and at Palestinian homes.
Israeli troops then arrived in the area to ‘protect the Israeli settlers’, as they are mandated to do – even when the settlers are the ones engaging in acts of violence.
Israeli settler attacks increased by 50% in 2011, and have continued to increase in the first months of 2012, although official numbers are not yet available.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63307