- 16 apr 2012
Israeli Forces Destroy Ponds, Wells, Land near Hebron
Israeli forces Monday razed two ponds used for collecting rain water, demolished three water wells, razed agricultural land and destroyed farming equipment in al-Majnouna area, south of Hebron, according to local sources.
They said Israeli soldiers, police and officials from the civil administration, the military government’s arm in the West Bank, brought bulldozers and other heavy machinery to destroy the ponds and wells the farmers use to water their fields and then razed agricultural land.
The ponds were repeatedly destroyed by Israeli forces in the past few years.
Landowner Kamal Amro told WAFA Israeli forces razed two dunums of agricultural land planted with vegetables, as well as demolished three water wells, some of which date back to the Roman period and were renovated only few years ago.
Local people said Israel wants to push them out of their land in order to take it over to expand a military camp and settlements.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19557
Jewish settlers chop off 250 olive trees
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Jewish settlers chopped off 250 Palestinian olive trees in the village of Beitello to the west of Ramallah on Monday, local sources said.
Fawzi Bazar said that he was stunned at seeing the olive trees cut off when he went to tend his field along with members of his family on Monday morning.
He said that settlers in a nearby Jewish settlement frequently attack his land and other nearby lands.
He said that the settlers want the Palestinian farmers to leave their land in order to facilitate its annexation to their settlement.
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Settlers Plan Takeover of Hebron-Area Land
A group of Israeli settlers Monday set up tents on a Palestinian-owned land east of Yatta, a town south of Hebron, as a prelude to take it over, according to a local activist.
Popular Committee Coordinator in Yatta, Rateb Jabour, told Voice of Palestine radio that settlers set up tents on land located between the Israeli settlements of Carmiel and Ma'on.
He said the settlers most likely will claim the land for themselves and start adding housing units to it to create a new settlement.
Jabour did not say if the land owners, the Abu Subha family, will contest the settlers’ takeover of their land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19554 17 apr 2012, 15:30 , Respect -
Maria 17 apr 2012
IOF soldiers demolish water wells in Salfit
SALFIT, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) razed a number of water wells and greenhouses in Kufr Al-Deek village, to the west of Salfit, on Tuesday, local sources said.
Palestinian farmers in the village appealed to the human rights groups and all concerned parties to intervene and bridle the IOF practices against them and their property.
They said that IOF soldiers escorted bulldozers in destroying four water wells and three greenhouses north of Kufr Al-Deek.
They said that the IOF soldiers blocked the inhabitants from approaching the area.
Jamal Al-Deek, the village’s municipality chairman, said that the area contains 20 water wells and 25 greenhouses.
http://fwd4.me/0yaA 20 apr 2012, 09:09 , Respect -
Maria 18 apr 2012
Israeli Forces Destroy Roads, Retaining Walls near Tubas
Israeli forces Wednesday destroyed two roads and a number of retaining walls in al-Aqaba, a village east of Tubas governorate, according to a local official.
Head of al-Aqaba village council Sami Sadeq said Israeli bulldozers destroyed two roads connecting the village to Tubas and the Jordan Valley.
He said that the roads were previously destroyed by the Israelis but were later rebuilt by Palestinians.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19581
Warehouses Raided, Equipment Confiscated near Bethlehem
Israeli forces Wednesday stormed the village of Hosan, west of Bethlehem, raided three warehouses and confiscated equipment claiming they were built in area C, which falls under full Israeli control, according to a local official.
Head of Hosan village council said that Israeli forces stormed the village at dawn, raided three warehouses used for auto repair and storing building supplies that belong to Mohammad Sabateen.
He said that the soldiers confiscated much of the equipment in the warehouses, including water pumps and wheel loaders.
Forces also handed Sabateen a notice to appear before the Israeli army civil administration.
He was handed a demolishing order of his warehouses about a month ago.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19582 20 apr 2012, 10:57 , Respect -
Maria 19 apr 2012
IOA evicts Palestinian family from its home in O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation police evicted a Palestinian family from its house in Beit Hanina suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The Israeli occupation authority claimed that the house along with another adjacent to it were owned by Jews and thus ordered the eviction of the 14-member family.
The Israeli police said that one of the two homes was voluntarily evacuated two or three weeks ago.
Lubna Al-Natshe, wife of the house owner Khaled Al-Natshe, told AFP, “They came at 0800 am to evict us and when my husband objected they hit him and arrested him”. She added, “They claim that Jewish settlers purchased the house 73 years ago!”
http://fwd4.me/0yni
IOF soldiers arrest two Palestinians, rob money
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested two Palestinians in Beit Ummar village, to the north of Al-Khalil, on Thursday and robbed money from one of the houses.
IOF soldiers searched the home of Jihad Alqam at dawn Thursday before taking him away to Etzion detention center, his son Mohammed said.
The soldiers also stormed the home of Ahmed Abu Mariya in the same village and threatened him for not finding his son Qassam, who is wanted for interrogation.
The soldiers stole 160 Jordanian dinars that were kept in one of the closets in Abu Mariya’s house and when he complained to the commanding officer, he told him he would open an investigation into the incident after he delivers his son to Etzion detention center.
Mohammed said that the soldiers searched nearby houses, adding that young men angered by the IOF practices that focused on the village since the start of 2012 threw stones at the soldiers.
Meanwhile, other IOF units closed the northeastern entrance to Yatta village, south of Al-Khalil, for a few hours on Thursday morning and searched vehicles using police dogs and made field interrogation of many citizens.
http://fwd4.me/0yno 22 apr 2012, 08:28 , Respect -
Maria 20 apr 2012
Occupation to cut off electricity supply to Palestinian hamlet
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The occupation authorities gave residents of the Om Sidra hamlet south of Al-Khalil a notice requiring the removal of the power grid which feeds the hamlet, according to lands studies center in Al-Khalil .
The center told Quds Press, quoting residents of the hamlet, that the occupation's Civil Administration, on Wednesday, handed them a notice to remove the power grid within a week.
The center also said that the occupation authorities, on 12th March, gave notice to the operator of the electricity grid which has been supplying the hamlet with electricity since 2006 to stop the supply.
Furthermore, demolition notices were also handed for a house, water wells and agricultural facilities in the same hamlet .
The electricity grid is serving approximately twenty-five houses in the hamlet which lies close to the apartheid wall and covers an area of two kilometers with a population of about 200 people
http://fwd4.me/0yxm 22 apr 2012, 08:28 , Respect -
Maria 21 apr 2012
EU condemns Israeli eviction of Jerusalemite family from its home
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The European Union’s mission in occupied Jerusalem has condemned the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) for evicting a Jerusalemite family from its home in Beit Hanina suburb.
The mission condemned the step in a press release on Saturday, and expressed concern about the expulsion of the Natshe family from its house on 18 April and about plans for the installation of a settlement outpost in the midst of the traditional Palestinian suburb.
It underlined that settlements in occupied lands are illegal according to the international law.
The EU said that the fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the displacement of citizens in occupied lands.
http://fwd4.me/0yxn 23 apr 2012, 12:11 , Respect -
Maria 22 apr 2012
OCHA, UNRWA condemn the forced eviction of Jerusalemites
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Two international organizations on Sunday condemned the Israeli-forced eviction of Jerusalemite families from their homes after destroying them.
A statement by UNRWA and OCHA said that 67 Palestinian refugees were rendered homeless last week when the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) demolished their homes in Khalaila suburb in occupied Jerusalem.
The statement noted that the Palestinian families were displaced for the third time in six months, adding that the IOA tore down and confiscated the tents provided by humanitarian organizations for those families.
The statement then mentioned the IOA eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in Beit Hanina in occupied Jerusalem and handing their homes to Jewish settlers.
For his part, OCHA office head Ramesh Rajasingham said that more than 1500 Palestinians have lost their homes as a result of demolition or expulsion since the start of 2011. He said that the demolition and forced expulsion only deepen the humanitarian suffering of those inhabitants.
http://fwd4.me/0z1k 24 apr 2012, 23:56 , Respect -
Maria 24 apr 2012
Occupation razes Araqib village in Negev for 37th time
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli authorities, on Monday morning, destroyed, for the 37th time, the unrecognized Palestinian village of Araqib in the Negev in southern 1948- occupied Palestine .
Local sources confirmed that large numbers of occupation troops and police, as well as Special Forces raided the village, in the early morning hours, escorted the bulldozers used in the destruction of the village, imposed a siege on it before storming it, surrounded its residents in the Muslim cemetery, and demolished all the houses.
Salah Turi, the village's Sheikh, told Quds press "We will not give up despite the current arbitrary demolitions; we will not cede the land of our fathers and forefathers". The Sheikh added that the village residents started immediately rebuilding their homes challenging the Zionist expulsion plan and showing a great determination to stay.
He stated that the occupation forces show no mercy to the Palestinian residents and had continued their demolition process for several times even in times of rain and funerals.
This process is within the framework of Judaization by ethnically cleansing and uprooting Palestinians from their lands, he said.
http://fwd4.me/0z9y 28 apr 2012, 12:49 , Respect -
Maria 26 apr 2012
Israel Makes 3 New Settlements Legal in West Bank: Committee Says Outposts Aren't Illegal Now
(2:17) Israel Makes 3 New Settlements Legal in West Bank: Committee Says Outposts Aren't Illegal Now Three Jewish settlement outposts Sansana, Bruchin and Rechelim in the West Bank, have been granted legal status by an Israeli ministerial committee. The move will help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's standing in the coalition after coming under fire by his own Likud party for not being committed to the settlers. The move has inflamed Palestinians who accuse Netanyahu of pushing the peace process into a dead end.
Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said the change of the three outposts' status marked the first time since 1990 that the Israeli government had established a new settlement, adding that the four-man committee did not have the authority. Most of the international community views all Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal. However, Israel distinguishes between settlements it has approved and the outposts, which were never granted official authorisation.
Israeli Minister of Science Daniel Hershkowitz: "All those territories were purchased legally. Now someone else comes and claims that it's his property. Well, this has to be checked in court and I am sure that a legal solution should be found. There is no room whatsoever for evacuation of that neighbourhood."
Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, who helped Palestinians petition the court over ownership, says the land on which the Beit El settlement was constructed was seized from the Palestinian village of Dura al-Qara in 1970 for military purposes.
Yesh Din Lawyer Schlomi Zachary: "We in Yesh Din expected that the government of the State of Israel, which is a democracy, enforce the law even though it is not a very pleasant enforcement. In our point of view in Yesh Din, and the fact that law enforcement is subject to political consideration is something that undermines the rule of law, especially in such a neglected zone like the West Bank."
With deepening differences within the cabinet, Netanyahu told army radio that the government would seek a solution to the problem of disputed land ownership claims and ask the Supreme Court to push back the May 1 deadline.
28 apr 2012
IOF planning eviction of Palestinian inhabitants in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) forced a Palestinian shepherd to evacuate his tent and to take away his sheep away from an IOF roadblock in Ein El-Hilweh area in Wadi Al-Malih in the Jordan Valley.
Local sources said that Adel Zamel was forced to relocate his residence away from Ein El-Hilweh to a mountainous area under IOF gun threat at the pretext that his residence was close to Tayaseer roadblock.
The IOF claimed that Zamel’s presence near the military barrier, which is near to Tobas, was threatening the security of the IOF soldiers in the Tayseer army barracks.
The sources said that Zamel is one of hundreds of citizens forced by the IOF to abandon their residence at trivial pretexts, adding that the IOF is bent on evicting all Palestinians from Wadi El-Hilweh area.
http://fwd4.me/0zPw