- 14 febr 2012
IOF soldiers tear down farmers warehouses
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) tore down tents and warehouses for Palestinian farmers to the east of Nablus on Tuesday, local sources said.
Ghassan Daghlas, monitoring Israeli settlement activity in northern West Bank areas, said that IOF bulldozers razed the structures in Faroush Beit Dajan village to the east of Nablus.
He said that other IOF units knocked down a warehouse near Aqraba village to the south of Nablus and another one near Beit Forik village to the east of Nablus and confiscated material used in pitching tents.
http://fwd4.me/0u43
Soldiers destroy 5 agricultural sheds in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces demolished five iron corrugated structures in Nablus on Tuesday, a PA official said.
“Israeli bulldozers stormed Furush Beit Dajan in the Jordan Valley, east of Nablus and demolished three agricultural tin-roof sheds belonging to Asad Hanini, Shahir Abu Hait and Atif Husain Hanini," Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an.
Israeli forces also entered the village of Aqraba south of Nablus and demolished a tin-roof structure used for agricultural purposes.
Munadel Hanini, a local official from Beit Furik village in Nablus, told Ma'an that another agricultural shed was demolished by soldiers.
Military forces also confiscated tent covers, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=460367
Breaking News: Occupation Jerusalem Municipality bulldozers on its way to the village of Sawahreh in Jerusalem
Jerusalem Centre for Media – Exclusive -
Eyewitnesses confirmed to the Jerusalem Centre for Media that the bulldozers and the mechanics belonging to the occupation Jerusalem Municipality on their way to the village of Sawahreh South Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses said that they expected that this bulldozers will demolish a house in the region.
http://www.qudsmedia.com/en/?p=414
Israeli Forces Demolish Three Palestinian Sheds in Nablus
NABLUS, (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Tuesday demolished three tin shacks, including a barn, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to a Palestinian activist.
Ghassan Douglas, the in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA that forces demolished three sheds, belonging to three Palestinian residents in an area east of Beit Dajan.
Meanwhile, forces also demolished two more tin shacks in Tana and al-Taweel, locales east of Nablus
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18985 15 feb 2012, 13:40 , Respect -
Maria 15 febr 2012
IOF serves demolition notices in Jenin village
JENIN, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) delivered demolition notices to two inhabitants in Arraba village, south of Jenin city.
Local sources told PIC reporter that IOF troops in a number of armored vehicles stormed the village last night accompanied by employees in the civil administration’s organization and construction department and delivered the notices.
They said that the IOF soldiers warned the citizens that they should raze their tin houses because of their proximity to Mabo Dotan settlement.
Other IOF units stormed the nearby village of Kafr Ra’ee and delivered summonses to two citizens for questioning at the intelligence headquarters.
http://fwd4.me/0uME
Israeli Forces Demolish Sheds, Wells, Barns South of Hebron
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday demolished several tin shacks, water wells and animal barns east of the town of Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local official.
Hafiz Hreiny, head of al-Litwani village council, told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers demolished two tin shacks, two water wells and a number of animal barns. The shacks were used as shelter for many families and the wells were considered the only source of water for residents and their livestock.
He said the Israeli measures against Yatta area residents aim to force them to leave their land for the benefit of settlements.
Meanwhile, Israeli bulldozers razed land in the Yatta area and uprooted trees, according to a local activist, who said the purpose behind this act was to expand a nearby Jewish settlement.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18997 16 feb 2012, 19:42 , Respect -
Maria 16 febr 2012
German Minister Condemns Israeli Demolition of Center in Silwan
(2:21) Demolition Silwan Community Center, 13.2.12
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) – The German Minister of Economy and Development Cooperation, Dirk Niebel, condemned the demolition of a German-funded center in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Thursday said a press release by the German representative office in Ramallah.
“I was shocked by the sudden demolition of the German-funded youth center which I just visited two weeks ago…the photographs I received from the demolition site are very disturbing,” said Niebel.
(1:20) Demolition of Playground and Community Center in Silwan Feb. 13 2012
He added that such measures will not help with the peace process in the Middle East, rather it breaks the trust built with a lot of efforts, scarring the new generations.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19015 17 feb 2012, 21:22 , Respect -
Maria 17 febr 2012
EU Condemns Israeli Demolition of Community Center
(2:21) Demolition Silwan Community Center, 13.2.12
JERUSALEM, February 17, 2012 (WAFA) – The European Union Friday criticized the Israeli demolition of Maada Community Center in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to a statement issued by its Jerusalem and Ramallah missions.
Israel demolished the German-funded center on February 13 claiming it was built without a permit.
The demolition took place 10 days after the German Minister of Economy and Development Cooperation, Dirk Niebel, had visited the center as part of his tour of German projects in the area.
Niebel also condemned the demolition in a statement issued on Thursday.
(1:20) Demolition of Playground and Community Center in Silwan Feb. 13 2012
'The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah condemn the demolition of several structures of the Maada Community Center in the neighbourhood of Silwan,” said the EU statement.
“The Maada Community Center, with its cultural and educational activities for youth and women, plays a vital role in the community of Silwan, one the most sensitive neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem,” it added.
The statement called on the Israeli government “to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem,” stressing that “demolitions on occupied land are illegal under international law.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19019 21 feb 2012, 12:12 , Respect -
Maria 20 febr 2012
Report: Israeli authorities seek to permit unplanned settler roads
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli military authorities in the occupied West Bank are pushing to change laws to allow Israeli settlers to build dirt roads "to protect state lands," Israeli media reported on Monday.
The change in legislation will allow settlers to construct non-tarmacked roads without a permit, allowing settlers to extend their control outside settlement boundaries on the large swathes of occupied territory designated Israeli-state land, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Israel's Civil Administration will request the legal amendment from Israel's Deputy Attorney General, the report said. Currently settlers have to apply for permits to build, however the Israeli army is already permitted to seize land for roads to "protect settlements," it added.
All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem break international law banning the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory. Israeli authorities want to make a distinction between authorized settlements and outposts that have not received official approval, as well as "state land" that rights groups say has been seized from Palestinian owners.
According to a 2006 report by Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, over 50 percent of the lands settlements have been built on have retroactively been declared state lands. The areas in the occupied West Bank are often declared state land if it is not formally registered as private property, or if it is not cultivated for three years, under Ottoman law it can be declared state lands.
Under the British Mandate a process of registration of lands began, continued under Jordanian rule, but was halted by an injunction by Israel when its military occupied the West Bank in 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=461940 21 feb 2012, 13:43 , Respect -
Maria 21 febr 2012
Cabinet Condemns Raid against Al-Aqsa Mosque, House Demolition
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) - The Cabinet Tuesday condemned continuous attempts by Israeli settlers and extremists to raid Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City and conduct religious rituals on its premises in a manner that provokes Muslim sentiments and creates a state of tension, according to a cabinet statement.
It held the Israeli government fully responsible for the acts of the extremists, demanding from the international community “to pressure Israel to put a stop to the practices of the right-wing extremists and settlers against the citizens and their properties.”
The Cabinet condemned Israeli demolition of more than 40 buildings, including 15 inhabited homes where 126 citizens lived including 62 children.
It called on the international community “to end those crimes against our people’s right to be housed on its land.”
It said this policy “reveals the racism of the occupation which builds settlements and expands them on occupied Palestinian land while the original owners of the land are prevented from building homes.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19067
Military Authority to Demolish 9 Structures in Jenin Area
JENIN, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Tuesday handed Palestinians in Bartaa al-Sharqiya, a village northwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, demolition notices for nine structures, according to the head of the village council Tawfiq Kabaha.
He told WAFA that Israeli forces accompanied by members of the planning department of the Israeli military government handed the orders to the Palestinian residents and gave them until mid March to demolish them.
They include chicken coops, animal barns and retaining walls.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19056 22 feb 2012, 12:17 , Respect -
Maria 22 febr 2012
Erekat Condemns Decision to Build 500 Housing Units in Settlements
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat Wednesday condemned an Israel government decision to build 500 housing units in the northern West Bank settlement of Shilo.
He told Voice of Palestine radio that the government of Israel has chosen settlement expansion over peace.
The French news agency, AFP, quoted an Israeli official saying that a planning and building council of the Israeli Civil Administration will approve the building of 500 housing units in Shilo, one of hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements built in the West Bank since its occupation in 1967.
Erekat said the government of Israel will be held fully responsible for failure of peace efforts along with several members of the Quartet who provide it with protection.
He stressed that it is time for the Quartet to stop the Israeli measures and stop dealing with Israel as a state above the law.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers from Shvut Rachel, another illegal settlement built on land belonging to Palestinians from the village of Jalud, southeast of Nablus, began restoring about 200 depleted homes in the settlement in order to house them, according to Ghassan Douglas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern parts of the West Bank.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19078
Israeli bulldozers damage wheat fields in the Negev
NEGEV, (PIC)-- Bulldozers of the land of Israel department leveled Palestinian wheat and barley fields in the Negev region, the Israeli radio said on Wednesday.
The radio said that the bulldozers destroyed hundreds of dunums under heavy police protection fearing angry reaction of Palestinian farmers.
http://fwd4.me/0v6Z
Israel Notifies Farmers it Plans to Seize their Land
HEBRON, (WAFA) - The Israeli authorities Wednesday informed Palestinian farmers from Beit Ula, a town northwest of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, of its intention to take over about 20 dunums of their land, according to a local activist.
Coordinator of the popular committee against the wall, Isa al-Omla, told WAFA that farmers found notices on their land put there by the Israeli authorities informing them that they should leave their land and remove everything on it because it will soon be expropriated under the pretext that the land is state land.
The notices, he said, gave the farmers 45 days to file a complaint at Ofer military camp, near Ramallah, or else the army would evict them by force and force them to pay costs of their eviction.
One of the land owners, Nader al-Omla said that the Israeli authorities aim to force Palestinian farmers to leave their land in order to seize it for the benefit of expanding the Apartheid Wall and prevent urban expansion.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19075
IOA confiscates 30 dunums of Palestinian land in Yatta
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has decided to expropriate 30 dunums of Palestinian cultivated land to the east of Yatta village south of Al-Khalil.
Quds Press quoted Ratib Al-Jabour, the coordinator of the popular anti settlement committee, as saying that the IOA told owners of those land that their land, which was confiscated weeks ago, were transferred into state property and that they would never be allowed back into it.
Jabour said that groups of Jewish settlers stormed this land about two weeks ago and took photos of its water wells and caves then declared it would not be in the hands of Palestinians for long.
In a similar development, he said that a group of Jewish settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, delivered to Palestinian farmers owning land near Susiya settlement, to the south east of Yatta, on Wednesday a ruling by an Israeli court that their land would be seized and annexed to the settlement. He noted that IOF soldiers erected watchtowers on the land.
http://fwd4.me/0v56 23 feb 2012, 12:09 , Respect -
Maria 23 febr 2012
Israeli bulldozers level 12 dunums of Palestinian land
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation bulldozers leveled 12 dunums of cultivated land in Sourif village to the north of Al-Khalil on Thursday, local sources said.
They said that the land is owned by Issac Al-Qadi and Mohammed Eghnaimat.
The Israeli occupation authority claimed that the land was confiscated at military demand.
http://fwd4.me/0vCE
IOF maneuvers damage Palestinian cultivated land
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- Palestinian inhabitants have appealed to human rights groups to visit the northern Jordan Valley and see for themselves the damage inflicted by Israeli army maneuvers.
The Maleh and Bedouin tribes municipal council in the Jordan Valley said in a statement on Thursday that the ongoing maneuvers by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) were using live ammunition.
It said that big damage was inflicted to hundreds of dunums in eight areas in the vast war games, adding that citizens have suffered big losses after their crops of wheat, chickpeas, and peas were lost.
http://fwd4.me/0vCF
Government Condemns Israeli Plan on Qalandia Airport
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) – Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib Thursday condemned an Israeli plan to transfer Qalandia airport into an industrial zone, considering it a violation of international law.
“The airport is located in an occupied land according to international law and therefore Israel has no right to make any changes to the status quo,” said Khatib.
He added that re-opening Qalandia airport was part of the Palestinian Authority’s development plans for the future.
The Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem registered the unused land on which Qalandia airport is built, in the north of East Jerusalem, as state land, the Israeli newspaper Maariv said Thursday.
It said that the Israeli Airport Authority made a submission to the Israeli municipality, requesting to register the land under its authority at the Israel Land Department.
The airport has been closed by the Israeli authorities since the second Intifada which started in October 2000 and was never reopened.
Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz had formed a special committee on the airport, which decided to transfer the land to the Israeli municipality to establish an industrial zone in its place, said the newspaper.
Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister, had promised that Israel will hand over the Qaladia airport to the Palestinian Authority after a peace agreement is reached.
Director of Peace Now's Settlements Watch project, Hagit Ofran, said that transferring the airport into an industrial zone will destroy the chances of establishing two states.
“It does not concern me under whose name the land will be registered but it must be turned over to the Palestinian Authority,” she said.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19091
Army Orders Construction on Houses to Stop
HEBRON, (WAFA) – The Israeli authorities Thursday issued notices to stop construction work on eight Palestinian houses in the Hebron area village of Surif as a prelude to demolish them under the pretext they were built without permit, according to the Land Research Center (LCR).
A field researcher at the center said that Israeli forces along with officers from the Civil Administration, the Israeli military government’s arm in the West Bank, threw the notices near the house before leaving the village.
The notices said there will be a court hearing February 29 to look into what it called “demolition of a construction and turning it back to its previous state.”
Owners said the houses were inhabited and were built 10 years ago.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19093
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Land, Demolish Water-Well
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Israeli bulldozers Thursday razed 30 dunums of Palestinian-owned cultivated land and demolished a water well in Surif, a town northwest of Hebron, according to official sources.
Surif mayor Mousa al-Sha’er told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers accompanied with soldiers razed 30 dunums, demolished a water well and uprooted more than 750 productive trees including almond and olive trees.
Israeli forces claimed that the land was state-owned despite the fact that it is included within the structural plan of the town, added Sha’er.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19083
Land research center: Israel plans to bring more Jews to O. Palestine
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Land research center warned that the Israeli occupation government intends to bring more Jews from all over the world to occupied Palestine in order to change its demographic composition and annex more lands for their settlements.
The center said in a report that the Israeli legislation regarding the construction of roads for Jewish settlers so as to protect what they call the state lands reveals that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is aimed to Judaize them and bring Jews to live in place of the Palestinian natives.
The Israeli occupation annexed the Palestinian lands, destroyed agricultural lands, demolished homes, displaced their residents, built settlements for Jewish settlers and then unleashed them to control the tops of mountains, expand their outposts, launch attacks on Palestinian property and then set up an apartheid wall that dismembered Palestine and isolated and besieged its villages, it added.
The center pointed out to the damage caused by Israel's segregation wall, saying it was built on 50, 000 dunums of Palestinian land, isolated 725, 000 dunums of land to the west and prevented the Palestinians of using about 250, 000 dunums of their own land to the east for security reasons.
http://fwd4.me/0v9m 25 feb 2012, 15:49 , Respect -
Maria 25 febr 2012
Israel to Take Over Land near Salfit
SALFIT, (WAFA) – Israeli authorities issued a seizure order of Palestinian-owned land in Khallet Hadidah, a locale near Qarawat Bani Hassan, a village northwest of Salfit, for settlement expansion, mayor of Qarawat Bani Hassan Aziz Assi said Saturday.
He said the municipality received a copy of the seizure order that targeted 21 dunums near the illegal Rakan industrial settlement built on Palestinian land.
He said Israeli authorities regularly issue seizure orders against Palestinian land to expand settlements while they prevent Palestinian farmers from accessing their agricultural land, their only source of livelihood.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19100 26 feb 2012, 12:56 , Respect -
Maria 26 febr 2012
Israeli Forces Prevent Farmer from Entering his Land
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sunday prevented a Palestinian famer from Beit Ummar, a town north of the northern West Bank city of Hebron, from entering his land under the pretext of declaring it a closed military zone, according to a local activist.
Spokesman of the National Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar Mohammed Awad told WAFA that forces prevented Yousif al-alami from entering and working in his land located across from the settlement of Migdal Oz built illegally on residents land in the eastern side of the town of Beit Ummar.
Al-Alami said that he was surprised by a number of Israeli soldiers present at his five dunums of land planted with grape and almond trees and told him under gun point to immediately leave the land under the pretext of declaring it closed military zone although he showed documents that proof his ownership of the land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19114 27 feb 2012, 15:38 , Respect -
Maria 27 febr 2012
IOF soldiers raid Al-Khalil, block entry of farmer to his land
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided Al-Khalil province at dawn Monday and blocked entry of a Palestinian farmer into his land in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Sunday.
Security sources told Quds Press that the IOF search campaign in Al-Khalil villages started on Sunday night and lasted till dawn Monday.
They said that a Palestinian youth was wounded in Arub refugee camp when IOF soldiers fired tear gas bombs and rubber bullets on Palestinian demonstrators.
Locals said that a Palestinian home in Arub caught fire when a gas bomb exploded inside it.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers blocked entry of Yousef Allame into his five-dunum land in Beit Ummar village, claiming that the land was within “state property”.
Allame’s land is cultivated with almonds and grapes and was previously the target of attacks by Jewish settlers of a nearby settlement.
The IOF soldiers arrested a citizen and broke into two homes in the Old City of Al-Khalil earlier on Sunday.
http://fwd4.me/0vQi
IOA expropriates 21 dunums of Salfit land
SALFIT, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has delivered notifications for the expropriation of 21.3 dunums of Salfit village land “for security reasons”.
Head of the Qarawat Bani Hassan village Abdul Aziz Asy has appealed to all responsible sources in the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to intervene and stop the IOA arbitrary measures against the inhabitants and land in the Salfit governorate.
He said that his municipality would follow up the issue with the office of Salfit governor Issam Abu Bakir, PA concerned parties, and human rights groups.
Asy urged owners of those lands, which stretch along three villages, not to bow to the Israeli orders and to go to court to challenge them.
http://fwd4.me/0vP1
Palestinians Force Israeli Group to Stop Work on Jerusalem Land
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – The Israeli Nature Authority Monday stopped work on land between the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Issawiyeh and al-Tur after area residents got court order to stop the work, according to local activists.
They presented workers from the Nature Authority with the court decision, which orders temporary halt to the work.
The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem is planning to take over more than 700 dunums of Palestinian land near the two neighborhoods to build what is believed to be a Talmudic garden and to serve area Jewish settlements.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19121
Israel Planning Railway through West Bank
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – Israel’s railway authority is planning to build a 475-kilometer rail system network in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Monday.
The French news agency, AFP, quoted an unnamed railway official as confirming the report, saying the plan was prepared at the request of the Israeli Ministry of Transportation.
“We have presented a plan sought by the transport ministry, but for the moment nothing has been done on the ground,” the official told AFP.
According to Haaretz and based on a map it got, the rail system will have 11 lines running from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north, and linking the Jordan Valley in the east with the Green Line bordering Israel in the west.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19117 1 mar 2012, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 29 FEB 2012
Watch: Heated argument draws TV attention
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- While heading to his daughter’s school to attend an awards ceremony, Rajih Abu al-Sukkar was notified that Israeli forces uprooted dozens of olive trees in lands belonging his village Turmusayya near Ramallah.
He immediately rushed to the land along with other residents. “Are you leaving my ceremony?” his daughter asked. “The celebration isn’t more important than the olive trees,” replied the father.
It never crossed his mind that the heated argument he had with Israeli soldiers would make him a local celebrity. However, footage of the argument drew thousands of viewers on YouTube and television.
"When I arrived, I saw that Israeli bulldozers had chopped down 140 olive trees belonging to my uncle Muhammad Rabii Hanoun. The trees have been planted 15 years ago.
"The scene of the trees drove me crazy and I started yelling at the soldiers who lined up and prevented us from accessing our land.
"I asked them to show me any court order allowing them to do what they did to the trees, but the commander just replied that he had orders, not written down orders, which was a more provocative and infuriating reply," the 44-year-old said Tuesday.
“I asked the soldiers either to allow me to access the land, or shoot me dead, but the commander kept looking at me indifferently. The officer’s cold and indifferent response provoked me to the degree that I started to speak to them sarcastically, as I experienced how weak we were in front of 32 Israeli soldiers ready for instructions to assault us while we were defenseless.”
Asked if his reaction was over the top, he said it was a natural response. “Pardon my words, what made me reach such a degree of passivity was the officer’s vapidity and silence. I tried to provoke him, but he was provocative to a degree that I was about to slap him.”
Abu al-Sukkar is the brother of freed Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Abu al-Sukkar who served 28 years in Israeli jails. He says it is a duty to defend his village’s land north of Ramallah. He also highlighted that he owned an agricultural tractor and that he helped farmers reclaim and cultivate their fields which face confiscation threats.
He also mentioned that he was involved several times in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers over a tract of land he owns near the illegal settlement of Shilo, and that they he received death threats. A shed he built there was also demolished, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=463940