30 jan 2012
IOA destroys caravan in Beit Hanina, five houses in the Negev
OCCUPIED JERSUALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli-controlled municipality of occupied Jerusalem has sent its bulldozers on Monday in a new destruction mission in Beit Hanina, local sources said.
Mohammed Samara, living in Ashqariya suburb in the village, said that the municipality bulldozers razed his caravan where he lives with his wife and two children.
He said that the municipality had served him a demolition notice three years ago after imposing 13000 shekels fine on him.
The father, a painter, appealed for providing his family with a tent after his wife and children were rendered homeless.
Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities razed five homes in the Negev on Monday owned by Bedouins at the pretext they were not licensed.
The Israeli authorities forced the citizens to raze their homes with their own hands to avoid taxes and heavy financial fines in the event they refused.
Bedouin leaders said that Israel has apparently started its plan of emptying the Negev of its Arab Bedouins in a bid to seize control of their land.
http://fwd4.me/0l7r
Report: IOF demolishes 2 homes in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM - Agencies - Israeli forces demolished two buildings in East Jerusalem on Monday, the PA news agency reported.
Municipal officials tore down a residential caravan in Beit Hanina and a 30-square meter room in a home in neighboring Shufat, official news site Wafa said.
The demolition in Beit Hanina displaced a Palestinian family, and sparked clashes between locals and police, the report said.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestine urged Israel to halt demolitions of Palestinian homes on Friday. Demolitions in 2011 "forcibly displaced almost 1,100 people, over half of them children, and compromising the livelihoods of several thousand more," he said.
"Israel as the Occupying Power has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being... The wholesale destruction of their homes and livelihoods is not consistent with that responsibility and humanitarian ideals," the UN official added.
http://fwd4.me/0l7n
IOA serves demolition orders to three brothers
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) served demolition orders to three brothers in Lefjin hamlet to the east of Aqraba village south of Nablus.
Ghassan Daghlas, monitoring Israeli settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the three brothers were handed notifications for the destruction of their homes on Monday.
The IOA served similar notices over the past two weeks in Tawil and Lefjin hamlets near Aqraba village.
http://fwd4.me/0l80
IOA destroys caravan in Beit Hanina, five houses in the Negev
OCCUPIED JERSUALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli-controlled municipality of occupied Jerusalem has sent its bulldozers on Monday in a new destruction mission in Beit Hanina, local sources said.
Mohammed Samara, living in Ashqariya suburb in the village, said that the municipality bulldozers razed his caravan where he lives with his wife and two children.
He said that the municipality had served him a demolition notice three years ago after imposing 13000 shekels fine on him.
The father, a painter, appealed for providing his family with a tent after his wife and children were rendered homeless.
Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities razed five homes in the Negev on Monday owned by Bedouins at the pretext they were not licensed.
The Israeli authorities forced the citizens to raze their homes with their own hands to avoid taxes and heavy financial fines in the event they refused.
Bedouin leaders said that Israel has apparently started its plan of emptying the Negev of its Arab Bedouins in a bid to seize control of their land.
http://fwd4.me/0l7r
Report: IOF demolishes 2 homes in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM - Agencies - Israeli forces demolished two buildings in East Jerusalem on Monday, the PA news agency reported.
Municipal officials tore down a residential caravan in Beit Hanina and a 30-square meter room in a home in neighboring Shufat, official news site Wafa said.
The demolition in Beit Hanina displaced a Palestinian family, and sparked clashes between locals and police, the report said.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestine urged Israel to halt demolitions of Palestinian homes on Friday. Demolitions in 2011 "forcibly displaced almost 1,100 people, over half of them children, and compromising the livelihoods of several thousand more," he said.
"Israel as the Occupying Power has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being... The wholesale destruction of their homes and livelihoods is not consistent with that responsibility and humanitarian ideals," the UN official added.
http://fwd4.me/0l7n
IOA serves demolition orders to three brothers
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) served demolition orders to three brothers in Lefjin hamlet to the east of Aqraba village south of Nablus.
Ghassan Daghlas, monitoring Israeli settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the three brothers were handed notifications for the destruction of their homes on Monday.
The IOA served similar notices over the past two weeks in Tawil and Lefjin hamlets near Aqraba village.
http://fwd4.me/0l80
- 22 jan 2012
Israeli Forces Hand Palestinians Evacuation Notices near Nablus
NABLUS, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sunday handed two Palestinians from Joreish village, south of Nablus notices to evacuate their land and demolish water wells, according to local sources.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said that Israeli soldiers gave the village’s residents 45 day notice to demolish the wells and evacuate the land.
He pointed out that Israeli soldiers continue to hand Palestinians notices in a number of villages south of Nablus and in the Jordan Valley area.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18766 28 jan 2012, 00:00 , Respect -
Maria 23 jan 2011
Al Tafkaji: Moving Migron Settlement Makes Settlements Legal
The head cartographer at the Arab Studies Association Khalil al Tafkaji said that the agreement on the suggestion to move Migron settlement in Barqa and Der Debwan towns by the Israeli government is illegal.
Al Tafkaji told Voice of Palestine on Monday that, "the decisions by the Israeli courts to move the settlements from a place to another means to make them legal forever", noting that the Israeli government gave a time to remove the settlement until the end of next march not to move it.
Al tafkaji said that the Israeli government is planning to steal more lands in Mikhmas town and Kafar 'Oqob to build Migron settlement, using stolen land.
http://fwd4.me/0koA
IOA notifies farmers of land confiscation in Nablus village
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has notified farmers in Jurish village, south of Nablus, that their land would be confiscated within 45 days and that they should evacuate it.
Ghassan Daghlas, monitoring settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that a family owning 20 dunums of cultivated land was served a notice to the effect while a group of other citizens were told that water wells they use to irrigate their land in the same village would be destroyed.
He noted that the IOA was escalating its targeting of Palestinian land in the West Bank area “C”, which is under full Israeli control according to the Oslo accords.
He noted that the area “C” constitutes 60% of the West Bank and Palestinians living in it constitute 5% of the population while the rest are Jewish settlers.
Daghlas charged the IOA with exchanging role with the Jewish settlers in terrorizing the indigenous inhabitants into deserting their land to facilitate annexing them to the Jewish settlements.
http://fwd4.me/0kkl
Israel Approved 734 Housing Units in East Jerusalem Settlements in 2011
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) – Israel approved the building of 734 housing units in East Jerusalem settlements and seized 1367 dunums of land in and around the occupied city since the beginning of 2012, Monday said a statement by the PLO Department of International Relations.
It said settlement activities in East Jerusalem, in the wake of the Israeli government’s policy to Judaize and annex the city and make any political solution impossible, are considered “war crimes” and “state terrorism.”
The statement said the international community is overlooking Israeli practices and settlement escalation in Jerusalem, which emboldens the Israeli occupation and measures against Palestinian residents of the city.
It demanded from the international community to force Israel to abide by international law when dealing with the occupied territories.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18778 28 jan 2012, 10:43 , Respect -
Maria 24 jan 2012
Israel demolishes 10 buildings near Jericho
JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces demolished ten buildings in the Jordan Valley village al-Auja on Monday, residents told Ma'an.
The soldiers leveled new shops being constructed at the village's northern entrance, belonging to residents Diab Abdul Hamid, Nujom and Yasser Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Abdul Rahman and Fesal Hussein.
The owners told Ma'an the demolitions inflicted a serious loss on the Jericho-district village.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees noted in a December report that demolitions across the West Bank doubled in 2011, displacing 990 people -- including 507 children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454923
Official: Israel to demolish school, homes near Hebron
A woman cries near her home after it was demolished by Israeli bulldozers near Bethlehem.
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Tuesday issued demolition orders to a school and homes near Hebron in the southern West Bank, local officials said.
Bani Naim spokesman Imad Amer said forces handed notices to Shuhada al-Haram school and three homes east of the village.
The municipality condemned Israel's continuous demolitions in the area which aimed to force residents to leave, Amer said in a statement.
Israel frequently demolishes homes, wells, schools and recently a mosque in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control since 1993.
Israeli authorities usually say the structures are built without permits, but Palestinians, rights groups, the UN and international organizations say such permits are almost impossible to obtain.
Under international law, it is illegal for Israel to carry out demolitions in land it occupies unless the structures are used solely for military purposes.
Often the demolitions target areas close to Jewish-only settlements, which are illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455127
Israel Demolishes House near Jerusalem
UNRWA research shows that 990 Palestinians have lost their homes in 2011, more than double the number in 2010.
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – Israeli bulldozers Tuesday demolished a Palestinian-owned house in Anata, a town northeast of Jerusalem, under the pretext that it was build without a permit, said the house owner.
Ahmad al-Lhalyeh said Israeli forces raided at dawn his house, located near the Israeli camp of Anatot, and forced his family of 20 members to leave their residence before demolishing it.
Israeli police handed the unemployed al-Lhalyeh a demolition notice on January 18, and gave him a three-day notice to demolish his own house, said the lawyer assigned to al-Lhalyeh’s case by the National Committee against the Apartheid Wall in Ramallah, Hussam Younis.
He said that Israel demolished the house before he had a chance to file an objection to the Israeli Supreme Court, adding that Israeli authorities demolished another house for al-Lhalyeh in 1996, under the pretext of building with no permission.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18790 30 jan 2012, 08:07 , Respect -
Maria 25 jan 2012
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Residence, Shed South of Hebron
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday demolished a residence that housed orphans and a shack in Khirbet Umm al-Khair, a locale in the Hebron south of West Bank, according to a Palestinian activist.
Ratib al-Jabour, coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlements in Hebron, told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by soldiers, police, and officers from the civil administration stormed Khirbet Umm al-Khair, closed the area off and demolished the residence and the shack.
Witnesses told WAFA that the 60-year-old owner of the residences fainted while trying to stop the bulldozers from demolishing his house and shed.
The demolition of the house left the orphans with no shelter during this cold winter, said Jabour.
The Israeli authorities have demolished during the past several months a large number of houses, animal barns and sheds in this area for the benefit of expanding a nearby Jewish settlement.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18815
IOA razes building in occupied Jerusalem, displaces 20 Palestinians
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) razed a Palestinian building to the east of Enata village in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Safa’a Hamdan, An engineer working with the village’s local council, said that the IOA demolished the house after serving the inhabitants a notice three days ago.
She said that the Israeli security forces escorted the demolition teams and knocked down the house at the pretext of lack of construction permit.
Hamdan noted that the owner of the building, Ahmed Al-Lahaleh, had filed an appeal against the decision but the Israeli municipality teams did not even wait for the court hearing and went on with the demolition.
She said that the families inhabiting the house, consisting of 20 individuals, have no other place to go to, adding that this is the second time the IOA knocks down a house for the Lahaleh family.
http://fwd4.me/0knq 31 jan 2012, 09:29 , Respect -
Maria 26 jan 2012
Israeli Authorities Tell Palestinian his House will be Demolished
JENIN, (WAFA) – The Israeli military authorities Thursday informed a Palestinian from Ya’bad, a village southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, that the house he was building will be demolished, according to the house owner.
Othman Abu Obaid told WAFA that the planning department of the Israeli military authorities handed him a notice to stop the construction work on his 130 square meter house, which is adjacent to Mabo Dotan, a Jewish settlement built on Ya’bad land, under the pretext the house was located in area C, which is under full Israeli control.
They also handed him a notice to demolish a 60-cubic-meter water tank, which was built with a Norwegian fund.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18826
Update: Israeli forces block dirt road in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces blocked off a dirt road in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron on Wednesday, a local advocacy group said.
Youth Against Settlements said the closure aims to put pressure on the Abu Heikal family to leave the area, as they can no longer access their home.
Israel already closed the main road to their home because of its proximity to the illegal Jewish outpost Admot Yishai. The dirt road was the only remaining entrance to their street.
On Jan. 15, settlers torched a car belonging to the Abu Heikal family. Hana Abu Heikal told Ma'an her car had been torched several times in the past.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city of Hebron that are under Israeli control.
The settlers are armed and protected by Israeli soldiers and routinely assault Palestinians in the city.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455390 31 jan 2012, 20:23 , Respect -
Maria 27 jan 2012
17 new demolition notices in the northern Jordan Valley
JENIN, (PIC)-- IOF troops entered the village of Aqaba in the northern Jordan Valley and handed residents 17 new demolition notices. Eight such notices were handed to village residents last month.
Hajj Sami Sadek, head of the village council, said that the occupation soldiers handed residents of the village demolition notices. He added that it was not the first time for some of the residents, as some of them were given demolition notices and demolitions were carried out but they rebuilt their structures.
He pointed out that the demolition notices included houses and animal pens, calling for protection for the village against plans to end Palestinian presence in the village and in the rest of the Jordan Valley.
He stressed that the villagers are determined to remain on their land and to rebuild any demolished structures.
He also said that demolition decisions were issued against 95% of the village structures, including the mosque and roads on the pretext that the village lies within zone “c” [according to Oslo accords] and that it was close to two military camps.
http://fwd4.me/0kxB
Jewish settlers steal 30 Dunums in al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Jewish settlers planted land belonging to the village of Sair to the north of al-Khalil, in the southern West Bank, in an attempt to take it over, claiming that they are planting it because it belongs to them.
Researcher at the Land Research Centre, Rajeh Talahmeh said that settlers from the Asfer settlement, which is built on Palestinian stolen land in the Qanoub area to the east of the village, planted the village's fields.
He also said that the fields belong to the Shaladeh family who were surprised on Thursday morning to find that the settlers planted their fields with trees and protected plants all over their fields which lie outside the fence of the settlement.
http://fwd4.me/0kx9 1 feb 2012, 12:09 , Respect -
Maria 28 jan 2012
Israel planning to raze 30 Palestinian houses in the Negev
NEGEV, (PIC)-- The Israeli army is planning to build barracks for its intelligence in the Negev on the land of the unrecognized Palestinian village Mukaimen, the Arab center for alternative planning in 1948 occupied Palestine said.
It said in a press release that more than 30 Palestinian houses and buildings would be razed in the village to make way for the army camps, adding that the Israeli army plans to lay its hand on 5070 dunums of land, 3000 for building the barracks and the remaining area would be subjected to construction limitations.
The center pointed out that the inhabitants would be expelled from the entire area at the pretext they were illegally inhabiting it while in fact they were there before the creation of Israel.
http://fwd4.me/0kyg
OCHA: Israel demolished 17 Palestinian homes in the past week
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israel razed 17 Palestinian homes in the West Bank over the past week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian land said on Saturday.
The report pointed out that Israel demolished eight homes in Enata village in occupied Jerusalem and displaced 52 individuals including 29 children, noting that one of the demolished buildings was being used as a social center and was knocked down for the fifth time.
The other razed structures were shops owned by eight Palestinian families in the Jordan Valley, the report said, adding that demolition notices were also served in the past week to 16 houses in occupied Jerusalem, Al-Khalil, and Nablus.
It further underlined that 12 Palestinians were injured in the Israeli occupation forces’ quelling of peaceful anti settlement and anti separation wall rallies in the West Bank in the same period.
An IOF soldier shot at and wounded a Palestinian youth at the pretext that he tried to assault him while a 17-year-old minor was hurt when Jewish settlers attacked him while at work near Karmi Tzur settlement in Al-Khalil, the report said.
http://fwd4.me/0kyk
Israel to Demolish Two Houses near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM, (WAFA) – Israeli forces delivered home demolition notices to two Palestinian homeowners in al-Ma’sara, a village south of Bethlehem, under the pretext that they were built without a permit in an area under full Israel control, said head of the village council Samir Zawahra on Saturday.
He said Israeli soldiers placed the notices near the two houses, which were in their final stage of construction.
Zawahra accused the Israeli authorities of plotting to empty the area of its Palestinian residents in order to take over the land for the benefit of nearby settlements.
He said the Israeli escalation comes in the wake of the weekly non-violent demonstration in the village to protest settlement expansion and the construction of the Apartheid Wall on village land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18836
Palestinians Go on Hunger Strike to Protest Israeli Demolitions
NABLUS, (WAFA) – Some 20 Palestinian residents from Khirbat al-Tawil, a locale east of the village of Aqraba, south of Nablus, declared an open-ended hunger strike on Saturday to protest an Israeli plan to demolish their homes and force them to leave the area, said Ghassan Daghlas, an activist monitoring settlement activities in the northern West Bank.
He said the residents were protesting Israeli army night raids on their homes and orders to demolish them with an aim to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.
He said the Israeli military authorities consider the locale a “closed military area” while the villagers continue to file objections to the several demolition orders they have been receiving.
Israeli forces handed demolition notices to two homes in Khirbet al-Tawil 10 days ago and another three demolition orders to two brothers in Aqraba.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18835
Senior UN official demands Israel to end its displacement of Palestinians
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- UN humanitarian coordinator for occupied Palestine Maxwell Gaylard on Friday called on Israel to put an immediate end to its systematic demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank.
"Israel, as the occupying power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being," Gaylard said in a statement.
"The wholesale destruction of their homes and livelihoods is not consistent with that responsibility or humanitarian ideals,” he said
Gaylard visited Anata village on the outskirts of occupied Jerusalem yesterday where he saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes demolished earlier in the week and met with representatives of the displaced families.
Bulldozers and troops had arrived in the middle of the night of 23 January, he was told, and that 52 people, including 29 children, had been forced out of their homes, which were then destroyed.
The visit by Gaylard came on the same day that the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) released a new report showing that about 1,100 Palestinians, over half of them children, were displaced due to home demolitions in the West Bank by the Israeli occupation forces in 2011, over 80 percent more than in the previous year.
The report, entitled “Demolitions and Forced Displacement in the Occupied West Bank,” added that an additional 4,200 people were affected by the demolition of structures related to their livelihoods.
Gaylard noted that these figures represent a dramatic increase compared with previous years, and that tens of thousands of Palestinians remain under threat of dispossession, demolition and displacement.
"The current policy and practice of demolitions cause extensive human suffering and should end," he stated. "Palestinians urgently require ready access to a fair and non-discriminatory planning and zoning system that meets their needs for growth and development."
http://fwd4.me/0kxw
Israel urged to halt WB home demolitions
A Palestinian woman gestures as she stands facing an Israeli bulldozer during a demolition in the village of Khirbet Tana near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The UN humanitarian coordinator has called on Israel to stop demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, saying the "occupying power" has responsibility to protect the people.
“Israel, as the occupying power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories.
The UN official made the remarks on Friday when he was visiting the village of Anata in the West Bank where Israeli forces had destroyed several Palestinian homes earlier this week.
A new report released by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (OCHA) said that the number of Palestinian homes ruined by Israel in the West Bank dramatically increased in 2011.
According to the report, more than 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, including children and women, were displaced last year -- an 80 percent increase from 2010 -- due to demolition of their homes by Israelis.
The report echoes a recent statement released by over 20 groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International at the end of 2011.
“Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem (al-Quds) over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes,” said the statement.
In the statement, Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said “the increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/223506.html 2 feb 2012, 13:27 , Respect -
Maria 29 jan 2012
Center: Israel expanding south Hebron settlement
Israeli soldiers stand guard, as the bulldozer clears the ground next to the Israeli settlement Karmel, south of the West Bank city of Hebron.
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- The Land Research Center said on Sunday that the Israel is expanding the Karmel settlement in south Hebron.
Israeli forces have started digging on 10 dunams of the land to the south of the settlement, the center says.
The report added that the land belongs to the al-Hathalin family in Um al-Kher village, which lies just a few meters from the Israeli settlement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456380