- 11 juli 2012
Excavations detected in Sheikh Muwannis cemetery in Yafa
Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage revealed that the Zionist "Solel Boneh" construction company launched excavations in the cemetery of Al-Sheikh Muwannis village in Yafa.
The excavations which were accompanied with digging operations aimed at preparing the site for building residential apartments for the University of Tel Aviv's students and a shopping center, Al-Aqsa Foundation said.
It also reported in a press release on Wednesday that: "These excavations had been detected during a tour by the Foundation's delegation when they saw the remains of gravestones, as well as parts of skeletons." It also denounced such procedure considering it "a crime and a violation of the sanctity of the dead."
It is noted that the occupation authorities had, previously, displaced the citizens of Al-Sheikh Muwannis village after destroying it to build Tel Aviv University and private cars parking on its ruins.
http://fwd4.me/15IR
IOF demolishes water wells, closes refugee camp
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished four water wells in Al-Khalil on Tuesday and closed entrance to Fawar refugee camp.
The Israeli occupation authorities recently escalated demolition of water wells in various West Bank areas.
Meanwhile, the IOF soldiers closed the iron gate entrance to Fawar refugee camp also in Al-Khalil for a few hours.
Local sources said that IOF soldiers stormed five villages in the vicinity of Al-Khalil, and searched many houses.
The sources said that Jewish settlers attacked the northern suburbs of Al-Khalil and threw stones at Palestinian cars and houses.
http://fwd4.me/15EX
Jerusalemite family loses its home anew
The Israeli occupation authority rendered a Jerusalemite family homeless anew on Tuesday after confiscating their tin houses provided by a charity.
Mohammed Ka’abne, residing in Beit Hanina to the north of occupied Jerusalem, said that Israeli occupation forces confiscated three tin houses provided by an international city to provide shelter for three families.
He recalled that his house was raided on several past occasions before it was razed by the IOF.
Ka’abne said that the IOF served him a notice that the tin houses would be confiscated and carried out the threat without waiting for a court hearing for this purpose that was slated for 15th July.
http://fwd4.me/15EV
Israel legalizing land grab of Palestinian land
Israeli outpost
By Khalid Amayreh
A special committee appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to look into the "legality" of Jewish colonies in the West Bank has concluded that Israel has a legal right to grab Palestinian land, irrespective of the rule of international law and any other considerations.
The committee, made up of highly fanatical Talmudic-minded figures, such as Edmond Levy, who opposed the dismantlement of Jewish colonies in Gaza in 2005, argued that the West Bank was not really an occupied territory and that the Israeli state could legally steal as much of that territory as it sees fit for meeting the needs of Jewish settlers.
The occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by Israel is not recognized by the international community, including the United States .
The drafters of the committee recommendations belong to a Jewish school of thought who teaches that the ancient or Biblical land of Israel covers much of the Middle East, including the entirety of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon as well as parts of Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, the compilers of the committee report seem to be racist to the hilt, as they paid virtually no attention to the very existence of the Palestinian people, treating them as if they didn't exist.
According to the Israeli media, the only positive "gesture" the report compilers made toward the Palestinians was a recommendation that Israeli army officers treating Palestinian litigations pertaining to land grab issues wear civilian cloths instead of military uniforms in order to give an appearance of formality and justice.
There is no doubt that the latest measure on the part of the Israeli government represents a pornographic breach of justice. But so what? Israel has always behaved and acted this way, with unlimited and unrestricted backing from its guardian-ally, the United States.
In the final analysis, Israel itself is a gigantic war crime and crime against humanity. Hence, the latest measure, although it goes beyond chutzpah, should be viewed within the normal order of things, since it is characteristic of a criminal state that is not unlike history's worst criminals.
Indeed, for the Israeli government to ask a committee of settlers and Jewish supremacists to draft recommendations that would determine Palestinian rights, including the right to life and survival, is very much akin to Nazi Germany asking hard-core Nazi ideologues to preside over a body that would deal with the "Jewish problem."
Moreover, the legalization of the land grab of Palestinian land at the hands of European and Khazari invaders and other Jewish land thieves coming from distant parts of the world, such as Ethiopia, Peru and India, shows that the lebensraum concept is as Jewish as it is German.
There are small difference related to the details. The Germans wanted a wider living space in the east, whereas genocidal Jewish terrorists claim the land of Palestine belonged to their ancestors three or four thousand years ago.
Would any of you cede his or her house if someone came to you, insisting that the house belonged to his ancestors several thousands of years ago? Yet, this is exactly what these gun-wielding, kippa-donning terrorists have been doing for more than four decades, terrorizing unprotected Palestinians, stealing their land, and shouting Mavet le-Arabim or death to the Arabs.
A few years ago, Israeli spokespersons would tell unsuspecting western diplomats that the settlers were a marginal group of fanatics who in no way represented the collective conscience of the Israeli society or indeed the Jewish people. Yet, the settlers have come to represent the overall conscience and soul of Israel. They, not only tightly control the government and Knesset, but have been effectively able to take over the Israeli army and police, rendering Israel a de facto fascist state.
Don't misunderstand me. The fascist epithet is not my invention. It was used by an Israeli cabinet minister who remarked two years ago that "we already live in a fascist state."
The Israeli Jewish society continues to drift toward more brazen forms of fascism and more violent forms of jingoism. This augers very bad for non-Jews as well as many liberal Jews who still harbor some modicum of rectitude and human decency.
But implosion and ultimate demise will be the sure kismet of fascist societies which divide humans into children of a greater god and children of a lesser god, or sons of light or sons of darkness.
The Israeli designs against the Palestinians are quite nefarious so much so that we can perfectly refer to the Zionists as the Nazis of our time. I am not claiming that Israel has murdered six million Palestinians. But then, does one have to kill six million people in order to qualify for the Nazi epithet? Stalin and his mostly Jewish aides did kill far more Ukrainians than Hitler killed Jews, yet we don't call him a "Nazi."
None the less, the attempted annihilation of the national existence of a given people is a Nazi act irrespective of any academic hallucination to the contrary.
More to the point, the attempted annihilation of an ethnic or cultural or religious community becomes brazenly diabolical especially when brashly racist "justifications" are used to rationalize the criminal act.
Needless to say, Israel and Nazi Germany look very much like Tweedledum and Tweedledee as far as racism is concerned. Germany invoked the German master race as well as the Übermensch/Untermensch concept. The Zionists are invoking the Chosen people mantra which really justifies all acts of aggression and criminality against non-Jews even to the point of viewing them as beasts of burden created solely in order to serve the master race.
Some Chabad rabbis have issued an edict that would allow a Jew to murder a non-Jew in order to harvest his organs in case the Jew needed one.!
The Germans spoke of lebensraum while the Zionists speak of settlements, arguing that Israel's borders end where Israeli tanks stop.
And sheer military might is the ultimate god of both schools of evil, Nazism and Zionism.
Nazism has gone into oblivion, finding its way to the dust bin of history. I have no doubt that Zionism will eventually meet the same fate. Seventy years are nothing in the annals of history.
In a world where every thing can be denied, there are forces undeniable. And on Earth where nothing is sure, we have our certainties. And the demise of Israel is undoubtedly a historical certainty.
http://fwd4.me/15Dc 12 jul 2012, 10:26 , Respect -
Maria 12 juli 2012
Are Israeli Settlements Legal? A Democracy Now! Debate With Ali Abunimah and Jonathan Tobin
(12:21) Are Israeli Settlements Legal? A Democracy Now! Debate With Ali Abunimah and Jonathan Tobin
DemocracyNow.org - An Israeli government committee has affirmed the country's self-proclaimed right to build settlements throughout the occupied West Bank, and recommended the legalization of dozens of settler outposts that have not received government authorization.
The International Court of Justice has already ruled that all of Israel's West Bank settlements are illegal, but Israel has said it would only consider dismantling scattered outposts that it has not officially approved. The settlers have used the outposts to seize even more Palestinian land than has already been taken. We host a debate between Jonathan Tobin, Senior Online Editor of Commentary magazine, and Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada.
To watch the complete weekday independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, search our vast archive, or to find more information about Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman, visit http://www.democracynow.org/
Israel Bans Palestinian from Reclaiming Own Land
Israeli forces Thursday handed a Palestinian farmer in Artas, a village south of Bethlehem, a notice banning him from reclaiming his land located near Etzion settlement bloc, a local activist said Thursday.
Member of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Bethlehem Hasan Breijeh said the Israeli notice alleged that landowner Ali Abu Suwi had “unlawfully” paved a road in a section of the land in question, claiming it was state land.
However, Abu Suwi has presented legal documents proving ownership of land.
Breijeh said Israeli forces forced Abu Suwi to destroy the road after it was paved and warned him against working on his land.
Palestinians residing around Etzion settlement are repeatedly harassed and targeted by Israeli settlers and soldiers in ongoing attempts to force them out of their land for settlement expansion.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20250 15 jul 2012, 20:29 , Respect -
Maria 15 juli 2012
Ashrawi Stresses European Role to End Israeli Violations
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said that “ it is of the utmost urgency for Europe to take bold initiatives and concrete steps to counter Israel’s impunity and its prejudicial measures on the ground before it is too late,” Sunday said a press release by the PLO department of cultural and information.
During a meeting with the Belgian Minister of Defense, Pieter De Crem, and the Chief of Staff of the Belgian Ministry of Defense, Ludwig Van Der Veken, as well as representatives from the Ministry and the Belgian Consulate, as part of her ongoing diplomatic meetings, Ashrawi stressed: “Clearly we are in the middle of a crisis. Israel is deliberately and systematically breaching international and humanitarian laws, and its unilateral violations on the ground are the antithesis to the peace.”
“If there is no intervention to curb Israeli violations, Israel will succeed in destroying the prospects for peace by destroying the chances of establishing an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital,” She added.
“It is evident that the US-Israel strategic alliance is undermining the standing of the US and the role of the Quartet in peacemaking,” she said.
“The main impediment preventing us from developing our own economy and national institutions remains the occupation, a system of direct control and enslavement, whereby Israel is violating all Palestinian human rights and freedoms and confiscating our land and resources, while the siege and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem continue,” concluded Ashrawi.
She discussed the latest political developments in Palestine, as well as issues of mutual concern with Belgium.
The meeting also stressed the continued Palestinian-European coordination and cooperation and enhanced consultations on political, economic and international issues of mutual interest.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20267 17 jul 2012, 11:43 , Respect -
Maria 17 juli 2012
Palestinian Cemetery Destroyed for New TAU Dorms, Shopping Center
By Patrick O. Strickland – Tel Aviv
On Monday, student activists examined the remains of a Palestinian cemetery that had been uprooted and mostly destroyed to make space for a shopping center and new student dorms for Tel Aviv University (TAU).
A large part of TAU is built on land that used to be a Palestinian village, al-Sheikh Muwanniz, before the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. According Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the village’s 1948 population exceeded 2,000.
Despite an nonaggression agreement between the villagers and Haganah, the Jewish militia that later became the foundation for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Irgun, another Jewish militia, enacted a campaign of abductions that led to the disappearance of five village leaders in the tense months leading up to the war. Several nearby villages were razed, and eventually the majority of al-Sheikh Muwanniz fled. Most became refugees in the West Bank villages of Tulkarem and Qalqiya.
The construction of the dorms and shopping center began over eight months ago. The crew has blocked off two graves with plastic netting, one of which holds the remains of the village mukhtar, or leader. Cigarette butts have been tossed in the graves.
The activists took photos of the two semi-preserved graves and the bones which were uprooted. Several other bones, including a shattered fragment of a skull, were scattered across the construction site.
“There were definitely more than two graves here,” said Jabr, one of the students, as he carefully sifted through mounds of dirt and uncovered more bone shards, photographing each of them.
As the students left, two women were denied entrance to the site. “Both of our grandparents are buried here,” one said. “Our families are from al-Sheikh Muwanniz.”
They said they had not been notified that their relatives’ graves were being dug up, and that they only found out through Facebook two days ago, after the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage posted a notification.
“Well, they are building the new Museum of Tolerance on top of a Palestinian Muslim graveyard in Jerusalem,” Gaby, another TAU student, told Bikyamasr.com.
Activists told Bikyamasr.com that the destruction of al-Sheikh Muwanniz’s cemetery is consistent with the longstanding tradition of erasing Palestinian history. Tel Aviv University is often identified as a leftist bastion within Israeli society; the destruction of al-Sheikh Muwanniz’s cemetery, the activists charge, demonstrate that even mainstream Israeli liberalism depends on the suppression of the Palestinian historical narrative.
- Patrick O. Strickland is a freelance writer living and traveling on both sides of the Green Line in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He is a weekly Israel-Palestine correspondent for Bikya Masr and writes regular dispatches on his blog, www.patrickostrickland.com. He is a graduate student of Middle Eastern Studies. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was first published in bikyamasr.com.)
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19418
Peace Now: Israel legitimized Givat Salit outpost in Jordan Valley
The Peace Now movement said the Israeli war ministry allowed last month the reestablishment of a random settlement outpost called Givat Salit in the Jordan Valley region despite Israel's obligations to evacuate it.
Spokeswoman for Peace Now Hagit Ofran stated on Monday that the Israeli government wanted to avoid making a formal decision to legitimize this outpost as it may lead to international criticism, so it carried out its decision quietly.
Ofran added that Givat Salit is located in the northern part of the Jordan Valley and will accommodate14 families.
She also noted that this outpost was established in September 2001, but Israel, according to the roadmap plan, committed itself to evacuate all settlement outposts that were created after March 2001.
The spokeswoman said that Givat Salit would be an extension to its nearby settlement Mehola and a highway would be built between them, adding that the Israeli government had legitimized Shvut Rachel settlement outpost which is located near Shiloh settlement a few months earlier.
http://fwd4.me/15eM
Israel takes over 2 offshore Egyptian gas wells, geologist says
A natural gas drilling rig
Egyptian geologist Khaled Odeh says Israel has taken over two natural gas wells located in Egypt’s territorial waters.
Odeh said in Cairo on Monday that the wells are located in the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Cyprus, IRNA reported.
He added that Israel took advantage of Egyptian officials’ inaction and started drilling operations in the area in April 2012.
Odeh also stated that the wells are over gas fields containing about $100 billion worth of gas reserves.
One of the wells is 19 kilometers north of the Egyptian city of Damietta and 235 kilometers west of Haifa in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the other well is 114 kilometers north of Damietta and 237 kilometers from the shores of Palestine.
The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.
According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.
Relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv have deteriorated since last year's revolution that overthrew former dictator Hosni Mubarak, a long-time and staunch ally of Israel.
http://fwd4.me/16JQ
Israeli troops steal 1000 goats from southern Lebanon
Israeli military forces have stolen 1000 goats from Shebaa farms in southern Lebanon following their failure to abduct two shepherds.
The incident occurred when at least 20 Israeli soldiers crossed the Lebanese border at Mount Hermon region and infiltrated 500 to 800 meters into the Labanese Shebaa farms in southern Lebanon in order to abduct shepherds Mohammed Qassem Hashem and Ahmed Haidar.
After failing to kidnap the shepherds, the Israeli forces then stole 900 goats in the area and took them to the Israeli-occupied sections of the Shebaa farms.
The Israeli military frequently violates Lebanon's airspace, territorial waters and border.
The violations contravene United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calls on Israel to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
http://fwd4.me/15de
Israeli Forces Uproot Trees, Raze Land
Israeli forces Tuesday uprooted around 30 olive trees and razed the land where the trees were planted and surrounding area in the village of Qasra, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to a local activist.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file in the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said the Israeli army claimed this land has been confiscated and its Palestinian owners have no right to plant it or use it for any purpose.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20278
Update: Israel slams UN agency over aid to displaced Palestinians
A young resident of south Hebron hills village Susiya is pictured beside tented homes now slated for demolition by Israeli forces.
Israel's military department governing civil affairs in the occupied West Bank regards a UN agency's assistance to displaced Palestinians as illegal operations, a spokesman said Sunday.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported earlier that the department, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are seeking to "reassess" the role of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the West Bank.
The UN office "are assisting Palestinian communities who have demolitions because they are built in an illegal way. OCHA gives them tents and by that is doing illegal work, without seeking Israeli permission," COGAT spokesman Guy Inbar told Ma'an.
Humanitarian officials say providing a temporary tent to a displaced family falls under international definitions of emergency humanitarian assistance, rather than a building project that requires a permit.
Israeli authorities insist there is a legal process for Palestinians living in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israel civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords, to build in their communities.
"In the last year (COGAT) approved many international projects, even UN OCHA projects, but not in an illegal way, like what they are doing in the south Hebron hills," Inbar said, while warning: "International work does not get immunity."
But the United Nations and humanitarian agencies say in reality it is almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain a building permit, and highlight that Israeli settlers in the same area are able to expand communities that are illegal under international law.
The south Hebron hills is one area of the West Bank facing repeated demolition orders. Israeli forces last month warned that they intend to demolish all 50 buildings in one village in the region, Susiya, after a settler group filed a legal petition calling for its removal.
A diplomatic source told Ma'an: "It is outrageous that (the Israeli) administration which condones illegal settlement construction is here using an argument against construction that helps some of the most disadvantaged communities, who have the right to protection under international law."
Already in 2012, Israeli authorities have demolished 330 Palestinian buildings in the West Bank, displacing 536 people, half of whom are children, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories Richard Falk said in late June.
Meanwhile international law experts say that under the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel must provide for the needs of the occupied Palestinian population, and are prohibited from demolishing any structure that has a civilian purpose.
Haaretz reported that COGAT asked the Foreign Ministry to lodge a formal complaint with the UN, and on July 10 Israel’s UN ambassador wrote to the UN humanitarian affairs chief asking for staff lists, past and future activities and a review of the agency's role.
Israeli authorities are considering limiting visas for foreign OCHA employees and stopping work and travel permits for Palestinian staff members, the newspaper said.
Inbar said COGAT is perturbed that OCHA is over reaching its mandate through its work in Area C, while OCHA says it does not undertake building projects but is mandated to coordinate international agencies' response to humanitarian emergencies.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=504444 18 jul 2012, 12:58 , Respect -
Maria 18 juli 2012
Israel Issues Demolition Order on Two Water Cisterns
On Tuesday, the Israeli army raided Al Qanoub area in Sa'ir, eastern Hebron and issued a demolition order on two cisterns used to irrigate land for the benefit of twenty people, of whom more than half are children.
One cistern owned by Basem and Omar al-Shalaldais is used to irrigate farmland of more than 10 dunums containing 210 seedlings.
The other cistern owned by the family of Shaher al Shalalda's is used to water 5 dunums of land planted with 185 fruit tree seedlings.
The two cisterns were built with the aid of the Improving Livelihood in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Program funded by the Netherlands Representative Office.
Palestinians are rarely issued with planning permission to build on their own land in the occupied territories, while illegal Israeli settlements are free to expand without restriction.
http://fwd4.me/164E
Expansion of illegal outposts continues
Illegal settlers in Givat Salit
Israel’s defense ministry revealed plans yesterday to expand the illegal outpost of Givat Salit, near Tubas in the north part of the West Bank.
There are more than 100 settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law. There are a further 150 settlements which the Israeli government refers to as ‘outposts’ which are illegal under Israeli as well as international law.
Outposts are often issued with demolition orders. However these orders are rarely, if ever, carried out.
Previous Israeli governments had promised to remove Givat Salit, but now the Defense Ministry has commissioned its expansion with a view to granting it retroactive settlement status.
The recent Levy Commission report proposed granting settler status to all of the outposts in the West Bank.
The outpost controversy has grown in recent years with extremist settlers carrying out acts of violence against Palestinians in campaign called ‘price tagging’.
The Price Tag campaign is aimed at threatening the Israeli government against acting against the outposts by trying to provoke a reaction from the Palestinian villages nearby. Mosques have been burnt down and olive groves destroyed in attempt to destabilize the situation in the occupied territories.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63928
Israel to Demolish Palestinian Properties near Hebron
The Israeli authorities Wednesday handed two Palestinians notices to demolish properties used as residents and animal shelters in khirbet Hawara, east of the town of Yatta in Heron, according to a local activist.
Ratib al-Jabour, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in southern Hebron, told WAFA these Israeli measures aim to displace local residents despite the far distance between the village from the Israeli settlements and the bypass road used by settlers.
On the other hand, Israeli settlers started building a park on Palestinian land in the Old City of Hebron under the protection of the Israeli army, and amid opposition from local and international activists in the city.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20294
Israeli Forces Storm Gaza Neighborhood, Raze Land
Israeli military vehicles, late Tuesday night, stormed east of al-Zaytoon neighborhood, east of Gaza city, conducted combing operations, and razed residents’ land, according to local sources.
They told WAFA that two Israeli bulldozers protected by Israeli soldiers stormed the neighborhood and razed land amid random gunfire at residents’ homes.
No injuries were reported.
Israeli forces storm, almost daily, Palestinian land located near the northern and eastern borders with Gaza, razing land and firing towards local homes.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20286
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Facility in Silwan
Bulldozers of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem Wednesday demolished a Palestinian facility in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan under the pretext of building it without a permit, according to Jawad Siyam, director of Wadi Hilweh information center in Silwan.
Siyam said the 16-square-meter facility is 100 years old and has been used to house cattle and birds. Israeli municipality staff seized the cattle and birds, and fined the owner.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20288 19 jul 2012, 10:22 , Respect -
Maria 19 juli 2012
Occupation destroys Palestinian home aged over 100 years in Jerusalem
Occupation bulldozers have demolished, on Wednesday, an old Palestinian house in Abbasid neighborhood in Silwan town east of occupied Jerusalem.
Head of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan, Fakhri Abu Diab, confirmed that Israeli bulldozers belonging to the municipality of Jerusalem have demolished the house of Montacer Sarhan under the pretext that it was established without permit, warning against such systematic policy that aims to demolish Palestinian houses adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque to complete the "ethnic cleansing " around it.
Abu Diab said in a press statement on Wednesday that despite the small size of the house however it has a great value as being built since more than a hundred years before the establishment of the Jewish state.
He pointed out that the bulldozers uprooted olive trees surrounding the old house, "in an attempt to blur any historical landmarks that prove the Palestinian Islamic heritage in the occupied Jerusalem."
For its part, the Islamic - Christian Commission for the Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites has denounced the demolishing of Sarhan's house, considering this measure is part of a systematic policy practiced by the occupation in order to expel Jerusalem's natives.
The occupation is practicing punitive house demolition policy as a collective punishment against the Palestinians, especially in the territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, the commission stated in a statement.
It also warned against the continued escalation of settlement process regardless of any agreement reached on the Palestinian territories.
http://fwd4.me/16Aw
IOF troops destroy hundreds of olive trees
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) protected huge bulldozers that went on a destruction spree of hundreds of olive trees in Juba village to the south west of Bethlehem on Thursday morning.
Local sources said that big numbers of IOF troops, policemen, and staffers of the civil administration escorted the bulldozers.
They recalled that IOF soldiers uprooted 400 olive trees in that same area a year ago, adding that the inhabitants and land owners planted them anew but the IOF arrived again for another destruction streak.
http://fwd4.me/16Al
In Um Fagarah, Cave Dwellers Struggle to Remain on their Land
UM FAGARAH, SOUTH HEBRON HILLS, (WAFA) - In the peaceful landscape of the South Hebron Hills, the occupation of the land is a daily struggle.
Whilst life seems to be quiet and smooth; the Palestinian communities often have to forget their basic daily life problems to focus on a main issue: resisting expulsion from their land.
In Um Fagarah, the 15 families are living in caves, tents and few stone houses, farming and grazing, as their ancestors have been doing for ages. Its population, originally from the nearby village of At-Tuwani, moved about 4 kilometers south to set up the village of Um Fagarah by the end of the British Mandate.
At first, it seems as if nothing has changed. Secluded on a hillside, Um Fagarah is accessible only by a rough dirt road. It stands quiet, facing the Naqab desert.
Its 160 residents, as in the 12 other hamlets of the firing zone, maintain a unique way of life, with many living in or beside dug caves.
Studies have shown that cave dwellers have been living in the southern Hebron hills since at least the 1830s. As families expanded, they build tents and a few stone houses. The community relies for its livelihood on growing grain and olives, husbandry of sheep and goats, and on the production of milk and cheese.
As 60% of the West Bank, the South Hebron Hills lies in the Area C, meaning it is under complete Israeli administrative and military control.
Palestinians residing in area C live under harsh conditions in terms of land confiscations, house demolitions, and access to water and electricity. Furthermore, a 7.5-acre area within the district of Masafer Yatta, including 12 Palestinian villages or hamlets, it was designated by the Israeli defense force as “Firing Zone 918” or closed military area in the late 70s.
As families extended, they built few stone houses in the ‘80s; but then, with the expansion of the four nearby settlements, the Israeli Civil Administration wouldn’t deliver building permits anymore.
In 1999, they issued evacuation orders and expelled the inhabitants of the villages, claiming that they are non-permanent residents and ignoring their ancient culture. Only several months later the inhabitants were allowed to return to their homes.
In 2007, the community decided to build a new mosque and one 60 square meter brick house. And in 2011 they intended to build utility poles to connect the village with the electricity net, but Israeli army bulldozers demolished them in November and days later knocked down the house built in 2007 as well as the mosque and the container for the collective power generator.
Most of the villages of the South Hebron Hills have been forcibly displaced or demolished many times over with the building of new settlements.
Moreover, according to the Israeli Peace Now group, between 2000 and September 2007, 94% of the building permits requested in Area C by Palestinians were turned down. This means that while only 91 permits were issued to Palestinians, 18,472 new homes were built in order to expand the Israeli settlements, which currently house 400,000 people.
Heavy restrictions on freedom of movement, work and business isolate these communities and increase poverty among the population.
Furthermore, the closed area has no physical infrastructure. There are no paved roads leading from the villages. They are also not linked to a power grid, telephone lines, a running-water system or a sewage system.
“We are harassed on a daily basis by settlers, soldiers, police, and border police. But we are determinate to behave the opposite way of their actions. We will get Um Fagarah back on the map again and bring its people from the caves within to the outside in houses,” said Mahmoud Hussein Hamamdi.
The community of Um Fagarah, supported by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, launched in May the campaign “Um Fagarah R-Exist” to build 15 bricks houses. Every Saturday since the launching, Palestinian, Israeli and International activists gathered to build the houses and support the community in its struggle to stay on its land.
But on June 10, while only three houses had been built, Um Fagarah received stop working orders from the Israeli Civil Administration, and on July 16, they sent a demolition order concerning the first house built which should be implemented within three days.
Like nearby village of Susiya and many other villages from the Area C, the existence of this community is jeopardized.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20300
Israelis Destroy Water Well, Crops
An Israeli army bulldozer Thursday destroyed water well used for agricultural purposes in al-Khader, a town south of Bethlehem, in addition to the destruction of a large amount of crops, according to a local activist.
Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the popular committee against settlements in al-Khader, said an Israeli bulldozer destroyed the 80-cubic-meter water well and a large amount of crops belonging to Ali Jaber
The well was built by the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee to collect rain water for local farmers to use to irrigate their land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20301
Erekat Calls on International Community to Protect Two-State Solution, Ensure their Bilateral Agreements with Israel
Chief Palestinian Negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, called upon the international community to "preserve the two-state solution that is fast becoming impracticable". He also urged all states to "examine their bilateral engagements with Israel to ensure that they are not unwittingly supporting Israel's occupation", and renewed the leadership's call for states that have not already done so to "extend bilateral recognition to the State of Palestine on the 1967 border".
In a letter dispatched to Foreign Representatives to the Palestinian Authority this Wednesday 18 July, Dr. Erekat expressed the Palestinian leadership's grave concern regarding a series of recent steps and policy statements, including a provocative statement on Israeli control and jurisdiction of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound. "This dangerous and inflammatory declaration is illegal and dangerous, threatening the tenets of the international vision for peace in the region as well as undermining the indisputable rights of the Palestinian people to occupied East Jerusalem, our eternal capital", Dr. Erekat said in the letter.
Referring to the recent findings of the Israeli government-appointed "Levy Commission", the Chief Negotiator explained, "In conjunction with concerted efforts to unravel the prospects of a two-state solution this report clearly exposes Israel's determination to further entrench the occupation, continue violating its obligations under international law and, in effect, make the current unacceptable status quo of occupation, aggression, and land grab an irreversible reality".
Dr. Erekat stressed that the illegality of Israel's settlement enterprise was indisputable, calling to attention the great weight and depth of international law, including UN Security Council resolutions and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice.
Dr. Erekat pointed out that ongoing Israeli actions and policy proclamations constitute a test of the international community's will and commitment to peace in the region and concluded by calling on the international community to assume their legal responsibilities towards the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination, by putting an end to Israel's continuous assaults on Palestinian rights and land.
http://fwd4.me/167f 20 jul 2012, 16:24 , Respect -
Maria 20 juli 2012
ISESCO rejects Israeli claims concerning Al-Aqsa mosque
JEDDAH,(PIC)-- The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) rejects the Israeli allegations that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is part of the Israeli territory and is therefore subject to the Israeli Antiquities and Organization Law.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, like the rest of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, is the property of the Palestinian people and an essential and unalienable component of the Muslim world. It also pointed out that the occupation of this Mosque by Israel is wholly unwarranted by international law and historical facts, ISESCO said in its statement.
ISESCO called on all Member States and the international community "to take the appropriate measures to deter Israel from continuing its blatant violation of the international law and open aggression against Islamic and Christian sanctities in the occupied Palestinian territories".
In the same vein, Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, ISESCO Director General, made contact with Ms Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, to urge her to denounce this aggressive stance and flagrant violation of the international law and UNESCO's relevant resolutions and decisions.
http://fwd4.me/16E1 21 jul 2012, 14:28 , Respect -
Maria 21 juli 2012
Jerusalemite forced to tear down his own home
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) forced a Jerusalemite man in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem to raze his own home in Wad Street.
The Quds Center said that Mohammed Shalabi was obliged to demolish part of his home afternoon Thursday at the pretext it was built without permit.
It said that Shalabi would pay a heavy fine if the IOA municipality carried out the destruction with its own tools.
It is a policy for the IOA to force Jerusalemites to tear down their own homes or else face heavy fines.
http://fwd4.me/16Gv
IOA destroys EU-financed agricultural project in West Bank
Bulldozers of the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) destroyed an agricultural project financed by the European Union (EU) near Khader town south of the West Bank.
Ahmed Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee in Khader, told Quds Press that IOA bulldozers destroyed on Thursday the EU-financed water well that was meant to help in reclaiming the village land.
He added that the IOA claimed that the water well was located in an area allocated for the establishment of a Talmudic park.
He pointed out that the IOA bulldozers also damaged vast tracts of cultivated land and crops that were collected in preparation for sending them to the market.
The IOA destroyed another store in nearby Khilat Um El-Fahm hamlet near Khader that was full with crops ready for marketing, Salah said.
http://fwd4.me/16Gt 22 jul 2012, 11:14 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2012
Arab Spring manifestations against Israeli interest: Analyst
(6:34) Arab Spring against interests of Israel
Arab Spring is ultimately against the interest of Israel as the Arab nations, who secured a revolution against pro-Western government, have supported the Palestinian rights for the past 64 years, a political analyst tells Press TV.
“As a principle, the Arab Spring actually is the manifestation of the Arab people’s will for change and to replace government, which normally supports the Western policies in the Middle East, like Egypt and Tunisia, and other places,” Iraqi analyst Sabah Jawad said in an interview with Press TV.
Jawad stressed that Arab Spring’s manifestations are against the interest of the Israeli regime as the “Arab masses have been struggling for the Palestinian and supported the Palestinian struggle to achieve their rights as well.”
However, Israel and its western allies tried to hijack the purposes of the Arab Spring and divert attention from the protesting Arab peoples’ dreams of the return of the Palestinian people to their homeland, the analyst also said.
Considering the illegal settlement building in the Occupied Territories colonization of Palestinian lands, Jawad said there was an 18-percent increase in the population of the people, accommodated in the settlements, since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power three years ago.
The Israeli regime has tried to attract “a lot of Jewish immigration to Palestine. They come from the former Soviet Union, Russia, and also consist of Eastern Europeans and Americans, and they are giving them huge incentives to be part of this colonization,” he added.
On June 6, Netanyahu ordered the construction of 300 settler units in the illegal settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank. All the Israeli settlements across the West Bank are regarded as illegal under international law.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements, built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East al-Quds.
http://fwd4.me/16JO 24 jul 2012, 09:13 , Respect -
Maria 23 juli 2012
Israel orders demolition of 8 Palestinian villages, claims need for IDF training land
Residents of targeted villages will be moved to the West Bank town of Yatta and its environs; state claims that most of those evacuated have permanent homes in the area.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the demolition of eight Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills because the territory is needed for Israel Defense Forces training exercises, the state told the High Court of Justice on Sunday.
The residents of the targeted villages will be moved to the town of Yatta and its environs; the state claims, based on information it obtained from local informers, that most of these people have permanent homes in that area.
The state will allow the residents to work their lands and graze their flocks there when the IDF is not training -- on weekends and Jewish holidays – and during two other periods of one month each during the year. Barak agreed to leave four villages that are in the northernmost part of the area, even though this would reduce the dimensions of training area and prevent the use of live fire.
The villages slated for demolition are the larger villages in the region: Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba, which have a total of 1,500 residents. The villages to be spared are Tuba, Mufaqara, Sarura and Megheir al-Abeid, which have a total of 300 residents.
The IDF and the Civil Administration regard all of them as squatters in Firing Zone 918, even though the villages have existed since at least the 1830s.
Evacuation orders were issued against the 12 villages in 1999, but were frozen by an injunction issued by the High Court of Justice in response to two petitions that were united: One by attorney Shlomo Lecker and the second by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, who together represented some 200 families. An effort to reach an agreement on the status of the residents in the area by a mediation process failed in 2005.
At that point, the Civil Administration started to issue demolition orders against cisterns and restrooms that several families had added, claiming that these additions violated the status quo as set by the court. This past April, after 12 years of various proceedings and delays, the High Court held a preliminary hearing on the petitions, with the state submitting its final position on Sunday.
Attorney Hila Gurani, a senior deputy state prosecutor, wrote in the response to the petitions that the IDF has been forced to limit its military exercises in the area because of the people living there and the illegal construction that has taken place there. For the same reason, no live-fire training is conducted there.
In addition, wrote Gurani, during the second intifada, operational activity came at the expense of training, but the Second Lebanon War exposed weak spots that substantially increase the need for training and firing zones. Gurani also noted that there was a risk that residents of the firing zone would collect intelligence on IDF methods, or take weapons or equipment that the forces might leave behind, and use them for terror purposes.
The village residents, ACRI and the B’Tselem human rights group present the issues differently. According to them, all 12 villages were natural outgrowths of cave-dwelling communities that are widely found in that area. In some of the villages, homes of unchiseled stone were built even before 1967.
The connection to Yatta is natural – and characteristic of many satellite communities that developed over the centuries in historic Palestine. For generations the cave-dwellers were farmers and shepherds, producing milk and cheese, and they have preserved their way of life to this day, while integrating into Yatta as a result of contemporary demands, such as the need to send their children to school.
The IDF had declared some 30,000 dunams (7,500 acres) in the area a closed military zone back in the 1970s. Under military law, only permanent residents are allowed to remain in a closed military zone.
Until 1997, the cave-dwellers continued to live in their communities undisturbed – which the petitioners say is clear evidence that they were regarded at the time as permanent residents. However, as happened in much of the West Bank that under the Oslo Accords was deemed Area C – under complete Israeli control – the Israeli authorities did not allow the residents to build more structures, including schools or clinics, to accommodate their natural growth. These communities were not included the master plans that were prepared for the building of the area settlements, and thus to this day these villages are not connected to the road system, the water system or to the electrical grid.
In August and November 1999, most of the area’s residents received eviction orders due to “illegal residence in a firing zone.” On November 16, 1999, the security forces forcibly evicted more than 700 residents, and the IDF demolished buildings and wells and confiscated property, leaving the residents with no homes and no livelihood.
As noted, the High Court, in response to the petitions, issued an interim injunction, allowing the villagers to temporarily return to their homes. However, because the army had destroyed many of the buildings, many residents had nothing to return to. Moreover, the security forces interpreted the interim injunction as narrowly as possible, allowing reentry only to the named petitioners and denying access to their relatives.
As a result, the examination conducted by the Civil Administration that is quoted in the state’s response to the court on Sunday found that in 2000 “there were no permanent residents in the area,” and that anyone living there was there only on a seasonal basis. On the other hand, the Civil Administration identified most of the petitioners as living in and around Yatta, as reported in the affidavit of Raziel Goldstein, who was the Civil Administration’s inspection coordinator in the region.
Goldstein also wrote in his affidavit that, “This examination was conducted with the help of three local residents, who were presented with the names of the petitioners and aerial photographs of Yatta.”
The state also claims that in recent years residents have been repeatedly violating the status quo by expanding structures illegally, adding that the number of people entering the area under the interim injunctions is far greater than the number of petitioners.
“The petitioners cannot build on the development of these illegal phenomena and now claim to be talking about permanent residency,” the state wrote.
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Zahalka demands a halt to the excavations at cemetery
An Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Jamal Zahalka, has denounced excavations made by the University of Tel Aviv at the cemetery of the village of Sheikh Mons in Jaffa.
In a letter sent to the rector of Tel Aviv University, the MK called for “an immediate halt to all excavations in the cemetery”.
He described the excavations as a desecration of the sanctity of the dead and a dangerous provocation to the religious, national, and humanitarian sentiments of the Arab and Muslim people.
The Israeli company Shikun and Binui is carrying out huge excavations at the cemetery of the village of Sheikh Mons, destroyed in 1948, to pave the way for building student hostels and a shopping mall.
The excavations were discovered during a field tour for a delegation of the Aqsa Foundation.
Israel was not content with confiscating the village’s land, after forcibly evicting its inhabitants, and establishing a university on its ruins, so it went on and desecrated the village’s cemetery as well, Zahalka said, noting that the act is prohibited by all religions and international laws.
He called on the university’s administration and concerned authorities to build a fence around the cemetery to protect it from any further defilement.
http://fwd4.me/16Qr 24 jul 2012, 15:16 , Respect -
Maria 24 juli 2012
Destruction of Muslims' graves targets wiping out Islamic landmarks
The Israeli occupation authority is still pursuing a policy of destruction when dealing with the Muslims’ graveyards and tombs in order to change the Islamic landmarks in Palestine, Tadamon Foundation for Human Rights said.
The lawyer and researcher at Tadamon Foundation, Ahmad Tubasi, said that the foundation had registered since the beginning of 2012 six attacks against Muslim cemeteries in the West Bank and the territories occupied in 1948.
Tubasi reported that the IOA attacked, during the past few days, the cemetery of Majdal Sadeq village, which had been depopulated since 1948, where bulldozers started exhuming and destroying dozens of graves.
He noted that this attack on Muslims’ cemeteries is not the first as it had been preceded by five similar attacks.
The previous attacks on Muslim cemeteries included the destruction of graves, the transformation of the Muslims’ cemetery in the occupied territories to a parking lot, the destruction of the tomb of martyr Izz al Din al Kassam and recently the excavations in the cemetery of Sheikh Munis.
Tubasi condemned the series of the ongoing attacks against the Islamic sanctities and cemeteries, stressing that these attacks represent a flagrant violation of all divine laws and international laws and conventions.
He noted that the Islamic cemeteries are Islamic endowments that have to be respected, and demanded the international community and its organs to intervene and pressure the occupation government to stop its ongoing violations of the sanctity of holy sites and Muslims' cemeteries.
http://fwd4.me/16Sy
New President of Egypt Ridiculed in Israeli Video
(1:32) Tisha B'Av: The Children are Ready 1 x viewed
Israeli TV has lately screened one of a new series of ads, sponsored by The Temple Institute, which promote the so called “rebuilding of the temple mount.
The video titled ‘The Children are Ready’ is causing a lot of controversy amongst Egyptians, especially users of Twitter, facebook and YouTube who saw the video as an insult to their president.
The proposed location for this temple mount is very provocative, for it is the site occupied, since 705 CE, by the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest places for Muslims on earth.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during a miraculous Night Journey. While Judaism regards the Temple Mount as the place where God chose the Divine Presence to rest. Both explanations are really cool.
Anyway, for this “temple mount” to be built, Al-Aqsa mosque has to be demolished. It is as simple as that.
And as a matter of fact, this dangerously ambitious plan is what the Israeli governments have in mind as the non-stop digging underneath the mosque has been going/eroding the foundation of the mosque in the name of archeological excavations for almost four decades now.
The Israeli archeologists know they won’t find/stumble upon any Hebrew relic, but they hope that, thru their ruthless digging under the mosque, they would contribute to the Zionist cause of undermining the Arab/Muslim identity of the old city of Jerusalem. All part of an undergoing plan for the judaization of Palestine
In the video, an Israeli family in a relaxing outing at the beach, only the father is not so relaxed.
While he is totally consumed with reading news of the Syrian unrest and the newly elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsy, his kids are having fun building what, on first glance, seemed to be as an ordinary sandcastle.
But upon completion of their work, the boy and the girl haven’t just built any castle. They built something very close to the design of the temple mount, the Israeli media have been promoting for ages now.
Enthusiastic and extremely thrilled by their accomplishment, the kids drag their reluctant father out of his chair and preoccupation with what is going on in Egypt and urge him to take a look at their sand model of the “temple mount”
Speechless and stunned by the kids’ vision clarity and powerful expression, his fears of an Islamist president of post-Mubarak Egypt suddenly seemed groundless and somehow childish.
And still in his dumbstruck mood, the paper slips through his fingers, and falls to the ground, in a slow motion shot, where it thoughtlessly sets close to his feet, highlighting the photo of Mohamed morsy, the new president of Egypt.
There are actually three messages in the video. The first one is simple and straightforward; the newly elected president of Egypt, whose affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and support for Hamas that have left a lot of Israelis worried lately, won’t hinder the Zionist dream of Judaizing Palestine.
The second message is somehow subdued and mainly addresses the western audience of Zionist Christians and Jews who are being brainwashed, since 9/11, with the idea that the Islamists are the new bogeyman/ enemy of the west and Israel.
The third one is to Embarrass the new president of Egypt, especially that Tel Aviv is fully conscious of the deep divide amongst the Egyptians themselves regarding Mr. Morsy and their doubts of his hidden MB agenda for the most important country in the Middle East.
But the buzz this video has created on the social web sites has clearly shown that while Egyptians, after toppling Mubarak, are willing to criticize whomever will occupy the presidential palace, they remain staunch in their rejection to any disrespectful remark that would touch the Egyptian presidency, especially if it was Israeli.
For more articles by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/07/24/egyptian-president-ridiculed-in-israeli-video/
Israel attempts to Judaize areas adjacent to the Dead Sea
The Israeli occupation authorities' decision to demolish eight Palestinian villages and expel their people southern West Bank is aimed to confiscate fifty thousand acres of Palestinian lands, Abdul Hadi Hantash, an expert in settlement affairs, said.
The Israeli decision came to complement an Israeli scheme to Judaize the southern region of Al-Khalil adjacent to the Dead Sea, he said.
Hantash explained that Israel has been seeking since the occupation of the West Bank in 1969 to encircle the Palestinian villages and communities by settlements in order to seize the Palestinian lands and expand their settlements.
He pointed out that the recent Israeli decision to demolish the eight Palestinian villages aims to confiscate more Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian expert told Quds Press that the residents of these villages have been expelled previously from their homes, noting that the occupation is seeking to expel them again as part of its ethnic cleansing policy against Palestinian people.
http://fwd4.me/16T0
Issa: Demolition of archaeological sites in Silwan aims at displacing natives
Dr. Hanna Issa, Secretary General of the Islamic-Christian Committee for protecting Jerusalem and holy sites, considered that the Israeli occupation authority’s demolition of a residential facility in Silwan town confirms its attempts to displace natives from their land.
Issa said that the occupation authorities pursue a policy of house demolitions as a collective punishment against Palestinians especially those living in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, noting that the pretexts of IOA for the demolition of the citizens' houses contravene the norms of international humanitarian law.
He added in a press statement on Monday, "It is strange that the IOA has been recently escalating its policy of settlements' building, ignoring the progress of the final status negotiations.”
Issa ended his statement saying, "The IOA confiscation and demolition of citizens’ houses and property in different regions of the occupied Palestinian territories especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem are in flagrant violation of the principles of international humanitarian law."
http://fwd4.me/16RZ
More settler land grabs in North Jordan Valley and south WB
The residents of the Buqei'a settlement in the North Jordan Valley seized Palestinian land on Monday morning as part of their continued illegal expansion.
The land, 50 dunums, was promptly fenced and barricaded by the settlers who prevented the Palestinian owners from entering it.
Local sources recalled that whoever entered the mentioned land was being arrested in line with the ongoing scheme to gain full control over it.
Meanwhile, settlers seized on Monday morning a land in "Susia" area near the town of Yatta southern Al-Khalil.
Ratib Al-Jabour, the coordinator of the popular committees against settlements in Yatta, has explained that Jewish settlers of Susia settlement seized a land, 5 dunums, belonging to Hadar family.
Jabour noted that the settlers have installed a power generator in the land to pave the way for building a settlement outpost in the region.
On the other hand, settlers have destroyed agricultural lands and uprooted fruit trees belonging to a Palestinian farmer from the town of Khother, southern Bethlehem, in order to establish a road in the center of a land owned by Ibrahim Suleiman Sabih and his brothers, according to Hassan Sabih, a local municipality official.
Sabih told Quds Press that settlers of Ananias settlement are waging an attack campaign against the Palestinian lands in the town of Kother and its surrounding areas, where the fruit trees in Sabih's land have been uprooted for the second time.
http://fwd4.me/16Sx 25 jul 2012, 23:16 , Respect -
Maria 25 juli 2012
IOF sets up a military watchtower in Bethlehem
The Israeli occupation army on Tuesday set up a military watchtower in an agricultural Palestinian land seized by a group of Jewish settlers in Al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem.
Ahmad Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee against settlements in Al-Khader, told Quds press that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) accompanied with settlers set up a military watchtower in an agricultural area to the west of the town.
He pointed out that the area was seized by the Jewish settlers ten days ago where they placed a mobile home.
Salah said this watchtower will be used as a military outpost to monitor farmers' movement, which farmers consider a nightmare as the grape harvest season is approaching and they are afraid of being prevented from accessing their agricultural lands.
http://fwd4.me/16YM
MK Zahalka denounces the demolition of 8 Palestinian villages
Arab Member of Knesset Jamal Zahalka, of the National Democratic Assembly, strongly denounced the Israeli ministry of war’s decision to demolish eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank after claiming the land is needed for military training.
These villages existed since the nineteenth century, but Israel claims that their residents are "invaders ", Zahalka said during a statement at the Knesset on Tuesday.
The Israeli army is the intruder in the region and logically speaking, the Israeli army has to withdraw from that area, he said. The Israeli claims that the villagers may spy on the exercises or steal weapons to use for “terror purposes” can be easily solved by leaving the region, he added.
Zahalka said that the new eviction is part of the Israeli scheme to take control over more areas in the West Bank.
http://fwd4.me/16YA 30 jul 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 29 juli 2012
Stealing Palestine dunam by dunam
Israeli authorities circle Palestinian land with fence near Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) – Israeli authorities have started to install a fence around the southern side of Azzun Atma in Qalaqiliya in the northern West Bank.
A two-meter high spiral fence was installed on about 1,500 meters running from the settlement of Oranit to the crossroads of Kafr Qasim and route 505, according to Abdul-Karim Ayyoub, the secretary of the local council.
“With this fence, Israel is isolating the area known as Beer al-Shilla, the artisan well, and about 800-1000 donums (over 8,000 meters squared) of different groves. Farmers will not be able to access their fields even after they pass the gate on the northern side of the road,” he added.
Hani Amer, who is in charge of the artisan well in al-Shilla said that neither the well nor the groves could be accessed anymore, as the Israelis have not left openings or gates leading to the well or to the dirt roads.
http://fwd4.me/17vb
IOA forces Jerusalemite to demolish part of his home, arrests another
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) forced a Palestinian Jerusalemite, Yacob Rasheq, to demolish an annex in his house in the town of Silwan in Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the IOA obliged Rasheq to demolish a part of his house in Al-Bustan neighborhood under the pretext that he did not obtain a construction license from the municipality.
The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem forced the Palestinian civilian to demolish his house giving him seven days to demolish it by himself or the municipality would do it and he would pay a fine of at least 17 thousand dollars.
Israeli authorities had notified more than 88 houses of demolition in AL-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan town three years ago under the pretext of establishing tourism projects and public facilities for Jewish settlers.
Meanwhile, Israeli occupation police arrested last night a citizen from the town of Silwan.
Local sources said that the policemen arrested a citizen from Sirhan family from the town of Silwan after storming the Panorama Hotel in Ras al-Amud town and prevented the establishment of a collective Iftar banquet under the pretext that the organizers are affiliated with Hamas!
http://fwd4.me/16pU 31 jul 2012, 08:41 , Respect -
Maria 30 juli 2012
MK calls for moving Aqsa Mosque to build the alleged Temple in its place
The rightist Knesset member Aryeh Eldad of the "National Union" bloc has proposed to his government to “cut up and move” the Aqsa Mosque in order to build the alleged Temple in its place.
Eldad said, during a march around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem: “when the time comes to build the holy Temple and that will be soon, we will then cut up the structure which is there now”. “We will cut it up, and they can take it wherever they want”.
For his part; the Arab MK Talab Sanie asked the legal advisor of the Israeli government to investigate Eldad for what he proposed.
Taleb considered in press statements Eldad’s remarks as "seriously provocative to the point of causing calamities”.
http://fwd4.me/16rj
Israel has 30 days to find solution for residents of West Bank village set for demolition.
Israel's high court says state has responsibility to find alternative for the 27 families living in the West Bank village of Zanuta in the southern Hebron Hills.
Israel's High Court ruled on Monday that the state has 30 days to provide a solution for residents of the West Bank village of Zanuta, which is scheduled for demolition because it was built on an archeological site.
The village in the southern Hebron Hills is the home of 27 families. In 2007, the residents filed a joint petition to the High Court of Justice with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel requesting that the Civil Administration complete a detailed construction plan for them, and received an interim order from the court.
In a hearing that took place on Monday, the residents' legal representative Nira Shalev said, "The residents have been in this place since before 1967, and it is the duty of the army to regularize construction in this location."
A state legal representative, Yitzhak Bar, said that there is no possibility of regularizing buildings in the village, because it is built on an archeological site. Judge Hanan Meltzer said that the state has a responsibility to find an alternative solution. He said it was not as simple as demolishing, "but we don't know where they will go."
"The role of a military governor is to find a solution." he said.
Judge Edna Arbel added, "It is advisable to think in advance where they will go, not afterwards."
The state representative responded saying that it was not the responsibility of the military authority to find a solution. At the end of the hearing, the judges ordered the state to announce a solution within 30 days, and to announce whether or not they were planning to regularize building on the site.
Zanuta, like other small Palestinian villages in the area, existed as a cave-settlement before the West Bank was occupied by Israel. Archaeological findings reveal that Zanuta had been inhabited continuously from the Byzantine to the Ottoman period, until eventually being reduced to "a settlement of shepherds and fellahs living in the remains of the ancient structures and the residential caves alongside them," as archaeologist Dr. Avi Ofer described it. Once the caves began to crumble and became unsafe, the residents of Zanuta set up improvised structures and tents at ground level.
The Civil Administration states that the site was declared an archaeological site at the time of the British Mandate. The Administration found that the village's improvised structures, which were built without permits (in the absence of a master plan), are located directly on top of the center of the archaeological site, and that one of the structures is inside an ancient structure excavated by an archaeology staff officer in 2005.
In the past year, the High Court of Justice has been asked to rule on the state's intentions to demolish at least 12 villages south of Hebron (Susia, Dekaika, Bir al-Id, Saala and eight villages that have been declared part of army firing zone No. 918) located in Area C, which is under Israeli control, and force their residents to move to Areas A and B, which are under Palestinian civil control.
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IOF notifies the demolition of houses in Jordan Valley
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed on Monday Khirbet al-Mayta in Wadi al-Maleh in Northern Jordan Valley, and handed seven families military notifications to demolish their houses and evacuate the area before September claiming that the region is a closed military zone.
Khirbet al-Mayta's population has been always threatened with the demolition of their houses and the forced deportation, as the area witnessed during the last months large demolitions that resulted in the departure of many of its residents towards Hammamet al-Maleh, which is located 2 km from the Bedouin community.
Ghallab Abu Zahou, a resident of Khirbet al-Maleh, told the PIC reporter, that the ongoing demolitions have seriously harmed the citizens that have been suffering poverty and hunger as well as the deprivation of their the most basic civil rights guaranteed by all laws and regulations.
For his part, the chairman of the Local Council, Aref Daraghmeh, said in a press statement that the occupation has been always raiding the Bedouin community in northern Jordan Valley to carry out demolitions that resulted in the displacement of many residents and turning them to refugees inside their own homeland.
http://fwd4.me/16ri
Israel Orders Demolition of Structures in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Monday handed Palestinians in the northern areas of the Jordan Valley demolition notices of seven structures, according to the head of al-Maleh village council Aref Daraghmeh.
He told WAFA that the Israeli notices ordered them to stop work in the area and to demolish seven structures, including tents, shelters and animal barns by September 4.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20359 31 jul 2012, 11:39 , Respect -
Maria 31 juli 2012
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Land near Bethlehem
Israeli bulldozers Tuesday razed land in Taqou’, a town east of Bethlehem, in suspect preparations for opening a new road connecting two nearby settlements, according to Taqqou’ mayor Tayseer Abu Mfrah.
He told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers razed land in areas in Taqqou’ adjacent to Roman settlement, adding that the razing most likely aims to take over the land and steal it, in order to open a road linking Taqou’ and Roman settlements.
Abu Mfrah stressed that the Palestinian landowners have documents and deeds proving their ownership of the razed land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20373
Committee Warns against Turning Al-Aqsa Yards into Public Park
The Islamic-Christian Committee for the Support of Jerusalem warned Tuesday of the implications of a decision by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem to turn the yards of al-Haram al-Sharif (the Holy Sanctuary), one of Islam’s holiest sites, into a public park.
It accused in a statement the municipality of plotting to undermine the importance of al-Haram al-Sharif, which houses al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, to Muslims by opening it up for free entry to all people, but mainly to Jews.
Hanna Issa, who heads the committee, said al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Haram al-Sharif are part of occupied East Jerusalem and therefore international law and the Hague Convention that protects cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict applies to them.
The committee urged the Organization of Islamic Conference, the Arab League and others to immediately intervene to put an end to what it described as “daily Israeli crimes against Jerusalem and al-Aqsa compound.”
An Israeli lawmaker had earlier suggested destroying or removing al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock from their place and replacing them with a Jewish temple. Jews believe the site was the location of their temples destroyed 3000 years ago, a claim strongly rejected by Muslims.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20371
Land center: Israel intends to raze 10 villages in Al-Khalil for military drills
Homeless
The land research center, a division of the Arab studies society, said the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) wants to demolish 10 Palestinian villages east of Al-Khalil city and not eight as Israeli news reports had claimed, warning that such decision would lead to the displacement of 1,500 Palestinians.
"The villages and hamlets that will be demolished include, Majaz, Taban, Safai Al-Fawqa, Safai Attahta, Fakheet, Halawa, Markaz, Janbat Al-Fawqa, Janbat Al-Tahta, Kharruba in addition to four other villages whose residents have not received demolition and evacuation decisions yet," the land research center underlined.
The center warned that the demolition of the 10 villages would render 1,500 Palestinians homeless.
It noted that the Israeli war minister Ehud Barak declared his intention to raze these villages and displace their residents about one week ago at the pretext that the targeted areas, estimated at 56,000 dunums of land, is a vital site for military drills and maneuvers.
The center stressed that the IOA uses military training as a pretext to justify its annexation of more Palestinian land when its usual attempts to seize it through fraud, suspicious deals and appropriation fail.
http://fwd4.me/16rw
Israelis Seize Tractors in Jordan Valley
Israeli soldiers Tuesday seized tractors used by Bedouin residents of the northern areas of the Jordan Valley, according to head of al-Maleh village council Aref Daraghmeh.
He said soldiers seized at least two tractors less than a day after they have handed shepherds and farmers in the area demolition notices of several structures used as lodging and animal barns.
The seizure of the tractors aims to prevent access by the local Palestinian residents to the water resources in the area, added Daraghmeh, noting that Israeli authorities previously seized water tanks for the same purpose.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20370
Newspapers Review: Daily Highlights Report on pro-Demolition Group
Al-Quds daily Tuesday highlighted a report by ABC News revealing an Israeli organization that specifically works to speed up demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Naqab desert.
The report said that Regavim, a pro-settlers organization, aims to find legal channels to execute and speed up demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities for Palestinian homes.
The three dailies reported on President Mahmoud Abbas affirming that there will not be a national unity government without conducting elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Al-Ayyam front page story highlighted Israeli soldiers killing of one Palestinian worker and injuring others at al-Zaim checkpoint east of Jerusalem after the soldiers opened fire at a vehicle transporting the workers to Jerusalem.
Al-Quds featured Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s latest racist statements saying that culture is one of the reasons that helped Israelis to be more economically successful than Palestinians.
The three papers reported on the horrific crime which took place in Bethlehem when a man slaughtered and stabbed to death his wife in the middle of a busy street due to family disputes.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20368
IOA extends the closure of several Jerusalemite institutions
The Israeli occupation authorities extended the closure order of several Jerusalemite institutions including the Orient House.
A statement issued by the Orient House on Monday said: "These days mark the eleventh anniversary of the closure of the headquarters of Orient House and the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem, in addition to a number of other Jerusalemite institutions, under a decision issued by the occupation government.”
“There is no indication of re-opening these headquarters, so that they can resume their services in Jerusalem, which lacks lots of necessities that these organizations had been providing for the citizens despite the difficult circumstances they are facing”, the statement added.
http://fwd4.me/16ry