- 24 juni 2012
IOA serves demolition notices in occupied Jerusalem, Jordan Valley
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has served demolition notices in occupied Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley on Sunday, local sources said.
They said that IOA-controlled Jerusalem municipality distributed the demolition notices to five houses in Bustan suburb in Silwan town south of the Aqsa mosque.
Fakhri Abu Diyab told Quds Press that the municipality team glued the demolition orders on the houses after obtaining court orders to the effect, noting that the court ruling blocks any further objection to the demolition order.
Meanwhile, five Palestinians in Baka village in the northern Jordan Valley received demolition orders on Sunday, locals said.
They said that staffers of the construction and organization committee, escorted by Israeli forces, delivered the notices, adding that they were given three days to evacuate their homes. They said that some of those homes were built 15 years ago.
They said that the IOA also told owners of a brick factory, which has been working for years, that they should stop work in their factory.
http://fwd4.me/141u
Palestinian Farmer Wins Legal Precedent against Israel
Six years have passed since Khalid Yasin first began his legal battle against Jewish settlers – a battle which is expected to culminate, and for the first time, in the demolishing of the settlement outpost Ulpana, built on private Palestinian land near the illegal West Bank settlement of Beit El.
Yasin, a Palestinian father of five and a farmer residing in the village of Dura al-Qari near Ramallah, filed a lawsuit in an Israeli court against several Israeli officials in a legal precedent to get back his 11 dunums of land, which were illegally taken over by Beit El settlers.
Yasin spoke to WAFA about his long and painful journey to get his land back, which first started in 1995 when he, along with other village residents, started to notice suspicious structures being set up on their land.
“At first the settlers put up caravans and tents to celebrate their festivals and holidays,” he said. “But after a while, these structures started to take a more permanent nature.”
The village residents protested the obviously malicious attempt by the settlers to take control of more of their land, with an aim to expand the settlement hovering over the village like a shadow of death.
“A man named Khair Qasim was killed during one of these protests,” said Yasin. “The village residents were not allowed to enter their land and were frequently terrorized by the settlers, who were armed most of the time.”
Later on, Yasin was denied access to his land after settlers annexed it to build Ulpana, a small settlement outpost of five buildings.
Dura al-Qari was once a thriving village of 5600 dunums and a population of several thousand farmers living in peace and off cultivating their land.
When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, it turned a Jordanian army camp that was set up near the village on land that belonged to the town of al-Bireh, Ramallah’s twin city, into an Israeli army base. Eventually, and over the years, the Israeli camp expanded to nearby Dura al-Qari and annexed more than 1500 dunums of the village’s agricultural land for that purpose.
But the army did not stop here. The camp was then turned into a civilian settlement outpost, which expanded over the years at the expense of Dura al-Qari to become Beit El settlement. Eventually, the Israeli military government decided that most of Dura al-Qari’s land would become out of reach for its 3500 residents and deemed it Area C, which means Palestinians would not be allowed to develop it in any way. This encouraged the settlers to take over more Palestinian land and built Ulpana believing they can easily get away with their act.
Dora al-Qari was left with only 800 dunums of its land, which is only the built up area.
“In 2006, the settlers started razing land in preparation for the expansion of the new outpost, Ulpana,” said Yasin. “I had enough and decided to build a case against them with the help of Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to citizens of the Palestinian Territory.”
On October 29, 2008, after two years of struggle to bring necessary documents to prove ownership of the land, Yasin and Harbi Mustafa, another man whose land was annexed by Beit El settlers, finally filed a lawsuit against several Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, demanding to evict the illegal settlers from their land and to get it back.
Less than a month after, on November 17, 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an order to demolish all illegal structures built on Yasin and Mustafa lands. However, the order was met with deaf ears by the settlers who continued to build on the land.
“The Israeli government didn’t abide by the court’s order to dismantle the five buildings and failed to carry out the demolition order,” said Yasin.
Four years later, Yasin filed a petition to execute the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling, and won again with another court decision stating that he is entitled to his land and all buildings must be dismantled.
“They (the settlers) set fire to two cars that I owned. They don’t hesitate to unleash their anger by setting fire to mosques and spraying racist words such as ‘Revenge for Ulpana’ on houses that belong to Palestinians,” he said with anger.
“I have been bribed many times with huge sums of money to relinquish the case, but I would never do that because it is not worth my people getting hurt by the settlers’ savagery,” he stressed.
On April 27, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Supreme Court that his government would not enforce its order because it needs more time to re-house Ulpana settlers.
The court rejected the Israeli government’s second appeal with a final court decision in favor of Yasin to be executed by July 1.
Less than a week away from the date which was set to demolish Ulpana, Yasin looked from the window of his house from which he can see his land and said: “I am very content and happy. I’m not sure what is going to happen, but for now I’m really happy that I won this battle against Israel.”
When Yasin was asked whether he was afraid of reprisal by settlers he said, “Abbas Ibn Firnas (an Arab scientist) attempted to fly and died. However, he was the one to inspire the world how to fly.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20132
Israeli Forces Shut Down Agriculturally Used Water Spring
Israeli forces Sunday destroyed a water spring, which residents of Ein Shalabi, a village in central Jordan Valley, depend on to irrigate their crops and land, according to a local activist.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said forces shut down the spring, preventing the flow of water.
Douglas warned of the danger of these measures, as they deprive a number of communities in the Jordan Valley from water supply.
This is the second time Israeli forces destroy the spring.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20134
Israeli Forces Issue Demolishing Orders near Tubas
Israeli forces Sunday issued five demolishing orders for homes that belong to Palestinians in the village of al-Aqaba, east of Tubas, said local sources.
Al-Aqaba village head council Sami Sadeq told WAFA that the houses given three-days notice were inhabited by Palestinian families; one of the houses consists of 12 members.
Soldiers also handed a brick factory owner a stop-work order, Sadeq said.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20130 25 jun 2012, 13:44 , Respect -
Maria 25 juni 2012
IOF soldiers launch large-scale demolition spree of Bedouin homes
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) went on a demolition spree of Bedouin homes in Khirbat Al-Mayta area in Wadi Al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley.
Locals said that the IOF soldiers also continued to confiscate water tanks to force the inhabitants to abandon the area.
They said that IOF bulldozers razed a big number of tents and tin houses without allowing the citizens to salvage their belongings and told them to leave the area.
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PA condemns Israeli plans to demolish West Bank village
Children leave their home in a south Hebron village
The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday condemned Israel's decision to demolish a Palestinian village in Hebron.
On June 12, Israeli forces handed Susiya -- which is flanked by an Israeli settlement of the same name -- demolition orders for each of its 50 buildings, a week after Israeli authorities agreed to halt all construction in the area in response to a petition filed by a settler group.
As well as homes, Israel plans to a health clinic, social center and solar energy generator, the ministry said in a statement, adding that 350 people will be made homeless.
The ministry urged the Quartet - the US, EU, Russia and UN -- to take action to stop Israel's confiscation of land and to hold Israel accountable for destroying any opportunity for peace and negotiations.
Susiya lies in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israel civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.
On June 15, the EU called on Israel to meet its obligations to Palestinians living under Israeli military control in the occupied West Bank "including halting forced transfer of population and demolition of Palestinian housing and infrastructure, simplifying administrative procedures to obtain building permits, ensuring access to water and addressing humanitarian needs."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=498638
Israeli Forces Destroy Tents, Shacks in Jordan Valley
Israeli forces Monday destroyed a number of tents and shacks in Wadi al-Maleh area in the northern Jordan Valley, according to a local source.
He said soldiers forced residents to stay outside in the hot weather and destroyed the tents in addition to several shacks used as animal barns.
The soldiers also seized a number of water tankers, which is the only mean for residents to get drinking water in some parts of the occupied Jordan Valley.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20148
Israel demolishes Bedouin village for 39th time
NEGEV (Ma'an) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished Bedouin village al-Araqib for the 39th time on Monday, a lawyer said.
Ayman Odeh, who witnessed the demolition, told Ma'an that demolishing people's homes should not be a routine for Israel.
Israel considers al-Araqib and all Bedouin villages in the Negev illegal, while Bedouins say it is their ancestral land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=498678
IOF soldiers arrest youth, university student
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed a number of villages to the south of Jenin in a pre-dawn raid on Monday and arrested a 23-year-old youth.
Local sources said that the IOF soldiers broke into the home of Tarek Saba’na in Zababde village and took him away after searching his home.
The soldiers then burst into the hostel of the Arab American University near his house, the sources said.
Other IOF units stormed the village of Maythalon and interrogated Abdul Karim Rabaya for almost an hour in his house after ransacking it.
IOF soldiers roamed the streets of the nearby village of Sirees and combed its streets and alleys until the early morning hours.
IOF soldiers on Sunday stormed the villages of Yabad and Mariha, west of Jenin, on Sunday but without making any arrests.
They roamed the streets of both villages and brought down the Palestinian flag that was fluttering over the school in Mariha village.
The soldiers also combed Al-Basha valley to the south of Jenin afternoon Sunday looking for what they called “unlicensed water wells”.
In Al-Khalil city, IOF soldiers arrested a 19-year-old university student after encircling his home on Monday morning.
Friends of Samer Al-Juba, a student at Al-Khalil University, said that the soldiers confiscated all mobile phones and personal computers in his family home before taking him in.
The IOF soldiers have thus detained ten students of that same university over the past few days.
http://fwd4.me/143m 26 jun 2012, 10:09 , Respect -
Maria 26 juni 2012
Israel to move main military posts to Negev region
Israel's channel 2 said an agreement dubbed as historical was signed on Monday between the Israeli security ministry, the finance ministry and the lands administration under which the Israeli army will evacuate five military posts in the 1948 occupied lands to other places in the Negev, Galilee and Lod regions.
It added that according to this agreement that was signed in the Israeli premier's office, 25, 000 housing units will be built in place of five main military posts after their evacuation.
It noted that these military posts are Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Tel Hishmeur, Tsriben, and Sirkin, and the bulk of these posts will be moved to the Negev region, which is inhabited mostly by Palestinian Bedouins.
These military posts will be evacuated to their new areas gradually during the coming years, the channel said.
The Israeli security ministry stated that the evacuation of these posts would contribute to the development of the Negev region and the attraction of investment capital.
In a separate incident, 20 right-wing Knesset members tabled a draft law aimed at seizing Azzeitoun Mount (the Mount of Olives) in east Jerusalem.
This Mount is the place where the Israeli occupation authority set up fake Jewish graves and worked on expanding their numbers lately.
According to the Knesset members, the draft law, which they called the authority over the Azzeitoun Mount, is aimed to make this mountain ridge the first historical Jewish cemetery in the world, although it is not historical in fact.
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Israeli Forces Raid House, Demolish Wall and Shed east of Tulkarem
Israeli forces Tuesday raided and searched the family house of detainee Hamada Abu Awad in Thinnaba suburb, east of Tulkarem, and demolished a shed and wall surrounding it, according to witnesses.
Abu Awad was arrested by the Israeli soldiers on May and the family has not received any information about him since.
Abu Awad’s family told WAFA that seven Israeli military vehicles surrounded Abu Awad’s house before raiding it and locked the whole family in one room while searching and tampering with the house contents.
They also said that soldiers also threatened to demolish the house.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20152
Report: Israel razed historical Islamic ruins west of Al-Buraq wall
The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage said that the Israeli antiquities authority systematically wiped out the ruins of historical Islamic buildings over the past five years during excavations in the far west of Al-Buraq square (wailing wall).
In a report on Monday, the Aqsa foundation added that these historical buildings were part of Al-Maghariba neighborhood which was demolished by the Israeli occupation in 1967 and turned into the wailing square.
The foundation affirmed that the Israeli antiquities authority obliterated during its excavation in this area the ruins of historical Islamic buildings from the Umayyad and Abbasid eras and the Ottoman period including the remnants of the Afdaliya school and mosque, which dates back to the Ayyubid era.
The foundation slammed the concerned international organizations for their silence toward such Israeli violations against the Islamic historical sites and warned that this silence has encouraged Israel to persist in its destructive excavations in occupied Jerusalem.
It appealed to the active Islamic and Arab organizations to move to confront these Israeli violations and save the Islamic heritage and holy sites in Jerusalem.
http://fwd4.me/148Q 27 jun 2012, 10:57 , Respect -
Maria 27 juni 2012
UN human rights expert demands Israel halt demolition of Palestinian homes
Special Rapporteur Richard Falk.
An independent United Nations human rights expert today demanded that Israel immediately stop tearing down Palestinian homes, noting that the number of people affected by the demolition of Palestinian buildings has risen by 87 per cent compared to last year.
“Already this year, Israeli authorities have demolished over 330 Palestinian structures, including homes, animal shelters, water cisterns and roads,” the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said in a news release.
He stressed that half of the 536 Palestinians who have been displaced in 2012 are children, noting that “such demolitions amount to violations against 2,100 Palestinians.”
Mr. Falk described as “deeply troubling” the situation in the West Bank community of Susiya, where over 160 Palestinians, including 120 children, will be forcibly displaced if the demolition orders are executed by Israel.
“Israelis expand their illegal outposts near Susiya, without any effort by the Government of Israel to hinder them. At the same time, the Israeli High Court of Justice facilitates the demolition of Palestinians’ homes nearby,” Mr. Falk said.
He recalled that an appeal from an Israeli settler organization Regavim to the High Court had led to demolition orders against Palestinians in Susiya.
“Such discrimination is part and parcel of Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” the expert said, adding that if Israeli authorities want to respect their international legal obligations, they will freeze the demolition orders in Susiya.
Senior UN officials have repeatedly called for an end to Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories, particularly the West Bank, stressing that, as the occupying Power, Israel has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being.
Mr. Falk, who has served in his post since 2008, is scheduled to present his report to the current session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next Monday.
Special rapporteurs, or independent experts, are appointed by the Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. They work in an independent and unpaid capacity.
http://fwd4.me/14JU
Fayyad praises 'steadfast' village threatened by Israel
The prime minister in Ramallah praised on Wednesday a village facing demolition by Israel, calling the Susiya hamlet a symbol of Palestine's steadfast resistance to occupation.
Salam Fayyad said Israel's plans to demolish the tiny West Bank village demonstrated "to the whole world" that it is willing to displace people simply because they are Palestinians.
A settlement calling itself Susiya was founded near the village about 25 years ago, and residents of the original Susiya have lost the ability to move freely on their land amid Israeli restrictions.
The cluster of around 50 structures, built without the elusive permission of Israel's occupying authorities in the West Bank, has been condemned by the Israel's high court and faces imminent demolition.
Visiting the site on Wednesday, Fayyad said the people of Susiya were "recording a story of new steadfastness as they challenge Israeli threats to demolish the village completely."
Fayyad called the threats a violation of human rights and international law.
He said Palestinians show the world "every day their will to live, which cannot be shaken by the sounds of bulldozers, the barbaric occupation, nor settler terrorism."
"We will be, all Palestinians, with our people in Susiya village" and other threatened areas, he said.
He compared the village's plight to east Jerusalem and other West Bank areas threatened by the occupation and settlements, and said Israel was trying to "uproot the population" and exert control.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=499157
Bedouins forced to leave their homes to make way for IOF maneuvers
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) forced Bedouins inhabiting Wadi Al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley to leave their homes on Tuesday evening.
The municipal council of Al-Maleh and the Bedouin tribes said that the IOF command told the inhabitants that they should leave their homes for two days to make way for military exercises.
It said that the soldiers forcibly evacuated dozens of families from Wadi Al-Maleh.
The council said that the IOF regularly launches maneuvers near the area using live ammunition threatening lives of the inhabitants, adding that the Israeli army never launches such maneuvers near the Jewish settlements.
http://fwd4.me/14EC 30 jun 2012, 08:04 , Respect -
Maria 29 juni 2012
Israeli Sources Claim %80 Of Migron Lands Have Been Bought
The Israeli Today (Israel Hayom) Newspaper claimed that it received information stating that more than %80 of the lands where the illegal Migron settlement is built, were recently purchased from the Palestinians in the West Bank, in an attempt to avoid the implementation of a High Court order for the settlement’s evacuation by August 1st this year.
The paper said that a source involved in what it called the “transaction”, said that the lands in question are currently completely legal, as the purchase was allegedly made in a valid legal manner.
It added that the alleged Palestinian sellers and the Israeli purchasers have kept the identity of the American Jewish Millionaire who donated the money for buying the lands, anonymous.
According to the report, the Jewish Millionaire donated hundreds of thousands of US Dollars to enable the settlers buy the lands from more than one Palestinian land owner, and that the deal was conducted it utmost secrecy that even the settlers of Migron did not know about it until the media published the story.
The settlers are hoping that purchasing the lands from the Palestinians will void an Israeli High Court ruling ordering the removal of the illegal outpost, especially since, according to the report, most of the lands are now legally owned by Jews, and only 4 out of seventy buildings are now on Palestinian-owned lands.
The paper added that the “only fear now is for the lives of the Palestinians who sold their lands to the settlers, as they will likely be considered to be traitors to their people”, and added that the Police spokesperson of Migron settlement, confirmed the purchase and said that Israeli Education Minister is aware of the deal.
There are fifty settler families living in the illegal Migron settlement that was built on privately-owned Palestinian lands in 1999.
Israeli Peace Now Movement filed, in 2006, a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding the removal of the illegal outpost, and the return of the lands to their Palestinian owners.
The court acknowledged the fact that the illegal settlement was built on privately-owned Palestinian lands, but did not issue a final ruling until August of last year when it ruled that the settlers must evacuate the outpost by the end of March 2012.
But the Israeli government failed to implement the High Court ruling and continued to hold talks with the settlers in an attempt to find a solution.
The Israel Today paper said that the settlers in Migron finally signed an agreement to relocate to the nearby Givat HaYekev settlement, and the agreement was filed with the Israeli High Court in order to issue a ruling to delay the demolition for three years until new homes are built for them in Givat HaYekev. But the High Court ruled that all homes in Migron must be evacuated by August 1st this year.
With the claimed purchase of the Palestinian lands, the Israeli government will not be “legally” obliged to implement the High Court ruling, Israeli sources claimed.
But on the international level, and the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory, settlements built on occupied lands are illegal, therefore, Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal.
Settlements they also violate International Law, especially the Fourth Geneva convention that forbids an occupying power from moving “all or part of its population into territory it occupies”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63815 30 jun 2012, 19:45 , Respect -
Maria 30 juni 2012
OCHA: Israel razed 15 Palestinian structures in one week
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly report covering some Israeli violations from 20 to 26 June that Israel demolished 15 Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Jerusalem during the reporting period.
According to its report, 20 Palestinians were rendered homeless as a result of these demolitions.
The report recalled that Israel has razed 371 Palestinian structures, including 124 residential buildings since the beginning of the current year and consequently displaced 600 Palestinians.
OCHA pointed to the demolition notices delivered to Palestinian villagers in the Jordan Valley region as well as the Palestinian real estate that sustained material damage as a result of the Israeli military exercises that took place in Akrabaniya and Ein Shalabi areas in Nablus city during the week.
It said that the average of weekly injuries among the Palestinians in the West Bank rose to 62 individuals during 2012, while there were 28 injuries during 2011.
It added that the weekly average of violent attacks by settlers on Palestinian property amounted to six incidents in 2012.
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