- 1 oct 2012
Israel to take over more lands in Palestinian city of Qalqilya
(2:12) Israel to take over lands in Palestinian city of Qalqilya
The Israeli regime has planned to take over more Palestinian land for a new settlement project in the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, Press TV reports.
The project will entail more land grabs from Palestinians, the demolition of their properties and an end to essential services for them such as healthcare and schools.
The Israeli regime has notified Palestinian authorities that it will take over 200 dunums of land in Qalqilya.
During the settlement project, two settlements that are already built and surround the village of Atbat Atabib, will be joined by a third one to be constructed, and a road will be built to connect the three.
The Palestinian village is surrounded by the two illegal Israeli settlements of Sulfeen and Alfeh Malaneshe.
“They are working very fast to steal our lands,” Bian Tabib, the headman of Atbat Atabib village, told Press TV.
The villagers in Atbat Atabib received the first demolition order in 2006. The village is facing 30 demolition orders which include a school, a clinic and a children’s park.
In an address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas condemned Israel’s “catastrophic” settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and its campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
He said that, in the past year alone, thousands of Palestinians' homes have been razed and more people have been displaced while restrictions imposed on Palestinians have created a "suffocating situation" for them and adversely affected their livelihood.
8 oct 2012, 20:01 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2012
IOF violate court verdict, establish military base in evacuated settlement
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) established a military base in the evacuated settlement of Migron near Ramallah city in violation of a court verdict that affirmed the land belongs to Palestinian owners.
"Following a legal and political battle for six years that has ended with the evacuation of 50 families of settlers from Migron outpost in accordance with a decision by the higher court, it has become clear that the dream of Migron settlers came true with the establishment of a military base for border guards in place of their settlement instead of giving the land back to its Palestinian owners," Maariv newspaper stated on Sunday.
The Hebrew newspaper quoted a senior military officer as saying that the base was established at the behest of the Israeli government in order to guard the area and maintain the status quo.
He said the base would be used by a unit of border guard to carry out security missions in the West Bank.
For its part, the Peace Now movement said the establishment of a military base on a land considered by an Israeli court a Palestinian property is a violation of the higher court's verdict issued in this regard and disrespect for its judgment.
Peace Now said it intends to take legal action against this Israeli violation.
The higher court had ordered the dismantling of the houses established in Migron outpost after documents provided by Palestinian citizens proved that the settlement was established on a private Palestinian property and not on a land owned by the Israeli state.
9 oct 2012, 23:16 , Respect -
Maria 9 oct 2012
New Palestinian Nakba in Umm Al-Hieran village in the Negev
BEERSHEBA, (PIC)-- Tension prevailed throughout Umm al-Hieran village in the Negev desert, in southern 1948- occupied Palestine , following the Israeli National Council for Planning and Building’s decision to expel the village's residents in order to establish a new settlement for the Israeli extremists.
The so-called Israeli National Council for Planning and Building (NCPB) rejected a few days ago the objection made by a human rights institution on the behalf of the residents of Umm al-Hieran village against a decision by the District Planning Committee to approve the Master Plan and build “Hiran”, a new town for Jewish families to be constructed on the ruins of Umm el-Hieran, home to 1,000 residents in 150 families.
The Israeli army had expelled residents of Umm al-Hieran from their original homes in the Khirbet Zubaleh area in the Negev desert, and shortly thereafter, in 1956, the residents were forced by the Israeli authorities to move to the area where the village is located now.
In 2004, the villagers faced a new threat of expulsion, when the District Planning Committee revealed a plan to again expel the residents of Umm el-Hieran, who were relocated to the village in 1956 by state authorities, to establish a new town for Jewish families.
It should be noted that between eighty and ninety thousand Bedouins live in southern occupied Palestine in 1948 within the unrecognized villages.
As a result to their unrecognized status, the Israeli authorities assumed that the village could easily be demolished at any time without receiving any basic services from the state, including electricity and paved roads, health care facilities, schools and water.
In the wake of the decision, Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara stated that the policy conforms to State’s policy of confiscating Arab Bedouin land in the Naqab, demolishing the villages, and forcing residents to move to crowded and severely limited townships. The Abu el-Qi’an case is consistent with this policy, whereby the tribe was expelled from its land and Jewish residents were given their land in 1948, and then later, they were expelled again, she said.
The lawyer told Quds Press that the Committee’s decision assumes that the residents of Umm el-Hieran, who were relocated to the village in 1956 by state authorities, have no right to their village, and that the State can easily move them from place to place without any justification or need for a plan for them. The decision entrenches a discriminatory policy of segregated housing, based on national, religious and ethnic separation, and infringes on the citizens’ constitutional rights to dignity, property, and equality.
Prior to 1948, the villagers lived in Khirbet Zubaleh, located in Wadi Zubaleh, which is now part of Kibbutz Shuval. In 1948, the Israeli Military Governor in the Negev ordered the residents to leave their village and their homes and move to the area of Kharbet el-Hazil, and then again to Kohli and Abu Keff. In 1956, they were again displaced to Wadi Atir, where they have remained until today. The villagers were then given 7,000 dunums of land to live on and cultivate, and they built houses of brick and cement, making great effort to recreate the community that had been disrupted with each forced displacement. Now 150 families, 1,000 people, all of the Abu al-Qian tribe, live in Umm el-Hieran, the lawyer explained.
The mayor of the village Salim Abu al-Qian said that the Israeli authorities aim to expel them under the pretext that the construction is illegal ", and therefore deprived them from all basic services even water to force them to leave.
We swore to die on this land and not to leave this time as in previous times, he said.
The mayor described the Israeli decision as a racial decision that will lead to a confrontation with the residents of the Negev in case the occupation authorities decided to forcibly evacuate.
Abu al-Qian condemned the naming of the new Israeli settlement as his village's name in an attempt to steal the Palestinian history and geography in the Negev and to prove the old Israeli presence in the region.
Israel razed 19 Palestinian homes in two months
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities razed 19 Palestinian homes in the past two months of August and September, Together against Settlement society said in a statement on Tuesday.
The society, which monitors settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian lands, said that the demolished homes were in Al-Khalil, Bethlehem, Jordan Valley, occupied Jerusalem, and the Negev.
Together against Settlement said the IOA issued during the mentioned months 40 demolition orders against other Palestinian structures and annexed 2,070 dunums of land owned by Palestinian citizens.
Israel does not only demolish homes, but also schools, water wells, stores, Bedouin hamlets and even tents established in place of razed homes, the society stressed.
It affirmed that these violations are part of Israel’s major policy to force the Palestinian natives to leave their homes and lands, especially in Jerusalem where dozens of homes have been knocked down since the start of the current year, not to mention of dozens of demolition orders issued against many others.
A number of international institutions had recently asked the international quartet committee to pressure Israel to stop wiping out entire Palestinian villages.
11 oct 2012, 09:33 , Respect -
Maria 10 oct2012
IOF raid homes south of Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed at dawn Wednesday Kherisa village in Yatta town south of Al-Khalil city and violently raided a number of houses.
According to Rateb Al-Jabour, an anti-settlement activist, Israeli troops raided and ransacked some houses belonging to Shawahin family and smashed their doors and windows.
Jabour said during one of the raids, the soldiers forced citizen Najeh Shawahin and his family including children to leave the house before they went on the rampage through it and destroyed its furniture.
He added that the IOF also carried out raids on homes in villages east of Yatta, chased Palestinian vehicles, and confiscated two cars.
13 oct 2012, 12:54 , Respect -
Maria 12 oct 2012
Unemployment in Gaza-Reporter's File
(23:52) Unemployment in Gaza-Reporter's File-10-11-2012 2 x viewed
In this edition of the show, Nelly Burden, Press TV's correspondent from Ramallah, reports on Israel's demolition of the solar power plant in Mneizel village.
Mazen Naim, Press TV's correspondent from Gaza, reports on Unemployment in Gaza.
Svetlana Alimova, Press TV's correspondent from Tbilisi, reports on the soaring unemployment rates in Georgia.
Danjuma Abdullahi, Press TV's correspondent from Abuja, reports on Nigeria's healthcare system.
IOA takes by force a Palestinian house in al-Khalil for settlers
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported on Friday that the Israeli “defense ministry” has instructed the Civil Administration to hand over a Palestinian house in Ras neighborhood in al-Khalil in favor of an Israeli Association after an Israeli court decided that the purchase of the Palestinian house by Israeli settlers was legitimate and legal.
Barak announced in a press release issued yesterday that his decision "was based on a legal opinion" supported by the attorney general in the "central region", and the Israeli Central Command Chief in the West Bank.
The Web site expected that the settlers will take control of the house which was named many names "the brown house", the "House of Peace" and "the disputed house."
The source added that the mentioned house, consisting of four floors, was established in 1995 in a strategic area east of al-Khalil linking the settlement of "Kiryat Arba" with an Israeli settlement in al-Khalil near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
The settlers claimed they bought the house in 2004 from its Palestinian owner Faiz Rajabi and Abdelkader Shawar through an intermediary Ayoub Yousef Jaber, where the text of the sale contract stated to pay half a million Jordanian dinars for the house, but the seller retreated from the deal in 2007 by claiming he did not receive the full amount and refused to leave the house.
The newspaper said that the court received an appeal from the Israeli Association in 2008 to demand an approval of the transaction's application, while the commander of "central region" announced the house as a closed military zone, and evacuated it from its Palestinian owners by force on the fourth of December 2008.
The Israeli authorities have taken control over the house till last September, when the court declared its sale legal.
14 oct 2012, 09:50 , Respect -
Maria 13 oct 2012
IOF clashes with young Palestinians in Jenin village
JENIN, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed at dawn Saturday four towns west of Jenin and conducted combing operations during which clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces were reported in the village of Rumana.
Eyewitnesses said that five military vehicles stormed the village of Romana at dawn where Palestinian youths pelted Israeli forces with stones and empty bottles. The clashes were followed by heavy gunfire, the sources added.
IOF soldiers stormed the nearby town of Tiba, and conducted extensive combing operations in the area between Romana and Tiba towns where flare bombs were fired.
Israeli forces deployed in the neighboring village of Zbobh also conducted combing operations along the apartheid wall without arrests.
In a separate incident, Israeli settlers started to construct a roadway to connect one settlement to other outposts built on Palestinian land south of Bethlehem.
Ahmad Salah, Coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, told Quds press that the settlers started two days ago to construct a roadway on an agricultural land in al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem, to connect between Daniel settlement and Ein Qasis settlement outpost.
Salah pointed out that the mentioned road is a 50-meter-long and 4-meter-wide road, noting that the road would seize part of Palestinian land in the town.
Salah recalled that settlers tried few months ago to grab this land and plant it with trees, but the land owners removed the trees. The settlers came again to establish the roadway on the Palestinian agricultural land.
15 oct 2012, 23:38 , Respect -
Maria 15 oct 2012
Muslim cemetery in Ayn al-Mansi village excavated by the occupation
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and heritage revealed that the Israel Land Administration (ILA) started excavation works in the cemetery of the village of Ayn al-Mansi, depopulated in 1948, near the city of Haifa.
The Foundation added, in a press statement on Sunday, that several graves were excavated in an attempt to plant trees in the site and to turn it into a grove.
It condemned these excavations that violate the sanctity of the cemetery and the dead and show no respect to the feelings of Muslims, demanding the concerned authorities in the Israeli occupation to immediately halt the excavation works, and not to plant trees in the cemetery.
The foundation, which is active in the defense of the Islamic holy sites and cemeteries, pointed out that the cemetery of al-Mansi village, which the occupation displaced its residents in 1948 and built "Hayougiv" settlement on its territory, still exists as al-Aqsa Foundation has been maintaining it, throughout the year, within the permanent annual project of the maintenance of holy sites.
IOA razes house in OJ, serves demolition notices in WB
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority’s municipality bulldozers razed a Palestinian house and a Stable in Beit Hanina, in occupied Jerusalem.
Owner of the house Sufyan Taha said in a press release on Monday that the Israeli municipality teams told him that the land was originally owned by a West Banker and thus would be considered as land for the absentees and confiscated.
Taha said that he bought the land from a woman living in Beit Hanina, but carrying a residence in the West Bank, in 1998 and in 2000 he built the house and the Stable.
The man said that the demolition progressed despite the fact that the court ordered only the evacuation of the land.
Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces escorted staffers of the civil administration in serving demolition notices to a number of citizens in Beit Ola village to the west of Al-Khalil on Monday.
The village’s popular committee against the segregation wall said in a press statement that the notifications stipulated the destruction of three water wells and tanks mainly used for irrigation and domestic purposes.
The committee said that the IOA was escalating harassment of Palestinian farmers living and working near the separation wall, urging international intervention to halt Israeli persecution.
18 oct 2012, 00:00 , Respect -
Maria 17 oct 2012
IOA orders Palestinian families to stop building their homes
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) ordered seven Palestinian families in Taku village, south of Bethlehem, to stop building their homes.
Taku municipality sources told Quds Press that the IOA delivered notifications to those families that their houses, some of them still under construction and others almost completed, were not licensed for building.
They said that the owner of a recently built greenhouse was also notified that it should be knocked down before end of the month.
The buildings are located in area “C” which according to the notorious Oslo accords fell under complete IOA control.
18 oct 2012, 16:17 , Respect -
Maria 18 oct 2012
IOA orders citizen in JV to evacuate his home
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has ordered a Palestinian citizen in the Jordan Valley to evacuate his home within three days in preparation for razing it.
Local sources said that Israel nature and parks authority told Sati Zamel that his house and corals would be knocked down and he should leave the area of Ein Al-Hilwe.
The sources charged the IOA with issuing hundreds of similar forced evacuation orders that aim at emptying the Jordan Valley of its indigenous inhabitants and to Judaize it.
Warnings against Israeli scheme to seize Islamic buildings in WB
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage warned against Israeli serious plans to seize Islamic important buildings located near the Al Aqsa Mosque, and others near the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.
According to Hebrew media, there are demands from the American Jewish billionaire Goma Ojiar's relatives to seize properties and buildings that he had bought several years ago as they claimed, aiming to support Israeli settlements and Judaization projects in occupied Jerusalem and West Bank, al-Aqsa Foundation revealed in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The statement pointed out, that mentioned properties are located in the Old City of Jerusalem near al-Aqsa Mosque, and others in the neighborhoods of Silwan and al-Tur mount east of the holy city, in addition to a number of buildings near the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil, and an agricultural land in the city of Nablus.
The Foundation added that these properties, owned as they claimed by the so-called Ojiar who disappeared three months ago in mysterious circumstances in the state of Florida, are located in "highly sensitive areas in terms of security and political importance". The Foundation stressed that the Israel efforts to grab them have serious implications.
22 oct 2012, 23:24 , Respect -
Maria 22 oct 2012
IOA plans new demolition campaign of Islamic landmarks in OJ
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) is planning a fresh wave of demolitions in occupied Jerusalem of Islamic landmarks, the Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) said on Monday.
It said in a statement that the IOA is planning a major reshuffle to the facades of ancient buildings in Wad Street to the east of occupied Jerusalem.
AFEH said that the so-called maintenance works would extend along the road from Bab Al-Amud gate to several other gates on the western flank of the Aqsa mosque.
The foundation warned that the IOA plans to dig deep into the Wad Street at the pretext of improving infrastructure, adding that the digging would cause vast damage to Arab and Islamic landmarks other than stealing ancient stones that would be later used for forging history and fabricating Hebrew relics.
It said that the scheme is being implemented by a group of companies interested in Judaizing the holy city in cooperation with the Israeli antiquities authority and the municipality.
24 oct 2012, 10:47 , Respect -
Maria 24 oct 2012
IOA bulldozers destroy land in Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Bulldozers of the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) continued their destruction of land outside Battir village in Bethlehem to pave the area for building a section of the separation wall.
Farmers said on Tuesday that the IOA bulldozers did not stop working on their land day and night over the past few days.
They said that they lodged a complaint against expropriating their land and were waiting for the implementation of a restraining order passed by the Israeli higher court.
Local official: Israel destroys 5 water wells in Jenin
JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces destroyed five water wells in a Jenin village on Wednesday, claiming the structures were unlicensed, a local official said.
Muhammad Fahmi Maree, head of a local agricultural association, told Ma'an that an Israeli bulldozer, accompanied by military vehicles, destroyed the wells in Kafr Dan village.
Israeli authorities did not give the villagers any prior notification about the demolition, Maree said, adding that Israeli forces also destroyed a water pump.
Jenin governor, Talal Dweikat, told a Ma'an reporter that by destroying water wells Israeli authorities are targeting the Palestinian economy.
He called on human rights groups to help end Israeli aggression against Palestinian farmers.
25 oct 2012, 19:55 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2012
IOF demolish water well, installations
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished a water well and agricultural installations in Edhna village west of Al-Khalil on Wednesday.
Media sources said that the soldiers escorted bulldozers into Wadi Risha, west of the village, and destroyed a water well that was still under construction.
The sources quoted owner of the well Abdulrahman Tamiza as saying that agricultural installations were also ruined in the incident. He added that the demolition took place without prior notice.
31 oct 2012, 10:29 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012
Israeli forces 'destroy crops' east of Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces destroyed four dunams of crops east of Hebron early Tuesday morning, locals said.
Ghassan Baser told Ma'an he awoke to find Israeli soldiers destroying his turnip and cauliflower crops as well as his irrigation system in al-Baqqar, causing 50,000 shekels ($12,840) worth of damage.
Baser says Israeli authorities have been pressuring him to leave his land. He says he will replant the land and will never leave.
Al-Baqqar borders the illegal Israeli settlement Karmi Zur.
Israeli army detains 7 in southern West Bank
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained seven Palestinians overnight in the southern West Bank, a military spokesman said.
The army spokesman told Ma'an that five Palestinians were detained in the Hebron district and two were arrested in Bethlehem.
Witnesses in al-Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron said soldiers ransacked the home of Mohammad al-Najjar, a former prisoner, and severely assaulted him in front of his family before shackling and detaining him. Locals told Ma'an that al-Najjar is a member of Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile in Hebron city, Israel troops raided the home of Gamila Hassan al-Shalaldeh and detained her and her 20-year-old son Ragheb al-Salaymeh early Tuesday morning.
In Beit Ummar, Israeli forces partially demolished the home of Wahid Abu Maria, 45, before arresting him, local committee spokesman Mohammad Awwad told Ma'an.
Awwad said residents threw rocks at the troops, who fired tear gas. He said soldiers imposed a curfew on the town since the early hours of Tuesday morning.
An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers and border police staged a joint operation in Beit Ummar "to prevent terror activities."
He said one suspect barricaded himself in his home and that forces used "a number of means to pressure him" to come out. The man was eventually arrested and taken for questioning by security forces.
The army official could not immediately confirm that forces demolished the man's home.
Meanwhile on Monday, Israeli forces detained three Palestinian teenagers, Palestinian officials said.
Odai Barqan 13, Abed Ghaith 13, and Mohammad al-Razem, 14, were accused of painting on a Jewish settler's car. Palestinian officials told Ma'an that Barqan and Ghaith were later released but al-Razem remains in detention.
1 nov 2012, 13:43 , Respect -
Maria 31 oct 2012
IOA serves 10 demolition notices in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) served ten demolition notices on Wednesday to Palestinian families in Silwan town in occupied Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli occupation forces escorted municipality staffers who distributed the notices in Bustan suburb and in a number of other nearby suburbs.
They said that ten notices were served to a number of Jerusalemite families at the pretext of lack of construction permits and that the area would be used for municipality projects.
The IOA informed owners of 88 houses in Silwan three and a half years ago that they should evacuate their homes because they would be razed to pave the way for construction of parks and other installations for Jewish settlers.
Occupation devises new ways to punish the Palestinian MPs
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The occupied West Bank in general and its city of Ramallah, in particular, witnessed recently, a remarkable escalation in Israeli brutal practices against Palestinian MPs and liberated prisoners.
The Israeli forces have increased its violations through seizing MPs' vehicles, a new phenomenon that is described by political analysts as "piracy".
Mahmoud Ramahi, secretary-general of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Quds press that the occupation authorities deliberately invent new ways to crack down on Palestinian MPs and released prisoners after the agreement to stop the policy of "administrative detention", through confiscating their vehicles and their money and their own properties, in a blatant violation to the international humanitarian law.
Ramahi pointed out that the occupation authorities did not inform him about the reason for confiscating his car three days ago on a military checkpoint north of the West Bank, and they did not give him any official paper emphasizes its confiscation.
While they handed MP Ahmed Mubarak a notification confirming the confiscation of his vehicle under the pretext of "emergency law," which gives the occupation the right to seize any property of the people "were involved in the attacks on Israel security, even if it was on suspicion."
The Israeli authorities have confiscated about six vehicles belonging to Palestinian MPs and liberated prisoners over the past three weeks.