- 17 aug 2010
Bedouin village razed for fourth time
Civil Administration workers on Tuesday demolished the unrecognized Negev Bedouin village of al-Arakib for the fourth time in a number of weeks.
Knesset Member Talab El-Sana (United Arab List Ta'al) criticized the demolition of houses during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and said it constitutes "the crossing of red lines."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3938093,00.html 23 nov 2010, 21:15 , Respect -
Maria 20 aug 2010
Peace talks in the shadow of demolitions, Israel is also infringing on the rights of its own Palestinian citizens.
While President Barack Obama pressures Palestinians to re-engage in direct peace talks, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu loftily counsels President Mahmoud Abbas not to miss the opportunity, recent demolitions within the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel continue unabated and unaddressed.
According to the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, July and August have marked the highest number of demolitions this year. As of the end of July, OCHA reported that Israeli forces destroyed over 230 structures effectively displacing and/or affecting over 1,100 Palestinians, including 400 children since the beginning of 2010. Over 50 percent of that destruction took place in July.
OCHA further commented in its latest report that the Israeli Civil Administration would be stepping up demolitions in the West Bank as per orders by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
In the Jordan Valley, Israeli forces have demolished the village of Al-Farisyia twice within the span of 10 days; first on19 July and again on 5 August.
The demolitions resulted in the destruction of 116 structures and the displacement of 129 people, 63 of whom were children. In the second round of demolitions, 10 structures not previously harmed were demolished along with 27 structures and materials provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Israel has flagrantly disavowed its peace rhetoric by issuing additional demolition orders to be meted out on 15-16 August.
Moreover, Israeli authorities are complicit in vigilante activity among Jewish settlers in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem. In the early morning hours of 29 July Jewish settlers stormed the Kirrech house, home to 9 Palestinian families, without sanction. Of these families, only one has been allowed restitution to their home by court order. The other eight families continue to be displaced while waiting for their case to be tried in court.
While UN bodies have condemned these demolitions, absent actionable measures, the condemnations alone fall short of the United Nations' obligations to maintain peace and security and to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under international law the State is obliged to prevent, investigate, and provide remedy, and when it fails to do so the international community becomes responsible for providing victims with effective protection. Violence by non-state actors (settlers) should not be seen merely as provocative actions; but as part of an overarching policy backed by State authority. By stopping at rhetoric, the United Nations, States, and international organizations fail to adequately respond to Israel’s human rights abuses that both fuel the humanitarian crisis and undermine the peace process.
In fact, even if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements were to be considered sincere, Israel's actions are a flagrant rejection of the peace process and its underlying documents including the Oslo Accords which reserve settlements as a final status issue and the Road Map which outright prohibits settlement expansion.
Under the cover of its calls for the resumption for peace talks, Israel is also infringing on the rights of its own Palestinian citizens.
Israeli forces have demolished Al-Araqib, a Bedouin village in the Negev, four times from 27 July to 17 August, displacing 300 Palestinian citizens of Israel at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan forcing them to endure a recent heat wave living in the open air atop their cemetery. According to MK Talab As-Sana, "This is a test for democracy in Israel; and democracy is failing. Al-Araqib is a test of how much Israelis can live in peace with their own Palestinian citizens; so, how can [Israel] live in peace with Palestinians [within Palestine]."
Demolitions and the denial of basic human rights, such as shelter, are features of Israel’s apartheid regime and are indicative of the root causes of the ongoing humanitarian crises in the OPT. At best, Israel's recent demolitions can be considered attempts at colonization, at worst they can be interpreted as ethnic cleansing.
Taking these actions into account, one cannot help but be confused by the good faith underpinning the most recent calls for peace talks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=309391
Homeless Gazans seize Hamas government building
40 families whose houses were destroyed in conflict with Israel took over building in sign of dissatisfaction with Hamas' failure to provide shelter.
Forty families whose houses were destroyed in conflict with Israel took over a building belonging to Gaza's Hamas rulers this week in a sign of dissatisfaction with the Islamist movement's failure to provide shelter.
Angered by living in tents for two winters and now baking in the midst of an intense heat wave, the squatters took over the unfinished apartment house and have already resisted one police effort to evict them.
"The heat and cold hurt our children. Where are you?" read a banner pasted on the wall of the building, in the first overt move against government property since Hamas seized power strip in 2007, ousting forces loyal to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Bassam Jamil, one of the squatters, said 43 families had moved into the building which was still under construction in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. It belongs to the Hamas-run housing ministry.
"We have lost faith that anyone will rebuild our homes. We have taken shelter in the building from the heat in the tents we've been living in," Jamil said.
Thousands of homes and factories were destroyed by Israeli bombing and shelling in a 3-week offensive in Dec-Jan 2008-09 against Hamas militants, to stop them firing rockets at Israeli towns close to the Gaza Strip.
International donors pledged nearly e5 billion in reconstruction aid but no money has arrived, partly because of the feud between Hamas and Fatah. Israel's blockade of the territory also restricts supplies of cement and steel, which it says could be used for military purposes by Hamas.
Earlier this week, Hamas police tried to evict the families but were confronted with resistance by women and children.
The building has 44 unfinished apartments. The squatters say they are still better than tents. They have fitted their own doors and are now asking city authorities to turn on electricity and water.
http://fwd4.me/0iRp 23 nov 2010, 21:15 , Respect -
Maria 21 aug 2010
Foundation: Bulldozers enter cemetery in Beersheba
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said Friday that Israeli bulldozers entered a Muslim cemetery in Beersheba's Old City, razing tombstones to make way for a commercial complex, a statement read.
The foundation described the demolitions in what residents call the Turkish Cemetery as a violation of sanctity and said it will "urgently seek to stop the violation and strive to prevent the building of the commercial complex on the cemetery's land."
The statement said foundation member Farhoud As-Sayed spoke with the Israel Antiquities Authority inspector monitoring the bulldozing, who reportedly said "we know there are a few [Muslim] graves and we have maps that confirm their location. We are aware of them, but the bulldozing with not include them." The official added that the Beersheba Municipality provided all the necessary permits for the demolitions, according to the Waqf.
The report follows demonstrations on Wednesday against the destruction of several tombstones and grave markers by the Jerusalem Municipality in the 12th century Maman Allah cemetery.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=309465 23 nov 2010, 21:16 , Respect -
Maria 22 aug 2010
Jordan Valley Demolitions
(1:46) Jordan Valley Demolitions
The village of Al Farasiya in the Jordan Valley has been demolished twice in the past month. Home to approximately 160 residents, Al Farasiya has been designated a live firing zone and closed military area by the Israeli army. The village received a 24-hour evacuation notice last week, and residents are under constant threat that their homes will be once again destroyed at any time.
Update: 23 aug 2010 The village of Al Farasiya in the Jordan Valley has been demolished twice in the past month. Home to approximately 160 residents, Al Farasiya has been designated a live firing zone and closed military area by the Israeli army. The village received a 24-hour evacuation notice last week, and residents are under constant threat that their homes will be once again destroyed at any time. For more information, visit http://alternativenews.org
Hebron: Israeli Military and Policemen Shut Three Palestinian Shops
Every Saturday for the last several months, Youth Against the Settlements has led a nonviolent action – “Open Shuhada Street” – at the entrance to the Old City of Hebron.
On Tuesday, 10 August 2010 the Israeli military and police forcibly welded shut three stores that stand directly behind the area of the weekly Saturday action and across from the gate of an Israeli military base.
A local friend alerted CPT at 2:45 p.m. that the shopkeeper had received a warning that the military would close his shops, and he had half an hour to remove all his merchandise. After arriving at the site, CPTers alerted other internationals, partner organizations and media to come. A crowd of about 75 people assembled in front of the stores. As they waited, Palestinians removed and hid two of the shop doors.
A little after 4:00 p.m., 30 soldiers and three policemen arrived and pushed their way into the shops where internationals and Palestinians were waiting. The soldiers pulled the civilians out of the shops, scattered much of the merchandise, and dragged a Palestinian behind the gate. Red Crescent of the International Red Cross came shortly thereafter and examined the Palestinian man who had been injured while being dragged.
They determined he had a brain concussion and advised the police that he needed hospitalization. The police replied they would take the Palestinian man to the jail, question him and then decide if he needed hospitalization.
Declaring the area from the military base to the stores a “closed military zone,” the soldiers formed two lines and progressively forced the crowd away from the stores being closed. Other soldiers retrieved the two hidden doors and welded shut the three shops.
An Israeli policeman pushed the shopkeeper’s large cart of merchandise into one of the stores before the doors were welded shut. One of the CPTers urged the policeman to bring the cart out of the shop or allow her to retrieve it for the shopkeeper, but the policeman refused. One British man and four Palestinians were arrested.
The British man was released the next morning at 2:30 a.m. on the condition that he immediately leave the West Bank and not return for 15 days. The four Palestinians are now in Ofer Prison. The brother of the man with the brain concussion reported to CPTers that his brother was never hospitalized.
http://imemc.org/article/59316 23 nov 2010, 21:17 , Respect -
Maria 23 aug 2010
israel Bulldozes Ancient Muslim Cemetery in Jerusalem
(2:47) israel Bulldozes Ancient Muslim Cemetery in Jerusalem
Israeli authorities continued bulldozing dozens of graves in the historic Islamic Ma'man Allah cemetery, and have bulldozed dozens of graves on Wednesday, while preventing journalists and photographers from filming the bulldozing and demolition, and assaulting some of them.
Under protection of the Israeli occupation forces, Israeli municipality workers bulldozed dozens of graves dating back hundreds of years in the cemetery - which came under Israeli occupation in 1948 - amid attacks on the journalists and any of the Palestinians who try to defend what remains of the cemetery.
Israel deliberately carries out the demolitions at night to avoid encountering journalists and Palestinians. Graves that were still standing were marked to complete their demolition on the following night.
According to press reports, the Israeli Government plans to build a so-called 'museum of tolerance' on the ancient Muslim cemetery.
The cemetery - which lies between east and west Jerusalem - contains the remains of more than 70 thousand, including notable historical and sacred religious figures buried more than 1400 years ago.
Family members of those buried in the Ma'man Allah cemetery say that when they have attempted to repair headstones and gravesites over the years, the repairs have been destroyed and removed by Israeli authorities, thus keeping the site in continual disrepair
Under Israel's "absentee property" law the cemetery was taken over by the Custodian of Absentee Property after Israel occupied the western part of Jerusalem in 1948.
Israel has dug up about 95% of the graves so far, and the estimated remaining area of the cemetery is 19000 square meters out of 700000 square meters.
It is worth noting that removing or desecrating the grave of someone is considered a severe offense according to Islamic tradition.
Another Christian ancient site was razed by Israel in Jerusalem earlier this month.
Read the whole story: 23 nov 2010, 21:17 , Respect -
Maria 24 aug 2010
Israel orders destruction of 2 mosques
Israel has ordered the destruction of two newly built Palestinian mosques in the West Bank amid plans of resuming peace talks next month.
The civil administration issued the orders under the pretext of lack of construction permits, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday.
One of the mosques is located near Burin village and the other one near Jalazoun village.
The order comes at the time the Muslim people of the Palestinian territories are in the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted to revive direct talks in Washington on September 2.
Israel's latest order to destroy the mosques and carrying out settlement activities in the occupied territories, especially in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), may hinder the peace talks.
The Palestinian Authority says that Israel's ongoing settlement activities, home demolitions, evictions, land confiscations and ID revocations would undermine talks.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/139907.html
PA: Israel's Decision To Level Two West Bank Mosques Is "Religious Terrorism"
Ramallah – PNN - The Palestinian Ministry of Information announced on Tuesday that the latest Israeli military decision to level two West Bank mosques is a violation of free of worship and an attack on holy places.
On Monday the army handed out demolition orders to a mosque in Al Jalazon refugee camp in Ramallah city central west Bank and another one in the southern West Bank village of Buren. The army says the two mosques are built without the military approval.
The Ministry deemed the Israeli military decision as an act of “Religious Terrorism” that contradicts with the international law regarding the freedom of worship and the production of holy sites.
The Information Ministry demanded the international community and the UN to interfere to stop this move by the army and protect the two holy sites. The statement noted the importance to stop what is called Raghabeem group from targeting West Bank villagers.
Raghabeem is an Israeli Zionist group that targets homes in West Bank villages that are built without the military permission and bring the cases to the Israeli court, the group are behind the military decision to level the two mosques.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8690&Itemid=64
Bedouin women protest razing of villages
Demonstrators outside Interior Ministry say demolition of Bedouin homes in unrecognized villages shows State has 'no respect for human dignity'
Some 700 Bedouin women held a demonstration outside the Interior Ministry in Jerusalem against the uprooting of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the south.
"A public struggle is the only way to raise awareness of the Arab population's problems," one protestor said.
The demonstration followed the evacuation of the al-Arakib village over the Ramadan holiday.
"The systematic razing of unrecognized villages in the Negev by the authorities shows the State has no respect for human dignity or the religious customs of the area's inhabitants," said activist Hanan el-Sana.
"The (Bedouin) women feel that no one is hearing their cries. They feel this is the beginning of a long public campaign that will continue until the Israeli government recognizes the villages," she told Ynet.
"For 60 years, we have suffered in our villages without basic necessities such as water, sewage systems, and electricity, and we have also lost our traditional livelihood because of the land appropriation policy. Add to this the recent home demolitions the situation has become intolerable."
At the conclusion of the rally the protestors handed a letter to Saeed Muadi, Interior Minister Eli Yishai's advisor on minority affairs, in which they listed their demands.
Muadi told Ynet the ministry "will do everything in its power to make things easier for the Bedouin population in the south."
Ibrahim al-Waqili, head of the regional council of unrecognized villages, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign "because the government is doing nothing to solve the problem of the unrecognized Bedouin villages, which has existed since before the State's inception.
"This conduct constitutes a blatant violation of the Arab minority's rights and it is also a violation of international law," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942698,00.html 23 nov 2010, 21:18 , Respect -
Maria 25 aug 2010
Security wall to encircle Palestinian village Walajeh
Community of about 2,000 will be cut off to most of its land.
Construction has begun on a new section of the West Bank security barrier that Palestinians say could sound a death knell for their hamlet.
The barrier threatens to outright smother Walajeh: The community of about 2,000 on the southwest edge of Jerusalem is to be completely encircled by a fence cutting it off from most of its open land, according to a Defense Ministry map.
Walajeh old-timers are determined to stay, but doubt their children will feel the same way.
“We will cling to the village by our teeth,” said Adel Atrash, a village council member. “But we don’t know how the next generation will look at things. Maybe they won’t be able to live with all the difficulties and decide to leave.”
Israel began building the barrier in 2002, as a bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers and gunmen who have killed hundreds of Israelis. However, the barrier’s zigzag through the West Bank brought allegations that Israel is drawing a border and grabbing land by putting dozens of settlements on the “Israeli side” of the barrier.
Six years ago on Friday, the International Court of Justice said in a nonbinding ruling that the barrier’s path through “occupied territory” violates international law and that Israel should tear down what it has built.
Israel rejected the decision, saying the barrier is crucial for keeping Israelis safe, and denies it is drawing a border.
“In future negotiations [with the Palestinian Authority], the route of the security barrier will not constitute a political factor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.
Today, the barrier, almost two-thirds complete, runs for more than 400 kilometers through the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Once finished, the barrier would put 9.4 percent of the West Bank on the Israeli side, along with 85% of half a million Israeli settlers, according to a UN report.
The barrier – walls of cement slabs in urban areas and wire fences in the countryside – has made it harder for tens of thousands of Palestinians to reach farm land, schools and medical care.
Those who live in the “seam zone” between Israel and the barrier or have farm land there need permits they can’t always obtain and cross through gates that aren’t always open, according to the UN report, issued on the anniversary of the world court ruling.
Walajeh’s fate appears to be because it is almost surrounded by settlements.
The barrier will make a large dip into the West Bank to keep the settlements, including Har Gilo and the Gush Etzion bloc, on the Israeli side. Within that pocket, an extra loop of barrier is to surround Walajeh on three sides, with a fenced road off limits to Palestinians to Har Gilo closing off the fourth side, according to the Defense Ministry map of the projected route.
Moreover, the loop runs tightly around Walajeh’s builtup area, penning it within less than a square mile and isolating it from almost all its farmlands. Of 36 Palestinian villages that are or will be caught in the seam zone, none are as closely encircled as Walajeh, said Ray Dolphin, a UN barrier expert in Jerusalem.
Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said on Friday he could not comment on the details of construction around Walajeh, but noted the route withstood a challenge in an Israeli court four years ago.
The IDF would not comment on how villagers are to get in and out of their enclave.
Israel has raised the possibility of an access road with a checkpoint, Atrash said, as well as gates so farmers could reach their lands. Residents are skeptical, considering the difficulties farmers elsewhere have had.
In recent weeks, bulldozers began leveling land and uprooting trees near Walajeh in the run-up to construction.
Ahmed Barghouti, 63, who lives close to the fence’s path, says he lost 88 olive trees last month and now fears for a nearby family burial plot. The village’s lawyer, Ghiath Nasser, says he won a temporary order to stop work on that section until the High Court of Justice decides what should be done with the graves of Barghouti’s parents and grandmother.
The house of a neighbor, Omar Hajajla, lies just outside Walajeh’s barrier loop.
Hajajla said Israeli officials last week informed him his home would be surrounded by its own electric fence.
“This is like putting my entire family in jail,” the father of three young boys said. “My children need to cross four gates to go school. We don’t know how it will work out, but I’m sure it will be hell for my entire family.”
The barrier is just the latest blow for Walajeh, which has lost most of its land to Israel in decades of conflict.
Israeli forces took control of the village in the 1948-9 War of Independence, and residents fled, some resettling on parts of its lands that ended up in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank.
After 1967, Israel expanded east Jerusalem’s boundaries and absorbed half of Walajeh.
But residents were still classified as West Bankers, not Jerusalemites, limiting their rights and freedom of movement.
Since then, Walajeh has lost more land to expanding settlements and roads, said Matteo Benatti, a UN official. From its pre-1948 size of 18,000 dunams (1,800 hectares), Walajeh now has around 4,500 dunams, nearly half of which will be cut off by the barrier if built as projected, he said.
Plans have been floated to build more homes for Israelis in the area. In November, the government gave preliminary approval to expand east Jerusalem’s nearby Gilo neighborhood.
Private developers propose building apartments for Israelis on the lands surrounding Walajeh and have been lobbying to include the village on the Israeli side of the barrier, so far to no avail. Dror, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said he did not believe the developers would get their plan approved.
Also, more than two dozen houses in Walajeh have been demolished over the years and 41 out of about 200 remaining homes face Israeli demolition orders on grounds they were built without permits, said Meir Margalit, a Jerusalem city council member from Meretz. Margalit says permits are impossible to obtain.
Walajeh faces an uphill battle for survival, said Margalit.
“In any scenario, my feeling is that Walajeh will disappear,” he said.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=181252
CEO steals NIS 4 million from blind kids charity. Ripas, aged 66 from Jerusalem
Prosecutors submitted a charge sheet Wednesday against Moshe Ripas for stealing NIS 4 million from the charity "Keren Or," which helps blind children, that he was CEO of for 20 years.
According to the charge sheet, Ripas, aged 66 from Jerusalem, took the money from the charity to play the lottery and for gambling.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=185917 23 nov 2010, 21:18 , Respect -
Maria 29 aug 2010
Diana Butto: The Space where Palestinians are Living is shrinking: Israel Continues Land Grab
(36:47) Diana Buttu: Palestinian Refugee Rights & Negotiations
The following presentation was given at the Al-Awda Convention, Palestinian right to return coalition. The Title of the presentation was Palestinian Refugee Rights, the Palestinian Political Process and the so-called Negotiations.
Diana Butto is a Palestinian human lawyer, former Berzeit University Professor, former legal adviser to the PLO negotiating team . She is currently working as a lawyer on Land confiscation, home demolitions and relocation of residency
http://fwd4.me/0in2 23 nov 2010, 21:19 , Respect -
Maria 30 aug 2010
6 families ordered to vacate homes for demolition
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces on Monday told six Palestinian families in the Nablus district their homes would be demolished and ordered them to vacate within 48 hours, an official said.
The families were from Um Ar-Rashash, near Duma village, Palestinian Authority settlement affairs officer Ghassan Doughlas said.
He added that the PA had authorized $100,000 to build a school in the area, whose 300 residents support themselves by farming.
A call to Israel's Civil Administration after business hours Monday was not immediately returned.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=311933
Brigade: Clashes after bulldozers enter south Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades said violent clashes followed an Israeli military incursion east of Rafah, southern Gaza, overnight Sunday, a leader said.
Abdul Muntaser Omar said the entering force was attempting to bulldoze land in the An-Nahda neighborhood. Brigade members and Israeli forces exchanged fire, forcing the troops to retreat, he added.
The brigade leader further said Israeli forces used machine-guns during the exchange of fire, with no reports of injuries.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was not familiar with the incident, following a Ma'an inquiry.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Monday that a mortar shell from Gaza exploded in an open field in southern Israel with no injuries or damage reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=311743