- 8 juli 2011
AF: IOA wants to wipe historical Mamanullah cemetery from memory
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa Foundation that caters for Muslim holy shrines in occupied Palestine, has warned Thursday that the Israeli plan to put a fence on what remained of Mamanullah cemetery was meant to wipe the historical cemetery from memory.
In a statement it issued on this regard, the foundation explained that the IOA had been striving hard to remove the cemetery from memory of history being the biggest and oldest Muslim cemetery in occupied Palestine occupying nearly 200000 sq meters of land.
The foundation added that the persistent Israeli aggression on the cemetery since the Israeli occupation of Palestine started in 1948 left the cemetery with only 23000 sq meters only.
Nevertheless, the IOA continued its measures against the cemetery on allegations it wants to develop the city and the location, including a plan to build the "tolerance" museum on bodies of Muslims buried in it.
The IOA alleged it was ready to finance cleaning and renovation of what remained of the cemetery in addition to finance "vital" projects in occupied Jerusalem and in the 1948- occupied Palestinian lands.
But the foundation warned that such Israeli plans were meant to impose facts on the ground and to tell the Palestinians that the area of the graveyard is this much, pointing out that the IOA had been searching for a Palestinian party that could buy their allegations but failed.
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IOA destroys solidarity tent supporting sit-in legislators in O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has destroyed the solidarity tent that human right activists erected in support of the three Palestinian officials the IOA threatens to deport from their hometown.
The solidarity tent was put up opposite to the ICRC headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah suburb in the occupied city where the three officials had been in a sit-in for more than a year now.
According to local residents and eyewitnesses, special forces from the Israeli occupation army stormed the area and surrounded the solidarity tent before they leveled it to ground shortly before the activists held their final session to end a one-week conference in support of the threatened officials.
The three officials, MP Ahmad Atton, MP Mohammed Tutah, and former Jerusalem minister Khaled Arafa vowed to resist the Israeli decision to push them out of the city at all costs, saying they were democratically elected by the Palestinian people in clear and transparent elections witnessed by the entire world. All three are affiliated with Hamas Movement.
High-profile personalities, including members of the supreme follow-up committee, Arab members of the Israeli Knesset, members of the PLC, and officials of local human rights institutions and lawyers have attended the conference and hailed the exemplary steadfastness of the three Jerusalem officials against the deportation order.
The three officials sent letters to consulates and international representatives in occupied Jerusalem asserting that they would remain in a sit-in till the IOA revokes the deportation order against them, describing the Israeli measures against them as "unprecedented" that could pave the way to deport more and more Palestinian-Jerusalemites out of their homes.
"For our part as elected Palestinian officials, we are convinced that we have the full right to stay in our city and to attend to the needs of our constituents as international laws stipulate and dictate; and based on this fact and principle we decided to stay in the sit-in till the IOA revokes its order, and allows MP Mohammed Abu Tair back to the city," said the three officials in a statement they issued during the conference. Abu Tair was coercively deported by the IOA to Ramallah city.
http://fwd4.me/0i7p 5 dec 2011, 10:09 , Respect -
Maria 11 juli 2011
Lebanon, Israel at odds on sea border, gas rights
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's cabinet approved on Sunday a map of the Jewish state's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a UN opinion, in a brewing dispute between the neighbors over offshore gas fields.
Lebanon's Energy Minister Gebran Bassil countered that Beirut will not give up its maritime rights.
Israel's proposed map lays out maritime borders that conflict significantly with those suggested by Lebanon in its own submission to the United Nations.
"The cabinet today approved the draft of the northern maritime border of Israel," said a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
"This line demarcates the area of the state's economic rights, including the exploitation of natural resources."
Israel's map could bring it into fresh conflict with Lebanon, with both countries disagreeing on where the border lies.
"The outline that Lebanon submitted to the UN is significantly further south than the line Israel is proposing," Netanyahu said at the meeting.
"It also conflicts with the line that we have agreed upon with Cyprus and, what is more significant in my eyes, it conflicts with the line that Lebanon itself agreed upon with Cyprus in 2007."
"Our goal is to determine Israel's position regarding its maritime border, in keeping with the principles of international maritime law," Netanyahu said.
Israel has been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some which is shared with Cyprus, that it hopes could help it to become an energy exporter.
But its development plans have stirred controversy with Lebanon, which argues the gas fields lie inside its territorial waters. Israel does not have officially demarcated maritime borders with Lebanon, and the two nations remain technically at war.
In Beirut, Bassil told AFP: "We will see what Israel sends to the United Nations. We have no a priori (position). If it respects international law, there is no problem."
However, he warned that "no Lebanese will accept either the renunciation of their energy resources or their maritime rights."
"Lebanon has drawn its borders (maritime) based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," Bassil said.
"Israel has not yet signed and must respect international law by acceding to the Convention ... or should remain silent and stop referring to international laws," said Bassil.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said his country was convinced it would win support for its position at the United Nations.
"We will soon be presenting the United Nations headquarters in New York with our position on our maritime borders," Lieberman told Israeli public radio.
"We have already concluded an agreement on this issue with Cyprus... Lebanon, under pressure from Hezbollah, is looking for friction, but we will not give up any part of what is rightfully ours," he charged.
Bassil dismissed the charge as "a prelude to aggression to which we have become accustomed," citing Israeli "violations of (Lebanese) waters, territory and airspace, and today our oil rights."
The two biggest-known offshore fields, Tamar and Leviathan, lie 130 kilometers (80 miles) off Israel's northern city of Haifa.
An Israeli company has in recent weeks also announced the discovery of two new natural gas fields, Sarah and Mira, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) off the city of Hadera further south.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404097 5 dec 2011, 10:10 , Respect -
Maria 11 juli 2011
IOF soldiers uproot 450 olive trees
SALFIT, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday uprooted 450 olive trees west of Salfit province, local sources reported.
A Palestinian official in the district said that the IOF soldiers blocked farmers from heading to their land in the area after declaring it a closed military zone.
He said that he tried to accompany farmers into their land but the soldiers denied them entry.
He added that the military bulldozer uprooted 450 olive trees and completely destroyed the land lot of Yousef Mustafa Mansour in the process.
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IOA endorses new road in Silwan, serves demolition notice in same village
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) authorized the construction of a new four-meter wide road in Silwan town, south of the Aqsa Mosque, on Sunday to serve settlement outposts in occupied Jerusalem.
The IOA-controlled Jerusalem municipality approved the construction of the road starting from Ras Al-Amud suburb to Al-Bustan street.
The new road, which would be completed by the end of the year, passes through densely populated neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, the municipality served a new demolition notice to an old woman in the same town of Silwan on Sunday.
Khadija Abdul Razek lives in the 110 square meters house with her ten-member family and grand children. Her son Hamouda Siyam said that municipality staffers glued the order on the house and told them to report to the municipality’s inspection sector.
http://fwd4.me/0i7n 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 12 juli 2011
IOA forces Jerusalemite family to raze its own home
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Maqdesi institution for social development has condemned the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) for ordering a Jerusalemite citizen to demolish part of his home.
It said in a statement on Monday that the IOA told Khalil Dabash, who lives in Sour Baher in occupied Jerusalem, that he has to tear down an addendum.
It said that the Israeli interior ministry refused to consider his request for a building permit without first razing the 75-square meter area added to his first floor then turning the entire floor into a garage.
Dabash demolished part of the addition in late 2010 but the ministry and the municipality were not satisfied and said that all added area should be demolished.
Dabash has a family of 24 members half of them children who would be rendered homeless if he was forced to raze his house.
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IOF troops destroy six water wells in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) destroyed six water wells for Palestinian farmers in Nasariya village in the Jordan Valley on Tuesday morning at the pretext of being built in area C in the West Bank, which according to the Oslo accords is under the control of the Israeli occupation authority.
Local sources said that destroying the water wells meant an end to agriculture fields in the area, noting that the village was considered the “food basket” for the entire region.
Mohammed Obaid, a social activist in the village, told the PIC reporter that ever since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 it was targeting the eastern water reservoir and drained 133 water wells in the region.
He said that Nasariya village is established on a huger water reservoir, but the IOF was treating it as a border area and thus deliberately turned it into an area poor in basic services.
Obaid described the village’s homes and infrastructure as “primitive”, adding that the IOA turned it from a village lush in greenery and blossoming fields into a barren land with severe water shortage. He added many of its land was turned into closed military zones.
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IOF troops bulldoze lands in Gaza, detain citizens in a campaign on Jenin
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting a number of tanks escorted two military bulldozers into Zaitun suburb to the south east of Gaza city on Tuesday morning, local sources said.
They told the PIC reporter that the IOF troops bulldozed land in the area amidst intermittent firing at nearby residential quarters.
Meanwhile, IOF units stormed five villages in Jenin province at dawn Tuesday and rounded up two young men in Burqin village after searching their homes and combing the vicinity of the village.
Other units ordered two citizens in Arrabe village to report to the intelligence, warning their relatives against non compliance.
A similar measure was made in nearby Fahme village during which the homes of the two citizens were damaged in the search process.
Locals said that four IOF armored vehicles broke into the home of a citizen in Marka village and wreaked havoc on it and in the nearby village of Kufr Ra’ee the forces handed a citizen an order to report to the intelligence after ransacking his home.
http://fwd4.me/0i7h 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 13 juli 2011
Lebanon warns Israel against sea border move
BEIRUT (AFP) -- Israel's proposed maritime border with Lebanon threatens regional security, Lebanon's foreign minister said on Monday, as a feud over offshore gas fields between the two enemy states deepens.
"Israel's measures have created a new point of tension in the region and threaten peace and security across this region," Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur told reporters in Beirut.
Mansur said the border as proposed by Israel cut through Lebanon's economic zone, adding his country would "turn to the United Nations".
Lebanon's president on Monday also warned Israel over the demarcation of the shared maritime border.
"President Michel Sleiman warns against any unilateral decisions Israel may take on maritime borders which would be a breach of international law, as is Israel's habit," read a statement from his office.
"Lebanon will defend its rights and resources by any and all legitimate means."
Sleiman said the issue would be up for discussion at the first meeting of Lebanon's new government, which on Thursday won a vote of confidence in parliament.
While Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government is dominated by the Shiite group Hezbollah, the last Western-backed Lebanese government took a similar stand in the conflict over offshore gas reserves.
Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a UN opinion.
The proposed map lays out maritime borders that conflict significantly with those suggested by Lebanon in its own submission to the United Nations.
Lebanon's Energy Minister Gibran Bassil said Beirut will not give up its maritime rights, and accused Israel of "violations of (Lebanese) waters, territory and airspace, and today our oil rights."
Israel has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some which are shared with Cyprus, that it hopes could help it to become an energy exporter.
But its development plans have stirred controversy with Lebanon, which argues the gas fields lie inside its territorial waters.
Israel does not have officially demarcated maritime borders with Lebanon, and the two nations remain technically at war.
Hezbollah in 2006 fought a deadly war with Israel which destroyed most of Lebanon's major infrastructure.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404336 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 13 juli 2011
Israel approves work on controversial Jerusalem museum
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel has approved the start of work on a controversial Museum of Tolerance that will be built on the site of an old Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The project, organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was the subject of a lengthy legal battle, with Palestinians and some Israeli supporters arguing the museum would desecrate the burial site.
Israel's courts rejected the argument, saying the site was de-consecrated decades ago, and the project has received planning approval from local authorities despite the protests.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry's district planning committee gave the final go-ahead for work to begin on digging the foundations for the museum, interior ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach told AFP.
"The permit was officially approved long ago, yesterday what was approved was only the first step towards the building itself," she said.
"Yesterday it was the first step towards building, which means that they have the permission to start digging. From yesterday they can start digging for that project. But the project itself was already approved about 10 years ago."
Palestinians and Arab-Israelis, including some whose ancestors were buried at the Mamun Allah cemetery in Jerusalem, have expressed outrage at plans to build a museum dedicated to tolerance on a former burial site.
But Israel's Supreme Court in 2008 ruled that the site was no longer a burial ground, pointing out no objections were lodged in 1960 when the municipality put a parking lot over part of the graveyard.
Lawyers for the project's promoters, backed by Jerusalem city authorities, have offered to transfer any graves to a section of the graveyard that will not be affected by the construction, but Muslim leaders rejected the suggestion.
Huda Al-Imam, director of the Center for Jerusalem Studies and a leading campaigner against the museum's construction, said activists would continue to push for the project's cancellation.
"We are trying as much as possible to do this with efforts not only on the United Nations level but also on the Israeli court level, on the international court level," she told AFP.
"We're trying also to put some pressure on certain Arab leaders, such as Jordan's King Abdullah to try to intervene and see whether it is possible to put some pressure on the Israeli side."
Imam said the cemetery represents "Palestinian cultural heritage and it is supposed to be a protected place or site."
"They should respect human heritage and human dignity and not build this museum of tolerance on a Palestinian cultural site and try to delete our identity."
It was not clear when ground would be broken on the project. Plans unveiled in 2010 call for a six-story structure with three floors above ground and three below, at an estimated cost of $100 million.
The new design was created by an Israeli architecture firm after famed architect Frank Gehry pulled out of the project last year.
There is heightened sensitivity about construction work in Jerusalem, with many observers noting that building projects are often politically motivated.
Many points of tension currently exist in the city due to house demolitions and the eviction of Palestinian families who are often replaced by Israeli settlers, notably in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967. There has never been international recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Eastern part of the city.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=404971 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 14 juli 2011
Hezbollah: We won't let Israel take our gas
Top official in Shiite organization says 'Israeli threats don't frighten Lebanon. We won't change our position, fight to maintain our rights at all cost'.
Hezbollah flexing muscles over maritime border dispute with Israel – Deputy Chief of Hezbollah, Sheik Naim Kassam said that "Lebanon will not permit gas or oil to be extracted from its land or territorial waters.
"We will continue to closely follow the situation in order to restore Lebanon's rights, at whatever cost necessary,' he said.
In a speech on Wednesday, Hassan Nasrallah's deputy noted that "Hezbollah supports the national position to defend the country's maritime rights and the government's delineation of a maritime border."
Kassam commented on Israel's remarks vis-à-vis the maritime border, saying: "The Israeli threats do not frighten us. We will not change our position and continue to maintain our rights.
"Israel knows its threats fall on deaf ears in Lebanon, after it tasted the bitter taste of the mighty Lebanese resistance."
On Monday Lebanese President Michel Suleiman warned Israel against "taking any unilateral decision regarding the maritime border, which violates international law – as it often does on many matters."
Suleiman's comments came after Jerusalem handed the United Nations its position on Israel's maritime border with the Land of Cedars, by which the border should be drawn further north, leaving Israel an area thought to contain natural gas as well as oil reserves.
According to Israel, the coordinates Lebanon reported to the UN contradict the border delineation agreement signed between Beirut and Cyprus in 2007.
http://fwd4.me/06as 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 14 juli 2011
Issawiya of East Jerusalem Resist Home Demolition
Jerusalem/PNN Exclusive/By SWK – White plumes of smoke streak across the sky saturating the air with tear gas, a common sight in the East Jerusalem town of Issawiya that has become notorious for resisting home demolitions.
Residents there, like many across East Jerusalem, take part in a continuous struggle for the right to expand on their land, throwing rocks at the vehicles of the Israeli Army, police, city officials and sometimes anyone that seems foreign. Rocks are the only defense against the gas and rubber bullets that are used on the villagers when they resist home demolitions.
It’s been five days since the start of the gas this week, the first day resulting in one Israeli Army truck taking substantial damage from the young men’s rocks has meant sporadic assaults day and night and there is talk about a curfew for the upcoming weekend. However, the chaos erupting in Issawiya this week is nothing out of the ordinary as the tug of war for land ownership in East Jerusalem persists, and houses continue to be demolished under contorted legalities.
Israeli zoning policies allow for Palestinians to build on just 13% of the land in East Jerusalem. This 13% is already densely inhabited and doesn’t leave much room for new infrastructure or expansion for existing residence.
The United Nations declared its opposition to Israel’s action in Jerusalem in Resolution 465 stating that “all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity” stating a “flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) estimated that there are currently 20,000 homes in East Jerusalem facing demolition orders.
The Jerusalem Municipalities website states “The Municipality of Jerusalem demolishes buildings or parts of buildings for reasons of urban planning, not for security matters.” The website also claims that houses are only demolished when not yet inhabited and when built without a permit on land that interferes with public plans for infrastructure like schools, parks and roads.
Citizens of East Jerusalem say this is not the case. Issa Nasser, a resident of Issawiya, tells PNN of his cousin’s house situated between preexisting homes that was demolished 3 times. On the third demolition the man threw himself from the top floor resulting in permanent paralysis and is now confined to a wheelchair.
“We apply for permits” Nasser states, “But they are not given to us, we have children, what can we do?” He asks, throwing his hands into the air. “We must build on our land to survive, to expand, would they have my sons marry and sleep with his wife and children here in my house? There isn’t room. I am not allowed to build up even, any building they want to destroy. I haven’t another option.” 94% of all housing permits requested are denied.
Palestinians are forced to build illegally because they are not granted permits, granting permits would interfere with the plan set out by the Jerusalem Municipality entitled Jerusalem 2000. This long term plan for the city openly intends to keep the Palestinian population in Jerusalem at 30% by 2020, a statistic that seems unlikely at the current growth rate of the Palestinian population.
According to the ICAHD Palestinians represent 30% of Jerusalem’s population but only reside in 7% of its lands, and are responsible for 40% of tax revenue and receive 8% of its spending.
The Jerusalem Municipality has confiscated 68 machines used for construction of homes between 2004 and 2010; the fine for retrieving ones machine can be as high as NIS 40,000.
Many groups like the Stop Caterpillar Campaign, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and The Al-Maqdese for Society Development help to intervene in the home demolitions, unfortunately everyday battles are lost and families are made homeless.
http://fwd4.me/0i7f 5 dec 2011, 10:12 , Respect -
Maria 17 juli 2011
Hezbollah warns Israel over Med gas
BEIRUT (AFP) -- Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah on Sunday warned Israel against developing "a single meter" of disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean to search for offshore gas deposits.
The Lebanese government, which is dominated by Hezbollah, will restore the sovereignty of our waters in their entirety," said Mohammed Raad, head of the Hezbollah group in parliament, the state news agency ANI reported.
"The Israeli enemy cannot drill a single meter in these waters to search for gas and oil if the zone is disputed ... No company can carry out prospecting work in waters whose sovereignty is contested," he said.
Hezbollah in 2006 fought a deadly war with Israel in which most of Lebanon's major infrastructure was destroyed.
Last week, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur said the maritime border as proposed by Israel posed a threat to regional security.
The proposed frontier cuts through Lebanon's economic zone, he said, adding that Beirut would "turn to the United Nations."
The feud over offshore gas fields has deepened since Israel's cabinet on July 12 approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a UN opinion.
The proposed map lays out maritime borders that conflict significantly with those suggested by Lebanon in its own submission to the United Nations.
Lebanon's Energy Minister Gibran Bassil has said Beirut will not give up its maritime rights, and accused Israel of "violations of (Lebanese) waters, territory and airspace, and today our oil rights."
Israel has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields, some which are shared with Cyprus, that it hopes could help it to become an energy exporter.
But its development plans have stirred controversy with Lebanon, which argues the gas fields lie inside its territorial waters.
Israel does not have officially demarcated maritime borders with Lebanon, and the two nations remain technically at war.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=406087 5 dec 2011, 10:13 , Respect -
Maria 17 juli 2011
IOF detonation of explosives starts fire in Palestinian groves
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detonated a number of explosive devices near the city of Nablus on Sunday which started fire in tens of dunums of Palestinian cultivated land lots.
Local sources said that the incident took place near Zawata village west of Nablus, adding that the fire ate up tens of fruitful trees.
The sources said that the soldiers blocked Palestinian firefighters from reaching the scene to extinguish the fire, claiming absence of prior coordination, which caused a delay in their arrival for more than three hours.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers arrested three Palestinians in Al-Khalil village of Tafuh at dawn Sunday, locals said, noting that the soldiers broke into homes and searched them after ordering all citizens out of their houses.
IOF soldiers detained three Palestinians from Al-Khalil also on Saturday.
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IOF troops bulldoze land in central Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in armored vehicles advanced hundreds of meters to the east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that the IOF troops advanced in five armored vehicles including two military tractors and bulldozed and combed the area.
They said that the soldiers open sporadic fire every now and then but no casualties were reported.
http://fwd4.me/0i7e 5 dec 2011, 10:13 , Respect -
Maria 19 juli 2011
IOF troops bulldoze fertile Palestinian land
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces bulldozed tens of dunums of fertile Palestinian land in Al-Baka’a area to the east of Al-Khalil city on Tuesday, local sources reported.
They said that the occupation troops destroyed 35 dunums cultivated with various vegetables and confiscated irrigation equipment under gun threat.
The sources, noting that the land is the most fertile in the region, feared that the Israeli occupation authority wanted to expand the nearby Kiryat Arab and Kharsina settlements on the Baka’a land.
http://fwd4.me/0i7Z 5 dec 2011, 10:13 , Respect -
Maria 20 juli 2011
Israeli authorities demolish Palestinian home, threaten to raze another
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli authorities sent bulldozers to raze a two-storey Palestinian house in Majd Al-Kurum in north of Palestine occupied in 1948 without prior notice at the pretext of lack of construction permit.
Palestinian sources said that a big number of policemen and border police backed by a chopper surrounded the area at dawn Wednesday and blocked traffic in and out of it before breaking into the home of Fayez Khalaile and ordering all its occupants out without giving them time to take with them their personal belongings.
Khalaile said that the Israeli authorities refused his repeated attempts to license the house at the pretext it was near to the main road of Akka-Safad.
He added in a press release that he sought to delay the demolition in courts and won a ruling deferring the demolition for one year but was surprised to see the interior ministry team arriving without prior notice and tearing down his home.
In a related development, the Israeli occupation authority’s municipality in occupied Jerusalem served a demolition notice to a Palestinian in Silwan town at the pretext his house was built without permit and imposed a heavy fine on him (89000 shekels).
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Maria 21 juli 2011
Troops Uproot Olive Orchards Near Jerusalem
Israeli army bulldozers uprooted, on Thursday morning, Palestinian olive orchards that belong to residents of Beit Iksa village, in occupied East Jerusalem, in order to build a section of the illegal Annexation Wall, and to allow the expansion of Ramot illegal settlement.
http://fwd4.me/0i7T 5 dec 2011, 10:14 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2011
UN to intervene in Lebanon-Israel border tension
(3:10) UN to intervene in Lebanon-Israel border tension - Press TV News
Lebanon’s struggle with Israel has lately been amplified to include a conflict at sea.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that disputes over maritime delimitations between Israel and Lebanon could threaten peace and security. This comes after a consultative session regarding UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s report on the implementation of Resolution 1701.
Lebanon’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Nawwaf Salam accused Israel of unilaterally and illegitimately establishing a line of buoys in Lebanon’s territorial waters.
The situation could be further complicated since the UN interim force in Lebanon Known as UNIFL has no mandate to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel.
UNIFIL deputy spokesman Andrea Tenenti showed us that the Israeli buoys can clearly be seen from Lebanese shores. These are merely technical borders he told us, but UNIFIL is ready to be mediator in further talks to resolve the conflict.
However, Lebanon is a member of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea while Israel has not even signed the treaty:
Lebanon has strongly opposed Israel’s proposed maritime border which it believes clearly overlaps Lebanon’s map especially in this area- the southern Lebanese villages. Since Israel has not signed the international treaty on the law of the sea, observers fear Israeli unilateral action to begin digging for natural resources could be considered a renewed invasion of Lebanon which could even annul UN security resolution 1701 altogether.
Lebanese officials believe that preparing a draft-law that confirms Lebanon’s rights of the fields in the contested areas is a priority, something which will be addressed in the next parliamentary session.
Hezbollah has warned Israel against violating Lebanese waters saying that the Lebanese government, in cooperation with Hezbollah’s resistance and the Lebanese Army will restore the sovereignty of its waters. Lebanon says it has recorded some 8 thousand Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty.
Israel’s cabinet has approved a map of the country’s proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a U.N. opinion.
Israel has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.
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UN to intervene in Israel-Lebanon naval dispute?
Lebanese paper reports, high-ranking UN official willing to intervening in demarcation of sea border to prevent escalation.
The United Nations is ready to get involved in the dispute over Lebanon and Israel’s maritime borders, Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reported Friday.
A senior diplomatic source told the paper that high-ranking UN officials were “open” to the idea of intervening in the demarcation of a sea border between Lebanon and Israel, in order to allow each country to legitimately commence natural gas exploration.
“The point of getting a border in place is to avoid sources of conflict. And this is the major source of conflict,” the source said.
Meanwhile, UNIFIL forces are working to establish a naval security strip in coordination with Lebanon and Israel. “This will help maritime security and prevent hostile activities,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star.
He nevertheless stressed that UNIFIL's involvement would only apply to matters of security and not that of natural resources. “UNIFIL has no mandate to demarcate the line. A boundary is for the states to decide,” he said.
Last week, Israel decided to present its position on the matter before the United Nations. Israel claims that the border should be drawn further to the north leaving it with territory which some estimate contains natural gas reserves.
Israel claimed that the coordinates provided to the UN by Lebanon do not match those stipulated in the border agreement Beirut signed with Cyprus in 2007.
This prompted outrage in Lebanon, with statements on the matter coming from Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Hezbollah secretary general.
http://fwd4.me/07Hl 5 dec 2011, 10:14 , Respect -
Maria 23 juli 2011
OCHA: 2011 sees more West Bank demolitions than last two years combined
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released Friday revealed an alarming increase in the number of home demolitions this year in Area C of the occupied West Bank.
It documents that the total number of Palestinian structures destroyed by the Israeli occupation authorities so far in 2011 are more than that of those destroyed in 2009 and 2010 in Area C, where Israel has taken full civil and security control, except over Palestinian civilians, according to the Oslo Accords.
The report also emphasizes that demolitions have driven out already poor Bedouin communities from Area C ''who live in basic structures, with no infrastructure and very limited access to services''.
Thousands of Palestinians in Khan al-Ahmar village near Jerusalem are at risk of displacement due to the rising number of collective demolitions tracked against Bedouin structures near the Jewish settlement of Maale Adomim, which has been approved to be expanded, the document points out.
Last week, at least 250 military orders were issued to demolish structures in the vicinity of Bedouin communities under Israeli security and administrative control near Jerusalem, it says.
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- 1 juli 2011
IOA decides to demolish Mohammed Al-Fateh Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- David Harari, the vice-mayor of the Zionist administration of Jerusalem municipality, has issued an order to stop all renovations made to the Mohammed Al-Fateh mosque and to demolish it altogether alleging the construction was illegal.
The Mosque stands only a short distance from the Aqsa Mosque which sends the message that the Israeli occupation has no respect for Muslim holy shrines, and that it could demolish mosques anytime it wishes, said Fakhri Abu Deyab, the chairman of the committee for the defense of Silwan town.
But Abu Deyab pledged to defend the mosque and to stop the Israeli decision with all available means and at all cost, saying that the Israeli society “Israel Land Fund” was behind the call to destroy the mosque alleging the renovations were illegal.
Last January, fanatic Israeli groups supported by Israeli soldiers assaulted the mosque to stop the renovation works with the pretext that workers from the West Bank were doing the renovations.
The society even accused the IOA of being “lenient” with calls to destroy the mosque that overlooks the old town in Jerusalem city although they seized vast areas of Muslim endowment land around the mosque and established a Jewish cemetery on it with the aim to distort Muslim identity of the area as part of the Judaization plan the IOA had been carrying out in the city for decades now.
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IOF troops raid the village of Kafr al-Deek and uproot trees
SALFIT, (PIC)-- IOF troops raided on Thursday afternoon the village of Kafr al-Deek near Salfit and uprooted dozens of olive trees from the fields belonging to the villagers under the pretext that the trees are in “government lands” close to the Eili Zahaf settlement.
Local sources said that IOF troops in large numbers raided the village accompanied with the so called civil administration officers and spread throughout the agricultural lands around the village.
The sources added that the IOF troops imposed a security cordon in the area to the north of the Eili Zahaf settlement which is built on confiscated lands belonging to the Kafr al-Deek villagers and a military bulldozer started uprooting olive trees in the area.
The Salfit district is one of the most targeted area in the West Bank for land confiscation and the number of Jewish settlements built on confiscated Palestinian land causing daily suffering for Palestinians.
http://fwd4.me/0i7r 5 dec 2011, 10:09 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011, 10:09 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011, 10:09 , Respect -
Maria 5 juli 2011
Israeli Troops Invade West Bank Communities; Demolish a Home and Arrests 6 Civilians
Bethlehem- PNN- During pre-dawn Invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities Israeli troops arrested 6 men after searching homes, Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday.
Elsewhere Israeli troops and an army bulldozer stone the village of Beit Iskaria near Bethlehem, in Southern West Bank, and demolished one home there.
The house belongs to Mohammed Sa’d and is the home of 10 people, Sa’d was fighting an army demolishing order in court he explained that the court did not rule against the house yet and the army action violates the court order of leaving the status quo.
Beit Iskaria Village lies on the middle of Israeli settlement compound all the village homes are slated for demolishing by the military which claims that the villagers are building houses without permissions.
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