- 2 juni 2011
Israel to evict 30,000 Palestinians
Israel plans to expel 30,000 Palestinians from south of the occupied territories in the course of five years.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drafted a plan to evict 30,000 Palestinians of the Bedouin community from the Negev desert to expanded areas of existing Negev Palestinian towns such as Rahat, Kseifa and Hura.
The plan is in line with recommendations made by the Goldberg Committee and will be put to vote in the Israeli cabinet in the coming weeks, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on Thursday.
The Goldberg Committee has been established by Israel to present recommendations regarding the Palestinian settlement in the Negev.
The plan is estimated to cost between USD 1.7 and USD 2.3 billion.
According to the project, Palestinians will receive replacement land of half the area they claim and will be compensated either with cash or with construction sites the state promises to develop.
Representatives of Palestinians and human rights organizations are scheduled to meet this weekend at Neveh Shalom. Bedouin leaders have threatened to take legal action to stop the plan if it is approved.
Leading Palestinian activist Awad Abu Farih has called the plan a disaster that will stoke up conflict between the Palestinian residents of the Negev.
Human rights activists also say the measure does not provide recognition of Bedouin natives and forces them to relocate against their will.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182892.html
Israel temporarily expels residents of Jordan Valley village
TUBAS (Ma’an) -- About 200 Palestinians were forced to leave their village in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday, locals said, instructed by Israeli forces to vacate the northern West Bank area as a training mission was conducted.
According to villagers, who said soldiers and civil administration officials instructed them to move two kilometers outside the village of Khirbet Yarza, they were not told when they would be permitted to return.
Residents told Ma'an that they feared the move preempted their permanent expulsion from the area.
The Saudi-Arabia based Arab News service said Wednesday that settlements observer Ahmed Al-As'aad reported the incident, and quoted head of the village council Mokhles Masa’ed as saying the village had been declared a closed military zone.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392877
5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 3 juni 2011
Israeli destruction of Jordan Valley-INfocus
(8:04) Israeli destruction of Jordan Valley-INfocus-03-06-2011-(Part1)
(7:55) Israeli destruction of Jordan Valley-INfocus-03-06-2011-(Part2)
(8:44) Israeli destruction of Jordan Valley-INfocus-03-06-2011-(Part3)
Zionist plan to banish 30,000 Palestinians from Negev
Nazareth, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation government is planning to displace around 30,000 Palestinian citizens from their villages in the Negev desert, south of occupied Palestine, and to put them in a number of existing villages after expanding them, the Hebrew Haaretz news paper reported Thursday.
According to the paper, the plan will be presented to the Israeli Knesset (parliament) to ratify it, adding that the government offered the affected Palestinians money and pieces of land in exchange for leaving their indigenous land.
The Zionist government refuse to recognize dozens of Palestinian villages in the Negev desert in blatant violation of human rights and international laws.
Israeli officials were quoted as saying that the current situation in the Negev area couldn’t go on as is, warning that number of Palestinian citizens in the area was doubling every 15 years, which, according to the Israelis, poses demographic danger to the Zionist entity.
Palestinian records revealed that around 191,000 Palestinian citizens were living in the Negev but nearly 71,000 of them are living in 36 villages the IOA refused to recognize.
http://fwd4.me/036M
5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 6 juni 2011
Jewish settlers burn 250 Palestinian trees in Nablus village
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Jewish settlers started a huge fire in Palestinian farmland in Deir Al-Hatab village east of Nablus on Monday burning 250 olive and almond trees, local sources reported.
They said that Palestinian fire brigades managed to contain and extinguish the fire before it spread to nearby groves.
The firefighters said that the fire destroyed 200 olive trees and 50 almond trees, but hundreds others were protected and saved.
Jewish settlers deliberately target Palestinian plantations at this time of the year when the temperature is high so as to facilitate spread of the blaze.
http://fwd4.me/03Hg
Settlers Attack Palestinians in Southern West Bank
Hebron - PNN - On Monday morning a group of armed settlers attacked Palestinian farmers from the Um Al Khayr village, to the south of Hebron city in the southern West Bank, and stopped them from herding their sheep and reaching their land.
According to farmers, armed settlers from the Karmel settlement came in the morning, protected by Israeli soldiers and attacked shepherds and prevented them from accessing their land.
Meanwhile, in the Old City of Hebron, Palestinian sources reported that a group of settlers searched people's homes and assaulted bystanders by throwing sewage water at them.
http://fwd4.me/03Fs 5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 7 juni 2011
Jewish settlers burn Palestinian farmland
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Jewish settlers from the settlement of Karmi Tzur built on Palestinian land in Halhul and Beit Ummar villages in Al-Khalil on Tuesday set Palestinian farmland on fire.
Local sources said that the settlers burnt three dunums of land cultivated with wheat and sprayed chemicals on grape vines.
They said that one of the settlers fired gunshots to stop farmers from putting off the fire. The settlers routinely embark on such acts to force farmers to abandon their land and annex it to the settlement.
http://fwd4.me/03NP
Hamas: Burning mosques racist policy
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Hamas strongly condemned the Israeli settlers’ burning of a mosque in Mughyir village to the northeast of Ramallah on Tuesday as a racist act and a flagrant violation of heavenly religions.
It said that burning the mosque and writing racist slurs on its walls had violated international conventions and human values.
The fire almost destroyed the mosque entirely and its outside walls cracked. Hebrew Graffiti daubed on the walls said that it was an act of revenge.
Hamas said in a press release that presence of the Israeli army before the burning indicated that it was an accomplice.
The movement asserted that the Israeli army and settlers’ crimes would not deter the Palestinian people from insisting on national rights and constants.
It finally called on human rights groups to immediately act to protect the Palestinian people and their holy shrines.
http://fwd4.me/03NO
5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 9 juni 2011
Israel approves oxymoronic 'tolerance' museum on Muslim cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation's Jerusalem municipality planning committee has approved a plan to build a so-called ”tolerance museum” in the city's center.
But the oxymoronic Jewish museum of ”tolerance” is planned to be built on the historic Muslim Ma'manullah cemetery and would require the removal of hundreds of ancient skeletons of Muslims dating back to Medieval times.
According to Israeli media, the project was designed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the self-proclaimed Nazi hunter that works to stop anti-Judaism.
The Jerusalem municipality delayed approval of the project for the last two years in order for changes to be made on the architectural plan.
Ma'manullah cemetery, located west of Jerusalem's Old City 2 km away from Al-Aqsa Mosque's Al-Khalil gate, is the largest Islamic cemetery in Jerusalem, with an area of some 200 dunums.
http://fwd4.me/03Xs 5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 10 juni 2011
Demo almost over as the sun sets. Another long tear gas friday in Nabi Saleh
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Najeh Bekeirat, the head of planning section in the Aqsa Mosque, has strongly condemned Thursday the Israeli decision of constructing the "tolerance" museum on the Mamanullah Muslim cemetery, and described it as clear "racism".
"What the Israeli occupation authority is doing in Mamanullah has nothing to do with tolerance but it is indeed racism and the museum itself is racist par excellence," said Bekeirat in an interview with the PIC.
He added that the Israeli decision is clear declaration of war in all directions against the Palestinian and the Arab identity of the occupied city of Jerusalem with the aim to liquidate the entire Palestinian state and not to Judaize the city only.
He, however, invited all concerned parties to join hands in order to block the Israeli plan with all the force they have, explaining that the Israeli extremist waves against Jerusalem and its Arab and Muslim identity is planned individually and institutionally.
Furthermore, Bekeirat said that the IOA seized big parts of the 200 dunum (1 dunum= 1000 sq meters) cemetery and built resorts, hotels, and parks on it, adding that seven dunums of what remained of the cemetery's area was usurped in favor the proposed museum.
He also asserted that "directed" Israeli gangs were breaking graves inside the cemetery in clear indifference on the part of the Jewish administration of the city's municipality.
He warned that the Zionist plan wants to force as many Palestinian Jerusalemites as they could out of the city and to destroy everything relating to Muslim and Arab identity, explaining that both goals pour in one issue that is to Judaize the city.
In this regard, Bekeirat called on the Palestinian people in Jerusalem to remain steadfast in their city and to prepare themselves for the next confrontation to preserve Jerusalem, urging them not to leave the Aqsa Mosque alone.
"The Palestinian Jerusalemites must understand that they are in the front line in defending the Aqsa Mosque, and that if they abandoned this honor it would mean they are finished," Bekierat underscored, calling on Arabs and Muslims to support their brothers in Jerusalem.
"I wonder how Arabs and Muslims all over the world keep silent over those heinous Israeli practices against Muslim holy shrines in Palestine," Bekeirat said, urging the immediate prosecution of the Zionist entity on all crimes it had and still is committing against the city.
http://fwd4.me/03d2 5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 11 juni 2011
UNRWA: Israel displaced 67 Palestinian children in May
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israel displaced a record number of Palestinian children in May, the latest figures from the UN agency for refugees reveal.
Throughout the month, 304 Palestinians were affected by Israel's demolitions in the West Bank, including 67 children who were displaced, the UN Relief and Works Agency reported Thursday.
"The figure for displaced and affected includes people who were not necessarily displaced by demolitions, but who were affected because some vital facility, like a water system, was destroyed," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said.
He urged Israel to respect its obligations under international law to ensure the rights of persons under its jurisdiction, including the rights to housing, health, education and water.
Some 64 children were displaced in Area C, the UN agency reported.
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel fully controls Area C, which includes 60 percent of the West Bank. Israel only allows Palestinians to build in 1 percent of Area C, on land which is already heavily built up.
"Palestinians are refused permits and are forced to build illegally. They then suffer the humiliation either of having the Israeli authorities destroy their homes, or are forced to destroy their homes themselves and foot the bill," said Gunness.
"Children often watch with their parents as their homes are demolished. A house is a place of safety and comfort for most children around the world. A home demolished is a future destroyed."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=395267 5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 13 juni 2011
Israel's Government Authorises Mining of Natural Gas off Gaza Shore
Tel Aviv - PNN - The Israeli Ministry of Infrastructure has demanded permission from the gas company Nobel Energy to start working in developing the natural gas field that was found off the Gaza Strip shoreline, under the pretext that Israel fears gas shortages in the coming year.
In a press statement on Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Infrastructre said that it officially requested permission from Nobel Energy to submit a work programme to dig and develop gas fields by July.
The ministry explained that the reason official permission has been sought before digging the oil is because the field is close to the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip.
Israel gets natural gas from Egypt through an agreement in which Israel less than internationally recognised prices to Egypt. After the Egyptian uprising and the toppling of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian people demanded that the channeling of gas to Israel would be stopped until a new agreement could be reached, so that the Egyptian people could benefit first from their natural resources.
A large concentration of natural gas was found off the Gaza shoreline, and the British Gas group along with Lebanese partners were given the right to dig there and sell the gas during an agreement that was signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.
The British company had already set up two gas wells called Gaza Marine 1 and Gaza Marine 2. According to the British Gas group, the natural reservoir offf the Gaza shore is estimated at 1.5 trillion cubic meters, at a net worth of around $4 billion US dollars.
However, Chossodovsky, an Israeli official, estimated that the amount of gas in Palestine is much more, adding that it could make the future Palestinian state as rich as Kuwait, due to the average population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Nobel Energy is a US based company based in New York that digs oil and natural gas internationally.
Dmitry Dliani, Fatah top official, commented on the Israeli Ministry of Infrastructure decision as a license to steal the Gaza gas, as part of Israeli attacks on Palestinian rights. Dliani demanded international protection for the Palestinian natural gas reservoir off the Gaza shore.
http://fwd4.me/03lz
Shareholders to Caterpillar: ‘our product has become Israel’s weapon of choice for ethnic cleansing and potentially even war crimes’
IDF Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer with cage armor and FN MAG 7.62mm machinegun
This speech was given to the Caterpillar Corporation’s CEO, their board of directors, and top management at the annual Caterpillar shareholder’s meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 8, 2011.
The speech was given on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace, which had purchased shares of Caterpillar stock so we could offer a shareholder proposal and make a speech in support of it. http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
Our shareholder proposal urged Caterpillar to review its policies related to human rights and to conform more fully with international human rights standards. Our proposal was endorsed many shareholders, including the Catholic Sisters of Loretto, and a coalition of other religious organizations. The proposal can be read at this link (PDF, look for Proposal 11): http://fwd4.me/03rh
Although our proposal did not pass, it received 21% of the votes, which is considered a high number for a proposal that was opposed by the company management.
Caterpillar shareholder speech in favor of Proposal 11
By Russ Greenleaf, on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace
June 8, 2011
Little Rock, Arkansas
Hi. I’m Russ Greenleaf, a shareholder with Jewish Voice for Peace and a coalition of religious organizations, speaking in favor of Proposal 11.
I am Jewish. I am not anti-Israel. I have friends in Israel, and I want what’s best for them.
Caterpillar’s sale of D9 bulldozers to Israel is not good for Israel or for Caterpillar’s reputation. Israel’s routine use of those D9’s to destroy the homes of innocent Palestinian’s is making Israel a pariah in the world and destroying any chance for peace.
Amnesty International says, and I quote:
House demolitions usually are carried out without warning, often at night, and the occupants are given little or no time to leave their homes. Often the only warning they get is the rumbling of the Israeli army’s Caterpillar bulldozers. They barely have time to flee as the bulldozers tear down the walls of their homes.
Sometimes they are buried alive under the rubble.
An Israeli newspaper reported that an Israeli army D9 dozer operator said, and I quote:
I had no mercy for anybody. I would erase anyone with the D9. They were warned by loudspeaker to get out of the house before I came, but I gave no one a chance. I didn’t wait. I didn’t give one blow and wait for them to come out. I would just ram the house with full power, to bring it down as fast as possible.
Ladies and gentlemen these are very serious human rights violations, and they happen again and again -- with our knowledge.
The Israeli army says, quote: “The D9 is a strategic weapon here.”
Fellow shareholders, our product has become Israel’s weapon of choice for ethnic cleansing and potentially even war crimes. Israel knows it, and the world knows it. Yet our management buries its head in the sand when dealing with human rights. They say, quote:
"It is not clear what is meant by the Company's 'policies related to human rights.' "
That is exactly why we need proposal 11 – a call to review Caterpillar’s policies related to human rights and to conform more fully with human rights standards.
In the video we just saw, a Caterpillar representative said, “Our brand – our name – has high expectations. I think we should exceed high expectations.”
Caterpillar makes very little money from selling these military D9’s to Israel, but the cost to Caterpillar’s reputation is enormous, and escalating. It’s time to call a halt. Passing proposal 11 is a very modest first step in that direction. It’s long overdue.
I move proposal 11. Please vote for it. Thank you.
http://fwd4.me/03rg
Mosque, school handed demolition orders
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israel's Civil Administration handed out demolition orders for a mosque and public school in the village of Bruqin on Sunday, prompting an immediate condemnation from Palestinian leaders.
Visiting the village, whose land abuts and in many instances has been confiscated by the nearby Ale Zahev settlement, Palestinian political leader Mustafa Barghouthi described the Israeli decision as "criminal."
"Mosques that survive the arson attempts of settlers only stand to be demolished by the bulldozers of Israel's military," the leader of the Palestinian Independent Initiative party said.
"The demolition of mosques and houses is not only meant to take control of land, but also to displace our people and uproot them from their land," he added, referring to accusations made last week that Israeli settlers were behind the torching of a mosque in the northern West Bank.
"Stop hesitating on negotiations with an Israeli government controlled by settlers," the official urged the Palestinian leadership, as urging popular resistance and international sanctions against Israel.
The Bruqin's Omar Mosque and elementary school were targeted with the orders, which demand the demolition of recent additions of prayer halls and classrooms for the overcrowded public institutions.
A spokesman for the Civil Administration said the demolition orders were part of "routine implementation of the law concerning new illegal building (i.e. building without the necessary permits)."
His statement asked village leaders to "make a step and apply for legal plan and building permits for the new structures."
In March, the UN Relief and Works Agency recorded 76 demolitions of Palestinian buildings. By the early summer, more than 400 buildings had been demolished.
In April, UN officials warned of a doubling of home and building demolitions carried out by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2011.
"I am not saying this is classic ethnic cleansing, but the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned this discrimination and make no mistake, it is discrimination against one ethnic group," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness commented following the release of the demolition figures.
"The West Bank is where the future Palestinian state is meant to be situated. Its viability is being reduced with each demolition."
The UN agency urged peace makers to pressure Israel to end its discriminatory practices, noting that the culture of impunity led to more abuses, stimulated anger and resentment on both sides and impeded the peace process.
"Homes, families, lives and the peace process are being demolished," Gunness said.
The body ordering the demolition is Israel's Civil Administration, the country's government arm in the occupied West Bank, which dictates regulations for civilians in zones marked as areas B and C under the Oslo Peace Accords signed in the 1990s. The body works with the military, police and liaises with the Palestinian Authority and some NGOs.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=396057
5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 14 juni 2011
IOF soldiers torch hundreds of Palestinian dunums
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) set hundreds of dunums of cultivated land west of Ramallah city and near the racist, separation wall on fire.
Local sources said that the fire spread in the Safa village land near the separation wall on Monday night and that villagers rushed to extinguish the blaze but were prevented by the IOF troops.
The IOF command claimed that it was cleaning the land of weed fearing possible infiltration of Palestinians across it.
IOF troops started fire in agricultural land near Azun village in Qalqilia a couple of days earlier causing fire to spread and destroy vast areas of farmers’ land.
http://fwd4.me/03rj
10 homes bulldozed in Jericho valley
JERICHO (Ma'an) -- The tin homes of ten Bedouin families in the Jordan valley were demolished on Tuesday morning, and power meters confiscated, residents said, leaving dozens homeless.
The Bedouin hamlet of Fasayil, north of Jericho, was invaded by 14 Israeli military jeeps escorting two bulldozers at 6 a.m., resident Wahid Ali told Ma'an.
While most of the materials were simply crushed and buried, Ali noted, soldiers confiscated power meters after disconnecting them from the power grid.
"I have been living here for four years with my wife and four children. Israeli bulldozers have just destroyed everything. They even confiscated the cables and power meters leaving the area completely disconnected," a second resident, Imad Mousa, said.
Head of Fasayil’s local council Ibrahim Ubayyat said residents had been warned by Israeli authorities not to build homes in the area, which is classified as Area C under the Oslo Accords. But villagers who farm the fertile fields in the Jordan Valley say they have nowhere else to go if they are to maintain their livelihoods.
Ubayyat said he had contacted the ICRC "to try and ease people's suffering," and adding that they hoped to re-establish tent homes in the area for the farmers.
Coordinator of the Campaign to Support the Jordan Valley, Fathi Khudeirat, said that by forcing Palestinian farmers out of the area, access to the most fertile areas of the West Bank was being cut off. "The valley is the main source of agricultural production, Palestinian officials are grossly overlooking this area," he said.
Owners of the sheds demolished Tuesday said they planned to continue farming the area and would seek to re-establish themselves and their families.
They were identified as Sami Mousa Ali, Khadir Yasin Irsheid, Hussein Yasin Irsheid, Abed Yasin Irsheid, Ali Hussein Zayid, Najih Ali Zayid, Kayid Atallah Ratib, Talib Mousa, Khalid Abdullah Ghazal and his brother Issa.
A representative of Israel's Civil Administration, which orders and executes demolitions in the West Bank, could not be reached for comment by phone.
Fasayil is the latest in a string of Jordan Valley communities targeted by Israeli forces for demolitions. In March tent homes were demolished near Tubas http://fwd4.me/03w , ad homes in the same area were targeted with demolitions in April http://fwd4.me/03wX , and later in the month shepherd dwellings in the northern valley were also taken down http://fwd4.me/03wY .
A report released by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem in May accused Israel of unjustly dominating the land, water resources and even tourist sites in the valley area, in what was described as a prelude to a de facto annexation of territory.
"Israel has instituted a regime that massively exploits the resources of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, far more than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention: to de facto annex the area to the state of Israel," a B'Tselem statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=396569
IOF razes five wells, arrests seven Palestinians in West Bank
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Clashes erupted as Israeli occupation forces began Tuesday razing five private wells in Harayiq south of Al-Khalil city and rounded up several Palestinians across the West Bank.
The wells were property of Palestinian Abdul-Hameed al-Jamal and his son Samer.
The soldiers raided the Harayiq area Tuesday morning enforced by military vehicles and a bulldozer, locals reported. They handed the owners military decisions to demolish the wells under allegations that they were built without permits.
The sources said skirmishes and scuffles broke out as the IOF soldiers attacked using fists and tear gas canisters.
Several locals suffered from the effects of breathing tear gas.
The same day in the West Bank, IOF soldiers arrested seven Palestinians after conducting search raids on their homes.
The arrestees included two minors from Hosam village west of Bethlehem as well as a 12-year-old boy at Bab al-Zawiya in Al-Khalil province. The latter was said to have been physically assaulted by the soldiers.
http://fwd4.me/03wQ
Israeli forces demolish 5 wells in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces demolished five water wells in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning, targeting a neighborhood in the city's south.
The wells belonged to the Al-Jamal family, brother of the owner Samir Abdul-Hamid Ma’an.
Soldiers and crews from Israel's Civil Administration arrived on the property early, Samir said, assaulting family members who attempted to prevent the demolitions and then deploying tear-gas to drive them out of the area.
Five wells were destroyed and filled-in, "under the guise that they were built without a license," Samir said.
An Israeli military spokesman said border police securing the area had used "riot dispersal mechanisms" in the area, but officials from the unit could not be reached for comment, nor could a representative of the Civil Administration.
On 30 May, eight wells near Jenin were demolished by order of the Civil Administration, which said the wells were unlicensed.
A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration said the wells had not been approved by the Joint Water Commission, a body set up under the Oslo Accords. According to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, Israeli partners on the committee "constantly vetoed Palestinian water projects, hindering any development.
"Due to the non-functioning management of the water sector there are no water recycling pumps that will allow the people to have enough water for agriculture," the spokesman noted, though researchers say attempts to build water treatment facilities have been stymied.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=396523
IOF soldiers destroy Bedouin tents
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) tore down Bedouin tents and tin homes in Fasayel Al-Wusta area in the Jordan Valley on Tuesday morning rendering ten families homeless.
Safa news agency quoted local sources as saying that IOF soldiers stormed the area in more than 30 armored vehicles and escorted military bulldozers that knocked down the tents and tin homes without any prior notice.
It said that the IOF demolition displaced more than 120 individuals including women, children, and old people. Bedouins in Fasayel Al-Tihta opened their homes for the displaced families.
Locals said that the soldiers confiscated small electricity generators used by those Bedouins.
The sources noted that the IOF soldiers recently discovered relics in the area and demolished the Bedouin homes in a bid to turn the area into a tourist attraction.
http://fwd4.me/03w
5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 15 juni 2011
Israel loots Gaza's natural reserves
(2:58) 'Israel after Gaza natural resources' - Press TV News
Palestinian energy officials have blasted Israel for the looting of Gaza's natural resources, saying the reserves legally belong to Palestinians.
Earlier this week, American crude oil and gas exploration giant, Noble Energy, obtained permission from Israeli officials to begin developing a natural gas field off the Gaza Strip coastline, a Press TV report said Tuesday.
Israeli regime's ministry of national infrastructure has claimed the shortage of natural gas supplies was the main reason behind granting approval to the US corporation to develop the field.
This is while Tel Aviv has for some years used rich oil and gas reserves that sit off the northeast tip of the Gaza sliver, which were once parts of the Palestinian territory.
In year 2000, British Gas (BG) drilled two wells in the region, named as Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2.
The value of the wells is estimated to be USD 4 billion.
“This is nothing but theft of Palestinian's natural resources. Palestinians are the only ones who should benefit from natural gas reserves,” Kanan Obeid, a Gaza Energy authority said.
Moreover, UN resolution 3005 has clearly stated that natural wealth and resources of the Gaza Strip fall under the control of residents of the occupied territories.
Consequently, analysts blame the international community for an outright negligence in failing to uphold the rights of the Palestinians.
“I think this comes in line with Israel consistent policy of stealing Palestinian's land, stealing natural resources and I think that Israel knows very well that it can get away with murder due to international conspiracy of silence,” Haidar Eid, a political analyst said.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184762.html
Owners of destroyed homes close down UNRWA premises in protest
GAZA, (PIC)-- Owners of destroyed homes in Rafah and Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, have decided to close down UNRWA main offices in protest at the latter’s delay in starting to re-build their homes, which were destroyed in the Israeli war on Gaza.
A committee of those citizens charged UNRWA with not being sincere in its bid to re-build their homes, explaining that the agency had promised to start building in mid June, that is today but nothing happened.
A committee member Iyad Barhoum told Safa news agency that UNRWA gave three dates for preparing then starting the construction but nothing took place.
“We discovered that UNRWA promises were nothing more than ink on paper,” he said, adding that the agency voiced trivial pretexts such as that Israel only gave verbal rather than written approval to start construction and import necessary material.
http://fwd4.me/03zW
Threat posed by state Israel to unrecognized Beduin villages
(4:33) Umm al-Hieran
IOF serves notice for demolition of village mosque
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday stormed the village of Ma’sara south of Bethlehem and told the inhabitants that their village mosque would be knocked down for unlicensed construction.
Spokesman of the popular anti-wall committee in Bethlehem Mohammed Brejiah said in a press release that the notice gave the inhabitants 13 days to contest the decision at the civil administration’s office in Etzion south of the city or else the demolition would take place after this period.
He pointed out that the village is the target of intensive settlement activity, noting that it witnesses weekly anti wall and anti settlement rallies.
The IOF troops earlier Tuesday destroyed five water wells south of Al-Khalil, local sources said, adding that clashes erupted between the soldiers and owners of the water wells. Soldiers beat the citizens and fired gas bombs at them, they said.
http://fwd4.me/03xQ
Demolition orders handed to farmers
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israel's Civil Administration handed out demolition orders to three farmers in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, advising the men that greenhouses and farm buildings would shortly face bulldozers.
Officials from the agricultural village of Majdal in the Nablus region said water collecting buckets and plastic tenting around produce were targeted in the orders, affecting the farms of Hani Bani Fadel, Ayed Bani Fadel and Imad Bani Fadel.
A tractor from the farm of Fadel was confiscated, a local official told Ma'an, and the farmer was told that he would have to appeal to the court to have it returned.
Further north, the Civil Administration demolished ten tin homes in a Bedouin agricultural community in the Jordan Valley, and filled in five agricultural wells in the southern district of Hebron.
In April, UN officials warned that home and building demolitions carried out by Israeli forces had doubled since the beginning of 2011, in May, UN reports showed that demolitions displaced a record number of Palestinian children.
An estimated 400 Palestinian homes and buildings have been demolished by Israeli forces since the start of the year.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=396377
5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 16 juni 2011
Silwan inhabitants fear confiscation of their land in court ruling
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Silwan town committee has called for a sit-in before the Jerusalem court of construction and planning on Thursday which is supposed to issue a ruling on confiscation of 550 dunums of land in Silwan, Jabl Mukabir, and Wad Yasul in occupied Jerusalem.
The committee described the scheme as the most serious over the past few years as it covers vast area of land and is close to the Old City gates.
It said in a statement that the land might be lost forever in light of the current situation in the holy city, pointing to the Israeli government’s decision to allocate 100 million dollars for the purpose of confiscation of land and demolition of Palestinian houses.
http://fwd4.me/041X 5 dec 2011, 10:06 , Respect -
Maria 17 juni 2011
Occupation bulldozers demolish Palestinian homes in Negev
NEGEV, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished three residential structures in the villages of Karnab and Faraa, two unrecognised villages of Negev in southern occupied Palestine, as part of the occupation efforts to cleanse the Negev of Palestinian Bedouins.
Head of the regional council of unrecognised villages, Ibrahim al-Waqili, said in an appeal that “the occupation authorities enjoy the demolition of Arab homes,” adding “Not one week passes without the demolition of an Arab home in the Negev and the unrecognised villages to put the plan of punishing the Negev Palestinians into practice.”
“For the Zionist Ministry of Interior to choose this this time for the demolition is an indication that they aim to destroy man not walls,” he said, pointing out that the occupation authorities chose the time of final secondary exams to carry out such demolitions to demolish the hopes affected students of passing their final exams.
http://fwd4.me/047F
5 dec 2011, 10:07 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011, 10:07 , Respect -
Maria 19 juni 2011
IOA serves demolition notifications to citizens in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) delivered demolition notices to Palestinian citizens in northern Jordan Valley on Sunday, locals said.
They told the PIC reporter that the IOA warned four families in Hadidiya area that they should tear down their tents and tin houses within a period of one month and a half and leave the area at the pretext that their land is in the proximity of an army training field.
About 110 Palestinians inhabit the area under severe deprivation of simplest human rights especially after a Jewish settlement was established on their land with only 35 individuals inhabiting it.
The settlers blocked all routes leading to Hadidiya and prevented its inhabitants from passing through the gate erected by those settlers to separate them from nearby Palestinian cities such Tobas and Tamon.
http://fwd4.me/04Hc
1 juni 2011
IOF evacuates Jordan Valley village declaring military zone
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces used heavy machinery and artillery on Wednesday morning to eject residents of Irza hamlet in the Jordan Valley as it has declared the area a closed military zone.
Locals reported that more than 200 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes in the farming community and warned not to return.
The IOF chose the land for training because its terrain resembles that of southern Lebanon, according to Irza mayor Mukhlis Masaaid.
Several locals were reported to have been killed or injured as gunfire strays through from the three military barracks enclosing the village.
Masaaid said that locals have refused to succumb to the IOF's decision.
In a separate development, Jewish settlers have begun excavations ahead of construction in Dir al-Hatab, located east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
The settlers came from nearby Alon Moreh settlement, which was erected on lands belonging to the town and other nearby villages.
Around ten bulldozers are being used to excavate 600 dunums of land cultivated with olive groves, said local council head Abdul-Kareem Hussein.
http://fwd4.me/02uU
IOF evacuates Jordan Valley village declaring military zone
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces used heavy machinery and artillery on Wednesday morning to eject residents of Irza hamlet in the Jordan Valley as it has declared the area a closed military zone.
Locals reported that more than 200 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes in the farming community and warned not to return.
The IOF chose the land for training because its terrain resembles that of southern Lebanon, according to Irza mayor Mukhlis Masaaid.
Several locals were reported to have been killed or injured as gunfire strays through from the three military barracks enclosing the village.
Masaaid said that locals have refused to succumb to the IOF's decision.
In a separate development, Jewish settlers have begun excavations ahead of construction in Dir al-Hatab, located east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
The settlers came from nearby Alon Moreh settlement, which was erected on lands belonging to the town and other nearby villages.
Around ten bulldozers are being used to excavate 600 dunums of land cultivated with olive groves, said local council head Abdul-Kareem Hussein.
http://fwd4.me/02uU