- 17 mei 2011
Israeli Demolitions More Than Double Since Last Year
The UN Agency for Palestinian refugees has stated that Israel has displaced 149 children, through housing demolitions, in the West Bank so far this year. The figures show a stark increase on numbers displaced and housing units demolished for the same period last year.
A total of 333 Palestinians were displaced from January to April as a result of the destruction of 78 residential units. The figures show a more than doubling of Israeli housing demolitions since the same period last year when 142 Palestinians were forcibly displaced.
The UN has urged Israel to halt the demolition of Palestinian homes. Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman, told Maan news agency that women and children live under the constant threat of harassment, eviction and disruption of their lives. EU commissioner Kristalina Georgieva echoed the UN statements on the issue, saying that Israel must be respect its obligations under international law.
For Palestinian activists the figures confirms the greater picture of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian Territories of Palestinians. Demolitions have been targeted specifically around areas in which the Israeli separation barrier is being built, that would then be annexed into Israel on completion of the divide. The UN figures come after the revelation by Israeli human rights group The Centre for the Defence of the Individual that Israel covertly cancelled the residency status of 140,000 Palestinians abroad during the period of 1967 to 1994 and refused to allow them back into the country.
The news comes on the back of a Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions report of a distinct slow down in demolitions in East Jerusalem as a result of international pressure. City Counciler and co founder of the Israeli Commitee Against Housing Demolitions Meri Margilet said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post that Right now house demolitions are at the minimum that is possible there's only been four or five demolitions so far this year...Why? Because the Americans came and said, This time, really, stop, no excuses, no stories.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61258
28 nov 2011, 11:31 , Respect -
Maria 29 nov 2011, 12:47 , Respect -
Maria 30 nov 2011, 14:09 , Respect -
Maria 21 mei 2011
Israel plans to seize 140,000 dunums of Dead Sea land
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation authorities have declared a new project aimed at seizing 140,000 dunums of land in the receding Dead Sea to be used for the interest of Jewish settlers.
Israel's government property official has submitted 12 petitions for land along the Dead Sea, some of those lands being under water, to take control of it and declare it state property.
The official has claimed that the land was left as the sea has been depleting since 1946. He has also requested lands currently under the sea that are expected to dry out.
Attorney Gayath Nasser, hired to defend the Palestinian villages adjacent to the Dead Sea, has objected to the petition saying that there is no security reason for the government to directly register such a large amount of land, and that the project is not in the interest of the local Palestinians.
Meanwhile, settlers in Ariel, which was erected in Salfit province, have continued to pollute the local environment with waste water, which has seeped several kilometers into the valleys and surrounding soil.
Locals in Bruqin have complained that waste water from Ariel has seeped through waterways adjacent to the illegal West Bank settlement.
Separately, the national and Islamic forces in Silwan in southern Jerusalem have called on all Palestinians working for Israel's nature authority and the Elad settlement fund to immediately stop working for those parties in order to preserve Palestinian lands.
The national and Islamic forces group regarded that those who oppose the calls have left the national and Islamic ranks.
The group said in a statement received by Quds Press on Saturday that the nature authority has exploited the youth's employment needs for the interests of settlement activity.
http://fwd4.me/01yQ
1 dec 2011, 11:26 , Respect -
Maria 22 mei 2011
Musrara neighborhood roads reopened
The demolition charge discovered in Musrara neighborhood in Jerusalem was cleared and roads have been reopened.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4072021,00.html
2 dec 2011, 18:30 , Respect -
Maria 23 mei 2011
IOF close Palestinian heritage committee in O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed the headquarters of the Palestinian heritage committee in occupied Jerusalem and closed it at the behest of the Israeli police.
Local sources said the headquarters in Wadi Al-Jwz neighborhood was shut down because the Israelis claimed it was run by the Hamas Movement.
The heritage committee was closed about six months ago, but its administration did not comply with the arbitrary police close orders.
http://fwd4.me/0248
3 dec 2011, 14:39 , Respect -
Maria 24 mei 2011
Israeli Soldiers Hand Demolition Orders to Palestinians in Hebron
HEBRON, (WAFA) Israeli soldiers Tuesday handed several Palestinian farmers demolition orders of four wells and agricultural facilities in the western area of Beit Ula, a town west of Hebron, according to Beit Ula Mayor Rateb Al-Omla.
The orders are to demolish four wells, agricultural facilities and tents. In addition to other orders to uproot trees planted in Wadi al-jalmoun and Towas, areas north of Beit Ula, near the western area of the Separation Wall.
Israeli soldiers have recently handed 16 other demolition orders to farmers under the pretext of lands are Israel's property and Palestinians have no right to work in or rehabilitate.
Omla said that there is an Israeli plan that aims to make this land barren and empty of trees and farmers, particularly after it got the attention of farmers, municipalities and institutions concerned in Land rehabilitation.
As part of rehabilitating these areas, 5000 olive and almond trees were planted within a project that aimed to greening land.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16226
The Matrix Of Control: On The Ground Realities
(14:59) The Matrix Of Control: On The Ground Realities (Part 1)
(14:58) The Matrix of Control: On The Ground Realities (Part 2)
(15:01) The Matrix of Control: On The Ground Realities (Part 3)
(8:34) The Matrix Of Control: On The Ground Realities (Part 4)
Jeff Halper (born 1946[1]) is an anthropologist,[2] author, lecturer, political activist, and co-founder and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). In 1997, Halper co-founded ICAHD to challenge and resist the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories, and to organize Israelis, Palestinians and international volunteers to jointly rebuild demolished Palestinian homes. He has created a new mode of Israeli peace activity based on nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience in the Occupied Territories.[1] Halper was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the American Friends Service Committee for his work "to liberate both the Palestinian and the Israeli people from the yoke of structural violence" and "to build equality between their people by recognizing and celebrating their common humanity".
4 dec 2011, 17:13 , Respect -
Maria 25 mei 2011
Israel continues to fence in Qalqiliya village
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) -- Construction continued Wednesday on a barbed wire fence encircling the northern flank of Izbat At-Tabib, a village east of Qalqiliya.
Residents awoke Monday to Israeli soldiers guarding work crews, who were installing a barrier between the village and the nearby settler-bypass Road 55. An Israeli military spokeswoman said at the time that the installation was designed to prevent rock throwing.
The road, a settler-only facility, was built on village lands, and the fence cuts off further access to properties abutting the road.
Seventy meters of fence were installed Monday, residents said, noting work crews returned on Wednesday to continue the installation.
Residents were given no warning that the fence would be installed, and were informed Monday by military order that any lands obstructed by the project were being confiscated for security.
Clashes erupted between angered land owners and Israeli forces on the first day of construction, with locals saying four had been injured as they were expelled from the land.
Wednesday, residents said crews were being protected by at least fifty soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390919
Israel plans annexation of Salfit land
SALFIT, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has decided to annex 2000 dunums of Palestinian land in Salfit in the West Bank so as to expand Jewish settlements built in their vicinity.
Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hassan village in Salfit Abdulkarim Rayyan said on Tuesday that the targeted land is to the north and east of the village and is rich in almond, olive, and fig trees.
He said that the Israeli plan was announced by the so-called civil administration and the higher organizing body of the branch settlement committee.
Rayyan affirmed that more than 40 Palestinian families in the area own documents proving their ownership of the land and would defend their land with all available means and would resist that scheme.
http://fwd4.me/02KD
5 dec 2011, 10:04 , Respect -
Maria 26 mei 2011
Israeli bulldozers clear tiles, trees from avenue lining Jerusalem’s Old City
Israeli bulldozers have commenced clearing an area of Sultan Sulayman Street, adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City, for the construction of a new bus stop. Tiles lining the walls of the Old City itself and trees have already been removed to make way for the bus stop, which will enable tourists access to the Cave of Sulayman site.
Local sources state that the bus stop is only the first stage, with more clearing expected to take place to accomodate a larger coach station. Jerusalem Municipality workers erected a fence around the construction site some two weeks ago.
http://silwanic.net/?p=17100
5 dec 2011, 10:04 , Respect -
Maria 27 mei 2011
Israeli occupation bulldozers continue to disfigure Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation bulldozers and other heavy machinery continued on Thursday to disfigure the occupied holy city by removing some features at Sultan Sulaiman Road between Bab al-Amoud and Bab al-Sahera (two of the most famous gates of the old city).
Israeli contractors had setup iron barricades around the area being bulldozed totally changing the features of the area and uprooting olive trees in preparation for building “Talmudic gardens” in the area.
Rasem Abdel-Wahid, a Palestinian journalist specialized in Jerusalem, said that the area was being guarded by IOF soldiers and that the workers have accelerated the base of their work which does not stop all day.
This project is complementary to a series of other projects near Bab al-Saherah and coincides with other works which the occupation call works of maintenance on the old walls of the holy city.
Important stones were removed from the wall in previous so called maintenance works and were replaced by stones that carry Jewish symbols such as the Jewish menorah and the star of David over the Bab al-Saherah from the inside of the wall in an attempt to falsify the history of the holy city.
http://fwd4.me/02VH
5 dec 2011, 10:04 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 29 mei 2011
Palestinian Forced To Demolish His Own Home In Jerusalem
Israeli authorities forced Mahmoud Aramin to demolish his house in East Jerusalem Sunday, or risk having it destroyed by an Israeli bulldozer, which would have resulted in an exorbitant fine.
Aramin had already paid thousands of dollars in fines to the Jerusalem municipality in monthly installments, for having built an 'unlicensed' house in East Jerusalem. Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem have not been granted building permits since 1967, and face frequent demolitions of their homes by Israeli authorities.
The forced demolition comes just days after the Israeli authorities authorized the construction of a 50-unit Jewish settlement in the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of East Jerusalem, not far from the home of Mahmoud Aramin.
According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “Since 1967, around 2,000 homes have been demolished in East Jerusalem. According to official statistics, from 2000 – 2008 the Israeli authorities demolished more than 670 East Jerusalem homes. The number of outstanding demolition orders is estimated at up to 20,000.”
The Committee also stated that even though Palestinians represent about 30% of Jerusalem's population they are currently confined to reside in just 7% of the city's area, in mostly inadequate housing. The master plan for Jerusalem follows the Israeli Government and Jerusalem Municipality policy of demographic and ethnic control, aimed at preserving demographics in the city at 70% Jewish to 30% Arab. This policy is clearly stated on the Jerusalem Municipality's website.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61342
5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 30 mei 2011
Family self-demolishes home in Al-Rasasi district
A Palestinian family has been forced to demolish their own home in Al-Rasasi district of East Jerusalem, between the Old City and Mount of Olives. The house’s owner, Mahmoud Aramin, decided to destroyed it himself in order to avoid a Municipality demolition, which would have incurred a large fine to cover the cost of demolition and possibly put Aramin at risk of a 6-month prison sentence.
The home of three rooms covered 80 square metres and housed five family members. It was deemed illegal under Israeli law that cast the area a “green zone”. It is one of 40 houses in the region threatened with demolition. Aramin’s mother wept as she reflected on the harsh situation, having developed high blood pressure and diabetes – possibly due to stress – throughout the battle to keep their home.
“Where are we to go?” she said. “The authorities say we are not the owners of our home and refuse to give us the necessary license to stay. We’ve lived through the British Mandate and Jordanian rule in wooden houses, which were demolished too. My brother, whose life they took, was buried here. Finally we have built a home to call our own, and how we must destroy it ourselves.” Aramin told Silwanic that the demolition took place on the eve of the Municipality’s deadline to destroy the house.
“We are to attend a hearing to present the Municipality with photographic evidence of the demolition” he said. The family has been plagued by licensing issues since it was built in 1999, and has already been fined 50,000 NIS for its alleged illegality. “I managed to have several demolition postponed already since it was built,” said Aramin. “But in the end the Municipality declared the area of the house a green zone, with no authorisation to build on it.”
http://silwanic.net/?p=17513
Israeli cabinet to discuss Negev land grab plan
THE NEGEV, (PIC)-- Israel will discuss next week a wide-ranging plan designed to claim land in the Negev desert, the Israeli Ynet has reported.
Ynet said it had learned that if the plan is approved, the Arab Bedouins will gain possession of large blocks of land providing them housing in fixed towns that will be recognized by the Israeli state.
The land has been estimated at 200,000 dunums, given that the Bedouins actually own 1.1 million dunums of land in the desert.
Although the plan has so far failed to set criteria for granting land claims, the cabinet is expected to vote on the plan as a board will be tasked with determining the area of land to be divided among the Bedouins, whose consent is still unclear.
According to Ynet, the plan received heavy criticism for providing hundreds of thousands of dunums of land and not setting criteria for claims. Informed sources have argued that the plan is “post-Zionist” and “ignores court rulings and will not solve the Bedouins' problem in the Negev”.
Regardless of the plan actually stripping the Bedouins of the remaining 900,000 dunums, other critics have called the plan a “dangerous legal precedent”, saying that the Arab nomads will use the plan to acquire hundreds of thousands more dunums of land. They added that the report does not address half of the claims pertaining to lands claimed by Arabs in the 1950's.
According to the Arab1948 website, 180,000 Arabs own around a 1.1 million dunums in the Negev desert. It says that 90 percent of them were displaced beginning in the Nakba of 1948, and that Israel later seized their land.
The website put the amount of land belonging to the Bedouins before the Nakba at 11 million dunums.
http://fwd4.me/02ir
Israeli forces demolish Qalqiliya shop
QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Monday demolished a building supplies shop in the northern West Bank village of Jinsafut east of Qalqiliya.
The store's owner Yousif Abu Sukkar said he was in his shop when an Israeli bulldozers and military jeeps arrived.
Abu Sukkar said forces gave him ten minutes to clear the shop's contents before they began to demolish the building.
"The store is made of steel bars and tin. It does not endanger Israel's security but they always use that as a pretext," he added.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli forces demolished a home and a barn in the Bedouin village Arab Abu Farda south of Qalqiliya.
A representative for Israel's Civil Administration said he would look into the report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392293
Israeli forces destroy 8 wells in northern West Bank
JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces destroyed eight wells near Jenin on Sunday before they were forced to withdraw by residents, locals said.
Forces arrived with bulldozers and planned to destroy 12 wells in Kafr Dan, but residents prevented them from completing the demolitions, head of the village agricultural society Mohammad Fahmi told Ma'an.
Fahmi said Israeli authorities had informed Palestinian farmers they would demolish 12 wells in the northern West Bank village because they were unlicensed.
The Governor of Jenin Qadura Mousa joined residents from several local communities to confront the forces, who left the area after destroying eight wells, Fahmi said.
The governor denounced the demolitions as "terrorist acts," and said they were carried out to try and force farmers to leave their land.
Fahmi said Israeli soldiers briefly detained several residents who stopped the demolitions.
The wells that were demolished belonged to Husam Marinman, Mohammad Mustafa, Ahmad A'bed, Baha Ghaleb and Jihad Mar'i.
A spokesman for Israel's civil administration could not be reached for comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392074
Israeli forces demolish home, barn near Qalqiliya
QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Monday demolished a home and a barn in the Bedouin village Arab Abu Farda south of Qalqiliya, locals said.
Forces bulldozed the home and barn of Abdul Qader Farda, village council president Salem Abu Farda told Ma'an.
The local official said officers from Israel's civil administration claimed to have notified Qader Farda that his home would be demolished. But he never received any notices, the council president said.
Abu Farda said Israeli authorities were trying to force the local population from the area to expand the nearby Jewish-only Alfe Menashe settlement.
He urged human rights groups to visit the area, and said residents would not leave their land.
A spokesman for Israel's civil administration could not be reached for comment.
http://fwd4.me/02d0
Fields Bulldozed Near Hebron
Hebron - PNN - An Israeli electricity company was bulldozing a wheat field owned by a Palestinian farmer Monday morning near Hebron, said Mahmoud Zwahrwa, a local activist.
The company said they were installing electrical wires. When asked by activists, they did not show that they had permission to dig, said Zwahrwa.
Musa Breijah is the owner of the field. He was not asked by the company if they could dig in his field, said Zwahrwa.
Other residents of Al-Masara village where the field is located were watching the digging at 10 a.m. Monday morning along with Palestinian and international activists, said Zwahrwa.
Israeli companies and the Israeli army regularly destroy Palestinian fields and orchards in the Hebron area, saying the farmers who own them are in violation of land ownership laws.
http://fwd4.me/02cq
5 dec 2011, 10:05 , Respect -
Maria 31 mei 2011
IOF tears down 13 structures in Jordan Valley
JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) led military bulldozers into the Al-Farisiyya and Al-Meita areas in the Salt Valley in the northern Jordan Valley, and destroyed 13 structures owned by Arab Bedouins.
The force crushed eight homes in Al-Meita in the upper Salt Valley where Bedouins have been residing for many years, although the homes were remote from Israeli military camps. It destroyed six more buildings in neighboring Al-Farisiyya.
Damage was inflicted on homes and barns as military jeeps took guard to protect the bulldozers. Other hamlets and shelters used for animals have been destroyed within the last few months in the same area.
Locals say Israeli forces seek to restrict shepherds in the area in order to curtail their usage of the land for grazing and it also seeks to push them out.
The Salt Valley is characterized by warm and plentiful water resources. It is also an agricultural and pastoral area valuable to many farmers in the provinces of Tubas and Tamoun. There are five Bedouin hamlets and communities that live there.
The IOF handed locals notices in April 2010 declaring the area a closed military zone and forbidding Palestinians from roaming there or using the land.
http://fwd4.me/02pi
Ni'lin town and Deir Qaddis village driving israeli bulldozers away from their lands
(3:26) Ni'lin town and Deir Qaddis village driving israeli bulldozers away from their lands/31.05.2011 1 x viewed
The Israeli occupation didn't get enough from confiscating the Palestinian lands day by day, Specially in such a town as our town Ni'lin that locates to the west of Ramallah city in the west bank, by building five colonies on its land since 1967-1998 and recently the annexation wall in 2008,Ni'lin town became surrounded with illegal colonies and walls from all sides.
Today morning (31st of may 2011),The Israeli occupation began with a new confiscating to our land and the neighbor village of Deir Qaddis from the northern side where there is also a colony built on our lands called Nili.
Then tow Israeli bulldozers began opening a new road that will surround a huge mountain (75 Acres) in order to include it to Nili colony. Crowds from Ni'lin and Deir Qaddis together with a number of people from the neighbour villages joint a peaceful demonstration organized by the ni'lin popular committee against the annexation wall and settlements , the march was held to the scene where the bulldozers were drilling in order to drive them away from their lands.
The march started at 01:00 pm and continued till 03:00 pm, the demonstrators managed to stop the Israeli bulldozers from drilling and drive the drive them away from their lands after long time of clashes.
Background about the loss of land in Ni'lin town and Deir Qaddis village:
Since 1967-1998 the Israeli occupation began to build five colonies and an apartheid road for the settlers called 446. During this time, the town lost (41000 Acres) from a total of (57000 Acres). Also in 2008 the Israeli occupation continued confiscating the town's land by building an annexation wall on its land which confiscated another (8000 Acres) under the reasons of what they so called " security ".
What is left to the people of Ni'lin town from their lands is only (8000 Acres) from the (57000 Acres),and the confiscating of the lands continues. A tannel will be built on the town's land that will confiscate another (83 Acres),and a gate will close the entrance of the town so that the town will be such a small cantons.
On the other hand, One of the five illegal colonies that has been built on ni'lin lands called Kiryat sefir colony, part of it is built on Deir Qaddis land. Nevertheless, the people of Ni'lin together with the people of Deir Qaddis made so many peaceful demonstrations against the building of this huge colony on their lands in 1997, During these protests the Israeli occupation soldiers killed one of Ni'lin Sons 37 years old namely Atallah Amireh by live bullet in the head.
Moreover, In 2003 the Israeli occupation began to confiscate more lands from the village of Deir Qaddis by building an annexation wall on its land that confiscated some hundreds of Acres from its land. Also, in 2010, the Israeli occupation occupied a military center was built on Deir Qaddis land that belongs to the British Manadate.