- 2 mei 2011
Official: Israeli troops block villagers from crop.s
TUBAS (Ma'an) -- Israeli troops blocked villagers from collecting their crops in the area of Al-Malih village on Monday, a local official said.
The village council head, Aref Daraghmeh, told Ma'an that Israeli military vehicles barred villagers from accessing their land to collect their produce, and damaged a large quantity of crops in the area, which lies in the northern West Bank district of Tubas.
Daraghmeh said that crops had also been damaged by Israeli troops last year, and appealed to the Palestinian Authority to intervene and help the villagers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=384103
Agriculture ministry calls for protecting farmers, fishermen from Israel
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian ministry of agriculture appealed to all organizations working in the agricultural field to defend the rights of Palestinian farmers and fishermen and support their steadfastness against Israel's constant violations.
In a press release on the labor day, the ministry stated that the farmers in the West Bank suffer a lot from Israel's segregation wall, the vicious attacks on their property by Jewish settlers and the settlement expansion.
It also pointed out to the suffering of Gaza farmers and fishermen who are exposed to constant attacks and harassment by the Israeli army.
The ministry affirmed that the assistance provided for Gaza farmers and fishermen is not more than helping them to stand barely on their own feet again when their source of living sustain damages during Israeli attacks or financial losses as a result of the blockade.
In another context, specialist in prisoners' affairs Abdulnaser Farwana said that the majority of Palestinians who have experienced detention since 1967 and until today are from the working class.
Farwana added in a statement on the occasion of the labor day that more than 60 percent of the prisoners who are still in Israeli jails are labourers.
He appealed to official bodies, civil society institutions and the private sector to work hard to support workmen who are still imprisoned in Israeli jails or were released.
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IOF soldiers damage Palestinian land in Jordan Valley
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) destroyed tens of dunums of cultivated land in Wadi Al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley on Sunday evening, local sources said.
They added that the solders deliberately destroyed 30 dunums owned by Mahmoud Anis, adding that the soldiers this time each year damage the crops in the same area in the hope to convince farmers not to cultivate their land again.
The sources noted that the troops did not leave the area after destroying it since last night.
Farmers in Wadi Al-Malih's Burj area are the constant target of attacks by the IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers who systematically burn or destroy their crops.
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Beit Ummar: Israel to demolish shops
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Two Beit Ummar residents received demolition warnings from Israel's Civil Administration on Monday
Local officials said the orders stated that shops and sheds had been built too close to the main road in the town.
Beit Ummar activist Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma'an that the warrants warned citizens that their stores located by the main road would be demolished.
Awad said the owners were given one week to appeal the decision or face demolition crews.
He said Sabir Zamil Abu Maria's small stone factory and spare car parts shop were both covered in one order, while a second order was handed to Ahmad Hmeid Abu Maria and covered a tools shed he used for farming equipment.
A representative of Israel's Civil Administration office could not be reached by phone for comment.
The area near the main road past Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron, has also recently been the site of Israeli construction. Troops have erected a fence between the town and the thoroughfare. http://fwd4.me/00dG
An Israeli official said the town was fenced-in in "response to incidents of rock throwing at Israeli cars driving from the village."
On March 10, Israeli forces demolished a barn, saying it too was built too close to the main Jerusalem-Hebron road.
A Beit Ummar resident had been handed a demolition order on March 9, according to a report from the town's popular committee spokesman.
The 30-year-old barn was one of four buildings named in demolition orders handed out to residents a day before the demolition.
A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration said in a statement at the time that the demolition was "routine implementation of the law concerning illegal building (i.e. building without the necessary permits)."
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14 nov 2011, 09:53 , Respect -
Maria 15 nov 2011, 12:18 , Respect -
Maria 4 mei 2011
IOF seize Palestinian agricultural lands in Al-Fawwar camp and Dura village
Al-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The land research center said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) notified six Palestinian farmers of their intents to confiscate dozens of dunums of their agricultural lands in Al-Fawwar refugee camp and Dura village for military purposes.
One of the farmers told the center that a large number of troops along with Israel civil servants stormed Al-Qurei Mount area and Abdulfattah territory and embarked on placing evacuation notifications inside the lands to be seized.
In a separate incident, the IOF on Tuesday evening closed Hawara checkpoint and many villages surrounding Nablus city at the pretext there was a massive march organized by Jewish settlers on the main street of Hawara village which connects the northern settlements with the ones in the south of the West Bank.
Eyewitness told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the Israeli troops established checkpoints at the entrances to the villages of Beta, Awarta, Einbos and Odela and barred Palestinian citizens from crossing back and forth.
They affirmed that they did not know the reasons behind this march, but they expressed fear that the settlers would use the rally to attack the Palestinian villagers under military protection.
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16 nov 2011, 21:18 , Respect -
Maria 5 mei 2011
Bedouin hamlet destroyed for 3rd time
HEBRON (Ma'an) Women of the Bedouin herding hamlet of Khirbet Amniyr sat on the earth and watched Israeli forces demolish their 12 tent homes for the third time on Thursday morning.
The women said they were waiting for the soldiers to leave so they could rebuild their tent homes and once again re-establish their lives and livlihoods.
Amniyr, south of Yatta in the southern West Bank, is said to be located in an Israeli military zone.
Military zoning laws enforced by Israel's Civil Administration, make up part of the 60 percent of the West Bank that is inaccessible to Palestinians.
As the troops left, the woman remained seated, surveying the destruction, as their tents and mattresses lay buried under a thin layer of dirt.
I appeal to God to save us from the cruelty of the Israeli occupation, said the hamlet's matriarch, as she stood and began to collect her belongings from under the dust.
The hamlet has been taken down twice before, first on February 22 when the Israeli military buried homes and water wells, later preventing ICRC workers from delivering aid equipment.
On March 29, seven Bedouin were beaten by Israeli border police when the same 12 tents were taken down a second time.
The 12 families of Khirbet Amniyr were ordered out of their tent homes earlier in the year, but remained, saying they had little choice but to stay and had nowhere else to go.
The spokesman of Israel's Civil Administration could not be reached by phone for comment on the latest demolition.
Amniyr is one of three Bedouin hamlets currently under Israeli evacuation orders, with a second in the south Hebron hills area, and a third in the northern West Bank district of Nablus which has been demolished six times.
In Israel's Negev region, the Bedouin community in Al-Araqib have seen their homes taken down a total of 16 times, to make way for a park.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18164/
IOF troops raze 10 Palestinian homes
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Bulldozers of the Israeli occupation army flattened ten Palestinian homes in Al-Khalil district on Thursday morning, local sources said.
Locals reported that hundreds of Israeli occupation soldiers stormed the village of Um Nir, southeast of Yatta town in Al-Khalil district, and provided protection for huge bulldozers that razed houses and damaged roads and infrastructure.
They said that the Israeli occupation forces turned the village into a closed military zone, adding that the demolition process was still in full swing until Wednesday noon.
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17 nov 2011, 21:38 , Respect -
Maria 18 nov 2011, 23:17 , Respect -
Maria 7 mei 2011
Once again, Israel threatens to raze wells, structures in Ramadin village
Al-Khalil, (PIC)-- Israeli civil servants escorted by Israeli troops stormed Ramadin village in Wadi Attina area, south of Al-Khalil city, and handed its residents military orders to demolish nine artesian wells and a number of barns and homes.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had destroyed hundreds of dunums of agricultural lands and pastures last month in this village in addition to stone barriers and agricultural roads built by action against hunger foundation (ACF) operating in Spain.
These demolitions reflected negatively on the economic and agricultural situation in the village which already suffers from hunger and drought.
"The policy of demolishing wells threatens the irrigation of thousand dunums of agricultural lands in Ramadin village, not to mention thousands of livestock and poultry that needs water," Nawwaf Al-Zagharneh, one of the elders in the village, said.
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Israeli forces evacuate Khirbet Umm Nir
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces evicted around 110 Palestinians from a small village south of Hebron on Thursday, residents said.
Usama Al-Habour told Ma'an that soldiers demolished 12 tents and barns from Khirbet Umm Nir, east of Yatta, for the third time in two months.
The residents had been given a deadline to leave their homes, but Israeli forces arrived before the deadline had passed and demolished the structures, he added.
Spokesman of the local popular committee Rateb Al-Habour said soldiers fired tear gas at villagers, injuring Issa Al-Habour, 67, and Fatima Al-Habour, 61.
They were taken to Abu Al-Hasan Al-Qasem Hospital in Yatta.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=385319
Israel confiscates Al-Khalil village
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) handed locals land confiscation and eviction notices during an attack Friday on the Um Neir village in Al-Khalil province, the West Bank.
Sources said an officer placed markers around the village of more than 300 dunums as locals tried to rebuild the village demolished by the IOF troops just a day earlier.
The same day, the IOF arrested three foreign activists as well as the coordinator of the national committee for the resistance of settlement activity and the apartheid wall, Mahmoud Zawahira, amid a crackdown on a weekly march in Al-Ma'sara, south of Bethlehem.
Occupation forces stopped the march from arriving at the separation wall after closing the street and then assaulting the participants. The marchers staged a sit-in there which was followed by the arrest of supporters and the committee's coordinator, said the committee's media spokesman Mohammed Barijiyya.
Hundreds more rallied in Na'lin after the Friday congregation near the separation wall erected west of Ramallah.
After prayers, the local protesters accompanied by dozens of foreign supporters marched towards the separation wall raising Palestinian flags and those of the Hamas and Fatah parties that have recently reached a unity deal in Cairo.
When they reached the barrier's gates, IOF soldiers showered them with tear gas and stun grenades.
The soldiers fired in the air to disperse the crowd. Dozens of protesters were injured after clashes flared between youths and soldiers.
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Occupation gives notice to 50 Palestinian families to leave Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- In the latest of a series of measures by the Israeli occupation to empty Jerusalem of its indigenous population, the occupation authorities gave eviction notices to about 50 families from the Saraya'a clan who live in the Abu Hindi valley east of the occupied holy city.
Locals sources said that IOF troops on Thursday raided the Saraya'a clan's camp and gave notice to the residents of Bedouin camp to leave within two weeks.
The clan lives in a camp which separates the Kidar and Maaleh Adumim settlements and refuse to leave their place of residence.
The PIC reported two years ago that Israel was strenuously working on creating greater Jerusalem that would eat up 10% of the entire West Bank area, according to a statement by Khalil Tafakji, an expert on Israeli settlements and the director of the maps center for Arab studies.
He stated that Israel also plans to separate northern West Bank from its southern areas and works against the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The settlements' expert explained that the Kidar and Maaleh Adumim settlement bloc east and north of occupied Jerusalem over an area of 191 square kilometers would absolutely prevent establishment of a Palestinian state geographically connected with Jerusalem as its capital.
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Israeli minister calls for re-occupying West Bank
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- An Israeli minister has called on his government to re-occupy the West Bank in the event the Palestinians declared their state unilaterally without coordination with Israel.
Yisrael Katz, the minister of transportation, was quoted by Haaretz on Saturday as saying that unilateral steps on the part of the Palestinian Authority ran contrary to the Olso accords, which Israel "respected".
The minister said that if the PA insisted and went ahead in such a unilateral step then Israel should re-occupy all Palestinian cities.
http://fwd4.me/00xQ 19 nov 2011, 16:47 , Respect -
Maria 8 mei 2011
PA condemns demolition of Bedouin village
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority demanded Sunday the "immediate end to the continued acts of violence, displacement, and destruction carried out by the Israeli forces against Susiya residents."
Referring to the demolition of 12 tent homes in the village of Amniyr, a tiny herding hamlet of Bedouins south of Susiya in the Hebron district, a government statement said "This small rural community has faced maltreatment and violations of their rights by the Israeli authorities."
It is the third time the tent-homes of the herders have been destroyed. Israeli officials say they are living in a zone declared for military use and that their presence is illegal.
"We call upon UNSCO and the ICRC to bring these violations and the continued practice of internal displacement of persons to the attention of the UN Secretary General. We call upon the Israeli government to immediately end their continued practice of confiscating Palestinian lands, destroying Palestinian homes and property, and displacing Palestinians from their lands and homes," the government statement said.
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20 nov 2011, 16:11 , Respect -
Maria 9 mei 2011
IOA starts building section of separation wall around Qalandia village
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) started building a section of the separation wall around the village of Qalandia to the north of occupied Jerusalem, local villagers said on Monday.
They said that IOA bulldozers escorted by security forces started leveling land south of the village.
The wall would divide the village into two isolated sectors and would place tens of dunums of Palestinian farmers land behind it blocking them from reaching their land.
The wall would surround the village with a cement structure turning it into a ghetto with only two passages out one leading to Ramallah city and the other to Bir Nabala village.
The 1100 inhabitants of the village fear that the wall would isolate it from the outside world and would negatively affect it on the economic, educational, and administrative levels.
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22 nov 2011, 17:40 , Respect -
Maria 11 mei 2011
Court protects Palestinian homes, for now
Judge delays demolition of 22 homes in east Jerusalem until mayor's plans for park approved.
Palestinian homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Bustan are not to be demolished until plans are finalized and approved for the park that is to be established in their stead, the Jerusalem District Court ruled Wednesday.
Mayor Nir Barkat is promoting the plans, which require the demolition of 22 illegally-built homes. In exchange, the Arabs who reside in these homes will receive permits to build new homes legally on the other side of the neighborhood, at their expense. In addition, the 66 other homes in the neighborhood will be legalized retroactively.
Judge Yoram Noam said that according the municipality's plans, there was no need to raze the homes yet. But municipality officials say the approval would take up to two years. "We will meet again when the plans are approved in 2012-2013. Debating it today is just unnecessary," Noam said at the hearing.
Arab residents of al-Bustan have also filed construction plans of their own, and the planning and construction committee will have to decide between the two.
"I am pleased with the judge's decision not to carry out the demolitions," said Dr. Ziyad Kawar, who represents the residents. He said the plans they have offered will turn the neighborhood into "a nice place to visit, with infrastructure, coffee shops, hotels, paths, and running water".
'Al-Bustan lacks infrastructure, schools'
Kawar added that he believes the municipality will end up demolishing more than the 22 homes it has so far listed "because the archaeological-national-religious park Nir Barkat wants to establish requires demolishing many more (homes)".
"It's unfortunate that the Jerusalem Municipality is ignoring the suffering and neglect the residents must deal with in addition to the lack of infrastructure, roads, and schools. It is an unacceptable reality for people to dream at night of bulldozers come to destroy their homes," he said.
Amnon Merhav, Jerusalem Municipality's legal consultant, told a crowd of upset men and women from al-Bustan that the plans for the park will improve the quality of life for many of the city's residents.
Regarding claims that the residents do not have the money to rebuild their homes on the other side of the neighborhood, Merhav said the municipality would discuss the issue after the plans are approved and that residents are invited to "negotiate the matter".
"In any case, they are currently building homes so they must have most of the resources," he said, defining the problem as "solely hypothetical".
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4067176,00.html
Israeli forces, tanks cross into Gaza
Israeli forces backed by tanks and bulldozers have crossed into the Gaza Strip, destroying Palestinian farmlands in north of the enclave.
Israeli soldiers apparently entered the Palestinian territory from Karni crossing on Wednesday and advanced hundreds of meters toward the east of Gaza City.
According to Press TV's correspondent in Gaza, Israeli soldiers dug a series of holes in the area and filled them with explosives.
Israeli soldiers then blew up the explosives, causing loud explosions in the area, our correspondent added.
Israeli officials claim that the troops were searching and destroying "possible tunnels" in the area that could be used by Palestinian resistance fighters to enter Israeli posts and capture Israeli soldiers.
But analysts believe the Israeli attack aimed at provoking Palestinian fighters into firing on Israeli troops, which could have escalated the situation.
It was the first Israeli attack on Gaza after the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, signed a unity deal.
Israel has repeatedly voiced anger at the reconciliation accord signed between the two Palestinian groups which aimed at forming a Palestinian unity government.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah which rules the West Bank, have been at odds since the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Differences between the rival groups peaked in June 2007 when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a bid to "foil a coup plot" by some Fatah elements.
Fatah in response sacked the Hamas government and set up a parallel cabinet in Ramallah.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179435.html
IOF troops raid central Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced hundreds of meters from the Nahal Oz military outpost to east of Shujaiah suburb in Gaza city, witnesses reported.
They said that the IOF soldiers fired a number of artillery shells at the citizens%u2019 land but no casualties were reported. They added that the soldiers bulldozed land in the area.
The witnesses said that powerful explosions were heard in the area as a result of the shells fired by those invading troops.
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23 nov 2011, 17:36 , Respect -
Maria 12 mei 2011
IOF soldiers serve demolition notices in Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) served demolition notices to a number of Palestinian citizens in Walaja village to the northwest of Bethlehem on Wednesday evening.
Saleh Hilmi, the municipal council chairman of Walaja, said that IOF soldiers escorted employees of the civil administration who delivered the notices for the destruction of seven houses in the village within 48 hours at the pretext of lack of construction permits.
Hilmi said that some of those houses are inhabited and some are still under construction.
He charged that the demolition falls in line with the Israeli plan to annex the village to occupied Jerusalem municipality borders.
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Israeli court postpones Bustan demolition decision
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli Magistrate Court has pushed back making a decision on demolishing 88 homes in Al-Bustan in the Jerusalem district of Silwan until May 24.
The court had ordered that the owners of 29 of those homes must appear before it.
The structures are home to some 1,500 Palestinians.
Roars condemning the large-scale demolition could be heard outside the court, as dozens of locals, public figures, and defense committees as well as diplomatic bodies, media, and rights groups, have been sitting there to protest.
Separately, the Bustan area saw a calm quiet as it prepared for Israeli forces to come out after Jerusalem children left school in a spontaneous and restricted demonstration.
Some of the youth rooted for Silwan as others hurled fireworks near a military barracks set up atop a tenement building owned by Palestinians.
The decision to postpone the central courts ruling on the Bustan homes are an attempt by the court to drag residents into agreeing on the plans of the Israeli municipality, which aims to displace the majority of the neighborhood's residents, said senior local defense committee official Abdul-Kareem Abu Sanina. Residents and committees insist on plans not to rid the houses and neighborhoods of their inhabitants.
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B'Tselem: Over three quarters of Jordan Valley placed under Israeli control
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- A May report issued by Israeli rights group B'Tselem reveals that Israel used political and military means to take control of 77.5 percent of the land in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area.
The Hebrew state has maintained an illegal occupation of the West Bank since 1967. The report clearly states that Israel's intent is to annex the area to the occupation state of Israel.
The significance of the area is that it has the largest land reserve in the West Bank. Over 15,000 Palestinian Bedouins live there in dozens of tiny communities.
Some of the land was taken after the departure of refugees, and more than half was usurped by legal manipulation and declared state land, B'Tselem reported.
Most of the water resources in the area have been set aside especially for the some 9,400 Jewish settlers living in the 37 settlements, that include seven outposts. The report highlights that the water taken from there, most of which is allocated for the settlements, amounts to almost one-third of the water allotted to Palestinians in the West Bank.
It says that water consumption in Bedouin communities is equivalent to the quantity the UN has determined is the minimal amount needed for survival in disaster areas.
The planning policy under the Israeli occupation make it impossible for Palestinians to develop communities, the report goes on to say.
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24 nov 2011, 07:55 , Respect -
Maria 13 mei 2011
Minister Attili: B'Tselem's Report on the Jordan Valley Exposes Israel's Attempts to Annex it
Jerusalem PNN - Head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Dr. Shaddad Attili, welcomed the release of B'Tselem's report Exploitation and Dispossession: Israeli policy in the Jordan Valley and North of the Dead Sea. The report analyses the various mechanisms Israel uses in its attempt to de facto annex the Jordan Valley. This includes Israel's ongoing exploitation of water resources in the Jordan Valley.
"The Jordan Valley serves as a microcosm of what is going on across the occupied Palestinian territory when it comes to Israel's systematic exploitation of Palestinian water resources in violation of international law, as well as Israel's use of water as a weapon to target some of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities in the occupied territory," Dr. Attili said.
Among the findings of the Israeli Human Rights group, B'Tselem, report Exploitation and Dispossession, Israeli policy in the Jordan Valley and North of the Dead Sea, it shows that Israel controls 77.5 percent of the land that makes up the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, which it designates as closed areas to Palestinians.
The report also documents The amount of water Israel allocates to some 9,400 Israeli settlers living in the Jordan Valley which equals almost 1/3 of the total amount of water accessible to all 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Also in the issues of water, B'Tselem reported that due to water shortages, Palestinians have been forced to neglect farmland that used to be cultivated and to switch to growing less profitable crops.
Some Palestinian communities in the area have so little water that their consumption matches the UN standard of the minimum quantity of water needed to survive in humanitarian-disaster areas, B'Tselem announced.
According to the report Israel continues to illegally exploit the Dead Sea for economic gain, and to use the Jordan Valley as a dumping ground to bury waste from Israel and Israeli settlements.
Dr. Attili said that securing access to Palestine's water resources was an essential prerequisite to ending Israel's occupation and building a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.
"Securing access to our local water supplies in accordance with international law is crucial to the success of Palestinian state building efforts. Water is not only essential in terms of residential use, but also for agricultural and industrial development," Dr. Attili said.
Dr. Attili ended by saying that B'Tselem's report was consistent with the findings of similar reports released by the World Bank and Amnesty International among others.
"The Jordan Valley is an inseparable part of the occupied West Bank, as is East Jerusalem, and any attempt to annex it on the part of Israel is not only illegal under international law, but runs contrary to the two-state solution," Dr. Attili concluded.
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25 nov 2011, 12:08 , Respect -
Maria 14 mei 2011
Israeli army burns Jordan Valley grazing fields
JERICHO, (PIC)-- The Israeli army has burnt hundreds of dunums of rangeland in the Jordan Valley during military training exercises in the area.
Military training in the Malih area in the northern Jordan Valley led to the burning of hundreds of dunums of pastoral land, locals reported, adding that the military used heavy equipment and fired several artillery shells.
Separately, Palestinian farmers in the region have reported that local settlers let loose herds of wild pigs to get rid of the remaining pastoral and agricultural land in the area.
The Israeli army has declared the vast Jordan valley a closed military zone. The valley is home to some 15,000 Bedouin Arabs.
In a separate incident on Friday morning, the Israeli army fired indiscriminately east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, amid excavations and land leveling works.
Five military vehicles infiltrated 300 meters east of Al-Qarara and began combing and excavating area amid heavy fire from automatic weapons without report of injury.
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27 nov 2011, 08:45 , Respect -
Maria 15 mei 2011
Israel urged to stop home demolitions
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva
A senior EU official has called on Israel to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank territories.
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva made the remark at the end of her Sunday visit to Ramallah in the West Bank.
She said that Israel must stop forced displacement of Palestinians, adding that Israel has the obligation to respect the international humanitarian law.
Georgieva visited the occupied areas along with Palestinian Authority (PA) caretaker Prime Minister Salam Feyadh and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Valerie Amos.
The EU official noted that the Gaza Strip and most parts of the Israeli occupied territories are really suffering economically.
What we face today is that the inability of the people to move. The lack of access for them is paralyzing the community and making the life of innocent people very difficult, she said.
So our plea is access and protection of those who are most vulnerable, Georgieva said, adding that the European Union was providing these Palestinians with legal assistance, cash and psychological support.
According to the European Union, some 60,000 Palestinians face the risk of being evicted from their homes in Israeli-annexed East al-Quds.
The Palestinians see al-Quds as the capital of their future state and oppose any attempts to extend Israel's control over the city that was captured in the 1967 Six Day War.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180104.html
UN official slams Israel's WB policy
Valerie Amos, the UN under-secretary-general For Humanitarian Affairs, and the world body's emergency relief coordinator
The UN humanitarian chief has condemned the Israeli regime's forceful displacement of Palestinians, emphasizing its unacceptable impact on Palestinian communities.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos called on Saturday for an end to the forced displacement of Palestinians from East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and parts of the West Bank, the world body reported on its website.
Amos made the call during a visit to East al-Quds and the West Bank village of Nabi Samwil on the first day of her four-day tour to the occupied Palestinian territories.
Amos, also the UN's emergency relief coordinator, criticized the separation barrier Tel Aviv has been erecting through Palestinian farmlands.
She noted how the structure, 85 percent of which lies inside the West Bank, imprisons 8,500 Palestinians in closed areas between the barrier and the Green Line -- the UN-drawn border between the West Bank and the occupied Palestinian territories of 1967.
I am horrified by the way the barrier affects Palestinians, she said in a statement issued by her office following her visit to Nabi Samwil, where residents are unable to travel to nearby al-Quds without permits and forced to pass through checkpoints to reach neighboring West Bank villages.
New construction is also forbidden in the village because of a highly restrictive planning regime in operation, she said.
It divides communities and inhibits the provision of services. I visited a one-room school with no windows and very few facilities, which can't be improved because the planning rules don't allow it. This is unacceptable, the UN official said.
Amos said only 13 percent of the land in East al-Quds is available for Palestinian use and therefore the area is overcrowded, while about 60,000 residents face demolition of their homes.
These policies lead to forced displacement of Palestinians from Jerusalem (al-Quds) and from the rest of the West Bank, the UN humanitarian chief said.
Palestinians must be able to plan and develop their communities. They must be able to access education and healthcare facilities and to conduct their professional and personal lives without restriction, she urged.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179946.html