- 4 nov 2011
Israeli army demolishes electricity pylons in the palestinian village of Umm Fagarah
(3:24) Israeli army demolishes the electricity network in Umm Fagarah, South Hebron Hills
At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills – In the early morning of November 3rd, the Israeli army demolished six electrical pylons that were intended to connect the Palestinian village of Umm Fagarah to the Palestinian power grid.
At 7 AM, a bulldozer, escorted by 25 Israeli soldiers, moved between the villages of Umm Fagarah and At-Tuwani, demolishing all the electricity pylons built by the Palestinians. Four poles were located along the road, and the last two inside the village of Umm Fagarah.
At-Tuwani and Umm Fagarah belong to Area C, under the military and administrative control of Israel. Within this area every construction must be approved by Israeli administration. According to a UN report, building is prohibited on 70% of the West Bank, while within the remaining 30% a series of restrictions are applied which eliminate the possibility to obtain a permit.
Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773
[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]
http://www.operationdove.org/?p=650
Watch: Israel blasts route of wall near Bethlehem
(0:40) Al Walaja explosion for the route of the Wall 03.11.2011
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Residents of Bethlehem awoke to loud blasts Thursday as Israeli construction crews dynamited a planned route of the separation wall through a nearby village.
"It was routine construction for the fence," an Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an.
The construction is for a controversial separation wall cutting off the village of Walaja, which abuts an Israeli settlement outside Bethlehem, from other parts of the occupied West Bank.
Footage of one of the explosions later Thursday was uploaded to YouTube by Anne Paq of the Active Stills photo agency. Villagers said explosions near houses in Walaja were to make room for the wall which will surround the village, Paq told Ma'an, adding that previous blasts had damaged houses.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=434973
Israeli authorities intend to commence Al-Bustan demolitions
Silwanic has learnt that Israeli authorities intend to commence their heavily-criticised program of demolition in Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan in the coming weeks. Authorities seek to clear vast swathes of Palestinian homes and property to make way for a “biblical garden” as part of the City of David settlement project.
The Jerusalem Municipality has been trying to market the biblical park project since 2005, promoting Al-Bustan as the original site of King Solomon’s park. “Al-Bustan”, which can be translated as “the garden” in Arabic, has been cited as conclusive evidence. Palestinian residents of Al-Bustan, however, state that the Arabic word has several meanings, and cannot be corrupted to the Municipality’s ends.
The history of Al-Bustan’s name is tied to the greenness of the land on which the area was built, thanks to its source of fresh water the remain throughout the year. Al-Bustan was historically known as the food basket of Jerusalem. Experts state that the concept of “park” – a small cultivated area – is incompatible with the true meaning of “Bustan”.
Prior to the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, few houses were built in the Al-Bustan area. But more land was annexed by the state – 73,000 dunums to the east and several hundred to the south-west of Silwan. The population densified, and increased – while in 1967 Silwan had 13,000 inhabitants, today it numbers at 55,000, none of whom can now apply to the Municipality for a construction permit.
Mousa Audeh, a member of the Al-Bustan Popular Committee, stated that “the Israeli Authority claims that Al-Bustan was the garden of King Solomon, and that the prophet David lived in Wadi Hilweh – and somehow this justifies the demolition of our homes? But it’s easy to see that the Municipality, together with the settler groups, demolish homes freely – in the name of the prophets, as if God almighty grants property contracts only to them!”
Silwanic has learnt that Israeli authorities intend to commence their heavily-criticised program of demolition in Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan in the coming weeks. Authorities seek to clear vast swathes of Palestinian homes and property to make way for a “biblical garden” as part of the City of David settlement project.
The Jerusalem Municipality has been trying to market the biblical park project since 2005, promoting Al-Bustan as the original site of King Solomon’s park. “Al-Bustan”, which can be translated as “the garden” in Arabic, has been cited as conclusive evidence. Palestinian residents of Al-Bustan, however, state that the Arabic word has several meanings, and cannot be corrupted to the Municipality’s ends.
The history of Al-Bustan’s name is tied to the greenness of the land on which the area was built, thanks to its source of fresh water the remain throughout the year. Al-Bustan was historically known as the food basket of Jerusalem. Experts state that the concept of “park” – a small cultivated area – is incompatible with the true meaning of “Bustan”.
Prior to the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, few houses were built in the Al-Bustan area. But more land was annexed by the state – 73,000 dunums to the east and several hundred to the south-west of Silwan. The population densified, and increased – while in 1967 Silwan had 13,000 inhabitants, today it numbers at 55,000, none of whom can now apply to the Municipality for a construction permit.
Mousa Audeh, a member of the Al-Bustan Popular Committee, stated that “the Israeli Authority claims that Al-Bustan was the garden of King Solomon, and that the prophet David lived in Wadi Hilweh – and somehow this justifies the demolition of our homes? But it’s easy to see that the Municipality, together with the settler groups, demolish homes freely – in the name of the prophets, as if God almighty grants property contracts only to them!”
http://silwanic.net/?p=21771 5 dec 2011, 14:15 , Respect -
Maria 5 nov 2011
QIF: We call on UNESCO to protect the Bab al-Maghareba road from demolition
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Al-Quds International Foundation (QIF) called on the United Nations Education and Science Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to protect the world heritage in the city of Jerusalem by documenting the Islamic and Arab heritage in the holy city and stopping the occupation from interfering in the Aqsa Mosque.
The organisation stressed in a press statement on Saturday the importance of stopping the occupation authorities from demolishing the road leading to Bab al-Mgahreba. The organisation further stressed that Jerusalem is the pivotal point of stability in the area, thus everyone should reconsider their policies towards this issue.
The Director General of QIF, Yasin Hmmoud, said that accepting Palestine as a full member of UNESCO, was a step in the right direction. He said this was a step towards doing the Palestinian people some justice, and a new arena through which Palestinians can have their voices heard by the international community.
However he stressed that what is urgent now is for this decision to have a positive impact on UNESCO's programme of protecting Jerusalem as a world heritage site, and as a matter of particular urgency saving the road leading to al-Mahareba gate, which is under threat of being demolished soon.
Hammoud stressed that the PA in Ramallah should utilise this new arena, adding "The PA today faces a challenge regarding the way it works with UNESCO to stop occupation from demolishing the Bab al-Maghareba road, so that joining international organisation does not become a formality or an aim by itself."
http://fwd4.me/0gH7 5 dec 2011, 14:15 , Respect -
Maria 7 nov 2011
Israel plans to confiscate more Bedouin lands
Plans by the civil administration of the Israeli military to displace an estimated 27000 Palestinian Bedouins currently living just few kilometers to the east of Jerusalem al-Quds, have raised concerns among the diplomatic community and Human rights organizations.
This Bedouin community in khan al-Ahmar is one of 20 communities that are to be forcefully removed by Israeli military. A Bedouin elder remarked that the Israeli civil administration should instead allow the Bedouins to return to their original land in Tel Arad in the Negev. The land where they were evicted from after the 1948 war.
Jessica Montell, executive director of the Israeli information center for Human Rights in the occupied territories suspects a link between the plans to displace the Bedouin communities and the expansion of the nearby settlement of Maale Adumim.
Bedouin chief Abu Khamis Abu Dahouk on his part says that he has no plans to leave Khan Al-ahmar and questions when Israel will end its targeting and displacement policies towards the Bedouins.
Abu Kkamis further says that Palestinians were displaced in 1948 and 1967, but Palestinian Bedouins are constantly facing this policy.
This community here lacks any form of infrastructure. They're not allowed to connect to the power grid and have no access to the water network.
The Bedouins in Khan al-Ahmar area came originally from Tel Arad in the Negev desert. Following the 1948 war the Israeli military has began the process of evicting them form there.
Chris Gunness from UNRWA, said in a phone interview that the agency is concerned that Israel will begin its illegal displacement of the Bedouins, and called it a violation of international law. Gunness has also said that Israel should stop immediately and properly consults the Bedouins on a master plan.
http://presstv.com/detail/210542.html
Occupation government decides to change features of Qastal
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--The Israeli occupation government approved the development plan, for Qastal on the outskirts of Jerusalem as "part of its efforts to immortalise the memory of Yitzhak Rabin the former PM on the 16th anniversary of his assassination.”
Benjamin Netanyahu said that after 16 years the government decided to develop this site as part of Rabin’s Park, to immortalise his memory and to show appreciation for the founders of the state and Rabin's role on breaking the siege on Jerusalem.
The cost of the project is 2.5 million Shekels, half of it will be paid by a settlers’ fund.
There was a battle for control of the Qastal in 1948 to break the siege on Jerusalem were around 100,000 Zionists were besieged.
http://fwd4.me/0gM1 5 dec 2011, 14:15 , Respect -
Maria 8 nov 2011
Rabbis for human rights: From light to darkness
Community Energy Technology Middle-East
The electricity system of the Palestinian village Manzel in South Hebron Hills, near the settlement Metzudot Yehuda, is in danger of demolition. The Civil Administration wants to demolish the entire solar electricity system which is the only electricity source of the village.
The village Manzel is an excellent example of the Israeli occupation’s bureaucracy in South Hebron Hills. The Civil Administration’s officials, when they come to the place, do not see human beings and the people of the village are lost in this occupational bureaucracy.
The 450 residents of the village Manzel were amazed to find out that the Civil Administration wants to destroy the entire solar electricity system. The electricity is generated by 90 panels and is the only electricity source for the village. The panels contain tons of batteries. This system allowed the residents of the village to move from darkness to light.
On one hand the Civil Administration does not recognize the village because it does not have a master plan and on the other hand it demands the destruction of the only infrastructure of the village. The Civil Administration does not supply the village proper infrastructures, so the people can live a decent life, and also prevents them from turning to international organizations to request support to realize their basic human rights.
This is the first time that a demolition order was issued for solar energy facility. The solar system was built with the financial support of the Spanish foreign ministry and was officially inaugurated on 2009 (attached is the Spanish foreign ministry document that approved the building).
A request to freeze the demolition
On Tuesday, October 11th, we submitted an urgent letter to the Civil Administration, with a request to freeze the demolition until a hearing for the residents in the subcommittee of building control will be set up. On November 5th we received a response from the Civil Administration which rejected all our claims.
We will continue our efforts to stop the decree. It is a fatal blow to the village which depends on solar electricity. The destruction of the solar electricity system will directly abuse the basic human rights of vulnerable groups such as children, women, old and sick people. The solar system is essential for the survival of the village residents. The connection of the system enabled the residents to use some electricity for basic needs such as medicine storage, connection of the clinic to basic medical equipment for pregnant women, sick people and infants and also for water distribution from private cisterns to private homes and to all the computerized system of the school for 130 children.
Help us to distribute this to all the social networks and together we will keep the light shining in the Village Manzel residents in South Hebron Hills.
For reading: despite the rejection of the Civil Administration, the settlements have permits for solar systems (read also here). Minister Landau took care of the Jewish settlements (also here) but forgot that Palestinian villages, that need green energy also exist.
http://rhr.org.il/eng/index.php/2011/11/from-light-to-darkness/ 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 13 nov 2011
Israel stalling release of report proving West Bank outpost built on Palestinian land
The outpost, Derekh Ha'avot, established early 2001 and is home to about 35 families; according to report 60 percent of the community is on Palestinian farmland.
The Military Advocate General (MAG ) is delaying the publication of an internal report from a year ago which shows that most of the West Bank outpost of Derekh Ha'avot is on private Palestinian land. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, indicates that 60 percent of the Etzion Bloc community is on Palestinian farmland.
The outpost, also known as Nativ Ha'avot, was established in early 2001 and is home to about 35 families. In 2002, the Palestinian landowners petitioned the High Court of Justice for the return of their land. A government team appointed to conduct a land ownership survey never completed its work.
In 2008, Peace Now filed a second High Court petition, through attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zachariah, again demanding the outpost's evacuation. In its response to the petition, the state said the survey team would be reestablished. In October 2010, Justice Edmond Levy rejected the petition because the survey had not been completed but wrote, "No one knows when it will be done; only time will tell."
The landowners contacted the Civil Administration repeatedly, asking about the survey's status. Zachariah received a letter from Roman Levitt of the MAG's land department last April, stating that the team was building a database of its findings and expected to conclude its work within two months. In September Levitt wrote again, saying the survey work was "at its peak."
In response to a query from Haaretz last week, the IDF Spokesperson's Office noted the complexity of the survey, which included a land-use review going back to 1969, physical surveys of the land in question and input from Survey of Israel - the government mapping agency - and said the team's work was in its "final stages."
The documents obtained by Haaretz, however, indicate that the survey was carried out in November 2010. Since then, MAG and the Civil Administration have used various excuses to avoid making it public. The survey was conducted by Malka Ofri, head of photo-interpretation at Survey of Israel, who sent the Civil Administration an opinion based on her comparison of seven aerial photos taken between 1969 and 2007.
According to West Bank law, a person earns rights to a plot of land after cultivating it for 10 successive years. Ofri wrote that for 25 years there was no significant change to the cultivation of the land in question, which constitutes 60 percent of the 1,420 dunams (350 acres ) on which Derekh Ha'avot sits, meaning that most of the outpost is on Palestinian-owned land.
Since February, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to demolish all outposts built on private Palestinian land, right-wing activists have been applying heavy pressure on him to reverse that decision. Publication of the report on Derekh Ha'avot would cause more headaches for the authorities and bring the petitioners back to the High Court.
"This case, like many others, proves there is close cooperation between the the law enforcement authorities and lawbreakers," Zachariah told Haaretz. "The state rebuffed the Derekh Ha'avot petition by saying the status of the land had to be examined. It is now clear that this was only an excuse for the state not to address the issue of illegal building. When the outcome is inconvenient for the settlers, the state does not hurry to enforce the law, and by concealing data it completes the violation of the law. The new information will find its way to the relevant judicial instances so that the court will expose the sad truth of the enforcement authorities' conduct."
http://fwd4.me/0gi6
Israeli bulldozers raze Qalqiliya village lands
QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces accompanied bulldozers that razed through Palestinian-owned lands near Qalqiliya on Sunday, locals said.
The vehicles cut down trees and leveled ground belonging to farmers from nearby village Azzun Atma, residents said.
Local farmer Ibrahim Abdullah told Ma'an the area was bulldozed to "ensure security for settlements which they originally confiscated from Palestinian citizens."
An Israeli army spokesman said he was not familiar with the incident, and Israel's Civil Administration could not be reached for comment.
Azzun Atma lies between Israeli settlements Oranit and Shaare Tiqwa, and locals fear Israeli authorities plan to construct a no-go zone on the most fertile land of the village to buffer the settlements.
The real aim of the bulldozing is to expand settlements at the expense of Palestinian farmers, Abdullah warned.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=436418
Palestinian Family In Silwan Served Eviction Order
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, reported that a Palestinian family in Silwan town was served an eviction order issued by the Jerusalem municipality with the intent to replace them with Jewish settlers.
The center stated that the family was ordered to leave their home by November 28th.
The family filed several appeals at the Israeli District Court, and the High Court, since the early 1990’s after the El Ad fundamentalist settler organization occupied a land that belongs to the family.
Israel claims that the home in question belongs to “Lord Rochelle” since dozens of years ago, and that should it become clear that the Rochelle family does not own the property, Israel will still confiscate it under the so-called “Absentee Property Law”.
In both cases the Palestinian family is left in homeless despite the fact that it historically owned and inhibited the property, the Center said.
Silwan, as well as other parts and neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, is subject to repeated Israeli violations and attacks carried out by extremist settler organizations who seek to control all Arab homes in the occupied city.
http://fwd4.me/0ghS 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 14 nov 2011
Israel to Resume Digs in Mamilla Cemetery
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – The Israel Antiquities Authority Monday approved the resumption of digs at the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem for the construction of the ‘Museum of Tolerance’ despite the discovery of ancient skeletons at the site, said a Fatah leader in Jerusalem.
Member of the Revolutionary Council of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Dimitri Diliani, said in a press conference that “the Antiquities Authority has approved digs of 1000 graves in Mamilla, which comes as part of the offensive project called ‘Museum of Tolerance.’”
He said the digging process is being resumed extensively under a huge media blackout to hide any discoveries, despite the evident proof of ancient skeletons found in the historical cemetery.
Diliani said that desecration of the Mamilla cemetery, which holds unique religious and historical value, is part of Israeli historical and cultural forgery and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, which affects the dead also.
Haaretz newspaper quoted Wiesenthal Center, which is sponsoring and financing the project, as saying, “The work is being conducted in accordance with the law. As far as we know, the work will be completed very shortly.”
“More than 1000 skeletons were expected to be exhumed during the excavations, which have the approval of the Israel Antiquities Authority,” Haaretz said.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18000
Media: Israel buries 'settler outpost on Palestinian land' report
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's Military Advocate General is delaying the publication of a report showing an illegal settler outpost was built on lands owned by Palestinians, Israeli media reported Sunday.
The Israeli government study says 60 percent of the land of outpost Derekh Haavot was established on private land, after Palestinians petitioned an Israeli high court for the return of their property, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
While a copy obtained by Haaretz shows the survey was conducted in November 2010, Israeli army and Civil Administration officials have since denied the survey was ready.
An Israeli judge said the case against the outpost could not proceed until the report was ready, Haaretz noted.
Derekh Haavot lies south of Bethlehem in the central West Bank, and was established in 2001 as an outpost of Israeli settlement Elazar, settlement monitoring group Peace Now says.
Families in Bethlehem-district town al-Khader say the outpost is built on their private property.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=436298 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 15 nov 2011
Palestinian family given two weeks to vacate East Jerusalem home
Himnuta, subsidiary of Jewish National Fund, set to evict the Sumarin family, transfer house to settlers; Himnuta trying to evict family since 1991, says it owns the house they are living in. more.....
Palestinian family to be evicted within two weeks
Silwanic has learnt that Israeli authorities plan to evict a Palestinian family living in Wadi Hilweh within the next two weeks.
The family received a court order notifying them of the eviction expected to take place any time before 28 November 2011.
The threatened family owns the house, and have been engaged in a long legal battle for it with Israeli authorities since the first half of last decade. The family has already lost a plot of land to the Elad settlement association. Should they succeed in appropriating the house, Israeli authorities seek to turn it over to settlers.
The Israeli Department of Procedures has demanded that the family pay 2 million NIS as the only means to keeping the property. Under Israeli law, however, this is impossible.
Over the decades, authorities have used the same tactics to appropriate many other Palestinian homes and properties in Silwan, claiming that the land belonged to Jewish people. On occasion when defendants have proved this to be incorrect, the nominated Absentee Property guardian orders the threatened family to leave their house complaining the real owner live out of the country.
Through a persistent limiting of defendant families’ legal options, the houses are then acquisitioned by the state who turn them over to Elad and other settlement organisations.
http://silwanic.net/?p=22001
Israeli Forces Demolish Four Palestinian Houses in Jericho
JERICHO, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Tuesday demolished four houses belonging to Palestinians in Adyouk Al-tahta, a village in Jericho, according to governor of Jericho and the Jordon Valley, Majid Fityani.
He said that Israeli bulldozers, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, stormed the village and demolished four Palestinian houses.
He condemned the demolition of the houses and said, “These measures are part of the Israeli policies used against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Jordon Valley, aiming to empty the area of its Palestinian residents as well as break their steadfastness.”
He added Israel targets everything that has to do with Palestinians and launches a systematic campaign of arrests, incursions and demolitions in order to drag the region into violence and chaos which helps Israel to lessen the international pressure on it after the Palestinian people’s success in exposing its policies.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18016
Israeli army steps up attacks on Palestinian water
Israeli forces destroy a water container in the West Bank
Speaking to the American Congress in May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked that Israel would maintain a long-term presence in the West Bank's Jordan Valley. In the months that followed, the Israeli army stepped up its attacks on the water wells of the Palestinians who live there.
The last two months have seen a steady stream of Israeli army attacks on Palestinian Bedouin water wells in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
On October 13, farmers received demolition orders on several water wells in Kufr al-Deek, a village in the town of Salfit near Nablus.
On the 8th of September, 50 military jeeps, trucks and bulldozers sealed off Al Nasarayah as a closed military zone, and proceeded to illegally destroy 3 water wells and confiscate the attached water systems, the pumps of which cost $40,000 each to install.
Five days later, the IOF returned to Al Nasarayah to demolish 2 more wells, stopping along the way to destroy another well east of Tamoun.
The next day, IDF soldiers entered the village of Al- Fa’ara, near Nablus, to photograph and record the GPS coordinates of 6 more wells intended for demolition.
These water wells had permits from the Palestinian Authority, and were operating in the 5% of the Jordan Valley designated after the 1993 Oslo Accords Area A, under full Palestinian civil and military control.
(1:51) Clearing the Canals in Al-Auja, Jordan Valley - 30 Oct 2011 (English)
Since the beginning of Israel’s colonization of the Jordan Valley in 1967, local Bedouin have seen the steady drying-up of the once-flowing springs around which they built their villages. They are unable to dig sufficient wells of their own because of crippling Israeli regulations, and have become dependent on the Israelis for access to a basic human right.
According to Ma’an Development Center’s 2010 report ‘Draining Away- the Water and Sanitation Crisis in the Jordan Valley’, 40% of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley consume less water than the minimum global standard set by the World Health Organization, which is set at 100 liters cubed per day. In a striking disparity, 56,000 Palestinians in the Jordan Valley consume an average of 37 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of water per year, as compared to an average of 41 MCM for only 9,400 settlers.
Because of post-Oslo Accords regulations, Jordan Valley Bedouins living in Area C (95% of the Valley) cannot build, or improve, the smallest animal pen, much less a water well, without a permit, which is almost impossible to obtain. The Oslo Accords set up a Joint Water Committee (JWC), composed of Israelis and Palestinians, to grant construction permits.
(6:37) A Palestinian mayor says Israeli army starves his little village of water
However, ‘Draining Away’ reports that “around 150 Palestinian water and sanitation projects are still pending JWC approval for ‘technical and security reasons’, while only one new Palestinian well project for the [West Bank] Western aquifer has been approved since 1993. In contrast, Israel is able to construct pipelines to its illegal settlements without going through the mechanism of the JWC. Thus Israel effectively has full control of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
Even if a project is approved by the JWC, it must then be approved by the Israeli Civil Administration, where, according to Deeb Abdelghafar, Director of Water Resources for the Palestinian Water Authority, “there are more than 14 departments, and each department must approve on the project. So we can never get a project through”.
The 2009 World Bank report ‘Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Development: West Bank and Gaza’ quotes an anonymous NGO donor: “the first thing we request is a letter from PWA approving the project. Then we go to the JWC. But then we have to go to the Civil Administration – and there delays of 2-3 years are normal. In fact, we have no positive outcomes for Area C.”
Because of the impossibility of laying infrastructure, NGOs focus, says Abdelghafar, on “civil emergency intervention- by delivering small water tankers, by supplying them with water tanks, by constructing rainwater cisterns- it’s emergency humanitarian relief.” While important, this aid is temporary, able only to alleviate the symptoms, not cure the disease.
The Israelis, Abdhelgafar makes clear, “are trying to establish control over the Valley, by preventing or destroying permanent water infrastructure...they want to clear Area C of Palestinians”.
http://fwd4.me/0go9 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 16 nov 2011
Israeli Municipality Demolishes Palestinian House in Galilee
BASMA TABON, (WAFA) - Bulldozers of the Israeli Ministry of Interior, under police protection, Wednesday at dawn demolished a Palestinian home in the village of Basma Tabon in Galilee, claiming it was built without permit, according to head of the village council Mohammad Yaseen.
He condemned, in a press release, the demolition of the house and announced a general strike on Thursday in the village.
Yaseen said there are dozens of houses threatened with demolition in the village, due to the Israeli authorities’ refusal to issue any new building permits.
He added that the village council has been trying for years to add one of the village neighborhoods, which contains 35 houses, to its jurisdiction in order to be able to issue building permits, particularly when all these houses are built on privately owned land.
The Israeli ministry of interior as well as the planning and building committee keep stalling the approval of this request.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18024
Israeli Municipality Seizes Land in Silwan
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem Thursday seized a piece of land belonging to a Palestinian Orthodox Monastery in the neighborhood of Al-Thawri, west of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to a press release by the committee for the defense of Silwan.
The release said the Israeli municipality seized the 850 square meter piece of land in order to turn it into a Talmudic garden and a parking lot.
It added that the Israeli municipality refused a request, submitted by a Palestinian school located near the land, to annex it to the school property in order to build extra classrooms and end the shortage in schoolrooms.
The committee expressed fear that the land would be turned into a Talmudic garden under the control of the Israeli nature and parks authority, surrounding the areas of Wadi Hilweh and Al-Bustan in Silwan.
It called upon the international community to move in order to stop the Israeli escalation in targeting Palestinian residents and their land in Silwan.
To be noted, Israeli authorities’ measures in Silwan aim to remove the entire neighborhood after demolishing its 88 houses and displacing about 1600 Palestinian residents.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18023 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 17 nov 2011
Dweik: Israel exercising ethnic cleansing in Palestinian land
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Speaker of the Palestinian legislative council Dr. Aziz Al-Dweik has said that Israel was exercising ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people in the occupied lands.
Dweik, who was speaking during a meeting between him and a number of Hamas MPs with the ambassador of South Africa, spoke about the suffering of the Palestinian people in occupied Jerusalem and other occupied lands.
The speaker elaborated on the Israeli confiscation of land and detention of Palestinians and war of annihilation against them. He mentioned in particular the arrest of Palestinian lawmakers, obstructing legislative life, ethnic cleansing in occupied Jerusalem, and the building of the racist, isolation wall in the West Bank.
He said that both the Palestinian and South African peoples were the victim of racial discrimination, describing the South African leader Nelson Mandela as a symbol of struggle against racial discrimination worldwide.
The ambassador, for his part, praised the Palestinian people’s insistence on winning their legitimate rights, adding that the South African state and people back the Palestinians struggle for freedom.
http://fwd4.me/0gz0
Israeli Forces Destroy Agricultural Ponds East of Hebron, Knesset Mulls Settlement Law
On Thursday, Israeli forces destroyed agricultural ponds, farming equipment, irrigation systems and crops in the al-Baq’a area east of Hebron. Meanwhile, Israeli Knesset members proposed a law obligating the state to sign all future construction tenders for 10 West Bank settlements.
“Israeli forces, accompanied by the civil administration, the borders guards and police, raided with their bulldozers and vehicles the area and started demolishing the agricultural ponds that farmers use for irrigation,” farmer Ayad Jaber told Palestinian government news wire Wafa.
“Badawi al-Rajbi is one of the owners whose ponds were repaired many times after the Israeli forces demolished them during the past years,” said Jaber. “The Israeli troops keep demolishing these ponds, so they can expel farmers and steal their lands in order to expand Kiryat Arba and Kharsena settlements.”
The al-Baq’a area is considered to be one of the most fertile lands in Hebron.
The Israeli Knesset will discuss on Sunday a proposed law obligating the state to invest in settlement expansion under the framework of “natural growth.”
According to the Israeli Haa’retz newspaper, the Security and the Construction ministers would be forced to issue tenders for the construction of residential units in 10 settlements: Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Beitar lllit, Modi’in lllit, Alfei Menashe, Efrat, Karnei shomron, Beit Aryeh, Ornit, and Kiryat Arba.
The law was proposed by the Knesset members from the right-leaning parties Likud and Yisrael Beitenu. According to the law, Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be responsible for issuing construction permits in the West Bank.
http://fwd4.me/0gyW
Don’t demolish my future!
Demolitions and the threat of displacement are ruining people’s lives in the West Bank.
We want to put a stop to the devastating practice of demolition. We need your help!
The facts:
-- Whole communities are living with the daily trauma and anxiety of losing their homes and livelihoods in Israeli-controlled East Jerusalem and Area C, which together make up more than 60 per cent of the West Bank.
-- This year has seen a huge rise in the number of people displaced by demolitions. More than 800 people have been displaced in the first nine months alone, surpassing the entire number displaced in 2010 (594 people).
-- In the rural West Bank, at least 3,000 outstanding demolition orders on homes and infrastructure affect tens of thousands of people.
-- In East Jerusalem, at least 28 per cent of Palestinian homes are built without an Israeli permit, putting about 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem at risk of house demolitions.
-- Under the Israeli zoning policy, Palestinians can build in just 13 per cent of East Jerusalem and in just 1 per cent of Area C. In both cases these areas are already heavily built-up, making obtaining a permit almost impossible.
-- Demolitions devastate families and communities, increasing poverty and instability. This is compounded by the fact that demolitions often limit access to basic services, such as education, health care, water and sanitation, especially when infrastructure such as schools and water cisterns is targeted.
-- The impact of home demolitions can be particularly devastating for children. Many show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Their academic achievement often suffers.
-- Many of the people affected by demolitions come from the most marginalised and vulnerable communities, and already live in poverty.
-- In 2010, more than 10 per cent of people displaced by demolitions in East Jerusalem and Area C were refugees registered with UNRWA.
-- Demolitions destroy more than bricks and mortar. Education, prosperity, health and security are all essential elements on which people build their lives and futures.
Join our campaign to support the demand of tens of thousands of Palestinians:
“Don’t demolish my future!”
Stop demolitions and displacement in the West Bank
To show your support:
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2) Stay informed
Find out more about demolitions in the West Bank and get the latest figures on our demolition watch section.
Read all the latest media coverage at demolitions in the news.
The OCHA report “Displacement and insecurity in Area C of the West Bank” (PDF) has detailed analysis of the current situation.
3) Support our demand that Israel meet its obligations under international law
Immediately cease demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes, schools and infrastructure, which cause displacement and dispossession, until Palestinians have access to a fair and nondiscriminatory planning system. This should include community participation in all levels of the planning process.
Families that have been forcibly displaced must be allowed to return to their homes in safety and dignity, and be given compensation for any harm they have suffered, including the destruction of land, homes and property.
The campaign so far
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1085
AFEH documents the digging of more graves at Ma'manullah cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) revealed that dozens of Zionist workers have been engaged in digging up Muslim graves at the historic Ma’manullah cemetery in occupied Jerusalem, stressing that the American and Israeli parties behind the project to build the "tolerance museum" try to hide these acts.
The organisation’s delegation visited the cemetery on Wednesday morning on hearing that the digging of the graves was restarted and that racist graffiti has been daubed on graves in the cemetery.
Amir al-Khatib, director of the organisation, said that the visit was to see first-hand the repeated Zionist violations against the cemetery and to uncover the digging of tombs which has been restarted lately.
AFEH confirmed that dozens of workers are digging up graves in the south western part of the cemetery which has been fenced for the purpose of building the so called tolerance museum.
The delegation managed to get close to the main southern gate of the fenced area despite attempts by the guards to prevent them. Through the gates and holes in the fence they saw dozens of workers with light tools and buckets. They also saw mounds of earth covered by sheets. This was documented by the team.
AFEH also learnt that serious digging is being carried out at the cemetery and that a lorry enters the cemetery every day to be loaded with earth. No one except those working there is allowed in.
http://fwd4.me/0gx3
Israeli army steps up attacks on Palestinian water
Israeli forces destroy a water container in the West Bank
According to Jordan Valley Solidarity, the Israeli army demolished two water wells on Monday in Baqa’a, near the West Bank Palestinian village of Tammun. The water was used, primarily, to irrigate agricultural land. Hundred of families depend on the land for their livelihood.
The last two months have seen a steady stream of Israeli army attacks on Palestinian Bedouin water wells in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
On October 13, farmers received demolition orders on several water wells in Kufr al-Deek, a village in the town of Salfit near Nablus.
On the 8th of September, 50 military jeeps, trucks and bulldozers sealed off Al Nasarayah as a closed military zone, and proceeded to illegally destroy 3 water wells and confiscate the attached water systems, the pumps of which cost $40,000 each to install.
Five days later, the IOF returned to Al Nasarayah to demolish 2 more wells, stopping along the way to destroy another well east of Tamoun.
The next day, IDF soldiers entered the village of Al- Fa’ara, near Nablus, to photograph and record the GPS coordinates of 6 more wells intended for demolition.
These water wells had permits from the Palestinian Authority, and were operating in the 5% of the Jordan Valley designated after the 1993 Oslo Accords Area A, under full Palestinian civil and military control.
(1:51) Clearing the Canals in Al-Auja, Jordan Valley - 30 Oct 2011 (English)
Since the beginning of Israel’s colonization of the Jordan Valley in 1967, local Bedouin have seen the steady drying-up of the once-flowing springs around which they built their villages. They are unable to dig sufficient wells of their own because of crippling Israeli regulations, and have become dependent on the Israelis for access to a basic human right.
According to Ma’an Development Center’s 2010 report ‘Draining Away- the Water and Sanitation Crisis in the Jordan Valley’, 40% of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley consume less water than the minimum global standard set by the World Health Organization, which is set at 100 liters cubed per day. In a striking disparity, 56,000 Palestinians in the Jordan Valley consume an average of 37 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of water per year, as compared to an average of 41 MCM for only 9,400 settlers.
Because of post-Oslo Accords regulations, Jordan Valley Bedouins living in Area C (95% of the Valley) cannot build, or improve, the smallest animal pen, much less a water well, without a permit, which is almost impossible to obtain. The Oslo Accords set up a Joint Water Committee (JWC), composed of Israelis and Palestinians, to grant construction permits.
(6:37) A Palestinian mayor says Israeli army starves his little village of water
However, ‘Draining Away’ reports that “around 150 Palestinian water and sanitation projects are still pending JWC approval for ‘technical and security reasons’, while only one new Palestinian well project for the [West Bank] Western aquifer has been approved since 1993. In contrast, Israel is able to construct pipelines to its illegal settlements without going through the mechanism of the JWC. Thus Israel effectively has full control of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
Even if a project is approved by the JWC, it must then be approved by the Israeli Civil Administration, where, according to Deeb Abdelghafar, Director of Water Resources for the Palestinian Water Authority, “there are more than 14 departments, and each department must approve on the project. So we can never get a project through”.
The 2009 World Bank report ‘Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Development: West Bank and Gaza’ quotes an anonymous NGO donor: “the first thing we request is a letter from PWA approving the project. Then we go to the JWC. But then we have to go to the Civil Administration – and there delays of 2-3 years are normal. In fact, we have no positive outcomes for Area C.”
Because of the impossibility of laying infrastructure, NGOs focus, says Abdelghafar, on “civil emergency intervention- by delivering small water tankers, by supplying them with water tanks, by constructing rainwater cisterns- it’s emergency humanitarian relief.” While important, this aid is temporary, able only to alleviate the symptoms, not cure the disease.
The Israelis, Abdhelgafar makes clear, “are trying to establish control over the Valley, by preventing or destroying permanent water infrastructure...they want to clear Area C of Palestinians”.
Source
http://fwd4.me/0gwx
Israel plans to displace Bedouins
(2:56) Israel plans to displace Bedouins - Press TV News
The Israeli regime plans to displace thousands of Palestinian Bedouins of the Khan al-Ahmar community from the periphery of East al-Quds (Jerusalem), Press TV reports.
The Israeli plan to forcibly displace about 27,000 Bedouins from an area to the east of al-Quds has prompted concerns among human rights organizations, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday.
Jessica Montell, executive director of an Israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories, told Press TV that she suspected a link between the displacement plan and an expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement Maale Adumim.
“You have about 20 different communities that are living in this area that are scheduled to be forcibly relocated. It seems that there is a close connection between the relocation plan and the plans to expand the settlements, particularly Maale Adumim, the big settlement here which has an expansion plan,” Montell said.
Abu Khamis Abu Dahouk of the Bedouin community in Khan al-Ahmar criticized the Israeli regime's displacement policies toward the Bedouins, expressing a firm determination to remain in the area.
"The communities would like to remain here and be able to build legally... So we are hoping to raise awareness in order to put a stop to this plan and to find a way for these communities to remain here and to live with dignity," Montell pointed out.
The Bedouin community in Khan al-Ahmar currently lives outside the conveniences of modern life, without a connection to the power grid or potable water.
On October 31, an Israeli bulldozer demolished homes of five Bedouin families in Khan al-Ahmar, displacing 71 people, including 60 children.
Israel began the process of displacing the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouins from their original homeland in Tel Arad in the eastern Negev desert after the 1948 war.
Chris Gunness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) told Press TV in a phone interview that the agency is concerned about the illegal displacement of the Bedouins, calling the Israeli plan a violation of international law.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/210584.html 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 18 nov 2011
Israeli settlement project to ruin Palestinian historical village
(2:55) Israeli settlement project to ruin Palestinian historical village
The village of Lifta is just one kilometer NW of Jerusalem Al Quds. In 1948 some 2500 Palestinians were forced out of their village following the attack of Jewish groups who were trying to take control of the Jerusalem-Yaffa road.
Most residents of Lifta have moved to Jerusalem to escape the fighting.
This is what remains of the village of Lifta. In their opposition to settlement construction and in an effort to reclaim their land, Palestinians along with international supporters, gathered here to say that the occupation will not go unchallenged.
Following the war, Israeli settlers moved to the Village, some of them occupied the homes that once belonged to the Palestinians.
Israel recently has announced plans to build luxurious homes to settle Jewish immigrants from around the world on small pieces of lands remained of the Village.
However descendants of the fallen village have reiterated their intention to reclaim their land.
In a remarkable move Palestinians have filed a number of petitions including one with the office of the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization- the UNESCO Office in Paris and called on the organization to designate the site as a genuine Palestinian Heritage site.
With the approach of the annual observance of what Palestinians call Al Nakba Day or the Catastrophe in reference to the catastrophe that befell on them in 1948. Palestinians seem ever determined to keep the memory of Palestine and pass it on to future generations.
Several Jewish settlers stood by watching the event and seemed indifferent to Palestinian demands.
However, there were few Israelis that were among the crowd, that were voicing their support for the Palestinian cause of right of return.
The event was coordinated by an emerging popular Palestinian youth movement called 'Youth for AL QUDS, or Jerusalem' and the people of Lifta. Following the revolution in Tunisia and Egypt and the wave of popular uprising in the region, new Palestinian movements are emerging to liberate their land from the Israeli Occupation.
Israel to displace families from Wadi Abu Hindi, raze their homes
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday handed more six Palestinian Bedouin families living in Wadi Abu Hindi district, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, military demolition orders against their homes at the pretext their presence in the area was illegal.
Palestinian local sources said these Palestinian homes are located near Kedar settlement and will demolished in order to complete the construction of the segregation wall and expand settlement outposts around Jerusalem.
Entire families from the Bedouin clan of Sarai%u2019ah will be displaced, especially since other families from the same clan had received evacuation orders last month.
The Bedouin Palestinian families in the Wadi Abu Hindi area are part of the wider Jahalin tribe, numbering some 2700 people living in 31 areas of the desert.
The Jahalin tribe is originally from the area of Tel Arad in the Naqab (Negev) desert, but Israel deported them in the early 1950s, so they moved to the Jerusalem area.
In the 1990s, some 1,000 members of the Jahalin tribe were deported to the area of Jerusalem's municipal garbage dump, in order to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian young man called Sami Sanbour from Yatma village in Nablus city was seriously wounded after he was attacked by savage Jewish settlers with knives and sharp tools on Thursday afternoon.
The settlers were from Shilo settlement and stabbed the victim in different areas of his body. The young man was transferred to Ramallah hospital.
http://bit.ly/e6UT0E
Israel court decides to turn Rahma graveyard into Jewish garden
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- An Israeli court decided to convert part of the Palestinian graveyard, Bab Al-Rahma, in occupied Jerusalem into a biblical garden and prevent the Muslim Palestinians from burying their dead there.
This decision was taken after an extremist Jewish settler called Arie King filed a petition with the Israeli court claiming that part of this Islamic graveyard, near the Aqsa Mosque, was in the past a biblical Jewish garden.
Pressures from Zionist right-wing parties, the societies of Elad and Ateret Cohanim and the bureau of defending Zionist antiquities also contributed to this court decision.
Director of the Islamic waqf (endowments) in Jerusalem Sheikh Azzam Khatib reported that the Israeli police installed a number of surveillance cameras on the wall of Jerusalem%u2019s old city, especially at the entrance to the graveyards of Rahma and Yusufiya.
Sheikh Khatib added that the camera used to prevent the Palestinians from burying their dead in the graveyards.
The total area of Rahma graveyard is about 23 dunums and it extends from Al-Asbat Gate, the northeastern entrance of Jerusalem, to the end of the Aqsa Mosque's wall near the Umayyad Palaces in the southeast.
http://bit.ly/hzfaFg
IOF storm west of Jenin, threaten to raze Palestinian structures
JENIN, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday evening stormed Ya'bad town, west of Jenin city, and handed Palestinian citizens a military order to demolish their coal plants, the main source of charcoal in occupied Palestine.
Local sources affirmed that 17 coal plants on which dozens of families depend for their living received demolition warnings from the IOF.
The IOF launched six months ago a plan to demolish all coal plants in the town and nearby villages and banned their owners from importing timber from the 1948 occupied lands.
In a separate incident, the IOF on the same day afternoon handed the family of a Palestinian young man called Taha Sharqawi from Zababdeh town a summons from the intelligence headquarters in Salem military post, west of Jenin city.
Eyewitnesses said that Israeli troops encircled the house of Sharqawi and handed his family a summons for interrogation after they did not find him at home.
http://bit.ly/g442F4
Israel Grabs Palestinian Lands To Expand Religious Kibbutz
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israeli government confiscated privately owned Palestinian lands in the Jordan Valley, and gave the lands to Kibbutz Merav, inhabited by Jewish settlers.
The Israeli government re-routed the Annexation Wall in the area in order to secure the illegal takeover of nearly 1500 Dunams (375 Acres) of privately owned Palestinian lands, effectively declaring the lands as part of Israel.
The move in question is not new, as Israel’s settlements and settlements blocks in the occupied territories are mostly built on Palestinian lands. This instance is different as the ownership of West Bank Palestinian-owned lands is transferred to a Jewish community that is considered inside Israel itself.
Haaretz said that Maj. Guy Inbar, a spokesperson for the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the occupied territories, stated that the expropriated Palestinian lands are in the West Bank, and claimed that Jewish settlers in Merav “have been farming the lands for decades”.
Spokesperson of the Jewish Settlements Division of the World Zionist Organization, Ofer Amar, stated that the division has no authority on the land that is classified as “farmland”, and falls under the control of the Emek Mayanot Regional Council.
Director of Peace Now Movement, Dror Etkes, stated that the annexation order effectively robs the lands in order to give them to Amona, Givat Asaf and Migron illegal settlement outposts.
Etkes added that extremist officials like right-wing Member of Knesset, Ofir Akunis, and extremist other right-wingers are censoring and silencing leftist groups in Israel, and are trying to control the media to make it a puppet for the government.
Haaretz said that a Palestinian resident, identified as Ashraf Madrasa from the Palestinian village of Bardalah, showed its reporters maps and deeds, issued in 1961, proving he owns 36 Dunams of the annexed lands. The army initially confiscated his land declaring it as a “military zone”.
It is worth mentioning that under the Israeli so-called Absentee Property Law”, lands that belong to Palestinians who became refugees when Israeli occupied Palestine, can be declared as state lands.
The International Law states that Israel, the custodian of absentee property in the occupied territories, cannot use the lands for settlement activities.
In 2004, the State Comptroller in Israel wrote a report stating that thousands of Palestinian Dunams were granted to Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley in the 60’s and 70’s of last century, Haaretz said.
Israel’s settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under International Law, and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Geneva Convention Article 49
Aug. 12, 1949
"Article 49 - Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.
Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. Such evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement. Persons thus evacuated shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased.
The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated.
The Protecting Power shall be informed of any transfers and evacuations as soon as they have taken place.
The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.
The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
United Nations Security Council Resolution number 465;
"Determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."
http://www.imemc.org/article/62524 5 dec 2011, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 19 nov 2011
Report: “Palestinian Village Condemned To Live In Darkness”
After the “Seeba” Spanish organization managed to install Solar Panels at a Palestinian village in the West Bank, known as Amenzil, and for the first time its residents managed to have electricity, Israel issued a military injunction ordering the residents to remove the Panels.
The village never had power, but after the panels were installed, the residents started providing their homes, and event tents, with lights, bought TV sets and other electric materials.
In cooperation with the An-Najah University In Nablus, the Spanish nongovernmental organization installed two Solar Panels in the tiny village “Amenzil” located in the southern part of the West Bank, and the villagers managed to replace their gas-run generators that were barely enough for basic functions.
The Solar Panels also enabled the residents to run a water-pump to provide the village with water supplies, especially since it does not have running water.
The Israeli army claims that the small village, located in Area C in the West Bank, was built without construction permits, and issued an order last month forcing the residents to remove the Solar Panels.
Area C is %60 of the occupied West Bank, and all constructions are subject to approval from the so-called “Civil Administration Authority”, that runs under the control of the Israeli Army in the occupied West Bank.
Several Israeli NGO’s, and the United Nations, are trying to convince the army to void its decision that came without prior notice.
The Spanish government is also using diplomatic channels in an attempt to prevent the army from removing the Solar Panels. The project was implemented with a total cost of nearly 365.000 Euros, largely funded by Seeba.
Head of the village council, Ali Hreizat, told France Press that “these Solar Panels were they ray of hope to the residents”, and added, “We have been living here since 1948, and have nowhere else to go”.
Hreizat added that the village was never recognized by Israel, and all of its constructions were built without construction permits, therefore, asking Israel to permit the installment of the Solar Panels would be in vain.
A Spanish official, in charge of the project, stated that an application was actually filed to Israel before the project started, but the military division, in charge of construction permits, never responded.
The Israeli Civil Administration said that the panels were installed without a permit, and must be removed, and claimed that the Spanish Organization was allowed to appeal “but refused to present its case in front of the Appeals Committee”.
According to the Arabs48 News Website, the Spanish group filed an appeal to the head of the Civil Administration, Etan Dangot, who halted the demolish order and demanded Seeba to present detailed maps of the Solar Panels.
A spokesperson of the Israeli Army stated Wednesday that the army “is willing to approve the Panels”, adding that all approvals “must be directed through legal channels”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62530
Israel confiscates Palestinian land north of Jordan Valley
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority has confiscated hundreds of Palestinian dunums north of the Jordan Valley and annexed them to a Jewish Kibbutz called Merav, according to Hebrew press reports.
Ha’aretz daily said that the path of the separation wall to the northeast of Jordan Valley was amended to allow the annexation of 1500 dunums of Palestinian farmland.
David Yisrael, the leader of the Kibbutz, said that the land was being farmed by the settlers for decades, claiming that the matter was settled with the land of Israel department.
However, a spokesman for the department denied knowledge of the step.
The annexed land is owned by Palestinians who left the West Bank in the wake of the Israeli invasion in 1967 and did not come back. Their land, according to the Israeli law, is under state guardianship and not allowed to be transferred to the settlements.
http://fwd4.me/0h5R 5 dec 2011, 14:19 , Respect -
Maria 20 nov 2011
Settlement’s Waste Water Destroys Olive Trees
SALFIT, (WAFA) – Waste water from Revava settlement, which is established on the land of Deir Estia, near Salfit in the northern West Bank, completely destroyed 20 olive trees and flooded another 100 trees in Palestinian land around the settlement, Sunday said a local official.
Nazmi Salman, mayor of Deir Estia, said the waste water is threatening hundreds of dunums (1 dunum=1000 square meters) of land planted with olive trees in the western valley area to the west of the town, adding that farmers couldn’t harvest the 100 olive trees that were flooded.
He said the municipality filed several complaints to stop the settlers’ assaults against the land but to no avail.
Dawoud Fares, owner of the damaged trees, was repeatedly assaulted by settlers before, including a physical attack and the arson of almost 300 olive plants in his land, added Salman.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18060 5 dec 2011, 14:19 , Respect -
Maria 22 nov 2011
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Land, Destroy Irrigation Networks in Jericho
JERICHO, (WAFA) – Israeli Bulldozers Tuesday razed an agricultural land, belonging to Palestinian farmer Hassan Erekat, and destroyed the irrigation networks considered the main water source to the land in an area northeast of the West Bank city of Jericho.
Erekat told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, razed 18 dunums (1 dunum=1000 square meters) of land planted with corn crops and destroyed the infrastructure of the irrigation networks that irrigate about 120 dunums of the agricultural land.
“I have been planting this land since the mid eighties and I never got any notice from the Israeli government as it claims, “he said.
Governor of Jericho and the Jordon Valley, Majid Fityani, condemned the ongoing attacks against Jericho residents and declaration of land as a closed military zone, in addition the bulldozing and confiscation policy.
He also condemned forcing the farmers to get a prior permission in order to enter their land.
He affirmed that these Israeli measures will only increase the steadfastness of the farmers.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18088
Galaxy of prominent figures slams Israel's plan to raze Maghariba Gate
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Noted Palestinian figures from occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 occupied lands on Monday warned the Israeli occupation state of its declared intent to demolish what remained of the historical Maghariba Gate and build a bridge in its place.
This came during a news conference held Monday morning in the holy city by the authority of endowments and Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem along with the follow-up committee in the 1948 occupied lands.
Prominent figures including grand mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, preacher of the Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ikrima Sabri and head of the follow-up committee for the Arabs Mohamed Zeidan participated in the news conference.
The participants gave speeches before a final joint statement was read condemning Israel's moves to Judaize the Arab identity of the holy city and the Aqsa Mosque.
"The occupation municipality in Jerusalem persists in imposing its policies on the ground to entrench its settlement activities, and the Judaization of the old city and the vicinity of the Aqsa Mosque," the statement read.
The statement stressed that the Israeli occupation would not dare to demolish the Aqsa Mosque unless it lost what is left of its sanity because its demolition means an all-out war threatening Israel's existence.
The statement also underlined that every grain of the Aqsa Mosque and its vicinity, including the Maghariba Gate, belongs only to Muslims and warned of any malicious intents to demolish any part of it.
http://fwd4.me/0hG8 5 dec 2011, 14:19 , Respect -
Maria 23 nov 2011
Medics: Farmers hospitalized after Israel rips up land
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) – Three Palestinian farmers collapsed and required medical attention Wednesday when they saw Israeli bulldozers razing their olive fields in the northern West Bank, medics said.
Mufeed Abdul-Halim Ash-Sheikh, 62, his wife Fahmiyya, 60, and his son Mahmoud, 26, were evacuated to the Darwish Nazzal Hospital after they collapsed at the scene in Azzun Itma, near Qalqilya.
Israeli forces began digging in farmland last week to make way for a new section of the wall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=438943
Israeli Forces Raid School, Hand Its Principle Demolition Notice
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday raided Palestinian school in Khirbet Susiya, a locale south of Yatta in Hebron, and handed its principle a demolition notice of the school, said a local activist.
Rateb al-Jabour , coordinator in the Popular Committee in Yatta, said Israeli forces raided Susiya school and handed the principle notices to demolish the school, a water well and three greenhouses adjacent to the school.
A total of 36 students and seven teachers use the school, which was rebuilt from bricks and tin after Israeli forces demolished the school tents last year.
The Israeli settlement Susiya was built on the ancient land of the Arab khirbet Susiya, whereas Israeli forces completely demolished the nearby Khirbet Um Neir earlier this year.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18104
Israeli desert plan would uproot 30,000 Bedouin
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad helps to rebuild a Bedouin home a day after Israeli forces destroyed it near Hebron, March 30, 2011.
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
AL-ARAKIB, Israel (Reuters) -- Bulldozed by Israel more than two dozen times, a village known by Bedouin Arabs as al-Arakib is one of many ramshackle desert communities whose names have never appeared on any official map.
If Israel's parliament adopts proposed new legislation, it never will.
The plan to demolish more Bedouin homes in the southern Negev region and move 30,000 people to government-authorized villages connected to power and water lines has been hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "historic opportunity" to improve Bedouin lives.
But Israeli Arab leaders, who have long complained about discrimination against their community in Israel, call it "ethnic cleansing," and aim to thwart the project with protests, a general strike and appeals to the United Nations to intervene.
"I will never leave here, I intend to stay until I die," said Abu-Madyam, 46, a farmer from al-Arakib.
He and his family of nine live in a makeshift plastic-sided shack in a cemetery near the ruins of their wooden home, razed by Israeli authorities last year.
The project is the most ambitious attempt in decades by the government to resettle Negev Bedouin and free up land in the largely open spaces of southern Israel for development and construction of military bases to replace facilities in the crowded center of the country.
Some Israelis argue the Bedouin have grown too dominant in the Negev, a geographic area wedged between Gaza and the West Bank, and that they pose a possible security risk.
The area being restructured also abuts Israel's largest Negev city of Beersheba and is near several military bases.
For decades, Israeli governments have tried to attract Jewish Israelis to move to the Negev, offering mortgage and tax breaks, but the region has fewer opportunities for employment than in the heavily populated center of the country.
Only 20 percent of Israel's Jewish population lives in the Negev, which covers more than 60 percent of the nation's land area. Bedouin villages take up two percent of Negev land.
This month, Netanyahu sat down with Bedouin mayors at his office to urge them to accept the plan, which could take at least five years to implement at a cost of more than 1 billion shekels ($300 million) once legislation due to be introduced shortly becomes law.
"Our state is leaping towards the future and you need to be part of this future. We want to help you reach economic independence. This plan is designed to bring about development and prosperity," Netanyahu told the Bedouin officials.
Israel's population of seven million includes around 200,000 Bedouin citizens.
Most of Israel's Bedouin, who predominate in the desert area that accounts for two-thirds of its territory, are descendants of nomadic tribes that had wandered across the Middle East from Biblical times.
Half of the Bedouin live in towns and villages recognized as formal communities by the government. Others live rough, in tents and shacks on patches of desert.
"If everyone sat exactly where they felt their place was, then it wouldn't be possible to develop anything," said Yisrael Scop, a senior official at the Israel Lands Authority, which would bear responsibility for carrying out the Negev plan.
New villages
Some new villages will be built for displaced Bedouin, Scop told Reuters in an interview. He said about 60,000 acres would be affected, with 30,000 Bedouin called upon to abandon their homes in return for monetary compensation.
Another 2,000 Bedouin who have claims against Israel for past relocation would have their cases settled under the new project.
"We cannot have such a large population living in unorganized settlement," Scop said.
Bedouin leaders in the Negev say Israel has long discriminated against their communities, denying them public funds and services, in a bid to make their inhabitants leave.
Many of them were built, the officials said, because Israel had failed in the past to offer other housing options.
In a 2008 report on Israel's policy toward Bedouin in the Negev, Human Rights Watch said the government "appears intent on maximizing its control over Negev land and increasing the Jewish population in the area for strategic, economic and demographic reasons."
"The state implements forced evictions, home demolitions and other punitive measures disproportionately against Bedouin as compared with actions taken regarding structures owned by Jewish Israelis that do not conform to planning law," the New York-based group said.
Khalil Alamour, a 42-year-old schoolteacher, plans to head to Geneva this month to a meeting of a UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as part of a delegation to protest against the resettlement project.
His village of al-Sira, home to 500 Bedouin, has long been tagged by Israel for demolition. It is located near an airbase.
"I always thought we could be a bridge to peace but this has not happened because we don't feel involved," Alamour said about the Bedouin, some of whom serve as volunteers in Israel's military. Unlike Jewish men and women in Israel, members of its Arab minority are exempt from conscription at the age of 18.
Alamour called the Negev plan "a second Nakba," the Arabic word for "catastrophe" that Palestinians use to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of them when Israel was established in 1948.
"We've been around for so many years, yet they treat us as little more than numbers on a map. It's shameful," he said.
Like most unauthorized Bedouin villages, al-Sira is not hooked up to Israel's electricity grid. Alamour and his neighbors have installed their own solar panels to generate electricity, supplementing the supply with power generators.
They have run their own pipes to hook up with a regional grid to provide running water for their homes.
In the ruins of al-Arakib, Abu-Madyam vowed to hang on to land which he said was once covered by lush grapevines and bought by his grandparents more than a century ago.
"I will seek justice until my last day. I don't have any objections to Jews living here, too, but why must I give up my own rights?" he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=438909
PA: Israel razes lands in Jericho
JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Two Israeli bulldozers razed large areas of agricultural lands east of Jericho on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli forces closed the area and kept farmers from their fields, according to the report. Bulldozers dug up corn crops and an irrigation network belonging to the Erekat and Deibes families, respectively.
The chairman of the association of Palestinian farmers, Mofaq Jalata, condemned the action and described it as ethnic cleansing. He said Israel was trying to expel farmers from the Jordan Valley.
Omar Bisharat, director of the district office of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture, pledged that the ministry would adopt special programs to empower farmers to stay on their land despite Israeli policies.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=438737 5 dec 2011, 14:21 , Respect -
Maria 24 nov 2011
Demolishing Houses In Biet Hanena Al-Tahta
(1:26) Demolishing Houses In Biet Hanena Al-Tahta 24 11 2011.wmv
Operation Dove: Two Palestinians Girls Arrested During Home Demolitions
HEBRON, (WAFA)-, Israeli army broke in the village of Umm Fagarah demolishing several huts and detaining two girls in the village of At-Tuwani, southeast of Hebron, Thursday said a press release by Operation Dove .
It said two bulldozers arrived in the village, escorted by five military vehicles, and without showing any demolition order; the army demolished two houses, a mosque, a barn and a structure containing the generator.
During the operations, two Palestinian girls were hold by the Border Police.
While the inhabitants rushed from neighboring villages to watch the going on, the two girls were kneeled on the ground by the soldiers.
Ignoring the request of the Palestinians to be able to rescue the rabbits, the Israeli army tore down the barn injuring and killing the animals. After the demolitions, the army took away the two girls without providing any explanation on the charges.
Similar incidents have taken place in the same day in the village of Susiya, where have been demolished a house and a barn.
The villages of Umm Fagarah and Susiya belong to Area C, under the military and administrative control of Israel. Within this area every construction must be approved by Israeli administration. According to a UN report, building is prohibited on 70% of the West Bank, while within the remaining 30% a series of restrictions are applied which eliminate the possibility to obtain a permit.
Furthermore, the Palestinians living in this area are under military law with limited right. On 22nd November a boy from Umm Fagarah, brother of one of the young women arrested, was taken from his home and temporarily detained for the whole day, without any charges.
Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18123
Israeli Troops Storm al-Nabi Saleh, Arrest Three, Demolish 60-year-old Hebron Wells
A large number of Israeli forces stormed the central West Bank village of al-Nabi Saleh on Wednesday night and arrested
Rami Hussein Tamimi, 33,
Oday Abdulhafiz al-Tamimi, 20 and
Mo’tasem Khalil al-Tamimi, 16.
Eyewitnesses reported to the Palestinian government news wire Wafa that Israeli soldiers also assaulted women and old men in the village. The operation consisted of more than a hundred soldiers and around ten military vehicles. It began around midnight and ended at 3 a.m.
Israeli soldiers have closed the entrances of the village for the last two days.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement in al-Nabi Saleh village said that the operation was proof that the Israelis were worried about the village’s resistance to colonization and said that similar crackdowns would only make the villagers stronger.
In the South Hebron Hills, Israeli forces demolished several water wells dug more than 60 years ago in the village of Idhna. The wells belonged to villagers Na’em al-Jayawi, Mahmoud al-Jayawi, Mohammed Farajallah, Ahmed Farajallah, Abed Mohammed Farajallah and Haytham Awwad.
Israeli military vehicles also blockaded two homes in western Idhna belonging to freed prisoner Shahadeh al-Jayawi and local citizen Hossam al-Jayawi. Until press time they were still forbidding the inhabitants from leaving.
Claiming the homes were unlicensed, the Israeli government delivered demolishing warnings one year ago. Although the al-Jayawi family said it showed valid property documentation to the Israeli court, its plea was refused.
Two days ago the Hebron-based Land Research Center reported that the Israeli army destroyed a water cistern in the village of Sa’eer, north of Hebron, which was serving five dunums of land and a family of twelve people.
The cistern was the product of a partnership between the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) and the Government of the Netherlands.
http://fwd4.me/0hNu
Israeli Forces Demolish Car Shop in West Bank Village
RAMALLAH, (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday demolished a car repair shop owned by two Palestinian brothers in the village of Um Safa, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, claiming it was built without permit, according to witnesses.
They said that Israeli forces stormed the village in the early morning hours, imposed a military cordon around the shop, which was owned by Mohammad and Ra’aft Sbaih, before demolishing it.
The brothers said they had a permit from the Palestinian Authority.
Mohammad Sbaih told WAFA that soldiers beat him and his brother for protesting the demolition of their shop, prevented them from removing their shop equipment before it was demolished, and detained them during the process of the demolition.
He said Israel had demolished part of his family home three years ago although it was also licensed.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18120
Yishai calls for Israeli presence in Joseph's Tomb
Yishai accuses Palestinians of violations
Interior minister visits holy site in Nablus together with 1,500 Jewish worshippers, says 'Tomb belongs to us and we must resume full control'.
Some 1,500 worshippers led by Interior Minister Eli Yishai arrived at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus on Wednesday night. The visit was coordinated with the IDF and the police.
"It's a huge privilege to be here," Yishai said. "Joseph's Tomb belongs to us. Of course we should resume full presence in Joseph's Tomb. The current situation is a blunt violation of the Oslo Accords and that must be fixed. "
Police arrested 13 Israelis who entered Nablus illegally including three who are under restraining orders. They were turned over for questioning. A Palestinian who hurled stones at an IDF force was also arrested.
Minister Yishai said, "The visit here is important and I hope the impairments will be corrected. The answer to the Palestinian Authority is to act according to what we believe in."
Leaving the compound, the interior minister also addressed the issue of settlement construction. "Building permits are the right answer to the many violations of agreements by the Palestinian Authority but that's not enough," he said.
Asked about the issue of women soldiers' singing, he said: "If we want haredim to serve in the army we must find a way to allow them to serve and at the same time maintain their beliefs and way of life."
Since the second intifada, Joseph's Tomb has been under Palestinian control. The IDF allows organized groups to visit the site at nights. However, some breslov hassidic groups arrive at the compound without coordinating their visits.
The passing year has seen recurring clashes between Israeli worshippers and Palestinians with IDF forces caught in the middle. Last April, 24-year-old Joseph Ben-Livnat was shot to death by Palestinian officers in an incident at the site.
http://fwd4.me/0hMS
IOA threatens to raze Palestinian school
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority served a notice to Yatta village council, south of Al-Khalil on Wednesday, that a primary school, a water well, and three nearby homes would be demolished.
The land research center in Ramallah said that an Israeli military unit escorted officials of the so-called civil administration to the village where they delivered the order.
It said that the Israeli force handed the “final” notice to the Khirbat Susiya elementary school, which provides education for 36 students with a seven-member teaching staff.
The school was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces last year but was rebuilt using crude material.
http://fwd4.me/0hMo
Israel army 'plans demolition of Hebron schools'
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities on Wednesday presented demolition orders for the Khirbet Susa primary school south of Yatta village and threatened to close the Zeif primary school south of Hebron, locals said.
Rateb Jabbour, a popular committee official in Yatta, told Ma’an that soldiers and the army's civil administration entered Susa school and handed the principal a demolition notice.
It includes demolishing the school, an under-construction well, the health unit of the school, and three greenhouses near the structure, Jabbour says.
He added that there are 36 students, seven teachers, and the principal at the school. Israeli forces easily demolished the school last year, as it was only made of tents.
The principal of the Zeif primary school told Ma’an that soldiers warned him they would close the school.
The director of the ministry of education’s office south of Hebron, Fawzi Abu Hleil, considered the demolition warnings to be an arbitrary action that would leave children uneducated.
Abu Hleil said the Susa faculty had managed to encourage people to send their children to school for education, allowing them to remain in the area despite difficult living conditions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=438986