- 22 oct 2010
Elders join anti-settlement rally in al-Quds
Jimmy Carter (C), former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson (C-back) and Indian activist Ela Bhatt (R) joined the weekly demonstration against Israeli occupation Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah on Friday
Former US president Jimmy Carter has condemned Israel's takeover of Palestinian homes in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), calling it an obstacle to peace.
Joining hundreds of protesters in the weekly anti-settlement demonstration in the East al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Carter said on Friday that destroying Palestinian homes in order to construct Jewish settlements is against international law.
"I don't think anyone would ever claim that the demolition of someone's home or the confiscation a home in which a family has lived for many generations is fair, or just, or peaceful," said Carter.
The former US president, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, also declared East al-Quds as the capital of the future Palestinian state.
Former Irish president Mary Robinson and Indian women's union leader Ela Bhatt accompanied Carter during the visit.
The three are members of the so-called Elders -- an independent group of prominent world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 to support peace building and help address major causes of human suffering -- are on a tour of the Middle East.
Mary Robinson has also criticized Tel Aviv over its brutal approach toward Palestinians, saying she was "shocked" by the al-Quds municipality's policy to destroy Palestinians' homes.
"All kinds of clever methods are being used to surround and squeeze the Palestinian population -- tunnels, settler houses, new roads, and now tourist attractions. A solution must be found that respects the human rights of all," Robinson said in a statement on Thursday.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/147780.html
Muslim cemetery found desecrated near Kalkilya
A Muslim graveyard on the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Kadum in the area of Kalkilya in the West Bank was found desecrated on Friday.
Vandals were said to have entered the cemetery and scrawled "Kahane was right" on several tombstones as well as drawing on them Stars of David.
IDF forces were called to the are to investigate and the Civil Authority said it viewed the incident in a very grave manner.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=192419
17 dec 2010, 01:08 , Respect -
Maria 24 oct 2010
Israeli security forces wound 8 Palestinians in Tel Sheva
BEERSHEBA, (PIC)-- Eight Palestinians in Tel Sheva village in the Negev, occupied since 1948, were wounded at the hands of Israeli security forces that stormed the village on Sunday.
Mohammed Al-Asam, one of the village inhabitants, told reporters that a big number of those forces attacked the village unexpectedly to quell the citizens who were objecting to the bulldozing of a village land lot to establish an Israeli educational center on it.
He added that the police forces broke into houses and fired inside them sonic and gas bombs other than beating women, children, and old people wounding 8 of the villagers.
He added that the policemen arrested ten villagers in the process.
http://bit.ly/cDF1IB
Violent clashes in Bustan zone following Israeli threats to raze homes
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Violent clashes broke out Sunday afternoon in Al-Bustan neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem after a large number of Israeli troops and policemen stormed the area and handed some citizens demolition orders issued against their homes.
Local sources said that dozens of Israeli troops were deployed in the neighborhood and many residents denied access to the area.
The sources added that the Israeli troops carried out a wide campaign to distribute demolition notices to citizens in the northern part of this neighborhood.
The homes which received demolition decisions are only a few meters away from the Aqsa Mosque and belonging to the families of Abu Asneineh and Sabih.
17 dec 2010, 22:11 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2010
Eviction orders on eight Silwan residences
A large team of Israeli military intelligence officers, accompanied by masked Israeli soldiers and inspectors from the Jerusalem Municipality, entered the village of Silwan yesterday afternoon to serve eviction orders on the tenants of eight Palestinian-owned apartment buildings.
Of the eight residences targeted for evictions, six were located in the Al-Ain Al-Fouka area, just north of Al Bustan neighborhood, with two more located inside Al Bustan. The owners of the targeted apartment buildings include Nafeth Al Sabbah, Hussein Abu Sabih, Sadi Asileh, Ashraf Taha, and Yousef Abu Sneineh of Al-Ain Al-Fouka, and Al-Bustan residents Khaled Rwaidi and Muhannad Afishah.
The eviction orders were issued on the premise that the residents were inhabiting unlicensed buildings, despite the fact that Yousef Abu Sneineh has Jordanian papers proving his legal ownership of his apartment building, and that most of the homes in question were in fact built before 1967, i.e. before the eastern part of Jerusalem, including Silwan, came under Israeli control.
In Al-Bustan, violent clashes quickly erupted between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops after masked Israeli soldiers attempted to enter multiple houses in the neighborhood, reaching the roof of Muhannad Afishah's residence. After delivering the eviction notices, Israeli forces withdrew from the village. No injuries were reported.
231 Israeli demolition orders issued against homes in O. Jerusalem
GAZA, (PIC)-- Different sources in Silwan committee and Jerusalemite institutions said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) distributed yesterday more than 231 demolition orders in the districts of Silwan, Al-Bustan, Shuafat, Beit Hanina, Issawiya and different areas in occupied Jerusalem.
Violent clashes broke out on Sunday afternoon when Israeli municipal staff escorted by troops stormed these areas to distribute the demolition notices.
In this context, the Palestinian natives of Beit Safafa, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan areas staged a sit-in on Monday in front of Al-Amud Gate in the old city of Jerusalem in protest at Israel's attempts to uproot them from their homes.
Some of the banners they carried read "Palestine is an Islamic land and Jews have no right to it," and "we will not leave, we are staying in our Jerusalem."
http://bit.ly/8Xnlcg
Israel issues 7 stop work orders in Bethlehem area
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's Civil Administration issued seven stop work orders to home and barn owners in the Bethlehem district village of Al-Maniya.
One of the homeowners concerned, Na'eem Muhammad Rashayda, said the structures in question are unfinished and are being built on land categorized as Area C, under full Israeli planning control.
He said Civil Administration officers had given them between one to two hours to stop building before the structures are razed by Israeli bulldozers.
Forces told him a special committee at the Civil Administration headquarters in Beit El would convene to look into their cases and decide whether they would be allowed to continue building.
A spokesman for the Civil Administration did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, where Palestinian building is rarely approved by Israeli authorities.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327398
IOA distributes new demolition orders in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) served new demolition notices to families in Silwan town, east of occupied Jerusalem, on Sunday, locals reported.
The IOF-controlled municipality of Jerusalem said that the procedure was made under police escort.
The municipality razes Palestinian homes, expel their owners, issue eviction orders, or force the landlords to destroy their own homes under the threat of facing huge fines and even imprisonment if they do not comply.
http://bit.ly/9eySaY
(0:37) israel Razes More Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
(0:37) israel Razes More Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
- 16 oct 2010
Golan Farmers Lose USD 25 Millions due to Israeli Water Theft from Ram Pool
Damascus, (SANA)- Farmers of the occupied Syrian Golan are bearing huge financial losses of up to USD 25 millions as Israeli occupation forces are stealing water from Ram Pool near Majdal Shams village and pumping it into the Israeli settlements.
Al-Jazeera Satellite channel said in a report on Friday that the Israeli Mekorot Water Company started early last September pumping large quantities of water from the 8 million cubic meter pool into Tabarayia Lake and water storage tanks in the settlements.
The continued water shortage caused the trees and crops to dry. Farmers are afraid the whole production would be damaged if the Israeli practices continue.
Agronomist Shehada Nasrallah said drawing water out of the pool and denying it the Golan farmers have caused an environmental catastrophe in the region, with tons of fish are perishing and orchards, trees and crops are drying out.
He explained that each dunum of agricultural land needs about 800 cubic meters of water annually, while the Israeli occupation gives farmers only 200 cubic meters for irrigation, which causes damage to crops, noting that the average production per dunum reaches 17 tons annually, whereas in the settlers' farms, it reaches 35 tons.
For his part, Salman Fakhreddin, an activist at the Observatory on Human Rights, said 20 years ago, the Israeli occupation seized all water resources in the occupied Syrian Golan and since then it has been allocating each settlement four times the amount of water it gives the farmers of Golan.
He noted that the quantity of water given to 20, 000 farmers cultivating approximately 30, 000 dunums equals that allotted to a settlement of 100 settlers cultivating 10, 000 dunums only.
Ram Pool is a volcanic basin where rain and fountain waters are naturally gathered. People of the occupied Syrian Golan used this pool before the Israeli occupation took hold of it and turned it into a profitable project and is now selling its water to the Golan people at very high prices.
http://sana.sy/eng/21/2010/10/16/313472.htm
IOA expands 19 settlements in Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) expanded 19 existing settlements in Al-Khalil district and established 25 new settlement outposts at conclusion of the construction freeze, the Palestinian land research center revealed in a report on Saturday.
It added that the IOA confiscated 526.5 dunums of land especially in the villages of Bakaa, Odaisa, Beit Ummar, and Beit Ola and damaged 704 other dunums and destroyed 513 trees including 303 which were burnt and 210 cut and uprooted mostly by Zionist settlers.
The center noted that 26 houses and installations were demolished while 171 others were threatened with a similar fate all during the construction freeze period that was announced on 25 November 2009 and ended on 25 September 2010.
http://bit.ly/bao6WP
11 dec 2010, 01:36 , Respect -
Maria 17 oct 2010
Tension prevails in Silwan
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan remained tense Sunday night following attempts by Israeli authorities to remove a sit-in protest tent.
Residents stopped attempts by Israeli police and border guards to destroy the tent, erected on the roof of Na'im Ruweidi's house.
Director of Wadi Helwa Information Centre Jawad Seyam said dozens of residents gathered inside the tent, and masked young men set fire to tires, forcing Israeli authorities to withdraw from the area. Israeli forces remained in the area, he said, adding that the situation was tense.
Ruweidi said Israeli intelligence summoned him Friday, and threatened to demolish his home and deport him and his family from the city if the tent was not taken down.
During questioning, he said, he was given until Sunday to remove the tent.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=325069
Tensions mount in Silwan as Israel detains child, threatens to take down tent
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli forces arrested Sunday morning the child Imran Mansur, 11, while in poor medical condition in his Wadi Hilwa home in Jerusalem's Silwan district. His parents were not allowed to escort him but were ordered to appear later at the police station.
Imran is the victim of last week's automobile assault carried out by settler leader David Be'eri who has headed a judiazation campaign in Silwan since the late 80s.
In a separate development, locals reported an atmosphere of caution among Palestinians in Jerusalem's Silwan district amid talks between locals about police plans to carry out threats to take down a sit-in tent in the Bustan district.
Israeli police summoned Naeem Rowaidi ordering him to remove the sit-in tent set up on the roof of his house. They granted him a grace period until 8:00am Sunday morning to take down the tent.
I did not build this tent, it is the property of the town and its people. I will not remove the tent with my own hands, he responded to police.
http://bit.ly/9qc4B2
Residents gather to stop removal of Silwan sit-in tent
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian residents of Silwan gathered Sunday to stop the dismantling of a sit-in tent by Israeli authorities.
Israeli police delivered a removal order to Na'im Ruweidi, upon whose roof the tent is located. Ruweidi said he was summoned by Israeli intelligence two days ago and threatened to deport him and his family from Jerusalem and demolish his home if the tent was not taken down.
During questioning, he said, he was given until Sunday to remove the tent.
A spokesman for Israel's national police did not return a phone call seeking comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=324827
14 dec 2010, 02:16 , Respect -
Maria 20 oct 2010
Israeli court to discuss request to demolish more graves in ancient cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli Magistrates Court will hold Wednesday a crucial hearing to assess a request by the occupation state's Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli Land Authority (ILA) to demolish around 220 more graves in the historical Ma'manullah cemetery in Jerusalem.
The session will be attended by cemetery keepers Sami Rizqullah Abu Mukh, Mustafa Abu Zuhra, and Aqsa Foundation attorney Mohammed Sulaiman Ighbariya, and Palestinian civilians. A picket will also be held outside the court.
The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem destroyed two months back more than 300 graves in the Ma'manullah cemetery under a decision by the Magistrates Court, after the Aqsa Foundation carried out works costing NIS 400,000 to restore around 1,000 graves vulnerable to Israeli vandalism and erosion at the site.
Despite a temporary order to discontinue grave excavations, Israel's Jerusalem municipality and the ILA lobbied to the court to dig up 220 more graves at the site, alleging that the graves are fictitious.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage assured that all of the graves in the Ma'manullah graveyard are Muslim graves that were built between the Islamic conquest of the area until the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948.
The foundation added that the excavations are a crime against the dead, civilization, and history and a blatant violation of the sanctity of the Ma'manullah cemetery.
http://bit.ly/bQbFbJ
15 dec 2010, 09:36 , Respect -
Maria 21 oct 2010
Israeli court adjourns hearing into the case of Mamanullah cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The so-called Magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday decided to adjourn hearings into the Israeli municipality's demand of destroying 220 graves in Mamunallah cemetery for three weeks.
Tens of Palestinians of the 1948 occupied Palestine demonstrated in front of the court during the three-hour hearing protesting the Israeli crimes against the historical graveyard and the destruction of hundreds of graves in it.
Mohammed Eghbariye, a lawyer, said that the hearing's deliberations were long and that the defense insisted that Palestinians were the genuine owners of that cemetery.
http://bit.ly/c6k5j5
15 dec 2010, 09:37 , Respect -
Maria 21 oct 2010
Israeli court adjourns hearing into the case of Mamanullah cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The so-called Magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday decided to adjourn hearings into the Israeli municipality's demand of destroying 220 graves in Mamunallah cemetery for three weeks.
Tens of Palestinians of the 1948 occupied Palestine demonstrated in front of the court during the three-hour hearing protesting the Israeli crimes against the historical graveyard and the destruction of hundreds of graves in it.
Mohammed Eghbariye, a lawyer, said that the hearing's deliberations were long and that the defense insisted that Palestinians were the genuine owners of that cemetery.
http://bit.ly/c6k5j5