- 17 sept 2011
Israeli occupation to raze kindergarten in Jerusalem district
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- IOF troops accompanied by staff from Israel’s Civil Administration raided Friday Tuyour al-Jannah kindergarten at the Bedouin complex of the Anata village in the Jerusalem district, and gave the residents of the complex a notice that the kindergarten will be demolished within a week.
The officials took photos of the kindergarten and six houses around it on the pretext that there was no planning permission for the building.
The kindergarten was established in 2009 in a Bedouin community in ‘Anata village northwest of Jerusalem city and serves 45 children.
The director of the Jerusalem Bedouins Society, Muhammad Kreishan, said: “The soldiers and Civil Administration staff came by foot, they raided the kindergarten, photographed it and the homes around it, then they handed the Bedouin community a demolition order for the kindergarten within a week,"
He added that the community was asked to demolish the kindergarten themselves within a week or it will be demolished by the occupation authorities and the community will have to pay the cost of its demolition.
Separately, in a report, Israeli rights group Peace Now said the IOA expropriated an area of more than 100 hectares in the northern West Bank for the interests of two unchartered Jewish settlements.
The decision to confiscate the land was in response to a petition by Peace Now to dismantle the two settlements Haresha and Hayovel in order to render the settlements legal with the courts.
Elsewhere, a Palestinian man sustained a gunshot wound in a settler attack on flashpoint Palestinian village Qusra to the south of Nablus.
Locals in the village, which recently suffered a mosque attack, managed to capture the settlers who infiltrated there. After they were released, the settlers fired randomly at homes drawing response from locals, said Ghassan Dughlas, an official in charge of settlement activity in the West Bank.
Later, some 15 Israeli military vehicles advanced towards the village. Witnesses said that locals also clashed with them.
http://fwd4.me/0Biv 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 18 sept 2011
IOA serves demolition notices to four Bedouins in Jordan Valley
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) notified four Bedouins in Wadi Al-Malih area to the north of the Jordan Valley on Sunday that their homes would be razed within three days.
Local sources said that two Bedouins in each of Khirbat Tal Hima and Farsiya were served those notices, adding that Israeli occupation forces delivered the notifications.
They said that the IOA planning and construction committee said that the four houses were built without permit in areas considered closed military zones.
Inhabitants said that the IOA distributed 35 demolition notices in the northern Jordan Valley over the past few months.
The IOA is planning to evict the Palestinian inhabitants from those areas to furnish the way before settlers to expand their nearby settlements.
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Israel Gives House Demolishing Notices to Palestinians
JORDAN VALLEY, September 18, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Sunday gave notices to three Palestinians that their houses in two locales in the Jordan Valley area will be demolished within three days, said head of Al-Maleh village council, Aref Daraghmeh.
Israel has recently been demolishing farmers’ and shepherds’ houses along with water wells and agricultural facilities in the Jordan Valley area, in an attempt to empty it of its Palestinian residents.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17389 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 19 sept 2011
Jewish Settlers Build New Road South of Hebron, Seizing Palestinian Land
HEBRON, (WAFA) – Jewish settlers Monday built a new dirt road and surrounded it with barbered wires, adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Sosiya, which was built illegally on Palestinians’ land south of the town of Yatta, in southern Hebron, according to witnesses.
The Popular Committee Coordinator in Yatta, Rateb al-Jabour told WAFA that the new road’s length reached almost 2.5 Kilometers which took about 10 dunums of Palestinian land.
He said that settlers also destroyed a number of olive trees, while they were opening the road, adjacent to Khirbet Um Nir, in Hebron governorate, south of the West Bank.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17408 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 20 sept 2011
Lebanon warns against Israel intrusion
Lebanese parliament (file photo)
Lebanon has warned about officially complaining to the UN Security Council against Israel for its encroachment into the Lebanese territorial waters, Press TV reports.
The Lebanese cabinet issued the warning in a session on Tuesday during which it determined the line of demarcation for the country's exclusive economic zone in its maritime borders, a Press correspondent reported.
In July, Israel approved a map of what it described as “proposed maritime borders.” Lebanon, on the other hand, condemned the move, calling it “an aggression.”
Meanwhile, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said in the cabinet meeting that Lebanon has the right to preserve its natural resources.
Berri urged Lebanese authorities to speed up the process of contracting foreign companies to carry out drilling projects on the oil and gas fields in the exclusive economic zone.
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman is also expected to raise the issue on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, which begins on September 20.
Israel also violates Lebanon's airspace on an almost daily basis.
In 2009, Lebanon lodged a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violations of the Lebanese airspace and territory.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/200225.html 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 22 sept 2011
IOA forces Jerusalemite to demolish part of home with his own hands
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority has forced Basem Hijazi to demolish part of his home in Abbasiya suburb in Silwan town to the south of the Aqsa Mosque.
Hijazi said that the IOA-controlled municipality of Jerusalem told him he has to raze a ten square meter part of his home, which he had recently added to his 55 square meter home.
He said that he received a notice from the municipality two days ago also telling him that he has to pay a fine of 15,000 shekels.
Hijazi recalled that the municipality had previously asked him to remove the roof of that section and forced him to pay a fine of 7,500 shekels, which he did but the municipality now ordered him to tear down the entire ten square meter structure.
http://fwd4.me/0C46 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 25 sept 2011
Evacuation of Muslim graves ahead of hotel construction challenged in court
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Al-Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage condemned during an appeal heard Sunday by the Israeli Magistrate’s Court the ongoing removal of human remains from a Muslim graveyard in occupied Jaffa, where plans are underway for a Jewish tourist site.
Al-Aqsa Foundation alongside Palestinian figures and groups in Jaffa are challenging the construction of a tourist hotel on the site of Al-Qishla cemetery, near the Grand Mosque in Jaffa, affirming that the evacuation of skeletons there is an act of desecration.
The hearing was attended by Al-Aqsa Foundation vice-president Sami Rizqullah Abu Mukh, the foundation's director-general Amir Khatib, and Dr. Abdul-Majid Mohammed Ighbariya, an official for holy places in the foundation.
According to reports, it is apparent that the Magistrate’s Court has implicitly consented to go ahead with the building of the hotel despite the desecration of the Muslim burial site.
http://fwd4.me/0CJ4 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 27 sept 2011
Israel plans 1,100 more settlement units as legislators call for full annexation
Entrance to Har Gilo settlement, next to Gilo
A group of right-wing Israeli legislators submitted a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister on Monday stating that in response to the Palestinian Authority's unilateral bid for statehood at the United Nations, Israel must retaliate by fully annexing all West Bank settlements as part of the state of Israel. The call comes just as the Israeli Jerusalem municipality prepares to approve 1,100 new settlement units on Palestinian land in the settlement of Gilo, near Bethlehem.
The plan to move ahead with new settlement construction in Gilo received preliminary approval by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality, and was submitted to the Jewish National Fund, which owns 90% of the land in Israel, for a 60-day public comment period, after which it is expected to receive final approval, and new construction will begin.
In the midst of protests over high housing prices in Israel, Israeli authorities have sought to construct new units in illegal West Bank settlements and encourage young people to move there -- in violation of international law and past signed agreements.
Indeed, Interior Minister Eli Yishai issued a directive that 20% of the new units constructed in Israeli settlements should be set aside for young couples.
The right-wing Israeli legislators who submitted a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday made a far-reaching recommendation that the Israeli government officially annex over half of the West Bank, which was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 but remains Palestinian Territory. This annexation would leave Palestinians with just 13% of their original land, split into discontiguous islands, or reservations, much like the Native American reservations where people were forced to live after European colonizers took over their land.
In their letter, the legislators wrote, "The international damage that Israel could suffer in the wake of the UN vote is significantly smaller than that it would suffer if it doesn't follow up on the principle you set a decade ago – 'If they give, they'll get; if they don't give, they get nothing." This last part was a reference to the Palestinian Authority and the Camp David Accords of 2000, during which the Israeli negotiators attempted to force the Palestinians to give up their internationally-recognized rights, including the right to freedom of movement, the right of return for refugees, and the right to live in a defensible state with clearly-defined borders.
The Israeli legislators, mainly from the right-wing Kadima party, called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to also cut off the aid money to Palestinians, which comes from international donors, but has to pass through Israeli hands for taxation, to accelerate the construction of new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to prevent all Palestinian construction in the West Bank, and to cancel the 'VIP' cards of Palestinian officials which allows them easier access through the over 500 internal checkpoints run by the Israeli army in every part of the West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62125
Knesset to vote on full Israeli annexation of the West Bank
(1:35) Danny Danon at Rick Perry's Event (September 20 2011) Part-5.m4v
(6:51) Danny Danon at Rick Perry's Event September 20 2011 Part 5
Danny Danon, who recently appeared with Rick Perry in New York, announced today that the Knesset will vote on his bill to annex the West Bank at the end of October. The bill also nullifies the Oslo Accords, ending all Israeli agreements with the Palestinian Authority.
The JTA reports it mirrors a bill being considered in the U.S. congress and seems to have support among leaders of the coalition government:
It was submitted in line with a similar initiative in the U.S. Congress offered by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), which calls for supporting Israel’s rights to annex the West Bank should the Palestinian Authority move forward with its statehood bid without negotiating.
Meanwhile, a letter signed by the leaders of four ruling coalition factions -- Likud Party chairman Ze'ev Elkin, Shas chairman Avraham Michaeli, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Uri Orbach, and National Union leader Yaakov Katz -- asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex Jewish-settled areas of the West Bank and calls for increased construction in those areas.
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Knesset to vote on annexing West Bank
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The Knesset will vote on a bill calling for full Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
Deputy Speaker Danny Danon announced Tuesday that the Knesset will take up the bill, which he authored, at the end of October.
The bill also nullifies any financial obligations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been established by previous agreements, according to a statement from Danon's office.
“If the Palestinian Authority wishes to proceed on this reckless path and bring further instability to the region, Israel cannot continue to pour funds into this sinking ship of failed leadership,” Danon said, referring to the PA's statehood bid at the United Nations last Friday.
“The funding agreements with the PA were reached with the hope that their leaders would work to create an environment of lasting peace and security with Israel. Given that it is clear that the Palestinians have no such desire, Israel must no longer be required to stand by these arrangements.”
The bill also nullifies the Oslo Accords, since it reads that “All obligations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority as established by international agreements … will be considered null and void.”
It was submitted in line with a similar initiative in the U.S. Congress offered by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), which calls for supporting Israel’s rights to annex the West Bank should the Palestinian Authority move forward with its statehood bid without negotiating.
Meanwhile, a letter signed by the leaders of four ruling coalition factions -- Likud Party chairman Ze'ev Elkin, Shas chairman Avraham Michaeli, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Uri Orbach, and National Union leader Yaakov Katz -- asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex Jewish-settled areas of the West Bank and calls for increased construction in those areas.
The letter also calls for additional sanctions against the Palestinians and not allowing any country that cooperates with their statehood bid to mediate future peace talks.
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UN urges end to Israeli infringements
A Palestinian woman sitting at the site of her demolished home
UN experts have called for an end to the violations of human rights by Israel and its destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories.
The UN special envoys on the rights to housing, food, and drinking water said in a statement that the actions by Israel “violate human rights and humanitarian law and must end immediately,” Egyptian al-Ahram reported on Tuesday.
The UN experts described as “completely unacceptable” the impact and “discriminatory nature” of the Israeli demolitions.
According to the statement, around 387 structures have been destroyed since January 2011, including 140 residential buildings and 79 agricultural structures, resulting in the forced displacement of 755 people and impacting a total of 1,500 individuals.
The special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, said the uprooted families “are not provided with compensation or relocated, and are even forced to pay for the demolition itself.”
Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water, said, “About 20 cisterns and 12 wells have been demolished since the beginning of 2011, affecting access to drinking water for tens of thousands of Palestinians.”
The special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, explained that the destructions have “exacerbated food insecurity amongst Palestinians in the West Bank.”
“Israeli authorities must take all necessary measures to prevent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and Palestinian property and investigate and prosecute criminal acts committed by the settlers in an independent, impartial, effective, thorough and timely manner,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Israel authorized a plan for the construction of 1,100 illegal settlement units in the Gilo neighborhood of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Tuesday.
In September 2010, Israel resumed the expansion of the illegal settlements in Palestine after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders to break off the US-sponsored talks with the Tel Aviv regime that had resumed after a lengthy stalemate.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201439.html 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 28 sept 2011
Basim Hjazee Demolished His House with His Own Hands
Basim Hjazee was forced to demolish his own house which lies in the neighbourhood of al Abaseya in Silwan.
Hjazee received a demolition order from theJerusalemMunicipalityas well as a fine 15,000 NIS ( $1=3.70 NIS) before Jerusalem Municipality bulldozers reached the house to demolish an added room. His house is 54 square meters and houses 5 family members. It is worth mentioning that it is not the first time theJerusalemMunicipalityobliged Hjazee to remove the roof of the same room and made him pay 7500NIS.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20685
Committee: Israel to build new bypass road south of Bethlehem
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities notified the municipality of Beit Ummar on Wednesday of plans to build a bypass road which will annex over 800 dunams of village land, a local committee spokesman said.
Mohammed Awad, spokesman of the national committee against the wall, said the military order entails a bypass road starting from the junction of Kefar Etzion settlement and passing through Al-Arrub refugee camp and Beit Ummar village, south of Bethlehem.
According to the military order, work will begin next week leaving village residents no time to mount a legal challenge in Israeli courts, Awad said.
The road will displace dozens of families who depend on agricultural land for their source of income.
Awad said the popular committees will hold a number of activities in order to protest the road.
Extensive settlement infrastructure such as bypass roads place severe restrictions on Palestinian communities, often confiscating land and separating villages.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settlements are Jewish-only neighborhoods built on occupied Palestinian land captured by force in 1967.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424522
Locals: Israeli forces hand Bethlehem village confiscation orders
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces notified villagers near Bethlehem that their land will soon be confiscated, local residents said Wednesday.
Land owned by 40 families in Battir village -- 148 dunams of vegetable, fruit and olive groves -- is earmarked for confiscation, villagers told Ma'an.
According to the notices received by villagers, the area is close to the train line to Jerusalem and next to the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, in which Israeli authorities approved the building of 1,100 new homes on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation.
The notification of the Israeli Ministry of Finance's intention to purchase the lands said the acquisition was for military and security purposes.
Battir resident Nidal al-Zaghir told Ma'an the land confiscation "will be a great loss for the village, as they will lose many of their houses, water wells and agricultural lands."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424350
Al-Bustan demolition court session delayed
The Central Court session scheduled for today regarding the Jerusalem Municipality’s plans to demolish most of Al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan has been delayed. The lawyer for Al-Bustan was informed by the Court today that the critical session has been delayed to an unknown date at the Municipality’s request.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20706
UN panel condemns Israeli actions
Raquel Rolnik, UN's special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing
A United Nations panel has called on Israel to stop the destruction of the Palestinian houses and structures in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
"These actions by the Israeli authorities violate human rights and humanitarian law and must end immediately," the UN special rapporteurs on the rights to housing, food, and drinking water said in a statement issued in Geneva on Tuesday.
The rapporteurs added, “The impact and discriminatory nature of these demolitions and evictions is completely unacceptable," AFP reported.
The panel of three independent UN human rights experts reporting to the UN Human Rights Council stated, in some places, there are nearly weekly burnings of Palestinian villagers' property, agricultural fields and fruit trees by Israeli settlers residing on the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to the UN experts, since January this year, the Israelis had destroyed over 387 structures, including 140 residential and 79 structures for agriculture or livelihood. This vandalism of the Palestinian property resulted in the forced displacement of 755 people and impacted the lives of 1,500 individuals.
Raquel Rolnik, the special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said that the situation is definitely deteriorating and resulting in increasing human rights violations.
The rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water, Catarina de Albuquerque, said that more than 20 cisterns and 12 wells have been destroyed since the start of 2011, affecting access to drinking water for tens of thousands of Palestinians.
UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, added that the destructions by Israelis had worsened food insecurity amongst Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
In conclusion, the UN panel demanded that Israeli authorities must take steps to stop these destructions and vandalism of Palestinians’ property without more ado.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201559.html 5 dec 2011, 14:12 , Respect -
Maria 29 sept 2011
Occupation forces hand demolition notices to residents of Ezbet Shufa
TULKAREM, (PIC)-- IOF troops handed on Thursday, eight residents of the village of Izbet Shufeh, to the south of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, demolition notices within a week because it lies in area (C).
Local sources reported that amongst those handed demolition notices were: Abu Nidal Abu Hamza, Fuad Kamal Mustafa Ismail, Muaweyya Musa, Amin Odeh, Raed Muhammad Hasan Yousef and a resident from the Shaar family.
Hasan Shaar, a resident of the village told PIC correspondent that the demolition notices were issued despite the facts that the owners of newly built homes have planning permissions and ownership deeds for the land and that the homes are already built, but waiting for the doors and windows to be installed.
He also said that the village which lies to south of Tulkarem, is surrounded from all sides by settlements; Avni Hefits from the west, Ennab from the east, a settlement block connected to Avni Hefets from the north and a settlement bypass road from the south.
He also pointed out that residents are not allowed to reach their fields using any form of transportation, so they have to walk on foot to reach their fields and tend their plants.
http://fwd4.me/0Ch9
Israeli Soldiers Arrest Palestinian, Raze Land in Hebron
HEBRON, September 29, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Thursday arrested a Palestinian from the town of Dura, southwest of Hebron in the southern West Bank, and razed land in the town, according to security sources.
Sources told WAFA that Israeli soldiers arrested resident Amir Asr and took him to an unknown destination.
Israeli soldiers erected checkpoints at the entrances of several Palestinian towns and inspected Palestinians’ vehicles and identification documents.
Soldiers razed more land belonging to Palestinians to expand Beit Romano settlement in central Hebron.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17581
Future of West Bank school under threat
JORDAN VALLEY (Reuters) -- At the Kaabna Bedouin primary school in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank, Palestinian Bedouin students prepare for a day full of classes. But their school may not be around for much longer.
Israeli authorities say the school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is illegal as it is in ''Area C'', the 60 percent of the West Bank where Israel exercises total control.
The school is made out of temporary prefabricated buildings and caters to Arab Bedouins from the Kaabna tribe. The school's headmaster said there is already an Israeli demolition order for parts of the make-shift school.
''We are located in area C, and it is known that the Israeli army do not allow us to build in area C. The Israelis refuse to give us a school, we even have a demolition order for the bathrooms. The occupying forces annoy us, for example at the start of the year, they objected to us hanging the Palestinian flag, why were we flying the Palestinian flag in the school?'' said Muhammad Sawafta.
Defined by interim peace agreements concluded between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, Area C is where all of Israel's West Bank settlements are located.
In the first half of 2011, more Palestinians lost their homes in Area C than in the whole of 2009 or 2010, the United Nations' OCHA says. Many of them were Bedouin. A total of 342 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished in the area so far this year.
Typically, demolitions are carried out on the grounds that the structures, some of them as simple as tents, have been put up without Israeli permission, something Palestinians say is almost impossible to obtain.
Palestinians say its part of a system of Israeli restrictions designed to curb their development while allowing the settlements to grow.
Students at this school put up with difficult conditions.
"It is hot in summer and cold in winter," said Ali Muhammad.
It isn't only the temperature of the classrooms that effects the children, in winter the rain often turns their playground into a muddy swamp.
"When we have a break we eat behind the school buildings. Then they call us and ring the bell in order for us to go back to class," said Asia Muhammad.
Around 66 pupils from the local Bedouin community go to the school, and the oldest students are 14-years old.
Many Palestinians in the area they say they are squeezed by the rules of the Israeli occupation.
Only three months ago Israel demolished a number of buildings and the UN agency OCHA, which documents such incidents, says the most recent demolitions left 37 people without homes.
Demolitions are just one of the problems that Palestinians living under Israeli control in the West Bank have to deal with.
There are also restrictions that prevent construction and free movement. The expansion of Jewish settlements has eaten up land and Palestinians, along with their property, are increasingly the target of settler violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424716
Locals: Demolition orders handed out in Tulkarem
TULKAREM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces handed demolition orders to six people on Thursday southeast of Tulkarem, locals said.
Shufa village resident Abdul Fattah Enaya told Ma'an that the demolition orders gave him just one week to vacate his property.
The other residents to receive demolition orders were Fuad Kamal Mustafa Ismail, Moaway Mussa, Ameen Odeh and Raed Muhammad Hassan Yousef, according to Enaya.
The residents were notified that if they did not demolish their property then Israeli forces would do so at the expense of the owners.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released a report in July documenting alarming trends in the forced displacement of Palestinians in Area C.
The OCHA report found that more demolitions have taken place so far in 2011 than in all of 2009 and 2010 combined.
More than 300 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished by Israel in the first half of 2011 and 656 people, including 351 children, lost their homes, almost five times more than within the same period last year.
There are also over 3,000 demolition orders outstanding, including 18 targeting schools.
Over 60 percent of the West Bank is considered Area C where Israel retains control over security, planning and zoning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424749