- 1 sept 2011
ACRI Calls on Government to Halt “Prawer Plan” on Bedouin Issues
The Prawer Plan, commissioned to implement the 2008 Goldberg Committee’s findings that the State of Israel must recognize the 35 unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev region in the south of Israel, is to be submitted to the Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday (4 September 2011). Despite its acknowledgment of the importance of correcting the injustices done to Bedouins citizens of Israel, the Report actually calls for the uprooting of 20-30,000 people from their homes and was composed without involvement of any representatives of the Bedouin communities.
An alternative master plan, prepared by the Regional Council of Unrecognized Bedouin Villages and Bimkom-Planners for Planning Rights, proposes to keep all 35 unrecognized villages intact and incorporate them once and for all into the region in terms of infrastructure and services, while saving Israel massive amounts of resources necessary for uprooting villages that have existed since before the state was established.
ACRI, together with other human rights organizations and representatives of the Bedouin communities in the Negev urge the government to dismiss the Prawer Report, whose recommendations propagate the state’s irresponsible treatment of one of the most disenfranchised communities in Israel and allow for the continued trampling of their basic rights as citizens. An agreed-upon and practical solution for the Bedouin communities will guarantee the betterment of the Negev that all residents can benefit from.
To download a summary of ACRI’s position, click here.
http://www.acri.org.il/en/?p=3226 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 3 sept 2011
EU ‘deeply concerned’ after Israel rejects barrier appeal
BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- European Union missions in the occupied Palestinian territories said they were “deeply concerned” at the Israeli Supreme Court’s rejection of an appeal to re-route a portion of the apartheid wall separating locals in Al-Walaja village near Bethlehem from vital resources.
The EU missions in Ramallah and Jerusalem said the “humanitarian impact and political implications” of the route are disturbing.
The wall has gone beyond the 1948 armistice line in order to annex Jewish settlement outposts to Israel, a statement by the missions said.
When finished, the wall “will completely encircle the village, leaving a single access road connecting the village with the rest of the West Bank,” the statement said, adding that the barrier is illegal wherever built on occupied territory.
The Israeli Supreme Court rejected the appeal saying that security risks and possibilities of infiltration of Palestinian militants are high with regards to the village’s population.
So far, 400 km of a planned 700 km of the wall have been erected. The most modern equipment is used to ensure that the wall is not breached.
In July 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled the wall illegal and ordered that it be dismantled.
http://fwd4.me/0Abk 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2011
Israeli settlement expansion in Ramallah signals isolating Palestinian towns
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli ministry of war has signed a contract with the municipality of Beit Arye settlement in Ramallah governorate in the West Bank to construct an additional 100 units to the settlement, the Israeli Peace Now organization has reported.
Beit Arye was erected on land that belonged to the nearby Palestinian village of Abud.
Also included in the agreement were plans to complete a bypass road connecting the settlement with another settlement to the south, Ofarim. It further stipulated that expansion would be made to the settlement according to a planned route of the separation barrier around the settlement.
The report says that should Israel decide to complete construction of the portion of the barrier there that was initially planned to include the road and settlement expansion, it would permanently isolate Palestinian localities from one another.
Israel stopped building that portion of the barrier after Palestinians in neighboring Al-Lubban al-Gharbiya village filed petitions that it was cutting into their privately owned land. The barrier was then re-planned along a separate track, but its building was once again stopped because it was planned in the same place where Jewish settlers had plans to build houses.
According to the new deal, those settlers would be compensated and building of the bypass would continue.
http://fwd4.me/0AeV 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2011
Barakat plans to implement al-Bustan demolitions in election bid
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) -- Silwanic has learnt that Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat intends to demolish parts of al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan in the lead up to city elections. The demolitions will form part of the overall City of David plan that will see the establishment of “biblical gardens” aimed at Jewish tourism over large areas of Palestinian-majority Silwan.
Palestinian residents of Silwan have long suffered under the coalition of the Jerusalem Municipality and Elad settler association in their bid to dominate the strategically significant area of Silwan.
Barakat has been attempting to court the extreme right-wing vote amongst Jerusalem’s Jewish population, a sector which strongly supports the City of David project. The Barakat administration has also attempted to gain favour across the political spectrum, in forming a coalition with the Miretz Party of the opposition, and appointing Me’er Margaleet to the post of East Jerusalem issues.
Palestinian residents fear that the threat to al-Bustan is just the tipping point. “The demolition of al-Bustan is only the beginning. Other neighborhoods will follow” says one resident of al-Bustan.
Should al-Bustan be removed, the City of David project in adjacent Wadi Hilweh district will then turn to Jabal al-Mukaber to expand the project. The end game is to surround Jerusalem’s Old City with 11 “biblical gardens” connected with Jewish settlements, achieving a ring of Jewish residency around the contested Old City, isolating Palestinian neighborhoods.
The plan’s realisation would spell a massive increase in settler numbers in East Jerusalem and the virtual death of hopes of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
http://silwanic.net/?p=19778
Israel Continues to Uproot Hundreds of Olive Trees for Construction of Separation Wall
al-walaje_wall
At 8 am this morning (5 September) bulldozers arrived at the olive tree fields in the Bethlehem-area village of al-Walaje. They were driven by private contractors and guarded by Israeli soldiers.
The bulldozers blocked the way for everybody, except the members of the three families who own the land. The families could be there, to witness, complain, cry, but nothing else. Dozens of olives trees were uprooted yesterday, just a month before the beginning of the olive harvest season and a week after the Israeli High Court ruled that it was essential for Israel’s security to incarcerate al-Walaje by building the Separation Wall all around it.
“In view of this situation, we believe that the harm caused by the fence’s route to the petitioners is reasonable and proportionate in comparison to the great security value that results from the fence along this route”, the Israeli judges concluded. Now, in order to build the Wall, Israeli forces must uproot hundreds of olive trees, destroying part of the past, the present and the future of the 2,400 village residents.
“They are doing huge environmental damage here”, denounced the Palestinian activist Professor Mazen Qumsiyeh. He arrived after the soldiers and saw how the pile of uprooted olive trees grew over the hours. After midday, the bulldozers kept working and, according to Qumsiyeh, they will continue to do so tomorrow, on Tuesday. Professor Qumsiyeh called for international and Palestinian activists to join them in al-Walaje tomorrow morning to pressure the soldiers to stop this crime.
The last series of uprootings began in June, two months before the aforementioned High Court ruling. At the beginning of June, Jamal Barghouti reported that Israeli soldiers invaded his land and uprooted more than 80 olive trees and some Cypress trees that have given shade to the fields surrounding the Palestinian village for over 70 years.
Every time they come, the Israeli soldiers repeat that they are going to build special gates so the Palestinian farmers can continue to work their fields. Yet Palestinians know better. Reports and personal experiences demonstrate that these gates provide only limited access and with time the farmers and owners that continue to cultivate their land on the other side of the Separation Wall are a dwindling minority.
http://fwd4.me/0Ahz
Lebanon warns Israel sea border threatens peace
BEIRUT (AFP) -- Lebanon warned the United Nations on Monday that Israel's proposed sea border threatens peace and security, as tensions rise between the neighbors over offshore oil and gas reserves.
"Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rejecting geographic coordinates Israel submitted to the United Nations concerning the northern part of the waters it claims," said the ministry.
It said in a statement that the Israeli claim "infringes on Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone," a sea zone that gives a state the right to explore its maritime resources.
"This is a clear violation of Lebanon's rights... over an area of some 860 square kilometers, and puts international peace and security at risk," it said, adding, "We urge the secretary general to take all necessary measures to avoid conflict."
Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war, locked horns over the maritime border after the discovery of potential offshore energy reserves.
The Israeli cabinet in July approved a map and submitted it to the United Nations, which has been asked to mediate the growing conflict.
The Israeli map conflicts with Lebanon's proposed borders, which give Israel less territorial waters and was submitted to the United Nations last year.
Beirut argues its map is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.
Israel -- arch-enemy of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some of which are shared with Cyprus.
Lebanon's Hezbollah-dominated government has meanwhile warned Beirut will not give up its maritime rights and accuses Israel of violating Lebanese waters, territory and airspace.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought a deadly war with Israel in 2006 which destroyed much of Lebanon's major infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417829 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 6 sept 2011
Village council: Israeli soldiers destroy trees in Al-Walaja
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli soldiers uprooted a number of trees on Monday in the village of Al-Walaja, north of Bethlehem, the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reported.
Saleh Khalifa, head of the village council, said that soldiers entered the village Monday morning and cut down olive trees to make way for a section of the separation wall.
Israeli forces also blocked the main entrances to the village, Khalifa added.
He called on rights groups to intervene to prevent the destruction of Palestinian land.
Earlier in September, EU representatives said they were "deeply concerned" by the impact of the Israeli separation wall on the village, saying it "will cut off much of the village's land," preventing residents from accessing their property and agricultural land.
Upon completion the wall will completely "encircle" the village, EU representatives said, leaving only a single access road connecting the village to the West Bank.
The separation wall is illegal in all areas built on occupied land, they added.
As well as mounting legal challenges to the route, residents hold regular demonstrations against the impact of the wall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417816 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 7 sept 2011
Al Walajeh: Demonstrators , Military clash over olive trees uproot.
Bethlehem - PNN - The Israeli Military attacked a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, participating in a peaceful demonstration against the enlargement of the wall in Al-Walajah, North West of Bethlehem.
For the second day running, the Israeli Military cut and uprooted the olive trees of the area around West Bank’s village of Al-Walajah. The dredging works were carried out in the area of Ain Joazh, where the Israeli Military is completing the building of the apartheid wall.
Awad Abu Sawi, coordinator of the popular resistance committees against the Wall and settlements in Bethlehem’s Agricultural Directorate, informed PNN that the Israeli Military physically attack the demonstrators as they were trying to stop the bulldozers. “They beat Israeli, French, Italian and German activists, and also one of the journalists” he said.
An Israeli peace activist was arrested, and took to an unknown destination, together with Palestinian citizen Youssef Sharkawi.
The Israeli Military forces declared Zaytoonat al-Badawi area as “a closed military zone” and threatened the participants in the demonstration, forcing them to leave.
Mazen Al Azzeh, Coordinator of the Popular Campaign against the Wall in Bethlehem, said that the Israeli Military uprooted over 120 olive and carob trees, “damaging the land of the citizens from Ain Joazh’s area.”
Dawood Ali Rabah, Hassan Mohammed al-Atrash, and Ismail Yusuf al-Atrash families’ lands were the most affected lands by the bulldozers’ dredging.
The demonstrators claimed their right to “at least” keep the uprooted trees to replant them in other areas of the village. However, they were given to neighbouring settlers to be replanted in the Israeli settlements. “The settlers stole the olive trees to mislead the world that those trees have been on their lands long time ago”, said Abu Sway.
The Agricultural expert Nadi Farraj, who participated in the demonstration, said that the protestors managed to transfer 13 olive trees, thanks to farm machinery donated by the YMCA. “They will be replanted in a close by neighbourhood”, he said, and pointed out that they insisted to continue transferring more olive trees to be cultivated again.
Peace activist Mahmoud Zawahra denounced the continuous attacks of the occupation forces, against Palestinian citizens, internationals and Israeli peace activists. He also emphasized that such attacks will not deter Palestinian people from exercising their right of resistance against the Israeli occupation.
http://fwd4.me/0Axy 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2011
Soldiers, Settlers Attack Nablus
Israeli soldiers invaded on Thursday morning the city of Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, and demolished three wells while army bulldozers uprooted farmlands in the Nablus district. Armed Israeli settler also wrote graffiti on a local mosque.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that the army is conducting several invasions in the West Bank, especially in Nablus.
He told the Quds Net online daily that this campaign is taking place while the settlers attacked several villages and towns near Nablus, and wrote racist graffiti on the walls of a mosque in Yitma village.
Also, soldiers demolished three wells in An-Nassariyya area in Nablus, and bulldozed dozens of Dunams of farmlands.
The settlers also torched two Palestinian cars that were parked at the main entrance of Qablan town, near Nablus, and uprooted dozens of trees in Huwwara town.
On September 5, a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in Qasra village, near Nablus, and torched it after destroying its property and writing anti-Arab slogans on its walls.
Earlier in June this year, settlers of the Alei Ayin illegal outpost torched a mosque in Al-Mughayyir village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, after burning tires and throwing them in the mosque causing serious damages.
Last year, the settlers burnt several copies of the Quran while desecrating two mosques near Bethlehem and Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61976
'Israeli excavations endanger Al-Aqsa'
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has warned against Israel's excavation activities beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Press TV reported.
“The excavations constitute a real and serious threat for the Muslims' first Qiblah and to its unique symbolism in the Arab and Islamic world," Press TV's Beirut correspondent reported quoting a Hezbollah statement issued on Wednesday.
Since Israel occupied the Old City of Al-Quds in 1967, excavations have sparked demonstrations and objections in the Muslim world.
The Hezbollah statement says these continuous excavations are damaging the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, making it vulnerable to collapse at any moment.
"The silence of the United Nations and international community about this crime makes them partners," the statement added.
Hezbollah called on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and all the regional and international organizations to raise their voice about the inimical excavations.
The Islamic resistance movement urged the Muslims to make efforts to stop these excavations and strengthen the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque before the “satanic Zionist” actions succeed to destroy this great edifice.
"Al-Aqsa Mosque is facing a serious danger, so the concrete measures are required to save it from the danger of collapsing,” the Hezbollah statement concludes.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198000.html 5 dec 2011, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 10 sept 2011
IOF soldiers raze artesian water wells in central Jordan Valley
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in tens of armored vehicles escorted huge military bulldozers into Al-Nasariya village in the central Jordan Valley on Thursday and demolished a number of artesian waters wells.
Eyewitnesses said that the IOF unit destroyed three water wells under gun threat and were planning to raze others before the distressed villagers.
They noted that the village was already suffering acute water shortage because of the Israeli occupation authority’s control of all water sources in the region.
They said that the village was in the area declared closed military zone by the IOF.
http://fwd4.me/0B8V 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 11 sept 2011
The Unrecognized
(10:01) The Unrecognized part 1/3
(9:51) The Unrecognized part 2/3
(4:04) The Unrecognized part 3/3 - Adalah
Israel approves plan to uproot 30,000 Bedouins
The approval of the ‘Prawer Plan’ concerning Bedouins in the Negev desert demonstrates that Israel’s principle of divide and rule, which has been perfected in the West Bank and Gaza, also applies to citizens of Israel living inside 1948 boundaries.
Perhaps the most violent component of Israel’s control over non-Jewish inhabitants since the founding of the state has been the (unequal) distribution and allocation of resources. In Area C of the West Bank, the area designated for full Israeli military and civilian control by the Oslo accords which makes up the majority of land in the occupied territories, Israel has demonstrated its ability to control the Palestinians of the West Bank through the allocation of resources such as water, electricity and building permits. In the West Bank village of Susya, for example, Palestinians are forced to purchase water at rates close to 10 times higher than an Israeli living in Tel Aviv. Their wells are destroyed by Israel’s civilian administration due to lack of permits which are almost impossible to obtain and many living structures are deemed illegally built and subject to demolition.
The deprivation of resources leaves Palestinians helpless in the face of bureaucratic measures which even Kafka could not have imagined. The point of this system is clear, make Palestinian life in area C villages so unbearable that they their only option is to move into cities in Area A, under Palestinian Authority control. The unclaimed land is then expropriated by Israel using out of date Ottoman laws. This amounts to an effective use of the classic colonial practice of divide and rule given the fragmented nature of Area A cities in the West Bank and the settlements which form almost natural barrier between them.
Interestingly, this is not just happening to West Bank Palestinians.
Something similar is taking place to non-Jewish citizens inside Israeli territory. This morning, Israel authorized the controversial “Prawer Plan” concerning the resettlement of Bedouins in the Negev Desert.
Authored by Ehud Prawer, head of the Policy Planning Department at the Prime Minister’s Office, the report contradicts an earlier report on how to resolve settlement issues in the Negev desert. The first report, penned by former Justice Eliezer Goldberg, demanded that Israel make every attempt to respect Bedouins living in the Negev, noting in particular the need to allow them to remain in their villages and homes.
The Prawer report, which has been criticized by the Israeli civil liberties outfit, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, has proposed that as many as 30,000 Bedouins be removed from their homes and villages, against their will and for little reason. Removal has been approved by the government according to a report in today’s edition of Haaretz (Hebrew).
The decision to evacuate as many as 30,000 Bedouins and relocate them to large Bedouin towns such as Rahat, Khura and Ksayfe with some financial compensation has been called by some a “declaration of war on the Bedouin.” It is actually a long time coming if the experience of the Bedouin village of al Arakib is any indication. The village has been destroyed almost 30 times by Israel in an effort to make way for a new Jewish National Fund forest in its place.
During the height of the hopeful J14 tent protests this summer, demands for better Bedouin rights could be heard filling conversations even in the heart of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild boulevard tent encampment. However, hope has taken a backseat in recent days as many of the tent protesters’ demands for Bedouin rights have been dropped, ignored or simply disappeared.
Israel policies of divide and rule, based on classical colonial principles, are not limited to its occupied populations. The adoption of the Prawer plan by the Israeli government has shown that Israel uses this mechanism of control to subjugate all non-Jewish inhabitants under its control from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea regardless of the status of their citizenship.
http://fwd4.me/0BF8
Israel approves plan to relocate 30,000 Bedouin from unrecognized villages
Prawer Report plan envisions relocation of Bedouin to recognized settlements, would grant financial and land compensation to evacuees.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet on Sunday approved a plan to relocate tens of thousands of Bedouin from their unrecognized villages into settlements with official state status.
The plan emerges from the Prawer Report, drafted to find a solution to the problem of unrecognized villages in the Negev.
As part of the plan, some 20,000 to 30,000 Bedouon will be relocated to recognized settlements including Rahat, Khura and Ksayfe. The plan also includes financial compensation for those relocated, as well as alternate plots of land. The program is estimated to cost the state NIS 6.8 billion.
Opponents of the plan have accusing the government of evacuating people from their homes for no justified reason and against their will.
Bedouin representative called the decision "a declaration of war," and some 150 members of the community gathered outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest the decision.
"This stupid government will be responsible for a Bedouin Intifada in the Negev," said Arab MK Taleb al-Sana, who took part in the protest.
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, slammed the government's approval of the plan as a major violation of basic rights, pointing out that it would result in the uprooting of tens of thousands of people and the demolition of many Bedouin villages.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel in June submitted its objections to the Prawer Report and argued that the conditions it sets for recognizing Bedouin villages are prejudicial.
These include meeting minimal levels of population density, contiguity and economic sustainability. The criteria established, the organization maintains, flout principles of equality and justice in the distribution of resources. "If the same criteria were applied to the Jewish population, whole settlements - including community settlements, observatories, kibbutzim and moshavim - would be doomed," the association notes.
Moreover, according to its claims, Bedouin villages are planned without considering the needs of the population, which is largely agrarian and rural, not urban. The association also opposes making any planning for the Bedouin conditional on settling disputes over land ownership.
http://fwd4.me/0BDD 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 12 sept 2011
Jerusalem man ordered to tear down own home
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A Palestinian man in Jerusalem was ordered on Sunday to tear his own home in order to avoid paying NIS 20,000 in fines.
The demolished home is a 70 square meter second floor attachment that includes a bedroom, a balcony, a living room, and other accessories, and housed Jerusalem native Taha Ahmed Obeidiya, his wife, and eight children.
Obeidiya said he paid a first offense fine of NIS 12,000 (USD 3,235) and then a second of NIS 3,000 (USD 808). He also had to pay somewhere between NIS 35,000 to 40,000 for a lawyer, NIS 10,000 for a building engineer, and NIS 12,000 for a surveyor, all in order to obtain a building permit. However, in the end he was denied apermit.
“My lawyer told me that I would be placed in prison for not being able to pay for the municipality’s engineer, while the court date was pushed back ten months to pay the sum,” Obeidiya said. “I went to several organizations for help, given the engineer was asking for $35,000. But I have been out of work since 2006 because of an injury on nine discs and cartilage, and I can’t afford the amount.”
“I went to the court and was ordered to pay NIS 20,000 for a third violation. I asked the court for postponement, but the prosecutor declined. She also declined my request for a building permit on the grounds that the old building on the ground was large, so she ordered issuing a license for the old building before getting a license for any building attachments. I did that, but they refused the license again.”
http://fwd4.me/0BHt 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 13 sept 2011
Israeli Military Demolishes Home in Beit Ummar; Settlers Destroy Vine Crop
The Israeli military has, on Tuesday, demolished a partially constructed house in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar, near Hebron.
Despite having obtained a building permit, the house, owned by the Ikhlayyil family, was demolished following the Israeli military ordering a halt on construction 16 years ago.
Furthermore, a steel structure used to store cars was demolished. This structure was owned by another resident of Beit Ummar.
These demolitions come just days after the detention of three young men from the town in a pre-dawn raid, Sunday morning.
Also, the Palestine Solidarity Project is reporting that Mahmoud Ahmad Coql of Beit Ummar had his grape vines destroyed in an attack believed to be perpetrated by settlers from nearby Karmei Tsur.
The attack destroyed crops covering 2 square kilometers of land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62009
Local committee: Israel demolishes home in Beit Ummar, Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces demolished a house under construction on Tuesday morning in Beit Ummar, Hebron, the head of a local committee said.
The demolished house was owned by members of the Ikhlayyil family, head of local committee against the wall and settlements Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma'an.
The house was constructed 16 years ago near the main road connecting Hebron and Jerusalem, Awad said.
The owner was forced to stop construction of the house despite having obtained a permit to build.
A steel structure owned by Sabir Abu Maria was also demolished in Beit Ummar. The structure was used to store used car parts.
Israeli authorities have demolished 387 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied territories in 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.
Over 95 percent of these demolitions have occurred in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.
Palestinian construction is effectively prohibited in most of Area C. Meanwhile there are 135 illegal Israeli settlements and over 300,000 settlers in Area C, with the settler population growing significantly faster than that of Israel proper, OCHA reported.
From 2000 to 2007, the Israeli Civil Administration approved 5 percent of the applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C.
The total number of building permits issued to Palestinians during these seven years was 91, an average of 13 building permits per annum, Israeli organization Bimkom reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419732
IOF levels homes, structures in Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces were deployed heavily in Al-Khalil governorate in the West Bank on Tuesday morning in an apparent demolition spree.
Locals spotted a large force of military personnel entering the town of Bayt Ummar in the northern part of the governorate at early morning and crushing part of a home on Al-Khalil-Jerusalem road. They said the house was under construction for the past 16 years because of previous demolition notices.
An Israeli force leveled near the same road a car shack, destroying with it retaining walls and several cars parked in front, and excavating the surrounding area, sources added.
IOF troops also removed all stalls for selling produce at the town’s entrance near the main road and handed one local a demolition notice.
To the northwest of Al-Khalil, the IOF handed several evacuation notices against Palestinian residences in the town of Beyt Ula, alleging that the those lands fell east of the separation barrier.
The IOF seeks to rid the land of its native population by confiscating land, said Issa al-Umla, who coordinates the local anti-apartheid wall committee.
http://fwd4.me/0BNL
Israeli bulldozers raze irrigation wells in Jordan Valley
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) leveled Tuesday two artesian water wells used to irrigate local crops in the central Jordan Valley village of Nasariya.
Israeli vehicles including bulldozers and cranes intruded the village at noon and began crushing a well owned by local farmer Saleem Jodeh. The fleet also tore down another well in the east of the village, said Nasariya mayor Massad Balawena.
The force not only destroyed the well but confiscated equipment used to pump water, Balawena said, adding that the operation brings the number of artesian wells destroyed by the IOF in the village to five, causing thousands of dunams of farmland to go wasted.
http://fwd4.me/0BNI
IOF incursion in central Gaza damages land
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting three army tanks and several other jeeps escorted military bulldozers and advanced 300 meters east of Breij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said.
They said that the three huge bulldozers leveled land lots and wreaked havoc in the area.
IOF soldiers almost daily fire at Palestinian residential areas along the eastern border of the Strip in a bid to block their daily life activity.
http://fwd4.me/0BNG
Israel demolishes West Bank water infrastructure
TUBAS (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers on Tuesday demolished water infrastructure in the northern West Bank, locals and Palestinian Authority security officials said.
Palestinian farmer Muwaffaq Abdul-Raziq said troops demolished his well in Khirbet Atuf, near Tubas. The well cost him 750,000 shekels (around $202,000) to construct, he said, adding that he had obtained a license to build it.
The well was expected to pump enough water to irrigate around 700 dunums of farmland, Abdul-Raziq said. He appealed to the Palestinian Authority to protect farmers in the Jordan Valley from Israel.
Ahmad Assad, a local PA settlement affairs official, said the "aggression" against Palestinian properties and businesses was a "desperate attempt to thwart the Palestinian Authority's UN bid."
Meanwhile, Israeli forces destroyed two Palestinian wells on the outskirts of An-Nassaryia, a village northeast of Nablus, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said.
The wells were recently dug by Palestinians.
Israeli rights group B'Tselem said another two wells were destroyed at the same village last week.
A spokesman for the Israeli military, which controls the use of West Bank water resources, could not immediately confirm or deny the incident.
The army regularly destroys unauthorized Palestinian construction in areas under Israel's rule.
AFP contributed to this report.
http://fwd4.me/0BN9 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2011
Israel plans to force out 30,000 Palestinian Bedouins from Their Lands
Arab members of Israel's Knesset (parliament) have warned of the consequences of Tel Aviv's recent plan to force out 30,000 Arab Bedouins from their villages in Naqab desert, Press TV reports.
"We demand the prime minister's office to recognize these villages. If not, we will all rise against this policy, not just Bedouins but all the 1.2 million Arabs in Israel," Ibrahim Sarsour, an Arab member of Knesset, told Press TV.
On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan, known as the Prawer, which recommends uprooting some 30,000 Palestinian Bedouins from the Naqab desert and relocating them to nearby Arab towns and villages. The plan also puts 20 villages under the threat of demolition.
"This is by far the most dangerous phase Palestinians have faced since 1948. More than 140,000 acres have been confiscated by Israel. This is not just about Israel's racist policies. It is a war against our very existence," said Hanin Zoubil, another Arab Knesset member.
Bedouins say they have long traversed the Naqab and insist that they remain in their ancestral land, accusing Israel of making plans to build more Jewish settlements.
Critics say that Arabs were neither involved nor consulted in formulating the plan and that the committee behind the scheme was heavily influenced by rightwing Israelis.
They also said that they are deeply surprised by the decision to refer the matter to Israel's National Security Council as this would suggest that Bedouins were regarded as a threat to Israel.
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International (AI) have criticized Israel's decision, calling it a serious blow to Bedouins' rights to proper housing. They say the plan does not conform to Israel's international human rights obligations.
AI also said that international standards required Tel Aviv to consult the Bedouin population on such a plan.
http://presstv.com/detail/198859.html
Israeli military continue to target water wells in the West Bank
An Israeli military force invaded Al-Far'a area in the eastern part of the West Bank near Tubas near the Jordan Vally. The military took photographs of the existing water aquifers in the area, and informed the residents that they will come back to destroy the aquifers.
Hussein Al-Hmud, head of the village council of Al-Far'a said that destroying the aquifers will harm most of the residents who highly depend on these water resources for their agriculture which is their only source of income.
In addition destroying the water resources will deprive all the region from its main source of drinking water which will cause a serious problem in the area.
Israel controls most of the water resources in the West Bank. Palestinians are not allowed to dig for water wells without Israeli approval, which is rarely granted.
Palestinians buy their water from Israel who pumps it out from West Bank aquifers and pay more than Israeli citizens and settlers pay.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62019
Israel Plans to Demolish School, Houses in Hebron Area
The Israeli military authorities informed a number of Palestinians that it plans to demolish their houses and a local school in Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, Wednesday said security sources.
They told WAFA that Israeli military raided Arroub camp Tuesday night and handed number of residents notices to demolish their houses and another notice to demolish Arroub camp school.
Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, raided Hebron and nearby Dora, southwest of Hebron, erected two checkpoint and inspected vehicles and passengers personal documents, said the sources.
http://networkedblogs.com/n3OaP
Israel to demolish 3 Palestinian facilities in Hebron
West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli occupation forces handed Palestinian residents demolition orders for three facilities in al-Uroob refugee camp, northern Hebron.
Security sources told that Israeli army on Wednesday invaded al-Uroob refugee camp and handed demolition orders to Palestinian citizens under the pretext of illegal construction.
In central Hebron, a group of settlers wrote on the walls slogans against Arabs and Muslims.
Security sources told that Israeli soldiers provocatively stormed Hebron governorate and Dura town.
Sources added that two military checkpoints were erected by Israeli soldiers at Halhoul and al-Fawar entrances, whereas they stopped citizens and checked their identity cards.
http://fwd4.me/0BQg 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 15 sept 2011
Palestinians homeless as Israel demolishes West Bank homes
Israeli military bulldozers demolished three homes and water cisterns in ‘Aqaba village in the northern West Bank on Thursday morning, leaving 22 people, including 12 children, homeless.
Since the beginning of the year, over 750 Palestinians in the West Bank have been displaced after their homes were demolished by the Israeli military, nearly five times more than in the same period last year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The bulldozers destroyed the homes of Khaled Sbeih, Basem Sbeih and Abdel Nasser Sbeih, leaving the three families with a few salvaged belongings on the street.
Without warning
“This happened without warning. We had received a letter informing us that we had no permit to build, but there was no date for a demolition or anything like that,” Khaled Sbeih told Amnesty International.
“We woke up in the morning and the children went to school. When they came back we had no home. I don’t know how to explain it to them,” he said.
Israeli army bulldozers also dug up more than two kilometres of main road in the area of the village.
Their neighbours, whose houses are also threatened with demolition, have offered to help by donating tents and the villagers are now preparing to rebuild their homes before winter.
Sharp increase
“These repeated demolitions which forcibly evict Palestinians from land they have lived on for generations are outrageous and unnecessary,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The sharp increase in West Bank demolitions in 2011 shows that this is not some administrative mistake but a conscious Israeli government policy to remove Palestinians from the area."
An Israeli military training ground lies in the immediate vicinity of ‘Aqaba, and the army has often conducted simulation raids in the village.
Unexploded ordnance has been found in the surrounding hills claiming the lives of several Palestinian villagers and injuring dozens more, including children, in recent years.
“The Israeli authorities seem intent on evicting these Palestinian villagers in order to expand their own military training ground. They must stop these cruel and unwarranted evictions immediately, and transfer all planning for construction in the West Bank over to the Palestinian communities,” said Philip Luther.
Shelters demolished
Last week the Israeli army demolished three shelters in Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron hills in the West Bank, another area which has been at risk. The demolitions are implemented under the pretext that the homes are built without a permit from the Israeli military.
However, such permits are virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain. An Israeli NGO, Bimkom, calculated in 2008 that only 13 building permits were issued to Palestinians in the West Bank per year.
Communities at risk of demolition lie mostly in what is known as “Area C”, which makes up over 60 per cent of the West Bank. Israel maintains control for both security and civilian matters.
Area C is also the location of Israeli settlements, which continue to expand at the expense of Palestinian lands.
Under the Geneva Conventions, Israel has a duty to protect Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, and an obligation to respect their right to a decent standard of living.
Israel’s policy of settling its civilians in the occupied territories also violates the Geneva Conventions and is considered a war crime according to the statute of the International Criminal Court.
Find out more about our work on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and house demolitions.
Get involved, join our members working on human rights violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
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Israel razes three buildings, roads in the jordan vally village of Aqaba
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli bulldozers tore down three structures as well as main roads in a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan valley as the Israeli army has declared the area a closed military zone.
Journalists were prevented from taking photos as the force raised the home and two shacks of a local there in Aqaba village near Tubas on Thursday morning. Excavated also were the western road to the village and a street and telephone poles near the demolition site.
Aqaba municipality head Sami Sadiq told our correspondent that all residents of the village have received demolition notices, including the local mosque, school, nursery, and health clinic. The the Israeli occupation authorities said that they want evacuate the village in favour of three military bases that want to use the village as a firing range.
Aqaba, which lies just north of Tubas, was established decades before the Israeli occupation and was originally used for agriculture and livestock.
Elsewhere, the Israeli Magistrate’s Court has ruled for the demolition of a 71-year-old woman’s home in Jerusalem’s Arab Sheikh Jarrah district, under allegations that an extension to it was built without permit.
The court issued a final decision that the woman must either pay NIS 20,000 (USD 5,415) and destroy the home or obtain the permit within a three month deadline. Should she fail to execute the orders she would be arrested or forced to carry out community service for Israel.
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Erekat condemns increase in armed settler attacks and home demolitions by Israeli forces
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Thursday that home demolitions by Israeli forces and attacks by Israeli settlers "only adds to our determination [to request membership of the UN]."
Erekat, the former chief Palestinian negotiator, accused Israel of trying to derail the UN bid by escalating the situation on the ground, a statement from his office said.
The official slammed Israel's demolition of houses in al-Aqaba village in the West Bank's Jordan Valley on Thursday, noting that five Palestinian homes were demolished in September.
"These home demolitions are further proof of Israel’s commitment to its policies of occupation and annexation. These actions entrench the occupation and bolster those who are interested in perpetuating conflict in the region," Erekat said.
The official said 51 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians had been recorded in two weeks, pointing to the increase in "number, frequency, and ferocity of attacks."
"Israeli settlers are armed with guns and impunity," he noted, expressing concern at reports that the Israeli army was supplying weapons to the settlers.
Erekat warned: "Israel’s occupation and illegal settlement enterprise are a threat to Palestinian aspirations and lives. They must be stopped."
"We are going to the United Nations. This increase in Israeli violence, brutality, and racism only adds to our determination.
"The PLO is turning to the international community to advance our people’s national goals and protect the prospects of peace from this kind of aggression," he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420614
Israeli forces demolish homes, barn in Jordan Valley
TUBAS (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces raided al-Aqaba village in the West Bank Jordan Valley on Thursday, destroying two houses and a barn.
Soldiers imposed a cordon around the area and denied the media access, a Ma'an correspondent said.
President of the village council Sami Sadek appealed for human rights organizations to intervene to stop Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
A spokesperson from the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank could not be reached for comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420487
Local committee: Israel issues 5 demolition orders in Hebron village
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Wednesday evening handed five demolition orders to Palestinians from Khallet al-Hajjar village, south Hebron, a local community organizer said.
Popular committee coordinator in Yatta Rateb al-Jabour said the Israeli demolition orders were issued for "security reasons."
Suleiman Salem Suleiman Abu Shkhedem, his brother, Ahmad Salameh Salem Abu Shkhedem, Odeh Hasan Salem Abu Shkhedem and Abdullah Suleiman Azazma all received demolition orders for their homes, al-Jabour said.
Five families will be displaced when the orders are carried out, al-Jabour said, adding that they have no where else to go.
Israeli authorities have demolished 387 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied territories in 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.
Over 95 percent of these demolitions have occurred in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.
Palestinian construction is effectively prohibited in most of Area C. Meanwhile there are 135 illegal Israeli settlements and over 300,000 settlers in Area C, with the settler population growing significantly faster than that of Israel proper, OCHA reported.
From 2000 to 2007, the Israeli Civil Administration approved 5 percent of the applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C.
The total number of building permits issued to Palestinians during these seven years was 91, an average of 13 building permits per annum, Israeli organization Bimkom reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420388 5 dec 2011, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 16 sept 2011
Occupation authorities confiscate land in the W.B. for settlement expansion
NAZARETH,(PIC)-- Peace Now movement announced on Friday that the occupation authorities confiscated more than 100 hectares in the northern West Bank for the benefit of two settlements.
Occupation authorities issued an order, according to which lands belonging to the village of al-Mazra'h , al-Janeyah and Qaryout to the north of Ramallah become public lands under the occupation’s control.
The movement said that the occupation authorities’ measure was meant to contradict an application made by the movement to court which calls for the dismantlement of the random settlements of Harisha and Haovil.
According to Hagit Ofran, the director of the Settlement Watch project at Peace Now said that the confiscation of land on the pretext that it is not suitable for cultivation, is an attempt to give legitimacy to the settlement of Harisha and Havoil.
According to Peace Now, more than a hundred settlements were built after 2001 in the West Bank without the permission of the occupation authorities.
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IOA plans to uproot Jahaleen Arabs out of O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has issued a military order Thursday of removing the Jahaleen Arabs out of their homes in the city so as to build and expand new settlements, Hebrew sources revealed.
In an interview with channel 1 in the Israeli television, the spokesman of the Israeli "civil" administration said that the Jahaleen Arabs residing in Alaizariah suburb in occupied Jerusalem will be moved out of their homes because they pose "security threat" to the area.
He added that new Israeli settlements will be built on the hundreds of thousands of square meters of the lands of the Jahaleen Arabs that they currently use as pastures for their livestock.
Dozens of Bedouin families are dwelling in the area, but they said they don’t know where to go in case the IOA carried out the order.
"The IOA is making life difficult for us in all aspects with the aim to force us out of our land so as to built new settlements on the ruins of our homes and tents.. it is not the first time for them to do as they tried it before and indeed destroyed our tents", said sheikh Hammad Abu Ali, one of the elders of the Jahaleen Arabs.
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Group: Israel's Bedouin relocation may bring violence
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An advocacy group for Arab-Israelis warned Thursday that Israel's plan to rehouse Negev Bedouin communities demonstrated neglect and could spark violence.
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to transfer Bedouins from unrecognized communities, in what it said was an attempt to integrate the population into Israeli society.
Mossawa Center said in a statement that the plan was "unilateral" and "neglects" the rights of Bedouin citizens of Israel.
The plan adopted diverged from an earlier official report, the 2008 Goldberg Commission, that recommended giving legal status to unrecognized communities and allocating 183,000 dunams for relocation, rather than the 100,000 offered in the final plan.
The Haifa-based center said the plan involves "forcibly moving two-thirds of the Bedouin population in the Negev to cramped towns which cannot support the traditional agricultural lifestyles of the Bedouin community."
Mosawwa said a protest outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house after the decision would be followed with more demonstrations.
"This recent development has the potential to instigate violence amongst the local Arab population," it warned.
The relocation of Bedouins is "one more attempt by the government to eliminate the culture and way of life of Israel’s Bedouin community," the center said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420677