- 1 sept 2012
Occupation from within: the Arab Bedouin in Israel
A Bedouin carries wood on his back as he walks barefoot back to his tent in the Negev desert
At the beginning of this year the Israeli government announced a that will displace more than 70 000 Arab Bedouin from their ancestral lands.
The Negev desert is a good place to bury dogs. The dog cemetery of Tsan Yatir provides a final resting place for beloved canines. Arab Bedouin humans are not so lucky. Increasingly they are discovering that the Israeli state has no place for them - dead or alive.
Following the news this week that an Israeli court has ruled the death of ISM activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza, to be "a regrettable accident", we should remember it's not only Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories who have come to fear Israeli forces. Israeli citizens are being forced out of their homes by dint of their ethnicity. In September 2011, the Israeli government approved the Prawer Plan for mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community in the Naqab (Negev) desert. At the beginning of this year the government announced its plan to establish ten new exclusively Jewish settlements along the Green Line demolishing 35 "unrecognised" villages and displacing more than 70 000 Arab Bedouin from their ancestral lands.
Following a 5am start I made the journey from Ramallah in the West Bank to Be’er Sheva in southern Israel to meet with local Bedouin leaders and Arab Minority Rights group Nadalah who are fighting the Prawer Plan every step of the way. The steps are seldom simple and fraught with the challenges that are inevitable when the state is your enemy. My journey was no exception. To get from Ramallah to the Naqab you have to cross the Green Line. It’s a funny thing the Green Line. At times it is impenetrable: to the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories she is the Sphinx, devouring those who do not give the answer she requires. To Jewish Israeli citizens she is a sylph, dissolving in the wind whenever political expediency demands it.
Four hours, three buses, one train and a checkpoint later I arrived in the dusty heart of the Naqab to meet with Dr Thabet Abu Rass, the director of the Naqab Project at Adalah, who was keen to emphasise the parity between Arab Bedouin in Israel and Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. “This is the occupation within”, he told me. “The state of Israel refuses to recognize them as a legitimate community and deliberately withholds basic services, such as water, electricity, sewage, schools and healthcare”.
Arab Bedouin have been inhabitants of the Naqab desert since the seventh century but have faced a state policy of displacement for over 60 years. Today, 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens live in 35 villages that either predate the establishment of the State in 1948, or were created by Israeli military order in the early 1950s. The state of Israel considers the villages “unrecognized” and the inhabitants “trespassers on State land,” so denies access to state infrastructure to “encourage” the Bedouin to give up their land and establish new Jewish settlements in their place.
Settlements are not only happening in the Occupied Territories, they are being built in the strategically important area of the Naqab to create a contiguous Jewish bloc south of the West Bank, the only difference being that these settlements are technically legal since they are built within the Green Line.
In an unprecedented move, in July the European Parliament called on Israel to put a hold on these policies of dispossession. According to Rawia Aburabia of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, "the attempt to enshrine the Prawer Plan into law is a farce… it is a step that takes us back to the military regime." It is hard to object when the Prawer Plan recalls the more absurdist aspects of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. You have to marvel at the evil genius of a system which demolishes people’s homes and then charges them for it. For the princely sum of 20,000-25,000 shekels (between £3,100 and £3,900) the Israeli government will reduce your house to rubble. This is leading to increasing numbers of “self-demolitions”, when people, threatened with demolition orders, are choosing to demolish their own homes at a personal cost of 15,000 (£2,350) shekels. Last year more than 1,000 houses were demolished and this year there have been over 120 official demolitions with many more self-demolitions.
Attiyah Alathamin, an Arab Bedouin from the "unrecognized" village of Khashem Zane, told me his story. “I built a home for my son and his wife when they got married. Shortly afterwards the Israeli government presented me with a demolition order and rather than pay the 25,000 shekels they were demanding I paid 15,000 to have it demolished myself.” Attiyah’s story is not unique.
Saleem Abu-el-Quian lives in the village of Umm el-Hieran which was established by military order in 1954. The state of Israel considers the some 500 residents to be trespassers and plans to destroy the village and transfer the population to the urban township of Hura in order to establish the exclusively Jewish town of "Hiran" on the ruins of Umm el-Hieran. He tells me that his son received notice of his reserve army duty on the same day that he was given a demolition order on his home. “Our children are fighting in the army and yet we are not getting anything in return. We have no school, no doctor’s clinic”.
The future for the Abu-el-Quian family and Umm el-Hieran is uncertain.
In November 2010, the prime minister’s office cancelled the planning authorities' partial recognition of the village. On 6 September there will be a court hearing in Be’er Sheva to appeal against the demolition order. On 11 September there will be a meeting for the National Committee for Planning and Building to discuss the development of the Jewish settlement of Hiran. Twenty caravans of Israeli settlers are camped out in nearby Yatir Forest waiting to move in.
Dr Thabet Abu Rass is not giving up just yet. "We will challenge it in the courts. We will challenge it on the ground...There is a call for more co-resistance and less co-existence". Nadia Ben-Youssef, a lawyer specializing in Arab minority rights tells me that the Bedouin are tackling the state head-on with the same methods of non-violent resistance used by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. “There is a growing belief that you can challenge the state on your feet. Arab Bedouin have told me ‘The government can demolish my home a hundred times, I will rebuild it 100 times. I will not be the one to lose my ancestors’ land’”.
Rebecca Greig is a feature writer for Palestine Business Focus Magazine and a freelance journalist based in the West Bank.
3 sep 2012, 11:13 , Respect -
Maria 2 sept 2012
IOF surrounds Ras al-Amoud to displace Hamdallah family from Silwan
Israeli police raided at dawn Sunday Ras al-Amoud neighborhood and surrounded the houses located in front of the Old City and al-Aqsa Mosque, in an attempt to displace Hamdallah family from its house in the neighborhood.
IOF have deployed around 50 police buses and Border Guards throughout the neighborhoodand prevented citizens from entering it.
The occupation authorities had notified last Thursday Hamdallah family, in Ras Al Amoud neighborhood in Silwan, to evacuate their home for settlers on Sunday morning.
The Information Center in Wadi al-Helwa said that the house occupies an area of about 30 square meters, and that the settlers falsely claim ownership of the land on which the house was built.
The Center stated that the Israeli Supreme Court had ruled in 2000 that the land belongs to settlers.
The house of Hamdallah family is located in a strategic location overlooking Al-Aqsa Mosque and behind the houses of Deir Abraham. It is also considered by the occupation authorities and settlersan obstacle for the completion of Ma'ale Zitim settlement because it is located in the settlement’s middle.
Islamic Christian authority warns of Judaization of Bab Al-Rahma cemetery
A Palestinian organization warned against the Israeli decision to annex 1,800 meters of land from the southern part of Bab Al-Rahma cemetery and described it as a new infringement on the Islamic historical sites.
"Israel violates everyday the sanctity of holy sites that belong to Muslims or Christians in the holy city, either through desecrating Mosques, churches and houses of worship or through assaulting the dead in their graves as happened recently in Bab Al-Rahma cemetery," the Islamic Christian authority for patronizing Jerusalem and holy sites stated in a press release on Sunday.
The Islamic Christian authority said the Israeli regime wants to establish Tamludic monuments and a tourist shrine in place of the Muslim graves and Judaize the cemetery.
It noted that the removal of Muslim graves from Bab Al-Rahma cemetery took place in conjunction with the creation of fake Jewish graves in the vicinity of the Aqsa Mosque as part of the Judaization scheme against the holy city.
The authority also denounced the repeated attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians and their property in the occupied territories as happened recently to a number of homes west of Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem.
It also slammed the decision taken by the Israeli occupation authority to expel the family of Hamdallah from its home in Silwan district and give it to Jewish settlers and called for urgent international intervention to stop such crimes.
IOF soldiers arrest Jenin citizen, confiscate tractor
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched a large-scale search campaign in Jenin province on Saturday afternoon.
Local sources said that the soldiers installed road barriers in a number of villages and arrested ex-prisoner Zayud Mohammed while on his way home to his village of Seelat Al-Harthiya west of Jenin.
IOF soldiers stormed Qabatiya, south of Jenin, and confiscated a tractor owned by Ahmed Abul Rub and took it to Salem military camp without giving a reason for the act.
3 sep 2012, 12:01 , Respect -
Maria 3 sept 2012
In pictures: the eviction of Palestinian family in Ras al-Amoud
Israeli settlers were involved in the eviction of the Hamdallah family home in Ras al-Amoud, Silwan on Sunday, 2 September. Settlers claim ownership to the home, and were sighted taking and marking measurements of the building, despite the Hamdallah’s ownership of the house and several others in the area.
Armed officers of a private security company are currently standing guard in the partially-occupied home.
One bedroom and a bathroom were evicted following a 2000 High Court decision that ruled the house be given over to the settlers, after 15 years of legal battle. The court then ruled that the family could stay in the section of the house that was built before 1989, but they must move their belongings from three other warehouses and destroy an outside wall, allowing the settlers to move their caravans beside the home.
A settler group is planning to construct 20 residential settlement units on the land to extend the Ma’aleh Zetim settlement. Settlers are currently fortifying the portion of the home they have occupied, saying that they do not intend to use it for the time being.
http://silwanic.net/?p=28591
Hebron Committee Condemns Israeli Takeover of Market
The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, in a statement Monday, condemned the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs decision to make al-Hisba, the vegetable Market in the old city of Hebron, under the Hebron settlement council’s control.
The Market has been completely closed down since 2000 up till now.
“We strongly condemn this dangerous decision and warn of its serious implications on the geographic, demographic, political and economic reality,” said the statement.
It said, this Israeli decision comes as part of the Israeli policy to Judiaze and strengthen the Jewish settlers’ presence in the old city of Hebron, aiming to empty it from its residents after Israel illegally takes over Palestinian land and properties.
This decision aims to completely eliminate all legal and political possibilities of re-opening the market, which is considered the main commercial center in Hebron, as well as eliminates all possibilities of returning these shops to their original Palestinian owners, it added.
The decision bypasses prior judicial decisions achieved by human rights organizations and the Israeli Peace Now at the Israeli High Court, on March 2012; to evacuate the settlers from shops in the market and return them to their Palestinian owners.
The committee urged the Israeli Ministerial Committee to respect the judicial decisions made by the Israeli Supreme Court, without seeking frail excuses and justifications in order to take control of the market and shops in Hebron, contrary to statutory provisions, international norms and conventions, as well as humanitarian an ethic standards that obligate the occupying power not to infringement the public and private property of the civilians.
This decision was a response to a petition filed by human rights organizations and the Israeli Peace Now at the Israeli High Court to evacuate the settlers from shops in the market and return them to their Palestinian owners.
Israel to Demolish Houses south of Hebron
The Israeli authorities Monday handed residents of Khirbet Tuba, a locale east of the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, demolition orders of several houses and the solar cell in the area, according to a local activist.
The Popular Committee Coordinator in Yatta, Rateb al-Jabour told WAFA that Israeli forces stormed the locale and handed its residents demolition orders of several houses, in addition to the removal of a solar cell belonging to two families in the area.
IOA serves new demolition notices in the Jordan Valley
The Israeli occupation forces and the so-called the Israeli civil administration stormed the area of Abu Ajaj in Jiftlik area on Monday morning, and handed three demolition notices to Palestinian families.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli patrols distributed the demolition notices to three Palestinian families under the pretext of being built in a military zone.
Ayman Adeis, head of one of the three families, received the demolition order for the second time after demolishing his house six months ago.
These Israeli arbitrary measures against the Palestinian citizens in the areas of the Jordan Valley came in line with the confiscation policy and the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian people in order to provide all services to the Israeli settlers, including land, water, electricity, and infrastructure.
IOA orders Jericho farmers to uproot their palm trees
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) served notices to Palestinian farmers in Jericho ordering them to uproot their palm trees within 45 days.
The notices said that the farmers have up till 7th October to carry out the order, local sources told the PIC reporter on Monday.
They said that the measure would threaten the sustenance of thousands of Palestinian farmers, adding that the farmers asked the PA to intervene and save their main source of livelihood.
The IOA has been embarking on various means to force Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley to abandon their land including depriving them of using infrastructure and water sources.
Rights group: Israel must end illegal exploitation of Dead Sea
Israeli authorities must end the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources in the Dead Sea, including granting financial concessions to Israeli settlers and companies in the area, a human rights group said Monday.
The Al-Haq report says Israel gives its own citizens the sole opportunity to benefit from the resource-rich area of the occupied West Bank, at the expense of Palestinians, which "could amount to the war crime of pillage."
The salty desert lake, some 422 meters below sea level, and its environs were designated as Area C, under full Israeli control, under the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Al-Haq says the settler population has since bloomed, while Palestinian communities are decreasing.
Giving financial benefits to settlers, as well as the sole mud-mining license to an Israeli company, Ahava, of which 44.5 percent of shares are owned by settlements, facilitates the exploitation of Palestinian resources, the report says.
Meanwhile, the group warns that unsustainable water extraction and mining techniques have caused the major decrease in water levels at the lake.
Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin said the exploitation of the Dead Sea "clearly demonstrates how Israel is benefiting economically from the occupation."
The group also calls on the European Union to stop Ahava from taking part in projects it funds, which earned the minerals and cosmetics operation 1.13 million euros in 2011.
Further, it argues that "worldwide cosmetic retailers should provide their customers with clear information about the origin of the products that are sold in their stores."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=516726
Israel’s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Al-Haq is pleased to announce the publication of "Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel's Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." The report examines Israel's responsibilities with respect to the treatment of the occupied territory's natural resources in the Dead Sea area, and reiterates that, under international humanitarian law, Israel is obliged to administer the natural resources belonging to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) without damaging or diminishing them. Accordingly, it is prohibited from exploiting them in a way that undermines their capital and results in economic benefits for Israeli citizens, including settlers, or for its national economy.
By granting substantial financial benefits to the settlers, as well as by licensing Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd., 44.5 per cent of whose shares are owned by the settlements of 'Mitzpe Shalem' and 'Kalia,' to mine and manufacture products that utilise the mud extracted from the occupied Dead Sea area, Israel is openly in violation of its obligations as an Occupying Power in the OPT. It is encouraging and facilitating the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and actively assisting their pillaging by private actors.
Commenting on the report, Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq, said, "The Israeli authorities are denying Palestinians access to their natural resources all across the OPT, but this practice is particularly evident in the occupied Dead Sea area. This also clearly demonstrates how Israel is benefiting economically from the occupation. Given that the settlers in the area and Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories directly profit from the appropriation of the Dead Sea natural resources and from the trade of the products extracted and processed in this region, they should be considered as primary perpetrators of the war crime of pillage."
In light of the serious nature of the violations of international law committed in the occupied Dead Sea area, this report calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately stop the pillaging of the Palestinian natural resources and halt the concession of substantial financial incentives to settlers living in the area. Israel must also revoke the mud mining permission granted to Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd. in 2004.
Third-party States are called on to abide by their international legal obligations and must take concrete measures to pressure Israel to bring to an end its violations of international humanitarian law. In addition, they must refrain from providing any form of assistance to such violations, including by maintaining business relationships with economic actors allegedly involved in pillage in the occupied Dead Sea area.
For its part, the European Union (EU) must ensure that only Israeli entities registered and established in Israel and conducting activities in Israel proper, are able to participate in European programmes, and adopt restrictive measures on the import of Israeli products originating from settlements, because of the serious violations of peremptory norms of international law that settlements and their related infrastructure entail.
4 sep 2012, 12:28 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2012
Demolition order issued for Bedouin school between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
A demolition order has been issued for Khan al-Ahmar School between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with Israeli authorities claiming the building has no license.
The primary school was built 5 years ago from clay, and serves 85 local Bedouin students. The Jahalin clan of Bedouins built the school to combat the absence of educational facilities in their district, with children previously forced to travel 22 km to school in Areeha each day.
Human rights groups have denounced the demolition order as the next step in Israel’s attempt to force Bedouins off their land, thus enabling the completion of the settlement bloc between Areeha, Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem.
http://silwanic.net/?p=28582
Hamas calls for confronting the Israeli attempts to Judaize al-Khalil
Hamas called on "Palestinian people and its forces to confront the occupation's persistent attempts to Judaize the Old City of al-Khalil," following the Israeli decision granting shops in the old vegetable market in occupied al-Khalil to the Jewish settlements Council.
An official source in the Movement stated: "We, in Hamas, strongly condemn the occupation decision granting the vegetable market shops in the old city of al-Khalil to the Jewish settlements Council."
"We consider it (the decision) an assault which comes within the framework of settlement schemes designed to Judaize al-Khalil, to strengthen the presence of settlers there and to displace its indigenous population after seizing their properties," continued the source.
He also warned of the seriousness of the consequences of such a step on the demographic and economic realities of the city.
The Islamic Resistance Movement called on the Arab League and the Islamic Cooperation Organization to confront and stop the occupation attacks and violations.
Occupation detains school teachers east of Yatta
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained three school teachers from Janba east of the town of Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil.
Khadr Amur, the headmaster, told Quds Press reporter that the Israeli soldiers detained in the morning three teachers working in the mixed school of Janba for several hours.
Amur pointed out that the Israeli soldiers searched the three teachers and their vehicle then confiscated it before arresting the teachers.
Amur stated that Janba schools, where twenty-seven students from seven neighboring communities study, is threatened with demolition under the occupation decisions to destroy seven villages to the south of al-Khalil.
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Palestinian House in Nazareth
Bulldozers of the Israeli Ministry of Interior, under police protection, Tuesday demolished a Palestinian house in Bir al-Maksur, a village in the old city of Nazareth, according to witnesses.
They said Israeli bulldozers demolished a house belonging to a Palestinian, leading to confrontations between the village’s residents and the police.
Residents threw rocks at the police who responded by firing tear gas canisters towards them and arrested two Palestinians.
Foreign Ministry Condemns Israeli Takeover of Hebron Market
The Foreign Ministry, in a statement Tuesday, condemned the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs’ decision to make al-Hisba, the vegetable Market in the old city of Hebron, under the Hebron settlement council’s control.
It called on the United Nation (UN) General Secretary, all UN organizations, and member states of the Fourth Geneva Conventions to uphold their responsibilities against the Israeli insurgency on international and humanitarian laws, urging them to immediately provide the necessary protection to the Palestinian people.
It added that the Israeli government continues with its policy of encouraging and promoting settlement activities and the Judiazation of the Palestinian Territory, utterly disregarding all international statements that condemn the continuation of this policy and its devastating implications on the principle of the two-state solutions.
It called on the international community, particularly the international Quartet, to take the necessary measures to put a stop to the Israeli occupation and its settlement activities, as well as to hold the Israeli government fully responsible for the failure of the peace process and negotiations, and the current deterioration in the situation.
It also called on the world’s countries to stand by the Palestinian people, recognize the Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and support their move to gain a permanent statehood membership at the United Nations.
Occupation confiscates Al Hasba market for the Jewish Settlements Council
Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) condemned the Israeli Ministerial Committee’s decision granting stores in the ancient vegetable market in Hasba neighborhood, located in the center of al-Khalil, to the Jewish Settlements Council.
HRC warned of the seriousness of consequences of such ministerial decision on the demographic, geographic, political and economic reality.
It considered in a statement that the decision "comes in the framework of a settlement scheme to Judaize the Old City of al-Khalil, to strengthen the presence of settlers there, and to deport its indigenous population after seizing their properties without legal justification."
It also warned that this decision aims to eliminate once and for all legal and political possibilities to re-open the shops and the confiscated vegetable market, considered the main commercial center in the city of al-Khalil.
The committee noted in its statement that the HRC and Peace Now Movement had obtained last March a resolution from the Israeli Supreme Court imposing on the settlers to immediately evacuate al-Oweiwi shops located in the ancient vegetable market Hasba near "Abraham Avenue" outpost.
The Israeli Ministerial Committee has issued a new decision under which the settlers have to evacuate the shops which they seized from their Palestinian owners in al-Hasba vegetable market to be granted to the Jewish Settlement Council.
Erekat Welcomes Rights Group’s Report on Israel Pillaging Natural Resources
PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat welcomed the report published Monday by the human rights organization, Al-Haq, entitled “Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel’s Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, ” in a press release by Negotiations Affairs Department on Monday.
The report discusses Israel’s violations of its obligations as an occupying Power in facilitating the licensing and protection of illegal settlements in the Dead Sea area, which illegally exploit Palestinian natural resources for commercial purposes.
Erekat said that “all Israeli goods produced in the occupied Palestinian Territory, from illegally exploited Palestinian land and other natural resources, constitute theft and contravene international law.”
He added, “The settlement enterprise’s profiteering from Palestinian natural resources violates our people’s inalienable right to self-determination. It must be stopped.”
“This is theft, pure and simple. Israel continues to act in flagrant disregard of international law. This report on the Dead Sea makes it clear that those settlers and companies profiting directly from the appropriation of Palestinian natural resources may be guilty of the war crime of pillage. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes,” Erekat said.
He stressed, “This report reminds the international community of the need to bring Israel into compliance with international law and stopping the illegal exploitation of Palestinian natural resources.”
He pointed to a UN resolution on the Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the (oPT) over their natural resources, which receives overwhelming international support on an annual basis.
In 2011, the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, in cooperation with the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, estimated that Israel’s unlawful exploitation of the Dead Sea salts and minerals in addition to tourism in the area, costs the Palestinian economy over 1.2 billion US in 2010 alone.
Erekat also condemned the proposed confiscation of 3500 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, an area which contains 45000 palm trees and produces 700 tons of dates for export each year. “The illegal exploitation of Palestinian resources forms part of the wider Israeli enterprise designed to deny the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and drive them out of their homeland,” he added.
“It is imperative that Israeli confiscations throughout the oPT are halted, especially in the Jordan Valley, which makes up 28.5% of the West Bank and is absolutely vital to the future Palestinian state,” Erekat explained.
He concluded: “We call on all states that have consistently supported the Palestinian people’s rights, including their permanent sovereignty over their natural resources, to assume their responsibilities and see to it that Israel does not profit from the illegal occupation.' 'In this regard we welcome the steps taken by individual countries and the EU towards improved labeling of settlement products, but more must be done to ensure that these resources are only used to the benefit of their rightful owner.”
Dr. Saeb Erekat: “Israel’s Actions in the Dead Sea Could Amount to a War Crime”
A press release issued by PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, revealed that Palestine Liberation Organization's chief Negotiator declared, "All Israeli goods produced in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from illegally exploited Palestinian land and other natural resources constitute theft and contravene international law."
Saeb Erekat added, "The settlement enterprise's profiteering from Palestinian natural resources violates our people's inalienable right to self-determination. It must be stopped ".
Dr. Erekat welcomed the report published this Monday by the human rights organisation Al-Haq, entitled 'Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel's Unlawful Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory'. The report discusses Israel's violations of its obligations as an occupying Power in facilitating the licensing and protection of illegal settlements in the Dead Sea area, which illegally exploit Palestinian natural resources for commercial purposes.
"This is theft, pure and simple. Israel continues to act in flagrant disregard of international law. Today's report on the Dead Sea makes it clear that those settlers and companies profiting directly from the appropriation of Palestinian natural resources may be guilty of the war crime of pillage. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes. "
The senior PLO leader pointed to a UN resolution on the Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the OPT over their natural resources, which receives overwhelming international support on an annual basis. He stressed, "This report reminds the international community of the need to bring Israel into compliance with international law and stopping the illegal exploitation of Palestinian natural resources".
In 2011, the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, in cooperation with the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, estimated that Israel's unlawful exploitation of the Dead Sea salts and minerals in addition to tourism in the area, costs the Palestinian economy over 1.2 billion USD in 2010 alone.
Dr Erekat also condemned the proposed confiscation of 3500 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, an area which contains 45 000 palm trees and produces 700 tons of dates for export each year. "The illegal exploitation of Palestinian resources forms part of the wider Israeli enterprise designed to deny the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and drive them out of their homeland ", he added.
"It is imperative that Israeli confiscations throughout the OPT are halted, especially in the Jordan Valley, which makes up 28.5% of the West Bank and is absolutely vital to the future Palestinian state." Dr. Erekat explained.
In conclusion, Dr. Erekat declared, "we call on all states that have consistently supported the Palestinian people's rights, including their permanent sovereignty over their natural resources to assume their responsibilities and see to it that Israel does not profit from the illegal occupation. In this regard we welcome the steps taken by individual countries and the EU towards improved labelling of settlement products, but more must be done to ensure that these resources are only used to the benefit of their rightful owner".
5 sep 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2012
Settlers Destroy 20 Olive Trees south of Nablus
Jewish settlers Wednesday destroyed around 20 olive trees in Burin, a village south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to a local activist.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, said a number of settlers from the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, built illegally on the village land, stormed an area in the village and destroyed around 20 olive trees.
He called upon the international parties and human rights organizations to pressure Israel to stop these non-stopping and ongoing settlers’ attacks.
IOF confiscate water tanks in Jordan Valley
Israeli occupation forces launched yesterday an extensive campaign to confiscate water tanks belonging to Bedouin families in the northern Jordan Valley
8 sep 2012, 10:08 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2012
Israel may reoccupy parts of Gaza Strip: Barak
The Israeli regime says it may reoccupy some parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in the future.
Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak made the announcement at a meeting of the Fisher Institute on "Operation Cast Lead" on Friday.
Israeli forces have carried out large numbers of ground and air attacks on Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead against the enclave in 2009.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver during the winter of 2008-2009. The offensive also inflicted $1.6 billion in damages to the Gazan economy.
On Thursday, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli tank fired a Flechette shell in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.
Three other Palestinians were also killed and another wounded in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza on Wednesday.
The Israeli regime conducts airstrikes and ground attacks against the Palestinian territory on an almost regular basis.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israel launched over 58 air and ground assaults on the Gaza Strip in June, which killed over a dozen Palestinians and injured many others.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
Israel demolished 467 buildings and displaced 700 Palestinians in 2012
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished 10 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the West Bank this week, including five residential structures, displacing 32 Palestinians, including 14 children, according to a weekly report issued by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA).
In a report covering the Israeli violations from august 29 to September 4, OCHA noted that Israel has demolished since the start of the current year 467 residential buildings and displaced 702 Palestinians during the same period.
During the reporting week, 17 Palestinians, including four children, were injured by the IOF, mostly during protests.
The settlers also carried out a number of attacks on Palestinian citizens and their property in the West Bank. Their attacks included racist slurs, arson attacks on agricultural lands and cars, throwing stones on vehicles.
9 sep 2012, 21:30 , Respect -
Maria 9 sept 2012
Israel Grants University Status to Settlement College
The Israeli government Sunday granted the university status to Ariel college, which is located in the illegal settlement of Ariel in the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports.
This decision came following a vote by the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria. 11 voted in favor of the decision; while 2 against.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised this decision and said that Israel is in need of more universities in light of the increasing number of population, “Ariel Settlement will remain under Israel’s control forever,” he said.
Official: 15 hurt in Nablus village after settler raid
Qusra lies near several settlements and outposts and is the site of regular assaults by their residents.
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- After Israeli settlers raided the northern West Bank village of Qusra on Saturday night, clashes with Israeli forces injured 15 Palestinians from the village, a local official said.
Around 30 settlers from the Esh Kodesh settler outpost descended on the village in the evening, PA official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma’an. They uprooted several olive trees and destroyed water wells, before assaulting some villagers, he added.
Israeli forces arrived and fired tear gas and rubber bullets, Daghlas continued. The clashes continued for several hours and left 15 people from the village injured, he said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said forces used riot dispersal means to disperse a clash between Palestinians and Israelis, but said no one needed evacuation.
Qusra lies near several settlements and outposts and is the site of regular assaults by their residents.
Issam Kamal Odeh, 33, died from Israeli army fire in September 2011 after soldiers came to the village after a settler raid.