4 june 2019
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements pointed out, in its latest weekly report, the Israeli ignorance of international law and legitimacy resolutions (by annexing more occupied territories) as US President Trump’s chief adviser, Jared Kushner, on Thursday, handed over a new map to Netanyahu, which encourages the Israeli government to increase and speed up construction in the settlements, especially in occupied Jerusalem, where the Israeli Ministry of Housing has submitted a tender for the construction of 805 settlement units.
The building is divided between “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement, with 460 housing units, and “Ramot” settlement, with 345 settlement units. Tender 156/2019, with 263 settlement units in Ramot, is about to be issued for the rural neighborhood; tender 157/2019: 82 settlement units in Ramot, Al-Nadi rural neighborhood; tender 158/2019: 210 settlement units in “Pisgat Ze’ev”; tender 159/2019: 250 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev. The settlement expansion in Pisgat Zeev and Neve Ya’akov will close the areas that were originally intended to be natural expansion areas for Palestinians.
On the other hand, a number of senior Israeli generals and security experts prepared a draft document to deal with successive regional developments surrounding Israel, to be used as the next guide to Israeli security theory. The draft document includes 14 recommendations that will be submitted via Israeli political channels. The document also emphasizes the need for settlement construction in Jerusalem as it is of “strategic and historical significance, and must be maintained uniformly.” The document called for “a halt to the continued construction of Palestinians in areas classified as C of the West Bank, and action must be taken to confront foreign entities that violate Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
There are 6 regional councils in the West Bank, each of which oversees a number of settlements. Those councils are: the Southern Hebron Hills Regional Council, which runs a number of settlements in the south of the West Bank, the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the settlement bloc north of Hebron, and, to the south of the central area of the West Bank, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, (Shomron) that manages northern West Bank, along with 2 regional councils which are Migilot, which runs the south-eastern part of the Dead Sea, and Erfut Herdin, which runs the area of the Ghor.
The investigations, including those carried out by Israeli organizations, indicate that those councils have placed their hands over some 200,000 dunams in the Southern Hebron Hills and about 800,000 dunams in the area of the regional council in the Jordan Valley.
Within the same context, Amnesty International called on Trip Advisor to stop promoting tourist sites in Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank, as this contributes to the expansion and legalization of settlements.
The Amnesty request came about as it knows how the tourist sector is important in the settlements, whereas its tourism website has the largest number of visits by foreign visitors, to Israel. The site provides lists of activities and real estate sites – at least 70- in 27 settlements.
In a dangerous development, Israeli police issued fines against Palestinian drivers on top of a title to the Judea and Samaria Governorate / Jerusalem District: “In addition, the Palestinian population can pay the fines in the post offices or via Cairo Amman Bank in the Palestinian territories, all of which may be a prelude to annex wider areas of the West Bank to Israel.” Moreover, the Israeli Defense Ministry is preparing to hold an auction next week for the sale of 2 halls donated by the European Union to 49 students in grades 1-6 in Khirbet Ibzig, in the northern West Bank.”
The building is divided between “Pisgat Ze’ev” settlement, with 460 housing units, and “Ramot” settlement, with 345 settlement units. Tender 156/2019, with 263 settlement units in Ramot, is about to be issued for the rural neighborhood; tender 157/2019: 82 settlement units in Ramot, Al-Nadi rural neighborhood; tender 158/2019: 210 settlement units in “Pisgat Ze’ev”; tender 159/2019: 250 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev. The settlement expansion in Pisgat Zeev and Neve Ya’akov will close the areas that were originally intended to be natural expansion areas for Palestinians.
On the other hand, a number of senior Israeli generals and security experts prepared a draft document to deal with successive regional developments surrounding Israel, to be used as the next guide to Israeli security theory. The draft document includes 14 recommendations that will be submitted via Israeli political channels. The document also emphasizes the need for settlement construction in Jerusalem as it is of “strategic and historical significance, and must be maintained uniformly.” The document called for “a halt to the continued construction of Palestinians in areas classified as C of the West Bank, and action must be taken to confront foreign entities that violate Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
There are 6 regional councils in the West Bank, each of which oversees a number of settlements. Those councils are: the Southern Hebron Hills Regional Council, which runs a number of settlements in the south of the West Bank, the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the settlement bloc north of Hebron, and, to the south of the central area of the West Bank, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, (Shomron) that manages northern West Bank, along with 2 regional councils which are Migilot, which runs the south-eastern part of the Dead Sea, and Erfut Herdin, which runs the area of the Ghor.
The investigations, including those carried out by Israeli organizations, indicate that those councils have placed their hands over some 200,000 dunams in the Southern Hebron Hills and about 800,000 dunams in the area of the regional council in the Jordan Valley.
Within the same context, Amnesty International called on Trip Advisor to stop promoting tourist sites in Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank, as this contributes to the expansion and legalization of settlements.
The Amnesty request came about as it knows how the tourist sector is important in the settlements, whereas its tourism website has the largest number of visits by foreign visitors, to Israel. The site provides lists of activities and real estate sites – at least 70- in 27 settlements.
In a dangerous development, Israeli police issued fines against Palestinian drivers on top of a title to the Judea and Samaria Governorate / Jerusalem District: “In addition, the Palestinian population can pay the fines in the post offices or via Cairo Amman Bank in the Palestinian territories, all of which may be a prelude to annex wider areas of the West Bank to Israel.” Moreover, the Israeli Defense Ministry is preparing to hold an auction next week for the sale of 2 halls donated by the European Union to 49 students in grades 1-6 in Khirbet Ibzig, in the northern West Bank.”
2 june 2019
The Israeli army has issued orders, Sunday, for the illegal annexation of 511 Dunams (123.5 Acres) of privately-owned Palestinian lands near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to expand an illegal colony in the area.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said the army has decided to confiscate 511 Dunams from Basin #15 in the Palestinian areas of Khallet Sheikh Ahmad and al-Mashaleh, owned by Palestinian residents of Burin, Iraq-Burin and Kafr Qallil villages, near Nablus.
He added that the annexation is part of Israel’s plan to expand its illegal Bracha colony, which was built on Palestinian lands.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 states that “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
In its additional protocol, Article 84 (4) (a) of 1977, it states that “the transfer by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies is a grave breach of the Protocol.”
Article 8 (2)(b)(viii) of the 1998 International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute states that “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts.”
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said the army has decided to confiscate 511 Dunams from Basin #15 in the Palestinian areas of Khallet Sheikh Ahmad and al-Mashaleh, owned by Palestinian residents of Burin, Iraq-Burin and Kafr Qallil villages, near Nablus.
He added that the annexation is part of Israel’s plan to expand its illegal Bracha colony, which was built on Palestinian lands.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 states that “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
In its additional protocol, Article 84 (4) (a) of 1977, it states that “the transfer by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies is a grave breach of the Protocol.”
Article 8 (2)(b)(viii) of the 1998 International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute states that “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts.”
1 june 2019
The European Union has denounced as “illegal” Israel’s settlement activities on occupied Palestinian territories, saying that the Tel Aviv regime's land grab policy is an obstacle to peace.
In a statement released Saturday, the EU said it is "strongly opposed to Israel's settlement policy, including in East Jerusalem, which is illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace."
The statement came after Israel's Housing Ministry this week issued construction tenders for over 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem al-Quds.
"The policy of settlement construction and expansion in East Jerusalem” al-Quds undermines the so-called two-state solution, the statement from EU Spokesperson Maja Kocijancic read.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
The Israeli move comes as the US administration prepares to unveil the first phase of its so-called Middle East peace plan, rejected by the Palestinian leadership, in an economic conference in Manama, Bahrain, on June 25-26.
All Palestinian factions have boycotted the event, accusing Washington of offering financial rewards for accepting the Israeli occupation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they will send delegations to the Manama forum and Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has said he intends to attend.
The United States has kept the so-called "deal of the century", which it says is aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under wraps. Leaked information, however, indicate that it features serious violations of the Palestinian’s age-old demands.
In a statement released Saturday, the EU said it is "strongly opposed to Israel's settlement policy, including in East Jerusalem, which is illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace."
The statement came after Israel's Housing Ministry this week issued construction tenders for over 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem al-Quds.
"The policy of settlement construction and expansion in East Jerusalem” al-Quds undermines the so-called two-state solution, the statement from EU Spokesperson Maja Kocijancic read.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
The Israeli move comes as the US administration prepares to unveil the first phase of its so-called Middle East peace plan, rejected by the Palestinian leadership, in an economic conference in Manama, Bahrain, on June 25-26.
All Palestinian factions have boycotted the event, accusing Washington of offering financial rewards for accepting the Israeli occupation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they will send delegations to the Manama forum and Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has said he intends to attend.
The United States has kept the so-called "deal of the century", which it says is aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under wraps. Leaked information, however, indicate that it features serious violations of the Palestinian’s age-old demands.
Palestinian students listen to a teacher inside a prefabricated classroom in the occupied West Bank
Israeli authorities are reportedly going to auction two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the European Union.
According to a report published by the British daily The Guardian, the classrooms, which were torn down and confiscated by Israeli forces in October last year, will be put up for sale next week.
They had been intended for 49 Palestinian students of primary school age in the northern occupied West Bank village of Ibziq.
An advertisement published in the Israeli Hebrew-language daily Maariv said the sale would take place at the offices of the so-called Israeli Civil Administration across the West Bank.
When the classrooms were dismantled, the EU mission to Jerusalem al-Quds and Ramallah condemned the move, and called on Israeli authorities to rebuild the structures in the same place “without delay.”
“Every child has the right to access education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfill this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children.
“[The] EU calls upon the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian houses and property, in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law,” it said at the time.
Israel argues that the schools had been constructed in Area C without obtaining a prior permission from the so-called Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civil matters in the Palestinian territories.
Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the entire West Bank and it is directly controlled by COGAT, which demands permits for new building projects.
Nevertheless, the majority of planning requests are firmly denied, leaving international donors and Palestinians alike with no choice but to construct new schools anyway.
Late last August, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said Palestinian children in the occupied territories were simply being denied education as the Israeli regime kept on with the much-blamed policy of demolishing their newly constructed schools.
The NRC said some 55 schools in the West Bank, most of them built with funding from the EU member states and other donors, were threatened with demolition and stop-work orders by Israeli authorities.
The EU has already announced that some 100 structures, including homes, shelters, water networks and schools, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds have been destroyed or confiscated over the past years.
Many believe that the controversial demolition measures adopted by Tel Aviv are aimed at expelling more Palestinians from the West Bank.
Israel was created in 1948 after a Western-backed military seizure of vast expanses of Arab territories. In 1967, Israel occupied the entire West Bank, including East al-Quds, during full-frontal military operations. It later annexed the territories. Upon annexation, it also began propping up settlements, deemed as illegal by the international community due to their construction on occupied land.
More than 600,000 Israelis now live in over 230 settlements. Tel Aviv has defied calls to stop settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli authorities are reportedly going to auction two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the European Union.
According to a report published by the British daily The Guardian, the classrooms, which were torn down and confiscated by Israeli forces in October last year, will be put up for sale next week.
They had been intended for 49 Palestinian students of primary school age in the northern occupied West Bank village of Ibziq.
An advertisement published in the Israeli Hebrew-language daily Maariv said the sale would take place at the offices of the so-called Israeli Civil Administration across the West Bank.
When the classrooms were dismantled, the EU mission to Jerusalem al-Quds and Ramallah condemned the move, and called on Israeli authorities to rebuild the structures in the same place “without delay.”
“Every child has the right to access education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfill this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children.
“[The] EU calls upon the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian houses and property, in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law,” it said at the time.
Israel argues that the schools had been constructed in Area C without obtaining a prior permission from the so-called Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civil matters in the Palestinian territories.
Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the entire West Bank and it is directly controlled by COGAT, which demands permits for new building projects.
Nevertheless, the majority of planning requests are firmly denied, leaving international donors and Palestinians alike with no choice but to construct new schools anyway.
Late last August, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said Palestinian children in the occupied territories were simply being denied education as the Israeli regime kept on with the much-blamed policy of demolishing their newly constructed schools.
The NRC said some 55 schools in the West Bank, most of them built with funding from the EU member states and other donors, were threatened with demolition and stop-work orders by Israeli authorities.
The EU has already announced that some 100 structures, including homes, shelters, water networks and schools, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds have been destroyed or confiscated over the past years.
Many believe that the controversial demolition measures adopted by Tel Aviv are aimed at expelling more Palestinians from the West Bank.
Israel was created in 1948 after a Western-backed military seizure of vast expanses of Arab territories. In 1967, Israel occupied the entire West Bank, including East al-Quds, during full-frontal military operations. It later annexed the territories. Upon annexation, it also began propping up settlements, deemed as illegal by the international community due to their construction on occupied land.
More than 600,000 Israelis now live in over 230 settlements. Tel Aviv has defied calls to stop settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli soldiers invaded, Saturday, the village of Abwein, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and abducted the father of the young Palestinian man, who was killed a day earlier in occupied Jerusalem, after he reportedly stabbed and injured two Israelis.
Media sources in Ramallah said dozens of soldiers invaded the village, before storming and ransacking the home of Wajeeh Sohweil, the father of Yousef, 18, who was killed in Jerusalem, and abducted him.
The Israeli army apparently intends to demolish the home in an act of illegal collective punishment, similar to previous incidents where homes of Palestinians who attacked or believed to have attacked Israelis, including soldiers, were destroyed.
The army also constantly abducts and imprisons family members, and in some cases friends, of Palestinians who are believed to be behind attacks against the military or Israelis in general.
The sources added that the soldiers fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and gas bombs at dozens of Palestinian youngsters, who protested the invasion, and hurled stones at the invading army jeeps.
Media sources in Ramallah said dozens of soldiers invaded the village, before storming and ransacking the home of Wajeeh Sohweil, the father of Yousef, 18, who was killed in Jerusalem, and abducted him.
The Israeli army apparently intends to demolish the home in an act of illegal collective punishment, similar to previous incidents where homes of Palestinians who attacked or believed to have attacked Israelis, including soldiers, were destroyed.
The army also constantly abducts and imprisons family members, and in some cases friends, of Palestinians who are believed to be behind attacks against the military or Israelis in general.
The sources added that the soldiers fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and gas bombs at dozens of Palestinian youngsters, who protested the invasion, and hurled stones at the invading army jeeps.
Palestinian children play at their home in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem al-Quds
The European Union has lambasted Israel for its apparent plans to sell humanitarian aid given to inhabitants of Bedouin villages in Palestine’s occupied West Bank.
Shadi Othman, EU’s spokesman in Jerusalem al-Quds, said on Friday that COGAT, a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, would put up EU-donated aid for auction within days.
The supplies include “two school structures that had been consigned to Ibziq community, and two tents and three metal sheds to the al-Hadidiya community,” Othman said, adding that the aid, worth 15,320 euros ($17,100), had been confiscated by Israeli authorities in October and November last year.
On May 6, COGAT published an advertisement in the Maariv newspaper, detailing the sale of “seized property” from the occupied West Bank.
“In the case where the owners of these seized assets have not proceeded to request the return of their property within 30 days of the publication of this notice, the assets will be sold,” the advertisement said.
However, Othman said that the EU made an official request for the return of the structures but received no response from the Israeli authorities.
The “EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah had called on Israeli authorities to return the confiscated items to their intended beneficiaries without precondition as soon as possible” or provide compensation, the spokesman added.
The European body often finances humanitarian structures in Bedouin villages, which are frequently seized by Israeli authorities who claim the necessary authorization has not been provided.
Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949.
The demolition of Bedouin homes by Israeli authorities, claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits, is also part of the Israeli regime’s massive land grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.
It is nearly impossible for Bedouin communities to obtain building permits in the occupied West Bank.
Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Back in March, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report that Israel had until then occupied more than 85 percent, or some 27,000 square kilometers, of the historical territories of Palestine in an expropriation process that continues unabated.
The European Union has lambasted Israel for its apparent plans to sell humanitarian aid given to inhabitants of Bedouin villages in Palestine’s occupied West Bank.
Shadi Othman, EU’s spokesman in Jerusalem al-Quds, said on Friday that COGAT, a unit in Israel’s ministry of military affairs that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, would put up EU-donated aid for auction within days.
The supplies include “two school structures that had been consigned to Ibziq community, and two tents and three metal sheds to the al-Hadidiya community,” Othman said, adding that the aid, worth 15,320 euros ($17,100), had been confiscated by Israeli authorities in October and November last year.
On May 6, COGAT published an advertisement in the Maariv newspaper, detailing the sale of “seized property” from the occupied West Bank.
“In the case where the owners of these seized assets have not proceeded to request the return of their property within 30 days of the publication of this notice, the assets will be sold,” the advertisement said.
However, Othman said that the EU made an official request for the return of the structures but received no response from the Israeli authorities.
The “EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah had called on Israeli authorities to return the confiscated items to their intended beneficiaries without precondition as soon as possible” or provide compensation, the spokesman added.
The European body often finances humanitarian structures in Bedouin villages, which are frequently seized by Israeli authorities who claim the necessary authorization has not been provided.
Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949.
The demolition of Bedouin homes by Israeli authorities, claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits, is also part of the Israeli regime’s massive land grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.
It is nearly impossible for Bedouin communities to obtain building permits in the occupied West Bank.
Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Back in March, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report that Israel had until then occupied more than 85 percent, or some 27,000 square kilometers, of the historical territories of Palestine in an expropriation process that continues unabated.
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