21 june 2020

Israeli occupation forces ordered today a halt on the construction of residential and agricultural structures in the occupied West Bank districts of Hebron and Salfit, according to local sources.
Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the popular committees against Israeli settlements in Hebron, told WAFA that an Israeli military force raided the village of Birayn, near the town of Yatta, and ordered to Palestinians to stop the construction of their two homes, under the pretext that they were being built without an Israeli permit.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops ordered a Palestinian citizen in the village of Bruqin, near the town of Salfit in the West Bank, to stop the construction of an agricultural facility and a water well, also under the same pretext.
The villages where the constructions were ordered to stop are located in areas classified as Area C, the 60 percent of the occupied West Bank under full Israeli administrative and military control, where Israel rarely issues construction permits to Palestinians, forcing many people to build without permits.
Israel refuses to allow Palestinian development of any kind in Area C, which makes up over 60 percent of the total area of the occupied West Bank, and often demolishes what Palestinians build despite the Israeli ban.
Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the popular committees against Israeli settlements in Hebron, told WAFA that an Israeli military force raided the village of Birayn, near the town of Yatta, and ordered to Palestinians to stop the construction of their two homes, under the pretext that they were being built without an Israeli permit.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops ordered a Palestinian citizen in the village of Bruqin, near the town of Salfit in the West Bank, to stop the construction of an agricultural facility and a water well, also under the same pretext.
The villages where the constructions were ordered to stop are located in areas classified as Area C, the 60 percent of the occupied West Bank under full Israeli administrative and military control, where Israel rarely issues construction permits to Palestinians, forcing many people to build without permits.
Israel refuses to allow Palestinian development of any kind in Area C, which makes up over 60 percent of the total area of the occupied West Bank, and often demolishes what Palestinians build despite the Israeli ban.

Israeli authorities notified today a Palestinian citizen of evicting his land in al-Khader village, located to the south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to WAFA correspondent.
Hassan Brejeya, director of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, told WAFA that Israeli forces handed Bassam Ghnaim, a local citizen, a notice ordering him to evacuate his 6-dunum land, close to the illegal Israeli settlement of El’azar.
Residents of the aforementioned town are repeatedly subjected to settlers’ violence and violations such as land razing, uprooting of trees and prevention of farmers from accessing their lands.
Hassan Brejeya, director of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, told WAFA that Israeli forces handed Bassam Ghnaim, a local citizen, a notice ordering him to evacuate his 6-dunum land, close to the illegal Israeli settlement of El’azar.
Residents of the aforementioned town are repeatedly subjected to settlers’ violence and violations such as land razing, uprooting of trees and prevention of farmers from accessing their lands.

Two Palestinian brothers from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan embarked today on demolishing their own home after being pressured to do so by Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem, in order to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the municipality carries out the demolition.
Feras and Iyad Da’na said they were forced to demolish their own home, currently under construction, after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against it under the pretext it is being without a permit. video video
The two brothers said unless they did so, they would have been forced to pay around $15,000 to the Israeli municipality if it carried out the demolition on its own.
They pointed out that they tried hard many times to get a building permit to build on their own land, but all in vain.
For many years, Palestinians in Jerusalem are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible as the Israeli municipality aims at keeping the city’s Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its illegal Jewish residents by approving the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jewish settlements.
According to Israeli rights group B'Tselem, the Israeli municipality consistently avoids drawing up detailed urban building plans – a prerequisite for receiving building permits – for Palestinian neighborhoods.
As a result, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem suffer an extreme shortage of housing, public buildings, infrastructure, trade services and recreational facilities.
It says given this reality, Palestinians in the occupied city have no choice but to build without permits.
Feras and Iyad Da’na said they were forced to demolish their own home, currently under construction, after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against it under the pretext it is being without a permit. video video
The two brothers said unless they did so, they would have been forced to pay around $15,000 to the Israeli municipality if it carried out the demolition on its own.
They pointed out that they tried hard many times to get a building permit to build on their own land, but all in vain.
For many years, Palestinians in Jerusalem are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible as the Israeli municipality aims at keeping the city’s Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its illegal Jewish residents by approving the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jewish settlements.
According to Israeli rights group B'Tselem, the Israeli municipality consistently avoids drawing up detailed urban building plans – a prerequisite for receiving building permits – for Palestinian neighborhoods.
As a result, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem suffer an extreme shortage of housing, public buildings, infrastructure, trade services and recreational facilities.
It says given this reality, Palestinians in the occupied city have no choice but to build without permits.
20 june 2020

Seventy Palestinian-owned structures were demolished or seized in the occupied West Bank under the pretext of lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 90 people and affecting over 280, which represents a 250 percent increase compared with the weekly average of structures targeted since the beginning of the year, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory.
It said in its biweekly report, covering the period between 2 and 15 June, that 61 of the affected structures were located in Area C, which is under full Israeli military rule, including nine previously provided as humanitarian assistance. Among the hardest hit areas was Massafer Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, where the Israeli authorities demolished 17 homes, cisterns and livelihood-related structures.
This area, said OCHA, is designated as a “firing zone” for military training and its 1,300 Palestinian residents face a coercive environment putting them at risk of forcible transfer.
Nine of the affected structures were in East Jerusalem, of which four were demolished by their Palestinian owners to avoid municipal fees and possible damage to other structures and personal belongings. The increase in demolitions and displacement amidst the ongoing pandemic raises serious concern, said the UN organization.
As for Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, OCHA said 10 Palestinians were injured, including a 10-year old girl who was pushed by a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem sustaining an eye injury, while the remaining nine Palestinians injured were stoned or beaten next to the illegal settlements.
In addition, at least 90 olive trees in Burin village in the Nablus district and in Kafr al-Dik in the Salfit district in the northern West Bank were set on fire or cut down by settlers during the reporting period, said OCHA.
Israeli settlers also vandalized 10 Palestinian-owned vehicles, tents and water-related structures in the villages of Jamma’in, al-Sawiya and Lifjim, all in the Nablus area, al-Mughayyir near Ramallah and Kifl Hares in the Salfit district, as well as in the Israeli-occupied H2 area of Hebron. In another six incidents, settlers grazed their sheep on land belonging to farmers from Qawawis community in Hebron district, damaging at least 20 dunums of seasonal crops.
OCHA said a total of 25 Palestinians, including nine children, were injured in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank during the reporting period and Israeli forces carried out 120 search-and-arrest operations and detrained around 190 Palestinians. Of these operations, 28 were recorded in East Jerusalem, 26 in the Hebron governorate, 15 in the Ramallah governorate and the rest elsewhere across the West Bank.
It said in its biweekly report, covering the period between 2 and 15 June, that 61 of the affected structures were located in Area C, which is under full Israeli military rule, including nine previously provided as humanitarian assistance. Among the hardest hit areas was Massafer Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, where the Israeli authorities demolished 17 homes, cisterns and livelihood-related structures.
This area, said OCHA, is designated as a “firing zone” for military training and its 1,300 Palestinian residents face a coercive environment putting them at risk of forcible transfer.
Nine of the affected structures were in East Jerusalem, of which four were demolished by their Palestinian owners to avoid municipal fees and possible damage to other structures and personal belongings. The increase in demolitions and displacement amidst the ongoing pandemic raises serious concern, said the UN organization.
As for Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, OCHA said 10 Palestinians were injured, including a 10-year old girl who was pushed by a settler in the Old City of Jerusalem sustaining an eye injury, while the remaining nine Palestinians injured were stoned or beaten next to the illegal settlements.
In addition, at least 90 olive trees in Burin village in the Nablus district and in Kafr al-Dik in the Salfit district in the northern West Bank were set on fire or cut down by settlers during the reporting period, said OCHA.
Israeli settlers also vandalized 10 Palestinian-owned vehicles, tents and water-related structures in the villages of Jamma’in, al-Sawiya and Lifjim, all in the Nablus area, al-Mughayyir near Ramallah and Kifl Hares in the Salfit district, as well as in the Israeli-occupied H2 area of Hebron. In another six incidents, settlers grazed their sheep on land belonging to farmers from Qawawis community in Hebron district, damaging at least 20 dunums of seasonal crops.
OCHA said a total of 25 Palestinians, including nine children, were injured in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank during the reporting period and Israeli forces carried out 120 search-and-arrest operations and detrained around 190 Palestinians. Of these operations, 28 were recorded in East Jerusalem, 26 in the Hebron governorate, 15 in the Ramallah governorate and the rest elsewhere across the West Bank.

Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s plan to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank and called for international action against it.
In Twitter remarks, Amnesty urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violation against the Palestinian and not to make do with words of condemnation.
The human rights group emphasized that criticizing Israel without bringing it to account would not end Israel’s injustice and impunity.
It cited a recent warning made by international experts appointed by the UN that the annexation plan would intensify human rights violations committed against the Palestinians during five decades of Israeli occupation.
In their statement, about 50 independent human rights experts — appointed by the UN Human Rights Council — have called on the international community to oppose Israel’s intent to announce the annexation of significant parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank in early July.
The experts described Israel’s annexation of occupied territory as “a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible.”
“The international community has prohibited annexation precisely because it incites wars, economic devastation, political instability, systematic human rights abuses and widespread human suffering.”
“What would be left of the West Bank would be a Palestinian Bantustan, islands of disconnected land completely surrounded by Israel and with no territorial connection to the outside world”, the statement continued.
In Twitter remarks, Amnesty urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violation against the Palestinian and not to make do with words of condemnation.
The human rights group emphasized that criticizing Israel without bringing it to account would not end Israel’s injustice and impunity.
It cited a recent warning made by international experts appointed by the UN that the annexation plan would intensify human rights violations committed against the Palestinians during five decades of Israeli occupation.
In their statement, about 50 independent human rights experts — appointed by the UN Human Rights Council — have called on the international community to oppose Israel’s intent to announce the annexation of significant parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank in early July.
The experts described Israel’s annexation of occupied territory as “a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible.”
“The international community has prohibited annexation precisely because it incites wars, economic devastation, political instability, systematic human rights abuses and widespread human suffering.”
“What would be left of the West Bank would be a Palestinian Bantustan, islands of disconnected land completely surrounded by Israel and with no territorial connection to the outside world”, the statement continued.
19 june 2020

Israeli occupation authorities on Thursday demolished two Palestinian homes in az-Zarnouq village in the Negev, and ordered the demolition of a third one in Jerusalem.
Israeli bulldozers, escorted by armed forces, stormed the village, threw a cordon around the targeted homes, which are owned by the Abu Qweider family, and destroyed them.
Two families have been left homeless with no shelter under the scorching sun of the Negev desert.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday gave Palestinian citizen Yasin Za’atra a time limit until next Sunday to demolish his own home in Jabal al-Mukabber village in Occupied Jerusalem.
Otherwise, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality would carry out the demolition and force Za’atra to pay a 100,000 NIS fine.
Israeli occupation authorities have recently intensified their demolition campaigns in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories occupied since 1948 over “unlicensed construction” allegations.
This all falls in line with a larger plan to put more pressure on Palestinian communities, push them out of these areas, and clear the way for further settlement expansion.
Israeli bulldozers, escorted by armed forces, stormed the village, threw a cordon around the targeted homes, which are owned by the Abu Qweider family, and destroyed them.
Two families have been left homeless with no shelter under the scorching sun of the Negev desert.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday gave Palestinian citizen Yasin Za’atra a time limit until next Sunday to demolish his own home in Jabal al-Mukabber village in Occupied Jerusalem.
Otherwise, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality would carry out the demolition and force Za’atra to pay a 100,000 NIS fine.
Israeli occupation authorities have recently intensified their demolition campaigns in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories occupied since 1948 over “unlicensed construction” allegations.
This all falls in line with a larger plan to put more pressure on Palestinian communities, push them out of these areas, and clear the way for further settlement expansion.
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