3 mar 2019
Israeli forces delivered a demolition notice, on Sunday, in Beit Taamar village, east of the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem.
According to local sources, heavily armed Israeli forces stormed the village and raided Nayef Hassan Zawahra’s family home, handing him a demolition notice concerning the imminent demolition of his home.
The notice mentioned that the demolition would be carried out under the pretext that it was built without the nearly-impossible to obtain Israeli permit.
Sources pointed out that ten family members live in the home, which measures 100-square-meters and was built a year ago.
Israel uses the pretext of building without a permit to carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes on a regular basis.
Nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C are denied by the Israeli authorities, forcing communities to build illegally.
Meanwhile, the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory are more easily given building permits and allowed to expand their homes and properties, despite living in settlements that violate international law.
According to local sources, heavily armed Israeli forces stormed the village and raided Nayef Hassan Zawahra’s family home, handing him a demolition notice concerning the imminent demolition of his home.
The notice mentioned that the demolition would be carried out under the pretext that it was built without the nearly-impossible to obtain Israeli permit.
Sources pointed out that ten family members live in the home, which measures 100-square-meters and was built a year ago.
Israel uses the pretext of building without a permit to carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes on a regular basis.
Nearly all Palestinian applications for building permits in Area C are denied by the Israeli authorities, forcing communities to build illegally.
Meanwhile, the estimated 550,000 Jewish Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory are more easily given building permits and allowed to expand their homes and properties, despite living in settlements that violate international law.
Israeli bulldozers demolished a Palestinian-owned car wash in the Beit Safafa neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, on Sunday.
Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces stormed the neighborhood and completely demolished the car wash.
Sources pointed out that Israeli forces demolished the car wash under the pretext that it was built without the nearly-impossible to obtain Israeli permit.
However, locals claimed that the car wash was demolished as part of an Israeli settlement plan to expand the road, upon which the structure was built, and start the construction of a light rail route to the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo.
According to Palestinians and rights groups, Israel’s overall goal, both in its policies in Area C and Israel’s settlement enterprise, is to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and replace them with Jewish Israeli communities in order to manipulate population demographics in all of historic Palestine.
Local sources confirmed that Israeli forces stormed the neighborhood and completely demolished the car wash.
Sources pointed out that Israeli forces demolished the car wash under the pretext that it was built without the nearly-impossible to obtain Israeli permit.
However, locals claimed that the car wash was demolished as part of an Israeli settlement plan to expand the road, upon which the structure was built, and start the construction of a light rail route to the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo.
According to Palestinians and rights groups, Israel’s overall goal, both in its policies in Area C and Israel’s settlement enterprise, is to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and replace them with Jewish Israeli communities in order to manipulate population demographics in all of historic Palestine.
2 mar 2019
The Israeli army issued orders, Saturday, for the illegal confiscation of fifteen Dunams of Palestinian agricultural lands in Azzoun town, east of Qalqilia, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Mohammad Abu Sheikh, a Palestinian official in charge of Israeli colonialist activities’ file in Qalqilia, said the army issued orders confiscating fifteen Dunams, owned by Palestinians in the eastern part of the town.
He added that the army said the confiscation of the privately-owned lands comes to “expand existing roads.”
The official also stated that the lands are by the Northern Gate area where colonialist Road #50 passes, and near other lands to the east of the road.
Mohammad Abu Sheikh, a Palestinian official in charge of Israeli colonialist activities’ file in Qalqilia, said the army issued orders confiscating fifteen Dunams, owned by Palestinians in the eastern part of the town.
He added that the army said the confiscation of the privately-owned lands comes to “expand existing roads.”
The official also stated that the lands are by the Northern Gate area where colonialist Road #50 passes, and near other lands to the east of the road.
A Palestinian was forced to demolish his own home in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, on Saturday morning, upon order by the Israeli municipality claiming the building lacks a building license. video video
The Israeli municipality had summoned Hussam al-Abbasi and ordered him to demolish his own home, or the municipality would, thus, imposing a fine on al-Abbasi for demolition costs.
Al-Abbasi said that he was forced to demolish his own home, that is a third floor apartment in a housing building, in order to lessen damages on the neighborhood and other families living in the building.
He pointed out that his 70-square-meter apartment was built one year ago, adding that he lives in it along with his wife and child.
Palestinians of occupied East Jerusalem are forced to demolish their own homes upon orders by the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem, to avoid paying exorbitant demolition fees to the municipality.
The Israeli municipality gives Palestinian in Jerusalem two choices: destroy their home themselves, or wait for the municipality to destroy it and then pay the cost of the demolition.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in East Jerusalem, though the Jerusalem municipality has claimed that compared to the Jewish population, they receive a disproportionately low number of permit applications from Palestinian communities, which also see high approval ratings.
For Jewish Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem's illegal settlements, the planning, marketing, development, and infrastructure are funded and executed by the Israeli government.
By contrast, in Palestinian neighborhoods, all the burden falls on individual families to contend with a lengthy permit application that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The Israeli municipality had summoned Hussam al-Abbasi and ordered him to demolish his own home, or the municipality would, thus, imposing a fine on al-Abbasi for demolition costs.
Al-Abbasi said that he was forced to demolish his own home, that is a third floor apartment in a housing building, in order to lessen damages on the neighborhood and other families living in the building.
He pointed out that his 70-square-meter apartment was built one year ago, adding that he lives in it along with his wife and child.
Palestinians of occupied East Jerusalem are forced to demolish their own homes upon orders by the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem, to avoid paying exorbitant demolition fees to the municipality.
The Israeli municipality gives Palestinian in Jerusalem two choices: destroy their home themselves, or wait for the municipality to destroy it and then pay the cost of the demolition.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in East Jerusalem, though the Jerusalem municipality has claimed that compared to the Jewish population, they receive a disproportionately low number of permit applications from Palestinian communities, which also see high approval ratings.
For Jewish Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem's illegal settlements, the planning, marketing, development, and infrastructure are funded and executed by the Israeli government.
By contrast, in Palestinian neighborhoods, all the burden falls on individual families to contend with a lengthy permit application that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
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The recent heavy rain fall has, once again, has revealed the serious damage caused by the ongoing illegal Israeli excavations in occupied Jerusalem, especially the tunnels under the Palestinian homes in Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, in Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that the rain fall, which lasted for several hours a few days ago, has caused serious damage and cracks in the walls and foundations of many homes, located above the areas Israel is ongoing with digging tunnels and removing sand as part of its “tunnels network,” leading to the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Silwanic added that the ongoing digging and excavations have also caused the collapse of a playground and a parking lot in Wadi Hilweh, and stated that the Israeli machines keep digging around the clock, and the workers keep removing large amounts of sand resulting from the continuous work under the Palestinian homes. video video video |
It stated that similar the excavations also caused damage to lands, owned by the Greek Orthodox Christian Church, like what happened several months ago, resulting from the same excavations.
Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh stated that the winter season, especially the heavy rain, exposed the seriousness and the dangerous consequences of the ongoing digging, causing more damage to homes and property, and added that at least seventy homes in addition to walls and roads in Wadi Hilweh, have been seriously impacted.
Silwanic said that the residents headed to Israeli courts, demanding stopping the digging under their homes and property, but the excavations continued, and the damage to the Palestinian properties is becoming more serious, especially since many more have been being flooded by the rain, after their walls and floors are cracked due to the ongoing digging.
Silwan playground collapses due to Israeli excavations
Heavy rain caused a the ground of a field in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem to collapse, on Saturday morning.
Jawad Siyam from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that residents of the neighborhood woke up to a new collapse, this time in the ground of a field (used as a playground) and the surrounding wall.
The collapse was reportedly mainly due to the continuous Israeli excavations in the area, building tunnels leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound from its western side.
Siyam said that Israeli settlers' excavations under and around the playground are continuous, before dirt is emptied and moved from under ground, pointed out that the Israeli authorities are digging tunnels in favor of settlement project ignoring the risks towards 5,000 residents of the neighborhood.
He added that heavy rain revealed the amount of excavations and its danger on the lives of locals.
Owner of the land on which the playground is built, Muhammad Attallah, told the center that the collapse comes as a result of 12 years of underground excavations.
In 2017, Palestinian residents of three houses in Wadi Hilweh, that Israel had ordered the evacuation of due to severe structural damage, refused to leave their homes and accused Israel of indirectly attempting to expel them from Jerusalem City.
Israel frequently allows excavations and archaeological digs that threaten the structural integrity of Palestinian homes and holy sites in the area.
Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh stated that the winter season, especially the heavy rain, exposed the seriousness and the dangerous consequences of the ongoing digging, causing more damage to homes and property, and added that at least seventy homes in addition to walls and roads in Wadi Hilweh, have been seriously impacted.
Silwanic said that the residents headed to Israeli courts, demanding stopping the digging under their homes and property, but the excavations continued, and the damage to the Palestinian properties is becoming more serious, especially since many more have been being flooded by the rain, after their walls and floors are cracked due to the ongoing digging.
Silwan playground collapses due to Israeli excavations
Heavy rain caused a the ground of a field in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem to collapse, on Saturday morning.
Jawad Siyam from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that residents of the neighborhood woke up to a new collapse, this time in the ground of a field (used as a playground) and the surrounding wall.
The collapse was reportedly mainly due to the continuous Israeli excavations in the area, building tunnels leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound from its western side.
Siyam said that Israeli settlers' excavations under and around the playground are continuous, before dirt is emptied and moved from under ground, pointed out that the Israeli authorities are digging tunnels in favor of settlement project ignoring the risks towards 5,000 residents of the neighborhood.
He added that heavy rain revealed the amount of excavations and its danger on the lives of locals.
Owner of the land on which the playground is built, Muhammad Attallah, told the center that the collapse comes as a result of 12 years of underground excavations.
In 2017, Palestinian residents of three houses in Wadi Hilweh, that Israel had ordered the evacuation of due to severe structural damage, refused to leave their homes and accused Israel of indirectly attempting to expel them from Jerusalem City.
Israel frequently allows excavations and archaeological digs that threaten the structural integrity of Palestinian homes and holy sites in the area.
28 feb 2019
The Israeli occupation authorities on Thursday knocked down a Palestinian home in Lod city, in Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.
Israeli police and military troops stormed al-Mahta neighborhood in Lod city and cordoned the home of Palestinian citizen Shaher Abu Zayed, before they embarked on the demolition.
The building, home to 11 family members, including children, was carried out under the pretext of unlicensed construction and in violation of a court decision adjourning the demolition for three months.
Israeli police and military troops stormed al-Mahta neighborhood in Lod city and cordoned the home of Palestinian citizen Shaher Abu Zayed, before they embarked on the demolition.
The building, home to 11 family members, including children, was carried out under the pretext of unlicensed construction and in violation of a court decision adjourning the demolition for three months.
A petition has been filed against an Israeli mine that poses health dangers to Al-Fura’a residents and will lead to immediate transfer of thousands; the mine is part of an Israeli plan to force 36,000 Bedouins from their homes.
Bedouin residents of Al-Fura’a village and human rights organizations will head to the Israeli Supreme Court this week for the latest stage in the battle against a planned phosphate mine in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel. Construction of the mine will result in the immediate evacuation thousands of Bedouin residents – citizens of Israel – and the exposure of thousands more to serious health hazards.
The Sde Barir phosphate mine plan was approved on the basis of an environmental impact assessment survey that ignored the existence of the area’s 15,000 Bedouin residents, including those who live in Al-Fura’a, the Bedouin village most directly affected by the planned mining project.
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, together with 168 Al-Fura’a residents, the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages of Negev, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), filed a Supreme Court petition [pdf] on 21 January 2019 against the mine project.
A hearing on the petition, which was filed by Adalah Attorney Myssana Morany against the Israeli government, the National Planning and Building Council, and Rotem-Amfert Negev Ltd., which holds exclusive licenses for phosphate mining in the country, will be held at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 February 2019, at 9 A.M.
Israel to force 36,000 Bedouins from homes
The Sde Barir phosphate mine project is just one part of a plan Israel announced on 28 January 2019 to forcibly transfer 36,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel living in unrecognized villages in the country’s southern Naqab (Negev) region in order to expand military training areas and implement what it called “economic development” projects.
CLICK HERE to read more about Israel’s mass transfer plan.
The implementation of the plan is slated to commence in the coming year and will be carried out over the course of several years. The plan provides clear confirmation that Israel’s Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouins in the Negev overtly discriminates against the Bedouin population, and considers them an obstacle that must be removed from the landscape in order to clear a path for Jewish settlement and “development”.
The government plans to move these citizens to poverty-stricken, government-planned townships in other areas of the Naqab.
Mine project to harm homes, health
In March 2018, the Israeli government approved National Master Plan 14B which opens up approximately 6,400 acres (26,000 dunams) of the Barir and Zohar South fields to phosphate mining.
The Israeli Health Ministry and world-renowned health experts strongly oppose the plan because of the expected increase in mortality rates as a result of mining. Bedouin residents living near the mine would be exposed to the inhalation of dangerous particles likely to cause a rise in fatalities due to heart and lung diseases.
The Supreme Court petition stressed that Israeli authorities failed to examine the impact of the mine on Al-Fura’a residents. Partial data collected by the state in its environmental impact assessment survey relates only to the residents of the nearby towns of Arad and Keseife, but ignores the existence of approximately 15,000 Bedouin citizens living in and around the area designated for construction of the mine.
In an expert opinion accompanying the petition, Israeli public health experts Prof. Nadav Davidovitch and Dr. Maya Negev highlighted the flaws in the use of an environmental impact assessment survey to examine human health concerns. Prof. (Note: Davidovitch is also a volunteer with at PHR-I).
Despite the objections of the district Planning and Building Committee due to these health reasons, the plan was nevertheless approved by Israel’s National Planning and Building Council and the Israeli government.
Case citation: HCJ 512/19 Younes Dhabsha v. The National Council for Building and Planning
CLICK HERE to read the petition [Hebrew pdf]
Bedouin residents of Al-Fura’a village and human rights organizations will head to the Israeli Supreme Court this week for the latest stage in the battle against a planned phosphate mine in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel. Construction of the mine will result in the immediate evacuation thousands of Bedouin residents – citizens of Israel – and the exposure of thousands more to serious health hazards.
The Sde Barir phosphate mine plan was approved on the basis of an environmental impact assessment survey that ignored the existence of the area’s 15,000 Bedouin residents, including those who live in Al-Fura’a, the Bedouin village most directly affected by the planned mining project.
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, together with 168 Al-Fura’a residents, the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages of Negev, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), filed a Supreme Court petition [pdf] on 21 January 2019 against the mine project.
A hearing on the petition, which was filed by Adalah Attorney Myssana Morany against the Israeli government, the National Planning and Building Council, and Rotem-Amfert Negev Ltd., which holds exclusive licenses for phosphate mining in the country, will be held at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 February 2019, at 9 A.M.
Israel to force 36,000 Bedouins from homes
The Sde Barir phosphate mine project is just one part of a plan Israel announced on 28 January 2019 to forcibly transfer 36,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel living in unrecognized villages in the country’s southern Naqab (Negev) region in order to expand military training areas and implement what it called “economic development” projects.
CLICK HERE to read more about Israel’s mass transfer plan.
The implementation of the plan is slated to commence in the coming year and will be carried out over the course of several years. The plan provides clear confirmation that Israel’s Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouins in the Negev overtly discriminates against the Bedouin population, and considers them an obstacle that must be removed from the landscape in order to clear a path for Jewish settlement and “development”.
The government plans to move these citizens to poverty-stricken, government-planned townships in other areas of the Naqab.
Mine project to harm homes, health
In March 2018, the Israeli government approved National Master Plan 14B which opens up approximately 6,400 acres (26,000 dunams) of the Barir and Zohar South fields to phosphate mining.
The Israeli Health Ministry and world-renowned health experts strongly oppose the plan because of the expected increase in mortality rates as a result of mining. Bedouin residents living near the mine would be exposed to the inhalation of dangerous particles likely to cause a rise in fatalities due to heart and lung diseases.
The Supreme Court petition stressed that Israeli authorities failed to examine the impact of the mine on Al-Fura’a residents. Partial data collected by the state in its environmental impact assessment survey relates only to the residents of the nearby towns of Arad and Keseife, but ignores the existence of approximately 15,000 Bedouin citizens living in and around the area designated for construction of the mine.
In an expert opinion accompanying the petition, Israeli public health experts Prof. Nadav Davidovitch and Dr. Maya Negev highlighted the flaws in the use of an environmental impact assessment survey to examine human health concerns. Prof. (Note: Davidovitch is also a volunteer with at PHR-I).
Despite the objections of the district Planning and Building Committee due to these health reasons, the plan was nevertheless approved by Israel’s National Planning and Building Council and the Israeli government.
Case citation: HCJ 512/19 Younes Dhabsha v. The National Council for Building and Planning
CLICK HERE to read the petition [Hebrew pdf]
Israeli forces, today, uprooted some 350 olive saplings and razed lands in Khillet al-Dabe’, Masafer Yatta, in the Hebron area of the southern occupied West Bank, according to Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the National and Popular Committee in southern Hebron.
Jabour told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers razed lands and uprooted saplings planted by local residents and anti-settlement activists in the area, in order to reclaim the land and protect it from Israeli takeover.
The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone, in the 1970s, and were eventually allowed back, following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.
02/12/19 Army Uproots Over 500 Olive Trees in Jordan Valley
Jabour told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers razed lands and uprooted saplings planted by local residents and anti-settlement activists in the area, in order to reclaim the land and protect it from Israeli takeover.
The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone, in the 1970s, and were eventually allowed back, following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.
02/12/19 Army Uproots Over 500 Olive Trees in Jordan Valley
27 feb 2019
The Israeli occupation authorities have notified the demolition of 12 Palestinian residential facilities in Wadi Ara under the guise of unlicensed construction.
Tension has been running high in the area after they Israeli occupation authorities ruled that 12 Palestinian structures be knocked down.
Head of Wadi Ara Committee for the Defense of Land and Homes, Ahmed Melhem, said the Israeli authorities have stepped up crackdowns and violations against Palestinians living in territories occupied in 1948 (present-day Israel) in an attempt to force them out of the area.
Tension has been running high in the area after they Israeli occupation authorities ruled that 12 Palestinian structures be knocked down.
Head of Wadi Ara Committee for the Defense of Land and Homes, Ahmed Melhem, said the Israeli authorities have stepped up crackdowns and violations against Palestinians living in territories occupied in 1948 (present-day Israel) in an attempt to force them out of the area.
