17 may 2013
Israel plans to legalize 4 settler units in occupied West Bank
An Israeli bulldozer sits at a construction site in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
An Israeli court document shows that the Tel Aviv regime is planning to legalize four housing settlements already built in the occupied West Bank.
In a reply to a Supreme Court petition by the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had adopted measures in recent weeks to legalize retroactively four West Bank settlements, which were constructed without official authorization, the court document showed on Thursday.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Israeli plan.
"Our position is clear and that is all settlement is illegal and must be stopped," he said.
Peace Now said in a statement that the “intention to legalize outposts as new settlements is… blatant reassurance to settler interests."
In recent months, Israel has given approval to build thousands of settler units on the occupied Palestinian territory, despite opposition from the United Nations and the international community.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
Dr. Ashrawi Slams Israeli Plans to Legalize Illegal Settler ‘Outposts’
In response to Israel's most recent unilateral violations of international law, including plans to legalize settler 'outposts,' and the increase in settler violence against the Palestinian people and their resources, PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said:
"Such an announcement to legalize four settler outposts in the territory of the State of Palestine (that were supposed to be demolished in 2003) shows the truth of an ongoing Israeli policy to create facts on the ground. It preempts the Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the region next week, and makes a mockery at any attempt to launch viable negotiations. These actions send a clear message to both the Obama administration and to the Palestinian people that Israel is committed more to land theft than to peacemaking."
Dr. Ashrawi added: "The PLO also strongly denounces the repeated intrusions and attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist groups under the protection of the Israeli Army and Police. This constitutes a deliberate provocation to Muslims everywhere and threatens to unleash a religious conflict of dangerous proportions. Furthermore, the danger inherent in the settler violence is becoming increasingly visible in the reign of terror by settlers attacking innocent Palestinians, particularly in remote villages and rural areas, and their deliberate destruction of property and the uprooting of trees. It is evident that such patterns of behavior threaten to plunge the entire region into instability and violence and undermine global security."
"Such violations make it more imperative that Palestine accedes to international agreements and conventions to protect our rights and to join international agencies and organizations to ensure multilateral protection for Palestine and judicial accountability for Israel. We call on the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and members of the international community to undertake their responsibility in curbing Israeli deliberate violations of international law and Palestinian human rights. Israel must be held accountable with bold measures and initiatives before any and all chances for peace and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state are destroyed," concluded Dr. Ashrawi.
An Israeli court document shows that the Tel Aviv regime is planning to legalize four housing settlements already built in the occupied West Bank.
In a reply to a Supreme Court petition by the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had adopted measures in recent weeks to legalize retroactively four West Bank settlements, which were constructed without official authorization, the court document showed on Thursday.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Israeli plan.
"Our position is clear and that is all settlement is illegal and must be stopped," he said.
Peace Now said in a statement that the “intention to legalize outposts as new settlements is… blatant reassurance to settler interests."
In recent months, Israel has given approval to build thousands of settler units on the occupied Palestinian territory, despite opposition from the United Nations and the international community.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
Dr. Ashrawi Slams Israeli Plans to Legalize Illegal Settler ‘Outposts’
In response to Israel's most recent unilateral violations of international law, including plans to legalize settler 'outposts,' and the increase in settler violence against the Palestinian people and their resources, PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said:
"Such an announcement to legalize four settler outposts in the territory of the State of Palestine (that were supposed to be demolished in 2003) shows the truth of an ongoing Israeli policy to create facts on the ground. It preempts the Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the region next week, and makes a mockery at any attempt to launch viable negotiations. These actions send a clear message to both the Obama administration and to the Palestinian people that Israel is committed more to land theft than to peacemaking."
Dr. Ashrawi added: "The PLO also strongly denounces the repeated intrusions and attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist groups under the protection of the Israeli Army and Police. This constitutes a deliberate provocation to Muslims everywhere and threatens to unleash a religious conflict of dangerous proportions. Furthermore, the danger inherent in the settler violence is becoming increasingly visible in the reign of terror by settlers attacking innocent Palestinians, particularly in remote villages and rural areas, and their deliberate destruction of property and the uprooting of trees. It is evident that such patterns of behavior threaten to plunge the entire region into instability and violence and undermine global security."
"Such violations make it more imperative that Palestine accedes to international agreements and conventions to protect our rights and to join international agencies and organizations to ensure multilateral protection for Palestine and judicial accountability for Israel. We call on the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and members of the international community to undertake their responsibility in curbing Israeli deliberate violations of international law and Palestinian human rights. Israel must be held accountable with bold measures and initiatives before any and all chances for peace and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state are destroyed," concluded Dr. Ashrawi.
16 may 2013
Settler Installs Mobile Home In Palestinian Land near Jerusalem
The Radio Bethlehem 2000 reported Thursday, May 16 2013, that an armed Israeli settler installed a mobile home in Nabi Samuel village, north west of occupied East Jerusalem.
Resident Eid Barakat, one of the owners of the land, stated that, as the family went to plant their land, they found the mobile home, in their land, with an armed settler sitting in it.
Barakat added that the family fears that the settlers are planning an illegal full takeover of their land, that became isolated by the Annexation Wall.
Nabi Samuel village, inhabited by nearly 300 Palestinians, is completely isolated and surrounded by the illegal Annexation Wall, and its residents are practically imprisoned in it.
Resident Eid Barakat, one of the owners of the land, stated that, as the family went to plant their land, they found the mobile home, in their land, with an armed settler sitting in it.
Barakat added that the family fears that the settlers are planning an illegal full takeover of their land, that became isolated by the Annexation Wall.
Nabi Samuel village, inhabited by nearly 300 Palestinians, is completely isolated and surrounded by the illegal Annexation Wall, and its residents are practically imprisoned in it.
Israeli authorities demolish 18 Palestinian houses in the Negev
The Israeli authorities’ bulldozers accompanied by a large police force and special units demolished on Thursday morning 18 Palestinian houses in the village of Atir in the Negev, in southern 1948-occupied Palestine. Arab MK Taleb Abu Arar said in remarks to Quds Press that nearly 500 policemen from special units stormed the area to protect the bulldozers while demolishing the houses belonging to the family of Abu al-Ki'an.
The policemen imposed a tight blockade on the houses that were demolished and prevented the residents from entering or approaching them.
Abu Arar warned of the aggravation of the situation and the outbreak of an uprising in the Negev due to the policy of displacement adopted by the Israeli occupation authorities, pointing out that due to the demolition about 40 people, including women and children, have become homeless.
The Israeli bulldozers have also destroyed sheep barns and uprooted about 600 olive trees.
For his part, Sheikh Osama Uqbi official of the Islamic Movement in the Negev described the demolition operations as "crime against humanity", and stressed on the steadfastness of the residents and their adherence to their land.
The policemen imposed a tight blockade on the houses that were demolished and prevented the residents from entering or approaching them.
Abu Arar warned of the aggravation of the situation and the outbreak of an uprising in the Negev due to the policy of displacement adopted by the Israeli occupation authorities, pointing out that due to the demolition about 40 people, including women and children, have become homeless.
The Israeli bulldozers have also destroyed sheep barns and uprooted about 600 olive trees.
For his part, Sheikh Osama Uqbi official of the Islamic Movement in the Negev described the demolition operations as "crime against humanity", and stressed on the steadfastness of the residents and their adherence to their land.
IOF soldiers bulldoze cultivated land lot
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bulldozed Palestinian cultivated land lot in Aqraba village near Nablus claiming that it was “state owned”.
Hamza Direiya, a member of the committee in defense of Aqraba land, said that the soldiers destroyed the 25-dunum land planted with olive and almond trees south of the village.
He said that the soldiers also destroyed a water well used in irrigating that land owned by Ayham Direiya.
The activist said that the land owner, who has been reclaiming the land for the past two years, suffered heavy material losses, adding that the Israeli authorities did not recognize the land owner’s title deeds proving his ownership of the land.
Hamza Direiya, a member of the committee in defense of Aqraba land, said that the soldiers destroyed the 25-dunum land planted with olive and almond trees south of the village.
He said that the soldiers also destroyed a water well used in irrigating that land owned by Ayham Direiya.
The activist said that the land owner, who has been reclaiming the land for the past two years, suffered heavy material losses, adding that the Israeli authorities did not recognize the land owner’s title deeds proving his ownership of the land.
15 may 2013
Report: Demolition of Palestinian homes is an ongoing Nakba
Tadhamun Foundation for Human Rights said that some forms of the Nakba (catastrophe) of the Palestinian people, which took place 65 years ago, have continued until today.
The researcher at the Foundation Ahmed Betawi said that the occupation has continued, since the Nakba, its policy of demolishing Palestinian structures and displacing the citizens from their places of residence, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Betawi revealed that the occupation authorities have demolished since the beginning of this year more than 120 Palestinian structures, mainly in the city of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
The human rights researcher called for providing the legal support for the Palestinian citizens, especially the Jerusalemites whose houses are threatened with demolition, in order to protect them.
The researcher at the Foundation Ahmed Betawi said that the occupation has continued, since the Nakba, its policy of demolishing Palestinian structures and displacing the citizens from their places of residence, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Betawi revealed that the occupation authorities have demolished since the beginning of this year more than 120 Palestinian structures, mainly in the city of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
The human rights researcher called for providing the legal support for the Palestinian citizens, especially the Jerusalemites whose houses are threatened with demolition, in order to protect them.
14 may 2013
Jewish settlers start building religious institute in Bethlehem outpost
Jewish settlers started building a religious institute in a settlement outpost in Khader village, Bethlehem province.
Ahmed Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee in Al-Khader, told Quds Press on Tuesday that the institute was almost completed.
He said that the institute was being built in Tal Hatmar outpost that was built over 500 dunums of the village land in 2000.
He said that building an institute in that outpost means turning it into an official settlement. He recalled that the outpost was dismantled but the settlers rebuilt it 13 years ago.
Ahmed Salah, the coordinator of the popular committee in Al-Khader, told Quds Press on Tuesday that the institute was almost completed.
He said that the institute was being built in Tal Hatmar outpost that was built over 500 dunums of the village land in 2000.
He said that building an institute in that outpost means turning it into an official settlement. He recalled that the outpost was dismantled but the settlers rebuilt it 13 years ago.
Israeli Extremists Burn Cars, Write Racist Graffiti Near Haifa
The Arabs48 News Website has reported that a number of extremist Israelis attacked the Um Al-Qataf village, in Wadi ‘Ara area, torched three Palestinian cars and wrote racist graffiti against the Arabs.
The burnt cars were parked in the yard of a local mosque in the village; local residents denounced the attack, and said that extremist fundamentalist Israelis are behind the latest assault.
The Arabs48 quoted Elan Sadeh, head of the Menashe Regional Council in the area, stating that the graffiti on the mosque indicate that the assailants are Jewish extremists.
Menashe denounced the attack and called on the police to investigate it, and apprehend the assailants.
An Israeli Police spokesperson stated that the settlers did not only write racist anti-Arab graffiti, but also drew the Star of David on some walls.
Um Al-Qataf is located in the Northern Triangle area, 45 kilometers south of Haifa.
The burnt cars were parked in the yard of a local mosque in the village; local residents denounced the attack, and said that extremist fundamentalist Israelis are behind the latest assault.
The Arabs48 quoted Elan Sadeh, head of the Menashe Regional Council in the area, stating that the graffiti on the mosque indicate that the assailants are Jewish extremists.
Menashe denounced the attack and called on the police to investigate it, and apprehend the assailants.
An Israeli Police spokesperson stated that the settlers did not only write racist anti-Arab graffiti, but also drew the Star of David on some walls.
Um Al-Qataf is located in the Northern Triangle area, 45 kilometers south of Haifa.
13 may 2013
Israeli scheme to confiscate more Jordan Valley lands
Hebrew media sources revealed on Monday a new Israeli scheme to establish a city for Bedouins in Jordan Valley to facilitate the confiscation of their lands in the northern West Bank. Palestinian experts considered the new Israeli scheme as a new Israeli attempt to confiscate more lands in the Jordan Valley and to displace the Bedouins without any possible prosecution.
The Israeli Civil Administration planned to establish a new city in the Jordan Valley for the Bedouins in an attempt to isolate and besiege them in certain areas as a prelude to confiscate their lands, similar to what the Israeli government has done and is still doing to the Bedouins in Negev desert, where they were forced to live in certain areas so that their land can be confiscated, Israeli media sources confirmed.
The Israeli "Nueama" project will be established over 1800 Dunums. The Palestinian Bedouins will be forced to get construction permits from the Israeli Civil Administration under the pretext that the area is located in Area C.
The Israeli Civil Administration planned to establish a new city in the Jordan Valley for the Bedouins in an attempt to isolate and besiege them in certain areas as a prelude to confiscate their lands, similar to what the Israeli government has done and is still doing to the Bedouins in Negev desert, where they were forced to live in certain areas so that their land can be confiscated, Israeli media sources confirmed.
The Israeli "Nueama" project will be established over 1800 Dunums. The Palestinian Bedouins will be forced to get construction permits from the Israeli Civil Administration under the pretext that the area is located in Area C.
Jewish settlers deface graves, destroy agricultural installations
Jewish settlers destroyed a number of agricultural installations and defaced graves near Sawiya village, south of Nablus, on Monday.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of monitoring settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the settlers attacked and destroyed a hothouse and two tractors owned by Abdulaziz Nasrallah.
He said that the settlers vandalized graves and wrote racist graffiti on them in addition to “Price Tag”.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of monitoring settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the settlers attacked and destroyed a hothouse and two tractors owned by Abdulaziz Nasrallah.
He said that the settlers vandalized graves and wrote racist graffiti on them in addition to “Price Tag”.
IOA serves notices for the demolition of 14 houses near Jericho
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) served notices for the demolition of 14 houses in Oja village near Jericho in the central Jordan Valley on Monday morning.
Local sources said that the notices were delivered by Israeli occupation forces after storming the village, adding that all houses were in the Najada suburb.
They said that the IOA claimed that all buildings were built without permit and that the houses were built in area C.
The sources recalled that IOA teams razed three houses in the same village last week in line with a demolition spree in all areas of the Jordan Valley.
Local sources said that the notices were delivered by Israeli occupation forces after storming the village, adding that all houses were in the Najada suburb.
They said that the IOA claimed that all buildings were built without permit and that the houses were built in area C.
The sources recalled that IOA teams razed three houses in the same village last week in line with a demolition spree in all areas of the Jordan Valley.
Israel tanks, bulldozers invade northeast Gaza Strip
Israeli tanks and bulldozers have carried out an incursion into northeastern areas of the Gaza Strip, local sources say.
A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers infiltrated into Palestinian-owned lands in the town of Beit Hanoun on Monday.
The Israeli forces also entered Beit Hanoun last week, razing Palestinian farmlands and forcing the farmers to leave the area.
Israel has carried out a number of incursions into Gaza in the past weeks, including three airstrikes on the southern town of Khan Younis and near the town of Rafah in southern Gaza in late April.
The attacks are in violation of a ceasefire which brought an end to Israel’s eight-day war against Palestinians last November.
According to Israeli Walla website, the Israeli army is preparing to launch Operation Pillar of Defense II against the Gaza Strip in a bid to eliminate Hamas resistance movement.
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has also warned against an imminent Israeli attack against the besieged coastal enclave.
The group’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, has been holding military exercises in order to prepare its members for a possible Israeli aggression, the movement said.
Israel launched the so-called Operation Pillar of Defense I against Gaza in November 2012. Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured and more than 1,500 targets were hit across the Palestinian enclave during the eight-day war.
In retaliation, Palestinian resistance fighters fired rockets and missiles into Israeli cities, killing at least five Israelis. The offensive ended after Egypt brokered a truce between Hamas and Israel.
According to a Hamas spokesman, Israel's eight-day aggression against the Gaza Strip caused more than USD 1.2 billion in direct and indirect damages.
A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers infiltrated into Palestinian-owned lands in the town of Beit Hanoun on Monday.
The Israeli forces also entered Beit Hanoun last week, razing Palestinian farmlands and forcing the farmers to leave the area.
Israel has carried out a number of incursions into Gaza in the past weeks, including three airstrikes on the southern town of Khan Younis and near the town of Rafah in southern Gaza in late April.
The attacks are in violation of a ceasefire which brought an end to Israel’s eight-day war against Palestinians last November.
According to Israeli Walla website, the Israeli army is preparing to launch Operation Pillar of Defense II against the Gaza Strip in a bid to eliminate Hamas resistance movement.
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has also warned against an imminent Israeli attack against the besieged coastal enclave.
The group’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, has been holding military exercises in order to prepare its members for a possible Israeli aggression, the movement said.
Israel launched the so-called Operation Pillar of Defense I against Gaza in November 2012. Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured and more than 1,500 targets were hit across the Palestinian enclave during the eight-day war.
In retaliation, Palestinian resistance fighters fired rockets and missiles into Israeli cities, killing at least five Israelis. The offensive ended after Egypt brokered a truce between Hamas and Israel.
According to a Hamas spokesman, Israel's eight-day aggression against the Gaza Strip caused more than USD 1.2 billion in direct and indirect damages.
Israeli demolition orders in occupied Jerusalem
The Israeli municipal authorities in Jerusalem has issued a demolition order against a building under construction consisting of 6 apartments under the pretext of being built without permit in Beit Hanina town. The building construction was permitted since two years ago. However, the Israeli authorities claimed that the contractor has breached the permit's terms, said the building's owner.
The Municipal authorities have issued randomly demolition orders on Sunday against 4 other houses in Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in the town of Silwan, including an Islamic Waqf property that was established before the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, Wadi Hilweh Information Center revealed.
Israeli police and border guards have stormed children's playground, while a camera crew filmed the place. Verbal confrontations took place between the Israeli forces and Palestinian residents when the Israeli forces closed some lanes preventing the children from having access to their houses.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the Israeli municipality of occupied Jerusalem issued three demolition orders including an administrative demolition order that permits the implementation of the demolition process in 24 hours while the judicial demolition orders could be postponed several times.
The Israeli occupation continued its demolition policy in occupied Jerusalem in an attempt to impose its control over the city and reduce the Palestinian presence in the city.
The Municipal authorities have issued randomly demolition orders on Sunday against 4 other houses in Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in the town of Silwan, including an Islamic Waqf property that was established before the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, Wadi Hilweh Information Center revealed.
Israeli police and border guards have stormed children's playground, while a camera crew filmed the place. Verbal confrontations took place between the Israeli forces and Palestinian residents when the Israeli forces closed some lanes preventing the children from having access to their houses.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the Israeli municipality of occupied Jerusalem issued three demolition orders including an administrative demolition order that permits the implementation of the demolition process in 24 hours while the judicial demolition orders could be postponed several times.
The Israeli occupation continued its demolition policy in occupied Jerusalem in an attempt to impose its control over the city and reduce the Palestinian presence in the city.
12 may 2013
Israeli Settler Denies Farmer Entry to His Land
An Israeli settler from the illegal settlement of Efrat, south of the Bethlehem Sunday prevented a farmer entry to his land near the town of al-Khader, west of Bethlehem, said witnesses.
The land’s owner, Nader Subeih, 35, told WAFA in a phone call that he and his wife wanted to enter their land located near Efrat, but an Israeli “security officer” confiscated his Identity card and threatened them to leave using a weapon.
He said that the settler told him not to attempt accessing his land again or he will face charges and detention because the land belongs to the nearby settlement.
Subeih said, “We have been constantly suffering since 2000 and repeatedly being prevented entry to our land.”
Jewish settlers expel farmer and his wife from their land
Guards of a Jewish settlement prevented farmer Nader Subaih and his wife from entering their land in Khader village near to the settlement. Subaih said that three guards of the Efrat settlement ordered him and his wife to leave under gun threat.
He said that the guards insulted him and his wife and attempted to beat them. He added that the guards took his ID and only gave it back when he left his five dunum piece of land, which is adjacent to the settlement’s barbed wire.
Subaih said that settlers routinely assault him and his land with the aim to terrorize him away and take control of it.
The land’s owner, Nader Subeih, 35, told WAFA in a phone call that he and his wife wanted to enter their land located near Efrat, but an Israeli “security officer” confiscated his Identity card and threatened them to leave using a weapon.
He said that the settler told him not to attempt accessing his land again or he will face charges and detention because the land belongs to the nearby settlement.
Subeih said, “We have been constantly suffering since 2000 and repeatedly being prevented entry to our land.”
Jewish settlers expel farmer and his wife from their land
Guards of a Jewish settlement prevented farmer Nader Subaih and his wife from entering their land in Khader village near to the settlement. Subaih said that three guards of the Efrat settlement ordered him and his wife to leave under gun threat.
He said that the guards insulted him and his wife and attempted to beat them. He added that the guards took his ID and only gave it back when he left his five dunum piece of land, which is adjacent to the settlement’s barbed wire.
Subaih said that settlers routinely assault him and his land with the aim to terrorize him away and take control of it.
10 may 2013
Palestinians Protest Confiscation Of Cremisan Monastery Lands In Beit Jala
Hundreds of Palestinians held a protest against Israeli illegal confiscation of their lands, including lands that belong to the Cremisan Monastery, in Beit Jala city, in the Bethlehem district.
Shawkat Matar, one of the participants in the protest, stated that local scout groups, and a number of civil society institutions in the city organized the protest due to Israel’s ongoing violations of illegal settlement activities, and the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall in the Cremisan monastery, and its surrounding Palestinian lands.
He added that hundreds of Palestinians gathered in front of the Arab Orthodox Club in Beit Jala, and marched towards the illegally confiscated lands in Cremisan.
The protesters chanted against the ongoing Israeli occupation and violations, Israel's ongoing settlement construction and expansion activities, and its illegal Wall.
A week ago, Father Ibrahim Shomaly, told the BBC that the issue here is not about politics, but about human rights.
“The Church must hear the people when they suffer, this is not about politics”, Father Shomaly told the BBC, “There are 57 Palestinian Christians families that will lose their lands, losing their lands means losing their hope”.
Israel’s Annexation Wall is planned to split the Cremisan monastery and valley into two parts; Gilo and the Har Gilo illegal settlements are on Palestinian lands on opposite hilltops, and Israel wants to ensure the Annexation Wall separates Beit Jala from the two settlements.
Israeli settlements and its Annexation Wall, built in the occupied Palestinian territories, are illegal under International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory.
Israel claims that its Jewish settlements are “Israeli cities and towns”, and that the Annexation Wall is meant to “ensure Israel’s security from Palestinian attacks”.
But on the ground, the Annexation Wall is built in a manner that allows Israel to build and expand its illegal settlements in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
In 2004, the International Court issued an advisory ruling considering the Annexation Wall illegal, and stated that although it recognizes “Israels right to defend itself, the Wall was built in a way that violates international law.”
The Court said that the Wall, which runs deep in the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem, separating the residents from their lands, and isolating entire Palestinian populated areas, also violates Israels international obligations.
It called on Israel to dismantle the completed sections of the Wall, to compensate the Palestinians for their losses, and to render ineffective all legislative and regulatory acts it took after approving the construction of the Wall.
The court further called on Israel to compensate the Palestinians for the destruction of homes, businesses and agricultural lands, and to allow them to return to their lands and orchards, and to return all lands seized by the Wall.
It also called on all UN member states to perform their legal duties by not recognizing the illegal situation the Annexation Wall and settlements created in occupied Palestine, and to ensure Israel complies with International Law.
Israel strongly slammed the ruling, disregarded it, and maintained what its called “its right to protect its citizens, to build and expand its settlements”, in the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.
Shawkat Matar, one of the participants in the protest, stated that local scout groups, and a number of civil society institutions in the city organized the protest due to Israel’s ongoing violations of illegal settlement activities, and the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall in the Cremisan monastery, and its surrounding Palestinian lands.
He added that hundreds of Palestinians gathered in front of the Arab Orthodox Club in Beit Jala, and marched towards the illegally confiscated lands in Cremisan.
The protesters chanted against the ongoing Israeli occupation and violations, Israel's ongoing settlement construction and expansion activities, and its illegal Wall.
A week ago, Father Ibrahim Shomaly, told the BBC that the issue here is not about politics, but about human rights.
“The Church must hear the people when they suffer, this is not about politics”, Father Shomaly told the BBC, “There are 57 Palestinian Christians families that will lose their lands, losing their lands means losing their hope”.
Israel’s Annexation Wall is planned to split the Cremisan monastery and valley into two parts; Gilo and the Har Gilo illegal settlements are on Palestinian lands on opposite hilltops, and Israel wants to ensure the Annexation Wall separates Beit Jala from the two settlements.
Israeli settlements and its Annexation Wall, built in the occupied Palestinian territories, are illegal under International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory.
Israel claims that its Jewish settlements are “Israeli cities and towns”, and that the Annexation Wall is meant to “ensure Israel’s security from Palestinian attacks”.
But on the ground, the Annexation Wall is built in a manner that allows Israel to build and expand its illegal settlements in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
In 2004, the International Court issued an advisory ruling considering the Annexation Wall illegal, and stated that although it recognizes “Israels right to defend itself, the Wall was built in a way that violates international law.”
The Court said that the Wall, which runs deep in the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem, separating the residents from their lands, and isolating entire Palestinian populated areas, also violates Israels international obligations.
It called on Israel to dismantle the completed sections of the Wall, to compensate the Palestinians for their losses, and to render ineffective all legislative and regulatory acts it took after approving the construction of the Wall.
The court further called on Israel to compensate the Palestinians for the destruction of homes, businesses and agricultural lands, and to allow them to return to their lands and orchards, and to return all lands seized by the Wall.
It also called on all UN member states to perform their legal duties by not recognizing the illegal situation the Annexation Wall and settlements created in occupied Palestine, and to ensure Israel complies with International Law.
Israel strongly slammed the ruling, disregarded it, and maintained what its called “its right to protect its citizens, to build and expand its settlements”, in the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel Demolishes Al-Araqeeb Village In The Negev
For the fiftieth time in two years, the Israeli Authorities demolished the Bedouin Arab village of Al-Araqeeb, in the Negev, displacing dozens of families as part of the so-called “Negev Development Plan” that aims at building shopping centers and Jewish communities.
The Maan News Agency has reported that dozens of Israeli police jeeps and vehicles invaded the village, and demolished the homes.
Resident Aziz At-Toury, told Maan that the residents are determined to remain steadfast is their lands despite the ongoing Israeli aggression.
“Despite the aggression, injustice and tyranny, we will stay here”, At-Toury told Maan, “We will rebuild our homes again, even if they demolish them a thousand times”.
Furthermore, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI”), reported that the Israeli government approved a plan that would cause the forced removal of dozens of Bedouin communities in the Negev, in a move that would deprive them from their historical rights in their lands.
ACRI lawyer, Rawiya Abu Rabia, stated that the Israeli violations are robbing the residents of their historic rights and destroying the social fabric of these communities in the Negev, and added that these illegal policies would push thousands of families into unemployment and poverty.
Abu Rabia added that, while Israeli is displacing the Bedouin Arab families, and continuously demolishing their homes and villages, “Israel’s government continued to promote the development of Jewish communities in the area, some of these communities will be built on the ruins of those Bedouin villagers”. Maan said.
The ACRI said 36 out of 46 Bedouin villages in the Negev, home to more than 90.000 persons, are not recognized by Israel, therefore, the residents continue to face displacement and violations depriving them from their basic rights.
The villages, unrecognized by Israel, do not have infrastructure, therefore are without basic services including water, electricity, sewage systems or even health services.
On Monday, the Israeli government, approved the framework for the eviction and removal of all “unrecognized” villahes in the Negev despite the fact that these villages existed even before the state of Israel was established in the historic land of Palestine in 1948.
Background;
In 2005, Israel approved the so-called “Negev Development Plan” aiming at building shopping centers and tourist areas, but at the same time displacing around some 65.000 Bedouins living in what Israel refers to as “unrecognized villages”.
Al-Araqeeb village in the Negev is one of the most impacted “unrecognized villages” in the Negev.
The plan calls for annexing more than 700.000 Dunams (185329 acres) and displacing the residents by demolishing 14 villages in the area.
All unrecognized villages in the Negev are under continuing Israeli attacks and violations, as Tel Aviv does not recognize the residents' right to live on their land -- land they inhabited long before the 1948 creation of the state of Israel in historic Palestine.
Unrecognized villages in the Negev are under continuing Israeli attacks and violations, as Tel Aviv does not recognize the residents' right to live on their land -- land they inhabited long before the 1948 creation of the state of Israel in historic Palestine.
The Maan News Agency has reported that dozens of Israeli police jeeps and vehicles invaded the village, and demolished the homes.
Resident Aziz At-Toury, told Maan that the residents are determined to remain steadfast is their lands despite the ongoing Israeli aggression.
“Despite the aggression, injustice and tyranny, we will stay here”, At-Toury told Maan, “We will rebuild our homes again, even if they demolish them a thousand times”.
Furthermore, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI”), reported that the Israeli government approved a plan that would cause the forced removal of dozens of Bedouin communities in the Negev, in a move that would deprive them from their historical rights in their lands.
ACRI lawyer, Rawiya Abu Rabia, stated that the Israeli violations are robbing the residents of their historic rights and destroying the social fabric of these communities in the Negev, and added that these illegal policies would push thousands of families into unemployment and poverty.
Abu Rabia added that, while Israeli is displacing the Bedouin Arab families, and continuously demolishing their homes and villages, “Israel’s government continued to promote the development of Jewish communities in the area, some of these communities will be built on the ruins of those Bedouin villagers”. Maan said.
The ACRI said 36 out of 46 Bedouin villages in the Negev, home to more than 90.000 persons, are not recognized by Israel, therefore, the residents continue to face displacement and violations depriving them from their basic rights.
The villages, unrecognized by Israel, do not have infrastructure, therefore are without basic services including water, electricity, sewage systems or even health services.
On Monday, the Israeli government, approved the framework for the eviction and removal of all “unrecognized” villahes in the Negev despite the fact that these villages existed even before the state of Israel was established in the historic land of Palestine in 1948.
Background;
In 2005, Israel approved the so-called “Negev Development Plan” aiming at building shopping centers and tourist areas, but at the same time displacing around some 65.000 Bedouins living in what Israel refers to as “unrecognized villages”.
Al-Araqeeb village in the Negev is one of the most impacted “unrecognized villages” in the Negev.
The plan calls for annexing more than 700.000 Dunams (185329 acres) and displacing the residents by demolishing 14 villages in the area.
All unrecognized villages in the Negev are under continuing Israeli attacks and violations, as Tel Aviv does not recognize the residents' right to live on their land -- land they inhabited long before the 1948 creation of the state of Israel in historic Palestine.
Unrecognized villages in the Negev are under continuing Israeli attacks and violations, as Tel Aviv does not recognize the residents' right to live on their land -- land they inhabited long before the 1948 creation of the state of Israel in historic Palestine.
9 may 2013
Erez faded away slowly behind us. A panicked search for my watan, homeland, gripped me as I took in my first glimpses of Palestine. The driver, having uncovered my unacquainted introspection of my country, quickly assumed the role of a tourist guide.
Tourist, I say, because this is the role I had to take up in so many instances in order to be present in places I am ordinarily not allowed to set foot in according to racist Israeli policies.
I say tourist too because I was unable to recognize Palestine in European immigrants chatting on the phone as they nonchalantly waited at bus stops, or in streets that were named after Jewish “national heroes.” Palestine did not come into being in Hebrew ads splattered everywhere I looked around me.
Looking for traces
The foreignness of the landscape was most shocking when the driver introduced Givat Shaul, a small village whose character is predominantly right-wing, as the site of one of the most horrendous massacres in Palestinian history. Part of Givat Shaul was Deir Yassin.
I looked around for traces of Arab presence, a graveyard perhaps or a still-standing house, but all I could see were glamorous cars and rabbis in long white beards and black suits leaning on canes as they crossed from one side of an ever-modern road to the other. Deir Yassin disappeared irrecoverably.
I sat back in my seat disappointed in a place I thought was mine but, paradoxically, was unable to recognize. This was a new geography beneath which lie layers of uprooted Palestinian life, a life forever buried under a coercing façade of normalcy that brutally disregards a people whose entire existence was wiped out.
The only structure I could identify with throughout the ride from Erez to Jeeb checkpoint — a checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramallah — was Deir al-Latrun, a nineteenth-century monastery southeast of al-Ramla, another ethnically cleansed Palestinian city.
Deir al-Latrun stood on a hilltop overlooking Jerusalem, its ancient vernacular features at odds with the forced Europeanization of every thing surrounding it. It was only then that I saw Palestine for the first time as it exists in my grandmother’s recollections.
This momentary (re)connection with my identity relieves and torments me each time I try to describe so wrenching an experience as finally feeling “in place” twenty-two years after I was born, alas for no longer than a fleeting moment.
Erased and excluded
Today, Latrun’s Arab history is completely erased on the tourism section of the Israeli government website, an invitingly delusional line on the upper left hand corner of which states: “Come find the Israel in you.” The same website makes reference to Jewish and Christian sites in the country. Muslims and their sites are unequivocally excluded.
Latrun grew smaller in the distance and I took my eyes off it only when it was no longer visible. About an hour later, we stopped at Jeeb, a VIP checkpoint separating “Israel” from “Judea and Samaria”—the occupied West Bank.
I cannot remember how the soldier guarding the checkpoint might have looked like or what he might have said or done. I was perplexed by the stark contrast between what lay before the checkpoint, where we had just been, and what was ahead of us, where we were going.
Stark contrast
“Israel,” as I described, looks very European, its roads paved, bus stops, benches, and stunning gardens everywhere one looks. The landscape there attests to generous supplies of water, electricity, and restless innovation and infrastructural development.
These breathtaking monuments immediately disappeared just as we entered the ‘other side’ of Jeeb and were suddenly replaced by slums, dilapidated buildings, broken roads, and boys playing in the sand. ”Apartheid” was the only word I saw fit.
We drove into Ramallah, here, at least, the familiarity of the “bubble” manifested in five-star hotels, fancy cafes, and in Haras al Ra’is (presidential guards) who dotted the roads and stood in front of ministries and foreign offices like formidable walls.
Even though I was conscious of the westernized outlook of Ramallah and heavy presence of the Palestinian Authority police, I still loved the old terraced houses and could barely resist feeling “at home” whenever I looked at them. At first sight, I could not fully comprehend why friends in Ramallah deliriously called it more a “bubble” than “Ramallah.”
Outside the “bubble”
This appallingly shallow view of mine was soon to be reversed. It only required a trip outside Ramallah for me to confront realities Ramallah was so detached from, so unforgivably oblivious of, and deliberately so.
In the coming paragraphs and next piece (or two), I am going to refer to individuals I met and learned so much from only in first or nicknames. I do this at their request and out of new awareness I developed that the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence apparatus is always lurking behind these incredibly courageous people, ready to harass them.
About two hours after I arrived in the “bubble,” Ziyaad and Ahmad, two friends living in Jerusalem and Ramallah respectively, were pointing out colonies on hilltops around Ramallah. To my embarrassed ignorance, I did not know how settlements actually looked like from afar and so I only thought them beautiful Palestinian houses on Ramallah hilltops only to be shown otherwise.
This incident would remain with me each time I was about to be fascinated by lighted clusters I saw from my hotel room.
“Shabab”
Ziyaad and Ahmad took two other friends and me for a trip to Jericho and Bethlehem. In order for us to reach Jericho, we had to pass by Qalandiya checkpoint, the site of clashes that extended for three consecutive days following the murderous Israeli killing of three Palestinian youth in Qalandiya refugee camp on 26 August.
Everyone I met in the West Bank referred to the masked young men who throw stones at Israeli occupation forces as the shabab. The way the term — which in classical Arabic means “young men” — is used in the West Bank intrigued me as completely different from the way it is used in Gaza; here, it’s commonly used to describe young men who sit idly in cafes or watch football games.
When we passed by Qalandiya, clashes were just ending, tires were still burning, stones splattered across the area, and masked shabab in sleeveless undershirts and jeans were walking back home, or so it seemed. “Doesn’t it look like a war zone?” Ziyaad remarked.
Jericho
Jericho’s dry air marked my first encounter with the Palestinian desert. The euphoria that swept me was toned down abruptly when I learned that Bedouins there are threatened with expulsion, a Prawer Plan that does not “show up” in the media.
I saw the Dead Sea, but only from afar because we, Palestinians, are forbidden from entering Israeli resorts. Despite Ziyaad’s Israeli-licensed car, which we could have used to pretend to be Israeli, the presence of two friends who wore headscarves was guaranteed to get us in trouble if not arrested merely because we were Arabs venturing into fancy Dead Sea resorts.
Upon entering Jericho, a checkpoint controlled and maintained by the Palestinian Authority “welcomed” us. When the Israeli army decides to arrest someone from the city, Ziyaad told us, the PA police manning the checkpoint disappear from the scene hours before the Israeli invasion occurs.
We left Jericho after sunset. I was totally shaken by a beauty from which I had been deprived for years, feeling “in place ” — I, a native Palestinian, there on a permit issued by the Israeli government.
A ghetto that Israel did not need
“Bypass road” and “apartheid” are two phrases I have always used in my essays, but now, I found out, I really understood neither. To this minute, I am still unable to comprehend how I so conveniently assumed myself to have had a “sufficient” background knowledge when I only fell into awkward silences as Ziyaad explained.
On our way to Bethlehem, we drove through Eizariyah, a Jerusalem neighbourhood on the Palestinian side of the apartheid — I say “apartheid” confidently now — wall. When the wall was built after the second Intifada, Eizariya was cut off from the rest of Jerusalem because, it seems, Israel did not “need” it.
Most Palestinians living in Eizariya are bearers of blue Jerusalem ID cards but because they are no longer considered to be Jerusalem residents, they will eventually lose their residency status.
The Israeli authorities revoke residency status of Jerusalemites when they have “left Israel and settled in a country outside Israel.” This “outside Israel” includes residence in the West Bank, Gaza, and undefined suburbs like Eizariyah.
Today, Eizariyah is a Palestinian ghetto that is neither under Israeli nor Palestinian Authority jurisdiction. It is a marginalized neighborhood with zero or minimum municipal services, its dilapidated structures and uncollected garbage clear evidence of its underdeveloped status.
Just parallel to Eizariyah is Maaleh Adumim, the biggest Israeli settlement around Jerusalem, glimmering with lights and adorned with Stars of David at its entrance, trees around it, and Israeli police offering protection. I switched my eyes between Maaleh Adumim and Eizariyah, the contrast between both impossible overlook.
A road for us only, to Bethlehem
No direct roads for us to Bethlehem. So we took the dark and terrifyingly steep bypass road, a road for Palestinians only that USAID paid for. I remember a giant lorry in front of us, a feeling of an imminent slide down taking over our thoughts as we helplessly tried to surpass it. A soldier at a checkpoint beamed a blinding flashlight in our direction, then, as if this is how it should be, waved us through.
The serenity of Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity enveloped me. Tourists were ubiquitous, there at their convenience, unlike me a fugitive in my own country tracked down by a consulate that wanted me in the hotel “right away.”
Although tempted, I refused to walk into souvenir shops lest I behave like a tourist, lest I not be “at home.”
Tourist, I say, because this is the role I had to take up in so many instances in order to be present in places I am ordinarily not allowed to set foot in according to racist Israeli policies.
I say tourist too because I was unable to recognize Palestine in European immigrants chatting on the phone as they nonchalantly waited at bus stops, or in streets that were named after Jewish “national heroes.” Palestine did not come into being in Hebrew ads splattered everywhere I looked around me.
Looking for traces
The foreignness of the landscape was most shocking when the driver introduced Givat Shaul, a small village whose character is predominantly right-wing, as the site of one of the most horrendous massacres in Palestinian history. Part of Givat Shaul was Deir Yassin.
I looked around for traces of Arab presence, a graveyard perhaps or a still-standing house, but all I could see were glamorous cars and rabbis in long white beards and black suits leaning on canes as they crossed from one side of an ever-modern road to the other. Deir Yassin disappeared irrecoverably.
I sat back in my seat disappointed in a place I thought was mine but, paradoxically, was unable to recognize. This was a new geography beneath which lie layers of uprooted Palestinian life, a life forever buried under a coercing façade of normalcy that brutally disregards a people whose entire existence was wiped out.
The only structure I could identify with throughout the ride from Erez to Jeeb checkpoint — a checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramallah — was Deir al-Latrun, a nineteenth-century monastery southeast of al-Ramla, another ethnically cleansed Palestinian city.
Deir al-Latrun stood on a hilltop overlooking Jerusalem, its ancient vernacular features at odds with the forced Europeanization of every thing surrounding it. It was only then that I saw Palestine for the first time as it exists in my grandmother’s recollections.
This momentary (re)connection with my identity relieves and torments me each time I try to describe so wrenching an experience as finally feeling “in place” twenty-two years after I was born, alas for no longer than a fleeting moment.
Erased and excluded
Today, Latrun’s Arab history is completely erased on the tourism section of the Israeli government website, an invitingly delusional line on the upper left hand corner of which states: “Come find the Israel in you.” The same website makes reference to Jewish and Christian sites in the country. Muslims and their sites are unequivocally excluded.
Latrun grew smaller in the distance and I took my eyes off it only when it was no longer visible. About an hour later, we stopped at Jeeb, a VIP checkpoint separating “Israel” from “Judea and Samaria”—the occupied West Bank.
I cannot remember how the soldier guarding the checkpoint might have looked like or what he might have said or done. I was perplexed by the stark contrast between what lay before the checkpoint, where we had just been, and what was ahead of us, where we were going.
Stark contrast
“Israel,” as I described, looks very European, its roads paved, bus stops, benches, and stunning gardens everywhere one looks. The landscape there attests to generous supplies of water, electricity, and restless innovation and infrastructural development.
These breathtaking monuments immediately disappeared just as we entered the ‘other side’ of Jeeb and were suddenly replaced by slums, dilapidated buildings, broken roads, and boys playing in the sand. ”Apartheid” was the only word I saw fit.
We drove into Ramallah, here, at least, the familiarity of the “bubble” manifested in five-star hotels, fancy cafes, and in Haras al Ra’is (presidential guards) who dotted the roads and stood in front of ministries and foreign offices like formidable walls.
Even though I was conscious of the westernized outlook of Ramallah and heavy presence of the Palestinian Authority police, I still loved the old terraced houses and could barely resist feeling “at home” whenever I looked at them. At first sight, I could not fully comprehend why friends in Ramallah deliriously called it more a “bubble” than “Ramallah.”
Outside the “bubble”
This appallingly shallow view of mine was soon to be reversed. It only required a trip outside Ramallah for me to confront realities Ramallah was so detached from, so unforgivably oblivious of, and deliberately so.
In the coming paragraphs and next piece (or two), I am going to refer to individuals I met and learned so much from only in first or nicknames. I do this at their request and out of new awareness I developed that the Palestinian Authority’s intelligence apparatus is always lurking behind these incredibly courageous people, ready to harass them.
About two hours after I arrived in the “bubble,” Ziyaad and Ahmad, two friends living in Jerusalem and Ramallah respectively, were pointing out colonies on hilltops around Ramallah. To my embarrassed ignorance, I did not know how settlements actually looked like from afar and so I only thought them beautiful Palestinian houses on Ramallah hilltops only to be shown otherwise.
This incident would remain with me each time I was about to be fascinated by lighted clusters I saw from my hotel room.
“Shabab”
Ziyaad and Ahmad took two other friends and me for a trip to Jericho and Bethlehem. In order for us to reach Jericho, we had to pass by Qalandiya checkpoint, the site of clashes that extended for three consecutive days following the murderous Israeli killing of three Palestinian youth in Qalandiya refugee camp on 26 August.
Everyone I met in the West Bank referred to the masked young men who throw stones at Israeli occupation forces as the shabab. The way the term — which in classical Arabic means “young men” — is used in the West Bank intrigued me as completely different from the way it is used in Gaza; here, it’s commonly used to describe young men who sit idly in cafes or watch football games.
When we passed by Qalandiya, clashes were just ending, tires were still burning, stones splattered across the area, and masked shabab in sleeveless undershirts and jeans were walking back home, or so it seemed. “Doesn’t it look like a war zone?” Ziyaad remarked.
Jericho
Jericho’s dry air marked my first encounter with the Palestinian desert. The euphoria that swept me was toned down abruptly when I learned that Bedouins there are threatened with expulsion, a Prawer Plan that does not “show up” in the media.
I saw the Dead Sea, but only from afar because we, Palestinians, are forbidden from entering Israeli resorts. Despite Ziyaad’s Israeli-licensed car, which we could have used to pretend to be Israeli, the presence of two friends who wore headscarves was guaranteed to get us in trouble if not arrested merely because we were Arabs venturing into fancy Dead Sea resorts.
Upon entering Jericho, a checkpoint controlled and maintained by the Palestinian Authority “welcomed” us. When the Israeli army decides to arrest someone from the city, Ziyaad told us, the PA police manning the checkpoint disappear from the scene hours before the Israeli invasion occurs.
We left Jericho after sunset. I was totally shaken by a beauty from which I had been deprived for years, feeling “in place ” — I, a native Palestinian, there on a permit issued by the Israeli government.
A ghetto that Israel did not need
“Bypass road” and “apartheid” are two phrases I have always used in my essays, but now, I found out, I really understood neither. To this minute, I am still unable to comprehend how I so conveniently assumed myself to have had a “sufficient” background knowledge when I only fell into awkward silences as Ziyaad explained.
On our way to Bethlehem, we drove through Eizariyah, a Jerusalem neighbourhood on the Palestinian side of the apartheid — I say “apartheid” confidently now — wall. When the wall was built after the second Intifada, Eizariya was cut off from the rest of Jerusalem because, it seems, Israel did not “need” it.
Most Palestinians living in Eizariya are bearers of blue Jerusalem ID cards but because they are no longer considered to be Jerusalem residents, they will eventually lose their residency status.
The Israeli authorities revoke residency status of Jerusalemites when they have “left Israel and settled in a country outside Israel.” This “outside Israel” includes residence in the West Bank, Gaza, and undefined suburbs like Eizariyah.
Today, Eizariyah is a Palestinian ghetto that is neither under Israeli nor Palestinian Authority jurisdiction. It is a marginalized neighborhood with zero or minimum municipal services, its dilapidated structures and uncollected garbage clear evidence of its underdeveloped status.
Just parallel to Eizariyah is Maaleh Adumim, the biggest Israeli settlement around Jerusalem, glimmering with lights and adorned with Stars of David at its entrance, trees around it, and Israeli police offering protection. I switched my eyes between Maaleh Adumim and Eizariyah, the contrast between both impossible overlook.
A road for us only, to Bethlehem
No direct roads for us to Bethlehem. So we took the dark and terrifyingly steep bypass road, a road for Palestinians only that USAID paid for. I remember a giant lorry in front of us, a feeling of an imminent slide down taking over our thoughts as we helplessly tried to surpass it. A soldier at a checkpoint beamed a blinding flashlight in our direction, then, as if this is how it should be, waved us through.
The serenity of Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity enveloped me. Tourists were ubiquitous, there at their convenience, unlike me a fugitive in my own country tracked down by a consulate that wanted me in the hotel “right away.”
Although tempted, I refused to walk into souvenir shops lest I behave like a tourist, lest I not be “at home.”
Israel to Demolish 9 Homes and Sheds near Hebron
The Israeli military authority Thursday notified two Palestinian brothers in the Yatta region, south of Hebron, of its intention to demolish their nine homes and sheds that house around 60 people, according to a local activist.
Rateb al-Jabour, coordinator of the local popular committee, told WAFA that a large military force along with staff from the so-called civil administration, the military government’s arm in the West Bank, raided the village and handed Mahmoud and Mohammad al-Najadeh the demolition notices.
The measure is intended to force the brothers to leave their land in order to seize it, said Jabour.
Rateb al-Jabour, coordinator of the local popular committee, told WAFA that a large military force along with staff from the so-called civil administration, the military government’s arm in the West Bank, raided the village and handed Mahmoud and Mohammad al-Najadeh the demolition notices.
The measure is intended to force the brothers to leave their land in order to seize it, said Jabour.
Occupation notifies the demolition of a mosque in the Negev
File photo of a mosque demolished by the IOF
The Israeli occupation authorities have notified, a few days ago, to demolish the only mosque in the village of al-Far'a in the Negev, southern the 1948-occupied Palestine, Palestinian sources said. Atteya A'sam, head of the Regional Council of the unrecognized Arab villages in the Negev, said: "This mosque has been built since 1985.
However the Israeli authorities are claiming that it is a new unauthorized building."
A'sam added in a press statement that the demolition orders have no justification, and that they only aim is to displace the Palestinian residents, and warned of the consequences of harming the Islamic holy sites.
He also demanded the Jewish state to respect the mosques and to not drag them in the ongoing conflict between Israeli occupation and the Arab citizens in the Negev.
For his part; Arab MK Taleb Abu Arar considered in remarks to Quds Press Agency that the implementation of the demolition order against the village's mosque has transcended all the red lines, and held the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of such procedure.
The Knesset member appealed to the Palestinian masses in the Negev and in the 1948-occupied territories to effectively participate in the activities of the Islamic movement, including the marches.
The Israeli occupation authorities have notified, a few days ago, to demolish the only mosque in the village of al-Far'a in the Negev, southern the 1948-occupied Palestine, Palestinian sources said. Atteya A'sam, head of the Regional Council of the unrecognized Arab villages in the Negev, said: "This mosque has been built since 1985.
However the Israeli authorities are claiming that it is a new unauthorized building."
A'sam added in a press statement that the demolition orders have no justification, and that they only aim is to displace the Palestinian residents, and warned of the consequences of harming the Islamic holy sites.
He also demanded the Jewish state to respect the mosques and to not drag them in the ongoing conflict between Israeli occupation and the Arab citizens in the Negev.
For his part; Arab MK Taleb Abu Arar considered in remarks to Quds Press Agency that the implementation of the demolition order against the village's mosque has transcended all the red lines, and held the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of such procedure.
The Knesset member appealed to the Palestinian masses in the Negev and in the 1948-occupied territories to effectively participate in the activities of the Islamic movement, including the marches.
IOF storms Ouja area near Jericho, demolishes 3 houses
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), escorted by a number of bulldozers, stormed Ouja area in the Jericho Governorate in the eastern West Bank and demolished three Palestinian houses on Wednesday. Israeli bulldozers demolished 3 houses, built of brick and tin, in Ouja under the pretext that they were built in area c, head of the local council in Ouja confirmed.
He pointed that the IOF did not allow the families to evacuate their three houses before the demolition process.
The head of the local council added that five other houses are threatened with demolition, as the occupation authorities have recently handed to their owners, demolition notifications.
He pointed that the IOF did not allow the families to evacuate their three houses before the demolition process.
The head of the local council added that five other houses are threatened with demolition, as the occupation authorities have recently handed to their owners, demolition notifications.
Israel sanctions plan to build 296 housing units for settlers east of Ramallah
The civil administration of the Israeli army approved on Wednesday a plan to build dozens of housing units in place of a military base and annex them to the nearby settlement of Beit El in the east of Ramallah city.
According to the Hebrew news website Walla, the new outpost will include 12 multi-story buildings composed of 296 apartments.
Walla noted that the building of this outpost would start immediately based on direct orders from Israeli war minister Moshe Ya'alon and any Palestinian objection to the plan would be considered after initiating the construction.
Walla affirmed that Ya'alon ordered the removal of an Israeli border police base in the area and its annexation to Beit El settlement as a prelude to giving the place to Jewish settlers and initiating the construction process.
It added that chief of the central military command in the West Bank Nitzan Alon had signed documents transferring the ownership of this site to the settlers, noting that about 80 square meters of the area on which the outpost would be built belongs to a Palestinian citizen.
According to the Hebrew news website Walla, the new outpost will include 12 multi-story buildings composed of 296 apartments.
Walla noted that the building of this outpost would start immediately based on direct orders from Israeli war minister Moshe Ya'alon and any Palestinian objection to the plan would be considered after initiating the construction.
Walla affirmed that Ya'alon ordered the removal of an Israeli border police base in the area and its annexation to Beit El settlement as a prelude to giving the place to Jewish settlers and initiating the construction process.
It added that chief of the central military command in the West Bank Nitzan Alon had signed documents transferring the ownership of this site to the settlers, noting that about 80 square meters of the area on which the outpost would be built belongs to a Palestinian citizen.
8 may 2013
Palestinian gov't: Israel's transfer plan in the Negev unveils its ugly face
The Palestinian government said that Israel's intent to transfer the Negev Palestinians from their homes reveals the ugly face of the occupation and its persistence in the mass displacement of the Palestinian people from their villages.
An Israeli ministerial committee approved last Monday the Prawer plan that was based on the proposal of a team headed by Ehud Prawer, Benjamin Netanyahu's director of planning.
His plan calls for resettling the Bedouin families who live in the Negev Desert.
In a press release issued following its weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Palestinian government appealed to the international community to stop Israel's criminal plan against the Negev people.
It said that Israel's approval of this plan on the Palestinian nakba anniversary confirms that the nakba and its repercussions are still ongoing until now.
The government also condemned the Jewish settlers' repeated break-ins at the Aqsa Mosque and described it as a serious violation and desecration of the Islamic holy sites.
In a related context, the Islamic Jihad Movement said that the renewed Israeli transfer plan in the Negev dealt another blow to the peace advocates and the Arab initiative architects.
Its spokesman Dawoud Shihab stated in a press release that Israel's final approval of this plan is a new declaration of war against the Arab identity and history of the Palestinian land.
Shihab said that this plan is Israel's response to the Arab League's adherence to its peace initiative, warning of getting misled by Israel's declared decision to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank.
He emphasized that occupied Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people and there is no difference between the Negev and the other occupied territories.
An Israeli ministerial committee approved last Monday the Prawer plan that was based on the proposal of a team headed by Ehud Prawer, Benjamin Netanyahu's director of planning.
His plan calls for resettling the Bedouin families who live in the Negev Desert.
In a press release issued following its weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Palestinian government appealed to the international community to stop Israel's criminal plan against the Negev people.
It said that Israel's approval of this plan on the Palestinian nakba anniversary confirms that the nakba and its repercussions are still ongoing until now.
The government also condemned the Jewish settlers' repeated break-ins at the Aqsa Mosque and described it as a serious violation and desecration of the Islamic holy sites.
In a related context, the Islamic Jihad Movement said that the renewed Israeli transfer plan in the Negev dealt another blow to the peace advocates and the Arab initiative architects.
Its spokesman Dawoud Shihab stated in a press release that Israel's final approval of this plan is a new declaration of war against the Arab identity and history of the Palestinian land.
Shihab said that this plan is Israel's response to the Arab League's adherence to its peace initiative, warning of getting misled by Israel's declared decision to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank.
He emphasized that occupied Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people and there is no difference between the Negev and the other occupied territories.
IOF demolishes agricultural facilities, uproots trees in al-Khalil
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have demolished Palestinian agricultural facilities and tin huts in Idna and Koum villages west of al-Khalil.
Israeli bulldozers and patrols stormed on Tuesday a number of villages west of al-Khalil and demolished a number of houses and agricultural facilities, in addition to uprooting dozens of fruitful trees, local sources revealed.
The IOF also handed demolition notices to a number of Palestinian residents in the area, the sources added to the PIC reporter.
It's worth mentioning that the Israeli demolition policy have recently increased significantly against most of the West Bank agricultural areas in order to limit the Palestinian agricultural land and annex it to the Israeli settlements.
Israeli bulldozers and patrols stormed on Tuesday a number of villages west of al-Khalil and demolished a number of houses and agricultural facilities, in addition to uprooting dozens of fruitful trees, local sources revealed.
The IOF also handed demolition notices to a number of Palestinian residents in the area, the sources added to the PIC reporter.
It's worth mentioning that the Israeli demolition policy have recently increased significantly against most of the West Bank agricultural areas in order to limit the Palestinian agricultural land and annex it to the Israeli settlements.
Occupation demolishes two houses in the Northern Jordan Valley
The occupation authorities’ bulldozers demolished two Palestinian houses on Wednesday morning in al-Ouja area near Jericho, in the Northern Jordan Valley.
Local sources said that the Israeli bulldozers, guarded by big numbers of soldiers, demolished the two houses, built of brick and tin, belonging to the citizens Abdul Rahil Majadi and Salman Majadi, in Ouja under the pretext that they were built in area c.
The sources added that five other houses are threatened with demolition, as the occupation authorities have recently handed to their owners, demolition notifications.
Local sources said that the Israeli bulldozers, guarded by big numbers of soldiers, demolished the two houses, built of brick and tin, belonging to the citizens Abdul Rahil Majadi and Salman Majadi, in Ouja under the pretext that they were built in area c.
The sources added that five other houses are threatened with demolition, as the occupation authorities have recently handed to their owners, demolition notifications.
