10 dec 2013
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) unleashed their bulldozers in the northern Jordan Valley on Tuesday razing homes and displacing entire families. Local sources said that IOF soldiers demolished houses for shepherds near Yarza village to the east of Tobas city and Farsiya area in the northern Jordan Valley.
They said that Palestinian families depending on farming and sheep breeding were now rendered homeless in the cold, winter weather sweeping the region.
The sources said that the soldiers deliberately hit a 40-year-old woman on her head during their forced evacuation of those houses, adding that the soldiers did not allow medical teams to treat her.
They said that Palestinian families depending on farming and sheep breeding were now rendered homeless in the cold, winter weather sweeping the region.
The sources said that the soldiers deliberately hit a 40-year-old woman on her head during their forced evacuation of those houses, adding that the soldiers did not allow medical teams to treat her.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have tightened military restrictions in Nablus northern West Bank. IOF soldiers closed Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus, detaining Palestinian vehicles and citizens for several hours, eyewitnesses said.
The sources added that the IOF also closed the entrance to Burin village and erected a temporary checkpoint.
On the other hand, a big number of IOF soldiers in military vehicles and jeeps stormed Beita town, began firing flare bombs, and prevented citizens from leaving their homes and work places, which led to the outbreak of clashes with inhabitants.
Israeli media claimed that a Molotov cocktail was tossed at an Israeli bus on Monday evening south of Nablus. No casualties were reported.
Following the attack, Israeli forces conducted search operation in the area, while Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles, the sources added.
Meanwhile, IOF stormed Monday afternoon the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil southern occupied West Bank.
About twenty Israeli armed policemen stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque during Zuhur prayers, local sources said.
The sources pointed out that a number of settlers positioned themselves on the roof of the mosque this morning.
The sources added that the IOF also closed the entrance to Burin village and erected a temporary checkpoint.
On the other hand, a big number of IOF soldiers in military vehicles and jeeps stormed Beita town, began firing flare bombs, and prevented citizens from leaving their homes and work places, which led to the outbreak of clashes with inhabitants.
Israeli media claimed that a Molotov cocktail was tossed at an Israeli bus on Monday evening south of Nablus. No casualties were reported.
Following the attack, Israeli forces conducted search operation in the area, while Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles, the sources added.
Meanwhile, IOF stormed Monday afternoon the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil southern occupied West Bank.
About twenty Israeli armed policemen stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque during Zuhur prayers, local sources said.
The sources pointed out that a number of settlers positioned themselves on the roof of the mosque this morning.
Israeli occupation forces arrested on Tuesday morning eleven Palestinians from Bethlehem and Hebron in the West Bank. Locals said that the Israeli occupation attacked al-Duheisha refugee camp and closed all its main entrances.
They added, the Israeli occupation soldiers raided several houses in the camp and detained brothers Murad,22, and Ashraf al-Zaghari,18, Karam Abdu Rabu,26, and Tamer Shoeibat, 20.
Clashes erupted between the Palestinian youths and Israeli occupation in response to the Israeli attack. The Israeli soldiers fired tear gas bombs and stun grenades on the youths.
In the same context , the Israeli troops attacked on Tuesday at dawn some citizens’ houses in different towns in Hebron district and arrested a number of Palestinians after raiding their houses.
Witnesses reported that the detainees were identified as Ayman Sabarna,38 and Mohammed Bahar, 25 from Beit Ummar town, Ya’qub Jaradat,40 from Sa’eer town, Hani,34 and Ziyad Makhamra,29, and took them to unknown place.
The Israeli occupation forces also raided Juba and Dura towns in Hebron and arrested Shahada Makhamra and Rami Abu Zneid after searching their houses’ contents and confiscating Rami’s motorcycle.
They added, the Israeli occupation soldiers raided several houses in the camp and detained brothers Murad,22, and Ashraf al-Zaghari,18, Karam Abdu Rabu,26, and Tamer Shoeibat, 20.
Clashes erupted between the Palestinian youths and Israeli occupation in response to the Israeli attack. The Israeli soldiers fired tear gas bombs and stun grenades on the youths.
In the same context , the Israeli troops attacked on Tuesday at dawn some citizens’ houses in different towns in Hebron district and arrested a number of Palestinians after raiding their houses.
Witnesses reported that the detainees were identified as Ayman Sabarna,38 and Mohammed Bahar, 25 from Beit Ummar town, Ya’qub Jaradat,40 from Sa’eer town, Hani,34 and Ziyad Makhamra,29, and took them to unknown place.
The Israeli occupation forces also raided Juba and Dura towns in Hebron and arrested Shahada Makhamra and Rami Abu Zneid after searching their houses’ contents and confiscating Rami’s motorcycle.
Two Palestinian girls were injured Tuesday morning in a hit-and-run accident on the main road between Beit Jala and al-Walaja west of Bethlehem.
Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that two teenage Palestinian students on the road were hit by an Israeli settler who was driving to Jerusalem.
Director of Bethlehem ambulance service Muhammad Awad confirmed that two 17-year-old girls were evacuated in Palestinian ambulances to Bethlehem Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala after they were hit by an Israeli car.
One of the girls had a fractured leg and the other sustained bruises, added Awad.
Some Israeli settlers who live in the Gush Etzion and Betar Illit settlements immediately west of Bethlehem choose to travel to Jerusalem through Beit Jala.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that two teenage Palestinian students on the road were hit by an Israeli settler who was driving to Jerusalem.
Director of Bethlehem ambulance service Muhammad Awad confirmed that two 17-year-old girls were evacuated in Palestinian ambulances to Bethlehem Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala after they were hit by an Israeli car.
One of the girls had a fractured leg and the other sustained bruises, added Awad.
Some Israeli settlers who live in the Gush Etzion and Betar Illit settlements immediately west of Bethlehem choose to travel to Jerusalem through Beit Jala.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Jewish settlers punctured on Monday night, tires of 10 vehicles in the vilage of 'Akbara' in the Upper Galilee in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.
They also spray-painted racist slogans on the walls of several houses in the village, reading 'Arabs out', and 'Stop the national fusion'.
They also spray-painted racist slogans on the walls of several houses in the village, reading 'Arabs out', and 'Stop the national fusion'.
Several Israeli military jeeps invaded the Al-Eesawiyya town, in occupied East Jerusalem, and broke into the home of detainee Samer Al-Eesawy; clashes have been reported.
Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers invaded the home of Tareq Al-Eesawy, and alleged they were searching for his sons Samer and Midhat, both imprisoned by Israel, and handed his son, Firas, a military warrant ordering him to head to a security base for interrogation.
Clashes have been reported between the soldiers and dozens of local youths who hurled stones and empty bottles at them, while the army fired dozens of rubber-coated metal bullets and concussion grenades.
The father said that his son, Midhat, will be released from an Israeli detention center on Tuesday, adding that he believes Israel will be trying to intimidate the family, to prevent it from celebrating the release of their son.
It is worth mentioning that Samer Al-Eesawy is expected to be released on December 23, as part of an agreement he achieved after holding a hunger strike that lasted for more than nine months.
He went on hunger strike demanding an end to his arbitrary Administrative Detention, without charges or trial.
Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers invaded the home of Tareq Al-Eesawy, and alleged they were searching for his sons Samer and Midhat, both imprisoned by Israel, and handed his son, Firas, a military warrant ordering him to head to a security base for interrogation.
Clashes have been reported between the soldiers and dozens of local youths who hurled stones and empty bottles at them, while the army fired dozens of rubber-coated metal bullets and concussion grenades.
The father said that his son, Midhat, will be released from an Israeli detention center on Tuesday, adding that he believes Israel will be trying to intimidate the family, to prevent it from celebrating the release of their son.
It is worth mentioning that Samer Al-Eesawy is expected to be released on December 23, as part of an agreement he achieved after holding a hunger strike that lasted for more than nine months.
He went on hunger strike demanding an end to his arbitrary Administrative Detention, without charges or trial.
9 dec 2013
Palestinian medical sources have reported that a young Palestinian man was injured after being rammed by an Israeli military jeep in Nahhalin village, west of Bethlehem.
Mohammad Awad, head of the Emergency Department in Bethlehem, told the Radio Bethlehem 2000 that the young man was moderately wounded.
Awad added that Israel refused to grant a Palestinian ambulance a permit to move the injured young man to a hospital in Jerusalem. He was then moved to the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala.
There have been numerous similar incidents perpetrated by soldiers and settlers in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday Evening, November 19, 2013, a Palestinian woman was wounded after being rammed by the speeding vehicle of an Israeli settler, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
On October 22, resident Abdul-Hafith Tayyem, 76, died of serious injuries suffered after being hit by a settler’s speeding vehicle in the Al-Fondoq town, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. The incident took place on On October 16, 2013.
On November 19, 2013, a young woman identified as Zeina Omar Awad, 21, was injured after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle at the main entrance of Beit Ummar. She suffered cuts and bruises, while the settler fled the scene.
On September 29, 2013, a Palestinian worker was injured after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle, near Husan town, west of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
On September 20, a Palestinian man was injured in a similar accident with an Israeli settler who fled the scene.
A week before the incident took place, Palestinian child was severely injured after being hit by a settler's vehicle as she was walking home from school in Teqoua’ village, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The child, Hayat Mohammad Suleiman, 8 years of age, was walking back home from school on the main road that is also utilized by Israeli settlers living in illegal settlements in the region.
Mohammad Awad, head of the Emergency Department in Bethlehem, told the Radio Bethlehem 2000 that the young man was moderately wounded.
Awad added that Israel refused to grant a Palestinian ambulance a permit to move the injured young man to a hospital in Jerusalem. He was then moved to the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala.
There have been numerous similar incidents perpetrated by soldiers and settlers in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday Evening, November 19, 2013, a Palestinian woman was wounded after being rammed by the speeding vehicle of an Israeli settler, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
On October 22, resident Abdul-Hafith Tayyem, 76, died of serious injuries suffered after being hit by a settler’s speeding vehicle in the Al-Fondoq town, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. The incident took place on On October 16, 2013.
On November 19, 2013, a young woman identified as Zeina Omar Awad, 21, was injured after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle at the main entrance of Beit Ummar. She suffered cuts and bruises, while the settler fled the scene.
On September 29, 2013, a Palestinian worker was injured after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle, near Husan town, west of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
On September 20, a Palestinian man was injured in a similar accident with an Israeli settler who fled the scene.
A week before the incident took place, Palestinian child was severely injured after being hit by a settler's vehicle as she was walking home from school in Teqoua’ village, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The child, Hayat Mohammad Suleiman, 8 years of age, was walking back home from school on the main road that is also utilized by Israeli settlers living in illegal settlements in the region.
Extremist Israeli settlers attacked dozens of Palestinian cars driving on roads in various areas, in the northern West Bank district of Nablus.
Local sources have reported that the settlers caused damage to dozens of cars driving on roads in the district, especially near the Sorra village, the Nablus-Ramallah road, and at a junction close to the Yitzhar illegal Israeli settlement.
Furthermore, Israeli soldiers stationed at the Huwwara roadblock south of Nablus, closed the roadblock, and searched dozens of cars, and interrogating the occupants.
The army gave no explanation for closing the roadblock, and forced hundreds of cars to line-up for several hours.
In related news, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday evening, the Zababda village, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped two Palestinians.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the two have been identified as Anwar Ahmad Kamil, 20, and Wael Ahmad Lahlouh, 20. Both are from Qabatia town, south of Jenin.
Local sources have reported that the settlers caused damage to dozens of cars driving on roads in the district, especially near the Sorra village, the Nablus-Ramallah road, and at a junction close to the Yitzhar illegal Israeli settlement.
Furthermore, Israeli soldiers stationed at the Huwwara roadblock south of Nablus, closed the roadblock, and searched dozens of cars, and interrogating the occupants.
The army gave no explanation for closing the roadblock, and forced hundreds of cars to line-up for several hours.
In related news, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday evening, the Zababda village, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped two Palestinians.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the two have been identified as Anwar Ahmad Kamil, 20, and Wael Ahmad Lahlouh, 20. Both are from Qabatia town, south of Jenin.
The wounded Palestinian youth Mu’een Al-Atrash from Doheisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, has fallen into a coma after his health condition deteriorated. Local sources told the PIC reporter that Atrash, who suffers from hemiplegia, was transferred to a hospital in occupied Jerusalem after his two kidneys stopped functioning.
They quoted sources in Makased hospital as telling his parents that Atrash’s condition was very critical.
Atrash was hit with bullet in his spine at the hands of Israeli occupation forces while taking part in demonstrations in 2004 protesting the IOF assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder of Hamas movement.
They quoted sources in Makased hospital as telling his parents that Atrash’s condition was very critical.
Atrash was hit with bullet in his spine at the hands of Israeli occupation forces while taking part in demonstrations in 2004 protesting the IOF assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder of Hamas movement.
The wounded Palestinian Mu'een Al-Atrash from Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, has went into a coma on Sunday after his health condition deteriorated.
Al-Atrash, who suffers from hemiplegia, was transferred to al-Makased hospital in occupied Jerusalem after his two kidneys stopped functioning.
Medical sources in the hospital said that al-Atrash's condition is very critical.
It's worth mentioning that al-Atrash was hit with bullet to his spine by Israeli occupation forces while he was participating in a demonstration that was launched in 2004 from Dheisheh refugee camp protesting the IOF assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder of Hamas movement.
Al-Atrash, who suffers from hemiplegia, was transferred to al-Makased hospital in occupied Jerusalem after his two kidneys stopped functioning.
Medical sources in the hospital said that al-Atrash's condition is very critical.
It's worth mentioning that al-Atrash was hit with bullet to his spine by Israeli occupation forces while he was participating in a demonstration that was launched in 2004 from Dheisheh refugee camp protesting the IOF assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder of Hamas movement.
8 dec 2013
A teenager was seriously injured on Sunday after an unidentified device exploded south of Hebron, medics told Ma'an.
Medics said that a device left by Israeli forces in an area east of Yatta exploded and injured 16-year-old Maher Adil Najajra, without providing further details.
Najajra was rushed to Hebron Governmental Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said she was not familiar with the incident.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Medics said that a device left by Israeli forces in an area east of Yatta exploded and injured 16-year-old Maher Adil Najajra, without providing further details.
Najajra was rushed to Hebron Governmental Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said she was not familiar with the incident.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Alex Renton
Sometimes the sea calms at sunset: and so it is here in the bottom corner of the eastern Mediterranean. The little fishing boat has been tugging on its anchor rope like an excited puppy. But now, as the waves ease, the deck steadies.
We're going to catch sardines. It's an all-night trip. So in the afternoon we'd loaded the boat with £190-worth of diesel, sweaters, lots of cigarettes, water, pitta bread and some nuts and dates. That's it, I asked? No VHF radio? No safety equipment? No lifejackets?
The fishermen laughed. "Lifejacket? In Gaza, there's no need for a lifejacket!" That's the kind of joke that goes down well here. Skipper Abu Nayim, big, sun-dried, smiling, sniffed the wind. "It's from the north. Good for sardines," he said. "Yalla! Let's go."
Now we are waiting. The generator chatters, powering a string of arc lights hung around the boat. These will dazzle and seduce the fish; in six hours we'll drop a net to gather them in from under the keel. The crew relax on salt-crusted rugs – eating dates, teasing each other, smoking. Two of the men step up to the foredeck to prostrate themselves and pray.
It's nearly dark. A couple of Israeli F-16 jets make twin scratches across the glow in the southeast, above the Egyptian border. "They own all the world," mutters old Abu Nayim. But, for now, this feels like the most peaceful place you could find on this crowded coast, where there live some of the most disputatious people in the planet. There's not much to tell you that this is a very risky way to catch fish.
Then, as night closes in, trouble starts. First to the north: the machine gunfire is hardly audible to me, but the fishermen give each other a look. "It's routine," one says to reassure me. "The Jews, always making a noise!" says Abu Nayim, his tone more bored than aggrieved. But his son, 22-year-old Mukhtar, is more anxious. He was on the boat on Monday when the Israeli navy put four bullets into the fibre-glass tender – a felucca – that's bobbing behind us. He warns Gianluca, the photographer, who has his telephoto lens out – "If they see you poking that out, they will shoot at you."
Mukhtar points towards the orange lights of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, 10 miles away. "There, you can see the Israeli gunboat. It's circling the fishing boat." There's another crackle of gunfire. I can't see much. We settle back on to the deck. The fishermen try their mobile phones, to find out what's happened. But, though we're just five miles from the shore, there's no signal. They think the gunboats may have some way of blocking it.
Now it is fully dark, but the sea around us is a cartoon royal blue, turned to daylight by the arclights. Little flashes of silver appear on the surface. Baby sardines – the outliers of the big shoal already turning in the water below. I count 14 more boats, all spread in a chain along the sea, carefully short of the six-mile limit that the Israelis have imposed.
They bob at anchor, their lights festive against the dark ocean. We're close to the limit, as close as Abu Nayim dares, because the further out to sea the more sardines there are. "To go over six miles is death," says Abu Nayim. Ideally he would be out at around 11 miles, in early November, with the last flush of the sardine season on. But Israel has not permitted any Gazan boat beyond six miles since 2006. Once, when he may have drifted over, an Israeli gunboat tossed a live grenade on to the nets. In the past month the fishing boats of Gaza have come under fire 10 times.
Half an hour later, we hear the blat-blat-blat of heavy machine-gun fire. It sounds very close. I jump up from the deck and then drop down again, in case it is us being fired at. Not that the flaky fibreglass of the hull would do anything to stop a bullet. But we see that the object of the Israeli fire is the boat next door to us in the line, Captain Nihad's. It's about 300 yards away, maybe a little further out. There's a roaring of engines. The fishing boat's tiara of brilliant lights is lurching crazily.
I look at Mukhtar's handheld GPS and check it against the map app on my phone. Both agree: we're 5.7 nautical miles northwest of Gaza City. Nowhere near the border zone, and within the six mile limit.
There's another one-second blast of machine-gun fire. I can see the Israeli boat, so close to the fishing boat that its huge bow-wave gleams white in the lights. It's circling the fishermen at high speed, the wake throwing the fishing boat around. There's shouting, through a megaphone. "The Israelis are insulting them," says my interpreter. He doesn't want to say the words. "They curse the prophet. They call the fishermen 'son of a dog'. Tell them to go back to Palestine." Another burst of gunfire. We wonder if we'll be next. Everyone in the crew, even the two boys, takes time to tell me not to be frightened. I've already informed them I am a bad swimmer and I don't want to take my clothes off – if the Israelis decide to arrest us, we'll be ordered to strip naked and swim to their boat.
We watch our neighbours move 200m away from the limit line. Closer to us. This seems to satisfy the gunboat, which moves off. Is that it? Probably, until the next patrol boat's shift starts. "But now Nihad is too close to us, their light will attract our fish," says Abu Nayim.
How does he feel about the patrol boat? "I don't let it get to me, I'm used to it. But Nihad will have lost the fish under his lights."
At midnight, the moon is high above us. The crew awake and someone brews up coffee. Then Abu Nayim takes the felucca off with a couple of lights to keep the fish at the surface while we lay 100m of weighted seine net around it. As soon as it's deployed we will start to pull it in. Our lights are switched off, and I can see Orion spread against the sky. Here it's not the Hunter, but the Seeker.
Now Abu Nayim stands on the foredeck of the tender, shouting encouragement. "Pull! Pull! Keep it flat!" All the crew are leaning over the side and the gunwale is nearly under. They chant a prayer to the Prophet to fill the net.
After 30 minutes of heaving, the catch comes in. It is a disappointment. The sardines and baby squid picked from the bottom of it would hardly fill two garden buckets. Abu Nayim's sunny face has turned old and tired. The lights go on again for another try. Mohammed, Abu Nayim's adopted son, brews us all coffee. "This is the worst since we went to Egypt," he grumbles. "We caught no fish at all, then. We were chased away by the Egyptian navy boats, they fired small rockets at us. It cost us 4,000 shekels (£700). " Mohammed is 20. He has a baby son and his wife is pregnant. He's lucky, he says, that he has a Saturday job as a waiter to fall back on. There will be no profit from this trip.
Dawn breaks at 5am; we surf home over an oily grey swell. It is a race to get into Gaza City's port: the earlier boats will catch a better spot in the fish market. But the boys can see no one has caught much. For 14 hours' work, we have two boxes of squid and a bucket of sardines.
"Perhaps 50 shekels [£9]," says Abu Nayim, as we take the boxes of squid up to the seafront market. "Often we used to land 200 boxes of sardines, in the top of the season. 15kg each box." He makes a face – he has seven crewmen's work and the £190 fuel bill to cover. On the pavement the boats lay out their catch for the merchants to bid on. The boxes of silvery sardines, of little tuna and squid lie along the pavement for 20 yards. "Once they were piled five high, and they were on both sides of the road," says Abu Nayim.
"A fisherman does not feel sad when he doesn't catch," he says, as we turn towards his house. "Because one day he will." "Fil mishmish," mutters young Mohammed, overhearing. It means, literally, "When the apricots arrive"; "In your dreams." A favourite Gaza expression.
The bucket of sardines goes home with Abu Nayim. There are six sons, all married, all living with Abu Nayim and his wife Naima. With the grandchildren, there are 30 people to feed.
Not so long AGO, Gaza had a thriving fishing industry. In 1994 the Oslo peace accords with Israel granted the Palestinian enclave, which was formed largely by refugees from the 1948 war that followed the founding of Israel, rights to fish up to 20 nautical miles offshore. That supported a fishing industry, according to a study done by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), of some 4,000 boat-owning families. In 2004 they landed nearly 3,000 tonnes of fish. It was crucial to the nutrition of the 1.7 million people of the Gaza Strip, more than half of whom were dependent on food aid, even then.
In 2005 Israel, which had conquered the Strip in 1967, withdrew from the Strip unilaterally. But, under international law and in the eyes of the UN and Britain, Israel's occupation continues and so does its legal responsibility for the land and its people. In 2006 the radical group Hamas, which is a declared enemy of Israel, took control of Gaza: cross-border attacks on Israel escalated. In retaliation Israel stopped the flow of Gazan workers over the border and started what is in effect a blockade of the Gaza Strip that continues to today.
Israel unilaterally reduced the fishing zone to six miles offshore, with a further no-go zone along in border areas. This cut off 60% of the fishing grounds – the best waters, where most of the sardines, the mackerel and the valuable bottom fish lie, according to the FAO. In 2008, after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks, the fishing limit was reduced to just three miles; it was returned to six miles a year ago, but Israel periodically changes it back to three miles, usually in reaction to a violation of the ceasefire deal. Human rights groups and NGOs such as Oxfam point out that there is no connection between the fishermen and the militants who fire the rockets – and that "collective punishment" of a people is an infringement of the Geneva Conventions.
Three miles or six, the industry's collapse was inevitable. Fishing inshore is poor, and there's an added danger because of Gaza's failed sewage system. That was built to serve 400,000 people, and it has collapsed because of war damage and lack of materials to maintain it. Eighty-nine million litres of raw or partially treated waste water go straight into the sea every day. Last year the fishermen's catch was less than half what it had been 10 years before. They are now the poorest section of society, according to the UN, with 95% of fishing families dependent on food handouts. Oxfam runs the sort of food-voucher and job-creation programmes normally seen in famine zones. It says Israel has a duty to allow fishing to the 20-mile limit – and to stop using "excessive force" to patrol the zone.
Fishing is a harsh trade at any time, but here it is made rather more risky by the Israeli navy. As I witnessed, it makes its own arbitrary rules about the fishing zone, and exacts savage punishments for those who break them. The warning fire we heard and saw is usual, even for boats well within the limit. Sometimes the fishing boats will be water-cannoned with sewage, and the gunfire directed at generators, outboard engines and tenders. Four days after our trip last month, Gazan fishermen had their gear confiscated when fishing, by their account, just 1.5 miles off the beach. Three days before we went to sea a 23-year-old was injured by shrapnel at three miles, after a gunboat had fired at his engine.
Last year Abu Nayim's son Hassan, 35, was ordered by the Israelis to stop fishing immediately and leave his nets and tenders: when he came back later the boats and outboard engines had been shot to pieces and the net was gone. The damage cost $2,000 to put right. Hassan says he was just three miles out, in a spot where the patrol had previously let him fish without complaint. "I said: 'I have children to feed!' The Israeli said: 'Go to Gaza, let Hamas feed them.' Why do they do it? Are you a threat? I asked Hassan. "They don't like us and what they do is part of the siege of Gaza."
Arrests are common. Often fishermen will be taken to Israeli ports, blindfolded and handcuffed and questioned under "aggressive interrogation" (the UN's phrase) and then, after what may be several days' detention, charged a fee to be transported back to the border. Fishing boats and gear have been impounded for months and sometimes taken to pieces. Another fee – usually 1,000 shekels (£175) – is charged for their return. No fisherman has ever been charged with an offence – and no legal challenge for compensation for loss of earnings has ever had any success.
There are injuries, of course. A count is kept by Al Mezan, a Gaza-based human rights NGO that logs infringements of law and damage to property (it is trusted by the UN and other humanitarian agencies, who cross-check the data). In the year to November 2013, Al Mezan reported 136 Israeli attacks against fishermen in Gaza's waters. These injured eight fishermen, including a child. In 2013 Israeli forces arrested 18 fishermen, confiscated seven boats, and damaged or destroyed fishing equipment on 23 separate occasions. At least five Palestinian fishermen, all judged "non-combatants" by the UN, have died at sea in confrontations with the Israeli gunboats since 2010.
Israel is under constant threat from terrorist attack. But it is hard to see what good the harassment of the Gaza fisherfolk can serve. They are generally unpolitical, and, like most Gazans, far from fervent supporters of Hamas (only 20% of Palestinians are, according to polls). While the sea holds obvious opportunities for arms smugglers or terrorist attacks, there is no recent record of any Gaza boat having been found carrying guns or terrorists.
I put some of these issues to the Israeli Defence Force, who fixed up a briefing with "a senior naval officer". He was adamant that the policy was to enable fishermen to do their work, so long as they didn't cross the lines. If they did cross, then using live fire was justified, given proven security issues. But why were boats inside the six-mile zone harassed and fired at, even when at anchor? He told me the patrol boats would not approach any "unsuspicious" boats on the right side of the line. And the policy worked: it had foiled terrorist attacks. I asked for a recent example. "If you couldn't find one, then we are on the right track!" On the events of my night with Abu Nayim, and the arrests of other fishermen that week, the officer said he could not go into operational specifics.
When you ask Gazans what the Israeli motive is for this or that puzzling aspect of the six-year-old blockade of the Strip – the near-total ban on cement, for example – people usually just shrug and laugh. "Who can ever understand?" But speculation on the fishing is that the rich waters beyond the six-mile limit may now be being used by Israeli boats, though none have been seen, and I could get no view on this possibility from the UN.
Whatever the rationale, the policy crushes a people who have made their living from the rich Mediterranean coast for centuries. Abu Nayim knows his great-grandfather was a fisherman and has no reason to doubt that his great-grandfather was, too. They lived just north of the wall that now separates the Strip from Israel, at a place called Errabiya.
Now 60, Abu Nayim was born in Gaza, in the Beach Camp set up for the 1948 refugees. He still lives there. But when he was young Israel allowed Gazans to leave the Strip to work. From the age of 12 he and his father used to go back to their village, paying a fee to the Israelis who had taken their house and land to be allowed to fish. They long-lined from a row-boat they built. The families became friends. They attended each others' weddings.
"For me, it was hard, going there," Abu Nayim says. "But it was good to feel that the benefit of my family's land was going into my pocket." But in 2006, with the arrival of Hamas and the kidnap of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the border was closed. For the people of Gaza, then numbering 1.5 million, normal life ended. Not since they were children had any of the young men I went fishing with left the "prison" – that's David Cameron's term.
Breakfast at Abu Nayim's house was truly great. Hunger helped. As we men sat on sofas drinking coffee, the women baked fresh pitta. Then they fried last night's sardines with chilli and garlic. (Note for foodies – Naima told me she first rolled them in dried dill, powdered coriander and cumin, then in flour; before frying them fast in very hot vegetable oil.) We ate the fish with our fingers, tearing the flesh from the backbones with our teeth. The bread we dipped into a typical Gazan salad, a mix of chopped tomato, tahini, lemon and parsley.
After the food, we talked – about fishing, children, jobs and, of course, Israel's blockade of Gaza. I said I was shocked to see how little had changed since I last visited the Beach Camp in 2008, just before the Israel Cast Lead invasion, mounted to stop the rocket attacks. That terrible time brought around 1,200 Palestinian deaths and 13 Israeli ones. It devastated Gaza's infrastructure.
Things are much worse, everyone agreed. Fewer jobs. More "unhappy people". Gaza is now undergoing power cuts of 12 hours on most days. Supplies of fuel and much else had been smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt, but those had mainly been closed since the Muslim Brotherhood regime fell in July and the Egyptian army took over. The price of diesel had doubled. Abu Nayim said he and his sons were worried that they would not be able to pay back the money they had borrowed to put the new lighting rig on the boat.
"You're from Britain," says the eldest son, Nayim. "It's your fault. You invited the Jews to come from Europe to here, to take our land." I demurred: it was more complicated than that. "What about the Balfour declaration?" he asked – referring to the note signed in 1917 by Britain's foreign secretary AJ Balfour, declaring that Britain favoured the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. I thought about telling him that Balfour was my grandmother's uncle, and that my own great-uncle fought Israeli terrorists in Jerusalem in 1947, as a British policeman. But what I said was: "It's true, we are part of the history. We are responsible, too."
Abu Nayim's eyes are red from all the salt and cigarette smoke, and I can feel his longing for his bed. We thank him and Naima for their hospitality and the breakfast. "You like the sardines?" asks Mohammed, as we say our goodbyes. "Here we say they are very good for the sex." Everyone laughs. The women are not in the room. "In my country, we say oily fish are good for the brain," I say. "In Gaza," says young Mohammed, "the brain is not important." Everyone roars. It's a very Gazan joke.
Sometimes the sea calms at sunset: and so it is here in the bottom corner of the eastern Mediterranean. The little fishing boat has been tugging on its anchor rope like an excited puppy. But now, as the waves ease, the deck steadies.
We're going to catch sardines. It's an all-night trip. So in the afternoon we'd loaded the boat with £190-worth of diesel, sweaters, lots of cigarettes, water, pitta bread and some nuts and dates. That's it, I asked? No VHF radio? No safety equipment? No lifejackets?
The fishermen laughed. "Lifejacket? In Gaza, there's no need for a lifejacket!" That's the kind of joke that goes down well here. Skipper Abu Nayim, big, sun-dried, smiling, sniffed the wind. "It's from the north. Good for sardines," he said. "Yalla! Let's go."
Now we are waiting. The generator chatters, powering a string of arc lights hung around the boat. These will dazzle and seduce the fish; in six hours we'll drop a net to gather them in from under the keel. The crew relax on salt-crusted rugs – eating dates, teasing each other, smoking. Two of the men step up to the foredeck to prostrate themselves and pray.
It's nearly dark. A couple of Israeli F-16 jets make twin scratches across the glow in the southeast, above the Egyptian border. "They own all the world," mutters old Abu Nayim. But, for now, this feels like the most peaceful place you could find on this crowded coast, where there live some of the most disputatious people in the planet. There's not much to tell you that this is a very risky way to catch fish.
Then, as night closes in, trouble starts. First to the north: the machine gunfire is hardly audible to me, but the fishermen give each other a look. "It's routine," one says to reassure me. "The Jews, always making a noise!" says Abu Nayim, his tone more bored than aggrieved. But his son, 22-year-old Mukhtar, is more anxious. He was on the boat on Monday when the Israeli navy put four bullets into the fibre-glass tender – a felucca – that's bobbing behind us. He warns Gianluca, the photographer, who has his telephoto lens out – "If they see you poking that out, they will shoot at you."
Mukhtar points towards the orange lights of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, 10 miles away. "There, you can see the Israeli gunboat. It's circling the fishing boat." There's another crackle of gunfire. I can't see much. We settle back on to the deck. The fishermen try their mobile phones, to find out what's happened. But, though we're just five miles from the shore, there's no signal. They think the gunboats may have some way of blocking it.
Now it is fully dark, but the sea around us is a cartoon royal blue, turned to daylight by the arclights. Little flashes of silver appear on the surface. Baby sardines – the outliers of the big shoal already turning in the water below. I count 14 more boats, all spread in a chain along the sea, carefully short of the six-mile limit that the Israelis have imposed.
They bob at anchor, their lights festive against the dark ocean. We're close to the limit, as close as Abu Nayim dares, because the further out to sea the more sardines there are. "To go over six miles is death," says Abu Nayim. Ideally he would be out at around 11 miles, in early November, with the last flush of the sardine season on. But Israel has not permitted any Gazan boat beyond six miles since 2006. Once, when he may have drifted over, an Israeli gunboat tossed a live grenade on to the nets. In the past month the fishing boats of Gaza have come under fire 10 times.
Half an hour later, we hear the blat-blat-blat of heavy machine-gun fire. It sounds very close. I jump up from the deck and then drop down again, in case it is us being fired at. Not that the flaky fibreglass of the hull would do anything to stop a bullet. But we see that the object of the Israeli fire is the boat next door to us in the line, Captain Nihad's. It's about 300 yards away, maybe a little further out. There's a roaring of engines. The fishing boat's tiara of brilliant lights is lurching crazily.
I look at Mukhtar's handheld GPS and check it against the map app on my phone. Both agree: we're 5.7 nautical miles northwest of Gaza City. Nowhere near the border zone, and within the six mile limit.
There's another one-second blast of machine-gun fire. I can see the Israeli boat, so close to the fishing boat that its huge bow-wave gleams white in the lights. It's circling the fishermen at high speed, the wake throwing the fishing boat around. There's shouting, through a megaphone. "The Israelis are insulting them," says my interpreter. He doesn't want to say the words. "They curse the prophet. They call the fishermen 'son of a dog'. Tell them to go back to Palestine." Another burst of gunfire. We wonder if we'll be next. Everyone in the crew, even the two boys, takes time to tell me not to be frightened. I've already informed them I am a bad swimmer and I don't want to take my clothes off – if the Israelis decide to arrest us, we'll be ordered to strip naked and swim to their boat.
We watch our neighbours move 200m away from the limit line. Closer to us. This seems to satisfy the gunboat, which moves off. Is that it? Probably, until the next patrol boat's shift starts. "But now Nihad is too close to us, their light will attract our fish," says Abu Nayim.
How does he feel about the patrol boat? "I don't let it get to me, I'm used to it. But Nihad will have lost the fish under his lights."
At midnight, the moon is high above us. The crew awake and someone brews up coffee. Then Abu Nayim takes the felucca off with a couple of lights to keep the fish at the surface while we lay 100m of weighted seine net around it. As soon as it's deployed we will start to pull it in. Our lights are switched off, and I can see Orion spread against the sky. Here it's not the Hunter, but the Seeker.
Now Abu Nayim stands on the foredeck of the tender, shouting encouragement. "Pull! Pull! Keep it flat!" All the crew are leaning over the side and the gunwale is nearly under. They chant a prayer to the Prophet to fill the net.
After 30 minutes of heaving, the catch comes in. It is a disappointment. The sardines and baby squid picked from the bottom of it would hardly fill two garden buckets. Abu Nayim's sunny face has turned old and tired. The lights go on again for another try. Mohammed, Abu Nayim's adopted son, brews us all coffee. "This is the worst since we went to Egypt," he grumbles. "We caught no fish at all, then. We were chased away by the Egyptian navy boats, they fired small rockets at us. It cost us 4,000 shekels (£700). " Mohammed is 20. He has a baby son and his wife is pregnant. He's lucky, he says, that he has a Saturday job as a waiter to fall back on. There will be no profit from this trip.
Dawn breaks at 5am; we surf home over an oily grey swell. It is a race to get into Gaza City's port: the earlier boats will catch a better spot in the fish market. But the boys can see no one has caught much. For 14 hours' work, we have two boxes of squid and a bucket of sardines.
"Perhaps 50 shekels [£9]," says Abu Nayim, as we take the boxes of squid up to the seafront market. "Often we used to land 200 boxes of sardines, in the top of the season. 15kg each box." He makes a face – he has seven crewmen's work and the £190 fuel bill to cover. On the pavement the boats lay out their catch for the merchants to bid on. The boxes of silvery sardines, of little tuna and squid lie along the pavement for 20 yards. "Once they were piled five high, and they were on both sides of the road," says Abu Nayim.
"A fisherman does not feel sad when he doesn't catch," he says, as we turn towards his house. "Because one day he will." "Fil mishmish," mutters young Mohammed, overhearing. It means, literally, "When the apricots arrive"; "In your dreams." A favourite Gaza expression.
The bucket of sardines goes home with Abu Nayim. There are six sons, all married, all living with Abu Nayim and his wife Naima. With the grandchildren, there are 30 people to feed.
Not so long AGO, Gaza had a thriving fishing industry. In 1994 the Oslo peace accords with Israel granted the Palestinian enclave, which was formed largely by refugees from the 1948 war that followed the founding of Israel, rights to fish up to 20 nautical miles offshore. That supported a fishing industry, according to a study done by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), of some 4,000 boat-owning families. In 2004 they landed nearly 3,000 tonnes of fish. It was crucial to the nutrition of the 1.7 million people of the Gaza Strip, more than half of whom were dependent on food aid, even then.
In 2005 Israel, which had conquered the Strip in 1967, withdrew from the Strip unilaterally. But, under international law and in the eyes of the UN and Britain, Israel's occupation continues and so does its legal responsibility for the land and its people. In 2006 the radical group Hamas, which is a declared enemy of Israel, took control of Gaza: cross-border attacks on Israel escalated. In retaliation Israel stopped the flow of Gazan workers over the border and started what is in effect a blockade of the Gaza Strip that continues to today.
Israel unilaterally reduced the fishing zone to six miles offshore, with a further no-go zone along in border areas. This cut off 60% of the fishing grounds – the best waters, where most of the sardines, the mackerel and the valuable bottom fish lie, according to the FAO. In 2008, after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket attacks, the fishing limit was reduced to just three miles; it was returned to six miles a year ago, but Israel periodically changes it back to three miles, usually in reaction to a violation of the ceasefire deal. Human rights groups and NGOs such as Oxfam point out that there is no connection between the fishermen and the militants who fire the rockets – and that "collective punishment" of a people is an infringement of the Geneva Conventions.
Three miles or six, the industry's collapse was inevitable. Fishing inshore is poor, and there's an added danger because of Gaza's failed sewage system. That was built to serve 400,000 people, and it has collapsed because of war damage and lack of materials to maintain it. Eighty-nine million litres of raw or partially treated waste water go straight into the sea every day. Last year the fishermen's catch was less than half what it had been 10 years before. They are now the poorest section of society, according to the UN, with 95% of fishing families dependent on food handouts. Oxfam runs the sort of food-voucher and job-creation programmes normally seen in famine zones. It says Israel has a duty to allow fishing to the 20-mile limit – and to stop using "excessive force" to patrol the zone.
Fishing is a harsh trade at any time, but here it is made rather more risky by the Israeli navy. As I witnessed, it makes its own arbitrary rules about the fishing zone, and exacts savage punishments for those who break them. The warning fire we heard and saw is usual, even for boats well within the limit. Sometimes the fishing boats will be water-cannoned with sewage, and the gunfire directed at generators, outboard engines and tenders. Four days after our trip last month, Gazan fishermen had their gear confiscated when fishing, by their account, just 1.5 miles off the beach. Three days before we went to sea a 23-year-old was injured by shrapnel at three miles, after a gunboat had fired at his engine.
Last year Abu Nayim's son Hassan, 35, was ordered by the Israelis to stop fishing immediately and leave his nets and tenders: when he came back later the boats and outboard engines had been shot to pieces and the net was gone. The damage cost $2,000 to put right. Hassan says he was just three miles out, in a spot where the patrol had previously let him fish without complaint. "I said: 'I have children to feed!' The Israeli said: 'Go to Gaza, let Hamas feed them.' Why do they do it? Are you a threat? I asked Hassan. "They don't like us and what they do is part of the siege of Gaza."
Arrests are common. Often fishermen will be taken to Israeli ports, blindfolded and handcuffed and questioned under "aggressive interrogation" (the UN's phrase) and then, after what may be several days' detention, charged a fee to be transported back to the border. Fishing boats and gear have been impounded for months and sometimes taken to pieces. Another fee – usually 1,000 shekels (£175) – is charged for their return. No fisherman has ever been charged with an offence – and no legal challenge for compensation for loss of earnings has ever had any success.
There are injuries, of course. A count is kept by Al Mezan, a Gaza-based human rights NGO that logs infringements of law and damage to property (it is trusted by the UN and other humanitarian agencies, who cross-check the data). In the year to November 2013, Al Mezan reported 136 Israeli attacks against fishermen in Gaza's waters. These injured eight fishermen, including a child. In 2013 Israeli forces arrested 18 fishermen, confiscated seven boats, and damaged or destroyed fishing equipment on 23 separate occasions. At least five Palestinian fishermen, all judged "non-combatants" by the UN, have died at sea in confrontations with the Israeli gunboats since 2010.
Israel is under constant threat from terrorist attack. But it is hard to see what good the harassment of the Gaza fisherfolk can serve. They are generally unpolitical, and, like most Gazans, far from fervent supporters of Hamas (only 20% of Palestinians are, according to polls). While the sea holds obvious opportunities for arms smugglers or terrorist attacks, there is no recent record of any Gaza boat having been found carrying guns or terrorists.
I put some of these issues to the Israeli Defence Force, who fixed up a briefing with "a senior naval officer". He was adamant that the policy was to enable fishermen to do their work, so long as they didn't cross the lines. If they did cross, then using live fire was justified, given proven security issues. But why were boats inside the six-mile zone harassed and fired at, even when at anchor? He told me the patrol boats would not approach any "unsuspicious" boats on the right side of the line. And the policy worked: it had foiled terrorist attacks. I asked for a recent example. "If you couldn't find one, then we are on the right track!" On the events of my night with Abu Nayim, and the arrests of other fishermen that week, the officer said he could not go into operational specifics.
When you ask Gazans what the Israeli motive is for this or that puzzling aspect of the six-year-old blockade of the Strip – the near-total ban on cement, for example – people usually just shrug and laugh. "Who can ever understand?" But speculation on the fishing is that the rich waters beyond the six-mile limit may now be being used by Israeli boats, though none have been seen, and I could get no view on this possibility from the UN.
Whatever the rationale, the policy crushes a people who have made their living from the rich Mediterranean coast for centuries. Abu Nayim knows his great-grandfather was a fisherman and has no reason to doubt that his great-grandfather was, too. They lived just north of the wall that now separates the Strip from Israel, at a place called Errabiya.
Now 60, Abu Nayim was born in Gaza, in the Beach Camp set up for the 1948 refugees. He still lives there. But when he was young Israel allowed Gazans to leave the Strip to work. From the age of 12 he and his father used to go back to their village, paying a fee to the Israelis who had taken their house and land to be allowed to fish. They long-lined from a row-boat they built. The families became friends. They attended each others' weddings.
"For me, it was hard, going there," Abu Nayim says. "But it was good to feel that the benefit of my family's land was going into my pocket." But in 2006, with the arrival of Hamas and the kidnap of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the border was closed. For the people of Gaza, then numbering 1.5 million, normal life ended. Not since they were children had any of the young men I went fishing with left the "prison" – that's David Cameron's term.
Breakfast at Abu Nayim's house was truly great. Hunger helped. As we men sat on sofas drinking coffee, the women baked fresh pitta. Then they fried last night's sardines with chilli and garlic. (Note for foodies – Naima told me she first rolled them in dried dill, powdered coriander and cumin, then in flour; before frying them fast in very hot vegetable oil.) We ate the fish with our fingers, tearing the flesh from the backbones with our teeth. The bread we dipped into a typical Gazan salad, a mix of chopped tomato, tahini, lemon and parsley.
After the food, we talked – about fishing, children, jobs and, of course, Israel's blockade of Gaza. I said I was shocked to see how little had changed since I last visited the Beach Camp in 2008, just before the Israel Cast Lead invasion, mounted to stop the rocket attacks. That terrible time brought around 1,200 Palestinian deaths and 13 Israeli ones. It devastated Gaza's infrastructure.
Things are much worse, everyone agreed. Fewer jobs. More "unhappy people". Gaza is now undergoing power cuts of 12 hours on most days. Supplies of fuel and much else had been smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt, but those had mainly been closed since the Muslim Brotherhood regime fell in July and the Egyptian army took over. The price of diesel had doubled. Abu Nayim said he and his sons were worried that they would not be able to pay back the money they had borrowed to put the new lighting rig on the boat.
"You're from Britain," says the eldest son, Nayim. "It's your fault. You invited the Jews to come from Europe to here, to take our land." I demurred: it was more complicated than that. "What about the Balfour declaration?" he asked – referring to the note signed in 1917 by Britain's foreign secretary AJ Balfour, declaring that Britain favoured the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. I thought about telling him that Balfour was my grandmother's uncle, and that my own great-uncle fought Israeli terrorists in Jerusalem in 1947, as a British policeman. But what I said was: "It's true, we are part of the history. We are responsible, too."
Abu Nayim's eyes are red from all the salt and cigarette smoke, and I can feel his longing for his bed. We thank him and Naima for their hospitality and the breakfast. "You like the sardines?" asks Mohammed, as we say our goodbyes. "Here we say they are very good for the sex." Everyone laughs. The women are not in the room. "In my country, we say oily fish are good for the brain," I say. "In Gaza," says young Mohammed, "the brain is not important." Everyone roars. It's a very Gazan joke.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at Palestinian farmers to the east of Khan Younis district, south of the Gaza Strip, at noon Sunday. The PIC reporter said that soldiers in the military watchtowers east of Khuza’a town to the east of Khan Younis city opened indiscriminate fire at farmers while working in their fields.
Local sources said that the shooting coincided with intensive over flights for warplanes and movement of army vehicles along the border fence. The intensive shooting forced farmers to abandon their fields to avoid being shot.
Local sources said that the shooting coincided with intensive over flights for warplanes and movement of army vehicles along the border fence. The intensive shooting forced farmers to abandon their fields to avoid being shot.
A newly-born Palestinian baby suffered severe suffocation after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired teargas at his family home in Kufr Qaddoum village in Qalqilia on Saturday night. Murad Eshtiwe, the coordinator of popular resistance in the village, said that the one month old infant, Khaled Juma, suffered breathing difficulty and started to vomit after IOF shot a teargas canister into his family home.
He said that the soldiers burst into the village in four army vehicles and a bulldozer and fired gas and sound bombs at inhabitants and their homes.
He said that the baby boy was taken to a hospital in Qalqilia city after receiving initial treatment at the village’s clinic.
He said that the soldiers burst into the village in four army vehicles and a bulldozer and fired gas and sound bombs at inhabitants and their homes.
He said that the baby boy was taken to a hospital in Qalqilia city after receiving initial treatment at the village’s clinic.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) threatened on Sunday to open fire at landowners in Yatta town, south of Al-Khalil, if they ventured into their land. Local sources said that IOF soldiers told Nawaja family members from Susiya near Yatta that they would not be allowed to access their land at the pretext it was under Israeli control according to the Oslo accords.
They said that the soldiers threatened to confiscate agricultural equipment from the family members.
Other sources said that the soldiers blocked farmers from tending to their land to provide security for settlers in the nearby Susiya settlement.
They said that the soldiers threatened to confiscate agricultural equipment from the family members.
Other sources said that the soldiers blocked farmers from tending to their land to provide security for settlers in the nearby Susiya settlement.
A number of extremist Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian child in the heart if the Old City of Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported. The child’s uncle, Mofeed Sharabaty, said that more than twenty extremist settlers of the Beit Hadassah illegal settlement in the center of Hebron attacked the child as he was heading to a nearby store.
The child has been identified as Yazan Zeidan Sharabaty, 13; he suffered cuts and bruises to various parts of his body.
The uncle said that he heard the child screaming while the settlers were attacking him and cursing at him.
“I rushed and grabbed my nephew and ran away as fast as I could”. The uncle added, “The settlers then tried to break into my house, but we managed to stop them”.
The attack is one of hundreds of assaults carried out by extremist settlers against the residents, their lands and property, especially in Hebron city, as the also settlers live in the heart of the city in homes and property illegally occupied and confiscated.
The child has been identified as Yazan Zeidan Sharabaty, 13; he suffered cuts and bruises to various parts of his body.
The uncle said that he heard the child screaming while the settlers were attacking him and cursing at him.
“I rushed and grabbed my nephew and ran away as fast as I could”. The uncle added, “The settlers then tried to break into my house, but we managed to stop them”.
The attack is one of hundreds of assaults carried out by extremist settlers against the residents, their lands and property, especially in Hebron city, as the also settlers live in the heart of the city in homes and property illegally occupied and confiscated.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday afternoon kidnapped three Palestinians and physically assaulted three others during a peaceful protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah city.
The Palestinian information center (PIC) reporter in Ramallah said that the villagers of Nabi Saleh held a popular festival in the presence of many Palestinian and foreign anti-settlement activists before they marched to the main entrance of the village, which was blocked several years ago by the Israeli army.
The IOF, without prior warning, violently attacked the participants in the march, brutally beat a number of them and rounded up three activists before they started to fire tear gas grenades and rubber bullets intensively at them, according to the PIC reporter.
Many villagers and participating activists were reportedly injured during the IOF attack on the march.
Nabi Salih residents have hosted weekly demonstrations for more than three years in protest at the Israeli confiscation of the village's lands and the takeover of their water spring by the nearby Israeli settlement, Halamish.
In separate incidents, the IOF on Saturday blocked the road leading to the villages of Beit Awwa and Al-Majd, West of Al-Khalil city, at the pretext of providing security for Jewish settlers.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the IOF closed the main road on both sides through shutting the iron gate, which is located near the illegal settlement Njihut in Kharsa village, and the other gate adjacent to the Israeli checkpoint near Al-Majd village.
The IOF close the road every Saturday in order to provide security for the Njihut settlers at the expense of the Palestinian citizens living in the area.
Earlier, the IOF kidnapped on the same day at dawn a Palestinian citizen named Mohanad Abu Eisha from his home in Al-Khalil after he attended the wedding of his cousin.
The Palestinian information center (PIC) reporter in Ramallah said that the villagers of Nabi Saleh held a popular festival in the presence of many Palestinian and foreign anti-settlement activists before they marched to the main entrance of the village, which was blocked several years ago by the Israeli army.
The IOF, without prior warning, violently attacked the participants in the march, brutally beat a number of them and rounded up three activists before they started to fire tear gas grenades and rubber bullets intensively at them, according to the PIC reporter.
Many villagers and participating activists were reportedly injured during the IOF attack on the march.
Nabi Salih residents have hosted weekly demonstrations for more than three years in protest at the Israeli confiscation of the village's lands and the takeover of their water spring by the nearby Israeli settlement, Halamish.
In separate incidents, the IOF on Saturday blocked the road leading to the villages of Beit Awwa and Al-Majd, West of Al-Khalil city, at the pretext of providing security for Jewish settlers.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the IOF closed the main road on both sides through shutting the iron gate, which is located near the illegal settlement Njihut in Kharsa village, and the other gate adjacent to the Israeli checkpoint near Al-Majd village.
The IOF close the road every Saturday in order to provide security for the Njihut settlers at the expense of the Palestinian citizens living in the area.
Earlier, the IOF kidnapped on the same day at dawn a Palestinian citizen named Mohanad Abu Eisha from his home in Al-Khalil after he attended the wedding of his cousin.
7 dec 2013
A Palestinian child from Jalazoun refugee camp to the north of Ramallah was killed Saturday night at the hands of an Israeli sniper. Father of the martyr Wajih Ramahi, 15, told Quds Press that an Israeli sniper in Beit El settlement fired six shots at his child.
He said that the bullets hit his son in the chest, adding that an ambulance car carried his child to Ramallah government hospital but all attempts to save his life failed.
The father said that, at the time of the incident, his son was walking along with a friend on the main street in Jalazoun refugee camp, adjacent to Beti El settlement, adding that there were no confrontations at the time.
The father said that his son’s murder at the hands of Israeli occupation forces was the latest in a series of occupation crimes against the Palestinian people committed on daily basis.
He said that the bullets hit his son in the chest, adding that an ambulance car carried his child to Ramallah government hospital but all attempts to save his life failed.
The father said that, at the time of the incident, his son was walking along with a friend on the main street in Jalazoun refugee camp, adjacent to Beti El settlement, adding that there were no confrontations at the time.
The father said that his son’s murder at the hands of Israeli occupation forces was the latest in a series of occupation crimes against the Palestinian people committed on daily basis.
Israeli tanks fired several shells at Palestinian farmers in the northern Gaza Strip Saturday, witnesses said.
Locals told Ma'an that farmers fled their fields east of Beit Hanoun after hearing the shelling.
Also Saturday, Israeli media reported that three rockets fired from Gaza exploded on the Palestinian side of the border with Israel, without causing casualties.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said she was not familiar with either incident.
Locals told Ma'an that farmers fled their fields east of Beit Hanoun after hearing the shelling.
Also Saturday, Israeli media reported that three rockets fired from Gaza exploded on the Palestinian side of the border with Israel, without causing casualties.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said she was not familiar with either incident.
Palestinian teen wounded by live ammunition in Bethlehem
Non-violent protests were held in five West Bank villages Friday, as well as in the city of Bethlehem, where Israeli troops attacked protesters and wounded one young man in the leg with a live bullet.
On Friday protests were organized at the village of Kufer Qadom, in northern West Bank and the villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and Al Nabi saleh in central West Bank. Also an anti wall protest was organized in southern West Bank village of Al Ma’ssara.
Israeli soldiers attacked protesters in Al Nabi Saleh before the protesters had left the village , troops later invaded Al Nabi saleh and fired tear gas at residents homes. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In the nearby villages of Bil’in, and Nil’in, residents and their Israeli and international supporters reached the Israeli wall built on lands taken from local famers before soldiers stationed there showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. At both protests, many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Elsewhere two civilians were injured at the village Kufer Qadum when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest there.
Elsewhere, in al Ma’ssara village on Friday , Israeli troops stopped the villagers and their supporters at village entrance then forced them back using rifle butts and batons to push people back, no serious injuries were reported.
Non-violent protests were held in five West Bank villages Friday, as well as in the city of Bethlehem, where Israeli troops attacked protesters and wounded one young man in the leg with a live bullet.
On Friday protests were organized at the village of Kufer Qadom, in northern West Bank and the villages of Bil’in, Nil’in and Al Nabi saleh in central West Bank. Also an anti wall protest was organized in southern West Bank village of Al Ma’ssara.
Israeli soldiers attacked protesters in Al Nabi Saleh before the protesters had left the village , troops later invaded Al Nabi saleh and fired tear gas at residents homes. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
In the nearby villages of Bil’in, and Nil’in, residents and their Israeli and international supporters reached the Israeli wall built on lands taken from local famers before soldiers stationed there showered them with tear gas and chemical water that generate bad smell. At both protests, many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Elsewhere two civilians were injured at the village Kufer Qadum when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest there.
Elsewhere, in al Ma’ssara village on Friday , Israeli troops stopped the villagers and their supporters at village entrance then forced them back using rifle butts and batons to push people back, no serious injuries were reported.
Shuttered shops on Shuhada street in Hebron
A group of Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked a Palestinian house on Shuhada street in the center of Hebron and assaulted residents and children in the street.
Locals said that around 25 settlers attacked the house owned by Mufeed al-Sharabati, causing damage to it and assaulting its residents before Israeli forces stopped them.
Locals added that settlers also assaulted children who were playing in the same street.
Hebron is a frequent site of clashes due to the presence of 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants.
Settlers and Israeli forces regularly target local Palestinans for harassment, and many have been forced from their homes as a result.
A 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.
The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs -- and the once thriving Shuhada street, now just shuttered shops fronts and closed homes.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
A group of Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked a Palestinian house on Shuhada street in the center of Hebron and assaulted residents and children in the street.
Locals said that around 25 settlers attacked the house owned by Mufeed al-Sharabati, causing damage to it and assaulting its residents before Israeli forces stopped them.
Locals added that settlers also assaulted children who were playing in the same street.
Hebron is a frequent site of clashes due to the presence of 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants.
Settlers and Israeli forces regularly target local Palestinans for harassment, and many have been forced from their homes as a result.
A 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.
The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs -- and the once thriving Shuhada street, now just shuttered shops fronts and closed homes.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Five Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces opened fire with with rubber-coated steel bullets on protestors in the northern West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Saturday.
Three Palestinians were detained and many others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation in clashes that took place in the afternoon in the village north of Ramallah.
Nabi Saleh villagers had organized an event to commemorate Rushdie al-Tamimi and Mustafa al-Tamimi, who were killed by Israeli forces in clashes in the village in 2011.
The people of Nabi Saleh have been protesting weekly for four years, demanding that their lands confiscated by Israeli forces to build the separation wall be returned.
The clashes followed similar protests on Friday across the West Bank, when dozens of Palestinians were injured and one detained as Israeli forces opened fire to disperse protests against the Israeli occupation and commemorating Nelson Mandela's death.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to stop construction of the separation wall within the occupied West Bank.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will run inside the West Bank.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Three Palestinians were detained and many others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation in clashes that took place in the afternoon in the village north of Ramallah.
Nabi Saleh villagers had organized an event to commemorate Rushdie al-Tamimi and Mustafa al-Tamimi, who were killed by Israeli forces in clashes in the village in 2011.
The people of Nabi Saleh have been protesting weekly for four years, demanding that their lands confiscated by Israeli forces to build the separation wall be returned.
The clashes followed similar protests on Friday across the West Bank, when dozens of Palestinians were injured and one detained as Israeli forces opened fire to disperse protests against the Israeli occupation and commemorating Nelson Mandela's death.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to stop construction of the separation wall within the occupied West Bank.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will run inside the West Bank.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) interrogated ten citizens in Jenin city and Ajja village including three brothers on Friday. Eyewitnesses said that IOF soldiers in 15 army vehicles stormed the village of Ajja, south of Jenin, and broke into five homes three of which belong to brothers.
They said that the soldiers forced all inhabitants of those houses out in to the cold weather and interrogated them.
Meanwhile, local sources said that IOF soldiers in five army jeeps surrounded the home of Rabee Sanuri in Jenin city and searched it. They said that all Sanuri family members were interrogated for two hours.
The sources said that other IOF patrols roamed the streets of Yabad and Arrabe, south of Jenin, and set up roadblocks and examined passing vehicles and IDs of citizens.
They said that the soldiers forced all inhabitants of those houses out in to the cold weather and interrogated them.
Meanwhile, local sources said that IOF soldiers in five army jeeps surrounded the home of Rabee Sanuri in Jenin city and searched it. They said that all Sanuri family members were interrogated for two hours.
The sources said that other IOF patrols roamed the streets of Yabad and Arrabe, south of Jenin, and set up roadblocks and examined passing vehicles and IDs of citizens.
