18 may 2014
Eight Palestinian civilians were arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Sunday morning while six others were summoned for interrogation. The arrests coincide with a series of settler attacks on Palestinian homes in different areas of the West Bank. According to PIC news reporter, IOF arrested Hassan Brijiah, 45, the coordinator of the national committee against the wall and settlement, at dawn in Bethlehem after having stormed his home and rummaged through it.
Palestinian sources further documented the arrest of 4 Palestinian young men from Bethlehem.
Ammar Ziad Rawashda was arrested by IOF in Samu’ town in al-Khalil, where several Palestinian homes have also been raided.
According to Palestinian security sources, IOF arrested the brothers Qusay, 19, and Uday, 20, from al-Jilda area in al-Khalil city.
In a related event, an ex-detained refugee was arrested by IOF following home raids and searches in Fawar refugee camp, south of al-Khalil, amid a remarkable state of anxiety and panic among children and woman.
IOF soldiers have also been heavily deployed near Wadi Al-Shajna crossroad to the south of al-Khalil.
PIC correspondent said quoting local sources that Brijiah and his mother were severely beaten by IOF soldiers for objecting the brutality of the Israeli soldiers, who broke into and ransacked their family home in Ma’asara village, south of Bethlehem.
Youth activist Alaa Zaaqiq said an Israeli military force raided Beit Ummar village, north of al-Khalil, at late dawn time and raided citizens’ homes while three others were summoned for interrogation amid heavy firing of sound bombs in the town’s main street. A state of panic has overwhelmed children and families in the area.
Confrontations broke out in Beit Ummar after Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades at Palestinian youths.
In Dura town, west of al-Khalil, IOF summoned the student Mohammad Fares Abu Arkoub, among many other students, for interrogation.
In another event, a horde of Israeli extremist settlers attacked Palestinians’ native lands in Tel Armidh settlement in al-Khalil.
Eye-witnesses told PIC a group of settlers started fire in Palestinian lands while others threw stones at native homes. A photographer was assaulted in the process.
Demolition notifications were handed to Palestinian citizens in Khirbet al-Tawil in Akraba, south of Nablus, where Israeli patrols confiscated three tents and construction materials, PIC reporter further documented.
Palestinian sources further documented the arrest of 4 Palestinian young men from Bethlehem.
Ammar Ziad Rawashda was arrested by IOF in Samu’ town in al-Khalil, where several Palestinian homes have also been raided.
According to Palestinian security sources, IOF arrested the brothers Qusay, 19, and Uday, 20, from al-Jilda area in al-Khalil city.
In a related event, an ex-detained refugee was arrested by IOF following home raids and searches in Fawar refugee camp, south of al-Khalil, amid a remarkable state of anxiety and panic among children and woman.
IOF soldiers have also been heavily deployed near Wadi Al-Shajna crossroad to the south of al-Khalil.
PIC correspondent said quoting local sources that Brijiah and his mother were severely beaten by IOF soldiers for objecting the brutality of the Israeli soldiers, who broke into and ransacked their family home in Ma’asara village, south of Bethlehem.
Youth activist Alaa Zaaqiq said an Israeli military force raided Beit Ummar village, north of al-Khalil, at late dawn time and raided citizens’ homes while three others were summoned for interrogation amid heavy firing of sound bombs in the town’s main street. A state of panic has overwhelmed children and families in the area.
Confrontations broke out in Beit Ummar after Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades at Palestinian youths.
In Dura town, west of al-Khalil, IOF summoned the student Mohammad Fares Abu Arkoub, among many other students, for interrogation.
In another event, a horde of Israeli extremist settlers attacked Palestinians’ native lands in Tel Armidh settlement in al-Khalil.
Eye-witnesses told PIC a group of settlers started fire in Palestinian lands while others threw stones at native homes. A photographer was assaulted in the process.
Demolition notifications were handed to Palestinian citizens in Khirbet al-Tawil in Akraba, south of Nablus, where Israeli patrols confiscated three tents and construction materials, PIC reporter further documented.
Israel's top police officer on Sunday vowed that Jewish extremists would not be allowed to spoil the upcoming visit of Pope Francis by vandalizing Christian holy places.
"You cannot exaggerate the importance of this visit on both a national and an international level," Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino told reporters in Jerusalem.
The two-day papal visit to Israel, which begins on May 25, was being treated by police with the same level of importance as that of US President Barack Obama, with an extra 8,000 officers to be deployed throughout Jerusalem, he said.
And he pledged that Jewish extremists responsible for a wave of racist anti-Arab attacks, which have also found expression against Christian and Muslim holy sites, would not be allowed to spoil the visit.
"All sorts of extreme elements ... are trying to create pressure and the impression of pressure. We are rejecting this pressure and we won't let them succeed," he said.
"We will do everything to ensure they won't harm Christian holy places ... and to ensure the trip goes successfully."
Earlier this month, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land, warned that hate crimes targeting Muslims and Christians was poisoning the atmosphere ahead of the pope's visit, with church officials "very concerned" about the lack of security.
Israel has been struggling to contain a spiraling number of so-called "price tag" hate crimes by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinian and Arab property, which has included an increasing number of vandalism attacks on mosques and churches.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions, and the government has come under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to intervene.
"You cannot exaggerate the importance of this visit on both a national and an international level," Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino told reporters in Jerusalem.
The two-day papal visit to Israel, which begins on May 25, was being treated by police with the same level of importance as that of US President Barack Obama, with an extra 8,000 officers to be deployed throughout Jerusalem, he said.
And he pledged that Jewish extremists responsible for a wave of racist anti-Arab attacks, which have also found expression against Christian and Muslim holy sites, would not be allowed to spoil the visit.
"All sorts of extreme elements ... are trying to create pressure and the impression of pressure. We are rejecting this pressure and we won't let them succeed," he said.
"We will do everything to ensure they won't harm Christian holy places ... and to ensure the trip goes successfully."
Earlier this month, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land, warned that hate crimes targeting Muslims and Christians was poisoning the atmosphere ahead of the pope's visit, with church officials "very concerned" about the lack of security.
Israel has been struggling to contain a spiraling number of so-called "price tag" hate crimes by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinian and Arab property, which has included an increasing number of vandalism attacks on mosques and churches.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions, and the government has come under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to intervene.
Israel's ultra-nationalist construction minister – whose actions have been blamed by some US officials for torpedoing the peace process – has predicted an explosion of settlement activity in the next five years on the occupied West Bank. Uri Ariel, a member of the hardline Jewish Home party, which is part of Binyamin Netanyahu's rightwing coalition government, predicted in a radio interview on Friday that the number of settlers could grow by 50% by 2019.
The US special envoy to the Middle East peace talks, Martin Indyk, recently cited "rampant settlement activity" as a key factor in the breakdown of the talks last month.
During the nine months of failed peacemaking, Ariel published tenders for settlement construction that were cited by the US as having contributed to the impasse by convincing the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that Netanyahu was not serious about reaching an accord.
Most controversially, Ariel was accused of re-announcing an old tender to build 700 more housing units in East Jerusalem in the midst of frantic last-minute efforts to salvage the talks, condemning them to collapse.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future state and blamed settlement expansions for the breakdown last month of US-mediated peace talks with Israel – a position supported in part by Washington, but rejected by the Israelis.
Ariel told the Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM that negotiations on Palestinian statehood were in their "dying throes".
"I think that in five years there will be 550,000 or 600,000 Jews in Judea and Samaria, rather than 400,000 [now]," he said, using a biblical term for the West Bank.
About 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas which, along with the Gaza Strip, Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Jewish Home opposes Palestinian statehood altogether, raising speculation in Israel that Netanyahu, in the unlikely event of a diplomatic breakthrough, would eject the party from his coalition.
On Friday thousands of Palestinians turned out to bury two youths shot and killed by Israeli soldiers a day earlier during protests to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Nakba, or "catastrophe" of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.
The two youths were shot in the chest while protesting near Israel's Ofer prison, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Guardian
The US special envoy to the Middle East peace talks, Martin Indyk, recently cited "rampant settlement activity" as a key factor in the breakdown of the talks last month.
During the nine months of failed peacemaking, Ariel published tenders for settlement construction that were cited by the US as having contributed to the impasse by convincing the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that Netanyahu was not serious about reaching an accord.
Most controversially, Ariel was accused of re-announcing an old tender to build 700 more housing units in East Jerusalem in the midst of frantic last-minute efforts to salvage the talks, condemning them to collapse.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future state and blamed settlement expansions for the breakdown last month of US-mediated peace talks with Israel – a position supported in part by Washington, but rejected by the Israelis.
Ariel told the Tel Aviv radio station 102 FM that negotiations on Palestinian statehood were in their "dying throes".
"I think that in five years there will be 550,000 or 600,000 Jews in Judea and Samaria, rather than 400,000 [now]," he said, using a biblical term for the West Bank.
About 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas which, along with the Gaza Strip, Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Jewish Home opposes Palestinian statehood altogether, raising speculation in Israel that Netanyahu, in the unlikely event of a diplomatic breakthrough, would eject the party from his coalition.
On Friday thousands of Palestinians turned out to bury two youths shot and killed by Israeli soldiers a day earlier during protests to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Nakba, or "catastrophe" of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.
The two youths were shot in the chest while protesting near Israel's Ofer prison, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Guardian
More than 17 olives trees were completely knocked down on Saturday by a horde of Israeli extremist settlers in Palestinians’ native lands in Um al-Rayhan village south-west of Jenin. Sheikh Nafaa Zaid Al-Kilani, a targeted landowner told PIC: “I’ve been told by a shepherd who comes to graze his sheep in the area that my olive trees have been wrecked. I was shocked when I caught sight of 17 olive trees, more than 10-years old each, reduced to rubble.”
Nafaa’s land is located at the southern corner of Khilet Al-Eis, one of the largest forest areas in the West Bank.
“The Israeli occupation erected a checkpoint between West Bank and 48 occupied Palestine areas, where large herds of wild pigs were released, preventing Palestinian farmers from planting their lands. The boars wreck whatever comes in their way, even the small plants that Palestinian farmers have tried by all means to preserve,” Sheikh Nafaa further maintained
Um al-Rayhan village is a home to 500 citizens, all Zaid Kilani’s offspring, surrounded by Israeli settlement from all sides.
Nafaa’s land is located at the southern corner of Khilet Al-Eis, one of the largest forest areas in the West Bank.
“The Israeli occupation erected a checkpoint between West Bank and 48 occupied Palestine areas, where large herds of wild pigs were released, preventing Palestinian farmers from planting their lands. The boars wreck whatever comes in their way, even the small plants that Palestinian farmers have tried by all means to preserve,” Sheikh Nafaa further maintained
Um al-Rayhan village is a home to 500 citizens, all Zaid Kilani’s offspring, surrounded by Israeli settlement from all sides.
Israeli settlers set fire to a private Palestinian field in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday night as part of a celebration for the Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer.
Settlers circled around the field and watched as the fire burned olive trees, in a field that locals said belongs to the Iqneibi family.
Some of the settlers reportedly assaulted a cameraman who works for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz as he tried to take film the fire.
Lag BaOmer marks the the death of a 2nd century sage associated with Jewish mysticism, and is traditionally marked with bonfires.
Activist and co-founder of the Hebron activist group Youth against Settlements Issa Amro told Ma'an that Israeli settlers have recently been harassing and assaulting the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida in an attempt to scare them and get them to leave their houses and lands.
Hebron is a frequent site of tensions due to the presence of around 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants.
Tel Rumeida hosts one of the most militant Jewish settlements in the city, and locals complain of near daily harassment and attacks by the groups, who are under heavy Israeli military protection.
Settlers circled around the field and watched as the fire burned olive trees, in a field that locals said belongs to the Iqneibi family.
Some of the settlers reportedly assaulted a cameraman who works for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz as he tried to take film the fire.
Lag BaOmer marks the the death of a 2nd century sage associated with Jewish mysticism, and is traditionally marked with bonfires.
Activist and co-founder of the Hebron activist group Youth against Settlements Issa Amro told Ma'an that Israeli settlers have recently been harassing and assaulting the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida in an attempt to scare them and get them to leave their houses and lands.
Hebron is a frequent site of tensions due to the presence of around 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants.
Tel Rumeida hosts one of the most militant Jewish settlements in the city, and locals complain of near daily harassment and attacks by the groups, who are under heavy Israeli military protection.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that his Ministry has an alternate plan to use following the collapse of direct talks with the Palestinians, and that he presented his plan to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lieberman said the time has not come for officially presenting his “alternate plan”, but it could be presented, later on, depending on developments, the Maan News Agency has reported.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 2, Lieberman alleged that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, became an obstacle, as he “failed to be a partner in peace”, and it became “impossible to reach a compromise with him”.
Lieberman further stated that Israel should be holding talks with Palestinian businessmen who reject Hamas, adding that many businessmen, in the West Bank and abroad, “can be talked to and are willing to discuss plans”.
The official, a settler himself living in an illegal settlement in the West Bank, said there are differences in stances between the United States and Israel, and added that “even close friends differ, and commit mistakes”.
“The Americans are mistaken, especially when it comes to Israel’s settlement activities”, Lieberman stated, “The were also mistaken when the forced Israel to accept the Hamas rule after the Palestinian elections of 2006”.
Lieberman, who chairs Israel Our Home fundamentalist party, and once a member of the extreme, Israeli-outlawed Kach movement, served several positions in Israel and its Knesset.
He was also known for his statements against the Arabs in the country, considering them a “strategic threat” to Israel, and sometimes describing them as a “demographic threat”, in addition of his calls for “transferring the Palestinians” to Arab countries, and other smaller parts in Palestine.
Lieberman said the time has not come for officially presenting his “alternate plan”, but it could be presented, later on, depending on developments, the Maan News Agency has reported.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 2, Lieberman alleged that Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, became an obstacle, as he “failed to be a partner in peace”, and it became “impossible to reach a compromise with him”.
Lieberman further stated that Israel should be holding talks with Palestinian businessmen who reject Hamas, adding that many businessmen, in the West Bank and abroad, “can be talked to and are willing to discuss plans”.
The official, a settler himself living in an illegal settlement in the West Bank, said there are differences in stances between the United States and Israel, and added that “even close friends differ, and commit mistakes”.
“The Americans are mistaken, especially when it comes to Israel’s settlement activities”, Lieberman stated, “The were also mistaken when the forced Israel to accept the Hamas rule after the Palestinian elections of 2006”.
Lieberman, who chairs Israel Our Home fundamentalist party, and once a member of the extreme, Israeli-outlawed Kach movement, served several positions in Israel and its Knesset.
He was also known for his statements against the Arabs in the country, considering them a “strategic threat” to Israel, and sometimes describing them as a “demographic threat”, in addition of his calls for “transferring the Palestinians” to Arab countries, and other smaller parts in Palestine.
17 may 2014
A suspected Price Tag attack has targeted Thursday the Romanian Orthodox Church on Masrara street in occupied Jerusalem, in the latest of a series of hate crimes against Christians and Arabs. The Price Tag attackers stoned the church. A nun was slightly injured in the attack.
The attackers have also beaten the Deacon Elias Soryani while trying to prevent the attack, local sources revealed.
Price Tag groups have recently escalated their attacks against Islamic and Christian holy sites.
The attackers have also beaten the Deacon Elias Soryani while trying to prevent the attack, local sources revealed.
Price Tag groups have recently escalated their attacks against Islamic and Christian holy sites.
Israeli Housing Minister, Uri Ariel, stated that he expects the number of Jewish settlers, illegally living in segregated settlements in occupied Palestine, to significantly increase, reaching a %50 rise by 2019.
Ariel said that the political process with the Palestinians is dying, and that he expects more settlers to live in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem.
He told a radio station in Tel Aviv that he expects the number of settlers living in the West Bank to reach 550.000 to 600.000, while the current number of settlers is around 400.000.
He added that the number of Israelis living in occupied East Jerusalem is now around 300.000 - 350.000.
There are around 2.5 Million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem, both illegally captured by Israel in the 1967 six-day war.
Settlements are illegal under International Law, and under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is signatory.
Israel’s illegitimate settlements, and its apartheid wall, have turned the occupied territories into isolated cantons, and are depriving the Palestinians access to vast areas of their lands and orchards.
Settlements are strategically built in vital areas of the West Bank, such as hilltops, and the most fertile areas, rich with natural resources – mainly water and good soil, especially in the West Bank plains, in the Jordan Valley.
Ariel said that the political process with the Palestinians is dying, and that he expects more settlers to live in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem.
He told a radio station in Tel Aviv that he expects the number of settlers living in the West Bank to reach 550.000 to 600.000, while the current number of settlers is around 400.000.
He added that the number of Israelis living in occupied East Jerusalem is now around 300.000 - 350.000.
There are around 2.5 Million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem, both illegally captured by Israel in the 1967 six-day war.
Settlements are illegal under International Law, and under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is signatory.
Israel’s illegitimate settlements, and its apartheid wall, have turned the occupied territories into isolated cantons, and are depriving the Palestinians access to vast areas of their lands and orchards.
Settlements are strategically built in vital areas of the West Bank, such as hilltops, and the most fertile areas, rich with natural resources – mainly water and good soil, especially in the West Bank plains, in the Jordan Valley.
16 may 2014
Jewish settlers reportedly raided an orchard west of Bethlehem belonging to a Palestinian man and destroyed 58 trees early Friday morning, the victim said.
Raji Abd al-Aziz Sabateen told Ma'an that when he went to his field outside the village of Husan Friday morning he found that 58 trees had been mangled and torn apart.
Sabateen said that this is not the first time that Israelis from the nearby Jewish-only settlement of Betar Illit have attacked his orchard.
The orchard is located directly alongside the settlement, which was built on land belonging to the village that was confiscated by Israeli authorities.
Betar Illit sits wedged between Husan and a number of other Palestinian villages, and the fences and checkpoints that have been erected by the Israeli military around it cause major headaches for local residents.
Attacks on Palestinian orchards, meanwhile, are extremely common, as many settlers seek to expand their Jewish-only communities into nearby areas.
Husan is located in the seam zone, a quasi-militarized zone within the West Bank but on the Israeli side of the separation wall.
Villages within the seam zone experience severe restrictions on their movements, as they are completely surrounded by areas under Israeli control and cut off from other Palestinians, and Israeli forces require them to obtain permits in order to travel.
According to the UN, Around 7,500 Palestinians who reside in the Seam Zone require special permits to continue living in their own homes; another 23,000 will be isolated upon the wall's completion.
Jewish settlers ravage Palestinian agricultural land in Bethlehem
Fanatic Israeli settlers have uprooted yesterday dozens of olive trees and grapes in a Palestinian agricultural land in Bethlehem, southern West Bank.
Local sources confirmed that a group of settlers uprooted late yesterday 58 olive, grape and almond fruit trees after breaking into Palestinian land in the city.
The sources added that settlers from Beitar Illit settlement stormed an agricultural land, located in an area of 51 dunums, belonging to a Palestinian farmer, and uprooted his trees.
The mentioned agricultural land is exposed to daily attacks by settlers as part of their attempts to appropriate the land.
Raji Abd al-Aziz Sabateen told Ma'an that when he went to his field outside the village of Husan Friday morning he found that 58 trees had been mangled and torn apart.
Sabateen said that this is not the first time that Israelis from the nearby Jewish-only settlement of Betar Illit have attacked his orchard.
The orchard is located directly alongside the settlement, which was built on land belonging to the village that was confiscated by Israeli authorities.
Betar Illit sits wedged between Husan and a number of other Palestinian villages, and the fences and checkpoints that have been erected by the Israeli military around it cause major headaches for local residents.
Attacks on Palestinian orchards, meanwhile, are extremely common, as many settlers seek to expand their Jewish-only communities into nearby areas.
Husan is located in the seam zone, a quasi-militarized zone within the West Bank but on the Israeli side of the separation wall.
Villages within the seam zone experience severe restrictions on their movements, as they are completely surrounded by areas under Israeli control and cut off from other Palestinians, and Israeli forces require them to obtain permits in order to travel.
According to the UN, Around 7,500 Palestinians who reside in the Seam Zone require special permits to continue living in their own homes; another 23,000 will be isolated upon the wall's completion.
Jewish settlers ravage Palestinian agricultural land in Bethlehem
Fanatic Israeli settlers have uprooted yesterday dozens of olive trees and grapes in a Palestinian agricultural land in Bethlehem, southern West Bank.
Local sources confirmed that a group of settlers uprooted late yesterday 58 olive, grape and almond fruit trees after breaking into Palestinian land in the city.
The sources added that settlers from Beitar Illit settlement stormed an agricultural land, located in an area of 51 dunums, belonging to a Palestinian farmer, and uprooted his trees.
The mentioned agricultural land is exposed to daily attacks by settlers as part of their attempts to appropriate the land.
15 may 2014
Violent confrontations erupted on Thursday morning at the entrance to Aroub refugee camp north of al-Khalil and Tabaka village to the south while two boys were arrested and several shops were shut down and agricultural crops destroyed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Eye-witnesses told PIC correspondent: “Confrontations broke out between a group of students and dozens of Israeli patrols at the entrance to the camp, where heavy tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets were fired.”
The soldiers have been heavily deployed at the entrance to the camp and summoned military reinforcements amid a state of alert announced by IOF on the 66th Nakba anniversary.
Other clashes broke out in Tabaka village, south of al-Khalil. According to eye-witnesses: “More than eight military vehicles stationed at the main street and fired tear gas canisters and metal bullets targeting Palestinian civilians and students, who could only respond by throwing stones.”
A state of extreme anxiety overwhelmed the female students due to the heavy firing of tear gas and bullets.
IOF attacks culminated in arbitrary military checkpoints, abrupt incursions of Palestinians’ homes, and the persecution of students, eye-witnesses further documented.
Another child, 14, from Fawar refugee camp was arrested and carried to an unidentified destination after IOF raided his family home and rummaged through it.
Another Aroub refugee was also arrested in the process.
Along the same context, violent clashes broke out on Thursday between Israeli patrols and Palestinian unarmed young men in Bab Al-Zawiya in Al-Khalil while several shops were shut down by IOF, witnesses reported to PIC correspondent.
Several breathing problems were documented among Palestinian civilians due to the heavy firing of tear gas canisters.
In a related event, a horde of Umm Al-Arayes settlers attacked and ruined Palestinians’ wheat and barley crops after abrupt incursions carried out under shield of Israeli army in Yatta town in al-Khalil on Thursday morning, as Nabil Younis, a teacher in the town, confirmed in a telephone conversation with a PIC news reporter.
He further pointed out that around one and half tons of wheat and barley were destroyed in the attack.
Palestinian citizens who tried to protect their crops were ordered to keep away from the targeted lands so as to smooth in settlers’ attacks.
The soldiers have been heavily deployed at the entrance to the camp and summoned military reinforcements amid a state of alert announced by IOF on the 66th Nakba anniversary.
Other clashes broke out in Tabaka village, south of al-Khalil. According to eye-witnesses: “More than eight military vehicles stationed at the main street and fired tear gas canisters and metal bullets targeting Palestinian civilians and students, who could only respond by throwing stones.”
A state of extreme anxiety overwhelmed the female students due to the heavy firing of tear gas and bullets.
IOF attacks culminated in arbitrary military checkpoints, abrupt incursions of Palestinians’ homes, and the persecution of students, eye-witnesses further documented.
Another child, 14, from Fawar refugee camp was arrested and carried to an unidentified destination after IOF raided his family home and rummaged through it.
Another Aroub refugee was also arrested in the process.
Along the same context, violent clashes broke out on Thursday between Israeli patrols and Palestinian unarmed young men in Bab Al-Zawiya in Al-Khalil while several shops were shut down by IOF, witnesses reported to PIC correspondent.
Several breathing problems were documented among Palestinian civilians due to the heavy firing of tear gas canisters.
In a related event, a horde of Umm Al-Arayes settlers attacked and ruined Palestinians’ wheat and barley crops after abrupt incursions carried out under shield of Israeli army in Yatta town in al-Khalil on Thursday morning, as Nabil Younis, a teacher in the town, confirmed in a telephone conversation with a PIC news reporter.
He further pointed out that around one and half tons of wheat and barley were destroyed in the attack.
Palestinian citizens who tried to protect their crops were ordered to keep away from the targeted lands so as to smooth in settlers’ attacks.
14 may 2014
Israeli sources have reported that clashes took place between Israeli soldiers and settlers as the army arrived at the Ma’aleh Rehavam illegal outpost, one of three outposts Israel intends to evict. The army wanted to demolish seven illegal structures, including three homes.
The sources said the army was attempting to implement a ruling by the Israeli High Court against 28 structures and buildings, in the illegitimate outposts built on private Palestinian lands.
According to Israeli Ynet News, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and various officials, held talks with representatives of settlers in different settlements, including Gush Etzion and Benyamin, in an effort to reach an understanding that leads to voluntary eviction of 28 illegal buildings, including 16 inhabited structures.
It added that the talks last for six months following the Israeli High Court Ruling, but could not reach an understanding.
The Israeli Radio said the soldiers apprehended three of the Israelis involved, and sent them to an interrogation center.
The High Court ruling was made in November of last year, and the court instructed the army to demolish the buildings after the Palestinians filed appeals, and presented documents proving ownership of the lands.
In addition, Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Occupied Territories, Yuav Mordechai, stated that the army contacted heads of settlements in an attempt to evict the structures peacefully, but the talks failed.
Palestinian officials said that Israel is trying to remove some random illegal outposts in an attempt to legalize its illegitimate settlements built on Palestinian lands, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.
The sources said the army was attempting to implement a ruling by the Israeli High Court against 28 structures and buildings, in the illegitimate outposts built on private Palestinian lands.
According to Israeli Ynet News, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and various officials, held talks with representatives of settlers in different settlements, including Gush Etzion and Benyamin, in an effort to reach an understanding that leads to voluntary eviction of 28 illegal buildings, including 16 inhabited structures.
It added that the talks last for six months following the Israeli High Court Ruling, but could not reach an understanding.
The Israeli Radio said the soldiers apprehended three of the Israelis involved, and sent them to an interrogation center.
The High Court ruling was made in November of last year, and the court instructed the army to demolish the buildings after the Palestinians filed appeals, and presented documents proving ownership of the lands.
In addition, Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Occupied Territories, Yuav Mordechai, stated that the army contacted heads of settlements in an attempt to evict the structures peacefully, but the talks failed.
Palestinian officials said that Israel is trying to remove some random illegal outposts in an attempt to legalize its illegitimate settlements built on Palestinian lands, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied East Jerusalem.
Dozens of Israeli conscripts and settlers desecrated the plazas of the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday morning. The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said in a statement that 45 settlers entered the Aqsa via Mahgareba Gate under strict police protection.
It said that the settlers toured the Mosque’s various courtyards and tried to perform Talmudic rituals, an attempt that was confronted by guards and worshipers.
At the same time, 90 male and female conscripts raided the holy site in their military uniform in three groups and listened to explanations on the alleged temple.
Hundreds of vigilantes and worshipers were angered at the tours and chanted Allahu Akbar. Israeli policemen arrested two brothers for reiterating the Takbir and threatened all those who do so with arrest.
Israeli policemen at the gates of the Aqsa confiscated IDs of students wishing to enter the Mosque and denied access for some of them.
It said that the settlers toured the Mosque’s various courtyards and tried to perform Talmudic rituals, an attempt that was confronted by guards and worshipers.
At the same time, 90 male and female conscripts raided the holy site in their military uniform in three groups and listened to explanations on the alleged temple.
Hundreds of vigilantes and worshipers were angered at the tours and chanted Allahu Akbar. Israeli policemen arrested two brothers for reiterating the Takbir and threatened all those who do so with arrest.
Israeli policemen at the gates of the Aqsa confiscated IDs of students wishing to enter the Mosque and denied access for some of them.
Israeli military forces began demolishing structures in an illegal West Bank settler outpost on Wednesday, the army said, after attempts at a voluntary evacuation failed.
Soldiers at the Maale Rehavam outpost, southeast of Bethlehem, helped demolish 11 structures, five of which had been inhabited, a defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
Israeli media reported that the army was also to raze more than a dozen structures in two other outposts, Ramat Gilad and Givat Assaf, by the weekend.
The orders to remove the structures came after residents refused to evacuate voluntarily.
Israel's High Court ruled in November that the state must remove the structures which were on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Last year Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the government had decided to legalize a number of outposts which were on land purchased from Palestinians, including parts of Maale Rehavam.
Israel considers settlement outposts built without government approval to be illegal, although they receive support and finances from government ministries.
The international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- to be illegal.
Israel has established over 100 illegal settlements in the West Bank since occupying the Palestinian territory in 1967.
The construction of settlements "preclude any real possibility of establishing an independent, viable Palestinian state as part of the fulfillment of the right to self-determination," according to B'Tselem.
There are now some 530,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Soldiers at the Maale Rehavam outpost, southeast of Bethlehem, helped demolish 11 structures, five of which had been inhabited, a defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
Israeli media reported that the army was also to raze more than a dozen structures in two other outposts, Ramat Gilad and Givat Assaf, by the weekend.
The orders to remove the structures came after residents refused to evacuate voluntarily.
Israel's High Court ruled in November that the state must remove the structures which were on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Last year Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the government had decided to legalize a number of outposts which were on land purchased from Palestinians, including parts of Maale Rehavam.
Israel considers settlement outposts built without government approval to be illegal, although they receive support and finances from government ministries.
The international community considers all settlements built in the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- to be illegal.
Israel has established over 100 illegal settlements in the West Bank since occupying the Palestinian territory in 1967.
The construction of settlements "preclude any real possibility of establishing an independent, viable Palestinian state as part of the fulfillment of the right to self-determination," according to B'Tselem.
There are now some 530,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Palestinian citizens of Israel are increasingly emphasizing their Palestinian identity and making national demands, as hate attacks by Jewish extremists and laws perceived as discriminatory have multiplied.
Some 10,000 Palestinians rallied in northern Israel earlier this month for the right of return for refugees who fled or were driven from their homes during the war that led to the creation of Israel 1948.
It was a much higher than usual turnout for the annual commemoration of the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) and drew an angry response from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
He described the protesters as a "fifth column," and thundered that they should "march directly to Ramallah," a Palestinian city in the West Bank "and stay there."
A growing number of Palestinians based in Israel are visiting the cities of West Bank, if only to spend the odd weekend.
"The Palestinian people are one, wherever they live," said Shaher Mahameed, from the town of Umm al-Fahm, on a visit to the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
"My ID card says I'm Israeli, but my heart is Arab Palestinian, and always will be."
More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number more than 5 million with their descendants -- fled or were driven from their homes in 1948 and commemorate Nakba Day on Thursday.
The 160,000 who stayed behind are now known as "Arab Israelis" and number about 1.4 million, some 20 percent of Israel's population.
Each weekend, growing numbers of Palestinians based in Israel pack out cafes and hotels in the West Bank and flock to the markets, combining visits to relatives with cheaper shopping and leisure.
"The Palestinians who live inside Israel coming here to shop in Nablus has really given a boost to the city's markets," said clothes shop owner Abu Hussein.
'Nationalism and marginalization'
The reassertion of a Palestinian identity by growing numbers of so-called "Arab Israelis" comes after a string of attacks on Christian and Muslim properties by suspected Jewish extremists, and after several new Israeli laws they perceive as infringing on their civil rights.
"Palestinians inside Israel have never lost their national awareness. But at the moment it's growing," said Nadeem Nashef, director of an Palestinian youth organization based in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
The attacks, and attempts "to give more privileges to Jews, have pushed people into taking firmer (nationalist) positions," Nashef said.
Mordechai Kedar, professor of Arab studies at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, agreed.
"The attacks that have taken place in the last few weeks, such as the burning of cars and scrawling of (racist) graffiti, ignite feelings of nationalism and of marginalization," he said.
The uptick in racist attacks has alarmed Israeli police, who have begun working in tandem with the internal security service Shin Bet to prosecute what some politicians are calling "terrorist" acts.
But despite the government's proclamation of its determination to root out the racism of the extremists, Palestinians in Israel feel they are simultaneously marginalized by the establishment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month defended plans to enshrine in law Israel's status as the national homeland of the Jewish people.
For Palestinians, accepting Israel as a "Jewish state" would mean accepting the Nakba and potentially precluding the right of return for 1948 refugees and their descendants.
In March, Israel raised the threshold of votes parties need to get seats in parliament, in a bill boycotted by all opposition MKs on the basis that it marginalizes minority parties such as the Palestinian Arab nationalist Balad.
Some 10,000 Palestinians rallied in northern Israel earlier this month for the right of return for refugees who fled or were driven from their homes during the war that led to the creation of Israel 1948.
It was a much higher than usual turnout for the annual commemoration of the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) and drew an angry response from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
He described the protesters as a "fifth column," and thundered that they should "march directly to Ramallah," a Palestinian city in the West Bank "and stay there."
A growing number of Palestinians based in Israel are visiting the cities of West Bank, if only to spend the odd weekend.
"The Palestinian people are one, wherever they live," said Shaher Mahameed, from the town of Umm al-Fahm, on a visit to the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
"My ID card says I'm Israeli, but my heart is Arab Palestinian, and always will be."
More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number more than 5 million with their descendants -- fled or were driven from their homes in 1948 and commemorate Nakba Day on Thursday.
The 160,000 who stayed behind are now known as "Arab Israelis" and number about 1.4 million, some 20 percent of Israel's population.
Each weekend, growing numbers of Palestinians based in Israel pack out cafes and hotels in the West Bank and flock to the markets, combining visits to relatives with cheaper shopping and leisure.
"The Palestinians who live inside Israel coming here to shop in Nablus has really given a boost to the city's markets," said clothes shop owner Abu Hussein.
'Nationalism and marginalization'
The reassertion of a Palestinian identity by growing numbers of so-called "Arab Israelis" comes after a string of attacks on Christian and Muslim properties by suspected Jewish extremists, and after several new Israeli laws they perceive as infringing on their civil rights.
"Palestinians inside Israel have never lost their national awareness. But at the moment it's growing," said Nadeem Nashef, director of an Palestinian youth organization based in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
The attacks, and attempts "to give more privileges to Jews, have pushed people into taking firmer (nationalist) positions," Nashef said.
Mordechai Kedar, professor of Arab studies at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, agreed.
"The attacks that have taken place in the last few weeks, such as the burning of cars and scrawling of (racist) graffiti, ignite feelings of nationalism and of marginalization," he said.
The uptick in racist attacks has alarmed Israeli police, who have begun working in tandem with the internal security service Shin Bet to prosecute what some politicians are calling "terrorist" acts.
But despite the government's proclamation of its determination to root out the racism of the extremists, Palestinians in Israel feel they are simultaneously marginalized by the establishment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month defended plans to enshrine in law Israel's status as the national homeland of the Jewish people.
For Palestinians, accepting Israel as a "Jewish state" would mean accepting the Nakba and potentially precluding the right of return for 1948 refugees and their descendants.
In March, Israel raised the threshold of votes parties need to get seats in parliament, in a bill boycotted by all opposition MKs on the basis that it marginalizes minority parties such as the Palestinian Arab nationalist Balad.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH), active in the defense of holy Islamic sites in 48 occupied Palestine, said extremist MK Miri Regev, from the ruling Likud Party and Knesset internal committee chairwoman, submitted a draft bill calling to officially divide al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews.
The Foundation revealed in a press statement on Tuesday the law proposes an authorized adoption of a temporal and spatial division of al-Aqsa Mosque of the kind imposed by the Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) in the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied al-Khalil against the will of all Palestinians.
"Such a draft proposal is a bad omen and has serious implications for Al-Aqsa, which has been increasingly targeted by IOA,” Aqsa Foundation revealed.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque covers on overall area of 144 dunums. History proves that it has and will forever be Muslims’ one and only home,” AFEH further maintains. “Neither Regev’s nor anybody else’s proposals shall ever see the day. All Islamic, Arab and Palestinian masses have to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis holy al-Aqsa Mosque.”
According to the Foundation, the IOA has been provocatively manipulating prayer times and spaces in favor of Jews at the Ibrahimi mosque, particularly but not exclusively, during Jewish holidays and celebrations.
“The so-called Regev proposal is a flagrant call to desecration break-ins watched over by Israeli laws. Penalties for attempts to protect al-Aqsa from such blatant offenses were put at 50-thousand-shekel fines (around 15 thousand dollars), ironically, shelled out to the Jewish desecrator.
According to Regev the law will be granted constitutional immunity and cannot, in any possible way, be called off under emergency laws.
AFEH spoke against the serious implications of the division bill on holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has increasingly been made by IOA into a favorable terrain for Israeli vandalism as opposed to the absurdly forced entry-bans targeting the Muslim congregation.
The Foundation called on the Muslim and Arab masses to rally round al-Aqsa and stage more sit-ins inside it as a means to save the Mosque from Israeli sacrilege plots.
The Foundation revealed in a press statement on Tuesday the law proposes an authorized adoption of a temporal and spatial division of al-Aqsa Mosque of the kind imposed by the Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) in the Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied al-Khalil against the will of all Palestinians.
"Such a draft proposal is a bad omen and has serious implications for Al-Aqsa, which has been increasingly targeted by IOA,” Aqsa Foundation revealed.
“Al-Aqsa Mosque covers on overall area of 144 dunums. History proves that it has and will forever be Muslims’ one and only home,” AFEH further maintains. “Neither Regev’s nor anybody else’s proposals shall ever see the day. All Islamic, Arab and Palestinian masses have to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis holy al-Aqsa Mosque.”
According to the Foundation, the IOA has been provocatively manipulating prayer times and spaces in favor of Jews at the Ibrahimi mosque, particularly but not exclusively, during Jewish holidays and celebrations.
“The so-called Regev proposal is a flagrant call to desecration break-ins watched over by Israeli laws. Penalties for attempts to protect al-Aqsa from such blatant offenses were put at 50-thousand-shekel fines (around 15 thousand dollars), ironically, shelled out to the Jewish desecrator.
According to Regev the law will be granted constitutional immunity and cannot, in any possible way, be called off under emergency laws.
AFEH spoke against the serious implications of the division bill on holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has increasingly been made by IOA into a favorable terrain for Israeli vandalism as opposed to the absurdly forced entry-bans targeting the Muslim congregation.
The Foundation called on the Muslim and Arab masses to rally round al-Aqsa and stage more sit-ins inside it as a means to save the Mosque from Israeli sacrilege plots.
A group of Jewish female settlers attacked two Aqsa Mosque guards on Tuesday night with pepper spray. Jerusalemite sources said that the women settlers, who were loitering in the vicinity of the Mosque, suddenly sprayed pepper gas at the Asbat Gate, adding that two guards suffered burns as a result.
The sources noted that groups of Jewish women perform Talmudic rituals on daily basis near the Mosque’s gates.
Meanwhile, the Israeli police in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday ordered two Palestinian women and a man not to approach the Aqsa Mosque for two weeks as punishment for chanting Allahu Akbar during a settlers’ incursion into its plazas.
A group of Jewish settlers entered the holy site on Tuesday morning under heavy police protection and provoked Muslim worshipers and students at study and took photos of them.
Worshipers and students started to chant Allahu Akbar in response to the provocation and denounced the settlers’ acts.
The sources noted that groups of Jewish women perform Talmudic rituals on daily basis near the Mosque’s gates.
Meanwhile, the Israeli police in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday ordered two Palestinian women and a man not to approach the Aqsa Mosque for two weeks as punishment for chanting Allahu Akbar during a settlers’ incursion into its plazas.
A group of Jewish settlers entered the holy site on Tuesday morning under heavy police protection and provoked Muslim worshipers and students at study and took photos of them.
Worshipers and students started to chant Allahu Akbar in response to the provocation and denounced the settlers’ acts.