21 nov 2018
Israel's Minister of Construction and Housing Yoav Galant on Wednesday threatened to assassinate Hamas's chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya al-Sinwar.
For his part, Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, speaking at a Jerusalem conference, said that Israel is close to re-occupying the Gaza Strip.
Erdan affirmed that Israel is "closer than ever" to re-taking over the coastal enclave and "must move from defense to offense", which means "targeted killings of Hamas leaders".
Israel over the past ten years has waged three military assaults on the Gaza Strip. The first started on 27 December 2008, lasted for 21 days, and led to the killing of 1,436 Palestinians, including 410 children, 104 women, and 100 elderly people. Over 5,400 were injured, half of whom were children.
The second assault flared up on 14 November 2012 and lasted for eight days. The Israeli army killed 162 Palestinians, including 42 children and 11 women, while nearly 1,300 were injured.
The third assault was the longest. It lasted for 51 days, killing 2,322 Palestinians, 578 of whom were children, 489 were women, and 102 were elderly people. About 11,000 Palestinians suffered different injuries.
Last week the Israeli army launched a two-day military operation on the Gaza Strip and killed 14 Palestinians.
Seven resistance fighters were killed in clashes with an Israeli special force that sneaked into Khan Younis city in the southern area of the Gaza Strip, while seven Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on different targets.
For his part, Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, speaking at a Jerusalem conference, said that Israel is close to re-occupying the Gaza Strip.
Erdan affirmed that Israel is "closer than ever" to re-taking over the coastal enclave and "must move from defense to offense", which means "targeted killings of Hamas leaders".
Israel over the past ten years has waged three military assaults on the Gaza Strip. The first started on 27 December 2008, lasted for 21 days, and led to the killing of 1,436 Palestinians, including 410 children, 104 women, and 100 elderly people. Over 5,400 were injured, half of whom were children.
The second assault flared up on 14 November 2012 and lasted for eight days. The Israeli army killed 162 Palestinians, including 42 children and 11 women, while nearly 1,300 were injured.
The third assault was the longest. It lasted for 51 days, killing 2,322 Palestinians, 578 of whom were children, 489 were women, and 102 were elderly people. About 11,000 Palestinians suffered different injuries.
Last week the Israeli army launched a two-day military operation on the Gaza Strip and killed 14 Palestinians.
Seven resistance fighters were killed in clashes with an Israeli special force that sneaked into Khan Younis city in the southern area of the Gaza Strip, while seven Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on different targets.
Dozens of Palestinians choked on teargas on Wednesday shortly after the Israeli occupation forces stormed Sebastiya town, north of Nablus, and showered the area with spates of teargas grenades.
Sebastiya Mayor, Mohamed Azem, said clashes broke out moments after full-armed Israeli troops rolled into Sebastiya to secure a mass break-in by Israeli fanatic settlers into archeological sites in the area.
The occupation soldiers attacked Palestinian civilians with randomly-discharged spates of teargas grenades, resulting in dozens of suffocation cases.
Sebastiya Mayor, Mohamed Azem, said clashes broke out moments after full-armed Israeli troops rolled into Sebastiya to secure a mass break-in by Israeli fanatic settlers into archeological sites in the area.
The occupation soldiers attacked Palestinian civilians with randomly-discharged spates of teargas grenades, resulting in dozens of suffocation cases.
Violent clashes broke out between Palestinian youths and Israeli police forces in Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem.
The clashes erupted after Israeli bulldozers demolished dozens of Palestinian-owned commercial stores at the entrance to the camp under the pretext of being built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli forces along with the Israeli Civil Administration staff stormed the refugee camp while bulldozers began to demolish more than 20 Palestinian shops.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces stormed Issawiya town to the north of the occupied city.
The clashes erupted after Israeli bulldozers demolished dozens of Palestinian-owned commercial stores at the entrance to the camp under the pretext of being built without the difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli forces along with the Israeli Civil Administration staff stormed the refugee camp while bulldozers began to demolish more than 20 Palestinian shops.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces stormed Issawiya town to the north of the occupied city.
A number of Palestinian students were injured on Wednesday after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) heavily fired tear gas bombs and stun grenades at their school south of Nablus.
Local sources told WAFA news agency that the soldiers attacked the students as they were leaving their school.
A number of students were also detained during the assault for being allegedly involved in stone-throwing attacks.
Local sources told WAFA news agency that the soldiers attacked the students as they were leaving their school.
A number of students were also detained during the assault for being allegedly involved in stone-throwing attacks.
MP Ahmad Atoun
A number of Palestinians were kidnapped and others injured in an abduction sweep launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at predawn time Wednesday.
The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the abduction of nine Palestinians overnight on allegations of involvement in anti-occupation activities.
The list of arrestees includes the Palestinian MP Ahmad Atoun, who was deported from his hometown by the Israeli occupation authorities.
The sweep targeted Palestinian youths in al-Am’ari refugee camp and Bethlehem’s southern town of Beit Fajjar.
Israeli patrols further stormed Nablus and seized the vehicle of Palestinian ex-prisoner Fadi Asida. Clashes burst out shortly after the assault.
The occupation forces wreaked havoc on civilian homes all the way through the raid and seized cash from the home of Palestinian woman Haniya Naser. A sum of 5,200 shekels was stolen by the occupation soldiers from the home of the Palestinian citizen Malek Eshtiyeh.
A few hours earlier, Israeli troops raided Deir al-Ghasoun town, north of Tulkarem, and ransacked dozens of Palestinian homes as they rummaged around for the anti-occupation attacker Ashraf Na’luwa. Clashes burst out in the area.
In the meantime, the IOF ransacked residential alleyways in Qalqilya, sparking clashes with the Palestinian locals. A number of anti-occupation youths were shot and injured with rubber bullets.
At the same time, the IOF closed off the western entrance to Kafr al-Dick town, west of Salfit, under the security pretext.
Soldiers Detonate Doors Of Homes And Stores, Before Invading Them, Near Tulkarem
Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, scores of Palestinian homes and shops in Deir al-Ghosoun town, north of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, after detonating their doors, and fired many flares, gas bombs and concussion grenades in several neighborhoods and alleys.
Locals in the town said the invasion was carried out by more than 30 armored Israeli military vehicles, before the soldiers were heavily deployed in various alleys and neighborhoods.
They added that the soldiers detonated the front doors of dozens of homes and stores in the town, before invading them, and initiated extensive and violent searches, leading to further destruction.
The invasions targeted more than fifty homes and stores, while the soldiers also distributed leaflets warning severe punishment, including demolition of property and homes and threatening extended prison sentences against any Palestinian who provides aid to Ashraf Na’alwa.
The soldiers also carried out extensive and violent searches in Bal’a and Ramin towns, east of Tulkarem, in addition to Zeita town, north of the city, including the surrounding farmlands and hills.
Since Na’alwa carried out the fatal shooting in Burkan illegal colony, killing two Israelis, identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh HaAyin, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion, and fled the scene, the military started ongoing invasions into his home, and the homes of his relatives along with dozens of homes and property.
The army also frequently abducted and imprisoned members of Ashraf’s family, and issued a demolition order targeting his parent’s home.
A number of Palestinians were kidnapped and others injured in an abduction sweep launched by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at predawn time Wednesday.
The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the abduction of nine Palestinians overnight on allegations of involvement in anti-occupation activities.
The list of arrestees includes the Palestinian MP Ahmad Atoun, who was deported from his hometown by the Israeli occupation authorities.
The sweep targeted Palestinian youths in al-Am’ari refugee camp and Bethlehem’s southern town of Beit Fajjar.
Israeli patrols further stormed Nablus and seized the vehicle of Palestinian ex-prisoner Fadi Asida. Clashes burst out shortly after the assault.
The occupation forces wreaked havoc on civilian homes all the way through the raid and seized cash from the home of Palestinian woman Haniya Naser. A sum of 5,200 shekels was stolen by the occupation soldiers from the home of the Palestinian citizen Malek Eshtiyeh.
A few hours earlier, Israeli troops raided Deir al-Ghasoun town, north of Tulkarem, and ransacked dozens of Palestinian homes as they rummaged around for the anti-occupation attacker Ashraf Na’luwa. Clashes burst out in the area.
In the meantime, the IOF ransacked residential alleyways in Qalqilya, sparking clashes with the Palestinian locals. A number of anti-occupation youths were shot and injured with rubber bullets.
At the same time, the IOF closed off the western entrance to Kafr al-Dick town, west of Salfit, under the security pretext.
Soldiers Detonate Doors Of Homes And Stores, Before Invading Them, Near Tulkarem
Dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, scores of Palestinian homes and shops in Deir al-Ghosoun town, north of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, after detonating their doors, and fired many flares, gas bombs and concussion grenades in several neighborhoods and alleys.
Locals in the town said the invasion was carried out by more than 30 armored Israeli military vehicles, before the soldiers were heavily deployed in various alleys and neighborhoods.
They added that the soldiers detonated the front doors of dozens of homes and stores in the town, before invading them, and initiated extensive and violent searches, leading to further destruction.
The invasions targeted more than fifty homes and stores, while the soldiers also distributed leaflets warning severe punishment, including demolition of property and homes and threatening extended prison sentences against any Palestinian who provides aid to Ashraf Na’alwa.
The soldiers also carried out extensive and violent searches in Bal’a and Ramin towns, east of Tulkarem, in addition to Zeita town, north of the city, including the surrounding farmlands and hills.
Since Na’alwa carried out the fatal shooting in Burkan illegal colony, killing two Israelis, identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh HaAyin, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion, and fled the scene, the military started ongoing invasions into his home, and the homes of his relatives along with dozens of homes and property.
The army also frequently abducted and imprisoned members of Ashraf’s family, and issued a demolition order targeting his parent’s home.
The Israeli occupation forces at daybreak Wednesday rolled into Deir al-Ghasoun town, north of Tulkarem, and ransacked dozens of Palestinian homes as they rummaged around for the anti-occupation attacker Ashraf Na’luwa.
A large-scale raid has been carried out by the Israeli military into Deir al-Ghasoun, sparking panic among civilians, particularly children, the locals told PIC.
Full-armed soldiers wreaked havoc on civilian homes and ransacked local facilities as they chased down Na’luwa.
Israeli army patrols have cordoned off all entrances to the town and called on Na’luwa via loudspeakers to turn himself in.
The occupation soldiers vowed to subject all those who have given assistance to Na’luwa to collective punishment and harsh torture.
A large-scale raid has been carried out by the Israeli military into Deir al-Ghasoun, sparking panic among civilians, particularly children, the locals told PIC.
Full-armed soldiers wreaked havoc on civilian homes and ransacked local facilities as they chased down Na’luwa.
Israeli army patrols have cordoned off all entrances to the town and called on Na’luwa via loudspeakers to turn himself in.
The occupation soldiers vowed to subject all those who have given assistance to Na’luwa to collective punishment and harsh torture.
20 nov 2018
Israeli authorities notified Tuesday evening 20 Palestinian-owned stores with demolition in occupied Jerusalem under the pretext of being built without Israeli permit.
According to local sources, Israeli forces stormed in large numbers Shu’fat refugee camp, to the north of the occupied city, accompanied with municipal crews.
During the raid, the forces handed over demolition notifications against 20 stores.
The notified commercial facilities, built more than ten years ago, are to be demolished within 12 hours, the sources added. video
As a result, violent clashes broke out amid heavy fire of rubber bullets and sound generates. No injuries were reported.
According to local sources, Israeli forces stormed in large numbers Shu’fat refugee camp, to the north of the occupied city, accompanied with municipal crews.
During the raid, the forces handed over demolition notifications against 20 stores.
The notified commercial facilities, built more than ten years ago, are to be demolished within 12 hours, the sources added. video
As a result, violent clashes broke out amid heavy fire of rubber bullets and sound generates. No injuries were reported.
The botched Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip on 12 November is delineating Tel Aviv’s failure to utilize its army as a tool to achieve Palestinian political concessions.
Now that Palestinian popular resistance has gone global through the exponential rise and growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, the Israeli government is fighting two desperate wars.
Following the Gaza attack, Palestinians responded by showering the southern Israeli border with rockets and carried out a precise operation targeting an Israeli army bus. As Palestinians marched in celebration of pushing the Israeli army out of their besieged enclave, the fragile political order in Israel – long-managed by right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – was quickly unraveling.
Two days after the Israeli attack on Gaza, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit in protest of Netanyahu’s ‘surrender’ to the Palestinian resistance. Israeli leaders are in a precarious situation. Untamed violence comes at a price of international condemnation and a Palestinian response that is bolder and more strategic every time. However, failing to teach Gaza its proverbial ‘lesson’ is viewed as an act of surrender by opportunistic Israeli politicians.
While Israel is experiencing such limitations on the traditional battlefield, which it once completely dominated, its war against the global BDS movement is surely a lost battle. Israel has a poor track record in confronting civil society-based mobilization. Despite the vulnerability of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, it took the Israeli government and military seven long years to pacify the Intifada, the popular uprising of 1987. Even on this, the jury is still out on what truly ended the popular revolt.
Of course, it should be accepted that a global Intifada is much more difficult to suppress, or even contain. Yet, when Israel began to sense the growing danger of BDS – which was officially launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005 – it responded with the same superfluous and predictable pattern: arrests, violence and a torrent of laws that criminalize dissent at home, while unleashing an international campaign of intimidation and smearing of boycott activists and organisations.
This approach achieved little, aside from garnering BDS more attention and international solidarity. However, Israel’s war on the movement took a serious turn last year when Netanyahu’s government dedicated about $72 million to defeat the civil society-led campaign.
Utilizing the ever-willing US government to boost its anti-BDS tactics, Tel Aviv feels assured that its counter-BDS efforts in the US are off to a promising start. However, it is only recently that Israel has begun to formulate the wider European component of its global strategy.
In a two-day conference in Brussels earlier this month, Israeli officials and their European supporters unleashed their broader European anti-BDS campaign. Organised by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and the Europe Israel Public Affairs group (EIPA), the conference was fully supported by the Israeli government and featured right-wing Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin.
Under the usual pretext of addressing the danger of anti-Semitism in Europe, attendees deliberately conflated racism and any criticism of Israel, of its military occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. The EJA Annual Conference has raised Israel’s manipulation of the term ‘anti-Semitism’ to a whole new level, as it drafted a text that will purportedly be presented to prospective members of the European Parliament (MEPs), demanding their signature before running in next May’s elections. Those who decline to sign – or worse, repudiate the Israeli initiative – are likely to find themselves fending off accusations of racism and anti-Semitism.
Yet this was certainly not the first conference of its kind. The anti-BDS euphoria that has swept Israel in recent years yielded several crowded and passionate conferences in luxurious hotels, where Israeli officials openly threatened BDS activists such as Omar Barghouti. Barghouti was warned by a top Israeli official during a 2016 conference in Jerusalem of “civil assassination” for his role in the organisation of the movement.
In March 2017, the Israeli Knesset passed the Anti-BDS Travel Ban, which requires the Interior Minister to deny entry to the country to any foreign national who “knowingly issued a public call to boycott the state of Israel”. Since the ban went into effect, many BDS supporters have been detained, deported and barred from entering the country.
While Israel has demonstrated its ability to galvanize self-serving US and European politicians to support its cause, there is no evidence that the BDS movement is being quelled or weakened in any way. On the contrary, Israel’s strategy has raised the ire of many activists, civil society and civil rights groups who are angered by its attempt at subverting freedom of speech in western countries.
Just recently, the University of Leeds in the UK has joined many other campuses around the world in divesting from Israel. The tide is, indeed, turning.
Decades of Zionist indoctrination failed, not only in reversing the vastly-changing public opinion on the Palestinian struggle for freedom and rights, but even in preserving the once solid pro-Israel sentiment among young Jews, most notably in the US. For BDS supporters, however, every Israeli strategy presents an opportunity to raise awareness of Palestinian rights and to mobilize civil society around the world against Israel’s occupation and racism.
BDS’ success is attributed to the very reason Israel is failing to counter its efforts: it is a disciplined model of popular, civil resistance based on engagement, open debate and democratic choices, while grounded in international and humanitarian law.
Israel’s ‘war-chest’ will run dry in the end, for no amount of money could have saved the racist, Apartheid regime in South Africa when it came tumbling down decades ago. Needless to say, $72 million will not turn the tide in favor of Apartheid Israel, nor will it change the course of history that can only belong to those people who are unrelenting when it comes to achieving their long-coveted freedom.
- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle.
Now that Palestinian popular resistance has gone global through the exponential rise and growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, the Israeli government is fighting two desperate wars.
Following the Gaza attack, Palestinians responded by showering the southern Israeli border with rockets and carried out a precise operation targeting an Israeli army bus. As Palestinians marched in celebration of pushing the Israeli army out of their besieged enclave, the fragile political order in Israel – long-managed by right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – was quickly unraveling.
Two days after the Israeli attack on Gaza, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit in protest of Netanyahu’s ‘surrender’ to the Palestinian resistance. Israeli leaders are in a precarious situation. Untamed violence comes at a price of international condemnation and a Palestinian response that is bolder and more strategic every time. However, failing to teach Gaza its proverbial ‘lesson’ is viewed as an act of surrender by opportunistic Israeli politicians.
While Israel is experiencing such limitations on the traditional battlefield, which it once completely dominated, its war against the global BDS movement is surely a lost battle. Israel has a poor track record in confronting civil society-based mobilization. Despite the vulnerability of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, it took the Israeli government and military seven long years to pacify the Intifada, the popular uprising of 1987. Even on this, the jury is still out on what truly ended the popular revolt.
Of course, it should be accepted that a global Intifada is much more difficult to suppress, or even contain. Yet, when Israel began to sense the growing danger of BDS – which was officially launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005 – it responded with the same superfluous and predictable pattern: arrests, violence and a torrent of laws that criminalize dissent at home, while unleashing an international campaign of intimidation and smearing of boycott activists and organisations.
This approach achieved little, aside from garnering BDS more attention and international solidarity. However, Israel’s war on the movement took a serious turn last year when Netanyahu’s government dedicated about $72 million to defeat the civil society-led campaign.
Utilizing the ever-willing US government to boost its anti-BDS tactics, Tel Aviv feels assured that its counter-BDS efforts in the US are off to a promising start. However, it is only recently that Israel has begun to formulate the wider European component of its global strategy.
In a two-day conference in Brussels earlier this month, Israeli officials and their European supporters unleashed their broader European anti-BDS campaign. Organised by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and the Europe Israel Public Affairs group (EIPA), the conference was fully supported by the Israeli government and featured right-wing Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin.
Under the usual pretext of addressing the danger of anti-Semitism in Europe, attendees deliberately conflated racism and any criticism of Israel, of its military occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. The EJA Annual Conference has raised Israel’s manipulation of the term ‘anti-Semitism’ to a whole new level, as it drafted a text that will purportedly be presented to prospective members of the European Parliament (MEPs), demanding their signature before running in next May’s elections. Those who decline to sign – or worse, repudiate the Israeli initiative – are likely to find themselves fending off accusations of racism and anti-Semitism.
Yet this was certainly not the first conference of its kind. The anti-BDS euphoria that has swept Israel in recent years yielded several crowded and passionate conferences in luxurious hotels, where Israeli officials openly threatened BDS activists such as Omar Barghouti. Barghouti was warned by a top Israeli official during a 2016 conference in Jerusalem of “civil assassination” for his role in the organisation of the movement.
In March 2017, the Israeli Knesset passed the Anti-BDS Travel Ban, which requires the Interior Minister to deny entry to the country to any foreign national who “knowingly issued a public call to boycott the state of Israel”. Since the ban went into effect, many BDS supporters have been detained, deported and barred from entering the country.
While Israel has demonstrated its ability to galvanize self-serving US and European politicians to support its cause, there is no evidence that the BDS movement is being quelled or weakened in any way. On the contrary, Israel’s strategy has raised the ire of many activists, civil society and civil rights groups who are angered by its attempt at subverting freedom of speech in western countries.
Just recently, the University of Leeds in the UK has joined many other campuses around the world in divesting from Israel. The tide is, indeed, turning.
Decades of Zionist indoctrination failed, not only in reversing the vastly-changing public opinion on the Palestinian struggle for freedom and rights, but even in preserving the once solid pro-Israel sentiment among young Jews, most notably in the US. For BDS supporters, however, every Israeli strategy presents an opportunity to raise awareness of Palestinian rights and to mobilize civil society around the world against Israel’s occupation and racism.
BDS’ success is attributed to the very reason Israel is failing to counter its efforts: it is a disciplined model of popular, civil resistance based on engagement, open debate and democratic choices, while grounded in international and humanitarian law.
Israel’s ‘war-chest’ will run dry in the end, for no amount of money could have saved the racist, Apartheid regime in South Africa when it came tumbling down decades ago. Needless to say, $72 million will not turn the tide in favor of Apartheid Israel, nor will it change the course of history that can only belong to those people who are unrelenting when it comes to achieving their long-coveted freedom.
- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday evening kidnapped a Palestinian citizen and his son from their home in Qalqilya in the West Bank.
Local sources reported that the IOF kidnapped Hamza Hussein and his son, Qusay, from their house in Azzun town, east of Qalqilya.
In a separate incident, several Palestinian citizens suffered from their exposure to tear gas fumes during clashes yesterday with Israeli soldiers in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.
Local sources reported that the IOF kidnapped Hamza Hussein and his son, Qusay, from their house in Azzun town, east of Qalqilya.
In a separate incident, several Palestinian citizens suffered from their exposure to tear gas fumes during clashes yesterday with Israeli soldiers in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.
Israeli navy ships opened fire, on Tuesday morning, at several Palestinian fishing boats, while the soldiers invaded agricultural lands, in the Gaza Strip.
Media sources in Gaza said several armored military vehicles, stationed at Abu Safiya army base, across the perimeter fence, invaded farmlands, east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza.
They added that the army vehicles, including bulldozers, advanced nearly 100 meters into the lands, and bulldozed sections close to the fence.
In addition, the Israeli navy ships fired many live rounds at fishing boats, in Palestinian territorial waters close to the shore, in the northern part of the coastal region.
Media sources in Gaza said several armored military vehicles, stationed at Abu Safiya army base, across the perimeter fence, invaded farmlands, east of the al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza.
They added that the army vehicles, including bulldozers, advanced nearly 100 meters into the lands, and bulldozed sections close to the fence.
In addition, the Israeli navy ships fired many live rounds at fishing boats, in Palestinian territorial waters close to the shore, in the northern part of the coastal region.