14 jan 2019
Israeli settlers are advancing plans to expand the illegal settlement of Rahalim, east of Salfit in the central occupied West Bank, at the expense of tens of dunums of private Palestinian agricultural land, local sources said.
Eyewitnesses reported that dozens of Israeli settlers have recently leveled agricultural land in Yasuf and Iskaka towns, east of Salfit, for new settlement units.
According to Palestinian figures, roughly 640,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government's approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.
Israel's settlements in the West Bank are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to the UN, which forbids states from transferring their citizens to occupied land, as well as a presumptive war crime under the 1998 Statute of Rome that set up the International Criminal Court.
Eyewitnesses reported that dozens of Israeli settlers have recently leveled agricultural land in Yasuf and Iskaka towns, east of Salfit, for new settlement units.
According to Palestinian figures, roughly 640,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government's approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.
Israel's settlements in the West Bank are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to the UN, which forbids states from transferring their citizens to occupied land, as well as a presumptive war crime under the 1998 Statute of Rome that set up the International Criminal Court.
Israeli settlers closed off on Monday evening the western entrance Bethlehem’s southeastern town of Tekou’, in the southern occupied West bank.
Tekou’ Mayor, Taysir Abu Mufreh, said a horde of 50 Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli forces flocked to the western entrance of Tekou’ town and prevented Palestinians from passing through the area.
As a result, tension has flared up among civilians who have attempted to reach their homes.
According to Abu Mufrih, settlers have recently intensified their arbitrary attacks against Palestinian locals, the latest of which occurred on Friday when settlers targeted Palestinian vehicles with stones.
Nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers have been residing in 427 settlement outposts built across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, in violation of international law.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the occupied territories and is rarely prosecuted by the Israeli authorities.
Settlers' violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Tekou’ Mayor, Taysir Abu Mufreh, said a horde of 50 Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli forces flocked to the western entrance of Tekou’ town and prevented Palestinians from passing through the area.
As a result, tension has flared up among civilians who have attempted to reach their homes.
According to Abu Mufrih, settlers have recently intensified their arbitrary attacks against Palestinian locals, the latest of which occurred on Friday when settlers targeted Palestinian vehicles with stones.
Nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers have been residing in 427 settlement outposts built across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, in violation of international law.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the occupied territories and is rarely prosecuted by the Israeli authorities.
Settlers' violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Dozens of Israeli settlers forced their way into al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday under heavy police protection.
According to Quds Press, 43 settlers stormed on Monday morning the Mosque and listened to explanations about their alleged Temple Mount.
47 Jewish students also broke into the holy shrine this morning accompanied with an Israeli police official, the sources added.
Along the same line, nine members of Israeli police and Intelligence Service carried out a provocative tour in the Mosque.
The incursions are carried out from al-Maghrabi Gate, which has been under Israeli control since it occupied Jerusalem in 1967.
The sources pointed out that the Israeli agriculture minister Uri Ariel stormed al-Aqsa under the protection of Israeli police.
This is not the first time Ariel has stormed Al-Aqsa, he was protected by armed guards when he entered the Muslim holy site in November and December last year.
According to Quds Press, 43 settlers stormed on Monday morning the Mosque and listened to explanations about their alleged Temple Mount.
47 Jewish students also broke into the holy shrine this morning accompanied with an Israeli police official, the sources added.
Along the same line, nine members of Israeli police and Intelligence Service carried out a provocative tour in the Mosque.
The incursions are carried out from al-Maghrabi Gate, which has been under Israeli control since it occupied Jerusalem in 1967.
The sources pointed out that the Israeli agriculture minister Uri Ariel stormed al-Aqsa under the protection of Israeli police.
This is not the first time Ariel has stormed Al-Aqsa, he was protected by armed guards when he entered the Muslim holy site in November and December last year.
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Israeli police forces surrounded the Dome of the Rock mosque inside the Al-Aqsa compound, on Monday and closed its doors preventing Muslim worshipers from performing prayers inside.
A Ma'an reporter said that Israeli forces were heavily deployed across the compound, preventing hundreds of worshipers from performing prayers. Worshipers then gathered in one place to perform prayers together outside of the mosque. Head of the public relations office at the Islamic Endowment Department, Firas al-Dibs, told Ma'an that Israeli police forces also prevented a group of imams and sheikhs from entering. Al-Dibs added that the Israeli special forces assaulted Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israeli police forces held ID cards of worshipers. Al-Aqsa guards had refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter the Dome of the Rock wearing a kippah on his head fearing he was going to perform religious rituals inside. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque. The third holiest site in Islam, it is also venerated as Judaism's most holy place, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood. While Jewish visitation is permitted to the compound, non-Muslim worship at Al-Aqsa is prohibited according to an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government after Israel's illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Dome of Rock closed off as Israeli cops storm Aqsa Mosque Muslim guards at al-Aqsa closed on Monday morning the gates leading to the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem’s holy al-Aqsa Mosque after an Israeli policeman defiled the site. Media department chief Firas al-Dabes said two Israeli policemen wearing the Kiba (a Jewish wear) attempted to storm the Dome of the Rock Mosque. |
At the same time, Israeli police troops showed up at the site to escort dozens of Israeli settlers as they broke into the holy al-Aqsa Mosque and carried out a round of sacrilegious tours.
13 jan 2019
A group of Israeli settlers, on Sunday morning, stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque via the Moroccan Gate, accompanied by heavy guard of Israeli occupation police.
Jerusalemite sources reported that 77 settlers toured the courtyards, accompanied by rabbis, and received explanations about their claimed temple grounds, provoking Palestinian Muslim prayers.
Palestinian prayers and the students of Quranic circles tried to defend the Islamic holy site, preventing the settlers from touring freely in the courtyards.
According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, Israeli settlers storm the Islamic holy site on a daily basis, in an attempt to divide the mosque temporally and spatially.It is the third holiest site in Islam and also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place, alleged to be the original site of Solomon’s Temple.
Disputes surrounding visitation to the site have historically flared tensions in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2003, the Israeli government unilaterally decided — despite the objections of the Islamic Endowments Department — to allow non-Muslim visitors into the complex.
Since then, under increasingly right-wing Israeli governments, extremist Jewish settlers have been allowed into the site in ever greater numbers — usually protected by Israeli security forces — while Palestinian access to the site has become increasingly restricted.
The number of Israeli settlers storming the holy site has risen since US president Donald Trump’s declaration of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Members of the so-called “Temple Mount” movement have been publicly calling its followers to participate in wide scale mass raids on the holy site.
Jerusalemite sources reported that 77 settlers toured the courtyards, accompanied by rabbis, and received explanations about their claimed temple grounds, provoking Palestinian Muslim prayers.
Palestinian prayers and the students of Quranic circles tried to defend the Islamic holy site, preventing the settlers from touring freely in the courtyards.
According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, Israeli settlers storm the Islamic holy site on a daily basis, in an attempt to divide the mosque temporally and spatially.It is the third holiest site in Islam and also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place, alleged to be the original site of Solomon’s Temple.
Disputes surrounding visitation to the site have historically flared tensions in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2003, the Israeli government unilaterally decided — despite the objections of the Islamic Endowments Department — to allow non-Muslim visitors into the complex.
Since then, under increasingly right-wing Israeli governments, extremist Jewish settlers have been allowed into the site in ever greater numbers — usually protected by Israeli security forces — while Palestinian access to the site has become increasingly restricted.
The number of Israeli settlers storming the holy site has risen since US president Donald Trump’s declaration of occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Members of the so-called “Temple Mount” movement have been publicly calling its followers to participate in wide scale mass raids on the holy site.
Illegal Jewish settlers, on Sunday, have destroyed hundreds of forest saplings that were ready to be planted near the village of Burqa, north of the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, according to a local source.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the area, told WAFA that settlers raided an outskirt of the village and destroyed hundreds of saplings that were ready to be planted in order to turn some of the village’s lands into a natural preserve.
He noted an increase in attacks against the village and its citizens, by Jewish settlers from neighboring illegal settlements.
Last week, settlers uprooted and stole newly planted almond and olive samplings near the village of Yanoun, to the south of Nablus.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the area, told WAFA that settlers raided an outskirt of the village and destroyed hundreds of saplings that were ready to be planted in order to turn some of the village’s lands into a natural preserve.
He noted an increase in attacks against the village and its citizens, by Jewish settlers from neighboring illegal settlements.
Last week, settlers uprooted and stole newly planted almond and olive samplings near the village of Yanoun, to the south of Nablus.
A group of extremist illegal Israeli colonists cut, Sunday, many old “Roman” olive trees in the garden of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
The head of the Public Relations office of the Waqf and Islamic Endowment Department in Hebron, Ra’ed Maswada, stated that the colonists were seen cutting the trees in the mosque’s garden, and that he informed the head of the department, Sheikh Ismael Abu al-Halawa, in addition to the director of the mosque, Hifthi Abu Sneina.
The officials instantly contacted the related parties to stop the ongoing attack, before the Palestinian District Coordination office contacted its Israel’s counterpart, and eventually the assailants were stopped, but the Israeli army did not apprehend them.
Maswada said that he, and his colleagues, demanded the army to act on preventing such violations, as the area is under full Israeli control, where soldiers are constantly present, especially in and near the illegal colonies and outposts, and around the holy site itself.
The head of the Public Relations office of the Waqf and Islamic Endowment Department in Hebron, Ra’ed Maswada, stated that the colonists were seen cutting the trees in the mosque’s garden, and that he informed the head of the department, Sheikh Ismael Abu al-Halawa, in addition to the director of the mosque, Hifthi Abu Sneina.
The officials instantly contacted the related parties to stop the ongoing attack, before the Palestinian District Coordination office contacted its Israel’s counterpart, and eventually the assailants were stopped, but the Israeli army did not apprehend them.
Maswada said that he, and his colleagues, demanded the army to act on preventing such violations, as the area is under full Israeli control, where soldiers are constantly present, especially in and near the illegal colonies and outposts, and around the holy site itself.
12 jan 2019
A group of illegal extremist Israeli colonists attacked, Saturday, Palestinian homes in Burqa village, north of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, causing damage.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said the colonists attacked many homes in the northeastern area of the village.
He added that the colonists came from the location of the former Homesh illegal colony, which was evacuated in 2005.
The locals then rushed out of their homes and chased the colonists, who fled the area.
Daghlas stated that the colonists have been constantly trying to rebuild and inhabit the former illegal colony and are responsible for numerous assaults and violations against the Palestinians, their homes and lands.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel’s illegal colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said the colonists attacked many homes in the northeastern area of the village.
He added that the colonists came from the location of the former Homesh illegal colony, which was evacuated in 2005.
The locals then rushed out of their homes and chased the colonists, who fled the area.
Daghlas stated that the colonists have been constantly trying to rebuild and inhabit the former illegal colony and are responsible for numerous assaults and violations against the Palestinians, their homes and lands.
A group of extremist illegal Israeli colonialist settlers attacked, Saturday, many Palestinian farmers while working on their own lands, and several shepherds, in Yatta town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, causing them to suffer cuts and bruises.
Rateb Jabour, the coordinator of the National and Popular Committees against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in southern West Bank, said the colonists attacked many farmers in at-Tiwana, Susiya and Khirbat Umm al-Amid communities, in Yatta, and assaulted many Palestinian farmers and shepherds.
Jabour added that the settlers also used their dogs in attacking the Palestinians, causing injuries.
Three of the wounded Palestinians have been identified as Nasr Nawaj’a, Ahmad Khaled Najjar and Jabr Zein.
Nawaj’a, who is also a nonviolent activist against the Israeli occupation and its colonies, said the colonists unleashed dogs on him, before the dogs mauled and bit him in his arms and legs. He was then moved to Abu al-Hasan al-Qassem hospital, in Yatta town.
Jabour denounced the latest attack and stated that it was part of numerous assaults and violations by the illegal colonialist settlers against the Palestinians and their lands, amidst military and political protection from the Israeli occupation, and its judicial system.
“The attacks are escalating against innocent civilians, including simple farmers and shepherds, in many villages in southern Hebron, he said, “They are all part of the ongoing attempts to force the indigenous Palestinians out of their homes and lands in order to build and expand the illegal colonies.”
Rateb Jabour, the coordinator of the National and Popular Committees against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in southern West Bank, said the colonists attacked many farmers in at-Tiwana, Susiya and Khirbat Umm al-Amid communities, in Yatta, and assaulted many Palestinian farmers and shepherds.
Jabour added that the settlers also used their dogs in attacking the Palestinians, causing injuries.
Three of the wounded Palestinians have been identified as Nasr Nawaj’a, Ahmad Khaled Najjar and Jabr Zein.
Nawaj’a, who is also a nonviolent activist against the Israeli occupation and its colonies, said the colonists unleashed dogs on him, before the dogs mauled and bit him in his arms and legs. He was then moved to Abu al-Hasan al-Qassem hospital, in Yatta town.
Jabour denounced the latest attack and stated that it was part of numerous assaults and violations by the illegal colonialist settlers against the Palestinians and their lands, amidst military and political protection from the Israeli occupation, and its judicial system.
“The attacks are escalating against innocent civilians, including simple farmers and shepherds, in many villages in southern Hebron, he said, “They are all part of the ongoing attempts to force the indigenous Palestinians out of their homes and lands in order to build and expand the illegal colonies.”
The execution office of Israel’s enforcement and collection authority has ordered a Palestinian family who owns an apartment building in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, east of Occupied Jerusalem, to evacuate five families living in there and turn over the property to Jewish settlers by January 23.
According to the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, al-Sabbagh family filed a law suit at the Israeli district court in Jerusalem in 2012 against the claim by settler groups that they own the land of the building in Sheikh Jarrah.
Even though al-Sabbagh family provided the court with evidence proving its ownership of the land and that the setter groups’ land registration process done in 1972 was illegal and not correct and therefore their claim of ownership of that plot is null and void, the court ruled in favor of the settlers.
The family, through its lawyers, appealed the ruling to the high court on November 15, 2018, which rejected the appeal and upheld the district court’s verdict.
The family’s lawyers re-appealed the high court’s ruling by asking for a five-judge panel instead of three, and this was rejected as well, which left the eviction of the five families imminent, the Civic Coalition said.
According to the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, al-Sabbagh family filed a law suit at the Israeli district court in Jerusalem in 2012 against the claim by settler groups that they own the land of the building in Sheikh Jarrah.
Even though al-Sabbagh family provided the court with evidence proving its ownership of the land and that the setter groups’ land registration process done in 1972 was illegal and not correct and therefore their claim of ownership of that plot is null and void, the court ruled in favor of the settlers.
The family, through its lawyers, appealed the ruling to the high court on November 15, 2018, which rejected the appeal and upheld the district court’s verdict.
The family’s lawyers re-appealed the high court’s ruling by asking for a five-judge panel instead of three, and this was rejected as well, which left the eviction of the five families imminent, the Civic Coalition said.
A group of Israeli settlers after midnight Friday attacked Palestinian vehicles near Homesh, an evacuated Israeli settlement, in Jenin.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that the settlers gathered in the site and set up ambushes for Palestinian citizens.
They said that the settlers carried out rock-throwing attacks on Palestinian vehicles passing on Jenin-Haifa road, causing partial damages to many of them.
Dozens of settlers were also seen rioting and insulting Palestinians near Jaba' town.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that the settlers gathered in the site and set up ambushes for Palestinian citizens.
They said that the settlers carried out rock-throwing attacks on Palestinian vehicles passing on Jenin-Haifa road, causing partial damages to many of them.
Dozens of settlers were also seen rioting and insulting Palestinians near Jaba' town.
