2 nov 2015
Supreme Islamic Council refused the so-called Jordanian-Israeli understandings on the Aqsa Mosque under the mediation of the U.S.
In a statement on Sunday, the council stressed that these understandings did not solve the outstanding problem and described it as weak and serving the interests of Israel.
The council criticized the provisions of the understandings especially those related to the installation of security cameras at the Aqsa Mosque, saying that such an agreement will allow Israel to be a partner with Islamic Waqf (endowment) in managing the Aqsa Mosque.
It also slammed the article on permitting Muslims to pray at the Mosque and non-Muslims to visit the holy site. The council said Muslims have the right to pray at the Aqsa Mosque without any permission from anybody since it is solely for all world Muslims.
The council pointed out that using the terms “Mount of Solomon” and “al-Haram al-Sharif” by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims that Israel has a right in the Aqsa Mosque which is refused by all Muslims.
In a statement on Sunday, the council stressed that these understandings did not solve the outstanding problem and described it as weak and serving the interests of Israel.
The council criticized the provisions of the understandings especially those related to the installation of security cameras at the Aqsa Mosque, saying that such an agreement will allow Israel to be a partner with Islamic Waqf (endowment) in managing the Aqsa Mosque.
It also slammed the article on permitting Muslims to pray at the Mosque and non-Muslims to visit the holy site. The council said Muslims have the right to pray at the Aqsa Mosque without any permission from anybody since it is solely for all world Muslims.
The council pointed out that using the terms “Mount of Solomon” and “al-Haram al-Sharif” by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims that Israel has a right in the Aqsa Mosque which is refused by all Muslims.
Names of all 73 dead
One Palestinian was killed and 10 others were wounded by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the first day of the second month of al-Quds intifada (uprising), according to a report released on Sunday by the Palestinian health ministry.
The ministry stated that an Israeli soldier on Sunday evening, the first of November, opened fire at 27-year-old Fadi al-Farroukh in Beit Einoon town, northeast of al-Khalil city, and killed him.
It added that the new death raised the number of the Palestinians killed by Israelis since early October to 73 martyrs, 55 of them in the West Bank, 17 in Gaza and one in the Negev, pointing out that the victims included 15 children and two women.
Another nine citizens suffered injuries on the same day in clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in east Gaza and different West Bank areas, eight of them was shot with live ammunition and one with a rubber bullet.
Another one was also badly injured yesterday after a Jewish settler rammed his car into him in Qalqiliya, the report elaborated.
One Palestinian was killed and 10 others were wounded by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the first day of the second month of al-Quds intifada (uprising), according to a report released on Sunday by the Palestinian health ministry.
The ministry stated that an Israeli soldier on Sunday evening, the first of November, opened fire at 27-year-old Fadi al-Farroukh in Beit Einoon town, northeast of al-Khalil city, and killed him.
It added that the new death raised the number of the Palestinians killed by Israelis since early October to 73 martyrs, 55 of them in the West Bank, 17 in Gaza and one in the Negev, pointing out that the victims included 15 children and two women.
Another nine citizens suffered injuries on the same day in clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in east Gaza and different West Bank areas, eight of them was shot with live ammunition and one with a rubber bullet.
Another one was also badly injured yesterday after a Jewish settler rammed his car into him in Qalqiliya, the report elaborated.
1 nov 2015
By Richard Forer
In 2008 the United States and the government of Israel agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), in which the U.S. would “help Israel meet its security requirements.” The terms of the agreement provided Israel with, on average, three billion dollars in military assistance annually for a ten-year period to begin in 2009 and end in 2018. The three billion represents approximately twenty-five percent of Israel’s military budget, effectively making the United States a partner in Israel’s military enterprise.
In 1976 the U.S. Congress passed the Arms Export Control Act. Section 2754 of the Act requires that international governments use America’s military assistance “solely for internal security, for legitimate self-defense.”
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FISA) prohibits the United States from providing assistance to “any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges….” One of the factors that is considered when determining if a country is in violation of FISA is “the extent of cooperation of such government in permitting an unimpeded investigation of alleged violations of internationally recognized human rights by appropriate international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, or groups or persons acting under the authority of the United Nations….”
Over the past few months the U.S. and Israel have been discussing an increase in the Jewish state’s military package to $4.0 to $4.5 billion dollars per year, for an additional ten years. It is a near certainty that Congress will approve the increase. When finalized, America’s stake in one of the world’s most powerful militaries will grow to about thirty-five percent. This increase is in addition to the compensation the U.S. has agreed to give Israel for the Iran nuclear deal.
The deal frees up about $150 billion in Iranian assets, and Israel is worried that Iran will use some of those assets to boost its sponsorship of jihadist terrorism. To alleviate those concerns President Obama has promised to accelerate military aid to Israel for the development of anti-missile systems and tunnel detection technologies.
The United States government publicly advocates the rule of law, but its actions belie its rhetoric when it comes to Israel. Israel continuously disregards United Nations Resolutions, defies the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition against an occupying power transferring parts of its own population into the territories it occupies, and obstructs investigations by U.N. agencies into its disproportionate use of force, collective punishment and other human rights violations, as it did after Operations Cast Lead (2008-2009) and Protective Edge (2014). The U.S. has not frozen assistance to Israel in accordance with the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act; instead, Israel continues to receive assistance. It remains exempt from American laws meant to hold rogue nations accountable for acts of violence and discrimination against the most vulnerable of peoples.
The U.S. insists it wants peace between Israel and the Palestinian people; however, its non-compliance with its own laws arms Israel with the resources it needs to sustain its illegal occupation of the Palestinians.
Moshe Dayan, one of the most revered figures in Israel’s history (and, believe it or not, among Israeli commanders one of the friendliest to Palestinians) once said: “Let us approach them [Palestinians in occupied territory] and say that we have no solution, that you shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wants to can leave – and we will see where this process leads.” He also said, “Your [Israeli Jews] duty is not to stop; it is to keep your sword unsheathed, to have faith, to keep the flag flying. You must not call a halt – heaven forbid – and say ‘that’s all; up to here. . .’ For that is not all.”
This year, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to violence: “I’m asked if we will forever live by the sword — yes.” Just this week, with tension and violence everywhere in Jerusalem, Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely told the Knesset that her “dream is to see the Israeli flag flying over the Temple Mount. This is the holiest place for the Jewish people.”
Israeli demagoguery is not empty rhetoric. Palestinians under occupation have no rights. Their freedom of movement is restricted; they are subject to imprisonment without charge; torture and sexual blackmail are common; their homes can be demolished at the whim of the Israeli government; and they have no protection from fanatical settlers who poison their wells, cut down their olive trees and harass their children, beat them and sometimes kill them, all with impunity. Palestinians have no recourse to the rule of law because the laws that govern them were specifically written to deny them their rights.
While the US enables Israel’s contempt for the rule of law, it is about to cut economic aid to the Palestinians by twenty-two percent, from $370 million to $290 million per year. A U.S. State Department official stated that the decision to cut aid was made this past spring and was because of “unhelpful actions” on the part of the Palestinian leadership.
What unhelpful actions? This last year Palestinians looked for the justice they’ve been denied for generations and joined the International Criminal Court, filing war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against Israel. The charges focus on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Israel’s 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip, in which seventy percent of the more than 2,100 people killed were civilians, including over 500 children. By bringing their case before the ICC, Palestinians challenged the pretense that the U.S. is an honest broker in search of a fair peace. Joining the ICC was an admission by the Palestinians of what the rest of the world has known for some time: The U.S. is the principle enabler of the occupation.
What about unhelpful actions by Israel? Israel has refused to arrest the sadists who burned to death eighteen month old Ali Dawabshe and his father, maiming the infant’s mother and brother in the process. The Israeli Defense Force has been on a rampage of arrests in the West Bank, rounding up and detaining hundreds of Palestinians. Last week Netanyahu made the accusation that the Palestinian people, not Adolf Hitler, were the cause of the Holocaust.
America’s use of punishments and rewards signals, at least with regard to the Israelis and Palestinians, that the oppressed must play the game according to the oppressor’s rule book, no matter how biased and dirty those rules are.
This last year, at the 29th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S. was the only country in the world to oppose a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes. The U.S. voted against “ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in [the Occupied Palestinian Territories].”
When inhabiting Israel’s shadow world, basic fairness and the rule of law are turned on their heads. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) imposes a brutal occupation on a largely defenseless people – and all the while the President of the United States, whoever he is, repeats the mantra that Israel has the right to defend itself. The International Court in The Hague rules unanimously (including the American judge) that all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem belong to the Palestinians and must be returned to their rightful owners – and every month Israel announces new settlements and Palestinian home demolitions. The IDF unleashes nightmarish massacres on Gaza, five times in the last decade; it enforces a strangling blockade that has reduced Gaza to a virtual open-air prison – and American politicians make annual pilgrimage to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to pledge their slavish support for Israel.
The Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has lasted almost half a century. For the sake of fairness and justice, for the sake of the Palestinians and the end to their suffering, for the sake of the moral integrity of my country and Israel, it is time – it is long past time – for the lies and disinformation to cease and for the people of the world to insist that Israel end the Occupation and the United States end its enabling of that Occupation.
– Richard Forer is the author of Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion – A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
In 2008 the United States and the government of Israel agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), in which the U.S. would “help Israel meet its security requirements.” The terms of the agreement provided Israel with, on average, three billion dollars in military assistance annually for a ten-year period to begin in 2009 and end in 2018. The three billion represents approximately twenty-five percent of Israel’s military budget, effectively making the United States a partner in Israel’s military enterprise.
In 1976 the U.S. Congress passed the Arms Export Control Act. Section 2754 of the Act requires that international governments use America’s military assistance “solely for internal security, for legitimate self-defense.”
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FISA) prohibits the United States from providing assistance to “any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges….” One of the factors that is considered when determining if a country is in violation of FISA is “the extent of cooperation of such government in permitting an unimpeded investigation of alleged violations of internationally recognized human rights by appropriate international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, or groups or persons acting under the authority of the United Nations….”
Over the past few months the U.S. and Israel have been discussing an increase in the Jewish state’s military package to $4.0 to $4.5 billion dollars per year, for an additional ten years. It is a near certainty that Congress will approve the increase. When finalized, America’s stake in one of the world’s most powerful militaries will grow to about thirty-five percent. This increase is in addition to the compensation the U.S. has agreed to give Israel for the Iran nuclear deal.
The deal frees up about $150 billion in Iranian assets, and Israel is worried that Iran will use some of those assets to boost its sponsorship of jihadist terrorism. To alleviate those concerns President Obama has promised to accelerate military aid to Israel for the development of anti-missile systems and tunnel detection technologies.
The United States government publicly advocates the rule of law, but its actions belie its rhetoric when it comes to Israel. Israel continuously disregards United Nations Resolutions, defies the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition against an occupying power transferring parts of its own population into the territories it occupies, and obstructs investigations by U.N. agencies into its disproportionate use of force, collective punishment and other human rights violations, as it did after Operations Cast Lead (2008-2009) and Protective Edge (2014). The U.S. has not frozen assistance to Israel in accordance with the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act; instead, Israel continues to receive assistance. It remains exempt from American laws meant to hold rogue nations accountable for acts of violence and discrimination against the most vulnerable of peoples.
The U.S. insists it wants peace between Israel and the Palestinian people; however, its non-compliance with its own laws arms Israel with the resources it needs to sustain its illegal occupation of the Palestinians.
Moshe Dayan, one of the most revered figures in Israel’s history (and, believe it or not, among Israeli commanders one of the friendliest to Palestinians) once said: “Let us approach them [Palestinians in occupied territory] and say that we have no solution, that you shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wants to can leave – and we will see where this process leads.” He also said, “Your [Israeli Jews] duty is not to stop; it is to keep your sword unsheathed, to have faith, to keep the flag flying. You must not call a halt – heaven forbid – and say ‘that’s all; up to here. . .’ For that is not all.”
This year, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to violence: “I’m asked if we will forever live by the sword — yes.” Just this week, with tension and violence everywhere in Jerusalem, Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely told the Knesset that her “dream is to see the Israeli flag flying over the Temple Mount. This is the holiest place for the Jewish people.”
Israeli demagoguery is not empty rhetoric. Palestinians under occupation have no rights. Their freedom of movement is restricted; they are subject to imprisonment without charge; torture and sexual blackmail are common; their homes can be demolished at the whim of the Israeli government; and they have no protection from fanatical settlers who poison their wells, cut down their olive trees and harass their children, beat them and sometimes kill them, all with impunity. Palestinians have no recourse to the rule of law because the laws that govern them were specifically written to deny them their rights.
While the US enables Israel’s contempt for the rule of law, it is about to cut economic aid to the Palestinians by twenty-two percent, from $370 million to $290 million per year. A U.S. State Department official stated that the decision to cut aid was made this past spring and was because of “unhelpful actions” on the part of the Palestinian leadership.
What unhelpful actions? This last year Palestinians looked for the justice they’ve been denied for generations and joined the International Criminal Court, filing war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against Israel. The charges focus on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Israel’s 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip, in which seventy percent of the more than 2,100 people killed were civilians, including over 500 children. By bringing their case before the ICC, Palestinians challenged the pretense that the U.S. is an honest broker in search of a fair peace. Joining the ICC was an admission by the Palestinians of what the rest of the world has known for some time: The U.S. is the principle enabler of the occupation.
What about unhelpful actions by Israel? Israel has refused to arrest the sadists who burned to death eighteen month old Ali Dawabshe and his father, maiming the infant’s mother and brother in the process. The Israeli Defense Force has been on a rampage of arrests in the West Bank, rounding up and detaining hundreds of Palestinians. Last week Netanyahu made the accusation that the Palestinian people, not Adolf Hitler, were the cause of the Holocaust.
America’s use of punishments and rewards signals, at least with regard to the Israelis and Palestinians, that the oppressed must play the game according to the oppressor’s rule book, no matter how biased and dirty those rules are.
This last year, at the 29th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S. was the only country in the world to oppose a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes. The U.S. voted against “ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in [the Occupied Palestinian Territories].”
When inhabiting Israel’s shadow world, basic fairness and the rule of law are turned on their heads. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) imposes a brutal occupation on a largely defenseless people – and all the while the President of the United States, whoever he is, repeats the mantra that Israel has the right to defend itself. The International Court in The Hague rules unanimously (including the American judge) that all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem belong to the Palestinians and must be returned to their rightful owners – and every month Israel announces new settlements and Palestinian home demolitions. The IDF unleashes nightmarish massacres on Gaza, five times in the last decade; it enforces a strangling blockade that has reduced Gaza to a virtual open-air prison – and American politicians make annual pilgrimage to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to pledge their slavish support for Israel.
The Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has lasted almost half a century. For the sake of fairness and justice, for the sake of the Palestinians and the end to their suffering, for the sake of the moral integrity of my country and Israel, it is time – it is long past time – for the lies and disinformation to cease and for the people of the world to insist that Israel end the Occupation and the United States end its enabling of that Occupation.
– Richard Forer is the author of Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion – A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
Al-Khalil (Hebron) has borne the brunt of Israel's deadly repression of the ongoing Palestinian uprising which began in the beginning of October.
According to the latest data, nearly 40% of the 75 victims of the Israeli state terror are from Hebron and surrounding towns and villages.
The latest victim was a youngster from the town of Sair north of Hebron, who eyewitnesses said was riddled with Israeli bullets Sunday afternoon on suspicion he was trying to stab an Israeli soldier.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops deployed at Beit Anon intersection refused to allow the bleeding young man to be transferred to hospital.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people participated in the solemn funeral procession for three young boys and two young women, shot dead earlier by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers and settlers.
Israel, which had been withholding the bodies of the victims, says they were killed after trying to stab soldiers.
However, eyewitnesses attested that in several cases the victims were executed in cold blood on the mere suspicion that they were planning to stab Israelis.
In other cases, the victims found themselves in "the wrong place at the wrong time," thus falling victim to the Israeli occupation army's policy of shooting, or more correctly killing first and asking questions later.
Why Hebron?
The conspicuous vindictiveness characterizing Israeli repression in Hebron has prompted many locals to charge that Israel is waging an open war on the largest Palestinian district.
This vindictiveness has also generated a lot of indignation, with many youngsters vowing to keep up the struggle until Palestinians earn their freedom from the clutches of the Israeli occupation.
According to the latest news reports, the Israeli occupation army is adopting draconian measures against Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old Town, especially those contiguous to the Jewish settlement enclave near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
For many years, Israel came to consider Hebron as an extension of the Gaza Strip in the West Bank, especially in light of the prevalence of Islamic movements in the town and its environs.
In the 2006 legislative elections, the pro-Hamas list, the Change and Reform bloc, received the lion's share of the votes, badly defeating the western-backed secular nationalist movement, Fatah.
All in all, the pro-Hamas list won 74 seats out of the 132 contested seats, making up the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Now, 9 years later, and with the virtual collapse of the Oslo process, most Palestinians, especially in Hebron, feel deceived and cheated by Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and an international community that stood by rather passively as the Jewish state finished off any remaining realistic chances for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state thanks to the ubiquitous expansion of Jewish colonies all over the West Bank.
More to the point, the feeling of disillusionment is further exacerbated by the recurrent efforts by Messianic Jewish fanatics to arrogate a foothold at the Aqsa Mosque, one of the most contentious issues of the Palestinian-Israeli strife.
Many Palestinians, especially in the Hebron area, are convinced that Israel is planning to demolish the Aqsa Mosque in order to build a Talmudic Temple on the Islamic sanctuary's site.
Needless to say, this is viewed as the ultimate provocation as the Mosque, also known as the Haram al-Sharif or Noble sanctuary symbolizes the national existence of the Palestinian people on its ancestral homeland.
There is so much bad blood between Israel and the people of Hebron. In 1994, a Jewish terrorist murdered 29 Palestinians at the Ibrahimi Mosque as they were praying during the holy month of Ramadan.
Following the massacre, Israel adopted a vehemently hostile policy toward the local populace, employing every conceivable tactic to get them to leave the Old Town in order to settle Jewish settlers.
More to the point, Israel, using legal tricks, such as falsifying land rights, has been seizing Palestinian property for the purpose of expanding settler presence in Hebron.
The Hebron district has a population of about a million Palestinians which means that Israel is fighting a losing demographic battle, which explains the hysterical repression being meted out to the Palestinians.
Now with the Israeli Jewish society drifting further to the right, and with Israel having effectively killed whatever remaining prospects for a dignified, let alone just, solution of the conflict, it is probably safe to expect even harder days ahead for the Palestinians, especially in the Hebron region.
Al-Khalil (Hebron) has borne the brunt of Israel's deadly repression of the ongoing Palestinian uprising which began in the beginning of October.
According to the latest data, nearly 40% of the 75 victims of the Israeli state terror are from Hebron and surrounding towns and villages.
The latest victim was a youngster from the town of Sair north of Hebron, who eyewitnesses said was riddled with Israeli bullets Sunday afternoon on suspicion he was trying to stab an Israeli soldier.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops deployed at Beit Anon intersection refused to allow the bleeding young man to be transferred to hospital.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people participated in the solemn funeral procession for three young boys and two young women, shot dead earlier by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers and settlers.
Israel, which had been withholding the bodies of the victims, says they were killed after trying to stab soldiers.
However, eyewitnesses attested that in several cases the victims were executed in cold blood on the mere suspicion that they were planning to stab Israelis.
In other cases, the victims found themselves in "the wrong place at the wrong time," thus falling victim to the Israeli occupation army's policy of shooting, or more correctly killing first and asking questions later.
Why Hebron?
The conspicuous vindictiveness characterizing Israeli repression in Hebron has prompted many locals to charge that Israel is waging an open war on the largest Palestinian district.
This vindictiveness has also generated a lot of indignation, with many youngsters vowing to keep up the struggle until Palestinians earn their freedom from the clutches of the Israeli occupation.
According to the latest news reports, the Israeli occupation army is adopting draconian measures against Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old Town, especially those contiguous to the Jewish settlement enclave near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
For many years, Israel came to consider Hebron as an extension of the Gaza Strip in the West Bank, especially in light of the prevalence of Islamic movements in the town and its environs.
In the 2006 legislative elections, the pro-Hamas list, the Change and Reform bloc, received the lion's share of the votes, badly defeating the western-backed secular nationalist movement, Fatah.
All in all, the pro-Hamas list won 74 seats out of the 132 contested seats, making up the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Now, 9 years later, and with the virtual collapse of the Oslo process, most Palestinians, especially in Hebron, feel deceived and cheated by Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and an international community that stood by rather passively as the Jewish state finished off any remaining realistic chances for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state thanks to the ubiquitous expansion of Jewish colonies all over the West Bank.
More to the point, the feeling of disillusionment is further exacerbated by the recurrent efforts by Messianic Jewish fanatics to arrogate a foothold at the Aqsa Mosque, one of the most contentious issues of the Palestinian-Israeli strife.
Many Palestinians, especially in the Hebron area, are convinced that Israel is planning to demolish the Aqsa Mosque in order to build a Talmudic Temple on the Islamic sanctuary's site.
Needless to say, this is viewed as the ultimate provocation as the Mosque, also known as the Haram al-Sharif or Noble sanctuary symbolizes the national existence of the Palestinian people on its ancestral homeland.
There is so much bad blood between Israel and the people of Hebron. In 1994, a Jewish terrorist murdered 29 Palestinians at the Ibrahimi Mosque as they were praying during the holy month of Ramadan.
Following the massacre, Israel adopted a vehemently hostile policy toward the local populace, employing every conceivable tactic to get them to leave the Old Town in order to settle Jewish settlers.
More to the point, Israel, using legal tricks, such as falsifying land rights, has been seizing Palestinian property for the purpose of expanding settler presence in Hebron.
The Hebron district has a population of about a million Palestinians which means that Israel is fighting a losing demographic battle, which explains the hysterical repression being meted out to the Palestinians.
Now with the Israeli Jewish society drifting further to the right, and with Israel having effectively killed whatever remaining prospects for a dignified, let alone just, solution of the conflict, it is probably safe to expect even harder days ahead for the Palestinians, especially in the Hebron region.
The Independent on Sunday wrote that Israel's Premier Binyamin Netanyahu's threat to take away residency rights in occupied Jerusalem ‘will push Palestinians to a dead end’.
A report issued Sunday and made by Ben Lynfield pointed out that Netanyahu threatened to cancel the Jerusalem residency of 80,000 to 100,000 Jerusalemites.
“It is a step that would wreak havoc among people who would no longer be able to enter Israel for work or education, or retain their Israeli medical insurance and social security benefits,” the report added.
“Netanyahu, seemingly manipulating public fears about a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that began a month ago, said he is looking at stripping the resident status of inhabitants of the Palestinian neighborhoods that lie within Jerusalem’s municipal borders but are beyond the separation barrier Israel erected in 2004. They make up at least a 10th of the city’s population and roughly a quarter of its Palestinian inhabitants.”
The newspaper quoted the activist Yudith Oppenheimer who directs the Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which supports equality in the city as saying that Netanyahu’s decision would be “the most aggressive, drastic step against East Jerusalem Palestinians since Israel annexed the area after the 1967 Middle East War.”
He is saying he wants Jerusalem only for Jews, she said. “Even just broaching the idea is so dangerous to daily life in Jerusalem. You are pushing people to a dead end, people who already live in despair and poverty,” she said addressing Netanyahu.
A report issued Sunday and made by Ben Lynfield pointed out that Netanyahu threatened to cancel the Jerusalem residency of 80,000 to 100,000 Jerusalemites.
“It is a step that would wreak havoc among people who would no longer be able to enter Israel for work or education, or retain their Israeli medical insurance and social security benefits,” the report added.
“Netanyahu, seemingly manipulating public fears about a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that began a month ago, said he is looking at stripping the resident status of inhabitants of the Palestinian neighborhoods that lie within Jerusalem’s municipal borders but are beyond the separation barrier Israel erected in 2004. They make up at least a 10th of the city’s population and roughly a quarter of its Palestinian inhabitants.”
The newspaper quoted the activist Yudith Oppenheimer who directs the Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which supports equality in the city as saying that Netanyahu’s decision would be “the most aggressive, drastic step against East Jerusalem Palestinians since Israel annexed the area after the 1967 Middle East War.”
He is saying he wants Jerusalem only for Jews, she said. “Even just broaching the idea is so dangerous to daily life in Jerusalem. You are pushing people to a dead end, people who already live in despair and poverty,” she said addressing Netanyahu.
Head of the Popular International Committee to Support Gaza in London, Dr. Essam Youssef, urged, on Sunday, the international community and human rights organizations to stand up for Palestinians’ inalienable rights and work on defending their sacred places of worship against Israeli aggressions.
Dr Youssef slammed the silence maintained by the international community vis-à-vis the Israeli aggressions on the Palestinian people and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
He voiced his sorrow and disappointment over the international position as regards the Israeli violations of Palestinians’ human rights and continuous infringements of international treaties.
He further spoke out against the field executions carried out by the Israeli occupation troops against Palestinian anti-occupation activists and protestors.
“This is just a shameless and irresponsible position adopted by the international community vis-à-vis an unarmed people,” Youssef added.
He said a pro-Palestine position to be pursued via politics and media outlets should follow the pace of the anti-occupation intifada and reactivate international concern over and solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Popular campaigns and anti-Israel protests have recently swept western cities as part of ongoing attempts to mobilize mass support for the Jerusalem Intifada and protest at Israeli intents to ruin Muslims’ the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
Such protest events also pushed for prosecuting Israeli officials for war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Dr Youssef slammed the silence maintained by the international community vis-à-vis the Israeli aggressions on the Palestinian people and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
He voiced his sorrow and disappointment over the international position as regards the Israeli violations of Palestinians’ human rights and continuous infringements of international treaties.
He further spoke out against the field executions carried out by the Israeli occupation troops against Palestinian anti-occupation activists and protestors.
“This is just a shameless and irresponsible position adopted by the international community vis-à-vis an unarmed people,” Youssef added.
He said a pro-Palestine position to be pursued via politics and media outlets should follow the pace of the anti-occupation intifada and reactivate international concern over and solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Popular campaigns and anti-Israel protests have recently swept western cities as part of ongoing attempts to mobilize mass support for the Jerusalem Intifada and protest at Israeli intents to ruin Muslims’ the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
Such protest events also pushed for prosecuting Israeli officials for war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian child detainees’ number has been notably increased in Ofer prison over the past month as Israeli arrest campaigns against Palestinian minors have been escalated since the outbreak of Jerusalem Intifada on October 1.
The human rights activist Ibrahim al-Arej has managed Sunday to meet the child detainees held in Ofer prison.
He quoted the minor detainees as saying that they suffer from severe overcrowding following a sudden rise in their number as a result of the recent Israeli mass arrest campaign in the occupied Palestinian lands.
16 of them remain without beds or blankets, he continued.
There are currently 138 child detainees held in Ofer prison including 76 who were brutally arrested from their homes during Israeli night raids, he said.
All the minor detainees, the Palestinian activist continued, were subjected to several forms of torture including severe beating, insults, strip search, and rape threats.
49 of the reported detainees were under the age of 16. While six suffer from chronic diseases and six others were injured with live bullets during their detention, according to him.
The human rights activist Ibrahim al-Arej has managed Sunday to meet the child detainees held in Ofer prison.
He quoted the minor detainees as saying that they suffer from severe overcrowding following a sudden rise in their number as a result of the recent Israeli mass arrest campaign in the occupied Palestinian lands.
16 of them remain without beds or blankets, he continued.
There are currently 138 child detainees held in Ofer prison including 76 who were brutally arrested from their homes during Israeli night raids, he said.
All the minor detainees, the Palestinian activist continued, were subjected to several forms of torture including severe beating, insults, strip search, and rape threats.
49 of the reported detainees were under the age of 16. While six suffer from chronic diseases and six others were injured with live bullets during their detention, according to him.
Palestinian human rights organizations in Europe have called for solidarity with al-Quds Intifada, the uprising that broke out in the occupied Palestine at the start of October.
The solidarity events are to be held in different European cities, on 13-15 November. The events include marches, demonstrations and other activities to support Palestinians in confronting the Israel crimes.
Subordinate organizations of Palestinians in Europe Conference and The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza have announced contacting various pro-Palestinian organizations and figures in Europe to take part in the event.
Head of the Palestinians in Europe Conference, Majid al-Zir, said, “A number of European countries announced participating in the event in solidarity with the Palestinian just cause and in refusal for the killing and terrorism practiced by Israeli settlers under the protection of the Israeli military.”
Al-Zir pointed out that the events aim at sending a message of solidarity and support for the Palestinians, calling upon the decision makers in the European Union countries to put pressure on Israel to stop its crimes against Palestinians and its Judaization attempts of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Many European countries have been already organizing a number of events in support for the ongoing Palestinian uprising that rejects the Israeli constant violations against the Palestinians and their holy shrines.
The solidarity events are to be held in different European cities, on 13-15 November. The events include marches, demonstrations and other activities to support Palestinians in confronting the Israel crimes.
Subordinate organizations of Palestinians in Europe Conference and The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza have announced contacting various pro-Palestinian organizations and figures in Europe to take part in the event.
Head of the Palestinians in Europe Conference, Majid al-Zir, said, “A number of European countries announced participating in the event in solidarity with the Palestinian just cause and in refusal for the killing and terrorism practiced by Israeli settlers under the protection of the Israeli military.”
Al-Zir pointed out that the events aim at sending a message of solidarity and support for the Palestinians, calling upon the decision makers in the European Union countries to put pressure on Israel to stop its crimes against Palestinians and its Judaization attempts of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Many European countries have been already organizing a number of events in support for the ongoing Palestinian uprising that rejects the Israeli constant violations against the Palestinians and their holy shrines.
The Hamas Movement has described the massive popular participation in the funerals of al-Khalil martyrs on Saturday as a real referendum on the resistance option and a reflection of the great stature of the resistance fighters.
"The funeral procession of the martyrs today has sent a strong message to the occupation that all its repressive measures and criminal and punitive actions will never affect the popular and national incubator of the resistance project," Hamas spokesman Badran stated in press remarks on Saturday.
Badran added that such participation in funerals of West Bank martyrs also delivered a message to all regional and international parties that any attempt to undermine the Palestinian intifada (uprising) and circumvent the popular choice would be doomed to failure.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens participated yesterday afternoon in al-Khalil city in the funeral of five Palestinian young men killed recently by Israeli soldiers.
"The funeral procession of the martyrs today has sent a strong message to the occupation that all its repressive measures and criminal and punitive actions will never affect the popular and national incubator of the resistance project," Hamas spokesman Badran stated in press remarks on Saturday.
Badran added that such participation in funerals of West Bank martyrs also delivered a message to all regional and international parties that any attempt to undermine the Palestinian intifada (uprising) and circumvent the popular choice would be doomed to failure.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens participated yesterday afternoon in al-Khalil city in the funeral of five Palestinian young men killed recently by Israeli soldiers.
31 oct 2015
The Arab League said it would hold an emergency meeting for its member states at the level of foreign ministers on the ninth of November to table the issue of the ongoing Israeli violations against the Palestinian people.
Deputy secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmed Ben Helli stated on Friday that the meeting would take place in the Saudi capital Riyadh on the sidelines of the fourth Arab summit with South American countries.
Ben Helli added that the foreign ministers would discuss the recent developments in the Palestinian arena in light of the persistent systematic Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and the Islamic holy sites.
He also reiterated the Arab League's condemnation of Israel's aggressive practices and its widespread use of lethal force against the Palestinians.
Deputy secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmed Ben Helli stated on Friday that the meeting would take place in the Saudi capital Riyadh on the sidelines of the fourth Arab summit with South American countries.
Ben Helli added that the foreign ministers would discuss the recent developments in the Palestinian arena in light of the persistent systematic Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and the Islamic holy sites.
He also reiterated the Arab League's condemnation of Israel's aggressive practices and its widespread use of lethal force against the Palestinians.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) started Saturday morning to implement its plan to isolate the Old City from al-Khalil.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli forces brutally stormed a number of local homes and measured the distance between the homes and the nearby outposts.
The Israeli plan aims to limit Palestinian movement and to allocate specific roads for local residents while others will be allocated for Israeli settlers.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli forces brutally stormed a number of local homes and measured the distance between the homes and the nearby outposts.
The Israeli plan aims to limit Palestinian movement and to allocate specific roads for local residents while others will be allocated for Israeli settlers.
Member of Hamas's political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk has called on the countries who moved to quell al-Quds intifada (uprising) to let the Palestinian people achieve their aspirations and restore their rights on their own.
"Let the Palestinian people triumph, let al-Quds intifada achieve its goals and let these young men succeed in getting back their dignity and realizing their dreams," Abu Marzouk told al-Quds satellite channel on Friday.
The Hamas official revealed that there are efforts to organize a conference for the support of al-Quds intifada, affirming that his Movement is optimistic that the intifada against the occupation will continue and get stronger.
He also stressed that the intifada will not subside despite the understandings between Jordan and the US to calm the situation in Occupied Jerusalem, but he asserted that his Movement does not want to engage in arguments with any Arab country.
"Let the Palestinian people triumph, let al-Quds intifada achieve its goals and let these young men succeed in getting back their dignity and realizing their dreams," Abu Marzouk told al-Quds satellite channel on Friday.
The Hamas official revealed that there are efforts to organize a conference for the support of al-Quds intifada, affirming that his Movement is optimistic that the intifada against the occupation will continue and get stronger.
He also stressed that the intifada will not subside despite the understandings between Jordan and the US to calm the situation in Occupied Jerusalem, but he asserted that his Movement does not want to engage in arguments with any Arab country.
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran has said that Israel's persistence in committing crimes and suppressing the Palestinian people would not terrorize them or affect their determination to resist it.
In press remarks on Friday, Badran underlined that the blood of the Palestinian martyrs is the fuel of the battle and leverage for al-Quds intifada.
"The occupation would be delusional if it thought it could extinguish the flame of al-Quds intifada because what is happening on the ground is giving further impetus for escalating the confrontation with the occupation," the Hamas official stated.
"The occupation and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of their persistence in denying the Palestinians' right to liberation," he added.
In press remarks on Friday, Badran underlined that the blood of the Palestinian martyrs is the fuel of the battle and leverage for al-Quds intifada.
"The occupation would be delusional if it thought it could extinguish the flame of al-Quds intifada because what is happening on the ground is giving further impetus for escalating the confrontation with the occupation," the Hamas official stated.
"The occupation and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of their persistence in denying the Palestinians' right to liberation," he added.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahhar has called on all national forces to close ranks to back al-Quds intifada, reiterating his Movement's adherence to the option of resistance on every inch of the Palestinian soil.
In his Friday khutba (sermon) in a Gaza Mosque, Zahhar stated that the current intifada restored the stature of the Palestinian cause, which was undermined by the continual peace talks with the occupation.
"Al-Quds intifada had ended all the occupation's attempts to divide the Aqsa Mosque temporally and spatially," the Hamas official underlined.
However, he warned of the recent understandings with US secretary of state John Kerry about allowing the Jews and non-Muslims to visit the Aqsa Mosque.
"This intifada has started and we do not know when it will end, but we are sure that we are going to achieve a victory over the usurping occupation because it is a promise from Almighty God," he emphasized.
In his Friday khutba (sermon) in a Gaza Mosque, Zahhar stated that the current intifada restored the stature of the Palestinian cause, which was undermined by the continual peace talks with the occupation.
"Al-Quds intifada had ended all the occupation's attempts to divide the Aqsa Mosque temporally and spatially," the Hamas official underlined.
However, he warned of the recent understandings with US secretary of state John Kerry about allowing the Jews and non-Muslims to visit the Aqsa Mosque.
"This intifada has started and we do not know when it will end, but we are sure that we are going to achieve a victory over the usurping occupation because it is a promise from Almighty God," he emphasized.
Baby who died in Bethlehem Friday
Names of all 72 dead
Three Palestinians were killed Friday, including a baby who suffocated to death from tear gas in Bethlehem a day after Israeli forces tore through a Bethlehem neighborhood shouting "We will gas you all to death".
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that 921 Palestinians have been shot and injured with live Israeli army rounds, since the beginning of this month, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while 855 were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, and 208 suffered fractures and bruises after being assaulted and beaten by soldiers and fanatic settlers.
Names of all 72 dead
Three Palestinians were killed Friday, including a baby who suffocated to death from tear gas in Bethlehem a day after Israeli forces tore through a Bethlehem neighborhood shouting "We will gas you all to death".
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that 921 Palestinians have been shot and injured with live Israeli army rounds, since the beginning of this month, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while 855 were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, and 208 suffered fractures and bruises after being assaulted and beaten by soldiers and fanatic settlers.