30 apr 2017
For two years, the Israeli government has been planning to build 25,000 new settlement units in the city of Jerusalem, an Israeli minister stressed on Friday.
Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant told Israeli television Channel 2, on Thursday, that his ministry had been discussing the plan with Jerusalem’s Jewish municipality for two years.
He stated, according to Days of Palestine, that 10,000 settlement units, of the 25,000, are to be built in West Jerusalem, the part of the city that was occupied in 1948, and 15,000 were to be built in East Jerusalem, the part of the city which was occupied in 1967, and which the Palestinian Authority hopes to be the capital of its state.
On Friday, Galant reiterated his comment on Israeli radio as he said: “We will build 10,000 units in [West] Jerusalem and some 15,000 within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem [East Jerusalem].”
Stressing that this settlement project, which is planned to house only Jews, will go ahead whatever the Palestinian or international pressure was, he said: “It will happen.”
Speaking to Channel 2, Galant said that this project would be officially announced during the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to Israel at the end of this month.
Trump is visiting Israel during the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the early 1980s. The international community does not recognize this annexation.
Galant said that this project was worth some four billion shekels ($1.1 billion).
Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant told Israeli television Channel 2, on Thursday, that his ministry had been discussing the plan with Jerusalem’s Jewish municipality for two years.
He stated, according to Days of Palestine, that 10,000 settlement units, of the 25,000, are to be built in West Jerusalem, the part of the city that was occupied in 1948, and 15,000 were to be built in East Jerusalem, the part of the city which was occupied in 1967, and which the Palestinian Authority hopes to be the capital of its state.
On Friday, Galant reiterated his comment on Israeli radio as he said: “We will build 10,000 units in [West] Jerusalem and some 15,000 within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem [East Jerusalem].”
Stressing that this settlement project, which is planned to house only Jews, will go ahead whatever the Palestinian or international pressure was, he said: “It will happen.”
Speaking to Channel 2, Galant said that this project would be officially announced during the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to Israel at the end of this month.
Trump is visiting Israel during the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the early 1980s. The international community does not recognize this annexation.
Galant said that this project was worth some four billion shekels ($1.1 billion).
28 apr 2017
US president Donald Trump will soon reverse a longstanding US policy by officially recognizing the entire city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Thursday.
However, he will not implement his election campaign pledge to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his upcoming visit in late May, the newspaper added.
He is also expected to express support for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the paper noted.
Under a previous US policy, the city of Jerusalem was not recognized as the capital of Israel, as all former administrations did not recognize any party as sovereign in any part of Jerusalem.
In a related context, Trump will be hosting Palestinian Authority chief Abbas at the White House next week.
However, he will not implement his election campaign pledge to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his upcoming visit in late May, the newspaper added.
He is also expected to express support for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the paper noted.
Under a previous US policy, the city of Jerusalem was not recognized as the capital of Israel, as all former administrations did not recognize any party as sovereign in any part of Jerusalem.
In a related context, Trump will be hosting Palestinian Authority chief Abbas at the White House next week.
24 apr 2017
According to Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, Israelis killed a total of 107 Palestinians in 2016, 101 of them by soldiers and 6 by settlers.
B’Tselem pointed out that 90 of the slain were killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The report also counted eight in the Gaza Strip and three by Israeli forces inside Israel, according to Days of Palestine.
It was further pointed out by B’Tselem that ten women and one girl were among the dead.
Seventy-four of the Palestinians were killed during incidents in which they allegedly assaulted or attempted to assault Israeli security forces and civilians.
17 were killed during clashes with Israeli forces, equipped with lethal arms, in demonstrations and in stone-throwing incidents.
The rest were killed by airstrikes and tank shelling, during arrest missions and in other incidents.
B’Tselem also said that soldiers killed two foreign nationals.
B’Tselem pointed out that 90 of the slain were killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The report also counted eight in the Gaza Strip and three by Israeli forces inside Israel, according to Days of Palestine.
It was further pointed out by B’Tselem that ten women and one girl were among the dead.
Seventy-four of the Palestinians were killed during incidents in which they allegedly assaulted or attempted to assault Israeli security forces and civilians.
17 were killed during clashes with Israeli forces, equipped with lethal arms, in demonstrations and in stone-throwing incidents.
The rest were killed by airstrikes and tank shelling, during arrest missions and in other incidents.
B’Tselem also said that soldiers killed two foreign nationals.
23 apr 2017
Palestinian Authority (PA) chief Mahmoud Abbas has issued an edict amending the code of criminal procedures in order to give the attorney general wide powers to take measures against citizens, including imposing travel bans.
A human rights source said, on condition of anonymity, that the new law amendment would affect the PA’s obligations towards human rights, including the right to travel.
The source condemned the step, saying that Abbas had exploited the absence of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which he marginalized in the West Bank, and appointed himself a legislator.
He added that the new decree joined dozens of decisions that had been previously issued by Abbas, without getting approvals from the PLC.
For his part, Ammar Duwaik, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said if the news about Abbas’s order to amend the code of criminal procedures was true, it would be the most serious decision taken against the rights of citizens since the inception of the PA.
“Such step does not bode well and it will take us to a new level of appropriating the basic rights that are enshrined in the basic law,” he stated.
A human rights source said, on condition of anonymity, that the new law amendment would affect the PA’s obligations towards human rights, including the right to travel.
The source condemned the step, saying that Abbas had exploited the absence of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which he marginalized in the West Bank, and appointed himself a legislator.
He added that the new decree joined dozens of decisions that had been previously issued by Abbas, without getting approvals from the PLC.
For his part, Ammar Duwaik, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said if the news about Abbas’s order to amend the code of criminal procedures was true, it would be the most serious decision taken against the rights of citizens since the inception of the PA.
“Such step does not bode well and it will take us to a new level of appropriating the basic rights that are enshrined in the basic law,” he stated.
22 apr 2017
by Dr. Daud Abdullah
It is perfectly normal for Palestinians to have political differences with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but it is wholly unacceptable for any Palestinian, official or otherwise, to call for the destruction and burning of the Gaza Strip in order to crush the group. Such threats are manifestly shameful and can only result in national disaster.
The fact that they have been issued by officials in Ramallah with increasing regularity reveals the extent to which the Palestinian Authority has become embedded with the Israeli occupation, aside from “security cooperation”. The interests of PA officials, as well as their motives and ways of thinking, seem to be in complete sync with that of their Israeli counterparts. So intertwined with Israel is the PA rhetoric, in fact, that it is almost impossible to distinguish which is which.
Listen, for example, to any of the weekly sermons delivered in Ramallah’s Tashrifat Mosque by Mahmoud Habbash, the supreme judge and presidential adviser on religious affairs; compare their tone and content to statements by Israeli officials and you’ll find one fundamental message: there can be no peace or reconciliation with Hamas, so military confrontation is both desirable and inevitable. It is a truly scandalous state of affairs.
If seen from the point of view of national liberation and independence, instead of seeking to smash Hamas the PA should welcome the fact that the Israeli occupation army can no longer enter the Gaza Strip at will to vandalize and destroy the homes of Palestinian civilians or abduct their children. It should celebrate the fact that there are no Israeli settler gangs in the enclave that can destroy olive groves belonging to Palestinians and steal more of their land. Needless to say, the Israelis do all of these and more on the outskirts of Ramallah without as much as a whimper from the authority. When Palestinian villagers hold weekly protests at the growth of illegal settlements on their land and are attacked by Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers — sometimes both at once — the PA’s 70,000 “security officers” are nowhere to be seen.
In as much as President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies such as Habbash would like to change the status quo in Gaza, the PA does not have the military means or capability to carry out its threats. An undertaking of this magnitude would require the help and support of a neighboring power; in this case either Egypt or Israel. Recent history has shown that this is a likely scenario.
The bellicose rhetoric from Ramallah and Tel Aviv has given rise to much speculation about yet another Israeli-led military campaign against the Palestinians living in Gaza. If Habbash’s sermons and fatwas are anything to go by, Ramallah will, on this occasion, be overt in offering its blessings.
As for Egypt, its approval of another brutal Israeli military offensive would be no less forthcoming. For those with short memories, it is worth recalling that Israel’s 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead was launched less than 48 hours after the then Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, stood in Cairo on 25th December and declared that something had to be done about Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. “This is something that has to be stopped,” she said, “and this is what we’re going to do.” Two days later her threat was put into effect with devastating consequences for Palestinian civilians.
Fast forward to 2017 and a new wave of threats has reached a crescendo. Israel’s Minister of Defence [sic], the extreme right-wing fanatic Avigdor Lieberman, has vowed that there will be no half-way measures this time; the next murderous onslaught against Gaza will continue “until the other side waves the white flag.”
Despite the widespread public outrage at Habbash’s speeches, President Abbas has refused to distance himself from them, thus conveying tacit support for his vitriolic words. The truth of the matter is that there is no difference between the president’s views and that of his religious advisor. Speaking last week at a conference in Bahrain with the ambassadors of the State of Palestine to Arab and Islamic countries, Abbas threatened to take “unprecedented steps” to end the political division between his West Bank-based government and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. “These days, we are in a dangerous and tough situation that requires decisive steps,” he declared, “and we are going to take these decisive steps. We are going to take unprecedented steps in the coming days to end the division.”
After decades of diplomatic work on behalf of the Palestinian national movement, Mahmoud Abbas should know that reconciliation of any kind requires favorable conditions to thrive. Threats of fire and brimstone can only poison the atmosphere and perpetuate mistrust. He should remember that that the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are no less Palestinian than those in the West Bank; they too aspire to the same national objective of a free and independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Why, then, should they be treated as enemies?
By withholding wages due to its own civil servants in Gaza and giving succour to Israeli jingoism, the PA in Ramallah will gain nothing. The only real beneficiary from such misguided policies will be the Occupying Power, Israel. It is high time for Ramallah to engage in an honest reality check and decide which side Abbas is actually on, Israel or Palestine. It’s still not too late.
– Dr. Daud Abdullah is Middle East Monitor Director.
It is perfectly normal for Palestinians to have political differences with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but it is wholly unacceptable for any Palestinian, official or otherwise, to call for the destruction and burning of the Gaza Strip in order to crush the group. Such threats are manifestly shameful and can only result in national disaster.
The fact that they have been issued by officials in Ramallah with increasing regularity reveals the extent to which the Palestinian Authority has become embedded with the Israeli occupation, aside from “security cooperation”. The interests of PA officials, as well as their motives and ways of thinking, seem to be in complete sync with that of their Israeli counterparts. So intertwined with Israel is the PA rhetoric, in fact, that it is almost impossible to distinguish which is which.
Listen, for example, to any of the weekly sermons delivered in Ramallah’s Tashrifat Mosque by Mahmoud Habbash, the supreme judge and presidential adviser on religious affairs; compare their tone and content to statements by Israeli officials and you’ll find one fundamental message: there can be no peace or reconciliation with Hamas, so military confrontation is both desirable and inevitable. It is a truly scandalous state of affairs.
If seen from the point of view of national liberation and independence, instead of seeking to smash Hamas the PA should welcome the fact that the Israeli occupation army can no longer enter the Gaza Strip at will to vandalize and destroy the homes of Palestinian civilians or abduct their children. It should celebrate the fact that there are no Israeli settler gangs in the enclave that can destroy olive groves belonging to Palestinians and steal more of their land. Needless to say, the Israelis do all of these and more on the outskirts of Ramallah without as much as a whimper from the authority. When Palestinian villagers hold weekly protests at the growth of illegal settlements on their land and are attacked by Jewish settlers or Israeli soldiers — sometimes both at once — the PA’s 70,000 “security officers” are nowhere to be seen.
In as much as President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies such as Habbash would like to change the status quo in Gaza, the PA does not have the military means or capability to carry out its threats. An undertaking of this magnitude would require the help and support of a neighboring power; in this case either Egypt or Israel. Recent history has shown that this is a likely scenario.
The bellicose rhetoric from Ramallah and Tel Aviv has given rise to much speculation about yet another Israeli-led military campaign against the Palestinians living in Gaza. If Habbash’s sermons and fatwas are anything to go by, Ramallah will, on this occasion, be overt in offering its blessings.
As for Egypt, its approval of another brutal Israeli military offensive would be no less forthcoming. For those with short memories, it is worth recalling that Israel’s 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead was launched less than 48 hours after the then Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, stood in Cairo on 25th December and declared that something had to be done about Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. “This is something that has to be stopped,” she said, “and this is what we’re going to do.” Two days later her threat was put into effect with devastating consequences for Palestinian civilians.
Fast forward to 2017 and a new wave of threats has reached a crescendo. Israel’s Minister of Defence [sic], the extreme right-wing fanatic Avigdor Lieberman, has vowed that there will be no half-way measures this time; the next murderous onslaught against Gaza will continue “until the other side waves the white flag.”
Despite the widespread public outrage at Habbash’s speeches, President Abbas has refused to distance himself from them, thus conveying tacit support for his vitriolic words. The truth of the matter is that there is no difference between the president’s views and that of his religious advisor. Speaking last week at a conference in Bahrain with the ambassadors of the State of Palestine to Arab and Islamic countries, Abbas threatened to take “unprecedented steps” to end the political division between his West Bank-based government and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. “These days, we are in a dangerous and tough situation that requires decisive steps,” he declared, “and we are going to take these decisive steps. We are going to take unprecedented steps in the coming days to end the division.”
After decades of diplomatic work on behalf of the Palestinian national movement, Mahmoud Abbas should know that reconciliation of any kind requires favorable conditions to thrive. Threats of fire and brimstone can only poison the atmosphere and perpetuate mistrust. He should remember that that the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are no less Palestinian than those in the West Bank; they too aspire to the same national objective of a free and independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Why, then, should they be treated as enemies?
By withholding wages due to its own civil servants in Gaza and giving succour to Israeli jingoism, the PA in Ramallah will gain nothing. The only real beneficiary from such misguided policies will be the Occupying Power, Israel. It is high time for Ramallah to engage in an honest reality check and decide which side Abbas is actually on, Israel or Palestine. It’s still not too late.
– Dr. Daud Abdullah is Middle East Monitor Director.
18 apr 2017
Israeli Intelligence and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz demanded on Tuesday the execution of convicted Palestinian prisoners.
Katz tweeted Monday evening that Marwan al-Barghouti should have been given the death penalty instead of been sentenced to life imprisonment, where he is currently leading a hunger strike to improve prisoners detention conditions.
Katz calls on Israeli leaders including Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman to vote for enforcing the law bill that allows the death penalty to be applied against Palestinian prisoners.
On Monday, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners began a mass hunger strike scheduled to coincide with Palestinian Prisoner Day, an annual event held in solidarity with the more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails.
Katz tweeted Monday evening that Marwan al-Barghouti should have been given the death penalty instead of been sentenced to life imprisonment, where he is currently leading a hunger strike to improve prisoners detention conditions.
Katz calls on Israeli leaders including Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman to vote for enforcing the law bill that allows the death penalty to be applied against Palestinian prisoners.
On Monday, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners began a mass hunger strike scheduled to coincide with Palestinian Prisoner Day, an annual event held in solidarity with the more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails.
17 apr 2017
Palestinian Authority (PA) security officers on Sunday night prevented local young men in Nablus from confronting Israeli occupation forces after they entered their neighborhood to retrieve two fellow undercover soldiers.
In a video leak, one PA officer was heard threatening to break the hands of anyone who throws stones at the Israeli soldiers.
This happened as senior PA officers were meeting with their Israeli counterparts before handing over two Israeli armed plain-clothes soldiers after they infiltrated into Nablus city.
There is still no information if these two soldiers or officers were on a mission in Nablus to kidnap Palestinians and why they entered the area without prior coordination with the PA liaison office.
A local source reported yesterday morning that a patrol vehicle boarded by PA national security officers intercepted a car after suspecting it in Rafidia neighborhood, west of the city, and found two men carrying pistols inside it.
Soon later, the source added, the two armed men were found to be Israeli undercover officers and then taken to a security office in al-Junaid prison, where contacts were seemingly made with the Israeli side to bring them back.
In a video leak, one PA officer was heard threatening to break the hands of anyone who throws stones at the Israeli soldiers.
This happened as senior PA officers were meeting with their Israeli counterparts before handing over two Israeli armed plain-clothes soldiers after they infiltrated into Nablus city.
There is still no information if these two soldiers or officers were on a mission in Nablus to kidnap Palestinians and why they entered the area without prior coordination with the PA liaison office.
A local source reported yesterday morning that a patrol vehicle boarded by PA national security officers intercepted a car after suspecting it in Rafidia neighborhood, west of the city, and found two men carrying pistols inside it.
Soon later, the source added, the two armed men were found to be Israeli undercover officers and then taken to a security office in al-Junaid prison, where contacts were seemingly made with the Israeli side to bring them back.
16 apr 2017
The Israeli security services arrested 400 Palestinians since October 2015 for their social media posts, especially those published on Facebook.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in a report on Sunday that the Israeli security services imposed strict censorship on social media websites to identify those who have intentions to carry out attacks.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) developed, in cooperation with the intelligence services, a data bank based on an automatic sorting of the Palestinian posts and comments on social media.
The Israeli security services arrested this number of Palestinians after an in-depth examination and monitoring of the posts of 2,200 Palestinians who were accused of having motives that suggest the possibility of carrying out attacks.
The Hebrew website NRG said that the Israeli authorities consider Silwad town, near Ramallah city, as the city which has the largest number of would-be attackers.
The website pointed out, quoting a senior Israeli officer whose identity was not disclosed, that the Israeli army and the intelligence services are following up the inciting posts and working to stop the flow of money to Silwad where anti-Israel armed attacks are being allegedly planned and confiscate the equipment allegedly used for manufacturing weapons.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in a report on Sunday that the Israeli security services imposed strict censorship on social media websites to identify those who have intentions to carry out attacks.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) developed, in cooperation with the intelligence services, a data bank based on an automatic sorting of the Palestinian posts and comments on social media.
The Israeli security services arrested this number of Palestinians after an in-depth examination and monitoring of the posts of 2,200 Palestinians who were accused of having motives that suggest the possibility of carrying out attacks.
The Hebrew website NRG said that the Israeli authorities consider Silwad town, near Ramallah city, as the city which has the largest number of would-be attackers.
The website pointed out, quoting a senior Israeli officer whose identity was not disclosed, that the Israeli army and the intelligence services are following up the inciting posts and working to stop the flow of money to Silwad where anti-Israel armed attacks are being allegedly planned and confiscate the equipment allegedly used for manufacturing weapons.
15 apr 2017
A memorial ceremony was held Saturday afternoon in al-Walaja village, west of Bethlehem, to mark the 40th day after the death of the 31-year-old Palestinian activist Basil al-Arej who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last month.
According to the PIC field reporter, hundreds of Palestinians attended the festival amid large participation of families of slain Palestinians who were killed by Israel during Jerusalem Intifada.
During the event, al-Arej’s father hailed the large attendance of Palestinian people and especially martyrs’ families.
He also hailed his slain son’s sacrifices, stressing the importance of resistance option for the liberation of Palestine.
Basil al-Arej was killed by Israeli troops in a house in al-Bireh, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on March 6.
The martyr was a Palestinian intellectual who devoted much of his time to reading and research, particularly about the history and geography of Palestine.
According to the PIC field reporter, hundreds of Palestinians attended the festival amid large participation of families of slain Palestinians who were killed by Israel during Jerusalem Intifada.
During the event, al-Arej’s father hailed the large attendance of Palestinian people and especially martyrs’ families.
He also hailed his slain son’s sacrifices, stressing the importance of resistance option for the liberation of Palestine.
Basil al-Arej was killed by Israeli troops in a house in al-Bireh, on the outskirts of Ramallah, on March 6.
The martyr was a Palestinian intellectual who devoted much of his time to reading and research, particularly about the history and geography of Palestine.
