19 feb 2017
The Israeli Occupation Authority (IOA) started on Sunday to establish 12-kilometer-long and 30-meter-deep underground tunnels connecting the West Bank’s settlements with Israel four months prior to a previously-planned date.
According to Israeli TV Channel Two, these tunnels are extended from Tel Aviv to Bani Barak and Ramat Gan. Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that eight Large excavators are going to be used in the project.
Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper disclosed, on January, 31, 2017, the project with an estimated budget of five billion dollars.
According to the Hebrew newspaper, the project requires developing transportation in the West Bank, digging in tunnels, construction of junctions and new road networks, and the establishment of light trains and roads for public buses in order to connect settlement compounds in the West Bank to Tel Aviv, Gush Dan and Occupied Jerusalem.
According to Israeli TV Channel Two, these tunnels are extended from Tel Aviv to Bani Barak and Ramat Gan. Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that eight Large excavators are going to be used in the project.
Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper disclosed, on January, 31, 2017, the project with an estimated budget of five billion dollars.
According to the Hebrew newspaper, the project requires developing transportation in the West Bank, digging in tunnels, construction of junctions and new road networks, and the establishment of light trains and roads for public buses in order to connect settlement compounds in the West Bank to Tel Aviv, Gush Dan and Occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) notified on Sunday the demolition and evacuation of about 40 Palestinian Bedouin facilities east of occupied Jerusalem.
Jamil Hamadein told al-Quds Press news agency that a number of military vehicles as well as crews from the Israeli "Civil Administration" broke into Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village in the early morning hours and announced it a closed military zone.
Hamadein said that the Civil Administration crews handed the Palestinian families living in the village 40 demolition notices for residential facilities, sheep barns, a school and a mosque under the pretext of being unlicensed.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Education and Higher Education warned of demolishing the school of Khan al-Ahmar which serves a number of Bedouin communities in the outskirts of occupied Jerusalem.
The Minister of Education and Higher Education, Sabri Saydam, said in a press release issued by the ministry that IOA officials broke into the school, threatened to demolish it or remove some of its rooms, and blocked entry of teachers and students. He added that this procedure falls in line with a series of systematic and regular attacks against the school.
Saydam called on all international institutions and organizations to "immediately intervene to stop these inhumane practices, protect the educational process, ensure the students' right of safe education, and put a limit to the Israeli racist policies and arbitrary decisions."
He stressed that the Palestinian children's right of education is stronger than the Israeli tyranny, adding, "We will maintain the educational process and our students will learn in caravans, tents and under trees. Nations of the free world and international institutions must support them to get this right."
The IOA seeks to displace dozens of Palestinian families from the Bedouin communities east of occupied Jerusalem in a prelude to expand the Israeli settlements in the region especially Ma'ale Adumim which is built on the lands of al-Eizariya and Abu Dis towns.
Jamil Hamadein told al-Quds Press news agency that a number of military vehicles as well as crews from the Israeli "Civil Administration" broke into Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village in the early morning hours and announced it a closed military zone.
Hamadein said that the Civil Administration crews handed the Palestinian families living in the village 40 demolition notices for residential facilities, sheep barns, a school and a mosque under the pretext of being unlicensed.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Education and Higher Education warned of demolishing the school of Khan al-Ahmar which serves a number of Bedouin communities in the outskirts of occupied Jerusalem.
The Minister of Education and Higher Education, Sabri Saydam, said in a press release issued by the ministry that IOA officials broke into the school, threatened to demolish it or remove some of its rooms, and blocked entry of teachers and students. He added that this procedure falls in line with a series of systematic and regular attacks against the school.
Saydam called on all international institutions and organizations to "immediately intervene to stop these inhumane practices, protect the educational process, ensure the students' right of safe education, and put a limit to the Israeli racist policies and arbitrary decisions."
He stressed that the Palestinian children's right of education is stronger than the Israeli tyranny, adding, "We will maintain the educational process and our students will learn in caravans, tents and under trees. Nations of the free world and international institutions must support them to get this right."
The IOA seeks to displace dozens of Palestinian families from the Bedouin communities east of occupied Jerusalem in a prelude to expand the Israeli settlements in the region especially Ma'ale Adumim which is built on the lands of al-Eizariya and Abu Dis towns.
17 feb 2017
Empirical historical evidence combined with little common-sense are enough to tell us the type of future options that Israel has in store for the Palestinian people: perpetual apartheid or ethnic cleansing, or a mix of both.
The passing of the “Regularisation Bill” on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.
All settlements – officially recognised settlements and unauthorised outposts – are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel’s response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the “last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”, but that is not important. It never mattered to Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was concerned. All the “peace talks” and the entirety of “peace process”, even when it was in its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli bulldozers, the construction of more “Jewish homes” or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek, Diana Buttu described how the process of building settlements is always accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes. 140 Palestinian structures were demolished since the beginning of 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories.
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president of America, Israel has felt liberated from its obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli officials spoke passionately about peace, and did everything in their power to hinder its attainment. Now, they simply do not care. Period.
They have perfected their balancing act simply because they had to, because Washington expected it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a blank cheque: do as you please; settlements are not obstacles to peace; Israel has been “treated very, very unfairly” and I will correct that historical injustice, and so on.
Almost immediately after Trump was inaugurated as president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25 January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced, dropping his act altogether, and declaring in enviable brazenness: “We are building, and we will continue to build” illegal settlements.
What more is there to talk about with Israel at this point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered to Israel is Israel’s own “solution”, always driven by blind American support, European uselessness and always imposed on the Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force if needed.
The guardians of the grand charade of the two-state solution, who shrewdly crafted the “peace process” and danced to every Israeli tune are now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel’s dreadful plans that shot their “solution” right between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose between subjugation, humiliation or imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right. The new law is the first step towards the annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of it. Once small outposts are legalised, they would need to be fortified, (“naturally”) expanded and protected. The military occupation, in effect for 50 years, will no longer be temporary and reversible. Civil law will continue to apply to Jews in Occupied Palestinian Territories and military laws on occupied Palestinians.
It is the very definition of Apartheid, in case you are still wondering.
To meet the “security needs” of the settlers, more “Jewish-only” bypass roads will be constructed, more walls erected, more gates to keep Palestinians away from their land, schools and livelihood will be put up, more checkpoints, more suffering, more pain, more anger and more violence.
That is Israel’s vision. Even Trump is growing frustrated by Israel’s shamelessness and audacity. He called on Israel in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper to “be reasonable with respect to peace”.
“There is so much land left. And every time you take land for settlements, there is less land left,” Trump said. He is backtracking on promises he made with regard to moving the US embassy and the unchecked expansion of the settlements and more, as he is realising that Netanyahu and his US supporters have led him to a cliff and are now asking him to jump.
But it matters little, anyway. Whether Trump holds on to his extremely pro-Israel position or reverts to a wishy-washy stance similar to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, reality is unlikely to change – for only Israel is ultimately allowed to influence outcomes.
Israeli lawmakers’ approval of the bill is, indeed, an end of an era. We have reached the point where we can openly declare that the so-called “peace process” was an illusion from the start, for Israel had no intentions of ever conceding the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership is hardly blameless in all of this.
The greatest mistake that the Palestinian leadership committed (aside from its disgraceful disunity) was entrusting the US, Israel’s main enabler, with managing a “peace process” that has allowed Israel time and resources to finish its colonial projects, while devastating Palestinian rights and political aspirations.
Returning to the same old channels, using the same language, seeking salvation at the altar of the same old “two-state solution” will achieve nothing but waste further time and energy.
But Israel’s humiliating options to the Palestinians can also be read in a different way. Indeed, it is Israel’s obstinacy that is now leaving Palestinians (and Israelis) with one option, and only one option: equal citizenship in one single state or a horrific apartheid and more ethnic cleansing.
In the words of former President Jimmy Carter: “Israel will never find peace until it permit(s) the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.”
That Israeli “permission” is yet to arrive, leaving the international community with the moral responsibility to exact it.
– Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
The passing of the “Regularisation Bill” on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.
All settlements – officially recognised settlements and unauthorised outposts – are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel’s response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the “last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”, but that is not important. It never mattered to Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was concerned. All the “peace talks” and the entirety of “peace process”, even when it was in its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli bulldozers, the construction of more “Jewish homes” or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek, Diana Buttu described how the process of building settlements is always accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes. 140 Palestinian structures were demolished since the beginning of 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories.
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president of America, Israel has felt liberated from its obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli officials spoke passionately about peace, and did everything in their power to hinder its attainment. Now, they simply do not care. Period.
They have perfected their balancing act simply because they had to, because Washington expected it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a blank cheque: do as you please; settlements are not obstacles to peace; Israel has been “treated very, very unfairly” and I will correct that historical injustice, and so on.
Almost immediately after Trump was inaugurated as president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25 January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced, dropping his act altogether, and declaring in enviable brazenness: “We are building, and we will continue to build” illegal settlements.
What more is there to talk about with Israel at this point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered to Israel is Israel’s own “solution”, always driven by blind American support, European uselessness and always imposed on the Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force if needed.
The guardians of the grand charade of the two-state solution, who shrewdly crafted the “peace process” and danced to every Israeli tune are now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel’s dreadful plans that shot their “solution” right between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose between subjugation, humiliation or imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right. The new law is the first step towards the annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of it. Once small outposts are legalised, they would need to be fortified, (“naturally”) expanded and protected. The military occupation, in effect for 50 years, will no longer be temporary and reversible. Civil law will continue to apply to Jews in Occupied Palestinian Territories and military laws on occupied Palestinians.
It is the very definition of Apartheid, in case you are still wondering.
To meet the “security needs” of the settlers, more “Jewish-only” bypass roads will be constructed, more walls erected, more gates to keep Palestinians away from their land, schools and livelihood will be put up, more checkpoints, more suffering, more pain, more anger and more violence.
That is Israel’s vision. Even Trump is growing frustrated by Israel’s shamelessness and audacity. He called on Israel in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper to “be reasonable with respect to peace”.
“There is so much land left. And every time you take land for settlements, there is less land left,” Trump said. He is backtracking on promises he made with regard to moving the US embassy and the unchecked expansion of the settlements and more, as he is realising that Netanyahu and his US supporters have led him to a cliff and are now asking him to jump.
But it matters little, anyway. Whether Trump holds on to his extremely pro-Israel position or reverts to a wishy-washy stance similar to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, reality is unlikely to change – for only Israel is ultimately allowed to influence outcomes.
Israeli lawmakers’ approval of the bill is, indeed, an end of an era. We have reached the point where we can openly declare that the so-called “peace process” was an illusion from the start, for Israel had no intentions of ever conceding the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership is hardly blameless in all of this.
The greatest mistake that the Palestinian leadership committed (aside from its disgraceful disunity) was entrusting the US, Israel’s main enabler, with managing a “peace process” that has allowed Israel time and resources to finish its colonial projects, while devastating Palestinian rights and political aspirations.
Returning to the same old channels, using the same language, seeking salvation at the altar of the same old “two-state solution” will achieve nothing but waste further time and energy.
But Israel’s humiliating options to the Palestinians can also be read in a different way. Indeed, it is Israel’s obstinacy that is now leaving Palestinians (and Israelis) with one option, and only one option: equal citizenship in one single state or a horrific apartheid and more ethnic cleansing.
In the words of former President Jimmy Carter: “Israel will never find peace until it permit(s) the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.”
That Israeli “permission” is yet to arrive, leaving the international community with the moral responsibility to exact it.
– Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
A so-called “Dismantle the Ghettos” campaign kicked off in the southern occupied West Bank province of al-Khalil in an attempt to push for an international action as regards the Israeli crackdowns.
Palestinian activists and human rights advocates announced the launch of the campaign during a press conference held Friday at Cordoba School, in al-Shuhada Street, which has been closed off by the Israeli occupation army for years.
A series of events and rallies is expected to take palace both nationwide and overseas in the next few days so as to mobilize support for the campaign.
Campaigner Mufeed al-Sharbati said the move comes in response to the aggressions and violations increasingly committed by the Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinians.
Activist Badi’ Dweik said the campaign aims to raise awareness about the daily violations against residents of al-Khalil at military checkpoints and security barriers set up by the Israeli occupation forces around the Ibrahimi Mosque, in al-Khalil.
The campaign is expected to be wrapped up by a mass rally on February 24 to push for lifting the Israeli cordons imposed around the Old City and other blockaded neighborhoods.
Member of al-Khalil defense committee, Hesham al-Sharbati, said 27 events will take place in the next few days in an attempt to shed light on Israel’s human rights violations and racist policies in the occupied territories.
Palestinian activists and human rights advocates announced the launch of the campaign during a press conference held Friday at Cordoba School, in al-Shuhada Street, which has been closed off by the Israeli occupation army for years.
A series of events and rallies is expected to take palace both nationwide and overseas in the next few days so as to mobilize support for the campaign.
Campaigner Mufeed al-Sharbati said the move comes in response to the aggressions and violations increasingly committed by the Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinians.
Activist Badi’ Dweik said the campaign aims to raise awareness about the daily violations against residents of al-Khalil at military checkpoints and security barriers set up by the Israeli occupation forces around the Ibrahimi Mosque, in al-Khalil.
The campaign is expected to be wrapped up by a mass rally on February 24 to push for lifting the Israeli cordons imposed around the Old City and other blockaded neighborhoods.
Member of al-Khalil defense committee, Hesham al-Sharbati, said 27 events will take place in the next few days in an attempt to shed light on Israel’s human rights violations and racist policies in the occupied territories.
16 feb 2017
The Arab League has condemned Israel’s intent to carry out new Judaization projects in Occupied Jerusalem as “tantamount to war crimes under international law.”
This came in a press release issued on Wednesday by the Arab League’s Department of Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories.
The department warned in its statement of Israel’s plan to expand its rail lines from Tel Aviv to west Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque’s western wall area and to establish an elevator going between al-Sharaf neighborhood and the western wall at the pretext of facilitating the movement of Jewish settlers and foreign tourists to the area.
The department also accused Israel of stepping up its pressure on the Jerusalemite Palestinians in every aspect of their daily life to force them to leave the holy city through systematically demolishing their homes, banishing them, imposing heavy taxes and penalties on them, and withdrawing their IDs.
It affirmed that Israel’s violations against Jerusalem, its natives and the Aqsa Mosque systematically increased according to pre-planned schemes, stressing the need to prosecute Israel at an international court over its practices which it described as “war crimes.”
This came in a press release issued on Wednesday by the Arab League’s Department of Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories.
The department warned in its statement of Israel’s plan to expand its rail lines from Tel Aviv to west Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque’s western wall area and to establish an elevator going between al-Sharaf neighborhood and the western wall at the pretext of facilitating the movement of Jewish settlers and foreign tourists to the area.
The department also accused Israel of stepping up its pressure on the Jerusalemite Palestinians in every aspect of their daily life to force them to leave the holy city through systematically demolishing their homes, banishing them, imposing heavy taxes and penalties on them, and withdrawing their IDs.
It affirmed that Israel’s violations against Jerusalem, its natives and the Aqsa Mosque systematically increased according to pre-planned schemes, stressing the need to prosecute Israel at an international court over its practices which it described as “war crimes.”