17 jan 2017

A Palestinian rides on a donkey with a settlement in the background
Israeli rights group Yesh Din submitted a complaint to Israeli civil authorities on behalf of Palestinian landowners, claiming that they own four plots of land allocated for the building of alternative housing for residents of the soon-to-be demolished Israeli settler outpost of Amona, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
According to Israeli media outlet Ynet, the complaint states that the land belongs to Palestinian residents of Silwad, who are protected in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling on Amona stating that the settler outpost would be demolished owing to its location on privately held Palestinian land.
The Israeli government began constructing new homes for Amona residents last week, Ynet reported, as part of an agreement with the residents and the Israeli government to provide alternative housing to the settlers.
“Once the plots were announced, landowners had 96 hours to petition the location of the designated land in the case that they were, in fact,on private Palestinian land,” Ynet added in their report.
Last month, the Israeli Supreme Court accepted the Israeli government’s request to postpone the evacuation of Amona until Feb. 8 in order to to give additional time for the Israeli government to provide alternative housing for its residents.
Haaretz reported at the time that the government plan would see the majority of them relocated to a nearby hilltop to lease, claiming that the property had been abandoned by its Palestinian owners.
"After 20 years of pioneering settlement, and against all odds, and after two years of struggle, we have decided to suspend our struggle, and take the government's offer to build 52 houses and public buildings in new Amona," Ynet quoted the Amona settlers as saying at the time.
Following the settlers’ acceptance of the government plan, reports quickly emerged that the land slated for the relocation of Amona residents was also privately owned by Palestinians, with Israeli human rights watchdog Peace Now pointing out that “the Israeli government is replacing one land theft by another.”
Israeli rights group Yesh Din announced last month that it had filed an appeal on behalf of a Palestinian who claimed to own the land the settlers had been allocated, emphasizing the land in fact has not been abandoned, while there was evidence supporting a number of other claims to land earmarked for the Amona settlers, in the Palestinian villages of Silwad, Ein Yabrud, and other neighboring towns.
Referring to all four plots, Peace Now asserted that “These lands are private lands and their use for the purpose of settlement is contrary to previous legal opinions of the (Israeli) State.”
Mayor of Silwad Abd al-Rahman Salih told Ma’an last month that the municipal council had already been notified by Israeli authorities of plans to confiscate the privately-owned land in the town's outskirts.
"Israel claims the new land slated for confiscation has been deserted by its owners who live abroad," the mayor said. “We have all the documents to prove that the land is a private property of the town, known locally as Hawd Shbeikat. But this (Israeli) government brushes aside even the decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court."
Rights groups have highlighted that, while the settler outposts constructed in Palestinian territory are considered illegal by the Israeli government, each of the some 196 government-approved Israeli settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are also built in direct violation of international law.
Israeli rights group Yesh Din submitted a complaint to Israeli civil authorities on behalf of Palestinian landowners, claiming that they own four plots of land allocated for the building of alternative housing for residents of the soon-to-be demolished Israeli settler outpost of Amona, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
According to Israeli media outlet Ynet, the complaint states that the land belongs to Palestinian residents of Silwad, who are protected in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling on Amona stating that the settler outpost would be demolished owing to its location on privately held Palestinian land.
The Israeli government began constructing new homes for Amona residents last week, Ynet reported, as part of an agreement with the residents and the Israeli government to provide alternative housing to the settlers.
“Once the plots were announced, landowners had 96 hours to petition the location of the designated land in the case that they were, in fact,on private Palestinian land,” Ynet added in their report.
Last month, the Israeli Supreme Court accepted the Israeli government’s request to postpone the evacuation of Amona until Feb. 8 in order to to give additional time for the Israeli government to provide alternative housing for its residents.
Haaretz reported at the time that the government plan would see the majority of them relocated to a nearby hilltop to lease, claiming that the property had been abandoned by its Palestinian owners.
"After 20 years of pioneering settlement, and against all odds, and after two years of struggle, we have decided to suspend our struggle, and take the government's offer to build 52 houses and public buildings in new Amona," Ynet quoted the Amona settlers as saying at the time.
Following the settlers’ acceptance of the government plan, reports quickly emerged that the land slated for the relocation of Amona residents was also privately owned by Palestinians, with Israeli human rights watchdog Peace Now pointing out that “the Israeli government is replacing one land theft by another.”
Israeli rights group Yesh Din announced last month that it had filed an appeal on behalf of a Palestinian who claimed to own the land the settlers had been allocated, emphasizing the land in fact has not been abandoned, while there was evidence supporting a number of other claims to land earmarked for the Amona settlers, in the Palestinian villages of Silwad, Ein Yabrud, and other neighboring towns.
Referring to all four plots, Peace Now asserted that “These lands are private lands and their use for the purpose of settlement is contrary to previous legal opinions of the (Israeli) State.”
Mayor of Silwad Abd al-Rahman Salih told Ma’an last month that the municipal council had already been notified by Israeli authorities of plans to confiscate the privately-owned land in the town's outskirts.
"Israel claims the new land slated for confiscation has been deserted by its owners who live abroad," the mayor said. “We have all the documents to prove that the land is a private property of the town, known locally as Hawd Shbeikat. But this (Israeli) government brushes aside even the decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court."
Rights groups have highlighted that, while the settler outposts constructed in Palestinian territory are considered illegal by the Israeli government, each of the some 196 government-approved Israeli settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are also built in direct violation of international law.

The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence agency, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) security apparatuses arrested recently dozens of Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas as part of their security collaboration, the Hebrew news website Walla has revealed.
Walla claimed that this security cooperation frustrated several attacks that had been planned by Hamas in the West Bank and Israel.
It quoted Israeli and Palestinian security sources as saying that the latest Shin Bet-PA campaign led to the arrest of a Hamas-affiliated cell that intended to carry out attacks using guns and explosive materials against Israeli targets.
This cell is composed of five Palestinians, three detained by the PA and two in Israeli jails, according to the website.
In the context of this PA-Israeli cooperation, the Shin Bet also arrested a group of Hamas activists that worked recently on increasing the strength and influence of their Movement in the West Bank, Walla claimed further.
About 100 groups from Hamas accused of plotting to target Israelis were arrested in the West Bank by the PA and Israel during 2016, the website noted.
Walla claimed that this security cooperation frustrated several attacks that had been planned by Hamas in the West Bank and Israel.
It quoted Israeli and Palestinian security sources as saying that the latest Shin Bet-PA campaign led to the arrest of a Hamas-affiliated cell that intended to carry out attacks using guns and explosive materials against Israeli targets.
This cell is composed of five Palestinians, three detained by the PA and two in Israeli jails, according to the website.
In the context of this PA-Israeli cooperation, the Shin Bet also arrested a group of Hamas activists that worked recently on increasing the strength and influence of their Movement in the West Bank, Walla claimed further.
About 100 groups from Hamas accused of plotting to target Israelis were arrested in the West Bank by the PA and Israel during 2016, the website noted.

aggressively attacking al-Amour as he kept bleeding on the ground while preventing Palestinians from reaching the scene to rescue the minor.
The Palestinian Information Ministry called on the human rights bodies to hand over the video to the concerned authorities both nationally and internationally, particularly the International Criminal Court (ICC), so as to impeach the Israeli criminals.
The ministry added that it kept tabs on the crime as it gradually enfolded in the footage, where the occupation soldiers shot al-Amour with two bullets in his chest and thigh before they arrested him and left him bleeding to death.
The murder brings back to the world’s memory the cold blooded execution of youngster Abdul Fatah al-Sherif in al-Khalil, among dozens of other Palestinian youths, in scenes that reflect Israel’s unabated terrorism against the innocent Palestinians.
Al-Amour’s funeral procession is expected to be held at noontime Tuesday in Tekoua’ town, where his parents, relatives, and friends will bid him last farewell.
Video shows soldiers abusing, killing Palestinian boy they had shot by dragging, pulling him
In a newly-released video of the Israeli military killing of a 17-year old Palestinian boy in Bethlehem Monday, the Israeli soldiers who fired live rounds at the youth can be seen dragging the severely wounded teen across the ground, banging his head and pulling at his limbs and torso.
Medical observers who have seen the video have pointed out that the boy, 17-year old Qussai Hasan al-‘Amour, may have survived the gunshot wounds had he not been dragged and pulled by the soldiers.
al-Amour was lying on the ground after being shot by the Israeli military, but was still moving and was clearly still alive, when the soldiers moved in rapidly and grabbed him, then began running, dragging and dropping his body and banging his head for a length of over 100 meters to where their military jeeps were stationed.
The Video was captured by Hisham Abu Shaqra, a Palestinian journalist who works for the Turkish Anadolu News Agency, who nearly a year ago was shot by Israeli soldiers with a Tutu expanding bullet, north of Bethlehem.
Abu Shaqra was also abducted by the soldiers, on Friday March 18, 2016, after the soldiers shot and killed Mahmoud Ahmad Fannoun, 21, from the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Updated from:
Israeli Soldiers Kill A Palestinian Teen In Bethlehem
Jan 16, 2017 @ 20:28
Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Monday evening, a Palestinian teen, and injured at least four others, after several army vehicles invaded Teqoua’ town, southeast of Bethlehem.
Medical sources at the Beit Jala governmental hospital in Bethlehem, said Qussai Hasan al-‘Amour, 17, was killed after the soldiers shot him with three live rounds in the chest, and three other rounds in his limbs.
One of the Emergency Unity doctors at the hospital said one of the bullets directly struck the teen in his heart.
After shooting the teenager, the army prevented Palestinian Red Crescent medics from, took him away and handed his body to the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), less than thirty minutes after he was killed.
Eyewitnesses said clashes took place at the western entrance of Teqoua’, close to the City Council building, after several Israeli army vehicles invaded it.
The soldiers also shot and wounded four Palestinians, including one woman, while many others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
The Palestinian Information Ministry called on the human rights bodies to hand over the video to the concerned authorities both nationally and internationally, particularly the International Criminal Court (ICC), so as to impeach the Israeli criminals.
The ministry added that it kept tabs on the crime as it gradually enfolded in the footage, where the occupation soldiers shot al-Amour with two bullets in his chest and thigh before they arrested him and left him bleeding to death.
The murder brings back to the world’s memory the cold blooded execution of youngster Abdul Fatah al-Sherif in al-Khalil, among dozens of other Palestinian youths, in scenes that reflect Israel’s unabated terrorism against the innocent Palestinians.
Al-Amour’s funeral procession is expected to be held at noontime Tuesday in Tekoua’ town, where his parents, relatives, and friends will bid him last farewell.
Video shows soldiers abusing, killing Palestinian boy they had shot by dragging, pulling him
In a newly-released video of the Israeli military killing of a 17-year old Palestinian boy in Bethlehem Monday, the Israeli soldiers who fired live rounds at the youth can be seen dragging the severely wounded teen across the ground, banging his head and pulling at his limbs and torso.
Medical observers who have seen the video have pointed out that the boy, 17-year old Qussai Hasan al-‘Amour, may have survived the gunshot wounds had he not been dragged and pulled by the soldiers.
al-Amour was lying on the ground after being shot by the Israeli military, but was still moving and was clearly still alive, when the soldiers moved in rapidly and grabbed him, then began running, dragging and dropping his body and banging his head for a length of over 100 meters to where their military jeeps were stationed.
The Video was captured by Hisham Abu Shaqra, a Palestinian journalist who works for the Turkish Anadolu News Agency, who nearly a year ago was shot by Israeli soldiers with a Tutu expanding bullet, north of Bethlehem.
Abu Shaqra was also abducted by the soldiers, on Friday March 18, 2016, after the soldiers shot and killed Mahmoud Ahmad Fannoun, 21, from the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Updated from:
Israeli Soldiers Kill A Palestinian Teen In Bethlehem
Jan 16, 2017 @ 20:28
Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Monday evening, a Palestinian teen, and injured at least four others, after several army vehicles invaded Teqoua’ town, southeast of Bethlehem.
Medical sources at the Beit Jala governmental hospital in Bethlehem, said Qussai Hasan al-‘Amour, 17, was killed after the soldiers shot him with three live rounds in the chest, and three other rounds in his limbs.
One of the Emergency Unity doctors at the hospital said one of the bullets directly struck the teen in his heart.
After shooting the teenager, the army prevented Palestinian Red Crescent medics from, took him away and handed his body to the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), less than thirty minutes after he was killed.
Eyewitnesses said clashes took place at the western entrance of Teqoua’, close to the City Council building, after several Israeli army vehicles invaded it.
The soldiers also shot and wounded four Palestinians, including one woman, while many others suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Tuesday arrested the wife of the Palestinian slain activist Ghassan Abu Jamal from her home in Occupied Jerusalem, in the presence of her three kids.
A PIC news correspondent said Abu Jamal’s widowed wife was arrested at gunpoint at her home in Jabal al-Mukabbir, in Occupied Jerusalem, and dragged to an unidentified destination.
Her three kids reportedly wept bitter tears as they pleaded the soldiers not to send their mother to jail.
Recently, Israel’s interior minister pushed for revoking the mother’s residency on account of her husband’s involvement in an anti-occupation attack on a Jewish Synagogue in Occupied Jerusalem.
The minister further ruled for banning Abu Jamal’s widow and her family members from Occupied Jerusalem as part of intents to disband the Abu Jamal family in retaliation for the anti-occupation attack.
A PIC news correspondent said Abu Jamal’s widowed wife was arrested at gunpoint at her home in Jabal al-Mukabbir, in Occupied Jerusalem, and dragged to an unidentified destination.
Her three kids reportedly wept bitter tears as they pleaded the soldiers not to send their mother to jail.
Recently, Israel’s interior minister pushed for revoking the mother’s residency on account of her husband’s involvement in an anti-occupation attack on a Jewish Synagogue in Occupied Jerusalem.
The minister further ruled for banning Abu Jamal’s widow and her family members from Occupied Jerusalem as part of intents to disband the Abu Jamal family in retaliation for the anti-occupation attack.
15 jan 2017

The ministerial committee for legislation at the Israeli Knesset intends to discuss on Sunday a bill calling for exiling the families of Palestinian attackers from Israel and Jerusalem to other areas.
Israel’s Channel 7 quoted Israeli minister and Knesset member Yisrael Katz (Likud) as saying that the most appropriate response to the latest Jerusalem attack would be the deportation of the perpetrator’s family to Gaza or Syria.
The bill, if it becomes a law, will give the Israeli ministers of interior affairs and public security the authority to expel Palestinian families who have the right to reside in Israel and Jerusalem to other areas.
The bill needs, first, approval from the Knesset ministerial committee before it can be voted into a law by Knesset members following three readings.
Israel’s Channel 7 quoted Israeli minister and Knesset member Yisrael Katz (Likud) as saying that the most appropriate response to the latest Jerusalem attack would be the deportation of the perpetrator’s family to Gaza or Syria.
The bill, if it becomes a law, will give the Israeli ministers of interior affairs and public security the authority to expel Palestinian families who have the right to reside in Israel and Jerusalem to other areas.
The bill needs, first, approval from the Knesset ministerial committee before it can be voted into a law by Knesset members following three readings.
14 jan 2017

An Israeli newspaper revealed that Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carried out 185 storming operations into Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the first nine days of January.
Haaretz Israeli newspaper said, on its website, that the incursions included 36 raids into homes of Kafr Kadoum in Qalqilya.
In one storming operation, the IOF troops broke into ten homes of the Palestinian Juma’s family, it highlighted.
The newspaper stated that Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian civilians during the incursions including an old woman in her eighties. She passed out after the soldiers violently pushed her, it added.
Haaretz Israeli newspaper said, on its website, that the incursions included 36 raids into homes of Kafr Kadoum in Qalqilya.
In one storming operation, the IOF troops broke into ten homes of the Palestinian Juma’s family, it highlighted.
The newspaper stated that Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian civilians during the incursions including an old woman in her eighties. She passed out after the soldiers violently pushed her, it added.