23 july 2016
Heavily-armed Israeli policemen violently stormed Saturday Bab al-Rahma cemetery adjacent to the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Earlier Saturday, Palestinian youths from Silwan town started since the early morning hours cleaning the cemetery.
The cleaning campaign came in response to the Israeli systematic targeting of the Islamic historical cemetery, most recently was the demolition of four graves under the pretext of being built without Israeli permit.
Earlier Saturday, Palestinian youths from Silwan town started since the early morning hours cleaning the cemetery.
The cleaning campaign came in response to the Israeli systematic targeting of the Islamic historical cemetery, most recently was the demolition of four graves under the pretext of being built without Israeli permit.
22 july 2016
A group of field researchers said a Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli soldiers who fired rubber-coated bullets at demonstrators near Occupied Jerusalem.
According to a statement by the Jerusalem Field Researchers Association for Human Rights, Mohiy Aldeen al-Tabakhi, 10, was killed by shots fired by the Israeli border guards in the al-Ram area, near Occupied Jerusalem.
The bullets hit the child’s heart, leading to his death.
The murder was perpetrated at 6:30 pm on Tuesday during clashes with five Palestinian minors aged below 15 near al-Ram town.
According to eyewitness testimonies, the occupation soldiers showered the area with teargas canisters. The children were some 30 meters away from the soldiers.
Doctors failed to restore Mahyi’s normal sinus rhythm via electric cardioversion. He was later evacuated to the Ramallah Hospital, where he breathed his last.
According to a statement by the Jerusalem Field Researchers Association for Human Rights, Mohiy Aldeen al-Tabakhi, 10, was killed by shots fired by the Israeli border guards in the al-Ram area, near Occupied Jerusalem.
The bullets hit the child’s heart, leading to his death.
The murder was perpetrated at 6:30 pm on Tuesday during clashes with five Palestinian minors aged below 15 near al-Ram town.
According to eyewitness testimonies, the occupation soldiers showered the area with teargas canisters. The children were some 30 meters away from the soldiers.
Doctors failed to restore Mahyi’s normal sinus rhythm via electric cardioversion. He was later evacuated to the Ramallah Hospital, where he breathed his last.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a new report issued Friday that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire over the past week while 44 others were injured including 13 children.
In its report titled “The Protection of Civilians,” Israeli forces killed a Palestinian young man at the entrance to Aroub refugee camp north of al-Khalil and a child in al-Ram town north of occupied Jerusalem.
During the reported period, 44 Palestinians were injured including 13 children from different parts of occupied Palestinian territories.
22 Palestinian-owned houses were either demolished or closed since the beginning of the year as part of Israeli punitive measures, leaving 110 persons homeless.
Israeli authorities also demolished 23 homes for being allegedly built without permit in Israeli-controlled Area C, displacing 43 persons including 25 children.
Along the same line, Israeli authorities issued 13 orders to stop construction of Palestinian facilities in Area C and occupied Jerusalem. The report pointed out that Israeli settlers carried out nine attacks against Palestinian targets mainly in Bethlehem and Salfit.
In its report titled “The Protection of Civilians,” Israeli forces killed a Palestinian young man at the entrance to Aroub refugee camp north of al-Khalil and a child in al-Ram town north of occupied Jerusalem.
During the reported period, 44 Palestinians were injured including 13 children from different parts of occupied Palestinian territories.
22 Palestinian-owned houses were either demolished or closed since the beginning of the year as part of Israeli punitive measures, leaving 110 persons homeless.
Israeli authorities also demolished 23 homes for being allegedly built without permit in Israeli-controlled Area C, displacing 43 persons including 25 children.
Along the same line, Israeli authorities issued 13 orders to stop construction of Palestinian facilities in Area C and occupied Jerusalem. The report pointed out that Israeli settlers carried out nine attacks against Palestinian targets mainly in Bethlehem and Salfit.
Israeli forces are installing a stone checkpoint at the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque to restrict Palestinians from entering it, to visit and to pray.
As the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee’s General Manager, Imad Hamdan, illustrated, the new checkpoint will be made of stone in a permanent-style, in front of the historic holy site, which will affect the fabric of the building and the community.
This development came from the Israeli Shamghar committee which also recommended the division of the mosque into two parts following the massacre of Palestinians in the Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994.
Subsequent to the division of the mosque, the holy site fell under tight control by Israeli security and surveillance. These developments were catastrophic to Palestinians and to the old city, as it is a religiously, historically and culturally significant. It is the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility to defend, maintain and combat Israeli policies aimed at colonizing the Ibrahimi Mosque and Palestinian lands.
Checkpoints are used by the Israeli military to deter Palestinian residents from coming to and living in the Old City of Hebron, to restrict their movements and devastate the rights of the local population. Military checkpoints around the Ibrahimi Mosque are placed strategically by Israeli forces to expel Muslim devotees from the area and increase Israeli presence, in and around the mosque.
In the Old City of Hebron, 18 checkpoints currently exist, in addition to more than 130 other access restrictions, which the Israeli military claim are in place in order to provide “security” to the 600 illegal settlers living in the city center and the thousands living nearby.
However, in actuality, checkpoints are one of many tools used by the Israeli military to humiliate the local Palestinian population, appropriate large portions of Hebron’s Old City, and create a closure and expansion policy to ensure Jewish-only areas.
Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) deplores Israeli plans to further oppress the local Palestinian population by installing a new checkpoint in Hebron’s Old City, near the holy site of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
HRC has called upon diplomats, UN representatives, and NGOs to use all means available to pressure the Israeli government to halt plans to install another checkpoint, abide by international laws and recognize the human rights of Palestinians.
As the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee’s General Manager, Imad Hamdan, illustrated, the new checkpoint will be made of stone in a permanent-style, in front of the historic holy site, which will affect the fabric of the building and the community.
This development came from the Israeli Shamghar committee which also recommended the division of the mosque into two parts following the massacre of Palestinians in the Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994.
Subsequent to the division of the mosque, the holy site fell under tight control by Israeli security and surveillance. These developments were catastrophic to Palestinians and to the old city, as it is a religiously, historically and culturally significant. It is the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility to defend, maintain and combat Israeli policies aimed at colonizing the Ibrahimi Mosque and Palestinian lands.
Checkpoints are used by the Israeli military to deter Palestinian residents from coming to and living in the Old City of Hebron, to restrict their movements and devastate the rights of the local population. Military checkpoints around the Ibrahimi Mosque are placed strategically by Israeli forces to expel Muslim devotees from the area and increase Israeli presence, in and around the mosque.
In the Old City of Hebron, 18 checkpoints currently exist, in addition to more than 130 other access restrictions, which the Israeli military claim are in place in order to provide “security” to the 600 illegal settlers living in the city center and the thousands living nearby.
However, in actuality, checkpoints are one of many tools used by the Israeli military to humiliate the local Palestinian population, appropriate large portions of Hebron’s Old City, and create a closure and expansion policy to ensure Jewish-only areas.
Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) deplores Israeli plans to further oppress the local Palestinian population by installing a new checkpoint in Hebron’s Old City, near the holy site of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
HRC has called upon diplomats, UN representatives, and NGOs to use all means available to pressure the Israeli government to halt plans to install another checkpoint, abide by international laws and recognize the human rights of Palestinians.
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Friday morning decided to reduce the number of Gaza elderly people allowed to travel to Jerusalem for the Friday prayer.
About 300 elderly men and women were supposed to leave Gaza for Jerusalem today, but only half of them were allowed to travel through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.
The Hebrew radio said the IOA also decided to decrease the number of Gazan passengers who apply for travel abroad through Jordan from 100 to 80 persons per week, including patients and students.
A limited number of businessmen from Gaza will also be given travel permits, according to Israel's new travel and movement restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in general.
Spokesman for the Palestinian ministry of civil affairs Mohamed al-Maqademah said that the IOA justified the measure by saying that many passengers from Gaza do not travel on the same day to their destinations.
Maqademah explained that some Gaza worshipers and passengers take advantage of their presence in the West Bank or Jerusalem to visit their relatives, so they postpone their travel for another day. He condemned the Israeli measure as "part of Israel's mass punishment policy against the Palestinians in Gaza."
About 300 elderly men and women were supposed to leave Gaza for Jerusalem today, but only half of them were allowed to travel through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.
The Hebrew radio said the IOA also decided to decrease the number of Gazan passengers who apply for travel abroad through Jordan from 100 to 80 persons per week, including patients and students.
A limited number of businessmen from Gaza will also be given travel permits, according to Israel's new travel and movement restrictions imposed on the Palestinians in general.
Spokesman for the Palestinian ministry of civil affairs Mohamed al-Maqademah said that the IOA justified the measure by saying that many passengers from Gaza do not travel on the same day to their destinations.
Maqademah explained that some Gaza worshipers and passengers take advantage of their presence in the West Bank or Jerusalem to visit their relatives, so they postpone their travel for another day. He condemned the Israeli measure as "part of Israel's mass punishment policy against the Palestinians in Gaza."
21 july 2016
Israel's Jerusalem district planning and construction committee on Wednesday approved a plan to carry out huge settlement projects along the path of the light rail in the occupied holy city.
According to the Hebrew website Reshet Bet, the project will include the construction of hotels, shopping centers, complexes, shops and tower buildings.
Head of Israel's municipal council Nir Barkat said that thousands of new housing units would be built as part of this project, which would also expand the commercial and hotel area along the sides of the rail's routes.
The light rail line runs from Occupied Jerusalem to Beit Hanina, crossing a distance of about 13 kilometers.
According to the Hebrew website Reshet Bet, the project will include the construction of hotels, shopping centers, complexes, shops and tower buildings.
Head of Israel's municipal council Nir Barkat said that thousands of new housing units would be built as part of this project, which would also expand the commercial and hotel area along the sides of the rail's routes.
The light rail line runs from Occupied Jerusalem to Beit Hanina, crossing a distance of about 13 kilometers.
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens at dawn Wednesday marched in the funeral procession of 22-year-old Anwar Salaymeh in Shuafat refugee camp, northeast of Occupied Jerusalem, after receiving his body from the Israeli side.
According to Quds Press, a Red Crescent ambulance crew received on Tuesday night the body of martyr Salaymeh at Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv after the Israeli security authorities refused to hand him over at Ofer military checkpoint, west of Ramallah.
Then, the martyr's body was taken aboard a Red Crescent ambulance to Shuafat refugee camp, where his family gave him a final farewell and prepared him for burial before taking him to Abu Obaida Mosque for the funeral prayer.
During the funeral procession, some armed participants fired several farewell shots into the air while others carried Palestinian flags.
Salaymeh was murdered by Israeli soldiers on July 13 as he was aboard a car along with two friends in al-Ram town, northeast of Jerusalem.
The Israeli army justified the incident by saying that its soldiers opened fire on a speeding vehicle heading towards them.
However, the other two surviving passengers in the car categorically denied they had attempted to run over the soldiers, asserting that they were heading to a bakery without knowing that troops were deployed in the area.
According to Quds Press, a Red Crescent ambulance crew received on Tuesday night the body of martyr Salaymeh at Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv after the Israeli security authorities refused to hand him over at Ofer military checkpoint, west of Ramallah.
Then, the martyr's body was taken aboard a Red Crescent ambulance to Shuafat refugee camp, where his family gave him a final farewell and prepared him for burial before taking him to Abu Obaida Mosque for the funeral prayer.
During the funeral procession, some armed participants fired several farewell shots into the air while others carried Palestinian flags.
Salaymeh was murdered by Israeli soldiers on July 13 as he was aboard a car along with two friends in al-Ram town, northeast of Jerusalem.
The Israeli army justified the incident by saying that its soldiers opened fire on a speeding vehicle heading towards them.
However, the other two surviving passengers in the car categorically denied they had attempted to run over the soldiers, asserting that they were heading to a bakery without knowing that troops were deployed in the area.
Hundreds of Palestinians Wednesday bade farewell to the 12-year-old martyr Muhiyi al-Tabakhi who was killed by Israeli gunfire Tuesday evening in al-Ram town in northern Occupied Jerusalem.
Quds Press revealed that the participants in the funeral waved the Palestinian flag and chanted national slogans demanding avenging child Tabakhi.
He is the first martyr of the town since the beginning of Jerusalem Intifada which broke out in October 2015.
The child was shot by a rubber bullet on Tuesday and died of his wounds after doctors failed to save his life.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted in the town in the wake of his martyrdom resulting in the injury of four Palestinian youths by Israeli rubber bullets.
A fifth Palestinian man was injured when he fell during the clashes, according to medical sources.
Quds Press revealed that the participants in the funeral waved the Palestinian flag and chanted national slogans demanding avenging child Tabakhi.
He is the first martyr of the town since the beginning of Jerusalem Intifada which broke out in October 2015.
The child was shot by a rubber bullet on Tuesday and died of his wounds after doctors failed to save his life.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted in the town in the wake of his martyrdom resulting in the injury of four Palestinian youths by Israeli rubber bullets.
A fifth Palestinian man was injured when he fell during the clashes, according to medical sources.
A new bill proposing fines for social media sites that do not remove anti-occupation content received the Israeli government’s approval on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill authored by MK Revital Swid (Zionist Union) giving social media providers, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, 48 hours to remove anti-Israel content.
Social media platforms that neglect to remove incitement will be fined $78,000 per post.
If it emerges that the site was aware of the post, for example, if it was quoted in major news outlets, but still did not remove it, the fine will be increased.
The legislation classifies terror-inciting posts as those that call to or encourage anti-occupation activism and attacks.
The bill enjoys widespread support in the current Knesset, with 21 MKs signed as sponsors from a broad cross-section of extremist parties. It sailed through its preliminary vote by 50 to 4, with one abstention.
But Arab MK Abdul Hakim Hajj Yahya of the Joint (Arab) List objected to the bill, saying it was intended to target Arab social media users. “All of these laws are only implemented against the Arabs,” he said.
“Why doesn’t this law have a section about calls to racism, why only terror?
This law is another racist law and another law that continues to express the discrimination [against Arabs].” In March 2016, Facebook figures said some 296,000 posts and 136,000 photos are published on the network each minute from its estimated 1.09 billion active daily users.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill authored by MK Revital Swid (Zionist Union) giving social media providers, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, 48 hours to remove anti-Israel content.
Social media platforms that neglect to remove incitement will be fined $78,000 per post.
If it emerges that the site was aware of the post, for example, if it was quoted in major news outlets, but still did not remove it, the fine will be increased.
The legislation classifies terror-inciting posts as those that call to or encourage anti-occupation activism and attacks.
The bill enjoys widespread support in the current Knesset, with 21 MKs signed as sponsors from a broad cross-section of extremist parties. It sailed through its preliminary vote by 50 to 4, with one abstention.
But Arab MK Abdul Hakim Hajj Yahya of the Joint (Arab) List objected to the bill, saying it was intended to target Arab social media users. “All of these laws are only implemented against the Arabs,” he said.
“Why doesn’t this law have a section about calls to racism, why only terror?
This law is another racist law and another law that continues to express the discrimination [against Arabs].” In March 2016, Facebook figures said some 296,000 posts and 136,000 photos are published on the network each minute from its estimated 1.09 billion active daily users.
20 july 2016
Officials from Israel's antiquities authority and nature and parks authority on Tuesday afternoon desecrated under police protection the Muslim cemetery of Bab al-Rahma near the Aqsa Mosque and razed three graves.
The Islamic Waqf authority said the Israeli officials claimed they had official orders to demolish graves in the cemetery. It added that two graves and another one under construction were removed, affirming that the land of the cemetery is an Islamic endowed land and the Israeli authorities have no right to it.
Consequently, skirmishes broke out between policemen and Palestinian citizens at the cemetery.
The Islamic Waqf authority said the Israeli officials claimed they had official orders to demolish graves in the cemetery. It added that two graves and another one under construction were removed, affirming that the land of the cemetery is an Islamic endowed land and the Israeli authorities have no right to it.
Consequently, skirmishes broke out between policemen and Palestinian citizens at the cemetery.
Khalil al-Tafakji, head of the maps department at the Arab Studies Society, warned of the seriousness of annexing Ma'aleh Adumim settlement to Israel.
“It isolates Jerusalem from the projected state of Palestine”, he said. In an interview with the PIC, Tafakji said that annexing Ma'aleh Adumim along with Gosh Etzion, and Givat Zeev settlements raises the number of Israeli settlers in Occupied Jerusalem and confiscates 10% of the West Bank's area.
This splits up the West Bank into two separate parts which can be connected by those settlements only, he underlined.
Tafakji added that the Israeli decision aims at increasing the number of the Jewish population in Occupied Jerusalem so that the establishment of a Palestinian political entity in east Jerusalem will be impossible.
If the project of annexing Ma'aleh Adumim is approved, the Israeli occupation authorities will be able to carry out large-scale construction works in that settlement.
Israeli Knesset in the eighties of the past century approved two new laws that annexed Occupied Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights. Both laws, however, run contrary to the international law and they are not recognized by any state in the world.
“It isolates Jerusalem from the projected state of Palestine”, he said. In an interview with the PIC, Tafakji said that annexing Ma'aleh Adumim along with Gosh Etzion, and Givat Zeev settlements raises the number of Israeli settlers in Occupied Jerusalem and confiscates 10% of the West Bank's area.
This splits up the West Bank into two separate parts which can be connected by those settlements only, he underlined.
Tafakji added that the Israeli decision aims at increasing the number of the Jewish population in Occupied Jerusalem so that the establishment of a Palestinian political entity in east Jerusalem will be impossible.
If the project of annexing Ma'aleh Adumim is approved, the Israeli occupation authorities will be able to carry out large-scale construction works in that settlement.
Israeli Knesset in the eighties of the past century approved two new laws that annexed Occupied Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights. Both laws, however, run contrary to the international law and they are not recognized by any state in the world.
19 july 2016
The Israeli Knesset approved Monday the draft law that would enable Israeli lawmakers to expel Arab members of parliament.
Haaretz newspaper revealed that opposition members rejected revisions filed against the controversial bill that demanded to suspend and not expel Arab Mks.
According to the bill, a majority of 90 MKs in the 120-seat Knesset would have the power to expel a fellow lawmaker from the parliament “for incitement to racism or supporting an armed struggle against Israel.”
A request to oust an MK will first be presented to the Knesset speaker, who will discuss the request with the Knesset Committee. If at least 75% of the committee members support the request, it will be brought to a vote in the Knesset plenum.
The expelled lawmaker will be allowed to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The draft law is controversial and many rights groups have criticized it as an anti-democratic law that targets Arab MKs.
In February, three Arab MKs were deprived from attending the Knesset sessions for two and four months.
Haaretz newspaper revealed that opposition members rejected revisions filed against the controversial bill that demanded to suspend and not expel Arab Mks.
According to the bill, a majority of 90 MKs in the 120-seat Knesset would have the power to expel a fellow lawmaker from the parliament “for incitement to racism or supporting an armed struggle against Israel.”
A request to oust an MK will first be presented to the Knesset speaker, who will discuss the request with the Knesset Committee. If at least 75% of the committee members support the request, it will be brought to a vote in the Knesset plenum.
The expelled lawmaker will be allowed to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The draft law is controversial and many rights groups have criticized it as an anti-democratic law that targets Arab MKs.
In February, three Arab MKs were deprived from attending the Knesset sessions for two and four months.
The syndicate of Palestinian journalists on Monday launched an international campaign to pressure Israeli authorities for the release of 21 Palestinian journalists from its jails.
In a statement, the syndicate said that France, Britain, Italy, Spain along with a score of European syndicates as well as others of Latin American states are participating in the campaign.
It involves sending letters to both of the EU and the international federation of journalists (IFJ) along with European syndicates demanding the release of those journalists.
In a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IFJ demanded releasing Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
A number of syndicates and journalist unions in the world directed letters to Netanyahu and the Minister of the Israeli Army demanding the release of all journalists along with those who are detained over charges related to freedom of speech and political and syndicate activities.
In a statement, the syndicate said that France, Britain, Italy, Spain along with a score of European syndicates as well as others of Latin American states are participating in the campaign.
It involves sending letters to both of the EU and the international federation of journalists (IFJ) along with European syndicates demanding the release of those journalists.
In a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IFJ demanded releasing Omar Nazzal, member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
A number of syndicates and journalist unions in the world directed letters to Netanyahu and the Minister of the Israeli Army demanding the release of all journalists along with those who are detained over charges related to freedom of speech and political and syndicate activities.