7 nov 2016
Israeli Mayor of occupied Jerusalem Nir Barkat threatened Monday to demolish thousands of Jerusalemite homes in case any of the West Bank settlements was evacuated.
Barkat’s statements came after the Israeli High Court issued a decision to evacuate dozens of Israeli settlers living in Amona settlement illegally built on a Palestinian-private land in West Bank.
"Jerusalem faces a situation similar to that of Amona but with the roles of Arabs and Jews reversed. This is especially true in eastern Jerusalem where there are many areas of Jewish-owned land which are currently encroached on by Arab squatters," Israeli radio quoted Barkat as claiming.
“If Arabs living on Jewish-owned property were to be treated the same way the residents of Amona are being treated for living on property allegedly owned by Arabs, the city would be obligated to evict thousands of Arabs from their homes,” according to his statements.
The Israeli High Court had earlier ordered that the entire outpost of Amona be dismantled by Dec. 25 this year.
In this regard, Barkat contacted Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to ask him “to examine the consequences of the High Court decision to demolish the settlement of Amona on property in Jerusalem.”
The Israeli-controlled municipality in occupied Jerusalem had escalated since the beginning of 2016 its demolition policy against Palestinian properties under the pretext of being built without Israeli permit.
Barkat’s statements came after the Israeli High Court issued a decision to evacuate dozens of Israeli settlers living in Amona settlement illegally built on a Palestinian-private land in West Bank.
"Jerusalem faces a situation similar to that of Amona but with the roles of Arabs and Jews reversed. This is especially true in eastern Jerusalem where there are many areas of Jewish-owned land which are currently encroached on by Arab squatters," Israeli radio quoted Barkat as claiming.
“If Arabs living on Jewish-owned property were to be treated the same way the residents of Amona are being treated for living on property allegedly owned by Arabs, the city would be obligated to evict thousands of Arabs from their homes,” according to his statements.
The Israeli High Court had earlier ordered that the entire outpost of Amona be dismantled by Dec. 25 this year.
In this regard, Barkat contacted Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to ask him “to examine the consequences of the High Court decision to demolish the settlement of Amona on property in Jerusalem.”
The Israeli-controlled municipality in occupied Jerusalem had escalated since the beginning of 2016 its demolition policy against Palestinian properties under the pretext of being built without Israeli permit.
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) closed Monday morning the entrances to Aqraba and Osarin villages, south of Nablus, without prior notice.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli military bulldozers escorted with Israeli forces stormed the area and closed the entrances to both villages with sand barriers without any known reasons.
The entrances to Aqraba and Osarin villages were closed for several months before being opened two weeks ago to be re-closed today by the IOF.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that Israeli military bulldozers escorted with Israeli forces stormed the area and closed the entrances to both villages with sand barriers without any known reasons.
The entrances to Aqraba and Osarin villages were closed for several months before being opened two weeks ago to be re-closed today by the IOF.
The Commission of Scholars and Preachers in Occupied Jerusalem slammed on Sunday the Israeli attacks on Muslim cemeteries and Islamic holy sites, calling for immediately bringing them to a halt.
The commission stressed the inherently Islamic identity of Occupied Jerusalem and its holy sites.
It denounced the Israeli excavations beneath and around the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
The commission further spoke out against the destruction of Muslim tombs in Bab Al-Rahma Cemetery and the establishment of a café for Israeli settlers near the al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to the commission, such Israeli violations come in response to the UNESCO resolution recognizing the exclusively Islamic character of al-Aqsa and the Old City of Jerusalem.
“The sanctity of our holy sites and dead people is a red line that Israel should never cross,” the statement read.
The commission called on the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately cease attacks on Muslims, both dead and alive.
It further pushed for activating the UNESCO recent resolution and for intensifying vigil in Occupied Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque.
The commission stressed the inherently Islamic identity of Occupied Jerusalem and its holy sites.
It denounced the Israeli excavations beneath and around the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
The commission further spoke out against the destruction of Muslim tombs in Bab Al-Rahma Cemetery and the establishment of a café for Israeli settlers near the al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to the commission, such Israeli violations come in response to the UNESCO resolution recognizing the exclusively Islamic character of al-Aqsa and the Old City of Jerusalem.
“The sanctity of our holy sites and dead people is a red line that Israel should never cross,” the statement read.
The commission called on the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately cease attacks on Muslims, both dead and alive.
It further pushed for activating the UNESCO recent resolution and for intensifying vigil in Occupied Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to a report by Walla Israeli news agency, the Israeli army and security forces, in direct collaboration with the Palestinian security forces, have managed to foil an attack against Israeli soldiers in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
Walla stated that the Palestinian security forces provided Israel intelligence about a pending attack by Palestinian resistance fighters, who reportedly intended to place a large explosive near a military base, in Hebron city.
It added that the information led to an arrest of a young Palestinian man, from the central West Bank district of Salfit, and enabled explosive experts to safely defuse the device.
The army believes that man also has another partner, who has not been detained and interrogated yet.
According to the report, the Palestinian who placed the explosive device was planning to hurl a Molotov cocktail at the military base to lure the soldiers into chasing him so that the other man can remotely detonate the explosive once they are near it.
Walla stated that the Palestinian security forces provided Israel intelligence about a pending attack by Palestinian resistance fighters, who reportedly intended to place a large explosive near a military base, in Hebron city.
It added that the information led to an arrest of a young Palestinian man, from the central West Bank district of Salfit, and enabled explosive experts to safely defuse the device.
The army believes that man also has another partner, who has not been detained and interrogated yet.
According to the report, the Palestinian who placed the explosive device was planning to hurl a Molotov cocktail at the military base to lure the soldiers into chasing him so that the other man can remotely detonate the explosive once they are near it.
6 nov 2016
The Israeli government’s home demolition policy as a punitive measure has proved ineffective in preventing Palestinian attacks against Israelis, according to a recent report televised by the second TV Hebrew channel.
The channel said that remarks made by many Palestinian families whose homes were demolished as punishment for attacks carried out by relatives reflected that this policy failed to affect them and make them show regret for what happened.
It expressed its belief that the facts on the ground confirmed that the demolition policy fueled the Palestinians’ hatred and resistance of the occupation.
The demolition of homes belonging to relatives of attackers has been a policy since the 1967 war, the channel noted.
The channel said that remarks made by many Palestinian families whose homes were demolished as punishment for attacks carried out by relatives reflected that this policy failed to affect them and make them show regret for what happened.
It expressed its belief that the facts on the ground confirmed that the demolition policy fueled the Palestinians’ hatred and resistance of the occupation.
The demolition of homes belonging to relatives of attackers has been a policy since the 1967 war, the channel noted.
Israeli authorities reportedly banned the Muslim call to dawn prayer, from being projected over loudspeakers, in three different mosques in the Jerusalem district town of Abu Dis, on Friday, according to local sources.
Lawyer Bassam Bahr, head of a local committee in Abu Dis, said that Israeli forces raided the town just before the dawn prayer on Friday.
According to Bahr, Israeli forces raided the al-Rahman, al-Taybeh and al-Jamia mosques in the town, and informed the ‘muezzins’, the men responsible for the call to prayer — also known as the azan, which is broadcast five times a day from mosques — that the call for dawn prayer through the loudspeakers was banned.
Bahr added that the Israelis did not provide any reason for the ban, and also prevented locals living in the eastern part of the town from reaching the Salah al-Din mosque for dawn prayers.
Bahr condemned the “unjustified ban,” saying that “Israel attacks Palestinians in all aspects of their lives,” in the form of limiting free movement through the use of checkpoints, and through the disruption of daily life in the form of nightly detention raids.
The events in Abu Dis came a day after a number of Israeli settlers from illegal settlement of Pisgat Zeev protested in front of the house of Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barakat over the ‘noise pollution’ caused by the Muslim call to prayer.
A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality told Ma’an News Agency that Barkat, “in collaboration with the Jerusalem District police chief and local Muslim leadership, has developed a plan to protect the religious freedom of Muslim muezzin to announce the call to prayer, while ensuring reasonable quiet in Jerusalem’s residential areas.”
The spokesperson went on to add that the municipality guidelines would include “increased instructions for muezzin operators regarding technical guidelines for optimal playback and sound amplification, increased mapping of city mosques, and continuous dialogue with local Muslim leadership.”
Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority (PA)-appointed governor of Jerusalem, said, at the time, that the call to prayer was one of the main Muslim religious rituals and an integral part of Jerusalem’s identity. He said that Israeli demands to lower the sound of the azan was a threat which had been issued several times before in Jerusalem.
Al-Husseini said that the sound of the azan doesn’t rise above an agreed-upon decibel level, adding that Israeli settlers were not annoyed by the noise, but by the call to prayer as a reminder of Palestinian presence in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Hatem Abd Al-Qader, a Fateh official in Charge of Jerusalem affairs, said that Israel aimed to provoke Muslims by attempting to ban the call to prayer.
Abd al-Qader said that the Israeli settlers’ protest against the azan came amid constant violations and raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City, and demolition of Muslim graves in Jerusalem, which he said were part of a broader Israeli plan to destroy the Palestinian Muslim and Christian identities of Jerusalem and replace them with a Jewish one, turning the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict into a religious one.
Palestinian communities in annexed East Jerusalem — within the municipal boundaries and also beyond the wall in the occupied West Bank — and the larger Jerusalem district, have long been targeted by Israeli authorities in what has been denounced as a policy of “Judaization” of the holy city at the expense of other religious communities.
This “Judaization” has been characterized by the continuous expansion of illegal Jewish-only settlements and a large-scale policy of demolition of Palestinian homes.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound has also been the stage of numerous tensions over the years, with Israeli forces imposing tight restrictions on Palestinian worshipers at the site.
Many Palestinians fear that right-wing Israelis are attempting to reclaim the holy site, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
Lawyer Bassam Bahr, head of a local committee in Abu Dis, said that Israeli forces raided the town just before the dawn prayer on Friday.
According to Bahr, Israeli forces raided the al-Rahman, al-Taybeh and al-Jamia mosques in the town, and informed the ‘muezzins’, the men responsible for the call to prayer — also known as the azan, which is broadcast five times a day from mosques — that the call for dawn prayer through the loudspeakers was banned.
Bahr added that the Israelis did not provide any reason for the ban, and also prevented locals living in the eastern part of the town from reaching the Salah al-Din mosque for dawn prayers.
Bahr condemned the “unjustified ban,” saying that “Israel attacks Palestinians in all aspects of their lives,” in the form of limiting free movement through the use of checkpoints, and through the disruption of daily life in the form of nightly detention raids.
The events in Abu Dis came a day after a number of Israeli settlers from illegal settlement of Pisgat Zeev protested in front of the house of Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barakat over the ‘noise pollution’ caused by the Muslim call to prayer.
A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality told Ma’an News Agency that Barkat, “in collaboration with the Jerusalem District police chief and local Muslim leadership, has developed a plan to protect the religious freedom of Muslim muezzin to announce the call to prayer, while ensuring reasonable quiet in Jerusalem’s residential areas.”
The spokesperson went on to add that the municipality guidelines would include “increased instructions for muezzin operators regarding technical guidelines for optimal playback and sound amplification, increased mapping of city mosques, and continuous dialogue with local Muslim leadership.”
Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority (PA)-appointed governor of Jerusalem, said, at the time, that the call to prayer was one of the main Muslim religious rituals and an integral part of Jerusalem’s identity. He said that Israeli demands to lower the sound of the azan was a threat which had been issued several times before in Jerusalem.
Al-Husseini said that the sound of the azan doesn’t rise above an agreed-upon decibel level, adding that Israeli settlers were not annoyed by the noise, but by the call to prayer as a reminder of Palestinian presence in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Hatem Abd Al-Qader, a Fateh official in Charge of Jerusalem affairs, said that Israel aimed to provoke Muslims by attempting to ban the call to prayer.
Abd al-Qader said that the Israeli settlers’ protest against the azan came amid constant violations and raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City, and demolition of Muslim graves in Jerusalem, which he said were part of a broader Israeli plan to destroy the Palestinian Muslim and Christian identities of Jerusalem and replace them with a Jewish one, turning the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict into a religious one.
Palestinian communities in annexed East Jerusalem — within the municipal boundaries and also beyond the wall in the occupied West Bank — and the larger Jerusalem district, have long been targeted by Israeli authorities in what has been denounced as a policy of “Judaization” of the holy city at the expense of other religious communities.
This “Judaization” has been characterized by the continuous expansion of illegal Jewish-only settlements and a large-scale policy of demolition of Palestinian homes.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound has also been the stage of numerous tensions over the years, with Israeli forces imposing tight restrictions on Palestinian worshipers at the site.
Many Palestinians fear that right-wing Israelis are attempting to reclaim the holy site, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.