10 nov 2016
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) sealed at dawn Thursday a bedroom in a Palestinian-owned house in Yatta town, south of al-Khalil.
Media sources affirmed that that Israeli forces stormed the town in large numbers since the early morning hours accompanied with cement trucks.
The Israeli forces then broke into the citizen Younis Zayn’s house and sealed his bedroom with cement before withdrawing from the area.
The IOF accused Zayn of being involved in the Tel Aviv shooting attack which left four Israeli settlers dead last June.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces erected a military checkpoint at the entrance to Fawar checkpoint, south of al-Khalil, restricting the locals’ movement in both directions.
Media sources affirmed that that Israeli forces stormed the town in large numbers since the early morning hours accompanied with cement trucks.
The Israeli forces then broke into the citizen Younis Zayn’s house and sealed his bedroom with cement before withdrawing from the area.
The IOF accused Zayn of being involved in the Tel Aviv shooting attack which left four Israeli settlers dead last June.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces erected a military checkpoint at the entrance to Fawar checkpoint, south of al-Khalil, restricting the locals’ movement in both directions.
A conference of Israelis seeking to change al-Aqsa’s status quo takes place in parliament. A Temple Mount Lobby is born.
The tenth annual the Seekers of Zion conference was held in Israeli parliament on Monday, Haaretz reports.
Israeli citizens and politicians gathered at the event to discuss and organize around altering al-Aqsa’s status quo. Participants also rallied around the creation of a new “Temple Mount Lobby” in the Israeli Knesset.
The Temple Mount, revered as al-Aqsa by Muslims, is a compound above the Western Wall in Jerusalem that includes the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. Since the 1967 occupation, an agreement with Jordan has maintained that Jewish prayer takes place at the Western Wall plaza – which was built on the site of a Palestinian neighborhood destroyed by Israel in 1967– but not in al-Aqsa compound itself.
Settler, temple movement leader, and recently appointed Likud Member of Knesset (MK) Yehuda Glick organized the conference. Other Israeli politicians in attendance included Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein, Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel, Deputy Minister of Defense Eli Ben-Dahan, Environmental Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Deputy Foreign Minister Tizipi Htovely, as well as MKs Amir Ohana, Anat Berko, and Shuli Mualem.
A few of the politicians took the stage to profess their support for Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa.
“In my opinion, our right to the Temple Mount is unshakeable,” Erdan stated. Echoing Glick’s rhetoric of “apartheid” at al-Aqsa, Erdan added, “I have said many times, the current status quo at the Temple Mount discriminates against the Jewish people.”
When Ariel spoke to the audience, he insisted, “open the gates to the Temple Mount… End the disgrace, end the wretchedness, end the lack of sovereignty.”
“We have to call upon the government and Knesset to permit Jewish prayer, to make Jewish prayer something normal and permitted,” Ben-Dahan offered.
Hotovely urged, “everyone who has not ascended to the Temple Mount to visit the Temple Mount.”
Right-wing Israeli activists partook in the conference as well. In attendance included Temple Mount joint council head Yaakov Heimann, settler Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, and leader of “Return to the Mount” Rafael Morris.
Morris connected imposing Israeli sovereignty over al-Aqsa to the establishment of so-called Greater Israel:
When we can say the Temple Mount is ours and only ours and there isn’t room there for anyone else, then we can be victorious in Amona, then we can conquer not only the Temple Mount but Jordan, and Syria, too, and establish a real Jewish state over all the land of Israel.
Mainstream Judaism perceives the reconstruction of a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa compound as not as an immediate task, but one meant for eschatological times, after the coming of the messiah. Most orthodox rabbis maintain that access to the site is prohibited for Jews until then.
But, there is a growing movement of Israelis that openly work to upend al-Aqsa’s status quo and force it open to Jewish prayer. Some even do so with the goal of building a Jewish temple there.
Organizing Jewish tours with the intention of exceeding the “sightseeing” activities the status quo asks non-Muslims to adhere to is a key part of their effort. During the tours, participants attempt to utter Jewish prayers or walk barefoot at the site, at the same time as their armed Israeli police escorts exact violence and movement restrictions directed on Muslims and Palestinians.
Palestinians as well as the Jordanian Waqf that oversees the site say that though al-Aqsa’s status quo may appear contained to the rest of the world, Israeli police and settler conduct at have already changed it.
The tenth annual the Seekers of Zion conference was held in Israeli parliament on Monday, Haaretz reports.
Israeli citizens and politicians gathered at the event to discuss and organize around altering al-Aqsa’s status quo. Participants also rallied around the creation of a new “Temple Mount Lobby” in the Israeli Knesset.
The Temple Mount, revered as al-Aqsa by Muslims, is a compound above the Western Wall in Jerusalem that includes the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. Since the 1967 occupation, an agreement with Jordan has maintained that Jewish prayer takes place at the Western Wall plaza – which was built on the site of a Palestinian neighborhood destroyed by Israel in 1967– but not in al-Aqsa compound itself.
Settler, temple movement leader, and recently appointed Likud Member of Knesset (MK) Yehuda Glick organized the conference. Other Israeli politicians in attendance included Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein, Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel, Deputy Minister of Defense Eli Ben-Dahan, Environmental Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Deputy Foreign Minister Tizipi Htovely, as well as MKs Amir Ohana, Anat Berko, and Shuli Mualem.
A few of the politicians took the stage to profess their support for Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa.
“In my opinion, our right to the Temple Mount is unshakeable,” Erdan stated. Echoing Glick’s rhetoric of “apartheid” at al-Aqsa, Erdan added, “I have said many times, the current status quo at the Temple Mount discriminates against the Jewish people.”
When Ariel spoke to the audience, he insisted, “open the gates to the Temple Mount… End the disgrace, end the wretchedness, end the lack of sovereignty.”
“We have to call upon the government and Knesset to permit Jewish prayer, to make Jewish prayer something normal and permitted,” Ben-Dahan offered.
Hotovely urged, “everyone who has not ascended to the Temple Mount to visit the Temple Mount.”
Right-wing Israeli activists partook in the conference as well. In attendance included Temple Mount joint council head Yaakov Heimann, settler Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, and leader of “Return to the Mount” Rafael Morris.
Morris connected imposing Israeli sovereignty over al-Aqsa to the establishment of so-called Greater Israel:
When we can say the Temple Mount is ours and only ours and there isn’t room there for anyone else, then we can be victorious in Amona, then we can conquer not only the Temple Mount but Jordan, and Syria, too, and establish a real Jewish state over all the land of Israel.
Mainstream Judaism perceives the reconstruction of a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa compound as not as an immediate task, but one meant for eschatological times, after the coming of the messiah. Most orthodox rabbis maintain that access to the site is prohibited for Jews until then.
But, there is a growing movement of Israelis that openly work to upend al-Aqsa’s status quo and force it open to Jewish prayer. Some even do so with the goal of building a Jewish temple there.
Organizing Jewish tours with the intention of exceeding the “sightseeing” activities the status quo asks non-Muslims to adhere to is a key part of their effort. During the tours, participants attempt to utter Jewish prayers or walk barefoot at the site, at the same time as their armed Israeli police escorts exact violence and movement restrictions directed on Muslims and Palestinians.
Palestinians as well as the Jordanian Waqf that oversees the site say that though al-Aqsa’s status quo may appear contained to the rest of the world, Israeli police and settler conduct at have already changed it.
9 nov 2016
Palestinian activists warned of underway Israeli attempts to raze the Islamic Qaluniya Cemetery to the west of Occupied Jerusalem.
Activist Ali Abu Sheikha, from 1948 Occupied Palestine, said the Israeli occupation authorities embarked on a Judaization scheme, devised since 1973, to level the Qaluniya Cemetery in favor of illegal settlement expansion.
According to Abu Sheikha, several documents and maps dating back to the British Mandate era, testify to the inherently Islamic nature of the cemetery, where dozens of tombs for dead Muslims are still existent.
Head of the Jerusalem Center for Socio-Economic Rights, Ziad Al-Hamouri, also said the Israeli scheme makes part of ongoing attempts to wipe out all Islamic cemeteries and holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.
He added that the move represents a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the dead Muslims.
On Tuesday evening, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction against sanctioning the destruction of Qaluniya Cemetery and the leveling of tombs for a couple of months in response to the ruin inflicted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority on the graveyard over the past few days. The injunction is to remain in effect until January 7, 2017.
The court embargo came following a petition lodged by the native Palestinian inhabitants of Qaluniya to stop leveling works in the cemetery.
The court demanded the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Works Department to respond to the petition by November 15.
Activist Ali Abu Sheikha, from 1948 Occupied Palestine, said the Israeli occupation authorities embarked on a Judaization scheme, devised since 1973, to level the Qaluniya Cemetery in favor of illegal settlement expansion.
According to Abu Sheikha, several documents and maps dating back to the British Mandate era, testify to the inherently Islamic nature of the cemetery, where dozens of tombs for dead Muslims are still existent.
Head of the Jerusalem Center for Socio-Economic Rights, Ziad Al-Hamouri, also said the Israeli scheme makes part of ongoing attempts to wipe out all Islamic cemeteries and holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.
He added that the move represents a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the dead Muslims.
On Tuesday evening, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction against sanctioning the destruction of Qaluniya Cemetery and the leveling of tombs for a couple of months in response to the ruin inflicted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority on the graveyard over the past few days. The injunction is to remain in effect until January 7, 2017.
The court embargo came following a petition lodged by the native Palestinian inhabitants of Qaluniya to stop leveling works in the cemetery.
The court demanded the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Works Department to respond to the petition by November 15.
8 nov 2016
Israeli ministers and MKs announced on Monday their intents to alter the status quo at the holy al-Aqsa Mosque, challenging a 1993 deal with Jordan granting the latter sovereignty over the mosque, among other Islamic holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem.
Speaking at a Knesset-hosted conference organised by “Temple Mount” activists advocating fundamental changes in the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Israeli ministers and MKs launched calls for splitting up the site between Muslims and Israelis.
Three cabinet ministers were among those at the gathering, which saw the launch of a new Knesset “Temple Mount Lobby”.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told the gathering: “In my opinion, our right to the Temple Mount is unshakeable”, complaining that “the current status quo…discriminates against the Jewish people.”
Meanwhile, Environmental Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin “applauded” the “Temple Mount” activists, saying: “Often you are doing the work that the government doesn’t do as regards Jews’ right to the temple.”
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel appealed for the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to be open to Jewish prayer, yelling: “End the disgrace, end the wretchedness, end the lack of sovereignty.”
Deputy Defence Minister Eli Ben-Dahan similarly told the conference: “We have to call upon the government and Knesset to permit Jewish prayer [in the compound], to make Jewish prayer something normal and permitted.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also “urge[d] everyone” to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound if they have not yet done so.
Rafael Morris, the founder of the “Return to the Mount” movement, told the conference: “When we can say the Temple Mount is ours and only ours and there isn’t room there for anyone else, then we can be victorious in Amona [illegal West Bank outpost], then we can conquer not only the Temple Mount but Jordan and Syria too, and establish a real Jewish state over all the land of Israel.”
Yesterday marked the first time that this annual conference had been held at the Knesset, and was organised by fanatic “Temple Mount” campaigner and Likud MK Yehuda Glick.
Speaking at a Knesset-hosted conference organised by “Temple Mount” activists advocating fundamental changes in the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Israeli ministers and MKs launched calls for splitting up the site between Muslims and Israelis.
Three cabinet ministers were among those at the gathering, which saw the launch of a new Knesset “Temple Mount Lobby”.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told the gathering: “In my opinion, our right to the Temple Mount is unshakeable”, complaining that “the current status quo…discriminates against the Jewish people.”
Meanwhile, Environmental Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin “applauded” the “Temple Mount” activists, saying: “Often you are doing the work that the government doesn’t do as regards Jews’ right to the temple.”
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel appealed for the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to be open to Jewish prayer, yelling: “End the disgrace, end the wretchedness, end the lack of sovereignty.”
Deputy Defence Minister Eli Ben-Dahan similarly told the conference: “We have to call upon the government and Knesset to permit Jewish prayer [in the compound], to make Jewish prayer something normal and permitted.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also “urge[d] everyone” to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound if they have not yet done so.
Rafael Morris, the founder of the “Return to the Mount” movement, told the conference: “When we can say the Temple Mount is ours and only ours and there isn’t room there for anyone else, then we can be victorious in Amona [illegal West Bank outpost], then we can conquer not only the Temple Mount but Jordan and Syria too, and establish a real Jewish state over all the land of Israel.”
Yesterday marked the first time that this annual conference had been held at the Knesset, and was organised by fanatic “Temple Mount” campaigner and Likud MK Yehuda Glick.
The Islamic Awqaf (endowment) Department in Occupied Jerusalem warned on Tuesday evening of the serious repercussions of underway Israeli attempts to change the status quo in the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Awqaf Department strongly condemned Israel’s intents to split up the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for over a billion and 700 million Muslims around the globe.
The department held the Israeli occupation government responsible for the upshots of the calls recently launched by Israeli MKs to change the historical and legal status quo in the al-Aqsa Mosque and trigger incitement against the peaceful Muslim sit-inners.
The Endowment authorities urged all UN institutions to take up their duties vis-à-vis the al-Aqsa Mosque, take serious measures to cease the Israeli aggressions on Islamic holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem, and prosecute Israel for its violations of international resolutions as regards the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Christian and Islamic shrines.
The Awqaf Department strongly condemned Israel’s intents to split up the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for over a billion and 700 million Muslims around the globe.
The department held the Israeli occupation government responsible for the upshots of the calls recently launched by Israeli MKs to change the historical and legal status quo in the al-Aqsa Mosque and trigger incitement against the peaceful Muslim sit-inners.
The Endowment authorities urged all UN institutions to take up their duties vis-à-vis the al-Aqsa Mosque, take serious measures to cease the Israeli aggressions on Islamic holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem, and prosecute Israel for its violations of international resolutions as regards the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Christian and Islamic shrines.
Violent clashes burst out at dawn Tuesday after dozens of Israeli fanatics stormed Joseph’s Tomb in eastern Nablus province.
A PIC news correspondent said dozens of Israeli army jeeps rolled into Nablus’s eastern corners at predawn time, paving the way for the mass break-in.
According to eyewitnesses the break-in was carried out at 01 a.m. via the Beit Furik and Al-Ghawi crossroads. Two settler batches stormed the area, sparking clashes with the Palestinian protesters.
Palestinian citizen Ahmad Al-Salman said that 700 fanatic settlers, crammed into Israeli buses, forced their ways into the plaza and environs of the shrine.
The clashes spread out to Balata camp and Amman Street, where the occupation troops attacked the Palestinian protesters with heavy barrages of teargas canisters, resulting in several suffocation cases.
Palestinian citizen Nidhal Kaabi, from Balata camp, said civilians could not reach the local mosque, adjacent to Balata’s northern entrance, to perform dawn prayers due to the presence of Israeli soldiers, who withdrew at 5:30 a.m.
Over recent days, extremist settler gangs announced their intent to storm Joseph’s Tomb and called for mass participation in the break-in.
In another development, the Israeli occupation army seized machinery from a Palestinian workshop in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Earlier, the occupation forces claimed responsibility for the confiscation of the equipment of over 120 workshops in the West Bank on claims that they were used to manufacture homemade weapons.
Violent confrontations burst out in the area following the assault.
A few hours earlier, the occupation patrols came down heavily on the Palestinians of Zabouba town, to the west of Jenin, and sealed off the main thoroughfare to the area with a military checkpoint as part of a policy of collective punishment against civilians.
A PIC news correspondent said dozens of Israeli army jeeps rolled into Nablus’s eastern corners at predawn time, paving the way for the mass break-in.
According to eyewitnesses the break-in was carried out at 01 a.m. via the Beit Furik and Al-Ghawi crossroads. Two settler batches stormed the area, sparking clashes with the Palestinian protesters.
Palestinian citizen Ahmad Al-Salman said that 700 fanatic settlers, crammed into Israeli buses, forced their ways into the plaza and environs of the shrine.
The clashes spread out to Balata camp and Amman Street, where the occupation troops attacked the Palestinian protesters with heavy barrages of teargas canisters, resulting in several suffocation cases.
Palestinian citizen Nidhal Kaabi, from Balata camp, said civilians could not reach the local mosque, adjacent to Balata’s northern entrance, to perform dawn prayers due to the presence of Israeli soldiers, who withdrew at 5:30 a.m.
Over recent days, extremist settler gangs announced their intent to storm Joseph’s Tomb and called for mass participation in the break-in.
In another development, the Israeli occupation army seized machinery from a Palestinian workshop in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Earlier, the occupation forces claimed responsibility for the confiscation of the equipment of over 120 workshops in the West Bank on claims that they were used to manufacture homemade weapons.
Violent confrontations burst out in the area following the assault.
A few hours earlier, the occupation patrols came down heavily on the Palestinians of Zabouba town, to the west of Jenin, and sealed off the main thoroughfare to the area with a military checkpoint as part of a policy of collective punishment against civilians.