30 mei 2011
Settlers torch farmland south of Nablus
Villagers south of Nablus reported seeing dozens of settlers Monday evening, and watched as they set fire to plots of agricultural lands near Madama, an official said.
Settlement monitoring official with Fatah, Ghassan Doughlus, told Ma'an that Madama residents believed the settlers were from the nearby illegal residential community of Yitzhar, a known violent settlement.
Village official Ihab Al-Qett said Palestinian fire crews were able to access the area and put out fires before significant damage was done.
The vandalism comes hours after a conflict between Israeli forces and settlers in the Nablus area, during a settler visit to an area believed by some Jewish groups to be Joseph's Tomb.
During the visit, around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.
On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli military investigation chastised Palestinian police who had fired on a group of settlers in April, after they illegally entered the Nablus area to visit the tomb.
The fire was said to have caused the death of one settler, who was taken in private cars from the site of the incident to a medical center in a nearby settlement.
The Israeli military found the police fire at the settler group on 24 April "unwarranted," and said the officers had intended to inflict harm.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392369
Clashes erupt after settlers re-visit Joseph's Tomb
Violent clashes erupted in Nablus after Israeli soldiers infiltrated Joseph's Tomb early Monday morning east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers rushed in to offer protection to Jewish settlers who went there to perform religious rituals.
Palestinian youth responded to the raid with stones and Molotov cocktails, as the army proceeded to pursue them, witnesses reported.
They added that more than 40 Israeli patrols and over ten busloads of settlers gathered at the Beit Fourik checkpoint east of the city, and several trucks carrying stones made it to the site after Israeli soldiers secured the area and Palestinian security forces withdrew.
Locals reported that the soldiers evacuated their homes detained them in rooms to use them as control points near the site of the operation.
Witnesses told the PIC that the settlers came by foot to the tomb – for the first time ever – at 3am under protection of the army.
Locals considered the move a provocation and said the settlers wanted to deliver the message that they will enter and do as they please.
They expected that the trucks of rocks would be used to renovate and fortify the tomb.
Video: IDF Escorts Massive Prayer Rally at Joseph’s Tomb
Settlers torch farmland south of Nablus
Villagers south of Nablus reported seeing dozens of settlers Monday evening, and watched as they set fire to plots of agricultural lands near Madama, an official said.
Settlement monitoring official with Fatah, Ghassan Doughlus, told Ma'an that Madama residents believed the settlers were from the nearby illegal residential community of Yitzhar, a known violent settlement.
Village official Ihab Al-Qett said Palestinian fire crews were able to access the area and put out fires before significant damage was done.
The vandalism comes hours after a conflict between Israeli forces and settlers in the Nablus area, during a settler visit to an area believed by some Jewish groups to be Joseph's Tomb.
During the visit, around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.
On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli military investigation chastised Palestinian police who had fired on a group of settlers in April, after they illegally entered the Nablus area to visit the tomb.
The fire was said to have caused the death of one settler, who was taken in private cars from the site of the incident to a medical center in a nearby settlement.
The Israeli military found the police fire at the settler group on 24 April "unwarranted," and said the officers had intended to inflict harm.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392369
Clashes erupt after settlers re-visit Joseph's Tomb
Violent clashes erupted in Nablus after Israeli soldiers infiltrated Joseph's Tomb early Monday morning east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
The soldiers rushed in to offer protection to Jewish settlers who went there to perform religious rituals.
Palestinian youth responded to the raid with stones and Molotov cocktails, as the army proceeded to pursue them, witnesses reported.
They added that more than 40 Israeli patrols and over ten busloads of settlers gathered at the Beit Fourik checkpoint east of the city, and several trucks carrying stones made it to the site after Israeli soldiers secured the area and Palestinian security forces withdrew.
Locals reported that the soldiers evacuated their homes detained them in rooms to use them as control points near the site of the operation.
Witnesses told the PIC that the settlers came by foot to the tomb – for the first time ever – at 3am under protection of the army.
Locals considered the move a provocation and said the settlers wanted to deliver the message that they will enter and do as they please.
They expected that the trucks of rocks would be used to renovate and fortify the tomb.
Video: IDF Escorts Massive Prayer Rally at Joseph’s Tomb
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An unprecedented number of more than 1,500 Jews – secular and religious – were escorted to Joseph’s Tomb (Kever Yosef) in Nablus (Shechem) Sunday night. Fifty tried to remain against IDF orders.
The IDF approved the pilgrimage in honor of the special "Yesod she'byesod" day of the Omer counting, which is considered to be a special "Joseph" day. It was held five weeks after Palestinian Authority soldiers intentionally shot at Jewish worshipers at the holy site, killing Ben Yosef Livnat. Several buses, under the protective eyes and guns of the army, travelled back and forth to the Biblical city, which is recorded in the Bible as having been purchased by the Patriarch Yaakov (Jacob) |
Approximately
200 worshippers entered without IDF permission, raising complaints
from the IDF that they endangered their own lives and those of
soldiers. Fifty of them refused to leave and tried to remain at the
Tomb until the army was forced to evacuate them in daylight, after dawn
Monday.
Overshadowing the incident were the huge numbers of Jews who prayed with IDF escort. They included worshipers from all streams of Israeli society – religious, secular, hareidi religious, rabbis, soldiers and followers of Kabbalah.
Palestinian Authority terrorists and vandals have desecrated the holy site several times, and 10 years ago took control following a terrorist attack. The government, IDF, the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council and the One Shechem organization have helped repair the site.
Several Knesset Members and the Chief Rabbi of France have visited the site during the past two years as part of a movement to return Kever Yosef to Israeli sovereignty, as stipulated in the Oslo Accords.
"I hope that the heartwarming entry of thousands of people to Kever Yosef will be another step to restoring its full sovereignty to Israel," said Shomron Regional Council chairman Gershn Mesika. "I call on all Cabinet ministers to join us here at the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem to complete the restoration of the holy site, one of three places that other nations cannot say were stolen.”
The Bible records the purchases of Hevron, by Avraham, and Jerusalem, by King David as well as the purchase of Joseph's Tomb. The Talmud, presciently, states that no matter how many accusations are hurled against the Jews for "usurping" or "conquering" their G-d-given land, these three purchases are recorded in the Bible and cannot be questioned by the nations. Ironically, they have turned out to be the most contested areas of all.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144596
Israelis, soldiers clash in Nablus
Some 200 worshipers sneak into West Bank city, Joseph's Tomb, despite IDF allowing orderly entry of hundreds; clash with security forces. IDF: Reckless behavior endangered worshipers, soldiers.
Some 200 Israelis entered the West Bank city of Nablus illegally overnight and 50 of them tried to barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb, Ynet learned Monday.
The worshipers clashed with security forces stationed in the compound and assaulted a military driver, who sustained mild injuries. They also apparently damaged some Palestinian property. Several Israelis were arrested.
The incident occurred while the IDF allowed a convoy of 25 buses, carrying some 1,600 worshipers, into Joseph's Tomb for a nightly prayer service that was duly coordinated with the defense establishment.
Initial details suggest that a group of civilians broke free from the crowd and began running into Nablus, attempting to evade the Israeli security forces.
Overnight, several complaints were lodged by Palestinians claiming property damage. The IDF said all of the complaints were being investigated by the proper authorities.
Military sources denounced what they called the infiltrators' reckless behavior, which forced the soldiers to operate in the Palestinian city in broad daylight: "The irresponsible behavior of this group of civilians endangered both them and the security forces."
An IDF source said that in light of the recent shooting incident in Joseph's Tomb, "One would expect they show some responsibility. Some of them stayed long past dawn, which only increased the danger they were in."
The IDF was eventually able to escort all of the Israeli's out of Nablus. Security forces documented the infiltrators and intent to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
The IDF said this grave incident will also lead to a review of the security and enforcement measured in the compound, in order to ensure the safety of future convoys.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4075682,00.html
Jewish Worshippers Storm Joseph’s Tomb; Damage Palestinian Property
Victoria Delacroix- Late Sunday night, 200 Israeli Jewish worshippers stormed Palestinian controlled Joseph’s Tomb. They caused property damage to Palestinian businesses and property. Palestinians have already filed complaints.
There is no word yet if the worshippers will be reprimanded or when the investigation will start into the property damage caused by their actions.
1600 worshippers had been given permission earlier on Sunday night to enter the area, in an orderly fashion, but Ynetnews reported that 200 of the worshippers had broken free from the crowd and started running, trying to evade security. The IDF had commented on the situation, saying that it was severely irresponsible for the Jewish worshippers to act in the way they did.
Over 1,600 Israelis enter Nablus overnight
Israeli soldiers escorted 1,600 Israelis into the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Sunday to visit Joseph's Tomb.
An additional 200 Israeli settlers entered Palestinian neighborhoods without coordinating with Israeli authorities, an Israeli military spokesman said.
Around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.
Under the Oslo accords, Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control. But the visit was not coordinated with the PA, Palestinian security sources told Ma'an.
Witnesses said Ultra-Orthodox settlers were among the visitors. Locals said Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, was closed at midnight and Palestinian drivers were not allowed to use the main road from the city.
Israeli forces set up several flying checkpoints in the area, locals and an Israeli military spokesman said.
The army spokesman said Palestinians had filed complaints over property damage caused by Israeli settlers during the visit. He said all complaints would be "thoroughly examined by the relevant authorities."
Nablus residents said around 50 military vehicles escorted the Israelis, who arrived at around 1 a.m. and left at 5 a.m.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392141
Overshadowing the incident were the huge numbers of Jews who prayed with IDF escort. They included worshipers from all streams of Israeli society – religious, secular, hareidi religious, rabbis, soldiers and followers of Kabbalah.
Palestinian Authority terrorists and vandals have desecrated the holy site several times, and 10 years ago took control following a terrorist attack. The government, IDF, the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council and the One Shechem organization have helped repair the site.
Several Knesset Members and the Chief Rabbi of France have visited the site during the past two years as part of a movement to return Kever Yosef to Israeli sovereignty, as stipulated in the Oslo Accords.
"I hope that the heartwarming entry of thousands of people to Kever Yosef will be another step to restoring its full sovereignty to Israel," said Shomron Regional Council chairman Gershn Mesika. "I call on all Cabinet ministers to join us here at the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem to complete the restoration of the holy site, one of three places that other nations cannot say were stolen.”
The Bible records the purchases of Hevron, by Avraham, and Jerusalem, by King David as well as the purchase of Joseph's Tomb. The Talmud, presciently, states that no matter how many accusations are hurled against the Jews for "usurping" or "conquering" their G-d-given land, these three purchases are recorded in the Bible and cannot be questioned by the nations. Ironically, they have turned out to be the most contested areas of all.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144596
Israelis, soldiers clash in Nablus
Some 200 worshipers sneak into West Bank city, Joseph's Tomb, despite IDF allowing orderly entry of hundreds; clash with security forces. IDF: Reckless behavior endangered worshipers, soldiers.
Some 200 Israelis entered the West Bank city of Nablus illegally overnight and 50 of them tried to barricade themselves in Joseph's Tomb, Ynet learned Monday.
The worshipers clashed with security forces stationed in the compound and assaulted a military driver, who sustained mild injuries. They also apparently damaged some Palestinian property. Several Israelis were arrested.
The incident occurred while the IDF allowed a convoy of 25 buses, carrying some 1,600 worshipers, into Joseph's Tomb for a nightly prayer service that was duly coordinated with the defense establishment.
Initial details suggest that a group of civilians broke free from the crowd and began running into Nablus, attempting to evade the Israeli security forces.
Overnight, several complaints were lodged by Palestinians claiming property damage. The IDF said all of the complaints were being investigated by the proper authorities.
Military sources denounced what they called the infiltrators' reckless behavior, which forced the soldiers to operate in the Palestinian city in broad daylight: "The irresponsible behavior of this group of civilians endangered both them and the security forces."
An IDF source said that in light of the recent shooting incident in Joseph's Tomb, "One would expect they show some responsibility. Some of them stayed long past dawn, which only increased the danger they were in."
The IDF was eventually able to escort all of the Israeli's out of Nablus. Security forces documented the infiltrators and intent to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
The IDF said this grave incident will also lead to a review of the security and enforcement measured in the compound, in order to ensure the safety of future convoys.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4075682,00.html
Jewish Worshippers Storm Joseph’s Tomb; Damage Palestinian Property
Victoria Delacroix- Late Sunday night, 200 Israeli Jewish worshippers stormed Palestinian controlled Joseph’s Tomb. They caused property damage to Palestinian businesses and property. Palestinians have already filed complaints.
There is no word yet if the worshippers will be reprimanded or when the investigation will start into the property damage caused by their actions.
1600 worshippers had been given permission earlier on Sunday night to enter the area, in an orderly fashion, but Ynetnews reported that 200 of the worshippers had broken free from the crowd and started running, trying to evade security. The IDF had commented on the situation, saying that it was severely irresponsible for the Jewish worshippers to act in the way they did.
Over 1,600 Israelis enter Nablus overnight
Israeli soldiers escorted 1,600 Israelis into the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Sunday to visit Joseph's Tomb.
An additional 200 Israeli settlers entered Palestinian neighborhoods without coordinating with Israeli authorities, an Israeli military spokesman said.
Around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.
Under the Oslo accords, Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control. But the visit was not coordinated with the PA, Palestinian security sources told Ma'an.
Witnesses said Ultra-Orthodox settlers were among the visitors. Locals said Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, was closed at midnight and Palestinian drivers were not allowed to use the main road from the city.
Israeli forces set up several flying checkpoints in the area, locals and an Israeli military spokesman said.
The army spokesman said Palestinians had filed complaints over property damage caused by Israeli settlers during the visit. He said all complaints would be "thoroughly examined by the relevant authorities."
Nablus residents said around 50 military vehicles escorted the Israelis, who arrived at around 1 a.m. and left at 5 a.m.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392141
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East Jerusalem: 'They broke into the block like a swarm of ants'
Thaer Qirresh is a 14-year-old Palestinian living in the Muslim quarter
of the Old City in East Jerusalem. His family are the last Palestinian
family left in the block after a settler organisation purchased the
lease and moved in
East Jerusalem: 'The wall is choking us all' Abd al-Fatah lives on ancestral land in an ancient Cana'anite cave on
the edge of Jerusalem's municipal boundary. Israeli businessmen intend
to build a new settlement on his land. He recorded his daily battle to
keep them away
East Jerusalem: Witnessing the truth Zuheir set up CCTV cameras around his home to document clashes between settlers, residents and security forces. Footage captured on his camera contradicts the official line on the killing of a local Silwan resident by an Israeli settler guard
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East Jerusalem: Sharing our house with settlers
Muna and Muhammed are 12-year-old twins living in Sheikh Jarrah, East
Jerusalem. Settlers have taken over the front of their home, but the
family continue to live in the rest of the house
East Jerusalem: 'Every action in this area is very sensitive' A Jewish-Israeli archaeologist takes us on an alternative tour of the 'City of David' - the archaeological site and tourist attraction in the centre of Jerusalem, owned by the Israeli settler organisation Elad
East Jerusalem: 'My kids won't live under the same illusion I did' Raised in West Jerusalem, Sara Benninga is an emerging activist leader in a growing mixed solidarity movement. We gave her a camera to record her daily life moving between opposing cultures in East and West Jerusalem
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29 mei 2011
Israel: PA fire on settlers at Joseph's Tomb 'unwarranted'
An Israeli military investigation in the the death of a settler found by Palestinian Authority police sneaking into a local shrine was labeled "unwarranted" on Sunday, Israeli military chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said in a statement.
The settler, along with nearly 30 others had illegally entered the Palestinian municipality of Nablus, and snuck into a residential area where a shrine, which Jews believe holds the grave of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, stands amidst homes.
Settler violence against Palestinians and mutual tensions saw Israel's military institute an escort-only policy for settlers entering Palestinian residential areas in the occupied West Bank. The military must be notified, and a full closure imposed on the area before the settlers enter for worship.
Having failed to organize an escort the settler group entered, allegedly threatened police, prompting shots to be fired. The settler cars then blew past a PA police checkpoint, apparently after one of the settlers had been hit by the fire and critically injured.
According to Gantz, "Palestinian officers whom opened fire did so in an unwarranted manner as there was no imminent and impending danger to their lives."
The investigation, which apparently investigated whether the shooting was intentional, found that it was not, but investigators said they believed "the officers fired deliberately and with intention to harm the worshipers who arrived at Joseph's Tomb."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392050
Israel's military releases Itamar probe findings
Israeli forces operating to protect the Itamar settlement in the northern West Bank failed to "fully implement the defensible means available," despite assessments that "recognized the existing threats," the results of an investigation showed.
The internal Israeli military probe looked into the circumstances around the murder of five settlers, three of them children, in the Jewish-only settlement of Itamar, in mid-March.
Details of the investigation remain scant, and while the statement from the military's Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz expressed "appreciation of the security forces that operated to apprehend the assailants," military officials could not immediately confirm whether the Palestinian men detained in connection with the killings had been tried in a court.
Israeli reports of the killings, which took place the night of 11 March, said unknown assailants broke into the settlement and killed five of the seven members of the Fogul family who were sleeping at home. The case remained under an Israeli gag-order until officials announced that two teenagers from the Palestinian village of Awarta were identified as the prime suspects.
An Israeli intelligence document leaked in mid-April said "The two, residents of the village of Awarta, confessed during the investigation to planning and carrying out the attack and staged a reconstruction," but family members vociferously denied the claim, with one family saying their son was likely tortured.
The teen, 19-year-old Hakim Awwad, according to his family was too ill to have carried out the gruesome attack. His mother Nouf told Ma'an that Hakim was still recovering from a testicular surgery, which prevented him from walking long distances and required him to use the toilet every hour.
"We have the medical records, he is in unstable health," she said at the time, adding that the family had gathered papers to present as evidence in his defense.
Hakim, and his relative Amjad Awad were identified by Israeli officials as the main suspects in the killing, while four others were identified as also being involved in the crime.
The six were some of the hundreds rounded up by Israeli forces during a month-long investigation that saw the village of Awarta locked down under a military curfew for five days immediately following the killings, and several more days periodically after that.
Men, women and children were taken into military custody during house-to-house raids, and compelled to give fingerprints and DNA samples.
The settlement, which is guarded by Israel's military as part of its occupation of the West Bank, was also accused of failing to protect the settlers. The report on the incident, according to the military statement, said "the Command's situational assessment recognized the existing threats despite the lack of concrete intelligence information."
Tensions between settlers and their Palestinian neighbors in the northern West Bank are tense, with hundreds of reported incidents of settler-violence, harassment and vandalism targeting Palestinians and their property are cataloged each year.
Palestinians are often reported to throw rocks at passing settler cars.
The military report said that although soldiers operating in the area had identified a general threat, "they failed to translate the assessment into a concrete operational plan and to fully implement the defensible means available."
In the statement, the military chief of staff ordered the "immediate implementation of the conclusions of the incident including accelerating the development of security mechanisms in the region."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392027
2 injured by settler in car accident
A father and son were moderately injured Sunday, medics said, after they were hit by an Israeli settler driving to a Jewish-only settlement in the southern West Bank.
The father accused the settler of purposefully running him down just outside of Bethlehem.
Medical sources in the Al-Yamama Hospital in Bethlehem identified the injured as Ahmad Mustafa Sbeih,48, and his son Nour Ad-Din who is eight-years-old.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392059
28 mei 2011
CPT: Settlers torch Palestinian olive grove
Israeli settlers set fire to an olive grove belonging to a Palestinian family near Hebron on Friday, an international monitoring group reported.
The fire damaged 16 trees belonging to the Abu Haikel family in Tel Rumeida, Christian Peacemaker Teams said, adding that some of the trees affected were over 1,000 years old.
Palestinian firefighters arrived to put out the blaze, but Israeli soldiers confiscated their hoses and gave them old equipment to use, CPT said.
Volunteers with the US organization said they asked soldiers to return the equipment but the troops did not respond.
Asked if the trees would produce olives again, Abu Haikel's son told CPT "No, they've burned them for the last seven years."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=391716
Israeli settlers plan provocative march in O. Jerusalem
Fanatic Israeli groups have decided to hold a provocative march in the heart of the occupied city of Jerusalem on Wednesday to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the city, Hebrew sources revealed.
According to the Hebrew Yedioth ahronoth newspaper, the provocative march will start from the Palestinian suburb of Sheikh Jarrah that witnessed a number of clashes between Palestinian citizens and Israeli settlers attempting to usurp their homes by force.
The paper described the march as "the march of the heart of confrontation," adding that the settlers would pass through the gates of Bab Al-Amood and al-Khalil leading to the center of the city's old town.
The paper also quoted the rightist Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben Ari as saying that the march will be the suitable answer for US president Barack Obama, and for all those "conspiring" to divide Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation police is expected to deploy more policemen and soldiers in the old city to protect the marchers, the paper added.
23 mei 2011
Israeli Settlers Continue Attacks on Palestinians
The Israeli settlers have been continuing their attacks against the Palestinian people and properties under the protection of the Israeli forces and police. Palestinian sources said that settlers attacked citizens in Hebron, while other settlers assaulted a group of women in Selfit.
The sources added that groups of settlers from the settlement of (Ramat Yishai) in Hebron attacked and stoned the citizens of Tal al-Ramedah and Jabal al-Rahma, in order to intimidate people and force them to leave.
They also shouted anti-Arab chants under the protection of the occupation forces and police. Yesterday, a Palestinian youth was injured after a settler followed him and intentionally collided with his vehicle south of Hebron.
Just Another day of Discrimination and Apartheid in Hebron
By Vicky Orwel
Some of the streets in Hebron on Sunday saw Palestinians put under a four hour curfew from 15.00 until 19.00 in order to facilitate a Jewish tour of the old city for the Jewish settler population living in the area.
The group of settlers gathered in Shuhadah Street at checkpoint 56, which is a checkpoint normally used on a daily basis by Palestinians entering to the market, and as the main access point from which they can go to the shopping streets, the transport places, including taxi ranks and bus stations and many other areas in the old city which are frequented by the Palestinian inhabitants.
The Israeli Army enforced the curfew, closing all shops in the area (because they are owned and run by Palestinains) and ensuring that all Palestinians living in the areas designated for the tour were in their homes between the stated times of the tour. The usual Palestinian Authority army which is situated in the area of Bab Zaweyah in the old city were temporarily removed and replaced with Israeli soldiers in order to ensure the curfew and protect the settlers on the tour.
The settlers, who argue that Hebron is a city which belongs entirely to the Jews, claim that they miss the part of the city of Hebron that is under the control of the PA. This area which is also known as H1 is the Arab side of the city so to speak and where despite numerous evictions, land confiscations and restrictions imposed here still exists a huge historical city. The settlers of the city embarked on a tour to remind themselves and their youth of what they call the need to fight for what they believe to be a promised land from God to them as Jews.
The ideological Jews living in Hebron are not satisfied with the Hebron Agreement, which made a division of the city following the Oslo Accords. Instead they utterly dispute the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 and maintain that the entire city should be for Jewish inhabitants without any Arab right to live there at all. Their claim to Hebron is based on disputed historical events and religious affiliations.
Among the most important of the historical sites in Hebron is the Ibrahimi Mosque in Islam or Cave of the Patriarchs as it is known in Judaism, which is a holy and sacred place for all the three Abrahamic religions and the site of much conflict and blood shed in the past. A shooting spree committed by an Israeli-American settler during the morning prayers in February 1994, left 29 Palestinian Muslims dead and many more injured. The resulting riots culminated in a further 35 deaths and subsequent closure of the mosque for Muslim prayers for some time.
On February 21, 2010, Israel announced that it would include the site in a national heritage site protection and rehabilitation plan. The announcement sparked protests from the UN, Arab governments and the United States. A subsequent UNESCO vote in October aimed to affirm that the "al-Haram al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in al-Khalil/Hebron" was "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian Territories.."
Settler tours around the Palestinian areas of Hebron are a regular occurrence, however, needless to say that you will not find any Palestinian tours of the Jewish areas of Hebron, even for families to visit derelict houses that they once lived as part of a united and thriving Arab community in Hebron.
On the contrary Palestinians are kept away from any settlement areas and are not allowed even to use access ways which were once part of the infrastructure of the city leading to communities throughout. There are also numerous tedious and degrading checkpoints and hostile Israeli soldiers on every corner in the settlement areas (known as H2) where some Palestinians still remain in their homes defiant of Settler violence and attempts to remove them from their homes.
The unfettered racial inequity and discriminative application of rights in favour of the Jewish settlers in Hebron is clear throughout city. The settlement tours are a reminder to all those living Hebron of just who is in control and that the will of the Israeli settlers will always be realized over any rights or freedoms of the Palestinians. Such scenes in this long fought over city stand as a stark reminder of the fact that the phenomenon of apartheid is very much alive here.
The people of Hebron are however, standing together and fighting against this blatant apartheid scheme, such organizations as One World for Justice and the Palestinian Commission of Cultural Exchange and Human Rights are trying to take legal steps against the apartheid system in international courts on the basis that such an apartheid is against international law, in particular the Geneva Conventions and the UN Declarations of Human Rights. On the premise that as such Israel should be held accountable and not allowed to simply continue with the discriminative application of fundamental Human Rights.
22 mei 2011
Salfit women say stoned by settler youth
Town officials from Salfit reported Sunday that a group of women returning home were assaulted by a group of 15 settlers harassing Palestinians near the Kfar Tappuah settlement.
The women, from the village of Iskaka, were on the main road between Za'atara and Yasuf, head of the local women's society told Ma'an, when a group of settlers chased them, throwing stones and causing panic as the group sought shelter.
Ahlam Adnan Hareb said the settlers followed the women for about 250 meters, causing them to fear for their lives.
She called on the international community and rights organizations to put a halt to settler violence against Palestinians.
Israel began building Jewish-only communities in the West Bank shortly after the area was occupied in 1967. The communities were intended to settle the area for an Israeli state. The settlements are built on privately owned Palestinian land, village land and traditional Bedouin grazing land, and are considered illegal under international law.
The Geneva Convention holds that an occupying state must not move its civilian population into the area under occupation or profit from the use of its natural resources.
Settlement growth increased rapidly in the 1980s, and today estimates say more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390067
Peace Now: Israel approves new West Bank settler homes
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved construction of 294 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit, anti-settlement NGO Peace Now reported on Sunday.
Peace Now made its announcement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, preparing to address the US Congress and the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
It said Barak also approved building of homes for the elderly and a shopping center in the illegal settlement of Efrat.
The group could not say exactly when Barak signed off on the two projects.
In response to AFP's queries, the defense ministry issued a brief statement saying only that "since the end of the freeze period a few building permits have been approved for communities situated in the [settlement] blocs to meet their living needs."
Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late September, when a 10-month, partial Israeli settlement freeze expired and Netanyahu refused to renew it.
Peace Now said on Sunday that since the moratorium was lifted settlers had started construction on about 2,000 homes in 75 different settlement sites.
As President Barack Obama was delivering a key speech on Thursday in which he called for Israel to make a complete pullout from land it occupied in the 1967 Six Day war, a government committee approved more than 1,500 Jewish-only homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Peace Now called that decision "not just miserable timing but a miserable policy" and said it sent a "clear message to the Americans."
The Palestinians have insisted they will not talk while Israel builds on land they want for a future state, and Israel has attracted fierce international criticism for its settlement policy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390040
21 mei 2011
Palestinians hurt in clash with settlers in Hebron
Clashes near Hebron in the occupied West Bank injured eight Palestinians on Saturday, medics said.
Israeli forces fired tear gas amid the confrontations with settlers in the Old City of Hebron, medical officials said.
Eight Palestinians including four children were taken by ambulance to the local government hospital for treatment, said Nasser Qabajaeh, the head of the Red Crescent's operations room in Hebron.
Onlookers said settlers threw stones and the army fired tear-gas canisters and stun grenades.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=389800
20 mei 2011
Israeli settlers plan to build three settlements near O. Jerusalem
The Hebrew yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has unveiled Thursday that a group of rightist Israelis announced they would build three new settlements near occupied Jerusalem.
According to the paper, the group that calls itself "Youth for the sake of Yehuda and Samria" decided to carryout the plan during the visit of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington late this month by placing caravans in the places slated for the establishment of the settlements.
The paper also quoted the group members as saying that they won't abandon Yehuda and Samria (the Name the Israelis give to the West Bank) at any cost and that they will work hard to link the new three settlements with Ma'aleh Adomim settlement near the occupied city of Jerusalem.
"For us, we don't see any difference between the 1948- occupied lands and the 1967-occupied lands because we consider all of it as the land of Israel, and we want to link those settlements altogether to form a geographic series that would block any chance to establish a Palestinian state in the future," the paper further quoted a member of the group as saying.
19 mei 2011
Accelerating building activity reported in Jordan Valley settlement
Citizens in Ein Al-Baida village to the east of Tobas city in the Jordan Valley have reported that Jewish settlers were accelerating building activity in the nearby settlement of Mikhola.
They said that the settlers were building eight new housing units in Mikhola, which is only one kilometer away from the village.
The settlement was among the first built in the Jordan Valley on Ein Al-Baida village land after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem in 1967.
The village, along with four others, is separated from Tobas by an Israeli military roadblock and the Israeli occupation forces confiscated vast areas of those villages for the sake of building army training camps other than the areas seized for the construction settlements.
PM's Office okays Har Homa debate
Interior Ministry approves discussion on large-scale construction plans in Jerusalem neighborhood on eve of PM's Congress speech. Meanwhile, Hilltop Youth plan to erect three new outposts in West Bank at the same time.
Settlers are planning to erect three new outposts in the West Bank on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the US Congress, Ynet learned on Thursday.
In addition, the Interior Ministry's planning and construction committee has approved a discussion on large-scale construction plans in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood on the eve of Netanyahu's departure.
Hundreds of members of the Hilltop Youth have completed preparations for constructing the new outposts on the night between Monday and Tuesday, during Netanyahu's scheduled speech before AIPAC.
One of the outposts is to be built between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, in a sensitive and highly controversial spot because it connects between Palestinian territories seen as belonging to a possible future Palestinian state.
Israel has previously begun paving roads in the area to connect between the capital and Ma'aleh Adumim, but this move was halted due to US pressure.
But members of the Hilltop Youth say they will establish a farm there as a first step to building a settlement. They say the land belongs to private owners Jews who purchased it from Arabs in the 1980's.
The movement has rented the land from these owners, and says that the private ownership will make it very difficult for the state to evict them.
Extreme rightists plan to promote the construction by hanging posters at synagogues and settlements. "There is no difference between the land to which we returned in '48 and the land we returned to in '67. Israel is one big island," says a poster obtained by Ynet.
"The connection between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem will constitute a connection of Jewish continuity and block the establishment of a Palestinian state in the area, cutting off the continuity from Bethlehem to Ramallah through Jerusalem."
'Zionist answer to Bibi's obsequiousness'
One of Hilltop Youth's leaders, Meir Bartler, told Ynet the construction contained a message to the government. "There is no difference between the Golan and central Israel, Akko and Jaffa, to Nablus and Hebron. The Land of Israel is one big island," he said.
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) praised the move. "Expanding settlements and construction of outposts is the only Zionist answer to Netanyahu and the Likud Party's obsequiousness. While Bibi folds in Washington, our youth will tell him and the entire world that they have not lost hope. We will continue to build and settle despite Israel's weak leadership," he said.
Meanwhile Ynet has also learned that Jerusalem's planning and construction committee, set to hold a hearing on 1,550 housing units in the neighborhoods of Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev both of which are located beyond the 1967 borders requested permission from the Prime Minister's Office to do so, due to the sensitivity of the matter ahead of Netanyahu's visit to Washington.
The office approved the hearing, and it is scheduled to take place on the eve of Netanyahu's flight, beginning at 2 pm.
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer slammed the approval of the hearing. "The prime minister is sacrificing relations with the US for the benefit of his loyalty to settlers and rightists in Jerusalem. This is not just miserable timing, but a miserable policy which endangers Israel's status in the world," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4071051,00.html
Israel: PA fire on settlers at Joseph's Tomb 'unwarranted'
An Israeli military investigation in the the death of a settler found by Palestinian Authority police sneaking into a local shrine was labeled "unwarranted" on Sunday, Israeli military chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said in a statement.
The settler, along with nearly 30 others had illegally entered the Palestinian municipality of Nablus, and snuck into a residential area where a shrine, which Jews believe holds the grave of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, stands amidst homes.
Settler violence against Palestinians and mutual tensions saw Israel's military institute an escort-only policy for settlers entering Palestinian residential areas in the occupied West Bank. The military must be notified, and a full closure imposed on the area before the settlers enter for worship.
Having failed to organize an escort the settler group entered, allegedly threatened police, prompting shots to be fired. The settler cars then blew past a PA police checkpoint, apparently after one of the settlers had been hit by the fire and critically injured.
According to Gantz, "Palestinian officers whom opened fire did so in an unwarranted manner as there was no imminent and impending danger to their lives."
The investigation, which apparently investigated whether the shooting was intentional, found that it was not, but investigators said they believed "the officers fired deliberately and with intention to harm the worshipers who arrived at Joseph's Tomb."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392050
Israel's military releases Itamar probe findings
Israeli forces operating to protect the Itamar settlement in the northern West Bank failed to "fully implement the defensible means available," despite assessments that "recognized the existing threats," the results of an investigation showed.
The internal Israeli military probe looked into the circumstances around the murder of five settlers, three of them children, in the Jewish-only settlement of Itamar, in mid-March.
Details of the investigation remain scant, and while the statement from the military's Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz expressed "appreciation of the security forces that operated to apprehend the assailants," military officials could not immediately confirm whether the Palestinian men detained in connection with the killings had been tried in a court.
Israeli reports of the killings, which took place the night of 11 March, said unknown assailants broke into the settlement and killed five of the seven members of the Fogul family who were sleeping at home. The case remained under an Israeli gag-order until officials announced that two teenagers from the Palestinian village of Awarta were identified as the prime suspects.
An Israeli intelligence document leaked in mid-April said "The two, residents of the village of Awarta, confessed during the investigation to planning and carrying out the attack and staged a reconstruction," but family members vociferously denied the claim, with one family saying their son was likely tortured.
The teen, 19-year-old Hakim Awwad, according to his family was too ill to have carried out the gruesome attack. His mother Nouf told Ma'an that Hakim was still recovering from a testicular surgery, which prevented him from walking long distances and required him to use the toilet every hour.
"We have the medical records, he is in unstable health," she said at the time, adding that the family had gathered papers to present as evidence in his defense.
Hakim, and his relative Amjad Awad were identified by Israeli officials as the main suspects in the killing, while four others were identified as also being involved in the crime.
The six were some of the hundreds rounded up by Israeli forces during a month-long investigation that saw the village of Awarta locked down under a military curfew for five days immediately following the killings, and several more days periodically after that.
Men, women and children were taken into military custody during house-to-house raids, and compelled to give fingerprints and DNA samples.
The settlement, which is guarded by Israel's military as part of its occupation of the West Bank, was also accused of failing to protect the settlers. The report on the incident, according to the military statement, said "the Command's situational assessment recognized the existing threats despite the lack of concrete intelligence information."
Tensions between settlers and their Palestinian neighbors in the northern West Bank are tense, with hundreds of reported incidents of settler-violence, harassment and vandalism targeting Palestinians and their property are cataloged each year.
Palestinians are often reported to throw rocks at passing settler cars.
The military report said that although soldiers operating in the area had identified a general threat, "they failed to translate the assessment into a concrete operational plan and to fully implement the defensible means available."
In the statement, the military chief of staff ordered the "immediate implementation of the conclusions of the incident including accelerating the development of security mechanisms in the region."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392027
2 injured by settler in car accident
A father and son were moderately injured Sunday, medics said, after they were hit by an Israeli settler driving to a Jewish-only settlement in the southern West Bank.
The father accused the settler of purposefully running him down just outside of Bethlehem.
Medical sources in the Al-Yamama Hospital in Bethlehem identified the injured as Ahmad Mustafa Sbeih,48, and his son Nour Ad-Din who is eight-years-old.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=392059
28 mei 2011
CPT: Settlers torch Palestinian olive grove
Israeli settlers set fire to an olive grove belonging to a Palestinian family near Hebron on Friday, an international monitoring group reported.
The fire damaged 16 trees belonging to the Abu Haikel family in Tel Rumeida, Christian Peacemaker Teams said, adding that some of the trees affected were over 1,000 years old.
Palestinian firefighters arrived to put out the blaze, but Israeli soldiers confiscated their hoses and gave them old equipment to use, CPT said.
Volunteers with the US organization said they asked soldiers to return the equipment but the troops did not respond.
Asked if the trees would produce olives again, Abu Haikel's son told CPT "No, they've burned them for the last seven years."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=391716
Israeli settlers plan provocative march in O. Jerusalem
Fanatic Israeli groups have decided to hold a provocative march in the heart of the occupied city of Jerusalem on Wednesday to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the city, Hebrew sources revealed.
According to the Hebrew Yedioth ahronoth newspaper, the provocative march will start from the Palestinian suburb of Sheikh Jarrah that witnessed a number of clashes between Palestinian citizens and Israeli settlers attempting to usurp their homes by force.
The paper described the march as "the march of the heart of confrontation," adding that the settlers would pass through the gates of Bab Al-Amood and al-Khalil leading to the center of the city's old town.
The paper also quoted the rightist Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben Ari as saying that the march will be the suitable answer for US president Barack Obama, and for all those "conspiring" to divide Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation police is expected to deploy more policemen and soldiers in the old city to protect the marchers, the paper added.
23 mei 2011
Israeli Settlers Continue Attacks on Palestinians
The Israeli settlers have been continuing their attacks against the Palestinian people and properties under the protection of the Israeli forces and police. Palestinian sources said that settlers attacked citizens in Hebron, while other settlers assaulted a group of women in Selfit.
The sources added that groups of settlers from the settlement of (Ramat Yishai) in Hebron attacked and stoned the citizens of Tal al-Ramedah and Jabal al-Rahma, in order to intimidate people and force them to leave.
They also shouted anti-Arab chants under the protection of the occupation forces and police. Yesterday, a Palestinian youth was injured after a settler followed him and intentionally collided with his vehicle south of Hebron.
Just Another day of Discrimination and Apartheid in Hebron
By Vicky Orwel
Some of the streets in Hebron on Sunday saw Palestinians put under a four hour curfew from 15.00 until 19.00 in order to facilitate a Jewish tour of the old city for the Jewish settler population living in the area.
The group of settlers gathered in Shuhadah Street at checkpoint 56, which is a checkpoint normally used on a daily basis by Palestinians entering to the market, and as the main access point from which they can go to the shopping streets, the transport places, including taxi ranks and bus stations and many other areas in the old city which are frequented by the Palestinian inhabitants.
The Israeli Army enforced the curfew, closing all shops in the area (because they are owned and run by Palestinains) and ensuring that all Palestinians living in the areas designated for the tour were in their homes between the stated times of the tour. The usual Palestinian Authority army which is situated in the area of Bab Zaweyah in the old city were temporarily removed and replaced with Israeli soldiers in order to ensure the curfew and protect the settlers on the tour.
The settlers, who argue that Hebron is a city which belongs entirely to the Jews, claim that they miss the part of the city of Hebron that is under the control of the PA. This area which is also known as H1 is the Arab side of the city so to speak and where despite numerous evictions, land confiscations and restrictions imposed here still exists a huge historical city. The settlers of the city embarked on a tour to remind themselves and their youth of what they call the need to fight for what they believe to be a promised land from God to them as Jews.
The ideological Jews living in Hebron are not satisfied with the Hebron Agreement, which made a division of the city following the Oslo Accords. Instead they utterly dispute the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 and maintain that the entire city should be for Jewish inhabitants without any Arab right to live there at all. Their claim to Hebron is based on disputed historical events and religious affiliations.
Among the most important of the historical sites in Hebron is the Ibrahimi Mosque in Islam or Cave of the Patriarchs as it is known in Judaism, which is a holy and sacred place for all the three Abrahamic religions and the site of much conflict and blood shed in the past. A shooting spree committed by an Israeli-American settler during the morning prayers in February 1994, left 29 Palestinian Muslims dead and many more injured. The resulting riots culminated in a further 35 deaths and subsequent closure of the mosque for Muslim prayers for some time.
On February 21, 2010, Israel announced that it would include the site in a national heritage site protection and rehabilitation plan. The announcement sparked protests from the UN, Arab governments and the United States. A subsequent UNESCO vote in October aimed to affirm that the "al-Haram al-Ibrahimi/Tomb of the Patriarchs in al-Khalil/Hebron" was "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian Territories.."
Settler tours around the Palestinian areas of Hebron are a regular occurrence, however, needless to say that you will not find any Palestinian tours of the Jewish areas of Hebron, even for families to visit derelict houses that they once lived as part of a united and thriving Arab community in Hebron.
On the contrary Palestinians are kept away from any settlement areas and are not allowed even to use access ways which were once part of the infrastructure of the city leading to communities throughout. There are also numerous tedious and degrading checkpoints and hostile Israeli soldiers on every corner in the settlement areas (known as H2) where some Palestinians still remain in their homes defiant of Settler violence and attempts to remove them from their homes.
The unfettered racial inequity and discriminative application of rights in favour of the Jewish settlers in Hebron is clear throughout city. The settlement tours are a reminder to all those living Hebron of just who is in control and that the will of the Israeli settlers will always be realized over any rights or freedoms of the Palestinians. Such scenes in this long fought over city stand as a stark reminder of the fact that the phenomenon of apartheid is very much alive here.
The people of Hebron are however, standing together and fighting against this blatant apartheid scheme, such organizations as One World for Justice and the Palestinian Commission of Cultural Exchange and Human Rights are trying to take legal steps against the apartheid system in international courts on the basis that such an apartheid is against international law, in particular the Geneva Conventions and the UN Declarations of Human Rights. On the premise that as such Israel should be held accountable and not allowed to simply continue with the discriminative application of fundamental Human Rights.
22 mei 2011
Salfit women say stoned by settler youth
Town officials from Salfit reported Sunday that a group of women returning home were assaulted by a group of 15 settlers harassing Palestinians near the Kfar Tappuah settlement.
The women, from the village of Iskaka, were on the main road between Za'atara and Yasuf, head of the local women's society told Ma'an, when a group of settlers chased them, throwing stones and causing panic as the group sought shelter.
Ahlam Adnan Hareb said the settlers followed the women for about 250 meters, causing them to fear for their lives.
She called on the international community and rights organizations to put a halt to settler violence against Palestinians.
Israel began building Jewish-only communities in the West Bank shortly after the area was occupied in 1967. The communities were intended to settle the area for an Israeli state. The settlements are built on privately owned Palestinian land, village land and traditional Bedouin grazing land, and are considered illegal under international law.
The Geneva Convention holds that an occupying state must not move its civilian population into the area under occupation or profit from the use of its natural resources.
Settlement growth increased rapidly in the 1980s, and today estimates say more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390067
Peace Now: Israel approves new West Bank settler homes
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved construction of 294 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit, anti-settlement NGO Peace Now reported on Sunday.
Peace Now made its announcement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, preparing to address the US Congress and the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
It said Barak also approved building of homes for the elderly and a shopping center in the illegal settlement of Efrat.
The group could not say exactly when Barak signed off on the two projects.
In response to AFP's queries, the defense ministry issued a brief statement saying only that "since the end of the freeze period a few building permits have been approved for communities situated in the [settlement] blocs to meet their living needs."
Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late September, when a 10-month, partial Israeli settlement freeze expired and Netanyahu refused to renew it.
Peace Now said on Sunday that since the moratorium was lifted settlers had started construction on about 2,000 homes in 75 different settlement sites.
As President Barack Obama was delivering a key speech on Thursday in which he called for Israel to make a complete pullout from land it occupied in the 1967 Six Day war, a government committee approved more than 1,500 Jewish-only homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Peace Now called that decision "not just miserable timing but a miserable policy" and said it sent a "clear message to the Americans."
The Palestinians have insisted they will not talk while Israel builds on land they want for a future state, and Israel has attracted fierce international criticism for its settlement policy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390040
21 mei 2011
Palestinians hurt in clash with settlers in Hebron
Clashes near Hebron in the occupied West Bank injured eight Palestinians on Saturday, medics said.
Israeli forces fired tear gas amid the confrontations with settlers in the Old City of Hebron, medical officials said.
Eight Palestinians including four children were taken by ambulance to the local government hospital for treatment, said Nasser Qabajaeh, the head of the Red Crescent's operations room in Hebron.
Onlookers said settlers threw stones and the army fired tear-gas canisters and stun grenades.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=389800
20 mei 2011
Israeli settlers plan to build three settlements near O. Jerusalem
The Hebrew yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has unveiled Thursday that a group of rightist Israelis announced they would build three new settlements near occupied Jerusalem.
According to the paper, the group that calls itself "Youth for the sake of Yehuda and Samria" decided to carryout the plan during the visit of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington late this month by placing caravans in the places slated for the establishment of the settlements.
The paper also quoted the group members as saying that they won't abandon Yehuda and Samria (the Name the Israelis give to the West Bank) at any cost and that they will work hard to link the new three settlements with Ma'aleh Adomim settlement near the occupied city of Jerusalem.
"For us, we don't see any difference between the 1948- occupied lands and the 1967-occupied lands because we consider all of it as the land of Israel, and we want to link those settlements altogether to form a geographic series that would block any chance to establish a Palestinian state in the future," the paper further quoted a member of the group as saying.
19 mei 2011
Accelerating building activity reported in Jordan Valley settlement
Citizens in Ein Al-Baida village to the east of Tobas city in the Jordan Valley have reported that Jewish settlers were accelerating building activity in the nearby settlement of Mikhola.
They said that the settlers were building eight new housing units in Mikhola, which is only one kilometer away from the village.
The settlement was among the first built in the Jordan Valley on Ein Al-Baida village land after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem in 1967.
The village, along with four others, is separated from Tobas by an Israeli military roadblock and the Israeli occupation forces confiscated vast areas of those villages for the sake of building army training camps other than the areas seized for the construction settlements.
PM's Office okays Har Homa debate
Interior Ministry approves discussion on large-scale construction plans in Jerusalem neighborhood on eve of PM's Congress speech. Meanwhile, Hilltop Youth plan to erect three new outposts in West Bank at the same time.
Settlers are planning to erect three new outposts in the West Bank on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the US Congress, Ynet learned on Thursday.
In addition, the Interior Ministry's planning and construction committee has approved a discussion on large-scale construction plans in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood on the eve of Netanyahu's departure.
Hundreds of members of the Hilltop Youth have completed preparations for constructing the new outposts on the night between Monday and Tuesday, during Netanyahu's scheduled speech before AIPAC.
One of the outposts is to be built between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, in a sensitive and highly controversial spot because it connects between Palestinian territories seen as belonging to a possible future Palestinian state.
Israel has previously begun paving roads in the area to connect between the capital and Ma'aleh Adumim, but this move was halted due to US pressure.
But members of the Hilltop Youth say they will establish a farm there as a first step to building a settlement. They say the land belongs to private owners Jews who purchased it from Arabs in the 1980's.
The movement has rented the land from these owners, and says that the private ownership will make it very difficult for the state to evict them.
Extreme rightists plan to promote the construction by hanging posters at synagogues and settlements. "There is no difference between the land to which we returned in '48 and the land we returned to in '67. Israel is one big island," says a poster obtained by Ynet.
"The connection between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem will constitute a connection of Jewish continuity and block the establishment of a Palestinian state in the area, cutting off the continuity from Bethlehem to Ramallah through Jerusalem."
'Zionist answer to Bibi's obsequiousness'
One of Hilltop Youth's leaders, Meir Bartler, told Ynet the construction contained a message to the government. "There is no difference between the Golan and central Israel, Akko and Jaffa, to Nablus and Hebron. The Land of Israel is one big island," he said.
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) praised the move. "Expanding settlements and construction of outposts is the only Zionist answer to Netanyahu and the Likud Party's obsequiousness. While Bibi folds in Washington, our youth will tell him and the entire world that they have not lost hope. We will continue to build and settle despite Israel's weak leadership," he said.
Meanwhile Ynet has also learned that Jerusalem's planning and construction committee, set to hold a hearing on 1,550 housing units in the neighborhoods of Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev both of which are located beyond the 1967 borders requested permission from the Prime Minister's Office to do so, due to the sensitivity of the matter ahead of Netanyahu's visit to Washington.
The office approved the hearing, and it is scheduled to take place on the eve of Netanyahu's flight, beginning at 2 pm.
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer slammed the approval of the hearing. "The prime minister is sacrificing relations with the US for the benefit of his loyalty to settlers and rightists in Jerusalem. This is not just miserable timing, but a miserable policy which endangers Israel's status in the world," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4071051,00.html
18 mei 2011
Jewish terrorists nabbed in Jaffa mosque bombing plot
Jewish terrorists have been arrested in a plan to bomb a mosque in Jaffa city in the 1948- occupied territories.
Israeli police have recently detained a Jewish cell of four men, who are being legally represented by Israeli attorney Gore Finkelstein. They have been accused of planning to bomb the Hassan-Beck mosque and assassinate its imam and other worshipers.
The suspects planned to plant a large explosive device in a civilian vehicle and detonate it from a distance during Friday prayers.
The Hassan-Beck mosque was racially attacked by Jewish extremists several times in recent years.
The saboteurs destroyed the minaret, threw a hog's head inside the sanctuary grounds and tried burn it down and destroy property.
Barak okays MK daylight visit to Joseph's Tomb
Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday approved a petition by right-wing members of Knesset to allow MKs to visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus during daylight hours.
The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported that 20 MKs, most of them rightists, are scheduled to visit Joseph's Tomb under protection of Israeli forces during daylight hours.
The visit will be the first of its kind since the Palestinian Authority took control of the area 10 years ago.
Barak approved the visit after pressure by the ultra-Orthodox following an incident in which PA officers opened fire at Jewish worshippers, who came to visit the site without coordination, killing one of them.
Visits to Joseph's Tomb have been made over the past decade during night hours and after coordination with the Palestinians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388924
Jerusalemites foil Jewish settlers' attempt to capture Palestinian land
Jerusalemite youths managed to foil an attempt by a group of settlers to seize a land lot owned by a Palestinian family in Thawri suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Rasem Abdulwahid, a specialist in Jerusalem affairs, said that the Jewish fanatics installed barbed wire round the land owned by Istanbuli family.
He said that the young men managed to cut the wire around the land, 1500 square meters, and threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers who came to protect the settlers forcing them to retreat after firing gas bombs and rubber bullets at the youth.
Settlers attempt to annex land in Wadi Rababa, resident arrested
Israeli troops arrested Silwan resident Khaled al-Zeer on Tuesday when a settler lodged a claim against him. Al-Zeer was accused by a settler to have assaulted him when settlers attempted to annex a tract of Palestinian land in the Wadi Rababa district of Silwan yesterday.
Khaled was transferred to Oz police station and is set to stand trial this morning in the Magistrate Court.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16624
Knesset members to storm Nabi Yusuf tomb in Nablus in broad daylight
Israeli war minister Ehud Barak has agreed to allow a "visit" by 20 Knesset members, mostly affiliated with the far right parties, to Nabi Yusuf tomb in Nablus in broad daylight for the first time.
Hebrew daily Ma'ariv said on Wednesday that the "visit" would take place within the few coming days with full escort on the part of the Israeli army to ascertain their right to visit the site during daytime and to control the road leading to the shrine.
Previous "visits" by Jewish settlers to the shrine were always made at night and after coordination with the Palestinian Authority's security.
The settlers, after one of them was killed during an uncoordinated visit, were asking for full Israeli control over the shrine and the road leading to it.
17 mei 2011
Jewish settlers storm Palestinian school in OJ, attack homes in Al-Khalil
Jewish settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, stormed a school for orphans in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday and assaulted a number of students.
The Palestinian ministry of education said that the occupation forces arrested the headmaster and his deputy, adding that three of the students were injured in the settlers' attack.
It said in a statement that the students' lives were in danger after they were forced out of school and left easy prey for settlers' attacks.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers threw a firebomb at a Palestinian home in Al-Khalil on Tuesday during an attack on a number of suburbs in the city.
Witnesses told the PIC that setters threw a firebomb at a home for El-Baradei family south of the city as other groups were seen throwing stones at Palestinian cars in downtown.
Israeli settlers invade Palestinian village of Tuba
Blood from sheep killed by Israeli settlers in Al-Tuba Sunday night
Israeli settlers invaded the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills late Sunday night, 15 May. They damaged property and killed and stole livestock belonging to the Ali Awad family. Palestinians of Tuba reported that they counted seven masked settlers, who entered and left the village on foot, and saw two cars at the outskirts of Tuba, near the chicken barns of Ma'on settlement.
damage to tents that was slashed by settler
The rampaging settlers stole seven sheep, killed two, and injured others, including one which lost an eye. In addition, the settlers upended three water tanks, which held a total of 4.5 cubic meters of water. They destroyed fences, punctured a storage tent and three large sacks of yogurt, damaged a goat pen and destroyed the ventilation pipe of an outhouse. They also set loose a donkey, which later returned.
outhouse ventilation damaged by settlers
A Tuba resident called Christian Peacemaker Teams about midnight Sunday to report the settler invasion and request help in urging the Israeli police to respond. The police refused to go to the village because no one there could speak to them in Hebrew. Two Israeli soldiers arrived in Tuba on Monday morning, but did not speak Arabic and so could not communicate with the villagers.
The Ali Awad family is considering making a complaint to the Israeli police, despite the fact that all their previous complaints about settler attacks, vandalism or harassment have not yet resulted in any indictments or compensation.
water storage tanks overturned and damaged
On 21 March 2011, a masked settler from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on stabbed Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad as the Palestinian traveled by donkey from Tuba to the city of Yatta. Mahmoud Ali Awad spent a week in the hospital recovering from stab wounds on his chest and arm.
Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.
According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61255
Jewish terrorists nabbed in Jaffa mosque bombing plot
Jewish terrorists have been arrested in a plan to bomb a mosque in Jaffa city in the 1948- occupied territories.
Israeli police have recently detained a Jewish cell of four men, who are being legally represented by Israeli attorney Gore Finkelstein. They have been accused of planning to bomb the Hassan-Beck mosque and assassinate its imam and other worshipers.
The suspects planned to plant a large explosive device in a civilian vehicle and detonate it from a distance during Friday prayers.
The Hassan-Beck mosque was racially attacked by Jewish extremists several times in recent years.
The saboteurs destroyed the minaret, threw a hog's head inside the sanctuary grounds and tried burn it down and destroy property.
Barak okays MK daylight visit to Joseph's Tomb
Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday approved a petition by right-wing members of Knesset to allow MKs to visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus during daylight hours.
The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported that 20 MKs, most of them rightists, are scheduled to visit Joseph's Tomb under protection of Israeli forces during daylight hours.
The visit will be the first of its kind since the Palestinian Authority took control of the area 10 years ago.
Barak approved the visit after pressure by the ultra-Orthodox following an incident in which PA officers opened fire at Jewish worshippers, who came to visit the site without coordination, killing one of them.
Visits to Joseph's Tomb have been made over the past decade during night hours and after coordination with the Palestinians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388924
Jerusalemites foil Jewish settlers' attempt to capture Palestinian land
Jerusalemite youths managed to foil an attempt by a group of settlers to seize a land lot owned by a Palestinian family in Thawri suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Rasem Abdulwahid, a specialist in Jerusalem affairs, said that the Jewish fanatics installed barbed wire round the land owned by Istanbuli family.
He said that the young men managed to cut the wire around the land, 1500 square meters, and threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers who came to protect the settlers forcing them to retreat after firing gas bombs and rubber bullets at the youth.
Settlers attempt to annex land in Wadi Rababa, resident arrested
Israeli troops arrested Silwan resident Khaled al-Zeer on Tuesday when a settler lodged a claim against him. Al-Zeer was accused by a settler to have assaulted him when settlers attempted to annex a tract of Palestinian land in the Wadi Rababa district of Silwan yesterday.
Khaled was transferred to Oz police station and is set to stand trial this morning in the Magistrate Court.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16624
Knesset members to storm Nabi Yusuf tomb in Nablus in broad daylight
Israeli war minister Ehud Barak has agreed to allow a "visit" by 20 Knesset members, mostly affiliated with the far right parties, to Nabi Yusuf tomb in Nablus in broad daylight for the first time.
Hebrew daily Ma'ariv said on Wednesday that the "visit" would take place within the few coming days with full escort on the part of the Israeli army to ascertain their right to visit the site during daytime and to control the road leading to the shrine.
Previous "visits" by Jewish settlers to the shrine were always made at night and after coordination with the Palestinian Authority's security.
The settlers, after one of them was killed during an uncoordinated visit, were asking for full Israeli control over the shrine and the road leading to it.
17 mei 2011
Jewish settlers storm Palestinian school in OJ, attack homes in Al-Khalil
Jewish settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, stormed a school for orphans in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday and assaulted a number of students.
The Palestinian ministry of education said that the occupation forces arrested the headmaster and his deputy, adding that three of the students were injured in the settlers' attack.
It said in a statement that the students' lives were in danger after they were forced out of school and left easy prey for settlers' attacks.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers threw a firebomb at a Palestinian home in Al-Khalil on Tuesday during an attack on a number of suburbs in the city.
Witnesses told the PIC that setters threw a firebomb at a home for El-Baradei family south of the city as other groups were seen throwing stones at Palestinian cars in downtown.
Israeli settlers invade Palestinian village of Tuba
Blood from sheep killed by Israeli settlers in Al-Tuba Sunday night
Israeli settlers invaded the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills late Sunday night, 15 May. They damaged property and killed and stole livestock belonging to the Ali Awad family. Palestinians of Tuba reported that they counted seven masked settlers, who entered and left the village on foot, and saw two cars at the outskirts of Tuba, near the chicken barns of Ma'on settlement.
damage to tents that was slashed by settler
The rampaging settlers stole seven sheep, killed two, and injured others, including one which lost an eye. In addition, the settlers upended three water tanks, which held a total of 4.5 cubic meters of water. They destroyed fences, punctured a storage tent and three large sacks of yogurt, damaged a goat pen and destroyed the ventilation pipe of an outhouse. They also set loose a donkey, which later returned.
outhouse ventilation damaged by settlers
A Tuba resident called Christian Peacemaker Teams about midnight Sunday to report the settler invasion and request help in urging the Israeli police to respond. The police refused to go to the village because no one there could speak to them in Hebrew. Two Israeli soldiers arrived in Tuba on Monday morning, but did not speak Arabic and so could not communicate with the villagers.
The Ali Awad family is considering making a complaint to the Israeli police, despite the fact that all their previous complaints about settler attacks, vandalism or harassment have not yet resulted in any indictments or compensation.
water storage tanks overturned and damaged
On 21 March 2011, a masked settler from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on stabbed Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad as the Palestinian traveled by donkey from Tuba to the city of Yatta. Mahmoud Ali Awad spent a week in the hospital recovering from stab wounds on his chest and arm.
Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.
According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61255
16 mei 2011
Jewish settlers throw firebombs into Palestinian home
Armed Jewish settlers tossed a number of Molotov cocktails into the house of a Palestinian citizen in the Old City of Al-Khalil on Sunday night after encircling it.
The owner, Jamal Su'ifan, said that tens of settlers besieged his home and threw the firebombs into it, starting fire and burning part of the house, which was sheltering 20 individuals.
He said that Israeli soldiers were escorting the settlers, noting that two members of the Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH) team in Al-Khalil arrived to his home to check the incident but were also surrounded by those settlers.
Su'ifan home is only a few meters away from the Kiryat Arba settlement, which was established on Palestinian land east of Al-Khalil. Settlers in Arba routinely attack nearby Palestinian homes in a bid to terrorize their inhabitants away and take control of them.
Jewish settlers throw firebombs into Palestinian home
Armed Jewish settlers tossed a number of Molotov cocktails into the house of a Palestinian citizen in the Old City of Al-Khalil on Sunday night after encircling it.
The owner, Jamal Su'ifan, said that tens of settlers besieged his home and threw the firebombs into it, starting fire and burning part of the house, which was sheltering 20 individuals.
He said that Israeli soldiers were escorting the settlers, noting that two members of the Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH) team in Al-Khalil arrived to his home to check the incident but were also surrounded by those settlers.
Su'ifan home is only a few meters away from the Kiryat Arba settlement, which was established on Palestinian land east of Al-Khalil. Settlers in Arba routinely attack nearby Palestinian homes in a bid to terrorize their inhabitants away and take control of them.
