14 sept 2011
Settlers assault workers and hit a boy with car in the West Bank
Israeli settlers from the settlement of Itamar, near the West Bank city of Nablus assaulted three Palestinian workers Wednesday morning.
The workers are from the town of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem and suffered moderate wounds and bruises in different parts of their bodies. The settlers also set fire to their car before the left them in the street.
In Hebron, a Palestinian boy suffered moderate wounds when hit by a settler car near in the city. The boy was moved to the hospital for medical treatment.
Ghassan Doghlus, an expert on the wall and settlement issues said that 275 violations by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians were recorded in the north of the West Bank since the beginning of 2011.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62018
Israeli car strikes Hebron boy
A seven-year-old boy was injured Wednesday after an Israeli-plated car struck him in Hebron.
Medics said Ahmad Shukry Jaber, 7, was taken to the Hebron hospital where he was said to be in a good condition.
Several hundred Israeli settlers live in the heart of the southern West Bank city, which Israel's army occupied in 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420219
Itamar Settlers Attack Palestinians on West Bank Road
Jewish settlers from Itamar settlement, southeast of Nablus, attacked early Wednesday Palestinians commuting on a West Bank road near the settlement, setting the car on fire and beating its three passengers, according to Palestinian security sources.
They said that the car was on its way from Nablus to Bethlehem when settlers attacked it inflicting serious damage to the car and harm to the Beit Fajjar, Bethlehem area, residents.
The three were taken to hospital for treatment and reported in moderate condition.
Jewish settlers had escalated their attacks on Palestinians and property in the last few months in what they refer to as “price tag” revenge acts against Palestinians.
An Israeli military court sentenced on Tuesday a Palestinian teenager to five life sentences after it found him guilty of killing a family of settlers from Itamar earlier in the year.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17345
PA: Settlers attack 2 Palestinians in Nablus
Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinians on Tuesday evening in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said.
PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement attacked Iyad Sanakreh and Salah Sanakrah, from Balata refugee camp.
They were taken to Rafedia Hospital with serious injuries, Doughlas said.
The Nablus district has been particularly affected by a recent surge in settler attacks.
In September, settlers in Nablus have vandalized two mosques and an Israeli army base, uprooted olive trees and set fire to cars.
In Qusra, south of Nablus, young men have formed a committee to guard the entrances to the village after settlers torched a mosque and sprayed graffiti on the walls insulting the prophet Muhammad.
Head of the village local council Hani Ismail told Ma’an that local youths volunteered to join the committee which was requested by the governor of Nablus, Jibreel Al-Bakri. Ismail says the council provides the guards with logistics, food, and means of communication.
Ismail said local guards stopped armed settlers from attacking the village on Tuesday from the south, the same route they used when attacking the mosque. The guards, he said, chased the settlers who fled the scene.
Meanwhile, news reports said two weeks ago that Israeli forces were arming settlers with tear-gas canisters, stun grenades and even trained dogs to counter potential attacks by the Palestinians.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419968
13 sept 2011
PA's UN bid may lead to ICC action against settlers
ACRI warns that successful Palestinian bid in UN will subject settlements to international criminal code, allow lawsuits against settlers.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) warned Tuesday that should the Palestinian Authority's statehood bid in the United Nations prove successful, West Bank settlers may find themselves facing criminal charges before the International Crimes Court.
An ACRI position paper on the possible legal ramifications of the PA's UN bid suggests that a General Assembly sanction of the Palestinian appeal with effectively subject West Bank settlements, and therefore settlers, to international criminal law and penal code.
As such, settlers would be exposed to individual criminal lawsuits in The Hague.
The position paper, which according to Yedioth Ahronoth was sent to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, also argues that the Palestinians' unilateral move constitutes a breach of the Oslo Accords, and could lead to rendering them null and void.
The ACRI's paper added that a successful UN bid will also expose the Palestinian Authority to legal action in the ICC and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying that once the PA is allowed to join the UN's various human rights bodies, Ramallah would be exposed to human rights violations' lawsuits in all international bodies.
The Israeli rights group further said that ICC and ICJ action against the PA could be taken in cases of rocket fire on civilian population, as well as in the case of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Settler Rally Closes West Bank Road; Cars Pelted with Stones
The Ma’an News Agency are reporting that hundreds of settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, near Nablus held a rally, Monday night, leading to the closure of a West Bank road.
Witnesses reported to the agency, that the settlers pelted Palestinian cars with stones and chanted slogans against Palestinians and other Arabs.
This latest attack follows an escalation in tension in the Nablus area this September.
Following the demolition of a settler outpost of Migron, that had not been sanctioned by the Israeli government, settlers carried out reprisal attacks, known as ‘price-tag’ attacks, committing arson at a mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, and vandalized an Israeli military base in the area.
Furthermore, reference was made to Migron when unknown perpetrators vandalized the exterior of a Peace Now activist’s apartment, writing "Price Tag Migron", "Migron forever, suppression of traitors" and "Peace Now, the end is near".
http://www.imemc.org/article/62010
Rabbi to Bethlehem: Satan Does Not Want a Palestinian State
by Brendan Work
It begins like a joke and ends like a prayer: a rabbi walks into a Palestinian city and shouts, “Allahu akbar!” The rabbi is settler leader Menachem Froman, the city is Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, and in his Monday evening speech at the Peace Center outside the Church of the Nativity, Froman charismatically reiterated his support for a Palestinian state.
“We know the road is long and hard and there are many obstacles left, but God is great. Allahu akbar,” Froman declared, bypassing his translator for the last comment. “Satan and his ilk do not want a Palestinian state! Satan and his ilk do not want a free and peaceful Palestine!”
The 66-year-old rabbi co-founded the Gush Emunim settler movement in 1974 and today works as the chief rabbi in the illegal settlement of Tekoa, about seven kilometers from Bethlehem. His history of cooperation with Palestinians is both extremely rare among Israeli settlers and well-documented, with Froman drafting an unofficial ceasefire with Hamas in February 2008.
Froman’s remarks drew applause from the crowd of about a hundred Bethlehemites, as well as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Hussein and Archbishop of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church Atallah Hanna.
“In recent months we in Israeli society have followed the movements toward the creation of free and democratic states surrounding us—in Yemen, in Tunisia, in Libya, in Egypt, in Syria,” said Froman. “The Arab world is rising. We pray that there will be an independent and democratic Palestinian state, a state that will be good to all those who live in it, protecting their needs and well-being.”
Rabbi Froman originally pledged support for the statehood bid to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 31. He recently met with Land of Peace, a new settler group that describes itself as a “social movement…made up of the sons of Abraham” and devoted to dialogue between Arabs and Jews in the West Bank.
Froman’s speech was preceded by remarks by Atallah Hanna, who confirmed his support and that of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church for the Palestinian UN bid, but made sure to clarify the kind of state he wished to see emerge.
“If we get a state ruled by apartheid, we will not accept that state,” said Hanna. “We will accept nothing but a civil and democratic Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its recognized capital. We will accept nothing but self-determination for the Palestinian people and return for Palestinian refugees to their homes. I believe the right of return is of no less importance than our right to a state or our right to Jerusalem.”
There is now widespread concern among Palestinian intellectuals that the statehood bid may replace the PLO at the UN with a State of Palestine, which as a result of its territorial claims to only the lands occupied after 1967 might not be able to legally represent all Palestinians, including the five million refugees worldwide.
PA Minister of Local Affairs Ziad al-Bandak confirmed the statehood proposal would be put before the General Assembly on September 21. If Palestine is admitted as a member or observer state to the Assembly within the boundaries of June 4, 1967, the half-million Jewish settlers living within the West Bank could constitute a war crime that Palestinians would prosecute at the International Criminal Court. At least one of those settlers, however, Froman showed he was not concerned.
As the crowd murmured about his “Allahu akbar” remark, he threw up his hands and shouted, “Peace is great!”
http://jerusalempeacemakers.org
Israeli Military Demolishes Home in Beit Ummar; Settlers Destroy Vine Crop
The Israeli military has, on Tuesday, demolished a partially constructed house in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar, near Hebron.
Despite having obtained a building permit, the house, owned by the Ikhlayyil family, was demolished following the Israeli military ordering a halt on construction 16 years ago.
Furthermore, a steel structure used to store cars was demolished. This structure was owned by another resident of Beit Ummar.
These demolitions come just days after the detention of three young men from the town in a pre-dawn raid, Sunday morning.
Also, the Palestine Solidarity Project is reporting that Mahmoud Ahmad Coql of Beit Ummar had his grape vines destroyed in an attack believed to be perpetrated by settlers from nearby Karmei Tsur.
The attack destroyed crops covering 2 square kilometers of land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62009
Village forms night watch to prevent 'Price Tag' attacks
Palestinian village where mosque was torched forms group to patrol the town at night in search of settlers.
In the wake of a wave of "price tag" acts that have been targeting Palestinian villages over the past two weeks, a local authority has decided to stand up to the vandals by forming a neighborhood watch.
Last week, unidentified assailants attempted to set fire to a mosque in the Palestinian village of Kusra, and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on its walls. The incident is said to have been perpetrated in response to the Civil Administration's demolition of illegal structures in the nearby Jewish outpost of Migron.
"After the mosque was vandalized, we decided to put together a group of 15-20 residents who will patrol at night and alert (the authorities) if settlers infiltrate the village in order to damage homes or public buildings," Mayor Hani Ismail told Ynet.
According to Ismail, the patrolmen are not armed.
"We are not taking the law into our hands," he said. "The popular committee doesn't carry weapons, and it was instructed to report any suspicious activity to the town's councilmen, who are to relay the information to the Nablus governor's office."
The Nablus governor, in turn, is to alert the PA's Coordination and Liaison Administration, which will request its Israeli counterpart to dispatch troops, Ismail said.
Ismail noted that the night watch has already proved successful in deterring "price tag" activity.
"Last night at 11 pm, the patrolmen identified a group of settlers that tried to enter the village. They alerted us, and when the settlers realized they were exposed, they immediately ran away," he said.
A Palestinian official in the Nablus district expressed satisfaction at the new protection measure. "It's the residents' natural response to the attacks against them," he told Ynet. "It's time for the IDF to realize that if it doesn’t protect the residents, they will form a group that does."
Locals repel fresh settler attack in Qusra
Locals in recently targeted Qusra village, south of Nablus, managed to repel a Jewish settler attack on the Monday night.
The youths managed to repel a planned attack and chase down the assailants upon trying to enter the village from the south using the shadows of houses, said Hani Abu Reida, head of the village’s local council.
The civilian defense mission was operating in the framework of popular committee organized by the Qusra municipality after settlers set fire to the village’s main mosque Al-Nourein last week, Abu Reida said, adding that the municipality supplied them with food, drink, and means of communication.
Abu Reida called on other village councils where settler attacks are frequent to form similar councils in an effort to maintain security of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Witnesses: Settler mob attacks Palestinian vehicles near Nablus
Hundreds of settlers rallied at a main road near the illegal settlement of Yitzhar in Nablus on Monday night, closing the road and pelting Palestinian vehicles with stones, witnesses said.
Ultra-orthodox settlers also chanted slogans against Arabs and Palestinians, according to witnesses.
There has been as escalation in settler attacks over the past few weeks, with the Nablus district particularly affected by the violence.
On Sept. 5, settlers broke into a mosque south of Nablus, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David was sprayed on the building.
On Sept. 7, settlers then vandalized an Israeli army base in the first reported case of "price tag" attacks carried out against Israeli forces, the army said.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said after the mosque attack that the recent escalation in settler violence was an attempt to thwart the bid to join the UN in September.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419682
Elad double tunnel officially openeded in Wadi Hilweh under huge military protection
As part of its City of David project, Elad settler association has dug two major tunnels underneath the Silwan region, compromising the structural integrity of the buildings above-ground and endangering the lives of residents as a result.
The first tunnel stretches underneath Silwan from Wadi Hilweh to al-Ein Mosque and the Orthodox Church. The second burrows under the ground beneath the Old City’s Dung Gate to al-Aqsa Mosque.
Elad has attempted to prevent the media from investigating and publicising the extent of their tunnelling. One reporter to date has managed to gain entry and photograph the tunnels, however.
Elad retains exclusive control over the entirety of Silwan’s ruins and historical sites, in addition to many others throughout the Old City and the rest of Jerusalem.
The tunnels, having placed Silwan’s residential buildings under the very real threat of collapse, have been subject of a sustained campaign by Silwan locals and Israeli and international solidarity activists. The campaign targets Elad’s cynical exploitation of the Old Testament tale of King David, in claiming, without base, that the ruins of his fabled city lies under Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan.
Many activists involved in the campaign have been targeted by Israeli settlers in Silwan, who have on occasion assaulted protesters within a crowd. Settlers are supported by a strong Israeli military presence and intelligence units.
Ahmed, a resident of Wadi Hilweh, told Silwanic that “it is a total fabrication, to claim that the City of David lies here. It is a political act, to refer to our historic neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh as the “City of David” – as if to disregard the innately Palestinian identity of the area. The land on which the City of David architectural site has been constructed is stolen land, made possible by the discriminatory Absentee Property Law that allows the Israeli government to reappropriate land it deems without an owner.”
Elad’s long and twisted history in Silwan dates back to the 1980s, when its head David Berry, acting as a tour guide, ingratiated himself to members of the community. Abusing residents’ trust from the beginning, Berry gathered evidence regarding multiple Palestinian-owned properties, resulting in their reacquisition by the State and Elad.
Elad, working together with settler group Kuhaneem Atairet, command a private militia of armed settler guards in Silwan, funded by the Israeli Ministry of Housing. One member of the Elad “security” squad was responsible for the murder local resident Samer Sarhan in 2010, while another guard has been implicated in the murder of Rami Ayyad, 17, near illegal settlement Beit Yonatan in Bir Ayyub district.
Settler security squads represent a very specific threat to the Palestinian community of Silwan, in that they do not answer directly to the State (as do police and military) but act with impunity and are authorised to use their weapons at any time deemed necessary, as evidenced by the numerous injuries caused by their use of live ammunition on residents.
Settler security commonly fire on both journalists and Palestinian protesters during demonstrations or clashes in Silwan, using live ammunition. Elad has targeted several local activists, attempting to force their leave from the neighborhood thus facilitating Israeli forces’ campaigns of arrest.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20049
The tunnel-settlement labyrinth
The authority wielded by Elad settler association impacts increasingly on the lives of Palestinian residents of Silwan and other districts of East Jerusalem. Some residents have likened Elad to a “kingdom within a state”, given its labyrinthine network of control over infrastructure and funds in Jerusalem. The jewel in Elad’s crown is the exclusive power it holds over Silwan’s historical sites, the chief earner in the mammoth revenue it gains in Jerusalem. Elad’s privately-hired, publicly-funded settler security militia command a conspicuous presence on the streets of Silwan, where they are engaged in continual violent harassment and provocation of Palestinian residents.
Waleed, a resident of Silwan, states that “Elad reaps its revenue from stolen Palestinian land, largely through the Absentee Property Law. Palestinian residents experience no benefit whatsoever from the tourist industry in our neighborhood, while Elad extends its reach of control over ever more land. This occurs with the full cooperation of the Jerusalem Municipality and Israeli ministries, who act like Elad’s puppet, serving its every need.”
Elad has officially opened two tunnels underneath Silwan as part of the City of David archaeological settlement site, one burrowing towards Mount al-Mukaber in south Silwan and one in the north east of the village. Elad is also active in the Mount of Olives region, to which the tunnels are currently being extended by round-the-clock labor. The extension of the tunnels ensure the expansion of Elad’s control over the region.
Tourists who visit the City of David visitors centre, constructed on the historical lands of Wadi Hilweh, learn nothing about the realities of Silwan: they are presented with a fabricated image of the region’s past and present.
http://silwanic.net/?p=20041
Turning Tables: 'Israel illegal occupier if Palestine recognized'
The Israeli Defence Force is reportedly preparing settlers for the mass uprising of Palestinians, expected after the UN votes on a Palestinian statehood in September. The preparations include handing out tear gas and stun grenades to civilians.
Military resistance to Palestinians will only bring international sanctions on Israel after Palestine is recognised in September's vote. That's the view of Jeff Halper, a political activist and co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
Israelis stock up on stun grenades to 'welcome' Palestine state
The Israeli Defence Force is reportedly preparing settlers for the mass uprising of Palestinians, expected after the UN votes on a Palestinian statehood in September. The preparations include handing out tear gas and stun grenades to civilians. RT's Paula Slier has more on how Israelis are bracing themselves for what they see as imminent unrest.
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12 sept 2011
Israeli Settlers Deface The Home Of An Israeli Left-wing Activist
Israeli settlers defaced the home of an Israeli left-wing activist with graffiti proclaiming “death to the traitors” and “price tag Migron” on Monday, Israeli sources reported.
The activist, who refused to publish her name told Israeli media that she believes this is an act to make her and other left-wing activists scared.
Settlers have stepped up retaliatory attacks after the government removed three settler structures form Migron unauthorized outpost near Ramallah, last week. Palestinians have been the main victims of these acts, and apparently, left-wing Israelis are joining them.
"We know there is someone who is making sure we are scared," she said. "I'm sure the police will handle this and I'm sure it will find those responsible."
On their part the Peace Now movement said this incident is a serious one that requires emergency steps.
The movement, who is know of their opposition to the presence of most of the settlements in the West Bank, believes such groups are supported by some Knesset members.
"This is a serious incident that requires emergency steps against what seems like a new Jewish underground. The atmosphere of hate… is seeping from elements in the Knesset deep into Israeli society."
http://www.imemc.org/article/62006
Israeli Settlers Burn Protest Tent In Jerusalem
Israeli settlers, who forcefully occupied part of the house of Rifka al-Kurd in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, burned the protest tent setup in the backyard of the house.
Mrs. al-Kurd reported that her son noticed noise near the house after midnight and confirmed that the settlers set the tent on fire. Neighboring youth managed to put the fire out, but all the contents of the tent where charred.
Settlers have stepped up retaliatory attacks after the government removed three settler structures from the unauthorised outpost of Migron, near Ramallah, last week.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62005
Settlers set fire to tent of woman seeking property reclamation
Jewish settlers set fire Monday to the tent of an old Palestinian woman whose property they usurped in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah district.
The woman Rifqa al-Kurd was camping out there to protest the fact that the Jews who settled there had acquired the land illegally from her family’s assets.
Kurd said her son woke up when he heard rapid sounds on the property at 2:30am and found that fire had been ignited on the tent they were using to sit in.
She added that all of the tent’s contents as well as a camera she set up on the outside had been burned.
She went on to say that youths rushed to call emergency services, which managed to extinguish the flames.
The settlers who occupied part of her property had cut power from the neighborhood and damaged the camera before the arson, said Kurd.
Locals said the number of attacks on the Kurds as well as other Palestinian families whose property was usurped by force of arms have seen a sharp rise recently. They said the settlers seek to rid the entire region of its Palestinian population with sights set on establishing a massive settler community and completely Judaizing the area.
Also on Monday, Jewish settlers set fire to two cars owned by Palestinians, inflicted significant damage on the contents of a home, and uprooted dozens of grapevines in a number of separate attacks that took place on Monday morning against Palestinian localities near Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Sources said that settlers armed with machine guns and clubs attacked the home of a Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, early Monday morning and burnt two cars after raiding the residence, causing damage and assaulting residents.
In Halhul, just north of Al-Khalil in southern West Bank, Israeli settlers uprooted some 176 four-year-old grapevines in a terror attack on a Palestinian farm.
Settlers Burn Protest Tent in Sheikh Jarrah
by Maysa Abu-Ghazaleh
Sheikh Jarrah resident Rifqa al-Kurd accused settlers of setting fire to a protest tent in her yard at dawn on Monday.
According to al-Kurd, her son Nabil woke to sounds in the yard of the house at around 2:30 a.m. He went outside to find the tent and all of its contents burnt, including a camera placed nearby.
Al-Kurd said her son rushed to call the firemen, who put out the fire and investigated the incident. She said local Israeli settlers, who occupied a part of their house, turned off the electricity for the entire neighborhood before setting the fire and damaging the camera on the protest tent.
There were no further details.
Islamic-Christian Front: Israel to blame over West Bank settler attacks
Hassan Khatir, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Front in Jerusalem, accused Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories of organizing a long running campaign of terror against Palestinian natives, assigning blame to the Jewish rabbis and criticizing the Muslims over their silence.
In the past week, Jewish settlers in the West Bank set fire to a mosque in Qusra village near Nablus and sprayed graffiti slogans defaming the Prophet Muhammad and calling for death to Arabs on a wall in Birzeit University, near Ramallah, as well as on a mosque in a nearby town.
In an interview with Al-Quds Satellite Channel on Sunday, Khatir held Jewish rabbis fully responsible for the acts of aggression, saying that those rabbis issued religious opinions warranting the attack of Jewish settlers on Palestinians, their property and holy sites in the West Bank.
He added that the ban on such religious edicts by the Israeli occupation authorities was only formal, saying that Israel is trying to create an environment conducive to extremism in order to establish a state of extremists that can counter a future Palestinian state.
Khatir also spoke about the Arab and Muslim response to the recent string of settler attacks, saying: “Where is the Muslim nation? This nation does not move or show any position against the attacks. Al-Aqsa Mosque is violated every day.” He asserted that Israel would never have dared to take such measures should the Muslims have taken a firm stance.
Khatir directed a message at the world, saying all of the mosques in the occupied Palestinian territories are at risk, calling on the international community to take steps to protect the holy sites and stop Jewish extremism.
Jewish settlers cut off Palestinian grapevines
Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian grapevines in Halhul village, north of Al-Khalil, and cut off dozens of them on Monday, local sources said.
They said that the settlers cut off 128 grapevines owned by Ahmed Akel in Wadi Al-Amir area in the village.
Jewish settlers attack Palestinian workers, Israeli forces arrest minor in OJ
Jewish settlers sprayed a number of Palestinian workers in occupied Jerusalem's Deir Yassin suburb with tear gas on Sunday, local sources reported.
They said that four Palestinians, working for the Jerusalem municipality, were hospitalized in minor condition after the incident.
Palestinian workers in the holy city are routinely targeted by fanatic Jewish settlers.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian minor was nabbed by Israeli security forces at a roadblock south of Jerusalem on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses said that the 16-year-old boy was handcuffed and taken in a military vehicle.
Sikrikim Sickos Vandalize Manny’s Seforim Store in Yerushalayim
A bookstore in Yerushalayim is struggling against a wave of attacks by a group called Sikrikim that other business-owners have called the “mafia of Mea She’arim.”
The group is comprised of people who claim to be chareidi. Their behavior is reprehensible. They are not chareidi and should not be associated with Torah-observant Jews.
Since the bookstore, known as Or Hachaim/Manny’s, opened in March 2010, men have smashed its windows several times, glued its locks shut, thrown tar and fish oil, and dumped bags of human excrement inside.
The bookstore is popular with Anglo residents and tourists and carries many English-language books and Judaica items in addition to Hebrew books. The harassment stems from the bookstore’s refusal to accept demands made by the extremist non-chareidi, anti-Torah group, which would require all businesses to observe specific “modesty standards.”
At Or Hachaim, the Sikrikim’s demands include putting up a sign asking customers to dress modestly, removing all English-language books, signs and advertisements, and closing its website, which is in English, all so as not to attract tourists, who are not dressed modestly, said Marlene Samuels, one of the three managers of the bookstore, along with her husband, Manny, and Meir Dombey. Manny Samuels previously ran Manny’s Bookstore, which was well-known in the Anglo community.
“These people are very extreme; they terrorize lots of people here, and they are a very insular group,” Marlene Samuels said. She added that despite filing four complaints with the police and providing surveillance footage that clearly identified four of the men who have been vandalizing their shop, the police has not gotten involved.
“In the last few weeks, the police said they just don’t want to get involved in this neighborhood,” she said.
Yerushalayim police said they had only received one report of a violent incident from the bookstore that was filed on Sunday. Deputy police spokeswoman Shlomit Bajshi said that an investigation was opened into the incident but thus far there are no suspects.
She added the police had no other complaints filed about vandalism in the neighborhood attributed to the Sikrikim.
Bajshi denied the allegation by business-owners in the area that the police did not want to get involved in incidents in the area because of the threat of violence to policemen or widespread rioting.
“We get involved with every incident that people report to us,” she said.
The same group of Sikrikim has also targeted an ice cream store in the Geula neighborhood because they thought licking ice cream cones in public was immodest, Samuels said.
Most businesses along the street display a laminated sign on their doorways requesting that only modestly dressed customers enter their stores, one of the demands by the Sikrikim.
“They asked me to put it up, so I did,” said Shlomo, the owner of a nearby bookstore.
“I don’t look for problems, if I hadn’t put it up there could have been problems.”
The Feldheim Superstore, a large establishment near Or Hachaim that also has large English-language signs outside and many English books, said it negotiated an agreement with a member of the Sikrikim soon after opening a year ago. “We sat and talked with him, and there were a few books they had problems with from specific rabbis,” said an employee who requested anonymity. The store also displays the modesty sign at the entrance. “We came to an agreement, we respect them and they respect us,” he said.
Last Wednesday, the owners of Or Hachaim sat down with Sikrikim representatives to hear their demands, but decided not to accept them.
Two days later, on Friday afternoon 10 minutes before Shabbos, someone smashed all of the windows, sending the managers scrambling to find someone to guard the store over Shabbos.
Samuels said she knew of one storeowner in the area who had trouble with vandalism from Sikrikim in the past and hired someone to beat up the man who had been vandalizing the store, ending the problems. She said that she did not believe she and her partners would resort to this type of vigilante justice, but that they were increasingly discouraged by the inaction of the police.
The Sikrikim are a most extremist splinter sect and are estimated to be no larger than 60-100 people, but their thug tactics reverberate throughout the neighborhood.
“They attack charedim in their own neighborhood,” said David Rotenberg, an employee at Or Hachaim.
The name “Sikrikim” comes from the Latin “Sicarii,” a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Yerushalayim in 70 CE, to an extremist splinter group of the zealots who tried to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers.
also see
11 sept 2011
Salfit farmers say settlers unleashed pigs on their land
Farmers say Israeli settlers unleashed pigs overnight Saturday to destroy their land in Salfit in the northern West Bank.
Farmers told Ma'an that the pigs destroyed a fence and broke branches of fig trees. They said they were afraid to remain on their land and appealed for help to protect their property.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419109
9 sept 2011
Activist: Settlers vandalize family tent
Settlers vandalized a family tent in a village south of Hebron at dawn on Friday, a human rights worker said. No one was seriously injured.
Naser Nawaja, a field researcher at B'Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said the settlers burned the tent while a man was inside. He was taken to a hospital in Yatta to be treated for shock.
The man's wife and children were not inside the tent, Nawaja said.
The latest attacks come amid an escalation in settler violence over the past week. On Monday, settlers torched a mosque in the village of Qusra, which is located near the villages of Qabalan and Yatma.
Earlier this week a faculty member and a student of Bethlehem University came under separate, violent attacks by settlers who threw rocks as they drove in the West Bank, the university said.
Adwan Adwan, a faculty member in the Arabic dept., suffered injuries to his face and upper body, the university said in a statement. "I felt lucky to escape with my life," he was quoted as saying.
On the same road, the statement said, Yara Odeh, a masters student, escaped from her car through the passenger door and ran toward nearby Israeli soldiers, calling for help.
She reports being refused help and being told to return to her car: "The settlers seemed not so much interested in damaging the car as they were in harming me," she was quoted as saying.
The university's vice president Michael Sansur said the campus' administration was extremely disturbed by these attacks on members of the academic community: "These violent and aggressive attacks on our students and faculty from Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories are horrifying and unjust."
"We are grateful for the well-being of Dr Adwan and Yara in surviving these traumatic events and pledge to continue in our efforts to prepare our graduates to take their place as ethical leaders in fostering shared values, moral principles and dedication to serving the common good."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418779
8 sept 2011
Soldiers, Settlers Attack Nablus
Israeli soldiers invaded on Thursday morning the city of Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, and demolished three wells while army bulldozers uprooted farmlands in the Nablus district. Armed Israeli settler also wrote graffiti on a local mosque.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that the army is conducting several invasions in the West Bank, especially in Nablus.
He told the Quds Net online daily that this campaign is taking place while the settlers attacked several villages and towns near Nablus, and wrote racist graffiti on the walls of a mosque in Yitma village.
Also, soldiers demolished three wells in An-Nassariyya area in Nablus, and bulldozed dozens of Dunams of farmlands.
The settlers also torched two Palestinian cars that were parked at the main entrance of Qablan town, near Nablus, and uprooted dozens of trees in Huwwara town.
On September 5, a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in Qasra village, near Nablus, and torched it after destroying its property and writing anti-Arab slogans on its walls.
Earlier in June this year, settlers of the Alei Ayin illegal outpost torched a mosque in Al-Mughayyir village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, after burning tires and throwing them in the mosque causing serious damages.
Last year, the settlers burnt several copies of the Quran while desecrating two mosques near Bethlehem and Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61976
British minister condemns arson attack on West Bank mosque
British minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt condemned Wednesday an arson attack by settlers on a mosque near Nablus.
“I deplore the senseless arson attack on a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra on 5 September. I note that the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel have also condemned this vindictive act of vandalism," he said.
"This attack on a place of worship is despicable, and deliberately provocative. I welcome the stated determination of the Israeli authorities to pursue the criminals responsible, and I commend the restraint shown by the people of Qusra.”
Settlers burn cars, vandalize mosque in Nablus area
Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees, set fire to cars and vandalized a mosque in the Nablus area on Thursday, officials said.
Palestinian official Ghassan Douglas told Ma'an that two cars were set alight in the village of Qabalan, south of Nablus.
Settlers also vandalized a mosque in Yatma village south of Nablus, spraying anti Muslim and anti Arab slogans on the walls, witnesses said.
Over 35 olive trees were also uprooted by settlers in the village of Huwwara, near the illegal settlement of Yitzhar.
The latest attacks come amid an escalation in settler violence over the past week. On Monday, settlers torched a mosque in the village of Qusra, which is located near the villages of Qabalan and Yatma.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building.
On Wednesday, Israeli settlers then vandalized an Israeli army base in the first reported case of 'price tag' attacks carried out against Israeli forces, the army said.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said Monday that the recent escalation in settler violence is an attempt to thwart the Palestinian bid for UN recognition in September.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418524
Israel's right-wing prepares for UN recognition of Palestinian state
Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) blasts IDF top brass for siding with Palestinians rather than the government.
Right-wing activists, settlement leaders and Knesset members convened on Wednesday to discuss how to deal with expected confrontations with Palestinian demonstrators should the United Nations General Assembly recognize a Palestinian state later this month.
Yoni Yosef, spokesman for Jewish settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, suggested invoking the "Dromi Law," which permits home owners to kill intruders and could be used to shoot Palestinians attempting to approach Jewish homes in the neighborhood.
Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud ) blasted Israel Defense Forces preparations for defending the settlements, saying: "The top brass turned into the main lobbyist for the Palestinian Authority against the political leadership, which is responsible for the senior commanders' adoption of the two-state concept."
Elkin criticized what he called the IDF's preference for giving PA security forces responsibility for dealing with incidents affecting the Palestinians.
Yaakov Katz (National Union ) called on his colleagues to organize marches of thousands of right-wing activists toward Palestinian cities in response to the marches on Jewish communities being discussed by Palestinians. He said he suspected the IDF will not ready an appropriate response to Palestinian marches but would deploy large forces if it feared countermarches by the right.
Katz proposed arranging for marches in a few strategic locations, such as from Kiryat Arba to Hebron, from Beit El to Ramallah and from Elon Moreh, Itamar and Yitzhar to Nablus, and announcing that the moment Palestinians marchers set out from Nablus, for example, a right-wing march would set out in the direction of Nablus. If such an announcement is made, Katz suggested, "then maybe there's a chance the army will prepare, in order to keep the Jews from reaching" Palestinian cities.
Fanatics, let’s separate
Religious Zionist Einat Barzilay says time has come to separate from radical settlers.
In recent days I found two words to hate – price tag. Once upon a time it used to be in the fashion context and pertained to expensive blouses I could never afford, yet now it’s much more painful, because the despicable term is linked to kippas and biblical excerpts, the materials comprising my faith.
I too squirmed when I saw the demolition of the homes in Migron, even though in my view it would have been better not to build there illegally to begin with, as not to face such painful situations later on. Yet nonetheless, the people of Migron are my brothers.
However, the ugly acts we woke up to the next morning, in the form of mosque vandalism and breaking into IDF bases, infuriated me, prompted a deep sense of withdrawal and suffocated any automatic sense of affinity. I find nothing Jewish in vandalizing the holy sites of other religions and I find no political benefit in attacking IDF soldiers or in dubbing commanders as “Nazis” and resorting to any other threats.
My sentiments can also be found in the Torah, which never asserted that the duty to settle the land is above any other mitzvah (Rabbi Menachem Froman noted that the decree to protect converts and foreigners living in our midst appears in the Torah many more times than “Love thy friend as thyself.”) Psychologically speaking, those who resort to violence provoke violence against themselves; those who resort to hatred create a chain-reaction of hatred.
Does the presence in Migron justify the trampling of any humane and humanitarian value?
Time to end the relationship
I’m well aware of the trampling of rights of Migron residents, and I’m also familiar with the discourse of hatred for the settlers that blame them for any negative phenomenon. I despise the people who fan the flames of this discourse; they are spiritual dwarfs and for that reason they need this discourse to present their political arguments, which are often justified. Yet now came the price tag people and positioned themselves at the same level as the haters and inciters, granting them the justification for their hatred on a silver platter.
Here, there is no room for condemnations in press releases anymore. Now, we need to take action. Just like in our personal lives, where frustration overcomes the promise inherent in a relationship, the time has come to part ways. The time has come to tell the price tag people, let’s end it. We shall not be a part of you.
The fact that you and I keep the Shabbat, eat kosher and take pleasure in the Torah is no longer sufficient in order to live in the same ideological home. Perhaps we better use different names on the door too. We’ll be called “Religious Zionism” and you’ll be called “Fanatics.”
Our women shall cover their heads, while your women shall put on a burqa. We shall adopt the moderation of Beit Hillel, while you adopt Beit Shamai. We’ll take Rabbi Yehuda Halevi while you take Rabbi Dov Lior. Let’s separate.
Settlers vandalize military base in first 'price tag' attack against IDF
Graffiti reading "price tag"
Attack on Israeli army prompts Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino to set up a special investigative task force to deal solely with "price tag' attacks.
Settlers for the first time targeted an Israel Defense Forces base in a "price tag" operation Wednesday, vandalizing vehicles and spray painting slogans denouncing the army's actions. Until now, such attacks, meant to "exact a price" for the demolition of buildings in settlements and outposts, have exclusively targeted Palestinians.
Unknown parties penetrated the headquarters of the Benjamin Brigade, located near the settlement of Beit El, and vandalized 13 vehicles by puncturing their tires and cutting internal cables. The vandals also spray-painted slogans on the wall denouncing the army's demolition of houses in the Migron outpost on Monday.
Some of the slogans termed the brigade's commander, Col. Saar Tzur, "bad for the Jews." Tzur commanded the Migron demolitions.
The police, Military Police and Shin Bet security service are all investigating. There are no signs that the base was broken into.
IDF sources termed the incident "extremely grave," noting that it was unprecedented. While there have been violent confrontations between settlers and soldiers during demolitions, this is the first time army property has been vandalized with malice rather than in the heat of the moment.
The incident was particularly troubling to senior IDF officers because the base is closed and guarded. That means either a soldier or civilian working at the base let the vandals in, or they managed to break through the fence surrounding the base without being detected, which would indicate a lapse in security. The former possibility is especially worrying because IDF bases in the West Bank rely heavily on local civilians to provide basic services.
However, that is also the possibility the Military Police currently consider most likely, given that there were no signs of a break-in. While detectives did discover a hole in the fence, it is an old one that has been there for some time.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, speaking at a graduation ceremony for army sappers, said "the vandalism was perpetrated by a gang of lawbreakers, an extremist, irresponsible minority. All of us - officers and soldiers, civilians from every part of the [political] spectrum - must remember and remind others that the IDF is not the enemy. We all recognize that the IDF is a defensive force that operates under the law."
GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi, who in the past has deemed "price tag" operations "terror," vowed to catch the perpetrators and put them on trial.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak charged that such "acts of vandalism against Israelis and Palestinians" are meant "to cause an escalation at this sensitive time" and said he was sure the perpetrators would be caught quickly.
In fact, the police and the Shin Bet have not managed to catch a single "price tag" vandal in the last two years. While they have arrested many suspects, all have ultimately had to be released. But investigators are optimistic that this case will prove easier, because unlike previous "price tag" operations, which took place in Arab villages, this one occurred in a closed compound with multiple security cameras.
Detectives are also pursuing intelligence leads regarding soldiers with radical right-wing views who are currently serving at the base or have served there recently.
On Wednesday Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino decided to set up a special investigative task force to deal solely with "price tag' attacks, which have proliferated lately. In the two days since the demolitions at Migron, price-tag vandals have torched a mosque, uprooted Palestinian trees and spray-painted slogans in Palestinian villages, in addition to the attack on the army base.
The task force will be a joint venture between the elite Lahav 433 unit and the Shai (Samaria and Judea ) District Police.
7 sept 2011
Hundreds of Jewish settlers storm Nabi Yusuf tomb
Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed Nabi Yusuf tomb to the east of Nablus city at dawn Wednesday under heavy Israeli military protection, local sources reported.
They said that Israeli occupation forces mounting 25 armored vehicles escorted more than 1200 settlers who performed Talmudic rituals at the site.
The tomb is an Islamic shrine for a man called Sheikh Yusuf Dweikat but the Jewish settlers insist that it was the tomb of prophet Joseph and turned it into a Jewish religious center.
Settlers damage Israeli army base in 'price tag' attack
Israeli settlers vandalized an Israeli army base on Wednesday in the first reported case of 'price tag' attacks carried out against Israeli forces, the army said.
"Initial reports indicate that unidentified vandals broke into a military base north of Ramallah and vandalized thirteen vehicles; puncturing tires, shattering the windows," an Israeli army statement said.
The perpetrators sprayed "graffiti against IDF commanders and against dismantling of structures in the Jewish community of Migron earlier this week," the statement said.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that 'price tag' was sprayed across the walls.
Settlers routinely target Palestinians in response to perceived "anti-settler" activity by the Israeli government in a policy they call "price tag" attacks.
The incident marks the first time settlers have carried out a planned act of vandalism against army equipment, Haaretz noted.
GOC of the Israeli Central Command Major General Avi Mizrahi said that the attack was "unacceptable and reprehensible" and said he intended to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Tzipi Livni, opposition leader and Kadima chairwoman said that the incident had crossed a "dangerous red line," Haaretz reported.
Settler violence against Palestinians as part of a 'price tag' policy is common in the West Bank, with perpetrators rarely held accountable by the Israeli legal system.
The most recent case of settler violence took place on Monday in Nablus, as settlers smashed windows and set fire to tires in a mosque in Qusra.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building. "Migron and Eli Ayn are social justice" was also sprayed on the mosque, referring to two illegal outposts demolished by Israeli forces.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418286
Israeli army escorts 1,200 Israelis into Nablus
Dozens of Israeli military jeeps entered the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Tuesday to escort Israelis visiting a holy site in the city, witnesses and the army said.
An Israeli military spokesman said the army was protecting around 1,200 Israelis in a coordinated visit to the site believed to be Joseph's tomb in Nablus.
Visits to the tomb are usually coordinated by the army and Palestinian Authority security forces.
Under the Oslo accords, the city of Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418193
'Price Tag' reaches IDF base
Anonymous vandals damage IDF jeeps, graffiti base walls in Binyamin in what is believed to be 'price tag' for demolition at Migron outpost.
The price tag actions came in response to the demolition of structures in the Migron outpost earlier this week.
Ynet learned Wednesday that anonymous vandals broke into a military base in the Binyamin region, cut the cables of IDF jeeps, damaged vehicle tires and spray painted them with the words "Ramat Migron". At least 11 vehicles were damaged.
The price tag actions came in response to the demolition of structures in the Migron outpost earlier this week.
A military official estimated that it would have been nearly impossible to penetrate the base without being exposed and believes that soldiers cooperated and even took part in the price tag acts.
The base walls near the jeeps were spray painted with slogans: "Binyamin Brigade Commander – bad for the Jews" and "Regards from the hills". The Shai District police and Investigating Military Police launched an investigation into the incident.
The Central Command said it viewed the incident with the utmost severity, adding that it was certain the police would carry out an efficient and speedy inquiry and would capture those responsible.
The Yesha Council said Wednesday that it strongly condemned the price tag actions adding: "Those responsible for the crimes must turn themselves in to the police, and the security forces must act with resolve to uproot this aberrant phenomenon."
A source close to the settlers said in response to the incident that it was "very regretful that Netanyahu is dragging us to civil war and needless clashes within the army as well. Instead of stopping Beinish and Shai Nitzan and demanding enforcement for everyone, Netanyahu hits back at settlers and causes schisms."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the act, saying that the price tag acts were "despicable law-breaking directed at commanders and vehicles whose job is to protect the lives of Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria."
'Law abiding people'
Hundreds of police officers, including SWAT teams and Civil Administration officials took part Monday night in a surprise eviction of three illegally built homes in the outpost. The government had committed itself to the eviction of the illegal outpost earlier in the year.
"I was assured that we would receive advance notification should it be decided to demolish the houses, but they came like thieves in the night," said Uri Gutman whose home was destroyed.
"We are law abiding people; everyone here serves in the military. The first time the IDF came in here was during the Lebanon War when 80% of the men were called up for reserve service and there was no one left to protect the place. So why do we deserve this treatment?"
The demolition work met with minor resistance, but a short time later Palestinians reported that the first floor of a mosque south of Nablus was set on fire.
The head of the Kusra Regional Council Hani Ismail Abu-Radi told Ynet that villagers arrived at the mosque at dawn for morning prayers and found the place on fire. "They entered the mosque with tires after they broke the windows and torched the first floor. We notified the Palestinian Liaison Office and they passed it on to the Israelis," he said.
6 sept 2011
Locals: Settlers hurl rocks at cars near Qalqiliya
A group of Israeli settlers hurled rocks at a number of Palestinian cars driving along the Qalqiliya-Nablus road on Tuesday, locals said.
Fatah member in Qalqiliya Riyad Abu Hamda said he was heading back to Nablus when a group of four or five settlers threw rocks at his car, smashing his windshield.
He said settlers were throwing rocks at every car passing through the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418088
Netanyahu condemns Nablus mosque arson
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Tuesday the mosque arson in Qusra village near Nablus.
Netanyahu, according to his spokesman Ofir Gendelman, said that the attack was an act of extremism that aims to compromise the relationship between different religions in Israel.
Gendelman said Netanyahu ordered police and security forces to arrest those responsible.
The Palestinian Authority cabinet, meanwhile, held Israel responsible for the arson.
The "continuous attacks" by settlers result from Israel's leniency toward them, the cabinet said in a joint statement warning of the continuation of these attacks which may lead to a cycle of violence.
It called on the international community to act to protect Palestinians.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has also condemned the arson attack.
"The High Representative strongly condemns the setting on fire and vandalizing of the Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra in the West Bank on Monday," a statement from Ashton's representative said.
Israel must investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, she added.
The EU will continue to work for a "peaceful" resolution to the conflict, the statement said, but warned that acts of violence "seriously undermine efforts to build the necessary trust for a comprehensive peace in the region."
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418145
IOF soldiers detain 7 Palestinian citizens
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the villages of Azzun and Kufr Qaddoum to the east of Qalqilia at an early hour on Tuesday and rounded up seven youths after breaking into their homes, local sources reported.
They said that two of the detainees were brothers and most of them teens or in their early twenties, adding that the soldiers destroyed property of one of the homes in the process.
The sources pointed out that the soldiers installed monitoring cameras at the entrance to Kufr Qaddoum village before storming it, adding that a big number of Jewish settlers accompanied the invading IOF unit.
Israeli army detains 20 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli forces detained 20 "wanted Palestinians" across the West Bank overnight, an Israeli military spokesman said Tuesday.
The detainees will be questioned by security forces, the army spokesman added.
Hassan Shbeta, local head of detainee affairs in Azzun, east of Qalqiliya, told Ma'an that Israeli forces detained Hussam Younis Salama, 18, Fadi Anwar Mishal, 21, Loay Anwar Misha, 19 and Yousef Ghassan Salim, 18, early Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces entered Kafr Qaddum, further east of Qalqiliya, and detained Moawiya Muhammad Amer, 19, Qais Muhammad Qaddoumi, 21, and Khader Fathi Juma, 23, local official Murad Shtewey said.
Shtewey said soldiers set up video cameras at the entrances to the town and ransacked the home of Kamal Dawoud Aqel.
He added that a large number of settlers surrounded the town during the raid.
A military spokesman said seven of those detained were from Azzun and Kafr Qaddum.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418000
Sheikh Betawi: Jewish settlers' attack on Nablus Mosque act of savages
Palestinian lawmaker from Hamas Sheikh Hamed Al-Betawi deplored the arson attack that was waged at dawn Monday by extremist Jewish settlers on Dul Nourain Mosque in Qasra village south of Nablus city.
Betawi, who heads the association of Palestinian scholars, described the attack as an act of barbarism and savagery against the Islamic holy sites in Palestine, and part of earlier systematic attacks on Mosques.
He told the Palestinian information center (PIC) the Jewish settlers torched many mosques before such as the mosques of Laban Asharqiya and Yasuf and stressed that all divine religions prohibit such act of violence against places of worship.
The lawmaker also expressed his belief that such settlers' attacks are encouraged by extremist Jewish clerics and rabbis who incite against Muslims as well as by the protection provided by both the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian authority security forces in the context of their security cooperation.
EU policy chief condemns arson attack on West Bank mosque
The office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton released a statement on Tuesday condemning a recent arson attack on a West Bank mosque.
"The High Representative strongly condemns the setting on fire and vandalizing of the Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra in the West Bank on Monday," a statement from Ashton's spokesperson said.
Israel must investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, it added.
The EU will continue to work for a "peaceful" resolution to the conflict, the statement said, but warned that acts of violence "seriously undermine efforts to build the necessary trust for a comprehensive peace in the region."
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418035
Hamas: Mosque burning a violation of divine law
Hamas has condemned the arson of Al-Nourein mosque in Qasra village near Nablus in northern West Bank, calling the burning of mosques a racial crime and violation of divine law.
“We in Hamas strongly condemn the arson attack on Al-Nourein mosque and consider it a blatant violation of divine law and international norms and continuation of the racist and criminal approach of the Zionist entity and its settlers,” reads a statement issued by Hamas’s media bureau.
Hamas also called for unity in the face of the Israeli occupation and appealed to the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and rights groups to work to help stop Israel’s “racial crimes.”
In a separate statement, Palestinian MP Yunis Al-Astal (Hamas) also condemned the desecration of the mosque, assigning blame to the Palestinian Authority, alongside the Israeli occupation authorities and the Jewish settlers, for abolishing the Palestinian resistance program with the Oslo Accords.
“Armed resistance will make the occupation (Israel) think a thousand and one times before committing any offenses, whether that relates to attacks on the mosques or any person,” Al-Astal said.
Such acts were not even committed in the South Africa during apartheid years, Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil said in an exclusive statement to the PIC, adding that the act reflects the extent of Israel’s extremism and racism.
He said that Israel’s desecration of mosques “appears to be a systematic ideological process by the occupation (Israel), seeking to insult the Islamic religion and the Islamic people and trying to show the religious superiority through such racial acts.”
5 sept 2011
Report: Settlers attack Bethlehem university lecturer
A lecturer at Bethlehem university was injured Monday evening after being attacked by settlers on the Ramallah-Nablus road.
Dr Adwan Adwan, 41, told Ma'an that he was on route to Zawata village in Nablus when settlers attacked his car with stones.
He suffered injuries to his head and hands, and managed to drive to the nearest hospital for treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417906
Hamas MPs: Migron demolitions aimed at misleading public opinion
The demolition of three homes in the Jewish Migron settlement north of Jerusalem was designed to mislead world public opinion, Palestinian MPs from the Hamas party said in a joint statement.
Israeli forces dismantled three homes in the settlement outpost built over Palestinian Mukhamas village east of Ramallah city under orders of the Israeli Supreme Court. Settlers responded to the demolition by setting fire to a mosque in Qusra village south of Nablus.
The Hamas MPs in Ramallah downplayed the settlement evacuation, saying the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the removal of the entire outpost a while back and not just a few buildings that would be restored after a short period.
What is required is to evacuate all of the settlements and the departure of Israel from all Palestinian localities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem, and the territories occupied in 1948, the statement says.
On another note, the Palestinian politicians condemned continued settler attacks against Palestinians and their property and the throwing of stones at the cars of Palestinians on Nablus-Ramallah road.
They also condemned the arson at the mosque in Qusra at the hands of Jewish settlers, calling on Arabs and Muslims to act urgently to protect the mosques from further Israeli destruction.
MP Halayka: Settlers have waged war against Palestinian holy sites
Palestinian MP Samira Halayka declared that Jewish settlers have organized an all-out war against the Palestinians and their holy sites after settlers set fire to a mosque in Qusra village near the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn on Monday.
The mosque attack “was not the first crime committed by settlers against houses of worship. They made similar attacks in various locations in the West Bank and burned down and destroyed mosques in clear violation of international an local laws that call for respect for religions.”
She added that Israel has adopted an all-out ideological war policy since the first day it occupied Palestine, pointing out that Ramadan and the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays saw dozens of attacks from settlers under protection of the Israeli military.
Also in response to the attack, the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights in Nablus released a report documenting Israeli attacks on Palestinian places of worship in 2011.
The report notes a significant escalation of attacks this year, highlighting 12 of the most major offenses by both Jewish settlers and the Israeli army at various locations across the West Bank. The offenses included the closure of mosques, search raids, the arrest of worshipers, damage, confiscation of property, demolition orders, and arson.
Abu Rdeina: Settler violence attempt to thwart UN bid
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said Monday that the recent escalation in settler violence is an attempt to thwart the Palestinian bid for UN recognition in September.
Abu Rdeina condemned Monday's arson attack on a Palestinian mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus and said that settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is evidence that Israel is not interested in achieving peace, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
More than 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and settlement construction is a major obstacle to the resumption of peace negotiations.
All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and settlers are rarely held accountable for acts of violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417838
Barghouthi: Settlers could commit massacre
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi on Monday warned of a conspiracy between the Israeli government and Jewish settlers to attack Palestinians ahead of the upcoming bid for UN membership.
Barghouthi told Ma'an that Monday's attack on a mosque in the northern West Bank was "a very dangerous development" and noted it was not an isolated incident.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said Jewish settlers set fire to tires and smashed windows in Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus early Monday morning.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building.
"Migron and Eli Ayn are social justice" was also sprayed on the mosque referring to two illegal outposts.
Also on Monday, settlers from Betar Illit settlement flooded Palestinian farmland near Bethlehem with sewage while settlers in Nablus set fire to vast areas of Palestinian land in Burin.
Barghouthi said the attacks were "part of a plan" to use settlers to attack Palestinians, and that the Israeli military was participating in "organized crime" with settlers in the West Bank.
"These people are extremists and we warn that they could commit massacres against the Palestinians."
He noted that the army was providing settlers with military facilities.
Settler and military officials said last week that Israel's army has been training Jewish settlers to deal with any eruption of Palestinian protests alongside a planned bid for statehood at the United Nations this month.
The Israeli Haaretz said the military had been training settlement security chiefs and their teams and giving them tear gas and stun grenades. Most settlers already have assault rifles or pistols.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced Monday's attack on the West Bank mosque as an act of terrorism.
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
Fayyad's office criticized the Israeli police for failing to track down those behind previous such violence.
"The prime minister holds Israel completely responsible for the continuation of these terrorist acts because of its failure to pursue the perpetrators of this type of attack on previous occasions and bring them to account," its statement said.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habbash also condemned the attack.
"Continuation of such a racist policy against holy places is very dangerous and will lead to unfavorable consequence and tension in the region. All efforts to achieve peace and stability will be thwarted as racial aggressions continue," he said in a statement.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas lawmakers denounced what they called an "Israeli crime."
"This is a criminal act and a new Israeli religious war indicating how ugly occupation is," the lawmakers said in a statement.
The Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza said the attack was "new evidence of the Jews' grudge towards our people and nation, and their enmity to our religion and holy places."
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417776
Settlers set fire to West Bank mosque after Israel demolishes illegal structures in Migron
Palestinian Authority condemns attack, says incident is not the first of its kind to be carried out by settlers against mosques, hours after Israel Police destroys three homes in settlement outpost of Migron.
A mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, was set on fire Monday morning, hours after Israeli police officers destroyed three illegal structures in the settlement outpost of Migron.
According to Palestinian sources, a group of settlers arrived at the village mosque at approximately 3 A.M., threw burning tires toward it, and broke several of its windows. The event is the latest in a series of clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the region.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, stating that it is not the first of its kind to be carried out by settlers against mosques in the West Bank, and called on the Middle East Quartet to get involved.
According to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, settlers also threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near the settlement of Yitzhar, resulting in several instances of smashed windows.
The settler attack comes on the heels of response of the demolition of three buildings early Monday morning in the West Bank settlement outpost Migron, 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Around 200 settlers assembled and tried to make their way to the structures, hoping to stop the bulldozers in their tracks. Six youths were arrested.
The incident began an hour past midnight, when the police officers began emptying the buildings of their contents. While this was taking place, Regavim, a settlers' advocacy group, petitioned the Supreme Court, asking for a court injunction stopping the demolition. Justice Neil Hendel, who heard the petition, granted the advocacy group a 12-hour delay, halting the demolition.
The respite turned out to be short-lived, as a few hours later, the Supreme Court issued another order which sanctioned the demolition, and rendering the previous injunction void.
The three buildings, built this year, were ordered to be destroyed by the Supreme Court, following a petition issued by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. The state initially said it would comply with the court ruling by mid-July, and later postponed the demolition to an unspecified date during September.
Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, who arrived at the scene, said “the decision to demolish the houses was made by the government not the court, thus the responsibility for this futile action lay with the government. It is still not too late for the Prime Minister to reverse the decision.”
PA: Settlers torch Nablus mosque
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to a mosque near Nablus area in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers broke into Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
Hebrew-language anti-Arab slogans were also sprayed on the walls.
PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas confirmed the incident and urged the international Quartet -- the US, EU, UN and Russia -- to pressure Israel to stop such attacks.
"This is not the first time settlers attack mosques," he added.
Separately, witnesses said dozens of settlers gathered to throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar settlement between Huwwara and Nablus on Monday morning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417695
Israel demolishes three illegal houses in West Bank outpost, six arrested
Demolition takes place after Supreme Court reverses 12-hour delay; the buildings were ordered to be destroyed by the Court earlier this year, following petition issued by a Israeli human rights organization.
A force of approximately one thousand police officers demolished three buildings early Monday morning in the West Bank settlement outpost Migron, 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Around 200 settlers assembled and tried to make their way to the structures, hoping to stop the bulldozers in their tracks. Six youths were arrested.
The incident began an hour past midnight, when the police officers began emptying the buildings of their contents. While this was taking place, Regavim, a settlers' advocacy group, petitioned the Supreme Court, asking for a court injunction stopping the demolition. Justice Neil Hendel, who heard the petition, granted the advocacy group a 12-hour delay, halting the demolition.
The respite turned out to be short-lived, as a few hours later, the Supreme Court issued another order which sanctioned the demolition, and rendering the previous injunction void.
The three buildings, built this year, were ordered to be destroyed by the Supreme Court, following a petition issued by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. The state initially said it would comply with the court ruling by mid-July, and later postponed the demolition to an unspecified date during September.
Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, who arrived at the scene, said “the decision to demolish the houses was made by the government not the court, thus the responsibility for this futile action lay with the government. It is still not too late for the Prime Minister to reverse the decision.”
Mosque torched near Nablus
Tires were set on fire in the first floor
In what looks like a retaliation for razing at Migron outpost, Palestinians say first floor of compound set on fire with tires, windows smashed and slogans in Hebrew spray-painted on fence.
'Price tag' operation in retaliation for the razing of structures at Migron outpost? Palestinian sources told Ynet on Monday morning that the first floor of a mosque in the village of Kusra, south of Nablus, had been torched.
According to the Palestinians, the fire broke out after unknown assailants shattered the windows of the compound and set tires on fire inside the mosque. The slogan "Alei Ayin and Migron – Social Justice" was spray-painted in Hebrew on the fence outside.
The head of the Kusra Regional Council Hani Ismail Abu-Radi told Ynet that villagers arrived at the mosque at dawn for morning prayers and found the place on fire. "They entered the mosque with tires after they broke the windows and torched the first floor. We notified the Palestinian Liaison Office and they passed it on to the Israelis," he said.
The slogan spray-painted outside the mosque: 'Eley Ein and Migron - Social Justice'
Abu-Radi added that the village has long since been a daily target of settlers from the area.
Rasan Daglas, who holds the Palestinian Authority's settlements portfolio in the northern West Bank added, "This is not the first time that mosques have become targets for attacks." He called on the Quartet to intervene immediately.
The Rabbis for Human Rights organization alerted most Palestinian villages in the area overnight, warning them of a possible "price tag operations" in response to the razing of three permanent structures at the Migron outpost.
The organization stressed that the warning had also been delivered to Kusra.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack as an act of terrorism.
Spray-painted slogan 'Mohammad is a pig'
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
An Israeli police spokesman said police and army personnel had entered the village to inspect the damage to the mosque and that the investigation was ongoing.
Hundreds of police officers and Civil Administration officials arrived at the West Bank outpost of Migron overnight in order to raze the three permanent structures. A nighttime courtroom drama caused a delay but operations resumed before dawn and the security forces completed their mission, with relatively minor resistance. Police detained six settlers during the operation.
Israeli settlers torch mosque, 25th attack on Muslim/Christian houses of worship since 2010
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to a mosque near Nablus area in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers broke into Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas confirmed the incident and urged the international Quartet -- the US, EU, UN and Russia -- to pressure Israel to stop such attacks.
"This is not the first time settlers attack mosques," he said, adding that it was the 25th attack on Muslim or Christian places of worship since 2010, and the second such attack in Nablus this year.
Sheik Nafith Samih, the Imam of the mosque, said Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the building.
"Worshipers arrived at the mosque around 4 a.m. and performed the dawn prayer before some worshipers started to shout, 'the mosque has been torched.'
"We went down to the lower floor, where women usually pray and found that several tires were torched inside. We realized that it was settlers," the Imam said.
Head of Qusra council Hani Abu Reida says the village, home to 5,500 Palestinians, is surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts and residents are regularly attacked by settlers. Last week settlers raided homes and shot a young man, he added.
Palestinian Authority officials say settlers were responsible for torching a mosque near Nablus and spraying "Mohammad is a pig" in Hebrew on Monday morning.
An AFP correspondent said Hebrew graffiti on the outside walls of the mosque included insults against the Prophet Mohammed, a Star of David, and "Migron" -- the name of a settlement outpost near Ramallah which was partially dismantled by Israeli police overnight.
The pre-dawn attack came as hundreds of police and soldiers entered Migron and dismantled three structures after those living there were evacuated, police said, adding that the move had been approved by court.
"Six settlers who tried to prevent the demolition were arrested after attacking the forces," spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the three structures be taken down in June. In early August, the Supreme Court issued an identical order, although it gave the authorities until March 2012 to implement the decision.
Hardline settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.
Israel considers settlement outposts built in the West Bank without government approval to be illegal, and often sends security personnel to demolish them. They usually consist of little more than a few trailers.
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Separately, witnesses said dozens of settlers gathered to throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar settlement between Huwwara and Nablus on Monday morning.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army confirmed it was training settlers in the West Bank to repel any violent protests in the territories when the Palestinians try to secure UN membership later this month.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the military had been training settlement security chiefs and their teams and giving them tear gas and stun grenades to equip them to handle any unrest which breaks out during the UN campaign.
Most settlers already have assault rifles or pistols.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417695
4 sept 2011
Jewish settlers storm Aqsa plaza
Jewish settlers stormed the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem under Israeli police escort at dawn Sunday, eyewitnesses said.
They said that groups of settlers entered the Mosque via the Maghareba gate and roamed in its plazas while Palestinian citiznes were present in a bid to confront the settlers’ attempts to perform Talmudic rituals inside the holy Islamic site.
The witnesses said that the police threatened to arrest the Palestinian citizens if they tried to interfere in the settlers’ practices.
3 sept 2011
IOF troops crack down on marchers, Jewish settlers attack village
Armed Jewish settlers attacked in the Palestinian village of Jalud southeast of Nablus city in the West Bank as Israeli soldiers stood guard, Palestinian officials reported.
The assailants stoned homes, made threats, and demanded that locals leave the tiny village, said Ghassan Dughlas, an official tasked with monitoring West Bank settlement activity.
Tensions ran high as fears lingered that settlers would set fire to local olive groves and homes.
Villagers said the settlers attempted to set fire to some of their property and attacked vehicles at the village’s entrance, and added that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the locals who responded to the attacks, causing many to suffer breathing difficulty.
Separately, dozens of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists from abroad sustained breathing problems after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at a march in Bil’in near Modi’in Ilit settlement.
Settlers also set ablaze massive areas of olive groves there.
In Ma’sara to the south of Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers used rifle butts and batons to suppress on an anti-settlement march leaving four Palestinians bruised and injured.
One foreign activist was arrested in the crackdown.
Beit Ommar Demonstration
Israeli Settlers Deface The Home Of An Israeli Left-wing Activist
Israeli settlers defaced the home of an Israeli left-wing activist with graffiti proclaiming “death to the traitors” and “price tag Migron” on Monday, Israeli sources reported.
The activist, who refused to publish her name told Israeli media that she believes this is an act to make her and other left-wing activists scared.
Settlers have stepped up retaliatory attacks after the government removed three settler structures form Migron unauthorized outpost near Ramallah, last week. Palestinians have been the main victims of these acts, and apparently, left-wing Israelis are joining them.
"We know there is someone who is making sure we are scared," she said. "I'm sure the police will handle this and I'm sure it will find those responsible."
On their part the Peace Now movement said this incident is a serious one that requires emergency steps.
The movement, who is know of their opposition to the presence of most of the settlements in the West Bank, believes such groups are supported by some Knesset members.
"This is a serious incident that requires emergency steps against what seems like a new Jewish underground. The atmosphere of hate… is seeping from elements in the Knesset deep into Israeli society."
http://www.imemc.org/article/62006
Israeli Settlers Burn Protest Tent In Jerusalem
Israeli settlers, who forcefully occupied part of the house of Rifka al-Kurd in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, burned the protest tent setup in the backyard of the house.
Mrs. al-Kurd reported that her son noticed noise near the house after midnight and confirmed that the settlers set the tent on fire. Neighboring youth managed to put the fire out, but all the contents of the tent where charred.
Settlers have stepped up retaliatory attacks after the government removed three settler structures from the unauthorised outpost of Migron, near Ramallah, last week.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62005
Settlers set fire to tent of woman seeking property reclamation
Jewish settlers set fire Monday to the tent of an old Palestinian woman whose property they usurped in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah district.
The woman Rifqa al-Kurd was camping out there to protest the fact that the Jews who settled there had acquired the land illegally from her family’s assets.
Kurd said her son woke up when he heard rapid sounds on the property at 2:30am and found that fire had been ignited on the tent they were using to sit in.
She added that all of the tent’s contents as well as a camera she set up on the outside had been burned.
She went on to say that youths rushed to call emergency services, which managed to extinguish the flames.
The settlers who occupied part of her property had cut power from the neighborhood and damaged the camera before the arson, said Kurd.
Locals said the number of attacks on the Kurds as well as other Palestinian families whose property was usurped by force of arms have seen a sharp rise recently. They said the settlers seek to rid the entire region of its Palestinian population with sights set on establishing a massive settler community and completely Judaizing the area.
Also on Monday, Jewish settlers set fire to two cars owned by Palestinians, inflicted significant damage on the contents of a home, and uprooted dozens of grapevines in a number of separate attacks that took place on Monday morning against Palestinian localities near Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Sources said that settlers armed with machine guns and clubs attacked the home of a Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, early Monday morning and burnt two cars after raiding the residence, causing damage and assaulting residents.
In Halhul, just north of Al-Khalil in southern West Bank, Israeli settlers uprooted some 176 four-year-old grapevines in a terror attack on a Palestinian farm.
Settlers Burn Protest Tent in Sheikh Jarrah
by Maysa Abu-Ghazaleh
Sheikh Jarrah resident Rifqa al-Kurd accused settlers of setting fire to a protest tent in her yard at dawn on Monday.
According to al-Kurd, her son Nabil woke to sounds in the yard of the house at around 2:30 a.m. He went outside to find the tent and all of its contents burnt, including a camera placed nearby.
Al-Kurd said her son rushed to call the firemen, who put out the fire and investigated the incident. She said local Israeli settlers, who occupied a part of their house, turned off the electricity for the entire neighborhood before setting the fire and damaging the camera on the protest tent.
There were no further details.
Islamic-Christian Front: Israel to blame over West Bank settler attacks
Hassan Khatir, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Front in Jerusalem, accused Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories of organizing a long running campaign of terror against Palestinian natives, assigning blame to the Jewish rabbis and criticizing the Muslims over their silence.
In the past week, Jewish settlers in the West Bank set fire to a mosque in Qusra village near Nablus and sprayed graffiti slogans defaming the Prophet Muhammad and calling for death to Arabs on a wall in Birzeit University, near Ramallah, as well as on a mosque in a nearby town.
In an interview with Al-Quds Satellite Channel on Sunday, Khatir held Jewish rabbis fully responsible for the acts of aggression, saying that those rabbis issued religious opinions warranting the attack of Jewish settlers on Palestinians, their property and holy sites in the West Bank.
He added that the ban on such religious edicts by the Israeli occupation authorities was only formal, saying that Israel is trying to create an environment conducive to extremism in order to establish a state of extremists that can counter a future Palestinian state.
Khatir also spoke about the Arab and Muslim response to the recent string of settler attacks, saying: “Where is the Muslim nation? This nation does not move or show any position against the attacks. Al-Aqsa Mosque is violated every day.” He asserted that Israel would never have dared to take such measures should the Muslims have taken a firm stance.
Khatir directed a message at the world, saying all of the mosques in the occupied Palestinian territories are at risk, calling on the international community to take steps to protect the holy sites and stop Jewish extremism.
Jewish settlers cut off Palestinian grapevines
Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian grapevines in Halhul village, north of Al-Khalil, and cut off dozens of them on Monday, local sources said.
They said that the settlers cut off 128 grapevines owned by Ahmed Akel in Wadi Al-Amir area in the village.
Jewish settlers attack Palestinian workers, Israeli forces arrest minor in OJ
Jewish settlers sprayed a number of Palestinian workers in occupied Jerusalem's Deir Yassin suburb with tear gas on Sunday, local sources reported.
They said that four Palestinians, working for the Jerusalem municipality, were hospitalized in minor condition after the incident.
Palestinian workers in the holy city are routinely targeted by fanatic Jewish settlers.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian minor was nabbed by Israeli security forces at a roadblock south of Jerusalem on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses said that the 16-year-old boy was handcuffed and taken in a military vehicle.
Sikrikim Sickos Vandalize Manny’s Seforim Store in Yerushalayim
A bookstore in Yerushalayim is struggling against a wave of attacks by a group called Sikrikim that other business-owners have called the “mafia of Mea She’arim.”
The group is comprised of people who claim to be chareidi. Their behavior is reprehensible. They are not chareidi and should not be associated with Torah-observant Jews.
Since the bookstore, known as Or Hachaim/Manny’s, opened in March 2010, men have smashed its windows several times, glued its locks shut, thrown tar and fish oil, and dumped bags of human excrement inside.
The bookstore is popular with Anglo residents and tourists and carries many English-language books and Judaica items in addition to Hebrew books. The harassment stems from the bookstore’s refusal to accept demands made by the extremist non-chareidi, anti-Torah group, which would require all businesses to observe specific “modesty standards.”
At Or Hachaim, the Sikrikim’s demands include putting up a sign asking customers to dress modestly, removing all English-language books, signs and advertisements, and closing its website, which is in English, all so as not to attract tourists, who are not dressed modestly, said Marlene Samuels, one of the three managers of the bookstore, along with her husband, Manny, and Meir Dombey. Manny Samuels previously ran Manny’s Bookstore, which was well-known in the Anglo community.
“These people are very extreme; they terrorize lots of people here, and they are a very insular group,” Marlene Samuels said. She added that despite filing four complaints with the police and providing surveillance footage that clearly identified four of the men who have been vandalizing their shop, the police has not gotten involved.
“In the last few weeks, the police said they just don’t want to get involved in this neighborhood,” she said.
Yerushalayim police said they had only received one report of a violent incident from the bookstore that was filed on Sunday. Deputy police spokeswoman Shlomit Bajshi said that an investigation was opened into the incident but thus far there are no suspects.
She added the police had no other complaints filed about vandalism in the neighborhood attributed to the Sikrikim.
Bajshi denied the allegation by business-owners in the area that the police did not want to get involved in incidents in the area because of the threat of violence to policemen or widespread rioting.
“We get involved with every incident that people report to us,” she said.
The same group of Sikrikim has also targeted an ice cream store in the Geula neighborhood because they thought licking ice cream cones in public was immodest, Samuels said.
Most businesses along the street display a laminated sign on their doorways requesting that only modestly dressed customers enter their stores, one of the demands by the Sikrikim.
“They asked me to put it up, so I did,” said Shlomo, the owner of a nearby bookstore.
“I don’t look for problems, if I hadn’t put it up there could have been problems.”
The Feldheim Superstore, a large establishment near Or Hachaim that also has large English-language signs outside and many English books, said it negotiated an agreement with a member of the Sikrikim soon after opening a year ago. “We sat and talked with him, and there were a few books they had problems with from specific rabbis,” said an employee who requested anonymity. The store also displays the modesty sign at the entrance. “We came to an agreement, we respect them and they respect us,” he said.
Last Wednesday, the owners of Or Hachaim sat down with Sikrikim representatives to hear their demands, but decided not to accept them.
Two days later, on Friday afternoon 10 minutes before Shabbos, someone smashed all of the windows, sending the managers scrambling to find someone to guard the store over Shabbos.
Samuels said she knew of one storeowner in the area who had trouble with vandalism from Sikrikim in the past and hired someone to beat up the man who had been vandalizing the store, ending the problems. She said that she did not believe she and her partners would resort to this type of vigilante justice, but that they were increasingly discouraged by the inaction of the police.
The Sikrikim are a most extremist splinter sect and are estimated to be no larger than 60-100 people, but their thug tactics reverberate throughout the neighborhood.
“They attack charedim in their own neighborhood,” said David Rotenberg, an employee at Or Hachaim.
The name “Sikrikim” comes from the Latin “Sicarii,” a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Yerushalayim in 70 CE, to an extremist splinter group of the zealots who tried to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers.
also see
11 sept 2011
Salfit farmers say settlers unleashed pigs on their land
Farmers say Israeli settlers unleashed pigs overnight Saturday to destroy their land in Salfit in the northern West Bank.
Farmers told Ma'an that the pigs destroyed a fence and broke branches of fig trees. They said they were afraid to remain on their land and appealed for help to protect their property.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419109
9 sept 2011
Activist: Settlers vandalize family tent
Settlers vandalized a family tent in a village south of Hebron at dawn on Friday, a human rights worker said. No one was seriously injured.
Naser Nawaja, a field researcher at B'Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said the settlers burned the tent while a man was inside. He was taken to a hospital in Yatta to be treated for shock.
The man's wife and children were not inside the tent, Nawaja said.
The latest attacks come amid an escalation in settler violence over the past week. On Monday, settlers torched a mosque in the village of Qusra, which is located near the villages of Qabalan and Yatma.
Earlier this week a faculty member and a student of Bethlehem University came under separate, violent attacks by settlers who threw rocks as they drove in the West Bank, the university said.
Adwan Adwan, a faculty member in the Arabic dept., suffered injuries to his face and upper body, the university said in a statement. "I felt lucky to escape with my life," he was quoted as saying.
On the same road, the statement said, Yara Odeh, a masters student, escaped from her car through the passenger door and ran toward nearby Israeli soldiers, calling for help.
She reports being refused help and being told to return to her car: "The settlers seemed not so much interested in damaging the car as they were in harming me," she was quoted as saying.
The university's vice president Michael Sansur said the campus' administration was extremely disturbed by these attacks on members of the academic community: "These violent and aggressive attacks on our students and faculty from Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories are horrifying and unjust."
"We are grateful for the well-being of Dr Adwan and Yara in surviving these traumatic events and pledge to continue in our efforts to prepare our graduates to take their place as ethical leaders in fostering shared values, moral principles and dedication to serving the common good."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418779
8 sept 2011
Soldiers, Settlers Attack Nablus
Israeli soldiers invaded on Thursday morning the city of Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, and demolished three wells while army bulldozers uprooted farmlands in the Nablus district. Armed Israeli settler also wrote graffiti on a local mosque.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that the army is conducting several invasions in the West Bank, especially in Nablus.
He told the Quds Net online daily that this campaign is taking place while the settlers attacked several villages and towns near Nablus, and wrote racist graffiti on the walls of a mosque in Yitma village.
Also, soldiers demolished three wells in An-Nassariyya area in Nablus, and bulldozed dozens of Dunams of farmlands.
The settlers also torched two Palestinian cars that were parked at the main entrance of Qablan town, near Nablus, and uprooted dozens of trees in Huwwara town.
On September 5, a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in Qasra village, near Nablus, and torched it after destroying its property and writing anti-Arab slogans on its walls.
Earlier in June this year, settlers of the Alei Ayin illegal outpost torched a mosque in Al-Mughayyir village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, after burning tires and throwing them in the mosque causing serious damages.
Last year, the settlers burnt several copies of the Quran while desecrating two mosques near Bethlehem and Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61976
British minister condemns arson attack on West Bank mosque
British minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt condemned Wednesday an arson attack by settlers on a mosque near Nablus.
“I deplore the senseless arson attack on a mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra on 5 September. I note that the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel have also condemned this vindictive act of vandalism," he said.
"This attack on a place of worship is despicable, and deliberately provocative. I welcome the stated determination of the Israeli authorities to pursue the criminals responsible, and I commend the restraint shown by the people of Qusra.”
Settlers burn cars, vandalize mosque in Nablus area
Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees, set fire to cars and vandalized a mosque in the Nablus area on Thursday, officials said.
Palestinian official Ghassan Douglas told Ma'an that two cars were set alight in the village of Qabalan, south of Nablus.
Settlers also vandalized a mosque in Yatma village south of Nablus, spraying anti Muslim and anti Arab slogans on the walls, witnesses said.
Over 35 olive trees were also uprooted by settlers in the village of Huwwara, near the illegal settlement of Yitzhar.
The latest attacks come amid an escalation in settler violence over the past week. On Monday, settlers torched a mosque in the village of Qusra, which is located near the villages of Qabalan and Yatma.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building.
On Wednesday, Israeli settlers then vandalized an Israeli army base in the first reported case of 'price tag' attacks carried out against Israeli forces, the army said.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said Monday that the recent escalation in settler violence is an attempt to thwart the Palestinian bid for UN recognition in September.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418524
Israel's right-wing prepares for UN recognition of Palestinian state
Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) blasts IDF top brass for siding with Palestinians rather than the government.
Right-wing activists, settlement leaders and Knesset members convened on Wednesday to discuss how to deal with expected confrontations with Palestinian demonstrators should the United Nations General Assembly recognize a Palestinian state later this month.
Yoni Yosef, spokesman for Jewish settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, suggested invoking the "Dromi Law," which permits home owners to kill intruders and could be used to shoot Palestinians attempting to approach Jewish homes in the neighborhood.
Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud ) blasted Israel Defense Forces preparations for defending the settlements, saying: "The top brass turned into the main lobbyist for the Palestinian Authority against the political leadership, which is responsible for the senior commanders' adoption of the two-state concept."
Elkin criticized what he called the IDF's preference for giving PA security forces responsibility for dealing with incidents affecting the Palestinians.
Yaakov Katz (National Union ) called on his colleagues to organize marches of thousands of right-wing activists toward Palestinian cities in response to the marches on Jewish communities being discussed by Palestinians. He said he suspected the IDF will not ready an appropriate response to Palestinian marches but would deploy large forces if it feared countermarches by the right.
Katz proposed arranging for marches in a few strategic locations, such as from Kiryat Arba to Hebron, from Beit El to Ramallah and from Elon Moreh, Itamar and Yitzhar to Nablus, and announcing that the moment Palestinians marchers set out from Nablus, for example, a right-wing march would set out in the direction of Nablus. If such an announcement is made, Katz suggested, "then maybe there's a chance the army will prepare, in order to keep the Jews from reaching" Palestinian cities.
Fanatics, let’s separate
Religious Zionist Einat Barzilay says time has come to separate from radical settlers.
In recent days I found two words to hate – price tag. Once upon a time it used to be in the fashion context and pertained to expensive blouses I could never afford, yet now it’s much more painful, because the despicable term is linked to kippas and biblical excerpts, the materials comprising my faith.
I too squirmed when I saw the demolition of the homes in Migron, even though in my view it would have been better not to build there illegally to begin with, as not to face such painful situations later on. Yet nonetheless, the people of Migron are my brothers.
However, the ugly acts we woke up to the next morning, in the form of mosque vandalism and breaking into IDF bases, infuriated me, prompted a deep sense of withdrawal and suffocated any automatic sense of affinity. I find nothing Jewish in vandalizing the holy sites of other religions and I find no political benefit in attacking IDF soldiers or in dubbing commanders as “Nazis” and resorting to any other threats.
My sentiments can also be found in the Torah, which never asserted that the duty to settle the land is above any other mitzvah (Rabbi Menachem Froman noted that the decree to protect converts and foreigners living in our midst appears in the Torah many more times than “Love thy friend as thyself.”) Psychologically speaking, those who resort to violence provoke violence against themselves; those who resort to hatred create a chain-reaction of hatred.
Does the presence in Migron justify the trampling of any humane and humanitarian value?
Time to end the relationship
I’m well aware of the trampling of rights of Migron residents, and I’m also familiar with the discourse of hatred for the settlers that blame them for any negative phenomenon. I despise the people who fan the flames of this discourse; they are spiritual dwarfs and for that reason they need this discourse to present their political arguments, which are often justified. Yet now came the price tag people and positioned themselves at the same level as the haters and inciters, granting them the justification for their hatred on a silver platter.
Here, there is no room for condemnations in press releases anymore. Now, we need to take action. Just like in our personal lives, where frustration overcomes the promise inherent in a relationship, the time has come to part ways. The time has come to tell the price tag people, let’s end it. We shall not be a part of you.
The fact that you and I keep the Shabbat, eat kosher and take pleasure in the Torah is no longer sufficient in order to live in the same ideological home. Perhaps we better use different names on the door too. We’ll be called “Religious Zionism” and you’ll be called “Fanatics.”
Our women shall cover their heads, while your women shall put on a burqa. We shall adopt the moderation of Beit Hillel, while you adopt Beit Shamai. We’ll take Rabbi Yehuda Halevi while you take Rabbi Dov Lior. Let’s separate.
Settlers vandalize military base in first 'price tag' attack against IDF
Graffiti reading "price tag"
Attack on Israeli army prompts Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino to set up a special investigative task force to deal solely with "price tag' attacks.
Settlers for the first time targeted an Israel Defense Forces base in a "price tag" operation Wednesday, vandalizing vehicles and spray painting slogans denouncing the army's actions. Until now, such attacks, meant to "exact a price" for the demolition of buildings in settlements and outposts, have exclusively targeted Palestinians.
Unknown parties penetrated the headquarters of the Benjamin Brigade, located near the settlement of Beit El, and vandalized 13 vehicles by puncturing their tires and cutting internal cables. The vandals also spray-painted slogans on the wall denouncing the army's demolition of houses in the Migron outpost on Monday.
Some of the slogans termed the brigade's commander, Col. Saar Tzur, "bad for the Jews." Tzur commanded the Migron demolitions.
The police, Military Police and Shin Bet security service are all investigating. There are no signs that the base was broken into.
IDF sources termed the incident "extremely grave," noting that it was unprecedented. While there have been violent confrontations between settlers and soldiers during demolitions, this is the first time army property has been vandalized with malice rather than in the heat of the moment.
The incident was particularly troubling to senior IDF officers because the base is closed and guarded. That means either a soldier or civilian working at the base let the vandals in, or they managed to break through the fence surrounding the base without being detected, which would indicate a lapse in security. The former possibility is especially worrying because IDF bases in the West Bank rely heavily on local civilians to provide basic services.
However, that is also the possibility the Military Police currently consider most likely, given that there were no signs of a break-in. While detectives did discover a hole in the fence, it is an old one that has been there for some time.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, speaking at a graduation ceremony for army sappers, said "the vandalism was perpetrated by a gang of lawbreakers, an extremist, irresponsible minority. All of us - officers and soldiers, civilians from every part of the [political] spectrum - must remember and remind others that the IDF is not the enemy. We all recognize that the IDF is a defensive force that operates under the law."
GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi, who in the past has deemed "price tag" operations "terror," vowed to catch the perpetrators and put them on trial.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak charged that such "acts of vandalism against Israelis and Palestinians" are meant "to cause an escalation at this sensitive time" and said he was sure the perpetrators would be caught quickly.
In fact, the police and the Shin Bet have not managed to catch a single "price tag" vandal in the last two years. While they have arrested many suspects, all have ultimately had to be released. But investigators are optimistic that this case will prove easier, because unlike previous "price tag" operations, which took place in Arab villages, this one occurred in a closed compound with multiple security cameras.
Detectives are also pursuing intelligence leads regarding soldiers with radical right-wing views who are currently serving at the base or have served there recently.
On Wednesday Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino decided to set up a special investigative task force to deal solely with "price tag' attacks, which have proliferated lately. In the two days since the demolitions at Migron, price-tag vandals have torched a mosque, uprooted Palestinian trees and spray-painted slogans in Palestinian villages, in addition to the attack on the army base.
The task force will be a joint venture between the elite Lahav 433 unit and the Shai (Samaria and Judea ) District Police.
7 sept 2011
Hundreds of Jewish settlers storm Nabi Yusuf tomb
Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed Nabi Yusuf tomb to the east of Nablus city at dawn Wednesday under heavy Israeli military protection, local sources reported.
They said that Israeli occupation forces mounting 25 armored vehicles escorted more than 1200 settlers who performed Talmudic rituals at the site.
The tomb is an Islamic shrine for a man called Sheikh Yusuf Dweikat but the Jewish settlers insist that it was the tomb of prophet Joseph and turned it into a Jewish religious center.
Settlers damage Israeli army base in 'price tag' attack
Israeli settlers vandalized an Israeli army base on Wednesday in the first reported case of 'price tag' attacks carried out against Israeli forces, the army said.
"Initial reports indicate that unidentified vandals broke into a military base north of Ramallah and vandalized thirteen vehicles; puncturing tires, shattering the windows," an Israeli army statement said.
The perpetrators sprayed "graffiti against IDF commanders and against dismantling of structures in the Jewish community of Migron earlier this week," the statement said.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that 'price tag' was sprayed across the walls.
Settlers routinely target Palestinians in response to perceived "anti-settler" activity by the Israeli government in a policy they call "price tag" attacks.
The incident marks the first time settlers have carried out a planned act of vandalism against army equipment, Haaretz noted.
GOC of the Israeli Central Command Major General Avi Mizrahi said that the attack was "unacceptable and reprehensible" and said he intended to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Tzipi Livni, opposition leader and Kadima chairwoman said that the incident had crossed a "dangerous red line," Haaretz reported.
Settler violence against Palestinians as part of a 'price tag' policy is common in the West Bank, with perpetrators rarely held accountable by the Israeli legal system.
The most recent case of settler violence took place on Monday in Nablus, as settlers smashed windows and set fire to tires in a mosque in Qusra.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building. "Migron and Eli Ayn are social justice" was also sprayed on the mosque, referring to two illegal outposts demolished by Israeli forces.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418286
Israeli army escorts 1,200 Israelis into Nablus
Dozens of Israeli military jeeps entered the northern West Bank city of Nablus overnight Tuesday to escort Israelis visiting a holy site in the city, witnesses and the army said.
An Israeli military spokesman said the army was protecting around 1,200 Israelis in a coordinated visit to the site believed to be Joseph's tomb in Nablus.
Visits to the tomb are usually coordinated by the army and Palestinian Authority security forces.
Under the Oslo accords, the city of Nablus is in Area A and is part of the 17 percent of the West Bank under Palestinian civil and security control.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418193
'Price Tag' reaches IDF base
Anonymous vandals damage IDF jeeps, graffiti base walls in Binyamin in what is believed to be 'price tag' for demolition at Migron outpost.
The price tag actions came in response to the demolition of structures in the Migron outpost earlier this week.
Ynet learned Wednesday that anonymous vandals broke into a military base in the Binyamin region, cut the cables of IDF jeeps, damaged vehicle tires and spray painted them with the words "Ramat Migron". At least 11 vehicles were damaged.
The price tag actions came in response to the demolition of structures in the Migron outpost earlier this week.
A military official estimated that it would have been nearly impossible to penetrate the base without being exposed and believes that soldiers cooperated and even took part in the price tag acts.
The base walls near the jeeps were spray painted with slogans: "Binyamin Brigade Commander – bad for the Jews" and "Regards from the hills". The Shai District police and Investigating Military Police launched an investigation into the incident.
The Central Command said it viewed the incident with the utmost severity, adding that it was certain the police would carry out an efficient and speedy inquiry and would capture those responsible.
The Yesha Council said Wednesday that it strongly condemned the price tag actions adding: "Those responsible for the crimes must turn themselves in to the police, and the security forces must act with resolve to uproot this aberrant phenomenon."
A source close to the settlers said in response to the incident that it was "very regretful that Netanyahu is dragging us to civil war and needless clashes within the army as well. Instead of stopping Beinish and Shai Nitzan and demanding enforcement for everyone, Netanyahu hits back at settlers and causes schisms."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the act, saying that the price tag acts were "despicable law-breaking directed at commanders and vehicles whose job is to protect the lives of Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria."
'Law abiding people'
Hundreds of police officers, including SWAT teams and Civil Administration officials took part Monday night in a surprise eviction of three illegally built homes in the outpost. The government had committed itself to the eviction of the illegal outpost earlier in the year.
"I was assured that we would receive advance notification should it be decided to demolish the houses, but they came like thieves in the night," said Uri Gutman whose home was destroyed.
"We are law abiding people; everyone here serves in the military. The first time the IDF came in here was during the Lebanon War when 80% of the men were called up for reserve service and there was no one left to protect the place. So why do we deserve this treatment?"
The demolition work met with minor resistance, but a short time later Palestinians reported that the first floor of a mosque south of Nablus was set on fire.
The head of the Kusra Regional Council Hani Ismail Abu-Radi told Ynet that villagers arrived at the mosque at dawn for morning prayers and found the place on fire. "They entered the mosque with tires after they broke the windows and torched the first floor. We notified the Palestinian Liaison Office and they passed it on to the Israelis," he said.
6 sept 2011
Locals: Settlers hurl rocks at cars near Qalqiliya
A group of Israeli settlers hurled rocks at a number of Palestinian cars driving along the Qalqiliya-Nablus road on Tuesday, locals said.
Fatah member in Qalqiliya Riyad Abu Hamda said he was heading back to Nablus when a group of four or five settlers threw rocks at his car, smashing his windshield.
He said settlers were throwing rocks at every car passing through the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418088
Netanyahu condemns Nablus mosque arson
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Tuesday the mosque arson in Qusra village near Nablus.
Netanyahu, according to his spokesman Ofir Gendelman, said that the attack was an act of extremism that aims to compromise the relationship between different religions in Israel.
Gendelman said Netanyahu ordered police and security forces to arrest those responsible.
The Palestinian Authority cabinet, meanwhile, held Israel responsible for the arson.
The "continuous attacks" by settlers result from Israel's leniency toward them, the cabinet said in a joint statement warning of the continuation of these attacks which may lead to a cycle of violence.
It called on the international community to act to protect Palestinians.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has also condemned the arson attack.
"The High Representative strongly condemns the setting on fire and vandalizing of the Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra in the West Bank on Monday," a statement from Ashton's representative said.
Israel must investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, she added.
The EU will continue to work for a "peaceful" resolution to the conflict, the statement said, but warned that acts of violence "seriously undermine efforts to build the necessary trust for a comprehensive peace in the region."
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418145
IOF soldiers detain 7 Palestinian citizens
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the villages of Azzun and Kufr Qaddoum to the east of Qalqilia at an early hour on Tuesday and rounded up seven youths after breaking into their homes, local sources reported.
They said that two of the detainees were brothers and most of them teens or in their early twenties, adding that the soldiers destroyed property of one of the homes in the process.
The sources pointed out that the soldiers installed monitoring cameras at the entrance to Kufr Qaddoum village before storming it, adding that a big number of Jewish settlers accompanied the invading IOF unit.
Israeli army detains 20 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli forces detained 20 "wanted Palestinians" across the West Bank overnight, an Israeli military spokesman said Tuesday.
The detainees will be questioned by security forces, the army spokesman added.
Hassan Shbeta, local head of detainee affairs in Azzun, east of Qalqiliya, told Ma'an that Israeli forces detained Hussam Younis Salama, 18, Fadi Anwar Mishal, 21, Loay Anwar Misha, 19 and Yousef Ghassan Salim, 18, early Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces entered Kafr Qaddum, further east of Qalqiliya, and detained Moawiya Muhammad Amer, 19, Qais Muhammad Qaddoumi, 21, and Khader Fathi Juma, 23, local official Murad Shtewey said.
Shtewey said soldiers set up video cameras at the entrances to the town and ransacked the home of Kamal Dawoud Aqel.
He added that a large number of settlers surrounded the town during the raid.
A military spokesman said seven of those detained were from Azzun and Kafr Qaddum.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418000
Sheikh Betawi: Jewish settlers' attack on Nablus Mosque act of savages
Palestinian lawmaker from Hamas Sheikh Hamed Al-Betawi deplored the arson attack that was waged at dawn Monday by extremist Jewish settlers on Dul Nourain Mosque in Qasra village south of Nablus city.
Betawi, who heads the association of Palestinian scholars, described the attack as an act of barbarism and savagery against the Islamic holy sites in Palestine, and part of earlier systematic attacks on Mosques.
He told the Palestinian information center (PIC) the Jewish settlers torched many mosques before such as the mosques of Laban Asharqiya and Yasuf and stressed that all divine religions prohibit such act of violence against places of worship.
The lawmaker also expressed his belief that such settlers' attacks are encouraged by extremist Jewish clerics and rabbis who incite against Muslims as well as by the protection provided by both the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian authority security forces in the context of their security cooperation.
EU policy chief condemns arson attack on West Bank mosque
The office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton released a statement on Tuesday condemning a recent arson attack on a West Bank mosque.
"The High Representative strongly condemns the setting on fire and vandalizing of the Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra in the West Bank on Monday," a statement from Ashton's spokesperson said.
Israel must investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, it added.
The EU will continue to work for a "peaceful" resolution to the conflict, the statement said, but warned that acts of violence "seriously undermine efforts to build the necessary trust for a comprehensive peace in the region."
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din repeatedly show that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418035
Hamas: Mosque burning a violation of divine law
Hamas has condemned the arson of Al-Nourein mosque in Qasra village near Nablus in northern West Bank, calling the burning of mosques a racial crime and violation of divine law.
“We in Hamas strongly condemn the arson attack on Al-Nourein mosque and consider it a blatant violation of divine law and international norms and continuation of the racist and criminal approach of the Zionist entity and its settlers,” reads a statement issued by Hamas’s media bureau.
Hamas also called for unity in the face of the Israeli occupation and appealed to the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and rights groups to work to help stop Israel’s “racial crimes.”
In a separate statement, Palestinian MP Yunis Al-Astal (Hamas) also condemned the desecration of the mosque, assigning blame to the Palestinian Authority, alongside the Israeli occupation authorities and the Jewish settlers, for abolishing the Palestinian resistance program with the Oslo Accords.
“Armed resistance will make the occupation (Israel) think a thousand and one times before committing any offenses, whether that relates to attacks on the mosques or any person,” Al-Astal said.
Such acts were not even committed in the South Africa during apartheid years, Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil said in an exclusive statement to the PIC, adding that the act reflects the extent of Israel’s extremism and racism.
He said that Israel’s desecration of mosques “appears to be a systematic ideological process by the occupation (Israel), seeking to insult the Islamic religion and the Islamic people and trying to show the religious superiority through such racial acts.”
5 sept 2011
Report: Settlers attack Bethlehem university lecturer
A lecturer at Bethlehem university was injured Monday evening after being attacked by settlers on the Ramallah-Nablus road.
Dr Adwan Adwan, 41, told Ma'an that he was on route to Zawata village in Nablus when settlers attacked his car with stones.
He suffered injuries to his head and hands, and managed to drive to the nearest hospital for treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417906
Hamas MPs: Migron demolitions aimed at misleading public opinion
The demolition of three homes in the Jewish Migron settlement north of Jerusalem was designed to mislead world public opinion, Palestinian MPs from the Hamas party said in a joint statement.
Israeli forces dismantled three homes in the settlement outpost built over Palestinian Mukhamas village east of Ramallah city under orders of the Israeli Supreme Court. Settlers responded to the demolition by setting fire to a mosque in Qusra village south of Nablus.
The Hamas MPs in Ramallah downplayed the settlement evacuation, saying the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the removal of the entire outpost a while back and not just a few buildings that would be restored after a short period.
What is required is to evacuate all of the settlements and the departure of Israel from all Palestinian localities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem, and the territories occupied in 1948, the statement says.
On another note, the Palestinian politicians condemned continued settler attacks against Palestinians and their property and the throwing of stones at the cars of Palestinians on Nablus-Ramallah road.
They also condemned the arson at the mosque in Qusra at the hands of Jewish settlers, calling on Arabs and Muslims to act urgently to protect the mosques from further Israeli destruction.
MP Halayka: Settlers have waged war against Palestinian holy sites
Palestinian MP Samira Halayka declared that Jewish settlers have organized an all-out war against the Palestinians and their holy sites after settlers set fire to a mosque in Qusra village near the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn on Monday.
The mosque attack “was not the first crime committed by settlers against houses of worship. They made similar attacks in various locations in the West Bank and burned down and destroyed mosques in clear violation of international an local laws that call for respect for religions.”
She added that Israel has adopted an all-out ideological war policy since the first day it occupied Palestine, pointing out that Ramadan and the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays saw dozens of attacks from settlers under protection of the Israeli military.
Also in response to the attack, the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights in Nablus released a report documenting Israeli attacks on Palestinian places of worship in 2011.
The report notes a significant escalation of attacks this year, highlighting 12 of the most major offenses by both Jewish settlers and the Israeli army at various locations across the West Bank. The offenses included the closure of mosques, search raids, the arrest of worshipers, damage, confiscation of property, demolition orders, and arson.
Abu Rdeina: Settler violence attempt to thwart UN bid
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said Monday that the recent escalation in settler violence is an attempt to thwart the Palestinian bid for UN recognition in September.
Abu Rdeina condemned Monday's arson attack on a Palestinian mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus and said that settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is evidence that Israel is not interested in achieving peace, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
More than 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and settlement construction is a major obstacle to the resumption of peace negotiations.
All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and settlers are rarely held accountable for acts of violence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417838
Barghouthi: Settlers could commit massacre
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi on Monday warned of a conspiracy between the Israeli government and Jewish settlers to attack Palestinians ahead of the upcoming bid for UN membership.
Barghouthi told Ma'an that Monday's attack on a mosque in the northern West Bank was "a very dangerous development" and noted it was not an isolated incident.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas said Jewish settlers set fire to tires and smashed windows in Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus early Monday morning.
Hebrew-language graffiti reading "Mohammad is a pig" and the star of David were sprayed on the building.
"Migron and Eli Ayn are social justice" was also sprayed on the mosque referring to two illegal outposts.
Also on Monday, settlers from Betar Illit settlement flooded Palestinian farmland near Bethlehem with sewage while settlers in Nablus set fire to vast areas of Palestinian land in Burin.
Barghouthi said the attacks were "part of a plan" to use settlers to attack Palestinians, and that the Israeli military was participating in "organized crime" with settlers in the West Bank.
"These people are extremists and we warn that they could commit massacres against the Palestinians."
He noted that the army was providing settlers with military facilities.
Settler and military officials said last week that Israel's army has been training Jewish settlers to deal with any eruption of Palestinian protests alongside a planned bid for statehood at the United Nations this month.
The Israeli Haaretz said the military had been training settlement security chiefs and their teams and giving them tear gas and stun grenades. Most settlers already have assault rifles or pistols.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced Monday's attack on the West Bank mosque as an act of terrorism.
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
Fayyad's office criticized the Israeli police for failing to track down those behind previous such violence.
"The prime minister holds Israel completely responsible for the continuation of these terrorist acts because of its failure to pursue the perpetrators of this type of attack on previous occasions and bring them to account," its statement said.
Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 Israeli police investigations of settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.
Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habbash also condemned the attack.
"Continuation of such a racist policy against holy places is very dangerous and will lead to unfavorable consequence and tension in the region. All efforts to achieve peace and stability will be thwarted as racial aggressions continue," he said in a statement.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas lawmakers denounced what they called an "Israeli crime."
"This is a criminal act and a new Israeli religious war indicating how ugly occupation is," the lawmakers said in a statement.
The Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza said the attack was "new evidence of the Jews' grudge towards our people and nation, and their enmity to our religion and holy places."
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417776
Settlers set fire to West Bank mosque after Israel demolishes illegal structures in Migron
Palestinian Authority condemns attack, says incident is not the first of its kind to be carried out by settlers against mosques, hours after Israel Police destroys three homes in settlement outpost of Migron.
A mosque in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, was set on fire Monday morning, hours after Israeli police officers destroyed three illegal structures in the settlement outpost of Migron.
According to Palestinian sources, a group of settlers arrived at the village mosque at approximately 3 A.M., threw burning tires toward it, and broke several of its windows. The event is the latest in a series of clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the region.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, stating that it is not the first of its kind to be carried out by settlers against mosques in the West Bank, and called on the Middle East Quartet to get involved.
According to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, settlers also threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near the settlement of Yitzhar, resulting in several instances of smashed windows.
The settler attack comes on the heels of response of the demolition of three buildings early Monday morning in the West Bank settlement outpost Migron, 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Around 200 settlers assembled and tried to make their way to the structures, hoping to stop the bulldozers in their tracks. Six youths were arrested.
The incident began an hour past midnight, when the police officers began emptying the buildings of their contents. While this was taking place, Regavim, a settlers' advocacy group, petitioned the Supreme Court, asking for a court injunction stopping the demolition. Justice Neil Hendel, who heard the petition, granted the advocacy group a 12-hour delay, halting the demolition.
The respite turned out to be short-lived, as a few hours later, the Supreme Court issued another order which sanctioned the demolition, and rendering the previous injunction void.
The three buildings, built this year, were ordered to be destroyed by the Supreme Court, following a petition issued by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. The state initially said it would comply with the court ruling by mid-July, and later postponed the demolition to an unspecified date during September.
Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, who arrived at the scene, said “the decision to demolish the houses was made by the government not the court, thus the responsibility for this futile action lay with the government. It is still not too late for the Prime Minister to reverse the decision.”
PA: Settlers torch Nablus mosque
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to a mosque near Nablus area in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers broke into Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
Hebrew-language anti-Arab slogans were also sprayed on the walls.
PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas confirmed the incident and urged the international Quartet -- the US, EU, UN and Russia -- to pressure Israel to stop such attacks.
"This is not the first time settlers attack mosques," he added.
Separately, witnesses said dozens of settlers gathered to throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar settlement between Huwwara and Nablus on Monday morning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417695
Israel demolishes three illegal houses in West Bank outpost, six arrested
Demolition takes place after Supreme Court reverses 12-hour delay; the buildings were ordered to be destroyed by the Court earlier this year, following petition issued by a Israeli human rights organization.
A force of approximately one thousand police officers demolished three buildings early Monday morning in the West Bank settlement outpost Migron, 14 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Around 200 settlers assembled and tried to make their way to the structures, hoping to stop the bulldozers in their tracks. Six youths were arrested.
The incident began an hour past midnight, when the police officers began emptying the buildings of their contents. While this was taking place, Regavim, a settlers' advocacy group, petitioned the Supreme Court, asking for a court injunction stopping the demolition. Justice Neil Hendel, who heard the petition, granted the advocacy group a 12-hour delay, halting the demolition.
The respite turned out to be short-lived, as a few hours later, the Supreme Court issued another order which sanctioned the demolition, and rendering the previous injunction void.
The three buildings, built this year, were ordered to be destroyed by the Supreme Court, following a petition issued by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. The state initially said it would comply with the court ruling by mid-July, and later postponed the demolition to an unspecified date during September.
Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, who arrived at the scene, said “the decision to demolish the houses was made by the government not the court, thus the responsibility for this futile action lay with the government. It is still not too late for the Prime Minister to reverse the decision.”
Mosque torched near Nablus
Tires were set on fire in the first floor
In what looks like a retaliation for razing at Migron outpost, Palestinians say first floor of compound set on fire with tires, windows smashed and slogans in Hebrew spray-painted on fence.
'Price tag' operation in retaliation for the razing of structures at Migron outpost? Palestinian sources told Ynet on Monday morning that the first floor of a mosque in the village of Kusra, south of Nablus, had been torched.
According to the Palestinians, the fire broke out after unknown assailants shattered the windows of the compound and set tires on fire inside the mosque. The slogan "Alei Ayin and Migron – Social Justice" was spray-painted in Hebrew on the fence outside.
The head of the Kusra Regional Council Hani Ismail Abu-Radi told Ynet that villagers arrived at the mosque at dawn for morning prayers and found the place on fire. "They entered the mosque with tires after they broke the windows and torched the first floor. We notified the Palestinian Liaison Office and they passed it on to the Israelis," he said.
The slogan spray-painted outside the mosque: 'Eley Ein and Migron - Social Justice'
Abu-Radi added that the village has long since been a daily target of settlers from the area.
Rasan Daglas, who holds the Palestinian Authority's settlements portfolio in the northern West Bank added, "This is not the first time that mosques have become targets for attacks." He called on the Quartet to intervene immediately.
The Rabbis for Human Rights organization alerted most Palestinian villages in the area overnight, warning them of a possible "price tag operations" in response to the razing of three permanent structures at the Migron outpost.
The organization stressed that the warning had also been delivered to Kusra.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the attack as an act of terrorism.
Spray-painted slogan 'Mohammad is a pig'
"These acts are what threaten to pull the region into a cycle of violence," Fayyad's office said in a statement, adding that the Palestinians themselves would not revert to violence.
An Israeli police spokesman said police and army personnel had entered the village to inspect the damage to the mosque and that the investigation was ongoing.
Hundreds of police officers and Civil Administration officials arrived at the West Bank outpost of Migron overnight in order to raze the three permanent structures. A nighttime courtroom drama caused a delay but operations resumed before dawn and the security forces completed their mission, with relatively minor resistance. Police detained six settlers during the operation.
Israeli settlers torch mosque, 25th attack on Muslim/Christian houses of worship since 2010
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to a mosque near Nablus area in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers broke into Al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas confirmed the incident and urged the international Quartet -- the US, EU, UN and Russia -- to pressure Israel to stop such attacks.
"This is not the first time settlers attack mosques," he said, adding that it was the 25th attack on Muslim or Christian places of worship since 2010, and the second such attack in Nablus this year.
Sheik Nafith Samih, the Imam of the mosque, said Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the building.
"Worshipers arrived at the mosque around 4 a.m. and performed the dawn prayer before some worshipers started to shout, 'the mosque has been torched.'
"We went down to the lower floor, where women usually pray and found that several tires were torched inside. We realized that it was settlers," the Imam said.
Head of Qusra council Hani Abu Reida says the village, home to 5,500 Palestinians, is surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts and residents are regularly attacked by settlers. Last week settlers raided homes and shot a young man, he added.
Palestinian Authority officials say settlers were responsible for torching a mosque near Nablus and spraying "Mohammad is a pig" in Hebrew on Monday morning.
An AFP correspondent said Hebrew graffiti on the outside walls of the mosque included insults against the Prophet Mohammed, a Star of David, and "Migron" -- the name of a settlement outpost near Ramallah which was partially dismantled by Israeli police overnight.
The pre-dawn attack came as hundreds of police and soldiers entered Migron and dismantled three structures after those living there were evacuated, police said, adding that the move had been approved by court.
"Six settlers who tried to prevent the demolition were arrested after attacking the forces," spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the three structures be taken down in June. In early August, the Supreme Court issued an identical order, although it gave the authorities until March 2012 to implement the decision.
Hardline settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.
Israel considers settlement outposts built in the West Bank without government approval to be illegal, and often sends security personnel to demolish them. They usually consist of little more than a few trailers.
The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, to be illegal.
Separately, witnesses said dozens of settlers gathered to throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Yitzhar settlement between Huwwara and Nablus on Monday morning.
Settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries and damage to property are up more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which documents violence in the Palestinian territories.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army confirmed it was training settlers in the West Bank to repel any violent protests in the territories when the Palestinians try to secure UN membership later this month.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the military had been training settlement security chiefs and their teams and giving them tear gas and stun grenades to equip them to handle any unrest which breaks out during the UN campaign.
Most settlers already have assault rifles or pistols.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417695
4 sept 2011
Jewish settlers storm Aqsa plaza
Jewish settlers stormed the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem under Israeli police escort at dawn Sunday, eyewitnesses said.
They said that groups of settlers entered the Mosque via the Maghareba gate and roamed in its plazas while Palestinian citiznes were present in a bid to confront the settlers’ attempts to perform Talmudic rituals inside the holy Islamic site.
The witnesses said that the police threatened to arrest the Palestinian citizens if they tried to interfere in the settlers’ practices.
3 sept 2011
IOF troops crack down on marchers, Jewish settlers attack village
Armed Jewish settlers attacked in the Palestinian village of Jalud southeast of Nablus city in the West Bank as Israeli soldiers stood guard, Palestinian officials reported.
The assailants stoned homes, made threats, and demanded that locals leave the tiny village, said Ghassan Dughlas, an official tasked with monitoring West Bank settlement activity.
Tensions ran high as fears lingered that settlers would set fire to local olive groves and homes.
Villagers said the settlers attempted to set fire to some of their property and attacked vehicles at the village’s entrance, and added that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the locals who responded to the attacks, causing many to suffer breathing difficulty.
Separately, dozens of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists from abroad sustained breathing problems after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at a march in Bil’in near Modi’in Ilit settlement.
Settlers also set ablaze massive areas of olive groves there.
In Ma’sara to the south of Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers used rifle butts and batons to suppress on an anti-settlement march leaving four Palestinians bruised and injured.
One foreign activist was arrested in the crackdown.
Beit Ommar Demonstration
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IOF soldiers arrest 3 Palestinians in Al-Khalil village, settlers beat up child
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up three Palestinians in the village of Doura, southwest of Al-Khalil city, at dawn Saturday, local sources said.
The sources told the PIC that all three were in their early twenties, adding that the soldiers broke into their homes and searched them.
They said that the soldiers used rubber bullets and stun grenades during the storming operation in the village that included breaking into and ransacking many homes.
In the city itself, Jewish settlers assaulted a 15-year-old child in Shuhada street, downtown Al-Khalil, near his family home, locals said, adding that the child was carried to hospital with minor injuries.
IOF troops stormed on Saturday morning two villages near Jenin as locals told the PIC reporter that the soldiers roamed the streets of Faqu’a and Erka but no arrests were reported.
The Israeli soldiers have been targeting Jenin and its villages over the past couple of days sending patrols to their streets and searching homes with no arrests made.
Bedouin near Ramallah face double-edged sword by Israeli settlers
Settlers file petition seeking a court order requiring IDF, Civil Administration to explain why Bedouin school has not yet been demolished.
The new school year will open on Sunday at Palestinian schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip including the Bedouin school in the village of Khan al-Ahmar near Jerusalem. But the nearby Jewish settlement of Kfar Adumim seeks to have the school, which has attracted attention around the world because it is made of tires and mud, demolished.
Kfar Adumim and its satellite settlements of Shchunat Alon and Nofei Prat filed a petition on August 1 seeking a court order that would require the Israel Defense Forces and the IDF Civil Administration to explain why the school had not already been demolished in accordance with an order by the Civil Administration in the summer of 2009.
The petitioners also take the law enforcement authorities to task for not preventing improvements at the school including the planting of trees and the installation of playground equipment and a perimeter fence with a gate.
The settlements had previously petitioned the High Court of Justice in an effort to tear down the school and other structures and tents that the Bedouin - members of the Jahalin tribe - had put up. The initial petition was filed by Regavim, an organization that seeks to "protect the nation's lands and assets."
The new petition was filed by a lawyer representing the three settlements, Yitzhak Mina, who in January became the deputy chairman of the public council of the Ometz good government organization. As with the previous petition, the recent court filing was preceded by demands that the Civil Administration carry out the demolition orders.
After Israel occupied the West Bank, Bedouin communities were not included in master plans. So the Bedouin of Khan al-Ahmar, who were evicted by Israel from the Negev in 1948, had no administrative procedure with which they could apply for construction permits for housing and public buildings.
When the initial case was filed with the High Court of Justice in September 2009, the State Prosecutor's Office asked the court to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the court should not intervene in setting priorities for the Civil Administration.
In its preliminary response to the new petition, however, the state voiced no objection to the settlements' intervention in the authorities' work. It asked for a 45-day extension to file a response, saying it was considering setting a date for a possible demolition to take place.
According to the state, the demolition of public structures requires the approval of high-level government officials, and this approval process is still underway. The state took exception to the settlements' contention that the Bedouin school is on state land within Kfar Adumim's boundaries. The school was built on land that had been in private Palestinian hands and was expropriated for the widening of Route 1.
The residents of Khan al-Ahmar are represented in the new case by Shlomo Lecker, a Jerusalem lawyer who in 2009 filed a legal action to prevent the demolition order at the school from being carried out.
The petition was denied in March of last year, but the High Court of Justice ordered that the demolition not take place before the end of the school year in June 2010.
The court's decision was based on assurances by the Civil Administration that the administration was looking at other legal alternatives for housing for the Jahalin Bedouin in Khan al-Ahmar. As long as such alternatives do not exist, Lecker says, the school cannot be demolished.
2 sept 2011
Settlers raid the village of Jalud and demanded that the villagers leave
Jewish settlers on Friday afternoon raided the village of Jalud to the south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and demanded that the villagers leave their village.
Palestinian sources said that dozens of settlers from the Ahya settlement which is built on lands belonging to the village of Jalud raided the village, attacked villagers homes and demanded that the villagers leave their village threatening them with guns.
Clashes erupted between the villagers and the settlers where the villagers threw stones at the settlers and the IOF responded by firing stun grenades and teargas canisters at the villagers causing many of them to suffer breathing difficulties.
'UN Go Home' - Israel planning for worst, calling for war
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up three Palestinians in the village of Doura, southwest of Al-Khalil city, at dawn Saturday, local sources said.
The sources told the PIC that all three were in their early twenties, adding that the soldiers broke into their homes and searched them.
They said that the soldiers used rubber bullets and stun grenades during the storming operation in the village that included breaking into and ransacking many homes.
In the city itself, Jewish settlers assaulted a 15-year-old child in Shuhada street, downtown Al-Khalil, near his family home, locals said, adding that the child was carried to hospital with minor injuries.
IOF troops stormed on Saturday morning two villages near Jenin as locals told the PIC reporter that the soldiers roamed the streets of Faqu’a and Erka but no arrests were reported.
The Israeli soldiers have been targeting Jenin and its villages over the past couple of days sending patrols to their streets and searching homes with no arrests made.
Bedouin near Ramallah face double-edged sword by Israeli settlers
Settlers file petition seeking a court order requiring IDF, Civil Administration to explain why Bedouin school has not yet been demolished.
The new school year will open on Sunday at Palestinian schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip including the Bedouin school in the village of Khan al-Ahmar near Jerusalem. But the nearby Jewish settlement of Kfar Adumim seeks to have the school, which has attracted attention around the world because it is made of tires and mud, demolished.
Kfar Adumim and its satellite settlements of Shchunat Alon and Nofei Prat filed a petition on August 1 seeking a court order that would require the Israel Defense Forces and the IDF Civil Administration to explain why the school had not already been demolished in accordance with an order by the Civil Administration in the summer of 2009.
The petitioners also take the law enforcement authorities to task for not preventing improvements at the school including the planting of trees and the installation of playground equipment and a perimeter fence with a gate.
The settlements had previously petitioned the High Court of Justice in an effort to tear down the school and other structures and tents that the Bedouin - members of the Jahalin tribe - had put up. The initial petition was filed by Regavim, an organization that seeks to "protect the nation's lands and assets."
The new petition was filed by a lawyer representing the three settlements, Yitzhak Mina, who in January became the deputy chairman of the public council of the Ometz good government organization. As with the previous petition, the recent court filing was preceded by demands that the Civil Administration carry out the demolition orders.
After Israel occupied the West Bank, Bedouin communities were not included in master plans. So the Bedouin of Khan al-Ahmar, who were evicted by Israel from the Negev in 1948, had no administrative procedure with which they could apply for construction permits for housing and public buildings.
When the initial case was filed with the High Court of Justice in September 2009, the State Prosecutor's Office asked the court to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the court should not intervene in setting priorities for the Civil Administration.
In its preliminary response to the new petition, however, the state voiced no objection to the settlements' intervention in the authorities' work. It asked for a 45-day extension to file a response, saying it was considering setting a date for a possible demolition to take place.
According to the state, the demolition of public structures requires the approval of high-level government officials, and this approval process is still underway. The state took exception to the settlements' contention that the Bedouin school is on state land within Kfar Adumim's boundaries. The school was built on land that had been in private Palestinian hands and was expropriated for the widening of Route 1.
The residents of Khan al-Ahmar are represented in the new case by Shlomo Lecker, a Jerusalem lawyer who in 2009 filed a legal action to prevent the demolition order at the school from being carried out.
The petition was denied in March of last year, but the High Court of Justice ordered that the demolition not take place before the end of the school year in June 2010.
The court's decision was based on assurances by the Civil Administration that the administration was looking at other legal alternatives for housing for the Jahalin Bedouin in Khan al-Ahmar. As long as such alternatives do not exist, Lecker says, the school cannot be demolished.
2 sept 2011
Settlers raid the village of Jalud and demanded that the villagers leave
Jewish settlers on Friday afternoon raided the village of Jalud to the south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and demanded that the villagers leave their village.
Palestinian sources said that dozens of settlers from the Ahya settlement which is built on lands belonging to the village of Jalud raided the village, attacked villagers homes and demanded that the villagers leave their village threatening them with guns.
Clashes erupted between the villagers and the settlers where the villagers threw stones at the settlers and the IOF responded by firing stun grenades and teargas canisters at the villagers causing many of them to suffer breathing difficulties.
'UN Go Home' - Israel planning for worst, calling for war
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In September, Palestine will be expecting a UN vote to recognize it as a fully-fledged state. But Israel fears the decision may result in uprisings, and has reportedly started arming settlers and training them to face angry Palestinians.
But as Paula Slier reports, by preparing for bloodshed, Israelis might actually be calling for it. |
Settlers Plan Attacks Against Palestinians In September
As Israel decided to further arm the settlers by providing them with stun grenades and tear gas bombs, the settlers, supported by extremist right wing factions in Israel, are preparing a plan to “respond to any popular Palestinian move that will likely take place as the Palestinian leadership asks the United Nations this month to recognize a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Extremist right-wing factions in Israel are preparing a plan dubbed “children against children, women and women”, as part of settlers’ activities and attacks against the unnamed Palestinian population in the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.
Jewish settlers, illegally living in the occupied territories, are a largely armed population and well trained for combat situations.
The settlers currently own more than half a million automatic rifles, and practically unlimited amounts of ammunition.
A number of fundamentalist settler organizations confirmed that the preparations started last month, and that plans to attack Palestinian areas are already in place to contain the anticipated Palestinian popular activities.
Such plans will most certainly lead to direct confrontation with the Palestinians, while a large number of casualties is a likely scenario.
The main figure behind the settlers’ plans to attack the occupied territories is Member of Knesset, Michael Ben-Ari, of the extremist National Union Party (Ichud Leumi) along with extremist settlers, especially from the Hilltop Youth Movement, and supporters of the outlawed Kahane Chai movement, the splinter group of Kach terrorist group.
It is worth mentioning that the current Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, used to be affiliated with Kach movement, and when he became a Knesset member, including when he served as the Minister of Strategic Affairs, he always called for the expulsion of all Arabs and Palestinians from the country, and considered them a “demographic threat to Israel”.
The eight-page plan includes instructions regarding operations in Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.
Its main slogan is “let’s transform September from a threat to a historic opportunity to change the rules of the game”.
It also states that “should the UN officially recognize a Palestinian independent state, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will take off to the streets, to celebrate, and they might approach the settlements”, and adds, “Unarmed Palestinian women and children will lead the processions heading to the settlements, this will push the Israeli soldiers to open fire at them, and this issue will lead to a full collapse in the security situation, and the Palestinians will resume their attacks against the settlements”.
Therefore, part of the plan is to have settler women confront Palestinian women, and settler children confront Palestinian children. The male settlers, heavily armed, will then “deal with the Palestinian male population of protestors”.
MK Michael Ben-Ari stated that despite assurances from the army “to protect all settlements”, and maintain clam, “the army remains a protective entity and not a political one”, and added “therefore, we will initiate our plans; we will make our own decisions”.
Despite the settlers preparations and plans to attack popular protests in the
occupied territories, especially after a leaked report revealed the “Operation Summer Seeds” that was prepared by the army, and includes providing further arms for the settlers, the army “condemned settler plans to attack the Palestinians”.
Israel daily, Haaretz, released a leaked document that states that the army distributed maps with red lines drawn on them around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with instructions to soldiers that if Palestinian protesters get too close to the settlements, they should be shot in the legs.
The instructions do not differentiate between non-violent demonstrations by Palestinians and violent attacks by Palestinians, instead implying that non-violent demonstrators would be subjected to being shot in the legs if they cross a 'line' whose location has not been shared with any Palestinians.
Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are already responsible for hundreds of attacks against the Palestinians, especially several West Bank villages, and have already torched hundreds of Dunams of Palestinian farmlands, and even torched mosques after desecrating them.
The settler population in the occupied territories is a largely armed population, and besides its frequent, and in many cases deadly attacks, against the Palestinians, the settlers even attacked Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate illegal settlements.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61930
Armed settlers attack West Bank village
Armed Israeli settlers attacked Jalud village south of Nablus on Friday demanding that villagers leave their homes, a Palestinian official said.
Clashes broke out and Israeli police arrived on the scene, where they fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse villagers, Ghassan Doughlas, the Fatah official charged with monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an.
The settlers, from a small outpost near Jalud called Ahiya, attacked homes and properties, Doughlas said.
Threatening villagers with weapons, they called on the Palestinians to evacuate the village, he added.
A spokeswoman from Israel's Judea and Samaria Police said groups of Palestinians and Israeli settlers from Ahiya gathered "to protest about each other."
"One of the Israelis said they heard someone shoot in the air, so the police came, but they didn't see any shooting" and went on to disperse the group, she said.
Jalud, a community of about 600 Palestinians, faces high unemployment and migration from the village as land confiscation and violence from nearby outposts Ahiya and Kida, both about 50-person strong, pose a threat to the village, Jalud's mayor says.
Outposts are communities built without official Israeli government permission in the West Bank, often expanding the larger and accredited settlements on Palestinian land, although many outposts are established with tacit state support.
The latest figures from the Israeli group Peace Now, which opposes the settlements, puts the number of Israeli settlement outposts at around 100.
Six outposts and two larger settlements, Shilo and Eli, surround the Jalud area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417253
Israel court rejects settlers' eviction appeal
Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday turned down for the second time a request for a retrial over the fate of a building owned by settlers in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
It also reprimanded the Jewish settlers living there for failing to heed earlier court rulings demanding that they evacuate the building, which is located in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian neighborhood.
In 2007, a local court ordered the settlers evicted from the building and its entrances sealed, after determining that the structure was built without the appropriate permits.
But the order has never been implemented.
In their petition, the settlers claimed the authorities were discriminating against them, citing the fact that demolition orders against hundreds of Palestinian homes in the same neighborhood were not being reinforced.
They used the same argument in 2010.
Israel's Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has balked at carrying out the order against the illegally built structure while he is being pressed to freeze demolition orders on about 200 Palestinian homes built without permits in the same neighborhood.
Last November, Israel's attorney general told Jerusalem city council to implement the 2007 court order and seal the seven-story building which is home to eight families, or around 50 people.
In its decision, the court reprimanded the settlers for failing to adhere to the original ruling, stressing that even though the municipality had yet to seal the building, it did not exempt the residents from doing so themselves.
The Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
They oppose any attempts to extend Israel's control over the part of the city which was captured in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed shortly afterward in a move unrecognized internationally.
Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem to be its "eternal and indivisible" capital.
A settler spokesman dismissed Thursday's ruling, saying it would have no practical impact.
"It is not as though yesterday the building was recognized, and today it is not," said Eldad Rabinowicz, pointing out that the municipality had "thousands of demolition orders for Arab-owned buildings in East Jerusalem, and in the past year has not acted on even one of them."
But Hagit Ofran of Peace Now slammed the municipality for "continuing to ignore the courts' orders, and enabling this illegal and provocative settlement in Silwan, which constitutes a point of daily friction and a heavy security burden upon Jerusalem police.
"This by itself is enough to justify the eviction of the settlers," she told AFP.
A spokesman for the municipality gave no indication that the city council would act on the Supreme Court decision.
"The case was one between the courts and private residents to which the municipality was not a party," Stephen Miller said.
"The municipality continues to uphold the rule of law evenly throughout all parts of Jerusalem."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417200
Fatal hit-and-run driver detained near Hebron
Hebron police tracked down a hit-and-run driver who killed a 10 year-old boy on Thursday, a statement said.
Muhammad Ghannam was standing at the side of the road in Yatta, a village south of Hebron, when a car ran him over and killed him on the spot, the police public relations department said.
The driver escaped from the scene and switched cars to avoid detection, police said, but an investigation led to his arrest.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417203
As Israel decided to further arm the settlers by providing them with stun grenades and tear gas bombs, the settlers, supported by extremist right wing factions in Israel, are preparing a plan to “respond to any popular Palestinian move that will likely take place as the Palestinian leadership asks the United Nations this month to recognize a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Extremist right-wing factions in Israel are preparing a plan dubbed “children against children, women and women”, as part of settlers’ activities and attacks against the unnamed Palestinian population in the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.
Jewish settlers, illegally living in the occupied territories, are a largely armed population and well trained for combat situations.
The settlers currently own more than half a million automatic rifles, and practically unlimited amounts of ammunition.
A number of fundamentalist settler organizations confirmed that the preparations started last month, and that plans to attack Palestinian areas are already in place to contain the anticipated Palestinian popular activities.
Such plans will most certainly lead to direct confrontation with the Palestinians, while a large number of casualties is a likely scenario.
The main figure behind the settlers’ plans to attack the occupied territories is Member of Knesset, Michael Ben-Ari, of the extremist National Union Party (Ichud Leumi) along with extremist settlers, especially from the Hilltop Youth Movement, and supporters of the outlawed Kahane Chai movement, the splinter group of Kach terrorist group.
It is worth mentioning that the current Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, used to be affiliated with Kach movement, and when he became a Knesset member, including when he served as the Minister of Strategic Affairs, he always called for the expulsion of all Arabs and Palestinians from the country, and considered them a “demographic threat to Israel”.
The eight-page plan includes instructions regarding operations in Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.
Its main slogan is “let’s transform September from a threat to a historic opportunity to change the rules of the game”.
It also states that “should the UN officially recognize a Palestinian independent state, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will take off to the streets, to celebrate, and they might approach the settlements”, and adds, “Unarmed Palestinian women and children will lead the processions heading to the settlements, this will push the Israeli soldiers to open fire at them, and this issue will lead to a full collapse in the security situation, and the Palestinians will resume their attacks against the settlements”.
Therefore, part of the plan is to have settler women confront Palestinian women, and settler children confront Palestinian children. The male settlers, heavily armed, will then “deal with the Palestinian male population of protestors”.
MK Michael Ben-Ari stated that despite assurances from the army “to protect all settlements”, and maintain clam, “the army remains a protective entity and not a political one”, and added “therefore, we will initiate our plans; we will make our own decisions”.
Despite the settlers preparations and plans to attack popular protests in the
occupied territories, especially after a leaked report revealed the “Operation Summer Seeds” that was prepared by the army, and includes providing further arms for the settlers, the army “condemned settler plans to attack the Palestinians”.
Israel daily, Haaretz, released a leaked document that states that the army distributed maps with red lines drawn on them around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with instructions to soldiers that if Palestinian protesters get too close to the settlements, they should be shot in the legs.
The instructions do not differentiate between non-violent demonstrations by Palestinians and violent attacks by Palestinians, instead implying that non-violent demonstrators would be subjected to being shot in the legs if they cross a 'line' whose location has not been shared with any Palestinians.
Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are already responsible for hundreds of attacks against the Palestinians, especially several West Bank villages, and have already torched hundreds of Dunams of Palestinian farmlands, and even torched mosques after desecrating them.
The settler population in the occupied territories is a largely armed population, and besides its frequent, and in many cases deadly attacks, against the Palestinians, the settlers even attacked Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate illegal settlements.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61930
Armed settlers attack West Bank village
Armed Israeli settlers attacked Jalud village south of Nablus on Friday demanding that villagers leave their homes, a Palestinian official said.
Clashes broke out and Israeli police arrived on the scene, where they fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse villagers, Ghassan Doughlas, the Fatah official charged with monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an.
The settlers, from a small outpost near Jalud called Ahiya, attacked homes and properties, Doughlas said.
Threatening villagers with weapons, they called on the Palestinians to evacuate the village, he added.
A spokeswoman from Israel's Judea and Samaria Police said groups of Palestinians and Israeli settlers from Ahiya gathered "to protest about each other."
"One of the Israelis said they heard someone shoot in the air, so the police came, but they didn't see any shooting" and went on to disperse the group, she said.
Jalud, a community of about 600 Palestinians, faces high unemployment and migration from the village as land confiscation and violence from nearby outposts Ahiya and Kida, both about 50-person strong, pose a threat to the village, Jalud's mayor says.
Outposts are communities built without official Israeli government permission in the West Bank, often expanding the larger and accredited settlements on Palestinian land, although many outposts are established with tacit state support.
The latest figures from the Israeli group Peace Now, which opposes the settlements, puts the number of Israeli settlement outposts at around 100.
Six outposts and two larger settlements, Shilo and Eli, surround the Jalud area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417253
Israel court rejects settlers' eviction appeal
Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday turned down for the second time a request for a retrial over the fate of a building owned by settlers in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
It also reprimanded the Jewish settlers living there for failing to heed earlier court rulings demanding that they evacuate the building, which is located in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian neighborhood.
In 2007, a local court ordered the settlers evicted from the building and its entrances sealed, after determining that the structure was built without the appropriate permits.
But the order has never been implemented.
In their petition, the settlers claimed the authorities were discriminating against them, citing the fact that demolition orders against hundreds of Palestinian homes in the same neighborhood were not being reinforced.
They used the same argument in 2010.
Israel's Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has balked at carrying out the order against the illegally built structure while he is being pressed to freeze demolition orders on about 200 Palestinian homes built without permits in the same neighborhood.
Last November, Israel's attorney general told Jerusalem city council to implement the 2007 court order and seal the seven-story building which is home to eight families, or around 50 people.
In its decision, the court reprimanded the settlers for failing to adhere to the original ruling, stressing that even though the municipality had yet to seal the building, it did not exempt the residents from doing so themselves.
The Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
They oppose any attempts to extend Israel's control over the part of the city which was captured in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed shortly afterward in a move unrecognized internationally.
Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem to be its "eternal and indivisible" capital.
A settler spokesman dismissed Thursday's ruling, saying it would have no practical impact.
"It is not as though yesterday the building was recognized, and today it is not," said Eldad Rabinowicz, pointing out that the municipality had "thousands of demolition orders for Arab-owned buildings in East Jerusalem, and in the past year has not acted on even one of them."
But Hagit Ofran of Peace Now slammed the municipality for "continuing to ignore the courts' orders, and enabling this illegal and provocative settlement in Silwan, which constitutes a point of daily friction and a heavy security burden upon Jerusalem police.
"This by itself is enough to justify the eviction of the settlers," she told AFP.
A spokesman for the municipality gave no indication that the city council would act on the Supreme Court decision.
"The case was one between the courts and private residents to which the municipality was not a party," Stephen Miller said.
"The municipality continues to uphold the rule of law evenly throughout all parts of Jerusalem."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417200
Fatal hit-and-run driver detained near Hebron
Hebron police tracked down a hit-and-run driver who killed a 10 year-old boy on Thursday, a statement said.
Muhammad Ghannam was standing at the side of the road in Yatta, a village south of Hebron, when a car ran him over and killed him on the spot, the police public relations department said.
The driver escaped from the scene and switched cars to avoid detection, police said, but an investigation led to his arrest.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417203