14 oct 2011
Olive Harvest, West-Bank
Olive Harvest, West-Bank
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Olive oil is a major source of income for in the West-Bank. But for Palestinians, profiting from the olive trees has become very difficult as a result of Israeli security policies and harrasments by Jewish settlers. - Israel Social TV - |
Israeli forces 'block olive harvest in Nablus'
Israeli forces blocked villagers in Nablus from harvesting olives on lands near Israeli settlements on Friday, locals told Ma'an.
Israeli troops told harvesters in Qaryut and Azmut villages that security coordination had expired and blocked them from picking olives, a Ma'an correspondent said.
International activists accompanying farmers said forces told them in nearby village Burin that the area was a closed military zone and shut down the harvest.
"There are dozens of olives on the top of the hill (near the Israel settlement of Yitzhar)," one activist said, "but villagers were only given four days permission to do two weeks' work."
Ghassan Doughlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said Israeli settlers came into olive groves in Azmut, north of Nablus, and Jit to the east.
Settlers clashed with locals as they tried to harvest olives, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429172
Rabin memorial trashed in prisoner deal protest
A monument commemorating Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was defaced early on Friday, in an apparent protest against the upcoming release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier.
White paint was spilled over the monument, and the words "price tag" and "free Yigal Amir," Rabin's convicted assassin, were sprayed on the monument and on a near by wall.
"Price Tag" is typically the calling-card slogan used by militant Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and their supporters.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli who sprayed the slogans said his parents were killed in a Palestinian suicide attack and that his motive for the vandalism is his objection to the prisoner swap deal agreed upon by Israel and Hamas.
The vandal, named in Israeli media as Shvuel Schijveschuurder, was detained by Tel Aviv municipality security personnel.
Israeli police did not confirm his identity, but said the suspect's parents were killed in a Jerusalem pizzeria suicide bombing in 2001.
"His parents were killed in the bombing and he was apparently protesting against the prisoner exchange. He is still being questioned," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
According to the prisoner exchange deal, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed from five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip next week in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The deal, over three years in the making and a casualty of at least two breakdowns, was finally brokered last week with Egyptian mediation between Israel and Hamas.
While most Israelis welcomed the prisoner swap, many family members of Israelis killed by those slated for release voiced objection to the swap.
Several lists of prisoners set to be freed are being circulated, but the Gaza ministry of prisoners affairs says none of them are entirely accurate.
The Israel Prisons Authority web site will release a full list late on Saturday or early Sunday, its says, after which there will be a 48-hour period during which the Supreme Court can hear legal objections.
Families of the Israeli victims have said they will protest, but this is not expected to halt the swap, which has broad political and public support in Israel.
Israeli police are investigating the vandalism of the Rabin memorial, which stands on the spot where he was assassinated in 1995 by Yigal Amir, an Israeli radical opposed to his brokering of the Oslo Accords which established limited Palestinian self-rule.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429167
13 oct 2011
Settlers Attack School, Forcing Students to Study at Checkpoint
On Tuesday, after a settlers attack on Qurtuba Girls’ School in Hebron, students were forced to continue their studies at the nearby Israeli checkpoint. This is the third day the students have been forbidden to enter the school.
School janitor Mohamad Zaloum told Palestinian state-run news wire Wafa that a group of settlers threw stones and empty bottles. Zaloum said he tried to stop them, but they beat him.
School principal Ibtisam al-Jundi said that the Israeli forces are still forbidding faculty and students from entering the school under the pretext that no citizen is to pass without a thorough inspection at the electronic doors at the entrance to the settlement.
“We refused this decision, so the teachers lecture their students on the side of the road in front of the checkpoint,” said al-Jundi, referring to the Shuhada Street checkpoint at the entrance to the illegal Israeli settlement inside Hebron.
Wafa sources in Hebron said that Israeli soldiers tried to prevent journalists from approaching the school, pointing out that peace workers from the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) were allowed to visit the school.
Extremist Jews Beat Palestinian Teenager in Jerusalem
Extremist Jews Thursday severely beat a Palestinian teenager, Mohammad Maghribi, 15, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Musrara, according to a WAFA reporter.
He said that extremist Jews severely beat Maghribi all over his body, when an Israeli police car arrived at the scene but did not arrest any of them. Maghribi was transferred to hospital where his condition was described as moderate.
To be noted, areas in West Jerusalem are recently witnessing a major escalation of Jewish attacks on Palestinian residents, particularly those who work in the western part of the city.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17754
Settlers Set Fire to 300 Olive Trees in Bruqin
Jewish settlers from the settlement of Brukhin Thursday set fire to about 300 olive trees in the town of Bruqin, in the northern West Bank, according to Bruqin mayor Ikrimah Samara.
He said the fire engulfed about 150 dunums of Palestinian land adjacent to the settlement of Brukhin.
One of the land owners told WAFA that a number of Palestinian farmers saw a group of settlers in the area the moment the fire occured. The settlers were seen leaving the area and returning to the settlement after residents and farmers arrived in the area to put out the fire.
Samara said that settlers, a few days ago, burnt 120 dunums of land and about 45 decades-old olive trees adjacent to Ariel, an industrial area in Salfit.
The settlement of Brukhin is one of the settlement outposts which has become with time, and with the expansion of settlements, a large one at the expense of lands that belong to several Palestinian families. It is composed of more than 80 houses.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17753
Settlers Brawl with Palestinians near Qalqiliya, Israeli Troops Arrest Three near Jenin
On Thursday morning, Israeli settlers from Kedumim settlement assaulted Palestinian citizens from the village of al-Jeet, near the central West Bank city of Qalqilya, while they were picking olives.
A spokesman from the “We Will Not Die in Silence” campaign, which says it aims to defend Palestinians against settler attacks, said the settlers threw rocks and were protected by the Israeli army.
Campaign members rushed to the village to help the Palestinians and a brawl developed. “We Will Not Die in Silence” told locals to report any further abuse from the settlers.
In other news, the Israeli army arrested three men from the same family in Qabatya village, south of Jenin, on early Thursday morning. According to a source in the PA, Israeli forces stormed the village, raided the houses of Rami Abdullateef Zakarneh, 24, Shadi Zakarneh, 25, and Samer Zakarneh, also 25.
Settlers 'attack Palestinian near Nablus'
A Palestinian man was moderately injured on Wednesday as a group of Israeli settlers attacked farmers in the Jit village near Nablus, witnesses said.
The settlers were armed and they damaged farmland in the village, residents said. They also attacked a Palestinian resident while he was picking olives, they said.
The unidentified man was taken to hospital for treatment of moderate injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428750
50 thousand settlers will desecrate the Ibarahimi Mosque
The Israeli occupation forces are preparing for the protection of tens of thousands of Jewish settlers expected to head to the Ibrahimi Mosque during the Sukkot Jewish festival over the coming few days.
Israel National News said on Wednesday that the IOF deployed soldiers inside the city of al-Khalil with the aim of protecting 50 thousand Jews expected to visit the city during Sukkot festival.
The source added that as well as visiting the “Cave of the Patriarchs”, the name given to the Ibrahimi Mosque by Jews, the crowds aim to tour the city and visit the Qasaba and what they claim to be the tomb of Otni'el Ben Kenaz.
According to a military statement, hundreds of troops will be deployed in the southern West Bank city and control the traffic and pedestrian flow through the streets. Roadblocks have already been setup and military police and medical teams have also been reinforced.
The statement also said that there are fears that clashes between the settlers and the Palestinian residents of the city might take place and expect casualties in large numbers if such clashes occur.
The statement further said that the numbers expected to head to the Ibrahimi Mosque will exceed last year’s numbers by a few thousand.
Jewish Extremists Destroy Tombstones in Historical Cemetery in Jerusalem
Al -Aqsa Institute for Waqf and Heritage revealed Thursday that a number of Jewish extremists set fire to a large tree and destroyed about fifteen graves in ‘Ma’man Allah’ historical cemetery in East Jerusalem, according to a press release by the institue.
It said that during its delegation’s inspection tour to the cemetery, they found out that a large cypress tree, located in the south west side of the remainder of the cemetery, not far from the part where they plan to build the so-called 'Museum of Tolerance', was burned completely, and residual effects on the site indicate that the arson took place overnight.
The delegation also revealed the destruction of about fifteen tomb stones or parts of the graves in different parts of the cemetery.
The institute asserted that it is clear that this destruction is new, in addition to the dozens of other graves that have been destroyed before. Russian slogans, which their meanings are unknown, were found on some of the graves.
A trustee of the cemetery, al-Hajj Sami Rizq Allah Abu Mukh, condemned these crimes, saying, “This is an ugly attack against the sanctity of Ma’man Allah cemetery. It is not the first and it won’t be the last, because the Israeli institution in reality does not pursue those who carry out such criminal acts.”
“The official Israeli institution is responsible for the consecutive and frequent crimes against sanctuaries and endowments.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17764
12 oct 2011
Settlers grab more land in Salfit and install mobile homes
Jewish settlers continue to grab Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. Israeli occupation bulldozers levelled agricultural fields in between the villages of Eskaka and Yasuf to east of Salfit in the northern West Bank to expand a settlement outpost there.
Nabil Haris, the head of Eskaka village council, said the bulldozers prepared the land between the villages of Eskaka and Yasuf, then large caravans carried on lories were brought to the area to set them up for settlers.
He added that until Tuesday evening four caravans were brought in and that more of the village land is now under threat of confiscation.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the formation of a legal panel to examine ways to legalise settlement-outposts in the Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. Justice Minister Yaakov Neema will set up a task force consisting of a number of legal experts to explore the possibility of legalising those settlements in the West Bank and various parts of occupied Jerusalem which are not at present recognised by the Israeli government.
According to Haaretz Netanyahu's move "was a result of significant pressure" from settlers and a number of ministers within his own Likud Party. One Israeli politician told the newspaper that the task force could "provide a pretext" for postponing the demolition of the settlements which are considered illegal under Israeli law.
All Israeli settlements are considered by international law to be illegal, whereas Israel recognises some and not others.
11 oct 2011
Settlers chase woman with wild boar, causing both her legs to break
Early Thursday morning, a Palestinian woman in Beit Furik was picking olives when a settler began to chase her, and set loose a wild boar after her, causing her to fall and suffer broken bones in both her legs.
Muhaya Khatatba was in her olive groves with her two sons, aged 14 and 17 years old, when a settler descended from above the hill and began to chase her. “I was with my kids picking olives, when a settler saw us, and took advantage of us the fact that we were all alone.” Then the settler released a wild boar after her. She beckoned to her boys to run ahead of her, and as she ran, she tripped on some rocks and broke her leg. She struggled to begin running again, using one leg, and fell again, breaking the other leg. Unable to stand, her boys ran back to pick her up and ran with her to meet other villagers. She broke one leg in three places, and the other leg at the ankle.
Khatatba says that when she saw the settlers she was very frightened because of the violent attacks on residents of Beit Furik in the past few years. “But the fear I felt for myself is nothing compared to the fear I felt for my sons,” she says. “And I’m not concerned only for myself, but for all the people of Bait Furiq. They can’t go to their olives. We want a permanent solution. We want someone to stand by us.” Khatatba is only thirty-five years old. Her husband cannot join them in the harvest because he is obliged to a full time job. She has never gone into her trees without permission from the Israeli authorities, and Thursday was one of the four days she was permitted. Now her permission time has run out despite that many olive trees are left.
Beit Furik is very close to the Itamar settlement, considered illegal by international law. Itamar has a wide history of brutal attacks and harrassment to the native Palestinian population around them. The settlement was formed in 1984 and has grown from 300 residents to over 1000.
In the past, settlers have reportedly damaged Palestinian property, obstructed access to their farm land, stolen olives, attacked, and even shot at local Palestinians. For example, the murder of a Palestinian taxi driver who was shot and killed by an Itamar resident in 2004, or the murders of 3 Palestinians in their home in 2007, including a 10-week old infant. In both cases, the settlers who committed the crimes did not serve time in prison.
http://fwd4.me/12uF
Israelis burn 100 trees near Bethlehem
Israeli settlers have burned more than 100 olive and fig trees on farmland near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, witnesses say.
The incident took place on Tuesday in the Palestinian village of Nahalin, which is located southwest of Bethlehem, AFP reported.
Osama Shakarna, the head of the Nahalin council, said two settlers burned lands in Matabekh area, northwest of the village.
Israeli officials made no immediate comment on the incident, which occurred one day after the beginning of the olive harvest.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office called on Israel on Tuesday to stop settlers from attacking Palestinians.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, criticized the uprooting of 200 olive trees in the West Bank village of Qusra on October 6, and the fatal shooting of a Palestinian by an Israeli soldier and the beating of two Palestinian minors detained by Israeli troops in the village in September.
Colville said the rise in attacks since the beginning of September was “emblematic of the phenomenon of settler violence throughout the West Bank.”
Olive cultivation and its related businesses in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, have been severely damaged due to Israeli attacks.
Hundreds of olive trees have been uprooted and mosques have been attacked by the Israeli settlers over the past few weeks.
Israeli soldiers have several times clashed with the settlers, who describe their actions as the “price tag” for the “unfair” Israeli policies.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/204014.html
Settlers storm al-Aqsa, IOF closes Silwan for Jewish festivities
A large group of settlers, under the heavy protection of IOF troops, stormed the Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning and provocatively toured the plazas of the Mosque.
The Aqsa Mosque guards said that the storming started about 7:00 am when settlers started entering the Aqsa Mosque compound in small groups and touring the holy site, in response to calls made by settlers leaders and extremist Jewish groups which stressed the importance of participating in what it called “raids to salvage the temple mount from the hands of the Muslims.”
At the same time, the IOF started closing the main entrances to the Silwan Jerusalem suburb, to the south of the Aqsa Mosque and deployed large numbers of troops in preparation for the Jewish Sukkot festival which lasts for seven days.
Silwan had witnessed clashes between local youth and IOF troops Monday night which lasted to a late hour.
Settlers stop Palestinian families from visiting captive in Shatta jail
A group of Jewish settlers calling themselves organise under “the struggle to free Gilad Shalit” stopped on Tuesday morning a coach transporting Palestinian families from the West Bank to visit their loved in Shatta jail, near the city of Bisan in north Palestine.
Israeli radio said that more than thirty settlers stopped the coach and handed leaflets to those families saying that if they should be allowed to visit their imprisoned relatives then Gilad Shalit should be allowed visits too.”
The coach was then was forced to turn back to the West Bank.
On previous occasions, settlers attacked coaches carrying Palestinians on their way to visit relatives in Israeli occupation jails.
Israel uses 'excessive force' in West Bank
Israeli security forces escorting settlers into West Bank villages appear to have used excessive force against Palestinians, the UN human rights office said Tuesday.
The global body called on Israel to protect Palestinians and investigate a surge of attacks by Israeli settlers against civilians in the West Bank, particularly in the village of Qusra, near Nablus.
The village had been "targeted by settlers" at least six times in six weeks, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian civilian in Qusra on Sept. 23 during clashes between Palestinians and settlers in which six Palestinians were also injured, he told a news briefing.
"We do have particular concerns about the way the IDF operates in circumstances, particularly in those surrounding this particular village ... They seem to be very quick to resort to excessive force when it comes to the Palestinians and not to restrain the settlers," Colville said.
On the same day as the shooting, two Palestinian minors were detained for two hours and were allegedly beaten and humiliated by soldiers before being released, he said.
On Oct. 6, Palestinians from Qusra discovered at least 200 trees belonging to four families had been cut down, depriving them of their main source of income, he added.
"The accountability for settler violence against Palestinians is less than adequate let's say and certainly not comparable to the reverse cases. When Palestinians attack settlers there's always very, very strong reaction," Colville said.
Israeli police on Sunday said they arrested a second suspect following an arson attack on a mosque blamed on a pro-settler militant group known by its slogan "price tag".
Israel named a special task force to investigate last week's blaze in the Israeli Arab village of Tuba-Zangariya, amid fears it may exacerbate tensions with Palestinians.
The "Price-Taggers", also blamed for other assaults on mosques, have said they want to avenge the killing of settlers, and protest against Israeli efforts to remove unauthorized settlement outposts built on land Palestinians want for a state.
The violence has coincided with rising tensions over an application for statehood on West Bank land Israel captured in a 1967 war, filed at the UN Security Council last month, despite objections by Israel and the United States.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due to issue a report in coming days on Israeli settlements, which addresses the lack of accountability for settler violence, said Colville.
"We call on the Government of Israel to fulfill its obligation under international human rights and international humanitarian law to protect Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory," he said.
"More needs to be done to effectively prevent attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and, when they do occur, they should be properly investigated by the Israeli authorities," he said. Victims should be compensated, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428289
Family plagued by settler violence door CNN_International
Israeli forces blocked villagers in Nablus from harvesting olives on lands near Israeli settlements on Friday, locals told Ma'an.
Israeli troops told harvesters in Qaryut and Azmut villages that security coordination had expired and blocked them from picking olives, a Ma'an correspondent said.
International activists accompanying farmers said forces told them in nearby village Burin that the area was a closed military zone and shut down the harvest.
"There are dozens of olives on the top of the hill (near the Israel settlement of Yitzhar)," one activist said, "but villagers were only given four days permission to do two weeks' work."
Ghassan Doughlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said Israeli settlers came into olive groves in Azmut, north of Nablus, and Jit to the east.
Settlers clashed with locals as they tried to harvest olives, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429172
Rabin memorial trashed in prisoner deal protest
A monument commemorating Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was defaced early on Friday, in an apparent protest against the upcoming release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier.
White paint was spilled over the monument, and the words "price tag" and "free Yigal Amir," Rabin's convicted assassin, were sprayed on the monument and on a near by wall.
"Price Tag" is typically the calling-card slogan used by militant Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and their supporters.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli who sprayed the slogans said his parents were killed in a Palestinian suicide attack and that his motive for the vandalism is his objection to the prisoner swap deal agreed upon by Israel and Hamas.
The vandal, named in Israeli media as Shvuel Schijveschuurder, was detained by Tel Aviv municipality security personnel.
Israeli police did not confirm his identity, but said the suspect's parents were killed in a Jerusalem pizzeria suicide bombing in 2001.
"His parents were killed in the bombing and he was apparently protesting against the prisoner exchange. He is still being questioned," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
According to the prisoner exchange deal, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed from five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip next week in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The deal, over three years in the making and a casualty of at least two breakdowns, was finally brokered last week with Egyptian mediation between Israel and Hamas.
While most Israelis welcomed the prisoner swap, many family members of Israelis killed by those slated for release voiced objection to the swap.
Several lists of prisoners set to be freed are being circulated, but the Gaza ministry of prisoners affairs says none of them are entirely accurate.
The Israel Prisons Authority web site will release a full list late on Saturday or early Sunday, its says, after which there will be a 48-hour period during which the Supreme Court can hear legal objections.
Families of the Israeli victims have said they will protest, but this is not expected to halt the swap, which has broad political and public support in Israel.
Israeli police are investigating the vandalism of the Rabin memorial, which stands on the spot where he was assassinated in 1995 by Yigal Amir, an Israeli radical opposed to his brokering of the Oslo Accords which established limited Palestinian self-rule.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429167
13 oct 2011
Settlers Attack School, Forcing Students to Study at Checkpoint
On Tuesday, after a settlers attack on Qurtuba Girls’ School in Hebron, students were forced to continue their studies at the nearby Israeli checkpoint. This is the third day the students have been forbidden to enter the school.
School janitor Mohamad Zaloum told Palestinian state-run news wire Wafa that a group of settlers threw stones and empty bottles. Zaloum said he tried to stop them, but they beat him.
School principal Ibtisam al-Jundi said that the Israeli forces are still forbidding faculty and students from entering the school under the pretext that no citizen is to pass without a thorough inspection at the electronic doors at the entrance to the settlement.
“We refused this decision, so the teachers lecture their students on the side of the road in front of the checkpoint,” said al-Jundi, referring to the Shuhada Street checkpoint at the entrance to the illegal Israeli settlement inside Hebron.
Wafa sources in Hebron said that Israeli soldiers tried to prevent journalists from approaching the school, pointing out that peace workers from the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) were allowed to visit the school.
Extremist Jews Beat Palestinian Teenager in Jerusalem
Extremist Jews Thursday severely beat a Palestinian teenager, Mohammad Maghribi, 15, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Musrara, according to a WAFA reporter.
He said that extremist Jews severely beat Maghribi all over his body, when an Israeli police car arrived at the scene but did not arrest any of them. Maghribi was transferred to hospital where his condition was described as moderate.
To be noted, areas in West Jerusalem are recently witnessing a major escalation of Jewish attacks on Palestinian residents, particularly those who work in the western part of the city.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17754
Settlers Set Fire to 300 Olive Trees in Bruqin
Jewish settlers from the settlement of Brukhin Thursday set fire to about 300 olive trees in the town of Bruqin, in the northern West Bank, according to Bruqin mayor Ikrimah Samara.
He said the fire engulfed about 150 dunums of Palestinian land adjacent to the settlement of Brukhin.
One of the land owners told WAFA that a number of Palestinian farmers saw a group of settlers in the area the moment the fire occured. The settlers were seen leaving the area and returning to the settlement after residents and farmers arrived in the area to put out the fire.
Samara said that settlers, a few days ago, burnt 120 dunums of land and about 45 decades-old olive trees adjacent to Ariel, an industrial area in Salfit.
The settlement of Brukhin is one of the settlement outposts which has become with time, and with the expansion of settlements, a large one at the expense of lands that belong to several Palestinian families. It is composed of more than 80 houses.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17753
Settlers Brawl with Palestinians near Qalqiliya, Israeli Troops Arrest Three near Jenin
On Thursday morning, Israeli settlers from Kedumim settlement assaulted Palestinian citizens from the village of al-Jeet, near the central West Bank city of Qalqilya, while they were picking olives.
A spokesman from the “We Will Not Die in Silence” campaign, which says it aims to defend Palestinians against settler attacks, said the settlers threw rocks and were protected by the Israeli army.
Campaign members rushed to the village to help the Palestinians and a brawl developed. “We Will Not Die in Silence” told locals to report any further abuse from the settlers.
In other news, the Israeli army arrested three men from the same family in Qabatya village, south of Jenin, on early Thursday morning. According to a source in the PA, Israeli forces stormed the village, raided the houses of Rami Abdullateef Zakarneh, 24, Shadi Zakarneh, 25, and Samer Zakarneh, also 25.
Settlers 'attack Palestinian near Nablus'
A Palestinian man was moderately injured on Wednesday as a group of Israeli settlers attacked farmers in the Jit village near Nablus, witnesses said.
The settlers were armed and they damaged farmland in the village, residents said. They also attacked a Palestinian resident while he was picking olives, they said.
The unidentified man was taken to hospital for treatment of moderate injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428750
50 thousand settlers will desecrate the Ibarahimi Mosque
The Israeli occupation forces are preparing for the protection of tens of thousands of Jewish settlers expected to head to the Ibrahimi Mosque during the Sukkot Jewish festival over the coming few days.
Israel National News said on Wednesday that the IOF deployed soldiers inside the city of al-Khalil with the aim of protecting 50 thousand Jews expected to visit the city during Sukkot festival.
The source added that as well as visiting the “Cave of the Patriarchs”, the name given to the Ibrahimi Mosque by Jews, the crowds aim to tour the city and visit the Qasaba and what they claim to be the tomb of Otni'el Ben Kenaz.
According to a military statement, hundreds of troops will be deployed in the southern West Bank city and control the traffic and pedestrian flow through the streets. Roadblocks have already been setup and military police and medical teams have also been reinforced.
The statement also said that there are fears that clashes between the settlers and the Palestinian residents of the city might take place and expect casualties in large numbers if such clashes occur.
The statement further said that the numbers expected to head to the Ibrahimi Mosque will exceed last year’s numbers by a few thousand.
Jewish Extremists Destroy Tombstones in Historical Cemetery in Jerusalem
Al -Aqsa Institute for Waqf and Heritage revealed Thursday that a number of Jewish extremists set fire to a large tree and destroyed about fifteen graves in ‘Ma’man Allah’ historical cemetery in East Jerusalem, according to a press release by the institue.
It said that during its delegation’s inspection tour to the cemetery, they found out that a large cypress tree, located in the south west side of the remainder of the cemetery, not far from the part where they plan to build the so-called 'Museum of Tolerance', was burned completely, and residual effects on the site indicate that the arson took place overnight.
The delegation also revealed the destruction of about fifteen tomb stones or parts of the graves in different parts of the cemetery.
The institute asserted that it is clear that this destruction is new, in addition to the dozens of other graves that have been destroyed before. Russian slogans, which their meanings are unknown, were found on some of the graves.
A trustee of the cemetery, al-Hajj Sami Rizq Allah Abu Mukh, condemned these crimes, saying, “This is an ugly attack against the sanctity of Ma’man Allah cemetery. It is not the first and it won’t be the last, because the Israeli institution in reality does not pursue those who carry out such criminal acts.”
“The official Israeli institution is responsible for the consecutive and frequent crimes against sanctuaries and endowments.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17764
12 oct 2011
Settlers grab more land in Salfit and install mobile homes
Jewish settlers continue to grab Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. Israeli occupation bulldozers levelled agricultural fields in between the villages of Eskaka and Yasuf to east of Salfit in the northern West Bank to expand a settlement outpost there.
Nabil Haris, the head of Eskaka village council, said the bulldozers prepared the land between the villages of Eskaka and Yasuf, then large caravans carried on lories were brought to the area to set them up for settlers.
He added that until Tuesday evening four caravans were brought in and that more of the village land is now under threat of confiscation.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the formation of a legal panel to examine ways to legalise settlement-outposts in the Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. Justice Minister Yaakov Neema will set up a task force consisting of a number of legal experts to explore the possibility of legalising those settlements in the West Bank and various parts of occupied Jerusalem which are not at present recognised by the Israeli government.
According to Haaretz Netanyahu's move "was a result of significant pressure" from settlers and a number of ministers within his own Likud Party. One Israeli politician told the newspaper that the task force could "provide a pretext" for postponing the demolition of the settlements which are considered illegal under Israeli law.
All Israeli settlements are considered by international law to be illegal, whereas Israel recognises some and not others.
11 oct 2011
Settlers chase woman with wild boar, causing both her legs to break
Early Thursday morning, a Palestinian woman in Beit Furik was picking olives when a settler began to chase her, and set loose a wild boar after her, causing her to fall and suffer broken bones in both her legs.
Muhaya Khatatba was in her olive groves with her two sons, aged 14 and 17 years old, when a settler descended from above the hill and began to chase her. “I was with my kids picking olives, when a settler saw us, and took advantage of us the fact that we were all alone.” Then the settler released a wild boar after her. She beckoned to her boys to run ahead of her, and as she ran, she tripped on some rocks and broke her leg. She struggled to begin running again, using one leg, and fell again, breaking the other leg. Unable to stand, her boys ran back to pick her up and ran with her to meet other villagers. She broke one leg in three places, and the other leg at the ankle.
Khatatba says that when she saw the settlers she was very frightened because of the violent attacks on residents of Beit Furik in the past few years. “But the fear I felt for myself is nothing compared to the fear I felt for my sons,” she says. “And I’m not concerned only for myself, but for all the people of Bait Furiq. They can’t go to their olives. We want a permanent solution. We want someone to stand by us.” Khatatba is only thirty-five years old. Her husband cannot join them in the harvest because he is obliged to a full time job. She has never gone into her trees without permission from the Israeli authorities, and Thursday was one of the four days she was permitted. Now her permission time has run out despite that many olive trees are left.
Beit Furik is very close to the Itamar settlement, considered illegal by international law. Itamar has a wide history of brutal attacks and harrassment to the native Palestinian population around them. The settlement was formed in 1984 and has grown from 300 residents to over 1000.
In the past, settlers have reportedly damaged Palestinian property, obstructed access to their farm land, stolen olives, attacked, and even shot at local Palestinians. For example, the murder of a Palestinian taxi driver who was shot and killed by an Itamar resident in 2004, or the murders of 3 Palestinians in their home in 2007, including a 10-week old infant. In both cases, the settlers who committed the crimes did not serve time in prison.
http://fwd4.me/12uF
Israelis burn 100 trees near Bethlehem
Israeli settlers have burned more than 100 olive and fig trees on farmland near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, witnesses say.
The incident took place on Tuesday in the Palestinian village of Nahalin, which is located southwest of Bethlehem, AFP reported.
Osama Shakarna, the head of the Nahalin council, said two settlers burned lands in Matabekh area, northwest of the village.
Israeli officials made no immediate comment on the incident, which occurred one day after the beginning of the olive harvest.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office called on Israel on Tuesday to stop settlers from attacking Palestinians.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, criticized the uprooting of 200 olive trees in the West Bank village of Qusra on October 6, and the fatal shooting of a Palestinian by an Israeli soldier and the beating of two Palestinian minors detained by Israeli troops in the village in September.
Colville said the rise in attacks since the beginning of September was “emblematic of the phenomenon of settler violence throughout the West Bank.”
Olive cultivation and its related businesses in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, have been severely damaged due to Israeli attacks.
Hundreds of olive trees have been uprooted and mosques have been attacked by the Israeli settlers over the past few weeks.
Israeli soldiers have several times clashed with the settlers, who describe their actions as the “price tag” for the “unfair” Israeli policies.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/204014.html
Settlers storm al-Aqsa, IOF closes Silwan for Jewish festivities
A large group of settlers, under the heavy protection of IOF troops, stormed the Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning and provocatively toured the plazas of the Mosque.
The Aqsa Mosque guards said that the storming started about 7:00 am when settlers started entering the Aqsa Mosque compound in small groups and touring the holy site, in response to calls made by settlers leaders and extremist Jewish groups which stressed the importance of participating in what it called “raids to salvage the temple mount from the hands of the Muslims.”
At the same time, the IOF started closing the main entrances to the Silwan Jerusalem suburb, to the south of the Aqsa Mosque and deployed large numbers of troops in preparation for the Jewish Sukkot festival which lasts for seven days.
Silwan had witnessed clashes between local youth and IOF troops Monday night which lasted to a late hour.
Settlers stop Palestinian families from visiting captive in Shatta jail
A group of Jewish settlers calling themselves organise under “the struggle to free Gilad Shalit” stopped on Tuesday morning a coach transporting Palestinian families from the West Bank to visit their loved in Shatta jail, near the city of Bisan in north Palestine.
Israeli radio said that more than thirty settlers stopped the coach and handed leaflets to those families saying that if they should be allowed to visit their imprisoned relatives then Gilad Shalit should be allowed visits too.”
The coach was then was forced to turn back to the West Bank.
On previous occasions, settlers attacked coaches carrying Palestinians on their way to visit relatives in Israeli occupation jails.
Israel uses 'excessive force' in West Bank
Israeli security forces escorting settlers into West Bank villages appear to have used excessive force against Palestinians, the UN human rights office said Tuesday.
The global body called on Israel to protect Palestinians and investigate a surge of attacks by Israeli settlers against civilians in the West Bank, particularly in the village of Qusra, near Nablus.
The village had been "targeted by settlers" at least six times in six weeks, said Rupert Colville, spokesman for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian civilian in Qusra on Sept. 23 during clashes between Palestinians and settlers in which six Palestinians were also injured, he told a news briefing.
"We do have particular concerns about the way the IDF operates in circumstances, particularly in those surrounding this particular village ... They seem to be very quick to resort to excessive force when it comes to the Palestinians and not to restrain the settlers," Colville said.
On the same day as the shooting, two Palestinian minors were detained for two hours and were allegedly beaten and humiliated by soldiers before being released, he said.
On Oct. 6, Palestinians from Qusra discovered at least 200 trees belonging to four families had been cut down, depriving them of their main source of income, he added.
"The accountability for settler violence against Palestinians is less than adequate let's say and certainly not comparable to the reverse cases. When Palestinians attack settlers there's always very, very strong reaction," Colville said.
Israeli police on Sunday said they arrested a second suspect following an arson attack on a mosque blamed on a pro-settler militant group known by its slogan "price tag".
Israel named a special task force to investigate last week's blaze in the Israeli Arab village of Tuba-Zangariya, amid fears it may exacerbate tensions with Palestinians.
The "Price-Taggers", also blamed for other assaults on mosques, have said they want to avenge the killing of settlers, and protest against Israeli efforts to remove unauthorized settlement outposts built on land Palestinians want for a state.
The violence has coincided with rising tensions over an application for statehood on West Bank land Israel captured in a 1967 war, filed at the UN Security Council last month, despite objections by Israel and the United States.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due to issue a report in coming days on Israeli settlements, which addresses the lack of accountability for settler violence, said Colville.
"We call on the Government of Israel to fulfill its obligation under international human rights and international humanitarian law to protect Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied Palestinian territory," he said.
"More needs to be done to effectively prevent attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and, when they do occur, they should be properly investigated by the Israeli authorities," he said. Victims should be compensated, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428289
Family plagued by settler violence door CNN_International
10 oct 2011
Settlers attack olive harvesters in Nablus district
Jewish settlers attacked on Monday morning Palestinians harvesting olives in the village of Azmout to the east of Nablus, while Palestinian farmers in Nablus district have appealed for protection from settler attacks.
Local sources reported that dozens of settlers from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh which built on land confiscated from Palestinians east of Nablus, attacked Palestinian families harvesting their olive crop from their olive groves and tried to stop them from continuing with the harvesting.
The sources added that fist fights between the Palestinian farmers and the settlers ensued and farmers refused to leave their fields and insisted on continuing with their harvesting.
The settlers have recently launched a campaign of attacks on Palestinian villages and olive groves, especially in the Nablus area, on the eve of the olive harvesting season which starts early October.
Meanwhile, Palestinian villagers to the south of Nablus have appealed for protection during the season so that they can harvest their olive crop without being attacked by Jewish settlers or the wild hogs the settlers release into Palestinian farms.
A Palestinian woman was injured in the village of Awarta to the south of Nablus when she was suddenly attacked by a wild hog while harvesting olives.
A number of settler attacks have taken place lately on those villages to the south of Nablus in the form of burning and breaking trees, attacking farmers and stealing their harvest.
Jewish settlers torch 20 Palestinian dunums of olive trees
Palestinian fire fighters managed on Monday morning to put off a huge fire that was blazing in 20 dunums of Palestinian olive farmland in Orta village, south of Nablus, a statement for the fire brigades said.
It noted that Jewish settlers had started the fire late on Sunday night, adding that many olive trees were damaged in addition to a reporter’s car, which was intentionally targeted by those settlers.
Ghassan Daghlas, in-charge of monitoring Jewish settlement activity in northern West Bank areas, said that the farmers in Orta and Yanun villages decided to delay the reaping of their olive crops this year due to the escalating settlers’ attacks.
Tens of those fanatic settlers attacked farmers in Azmut village to the east of Nablus city on Monday morning while reaping their olive harvest.
Eyewitnesses said that the settlers came from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh, adding that the farmers refused to leave their land and engaged the settlers in fistfights to ascertain their right to reaping their harvest.
In a similar incident south of Al-Khalil, Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and stole what they had collected of olives.
Local sources said that the settlers used batons and sharp tools to attack the farmers and fired in the air to terrorize them, adding that Israeli occupation troops arrived to the scene and chased Palestinian youths at the pretext of throwing stones at the settlers and arrested two minors.
9 oct 2011
Jewish settlers vow killing field
With the world expressing support for a Palestinian state, Jewish settlers in the West Bank promise rivers of blood in revenge attacks, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah.
Jewish settlers indoctrinated in extremist Talmudic theology have threatened to transform the West Bank into a huge killing field.
Reacting to seemingly successful Palestinian efforts to obtain international backing for a prospective Palestinian state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967, some settler leaders warned that they would transform Palestinian population centres into another Srebrenica.
In 1995, Serb soldiers carried out a genocide in the Bosnian city where as many as 8000 men and boys were massacred in cold blood.
Settler leaders, who are effectively backed by the Israeli government and army, have made numerous statements of late threatening to slaughter Palestinians in case the United Nations recognises Palestine as a state or grants enhanced membership status to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The settlers are not making empty threats. Para-military Jewish terrorists, known as the Hilltop Youth, have embarked on a campaign of murder and terror in various parts of the West Bank, setting Palestinian olive groves on fire, torching mosques and killing innocent Palestinians.
Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, an extremist Talmudic sage, was quoted this week as calling for "collective punishment" of Palestinians. He reiterated an erstwhile incendiary Talmudic edict stating that even Gentiles' children can be killed in time war, "because there are no innocents in war."
The same rabbi endorsed a recent Hebrew book calling for murdering the "children of the enemy", especially in time of war.
In 1994, the elderly rabbi wholeheartedly embraced the massacre carried out by an American-Jewish terrorist, Baruch Goldstein, in which hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, who were praying at Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron, were killed and injured.
The rabbi praised the murderer as a great saint and hero. The same rabbi has tens of thousands of faithful followers and supporters and is believed to be feared by the Israel political establishment.
On 24 September, settlers and crack Israeli soldiers shot and murdered an unarmed Palestinian father of five children at the village of Qusra near Nablus. Eyewitnesses described the killing of Isam Badran, 37, as cold-blooded murder.
Settlers attack olive harvesters in Nablus district
Jewish settlers attacked on Monday morning Palestinians harvesting olives in the village of Azmout to the east of Nablus, while Palestinian farmers in Nablus district have appealed for protection from settler attacks.
Local sources reported that dozens of settlers from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh which built on land confiscated from Palestinians east of Nablus, attacked Palestinian families harvesting their olive crop from their olive groves and tried to stop them from continuing with the harvesting.
The sources added that fist fights between the Palestinian farmers and the settlers ensued and farmers refused to leave their fields and insisted on continuing with their harvesting.
The settlers have recently launched a campaign of attacks on Palestinian villages and olive groves, especially in the Nablus area, on the eve of the olive harvesting season which starts early October.
Meanwhile, Palestinian villagers to the south of Nablus have appealed for protection during the season so that they can harvest their olive crop without being attacked by Jewish settlers or the wild hogs the settlers release into Palestinian farms.
A Palestinian woman was injured in the village of Awarta to the south of Nablus when she was suddenly attacked by a wild hog while harvesting olives.
A number of settler attacks have taken place lately on those villages to the south of Nablus in the form of burning and breaking trees, attacking farmers and stealing their harvest.
Jewish settlers torch 20 Palestinian dunums of olive trees
Palestinian fire fighters managed on Monday morning to put off a huge fire that was blazing in 20 dunums of Palestinian olive farmland in Orta village, south of Nablus, a statement for the fire brigades said.
It noted that Jewish settlers had started the fire late on Sunday night, adding that many olive trees were damaged in addition to a reporter’s car, which was intentionally targeted by those settlers.
Ghassan Daghlas, in-charge of monitoring Jewish settlement activity in northern West Bank areas, said that the farmers in Orta and Yanun villages decided to delay the reaping of their olive crops this year due to the escalating settlers’ attacks.
Tens of those fanatic settlers attacked farmers in Azmut village to the east of Nablus city on Monday morning while reaping their olive harvest.
Eyewitnesses said that the settlers came from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh, adding that the farmers refused to leave their land and engaged the settlers in fistfights to ascertain their right to reaping their harvest.
In a similar incident south of Al-Khalil, Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and stole what they had collected of olives.
Local sources said that the settlers used batons and sharp tools to attack the farmers and fired in the air to terrorize them, adding that Israeli occupation troops arrived to the scene and chased Palestinian youths at the pretext of throwing stones at the settlers and arrested two minors.
9 oct 2011
Jewish settlers vow killing field
With the world expressing support for a Palestinian state, Jewish settlers in the West Bank promise rivers of blood in revenge attacks, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah.
Jewish settlers indoctrinated in extremist Talmudic theology have threatened to transform the West Bank into a huge killing field.
Reacting to seemingly successful Palestinian efforts to obtain international backing for a prospective Palestinian state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967, some settler leaders warned that they would transform Palestinian population centres into another Srebrenica.
In 1995, Serb soldiers carried out a genocide in the Bosnian city where as many as 8000 men and boys were massacred in cold blood.
Settler leaders, who are effectively backed by the Israeli government and army, have made numerous statements of late threatening to slaughter Palestinians in case the United Nations recognises Palestine as a state or grants enhanced membership status to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The settlers are not making empty threats. Para-military Jewish terrorists, known as the Hilltop Youth, have embarked on a campaign of murder and terror in various parts of the West Bank, setting Palestinian olive groves on fire, torching mosques and killing innocent Palestinians.
Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, an extremist Talmudic sage, was quoted this week as calling for "collective punishment" of Palestinians. He reiterated an erstwhile incendiary Talmudic edict stating that even Gentiles' children can be killed in time war, "because there are no innocents in war."
The same rabbi endorsed a recent Hebrew book calling for murdering the "children of the enemy", especially in time of war.
In 1994, the elderly rabbi wholeheartedly embraced the massacre carried out by an American-Jewish terrorist, Baruch Goldstein, in which hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, who were praying at Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron, were killed and injured.
The rabbi praised the murderer as a great saint and hero. The same rabbi has tens of thousands of faithful followers and supporters and is believed to be feared by the Israel political establishment.
On 24 September, settlers and crack Israeli soldiers shot and murdered an unarmed Palestinian father of five children at the village of Qusra near Nablus. Eyewitnesses described the killing of Isam Badran, 37, as cold-blooded murder.
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According to the head of the Qusra village council, Abdel-Azim Wadieh, marauding settlers, heavily armed, stormed the village in an effort to torch olive orchards. "But when the locals tried to defend their trees, Israeli soldiers who were looking on passively intervened promptly and started shooting on our people."
Wadieh said dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the village at a later hour and started shooting in all directions, apparently to terrorise inhabitants. All in all, one Palestinian was murdered, seven sustained gunshot wounds ranging in severity from mild to serious, and several other people were arrested. Two weeks ago, the main village mosque was badly damaged when Jewish terrorists set its interior on fire. The burning of mosques in the West Bank |
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settlers has assumed phenomenal proportions of late, with the
Israeli army and government failing to arrest a single perpetrator.
Observers in the West Bank are convinced that settler terrorist gangs have "moles" and "insiders" within the Israeli occupation army throughout the occupied territories, which allows the terrorists to commit acts of terror and vandalism against Palestinians without getting caught.
In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian man who sustained a very serious injury. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers urged the Israeli army to shoot and kill Palestinians following an apparent traffic accident in which two settlers were killed on Friday, 23 September.
Settlers claimed the accident happened when stones were hurled on a car by Palestinians. The Israeli army issued conflicting reports on the accident. Palestinian sources quoted eyewitnesses as testifying that the settler car overturned as a result of high speed and that no Palestinians were in the vicinity of the accident when it occurred.
Earlier, a settler driver ran over a Palestinian child not far from the spot where the accident happened. The child, Farid Jaber, aged eight, succumbed to his injuries on Monday. Palestinian sources reported that there was a general feeling among Palestinians in the area that settlers deliberately run over Palestinian pedestrians and then report the assault as a traffic accident.
Most, if not all, settlers are indoctrinated in a virulent religious ideology that advocates the physical annihilation of non-Jews living under Jewish rule. According to this ideology, even pacified and "law-abiding" Gentiles must be enslaved as "water carriers and wood cutters" in the service of the master race.
In recent years, numerous settler leaders elucidated their fascist ideology vis-Ã-vis the Palestinians. They quoted "edicts" from ancient Talmudic texts that -- if applied -- would force millions of Palestinians to choose between enslavement by Jews, violent expulsion or physical extermination.
Settlers, who follow the ideology of religious Zionism, believe that the life of a non-Jew has no sanctity and that a Jew may even murder a non-Jew without the slightest compunction. Some rabbinic authorities go as far as permitting a Jew to murder a non-Jew in order to extract the victim's vital organs if the Jew needs them.
Several decades ago, the ideology of Gush Emunim, also known as Zionist Messianism, was marginal among the overall Jewish population. However, the ideology looks now to be a mainstream trend as Israeli Jewish society continues to drift towards open fascism.
A few months ago, the spiritual leader of Shas, the powerful political party and kingmaker representing Jews from Arab and Muslim states claimed during a Sabbath eve homily that the status of non-Jews in general is similar to that of beasts of burden and that the Almighty created non-Jews, including Christian supporters of Israel, solely to serve Jews.
The Palestinian Authority, which has at its disposable tens of thousands of security personnel, has failed to protect Palestinian citizens, especially in villages and hamlets located in the vicinity of settlements. Moreover, agreements and "understandings" between Israel and the PA prohibit the latter's security forces from entering Area C zones, where most of these villages are located.
One PA official recently remarked that the PA loses its raison d'être if it fails to protect its own citizens from Jewish terror, especially if the Israeli occupation army does nothing to rein in settler terrorists.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1066/re15.htm
Report: Israeli army tightens settler outpost evacuation procedures
The Israeli army has stopped soldiers who operate in the West Bank from taking part in dismantling illegal settlement outposts, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Military commanders will alone be notified of the operations in advance, Israeli daily Haaretz said, adding that the new measures were to prevent leaks that have led to violent protests by settlers against outpost evacuations.
A number of outposts will be evacuated after Jewish holidays in October, the report said.
Settlers who establish outposts on the fringes of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank -- illegal under international law but authorized by Israel -- have clashed with Israeli army, and spurred a rise in revenge attacks on Palestinian communities.
On Wednesday settlers attacked an Israeli army patrol near Ramallah, with Israeli media reporting the clash followed rumors a settlement outpost was to be taken down.
A mosque in northern Israel and Christian and Muslim cemeteries in Jaffa were vandalized in the last week, with attackers scrawling "price tag" on the holy sites -- the term referring to settlers violence towards Palestinians in retaliation for Israeli government against settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=427384
Hamas: Israel ‘fully responsible’ for repercussions of Jaffa attacks
Hamas said Sunday that Israel is “fully responsible” for the repercussions of a series of racial attacks against Palestinians in the city of Jaffa in the 1948- occupied territories.
In the wake of a recently leaked video clip of Israeli police brutality and settler attacks on Palestinian property and sacred grounds in Jaffa, t he Palestinian resistance party said: “We in Hamas strongly condemn the brutal attacks that the Zionists have engaged in against our people and against our Islamic and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa,” calling the attacks a “serious escalation and a racist action”.
“We hold the Zionist occupation and its army, which provides cover for those crimes, fully responsible,” Hamas said.
In a statement, Hamas lauded the Palestinian people of Jaffa for their steadfastness, calling on them to continue to “stand firm and united in the face of the attacks by of the [Israeli occupier] and the settlers”.
Hundreds of Palestinians in the coastal city of Jaffa joined demonstrations on Saturday evening to protest the attacks on the graveyards
Around 25 structures were destroyed and graffiti calling for “death to Arabs” as well as “price tag” were found in the graveyards as Jews celebrated the Yom Kippur holidays.
On Sunday evening, Palestinian organizations in Jaffa met to discuss what steps would be taken to counter the racial attacks by Jewish settlers.
This comes in conjunction with a YouTube clip of Israeli police using brutal force to remove a Palestinian family from their home in Jaffa.
In the video, a small girl was forced away from her father and an elderly woman was thrown on her back.
Elsewhere, extremist Jews from the West Bank settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, have attacked Palestinians in nearby Awarta village in an outbreak of settler violence across the occupied territories.
The attack took place even as locals attempted to bolster their presence in the farm areas as they picked olives, said Ghassan Daghlas, an official tasked with monitoring settlement activity.
The former head of Israeli internal security forces Abraham Dichter warned that the attacks on sensitive areas, such as Al-Aqsa Mosque sanctuary area, could spark conflict from anew.
Anti-Arab hate slogans sprayed in Bat Yam
'Death to Arabs' and 'Kahane was right' spray-painted on two structures in Bat Yam. Tel Aviv mayor meets Muslim, Christian clerics in wake of Jaffa vandalism.
Racist hate slogans were found sprayed on two structures in Bat Yam Sunday despite police efforts to calm tensions following attacks on Arab cemeteries in Jaffa over the weekend. The messages read: "Maccabi Haifa doesn't want Arabs on the team" "Death to Arabs" and "Rabbi Kahane was right." Police launched an investigation.
Over the weekend, some 25 tombstones were vandalized at two Jaffa cemeteries belonging to Muslims and Christians. The messages “Death to Arabs” and “Price tag” were spray-painted on the graves.
On Saturday night, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a synagogue in the city. No injuries were reported. The acts prompted Jaffa residents to hold a rally on Jaffa's streets Saturday evening as some 150 Jewish and Arab Jaffa residents held an anti-racism rally.
On Sunday, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai met with Muslim and Christian clerics and expressed sorrow over the events. "I am ashamed to come here today under these circumstances. I am here to say I'm sorry on behalf of the State of Israel," he said. "It doesn't matter to me who wrote those racist messages and why. We need to solve the problems immediately and return to normal.
Huldai added: "I expect to see the hands of whomever is behind these racist messages cut off, no matter who they are. Everyone must know that we must live together and the police must catch these people."
Chairman of the Islamic Movement's southern branch Sheikh Sliman Satel said he hoped the perpetrators would be apprehended swiftly. We in Jaffa won’t let extremists enter Jaffa and soil our loves. "
Report: Palestinians set fire to lands near Itamar
Palestinians from Awarta village set fire to agricultural lands near Itamar settlement, after clashing with settlers earlier Sunday.
Meanwhile, Palestinians hurled stones at Elon Moreh settlers.
PA: Settlers damage land in northern West Bank
Settlers caused damage to Palestinian land in the Qalqiliya and Nablus districts on Sunday, an official said.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an that farmers from Farata village, east of Qalqiliya had arrived at their land to find that olives had been stolen.
Israeli forces arrived at the scene and demanded that all villagers return to their homes.
Soldiers were meant to coordinate a safe passage from settler attacks for villagers to pick olives but canceled due to a shortage in numbers, the official said.
Settlers “are escalating their attacks against Palestinians, under the protection of Israeli soldiers who are no longer controlling the situation,” the official news agency Wafa quoted Doughlas as saying.
In Nablus, dozens of settlers attacked farmers who were trying to pick olives in the village of Awarta, Doughlas said.
Settlers also stole equipment and threw rocks at farmers, he added.
"Settlers are trying to increase the tension with the beginning of the olive picking season," Doughlas told Wafa.
There has been a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians over the last month.
On Sept. 25, dozens of Israeli settlers uprooted over 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Also in September, settlers in Nablus have vandalized two mosques and an Israeli army base, uprooted olive trees and set fire to cars.
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=427382
Egyptian Mufti Condemns Vandalism of Cemeteries
The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, Sunday in a press conference condemned the vandalism of Muslim and Christian cemeteries on Friday night in a suspected “price tag” attack by extremist Jews.
Gomaa stressed that these recent actions by Israeli forces and settlers clearly reveal the hidden intentions against Christian and Muslim holy places, in complete contrast to Israeli officials’ statements in the media of alleged respect for religious sanctuaries.
He described the attack as a “hideous crime” violating all religions and international charters, and noted the escalating wave of racism against Arabs – Muslims and Christians – in Israel under the Israeli government’s negligence.
The Grand Mufti called for the prosecution of the assailants. He also called on Arab and Islamic nations to face the Israeli attempts to judaize Jerusalem and obliterate the Islamic and Christian characters of the city, as well as Israel’s settlements expansion policy.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17691
At least three Palestinians injured as Jewish settlers clash with farmers
Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday as they tried to pick olives from land owned by the family of two men convicted of killing a young settler family in March.
At least three Palestinians were injured when dozens of settlers armed with sticks and stones attacked the group of about 50 workers as they tried to harvest the olives from land which belongs to the Awwad family from the nearby village of Awarta, an AFP correspondent reported.
The olive groves lie very close to the edge of the Itamar settlement where a young couple was stabbed to death along with three of their young children earlier this year, in an attack by two young Palestinian men from the Awwad family in Awarta.
Israeli troops arrived at the scene and broke up the clashes, and were trying to protect the farmers, although the settlers remained close by, throwing stones and shouting: “Death to the Awwad family.”
Settler officials told AFP they were protesting over the fact that the Palestinians were working land belonging to the Awwad family.
Hakim Awwad, 18, confessed to the murders before an Israeli military court in September and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences, while his 19-year-old cousin Amjad Awwad admitted his involvement on October 4. He has not yet been sentenced.
Palestinian sources confirmed the land belongs to the Awwad family, part of which lies within the boundaries of the settlement.
Benny Katsover, head of the committee representing settlers in the northern West Bank, said the army had allowed the Palestinians to pick olives from a grove next to the settlement’s boundary which belonged to the Awwad family.
“It is an absolute scandal to allow these Palestinians to come so close to Itamar, above all when we are talking about the family of those murderers who killed the Fogel family,” he told AFP.
“Once again, the army is putting the lives of Itamar residents in danger,” he said.
Twelve-year-old Tamar Fogel, who lost her parents, two younger brothers aged 11 and 4, and her three-month-old baby sister, in the grisly stabbing attack, was one of those who went out to confront the farmers, he said.
David Haivri, a spokesman for settlers in the northern West Bank area, accused the farmers of attacking the demonstrators.
“The Palestinians threw stones at the demonstrators and shouted death threats at them, saying: ‘We’ll do the same to you as to the Fogels’,” he said in a statement emailed to AFP.
The military said it was looking into the incident but had no immediate comment.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/09/170943.html
IDF keeps raids of West Bank outposts under wraps fearing leaks to settlers
Evacuations are to be carried out by troops brought in from outside; only the commander will be informed of operation in advance.
The military establishment has recently begun excluding soldiers and officers who serve in the West Bank from operations to evacuate unauthorized Jewish outposts there.
Evacuations are carried out by troops brought in from outside, and only the sector commander will be informed in advance of the operation.
The main purpose is to prevent the recurrence of incidents in which plans were leaked to settlers, who then called in hundreds of protesters to block the evacuating forces, sometimes violently.
There have also been several incidences of soldiers stationed in the West Bank who have refused to provide security for evacuations.
The new arrangements come in the wake of increasingly tense relations between the Israel Defense Forces and some West Bank settlers. Tensions erupted most recently Wednesday night near Shiloh when a group of settlers blocked passage of an army vehicle and assaulted soldiers.
The protocols are, in effect, an extension of the policy introduced a few months ago by Brig. Gen Nitzan Alon, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, when he ordered that soldiers living in West Bank settlements not be informed of plans to evacuate unauthorized outposts.
It has been several years since IDF soldiers carried out evictions themselves. Instead they are done mainly by Israel Police officers and members of the Border Police.
IDF units deployed in the area do, however, provide peripheral security for the operations, including blocking area roads. Recent evacuations that were scheduled in advance used Border Police and Israel Police forces brought in from outside the region rather than units stationed in the West Bank.
While the brigade commander is informed about an upcoming evacuation of an outpost days or even weeks or months in advance, the subordinate officers whose units provide security for the missions are informed only shortly before deployment.
According to high-ranking officers in the Central Command, in addition to preventing leaks, this practice is also aimed at protecting officers in the field, who are in regular contact with settlers and may themselves live in settlements, from being subject to pressure.
A number of unauthorized outposts are slated for evacuation after the October holiday period.
'Death to Arabs' sprayed on Jaffa graves; Molotov cocktail hurled at synagogue
About 200 Arab and Jewish Jaffa residents rally in protest of cemetery desecration, call for an end to violence and racism.
Vandalism in two Arab cemeteries in Jaffa was discovered on Friday afternoon by local residents, the latest in a series of nationalist "price tag" actions, and a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a nearby synagogue last night. No injuries were reported.
Unknown perpetrators spray-painted graffiti on about 25 headstones in one Muslim and one Christian graveyard in the city, including "Death to the Arabs" and "price tag," the latter an apparent reference to the campaign by extremists in the settlement movement.
Other derogatory slogans, however, targeted the Maccabi Haifa sports club and Russians.
This was the second incident of vandalism against Arab targets within Israel with a "price tag" connection, after a mosque in the Galilee Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangaria was set on fire last Sunday night. The entire interior of the mosque was scorched, causing heavy damage, and holy books inside the mosque were burned. "Price tag" was painted on the wall of the mosque.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the roof of the Rabbi Meir Ba'al Hanes synagogue in Jaffa. The building was empty at the time and there were no reports of injuries.
This happened as about 200 Arab and Jewish Jaffa residents rallied to protest the desecration of the cemeteries and call for an end to violence and racism.
Calls in Israel's Arab community for immediate international intervention to protect Muslim and Christian holy sites within Israel have been growing over the past week, in the wake of the two incidents.
Last week, one human rights organization expressed concerns over a possible escalation of similar incidents to diplomats from the United States and the European Union.
A number of human rights groups issued a statement after the cemetery desecration calling on law enforcement authorities to apprehend the perpetrators.
President Shimon Peres last night condemned the defacement of the cemeteries, calling it "a despicable, criminal act that disrespects us and contradicts the moral values of Israeli society."
In a statement released by the President's Office, Peres called on law enforcement officials to do "their utmost" to catch the criminals and bring them to swift justice.
Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai also condemned the desecration of the graves, saying "It is particularly sad that precisely on Yom Kippur there are extremists trying to damage the delicate fabric of coexistence in Tel Aviv-Jaffa," Huldai said. "I hope the police catch the criminals and prosecute them."
Sheikh Saliman Setel, head of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement for Jaffa, said the city's Arab residents will convene on Sunday to discuss how to respond to the vandalism.
"There is a very bad feeling. If someone hurts your faith, how would you feel?" he said. "All of us, all of Jaffa's Arab residents, Muslim and Christian, denounce this act. The police must know who who did this. It isn't the first time something like this has happened. Sometimes stones are thrown at mosques, sometimes people go into graveyards and do damage," he said.
The president of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ajwa, said, "This is an attempt by extremists to incite the Arab masses," and called for calm.
MK Ibrahim Sarsur, United Arab List-Ta'al party leader, called on the perpetrators to stop their racist attacks.
Jewish Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers in Nablus
Jewish settlers Sunday attacked Palestinian farmers who were picking their olives in the village of Awarta, east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, said an official.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA a large number of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers who were in their land today to pick their olives, despite the farmers getting the required coordination with the Israeli soldiers.
He added that Jewish settlers “are escalating their attacks against Palestinians, under the protection of Israeli soldiers who are no longer controlling the situation.”
He said that Jewish settlers are believed to be behind stealing olives in the village of Frata, near Qalqilia in the northern West Bank, adding that 'the settlers are trying to increase the tension with the beginning of the olive picking season.'
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17683
Jaffa synagogue firebombed
Tensions high after Arab cemeteries vandalized: Molotov cocktail hurled at synagogue, no casualties reported; anti-racism rally held in Jaffa, MK Zahalka calls for imprisonment of Foreign Minister Lieberman on incitement charges.
A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a Jaffa synagogue Saturday evening, as tensions were rising in the central Israel town after two Arab cemeteries were vandalized over the weekend.
The firebomb hit the roof of the synagogue and did not cause significant damage. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Police officials arrived at the site and launched an investigation into the attack.
Meanwhile, some 150 Jewish and Arab Jaffa residents held an anti-racism rally Saturday night, where speakers issued harsh charges against Israel's government and top leaders.
Speaking at the event, Knesset Member Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said: "We accuse the government of Israel."
The Arab MK called for imprisoning Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of incitement. "These little racists who come and spray paint a few slogans are much less dangerous than this dangerous government," he said.
"The distance between racist words and acts is horrifically short," Zahalka said, while slamming Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the settlers, and Lieberman. "The little racists who burned the mosque in Tuba Zangaria and attacked the cemeteries in Jaffa have spiritual fathers in the government."
Referring to the string of recent attacks on Arab targets, the Balad MK charged that "a Jewish underground" is behind the vandalism spree. Chants at the rally included "Settler, stop now, you already crossed the line" and "Arabs against racism."
Soccer fans to blame?
The Tel Aviv District Police Department has decided to deploy a large number of forces in the Jaffa area following the weekend's violence. The forces will attempt to prevent revenge attacks.
Police officials have held talks with community leaders in order to prevent an additional escalation in the area. "Our greatest fear is that there will be casualties and then everything will go up in smoke," the police officials said.
The police are not ruling out the possibility that the grave desecration was an act carried out by soccer fans as evidence in the area indicated.
Security footage will most likely assist police in determining the exact time that the acts took place.
Meanwhile, a different police investigation team is looking into the case of the Molotov cocktail thrown at a Jaffa synagogue. In addition to the investigations, the police are putting a great deal of effort into calming the area by promoting deliberations between the various Jaffa factions.
The police are aware of the possibility that the next targets of extremists could be the many Sukkot set to be constructed in the city streets over the next few days, these acts could bring about another wave of violence.
A number of Arab-sector towns will convene an urgent meeting Sunday in order to organize a detailed plan to defend the places of worship.
Jaffa cemeterie
Earlier, some 25 tombstones were vandalized at two Jaffa cemeteries belonging to Muslims and Christians. The messages “Death to Arabs” and “Price tag” were spray painted on the graves. Police later said that "Death to Russians" was another message painted at the site.
President Shimon Peres condemned the vandalism acts at Jaffa’s Christian and Muslim cemeteries, referring to them as “despicable acts that disgrace us and contradict the moral values of Israeli society.”
The president urged law enforcement officials to undertake the utmost efforts in order to nab the vandals.
8 oct 2011
Palestinian Cemeteries Vandalized
Observers in the West Bank are convinced that settler terrorist gangs have "moles" and "insiders" within the Israeli occupation army throughout the occupied territories, which allows the terrorists to commit acts of terror and vandalism against Palestinians without getting caught.
In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian man who sustained a very serious injury. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers urged the Israeli army to shoot and kill Palestinians following an apparent traffic accident in which two settlers were killed on Friday, 23 September.
Settlers claimed the accident happened when stones were hurled on a car by Palestinians. The Israeli army issued conflicting reports on the accident. Palestinian sources quoted eyewitnesses as testifying that the settler car overturned as a result of high speed and that no Palestinians were in the vicinity of the accident when it occurred.
Earlier, a settler driver ran over a Palestinian child not far from the spot where the accident happened. The child, Farid Jaber, aged eight, succumbed to his injuries on Monday. Palestinian sources reported that there was a general feeling among Palestinians in the area that settlers deliberately run over Palestinian pedestrians and then report the assault as a traffic accident.
Most, if not all, settlers are indoctrinated in a virulent religious ideology that advocates the physical annihilation of non-Jews living under Jewish rule. According to this ideology, even pacified and "law-abiding" Gentiles must be enslaved as "water carriers and wood cutters" in the service of the master race.
In recent years, numerous settler leaders elucidated their fascist ideology vis-Ã-vis the Palestinians. They quoted "edicts" from ancient Talmudic texts that -- if applied -- would force millions of Palestinians to choose between enslavement by Jews, violent expulsion or physical extermination.
Settlers, who follow the ideology of religious Zionism, believe that the life of a non-Jew has no sanctity and that a Jew may even murder a non-Jew without the slightest compunction. Some rabbinic authorities go as far as permitting a Jew to murder a non-Jew in order to extract the victim's vital organs if the Jew needs them.
Several decades ago, the ideology of Gush Emunim, also known as Zionist Messianism, was marginal among the overall Jewish population. However, the ideology looks now to be a mainstream trend as Israeli Jewish society continues to drift towards open fascism.
A few months ago, the spiritual leader of Shas, the powerful political party and kingmaker representing Jews from Arab and Muslim states claimed during a Sabbath eve homily that the status of non-Jews in general is similar to that of beasts of burden and that the Almighty created non-Jews, including Christian supporters of Israel, solely to serve Jews.
The Palestinian Authority, which has at its disposable tens of thousands of security personnel, has failed to protect Palestinian citizens, especially in villages and hamlets located in the vicinity of settlements. Moreover, agreements and "understandings" between Israel and the PA prohibit the latter's security forces from entering Area C zones, where most of these villages are located.
One PA official recently remarked that the PA loses its raison d'être if it fails to protect its own citizens from Jewish terror, especially if the Israeli occupation army does nothing to rein in settler terrorists.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1066/re15.htm
Report: Israeli army tightens settler outpost evacuation procedures
The Israeli army has stopped soldiers who operate in the West Bank from taking part in dismantling illegal settlement outposts, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Military commanders will alone be notified of the operations in advance, Israeli daily Haaretz said, adding that the new measures were to prevent leaks that have led to violent protests by settlers against outpost evacuations.
A number of outposts will be evacuated after Jewish holidays in October, the report said.
Settlers who establish outposts on the fringes of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank -- illegal under international law but authorized by Israel -- have clashed with Israeli army, and spurred a rise in revenge attacks on Palestinian communities.
On Wednesday settlers attacked an Israeli army patrol near Ramallah, with Israeli media reporting the clash followed rumors a settlement outpost was to be taken down.
A mosque in northern Israel and Christian and Muslim cemeteries in Jaffa were vandalized in the last week, with attackers scrawling "price tag" on the holy sites -- the term referring to settlers violence towards Palestinians in retaliation for Israeli government against settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=427384
Hamas: Israel ‘fully responsible’ for repercussions of Jaffa attacks
Hamas said Sunday that Israel is “fully responsible” for the repercussions of a series of racial attacks against Palestinians in the city of Jaffa in the 1948- occupied territories.
In the wake of a recently leaked video clip of Israeli police brutality and settler attacks on Palestinian property and sacred grounds in Jaffa, t he Palestinian resistance party said: “We in Hamas strongly condemn the brutal attacks that the Zionists have engaged in against our people and against our Islamic and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa,” calling the attacks a “serious escalation and a racist action”.
“We hold the Zionist occupation and its army, which provides cover for those crimes, fully responsible,” Hamas said.
In a statement, Hamas lauded the Palestinian people of Jaffa for their steadfastness, calling on them to continue to “stand firm and united in the face of the attacks by of the [Israeli occupier] and the settlers”.
Hundreds of Palestinians in the coastal city of Jaffa joined demonstrations on Saturday evening to protest the attacks on the graveyards
Around 25 structures were destroyed and graffiti calling for “death to Arabs” as well as “price tag” were found in the graveyards as Jews celebrated the Yom Kippur holidays.
On Sunday evening, Palestinian organizations in Jaffa met to discuss what steps would be taken to counter the racial attacks by Jewish settlers.
This comes in conjunction with a YouTube clip of Israeli police using brutal force to remove a Palestinian family from their home in Jaffa.
In the video, a small girl was forced away from her father and an elderly woman was thrown on her back.
Elsewhere, extremist Jews from the West Bank settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, have attacked Palestinians in nearby Awarta village in an outbreak of settler violence across the occupied territories.
The attack took place even as locals attempted to bolster their presence in the farm areas as they picked olives, said Ghassan Daghlas, an official tasked with monitoring settlement activity.
The former head of Israeli internal security forces Abraham Dichter warned that the attacks on sensitive areas, such as Al-Aqsa Mosque sanctuary area, could spark conflict from anew.
Anti-Arab hate slogans sprayed in Bat Yam
'Death to Arabs' and 'Kahane was right' spray-painted on two structures in Bat Yam. Tel Aviv mayor meets Muslim, Christian clerics in wake of Jaffa vandalism.
Racist hate slogans were found sprayed on two structures in Bat Yam Sunday despite police efforts to calm tensions following attacks on Arab cemeteries in Jaffa over the weekend. The messages read: "Maccabi Haifa doesn't want Arabs on the team" "Death to Arabs" and "Rabbi Kahane was right." Police launched an investigation.
Over the weekend, some 25 tombstones were vandalized at two Jaffa cemeteries belonging to Muslims and Christians. The messages “Death to Arabs” and “Price tag” were spray-painted on the graves.
On Saturday night, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a synagogue in the city. No injuries were reported. The acts prompted Jaffa residents to hold a rally on Jaffa's streets Saturday evening as some 150 Jewish and Arab Jaffa residents held an anti-racism rally.
On Sunday, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai met with Muslim and Christian clerics and expressed sorrow over the events. "I am ashamed to come here today under these circumstances. I am here to say I'm sorry on behalf of the State of Israel," he said. "It doesn't matter to me who wrote those racist messages and why. We need to solve the problems immediately and return to normal.
Huldai added: "I expect to see the hands of whomever is behind these racist messages cut off, no matter who they are. Everyone must know that we must live together and the police must catch these people."
Chairman of the Islamic Movement's southern branch Sheikh Sliman Satel said he hoped the perpetrators would be apprehended swiftly. We in Jaffa won’t let extremists enter Jaffa and soil our loves. "
Report: Palestinians set fire to lands near Itamar
Palestinians from Awarta village set fire to agricultural lands near Itamar settlement, after clashing with settlers earlier Sunday.
Meanwhile, Palestinians hurled stones at Elon Moreh settlers.
PA: Settlers damage land in northern West Bank
Settlers caused damage to Palestinian land in the Qalqiliya and Nablus districts on Sunday, an official said.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an that farmers from Farata village, east of Qalqiliya had arrived at their land to find that olives had been stolen.
Israeli forces arrived at the scene and demanded that all villagers return to their homes.
Soldiers were meant to coordinate a safe passage from settler attacks for villagers to pick olives but canceled due to a shortage in numbers, the official said.
Settlers “are escalating their attacks against Palestinians, under the protection of Israeli soldiers who are no longer controlling the situation,” the official news agency Wafa quoted Doughlas as saying.
In Nablus, dozens of settlers attacked farmers who were trying to pick olives in the village of Awarta, Doughlas said.
Settlers also stole equipment and threw rocks at farmers, he added.
"Settlers are trying to increase the tension with the beginning of the olive picking season," Doughlas told Wafa.
There has been a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians over the last month.
On Sept. 25, dozens of Israeli settlers uprooted over 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Also in September, settlers in Nablus have vandalized two mosques and an Israeli army base, uprooted olive trees and set fire to cars.
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=427382
Egyptian Mufti Condemns Vandalism of Cemeteries
The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, Sunday in a press conference condemned the vandalism of Muslim and Christian cemeteries on Friday night in a suspected “price tag” attack by extremist Jews.
Gomaa stressed that these recent actions by Israeli forces and settlers clearly reveal the hidden intentions against Christian and Muslim holy places, in complete contrast to Israeli officials’ statements in the media of alleged respect for religious sanctuaries.
He described the attack as a “hideous crime” violating all religions and international charters, and noted the escalating wave of racism against Arabs – Muslims and Christians – in Israel under the Israeli government’s negligence.
The Grand Mufti called for the prosecution of the assailants. He also called on Arab and Islamic nations to face the Israeli attempts to judaize Jerusalem and obliterate the Islamic and Christian characters of the city, as well as Israel’s settlements expansion policy.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17691
At least three Palestinians injured as Jewish settlers clash with farmers
Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday as they tried to pick olives from land owned by the family of two men convicted of killing a young settler family in March.
At least three Palestinians were injured when dozens of settlers armed with sticks and stones attacked the group of about 50 workers as they tried to harvest the olives from land which belongs to the Awwad family from the nearby village of Awarta, an AFP correspondent reported.
The olive groves lie very close to the edge of the Itamar settlement where a young couple was stabbed to death along with three of their young children earlier this year, in an attack by two young Palestinian men from the Awwad family in Awarta.
Israeli troops arrived at the scene and broke up the clashes, and were trying to protect the farmers, although the settlers remained close by, throwing stones and shouting: “Death to the Awwad family.”
Settler officials told AFP they were protesting over the fact that the Palestinians were working land belonging to the Awwad family.
Hakim Awwad, 18, confessed to the murders before an Israeli military court in September and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences, while his 19-year-old cousin Amjad Awwad admitted his involvement on October 4. He has not yet been sentenced.
Palestinian sources confirmed the land belongs to the Awwad family, part of which lies within the boundaries of the settlement.
Benny Katsover, head of the committee representing settlers in the northern West Bank, said the army had allowed the Palestinians to pick olives from a grove next to the settlement’s boundary which belonged to the Awwad family.
“It is an absolute scandal to allow these Palestinians to come so close to Itamar, above all when we are talking about the family of those murderers who killed the Fogel family,” he told AFP.
“Once again, the army is putting the lives of Itamar residents in danger,” he said.
Twelve-year-old Tamar Fogel, who lost her parents, two younger brothers aged 11 and 4, and her three-month-old baby sister, in the grisly stabbing attack, was one of those who went out to confront the farmers, he said.
David Haivri, a spokesman for settlers in the northern West Bank area, accused the farmers of attacking the demonstrators.
“The Palestinians threw stones at the demonstrators and shouted death threats at them, saying: ‘We’ll do the same to you as to the Fogels’,” he said in a statement emailed to AFP.
The military said it was looking into the incident but had no immediate comment.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/09/170943.html
IDF keeps raids of West Bank outposts under wraps fearing leaks to settlers
Evacuations are to be carried out by troops brought in from outside; only the commander will be informed of operation in advance.
The military establishment has recently begun excluding soldiers and officers who serve in the West Bank from operations to evacuate unauthorized Jewish outposts there.
Evacuations are carried out by troops brought in from outside, and only the sector commander will be informed in advance of the operation.
The main purpose is to prevent the recurrence of incidents in which plans were leaked to settlers, who then called in hundreds of protesters to block the evacuating forces, sometimes violently.
There have also been several incidences of soldiers stationed in the West Bank who have refused to provide security for evacuations.
The new arrangements come in the wake of increasingly tense relations between the Israel Defense Forces and some West Bank settlers. Tensions erupted most recently Wednesday night near Shiloh when a group of settlers blocked passage of an army vehicle and assaulted soldiers.
The protocols are, in effect, an extension of the policy introduced a few months ago by Brig. Gen Nitzan Alon, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, when he ordered that soldiers living in West Bank settlements not be informed of plans to evacuate unauthorized outposts.
It has been several years since IDF soldiers carried out evictions themselves. Instead they are done mainly by Israel Police officers and members of the Border Police.
IDF units deployed in the area do, however, provide peripheral security for the operations, including blocking area roads. Recent evacuations that were scheduled in advance used Border Police and Israel Police forces brought in from outside the region rather than units stationed in the West Bank.
While the brigade commander is informed about an upcoming evacuation of an outpost days or even weeks or months in advance, the subordinate officers whose units provide security for the missions are informed only shortly before deployment.
According to high-ranking officers in the Central Command, in addition to preventing leaks, this practice is also aimed at protecting officers in the field, who are in regular contact with settlers and may themselves live in settlements, from being subject to pressure.
A number of unauthorized outposts are slated for evacuation after the October holiday period.
'Death to Arabs' sprayed on Jaffa graves; Molotov cocktail hurled at synagogue
About 200 Arab and Jewish Jaffa residents rally in protest of cemetery desecration, call for an end to violence and racism.
Vandalism in two Arab cemeteries in Jaffa was discovered on Friday afternoon by local residents, the latest in a series of nationalist "price tag" actions, and a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a nearby synagogue last night. No injuries were reported.
Unknown perpetrators spray-painted graffiti on about 25 headstones in one Muslim and one Christian graveyard in the city, including "Death to the Arabs" and "price tag," the latter an apparent reference to the campaign by extremists in the settlement movement.
Other derogatory slogans, however, targeted the Maccabi Haifa sports club and Russians.
This was the second incident of vandalism against Arab targets within Israel with a "price tag" connection, after a mosque in the Galilee Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangaria was set on fire last Sunday night. The entire interior of the mosque was scorched, causing heavy damage, and holy books inside the mosque were burned. "Price tag" was painted on the wall of the mosque.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the roof of the Rabbi Meir Ba'al Hanes synagogue in Jaffa. The building was empty at the time and there were no reports of injuries.
This happened as about 200 Arab and Jewish Jaffa residents rallied to protest the desecration of the cemeteries and call for an end to violence and racism.
Calls in Israel's Arab community for immediate international intervention to protect Muslim and Christian holy sites within Israel have been growing over the past week, in the wake of the two incidents.
Last week, one human rights organization expressed concerns over a possible escalation of similar incidents to diplomats from the United States and the European Union.
A number of human rights groups issued a statement after the cemetery desecration calling on law enforcement authorities to apprehend the perpetrators.
President Shimon Peres last night condemned the defacement of the cemeteries, calling it "a despicable, criminal act that disrespects us and contradicts the moral values of Israeli society."
In a statement released by the President's Office, Peres called on law enforcement officials to do "their utmost" to catch the criminals and bring them to swift justice.
Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai also condemned the desecration of the graves, saying "It is particularly sad that precisely on Yom Kippur there are extremists trying to damage the delicate fabric of coexistence in Tel Aviv-Jaffa," Huldai said. "I hope the police catch the criminals and prosecute them."
Sheikh Saliman Setel, head of the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement for Jaffa, said the city's Arab residents will convene on Sunday to discuss how to respond to the vandalism.
"There is a very bad feeling. If someone hurts your faith, how would you feel?" he said. "All of us, all of Jaffa's Arab residents, Muslim and Christian, denounce this act. The police must know who who did this. It isn't the first time something like this has happened. Sometimes stones are thrown at mosques, sometimes people go into graveyards and do damage," he said.
The president of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ajwa, said, "This is an attempt by extremists to incite the Arab masses," and called for calm.
MK Ibrahim Sarsur, United Arab List-Ta'al party leader, called on the perpetrators to stop their racist attacks.
Jewish Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers in Nablus
Jewish settlers Sunday attacked Palestinian farmers who were picking their olives in the village of Awarta, east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, said an official.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA a large number of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers who were in their land today to pick their olives, despite the farmers getting the required coordination with the Israeli soldiers.
He added that Jewish settlers “are escalating their attacks against Palestinians, under the protection of Israeli soldiers who are no longer controlling the situation.”
He said that Jewish settlers are believed to be behind stealing olives in the village of Frata, near Qalqilia in the northern West Bank, adding that 'the settlers are trying to increase the tension with the beginning of the olive picking season.'
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17683
Jaffa synagogue firebombed
Tensions high after Arab cemeteries vandalized: Molotov cocktail hurled at synagogue, no casualties reported; anti-racism rally held in Jaffa, MK Zahalka calls for imprisonment of Foreign Minister Lieberman on incitement charges.
A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a Jaffa synagogue Saturday evening, as tensions were rising in the central Israel town after two Arab cemeteries were vandalized over the weekend.
The firebomb hit the roof of the synagogue and did not cause significant damage. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Police officials arrived at the site and launched an investigation into the attack.
Meanwhile, some 150 Jewish and Arab Jaffa residents held an anti-racism rally Saturday night, where speakers issued harsh charges against Israel's government and top leaders.
Speaking at the event, Knesset Member Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said: "We accuse the government of Israel."
The Arab MK called for imprisoning Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of incitement. "These little racists who come and spray paint a few slogans are much less dangerous than this dangerous government," he said.
"The distance between racist words and acts is horrifically short," Zahalka said, while slamming Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the settlers, and Lieberman. "The little racists who burned the mosque in Tuba Zangaria and attacked the cemeteries in Jaffa have spiritual fathers in the government."
Referring to the string of recent attacks on Arab targets, the Balad MK charged that "a Jewish underground" is behind the vandalism spree. Chants at the rally included "Settler, stop now, you already crossed the line" and "Arabs against racism."
Soccer fans to blame?
The Tel Aviv District Police Department has decided to deploy a large number of forces in the Jaffa area following the weekend's violence. The forces will attempt to prevent revenge attacks.
Police officials have held talks with community leaders in order to prevent an additional escalation in the area. "Our greatest fear is that there will be casualties and then everything will go up in smoke," the police officials said.
The police are not ruling out the possibility that the grave desecration was an act carried out by soccer fans as evidence in the area indicated.
Security footage will most likely assist police in determining the exact time that the acts took place.
Meanwhile, a different police investigation team is looking into the case of the Molotov cocktail thrown at a Jaffa synagogue. In addition to the investigations, the police are putting a great deal of effort into calming the area by promoting deliberations between the various Jaffa factions.
The police are aware of the possibility that the next targets of extremists could be the many Sukkot set to be constructed in the city streets over the next few days, these acts could bring about another wave of violence.
A number of Arab-sector towns will convene an urgent meeting Sunday in order to organize a detailed plan to defend the places of worship.
Jaffa cemeterie
Earlier, some 25 tombstones were vandalized at two Jaffa cemeteries belonging to Muslims and Christians. The messages “Death to Arabs” and “Price tag” were spray painted on the graves. Police later said that "Death to Russians" was another message painted at the site.
President Shimon Peres condemned the vandalism acts at Jaffa’s Christian and Muslim cemeteries, referring to them as “despicable acts that disgrace us and contradict the moral values of Israeli society.”
The president urged law enforcement officials to undertake the utmost efforts in order to nab the vandals.
8 oct 2011
Palestinian Cemeteries Vandalized
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The inhabitants of the Israeli city of Jaffa were outraged after Christian and Muslim cemeteries there were vandalized by an extremist Jewish group, days after the arson of a mosque in the village of Tuba, Galilee. The Palestinians inside the Green Line say that it is official Israeli policy to encourage hostility against Arabs, the result of what they say are racist laws enacted by the Israeli parliament, which is controlled by right-wing parties. "The situation is not serene; there are clear and declared intentions for Hakhams, who are provoking the Israelis because they do not want Arab people on this land," said Sheikh Zaid Satal a former President of the Islamic committee in Jaffa. |
Father Constantine Nassar a priest of the Greek Orthodox Parish in Jaffa said "Jaffa is living in a constant ever-lasting conflict, and what happened in the cemeteries is nothing but a criminal act."
Ron Khaldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv / Jaffa realeased a statement saying "We have gone through more dangerous events, and I am confident that Arab leaders in Jaffa are mature enough to contain the situation. I am ashamed as a Jew about what has happened."
Muslim, Christian graves 'vandalized' in Jaffa
Christian and Muslim graves in Jaffa were vandalized overnight Friday, by assailants suspected to be Jewish extremists, local media reports and a religious official said.
The Islamic cemetery al-Kazakhana and nearby Christian Roman Orthodox cemetery in the town were broken into at night, locals told reporters. A website called Yaffa48 posted photos of what it identified as the graves.
"Death to the Arabs" and other racist slogans were daubed on graves, they said, and gravestones were smashed.
The president of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Ahmad Abu Ajwa, slammed the attack which he called an attempt to blackmail Palestinian residents of Jaffa.
Arab Knesset member Ibrahim Sarsour accused Israeli authorities of failing to stop extremist attacks, the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reported.
"The Israeli government was not making any effort to stop these racist attacks against Palestinians, rather it provides extremists protection," he told the site.
Abu Awja called for local officials to hold an emergency meeting to discuss recent attacks on Palestinians in Israel.
On Sunday, a mosque in Bedouin village Tuba Zangaria in northern Israel was torched by a group of assailants, and Israeli police detained an 18-year-old in connection with the attack.
Police said they had set up a special task force to deal with the "price taggers," Reuters reported, a reference to attacks on Palestinians by Israelis, usually settlers in the West Bank, in revenge for policies they oppose.
Around 20 percent, or 1.3 million people, of Israel's population are of Palestinian origin.
They are largely the descendants of Palestinians that managed to remain during the 1948 war, when an estimated 700,000 were expelled from or fled their homes during fighting that would see the establishment of the state of Israel.
Rights groups say that Israelis of Palestinian origin face discrimination in employment, education and public funding within Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=427151
Extremist Jews Believed Behind Jaffa Cemeteries’ Vandalism
Extremist Jews were believed to be behind vandalism of Muslim and Christian cemeteries in the city Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s twin city, destroying graves and scribbling racist slogans on others, Saturday said local residents.
They said the extremists wrote racist slogans such as “death to Arabs” and “price tag,” slogans which are generally used by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank when they attack Palestinian villages.
Ibrahim Sarsour, an Arab Israeli lawmaker, condemned the vandalism. He said “the Israeli government was not making any effort to stop these racist attacks against Palestinians, rather it provides extremists protection.”
An Israeli settler was lately arrested on charges of setting a mosque on fire in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangaria in the northern Galilee, which prompted widespread protests in the village and a general strike in the Arab villages.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17677
7 oct 2011
Settlers Burn Dozens of Olive Trees North Of Jerusalem
A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers of the Ramat Shlomo illegal settlement installed on lands that belong to residents of Shu’fat, north of Jerusalem, set ablaze dozens of olive trees that belong to two Palestinian families, the Palestine News Network reported.
Local sources reported that the setters torched a Dunam (0.24 Acre) of land that belong to the families of Abu Khdeir and Dar Issa.
The sources added that the settlers also torched wheat and fodder, and that despite calling the Israeli police directly after the attack, it took policemen three hours to arrive at the scene.
The residents also stated that, later on Thursday at night, a group of settlers stole ten sheep in the same area, but the residents chased them and took the sheep back.
The attack is the latest of a serious and dangerous escalation by the settlers in Palestine.
On Thursday morning, a group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted at least 200 olive trees that belong to residents of Qasra village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Last Sunday night, extremists burnt a mosque at the entrance of Toba Zanghriyya village in the Galilee, and wrote “Price Tag” and “Revenge” on its walls.
On September 5th, a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in Qasra village, near the northern West Bank city of 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.
Last year, the settlers burnt several copies of the holy Quran while desecrating two mosques near Bethlehem and Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62215
Settlers vow to resist future evictions
As State gears to execute High Court order, raze West Bank outposts, settlers pledge to mount 'tsunami of resistance'.
The second disengagement? The State is gearing to launch a series of West Bank settlements and outpost evictions after the High Holidays, but the settlers have vowed Friday to resist the move with all their might.
The State will follow through on its pledge to the High Court of Justice and will raze some 85 permanent housing units in Migron, Givat Assaf and Beit-El's Ulpana neighborhood, evicting close to 1,000 people in the process
The settlers promised to mount a "tsunami of resistance."
Givat Assaf, which is home to 30 families, poses the greatest risk for clashes between settlers and security forces, as its residents have vowed "a violent struggle" against their impending removal.
Migron, which has known its share of violent clashes, is home to 50 families. The outpost's residents said they would mount only a peaceful protest against their eviction, but military sources expect hundreds of settlers to swarm the outpost and try to prevent its razing.
Migron is scheduled to be fully evicted by March 2012.
According to the plan, Civil Administration officers are also expected to raze five buildings at the Beit-El's Ulpana neighborhood.
'Absurd decision'
The Yesha Council has begun planning its response to the nearing eviction, and will attempt to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rescind the decision.
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan sent all government ministers a letter last week urging them to demand Netanyahu revoke the order.
"The Netanyahu government is planning a mini-pullout and none of the ministers seem fazed by it. This government has built the least number of homes and is now poised to become the one that razes the most homes, with the exception of the disengagement.
"This is absurd," he added. "The young couples living in these outposts were given government grants to settle there… and now the government wants to destroy their homes and their lives."
Dayan added that while no one in the settlement movement wishes for the government's downfall, "If they start razing homes, the government will find itself on a slippery slope. This kind of action goes against the Coalition's DNA."
B'Tselem: Israeli govt responsible for Qusra attacks
Israeli authorities are failing to stop settler attacks on Nablus village Qusra, which has faced a repeated campaign of harassment from Israeli settlers, an Israeli rights group said on Thursday.
Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in the south of the village overnight Wednesday. Israeli organization B'Tselem said due to a new Israeli army post overlooking the valley, "the attack occurred in an open area with excellent visibility."
"Even if soldiers aren't present there at all times, the security forces maintain an ongoing presence in the area," a press statement from the group said.
"Regardless of whether the soldiers noticed the settlers and chose to ignore them or whether they weren’t present in the area, this is a particularly severe case where the security forces violated their obligation to protect the Palestinian residents and their property," it added.
B'Tselem said it had documented seven cases of Israeli settlers raiding the village in six weeks.
A village mosque was torched and vandalized in early September, and Israeli force killed one villager after settlers broke into the village later in the month.
Qusra is encircled by Jewish-only settlements, which house around 300,000 settlers in the West Bank, among some 2.6 million Palestinians. Settlements on occupied land are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426923
Settlers attack Israeli army patrol near Ramallah
An Israeli army patrol in the West Bank was attacked by settlers who blocked a road in the northern West Bank, provoking a fight between the two sides, an army spokeswoman told AFP on Thursday.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday on a road near Ramallah, she said.
"Last night, during a routine patrol in the Doma area -- northeast of Ramallah -- an IDF (army) force identified an obstruction on the road consisting of stones, and a crowd of Israeli citizens," she told AFP.
"As the soldiers attempted to disperse the crowd, violence broke out and one of the Israelis attacked the soldier," she said, adding that the incident was being investigated by the police who are responsible for all settler-related affairs.
Israeli media reports suggested the settlers attacked the soldiers following rumors they were en route to dismantle an unauthorized settlement outpost.
But the spokeswoman denied the report, saying the troops were merely part of a "routine" patrol.
Major General Avi Mizrahi, head of the military's central command, has expressed concern about the actions of extremist settlers against local Palestinians that he said could threaten the calm prevailing in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426936
Ron Khaldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv / Jaffa realeased a statement saying "We have gone through more dangerous events, and I am confident that Arab leaders in Jaffa are mature enough to contain the situation. I am ashamed as a Jew about what has happened."
Muslim, Christian graves 'vandalized' in Jaffa
Christian and Muslim graves in Jaffa were vandalized overnight Friday, by assailants suspected to be Jewish extremists, local media reports and a religious official said.
The Islamic cemetery al-Kazakhana and nearby Christian Roman Orthodox cemetery in the town were broken into at night, locals told reporters. A website called Yaffa48 posted photos of what it identified as the graves.
"Death to the Arabs" and other racist slogans were daubed on graves, they said, and gravestones were smashed.
The president of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Ahmad Abu Ajwa, slammed the attack which he called an attempt to blackmail Palestinian residents of Jaffa.
Arab Knesset member Ibrahim Sarsour accused Israeli authorities of failing to stop extremist attacks, the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA reported.
"The Israeli government was not making any effort to stop these racist attacks against Palestinians, rather it provides extremists protection," he told the site.
Abu Awja called for local officials to hold an emergency meeting to discuss recent attacks on Palestinians in Israel.
On Sunday, a mosque in Bedouin village Tuba Zangaria in northern Israel was torched by a group of assailants, and Israeli police detained an 18-year-old in connection with the attack.
Police said they had set up a special task force to deal with the "price taggers," Reuters reported, a reference to attacks on Palestinians by Israelis, usually settlers in the West Bank, in revenge for policies they oppose.
Around 20 percent, or 1.3 million people, of Israel's population are of Palestinian origin.
They are largely the descendants of Palestinians that managed to remain during the 1948 war, when an estimated 700,000 were expelled from or fled their homes during fighting that would see the establishment of the state of Israel.
Rights groups say that Israelis of Palestinian origin face discrimination in employment, education and public funding within Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=427151
Extremist Jews Believed Behind Jaffa Cemeteries’ Vandalism
Extremist Jews were believed to be behind vandalism of Muslim and Christian cemeteries in the city Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s twin city, destroying graves and scribbling racist slogans on others, Saturday said local residents.
They said the extremists wrote racist slogans such as “death to Arabs” and “price tag,” slogans which are generally used by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank when they attack Palestinian villages.
Ibrahim Sarsour, an Arab Israeli lawmaker, condemned the vandalism. He said “the Israeli government was not making any effort to stop these racist attacks against Palestinians, rather it provides extremists protection.”
An Israeli settler was lately arrested on charges of setting a mosque on fire in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangaria in the northern Galilee, which prompted widespread protests in the village and a general strike in the Arab villages.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17677
7 oct 2011
Settlers Burn Dozens of Olive Trees North Of Jerusalem
A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers of the Ramat Shlomo illegal settlement installed on lands that belong to residents of Shu’fat, north of Jerusalem, set ablaze dozens of olive trees that belong to two Palestinian families, the Palestine News Network reported.
Local sources reported that the setters torched a Dunam (0.24 Acre) of land that belong to the families of Abu Khdeir and Dar Issa.
The sources added that the settlers also torched wheat and fodder, and that despite calling the Israeli police directly after the attack, it took policemen three hours to arrive at the scene.
The residents also stated that, later on Thursday at night, a group of settlers stole ten sheep in the same area, but the residents chased them and took the sheep back.
The attack is the latest of a serious and dangerous escalation by the settlers in Palestine.
On Thursday morning, a group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted at least 200 olive trees that belong to residents of Qasra village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Last Sunday night, extremists burnt a mosque at the entrance of Toba Zanghriyya village in the Galilee, and wrote “Price Tag” and “Revenge” on its walls.
On September 5th, a group of extremist Israeli settlers broke into a mosque in Qasra village, near the northern West Bank city of 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.
Last year, the settlers burnt several copies of the holy Quran while desecrating two mosques near Bethlehem and Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62215
Settlers vow to resist future evictions
As State gears to execute High Court order, raze West Bank outposts, settlers pledge to mount 'tsunami of resistance'.
The second disengagement? The State is gearing to launch a series of West Bank settlements and outpost evictions after the High Holidays, but the settlers have vowed Friday to resist the move with all their might.
The State will follow through on its pledge to the High Court of Justice and will raze some 85 permanent housing units in Migron, Givat Assaf and Beit-El's Ulpana neighborhood, evicting close to 1,000 people in the process
The settlers promised to mount a "tsunami of resistance."
Givat Assaf, which is home to 30 families, poses the greatest risk for clashes between settlers and security forces, as its residents have vowed "a violent struggle" against their impending removal.
Migron, which has known its share of violent clashes, is home to 50 families. The outpost's residents said they would mount only a peaceful protest against their eviction, but military sources expect hundreds of settlers to swarm the outpost and try to prevent its razing.
Migron is scheduled to be fully evicted by March 2012.
According to the plan, Civil Administration officers are also expected to raze five buildings at the Beit-El's Ulpana neighborhood.
'Absurd decision'
The Yesha Council has begun planning its response to the nearing eviction, and will attempt to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rescind the decision.
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan sent all government ministers a letter last week urging them to demand Netanyahu revoke the order.
"The Netanyahu government is planning a mini-pullout and none of the ministers seem fazed by it. This government has built the least number of homes and is now poised to become the one that razes the most homes, with the exception of the disengagement.
"This is absurd," he added. "The young couples living in these outposts were given government grants to settle there… and now the government wants to destroy their homes and their lives."
Dayan added that while no one in the settlement movement wishes for the government's downfall, "If they start razing homes, the government will find itself on a slippery slope. This kind of action goes against the Coalition's DNA."
B'Tselem: Israeli govt responsible for Qusra attacks
Israeli authorities are failing to stop settler attacks on Nablus village Qusra, which has faced a repeated campaign of harassment from Israeli settlers, an Israeli rights group said on Thursday.
Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in the south of the village overnight Wednesday. Israeli organization B'Tselem said due to a new Israeli army post overlooking the valley, "the attack occurred in an open area with excellent visibility."
"Even if soldiers aren't present there at all times, the security forces maintain an ongoing presence in the area," a press statement from the group said.
"Regardless of whether the soldiers noticed the settlers and chose to ignore them or whether they weren’t present in the area, this is a particularly severe case where the security forces violated their obligation to protect the Palestinian residents and their property," it added.
B'Tselem said it had documented seven cases of Israeli settlers raiding the village in six weeks.
A village mosque was torched and vandalized in early September, and Israeli force killed one villager after settlers broke into the village later in the month.
Qusra is encircled by Jewish-only settlements, which house around 300,000 settlers in the West Bank, among some 2.6 million Palestinians. Settlements on occupied land are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426923
Settlers attack Israeli army patrol near Ramallah
An Israeli army patrol in the West Bank was attacked by settlers who blocked a road in the northern West Bank, provoking a fight between the two sides, an army spokeswoman told AFP on Thursday.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday on a road near Ramallah, she said.
"Last night, during a routine patrol in the Doma area -- northeast of Ramallah -- an IDF (army) force identified an obstruction on the road consisting of stones, and a crowd of Israeli citizens," she told AFP.
"As the soldiers attempted to disperse the crowd, violence broke out and one of the Israelis attacked the soldier," she said, adding that the incident was being investigated by the police who are responsible for all settler-related affairs.
Israeli media reports suggested the settlers attacked the soldiers following rumors they were en route to dismantle an unauthorized settlement outpost.
But the spokeswoman denied the report, saying the troops were merely part of a "routine" patrol.
Major General Avi Mizrahi, head of the military's central command, has expressed concern about the actions of extremist settlers against local Palestinians that he said could threaten the calm prevailing in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426936
6 oct 2011
2 Palestinians arrested for Palmer murder
Halhul residents confess to throwing stone which caused deaths of Asher Palmer, infant son Yonatan near Kiryat Arba last month. Three other Palestinians arrested on suspicion they stole victim's gun after attack.
Cleared for publication: Two Palestinians from Halhul were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion they murdered Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan near Kiryat Arba last month. The two were arrested following an investigation involving the police, the Shin Bet and the IDF.
A gag order has been placed in the identities of the detainees and the details of the investigation.
During their interrogation, the suspects admitted to throwing the stone which caused the deaths of Asher and Yonatan. The stone was hurled from a driving car. Police are also looking into the possibility that the two are behind 17 other cases involving stones being hurled at Israeli vehicles.
Three other Palestinians were also arrested and confessed to taking Palmer's gun after the attack. Police have found and are in possession of the weapon.
Mixed feelings
The Palmer family received the news of the arrest with mixed feelings. Asher Palmer's brother Moshe Palmer said: "It helps a little to give a sense of closure, but my dealing with it has less to do with the question of whether the murderers were caught or not.
"I'm still trying to digest everything that happened. The penny hasn't really dropped for us, it's difficult to comprehend."
"I have never felt the need for revenge but I'm glad they were arrested," he added. "Why they did what they did – is no great secret. It doesn't make the pain any easier, but it's good that a relatively short time after the incident, they managed to apprehend the people. I believe that those responsible for catching these people have done their job properly."
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) chose to attack the police and IDF and claimed that there are certain factors within the institutions that consider Jewish blood cheap. "All they want is to end their shifts and go home," he said.
"I call on the Internal Security Minister to demand the immediate dismissal of the Shai District spokeswoman and the Judea and Samaria Division spokesman for choosing to hide the truth from the nation and the world," Ben Ari added.
Eretz Yisrael Shelanu Chairman Baruch Marzel has called for the death penalty to be carried out against the murderers of Asher and Yonatan Palmer and said: "Only in Israel do the murderers of babies go home after a few years in prison."
Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son Yonatan were killed last month after their car overturned as a result of stones hurled at them. Police initially denied that stones had caused the accident but later concluded the incident was in fact a terror attack.
http://fwd4.me/0DG6
Dozens of settlers surround IDF patrol in West Bank and assault soldiers
IDF patrol vehicle near Shilo trapped by roadblocks; settlers and soldiers clash in what a senior officer calls 'crossing a red line.'
Dozens of Jewish settlers surrounded an IDF patrol vehicle on Wednesday evening near the Shilo settlement, setting up roadblocks and physically assaulting IDF soldiers.
The incident began after rumors circulated that the Gal Yosef illegal outpost is about to be evacuated. At approximately 9 P.M. the settlers erected roadblocks and blocked the entrance to the outpost with their cars.
An IDF patrol vehicle that arrived on the scene was blocked by settlers. The soldiers tried to turn back, but were stopped by more roadblocks.
The vehicle was then surrounded by a few dozen youth from nearby settlements. When the soldiers asked them to let the vehicle pass, one of the soldiers was punched in the face, prompting a violent clash between the two sides. Soldiers who were called to the scene were able to detain one of the attackers, but he managed to escape.
A senior IDF commander said that "the army sees this incident as crossing a red line, and the settlers who were involved in violence against the soldiers will be arrested soon by the police."
Officers serving in the West Bank have reported recently that tensions between security forces and settlers are on the rise. According to one senior office, "the security forces spend more time dealing with incidents involving Israeli citizens than confronting Palestinian terrorism."
The Gush Shilo area has recently become one of the main friction points between Israeli security forces and settlers. Over the past few weeks, settlers have been attacking Palestinian farmers' property in the nearby village of Qusra, almost on a daily basis. On Thursday morning, villagers discovered some 200 olive and fig trees were uprooted or damaged throughout the night.
According to a recent Shin Bet security service report, right-wing extremists no longer appear to need a "trigger" to take action, while the targets of the violence are also widening - military vehicles at an IDF base near Ramallah have been vandalized, and threatening graffiti was sprayed onto the apartment door of a left-wing activist. Attacks on Arabs and their property are carried out when the opportunity arises, the Shin Bet officials add.
The Shin Bet also warned that the delegitimization campaign that extreme right-wing activists are conducting against civil servants could end in serious violence.
Israeli settlers uproot Palestinian olive trees
2 Palestinians arrested for Palmer murder
Halhul residents confess to throwing stone which caused deaths of Asher Palmer, infant son Yonatan near Kiryat Arba last month. Three other Palestinians arrested on suspicion they stole victim's gun after attack.
Cleared for publication: Two Palestinians from Halhul were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion they murdered Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan near Kiryat Arba last month. The two were arrested following an investigation involving the police, the Shin Bet and the IDF.
A gag order has been placed in the identities of the detainees and the details of the investigation.
During their interrogation, the suspects admitted to throwing the stone which caused the deaths of Asher and Yonatan. The stone was hurled from a driving car. Police are also looking into the possibility that the two are behind 17 other cases involving stones being hurled at Israeli vehicles.
Three other Palestinians were also arrested and confessed to taking Palmer's gun after the attack. Police have found and are in possession of the weapon.
Mixed feelings
The Palmer family received the news of the arrest with mixed feelings. Asher Palmer's brother Moshe Palmer said: "It helps a little to give a sense of closure, but my dealing with it has less to do with the question of whether the murderers were caught or not.
"I'm still trying to digest everything that happened. The penny hasn't really dropped for us, it's difficult to comprehend."
"I have never felt the need for revenge but I'm glad they were arrested," he added. "Why they did what they did – is no great secret. It doesn't make the pain any easier, but it's good that a relatively short time after the incident, they managed to apprehend the people. I believe that those responsible for catching these people have done their job properly."
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) chose to attack the police and IDF and claimed that there are certain factors within the institutions that consider Jewish blood cheap. "All they want is to end their shifts and go home," he said.
"I call on the Internal Security Minister to demand the immediate dismissal of the Shai District spokeswoman and the Judea and Samaria Division spokesman for choosing to hide the truth from the nation and the world," Ben Ari added.
Eretz Yisrael Shelanu Chairman Baruch Marzel has called for the death penalty to be carried out against the murderers of Asher and Yonatan Palmer and said: "Only in Israel do the murderers of babies go home after a few years in prison."
Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son Yonatan were killed last month after their car overturned as a result of stones hurled at them. Police initially denied that stones had caused the accident but later concluded the incident was in fact a terror attack.
http://fwd4.me/0DG6
Dozens of settlers surround IDF patrol in West Bank and assault soldiers
IDF patrol vehicle near Shilo trapped by roadblocks; settlers and soldiers clash in what a senior officer calls 'crossing a red line.'
Dozens of Jewish settlers surrounded an IDF patrol vehicle on Wednesday evening near the Shilo settlement, setting up roadblocks and physically assaulting IDF soldiers.
The incident began after rumors circulated that the Gal Yosef illegal outpost is about to be evacuated. At approximately 9 P.M. the settlers erected roadblocks and blocked the entrance to the outpost with their cars.
An IDF patrol vehicle that arrived on the scene was blocked by settlers. The soldiers tried to turn back, but were stopped by more roadblocks.
The vehicle was then surrounded by a few dozen youth from nearby settlements. When the soldiers asked them to let the vehicle pass, one of the soldiers was punched in the face, prompting a violent clash between the two sides. Soldiers who were called to the scene were able to detain one of the attackers, but he managed to escape.
A senior IDF commander said that "the army sees this incident as crossing a red line, and the settlers who were involved in violence against the soldiers will be arrested soon by the police."
Officers serving in the West Bank have reported recently that tensions between security forces and settlers are on the rise. According to one senior office, "the security forces spend more time dealing with incidents involving Israeli citizens than confronting Palestinian terrorism."
The Gush Shilo area has recently become one of the main friction points between Israeli security forces and settlers. Over the past few weeks, settlers have been attacking Palestinian farmers' property in the nearby village of Qusra, almost on a daily basis. On Thursday morning, villagers discovered some 200 olive and fig trees were uprooted or damaged throughout the night.
According to a recent Shin Bet security service report, right-wing extremists no longer appear to need a "trigger" to take action, while the targets of the violence are also widening - military vehicles at an IDF base near Ramallah have been vandalized, and threatening graffiti was sprayed onto the apartment door of a left-wing activist. Attacks on Arabs and their property are carried out when the opportunity arises, the Shin Bet officials add.
The Shin Bet also warned that the delegitimization campaign that extreme right-wing activists are conducting against civil servants could end in serious violence.
Israeli settlers uproot Palestinian olive trees
Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees in Qusra village near Nablus overnight Wednesday, a Palestinian Authority official said.
A number of settlers destroyed trees in the south of the village at midnight, days before the olive harvest is due to begin, the Fatah official monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an.
The trees belonged to Fateh Allah Mahmoud, Ghassan Hasan and other Qusra villagers, Doughlas said, calling on the international community to put more effort into halting attacks on Palestinians by Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The Nablus area has witnessed a surge in settler attacks over the last month, including village raids, attacks on property and the vandalism of two mosques.
On Sept. 5, settlers broke into al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building and spray-painting anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David.
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426570
Jewish settlers uproot hundreds of Palestinian olive trees
Jewish settlers cut off more than 200 olive trees south of Qusra village south of Nablus city after midnight Wednesday, local sources reported on Thursday.
Ghassan Abu Daghlas, in-charge of settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the cultivated land lots are owned by five citizens, noting that the attack took place as the farmers were getting ready for harvesting olives.
In another settler assault on Wednesday, a setter riding a speeding car south of Nablus threw unknown sharp objects at Palestinian high school children, wounding the first in his neck and foot while the second was injured in his back.
Both schoolchildren were hospitalized after the attack.
Protected by Army, Israeli Settlers Enter Tomb of Joseph in Nablus
On Wednesday night the Israeli army entered the eastern part of the city of Nablus to open the way for Israeli settlers to reach the Tomb of Joseph for religious rituals.
Balata camp refugees told PNN that several military vehicles, accompanied by a bulldozer, invaded the camp around midnight to allow settlers into the tomb.
Confrontations took place in the camp as soldiers shot tear gas canisters towards the houses, and many suffered from tear gas inhalation. The confrontation lasted until the army and settlers left around 4:30 in the morning.
Settlers make regular visits to the tomb, which is located in a Area A—under the Oslo Accords, the area of the West Bank under full Palestinian military and civil control.
Hundreds of settlers storm Nabi Yusuf shrine
Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed the Nabi Yusuf shrine east of Nablus city at dawn Thursday under Israeli army protection.
Eyewitnesses said that PA security forces withdrew from the area shortly before arrival of the heavily escorted settlers who offered religious rituals.
They noted that the Israeli occupation forces entered the shrine area amidst intensive firing to pave the way for the arrival of the settlers.
The witnesses said that the IOF soldiers threw gas canisters and sonic bombs at the citizens, who protested the visit, and some of those fell inside Palestinian homes, adding that tens of the civilians were treated for breathing difficulty.
Settlers routinely storm the shrine which was an Islamic mosque then turned into a shrine by the Israeli occupation after the 1967 war.
A number of settlers destroyed trees in the south of the village at midnight, days before the olive harvest is due to begin, the Fatah official monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an.
The trees belonged to Fateh Allah Mahmoud, Ghassan Hasan and other Qusra villagers, Doughlas said, calling on the international community to put more effort into halting attacks on Palestinians by Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The Nablus area has witnessed a surge in settler attacks over the last month, including village raids, attacks on property and the vandalism of two mosques.
On Sept. 5, settlers broke into al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building and spray-painting anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David.
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426570
Jewish settlers uproot hundreds of Palestinian olive trees
Jewish settlers cut off more than 200 olive trees south of Qusra village south of Nablus city after midnight Wednesday, local sources reported on Thursday.
Ghassan Abu Daghlas, in-charge of settlement activity north of the West Bank, said that the cultivated land lots are owned by five citizens, noting that the attack took place as the farmers were getting ready for harvesting olives.
In another settler assault on Wednesday, a setter riding a speeding car south of Nablus threw unknown sharp objects at Palestinian high school children, wounding the first in his neck and foot while the second was injured in his back.
Both schoolchildren were hospitalized after the attack.
Protected by Army, Israeli Settlers Enter Tomb of Joseph in Nablus
On Wednesday night the Israeli army entered the eastern part of the city of Nablus to open the way for Israeli settlers to reach the Tomb of Joseph for religious rituals.
Balata camp refugees told PNN that several military vehicles, accompanied by a bulldozer, invaded the camp around midnight to allow settlers into the tomb.
Confrontations took place in the camp as soldiers shot tear gas canisters towards the houses, and many suffered from tear gas inhalation. The confrontation lasted until the army and settlers left around 4:30 in the morning.
Settlers make regular visits to the tomb, which is located in a Area A—under the Oslo Accords, the area of the West Bank under full Palestinian military and civil control.
Hundreds of settlers storm Nabi Yusuf shrine
Hundreds of Jewish settlers stormed the Nabi Yusuf shrine east of Nablus city at dawn Thursday under Israeli army protection.
Eyewitnesses said that PA security forces withdrew from the area shortly before arrival of the heavily escorted settlers who offered religious rituals.
They noted that the Israeli occupation forces entered the shrine area amidst intensive firing to pave the way for the arrival of the settlers.
The witnesses said that the IOF soldiers threw gas canisters and sonic bombs at the citizens, who protested the visit, and some of those fell inside Palestinian homes, adding that tens of the civilians were treated for breathing difficulty.
Settlers routinely storm the shrine which was an Islamic mosque then turned into a shrine by the Israeli occupation after the 1967 war.
5 oct 2011
Palestinian injured in surge in vehicular attacks by settlers
A Jewish settler crashed his vehicle into a 20-year-old Palestinian native of the West Bank village of Furoush Bayt Dajan in the second hit-and-run incident involving a Jewish settler in the last 24 hours.
The collision occurred as Nasser Mahmoud Abul-Kubbash was crossing the main road near the village, located 10 km east of Nablus.
The victim has been admitted to Rafidya hospital in Nablus where his wounds were described as moderate.
In another incident near Nablus a settler travelling in a speeding car threw objects at two Palestinian high school children on their way to school injuring them.
The two children, Rajeh Hejazi and Mahmoud Hejazi, were on their way to Saweya secondary school to the south of Nablus when the attack took place.
Rajeh had neck and foot injuries, while Mahmoud had a back injury. Both were taken to Rafidya hospital.
On Monday two nursing students at the Ibn Sina college in Hawwara, south of Nablus, were injured in a hit and run incident by a Jewish settler and were hospitalised as a result.
An official report quoted by Quds Press today stated that there were 33 cases of deliberate vehicular attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank since the start of 2011.
In September alone there were 14 such attacks, as settlers pledged to escalate their attacks against Palestinian civilians to coincide with the PA bid for statehood. This is not to count other forms of settler attacks such as burning mosques, attacking Palestinian homes and burning and uprooting olive trees.
Medics: Man injured in hit-and-run involving Israeli car
A 20-year-old man was injured Wednesday after he was hit by an Israeli-plated car near Nablus in the northern West Bank, medics said.
Nasser Abu al-Kabbash was run over while crossing the road in Beit Dajan, locals said, adding that the driver fled the scene.
Al-Kabbash was taken to the Rafedia Hospital with moderate injuries, medics said.
Two women were injured on Tuesday in a hit-and-run incident involving an Israeli-plated car in Huwwara village, south of Nablus.
Medics said an Israeli settler driving a Subaru pickup truck fled the scene, leaving Ahlam Hamad, 19, and her sister Saja, 18, with mild injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426260
Ex-Israeli officials: 'Price tag' attacks could start intifada
Following a recent increase in 'Price tag' attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region.
The attack this week on a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariya in northern Israel, where the interior prayer hall and religious emblems were set on fire, was the most recent in a series of attacks that Jewish settlers label "Price Tag" attacks, signifying payback for any Israeli curbs on settlements in the West Bank.
By spreading a yearlong trail of torched mosques and vehicles from occupied territory into Israel, the elusive militants now threaten not only peacemaking with Palestinians but an already strained coexistence between Israel's Jewish and minority Palestinian citizens.
Israeli-Palestinians, the vast majority of them Muslim and descended from Palestinians who remained while others fled or were driven away in fighting over Israel's establishment, make up 20 percent of Israel's population.
Extreme right-wing settler leader Itamar Ben Gvir said on Tuesday that the attack this week did not come as a surprise as frustration has been growing.
"It was not surprising, the writing was on the wall, because a population that feels that they are being abandoned, harmed and kicked over and over again, it is only natural that individuals from within that population will come out and commit incidents."
"I repeat, my call is against the government of Israel, against Bibi (Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu), against (Defense Minister Ehud) Barak, against Dorit Beinish -- the President of the Supreme Court -- they are responsible for what happened," said Ben Gvir who lives in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, in the divided city of Hebron.
Kiryat Arba is home to some 800 settlers who live alongside Hebron's approximately 30,000 Palestinian residents.
Driven by ideology, Jewish settlers claim a biblical right to the West Bank, land the Palestinians want for a future state. Tension between the settlers and Palestinians often spills into violence.
Gvir believes the recent attack on the Tuba-Zangariya mosque, located within Israel proper, was because of a heavier Israeli security presence around the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.
"I imagine that they chose that village (in Israel) because in this area (the West Bank) we can see the guarding, we can see the police's enthusiasm to guard every mosque in this area and in my opinion, what happened is a result of frustration," he said.
Local police said they had set up a special task force to investigate the suspected extremist attack in the Bedouin village.
But Israeli police have not arrested any suspects for what is the latest of four mosques torched in the past year, two in Israel and two in the West Bank. They suspect the "price tag" group may be responsible based on the group's slogan having been daubed on one of the mosque's stone walls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying it offended the nation's core values.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said four males, most of them West Bank settlers, had been arrested and questioned for previous assaults attributed to the "price tag" group, however all were released without charge.
"Over the last year there have been a large number of incidents that have taken place, specifically in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The Israeli police have set up a special task force team to deal specifically with those incidents, which is including both stoning of Palestinian vehicles, unfortunately a number of damage that was caused to mosques both in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Israeli police will continue to do everything possible in the near future both to prevent further incidents from taking place and we made approximately four arrests over the last month involving those specific incidents," said Rosenfeld.
Former security chiefs cautioned that the "price tag" assaults -- suspected of including recent torchings of Palestinian cars and uprootings of hundreds of olive trees and grapevines -- could explode in a new wave of violence.
Avraham Dichter, a former head of Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, said that while not as lethal as a Jewish group that killed three Palestinians and injured dozens in a series of attacks in the 1980's, the recent incidents were no less sensitive.
"We have to remember in the past we have faced tough terrorists, who carried out -- Jewish terrorists -- who carried out terror attacks against Palestinians sometimes against leaders, amongst the Palestinians by putting bombs in their vehicles, I'm speaking about 30 years ago, it created some kind of deterrence and maybe that's the reason why today we see, if we may say, more light events, but it doesn't mean that it's less sensitive than the former ones," Dichter said.
Dichter believes that any attack on a sensitive holy site could easily start a new wave of Palestinian violence, an intifada.
"Even a stupid terrorist, if he succeeds in carrying out a terror attack towards a sensitive target, like Temple Mount, like al-Aqsa Mosque, you can find yourself in no time in the middle of an intifada not because there were fatalities but just because a very important and sensitive target was hit," he said.
Menachem Landow, a former official within the Shin Bet security agency, added that an incident like the recent attack on the Palestinian population within Israel could in itself inflame the region.
"It is a problem of the state of Israel, everything that has to do with the rule of law. It could inflame the area and cause another intifada or incidents alike to the extent that it could lead to bloodshed" Landau said.
Landau blamed the settler groups for not co-operating with the security services over the 'price tag' attacks.
"One of the things that bothers me is that the leaders of the settlements are constantly condemning. The condemnation is not enough, they need to co-operate with the security services, help them because without the help from the surroundings no intelligence source has a chance," he added.
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426477
US condemns `dangerous and provocative` mosque attack
The United States on Tuesday condemned the "dangerous and provocative" attack on a mosque in a Bedouin village in northern Israel a day earlier.
"We note that the Israeli Government also strongly condemned the attacks, and we endorse stepped-up efforts by law enforcement authorities to act vigorously to bring to justice those responsible for this heinous act and similar attacks that have taken place in the West Bank," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
Vandals torched a mosque in the northern village of Tuba Zangaria in the northern Galilee region in an attack blamed on right-wing extremists.
The mosque was badly damaged by fire, with the perpetrators scrawling the words "tag" and "revenge" on the walls.
The attackers also graffitied the word "Palmer" in an apparent reference to Asher Palmer, an Israeli settler who died in a car crash with his infant son in the southern West Bank on Sept. 23. Israeli police say his car was hit by stones thrown by Palestinians, causing it to crash.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426217
4 oct 2011
Mosque attacks: On the rise since 2009, but no indictments
The burning of the Tuba mosque in the Galilee should not come as a surprise to anyone. The criminal and terror acts of burning mosques and desecrating Muslim sites have become an accepted norm under Israel’s rule. There is no fear from committing such attacks, since law enforcement officials have done nothing to prosecute the perpetrators.
Some quick research I did found that attacks on Muslim sites have peaked since 2009. Since then, there have been numerous attempts and successful attacks on mosques and Muslim cemeteries. On September 5, a mosque in Qasra, a village south of Nablus was burnt. Earlier in April, a mosque in Huwara, also outside Nablus was burnt . In June, A mosque in el-Mughayer, a village outside Ramallah, was torched. Other mosques were burnt in the south as well. Beit Fajjar mosque, outside Bethlehem was also torched and holy books were desecrated and burnt. No one was indicted for any of these attacks.
The attack on the Tuba mosque in the Galilee caught a lot of attention because it is the first mosque to be torched inside Israel. However, a similar attempt was carried out in 2009, when an attempt to burn a mosque in Tiberias was not successful. The police dismissed the attack because the tire used failed to catch on fire. No one was arrested.
In 2009 and 2010 here were many successful mosque attacks within the West Bank. In 2009 radical settlers torched a major mosque in Yasof village. In May 2010, a mosque outside Huwara was burnt and a graffiti of the Star of David was left on the wall of the mosque. Another mosque was set on fire in Luban al-Sharqiya, a Palestinian village south of Nablus.
Israeli leaders have condemned the attacks publicly, but failed to do anything to stop them. The Israeli military and police don’t priorities protecting Palestinians from radical settler attacks. The attacks on Palestinian villages and holy sites have been increasing without any consequences to the assailants.
The Palestinian Authority is not allowed to protect the Palestinian villages outside the major cities in the West Bank. International law holds Israel responsible for the protection of the Palestinian population and the holy sites under its rule. Even under occupation, Israel is obligated to protect the civilians and the holy sites. However, when radical settlers attack Palestinian villages, the Israeli security is only concerned with settlers safety.
Muslims can’t help but wonder: how long would it have taken Israel to catch the perpetrators if they were Palestinians burning a synagogue? Israel’s security service is known worldwide for its “efficiency.” But it is inexperienced and inefficient when it comes to crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians.
However, the problem is not Israel’s security efficiency but rather its priorities. The protection of Palestinians or non-Jewish holy sites is not a priority for Israel’s security services. This is proven by the inaction of the law enforcement when attacks are carried out by Jews against Palestinians.
The attack on the mosque in Galilee proves that radicals have no fear of committing violence. They have no reason to show restraint. The police has done nothing to stop them before and is unlikely to take this incident any more seriously.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government shouldn’t continue to ignore these attacks. Israel cannot keep claiming to be a democracy and protector of minorities when mosque burning becomes regular news. Even those who are adamant supportsof Israel are concerned. The Anti Defamation League, which rarely criticizes Israel, found it important to condemn the attack. The mosque burning in Galilee is likely to quicken the deterioration in the relationship between the state and the Palestinian minority. It will increase Palestinian suspicion of the state and will lower cooperation.
The price for a blind eye to the growth of radicalism is high. Radicals who attack Palestinians and Muslim sites will feel bold enough to attack anyone else who might stand in their way. Recently, the Shin Bet reported a growing threat of settler attacks on Israeli officials. Extremism has no limits, and extremists will justify any violent actions to get what they want. Israeli police might not care for the Palestinian community or for mosque burning, but in the process, Israel is creating a monster too wild to tame.
It is time for the Israeli government and police to repent from their indifference. Extremism should not be tolerated and given a free hand. The tolerance of terrorism is an act of murder to the dream of a moral and civilized country.
http://972mag.com/mosque-attacks-on-the-rise-since-2009-but-no-indictments/24620/
Settler Rams Vehicle Into Two Palestinian Sisters
Two Palestinian sisters were injured on Tuesday when an Israeli settler hit them with his vehicle at the Huwwara Road, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, before fleeing the scene, the Maan News Agency reported.
Local sources stated that the settler was driving his own vehicle, a pickup truck, and sped away without even slowing down, leaving the injured young women in the street.
Palestinian medical sources reported that the two sisters are Ahlam Hamad, 19, and Saja Hamad, 18. They were trying to cross the main street while heading for IbnSina Medical College, where they are students. They were transferred to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus, where X-ray and other tests revealed that they suffered concussions and external injuries.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62180
UN reports alarming increase in Israeli violence
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has become increasingly hazardous to Palestinians, with attacks by settlers and heavy-handed tactics on the part of Israeli security forces on the rise, according to the latest UN statistics.
In the West Bank village of Quasra, Israeli forces shot and killed a 37-year-old Palestinian on September 23 while trying to break up a dispute between residents and Jewish settlers. On the same day, an eight-year-old Palestinian child in Hebron was struck by a settler’s vehicle. He died four days later. During the same week in Bethlehem and Nablus, a Palestinian was injured when settlers stoned his car, while two others were hurt after being physically assaulted.
These are some of the latest incidents reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories (UNOCHA), whose statistics show that aggressive Israeli actions against Palestinians have increased across the board over the last year.
The number of Palestinian civilians killed or injured by Israeli forces rose by nearly a third in the West Bank and Gaza from 2010 to 2011.
During the same period, hostilities instigated by Jewish settlers have also contributed to a steep rise in the number of instances of injury and damage to property, with the UNOHCA reporting a 38 per cent increase in such episodes.
The latest indicators of mounting aggression by Jewish settlers come as militant Jews set fire to a mosque in northern Israel on Monday, prompting clashes between ethnic Arab citizens from the village of Tuba-Zangaria and police.
And as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks UN recognition for an independent Palestinian State based on 1967 borders, Israel’s refusal to halt settlement expansion could very well lead to more violence.
While the Israeli government has approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in East Jerusalem, the UNOCHA found that the number of Palestinian homes and buildings demolished had risen significantly, while the total number of Palestinians displaced by such actions has more than doubled.
Palestinian casualties by Israeli forces in West Bank and Gaza
Killed in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 95 vs. 62
Injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 1577 vs. 1119
Settler-related incidents
Incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries or property damage in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 326 vs. 202
Palestinians injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 139 vs. 74
Palestinian-owned structures demolished
Structures demolished in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 409 vs. 290
People displaced in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 804 vs. 374
http://rt.com/news/palestine-israel-occupation-violence-001/
UK minister condemns north Israel mosque arson
The United Kingdom's Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt said Tuesday that he strongly condemned the attack on a mosque in northern Israel a day earlier.
“This intentionally provocative attack on a place of worship is appalling. I note that Prime Minister Netanyahu has also condemned this senseless act of violence," Burt said in a statement.
"I welcome the stated determination of the Israeli authorities to pursue the criminals responsible and to bring them to justice,” he said of the arson in Tuba Zangria, which has been blamed on Israeli extremists.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425882
Mosque burning draws int’l anger as unrest rocks ‘48- occupied territories
The arson of a mosque in the Upper Galilee Valley has drawn worldwide anger as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has called on Israel to shoulder responsibilities as an occupying force and strikes and clashes rocked the Palestinian villages inside the 1948- occupied Palestinian territories.
Jewish settlers set fire to Al-Nour mosque in Tuba-Zangareyya village overnight Sunday burning holy books and causing serious damage. Graffiti in Hebrew was found on the walls.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas has condemned the arson, calling the move “cowardly and racist”, and said that the “continued settler attacks and the Zionist occupation’s protection of these extremists is a contravention of divine laws and international norms”.
Secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called the mosque burning a “terrorist act against the freedom of worship and the sanctity of holy sites”.
He said the act came within the context of an “open war launched by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian people and their holy sites”.
Ihsanoglu added that Israel (as an occupying force) must take the “necessary measures to protect holy sites and stop the recurrence of such serious violations”.
Also to condemn the act was the Arab League. In a statement on Tuesday, the regional organization assigned blame to a rise in “Israeli racism backed by laws issued by the Israeli Knesset, with as much as 16 laws targeting Palestinians”.
The laws have led to the “confiscation of many villages and homes and prevented (Palestinians) from returning and have granted their lands and homes to Jews in a racial manner,” the statement goes on to say.
The statement also calls on the United Nations and the Quartet and all bodies working in human rights and religious freedoms to take a firm stance against the repeated attacks.
In the occupied territories, clashes have reappeared in Tuba-Zanghareya as Israeli occupation forces fired teargas at local youths and closed off the town’s entrances.
This comes after a calm that followed similar clashes that erupted in the village on the day of the mosque burning.
Also on Tuesday, a strike prevailed in rural villages in the 1948- occupied Palestinian territories as locals have closed down all facilities and institutions in a day of rage following the incident.
Hundreds of Palestinians from across the 1948- occupied territories have shown up at the village to condemn the act.
Settlers prove that fire is satan's best friend
How else can one explain the burning of a mosque in a Palestinian village? The terrorists involved referred to the act as a ‘price tag revenge’ …..
Price tag for what” For living under one of the worlds most brutal occupations for almost 64 years? For living as second class citizens on their own lands?? Or possibly for being denied basic human services from the occupier for all of those years …. Is this all not enough of a ‘price tag’ already paid for umpteen times over?
A report dealing with attack can be read HERE…
Mosque set alight in suspected ‘price tag’ attack in Upper Galilee
Graffiti with the words ‘price tag’ found on wall of the mosque in northern Israel; Northern District Police Commander describe incident as ‘very serious.’
Price Tag is definitely the wrong terminology to use in this instance, it is nothing short of a pogrom! The very criminals that are responsible for it cry out ‘Never Again’ …. but they never say to whom. They must be punished to the fullest extent of the law and used as an example of what NEVER AGAIN means.
Here are some photos of the aftermath from HaAretz…
The settlers and their government claim that Palestinian Statehood would lead to an increase in terrorism…. WTF is all of the above?
http://fwd4.me/0D6d
Closing The Ibrahim Mosque for Muslims and Opening it to Israeli Settlers
Israeli Military forces closed the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank today, October 4th, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The director of Hebron Endowments, Zayd Al-Ja‘bari, reported to WAFA that the Israeli military forces closed the Ibrahim Mosque to Muslim worshipers this morning and opened all its corridors and courtyards to Israeli settlers, ostensibly to enable their celebration of the Jewish Yom Kippur ,or Holiday of Repentance.
He added that the occupation intends to close all the corridors and courtyards of the Ibrahim Mosque, while preventing the call to prayer, on Saturday, 8 October, in connection with the Yom Kippur holiday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62184
Medics: 2 women injured after hit-and-run involving settler car
Two women from the northern West Bank were injured on Tuesday morning in a hit-and-run incident involving an Israeli settler car, medics said.
The women were hit as they crossed the main road of Huwwara village, south Nablus. Ahlam Bilal Hamad, 19, and her sister Saja, 18, suffered mild injuries in the incident.
A settler driving a Subaru pickup truck fled the scene, Palestinian medical sources said.
The Nablus area has witnessed a surge in settler attacks over the last month, including village raids, attacks on property and the vandalism of two mosques.
On Sept. 5, settlers torched a mosque and spray-painted anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David in the village of Qusra, south of Huwwara.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425925
3 oct 2011
Israelis burn mosque, Qur'ans
Unknown assailants have set ablaze a Palestinian mosque, burning Islam's holy book of Qur'an in the occupied Palestinian territories, an Israeli police spokesman says.
A carpet was burnt and interior walls were damaged at the mosque in Tuba-Zangria village in the Galilee region, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Numerous copies of the holy Qur'an were also burnt, according to an Israeli Radio report.
Israeli settlers are suspected of being behind the anti-Islam attack, as they have often advocated and perpetrated such attacks in the past.
Rosenfeld said the phrase "price tag" was spray painted on the walls of the mosque.
Under the so-called "price tag" policy, Israeli settlers regularly engage in attacks against Palestinians and their properties, in supposed reaction to Tel Aviv's operations against illegal settlements.
In a similar incident last month, settlers torched a mosque in the occupied West Bank after illegal structures in an unauthorized settlement outpost were destroyed by Tel Aviv's police forces.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202455.html
Mosque set alight in Galilee village
A mosque in northern Israel was set on fire overnight Sunday in a suspected 'price tag' attack, Israeli police said.
Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP that a number of suspects entered the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria and set fire to it, causing heavy damage to the carpets and walls.
On the outside of the mosque were scrawled the words "price tag" and "revenge" in Hebrew, Rosenfeld said.
Jamal Zangriya, a resident of the village, told Israel Radio: "We believe extremists from outside the village did it," blaming rabbis from the nearby town of Safed for incitement against Arabs, which he said may have led to the incident.
They also wrote the word "Palmer," in an apparent reference to Asher Palmer, an Israeli settler who died with his infant son in the southern West Bank on September 23 after his car was hit by stones thrown by Palestinians, causing it to crash.
Hardline Jewish 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.
Northern District Police Commander Roni Attia set up a special investigation team to deal with the incident, and police heightened security in the area to prevent any "random incidents," Rosenfeld said.
"This is a very severe price tag incident," police quoted Attia as saying.
He called on residents of the area to preserve public order and allow the police to investigate the incident without disturbances.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying such incidences "do not belong in the state of Israel."
In June, a mosque in al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah was torched and sprayed with anti-Arab graffiti. Witnesses said a group of Israeli settlers arrived in the village before dawn.
In a similar incident, settlers broke into al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus in September, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
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.
Almost all "price tag" attacks occur in the occupied West Bank, but last year a similar incident took place in the Palestinian-Israeli village of Iblin, also in the northern Galilee region.
Around twenty percent, or 1.3 million people, of Israel's population are of Palestinian origin.
They are largely the descendants of Palestinians that managed to remain during the 1948 war, when an estimated 700,000 were expelled from or fled their homes during fighting that would see the establishment of the state of Israel.
Rights groups say that Israelis of Palestinian origin face discrimination in employment, education and public funding within Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425581
Palestinians warn of "kristallnacht" following settler torching of mosque
From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
Palestinian leaders on both sides of the Green Line have warned against rising mass terror by Jewish religious fanatics against Muslim holy places.
The warnings came hours after suspected Jewish terrorists torched a mosque at the village of Tuba Zangariya in the Upper Galilee .
Eyewitnesses reported that around 1:00 o'clock a.m. (after midnight Sunday), suspected Jewish terrorists stormed the main mosque at the village, and set it on fire, apparently using an inflammable substance. The entire interior of the mosque went up in flames, causing heavy damage.
Quranic texts and other religious books were burned.
Before leaving, the perpetrators scrawled racist anti-Islam graffiti on the walls.
Ahmed Teibi, an Arab lawmaker in the Israeli Knesset, described the burning of the mosque as "a clear cut terrorist act."
"This is not an isolated incident, this is not an aberration, it is not thunder on a clear day. This is a natural outcome of the systematic incitement against the Arab community. The poisoned incitement against our community by many rabbis and the Nazi-like edicts issued by some rabbinic councils, which forbid Jews from renting homes and apartments to Arabs have finally produced this.
"This grave deterioration must be stopped immediately. We hold the government of Israel solely responsible. We are talking about a racist, fascist and extremist government whose policies and practices have made this crime inevitable.
"Why is it that the racist rabbi of Safad has not been arrested? Why is it that not a single Jewish terrorist responsible for mosque torching has been arrested."
Teibi added that the best response to the terrorist act was rehabilitating the mosque as soon as possible and exercising a measure of self-restraint.
"This is the most appropriate response to these racists and fascists."
Ahmed Kana'an, an academic from the town of Taiba across the Green Line, described the frequency of attacks on mosques in both in the West Bank and in Israel as a reminder of the Kristallnacht.
"It is true that the scope and magnitude are not the same in both cases. However, we must recognize that the racism, the fascist spirit, the malicious intent, the murderous and criminal zeal as well as the connivance of the government are the same."
Kana'an argued that the Israeli authorities were doing next to nothing to stem the tide of Jewish fascism in occupied Palestine.
"To the world they claim they are outraged by such acts and that they won't rest until they catch the perpetrators, But in reality, they assure the perpetrators not to worry. They give them money, encouragement and protection. This is the reason that non-of the terrorists has been apprehended, let alone prosecuted and punished.
"I can say with a high degree of certitude that the state of Israel and the government of Israel lack both the willingness and the inclination to fight Jewish terror. After all a snake doesn't bit its own tail."
Kana'an compared the relations between the Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu and the Jewish terrorist groups with the relations between the Nazi regime in Germany and the Hitler Youth group.
The group was responsible for burning dozens of synagogues across Germany in November 1938.
So far, a dozen mosque in the West Bank have been torched by suspected Jewish terrorists. None of the attackers has been arrested.
It is widely believed the Nazi-like religious Zionist group, known as Gush Emunim, stands behind most or all of the mosque torching.
Last week, Jewish settlers indoctrinated in extremist Talmudic theology threatened to transform the West Bank into a huge killing field.
Reacting to Palestinian efforts to obtain international backing for a prospective Palestinian state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967, some settler leaders warned that they would transform Palestinian population centers into another Srebrenica.
In 1995, Serb soldiers carried out a genocide in the Bosnian city where as many as 8000 men and boys were massacred in cold blood.
Settler leaders, who are effectively backed by the Israeli government and army, have made numerous statements of late threatening to slaughter Palestinians in case the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a state or grants enhanced membership status to the Palestinian Authority (PA)
Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, an extremist Talmudic sage, was quoted this week as calling for "collective punishment" of Palestinians. He reiterated an erstwhile incendiary Talmudic edict stating that even Gentiles' children can be killed in time of war, "because there are no innocents in war."
The same rabbi endorsed a recent Hebrew book calling for murdering the "children of the enemy", especially in time of war.
In 1994, the elderly rabbi wholeheartedly embraced the massacre carried out by an American-Jewish terrorist, Baruch Goldstein, in which hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, who were praying at Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron, were killed and injured.
The rabbi praised the murderer as a great saint and hero. The same rabbi has tens of thousands of faithful followers and supporters and is believed to be feared by the Israel political establishment.
Last week, the main mosque at the village of Qusra near Nablus in the West Bank was badly damaged when Jewish terrorists set its interior on fire.
Observers in the West Bank are convinced that settler terrorist gangs have "moles" and "insiders" within the Israeli occupation army throughout the occupied territories, which allows the terrorists to commit acts of terror and vandalism against Palestinians without getting caught.
In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian man who sustained a very serious injury. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers urged the Israeli army to shoot and kill Palestinians following an apparent traffic accident in which two settlers were killed on Friday, 23 September.
Most, if not all, settlers are indoctrinated in a virulent religious ideology that advocates the physical annihilation of non-Jews living under Jewish rule. According to this ideology, even pacified and "law-abiding" Gentiles must be enslaved as "water carriers and wood cutters" in the service of the master race.
In recent years, numerous settler leaders elucidated their fascist ideology vis-a-vis the Palestinians. They quoted "edicts" from ancient Talmudic texts that -- if applied -- would force millions of Palestinians to choose between enslavement by Jews, violent expulsion or physical extermination.
Settlers, who follow the ideology of religious Zionism, believe that the life of a non-Jew has no sanctity and that a Jew may even murder a non-Jew without the slightest compunction. Some rabbinic authorities go as far as permitting a Jew to murder a non-Jew in order to extract the victim's vital organs if the Jew needs them.
Several decades ago, the ideology of Gush Emunim, also known as Zionist Messianism, was marginal among the overall Jewish population. However, the ideology looks now to be a mainstream trend as Israeli Jewish society continues to drift towards open fascism.
A few months ago, the spiritual leader of Shas, the powerful political party and kingmaker representing Jews from Arab and Muslim states claimed during a Sabbath eve homily that the status of non-Jews in general is similar to that of beasts of burden and that the Almighty created non-Jews, including Christian supporters of Israel, solely to serve Jews.
http://fwd4.me/0CxO
PA: Settler violence 'not random'
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are "condoned and supported by the Israeli government," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday.
Over 500 olive trees were burned and uprooted on Saturday night, in settler attacks on villages near Nablus and Hebron, a government statement said.
Khatib said the incidents followed an intensification of violence by Israeli settlers on Palestinians, adding that the Israeli government's "failure to act shows its disregard for applying the rule of law to the settlers.
"There have been no reported cases of Israeli settlers being held accountable for these crimes," Khatib said, listing settler destruction of 3,000 olive trees and grape vines, burning of 83 dunums and flooding of 40 dunums of agricultural land in the West Bank in September.
As Palestinian farmers prepare for the upcoming olive harvest season, "the settlers' season of destruction has begun early," Khatib said.
"These are not random events," he added, accusing the Israeli government of providing settlers with full impunity and army protection while they destroy Palestinian land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425767
Shin Bet: Threat of settler violence against Israeli officials rising in West Bank
Officials say right-wing extremists no longer need 'trigger' to take action, while targets of violence widening; extremists also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials.
The delegitimization campaign that extreme right-wing activists are conducting against civil servants could end in serious violence, according to warnings passed on to the political echelon by the Shin Bet security service.
Shin Bet officials have identified a radicalization in the phenomena that first emerged ahead of the disengagement from Gaza in 2004, and see a connection between them and the increased attacks on mosques and Palestinian property - actions that their perpetrators are defining as "a price tag."
Shin Bet sources say members of the extreme right are making an effort to deter defense officials whose duties include coming into contact with such elements. The extremists are also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials, the Shin Bet sources add.
The two most prominent incidents in the past year have been the smear campaign conducted against Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan and the demonstrations held against the Israel Defense Forces' Judea and Samaria Division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon.
The phenomena, however, stretch far further than these two matters, the Shin Bet says. Among other incidents, for example, the full names of officials from the Shin Bet's Jewish Division have been published on Internet websites, and their wives and children have been harassed at work and school. Civil Administration officials involved in keeping tabs on building violations have also been harassed.
According to the Shin Bet, the right-wing extremists no longer appear to need a "trigger" to take action, while the targets of the violence are also widening - military vehicles at an IDF base near Ramallah have been vandalized, and threatening graffiti has been sprayed onto the apartment door of a left-wing activist. Attacks on Arabs and their property are carried out when the opportunity arises, the Shin Bet officials add.
Defense establishment sources believe that some of the "price tag" attacks are being carried out by well-known right-wingers. Some two months ago, 12 right-wing extremists were ordered to stay out of the West Bank on the grounds that some of them had been involved in the torching of mosques. Restraining orders were issued because authorities have yet to collect enough evidence to press charges. None of the activists have sought to overturn the orders through the High Court of Justice.
Shin Bet officials believe that the acts of violence are being carried out by a few dozen individuals who are being supported by a circle of a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say.
http://fwd4.me/0Cvk
Clashes Between Arabs, Police in Galilee after Mosque Arson
About 300 Israeli Arabs clashed with Israeli police Monday in Tuba-Zangariya, a Bedouin-Arab village in the Upper Galilee, after a mosque in the village was set on fire in a suspected “price tag” attack, said Israeli security sources.
Residents of the village of Tuba-Zangariya began marching to the nearby Israeli town of Rosh Pina and burnt tires while hurling rocks at Israeli forces, who responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters.
The mosque was set on fire Sunday night and its entire interior went up in flames, causing heavy damage to its contents and its holy books being burnt. Graffiti with the words “price tag” was found on the wall of the mosque.
Israeli police said they arrested several suspects involved in the mosque arson, but did not disclose any details.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17624
Agricultural committees: Protect olive harvest from settlers
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees announced on Monday an upcoming campaign to protect West Bank farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers during the olive harvest season.
Noting a recent escalation in attacks on Palestinian lands and farmers, the agricultural support organization said it will organize groups of volunteers to accompany workers picking olives during the season.
"Olive collecting will be a form of popular resistance," the group said, adding that they were asking Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel, as well as international activists, to join the campaign.
Volunteers will particularly help farmers harvesting groves behind Israel's separation wall, which juts into the West Bank cutting off Palestinian farm land. Palestinians must apply for permits from the Israeli military authorities in the West Bank to secure access to harvest their lands.
In 2010, the Ramallah-based Ministry of Agriculture said 4.3 percent of olive trees were inaccessible behind Israel's wall, the route of which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425595
Netanyahu 'outraged' over mosque attack
Prime minister, MKs and local community leaders condemn 'price tag' attack in northern Galilee village of Tuba Zangria. Police arrest several suspects.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen Monday to discuss the "price tag" attack in Tuba Zangria. Netanyahu instructed Cohen to find the culprits as soon as possible. "The images are shocking and have no place in the State of Israel," he told the Shin Bet chief.
A statement issued on behalf of the prime minister said: "Netanyahu was outraged when he saw the photos and said the act went against the State of Israel's values. Freedom of religion and freedom to worship are supreme values."
Meanwhile, the police announced that several suspects were arrested in connection to the incident.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch spoke to the police commissioner and said that "harming holy places is a criminal and shameful act that cannot be ignored. We will act to bring those responsible swiftly to justice."
Some 300 residents of Tuba Zangria clashed with security forces after they took to the streets to protest the "price tag" attack. Locals disrupted traffic on Route 90 and some hurled stones at officers and torched tires. Police forces responded with crowd dispersal means.
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi said: "Those who failed to stop the cancerous growth and the mosque burning in the occupied territories should not be surprised when the metastasis grow inside the State of Israel.
"This is not a bunch of 'price tag' vandals, this is a terror organization raging unrestrained with the endorsement of inciting racism like that of the rabbi of the city of Safed who has yet to be brought to trial."
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also addressed the mosque torching and said that "burning a place of worship is a criminal and abominable act. These criminals, if they are Jews, are the main threat to the State of Israel in general and especially the Zionist movement. They keep the Jewish dream and the vision of returning to Israel far away and they must be brought to justice."
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union) condemned the attack but noted that "it has previously been discovered many times that suspected 'price tag' cases were exposed as local mishaps used in an attempt to slander an innocent sector of the public. That is why I would suggest that the veracity of the matter be examined before making headlines."
The Galilee Regional Council Chief Aharon Valensi sought to calm the Arab public: "The residents of Tuba should know that the neighbors here strongly condemn this act. These operations do not fit our quiet region or the ongoing relationship between the area's residents. It very much upsets me. I hope this incident will not lead to unnecessary commotion."
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism called on Israel's religious leaders, first and foremost the rabbis, to condemn the "price tag" phenomenon in a resolved manner.
"This isn't a marginal act of hooliganism, this is the ongoing growth of a phenomenon that receives the silent approval of the community and rabbinic leadership," he claimed.
Later on Monday, about 50 protestors marched at the village's northern entrance, calling out 'Allah Akbar' (God is great) chants, torching a nearby field and setting tires on fire. Some carried signs reading "No to Violence, Yes to Peace."
Regional police commanders arrived at the scene to help restore calm and end the protest. To prevent an escalation, police beefed up its presence in the area and scrambled a helicopter to hover from above. "Calm on your end will lead to calm on our end," police sources said.
Northern District commander Roni Atiya was briefed on the events in the area. "There was a procession that evolved in the village. We instructed police forces to use all necessary measures to prevent the protestors from reaching highway 90 and Rosh Pina," he said.
According to Atiya, masked protestors also took part in the demonstration, hurling stones at security forces.
The police commander referred to the investigation into the apprehending of the perpetrators who torched the mosque, saying, "I would not suggest to anyone to pin blame. We are working hard to catch those responsible and we have made several arrests that may be linked to the arson." He would not elaborate.
A resident of the village, Maher, stood with his son at the entrance to the mosque. "This is something that we did not expect. There are no words to describe it. I hope it will not lead to the area exploding. We have had good relations with the communities in the area for many years now. This is a mosque that has five prayers a day, our children are being educated here. We have heard of similar occurrences in the West Bank but never believed it would happen here."
Former regional council chairman Hussein al-Haib said, "It came as a surprise and hurts our feelings when we see the slogans 'revenge' and 'price tag'. This is a nice Bedouin village that is very devoted to the State of Israel. This will surely harm the relations with the neighboring communities and it is a shame. We don't want the relations harmed."
Some villagers pointed their finger at a group of extremists in Safed, whom they claim could have been involved in the act. Safed police, however, said that it was not aware of such a group.
2 oct 2011
Settlers attacked Israeli activist and Palestinians
On Thirsday (30/9) Israeli activists and Palestinians were attacked by settlers near the settlement of Atarot.
The landowner of the plot to which the activists came in order to plant trees was also attacked by the settlers who cracked his head open, as well as attacking his wife. The two were have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem hospital.
Police officers who were present at the scene did nothing while the activists were beaten and their cameras smashed. Some of the attackers wore police shirts and carried service weapons, which attests to the fact that they are a part of the police force even though they were off duty.
Three other activists have been hospitalized at Hadassa Ein Karem and an additional three have been arrested by the police, who have NOT arrested any of the assaulting settlers, in spite of having witnessed everything.
Later this evening, more activists arrived to protest against the pogrom which had taken place earlier. They too were attacked and beaten, with stoned being thrown at them too. In spite of police presence at the scene, the police did nothing.
As a result of the second attack, 19 people have been injured, requiring medical attention, and three have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem. Again, several cameras were destroyed. Moreover, cars belonging to the activists, which were parked outside the settlement of Atarot, were damaged by the attackers, who smashed windshields and head and tail lights, as well as puncturing tires
http://silwanic.net/?p=20774
Locals: Settlers burn olive trees in Ramallah villages
Israeli settlers vandalized orchards in two Ramallah-district villages late Saturday, locals told Ma'an.
Settlers uprooted olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers and set fire to the groves in the central West Bank villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham, witnesses said.
Shortly after the settlers left, Israeli forces prevented the farmers from accessing their fields to put out the fire, locals told a Ma'an reporter.
The region's popular resistance committee said it would not be silent over settlers' attacks, and will continue popular activities.
Residents of Nabi Salih hold weekly Friday rallies to protest against Israel's confiscation of village lands by nearby Jewish-only settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425327
Palestinian injured in surge in vehicular attacks by settlers
A Jewish settler crashed his vehicle into a 20-year-old Palestinian native of the West Bank village of Furoush Bayt Dajan in the second hit-and-run incident involving a Jewish settler in the last 24 hours.
The collision occurred as Nasser Mahmoud Abul-Kubbash was crossing the main road near the village, located 10 km east of Nablus.
The victim has been admitted to Rafidya hospital in Nablus where his wounds were described as moderate.
In another incident near Nablus a settler travelling in a speeding car threw objects at two Palestinian high school children on their way to school injuring them.
The two children, Rajeh Hejazi and Mahmoud Hejazi, were on their way to Saweya secondary school to the south of Nablus when the attack took place.
Rajeh had neck and foot injuries, while Mahmoud had a back injury. Both were taken to Rafidya hospital.
On Monday two nursing students at the Ibn Sina college in Hawwara, south of Nablus, were injured in a hit and run incident by a Jewish settler and were hospitalised as a result.
An official report quoted by Quds Press today stated that there were 33 cases of deliberate vehicular attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank since the start of 2011.
In September alone there were 14 such attacks, as settlers pledged to escalate their attacks against Palestinian civilians to coincide with the PA bid for statehood. This is not to count other forms of settler attacks such as burning mosques, attacking Palestinian homes and burning and uprooting olive trees.
Medics: Man injured in hit-and-run involving Israeli car
A 20-year-old man was injured Wednesday after he was hit by an Israeli-plated car near Nablus in the northern West Bank, medics said.
Nasser Abu al-Kabbash was run over while crossing the road in Beit Dajan, locals said, adding that the driver fled the scene.
Al-Kabbash was taken to the Rafedia Hospital with moderate injuries, medics said.
Two women were injured on Tuesday in a hit-and-run incident involving an Israeli-plated car in Huwwara village, south of Nablus.
Medics said an Israeli settler driving a Subaru pickup truck fled the scene, leaving Ahlam Hamad, 19, and her sister Saja, 18, with mild injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426260
Ex-Israeli officials: 'Price tag' attacks could start intifada
Following a recent increase in 'Price tag' attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region.
The attack this week on a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariya in northern Israel, where the interior prayer hall and religious emblems were set on fire, was the most recent in a series of attacks that Jewish settlers label "Price Tag" attacks, signifying payback for any Israeli curbs on settlements in the West Bank.
By spreading a yearlong trail of torched mosques and vehicles from occupied territory into Israel, the elusive militants now threaten not only peacemaking with Palestinians but an already strained coexistence between Israel's Jewish and minority Palestinian citizens.
Israeli-Palestinians, the vast majority of them Muslim and descended from Palestinians who remained while others fled or were driven away in fighting over Israel's establishment, make up 20 percent of Israel's population.
Extreme right-wing settler leader Itamar Ben Gvir said on Tuesday that the attack this week did not come as a surprise as frustration has been growing.
"It was not surprising, the writing was on the wall, because a population that feels that they are being abandoned, harmed and kicked over and over again, it is only natural that individuals from within that population will come out and commit incidents."
"I repeat, my call is against the government of Israel, against Bibi (Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu), against (Defense Minister Ehud) Barak, against Dorit Beinish -- the President of the Supreme Court -- they are responsible for what happened," said Ben Gvir who lives in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, in the divided city of Hebron.
Kiryat Arba is home to some 800 settlers who live alongside Hebron's approximately 30,000 Palestinian residents.
Driven by ideology, Jewish settlers claim a biblical right to the West Bank, land the Palestinians want for a future state. Tension between the settlers and Palestinians often spills into violence.
Gvir believes the recent attack on the Tuba-Zangariya mosque, located within Israel proper, was because of a heavier Israeli security presence around the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.
"I imagine that they chose that village (in Israel) because in this area (the West Bank) we can see the guarding, we can see the police's enthusiasm to guard every mosque in this area and in my opinion, what happened is a result of frustration," he said.
Local police said they had set up a special task force to investigate the suspected extremist attack in the Bedouin village.
But Israeli police have not arrested any suspects for what is the latest of four mosques torched in the past year, two in Israel and two in the West Bank. They suspect the "price tag" group may be responsible based on the group's slogan having been daubed on one of the mosque's stone walls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying it offended the nation's core values.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said four males, most of them West Bank settlers, had been arrested and questioned for previous assaults attributed to the "price tag" group, however all were released without charge.
"Over the last year there have been a large number of incidents that have taken place, specifically in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The Israeli police have set up a special task force team to deal specifically with those incidents, which is including both stoning of Palestinian vehicles, unfortunately a number of damage that was caused to mosques both in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Israeli police will continue to do everything possible in the near future both to prevent further incidents from taking place and we made approximately four arrests over the last month involving those specific incidents," said Rosenfeld.
Former security chiefs cautioned that the "price tag" assaults -- suspected of including recent torchings of Palestinian cars and uprootings of hundreds of olive trees and grapevines -- could explode in a new wave of violence.
Avraham Dichter, a former head of Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, said that while not as lethal as a Jewish group that killed three Palestinians and injured dozens in a series of attacks in the 1980's, the recent incidents were no less sensitive.
"We have to remember in the past we have faced tough terrorists, who carried out -- Jewish terrorists -- who carried out terror attacks against Palestinians sometimes against leaders, amongst the Palestinians by putting bombs in their vehicles, I'm speaking about 30 years ago, it created some kind of deterrence and maybe that's the reason why today we see, if we may say, more light events, but it doesn't mean that it's less sensitive than the former ones," Dichter said.
Dichter believes that any attack on a sensitive holy site could easily start a new wave of Palestinian violence, an intifada.
"Even a stupid terrorist, if he succeeds in carrying out a terror attack towards a sensitive target, like Temple Mount, like al-Aqsa Mosque, you can find yourself in no time in the middle of an intifada not because there were fatalities but just because a very important and sensitive target was hit," he said.
Menachem Landow, a former official within the Shin Bet security agency, added that an incident like the recent attack on the Palestinian population within Israel could in itself inflame the region.
"It is a problem of the state of Israel, everything that has to do with the rule of law. It could inflame the area and cause another intifada or incidents alike to the extent that it could lead to bloodshed" Landau said.
Landau blamed the settler groups for not co-operating with the security services over the 'price tag' attacks.
"One of the things that bothers me is that the leaders of the settlements are constantly condemning. The condemnation is not enough, they need to co-operate with the security services, help them because without the help from the surroundings no intelligence source has a chance," he added.
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.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426477
US condemns `dangerous and provocative` mosque attack
The United States on Tuesday condemned the "dangerous and provocative" attack on a mosque in a Bedouin village in northern Israel a day earlier.
"We note that the Israeli Government also strongly condemned the attacks, and we endorse stepped-up efforts by law enforcement authorities to act vigorously to bring to justice those responsible for this heinous act and similar attacks that have taken place in the West Bank," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
Vandals torched a mosque in the northern village of Tuba Zangaria in the northern Galilee region in an attack blamed on right-wing extremists.
The mosque was badly damaged by fire, with the perpetrators scrawling the words "tag" and "revenge" on the walls.
The attackers also graffitied the word "Palmer" in an apparent reference to Asher Palmer, an Israeli settler who died in a car crash with his infant son in the southern West Bank on Sept. 23. Israeli police say his car was hit by stones thrown by Palestinians, causing it to crash.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=426217
4 oct 2011
Mosque attacks: On the rise since 2009, but no indictments
The burning of the Tuba mosque in the Galilee should not come as a surprise to anyone. The criminal and terror acts of burning mosques and desecrating Muslim sites have become an accepted norm under Israel’s rule. There is no fear from committing such attacks, since law enforcement officials have done nothing to prosecute the perpetrators.
Some quick research I did found that attacks on Muslim sites have peaked since 2009. Since then, there have been numerous attempts and successful attacks on mosques and Muslim cemeteries. On September 5, a mosque in Qasra, a village south of Nablus was burnt. Earlier in April, a mosque in Huwara, also outside Nablus was burnt . In June, A mosque in el-Mughayer, a village outside Ramallah, was torched. Other mosques were burnt in the south as well. Beit Fajjar mosque, outside Bethlehem was also torched and holy books were desecrated and burnt. No one was indicted for any of these attacks.
The attack on the Tuba mosque in the Galilee caught a lot of attention because it is the first mosque to be torched inside Israel. However, a similar attempt was carried out in 2009, when an attempt to burn a mosque in Tiberias was not successful. The police dismissed the attack because the tire used failed to catch on fire. No one was arrested.
In 2009 and 2010 here were many successful mosque attacks within the West Bank. In 2009 radical settlers torched a major mosque in Yasof village. In May 2010, a mosque outside Huwara was burnt and a graffiti of the Star of David was left on the wall of the mosque. Another mosque was set on fire in Luban al-Sharqiya, a Palestinian village south of Nablus.
Israeli leaders have condemned the attacks publicly, but failed to do anything to stop them. The Israeli military and police don’t priorities protecting Palestinians from radical settler attacks. The attacks on Palestinian villages and holy sites have been increasing without any consequences to the assailants.
The Palestinian Authority is not allowed to protect the Palestinian villages outside the major cities in the West Bank. International law holds Israel responsible for the protection of the Palestinian population and the holy sites under its rule. Even under occupation, Israel is obligated to protect the civilians and the holy sites. However, when radical settlers attack Palestinian villages, the Israeli security is only concerned with settlers safety.
Muslims can’t help but wonder: how long would it have taken Israel to catch the perpetrators if they were Palestinians burning a synagogue? Israel’s security service is known worldwide for its “efficiency.” But it is inexperienced and inefficient when it comes to crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians.
However, the problem is not Israel’s security efficiency but rather its priorities. The protection of Palestinians or non-Jewish holy sites is not a priority for Israel’s security services. This is proven by the inaction of the law enforcement when attacks are carried out by Jews against Palestinians.
The attack on the mosque in Galilee proves that radicals have no fear of committing violence. They have no reason to show restraint. The police has done nothing to stop them before and is unlikely to take this incident any more seriously.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government shouldn’t continue to ignore these attacks. Israel cannot keep claiming to be a democracy and protector of minorities when mosque burning becomes regular news. Even those who are adamant supportsof Israel are concerned. The Anti Defamation League, which rarely criticizes Israel, found it important to condemn the attack. The mosque burning in Galilee is likely to quicken the deterioration in the relationship between the state and the Palestinian minority. It will increase Palestinian suspicion of the state and will lower cooperation.
The price for a blind eye to the growth of radicalism is high. Radicals who attack Palestinians and Muslim sites will feel bold enough to attack anyone else who might stand in their way. Recently, the Shin Bet reported a growing threat of settler attacks on Israeli officials. Extremism has no limits, and extremists will justify any violent actions to get what they want. Israeli police might not care for the Palestinian community or for mosque burning, but in the process, Israel is creating a monster too wild to tame.
It is time for the Israeli government and police to repent from their indifference. Extremism should not be tolerated and given a free hand. The tolerance of terrorism is an act of murder to the dream of a moral and civilized country.
http://972mag.com/mosque-attacks-on-the-rise-since-2009-but-no-indictments/24620/
Settler Rams Vehicle Into Two Palestinian Sisters
Two Palestinian sisters were injured on Tuesday when an Israeli settler hit them with his vehicle at the Huwwara Road, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, before fleeing the scene, the Maan News Agency reported.
Local sources stated that the settler was driving his own vehicle, a pickup truck, and sped away without even slowing down, leaving the injured young women in the street.
Palestinian medical sources reported that the two sisters are Ahlam Hamad, 19, and Saja Hamad, 18. They were trying to cross the main street while heading for IbnSina Medical College, where they are students. They were transferred to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus, where X-ray and other tests revealed that they suffered concussions and external injuries.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62180
UN reports alarming increase in Israeli violence
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has become increasingly hazardous to Palestinians, with attacks by settlers and heavy-handed tactics on the part of Israeli security forces on the rise, according to the latest UN statistics.
In the West Bank village of Quasra, Israeli forces shot and killed a 37-year-old Palestinian on September 23 while trying to break up a dispute between residents and Jewish settlers. On the same day, an eight-year-old Palestinian child in Hebron was struck by a settler’s vehicle. He died four days later. During the same week in Bethlehem and Nablus, a Palestinian was injured when settlers stoned his car, while two others were hurt after being physically assaulted.
These are some of the latest incidents reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories (UNOCHA), whose statistics show that aggressive Israeli actions against Palestinians have increased across the board over the last year.
The number of Palestinian civilians killed or injured by Israeli forces rose by nearly a third in the West Bank and Gaza from 2010 to 2011.
During the same period, hostilities instigated by Jewish settlers have also contributed to a steep rise in the number of instances of injury and damage to property, with the UNOHCA reporting a 38 per cent increase in such episodes.
The latest indicators of mounting aggression by Jewish settlers come as militant Jews set fire to a mosque in northern Israel on Monday, prompting clashes between ethnic Arab citizens from the village of Tuba-Zangaria and police.
And as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks UN recognition for an independent Palestinian State based on 1967 borders, Israel’s refusal to halt settlement expansion could very well lead to more violence.
While the Israeli government has approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in East Jerusalem, the UNOCHA found that the number of Palestinian homes and buildings demolished had risen significantly, while the total number of Palestinians displaced by such actions has more than doubled.
Palestinian casualties by Israeli forces in West Bank and Gaza
Killed in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 95 vs. 62
Injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 1577 vs. 1119
Settler-related incidents
Incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries or property damage in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 326 vs. 202
Palestinians injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 139 vs. 74
Palestinian-owned structures demolished
Structures demolished in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 409 vs. 290
People displaced in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 804 vs. 374
http://rt.com/news/palestine-israel-occupation-violence-001/
UK minister condemns north Israel mosque arson
The United Kingdom's Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt said Tuesday that he strongly condemned the attack on a mosque in northern Israel a day earlier.
“This intentionally provocative attack on a place of worship is appalling. I note that Prime Minister Netanyahu has also condemned this senseless act of violence," Burt said in a statement.
"I welcome the stated determination of the Israeli authorities to pursue the criminals responsible and to bring them to justice,” he said of the arson in Tuba Zangria, which has been blamed on Israeli extremists.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425882
Mosque burning draws int’l anger as unrest rocks ‘48- occupied territories
The arson of a mosque in the Upper Galilee Valley has drawn worldwide anger as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has called on Israel to shoulder responsibilities as an occupying force and strikes and clashes rocked the Palestinian villages inside the 1948- occupied Palestinian territories.
Jewish settlers set fire to Al-Nour mosque in Tuba-Zangareyya village overnight Sunday burning holy books and causing serious damage. Graffiti in Hebrew was found on the walls.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas has condemned the arson, calling the move “cowardly and racist”, and said that the “continued settler attacks and the Zionist occupation’s protection of these extremists is a contravention of divine laws and international norms”.
Secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called the mosque burning a “terrorist act against the freedom of worship and the sanctity of holy sites”.
He said the act came within the context of an “open war launched by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian people and their holy sites”.
Ihsanoglu added that Israel (as an occupying force) must take the “necessary measures to protect holy sites and stop the recurrence of such serious violations”.
Also to condemn the act was the Arab League. In a statement on Tuesday, the regional organization assigned blame to a rise in “Israeli racism backed by laws issued by the Israeli Knesset, with as much as 16 laws targeting Palestinians”.
The laws have led to the “confiscation of many villages and homes and prevented (Palestinians) from returning and have granted their lands and homes to Jews in a racial manner,” the statement goes on to say.
The statement also calls on the United Nations and the Quartet and all bodies working in human rights and religious freedoms to take a firm stance against the repeated attacks.
In the occupied territories, clashes have reappeared in Tuba-Zanghareya as Israeli occupation forces fired teargas at local youths and closed off the town’s entrances.
This comes after a calm that followed similar clashes that erupted in the village on the day of the mosque burning.
Also on Tuesday, a strike prevailed in rural villages in the 1948- occupied Palestinian territories as locals have closed down all facilities and institutions in a day of rage following the incident.
Hundreds of Palestinians from across the 1948- occupied territories have shown up at the village to condemn the act.
Settlers prove that fire is satan's best friend
How else can one explain the burning of a mosque in a Palestinian village? The terrorists involved referred to the act as a ‘price tag revenge’ …..
Price tag for what” For living under one of the worlds most brutal occupations for almost 64 years? For living as second class citizens on their own lands?? Or possibly for being denied basic human services from the occupier for all of those years …. Is this all not enough of a ‘price tag’ already paid for umpteen times over?
A report dealing with attack can be read HERE…
Mosque set alight in suspected ‘price tag’ attack in Upper Galilee
Graffiti with the words ‘price tag’ found on wall of the mosque in northern Israel; Northern District Police Commander describe incident as ‘very serious.’
Price Tag is definitely the wrong terminology to use in this instance, it is nothing short of a pogrom! The very criminals that are responsible for it cry out ‘Never Again’ …. but they never say to whom. They must be punished to the fullest extent of the law and used as an example of what NEVER AGAIN means.
Here are some photos of the aftermath from HaAretz…
The settlers and their government claim that Palestinian Statehood would lead to an increase in terrorism…. WTF is all of the above?
http://fwd4.me/0D6d
Closing The Ibrahim Mosque for Muslims and Opening it to Israeli Settlers
Israeli Military forces closed the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank today, October 4th, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The director of Hebron Endowments, Zayd Al-Ja‘bari, reported to WAFA that the Israeli military forces closed the Ibrahim Mosque to Muslim worshipers this morning and opened all its corridors and courtyards to Israeli settlers, ostensibly to enable their celebration of the Jewish Yom Kippur ,or Holiday of Repentance.
He added that the occupation intends to close all the corridors and courtyards of the Ibrahim Mosque, while preventing the call to prayer, on Saturday, 8 October, in connection with the Yom Kippur holiday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62184
Medics: 2 women injured after hit-and-run involving settler car
Two women from the northern West Bank were injured on Tuesday morning in a hit-and-run incident involving an Israeli settler car, medics said.
The women were hit as they crossed the main road of Huwwara village, south Nablus. Ahlam Bilal Hamad, 19, and her sister Saja, 18, suffered mild injuries in the incident.
A settler driving a Subaru pickup truck fled the scene, Palestinian medical sources said.
The Nablus area has witnessed a surge in settler attacks over the last month, including village raids, attacks on property and the vandalism of two mosques.
On Sept. 5, settlers torched a mosque and spray-painted anti-Arab slogans and the Star of David in the village of Qusra, south of Huwwara.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425925
3 oct 2011
Israelis burn mosque, Qur'ans
Unknown assailants have set ablaze a Palestinian mosque, burning Islam's holy book of Qur'an in the occupied Palestinian territories, an Israeli police spokesman says.
A carpet was burnt and interior walls were damaged at the mosque in Tuba-Zangria village in the Galilee region, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
Numerous copies of the holy Qur'an were also burnt, according to an Israeli Radio report.
Israeli settlers are suspected of being behind the anti-Islam attack, as they have often advocated and perpetrated such attacks in the past.
Rosenfeld said the phrase "price tag" was spray painted on the walls of the mosque.
Under the so-called "price tag" policy, Israeli settlers regularly engage in attacks against Palestinians and their properties, in supposed reaction to Tel Aviv's operations against illegal settlements.
In a similar incident last month, settlers torched a mosque in the occupied West Bank after illegal structures in an unauthorized settlement outpost were destroyed by Tel Aviv's police forces.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202455.html
Mosque set alight in Galilee village
A mosque in northern Israel was set on fire overnight Sunday in a suspected 'price tag' attack, Israeli police said.
Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP that a number of suspects entered the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba Zangaria and set fire to it, causing heavy damage to the carpets and walls.
On the outside of the mosque were scrawled the words "price tag" and "revenge" in Hebrew, Rosenfeld said.
Jamal Zangriya, a resident of the village, told Israel Radio: "We believe extremists from outside the village did it," blaming rabbis from the nearby town of Safed for incitement against Arabs, which he said may have led to the incident.
They also wrote the word "Palmer," in an apparent reference to Asher Palmer, an Israeli settler who died with his infant son in the southern West Bank on September 23 after his car was hit by stones thrown by Palestinians, causing it to crash.
Hardline Jewish 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.
Northern District Police Commander Roni Attia set up a special investigation team to deal with the incident, and police heightened security in the area to prevent any "random incidents," Rosenfeld said.
"This is a very severe price tag incident," police quoted Attia as saying.
He called on residents of the area to preserve public order and allow the police to investigate the incident without disturbances.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying such incidences "do not belong in the state of Israel."
In June, a mosque in al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah was torched and sprayed with anti-Arab graffiti. Witnesses said a group of Israeli settlers arrived in the village before dawn.
In a similar incident, settlers broke into al-Nurayn mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus in September, smashing windows before setting fire to used tires inside the building, locals told a Ma'an correspondent.
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.
Almost all "price tag" attacks occur in the occupied West Bank, but last year a similar incident took place in the Palestinian-Israeli village of Iblin, also in the northern Galilee region.
Around twenty percent, or 1.3 million people, of Israel's population are of Palestinian origin.
They are largely the descendants of Palestinians that managed to remain during the 1948 war, when an estimated 700,000 were expelled from or fled their homes during fighting that would see the establishment of the state of Israel.
Rights groups say that Israelis of Palestinian origin face discrimination in employment, education and public funding within Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425581
Palestinians warn of "kristallnacht" following settler torching of mosque
From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
Palestinian leaders on both sides of the Green Line have warned against rising mass terror by Jewish religious fanatics against Muslim holy places.
The warnings came hours after suspected Jewish terrorists torched a mosque at the village of Tuba Zangariya in the Upper Galilee .
Eyewitnesses reported that around 1:00 o'clock a.m. (after midnight Sunday), suspected Jewish terrorists stormed the main mosque at the village, and set it on fire, apparently using an inflammable substance. The entire interior of the mosque went up in flames, causing heavy damage.
Quranic texts and other religious books were burned.
Before leaving, the perpetrators scrawled racist anti-Islam graffiti on the walls.
Ahmed Teibi, an Arab lawmaker in the Israeli Knesset, described the burning of the mosque as "a clear cut terrorist act."
"This is not an isolated incident, this is not an aberration, it is not thunder on a clear day. This is a natural outcome of the systematic incitement against the Arab community. The poisoned incitement against our community by many rabbis and the Nazi-like edicts issued by some rabbinic councils, which forbid Jews from renting homes and apartments to Arabs have finally produced this.
"This grave deterioration must be stopped immediately. We hold the government of Israel solely responsible. We are talking about a racist, fascist and extremist government whose policies and practices have made this crime inevitable.
"Why is it that the racist rabbi of Safad has not been arrested? Why is it that not a single Jewish terrorist responsible for mosque torching has been arrested."
Teibi added that the best response to the terrorist act was rehabilitating the mosque as soon as possible and exercising a measure of self-restraint.
"This is the most appropriate response to these racists and fascists."
Ahmed Kana'an, an academic from the town of Taiba across the Green Line, described the frequency of attacks on mosques in both in the West Bank and in Israel as a reminder of the Kristallnacht.
"It is true that the scope and magnitude are not the same in both cases. However, we must recognize that the racism, the fascist spirit, the malicious intent, the murderous and criminal zeal as well as the connivance of the government are the same."
Kana'an argued that the Israeli authorities were doing next to nothing to stem the tide of Jewish fascism in occupied Palestine.
"To the world they claim they are outraged by such acts and that they won't rest until they catch the perpetrators, But in reality, they assure the perpetrators not to worry. They give them money, encouragement and protection. This is the reason that non-of the terrorists has been apprehended, let alone prosecuted and punished.
"I can say with a high degree of certitude that the state of Israel and the government of Israel lack both the willingness and the inclination to fight Jewish terror. After all a snake doesn't bit its own tail."
Kana'an compared the relations between the Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu and the Jewish terrorist groups with the relations between the Nazi regime in Germany and the Hitler Youth group.
The group was responsible for burning dozens of synagogues across Germany in November 1938.
So far, a dozen mosque in the West Bank have been torched by suspected Jewish terrorists. None of the attackers has been arrested.
It is widely believed the Nazi-like religious Zionist group, known as Gush Emunim, stands behind most or all of the mosque torching.
Last week, Jewish settlers indoctrinated in extremist Talmudic theology threatened to transform the West Bank into a huge killing field.
Reacting to Palestinian efforts to obtain international backing for a prospective Palestinian state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967, some settler leaders warned that they would transform Palestinian population centers into another Srebrenica.
In 1995, Serb soldiers carried out a genocide in the Bosnian city where as many as 8000 men and boys were massacred in cold blood.
Settler leaders, who are effectively backed by the Israeli government and army, have made numerous statements of late threatening to slaughter Palestinians in case the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a state or grants enhanced membership status to the Palestinian Authority (PA)
Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, an extremist Talmudic sage, was quoted this week as calling for "collective punishment" of Palestinians. He reiterated an erstwhile incendiary Talmudic edict stating that even Gentiles' children can be killed in time of war, "because there are no innocents in war."
The same rabbi endorsed a recent Hebrew book calling for murdering the "children of the enemy", especially in time of war.
In 1994, the elderly rabbi wholeheartedly embraced the massacre carried out by an American-Jewish terrorist, Baruch Goldstein, in which hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, who were praying at Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron, were killed and injured.
The rabbi praised the murderer as a great saint and hero. The same rabbi has tens of thousands of faithful followers and supporters and is believed to be feared by the Israel political establishment.
Last week, the main mosque at the village of Qusra near Nablus in the West Bank was badly damaged when Jewish terrorists set its interior on fire.
Observers in the West Bank are convinced that settler terrorist gangs have "moles" and "insiders" within the Israeli occupation army throughout the occupied territories, which allows the terrorists to commit acts of terror and vandalism against Palestinians without getting caught.
In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian man who sustained a very serious injury. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers urged the Israeli army to shoot and kill Palestinians following an apparent traffic accident in which two settlers were killed on Friday, 23 September.
Most, if not all, settlers are indoctrinated in a virulent religious ideology that advocates the physical annihilation of non-Jews living under Jewish rule. According to this ideology, even pacified and "law-abiding" Gentiles must be enslaved as "water carriers and wood cutters" in the service of the master race.
In recent years, numerous settler leaders elucidated their fascist ideology vis-a-vis the Palestinians. They quoted "edicts" from ancient Talmudic texts that -- if applied -- would force millions of Palestinians to choose between enslavement by Jews, violent expulsion or physical extermination.
Settlers, who follow the ideology of religious Zionism, believe that the life of a non-Jew has no sanctity and that a Jew may even murder a non-Jew without the slightest compunction. Some rabbinic authorities go as far as permitting a Jew to murder a non-Jew in order to extract the victim's vital organs if the Jew needs them.
Several decades ago, the ideology of Gush Emunim, also known as Zionist Messianism, was marginal among the overall Jewish population. However, the ideology looks now to be a mainstream trend as Israeli Jewish society continues to drift towards open fascism.
A few months ago, the spiritual leader of Shas, the powerful political party and kingmaker representing Jews from Arab and Muslim states claimed during a Sabbath eve homily that the status of non-Jews in general is similar to that of beasts of burden and that the Almighty created non-Jews, including Christian supporters of Israel, solely to serve Jews.
http://fwd4.me/0CxO
PA: Settler violence 'not random'
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian agricultural land are "condoned and supported by the Israeli government," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday.
Over 500 olive trees were burned and uprooted on Saturday night, in settler attacks on villages near Nablus and Hebron, a government statement said.
Khatib said the incidents followed an intensification of violence by Israeli settlers on Palestinians, adding that the Israeli government's "failure to act shows its disregard for applying the rule of law to the settlers.
"There have been no reported cases of Israeli settlers being held accountable for these crimes," Khatib said, listing settler destruction of 3,000 olive trees and grape vines, burning of 83 dunums and flooding of 40 dunums of agricultural land in the West Bank in September.
As Palestinian farmers prepare for the upcoming olive harvest season, "the settlers' season of destruction has begun early," Khatib said.
"These are not random events," he added, accusing the Israeli government of providing settlers with full impunity and army protection while they destroy Palestinian land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425767
Shin Bet: Threat of settler violence against Israeli officials rising in West Bank
Officials say right-wing extremists no longer need 'trigger' to take action, while targets of violence widening; extremists also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials.
The delegitimization campaign that extreme right-wing activists are conducting against civil servants could end in serious violence, according to warnings passed on to the political echelon by the Shin Bet security service.
Shin Bet officials have identified a radicalization in the phenomena that first emerged ahead of the disengagement from Gaza in 2004, and see a connection between them and the increased attacks on mosques and Palestinian property - actions that their perpetrators are defining as "a price tag."
Shin Bet sources say members of the extreme right are making an effort to deter defense officials whose duties include coming into contact with such elements. The extremists are also trying to intimidate senior law enforcement officials, the Shin Bet sources add.
The two most prominent incidents in the past year have been the smear campaign conducted against Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan and the demonstrations held against the Israel Defense Forces' Judea and Samaria Division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon.
The phenomena, however, stretch far further than these two matters, the Shin Bet says. Among other incidents, for example, the full names of officials from the Shin Bet's Jewish Division have been published on Internet websites, and their wives and children have been harassed at work and school. Civil Administration officials involved in keeping tabs on building violations have also been harassed.
According to the Shin Bet, the right-wing extremists no longer appear to need a "trigger" to take action, while the targets of the violence are also widening - military vehicles at an IDF base near Ramallah have been vandalized, and threatening graffiti has been sprayed onto the apartment door of a left-wing activist. Attacks on Arabs and their property are carried out when the opportunity arises, the Shin Bet officials add.
Defense establishment sources believe that some of the "price tag" attacks are being carried out by well-known right-wingers. Some two months ago, 12 right-wing extremists were ordered to stay out of the West Bank on the grounds that some of them had been involved in the torching of mosques. Restraining orders were issued because authorities have yet to collect enough evidence to press charges. None of the activists have sought to overturn the orders through the High Court of Justice.
Shin Bet officials believe that the acts of violence are being carried out by a few dozen individuals who are being supported by a circle of a few hundred right-wing activists. The vast majority of the settlers reject such actions, Shin Bet officials say.
http://fwd4.me/0Cvk
Clashes Between Arabs, Police in Galilee after Mosque Arson
About 300 Israeli Arabs clashed with Israeli police Monday in Tuba-Zangariya, a Bedouin-Arab village in the Upper Galilee, after a mosque in the village was set on fire in a suspected “price tag” attack, said Israeli security sources.
Residents of the village of Tuba-Zangariya began marching to the nearby Israeli town of Rosh Pina and burnt tires while hurling rocks at Israeli forces, who responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters.
The mosque was set on fire Sunday night and its entire interior went up in flames, causing heavy damage to its contents and its holy books being burnt. Graffiti with the words “price tag” was found on the wall of the mosque.
Israeli police said they arrested several suspects involved in the mosque arson, but did not disclose any details.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17624
Agricultural committees: Protect olive harvest from settlers
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees announced on Monday an upcoming campaign to protect West Bank farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers during the olive harvest season.
Noting a recent escalation in attacks on Palestinian lands and farmers, the agricultural support organization said it will organize groups of volunteers to accompany workers picking olives during the season.
"Olive collecting will be a form of popular resistance," the group said, adding that they were asking Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel, as well as international activists, to join the campaign.
Volunteers will particularly help farmers harvesting groves behind Israel's separation wall, which juts into the West Bank cutting off Palestinian farm land. Palestinians must apply for permits from the Israeli military authorities in the West Bank to secure access to harvest their lands.
In 2010, the Ramallah-based Ministry of Agriculture said 4.3 percent of olive trees were inaccessible behind Israel's wall, the route of which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425595
Netanyahu 'outraged' over mosque attack
Prime minister, MKs and local community leaders condemn 'price tag' attack in northern Galilee village of Tuba Zangria. Police arrest several suspects.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen Monday to discuss the "price tag" attack in Tuba Zangria. Netanyahu instructed Cohen to find the culprits as soon as possible. "The images are shocking and have no place in the State of Israel," he told the Shin Bet chief.
A statement issued on behalf of the prime minister said: "Netanyahu was outraged when he saw the photos and said the act went against the State of Israel's values. Freedom of religion and freedom to worship are supreme values."
Meanwhile, the police announced that several suspects were arrested in connection to the incident.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch spoke to the police commissioner and said that "harming holy places is a criminal and shameful act that cannot be ignored. We will act to bring those responsible swiftly to justice."
Some 300 residents of Tuba Zangria clashed with security forces after they took to the streets to protest the "price tag" attack. Locals disrupted traffic on Route 90 and some hurled stones at officers and torched tires. Police forces responded with crowd dispersal means.
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi said: "Those who failed to stop the cancerous growth and the mosque burning in the occupied territories should not be surprised when the metastasis grow inside the State of Israel.
"This is not a bunch of 'price tag' vandals, this is a terror organization raging unrestrained with the endorsement of inciting racism like that of the rabbi of the city of Safed who has yet to be brought to trial."
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also addressed the mosque torching and said that "burning a place of worship is a criminal and abominable act. These criminals, if they are Jews, are the main threat to the State of Israel in general and especially the Zionist movement. They keep the Jewish dream and the vision of returning to Israel far away and they must be brought to justice."
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union) condemned the attack but noted that "it has previously been discovered many times that suspected 'price tag' cases were exposed as local mishaps used in an attempt to slander an innocent sector of the public. That is why I would suggest that the veracity of the matter be examined before making headlines."
The Galilee Regional Council Chief Aharon Valensi sought to calm the Arab public: "The residents of Tuba should know that the neighbors here strongly condemn this act. These operations do not fit our quiet region or the ongoing relationship between the area's residents. It very much upsets me. I hope this incident will not lead to unnecessary commotion."
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism called on Israel's religious leaders, first and foremost the rabbis, to condemn the "price tag" phenomenon in a resolved manner.
"This isn't a marginal act of hooliganism, this is the ongoing growth of a phenomenon that receives the silent approval of the community and rabbinic leadership," he claimed.
Later on Monday, about 50 protestors marched at the village's northern entrance, calling out 'Allah Akbar' (God is great) chants, torching a nearby field and setting tires on fire. Some carried signs reading "No to Violence, Yes to Peace."
Regional police commanders arrived at the scene to help restore calm and end the protest. To prevent an escalation, police beefed up its presence in the area and scrambled a helicopter to hover from above. "Calm on your end will lead to calm on our end," police sources said.
Northern District commander Roni Atiya was briefed on the events in the area. "There was a procession that evolved in the village. We instructed police forces to use all necessary measures to prevent the protestors from reaching highway 90 and Rosh Pina," he said.
According to Atiya, masked protestors also took part in the demonstration, hurling stones at security forces.
The police commander referred to the investigation into the apprehending of the perpetrators who torched the mosque, saying, "I would not suggest to anyone to pin blame. We are working hard to catch those responsible and we have made several arrests that may be linked to the arson." He would not elaborate.
A resident of the village, Maher, stood with his son at the entrance to the mosque. "This is something that we did not expect. There are no words to describe it. I hope it will not lead to the area exploding. We have had good relations with the communities in the area for many years now. This is a mosque that has five prayers a day, our children are being educated here. We have heard of similar occurrences in the West Bank but never believed it would happen here."
Former regional council chairman Hussein al-Haib said, "It came as a surprise and hurts our feelings when we see the slogans 'revenge' and 'price tag'. This is a nice Bedouin village that is very devoted to the State of Israel. This will surely harm the relations with the neighboring communities and it is a shame. We don't want the relations harmed."
Some villagers pointed their finger at a group of extremists in Safed, whom they claim could have been involved in the act. Safed police, however, said that it was not aware of such a group.
2 oct 2011
Settlers attacked Israeli activist and Palestinians
On Thirsday (30/9) Israeli activists and Palestinians were attacked by settlers near the settlement of Atarot.
The landowner of the plot to which the activists came in order to plant trees was also attacked by the settlers who cracked his head open, as well as attacking his wife. The two were have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem hospital.
Police officers who were present at the scene did nothing while the activists were beaten and their cameras smashed. Some of the attackers wore police shirts and carried service weapons, which attests to the fact that they are a part of the police force even though they were off duty.
Three other activists have been hospitalized at Hadassa Ein Karem and an additional three have been arrested by the police, who have NOT arrested any of the assaulting settlers, in spite of having witnessed everything.
Later this evening, more activists arrived to protest against the pogrom which had taken place earlier. They too were attacked and beaten, with stoned being thrown at them too. In spite of police presence at the scene, the police did nothing.
As a result of the second attack, 19 people have been injured, requiring medical attention, and three have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem. Again, several cameras were destroyed. Moreover, cars belonging to the activists, which were parked outside the settlement of Atarot, were damaged by the attackers, who smashed windshields and head and tail lights, as well as puncturing tires
http://silwanic.net/?p=20774
Locals: Settlers burn olive trees in Ramallah villages
Israeli settlers vandalized orchards in two Ramallah-district villages late Saturday, locals told Ma'an.
Settlers uprooted olive trees owned by Palestinian farmers and set fire to the groves in the central West Bank villages of Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham, witnesses said.
Shortly after the settlers left, Israeli forces prevented the farmers from accessing their fields to put out the fire, locals told a Ma'an reporter.
The region's popular resistance committee said it would not be silent over settlers' attacks, and will continue popular activities.
Residents of Nabi Salih hold weekly Friday rallies to protest against Israel's confiscation of village lands by nearby Jewish-only settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425327
1 oct 2011
Settlers 'steal 150 sheep' near Hebron
Armed Israeli settlers seized 150 sheep from shepherds south of Hebron in the southern West Bank, a popular committee leader said.
Popular committee secretary-general Azmi Shoyoukhi told Ma'an that residents of Shima, a settlement east of al-Dhahiriya, stole sheep belonging to Faris Samamrah.
They took the sheep to Shima settlement after assaulting several shepherds and threatening to shoot them if they returned to the area, the local official said.
Meanwhile, other residents of the same settlement chopped down 10 olive trees belonging to Mousa Samamrah, Shouyoukhi said, adding that settlers destroyed 45 trees in the same field on Thursday.
Shouyoukhi said locals held a rally to protest the theft of the sheep, joined by Majdi Amr, director of the south Hebron office of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture.
International and Israeli activists participated in the rally, and held a sit-in in the area where the sheep were stolen, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-settlement slogans. Protesters damaged water pipelines laid down by settlers in the area.
Israeli police and civil administration officers arrived and the sheep were released after representatives of the Red Cross intervened, Shouyoukhi said.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli settlers burned farmland south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settler violence and vandalism, said land in the Einabus and Huwwara villages burned as the result of a fire set by residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement.
The settlers had started a fire on the Einabus mountain but it spread to Huwwara, he said.
Residents of Yitzhar settlement also chopped down 45 olive trees belonging to Zakariyya Nassar and Muhammad al-Qitin in Madma village on Saturday, Doughlas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425173
Jewish settlers set Palestinian olive trees ablaze
Jewish settlers set Palestinian agricultural fields on fire south of Nablus on Saturday, local sources reported.
Eyewitnesses said that the settlers of the Yitzhar settlement burnt olive trees in the area between Ainbous and Hawara villages before fleeing the scene.
Palestinian fire brigades rushed to extinguish the blaze in cooperation with locals.
Ghassan Daghlas, in-charge of settlement activity in northern West Bank, said that the fire ate up dozens of dunums cultivated with olive trees, adding that strong winds helped in the spread of fire from one field to another.
In a similar incident in Al-Khalil, Jewish settlers damaged 55 olive trees in Dhaheria village land on Thursday, inhabitants reported, adding that the settlers came from Shama settlement that was built on Dhaheria village land.
They said that the attack as the third in two years, adding that the settlers wrote threat statements against Palestinian farmers in the area.
Injuries reported in violent clashes in Beit Furik
There were a number of injuries amongst Palestinians after Jewish settlers backed by Israeli occupation forces clashed with locals in the Palestinian village of Beit Furik, some 7 km east of Nablus.
Ambulances arrived at the scene of the incidents to transport the injured as fighting raged, witnesses told the Palestinian Information Center.
The clashes erupted after locals in the northern West Bank village discovered that Jewish settlers had entered the village.
Settlers have repeatedly attempted to storm the village under military protection.
Settlers uproot Palestinian olive trees
Israeli settlers have once again targeted the Palestinian economy by uprooting about 200 olive trees near the West Bank villages of Hawara and Ein Nabus.
The Saturday attack comes after another such incident occurred on Wednesday and Israeli settlers destroyed about 40 olive trees near the city of Hebron, AFP reported.
Israeli settlers have on numerous occasions targeted Palestinian olive trees. Olive oil is regarded as the backbone of the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian farmers plant 10,000 olive trees in the occupied territories annually.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) released a report on Thursday, which revealed the devastating economic effects that the illegal occupation has had on the West Bank and Gaza.
The report showed that the Palestinian economy has been deprived of nearly USD 4.4 billion a year due to the occupation.
“No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country,” said Hasan Abu Libdeh, the PA Economy Minister.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas officially submitted his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202166.html
Official: Settlers start fire near Nablus
Israeli settlers burned farmland south of Nablus on Saturday, a Palestinian official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settler violence and vandalism in the northern West Bank, said land in the Einabus and Huwwara villages burned as the result of a fire set by residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement.
The settlers had started a fire on the Einabus mountain but it spread to Huwara, he said. Residents of the villages were trying to control the blaze but strong winds hampered their effort.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425099
Settlers 'steal 150 sheep' near Hebron
Armed Israeli settlers seized 150 sheep from shepherds south of Hebron in the southern West Bank, a popular committee leader said.
Popular committee secretary-general Azmi Shoyoukhi told Ma'an that residents of Shima, a settlement east of al-Dhahiriya, stole sheep belonging to Faris Samamrah.
They took the sheep to Shima settlement after assaulting several shepherds and threatening to shoot them if they returned to the area, the local official said.
Meanwhile, other residents of the same settlement chopped down 10 olive trees belonging to Mousa Samamrah, Shouyoukhi said, adding that settlers destroyed 45 trees in the same field on Thursday.
Shouyoukhi said locals held a rally to protest the theft of the sheep, joined by Majdi Amr, director of the south Hebron office of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture.
International and Israeli activists participated in the rally, and held a sit-in in the area where the sheep were stolen, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-settlement slogans. Protesters damaged water pipelines laid down by settlers in the area.
Israeli police and civil administration officers arrived and the sheep were released after representatives of the Red Cross intervened, Shouyoukhi said.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli settlers burned farmland south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settler violence and vandalism, said land in the Einabus and Huwwara villages burned as the result of a fire set by residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement.
The settlers had started a fire on the Einabus mountain but it spread to Huwwara, he said.
Residents of Yitzhar settlement also chopped down 45 olive trees belonging to Zakariyya Nassar and Muhammad al-Qitin in Madma village on Saturday, Doughlas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425173
Jewish settlers set Palestinian olive trees ablaze
Jewish settlers set Palestinian agricultural fields on fire south of Nablus on Saturday, local sources reported.
Eyewitnesses said that the settlers of the Yitzhar settlement burnt olive trees in the area between Ainbous and Hawara villages before fleeing the scene.
Palestinian fire brigades rushed to extinguish the blaze in cooperation with locals.
Ghassan Daghlas, in-charge of settlement activity in northern West Bank, said that the fire ate up dozens of dunums cultivated with olive trees, adding that strong winds helped in the spread of fire from one field to another.
In a similar incident in Al-Khalil, Jewish settlers damaged 55 olive trees in Dhaheria village land on Thursday, inhabitants reported, adding that the settlers came from Shama settlement that was built on Dhaheria village land.
They said that the attack as the third in two years, adding that the settlers wrote threat statements against Palestinian farmers in the area.
Injuries reported in violent clashes in Beit Furik
There were a number of injuries amongst Palestinians after Jewish settlers backed by Israeli occupation forces clashed with locals in the Palestinian village of Beit Furik, some 7 km east of Nablus.
Ambulances arrived at the scene of the incidents to transport the injured as fighting raged, witnesses told the Palestinian Information Center.
The clashes erupted after locals in the northern West Bank village discovered that Jewish settlers had entered the village.
Settlers have repeatedly attempted to storm the village under military protection.
Settlers uproot Palestinian olive trees
Israeli settlers have once again targeted the Palestinian economy by uprooting about 200 olive trees near the West Bank villages of Hawara and Ein Nabus.
The Saturday attack comes after another such incident occurred on Wednesday and Israeli settlers destroyed about 40 olive trees near the city of Hebron, AFP reported.
Israeli settlers have on numerous occasions targeted Palestinian olive trees. Olive oil is regarded as the backbone of the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian farmers plant 10,000 olive trees in the occupied territories annually.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) released a report on Thursday, which revealed the devastating economic effects that the illegal occupation has had on the West Bank and Gaza.
The report showed that the Palestinian economy has been deprived of nearly USD 4.4 billion a year due to the occupation.
“No matter what the Palestinian people achieve by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us achieving our potential as a free people in our own country,” said Hasan Abu Libdeh, the PA Economy Minister.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas officially submitted his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202166.html
Official: Settlers start fire near Nablus
Israeli settlers burned farmland south of Nablus on Saturday, a Palestinian official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settler violence and vandalism in the northern West Bank, said land in the Einabus and Huwwara villages burned as the result of a fire set by residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement.
The settlers had started a fire on the Einabus mountain but it spread to Huwara, he said. Residents of the villages were trying to control the blaze but strong winds hampered their effort.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=425099
30 sept 2011
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The following report was sent to us by Ofer Neiman:
This morning (9/30) Israeli activists and Palestinians were attacked by settlers near the settlement of Anatot. The landowner of the plot to which the activists came in order to plant trees was also attacked by the settlers who cracked his head open, as well as attacking his wife. The two were have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem hospital. Police officers who were present at the scene did nothing while the activists were beaten and their cameras smashed. Some of the attackers wore police shirts and carried service weapons, which attests to the fact that they are a part of the police force even though they were off duty. Three other activists have been hospitalized at Hadassa Ein Karem and an additional three have been arrested by the police, who have NOT arrested any of the assaulting settlers, in spite of having witnessed everything. Later this evening, more activists arrived to protest against the pogrom which had taken place earlier. They too were attacked and beaten, with stoned being thrown at them too. In spite of police presence at the scene, the police did nothing. As a result of the second attack, 19 people have been injured, requiring medical attention, and three have been hospitalized at Hadasa Ein Karem. Again, several cameras were destroyed. Moreover, cars belonging to the activists, which were parked outside the settlement of Anatot, were damaged by the attackers, who smashed windshields and head and tail lights, as well as puncturing tires. Annie adds: Settlers and settler security attacked a group of non violent protesters this morning who arrived in solidarity with a Palestinian who had set up a tent outside of the illegal settlement of Anatot near the Palestinian village of Anata on land he claimed was his. Eventually border guards and the police arrived. I became alerted about this when my twitter feed started going crazy a few hours ago. Ma’an reports 3 have been injured and others have reported people have been taken to the hospital for head injuries. Many tweets alleged cars of the protestors have been vandalized and the settlers are throwing rocks at the protestors as well as destroying cameras and |
other equipment. Ynet is reporting the tent was set up in the center of the settlement but from this video it looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere.
http://fwd4.me/0CnS
Report: 3 hurt in clash with settlers
Israeli settlers attacked demonstrators near the illegal West Bank settlement of Anatot, near Jerusalem, as a Palestinian erected a protest tent, news reports said.
The Israeli news site Ynet said three activists were lightly injured.
Three others, including the tent owner, were detained while the injured were evacuated by Magen David Adom emergency services, the news site said adding that they were hurt by stones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424912
Settler attacks east of Salfit and south of Nablus
Dozens of armed settlers, under the protection of IOF troops, attacked the village of Yasuf to the east of Salfit, and opened fire in the air, in an attempt to terrorise the residents and farmers in the northern part of the village.
Local sources said that dozens of settlers set out from the settlement of Taffouh settlement towards the northern part of the village on Thursday evening and opened fire from their machineguns to terrorise the farmers and force them to leave their fields. This was followed by clashes between the IOF troops and the villagers which resulted in three villages suffering breathing difficulties as a result of teargas inhalation.
The sources said that the settlers’ attack took place in full view of the occupation forces who did nothing to stop it and instead besieged the village and closed it.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers from the Yitzhar settlement damaged water pipes to the south of Madama village, south of Nablus.
Acting chairman of the village council of Madama, Ihab al-Qet, said that between 20 and 30 settlers gathered near the village’s water well and damaged the remaining pipes which are used to supply agricultural fields with water.
http://fwd4.me/0CnS
Report: 3 hurt in clash with settlers
Israeli settlers attacked demonstrators near the illegal West Bank settlement of Anatot, near Jerusalem, as a Palestinian erected a protest tent, news reports said.
The Israeli news site Ynet said three activists were lightly injured.
Three others, including the tent owner, were detained while the injured were evacuated by Magen David Adom emergency services, the news site said adding that they were hurt by stones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424912
Settler attacks east of Salfit and south of Nablus
Dozens of armed settlers, under the protection of IOF troops, attacked the village of Yasuf to the east of Salfit, and opened fire in the air, in an attempt to terrorise the residents and farmers in the northern part of the village.
Local sources said that dozens of settlers set out from the settlement of Taffouh settlement towards the northern part of the village on Thursday evening and opened fire from their machineguns to terrorise the farmers and force them to leave their fields. This was followed by clashes between the IOF troops and the villagers which resulted in three villages suffering breathing difficulties as a result of teargas inhalation.
The sources said that the settlers’ attack took place in full view of the occupation forces who did nothing to stop it and instead besieged the village and closed it.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers from the Yitzhar settlement damaged water pipes to the south of Madama village, south of Nablus.
Acting chairman of the village council of Madama, Ihab al-Qet, said that between 20 and 30 settlers gathered near the village’s water well and damaged the remaining pipes which are used to supply agricultural fields with water.
