Hundreds of Jewish settlers arrived in Nabi Yusuf (Joseph) tomb east of Nablus city at midnight Wednesday and offered Talmudic rituals.
Quds Press reported that the settlers arrived in buses after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) imposed a curfew on the city and escorted the settlers into the tomb.
IOF soldiers stationed on rooftops of nearby houses fired teargas and stun grenades on young Palestinians who threw stones at the invading troops. A number of youths were treated for breathing difficulty.
Hamas condemns Israeli attack on Christian monastery
Hamas condemned as a “crime” the Israeli settlers’ attack on Islamic and Christian holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.
Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that the settlers’ attack on the Roman Orthodox monastery in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday was in violation of heavenly religions.
It strongly condemned the settlers’ spraying of anti-Christian graffiti on walls of the monastery, charging that the act was the latest in a series of violation of Islamic and Christian shrines in the holy city.
The Israeli occupation authority’s policy of restricting freedom of worship, which is guaranteed both by heavenly and earthly laws, would not succeed in wiping out the Palestinian identity of the city and its Islamic and Christian landmarks, Hamas said.
The movement held the IOA fully responsible for those attacks, and called on the human rights organizations and free people of the world to expose this criminal policy and to pressure the IOA to stop violation of places of worship and Islamic and Christian holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.
12 dec 2012
70 settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque under protection of soldiers
Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Waqf and Heritage said that about 70 settlers, stormed on Wednesday morning the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, under the protection of the occupation forces.
More than 25 Israeli soldiers, in their military uniforms, stormed yesterday Al-Aqsa Mosque, while an atmosphere of anger prevailed the Mosque to condemn these repeated attacks.
Al-Aqsa Foundation said in a statement that a group of settlers have tried to perform some biblical and Talmudic rituals in al-Aqsa Mosque. However Muslim worshipers confronted them which led to clashes that ended up with expelling the settlers outside the mosque.
The Foundation also denounced the attack on the "Wadi al-Salib" monastery in the city of Jerusalem, at dawn today, by Jewish extremists who wrote racist slogans against Prophet Jesus (PBUH) on the walls.
It considered these attacks as a renewed crime against the Christian holy sites coinciding with other attacks on Islamic holy sites, and held the occupation fully responsible for such offenses.
Ahrar denounces the settlers’ attack on prisoners’ families
Ahrar center for Prisoners studies and human rights denounced the settlers’ attack against the relatives of the Palestinian prisoners who were returning back from visiting them in Nafha prison.
The center also condemned the attack on the prisoners themselves in Nafha prison.
Fuad Al Khuffash, director of the center said that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers aimed to pressure on the Palestinian prisoners and their families and to double their suffering, noting that the settlers' attack was an attempt to deter prisoners from taking any steps in solidarity with the striking prisoners, Sharawanah and Issawi, who suffer serious health deterioration due to their hunger strike for more than five months protesting against their arrest.
Khuffash called on all human rights organizations to intervene, immediately and urgently, to find out what is going on inside the Israeli prisons, and to check on the prisoners' conditions.
The Israeli settlers have attacked, on Tuesday, a Palestinian bus, carrying families of prisoners returning from visiting their sons in Nafha prison, where they threw stones at them, near the Efrat settlement, close to the city, causing injury to a number of them.
Jewish settlers provoke Palestinians in southern Jenin
Jewish settlers stormed the site of evacuated settlement outpost Tersala, south of Jenin, afternoon Wednesday and insulted Arabs in the area, local sources said.
They said that the settlers, protected by Israeli occupation forces, chanted Talmudic psalms and provoked passing Palestinian citizens.
The settlers tried to attack Palestinian vehicles, which is a routine practice in each storming of the region with no action taken on the part of the IOF soldiers.
Tersala was one of four settlement outposts that were evicted from southern Jenin in 2005 in the wake of the Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Extremist Israeli Settlers Write Racist Graffiti On Christian Monastery
A number of extremist Israeli settlers wrote, on Wednesday at dawn, racist graffiti attacking Christianity and Jesus Christ on the walls of a monastery in occupied Jerusalem, the WAFA News Agency reported.
The graffiti written on the walls of the monastery included “Price Tag”, and several insults against Jesus Christ. The settlers also punctured the tires of three vehicles parked near the monastery.
The attack is part of numerous attacks targeting churches, mosques and even graveyards in different parts of occupied Palestine, including occupied Jerusalem.
Back in October, Israeli extremists hurled stones, Molotov cocktails and trash at a Christian Church in occupied Jerusalem.
The attack came only a week after a similar attack that targeted the Franciscan monastery in occupied Jerusalem when extremist settlers wrote racist graffiti against Christians and Jesus Christi.
In September, extremist Israeli settlers burnt the main gate of the Latrun Christian Monastery west of Jerusalem, and also wrote racist graffiti against Jesus Christ and against Christianity.
Earlier in February this year, extremist Israelis wrote “Death to Christians” on the walls of a Jerusalem church, and slashed the tires of vehicles parked in the area.
Back then, Archbishop Attallah Hanna, of the Orthodox Christian Church, said that this assault is “a criminal act, and a very serious assault geared by blind hearts fueled by extremism and racism”.
Extremist settler groups are responsible for numerous racist attacks against the Palestinian people, their lands and their holy sites. Several mosques were torched and defaced in different parts of the West Bank, and racist graffiti against the Muslim Prophet was spray-painted. Also several Christian and Islamic graveyards were desecrated.
List Of Similar Attack Carried Out By Extremist Israeli Settlers
Tuesday at dawn, June 19: A number of extremist Israeli settlers burnt a local mosque in Jaba’ Palestinian village, in occupied East Jerusalem, and defaced some of its walls.
Local sources reported that the settlers wrote racist graffiti on some of the walls of the mosque, including the “Price Tag” graffiti that they frequently use when attacking and burning Palestinian mosques and property.
Monday, January 16, 2012, settlers torched the car of a Palestinian Authority Intelligence officer, Mohammad Ghannam, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012, a group of fundamentalist Israeli settlers burnt three Palestinian cars in Dir Estia village, in the West Bank district of Salfit, and defaced the local mosque with “Price Tag” graffiti.
On February 20, 2012, settlers spray-painted racist graffiti on a church in occupied East Jerusalem in the third such incident since January 2012.
The graffiti also included “Death to Christians” and the phrase “price tag” was found on the walls of the Baptist Narkis Street Congregation. Furthermore residents of the area found their car tires slashed.
Wednesday January 4th 2012, settlers set fire to two Palestinian trucks and spray-painted anti-Arab, racist graffiti.
In February, the bilingual school Hand In Hand and the Monastery of the Cross were vandalized, and graffiti promoting violence against Christians was found on its wall.
On December of 2011, the settlers carried out four attacks against mosques in several parts of the occupied West Bank, and set ablaze five Palestinian cars near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
In the attack on the mosques, the settlers spray-painted slogans including 'Price Tag', (a reference to the idea that Palestinians must all 'pay a price' for the dismantling of illegal settlement outposts by the Israeli military).
In mid-December of last year, a group of fanatic Israeli settlers burnt a mosque in Borqa village, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and wrote racist graffiti on its walls.
The attack came only one day after a similar arson attempt targeted the historic mosque of Okasha in Jerusalem. Before setting parts of the mosque ablaze, the settlers spray-painted racist graffiti targeting the Palestinians and the Muslim prophet.
Jewish settlers torch car, paint racist slogans on Christian monastery
Jewish settlers torched a Palestinian car near Shaqba village, west of Ramallah, on Wednesday while others painted racist slogans on a Christian monastery in Jerusalem.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that groups of Jewish settlers stormed the village and set ablaze the car of Shaqba village municipality chairman Ramadan Al-Masri.
They said that the car was parked near a bridge at the outskirts of the village, noting that Israeli occupation forces provided protection for the settlers.
They said that the term “Price Tag” was inscribed near the car.
Meanwhile, other groups of settlers painted racist slogans on a Christian monastery in Jerusalem along with the same slogan “Price Tag”.
10 dec 2012
Jewish settlers storm Aqsa mosque A big number of Jewish settlers entered the holy Aqsa mosque on Monday morning under heavy police escort.
Eyewitnesses inside the holy site told the PIC reporter that special police units protected the settlers during their stroll in the mosque.
They said that the settlers toured the mosque’s various plazas, utilities, and historical wall near the Marwani mosque. The witnesses noted that the storming coincided with the presence of a big number of schoolchildren from various schools in Jerusalem.
9 dec 2012
Jewish settlers throw rocks at Palestinian cars near Al-Khalil
Groups of Jewish settlers threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Al-Khalil city on Sunday morning, eyewitnesses said.
They told the PIC that the cars were passing along the road called 35 near Tafuh village, west of Al-Khalil city. They said that many vehicles were damaged but no injuries were reported.
The witnesses said that the settlers assembled in groups near Adura settlement, established on Palestinian land to the north west of Al-Khalil, and threw rocks at the vehicles under Israeli army protection.
7 dec 2012
Hebron settler 'plowing Palestinian field for land seizure'
An Israeli settler is trying to seize 300 dunams of Palestinian farmland south of Hebron, an owner of the land said Wednesday.
Abu Iyad Housheyeh told Ma'an that a resident of the illegal Mitzpe Yair settlement outpost had been plowing his land for two days in preparation to sow it.
Housheyeh has filed a complaint to Israeli courts, which ordered that neither the settler or the owner of the land should access it.
A court hearing on Wednesday was postponed, Housheyeh said.
Housheyeh also filed a complaint to police against the settler for his failure to comply with the court order.
Police should implement the court order or allow the owners of the land to access their fields, he said.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and settlement outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.
Settlers Storm the Evacuated Tarsala Settlement
Jewish settlers stormed the evacuated Tarsala settlement outpost to the south of Jenin at dawn under protection of the Israeli occupation forces.
Security sources said that dozens of settlers broke into the settlement, performed their religious rituals and chanted anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim slogans.
Tarsala is one of four sites evacuated by the IOF in the West Bank in 2005.
6 dec 2012
Man wounded in Nablus settler assault
A 47-year-old Palestinian man was beaten up by Israeli settlers during an olive harvest south of Nablus on Thursday, local officials said.
Nasser Fayez Odah is in a moderate condition after a group of settlers attacked him with sticks and sharp objects, Huwara village council head Moin al-Dmeiri said.
A group from the Yitzhar settlement attacked the harvesters in an area south of village called al-Lahaf, the official said. The farmers had already obtained permission from the Palestinian and Israeli liaison officials to harvest in the area, he noted.
Rights groups says Israel systematically fails to prosecute settler violence against Palestinians, perpetuating the attacks.
Hamas official welcomes European response to settler plan
A senior Hamas official on Thursday praised countries, particularly in Europe, for censuring Israel over its settlement expansion plan.
Izzat al-Rishq welcomed moves by Spain, Denmark, France, Britain, Sweden and Italy to summon their Israeli ambassadors in protest against the move, in comments on his official Facebook page.
The Hamas politburo members also welcomed Egypt's summoning of their Israeli envoy over the settlement expansion, which came after Palestine was recognized as a non-member state at the UN.
On Monday, senior PLO officials applauded Europe's response to settlement building.
PLO executive committee member Ahmad Majdalani told Ma'an that Europe's patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not been constructive, and that practical, tangible steps were needed to pressure Israel to obey international laws and the will of the international community.
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Europe's position had changed not because Palestine is a recognized state, but because Israel had gone too far.
Ashrawi said the US and the EU had asked Israel not to build in the "E1" zone east of Jerusalem, "but Israel today tells the world that ... (it is) above the law."
5 dec 2012
Jewish settlers chop down 200 olive trees
Jewish settlers chopped down dozens of olive trees in a village west of Bethlehem city on Tuesday, local sources said.
They said that the settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, burst into agricultural land in Jaba village and cut off more than 200 olive trees.
The sources said that the settlers, who routinely storm the same area, also bulldozed cultivated land.
3 dec 2012
Settlers take over East Jerusalem apartments
A settler organization took over three apartments in a Palestinian-owned Jerusalem building on Monday, official news agency Wafa reported.
Settlers entered the five-story building in Jabal al-Mukabbir and took over three of the ten apartments, Wafa said. The owner of the building, Suleiman Abu Diab, lives on the top floor with the other nine apartments vacant.
The building was constructed 10 years ago and was issued a demolition order from Israel's Jerusalem municipality, the Wadi Hilweh center said.
Peace Now settlement watch director Hagit Ofran said the move is "not only a dangerous provocation which is threatening the stability in the fragile situation of Jerusalem, but also a threat to the possibility to get to a two states solution and a compromise in Jerusalem."
Coming three days after the Israeli government authorized mass settlement construction in response to Palestine's status upgarde at the UN, is "no accident," she said.
"It seems as if the Government has set the norm, and showed that it wishes to establish as many settlements as possible, to prevent the two states solution," she said.
The Jabal al-Mukabbir settlers were supported by the Elad organization, which claimed ownership of the apartments, Wafa added.
The Elad association is a private Israeli organization which promotes settlement building in East Jerusalem. The US state department in July criticized the group for disregarding the diverse religious history of sites it controls in East Jerusalem.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.
Israeli MP, settlers storm Aqsa mosque
An Israeli MP led a group of 25 Jewish settlers into the Aqsa courtyards in occupied Jerusalem on Monday and offered Talmudic rituals.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said in a press release that the MP for the Likud bloc Moshe Feiglin led the group under heavy security measures.
The Jerusalemite foundation pointed out that another group of Israeli soldiers in their uniform toured the Aqsa mosque at the same time.
The foundation warned of the growing fanatic Jewish calls for accelerating the construction of the alleged temple and for dividing the holy Aqsa mosque. It urged the Jerusalemites to remain on the alert in face of the increasing storming operations.
IOF soldiers, settlers uproot 150 olive trees
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and Jewish settlers bulldozed vast tracts of Palestinian farmland in Jaba village to the west of Bethlehem on Monday and destroyed 150 olive trees in the process.
Khaled Mashala, a farmer, said that the soldiers and the settlers uprooted the olive trees then took them away in trucks. He said that the operation was still ongoing in the morning hours.
Meanwhile, IOF troops stormed villages and mountains to the west of Al-Khalil city but no arrests or storming of citizens’ homes were reported.
Settlers Spray-painted Racist Slogans in Hebron, Confrontations in Jenin
A group of Jewish settlers burned a vehicle belonged to Salman Sulaiman Abu Sundus in Abu al-Asja village, south of Durah in Hebron.
They spray-painted anti-Palestinians slogans on the wall of the village.
The Palestinian citizen, Mohmmad Abu Sundus said that a group of settlers raided the village at 1 AM, and set his parked car on fire.
He also said that the settlers snuck into the village under the protection of the Israeli forces, saying that the fire caused severe damages to the car.
Settlers also spray-painted anti Arab and Palestinian slogans and other racist statements at the same place.
Abu Sundus reported that forces from the Israeli police came and opened an investigation into the incident, as Israeli police claims.
In Jenin, confrontations launched after Israeli forces raided the eastern neighborhood in the city. Dozens of Palestinians suffered asphyxiation due to tear gas inhalation.
Local sources said that nine military vehicles raided the eastern neighborhood, fired bullets into the air and threw tear gas canisters toward Palestinians.
Sources also said that Israeli forces searched the vicinity of Dr. Khalil Sulaiman Hospital in Jenin.
Britain, France 'consider recalling Israel envoys' over settler plan
Britain is considering recalling its ambassador to Israel to protest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand settlement building, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that France was also considering withdrawing its envoy, and the two countries were coordinating discussions over a number of punitive steps.
Both embassies declined to comment on the reports, but the British issued a statement saying they had made clear they would not support strong Israeli retaliation to a UN vote last week that gave the Palestinians de facto recognition of statehood.
"The recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units threatens the two-state solution and makes progress through negotiations harder to achieve," the British embassy in Tel Aviv said.
"We have called on the Israeli government to reconsider."
A diplomatic source, who declined to be named, said London would decide later in the day whether to recall its ambassador.
Such a move by both London and Paris would represent a severe diplomatic reproach to Netanyahu. Israel's Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli Army Radio he was not aware of any recall.
"I did not hear of this, either via the foreign ministry or the prime minister's office. Therefore I have a hard time believing it is true," he said.
France's foreign ministry played down the report. "There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval," a foreign ministry official told Reuters.
Netanyahu has brushed off world condemnation of his latest settlement plans, which were announced on Friday just hours after the United Nations voted overwhelming to upgrade the Palestinians' diplomatic status.
"We will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the places that are on the map of Israel's strategic interests," Netanyahu said on Sunday at a weekly cabinet meeting.
Besides authorizing 3,000 new homes in and around Jerusalem, the Israeli government also agreed to expedite planning work for thousands more homes on land near Jerusalem that critics say would kill off Palestinian hopes of creating a viable state.
In another blow to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Israel announced on Sunday it was withholding Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million.
Israel said it was taking the money to help cover a Palestinian debt of $200 million with the Israeli Electric Corporation.
2 dec 2012
Fatah official: Settler build proves peace is just a slogan to Israel
A senior Fatah official said Sunday that Israel's decision to accelerate settlement building was further proof that the Israeli government is not interested in peace.
Israeli government officials unveiled on Friday plans to build 3,000 new settlement units and expedite building in the so-called E-1 area of the occupied West Bank, a day after Palestine was admitted to the UN as a non-member state.
Fahmi Al-Zaarer, deputy-head of Fatah's cabinet, said the move does not affect the UN resolution or weaken Palestine's position.
Increasing settlement construction is "proof that peace is only slogan for (Israel) in order to gain more time to confiscate further lands," al-Zaarer said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defiant on Sunday, saying that "Israel will continue building in Jerusalem and every place on the State of Israel's map of strategic interests," according to Israeli news site Ynet.
The United States, one of just eight countries to vote alongside Israel against the Palestinians at the UN General Assembly, had called the latest expansion plan "counterproductive," while France, which voted with the Palestinians, and Britain, which abstained, had tougher censure for Israel.
"If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.
Hague's French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, spoke of E1 as "the new colonization zone" and said the Israeli expansion plan could "drain the confidence needed for a return to dialogue."
1 dec 2012
IOF soldiers, settlers assault 70-year-old farmer
Jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli occupation forces assaulted a 70-year-old Palestinian farmer while tending to his land to the east of Bethlehem on Saturday.
Hassan Breijeh, an anti-wall and anti-settlement activist, told Quds Press that the farmer Ahmed Miheimeed was planting seeds in his land in Firedees area to the east of Bethlehem when he was attacked.
He said that eight soldiers and two settlers attacked the old man and threatened to kill him if he did not get out of his land.
Quds Press reported that the settlers arrived in buses after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) imposed a curfew on the city and escorted the settlers into the tomb.
IOF soldiers stationed on rooftops of nearby houses fired teargas and stun grenades on young Palestinians who threw stones at the invading troops. A number of youths were treated for breathing difficulty.
Hamas condemns Israeli attack on Christian monastery
Hamas condemned as a “crime” the Israeli settlers’ attack on Islamic and Christian holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.
Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that the settlers’ attack on the Roman Orthodox monastery in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday was in violation of heavenly religions.
It strongly condemned the settlers’ spraying of anti-Christian graffiti on walls of the monastery, charging that the act was the latest in a series of violation of Islamic and Christian shrines in the holy city.
The Israeli occupation authority’s policy of restricting freedom of worship, which is guaranteed both by heavenly and earthly laws, would not succeed in wiping out the Palestinian identity of the city and its Islamic and Christian landmarks, Hamas said.
The movement held the IOA fully responsible for those attacks, and called on the human rights organizations and free people of the world to expose this criminal policy and to pressure the IOA to stop violation of places of worship and Islamic and Christian holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.
12 dec 2012
70 settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque under protection of soldiers
Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Waqf and Heritage said that about 70 settlers, stormed on Wednesday morning the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, under the protection of the occupation forces.
More than 25 Israeli soldiers, in their military uniforms, stormed yesterday Al-Aqsa Mosque, while an atmosphere of anger prevailed the Mosque to condemn these repeated attacks.
Al-Aqsa Foundation said in a statement that a group of settlers have tried to perform some biblical and Talmudic rituals in al-Aqsa Mosque. However Muslim worshipers confronted them which led to clashes that ended up with expelling the settlers outside the mosque.
The Foundation also denounced the attack on the "Wadi al-Salib" monastery in the city of Jerusalem, at dawn today, by Jewish extremists who wrote racist slogans against Prophet Jesus (PBUH) on the walls.
It considered these attacks as a renewed crime against the Christian holy sites coinciding with other attacks on Islamic holy sites, and held the occupation fully responsible for such offenses.
Ahrar denounces the settlers’ attack on prisoners’ families
Ahrar center for Prisoners studies and human rights denounced the settlers’ attack against the relatives of the Palestinian prisoners who were returning back from visiting them in Nafha prison.
The center also condemned the attack on the prisoners themselves in Nafha prison.
Fuad Al Khuffash, director of the center said that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers aimed to pressure on the Palestinian prisoners and their families and to double their suffering, noting that the settlers' attack was an attempt to deter prisoners from taking any steps in solidarity with the striking prisoners, Sharawanah and Issawi, who suffer serious health deterioration due to their hunger strike for more than five months protesting against their arrest.
Khuffash called on all human rights organizations to intervene, immediately and urgently, to find out what is going on inside the Israeli prisons, and to check on the prisoners' conditions.
The Israeli settlers have attacked, on Tuesday, a Palestinian bus, carrying families of prisoners returning from visiting their sons in Nafha prison, where they threw stones at them, near the Efrat settlement, close to the city, causing injury to a number of them.
Jewish settlers provoke Palestinians in southern Jenin
Jewish settlers stormed the site of evacuated settlement outpost Tersala, south of Jenin, afternoon Wednesday and insulted Arabs in the area, local sources said.
They said that the settlers, protected by Israeli occupation forces, chanted Talmudic psalms and provoked passing Palestinian citizens.
The settlers tried to attack Palestinian vehicles, which is a routine practice in each storming of the region with no action taken on the part of the IOF soldiers.
Tersala was one of four settlement outposts that were evicted from southern Jenin in 2005 in the wake of the Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Extremist Israeli Settlers Write Racist Graffiti On Christian Monastery
A number of extremist Israeli settlers wrote, on Wednesday at dawn, racist graffiti attacking Christianity and Jesus Christ on the walls of a monastery in occupied Jerusalem, the WAFA News Agency reported.
The graffiti written on the walls of the monastery included “Price Tag”, and several insults against Jesus Christ. The settlers also punctured the tires of three vehicles parked near the monastery.
The attack is part of numerous attacks targeting churches, mosques and even graveyards in different parts of occupied Palestine, including occupied Jerusalem.
Back in October, Israeli extremists hurled stones, Molotov cocktails and trash at a Christian Church in occupied Jerusalem.
The attack came only a week after a similar attack that targeted the Franciscan monastery in occupied Jerusalem when extremist settlers wrote racist graffiti against Christians and Jesus Christi.
In September, extremist Israeli settlers burnt the main gate of the Latrun Christian Monastery west of Jerusalem, and also wrote racist graffiti against Jesus Christ and against Christianity.
Earlier in February this year, extremist Israelis wrote “Death to Christians” on the walls of a Jerusalem church, and slashed the tires of vehicles parked in the area.
Back then, Archbishop Attallah Hanna, of the Orthodox Christian Church, said that this assault is “a criminal act, and a very serious assault geared by blind hearts fueled by extremism and racism”.
Extremist settler groups are responsible for numerous racist attacks against the Palestinian people, their lands and their holy sites. Several mosques were torched and defaced in different parts of the West Bank, and racist graffiti against the Muslim Prophet was spray-painted. Also several Christian and Islamic graveyards were desecrated.
List Of Similar Attack Carried Out By Extremist Israeli Settlers
Tuesday at dawn, June 19: A number of extremist Israeli settlers burnt a local mosque in Jaba’ Palestinian village, in occupied East Jerusalem, and defaced some of its walls.
Local sources reported that the settlers wrote racist graffiti on some of the walls of the mosque, including the “Price Tag” graffiti that they frequently use when attacking and burning Palestinian mosques and property.
Monday, January 16, 2012, settlers torched the car of a Palestinian Authority Intelligence officer, Mohammad Ghannam, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012, a group of fundamentalist Israeli settlers burnt three Palestinian cars in Dir Estia village, in the West Bank district of Salfit, and defaced the local mosque with “Price Tag” graffiti.
On February 20, 2012, settlers spray-painted racist graffiti on a church in occupied East Jerusalem in the third such incident since January 2012.
The graffiti also included “Death to Christians” and the phrase “price tag” was found on the walls of the Baptist Narkis Street Congregation. Furthermore residents of the area found their car tires slashed.
Wednesday January 4th 2012, settlers set fire to two Palestinian trucks and spray-painted anti-Arab, racist graffiti.
In February, the bilingual school Hand In Hand and the Monastery of the Cross were vandalized, and graffiti promoting violence against Christians was found on its wall.
On December of 2011, the settlers carried out four attacks against mosques in several parts of the occupied West Bank, and set ablaze five Palestinian cars near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
In the attack on the mosques, the settlers spray-painted slogans including 'Price Tag', (a reference to the idea that Palestinians must all 'pay a price' for the dismantling of illegal settlement outposts by the Israeli military).
In mid-December of last year, a group of fanatic Israeli settlers burnt a mosque in Borqa village, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and wrote racist graffiti on its walls.
The attack came only one day after a similar arson attempt targeted the historic mosque of Okasha in Jerusalem. Before setting parts of the mosque ablaze, the settlers spray-painted racist graffiti targeting the Palestinians and the Muslim prophet.
Jewish settlers torch car, paint racist slogans on Christian monastery
Jewish settlers torched a Palestinian car near Shaqba village, west of Ramallah, on Wednesday while others painted racist slogans on a Christian monastery in Jerusalem.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that groups of Jewish settlers stormed the village and set ablaze the car of Shaqba village municipality chairman Ramadan Al-Masri.
They said that the car was parked near a bridge at the outskirts of the village, noting that Israeli occupation forces provided protection for the settlers.
They said that the term “Price Tag” was inscribed near the car.
Meanwhile, other groups of settlers painted racist slogans on a Christian monastery in Jerusalem along with the same slogan “Price Tag”.
10 dec 2012
Jewish settlers storm Aqsa mosque A big number of Jewish settlers entered the holy Aqsa mosque on Monday morning under heavy police escort.
Eyewitnesses inside the holy site told the PIC reporter that special police units protected the settlers during their stroll in the mosque.
They said that the settlers toured the mosque’s various plazas, utilities, and historical wall near the Marwani mosque. The witnesses noted that the storming coincided with the presence of a big number of schoolchildren from various schools in Jerusalem.
9 dec 2012
Jewish settlers throw rocks at Palestinian cars near Al-Khalil
Groups of Jewish settlers threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near Al-Khalil city on Sunday morning, eyewitnesses said.
They told the PIC that the cars were passing along the road called 35 near Tafuh village, west of Al-Khalil city. They said that many vehicles were damaged but no injuries were reported.
The witnesses said that the settlers assembled in groups near Adura settlement, established on Palestinian land to the north west of Al-Khalil, and threw rocks at the vehicles under Israeli army protection.
7 dec 2012
Hebron settler 'plowing Palestinian field for land seizure'
An Israeli settler is trying to seize 300 dunams of Palestinian farmland south of Hebron, an owner of the land said Wednesday.
Abu Iyad Housheyeh told Ma'an that a resident of the illegal Mitzpe Yair settlement outpost had been plowing his land for two days in preparation to sow it.
Housheyeh has filed a complaint to Israeli courts, which ordered that neither the settler or the owner of the land should access it.
A court hearing on Wednesday was postponed, Housheyeh said.
Housheyeh also filed a complaint to police against the settler for his failure to comply with the court order.
Police should implement the court order or allow the owners of the land to access their fields, he said.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and settlement outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.
Settlers Storm the Evacuated Tarsala Settlement
Jewish settlers stormed the evacuated Tarsala settlement outpost to the south of Jenin at dawn under protection of the Israeli occupation forces.
Security sources said that dozens of settlers broke into the settlement, performed their religious rituals and chanted anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim slogans.
Tarsala is one of four sites evacuated by the IOF in the West Bank in 2005.
6 dec 2012
Man wounded in Nablus settler assault
A 47-year-old Palestinian man was beaten up by Israeli settlers during an olive harvest south of Nablus on Thursday, local officials said.
Nasser Fayez Odah is in a moderate condition after a group of settlers attacked him with sticks and sharp objects, Huwara village council head Moin al-Dmeiri said.
A group from the Yitzhar settlement attacked the harvesters in an area south of village called al-Lahaf, the official said. The farmers had already obtained permission from the Palestinian and Israeli liaison officials to harvest in the area, he noted.
Rights groups says Israel systematically fails to prosecute settler violence against Palestinians, perpetuating the attacks.
Hamas official welcomes European response to settler plan
A senior Hamas official on Thursday praised countries, particularly in Europe, for censuring Israel over its settlement expansion plan.
Izzat al-Rishq welcomed moves by Spain, Denmark, France, Britain, Sweden and Italy to summon their Israeli ambassadors in protest against the move, in comments on his official Facebook page.
The Hamas politburo members also welcomed Egypt's summoning of their Israeli envoy over the settlement expansion, which came after Palestine was recognized as a non-member state at the UN.
On Monday, senior PLO officials applauded Europe's response to settlement building.
PLO executive committee member Ahmad Majdalani told Ma'an that Europe's patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not been constructive, and that practical, tangible steps were needed to pressure Israel to obey international laws and the will of the international community.
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Europe's position had changed not because Palestine is a recognized state, but because Israel had gone too far.
Ashrawi said the US and the EU had asked Israel not to build in the "E1" zone east of Jerusalem, "but Israel today tells the world that ... (it is) above the law."
5 dec 2012
Jewish settlers chop down 200 olive trees
Jewish settlers chopped down dozens of olive trees in a village west of Bethlehem city on Tuesday, local sources said.
They said that the settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, burst into agricultural land in Jaba village and cut off more than 200 olive trees.
The sources said that the settlers, who routinely storm the same area, also bulldozed cultivated land.
3 dec 2012
Settlers take over East Jerusalem apartments
A settler organization took over three apartments in a Palestinian-owned Jerusalem building on Monday, official news agency Wafa reported.
Settlers entered the five-story building in Jabal al-Mukabbir and took over three of the ten apartments, Wafa said. The owner of the building, Suleiman Abu Diab, lives on the top floor with the other nine apartments vacant.
The building was constructed 10 years ago and was issued a demolition order from Israel's Jerusalem municipality, the Wadi Hilweh center said.
Peace Now settlement watch director Hagit Ofran said the move is "not only a dangerous provocation which is threatening the stability in the fragile situation of Jerusalem, but also a threat to the possibility to get to a two states solution and a compromise in Jerusalem."
Coming three days after the Israeli government authorized mass settlement construction in response to Palestine's status upgarde at the UN, is "no accident," she said.
"It seems as if the Government has set the norm, and showed that it wishes to establish as many settlements as possible, to prevent the two states solution," she said.
The Jabal al-Mukabbir settlers were supported by the Elad organization, which claimed ownership of the apartments, Wafa added.
The Elad association is a private Israeli organization which promotes settlement building in East Jerusalem. The US state department in July criticized the group for disregarding the diverse religious history of sites it controls in East Jerusalem.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.
Israeli MP, settlers storm Aqsa mosque
An Israeli MP led a group of 25 Jewish settlers into the Aqsa courtyards in occupied Jerusalem on Monday and offered Talmudic rituals.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said in a press release that the MP for the Likud bloc Moshe Feiglin led the group under heavy security measures.
The Jerusalemite foundation pointed out that another group of Israeli soldiers in their uniform toured the Aqsa mosque at the same time.
The foundation warned of the growing fanatic Jewish calls for accelerating the construction of the alleged temple and for dividing the holy Aqsa mosque. It urged the Jerusalemites to remain on the alert in face of the increasing storming operations.
IOF soldiers, settlers uproot 150 olive trees
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) and Jewish settlers bulldozed vast tracts of Palestinian farmland in Jaba village to the west of Bethlehem on Monday and destroyed 150 olive trees in the process.
Khaled Mashala, a farmer, said that the soldiers and the settlers uprooted the olive trees then took them away in trucks. He said that the operation was still ongoing in the morning hours.
Meanwhile, IOF troops stormed villages and mountains to the west of Al-Khalil city but no arrests or storming of citizens’ homes were reported.
Settlers Spray-painted Racist Slogans in Hebron, Confrontations in Jenin
A group of Jewish settlers burned a vehicle belonged to Salman Sulaiman Abu Sundus in Abu al-Asja village, south of Durah in Hebron.
They spray-painted anti-Palestinians slogans on the wall of the village.
The Palestinian citizen, Mohmmad Abu Sundus said that a group of settlers raided the village at 1 AM, and set his parked car on fire.
He also said that the settlers snuck into the village under the protection of the Israeli forces, saying that the fire caused severe damages to the car.
Settlers also spray-painted anti Arab and Palestinian slogans and other racist statements at the same place.
Abu Sundus reported that forces from the Israeli police came and opened an investigation into the incident, as Israeli police claims.
In Jenin, confrontations launched after Israeli forces raided the eastern neighborhood in the city. Dozens of Palestinians suffered asphyxiation due to tear gas inhalation.
Local sources said that nine military vehicles raided the eastern neighborhood, fired bullets into the air and threw tear gas canisters toward Palestinians.
Sources also said that Israeli forces searched the vicinity of Dr. Khalil Sulaiman Hospital in Jenin.
Britain, France 'consider recalling Israel envoys' over settler plan
Britain is considering recalling its ambassador to Israel to protest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand settlement building, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that France was also considering withdrawing its envoy, and the two countries were coordinating discussions over a number of punitive steps.
Both embassies declined to comment on the reports, but the British issued a statement saying they had made clear they would not support strong Israeli retaliation to a UN vote last week that gave the Palestinians de facto recognition of statehood.
"The recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units threatens the two-state solution and makes progress through negotiations harder to achieve," the British embassy in Tel Aviv said.
"We have called on the Israeli government to reconsider."
A diplomatic source, who declined to be named, said London would decide later in the day whether to recall its ambassador.
Such a move by both London and Paris would represent a severe diplomatic reproach to Netanyahu. Israel's Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli Army Radio he was not aware of any recall.
"I did not hear of this, either via the foreign ministry or the prime minister's office. Therefore I have a hard time believing it is true," he said.
France's foreign ministry played down the report. "There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval," a foreign ministry official told Reuters.
Netanyahu has brushed off world condemnation of his latest settlement plans, which were announced on Friday just hours after the United Nations voted overwhelming to upgrade the Palestinians' diplomatic status.
"We will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the places that are on the map of Israel's strategic interests," Netanyahu said on Sunday at a weekly cabinet meeting.
Besides authorizing 3,000 new homes in and around Jerusalem, the Israeli government also agreed to expedite planning work for thousands more homes on land near Jerusalem that critics say would kill off Palestinian hopes of creating a viable state.
In another blow to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Israel announced on Sunday it was withholding Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million.
Israel said it was taking the money to help cover a Palestinian debt of $200 million with the Israeli Electric Corporation.
2 dec 2012
Fatah official: Settler build proves peace is just a slogan to Israel
A senior Fatah official said Sunday that Israel's decision to accelerate settlement building was further proof that the Israeli government is not interested in peace.
Israeli government officials unveiled on Friday plans to build 3,000 new settlement units and expedite building in the so-called E-1 area of the occupied West Bank, a day after Palestine was admitted to the UN as a non-member state.
Fahmi Al-Zaarer, deputy-head of Fatah's cabinet, said the move does not affect the UN resolution or weaken Palestine's position.
Increasing settlement construction is "proof that peace is only slogan for (Israel) in order to gain more time to confiscate further lands," al-Zaarer said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defiant on Sunday, saying that "Israel will continue building in Jerusalem and every place on the State of Israel's map of strategic interests," according to Israeli news site Ynet.
The United States, one of just eight countries to vote alongside Israel against the Palestinians at the UN General Assembly, had called the latest expansion plan "counterproductive," while France, which voted with the Palestinians, and Britain, which abstained, had tougher censure for Israel.
"If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.
Hague's French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, spoke of E1 as "the new colonization zone" and said the Israeli expansion plan could "drain the confidence needed for a return to dialogue."
1 dec 2012
IOF soldiers, settlers assault 70-year-old farmer
Jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli occupation forces assaulted a 70-year-old Palestinian farmer while tending to his land to the east of Bethlehem on Saturday.
Hassan Breijeh, an anti-wall and anti-settlement activist, told Quds Press that the farmer Ahmed Miheimeed was planting seeds in his land in Firedees area to the east of Bethlehem when he was attacked.
He said that eight soldiers and two settlers attacked the old man and threatened to kill him if he did not get out of his land.
