13 feb 2012
PA security guard rabbis on visit to Joseph's Tomb
Israeli rabbis visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus last Thursday guarded by Palestinian Authority forces, in the first such security coordination of its kind.
“The PA considers Joseph’s Tomb a historic site which everybody has the right to access as long as they comply with Palestinian instructions and regulations, because the tomb is under Palestinian control,” the governor of Nablus Jibreel al-Bakri told Ma'an.
Fifteen Jewish rabbis from Bnei Brak in Tel Aviv visited Joseph’s Tomb last Thursday evening for one hour.
The visit was to perform a prayer dedicated to Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, 102.
Palestinian security officers received the rabbis at Huwwara checkpoint and escorted them during the visit and then back to the checkpoint.
“I state it clearly that visitors are welcome, but those who come to create troubles aren’t welcome at all,” al-Bakri said.
The rabbis arrived at the tomb in their own vehicles escorted by Palestinian security forces which remained in place until the visit had ended.
The visit was coordinated with the leader of Israel's Central Command, Avi Mizrahi, who assured the rabbis they would be safe.
Jews believe that the tomb is the final resting place of the biblical figure Joseph. Muslims believe that an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat, was buried there.
The restoration of the tomb was completed recently, and following improved security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli army allows Jewish worshipers to make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the site.
Protecting al-Aqsa is every Muslim's responsibility
By Khalid Amayreh
This week, supremacist millenarian Jews, led by fanatical Likud leader Moshe Feiglin tried to storm the Haram Sharif of Jerusalem . The Talmudic rioters held posters calling for the "purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel."
Like other Jewish fanatics, Feiglin is totally against any prospective peaceful arrangements between Israel and Palestinians involving "territorial compromise." He advocates the establishment of a Talmudic theocracy covering British mandatory Palestine , extending from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean whereby non-Jews, e.g. Christians and Muslims, are treated as water-carriers and wood-hewers.
Those refusing enslavement by the "master race" or Chosen people would be expelled. In case they resisted, they would be banished or physically exterminated.
In the past, Jewish leaders didn't voice their genocidal designs as plainly as they are doing these days. However, with powerful Jewish groups dominating America 's politics and policies, and with Israel becoming a powerful country politically, economically and especially militarily, Jewish leaders, especially those believing in the imminent advent of the Jewish Messiah or Redeemer, no longer hide their dream of world domination.
In days bygone, especially before the establishment of Israel , Talmudic sages viewed the "redeemer" as a heavenly figure who would bring salvation to mankind and enable Jews to reclaim their status and stature as "the Chosen people."
Now, however, the Redeemer is caricatured as an irresistible pugnacious Jewish tyrant, an ardent Zionist and Jewish warrior-hero who wouldn't transcend the conventional mores and bounds of Jewish heroism. Hence, the redeemer's ultimate goal is not really world peace, but rather enabling Jews to enslave, control and rule the world from Jerusalem .
Even Christian evangelicals, Israel 's most ardent supporters in the West, are not excluded from the Jewish wrath.
Jesus is called "the Hitler of Bethlehem" and Chesronot Shas, one of the most virulently anti-Christian Talmudic texts, is sold in public libraries in West Jerusalem . If you visit the Steimatzky library, you would find the Mein Kamph-booklet there.
In other words, Jewish millenarianism is not about heavenly peace, it is not about a world where justice reigns and love prevails. It is about but worldly power, a sort of a Jewish Third Reich lasting hundreds of years.
Hence, Jewish Messianism as taught and practiced by the likes of Moshe Feiglin and other terrorists of Gush Emunim has no human face let alone a human heart and is effectively comparable to German Nazism.
Just take the word "German" out and replace it with the word "Jewish," and you will have Jewish Messianism or redeemism, pure and simple.
This vicious, virulent and genocidal vision lies behind the most recent attempted storming of the Aqsa Mosque of Jerusalem , a shrine of paramount sacredness for hundreds of millions of people.
According to the sickening ideology of Jewish Messianism, the redeemer would only appear if the world is torn by tribulations, violence and bloodshed on a massive and genocidal scale.
Thus, Feiglin and his ilk believe that attacking or destroying or burning the Islamic house of worship of 1400 years would spark off religious wars between Muslims and Jews, wars that would only end when the redeemer or Jewish Messiah appeared.
It follows from this that these religious maniacs would want to lose or miss no opportunity to trigger violence, spill bloodshed or foment trouble. They believe they are being instrumental to the realization of the most important event in the history of mankind. So, who except fools and ignoramuses, would miss this opportunity.!!
And it doesn't matter if hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions of people, Jews and non-Jews alike, would perish in this conceived holocaust. The important thing is the coming of the Messiah Ben David, the redeemer of the Jewish people.
This is not the view of a minority of esoteric or marginal rabbis or Talmudic sages, as spokesmen of the Israeli government would claim to the western media. This is the mainstream religious ideology of the bulk of religious Zionist Jews, who more or less control the current Israeli government.
Israel speaks about peace with Arabs and Muslims ad nauseam. However, this talk is mostly disingenuous and mendacious because in the final analysis what Israel does, not what it says is what counts.
and what Israel does leaves no doubt as to her hostile and criminal designs against the Palestinian people. Indeed, does a country that is transferring millions of its citizens to live on land that belongs to another people really want peace?
The Nazis invaded and occupied France during the Second World War, but they didn't transfer millions of Germans to France to arrogate French land? Moreover, Israel has since 1967 been building Jewish colonies on the West Bank and East Jerusalem for the purpose of driving the native Palestinians away and alter the demographic nature f the land, which testifies to the fact that Israel and peace are an oxymoron.
The enduring Jewish efforts to destroy the Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are the clearest evidence that Israel is planning to wage an all-out war against the world's 1.6 billion Muslims. An attack on the Aqsa Mosque is an attack on the Ka'aba in Mecca . Can any one imagine that an attack on the Ka'aba is not motivated by malicious ill-will and murderous hatred for anything and everything Muslim or Islamic?
The genocidal designs against the Masjidul Aqsa simply mean one thing: It means an overwhelming Jewish desire to annihilate non-Jews in occupied Palestine , especially the native Palestinian people, from their ancestral homeland. The Zionist rationale is simple: Once the Aqsa Mosque disappeared, there would be no justification for the continued presence or Muslims in Palestine.!!
Some Jewish circles are trying to ignite the flames of war in our region so that Israel will reap strategic benefits. Israel strives day and night to incite the West, particularly its guardian-ally the United States , to wage war on Iran . The draconian sanctions against Iran must be understood in the context of the overall Zionist enmity to Muslim peoples.
Pro-Israeli circles are also instigating Washington against the Arab Spring, including recently-elected Islamic movements in Egypt and Tunisia . The same Zionist circles have been communicating a virulent and vindictive message to Western governments that as far as Israel is concerned, maintaining secular but tyrannical governments in the region in power, even if they fill the ether with anti-Israeli rhetoric is much preferable to Islamic democratic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is why Israel , not Iran or any other country, should be viewed as Islam's and Muslim's ultimate enemy. I am not saying that Iran is perfect, but at the very least the Iranians are not trying to demolish the Aqsa Mosque and ethnically cleans the Palestinians from their ancestral homeland.
Having said that, I believe that the protection of Islam's holy places in Jerusalem is the direct responsibility of every Muslim under the sun. Muslims, governments and individuals, must always do their part in shouldering this immense responsibility.
Key Muslim governments must put this issue at the forefront of their foreign policy priorities. Muslim governments, especially those having diplomatic relations with the apartheid Israeli regime, such as Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and others are urged to seriously raise the matter with Israeli ambassadors.
We are not talking about mere chummy chats and diplomatic pleasantries that would take us nowhere. We rather expect serious and strongly-worded protests against the recurrent Zionist provocations against one of Islam's most important holy places. Zionist ambassadors must be given the impression that Muslim countries can't and won't maintain diplomatic relations with the apartheid entity while aggressions of various forms continue unabated against Muslim holy places.
Unfortunately, the Muslims' record in this regard is not very encouraging. This is why Israel never really got the impression that Muslim governments, especially secular "Muslim" governments, don't really accord paramount attention to the issue.
We had hoped that that the new Islamist-dominated parliaments in both Tunisia and Egypt would at least devote a special session to discuss Jewish threats to the Aqsa mosque. We still hope that Islamist or quasi-Islamist governments in the region will display real vigilance in this regard.
I am saying this because if Muslims don't really show the kind of concern about this matter, then who will?
Other Muslim communities around the world must play their part as well. They should work through the media and hold massive demonstrations, highlighting the message that Muslims can not sit idle while their holy places are violated and desecrated.
We have to raise our voices because the world doesn't hear let alone listen to those who are silent or have feeble voices; and we have to be strong because our world has been transformed into a virtual jungle where the strong only are respected whereas the weak is crushed.
Report: Israeli govt oks new settlement for Migron outpost
An Israeli settler clears the debris of a makeshift structure after Israeli security forces demolished the building at the unauthorized outpost of Mitzpe Avihai on Jan. 12.
Settlers from the illegal outpost of Migron said Monday that they had reached a deal with the Israeli government to relocate their homes inside the occupied West Bank.
Israel's High Court of Justice had ordered Israeli settlers in the Migron outpost near West Bank city Ramallah to leave by March 31 in response to a 2006 petition filed by seven Palestinian landowners and Israeli pressure group Peace Now.
According to the court's ruling of Aug. 2, 2011, the outpost is on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Settlers said Monday that they had struck a deal with the Israeli government to relocate Migron to a nearby hill which they say is an Israeli government owned site, Israeli daily Ynet reported.
All settlements built on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law.
The current outpost structures will not be demolished until all families have moved, with the agreement stipulating a 18 month timeline. The agreement must be signed by the Israeli government and the settlers before being presented to the Israeli high court, Ynet said.
But Peace Now director Yariv Oppenhemier said that the deal is in "in direct violation of the court order mandating Migron's eviction by the end of March," according to the Ynet report.
"Erecting a new isolated settlement, deep within the territories, which will cost millions, goes against Israeli interests and is meant only to appease a radical minority of settlers," he added.
Outposts are settlements built without official Israeli government blessing, typically after the mid-1990s. There are about 100 outposts to date, many of which were supported by the Israeli government.
Settlement expansion in the West Bank accelerated in 2011. There were 1,850 new "building starts" for housing units (excluding East Jerusalem), an almost 20 percent increase on 2010, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Various initiatives by the Israeli government in 2011 were aimed at "legalizing" unauthorized settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land, reports OCHA.
About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in occupied Palestinian land, according to UN estimates. Of these, between 4,000 and 5,000 settlers live in outposts, according to Peace Now.
Settlers: Migron deal in place
After nearly two years, residents of illegal West Bank outpost say agreement has been reached with government about community's relocation.
Settlers residing in the illegal West Bank outpost of Migron said Monday that a deal ensuring that the outpost will not be razed has been reached.
The settlers have reportedly agreed to have Migron relocated to a nearby hill, where it will rest on government-owned land.
The Civil Administration will have to decide what to do with the structure left in Migron's current location, which is subjected to a land despite with Palestinians who claim prior ownership.
According to the settlement reached, the current structures would not be razed until the relocation of all the families is complete. The State has agreed to an 18-month timeline to that effect.
One the State and the settlers sign the deal, they will present it to the High Court for approval.
However, the Civil Administration is likely to oppose the relocation of Migron to the selected area. An administration source said that the location posed several complex engineering problems.
Peace Now Director Yariv Oppenheimer, who petitioned the High Court of Justice to have Migron evicted, said the deal stands "in direct violation of the court order mandating Migron 's eviction by the end of March.
"Erecting a new isolated settlement, deep within the territories, which will cost millions, goes against Israeli interests and is meant only to appease a radical minority of settlers."
Heads of the Land of Israel Lobby MKs Zeev Elkin (Likud and Arieh Eldad (National Union) welcomed the agreement, calling it "a victory for Zionism."
Israeli Court Forbids Nablus Mosque From Using Loudspeakers
The Israeli Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling forbidding Burin village mosque, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, from using loud speakers, and even from using lights on the mosque’s minaret.
The Israeli Radio reported that the ruling was made after an extremist right-wing settlers group submitted “photographs proving the mosque was renovated”, and that lights and loudspeakers were installed despite a court ruling made nearly 18 months ago forbidding further constructions and renovations.
Head of the Burin Village Council, Ali Eid, stated that the council never received any court order, and added that should such a ruling exist, then “it is based on racist motives”, the Palestine News Network reported.
Eid added that extremist settler groups have been trying to shut the mosque down, and even have it demolished, under the claim that it is not located in the village itself.
On the ground, the mosque falls under the jurisdiction of the village council, and was built near the local high school in the village.
On Sunday at night, armed Israeli settlers installed three mobile homes at an illegal outpost that was installed on lands that belong to residents of Burin village. The settlers are planning a larger outpost in the area.
Feiglin barred from Temple Mount over political flyers
Posters calling for 'purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel' prompt police to temporarily block visitors' access to holy site.
The Jerusalem Police temporarily barred visitors from Temple Mount Sunday, following the discovery of rightist flayers urging the "purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel." Muslim worshipers' access to the area has not been disturbed.
The decision followed a district security assessment. The police expressed concerns that the intent of some of far-right Likud member Moshe Feiglin's followers to enter the compound would incite riots.
The publicized visit caused what the police described as "agitation" among east Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods.
"Feiglin's people come to Temple Mount almost every month. The difference this time was the flyers," a police source said.
The flyers found near the compound reads: "Member of the Likud Caucus, along with its thousands of members, headed by Moshe Feiglin are hereby invited to arrive at Temple Mount and praise God, and declare that healthy leadership begins with total control over Temple Mount.
"(Let us) purify this place from the enemies of Israel, who rob lands, and build the Temple on the ruins of mosques. We need not be afraid!"
According to the police, the flyer "cause Hamas members and other individuals in the city's east to 'heat things up' and try to incite riots on Temple Mount.
"A security assessment determined that the compound should be closed for visitors. Muslim worshipers can pray as usual," the source said.
PA security guard rabbis on visit to Joseph's Tomb
Israeli rabbis visited Joseph's Tomb in Nablus last Thursday guarded by Palestinian Authority forces, in the first such security coordination of its kind.
“The PA considers Joseph’s Tomb a historic site which everybody has the right to access as long as they comply with Palestinian instructions and regulations, because the tomb is under Palestinian control,” the governor of Nablus Jibreel al-Bakri told Ma'an.
Fifteen Jewish rabbis from Bnei Brak in Tel Aviv visited Joseph’s Tomb last Thursday evening for one hour.
The visit was to perform a prayer dedicated to Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, 102.
Palestinian security officers received the rabbis at Huwwara checkpoint and escorted them during the visit and then back to the checkpoint.
“I state it clearly that visitors are welcome, but those who come to create troubles aren’t welcome at all,” al-Bakri said.
The rabbis arrived at the tomb in their own vehicles escorted by Palestinian security forces which remained in place until the visit had ended.
The visit was coordinated with the leader of Israel's Central Command, Avi Mizrahi, who assured the rabbis they would be safe.
Jews believe that the tomb is the final resting place of the biblical figure Joseph. Muslims believe that an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat, was buried there.
The restoration of the tomb was completed recently, and following improved security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli army allows Jewish worshipers to make monthly nocturnal pilgrimages to the site.
Protecting al-Aqsa is every Muslim's responsibility
By Khalid Amayreh
This week, supremacist millenarian Jews, led by fanatical Likud leader Moshe Feiglin tried to storm the Haram Sharif of Jerusalem . The Talmudic rioters held posters calling for the "purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel."
Like other Jewish fanatics, Feiglin is totally against any prospective peaceful arrangements between Israel and Palestinians involving "territorial compromise." He advocates the establishment of a Talmudic theocracy covering British mandatory Palestine , extending from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean whereby non-Jews, e.g. Christians and Muslims, are treated as water-carriers and wood-hewers.
Those refusing enslavement by the "master race" or Chosen people would be expelled. In case they resisted, they would be banished or physically exterminated.
In the past, Jewish leaders didn't voice their genocidal designs as plainly as they are doing these days. However, with powerful Jewish groups dominating America 's politics and policies, and with Israel becoming a powerful country politically, economically and especially militarily, Jewish leaders, especially those believing in the imminent advent of the Jewish Messiah or Redeemer, no longer hide their dream of world domination.
In days bygone, especially before the establishment of Israel , Talmudic sages viewed the "redeemer" as a heavenly figure who would bring salvation to mankind and enable Jews to reclaim their status and stature as "the Chosen people."
Now, however, the Redeemer is caricatured as an irresistible pugnacious Jewish tyrant, an ardent Zionist and Jewish warrior-hero who wouldn't transcend the conventional mores and bounds of Jewish heroism. Hence, the redeemer's ultimate goal is not really world peace, but rather enabling Jews to enslave, control and rule the world from Jerusalem .
Even Christian evangelicals, Israel 's most ardent supporters in the West, are not excluded from the Jewish wrath.
Jesus is called "the Hitler of Bethlehem" and Chesronot Shas, one of the most virulently anti-Christian Talmudic texts, is sold in public libraries in West Jerusalem . If you visit the Steimatzky library, you would find the Mein Kamph-booklet there.
In other words, Jewish millenarianism is not about heavenly peace, it is not about a world where justice reigns and love prevails. It is about but worldly power, a sort of a Jewish Third Reich lasting hundreds of years.
Hence, Jewish Messianism as taught and practiced by the likes of Moshe Feiglin and other terrorists of Gush Emunim has no human face let alone a human heart and is effectively comparable to German Nazism.
Just take the word "German" out and replace it with the word "Jewish," and you will have Jewish Messianism or redeemism, pure and simple.
This vicious, virulent and genocidal vision lies behind the most recent attempted storming of the Aqsa Mosque of Jerusalem , a shrine of paramount sacredness for hundreds of millions of people.
According to the sickening ideology of Jewish Messianism, the redeemer would only appear if the world is torn by tribulations, violence and bloodshed on a massive and genocidal scale.
Thus, Feiglin and his ilk believe that attacking or destroying or burning the Islamic house of worship of 1400 years would spark off religious wars between Muslims and Jews, wars that would only end when the redeemer or Jewish Messiah appeared.
It follows from this that these religious maniacs would want to lose or miss no opportunity to trigger violence, spill bloodshed or foment trouble. They believe they are being instrumental to the realization of the most important event in the history of mankind. So, who except fools and ignoramuses, would miss this opportunity.!!
And it doesn't matter if hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions of people, Jews and non-Jews alike, would perish in this conceived holocaust. The important thing is the coming of the Messiah Ben David, the redeemer of the Jewish people.
This is not the view of a minority of esoteric or marginal rabbis or Talmudic sages, as spokesmen of the Israeli government would claim to the western media. This is the mainstream religious ideology of the bulk of religious Zionist Jews, who more or less control the current Israeli government.
Israel speaks about peace with Arabs and Muslims ad nauseam. However, this talk is mostly disingenuous and mendacious because in the final analysis what Israel does, not what it says is what counts.
and what Israel does leaves no doubt as to her hostile and criminal designs against the Palestinian people. Indeed, does a country that is transferring millions of its citizens to live on land that belongs to another people really want peace?
The Nazis invaded and occupied France during the Second World War, but they didn't transfer millions of Germans to France to arrogate French land? Moreover, Israel has since 1967 been building Jewish colonies on the West Bank and East Jerusalem for the purpose of driving the native Palestinians away and alter the demographic nature f the land, which testifies to the fact that Israel and peace are an oxymoron.
The enduring Jewish efforts to destroy the Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are the clearest evidence that Israel is planning to wage an all-out war against the world's 1.6 billion Muslims. An attack on the Aqsa Mosque is an attack on the Ka'aba in Mecca . Can any one imagine that an attack on the Ka'aba is not motivated by malicious ill-will and murderous hatred for anything and everything Muslim or Islamic?
The genocidal designs against the Masjidul Aqsa simply mean one thing: It means an overwhelming Jewish desire to annihilate non-Jews in occupied Palestine , especially the native Palestinian people, from their ancestral homeland. The Zionist rationale is simple: Once the Aqsa Mosque disappeared, there would be no justification for the continued presence or Muslims in Palestine.!!
Some Jewish circles are trying to ignite the flames of war in our region so that Israel will reap strategic benefits. Israel strives day and night to incite the West, particularly its guardian-ally the United States , to wage war on Iran . The draconian sanctions against Iran must be understood in the context of the overall Zionist enmity to Muslim peoples.
Pro-Israeli circles are also instigating Washington against the Arab Spring, including recently-elected Islamic movements in Egypt and Tunisia . The same Zionist circles have been communicating a virulent and vindictive message to Western governments that as far as Israel is concerned, maintaining secular but tyrannical governments in the region in power, even if they fill the ether with anti-Israeli rhetoric is much preferable to Islamic democratic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is why Israel , not Iran or any other country, should be viewed as Islam's and Muslim's ultimate enemy. I am not saying that Iran is perfect, but at the very least the Iranians are not trying to demolish the Aqsa Mosque and ethnically cleans the Palestinians from their ancestral homeland.
Having said that, I believe that the protection of Islam's holy places in Jerusalem is the direct responsibility of every Muslim under the sun. Muslims, governments and individuals, must always do their part in shouldering this immense responsibility.
Key Muslim governments must put this issue at the forefront of their foreign policy priorities. Muslim governments, especially those having diplomatic relations with the apartheid Israeli regime, such as Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and others are urged to seriously raise the matter with Israeli ambassadors.
We are not talking about mere chummy chats and diplomatic pleasantries that would take us nowhere. We rather expect serious and strongly-worded protests against the recurrent Zionist provocations against one of Islam's most important holy places. Zionist ambassadors must be given the impression that Muslim countries can't and won't maintain diplomatic relations with the apartheid entity while aggressions of various forms continue unabated against Muslim holy places.
Unfortunately, the Muslims' record in this regard is not very encouraging. This is why Israel never really got the impression that Muslim governments, especially secular "Muslim" governments, don't really accord paramount attention to the issue.
We had hoped that that the new Islamist-dominated parliaments in both Tunisia and Egypt would at least devote a special session to discuss Jewish threats to the Aqsa mosque. We still hope that Islamist or quasi-Islamist governments in the region will display real vigilance in this regard.
I am saying this because if Muslims don't really show the kind of concern about this matter, then who will?
Other Muslim communities around the world must play their part as well. They should work through the media and hold massive demonstrations, highlighting the message that Muslims can not sit idle while their holy places are violated and desecrated.
We have to raise our voices because the world doesn't hear let alone listen to those who are silent or have feeble voices; and we have to be strong because our world has been transformed into a virtual jungle where the strong only are respected whereas the weak is crushed.
Report: Israeli govt oks new settlement for Migron outpost
An Israeli settler clears the debris of a makeshift structure after Israeli security forces demolished the building at the unauthorized outpost of Mitzpe Avihai on Jan. 12.
Settlers from the illegal outpost of Migron said Monday that they had reached a deal with the Israeli government to relocate their homes inside the occupied West Bank.
Israel's High Court of Justice had ordered Israeli settlers in the Migron outpost near West Bank city Ramallah to leave by March 31 in response to a 2006 petition filed by seven Palestinian landowners and Israeli pressure group Peace Now.
According to the court's ruling of Aug. 2, 2011, the outpost is on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Settlers said Monday that they had struck a deal with the Israeli government to relocate Migron to a nearby hill which they say is an Israeli government owned site, Israeli daily Ynet reported.
All settlements built on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law.
The current outpost structures will not be demolished until all families have moved, with the agreement stipulating a 18 month timeline. The agreement must be signed by the Israeli government and the settlers before being presented to the Israeli high court, Ynet said.
But Peace Now director Yariv Oppenhemier said that the deal is in "in direct violation of the court order mandating Migron's eviction by the end of March," according to the Ynet report.
"Erecting a new isolated settlement, deep within the territories, which will cost millions, goes against Israeli interests and is meant only to appease a radical minority of settlers," he added.
Outposts are settlements built without official Israeli government blessing, typically after the mid-1990s. There are about 100 outposts to date, many of which were supported by the Israeli government.
Settlement expansion in the West Bank accelerated in 2011. There were 1,850 new "building starts" for housing units (excluding East Jerusalem), an almost 20 percent increase on 2010, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Various initiatives by the Israeli government in 2011 were aimed at "legalizing" unauthorized settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land, reports OCHA.
About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in occupied Palestinian land, according to UN estimates. Of these, between 4,000 and 5,000 settlers live in outposts, according to Peace Now.
Settlers: Migron deal in place
After nearly two years, residents of illegal West Bank outpost say agreement has been reached with government about community's relocation.
Settlers residing in the illegal West Bank outpost of Migron said Monday that a deal ensuring that the outpost will not be razed has been reached.
The settlers have reportedly agreed to have Migron relocated to a nearby hill, where it will rest on government-owned land.
The Civil Administration will have to decide what to do with the structure left in Migron's current location, which is subjected to a land despite with Palestinians who claim prior ownership.
According to the settlement reached, the current structures would not be razed until the relocation of all the families is complete. The State has agreed to an 18-month timeline to that effect.
One the State and the settlers sign the deal, they will present it to the High Court for approval.
However, the Civil Administration is likely to oppose the relocation of Migron to the selected area. An administration source said that the location posed several complex engineering problems.
Peace Now Director Yariv Oppenheimer, who petitioned the High Court of Justice to have Migron evicted, said the deal stands "in direct violation of the court order mandating Migron 's eviction by the end of March.
"Erecting a new isolated settlement, deep within the territories, which will cost millions, goes against Israeli interests and is meant only to appease a radical minority of settlers."
Heads of the Land of Israel Lobby MKs Zeev Elkin (Likud and Arieh Eldad (National Union) welcomed the agreement, calling it "a victory for Zionism."
Israeli Court Forbids Nablus Mosque From Using Loudspeakers
The Israeli Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling forbidding Burin village mosque, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, from using loud speakers, and even from using lights on the mosque’s minaret.
The Israeli Radio reported that the ruling was made after an extremist right-wing settlers group submitted “photographs proving the mosque was renovated”, and that lights and loudspeakers were installed despite a court ruling made nearly 18 months ago forbidding further constructions and renovations.
Head of the Burin Village Council, Ali Eid, stated that the council never received any court order, and added that should such a ruling exist, then “it is based on racist motives”, the Palestine News Network reported.
Eid added that extremist settler groups have been trying to shut the mosque down, and even have it demolished, under the claim that it is not located in the village itself.
On the ground, the mosque falls under the jurisdiction of the village council, and was built near the local high school in the village.
On Sunday at night, armed Israeli settlers installed three mobile homes at an illegal outpost that was installed on lands that belong to residents of Burin village. The settlers are planning a larger outpost in the area.
Feiglin barred from Temple Mount over political flyers
Posters calling for 'purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel' prompt police to temporarily block visitors' access to holy site.
The Jerusalem Police temporarily barred visitors from Temple Mount Sunday, following the discovery of rightist flayers urging the "purification of Temple Mount from the enemies of Israel." Muslim worshipers' access to the area has not been disturbed.
The decision followed a district security assessment. The police expressed concerns that the intent of some of far-right Likud member Moshe Feiglin's followers to enter the compound would incite riots.
The publicized visit caused what the police described as "agitation" among east Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods.
"Feiglin's people come to Temple Mount almost every month. The difference this time was the flyers," a police source said.
The flyers found near the compound reads: "Member of the Likud Caucus, along with its thousands of members, headed by Moshe Feiglin are hereby invited to arrive at Temple Mount and praise God, and declare that healthy leadership begins with total control over Temple Mount.
"(Let us) purify this place from the enemies of Israel, who rob lands, and build the Temple on the ruins of mosques. We need not be afraid!"
According to the police, the flyer "cause Hamas members and other individuals in the city's east to 'heat things up' and try to incite riots on Temple Mount.
"A security assessment determined that the compound should be closed for visitors. Muslim worshipers can pray as usual," the source said.
Moshe Feiglin
Feiglin himself arrived at Temple Mount with a group of his followers, but was forced to turn back.
"Calling for the destruction of a holy place like Temple Mount is an attempt to harvest political gain through provocation," another police source said; adding that the department was investigating whether the flyers constitute criminal incitement.
"There are plenty of elements that want to use the Temple Mount compound and the Western Wall Plaza as a platform for political gain. We won't allow anyone to do so."
Feiglin's camp denies any connection to the flyers, calling them "a well-timed provocation." They expressed confidence in the police's ability to "find the real culprits."
Witnesses: Settlers break car windshield with stones
A group of settlers attacked a Palestinian car near the settlement of Kiryat Arba on Sunday evening, witnesses told Ma'an.
Settlers threw stones at the car of Hamza al-Takrory's car, breaking the windshield. Hamza passed out during the incident and was taken to a nearby clinic for treatment.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city of Hebron that are under Israeli control.
Reports of physical violence by settlers against Palestinians are common in Hebron, which is a microcosm of the occupied West Bank where Palestinians have limited self-rule over islands of territory surrounded by areas of Israeli control.
12 feb 2012
Hundreds of Settlers Storm Palestinian Land in Hebron
Hundred of Jewish settlers from Kiryat Arba settlement Sunday stormed and planted Palestinian-owned land in an area east of the northern West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.
They told WAFA hundreds of settlers, including their students, protected by Israeli soldiers began early morning planting about 20 dunums of land belonging to Palestinian Hosni al-Ashhab as a prelude to annex it to expand the settlement.
Settlers Open Road through Palestinian Land South of Nablus
A group of Jewish settlers Sunday opened a new road through Palestinian-owned land, in Qarut, a village south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to use it on their motorcycles, according to a Palestinian activist.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA that a group of Jewish settlers began opening a road, using hand tools to facilitate the passage of their motorbikes between the settlements of Shilo and Eilih built illegally on Palestinian land.
Hate slogans again daubed on Jerusalem school
Extremists painted anti-Arab slogans on a mixed Jewish and Palestinian school in East Jerusalem for the second time in a week, Israeli media reports said Sunday.
The 'Hand in Hand' school in Beit Safafa was found spray-painted with "Muhammad is dead" and "death to the Arabs" written in Hebrew, Hebrew-language Maariv reported.
On Tuesday, similar slogans were painted on the school's playground.
Police told Maariv they expect far-right Jewish activists are behind the vandalizm. The report said slogans and badges of Beitar Yerushalaym football team, associated with right-wing politics, were found near the school.
Israeli forces close Al-Aqsa compound, block right-wing leader
Israeli police closed access to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, saying they feared unrest after leaflets were distributed around the city calling to remove "Israel's enemies" from the site.
Police also blocked far-right Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin from entering the holy compound "for security reasons," Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
Feiglin, who was the sole rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their Likud's party leadership contest last month, said earlier this week he intended to tour the Al-Aqsa compound.
On Sunday Rosenfeld said the site was closed "for the moment, due to possible disturbances," and confirmed that Jerusalem had been leafleted with flyers calling to "purify the premises from the enemies of Israel."
The compound, containing the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood, attracting the far-right to pose the rebuilding of the Jewish site on the sanctuary.
Hundreds of Palestinians who performed dawn prayers at the mosque stayed inside the compound amidst the state of tension, including Waqf (Islamic endowments) council officials Sheikh Abdul-Atheim Salhab and Sheikh Azzam Al-Khateib.
11 feb 2012
Calls to Thwart Israeli Provocative Tour of al-Aqsa Mosque
Sheikh Yousef Idis, head of the Supreme Council of the Sharia Courts, Saturday called on Palestinians, particularly Jerusalem residents and Arabs in Israel, to gather in al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday to thwart a planned provocative Israeli tour of the compound, according to a press release.
Israeli right-wing lawmakers from the ruling Likud party are planning to tour the compound in what Palestinians and Muslims fear is preparation to demolish al-Aqsa Mosque to build the Third Temple in its place.
Idis held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he described as “the disastrous consequences for its aggression against the holy city and its holy places.”
The top Muslim judiciary official in the Palestinian Authority also warned against a plan to build a large complex near the Western Wall. He said Jerusalem is an occupied city and therefore any changes on the ground in the city are considered illegal and void by international law.
Palestinians, Supporters Remove Barbed Wire Settlers put on Arab land
Palestinians and international supporters Saturday removed barbed wire Israeli settlers had the day before put around Arab land in an area south of Hebron, according to a local activist.
Rateb Jabbour, from the committee to resist the wall and settlements in the Hebron area town of Yatta, said the participants in the weekly protest activity in Yatta removed the wire settlers had put up to prevent land owners from reaching or working on their land.
Israeli soldiers used force to push the Palestinians and their supporters away from the area, he said. There were no reports of injuries.
Jabbour said the army and settlers want to keep the Palestinians away from their land, located near the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank in order to seize the land.
IOA mobilizes forces near Aqsa mosque
Hundreds of Israeli occupation soldiers and policemen were deployed since the early morning hours of Saturday in the vicinity of the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
Najeh Bukairat, the head of the manuscripts and heritage in the Aqsa mosque, said that the soldiers were deployed near the Maghareba gate apparently to block entrance of worshippers to the mosque on Sunday when Israeli officials are planning to storm its plazas.
He told Quds Press that hundreds of border policemen and police forces were pouring into the vicinity of the mosque since the early morning hours, calling on Palestinians to flock to the holy site starting with dawn prayers on Sunday.
Bukairat said that Likud party leaders have vowed to storm the Aqsa mosque on Sunday to perform Talmudic rituals.
He addressed calls to Muslims worldwide, saying that the Aqsa is in real danger and the Israeli occupation authority is adamant on storming the site to build the alleged temple.
10 feb 2012
Likud leaders to go to Al-Aqsa, call for "cleansing" Jerusalem and building Jewish temple on mosque’s "ruins"
Feiglin himself arrived at Temple Mount with a group of his followers, but was forced to turn back.
"Calling for the destruction of a holy place like Temple Mount is an attempt to harvest political gain through provocation," another police source said; adding that the department was investigating whether the flyers constitute criminal incitement.
"There are plenty of elements that want to use the Temple Mount compound and the Western Wall Plaza as a platform for political gain. We won't allow anyone to do so."
Feiglin's camp denies any connection to the flyers, calling them "a well-timed provocation." They expressed confidence in the police's ability to "find the real culprits."
Witnesses: Settlers break car windshield with stones
A group of settlers attacked a Palestinian car near the settlement of Kiryat Arba on Sunday evening, witnesses told Ma'an.
Settlers threw stones at the car of Hamza al-Takrory's car, breaking the windshield. Hamza passed out during the incident and was taken to a nearby clinic for treatment.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city of Hebron that are under Israeli control.
Reports of physical violence by settlers against Palestinians are common in Hebron, which is a microcosm of the occupied West Bank where Palestinians have limited self-rule over islands of territory surrounded by areas of Israeli control.
12 feb 2012
Hundreds of Settlers Storm Palestinian Land in Hebron
Hundred of Jewish settlers from Kiryat Arba settlement Sunday stormed and planted Palestinian-owned land in an area east of the northern West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.
They told WAFA hundreds of settlers, including their students, protected by Israeli soldiers began early morning planting about 20 dunums of land belonging to Palestinian Hosni al-Ashhab as a prelude to annex it to expand the settlement.
Settlers Open Road through Palestinian Land South of Nablus
A group of Jewish settlers Sunday opened a new road through Palestinian-owned land, in Qarut, a village south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, to use it on their motorcycles, according to a Palestinian activist.
Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA that a group of Jewish settlers began opening a road, using hand tools to facilitate the passage of their motorbikes between the settlements of Shilo and Eilih built illegally on Palestinian land.
Hate slogans again daubed on Jerusalem school
Extremists painted anti-Arab slogans on a mixed Jewish and Palestinian school in East Jerusalem for the second time in a week, Israeli media reports said Sunday.
The 'Hand in Hand' school in Beit Safafa was found spray-painted with "Muhammad is dead" and "death to the Arabs" written in Hebrew, Hebrew-language Maariv reported.
On Tuesday, similar slogans were painted on the school's playground.
Police told Maariv they expect far-right Jewish activists are behind the vandalizm. The report said slogans and badges of Beitar Yerushalaym football team, associated with right-wing politics, were found near the school.
Israeli forces close Al-Aqsa compound, block right-wing leader
Israeli police closed access to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, saying they feared unrest after leaflets were distributed around the city calling to remove "Israel's enemies" from the site.
Police also blocked far-right Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin from entering the holy compound "for security reasons," Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
Feiglin, who was the sole rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their Likud's party leadership contest last month, said earlier this week he intended to tour the Al-Aqsa compound.
On Sunday Rosenfeld said the site was closed "for the moment, due to possible disturbances," and confirmed that Jerusalem had been leafleted with flyers calling to "purify the premises from the enemies of Israel."
The compound, containing the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood, attracting the far-right to pose the rebuilding of the Jewish site on the sanctuary.
Hundreds of Palestinians who performed dawn prayers at the mosque stayed inside the compound amidst the state of tension, including Waqf (Islamic endowments) council officials Sheikh Abdul-Atheim Salhab and Sheikh Azzam Al-Khateib.
11 feb 2012
Calls to Thwart Israeli Provocative Tour of al-Aqsa Mosque
Sheikh Yousef Idis, head of the Supreme Council of the Sharia Courts, Saturday called on Palestinians, particularly Jerusalem residents and Arabs in Israel, to gather in al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday to thwart a planned provocative Israeli tour of the compound, according to a press release.
Israeli right-wing lawmakers from the ruling Likud party are planning to tour the compound in what Palestinians and Muslims fear is preparation to demolish al-Aqsa Mosque to build the Third Temple in its place.
Idis held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he described as “the disastrous consequences for its aggression against the holy city and its holy places.”
The top Muslim judiciary official in the Palestinian Authority also warned against a plan to build a large complex near the Western Wall. He said Jerusalem is an occupied city and therefore any changes on the ground in the city are considered illegal and void by international law.
Palestinians, Supporters Remove Barbed Wire Settlers put on Arab land
Palestinians and international supporters Saturday removed barbed wire Israeli settlers had the day before put around Arab land in an area south of Hebron, according to a local activist.
Rateb Jabbour, from the committee to resist the wall and settlements in the Hebron area town of Yatta, said the participants in the weekly protest activity in Yatta removed the wire settlers had put up to prevent land owners from reaching or working on their land.
Israeli soldiers used force to push the Palestinians and their supporters away from the area, he said. There were no reports of injuries.
Jabbour said the army and settlers want to keep the Palestinians away from their land, located near the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank in order to seize the land.
IOA mobilizes forces near Aqsa mosque
Hundreds of Israeli occupation soldiers and policemen were deployed since the early morning hours of Saturday in the vicinity of the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
Najeh Bukairat, the head of the manuscripts and heritage in the Aqsa mosque, said that the soldiers were deployed near the Maghareba gate apparently to block entrance of worshippers to the mosque on Sunday when Israeli officials are planning to storm its plazas.
He told Quds Press that hundreds of border policemen and police forces were pouring into the vicinity of the mosque since the early morning hours, calling on Palestinians to flock to the holy site starting with dawn prayers on Sunday.
Bukairat said that Likud party leaders have vowed to storm the Aqsa mosque on Sunday to perform Talmudic rituals.
He addressed calls to Muslims worldwide, saying that the Aqsa is in real danger and the Israeli occupation authority is adamant on storming the site to build the alleged temple.
10 feb 2012
Likud leaders to go to Al-Aqsa, call for "cleansing" Jerusalem and building Jewish temple on mosque’s "ruins"
An image distributed by the Israeli army chief rabbinate in December depicts the Al-Aqsa compound with the Dome of the Rock removed.
Leaders and members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party are leading an incursion and rally into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – which Israel calls the “Temple Mount” – in eastern occupied Jerusalem this Sunday to call for its destruction and building a Jewish Temple on its “ruins.”
A flyer circulated online states:
The Likud
Members of the Likud Center
Along with the thousands of party members
Led by Reb’ Moshe Feiglin
Chairman of the Likud Leadership
Are invited to make aliyah to [go up] the Temple Mount. To thank and praise the Creator of this World. To declare that healthy leadership. [sic] Its beginning is in the complete control of Temple Mount.
Cleansing the place of the enemies of Israel, the land thieves, and building the Temple on the ruins of the mosques.
Without Any Fear Whatsoever
We shall meet on Sunday, 19 Shvat, near the top of the Maimonides Gate at 8:00 a.m.
Yearning for destruction of Muslim holy sites
An image distributed by the Israeli army chief rabbinate in December depicts the Al-Aqsa compound with the Dome of the Rock removed.
Once the preserve of Zionist fringe groups, destruction of the Muslim holy sites in occupied Jerusalem has become an increasingly “mainstream” call in Israel, now coming from leaders of the ruling party.
A few weeks ago it was revealed that the Israeli army rabbinate had distributed pamphlets depicting the Temple Mount without the famous Dome of the Rock, one of the two mosques, along with Al-Aqsa, that have existed there for centuries.
While Feiglin recently ran against Netanyahu for the leadership of the Likud Party, there is little reason to think that Netanyahu himself does not sympathize with or at least tacitly support the increasingly loud calls for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque, calls which he has never condemned.
In 1996, during his first premiership, Netanyahu colluded with a group called Ateret Cohanim, which is dedicated to the destruction of Al-Aqsa, to open a tunnel that was seen by Palestinians as furthering the goal of a settler take over of the Al-Aqsa compound and aimed at undermining the mosques. Fifty-eight Palestinians and 15 Israelis died in violence sparked by Israel’s provocation.
Transgression
A blog post from a website called “Bayt HaMikdash” (Temple) adds more information about the rally. It is notable that this rally is not merely a transgression of occupied territory calculated to offend Palestinians and Muslims by calling for the destruction of their shrines and heritage, but also a violation of traditional Jewish edicts.
It has long been forbidden by Israel’s Chief Rabbis for Jews to “make aliyah” to the Mount on the grounds that they could inadvertantly violate the “Holy of Holies.” Nationalist religious Zionism is increasingly pushing these prohibitions aside and creating unprecedentedly dangerous provocations.
Leaders and members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party are leading an incursion and rally into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound – which Israel calls the “Temple Mount” – in eastern occupied Jerusalem this Sunday to call for its destruction and building a Jewish Temple on its “ruins.”
A flyer circulated online states:
The Likud
Members of the Likud Center
Along with the thousands of party members
Led by Reb’ Moshe Feiglin
Chairman of the Likud Leadership
Are invited to make aliyah to [go up] the Temple Mount. To thank and praise the Creator of this World. To declare that healthy leadership. [sic] Its beginning is in the complete control of Temple Mount.
Cleansing the place of the enemies of Israel, the land thieves, and building the Temple on the ruins of the mosques.
Without Any Fear Whatsoever
We shall meet on Sunday, 19 Shvat, near the top of the Maimonides Gate at 8:00 a.m.
Yearning for destruction of Muslim holy sites
An image distributed by the Israeli army chief rabbinate in December depicts the Al-Aqsa compound with the Dome of the Rock removed.
Once the preserve of Zionist fringe groups, destruction of the Muslim holy sites in occupied Jerusalem has become an increasingly “mainstream” call in Israel, now coming from leaders of the ruling party.
A few weeks ago it was revealed that the Israeli army rabbinate had distributed pamphlets depicting the Temple Mount without the famous Dome of the Rock, one of the two mosques, along with Al-Aqsa, that have existed there for centuries.
While Feiglin recently ran against Netanyahu for the leadership of the Likud Party, there is little reason to think that Netanyahu himself does not sympathize with or at least tacitly support the increasingly loud calls for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque, calls which he has never condemned.
In 1996, during his first premiership, Netanyahu colluded with a group called Ateret Cohanim, which is dedicated to the destruction of Al-Aqsa, to open a tunnel that was seen by Palestinians as furthering the goal of a settler take over of the Al-Aqsa compound and aimed at undermining the mosques. Fifty-eight Palestinians and 15 Israelis died in violence sparked by Israel’s provocation.
Transgression
A blog post from a website called “Bayt HaMikdash” (Temple) adds more information about the rally. It is notable that this rally is not merely a transgression of occupied territory calculated to offend Palestinians and Muslims by calling for the destruction of their shrines and heritage, but also a violation of traditional Jewish edicts.
It has long been forbidden by Israel’s Chief Rabbis for Jews to “make aliyah” to the Mount on the grounds that they could inadvertantly violate the “Holy of Holies.” Nationalist religious Zionism is increasingly pushing these prohibitions aside and creating unprecedentedly dangerous provocations.
Here’s the text of the post at “Bayt HaMikdash”:
Members of the Likud Center will make Aliyah to Temple Mount on Sunday, 19 Shvat
Participating: the chairman of the Likud leadership, Mr. Moshe Feiglin: tens of members of the Likud Center along with the thousands of members will make Aliyah to the Temple Mount, in holiness and purity, in order to give thanks and praise for their having entered the Likud | Didan Netzach!
By Gershon Kassif - Mikdash [Temple] Website
Tens of members of the Likud Center, activists for the Temple and the Temple Mount, including the Chair of the Foundation for the Legacy of the Temple Mount and the Temple, Yehuda Glick, along with the thousands of Likud party members who are loyal to the Temple Mount and to the Temple, will make Aliyah on Sunday, 19 Shvat, along with the Chairman of Jewish Leadership in the Likud, Reb’ Moshe Feiglin, and Michael Pua.
To thank and praise the Creator of the world for having had the privilege of bringing tens of new Likud Center members to make Aliyah to the Temple Mount, to make requests for the future and to pray the peace be upon Israel, to cancel the terrible decree of the evacuation of Migron and the rest of the settlements in Eretz Yisrael We shall meet on Sunday, 19 Shvat, near the top of the Maimonides Gate at 8:00 a.m.
Due to the holiness of the place
it is REQUIRED that one purify oneself in the Mikveh ritual bath, as per [Jewish] law
it is REQUIRED that one bring Yom-Kippur footwear - not made out of leather
it is REQUIRED to enter only to the places permitted to us, as we have been instructed by the Great [Teachers/Rabbis] of Israel
due to the terrible decrees of the police, it is required to bring identification
Temple Mount opening times for Jews: Morning: 7:30 through 10:00. Noon: 12:20 through 13:30
Members of the Likud Center will make Aliyah to Temple Mount on Sunday, 19 Shvat
Participating: the chairman of the Likud leadership, Mr. Moshe Feiglin: tens of members of the Likud Center along with the thousands of members will make Aliyah to the Temple Mount, in holiness and purity, in order to give thanks and praise for their having entered the Likud | Didan Netzach!
By Gershon Kassif - Mikdash [Temple] Website
Tens of members of the Likud Center, activists for the Temple and the Temple Mount, including the Chair of the Foundation for the Legacy of the Temple Mount and the Temple, Yehuda Glick, along with the thousands of Likud party members who are loyal to the Temple Mount and to the Temple, will make Aliyah on Sunday, 19 Shvat, along with the Chairman of Jewish Leadership in the Likud, Reb’ Moshe Feiglin, and Michael Pua.
To thank and praise the Creator of the world for having had the privilege of bringing tens of new Likud Center members to make Aliyah to the Temple Mount, to make requests for the future and to pray the peace be upon Israel, to cancel the terrible decree of the evacuation of Migron and the rest of the settlements in Eretz Yisrael We shall meet on Sunday, 19 Shvat, near the top of the Maimonides Gate at 8:00 a.m.
Due to the holiness of the place
it is REQUIRED that one purify oneself in the Mikveh ritual bath, as per [Jewish] law
it is REQUIRED that one bring Yom-Kippur footwear - not made out of leather
it is REQUIRED to enter only to the places permitted to us, as we have been instructed by the Great [Teachers/Rabbis] of Israel
due to the terrible decrees of the police, it is required to bring identification
Temple Mount opening times for Jews: Morning: 7:30 through 10:00. Noon: 12:20 through 13:30
Update: Feiglin denial (Friday, 10 February, 18:19 UTC) The flyer above and the rally was reported by Israel’s Channel 10 “Nana” website, however that report has now been deleted (see screenshot).
Meanwhile the Israeli forum Rotter quotes a statement, allegedly from Feiglin:
Here is Feiglin’s full response to the matter
With regard to the announcement disseminated by Nana: this is a classic case of libel, I have no idea who wrote that ad, if such a person even exists, or if it may be a provocation. In any event, the people who publicized it did not bother to make sure that I had set my hand to the matters before publishing them. The matter will be handled further in the legal channels. I make Aliyah to the Temple Mount on the 19th of every [Hebrew] month, and have done so for many years. I will also do so next Sunday, and as always, I send reminders before that in the weekly Jewish Leadership update, for anyone who may want to join. The rest of the things stated in the article are entirely imaginary.
The quote appears to come from Feiglin’s Facebook wall.
In the discussion thread on Rotter, several observations emerge. “Ella K” notes that an original notice that went to activists stated:
On Sunday, 19 Shvat, we will make Aliyah to the Temple Mount with Moshe Feiglin. We will give thanks to G_d for the great success and pray for the coninuation thereof. All new members of the [Likud] Center, activists, volunteers, and voters are invited to the entrance gate of the Wailing Wall, at 7:30, after ritual bath and without leather shoes.
Ella K notes that the original publication does not call Feiglin Reb’, and that it does not call the Moghrabi Gate the Maimonides Gate - and that it gets the time wrong. What remains undisputed is that Feiglin plans to go up the mount on Sunday with followers in tow.
Dena Shunra observes:
What does this mean? I am not sure. Maybe someone in the Likud is trying to make Feiglin look bad (he competed against Netanyahu in the recent Likud primaries, and while Netanyahu won by a landslide, there was at least some analysis saying that it constituted a kind of win for Feiglin). If so, someone in the Likud is playing politics with fire. (It is somewhat reminiscent of the Likud tactics of threatening Iran with bombardment in order to contain the Obama administration.) Or it could be someone who hopes that it would truly be so. Or indeed, a signal. Or settlers flexing their muscles. Or a trial balloon.
There’s certainly no doubt that whoever published this flyer – which was taken as real by the Israeli media – is tapping into a history of calls and growing support for destroying Al-Aqsa. Feiglin’s supporters too are clear about their desire to take over the Temple Mount.
With thanks to Dena Shunra for translation.
Meanwhile the Israeli forum Rotter quotes a statement, allegedly from Feiglin:
Here is Feiglin’s full response to the matter
With regard to the announcement disseminated by Nana: this is a classic case of libel, I have no idea who wrote that ad, if such a person even exists, or if it may be a provocation. In any event, the people who publicized it did not bother to make sure that I had set my hand to the matters before publishing them. The matter will be handled further in the legal channels. I make Aliyah to the Temple Mount on the 19th of every [Hebrew] month, and have done so for many years. I will also do so next Sunday, and as always, I send reminders before that in the weekly Jewish Leadership update, for anyone who may want to join. The rest of the things stated in the article are entirely imaginary.
The quote appears to come from Feiglin’s Facebook wall.
In the discussion thread on Rotter, several observations emerge. “Ella K” notes that an original notice that went to activists stated:
On Sunday, 19 Shvat, we will make Aliyah to the Temple Mount with Moshe Feiglin. We will give thanks to G_d for the great success and pray for the coninuation thereof. All new members of the [Likud] Center, activists, volunteers, and voters are invited to the entrance gate of the Wailing Wall, at 7:30, after ritual bath and without leather shoes.
Ella K notes that the original publication does not call Feiglin Reb’, and that it does not call the Moghrabi Gate the Maimonides Gate - and that it gets the time wrong. What remains undisputed is that Feiglin plans to go up the mount on Sunday with followers in tow.
Dena Shunra observes:
What does this mean? I am not sure. Maybe someone in the Likud is trying to make Feiglin look bad (he competed against Netanyahu in the recent Likud primaries, and while Netanyahu won by a landslide, there was at least some analysis saying that it constituted a kind of win for Feiglin). If so, someone in the Likud is playing politics with fire. (It is somewhat reminiscent of the Likud tactics of threatening Iran with bombardment in order to contain the Obama administration.) Or it could be someone who hopes that it would truly be so. Or indeed, a signal. Or settlers flexing their muscles. Or a trial balloon.
There’s certainly no doubt that whoever published this flyer – which was taken as real by the Israeli media – is tapping into a history of calls and growing support for destroying Al-Aqsa. Feiglin’s supporters too are clear about their desire to take over the Temple Mount.
With thanks to Dena Shunra for translation.
Settlers 'bulldoze 100 dunums' of Yatta lands
Ma'on settlers bulldozed 100 dunums of lands that belong to Kharoubeh village on Friday, the coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlement said.
Rateb al-Jabour said the settlers began to bulldoze the lands early Friday in an attempt to expand the settlement.
He added that Israeli authorities are implementing a settlement scheme south of Hebron that aims to surround residents who are living between the wall and settlement.
These acts aim to "tighten the noose" on citizens and make them leave their land, he said.
Al-Jabour called on human rights organizations to intervene and stop these attacks in order to provide a decent life for the Palestinian families living there.
Clashes between Palestinian youth and extremist Jewish settlers south of Nablus
Clashes between Palestinian youth and extremist Jewish settlers broke out late Thursday evening in the village of Burin to the south of northern West Bank city of Nablus and lasted until a late hour.
Ghassan Daghlas, PA official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, said that dozens of settlers from the Yitshar settlement attacked a number of homes of Burin residents and hurled rocks and bottles at those houses. Palestinian youth from the village rushed to defend those whose homes were attacked and clashes ensued lasting till a late hour on Thursday night, but no casualties were reported.
Daghlas added that settlers broke windows and windshields of a number of Palestinian cars travelling on the main road to Hawwara and passing near Yitshar. Settlers also attacked a house in the eastern part of Hawwara and threw rocks and bottles at it.
Settlers 'raid Nablus village'
Settlers raided a Nablus-district village overnight Thursday, sparking clashes with residents, a PA official said.
Dozens of Israelis from Yitzhar settlement threw stones at a number of homes in Burin, Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an. No injuries have been reported.
They smashed car windows on the main road from the Jewish-only settlement, he added.
Youth from Burin gathered at the home of Ayman Sufan after it came under attack, and clashed with the group of settlers, Daghlas said.
On Jan. 7, residents of the illegal Bracha settlement raided Burin village, threw rocks and glass bottles at locals and attacked homes.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
9 feb 2012
Nunu: Settlers’ plan to storm Aqsa reincarnates Sharon war
The Jewish settlers’ plan to storm the Aqsa mosque next Sunday would constitute a reincarnation of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon’s war on the holy site, Taher Al-Nunu, the Gaza government’s spokesman, said.
Nunu warned in a terse statement on Thursday of the repercussions of this crime, recalling that a previous “tour” for Sharon in the Aqsa plazas had ignited the Aqsa intifada.
The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage earlier said that Jewish fanatics from the Likud party had announced plans to storm the holy site on Sunday to call for the construction of the alleged temple in place of the Aqsa mosque.
Hebrew websites had called over the past few days for storming the Aqsa mosque in thousands to control the “temple mount” and to build “the temple” on the ruins of the “(Aqsa) mosque”.
Israeli Likud Party Calls to Storm al-Aqsa Mosque
Members of the Israeli right-wing Likud party Thursday called to storm al-Aqsa mosque next Sunday to build the alleged temple on the ruins of the mosque, according to Israeli right wing websites.
Several websites of the Israeli right wing published an announcement on behalf of the Likud party, calling on thousands of the Likud members to storm al-Aqsa mosque along with a delegation headed by Moshe Feiglin, who ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of the party and received 25% of the votes of party members.
The announcement said:” We call upon everyone to go up the Temple Mound, the Haram Ash-Sharif, one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, to declare a proper leadership which insures our full control of the mount in order to build the temple on the ruins of al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Al -Aqsa Institute for Waqf and Heritage, in a statement, said that these calls to break into al-Aqsa Mosque reflect the Israeli occupation’s hidden intentions against the mosque.
It called upon the entire Islamic nation and Arab world to uphold their responsibilities against the Israeli intransigence.
The Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer. Among Sunni Muslims the Mount is widely considered to be the third holiest site in Islam, Revered as the Noble Sanctuary.
Settlers plant trees on village land
Israeli settlers arrived at the village of Qaryut, north of Ramallah, on Thursday accompanied by Israeli soldiers, witnesses told Ma'an.
Settlers marched to the center of the village and planted trees on village land while soldiers looked on, villagers told Ma'an.
They said that soldiers prevented them from accessing their land, which settlers then seized and began planting on.
The Popular Committee for Resistance against the Wall and Settlements in Qaryut village said that it will not be silent in the face of daily attacks and aggression by settlers.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory. All settlements are illegal under international law.
8 feb 2012
Jerusalem archbishop condemns vandalism at monastery
Archbishop Atallah Hanna on Wednesday condemned an attack targeting a monastery in west Jerusalem, expressing anger after extremists defiled the holy site with anti-Christian messages.
In a statement, the archbishop said that "what the settlers have done is rejected, and their racism is humiliating. ... They didn't harm us, they harmed only themselves," he added during a visit to pray at the site.
"We strongly condemn any attack against holy sites for any religion; it is totally prohibited."
"Death to Christians" was daubed Tuesday in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words "price tag" were also painted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in the rare attack on a Christian shrine in Jerusalem.
The slogan, used by settlers in vandalism attacks on mosques and homes in the West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the territory.
Maher Ghuneim, the Palestinian Authority's minister for wall and settlement affairs, said the attack was intended to inflame sectarian tensions and force a "religious" angle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ghuneim said in a statement that the attack reflects the lack of interest by the Israeli government in reigning in the settlers, and it shows "how they (settlers) incite racism against anything non-Jewish."
Also Tuesday, "Death to Arabs" was painted in Hebrew on the wall of a playground of a bilingual school in East Jerusalem, and anti-Muslim slogans were daubed on the walls of several homes in a West Bank village.
Since December, five mosques have been vandalized in attacks by suspected Jewish extremists. An ancient mosque in Jerusalem was torched on Dec. 13, and sprayed with the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In the West Bank, roughly 4.5 percent of the Palestinian population are Christian, a figure of around 200,000 people. In Israel, around 11 percent of Palestinians are Christian, down from 21 percent of the Palestinian population in 1949, a minority rights group says.
Settlers Steal Protest Tent in Hebron
Israeli settlers Wednesday stole a protest tent in Tel Rumeida, a neighborhood in the center of Hebron city, according to witnesses.
Hana Abu Haikal told WAFA that Jewish settlers from Ramat Yishai settlement in the neighborhood removed the tent and took it. The tent, provided by the Palestinian Red Crescent, was previously vandalized by settlers.
The tent was set up to increase Palestinian presence in the neighborhood, expose settlers and army attacks against Palestinian residents and their property, and to object restrictions on movement, including the recent closure of the neighborhood entrance with cement blocks, said Abu Haikal.
IOF soldiers arrest 12 citizens, settlers rampage in Jenin
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested 12 Palestinian citizens in four West Bank provinces at dawn Wednesday, Israeli military sources said.
They said that the detainees were taken from Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Al-Khalil, adding that they would be questioned over alleged involvement in anti-occupation activity.
Palestinian security sources said that IOF soldiers broke into tens of houses in the West Bank on Wednesday and searched them after forcing their occupants out of them.
Meanwhile, local sources told the PIC that IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers stormed many areas in Jenin province and damaged private property on Tuesday night.
They said that IOF soldiers arrested a 22-year-old youth in Yamon village.
Israeli forces raid village near Hebron, block construction
Israeli forces on Tuesday raided the southern West Bank village of al-Karmil south of Hebron, stationed soldiers in a private house and prevented construction of a dirt road between the village and Khirbet Umm Nir which Israeli forces evacuated months ago.
Ratib al-Jbour, coordinator of a committee against the wall and settlements in southern Hebron, said soldiers occupied the home of Ayman Muhammad Ali Abu Iram in al-Karmil and turned it into a military base.
“The soldiers deployed on the roof after they locked the family inside the house,” he said, highlighting that Israeli forces erected checkpoints at the entrance to the village for inspections.
The local coordinator added that Israeli settlers from the nearby Suseya outpost occupied 3,000 square meters if land belonging to the al-Jbour family.
On Tuesday, Israeli settlers set up two new homes on land owned by Palestinians in the Hebron district, a popular committee spokesman said.
Under the protection of Israeli soldiers, they set up two caravans on land belonging to late Beit Ummar resident Muhammad al-Zaqiq, the local spokesman Yousef Abu Maria said.
The settlement Karmi Zur is established on 600 dunams of Beit Ummar land, he added.
Also Tuesday settlers uprooted more than 25 olive trees planted last week by solidarity campaigners in Beit Ummar, he told the Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa.
On Monday, settlers razed newly-planted trees in Qaryut village north of Ramallah, aided by security guards, villagers said.
7 feb 2012
Israeli settlers 'put new homes on Beit Ummar land'
Israeli settlers have set up two new homes on land owned by Palestinians in the Hebron district, a popular committee spokesman said on Tuesday.
Under the protection of Israeli soldiers, they set up two caravans on land belonging to late Beit Ummar resident Muhammad al-Zaqiq, the local spokesman Yousef Abu Maria said.
The settlement Karmi Zur is established on 600 dunams of Beit Ummar land, he added.
Also on Tuesday settlers uprooted more than 25 olive trees planted last week by solidarity campaigners in Beit Ummar, he told Pa news agency Wafa.
On Monday, settlers razed newly-planted trees in Qaryut village north of Ramallah, aided by security guards, villagers said.
'Death to Christians' sprayed on Jerusalem monastery
A Jerusalem monastery, built on the spot where tradition holds the tree from which Jesus's cross was made, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Jewish extremists, police said on Tuesday.
"Death to Christians" was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words "Price Tag" were also painted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in the rare attack on a Christian shrine in Jerusalem.
The slogan, used by Jewish settlers in vandalism attacks on mosques and Palestinian homes in the West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the territory.
"I am a priest and I forgive," Father Claudio of the monastery, which is administered by the Greek Orthodox church, told Reuters.
Rosenfeld said police had opened an investigation.
In December, Jewish extremists torched a mosque in Jerusalem and sprayed the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew on the ancient building's walls.
In the West Bank, roughly 4.5 percent of the Palestinian population are Christian, a figure of around 200,000 people.
In Israel, around 11 percent of Palestinians are Christian, down from 21 percent of the Palestinian population in 1949, a minority rights group says.
Settlers daub anti-Arab graffiti on Nablus village
Israeli extremists sprayed racist slogans on houses in a northern West Bank village overnight, a PA official said.
Ghassan Doughlas said a number of settlers tried to enter al-Lubban al-Sharqiya village after midnight, and some were stopped by local guard committees.
However, a number of the group had already daubed anti-Arab slogans on residents' homes, he said.
In May 2010, settlers torched the village mosque in a night raid.
Also on Tuesday, extremists sprayed racist anti-Arab slogans on the walls of a mixed school in Beit Safafa, East Jerusalem and "Death to Christians" in Hebrew on a Jerusalem monastery.
Jewish extremists spray racist slogans on mixed school
Ma'on settlers bulldozed 100 dunums of lands that belong to Kharoubeh village on Friday, the coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlement said.
Rateb al-Jabour said the settlers began to bulldoze the lands early Friday in an attempt to expand the settlement.
He added that Israeli authorities are implementing a settlement scheme south of Hebron that aims to surround residents who are living between the wall and settlement.
These acts aim to "tighten the noose" on citizens and make them leave their land, he said.
Al-Jabour called on human rights organizations to intervene and stop these attacks in order to provide a decent life for the Palestinian families living there.
Clashes between Palestinian youth and extremist Jewish settlers south of Nablus
Clashes between Palestinian youth and extremist Jewish settlers broke out late Thursday evening in the village of Burin to the south of northern West Bank city of Nablus and lasted until a late hour.
Ghassan Daghlas, PA official in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, said that dozens of settlers from the Yitshar settlement attacked a number of homes of Burin residents and hurled rocks and bottles at those houses. Palestinian youth from the village rushed to defend those whose homes were attacked and clashes ensued lasting till a late hour on Thursday night, but no casualties were reported.
Daghlas added that settlers broke windows and windshields of a number of Palestinian cars travelling on the main road to Hawwara and passing near Yitshar. Settlers also attacked a house in the eastern part of Hawwara and threw rocks and bottles at it.
Settlers 'raid Nablus village'
Settlers raided a Nablus-district village overnight Thursday, sparking clashes with residents, a PA official said.
Dozens of Israelis from Yitzhar settlement threw stones at a number of homes in Burin, Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an. No injuries have been reported.
They smashed car windows on the main road from the Jewish-only settlement, he added.
Youth from Burin gathered at the home of Ayman Sufan after it came under attack, and clashed with the group of settlers, Daghlas said.
On Jan. 7, residents of the illegal Bracha settlement raided Burin village, threw rocks and glass bottles at locals and attacked homes.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
9 feb 2012
Nunu: Settlers’ plan to storm Aqsa reincarnates Sharon war
The Jewish settlers’ plan to storm the Aqsa mosque next Sunday would constitute a reincarnation of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon’s war on the holy site, Taher Al-Nunu, the Gaza government’s spokesman, said.
Nunu warned in a terse statement on Thursday of the repercussions of this crime, recalling that a previous “tour” for Sharon in the Aqsa plazas had ignited the Aqsa intifada.
The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage earlier said that Jewish fanatics from the Likud party had announced plans to storm the holy site on Sunday to call for the construction of the alleged temple in place of the Aqsa mosque.
Hebrew websites had called over the past few days for storming the Aqsa mosque in thousands to control the “temple mount” and to build “the temple” on the ruins of the “(Aqsa) mosque”.
Israeli Likud Party Calls to Storm al-Aqsa Mosque
Members of the Israeli right-wing Likud party Thursday called to storm al-Aqsa mosque next Sunday to build the alleged temple on the ruins of the mosque, according to Israeli right wing websites.
Several websites of the Israeli right wing published an announcement on behalf of the Likud party, calling on thousands of the Likud members to storm al-Aqsa mosque along with a delegation headed by Moshe Feiglin, who ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of the party and received 25% of the votes of party members.
The announcement said:” We call upon everyone to go up the Temple Mound, the Haram Ash-Sharif, one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, to declare a proper leadership which insures our full control of the mount in order to build the temple on the ruins of al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Al -Aqsa Institute for Waqf and Heritage, in a statement, said that these calls to break into al-Aqsa Mosque reflect the Israeli occupation’s hidden intentions against the mosque.
It called upon the entire Islamic nation and Arab world to uphold their responsibilities against the Israeli intransigence.
The Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer. Among Sunni Muslims the Mount is widely considered to be the third holiest site in Islam, Revered as the Noble Sanctuary.
Settlers plant trees on village land
Israeli settlers arrived at the village of Qaryut, north of Ramallah, on Thursday accompanied by Israeli soldiers, witnesses told Ma'an.
Settlers marched to the center of the village and planted trees on village land while soldiers looked on, villagers told Ma'an.
They said that soldiers prevented them from accessing their land, which settlers then seized and began planting on.
The Popular Committee for Resistance against the Wall and Settlements in Qaryut village said that it will not be silent in the face of daily attacks and aggression by settlers.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory. All settlements are illegal under international law.
8 feb 2012
Jerusalem archbishop condemns vandalism at monastery
Archbishop Atallah Hanna on Wednesday condemned an attack targeting a monastery in west Jerusalem, expressing anger after extremists defiled the holy site with anti-Christian messages.
In a statement, the archbishop said that "what the settlers have done is rejected, and their racism is humiliating. ... They didn't harm us, they harmed only themselves," he added during a visit to pray at the site.
"We strongly condemn any attack against holy sites for any religion; it is totally prohibited."
"Death to Christians" was daubed Tuesday in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words "price tag" were also painted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in the rare attack on a Christian shrine in Jerusalem.
The slogan, used by settlers in vandalism attacks on mosques and homes in the West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the territory.
Maher Ghuneim, the Palestinian Authority's minister for wall and settlement affairs, said the attack was intended to inflame sectarian tensions and force a "religious" angle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ghuneim said in a statement that the attack reflects the lack of interest by the Israeli government in reigning in the settlers, and it shows "how they (settlers) incite racism against anything non-Jewish."
Also Tuesday, "Death to Arabs" was painted in Hebrew on the wall of a playground of a bilingual school in East Jerusalem, and anti-Muslim slogans were daubed on the walls of several homes in a West Bank village.
Since December, five mosques have been vandalized in attacks by suspected Jewish extremists. An ancient mosque in Jerusalem was torched on Dec. 13, and sprayed with the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In the West Bank, roughly 4.5 percent of the Palestinian population are Christian, a figure of around 200,000 people. In Israel, around 11 percent of Palestinians are Christian, down from 21 percent of the Palestinian population in 1949, a minority rights group says.
Settlers Steal Protest Tent in Hebron
Israeli settlers Wednesday stole a protest tent in Tel Rumeida, a neighborhood in the center of Hebron city, according to witnesses.
Hana Abu Haikal told WAFA that Jewish settlers from Ramat Yishai settlement in the neighborhood removed the tent and took it. The tent, provided by the Palestinian Red Crescent, was previously vandalized by settlers.
The tent was set up to increase Palestinian presence in the neighborhood, expose settlers and army attacks against Palestinian residents and their property, and to object restrictions on movement, including the recent closure of the neighborhood entrance with cement blocks, said Abu Haikal.
IOF soldiers arrest 12 citizens, settlers rampage in Jenin
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested 12 Palestinian citizens in four West Bank provinces at dawn Wednesday, Israeli military sources said.
They said that the detainees were taken from Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Al-Khalil, adding that they would be questioned over alleged involvement in anti-occupation activity.
Palestinian security sources said that IOF soldiers broke into tens of houses in the West Bank on Wednesday and searched them after forcing their occupants out of them.
Meanwhile, local sources told the PIC that IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers stormed many areas in Jenin province and damaged private property on Tuesday night.
They said that IOF soldiers arrested a 22-year-old youth in Yamon village.
Israeli forces raid village near Hebron, block construction
Israeli forces on Tuesday raided the southern West Bank village of al-Karmil south of Hebron, stationed soldiers in a private house and prevented construction of a dirt road between the village and Khirbet Umm Nir which Israeli forces evacuated months ago.
Ratib al-Jbour, coordinator of a committee against the wall and settlements in southern Hebron, said soldiers occupied the home of Ayman Muhammad Ali Abu Iram in al-Karmil and turned it into a military base.
“The soldiers deployed on the roof after they locked the family inside the house,” he said, highlighting that Israeli forces erected checkpoints at the entrance to the village for inspections.
The local coordinator added that Israeli settlers from the nearby Suseya outpost occupied 3,000 square meters if land belonging to the al-Jbour family.
On Tuesday, Israeli settlers set up two new homes on land owned by Palestinians in the Hebron district, a popular committee spokesman said.
Under the protection of Israeli soldiers, they set up two caravans on land belonging to late Beit Ummar resident Muhammad al-Zaqiq, the local spokesman Yousef Abu Maria said.
The settlement Karmi Zur is established on 600 dunams of Beit Ummar land, he added.
Also Tuesday settlers uprooted more than 25 olive trees planted last week by solidarity campaigners in Beit Ummar, he told the Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa.
On Monday, settlers razed newly-planted trees in Qaryut village north of Ramallah, aided by security guards, villagers said.
7 feb 2012
Israeli settlers 'put new homes on Beit Ummar land'
Israeli settlers have set up two new homes on land owned by Palestinians in the Hebron district, a popular committee spokesman said on Tuesday.
Under the protection of Israeli soldiers, they set up two caravans on land belonging to late Beit Ummar resident Muhammad al-Zaqiq, the local spokesman Yousef Abu Maria said.
The settlement Karmi Zur is established on 600 dunams of Beit Ummar land, he added.
Also on Tuesday settlers uprooted more than 25 olive trees planted last week by solidarity campaigners in Beit Ummar, he told Pa news agency Wafa.
On Monday, settlers razed newly-planted trees in Qaryut village north of Ramallah, aided by security guards, villagers said.
'Death to Christians' sprayed on Jerusalem monastery
A Jerusalem monastery, built on the spot where tradition holds the tree from which Jesus's cross was made, was defaced with graffiti bearing the hallmarks of Jewish extremists, police said on Tuesday.
"Death to Christians" was daubed in Hebrew on the outer walls of the Monastery of the Cross, an 11th-century fortress-like holy site situated in a valley overlooked by Israel's parliament.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the words "Price Tag" were also painted overnight by the vandals, who damaged two cars parked outside the monastery in the rare attack on a Christian shrine in Jerusalem.
The slogan, used by Jewish settlers in vandalism attacks on mosques and Palestinian homes in the West Bank, refers to the retribution they say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the territory.
"I am a priest and I forgive," Father Claudio of the monastery, which is administered by the Greek Orthodox church, told Reuters.
Rosenfeld said police had opened an investigation.
In December, Jewish extremists torched a mosque in Jerusalem and sprayed the Star of David, "price tag," "Muhammad is a pig" and "A good Arab is a dead Arab" in Hebrew on the ancient building's walls.
In the West Bank, roughly 4.5 percent of the Palestinian population are Christian, a figure of around 200,000 people.
In Israel, around 11 percent of Palestinians are Christian, down from 21 percent of the Palestinian population in 1949, a minority rights group says.
Settlers daub anti-Arab graffiti on Nablus village
Israeli extremists sprayed racist slogans on houses in a northern West Bank village overnight, a PA official said.
Ghassan Doughlas said a number of settlers tried to enter al-Lubban al-Sharqiya village after midnight, and some were stopped by local guard committees.
However, a number of the group had already daubed anti-Arab slogans on residents' homes, he said.
In May 2010, settlers torched the village mosque in a night raid.
Also on Tuesday, extremists sprayed racist anti-Arab slogans on the walls of a mixed school in Beit Safafa, East Jerusalem and "Death to Christians" in Hebrew on a Jerusalem monastery.
Jewish extremists spray racist slogans on mixed school
Jewish extremists sprayed racist anti-Arab slogans on the walls of a mixed school in Beit Safafa, East Jerusalem on Tuesday.
"Death to Arabs", and "Kahane was right" were sprayed in Hebrew on walls in the school's playground, Israeli radio station Reshet said.
Both Jewish and Palestinian students attend the school, which is located between Beit Safafa and the Jewish neighborhood of Katamon.
Meir Kahane founded the far-right Kach party, which has been banned under Israeli anti-terrorism laws.
Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli-American who murdered 29 Palestinians in a 1994 Hebron massacre, was a devotee of Kahane.
Ethiopian students? Not in our school
Students of Ethiopian descent living in Netanya are sent to 'their own' school; municipality: Registration areas determined years ago.
In the Azorim neighborhood in Netanya 40% or residents are of Ethiopian descent. Most of them live on Motzkin and Eshkol Streets. The local Rambam elementary school is on Eshkol Street. The school has a student body that consists of mostly Ethiopian students.
In its website, the municipality made a statement that more than anything underscores the separation that exists within schools. On the same street, but in different 'blocks' there are two separate registration areas.
For example, from 2 Motzkin Street to 20 Motzkin Street, where residents are mostly from the Ethiopian community, children are registered at the nearby Rambam School. Those living in numbers 22 through 28, the newer houses on the block, are registered at the Uziel School some 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away.
The municipality said in response that the registration areas were determined several years ago after the Uziel School's student body dwindled as the neighborhood average age increased. This led the municipality to expand the Uziel School registration area.
This, in contrast to the Rambam School, where no such problem arose. "Sadly over the years, due to social processes of which the municipality has no control, there is a growing trend of students leaving the neighborhood and the city over their parents' refusal to send them to Rambam School.
"Some chose to go to independent haredi schools which led to a situation where the number of haredi schools has risen dramatically and their number now equals State schools.
"In order to deal with this new reality and with the mistakes made by the State of Israel when they allowed the Ethiopian aliyah to settle in large concentrated numbers, the education minister and mayor are working to form a plan that will assist in integration and which will change the current reality."
6 feb 2012
Soldiers detain 60-year-old blocking settler tree planting
Israeli forces detained a 60-year-old man obstructing Israeli settlers from digging up land in Qalqiliya village Kafr Qaddum on Monday, witnesses and security officials said.
Yaqoub Ishtawi tried to block a group of Israeli soldiers and settlers from razing village land, activist Murad Ishtewi told PA news agency Wafa.
Soldiers beat Ishtawi severely before detaining him, Ishtewi added.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the 60-year-old had "cursed, spat and bit an (Israeli) soldier," and was transferred to police custody.
On Sunday, witnesses told Ma'an that tanks and soldiers arrived in the village and uprooted olive trees. Residents fear Israel intends to expand neighboring Jewish-only settlement Qedumim.
The army spokeswoman said bulldozers were in the village area "to prepare the ground for tree planting by COGAT (the Israeli defense department in charge of the West Bank civil affairs) on its property."
Soldiers then escorted "Israeli civilians to plant trees as its the traditional custom of festival 15 Shevat" which falls on Monday, she said. Palestinians gathered and hurled rocks at them, she added.
The village holds a weekly protest against the decade-long closure of the Kufr Qaddum's main entrance. Israeli forces clamped down on a weekly non-violent demonstration on Friday in the Qalqiliya village.
On Jan. 30, Israeli forces detained five men from the village, locals told Ma'an.
Hundred of Settlers Raid Agricultural Land East of Hebron
Hundreds of Jewish settlers Monday stormed Palestinian agricultural land in al-Baqa'a area, east of Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to local sources.
Atta Jaber, one of the land owners, told WAFA hundreds of settlers protected by Israeli soldiers, raided about 1000 dunums of land and started planting it with forest tress as it belongs to them.
Palestinians are banned from entering their land without a prior permission and coordination with the Israeli civil administration until 2014.
Jaber called on the Palestinian ministry of agricultural to plant al-Baqa’a area land within the ministry’s greening Palestine project to protect it from settlers and Israeli soldiers.
"Death to Arabs", and "Kahane was right" were sprayed in Hebrew on walls in the school's playground, Israeli radio station Reshet said.
Both Jewish and Palestinian students attend the school, which is located between Beit Safafa and the Jewish neighborhood of Katamon.
Meir Kahane founded the far-right Kach party, which has been banned under Israeli anti-terrorism laws.
Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli-American who murdered 29 Palestinians in a 1994 Hebron massacre, was a devotee of Kahane.
Ethiopian students? Not in our school
Students of Ethiopian descent living in Netanya are sent to 'their own' school; municipality: Registration areas determined years ago.
In the Azorim neighborhood in Netanya 40% or residents are of Ethiopian descent. Most of them live on Motzkin and Eshkol Streets. The local Rambam elementary school is on Eshkol Street. The school has a student body that consists of mostly Ethiopian students.
In its website, the municipality made a statement that more than anything underscores the separation that exists within schools. On the same street, but in different 'blocks' there are two separate registration areas.
For example, from 2 Motzkin Street to 20 Motzkin Street, where residents are mostly from the Ethiopian community, children are registered at the nearby Rambam School. Those living in numbers 22 through 28, the newer houses on the block, are registered at the Uziel School some 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away.
The municipality said in response that the registration areas were determined several years ago after the Uziel School's student body dwindled as the neighborhood average age increased. This led the municipality to expand the Uziel School registration area.
This, in contrast to the Rambam School, where no such problem arose. "Sadly over the years, due to social processes of which the municipality has no control, there is a growing trend of students leaving the neighborhood and the city over their parents' refusal to send them to Rambam School.
"Some chose to go to independent haredi schools which led to a situation where the number of haredi schools has risen dramatically and their number now equals State schools.
"In order to deal with this new reality and with the mistakes made by the State of Israel when they allowed the Ethiopian aliyah to settle in large concentrated numbers, the education minister and mayor are working to form a plan that will assist in integration and which will change the current reality."
6 feb 2012
Soldiers detain 60-year-old blocking settler tree planting
Israeli forces detained a 60-year-old man obstructing Israeli settlers from digging up land in Qalqiliya village Kafr Qaddum on Monday, witnesses and security officials said.
Yaqoub Ishtawi tried to block a group of Israeli soldiers and settlers from razing village land, activist Murad Ishtewi told PA news agency Wafa.
Soldiers beat Ishtawi severely before detaining him, Ishtewi added.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the 60-year-old had "cursed, spat and bit an (Israeli) soldier," and was transferred to police custody.
On Sunday, witnesses told Ma'an that tanks and soldiers arrived in the village and uprooted olive trees. Residents fear Israel intends to expand neighboring Jewish-only settlement Qedumim.
The army spokeswoman said bulldozers were in the village area "to prepare the ground for tree planting by COGAT (the Israeli defense department in charge of the West Bank civil affairs) on its property."
Soldiers then escorted "Israeli civilians to plant trees as its the traditional custom of festival 15 Shevat" which falls on Monday, she said. Palestinians gathered and hurled rocks at them, she added.
The village holds a weekly protest against the decade-long closure of the Kufr Qaddum's main entrance. Israeli forces clamped down on a weekly non-violent demonstration on Friday in the Qalqiliya village.
On Jan. 30, Israeli forces detained five men from the village, locals told Ma'an.
Hundred of Settlers Raid Agricultural Land East of Hebron
Hundreds of Jewish settlers Monday stormed Palestinian agricultural land in al-Baqa'a area, east of Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to local sources.
Atta Jaber, one of the land owners, told WAFA hundreds of settlers protected by Israeli soldiers, raided about 1000 dunums of land and started planting it with forest tress as it belongs to them.
Palestinians are banned from entering their land without a prior permission and coordination with the Israeli civil administration until 2014.
Jaber called on the Palestinian ministry of agricultural to plant al-Baqa’a area land within the ministry’s greening Palestine project to protect it from settlers and Israeli soldiers.
