PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 5:14 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israel detains four Palestinians south of Jericho

Israeli occupation forces detained four Palestinians and set up a military checkpoint at the southern entrance to the West Bank city of Jericho.


According to local sources, Israel troops stationed at the checkpoint stopped Palestinians' vehicles and checked their identity cards.

PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 2:59 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israeli forces injures Palestinians in clashes across West Bank

Several Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank on Friday. 


Local sources reported that Palestinians were suffocated by tear gas on Friday during clashes with the occupation in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, and Beita, to the city's south. 


In Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah, Israeli forces cracked down on a protest against the appropriation of dozens of dunams belonging to the village. One Palestinian suffered a foot injury from a stun grenade while dozens of others were suffocated by tear gas, according to local sources.




PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 2:54 pm - Jerusalem Time

35,000 attend Friday prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque

Tens of thousands of Palestinians performed Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite the strict military measures imposed by Israeli authorities at the entrances of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.


The Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, the custodian of the holy mosque, estimated that about 35,000 worshipers performed Friday prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.


Israeli forces stopped worshippers at the gates of compound and checked their ID cards.

PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 12:26 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Parents of Jerusalem students" warns against prejudice to education and schools

On Friday, the Council of Parents of Students of Jerusalem Schools expressed its rejection and denunciation of what happened in the Israeli Knesset session regarding the distortion of Arab schools in occupied Jerusalem, and the slander and accusation of teachers through a play arranged and fabricated by extremists, by broadcasting a video that does not represent anything from the truth, and its aim Fighting the Jerusalem teacher, our Jerusalem schools, and our Palestinian curricula, and seeking to close them or control them.


In a statement, the federation called for the announcement of the name of those who were identified as one of the students of Jerusalem schools, stressing that his words were lies and slander against schools and teachers.


And hold the responsibility of harming our schools and teachers to those who seek to strike and control education in Jerusalem.


He appreciated the position and role of Dr. Ahmed Al-Tibi, who was present at that session, and his stance and defense of our teachers and schools, and his response, with word and true image, to the occupation and the extremist government.


The council expressed its rejection of the policy of constantly threatening Jerusalem schools to close, withdraw licenses, stop financial support, or permanently storm schools.


He also expressed his refusal to Judaize education in the schools of Jerusalem by imposing the Israeli and distorted curricula on the previously existing schools, calling for the opening of new schools in Jerusalem that we need and this falls within the municipality’s responsibilities to provide them and not for the Israeli curricula only, and to prevent and disrupt the opening of new schools or to give licenses to build schools that teach Palestinian curricula. As stated in the text of the statement.


He affirmed his refusal to continue the municipality and its Ministry of Education to Judaize Palestinian curricula books and distribute them to schools in Jerusalem by deleting units that do not appeal to them and replacing them with units that simulate the Israeli narrative and teachings under the pretext of incitement.

PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 10:41 am - Jerusalem Time

Palestinian journalist group denounce PA arrest of Akil Awawdeh

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned the Palestinian Authority security services' arrest of journalist Akil Awawdeh on Thursday and called for his immediate release.


In a statement, the Syndicate considered Awawda's arrest "a serious violation" of freedom of expression"


Awawda's arrest came against the backdrop of his criticism on his Facebook page of the Palestinian Authority's campaign of arrests against political activists in the West Bank.


The group also welcomed the release of journalist Ahmed Al-Bitawi after his week-long detention.

PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 9:30 am - Jerusalem Time

The number of victims of crimes in the occupied territories increased to 123

The killing of 34-year-old Alaa Marei in the Galilee town of Fureidis has taken the death toll of Palestinian citizens of Israel in crime-related homicides to 123 for the year so far. 


Marei, who was the assistant to the head of the local council in Fureidis, was shot dead in the early hours of Thursday morning.


On Thursday, in the city of Tira, 25-year-old Samer Azzam Nasser was also shot dead.


According to Makan, the Arabic-language branch of Israeli public broadcaster, seven Palestinians have been killed in the crimewave since Tuesday. 



PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 9:22 am - Jerusalem Time

The occupation decides to demolish the home of a child's family from occupied Jerusalem

On Friday, the Israeli army decided to demolish the home of a child's family, claiming that he was trying to carry out an attack at the Shuafat checkpoint in occupied Jerusalem on February 13, 2023, which led to the death of a soldier.


According to an Israeli military spokesman, the commander of the so-called home front signed an order to demolish the house belonging to the family of the child Muhammad Zalbani in Shuafat camp.


The child Zalbani tried to stab an Israeli soldier, but another soldier fired at him, and the bullets hit another soldier who was killed on the spot.


PALESTINE

Fri 14 Jul 2023 9:09 am - Jerusalem Time

Israel detains Palestinian in Hebron, Jerusalem

Israeli occupation forces arrested two Palestinians on Friday in Hebron and Jerusalem.


According to local sources, Israeli troops detained Yahya Badr after storming his home in the Jabal Al-Sharif area of Hebron. 


In Jerusalem, Israeli occupation forces detained Suhaib Samreen, a resident of Al-Thawri neighborhood in Silwan, won his way to Al-Aqsa Mosque for dawn prayers. 


On Friday, Israel also fired tear gas in the town Sebastia, northwest of Nablus. This came after soldiers stormed the town at around midnight, according to local sources. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 20 people suffocated from the gas, including an elderly woman.





PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israel blocks Jerusalemite activist from entering West Bank

Israeli occupation authorities prevented a community activist from the Palestinian town of Shuafat, north of occupied Jerusalem, from entering the West Bank on Thursday. 


The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that Israeli authorities handed Nasser Abu Khudair an order barring him from entering West Bank, restricting his freedom of movement and vocation inside Jerusalem, as well as stopping him from communicating several political figures in Jerusalem.


Abu Khudair has spent 16 years in Israeli prisons. 

PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 9:11 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israeli occupation forces arrest Palestinian at Qalandia checkpoint

Israeli occupation forces arrested a Palestinian man, Abdul Aziz Jalal Hoshiyeh, at the Qalandia military checkpoint on Thursday. 


Israeli troops also stormed the Al-Salam suburb and Shuafat refugee camp, northeast of Jerusalem, which led to clashes with the residents. No injuries were reported.

ARAB AND WORLD

Thu 13 Jul 2023 3:03 pm - Jerusalem Time

The leaders of Sudan's neighboring countries agreed to form a ministerial mechanism to solve the Sudanese crisis

During a summit held today (Thursday) in Cairo, the leaders of Sudan's neighboring countries stressed the importance of a political solution to stop the conflict in Sudan, and agreed to form a ministerial mechanism to develop practical and implementable solutions to stop the fighting and reach a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese crisis, according to the closing statement of the summit, which was read by the Egyptian president. Abdel Fattah Sisi

PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 2:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Washington denies reconsidering its ties with Israeli government

Washington –  President Joe Biden's administration denied on Thursday that they are reconsidering the United States' relationship with Israel due to the actions of the far-right government.


U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller responded to The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's op-ed claiming that it was "inevitable" that such ties would be re-evaluated by stating that "there was no talk of any kind of official re-evaluation. The United States and Israel share special bonds, and our enduring commitment to Israel's security is unwavering."


While noting their "shared democratic values and common interests," Miller added that "we have our differences and our concerns, and we've talked about how we raise those differences and concerns with them privately, and we've seen the president and others in this administration talk about these differences publicly."


Miller also maintained the Biden administration's commitment to the two-state solution, even though more and more commentators, including Friedman, has thrown its viability into question.


Thomas Friedman's article entitled "The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu's Government has Begun"  argued that "Biden team sees the far-right Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, engaged in unprecedented radical behavior — under the cloak of judicial “reform” — that is undermining our shared interests with Israel, our shared values and the vitally important shared fiction about the status of the West Bank that has kept peace hopes there just barely alive."





OPINIONS

Thu 13 Jul 2023 10:43 am - Jerusalem Time

The battle of Jenin... a complete Israeli failure and a qualitative shift towards the resistance

Mustafa Barghouti

Mustafa Barghouti

Opinion Writer

Perhaps the battle of Jenin camp a few days ago will enter history as the moment of qualitative transformation of the accumulations that continue in the awareness and struggle of the Palestinian people since 2015. There is no exaggeration in comparing it to the Battle of Dignity that took place in March of 1968 and represented the first victory over the Israeli army, which was mired in its resulting arrogance. For his overwhelming victory in the June 1967 aggression.


The qualitative transformation here is not limited to the fact that Netanyahu, his huge army and his fascist government, have failed miserably in achieving their goals of breaking the resistance of the Jenin camp and liquidating the resistance fighters and their popular base, but also in the transformation of the popular incubator of the resistance in the Jenin camp into a general Palestinian incubator in all of historical Palestine. .


In its aggression against the Jenin camp, whose area does not exceed half a square kilometer, with a large population density of sixteen thousand refugees who were displaced by the Israeli ethnic cleansing during the Nakba in 1948, Israel used more than a full brigade of one thousand six hundred soldiers with armored vehicles, tanks, Apache helicopters and missiles. And entire swarms of military marches and a massive intelligence system failed.


As the director of the Al-Jazeera channel in Ramallah, Walid Al-Omari, said, Israel was able in the past with this amount of army and equipment to occupy an entire country, but it was unable to break the Jenin camp, and its forces withdrew while dragging the tails of disappointment, after translating its hatred into total destruction. The camp’s infrastructure, including roads and streets, electricity and water networks, health facilities and hundreds of homes, dared to fire live bullets and tear gas at hospitals, attacked teams and ambulances, shot journalists, and left wounded people bleeding to death without allowing medical teams to reach them .


Nevertheless, Israel failed to arrest or liquidate the resistance fighters, and failed to destroy the structure of the resistance and incurred losses until the moment its forces left the camp.


Perhaps the most important features of the qualitative transformation witnessed by the past days in Palestine are represented in a number of points:
First: the involvement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian youth in the activities of the resistance in all its forms, until it became impossible to distinguish between the professional resistance fighters and the thousands of youth participating in the resistance, and thus the armed resistance turned, in fact, into a part of a comprehensive popular resistance.


Second: Strengthening the conviction of the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people, in light of the frenzied settlement expansion, and Netanyahu's declaration of his intention to eradicate the idea of ​​an independent Palestinian state, that there is no way but resistance and struggle as an alternative to the failed negotiations approach and the miserable Oslo agreement, and betting on external parties.


Third: Israel can no longer confine the resistance to specific foci, such as the Jenin camp and the old town of Nablus, and the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm. Rather, Israel received resistance responses to its aggression against Jenin from Hebron, Ramallah, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip. In other words, the resistance has become a general Palestinian phenomenon for the people. The entire Palestinian, regardless of where he is.


Fourth: For the Palestinians, all illusions about the possibility of obtaining international protection, or influential international official positions against Israeli fascism, have ended, in light of the United States and Britain declaring their support for the Israeli aggression and what they called "Israel's right to self-defense," and the suspicious silence of the European Union, which is unable to formulate a policy. It is independent of its own, and the realization deepens that the solution lies in self-reliance, self-organization, and resistance to occupation, and not waiting for the help of others. Palestinian official calls for international protection have become a popular joke, as a pretext to escape responsibility.


Fifth: The overwhelming popular anger has deepened against security coordination and all its ideology, which was born with the Oslo Accords, and which imposes on the security services the duty to protect the occupiers, while they are unable to protect themselves and their people from these occupiers themselves.


The popular question was: Why do the security services not confront the occupation forces that pass by their headquarters in their invasion of the Jenin camp, and why do they not participate in confronting the settlers' terrorist attacks against the Palestinians, as happened in the second intifada?


Therefore, the call to end security coordination with the occupation in practice, not formally, permanently and not for a temporary period, has become a comprehensive popular demand, such as the demand to stop all forms of political arrests and the release of all political detainees and a number of them from the resistance fighters.


Sixth: The door to achieving national unity was opened wide, through popular pressure on the official and factional Palestinian leaders to rise to the level of the militant unity created by the resistance fighters on the ground.


This popular pressure resulted in the Palestinian Authority calling for a meeting of the secretaries-general of the Palestinian forces, which it welcomed. In parallel, demands escalated that this meeting not be just a formality for taking pictures, or to ease popular pressure on the Palestinian Authority, which had previously committed its biggest mistake by canceling the elections in 2021.


It became clear that what is required before the meeting is to confirm the readiness to adopt the option of resistance and struggle in all its forms and to abandon an approach that resulted in complete failure after its launch with the signing of the Oslo agreement thirty years ago, and to be ready to agree that we are not in a stage of compromise with the Zionist movement with all its components, but rather in a stage of struggle and struggle And resistance to changing the balance of power in favor of the Palestinian people. The most important indicator of seriousness in calling for the meeting of the general secretaries is the willingness to form a unified national leadership based on a national strategy of resistance, and the immediate release of all political prisoners.


Seventh: The Palestinian people valiantly thwarted the Israeli strategy’s intrigues and attempts to stir up strife, which focus on separating the people from the resistance, separating the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, deepening the rift and division between the Fatah and Hamas movements, and inciting the Palestinian forces against each other. Events have proven that the Jenin camp was not left alone, but formed A point of polarization for integrated and unified struggle action.


Eighth: In conclusion, the Israeli aggression against the Jenin camp had completely opposite results to what Netanyahu had planned, as the escalation of repression, killing and settlement, and the announcement of the annexation and Judaization program of the West Bank only led to an escalation of the Palestinian resistance and the rise of a Palestinian youth generation that is more resolute, determined, daring, skilled and committed to the resistance than For freedom and dignity.


Will the leaders rise this time to the level of this valiant generation and the level of its struggle unity?

OPINIONS

Thu 13 Jul 2023 10:30 am - Jerusalem Time

A successful historic visit that we hope will continue

Jerusalem Hadith

Jerusalem Hadith

Opinion Writer

The visit made by President Mahmoud Abbas and a number of officials to the city and camp of Jenin is a historic visit with all meanings and standards because it bears several meanings and indications, the most important of which is that Jenin and its camp are not alone and that the Palestinian leadership is with them in confronting the occupation and its crimes against people, trees and stones, which make humanity cry, if it is. There is a world in the world, specifically Western countries with a colonial past, and a humane America, but it is non-existent when it comes to the Palestinians and the practices and crimes of the occupation against them, as we find that these countries support the occupation by all means and means and prevent it from being prosecuted, for these crimes that it commits daily.


Also, this historic and successful visit came to tell Jenin and its camp that you are icons of struggle, steadfastness, and resistance, and that the leadership and the people are one in defending the land and the human being, and that the fate of the occupation is to disappear.


This visit raised the morale of our heroic people in Jenin and its camp and gave them a strong push forward, especially with the families of the martyrs and the wounded and the owners of the houses that were demolished and swept away by the occupation. The best it was, as the president said.


The visit is also a message to the brutal occupation that the Palestinian leadership is with the people and will not abandon it, that they are one unit, and that unity is the right way to confront and defeat the occupation, which I believe is a wide gap between the people and the leadership, and if the leadership, headed by the president, tells the occupation that we are with the people and will not We abandon him, no matter how hard the odds are, and no matter how much the occupation tries to tarnish the image.


While we welcome this historic visit, which will usher in a new era between the leadership and the people, we hope and even call on the President to repeat this visit to other governorates, especially since the President praised Nablus and its camps and all Palestinian cities, villages and camps.


Such visits raise the morale of the people, and confirm the cohesion of the leadership and the people in facing the challenges and crimes of the occupation. Rather, they increase the people's determination to stand firm on their land, and as the President said in his speech to the masses of Jenin and the people of the camp who gathered to receive him and demanded support for the resistance in all its internationally approved forms. and expanded to include all governorates.


Our people in all the provinces are awaiting the tours and visits of the president and the leadership to strengthen relations between the masses and the leadership, and not to leave any gaps between them because the occupation takes advantage of this to suppress our people and carry out aggressive operations on cities, villages and camps.


Will this visit to the city of Jenin and its camp be the beginning of presidential visits and tours to other governorates, which are being attacked by the occupation forces and herds of savage settlers?


We hope that we will not be disappointed and that these visits and tours will continue to support the citizens and the families of the martyrs and the wounded.

PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 9:30 am - Jerusalem Time

West Bank missiles becoming more sophisticated, Israeli army fears

The Israeli military is concerned about attempts to launch rockets from the northern West Bank into nearby Israeli settlements and towns, according to the newspaper Israel Hayom.


While the rockets that have been tracked up to this point are primitive, Israel believes that Palestinian organizations have clear intentions to emulate the "Gaza model" in the West Bank, the tabloid said. 


The army identified four attempts to launch missiles in the last two months. Although the rockets were initially rough-and-ready, the quality and range of each missile seemed to improve. 


Yitzhak Gershon, a reserve officer in the Israeli army and former commander of the West Bank division, who led a raid on a missile manufacturing plant in the northern West Bank during the Second Intifada, said he is "unsurprised" by the new attempts.


The newspaper said that the army did not know which group was behind the rocket fire, but noted that another major operation - similar to the two-day onslaught on Jenin - is likely to take place. 


The army is also weighing installing a special warning siren system similar to that of Gaza border towns around northern West Bank settlements. 



ARAB AND WORLD

Thu 13 Jul 2023 8:34 am - Jerusalem Time

Serbia restores diplomatic relations with Israel

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic informed Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday night that Belgrade would send a new ambassador to Tel Aviv within the next month.


The move ends a three-year standoff between the two countries, after Serbia downgraded its ties with Israel over its recognition of Kosovo, which Belgrade does not consider as a separate country, the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom reorted.


Kosovo opened an embassy in Jerusalem as part of a deal brokered by then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2021.


Cohen praided the Serbian president's decision to restore the "important relations" between the two countries.



PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 8:26 am - Jerusalem Time

Israeli tax authorities threaten Amnesty International over boycott law

Israel's Tax Authority has informed Amnesty International that it was considering stripping it of tax benefits over its support for boycotting Israeli settlement product, he newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday. 


The government is looking to hold the human rights organization's branch in Israel responsible for the calls by Amnesty International to impose an embargo on Israeli weapons and to boycott goods made in Israel's West Bank settlements. 


The newspaper noted that Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has led a seven-year campaign against the organization, and had pressured his predecessor Avigdor Lieberman to cancel these tax benefits.


Smotrich's office declined to comment on whether he was involved in the move. 


The boycott law, which was passed in the Knesset in 2011, allows the finance and justice ministers to impose restrictions on any association or institution that called for boycotting settlements or Israel. These include depriving them of tax benefits, barring them from participating in government tenders, or outright cutting their public funding. 


PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 8:18 am - Jerusalem Time

The head of the Shin Bet is putting pressure on Smotrich regarding education in Jerusalem

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported, on Thursday, that the head of the Israeli General Security Agency, the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, tried to convince Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich not to cancel the budget allocated to encourage the integration of Palestinian students residing in Jerusalem into Israeli academic institutions, in preparation for approving the extension of the five-year plan for the development of the East. Jerusalem, which will be presented to the government next Sunday, with its near completion after approval in 2018.


According to the Hebrew newspaper, this plan is related to the areas of education, vocational training, learning Hebrew, transportation and infrastructure, and one of its biggest items is related to encouraging the integration of Palestinians into Israeli higher education institutions, as Haaretz reported.


According to the draft of the new plan, the budget for this item was supposed to be 450 million shekels, of which 250 was supposed to come from the budget of the Planning and Budget Committee, and the rest from the Ministry of Finance, and it includes the budget for scholarships and preparatory courses for students, but Smotrich and senior officials in the Ministry Finance oppose this and prefer to allocate money in other items of the plan.


The Jerusalem municipality, the Jerusalem Ministry, and the Shin Bet began pressuring the Finance Ministry to keep the clause as it is. The Shin Bet explained to Israeli Finance Ministry officials that encouraging higher education among Palestinians reduces the motivation to commit attacks. As part of this campaign, Barr spoke with Smotrich about This issue, and sources familiar with the details said, that the decision has not been taken yet, and the plan will be submitted for government approval without this clause.

PALESTINE

Thu 13 Jul 2023 8:06 am - Jerusalem Time

Israel arrests several Palestinians in dawn raids across West Bank

Israeli occupation forces launched carried out a wave of arrests of Palestinians across the West Bank on Thursday morning.


In the village of Qibya in the Ramallah district, Israeli troops arrested four men, as well as another Palestinian in the nearby town of Birzeit.


In a separate operation in the Nablus Governorate, two former prisoners were also detained - one on Amman Street and another in the town of Awarta. There were separate reports of resistance fighters firing toward Israeli troops in Nablus, with no injuries reported. 


In the town of Sa'ir near Hebron, another ex-prisoner was arrested during an Israeli raid on his home. 






PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 6:06 pm - Jerusalem Time

UN experts: Jerusalem eviction may amount to war crimes

UN experts warned on Wednesday that Israel's policy of forced evictions in Jerusalem "may amount to the war crime of forcible transfer" in light the shadow of the eviction of the Ghaith-Sub Laban family from the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. 


"Concerted efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in Occupied East Jerusalem may amount to forcible transfer. Forcible transfer is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of Office of OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territories.


The statement said that the recent incident was "part of a wider pattern of evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem," including the Salem family from the Um Haroun portion of Sheikh Jarrah in March and the Shehadeh family from Batan al-Hawa, Silwan.


"These families are among some 150 Palestinian families – totaling around 1000 people – across East Jerusalem and its surrounding Palestinian neighbourhoods who are living under the threat of eviction and forcible transfer due to discriminatory laws and state collusion with settler groups," they added.


The Ghaith-Sub Laban family, who lived in the home under protected tenancy since 1953, were evicted in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Israeli settlers immediately moved in their home. 


The UN office ended by reiterating "international law requires Israel to end all forced evictions and forcible transfers. The UN Human Rights Office in the OPT urges the Israeli Government to end all discriminatory evictions of Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem and to urgently provide an effective remedy to the Gheith-Sub Laban family for the human rights violations they suffered today."



PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 6:02 pm - Jerusalem Time

The occupation army disperses elements who approached the northern border

The Israeli army announced, on Wednesday evening, that it used non-live fire tools to remove a group of people who approached the security fence on the border with Lebanon.


According to an Israeli military spokesman, the vandalism of the fence was prevented by that group, whose identity is unknown.


He affirmed his determination to defend "Israeli sovereignty". like he said.


According to identical sources, these are members of Hezbollah, and gas bombs were fired at them, which led to their injury.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 5:35 pm - Jerusalem Time

Damage to a settler's vehicle as a result of being shot at near Qalqilya

On Wednesday evening, a settler's vehicle was damaged by gunfire near Qalqilya.


According to the Israeli Army Radio, the vehicle suffered minor damage, after it was fired upon by a speeding Palestinian vehicle.


It indicated that the Israeli army forces were carrying out combing operations in the area.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 5:02 pm - Jerusalem Time

Biden administration tells Israel to refrain from demolishing Masafer Yatta

Washington – U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration calls on Israel not to evict the Palestinians of the West Bank hamlet of Masafer Yatta.


Responding to Al-Qud's Washington correspondent, Miller said in his daily press conference that "it is very important for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undermine efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution,” explicitly extending this to demolitions and evictions.


Israel had declared the twelve village of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, an area of around 30,000 dunams, as a closed military zone in the early eighties. The declaration of "firing zone 918" did not impinge on the lives of the Palestinian communities, who continued to cultivate their land, until a sudden military eviction of 700 residents in 1999.


The establishment and expansion of settler farms on Palestinian land has cranked up the pressure on authorities to carry out further evictions. 


Last year, an Israeli court ruled to evict the population of Masafer Yatta in what would be the single largest expulsion of Palestinians since 1967. Although the ruling has yet to be implemented, the army has conducted more training activities in the area, and demolitions and arrests have become more common.






ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 12 Jul 2023 4:27 pm - Jerusalem Time

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopts a resolution condemning the burning of the Qur'an

On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning acts of religious hatred such as the burning of the Quran, even though several countries considered it endangered freedom of expression.


The decision was issued after an urgent discussion requested by Pakistan on behalf of a number of OIC countries after the burning of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden.


The resolution was approved by 28 members of the Council out of 47, including China, Ukraine and most African countries, while seven members abstained and twelve voted against, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.


The resolution condemns "any advocacy and display of religious hatred, including recent activities, overt and deliberate, that have led to the desanctification of the Qur'an" and calls on states to adopt laws that allow them to hold accountable those responsible for such acts.


It requests the United Nations to identify countries that do not have such legislation and to organize a round table of experts to discuss the issue.


Pakistani Ambassador Khalil Hashemi saw it as a balanced text that does not point fingers at any country.


However, a number of Western countries expressed during the debates their opposition to the anti-blasphemy laws, and at the same time strongly denounced the burning of the Qur'an in Sweden.


The United States, the European Union and Britain called for a vote against the resolution.


"We regret having to vote against this unbalanced text, but it contradicts positions we have long taken on freedom of expression," said US Ambassador Michele Taylor.


Some Latin American countries, including Mexico and Honduras, abstained, arguing, like Western countries, that more time needed to be spent on negotiating and reaching a consensus.


Before the vote, Mexico affirmed that "any expression of criticism of religions does not in itself constitute incitement to violence and discrimination."


On June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden burned pages from the Koran in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm during Eid al-Adha.


The Swedish police had allowed the assembly during which pages of the Koran were burned, but later opened an investigation into "incitement against an ethnic group" because the burning took place in front of a mosque.


This incident sparked a chain reaction in the Islamic world.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 2:01 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Shin Bet claims: 6 Palestinians who carried out attacks in Ramallah were arrested

The Israeli General Security Service, the Shin Bet, claimed that it had arrested 6 Palestinians who were active as a cell in the Ramallah area, and carried out several shooting operations recently, especially in the Wadi Shilo settlements, without injuries.


According to a statement by the Shin Bet, they were arrested from the village of al-Mughayyir, and they are Abdullah al-Haj Muhammad, Ibrahim al-Na'san, Majed al-Na'san, Ayoub al-Na'san, Abd al-Karim Abu Alia, and Muhammad al-Hajj Muhammad.


The agency claimed that the arrest operation, which was carried out with the help of the Israeli army, took place shortly after they carried out attacks, and during interrogation they confessed to carrying out a series of operations.


The Shin Bet claimed that during their interrogation, they admitted that they had bought weapons from an arms dealer in Jenin, and that they were in contact with activists from Gaza in order to obtain funding for their activities.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 1:17 pm - Jerusalem Time

Prisoners Authority: Jerusalemite prisoner Hussam Matar suffers from a difficult health condition

The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs stated in its report issued today, Wednesday, that the Jerusalemite prisoner

Hussam Matar, 38, from Jabal al-Mukabber in Jerusalem, suffers from a very difficult health condition.

He retreats day after day, amid deliberate and deliberate medical negligence, aimed at killing him slowly and torturing him physically.

And psychologically.


According to the commission’s lawyer, Moataz Shqeirat, after visiting Matar, who is in the isolation of Ohli Kedar, the prisoner Matar

He began to suffer from health problems since 2010, and his condition worsened due to the lack of early diagnosis.

Failure to receive appropriate treatment, and continuous procrastination in conducting the required examinations and analyzes.


He added that the prisoner, Matar, suffers from 3 discs in the back in paragraphs 1-5, pressing on the nerve, which affects the

He also suffers from pain in the neck and joints, especially the knees, without conducting examinations to find out the cause of the pain. He indicated that he has been suffering from varicose veins in the right foot since 2010. He also moved to the left foot. Matar conducted the first examination for varicose veins after 13 years of pain. His interior and exterior have sagged and an operation cannot be performed.


He also suffers from pain in the head and eyes (sister), and he is waiting for a MRI scan in the month of 11/2023.


He indicated that he complains of dizziness, shortness of breath, imbalance, and blurred vision.

Suddenly, he also suffers from high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat, in addition to cholesterol and fluid retention.


It is mentioned that the prisoner is married and the father of two children, and he was arrested on 19/10/2007, and he was subjected to an investigation.

He endured 50 days in Al-Mascobiyeh, before the occupation courts sentenced him to life imprisonment

Al-Hayat, and in June 2013, while he was in Ashkelon prison, he went on strike.

He remained open for food for three consecutive months, and the prison administration imposed penalties on him

Many of them are the denial of visitation and isolation.


In January 2023, the Israeli occupation forces demolished the house of the prisoner and his brother.

consisting of two apartments in Jabal Al Mukaber, inhabited by 6 individuals, including women and children, who have become homeless without

Shelter, in implementation of the policy and decisions of the Israeli racist cabinet, which decided to accelerate

Procedures for the demolition and closure of the homes of the perpetrators of commando operations.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 12:52 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israel indicts settler who tore up Holy Koran in West Bank

Israel's State Prosecutor filed an indictment against a man who was filmed ripping up a copy of the Holy Koran during a settler rampage in the West Bank village of Orif. 


According to the Hebrew news site Ynet, 30-year-old Dor Oved from the extremist outpost of Yitzhar was indicted for "terrorist" acts.





PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 12:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

'We are here to stay:' President Abbas visits Jenin after Israeli invasion

In the shadow of tensions with other Palestinian factions, President Mahmoud Abbas stressed "the unity of the Palestinian people" against Israeli aggression in a heavily guarded visit to Jenin on Wednesday.


A week after the end of Israel's largest raid on a West Bank city in two decades, which left 12 Palestinians dead and widespread destruction in its wake, Abbas hailed Jenin refugee camp as "an icon of struggle and steadfastness."


Palestinian parties in the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, condemned the Palestinian Authority's "political" arrests of its activists in the northern West Bank since the operation. In the last two years, Abbas' command in the cities of Jenin and Nablus has ebbed, with Islamist and local organizations filling the vacuum. 


Arriving on a Jordanian military helicopter from Ramallah, Abbas was welcomed by Palestinian officials and a large crowd. He was flanked by Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein al-Sheikh and intelligence chief Majed Faraj. 


Palestinian security forces were deployed across the area to safeguard the delegation. 


After reaffirming that Jerusalem is Palestine's capital and the right of return for all Palestinians, Abbas told the crowd: "We must get rid of the occupation, and tell them: Leave us alone. We are here to stay!"


"We are one Palestinian Authority, one state, and one law...we will remain one, and everybody who works toward unity and security is welcome," he added.


He thanked countries that were involved in the reconstruction efforts, especially Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. 


After the initial address, Abbas' convoy left to Jenin Refugee Camp, where he will lay a wreath at the martyr's cemetery. A throng of Palestinians has already gathered to greet the president on his arrival. 


PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 11:56 am - Jerusalem Time

Palestinian Prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi faces abuse, daily searches of his cell

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said that prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi – an icon of the second Intifada and one of the six inmates who broke out of Israeli prison in 2021 –  has been subjected to abusive practices, including solitary confinement and handcuffing as wardens conduct a daily search of his cell at 1 A.M. 


Quoting his lawyer Moataz Shqairat on Wednesday, the commission said that 47-year-old from Jenin Refugee Camp has faced "inhumane conditions" in Ohalei Kheidar detention facility in the southern city of Be'er Sheva.  


After the jailbreak in 2021, Israeli occupation authorities rearrested the six prisoners and sentenced them to an additional five years in prison and 5,000 shekel fines. Prisoner rights groups have reported that they have faced a range of abuses, from solitary confinement to medical neglect.

PALESTINE

Wed 12 Jul 2023 11:36 am - Jerusalem Time

UN: Israel demolished 38 buildings, injured 1,310 Palestinians in two weeks

Washington – Israeli authorities demolished and confiscated 38 buildings, including 14 homes, and injured 1,310 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem from June 13 to July 4, the UN reported on Wednesday. 


The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Palestine said the demolitions have displaced 48 Palestinians, including 22 children, and have impacted the livelihoods of more than 8,000 others. It added that Israel justified the demolitions by stating that the Palestinians did not have building permits.


Twenty three of the buildings were in Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli civilian and military control, OCHA stated. Six of the buildings were provided by international donors in response to previous demolitions, including Hammamet Al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley and the Ein Al-Hilweh-Umm Al-Jimal communities in the Tubas Governorate.


Israeli occupation authorities also demolished 15 residential buildings in the city of Jerusalem, including a building in Al-Thawri neighborhood, which resulted in the displacement of two families comprising 14 members, including six children, according to OCHA. Eleven owners demolished their own buildings in order to avoid hefty enforcement fines.


OCHA stressed that punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law.


1,310 Palestinians, including at least 103 minors, were also injured across the West Bank over the same two-week period, including 105 from live fire. The OCHA report also showed that settlers injured 19 Palestinians and damaged Palestinian property in 46 incidents over four consecutive days, between 20 and 24 June, in parts of the northern and central West Bank.


In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces opened fire on at least 21 occasions, near the border fence with the Strip or off the coast.