GCC foreign ministers urge international action to stop Israel’s settlement construction plans

Monday, 12 June 2023 1:03 AM  [ Last Update: Monday, 12 June 2023 2:36 AM ]

This file photo shows a partial view of the Israeli settlement of Ariel, near the city of Nablus in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. (via AFP)

Foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have strongly condemned Israel’s plans to build new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, urging international action to stop such plans.

The foreign ministers voiced the condemnation during the body’s 156th ministerial meeting in the Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh on Sunday.

The ministers rejected the regime’s efforts to annex the settlements or impose its sovereignty over them, saying such efforts are against the resolutions adopted by international organizations, most notably the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.

The resolution, which was adopted in December 2016, describes Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds as “a flagrant violation under international law.”

The GCC foreign ministers also urged the international community to mount pressure on the occupying regime to reverse its settlement policies.

They reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over the occupied territories, calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.

In late February, the UN secretary-general called for an end to Israel’s settlement activities, stressing the illegality of all structures built in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“All settlement activity is illegal under international law. It must stop,” Antonio Guterres said while addressing the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

All Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory ‘must stop’: UN chief
UN chief calls for an end to the Israeli regime

In late May, a European Union representative condemned the Israeli regime’s plans for the construction of nearly 600 new illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank, calling on Tel Aviv to reconsider the decision.

Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, the EU’s ambassador to Palestine, made the remarks during a visit by a delegation of 20 European ambassadors and consuls to the historical town of Sebastia, north of Nablus.

He also denounced the occupying regime’s support for Israeli settlers to return to evacuated settlements in the northern West Bank.

EU envoy calls on Israel to reconsider illegal settlement plans in West Bank
An EU envoy has called on Israel to reconsider its plan for the construction of nearly 600 new illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has built over 230 settlements since its 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, including East al-Quds. The settlements house more than 600,000 Israeli settlers.

Palestinians want the West Bank to serve as part of their future state, with East al-Quds as its capital.

In another part of their statement, the ministers condemned incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound by Israeli settlers and officials as an extension of the regime’s plans to Judaize the occupied city of al-Quds.

‘Declaration of war’: Palestinian groups warn Israel of plan to divide al-Aqsa
Palestinian resistance groups have censured attempts by Israeli authorities to divide the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds as a declaration of war.

The compound, which is located in the Old City of al-Quds, is Islam’s third holiest site.

According to an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government following the former’s occupation of East al-Quds, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.

Illegal Israeli settlers, however, regularly storm the compound amid strict protection provided for them by Israeli forces.

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Israeli Human Rights Violations in Palestine (Weekly Update 01-07 June 2023)

 June 8, 2023

Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

A Palestinian toddler was killed, and 10 other Palestinians, including 2 children and a woman, were wounded, while dozens of others suffocated and sustained bruises in Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Details are as follows:

On 05 June 2023, two-and-a-half-year-old Mohammad Hitham al-Tamimi succumbed to a bullet injury in his head in an IOF shooting in Nabi Saleh village in Ramallah on 01 June 2023.  Also, his father and 3 other Palestinians, including a woman and a child, were wounded. (Details available in PCHR’s press release).

Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages, or suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians.

On 01 June 2023, a Palestinian was shot with a bullet in his waist after IOF unjustifiably opened fire at his vehicle while crossing the Shu’fat refugee camp checkpoint in occupied East Jerusalem. The wounded was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where his health condition was deemed serious.

On 04 June 2023, a Palestinian sustained bruises after being assaulted by IOF in Hebron’s Old City.

On the same day, 2 Palestinians, including a child, were shot with live bullets fired by IOF when the latter were protecting Israeli settlers, who conducted attacks in Burqa village in Nablus. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested a Palestinian.

On 05 June 2023, 3 Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated bullets and a teargas canister fired by IOF while protecting Israeli settlers who conducted attacks in Kafr Thulth village in eastern Qalqilya. Also, Israeli settlers threw stones and wounded a Palestinian in the head as well as burning a vehicle.  

In the Gaza Strip, 4 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip while 9 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the western Gaza shores.

So far in 2023, IOF attacks have killed 156 Palestinians, including 78 civilians, amongst them 25 children and 6 women, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 7 killed by settlers, and two died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 671 Palestinians, including 105 children, 26 women and 12 journalists, were injured in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Land razing, demolitions, notices and settlement

IOF demolished 5 houses, including 2 residential buildings comprised of 5 housing units, displacing 6 families of 43, including 13 women and 22 children. Also, IOF demolished 2 facilities and seized around 45 dunums in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:

On 02 June 2023, IOF forced Ibrahim Abu Tair to self-demolish his 90-sqm house in Umm Tuba village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction, rendering him and his pregnant wife homeless.

On 04 June 2023, IOF forced ‘Odai Surri to self-demolish a ceramic tiles showroom comprised of two buildings: one is 300 sqms and built of aluminum while the other is 100 sqms built of wood and aluminum in Jabal Mukaber village in occupied East Jerusalem under the pretext of unlicensed construction.  

On the same day, IOF seized a 2-dunum plot of land and handed a demolition notice to a residential house in Al-Khader village in Bethlehem.

Also, IOF handed a cease-construction notice to 2 houses and a livestock barrack in eastern ad-Dhahiriya village in Hebron under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).

On 05 June 2023, the Israeli occupation authorities announced the seizure of 42 dunums and 651 square meters from Sarta and Bruqin villages in western Salfit under the pretext of “land acquisition for public interest” and expanding the settlement road known as “Street 5” that serves “Beduel” settlement established on Palestinian lands, west of Salfit.

On 06 June 2023, IOF forced 3 Palestinian families to self-demolish 2 residential buildings comprised of 5 housing units in Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of land acquisition for public interest. As a result, 31 persons, including 9 women and 17 children, were displaced.

On the same day, IOF demolished As’ad Shrieteh’s 120-sqm house in Al-Mazra’a al- Gharbiyia village in Ramallah.

Also, IOF demolished Fatmah Totah’s 120-sqm house in Wadi al-Jouz neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, displacing 8 persons, including 2 women and 5 children; one of them has a mobility impairment and mental disability.  In the same area, IOF demolished a 50-sqm horse barrack belonging to ‘Arafat Totah under the pretext of unlicensed construction on green land.

Moreover, IOF uprooted 100 olive trees, razed many agricultural roads, and demolished a retaining wall in southern Hizam village in occupied East Jerusalem.

IOF gave demolition notices to 3 houses in eastern Yatta city in Hebron under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).

On 07 June 2023, IOF confiscated a 12-sqm steel caravan in Idhna village in Hebron.

Since the beginning of 2023, IOF have made 94 families homeless, a total of 600 persons, including 125 women and 274 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 100 houses; 25 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 10 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 85 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition and cease-construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Settler-attacks and retaliatory acts

Settlers carried out at least 5 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, injuring many Palestinians and damaging their property. Also, the settlers stole 19 sheep in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:

On 03 June 2023, settlers opened fire, threw stones and pepper-sprayed at 3 houses in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem while heading to the Tomb of “Rabbi Shimon” in the central neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

On 04 June 2023, Israeli settlers, from “Homesh” settlement, which is established on the lands of Silat ad-Dhahr village in southern Jenin and Burqa and Bizzariya villages in northwestern Nablus, attacked Palestinian houses at the main entrance to Burqa village. Also, the settlers set a Hyundai car ablaze, broke the windows of 2 other cars and smashed the windows of 3 houses.

On 05 June 2023, Israeli settlers, from the pastoral settlement outposts, which are established on the lands of ‘Ein Samiya compound in eastern Ramallah, sneaked into the Palestinian land in the same compound.  They damaged crops and greenhouses, cut branches of trees, and damaged water tanks.

On 07 June 2023, settlers stole 19 sheep from a barn belonging to a Palestinian from Kafr ad-Dik village in western Salfit.

Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 219 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 7 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others were injured; most of them were due to being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

IOF carried out 190 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 99 Palestinians were arrested, including 6 children. On 01 June 2023, IOF conducted a widescale arrest campaign against 23 Palestinians from Tuqu village in Bethlehem. On 06 June 2023, IOF locked the residents of a building housing 3 families of 14 on the ground floor near the annexation wall in Zeita village in Tulkarm, and turned it into a military barrack. One of the building residents said that IOF forced them to leave their apartments and locked all of them on the ground floor, informed them that they will stay in the house for 3 days.

In the Gaza Strip, IOF carried out a limited incursion into eastern Khan Yunis on 05 June 2023.

So far in 2023, IOF have conducted 4,431 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 2,545 Palestinians were arrested, including 25 women and 291 children.  Also, IOF arrested 34 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip including 12 fishermen, 19 infiltrators into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 16 incursions.

Israeli closure, restrictions on freedom of movement, and collective punishment:

Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 16-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.

In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 120 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 2 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

As part of their collective punishment policy, IOF continued their cordon on al-Mughayyir village, east of Ramallah, for 24 consecutive days by closing its eastern and western entrances, under the pretext of providing protection for settlers living in the nearby pastoral settlement outposts.

According to PCHR’s fieldworker, on 01 June 2023 in the morning, IOF removed the sand berms from the western entrance and re-opened it after 19 days of its closure while the western eastern remained closed. As the villagers continued to protest the closure of the eastern entrance and their attempts to re-open it, IOF moved into the village on 03 June 2023 and conducted a widescale incursion; during which 15 Palestinians were arrested.  

Ameen Abu ‘Aliyia, Head of Mughayyir Village Council, said that IOF have completely closed the village’s eastern entrance while they close the western entrance daily from 06:30 to 14:00, preventing the villagers from entering and exiting the village and forcing them to take dirt roads to reach their workplaces.

So far in 2023, IOF have established 2,646 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 126 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

More

• “Silencing the Press” Report No. 23 (Israeli Occupation Forces’ Violations against Local and International Media Personnel Working in the occupied Palestinian territory)
• Two Citizens, Including Police Officer, Killed in Two Separate Incidents in West Bank and Gaza Strip
• Israeli Occupation Forces Kill Palestinian Toddler in Ramallah
• PCHR Calls on Public Prosecution in Ramallah to Cease Investigation with Dr. al-Shu’abi and Mr. Hussain
• Israeli Occupation Forces Continue Smear Campaign against PCHR and its Work

Israeli Occupation Forces Storm Various Al-Quds, West Bank Cities: Arrests, Injuries Recorded

 June 1, 2023

Zionist occupation forces

The Israeli occupation forces continuing storming the various cities and towns of Al-Quds and West Bank, arresting and persecuting a number of Palestinians.

In this context, one Palestinian man was injured by the Zionist fire as the occupation forces arrested a number of Palestinians after storming various cities and towns of Al-Quds and West Bank.

The occupation’s troops stormed Shaafat Camp, clashing with the Palestinian youths and injuring one of them

The enemy forces also raided Al-Makhfiyeh area in Nablus, arresting one Palestinian man.

The Zionist occupation forces arrested the Palestinian man Mohammad Hussein Ahmad after raiding his house in Qabatiyah, south of Jenin.

Clashes

The Palestinian resistance fighters in the occupied West Bank confronted the Zionist raids, opening fire and detonating IEDs during clashes with the enemy troops.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces withdrew from Aqabet Jabr camp in Jericho few minutes after storming it without raiding any of its houses.

Palestinian Prisoners

The Palestinian prisoners committee announced on Wednesday , “Palestinian prisoners will go on a hunger strike tomorrow for one day in order to demand the release of the ill prisoner Walid Dakka from Zionist prisons.”

Gaza Coasts

The Israeli occupation navy on Thursday opened fire at Gaza fishing boats sailing off the northern Gaza coast and forced them to return to shore.

Gaza Coast

Source: Al-Manar English Website

Algeria’s Gas vs. Rightwing Ideology: Will Italy Change Its Position on Jerusalem?

March 21, 2023

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (L) with her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo: via Italian Government Presidency of the Council of Ministers)

By Romana Rubeo & Ramzy Baroud

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tel Aviv for Rome on March 9, he was flown to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv by a helicopter because anti-government protesters blocked all the roads around it.

Netanyahu’s visit was not met with much enthusiasm in Italy, either. A sit-in was organized by pro-Palestine activists in downtown Rome under the slogan, ‘Non sei il benvenuto’ – ‘You Are Not Welcome’. An Italian translator, Olga Dalia Padoa, also refused to translate his speech at a Rome synagogue, which was scheduled for March 9.

Even Noemi Di Segni, President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, though unsurprisingly reiterating her love and support for Israel, expressed her concern for Israeli state institutions.

Back in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu’s trip to Italy was slammed by Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid as “a wasteful and unnecessary weekend on the country’s dime”. But Netanyahu’s trip to Italy had other goals, aside from spending a weekend in Rome or distracting from the ongoing protests in Israel.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, published on March 9, the Israeli prime minister explained the lofty objectives behind his trip to Italy. “I would like to see more economic cooperation,” he said. “We have natural gas: we have plenty of it and I would like to talk about how to bring it to Italy to support its economic growth.”

In recent weeks, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has shuttled between several countries in search of lucrative gas contracts. Not only does Meloni want to secure her country’s need for energy following the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but she wants Rome to be a major European hub for gas imports and exports. Israel knows this, and is particularly wary that Italy’s major gas deals in Algeria on January 23 could undermine Israel’s economic and political position in Italy, as Algeria continues to serve as a bulwark of Palestinian solidarity throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Netanyahu had other issues on his mind, aside from gas. “On the strategic front, we will discuss Iran. We must prevent it from going nuclear because its missiles could reach many countries, including Europe, and no one wants to be taken hostage by a fundamentalist regime with a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu said with the usual fear-mongering and stereotypical language pertaining to his enemies in the Middle East.

Netanyahu has two main demands from Italy: not to vote against Israel at the United Nations and, more importantly, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Though East Jerusalem is recognized by the international community as an occupied Palestinian city, Netanyahu wants Rome to change its position, which is consistent with international law, based on the flimsy logic of the “strong and ancient tradition between Rome and Jerusalem”.

Using the same logic, that of natural resources and arms exports in exchange for political allegiance to Israel at the UN, Netanyahu has achieved much success in normalizing ties between his country and many African nations. Now, he is applying the same modus operandi to Italy, a European power and the world’s ninth-largest economy.

Whether this strategy is an outcome of the growing subservience of Europe to Washington and Tel Aviv, or Netanyahu’s own failure to appreciate the changing geopolitical dynamics around the world, is a different matter. But what is clear is that Netanyahu has perceived Italy as a country in desperate need of Israeli help. During the meeting with Meloni, Netanyahu promised to make Italy a gas hub for Europe and help Rome solve its water issues, while Meloni, for her part, reiterated that “Israel is a fundamental partner in the Middle East and at a global level”.

The most enthusiastic response to Netanyahu’s visit, however, came from far-right Italian Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, who strongly backed the Israeli call to recognize Jerusalem as its capital “in the name of peace, history and truth”. This response, although inconsistent with Italian foreign policy, was hardly a surprise. The leader of the La Lega party has often been criticized for his racist language in the past. Salvini, however, was ‘reformed’ in recent years, especially following a visit to Israel in 2018, where he declared his love for Israel and criticism of Palestinians. It was then that Salvini began rising in the mainstream, as opposed to regional, Italian politics.

But this is not Salvni’s position alone. The Italian government welcomed Netanyahu’s visit without making a single criticism of his far-right government’s extremist policies carried out in Occupied Palestine. While this position is in line with Italian foreign policy, it is hardly surprising from an ideological point of view, as well.

Although Italian politics, in the past, showed great solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation and right of self-determination – thanks to the revolutionary forces that had a tremendous impact on shaping the Italian political discourse during World War II and the country’s subsequent liberation from fascism – that position shifted throughout the years. As Italy’s own politics itself reared towards the Right, its foreign policy agenda in Palestine and Israel completely moved towards a pro-Israel stance. Those now perceived to be pro-Palestine in the Italian government are a few and are often branded as radical politicians.

However, despite the official pro-Israel discourse in Italy, things for Netanyahu are not as easy as they may appear, especially when it comes to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Indeed, Meloni did not express an outright commitment to the Israeli demand. To the contrary, in an interview with Reuters last August, even before becoming Italy’s prime minister, Meloni seemed cautious, merely stating that this is “a diplomatic matter and should be evaluated together with the foreign ministry”.

There is a reason behind Meloni’s hesitation. Italy’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would place Rome outside the consensus of international law. In an open letter to Meloni, United Nations Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, reminded the Italian government that the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would constitute a stark violation of international law.

Italy’s foreign policy is also accountable to the collective policies of the European Union, of which Rome is an integral member. The EU supports the UN’s position that East Jerusalem is an occupied Palestinian city and that Israel’s annexation of the city in 1980 is illegal.

Moreover, Italy’s recent landmark deal with Algeria’s state-owned gas company, Sonatrach, in January, makes it particularly difficult for Rome to take an extreme position in support of Israel. The delicate geopolitical balances resulting from the gas crisis, itself a direct outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war, make any shifts in Italian foreign policy on Palestine and Israel akin to an act of self-harm.

For Italy, at least for now, Arab gas is far more important than anything that Netanyahu could possibly offer. The new Rome-Algiers deal would grant Italy 9bn cubic meters of gas, in addition to the gas supply already flowing through the TransMed pipeline, ‘BNE Intellinews’ reported. This vital infrastructure connects Algeria to Italy via Sicily which, in turn, flows through pipelines under the Mediterranean Sea. “The expansion of these vital routes has already been planned, aiming to augment the current capacity of 33.5 bcm per year,” the business news website added.

Meloni, although a far-right politician with no particular affinity or respect for established international norms, understands that economic interests trump ideology. “Today Algeria is our first gas supplier”, Meloni said in a press conference in Algiers after signing the agreement. The deal, she said, would supply the country with “an energy mix that could shield Italy from the ongoing energy crisis”.

Such a fact would make it impossible for Italy to deviate, at least for now, from its current position regarding Jerusalem, and the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. While Israel would find it difficult to persuade Italy to change its position, Algeria, Tunisia and other Arab countries might finally find an opening to dissuade Italy from its blind support of Israel.

– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.

– Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out’. His other books include ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth’. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is http://www.ramzybaroud.net

Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Palestine (Weekly Update 16 – 22 March 2023)

 March 23, 2023

Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

5 Palestinians, including 3 civilians; one of them was a child, were killed, while 42 others were wounded, and dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:

On 16 March 2023, an Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Special Force killed 4 Palestinians, including 2 members of the Palestinian armed groups who were directly shot and assassinated in cold blood as part of IOF’s crimes of extra-juridical executions.  Of those killed, two civilians, including a child, were killed in a random shooting by the Israeli Special Force that have also injured 23 Palestinians, including 4 in serious condition. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).

On 17 March 2023, Yazan ‘Omar Khasib (23), was deliberately and directly shot dead by IOF near al-Mahkama military checkpoint at the northern entrance to al-Bireh, claiming that he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack using a knife, but there was no Palestinian eyewitness to the incident. Khasib was a student at Birzeit University in Ramallah, and IOF kept his body in their custody to be handed later in the evening. He was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah where it was found out that he was shot with 2 bullets in the neck and the chest.

Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:

On 17 March 2023, 8 Palestinians, including a child, were injured with rubber-coated metal bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.

On the same day, 8 Palestinians, including 3 children, were wounded with live and metal bullets during clashes with IOF at the entrance to Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron, where IOF established a military observation point at the intersection leading to Bypass Road (60).

On 18 March 2023, a child was wounded with a live bullet in the left leg unjustifiably by IOF nearby Faqqu’a cemetery in Jenin, about 200 meters away from the annexational wall.

On the same day, a girl sustained a fracture in left ankle after being unjustifiably kicked by an Israeli soldier when she was detained with her family in their agricultural land in southeastern Yatta in Hebron.

On 22 March 2023, dozens of Palestinians, including patients and newborns, suffocated after IOF fired tear gas canister during the latter’s incursion into the vicinity of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. IOF also opened fire enticing fear among patients, women, and children.

On the same day, 2 Palestinian, including a photojournalist, were wounded with IOF’s fire during their incursion into the city of Jericho. Before withdrawing, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians, including a child.

In the Gaza Strip, 6 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands, and 3 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Gaza western Gaza shores).

”

So far in 2023, IOF attacks killed 87 Palestinians, including 45 civilians; 15 of them were children, a woman, and the rest were members of the Palestinian armed groups, including 2 children, 6 killed by settlers, and one died in Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, 391 Palestinians, including 51 children, 2 women and 10 journalists, were injured.

Land razing, demolitions, and notices

IOF demolished 3 houses and handed notices to demolish and cease construction work in 8 houses and facilities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, rendering two families of 11, homeless. Details are as follows:

On 16 March 2023, IOF demolished a 35-sqm under-construction house in Deir ‘Ammar in Ramallah under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

On 18 March 2023, IOF demolished two residential houses built of wood and tin, with an area of 100-sqms each, in Al-Za’im village in East Jerusalem, displacing 2 families of 11.

On 21 March 2023, IOF handed notices to cease construction works in 8 houses, agricultural rooms, and commercial facilities in Deir Ballut village, west of Salfit, under the pretext of unlicensed construction in Area (C).

”

Since the beginning of 2023, IOF made 64 families homeless, a total of 406 persons, including 81 women and 183 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 66 houses; 16 were forcibly self-demolished by their owners and 6 were demolished on grounds of collective punishment. IOF also demolished 56 other civilian objects, razed other property, and delivered dozens of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Settler-attacks and retaliatory attacks

Settlers carried out 8 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, most notably a raid on a church and attempting to vandalize its contents. Details are as follows:

On 16 March 2023, a Palestinian was injured after being beaten and pepper-sprayed by settler in Khirbet al-Tuba in Masafer Yatta in Hebron. This attack came after the Palestinian attempted to prevent the settler, who came from the “Hafat Ma’on” settlement outpost, established on the Palestinian lands, from sheep-grazing in the Palestinian’s agricultural land in the area.

On 17 March 2023, settlers from the “Beitar Illit” settlement established on the Palestinian lands cut about 50 fruitful and old olive trees in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem. The settlers also destroyed barbed wires and stone chains surrounding a 5-dunum plot of land.

On 19 March 2023, settlers, from “Yitzhar” settlement, established on the Palestinian lands, south of Nablus, attacked Palestinian vehicles passing through Al-Muraba’a Road towards Maadama Gate, southeast of Nablus. As a result, the front, rear and right-side windows of a Palestinian vehicles were broken. The attack took place amid a shooting that resulted in the injury of two settlers in Huwara village, southeast of Nablus.

On the same day, two settlers raided the Church of the Tomb of Virgin Mary in East Jerusalem and attempted to vandalize it. The Jerusalem governorate reported that the two settlers broke into the church and tried to vandalize its contents. However, a Palestinian confronted the settlers and arrested one of them while the other fled away.

Settlers also threw stones at a number of vehicles at the entrance to Beitin village, east of Ramallah, smashing the windows of many of them.

On 20 March 2023, settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and damaged them on Al-Ma’rajat road, west of Jericho.  As a result, some of them sustained damage while a Palestinian sustained injury and his wife fainted.

On 21 March 2023, settlers slashed the tires of Palestinian vehicles and wrote racist slogans in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

On 22 March 2023, a Palestinian woman sustained bruises after settlers attacked the Palestinian tents in Khirbet Al-Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley.

”

Since the beginning of the year, settlers have conducted at least 157 attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property. As a result, 6 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were injured; most of them after being beaten and thrown with stones. Also, dozens of houses, vehicles and civilian facilities were set ablaze.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

IOF carried out 218 into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 102 Palestinians were arrested, including 8 children. In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians, including 2 children while trying to infiltrate east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on 15 March 2023, and the other two were arrested at Beit Hanoun “Erez” checkpoint, including a patient who was arrested on his way back to Gaza from treatment. (Details available at PCHR’s press release).

”

So far in 2023, IOF conducted 2,392 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 1162 Palestinians were arrested, including 20 women and 148 children. Also, IOF arrested 23 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip: 6 were fishermen and 14 were trying to infiltrate into Israel, and 3 travelers at Erez Crossing. IOF also conducted 9 incursions.

Closure of Jerusalem institutions

On 20 March 2023, the Israeli authorities hanged a decision signed by the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, at Marcel Company for production and media services in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. Also, they summoned 5 journalists for investigation on grounds of working for Palestine TV upon Ben-Gvir’s decision to close the Voice of Palestine Radio Station offices, an official Palestinian Authority (PA) channel, and ban their representatives from operating and broadcasting in occupied Jerusalem and Israel for six months. (Details available at PCHR’s press release.)

Israeli closure and restrictions on freedom of movement:

Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.

In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continue to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 127 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and arrested 3 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

On 17 March 2023, IOF closed many streets in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of securing a marathon organized by the Israeli Occupation Municipality with hundreds of Israelis participating in it. The closure reached ten of streets from north of Jerusalem (French Hill and Sheikh Jarrah) and all the way to the south (Jerusalem-Hebron Street), including Al-Musrara neighborhood, Hebron Gate, Al-Jadeed Gate, and Jaffa Street, amid heavy deployment of the IOF on the roads, under the pretext of securing the 2023 Jerusalem Marathon.

On 19 March 2023, IOF closed the iron detector gate at the entrance to Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah.

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So far in 2023, IOF established 1453 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 63 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Weekly Update 08-14 December 2022)

 December 15, 2022

Violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

Five Palestinian, including 3 civilians, were killed and 7 others, including 2 children, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated in Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

On 08 December 2022, as part of extrajudicial executions, IOF directly shot and killed three Palestinians: one was a civilian and the two others were members of Palestinian armed groups, in an IOF ambush in eastern Jenin. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested three Palestinians. ( Details are available in PCHR’s press release).

On the same day, IOF killed a child namely Diaa Irhamieh (16) and wounded 3 other Palestinians; one was arrested, in clashes at the main entrance to ‘Aboud village in Ramallah. (Details are available in PCHR’s press release).

On 11 December 2022, IOF killed a 16-year-old Palestinian girl namely Jana Zakarneh and arrested three Palestinians, including two brothers, during IOF’s incursion into Jenin’s eastern neighborhood. (Details are available in PCHR’s press release). IOF admitted that following an initial inquiry it was determined that the girl might have been unintentionally shot by an Israeli sniper[1].

Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF’s incursion into the Palestinian cities and villages, or suppression of peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:

On 08 December 2022, a Palestinian was shot with a rubber-coated bullet during clashes with IOF stationed near Detector Gate (104), which is established at the annexation wall, west of Tulkarm.

On 09 December 2022, three Palestinians, including two children, were shot with rubber-coated bullets during IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.

On 10 December 2022, IOF suppressed a gathering organized by dozens of Palestinians at the Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem, in celebration of the winning of the Moroccan team in the World Cup. They also assaulted a person with a mobility impairment and arrested him in a detention center. He was then taken to a hospital for treatment.

In the Gaza Strip, 9 shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip, and 3 shootings were reported on fishing boats off the western Gaza shores.

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So far in 2022, IOF attacks killed 185 Palestinians, including 123 civilians: 37 children, 8 women, 2 Palestinians killed by Israeli settler and the rest were activists; 20 of them were assassinated. Also, hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children, were wounded in IOF’s attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Moreover, 5 Palestinian detainees, including a woman, died in the Israeli prisons.

Land razing, demolitions, and notices

IOF demolished 5 houses, displacing 3 families of 16, including 5 children and 3 women. They also demolished 7 civilian facilities and handed notices to cease construction works in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Details are as follows:

On 11 December 2022, IOF handed five Palestinians notices to cease construction works in three inhabited houses, a plot of land, and a tinplate shop selling construction materials in al-Zuwaidin Bedouin village in Yatta, south of Hebron, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

On 12 December 2022, in implementation of an Israeli municipality’s order, IOF forced a Palestinian to self-demolish his under-construction house built on an area of 100 square meters in Isawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. On the same day, IOF dismantled a 100-square-meter agricultural nursery in Tuqu village in Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.  Also, IOF handed 18 notices to cease construction in 9 house, 4 agricultural rooms, 3 industrial facilities, and two plots of lands in Qarawat Bani Hassan village, west of Saflit, under the pretext of being in area classified as Area C.  The notices say that you may appeal the notices before 28 December 2022.

On 13 December 2022, IOF demolished a 135-square-meter house comprised of one floor in Al-Jiftlik village, north of Jericho, rendering two families of 9, including 3 children, homeless. In the same area, IOF demolished a 36-square-meter house, displacing a family of 7, including 2 children. Also, IOF demolished two under-construction houses; one built on an area of 165 sqms and comprised of two floors while the other built on an area of 100 sqms. Additionally, IOF demolished a tinplate barrack built on an area of 150 sqms and four plastic livestock barns built on an area of 240 sqms, under the pretext of illegal construction in Area C.

On the same day, IOF demolished an under-construction house built on an area of 100 sqms in Furush Beit Dajan village in central valleys in Nablus, under the pretext of illegal construction in Area C. Also, IOF demolished a barrack used as an auto repair shop, a container, a barrack, an agricultural room, a fence, and a stone chain in an agricultural land in al-Jib village in occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

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Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli occupation forces made 139 families homeless, a total of 821 persons, including 161 women and 373 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 159 houses and dozens of residential and agricultural tents. IOF also demolished 116 other civilian objects, leveled vacant areas of land, and delivered hundreds of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation.

Settler-attacks on Palestinian civilians and their properties:

On 08 December 2022, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles passing near Kedumim settlement square on the main street connecting Nablus with Qalqilya.

On 10 December 2022, Israeli settlers uprooted 15 olive trees in the lands of Haris village, north of Salfit.

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Since the beginning of the year, settlers conducted at least 255 attacks. In two of the attacks, 2 Palestinians were killed.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

IOF carried out 168 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 117 Palestinians were arrested, including 9 children, and a Palestinian vehicle was confiscated.

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So far in 2022, IOF conducted 8,438 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 4,698 Palestinians were arrested, including 466 children and 49 women. IOF also conducted 34 limited incursions into eastern Gaza Strip and arrested 105 Palestinians, including 64 fishermen, 32 infiltrators, and 9 travelers via Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing.

Israeli collective punishment and closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly-update in the Gaza crossings.

On 08 December 2022, IOF have banned 382 Christians from Gaza to travel to Bethlehem in order to join the Christmas celebrations after refusing to issue travel permits for them. Mr. Elias al-Jalda, Member of the Arab Orthodox Churchwarden Council in Gaza, said to PCHR’s fieldworker that those banned travel were on a list of 900 persons whose names were sent by the churches in the Gaza Strip to obtain travel permits.

In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 110 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 76 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem arrested 6 Palestinians at those checkpoints.

On 08 December 2022, IOF closed the metal detector gate established at the western entrance to Husan village, west of Bethlehem.

On 09 December 2022, IOF closed the metal detector gate established at the western entrance to Tekoa village, east of Bethlehem.

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So far in 2022, IOF established at least 4,342 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 197 Palestinians at those checkpoints

The Nakba Day Triumph: How the UN Is Correcting a Historical Wrong

December 14, 2022

Gaza’s Great March of Return. (Photo: Abdullah Aljamal, Palestine Chronicle)

The next Nakba Day will be officially commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly on May 15, 2023. The decision by the world’s largest democratic institution is significant, if not a game changer.

For nearly 75 years, the Palestinian Nakba, the ‘Catastrophe’ wrought by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias in 1947-48, has served as the epicenter of the Palestinian tragedy as well as the collective Palestinian struggle for freedom.

Three decades ago, namely after the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian leadership in 1993, the Nakba practically ceased to exist as a relevant political variable. Palestinians were urged to move past that date, and to invest their energies and political capital in an alternative and more ‘practical’ goal, a return to the 1967 borders.

In June 1967, Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine – East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – igniting yet another wave of ethnic cleansing.

Based on these two dates, Western cheerleaders of Oslo divided Palestinians into two camps: the ‘extremists’ who insisted on the centrality of the 1948 Nakba, and the ‘moderates’ who agreed to shift the center of gravity of Palestinian history and politics to 1967.

Such historical revisionism impacted every aspect of the Palestinian struggle: it splintered Palestinians ideologically and politically; relegated the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees, which is enshrined in UN Resolution 194; spared Israel the legal and moral accountability of its violent establishment on the ruins of Palestine, and more.

Leading Palestinian Nakba historian, Salman Abu Sitta, explained in an interview a few years ago the difference between the so-called pragmatic politics of Oslo and the collective struggle of Palestinians as the difference between ‘aims’ and ‘rights’. Palestinians “don’t have ‘aims’ … (but) rights,” he said. “… These rights are inalienable, they represent the bottom red line beyond which no concession is possible. Because doing so will destroy their life.”

Indeed, shifting the historical centrality of the narrative away from the Nakba was equivalent to the very destruction of the lives of Palestinian refugees as it has been tragically apparent in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria in recent years.

While politicians from all relevant sides continued to bemoan the ‘stagnant’ or even ‘dead’ peace process – often blaming one another for that supposed calamity – a different kind of conflict was taking place. On the one hand, ordinary Palestinians along with their historians and intellectuals fought to reassert the importance of the Nakba, while Israelis continued to almost completely ignore the earth-shattering event, as if it is of no consequence to the equally tragic present.

Gaza’s ‘Great March of Return‘ (2018-2019) was possibly the most significant collective and sustainable Palestinian action that attempted to reorient the new generation around the starting date of the Palestinian tragedy.

Over 300 people, mostly from third or fourth post-Nakba generations, were killed by Israeli snipers at the Gaza fence for demanding their Right of Return. The bloody events of those years were enough to tell us that Palestinians have not forgotten the roots of their struggle, as it also illustrated Israel’s fear of Palestinian memory.

The work of Rosemary Sayigh on the exclusion of the Nakba from the trauma genre, and also that of Samah Sabawi, demonstrate, not only the complexity of the Nakba’s impact on the Palestinian collective awareness, but also the ongoing denial – if not erasure – of the Nakba from academic and historical discourses.

“The most significant traumatic event in Palestinian history is absent from the ‘trauma genre’,” Sabawi wrote in the recently-published volume, Our Vision for Liberation.

Sayigh argued that “the loss of recognition of (the Palestinian refugees’) rights to people- and state- hood created by the Nakba has led to an exceptional vulnerability to violence,” with Syria being the latest example.

Israel was always aware of this. When Israeli leaders agreed to the Oslo political paradigm, they understood that removing the Nakba from the political discourse of the Palestinian leadership constituted a major victory for the Israeli narrative.

Thanks to ordinary Palestinians, those who have held on to the keys and deeds to their original homes and land in historic Palestine, history is finally being rewritten, back to its original and accurate form.

By passing Resolution A/77/L.24, which declared May 15, 2023, as ‘Nakba Day’, the UNGA has corrected a historical wrong.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, rightly understood the UN’s decision as a major step towards the delegitimization of Israel as a military occupier of Palestine. “Try to imagine the international community commemorating your country’s Independence Day by calling it a disaster. What a disgrace,” he said.

Absent from Erdan’s remarks and other responses by the Israeli officials is the mere hint of political or even moral accountability for the ethnic cleansing of over 530 Palestinian towns and villages, and the expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians, whose descendants are now numbered in millions of refugees.

Not only did Israel invest decades in canceling and erasing the Nakba, it also criminalized it by passing what is now known as the Nakba Law of 2011.

But the more Israel engages in this form of historical negationism, the harder Palestinians fight to reclaim their historical rights.

May 15, 2023, UN Nakba Day represents the triumph of the Palestinian narrative over that of Israeli negationists. This means that the blood spilled during Gaza’s March of Return was not in vain, as the Nakba and the Right of Return are now back at the center of the Palestinian story.

‘Israeli’ Occupation Forces Run Over Palestinian Teen Biker in Al-Quds for Carrying Flag of Palestine

31/05/2021

By Staff, Agencies

‘Israeli’ occupation forces have run over a Palestinian child in the occupied East al-Quds as he was carrying a Palestinian flag on his bike before detaining the wounded minor.

The Palestinian Shehab news agency reported that the occupation forces chased 15-year-old Jawad Abbasi with their vehicle in Ras al-Amud neighborhood in Silwan, south of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque, on Sunday afternoon before running over him and wounding his legs.

The brutal attack on the Palestinian minor was carried out under the pretext of raising the Palestinian flag on his bicycle, the agency added.

Silwan, home to about 33,000 Palestinians, is located outside the walls of the Old City of occupied al-Quds and its sacred sites. ‘Israeli’ occupation officials have been moving Jewish extremists to the neighborhood since the 1980s, and currently, several hundred settlers live there in heavily protected settlement compounds.

This has resulted in numerous human rights violations, including the forced eviction and displacement of Palestinian residents. The Silwan properties are claimed by extremists backed by Ateret Cohanim, a right-wing foundation that works to strengthen the Jewish presence in East al-Quds.

More than 600,000 Zionist settlers occupy over 230 settlements built since the 1967 ‘Israeli’ occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.