Skip to main content

Posts

Israel approves 2,200 units in Jerusalem settlements

The Israeli “Planning and Construction Committee” in occupied Jerusalem has approved, Tuesday, the construction of 2200 illegal settlement units in ‘Arab as-Sawahra neighborhood, in the Sawahra area, between Jabal al-Mokabber and Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem. The Israeli Radio said the new plans aims at “legalizing” homes that were built without permits, and to construct what it called “public facilities.” On Monday, the Committee approved the construction of 142 new units in Har Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim) illegal settlement, built on Palestinian lands. The new decision, and approval, allows the actual construction to start in the near future. more

Israeli forces shoot, injure 3 Palestinians in southern Gaza

Three Palestinians where shot and injured by Israeli forces in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, a medical official said Monday. Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said two youths were shot east of Khan Younis and were taken to the European Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. A third Palestinian was shot earlier in the Absan area east of Khan Younis, where Israeli forces opened fire and shot tear gas at Palestinians, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israeli forces fired toward one Palestinian who she called a "main instigator" of a violent riot in southern Gaza. She said Palestinians rolled burning tires and hurled rocks at troops. Forces fired warning shots before aiming at the participants' lower extremities, she added. The incident came the same day as Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza took part in marches to mark the 39th anniversary of Land Day, commemorating Palestinian protests against Israeli land

On Land Day: Israel controls more than 85% of historical Palestine

The Palestinian people, from the river to the sea, today celebrate the annual earth day, and demonstrate against the confiscation of more than 21 thousand dunums of land. The day has been in memory on the 30th of March since 1976, when Israeli forces killed six Palestinian demonstrators on the same day. On the occasion of Land Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) published a statistic showing that Israeli occupation now controls more that 85% of historical PAlestine. Jerusalem; Systematic Judaization: The Israeli occupation authorities demolish Palestinian houses and impose obstacles and constraints on building licenses for Palestinians. According to Al-Maqdisi Institute, during 2000 - 2013, the Israeli authorities demolished 1,230 buildings in East Jerusalem (the areas annexed by Israel in 1967). This has resulted in the displacement of 5,419 people, including 2,832 children and 1,423 women. The estimated losses to Palestinians of the demolition of buildings i

Report: PA will not file charges against Israel in International Court

A new report by the Israeli newspaper 'Jerusalem Post', based on unnamed sources within the Palestinian Authority, claims that the PA has agreed to pursue no formal charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC), in exchange for the release of tax money that had been illegally seized by Israeli authorities. The report came after an announcement on Friday by the Israeli government that they would return to the Palestinian Authority some of the $500 million that they had illegally seized since January, but would not return the entire amount - instead subtracting from the total an arbitrary charge for electric, water and hospital bills. This amount will also not include the tax monies from the month of March, just January and February. So far the Israeli government has not made any statement on whether or when it will release the March tax funds. These are taxes collected by Israel on goods imported into the Palestinian Territories - since the PA does not cont

Israeli forces open fire on protest at Gaza border

Israeli forces opened fire on dozens of protesters marching on the eastern border of the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis on Sunday. Witnesses said that Israeli forces opened fired on the protesters as they neared the border, adding that no injuries were reported. The protest was called in opposition to the Israeli-administered blockade of the coastal strip as well as to delays in reconstruction. Protesters were also commemorating the 39th Palestinian "Land Day." Adham Abu Salima, spokesman for a local activist group, the National Committee for Breaking the Siege and Reconstruction, told Ma'an the protest had been called to mark "refusal" of the blockade and to stand up for Gazan families whose homes are in ruins. more

Settlers destroy 1,200 Palestinian olive trees near Hebron

Israeli settlers on Saturday destroyed more than 1,000 olive trees near the village of al-Shuyukh north of Hebron, in the third such attack on the villagers' livelihood in recent memory. Local activist Ahmad al-Halayqa told Ma'an that Israelis from the nearby settlement of Asfar, also known as Metzad, attacked the village and destroyed 1,200 trees. He said that all of the destroyed trees had been recently planted following a similar attack by individuals from the same settlement which had destroyed trees in the area last month. He said that the trees in the area belonged to local Palestinian farmer, Muhammad Abu Shanab al-Ayaydah as well as the children of Abd al-Qader Abu Shanab al-Ayaydah and Mousa Abu Shanab al-Ayayadah. Al-Halayqa told Ma'an that the settlement of Asfar is located on land confiscated by Israeli authorities from Palestinian residents of al-Shuyukh, and now they hope to expand the land under their control by taking over the area where the olive trees

Palestinian leadership gains wide support for 3 resolutions at UNHRC session

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) approved three resolutions regarding occupied Palestinian territory and Palestinian rights during the 28th regular session. The month long session ended yesterday, bringing praise from PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi for widespread support from the majority of member states for the resolutions. The resolutions called for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, "including their right to live in freedom, justice and dignity and the right to their independent State of Palestine," confirmed Palestinian right to sovereignty over natural wealth and resources, and condemned the continuation of all settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United States was the only UNHRC member to vote against the three resolutions, drawing criticism from Ashrawi. more

Israeli forces open fire at Gaza border near Rafah and Khan Yunis

Three Palestinians suffered excessive tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters at a group of Palestinians east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, medics said. Israeli forces also opened fire on agricultural lands east of Khan Yunis and east of Rafah, witnesses said. Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinian civilians near the border since the ceasefire agreement signed Aug. 26, 2014, that ended a more than 50-day assault on Gaza, termed by Israel Operation Protective Edge, that left around 2,200 dead and 11,000 injured. more

Israel to stop withholding Palestinian tax revenues

JERUSALEM — Israel says it will resume the transfer Palestinian tax revenues that it has been withholding as punishment for unilateral Palestinian actions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday the decision was made following the recommendation of Israel’s security establishment and because of humanitarian considerations. Earlier this year, Israel withheld tax transfers it collects for the cash-strapped government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after he joined the International Criminal Court — a move potentially paving the way for a war crimes investigation of Israel. more

Palestine Marathon defies Israeli restrictions on movement

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Thousands of Palestinians and internationals took to the streets of Bethlehem on Friday, winding past historic churches, refugee camps, and Israeli military infrastructure to compete in the third annual marathon hosted by the ancient Palestinian city. Conceived in 2013 under the theme of 'Right to Movement' by Danish aid workers Signe Fischer and Lærke Hein, the race is now a concrete fixture on the social calendar and provides a whirlwind tour of the impact of conflict and military occupation on the city. Starting opposite the Church of the Nativity – the alleged birthplace of Jesus Christ – runners sped past a section of Israel's 708 kilometer long separation wall, which entirely surrounds the city's northern and western sides, before passing Duheisha refugee camp, and the town of al-Khader, near the Gilo military checkpoint. Due to a matrix of restrictions affecting Palestinian movement and access across the West Bank -- there are 99 fixe

Al-Qassam fighter killed during training in Khan Younis

A fighter of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, was killed on Thursday during training in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Brigades said in a statement that Ahmad Nimr al-Ghazzawi, 21, had been killed during the training but did not provide any more information regarding the details of his death. Training by the al-Qassam Brigades has continued despite Israeli threats and the recent classification of Hamas as a terrorist organization by neighboring Egypt. Earlier this month the group's official website reported that it had rebuilt a number of military bases near the Israeli border in the Gaza Strip, asserting that it had recovered from Israel's summer offensive and was "not afraid" of confronting the occupation again. more

Unity govt meets in Gaza amid public employee protests

Dozens of Palestinian civil servants protested Thursday in front of the government's headquarters in the Gaza Strip demanding paychecks they have not received for several months, as Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah finished a rare visit to the coastal enclave. Prime Minister Hamdallah pledged that Palestinian factions would "work fast" to find solutions to issues facing Gaza on Thursday, on the second day of what is only his second visit to Gaza since the formation of a national unity government between Fatah and Hamas in June. As Hamdallah and his accompanying delegation left Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, spokesman Ehab Bseiso emphasized that future solutions discussed during the short trip will be comprehensive, including electricity, employment, and reconstruction. Hamdallah vowed yesterday in Gaza that civilian workers of Hamas' de facto administration in Gaza would be enlisted to the payroll of the Palestinian Authority. Head of the employees' union, Muha

UN says Palestinian death toll highest since 1967

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- The long-running conflict with Israel claimed the lives of more Palestinian civilians in 2014 than any year since 1967, the United Nations said Thursday, in a damning report on the humanitarian situation. Meanwhile, rights group Amnesty International criticized the "flagrant disregard" by Palestinian armed groups for the lives of Israeli civilians, fingering the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip as a culprit. In 2014, Israel and Hamas fought a devastating war in Gaza that killed nearly 2,200 people, while intense violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank killed dozens of Palestinians and several Israelis. A report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) entitled "Fragmented Lives" called for more restraint on both sides. "All parties to the conflict... must fulfill their legal obligations to conduct hostilities in accordance with international law to ensure the protection of all civilians and to ensure accoun

PA prime minister Hamdallah to arrive in Gaza today

Palestinian prime minister, Rami Hamdallah is expected to arrive in Gaza today at 1:00 PM for a two-day visit, to look into the issues in Gaza, including the employees crisis, the halted reconstruction process and the electricity cuts. A press conference will be held upon his arrival in hotel on Gaza shore, where he will meet with Fatah and Hamas leaders. PA spokesperson, Ihab Bseiso said this will be the first visit to Gaza since last October. Hamdallah was supposed to visit Gaza on 8 November of last year, however the visit was cancelled after the bombardment of Fatah leaders' homes in Gaza. more

School students use sewage channels to reach school

Palestinian students are being forced to cross through sewage channels to reach a high school in western Ramallah district after a settlement road cut off the only other means of access, residents told Ma'an. Up to 200 students from the villages of al-Tira and Beit Ur al-Fuqa now reach the school using a four kilometer route that runs along the separation wall, where armed settlers, as well as Israeli soldiers, almost daily interrupt their commute. The route passes through sewage channels and regularly takes students up to 40 minutes to reach their school, as the channels are filled with rainwater in the winter and snakes in the summer. Students told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers regularly fire tear-gas canisters at them on their way back. The al-Tira Beit Ur al-Fuqa high school is now enveloped by the Israeli separation wall on three sides at a point where the wall extends more than five kilometers inside the 1949 Armistice Line. The wall separates the villages from the i

Light sentence for Zionist thugs shows UK double standards on extremism

Two thugs affiliated with the Jewish Defence League UK were sentenced Monday to 150 hours of community service each and £1,140 ($1,700) in fines between them. Roberta Moore and Robert De Jonge assaulted two people at a Palestine literary festival in London in September. Last month a judge found Moore guilty on two counts of assault, and one count of possession of an offensive weapon. De Jonge was found guilty of assault. In addition to the unpaid work, the two must pay compensation to their victims: Andy Simons, an organizer of the festival, and Simon Assaf, who had been running a socialist bookstall that day. The video below was presented as evidence during the two-day trial in February. Attack at the Palestine Literature Festival 2014 The relatively light sentence raises questions about the limited scope of the Crown Prosecution Service’s case against the two. A custodial sentence was never likely for a first offense of common assault that caused no lasting physical injury.

Gazans protest power outage in front of distribution company

Dozens of Gazans protested in front of the Khan Younis district headquarters of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCo) in the Gaza Strip late Monday. Protesters attempted and failed to reconnect power lines feeding electricity into the city of Khan Younis. Their earlier disconnection caused a blackout across the entire city. A pregnant woman identified as Azza Youssef Najjar was injured and taken to a hospital during the protest, though it is unclear how she was injured. GEDCo, which oversees electricity distribution across the West Bank, redirects power supplied by a power station inside Gaza, the Egyptian electricity grid and the Israeli electric company. However, these supply lines fall far short of the Gazan population's needs. While they provide 230 MW of electricity, Pal-Think, a Gaza-based think tank, has estimated that the Gazan people require 350 to 450 MW. GEDCo describes itself as a privately owned company, jointly owned by the Palestinian Authority

Video: Continuing harassment of activists in Palestine

From the International Solidarity Movement - On an almost daily basis Israeli forces in Al Khalil harass and arrest local and international human rights activists as they try to do their tasks. The activists document violence towards Palestinians and act as a protective presence around children who are on their way to school. The volunteers’ feel that accompanying children on their way to school, through various checkpoints, is important because of the risk they face. In the past the children of Al Khalil have routinely detained, searched, arrested or attacked with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber coated steel bullets, shot at them by Israeli soldiers and border police. Throughout Palestine in general, and in particular Al Khalil, volunteers play an important role documenting day to day life under occupation. With illegal settlements in the heart of the city and daily violence from settlers under the protection of the Israeli forces, the only word to describe life here is ‘aparthe

Farmers again attacked by Israeli soldiers in central Gaza

Israeli occupation forces, Monday morning, opened fire towards Palestinian farmers and agricultural lands east of the central Gaza Strip. Witnesses told Safa news agency that Israeli soldiers and military vehicles that were stationed along the border and in military towers east of the central of Gaza strip, fired tear gas and live ammunition towards the farmers. They pointed out, according to Al Ray, that the farmers tried to reach their agricultural lands near the border and that Israel prevented them by opening fire, with no causalities reported. more

84 Palestinians in Gaza visit relatives jailed in Israel

Dozens of Palestinians from Gaza visited relatives jailed in Israel on Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Eighty-four Palestinians, including 32 children, crossed into Israel via Erez to visit 42 jailed relatives. The visits are coordinated with the ICRC. There are some 450 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Israeli jails. Israel denied Gaza prisoners family visits when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, but in July 2012, family visits resumed. more

Israel 'boycotts' UN rights council session on Gaza war

Israel's representative was conspicuously missing when the UN Human Rights Council started a special session Monday on the situation in the Palestinian territories and the 2014 Gaza conflict. "I note the representative of Israel is not present," said council president Joachim Ruecher. Israel provided no immediate explanation for their absence at the session dedicated overwhelmingly to discussion of its policies and alleged abuses, but a source close to the council said it clearly amounted to a boycott. "We won't comment on that," a spokeswoman with the Israeli mission in Geneva told AFP. The United States was also absent from Monday's discussions. Asked to explain why the United States was not taking part, a spokesman said only that the US ambassador to the council Keith Harper was in Washington. Monday's session had originally been scheduled to discuss a probe on the 50-day war in Gaza last year, but the investigators obtained a delay after t

Israel issues demolition orders to 5 Silwan homes

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli municipality officers issued five demolition orders in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Monday, a local group said. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said Israel's Jerusalem municipality attached five demolition orders to properties in the neighborhood, with owners given 30 days to appeal to Israeli courts. Some of the buildings are under construction, while one property was built 45 years ago, the center said. Israeli municipality officers, accompanied by armed forces, also took pictures of the properties. One of the owners, Walid Ahmad Abed al-Razzaq, said his home was built 45 years ago and no new structures have been added. Nine members of his family currently live in the property. Silwan has been a repeated site of Israeli settler incursions and attempts to evict Palestinian locals. more

Palestinian prisoners with cancer face death due to lack of treatment in Israeli prisons

Fifteen Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons are suffering from cancer and are at risk of dying, the Hossam Association of Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners has said. The organization said in a statement, according to Ma'an, that they believed the number was in fact higher, as the 15 include only those who have been diagnosed with cancer, but many others have tumors whose malignancy is not known because Israeli prison authorities have limited their access to tests. The organization blamed Israeli authorities for contributing to an environment in which Palestinian prisoners faced a heightened risk of cancer due to high levels of radiation inside prison cells. The group said that Israeli authorities set up devices to jam satellite and telephone signals near rooms where Palestinians are being held. They also pointed to the use of radiation in security scanners that prisoners are forced to go through during frequent searches and examinations. The statement also said th

Video: An American translation of Netanyahu’s racist get out the vote speeh

From Mondoweiss - In the video below Katie Halper “translated” Netanyahu’s racist emergency election appeal to get out the vote. Titled “An American Translation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s own words”, she noted in the video all the words are Netanyahu’s with a few changes: The only changes were replacing: “Arab” with “Black” “right wing” with “Republican” “Likud” with “Republican” “Labor” with “Democrats” “Israel” with “United States” The alarmingly racist appeal has been cited as being responsible for a surge in the polls for Likud. Let’s watch the video: more

Jewish settlers tour al-Aqsa compound, assault Palestinian women

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews toured the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday morning under the protection of Israeli forces, while Israeli police detained Palestinians even as groups of settlers reportedly assaulted worshipers nearby. A spokesman for the Jerusalem office of the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments told Ma'an that 127 "extremist Jewish settlers" entered the compound via the Moroccan Gate in groups. Witnesses said that the first group of settlers toured the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock "in a provocative manner," before touring the rest of the compound and exiting via the Chain Gate. One of the settlers tried to "tear off his clothes inside the compound before security guards intervened and stopped him," said an eyewitness, who told Ma'an he believed the act was part of religious ritual. Israeli police officers, who entered the compound to protect the settlers, chased Palestinian worshipers including

Egypt denies Qatar access to Gaza, so Doha turns to Israel

From the Middle East Monitor - President of the Qatari National Committee for the Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi said he entered the Gaza Strip for the first time in two years through Israel after the Egyptian authorities refused to grant him permission to cross through its territory. Al-Emadi said the situation in Gaza is much harder than it was two years ago because of the accumulated problems caused by the Israeli blockade and aggression. He pointed out that the Egyptian decision to prevent entry of building materials to reconstruct the enclave through the Rafah crossing not only delayed completing the projects but has increased their overall costs to three times more than their actual value after his country was forced to purchase them from Israel. Al-Emadi revealed that although the Qatari-sponsored reconstruction projects stopped for six months because of the Israeli aggression and the closure of the Rafah crossing, progress is going well. The

2 children shot during clashes with PA security forces

Two Palestinian children were injured, one seriously, in clashes with Palestinian security forces near Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus on Friday. Locals told Ma'an that Mohammad Rakiz Abu Assab, 10, was shot in the stomach and taken to Rafidia hospital in a serious condition, while Mohammad Raed al-Hajj, 11, was shot in the foot and taken to al-Ittihad hospital. Security sources told Ma'an that clashes broke out between security forces and dozens of youths on al-Quds street near the refugee camp after the young Palestinians closed the road and began throwing rocks on the street. Palestinian Legislative Council Member Jamal al-Tirawi told Ma'an that responsibility lay with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to prevent the situation in Balata from deteriorating further. more

Israeli forces shoot, injure 2 Palestinians near Gaza border

Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians in the town of Absan east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Friday. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said Israeli forces shot the two young men in the lower extremities, moderately injuring them near the southern Gaza border. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an she didn't have immediate information on this specific incident but would look into it. On Wednesday, Israeli forces opened fire on farmers east of al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, and at farmers near the town of Khuzaa in the southern Gaza Strip. more

Israeli military exercises to take place along Gaza border

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces will conduct military exercises along the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian liaison officials said. Israeli officials informed the Palestinian liaison office of the exercises, which will take place from the Erez crossing in the north until Rafah, in southern Gaza. The exercises will include planes, tanks, jeeps and ground forces. more

Egypt rations electricity to Gaza's Rafah

The Egyptian Electricity Company has started to ration the amount of electricity feeding the Palestinian city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, a source in the Palestinian electricity distribution company told Al-Resalah reported. A source who spoke to Al-Resalah on condition of anonymity said that one of the three electricity lines feeding Rafah has been completely suspended since Friday, while the electricity supplied through the two other lines has now been rationed. According to the source, only 14 megawatts enter Rafah currently in comparison to 30 megawatts that were supplied previously. This has disrupted the electricity schedule, so the electricity is now available for 12 hours and cut for six hours only. more

Israeli bulldozers enter Rafah area, navy fires at fishermen

Four Israeli bulldozers and a military vehicle entered Palestinian land near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, witnesses told Ma'an. The incident marks the continuation of high activity in densely populated Rafah, as the Egyptian army demolished 1,020 houses Tuesday in the second stage of the establishment of a buffer zone along the border with the Gaza Strip. In a separate incident Thursday, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian fishermen across the al-Sudaniyya shore off Gaza City. Palestinian sources reported one fishing boat was damaged. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an that the bulldozers were stationed adjacent to the security fence in response to suspected activity in the area. She did not have any immediate information about the shooting incident at sea. more

Thousands pledge to boycott Hewlett Packard on eve of its AGM

The signatures of nearly 14,000 people pledging to boycott Hewlett Packard products were delivered to the company’s London headquarters today, on the eve of its annual general meeting. Hewlett Packard (HP) supplies IT infrastructure to the Israeli navy and computers to the Israeli army. It also develops and maintains hand and facial recognition scanners at Israel’s checkpoints in the West Bank, the data from which is used by Israel to monitor and control the movement of Palestinians. Hugh Lanning, Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, delivered the signatures, which were contained in a letter to HP UK’s Managing Director, Andy Isherwood, and on a public pledge to boycott HP. Both had been signed by thousands of members of the public. Mr Lanning said: “HP has a comprehensive human rights policy which includes avoiding complicity in human rights violations and regularly assessing human rights risks in the countries in which it operates. “By aiding Israel’s army and navy, which com

Video: Israeli soldiers attack peaceful gathering in commemoration of Rachel Corrie

Young Palestinians in Qaryout, near Nablus, today, were planting olive saplings to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the murder of activist Rachel Corrie. They then sat down for a peaceful picnic. Watch what happens next... Those present were planting trees, cooking food and singing before the soldiers rushed in with their guns to disperse the peaceful gathering. One man can be seen to faint, during the raid, and is carried to patch of land on a stretcher as soldiers threaten with their weapons and shove participants this way and that. What happens next is unclear, as a panic begins to surface within the crowd, the camera shaky. An argument is heard to erupt over what is to become of the fainted man. The scene ends with the young soldiers carrying the man away and, then, dropping him to the ground. more

Israeli troops fire at Gaza farmers along border

Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian farmers working in their fields along the border area between Israel and the Gaza Strip Tuesday morning. Witnesses told Ma'an that gunfire came from Israeli watchtowers commanding the border area opposite to Shujaiyya, Zaytoun and Juhr al-Dik neighborhoods. All farmers were forced to leave their fields following the incident. Separately, Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinian Khalid Saad al-Din's car near the northern borders of the Gaza Strip while he was on the way to his agricultural land 400 meters from the border. Al-Din's car was set ablaze following direct hits from Israeli live fire, but he was able to safely flee his burning vehicle, according to witnesses. No injuries have been reported in either incident. more

United Nations: 100,000 Gazans still homeless since summer attack

The official UN death-toll for the 2014 war shows that 1,549 Palestinian civilians were killed in comparison to four Israelis, and 504 Palestinian children were killed for one Israeli child. PNN reports that, in the Gaza Strip, the seven weeks of hostilities between Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli military, during July and August 2014, resulted in an unprecedented level of loss and human suffering, which aggravated the already fragile situation that preceded the conflict. A total of 1,549 Palestinian civilians, a third of them children, were killed and around 11,000 people were injured; 13 per cent of the housing stock was damaged or destroyed, including some 20,000 homes totally destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, leaving over 100,000 people displaced; unexploded ordnance spread over Gaza pose a serious threat to the life of Palestinians and humanitarian workers; and access to already insufficient basic services has been further undermined. Four Israeli civilians were kil

Method Man: a trailblazer of hip-hop solidarity with Palestine

From the Electronic Intifada - The Wu-Tang Clan was once described as “the most innovative force in hip-hop” by The New York Times. But it wasn’t only the gritty and dark soundscape created by the group that was original. Less well-known is that Method Man, one of the combo’s rappers, may have been the first exponent of his genre to express solidarity with the Palestinians. The bass-heavy track “PLO Style” appeared on Tical, Method Man’s 1994 debut solo album. Declaring that “the street life is the only life I know,” its lyrics appear to be more of a commentary on the Meth’s direct experiences of Staten Island’s housing projects than on Middle Eastern politics. But when I interviewed him recently, Meth made clear that the PLO referred to in the title is the Palestine Liberation Organization (watch the interview above). “Fighting for our freedom” “The same way Wu Tang respected how the kung fu dudes was doing their thing and shit, we respected how the PLO got down,” he said. “They’

Hamas says videos reveal PA collaborators who helped Israel kill resistance fighters

Hamas on Saturday released a series of videos which it says contain confessions by agents working for the Palestinian Authority who passed information to Israel that was used to attack the Gaza Strip. In at least one case, Hamas says that information a collaborator passed to his PA handler was used by Israel to target and kill one of its members. One of the videos contains what Hamas says are confessions from PA officers that they were behind a recent series of car burnings that were intended to sow chaos and instability in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has dismissed the Hamas claims. Confessions of a collaborator? One video shows a person who is described as “one of the spies collaborating with the Preventive Security who was arrested due to his suspicious behavior of monitoring resistance fighters” during last summer’s Israeli assault on Gaza. The Preventive Security is one of the intelligence agencies of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud A

Just 6 months after war, Hamas says Gaza bases near border rebuilt

The military wing of Hamas on Saturday said that it had rebuilt a number of military bases near the Israeli border in the Gaza Strip, asserting that it had recovered from Israel's summer offensive and was "not afraid" of confronting the occupation again. "No sooner has the war come to an end, than the al-Qassam Brigades started a new stage of the conflict in preparation for the battle of liberation," a report on the official website of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades said. The report said that fighters from the group had rebuilt military training sites near the border in the north, east, and west of the Gaza Strip, giving lie to Israeli claims that "Operation Protective Edge" in July-August 2014 had caused the group serious damage. Israel's aim in the operation had been to end rocket fire from Gaza, which Hamas says comes in response to Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But at the end of 50 days of warfare, P

3rd time in 4 days: Israeli troops open fire at Gaza farmers

Israeli troops stationed along the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning opened fire toward Palestinian farmers working on their lands on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis, witnesses told Ma'an. The soldiers fired gunshots and smoke bombs at agricultural lands and into residential neighborhoods from military watchtowers east of the village of Khuzaa, forcing farmers to leave their fields. No casualties were reported as a result of the attack, which is the third such incident in the area since Thursday. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was "unfamiliar" with the incident. Khuzaa is a small agricultural town that was severely damaged by Israel during the summer assault, when more than half of the village's homes were destroyed and dozens of civilians reportedly killed in three days of intense shelling. Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire toward Palestinian civilians near the border in the five months since the signing of a ceasefire agreem

Hamas official blasts PA failure to hold new elections

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar on Saturday accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of failing to fulfill his promise to hold elections for the Palestinian parliament. In a televised interview with the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa TV channel aired Saturday evening, Zahhar rejected Abbas' invitation to Hamas to sign a document pledging to take part in presidential and parliamentary elections. He demanded that instead of asking Hamas to sign new agreements, the president uphold his own responsibilities to hold the elections as outlined by the Cairo agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in 2012. The statement signals ongoing disagreements between the two largest Palestinian parties regarding the future of the government of national unity currently in place, less than a year after it's formation was agreed upon to much fanfare. In 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in Doha in which Abbas pledged to lead an interim government of technocrats before elections to be

Hamas launches #AskHamas informational Twitter campaign

Hamas launched a campaign on Twitter Friday aimed at improving transparency and reaching out to English social media users. The movement said its English-language initiative #AskHamas was designed so officials could answer questions from social media users. The campaign was timed to coincide with the deadline for a European Union appeal against removing the group from the EU's terror list, Hamas said. A European court in December ordered the removal of Hamas from the bloc's terror list, but the European Union said it would appeal the decision within three months. more

Israeli forces open fire at fishermen off Gaza coast

Israeli warships on Saturday morning opened fire at a group of Palestinians fishing in boats off the northwest coast of Gaza City, only a week after killing a fisherman in a similar incident. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli forces opened fire at the fishermen when they were at a distance of four miles off the coast of the al-Sudaniya area. One of the vessels suffered damage as a result of the attack, though no injuries were reported. The eyewitnesses said that the attack appeared to be intended to force the fishermen to come closer to shore. An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment. more

Israeli soldiers fire on Palestinians across Gaza border

Israeli forces, Thursday evening, opened fire at Palestinians on land east of the city of Khuzaa, in the southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses told Ma'an News Agency that Israeli soldiers deployed at the border opened fire on individuals who were on private Palestinian land east of Khan Younis. They said that no injuries were reported as a result of the attack. An Israeli military spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire toward Palestinian civilians near the border, in the five months since the signing of the ceasefire agreement that ended a summer-long assault on Gaza that left around 2,200 dead and 11,000 injured. Related video: Gaza City's Devastated Al-Shuja'eyya Suburb The attacks come despite Israeli promises at the end of the ceasefire that restrictions on Palestinian access to the border region would be lessened. more

Injured Gazans rally to support victims of Israeli offensive

Hundreds of Palestinians injured during Israel's summer offensive on the Gaza Strip on Thursday protested in Gaza City against what they say is official inaction for Palestinians disabled by Israeli warfare. Participants in the protest called upon officials to form committees specializing in the affairs and rights of the wounded and to improve Palestinians' access to medical care and medications, which are severely limited by the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Protester Rami Dabbour told Ma'an that the number of injured Palestinians in Gaza reaches into the tens of thousands, estimating that around 74,000 Gazans live with some form of physical injury or disability as a result of Israeli attacks on the enclave of 1.8 million people. Around 11,000 Palestinians were injured in Israel's offensive in July-August 2014, adding to the tens of thousands previously injured in Israeli assaults in 2012, 2008-9, and on a weekly or daily basis in or near the border. Thousands more s

Israeli navy opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats in Gaza waters

Israeli navy ships opened fire, on Thursday morning, on a number of Palestinian fishing boats in Gaza territorial waters, in the Sudaniyya Sea area, northwest of Gaza City. Local fishers said the navy fired dozens of rounds of live ammunition towards a number of fishing boats less than four miles off the coast. The fishers had to sail back to shore in order to avoid further Israeli escalation; no injuries were reported. Gaza fishers are subject to daily attacks and violations in Palestinian territorial waters within the six nautical miles the Palestinians are allowed to sail in and fish. The Navy even attacked fishing boats, and fishers, while the boats were docked on shore. Dozens of thousands of families in the besieged coastal region depend on fishing as their only sources of livelihood. The repeated Israeli violations against the fishers led to dozens of casualties, including several fatalities, while scores of fishers have been kidnapped and their boats were toad to Isr

Hamas: Israel hinted at Gaza airport, seaport for long-term truce

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouq said Wednesday that Israeli army commanders told Palestinian businessmen and independent figures that they would allow a seaport and airport in Gaza in return for a long-term ceasefire. "Some people conveyed ideas about an airport and seaport in Gaza to separate it from Israel and consequently from the West Bank for lack of geographic contiguity, and so the Gaza Strip could have access to the outside world without the restrictions of the Rafah crossing and Israeli policies," Abu Marzouq wrote on his Facebook page. Hamas discussed the idea with the Palestinian national consensus government twice, and multiple times with individual ministers, according to Marzouq. The suggestions by top Israeli officials were designed to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, he said. more

Tourist ad falls foul of UK watchdog for claiming Jerusalem belongs to Israel

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned the Israeli Government Tourist Office from using an ad which implies that Jerusalem’s Old City is part of Israel. The ad shows a panoramic photo of the Old City with the caption “Israel has it all.” It appeared in a brochure produced by the Israeli Government Tourist Office (IGTO). Last week, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint made by a member of the public against the ad and banned it from appearing again in its current form. However, this is not the first time that the IGTO’s advertising campaigns have fallen foul of the watchdog. This branch of the Israeli government has a track record of producing ads which either wipe the occupied West Bank and Gaza off the map or eliminate any trace of Palestinian history, heritage and culture from the land in order to promote Israel as a travel destination. The IGTO’s latest publication is a glossy 32-page brochure, titled Taste of Israel, which was distributed in February

Gaza vegetables to be shipped to Israel for first time in 8 years

Vegetables harvested in the Gaza Strip will be exported to Israel for the first time in eight years on Thursday. A Gaza merchant, Salim Abu Samra, told Ma'an that four truckloads of Gaza tomatoes and eggplants would be shipped from the coastal enclave. He confirmed that it would be the first shipment of its kind since Israel imposed a military blockade on Gaza in 2007 when Hamas came to power. Before 2007, Gazan farmers used to regularly export carnations and strawberries to markets in the Middle East and in Europe. However, agriculture in Gaza has been heavily affected by the blockade. According to a 2013 American Near East Refugee Aid report, 46 percent of agricultural land in Gaza has been made inaccessible or unusable due to destruction caused by the "security buffer zone" as well as recent military conflicts. more

Egypt shuts down Rafah crossing after 2 days

Egyptian authorities shut down the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after it was opened exceptionally on Monday and Tuesday for humanitarian cases. The crossings and borders department of the Gaza Ministry of Interior said in a statement that 1,010 passengers managed to leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt in two days, while 1,433 traveled into the coastal enclave. Those who were given priority to leave to Egypt were patients receiving treatment abroad, holders of foreign visas and holders of Egyptian and foreign passports. The statement added that 63 passengers were denied entry to Egypt without being given explanations. Thousands of passengers are still on a waiting list hoping that Egypt will reopen the crossing again. more

Israel navy fires on Gaza shore, ground forces shoot at farmers

Israeli naval boats fired several shells at the shores of Gaza City on Tuesday, while Israeli ground forces opened fire on farmers in the eastern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Locals told Ma'an that Israeli war boats fired five shells near the al-Zahra area. No injuries were reported. Meanwhile, Israeli military vehicles deployed east of Gaza City opened fire on farmers working on their land near the the border. The al-Mezan Center for Human Rights reports that Israeli forces have opened fire at the Gazan border 29 times since the Aug. 26 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, killing at least two Palestinians and injuring 35, including nine children. more

Popular posts from this blog

'Coronavirus-free' Gaza prepares for the worst

Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of  the novel coronavirus  spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with  some joking  that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario.  But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned.  "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible

Boycott of New York diamond dealer launched to protest settlement construction

Members of Adalah NY call for boycott of Leviev for its crimes against Palestinians and South Africans New York, NY, May 9 – On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel . The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company. Thanks to vivapalestina.us (not co

Support striking Palestinian quarry workers demanding their rights from Israeli employer

On 16 June, 35 Palestinian workers at Salit Quarries in Mishor Adumim (in area C, east of Jerusalem, in the Occupied West Bank) began a strike. The workers, organized with the independent union WAC-Ma'an, are demanding an end to exploitation and humiliation, and insist on signing a first collective agreement. Salit Quarries’ main customer is Readymix Industries (Israel). The total reliance of Salit Quarry on Readymix as their biggest and by far the most important customer puts responsibility on Readymix to make sure that their clients abides by labour laws and safeguards elementary rights for the workers of Salit. We call upon Readymix to urge the Salit management to terminate this unnecessary strike by signing the collective agreement with the workers and WAC-Ma’an. Click this protest link to send your message. The text of the message is as follows: I write to you to express my grave concern about the failure of Salit management to sign a collective agreement with the workers of