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Report: Army, Settlers, Carried Out 145 Attacks In February

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC & Agencies | March 01, 2012

The Wall and Settlements Information Center at the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Wall and Settlements, issued a report revealing that Israeli soldiers and settlers carried out 145 attacks against the Palestinian residents, their lands and homes, killing one and wounding several others.

Tal’at Ramia, 25, was killed on Friday February 24, during clashes with Israeli troops near the Qalanida terminal, north of occupied East Jerusalem; the residents were protesting attempts by extremist settlers to break into the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The Center reported that soldiers demolished 42 structures in the West Bank; 22 homes and structures were leveled in Khirbit Ar-Rahwa, 3 in Ath-Tha’la area, and one home in Surif.

12 homes and structures were demolished in Nablus district, 12 homes and structures were demolished in Jerusalem and Tubas, four wells were demolished in Hebron, and one in Jenin.

Israel further served 88 notices against Palestinian homes and structures; this includes 2 mosques and one school in Hebron and Jenin, 24 orders against homes and structures in several areas in Hebron, 22 notices against structures in several areas in Jerusalem, 17 against structures in Bethlehem, 5 in Jenin, 8 in Salfit, and two in Qalqilia,

Furthermore, Israeli settlers carried out dozens of attacks, uprooting and bulldozing 4931 Dunams (1218.47 Acres) of Palestinian farmlands; 1825 Dunams in Jaloud – Nablus, Nahhalin and Al-Jab’a in Bethlehem, Yousouf and Sarta in Salfit, in addition to Beit Ola and Al-Himma in Hebron and Tubas. 1383 Dunams were bulldozed and uprooted, and owners of 1723 Dunams were prevented from entering their lands after extremist settlers planted them and are attempting to take them over. 1169 trees were uprooted in Surif, Beit Ummar, Tormos Ayya, Aqraba and Michmas.

The report further pointed out the escalating attacks carried out by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Jerusalem and its holy sites, by the sharp increase of home demolitions, escalating settlement activities, sharply increasing attacks against holy sites, and the recent plan to plan to build a temple on 400 square/meters west of the Al-Boraq Wall, and other plans including the so-called “Visitors Center” in Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, the taking-over of a parking lot in the Armenian neighborhood in order to build a settlement outpost despite the fact that the land is owned by the Armenian Monastery.

This is all happening while excavations continue under the Al-Aqsa mosque and several areas in occupied East Jerusalem. The information center further stated that Israel recently approved a law exempting taxes on donations that support settlement projects.

As for the non-violent resistance against the Wall and Settlements in Palestine, Israeli soldiers continued their violent attacks against these protests, shot and wounded more than 22 protestors, including international and Israeli peace activists, in addition to 5 reporters.

Furthermore, Israeli settlers carried out dozens of attacks against the residents and their property leading to the injury of 9 Palestinians, including 6 women, and set ablaze six Palestinian cars. They also tried to torch a mosque near Ramallah, and broke into a mosque near Hebron.

The Israeli government also approved the construction of 500 units for Jewish settlers in Shilo settlement, between Ramallah and Nablus, granted construction permits for 200 units planned to be built in Shvut Rachel near Nablus, in addition to a plan aims at constructing a new settlement east of Ramallah to replace the Migron illegal outpost the was evacuated by the army.

Israel also announced a plan to build a religious Jewish school and a temple near Itamar settlement, near Nablus with an estimated cost of 9 Million NIS.

Two new outposts were installed on Palestinian lands in Tal Romeida and Al-Karmel in Hebron, while the Israeli government approved a plan to build a settlement that is handicap-friendly in the place of a former military camp that was evacuated by the army in the Bethlehem district; it will be part of the Gush Etzion settlement block. Settlers also installed 18 mobile homes in a number of illegal outposts in the districts of Nablus and Ramallah.

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March 1, 2012 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Israeli national park expropriates Palestinian land

By Sophie Crowe | Palestine Monitor | February 17, 2012

Israel’s use of national parks to expropriate Palestinian land and prevent development in East Jerusalem is the subject of Bimkom’s latest, January, report.

Bimkom, a group of Israeli planners and architects advocating for planning rights, has studied the state’s strategy of making “green” settlements as a more convenient alternative to building its controversial Jewish-only housing enclaves alongside Palestinian communities in occupied East Jerusalem.

Designating urban space as a national park is not only easier but cheaper too, the state having no obligation to compensate owners.

The Jerusalem municipality leaves the creation of these parks to the National Planning Authority (in the Ministry of Interior), Bimkom noted, which deals more with the protection of nature and heritage than the rights of Jerusalem’s residents.

By passing authority over to the NPA, the municipality can absolve itself of responsibility for the people it professes to serve, the report argued.

The report came in the wake of a new national park set to appear on Mount Scopus, using land privately owned by residents of Issawiya and A-Tur, neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem.

The plan, currently under public review, was initially thought up by the Israel Nature and Park Authority, a body of the Ministry for Environment.

More recently it has been championed by the Jerusalem Development Authority – a government body helping the municipality with development projects – which was given 40 million NIS in 2005 to develop green spaces around the Old City of Jerusalem.

As a result of the state’s categorical neglect of Palestinians in Jerusalem, Bimkom began working with A-Tur and Issawiya residents years ago to devise development plans.

The national park will cover the neighbourhoods’ remaining available land, making Bimkom’s project impossible.

Locals, with the help of Bimkom and other rights groups, are raising legal objections to the plan, amid efforts to bring the public’s attention to their plight.

The case forwarded by the municipality is based on the site’s purported archaeological significance.

Municipal representatives pointed to “antiquities, caves … and burial sites from the era of the Second Temple,” Ha’aretz reported last month.

This argument has been rubbished by Bimkom, who argue what is really at play is Israel’s control over land, usually achieved by stunting Palestinian development.

Avraham Shaked – member of the Interior Ministry’s Jerusalem District Committee as an environmental advocate – agrees the prospective park is part of a more sinister political agenda.

“This process is definitely a political process,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “If it’s possible to develop the area for the good of the public it’s a positive thing. But this is not important as a nature reserve.”

The INPA – the management of which is dominated by several prominent settlers – denies doggedly that it is political. The group is “only concerned about preserving nature in the areas under its control,” a spokesperson told Ha’aretz.

“The declaration of the area [as a park] safeguards the last segment of the Judean Desert that begins on the Mount Scopus slope, and its importance stems from its view onto the desert, heritage landmarks and desert vegetation.”

While the state is forbidden from working on the site until the period for public comment is over, the INPA has forged ahead regardless.

Bulldozers have begun work on private land, moving a large mound of earth to create an effective wall which blocks a path to agricultural land. The municipality insists this measure was designed to prevent the area from being used as an illegal dumping ground, stopping the passage of trucks that would dump rubbish.

While residents remain unconvinced, the state’s response to their objection to this breach has been characteristically repressive and disproportionately severe.

On the morning of Monday, 6 February, border police arrived on the private land of Issawiya and A-Tur residents to continue preparatory work on the park.

When locals, along with Israeli supporters, gathered to protest the construction work, police arrested six people, five Jewish Israelis and one Palestinian.

The disparity between the management of space for West Jerusalemites compared to their counterparts in the east is stark, with national parks notably absent from the west.

“The Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are crowded and they suffer from extreme neglect and shortage of public infrastructure,” Bimkom architect, Efrat Bar-Cohen, said in a statement.

“The residents are in desperate need of space by which they can improve their quality of life, even if slightly.”

The building of the park will have ramifications beyond the strangling of Issawiya and A-Tur residents.

It will stretch into the E1 area of the West Bank, which represents an important reserve of space for Palestinian development, creating a string of Jewish Israeli-only settlement between the Old City and Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

Elad Kandl is director of the Old City projects at the Jerusalem Development Authority, whose website describes their work as rehabilitating and conserving the Old City.

He expressed succinctly Israel’s aim of curbing Palestinian development in Jerusalem. “When you make it a national park,” he told The Jerusalem Post in reference to open space, “you keep the status quo.”

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February 18, 2012 Posted by | Deception, Environmentalism, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , , , | 3 Comments

Video shows UK-manufactured JCB equipment destroying Jerusalem playground

By Adri Nieuwhof – The Electronic Intifada – 02/15/2012

On Monday, heavily-guarded Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian community center and a children’s playground in occupied East Jerusalem. The center was the only public space and playground for the Palestinian residents of the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan, a neighborhood of East Jerusalem adjacent to the Old City. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority executed the demolition with British-manufactured JCB machinery.

Video screenshot shows the Israeli police force protecting the JCB machine that demolished a Palestinian community center and a playground in Silwan on 13 February

The Israeli demolition of Palestinian property in occupied East Jerusalem that is not justified by military necessity is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Conventions. Moreover, by demolishing the only playground in Wadi Hilweh, Israel denies Palestinian children their right to play.

Article 31 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child enshrines the right “to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.” By ratifying the Convention in 1991, Israel is obligated to obey the directives of the Convention.

On 24 November 2011, JCB machines were seen in action demolishing two homes, a mosque and a barn in Umm Fagarah. The village is located in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank. On 20 June 2011, JCB machines were úsed to destroy the village of Bir al-Eid in the South Hebron Hills.

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February 15, 2012 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Video | , | 2 Comments

Israeli police close soccer club, charity fund in Silwan

Ma’an – 30/01/2012

TEL AVIV – Israeli police shut down two organizations in East Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli media reported.

The soccer club and charity fund in the Silwan neighborhood will be closed for 30 days, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

They are alleged to be connected to Hamas, the report said.

Last week, Israeli forces detained the director and several employees of Wadi Hilweh information center in the same neighborhood.

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January 30, 2012 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Veolia must stop assisting the occupier and leave Jerusalem, says Hamas spokesperson

By Adri Nieuwhof | The Electronic Intifada | January 24, 2012

On his visit to Switzerland, Hamas spokesperson Mushir al-Masri unequivocally condemned the Jerusalem Light Rail project. French companies Veolia and Alstom should stop assisting the occupier and leave Jerusalem, he said.

Al-Masri headed a delegation of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva. The Electronic Intifada reported on the first official visit of Hamas members to a European country since the 2006 PLC elections. I interviewed Al-Masri on Thursday, 19 January, about his views on the Israeli Jerusalem Light Rail project.

The first line of the light rail connects West Jerusalem with the illegal settlements of Pisgat Ze’ev and French Hill in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the annexation of East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. This status has been confirmed repeatedly by numerous UN resolutions and the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank.

I wrote about the negative impact of the light rail on Palestinian Shuafat in my blog of 14 December. The first line of the light rail – for which two thousand square meters of land belonging to Shuafat resident Mahmoud al-Mashni have been confiscated – has three stops in Shuafat.

Jerusalem Light Rail stop in Shuafat, 30 December 2011, 11.50 am (Ibrahim Yousef)

According to Al-Masri, “This a dangerous project, well planned by the occupier to maintain, strengthen, change the image of Jerusalem. To destroy the historical monuments of Islam. The aim is to link West Jerusalem to East Jerusalem and to make sure that Jerusalem will be the eternal capital of Israel. It proves that Israel does not believe in peace.”

When I inform him that Veolia repeatedly states that the light rail is important for the Palestinians because they use it, he responds: “Any company that assists the occupier does not contribute to peace. They should leave Jerusalem. They should respect the resolutions of international organizations. Companies that support the occupation violate international law. If Palestinians use the light rail, it is not an argument. They maybe have to use it because it is a means of transport that is available. Veolia should not look for excuses for the occupation.”

Through its spokesperson Al-Masri, Hamas has joined the protests and criticism against the Jerusalem Light Rail and the two French companies involved in it: Veolia and Alstom. Palestinian non-governmental organizations, the PLO, the Arab League, international law experts, solidarity activists, churches, trade unions, city councils, socially responsible investment advisers and pension funds have called on Veolia to end their involvement in Israeli projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

However, Veolia has chosen to continue its collaboration with the Israeli authorities in a project that was developed to serve the needs of the settlers in East Jerusalem. Veolia has therefore been targeted by the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Veolia Israel’s CEO Arnon Fishbein commented on Veolia’s attempts to sell off its shares in the light rail to Egged in the Israeli magazine The Marker on 26 January. “There were pressures inside Veolia, because there are many among the group who believe the company lost a lot of contracts because of this project”, he admits. “One way or another, we will never leave a contract in the middle”, says Fishbein. (Translated from Hebrew)

It is unlikely that the deal with Egged will be approved because Israel requires the operator to be a foreign and experienced company. According to The Marker, banks are not happy to entrust the project in the inexperienced hands of Egged.

Fishbein sums up Veolia’s commitment to the Jerusalem Light Rail: “We are not running away from any contract. We made a business agreement. If it would be approved, we’ll be happy to carry on with it. If not – we won’t stop the train.”

Instead of listening to the voice of the Palestinians and respecting decisions of UN bodies, Veolia Israel’s CEO expresses clearly the company’s dedication to a project of the occupying power Israel. The global BDS Movement will therefore continue its activism against Veolia.

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January 24, 2012 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery: Desecration of a Sacred Site

By Sylvia Schwarz| September 19th, 2010

The Ma’man Allah (Mamilla) Cemetery was the oldest Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem with graves dating back to the seventh century, comprised of 33 acres and tens of thousands of graves. After 1948 the Israeli ministry that maintained the site reassured world leaders that this important religious site would be cared for in perpetuity.

Less than fifteen years later, in the 1960s a park was built in part of the cemetery and a parking lot covered another part. These were followed by a school, football field, underground parking garage, and road. Electrical wires were laid in other sections.

The final few acres were dug up just before the beginning of Ramadan, in the middle of the night (as can be seen on the CNN video) so that Israel can build the Museum of Tolerance in conjunction with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the United States.

An enormous amount of knowledge was lost with the destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery, according to St. Paul based archaeologist, John E. Landgraf, Ph.D., because the era since the end of the Byzantine period and the beginning of the Islamic conquest (around 638 CE) up to the present day is the least known period of history in the Middle East generally. There is much to be learned by examining skeletal remains, headstones, and tombs. However, the Israeli Department of Antiquities, which has recently been taken over by the Orthodox Rabbinate, does not allow any human skeletal remains to be examined; Jewish remains must be re-interred as quickly as possible out of respect, whereas non-Jewish remains at the Mamilla Cemetery were disposed of along with tombstones and other debris in construction dumpsters.

Dr. Landgraf, who participated in a number of archaeological digs in Israel and the West Bank between 1965 and 1980, said that the Israeli Department of Antiquities was seldom interested in the preservation of remains or artifacts from the Islamic period. In the late 1960s the discovery of Muslim graves at Tell Gezer did not interest the American head archaeologist at the time, and so bulldozers were used to push remains, artifacts, and debris back into the graves.

Archaeological excavations are a way of learning about the past in an orderly fashion. One exposes history a layer at a time, and by careful examination knowledge can be gained of the various eras and cultures. When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 Israeli archaeologists used bulldozers to excavate the Western (Wailing) Wall area down to the late Roman period, destroying the homes of Palestinians living there at the time, and along with them the 1500-year history of the people who had lived there since the Byzantine period. “Thus there is a loss of continuity in our understanding of the past,” said Dr. Landgraf.

It is ironic that in the midst of mass hysteria over an Islamic center to be built in lower Manhattan, because some people feel that this would be disrespectful to the dead, that a genuine desecration of a sacred place occurs, unreported in most mainstream media. “The unfortunate reality is that Indigenous populations live in a world in which we are never safe from colonizer assaults even when we are dead,” says Wazayatawin, Ph.D., Indigenous Peoples Research Chair and Associate Professor, Indigenous Governance Program, University of Victoria, someone who has worked on behalf of Indigenous peoples in this hemisphere for many years, and sees many parallels with the experience of Palestinians. “The ongoing desecration of Indigenous burial sites, including the Mamilla Cemetery in West Jerusalem, reflects a deeply embedded colonizer mentality that views subjugated peoples as fundamentally inferior and unworthy of even the most basic dignities afforded other human beings,” she says.

Dr. Wazayatawin continues, “The act of erasing a people’s memory from the landscape is a necessary element in the colonization process. In order for the colonizers to legitimize their occupation of another’s land, they must eradicate all memories of the colonized, including even the human remains that demonstrate a deep and powerful connection to the land itself.”

Everywhere in Israel are the eradicated memories of the dispossessed Indigenous people. Old mosques are transformed into bars and nightclubs, so that patrons drink alcohol where Muslims used to pray. The history museum in Jaffa (more of a tourist site than an educational institution) is inexplicably silent about the existence of people in the city between the Roman times and Napoleon’s invasion. Street names are changed from their ancient Arabic names to new Hebrew ones. Golda Meir’s famous comment “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people” reflected her desire, not a reality, but it has been repeated so often that many Israelis believe it. The destruction of a cemetery shows starkly how little regard Israel holds for the humanity of the Palestinians. As Dr. Wazayatawin says, “There is something terribly wrong with a culture that digs up the dead of others. The societal justification for such a crime reveals its own sickness.”

I am an American Jew who began to question Zionism in 1982 after the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon. After reading everything I could on the Israel and Palestine I realized I could no longer remain passive on this issue while Palestinians suffered from Israeli human rights abuses and international law violations. I am actively involved in the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), in a state-wide campaign to get our state to divest from State of Israel bonds, and in other Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns. As I write this in June 2010 there are reasons for optimism as well as pessimism. Pessimism because the repression experienced by Palestinians increases daily. Optimism because the increasing repression is a result of the work that we are doing. I believe we will end Israeli Apartheid in my life time. This issue is all-consuming for me, and so I suppose it’s not horrible that I was laid off from my waste water design engineering job in February 2009 and have been unemployed since.

Here is the Promotion for the “Museum of Tolerance”

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September 19, 2010 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Timeless or most popular, Video | , , , , | Leave a comment

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