Jewish settlers raid Kifl Hares in bid to claim shrine
SALFIT, (PIC)– Thousands of Jewish settlers raided Friday the West Bank town of Kifl Hares north of Salfit to perform traditional prayers at what they have claimed is the tomb of Joshua the son of Nun.
Israeli Radio put the number of settlers that raided the site from Thursday night to Friday morning at 15,000. They were protected by Israel occupation forces (IOF).
Among the worshipers were Rabbi Yona Metzger and Israeli minister Yuli-Yoel Edelstein and four members from the Israeli Knesset.
The IOF banned Palestinians from roaming or mobilizing as Jews made prayers at the tomb.
According to a fresh report by the PIC, there are three Islamic shrines in Kifl Hares, Dhul-Kifl, Dhul-Nun, and a shrine built by Sultan Saladin, which Israelis wish to convert into a biblical site, naming it the shrine of Joshua, who led Moses’ army into Palestine from Jericho.
Palestinians fear Israel wants to hijack the shrine in the center of the village and add it to the alleged Jewish heritage list, as was done with Ibrahimi and Bilal Ben Rabah mosques.
The Sultan Saladin shrine lies amid the town’s old houses and has such Islamic features as a dome and green prayer niche facing Makkah.
The place was built by Sultan Saladin. Locals say they saw inside the date of construction etched in a rock alongside a Quranic verse.
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Jerusalemites clash with Israeli security forces
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Jerusalemite youths in Silwan town, south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, clashed with Israeli occupation forces who stormed the Bustan suburb after the Friday congregation.
Eyewitnesses said that as soon as the Jerusalemites finished their weekly congregation at the sit-in tent in the Bustan suburb, the IOF soldiers along with special forces stormed the suburb.
They added that young men threw stones at the invading forces and they responded by firing teargas leading to breathing difficulty among many worshippers.
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A minor, two others arrested amid West Bank raids
WEST BANK, (PIC)– Three Palestinians including a minor were assaulted amid Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raids sweeping the West Bank Saturday morning.
The IOF raided several villages in Jenin province and took custody of several Palestinians but later released them.
Military patrol men entered the villages of Bardala east of Tubas and Yabud and Qubatiyya south of the city and roamed the streets without report of arrest.
They arrested several Palestinians amid searches conducted in the Al-Ras Al-Ahmar area but later released those taken.
The IOF set up a random roadblock at the entrance of the Kufeirat searching vehicles and checking IDs.
IOF soldiers assaulted three men in Beit Ummar north of Al-Khalil on Friday evening. Among them was a youth aged 16.
The minor was left with bruises all over his body after being severely beaten.
IOF soldiers launched a tear gas cylinder at another man who then sustained breathing difficulties after choking on the gas, witnesses reported.
Palestinian sources in Dora south of Al-Khalil said IOF soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian man before arresting him. The victim was transferred to a Beersheba hospital to receive treatment.
Witnesses said police hounds were released against him and that he was severely beaten after his injury.
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Resheq denies Hamas departure from Syria
DAMASCUS, (PIC)– Ezzat al-Resheq, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, has denied media rumors that Hamas has relocated from the Syrian capital Damascus.
”[Hamas] still operates in Damascus,” Resheq said in a statement to the Palestinian Information Center. ”What media have circulated in that regard is completely false.”
The statement came after the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper published a report Saturday claiming that Hamas had decided to leave Syria and that Qatar had agreed to host the party’s political leaders only after both Jordan and Egypt refused to host them.
Resheq has altogether denied the report.
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IOF troops use rubber-coated bullets and water cannons to disperse demonstrators
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– IOF troops used rubber-coated bullets, teargas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators participating in weekly anti-wall demonstrations on Friday in various West Bank villages.
The confrontations with the occupation troops resulted in the injury of one Palestinian child and dozens of participants suffering breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling teargas.
In the village of Bilin, villagers and international solidarity activists participated in the demonstration called for by the popular committee to resist the wall and settlement and marched the streets of the village chanting slogans calling for unity, holding onto the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, resisting the occupation and the release of all prisoners.
As the demonstrators marched towards the apartheid wall, they were met by IOF troops with stun grenades, rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters. The IOF troops also used water cannons which were used to spray demonstrators with dirty water mixed with chemicals.
Demonstrators welcomed the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah and considered it a fulfilment of popular demand and a step in the right direction to enable the Palestinian people to confront the challenges.
In the village Nilin the residents held the Friday prayers on their fields close to the apartheid wall and the Imam praised, during his Friday sermon, the signing of a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
The Imam further said after Palestinians achieve unity, they should resist occupation united and confront occupation schemes to confiscate more Palestinian lands and to Judaize occupied Jerusalem.
After the prayers were over the participants marched peacefully towards the apartheid wall raising the Palestinian flag and the flags of Fatah and Hamas in an expression of support for the reconciliation and called on both movements to speed the implementation of the agreement on the ground.
As the demonstrators approached the apartheid wall, IOF troops fired teargas canisters towards them and live ammunition in the air to disperse them. Many demonstrators suffered breathing difficulties as a result of inhaling teargas.
Meanwhile, in the Ma’sarah village the IOF troops arrested Hasan Breijeyyah (41) and a foreign sympathiser who were participating in the anti-wall demonstration. A number of other participants suffered breathing difficulties as they inhaled teargas fired by the IOF troops.
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