Palestine: 7 year-old violently arrested, clashes, call for protests on June 5th & plan to judaize Jerusalem

Seven Year-Old Violently Arrested in Silwan

Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) — Sunday, 29 May, 2011

Special police forces raided the house of 7 year-old Ali Siyam this afternoon and illegaly arrested him, causing injury requiring hospitalization to both his aunt and father.

At 3 PM this afternoon, Israeli police forces raided the Alabasya neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem to arrest 7 years-old Ali Siyam from inside his parents’ house. Despite his young age, which is significantly younger than the age of legal responsibity, the boy was taken for questioning at the Russian Compound police station.

When Siyam’s father and aunt tried to protect the boy from the cops, they were violantly assaulted to a degree that required their evacuation to the Hospital. Siyam’s father, Hammouda, was beaten and maced with pepper-spray inside the house and his aunt, Amal, was struck with a rubber-coated bullet in her thigh. The two are currently at the Hadassa Har Hatzofim hospital.

On arrival to the police station, Siyam was taken in for questioning. The boy’s lawyer, Adv. Lea Tzemel, who was already present at the place was denied entry to the station and access to her client. When she proceeded to try and walk through the gate regardless, she was herself detained.

After being questioned for stone-throwing for a number of hours in the presence of his mother, the boy was eventually released from custody at 8 PM.

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Clashes erupt after settlers re-visit Joseph’s Tomb

NABLUS, (PIC)– Violent clashes erupted in Nablus after Israeli soldiers infiltrated Joseph’s Tomb early Monday morning east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

The soldiers rushed in to offer protection to Jewish settlers who went there to perform religious rituals.

Palestinian youth responded to the raid with stones and Molotov cocktails, as the army proceeded to pursue them, witnesses reported.

They added that more than 40 Israeli patrols and over ten busloads of settlers gathered at the Beit Fourik checkpoint east of the city, and several trucks carrying stones made it to the site after Israeli soldiers secured the area and Palestinian security forces withdrew.

Locals reported that the soldiers evacuated their homes detained them in rooms to use them as control points near the site of the operation.

Witnesses told the PIC that the settlers came by foot to the tomb – for the first time ever – at 3am under protection of the army.

Locals considered the move a provocation and said the settlers wanted to deliver the message that they will enter and do as they please.

They expected that the trucks of rocks would be used to renovate and fortify the tomb.

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Calls for escalation of protests to mark occupation of W. Bank, Jerusalem

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Muslim Youth Association has announced several events that will take place in cities across the West Bank to mark the 44th anniversary of the occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, East Jerusalem, and Palestine as a whole.

The MYA said in a statement on Sunday: “On June 5, 1967, the Israeli army set out to occupy what remained of Palestine, Golan Heights, and Sinai, so that we would live 44 years of disgrace and shame. Today we have decided to be victorious.”

”In memory of the occupation of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the West Bank, we call for determination to liberate the land and the people, and to rise up against the force of tyranny,” the MYA added.

The group also called for the need to escalate confrontation with occupation forces and to address them with “all strength and determination”.

The events include marches that will take place in nearly every major city in the West Bank on Friday June 3 to renew commitment to the liberation of the Aqsa Mosque.

On Sunday June 5, “stands of anger” and a general commercial strike will be staged at 11:00am, when marches will be launched in city squares in Al-Khalil, Nablus, and Ramallah.

Tuesday will include a comprehensive escalation against Israeli forces and settlers in areas of friction near Israeli checkpoints in and around Jerusalem as well as those in Kalandia, Hawara, Rachel’s Tomb, Bil’in, Ni’lin, and the bypass roads and outposts in Al-Khalil.

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ICC: “Israel” spending more than a billion dollars a year to Judaize holy city

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Islamic Christian Commission in support of Jerusalem and the holy sites said that the Citadel of David mosque was not the first one that Israel converted into a Jewish site.

The statement comes as Israelis celebrate the opening of a museum built on the ruins of the mosque.

”Israel has been taking control of the mosques and converting their usage to be consistent with Israeli objectives and plans to Judaize Jerusalem and erase its identity and religious symbols,” declared ICC secretary-general Hassan Khater.

Situated in the Al-Khalil gate, the museum serves as a dangerous center in finishing the Judaization of Jerusalem, Khater stated.

During the opening ceremony, Israeli officials earmarked $100 million to support Judaization projects in Jerusalem, projects related to culture and history.

According to Khatir, the sum does not represent what is actually spent on the city by the Israeli development fund and the Jerusalem municipality as well as private religious funds. He estimated that the total amount of what is spent to rise above one billion dollars a year.

The museum opening comes after Israeli Prime Minister confirmed during a speech to US Congress that Israel would not compromise on Jerusalem in negotiations with the Palestinians.

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Zionist plan to change the demography of occupied Jerusalem within five years

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation government has revealed a plan to further Judaize occupied Jerusalem and change demographic realities under the pretext of propping up the economy of the city.

The Prime Minister’s office has announced recently the government’s intention to approve the spending of over 80 million dollars to carry out what it called “a comprehensive economic plan” over the next five years.

The plan, which is considered by Palestinian parties a noticeable escalation of the Judaization of the holy city, is to implement a number of projects that will change the face of the city and to encourage new segments of Israeli society to settle in it.

According to the announced plan 42 million US million dollars will be spent on developing the infrastructure and developing the Western Wall (the Buraq Wall as it is called by the Palestinians) to encourage tourism.

The Zionist Ministry of Tourism will also spend 21.5 million US dollars to encourage the building of hotels to increase the number of hotel rooms available to tourists in the city.

The plan also includes 20.5 million dollars for establishing research and science institutes which requires establishing new buildings.

Another 20.26 million will go to building student accommodation and an academic city which aims to attract economically productive people to live in the city.

The statement from Netanyahu’s office also said that the government might add Jerusalem to the areas which get government support where university students who finished their military service will be legible for government grants.

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IOF places tight grip on village near Nablus

QALQILYA, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) has tightened procedures at the gates of the separation wall in the Azzun Atma village near Qalqilya, locals have reported.

For the past week, the IOF has been curbing civilian movement there through provocative searches and inspections.

Long lines of students, farmers, and laborers have mounted daily outside the gates as searches continue.

Azzoun Atma is encircled by the Orinet, Shaarei Tikva, Elkana settlements, which are said to serve as a “death certificate” to the farming village as they blockade it and take the majority of the land and restrict the possibility of its expansion.

Walls have been erected on all four sides of the village for alleged security reasons.

Khalid Raddad, a resident, points out that the planning situation has isolated Azzoum Atma from nearby villages Beit Amin and Sineria, which serve as natural extensions to it. The result is that families are separated from each other as well as farmers from their fields.

“We are forced to cross the wall’s gates which are only opened for us during the daytime after waiting hours in an inspection line. We have to also cross a physical inspection whenever we want to leave the village to buy something or for work or for school or just to go to whatever is beyond the wall,” Khalid says.

He goes on to say that outsiders are not permitted to enter, and school teachers and women married outside face major inconveniences when going in and out of the village and must produce permits for that.