Palestine: Palestinian village faces destruction, Al Aqsa stormed, farmers attacked, family forced out of home & arrests

(File photo)

Palestinian village faces destruction over Israeli settlements

Press TV (video found in original source)

A Palestinian village in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ (PBUH)’s birthplace, in the occupied West Bank is under threat of complete destruction as a result of Israel’s illegal settlement construction plans, Press TV reports.

Villagers in Khirbet Zakaria argue that they cannot travel freely outside of the village without being harassed by Israelis and are not allowed to develop infrastructures including schools and hospitals.

They also complain about being disallowed to build houses from stone, so they have no choice but to build their residences with wood and tin roofs.

In addition, villagers have been forbidden from calling to prayer, and have been banned from completing the construction of their local mosque.

The village is surrounded by Israeli settlements on all sides. Its residents have even been offered money to evacuate the area as Israel continues with illegal plans to expand settlements.

“Life is difficult. It is difficult for our children to learn as there are no resources. Children have no place to play. Life is difficult as there is lack of transport, and we cannot walk anywhere as we face dangerous violence from those living nearby,” a female resident of Khirbet Zakaria village said.

“We call on the international community to tell Israel to put an end to its settlements so we can have a normal life like others,” she added.

“We can only build temporary structures, which are cold in the winter. Yet, Israel can build all around us,” an old man in the village said.

The Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most countries because those territories were captured by Israel in a 1967 war, and are thus seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.

More than half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem)…

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Jewish settlers storm Aqsa mosque

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Jewish settlers stormed the holy Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Monday morning in an attempt to offer Talmudic rituals.

Local sources said that Israeli policemen arrested one of the guards inside the mosque for trying to stop the settlers from performing those rituals inside the Islamic holy shrine.

They said that the policemen took away Tarek Abu Subaih for trying to disrupt the settlers’ attempt.

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Settlers attack farmers east of Salfit

SALFIT, (PIC)– Israeli settlers attacked on Sunday Palestinian farmers from the village of Yasuf, east of Salfit, while planting wheat and barley in their land, near Za’tara military checkpoint.

Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official in charge of settlements file in the northern part of the West Bank, confirmed in a statement that dozens of settlers from Taffouh settlement built on the lands of Eastern Salfit, attacked farmers who were planting wheat in their lands near the settlement.

Israeli force intervened to protect the settlers who continued to provoke citizens, where they blocked the main road between Nablus and Ramallah, and threw citizens’ cars with stones.

The occupation forces and settlers looted and stole the most fertile land in the village of Yasuf in favor of the settlements of Taffouh and Ariel, while ruining its olive trees near Za’tara checkpoint.

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Israeli court gives family in Sheikh Jarrah three days to leave their home

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli higher court postponed on Sunday the evacuation of Shamasneh family from its home in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood till the third of January, Wadi Hilwa information center reported.

The Israeli district court had issued a verdict earlier this month considering the house a custodian of absentee property and giving the family of Ayoub Shamasneh until December 12, 2012 to evacuate it for the benefit of Jewish settlers.

The family’s lawyer, however, appealed to the higher court against this verdict and obtained a decision delaying the evacuation, pending the response of the settlers.

Ayoub Shamasneh told the center that he lives with his wife, his son, daughter-in-law and six grandchildren in this house.

The family has been living in this house since 1964 and used to pay the rent to the Jordanian authorities before paying the Israeli authorities which has renewed the lease and made the family a tenant under custody since 1968.

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Report: The IOF kidnapped 88 Palestinians from Al-Khalil in December

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– The Palestinian prisoner society said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped 88 Palestinians from Al-Khalil city alone during December 2012.

“A spirit of extreme revenge and hostility was clearly noticed when the soldiers dealt with the detainees during their arrest, and there were obvious signs of sadistic and fanatical behavior in the way of detention, interrogation and treatment,” the prisoner society said in a report on Sunday.

“[The Israeli soldiers] violated the international humanitarian law and all human, moral and religious values when they assaulted the detainees with rifle butts, severely beat them, used the policy of destruction and detonation [during their raids on homes] and locked up families in one room of their houses,” the center added.

The center also said it documented the arrest of 12 children under age 18, most of them were taken to Etzion detention center near Bethlehem city where they endured harsh incarceration conditions.

14 of the total reported detainees were transferred to administrative detention without any charges and 28 others are either school or university students who missed their final exams because of their arrest during the month, according to its reports.

It added that more than 30 detainees were transferred to different interrogation centers, while the Israeli military court of Ofer kept stealing money from the detainees through imposing illegally heavy fines against them.

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IOF kidnap three Palestinians in W. Bank raids

JENIN, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Monday launched violent raids in different West Bank areas near Jenin and Nablus cities and kidnapped three Palestinians.

Local sources reported that dozens of Israeli troops broke into and ransacked the house of Mohamed Abu Baker in Rummana village before they took him in chain to an unknown place.

The IOF also established a military checkpoint near Yabud village and interrogated a 30-year old man named Mutassim Yehiya before handing him a summons from the intelligence.

Different other areas of Jenin such as the villages of Methlon, Ceres and Sanur also saw intensive deployment of Israeli troops and patrols.

Other two young men were also reportedly kidnapped during raids in Beta village near Nablus city.

Consequently, violent clashes broke out at dawn between young men from Beta village and the invading troops.

In a separate incident on Sunday, Israeli intelligence officers under military protection stormed Silwan district in occupied Jerusalem and handed many young men summonses for interrogation, local sources said.

On the evening of the same day, the IOF raided a number of homes in the nearby town of Issawiya in Jerusalem and kidnapped a young man named Mohamed Mustafa.

Local sources said the military campaign in Issawiya has been ongoing for 13 days and the Israeli troops are still deployed in different parts of the town.

In another incident, Israeli bulldozers owned by the water company Gihon removed many water meters and cut water to homes in Issawiya town at the pretext that the resident failed to pay service arrears.

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IOF soldiers arrest, summons West Bankers

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinians and summoned a liberated prisoner in the West Bank over the past 24 hours.

Local sources told the PIC that IOF soldiers stormed Daheria village, south of Al-Khalil, and broke into the house of Mohammed Al-Tal, 20. They said that the soldiers took the young man away after searching his home.

The sources pointed out that Tal works with the PA security apparatuses, and is the sixth security element to be arrested by the IOF in less than a week.

Meanwhile, two other Palestinians were detained in Nablus on Saturday night on suspicion of tossing firebombs at IOF patrols south of Nablus, Hebrew press reported on Sunday.

It said that a homemade pistol, two knives, and one more fire bombs were found in the possession of those two young men, without mentioning their names.

In another development, IOF soldiers broke into the home of a liberated prisoner in Beitunia, west of Ramallah, at dawn Sunday and handed him a summons.

Eyewitnesses told Quds Press that Ahmed Qutaina was released from Israeli occupation jails only ten days ago after almost two years in captivity for affiliation with the popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Family members said that IOF soldiers burst into their home at dawn and searched it thoroughly for Qutaina’s mobile phone. They said that an officer then questioned Qutaina for hours before handing him the summons.

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