A Palestinian man stands amid rubble after Israeli forces demolished a home in Susiya, southern Hebron, in November 2011. (MaanImages/EAPPI, File) By Charlotte Alfred BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A tiny village of Palestinian families in the southern West Bank has had an unwelcome visitor in recent months. “He comes with small weapons and his camera, sometimes [...]
Israeli flags fly over Ulpana. Photograph: Sebastian Scheiner/AP Ulpana illegal outpost must be gone by July, Israeli government is warned Judges reject coalition’s plea for delay and set new deadline for demolition of unauthorised buildings on Palestinian land The Israeli government has been given a fresh deadline for the controversial demolition of a Jewish outpost [...]
Israel is plotting its version of the endgame in Palestine. Illegal Settlements Bonanza: Israel Plots an Endgame By Ramzy Baroud Israel’s colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967. On April 24, [...]
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli plans to build nine hotels in a settlement neighborhood in East Jerusalem aim to undermine tourism in Bethlehem, a Palestinian researcher warned Tuesday. Israel on Tuesday pushed forward with plans to build 1,100 hotel rooms in Givat Hamatos, a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem close to Israel’s checkpoint to Bethlehem. Khalil [...]
UK Supermarket Chain to Boycott Israeli Produce from Settlements – Common Dreams staff One of the largest supermarket chains in Britain has announced that it intends to boycott Israeli agricultural exporters that market produce from the West Bank settlements. One of the largest supermarket chains in Britain has announced that it intends to boycott Israeli [...]
terday 22:36 JERUSALEM (Reuters) — The Israeli government on Friday asked the Supreme Court for a three-month delay in the demolition of five apartment buildings in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank, backtracking on a previous pledge to clear the site by May 1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s coalition government agreed [...]
The Ibrahimi Mosque is considered the fourth holiest site in Islam. HEBRON (Ma’an) — Settlers raised the Israeli flag on top of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on Friday, in the first incident of its kind since 1967, a local official said. Zaid Jaabari, director of the Islamic Endowment, or Waqf, in Hebron slammed the [...]
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A special UN committee on Palestinian rights says it is “deeply troubled” by Israel’s cabinet decision to “legalize” three outposts in the occupied West Bank. The bureau says Israel “has blatantly supported and engaged in the expansion of illegal settlements … these brazen actions amount to the first official establishment of new [...]
PLO envoy says settlements prove Israel does not want two state solution. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The PLO ambassador at the United Nations on Wednesday condemned Israeli settlement activity in a series of letters to senior UN officials. “There have been confirmations by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, Human Rights Council and the Social [...]
Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood The story of a Palestinian boy coming of age amid profound upheaval in one of the world’s most contested cities. Filmmakers: Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood follows the story of Mohammad al-Kurd, a Palestinian teenager growing up in the midst of a remarkable nonviolent struggle [...]
Palestine and Its People: Understanding the Past By William James Martin linkhttp://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19252 It is impossible to understand the present Palestinian/Israeli conflict without understanding the past, in particular, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, who are not Semitic people, but indigenous to Eastern Europe. [...]
A Palestine solidarity protest on March 28, 2009 at Place du Chatelet in Paris, France. Photo Credit: Olga Besnard / Shutterstock.com LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. I read with great interest Peter Beinart’s recent New York Timesop-ed “To [...]
Members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East peacemakers meets in Amman, Jordan in January (Reuters/Jordan News Agency, File) By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Middle East peace mediators on Wednesday criticized Israeli settlement building and called on donors to meet aid pledges to the Palestinians as they sought to revive moribund peace talks. The [...]
New Israel Plans to Grab More Palestinian Lands By Jean ShaoulRecently released documents show that Israel’s Civil Administration, part of the Defence Ministry, has long earmarked up to 10 percent of the West Bank for new settlements or the expansion of existing ones. This is in contravention of international law, which [...]
(MaanImages/File) HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained an American-Palestinian activist in Hebron on Sunday amid closures in the city during the Jewish holidays, a local activist said. Forces evacuated Beersheba road in the center of the southern West Bank city to allow Jewish worshipers to visit the tomb of Othniel Ben Knaz, Hebron defense committee [...]
Har Homa settlement (MaanImages/Magnus Johansson, File) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday condemned Israel’s issuing of tenders for hundreds of new settler homes near Bethlehem. Israel’s Housing Ministry published tenders on Tuesday for 827 new houses in illegal settlement Har Homa, between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The new settler [...]
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers have planted trees on privately-owned Palestinian land near Bethlehem, a local official said Tuesday. Popular committee spokesman Ahmad Salah told Ma’an that a group of settlers planted tree saplings on 2,000 square meters of land in the Ein al-Qassis area of al-Khader. The land belongs to Hasan Mousa Hasan, who [...]
A woman stands near a construction site in Gilo, a Jewish settlement that Israel erected on land it captured in 1967. (Reuters/Baz Ratner, File) TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israel’s Jerusalem Mayor plans to establish a new Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, according to news reports Tuesday. Around 200 new homes are planned for the [...]
(MaanImages/Rami Swidan, File) SALFIT (Ma’an) — Four Palestinians were hospitalized in the northern West Bank after they were attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah on Saturday, locals told Ma’an. Salfit residents said the two men and two women were picking tumbleweed near Mikhmas junction outside Ramallah, when a group of young Israelis approached them. The [...]
On Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry said that it had cut working relations with the UN Human Rights Council.The Israeli government said it will also prevent a UN team from entering its territory to assess the effects of settlements on Palestinian rights. “‘Other places are worse than us’ is frequently the justification [...]
(MaanImages/File) HEBRON (Ma’an) — An Israeli settler shot an 18-year-old Palestinian in Hebron’s Old Cityon Tuesday morning, leaving him moderately injured, locals said.Medics at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron said Muhammad Hisham Abu Aker was shot in his right leg and is undergoing surgery. On Saturday, a Palestinian man was moderately injured when armed settlers stormed [...]
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas on Monday urged the UN Human Rights Council to send a fact-finding mission to Palestinian territories after Israelsaid it would block the visit.Israel on Monday said it had severed contact with the UN council after its launch last week of an international investigation into illegal Jewish settlements in the West [...]
Palestinian demonstrators run as Israeli forces fire tear gas during a protest near Ramallah (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman, File) RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said. Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed [...]
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) — The United Nations launched an international investigation on Thursday into Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, with the United States isolated in voting against the initiative brought by the Palestinian Authority. The UN Human Rights Council condemned Israel’s planned construction of new housing units for settlers in the West [...]
Bedouin children play near their houses in Arab Ar-Ramaden near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. (MaanImages/Khaleel Reash, File) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian children are systematically ill-treated in Israeli detention, and in some cases tortured, an international child rights group said on Tuesday. The report by Defence for Children International records that a majority [...]
A spring in Wadi al-Beidan near the West Bank city of Nablus. (MaanImages/Haytham Othman, File) By Jihan Abdalla NABI SALEH (Reuters) — Jewish settlers have seized dozens of natural springs in the occupied West Bank, barring Palestinians or limiting their access to scarce water sources, a United Nations report said on Monday. The UN Office [...]
Click on image to view slideshow HEBRON (Ma’an) — Settlers uprooted dozens of trees in the town of Beit Ummar, Hebron on Monday, local officials said. Muhammad Awad, spokesman of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, said settlers destroyed more than 31 grape trees and 15 olive trees, together with other shrubbery. [...]
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man and injured another in a clash in the southern West Bank, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said. Zakaria Abu Araam, 22, was killed as soldiers were raiding the Hebron area village of Yatta, onlookers said. He was pronounced dead at the Abu al-Hasan al-Qasem Hospital, [...]
Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank have witnessed an increase in arson attacks on their fields [EPA] Fadi Quran is little different from any other Palestinian living in the West Bank, where violence from Israeli settlers is part of daily life. Hailing from the town of Al-Bireh, less than one kilometre from the settlement [...]
Sewage system in Gaza (MaanImages/Hatem Omar, File) There is a wonderful photo at Anna Baltzer‘s site that shows a lane in Palestine. There are a few Palestinians walking through the lane and immediately above their heads are nets. Those nets are there to stop those in the laneway becoming the victims of refuse thrown by [...]
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Two children were killed Tuesday as a mortar left by Israeli forces exploded near Hebron, medics and police said. Hamza Zayed Jaradat, 12, and Zayed Juma Jaradat, 12, were killed in the blast in Wadi Reem, east of Hebron in the southern West Bank, medics told Ma’an. Hebron police chief Ramadan Awad [...]
An Israeli soldier wears phylacteries as he prays at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City February 22, 2012.(REUTERS/Baz Ratner) By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Roni Daniel saw the writing on the wall in a toilet. A former infantry commander who fought in three Middle East wars and now the dean of Israeli defense [...]
Homes Destroyed, Lives Shattered: Criminal Demolitions in the OPT’s By Graham Peebles Within the catalogue of criminality that is Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the destruction of Palestinian homes must rank as one of the most cynical and heinous. “Some 90,000 people are currently reported [...]
The settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem. (MaanImages/file) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — PLO official Saeb Erekat condemned an announcement by Israel on Wednesday that it has approved over 500 housing units in the settlement of Shilo. Settlers from nearby Shvut Rachel also began restoring 200 homes after the civil administration legalized the outpost, Ghassan [...]
A picture of the dirt road in Tel Rumeida.(MaanImages/file) HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces blocked off a dirt road in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron on Wednesday, a local advocacy group said. Youth Against Settlements said the closure aims to put pressure on the Abu Heikal family to leave the area, as they [...]
An Image grab of a video showing the arrest of Issa Amr.(Youtube) Soldiers raid community center, arrest local activist Published today (updated) 22/01/2012 20:29 There is a video available at http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454315 HEBRON (Ma’an) — Soldiers ransacked the office of a Palestinian community center in Hebron on Saturday and arrested the coordinator of a local coalition group. [...]
(MaanImages/Mamoun Wazwaz, File) NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities notified a Palestinian farmer in south Nablus on Sunday they will confiscate 20 dunams of his land and ordered the destruction of two wells in the area. PA official monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas said forces told Farhan Abdul Raziq of the [...]
A boy fills buckets with drinking water at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (MaanImages/Hatem Omar, File) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The head of the Palestinian Water Authority on Tuesday said the international community must act on Israel’s “apartheid” water policy in the West Bank. In January, the [...]
(MaanImages/Rami Swidan, File) NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers chopped down more than 100 olive trees belonging to Palestinians south of Nablus on Friday evening, a PA official said.The group tore down the produce in the valley neighboring the Tappuah settlement, between Yaduf and Jamain villages, Palestinian Authority official monitoring settlement activity Ghassan Doughlas said. Another [...]
By Daoud Kuttab A few months ago, a group of six Palestinian residents of Ramallah decided to take a bus ride to Jerusalem. This was no ordinary ride. The Israeli government-funded bus they boarded links West Bank Jewish settlements to Jerusalem and Israel. The trip on this settler-only bus that travels on Palestinian roads did [...]
Israeli settlers are pictured at a protest near the city of Tulkarem. (MaanImages/File) NABLUS (Ma’an) — Settlers vandalized a mosque in a Salfit village on Wednesday and attempted to set fire to several vehicles, a Palestinian Authority official said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma’an that residents in the village of Deir Istiya [...]
Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, responds to The Times’ Jan. 2 Op-Ed article, “Bibi and Barack.” Bennis is the coauthor of “Ending the U.S. War in Afghanistan: A Primer” and the author of “Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer.” If you would like to write a [...]
Palestinian and left-wing Israeli demonstrators rally during a weekly protest against a nearby Jewish settlement, seen in the background, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Dec. 16, 2011. (REUTERS/Darren Whiteside) By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israel’s government broke all its settlement-building records in 2011, diminishing prospects for establishing a viable Palestinian [...]
(MaanImages/Stringer) HEBRON (Ma’an) –Israeli settlers in Hebron attacked two Palestinian children in the West Bank city on Sunday, their family said. The group threatened Muhammad Abu Eisha, 12, and his brother Ibrahim, 11, with a knife before striking the children in the Tel Rumeida area, their father, also named Muhammad, told Ma’an. Israeli soldiers did [...]
Israel Razes Four Palestinian Houses Israeli troops demolish four Palestinian houses in the east of Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank, which they claim were endangering an archaeological site located nearby besides having been built ‘illegally.’ “They are in the area of the Hasmonean palace and were built illegally, without a permit,” said Guy [...]
Israeli settlers from Bracha settlement attack villagers from Burin near Nablus during the olive harvest. (MaanImages/Rami Swidan, File) NABLUS (Ma’an) — Armed Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers on Saturday attacked villagers in Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Authority officials said. PA settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma’an that residents of the illegal [...]
A Palestinian worker guards the gate that leads to the Karni crossing linking Gaza Strip to Israel. (MaanImages/Wissam Nassar, File) BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority condemned Tuesday Israel’s move to demolish a closed Gaza crossing, warning it would tighten the blockade on the coastal enclave. Israeli radio station Rishet Bet reported Monday that huge [...]
Extreme right wing Jewish settlers argue with protesters during a weekly protest, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem Dec. 30, 2011. (Reuters/Ammar Awad) TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Two Palestinian-owned vehicles were torched in East Jerusalem early Wednesday morning, police said. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an that “price tag” and “revenge” [...]
In West Bank, Israel’s Rule is That of the Jungle In the hands of this government, which mainly involve moving buildings built on private lands to ‘state lands’, have become instruments to deepen the occupation and obstruct the two-state solution. By Haaretz Editorial January [...]
Settlers ‘attack school children’ in Hebron Published Thursday 29/12/2011 (updated) 29/12/2011 20:59 HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers on Thursday attacked schoolchildren in Hebron city center, witnesses said.Locals told Ma’an settlers tried to stab Mustafa al-Qadi, a sixth-grade pupil at Qartaba primary school, and hit his friend who tried to defend him. Witnesses said Israeli [...]
