Day: 10 September 2021

Weather today is partly cloudy and relatively hot in daytime with a significant drop in temperature, which approaches 2°C below the seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

Partly cloudy and relatively cold conditions are expected in the mountains and moderate conditions in other districts in the night and morning hours. Possible drizzle is expected on some districts. Moderate to active westerly to northwesterly wind blows. Sea waves are medium.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 26°C and a low of 18°C and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 25°C and a low of 17°C. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley temperature is expected to reach a high of 36°C and a low of 25°C while it is expected to reach a high of 29°C and a low of 21°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Saturday’s temperature is set to further drop, causing a slight relief in the heat stress. Possible drizzle or light rain is expected.

A rise in temperature is expected on Monday, paving the way to partly cloudy to clear and fair conditions.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Israeli forces Thursday evening injured two Palestinians, including a journalist, in confrontations in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Jenin, according to WAFA correspondent.

He said that confrontations flared up with Israeli forces at the entrance of al-Shuhada Street, which has been closed since 1994, as Palestinians took to the streets in solidarity with prisoners facing brutal Israeli mistreatment in Israeli prisons.

The soldiers opened fire towards protestors as well as towards local stores, hitting a journalist who was covering the events by a concussion bomb in his foot.

The journalist was rushed to Hebron Government Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, similar confrontations erupted with Israeli forces at al-Jalama checkpoint, north of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The soldiers opened gunfire towards local protestors, injuring one by a rubber-coated steel bullet in the foot.

The casualty, identified as a resident of Jenin refugee camp, was rushed to a hospital.

This came as the Israeli military continued to raid a number of Jenin-district villages and towns for the fourth day in a row, detaining residents and confiscating the recordings of surveillance cameras, as part of the massive manhunt for the six prisoners who managed to escape from the highly-fortified Gilboa Prison on Monday. The escapees’ whereabouts remain unknown.

Palestinians have slammed such raids and detentions as a form of “collective punishment” intended to force the six escapees to turn themselves in.

Palestinians organized rallies in solidarity with other prisoners in Israeli jails after the Israeli special units and soldiers cracked down on several prisons in an attempt to disperse some 400 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad and relocate them to other prisons, prompting prisoners to set seven cells on fire.

The planned relocation of the Jihad-affiliated prisoners was part of a set of punitive and repressive measures taken by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) following Monday’s escape of the six prisoners.

Other than the planned redistribution or dispersion of Jihad-affiliated prisoners, the punitive measures imposed by IPS included banning prisoners from leaving their rooms, depriving them of using facilities such as sinks, kitchens and cafeterias, in addition to banning lawyers and family visits.

Reports have surfaced of beatings, torture, the use of additional restraints, confiscations, and other abuses by Israeli wardens against defenseless prisoners.

This has prompted the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission to caution against sliding into “open confrontation” in prisons.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Israeli forces Friday overnight detained eight Palestinians, including close relatives of the six prisoners who recently managed to escape from a highly-fortified Israeli prison, according to local sources and Palestine Prisoner’s Society.

Director of PPS Office in Jenin Muntaser Samour said that a sizable Israeli military force raided Arraba town, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

While in the town, the soldiers ransacked many houses belonging to the close relatives of Mahmoud Ardah, one of the six escapees, turning them topsy-turvy, and detained Ardah’s sister, Bassema, and brothers, Raed and Muhammad.

The soldiers also barged their way into Bir al-Basha village, where they re-arrested two cousins of Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, 49, one of the six escapees. One of the detainees already served 12 years in Israeli imprisonment.

In the southern West Bank, Israeli soldiers detained a 17-year-old teen after brutally assaulting him in confrontations at Bab Az-Zawiya in Hebron city.

The confrontations erupted after the soldiers attempted to violently disperse a rally in solidarity with prisoners facing brutal Israeli mistreatment in Israeli prisons on Wednesday evening.

Still in Hebron district, sources confirmed a military raid in al-Arroub refugee camp, north of the city, resulting in the detention of an 11-year-old minor.

In Nablus district, Israeli military vehicles stormed Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya village, south of the city, where soldiers rounded up a Palestinian after breaking into his family house.

Six Palestinian prisoners, managed to escape from Gilboa Prison on Monday overnight through a tunnel in what was described as the most dramatic and unprecedented prison break, particularly that Gilboa, which was built in 2004 during the Second Intifada, is considered one of Israel’s most impenetrable prisons. Israelis have nicknamed it “the safe”.

Five of the escapees are members of the Islamic Jihad and the other is a member of Fatah.

Israeli forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost on a daily basis across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.

These raids, which take place also in areas under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, are conducted with no need for a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.

Under Israeli military law army commanders have full executive, legislative and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

A Palestinian diplomat today called for an immediate intervention to end Israeli brutal mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian Ambassador to Finland and the Baltic countries, Taïssir Al Adjouri, called in a press release Finland and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) to take urgent action to put an immediate end to the barbaric Israeli measures which are being used against Palestinian prisoners in retaliation for the escape of six Palestinian prisoners from an Israeli high-security prison.

Al Adjouri directed his call for the immediate cessation of Israeli crimes against Palestinian prisoners in total violation of the international law and more specifically the Geneva Conventions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

He demanded Finland and Baltic countries to intervene to condemn the Israeli crimes and violations and to hold Israeli occupation fully responsible for the results and consequences of this dangerous policy, and for the lives of all prisoners.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are holding protests in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners subject to brutal mistreatment in Israeli jails.

Protestors took to the streets in several West Bank districts condemning the repressive and punitive measures the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has imposed on prisoners in the wake of the escape of six prisoners from Israel’s most secure prisons.

In Nablus district, Israeli forces cracked down on a protest at Jabal Sbeih (Sbeih Mountain) a scene of weekly Friday protests against Israeli settler-colonialism and land pillage, near Beita town, south of the city.

Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Emergency and Ambulance Department at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), confirmed that Ala Badarneh, a journalist, was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the chest, while covering the events.

He added that a protestor sustained bruises due to falling from a high place after being chased by the soldiers during confrontations.

In Hebron district, a sizable Israeli force violently dispersed a rally in solidarity with prisoners in Beit Ummar town, north of the city, firing concussion and tear gas bombs towards the participants. No injuries were reported though.

In Jerusalem, large reinforcements of police barged their way into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and occupied the rooftop of the Dome of the Rock and the vicinity of Bab al-Rahma prayer area as a means to prevent a rally in protest with prisoners.

Palestinians organized rallies in solidarity with other prisoners in Israeli jails after the Israeli special units and soldiers cracked down on several prisons in an attempt to disperse some 400 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad and relocate them to other prisons, prompting prisoners to set seven cells on fire.

The planned relocation of the Jihad-affiliated prisoners was part of a set of punitive and repressive measures taken by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) following Monday’s escape of the six prisoners.

Other than the planned redistribution or dispersion of Jihad-affiliated prisoners, the punitive measures imposed by IPS included banning prisoners from leaving their rooms, depriving them of using facilities such as sinks, kitchens and cafeterias, in addition to banning lawyers and family visits.

Reports have surfaced of beatings, torture, the use of additional restraints, confiscations, and other abuses by Israeli wardens against defenseless prisoners.

This has prompted the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission to caution against sliding into “open confrontation” in prisons.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

The Palestinian embassy to Zimbabwe condemned Israel’s brutal mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

The embassy condemned “in the strongest terms Israel occupation authority’s acts of collective punishment through brutal raids and attacks towards Palestinian detainees and their family members, following the break free of the six Palestinians freedom fighters from Israeli’s high security Gilboa jail.”

“Israeli apartheid authority has embarked on a terror campaign against the Palestinian administrative detainees and their families by escalating its aggression through brutal assaults, arrests, torture, solitary confinement, denial of their provision of food and water among other human rights guaranteed to them by the international law. Palestinians live in appalling conditions and are subjected to harsh treatment such as physical and psychological abuse: arbitrary beatings, excessive use of solitary confinement, torture and the denial of family visits,” it added.

It pointed that there about 520 Palestinian administrative detainees and 4650 political prisoners, including 200 children and 40 women. More than 230 Palestinians have died in Israeli occupation jails through torture, medical negligence by Israeli prison officials and real intentions to kill them.

While stressing that Israeli raids and attacks constitute war crimes that require urgent international intervention and that “collective punishment is prohibited under international law” an, the embassy called on “Israel to free all Palestinian detainees held in administrative detention without charge in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It expressed the State of Palestine’s disappointment with the international community’s failure to take action against Israeli violations in the occupied territories since 1967.

“We therefore, call on the international community to condemn and hold Israeli occupation power for its crimes against Palestinians,” it concluded.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Sada Social Center, a Ramallah-based social media watch group, said today that during August 2021, nearly 50 violations against Palestinian digital content and the rights of Palestinian users have been monitored.

These violations and restrictions, according to the group, mainly affected the content and accounts that dealt with the Palestinian situation and the ongoing violations of the Israeli occupation.

The restrictions also affected the Palestinian accounts that covered the recent developments in Afghanistan, which led to confusing news coverage and media work for Palestinian journalists and press institutions.

These restrictions also included some kind of penalties against Palestinian media pages that were subjected to the removal of content and publications, said the Center.

The Center said it had received several complaints from people whose accounts on Facebook were removed from publishing because of their use of several terms that are highly censored by the Facebook administration.

“These sites are no longer satisfied with pursuing Palestinian content, but rather practice a kind of organized blocking of information, publication and participation in many issues around the world,” the group said in a statement.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Israeli repression units raided today several sections in Asqalan Prison, where Palestinian political detainees are incarcerated, and conducted wide-scale searches in the rooms of the prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

The PPS said in a statement that the Israel Prison Service has imposed new penalties against the Palestinian prisoners there, in the aftermath of the miraculous escape of six Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa Prison on Sunday-Monday night.

The Israeli prisons’ repression units are composed of heavily trained soldiers armed with knives, batons, teargas canisters, electric sticks and other means of repression. The soldiers are especially trained to attack Palestinian political prisoners and keep them under constant crackdown.

The Israeli occupation authorities are incarcerating more than 4,500 Palestinian and Arab prisoners for resisting the Israeli occupation of their homeland.

In recent years, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention have launched multiple strikes to demand better imprisonment conditions, including an end to the unjustified Israeli policy of raiding prisoners’ sections.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

A Palestinian medical doctor was announced dead on Friday evening shortly after he was shot and critically injured by Israeli occupation forces in the old city of Jerusalem, according to witnesses.

Israeli police officers reportedly opened gunfire at Dr. Hazem Joulani near Bab al-Majlis, one of the main gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, critically injuring him. The Israeli police also denied access of Palestinian civilians who attempted to provide him with first aid.

The Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission said Joulani, who was rushed to Hadasah Medical Center for treatment, was announced dead of his wounds a couple of minutes later.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

Three Palestinian children survived a shooting attack today which was carried out by an Israeli settler near the town of Al-Ram, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, witnesses said.

An Israeli settler armed with a rifle reportedly arrived by car at the northern entrance to the town, before he opened gunfire in the direction of three Palestinian children who were present at the site.

None of the children was injured.

Settler violence against Palestinian civilians is a frequent occurrence in the occupied West Bank, and is almost never prosecuted by the Israeli occupation authorities.

There are some 600,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank in violation of international law.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated today his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun on the formation of the new Lebanese government.

President Abbas welcomed this important step that will enable the Lebanese brethren to face challenges and and achieve security, stability and prosperity.

President Abbas also expressed his appreciation for Lebanon’s firm support of the Palestinian people and their just struggle for the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The President also congratulated Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the brotherly Lebanese people on the formation of the new government.

Earlier today, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri signed a decree to form a new government that includes 24 ministers.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency

At least seven Palestinian civilians were detained on Friday evening by the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Sa’ir, in the occupied West Bank province of Hebron, according to Palestinian security sources.

The seven Palestinians, all from the family of Jabbarin, were on a trip on the outskirts of the town when they were apprehended by the Israeli occupation army. The seven were taken to an unknown destination.

No further details were available regarding the incident until the moment.

Of note, frequent detentions of Palestinian civilians under multiple security pretences by the Israeli occupation forces have become a daily reality under Israel’s military occupation regime.

Source: Palestinian News & info Agency