Day: 28 November 2021

Israeli bulldozers today destroyed water pipes that supplies hundreds of acres of Palestinian-owned lands in the village of Atuf, east of the town of Tammun in the Jordan Valley area, northeast of the occupied West Bank.

Mutaz Basharat, a senior official who monitors Israeli settlement activities, told reporters that Israeli bulldozers destroyed the 4-km water line used for irrigation of crops planted by Palestinian farmers in the area.

Palestinians who live in the Jordan Valley, mainly nomadic Bedouins, rely heavily on agriculture and livestock husbandry as a main source of living, and frequent such demolitions by the Israeli occupation authorities have badly affected the population and forced many of them to even abandon the area and move to cities.

Israel frequently demolishes Palestinian homes and structures in the Jordan Valley area under the pretext of lack of permits.

Officials believe that the Israeli frequent demolitions in the Jordan Valley area aim at displacing Palestinians and seizing their lands to build new colonial settlements.

The Jordan Valley area is located in the Area C, which represents more than 60 per cent of the West Bank and is fully controlled by Israel.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention currently remain on hunger strike in protest of their unfair and indefinite administrative detention without a charge or trial, according to the Detainees Affairs Commission.

The oldest hunger-striker of the four prisoners is Hesham Abu Hawwash who has been on hunger strike for 104 days, followed by Lo’ai Al-Ashqar and Nedal Ballout, on hunger strike for 49 and 31 days respectively.

Last week, a fellow prisoner, Kayed al-Fasfous broke his hunger strike after nearly four months of fasting nonstop. The decision to end his hunger strike came after he reached an agreement that secures his release at the end of his current administrative detention order.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Last month, UN experts expressed grave fear for the lives of the hunger strikers, and called on Israel to either release or charge the prisoners, and to completely end its unlawful practice of administrative detention.

“In violation of international law, Israel continues to use administrative detention to imprison more than 500 Palestinians — including six children — without charges, without trials, without convictions, all based on classified secret information that the detainees have no access to,” the experts said. “They have no recourse to challenging these undisclosed allegations, and they do not know when, or if, they are going to be released.”

Currently, Israel is holding over 450 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.

Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

JERUSALEM, The Government of Cyprus yesterday contributed EUR 100,000 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in support of the Agency’s core programs and services to Palestine refugees, the UNRWA said in a statement.

The contribution was presented to UNRWA by the Representative of Cyprus to the State of Palestine, Demetris Assos.

Reiterating Cyprus’ continued support for UNRWA services, Assos stated: “On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, I would like to express my appreciation for the remarkable and tireless efforts carried out by UNRWA. Cyprus will continue supporting the Agency’s indispensable activities in providing vital services and humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees.”

Assos said the donation was made at the headquarter of UNRWA in Jerusalem in order to underscore the importance of supporting the mission of the Agency there in its actual field of operations.

Karim Amer, UNRWA Director of Partnerships, said: “This donation comes at a very important time and we are grateful for the support of the Government of Cyprus. Funding of our core programs and services allows the Agency to support health and education professionals, as well as provide other vital functions to millions of Palestine refugees across the Middle East. On behalf of UNRWA, I would like to thank the Government of Cyprus for its continued funding to the Agency and its backing of Palestine refugees.”

Cyprus recently joined the dozens of states that participated in the International Ministerial Conference on UNRWA in Brussels on 16 November 2021. Those in attendance extended their strong continuing support to UNRWA where several states proceeded to pledge additional financial support for the Agency to bridge its current funding shortfall. Cyprus is continuing to support Palestine refugees and with this donation has contributed almost EUR 500,000 to UNRWA since 2016.

UNRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the UNRWA program budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall.

The Agency urged all Member States “to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency’s program budget.”

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Dozens of rampaging Israeli settler fanatics today attacked the village of Luban ash-Sharqiya, in the West Bank province of Nablus, and obstructed access of Palestinian children to their school in the village, according to witnesses.

Samer Eweis, mayor of the village, said scores of rampaging settlers protected by a military escort attacked the entrance of the village and harassed local Palestinian residents.

He said the attack coincided with the time the students go to their school in the morning, noting that the soldiers who accompanied the settlers in their attack denied access of hundreds of students to their schools in the village.

Soldiers also assaulted journalists who were covering the attack as well as attacked parents who gathered at the site of the attack to secure the way of their children.

This was the second attack in less than four days. On last Wednesday morning, dozens of Israeli occupation forces and settlers raided the village and attacked residents who tried to confront them.

During the attack on Wednesday, the occupation forces fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets directly and intensively towards the residents and students, who were heading to their school, causing around 60 cases of suffocation from teargas.

Violence and vandalism by Israeli settlers are commonplace across the occupied West Bank, and are rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities as the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction over Israeli settlers.

There are over 650,000 Israeli settlers living in Jewish-only colonial settlements across the West Bank in violation of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention which expressly bans the relocation of the occupying nation’s civilian population to the land of the occupied.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Moderate autumn conditions are expected today in Palestine with a further rise temperature approaching 4°C above the seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

Winds are easterly to southeasterly and light to moderate. Sea waves are low.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and in Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 24°C and a low of 16°C, and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 23°C and a low of 15°C. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley, temperature is expected to reach a high of 33°C and a low of 19°C, while it is expected to reach a high of 27°C and a low of 19°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Temperature is expected to rise again on Monday and Tuesday to become 5°C above the seasonal average, and mainly warm conditions are likely to prevail.

However on Wednesday, a significant drop in temperature is expected as a low pressure front is expected to affect the country paving the way for rain showers over most areas.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Minister of Health Mai Alkaila said today that 239 new cases of COVID-19, one death and 179 recoveries were registered in Palestine during the last 24 hours.

In her daily report on the coronavirus pandemic, Alkaila said one death from COVID-19 was registered in the West Bank, while no deaths were registered in the Gaza Strip.

A total of 3,141 COVID-19 tests were conducted during the reporting period. In the Gaza Strip, 70 coronavirus tests came out positive, while the West Bank had 169 new cases.

No update was available regarding the situation in occupied Jerusalem.

The Health Minister said that in the West Bank, 69 patients of COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, of whom 35 are in intensive care, including 11 on ventilators.

She pointed out that the recovery rate in Palestine has so far reached 98.4 percent, while active cases declined to 0.6 percent. Deaths stood at only one percent of total infections.

Concerning rollout of vaccines, the Health Minister said a total of 1,430,400 people have been fully vaccinated across Palestine, including 1,032,500 in the West Bank and 397,000 in Gaza.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Damascus, 99 new coronavirus cases, 92 recoveries, and 4 deaths were recorded in Syria on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry said in a statement that the total number of coronavirus cases detected in Syria has climbed to 47,863, while the recoveries have amounted to 28,886, and the reported fatalities have reached up to 2733.

On March 22nd, the first coronavirus case was registered in Syria in a person who came from abroad while the first death was recorded on 29th of the same month

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas today extended the state of emergency in Palestine for an additional 30 days to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state of emergency was first declared in March 2020 after the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in the Palestinian territories, and has been either extended or re-instated every 30 days since then.

The Palestinian basic law allows a one-time extension of the state of emergency, and if it has to be extended for a longer time, a new declaration should be issued.

The state of emergency gives the government the power to act in any way it deems necessary to combat the pandemic.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Damascus, 102 new coronavirus cases, 95 recoveries, and 6 deaths were recorded in Syria, according to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the total number of coronavirus cases detected in Syria has climbed to 47,965, while the recoveries have amounted to 28,981, and the reported fatalities have reached up to 2739.

In March last year, the first coronavirus case was registered in Syria in a person who came from abroad while the first death was recorded one week later.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency