Day: 15 December 2021

Palestine today recorded 386 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths, according to Health Minister Mai Alkaila.

She announced that 386 Palestinians tested positive for the highly contagious virus and two others died of it in the occupied territories.

As part of the 386 new cases, 259 cases were registered in the West Bank and 127 others in the Gaza Strip.

She identified the death cases as a resident of the West Bank district of Tulkarm and another of the West Bank district of Hebron.

She added that 360 Covid-19 patients recovered; 230 recovery cases in the West Bank and 130 others in the Gaza Strip.

She pointed that 58 Covid-19 patients are getting treatment in intensive care units and 101 others are currently receiving treatment at hospitals, including 13 who are on ventilators.

She said that the recovery rate in Palestine has so far reached 98.1 percent and the active cases account for 0.9 percent. The death toll stood at 1 percent of total infections.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Central Council is going to meet on January 20 to discuss important Palestinian issues, today said Salim Zanoun, Speaker of the Palestinian parliament in exile.

He said in a statement that the PLO’s Executive Committee and the presidency of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the parliament in exile, have agreed to convene the Central Council, second in authority to the PNC, “to discuss the issues of interest to the Palestinians and to confront the fierce colonial aggression facing the Palestinian issue.” It will also discuss internal Palestinian issues in order to face the challenges, mainly the Israeli settlement projects in the Palestinian territories, particularly Jerusalem.

“Convening the Central Council at this crucial stage is gaining importance in light of the extremely dangerous and complex circumstances to take the necessary decisions to confront the grave challenges our people have to face to gain their full rights in ending the occupation, self-determination, return to their lands, and to establish the independent and sovereign state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with relevant international legitimacy resolutions,” said Zanoun.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Israeli occupation forces today detained three Palestinian farmers and seized their agricultural tractor while they were working on blowing their land in the Masafer Yatta area to the south of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, today said Fouad al-Amour, a local activist.

He told WAFA that Israeli forces detained three Palestinians and seized their agricultural tractor while they working on their land in al-Rakeez area in Masafer Yatta.

Masafer Yatta is a collection of almost 19 hamlets that rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood.

Located in Area C of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and military control, the area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and soldiers in an effort to force the Palestinians to leave it.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Israeli settlers today fenced off a plot of land in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, said WAFA correspondent.

She said that a group of Israeli settlers braged their way into the neighborhood, where they installed barbed wires around the plot of land as a prelude to seize it.

The landowner, Ibrahim Salem, told WAFA that he was surprised to find out that settlers had broken into his land and fenced it with barbered wire.

He added that when he and his mother attempted to confront the settlers, they were physically assaulted.

He added that Israeli authorities handed him an order to “evict” his 200-square-meter house, inhabited since 1948, allowing him until the end of the current month to carry out the order.

The neighborhood has become a scene of massive protests against Israel’s settler-colonialism in the occupied territories since the Israeli occupation authorities decided to forcibly expel dozens of families from their houses in favor of colonial settler groups.

Palestinians have maintained that the Israeli occupation authorities decision to “evict” the families from their houses in favor of the settler groups is politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians.

Since the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel in June 1967, Israeli settlers colonial organizations, including Elad and Ateret Cohanim, have claimed ownership of Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Backed by the Israeli state, judiciary and security services, these organizations have been working on wresting control of Palestinian property and convert it into colonial outposts as part of the efforts to ensure a Jewish majority in the city, as well as on managing archaeological sites in Silwan and overseeing their excavation. This scheme involves building new colonial tourist sites, such as the “City of David”, to bolster their propaganda.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Israeli forces today ordered a stop on the construction of several structures in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, according to local sources.

Head of Susya Village Council said that Israeli soldiers barged their way into the village, where they handed notices ordering a halt on the construction of a livestock shack, a residential room, a water well and a children park that was established with funds from Save the Children in 2017.

Masafer Yatta is a collection of almost 19 hamlets which rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood.

Located in Area C of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and military control, the area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and soldiers in an effort to force the Palestinians to leave it.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

The Israeli occupation authorities Wednesday morning forced a Palestinian family to demolish their own houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, according to local sources.

The Nassar family used a bulldozer to tear down their three houses in the Wadi Qaddum area in line with the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem’s decision to avoid paying exorbitant fines if the municipality carries out the demolition on its own.

The houses were demolished purportedly for being built without licenses.

Mazen Nassar, a house owner, said that they were forced to carry out the demolition to avoid paying 80,000 shekels (some US$ 26,000) to the municipality, while pointing that their families consisting of 35 members were displaced as a result.

While Nassar’s father purchased the 2-donum plot of land 40 years ago, the occupation authorities, namely municipality, offered the Nassar family “compensation” to evict the land, as revealed by Mazen.

When the Nassar family refused to evict the land, they were subjected to acts of harassment by the municipal staff as a means to drive them out, with the municipality considering the land as a public utility.

Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.

At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.

Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as “residents” whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.

They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel’s separation wall.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the Israeli High Court could be liable for war crimes for their policies that led to the dispossession of Palestinians from their properties in Area C of the West Bank.

The report, Fake Justice, shows that the court’s support of Israeli planning policy is tantamount to support for dispossession and forcible transfer of Palestinians, a war crime under international law.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency