Day: 23 December 2021

Israeli police Thursday morning warned a Palestinian family against partaking in sit-in protests close to its house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, according to WAFA correspondent.

She said that police barged their way into the neighborhood and cautioned the Salem family against participating in any solidarity activities close to their house, at the imminent risk of takeover by settlers, in the neighborhood, which has become a scene of massive protests against Israel’s settler-colonialism in the occupied territories.

Ibrahim Salem said that they were surprised this morning to receive from the police a notification of a court hearing, scheduled on December 30, without giving any additional details on the reasons behind summoning the family to the court, while pointing that the family received a warning against participation in events denouncing settlers’ attempts to forcibly displace it and takeover its house.

He pledged that the family will continue to confront the settlers’ ambitions to seize its house.

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

Some 25 Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces today enforced the closure of Burqa village, north of Nablus city, according to local and medical sources.

They said that five Palestinians sustained gunshot injuries and 18 others, including journalists, suffocated from tear gas as Israeli forces attacked the residents of the northern West Bank village of Burqa protesting the closure of their village.

All of the injuries were treated at the scene.

This morning, Israeli forces sealed off the village entrances with earth mounds, disconnecting it from Jenin and Nablus cities purportedly to secure a settler rally on the nearby by-pass road.

Israeli severely restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement through a complex combination of approximately 100 fixed checkpoints, flying checkpoints, settler-only roads and various other physical obstructions.

Closures besides to other measures, taken under the guise of security, are intended to entrench Israel’s 51-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project which it enforces with routine and frequently deadly violence against Palestinians.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas today stated in his Christmas message that Christmas reminds us of the importance of justice, resilience and the Palestinian people’s quest for human dignity and freedom.

Following is the full text of President Abbas’ message on the occasion of Christmas 2021:

Celebrating Christmas every year is a glorious occasion dear to our hearts. Christmas has its own splendour, as it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the messenger of peace, who was born in a Grotto in Bethlehem, where today stands the Nativity Church. Christmas is an occasion that brings love, tolerance and joy to every house in Palestine, and it carries a message of hope for a better future from Palestine to the hearts of millions of believers.

Christmas is a solemn occasion that makes every Palestinian proud, reminding us of Jesus Christ, and of the importance of justice and resilience. We in Palestine live the message of Christmas with hope and determination of human dignity and freedom. We embrace Christmas as a religious and national celebration, and greet all those who celebrate it.

The people of Palestine has taken care of the Holy Sites for centuries as part of our national identity and duty. On this land there are Mosques and Churches that have been frequented by worshipers for centuries by the same people that are today still struggling for the right to live in freedom and dignity, including freedom of worship and movement, all enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The historic Status Quo of all Holy Sites, including the Al Aqsa Mosque Compound and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the Ibrahimi Mosque and in the rest of Palestine are at the core of our national struggle.

This Status Quo and historical reality in Jerusalem is being threatened by a belligerent occupation and Israeli extremists, whether it is about holding Jewish prayers in Al Aqsa or turning Jaffa Gate into a new Israeli settlement or over church property that will separate the Armenian from the Christian Quarters. We are following with great concern the latest serious developments taking place at the Armenian Quarter, the New Gate and Jaffa Gate, Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, let alone the ongoing restrictions and outrageous provocations imposed upon our people in Damascus Gate and attempts at forcibly displacing Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and elsewhere.

We call upon all countries and churches not only to oppose and condemn such Israeli policies and practices, but also to bear their responsibility and take concrete steps stop and prevent such Israeli policies and practices in order to protect the Palestinian people and fulfill our long overdue inalienable rights, including preserving the entrenched Christian presence in Palestine, the Holy Land. This has been explicitly stated in the statement of the Heads and Patriarchs of Jerusalem Churches in Jerusalem issued on December 15, 2021.

Bethlehem has been turned into an open air prison surrounded by 18 colonial-settlements and over 100,000 settlers, disconnected from Jerusalem by the illegal Annexation Wall. Additionally, it has been heavily suffering from the consequences of COVID19, including outrageous restrictions to ban Christian and Muslim pilgrims imposed by the Israeli government.

Palestine as part of its responsibility towards preserving heritage has proudly inaugurated the restoration works of the Hisham Palace in Jericho that are taking place under our supervision. This comes in addition to the impressive restoration works of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem as well as the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the latest UNESCO inscription of our embroidery as Intangible Cultural Heritage, reminds the world of our potential which must be liberated. We are thus looking forward to engage with our partners all over the world to promote this important historical legacy that could alleviate the burdens from which our people have been suffering from for decades.

As we celebrate Christmas we shall not forget the reality of oppression that we have around us, with children that no longer have a home due to the illegal and immoral policy of demolitions; we think of how many people will not make it to Bethlehem out of fear of attacks by Israeli settler terrorists that continue to act with impunity, of political prisoners in Israeli jails who are away from their families, as well as our people in exile and millions of relatives and friends, including mainly from the Arab world, who are denied from joining us due to the Israeli occupation.

I pay tribute to our people, the people of Palestine, wherever they are, and I say to them: Be proud of your history and identity. Likewise, I say to the world that Christmas is a Palestinian message of hope that our people continue to embrace with love and hope toward the achievement of justice, freedom and peace.

I wish the world a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the city of Bethlehem and from the blessed land of Palestine. In particular, I extend my sincerest and deepest Christmas wishes to Palestinian Christians, the Palestinian people everywhere and all those celebrating.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Israeli settlers today uprooted hundreds of olive trees in Yatta and Tarqumiya towns, south and northwest of Hebron city, according to local sources.

Coordinator of the Protection and Steadfastness Committees in Masafer Yatta, Fouad al-Amour, told WAFA that settlers destroyed a one-donum-and-a-half grove planted with over 60 olive trees belonging to Ahmad Hamada.

He added that the assailants came from the colonial settlement outpost of Avigayil in the occupied South Hebron Hills, while pointing that the move was intended to displace Palestinian farmers and make room for colonial settlement expansion.

Meanwhile, settlers also uprooted 300 olive saplings belonging to Atta Ja‘afra and his brother, Aziz, in al-Taybeh area of the town, according to the coordinator of the Protection and Resilience Committees, Muhammad Abu Dabbous.

He added that it was the third time for settlers to destroy Palestinian groves in the area, including by spraying them with incendiary materials, while pointing that the move was intended to connect the colonial settlement of Adora with that of Telem.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settlers violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Over 700,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.

The number of settlers has almost tripled since the Oslo Accords of 1993, when settlers’ number estimated 252,000. Illegal colonial settlements have leapt from 144 to 515 in that time.

Israel’s nation-state law that passed last July stated that building and strengthening settlements as a “national interest.”

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas’ Wednesday meeting with US National Security Adviser was candid and frank, according to the Presidency.

Speaking to Voice of Palestine, Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh stated that President Abbas’ meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday in Ramallah was candid and frank.

During the meeting, Abu Rudeineh added, President Abbas stated that he was waiting for US President Joe Biden to fulfill his promises on the two-state solution, reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem and ensuring that Israel halts its colonial settlement construction, respects the fragile status quo Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and stops forced expulsions of Palestinians from their houses in Jerusalem.

He added that Sullivan affirmed the US administration’s commitment to fulfilling its promises and was making considerable efforts to achieve outcomes on all these issues.

Sullivan informed President Abbas that he informed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about President Biden’s commitment to the two-state solution and interest in reopening the consulate in East Jerusalem as well as his reservation on all Israeli colonial settlement measures.

Abu Rudeineh concluded that significant dues were ahead of the Palestinian leadership, particularly with regards to convening the Palestinian Central Council.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Israeli forces Thursday overnight detained 14 Palestinians and shot another in multiple raids across the West Bank, according to local and security sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up two brothers after breaking into their family house in Burqa town, north of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

They also rounded up two others after ransacking their family houses in the nearby town of Asira ash-Shamaliya.

In Salfit district, a sizable military force conducted a predawn raid in Qarawat Bani Hassan town, northwest of the city, where they detained three others.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank, soldiers manning the ‘Anabta checkpoint, also known as ‘Einav, east of Tulkarm city, stopped and detained another as he attempted to cross the intermittently staffed checkpoint. The detainee was identified as a resident of Tulkarm refugee camp.

In Jenin district, the sources confirmed a raid in Silat al-Harithiya town, west of the city, resulting in the detention of three others.

During the raid, the soldiers forcibly entered a prisoner’s family house and wrecked havoc inside.

In Tubas district, gun-toting soldiers rounded up another from Tammun town, south of the city.

In the southern West Bank, Israeli troops barged their way into Dheisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, where they detained two others.

During ensuing confrontations, snipers occupied the rooftop of a local cultural center and targeted a protestor by live ammunition, hitting him in his feet.

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

Israeli forces today sealed off the entrances to Burqa village, north of Nablus city, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said that Israeli soldiers used bulldozers to block the roads leading to the village with earth mounds, disconnecting the village from Jenin and Nablus cities.

Israeli severely restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement through a complex combination of approximately 100 fixed checkpoints, flying checkpoints, settler-only roads and various other physical obstructions.

Closures besides to other measures, taken under the guise of security, are intended to entrench Israel’s 51-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project which it enforces with routine and frequently deadly violence against Palestinians.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Weather today is partly cloudy to cloudy and cold in daytime and very cold in nighttime, particularly in the mountains, with steady temperature, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department (PMD).

Scattered rainfall, mostly light, is expected. Light to moderate westerly to northwesterly wind blows in daytime, while light to moderate southwesterly to northwesterly wind blows in the night. Sea waves are low to medium.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and in Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 10C and a low of 6C, and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 9C and a low of 5C. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley, temperature is expected to reach a high of 18C and a low of 12C, while it is expected to reach a high of 16C and a low of 11C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Friday’s temperature is set to remain steady and unseasonably low, with partly cloudy and cold conditions in daytime and very cold conditions in the night, particularly in the mountains. The chance remains for sporadic rainfall, mostly light.

Saturday’s temperature is set to slightly rise, paving the way to partly cloudy to clear and cold conditions in the day and very cold conditions in the night, especially in the mountains.

An additional slight rise in temperature which is expected on Sunday, becoming seasonal and paving the way to clear and relatively cold to cold conditions in daytime and very cold conditions in nighttime, particularly in the mountains.

PMD warns people against slippery roads and low horizontal visibility on Thursday and Friday.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

A Palestinian man was hospitalized on Thursday evening after he was brutally beaten up by Israeli occupation soldiers near the village of Bazariya, to the northwest of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Mohammad Saleh Hajja, 50, was on his way home when he was stopped, assaulted and brutally beaten up by Israeli soldiers in the village, according to reporters. The man was also handcuffed and his legs were shackled, and was thrown on the side of the road helplessly by the soldiers, the reporters added.

Hajja was moved unconscious to a hospital in the nearby city of Tulkarm, and after he woke up he told doctors he had been briefly detained and assaulted by Israeli soldiers for two hours, and that he was injected with an unknown material in his left shoulder by the soldiers.

Doctors at Thabet Thabet Public Hospital in Tulkarm said that Hajja was in an unstable condition, and that he was unconscious of what was going on due to the assault on him by the Israeli soldiers.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Minister of Health Mai Alkaila said today that 248 new cases of COVID-19, three deaths and 333 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 another two deaths were recorded in Gaza.

A total of 5,053 COVID-19 tests were conducted during the reporting period. In the Gaza Strip, 90 coronavirus tests came out positive, while the West Bank had 158 new cases.

No update was available regarding the situation in occupied Jerusalem.

The Health Minister said that in the West Bank, 104 patients of COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, of whom 55 are in intensive care, including 12 on ventilators.

She pointed out that the recovery rate in Palestine has so far reached 98.1 percent, while active cases reached 0.9 percent. Deaths stood at only one percent of total infections.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency