Day: 9 March 2022

Under the auspices and in the presence of Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, Belgian Consul General Wilfried Pfeffer in Jerusalem signed today on behalf of the Government of Belgium a cooperation program worth 70 million Euros for the years 2022-2026.

PM Shatyyeh stressed the importance of this cooperation program since it will cover topics related to education, vocational training, creating job opportunities for youth, consolidating entrepreneurship issues, and issues related to climate and environment.

Shtayyeh affirmed the friendship and cooperation between Belgium and Palestine, describing this program as a message of support to preserve the two-state solution, adding that this program will address priority issues throughout the entire Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

For his part, the Belgian consul noted that this cooperation program was carried out in cooperation and consultations with the government and its priorities, as part of its efforts to strengthen and build upon partnership.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

A Palestinian youth was shot and injured today evening during clashes that broke out in the town of Burqa to the northwest of Nablus, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the north of the West Bank, said clashes erupted between forces and residents at the entrance to the town Burqa following the funeral procession of Ahmad Hikmat Seif, 23, who succumbed to his wounds earlier today which he sustained after being shot by Israeli forces last week in the village of Burqa.

Forces fired live ammunition and tear gas canisters towards residents, shooting and injuring a youth in the hand. Dozens reportedly suffocated due to tear gas inhalation.

Seif was shot three times in the belly and back on March 1 when Israeli soldiers attacked a procession in the village in support of Palestinian freedom fighters incarcerated in Israel. He was admitted to hospital in Nablus with critical wounds until he was pronounced dead this morning.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Malki met today in Ramallah with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, Sameh Shokri and Ayman al-Safadi, respectively, where they discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian arena.

During a consultative meeting held in Cairo, the three ministers discussed the efforts exerted during the past period to re-engage in the path of peace and launch serious and constructive negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive and just settlement based on the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The trilateral meeting also covered an exchange of views on significant regional and international developments and discussions of positions toward a number of Arab issues and ways to enhance joint-Arab cooperation frameworks.

The ministers also agreed on the need to continue to have three-way consultations leading towards achieving the best interests of the three countries and peoples.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Three Palestinians were shot and injured today by rubber-coated steel bullets, and dozens of others suffocated as Israeli forces attacked a memorial service held for Ammar Shafiq Abu Afifeh, who was shot and killed by the Israeli army last week.

Israeli forces stormed the campus of Khadouri Technical University to the north of Hebron, where a memorial service was held for Ammar Shafiq Abu Afifeh, from Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron city, who was shot by soldiers and killed at the entrance of Beit Fajjar, south of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, on March 1st.

Israeli soldiers reportedly reinforced its presence at the university’s main gate before storming it and attacking participants in the memorial with rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters, and stun grenades, shooting and injuring at least three people with rubber-coated steel bullets, according to the University’s dean of students’ affairs, Issa al-Omleh.

Dozens of people, including students who participated in the memorial, suffocated and some reportedly lost consciousness due to tear gas inhalation.

The university’s administrative council held the Israeli authorities fully responsible for the lives of students in light of the Israeli army’s continuous storming of the university’s campus and obstruction of students, and the faculty staff through ongoing search and detention operations.

The university’s dean of students’ affairs called on the international community and human rights institutions to uphold their responsibilities and put a stop to Israel’s deliberate targeting of students and educational institutions.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Six people died of coronavirus in Palestine in the last 24 hours and 203 new cases were recorded, today said the Ministry of Health.

Three people died in the West Bank where 73 new cases were confirmed and 130 corona patients have recovered, one person died in occupied East Jerusalem where 75 new cases were recorded and 145 patients recovered, and two people died in the Gaza Strip where 55 new cases were confirmed and 540 patients have recovered.

The ministry said 73 patients are getting treatment for Covid-19 in hospitals, 41 are in intensive care, and 21 are on ventilators.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Member of the PLO’s Executive Committee and Fatah’s Central Committee and head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, Hussein al-Sheikh, reconfirmed during a meeting tonight with Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, the necessity of having a political horizon based on signed agreements and the resolutions of international legitimacy.

The Palestinian official affirmed during the meeting the importance of stopping unilateral measures that obstruct the two-state solution.

“We have also discussed the regional and international situation,” he said in a tweet.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by a group of settlers, seized today evening two water pumps and electricity cables and destroyed a water network belonging to a Palestinian resident in the village of Birin to the south of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, according to a local official.

Head of Birin village council, Fareed Borqan, told WAFA Israeli forces and settlers stormed the village of Birin and confiscated two water pumps and electricity cable, and destroyed the water pipes and tanks used to provide water and electricity to a Palestinian resident’s home in the village of Birin.

He noted that the said village is subjected to repeated attacks by army forces and settlers to tighten the noose around the Palestinian residents with the aim of forcing them to leave for the benefit of expanding a nearby illegal settlement.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Two hundred thousand doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines have been donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, today said UNRWA in a press release.

The delivery of vaccines to three UNRWA fields of operation, namely Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, was completed in the last week of February 2022. This vital contribution of COVID-19 vaccines will help protect Palestine refugees and more importantly, complement and contribute to the national vaccination and deployment programs of host countries, it said.

Bolstering host countries’ ability to slow the spread of COVID-19 is critical, and universal, equitable and timely access to COVID-19 vaccines is central to achieving this goal. This generous donation came as China’s immediate response to the Agency’s needs amid global constraints in COVID-19 vaccine supply, as well as emerging uncertainties around the vaccination rollouts across the region.

This contribution from the Government of China sends a clear message of solidarity with Palestine refugees, who have been made increasingly vulnerable by the pandemic and enduring regional conflict, said UNRWA.

Expressing his appreciation for the donation, UNRWA Director of Health Program, Seita Akihiro said: “The COVID-19 vaccine donation from the People’s Republic of China provides a crucial layer of protection for Palestine refugees and promotes the equitable and timely vaccine access. This will also strengthen our collaboration with host countries as they kindly included Palestine refugees in their national vaccination programs. We are truly grateful for the Government of China and its people.”

In referencing their support to the UNRWA, Head of the Office of the People’s Republic of China to the State of Palestine, Ambassador Guo Wei, said, “China always values and supports UNRWA’s efforts, and appreciates continuous provision by UNRWA of important assistance and services to Palestine refugees in the Middle East for a long time. This vaccine aid of China aims at implementing the Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative proposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, the core of which is to accelerate equitable access to vaccines in developing countries. China will, as always, support the work of URNWA and continue to provide practical assistance to Palestine refugees.”

The People’s Republic of China is a valued partner and long-standing donor for UNRWA. On top of the vaccine donation, China also provides regular financial contributions in support of the delivery of emergency food assistance to more than one million abject and absolute poor Palestine refugees in Gaza

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Israeli settlers today uprooted and stole grape saplings and demolished retaining walls in Kufr al-Dik town, west of the northern West Bank city of Salfit, and also razed land they had seized in the town of Battir, west of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

In Kufr al-Dik, Saadat Said, 58, said settlers from the illegal settlement of Brukhin uprooted grape saplings he had planted in his land and stole them. The settlers also razed stone walls and sabotaged 150-meter long barbed fence he had built around his land in the north of the town.

In Battir, settlers razed a plot of land they had seized by force two days ago in an area east of the town in order to erect tents and mobile homes on this land as a prelude to building another illegal settlement, according to Ghassan Oweineh, a local activist.

The settlers had set up a big tent and a mobile home on part of this land when they took it over a few days ago.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Israeli forces today razed a house and assaulted its Palestinian occupants in Khallet al-Eideh locality, east of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Aref Jaber, a local anti-colonial-settlement activist, said that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer to the southern West Bank locality, where they brutally assaulted the family of Saddam Jaber, including an elderly woman, and forced them out of the house, before the heavy machinery tore it down, reducing it to rubble.

He added that the demolition was carried out without any prior demolition order.

Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the occupied territories.

Israel denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, Israel allows the construction of thousands of units for settlers in illegal settlements spread throughout the occupied territories.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Israeli occupation forces today opened gunfire in separate incidents at Palestinian fishermen at sea and farmers at border areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

WAFA correspondent said soldiers stationed at a watchtower north of Beit Lahya, in the north of the Gaza Strip, open heavy gunfire at fishermen near the shore and forced them to return to the harbor.

Soldiers also opened gunfire at farmers, east of Beit Hanon, also in the north of Gaza, and at farmers and herders east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, forcing them to leave their border area land and pastures.

No one was hurt in any of the incidents, said the correspondent.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

The Israeli occupation forces today and last night detained at least 20 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied territories, according to local and Palestinian security sources.

They said that Israeli forces rounded up three Palestinians, including a 60-year-old man and his son, from Jalazon refugee camp, north of Ramallah.

The forces also detained four others, including a former prisoner, from Deir Abu Mishaal village, northwest of Ramallah.

In Jerusalem, military vehicles stormed al-Ram town, north of the city, where soldiers re-arrested a former prisoner.

In the southern West Bank, heavily-armed soldiers detained a 16-year-old teen after breaking into and searching his family house in Tuqu town, east of Bethlehem.

Elsewhere in the southern West Bank, the sources confirmed a raid in several Hebron city neighborhoods, resulting in the detention of four others, including two former prisoners.

The soldiers conducted a similar raid in Yatta town and detained another after ransacking his house.

In the Salfit district in the north of the West Bank, soldiers barged their way into al-Zawiya town, west of Salfit city, and detained one Palestinian.

Also in the northern West Bank, soldiers re-arrested three former prisoners and ransacked their houses in the Jenin city neighborhood of Wadi Burqin after searching and ransacking their homes.

They detained two others, including a former prisoner, from their houses in Fahma village, southwest of Jenin city.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency