Day: 1 May 2022

Weather today in Palestine is moderate and partially cloudy to clear with a significant drop in temperature approaching 4°C below the seasonal average, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department.

Winds are westerly and moderate to active, while sea waves are medium, said the PMD.

Temperature in the capital, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is expected to reach a high of 21°C and a low of 12°C, and in Ramallah and Hebron a high of 20°C and a low of 11°C. In Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan Valley, temperature is expected to reach a high of 30°C and a low of 19°C, while it is expected to reach a high of 24°C and a low of 16°C in Gaza and the coastal areas.

Weather on Monday, the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in Palestine, is expected to be relatively hot, dry and dusty with a noticeable rise in temperature that approaches 3°C above the seasonal average.

Hot, dry and dusty conditions also prevail on Tuesday, yet with a further rise in temperature approaching 6°C above the seasonal average.

However, temperature is likely to significantly drop again on Wednesday to as low as 3°C below the seasonal average, with moderate conditions prevailing throughout the day.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Palestinian Arabic-language dailies focused today on the fatal shooting of Palestinan young man Yahya Ali Adwan, 27, by the Israeli occupation forces during confrontations in the town of Azzun, north of the occupied West Bank.

The dailies also focused on the announcement by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Mohammad Hussein that today is the last day of the holy month of Ramadan, and that Monday will be the first day of Eid al-Fitr holiday in Palestine.

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and Al-Ayyam said President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated the Palestinian people and the Muslim and Arab nations on the arrival of Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The dailies also reported that British activists from the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action had shut down the London headquarters of Elbit Systems, an Israeli-owned arms firm, for the third time in two weeks.

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and Al-Ayyam said 15 Jewish rabbis in Chicago have issued a statement condemning Israeli assaults on Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.

Al-Ayyam said Israeli police arrested an imam of a mosque in the city of Lod in 1948-occupied Palestine.

Al-Quds said international organizations have urged Israel to stop its violations of the rights of Palestinan workers.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Scores of Israeli settlers last night attacked Palestinian vehicles and terrorized civilians at many locations in the occupied West Bank provinces of Nablus and Qalqilia, according to witnesses and local sources.

In Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank, groups of Israeli settlers gathered at the Israeli military checkpoint of Za’tara and attacked Palestinian vehicles passing through the checkpoint, causing damage to some of them but no injuries.

Settlers also blocked a section of the Nablus-Ramallah road as they gathered for a protest outside the village of Sinjil, blocking the road to the Palestinian traffic for some time.

In Qalqilia province, hundreds of Israeli settlers gathered outside the village of Kifl Hares, while other groups of settlers stormed the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan under protection from the Israeli occupation army.

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

There are over 600 Israeli settlers illegally occupying portions of the West Bank in violation of international law and established norms prohibiting the relocation of the occupying power’s civil population to the land of the occupied.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

A Palestinian young man was injured by Israeli gunfire early this morning and many others were arrested during an Israeli raid on a number of villages to the south of Jenin city in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian security sources.

WAFA correspondent said dozens of Israeli army patrols broke into the towns of and villages of Meithalun, Sanur and Jaba, sparking confrontations with local Palestinian residents. In the town of Meithalun, a Palestinian was wounded by an Israeli bullet in his pelvis during ensuing clashes, and was rushed to hospital for medical treatment.

In the village of Sanur, the Israeli forces raided a number of homes, questioned their residents and arrested two of them.

In the town of Jaba, two Palestinians were reportedly arrested by the Israeli occupation forces. Clashes erupted between the forces and local Palestinian residents following the raid, and no injuries were reported.

Almost on a daily basis, Israeli occupation forces carry out raids targeting populated Palestinian communities for arrests or searches. The practice, mostly carried out at nighttime, has become a routine under Israeli military regime.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said today it filed an appeal on behalf of the family of Mussa Hassouna, a 31-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, who was shot dead during the May 2021 events by a Jewish-Israeli citizen in Lod on the night between 10 and 11 May 2021.

The rights group said it filed the appeal to State Attorney Amit Isman, after the District Attorney for the Central Region decided in October 2021 to close the investigation against all five Jewish-Israeli suspects in the killing.

On 13 May 2021, less than three days after the shooting, in which Hassouna was instantly killed and two other Palestinian citizens of Israel were injured, the police released all the suspects before a ballistic analysis was produced. On 21 October 2021, the District Attorney’s office closed the cases against all five suspects. The decision on the closure of the cases was the first time the District Attorney provided any information to Hassouna’s family, despite their repeated requests.

In the appeal, Adalah Attorney Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi argued that the investigatory material indicates that the Israeli police conducted a negligent, flawed investigation with the ultimate aim of clearing the suspects of any charge. Video footage and other materials found in the investigation files by Adalah also suggests that prominent political leaders unlawfully pressured the police throughout the investigation.

According to the investigative materials, there were six shooters, some of whom arrived for a protest organized by the ‘Garin Torani’ – a cell of the settler movement that seeks to further Judaize Israel’s “mixed cities”. Others arrived after messages were sent in the neighborhood’s WhatsApp groups for all residents with weapons to come down to the street. They shot approximately 40 bullets within 15-20 minutes.

In its appeal, Adalah argued that the investigatory material raises serious suspicions that the police investigators were under political pressure, which altered the course of the investigation and its results.

In a filmed conversation between investigators accidentally recorded after an interrogation ended, dated 12 May 2021, one of the investigators complains that the head of a weapons lab refused to test weapons used by the suspects, and he criticizes the classification of the case as a murder case. In response, another investigator answered, “Oh really? Let him tell that to the Minister who is calling every ten minutes to check on the status of the case.”

The then-Minister of Public Security, Amir Ohana, also posted on Twitter on 12 May 2021, (the same day in which the video was taken) a call for the release of the suspects: “The arrest of the shooter and his friends in Lod, who acted in self-defense, is terrible. Law-abiding citizens carrying weapons are a force multiplier for the authorities for the immediate neutralization of threat and danger. The detention/release is not under the purview of the Minister of Public Security; if that were the case, they would have been released. The enforcement system will do well if it does the same.”

Adalah argued that the self-defense claims relied on by the State Attorney to justify the closure of the cases, must be assessed by judicial rather than law enforcement authorities.

Adalah further contended that self-defense claims were not reasonable as the suspects did not face an imminent threat; according to their testimonies, prior to the shooting, they gathered to discuss how they should “operate the incident” until police arrived. Their conduct suggests that the suspects took the law into their own hands and acted as law enforcement until police arrived, which cannot be considered as acting in self-defense.

Adalah’s appeal demanded that the State Attorney reopen the investigation against all five suspects and conduct a thorough, adequate investigation. Additionally, Adalah demanded to investigate and prosecute public figures who were present at the scene of the incident and did not act to prevent the killing, including Lod’s Deputy Mayor and City Manager in the Lod municipality, responsible for “security at times of emergency”.

Alternatively, Adalah requested that the suspects be prosecuted based on the evidence collected thus far, which is sufficient for prosecution.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)