Day: 25 May 2022

A rise was recorded in April for construction cost index (CCI), road cost index (RCI), water networks cost index (WNCI), and sewage networks cost index (SNCI) in the West Bank, today said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The CCI for residential buildings increased by 0.67% during April compared with March due to an increase in prices of raw materials by 1.08%, and the prices of rental of equipment by 0.74%. At the same time, labor costs and wages remained stable.

The CCI for non-residential buildings also increased by 0.66% during April due to the increase in the prices of raw materials by 1.03%, and the prices of rental of equipment by 0.75%. At the same time, labor costs and wages remained stable.

The CCI for skeleton buildings increased by 0.83% due to the increase in the prices of raw materials by 1.22%, and the prices of rental of equipment by 0.74%. At the same time, labor costs and wages remained stable.

The overall RCI in the West Bank increased by 0.79% during April compared with March due to the increase in the prices of operating costs of equipment and maintenance by 4.49%, the prices of rental of equipment by 1.70%, and the prices of raw material by 0.62%. At the same time, labor costs and wages remained stable during April compared with the previous month.

The overall WNCI also increased by 0.80% during April, the water reservoirs cost index increased by 1.04%, the water networks cost index increased by 0.69%, and SNCI increased by 0.42% during April compared with March, said the PCBS.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and UN Women Palestine organized an art exhibition on Tuesday showing paintings made by a survivor of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza during the Israeli military attack on the Strip in May 2021.

Titled “I am 22, I lost 22 people” and held at Euro-Med Monitor’s regional office in Gaza, the exhibition showed paintings made by the fine artist and research intern at Euro-Med Monitor, Zainab al-Qolaq, who lost 22 members of her family, including her mother and three of her siblings in an Israeli airstrike on her home.

In the two-day exhibition, al-Qolaq displayed nine pieces she painted following the attack, in which she depicted the suffering she endured from the moment her house was bombed, her 12-hour stay under the rubble, to finding out that she lost 22 members of her family. She also portrayed life situations and internal struggles that she has experienced since that time.

During the exhibition, Euro-Med Monitor and UN Women Palestine released a booklet that gathered al-Qolaq’s paintings and texts describing the psychological impact of the incident and presenting information about the targeting of the al-Qolaq family home and a number of surrounding houses on al-Wahda Street, west of Gaza City on 16 May 2021.

“Each of these paintings portrays moments and situations that words cannot express. They are things that are difficult to describe or even imagine,” Zainab Al-Qolaq said.

She added, “Through painting, I was able to express a small part of what I lived on that day and after. This exhibition, which contains my paintings and texts, is my voice that I seek to be heard by everyone.”

For her part, Maha Hussaini, Strategy Director at Euro-Med Monitor, said: “Despite our deep sorrow for what happened with Zainab and her family, we are proud of her courage and determination to overcome the trauma and speak firmly of what happened to her. She is truly an inspiring model for a strong survivor.”

“Empowering victims and enhancing their abilities to defend their rights is one of the most important foundations of the work of Euro-Med Monitor, which constantly seeks to build and develop victims’ capabilities, and help them access pressure mechanisms that will speed up the achievement of justice.”

In one of the paintings, entitled “A Corpse in a Graduation Gown,” al-Qolaq explains the lifeless moments of her graduation from university after losing her family. In the description of the painting, she says that she had planned to celebrate with her family, but did not imagine the cemetery being the place she would tell her family that she graduated from college.

Last March, al-Qolaq, on behalf of Euro-Med Monitor, delivered an oral statement before the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling for an end to Israel’s impunity and expressing her fear of a lack of justice.

On 16 May 2021, Israeli aircrafts targeted several adjacent residential buildings on al-Wahda Street, which led to the complete destruction of a number of buildings, killing 43 civilians, including 14 women and 19 children, and wounding 50 others.

Following the Israeli attack, Euro-Med Monitor issued a series of reports that included “Inescapable Hell,” “Left in Tatters,” and “One War Older,” in which, through field research, victim interviews, and field data analysis, Euro-Med Monitor documented the results of direct targeting of civilians during the attack and the complex psychological effects it left on the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children. The reports also presented a comprehensive review of the losses incurred by the economic sector and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

“I am 22, I lost 22 people” booklet in English

Video: Israeli airstrike survivor, Zainab Al-Qolaq, tells the story of losing 22 members of her family

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Two major American media outlets confirmed in two separate reports that Palestinian iconic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli army gunfire, and one even suggested that she was deliberately targeted.

CNN said that an investigation it has carried into the incident “offers new evidence — including two videos of the scene of the shooting — that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death.”

It said that videos obtained by CNN, “corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.”

Abu Akleh, an American citizen who has been working with Al Jazeera for more than two decades, was covering an Israeli army raid on Jenin refugee camp on May 11 when she was killed and a colleague, Ali Samudi, was injured, after being shot by Israeli soldiers.

The Associated Press meanwhile said that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh came from an Israeli gun.

“Almost two weeks after the death of the veteran Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera, a reconstruction by The Associated Press lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akleh’s colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun.”

The Palestinian Authority is expected to publish its official investigation into the Israeli murder of Abu Akleh in the near future and submit the evidence to the International Criminal Court to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, specifically the targeted murder of journalists.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in two separate statements Israel’s killing this morning of yet another Palestinian child, stressing that Israel is continuing in its murder of Palestinian children.

Ghaith Yamen, 16, was shot and killed this morning by Israeli army gunfire during an Israeli army raid of the northern West Bank city of Nablus to secure a break-in of settlers into neighborhoods of that city.

“Just as Thaer, Mohammad, and other children whose lives and dreams have come to an end by the Israeli bullets, today, (Ghaith Yamen) was killed by a bullet in the head, leaving behind bereavement and the pain of loss in the hearts of his relatives, friends, and loved ones,” said the Prime Minister making reference to other Palestinian children recently killed by Israeli army gunfire in the occupied territories.

Shtayyeh called on the international community to put an end to double standards and “provide protection to our children and people from the daily crimes of the (Israeli) occupiers.”

The Foreign Ministry also said the killing of Yamen this morning after breaking into the city of Nablus “is a continuation of a long chain of field executions carried out by the occupation soldiers and officers at orders from the political and military echelons in the occupation state.”

It held the Israeli government “fully and directly responsible for the crimes of its forces and settlers and their repercussions on the conflict in general, particularly the risks they pose to the chance of achieving peace based on international references, the two-state solution, and the land for peace formula.”

It stressed that just because the killings are done on a daily basis, it does not mean that the international community can look at them as normal and familiar and therefore acts that there is no need to take a stand against them.

“Our people are not only a prey of the arrogance of the occupation and its racist colonial mentality but also a direct victim of the double international standards, indifference and lack of international will to implement hundreds of resolutions adopted by the United Nations and its various bodies related to the Palestinian cause,” the ministry concluded its statement.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

In a major land grab scheme, the head of the Israeli government’s military arm in the occupied West Bank, the so-called Civil Administration, signed on April 12 an order declaring about 22,000 dunums of Palestinian land south of the ancient city of Jericho as a “nature reserve”. However, the declaration was published only one week ago, according to the Israeli Peace Now movement, and it takes effect 60 days after its publication.

This is a huge reserve, the largest that has been declared for 25 years, said Peace Now. Referred to in Hebrew as “Nachal Og Nature Reserve”, it includes 22,000 dunums (5,445 acres) of which about 6,000 dunums are private Palestinian land, another part is state-registered land, and most are lands declared as “state lands” in 1989 as part of a wholesale declaration on tens of thousands of acres in the area.

The meaning of declaring a nature reserve is that in addition to the legal restrictions that normally exist in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military control, (planning and building laws, etc.), there are additional restrictions that are used to limit Palestinian usage of their lands. For example, owners of land that was declared “nature reserve” cannot cultivate their land, plant any tree or graze their land without approval from the Nature Reserve Officer, said Peace Now.

It said that any declaration of a nature reserve by the head of the Civil Administration must have the prior approval of the Minister of Defense. This means that Defense Minister Benny Ganz chose this route to take over a huge area deep in the West Bank, said Peace Now.

“This is not a matter of nature conservation but a matter of taking over land. In the Occupied Territories, nature reserves are one of the many tools Israel uses to dispossess Palestinians of their lands. The Israeli government is losing its shame, and towards what seems to be the end of its political path, it is beginning to run amok and deepen the occupation in every possible way. The occupation cannot be washed away with green colors; The occupation remains a black spot on the State of Israel and it is time to end it,” said the anti-settlements, anti-occupation organization.

Since the 1980s, Israel has declared hundreds of thousands of dunums in the West Bank as nature reserves and used them to dispossess Palestinians. Immediately after the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, announcements of new reserves were stopped. In January 2020, then-Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced his intention to announce seven new nature reserves in the Occupied Territories. Then in October 2020, three reserves were declared in the Jordan Valley area, with a total area of 10,880 dunums (2,693 acres).

To date, said Peace Now, Israel has declared about 48 nature reserves in the West Bank, with a total area of at least 383,600 dunums (95,000 acres), which are about 12% of Area C and about 7% of the entire West Bank.

It should be noted, it added, that in addition to the order declaring a nature reserve, there is also a planning procedure, similar to the planning procedure for construction, according to which the Israeli Higher Planning Council approves a detailed plan for the various nature reserves. The situation in the Occupied Territories is that there are 32 valid plans for nature reserves on a total area of 158,000 dunums. Some of these reserves overlap with the declared reserves and some do not.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation authorities today demolished a two-storey Palestinian building in Beit Safafa town, south of Jerusalem, according to WAFA correspondent.

She said that a sizable police force barged their way into the town, surrounded the two-storey building of Mohammad Judeh and Yazid Tina before a bulldozer razed it, reducing it to rubble and displacing two families comprising 13 members.

She added that the first storey consisted of a 500-square-meter parking lot and the second storey consisted two apartments, each of which covered an area of 120 square meters.

The owner of one of the apartments, Judeh, said that he has submitted several appeals to the court against the demolition of his apartment. In the first time, Judeh paid 30,000 shekels (some $9,000) and the demolition order was cancelled. However, the order was reinstated later on and he had to pay 50,000 shekels (some $15,000) and the order was put off until September.

One lady appears in a video posted on the Facebook page of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center explaining that police leading dogs forcibly entered Judeh’s apartment, handcuffed and led him to a police vehicle, without allowing him the chance to show them the construction license or relevant legal documents to defend his case.

Judeh’s wife, Widad, appears in the same video saying that police suddenly carried out the demolition without any prior notice to the family and affirming that they have a construction license. She was bringing her child from a nearby kindergarten when police denied her entry to the apartment.

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 (WAFA)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said today that its embassy in Tunisia was following the issue of the boat of migrants that capsized off the Tunisian coast and believed to have Palestinians aboard.

Political advisor to the Foreign Minister, Ahmad al-Dik, said that the Palestinian embassy in Tunis sent a delegation to the Sfax governorate to follow up on all details regarding the capsized boat and to check on reports that Palestinians were among the missing migrants.

It said two among the survivors were Palestinian women who carry Syrian-issued travel documents.

Dozens of migrants were on their way to Europe when it sank. Most were still missing.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Palestinian Wednesday afternoon sustained a shrapnel injury from Israeli military gunfire in Huwara town, south of Nablus, according to medical sources.

Director of the Palestinian Red Crescent’s (PRC) Emergency Department, Ahmad Jibril, said that a young man sustained injuries in the elbow from the shrapnel of bullets fired by Israeli forces in confrontations in the northern West Bank town.

Six others suffocated from tear gas inhalation.

The confrontations broke out when a group of settlers, under the protection of heavily-armed soldiers, stormed the town and hoisted Israeli flags in the main street.

Similar confrontations recently took place when settlers, under military protection, or the Israeli military took down the Palestine flags hoisted on electrical poles in town.

The cluster of villages and towns in Nablus district has been a scene of frequent settler attacks, including chopping down dozens of olive trees, attacking vulnerable houses, leveling farmlands and torching mosques.

There are over 800,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu today visit Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city of Jerusalem, according to WAFA correspondent.

She said that Çavusoglu was led by a delegation of the Islamic Religious Endowment (Waqf) Department in a tour of the courtyards of the mosque compound without any Israeli police escort.

Çavusoglu’s visit to the mosque compound came a day after he had separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki in Ramallah.

It also came against the backdrop of Israeli settler plans to en masse storm the holy site on May 29 to mark the 55th occasion of the so-called “Jerusalem Day” or “Jerusalem Reunification Day”.

“Jerusalem Day” is an annual event that commemorates the “reunification” of Jerusalem in 1967, when Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control during the June War and has been ever since occupying it.

Such an event would see thousands of right-wing Israelis, including a large number of Israeli settlers from the occupied West Bank, waving Israeli flags, dancing and singing, and marching through Jerusalem neighborhoods, including the hotbed Sheikh Jarrah and Bab al-Amoud (Damascus Gate).

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)